#hrng feeling normal

[edosianorchids901]

The Hassle of Hostilities

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt - "across a field"

While the battle crawled towards an end, exhausted warriors still feebly swinging swords and stabbing spears at each other, Aziraphale simply collapsed and sat in the grass.

Blood trickled down his right arm and dripped off his gauntlets to the field. In fact, he couldn’t seem to move that arm at all. It hung limply beside him, plate armor bashed in at the shoulder, sharp metal stabbing into him with each ragged breath.

But still. He wasn’t really hurt. This was just a corporation, after all. Nothing on Earth could easily damage his True Form. Well, hardly anything.

And then he felt it, a dark presence approaching. Smoke and venom and the very flames of Hell.

Aziraphale lifted his head and gazed across the field. There, astride a black stallion, came the darkness he’d felt. Crowley was all in black himself, helmet visor down, a sword in his hand. He advanced at a canter, and his horse leapt over a pile of bodies without breaking stride.

Crowley wobbled in the saddle, clutching desperately at the horse’s mane, and then toppled off over its shoulder. “Fuck!”

“Oh!” Aziraphale shifted to rise, then thought better of it as pain lanced through his shoulder. “Are you all right, Crowley?”

“Hrng.” Crowley had landed in a heap, long limbs all tangled. His armor rattled as he struggled to rise, and he wrenched his helmet off with a snarl. Long red hair spilled across his face, and he snarled at that too.

Aziraphale watched with mild interest. Normally—Crowley fell off horses rather a lot—Aziraphale would have rushed to help. But his head had gone awfully swimmy, and he felt a tad ill. Blood loss, perhaps.

“Gah! Stupid… fucking…” Crowley snapped his fingers, and his armor transformed into his usual form-fitting black clothes. He shoved up onto his hands and knees, then crawled over. “Ow. Hi, angel.”

“Hello, Crowley.” Aziraphale managed a faint smile. And then he realized Crowley couldn’t see that smile. “Would you be so good as to help me out of my helmet? I’m afraid I can’t move my right arm.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Crowley seemed to be having some trouble with his own right arm; he hissed in pain and shook it vigorously. But then he helped Aziraphale out of the helmet and studied his face, frowning. “Wow, you look bloody awful.”

“Thank you.” Aziraphale managed the smile again, although his vision was getting more than a bit dim. That pesky blood loss, no doubt. “So do you, my dear fellow. That was a very dramatic entrance.”

“Oh, shut up,” Crowley said without any real malice. He dragged himself closer and looked over Aziraphale’s arm, frowning. “Guh. What happened to your armor?”

“Um… A mace? Possibly?” Aziraphale tried to turn to inspect it. Everything went into an awful spin, and he swayed. “Oh, I… Crowley?”

He fell sideways, but something immediately halted his fall. “Easy, angel, I’ve got you. Is it all right if I just miracle you into clothes instead of stripping you out of your armor by hand?”

Aziraphale giggled vaguely. Everything was spinning rather a lot, and things seemed a bit distant. And, in some ways, oddly funny. “Stripping me down would be… naughty.”

That drew a sharp snort from Crowley. “M’ gonna take that as a yes. Hang on, just a second.”

And then nothing was stabbing Aziraphale in the arm anymore. He let out a relieved breath, relaxing against Crowley’s thin shoulder. Locks of red hair tickled his nose. “Oh, that feels better.”

“That was the plan.” Crowley was grinding his teeth now, his slender fingers carefully resting on Aziraphale’s arm. “Oh gosh, this is a really nasty injury. Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”

“Oh, it’s just… just a body.” Aziraphale almost felt a bit drunk. Perhaps that, too, was the blood loss. “You have very pretty hair, did you know that?”

“Thanks,” Crowley said, tone dripping sarcasm. “Hang on, just a second. Quick miracle, and you’ll be good as new.”

A quick sizzling pain flashed over Aziraphale’s arm, and he yelped at the burn. But then it felt much better, and his head started to clear. “Oh, goodness. Thank you, Crowley.”

“No problem.” Crowley kept one arm around him, stopping him from crumpling to the field. The demon looked really quite worried, which was sweet. “You all right now? Any other injuries?”

“No, no. Afraid I got a bit loopy, there.” Aziraphale gave a sheepish smile. He really ought to sit up, but he couldn’t quite talk himself into moving. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, angel.” Crowley carefully pushed damp curls off Aziraphale’s brow, still frowning deeply. “You’re shaking really bad. Sure you aren’t hurt?”

“No, I’m just…” Goodness, he really was shaking! How silly. “Perhaps a bit… rattled. I-I know that it’s just a corporation, and I wasn’t really hurt, but it was, well…”

Aziraphale trailed off. He knew what he ought to say—that pain was all in the mind, that angels were above it, that he only cared whether he’d done his duty. But it had been rather painful.

“Uh… d’ya want a hug?” Crowley offered, giving a sympathetic pout. “Hugs always seem to help the humans when they’re upset.”

“Oh, I… I don’t know that it would be appropriate.” Aziraphale reached up, wincing at the lingering soreness, and gently stroked red hair out of Crowley’s face. The demon’s eyes widened. “But I suppose… we are off duty now.”

“Yeah. Did our jobs and everything.” Moving slowly, Crowley folded him in an embrace. Skinny arms wrapped tighter around him, holding him close. “Is this okay? We can stop if you don’t like it.”

Aziraphale relaxed into the hug, smiling. “I like it very much.”

He never feared seeing Crowley across a battlefield; the demon had always been kind to him. But still, hugging someone from the opposite side felt special. Even, perhaps, ineffable.

[palant1r]

dont normally vent on this account but ugh. been experiencing SUCH intense artstyle envy lately. ive always struggled with liking my own style because i feel like it's too flat but i also am pretty incapable of actually putting in structured practice to learn how to do things differently because my art is driven entirely by dopamine. its just. hrng. i wish i liked how i drew things more than i do

[charlezarrd]

No hang on,

Waugh is an expression of surprise, shock, and anguish. It’s unexpectedly being punched in the feels. OR it’s a Waluigi Moment.

Hough is “Ough” but with a little confusion, like i’m very affected by this but I’m not sure why or how, and it’s making me so normal.

And Hrng. Is just. Yknow, hrng.

i love responding to everyone with ‘waugh’ or ‘hough’  theyre such versatile words. they can mean anything. i love to say ‘hrng’ 

[nilsford-prattle]

Followers please;0; suburbia overture by Will wood ;; he!!! Song with yelling,,, this song tickles my brai n bc listening to it is like:

takes a village to fake a whole culture;;; so give me your half life crisis I can tell you know where paradise is 🥺 is it true that a snowflake only matters in a blizzard? 🥺 nobody knows that everybody’s all up in my business 🤧🤧🤧 SUBURBIAAAAAAAAAAAA where you BELOOOOOOOOOOOOONG 😭 he cums radiation 😭😭 SULPHUR SMOKE AND SOOT 😢😢 so why apologize for being blue and cold? 🥶🥶 didn’t they want your blood?? 😔 going against the grain, catching splinters 🥴🥴 hey you’re only mortal 😔😔😔 leave you wondering why they can’t have just been normal 🥲

[rythelittleprince]

Wants to regress 😊

Regressed yesterday and doesn’t want to feel like a burden 😔

[yand3r3-everything]

Your Pain, Their Gain

Yandere sun and moon x reader

Warnings: is a fic involving reader having periods and period pain

Self-indulgent cuz holy FUCK it hurts this time:

"Hrng. Fuuuck why now!?" You mentally complain as another spike stabs you through your organs. Usually, they're tolerable, even moreso if a pain reliever and caffeine are used. However, this time not even any of that helped.

It stabs yet again aggressively enough to make you hunch yourself on the chair behind the daycare desk. Your breath is forced slowly out to not wake the sleeping kids.

You've managed to act normal enough through the day so as not to worry Sun and Moon. It was hard, and all you wanted to do the whole time was put pressure on your lower stomach.

Since arriving for your shift, the day is almost over. The kids will just be picked up and then it will be time to end the shift as well.

Sadly, you were a bit too unobservant of Moon, who noticed your sudden hunching. He quickly comes over, rather concerned (not that he’d ever openly admit it). “What’s wrong?” He asks, lowering the volume of his voice.

“It’s fi-” You clench your fists tight enough for them to shake. “Fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Sure doesn’t seem just fine," he quips, already knowing what it might be.

"Shut it," you snap, not liking his tone. "You can't do anything anyways. It's just a girl thing."

"A period?" He replies, ignoring your unusually snappy act.

You look at him questioningly. "You guys know what it is?" You honestly doubted it before since the kids around aren't usually in the normal age range.

"It was programmed after Sun freaked out on a 9-year-old before. Embarrassed her so badly she never wanted to come back.

You instantly felt bad for the girl. "Fine. There's still nothing you can do to help."

Moon knows an idea that he and Sun will agree on. And they've already agreed on making you stay the night to help, even if the light has to be turned off for Moon to get you.

He comes up behind your chair, wrapping an arm at your lower stomach, faintly squeezing to add pressure. He then heats up the arm. A function made more for kids who fall asleep on them.

The relief is almost immediate. You let out a quiet sigh.

Moon can feel Sun's excitement through their mind. A bit of guilt too for planning to use your pain for their benefit. Moon has no guilt whatsoever about it.

"Have Sun take care of sending off the kids. We can't have you snapping at a nuisance of a parent now, do we?"

You're too tired to really care, and just nodded to his question. It's probably true. You can't even count how many times a kid almost made you yell. A problematic parent would be a final straw.

----------------------

It didn't take long for Sun to send off most of the kids. Luckily, there was only one parent Sun had a little trouble with, but security was called to deal with it.  

The final kid leaves and Sun immediately turbs towards you, who is standing to seem more presentable to the parents. “Alright, time to clock out, head home, and bury myself with the heating pad and blankets.” Just imagining the comfort makes it so much more enticing to leave immediately.

Sun opens his arms wide. "Come here, starlight! Let us help your pain again!"

Eh, you’d rather not. Earlier felt great, though it was a bit weird. “Sorry Sun, but I’d really rather just go home. Maybe some other time.”

Neither attendant liked that answer.

You’d have to pass him to leave the daycare.

Sun crosses his arms instead. He’s sad about it, and doesn’t have the willpower to force you to stay, but Moon sure does. The lights are supposed to shut off in just a few minutes, he just has to stall a bit!

“But why not!? It’s not fair Moon got to hug you for a bit earlier!”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. It wasn’t a fully willing thing earlier. “Again, some other time. I’ll be fine until getting home.”

Sun shakes his head. “Fine! But at least a hug before you go? Just to make it somewhat fair?”  

Fine. If it will get him to stop. You trudge over, stopping for a second as yet another spike decides to make its presence known.

Yeah, you’re staying. They agree even more on now.

Sun walks up to you instead, wrapping his arms around you.

After a second, you try to let go and push out of the embrace. Sun won’t let go.

… The lights go out, having Moon come out.

They made sure not to let go of you during transforming.

Moon comes out and looms over you.

“Alright, you can let me go now. I gotta go home before Vanessa loses her head at me.”

He pretends to think. “Mmm. no.” He summons the wire to hook onto him, lifting you both into the tower.

“Moon! Bring me back down!”

He turns you around, pulling your back to his front, starting the heat again, slightly higher than before. They’re more than willing to slightly overheat if it comes down to it for you. “No.”  He brings you over to a pile of pillows and blankets, forcing you to lay down with him. Your squirming and struggling completely fruitless. Even trying to hit him does nothing.

He tightens his grip on your lower stomach, making you stop. “Hush, time to sleep.”

They absolutely love the feeling of you against them. They’ll definitely have to force this again sometime.

The pressure and heat is too comfortable… Fuck. Ugh, might as well enjoy it since they’re not going to let you anywhere anytime soon.

-----------------------------------------------------

I am so torn between them both calling you starlight, or sunflower/moonflower. It will probably hop between the two ways a lot.

[maddsmallow]

i am at the point of rushing and not using references to polish up my pieces because i am starving for that sweet sweet dank audwin content and i gotta make it myself hRNG

anyways [frothing at the mouth] i feel very normal about these two and their interactions during magic mayhem

[foaming slightly less at the mouth] hey i have a kofi

[nadisabug]

How You Meet // Volleyball! reader

Pairing: Bokuto Kotaro / Nishinoya Yu / Oikawa Tooru x fem! volleyball! reader

Genre: Crack. Pure crack.

Warnings: cursing

Word Count: 2.5 k 

Summary: You are a volleyball player in the same position as the boy, and he is taken aback at your beauty and skills. 

A/N: all of the boys would just be so supportive and hrng need me a volleyball boy

Haikyuu Masterlist

Bokuto K. 

Bokuto would prolly be the one that suggested cheering for the Fukurodani girls team

Like he and his bros are bored between matches

And he notices the girls are on in a different court

So he manages to drag akaashi and a couple others to go watch with him

So they enter the stands...

Bokuto walk through the door to the stands and he is immediately blown away.

"Y/n!" Your setter nearly screams. You, eyes still trained on the blockers across from you, answer with a small smirk that sends Bokuto's head spinning.

"Here I come!" You yell in response, vocalizing your claim on the ball. You squat then set off running towards the net. At the last moment you push off of your feet and jump, albeit not as high as Bokuto could, but high nonetheless for your stature. Your arm shoots up and makes contact with the ball with a satisfying smack.

In front of you are two freakishly tall blockers, and Bokuto doesn't know how you'll get the ball past. But, as soon as the ball leaves your hand, it seems to find a small gap in their block and blows past it, landing on the other side of the court in the blink of an eye.

Once everyone lands on the floor again, both teams look up at the referee. He blows his whistle and raises his arm towards the Fukurodani side of the court. The Fukurodani girls erupt into cheers and surround the girl apparently named Y/n.

The setter cheers, claps Y/n on the back and shouts. "That's our ace!"

Bokuto watches her in awe as she flashes a gorgeous smile and shyly tucks a stray hair behind her ear.

"C'mon, are you gonna sit or just stand there like an idiot?" Akaashi tugs Bokuto by the back of his collar, not giving him a choice to stand there for longer.

"She's the ace..." Bokuto mumbles dreamily.

"Yeah no shit, that was insane, blowing through that block." Akaashi mutters, no choice but to agree. He drags Bokuto to where the rest of the team has already sat down and pulls him into the seat.

"She's amazing," Bokuto breathes, his eyes still locked on you.

"Quit it before you start drooling," Akaashi rolled his eyes.

But Bokuto couldn't. From your receives to your serves, every movement you made he was mesmerized. And before he knew it Fukurodani had won consecutive sets.

Once he saw you and your team leave the court, he shot up from his seat.

"I've gotta meet her!"

Akaashi looked up at him with wide eyes. "Wait-"

But Bokuto was already leaping over chairs and scrambling to the door. Akaashi stood up too and, with a resigned sigh, followed him too.

Bokuto didn't stop running until he made it to the first floor. He skidded around a corner and finally locked eyes with you. He couldn't help himself and ran up to you, absolutely panting from the running he had done.

"You-" pant "were fucking" pant "amazing!"

Embarrassment flooded your system and you looked down at the floor nervously. The setter walked up and put herself in between you and Bokuto.

"Back away from our ace, owl-boy," she hissed. "Don't think we didn't notice you drooling over our captain during the game."

Normally you would be more confident, but once one of your teammates pointed out the boy in the stands going absolutely apeshit for you, it started to eat at you. The embarrassment of a guy - a hot one at that - calling your name from the stands and drawing everyone's attention was just too much for you.

"You're the captain too? No wonder! I am too, Im-"

"Bokuto Kotaro, I know who you are," you cut him off and put your hand on your setters shoulder. "It's okay, I can handle him."

Warily, your setter backed down and joined the rest of the team cooling down.

"You know who I am?" Bokuto beamed, his chest puffing up.

"Of course," you rolled your eyes. "You're one of Japan's top five aces. And you go to our school."

"Why hadn't I ever seen you before?" Bokuto gushed.

It was at this point that Akaashi finally caught up. "Because you leave all the grunt work to me," he sighed. He looked at you and gave you a slight nod. "Y/n."

"Akaashi," you smiled and replied.

"You know her?" Bokuto nearly yelled.

"Duh," Akaashi rolled his eyes. "We coordinate stuff together like the buses or practice."

"I wanna know her," Bokuto pouted at Akaashi. Akaashi rolled his eyes and sighed.

"What he's asking if you'd go get lunch with him sometime," Akaashi looked at you, speaking for Bokuto.

You felt a heat rising to your cheeks. 

“Sure,” you smiled. It couldn’t hurt to go out with the absolute hottie who was cheering for you all game. 

“Great!” Bokuto shouted and grabbed your hand. He started pulling you away from your team. 

“W-wait, right now?” You looked back at your setter for help, but she just shrugged. 

“I’ll cover for you!” She called as you got dragged away by the excited boy. 

You had no idea what you were in for. 

Nishinoya Y. 

Noya was definitely the one who suggested watching the girls

Girls playing his favorite sport?? What could be better?

He was able to drag most of Kurasuno to watch the girls 

Daichi ofc came to support the other captain, Yui Michimiya

But little did he know after he sat down that he was in for a big surprise

The whistle blew and a girl with h/c hair stood at the sidelines with her sign. She and another girl from the team switched out, and when they did there was a commotion in the stands. 

“Oh my god, finally! L/n is back in!” A girl in the row in front of the boys cheered.

“I know, I still can’t get over her last receive,” the other girl gushed. 

Noya looked back at you and noted the reversed colors of your jersey. 

So, she’s a libero huh, he thought to himself. He looked you closer and thought that you were a little cute. 

The game resumed and a long volley started. It looked like it was about to end when the other team set up for an unblocked spike. The setter had feinted and sent all the blockers to cover another spiker so that their one player could hit unmarked. Not a single soul was on that side of the court, and Noya could feel himself wincing as the spiker hit the ball. That was going to hurt. They were already down too many points and really didn’t stand a chance of winning. 

He waited for the ball to hit the ground, but in the blink of an eye, you were there and the ball was up. 

You called the name of your setter and quickly she set it up for one of your spikers. Since the other team had thought the had this in the bag, they were not ready for the counter attack and Kurasuno got the point. 

“Did you see that?” Hinata gushed and leaned over Noya’s shoulder. “She totally just did rolling thunder! She was like whoosh and swoosh and the bam!”

Noya nodded enthusiastically. “That was an amazing receive!” 

After that, Noya began cheering every time you made a receive, even if it wasn’t a hard one. You started noticing very early on and part of your attention was focused on the short king in the stands. You did your best to ignore it and keep your head in the game, but its kind of hard to ignore a hot boy cheering for every move you make. 

You were almost glad when the game was over. 

“Hey, Y/n,” one of your blockers smirked. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a fan.”

“I will murder you with my bare hands,” you growled, tired of the team’s teasing. They had not let up on the whole fan thing since Noya had started up in the stand, and frankly, you were tired of it. 

“Ouch, save some of your love for your boyfriend,” the blocker smiled. She then looked at something behind you and smiled even wider. 

“He’s not my boyfriend! Listen if I see that guy again, all shit will break loose- what? What are you smiling- oh.” You turned around to see the boy in the stands standing awkwardly behind you. 

“Hi,” he smiled and waved. He was acting quite demure, a stark contrast from his shenanigans in the stands. Now that he was closer, you kinda had to admit. He was kind of, sort of cute. “You were really good out there. Really impressive. Sorry if my cheers were distracting, you were just so good.”

You seemed to have lost your steam, because you couldn’t bring yourself to yell at this genuinely kind and supportive boy. Instead you rubbed the back of your neck nervously and broke eye contact. “Uh, thanks,” was all you could mumble. 

“Wanna practice together sometime?” He suggested, a nervous smile on his face. 

“Yeah sure, if you can keep up,” you responded. 

“Oh don’t worry, about me,” he puffed out his chest dramatically. 

“Okay,” you laughed a little. You pulled out your phone and handed it to him. He looked at you quizically for a second. “Number?”

At that he flushed bright red. “Oh, uh, yeah,” he stumbled over his words, typing his number in quickly. Once he was done he handed the phone back. 

“I’ll text you sometime,” you smiled and walked back to your team. Immediately after you turned around you heard an energetic voice shout. 

“Did Noya-senpai just get a date?”

After that you heard a scuffle that you only assumed was Noya silencing the other boy. 

Oikawa T. 

Okay lets be honest

The last place he wanted to be was in the stands watching girls play

First of all he could have his ~fans~ doting on him

Second of all he could be practicing

Third of all he could be watching the team they were slotted to go up against next

But all of those other options were out of the question when Iwaizumi decided that Oikawa needed a break

(and also didn’t need to be near his fans)

So grumpily Oikawa will sit in the stands to watch your game, but he’s not really watching

Instead he’s watching a match on his phone

that is until Iwaizumi says something that peaks his interest...

“Holy fuck, that’s the captains fourth service ace.”

Oikawa frowned. It was a simple sentence really, one he had heard a million times. The difference was that usually it was aimed at him, not someone else. 

Oikawa looked up from his phone to see who was apparently the  Aoba Johsai girl’s team captain. It was hard to tell from this far away, but Oikawa’s senses told him that she was a looker. The way she carried herself it was obvious that she was confident in what she was doing, and that to Oikawa was enough. 

He put down his phone and leaned forward in his chair. He was invested now, whether he liked it or not. 

He watched as the referee blew their whistle and you lined up for your serve. You threw the ball up and jumped, hitting it mid air and sending it straight to the other teams side. It landed in bounds with a satisfying thwack, completely unimpeded by the other team’s girls. 

Iwaizumi let out a low whistle. “That’s five.”

“I can count, thanks,” Oikawa snapped dryly. 

Iwaizumi looked over, cocking his eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were paying attention.”

“Well I am now.”

Iwazumi shrugged and turned back to the game. You lined up for your next serve and hit it, but this time the other team’s libero picked it up. After that your team had a chance ball. 

Oikawa huffed. 

“What, shittykawa?”

“She should have kept aiming at their number 4. She got confident aiming for their libero,” Oikawa stated matter-of-factly. 

“How do you know she was aiming for the libero?” Iwaizumi retorted. “What if it was just on accident?”

Oikawa rolled his eyes. “You don’t get five services aces and not be able to aim in the air.”

Iwaizumi shrugged. “I’m just saying it could have been an accident. Like you said, she was on a roll aiming and scoring off of their number four. Why would she switch that up?”

Oikawa pursed his lips. 

“You never know unless you ask,” Iwaizumi added slyly. “Not that you will.”

Oikawa whirled on Iwaizumi. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean,” Iwaizumi started without looking over at Oikawa. “You don’t talk to girls unless they fawn all over you.”

“Not true,” Oikawa huffed.

Iwaizumi just shrugged. 

“That’s not true!” Oikawa repeated in frustration. 

“Then prove it,” Iwaizumi replied bluntly. 

“Besides, how do you know she won’t like me?”

Iwaizumi laughed. 

“What?” Oikawa grit his teeth, starting to get annoyed at Iwaizumi. 

“You don’t remember?” Iwaizumi shot Oikawa a side glance. 

Oikawa just glared at Iwaizumi. 

“Hey, fine.” Iwaizumi sighed. He turned back to the game. “You hit on her at school a while back and she didn’t give you the time of day.”

Oikawa snorted. “I do not ‘hit on’ people.”

Iwaizumi shrugged. 

“Fine, come with me then,” Oikawa nearly growled. He got up from his seat and marched away. Iwaizumi sighed but got up. The game was already over and he was upset that he couldn’t enjoy it, but what did he expect from watching it with Oikawa. 

Oikawa stomped his way all the way downstairs and was a fuming mess when he finally stopped in front of you. You waved off the teammates you were walking with to go ahead and stopped to see what The Oikawa Tooru wanted from you. 

“Did you purposefully aim for the libero after the five service aces?” He growled. 

“I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but usually you’re supposed to congratulate someone on that kind of shit,” you smirked, enjoying Oikawa’s bad mood.  

“Congratulations,” he forced a smile and said sweetly. “Now did you or did you not?” 

You grinned. “How about we make a deal?”

Oikawa cocked an eyebrow but let you continue. 

“You watch out next game, and let me know if I did.”

Oikawa scoffed. “That’s hardly a deal that favors me.”

“You’re smart,” you shrugged. “You’ll figure it out.” You took your leave at that, leaving Oikawa behind, still frustrated. 

But he couldn’t help but want to watch your next game, for some odd reason. Maybe this deal wasn’t too bad. 

Taglist: {OPEN}

[omnipointmuses]

It was a normal day for Chrysalis, well as normal things have been for the chabgeling queen as she was still trapped in the gut of the moon princess who did naught but play video games and eat an increasing amount of food, she didn't even need to see Luna in person to know she was getting bigger, all she had to do was listen to how more and more muffled the outside world was getting. Thankfully Luna was gracious enough to sejd her down a phone so she could entertain herself so she wouldn't go mad from boredom, that's when she noticed it, a small murky green drop of...something had dropped onto her screen, slow she looked up at the upper sphincter of Luna's belly she was sure she hadn't heard her swallow anything and she was right, the entrance remained closed tightly, no food was coming in. On a hunch Chrysalis looked down at herself and much to her surprise and horror she was right, little droplets of herself were beginning to form and dribble down onto the belly's floor, not even getting a chance to pool as they were drawn down into the princess's guts to be made into more of her flab.

Meanwhile as Chrysalis processed her soon fate to be flab Luna had been grinding away at Warframe when her phone began to ring. With a sigh she pushed her chair back and reached into the pocket of her sweatpants and with a little effort tugged it out and put it up against her ear.

"Hello?-"

"YOU'RE DIGESTING ME?!" A sudden sharp and accusatory voice spat out from the otherside of the line causing Luna to flinch and pull away from the phone slightly.

"First of all, rude, and second of all..." Luna started in a rather business like tone before it changed to one a bit more seductive, a voice Chrysalis wasn't used to being on the receiving end of. "Of course~ That's what you do to food don't you~?"

"...I thought you said if I was good enough you'd let me ou- Hrng~!" Chrysalis began before the sides of the walls began to press down on her sensitive flesh causing her to let out a grunting moan.

"I did say that but I never said I wasn't going to digest you first~" Luna hummed impishly as she squeezed her bloated stomach with her wide thighs eliciting another groan from it's captive. "If you are good I just may reform you after I've had fun feeling you jostle as my gut instead of inside it~"

"You..."

"Well it has been fun talking to you Chrysalis but I'll think I'll take my pet around for a walk and show her off for once, ciao~" Luna purred out quickly, cutting her off before she could get out an insult.

"Wait!"

*Click*

She had hung up and blocked her number for good measure. Slowly Chysalis looked down now seeing a soupy sludge of...herself beginning to pool at the base of the stomach as her digestion began solidifying her fate as food for the moon princess. As much as she hated that fate there was something else that ate away at her mind that she hated much more.

"God...damnit..." She growled as a green blush began to spread over her cheeks. "Why....am I getting off to this?"

[fart-gate]

SG1

Season 3 episode 6

"POINT OF VIEW"

Notes by me

- area 51 here we gooo wheres the ark of the covenant

- oh god not the reality mirror

- Sam with a wig (bass boosted)

- omg Kowalski

- what does sga stand for. StarGate Ass

- in her reality her and Jack were together and he died :( and she has to look at our Jack and be sad :((((

- "is he talking about that alternate reality thing that Daniel futsed with" ahdhsaksh

- Sam watching herself on the tv

- haha whenever Daniel talks "and WHO are YOU"

-

- "nice hair" youre the one wearing a bad wig sis

- *gasp* is this a "in every reality Jack and Sam are endgame" situation bc hrng

- two sams in the same reality wow my thoughts are so dirty rightt now

- since they are staying what are they gonna do? Are they just gonna go live normal lives or stay at the base or what

- alternate!sam: I loved my Jack and he was perfect and I had to watch him die before my very eyes

Jack: I dont know how to respond to that

- "you dont even see her that way do you?"

*awkward silence*

- is Jack gonna fully realise his feelings for Sam after this . am I at least getting that in this episode pls ive been good

- Jack was about to say how he cant imagine how shes feelings but he stopped bc he CAN imagine. He once saw a different version of charlie and had to let go of him so he totally gets it

- time to brush my wig. Gotta keep up that hygiene

- Sam holding sams hand 💞

- when in doubt call the asgard 👽

- #twinning

- love Daniel learning about the mirror that almost killed him lol

- Jack when sams say stuff in sync:

- "I am not fond of wearing this uniform again" :( my poor tealc reliving nightmares

- Sam x Sam bonding

- jack: *hand motions*

Daniel: *hesitates*

Jack: *angry hand motions*

- evil!tealc is great but I wish he came with a razor bc oof that goatee

- tealc and apophis are besties with matching ugly goatees ✨

- um?? When tealc kills himself and Jack and Daniel are just. Shook. Like how do I react to this. Tealc seems like hes fine. I'm so confused and shocked what do I do

- kree means yoohoo

- alternate!hammond torture scene :(

- "you and Sam never had a thing your world?" Akdndowndbdsjdbd not YET

- how he caught the fact that mirror Sam was a captain so quick I'll never know

- I could never im blind and hes the one with glasses

- alternate!Sam give tealc big cheek smooch❤

- FACE!! FACE CHEEK SMOOCH

- HAHA im sorry. When they open the door and theres a SPOTLIGHT on Daniel kneeling in the middle of like 20 jaffa. Buddy how do you get yourself in these situations

- when Daniel gets stunned and both Jack and kowalski grab him to steady him. Its about the Hands

- HERE COME MY LITTLE GREY BESTIES 👽

- and they all run like cockroaches when the light hits them

- "you gotta love those guys!"

- daniels eyes are piercing blue in this shot for my viewing pleasure only

- hammonds not dead!!! Now they can restart the whole StarGate Ass

- "how could you marry such a loser?"

- 🚨SAM AND JACK KISS 🚨 I know its not really Sam but the way Jack just goes with it is Very telling

- Sam watching them suck face like?? Am I jealous ??? Or does this mean Jack actually likes me??? Am I turned on?? What is happening????????

~

Whump under the cut

Sam carter whump: alternate!Sam whump- pained face,frigidness, emotional, crying, noises, convulsions?

Daniel jackson whump: captured, gunpoint, bloody cut on face,forced kneeling, stunned, Jack and Kowalski caretakers for a few seconds

Jack Oniell whump: forced kneeling, gunpoint

(Kowalski was manhandled as well)

Tealc whump: kills alternate version of himself, forced kneeling, gunpoint, seems to have some blood or dirt on his face

Lots of Sam and Jack subtext for this episode 👀👀

[maria-the-ghoul]

Finished the first week of my classes...

I wish I could print out the readings...I would it at work, but now they can really track what we print...I mean I could use our printer because we have one...but hrng...I feel odd printing “normal” things on it and not photos because that's why I wanted it...hrng...maybe I’ll just grow up and print everything out here...

[twilightprophet]

went n got a double helix today on my right ear. looks hella cool and so far doesnt hurt like a bitch (yet). i havent had a piercing since i was 4 so idk what to expect (thought it’d be the same as getting a tattoo ig) but it didnt hurt as bad as my worst-case-scenario. hurt worse than my tattoo on the 2nd piercing tho ngl. and then when he was closing the hoops he couldn’t get one to close and it hurt v v badly and apparently that isnt normal but man did his messing w my ears hurt. eventually whenever i’d wince he’d say “i know buddy, you have every right to whine, this isnt normal” which tbh made me feel better. i consider my pain tolerance to be decent but hrng. i get complications a lot tho and he had to get a v small size hoop for my apparently tiny ears so idk, not surprised but oh i hope that doesnt happen again when i go for my 2nd double

the piercer was super cool tho. he kept talking during my piercing so i didn’t think about it and at then end when he saw my surname he asked about my family and was like. “oh ye i used to date a russian girl & she was super racist against ukrainians, completely hated them. have you seen borat? she said it was accurate, russians really hate ukrainians”. anyway he was cool and i’ll leave them a good review tomorrow

[xroguex1027]

Writing warm up.

Valdemar: This is Volta 069. If you can eat more than her then ill let you out of that little cage.

Having not eaten for days Julian expects no competition. How much could this tiny little lady possibly eat?

Normaly he would make a sly quip but having been starved for three days he only feels pain. He doesn't have the energy to speak.

Instead he just smirks at the odd proposal.

Valdemar: Do you accept my challenge?

Julian: When I was training under doctor satrinava we worked with these orphaned children. They were starved hadn't eaten in days. I of course brought oranges with me to protect against the scurvy. I thought I might share some with the children you see? But doctor Satrinava told me-

Valdemar: DO YOU ACCEPT?

Julian's stomach growls on cue. Not such a coincidence as its been groaning for three days straight.

Julian: I accept.

He's locked in a little room with two tables and two chairs. Each table is piled high with food. A little lady sits strapped to one chair her hands bound behind her. She's salivating like a dog.

Valdemar leads Julian to the other chair and straps him in.

Valdemar: Whoever eats everything on their table first will be released and given the prize.

Julian: Oh there's a prize? I'm not sure I like the sound of that...maybe If you were a bar made or say perhaps a magi-

Valdemar: Shut up and eat 069. Your opponent has all ready begun.

Valdemar has already unstrapped Volta's hands and she proceeds to dive face first into a blueberry pie.

Julian cautiously takes a bowl of porridge, something that will be easy on his malnourished stomach.

It feels good, warm, his stomach feels tight and empty but some how this room temperature porridge is soothing.

This is a competition though. He's nearly forgotten in the coma of his comfort food. He reaches for the top of the pile and also takes a blueberry pie.

He has no utencils to eat with. The porridge he could just tilt down his throat but this is solid food. His arms are fastened to the table at the elbows to insure he doesnt try to escape.

He lifts his hands up and turns toward to valdemar

Julian: Do you mind

With a roll of their eyes Valdemar removes Julian's gloves. Anything to hinder his progress.

Julian: You're most kind.

Valdemar: EAT!

Behind Valdemar Voltas pile of food has all ready been significantly reduced.

Julian hiccups as he shoves his last handful of blueberry pie down his throat.

It doesn't find its way easily. And the sudden sugar rush has him a little woozy. He should probably counter it with something healthy.

A chicken leg, he takes and tears it apart. It's tough and dry. He needs something to drink but there is nothing near by. An orange rolls from the pile and he takes it and peels it with his greezy hands. Its the closest thing he has to wash something down.

He squeezes each slice over his mouth before. Dropping down his throat.

Valdemar: Hurry Devorak. Your opponent is gaining on you.

Speaking of gaining now that the poridge and pie have settled Julian's deprived stomach is starting to feel a little full.

This is about the point he would end a normal meal but there is still a good 75 percent of the pile left to eat.

He decides its best to eat the heavy stuff first that way it will be easier to pack in the little things like cupcakes and beats at the end.

He attacks three sandwiches first, eating them faster than he thought he could. Next is a generous slice of chocolate cake. He's trying not to swallow more air than food to save room but it proves an ineffective strategy. He cracks open a pickle jar and begins to munch them two at a time. Three at a time.

The restraints are pressing into his bubbling stomach. He wishes he could move his hands to rub it but his arms won't bend that way because of the restraints.

Julian: *EEEERRRUUPPP* I feel sick.

Valdemar: Your opponent is almost done devorak. If you dont want to be chained up here forever I encourage you to continue.

Julian winces at a vinegar and chocolate flavored burp.

He begins to peel the five or six hard boiled eggs infront of him. He slurps them down one after another. His stomach is pushing through the gaps in the restraints.

A cramp twists in his lower stomach.

Julian: UGH

Volta: Done! Oh please. Oh please let me have me have his I'm so verry hungry.

How, how can she possibly be hungry? Julian peels another orange and remember the rest of his encounter with the orphaned children.

Dr.Satrinava had told him not to feed them too many. Their tummys were weak from starvation and they wouldn't be able to digest a lot at a time.

An unsavory growl rose from Julian's chest and manifested as a belch.

Julian: Does this mean I can stop?

Valdemar: Do you want to be free?

Julian: I thought freedom was the prize?

He was beginning to hope Valdemar had some seltzer water as a consolation prize.

Julian struggled to lay his head between his elbows. His swollen belly gargling pie and eggs and pickles and none of it was sitting well at all.

Volta: No. No. Its more food. Surely its more food.

Julian moaned.

Valdemar: oh no. Its something much better.

From their coat they produced a shiny knife.

Volta: For cutting right? Is it for cutting me a slice of pie or cake?

Julian was having difficulty stomaching words pertaining to food. Voltas enthusiasm was the icing on the cake.

He was having a nauseous staring contest with the cupcakes in front of him.

Surely he'd be sick.

Valdemar: Not for slicing food.

Volta face fell but Julians brightened with curiosity.

Valdemar: But when our Dr here finishes all the cupcakes I have so generously provided for him you can have all the food you want.

Volta: *gasp* yes yes he must eat. Oh doctor you must. I'm starving.

Valdemar picks up a cupcake and brings it to Julian's lips.

Now that there is a knife involved Julian isn't sure he wants to risk disobeying.

He struggles through every last cupcake. And nearly loses it as Valdemar spins his chair around to cut him free of the restraints.

Julian: hrng!

His stomach is significantly larger, bloated, full, and gurgling unpleasantly. The cramp has spread upward into his chest.

Finally free Julian rubs his tinder stomach.

*Glurp*

Julian: Did-did I eat all of that?

Valdemar: Not quite.

The devilish courtier unscrews the lid on the pickle jar.

Julian: its empty

Valdemar: Ide look again if I were you.

Julian nearly gags

Julian: The juice? You want me to drink the juice?

Valdemar: if you want to be free 069, you must consume everything.

Julian chugs the jar of pickle juice. It dribbles down his neck, the vinegar burning his cuts and scrapes from being bamged around inside a cage.

An awful burp threatens him when hes finished.

Valdemar cuts the last of the restraints digging into Julian's belly.

Ohhh his belly. His achy nauseous belly. Its so full it hurts so much. He's sweating with pain. He may be free but he can't move.

*Bluuurrrrppp*

The burp does nothing to settle his stomach.

Julian: Make it stop.

He grimaces and leans forward hugging his stomach.

Several burps rise from his gut each louder and wetter than the last.

Valdemar: Oh dear Volta it seems our doctor has eaten himself sick.

Volta: Its all because he didn't share

Volta whales.

Valdemar: of course the best way to unstuff something is to take out the stuffing.

Valdemar hands Volta the knife.

Volta: Oh is there stuffing? Stuffing and turkey?

Each time she mentions food Julian's stomach grows weaker. He's so nauseous that he's almost unconscious. Before he realises what they are discussing the cold edge of the knife is pressed against his taught stomach.

Julian: Do your worst.

Volta presses the point into his belly and a crimson drip slides down to his navel.

Julian Winces with an Oof and bights his lip.

Julian: Feels good

He's lying. An acidic burp gets stuck in his throat and he starts to cough.

Valdemar: What are you doing?

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 2]

Lost and confused? See this post to catch you up!

Chapter 4: I Smell Like Beef

It’s the final day of my week with grandpa Hakamada. I’ve learned so much about my quirk...kinda wish I was staying longer.

“Lili, what do you want for dinner?” called out grandpa from the living room.

“Do we have things to make some stir fry?” I responded from my room as I zipped up one of my suit cases.

“We do, come give me a hand”

How I was going to miss making meals with him and listen to his stories. To think I almost didn’t take up this offer!

“So whats the plan for tomorrow?” I asked as we ate.

“Tomorrow you’re going to get picked up by Jinko to spend the rest of your internship under the agency” he sighed “I really wish I could have you for both weeks but retirement and such won’t let me. You need to learn from a functioning establishment.”

“And I won’t let you down” I smiled “I’ll do my best!”

“I know you will” he smiled back “now, I’ve arranged your housing situation over there. I don’t want you mixing in with those boys.”

“It’s an all male agency?”

“Yes and that’s my fault in part” he chuckled nervously “not because I don’t value women heroes or side-kicks, but I was quite the ladies man back in my hero days.”

“You’re still a ladies man!” I laughed “I saw how the women at the studio looked at you and swooned, you still got the charm.”

“Aside from that” he went back to the topic “you’ll have your own room to sleep and dress in.”

After dinner and we said our goodnights, I was nervous for tomorrow plus I was feeling a little homesick. Even though my mom has been video-calling and texting me daily, I still miss the full house feel of home. I also miss Hoshi, he’s been doing great though! He sends me pictures and texts daily, they really make me happy.

-the next day-

“Well, looks like my ride is here” I turned to grandpa as the town car pulled up “thanks again! Please come visit the family when you can!”

“You’ll do great Lili” He ruffled my hair “I’ll be seeing you more often.”

As I turn away to get in the car, I stop and turn back and hug him “Bye Bye Grandpa.”

“How sweet” Jinko commented “old man and his granddaughter!”

“Not another word! Can’t you see I’m having a moment?!” he snapped before hugging me back “don’t give everyone too hard of a time.”

I finally departed and felt sad that I wasn’t going to have that specially catered one-on-one time. From what I was told, there was going to be two other students but from different schools and both male. I arrive at the agency and get led to my room for the week.

“Here’s your living quarters for the week” Jinko unlocked the room “your mom usually occupies this room when she does extensive work for us. Actually, this room was especially built for her when she did her internship when she was your age.”

I peer into the room and it was a cozy space that was fully furnished “Who built this room? It has that homely feeling to it.”

“The man himself, he really wanted your mom to feel at home here because he knew about her past” he sighed and chuckled “to think that you’re staying in the same room years later!” he turned to leave “I’ll leave you to unpack and we’ll get started on some things.”

He leaves me and I put all my clothes in the wardrobe. I hear the other men’s whispers from outside my door and it makes me wonder if my mom experienced the same thing. I change into my pink tracksuit and walk out to meet with Jinko, I was met with a crowd of men.

“You’re 19′s daughter?! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!” exclaimed a man in a denim jacket “so fem, so pretty! And probably obedient.”

That last part bothered me, I’m going to give this place hell “My mother isn’t obedient, you’re confusing me with my old man.”

“Hey don’t harass her!” said a man in a black jumpsuit “I got orders from her mother that if any of you lay an unwanted hand on her, I have permission to cut your hand off” his arms glowed with green plasma energy “do I make myself clear?” all the men nod and dispersed, the man turned to me “so sorry you had to see that, I’m agent 30, head of Intel here” he bowed to me “your mother saved my life back in my starting days here and I devoted my career to be at her assistance. You’ll be seeing me often and probably fetching for you, like right now” he stood up and gestured toward the hall “Jinko asked me to bring you to the office, if you’d come with me.”

I followed him and my mind went elsewhere. Like how my mom was so interconnected with some of the people here and the fact that I’m getting especial treatment because of her. At least I’m not being compared to my dad, I’d lose my shit if somebody did.

“Ah Miss Iida, please have a seat” Jinko snapped me out of my thought “so as you know, this is the start of week 2 and we had some things already done, it might seem like you’re behind. If anything, you’re a little ahead of everybody.”

“How so?”

“You’re one of the strongest we’ve seen” he gestured toward a picture on the wall “you’re in the power ranks of your mother when she was your age. Double quirked, determined and very unique from the others in terms of hero type.”

“Does that change my stance here?” I squinted at the picture, it was my mom during her time here.

“Yes it does, it means you can go into the heavier things like group exercises, spars and patrolling” Jinko stood up “so for today, show us what you’re made of in the spar circle.”

“Yes sir!” I stood up excitedly and got the order to dress out for sparring. I get weirdly excited for spars because my mom tells us about all the daily fighting she got into with her siblings. But she taught us to communicate better to settle sibling disputes and raised us with lots of love and forgiveness. While Rosa and Oro do deserve an ass whooping for their foolin’, I wouldn’t put my hands on them. I get to the practice/spar area and join in on the excitement.

“You! Pink pants!” called out a short man “think you have what it takes to fight with us! Your mother might level us in an instant but you have much to learn.”

“Um okay, I’ll partake in a tussle” the men laugh at me “who am I up against?”

“Me” replied the same short man as he gestured to the sparring circle “scared?”

“My grandma is scarier than you” the men jeer at my comment, the short man got angrier. We start our spar and I didn’t give him the chance to announce his quirk, in 3 minutes I had him wound up and out of bounds. I walk up to him “hows the weather down there?”

The man wasn’t amused “Hrng, you got lucky! If not for your quick feet, you’d be the one down here!”

I unravel him free and I get a crowd around me asking me about my double quirks. It made me feel so cool to be the one to be asked quirk questions. I told my family and Hoshi about it when I was going to bed for the night. Hoshi especially missed me and I felt the same way. 

-Two days later-

“What’s on the agenda today?” I asked Jinko excitedly.

“Today we’re going on patrol” he responded “put on your hero costume and meet me at the side entrance.”

“Yes Sir!” I bowed before dashing off to put on my costume. I designed my costume after the Swan Lake style with the decorative corset and the tutu resting high on my waist. With the matching mask and ribbons plus these custom ballet style support foot wear, they’re modeled after my uncle’s footwear for that sleek design. One look at me and you couldn’t tell if I was hero or that I have a quirk at all! I met up with Jinko to start the patrol.

“I’m sure he taught you how you should act while on patrol” Jinko started as we walked down the street “but now we put them in motion! It’s a whole different experience once you have to act upon said rules.”

“Right! I have to be on high alert, listen in, identify suspicious activity and know how to approach the situation.”

“What do you see so far?” Jinko tested me.

“I see...the normal crowd of people at the town square” I responded “there’s already some heroes on patrol on that side and I should be ready to lend my assistance when called upon.”

“Good! Always be ready to lend a hand” Jinko praised “you never know when you’ll be essential to a rescue or defense.”

We did a whole patrol of the block with nothing happening but I heard a soft whimper and my big sister senses kicked in. I looked around and saw a little girl all the way on top of a streetlight, holding on like she was about to slip. I didn’t bother to tell Jinko, I just acted upon instinct. 

“Don’t worry! I got you!” I said as I propelled up with my arms out. The child seemed to trust me right away and held her arms out for me. “And on the ground we go” I put the child on the sidewalk once I floated down “are you alright?” I asked the child but she wasn’t responding and was on the verge of tears, time to go off script “can you wave your hands for me?” I did the motion and she mimicked “wiggle your fingers?” she copied “stomp your feet?” she complied with a giggle “now jump as high as you can!” she happily jumped.

Jinko walked up to us “Good listening to your surroundings!” he turned toward the little girl “what where you doing up there?”

The little girl got shy and grabbed my leg, I then noticed the rip on her corduroy dress “Oh lets fix this rip first” the girl watches me fix the rip with my quirk and was in awe.

“Wowie! Thank you Miss hero!” she smiled again and hugged Lili “can you help me find my mommy?”

“Of course little one!” I hoisted her on my shoulders “you look out for her as we walk around so we can find her faster.” Another pace around the block and we found the mother and reunited them.

“I hope she wasn’t too much trouble!” cried out the mother “I turned around for a second and I lost her!”

“She wasn’t trouble at all” I turned to the little girl “make sure to ask for help if you ever lose mommy okay? No more climbing light poles!”

“I will! Thank you!” she said as they walked away with their parent “bye bye Miss hero!”

“You did so well, I’m proud of you” Jinko praised “now I’ll show you how to do paperwork!” we go inside and as I’m filling out the first pages, Jinko asks “how did you know what to do when the child was responding like that?”

“I just did what I would do when my siblings are too scared to respond” I looked up at him “don’t yell and be calm before asking if they’re hurt and tell them that it was dangerous. It happens a whole lot since my younger siblings are rowdy and love to climb things.”

“I love seeing that humanitarian aspect in the field” he pat me on the back “you’ll make an excellent hero.”

That was more than enough validation for me to keep going. The days go by quickly and I finally went home. I told them about the things I did and saw at dinner, dad was tearing up on how much I’ve changed my attitude on hero work. As much as I missed sleeping in my own bed, I also missed Hoshi and my other classmates. Hoshi let me know that they got home and they’ll be seeing me tomorrow at school. I went to sleep with dreams of being the Dancing Hero, changing what the Iida name stands for.

-The next day-

“Okay class, settle down” Mineta sensei tried to silence us “today we’ll be creating your hero names, helping us is Midnight.”

“Hi aunty Midnight!” I waved as she walked in.

“How exciting! The new generation of heroes are making their personas!” she squealed “as you know, your hero name is permanent and will be hard to rebrand the older you get. Choose wisely!”

“What are you thinking of naming yourself Lili?” whispered Hoshi to me “I’m a bit stumped.”

“I’m going to make mine dance related” I responded “I’ve been thinking on a name for a while.”

“Would anyone like to share first?” Midnight scanned the room “Lili?”

“Um sure” I got a little timid as I walked up to the front to present “I chose the name Baile, the spanish word for dance” I flipped the small board around to show the class “I want to be known as the dancing hero rather than the engine hero like my dad’s side of the family, so I guess I’m breaking the streak with this.”  

“Very fitting! I love it” Midnight gave her approval “anybody else?”

I sat back down very content with myself. How exciting that I’m well on my way to be a hero?! Just a few weeks ago I wasn’t excited to be following in my dad’s footsteps and now I’m forging my own way. It was liberating in a way.

-One month later-

Preparations to take the licensing exam are underway. I’ve been working on a few techniques to incorporate other dance moves with my two quirks. Hoshi and I even came up with some duo moves that blend ballroom dancing and our quirks. Everyone calls it an excuse to hold hands but how else are we going to launch ourselves into the air for the escape?! Today in particular, Half Hot Half Cold Hero is doing a guest class for our licensing.

“Can anyone tell me what’s the steps to a rescue?” asked the hero in his oddly soothing monotone voice.

Now, my family is very close with the Todoroki family, so this mans is always at the house with his kids... I have a lot of opinions about this mans and his kids so I was mega distracted with all those thoughts, that I didn’t notice everyone parting away to single me out. Oops, I gotta say something because I’m pretty sure he asked something “Uh you um,” I panned over to Hoshi and they couldn’t help me, they just looked at me with wide eyes and pursed lips “you look at the villain in the eye and tell them to eat your ass.”

The class exploded in laughter, even sensei was on the floor howling. Mr Hot and Cold didn’t change expressions, like what I said went over his head. He turned to sensei “I don’t get it? I asked a first aid question.”

“Oh man Todoroki my abs hurt” sensei was calming down, wiping his tears “she has her mother’s quips, but that’s a visit to the principals office Miss Iida.”

“Wack! My mom never got sent to the office when she said something like that!” I pouted and crossed my arms.

“Well times have changed” he pointed to the building “office, now!”

I huffed and stomped my way to the office, lucky me, Midnight took my side and I didn’t get in trouble. Sensei later complained but Midnight shut it down real quick, mom always said that Mineta never gets his way. I was more like-able among my classmates after that and it was so cool to bring everyone together like that. My dad thought it wasn’t cool and lectured me on my speaking etiquette, my mom was laughing though. She told me about all the times she was protected by the intel school rules and all the crazy things she got away with. She also mentioned how her rowdiness drove my dad insane and worried him sick. Dad admitted how he wanted to run wild with her as high schoolers so they’d spend more time together and I thought that was super sweet. Then it made me think, their love made them change as people. Dad made mom change from law breaking to law observing, and Mom made dad loosen up and enjoy life’s party. If love changes you into a better person, I want to see how I’ll become. Why am I thinking about love? AM I in love or do I WANT to be in love? It’s all confusing and I don’t know if I’m ready! GAH! How did mom handle a big dumb crush on my dad for so long if I’m losing my mind over how I feel for Hoshi?! Feelings are dumb, I’m going to bed!

-Day of Licensing Exam-

Long story short, nobody was expecting me with my second quirk in clutch. All but 3 in our class passed the exam, sucks for them. Hoshi and I did one power move that made the proctor’s jaw drop because it took out all the flying quirk users right out of the air with one swift motion. We got a few announcements on the bus before heading home.

“Alright, great job class NOW as you may know” he got the interest of everyone with that last part “there was no training camp before this licensing BUT we got word that there will be training camp in two weeks and dorm living.”

Everyone on the bus was excited except Hoshi and I. It’s cool and all to go do all these things but I hate being away from the comforts of home and Hoshi is worried about everyone finding out his secret and not accepting him.

“Lili I don’t know if I can do the whole dorm thing” Hoshi said softly so nobody would hear him “I want to but everybody will think I’m a pervert.”

“Hey if they say anything” I put my hand on his back “I got you and my mom, you know how my mom gets.”

“True, that makes me feel a little better” his smile came back “alright but what about you? Miss Pink room with a wall sized mirror” he teased “pretty sure you can’t take that with you to a dorm smaller than your side of the shared room.”

“Hey! I use that mirror for checking my dance form” I playfully hit him “I’ll make do with what I’m allowed! It’s not the end of the world if the room isn’t pink.”

“Just this morning you were panicking that the ribbons you wore didn’t match your hero costume!”

“I have to serve the proctor’s my fem pink realness!” I whined “can’t kick ass if I don’t look and feel cute!”

“Silly” he laughed as he put his hand on my head, ruffling my hair “you’re always cute, even when you’re kicking ass in the wrong colored ribbons.”

That shit made my heart flutter and turned my body into goo. I didn’t even care if he messed up my hair a bit, I wanted him to keep telling me nice things as he put his caring hand on me. I wonder what’s going on in his head when I interact with him? He seems to always look happy or neutral when I’m around but do I make him feel like this too? The warmth of his nice words lingered with me well into the night that I almost forgot to tell my parents that I got licensed. Maybe I should be saying more nice things to him too.

-Saturday before training camp-

“Where’s mom?” I asked my dad.

“She got called in for some intel related things” he said as he turned off the stove “so Nikita will be joining us for dinner.”

Usually when mom gets called up for agent work, uncle Jin and aunty Mimi go with her too. And since Mimi is a single mother, she leaves Nikita under our care until they come back. It’s been like that since I could remember but Iwa has this anxiety whenever mom does on-call agent work. He doesn’t eat or sleep until she comes back, just sits and faces the front facing window in his room. I just know he’s up there right now in his fleece blanket, sitting and waiting. Nobody has broken him out of this habit and he’s too stubborn to listen to anybody’s advice. So we just let him be and hope that one day he’ll just stop on his own. 

“I’m hungies!” Oro’s announcement broke my thought.

“Go wash up first” my dad scolded “and help Nikita too.”

I waited until the brats were out of earshot “Dad, do you have any idea why Iwa-”

“Why Iwa just shuts off until your mom comes home?” he finishes my sentence and sighs “I do know actually and it scares me that he’s pushing us away.”

“Why?” I said almost demandingly “why does it scare you?”

He takes the plates out of the cupboard “Do you remember when we got broken into at the old house?” I nodded in response and watched him put the plates on the table “remember how Iwa didn’t want to hide in the nursery room and ran off to the stairs where your mom was facing off with the villain? He manifested his quirk upon seeing your mother in a compromised position” he put the last plate on the mat “I won’t lie to you Lili, your mother was going to die if Iwa didn’t interfere with his quirk and he knows it too. The trauma of it all and being so young has made him feel personally responsible to make sure your mother comes home safe.” He brings out the served bowls of rice “his quirk doesn’t help either, telekinesis makes you overthink and hard to cope with anxiety. Now he’s gotten better at handling his stress and body dysmorphia but this is the one thing he can’t shake off” he turns to me “your mother did the same thing when we were in high school and she pushed me away just like Iwa. She would disappear for days at a time and a few times she came back injured.”

“Where would she go?” I asked curiously.

“Wherever she pleased! The downtown area, the mountains, Mimi’s dorm or some upperclassmen’s party!” he turned to look at the stairs that lead to the rooms “I’m scared that Iwa is going to hurt himself like your mother did and I’m not going to let history repeat itself! I let Iwa know that his family is here for him at arms reach and that he isn’t alone and he’s surrounded by love.”

I was distracted for most of dinner, I really wanted to talk to Iwa about his side. After dinner, when the brats retreated to the guest room, I walked up to Iwa’s room.

“Iwee?” I knocked on the door “can I come in?” I halfway expected a ‘go away’ in response but instead he opened the door with his telekinesis “hey, I brought you some Takis.”

“What color?” he asked, not breaking from his spot at the window.

“Blue” I shook the bag to get his interest.

“Blue? As in, Azul Fuego Takis?!” he raised his voice as he pulled me in and shut the door “okay, offer accepted, what’s the haps?”

“I just wanted to check in on my fave.”

“Don’t lie to me bitch, I heard what dad told you” he levitated the bag of hot chips to him “and yes, it’s one of those trauma things but I push dad away because he makes things worse!”

“Worse?! The mans was just telling me that he doesn’t want you to end up like mom when they were teens!”

He pops the bag open “Yea and mom says that he made things worse for her!” the crunch of the chips startled me a bit “so like, mom told me some HOT tea about dad in the UA days. Dad is a noisy ass bitch, he gets all up in her business when she wants to be alone. And dad doesn’t know how to ask the right questions so it makes her feel like human garbage and she disappears to literally get away from dad’s noisiness.”

“That’s some tea!” I was shocked to hear this side of the story “so what the fuck?!”

“So mom tells me that it’s just dad trying to be a good dad but if he gets on my nerves, it’s okay that I feel like separating myself” he gets another chip from the bag “like, my anxiety isn’t that bad anymore. I’m actually starting to fall asleep after a while and I mostly just coop myself up here until midnight so I can be a kitchen gremlin and eat cold leftovers.”

“So dad is just over reacting? And you’re just chilling because things aren’t so bad anymore?”

He nods as he crunched on the chips “Yup, mom taught me how to cope better and I go to a therapist when things are getting overwhelming” he licks the chip dust off his fingers “plus I feel like I’m getting too old for this shit, might rejoin dinners when mom is away again or go to Beizu’s place for a boy’s night.”

“Here I was worried that you needed some love and support.”

“If it makes you feel better, you did a better job than dad when he’d beg me to eat something” he laughed “oh man the laughter I had to hold in when he’d start ranting on and on about healthy eating habits.”

“Well, if you’re just going to gremlin your way later to eat” I start heading to the door “then I’m going to bed, see you tomorrow!”

“Goodnight Lili”

That takes care of one of the things that worries me. He’s only 14 and we’ve always been together, since he was born. The night after the break in was the first night we had to sleep in different rooms and we didn’t take it so well. I saw him change and try to control his new abilities with mom’s help. He’d depend on me for so many things and he still does, so I don’t know how my move out is going to affect him. I don’t want my absence from home to strain the dynamic in my family. Too much to worry about, I should sleep it off.

-Chapter 4 End-

<Previous - Next> 

[stufftheysay]

Future Chrisee

[Here is the thing that Cathy wrote in the notebook and that Lee and I used to fight over. Minor edits.]

Chris was having a great day. Her staff were on their various assignments, leaving her alone in her office building. Even the assistants seemed to have disappeared. Under normal circumstances she’d have wondered about it, but after the week she’d had, any peace and quiet was welcome no matter how it came about. After a thorough inspection of the 3-story building by habit, she pushed back her swivel chair and propped her bare feet onto her desk with a sigh of gratitude.

Being the EIC of a big-time magazine really took it out of you sometimes. Besides, there was that… other thing. She gave an involuntary shiver. She’d been out with some friends a few days ago, and had just excused herself for some air when she saw him.

No, she thought, she hadn’t really seen him. She must’ve imagined him. All good reason dictated this alternative, but there he was in her mind’s eye–even in the middle of a crowded street she’d seen him right away. He was just how she remembered him; that glance she saw, his grin (taking up half his face), his posture (chin tilted ever so slightly upwards), his swagger (he always thought he was so awesome), and, of course, his illegally blond hair with its natural dark color peeking at he roots.

In that one glance, she’d seen everything about him that had once made her insides flutter in confusion, but there was something different. He still looked like her Ryan Lee, but the horror in his eyes upon meeting her gaze and the way he slipped into the crowd without so much as a greeting made it quite evident that something had built up between them during their seven or so years apart. She couldn’t understand why he had disappeared like that. Vi, Kazu, and Sol had changed since then, but she’d been there the whole time, a part of their lives.

But Lee? No, she hadn’t been there. He was probably a stranger now. He wasn’t her Lee anymore. She had been fingering her charm bracelet absentmindedly as she thought and now stopped as she touched the charm Jeremy had given her. He seemed so far away, just a distant memory in the jumble of her adolescent flashbacks. Was that all Lee was now? A distant personality realized by the occasional hallucination?

Chris couldn’t bear to think of that. She did think of him everyday at the back of her mind, but he was being pushed further and further behind, little by little. In fact, she hadn’t thought of him for a week until that incident outside the restaurant. She nearly smacked her palm onto her forehead for forgetting him. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

RIIING!

She started and grabbed the phone.

“Hello!” she said, a little too loudly.

“Hello, Chris,” said the calm voice on the line. “Are you alright?” She exhaled, annoyed at herself for thinking, hoping, that it might be Lee.

“No, she admitted, "How’d you know when to call me?”

“I didn’t,” the voice said, “I just gathered from the slightly hysterical tone of voice that you were distressed somewhat. Actually, I called with a dilemma of my own – but I think that yours needs more attention.”

“No, no,” Chris said. “Yours first.”

“No, you go on ahead.”

“No, you go first.”

“No, you go, I insist.”

“Violet,” Chris said impatiently.

“Fine.” Vi huffed and fell silent. Chris smiled patiently then heard a sniff. “Sol again?” she said sympathetically. More sniffles.

“Yes,” Vi said. “I mean, it’s not as bad as before, but sometimes I just feel so sad about it that I want to eat something sweet and icy in an industrial-sized serving.”

She paused to blow her nose. “It’s great that I don’t think about him every minute of the day anymore, but every week or so I get this whopper that seems to combine the whole week’s worth of… I don’t know, depression and longing, and it’s unbearable. I just can’t get over him, you know?” She paused again, this time getting a grip. “I just can’t get over the fact that he doesn’t love me back and he never will.”

“Don’t say that, Vi,” Chris said. “He loves you like a friend, but he loves you all the same. He has his own way of reciprocating your feelings for him. It’s just really subtle; that’s the way he is.”

“No,” Vi said miserably, “I’m just that person he talks to every now and then. I’m not even his friend…”

Chris began to get impatient. Violet was usually a strong person, but with matters involving Sol, she fell to pieces.

“Listen, Vi,” Chris said firmly but gently. “He does see you as a friend; one of his closest, as a matter of fact. He just doesn’t want that for the two of you, and if you really do love him as much as you say, you’ll respect that and move on. He wouldn’t like to see what this is doing to you because Vi, I don’t think it’s healthy anymore–” she stopped at the crack and clatter that came from the phone. “Vi?”

“It’s okay,” came her voice. “I just slapped my self and I dropped the phone by accident.”

Chris was at a loss of what to say. “W-why?”

“Oh, the force knocked it out of my hand.”

“No, why’d you slap yourself?”

“Oh, to get a grip. Usually a good physical shock sets my emotions straight. You’re right, I was being stupid. I shouldn’t let myself crack.”

“I’m glad,” Chris said. A silence ensued.

“So, what was your problem?” Vi asked. Chris had no idea where to start.

“I have no idea where to start,” she said.

“Start from the start,” Vi said encouragingly. So Chris did. She began from the sighting up to everything she was mulling over before the conversation. She described it all the best she could without sounding stupid and, seeing as she was the editor of a famous publication, she avoided that well enough.

“Wow,” Vi said quietly after Chris had finished. “Lee.”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed. They fell silent.

“We should tell Kazu and Sol,” Vi finally said.

“What?”

“About seeing Lee. It’s been ages since any of us have seen him, and maybe Sol would know something.”

“But we’re not sure I really did see him…”

“Well, I am. As far as I know, you’re not on drugs or touched in the head. So what you saw was probably the real deal, and the others should know about it.”

“Okay,” Chris said, suddenly reluctant. “Wait, what’re you going to ask Sol?”

“Oh.” Vi paused. “He probably has contacts in the government. He mentioned something like that before.” Chris knew Violet was blushing as she spoke. She sighed inwardly, knowing her friend would never ever let go and move on in the least.

“They might know his whereabouts,” Vi continued.

“Why the government?” Chris asked.

“Not just any government; the Russian government. You know how advanced their intel is. And they’d let Sol have anything he wants.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s funding one of their projects… I think…”

“You mean you don’t know?”

“No,” Vi admitted. “He’s never said anything about it. When I inquire, he changes the subject. Still, I know he’s important somehow.”

“Okay then,” Chris said. “I think I hear someone coming.” She did hear footsteps. “I have to go. Are you okay now?”

“Yeah,” Violet said. “Are you?”

“Yes,” Chris said, though she knew it was a lie. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

She put the phone down, just as someone knocked on the door. Crap, she was in no state for any work.

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to come back later. Is it urgent?” Chris called.

“I guess,” came an unfamiliar voice on the other side of the door.

Chris started. ‘I guess’? And who was it? None of her writers sounded like that. She gasped quietly. Could it be? No, it couldn’t possibly… could it? It seemed so. No, it didn’t. She was being paranoid. Gosh, she thought, and I was pissed at Vi for feeling like this.

“Come in,” she said.

Ring… Ring… Ring

“Hrng.”

“Hi Sol,” Vi said. “How’re you?”

“Hmgh. Vi, do you know what time it is here?”

“Uh… Eastern Russia.. Noon?”

“Exactly,” Sol muttered.

“Oh… uh… when’re you going to work?”

“Vi…” Sol said, a little more clearly, “I want to sleep.”

“Please, Sol?” Vi said sweetly. “Please with sugar–”

“Oh dear Baba Yaga, no baby talk!”

“Answer me then,” Vi said.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “I’m leaving in six hours, give or take. I have a meeting today.”

“With whom? Russian Intel?”

“What?” Sol said. “How’d you know?”

“I have my sources.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Fine,” Vi huffed. “Just get them to find out where Lee is, okay?”

“What?” Sol said, waking up a little more. “Why? What happened?”

“Just get a location, background, whatever, okay?”

“Vi,” Sol said, “Tell me.”

Violet hesitated. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really want Sol to find out Lee was back. Sol hadn’t shown any tendencies of that sort for a while, but maybe he would if Lee returned. To tell the truth, she was slightly glad that he’d disappeared from their lives. With Lee out of the picture, she’d been hoping Sol would come to his senses and notice her. If Lee came back, her chances would be reduced to zero once again.

“Chris was just wondering. It was…” Vi caught herself. It wasn’t nothing. How could she have forgotten Chris? How could she have been so selfish? It was as if Chris hadn’t spent all these years pining like Vi did. Sol needed to know. He could help. What kind of friend would I be, she scolded herself, if I put my stupid selfish self before Chris?

“No, it’s not nothing. Chris saw Lee again.”

“WHAT?” Vi had to move the earpiece away. “She really did?”

“Yes,” Vi said, feeling depressed already, “She did.”

“Where?”

“LA, California.”

“When?”

“Three days ago,” she said reluctantly. She could hear his excitement. He was so happy, she thought with a smile. “Oh, isn’t it great, Sol?”

“Yeah, we’re going to see him again,” Sol said. “Heck, I’ll leave now.”

“You’re sure?” Vi said. “You don’t feel the slightest bit sleepy?”

Sol fell silent. “After a nap, then,” he said. Violet laughed.

“Thanks, Sol.”

“No, thank you,” he said before hanging up.“

Vi sat by the phone, remembering every word he’d said in that sublime voice of his. And Sol paused to appreciate how nice her laugh sounded before slumping back into bed.

[Cathy: AHHHHSSOOOLLL ZOMFG.]

Chris held her breath. The door opened too slowly. Too slowly. Too slowly.

"Your delivery, ma'am.”

CRAP. Just some delivery boy. It took every bit of her to conceal her disappointment.

“Oh, come in,” she murmured. The youth entered with a book-sized package.

“Sign here please.” Chris signed. “Thank you.” He exited, leaving Chris to stare at the package and wallow in her disappointment.

Sighing, she opened the package. A single piece of paper fluttered to the floor. What? Intrigued, Chris examined it. It was a reservation slip to Paint, a restaurant located in a prime downtown spot. 8:00 tonight, she mused, now who would want to meet me at the most expensive restaurant in downtown Los Angeles?

No… she thought. No friggin way. It’s not him. It can’t be. You’re just getting your hopes up, like with that stupid package. She stared blankly at the paper, then began to pace around the room. Of course she was going, but to what cost? What was coming next, the end of all the haunting memories or another crushing disappointment? Shit, she’d cut her nails last night. She contented herself with gnawing at her index finger as she stormed around her room. It was only 5, how could she possibly wait? What could she do?

Coming to a decision, she picked up the phone and dialed Violet.

Sol approached a dreary building situated in the heart of the city. Aside from the fact that it was newly painted a titanium white, it seemed no different from its neighbors. Same lack of style, same dark windows, and same number of sentries patrolling it.

They stiffened and gave Sol a stiff salute as he entered, stepping into a stark white lobby. At the far end stood a wooden desk where a fair-haired woman in a charcoal black business suit sat. She brightened up visibly.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Griever,” she said with a dazzling smile.

“I’ll be meeting Ivanovitch downstairs,” he said.

“Oh no, sir. You have a meeting with the board in 20 minutes,” she said with the same smile.

“Do I now?” Sol glanced at his PDA. “Doesn’t say so here.”

“But, sir…” the woman began. Sol smiled.

“Jenny, I don’t have any meetings today. Do you understand?” he said gently. Her face dawned in comprehension.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said gleefully. “Actually, it would be quite easy to… arrange a resched. Would tomorrow suit you?”

“No,” Sol said, “Postpone it indefinitely.” Jenny was surprised.

“Indefinitely? Sir, are you sure?”

“Quite,” he replied. “Something came up and it needs my full attention. Can it be arranged, Jenny?” She opened and closed her mouth a few times then nodded. Sol smiled that cattish smile of his.

“Excellent. I’ll see you later.” He turned to the elevators.

Jenny leaned back in her seat. It was now or never. She had no idea when she’d have another opportunity to ask him. Sol was usually surrounded by the other secretaries. But how to ask him? She had prepared something witty to say the night before, but it had taken flight at the sight of him. Meanwhile, the elevator dinged.

“Wait, Mr. Griever!” she called as he entered. He held the door as she came skidding across the hall. “Yes?” he asked.

“Uh…” she quailed. “We have matching suits. You know, charcoal black. It suits your hair. It looks awful with mine.” If he was surprised, he showed no sign of it.

“Astute observations,” he said coolly, “Though I beg to differ with the latter.” With that he allowed the elevator doors to slide shut.

Once alone, he rolled his eyes, leaned against the wall, and watched the electronic display. Basement 2, B3, B4… B26. Ah, finally, B29.

He stepped out of the elevator into a small antechamber bathed in red light. He stood on a red square in the middle as hidden devices ensured that he was, in fact, Sol Griever. After a while, the wall to his right slid open to reveal a computer laboratory of sorts. He entered and navigated the maze of equipment until he came to a pile of lab coats on the floor.

“Ivanovitch, wake up, it’s past noon,” he addressed the laundry in Russian. It stirred and out poked a head of an unshaven man.

“Speak for yourself,” he growled, reverting to his original position. “As if you don’t spend your day in a pseudo-coma.” Sol put his hands in his pockets and waited. After a while, the man straightened up and scratched his lower back area.

“Fine, fine,” he muttered. “What is it now, you good-for-nothing pretty boy?”

Sol took the abuse in stride. “I need a favor.”

“Of what nature?”

“Intel,” Sol replied. For the first time since he’d woken, the man looked him in the eye.

“For what purpose?”

Sol considered his answer. “Personal.”

“Explain.”

“I can’t do that,” Sol replied, raising his hands.

“Then I can’t help you,” Ivanovitch snapped. “Shame on you, waking an old man like me for no good reason.”

Sol watched as he resumed his laundry-like state. He sighed. Time to turn up the charm.

“Can’t you do an old friend a favor?” Sol asked.

“Old friend, my ass. My old friends are far past their expiration dates, unlike you. You’re just a manufacturing defect.”

“You’re just a crusty crab,” Sol replied, beginning to get irritated.

“Oh, cartoon references, now. Running out of things to say, aren’t you, you airhead poster boy?”

“Look, old man,” Sol said coolly. “I fund your projects. Never mind that the board would never fire you, but your position is nothing without my financial support. Now you’d better do me this one measly favor unless you want your previous projects to come crashing down on your geriatric head.”

Ivanovitch regarded him with surprise. “You used your money in a threat,” he observed. “Is it that urgent a matter?”

Sol gave him a look.

“Okay, that’s a yes. Well then,” he got up and made to the nearest swivel chair. “What do you need?”

Sol sat on a swivel of his own. “Tell me all you can about Ryan Tsang Lee.”

Another surprised look. “What do you have to do with him?” Ivano asked.

“What’s with that reaction?”

“I asked you first.”

“I’m just curious.”

“No, you’re not just curious, you lying brat. Don’t try to fool me.”

“Fine,” Sol surrendered. “He’s an old friend of mine and I want to know how he is. Now answer my question, what was with that reaction?” Sol was unsettled by the old man’s expression. They were silent for a while until he spoke again.

“I think you’d better find that out on your own,” Ivano said, starting to type at a computer station. Sol felt his stomach churn. Why did he feel like he was going to be slapped in the face by some horrible fact? A large monitor flickered to life with a profile of Lee. Sol took one glance at it and gagged.

“A criminal profile?!” he said, momentarily losing his cool. Ivano shrugged, not knowing what to say.

Sol scanned the screen. What was this? Wanted in eight countries on accounts of smuggling and piracy, amongst other charges. Other charges, his head spun, surely he hadn’t killed anyone? No, surely not. He couldn’t have. Sol was glad he was already seated. What the hell had Lee gotten himself into? Living like this, he was bound to run into trouble! Oh God, Sol thought, he’s a criminal! And he’s going to get himself killed. He’s going to get himself killed because we weren’t there to smack him into the right freaking direction.

He froze as a horrible thought occurred to him. How was he going to tell the others? They were going to take it even harder than he was right now. Kazu’d be so sad. He already had an admirable amount of control over his abilities, but he still might generate something that’d hurt him. Violet was such a worrywart, she’d probably worry herself to death (an exaggeration of course).

And Chris. Sol couldn’t imagine how she’d take it. Okay, fine, he could. She’d hunt Lee down so she could whack him on the arm. But supposed that wouldn’t do anything? (Which was highly likely.) She’d worry most of all.

“Sol.” Sol looked up in surprise. This was the first time Ivano had ever addressed him by his first name. He handed Sol a cup of instant noodles. Sol looked at it incredulously.

“Is this supposed to cheer me up?”

“No, you idiot. It’s your dinner.”

“What?” Sol said in disbelief. “Have I been out that long?” Ivano said nothing and pushed his chair over to Sol.

“What will you do now?” he asked in a gentle way not common of him. Sol gulped down the piping hot soup.

“I have to tell the others,” he said after he’d finished the cup. “I’ve found out what we needed to know and I’ll have to tell them.”

“Even Ms. Wilson?”

“What?” Sol said. “How’d you–?”

Ivano shrugged. “I’m a leading scientist in the Russian intelligence department. I have to do something in my free time.”

“Stalk my friends?” Sol asked.

“Heavens, no. Just a little research here and there.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Sol said disbelievingly. Surprisingly, he wasn’t that miffed about the fact that Ivano probably knew a disturbing amount of information about Sol.

“Yeah, even Christine,” Sol said quietly. Ivano regarded him for a moment.

“Personally?”

“What?”

“Good grief, Griever. That’s the nth time you’ve said 'what’. Think, man, think. You can’t keep questioning me. I might not know.”

Sol thought about it. “Yes, I think I’ll tell her personally.”

“And how do you propose to do that?”

“A jet,” Sol said. “How else?”

Ivano rolled his eyes. “Of course, your sources,” he said. “Forgive me for forgetting to bow down to your almighty wealth.”

“Your point?”

“It’s not the travel you need to worry about. I mean how will you say it?” Sol was at a loss of what to say.

“I suggest,” Ivano said, “You take Ms. Young and Mr. Toshiro with you.” Sol nodded.

“Anything else?”

“I’d hurry if I were you.”

Sol hurried to the elevator and then turned back just as the doors slid open. “Oh, Ivanovitch?”

“Hrgngh?”

“Thank you.”

“Hrngh.”

The elevator dinged shut.

Kazu didn’t know what to do. Sol had just called. He was going to pick him up at Tokyo International Airport in 5 hours. More or less, he had said. I’m picking up Vi on the way, so I might take a while.

Being more perceptive than Vi, Kazu had heard the worried undertone in Sol’s voice, but decided not to ask about it. Whatever Sol-kun had on his mind, it was up to him to tell them. Still, Kazu worried. He sensed something looming on the horizon; if it was malevolent or benevolent, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t so much the uncertainty that made him uneasy, it was more of the waiting.

Kazu picked up his old stuffed tiger and set it on his lap. “Tora-kun,” he addressed it, as was his habit, “What do we do now?”

The tiger looked ahead with its deep glassy eyes. Of course he wouldn’t answer, Kazu thought a touch sadly, it’s always been that way. The worrying, and the waiting by himself. He never let it bother him, though. It made no sense to live life and not be happy. He always pushed aside his worries about the future and lived the now, laughing, smiling, living. Not many people noticed the will behind his smiles and playfulness–only when they felt their spirits rise when he was around did they feel it. Kazu never wanted just himself to be happy, he also did everything in his power to make others happy too. At the moment, this kind of thoughtfulness made Kazu shake his head.

“What am I thinking?” he said as though scolding himself. “I can’t just stay here and do nothing. But where to start….” He paused. “Oh! I’ll finish up that concert I was working on!”

He set Tora-kun on his desk and turned on the CD player. He’d memorized every track on this CD, but he liked having the music pumping in his ears while he was dancing. As the starting notes of the opening song filled the air, Kazu felt his worries melt away.

“This is the perfect way to spend the next few hours, ne, Tora-kun?” he said, as he gleefully burst into action at his cue.

2 more hours. Chris was now languishing in her apartment. After her assistant editor-in-chief had showed up, she’d gone home discreetly. To choose a dress? No, how could she get ready properly with her mind in such a tumult? Besides, would a dress be too fancy? Maybe just slacks and a nice blouse. No, she thought, in panic as she lay on her bed, none of my blouses are nice!

She let herself scream inwardly for a moment, and then got a grip. Okay, Chris, she thought, while clamping her hands on her head, Relax. You’re having pre-date syndrome. It’s only Lee. It’s only the guy you’ve been pining for for a fricking seven years. No, it might not even be him. No one had signed the card. And, she thought bitterly, Paint is so not his type of restaurant. It’s too classy for him; it’s more of a Vi or a Sol sort of place. No, she caught herself, maybe he’s classier now. Yeah, that’s it! He’s just matured in his tastes, she thought, leaping up, then slumping onto the bed again.

Holy crap, she thought, what if he’s classier than I am? I’m going to look so stupid. She began pacing. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

Violet tapped her feet on the tarmac. It was awfully windy out on the wide expanse of runway. The breeze tugged at her deep blue ankle-length corduroy skirt and her long grey scarf. Huffing, she wound it once more, scanning the area for Sol’s private jet. She realized with a jolt of self-annoyance that she had completely forgotten to ask what his jet looked like, and that the shuttle that had dropped her off in this small shelter-less shuttle stop was already halfway to the terminal.

The icy winter wind nipped at her exposed skin, making it sting as though it was being burned. Crap, she thought as she huddled for warmth. Stupid girl, never thought of asking for damned directions. Now the “stupid girl” had to wait for the shuttle to come back. Just when she was considering walking back to the terminal, she heard someone’s voice.

“Violet?”

She turned, and, to her relief, saw a familiar figure standing just outside the meager light from the vending machines. Their glow only highlighted the silver streaks in his hair, the contours of his face, and the fact that he wasn’t wearing warm enough clothing for such a cold, blustery night; still, that was enough for her to see that it was Sol standing there, a few paces away.

“Sol?” she still said, just to be sure.

“Hi, Violet.” He stepped closer, smiling that smile of his. “How are you?” To her horror, Vi found herself at a loss for words. After going a year or so without actually seeing him face-to-face, she wasn’t prepared for… this. She had almost forgotten how he stood (with his back slightly tilted to the side and his head erect), how he dressed (bordering between fashion reject and trendsetter), and, oh, his smile. She nearly gasped and began to feel dizzy from lack of air. Was she still breathing?

“Fine. Cold. Ravenous,” she found herself saying in a casual way that she had never found herself using before. Heck, it even sounded like a joke, not an appropriate series of speech bursts coming from her now-disjointed brain. Sol picked up her luggage and led the way.

“Well, the jet’s not much warmer, sorry about that. But it has dinner.” He looked back to check that she hadn’t lost her way in the semi-darkness. “I trust that’s enough compensation for the temperature.”

“As long as it’s sweet,” Vi said with a shaky laugh. Uh-oh. Whatever had possessed her a few seconds ago and apparently gone AWOL now. Oh well, she could blame any future shakiness on the cold. She had a solid idea of what Sol’s definition of cold was and thus knew that the jet was going to be even chillier than the wind was now. If that’s possible, Vi thought, buttoning up her charcoal-black blazer with her numb, shaking hands.

One more hour. Chris had picked out a midnight blue dress with a slightly lighter sash. She wasn’t yet wearing it, nor was she putting it back into her closet. All she could do was stare at it, wait, and imagine.

On the plane to Tokyo, Vi had fallen asleep on a couch. Sol came to put a blanket over her shoulders before taking his seat on an armchair across the cabin. He watched her sleeping form and its peaceful raise and fall of her breath, and sighed. It would be better for all of them if he left the telling for later, when they picked up Kazu. The two would worry less and he would be spared from breaking the news twice.

How tranquil she seemed when she was unconscious. He shifted guiltily. Why did he have to be the one to tell them? He gazed out the window. Strange, he didn’t feel sleepy at all.

Miles away, Kazu stared at the night sky through the floor-to-ceiling window. Here he was… waiting again, as always.

The ripples have spread, but what of the rock that caused them? What about the person who’d set this entire plot in motion?

Ryan Lee could definitely be called a rock at the best of times. Most of the time, people didn’t bother with “rockhead” and just called him an idiot. He always insisted that he was intelligent; he just didn’t know how to show it.

“Boss, this isn’t on the agenda for tonight,” said a man in a white, long-sleeved polo and dark jeans. He, along with his two companions, were walking down a boulevard in downtown LA. One of the two, a dark-skinned man with a slight build, scanned the nearly empty street with his piercing gaze.

“Not too many civilians out tonight. Not much cover. We should go back,” he murmured. The last member of the threesome, an Asian with fair hair, made a dismissive sound.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t stay out that long. Besides,” he turned to the first speaker, “There’s nothing on the agenda for tonight. I made sure of that.”

“Boss,” the man replied. “That’s for tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is free. Tonight you have to pick up some dry cleaning…” He stopped at the withering glare he received.

“Karim, do it. I’m busy. Ah,” he said, stopping at a restaurant, “Here we are. Right, I’ll see you two later.” With a mock salute, he entered the building, leaving the subordinates on the sidewalk.

“You know,” the dark one said, “You’d think I was used to him by now, but he still astounds me.”

“Agree,” the other said. “I still can’t believe he is what he is and still acts like this.”

The dark one’s name was Karim. He specialized in numerous forms of tribal tortures from Asia and Africa. Aside from manipulative procedures, he was a master of several Eastern martial arts. He could not understand why he, a merciless dealer of pain, was stuck fetching laundry for his imbecile of a boss.

The snappy dresser’s name was Lesotho. No one quite knew what his special skills were, save for his mad secretarial skills. He too could not think of what they had done to deserve such a pathetic job. Maybe it was that time in Calcutta, when they’d killed that diplomat… They’d forgotten to pick off the rest of his family and were now suffering the consequences of their carelessness by suffering as personal assistants to the sorriest excuse for a gang leader that had ever lived.

In fairness to Lee, he wasn’t that horrible at it, but still had a set of moral principles (albeit warped ones), and that never boded well for anyone in the gang world. Lesotho sighed and irritably flicked his pale bangs off his face.

“Let’s you and I bow to the inevitable, then,” he said. Karim nodded, and the brothers in ill-fortune started towards the cleaners.

Lee was getting impatient. He’d been waiting at the table for 45 minutes and had already gone through two baskets of bread sticks. Where was she, he thought in irritation. I take time out to meet with her and this is what I get?

He leaned back and hooked his arm over the back of his chair. She lived in the area (barely 30 minutes away), she had a car (even if she didn’t, would it kill her to take the train?), and if all means of transportation were barred somehow, couldn’t she walk? What’s taking her, he thought as he ran ihis fingers through his hair.

Traffic? Nah, it was a work night, not too many people about. Think, he told himself, think harder. A waitress tried not to laugh at his look of intense concentration as she passed.

Aha! Maybe she can’t decide what to wear! But come on, he scoffed, as if I care about something as stupid as what she wears. Comforted somewhat, he resumed his consumption of Paint’s complimentary breadsticks.

I’M LATE! SHIT!!!

Chris squirmed in the taxi seat, trying to keep herself from screaming.

“How much farther?” she asked as politely as she could. The taxi driver consulted the meter. 12 more dollars until he reached his day’s pay.

“Oh, very far, miss. I’d say 20 more blocks.”

Chris sighed in impatience. “That’s what you said the last time…”

“Oh? Well, that must be the old brain going in my ripe age.”

“Well, considering your brains are leaving you, we wouldn’t happen to be lost, would we?”

“Oh, no, Miss,” he said. “Not at all.” He wasn’t lying, and Chris knew it. She thought for a while.

“Stop the taxi,” she commanded. He obeyed and protested as she shoved some bills into his hands.

“This ain’t nearly enough!… Miss,” he added quickly. Chris gave him a narrow-eyed glare.

“Look, I don’t have time for the usual round-trip to increase the fare. Get another sucker tonight. Good night.” With that she slammed the door and hurried down the street. This had to be faster, she thought. Now, where the heck was Paint? She was in the middle of a virtually empty street and, as the previous taxidriver had driven away in annoyance, there was not a mode of transportation in sight. She was stranded in the middle of LA.

Stupid, she thought, allowing herself one facepalm, stupid, stupid. She’d let her impatience get the better of her. Of course the taxi would’ve been faster, at least he might’ve known where the freaking restaurant was. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought as she ran down the street. This seemed right. She had emerged into a busy street. She went up to the nearest person, one of those unfortunate people giving out fliers while wearing a chicken suit.

“Excuse me,” she said, trying her best not to laugh. “Could you please direct me to Paint?”

“Buckawwk!” the man replied. “Wouldn’t you rather eat at Joe’s Chicken Shack?”

“No, thanks,” Chris said hurriedly before backing away into the crowd. As she merged with the solid moving mass of passersby, she sighed at the stupidity of her situation. 1.) She was lost. Since when did she ever get lost? 2.) She was lost in a place she was familiar with. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Miss?”

Chris looked up to see a snappily dressed man looking down at her. Then again, didn’t everyone look down at her?

“Yes?” she said cautiously.

“Did I hear you ask about Paint?” he asked. Chris nearly laughed.

“Yes, you did. Why?”

“Well, I’m a waiter on my way to my shift there. If you want, you can accompany me, or the other way around, whichever suits you best,” he said shyly. Chris smiled, fighting back hysterical laughter.

“Whichever,” she repeated. “Lead the way.”

“Sol-kun!” Kazu said, leaping up. “Vi-chan!”

Vi returned his hug warmly. “Nice to see you too,” she said, smiling. Kazu pulled away and carefully looked at her.

“Vi-chan, did you just have an attack?” he asked with his brow furrowed slightly. She smiled weakly once again and smoothed Kazu’s slightly disheveled hair.

“I missed you,” she said. Kazu said nothing and lifted his bag, only to have it gently pulled from his grasp. Sol hefted it into a comfortable position in the crook of his arm. Kazu looked up at him and was surprised to see that he didn’t need to crane his neck so much anymore. Sol saw this on his little friend’s face and smiled.

“Shall we?” he said, leading the way.

Oh crap, Chris thought, this is it. She was finally standing in front of Paint. 9:30, she figured, wasn’t too late. Maybe he’d still be waiting… Yes, of course he’d wait. After all, she’d been waiting for so long…

By now, she’d already let go of all doubts about the identity of whoever had sent her the reservation card. Foolish it may seem, but in the recent events that had transpired, Chris had gotten a little unhinged. All her years of waiting had to add up to something, something that seemed to be happening right now. In her mind, there was no doubt that once she walked into those double doors, it would be the end of waiting. She pushed them open and walked through. No more waiting, she thought, for Lee.

“Ryan.”

Lee looked up from the candle he’d been staring at and grinned. Finally, she was here. He got up and pulled his guest’s chair out for her. The brunette smiled appreciatively and made sure to shift her hair to the left. If Lee had smelled the perfume she’d released, he showed no sign of it.

“What do you want to order?” he asked. The girl blinked. Once. Twice. Too many times to count.

“Nothing,” she said in a tone of finality. Surprised, Lee put down the menu he had snitched from a passing waiter.

“Nothing?” he asked quietly. She smiled. Lee felt her legs push against his under the table. He fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Please,” he said as politely as he could, “Let’s be professional.” She huffed.

“What is up with you, Ryan?” She twisted a lock of hair around her finger. “All work and no…” She paused and looked at him straight in the eye. “…Play.” Lee miraculously managed not to retch.

Being the head of an international underground operation had its perks: the money, the henchmen, you know, the works. But there was just one thing that he just couldn’t stand and it was tolerating his business partners’ stupid daughters. They all seemed to think that just because he was tight with their Daddies, they were entitled to him.

The only way Lee could stand any of them was to, well, be as dull as he could to scare them off second dates. This one, though, hadn’t been put off by the first. She somehow guessed that he couldn’t possibly be the dork he pretended to be. Hello? How could he have become a big time bootlegger without being badass, therefore in her eyes, desirable? This one, Lee thought with an inward groan, was smarter than the rest. What was she talking about now? Oh, shopping. He hated shopping.

“…love shopping. Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Lee replied automatically. “It’s a ball.” What a waste of time. If her stupid Daddy weren’t a key business prospect, he wouldn’t need to listen to her stupid girl talk.

“…are so stupid. Don’t you agree?”

“Very stupid.” Lee said with a little more gusto than he meant to put out. How much longer would he have to suffer this insanity?

Chris was directed to a corner table which, much to her annoyance, was blocked off from the rest of the room by an enormous leafy plant. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep an eye out for that distinctive blond-on-black hair color combination, or anything else for that matter. She settled into her seat contentedly. Oh well, she figured, at least I’ll get to see Lee again. I wonder what he’s been up to… well, he must’ve thought of me at some point, he did call the rendezvous…

“Ms. Wilson?”

Chris didn’t look up. She didn’t care about anyone who wasn’t Lee and the person who had addressed her as such most definitely wasn’t him. A middle-aged man sat in the seat opposite her. She jumped slightly.

“Yes, sir?” Whoops, it was someone older than her. The voice had sounded her age, someone she could’ve ignored without any qualms. Older people were a different story.

“Colin Packard,” he said, shaking her hand. “I’m a reporter for a local newspaper which,” he winked, “Is better off left unnamed. I’ve some information for your front page which I think you’ll–”

“I’m sorry,” Chris said, frowning. “I don’t run a gossip magazine. Don’t think I wouldn’t recognize you, either. You’re that columnist for that tabloid that shut down the other day.”

“What?” he asked, flustered.

“Yes,” she continued. “You’re Nathan Glick, not Colin Packard, and no, you’re not getting a job from me.” He opened his mouth but closed it again. Yeah, Chris thought, whatever.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she continued. “I’m waiting for whoever reserved this table and I’d like to keep that seat free.” Nathan Glick gave her a curious look.

“Ms. Wilson, I reserved the table. I was hoping to make a good impression, but apparently…” Chris stopped listening. She felt the world collapse into a black hole of disappointment. At that moment, there was nothing but a blast of aching loss and stabbing despair. There was no Lee after all. As it was, in the company of the unscrupulous reporter, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“Ms… Wilson?” Packard said. Chris stood.

“Excuse me,” she sobbed as she left, leaving Packard wondering what he had said wrong. She pushed her way through the tables and, in her haste, knocked a tray out of a waiter’s hand.

“Oh no! I’m sorry! So sorry! I’ll pay for it!” Chris said, fumbling with her purse. The waiter gave her a withering look and began listing the expenses. The dishes,the carpet’s dry cleaning, his uniform’s dry cleaning… Crap, Chris thought, I don’t have enough cash. I’m screwed.

There was a commotion across the restaurant. Lee hooked his arm over the chair and craned his head backwards. Some girl seemed to have spilled food on a waiter. He couldn’t see her face since she had her back facing him and she was rummaging through her purse. He squinted. Was it just him or had he seen her somewhere before? He caught a flash of her profile when she glanced at the door and he drew a breath.

It was her. There was no mistaking the sheen of her wavy hair, the way she tucked it behind her ear with her middle finger, and the graceful curve of her spine when she turned. Yes, that was definitely his Chris.

He had to leave. He’d been careless enough to let her glimpse him once; he couldn’t afford it again. If she did see him, he might be tempted to stay, and he knew how dangerous that would be for the both of them.

“Are you checking her out?” his companion said, narrowing her eyes.

“No,” Lee said irritably. Stupid girl, what did he care if she was jealous? What was her name,anyway? He continued watching Chris’s situation, which was getting worse. The waiter was calling the manager and Chris looked like she couldn’t pay. Lee was torn. Should he risk both their positions for something this stupid? Sure she’d have to wash a few dishes, but was that so bad? Was it worth being able to speak to her again?

He was jolted out of his reverie by a stilettoed kick. Lee gave the girl the sharpest glare he could muster. She looked at him innocently and pouted. He had to fight the temptation to chuck a breadstick at her bratty face, but turned back to the table anyway.

Her kick had brought him back to reality. He was a marked man; Chris was not. Her life was here in LA; his was anywhere his… work took him. He bowed to reality. He hated this girl and he couldn’t even begin to describe how much he felt for Chris. He was doomed to spend the rest of the evening with this bimbo and the rest of his life without Chris.

“Sorry,” he muttered, not meaning it one bit.

This is a horrible evening, Chris thought bitterly as she stormed out of the service entrance of Paint. She’d spent the night mopping the kitchen floor and running menial errands for the sadistic head chef. That woman… Chris wished she’d been there to see the look on her face when her best kitchen knife fell apart in the middle of a chopping session. For the millionth time that night, she felt like crying.

“Geez,” she said out loud. After a moment’s consideration, she set off towards her apartment, or at least in the direction she thought would bring her closest. She had to walk at a painfully slow pace. Any faster and her aching feet would scream louder than they already were. She could only stand a few minutes. Shuffle, shuffle (Ow), shuffle (Crap this hurts), shuffle, shuffle… She had to stop and rest. Who knew kitchen work was this taxing? Heck, what had she done to deserve this cruddy day?

She ached all over, from her throbbing feet to the dull void of disappointment eating her from the inside. And she knew why. It was because she’d allowed herself to hope for more than she should have. She hadn’t known for sure that who she’d seen that day in the crowd was Lee, yet she’d let herself believe it.

Now here she was, wallowing in the accumulation of the loss and longing of seven years because she’d allowed it to crescendo instead of keeping it safe in a recess of her heart like a sensible person would. Serves her right for keeping her feelings unchecked. She checked them now and slowly became aware of her surroundings.

It was unusually dark that night (never a good sign, even in the movies). The air around her was still, like a dark curtain smothering an unused room. No, wait, it wasn’t completely silent. She could hear shuffling, scraping sounds all around her. They sounded like… feet in rubber shoes being dragged over the cemented street, in a slow, unsteady gait like that of a drunken man.

Chris’s hearing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t this accurate either. All her senses seemed to be wide open now. She could hear the attempted stealth in the walker’s pace, she could smell the trace of alcohol lazily hanging in the air and, worst of all, she could hear more than one pair of drunken feet making its way towards her. Her brain took in all of this information and, from it, processed a plan of sorts. It started with Okay, don’t panic.

Chris quickened her pace, forgetting the pain in her feet in the adrenaline she could feel coursing through her. How many were there? She couldn’t say. Three was a safe bet, though. Could she outrun them? No, she was too tired. Even emergency couldn’t fix that. Outsmart them? With what? She could barely see outside the pools of light cast by the street lamps, much less anything that could help her. Call for help? No, she didn’t want to make them do anything drastic. She knew that she was their target, she didn’t need to turn around and look at them to see that. The footsteps were getting faster. Now she looked. There were three of them. Huge, well-built, and not as drunk as she’d thought them to be. They were running too fast for that. She turned and ran, following the line of lights. If they caught up to her while she was in the light, maybe there’d be witnesses. In the dark, there was no hope for that. She glanced back.

They were gaining. Dang these heels.

Lee shivered. Something cold had just run down his spine. He had left his… 'date’ prematurely in hopes of keeping his sanity and was just about to make for his hotel room. Unfortunately, his people were taking their time in picking him up, leaving him outside in the cold… waiting.

The shiver had nothing to do with the cold, though. He’d always had these funny feelings (or premonitions, as Violet would lecture him), but had ignored them since he learned that this kind of intuition was known to be a feminine trait (also revealed to him by Violet). He smiled at the memory of her with her hands on her hips, giving him a sermon on one thing or another. Chris’d always be nearby, grinning from ear to ear, enjoying seeing someone else verbally abuse Lee.

He had to stop himself from gasping in a most un-macho manner. He could see Chris with her arms folded, with her braided hair, and that wonderful superior look on her face. She looked Lee straight in the eye and said, “Yeah, idiot.”

He snapped out of it. He was once again looking at the nearly empty street in front of the restaurant, Paint. No Chris, just cement and the occasional passing vehicle.

What the heck?

Dead end. Now, what, she thought, had possessed her to run from the safety of the light and into this dark alley? She turned, meaning to retrace her path, and found it blocked by three hulking silhouettes.

Stay calm, Chris.

“Go tie her down,” one said.

Don’t panic, Chris.

“Why do you get to go first?” another spat, moving forward anyway. Chris took a step back and made a split second assessment of her situation.

She was outnumbered.

She wasn’t familiar with the surroundings.

Owing to her attire, she was in no position to fight.

As she stepped back, her heel snagged on a rock, effectively twisting her ankle and rendering her already-exhausted feet useless.

She opened her mouth and screamed bloody murder.

Lee heard a scream. Probably his mind playing tricks again. It was making a habit of that tonight.

Stupid brain, he thought.

One of the men chuckled. “Oh look, she’s even fallen down,” he said.

“It’s called fainting, you moron, ” the first replied. “Haven’t you ever done this before?”

“No,” said the stupid one, bending down to bind Chris. “But I have to learn sometime, right?”

Chris’s good foot connected with his nose. She hated how this seemed to be a routine for them. She was not going down without a fight. If defeat was inevitable, then she’d knock off as many of these bastards as she could… starting with the stupid one.

Lee heard another scream, this one sounding more male. He shifted uncomfortably. This one sounded real. He’d heard it many times before, in free-for-all brawls, when rookies’ limbs were broken. He decided to head towards it. Just to, you know, check it out.

The thug keeled over, giving Chris a chance to kick him in the prize jewels as he fell. He wouldn’t be getting up for a while. She cried out when a pair of hands grabbed her wrists and hauled her to her feet. She felt the first man (who seemed to be the leader) lean over and put his face just a few inches from hers. He seemed to be examining her. Chris wished he’d stop–his sour breath was asphyxiating her.

“You’re really something,” he remarked lightly. “Downing Henry on his first night.” He paused. “Wow.”

Chris was now thoroughly confused. What kind of a criminal was this guy? If he had any sense, she should have been unconscious a long time ago. Maybe, she thought with a thrill of dread, he didn’t need precautions like that. She struggled against her captor. No use. His massive hands had her wrists in an unbreakable grip. She stomped down where she thought his foot was and scraped his shin with her heel. Thick boots and thick pant leg. Damn.

The bear-like man laughed. This was just a game for them. She screamed again as she was slammed to the floor. There was still a huge weight on her arms, but she kicked for all she was worth. She hollered again and felt her heels being pulled off.

“Can’t have these troubling us,” one said, Chris wasn’t sure who. “Shall we get started?”

“After you,” replied the other. “She’s chained to the dumpster, nice and tight.”

Chris blinked. Chained?

Lee was close enough to hear the struggle now. The screams sounded horribly familiar.

Chains! Chains! Chains! The word had never sounded better! Suckers, Chris thought. She concentrated and melted them into a puddle, then a good solid bar, not moving a muscle as she did. One of them leaned over her.

“She’s being awfully – UNKH!”

She swung it onto the top of his head and rolled out of the way as he fell face-first unto cold, hard cement. Chris - 2, Losers - 0.

"What–?” the other began. With a grunt, Chris swung the bar like a golf club and hit him squarely in his masculinity before aiming for the back of his head as well. He joined his companions on the ground, unconscious before he came in contact with it. The first one was still awake. Chris saw it in his tensed muscles and fixed the problem with another well aimed swing. Hole-in-one, she thought, grinning.

Lee came to the source of the commotion and immediately saw that he’d come too late. Not that it mattered. Three thugs were spread on the floor like peanut butter. Whoever this chick was, she’d sure licked them good. Speaking of which, he turned his attention to the would-be victim. He saw her holding some kind of metal bar. It glinted as she whirled around and then poised to strike him.

She took out three guys on her own, Lee thought in the split second it took for him to jump over the bodies and hold her arm down. Not bad for a chick. He didn’t see the roundhouse punch until it hit him in the eye.

Chris was on a roll. First she’d taken out three losers, and then she’d finished off the late one who’d come to join the party. Or to have his butt kicked, Chris thought, with a follow-up punch. To her shock, he grabbed her wrist.

“Chill!” he said, “I’m on your side!”

Chris was having too crappy a night to believe him. She attempted to kneed him but found he had moved a yard away before she could lift her knee.

“Seriously!” he said. “I won’t do anything to you! Look, you have the bat. I got nothing!”

Chris ignored him and jabbed the bar where his stomach had been a few seconds earlier. She ground her teeth. Who did he think he was kidding? What did her bat have against his weird but undeniably experienced quickstep? He had the upper hand, they both knew it, but that didn’t mean she’d give up.

“What a weird chick,” Lee thought out loud as he dodged her successive blows. He had to admit she was good–but not nearly as good as he was.

“Who are you anyway?” he asked. She had stopped trying to impale him on her metal skewer thingy and was in a ready stance.

“None of your business,” she said. She’d stopped to rest. She had her hands on her knees but hadn’t loosened her grip on the bar. Lee eyed it warily.

“Seriously, you know,” he said, “I just want to help.”

Chris thought about it. He sounded honest enough, but maybe he was in the same gang or something, just one of the more civil, well-mannered thugs. Like she was going to let her guard down.

“Then why haven’t you called the police?” she asked.

He paused.

“I did before–”

“Sure.” Chris said dismissively.

Lee cursed inwardly. How could he call the police? She had a point, though. Anyone who didn’t call the police in these situations was either a) stupid or b) suspicious. Either way, the girl didn’t trust him.

Chris took the opportunity to push him aside. Ha! He hadn’t stopped her! She ran without looking back.

Lee chose not to react when she shoved him and ran for it. Well, whatever. He’d tried to help her, surely that was enough. So she didn’t want his help, fine. Weird chick.

He watched as she ran under a street lamp. Her hair flashed brown under its glow. Without thinking, Lee blurted out the name that had been teetering on the edge of his tongue all evening.

“Chris?”

She stopped, hardly daring to believe her ears. That voice… she turned. He stepped from the alley and into the light.

Yes, YES! She’d recognize that illegally blonde hair anywhere! Full of disbelief but entirely willing to dismiss all of the night’s disappointment, Chris ran to him and launched herself into his arms.

Lee stumbled backwards slightly from the force of her jump, but held on tight. “I missed you too,” he said, smoothing down her disheveled hair. He’d give anything for them to stay like this under the lamp light on this dark, dark night, but she pulled away eventually.

“I can’t believe it.” She was trembling. “All this time, I thought I was finally going crazy from missing you.” She didn’t care how stupid she sounded, it was true.

“You know what?” he replied, smiling. “Me too.”

Chris could’ve fainted in happiness, but that wasn’t really her thing. She leaned her head against his chest and stayed content with knowing he was here. No hallucinations, none of that psycho crap. Her Lee was here. She could see him, hear him, touch him, smell him…

I love him, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut with the strength of the realization. Oh God, I love him so much.

“He told me something about Lee,” Sol continued.

Vi saw Kazu’s body go rigid. Their gazes met and both saw that they’d come to the same conclusion. They were in America, the area where Chris lived. Why would he bring the subject of Lee up unless… Vi felt her stomach twist unpleasantly. She’d forgotten to tell Kazu that Chris had seen Lee, or at least, thought she had.

“Sol,” she said.

Sol raised a hand. “I’m getting there,” he said gently, “Ivanovitch is in the Intel department of my government (Don’t tell anyone though). He specializes in identities or just people’s profiles in general,” he paused, “I asked him to find a background on Lee. Just a profile, but what came up was a criminal profile.” He stopped to let the news sink in. Could Kazu’s eyes get any wider?

“Oh no,” Vi breathed. “That IDIOT. Where is he now?” she said, turning to Sol.

He shrugged. “He’s on the run,” he replied. “No one’s sure where he is exactly but–”

“He’s here, isn’t he?” said Kazu. Vi winced. It wasn’t like Kazu to interrupt. He must have felt awful.

“Probably,” Vi said quietly.

“Very likely. Someone saw him in downtown LA,” Sol said.

“Chris?” Kazu whispered almost inaudibly. Vi wanted to cros the bed and hug him, but she’d have to pass Sol. Why, of all times, was this disease acting up now?

They didn’t need to answer him, of course. He could see it on Vi’s face. He stared at a square of the white hotel quilt, waves of frustration pounding inside of him. He tried to think, but he could hardly hear himself over the noise.

Vi winced. Normally she was attuned to whatever her best friend was feeling but now… She flinched again. There was a full blown storm brewing in him. She wanted to comfort him. She wished she could hug him and tell him that maybe Chris hadn’t really seen Lee at all. That she’d probably imagined him.

Vi just sighed and hugged her knees. She couldn’t tell him that. She wasn’t sure… but somehow she knew Chris hadn’t imagined him. It wasn’t like Chris to see things.

Vi knew how much she missed Lee. So did Kazu. There was nothing she could do but watch him suppress the gusts and squalls of his emotions.

Kazu breathed out, sending a light breeze around the room. It was not enough to even stir the papers on the desk, or cause Vi’s hair to flutter as it did when she walked, but it was heavy enough to tug at Sol’s heartstrings. He glanced at Vi, hoping she’d know what to do, but she had her knees curled to her chest and that expression of hers that he had seen so many times. She was looking at Kazu in what was unmistakably heartbreak.

Sol looked away from the two of them. This was what he’d been dreading. He looked out the window and blinked in surprise. The weather was very normal. No storms, no gale-force winds…

But it was very, very,

dark.

Kazu stirred and squinted at the sunlight streaming through the window. He grunted and propped himself up on his elbows.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Kazu turned to see Violet lying on the bed adjacent to his.

“Yeah,” he said, flipping over to face her. She was smiling, but there were tracks on her face where tears had run. Kazu could see that much, but how come he couldn’t read her face like he usually could? It wasn’t like her to block him out. “What are you thinking about?”