#i would say someone in-house could've designed a better one

[monarchisms]

oh yeah, now that it's closed, here's the post i wanted to make about that rt rebrand poll i made last week. this will be pretty long and kinda rambly, so feel free to just blacklist the "long post" tag :)

so like, i made the poll because of 2 main reasons: 1. because of a mix of comments i saw on other sites from people who also didn't know what color it was supposed to be, and 2. because of myself confidently believing it was some shade of orange until i switched from looking at it from my laptop screen to my phone screen.

it being a godawful shade of red/red-orange was mentioned in the article itself, which is why my question was phrased "what color do you guys think it is?" since either red or orange is both technically correct. going more into the specifics of the poll numbers:

tumblr doesn't show the specific number of people who voted for any given poll option by default, just the percentage, so i went digging and followed this tutorial to get the raw data using firefox's inspect tool. the final results are, with 934 votes total, red at 551 votes (59%), orange at 303 votes (~32.4%), and other/a secret third thing at 80 votes (~8.6%).

red winning wasn't a surprise, really, but i was pleasantly surprised at how many people didn't have a definite answer or switched between answers like i did. i can't exactly pin down why that is, but if i had to wager some guesses...

the color scheme has a high chance of being a callback to rooster teeth's Popular Web Series Red Versus Blue™:

and with a want/need for rt to rebrand, the idea of keeping the color scheme while also making it modern and pop out is really cool, but its execution is uh...

i couldn't fit everyone's tags, but you get the gist. it fucking sucks, man.

as @god-of-arts-and-crafts has pointed out:

orange and blue are complementary colors, with them being opposite each other on a color wheel except the people who made the rebrand chose a deeper shade of blue??? they couldn't even get that right, oh my fucking god, so while its technical color is red-orange, it can be overwhelmingly orange when paired with a similarly bright shade of blue, which is what's causing many people eyestrain. hell, the first time i looked at the picture when the news dropped, it literally gave me a headache lol

finally, as i've said in the tags of a different post about this eyesore, this is an accessibility nightmare. with the worst color combination possible, the colors used for the new font and logo are definitely not ada-compliant. there are free sites out there to test images for general accessibility issues. contrastchecker is what i use sometimes, and below is what i got using red-orange as the background and blue as the foreground, and vice versa:

(both versions had the same ratio and color difference lmao)

the americans with disabilities act recommends that the contrast ratio be 7 at the lowest, but should ideally be higher than that, if possible. this is objectively and subjectively a very bad corporate rebrand, and i really, really want rt to break their "no jokes on april 1st because that's our anniversary" rule this year. if for nothing else, then just so that people who haven't read the variety article and/or the reactions on social media aren't jumpscared once the new intros/endcards/whatever else start rolling in.

[bunnys-writing]

Hi aether!!

Would it be okay to ask for a Lyney x reader whos insecure about their face because they think that lyney is WAYYYY prettier than them and is overall just insecure abt their looks ever since before they met? Thank you !!

"My Shining Star"

...in which you, a self conscious Fontainian, feel as though your lovely boyfriend is too lovely for someone like you, and he just can't have you thinking like that on his watch.

(a/n at the bottom!)

Lyney is a man easily described as charismatic and charming. He encapsulates what it means to be confident, and his every move is flawless by design. His show run with his siblings has been deemed dozens of times over the best show in the Court of Fontaine, and what's more, he has clear set goals, ambitions, bonds, and ideals.

And then there's you. You're quiet, more reserved than he appears to his crowd. In a world of dazzling gems, you feel like you're more akin to a jagged rock, and yet, he pursued you.

For months, really, you thought he was joking. A trick to lure you into his mind games, a ploy to make fun of you, but there was a quiet sincerity in his eyes that made you wonder if maybe it wasn't as fake as you believed.

And it wasn't. Months of courting you eventually had you lower your guard and take him up on his invitation. A date.

Well, the date went far better than either of you could've hoped, and it was shortly after that you became partners. He was your loyal, joyful boyfriend, and you were his favourite thing in the world.

For a while, it was great. You attended his shows, and he dedicated every single one to you and his family. He always made sure he knew where you were sitting in the crowd so he could blow you a kiss, even if the people near you swooned on your behalf to insist it was for them.

Was it for them?

That thought planted the seed.

It took days for Lyney to notice your withdrawals; the way you avoided his eyes, didn't linger on his kisses or cuddles. It was about as subtle as a house on fire, in his defense.

Then you stopped attending as many shows, stopped spending nights at his house, started looking in mirrors and numbers on scales and spots on your face, and by the end of two months of Lyney hoping for you to tell him, he decided he couldn't stand watching his partner tear themself apart like this.

"Knock knock," Came a singsong voice at your door. He didn't want to scare you, so he kept his tone jovial. "Hope you don't mind me letting myself in, my dear."

You looked at the magician in slight surprise, then at your mess of an appearance with embarrassment. "Lyney! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were coming over, I would've tidied up a little more if I did..."

"Nonsense, dove! We've been dating for months now, you don't owe me a saving face." Lyney walked over to you, closing the door behind him and sitting on your bed next to you.

The second the door was closed, your boyfriend shed the persona he held. His eyes softened, his stature relaxed, and he lost the formalities. He brushed a hand to your cheek lovingly, and when you shifted to move your face away, he immediately retracted to his own disappointment.

"(Y/N)...I need to talk to you about something."

You felt fear and guilt crawl up your stomach to infect your lungs. Tangled in this dread, you said nothing. Lyney took it as an open invitation.

"You've been acting strange lately...You weigh yourself, you're less inclined to eat or to leave the house, you seem...you seem low."

Lyney didn't touch you. He put a hand next to yours as an offer and left it there. He could tell something was wrong, even in the darkness of the room. You looked so...sad. It ached for him to see you like this.

"Did someone say something to you? Do something?"

No. And that was the stupid part. This was entirely self afflicted. You drove yourself down this spiral.

"...no." You despised the way your voice sounded so gravelly. "I'm just...not feeling great."

"What happened, (Y/N)? Please, talk to me."

You unfurled yourself, your knees left your chest to splay onto the mattress, and your hands travelled to fridget in your lap. Lyney moved to face you a little bit more.

"It's just...I don't know. You're really pretty, and I see how people look at you, especially when you're with me. The people at your shows, at the markets...they know I don't deserve you, Lyn."

There was a long silence. Then, a cautious hand on yours.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

You looked at your boyfriend, who seemed to be saddened a great deal from your words, but still smiling stubbornly despite.

"...Anything."

"I'm quite self conscious myself."

Now you were sure he was lying. You watched him carefully for any hint of a lie, but you couldn't discern it. With widening eyes, you realised he was telling the truth.

"Wha-...How? You're so beautiful and charming, and your smile is so bright it warms anyone who sees it!"

"Funny, that's exactly what I think of you."

A deep red burns your cheeks as you realise you've been caught, and your boyfriend laughs, bringing you closer in his arms.

"I know how it feels to feel like you're lesser than the people you love. To feel like the world would continue without a change if you were to fade away. But you're my shining star, and I love you so much. All of you."

Lyney plants gentle kisses on your palm, to your wrist, then to your cheek, catching you off-guard and flustered. He gives a sort of half chuckle at your expression. You see love fill every bit of his eyes as he gazes at you.

"I love you so much, (Y/N). Don't ever think any less, 'kay?"

"Yeah...I love you too, Lyney."

Man oh man I apologise for how long this took! Writing for Lyney was super fun, so I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I did writing it.

A gentle reminder that you are never not enough, and you're perfect just the way you are no matter what anyone (including you yourself) has to say about it! ♡

Thanks for reading! 🫶

REQUESTS OPEN, check pinned for more info!

[salmonvanillur]

realistically, how does diavolos birthday celebration work

both he and satan were born the day a family member died, with satan being lilith and diavolo being his mother who died in childbirth.

the difference with satan however is how lilith and her death was a private affair, due to the only people who knew about her existence in the devildom were the demon king, diavolo, and barbatos, with the rest of the general population, including other nobles, being unaware of her existence in the first place. it is shown or at least implied that satan was designated their sibling by the demon king and with the brothers not leaving the castle for the entire first year of residence, everyone who is not those three people believe that the siblings have always been the seven brothers.

however, even if I disregard all of what I just said, the fact is that to the denizens, the brothers are simply are "fallen angels” meaning even if the denizens had known of satan's birthday, they wouldn't have given any of the brothers such a special celebration like they do in recent years due to the discrimination they faced for having been former angels.

diavolo however is the prince and it has been shown in his birthday events (specifically the 2022 event) that he has an enormous celebration each year, organized by barbatos which is joined by all of the denizens. a celebration that he must attend as his royal duty.

satan had the opportunity to mourn the person he never got to meet. the brothers are doing better now and he doesn't seem to think about it at all, but diavolo? if I recall correctly, he has said that he believes his father holds him responsible for his mothers passing, yet every year they throw a celebration for his birth.

how many years did it take for them to switch from mourning the queens death and replacing the silent and respectful vigil to the vibrant and playful celebration for the prince’s birth? did they mourn for a day and celebrate for a week or longer? did they ever mourn, or because of the kings unspoken blame did they ever celebrate him? and if they did celebrate, was diavolo made to feel guilty, knowingly, or even worse, unknowingly by his father? did he see the celebratory cake and decorations and think that it was undeserving since “he killed his own mother” as his father told him despite never saying it?

did he feel bad when the House of Lords challenged and doubted him, not only because of the potential disappointment he could bring to his father and barbatos, but because he feels like his mothers death would have been for naught? he never had time to grieve and if he did, it wasn't intimate or an experience that could've been had in such a personal way to him like how lilith and her memories were told to satan.

satan had a family that grieved and celebrated privately, his birthday is celebrated because they care for him and have reassured him time and time again that they don’t hate or blame him or that they wish lilith was still there instead of him. not like the lonely prince.

diavolo has those friends and found family now, after so many millennia of the closest thing he felt as someone genuinely caring about him being barbatos. with his lie detection skills, could he tell that mephisto is, at best, ingenuous in his attempts at friendship. with mephisto believing they are still friends does that mean diavolo took what he got.

diavolo had no one, no one to tell him about his mother and all the small things, things like her favorite tea or if she was ticklish or what the worst joke she ever told was (satan believed her best being when she told them all cats go to PURRgatory when they die, despite the others telling him it was the worst joke not only because of that, but she couldn’t say a word without doubling over in laughter)

even if everyone told him of her kindness and generosity and everything that made her a worthy queen, he still couldn’t have anyone tell him about his mother and who she truly was. yet every year he celebrates, maybe by now he’s gotten over it but there’s still the chance that he feels guilty for her death and how the people have been forced to forget their queen

I don’t know how to end this off but I like to think that when during the periods of his first birthdays where he was less reactive or the day after, diavolo would have a sort of talk with him about their similar experience

[silver--scar]

Saw a post where someone said Kenny had a pet snake and I can't FUCKING FIND IT TUMBLR SEARCH BE DAMNED BUT that is not going to stop me, so I took the liberty of looking up exactly what breed of snake Kenny had.

EDIT: Thanks to @kylesplayhouse , they helped me find the post! It belongs to @mychaosart , so please give the original post (link here) some love :]

CONTENT WARNING FOR SNAKE IMAGERY FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT

Now the thing is, as cool as the idea is of Kenny having a venomous snake as a pet, I kinda doubt he would keep it, much less his parents. Especially with Karen and Kevin in the house who might not know better about snakes and possibly provoke it and get hurt, so venomous snakes are off the table.

Now, a quick search for Kenny's bedroom with the snake tank was easy to find. Let's take a look at the snake he has, shall we?

It's kinda hard to see, but we can tell that it's mostly white with red stripes (or bands idk the terminology) and a red head.

Color alone, that leaves us with these snakes that I have found so far

Kingsnake

Milk Snake (a subspecies of kingsnake)

Corn Snake

Now, you can argue that it can be any one of these snakes, because (1.) Realistically, there are no naturally occuring white and red snakes in the wild (at least to my knowledge) since they all have a black coloration to go with them, and (2.) The South Park animators/designers could've just simplified the snake's design.

Or you could argue it is a king snake, and Kenny was just super lucky to find one that had little to no black stripes surrounding the red bands, as seen here. Notice the tiny black dots vvv

But I say nay! I wanna be more partial to the idea that Kenny had saved up for an albino snake. Because like I said before, it's a mostly white snake with red stripes, whereas these snakes I showed photos of are mostly red. Plus, if you were a little boy, you would also think that it would add bonus cool points to your reputation.

Plus, plus, I kinda like the idea of Kenny being into snake breeding. I have limited knowledge on this stuff, but I think you guys know what I'm talking about. Selectively breeding snakes, watching over their eggs, making pretty morphs and selling them off for a buck or two. And even if you didn't get that special combo you wanted, you still have a gorgeous, healthy snake to sell as well :D

So! What albino snake looks the closest to the one Kenny has?

Well, at that point, that would mean that the kingsnake is now out of the question, as most of the images are just plain white snakes, BUT I could be wrong!

Milk snakes and corn snakes on the other hand fair better to the picture of Kenny's pet above.

They're pretty similar, but I would say I'm leaning more to the corn snake, simply because it matches the more triangle-like stripes than compared to the milk snake, and it does seem like a large snake.

So there you have it! The mystery snake no one was asking for! Kenny McCormick owns a kingsnake, or a special albino corn snake! Yeah!

You guys can add your own two cents as well. I would LOVE to hear your theories! Maybe you all did better research than I did, which is to say, not a whole lot lol (⁠｡⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

[universallywriting]

A New Start

Summary: Shadybug and Claw Noir have a chat about good deeds. ~450 words.

"Destroying the Eiffel Tower was a good design choice," Shadybug said. Or Ladybug. Adrien wasn't quite sure how to refer to her yet, or himself for that matter.

A single night of restless sleep after their adventure in another world hadn't exactly helped his brainstorming. They stood together in someone's house, meeting up for the first time since they've been home, and neither of them knew what to say.

"Seeing it standing was an eyesore," he agreed. "So that's one good deed we've done for Paris."

She sighed, crossing her arms as they looked out at the mix of rubble and rebuilt buildings, the endless security cameras and propaganda posters for the Supreme. It would be worth bringing back the Eiffel Tower to get rid of all that, Adrien supposed, even though he still wasn't sure how a world ran without someone like the Supreme in charge.

"So we're… Going to start meeting with Betterfly?" he said uncertainly.

"I guess." She glanced at him, looked him up and down in a different kind of way.

It was a nice kind of way, actually. A kind of way that didn't make him think she was trying to figure out where she'd bury his body, which was new. It was better than before when he felt like he was always on the balls of his feet, ready to spring away the moment she went for him.

He really didn't know what to do with that, so he just said, "Chloe Bougeois is alive."

She stared at him in a very familiar way this time. That look that said that he was an idiot and she had no idea why he ever opened his mouth at all. She raised an eyebrow and went, "Yyyeah?"

"You didn't kill her," he clarified. "I know her in real life. She says you harass her all the time or something."

"Yeah."

"But she's alive."

Ladybug scowled and shook her head. "Okay, yeah, what's your point?"

"My point is… You could've killed her, right? And you didn't?" Adrien fiddled with his silver nunchucks. They spun quickly in the air as he cleared his throat. "So maybe that's two good deeds. And if there's two, maybe there's more and if there's more…"

Maybe we're not so bad, he thought, though the words died on his lips.

She closed her eyes. "Not killing someone isn't exactly a good deed, kitty. More like the bare minimum." Then she opened them and breathed in the ashy air and looked, just for a moment, like the Ladybug of the world they left behind. "But it's not nothing. It's a start."

[angelic-writer]

Whatever Happens Next, We'll Do It Together (A Cabin Tales Roulette oneshot)

Prompt by @serickswrites for @whumptober

Note before we begin: I'm using @rhithefella's designs of the Roulette gang and so, they will be 18-19 for this.

Let the hurt commence!

CW: Captivity, torture, restraints, self sacrifice, forced to watch, drowning, temporary character death, mentioned murder, CPR

The four boys stared at the tall, lanky man that stood before them. He was an ordinary man, wearing a casual business suit and a dark hat. At first glance, he looked like a guy you'd run into on your way to work, but they knew better. From the stories Coach Swanson told them, one name stuck out to them like a sore thumb.

Cassidy White.

An 18 year old girl who was found dead in a lake after the police found blood stains in an old phone booth.

They never figured out who killed her so it was left as a cold case. Of course, Roderick had to get curious about the case and had to drag the others into it like the knock off Scooby gang. We should've left it alone, Sam thought. We should've left it alone.

And now... They're trapped in the man's house, chained to the radiator in the bathroom.

They are staring at the man who killed Cassidy.

"Don't hurt them." Jeremy growled as the man stalked towards them. "Hurt me. Don't you lay a finger on them!"

Kevin screwed his eyes shut. He couldn't stand this. Any of this. This man is gonna torture them, kill them even, if given the chance. They were gonna end up just like Cassidy.

"Aww... Look at you. Playing the hero for your friends. Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You seem to be the calm one, always willing to throw your life away for the people you care about. But... I'm not interested in you right now." He turned to Roderick. "I'm more interested in this one. The one who threatened to ruin my life."

"What do you want?" Roderick asked, his voice trembling a bit.

"What do I want? I want to make sure no one finds out about my secret. About what I did long ago. I never thought anyone would go snooping. You didn't have to, y'know. You could've left it alone. Could've stopped at any time. But you wanted to find out what happened to her, don't you? Well, you've already got your answer and now, you'll die with it."

"Please... Please let us go. We won't tell anyone about this! Just let us go and we'll keep our mouths shut!" He pleaded, trying his best not to cry. It was unlike the confident Roderick he was just a few days ago.

"Why would I do that? Your terror is absolutely delightful." He took slow, deliberate steps towards the dark skinned man. "Especially compared to how stoic Mr. Larson-Watts is right now."

Sam growled at the man.

"And don't get me started on Jay's attempt to play hero. No, I'd much rather hurt someone who is openly afraid. It's much more," He paused dramatically as he stopped short of Roderick. "enjoyable."

Roderick pulled on the cuffs keeping him restrained. "Please... Please, just don't! We won't tell anyone, we swear!"

"You get away from Roderick right now!" Sam shouted, pulled at his cuffs as well with Jeremy following suit. The man just smiled.

Look at them, groveling at my feet. It's a shame Cassidy didn't have anyone to plead for her life. Now that I've got more victims, this'll be... interesting.

Just when he was about to grab Roderick by the collar of his shirt, there came a small voice that made everyone freeze.

"Take me instead." Kevin offered quietly. He hadn't said much since he and Roderick's screaming match. He had wailed for hours and hours, cursing everyone, but especially Roderick. Sam didn't blame him. He was scared just as much as they are.

"We're in this mess because of you, y'know?!" Kevin had shouted when Roderick tried to say something. "You could've left all of this alone. Hell, you could've passed the information we got about the Cassidy case to Coach and he could've handled it all on his own! But noooo, you just had to try being the hero, right?! RIGHT?!"

"Jesus Christ, Kev, you, Sam and Jay helped me with it! All of you agreed!"

"I didn't want to be involved in this! I didn't want to, but I went along with it because of your stupid promises of us being famous." He looked down. "I shouldn't have listened to you."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry I dragged you all into this! We'll get out of this, okay? We'll get out, call the police and hopefully, everything will be over!"

"That man is going to torture and kill us just like he did with Cassidy! How is that okay?! I wish I never listened to you! I hate you! I wish I never met you!"

"Fuck you, Kevin! You're just as much to blame here! You were just as curious as I am! Don't act like you have a moral compass when you're just as into sick and twisted shit as anyone else interested in Cassidy! Y'know, maybe I shouldn't have brought you along. You just sit there in the corner, crying and whining while we do all the hard work. Maybe things would be so much better if you weren't here!"

"Guys stop!" Jeremy cried, stopping the two of them from arguing any further. "Screaming at each other is not gonna help us get out. None of this helps."

"Yeah... Jay's right." Sam said. "We all got into this mess. And we're gonna get each other out of it."

The two of them stayed silent after that. Kevin hadn't meant what he said to Roderick, but he didn't care. He was too absorbed in his own panic to care. The man was going to torture them all. They had to find a way out.

But how? They were chained to the radiator. There was no way of slipping out of the cuffs. The only way out is...

"Take me instead." Kevin repeated. He didn't look at the others. Unlike before, he wasn't afraid. He stared at the man, his determination clear.

If I'm gonna die, I at least want to have some semblance of dignity.

"You're volunteering for this?" The man cocked his brow. "You could die, Kevin. Are you sure? You don't want to let Roderick or Jeremy go in your place? You said some awful things to Roderick earlier. I'm sure he hates you now."

Kevin's heart stung. He was right. After what he said, there was no way Roderick would forgive him. If they ever got out of this, Roderick wouldn't want to be his friend anymore. And soon, Sam and Jay will leave too, leaving him all alone...

They don't care about you, Kevin. When you die, they're gonna forget about you. They're gonna move on and find someone better than you.

He nodded. "Take me. Hurt me. Leave the others alone."

The man's grin grew. "Very well then. This will be fun, I can tell. You're going to prove to be quite the challenge, Kevin." He hurried over and unhooked the brunette from the chains, still keeping his wrists cuffed. "We'll see how long you last. The brave ones either go pretty fast or they last for a long time. Which flavor are you?"

Kevin swallowed, bile rising in his throat. How long...? How long has this man killed people? There are probably many more than Cassidy and they just didn't know.

"I guess you'll have to find out, but you can't hurt the others."

The man nodded. "Yes, yes, hurt you. Only you. Leave your friends alone. No problem." He sounded so casual about it like he was chatting with a co-worker during their coffee break.

Kevin walked willingly with the man over to the large tub in the center of the room. It was rusty in spots and filled with cold, cold water. "Kneel," The man commanded.

Kevin slowly got to his knees. He still didn't look at Roderick, Sam or Jay. He stared straight ahead. Roderick was frozen, his lips refusing to move. He should say something, but he couldn't. He was too scared to say anything. Too afraid to draw attention to himself. He should be yelling at the man to let Kevin go. What kind of friend was he? Luckily, Jeremy was doing his job for him. "You better not do anything to him, you bastard or I swear to god, I will kill you!"

Sam just glared, shaking in his restraints. All of them were thinking the same thing: Surely this man would hold Kevin under a few times and then leave him in a sopping, sobbing mess.

"Let's see how long you can hold your breath for." The man said as he kicked Kevin's legs wide and knelt between them. He held Kevin briefly to his chest before shoving the brunette's head below the surface.

Kevin, to his credit, held very still for a while. He didn't move. Didn't thrash. Didn't try to buck the tall man off. He merely let his head be held under the water.

Everyone held their breath, not saying a word. Sam tried to wriggle his hands free. If I can figure out some way to slip them off without him noticing...

"Well this is dull," The hat man said as he held Kevin's head beneath the water. "Let's make this more interesting." He punched Kevin in the ribs hard.

The three boys flinched as they could see bubbles rush from Kevin's lips. "Hey! That's cheating! He wasn't fighting!" Sam screamed.

"Exactly," The man said as he put all his weight on the hand keeping Kevin's head beneath the water. Kevin bucked and thrashed wildly beneath his hand. "This is much more fun."

"He's drowning. You're killing him!" Jeremy shouted. Roderick, however, said nothing. His heart hammered in his chest, fearing for Kevin's life.

"He won't drown yet," The man said as he lifted Kevin's head from the water. Kevin gasped and choked, water spewing from his lips. "See? Not dead."

Before Kevin could get a good breath or any of them could say a word, the tall man shoved Kevin's head below the surface again. "Please! Don't kill him!" Roderick begged. He had wanted all of them to be spared. He had wanted them to be safe. But he didn't want it to come at the cost of Kevin being drowned to death.

"Killing him too quick will ruin my fun. I want this to last as long as possible."

Just like Cassidy.

The man repeated the process countless times. Roderick, Jeremy and Sam's throats were raw from shouting at this monster. But it hadn't mattered. He had kept his word and only went after Kevin. The three of them remained untouched.

"Let's see if you can last just a bit longer, Kevin. If you do, you're the longest lasting toy I've ever had. Isn't that wonderful?"

Kevin's eyes were unfocused. His chest heaved and it was unclear if he could even hear the man. Their hearts were hammering in their chest. The three boys tried to yell out for him despite them becoming hoarse. All of them had to figure a way out. Kevin couldn't last much longer.

Please Kevin... If you can hear us, we're here. We're all here for you. We'll get you out, I promise.

The man shoved Kevin completely into the tub, submerging the small boy in the icy water. "This is much more fun this way."

"Hey!" Roderick shouted as the man stepped into the tub, pressing one boot on Kevin to keep him below the water. Kevin's legs flailed wildly as he tried to kick out. "Let him go! Don't kill him!"

Kevin's foot connected with the man's knee and he stumbled. With a growl, the man kicked Kevin in the face. He knelt in the water, pinning the boy completely. The three boys hollered and yelled for the man to stop, but he couldn't hear over the splashing water. The man punched Kevin over and over. His anger was unrelenting. Rage contorted his features into a grotesque mask of anger.

Was this what Cassidy saw in her final moments? A man consumed by rage and a lust for blood?

Slowly, Kevin's frantic kicking ceased. His thrashing in the water had slowed to a crawl. Finally, the water grew still once more.

"Let him up! He can't breathe!" Sam urged the man.

But he didn't acknowledge him. He ignored Sam and instead glared down at Kevin beneath the water. "Let him go! LET HIM GO!" Sam tried again, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Finally, after what felt like ages, the man stood up. Roderick didn't let out the breath he was holding. He wouldn't. Not until he could see Kevin breathing again. "Well, so much for longest lasting toy," He finally said. "Geez, even Cassie lasted longer than this."

"What?" Roderick's blood froze. No. No. This couldn't be true.

"I don't think anyone could have survived that, Roderick. Kevin's good, but five minutes below the water good? I don't think so."

"No... No..." Jeremy muttered.

The man reached beneath the water and grabbed Kevin by the throat and lifted. The small boy's head lolled in his hands. His hair was plastered to his face, obscuring his features from view. His limbs hung limply as the man lifted him higher. "Not my longest lasting, but certainly one of my most fun."

"Kev! Kevin, say something!" Roderick screamed.

The tall man rolled his eyes. "Roderick, I told you. I told all of you. No one could have survived that long. Kevin can't answer you. He's dead. See?"

The man tossed Kevin like a ragdoll towards the group. He landed in a heap where he remained unmoving. Sam started to shake. Jeremy started to hyperventilate. This couldn't be happening. Couldn't be true. The man stalked over and kicked Kevin onto his back. His body offered no resistance as he rolled.

"Kev... Kevin, please..." Roderick whispered, refusing to believe the man. He had lied before. Because if he was telling the truth, then Kevin had died in their place. After he said all of those awful things... Roderick wouldn't be able to live with himself if this was true.

"Look, boys. Look." The man said with a dark chuckle as he brushed Kevin's sopping hair off his face.

Something broke inside all of them as they stared into Kevin's half lidded eyes, as they stared at his slack jaw, his lips parted for the gulp of air he would never get, as they stared at their friend's lifeless body.

Roderick closed his eyes, unable to articulate anything into words. This was his fault. This was all his fault. Kevin was dead because he dragged him into this mess. He had been a coward. And he had said terrible things to him. He called him whiny and pathetic when he was the complete opposite. Roderick was the one who was whining. He was the pathetic one. He couldn't even get the killer to stop when he had claimed his next victim. And now, Kevin was dead. He had died thinking Roderick hated him. Had died for him, Sam and Jeremy.

Kevin... You were so important to all of us. You kept our spirits up when we hit a dead end. You even led us to where the culprit was. I should thank you for that. I really should, but I can't now.

You're gone and I can't even thank you for all the hard work you've done. I'm so sorry...

"Still," The man said as he stared down into Kevin's lifeless eyes. "One of the most fun toys I've ever had. It's a shame they had to break."

Break.

Break.

That's what he does.

Break his toys and leave them discarded on the ground, a lifeless husk of people who were once living. Breathing.

He was gonna do the same to them. They were all going to meet their maker.

"Now... Who's next?"

Roderick snapped his eyes open. "What? Y-You said you'd spare us! You'd let us go!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't risk any of you blabbing. I have a life too, y'know. If I leave one of you alive, someone is going to know. They can arrest me. Everything will be over for me. I cannot," He grabbed his shirt. "Let that happen."

Sam closed his eyes, thinking back to the last game they had.

"So, what's the plan?" Sam asked.

"Okay, Rod is the goalie this round and I'm the one that's gonna pass the ball. The other team's gonna be fast so we have to act quickly."

He nodded. "Okay, but what if something happens that causes us to lose this?"

"Don't worry. With Kevin's speed, we'll win this without a hitch. Besides, even if we do lose, we still played a good game, yeah?"

All three of them nodded.

"So," He chuckled. "Whatever happens next, we'll do it together."

Whatever happens next...

"Take me."

Jeremy and Roderick looked at Sam, horrified. "Sam, wh-what are you doing?! You can't-" Jeremy stuttered.

"Ahh, interesting. Little Sammy here wants to volunteer as tribute. Well, this'll be fun too. You can join Kevin in heaven."

He released Sam from his chains, still keeping his hands cuffed and the man led him to the tub, stepping over Kevin's body. Jeremy and Roderick continued to scream and cry, begging the man to let Sam go. It was like watching someone on death row being led to their execution.

There was no way to escape. They were going to join the other victims. All because they couldn't keep their noses to themselves.

"Go on. Get in. You're looking pretty dirty there."

Sam stared, his reflection staring back at him. He wondered what his dad will say at his funeral.

He was a weak man who didn't even put up a fight.

He was smart, talented and knew how to make everyone laugh.

He was weak, but he was my son.

He clenched his fists. He won't go down that easily.

"Well? Get in."

He stepped back. "I can't. I... I'm not ready yet."

"What do you mean? You're gonna meet your friend soon. Come on."

Stop talking. You're wasting time. Kevin's losing oxygen. Please.

"I-I need to say goodbye first."

"Ugh, fine, but be quick." He turned away, his eyes landing on a familiar duffel bag. Now's my chance.

Sam sighed. "Guys..."

Jeremy and Roderick stared.

"I-I really had a lot of fun. Before I joined, I was a laughingstock. Everyone called me a nerd because I was smart, my dad called me pathetic because I wouldn't participate in sports. I... didn't have many friends before I met you guys. Jay, you always knew how to make people happy. You always brought a smile to everyone's faces. Roderick, even though you were an ass at times, you always knew how to keep the team spirit alive. And Kevin..." He stared down at Kevin's body. His face was turning pale, his lips a deep shade of blue. "He was the most precious and wonderful person anyone could've asked for. Even though he was anxious, even though he didn't talk much, he always knew how to charm everyone with his warm personality. I can see why everyone liked him.

"There was Kyle, Joey, Nolan, Dan, Dante, Jason, Jerry and of course, our beloved Coach Swanson. Together, we made the best team. We're all gonna miss him. And I..." He stepped forward to the man who had his back turned and arms crossed. "I'm gonna miss all of you guys."

A tear ran down his face.

Now!

He wrapped the handcuffs around the man's neck and yanked back. They stumbled, the man's hat falling off his head in the process. He clawed at his neck, trying to get the chain off, but Sam didn't relent. The attack had caught him off guard, not even giving him a moment to breathe. His hands clambered for a weapon to defend himself with while he struggled to breathe.

He elbowed Sam in the ribs, causing him to cough. He tried to grab the chain and pull it over his head, but Sam was quicker. He tightened his grip, making him lose what little grip he had. Drool ran down his chin. He kicked Sam's legs out, making him stumble. His hold didn't falter. He was filled with a fiery rage that was only present on rare occasions. Pure, uncontrollable rage.

A trait he got from his father.

Sam tripped on Kevin's body and stumbled, taking the man down with him. Now that they were both on the ground, there was no chance of the man escaping. He flailed around, trying to get Sam to let go, but he ignored him. His twitches and gasps reminded him of Kevin. How he struggled before he died.

Now you know how Kevin felt when you drowned him.

A figure suddenly loomed over him and socked the man in the face, breaking his nose. To Sam's surprise, Roderick was standing over them, the handcuffs having been snapped off. "Did you enjoy the show, you piece of shit?!"

He continued to punch him over and over again, his face twisted into a similar expression of rage. Hatred. But this time, it was used on someone who deserved it. He had hurt their friend. Killed many people including an innocent girl and now, he's paying the price.

But he can pummel him later. Kevin is their number one priority right now.

Is he still alive?

"Rod! Get the key from the bag! Get Jeremy out of there and help Kevin! I've got this one!"

Roderick nodded and skidded over to the bag, throwing the items out before he grabbed the key. He clambered over to Jeremy and with a bit of fumbling, got the cuffs off of him. The two of them skidded over to Kevin, Jeremy's movements frantic as he shook him. "Kev!! Kevin, say something!!"

"Jay, I-I don't think he's..." He couldn't deny what he had seen. The man drowned Kevin. He died. He's dead. There's no way they could...

After a quick pulse and breath check, Jeremy tilted Kevin's head back, pinched his nose and blew five breaths into his mouth.

"W-What are you-"

"Roderick, I need your help." He interlocked his hands on Kevin's chest and started pushing. "After I do thirty compressions, breathe two breaths into his mouth, okay?"

"What?! I-I can't! I-"

"Please! You have to! He's gonna die if we don't do something!"

Roderick slowly nodded before he moved over, tilting his friend's head back and pinching his nose. His mind was going a million miles an hour. He had never done anything like this before. His heart was on the fritz and his breathing was short and sporadic.

Calm down, Roderick. Calm down. Kevin needs you. You can't stall.

As he watched Jay give Kevin chest compressions, he couldn't help but notice how small he was. He never paid attention to his height, but now that he was up close, he could really see just how tiny and... lifeless he was. The way his body shook when Jeremy pressed down filled his stomach with a sense of dread.

He remembered Coach Swanson teaching them a CPR course one day in health class. It was a very standard procedure: Push two inches down, 30:2, don't stop until help arrives. The others trusted him. He was a police officer in his youth so he had some knowledge he gained from his police training. He didn't tell them how horrifying it was. How the life of one person was in their hands and if you mess up or if you aren't fast enough, they're dead.

Whether if it's a stranger or someone you know, you never get over the feeling of them dying. Coach Swanson had dealt with the horrors of the world and wanted to teach his players how to deal with it. The difference between him and the others however was that he had dealt with criminals and brutal crimes first hand. They were just kids. They were too absorbed with girls and studies to even think about it.

But now... The worst possible thing to occur has happened. And he and Jeremy were the only ones keeping Kevin from crossing over.

"...Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. Breathe!"

Roderick took a deep breath and sealed his lips over Kevin's, blowing hard into his lungs. They were cold. So cold. It was ice. Roderick's skin went cold as well. How long?... How long were you under there for...?

Fuck, I'm sorry!

From the corner of his eye, he could see Kevin's chest rising. Okay, I think I did it right. Once the set was done, Jeremy started compressions again. He watched as he put his full weight on Kevin's small body, hearing the clicking of his bones as he did so. He felt hot and cold at the same time. This isn't right. None of this was right. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Thirty compressions.

Breathe.

Breathe.

"C'mon, Kevin... Wake up! C'mon!"

He wasn't supposed to die like this.

Thirty compressions.

Breathe.

Breathe.

"C'mon, please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said! I'm sorry!"

Thirty compressions.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Kevin didn't respond. He still laid on the tiled floor, unresponsive. Two minutes had passed (Or had it been three? Five? Roderick had lost count.) and there was still nothing.

Nothing. What the fuck were they doing wrong?

Jeremy was starting to get out of breath, his dark skin covered in sweat. Nonetheless, he still kept pushing.

"D-Do you want me to take over?" Roderick asked. It was a question he never thought he would have to ask.

Panting, Jeremy nodded and pulled away, switching places with Roderick. The once prideful Roderick now stood over Kevin, about to do something he never thought he'd have to do. He was gonna do the lessons that Coach had taught them, the ones that he brushed off.

CPR on Kevin. The one he had said horrendous things to.

It would be one thing if it was a stranger, but this was his best friend. He's dying right in front of him. Shaking a bit, he tried to find the right spot on Kevin's sternum for him to push down.

"Remember, two inches deep. Thirty compressions, okay?"

"R-Right." Finding the right placement, he interlocked his fingers, straightened his elbows, took a deep breath and started pushing. "One, two, three, four, five..."

Bile threatened to rise up in his throat at the feeling. The sensation of having to try and resuscitate his friend felt like a nightmare come to life. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever think he would do that with anyone, much less Kevin. As he stared at his empty, half lidded eyes, he thought back to the way he treated him, how he left him alone during the party... He had been such a selfish asshole back then. He was supposed to be there for him, but he put himself over Kevin in that moment. He dragged Kevin along on his many acts of delinquent behavior. He had let Sam take the fall for the car when he was too cowardly to fess up.

I'm sorry, Kevin. I'm sorry I've been such an awful friend. I'll make it up to you when you wake up. You have to wake up, please!

Suddenly, he felt something crack beneath him, causing him to flinch. "Jay!! I-I broke something! Did I-"

"It's okay! It happens! Just keep going!" He barked.

Stifling a sob, he continued to pump his chest. "Kevin, please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! Please, open your eyes!"

Not too far away, Sam continued to fight with the man. His struggles have grown less and less, his face beginning to turn blue. He can't kill him. It would be so easy to, but he can't. He needs to stay alive for the police. This piece of shit deserves to rot. Finally, his arms fell limp. Sam checked to make sure his heart was still beating. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a sluggish pulse. He maneuvered himself to unwrap the handcuffs from around his neck. Once he was free, he pushed him away with his foot. Looking over, he could see Roderick and Jeremy feverishly working to revive Kevin. He gritted his teeth. I need to get to them. I need to help them.

Roderick and Jeremy had switched a few times now and Kevin still hadn't responded. His skin had lost all color now and his lips had turned purple. That alone wasn't a good sign. Had they been too late?

"Jay, I-I don't think we..." Roderick's voice trembled.

"No! We're not giving up! We did not come this far for nothing!" Jeremy growled. Roderick finished the set and he breathed into his mouth once more. Foam periodically spurted out of Kevin's mouth. This is normal, Jay told himself. We're not too late.

"L-Let me help! Roderick, help me... out of these cuffs!" Sam called out.

Roderick nodded. "Jay, you take over. I have to help Sam!"

Jeremy nodded and swiftly took over compressions. Roderick ran to Sam, grabbing the key that was on the floor beside him. He swiftly unlocked the handcuffs, freeing him. Giving a quick "thanks.", he made his way over to Kevin. Jeremy was getting out of breath now. He tried to keep up, but he was so exhausted.

"Let me." Sam said. Nodding, Jeremy pulled away and Sam started compressions with great fervor. "Come on, Kevin! You can't leave us now! We've caught the killer! We're gonna get out of here and we're gonna bring him to justice! Please, you have to wake up! Please!"

The three of them continued to try and revive Kevin for what felt like hours. Roderick was a sobbing mess, begging Kevin to wake up. Jeremy tried to calm him down, telling him it was gonna be okay. They had continued to give him CPR to no avail. No matter how much water and foam came out of his mouth, he still didn't wake up. He still laid there, cold, wet... Dead.

Sam refused to believe it. He refused to believe the possibility. He will continue. He will not stop. Jeremy said so himself.

Kevin had too much to live for. He still had dreams he wanted to achieve. He still wanted to see what the world had to offer. They will give him the world. They will do better. They will do better!

A hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his daze.

Jeremy.

"Sam..."

"W-What?! We can't stop! We-"

"Sam, he's... It's been too long. He..." He hiccuped. "He's dead."

"No. No, he's not. He's not dead! We just need to-" He tried starting compressions again, but Jeremy pulled him back.

"Sam, it's been too long. We tried. We tried..." He pulled him into his arms. "I'm sorry..."

Sam tried to pull away. "Let me go! He's not dead! He's not... He's not..." The exhaustion finally caught up to him and he collapsed into Jeremy's arms. "No... No, he- He can't... He can't be..."

Jeremy stroked Sam's hair. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Coach Swanson had told them about the feeling of failure. The feeling of having failed to save someone's life. At first, you feel nothing then slowly, all the emotions hit you all at once. Sam couldn't believe what was happening. Kevin who was so full of life, who was fighting for his life minutes ago was now... dead. Dead on the floor. Dead like Cassidy.

The tears hadn't come immediately. He was too busy saying "No." over and over again. They can't give up yet. They have to keep going. But Jay's right. It had been too long. They didn't get to Kevin in time. He's gone now.

They failed.

Something wet ran down Sam's face. He knew right away that it was tears. He shouldn't cry. Men don't cry, his father said. How could you not cry over your friend dying? He deserves to let it out, just this once. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"Sam, Sam, it's okay. It's okay."

"He... He didn't deserve this... He didn't deserve any of this..."

"I know. I know..." He continued to stroke his hair, comforting him the best he could. They were both exhausted. Exhausted from everything.

Roderick stayed in his spot, staring at Kevin. He just stared back at him with his empty eyes. Something about it... It broke his heart more than he ever thought. He didn't even get the chance to apologize for everything. For dragging him along, leaving him alone, blaming him for everything...

For bringing him to his death.

He killed him.

His best friend is dead and he killed him.

He stroked his cold cheek. "I'm sorry..." He whispered. "I'm sorry for all of this... For everything... You didn't deserve to be in there. It should've been me... I should've been the one in that tub..." He sniffled. "I-I should've been better for you. I've been so awful..." He slowly took his hand. It was stiff, devoid of any warmth.

"You deserved everything good in your life. You deserved to have the entire world. Not me. I shouldn't have let the popularity get to my head. I didn't stop to think about how you were feeling. I... I'm so sorry. I can't..." He sobbed and pressed his forehead to Kevin's, his tears dripping down his cheeks.

Useless. He was useless. Useless to do anything. To help Kevin. To save him from his fate.

Everything they did to save him... It had all been for nothing.

"I'm sorry we couldn't save you. I'm sorry we couldn't do more for you. I... I wish things had been different. I wish I never looked into this. That way... You would still be alive." He buried his head into Kevin's shoulder. "I don't know what I'm gonna do without you. I don't know what's gonna happen once we leave this room. When they take you away... What are they gonna say? Your parents are gonna hate me forever. Your sister is gonna miss you..." He hiccuped. "I miss you already..."

Sam screwed his eyes shut. "Dammit... Why...? Why did this have to...?"

Jeremy said nothing. He continued to hug the brunette to which Sam clung onto his jacket like a lifeline.

Roderick laid his head on Kevin's chest, letting the cold water soak through his hair. He thought back to all the things he could've done to prevent this. If he had been a better friend, if he had been there for him, if he had minded his own business, none of this would've happened.

But he can't turn back time. He can never go back to the way things were before. Before they went down the rabbit hole of Operator Nine.

His tears soaked through his shirt as he thought about his smile, his laugh, his soft voice...

He was someone you'd see once in a lifetime. He was a guy that never talked much, but charmed everyone with his compassion. Everyone will cry for him when they find out he's dead. Kevin's name will be in their minds and hearts forever.

Forever.

The image of Kevin's smiling face came to his mind. It was a face he didn't come to appreciate more. It was a face he will never see again.

He clenched his fist. No. No, this can't be the end.

It can't be.

No.

I refuse.

He tilted his back back and blew into his mouth once more, making sure his airway was open.

"Rod, wh-what are you...?" Sam started to ask.

He put his hands on his chest and started pumping. "Why? Why do you both want to give up? Kevin's not gonna die! He can't die here!"

They both continued to stare at him with hopeless looks in their eyes. Roderick didn't care. He continued to pump his chest frantically, feeling his ribs give way as he did so. He knows he should stop. He knows he should be too late. But there was a voice in the back of his head telling him to keep going.

He still has more to offer for the world. It's not his time yet.

As he continued compressions and mouth to mouth, he began to notice something. Was it just him or was Kevin's skin starting to get warmer?

"Come on, Kevin! You gotta wake up! Please, you have to! We're all here for you! It's gonna be okay!"

More water came out of his mouth, but he still didn't respond.

"Please! I need you! Kev, please! I promise I won't pick on you again!"

The burning feeling in his chest only grew stronger. The voice kept on repeating the sentence. "Don't give up. You can't."

"I won't let you die, you hear me, Kev?! I won't. Let you!"

Kevin's fingers began to twitch. Then, he spasmed and started to cough. A fountain of water gushed out of his mouth.

"Kevin!" Roderick shook him desperately as he continued to cough. "Kevin, hey! Hey hey, you're okay!"

"O-Oh my..." Jay muttered before he crawled over and put Kevin on his side. "Rod, you- You did it!"

"No." He gave them a wide smile. "We did it."

The three of them began to laugh. In that moment, the tension and sorrow that was in the room melted away in an instant. Roderick held Kevin's hand which was warm again. "Kev, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can."

He waited for a moment with bated breath. Then, Kevin squeezed his hand tightly as he moaned. "Guys...?"

"Hey. Hey, Kevin. You alright?" Jeremy cupped his face, now starting to cry as well. "It's okay. We're gonna get you help. It's gonna be okay."

Sam smiled. They did it. Despite the odds being against them, they had pulled their friend's soul from Death's grasp. He looked to the man who was still unconscious on the floor. "We gotta get out of here. I don't know how long he'll be out for."

Roderick nodded. "Yeah. We gotta call the police."

Jeremy pulled Kevin up to a sitting position. "Can you walk?"

"Uh..." He winced, rubbing his sore chest. "I'm still... a little..."

"It's okay. Just take it easy." Jeremy lifted Kevin up on his back. Once he was sure he was holding on, they made their way out of the bathroom.

Finally, they can get out of this hell. Finally, they can bring justice for Cassidy.

[neverchecking]

Something I love about this is that when Tia gets mad, she gets Polite. Like Unfailingly polite. Like Unflinchingly Polite. Like "My deepest apologies for misinterpreting your words but..." Polite.

But the politeness has levels. If she's Polite but still holding her tea, she's very annoyed but willing to hear you out.

If she's handed Sweetpea her tea, you fucked up.

If she hands anyone else but Sweetpea her tea, make your last Will and Testament because Sweetpea will not be able to hold her back for long.

So the first time Sage has his efforts dismissed or maybe even they're in Hateno and Tia asks the mayor's wife why she's cleaning Link's house only to be corrected, Tia starts getting Polite.

Then she hears about this Sheikah Champion and the opinion on the rest of the Champions and she starts getting very Polite.

She starts pointing out flaws in the system, the misinformation passed on, criticisms, how Hylians could have done better, how Zelda could've done better, how the champions faced enemies literally designed to exploit their flaws, how Link had done so much for them and gosh isn't it just rude of some people not to give others the recognition they rightly deserve.

Politely, of course.

(Of course, since the Sheikah know everything, I feel like they would be the ones behind the antagonism towards the Champions. Because how did Zelda 'Heir to a Throne of Nothing' become the central figure? Like you'd think there would be at least a little sentiment of 'Zelda's fault for not doing anything earlier' despite holding back the Calamity. So who do they redirect the blame to? Who do they come to eventually blame as well? The dead can't defend themselves after all.)

(I also feel that the other races blamed the Hylians rather than their Champions and having the Hylians blame their champion fuels friction between the races, even if the only thing they agree on is some form of gratitude towards Zelda.)

Meanwhile, Tia's Sheikah aren't as informed as Aaliyah's but have also since inherited Tia's 'Wtf Hylia. Kids? Really?!' mentality and so are horrified by their counterparts.

Aaliyah's just going "yeah and then they *insert childhood trauma here*" all while several Sheikah are having a Crisis™ and others are yelling about appropriate child-raising Methods. (Someone, maybe Koko or Cottla sees Aaliyah's back and just bursts into tears because How Could They Do That to You? Any explanation just makes them cry harder and poor Sweetpea is once again running damage control.)

(Also wrote a thing that was too big for the ask box. I tagged you :D)

OMG I love characters that get polite when angry. Like, hell hath no fury like a nice person scorned ( Ik the original saying is woman which also works here).

And her giving her tea to anyone but Sweetpea because he has to hold her back is so funny to me. Like the second its handed to Revali or something, he's jumping in to try and hold her back. Key word being try.

We're back ON THE HATENO HOME BIT YES-

I imagine the deal with the house, in this switch world, is that it originally was Link's, and by extension Aaliyah's, before Natura was freed from Ganon the first time. And what started as,' hey maybe she can stay for a few weeks while setting up settlements again?', quickly became 'Did we just get kicked from our own house?'. Like before either knew it, Natura was hanging things up, bringing in furniture neither liked, took things down that didn't suit her tastes. Things like that. And just when they were going to lay down a hard boundary, the Upheaval happened.

Which is probably where they ran into Hudson and helped him out with Mattison. When he and his wife offered them a piece of land, they took it. It was a great place to start their own life, again, this time far away from that so called Princess and her influence. She could have the Hateno house for all they cared. They had this one. They built this one with their bare hands. It's where their family will be created, will grow and where the two will spend their years until there are no more.

So when faced with the old house, Sage probably has very little care for it. Until he hears Tia go off about this place. He's standing there like O-O the whole time. He could give a rat's ass about his reputation but hearing her defend his Aaliyah's reputation so whole heartedly? He'll hear her out.

(With the Sheikah thing, they for sure are the root of at least some antagonism. They can't have any doubt in the crown and with the Calamity being as unpredictable as it was, they needed a scapegoat. Hence the Champions. The Sheikah Champion especially, in my world, was crafted as the perfect foil for the princess. If they won, Zelda would get the praise and the belief that she was a strong leader. If they lost, it would all fall back onto the Sheikah Champion, who should've seen this coming. Who should've done her duty. Who should've beaten all odds anyway and won nonetheless. Who let the princess struggle for a hundred years while she healed. Who was presumed dead, along with the other champions, and couldn't defend herself until it was far too late.)

(There is also definitely friction between races. I'm sure with the Sages, they come to tolerate, maybe even befriend Link and Aaliyah, but when it comes to the other tribes there is no love lost there. I think it's mostly through mutually beneficial relationships. Like the Rito probably are the highest produces of arrows, hence why the people sent food their way when they froze over. Not through genuine care, but because they needed their wares.)

Aaliyah's Sheikah are drastically different from Tia's and it would be such whiplash for the poor girl when she realizes they aren't there to hurt her. And when she explains that 'Yeah, I was a child soldier groomed to be a sacrifice isn't that cool?' she's a little confused by the horrified expressions on their faces. Was this...not what they wanted?

See, the Koko and Cottla is Aaliyah's world? They love her. She loves them. Her and Sage are their pseudo big siblings. But they're aware of how outcasted the Champion is from her people. How their father doesn't really want them near the two, but can't say anything because of the relationship already forged.

So when Tia's Koko and Cottle just burst into tears? She's panicking because WHAT DOES SHE DO? Sweetpea is probably tryna separate them before all of them start crying.

(I saw it, I loved it so much i was literally beaming the whole time I read it)

[likesaly]

Misane, Towa, and Tobari for the character ask thing?

Misane

My favorite thing would be design for sure (even before realizing I was an irl) I really enjoyed her aesthetic in 1Beat! My least favorite thing probably character development in both games; There could've been more if you ask me (it's done a LOT better in the novel from what Nanashi has showed me from their translation so far). Favorite Line: "Could you make an effort to conduct your investigations as legally as possible?" brOTP - Misane and Nanase for sure bc they are the siblings ever OTP - N/A nOTP - Honestly anything shippy with Misane because of her being a time traveler and there's nobody near Misane's age her timeline as well. Though ive seen someone say they used to ship Misane and Shinobu on the wiki somewhere but it's like? How does that one even come into your head like accutallly I'm terrified. /lh A random hc (source compliant) is Cat instinct Misane ( climbing in trees and falling asleep in them. Nanase and Toukai having to build a tree house just for her to fall asleep in the branch directly adjacent to it) I don't think I have any unpopular opinions on Misane accutallly. I associate Lolita by Violent Vira (Mainly for 1beat) and Doomspiral by Black Dresses (This one due to the bad and normal ends) w Misane

Favorite Image:

Towa

My favorite thing about him; Probably the role he plays in 1Beat since he played it pretty well I was pissed w him upon finishing the game for the first time so that's on good writing. And if we're going source compliant that time period when we hung out bc he was genuinely nice to me during that but that's it. My least favorite thing is everything he did to me in 1Beat (mainly /source ) Favorite Line: "...Huh? No I wasn't sleeping. Nah. Really." bOTP - N/A OTP - N/A nOTP - Him w anyone because why would you at this point? And like whatever the fuck I mentioned previously. A random hc - I know it came from a joke but the fucking life insurance commercial actor thing bc it just sounds like him tbh /lh I think my unpopular opinion is he is a good character (not as a person) for 1bh considering how most of File 03's interrogations w him were executed. (Though I am in some weird stockholm syndrome phase w my opinion on him as a person /nav /source /lh) I associate Towa Kristy Killings by Snow White's Poison Bite (Accutallly listen to it, tell me if I'm wrong or right after /hj) and My Own Summer by Deftones (I'm not sure why on this but like guys please see my vision, I literally drew art of this back in April)

Favorite Image:

Tobari

My favorite thing about Tobari is definitely her design, she was my favorite side character ever since I finished the game for the first time! I actually don't think I have a least favorite thing about her considering she's written well and I have good source memories with her. Favorite Line: "I'd simply have to turn down working with that odd fellow again. And it would be best to leave it as little more than a hobby." bOTP - Tobari and Kirara - I personally think they go on shopping trips together! OTP - N/A nOTP - N/A (I don't really have any for Tobari, I hc and remember being aroace but I'm sure there's something out there that could work) A random hc is I feel like Tobari has plans to travel the world at some point since she likes trying things out.

I don't think have an unpopular opinion for Tobari at all as well I associate Tobari with the song We appreciate Power by Grimes (I generally associate the hackers overall w that song)

Favorite Image:

[mdhwrites]

Do you think toh needs a reboot? There's lots of things that I don't like how were handled in the show but it's also painful to give up on them when you think of the better ways they could've worked out, characters, backstory, plot, everything in general.

I wouldn't mind a reboot tbh, but then again you mentioned that the show isn't quite concious of it's own identity. So I guess unless they work with better writers, it won't make a big difference even with the time needed.

The short version of this is that TOH's inherent flaws mean that… No. A reboot won't help it, it'd be a nightmare to try and adapt or reboot in general and it's never going to see one in animation that could improve much on the version we got except for cleaning up mistakes made because the writers weren't thinking about the consequences of their character's actions.

And this mostly has to do with its crises of identity being a very core part of its image at this point. If you try to refine it into an adventure series, into a school drama, into a more traditional fantasy story or one of the half dozen identities you could place on TOH, it becomes effectively a different show. It's going to feel different, it's going to be different, etc. like that.

So the first problem with even conceptualizing a reboot is you have all these disparate, clashing elements that barely interact and never were enabled to properly interact in the show so… What do you emphasize, what do you de-emphasize? Because no matter what, you're pissing SOMEONE off. If you lean into the childish nature of S1 then you annoy people who prefer the darker, more serious tone to S2. If you lean into the school stuff, Eda's plotline with her sister becomes more neglected and S1 doesn't feel as coherent while Belos feels like even less of a figure than he already does. If you lean more into the Owl Family, you lose as much time with Amity so her character arc is going to suffer, Lumity takes longer to happen naturally and you probably get called racist because people already call the show racist for how little it cares about Gus and Willow.

Quick note for another blog: I don't think race had literally anything to do with Gus and Willow's treatment. They simply stop having a place in the narrative post S1, even arguably after Luz becomes friends with Amity. They look the way they do for design variance and demographic numbers and that's probably it.

Anyways: No matter what, you cannot fix the conceptual problem of TOH being everything that Dana wanted to say and do alongside throwing in the kitchen sink. The only way to smooth out The Owl House is to literally smooth it out. Just flatten it into five or more seasons so it has the time to breathe and actually explore EVERY concept and even then… Yeah, that definitely gets into needing better writers than TOH has who can follow through on the ideas they have. After all, just because they would have more time doesn't mean they have the skill.

And you would need that promise from go so the writers could plan that out properly and… That's never going to happen. Especially not for serialized content like The Owl House, not in the current media landscape that we have. This isn't even because the show is bad. Quality has VERY little to do with whether something gets renewed nowadays. And if you want to get renewed consistently beyond three seasons (and iffy on even that) you need to hit one of two different options.

The first is for broadcast television where ease of programming, cheapness, and advertising is king. This is where you get why Teen Titans Go has two movies and a billions episodes. That show is entirely episodic and thus very easy to break up, throw into a hole in your broadcast schedule, easy to make marathons because you can just slap a bunch together without care, etc. like that. The animation is also incredibly simply and the show in general is probably very cheap to produce. Its writing style of literally anything goes adds to this fact. Cartoon Network can probably make five episodes of Teen Titans Go with the budget Disney gives for ONE Owl House episode and it works better for the company's goals monetarily.

And yes, Teen Titans Go is bad. It's WAY worse than The Owl House. But quality doesn't matter here. What matters is that it's easy, it's cheap, it has brand identity and is easy to merchandise. It is profitable, safe and people see it as easy to sit their child in front of for when they need the television to babysit.

The other option is streaming services and you're not going to get a 100 episode contract for a streaming service. Yes, they want cliffhangers and serialization to make sure you binge and continue subscribing even between seasons but that's also why streaming services are all or nothing. You either are so big that you will continue to pull people for months after your release or they don't care about your small squad of dedicated fans.

And TOH… Didn't become a cultural phenomenon. It was genuinely nothing special to most people, if they'd even heard of it, until Grom. Outside of that, it was just known that it had above average animation when it launched and… That's literally all I ever heard about TOH until I joined the fandom inbetween S1 and 2. And by then Netflix would have cancelled the show most likely.

Because TOH didn't break any records. It didn't light the world on fire. It didn't even cause some giant discourse that rattled through the internet on all fronts. And that means streaming services would probably rather invest in another attempt at a new Walking Dead or Game of Throne rather than continue the show. It's those record breaking numbers that got Velma and Wednesday renewed after all, not their quality or anything like that. (This isn't me condoning these practices btw. I think it's a real problem like everyone else and that it has to do with a lot of focus on short term gain rather than long term retention but I'm rambling enough as is)

And The Owl House never had that clout. Ever. I mean, how many people always had to add caveats to what made The Owl House special like "On Disney" or "in a prime time kid's show" rather than the show actually being special on its own merits? Especially now? There is one last option and that's of course a reboot that doesn't happen in the next five years but instead is closer to 20 when enough time has passed that radical changes might be allowed. That's the Voltron and She-Ra method effectively. Except... That's where we get the fact that Voltron and She-Ra were big properties at their time, never truly forgotten and have strong nostalgia attached to them. They pushed toys, they pushed consumers and those IPs had a real value to them, even to the current day but to revive them took a delicate touch because cartoons are different now. And TOH just doesn't have that power. That impact and care. And there is a LOT to be said about how it's much harder for shows to have that sort of impact nowadays but that's beyond the scope of this blog. The main point is that in 20 years, why would a studio choose to give TOH that much love and attention versus any of the other cancelled animation projects around this time? Especially something that did get to do its full run like Amphibia?

So… Is there a way The Owl House could get the time it needs to explore its whole identity and possibly become better? Yes? In a webcomic, manga or book. Animation is simply too expensive a medium and not regarded well enough that it's going to get the time but things like webcomics, manga and books are known for being more drawn out, able to do more with that space and more independent because the overheads are a LOT less than other mediums. After all, you only have to pay one writer and maybe a couple editors for a book.

But… I don't think Dana has the skill or attention span for any of those mediums. Not if she's working solo. If you look at her solo episodes in TOH, they have some really powerful moments and statements in them… And also some of the most meh B plots, some of the larger narrative cheats, show blatant disregard for her own world building and even at times had to have major plot points in them retconned by future writers because Dana wrote the show into a corner while trying to be clever. It shows someone who would be much better on an anthology series or an episodic series than ANYTHING serialized.

Remember, Dana wrote Reaching Out, where everyone just forgets that being a Wild Witch is met with the death penalty and is not just equivalent to college, which is how Amity and Alador treat it, let alone the twins celebrating becoming outlaws like they just joined a special club.

So in general, I don't think The Owl House is going to see a revival or the like. I think the best thing that could happen to The Owl House's legacy is that people figure out which parts they like the best and go on to make media inspired by those parts of TOH. Because I feel bad for anyone who tries to adopt TOH as a whole.

Because I just don't think it's possible to capture TOH's essence without also bringing along its crises of identity. The two are too intertwined and that was always going to hold the show back.

[autumn-foxfire]

I had one strange dream. So we're in this dark location, which looks like a cross between a fun house and some building with winding hallways. The POV has you climbing upwards through something that feels like the walls have the quality of a bounce house, but more solid. And that's when you're in the hallways, and somehow I'm just gonna assume I'm moving through Hawks' eyes here, we see a door and we're like "yeah no, we're cutting to the chase here" because we're impatient, so we're skipping to the final location instead of preparing or exploring, the final Challenge- The Elite Four Battle, yeah turns out this building is apparently Indigo Plateau, but with the halls and more walking options I guess it's more like something outta BW, (ignore that I never really played those games and am going off a screenshot memory) but it's so cramped in here, and there's the first battle, for some reason Ghost, Agatha. (Okay this clearly feels like it's based off my memory of Pokemon Rocket Red Edition, which has some wild implications on what Hawks is doing here. Dw he's on the good side but man this storyline meshed with bnha? I can't imagine.)

And there's other people there, PLF minions? And instead of Pokemon we're trying to kick a soccer ball but where it sometimes looks like a strong kick, no matter how hard we push or imagine it, our movements end up sluggish and miss it. It's frustrating because we keep "seeing" a quick, fast kick they can't block but it never happens. My brain creates a question of "should we get the battle moved to an open area?" and Hawks is like "no, we need to do it here. The rooms are designed to process victories and the doors will keep opening up to where we need to go next. There's an automated system that'll make an announcement that we've won to everyone in the building, it'll be official that way." Well ok then.

Yeah there's a banner up there that shows the names of challengers, wonder what he's trying to do? I'm guessing onwards to becoming the Champion and saving the world from corruption. Scene jump. There's a pantry with a bunch of feathers, but they seem to be painted blue halfway? And lots of disposable gloves. Hawks for some reason is deciding how many gloves are safe to offer up because apparently he's still trying to infiltrate PLF and idk what the gloves are gonna do for you boy, that's better off offered to Overhaul. Scene cut. Hawks is talking to some PLF guys who seem like they're questioning their alliance, maybe to help them? Scene cut. He's now talking to Dabi and we're in a slightly bigger room, but that's because the old battle room has been cleared out of people and whatever huge blockades there were, there's now these trinkets scattered all over the ground and Dabi says he cleaned it up but my brain is grumbling because he didn't do a good job likely on purpose, so I force my dream to manifest a huge ghostly hand to push everything to the side because Dabi really could've made a pile instead of slyly grinning at us acting like that was the best he could do. Yeah great job telling the people to go away, why did you want a private audience with us, that was the real reason right? Those objects weren't there last time and imagine someone placing colorful ping pong balls neatly on the ground and saying that was "cleaned up" it looks like that's all you can do because they're each taking up a certain amount of space but they can be piled and shoved in a corner to take up even less. This is just mischievous cat/toddler behavior. Also apparently the whole "Dabi exposes Hawks' history" reveal also happened here, not sure how that played into what actions we took. I remember I really liked their dialogue and I wanted to write it down because it was Top Tier DabiHawks Convos but y'know, it's a dream and I didn't remember it waking up 🥲

Dreams are crazy XD

Not how I would expect a BNHA/Pokemon fusion to go though. Love how even in dreams Dabi is an annoying bastard and Hawks is all down to business.

[xinnabon]

WRITE ME LETTERS.

# long distance relationship yelan x fem!reader [MODERN AU]

taking in requests! thanks!

.CW content is all safe!

.SUM you as someone who manages her own business, you tend to have trouble selling your products for the store, but with your girlfriend yelan, maybe things will go smoothly as it goes.

a/n: I REVIVE FROM MY VERY SHORT HIATUS BECAUSE I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE-- HELLO. I'M HERE TO MAKE CHAOS AND I SAY I AM BOOMING WITH LESBIAN ENERGY. requested by a friend again but it was months ago. TRUMPEEEETTT!!!!!!!! ROLL CALL OUR SWEET LESBIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!! YA THERE??!? also i really don't mind what gender is reading this right now. go crazy on my blog account then.

(play song nyaww. i think its sweet.)

work. sales weren't as good as you thought it would be. first, your business was sky rocket for a few weeks but then some other type of business pulled up. you needed to refresh your mind... create new ideas, but what's more?

7 missed calls...? god, from yelan too. you didn't really want to handle anything but you were sure that you needed to rant things out. if you didn't, maybe you'd break down to the point you don't know what to do. business and paying up for house and electricity bills was only to think about. if only, you can be selfish for one day. no. you can keep it in anyway. at least for a bit longer.

you turned off your phone and let the mattress consume you. you just wanted to be alone for once. who cares what others think, right? but either way, you just needed time to process all over on what's happening, what's next, what will you do. why does life have to be so hard to take over. even you think the saying that goes, "balance your life. have some fun and work at the same time" is absolute bullshit.

you can already imagine yelan worried for you. huh. must be normal to worry if people that is rather "valuable" to you like that. no. just let the world aside and pass time.

you liked yelan's company. you two met a while back in highschool but pretty much it was long-distance. just like now. you were assigned to be pen pals with someone from some other country besides your own. sure was sorta needed for research but of course you two were supposed to be the same age. oh how you wanted to go back. probably you don't know what to choose. either live your highschool life with endless studying and a bunch of missed assessments that are past due or stick with a business that was a success at first but eventually got taken by someone else's spotlight. it's frustrating just thinking about it. past, present, or even the future life you hopefully look forward for might take even a worse form.

so sweet... loving... ah. where did that go.

light faint. eyes ever shut tight. let go. just let go.

mm. 2 days. you haven't been showing up on work just because to rattle out some ideas. pretty sure the others can understand. throwing a piece of paper that is crumpled every time you change your mind about this over and over again. you could've just thought about this thoroughly but maybe you just had way too much high-expectations. you already have your own next-door some random store seller competing with you. geez.

you've been ignoring interactions and catching attention to yourself for a while. give in? no. not yet. you lay back and fluttered your eyes lightly shut as you carry on away to think it over from there. maybe you need to attract your clients more with designs? better up the products? make the prices fair? well. the idea itself is great but the context inside each and every one of them just couldn't rattle out of yourself. you just want things to be finally settled.

door is ringing. door is ringing? you get up from the lousy position you were in and head straight to the front door. you just finished ordering some food at least... 5 minutes ago. what kind of fucking food delivery service is that--

"yelan?"

fuck. why is she here. did she really have to buy a ticket all the way here? you look like a mess so far with her all carrying a suitcase and... a plush? right. she did said a while back that she'll ship it in to your house but sure is giving it to you in person.

"i know you're having some time. relax. think about it first then we'll talk. i, uh... didn't really tell you i'd be coming over but i'm sure you needed the company."

you slightly nod and let her inside. help her unpack, ate the food you ordered after 20 minutes of waiting, but really, the atmosphere wasn't... quite the best just like her last visits. showing her to your room to sleep comfortably and lay with her. looking at her with the A/C up and running. eyebags were already on your eyes. she doesn't want to assume what happened but really, whatever happened is what happened but it really matters when its to you. of course it is.

"i'm. not up for conversation right now. it's just... the business that i'm working on isn't doing the slightest bit of good."

yelan fiddles with your fingers. maybe she already had it figured out. she'd like it if you tell about it herself but what's the point in pressuring you? her hand running through your hair and signs you on over to go against her. you were cold. your hands were gripping tightly as you shake.

so far... she isn't asking so much what happened. you're sure she's worried but either way, you have someone to understand you need time to build up to entrust something like this matter to her. even to make you realize yourself that you aren't alone on this. breathe. and let go all of the disgraceful thoughts. nothing to disturb you two. you two alone. its you and yelan in your own world. leave it aside.

i will not ask you where you came from.

i will not ask you, neither should you.

honey just put your sweet lips on my lips.

we should just kiss like real people do.

[lady-byleth]

I'm a bit torn if I should buy fe3h because from what I've seen I'm not really a fan of Shez. Would you still consider the game worth buying?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: the gameplay is improved over the original Warriors, there's some good expansion on the Three Houses mechanics and some of the supports are really good. But if dad hadn't paid for it I wouldn't have bought it with my actual goddamn money.

Shez would've been a good protagonist in any other game, hell they could've gotten their own new entry into the franchise, but instead they yanked a perfectly good protagonist out, put her on the back burner and slapped someone in her place that doesn't FIT but is forced in anyway

And I'm not saying that cuz I hate Shez, I don't. But the way they're trying desperately to make them seem like they belong among this cast of pre established characters just isn't working

Like, when you start Claude's route he almost immediately trusts them. A mercenary of no renown with a VERY obvious connection to the ones behind Monica's kidnapping. That's...extremely ooc considering how long it took him to open up to Byleth

Dimitri puts a no name mercenary AT THE HEAD OF HIS GODDAMN ARMY because uuuuuuh "he needs someone leading them who is trustworthy and not a noble" like no offense but are you for real?

I appreciate some of the changes, like that Jeralt doesn't have to die if you do it right, how some of the less popular character traits are downplayed or even outright removed, the inclusion of characters who were mentioned but never seen before or that you're confronted with the Agarthans more openly than in the og game, but they could've literally done any of that with Byleth too

Shez feels...obsolete somehow. Which isn't fair to them cuz they're a good, fun character with quirks and personality. Shez deserved better, Byleth certainly deserved better than to be sidelined like a piece of wood and either killed by a canon foreigner or recruited by said canon foreigner only to not even get support conversations with the 90% of the cast that absolutely adored her in Three Houses

In my expert opinion, play Three Houses, watch the Three Hopes supports on goddamn Youtube

I would've literally bought Three Houses again if they'd been like "hey here's the EXACT SAME GAME except Byleth talks now" and regretted it less

Not to mention some of those truly atrocious design changes. Like, did you watch too much Shonen anime Sylvain?

They did my girl and my kids dirty.

Also, I know this is biased but the whole premise of Three Hopes invites you to be biased because it's set in a preexisting universe that had its story told and its characters reach the end of their journey. We've lived through Fodlan, we witnessed all of these characters' stories before, we have our opinions and headcanons and preferences in routes, Lords and endings

Like, most of the people playing this will be coming from Three Houses so we're all gonna be biased to some degree. Is it really a surprise that I'm kinda mad now?

Will there be people who disagree with me on this? Certainly. Do I care? No.

[dutchdread]

Bruh, we don't want to hear about your negative views about cleriths. Cloud loves Aerith and he always has. He lives in her church because he loves her. He thought of Aerith a lot in OG , On the Way to A Smile, and AC. He went to live in her church. Why tf would he go live in her church if it wasn't for Aerith? There are millions of places he could've gone but he chose the church. You don't have to believe our way of thinking if you don't want to, but don't tag clerith in your posts.

Thanks for your question. I think it's important to have these conversations so we can clear up these misunderstandings. Clouds motivations have been well documented so it's unfortunate that large swaths of the fandom seemingly are still in the dark about something that has been known for quite a long time, and I blame lack of communication. Before I answer your question though I'd like to address the style of it, since I find it amusing that in response to my article concerning productive conversation styles you not only used one of the styles I described, but even the same exact argument. This is a nice confirmation for me that I am right on the money. In my article, I said that the "dishonest inquiry" is the Clerith conversation style of choice. The example I gave was as follows:

The dishonest inquiry: “Why don’t you admit that Clouds actions in AC show that he doesn’t love Tifa?”

You mirrored this approach by saying "Why tf would he go live in her church if it wasn't for Aerith?". The defining characteristic of the dishonest inquiry is that the question isn't asked with the goal of seeking clarification, but as an offensive tactic meant to attack the others position, you're not trying to evaluate your position, you're trying to get others to re-evaluate their position under the guise of a question. If we look at the rest of your post we can see the indicators I described for someone who has reached the last stage of the debate style. "Cloud loves Aerith and he always has. He lives in her church because he loves her". As I noted in my article:

If assertions are backed up, they are backed up with other assertions designed to dissuade rebuttals, rather than investigating veracity.

This "argument" had no actual arguments, it was a meaningless assertion. Stating that you are correct in an attempt to avoid having to actual show that you're correct. "Cloud loves Aerith and he always has. He lives in her church because he loves her": This is what you're trying to prove, you can't state what you're trying to prove as your starting premise.

If you're honestly interested in learning more about FFVII then leave out the baseless assertions, they literally just waste peoples time and makes them less willing to engage with you.

If I had to rephrase your question in a way that's more inviting for a productive discussion it would be something like this:

"Why do you believe Cloud chose Aeriths Church as his hiding place in AC? He thinks about Aerith a lot, what do you think the reason is for that if it's not love?".

The answer to this is pretty simple of course, it's been restated several times, this is not something that is some grand mystery, it's not even an aspect of FFVII that's particularly ambiguous. The reason he stays in Aeriths church is the same reason he's seen lingering at Zacks "grave", it's guilt. As stated in the 10th anniversary ultimania, and several other times:

when Cloud contracts Geostigma he disappears. Behind these actions lies feelings of guilt towards his past failure to protect people who were important to him

While this is an element of the story that has been explicitly confirmed through ultimanias and quotes, this is not an element of the story that was ever in any way unclear, its a direct continuation of Clouds character arc in FFVII. Infact, Clouds mental health issues are the central part of the fake persona storyarc, and is arguably the core of the story. The rough order of events shown in FFVII, on the way to a smile, and Advent children (and also CC) concerning Clouds mental health is as follows. 1: Cloud as a boy want to protect Tifa. 2: Cloud fails to protect Tifa. 3: Cloud and townspeople blame Cloud for Tifas injuries. 4: Cloud internalizes this and beats himself up over his failure to protect Tifa. He develops a fear of failure. 5: Cloud starts acting up, starts wanting to prove himself, and decides to join Soldier to impress Tifa. 6: Cloud fails to get into Soldier, develops an inferiority complex. 7: Cloud is too ashamed of his failure to face Tifa. 8: Cloud fails to save his mother. 9: Cloud fails to save Nibleheim. 10: Cloud fails to save Tifa, again. 11: Cloud fails to save Zack. 12: Cloud develops a soldier alter ego that is everything that he isn't, as a defense mechanism. He hides from his own weakness. 13: Even as a soldier, Cloud fails to save Aerith. 14: Cloud regains his memories in the lifestream, and discovers he did fulfill his promise to come save Tifa. Here we basically end FFVII, and go into on the way to a smile. At this point Cloud has overcome the alien parasite messing with his mind by establishing a stronger sense of who he is. However, now that he's lost his fake soldier defense mechanism he's forced to deal with the past. His past failures haven't been fixed, he doesn't suddenly think he's a great person now, he simply can no longer use his fake persona to hide from his own weakness, and is forced to confront it. 15: Cloud still blames his own weakness for the deaths of Aerith and Zack, he thinks that he needs to atone for his sins, and thinks that the only way to do this is through living* 16: Cloud starts living with Tifa and experiences happiness and peace for the first time in his adult life.** 17: Cloud develops cherophobia and survivors guilt. He feels ashamed for being alive and happy while Aerith and Zack are dead because of him.*** 18: Clouds mental health deteriorates because of these feelings.**** 19: Cloud finds Denzel and sees him as a way to atone, having found a pathway to redemption, Clouds situation improves.***** 20: Cloud is unable to save Denzel from geostigma, and contracts it himself. 21: Clouds mental health worsens again, he failed again, he is unable to save Denzel, he is even unable to save himself, he won't be able to atone for his sins through living. He potentially brought an infectious disease into the house and as a result of his actions Tifa and Marlene will now lose him. 22: Depressed and ashamed, Cloud runs away. He thinks Tifa and Marlene are better off without him, he doesn't want them to see him waste away and die, he feels like he doesn't deserve to be happy and should instead die alone, Etc. Classic depression. (Some quotes concerning the *** are at the bottom of the article)

As for why he thinks about Aerith and Zack a lot, and hangs around the places that are connected with them, what else do you expect? Of course he's thinking about them, they're the people he failed, they're DEAD because of him. Cloud is a caring man, he beats himself up over it, of course he'd be thinking about them. And where else would a man wallowing in guilt and self-pity go than to those places? But the important thing to remember is that none of this is supposed to be seen as romantic. It's supposed to be viewed as sad and negative. Every internal character arc has something to overcome and this is what Cloud has to overcome in Advent children.****** Tifa to Cloud: "have we lost to our memories?" Cloud to Sephiroth: "Stay where you belong, in my memories" A well written story has internal and external obstacles to overcome, and ties the two together. In the case of advent children, the return of Sephiroth is the physical representation of Clouds internal character arc, which is that he should stop living in the past, and should move on. The past here isn't a positive thing he wants to get back to, Clouds past has always been a thing he's ran away from, but then is forced to accept. The past in Clouds case is a bad thing, his failures, and is something he should stop dwelling on. If you've ever seen the lion king, this resembles the scene where Rafiki hits Simba with a stick. "What does it matter, it's in the past", "yeah but it still hurts", "Oh Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it, or learn from it".

When Cloud returned to his normal self, he stopped running from the past, but as a result, he started dwelling in it. That's what he's doing in Aeriths church; dwelling in misery.

If we juxtapose Aeriths church with the 7th heaven, we can start to see where peoples misunderstandings are taking place. When some people look at the events of ACC they think that 7th heaven is a place of sadness, which Cloud leaves to be happy at Aeriths church, the place of happiness. The "have we lost to our memories" is then seen as a confirmation of this and that the memory, which they think corresponds to Aerith, is better than life with Tifa. This character arc then concludes with Cloud being happy by finally leaving Tifa behind, and riding off in the sun-set in search of Aerith at the end of the movie. But this interpretation falls apart as soon as you apply context to it, both narratively, and factually, it doesn't fit with with developer quotes, as well as the fundamental story themes of FFVII. 1: If 7th Heaven/Tifa is a place of sadness, then why has Cloud been consistently quoted to experience happiness there? 2: If 7th Heaven/Tifa is a place of sadness, and Cloud leaves at the end of the movie, then why has it been stated to be his promised land, aka, his land of supreme happiness (the reason it's literally called 7th heaven), and why is he stated to return there? ******* 3: If Clouds "memories" are positive, why is the plotarc resolved by Cloud telling the villain to "stay there"? 4: If Cloud is happy at the church, why is he living in self-deprecating squalor? 5: If Cloud loved Aerith and thought Denzel was sent to him by her, why did he abandon him? 6: Do you really think SE would write a story about a "hero" whose main emotional hurdle concerning the past comes down to. "I am sick of the girl I am with, I prefer the one that is dead, so I will get over the past by letting go of the girl I am with, as well as my adoptive children, to go chase the dead girl"? 7: Don't you think this would do Tifas character a tremendous disservice and do you think SE would be that preferential in their treatment? I could go on, but I think the point is clear. While the "Aeriths church is a happy place" interpretation is semi-coherent when looked at in isolation, it becomes exceedingly bizarre as soon as you place it in context. As I am fond of saying, this is not a matter of personal interpretation, it's a matter of lying to yourself vs not lying to yourself. I also suspect that this is the reason why SE changed the ending to advent Children, because people were misinterpreting it in this bizarre way, so they made it more in your face. In context, the following interpretation is much more fitting. Aeriths church is a place of sadness that Cloud runs to because of his guilt and depression. The "memories" line refers to Cloud dwelling on his past mistakes, as evidenced by his constant quotes about needing forgiveness. The character arc of moving on from the past is then resolved when he forgives himself, and as a result, defeats sephiroth, the metaphorical demon of his past. This allows him to return to his place of joy, his promised land, the 7th heaven, with a more positive outlook on the past. Instead of tarnishing Aerith and Zacks memories by wallowing in the past he instead moves on from it, thereby allowing it to become beautiful, which is represented by him planting Aeriths flowers on Zacks grave, and placing Zacks sword in the church. Instead of Zacks grave being the place where Zack died, it is now the place where a hero was born. Cloud has moved on, he has let his mistakes go, and has learned to come to terms with himself. I think it's hard to argue that this version of events is much less shallow, and much more meaningful than the story of a lovesick guy who abandons his partner and adoptive kids to go chase after a dead girl, but that's just me, what's more important is that it's the only version of events that's corroborated by the evidence. Thanks for the question. __________________________________________________

Corroborating quotes (not comprehensive)

* from case of Tifa: "“I’m going to live. I think that’s the only way I can be forgiven. All sorts of things…"

** Nojima in AC prologue: "“Cloud never had a candid personality to begin with, and although he started living with Tifa and even started working, he obtained a peaceful livinghe’s never experienced before, and this conversely made him anxious. And in the midst of this he contracts Geostigma himself, and rather than being able to protect the people dear to him, he instead was forced to face his own death, and so ran away.” (among other quotes)

*** 10th anniversary ultimania: "when Cloud contracts Geostigma he disappears. Behind these actions lies feelings of guilt towards his past failure to protect people who were important to him"

Aeriths 10th anniversary profile : Aerith still lives on in the hearts of her friends who saved the planet. And in particular to Cloud, as a symbol of his failure to having being unable protect those dear to him, she was a major factor in causing him to close himself off. -Aerith’s 10th anniversay profile.

And more, really this is reiterated constantly.

**** From case of Tifa: "During that time, it was Marlene who noticed a change in Cloud. She told Tifa how Cloud would sometimes space out and not listen to her.

Transporting mail around the world meant he was traveling around his past too. She knew that Cloud was in great pain because he couldn’t protect Aerith. Cloud was trying to overcome that and live on. But, going back to the place where he parted from Aerith might mean that his sorrow and regret was going to tear his heart again.

It was night, and they had closed the bar. Cloud was drinking alcohol even though he rarely did. He drained his glass. Tifa thought about it before going over and filling his glass.

***** From case of Tifa: "Tifa wondered if they became a real family after Denzel appeared. Cloud was clearly taking less jobs. At night, he would always make sure he had time to spend with the children. The silly little conversations he had with Tifa were also back."

****** Reunion files, page 58: "As long as Cloud blames himself for Aerith’s death, he won’t be able to move on with his life. One of the first ideas we had for Advent Children was to have Cloud overcome and resolve that immense feeling of guilt. For Cloud, no one other than Aerith can solve that problem for him."

- Takahiro Sakurai pg. 15 reunion files: After Cloud was told, “Which is it? A memory or us?: by Tifa, he tells Sephiroth, “Stay where you belong. In my memories,” just before he defeats him. I think Cloud finally becomes free at this moment. Deep down, Cloud knew that he shouldn’t be so hard on himself, but at the same time he couldn’t let go of those feelings of guilt for what happened to Aerith and Zack, or the thought that he could never forgive himself for it. But then his companions made him feel better by telling him to let go. ******* "The place where he awakens—- That is Cloud’s Promised Land As he sleeps, Cloud hears two voices. The voices of two people very dear to him, who are no longer with him. Playfully and kindly, they give him a message: he doesn’t belong here yet. When he awakes, there was his friends. There were the children, freed from their fatal illness. Tifa and Marlene, and Denzel asking for Cloud to heal his Geostigma— his family were waiting. Engulfed in celebration, he realizes where he is meant to live."

"Aerith lends her power to the people suffering from Geostigma in Edge, and personally provides for Cloud’s recovery. Geostigma is cured. Cloud returns to Tifa and the children."

-  FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Complete Timeline

[bumblesimagines]

Green Thumb

Part 8

Request: Yes or No

Sam and y/n had more development than y/n and Wanda lmao

~

You crossed your arms as you entered the room, glancing at the older man. You shared a look with Sam and Wanda, taking a seat in between Sam and Vision. You licked your lips, leaning towards Sam.

"What's this about?" You asked quietly, gaze flickering to Tony who sat in a corner.

"If I had to guess.. Probably about what happened in Lagos." Sam replied, glancing at Steve and Natasha. You frowned, looking at the Secretary of State.

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt." He began, gaze sweeping over everyone in the room.

"You have.. Fought for us, protected us, risked your lives but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the term 'vigilantes.'"

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked, studying the older man. You looked back at Tony Stark, making brief eye contact with him. It felt like an intervention. Or a teacher scolding their class after they made the sub cry.

"How about dangerous?" You frowned, looking forward when you heard his words.

"What would you call a group of US based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, quite frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?" Mr. Secretary asked, looking over the small group in disappointed. You'd hate to admit it, but he had a point. The citizens of Sokovia were left to find new homes and the people of Lagos had to fix what had been destroyed. Mr. Secretary stepped to the side, looking at the screen. Videos began playing of all the times the Avengers caused destruction and most likely death. Wanda looked away, growing uncomfortable as the aftermath of the Lagos incident played. She already felt guilty enough about it. She had told you many times how she wished it would've gone differently. Steve noticed, frown deepening.

"That's enough." He called, watching the screen turn off.

"For the last few years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's a decision the governments of the world can no longer tolerate." Mr. Secretary told them, hands clasped behind his back. You frowned, brows furrowing slightly.

"But we have a solution." Mr. Secretary took a book from his bodyguard, stepping forward and handing it to Wanda. Wanda picked it up, looking it over.

"The Sokovia Accords.. Approved by a hundred and seventeen countries." Wanda slid the book over to Rhodes so he could take a proper look at it. You looked at Mr. Secretary as he walked around the table.

"It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of The United Nations Panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

"That's such bullshit." You whispered. Mr. Secretary turned towards you, cocking a brow. Natasha let an amused smile slip while Sam covered up his snicker with a cough.

"The Avengers were created to make the world a safer place." Steve spoke up before he could address you.

"This is the middle ground." Mr. Secretary said, walking to the front again and facing everyone.

"The Accords will be ratified in a couple days." Steve turned towards Tony, earning a silent response.

"I'll leave you to discuss."

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Leave it to Natasha to say what was on everyones' minds. Mr. Secretary paused as he approached the door.

"Then you retire." He answered plainly. You watched him leave, picking up the cup of water infront of You You went to take a sip but it turned to ice before you could drink from it. With a small huff, you placed it down.

"That's new." Natasha called with a small smile, hoping to ease the tension in the room. You stood up, leaving the meeting room and heading to the lounge. The others followed, taking more comfortable seats on the couch. A debate quickly started between Rhodes and Sam while Steve looked through the Accords.

"Have you two thought about starting a debate club?" You asked, tapping the frozen water a few times before it finally turned back to normal water. Natasha let out a small snort, chuckling as she shook her head.

"I have an equation." Vision announced, stopping Rhodes and Sam. They turned towards him.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of enhanced people has grown and during the same period, the number of world ending events has risen."

"So, it's Starks' fault?" You asked, leaning back in your seat with a tilted head. Tony scoffed from his spot on the couch, rolling his eyes.

"I'm saying, there might be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge, challenge insights conflict, and conflict... Breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an idea that should be dismissed."

"I wish I understood half of what you said." You muttered softly, running your finger the leaf of a plant beside the seat. Natasha turned towards Tony, watching him.

"You're being uncharacteristic non-hyper verbal." Natasha pointed out softly as he looked at her with a deep sigh. Steve looked up from the Accords.

"It's cause he already made up his mind." Steve said, earning a small eye roll. Tony slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Actually, I'm nursing a headache." He muttered as he stood up, walking towards the coffee machine. He poured himself some coffee and grabbed a bottle of pills before sighing and placing down a device. He showed an image of a young man.

"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. A great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a floor level gig for the fall. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the people in Sokovia." Tony said, obviously agitated as he looked over everyone. You wondered why he now cared for the people who were injured during attacks.

"He wanted to make a difference although we'll never know cause we dropped a building on him while kicking ass." Everyone stayed silent as he spoke. You watched him take a pill, drinking it with the coffee.

"There's no decision making here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, when someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve closed the Accords, looking at Tony with a frown.

"Who says we're giving up?"

"We are by not taking responsibilities for our actions. This document shifts the blame." Steve voiced his opinion, shrugging lightly.

"Steve, that is dangerously arrogant." Rhodes spoke up, shaking his head. Steve turned towards him.

"This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the world security counsel, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D, it's not HYDRA-"

"But it's run by people with agendas and agendas change." Steve pointed out as you rubbed your forehead, sighing softly. Both sides had good points but you sided with Steve. The team was obviously divided.

"What do you think, (Y/N)?" Vision asked, looking at you curiously. You licked your lips, gaze focusing on Tony.

"I'm curious as to why you care so much about this Charles guy. You've had, what was it? Eight years as Iron Man to care about the people who get hurt? Why now? Cause you realized one of those people could become the new you? Would you care this much about Charles if he had been a typical guy? No degree, no plans for the future, just a normal guy working a normal 9 to 5 job and just trying to make it through the week. I agree with Steve. What if something happens and they don't send us to help because it doesn't go with their agenda? People get hurt cause you've never set up a system to help after these things happen. You're a fucking billionaire, Tony. Make a company that's designed to help people get back on their feet after the Avengers bulldoze through cities." You said, legs crossing as you looked over everyone else. Steve gave a small nod, glad you were seeing his side. He checked his phone, abruptly standing and announcing he had to leave. You and the others watched him go in confusion.

"To answer your questions, I do care about normal people." Tony said, arms crossing. You let out a soft groan, leaning back in the couch.

"I'm sorry, what are you? Twelve? Didn't you turn twenty this year?" Tony cocked a brow, watching as you rolled your eyes and stood.

"Yeah, I did turn twenty. Surprised you knew considering you've never particularly liked me."

"Well, first impressions are everything and you did try impaling me with a branch."

"Maybe I should've."

"Alright, boys, let's calm down." Natasha called, placing a hand on your shoulder. You turned and walked towards the steps, heading down to your room at the facility. You entered and plopped down on the bed, running a hand through your hair. You tapped your foot on the ground, fingers going to the root bracelets in an attempt to relax. Wanda opened the door, closing it behind her and sitting beside you.

"What's wrong?" She asked softly, staring at you in concern. You weren't one to snap at others so quickly.

"There's so much going on. The Accords, my fucking powers, the sudden change in Nat and Tony, you possibly getting into trouble cause of the Lagos incident.. That could've been me." You breathed out. Wanda frowned, brows furrowing.

"No, it wouldn't have."

"I shot fire out of my hands and turned water to ice without meaning to. They're getting unpredictable." You looked at her, grip on the roots tightening. Wanda's gaze flickered to the window, making you turn. Part of the window was covered in a thin layer of ice.

"And that just proved my point."

"You're an incredible person, (N/N). Have faith in yourself. You'll gain control of them sooner or later. You have beautiful powers that could change and heal the world." Wanda pointed out gently, having you rest your head on her shoulder. She softly began to hum a lullaby. You didn't understand the words but her soft voice proved to be soothing.

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Why'd you call me again?" You asked, toying with the strings of your hoodie as you looked around the cafe. You had planned on taking a nap and watching a new show on Netflix but it seemed like Steve had other plans for you.

"Because I trust you and need your help." Steve replied, fixing his baseball cap as he tried avoiding eye contact with civilians.

"Really?" You asked softly. Steve nodded, offering a smile. He licked his lips, nodding to the tv. You turned, looking at the news. You really didn't have to considering what they were showing was right down the street.

"Your friend?" You looked back at Steve with a tilted head.

"We gotta find him before anyone else does." Steve said. You nodded, watching him. Steve had been desperately trying to find his friend, Bucky, since the attempt on Furys' life.

"I'll go in alone. We don't want to seem threatening or set him off by going in as a trio."

"(Y/N)? Being threatening? He can't even scare a baby!" Sam said in amusement, shooting you a playful grin.

"Right back at you, bird boy."

"I'm sorry, who here is named after the top bird of prey?" Sam asked, leaning forward slightly as Steve let out an amused sigh.

"Oh, I didn't know you were named after eagles." You responded, smiling in triumph when Sam huffed lightly.

"Come on, you two." Steve chuckled, leaving the cafe and heading down the sidewalk.

"I don't trust Stark." You told them, arms crossing. Sam glanced at you as Steve turned into an alleyway.

"Not surprised considering the little fight you two had."

"I think he had Vis keep an eye on me and Wanda. I snuck out while he was with Wanda in the kitchen." You told him, frowning.

"Firstly, I'm an adult-"

"That's questionable."

"-And secondly, he's not my dad." You took off the hoodie as Steve unlocked a car parked in the alleyway, giving Sam the duffle bag with his outfit. You looked at your phone when it buzzed, seeing texts from Clint.

Clint

Heard you had a fight with Stark

Clint

You're officially an Avenger now

You smiled softly, chuckling softly at the texts. You waited for the guys to finish changing before taking the earpiece from Steve. The apartment building had been nearby so you and Sam headed onto the roof while Steve entered.

"How well do you think this will go?" You asked Sam, looking for any sign of law enforcement.

"Wanna bet?"

"How much?" You looked at him, giving a small grin. Sam looked up at the sky for a moment, thinking it over.

"30 bucks. I bet this will go to shit and this dude will escape."

"I bet we'll get into serious shit but this dude will either come with us or get caught." You replied. Sam stuck out his hand, nodding. You shook it, chuckling softly. You turned your head, noticing movement.

"We've got company, Cap."

"They're approaching from the south." Sam added, attention focused on them. You heard Steve begin to talk to someone, watching the cars pull in and get ready. You turned your head, hearing the door to the roof open.

"Shit." You whispered, letting Sam pick you up and lift you into the air. You could hear the fight going on inside through the earpiece.

"Should we help?" You asked, glancing up at Sam.

"No clue." Sam replied, watching Bucky jump from the apartment onto the roof of another building. You noticed someone running at a high speed, jumping up onto the roof and knocking Bucky down.

"They have cat ears." You mumbled, pushing Sam's arms away.

"Deal with them." You motioned to the German police force on the roof, hoping down onto the roof. You raised your hand, a root shooting out and grabbing the strangers arm, refraining them from clawing at Bucky. Bucky turned his head, making eye contact with you. Your eyes widened when the man grabbed the root, using what felt like super strength to toss you off the roof. You quickly used a root to grab onto the side, breathing out a sigh of relief. Sam took care of a helicopter before flying by to grab you.

"Thanks." You breathed out, holding onto him as he followed the chase. Steve, Bucky, and the cat guy went into one of the tunnels. Sam flew in once there was an opening, trying to help Steve with the cat guy. You huffed when the cat guy grabbed Sam's ankle, pointing your hand at him and shooting a strong gust of air. The cat guy lost his grip monetarily but quickly grabbed on again. Bucky threw up an explosive so Sam quickly stopped, flinging the guy off him. Sam landed, walking past the rubble. You sighed, raising your hands as you and Sam were quickly surrounded by cops.

"Mom's gonna kill me." You whispered.

"That's what you're concerned about?" Sam asked, glancing at you in disbelief.

"We're getting arrested, (Y/N)!"

[is-nini]

Prince of the abyss! Aether x abused Reader

Requested by anon:

Ayo! How have you been lately? Can I request an Aether (like the prince of the abyss or whatever, not aether the traveler) x reader where the reader is being abused? How would AETHER the PRINCE OF THE ABYSS react? What would he do to her abuser? Thank you :> it’s understandable if you don’t want to write this.

A/n: thankyou so much for requesting! Please enjoy!.

Aether has watch you for.. a little while now, even though he watches and stalk alot of people, you always seems to interest him the most. Aether might be the prince of the darkness, the ruler but that doesn't mean that he can't have a little.. interest towards normal humans.

You has always been an angel, and as the saying goes, opposite attract and in this case. You. An angel has took the interest of the dark prince or lord himself.

Your purity is the cause of your doom.

That's what Aether thinks. Despite taking interest in you he didn't really know much about you. Sure, he knows about your daily schedule, height, weight, everything from head to toe but he never really know about your family. He could've make his job easier by asking the mages or one of his minions to follow you but you are just too rare in his eyes. He doesn't trust his minions to watch over you.

Aether is looking at you sharply from the hills where you usually walk. Your eyes shine and glimmer as you greets people around you at the dawn winery, people pass by you with a smile on their face. Your smile really is hypnotising. When you smile and the whole rooms lits up, warming the slightly cold aura at the dawn winery.

Aether, without realizing curls up the corner of his mouth, making a ghost genuine smile on his face. He immediately snap out of his head and frown immediately.

What did you do? Did you put a spell on him? How can the mere sight of you makes him smile slightly? How can you, someone he never talks to makes him feel.. warm inside? The warm feeling that he has never felt for a long time?.

Aether narrowed his eye and shake away his thoughts. He will stay with his mission, which is finding out more information about the people around you and your household. The reason? Well he wanted to make sure that there is no.. mortals that will try to take you away and make sure you are okay.

Aether's eyes widen, thinking back to the thought that he just made. Since when is he possessive over you? Since when did he care? Aether looks at your form, seeing you talk to the dawn winery owner makes his blood boil.

You smile at Diluc and wave goodbye to him after giving him the new wine design. Diluc thanks you and gave you the payment as soon as you say thankyou and you make your way back to your home.

The closer you get to your home, your heart felt heavier and heavier. The bubbly aura around you is gone and is replaced with scared, anxiety,stress.

Aether looks at your changing state and furrowed his eyebrow. Why do you look so scared? What happen? Aether is sure he followed you home and didn't miss a thing.. he is sure that no one hurts you, not even the hilicurl.. why do you look so scared?

You never have neighbour or people around your house because you doesn't have that strong economic to live where people live. Even though the winery does pay you a good amount of money, it doesn't cover the whole thing. Your parents keeps piling on debt and it's getting hard for you to keep up.

You take a deep breath and pull out the money from your pocket, before you even knock on the door, the door burst open, your body felt the impact from the door and you fell backwards, you quickly puts your hand on the ground, making sure your head to fall to the ground. Your money flying everywhere as your parents stand Infront of the door.

Aether, who is looking wide eye quickly take a fighting stance. He knows where this is going. He saw the lack of kindness and empathy in your parents eye, despite them just pushing their child, their daughter to the ground with the door.

Aether jumps and as your father is about to hit you, Aether holds his hand and went in front of you, covering you with his body as he hold the sword on your father's neck.

"w-who are you?!"

Your mother screech from behind your father, too scared to move. Aether glares at her and slowly pressing his sword against your father's neck.

He is deep in madness until little whimper came out from your lips as you sob.

"t-take our daughter! P-please let us go!"

You father said. You are shocked at what you heard. They... They gave you to a mysterious man that might kill you in exchange for their lives? You know they are bad but considering you are their income you never thought that they would do that.

Aether furrowed his eyebrows and without saying a word, draw his sword back and looks at your sobbing and shocked figure. He glance at your parents one last time and then quickly takes you princess style.

You struggle against his hold but Aether puts his mouth beside your ear.

"shh, stay put".

He whisper in a gentle voice and then a black galaxy like portal appears as he stepped inside, proceed to disappear in to the portal with the calmer you in his hand.

Your parents let out a sigh of relief and looking at the scattered coins, they picked all of them put in a rushed manner and a smile on their face.

Being deeply engulf in the money, they didn't realize that the abyss herald is behind them until a shadow over looms them. This is the last time they were even seen on the surface of the earth.

You whimper and close your eyes as you awaits your unwanted death at least that's what you thought when a soft texture touches your bruised skin.

Opening your eyes slowly and looking around the mysterious bedroom your eyes went so wide, thinking that this man will do unsavoury things to you. When your whole body touched the bed you instantly went to the corner of the bed, looking at the blonde man with fear in your eye. You kneel and bow to him, pleading.

"p-please I'm s-sorry if i did something wrong, please don't hurt me-!"

At first you wail and begged for your life until you suddenly stopped when you felt a hand stroke your hair.

"don't... Apologize.."

He, the mysterious man muttered. He looks at you, now that you have a good look at him he doesn't.. seem... Intimidating.. yes, he did threatened your parents with a sword but the gaze that he gave to your parents is different from what he gave you.

His gaze is soft and full of calmness. He kneel Infront of you and grabbed your chin.

"tell me.. what magic did you put to make me like you?"

He asked. You stare at him confusingly. What does he mean? You never learned any magic.. you don't even have power for the lord of barbatos! How can he assumed such a thing?

"i- pardon?"

Aether looks at you and pulled away from you. He started to turn his back on you and started to walk away. You takes all your gut and grab his hand, staring at his eye.

"w-wait-! Why did you asked that question? A-are you going to kill me?"

Your big doe eye looks up at Aether making his heart bump a bit as his face goes red while he looks away. Sighing and feeling his face went back to normal he turns to look at you.

".. your food and clothes will be here shortly.. make yourself at home.."

Is all he said you are too shocked to say anything, you furrowed your eyebrows and just look at him go with a helpless look on your face. Hearing a soft click on the door you instantly rushed to the door, hoping that you did not just get lock. Unfortunately luck is not on your side as you whimper. The door is locked.

You look around the bedroom. Despite the little light around the area, this place seems big and fancy.. you remember the day where you are being thrown out of the house and end up needing to sleep in the grass with the cold night because you didn't bring home enough money to your parents.

You quickly shake your head and looks at the window that leads to what you assume is the abyss. It's black and very galaxy ish, whatever it may be it will not help you to escape or give you any information.

You ponder in wonder.. what will happen to you now? The man doesn't seems like a threat but you won't take chances.. but for now.. you cannot do anything. All you can do is just be patient.. and well.. hope for the better future.

[chuuyas--boo]

The "Judge" and The Sinner.

Tw: Violence, language, murder, Self harm

(Partially based off of 3 episodes of Angels of Death; Episode 4: A sinner has no right of choice, Episode 5; Don't let me kill you just yet, and Episode 6; Zack is the only one who can kill me. Some torture methods will be skipped over/changed slightly because most human beings can't endure all of the torture Zack and Rachel (Mostly Zack cause he's an idiot) went through without dying.)

The elevator doors opened and Riley slowly walked out onto B3, immediatley noticing the machine guns mounted on the walls, as if the last floor wasn't difficult enough; Running from the sweet but obsessive and insane ginger haired grave-keeper; Eddie.

A single bullet was fired from one of the guns, just barley missing Riley's arm causing her to stumble back, just as more bullets were fired rapidly, getting closer until they stopped, only inches away.

"Great...trying to fill me with bullet holes huh?"

"Hiii~! Terribly sorry I'm late! It took you so long to get here...I nearly dozed off! Still...I'm surprised you weren't killed just now! You sure have incredible intuition dear~"

"What..."

"Y'know something? I had a feeling you'd be a great sinner~! ...I must've needed some excitement cause that woke me right up!" "That's great and all miss...but I don't really care...Could you just let me through...?"

"I supposed I can do that~"

Bright lights shined on Riley and she narrowed her eyes so it wasn't so harsh.

The iron bar door slid open and Riley walked through, and walked down the hallway to a room with locked doors.

"You said you'd let me through..." her voice was calm yet slightly irritated.

"My~ You're so impatient! At least let me finish putting on my makeup!"

Riley let out a huff of annoyance.

"There's a certain procedure each criminal must go through before their punishment is assigned~ If I were you, I'd start getting ready now. In fact I'll even open up a room for you~"

One of the doors unlocked and Riley went in.

(ignore the fact Zack and Rachel are there, it's a room with the mugshot board(?), a camera, and a table with a bin with the name boards)

"Every legitimate criminal has a mugshot, right~? Take a pretty one for me! ...Oh and it's not a proper mugshot without your name board, of course~"

Riley walked over to the table, grabbed her name board out of the bin which said "Riley Morgan" on it, in letters that looked as if they were painted with blood...which wouldn't be surprising if it WAS blood.

"How am I supposed to do this by myself..."

Riley huffed, and moved the camera closer to the wall, hung the name board around her neck and quickly took a picture, narrowing her eyes slightly at the flash.

"There..."

Taking the name board off and tossing it to the side, Riley grabbed the photo and held it up towards the security camera, and the iron bars slid out of the way.

Walking out of the door; into another hallway, but this time with poorly drawn images of what seemed to be torture methods.

"They're illustrations of punishments I designed, for sinners just like you~! I'll give you a choice,...there's more than one way to punish a sinner you see~, So I've got a variety of painful options waiting for you! Of course...if you'd rather spend the rest of your life rotting in a cell...it's always on the table~!"

"What kind of pathetic person would decide to rot forever..."

"Oh~? Too bad...and here I was hoping I'd get to keep you forever! ahahah~!"

Silently Riley walked into one of the rooms, filled with dolls...life size wooden dolls in rows of chairs...with what looked to be an electric chair in the front. "She- She's really trying to fry me to death!"

But suddenly the iron bars slid open.

"Ahaha~! I know you wouldn't survive that kind of punishment! I'd like to see a little sinner like you suffer for longer~ So I ever so kindly let you through!"

Riley hesitated before walking out of that room, into another hallway, with a door that had a warning sign on it. "Doesn't seem like the best of ideas...but it's the only chance I've got"

Opening the door open, Riley imagined sitting in the electric chair and being shocked over and over until she eventually died and shuddered, once inside the door locked behind her. "Great..., as if it wasn't bad enough to be locked in here, it really stinks!" scrunching her nose at the smell, she noticed a corpse in the middle of the room.

Sighing, Riley walked over to one of the blood stained windows, pulled her knife out of her pocket and bashed the handle against the window as hard as possible, but nothing happened, not even the slightest crack.

The TV's in the room turned on, showing Cathy.

"Hiiii~! Did you miss me dear?"

"Like the plague." Riley said flatly.

"Let me give you an explanation of the room you're in right now! And you'd better listen closely if you want to live. I got a little carried away with the design~ It's completely sealed, making it impossible for air to get in or out! The window glass has been reinforced, so you won't be able to break it! And the best part...I'm about to fill it with something veryyy special! If you stay in there long enough, you'll be on your way to a nice, peaceful death. It's poison gas~! Obviously I wouldn't confine you to a place like that with no way out...in fact, here's a gift~ I've mercifully provided a gas mask! As long as you do your best, of the utmost faith you'll escape! Oh, and of course I think it'd be a bit boring if I let you sit in there forever, so I've added a time limit! I knowwww~ I'm sooo thorough! After your time runs out you'll be given another gift! A gas so potent the mask won't do any good against it! That's all for now, have yourself a good time in there, and try not to die, okay~?"

Sighing, Riley glanced at the gas mask in the middle of the floor as the poison gas began to flow into the room, noticing the cracks in the eye lenses "Yeah...that won't be all that helpful..." and then walked over to the corpse on the floor and crouched down.

"There's writing..."

Riley gently shoved the body out of the way and read it

"The one with the ugly foot, the foolish killer who stomped out life with the right foot..."

Pausing as the writing got more difficult to read Riley huffed and then continued.

"It says something like...if you feel guilty get rid of your right foot, if the crime and punishment are equivalent, light will shine in hell."

Riley hesitated before grabbing the right foot, and walked over to the scale and placed it on one side, then grabbed the bag that was placed on the table and set it on the other side of the scale and watched as it balanced out.

The gas started to get to her, and Riley started coughing as it got harder to breath, quickly running over to the gas mask and putting it on, despite the cracks in it, it'd be better than nothing. The gas mask helped a little, but made it harder to see.

"This is stupid! Why the hell bother providing something if it's only going to make it harder you sadistic bitch?!"

Letting out a sigh of frustration Riley looked around hoping something had happened, and noticed the safe in the corner of the room had opened slightly, inside was a wire and a key card. Grabbing both, Riley walked over to where the key card would be inserted and put it in.

The gas stopped slowly and Riley smiled to herself, glad she had figured it out.

"My, my~ What a smart sinner you are~!"

"You're the one that made me come in here in the first place..."

"And you're the sinner who got yourself into this place~! You coulddd chose to rot in a cell~ It's still an option on the table dear~"

"Like I'd decide to do that! I'd rather die immedatley."

"My, my~ someone's eager to be punished for her sins~!" "Not like I can leave this floor till I'm "punished" anyway..."

Cathy laughed as Riley walked out of the room, down a hallway very slowly, the gas still taking its toll. Eventually she sat down against a wall where the cameras wouldn't see her and fell asleep.

Waking up with a jolt, Riley shook her head trying to get rid of the thoughts from the nightmare. Getting up and slowly down the hall, into a room with a smashed doll house, half expecting to be required to do something, she sighed and glanced at the TV in the room.

"I'll let you pass through this one~ I didn't know enough about you to mentally torture you so you're lucky!"

"and you said I took a long time to get here, in that time you could've figured out more about me, but why would you want to? I'm just an ugly, pathetic, useless, boring bitch."

"Oh~? I don't think you're boring! You're actually quite an interesting sinner~ You're smart and I like that about you~ You remind me of that gorgeous sinner; Eddie~!" Not knowing if that was a good thing or not, Riley slowly walked down another hallway, separated in two by a wall in the center with barbed wire on the top, stopping at the table. The door up on the ledge opened and Cathy stepped out.

"How nice to finally meet you in person~!" Riley just gave her a cold glare "You gonna let me through or not?" "My! You shouldn't be so rude to a pretty lady like me~! In order to continue, you must inject yourself with those syringes, one contains vitamins and the other contains dangerous drugs!" "Which is which?" "AHAHAHAHA~!! It doesn't matter! I won't tell, besides I forgot~! Once you inject every last drop I'll gladly open up the door for you! You might wanna hurry though...or else someone you love will die~" and with that, Cathy went back the way she came.

"Great...this could kill me, I'll probably die anyway..."

Grabbing both syringes, Riley looked at them; one of them contained green liquid and the other was yellow, but the colors didn't give any hints as to which was the vitamins and which was the drugs, it wouldn't matter since she'd have to inject both. Quickly Riley injected both into her arm, tossed the empty syringes to the side and the door opened.

"Stupid bitch...my heads pounding..." Riley stopped in the dim hallway and leaned against the wall with her hands against her head.

The so called "dangerous drugs" just brought out the voices in her head, telling her to kill someone, or something and they only got more persistent by the second.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Riley's voice had gone shrill, laced with insanity as it echoed through the dark empty hallway.

Continuing to walk down the hall as the voices got more and more persistent until she walked into a large room and the door slammed shut behind her, locking.

"Glad you could finally join your sister and I~! It took long enough..." There was a girl standing in the middle of the room with long dark brown hair and blueish green eyes.

"What does she have to do with this? I want nothing to do with her! She left me and Jack, and Jack died!!"

"Oh~, you don't want revenge~? All those voices in your head telling you to kill her but you just can't? Maybe you aren't as great of a sinner as I thought..." The brunette glanced at Riley "R-Riley don't...please..."

"Oh but why not!? Huh? WHY NOT LEXI!? Why shouldn't I? You left us alone, and Jack died. Why shouldn't I rip your throat out right here right fucking now?! So you can go be pathetic somewhere else? Nahhh~ I'll kill you myself, slowly and painfully and see how you like it!"

Fear shined in Lexi's eyes as Riley stepped closer

"Scared~? You should be!" Cathy laughed as she watched the two

"AHAHAH~!! I've provided you with a gun as well~ Kill her as you'd like!" Riley grabbed the gun and pointed it right at Lexi's head.

"You could've avoided this y'know? But you didn't...and now you'll pay for it!"

"RILEY PLEASE!" "You're gonna beg to live? Pathetic. If you're gonna beg, do it right, you don't look nearly as pathetic as he did." "W-wh-who d-did?" "You don't know? AHAH! Go on~ Tell her~!" Riley shot a cold glance at Cathy, enough to make her shut up, temporarily. "You're clueless...Jack? Yeahhh...I did it. I killed him." "YOU WHAT?"

Lexi attemped to grab the gun out of Riley's hand only to have it pressed to her chest.

"He begged me to, so I did." "You whore-" "Do you WANT me to pull this trigger? The trigger that'll end your pathetic existence?"

"Do as you please...it doesn't matter anymore..." Riley pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

Cathy giggled and then bursted out laughing.

Silently Riley pulled the knife out "You'll die one way or another~" and pointed it at Lexi's throat.

"Please...-"

Without saying anything, Riley took the knife and slid it across her arm, blood gushed down her arm but she seemed unbothered.

Silently Cathy got up, and walked down the stairs to where the siblings are "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE KILLING HER!" "Did I say I wasn't going to..?" The drugs would've worn off at this point, but because Riley was younger and smaller they hadn't yet, without hesitating she flicked the knife back towards Lexi

"RILEY PLEASE! Can't you hold back?" "Hold back!? IF I COULD I WOULDN'T BE HERE!" "Sinners can't control their bloodlust~ Just accept it!" Lexi stepped back only to stumble and fall

"Get up. Now." Lexi didn't get up, so Riley grabbed her arm and jerked her up making her stand up and quickly plunged the knife into her stomach over and over, blood gushed out and covered the floor around them, Cathy laughed as Riley plunged the knife deeper every time until she stopped and Lexi's body fell to the floor, limp and dead.

"My, my~ You ARE a great sinner~ Now you'll get your punishment~!"

Riley just glared at Cathy silently, her eyes seeming cold and dead.

Without warning the 4 guns in the corners of the room began firing, not knowing what to do, Riley ducked hoping they'd stop before they got to her, unfortunately they didn't and one shot her in the leg.

"You'd look great filled with bullet holes~" Collapsing on her knees, Riley glared up at Cathy "So would you" and pointed the gun at her, forgetting nothing had happened when she pulled the trigger last time.

"Go on~ Shoot me~!" "Why are you so eager to be shot?"

"Just do it! Unless....you aren't as great of a sinner as I thought~" Riley pointed it at Cathy's head and pulled the trigger but nothing happened "AHAHAHA~!! Foolish of you to think I'd actually give you a loaded gun!"

Despite the blood gushing from the bullet wound, Riley shakily got up "So...are you gonna kill me or..." "No. A sinner like you is much too interesting to be killed~!"

Riley sat on the floor, watching blood pool around her, and her sisters dead body in silence.