#i gave myself the worst scratch on my foot if it scars i’ll be so mad… it’s always my tiny dumb injuries that scar

[glynjohnsfurcoat]

literally bruised and bloodied from antihistamine withdrawal

[bitemealiienboy]

Stay With Me | Dhawan!Master X Reader

REQUEST: ‘I have a request (with possible smut if you are ok writing it!) Dhawan!Master saves a female reader from something involving the Doctor (maybe the  reader is bait for a monster that the Doctor is trying to take care of or something?) and takes her back to his TARDIS. They both have feelings for each other and at this point the reader is fed up with being at the whim of the Doctor and doesn't want to turn down the Master's advances any more, so she agrees to stay with him.’  (anonymous)

NOTES: Thank you so much for the request, I really liked this one, it was great fun to write, the ideas just came to me with this one so I kinda went crazy. Although there is no smut in this there is some making-out. This is set after The Timeless Children, so spoiler warning I guess. Hope you enjoy xX

WORD COUNT: 1728

WARNINGS: A lot of sadness, mention of injuries, slight mention of death, and some making-out. The gif is not mine, as always.

You had known the Doctor for years now, first meeting them when you were a teenager and they were a dark haired northern man. You never stayed with the Doctor for long, you’d stay for a couple of journeys and leave. But you’d always find yourself coming back to them and going on another journey. You’d seen the Doctors many faces, you’d seen them at their best and at their worst. But you’d never seen her like this.

Yaz caught you up to speed. She told you everything that you missed, spearing no detail. She told you about the Master's return to the Cybermen. From being sent to prison to Ryan and Graham deciding that their time with the Doctor was up. It was a lot, you understood why she was acting the way she was, but you didn’t like it. The Doctor was taking more risks not realising it was at yours and Yaz’s expense. She wasn’t thinking past tomorrow, this was why you stayed with her. The universe needed the Doctor, but not like this. She was also lying more, but that didn’t surprise you much. The Doctor had been lying long before all this, and you could hardly judge, you had secrets of your own.

You had seen the Master since the destruction of Gallifrey, he showed up on your doorstep, hurt and broken. Despite not seeing this new form of his, you knew it was him straight away. At first you wanted to slap him, for Martha, for Bill, for Missy. But the hopeless and painful look in his eyes made you stop. He was more damaged than before, you found yourself pitying him. Despite all you knew about the time-lord you let him into your home and helped him recover from his bruises and scars. He made you promise not to tell the Doctor he was alive, but not with his usual threats of violence. He sounded like he was begging you. He eventually left your home, but he kept coming back every so often. Sometimes he would have something new to say, to get off his chest and other times he’d say nothing, you presumed he just needed the company. As it became a regular occurrence you reluctantly gave him a spare key. You’d talk to him for hours, he was rather good company. Something you never thought you’d say. Over time you knew he was a changed man, he was far from Harry Saxon or Missy. The Master was an entirely different person. He was the reason why you met up with the Doctor again. You had to find out what was going on.

Which brought you here. Stuck on an alien planet, hiding from giant, hairy, flesh eating monsters who had a particular craving for humans that day. The three of you were hiding in an area of long grass trying to think of a way back to the TARDIS, which they happened to be guarding. Of course the flesh eating monsters had to be somewhat smart.

“I’m gonna see if there is another way,” the Doctor said as she army crawled out of sight.

“She’s gone too far,” you said to Yaz, keeping your voice down.

Yaz nodded in agreement, “I can’t keep doing this. But I don’t know how to tell her.”

“I understand,” you wished you could tell her that leaving the TARDIS was an easy thing. But it wasn’t. No matter how many times you had done it, it was always tough. You looked over at Yaz, “You should take Jack’s offer.”

“How do you know about that?” Yaz questioned in a hushed tone.

“Jack texted me about it, he probably wanted me to chase you up about it.”

“I just don’t know if I can leave the Doctor, not while she’s like this.” Yaz looked as if she was about to cry, you placed your hand on hers, to steady her.

“You’ll see the Doctor again, it’s never the end,” you said.

"I just don't think I could do it."

"Yaz, your life doesn't revolve around the Doctor," you said, getting a small laugh from Yaz.

"Maybe you should listen to your own advice," Yaz smiled, it was soft but there was a hint of sadness to it. “How did you leave the Doctor the first time?” Yaz asked.

“The first time I had no choice, the Doctor sent me and Rose home. Rose managed to save the Doctor, but I didn’t see them again till later that year. But the first time I left on my own was when Rose got trapped in another world. She needed some time alone to think.” You and Yaz both had a lot of time together to share stories of your travels, you told her the Doctors whole life story, well what you knew of it anyway.

“You think she needs some time alone again, to heal?”

“Yes,” you muttered just loud enough for Yaz to hear. “She needs to move on.”

The Doctor started shuffling back towards you, her face wasn’t showing any signs of hope. “Do ya want the good or the bad news first,” she said.

You and Yaz shared a look.

“Well, the good news is that I have a way out. The bad news is that it involves using myself as bait.”

“How are we meant to get back to Earth?” you questioned, “We can’t fly the TARDIS.”

“Didn’t I teach you, Y/N?” The Doctor said

“No.”

“I could have sworn I did," the Doctor scratched her head, thinking. "Huh…Maybe it was someone else.”

“Doctor use me as bait,” you said.

“No,” the Doctor looked at you, it was a look of warning. A look you never took any notice of before.

“Well my idea saves more of us and I wasn’t offering.” You didn’t dare look away from the Doctor. You wanted to try and see what she was thinking. You needed to outsmart her, just this one time.

“I just need more time to think,” the Doctor breathed.

“You’ve had hours,” you sighed, looking away from the Doctor so she couldn’t see what you were thinking. “Fine, five more minutes to come up with something Doctor,” you said, sternly. 

You watched as the Doctor placed her fingers on her temple and began to think. You knew that she would probably be counting down the five minutes in that big brain of her as she thought of a solution. Two minutes passed, you looked over at Yaz as you slowly rose up from your spot. You smiled at Yaz, she knew what to do from here. You gave her a wink goodbye and started to sprint towards the monsters. You looked back, seeing that they were all following you. You could also see Yaz, putting the Doctor in the distance. You ran as far away from the TARDIS as you could, only stopping as you heard the little blue box leaving.

“Goodbye Doctor,” you whispered as you turned to face your death.

The sounds of the TARDIS came back, the monsters stopped in their tracks as they heard the sound.

“NO!” You screamed, “You weren't meant to come back! You idiot!”

It wasn’t the Doctor’s TARDIS that landed. Instead it was a little shack. The Master opened the door and didn’t move. He just slowly raised his arm and shot down all the monsters. It happened quickly. You just stood there blinking, struggling to process your thoughts. 

“Are you coming or what?” The Master called out to you. He was a couple hundred meters away, he hadn’t moved from where he stood. He held out a hand, waiting for you to come to him.

You ran to him, you reached your hand out and grabbed his. He pushed you into his TARDIS, kicking the door shut with your foot. 

“She shouldn’t have done this,” he began saying, his eyes searching your body for any injuries.

“It’s just a few cuts and bruises, Mas—”

“She really shouldn’t have done this,” he cut you off. His hand let go of yours, as he walked towards the kitchen and began rummaging through the draws. You followed him, jumping up onto the counter to sit down. He grabbed your arm again, putting plasters on your wounds. Even the small scratches.

You looked at your arm, now covered in plasters and back up at him. You raised an eyebrow.

“Too much?” He asked.

“Too much,” you confirmed.

He looked at you, contented, you could feel his warm breath on your face. You gave him a small half-smile.

“Thank you,” you said quietly. Your hand found his, your fingers touched his.

“It’s the least I could do,” he took your hand, his thumb gently traced the palm of yours. “Stay with me,” he said softly, “travel with me.”

“You want me to travel with you?” You were shocked. “What about my life back on Earth?”

“We both know you're addicted to this life,” the Master said the thing you could never admit to yourself. You always struggled to settle down on earth for a reason, it was the reason why you kept running back to the Doctor.

“I’ll think about it,” you said. You kissed the Master’s cheek, it felt like the right thing to do. You pushed yourself off the counter, your intention to leave the room.

“Y/N,” the Master grabbed you by the arm. He pulled you back. He looked at you for a moment, his eyes full of lust. He pulled you closer and then crashed his lips onto yours. You fell back in to the counter, while the Masters hands found their way to your waist. You thought about pulling away, never in a million years did you expect you’d be doing this. But at the same time it felt so right, like something you wanted for a long time. So, you placed your hands on his shoulders.

You eventually pulled away, both panting for breath. He pulled you into his chest, his chin rested on top of your head. You took in his scent, it was warm and calming. Your worry for the doctor slowly disappeared from your mind.

“I guess I could stay for a trip or two,” you said into his chest. A small smile appeared on his face as he planted a kiss on top of your head.

[psychedelic-ink]

Luna goes undercover - Hope you like it! (here's a part 2 at Silvana's request! ^//w//^)

It didn’t take that long until the door opened again. Coming into the room was medium sized polar bear, he peaked at first and looked over at me when he noticed I was awake “Hello.”

I smiled at him “Hi. Who might you be?”

“My name’s Bepo.” The polar bear spoke in a kind voice. He seemed like he had something in his paws as he stepped into the room, still, he closed the door behind him and made his way to me “You’re Tiger Luna, right?”

“Just Luna will do, thanks.” I nodded, keeping the mask of a smile “What brings you here, Bepo?”

He held out his paws to me to reveal a round silver bracelet – my round silver bracelet “The captain said you were looking for this?” I didn’t hesitate to take hold of it, the smile now real in my lips.

“Thank you… Thank you, thank you…”

“It’s that important, huh?” he looked from the bracelet to me and I nodded at him.

“One of my brothers gave it to me, a long long time ago.” I explained “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost it.”

“It’s a very pretty bracelet.” The kind bear smiled.

“Thank you.” I rubbed my thumb over the star with an A carved on it “It’s my treasure…” I remembered when Sabo disappeared and we couldn’t find him anywhere, I remembered when he came back from the village explaining that he had spent the day working for the blacksmith. He was covered in smudges but he had a giant smile on his face when he explained why he had done it, he had found the bracelet, but the initials didn’t carve themselves… I shook my head, memories of my childhood would do nothing but make me cry right now “Speaking of treasure!” I forced another smile as I held my bracelet in my hands “You have his straw hat, right?” Bepo looked at Luffy and back at me, nodding “Then spare yourself the trouble and bring it over before he wakes up… I warned I’d tear the ship apart if I didn’t get my treasure… My brother will just do it.”

“I’ll bring it over.” To my surprise, Bepo leaned over to hug me and I tensed at the touch “Please don’t cry, Straw Hat Luffy will be ok. The captain’s the best doctor in the world.” Crying? I didn’t realize I was… He pulled away without another word and left. I took my left hand to face to find that there were indeed tears coming down my cheeks…

I looked down at my hands where my bracelet still was, there were some dark spots on the silver from all the explosions and the fire – the magma… If I can just kill that damn marine before my time is up… “What are you even thinking, Luna…?” I looked to my brother’s unconscious body “You can’t go around dying and leave this idiot… You can’t do that to him.” I tilted my head and looked back at my bracelet as I cleaned off the smudges with my thumb “Plus, Luffy has as much right to revenge as I do…” and now we only have each other… “There’s no way I’ll ever leave him alone.” I got out of the bed and walked over to my brother and held his hand, he seemed calmer than before “I swear Luffy, I’ll get stronger, no matter what it costs me. As long as I can kick the ass of whoever tries to take you from me. We’re not going through this pain ever again, I swear to you. Not if it depends on me… Never again brother.” I squeezed his hand a bit “And when I’m stronger, strong enough to protect you, then it won’t matter who stands in our way, pirates, marines, grandpa… And when that damn Akainu crosses paths with us again, he’s gonna regret ever hearing our names. I just… I need to get stronger first… A lot stronger. Strong enough to protect my family…” my eyes went wide when I felt him squeeze my hand back. Like he could hear me, but his eyes remained closed, still I smiled “I swear, nothing’s ever gonna tear us apart again.”

I know went back to bed and I know I put my bracelet back where it belonged, on my right wrist, but I don’t remember falling asleep. In fact, I only knew I fell asleep when I felt my covers being pulled off and someone’s hand over my stomach, then all I heard was “ARGH! WHAT THE—?!”

And my eyes opened to see Law by my bed side “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Checking your bandages!” he argued pulling his finger from my grip. Instincts “I’m a doctor, remember?!” he definitely seemed annoyed.

“You should wake someone up before you put your hands on them…”

He opened and closed his fingers back with an unreadable expression on his face, I was happy I hadn’t broken his finger “You could use the rest, I didn’t want you to wake up.”

I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms over my chest “I’ve been resting since I got here, I’m done with resting.”

“You’ve been crying since you got here, it’s not the same thing.”

I suddenly snapped at him “Is that your medical opinion, doctor?!” we locked eyes for a moment, both too stubborn to tear away.

He sighed and raised his right hand with his palm down, a small blue sphere appeared right under his fingers “Room.” And then the sphere expanded around us, right afterwards he closed his fingers with the exception of his index and middle finger, then turned his hand around, pointing his fingers up “Takt.” At the command, I found my body lifting off the bed slowly and gently. The feeling of just hovering in the air made me chuckle, moving was awkward and I really couldn’t stop myself “First you almost break my finger in your sleep, then you’re laughing?”

“It’s kind of a new feeling for me.” I admitted as he started to carefully unwrap the bandages off of me, I was wearing a t-shirt but he simply moved it until it only covered my breasts “Some kind of limited telekinesis?”

He shrugged “Something like that.”

“What else can you do?” he raised an eyebrow at my question, his hands still expertly unwrapping my old bandages.

His expression didn’t change as he finished and held the old bandages in his hands “Shambles.” As I blinked, he now had a fresh roll of bandages in his hands and the old ones were on the spare table in the corner of the room.

I nodded “Neat trick.” He placed the clean bandages on the bed and started to examine what I was sure was my worst injury, the big cut like burn that I had across my chest. When his fingers touched my tender skin, shivers when up and down my spine “Does it hurt? It shouldn’t.”

“No.” I rubbed my face “Your hands are just freezing cold…” as I looked back at him, I could’ve sworn he actually smiled a bit there.

“It seems like it’s healing alright.” He finally said as he examined my wounds “This one” I felt him touch my burn “is most definitely leaving a nasty scar, but the others should heal better.” I reached for the new bandages but he slapped my hand away before I could touch it. He didn’t even blink as he grabbed the bandages and started to wrap them on me again “You just have to rest and not scratch them.”

I rubbed my hand where he had slapped “But it itches.”

“It’s healing.” He replied “Try and stay in bed.”

“But I’m bored!”

He sighed as he finished wrapping me back up “If you don’t stay in bed, your wounds will open up again. So stay in bed.” I felt myself being slowly placed back down on the bed.

I pulled the covers back over me as he moved over to check Luffy’s injuries now “How is he?”

“Takt.” I saw Luffy’s body rise off the bed like I had before “He’ll wake up soon enough, his injuries were just some of the worst I’ve ever seen.” His hands kept working as he spoke “What were you two doing? Your injuries have injuries, your muscles were so drained they had no reaction to pain. In fact, the only reaction to pain you two had was really a lot of screaming until you both collapsed from exhaustion. Not to mention all the chemicals you two had mixed into your bloodstream.”

I remembered Magellan’s poison burning my skin, I remembered struggling with my lungs to breathe… I remembered Ivankov and Inazuma, I remembered Luffy’s screams mixing with my own… I remembered the coldness of the ice, the warmth of both my brothers by my side once more “I think the whole world knows what we were doing…”

“My point is…” he explained as he changed Luffy’s bandages “Your bodies should’ve given out way before the moment they actually did.”

I shrugged “We know a guy. It’s not like either of us was going to quit until we had Ace, exhaustion could wait.”

He didn’t say anything else as he continued his work, if he could tell just how my memories surfaced as he asked his questions, I don’t know. But he did stop. It was my turn “Where are you taking us?”

“Somewhere safe.”

“Alright… How far out from there are we?”

“Not that far off.”

I rolled my eyes as I rubbed my face. So this is how people feel when they talk to me, huh? “Has anyone ever told you that you give very straight forward answers?”

“No.”

He set Luffy down and I could’ve laughed if it had been a different time “I wonder why.” He turned to leave the room “Hey, Doctor Polar Panda?” he stopped to glance back at me “Can I ask a favour?”

He took a step back to half face me “What?”

“Since you’re confining me to bed rest, could you get me a pen and some paper, please?” I tried to have the most innocent smile I could fake on my lips “I’m really bored.”

He didn’t say anything and just left the room.

I was looking at the blankness of the ceiling thinking about everything that I shouldn’t. Ace, Sabo, Luffy, the Grey Terminal, Goa, Dadan, Makino… Garp. If I ever see him again, I’ll— I sat up. I couldn’t be left alone with my thoughts. I pulled the blankets from me and got out of bed. I was wearing a t-shirt that I had never seen before and fortunately the shorts were still mine, ripped but mine. I grabbed my sandals and slipped them on, I was getting out of that room no matter what Law said.

The door wasn’t locked and I easily stepped out. Everything was made of metal and freaking hell, I was cold in that place. I checked the room I was in to see if there was any jacket that I had missed and I saw a black one at the foot of my bed, no wonder I couldn’t see it from where I was. I quickly grabbed it and put it on, it was clearly a long coat but I don’t think it was supposed to barely miss the floor if the length of the sleeves was any indicator. Still, it was warm and that’s what I needed. I took a deep breath before I opened the door and noticed that the jacket smelled nicely, I couldn’t quite make it out but I liked it. Since I ate my devil fruit, there weren’t a lot of smells I actually liked, but this one had made the list.

I shook my head and walked back out of the room, now wrapped in this long black coat, I was ready to explore the metal ship. I walked past some of the crew but they mostly whispered to themselves and let me be. Looking around, I seemed to be in some kind of submarine, the only one I had ever been in was Shark Submerge III and it obviously wasn’t half the size of this ship. Under normal circumstances, Luffy and I would be running up and down this submarine exploring every room and corner but my brother was unconscious and I honestly still felt like I’d fall into pieces if I moved around too much. I was making my way towards the kitchen – family instinct, I’d say – when a hand tapped my shoulder and I turned to see a woman looking confused at me “You’re Tiger Luna, right? Are you supposed to be out of bed?”

I forced a smile “I’m not supposed to go hungry, am I?”

She laughed as she wrapped her arm over my shoulders “Can’t argue with you there. The name’s Ikkaku, I’m the chief mechanic around these parts. Let me get you something to eat, yeah?”

“That would be nice, thanks.” I nodded as I let her take me into the mess hall. It seemed to be time for a meal in the sub because most of the crew seemed to be there. As we walked, I looked around the mess of people to find that neither Law nor Bepo were present, lucky cuz they were the only ones that knew that I shouldn’t be out of bed, at least that I knew of.

Ikkaku was nice, she had curly brown hair and was wearing a sort of white jumpsuit with a skull symbol on it, as I looked around, I realized that just about everyone was wearing this. I couldn’t be in bigger contrast if I tried, the jacket I had found also had the same symbol – that I presumed was their pirate mark – but I was this strange figure wrapped in an overly large black jacket and the only part you could see of me was my most definitely messy black hair. I shrugged it off, it’s not like there was anything I could do about it right now and my stomach was making it hard for me to focus on much else besides the smell of delicious food all around me.

Meat.

Ok, everything after that was a bit of a blur. I can’t escape it. I think I fell asleep mid meal a couple of times what scared them a bit, but c’mon, I was tired. Delighted to eat, but tired. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days, probably hadn’t for all I knew, so needless to say that I emptied my plate a few dozen times. They were impressed from what I could tell. Let’s just say that sometimes people wondered how I was related to Luffy until they saw us eat. It was always fun to see their faces though.

Still, when the food was done and I had eaten enough to stop hearing my stomach grumble, Ikkaku offered to show me around the ship but then she was called to fix something and I was left to my own exploring again. I was ok with that, putting on a smile was still too tiring at this point. Walking through the unfamiliar faces was unsettling. I missed Chopper and Robin and Franky. I missed Nami, she’d get me to talk eventually and we’d end up laughing about something else. I missed Sanji, he’d make something just for me that would somehow taste just like those days in the forest. I missed Zoro, he’d see right through my façade and would sit there with me so I wouldn’t be alone. I missed Usopp, that would start talking about his latest invention and before I knew my brain would be trying to understand this invention of his. I missed Brook, the skeleton had a way to pick up on everyone’s moods rather easily and he’d play something that would bring back the voices of Grey Terminal… Why haven’t you woken up yet, Luffy? I miss you by my side most of all… You’d give me a hug and I’d feel like nothing could touch me, not even this pain that’s still clawing at my chest, not even this emptiness from within my heart…

I was lost in thought, and honestly couldn’t really tell where I was on the ship, I had lost track. This part had less crew but as some of them passed me by, a familiar voice caught my attention and I turned back to see… A pile of boxes… With white furry legs? I tilted my head to try and understand what was happening “Bepo…?” I spoke confused, remembering the polar bear that had brought me my bracelet.

At the sound of my voice, he basically jumped and the boxes flew in the air as he fell on the ground “Luna?! You’re not—” he stopped himself as he saw me reach out my right hand “What are you doing?”

I managed to grab all five wooden boxes in the air with my right hand, it was instinct but the boxes were heavier than I thought “Bepo…” either that, or I was weaker than I thought. I felt something rip over my right ribs and almost to prove me right, the tickling of something crawling down my side “Shit…” I used my left hand to try and keep myself together but the boxes were threatening to escape my grip. I couldn’t be this weak, could I? “Move.” The bear didn’t wait a second before he got on his feet and ran over to me and not a moment too soon. The boxes crashed where the bear had been, spilling all kinds of supplies on the floor, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, as if I’d raised a palace or something. I supported my weight on the wall closest to me as I tried to recover my breath “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me… I can’t be that bad… Can I…?”

Bepo quickly rushed over to me in a panic “You shouldn’t even be out of bed! Oh! The Captain’s gonna be so mad! How are out here?! You’re bleeding!”

“Bepo…” I breathed out looking at the worried bear “Breathe, buddy.” I tried to force my own breath in and then out slowly, he mimicked “There you go.” I looked at my left hand, covered in blood “Now, please help me get back to the room, I kind of lost my way.”

“I have to call the captain!”

I rubbed my face with my right hand “Yeah, doctor grumpy might actually kill me for this one.”

Bepo helped me to my feet and started to lead me through the corridors until we see a familiar tall figure that looks as annoyed as usual “CAPTAIN!” the bear called out “CAPTAIN, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”

He broke through the crew to get to us “Bepo? And you! What the hell are you doing out of bed?!” he helped me lean on the side so he could take a look at the damage I had pulled off “Didn’t I tell you to stay put or your stiches would rip?! You didn’t stay put and guess what happened.”

“My stitches ripped?”

He sighed and I saw him rub his face “Moron.”

“Grumpy polar panda doctor.”

“I WOULDN’T BE GRUMPY IF YOU JUST LISTENED!” he argued back as he helped me back to the room where Luffy was.

He stayed silent as he stitched me back up. I didn’t say anything either and eventually he turned to leave but stopped at the door “That notebook over there is for you.” I looked at the table beside me to see a notebook, a pen and ink, but the door closed right before I looked at him. Law was gone.

I reached for the pen, it had feathers at the top, then I reached for the notebook too but as I did this, my nose brushed the feathers on the pen and I couldn’t help but notice that it was the same as the scent on the coat. It was oddly comforting…

I sat up on the bed and opened the notebook, dipping the pen in the ink before I put it to paper.

Dear Sabo…

Ahh this is great thank you for sending in ! 

[rendiggitydog]

Blast From the Past

-Chapter 4/7-

Grian: Come to my base ASAP!!!

It had taken MJ some time to figure out how to turn on his phone, but even then he wasn't sure how to respond to Grian's message. Instead, he boated to Grian's base as quickly as he could, hopeful it wasn't an emergency.

"I'm here, what's wrong?" MJ yelled down in the base.

"Come on down, we're just waiting for Ren!" Grian called back.

MJ looked around, quickly realizing there were no stairs or ladders to be seen. "How do I get down without dying?"

Grian just laughed. "Use the elytra I gave you, silly!"

MJ rifled through his things, finding the silvery wings gifted to him nearly a week ago. He hadn't touched them, in fear of flying by accident and dying. "I dunno how!"

Grian flew out of the basement with a laugh. "You still haven't figured it out? I learned by myself in a day!"

"To be honest, I haven't really tried.."

What?" Grian gasped. "How do you get anywhere? Let me help you, cmon."

"I walk just fine," MJ defended as Grian pried the wings out of his hands, strapping them onto MJ's back for him.

"Now, grab a rocket, like this. You see that little string? Jump in the air and pull the string at the same time, and you'll take off! Just be sure you're pointing towards open air so you don't crash! Here, follow my lead."

Grian showed MJ how to place his feet, and how to jump to get the best air time. Then, Grian pulled his string, shooting into the sky with a whoop.

"He really is a greaser without the grease..." MJ mumbled. He carefully held his rocket, prepped to activate it, and jumped. In an instant, he was soaring, wind tearing through his hair and making his eyes water.

"You did it!" Grian cheered. "Isn't this way better than walking?"

"I guess," MJ laughed nervously. "How do I get down?"

"With much difficulty!" Grian laughed. He looped around the base one last time before elegantly touching down. "Now you!"

MJ tugged on his elytra, trying to slow his fall as gracefully as Grian did. Quickly, he realized his touchdown would be more like a crash landing, and screamed.

Grian simply watched and laughed as MJ crashed into the glass, but instantly panicked as he received the message:

Mumbo Jumbo fell from a high place.

Grian: SOMEONE GET TO SPAWN

Grian: MJ DIED

Grian: I'M NOT SURE IF HE'LL RESPAWN HERE

Zedaph: Are there any supplies at spawn? Nether portal?

Xisuma: He likely doesn't know how to use a portal

GoodTimeWithScar fell from a high place.

Scar: He respawned here! :D

A wave of relieved texts flew past, and Scar assured that he would bring MJ to Grian's base immediately. Five minutes later, a wobbly MJ flew into Grian's base, accompanied by Scar.

"Oh I'm so glad you're okay! I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't respawned here!" Grian cried and threw his arms around MJ.

"Ah, I'm glad too." In that visceral instant before he died, MJ had the thought he might respawn at home, and in that instant, he was happy.

Did he want to stay here?

"So, your full name is Mumbo Jumbo, huh?" Scar giggled behind his hand.

MJ rolled his eyes with a grin. "Yeah, yeah. And you wonder why I go by MJ."

"You could have so many fun nicknames!" Grian bounced. "Like Mumbo, or Mumby, or Mum! Well, that one sounds like I'm calling you my mother..." Grian laughed.

"I'll stick with MJ, thanks. And thanks for helping me fly here Scar!"

"No problem! Good to see you're coming around to the idea of elytra." He winked. "I'd better get going, good to talk to you, MJ!"

"So Gri, what did you call me here for in the first place?" MJ shifted back to Grian.

"Well, while you were gone Ren came, so we can get started!"

"What's crackin, MJ?" Ren stood up from his seat on a chest, where MJ hadn't even noticed him. The man wore an expensive watch that matched the silver buckles in his suspenders, and had an air of cockiness about him. "Let's use the aviary, eh G?"

"Let's go!"

The trio carefully flew up into the cozy bird room, which held a strange fold out wall, blocking part of the room from view.

"What's with the..." MJ gestured to the wall.

"That's the changing room! There's a couple premade outfits back there already, you should try them on!" Ren herded MJ behind the wall, where a comfortable changing room had been set up. And, as Ren had said, there were a few outfits hanging on the wall. "Which one do you wanna try first?"

"Why do I have to try any? What's wrong with my outfit?" MJ protested.

Ren looked him up and down. "Baby, have you seen yourself lately? You look like a Steve that got mauled by phantoms."

MJ examined closer, and did admit his jeans were basically tattered, and his shirt wasn't really blue anymore. "Fine, fine. How about this one?" He grabbed a simple shirt with shorts curiously.

"Sure, we'll start there."

"...ah, do you mind?" MJ flushed, waving Ren away.

"Fine, fine! Just saying, we're both dudes, you didn't have to make it weird." Ren muttered.

"You made it weird first," MJ mumbled to himself. Ren was a weird guy, but overall one of the more approachable hermits he had met so far. He quickly changed, stepping out from behind the wall to display his new outfit.

"Ah, you look like a different person!" Grian clapped.

"Eh, the shirt is a little plain. Who wears plain white tees anymore? And the shorts are a little too short for your long legs." Ren criticized. "Go try another."

MJ shook his head, and went back to try another outfit. This one was definitely a Ren selection. "I don't wanna show you guys this one. I feel stupid." He called over the wall.

"It'll be fine, we won't judge!" MJ could hear the smirk in Ren's voice. He shuffled into view, just enough that Ren and Grian both burst into laughter. "It's so much better that I thought!"

"The- The ruffles really compliment your eyes!" Grian choked out through his laughter.

"You guys are the worst." MJ hid behind the wall, throwing the cotton candy outfit onto the floor. He pulled on the last outfit hanging up, and felt it was the best option yet. "Well?"

"Not bad!" Ren complimented. "I'm glad we kept my old outfit, it looks good on you!"

Grian nodded slowly. "I like the suspenders... I've got an idea. Ren, you take measurements while I grab fabric." Grian exploded out of the room, flying quickly to the shopping district.

"By chance do you know your armspan?" Ren quizzed.

"Uh, isn't it supposed to be the same as your height? I'm six foot five inches tall."

Ren tutted, pulling out a measuring tape. "Come here." Ren wrapped the tape around MJ's head, arms, legs and waist before Grian finally returned, arms full of fabrics.

"Let's get down to business!"

Four hours later and Grian appeared, exhaustion evident in his eyes. "Done! I'm so glad I finished today, this will be perfect! Go try it on!"

MJ eyed the outfit as he changed into it. "It's a little formal, ain't it?" MJ tugged at the tight starched collar.

Grian's eyes shone. "You look INCREDIBLE!!"

"Wow, with some hair gel you'll look perfect!" Even Ren seemed impressed.

"It's just..." MJ unbuttoned the suit coat and collar, loosening the red tie. "That's much better!"

Ren was beaming now, a light blush covering his cheeks. "Stunning! The handsome rouge, the ladies will love it! Let's give you a haircut!"

Almost an hour of hemming and hawing later, and Ren deemed him ready for the public.

"Do you guys have a mirror?" He wasn't keen on the makeover at first, but now MJ was excited to see how he looked.

Grian procured a mirror, and MJ nearly gasped when he saw himself. He was like a different person, who had really good fashion. "You sure with this much hair gel no one will think I'm a beatnik?" MJ teased.

"I don't know what that means, but you look incredible!" Grian grinned ear to ear. "Let's go to the shopping district and show everyone!"

"Ah," All of a sudden the full day of activity caught up with MJ. "Maybe tomorrow? I need to get back to Z's digs before night."

"You're staying with Zed? Nonsense, I have an empty island right here! Come be my neighbor!" Grian was bouncing with excitement, rambling about all the fun they would have as neighbors.

MJ laughed. "Man, now people are really going to think I'm a beatnik, hanging out with a greaser like you!"

Grian froze, confusion filling his large eyes. "What's a greaser?"

"Uh... I guess, it's someone who gets into trouble a lot, because he wants to fight authority." MJ withered when he saw tears well up in Grian's eyes.

"Like, a criminal? Do you think I'm a criminal, MJ?" Grian didn't move to wipe the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"No! Not at all, it's just that- you've got your preps, and they follow the rules to a T, and you've got the greasers fighting the norm. It's not good or bad, it's just different!" MJ scrambled to save himself, but evidently only made it worse.

Grian fell into Ren's arms, who eyed MJ harshly. "I don't know what things are like where you come from, but you could at least be nice about it. Cmon G." Ren and Grian took off, leaving MJ alone in the aviary.

MJ flew. He couldn't quite see where through the tears, but he hadn't gotten far when he crashed into a sandy beach, and sobbed. "I just want to go home! I don't belong here. Lord, science, however I got here, send me back. I just want to go home..."

But you are home!

"Huh...?"

MJ opened his eyes to find his forest, with his half-finished house tucked neatly on the outskirts. His animal pen was full as well, pigs oinking loudly for his attention. MJ rose slowly, and walked through the door. The house was unfinished, but he quickly noticed his inventory filled with wood.

"But I thought... But it was all gone! What is happening?"

A hiss from the front door sent MJ scrambling across the floor, throwing the back door open and sprinting away. "Not again! Not my house!"

Clattering bones came from the trees, filling his brain. "Stop! Leave me alone!" He cried.

Arrows whizzed past his head, snagging his sleeve. "Hey! Grian made me this! STOP!" He tripped in his distraction, scratching his face and palms.

Then the zombies. As much as creepers annoyed MJ, zombies were the worst. They moaned, grabbing MJ's clothes, tearing it to pieces. Their strong grip was impossible to resist once they had a hold on MJ's arms, dragging him in opposite directions. He screamed, but he couldn't hear it over the clattering and groaning in his brain.

"GRIAN!! GRIAN PLEASE, SAVE ME!!"

It's okay MJ!

"STOP STOP STOP I CAN'T DO THIS, STOP STOP-!"

A swift slap to the face shut him up quickly, and he shivered, crying silently. "You good, man?"

MJ pried his open, finding an unfamiliar face. He had a beard lining his strong jaw, and wore a large green jacket. Most notable however, was his left eye, which was made of iron, and glowed green.

"Oh good, I thought you would never wake up! That must have been some nightmare, you butt-dialed me in your sleep! It's lucky you did so I could come wake you up!" The man laughed, and it made MJ want to laugh despite the fact there were still tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Thanks, I think. What's your name?"

"Iskall! The redstone half of Architech, since you already know the builder half. You were yelling Grian's name a lot, what were you dreaming about?"

MJ shivered remembering his nightmare. "I was back home, but there were so many mobs..."

"Huh, wonder what caused that." Iskall's gaze made MJ wither.

"Oh yeah. I know what."

"What happened, man? You called Grian a criminal?"

"I guess Grian told you? I didn't call him a criminal, okay? I was asking if he was a greaser! It's not bad, I was just wondering what I was getting into, being his friend!" MJ defended.

"A greaser? Dude, Grian did not tell me that's what you said!" Iskall laughed. "Oh, sweet Grian, so oblivious sometimes."

"Wait, so you believe me?"

"Why wouldn't I? Everyone's been texting about how nice you are for the last week, and you think I'm not going to believe you?"

"How can I apologize to Gri? As much as he's a weird kid, I wanna be his neighbor..." MJ smiled slightly at the thought.

"Eh, he'll get over it. Buy him some tnt or something." Iskall waved. "More importantly, we need to get going! You've got an appointment with Impulse in ten minutes!"

[yarti]

[ Galtis ] [ The Itch ]

Click Imgur link for full set and captions.

Story Below:

"BURN IT DOWN."

The growing crowd roared. It is as if it were just moments ago. I feel it, smell it. The rush, the panic. Our new Matron, sister Lette. You had done a bad thing. I was there for the reading of your decree and my body took one of the first arrows. I searched the markets, the bath and lastly your chambers, but you had long gone. Likely bound up river by ship, that much I had gathered from those that barred my paths.

Our house dissolved. How could you? You had no right. What of us? What of your family? You cared not. The city went mad. The work took up arms up against my guard. Did you even consider what the vermin would do? They worshiped you and you gave them explicit permission to destroy all that you should have held dear. Brothers and sisters fell before my eyes. If any of them escaped, they would certainly be of like-mind to my own. They would hold you responsible as do I.  My arm. It twitched as I recalled the sword hewing it nearly in twain. The silken Dunmeri clothes of that day cooked into my melting chest. I have since came to know only exhaustion and this itch. I had little recollection of the events since the fire took me.

Over time, I became more aware of my situation. Those first truly alert days were quite the experience. My caretaker took great interest in changing my bandages and keeping me fed. I would wake to the sensation, a touch gentle or healing hand. Kind words, though I could rarely make out those words. At times she would lie with me and hold me, nude herself. I allowed her curiosity or lust as it were. It was a rare sight outside of a wealthy bedchamber, the bare body of a Serethi. One such as she would have never had the chance. I recall the amputation. The shock and defeat of it. She had to keep me sedated and I had not opened my eyes since first laying eyes upon it. It continued in that way, in and out of near-sleep for some time, even after the last of the bandages. Moving not a muscle but to scratch or shift my weight. There eventually came a day where I felt well enough to open my eyes again, and so I did. I glanced to my left, my remains of my arm. And to the right, a room dark. Then toward my feet. Immediately there came a shuffling and the creek of floorboards. The far side of the room, a dim stairwell and two peeping red eyes. Our eyes met, then a voice ushered her from her hiding spot.

"Master Serethi. I feared you'd never wake." Her tone was most odd. As she crossed the room I feebly rose and hobbled to the foot of the bed. Around my waist, a vibrant cloth or towel clung tightly to my nethers. "How long?" I croaked, clearing my throat mid-speech.

The Dunmer lass slowly approached my bedside, hand outstretched. Hesitation. Fear. With a moment of thought, she brought the back of her hand to my stinging forehead. "No more fever, ah." She whispered under her breath, seemingly frustrated or upset that I had finally awoken. Her eyes trailed from my own, down my bare chest and to what remained of my ruined arm. Hives or blisters spread from the site, along the shoulder and upon my breast. Infection. From the itching, I assumed it continued along my back as well but she offered not a looking glass. Seeing what my sister had certainly wrought, it put a seething firestorm in the very depths of my charred heart. Trembling, the lass took hold of my head and lifted it to inspect my neck before stepping away. "How long has it been?" I asked again. Stuttering, she responded. "Two weeks." Wringing her hands, she began again. "Do you remember what happ-" but I cut her off with a stern "Yes."

"Well", she sighed. "Stay in bed for now, wake or not. You're in no shape to be up and about, my lord. I'll go put supper on." She squeaked then darted back down the stairwell before I could respond. Stumbling, feeble legs held firm. I ran my hand along the newfound scars and grooves, flesh blackened and inflamed. My hand, my only hand. It came to rest upon my disheveled chin. Hair matted and burned. It seemed that my nurse had attempted to shave me at one point but given up. My legs were ever-so weak, tingling, but after a few steps, the numbness began to subside. Lette had taken my looks, my arm, my home. My mind soared and I began to mumble to myself. "Sister Lette, why have you done this? If you wanted not the seat, you knew there were others that had sought long for it. You are selfish. Despicable. No better than the beasts you protect." I growled, scraping the hives, overgrown nails drawing dark blood from wounds not yet healed. Hate became fuel, energy. "I should have put that sword to use when we spoke that morning. The pack, that look in your eye, the way you carried yourself. By the time we discovered that a stand-in would give your decree, I had already feared for the worst. I could have stopped you there in the foyer. I was generous, benevolent, I stayed my hand. But not again."

With ears well learned, sounds from below tore me from my thoughts. I heard the front door open and the lass step out. Moments became minutes before she returned with company. Not a voice of ash but a voice of man. A lowly Nord, a guard perhaps from what context I could gather. Hushed words, whispers. "Have him step outside for a breath of fresh air and we'll handle the rest. Once he's behind bars, you have my word that we'll not lay a finger on him. Not today at least. But after his trials, who can say? You might not be one of us, but you are no Serethi. Your lot in life was not far from ours. Things will be better now, we just have to try. Our lady has given us a new leaf. A harvest anew. We just need to finish clearing the chaff then sew new seeds. Chin up, you've done well." From the jingle of coin purses, they shook hands or perhaps embraced before parting. With the locking and shutting of the door, she went to the cookpot. In the meantime, I had let myself down the stairs on muffled foot and stood just behind her out of view.

"Will our guest not be staying for supper?

My words startled her, spoon silent. Frozen. Moments to minutes, her mind roared as she dug up a delectable lie.

"You should not have gotten out of bed. That was the chemist, he brought salve for your burns." The audacity.

"Ah, did he now? He sounded like a Nord. Surely you aren't treating me with salves from the slums, dear. That certainly explains a lot." My words fell flat. She scraped the bottom of the cookpot for further lies to feed me.

"Apologies my lord, but with the... " she paused too choose her words. "With the decree, the riots, we must make do with what we have. You were found outside my door and responsibility fell to me. I am no proper healer. My mother would have had you back in top shape by now." Around her shoulder, I found eyes staring at my missing piece before they flicked about the room then back to me. "As best she could anyway. That was my first amputation." Grimacing, she turned her attention back to the pot. "I am sorry but I tried my best. The soup will be ready soon, then maybe we'll get you some fresh air. It'll do us both some good."

As her form moved before the firepit, light found a tanto off to my right. Freshly but poorly cleaned, bits of ash yam still clung to the edge. I took it into my waistband then stood. "And what became of mother?"

"She ran off. The crazies I suppose. She had been having nightmares for the longest time. One day we had a fight and the next, she was gone. She took only the clothes on her back. Off to find the man from her dreams. What was that name again?" Tiny fingers prodded her chin as she pondered. "Asput, Abbut, Assut-" The tanto found the meat of her spine. "WE were not the chaff." I hissed.

As she slumped to the floor, my gaze met the linens about my waist. A cheap towel, unfitting for one of my standing. I threw it aside and was amazed and heartened to see that my loins had gone unscathed. Of course she had taken great care in preserving those. But what of my arm? Under better light, I found scars and burns that had actually healed, across my chest and even down the severed arm. The arrow wound was entirely gone. Perhaps the poor girl had truly tried after all. Good. "Thank you, lass." I called out to deaf ears and made way to her wardrobes, pilfering as I saw fit. "Your mother had quite the eye for fabrics. This coat is exquisite. Like one of my own." Because it was one of my own. Alongside it, silverware, belts and brooches. Curtains and gilded scales. It seems even the Dunmer had a hand in the raiding. This would not do. Need I kill them all and start over? I would already need to reforge our connections with the other Houses, rebuild, invest. There would be much to do.

Taking an apple in hand, and blade upon my hip, I felt a shred of my old self. Galtis Serethi, eldest son of the House, Patron-to-be. The blade would suffice I hoped. There is no way of knowing just what might await me when I finally step out for that fresh air.

Among the rifled papers and books, I found the journal of the healer, the mother. I examined it as I tended to supper, having finished packing away supplies and reclaiming my stolen belongings. The journal spiraled into madness as I flipped further. Entire pages were devoted to phrases and crude drawings. Red eyes in the dark, monsters and other Sixth House blasphemies. A loon indeed. I chucked the book into the fireplace and washed my hands of it. The phrase, "He will make me whole." stuck at out at me. It gnawed at me and urged me to retrieve the journal before it was too late. In clearer minds I would have never given second thought to such ravings. "A miracle maker." If he could give me back my arm, that would be a good start. What nonsense. There would be no miracles, only revenge. Lette would pay handsomely for her deeds. And what of my caretaker? Lest I forget her part in this. Certainly, it is a shame. Even now she sits quiet as bones on the floor as I pen these very words to a blank journal. I merely lost my temper. Who could blame me after my ordeals? Her death, does it pain me? Not quite, but perhaps once my new seeds are sewn, once the true chaff is cleared. I may have a statue cast in her likeness. A monument to her generosity in these trying times. She will have saved the life of our Patron after all. But for now, I have an itch that I must scratch.

[wolfie-dragon-rider]

Bursts of Light, Day 18: Doing Something Together

It's been a while since i updated this, and I'm sorry for that. Got distracted with The Dragon Prince and HTTYD3 coming out. I am going to try to finish all prompts this month.

I hate to sound needy or whatever, but comments and reviews really help keep my motivation up. It's hard to keep writing these drabbles when it feels like no one cares about them. So please, if you enjoy it, take half a minute and tell me how you feel about this story =)

This chapter takes place a month after the events of Black as Night, when Hiccstrid's romantic relationship is still young.

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

Astrid wanted to scream in frustration. Her hands hurt, her fingers hurt, her scars hurt even more. It wasn't right. She was supposed to be healed already. It had been nearly two months since that horrible day on Dragon Island where she pulled the searing hot metal from Hiccup's foot, and even now she could still feel the fire in her hands.

She wondered if that was how Hiccup's leg felt. Or his eyes. But she didn't dare ask. The memories were still too fresh.

There were other memories too, of before, when her mother taught her how to sew clothes. Astrid had never been good at it as such, but today, picking it up for the first time in months, she felt like a baby who could barely control her hands.

Her fingers twitched and stiffened, the white scar tissue that snaked from the palm up to her fingertips spreading poison like Jormundgandr. It felt like the disgusting lines strangled her fingers, controlling them and turning them into useless thralls. Her thumb, the most damaged finger, contracted involuntarily, and the needle fell to the floor with a soft 'ping'. The melodic sound made her want to cry.

But she was a strong warrior, she wouldn't cry over something so stupid. It'd get better, that's what everyone kept saying. The scars were just on the skin, her muscles shouldn't have been affected.

Maybe it was all in her head, like Hiccup's phantom pains. Maybe it was her fear of losing her hands that made her actually lose her hands.

"Are you okay, love?" Kirsten said suddenly, and Astrid's head whipped up to see her mother standing right next to the chair she was sitting in.

"I'm fine," she muttered, picking up the needle again and avoiding her mother's eyes. She wouldn't understand.

"Are you sure? It's okay if you need a reminder of how to sew. It's not easy, and you haven't done it in a long time. We can do it together if you want," Kirsten said, pulling the other chair closer and sitting down.

"No, it's not that. I know how to do it. It's just… actually doing it is harder," she said, grabbing the yarn and trying to push the thread through the eye of the needle. Her hands shook, and she nearly dropped the needle again.

"Alright then. I'll just let you get to it then, and I'll get some more sewing supplies for myself. If you need anything at all I'll be at the marketplace, okay? And when I get back we can sew together!" Kirsten said, standing up again and pressing a kiss to her forehead. It made Astrid smile involuntarily.

Finally she managed to get the yarn through the needle as her mother opened the door to leave.

"Oh, Hiccup! Didn't expect you here. What a nice surprise!" Kirsten said, and Astrid's head whipped up to see her boyfriend standing awkwardly outside. One of his hands was raised, he had probably been about to knock.

"Hello, Mrs. Hofferson, hi! Uhm, is Astrid here?" he asked. One part of Astrid wanted to drop her sewing and just run over to greet him. But something inside her wanted to observe him, watch his movements and mannerisms when he didn't know she was there. It gave her a rare insight into his mind.

"Oh yes, she's inside, stabbing wool with her needles like it's a training dummy. Why don't you come in? I'm going to the market for a while, but I trust you two will be fine for a couple hours," Kirsten said, all but pulling the boy inside. Hiccup tripped on the threshold, but managed to recover before falling completely. It made her smile to see him improving so much. It had only been a month since he woke up without a leg, and he had come a long way since then.

"Alright, I promise I won't burn the house down," Hiccup chuckled, reaching his hand out to Toothless, who was sticking his head through the doorway. "You'll be careful, won't you, Toothless? No dragonfire inside houses, remember?"

Her mother, however, froze for a second at his words.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't joke about dragonfire in my house. Or around me or Tolfdir in general," she slowly said, walking out.

"Oh. I, uh, I'm sorry. I'll keep that in mind. Won't happen again!" Hiccup seemed to understand that this was not something he was supposed to ask about. Astrid didn't even know why her parents were so touchy about that subject. They sometimes hinted that their house had burned down long ago, before Astrid was even born, but she didn't understand why that affected them so much. Everyone on Berk had had their house burned down at some point, so what made her parents different?

"Astrid? You in here?" Hiccup called after the door shut, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Right here. Come in, I need moral support. My mother is making me sew again! It's the worst!" she shouted. Her hands didn't hurt so much anymore now that he was here.

"Oooookay. Not sure how helpful I'll be there, but I'll try. Come on, Toothless," Hiccup said, opening the door again to let his dragon in. Astrid jumped up in alarm. The yarn and needles fell to the floor.

"No no no no! No dragons in the house. My father would completely freak. Not kidding," she said, sighing when Hiccup's face fell. "Oh, don't make me feel like the bad guy here! I know Toothless is well-behaved… mostly. They don't let Stormfly inside either. Why don't you let him play with her. She's around the back, in her stable!" she said, gently pushing Toothless back outside.

The dragon looked annoyed at being separated from Hiccup, but perked up at the mention of Stormfly. Hiccup sighed, but eventually urged him to join the other dragon.

"Look, this just gives us some alone time! Come in, have a seat! Want something to drink?" she quickly said before Hiccup could get swamped in dark thoughts. Oh dear, this was pretty much the first time since the battle that they were truly alone. They had been basically boyfriend and girlfriend for a month now, though they hadn't really made it official yet. But despite all their time spent together, it was rarely private. Stoick would be there when Hiccup was relearning how to walk, and Gobber was always in the forge when she helped there. She would have liked to fly to distant islands with Hiccup, but his dad wouldn't allow that yet. His leg was far from healed.

"Oh, uhm, water is fine. Where's the chair?" Hiccup asked, carefully walking into the living room.

She guided him to the chair, then quickly ran outside to fill a mug with water from the rain barrel. While there, she glanced around the corner to see Toothless and Stormfly play-wrestle together. The sight made her smile.

"Here you go!" Astrid said as she handed the mug to Hiccup. "So, no forge work for you today?"

"No, we're out of coal. The shipment is late, so I'm free until we get more. How about you? Is this sewing stuff for someone in particular, or…" he awkwardly asked, making her blush. She knew he didn't mind, but it was always a little painful to be reminded that she nor her parents had truly steady jobs, and would take any work they could find to earn some extra money. That often included washing and repairing clothes for her mother, and construction work for her father.

"No, just… practice. Mother says that I need to learn 'so my future husband won't have to walk around naked!'" Astrid said, imitating her mother's voice. "Apparently he'd just be totally helpless and incapable of mending his own socks?"

Hiccup laughed, though she could see him frown under the blindfold as well. Was he thinking about himself as that future husband?

"Yeah, that's stupid. It's like cooking. Remember how I had to teach you to cook? Everyone expects it to be the other way around, but that doesn't have to be," he chuckled, taking a big gulp of water as Astrid picked up the yarn and needles again.

"True, but my mother still wants me to learn. And maybe she's right. Knowledge is always better than no knowledge," she eventually said. "Doesn't mean it isn't hard, though."

"Hmm, so the great Messenger of Thor, the prodigy of Berk, the greatest warrior in a generation, can't beat a ball of wool?" Hiccup teased, but she could sense the admiration underneath the sarcasm. It made her blush, and not for the first time she was glad he couldn't see that.

"You try it then, if you think it's easy! You know what, how about we make it a competition! The first to sew a patch of say, five inches by 4 inches wins," she offered, grabbing another ball of yarn and throwing it into Hiccup's lap. He nearly dropped his mug at the shock.

"Do you have to make everything a competition?" he exclaimed, but still picked up the yarn. Astrid grabbed his hand and put a needle in it.

"3… 2… 1… Go!" she said, before Hiccup could even begin to protest.

"Wait, wait, I've never started from scratch before! I've just mended torn clothes! Astrid!" he shouted, and she just chuckled.

"Better learn quickly then," she said, moving to push her thread through the eye of the needle.

"I… uh… okay… " Hiccup didn't look very okay, but he did manage to get his thread in that needle in less than a second while she was still trying to even grab the yarn correctly between her thumb and index finger. Her hand started aching again, and she tried not to groan. She was not gonna lose to Hiccup on this.

In the corner of her eye she saw Hiccup awkwardly try to tie the wool around itself, but she couldn't focus on it. Her fingers started shaking. The wool dropped to her lap, and she had to pick it up again, shifting her needle to her other hand. Maybe her left hand would be steadier.

It was no use. The more she tried, the more the needle shook, and the more frayed the thread became. Her vision became blurry and her jaw ached from how much she was clenching it.

"Astrid? Astrid! Astrid! Are you okay?" it took a minute before she realized Hiccup was kneeling right next to her chair, his hand on her elbow. Her breathing was shallow and quick. She blinked a few times to wipe the tears away. Why had she been crying? What happened?

"What?" she somehow managed to say.

"You got so quiet, you wouldn't talk, and your arm… it was shaking so much. What happened?" Hiccup rambled, clenching her arm. The needle fell in her lap. The ball of yarn followed, bouncing off to the floor and leaving a white thread where it had gone.

"I… I… I just… I'm okay. Don't worry about it," she said, shaking her head.

"How can I not worry! Something's wrong! Do I need to get your mom?" he shouted, barely holding it together.

"No, no, I'm just…" Astrid wanted to tell him she was fine, that it was nothing, that her hands didn't hurt and that she could do something as simple as sewing. But then she looked at him, at his blindfold and his metal leg, and she somehow knew he would understand.

"I can't do it. I can't sew. My hands hurt too much. It's the burns. It's stupid, it should all be healed by now, Gothi said it shouldn't affect my movement at all, but it still does! And I feel so damn useless! If I can't hold a needle, then can I even still hold an axe? I just-"

That's when Hiccup grabbed her hands in his, awkwardly rubbing his fingers over the back of them.

"Astrid, it's gonna be okay. We'll figure it out, okay? I don't think any less of you," he slowly said, and she knew every word was true.

"Oh, Hiccup," was all that she was able to say before sobs racked her body. She tried to pull her hands back, wanted to wipe her face and pretend she wasn't crying, but Hiccup moved too fast for that. He pulled her into a tight hug, and she nearly fell out of her chair. Her face was buried in his neck. His shirt was soft and warm, even as it absorbed her tears. Hiccup just rubbed her back, murmuring comforts in her ear.

Her hands were hovering behind his back, and then they were suddenly grabbing that soft shirt with all her strength. Her fingers still hurt, but it was almost like that stupid shirt was sucking away the pain.

Hiccup let her ride out the emotions, never showing any sign of disgust. She could tell he was nervous, but that was to be expected, she supposed. This was the first time he had initiated any physical contact.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked when her sobs stopped and she pulled back a bit.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Astrid blurted out, resisting the urge to punch him as punishment for inflicting all these feelings on her.

"I ask myself the same thing every day," he said, before ducking his blushing head. She gently grabbed it in her scarred hands.

"Thank you. For being here. For understanding."

"It's nothing. You've done the same thing for me for months," he whispered, looking small and vulnerable. It made her smile. Her white scars contrasted with his red blush, and she gently rubbed her thumb over his cheek.

"I'm sorry this wasn't very… Viking-like," she eventually said, and he chuckled.

"I'm just glad I'm not the bad Viking today. But seriously… these injuries… they hurt. I know that, you know that, even if the rest of the village doesn't. So you can always tell me. And we'll help each other. I can help with the sewing. Here, let me just ready the needle and thread for you," he said, leaving her grasp to feel the floor. She quickly handed the items to him.

Astrid watched in fascination as he handled the needle and thread. His fingers were so precise and gentle. She supposed he had to rely on them a lot more with his blindness, but it was still amazing to see.

"How about you hold the needle, and I tell you how to move?" she said, putting her hands over his. His skin was cool against her scars, and it eased the pain.

"Okay," Hiccup awkwardly said, getting nervous again. She rolled her eyes at his unnecessary worrying before nudging his hands.

"So you start out with this central thread you weave these side threads into. That's gonna be the basis of our cloth," she said, holding his thumb and guiding the wool around a finger on his other hand. "Careful you don't prick yourself. Mother doesn't want any blood on this wool."

Hiccup let her guide his hands, though he took over when a new piece of wool had to go through the needle, or the thread had to go under or over another thread in a way her fingers simply couldn't do.

And so hours passed, and neither of them noticed the door silently opening. Kirsten peeked around the door, suppressing her laugh when she saw their hands working together to create one pattern.

"Just like the Norns weaving the tapestry of fate," she whispered to herself, quietly putting the bag of groceries inside before leaving the house as silently as she entered. Those kids deserved some more time to themselves to do something together, just the two of them.

[addiction-artist]

“Just be honest”

Such a simple saying, but what power it has.

 So, I’m standing in line at the MVA Saturday morning (Motor Vehicles Administration, like the DMV to everyone reading from Pennsylvania), and I see that I have a Facebook message from my former teacher.   Not just any former teacher, but the best teacher I have had since I began going to school (I’ll explain more later).   It has a link to another blog and all I can see is the title “An 11 Year Old Smile”.   Automatically, while still in line, I’m fighting to keep the tears from escaping my eyes and to prevent them from making their way down my cheeks.   Just the title did that to me.   My boyfriend doesn’t really know what’s going on and I have to wipe the tears away as they come, I am at a very crowded, busy MVA.   Soon, it is my turn at the information desk.   I hand over my information and get a number.   I rush to find a place to sit so that I can read the blog.   If a title can get me that worked up, just imagine what the content would do.

 I find my seat and open the link to the blog.  I read the first paragraph and I already start choking on my tears again. Most of the people who know me, know that I cry at anything emotional so bear with me with the tears.  I practically hold my breath as I continue to read the rest of the post.  A smile made an appearance on my face on more than one occasion, but so did the feelings I had experienced those 14 years ago.  I remember the pain I was in, the confusion I had for being sad for no reason, all of the tears I had shed for having the feeling so inadequate at such a young and pivotal age.

 For all of those that don’t know, I suffer from mental illness, bipolar II to be exact. That’s where I have more depressive episodes than manic ones.  At first, in 6th grade, I was diagnosed with depression.  I have been on medication since 11 and I have self medicated later in my life (more on that in a little bit).  I resorted to self mutilation in the form of cutting, hitting, and burning myself.  It was the only thing that I felt that I could control in my life.  The cuts were on my arm and I would play them off as cat scratches from my friends’ cat. Luckily, someone told my teacher about it.

Being an only child from a broken home made it difficult for me to trust people, adults specifically.  I couldn’t open myself up to the therapists that I had (starting at age 7).  I couldn’t talk to my “friends”.  I only say it like that because I did anything and everything that I could do to fit in or have someone like me and that continued on into my adult life.  Plus, at that young of an age, I didn’t feel that anyone would be able to relate to me. So what did I do? Who did I tell of my diagnosis?  I told pretty much the only person who I could trust, I told my favorite teacher, Mr. Storm.

 He let me stay in his class when I would have bad days on his couch.  He would have lunch with me when I asked. He was there for me when I felt totally alone.

Each year of school, my depression worsened and with that, so did my cutting.  When it was too much on my arms, I moved to my legs.  Too much on my calves then I would move to my thighs.  When I couldn’t even shave anymore because of the amount that was there, then I moved up to my hips, stomach, and chest.  Then the cycle would start over again, usually worse in the winter months because I could conceal more.  Cutting became my only relief.  So much so, that it had become an addiction.  There had to be more.  For every 1 that would heal and scar, I would add 5 more.  They had to be deeper since it was the only way that I felt I could kill myself.  They had to go in different directions so that people wouldn’t say I was doing it for attention.  “Down the road, not across the street”.  The cutting lasted into my mid-20’s.  I have been a cutter more than half my life.  I slipped up in May of 2018 and committed myself to a safe place and I have not done it since.  It may sound silly, but I’m fucking proud.  I am also proud of my scars; I am not ashamed or embarrassed or offended when I notice someone staring.  I do not feel the need to wear long sleeves or jeans to cover them up, and I don’t have any plans to cover them with a tattoo.  They are proof that I have survived.

 My senior year in high school I began to self medicate.  I found peace and comfort in drugs and alcohol.  They became my best friend, my solace, and my lover. They were all I though about from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep.  I won’t get too much more into it, but at my worst, I was an IV heroin user and I overdosed.  I went to jail, 2 rehabs, and a recovery house before I moved back here to southern Maryland (a dream finally fulfilled after years of putting it off).  I am in a fellowship today and I have been clean for 29 months now.  That’s what is important.

 Back to Mr. Storm…

Throughout the rest of my years in middle school and up to freshman year, I always kept in contact with Mr. Storm.  He even dejayed at my junior prom.  Until 2 weeks ago, that had been the last time that I had seen him.  9 years had gone by before I would see him again. A few years ago, I had found his Facebook and I sent a friend request.  Minutes later, I had a Facebook message from him and it said “Wow! How is one of my all time favorite students doing? It is really awesome to connect with you.” That’s from memory so it may be a little off.  I would see updates and be cheering him and his family on in their endeavors.  Then in December, I saw that he had made a post and tagged many of his former students and asked if we could come in and share our passion with some of his students.  Well, I jumped on that faster than anything and before I even came up with a topic, I said I would do it.  I didn’t care about the travel, my favorite teacher reached out and I would do anything to repay him.  I finally picked a topic I had experience in, which was mental health.  I made a powerpoint, printed out some handouts, and packed for my trip.

I get to my middle school after 12 years since I had last stepped foot in there, and so many memories returned.  I was so excited and nervous.  I was directed to his classroom and stood in the doorway and knocked, I was early but I wanted to talk to him before class started.  I actually chose my timeslot so that I could catch up with him in his prep period after.  I explained I was nervous.  I had shared my experience before and many people know how open and transparent I am with it but I had never explained it to a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds!!!  I explained my fears and he reassured me and told me to “just be honest”.  So that powerpoint I had spent hours on, was scrapped.  I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it with the kids, they deserved the raw truth.

After I finshed, kids were raising their hands, MULTIPLE KIDS!  I had done something!  A few raised their hands more than once and they were asking the hard questions.  “Do I think I would have been an addict if my mom wasn’t?” or “What made you decide to get into social work?”  They had actually listened to what I had said.  I ate it all up, I loved every question.  Two girls came up to me separately after the class ended and one asked “Why did you cut yourself if it hurts so bad?” and another just wanted to give me a hug.  My heart melted into a puddle.

I stayed after they had left into his prep period where we caught up some more and I gave a little more background of what I had been up to that would have been inappropriate for the class. I told Mr. Storm that as long as he is teaching, and he is doing this project, that I will be available, year after year until he retires.

We said our goodbyes and exchanged hugs.  The rest of my day was like walking on a pink cloud.  I was able to help at least one kid with my story and I look forward to doing it many more times.

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, Thank you Mr. Storm, for being exactly who you are and the person I needed you to be.

[ninjagoruinedmylife]

Shadowhunters au: chapter two

Ooooooh my goooosh here it is finally it’s late at night so sorry for any mistakes i’ll fix them tomorrow

I hope you’ll enjoy this crap

***

It surely wasn’t their most glorious runaway. To be honest - they just qucikly exited through the door that led them out, leaving terrified blonde boy in a club.

Streets were very quiet, it was a middle of the night, after all. Only a few cars passed a group of wounded, tired teenagers. They were heading back to Institute by foot, even though it wasn’t that close. They felt safer this way: nobody could stop them and ask uncomfortable questions. Besides, they needed fresh air after this incident.

This time wasn’t very different from the other moments when they were heading back home from mission. Nya and Kai talked about the fight, Cole and Jay were arguing about something, Zane was walking first with his head in the clouds… They just all acted more quiet. They faced only one demon and still he managed to give them some wounds. They had a big preponderance after all, but because of this strange boy they absolutely lost control over this combat. Nya blamed herself for that. She had to cover up her brother and Cole, she stood between them and the monster, and if only she hadn’t been shocked so much to take a step back they wouldn’t even get touched but this creature…

Girl sighed. She failed and now felt like if she was the worst, but she had to remind herself that now this event was in the past. The next time she will do better for sure.

“Here you go.” Nya finally ended bandaging her brother’s arm. She sent him a big smile. “Don’t worry, it’s not so bad.”

“But what’s with your dress?” Kai looked at girl’s scattered cloth - she used a fragment of it for a patch. “Mum wouldn’t be happy if she saw this.”

“Who said she will see this? I have-”

“Dear Angel, Jay, I’m fine! You’ll do your work when we’ll be back home!” Cole yelled with a frustration, interupting Nya’s explanation.

Siblings looked behind them - Jay tried to draw a healing mark on Cole. He surely needed it, because demon’s claws made a deep cut at his chest. His own marks protected him from the lose of blood for now. However, Jay didn’t wanted to give up.

“If you’re fine, then I’m queen of Britain!” Jay answered with a cracking voice. “Just stay still for a moment, you stubborn…”

“I don’t need your help, blueberry!” Cole seemed really irritated, which was pretty rare for him. “You think that you are so special because you quickly learned how to use marks and now you want to show everyone your incredible skills? For now, you are just pain in the ass.”

‘Well, it was rare before Jay joined the team.’ Nya corrected her own toughts and shook her head with disapporval.

“Oh my God, yes! Maybe this is it! Maybe I just lack attention! Thank you!” Jay muttered under his breath. “Right now, I just don’t want you dead, but I’m slowly starting to change my mind about it.”

“I won’t die from it, it’s just a scratch!”

“Scratch?! You’ll have a scar through all of your chest!”

“Well, I had worse wounds, you patetic nurse.”

“And you know what I think about it? I think that it means that you just go into every battle like a moron and…”

“Can’t they get of each other’s throats for a moment?” Nya rolled her eyes. She liked both of the boys, but their fights started to get on her nerves lately.

“As some say, squabbels are the way of life, sis.” Kai answered with a smirk.

She looked around - Zane left them behind, he was one street ahead them. Even though, it was so quiet in this neighbuorhood, that they could’ve heard all of his cold words.

“We are here, so it would be nice if you two stopped arguing for a moment!” Blonde, tall boy didn’t even granted the others a look before entracing the gates of the old church.

“Yeah, Wu won’t be very happy when he’ll hear your cute yelling at 3 in the morning. What am I saying, he will be furious!” Nya started running towards the Institute with a wide smile on her face. “But if you really want to test him this much..!”

“Okay, I’d rather believe her.” She overheard Jay’s nervous giggle.

She came into the old building and finally felt like home. She walked towards a small elevator in the right corner of the main nave, right behind the altar, and then she rode to the third floor.

Wu was already there, with a cup of his famous, refreshing tea. He granted it to the young female, and then led her to the library.

“Zane just came.” Old teacher said when they were crossing the halls. “He looked… troubled, and so do you. Did something unexpected happened?”

“A little. Kai and Cole are wounded. But we traced something that might intetest you.”

After a moment they heard loud talks that could only mean one thing - boys catched up after her and also arrived at Institute.

“So I guess it will be a long night.” Their teacher sighed.

***

Lloyd tried his best to forget about this whole night.

He tried was doing parkour with Nelson, he read as many comics as he could, he learnt to the moment when he started falling asleep, he even helped his mother with house chores. All this to somehow erease a memory of this strange monster and bleeding teenagers.

He still couldn’t believe they just left him without any word. They should tell him something, explain what happened… But, instead, they ran away like cowards. Lloyd had to use all of his strength to move from the saff room and stop looking at the floor covered in a slick, black blood. After this, he found Brad and took his protesting friend out of the club. Anytime he tried to bring up a topic of ‘Pandemonium’, Lloyd ignored him or came up with another activity.

He didn’t wanted his only friends (or even worse - his mother!) to think that he became crazy.

“I’m back, mum!” Boy yelled when he entered their flat.

It was in one of scuffy tenament houses, but he really liked it. It had an atmosphere, as some would say - old sofa, armchairs and shelves bought in antique shop gave the feeling like if the time has stopped 100 years ago, books where laying everywhere around, on the walls there were hanging many undetailed drawings and messy notes.

Misako could be only a tourist guide, but history was surely her passion.

“Oh, hi. I returned five minutes ago, I swear.” His mother was already standing in little kitchen, against an open fridge. He walked to her and gave her a quick kiss on a cheek, and then sat at the table to do his homework. “Those guests today were so interested…”

“It’s okay, mum. You don’t have to make excuses for me.” Lloyd sent her a big smile.

“I know, I know. I’m just bad at myself that I haven’t tought about our dinner…” She took a milk and eggs from the fridge. “Pancakes?”

“Pancakes sound awesome.”

They spent nearly three hours talking and doing Lloyd’s math exercises. When they were going to turn on the TV and watch some dumb cartoons together, Misako’s phone started ringing. Woman took it and silently listened to the person on the other side, nodded and hung up. She looked at her son; he noticed how worried she seemed.

“I’m sorry Lloyd, but Ronin really needs my help in his shop. We’ll watch something when I’ll be back home, okay?” She hugged him tightly and then nearly ran through the door. “I love you!”

“Uh… yeah. Love you too, mum.” Lloyd sighed sadly and slowly walked towards his little room. It appeared to be just another evening in his life - he spent some time with his mother, she had to do something important the moment when he gained enough courage to tell her about this monster he saw, and for the rest of his free time he was going to read comics. Truly amazing.

He lied on his bed and started staring blankly at the other wall, but then he saw that someone sent him a message. He grabbed his phone and frowned. On the screen, there was a photo of Brad and Nelson, laughing and holding three tickets. The text under it said: 'Leave your house finally you nerd, we’re waiting for you downstairs and you won’t believe what we’ve got! >:3"

He felt a little bad, disobeying the main rule in his family: don’t leave home without any word. Still, he wrote his mother a note and left it on a table, so she would know where he went. In the end, they had telephones, right? Ignoring strange feeling in his stomach, boy went to see what his friends planned for him this time. It surely wasn’t going to be something ordinary. As always.

When he finally got all things that would be useful (like phone, a bottle of water or a first aid kit) he came down and Brad waved three scraps of paper right in front of his face.

“Three tickets for The Royal Blacksmiths concert?! How-” Lloyd gave his friends a concerned look. “Tell me you two didn’t steal it.”

“I’m clean! It was Brad!” Nelson yelled at the top of his lungs. His arm was broken again.

“I didn’t stole it, idiots,” Brad grinned. “I’m just using my family connections.”

“Okay, so this time nothing illegal.” Lloyd felt very relieved after this words.

“So, what are we waiting for?!” Nelson seemed so excited that both boys couldn’t help but smile. Even though this guy had a bad luck, he still managed to somehow stay happy and full of energy. “Let’s go!”

This evening was sure going to be fun.

***

Not everyone was thinking about this concert the same way as Lloyd, Brad and Nelson. To be absolutely honest, Cole was quite furious that he decided to go and see The Royal Blacksmiths.

He mostly didn’t took any decision on an impulse, but this time… When he saw that his father and his band are coming back after a long tour, he knew he had to meet him. Cole ran away from his house nearly five years ago - and since then, he never seen Lou again. The only member of boy’s family was traveling around the world, singing and dancing, but in reality he was just trying to forget what happened to his wife. Cole didn’t wanted to admit it, but he still held some grudge inside him. Why his father couldn’t be normal and stay with him? Why couldn’t he help him in this tough time?

In reality, it wasn’t Cole who left. It was Lou.

Anyways, he told everyone that he needs to go somewhere. Of course, they had to follow him - they were all very curious what made Cole, calm and rational guy, to suddenly come out of Institute to do something that wasn’t connected with haunting demons.

After a while of being just irritated with their company, he started feeling thankful that they were with him now. Their appereance made it look like if it was just another mission.

And Jay was, as always, rambling as fast as lightning.

“Your father is a leader of The Royal Blacksmiths? Wow, Cole, you sure are one hell of a mistery-”

“Slow down, motor mouth, slow down.” Cole shook his head. “This way I won’t understand a thing.”

Actually, he heard him perfectly - messing with Jay was just his way to cover up a stress. For now it worked.

“Like, this is so crazy, man! Why haven’t you told me? And,” Jay gasped dramatically when he realised something. “Why I never heard you sing?”

Cole didn’t answer, he only started walking faster.

“Jay, this topic isn’t really easy for Cole.” He could’ve heard Zane’s quiet words. “I guess it would be better it you would stop for a moment.”

“Oh- Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is just exciting, so-”

“Shut up!” Kai yelled. “It is such a peaceful evening, don’t ruin it for everyone in this town.”

“Kai, we are living in New York, he can’t destroy everyone’s evening, there are way too many people.” Nya interrupted her brother with a sleazy smile.

“That’s not the point!” Kai threw his hands into the air. “Just…”

“Everything’s okay?” Zane finally catched up to Cole.

“Yes, I guess so.” Cole mumbled under his breath.

“I know it must be hard, but remember that you have us.” His parabatai patted him on his back. “Maybe we are not a big help right now, but… We are with you.”

“Thanks.” Cole smiled blankly. After this little talk he really started feeling better.

He had to clear up the atmosphere between him and his father. To this moment, he was afraid that Lou would be mad at him or that he wouldn’t want to talk at all, but now Cole realised that he didn’t needed his father so much. He gained a new family. It was a strange slice of different people - an old teacher, siblings with fiery personalities, cold and calculative guy out of nowhere, enthusiastic boy from a junkyard, and him. Still, they all somehow fit togheter.

What could have gone wrong as long as they had each other?

***

Lloyd really enjoyed this concert, even tough it wasn’t his favourite kind of music. He liked spending time with his friends in any form - for a long time he had no one, so he felt that he shouldn’t be really picky when it came to this subject.

Everything started getting complicated when he spotted a group of familiar teenagers in a crowd.

“I’m… I’m going to toilet! I’ll be right back!” He yelled towards jumping Nelson and Brad and suddenly felt guilty. He wasn’t a good liar at all.

“What?!” Brad probably didn’t heard him.

“Okay, okay, go!” Nelson answered for both of them, trying to scream over the loud music and excited fans.

Lloyd walked towards the monster hunters (that’s how he called them in his head) and followed them when they came beside a stage, between the trees of a nearby park.

“I can’t do it, I can’t! What in the name of Angel was I thinking about?! They won’t even let me close to him, so it’s absolutely pointless!” He overheard a deep, nervous voice rambling.

“I think that it’s still worth a try.” A female voice answered.

“Yeah, there might be no more chances-” Somebody else said in a tone that was kinda similiar to the one before.

“You’re probably not helping!” One of the boys yelled in a high pitched voice. “Is he helping? I think he is not.”

“He is not.”

“See?!”

Lloyd was slowly getting closer to them. He tried to make no sound and remain unseen. His heart was beating like crazy.

“Hey, if you don’t want to do this, we can go back to Institute.” A new one joined - this time it was calm, mature voice lacking emotions.

Lloyd frowned. What kind if 'institute’ were they talking about?

“I think…” The first voice started. “That we are not alone here.”

And they all looked directly at Lloyd.

Girl got out her knives, but then the guy with a messy hair standing next to her stopped her.

“Wait! I think we know him.”

“Is it the one from 'Pandemonium’?” Boy all dressed in blue gave him a pretentious look.

“Indeed.” The one who stood the closest to Lloyd (he recognised him as the nerd) nodded his head.

“Ha! I knew it!”

“What do you want?” Guy who started the previous conversation, dark-skinned and dark-haired, asked in a strangely calm voice.

“I-” Lloyd’s voice cracked. “I have some questions. I mean, many questions. About… what happened in this club.”

All of them remained silent.

“Who are you?” Lloyd tried again. “My name is Lloyd, by the way.”

Teenagers looked all at one another, then nodded in a wordless agreement.

“Nya.” Girl started staring at her shoes.

“Kai.” Guy with messy hair tried to make it up.

“Zane.” Nerd smiled at him lightly.

“Cole.” Tall one rolled his eyes.

“And Jay!” Blue boy waved at him.

Okay, so they had this point behind them.

“What was this… creature that you… destroyed?” For some reason, word 'killed’ couldn’t escape his mouth.

“You- you saw it? In its demon form?” Kai seemed very impressed.

“Does it mean-” Cole frowned.

“Yes, it does.” Zane agreed.

“A new Shadowhunter?” Jay smiled wide.

“A new what?” Lloyd asked with an unmasked suprise.

“Uh, we are probably not the best people out there to have this talk with you.” Nya walked towards him. “But, if you want, of course, we can take you to someone who will explain this.”

“You really saw it?” Kai still couldn’t gather himself. “Tail, fangs, claws? Black blood and all?”

“Uh, yeah?” Lloyd scratched his nose. “What is so strange about that? I bet everyone would see it.”

“That’s not correct.” Zane shook his head. “Actually, Downworlders are not able to see demons. Only us, Shadowhunters, and other magical species perceive them.”

“Look, I don’t know what any of this means…”

In this moment, his phone started ringing. Lloyd sighed in frustration and took it out of his backpack. He gave screen a short look: 23 calls from his mother, and she was also the one who called him now.

Shit.

“H-hi mum, I can explain-”

“Lloyd? Thanks God, you answered!” Misako’s breath was fast and he could’ve heard that she was running. “No matter what- Ah!”

“Mum?!” Lloyd froze when his mother screamed and probably fell. “Are you there? What is happening?!”

“Lloyd, listen to me. No matter what, don’t come back home!” Signal started cutting, was it a sound of breaking glass? “Go to Ronin, he will know what to do.”

“Mum, I don’t understand-”

“I love you, son.” On the other side something crashed and the call ended.

Lloyd looked blankly at his phone.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Nya asked him in a soft tone.

“No- yes, I… I think someone- something… attacked my mother.”

[talesofzero]

La Douleur Exquise - Ch. 6

AU; Chapter 6 - The Case of Green

Dick’s color is green because he’s here for that cash. Pay the gross sand boy. “When’s there going to be actual smut in this fic?” Next chapter?? Maybe?? Idk

~3k words.

We had a mail day once a week. Kei went to our box on-planet, scanned for anything explosive or toxic, and brought back a bag of whatever she didn’t need to destroy as a precaution.

Harlock got the occasional letter, though I never saw him open them. Zero got the most mail out of all of us and always looked confused by his stack of letters and boxes. Daiba, Monono, Shep, and the Kodais got nothing. At least, Susumu used to get nothing. This time Kei came back with a box from his client. Susumu looked at it like it might rear back and bite him.

Usually I was the only one getting weird things from clients. Kei always used her foot to push the boxes my way, her nose wrinkled. The only thing she handed to me was the occasional letter with the worst chicken scratch scrawled across the front.

“What’s that?” Tadashi asked as I tore open my latest one. “Did someone actually hand-write you a letter? I’ve never seen a hand-written letter.”

“Only rich sorts on my planet have any sort of useful tech,” I said. “Since it’s a desert planet, everything gets clogged with sand unless we make it right.”

“You’re from a desert planet? That sounds rough.”

Unfolding the paper sent dirt spilling out. The words were all smudged, many misspelled, but he was getting better. “You get used to it,” I said. “What sort of place did you grow up?”

“Oh, I uh, I grew up with my brother.” His eyes screamed for help as he pointed toward Daiba. I would have expected them to corroborate their story a little better.

“Yeah? Where was that?” I didn’t care, but it was funny to watch him go wide-eyed with panic. None of us would have cared about whatever he was trying to hide, so I wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. A fifteen year-old couldn’t have anything that serious under his belt. Even if he did somehow, Harlock wouldn’t have let him stay.

Still, it didn’t matter, so I let him off the hook. “I just can’t believe all these guys letting their little brothers work here. It’s just absurd,” I said as I plopped down on the couch to properly read the letter. Parts of it were like trying to decipher a code.

Tadashi’s white-knuckle grip released from the hem of his dress when he realized he was safe. “Didn’t...your older brother let you work here?” he asked.

“Harlock’s not really my brother,” I said.

He got the message that time and shuffled away to get the broom for all the dirt I’d trailed onto the floor. Before I could get too far into my letter, though, Daiba leaned over the back of the couch, all glares and growls. “Dick, are you being mean to my brother?”  

“I would never,” I said as I reached up and patted his cheek. No matter how hard he tried to scare me, I always found Daiba cute. Sure, his bite was as bad as his bark, but he would never hurt one of us.

Except me. He might hurt me.

I had to pull my hand away to keep him from biting off my fingers. “Don’t be an ass!” he snapped. “And don’t talk to him! Don’t look at him!” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t think about him.”

“I’m sure you think about him enough for all of us,” I said.

He didn’t budge. His face remained a stony mask of anger, but his cheeks did tinge pink. The longer he glared at me, the more the color infected his ears too. “Cute,” I said.

Throwing myself toward the ground was the only way to avoid the punch that came barreling toward me. “I’ll kick your ass!” he screeched. “Get back here!”

Once I rolled out of his reach and regained my footing, I dashed for the stairs. I’d learned how to run from all the times I was caught pickpocketing, and his short legs didn’t stand a chance. “Love you, Daiba!” I called as I raced up the stairs two at a time. “Keep up the good work.”

He let out a yowl like a cat drenched with water, but I’d already made it to my room. The walls were to all our rooms were soundproof, so if he was still screaming, I couldn’t hear it. My comforter flared up around me as I flopped into bed. Tadashi must have washed it because it smelled of dryer sheets - ideal for burying my nose in as I read the letter.

As usual, things back home hadn’t changed much, but that was what I liked most about the letters. The little stories of daily life peppered throughout brought me back to that planet full of sand and groaning machinery. I’d been so accustomed to a world with endless pulses of heat during the day and bone-chilling cold at night that the first time I ever felt a/c was on the train out.

I had to ask the conductor what it was.

We saved for months to get me that train ticket, all in hopes that I could get a job that would get my brother out as well, get him as far away as possible from that wasteland. I’d told him I was going to be a mechanic, and in every letter since I’d left I told him about all the imaginary things I was fixing, all the ships and trains. Like I could ever make the kind of money I sent him from a job like that.

As I reread “Love, Sam,” for the tenth time, someone knocked at my door. “Yeah?” I called.

“Dick, I’ve got a couple new client applications for you.”

I poked my head out into the hall to find Harlock standing there with his arms crossed. Daiba didn’t seem to be hiding anywhere in preparation to jump me, but Harlock must have heard the screaming.

“Try not to antagonize Daiba,” he said. “You’re lucky Tadashi was there to calm him down.”

“Someone can actually calm Daiba down?” I gave a low whistle. “That maid kid’s magic. So let me see these new clients. Are they attractive at all?”

“Well, one of them isn’t human if that piques your interest at all.” He handed me a tablet with all the info he’d dug up on them.   

I always felt too aware of myself when near Harlock. It made me want to back away, to put space between us. He was taller, more broad-shouldered, and his eye was the deep brown of old rust. Other than that, though, we looked identical.

There was no denying that we were related. I’d known it from the moment I laid eyes on him.

All the gusto I had upon storming into his office and demanding a job vanished when he raised his head. He stared at me the same way I stared back - his eye filled with confusion and denial.

I’d seen the wanted posters. I knew about my father - not that the man ever deserved to be called that - but I never expected to run into any relatives on his side. The Harlocks were all fabled pirates. They weren’t real. They especially did not run brothels on suspicious, unmarked satellites.

“Alright,” Harlock said once he regained enough of his composure. “You...you want a job. I am hiring prostitutes, but that’s, um- You understand what this work entails-”

“I can handle anything,” I said, struggling to keep my eyes locked on his. I wasn’t opposed to begging. My pride had never been that great, but dammit, begging this bastard for anything was a blow to the gut. “I need the money. Please.”

“Sit down.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk with one hand while the other rubbed harshly at his face. “I won’t be able to just ignore this, so about your father-”

“If you have to know, he was the former Captain Harlock,” I said, dropping into the chair. “I was an accident though. I never met him, and I doubt he knew about me. I didn’t know I would run into you here either if you were wondering about that.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “My father wasn’t the best, but… I know he would have wanted to help you had he known. If all you need is money-”

“I need a job.”

“I can get you something else-”

“This is all I know how to do.”

I only knew the old mechanics of my home planet. Even the tech of the train that brought me was far from my reach. But I’d slept around for money before. It didn’t take much brainpower to figure out sex. Whatever it took to get Sam a better life was worth it.

Harlock looked like he’d aged a few years since I showed up. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll take you on as a prostitute, but if you want to take any classes or need any means to learn a new profession, I will help you. I understand if you want nothing to do with me as family, but as your boss, let me help.”

I should have counted my blessings that he gave me a job. Should have thanked him and walked out. Too bad my temper was stronger than reason. “I don’t need your pity or your guilt, and I certainly don’t need you as family.”

He breathed a sigh through his nose before speaking slow and quiet. “I understand. I won’t force you to consider me or anyone else family.”

That took the wind out of my sails. If there were more than just him, it would be hard to ignore everyone.

“But,” he continued. “Look past your pride for a moment. You can’t be a whore forever.”

He was right. He was always right, dammit. He was right when I insisted on taking clients he’d voted against, right when he told me I had no chance of denying Manabu as family with that kid’s puppy-dog eyes, right about needing the stack of textbooks in the corner of my room, even if I mostly just used the information in them to send lies to my little brother.

Harlock and I were related, but we weren’t family. I’d stubbornly held onto that even after all he’d done for me. I knew it wasn’t fair to direct my grudge against his father onto him. Dammit, if I’d gotten to meet his father, I could have been mad at him instead, but the bastard had to go get himself killed.

If only the man’s brother could have shared the same fate.

“Hey, Phantom! Dick!”

We both went taught as a noose at the yell from downstairs.

“Uncle Franklin, we’re closed!” Harlock yelled back. “It’s Sunday, and past eight at that! What are you doing here?”

“Just came to say hi.”

Despite knowing better, we both shuffled to the end of the hall to see him in those old, dusty boots and wide-brimmed hat. It was a wonder he could see out from under it. He had a scar on each cheek as though to outdo everyone else in the family. Harlock had done his best to hide me from his uncle, but curiosity got the better of me, and the man spotted me when I tried to sneak a glimpse at him. I should have anticipated a keen eye from a sharp-shooter. Despite all my rage-fueled attempts, I could not convince him I wasn’t part of the family tree.

He flopped onto one of the couches, which made Tadashi look ready to faint. The man had tracked in enough dirt to make a farm, and now the couch wore half of it. “Any leftovers hanging around?” he asked. “I’m parched.”

“I can get Monono to fetch you something,” Harlock said, already looking exhausted. “You came just for food, didn’t you?”

“I would never!” he gasped in mock-offense. “I came for the food and the booze and the nice company.”

Harlock looked like he believed that about as much as he believed my lie that I was sending money back home to a girlfriend. As he started down the stairs, I trailed after him. If nothing else, Frank could be entertaining for a while.

“So why don’t you have any tables out here yet?” he asked. “Is that some fancy restaurant thing? Not having tables? It’s fine, I guess. I’m used to eating with a plate in my lap, but I’d think high society could afford some tables.”

“You still haven’t told him?” I asked Harlock in a whisper.

“I’ve told him a dozen times, but he always thinks I’m kidding.”

I was amazed the other guys hadn’t come down to swarm him in attention yet. Frank was so dense that he thought he was getting lucky with a waiter, when really Harlock just had access to his bank account. He paid his dues like any other client. He just didn’t know about it.

According to Harlock, Frank was a couple years younger than his father, but I imagined they looked about the same, so if I’d ever gotten to meet my father, I pictured him just like Frank. Equally cheerful and equally stupid.

The sound of bare feet slapping against the floor made me turn to see Manabu stumbling to a stop at the top of the stairs. “Franklin!” he greeted with a grin and a wave. The kid was the only one in the family who seemed to actually like the guy.

Frank waved back, all smiles. “He’s cute,” he said to Harlock. “Have I met him? Did I sleep with him?”

Harlock’s voice was as dry as my home planet. “That’s Wataru’s son. He’s related to you. You’ve known him since he was a baby.”

“Oh!” Franklin laughed in an odd, wheezy sort of way, like there were holes in his lungs. “He looks different clean.”

To be fair, Manabu was in his pajamas and freshly-showered. His hair stuck to his face in ringlets and bounced along to each of his steps down the stairs. I swore the kid was a puppy in disguise, impossibly cute and eager to please.

“Uncle Franklin, I haven’t seen you in ages,” he said. “How’s Heavy Meldar?”

“About the same as always,” Frank said with a shrug. “Mostly dirt.”

“Gotten in any shootouts lately?”

“Not that they have any proof of.”

Harlock looked like he needed a stiff drink as his uncle whipped a gun from his holster and twirled it with ease. Harlock was also the only one who didn’t jump when the safety failed and the gun went off into the ceiling.

Poor Monono, also in his pajamas, almost threw the food tray in his hands into the ceiling alongside the bullet.

“Please stop trying to kill me,” Harlock said, just looking tired while my heart was trying to break out of my ribcage.

Not as concerned as I thought he should be, Frank frowned and looked over his gun. “Sorry, they’re getting old. I’ll take them apart and check them over.”

“That’s likely what ruined them to begin with,” Harlock muttered as he went over to take the tray from a startled Monono. Poor kid was frozen in shock. “Anyway, Uncle, it’s everyone’s night off, so I hope you weren’t expecting anything from my...wait staff. I’d like for all of them to get proper rest.”

“I’m content with just the meal then. Oh, but I did bring you this. Almost forgot. I’ll trade ya’.” After fishing in the cheap drawstring bag on his shoulder, he pulled out a stack of letters that looked halfway toward crumbling into dust. They were all tied by string, most the same size and shape.

“More mail day for you,” I noted as Harlock traded the tray of food for the letters, confusion twisting his features.

I peered around to see the return address on the top one - Warrius Zero. Judging by the flowing cursive, the letter may have been handwritten as well. It was addressed to Phantom F. Harlock, and once Harlock tugged the string loose and began flipping through them, it became apparent that they were all that way - to Harlock, from Zero. Still sealed.

“Never had a forwarding address for you, and I forgot all about them,” Frank said around a mouthful of potatoes. “Sorry about that. Had ‘em in an old trunk, and I just found them again.”

His hands dropped down to hide it, but I saw. Harlock was trembling. “I see. Thank you,” he said in a voice so thin it could shatter at any moment. He always fought so hard to hide everything, but he was losing his grip over a stack of letters.

He looked so vulnerable, so human, and I understood. Not completely. I would never understand what had happened between him and Zero. But I understood letters and all the memories and pain that could be locked within them.  

Because there were a hundred letters under my bed I’d never sent, filled with the truth, filled with every joyful and painful memory I had of being at the brothel. All the letters I was too scared to send to my brother. All the letters promising I’d see him soon.

“Go on,” I breathed just loud enough for Harlock to hear as I nudged my shoulder against his. “We can handle Uncle.”

He smiled. For just a moment, Harlock smiled at me, a slight tug at his lips that warmed his eye. He looked that way at Wataru and Manabu, occasionally even Frank, but not me.

We were related, but we weren’t family. We were much too odd to be family. We must have been something though because I smiled back before turning to Frank with a simple means of distraction.

“So how have your horses been?”

While Frank was sweating bullets and stumbling over an explanation of how he’d managed to kill his past several horses, Harlock slipped off. Manabu was invested enough in the odd tales not to notice either, but my mind kept drifting back to those damn letters. I did need to see my brother before I forgot what he looked like.

The homesickness was starting to kill me.  

[song-birds-stuff]

The Scars

So, I have a new ship,courtesy of a prompt from @woyprompts Warning for those that have problems with scars and stuff. ------------------------------------------------ "Is that Miss Ripov over there?” Wander and Sylvia sat at Flarf’s Diner, and indeed across from where they sat,was the battle-worn survivor,she tapped her good foot lightly. Sylvia mused “Huh,what d'ya know..haven’t seen much of her since we repaired her ship,wonder what she’s been up to..” The older smiled “We should invite her over! She looks mighty lonely by herself..” “I don’t know Wander,she seems like the kinda person to prefer they’re privacy,plus she’s kinda…intense. We should just let her-” however,just as the zybornak looked,her friend had already approached the scarred veteran with his usual cheerful smile. “Howdy there Miss Ripov! It sure has been a while,huh? How ya doin’?” The smaller alien asked innocently. Ripov turned to Wander,giving him a half smile “It has been a while,hasn’t it? I’ve been about as well as I can be.” The Star Nomad smiled “Me an’ Syl couldn’t help but notice you all on yer lonesome,wouldja like to join us?” Ripov considered the request,finding herself give a light chuckle “Well,guess it wouldn’t hurt, alright,I’ll take you up on that offer.” Wander smiled wide,quickly grabbing Ribov’s arm,she stumbled slightly at the surprising strength from the furry alien as he led her to his and Sylvia’s table. Sylvia waved “Hey Ripov.” The purple alien returned the wave as she sat across from the helpful travelers “Hey..Sylvia,right?” The zybornak nodded “Yep. That’s me,what’ve you been up to lately?” Ripov scratched the back of her head nervously,not as used to this sort of attention “Well,not very much,got some blaster upgrades, expanded my ship, and I recently got a few stitches removed,gonna scar though I bet.” Wander suddenly squealed,making both friends jump slightly. The intensity of Wander’s excited gasp drew the eyes of other customers in the diner, “Ohmygosh! I have scars too!” He shifted the fur on his shoulder to show a long thick line underneath. Ripov looked lightly surprised and then grinned a little, despite herself. “That’s a big nick ya got there,must have some story behind it.” Ripov chuckled good naturedly. Sylvia though gaped “Wait a second! Since-since WHEN did you have scars?!” Wander chuckled at his friend’s reaction as he smoothed down his fur “Ah don’t tell ya everythin’ I’ve got plenty,ya just never asked!” Ripov asked “So,how’d someone like you,get scars like that?” The Star Nomad smiled “Well,this one here,I got it way back,before I met Sylvia,an’ I knew her before I met Hater an’ Mister Peepers,mind you, I ran into this awfully cranky doomdragon,I didn’t fight o’ course,but it gave me a mighty big scratch,I’ll say that much!” The taller alien smiled amusingly “Sure seems like it,most of mine I got when-well,I lost my crew..” her expression turned sad for a moment Wander nodded understandably. “I don’t think any scars would have very cheerful memories,but my Pepaw used ta tell me somethin’ that ya should be proud of th’ scars,it proves ya tried,even if you didn’t succeed,your still here,your still alive, and hey,it’s better than nothin’ right?” The Star Nomad offered a smile. Ripov’s expression softened considerably “Proud,huh? I..never thought of it like that,your old man has some great advice.” She gave Wander a friendly punch on the shoulder,to most,her ‘friendly’ punches would leave a sore spot. But Wander felt harder hits before he started traveling the galaxies. "Well,he did always look at the bright side about most things,even when the planet was bein' raided at two in th' morning!" The two shared a good chuckle. Sylvia raised a brow,finding vaguely odd how well the two seemingly opposites were getting along. Then again,Wander himself had all kinds of mysteries. "Y'know I had ta stitch up some of these buggers myself, and let me tell you,it ain't m' favorite." Wander showed off a wider,deeper scar on his collarbone,he rubbed the smooth skin softly with his thumb. "I hear ya,Y'know I had to amputate my leg myself? Took years to get the prosthetic I got now." Ripov pat her metal leg,a loud clang echoed through the diner, the customers and employees alike tried to not seemed freaked out. But they were. Terrified really. Wander smiled "At least ya had enough to put a substitute there,I USED ta have a tail,I don't have as much as a bit of bone left!" Ripov looked stunned at this information "That bad,huh? And how'd that one happen?" The Star Nomad gave a nervous chuckle "Well... I'll tell ya this,NEVER date a guy with an obsession with accordions." "Ew! Why would I?" Ripov exclaimed in a joking manner,making Wander let out a loud snort. "Y'know,funny thing,losin' my tail wasn't even the worst one I ever got." Wander chuckled. Both Ripov and Sylvia raised a brow "Really?!" The purple alien smirked "Alright,I'll bite,what's the worst scar ya got?" Wander scratched the back of his head nervously "Well,I'd say..this one." The Star Nomad pulled back the fur on the right side of his neck. "By grop..." The sight made Ripov gasp,engraved in his skin was an honest to goodness BRAND. Sylvia looked in outright horror,she recognized it as the insignia from Screwball's whoopie cushion. "Wander,is that...a brand?!" In all her years,not even Ripov felt the pain of a searing burning permanently etching her skin,like a forceful tattoo. Wander nodded "Sure is,I got it before I lost m' tail, and by the Celestials,it hurt like grop..but that's not why it's th' worst one." Ripov raised a brow "Then why?" The short alien gulped "Cause I got this sucker willingly,ah-ah did it MYSELF." Both aliens looked too stunned for words,why would someone like Wander do this to himself? "P-please don't ask why,ah made a bad decision,and I should've been smarter about it,not like it can go away anyways." Wander smoothed down his fur,concealing the brand once more. Ripov recognized the unfamiliar expression on his face,guilt. She placed a hand on Wander's slowly clenching fist,he looked up "Don't sweat it,I won't pry." Wander smiled thankfully. "Well,that sure was fun!" Wander smiled as he hopped onto Sylvia's saddle. The taller alien smiled "Yeah,thanks for inviting me,I..had a pretty good time." Wander smiled in return. Ripov started walking to her ship with a wave "Well,I'll be seeing you,definitely beats the end of the galaxy." The cheerful wanderer beamed "Sure does Miss Ripov-" "Emily." Wander cocked his head to the side confused "What's that now?" "You can call me Emily,it IS my first name." She gave him a sideways smile. Wander smiled "Alright,well..I'll see ya around... Emily." As Wander and Sylvia left in they're orbble bubble and Ripov started her ship,though it went unnoticed,a faint glow appeared on Wander's cheek fur for no more than a second.

[grizbehr]

Second Chances - Part Two

Future AU: The reunion over, Lucas and Lily return to Texas and Riley returns to her job overseas. Will the difficulties of distance and their own lives cause problems for their reemerging relationship

Part One   Chapter List

Chapter Twelve - Pulling Away and Reaching Out

The next week passed and Lily was tired of being poked and prodded. The stitches in her side itched constantly and Lily desperately wanted to scratch, despite the admonishments from her doctors.

"It's healing, Lily," he said. "If you don't scratch at it, there should be minimal scarring, so leave it alone."

"I'm trying," Lily complained. "But it's so hard."

"Maybe we should get you an Elizabethan collar," Lucas joked. "Keep you from chewing at your stitches." Lily gave him a stink eye, but couldn't help but smile. Lucas, with Riley, had been there every day, and Lily worried about him.

"Daddy," she told him. "It's okay if you need to get back to work. I'm out of the danger zone."

"My team have it covered," Lucas said. "My staff know what they are doing and the new guys are terrific." Lily leaned back in her pillows and closed her eyes.

"Lucas," Riley said softly. "Maybe we're hovering too much. Our worry is adding to her own."

Lucas glanced over at her and then back to his daughter. "I just don't want to leave you here alone, sweetie."

"Sometimes," Lily began. "Sometimes I just need to be alone. Please? If anything happens, you're just a phone call away."

Maggie had come by before she left the hospital, wheeled in by her mother.

"Are you doing okay, Lil," she asked her friend.

"Yeah, I guess. How about you? How long do you need the cast on?"

"Six weeks," Maggie groaned. "I have crutches and a wheelchair. This is going to be a lousy summer."

"At least your not stuck in here."

"Yeah, but it's just for two weeks, right? Then you'll be home."

"And have everybody fussing all over me all the time. Between Daddy, Maria, and all the rest…ugh."

"At least you know they love you. My dad couldn't even bother to come by."

"Did you want him to?"

"No. Yes. It would have been nice to know he cared."

Dave, unfortunately, was the worst. At first, it was nice. Dave would come by every day for an hour or so and her father, with some urging from Riley, would leave the two alone. As the days continued, and Lily got more and more frustrated at being confined to her bed, Dave's attentions began to annoy her.

"I can get a glass of water on my own," she snapped at him.

"I was just trying to help," Dave complained. "There's no need for you to strain yourself."

"It's just…I can still do things by myself. I'm not a cripple."

"No one is saying you're a cripple, Lily," Dave said. "But things are going to be more difficult for you right now. Once you relearn how to do things, you won't need to be so dependent, but for right now, you need help."

"My foot is going to get better," Lily yelled. "I won't need to relearn anything!"

"What's going on in here," the nurse said, coming in.

"Nothing," both said at the same time. The nurse came over and checked Lily's meds and then chart. She stood and looked at the two of them.

"This is a hospital, not a playground. If you two are going to get that loud, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, young man."

"We're sorry," Lily said. "We'll keep it down." The nurse nodded and, with a last glance, left the room.

"Do you want me to leave," Dave asked. Lily looked at him before answering.

"Maybe you should," she said finally. Dave looked down at the floor and then stood up from his chair. He kissed her on her forehead and then left. Lily looked after him, more angry at herself than him. She pulled the pillow over her face and screamed into it.

"It won't work," Lucas said, eyeing the front porch.

"Why not," Zay exclaimed. "You just lay the board down, nail it in. Instant ramp."

"Because the stairs are too steep," Lucas explained. "Which means either the ramp will be too steep or it will be so long it goes out into the middle of the drive. There's got to be a better way to do this."

"Besides, Zay," Thomas added. "It's not just a matter of laying a board down. There needs to be structural support. If Lily is going to be going up and down it in a wheel chair, we don't want to take a chance of it falling apart."

"Yeah, Zay," Maya said, hitting him on the arm. "You trying to hurt our girl?"

"Ow," Zay said. "Well what do you suggest?"

"It's actually quite simple," Riley said from her seat on the porch. She stood and went to the end of the porch and put her hands on the railing. "You take this part of the railing off and extend the deck a bit. Then you have the ramp go down towards the stairs, opening up facing the drive."

"But that will mean removing the flowers," Zay stated.

"Would you rather have the lilies or the Lily?"

"That's kind of permanent, Riley," Lucas said, putting his hand to his chin. "I don't want Lily to think that I don't think she'll get better."

Riley walked down the steps towards him. "You heard what the doctor said. All of their scans and tests show that there's peripheral neuropathy. It's going to take time and physical therapy to improve her condition, and even then it might not be at one hundred percent. This ramp is necessary and it's better that it be done right than slip shod."

"Besides," Maya added. "You can tell her it's for when you're old and feeble and can't handle the steps any more."

"Funny, Maya," Lucas laughed. "When are you leaving again?" Everyone joined in the laughter before Lucas put on a serious face. "Really, though. When do ya'll have to go? I've loved having you down here, but I don't want you putting your lives on hold for us."

"I do need to head back," Maya said. "But I'll wait till Lily's birthday. She's still going to be in the hospital, so we'll plan something special for her."

"Absolutely," Zay agreed. "Then we'll head back to New York."

Lucas noticed that Riley hadn't said anything. "Riley?"

"I'm here for as long as you need me," she said.

"What about your job? Your life in London? Don't you need to get back to it?"

Riley walked over and sat down on the steps. Lucas came and joined her as Maya and Zay talked with Thomas about the ramp.

"What's going on, Riley," he asked her.

"It turns out that when you tell your boss that you either need a leave of absence or to be fired and then hang up on him, he takes that to mean you quit."

"What?" Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing. "When did this happen?"

"When I was leaving London," Riley said, putting her head on her knees. "I told him I needed a leave of absence and he started arguing with me about how I'd just taken a week off. I got angry and lashed out. Then I wouldn't answer my phone…well, couldn't on the plane…and I didn't call him back until I knew Lily was okay. So, I'm currently out of a job."

"This is my fault," Lucas said. "My selfishness caused this."

"No, Lucas," Riley admonished him. "You needed me. Lily needed me. You are worth a lot more than a stupid job."

"Can't you explain? I mean, it was an emergency and your emotions were raw. Surely he'd understand."

"I could, but I'm not sure I want to." Lucas looked at Riley in confusion. "I love what I do, but it's not as…fulfilling…as I hoped it would be. And I'm kind of tired of living in London so far away from everyone I love. I thought about it the entire flight over. Well, not the entire flight. A lot of it was worrying. But after spending so much time with everyone at the reunion, I realized how much I missed it all."

"So what do you do now?"

"I'm moving back in with my folks for now. I'll need to fly back to London and pack up my personal things and say goodbye to some people, then I'll be back in the city, looking for a new job."

"Maybe you could get a job teaching, at least while you're looking," Lucas said. "You're dad could hook you up as a substitute teacher and you, Maya and him could all work together."

"That's a thought," Riley said. "A bad one, but it's a thought." She nudged Lucas who smiled and put his arm around her. "I've never really had an interest in teaching. There are plenty of magazines and blogs in New York that are looking for writers and with my experience, I should be able to find something. But I'm here for you and Lily first. I've got enough saved up that I can float for a little while."

"If you're sure," Lucas said. "We'll be glad to have you."

"I'm sure." At that moment, Riley's phone went off. She looked down and saw Farkle's picture on her screen. "I'm going to go take this." She kissed Lucas briefly and got up and walked around the house to talk to him.

"Hey, Farkle," she answered.

"Hey. So, I got that info you wanted. They live in Houston. I'll send you the address. They don't have a listed number, so if you want to talk to them it will have to be in person."

"Thanks, Farkle."

"I still think you should stay out of it. I know you need to fix things, but Lucas might not like it if you put your nose in."

"I know, I know," Riley said. "I still haven't decided, but now I have it. How's Smackle?"

"Ready to get this baby out of her. The doctors are talking about inducing if it doesn't start soon."

"Well, let me know. I wish I could be there for you two, but I can't be there and here."

"We understand. Our parents are here and your mom and dad have been by often. You stay there with Lily and Lucas."

"Keep me in the loop, okay. Tell Smackle we all love her and are thinking of her."

"I will. Talk to you later."

Riley had been walking while talking to Farkle and just now noticed where she was. She was standing outside the family plot. She put her hand on the gate, a little hesitant about intruding. She took a deep breath and went inside.

She wandered around, avoiding the newer parts of the cemetery, though she knew that's why she came. She looked at the old grave stones, marveling at how far back they went. When Lucas said he was from Texas, he wasn't kidding. She paused for a moment at a small stone. The name Emily Friar was on it with the dates May 3, 1853 - August 12, 1858. She brushed her hand across the dates. It was so sad to see a five year old buried there, but she knew from history that it was common. She thought of Lily lying in her hospital bed and how they almost lost her. Her gaze moved over to the stone she had been avoiding.

"Hi," she said stepping up to it, being careful not to step over the body lying below her. "I'm…ah…Riley. Riley Matthews. But I guess you knew that."

She kneeled down and then sat cross legged in the grass. "I kinda wish I'd gotten the opportunity to know you. I'm glad you made Lucas happy."

Riley stopped for a minute and shook her head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say. I've loved Lucas since I fell on his lap in the subway. Okay, maybe not loved, but the start of it was there. When we broke up, I was devastated. When I heard he was marrying you, it took all I had not to come down here and stop it. For a little while, I thought I hated you…and I don't hate anyone. I sort of stalked the two of you online, and I could see he was happy, and that you did that. Between the time he left New York and you came into his life, he wasn't. So whatever you did…thank you."

"Then the two of you had Lily. She was and is the light of his life. In the photos of the three of you together, he seemed to glow. Having met her, I understand it. I'll admit I was jealous, thinking of the children we might have had. Then your accident happened and I felt guilty for those thoughts. When I came down to see him at the hospital, it wasn't me wanting him. It was me wanting to be there for my friend. But I think maybe he was right for driving me away. I just wish he hadn't kept me away…well, all of us away really."

"Neither of us meant for this to happen between us. I think maybe a part of us hoped for it, though. I thought I was over him, I really did. Then I saw him again and I knew I wasn't. And I think he feels guilty because he wasn't over me, either. People who knew you have said that you'd want him to be happy, but I wish I could somehow get your blessing."

"Then there's Lily. If she's anything like you were, then you were amazing. You did good with that one. I love her as though she were my own daughter. Not that I'm trying to be her mother. I don't know what I'm saying." She shook her head again. "My life is kind of spiraling out of control right now, except for them. I've got no job, no home, no prospects. I'm holding on to the one thing that makes sense. I just hope I'm not holding on too tight."

"I'm sorry for dumping all this on you," Riley said standing and brushing the grass off her jeans. "I understand Lucas does the same thing. He still loves you, and I don't want him to stop. I love him enough to share him with you. I hope you don't mind." She left the grave yard and, with a last look at Anna's stone, she headed back towards the house.

Lily looked up at the ceiling from her hospital bed. The nurse had given her some pills to help her sleep, but she was awake again after thirty minutes.  She stared around the room she had been trapped in for almost a week. Same four walls, same window, same opening to the hallway. The only time she got a change of scenery is when they wheeled her out for an MRI, X-Ray or other test. She couldn't even stay interested in the pile of books by her bed.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She still had feeling past her left knee, but nothing in her lower leg, ankle and foot. She cautiously put her right foot down, testing her weight. Then, grabbing the medical pole for support, she placed her left foot on the floor. Very carefully she stood up.

She swayed a little as she stood, but gained her balance relatively quickly. She moved her left foot forward, sliding the pole with it. Then she staggered forward with her right, putting more weight on the pole than she should have. It collapsed under her weight and she fell to the floor with a cry.

"What are you doing," the nurse said, coming in. "Orderly!" A large man came in and took one look at the situation. He bent down, picked Lily up with ease, and put her back in the bed.

"I just had to get up," Lily complained as the nurse checked her over and the orderly fixed the pole.

"I understand that you feel stuck here," the nurse explained. "But it will be a while before you are comfortable walking on your own. Even then, you'll need a brace at first. If you want to go somewhere, let someone know and we'll get you a wheelchair."

Lily leaned back in the bed and crossed her arms with a pout.

"You were lucky you didn't pull any stitches. Let me know if you feel any additional pain. You may have pulled something internal."

"I'm fine," Lily said. "I just banged my hip a little on the floor."

"We'll take you in the morning to run a scan to make sure. It is important that you tell me if you think something is wrong. Don't try and be a brave little girl and hold it in."

Lily bristled at the little girl comment, but assured the nurse that she didn't feel anything different.

"Try and get some sleep," the nurse said before leaving, the orderly following. Lily watched after them and then around the room again. The feeling of being trapped was still there as she closed her eyes and let the medicine take her back to slumber.

Riley's eyes opened to the sounds of birds singing outside. She rolled over and looked out the window of her room to find a bright day. She stretched as she slung her legs onto the floor. She flew to the window and gazed out at the day before turning to get dressed.

She looked over at her computer sitting on the table next to the bed. She had put in the address for Anna's parents the previous night, but was still unsure if she should go. Part of her knew that Farkle was right and she should stay out of it. But she feared that the part of her that needed to fix things might be stronger than her doubts.

She left the bedroom to find the living room empty. She made her way to the kitchen to find Maya sitting at the table.

"Morning, Peaches," she said.

"Good morning, Honey. Did you sleep well?"

"I did," Riley said taking a seat. "Where is everybody?"

"Lucas and Zay went with Thomas to get some lumber for the ramp. They took your idea to heart and started drawing up plans last night. They even called Farkle and got him involved. He had this idea of making it motorized so Lily could just wheel up and a treadmill would bring her up and down. Lucas nixed that idea."

Riley nodded. "Hey, would you like to go on a road trip?"

"Sure," Maya said. "Where are we going?"

"I want to look into getting something special for Lily's birthday," Riley replied cryptically. "I'll leave a note for the boys and meet you at the car."

"Oh, we're leaving now?"

"It's a two and a half hour drive to Houston," Riley said as she left the kitchen.

The two friends got in the car, Riley behind the wheel. She set up the onboard GPS system for the address and pulled out.

"So," Maya started. "What's in Houston?"

"Anna's parents," Riley said simply. Maya turned in her seat and just stared at her. Riley glanced over, trying to keep her eyes on the road at the same time, and smiled.

"And why are we going to see Anna's parents?"

Riley took a deep breath. "Because they don't know about Lily's accident and Lucas isn't going to tell them because they cut themselves off after Anna's death and they deserve to know and have the opportunity to know their granddaughter and Lily deserves to know her grandparents and it's Lily's birthday and it is the right thing to do."

Maya's mouth fell open. After a moment she responded, "I can't believe you. No, wait. I can. Riley, when are you going to learn that you can't fix everything and sometimes it's not your place."

"Oh, you," Riley said, reaching over and patting Maya on the head.

They drove along in silence for a little while, listening to the radio. Maya was looking out the window and Riley was bopping along, smiling with the music. Inside, she was in turmoil, still unsure of what she was doing.

"Can I ask you something, Riley," Maya finally asked, lowering the volume on the radio

"Shoot."

"Why aren't you sharing a room with Lucas?"

Riley blinked, not expecting that question. "What…what do you mean?"

"Well, the two of you are together now. You're both adults. You've already slept together." Riley started to turn pink. "I mean, I could kind of understand if Lily was there, although I think she's mature enough to handle it. So why do you have your own room instead of being in there with him?"

Riley bit her lip, thinking about what Maya said. "I think it's because of Anna," she said. "That's still her bed. Her room. It just feels intrusive."

"Then how about Lucas joining you in yours?"

"I don't know," Riley admitted. "It's a delicate situation. You know he still loves Anna. Him being with me while in the house she lived in may be a little too much for him. It may be too much for me as well. I'm willing to wait until it's right."

"So what happens when the two of you get married? Will it be right then?"

"We're no where near that stage," Riley protested.

"Please, Riley honey. You've been at that stage since you fell on his lap on the subway."

"This is the only part of my life that's on track right now," Riley said. "I don't want to do anything to mess that up by moving too fast."

"I understand you are taking it slow, but come on. This is glacial. You've loved Lucas for most of your life. He's why none of your other relationships ever went anywhere. Charlie, Cole, Duncan, James. If you are going to finally make it work with him, you need to move forward. And so does he. You'll never take Anna's place in his heart, and I don't think you should try. But you do have a place there and you can't put it on hold. The two of you already decided to try. So try, already."

Riley stayed quiet as she thought about what Maya said. Maya turned back up the radio and returned to watching the scenery pass by.

Lucas and Thomas unloaded the truck while Zay gave direction. "Put that one over there," he said, pointing towards the side of the house.

"This would go faster if you got off your butt and helped," Lucas said.

"Let him stay there," Thomas joked. "When he helps it goes a lot slower."

"Zay what," Zay exclaimed, faking offense. He got up and went to help as Maria came out of the house.

"Note for you, Senior Lucas," she said, handing Lucas the note from Riley. He took off his gloves and read over it.

"They went on a road trip," Lucas questioned. "Do you know anything about this, Zay?"

"Can't say that I do," Zay said, coming over to read the note over his shoulder. "I wonder where they're going? And why didn't I get an invite?"

"I'm going to give Riley a call," Lucas said. "Keep unloading." He headed up the steps into the house.

"Sure, sure," he heard Zay behind him. "Leave me to do all the work."

Lucas collapsed on the couch and put his feet up as he dialed Riley's number.

"Hey, babe," a voice said from the other end.

"Riley?"

"Of course it's ha-hurr," Maya laughed. "She's driving so I answered."

"Where are you going?"

"Nunya."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nunya business. Put it on speaker so I can talk to Riley."

"Hey, Lucas," Riley said on speaker.

"What's going on, Riley?"

"I'm just looking into something. It's a potential surprise."

"Riley," Lucas said, a bit stern. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not really sure yet. I'll decide when I get there. I've got to go. Don't want to be distracted while driving. We'll be back later. Love you. Bye."

"Riley! Riley!" Lucas looked at his phone. He got up and ran out of the house. His truck was still half loaded with lumber. "We've got to clear the bed out now," he said, grabbing one of the boards and hurling it to the ground.

"What's going on, Lucas," Zay said.

"Riley is trying to help and I need to stop her." Zay put his hands on Lucas' arms.

"What is she doing?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I know. I need to go get her."

"So you don't know where she's going or what she's doing but you want to go find her and stop her? You do know Texas is a pretty big state, right?"

"What do you think she's doing," Thomas asked.

"I think she's going down to Anna's parents," Lucas said, sitting on the tailgate. "We had talked about how they didn't have anything to do with Lily and didn't know about the accident. I told her not to, but…"

"Riley fixes things," Zay explained for Thomas' benefit. "You should have known she wouldn't stay out of it. But you should also know that you can't stop her. And you also should know that most of the time, she does manage it. On the off chance that she can get Helmut and Hannah to come see Lily, don't you think it's worth it?"

Lucas lowered his head, looking at the ground. "Fine," he said. "I just know them and I don't want them to crush Riley." He stood up from the tailgate and put back on his gloves. "Let's get this unloaded. I feel the need to go see Lily."

Riley pulled up next to the house and the two girls looked out the car window at it. It was a small, one story building with white vinyl siding. The flower bed out front was carefully tended and the grass was neatly trimmed. A stone walkway went from the driveway to the front door behind a screen.

"So are you going in," Maya asked. Riley looked at her and then back at the house.

"I don't know," she admitted. "What do you think I should do?"

"I'd go in," Maya said. "But you know me. I like to cause trouble. I think this may cause more trouble than you think it will."

"So you think I shouldn't do this then?"

Maya didn't say anything. She looked up the street. "There's a burger place up the street," she said finally. "Let's go talk."

Riley nodded and put the car in drive. She pulled into the parking lot of the Dairy Queen and parked. Maya opened her door first and made her way to the restaurant. Riley got out of the car and looked back down the street before following her.

"What do you want," Maya asked, looking up at the menu on the wall. Riley joined her and pursued it herself.

"I'm not hungry," she said. "This has my stomach in knots. I don't think I could eat anything."

"Well, maybe you should try. Get your blood sugar up might help."

"Fine, get me a chicken finger basket and a peppermint Blizzard. I'm going to the bathroom."

"Will do." Maya chuckled for a minute. "It's nice being able to treat you for a change."

Riley smiled and went to the bathroom. She went to the mirror and turned on the water to wash her face from the long drive. This is good, she thought to herself. Take a little break and gather my thoughts.

She returned to find Maya sitting at one of the tables. "Where's the food," she asked.

"They'll bring it out when it's ready. Here's your Blizzard." She passed over the ice cream and Riley opened the lid to get to the frozen treat.

"Oh my, this is so good," she said, ice cream dribbling down her chin. Maya laughed as she passed over a napkin.

A few minutes later, the food was brought out and the two girl got down to the business of eating. "You were right," Riley said between bites. "I did need to eat something."

"I was right," Maya smiled. "I like the sound of that. So let's talk about why we're here. We drove all the way down here so you could tell Anna's parents about Lily. What do you think is going to happen?"

"Well, I hope they decide to go see her. Then they can see how much like Anna she looks and maybe decide to be a part of her life again. It's not good having grandparents who don't want to be around you. I know."

"Your mom's folks were there," Maya said. "They may not have made it to family gatherings because they didn't like to be around each other, but they made sure you knew they thought of you."

"Yeah, but I never felt I could go to them like I could my dad's parents. And it's got to be hard enough for Lily with Lucas' parents being in New York and him not talking to them. Imagine having no family you could go to."

"I don't exactly need to imagine it, Riles," Maya said. "I grew up with that, remember."

"I'm sorry, Peaches. I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's okay," Maya said. "I had my mom and Gammie Hart. Then you and your family. Then Shawn. Now Josh. So I've got plenty of family now, and so does Lily. She's got her dad and us and Thomas and Maria and that Dave kid and Maggie. Maybe being able to choose your family is better than just having one thrust upon you."

"So you think I should forget it, just like Lucas and Farkle."

"Best case scenario, they do like you hope. Worst case, it becomes worse because Lucas didn't tell them himself. If we knew them, maybe we'd know how they'd react, but we don't."

Riley chewed on her lip and felt a little down cast. Maya watched her contemplating.

"But if anybody could get them to come around, it's you," Maya admitted. "Since we've come all this way, I think you should give it a shot."

"Really?" Riley was surprised.

"Yeah," Maya said. "I just don't want you to freak out if it doesn't work." The two girls finished their meal then headed back to the car. They pulled back up and Riley got out. She stood looking at the house, not moving. Maya opened her door and climbed out, going to stand by her friend. Riley took a deep breath and headed to the door.

She rapped her knuckles on the screen and waited. After a moment the door opened and a very tall, stern woman looked out at her.

"Yes," she said crisply.

"Mrs. Shaw? My name is Riley Matthews."

"We're not interested," the woman said and began to close the door.

"I'm a friend of Lucas Friar," Riley rushed out the words. The door stopped closing and slowly reopened fully.

"I see," Anna's mother said. Those two words caused a chill to fill the air and the sun to hide behind the clouds.

"Uhm, I'm here about Lily. You're granddaughter? She was in an accident on the fourth and is in the hospital. Nobody was sure how to reach you, so I decided to come down. I thought you should know."

"Thank you," she said.

"She's going to still be in hospital on her birthday and it would mean a lot to her if you would come see her."

"We are too old to make that drive. Have a good day." She began to close the door again and Riley quickly pulled out her phone.

"She's a lovely girl," Riley said quickly, holding the phone out. "Don't you want to know her?"

Anna's mother looked at the picture of Lily on Riley's phone. She then looked up at Riley. "We don't need a reminder of what we lost." She then closed the door and Riley could hear her lock it. Riley stood there stunned. She made her way back to the car in a daze.

"What happened," she said to Maya. "How can they just not care?"

"I don't know, sweetie," Maya said, putting her arm around Riley.

"How did someone who, as I understand it, was so full of life like Anna come from someone like that?"

"I don't know. Let me have the keys. I'll drive us back." Riley handed over the keys and Maya helped her into the car. Riley looked out the window at the house as they pulled away.

Chapter Thirteen - Birthdays

[ask-the-friendly-ink-demon]

[FINAL VERSION] Bendy: Inky Terrors Chapter 3 [FULL]

this is for real the final version of chapter 3 of inky terrors cause i decided to not make the third chapter based entirey on the actual game’s third chapter unlike the other two chapters and i decided to add in and fix some grammer and spelling errors and dialogue and there ya go so hopefully this WILL be the last time im editing this chapter so i hope you all enjoy! ----- Henry’s eyes opened as he got up from the bed after an few days or maybe even an week have gone by since he and bendy met up with Boris. Overtime however the demon and the friendly wolf noticed the scar Henry had on his arm thanks to joey. The rather young but still old animator had just woken up from an restful sleep he needed it due to how tired he and his friend were from fighting and trying to survive in the studio. He looked around the room he was in he sighed “we can’t stay here any longer” he decided that they stayed here long enough it was time for them to leave the saferoom. Henry then noticed that the hooded devil was nowhere in slight in the room “bendy?” he looked around not seeing the hooded devil darling anywhere “must have woken up he walked out seeing another pair of overalls hanging he went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror “heh god I look like a mess” he said as he scratched his beard a bit and noticed his clothing still had some stains of ink left but he can barley see it “i’ll have to wash these when I get back home… if I ever make it out with these two that is” he said and walked on to see Boris listening to an rather classy cartoon like tune playing and saw bendy with the cartoon wolf he noticed bendy was not listening to the music as he kept drinking an can of bacon soup in his hand “hey there bud couldn’t sleep?” he asked the cartoon as bendy just nodded “eh to be honest I was just waking up to get something to drink” he said while taking an sip of the can of bacon soup. Henry patted the devil on the head “just try not to drink too fast remember your body hasn’t fully healed yet” bendy blinked before nodding Henry saw an series of numbers on the can which he assumed was the expiration date he looked at bendy and told him “besides you know that bacon soup is expired right?” bendy’s eyes widen so fast they almost fell out of his head as he spitted it out “AUGH WHY DID'INT YA TELL ME BEFORE?!?!?” he said while wiping his mouth trying to get the taste out. Henry held his laughter back and waved at Boris who waved back with a smile “good morning Boris… or good afternoon hard to tell the time down here” Boris pointed to an nearby clock the time on it said 10:00 AM on it  "oh thanks” he said to the wolf and went to look around an bit he saw the weird design on the wall he shook his head “whoever was here in this saferoom before did not think of what cartoons look like” he saw Boris and bendy nodding agreeing with him he walked towards the door and saw the lever was missing “not getting out of here that easy the lever’s missin-” Henry looked over to see Boris whistling with an innocence look on his face and Henry had to held back his laughter as he saw bendy doing the same thing only using the banjo just for fun “kid-” bendy started to play the banjo interrupting Henry as he choked an laugh “wellll howdy there deputy Boris! what do ya say we go and find that lever for our good friend Henry partner!” he said in the most funniest Texan accent he could manage and Boris whistled and did an motion of nodding while trying to hide his laugh “welll what do ya say hen? wanna help out old sheriff bendy and my deputy Boris in helping ya find that lever partner?” bendy said and the banjo lost an string hitting the little devil in the face Boris and Henry both covered their mouths trying to stop laughing out loud “pfffff-” Henry was trying his hardest not to laugh “well that was the 20th gosh darn banjo this week” he turned to look at Boris with an fake angry and funny expression on his face “BORIS! I TOLD YA WE NEEDED MORE BANJOS B O I!” Boris was wheezing and banging his fist on the table as Henry was laughing “come on Boris I know you have it or are you holding it hostage until I make you something to eat?” Boris had an innocence puppy look on his face while smiling and his tongue was out as bendy had to hold in his laughter after he and Boris did that little joke. Henry gave in to the wolf as he sighed and smiled “I thought so let’s see what I can find” Henry said as he walked around to find three bacon soup cans as bendy had to release his laughter he and Boris were laughing so hard “ohhh god Boris that was the funniest thing I ever seen in this studio ever since Henry came back” Boris nodded “hey what’s wrong you still don’t feel like talking?” the wolf nodded and bendy shook his friend “Come on pal you were laughing! Your voice has to be fixed now” Boris looked down and bendy patted his head “hey pal come on I promise you your voice will come back to ya maybe not even today but it’ll come back someday” Boris smiled and nodded. Henry came back with three cans of bacon soup “well I think I have enough to make an batch of soup for you Boris” he said and started to make the soup “hey bud how are your injuries holding up?” Henry asked and bendy fell silent “i’m still going strong!! it’ll take more than an ink demon to take me down!” he said trying to look tough but instead fell down from the seat “ow” Boris chuckled “not funny pal” bendy said rubbing his forehead “Hey Henry can I ask you something?” Henry looked at bendy as he putted the bowl of soup down for Boris “I guess so what’s on your mind?” he said as he helped him up “what was your family like?” Henry fell silent he paused and tried to think “well truth be told the only family I do see now a days are my sister and cousin along with their grandkids but I used to visit my other family members like my cousin and aunt and uncle” bendy looked at a picture in Henry’s pocket he noticed it has “what about your mom and dad?” Henry stopped and sighed “my father… well I take after him he was an war hero and a Good guy….. an real good guy I actually miss him..” bendy could see that the old animator did'int like to talk about his family that much because of what happened with his father bendy smiled sadly “hey i’m sorry if that made ya….. well ya know” Henry nodded “it’s fine I needed to get that out of my chest anyway” he said and picked up the lever that was in the box Boris putted “wait why do you need the lever anyway?” he asked and Henry pointed to the door that leads to out of the saferoom “well we’re not staying here forever bendy. At some point we do need to get out and we rest for long enough. are you ready to go?” he asked the little devil and he nodded while pulling out the same gun Henry used that was given to him by his father “you still remember how to shoot like I taught ya during when we were in here” Henry asked the toon and he nodded. Boris got up while he stretched his arms and Henry putted the lever back on and tuned it down while opening the door in the process “let’s see what’s out there don’t wander off” he told them. The three walked as they felt the saferoom door slammed shut. Henry noticed an little station near the corner “why would Joey add confession booths in the studio? since when did he care about religion?” bendy and Boris shrugged. the three saw an dark corridor up ahead Henry grabbed an flashlight that was on an table and he, bendy, and Boris both walked into the darkness they slowly walked keeping an eye out for anything as they walked an clanking sound was heard Henry and Boris and bendy jumped at the noise “it was nothing come on just the pipes you know how this place now is” he told them and they kept walking until they reached an blocked off door and the door behind them closed “shoot…” bendy stated as they were not trapped until they found an way out of this room. Henry looked around trying to see any opening “I don’t see any other way through, got any ideas guys?” Bendy shrugged and Boris pointed to an nearby vent happened to be right near the door “hey wait a minute Boris you think you can open that door for us?” The demon asked and he nodded “well you’re gonna Need this than we do” Henry said while handing Boris the flashlight and opened the vent as the 6’4 foot tall wolf crawled in as the two waited “so bud” bendy looked at Henry “mind tellling me how your able to uh….. well” bendy’s face darkened “you mean how I can transformed into…. that more monsterized version of that other me with the limp do ya….” Henry nodded and bendy sighed “Joey… well let’s say he used an kind of special ink coated on my body… that was only used on me he said it was an test he wanted to see how I can deal with having an special ink this was before you left and all and after an few weeks of Boris and Alice being brought into the real world….“ Henry raised an eyebrow “and why was I not aware of this?” he asked the devil and he shrugged “I honestly have no clue maybe Joey didn’t want you to know or maybe he was planning I don’t know all I know is that how he began his little tests with me he wanted to see if anything changed and it did one day I woke up like….. like what you saw fighting those searchers in the projecter room, only before I did'int even have any control over it when I realized what I became. You see some of that special ink may cause an different affect to certain toons I guess while some makes them tall or changes their appearance there are others tho…. that will give the said toon an increased amount of strength enough to lift a car and…..  in order to gain that strength one must….. pay the burden of becoming an monster…..” Henry could see the little devil shaking “I got the worst one…….. I was….. cursed…. to transform….. into an deadly… horriflying…. powerful…. monster version… of myself…… that was only the first form you saw…. yeah….. side effects sometimes can be a real pa-” Henry shushed him “stop, if you don’t wanna talk about it you don’t have to alright pal?” he nodded “it’s fine I just…. wanted to get that out of my head. been bother me for a while…” as they stand there and waited they both got worried that what if something happened to Boris. Then what seem like forever the door finally opened up “there we go come on bo-” bendy stopped when he realized “Henry… I think we’ll have to find Boris when we get into that room” Henry sighed “than we’ll have to meet up with hi-” he stopped “what did ya stop talking fo-” his eyes widen the two saw an massive room with the sign “HEAVENLY TOYS” on top “woah….” bendy said his eyes sparkling with awe and amazement “wow” Henry said shocked at what he was seeing “I don’t remember any of this” he said. the two looked around before going upstairs and seeing an shelf full of toys “huh wonder why none of these didn’t sell” henry asked himself and bendy pressed an button on a tape recorder “this” he pointed and the two listened “I don’t be seeing what the big deal is, so what if I went and painted some of those bendy dolls with a crooked smile? that’s sure no reason for mister drew to be flying all the handle at me” the voice had an slight Irish accent Henry knew only one person with an accent like that “Shawn Flynn?” bendy nodded and they kept listening to the tape “And if he really wants to be so helpful he could be telling me what i’m a suppose to doing with this warehouse full of that angel whatyamacall it. Not a Scrap of that mess be selling, probably have to melt it all down to be rid of it all” the tape stopped “haven’t heard that voice in a long time kinda gave me an surprise” Henry said looked at the wires and an lever “what’s ya thinking about?” Henry looked at the way that was blocking the door “why is there always something blocking the door? gotta be a way th-” he stopped when he felt a light bolt lit up above his head “hey bud I think I have an idea” bendy looked up “I’m listening” 10 minutes later after taking the toys out of the clogged places and turning on the power the door finally opened “well gotta say-” the two’s eyes widen “al….” bendy said quietly as they looked at the “SHE’S QUITE A GAL” sign Henry could see that bendy’s face was melting bring back some memories to him. ~flashback~ “ohhhh bendy darling!!!~~” Alice said in an cheerful voice. The hooded devil looked up he was busy helping out the old man with an drawing “yeah Al?” he said and she handed him an present “I realized you haven’t gotten an present since today is your birthday so hope ya like it!~” bendy’s eyes blink he forgotten that despite being created on Christmas he was only in the real world for a few weeks and he haven’t yet gotten an welcome he shrugged and opened it and his eyes widen as he saw an necklace locket he opened the pocket watch and an picture of him and Alice and Boris were on it with the words “Greatest Friends Ever” bendy had an dark blush on his face as he smiled at it softly and hugged the angel “thanks Al” he said with the angel hugging back “no problem” bendy looked down “but sorry i did’int give ya anything for ya toots” alice smiled and gave the hooded toon an kiss on the cheek “darling making you happy is all i need to see as an present” she said with an soft smile. ~flashback ended~ “hey, bud you alright?” he said and bendy snapped back to reality “o-oh! y-yeah I’m totally fine old man just remembering some good old times with the gang!” bendy said smiling hoping Henry wouldn’t notice the stutter he made thankfully he didn’t notice and they walked an little bit closer to the big window with the door on it the entire room went black as they heard the voice of Alice angel while seeing images of Alice turned on at the small TV boxes “what… the…. ” he said in pure shock as bendy and he looked both creeped out and confused before he could say anything else suddenly what seems to be Alice angel appeared slamming on the window “I’M ALICE ANGEL!!!!” both bendy and Henry jumped in shock as she screamed and then the sounds of the glass breaking and laughing in a devilish tone was heard the entire room turned off blinding the two in total darkness “I see you there” the voice known as Alice angel spoke as Henry kept the little devil with him as close as he can as the hooded devil hid behind Henry’s leg “a new fly wandering in my endless web” Henry gritted his teeth while keeping an tight grip on the hunting knife he found when he had first arrived in the studio. Bendy tried his best to keep hidden as he was scared now to even come out from behind he’d never been this scared before of something he saw happen basically every single time. Henry felt something cold touched his cheek “come along now, let’s see if your worthy to walk with angels, hahahahahaha~” the lights turned back on and bendy jumped while screaming onto the ceiling henry blinked and looked up “bud you okay?” bendy realized he didn’t have claws in his normal form and he fell down onto Henry the two falling on eachother “ow! henry why did-” bendy noticed his friend’s eyes were widen so much he was paused for the first time in his life the old animator was terrifed and afraid “henry!” bendy said slapping henry “come on we have to keep going! who knows if that lady won’t come back over here to just kill us!” he said and the two marched on quickly with bendy trying to drag henry. they were stopped at two paths “what the…” bendy said now freaked out “okay when joey said he was gonna remodel the place I did not think he make two paths!” bendy said with ink melting from his head henry finally getting back to his senses patted the demon’s shoulder as he got up  “bud calm down we’ve seen weirder things than this” Henry said and he looked at the doors trying to think of which one to go to “looks like there’s only two ways to go but the question is…. which way is the right one?” he said as he looked at the two signs one said “THE DEMON” and the sign had an stained head of bendy colored in fully black as ink seem to drip down and they looked at the other sign which seemed normal with the words “THE ANGEL” on them “well come on let’s get going!” he said as he went the other way but Henry instead walked towards the door that said the demon. Bendy stopped in his tracks noticing that henry did’int follow him in and ran after him tugging his leg “h-hey! why are you going in there that other me could be hiding in there! come on henry you know how tough that thing is!” Henry looked down at him “bendy as much as I would want to deal with that… angel right now I prefer to go this way because-” he stopped as he was trying to think of what to say. bendy walked with him “well?” the toon asked and Henry putted his hands up saying in a calm and stern tone “i’ll tell you about it later alright? right now let’s focus on getting out of here” bendy nodded “okay…” Henry started to walk ahead “come on let’s see if we can find a way out of this room” they walked into the ink filled room and they heard the other door on the right closed “well no going back now it seems” bendy said and Henry noticed an tape recorder. He turned it on and the two were shocked to hear the voice of “Joey?!” Henry said surprised at how young the voice sounded in the tape recorder “there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. wishing for the impossible is just human nature. that’s how I got started just a pencil and a dream. We all want everything without even having to lift a finger. they say you just have to believe. belief can make you succeed, belief can make you rich, belief can make you powerful. why with enough belief you can even cheat death itself! now that…. is a beautiful and positively silly thought” after hearing the message Henry felt creeped out the way joey was talking. He was confused to how cheerful and calm he was in the tape almost like he did'int seem to care about anything at all. bendy got out of the ink shaking it off of his legs and rubbing it off his shoes “come on let’s get out of here this room is giving me the creeps” he said and the old animator followed the toon not knowing that an certain ink demon poked it’s head out of the inky floor as they walked away the ink demon’s unmoving grin grew wider and slowly went back into the ink leaving out an dark chuckle and cackle as it went underneath into the inky depths. The ex-animator and the hooded toon devil kept on walking in the studio listening to the eerie deathly silent in the corridors. It was Rather unsettling ‘it did'int feel right it’s way to quiet’ Henry thought to himself and he looked at bendy and he looked back with an worried look “something should had popped out by now in front of us it’s weird that nothing happened yet Henry” the toon said keeping an grip on the gun while gulping and Henry patted the toon’s back “well let’s not lower our guard yet anything can hap-” they both jumped when they saw an cutout peek from around the corner. Bendy yelled and accidentally fired an bullet from the gun out of fear Henry looked at him with a ‘really?’ expression as bendy chuckled and smiled nervously “h-heheheh… s-sorry?” Henry sighed and they heard an seerching noise echoing along with an voice saying “My EyEs!!!!” bendy and henry looked at eachother with confused looks on their face “let’s pretend we did’int hear that” henry said with his friend nodding “that was creepy…” bendy said as the duo turned to see who was around the corner and they saw Boris standing there waving at them with an smile. Bendy ran quickly and hugged his friend the wolf patted the toon’s head “Boris you’re alright! how you get here so fast?” the little devil asked and Henry said “Boris!, you scared us to death I don’t suppose you have anything to protect ourselves with?” Boris nodded and handed him an gent pipe Henry grabbed it “this will do for now” he said and bendy got off of boris “good to see ya alright Boris! now let’s go!” the three marched on arriving in another room with what seems to be filled with toys of bendy, Boris, and Alice all in small and large versions. It did'int make the creepiness go down as there was ink everywhere it made the three looked around an check their surroundings “what happened in here? looks like an warzone happened in here” Henry said while bendy just looked down obvious to what happened here as he sighed “an lot of bad things happened while you were gone for so long hen…” Boris walked over and pointed to an lever while tapping his feet the two walked over “woah nice eye! I forgot your still good at seeing things we can’t!” bendy said and Boris smiled and looked proud of himself “looks like we need to turn on two levers at once you got this one Boris i’ll find the other one” bendy went ahead “oh! I remember those guys!” Henry went over to see what was his friend talking about he saw the butcher gang poster at the end of an corridor “oh, the butcher gang I remember them appearing in your cartoon haft the time they were like uncles to you right bud?” bendy nodded while smiling slowly “yeah…” he said and Henry started to walk over to the lever that happened to be right near the poster he turned around to see bendy not moving “hey bud you okay?” bendy blinked “o-oh s-sorry i’ll just stand here I-I just though I saw something move in there” Henry raised an eyebrow “what do you mean-” before he could say anything he heard something he turned around and got jumpscared by something coming out of the picture it roared at him and Henry backed away and as it got up and walked towards him he wasted no time in bashing it with the pipe it took only two big hits to the head for it to fall down he got an good look of the downed creature bendy saw too and he looked sadden “it’s charlie….” he said sadly and they watched as the inkified piper melted into ink and bendy stared as the ink that was the only remaining thing of piper went into bendy Henry did'int question as he remember in his cartoon piper and the two others were like mentors to bendy and kind of like the three uncles from Casper he sighed and Henry pulled the lever and Boris came running down the corner and saw his toon friend leaning on the wall “hey bud… you okay?” Henry asked the hooded toon devil as he rubbed his tears away “….. i’m fine… let’s keep going…” Henry nodded and the three walked into the room with the lift and they went inside as Henry pressed the number 9 on the wall and the lift went down. they heard the supposed voice of Alice angel speak again “your so interesting so.. different I have to say i’m a instant fan” Henry did'int say anything as bendy looked so emotionless and depressed from hearing Alice’s voice for so long. Boris comforted his toon friend and Henry listened to her speaking “looks like you got a date with a angel!” bendy looked up feeling like his heart just broke into a million pieces Henry took noticed and grunted at the voice of Alice and silently flipped her off even though she did'int see it. he muttered “yeah right lady…..” he looked at bendy and smiled and bendy smiled back with a few tears dripping down “hey don’t worry i know you’ll probably hit me with a mallet if I ever do that” Henry said while chuckling at his own joke and bendy kinda snickered an bit too while Boris smiled and patted the toon’s back "on second though nevermind someone as busy as me has no time for you just come on down to see me level nine" her voice than changed on the speaker "JuSt FoLlOw ThE sCrEaMs~~~". After what seemed like an few minutes of waiting they had reached the floor finally the trio could tell it was Alice’s place because of the sign of the SHE’S QUITE A GAL sign was on there. The door from the lift opened and all three of them walked down “come along there’s a whole twisted world out here~~” Henry noticed another tape recorder as Boris went on ahead and he pressed play on it and listening to Thomas yet again rambling on “kinda shocking that an elevator still works in this place after 30 years… than again it must be my head and mind playing tricks on me and i’m only just imaging all this happening” he said and chuckled when he heard Thomas said “I’m taking the stairs” Henry turned off the tape recorder “I would of done that too Tom” he went over to the platform and he along with Boris stepped on the tile as the door opened and Boris’s ears perked up and he ran ahead of the two “hey Boris wait up!” bendy said and chased after his wolf friend with Henry following “hey what’s the matte-” his eyes widen as he saw what Boris was looking at. an dead body of himself “oh… god…” Henry said and looked around shocked at what he was seeing an ton of bodies of dead v bendy’s eyes widen in pure shock upon seeing the amount of bodies of dead Bories he held his chest where his heart would be and started sobbing while leaning on the wall “nononononNONONONONONNNO!!!!! NOT AGAIN! PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME SEE THIS HORRIBLE IMAGE AGAIN!!!” bendy screamed loudly and ferociously while his clothing started to turn tattern and worn out. Henry knew what was happening to bendy, he was hyperventilating he knew that condition far too well but since the toon wasn’t an human Henry did'int know what else to do. As Bendy kept crying he started to grow claws on his gloves as he was trying not to transform out of pure saddness and anger he digged the claws in his own head trying to make the pain of the flasbacks of boris dying out of his head. He hugged the toon tightly while shushing him as bendy kept breathing quickly and sobbing and coughing harshly “hey hey hey buddy! calm down! it’s gonna be okay just calm down! it’s alright bendy! it’s gonna be alright!” Henry said rubbing the toon’s head as he saw his crying was sounding more demonic “NO NO NO IT’S NOT ALRIGHT! NOT AGAIN NOT AGAIN! WHY! WHY DID JOEY DO THIS!” His eyes turn turned red and purple as he snapped at the retired animator ”WHY DID YOU ABANDONED US HENRY?!?!?!“ bendy said while screaming and snarling in a demonic tone and lashed out scratching Henry’s arm on accident he was going to keep lashing out but than Boris hugged the toon. Bendy’s eyes widen and he was now whimpering and he hugged the wolf back crying softly into his shoulder than something came out of his throat he spoke shocking bendy and Henry “i-i-it’s a-alright b-bendy i-i-i-i’m h-here a-and i-im n-n-not l-l-l-leaving!” Boris said wheezing and coughing Henry and bendy looked at shock boris’s voice sounded so weak and tired but bendy sniffed and hugged the toon “i’m not d-d-d-d-dead bendy okay? your b-big b-b-bro is still here” he said coughing and after an few minutes bendy calmed down Henry growled and glared as they heard Alice’s voice again “look around it took so many of them to make me so beautiful” bendy then snarled darkly and was about to transform and beat the living ink tarp out of her body but Boris shook his head “don’t it’s not worth it” he said and bendy grunted but nodded than the three heard something that made all of them confuse of what Alice was saying “I had to do it, she made me” Henry than carefully walked over passing by an tape recorder but did'int press it he did'int want to hear what it had to say as he gripped on his fists and went inside to meet the ink angel face to face. Meanwhile Boris was trying to get bendy to calm down. The hooded toon was furious and angry as he argued on "I CAN’T FREAKING BELIEVE IT! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS ALICE! SHE WAS HERE THIS WHOLE TIME! SHE. SHE. SHE’S GONE COMPLETELY MAD BORIS!“ bendy said hissing and snarling while Boris looked away from his corpse "I….. I know bendy b-but it wasn’t her fault you have to understand-” bendy snapped “I KNOW! IT WAS SUSIE’S DOING BOR!! BUT STILL….” bendy’s growling toned down as he sighed “why did she have to kill you so many times after joey did it to you the first… w-why….. why do I have to keep on seeing you die in front of me every single time!” he knelt down burying himself on Boris’s lap crying as he patted his head “there there buddy…” Boris looked up and noticed something was inside the corpse he pulled it out and saw an spare heart his eyes widen and he hid it in his pocket that he can fit it in thankfully and he picked up bendy “come on we’ll wait for Henry back at the li-” bendy suddenly got out of Boris’s arms as he looked at Boris with an expression that showed no emotion “no…. tell Henry I need to be alone for an bit” he said before walking off putting his hood over his head and putting his hands in his pockets. Boris looked down sadly while sighing deeply and walked off too waiting for Henry by the lift while bendy walked off by himself to gather his thoughts as he hid his anger and kept walking off and finding an shortcut to level 14. Henry was horrifed of what he saw charlie being tortured by alice when she noticed him walking in she stopped with whatever she was doing "so now we come to the question do i kill you? do i turn you into one of those wandering mindless things or do i take your soul? the choices of the beautiful are simply unbearable!~ how's a girl to chose? take this worthless piece of garbage for insant!" she said referring to the tortured Charlie the leader of the butchergang who was breathing heavily and weakly "he came crawling into my room leaving his tainted ink on my doorsteps it could of touched me it could of pulled me back!" henry's eyes widen aware of alice's vocie changing "do you know what it's like? living in the dark puddle? bits of your mind like fish in a bowl it's an screaming well of voices... im so close now almost perfect" her tone changed again almost sounding terrifed "i will not let the demon touch me again... yes i will spare you for now better yet i'll let you ascent and leave this awful place return to the lift my little errand boy there is work need to be done" as henry walked away he turned to see charlie trying to call out to henry "D-D-D--D-..O..N'T T-R--R-RU-ST R-R--R--RUN" Alice slammed down on the button and the glass showing her and the tortured leader of the butcher gang became closed and all henry can hear was the sounds of charlie screaming he almost felt sorry for him he wondered how much time has passed he gripped on his fists ".... i'm going to find an way to free you all.... i promise..." He walked out of the angel's room and came out 20 minutes later after listening to another tape. While he was heading back to the lift he saw the gate closed right in front of him “I’ll make this simple, look for value panels turn the clogs and get the things, please don’t make me regret sparing you I can always change my mind” Henry rolled his eyes and grabbed the plunger he stared at it “…….. seriousally? an plunger” he sighed and walked off. He noticed that bendy was not with Boris “hey buddy? where’s bendy?” Boris looked up at him with an tired look “he said he had to be alone for a while needs to gather his thoughts” Henry nodded “I can understand that knowing what the poor little guy saw..” Boris nodded “Henry I… I need to ask ya…. do you think that we’ll ever get out of here?” Henry nodded “I made an promise to bendy Boris and i’m not going to break it I will get him and anyone else that isn’t or wasn’t affected by the ink out of this hell hole” Boris smiled “so should I come with you to uh help out with whatever she asked ya to do?” Henry shook his head “no i’m fine you can wait here if you want. I need to recollect on my thoughts too” Boris nodded letting his friend go off. the old animator sighed while walking as he listened to what Alice was saying as he searched around for the values “there’s so little rules in this world now so very. But there’s one rule we ALL respect down here, BeWaRe ThE iNk DeMoN~ stay out for too long and he will findddd you~~ if you don’t make it, well… I enjoyed seeing you again” Henry raised an eyebrow confused at why she said that but shurgged it off and kept on walking looking for the value cores. After what felt like hours of searching he’d finally found the last one it was in an room where he encountered the second member of the butcher gang. He noticed something strange. he stopped and looked at the creature’s appearance “the hell…?” he nearly vomited when he noticed the camera on the creature’s head he almost felt sorry for the ink creature as it walked off away from his slight “jeeze… wonder if that thing can see anything in there” he muttered to himself and got the last value core and walked back. Henry noticed ink veins appearing in the room and his eyes widen as he felt something whistling behind him as he heard the demonic voice of the ink demon saying in a amused tone “WhAt Ya ThInKiNg AbOuT hEnRy?” the ink demon said incing his face closer and henry reacted quickly, by making the plunger stick to the ink demon’s face. “…….. huh?” henry saw that the ink demon stopped and he growled and tried pulling the plunger off of his face “ArE yOu KiDdInG Me OlD maN?” the ink demon growled while flipping him off and slowly went back down into the inky depts while the plunger was dropped to the ground henry picked it back up and ran out of the room back to where boris was waiting. Henry dropped the value cores and the plunger back in the dispenser like machine and the sounds of alice’s speaker turned on “my machines are hungry! gather me some spare parts” Henry groaned and took the wrench like object and walked off. he walked on carrying two gears to room to room he began to see the rooms darkening with ink veins appearing again henry’s eyes widen and he hid quickly in an miracle station and waited for “bendy” to go away. the ink was fading as it looked like the ink demon wandered off to another area and he got out of the booth breathing heavily while holding his chest “damn it! why now this happens just what is up with this place?!” henry ranted while moving on. After 20 minutes he gathered the last one and on his way back noticed an flooded room he felt like he will need to come back here soon “maybe it’s just my head but i feel like there’s something in there” he thought in his head as he walked back and noticed Boris was whistling an tune he heard when he was doing the sheepsongs episode. Henry putted the spare parts into the can and putted the wrench in there and then he blinked with an hopeless look as alice speaked into the speaker again “have you seen them? the swollen ones? there filled with ExTrA tHiCk InK!!! it makes me sick and yet it’s the perfect thing that keeps myself together but an little warning you will have to move quietly if you see one cause they get startled very easily” she said and henry took noticed of that and took the syringe he noticed it looked different than most syringes he saw during his time at the war but he payed no mind to went to work but he couldn't help but groaned “how much freaking stuff do you even need lady?!” he muttered to himself while walking off. Almost an hour and a haft later he found the last one while also listening to an tape on the way back “I don’t get it!” the voice of wally said on the tape “everyone’s walking around like grandma just died I mean hello people! you make cartoons for crying out loud your suppose to make people laugh! i’m telling ya if I don’t see an smile on anyone anytime soon i’m out of here!” Henry chuckled “I sure hope ya did make it out of here wally” he said and went back up during the way back he saw the walls showing spots of ink everywhere again. He hid inside and saw the ink demon once again as it was dragging something and it dropped it he snarled “oKaY ALiCE I KnOw YoUr FrEaKiNg OuT HeRe!” Henry kept quiet but curious ‘why did he said alice instead of me?’ The ink demon’s growling grew more viscous and he jammed his claws onto the inkified person’s back and dropped them and walked off snarling. Henry could see that it was the same person he saw in the closest with the knife and head wound and he was shocked when he saw the person getting up and moaning in an almost zombie like manner before wandering about and Henry waited no more than 3 minutes and started bolting straight back and called the lift and went into it “Henry you okay?” Boris asked as he saw him panting and pressing the 9 button an few times “i-i’m fine” he said ingoring what Alice was saying as he tried to catch his breathe. he did however caught note of one thing she said before they reached floor 9 “dreams come true susie, dreams come true no matter what joey said” Henry shivered remembering on the way back to the lift after Alice had spared him he listened to one of the tape recorders and found out that Joey took Susie on a date and felt creeped out when he heard her said “he even called me Alice, I liked it” Henry again breathed in relif and when he putted the syringe away back in the dispencer like machine she said something that made his heart stop cold “have you seen those grinning demons? let’s remove them shall we? oh i have just the tool to make it more enjoyable~~” meanwhile at all the way down to level 14 bendy looked up while dropping an haft eaten searcher his clothes were covered in ink with his hoodie being stained and torn an bit his eyes blinking before he growled and snarled harshly into the air hearing what the 'angel’ said. He was tired of always losing his  temper and his friends always getting hurt. He though about how all of this started with Joey than later that changed to him hating Susie even more for becoming too attached to Alice and now they became what he feared, an monster of her former shell. He snarled and banged his fist as his gloved hand slowly faded away revealing his claw he looked at it as the hand was bleeding he made an twisted crooked smile on his face as he started to laugh like an maniac “heheheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the ink started to melt from his face as his crooked grin grew even more wider as his entire body and appearance grew taller. his ink like state grabbed the dead searcher’s haft eaten body and slashed it and swallowed it all up “….J O E Y D I D T H I S T O M E!” bendy then climbed up and looked up and was gripping on his fists he snarled darkly while yelling out “I’LL GET YOU JOEY!! AND YOU TOO SUSIE! YOU ALL RUINED ME AND MY FRIENDS! NOW YOUR GONNA SEE THE DEMON YOU ALL WANTED!!! DO YOU HEAR ME JOEY?!?!?! I. WILL.” his voice than turned even more dark and corrupted and demonic “KILL Y O U JOEY DREW!!!!” bendy lifted his head and then released an loud blood curling demonic roar echoing throughout the whole entire studio. Henry was trying not to laugh as the ink demon roared with annoyance “WhO kEePs FUcKiNg BREAKING THESE CUTOUTS?!?!?!” henry had to calm himself down and felt relived when the ink demon finally left the area. he flinced after hearing the angel said “i forgot to mention he hates it when I do that~~. I would hide if I were you~~~” he than heard the roar from bendy’s anger and fury as it echoed throughout the entire studio and so did the ink demon and Boris and Alice as they all heard his demonic roar of rage. The ink demon simply grinned and clapped his hands like an happy child would and simply walked off snapping his fingers while whistling the same tune an certain mouse sang and than an swarm of searchers and members of the butcher gang were heading towards level 9 where Alice was at. Henry came back to floor 9 and was about to put the axe away when he heard the anger in Alice’s voice “those fiflty creatures that have wandered my halls have been left unchecked! they broken in don’t let them take your angel! purge them one by one smash them into bits! KILL THEM!!!!” Henry heard the sounds of the butcher gang and the searchers and he sighed “getting too old already for this and i’m not even 40 yet” he said and watched as the searchers and butcher gang members came down he gripped on his axe and attacked the creatures. Bendy quicken his pace of running on all fours when he sensed his friend was in danger he kept on running and running not stopping he even passed the other version of him as the ink demon watched the angry monsterized toon ran on all fours his grin grew even more and decided to watch the show that was about to unfold. after each blow Henry still couldn’t get the searchers or the butcher gang to die he soon felt he was being outnumbered as they were going to soon finish him off. Than an loud roar broke out and an pissed off ink bendy appeared lunging at the group of searchers and butcher gangs with his claws slashing the butcher gang and searchers one by one. Some of them managed to hit him and bendy simply stabbed them with his tail and threw them aside. Henry watched in horror for once as his hooded friend slaughtered the ink creatures in the most burtal and gruesome way possible. After everything was gone and all that can be heard were bendy’s heavy breathing Henry got up and walked towards the demon his wounds making it kinda difficult to walk “hey… bud…” Henry said touching bendy’s forehead as the hooded ink formed demon turned to look at him “are you alright pal?” he nodded slowly while wincing an bit Henry noticed his wounds on the toon had gotten worst “bendy… you don’t have to it’s alright it’s over” he nodded again and watched as the ink remains of all the creature he’d killed in this room went inside his inky body as he growled and tears starting to stream down his inky face “I’M…… I’M SORRY HENRY… I WAS JUST…. SO….. SO…. ANG-” he stopped when Alice finally spoke “shhhhhh listen there’s nothing, like the sound of a welcoming grave” she said giving an nice sigh and breathe of relief “I like the silence. don’t you?” Henry did'int response but he did nodded slowly as he walked back to see what non important task he had to do next “oh I hate leaving work unfinished! but that’s why I have you to do that but you’ll have to go down even deeper into the abyss, take the lift down, say hello to an old friend” the word old friend stung Henry as his eyes widen in pure shock “but here’s a little present an extra little firepower, take VERY good care of it, it belonged to someone very special” she said as Henry turned over to see an Tommy gun at the door Henry grabbed it before seeing if it was really real he pulled the trigger and it shot an bullet he couldn't help but smiled at it “now this is what i’m talking about” he said and bendy nodded giving him a thumbs up “alright come on let’s go-” Bendy shook his head “NO… YOU GO ON I…. I NEED TO CHECK UP ON SOMEONE” Henry was confused by this but he nodded and walked away as Bendy went inside to see Alice. As The Demon walked on he saw the door was opened he slowly walked in and saw Alice he saw what was different about her. Her once beautiful blue dress was now stained and tainted with ink and blood. Her halo that shows her emotions was stuck to her head only revealing an black color, Her Gloves were gone revealing sharp fingers almost looking like claws. she turned slowly to face him he could see the toon eye instead of susie’s he smiled lightly “HEY…. AL…” he said and she blinked and replied tirely “hello bendy, what brings you to this parts of the studio?” she asked and he walked up closer “OH… YA KNOW I WAS JUST IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND DECIDED TO CHECK UP ON YOU” she turned around revealing the right side of her face that was burnt due to the ink demon slamming an bottle of acetone on her “bendy things have been wonderful thanks to a certain human gathering items for me i’m sure you’ve seen his frighten soul all around the studio” she said smiling that bendy had her on his mind. he noticed the tone of her voice he was sad to see that somehow susie corrupted Alice both physically and mentally “YES…… BUT….” he said as he walked closer to her grabbing her hand “ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” he asked her and she looked up at him and reached up to brush away the ink to look at him in the eye “bendy darling i know i haven’t been the best but everything is going well now with Henry here you’ll see me beautiful again darling just like the old days” Bendy’s eyes were tired as he looked at her he should be angry mad wanted to rip her throat out but he can’t “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AL?…. YOUR STILL THE ANGEL I MET THOSE YEARS AGO” he said grabbing her hand gently “WHY IN MY EYES YOUR EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU WERE BEFORE” Alice smiled softly but then noticed the wounds “let me guess, that demon again?” he nodded and she sighed “you gotta learn how to block it’s attacks bendy dear not everything can be destroyed from just your brutal sheer strength” he nodded and sat down as she proceeded to treat his wounds. ~haft an hour later~ Boris and Henry were waiting for bendy to come back from whatever he was doing in the other room. During that time Henry found another boarded up door and chopped down the boards with ease and noticed there was an tape recorder there he pressed play on it and he raised an eyebrow upon hearing an voice he remembered but at the same time did not remember “grant?” he asked himself. he and grant barley knew eachother but he known grant enough to see that he was an mellow relaxed kind of guy for having an fonding of love and hate for music Henry agreed to that as he too had a thing for music as he listened to the tape playing Boris was looking around he admit he was scared coming back here after being killed and brought here too many times it felt like an endless loop he hoped when it finally ended when he saw Henry and his best pal but now he feared his own death was coming back to haunt him he was brought back to reality when Henry snapped his fingers “hey Boris you okay there?” he nodded “y-….yeah i’m fine H-Henry just thinking” he said his throat not sounding that much weaker than before as he was slowly starting to get use to his voice recovering. They look over to See Bendy Walking back in his normal form and he looked like his injuries were not bothering him “well you look fine and dandy guess you got your injuries fix bud?” he nodded “hey why did'int you two go? I would of catch up with ya some other way” he asked “well we were just recovering from what had just happened but if you want to go now we can” he nodded “yep! let’s hurry up and get out of here!” henry nodded “we still have to find joey though I still need some answers out of him” bendy’s face turned from happy to scared but he did'int question him about it. after 10 minutes in the lift they finally reached level 14 henry looked at the amount of ink that was there “this whole place looks like it was flooded on purpose” he commented and henry and bendy both walked down as they noticed an heart on a hand henry picked it up grossed out and then saw something he though he never seen the camere ink creature was there “shhhhhhh there he is, the projectionist sulking in the darkness, stay out of his life if you don’t want trouble just gather the things i need and return to me” the voice of 'Alice’ said but Henry couldn’t believe what he was seeing bendy noticed an tape playing and went over to grab it and walked back to henry and he turned it on and Henry felt tears streaming down his eyes “that’s…… that thing…… it’s Norman……oh god….. why…. why did it have to be him…” he said sadly as he knelt down silently crying inside his head. Bendy never saw Henry like this before it made him sad to see his friend like this he comforted the poor tired old man “Henry…. I… I tried Hen…. I tried so hard to stop Joey from turning him into that…… but……. but i was too late…” Henry sniffed “after all these years… and I did'int know what he was doing to you or the others….. oh god….. Norman i’m so sorry…. I…. I should of never left.. may-” bendy got up grabbing Henry and looking at him “no…. listen even if you did'int leave overtime joey would of done it anyway he’d lost it Henry! he gone and went mad with power he’s not himself anymore!” bendy said to him and letted go “come on we can be quick if you wa-” Henry gripped on the Tommy gun “no…. let’s just…. take our time….” he said and the toon nodded. As they ventured into the flooded ink he noticed an path boarded up he chopped it down and noticed an value panel and turned it not knowing what it could do “why did you do that?” he asked and Henry sighed “I just felt like doing it I don’t know everything is just….. starting to get more and more weirder” after what felt like hours of searching through the maze they walked into and hiding they found only 4 hearts they were now walking carefully looking for the last one and they noticed an shadow they took an closer look to see it was the projectionist/Norman he was just standing there looking at an screen that showed one of the cartoon scenes from bendy’s show he did'int move an single inch problem was the last heart was near him he gulped and carefully took one step as quiet as he could he slowly picked up the heart and backed up but the ink turned Norman did'int move an single inch still Henry then though of something he sighed “Norman…. I don’t know if you can hear me or… if your still in there but…. I wanted to give this to you before I left” he said and silently handing him an photograph seeing the inky hand tighten he and bendy quickly walked off Norman lifted the picture up to his 'face’ looking at the photograph it seem to open up an memory in his head that he kept inside him when he became this projectionist it was the only thing that kept him still mentally sane. ~Flashback~ “hey um Henry?..” Henry looked to see it was Norman “I know your leaving and all soon but can we have a talk?” Henry nodded “sure thing Norman anything for a friend” the two sat down having an drink of coffee “so what did you wanted to talk about?” he asked and Norman took an sip “well I was wondering… how long will you be gone?” Henry though he did'int really know how long he be gone for “I think maybe an few years I reckon but when I get back I better see this place rolling with films or my ghost is gonna haunt you till ya die” he said laughing and Norman chuckled “yeah I get it stay safe pal” he told Henry “hey do you think ya talking to your talking to a guy that’s technically been to war 2 times as of now” Norman nodded “I know you told me but still be careful alright” he nodded “I promise keep being you Norman alright and maybe when I get back we’ll have that drink like I promised or else you’ll knock me out with an hammer” Norman laughed “okay see ya around Henry” he nodded “see ya Norman” ~Flashback ended~ Henry And Bendy went back to the lift and he took one last look to see Norman Walking out and looking at him the two shared an stare at eachother bendy was on his guard he did'int know if he was here to hurt Henry or take him. Norman simply did an impression of Henry saluting and then walked off into the other room of the maze like hallways. Henry was shocked but he smiled “he’s still in there somewhere….” bendy noticed the look of relief on his face and smiled “hey come on we can take one last look around the place before we head back to Alice” he nodded “yeah come on I think that value I drained might had opened up an new area” they went back into the lift and it went back up. after what seem like hours they finally reached floor 9 and Henry and bendy and Boris both went to the room Henry was talking about they saw an lone searcher but Henry was able to put quick use to his new Tommy gun as the searcher went down quickly “why is there an tape here?” Boris asked and Henry walked over and pressed play on it “only 2 weeks into this company and already it’s gotten interesting. Joey is a man of ideas.. and only ideas. When I agreed to start this whole thing with him, I thought there would be a little more give and take. Instead I give and he takes. I haven’t seen My Friend Linda For days now. Still though someone has to make this happen, when ever in doubt just keep drawing Henry. On the plus side though I’ve got a new character That I think people are going to love.” Henry listened to it replaying itself “Henry?” Boris asked and Henry silently turned to look at him but turned around and walked back up bendy could of sworn he saw the old animator frown slightly “come on… let’s just finish this and find joey..” Henry said in a serious tone as the two toons followed him. Henry leaned against the wall in a corner with insturments nearby and a piano “henry you alright?” boris asked him “y-yeah yeah im alright j-just go on wait for me by the lift i’ll catch up i need to… catch my breathe” bendy and boris nodded and walked off Henry was breathing as he  accidently hitted an few inturemtns and touched the piano “shit!” he cursed and he did’int see the room going dark. Instead he heard footsteps inside of the wall curious he leaned towards the wall trying to see what was happening behind it and he heard an voice he though he never thought he hear again he was shocked to hear Sammy lawarance's voice “we have all been waiting but now he will….. set….. us……. free” Henry ran quickly back to where bendy and boris were waiting they looked at him with worried and concern faces “Henry you alright?” Boris asked him “gee old man you looked like you seen an ghost” bendy said trying to make him laugh but it did’int seem to work. Henry was breathing heavily “it’s n-nothing!” he said and quickly went over and putted the 5 hearts in the box. Boris grabbed henry by the shoulder “hey come on you can tel-” he was interuppted by alice’s speaker turning on again “ahh that should be enough now return to the elevator, it’s time to go home” Henry was breathing still but he glared at the speaker he did'int want to leave just yet but something came up in his head an thought ‘maybe after we all ascend i could find another way to reach joe’ the three sat in the lift Bendy was  jumping with joy while hugging boris “hey Boris you hear that bud we finally get to outside! your gonna see the things Henry told us about! the beautiful skies, the nice open fields! and the wonderful amazing ocean! oh man it’s gonna be so great we don’t have to be in the studio anymore! we finally get to go outside for good this time!” Boris smiled kindly at his friend “that’s great b-b-bend-” than all of a sudden the three heard the lift go down very fast Henry’s eyes widen and screamed in an very angry tone “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK LADY?!?!?!?!” he shouted at alice as she screamed into the speaker with an demonic voice “DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN LEAVE THAT EASY?!?!?! NO! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE HENRY! AND I KNOW WHY YOUR HERE!!! YOU WON’T STOP WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE! NOW COME BACK HERE AND BRING ME BACK MY BORIS!!!” bendy’s eyes widen before glaring “HEY HE’S MY PAL NO ONE TAKES MY BROTHER CRAZY LADY!!!” He said now very very angry at the now possessed voice of Alice angel “HE IS THE MOST PERFECT BORIS I HAVE EVER SEEN AND I WANT HIS INSIDES TO MAKE ME BEAUTIFUL AGAIN!! SO GIVE HIM TO ME!” Henry glared and saw Boris was cowering in fear as bendy was getting ready to transform “OR BETTER YET I’LL TAKE HIM!” Bendy growled and Henry did’int know what else to do so he tried to look at the buttons and tried pressing one but it did’int stop going down he silently cursed as it went down even faster and Alice’s voice started to get more demonic “ONCE. YOUR. DEAD!!!!” She said yelling and Than an big loud crash to the ground and the elevator breaking is what sent Henry and bendy to the darkness ~Flashback~ Bendy was watching the others drove off away from the studio he sighed and saw that Henry’s Car was still here he was confused “I don’t see Joey’s car so why is hen still here?” He got off and walked around and noticed someone sleeping he looked to see the young but old looking animator sleeping on his desk again bendy sighed deeply “overworked again I see” he said quietly before going to the closest and grabbing an blanket and putting it over him “Jeeze Henry you gotta learn when to stop overworking yourself” he said knowing the old man couldn’t hear him he looked to see what was he drawing this whole time and raised an eyebrow he picked up the drawing it was an drawing of him and what looked like Henry in it he noticed that in the drawing Henry was showing Bendy what seems to be outside the studio he noticed how happy he himself looked and he noticed the words “happy birthday Bud” was written on it he smiled and putted the drawing back on the desk he smiled at the animator and patted the sleeping Henry while putting an pillow underneath his head “night hen” he said walking off. Bendy heard muttering going about he looked to see Sammy was still here chanting something that bendy couldn’t hear him say he tilted his head to see what was he doing he saw the room he was in darken his eyes widen and quickly slammed the door shut and backed up and ran off surely something did pop out of the pentagram an demonized version of bendy as the ink demon slowly grinned but then it melted back into the pentagram Sammy’s eyes widen and shouted "NO!” bendy could hear him shouting repeadtly  he was breathing heavily and quickly ran off to find Boris and Alice “maybe they know whats wrong with Sammy” he said to himself as he kept running. ~flashback ended~ Henry could barley open his eyes as he slowly opened them to find Boris shaking him “B..Boris what are you doing here..? G-get out of here b-before she gets you…” He slowly cough and Boris kept shaking him he slowly turned to see bendy knocked out leaning on the wall with his hood covering most of his face. He turned to see Alice slowly coming towards them he tried to warn Boris but he couldn’t speak Alice grabbed him and pulled him away into the darkness Henry tried to reach out to get him as he heard Boris yell “HENRY!! P..PLEASE SAVE ME!!!!” Henry had tears dripping out of his eyes “Boris… I’m sorry..” He thought in his head as he slowly slipped into darkness As Alice’s Laughter is the last thing he hears as he blacks out before getting two pictures flashing up in his head an vision of boris strapped on an table with Alice’s Shadow looming over him and the second one shows the ink demon with his minions looking like they’re going to plan something to take down The Angel once and for all ~40 minutes later~ Meanwhile in an rather normal looking office, an short black haired man was sitting down on the chair reading some files he hears the door open and turns around to see an rather happy ink demon “well? did you figure out something yet my little devil?” the voice known as Joey Drew said as the tall ink demon nodded while it’s grin was wider than before joey smiled “good susie is no longer useful at this point even though she never was… make sure you finish the job and end both her and that…… AnGeL’s life” he said shivering after saying the word angel The ink demon made an sound that sounded like an happy child and clapped it’s hands repeadtly and ran out Joey smiled as he sat back down and putted on his reading glasses and kept on turning the pages of an book he was reading he then frown as he heard an deeper voice inside his head “S O O N” joey sighed and kept on reading

[junker-town]

What is your worst golfing experience?

The SB Nation staff is telling you ours so that you’ll tell us yours.

The Masters are this weekend, so everyone’s telling golf stories. However: The only good golf stories are bad golf stories. No one wants to hear about that time you eagled on the 12th hole and then had a pleasant lunch after the 18th. There is nothing interesting about finishing a round with more balls than you started. Find me a human who wants to be regaled with tails of how you got your handicap so low, and I’ll show you a country club that lets you in without a shirt or shoes.

You know what people do want to hear? Stories about that time you drove the golf cart into the lake, or when your uncle accidentally hit your cousin in the butt with a golf ball on the fairway, or when you swung a golf club like a baseball bat.

To get things going, the SB Nation staff is going to tell you the worst things we’ve ever done on golf courses. Please tell us about your bad (and funny) golfing experiences in the comments after this article. We want to know everything.

Brian Floyd

Teed off behind carts, drove ball through cart window.

Drove a cart spinning out of control backwards down a hill, bailed out and watched it slam into a tree.

Cart in a lake.

Drove a ball off the house and onto the deck of an elderly couple I was randomly grouped up with.

Lost grip on a club at a driving range.

Playing partner missed a putt and snapped his putter.

Friend teed off into his own groin.

Jeanna Thomas

I took golf lessons in middle school, there was a boy I liked in my class, and we were playing for real for the first time. We were walking and I tripped and fell down in front of him, and, coincidentally, I took up tennis and never played golf again.

Jessica Smetana

My dad loves golf more than he loves his family, presumably. He forced me and my sister to take golf lessons after school when we were very young. One time my mom was driving us to the course while I was in kindergarten and I got in a fight with my sister because we were both cranky and didn’t want to go to golf lessons. Like, we really hated golf lessons. It got so heated that I scratched my sister across the face and left a permanent scar under her eye. It was traumatic for all parties involved...the blood...so much blood.

Ryan Nanni

So I need a crude diagram for this.

This was on the 18th hole of Reasonably Priced Southern California Golf Course Because Hell No We’re Not Taking You To Something Nice And You Can Only Have ONE Hot Dog Pines. My younger brother is maybe like 130 yards off the green in the middle of the fairway; my father is standing parallel to the ball with a golf cart in between them.

Anyways, my brother just skulls the hell out of an 8 iron or whatever, and the ball takes the strangest physical route I’ve ever seen. It goes forward for 10 yards or so...and then it BOOMERANGS AROUND THE GOLF CART AND HITS MY DAD SQUARE IN THE FACE.

The 10 yards is important, because it gave my dad enough time to see the ball and duck. “But the ball still hit him,” you say. Yes, but only in the nose. If he hadn’t ducked, we’re pretty sure it would have hit him straight in the throat (possible death) or mouth (assured dental nightmare).

We didn’t wind up finishing the round.

Charlotte Wilder (this story is a lot like Ryan’s, sorry)

I also made a crude diagram for this:

My family was up in Maine on a summer vacation when I was eight, and it rained — we’re talking torrential downpours — for ten days straight. My parents, aunts, and uncles exhausted every indoor activity they could think of (we even knit potholders???) to keep me and my cousins from driving them to the brink of madness, but by day eight, my dad couldn’t take it anymore. He was like, “Screw the rain, I’m taking the whole family golfing anyway.”

The weather was so bad that the country club was closed, so my dad had to sneak us onto the golf course. We took off our shoes and essentially turned the fairway into a slip n’ slide, reveling in that specific kind of fun that comes from doing something reckless and prohibited. It’s a feeling which, as a child, is made even more exhilarating when it’s sanctioned by an authority figure. In short: Watching your dad break the rules is a total rush.

So we’re on the fairway at the third, living our best lives, when my uncle hits the ball as hard as he can with a seven iron and absolutely DRILLS my eight-year-old cousin, his son, square in the butt with a golf ball. My uncle must’ve sliced it way worse than he was expecting to, because my cousin wasn’t even really in front of him at all. But somehow the ball nailed him and he jumped five feet into the air. It’s one of my earliest memories of knowing I shouldn’t be laughing so hard and having zero power to stop myself.

Anyway, pretty sure my dad got super yelled at when the club’s management found out what we’d done, but they didn’t kick us out as members. My cousin had a big-ass ass bruise for a while, but that soon faded. So, ultimately, the only consequence was that now we have the story of That Time My Uncle Hit My Cousin in the Butt with a Golf Ball and We Almost Got Kicked Out of the Country Club But Didn’t.

A Wilder family classic.

Christian D’Andrea

I played golf in high school for one of the worst teams Rhode Island had to offer. The silver lining was we got to play some of the state’s nicest courses — but since they only begrudgingly let us poor folk step foot on their property, it meant we had to play 100% on their terms. Which means that when a hail/thunderstorm drowned Warwick Country Club for several hours back in 2002, we had no choice but to play out our round or risk never coming back.

This would have been challenging in any gear, let alone the polo shirt and shorts I’d worn since I was convinced the match would be canceled. I shivered through nine holes of some of the worst golf known to man, at two different points accidentally launching clubs into water hazards since it was too damn wet to get a solid grip on anything. We lost both our matches that day, a fate made even worse when we found out one of our players was extremely academically ineligible and we would have had to forfeit, no matter what.

My buddy is getting married at that country club this summer. If I have time, I might wade into the hazard on the ninth hole and see if I can find my dang five wood.

Pete Volk

I’m in my 20s and have never had a driver’s license, but I have driven twice. The first time was in college, because I was the only one that could buy beer at the drive-through liquor store. The second time was in California, when my cousin dared us to race golf carts on one of the big highways in Palm Desert. I almost got t-boned by a semi running a red light, and saw the golf cart crumple before my eyes, a la Car Boys. I am never getting in a golf cart ever again.

Oh, I also went to the driving range once, but that was mostly pleasant, if not a little boring.

Luke Zimmermann

I attended a middle class elementary school which had a golf unit. In it, I discovered I was a fairly proficient golfer; who knew?

Midway through an exhibition of long ball prowess with the other best golfer in the class, we began an informal contest to determine who was the best at driving the ball the farthest.

After I hit my shot -- a pretty impressive drive in fairness -- I stepped aside to let my counterpart give it his all. "Hit it hard!," I yelled. He did. With the followthrough proceeding to hit me square in the forehead. Evidently in awe of my own long shot ability, I'd failed to give my rival the appropriate room to hit his shot.

I took a few steps back after stumbling. Immediately covered my forehead. I walked woozily over to our instructor and told her I had a headache. She asked me to move my hand. She saw my skull and fainted.

A few staples in the head later, I was good as new. But I was never competent at golf ever again. You win some, you lose some.

Alex Kirshner

I haven’t always demonstrated pinpoint accuracy off the tee box. Some years ago, I must’ve had a lot of pent-up rage, because I took a huge, coiling backswing and just focused on smacking the chocolate out of a golf ball. I wasn’t thinking at all about form, control, or fluidity. I just wanted to hit it far.

I hit a ground ball off the tee that bounced off one of the tee markers in front of me, shot back at me, and hit me in the cheek. The grooves in the ball were imprinted on my face for several hours that day. Couldn’t do it again if I tried.

James Dator

I’ve only been golfing once. I will only go golfing once. One attempt at playing golf was enough for me to say “Huh, maybe no more golf?” the same way I don’t ski anymore because of the trauma 900 splits why falling on skis does to a husky gentleman’s frame — but that’s another story.

My college roommate was outraged that I’d never played golf before, so he immediately made us plans to play the local public course. I asked him what I needed and he said “Nothing special,” convincing me we could just rent whatever he needed. I rock up to the course in jeans, a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and carrying a case of Beast Ice.

I rented what I needed, and things were fine — until around the fourth hole I noticed my hands were starting to hurt. Like really hurt. Unusually hurt. I hadn’t held a golf club until that day, so I stare at my hands and all the skin is puffy and blistered and horrible. I didn’t know gloves are a semi-important thing, especially when you can’t hold a club right.

Afraid I’d let my roommate down I kept drinking and played through the pain. By the 11th the blisters that had formed has burst, all the skin was gone from my hands and they hurt so badly it reminded me of those mini-games in Mario Party where you had to rotate the N64 stick until they took the skin off your hands.

For the next week I had to wear surgical gloves at work and bandage myself up the best I could. I also crashed a golf cart into a tree and went to relieve myself in a tree stand before realizing a green was on the other side and some Japanese businessmen were not happy to see me.

Grant Brisbee

The first time I golfed, I was 25. I'm not athletic, I have terrible muscle memory, and golf is quite possibly the worst possible sport for me. I'm better at arm wrestling, even though my arms look like God took a Funyun and split in half.

I married into a golf family, though, so I knew I had to learn fast, which meant spending a little time at the driving range. If you've never swung and missed completely at a dozen straight golf balls at a driving range with everyone side-eying you and giggling, I recommend it. Builds character.

During one of these sad trips, I got so frustrated, I gripped the driver like a baseball bat and swung it the same way. POW. it sailed 250 yards, but it had a nasty, wicked slice. So I turned my body to the left, as if I were trying to hit it into the driving range parking lot. POW. Same thing, except the slice took it right back where the fairway would have been. Three more times. POW piff POW. Don't know what happened to the second one, but I had two drives out of three that were just about the best drives of my life.

I had figured out the secret of golf. Just do what you're comfortable with. I could at least fake a decent baseball swing after 5,000 hours of practice in that sport. It doesn't make a difference if the ball is almost on the ground instead of at your belt.

Now I had driving-range swagger. Teed up the sixth drive in my baseball-grip experiment, and POW CLANG SHIT OH GOD BLOOD BLOOD EVERYWHERE wait, no, I'm not bleeding, but the ball did hit off the bottom wall of my little driving-range cubicle and ricocheted right into my damned face. It felt like there should have been blood everywhere.

I will always love and respect the person who asked me if I was okay without laughing. I walked around, dazed, pride hurting as much as my cheekbone, before packing my crap and leaving in disgrace.

That was the last time I swung a golf club like a baseball bat.

TELL US YOUR WORST GOLFING EXPERIENCES IN THE COMMENTS!!!!