#i hate feeling like a bystander because trying to fight back against it could lead to me getting outed

[friendly-neighborhood-furry]

the dashboard unfucker plugin i had doesn't work anymore and its stopped being updated so now i am forced to look at tumblr cosplaying as twitter for all of eternity

if i was any better at coding i'd do something about it but i have executive dysfunction and learning how to code all over again ON TOP OF everything else i have to do right now i think it would send me over the edge

[dhr-deleted]

2023 March - Uploaded

1Eonen1 A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes (121KB - 11 Chapters - R) Ten years into the future, as the war rages on, Hermione finds herself in enemy HQ and who but Draco Malfoy should claim victory. However, his prize is to be determined.

Ally_Strypes In Too Deep (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco realizes that the choices he made in life can never be taken back He has sunk into his new life and even if he wants out, he cant, because he is simply in too deep.

Antigone_Q Words (5KB - One Shot - G) A one-shot written from Hermione's point of view as she watches Draco study in the library late at night. What do the two have in common?

AugustineRose Like A Secret | Like An Oath (153KB - Incomplete - NC-17) Hermione Granger returned to Hogwarts for a sense of normalcy, trying to outrun the ghosts of the last few years. One low night leads to a chance encounter with Theodore Nott that leaves her with more questions than answers, especially when he seems to be going well out of his way to give her a reason to get back on her feet; if it weren't for his handsome boyfriend, she might be interested, but she's never had Harry's desire to compete with Draco Malfoy for anything or anyone. But Draco isn't the boy he used to be, and Theo is more than she ever imagined he could be. What's a witch to do when these off-limits Slytherin boys are suddenly become so available? What is it about them that stirs this strange darkness in her soul? They've got scars of their own and, if anyone understands what it's like to burn, it's them.

Brinker On The Corner of Capulet and Montegue (4KB - One Shot - R) A not so innocent bystander tells what happened on the corner of Capulet and Montegue. *character death* Secerne (32KB - 6 Chapters - R) Hermione meets Draco for the first time in ten years right before he is sent to Azkaban.

CTrinity The Demonstration (15KB - One Shot - R) Hermione wakes up to find she has been held captive by Death Eaters to participate in their celebration. Violent non-con. Interaction between Hermione and a few Malfoys.

Fiery Punk Princess Clairvoyance and its Consequences (75KB - Incomplete - PG-13) Set weeks after “From Dreams to Reality”, Hermione’s newest sequence of Clairvoyant Dreams turn her world upside-down once more. With new sleeping arrangements and a complicated, changing relationship with Draco, Hermione fights to pass her upcoming NEWTs and sort out Harry’s new advances while still running her busy life. And over time, she is, along with Harry, Ron, Draco and a few others, faced with the hardest challenge she has ever faced: Fighting against Voldemort … in her Dreams!

HLG Goodbye (5KB - One Shot - PG-13) Hermione tries to save Draco on a cold winter night. Right and Wrong (5KB - One Shot - R) He knew I’d be here. He knew I’d repeat his offer over and over again in my mind until the line between right and wrong blurred, washing my morals away with it. He knew, and I hate him for that.

Humansitis The Battle For All (144KB - 14 Chapters - PG-13) It's their final year at Hogwarts. Everything they've learned and done come down to this. Our gang battles it out for love, freedom, friendship, truth, and honor. Oh! And Draco, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione get caught in a love square! Agent Granger, CIA (117KB - 10 Chapters - PG-13) Hermione's all grown up and joined the CIA. Yes, we're proud of her, but why isn't she happy? Ever since Ron left her and Harry died, nothing's been right for her...Now ten years later, their paths cross again --

Inwitari Dare You to Move (12KB - One Shot - PG) The wizarding world stands on the brink of war. In the turmoil one woman still feels like a little girl, struggling to forgive herself for her mistakes... and one man is going to make sure the high and mighty take a nasty fall. What happens when plans fail and you have to be strong? What happens when everything you believe in dissipates? Welcome to the resistance, where there is no time to mourn. It's time to make your move. I dare you. Face to Face (7KB - One Shot - PG) When two enemies had to make a choice, they had hoped it would never come to this. People tell you to follow your heart, but how can you when it's split in two? Face to face with your biggest fear, what would you decide? The stars are watching, and you can't argue with fate... To Be A Hero (7KB - One Shot - PG) Everyone is the Hero of their own life story, but what does it take to be the Hero of Hermione's story? In a world riddled with war and pain, nothing is black and white and you have to prepare for the oncoming night. True Heroes are hard to find. We Are the Lucky Ones (5KB - One Shot - PG) When the last battle is over, who is left behind to shed the tears? Who has made the ultimate sacrifice; and who has been lucky?

kishijoten A Family Affair (184KB - 25 Chapters - R) Just after his sixteenth birthday, Draco Malfoy learns of a horrifying plot against his life, forcing him to take on a new identity and adopt a new way of life. Years later, Malfoy learns that time has not stood still back home, and he finds himself dragged once again into the intrigue and danger that always surround anyone named 'Malfoy'.

Lady de Winter Hogwarts Masquerade (5 Chapters - G) Hogwarts hosts its very first Masked Ball and Hermione finds herself making a bet with Ron and dancing with a mysterious stranger. But who is it?

Lady Draherm (eldee_fic) The After Kiss (4KB - One Shot - PG-13) He shouldn’t have done it... Crafty (4KB - One Shot - G) I have other ways that will make you relax... Possible Moments (15KB - One Shot - PG-13) Draco Malfoy has turned his back on the dark side, and his family name. However, he has NO desire to fight with the side of good. During his seventh year at Hogwarts, he must deal with the Slytherins that turn on him, and the Gryffindors who don't believe him. (Written post-OotP, pre-HBP.) Tarnished (4KB - One Shot - G) Just the thought of it left her insides boiling with anger. Their Curse (112KB - 14 Chapters - PG-13) On summer vacation after fifth year, Draco Malfoy accepts a bet from a fellow Slytherin student to spend one hour in Muggle London. He gets lost, and after hours, runs into Hermione Granger. Against their will, they are connected by a curse. Draco must choose between living in a Muggle world with the Grangers for one month, and returning to the wizarding world not cured, not able to perform magic.... Weapon (19KB - One Shot - R) Hermione Granger is on the run from Aurors. Draco Malfoy, Death Eater in hiding, is not pleased when she shows up at his flat. She might just blow his and Blaise's cover, leading the Aurors right to them.

Lucia di Medici Draco Vanitas (Avarice) (8KB - One Shot - PG-13) On the eve of the Dark Lord’s triumph, Draco Malfoy has claimed the last addition to his collection. The Sign of the Asp (6KB - One Shot - PG) A series of vignettes documenting the final days before war breaks for one Draco Malfoy, proud Death Eater.

majamariamaja The Mystery Of You (33KB - Incomplete - R) Hermione's been left by her friends to fend for herself in her last year at Hogwarts. Why? Well, she won't speak about it. Then, as if she hadn't been through enough already, she(being the Head Girl) has to share a common room with Draco Malfoy(Head Boy). What will happen within those walls when they're all alone? Otherwise Engaged (268KB - 24 Chapters - R) Hermione Granger's practically perfect life is turned upside-down after meeting her former enemy at the local pub. This is her story. I froze. I wasn't alone. Was Martin here? I removed the pillow from my face and opened my eyes. It wasn't my bedroom. Where the hell was I? "Good morning, Mudblood." I screamed while jumping into a sitting position. "Malfoy?!"

Priah Falling in Love When You're Ten (287KB - 16 Chapters - R) A trove of song fics and short stories with various plotlines. Rape, desecration, suicide, jealousy, misconception, death, rejection, and everything in between. DracoHermione. R4 sex and mild themes.

twin-v Doing the Unthinkable (16KB - One Shot - PG-13) When a storm prevents Draco and Hermione from buying Valentine's Day gifts for each other, they both resort to doing the unthinkable... Sort of sequel to Reasons. Home To Stay (7KB - One Shot - G) She wants to travel, he wants to marry her. They each go their separate ways, both angry at the other. But one day, she returns... Poison (19KB - One Shot - PG-13) The last of the trilogy... Draco and Hermione's relationship has finally been revealed to their families and friends. Life's great and nothing could be better. Why, then, is the title 'Poison'? Reasons (4KB - One Shot - PG) Draco tries hard to convince himself that he hates Hermione by writing a list of the things he hates about her. But when the list falls into Hermione's hands... Two Miles from London (53KB - One Shot - PG) Hermione sees Draco looking less than his usual dignified self somewhere two miles from London, and offers to help him. She meets Draco's pesky brother, and the two Malfoys compete for the Mudblood's affection.

[felswritingfire]

*slams door*

I love your mafia AU Vil x reader

Can I ask for more ??

*Physically Vibrates*

Anon, thank you for my life-

Also if you want a continuation of this (or fluff, I'm just addicted to angst, because apparently I'm a DUMBASS EMO--) or anyone else feel free to ask! I fucking love this AU tbh

(Also no I'm not done with April Brain Rot, I'm just working on one that's like- it's turned big as FUCK- ;0;)

TW: violence; blood; strangulation; uncomfortable vibes; creepy men; cursing

The chime to your door rang loud and clear. A happy bounce to your step as you go to greet the first customer of the day (or Dol and Sul). “Good morning!” You say as you step out from your back room, rounding the corner of your little counter to see the two men who walked in. They’re both big, firm mouths and sharp eyes. Your brows furrow for a moment until you school your expression back into a professional and welcoming smile. “What can I do for you two?”

The one to the right offers you a closed eyed smile. You count the piercings that line the cartilage of his ears as he says: “ah, we were looking for something a little…” His hands trail over the purple fabrics you have. Tapping at a roll of fabric that was lavender, light beige roses outlined in a gold decorating the expanse of it. “Delicate looking.”

Seven. You count, frowning. “Delicate, hm? Anything in particular it’s gonna be used for? A dress? A suit? That might help narrow it down.” You stand next to him, skin pricking with the sensation of eyes boring into you. You fight the urge to glance back.

“A suit. For someone with delicate features. Almost like a porcelain doll.” The man says, his thumb rubbing the patterns of the fabric.

“Are they flashy? You seem to really like that particular one, sir.”

He lets out a laugh, something deep and wispy. You don’t like it. “No. It just reminds me of someone.”

You hum. “Any color you have in mind?”

“Red.”

“Red, huh?” You press your finger to your lips, turning around just to almost walk into the other man. You forgot about him. You gulped as you crane your head to look up at him. A shaky smile making its way onto your lips. “And you, sir? Are you looking for anything in particular?”

He tilted his head, his pupils almost being eaten up by the dark browns of his irises. His frown deepens-

You let out an ugly noise as the air is caught in your throat by the squeeze of a hand around your throat. The chill of his rings burning your skin as he raises you by your neck until your fingers dangle above the floor. “Why don’t we just deal with them?” The man hisses at the way your nails dig into his wrist and he squeezes harder. You can feel the slight bulge of your eyes and the blood rushing to your ears in a panic.

“No, no.” The other’s voice sang out, thin hands coming to wrap around your waist and squeezing. You felt dizzy and sick. “We need answers first- you can’t just expect someone to talk through brute strength all the time, hm?”

“Shut up. If we beat them- they’ll talk.”

“Not if you kill them first.” The one with piercings raises his eyebrows as he watches the way you claw at the ringed man; drool dripping out of the corner of your lips and your eyes squeezing shut, tears slipping from your lashes and onto your red cheeks. He shivered, mouth watering. “I can see why Schoenhiet likes them so much.” His finger traces down your spine and you flail your legs at the uncomfortable shiver that shoots through you.

“D- don’t t- tou- hhh-” you try to choke out only to have the ringed man tighten his grip, your words becoming an awful gurgle.

“Where’s Shoenhiet.” He demands, loosening his grip on your neck.

You gulp down saliva while sucking in air into your aching lungs. “I- I don’t know who- who that is!” Your voice goes high near the end as the grip around your windpipe tightens again.

“Don’t fucking lie to me.”

“I- I’m not-”

Your legs kick and you hear the way your bones creek against each other- one thought floating above the panic that floods your body: they can’t know- they can’t know where Vil is.

“You’re going to kill them.”

“They just need to be a little more force.” The ring man tightens his grip to an impossible tightness, his knuckles turning white and the skin around your throat turning a dark purple. A wheeze escapes your open mouth, the edges of your eyes turning blurring into darkness.

You suck in breaths, greedily heaving in huge gulps of air. You’re suddenly dropped to the hard ground, your body landing with a loud thud! And numbing pangs of pain jumping around your bones. You squeeze your eyes shut. A foot settling on your head.

I hope… Vil won’t come.

***

Vil bounced his leg, impatience and something… anxious settling at the bottom of his stomach. The night lights of the city blurred past him out of the window of the limo.

“Roi du Poison, is something bothering you?”

Vil’s eyes drifted to Rook, the hunter unusually stone faced as he waits for him to answer. “And what of you, Rook? You’re not your usual self.”

Rook lets out a quiet laugh. “You didn’t answer my question.” He claps his hands. “But to answer yours- I’m…” his face falls suddenly. “There’s something wrong, non?”

Vil raises his brow.

“I am worried about our tailleur chéri.”

“You too, it seems.” Vil says, his fingers pinching his chin.

Rook hums, cradling his crossed knee in his intertwined hands. His green gaze drifts down to his lap. “I’m afraid.”

Vil’s eyes widened looking up at Rook. “You are?”

He nods. “Dol and Sul… they haven’t heard from them all day.”

“They haven’t?” He could feel his face heat up in barely suppressed frustration.

“You cannot blame them, Roi du Poison. They have been busy with preparations. They’ve been worried sick.”

Vil grows quiet, swallowing, before he turns to the radio type device next to him and presses the red button. “Epel. I need you to take us to (Y/N) Boutique. Make it snappy.”

The radio crackles. “Got it.” Epel’s says. The limo lurching as it picks up speed. Vil could hear the blares of horns outside the car, but he couldn’t seem to care right now. His leg bounces quicker, the anxiety molten in his tummy.

***

The click of Vil’s heels are deafening as he walks into the boutique, Rook and Epel both flanking him. His eyebrows are drawn into a stern angle. He takes a deep breath and his fingers twitch: the sting of copper sinks deep into his senses. Blood.

Vil clenches his hands into fists and leans towards Rook. “Go find them.”

Rook nods, sinking into the shadows.

Vil gestures to Epel and the purple haired boy reaches behind him, pulling out a pistol and clicking off the safety. He stays close to Vil, stepping lightly as they go through the few aisles there was.

Vil’s nose crinkles at how… cold the boutique suddenly seemed. He hated it, this wasn’t your boutique- not the one that he came to adore as soon as he stepped in.

It was a day that started out awful: realizing he was out of his favorite shampoo and conditioner mid showering, Epel being a touch more unreasonable than normal (speeding, acting unruly every time he tried fixing his bow), and to top it off a rookie spilling his favorite smoothie on his favorite suit. He was seething by the time he was out for his evening walk when he stumbled upon the little shop. He had glanced at it a couple of times out of the limo, even on his morning jogs.

He didn’t know what compelled him to walk in, but when he opened the door and stepped in, he took a deep breath, the smell of vanilla and fresh fabrics flooding his senses. He closed his eyes at the warmth that enveloped him.

“Hello!” He turned to see you standing there, a warm smile on your face and you absolutely glowed in the afternoon light. “Is there any way I can help you?”

“Don,” Epel whispered. “The… the counter.”

Vil glanced at the corner of the polished counter: red glistening under the light from the street lamps outside. He grimaced, gaze trailing down the edge of the counter to the floor. Drips of red splattered across the tile in small specks and towards the back room. His eyes widened.

“Vil.” Rook stood in the doorway of the backroom, his eyes drooping into something mournful.

The man broke into a sprint, his long legs carrying him there in a few steps. Rook makes room for him, his hand coming to settle on Vil’s back.

The breath is knocked out of him when he lays his eyes on your broken body. Your arms were tied behind your back with ribbon. He didn’t miss the fact that they were purple- a light lavender with gold accents. The blood was smeared across your face, already caking with dry blood. Your hair disheveled, white dress shirt stained with red and blurry pink, and your neck a thick ring of ugly, dark bruises. Your mouth half agape as you're curled up on the floor in splatters of blood underneath you.

He takes trembling steps forwards. The click of his heels uneven and obnoxiously loud as he makes his way to you, his head pounding. There was no way… no way this was happening.

You had nothing to do with this. Nothing. Just an innocent bystander in the midst of things. One that he was waiting to spend more time with. One that was special.

He didn't even realize he was grinding his teeth until he saw your eyes flutter open. “Vil?” you mumbled through a bruised jaw. Your hands, heavy like lead, reached to touch his face. He caught your hand in his. “Vil! You’re… you’re ok…” You smile up to him the best you can, your eyes heavy and bleary with exhaustion.

“Who did this, my Sweet Potato? Tell me who.” Vil pressed you close to his chest, turning to gesture to Rook and Epel who nodded.

You hum, pressing your cheek into him and taking a deep breath. “You’re ok…”

Vil can feel the way the tears catch in his throat, an awful choking thing. He cleared his throat. “Who did this to you?”

“They kept… asking ‘bout you but I didn’t… say nothin’... Nothin’ at all.” You mumble against him, voice raspy like it had rocks stuck in your throat.

“Why? Why didn’t you? You didn’t have to do that.” He almost laughs at how he feels a happy blush warm your cheeks. He dips his head closer to your ear, his lips almost brushing against the shell of it as he speaks. “You’re not even mine, my Sweet Potato.”

A giggle leaves you, tired and quiet. “I… I can change that… very quickly, Mr. Schoenhiet.”

He laughs, pressing his soft lips against your blooded cheek as Rook and Epel rush back in with his medic, Dol and Sul, pushing behind him to see you, both clamoring with emotion.

[la-mariposita-de-palestina]

Azula

!SPOILERS!

!DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE WATCHED ALL OF ATLA!

!PLEASE GO AWAY!

!YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

!BEGONE!

Long Post:

Azula is not a good person and does not deserve redemption. But that does not mean her redemption would be impossible, and that it should not happen in the coming ATLA media. Azula is a child, a sick, twisted child molded by the factors surrounding her. She was raised in an abusive household where safety was in the hands of her father. She never received genuine affection that she could directly identify as affection. And she was highly skilled and intelligent in an environment of war.

The royal family consists of Ozai, Ursa, Zuko and Azula. Azula must have noticed at a young age the environment she lived in, with one parent that held power over the other. Ozai abused Ursa, and Ursa seemingly favored Zuko, therefore Ozai abused Zuko. And so Azula absorbed this information and in order to be safe chose to adopt the ideals and behaviors that her father showed and shunned her mother’s and brother’s traits. Because one is safe and the other is not.

So she earns her fathers approval and “love” and faces scrutiny and “hate” from her mother. But she knows that her fathers love comes at a cost; her skill and usefulness to the Fire Nation, to him. She is never given the unconditional love she craves, at least she doesn't think so. Her mother loves her and the audience knows this and somewhere Azula knows this, but she never sees that love. We are never shown an instance where Ursa outwardly approves of anything her daughter does, only criticism. We know this criticism is Ursa’s love trying to reverse Ozai’s damage, she criticizes her because she loves her, but Azula can’t see that. She craves her love and when she sees that her mother outwardly loves Zuko, (who is inferior in her worldview; her fathers worldview) she doesn't understand. And finally when Ursa leaves, Azula is intelligent enough to connect the dots. Zuko was supposed to die, Ursa left, Zuko is alive, Azulon is dead, Ozai is Firelord.

Zuko is everything Azula hates, and everything she never wants to become and yet he has something she thinks she can never have: their mothers love. It only solidifies her toxic personality and values. Zuko is abused by Ozai, Azula does not want to be abused by Ozai. Zuko holds his mothers values, Azula holds her fathers values. That is what endangers him and keeps her safe. And Ozai’s abuse is not private, in fact it is very public, and Azula sees it all; his constant disapproval of Zuko, the Agni Kai, and finally, his banishment. She rejoices when it happens to Zuko, because it means she’s safe as long as she isn’t like him. It’s sick and wrong, but it’s a child trying to be safe.

Everything she is is a result of her father, her imperialistic nation, and a need to be safe yet loved (which conflicted in her home). But, the moment she is taken away from the eyes of her father and country she no longer needs to be safe, because the threat isn't here. And this is where things start to reveal themselves. Now she shows glimpses of what could’ve been. You know what I’m about to talk about; The Beach. Now yes I know, her seemingly affectionate moments could've all been a ploy at manipulating those around her, but all Azula’s actions of manipulations have previously had a specific goal. But Azula had no real reason to apologize to Ty Lee when she offended her. To keep her on Azula’s side? Azula is not afraid of being cruel to keep Ty Lee’s allegiance, after all she put Ty Lee’s life in danger to recruit her. So why use compassion now when her previous tactic of fear has not failed her? Azula had no real reason to get Zuko away from their old family cabin. To keep an eye on Zuko? She has let him out of her sight often since his return to the Fire Nation. Why bring him to sit with everyone now? Why keep him from loneliness and dark memories now? And then express an understanding of those feelings, that she too feels put down and saddened by the atmosphere of the place. It has no tactical value. Azula had no real reason to open up around the campfire. It served no use, and Azula is anything if not purposeful. But the whole day she was slipping up, letting her guard down, so why not now?

“My own mother thought I was a monster” She says like it was a constant thought in her mind. “She was right of course but it still hurt” She said like she didn’t care.

Yet the way she says it directly contradicts her words. She says it like she doesn't care, yet she explicitly said it “hurt”. To hurt is to be weak, and Azula hates weakness. And yet she plainly told her peers that she was hurt, that she is weak. That has no tactical value to Azula, once again, so why say it? Because Azula is unraveling. Her whole life she lived to serve the Firelord and her nation, but now that she is separated from that, her adopted values her behavior is breaking. She is showing compassion, remorse, and pain. She is not being tactical. She showing what could’ve been.

But Azula is not allowed to break, not yet. She is returned to the fire nation and reverts back to what she was, a skillful, manipulative, cruel Princess. Her brother is now a fugitive and she is chasing him once more. The Boiling Rock; the first time she sees that the system she has built to ensure her safety is flawed. Her system of fear, manipulation, and distancing herself from emotions. And so when Mai betrays her she cannot fathom why. Her methods worked so well before, why now? And Mai tells her it was love. The one thing that was unsafe in her home. Ursa and Zuko showed love, and Ozai hurt them. So how can love rival fear? She calls her a fool because that's the only explanation, a lack of intelligence. Then Ty Lee’s betrayal follows, but this one leaves her physical incapacitated. In a physical show of weakness, by the people who she thought she controlled, those closest to her. In one day, the two people she deemed most like her equals betrayed her, not because there was more power to be gained by doing so, but because of affection. And affection is inherently weak and unsafe in Azula’s mind. 

Azula begins slipping.

She chases after Zuko screaming “I’m about to celebrate becoming an only child!”

In itself that line is not remarkable, but before all her words and actions are the epitome of control, and here she is yelling borderline hysterically after she has been betrayed shows that not only did it anger her, it might have broken her perfect image. And attacking Zuko is her way of reclaiming it. By attacking the embodiment of everything she can never be and never wants to be.

Finally, Sozin’s Comet; Azula wants to go with her father to cast the final blow against the Earth Kingdom, but Ozai has different plans. At first Azula doesn’t know why she won't be going with him and panics, stating he can’t treat her like Zuko. Zuko, the weak, imperfect one. The abused one. Azula has worked everyday to be safe. She is strong, perfect, and so she should be safe. So if he disapproves of her now, Azula is no longer safe. But he reassures her, telling her that she will become Firelord. Ozai used her to do all his bidding, capture Zuko, kill the Avatar, take over Earth Kingdom, but now that there is something she wants he ushers her aside to do something else for him. She wants to be with him when they enact HER plan, but once again she is neglected. But Azula accepts her new position, telling herself it's exactly what she wants, after all, being Firelord gives her safety, doesn’t it? And then Ozai proclaims himself the Phoenix King, Azula is once again inferior, at his mercy. But no matter, she must prepare for her coronation. And one by one, she interprets everything as a betrayal. a cherry pit, slight tardiness, and worry for her sanity. For if the two people closest to her could turn their back on her at a moment's notice then the slightest wrongdoing can become a most traitorous act in Azula’s eyes. 

Azula is broken.

She can no longer take care of her appearance like she did previously and begins to hallucinate her mother.

But you see, she doesn't care what her mother thinks of her. That’s why she gets angry at the hallucination. That’s why she desperately explains her methods to her mother. That’s why she cries when Ursa says “I love you Azula, I do.” That’s why she lashes out violently at the mirror. She doesn't care. And finally when she sees Zuko, she reacts violently, and her fighting is erratic, and imprecise. Very unlike her. And she is bested, not even by the one she sees as her rival, her polar opposite, but by a bystander. Chained down. Crying. In front of her enemies. Just crying.

She adopted her fathers mentality for safety, when removed from the imperialist environment she was in we see her show compassion for no reason, and when returning to that environment she returned to those habits, she benefited from a system of fear and when it didn’t work her entire world view crumbled along with her composure, leading to her demise. 

Azula is not a good person, she does not deserve redemption. But given time Azula has shown she can unravel, her cruel thorns can be soothed, and can be broken down. Azula is a sick, twisted child, and if the new ATLA media wishes to redeem her, I don’t see why not. And part of me wants that for her. To take away the last bit of power Ozai had in the world. To heal this 14 year old girl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4544ZUr_gA 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpcAt_jaes&t=609s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKjB19FKhHI

[fallingfor-fics]

Teachers Pet-chapter 33: Remus

All chapters 

Chapter 32

I had been letting myself sleep in as long as possible not only for the rest, but to help pass the time. I usually woke up around ten sometimes eleven depending on how late I had stayed up, but today my brain had other plans. I wake awake bright and early at five o'clock. I had only just gone to bed four hours ago so I figured I would be sleeping till noon, but unfortunately I was woken up by a dream. Most would call it a dream, but I called it a nightmare. 

Because it was  a dream about me being married with kids, except I was married to Severus, not that I hate the idea, I just didn't need to be reminded of how that's never gonna happen. And of course my body loves to do this thing where once I'm awake, I can't go back to sleep. So I decided to just get up now and start my day early. I took my time showering, I even did a hair and a face mask, shaved, and styled my hair without magic, just to pass the time. I took my time figuring out what to wear and I even did eye shadow with my makeup. I brushed out my shirt adding a belt to my waist and looked out the window. The sun had started to rise and peak over the forest line. I looked at the clock and dropped my shoulders when I saw it was only six. "You have got to be kidding me, no way I did all of that in an hour." I said to myself. I was glad all my roommates went home for break, this allowed me some freedom to talk to myself and walk around in my underwear. I grabbed my coat, wand, and Lolita and headed out to walk around. I didn't really have a plan on where I was going to go, but i'd figure it out as I went.

I exited my dormitory and walked into the common room, I hadn't seen many Slytherins that stayed but every now and then we would cross paths in here. I walked out and down the hall not seeing anyone in the halls. It was kind of eerie being awake while the sun was just starting to rise, the school was so empty and quiet. I looked out a window as I passed by and saw the sunrise glistening over the lake, light hitting the water and the surrounding snow. I smiled at the sight and made my way outside. The snow crunched under my boots as I walked over to a bench that sat along the pathway. I sat down on it looking at the lake that was sparkling from the sun's reflection. A cloud of air could be seen every time I breathed out and I could feel my nose getting red. I really loved when it was cold out and there was snow on the ground, I wouldn't have come out here if it was snowing though that would mean it was too cold to come and read. And I could feel the warmth of the sun slowly stretching across my face and hands, spreading warmth on my cheeks. It was so beautiful I couldn't believe I went to school here. I barely even thought of Beauxbatons anymore. I smiled and opened up my book, unfolding the corner as I began to read.

About thirty minutes later I lifted my head from the book, hearing a noise, I looked to my left and saw the noise was the crunching of the snow under the new professor's feet. "Hello." I said smiling as he walked over, hands in his pockets, "Hello Y/n what are you doing out here this early?" he smiled looking out at the lake. "I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep so I came out here to read." I said scooching over so he could sit next to me. He smiled and sat down on the bench. "What about you?" I asked as I looked back to my book. "Oh just an early morning walk. I also could not sleep." I nodded and folded the corner of my page closing my book, "What are you reading?" he asked motioning to my book, I felt my cheeks redden a bit and looked at him and then back at my book. "Um this book called Lolita." I said smiling awkwardly. He hummed in response nodding his head with a smile. "Have you read it?" I asked, nervous of his response, I don't know why I was freaking out I mean there are so many books Im sure no one has actually read this, and even if they have its not like I support every decision made in it, but it is a bit awkward.  "No, I've just heard  of it." he smiled. We sat for a moment in silence, "So I hear you're a werewolf." I said chuckling lightly at the silly statement I made. He tensed up and bit and looked down at me, "And what leads you to think that." he asked in a bit more of a serious tone, but with a small smile. "Oh nothing just rumours, i'm only teasing." I said playfully, resting a hand on his arm in reassurance, he laughed along shifting in his spot. "Unless you are one, if that's the case then you are indeed way cooler than the last teacher." I joked, he reddened in the face a bit and smiled, "I can assure you I do not grow a tail." he assured me, laughing along. We sat and got to know each other more, he was a really sweet man and I could easily see myself being friends with him. We oddly had a lot in common too, we liked the same artists and movies, he even mentioned how he himself was not too potion savvy. We joked about many failed experiences in the subject.

"So If you went to school here, does that mean you went here with Severus? I mean Professor Snape." I said, shaking my head correcting myself. He sat up straight for a moment and looked out at the lake, he sighed and nodded his head. "Yes I did actually, we were in the same grade." he said, his face softening and his smile slowly fading a bit. I noticed the change in posture and tone and looked at him confused.  "Well what was he like? Was he mean like he is now? Did he bully you?" I asked trying to figure out why his energy shifted. He took a moment and cleared his throat. "No, not exactly." I kept my gaze on him, examining his facial expressions. "Did you guys fight or something?" I pried. "Yes you could say that, I had a group of friends, and two of us Sirius and James liked to pick on him often, I would try to convince them to leave Severus alone, but they'd never listen." he said leaning over and resting his elbow on his knees. Taken aback I looked away from him and to the lake. "That's horrible, what would they do to him?" I asked curiously. He took a moment pondering on what to say, "They would pick on him for being in Slytherin and would call him names and such." he confessed. I frowned and looked down at my hands. "Oh." I said quietly. "But Severus was a loner and he wasn't perfect either, but it's really not my place. James never really gave him a chance though, he bullied him from the start and would do it for fun and out of boredom sometimes." he added. I nodded and looked around at the snowy landscape thinking about it.

This would make a lot of sense as to why Severus was so cruel, he clearly had a hard life. It hurt my heart to think about him just trying to go about his day and some obnoxious boys decide to hurt him. I could almost cry at the thought and blinked hard to try and erase the thoughts from my mind. "But what did Snape ever do to them?" I asked, already predicting the answer. "Nothing. He was just a wallflower, associated himself with the dark arts and the wrong people and James saw him as an easy target." he admitted looking down at his feet. "Did they ever apologize? Or befriend him?" I also already knew this answer, "No, James died and Sirius was locked up." he said sadly, I rested a hand on his leg and smiled, "I'm sorry, even though they were bullies, I'm sure they were good friends of yours." I said kindly, "Thank you, they were, but i'm not sure if they would have even attempted to make amends, nor do I think Severus would have any interest in doing so either."  he said honestly, "Is Sirius still in Azkaban?" I asked, hoping I wasn't overstepping, I noticed a shift in his eyes when I mentioned the man's name. "No he got out a few years ago and is living in London." he said smiling. I could see a look in his eyes, I searched the blue spheres and tried to identify the look, "Does he have a family?" I asked trying to talk about him more, "No not really. I'm kind of all he's got left." his eyes flashed with a bit of sadness but stayed sparkling on the thought of the man, I smiled to myself when I realized why I recognized the look in his eyes. It was because it was the very same look I had when thinking about Severus. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable so I just nodded in response.

I looked at his hand and noticed he didn't have a ring on his finger and looked up at him trying to figure out why he wasn't married. He was so nice and funny and handsome something didn't add up. "Why aren't you married? I mean a handsome man such as yourself you would think would have a partner and kids and stuff." I questioned cautiously, trying not to overstep. He laughed and blushed a bit, sitting up and leaning back on the bench, "I'm not sure, I just haven't met the right person I suppose." I nodded in agreement and just then I spotted a few students walking around inside. "I guess everyone's waking up, breakfast will start soon, wanna walk with me?" I asked politely, standing up and grabbing my book. He nodded and stood up as well, following beside me as we walked back inside the warm building and headed to the great hall. "So why are you here now? Why didn't you come when everyone else comes back from break?" I asked as we walked through the halls. "I guess I just wanted to get my room in order and hang out a bit in the school, it's a very nostalgic feeling, being back." he shared as we walked into the Great hall. We stopped at the staff table to finish up our conversation, I looked up behind him and noticed a dark professor glaring down at us, I furrowed my brows slightly, wondering why he would be so upset about this, but then I remembered what Remus had said, and although Remus maybe didn't participate he was still a bystander, and i'm sure Severus still held that against him, I smiled a little to myself thinking about how I could use this to my advantage. "Okay well I will catch you later at the firework show, it was lovely getting to know you and talk." I said smiling up at Remus, I kindly rested a hand on his arm and looked over to the now tense and fuming Severus, I could practically almost see the steam coming off of him, to anyone else he would look normal, but I could see it in his eyes, and his place fist he had clenched. I didn't understand why he was getting so angry with me fraternizing with Remus, he said so himself he didn't care about me that way.

When I looked back at Remus as he said his goodbye I could have sworn I felt a tug in my mind, a very familiar tug, like someone trying to pry their way in. Remus walked away and up to his seat, which was thankfully far from Severus, and I shot Snape a glare, I knew he was the only one that would be remotely interested in my thoughts and the look in his eyes only confirmed my suspicions. Two can play at this game I thought to myself as I slowly went and sat down where Luna and I had sat yesterday. I wasn't as good as him obviously and had just barely learned how to read thoughts without my wand. But I stared him down trying to get into his mind, it wasn't about reading his thoughts, it was more about making him aware he got sloppy and wasn't undetected in his attempt to read mine, I just needed to ensure he felt it. Which he confirmed when his eyes went from anger to hostility and then back to anger. I stopped my attempts and he glowered at me, I smiled and waved sarcastically and turned to the blonde girl that approached me and sat down. "Having a staring contest with Professor Snape or something?" she said, teasing me a bit. "What? No. I was just waving to the new teacher, I haven't got a clue why Snapes glaring over at me." I lied, which I felt bad doing, but Hermione and Draco were the only ones that knew of my feelings for Snape and I planned on keeping it that way.

Taglist; @lovelyhoneylemon @juliijah

[ask-marcus-cally-and-ari]

Only Human

Chapter 12: Welcome to Hell

Two weeks had gone by since the hunt for three teenagers began- two weeks of being hidden by two Freaks and eating small rations to make money stretch out and last longer.

Eggs had become a luxury to Marcus, sausage a meal fit for a king. He wolfed down a plate of toast like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

“What I wouldn’t give for some pancakes,” Ari remarked as she ate their third biscuit in a row for breakfast that week.

Cally ate her cereal, looking around. “I mean, we’ve saved enough to go to McDonald’s for lunch. Spyper, do you think it’s safe?”

Spyper briefly scanned the area, then nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I don’t see any Freaks around.”

Marcus whooped. “Meat, here I come!”

The trio and the two Freaks that accompanied them stepped out of the van and headed towards McDonalds. Intelligent and Spyper stood on either side of the teenagers, acting as a buffer between them and any Freaks in hiding.

Marcus kept his hand on his gun until he was sitting at the table, and even then, he looked around, ready to pull it out if anything moved wrong.

“Once we’re at HECU, we won’t have to worry about rationing food,” Spyper said, glancing around. “They have this huge cafeteria there and the food is really good. Last time I was there I had a philly cheese steak, potato wedges, and a chicken sandwich.”

“That’s awesome,” Ari beamed. “So how’d you meet them?”

“Me and Intelligent actually saw them in action when we met them. They were trying to contain a dead Freak called Friendly Scout. He got away, and we went up to them to see what was going on,” Spyper explained. “Granted, we haven’t had the best relationship with them since. Pure wrapped us up in this scheme to kill a demon a few years ago and HECU had me and Intelligent placed under house arrest for putting people in danger.”

“Wait, the f@ck?!” Marcus squawked. “How did you do it if it was this Pure mofo’s fault?”

“We were accomplices,” Spyper said. “That, and I kinda helped him escape from HECU when they had us cornered in an apartment…”

“And we lied to an HECU officer so they would help us,” Intelligent added, wincing.

Cally nodded. “Yeah, that would sour relationships. I remember Marcus lying to a teacher to cover for me when I was stuck at home once.”

“I still think I should have told her from the start. Your parents not letting you go to school because your room wasn’t clean isn’t even fair.”

“Yikes. Your parents sound horrible,” Spyper frowned.

“Eh, they tried,” Cally replied. “I- hey, check out that guy. Is there a cosplay convention around?”

The group followed Callys gaze and saw a guy in a Jason Vorhees costume sitting at a table nearby.

“What the hell…?” Spyper whispered, raising an eyebrow.

Marcus put his hand back on his gun. “Don’t look at him.”

“Please tell me there’s not a Freak who looks like that,” Intelligent winced, averting his gaze from the costumed patron.

“How would I know?” Spyper asked.

“There isn’t,” Cally replied.

“So either that’s someone who’s way too into cosplay, or we’ve got a Team Killer wannabe on our hands,” Spyper winced.

Ari shuddered. “Team Killer?”

“A pretty infamous Freak. He kills anyone who wears red.”

Marcus looked at his clothes, took off his red sneakers, and put them in the garbage.

“Good call,” Spyper said. “I have an extra pair of brown boots in my van if you want them.”

“Thanks. I-” Marcus froze. What was he feeling? Nothing was touching him, but there was warmth he could feel. Body heat, to be specific. Body heat and the cold, sharp blade of a… oh, no. “...Ari, sit still and close your eyes.”

“What, why?” Ari whimpered.

“Because my sense of touch is now bullsh@t levels of keen, and the world won’t let us rest,” Marcus replied- then pulled out his gun and fired.

A scream filled the restaurant and a Spy decloaked behind the Trio, collapsing to the floor in a bloody heap.

Cally gagged. “WHAT THE F-”

“SH_T WE GOTTA GO!” Spyper screamed as the entire restaurant was sent into panic. He and Intelligent Heavy grabbed the Trio and ran out the front door to the van, leaving the masked figure to follow them.

Cally slammed the door once they made it, locking it. “DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE-”

Spyper jammed the keys into the ignition and slammed on the gas, sending the car lurching forward. “Ok, who the hell was that!?”

“I don’t know!” Marcus replied. “I just felt him come closer!”

“You felt him?! The hell does that mean?!” Cally shouted.

“It’s like I could feel... like my sense of touch got way keener.”

“It’s the power of the Body,” Intelligent said, watching the restaurant from the rear-view mirror. “The Body enhances all human senses.”

“I hate this power so much,” groaned Marcus- and then something shot out Spyper’s tires. “OH, THAT’S BULLSH@T!”

“GAH! What just happened!?” Spyper screamed, jerking the wheel to stay on the road.

Cally looked out the window. “Guys, we got company!”

“Who is it!? I can’t look away from the road!” Spyper shouted, fighting against the pull of the blown tire.

“I see at least five people.” Cally squinted. “And one of them is pointing a rifle at us.”

“Oh sh_t, it’s Brutal!” Intelligent hissed. “Since when is he still good with a rifle!?”

Marcus scowled. “Do you guys have a rifle?”

“Check in the compartment under my bed! My old rifle should be under there!” Spyper grunted as another car slammed into his van.

Marcus pulled out the weapon, loaded it, and headed to the top of the van, where he opened the trapdoor and came out, aiming for the drivers of the closest car. “EAT LEAD, MOTHERF@CKER!”

He fired into the car and the front windshield shattered on impact before the car began veering off the road, its driver out of commission.

Ari whimpered in the back, and Cally went to go hold him.

“Hang on to your hats!” Spyper shouted, reaching for the clutch. “We’re about to go airborne!”

"SH@T!" Before Marcus could go back in, he found himself in a struggle for the rifle with Brutal. "Get lost, you son of a b@tch!" he snapped.

“Not until you get lost first!” Brutal hissed, trying to kick Marcus off the van.

Marcus, deciding the rifle wasn’t worth it, let it go and ducked back into the van, only for the Sniper to prevent him from closing the door.

“You’re not getting away that easy!”

Ari screamed, and Cally panicked, reaching for the nearest knife.

“Get the hell OUT!” Intelligent screamed, trying to slam the trapdoor shut to keep Brutal out.

The back door to the van opened, and a Scout with a hole in his chest, no eyes, and chains coming out of the hole hissed at the Trio, grabbing Marcus with the chains and trying to pull him out. “MOTHERF-”

Quickly slamming the trapdoor in Brutals face, Intelligent ran to the vans back door and tried to rip the chains off of Marcus’ leg. “Let him go!”

“Get off me, 2 Chainz!” Marcus squawked.

2 Chainz hissed and yanked Marcus out of the van and on to the open road where their fight continued.

“MARCUS!” Ari screamed, running to the door.

Marcus got up, holding his side, then looked at his knife. “You wanna go, weirdo?!” he asked challengingly.

2 Chainz snarled and the chains from his chest angled towards Marcus, tipped with razor sharp blades.

Marcus didn’t back down. “COME ON!” he shouted. “You want some so bad?! Come get some!”

2 Chainz lunged at Marcus, slashing at him with his claws and bladed chains.

Marcus caught one chain and tried to wrap it around 2 Chainz’s neck, ready to strangle him.

As they brawled in the road, traffic was eventually jammed and several people got out of their cars to begin recording the whole fight.

It didn’t take long for people to begin watching, including HECU.

“COMMANDER! WE GOT A LOCATION! ONE OF THE THREE KIDS IS FIGHTING A NEW FREAK!” cried an intern.

Rudra came barreling down the hallway to see the feed. “What the - Who’s recording this footage!?”

“Multiple people! I’ve got a squad on the way!”

On the screen, Marcus turned to whoever was holding the camera. “AYO! YOU ENJOYING THE SHOW?! HOW ABOUT YOU BE IN IT AND HELP ME?!” he snapped.

“What!? I can’t fight!” The bystander cried.

“YOU GOT A CAR, DON’T YOU?! GET IN IT AND RUN THIS F@CKER OVER!”

The bystander dropped their phone and ran back to their car to do exactly that. Cranking their car, they drove through the traffic and barreled straight for 2 Chainz as Marcus leapt out of the way.

As 2 Chainz found himself occupied, Marcus dropped the knife and took a breath as Spyper doubled back to pick him up.

“Marcus! Marcus, come on!” Ari shouted in fright. He was leaning out the back of the van, holding out their hands to catch Marcus.

The teenager ran to meet her, reaching for his ticket out when Brutal leapt from the top of the van and tackled him to the pavement.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“HEY!” Marcus snapped. He rolled onto his back and kicked Brutal off before quickly leaping back to his feet. “That’s my ride!”

“Not while I’m here!” Brutal grinned, brandishing his shiv.

“You’re sooooo tough with that knife, aren’t ya? I dropped mine, now drop yours! Fight me like a man!”

“And risk you getting away? Not a chance, bloke,” Brutal hissed, charging at Marcus.

Ari gasped. “We gotta get over there!” she cried. “Marcus isn’t gonna win this fight!”

“Hang on! Road safety laws, prepare to be IGNORED!” Spyper shouted, jerking the wheel back. His van veered sharply to the left and began careening straight for Brutal, only for a Medic in a mask to appear and call up giant spikes to block the van’s path. Spyper screamed in surprise and slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding crashing into them.

“Marcus! We can’t get through!” Spyper called.

Marcus scowled. “Well, I guess I’m throwing hands,” he grumbled, cracking his knuckles.

“Soon enough, you won’t have any hands to throw!” Brutal bit back, pulling yet another blade from his vest.

“Another knife. Coward,” Marcus sneered, then charged.

Marcus quickly grabbed Brutal by his wrists and forced the Sniper back, keeping Brutal from swinging the knives. Brutal hissed and kicked Marcus in the leg and shoved him back towards the spikes. Marcus staggered, but managed to dig his heels into the road to keep his balance.

Marcus, having taken a knife, grinned. “Now it’s fair.”

“Not for long,” Brutal grinned, producing yet another blade from his vest. “I can do this all day!”

“THE F@CK?!”

Brutal chuckled and swung his blades, slowly closing the gap between him and Marcus. “You should have paid more attention to my entry in HECU’s database.”

Meanwhile, the person who’d gotten said database was running scenarios in her mind as Spyper drove, trying to avoid the new Medic Freak. “Alright, so what are these spikes made of?”

“You asking me? Cause I sure as hell don’t know!” Spyper grunted, trying to find a way through the spikes to reach Marcus.

“If I knew that or could figure out a pattern, I could figure out how to take out the spikes and this new guy. Speaking of, do you know him? Because HECU’s files don’t.”

“No, I’ve never seen this Freak before!”

“They sent new ones under the assumption that I’d know all the old ones,” Cally hissed as Ari wrapped a blanket around himself, terrified. Then an idea hit her. “Alright, let’s see. Start driving like crazy. Don’t think, just go.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Spyper grabbed the clutch and jerked it forward, causing his van to go airborne. “Hold on to your a$$es! This is gonna be a bumpy ride!”

The Medic threw spikes as the van flew, and Cally turned to Intelligent. “Your pot. I need you to drop it on his head.”

Intelligent glanced out the window and nodded, taking the pot off his head. “Got it.”

Cally called up to Spyper, “Give Intelligent a clear shot!”

“Already on it!” Spyper spun the wheel and started heading straight for the Medic before sharply pulling up. Without a moment's hesitation, Intelligent leaned out the passenger side window and dropped his pot, shouting triumphantly when it landed squarely on his target's head.

As the Medic clawed at his face, the nightmarish images filling his head, Cally grinned. “Alright. That takes care of him. Now we can get to- MARCUS!”

Marcus, though still fighting valiantly, was squarely on the other end of a beatdown, if the rips in his clothes and visible injuries were any indication. Didn’t seem like he wanted to show it, though; he picked up a broken spike and shouted, “That all you got?!”

“I could do this for eternity!” Brutal cackled, not relenting in his assault on Marcus.

“SH@T!” Cally cried. “Do you have a rope or ladder here, Spyper?”

“Under my bed, there should be a foldable ladder there!”

Cally pulled it out. “Ari, help me throw this to Marcus!”

Ari got up and ran over, grabbing one end while Cally grabbed the other. Then they tossed it to where the fight was happening. “MARCUS! COME ON!”

Marcus immediately dropped the spike and ran to grab the ladder. Leaping for it, he narrowly managed to grab on while avoiding scraping his legs on the spikes below.

Grinning down at Brutal, he held up a middle finger before climbing up and into the front seat.

Marcus smiled in relief once he was in. “Thanks!”

“You ok?” Intelligent asked, already getting out the first aid kit.

Marcus paused, then decided, “Everything hurts.”

“Alright, just hang on.” Intelligent opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small first aid kid. “Uh...I’ve got some bandages and some alcohol wipes. Any chance these will help?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Alright, where’s it hurt at?” Intelligent asked, sitting Marcus up beside him.

“I think it’d be easier to know what doesn’t h- Ari?” Marcus looked over his shoulder to the living quarters of the van. Ari was leaning against the wall and holding her side, his hand red with blood. A knife was laying on the floor nearby covered in blood.

Marcus gasped, all his injuries forgotten. “ARI!” He leapt over the front seats and grabbed Ari as they went down. “Ari, what happened!?”

“Brutal threw a knife,” Ari gulped, gripping Marcus’ arms.

Cally grabbed a first aid kit and went to work, panic written across her face. Ari sucked in breath as Cally set about cleaning the wound with alcohol and wiping away excess blood.

“That stings,” Ari winced, gritting their teeth when Cally stuffed gauze into the wound.

Marcus scowled. “Okay, now I’m p@ssed.”

“Same,” Cally said, a dark coldness in her voice. “It’s personal now.”

“Is Ari ok back there?” Spyper quizzed, flying away from the scene on the road.

“He will be. One of Brutal’s knives that he threw while on the car hit her.”

“It’s not deep, is it?” Intelligent asked worriedly.

“Kinda. They’ll need stitches, but it's not fatal,” Cally said, wrapping up the wound with a clean bandage.

“Do we know anyone who can do stitches?” Marcus asked, wrapping a bandage around his hand.

“Uh...I kinda know how, but I don’t think you want me doing that,” Spyper said, gesturing to the fact that he was still driving.

“Yeeeeah…”

Cally sighed. “I can do some. I need the practice.” Cally poked around in the first aid kit and found a needle and surgical thread inside. “Now hold still, this is probably gonna hurt…” She warned, beginning to sew the wound shut as gently and as steadily as she could.

***

That night, the group had taken up residence in an abandoned shack with just a power outlet. The kids sat watching Marcus’s miniature TV, and Intelligent sat beside Spyper, writing notes.

“Cally seems to be really good on her feet,” he mused. “She came up with that plan to take out someone we didn’t even know about in, what, half a minute?”

“You think part of that's coming from her powers?” Spyper asked, glancing over at Cally.

“Maybe. It makes me want to run tests, but I’m pretty sure Marcus would turn me into a pencil with all the lead he’d put in me if I tried.”

“I think we should leave that to HECU,” Spyper remarked, taking a sip of his drink. “Not that Marcus would let them do that either, but still.”

“He’s incredibly protective. And he looks more p@ssed now than he did when he was the one being threatened or getting the sh@t beaten out of him.”

“That’s true for anyone who’s close to their friends. I mean, if I got threatened, you’d be pretty p_ssed too.”

“Yeah,” Intelligent nodded. Spyper lit a cigarette, then noticed his phone ringing.

“Hey Intelligent, can you get that? I’m expecting a call from Madic.”

Intelligent reached over and picked up the phone, holding it awkwardly in his large hands.

It was an unknown number. Weird. Intelligent swiped to answer and held the phone to his ear. “Hello? Who is this?”

“Hello, Intelligent,” an all too familiar voice greeted in a cold tone. “Enjoying the peace and quiet?”

“Gentle. What do you want?” Intelligent hissed, pulling out a laptop and hooking it up to the phone.

“Just wanted to catch up. Give you a little grief for screwing Brutal over earlier today.”

“I didn’t do that. Marcus did. I’m proud of the kid for lasting as long as he did.”

Marcus, noticing the call, had gotten up to come over and listen. When he heard his name, he cut in. “Someone call my name?”

“It’s Gentlespy,” Intelligent replied, focusing on his computer screen. “Keep him talking, I’m trying to track his phone.”

Marcus hissed. “You motherf@cker. If you were here I’d-”

“I saw your fight with Brutal. I know exactly what you would do if I was there.”

“Then thank whatever god you pray to that you’re not. The hell are you even after?”

“Haven’t we already made this clear to you? We want you three gone.”

“You wouldn’t even have to deal with us if your stupid @sses hadn’t come after us. We knew jack sh@t about this whole thing.”

“Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20.”

“Yeah. And regret is a nasty feeling.”

“Is everything okay over there?” called Ari nervously.

“Considering who’s on the other line? Probably not,” Intelligent replied.

Ari came over, still holding their aching side. “Who is it?”

“Gentlespy.”

Ari tensed. “What does he want?” he whined. “Is the other guy with him?”

“I’m not sure. Just try to relax. You don’t want to pull any of those stitches out.”

Marcus hissed. “If your pal is with you, put him on. I got something I wanna say to him.”

“I don’t see why not. Once you and your friends are out of the way, you won’t be saying much anymore.”

Marcus grunted and cracked his knuckles. “Just put him on, I don’t want to listen to your pretentious-@ss voice anymore.”

A scoff came from the phone as it was handed off to the Sniper Freak. “What do you gotta say?” Brutal hissed.

Marcus spat on the ground. “Well, pal, listen. I’m not a hard guy to p@ss off. Really, you could throw a rock at me and I'd get mad. And I was content to just run my @ss off to avoid you f@ckers. That said, I am a hard guy to make an enemy out of. It takes you trying to kill me or the ones I love. And you did that. Like, way beyond that. When you put your disgusting hands on Ari. So now that we're enemies, I am gonna rain unholy hell down on you, your friends, and your entire plan,” he growled, eyes flashing with the blood-red power of the Body.

Intelligent looked up and silently gestured to his computer as a location popped up. “I’ve got Gentle’s location. They’re about five blocks away from here in an old warehouse,” He said quietly.

Marcus cocked his gun and hung up. “Then let’s go.”

“What are you doing? We still need to head to HECU and Ari needs to recover. We can’t go after them,” Spyper warned. “Especially not when they could have backup.”

Marcus huffed. “We can’t stay here! They’re five blocks away!” he snapped. “If they figure that out, Ari won’t have time to recover!”

“Then let's get out of here!” Spyper said, grabbing his keys and starting for the door.

[strykingback]

Ok... Gotta say my Farewell to Vol 8. So If you dont like  what Im about to say best click off now or ignore it.

Ok so you decided to click on it,  Alrighty brace yourself 

This entire Arc was just fucking horrendous. No joke, this entire arc was just garbage entirely, no joke. The way how they made Ironwood into a cartoon villain making him into some albeist joke of people who are diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, Actual Amputees’, etc. This was meant to be A FUCKING WAR ARC!!!

Which means I expected these few things from this Arc even though I was not watching it.

- Plenty of Character Deaths ranging from Main, Secondary, and Tertiary Characters.

- Stakes at An All New High. 

- Characters being forced to make tough decisions or risks that fail or pay off.

- Uneasy Alliances being forged.

- Tensions between Team RWBY, Ironwoods Group, and Salems. 

-SALEM TEARING ATLAS AND MANTLE A NEW ONE. 

- THE VILLIANS ACTUALLY FUCKING WIN THIS VOLUME. 

Instead We Got: 

-Ruby’s Group BEING INSIDE THE FUCKING HOUSE LIKE IN VOLUME 5 BARELY DOING FUCK ALL!!!

- Ironwood being “villainized” even further instead of turning him into a morally-grey villain. 

- Team RWBY “winning” through plot armor and bad writing like the Mary Sues they are. 

- Bumbleby Ship-Baiting... AGAIN. (Seriously. . . fuck off) (No hate to anyone who ships BB but at this point it was seriously getting annoying and tiring)

- Salem Just Getting Merked... NOT ONCE FOLKS. BUT TWICE!!!

- The Hound Getting Merked.....

Seriously no joke, this was such a bullshit, deadbeat volume. No joke it makes me so frustrated to see that this entire Volume was fucked up to no end. Yangs and Rubys argument did not feel like an actual fucking argument. 

What I expect from an argument was four things.

- Calling them Out On Their Actions. 

- Person A and B Debating About their Actions/Decisions which said argument intensifies. 

- Person A or B Starts a fight after saying something that pisses one of them off

-  Fight Between A and B, Totally Optional to have a bystander such as C or D end the Fight. 

Instead we get....a simple Argument that barely intensifies and only has Yang calling Ruby out on her abilities being a leader of a team. We should have Ruby also calling out Yang for sharing the information to Robyn and her “Happy Huntresses.” Which should’ve escalated to the point where Ruby says.  “Well that Gung-Ho Attitude is what caused you to lose your Arm!!” 

or Yang saying: 

“Well If you didn’t decide to...Oh I dont know have our faces pasted on EVERY VIRTUAL BOARD IN ATLAS FOR YOUR SHIT DECISIONS!” 

Not to mention to have Blake ,Weiss, and the Rest of ORNJ just look in awe or shock.... at seeing them argue to the point where they start fighting SERIOUSLY THATS WHAT A FUCKING ARGUMENT IS MEANT TO FEEL LIKE IN A WAR ARC!!!!

Moving on from that... anyways Cinders Past was just so so so SO LAZY.....

No joke her past was so boring it was to the point where I found it just uninteresting at all. Yet that brings up a good point hat I said once and I will say again. “How Come the FNDM praises Women that get beaten and show love to them rather than Men who also get abused like Adam whose EYE WAS BRANDED and MERCURY WHOSE LEGS WERE BROKEN BY THE FEMUR NO LESS.”

No joke for her it was just... a shock collar and she was berated verbally.....You know this actually makes Ellie from Last of Us Part 2 Look Better than Cinders. (Yeah I went there!)

Like if you want to do Twisted Cinderella with some RWBY Vibes.... heres how you do it. 

- Have Cinder be in Awe at the Sight of a Huntsman or Huntress fighting which inspires her to be a Huntress when Reeves finally tells her she can be one. 

- Show that Reeves does care about her and when he falls ill and dies Cinder is berated even more by the twins and the proprietor where she was enslaved. 

- What Finally causes her to snap and kill everyone was when she finds out her “sisters” burned her Academy Approval letter on their mothers order causing her to kill and murder which she is later on arrested and then bailed out by Watts who leads her to Salem. 

Seriously DO IT FUCKING RIGHT ESPECIALLY  WHEN IT COMES TO CINDER WHOSE PAST WAS IN SHADOWS FOR 8 WHOLE FUCKING YEARS.

8 YEARS AND YOU DROP IT LIKE A RAW PIECE LAMB CHOP!!!

Finally SALEM. Oh God how did they fuck up with Salem?! I will admit there was some moments that spooked me. However it was not enough to make me feel nervous for the characters as a whole. 

Like for example I expected her to wipe the floor with Atlas’ forces and just seriously showing destruction and chaos arriving. Instead last season it looked like she was JUST APPROACHING THE CITY. 

Which would have been a “Race Against The Clock/War” Volume since Salem would have begun her destruction of Atlas and even forcing her way into Atlas.... and then suddenly Hazel performs a Heel-Face-Turn that suddenly screams BS because seriously he should’ve had some sort of a better redemption that felt built up, then she gets  BURNED THEN NUKED BY OZPINS MAGICAL CANE OF SUPERPOWERED BULLSHIT. Which Held enough magic to unleash it....which could have been used during the BATTLE OF BEACON. However, I wont complain about it why?

Cause, I think the major reason is because If he were to use it in there he would be revealing Beacon’s Relic Vault as well to Cinder which she can use to open it and take the Relic of Choice. Which I believe was a pragmatic choice because you also have to think of the people who are still trying to escape or evacuating at the moment. 

Now the ultimate disrespectful thing the CRWBY did for their “Design a Grimm” contest was the Sulfur Fish. 

THIS DESIGN WAS SICK, AND THE ABILITIES WAS JUST JAW DROPPINGLY COOL!

However what does CRWBY do instead of giving a Full Scene where we see its Forms or attacking other soldiers/people. 

It gets... *Drumroll*

A Cameo sequence...thats it. A Cameo....Wow CRWBY you are shit. Just absolutely shit at writing and even giving the winner of the Design-A-Grimm Contest Winner an actual shot...while you overwork your animators giving Anxiety Disorders or PTSD. Great Show. 

 TL;DR: RWBY Volume 8 was one of the most boring, shittiest, and a snoozefest of a volume with such bad writing that it makes even watching The Last of Us Part II look good! 

If you are planning on dropping RWBY let me offer you an Alternative. 

Say hello to Meta Runner! A series that I find to be a favorite of mine and one that is actually better than RWBY’s garbage ass bullshit writing. 

To give you a brief synopsis, This series follows Tari a girl who wakes up in Silica City without any memory of what has happened except some brief flashbacks. To which TasCorp the antagonistic corporation seeks to use her for entertainment, while there is a mystery element about a famous gamer gone missing... and its up to Tari and the help of a Resistance force to find out this mystery. 

This series is done by Glitch Studios which many do know them as...drumroll please!  *drumroll*

The Youtubers SMG4! Who is well known for doing GMOD Shitposts! 

Its actually quite relieving to see a series that these two brothers actually want to share with us! They dont want to do it for money or for anything just for the sake of a good story! 

AND THATS WHAT I LIKE!

Oh did I forget to mention that Meta Runner is backed by:  Epic Games

Crunchyroll 

AMD Lastly.... and hold onto your butts...

THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT!!!

You know you hit it big WHEN THE GOVERNMENT BACKS YOUR SERIES!!! Come On you cant help but smile at that! So far the Third Season is being worked on at the moment but no release date at the moment so it could be sometime this year or next year. 

So if you have any plans on watching that I highly recommend giving it a watch. Anyways 

Fuck RWBY Volume 8. Fuck the Canon. Fuck Everything about RWBY!

[bluebeirry]

Humanity in Heroes, Humanity in Villains- everyone’s flawed AF even if Hero Society can go F*** itself

Edit: I had to rename this because I realized my original name was misleading

I’ve seen a lot of thoughtful, well-written posts making very good points about why hero society is broken and is doing the wrong thing by vilifying their ‘villains,’ locking them up and forgetting  about them. I’ve seen a lot about how Tomura Shigaraki and the LoV in particular are natural responses to a broken system. @linkspooky and @waxwingedhawks and @thyandrawrites have a lotta good meta on this.

But… I also wanted to make something about the other side, that accepts that the heroes are flawed, human, and often in the wrong. Maybe a lot of people who already stan the heroes won’t get this, or will misunderstand what I’m going for, but I wanted to put it out anyways for fun and to see if I’m just talking out of my ass.

Here’s the thing. BNHA society as a whole being a villain-making machine that creates new villains, demonizes them, destroys lives, and then benefits from the hero system that only functions because of this destruction? Yes, spill that tea. Heroes doing harm by perpetuating the system? Totally agree.

But Heroes individually being responsible for the monsters created and being justifiable targets of hated? Well, I think it’s more complicated than that.

See, if we look at the hero system as a mirror of real-world capitalism, then the Heroes aren’t the CEOs and the politicians who make up the 1% and keep the world in tatters. They are symptoms of a broken system as much as the villains. They have more agency than the villains, yes, but I don’t think they’re all monsters for failing to see the shortcomings of a society that encourages them not to look too deeply.

First of all there’s the pure fact of what heroes do- they save people.

I don’t have a problem with heroes fighting villains who use their powers in destructive and violent ways. I have a problem with the system then taking those villains and locking them away, instead of trying to help them. But when a man made of slime is holding a 13/14 year old kid hostage, blowing up buildings, and shouting how he’s gonna kill All Might? He needs to be stopped.

In short, I agree with the hero system ONLY so far as the idea of having people who are trained professionals use their skills to protect people and save lives. If people are threatening/taking the lives of other people, I do not have a problem with those people being stopped by violent means- so long as those means do prevent further death.

What I have a problem with is the demonization of human beings, harsh and unforgiving societal reactions, and refusal to acknowledge or examine the circumstances that push human beings into committing crimes.

We see heroes treat villains as the irredeemable scum- and in cases like Overhaul, this is pretty true. But their society also doesn’t encourage heroes to follow-up on anyone they arrest after all is said and done- not once is it even mentioned that a hero plays a role in a villain’s trial, something that real-world cops often are called to do IRL  for the people they’ve arrested. And let’s be honest- it's easier for heroes to beat people senseless and not feel bad about it if they think the villains all deserve it. Acknowledging that doing physical harm to another person may be necessary in order to prevent further physical harm (or even death) from falling on more people is complicated and difficult to accept. I’m sure some heroes are being cowardly when they embrace the idea that villain=evil, while others- like All Might (see below)- don’t seem to have the social and societal awareness outside of their own experiences to realize that they should be following up and helping people. What’s more the idea that anyone should be looking at the cause of villainy is one that’s hard to pick up because it’s so rarely found. Nobody in the media, in the government, in the HPSC, wants people to think about the ethics of Tartarus. Even the Liberation Army doesn’t seem to give two fucks about the ways their society makes and profits off villains. It’s said several times that the world of hero society is a world of ‘repression’- I strongly suspect that anyone who tries to explain to others the flaws in their society gets repressed  and shut up, one way or another, with the only people in power who are aware being the ones that benefit from the system the most and don’t care about the lives destroyed in the process.

Deku says that this is the story of how he became the worlds greatest hero. I can this be the case without dismissing the villains completely- if the world changes how it treats them. If Deku brings about or enters a society where cases like Toga and Twice can be saved without needing to turn to the darkness- where the people Deku defeats and arrests aren’t just locked up for life, but are given brighter futures.

Now some specific cases, just for fun:

All Might:

So I said above that All Might is a good-intentioned person who backs the hero system due to ignorance of how it harms people. Now here is where I break down the psychology of this statement for you. First of all, we know that All Might’s original mission statement as a teenager was to make the world safer so that people would have the courage to do the right thing and make the world a better place- a viewpoint he probably gained from being part of the population that was too terrified to act. It reflects his life experiences. What’s more, we know that the world before All Might was very different from the world after him. It's very possible that his limited viewpoint comes from having an understanding of the world and what it needs that hasn’t changed over the course of his career- even as his career changed what the world needs. It’s not malice or arrogance that leads All Might to support a broken system- it’s lack of societal awareness beyond his own class bracket and lack of awareness of how the world has changed.

All Might may very well have been what society needed at the time when he was a teen. We don’t know what the world was like  back then- we don’t know if he truly was doing the right thing But he failed to make sure that the culture that sprung up in his wake would properly protect everyone as best as it can, and failed to recognize that society had to keepchanging beyond his original vision. It’s like stairs- you need to take each step one at a time, but after you take one step you then have to continue on to the next one. And All Might poured so much of his life into getting past one particular step, he never even realized that there was more steps to be climbed before society could reach the top.

The League of Villains:

See, I agree that the league are all people pushed to their roles by societal rejections, and their actions are a direct repercussion of society’s failures and crimes against them. I can even agree that attacking kids is morally iffy and not 100% morally wrong when those kids are also willingly  learning to become the next generation of soldiers (and later used as child soldiers) enforcing the broken society. I still think child murder is wrong because you cannot reasonably expect 15-year olds who grew up in a society that idolizes heroes to not buy into the propaganda. Plus often they’re being attacked just for being convenient, or for pissing Tomura off- which IMO is not a good reason to try to kill someone.

But all that aside, there are two things the LoV does that I truly believe are reprehensible. While the execution of the PLF raid had severe moral issues involved all over the place, the concept of  taking the PLF and the League down is just because of  two factors:

1. The use of human experimentation to make Nomu as weapons

2. The plan to massacre entire cities- killing millions of people-  as part of the PLF’s grand plan

The second one in particular is to me unambiguously evil. The first one is evil too- but if I put on my villain stan hat I’ve noticed in cannon that we  don’t actually know if the LoV is aware that the Nomu are made from human experiments. They’re called ‘artificial humans’ and apart from Tomura (who was a willing test subject) the LoV don’t seem to play any major role in the creation of Nomu (Shigaraki is said to have ‘designed’ some of the Nomu, but  it’s not clear if that means he actually worked with dead people or just planned the quirk combinations to go into the Nomu or something in between). Point is, Doctor Ujiko is pure evil but I can forgive the LoV if it turns out they didn’t actually know how the Nomu came to be.

But there is no possible way I can see the plan to kill millions as anything less than evil. There are a million better ways to change society- don’t jump into wholesale genocide. Atomic weapons are a last-ditch resort for a reason, and their plan would basically have had the same effect as dropping several atomic bombs on several cities without warning. I don’t think it was right when America bombed Nagasaki after destroying Hiroshima, I don’t think it was right when America made a half-assed attempt at explaining the bomb threat before dropping Little Boy, and the ethics of using nuclear weapons are complicated AF but I honestly don’t believe that the LoV’s plan is right.

Tomura Shigaraki:

In relation to Tomura, we see the heroes demonizing him and calling him an ‘it’ and seeing him as a manchild. All totally wrong. But for the last point… how are they supposed to think anything else? As readers we know Tomura is a traumatized kid, but the heroes don’t know anything about his backstory. Even All Might doesn’t know how Tomura got picked up by All for One, he doesn’t know about the death of the Shimura family.

What they do know is that Tomura is willing to kill children and bystanders to get his way. And to put this on the table- that is not a good thing. I am not pro-murder. If you think killing innocent people for simply being in a mall when a villain and a hero-trainee happen to also be there is acceptable, this post isn’t for you. By now you’ve probably figured that out, and I don’t know why you’re still reading unless you saw Tomura’s name and skipped ahead to this section.

Getting back on track, I don’t think doing such horrific things like attempted cold-blooded murder makes Tomura irredeemable. I agree that he’s traumatized and confused and lashing out. That does not mean he’s innocent, but he’s also not ‘pure evil’ or ‘evil incarnate’ as the heroes believe.

Here, the heroes themselves are definitely doing the wrong thing. Not because they’re trying to stop Tomura, but because they’re treating him- and the Nomu- as non-human. Honestly I preferred when they called him a man-child; at least then they were acknowledging the symptoms of his trauma. They didn’t have enough information to know that these were trauma symptoms as opposed to, say, symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder- with the information the heroes have, either could be possible guesses. But the world is broken when they assume it’s the latter- when they assume the case that casts Tomura in the worst possible light. And then removing his humanity entirely and treating him as a thing- there I have actual beef with the heroes.

Hawks/Takami Keigo:

Now Hawks is suuuper interesting to me, because so far he is the ONLY hero to show any awareness of the broken system. Namely in Twice. But even then, there’s problems- and arguably Hawks is either even worse of a person because of it.

There’s the fact that Hawks only recognizes the humanity and the very valid backstory of the one guy who’s his personal friend- which is blatant favoritism and shows willing blindness towards the trials and suffering anyone who he didn’t try to ‘save.’

Hawks has no desire to re-make or even change the system that he clearly knows hurt and broke a good man down into doing very wrong things. He sees that the system did these things, but he doesn’t think to try to make a lasting change that might not only protect Twice, but protect future victims from following Twice’s path. This is… interesting.

Then there’s the way in which Hawks approached Twice. Now, here I think Hawks was trying to both do a hero’s duty of preventing further future violence, but failed to balance this with his personal attempts to reach Twice as a person and save him as a victim of a broken system. Hawks tried to do both at the same time, and condescended Twice while offering him a way out.

I do not think in any way shape or form that letting Twice go free, or even not apprehending him, was the right thing for Hawks to do. Again, the LoV had two crimes that Hawks knew of that could not be allowed to go through/go on. Stopping Twice was the right thing.

Stopping Twice by throwing him around, taunting him, offering him a choice between betraying his friends and dying, and threatening his life, and ultimately killing him- that is NOT the right thing. I don’t get what Hawks was trying to do, and honestly his behavior really, really confuses me. I don’t know what would’ve been the right thing for him to do- it's a rock and a hard place- but what Hawks did definitely wasn’t the best option he had. It also wasn’t the worst. But killing Twice is still pretty damn close to the worst.

Edit: I also realize in retrospect that I didn’t even cover issues of corruption in the hero ranks, such as Endeavor, and how the popularity/fame aspects helps enforce the failings and corruption of the heroes and their society, or the issues with Quirks being repressed and regulated in anyone not a hero (which ironically contributes to the idolization of heroes)

[fae-redux]

rules of the game: ch. 4 - bury me in memory

Story Summary:

The Evergreen and Imagi were never quite in peacetime. Roman’s just trying to figure out how to survive and succeed his mother. Logan wants to live long enough to use his magic however he wants. Patton is coasting while repressing everything, still trying to figure out what feelings are.

Virgil doesn’t want to change the world.

Luckily, it isn’t up to him.

first | ao3 | prev

Chapter Summary: Virgil might have left it alone if it was just him. He might have let sleeping dogs lie. But, there are fae still in the castle, and any thought he had of being a bystander went out the window.

Word count: 3401

Pairings: future lamp, platonic anxceit

~|~

Dee’s story won’t leave his head and it’s been days. Virgil knows Adelaide. He knew her before he knew himself. His mother told him she was trying to do too many things, but he saw the way she moved. She always gave off the energy that felt like she knew exactly what she was doing.  She’s the whole reason he has any amount of distrust in the fae. It’s just that when she put up the wall, regardless of what his parents said, regardless of what he knew, she sounded so sure.

In comparison to Dee, she’d been much more cagey about her past. Dee had told his story despite his verbal roadblock, signing it out to a total stranger. Despite all the time he spent with Adelaide and her complete distrust of fae, he trusted Dee. Adelaide never said a word about who she was before she married the king. As far as Virgil knows, his father hadn’t even known where she’d come from when Romulus announced his intention to court her.

The queen never told anyone her intentions, never did her dirty work herself, especially if she was sure it wouldn’t come back to haunt her. Her knights carried most of that work. She didn’t see Virgil off. She didn’t give him time to see the king before he left. She insisted he go alone.

She tried to kill him. That much is clear. 

The fact that nags at the back of his mind the most is the way the town was empty. The mission had been clear, a town in danger needed a creature taken care of.

Nellie had been the only one killed in the whole ordeal, all because of a curse, probably performed by one of Adelaide’s more magical minions. He doubts Thomas would have agreed to do the deed, but he’s been the court wizard for longer than Virgil has lived in the castle, long enough that he’s probably the one who cursed Dee. If what he did to Dee was true, then really anything is possible, isn’t it? A bitter taste stays in the back of his throat, as his hands flex, his skin uncomfortably tight around his fingers.

Another thing is there were only so many people who knew where he was going. Yet, against all odds, the thugs seemed to know exactly who he was. Only Adelaide had known where he was going down to the exact location. The king had known but he was hardly in a state to communicate the information to anyone else. 

The knight’s pass being shut just about confirmed what he had tried so hard to deny. Virgil would never be welcomed home.

He wants to storm up the stairs of the castle, march right up to Adelaide and shove his survival in her face. He wants to know if she would get mad, or if she would tell him why. He wants to get past that damn wall.

Clenching his fists, he winces at the phantom pains that tingle across the nerves of his palms. No need to put himself through that again.

Every night he stays with Dee, the thought infiltrates under his skin. 

There is talk in the Evergreen about a deal, from the Queen to Adelaide, and it seems there are already fae celebrating a win. It’s not even like he knows many, just the ones who stop by Dee’s house, congratulating him on finally taking an apprentice, nodding at Virgil and grinning. He just stays with the cats as much as possible, smiling and agreeing when appropriate, going with whatever Dee’s new story is. 

Still, he picks up every rumor he can overhear without looking suspicious. 

Adelaide was heavily pregnant when he left, so he’s fairly certain there would be some kind of celebration when the child finally comes. Visiting fae talk about such gifting ceremonies with something akin to disdain, but some of the more excitable Seelie who visited seemed thrilled at a chance to get into the castle. The temporary truce in the name of new life had been the main subject from what he could understand. While he couldn’t hear all of it, he knew enough to know the wall couldn’t possibly be up if fae were permitted to enter.

If what the other fae say is true, the children would only be another day, and it’s with that thought in mind that he sets out for the iron wall. Adelaide wanted fae at the ceremony to give gifts. He’s willing to oblige her this one last time.

~|~

Adelaide loves her baby. He may not be her firstborn, but he has her green eyes and when he wiggles, she thinks maybe he’s better than anything she’s seen in her life. She’s only had her beautiful child for a day, and every minute she spends with him is better than the previous. 

Romulus is enraptured with the night, staring out the window when she enters his chambers.

“We have such reason for celebration,” Adelaide coos, her baby snuggled to her chest, blinking curiously up at her, “Isn’t he perfect? Don’t you just love our son?”

Romulus lights up at the mention, “Virgil has returned?” He doesn’t even turn to her, and when she blocks his view, frowning, he raises an eyebrow. “Yes, my dear?”

“Our son, not your ward,” Her eyes narrow, but in that moment, Roman giggles and reaches up for her hair, tugging when he manages to get a good grasp. Hissing, she nearly drops the babe, would’ve if it hadn’t been for Romulus’ reflexes, catching him from under her.

“Who is this?” He gazes fondly at Roman stroking his russet hair back off his forehead, laughing as the child makes motions for his beard. Mentally seething, Adelaide reaches for him, but Romulus holds back, “It’s a babe, he doesn’t know what he’s done. No concept of royalty, this one,” He’s gentler with him than he has been with her for some time, despite all the overwriting she’s done.

She doesn’t know whether it should be fitting or not that he doesn’t even remember this child. “Roman is our son,” Keeping her derision out of her tone for now, she adds, “Virgil is not going to return.”

His expression is neutral, but she recognizes the tension around his eyes anywhere. Oh, she so hates when he tries to fight back. “What,” his voice is so serious, like he really thinks he’s accomplishing anything, like he can even be a threat at this point, “Have you done to our ward?”

“Nothing, dear, he isn’t even someone you’ll miss after tonight, with our perfect Roman,” Adelaide makes her smile the one she knows he likes to see, the one he fell in love with organically, “Besides, isn’t he just enchanting? The people are going to love having a proper heir!”

And sometimes she forgets that before he was hers, he was a knight, and before he was magicked, he had people who loved him and people he loved. “Where is Virgil?” He repeats, but this time, he stands, looming over her, a physical presence, and she remembers her family and why she is here and, and, and-

And he sits heavily in his chair again, stumbling, her hand buried in his curls, her baby still safe in his arms. Her tense shoulders release as she looks at the view he seemed so fond of earlier. It’s all for a reason, she reminds herself. Now, she has Roman, and Roman will understand.

Roman makes a noise of confusion when tugging on Romulus’ beard does nothing. He doesn’t know anything now, but he will, eventually.

Sighing, she takes in the glassy look in Romulus’ eyes, picks up her child, and leaves the room.

~|~

It takes him longer than he expects to reach the border. Julep hesitates at the wall, but the north gates are wide open, a rare treat, as this door has always been the entrance closest to the border of the Evergreen. 

His hands tingle as he passes through, and he shoves them deep into the pockets of the jacket he’d borrowed from Dee. The sleeves cover his hands, too long to really be fitting, but they cover up the fact that they don’t stop shaking even as he clutches Julep’s reins. 

The entrance to the castle is decorated nicer than usual, the cobblestone path doused in light from the lanterns lining the streets. It hasn’t looked like this since Adelaide married the king. His father hadn’t been in favor but he and Virgil had laughed on their way back to the manor, the lantern they snuck home (the one they stole) safely in the back of their carriage. His mother had smiled fondly at their antics.

The leather bites into his skin as his grip tightens. He leads her to the crowd of other horses, hiding near the base of the staircase leading to the main doors. Aside at last, he leans his head on her smooth white coat. “Am I doing the right thing?” He whispers into her side. She wuffles at him, backing up and nosing at the side of his head. “I know, but I’m-” A shiver racks his body and he curls into her further despite the warm air, “I’m upset.”

She tosses her head, and moves to get comfortable with the other horses. 

“Right,” he sighs and pulls himself up to his full height. “Right, okay.”

He climbs the stairs before he can talk himself out of it.

~|~

Adelaide’s knights are right where he knows they will be. They crowd around the food tables, laughing and joking together, the perfect replica of the dreams he’s been having of his father’s stories lately. They don’t look like they’re missing a piece. They don’t sound like he’s not there.

It’s the end of spring, and every knight is dressed in outfits with minimal armor, but every knight still wears iron. He spots a dagger or bracelet on most of them, and even though he’s just walking past them, they emphasize the nauseous feeling in his gut when he feels its presence.

The queen herself is dressed to the nines in a dark blue dress that trails behind her whenever she moves. Her red hair is braided back in two long lines down her back, and her child lies in his bassinet close to her. She keeps a dutiful hand on the cradle as guests come and greet her.

He can see that she has foregone her usual iron. Inviting Evergreen fae was a political gesture and he can only assume she was trying not to offend anyone. He can feel other fae in the building, knows that there is at least one on the knights. Briefly, he wonders how he gets around wearing the iron armor, zeroing in on anything that can distract him from the amount of the metal in the room.

Adelaide pulls him out of his distraction with a loud clap that echoes around the room. “Attention, esteemed guests of Imagi, attention! It is time to celebrate this new era of peace within our kingdom, and unite at the gift I have received in the form of a son,” She picks up the child as gently as possible it seems with how slowly she moves, “Look,” Smiling tearfully, she turns him to the crowd, “Look at my son!” 

The crowd cheers and claps at his presence and the little child himself seems to react, waving his arms at all the eyes and encouraging noises directed at him. 

“Soon, we will be joined by any visiting fae, as well as the fae who live within this kingdom, who have so wonderfully renounced their powers in favor of staying here, for our gifting ceremony. I ask you to welcome them during their brief stay,” She smiles as he mouths at his fist, “He deserves everything.” She’s uncharacteristically intense as she finished the sentiment, the whole party silent after her speech. 

Placing him back in the cradle, she lets out a tinkling laugh, sending her guests into another round of cheers, the hall feeling full and fine for a moment.

“Thank you to everyone who has already gotten my prince a gift, and thank you for coming,” She steps back towards her throne, the king smiling with glazed eyes next to her, “Please enjoy the band, dance and be merry!”

As the orchestra starts into another set, Virgil can tell the exact moment the king sees him, his eyes lighting up, finally sincere. “Virgil,” he calls happily. He tries to stand, but Adelaide extends a hand to keep him seated. His eyes stay clear as he beckons him closer instead, and Virgil follows his wish willingly.

Adelaide turns her beady eyes to him, her soft smile turning brittle and insincere. “Virgil,” Her insincerity is clear by her careful neutral tone. “A pleasure.”

Showtime.

~|~

Sitting in her throne, Adelaide wants to look at ease, but she can feel her fingers involuntarily curl and uncurl around the edge of the cradle to her side. Roman looks perfectly happy, but she can’t seem to make herself stop.There’s something strange in the air around Virgil. She can’t focus on the air around him, and he looks almost blurry. 

Still, she bows her head in a show of politeness. “I did not expect you back so soon.” There’s always the chance he doesn’t know, “How was your journey?”

He ponders his response for a moment. “Well enough, Queen Adelaide,” He’s never called her that once in his time around the castle, would never dare say her name. His smile goes sharp around the edges, displaying new, slightly elongated canines. “As well as one can expect, when they get sent to their death, anyways.”

He knows.

“What is it? Are you surprised that I’m here, back at the castle or that I know what you did?” he pulls his top lip back at her pause, slightly reminiscent of her own snarl, “What you planned to do to me?”

Romulus is awake at her side. His lips quirk down as Virgil turns to him, ducking his head.

“Hello, King Cromwell,” Romulus reaches a hand out gently, “I hope you are well, your kingship.” She can feel his gaze on her as Virgil rises. “If you find it amenable, I wish to speak freely.”

“Virgil, you know you may call me Romulus, and you may always speak your mind,” He says, turning his full attention to his ward, and she feels that same dread in the bottom of her stomach that she felt in their rooms, “You know I value your insight.”

“Thank you, your grace,” Adelaide takes a sharp breath as she realizes why she can’t see him properly, “I seem to have come into some information that would benefit you.”

With a snap of her fingers, the party muffles around them, the full waltz turning into a slow turn as time slows around them. “Virgil, I’m sure you don’t-”

“Let the boy speak,” the king interrupts her, shifting comfortably in his seat. He leans on one elbow, his other arm coming down to rest on the armrest of the throne. His white knuckle grip on his throne arm releases as he looks down at Virgil. The child has always been good at negating her magic, now, probably even more so. “Continue, my boy.”

“The queen sent assassins after me, and after I was hunted, she closed the iron wall to prevent my return. Furthermore, I would like to discuss the value of the fae in this court and around the kingdom. I truly believe there might have been an error in judgement when it comes to the persecution of those with fae magic.”

Romulus will believe him. She knows him, his giant heart that trusted Linus and by extension his son, and she knows she’s going to lose if Virgil continues his campaign against her. 

He’s always been more resistant to her magic while Virgil was present. He was like an anchor, keeping him near the surface, keeping him awake, and wished he wouldn’t.

“Do you have proof of this accusation?” Romulus asks, soft as he always is with him.

“I am fae. My word serves as proof enough, but if you’d like further proof, there are more fae, ones in the castle and back in the Evergreen who are willing to speak to you.” Virgil raises his head and meets her eye, a feat he had been incapable of for so long, and she can’t concentrate on the color, the image so vivid but indecipherable. “She could tell you herself, if she would like to speak the truth.”

“I have to do nothing,” Placing a gentle hand on her king’s head, Adelaide takes a moment to revel in the relief that washes over her when he slips back under her thumb, not as easily as he had earlier, but still under, “I don’t want to fight, Virgil.”

He doesn’t budge, “Funny,” the room, still in slowed time, doesn’t see the flash of silver in his hand, “I came looking for a fight.”

“I tried my best. I tried to get you to go quietly. Could you not have just stayed dead?” She doesn’t bother giving him the satisfaction of watching him draw closer. He isn’t a real threat to her. “I kept you alive this long, but you wouldn’t stop asking to see him. He kept waking up.”

A snap of her fingers sends the hall back into full motion, time righting itself to its proper speed.

“What can you do in front of all of them?” Casually, she stands, keeping her fingers twirling a stray curl of Romulus’ around. “Your parents aren’t here to keep you safe anymore.”

“If it weren’t for your shitshow ruling, my dad would still be alive. My mother would still be here.” he shifts his knife away, his frustration clear, “Don’t you dare insult what they went through to put me here.”

“Oh, Virgil, if I had anything to do with their deaths, don’t you think Romulus would have stopped me?” The corners of her mouth quirk up as the king doesn’t even twitch when his name is mentioned. “Virgil, there’s nothing left for you here.”

Virgil seems to melt for a moment, eyes flickering between her and the king, before finally settling on the crib she had walked away from. “There’s one thing left,” he says. Roman blinks sleepily up at her, but in a flash Virgil’s there and she’s too far away. “If you ever treat him like you did me, if you make him think he is not worthy, that he is not loved, if you ever, ever, make him feel less, if you have not fixed your behavior by his twentieth birthday, his gift from me is that he will never have to put up with your bullshit again.”

Roman giggles in his arms, no longer sleepy, reaching chubby fingers towards him as the magic tries to wrap around her, and Virgil smiles at him.

“You will be happy, or she will pay the price with her life.”

The magic that forces its way onto her isn’t magic she recognizes. It’s something that hasn’t been issued for centuries, something she doesn’t know how to fight, and in a panic, she just pushes it away, fingers scrambling over her skin, trying to pry it off.

But it is old magic, and there is a price for denying it.

In the same breath that she is free, she watches in horror as the magic goes to the next available body that will hold it. 

Roman.

Virgil’s fingers feel like ice on her cheek, and she can’t move, she’s in shock, “You will forget my name, and you will forget me,” he says, and she can’t concentrate on his face, she doesn’t even know what he looks like, and she tries, she tries to remember and she can’t. All her work, it’s all gone in one night, her child, her Roman.

“You will remember me,” He tells Romulus, and for a moment, she thinks her king may say the fae’s name, but he doesn’t. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you more.”

And just like that, he’s gone, and she has the pieces of the world fallen down around her as she stares blankly at Roman’s crib.

[zombiesbecrazy]

unusual and uncommon allies

Summary:  Something crashed on Damian’s end of the line, and based on the grunt he heard, Damian had stumbled into something. "Grayson," he gasped out and Tim instantly was paying closer attention. "He's been compromised. He…" The line shot out again and Tim could hear a scream in the background. A familiar one. One that he had heard in the times that Dick had lost his temper and exploded in rage. "He keeps attacking me. I don't know how long I can fend him off. He’s feral."

AO3

It wasn't the first time that the three of them had found themselves in some sort of confrontational standoff. That wasn't new in the slightest - one calm and rational voice trying to calm the other two down from threatening to attack, maim, kill each other. It was embarrassing, really. He was definitely old enough not to get pulled into the situation, and he had to admit that it was getting better, but something about each other just rubbed the other the wrong way and most things just ended in a fight - verbal at best, physically aggressive at worse.

Now they did their best just to avoid each other unless necessary. That was working out just fine.

Until tonight when everything just got turned upside down.

This was the first time that Tim had found himself trying to block Dick from attacking Damian instead of Dick being the one between the younger two.

It had been a standard patrol night up until now with Tim in the south end of the city, looking into a few leads about a drug ring that had begun to pop up when he got interrupted by a breathless voice in his ear. "Drake." Tim could hear footsteps in the background, feet running hard, and the fire of a grappling gun into the air, the familiar sound of the line uncoiling at top speed. "Drake, I need assistance immediately." The coil was retracting again, signaling that it had been a short gap, and he was running again.

"And you’re calling me?" Tim couldn’t remember the last time that Damian had called him, and it was even rarer that it would be in an emergency scenario; Tim would be at the bottom of Damian’s list just as Damian would be at the bottom of his, unless the situation required a snarky short kid with a sword. "Well, that's an interesting change of pace."

Something crashed on Damian’s end of the line, and based on the grunt he heard, Damian had stumbled into something. "Grayson," he gasped out and Tim instantly was paying closer attention. "He's been compromised. He…" The line shot out again and Tim could hear a scream in the background. A familiar one. One that he had heard in the times that Dick had lost his temper and exploded in rage.  "He keeps attacking me. I don't know how long I can fend him off. He’s feral."

“Where are you?” Tim jumped off the landing he was on and rushed to where he had parked his bike on the street, kicking it into gear and tearing off at top speed out of the shipyard lot, weaving between maze of crates.

"I'm headed to the old fairgrounds to lure him away from bystanders."

“I’m close. I’ll be there in five.” Tim hung a right and pushed the bike to it’s limits. “Be ready for maneuver B13.”

Tim’s mind was racing as he raced down the street because he wanted to know what was happening to Dick and why. There was a passing thought that maybe Dick was running a training scenario on Damian, but if there was a chance that it would escalate to something that Damian would feel out of his league and call Tim for assistance, Dick would have gave him the heads up. The more likely option was that he was hit with some sort of hallucinogenic and was confused about who Damian was, but the chase factor was throwing that idea off a bit; most of the time when something like that happened, the victim tended to be distracted easily and wouldn’t follow a particular subject for very long before moving on to something else.

Tim pulled under the entrance arch and shifted forward on his bike. He didn’t know where exactly Damian was, but all he had to do was drive around the structures for Damian to follow B13 and drop onto the bike behind hi…

“That was six minutes Drake,” said Damian the second that he landed on the bike seat, wrapping his arms tight around Tim’s waist. Damain’s tone was normal, sharp with a side of condescension but Tim could feel him breathing hard against his back, muscles shaking with adrenaline and exertion. Tim hazarded a glaze in his review mirror and thought he caught a glimpse of Nightwing’s shadow on a rooftop, not far from where Damian at dropped down from, but they were able to outpace him on the bike. The kid must be exhausted because Dick was fast and almost impossible to outrace on foot.

Pulling into an alleyway, Tim cut the engine and turned to look at Damian. His uniform was torn and he had a cut across his cheek. "What happened?" They needed a plan and in order to do that, Tim needed a better idea to what was going on.

Damian’s mouth twitched, before he shrugged and gestured helplessly. His eyes were shifting quickly from rooftop to rooftop, anxiously trying to track where Dick would come from next, but Tim knew that there was at least a couple of minutes of distance between them. They’d have to move again soon, but they were momentarily safe. "We were patrolling and he got shot with a dart in the neck from an unknown assailant and then he attacked me. Quite possibly a neurological agent."

"Is he just going after you or is he attacking anyone who gets close?"

"I believe it's just me,” sighed Damian and he fiddled with his gloves, as he did when he was nervous and pretended that no one knew that's why he did it. "It’s my birthday next week and I suspect it is a test from Mother. To see if I'm good enough to defeat my mentor yet."

“That is a terrible present.” Damian said nothing, which Tim took as a non verbal agreement. He flipped through their options. “If Dick is after you, let's give him what he wants and then flip the switch." He started up the bike again, surely to attract Dick’s attention to where they were, and headed to the dead end area that the carnival games used to run; where the lights used to be bright and the noise was loud, but now it was just as dark and gloomy as you would expect an abandoned amusement park to be. "Damian, you've just been upgraded to bait."

"I despise being bait."

"And yet you are."

Just as Bruce has contingencies against the League, Tim had them for his own allies. Young Justice. Teen Titans.

And his family.

The secret to fighting Nightwing was to watch his feet and to remember that he tended to go high. Stay low. Stay on the balls of your feet. Get ready to dive. Aim for where he's going, not where he is. But the problem was that Dick knew all of that too which meant they had to do what he wouldn't expect them to do.

Damian and Tim climbed off the bike, eyes to the rooftops, watching until Tim caught sight of the black and blue shadow. He extended his staff and shifted slightly forward into a ready position.

"He’s here,” whispered Tim, keeping as still as possible, eyes studying the spot he had saw Dick lurking from. “Nightwing. You don’t want to do this," he called out, hoping that it was something simple to break the control. It had happened once, something that Ivy had concocted had been cancelled out if someone had the decency to ask them to stop. It wasn't the craziest thing that had happened.

Dick gave no indication that he heard Tim, only got closer to the edge of the building, eyes following Damian’s every molecule with hyper focused interested. Politeness was apparently not the solution to this problem.

He had an idea. Damian was going to hate it.

“Robin, run away." Tim gritted out, hoping that the use of his codename was trigger something in Damian to follow the order, even if it was coming from Tim and not Dick or Bruce.

"What?" hissed Damian.

"Run. He wouldn't expect you to run and hide, not when you can stand and fight, either to stop him or protect him. You'd never do that, especially with me here. Run. Find somewhere to hide up high. He'd expect you to go low to avoid him, so go high. I’ll distract him. Call B.” Damian hesitated, and Tim was just waiting for him to argue with him, refusing to take the orders, when Dick dropped down until the alley, and started stalking towards them, twirling his sparking escrima sticks, electricity already flowing through them.

Dick lunged around Tim, seemingly not even noticing that he was there, grabbing for Damian’s cape, and Damian finally took off, shooting his grapple up onto the roof. At the same second, Tim tackled Dick around the waist, momentum throwing them to the ground, hopefully giving Damian an opportunity to escape, or at least a head start if Tim didn’t manage to subdue him.

Dick scrambled to his feet again and tried to start to chase Damian again. Tim had no idea what he was going to do. He had never had to go all out against Dick, had never really considered what would happen if they had to face head to head, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t have theories. He tried to sweep his leg, try to knock Dick off his feet, when he realized that Dick really didn’t care in the slightest that Tim was fighting him. He was allowing himself to be hit, completely ignoring Tim’s actions; all he did was try to keep following Damian. Whatever they had hit him with was absolutely objective based. He needed to attack Damian and nothing else mattered to him. That was both good and bad; it made him sloppy and but it also made him even more unpredictable and it was hard to distract him from his target.

Tim kept jumping in front of him, blocking his path in the direction that Damian had taken off in, matching him blow for blow as Dick fought to get past, treating Tim as an inanimate object, the same way that he would a wall, trying to climb over, run up, smash through without any sort of focused reasoning. Tim managed to knock one of the sticks free from Dick’s grasp, clattering to the pavement below, and Dick didn’t really notice that it wasn’t in his hand anymore, still swinging as if it was.

It was sort of like fighting a drunk person. A drunk person with a deadly set of skills who was black out drunk.

Dick spun around, trying to find a way around Tim another way, trying to find a better way to follow Damian, when Tim saw it; a red glow flashing in Dick’s neck, under the skin. It wasn’t a poison. It was a transmitter. He was being hijacked. Maybe they didn’t need to fight. Maybe all they needed to do was cut off the signal of whatever was under his skin.

It gave him an idea.

It was a risk, but it was the only thing that Tim could think of. He turned his back on Dick and dove at the fallen stick to grab it. Dick took the chance to run, and was already climbing up the building, but Tim was ready for that. He pulled out his grapple gun and shot at Dick’s ankle, cord flying at top speed and wrapping around the leg. Dick yelped at the contact and Tim retracted hard, pulling Dick off the building at high velocity. He hit the ground flat on his back with a loud smack that sounded like it hurt, and Tim pounced on the struggling Nightwing.

“Sorry, Dick,” Tim mumbled, and jabbed Dick in the neck with the electrified end of the stick, Dick’s body flinching hard but the red light on his neck blinked and went out.

Tim was breathing hard, watching Dick’s chest rise and fall as he waited to see what would happen next. He couldn’t believe that he had done that. He had electrocuted Dick. He could have killed him. He could have...

“T-tim?” rasped Dick. “You’re ok-kay? D’mian? Did I h’rt ‘im?”

“You remember?” Tim rushed to check him over. His pulse was fast and thready, eyes dilated and confused, but he seemed to be himself again which was better than nothing.

“Yeah.” Dick coughed. “C-couldn’t do anything. Thank you. St-topped me.” Tim held his hand tight, but Dick suddenly yelped in pain, eyes wide and brought his hand up to his neck, where the tracker had been. Where the same tracker was starting to blink again. Tim had stopped it with the shock, but it was starting up again, apparently only shorted out momentarily, but the signal was back. Dick couldn’t take another shock, not so soon without risking permanent damage. Tim was struggling to think of a next move when Dick tightened his grip and stared at him hard, clearly struggling to hold on to control, to fight the tracker’s control over his mind.

"Tim." He squeezed his eyes tight and sucked in a sharp breath. "I can't fight it. It's…" Dick groaned in pain, clutching his head, pulling at his hair. Trying to distract himself anyway that he could to stop him from hunting Damian again. "Knock me out,” he spit out, and Tim tried to not react when he saw blood start to leak out of his ear and from his eyes under the mask. Whatever the effort of fighting the control of the tracker was doing to him wasn’t good. It was going to kill him if he kept fighting it. "Tie me up. N...now."

Tim didn’t need to be told twice. He hit Dick in the temple with the end of his bo staff, right in the perfect spot, the one he knew would incapacitate someone if hit just right, and Dick went out like a light, just as the light in his neck changed to a solid red. He quickly pulled out all of his restraints and tied Dick to a lamp post.

He did it. He sort of hated that he did, but he did it.

“Timothy?” Damian dropped down beside him, landing quietly on his feet. He couldn’t have gone too far, and Tim couldn’t be sure if he had actually gone to hide at all, but it didn’t matter now. He looked at Dick, at the tracker in his neck, shoulders tight and rigid, trying to cover his fear and worry with a faux confidence that didn’t fool Tim for a second. “Is he alright?”

“No, but he will be.” Tim sat on the ground across from where he had tied Dick up, and motioned for Damian to join him. He expected a fight, but to his surprise, Damian sat down, leaning against his shoulder, eyes trained on Dick, knowing that if he woke up, he’d have to be ready regardless of the restraints.. “Let’s wait for B.”

They both waited in silence, leaning against each other for support, neither of them mentioning the tears streaking down the others cheeks as they kept watch on their big brother.

[2ofswords]

Alexander Block ^^

Our dear Commander! This is going to be interesting, because I think he is pretty ambivalent in his role. Also I have to disclaim: I have not yet played the Changeling Route, so there probably is some information lacking. I will try my best though!

their biggest strength

All in all I wouldn’t say that we really see the General at his best here. Well… depending what kind of best we are talking about but the military at that point of the outbreak is pretty much useless unless for the ending itself and Block has no real way to handle the situation and it is really hard to pick a direct strength, because… well… he is not showing as many in a situation that really confines him. He looses control pretty quickly and almost becomes a bystander relying on other peoples judgement calls in both games. So I kind of cannot really judge him by his speciality (which would be how he handles the military but… you know… we don’t really see that) and also not by what his character strengths in general are, because he is just so out of his element that he has a very small time to react on his own and show strength. For example, I have no real idea about his skills as a tactician even if they could probably be real^ly good just by the merits of being a successful general. So direct skills like these kind of fall apart here) What I can do though is judge the way he holds himself up in the narrative and where he has the greatest and most positive impact. And I think his sense of justice is his biggest strength here and perhaps still stands strong disregarding the fact that my perception of his strength feels a bit limited. But while creating a mess at the last days of the game his flat out refusal to destroy everything is his biggest and most impactful choice in the game and the way he actually archives some form of agency, even if it puts him in a passive position for the rest of the game because he has no own reason to spare or don’t spare different things. This also kind of works in both games and also explains why Aglaya states fearing him specifically. Her words “hero of the people” elude to him being kind of popular but also having some sort of heroism. And even her naming him a “genius” kind of plays into what I am calling his sense of justice when she denies herself being a genius by calling herself a “machine”. While Aglaya acts according to her set parameters and goals even while actively fighting her fate, Blocks first move is actively denying set parameters and I think this is his biggest strength and what upsets the whole status quo in the first place. (It is also why he bonds with the Changeling who is all about finding a different miraculous outcome that straight up denies the dilemma.) And I would say this happens by him actively saying “No. This way isn’t right, and I will not act according to it.” Of course, he makes kind of bad judgement calls as well. The whole bone stake lot disaster happens by his orders after all and the way he handles the mutiny seems pretty messy. This is more about the concept of morality and less about judgement calls in specific situations. But his fame and the way he seems to be actively dangerous to the powers that be seems to come out of a strong sense of justice and the willingness and bravery to follow through with it, which is definitely something few people would archive.

their greatest weakness

I was thinking about writing his dependence on other peoples opinions here, but I am still not quite sure about that one. First there are instances in the first game where he does act pretty immediately and second we already discussed how this is kind of a good thing and while his “I don’t know, just tell me what to do” kind o frustrates me, we should know that authorities listening to medical experts may not really be the worst one can do… So I do not feel got to choose that one, even if I think he stays really passive while he stays but on the other hand I have no real idea, what he could and should do in the first place. As I said his own options are pretty limited. Maybe not burning people alive would be a good start… Hm… To me he feels absolutely clueless. He is even more out of it than Daniil who at least arrives before the disaster starts and gets a small town crash course. He just arrives in the midst of disaster, in Patho1 there is an elaborate murder scheme… thing planed behind his back that he just kind of shrugs away and he still orders the bull being burned because of the Bachelor’s words (and that guy in general talks a lot of bullshit that Block just kind of accepts. Which… as I said listening to experts is kind of good but mayyybe get like a second opinion? The changeling is standing right next to you, it’s fine you can talk to her! She knows better anyways, believe me…). He just doesn’t know what the hell is going on and I think this is his main problem and the actual reason he stays this passive and kind of just does what he is being told is logical at this very moment. Or you know… just gets locked up (maybe?) and then released again to just fuck of because he has no idea what the fuck he should be doing about this situation. He kind of tries to talk to the different healers and in Patho 2 he seems a bit more adamant about it but we have yet to see because the Haruspex has almost no interaction with him. And again I think most about it happens because he arrives at a time, where everything already escalated and the mess is so convoluted that I have no idea how he should even see through it. But in the situation this lack of knowledge kind of leads to him being used by kind of everyone to manipulate the outcome of the outbreak and him having no say in it aside from not wanting to murder everyone.

a headcanon about their childhood

I cannot imagine Block as a child for some reason. He just gets… smaller. It’s said that he is very young for his position and that leads me to believe that he is part of a military family… He seems like a person who doesn’t really know anything besides the front and his duties in the military and he seems to be a bit awkward about handling something that isn’t that… Or he might be the second or third child of a family where the parents were like “just go to the military can’t have our business” and he always kind of prepared for that. That would also make him being this sudden shooting star who climbed the ranks a bit more spectacular. Anyways no cute headcanons for Block. He just was always a military man, I am afraid… But I think it fits his angst of desperately wanting something good and human to happen in his life.  

a headcanon about their future (if they have one)

Firstly out of all the people sent by the powers that be I think Block is the most likely to survive the whole disaster and escape relatively unscathed. Even with going against his initial orders he kind of washes his hands off of it pretty effectively and with a war going on he still seems needed enough (and I guess pretty easy to dispose) after the plague happened. How his future turns out depends on the question, if Clara will leave town with him or stay and I actually do simply not know about the outcome there. I think he will just stay at the front and be on his way again, if she stays in town but I do not think, he would be irresponsibly enough to carry a child to the front, even if she is a miraculous saint. So he will probably go back to the capital and strategize and hold up appearances there and basically do exactly what the powers that be feared in the first place. Also I want to imagine that at one point he meets up with some fellow generals that he really hates and Clara advises him with a really elaborate, clever and very childish prank that involves great things like tying shoelaces together. It’s a good evening.

a small detail/scene that leaves a great impact

Hm… I wish I had his appearance in Patho 1 more in mind but I was really stressed out while playing the last days and without using any guide I also missed quite a few side quests (for example I never visited all participants of the whole Block murder thing on day 9)… So there are a lot of details that escape me right now. The scene that for me leaves the greatest impact and was also my first impression was the very first cathedral scene at the beginning of Patho 2. I think that interaction is pretty neat. Of course refusing to spare the town is a pretty horrible thing to do and say and after seeing what the army did the impression of their leader cannot possibly be a very positive one but on the other hand it feels like he genuinely wanted to give you a shot at convincing him and he rather mourns not having the means to stop the plague which… you know, they do not have at this timelime and even while I agree with Artemy that there obviously wasn’t enough time in the first place… after the twelve days there aren’t that many people to save, time IS running out (there are around 15000 people in town (the 5000 in the Termitary make up a third of the population according to Young Vlad) and in Patho 2 after ten days there are over 13000 total deaths. So… not that many people left on day 12… I don’t know the numbers in Patho 1 though…), so not having a solution right now becomes a big problem in the general’s eyes. It is still a cruel decision and one I would definitely disagree with, but… with being responsible to your own troupes, letting your own people die when you see something as a lost course… It’s still a hard decision and he seems mournful about the outcome… So he stands for and does very problematic things but is introduced in his humanity and suffering over his own obligation. I think this early and pretty short conversation establishes him exceptionally well as well as some very important themes that will haunt us through the entire game.

their philosophy/worldview (or part of it) described in one neat little sentence

Luckily there is an entire theatre play dedicated to explaining his worldview and stance in this whole play. So how about “Protecting something means to attack the right thing at the right time.” Pretty much summarizes his entire dilemma in the game and shows a destructive stance and course of action, while also wondering about what really is the right course of action and showing his desire, to actually help and protect.

[theorynexus]

Time to Continue with part 83!

Dave is correct. Such matters are never simple. The ways of the heart are extremely complex, and while it wants what it wants, whether it has the heart to actually go through with whatever that is is an entirely different matter altogether. But that, and the wonderful weird silliness aside, I believe Dave was suggesting that there was more to it insofar as there are other factors than just his own “gay awakening” involved with the current difficulties. We shall see just what they are, and how much they have to do with Jade... now.

100% on the money. I am not sure that technically qualifies as incestuous, though, my man.   I am also not 100% sure that you are correct in this matter, other than the fact that it may make her rambunctious and more confident that she is playing a successful role as whatever strange matchmaking hate girlfriend she envisions herself as.  (Not that I don’t think that humans could successfully play the part of a kismesis; rather, I am simply nooot sure Jade is actually doing well at it, or that she has quite the “stuff” for it, at this point. We’ll see.)

***laughs hysterically at this wonderful awkwardness***

That she has.  And honestly, from a Trollish lens, it would seem that she’s had the “hots” for Karkat’s black concupiscent quadrant for quite some time, as well.  (Man, that is sortof weird of her, to go out of her way to exclaim that to John... .    Especially with the distance between her and accomplishing that goal. You’d think she’d at least want to get them to show some interest before doing that.  Does seem very puppy-like of her, though. Hmm~)

Honestly, John is right in that thought.  Mind you, trying might not be the worst idea in ideal circumstances (because at least he could say he tried, and it wasn’t working out for him; thus hopefully become able to get Jade not to push further, and salvage the friendships of everyone involved), but at this point, it’s honestly a great big gamble for Dave. He doesn’t have much romantic experience, and he’s not really sure 100% what he wants.  Not only that, he clearly feels pressured and uncertain with regards to the matter, and that is not a good point to embark on any relationship.  It leaves the door open for all kinds of potential abuse, because things aren’t starting out with firmly established boundaries and the necessary mutual respect for the desires of each person involved upon which all healthy romances are founded.  If it were me, I would most certainly advise against Dave bending to the pressure from Jade like this. If she wanted to make a potential situation between the three of them work out, Jade needs to understand that patience will need to be involved. She’s immortal, Dave’s immortal, and while Karkat may not be, they do have quite a bit of time before they’ll have to worry about him aging too much to make it work, I’m sure.  This is simply a horrible mistake from all parties involved, if it’s going to swing into effect as things are now.   Of course, mistakes do not have to be totally damning, and learning from them is necessary for growth, so... we’ll see how things work out.

...  I guess Megalodon MIGHT have technically been classified as a paleolithic megafauna, technically, though its existence mostly extended much further back.   I do appreciate his continued enthusiasm about paleontology, though, and I understand that his metaphors can get convoluted and distracted, though.  On that note?:   Is that reference to the Meg supposed to be an association with Karkat’s mouth, and how his teeth are apparently quite disorganized, sometimes sticking out of said mouth when it’s supposed to be shut?   I mean, that DOES give a bit of a shark-like image.  To be fair, though: no. It was to eat whales, not other sharks. Big Game Hunter. (I really do appreciate the double meaning of his last line of the above quote.  His uncertainty and circuitous path through the conversation really does show how anxious love can make a person, especially when things are rocky.)

I don’t necessarily think that that is correct---   that is to say, I am not sure that e actually was “leading her on” by dodging the issue for so long.  This would require him to imply he did in fact have that same sort of desires as her, or at least that he was willing to reciprocate.  Based on what we’ve seen, at the very least, I am not sure that he has actually done that. (Man, it must have been weird for Game Over Continuity!Dave to see Davepeta once they joined the fight--- to know on some level that he could sense something familiar, there, but to have no idea what the heck was going on with them~) That said... no. I’m not certain that even if he had been leading her on (that is to say, showing interest, but never committing), he would actually owe it to her unless he had been using that to exploit her in some way.  Particularly, if this was done because he was uncertain if he’d be able to go through with anything, and then he then decided/will have decided to just tell her he’s not interested, I don’t think that this would be wrong at all.  Certainly, she’d have good reason to be upset, but while she’d have lost a significant deal of time, at least he’d be being true to himself instead of potentially doing her, himself, and Karkat greater harm by forcing himself into something that has a good chance of failure+painful consequences. Sorry if this seems overly negative. It’s just... these are not the ideal circumstances, and honestly it’s sortof making me uncomfortable.

(H3H3H3~)    Dangit, that “ghosted” business is sortof painful, given the natural association with John’s death in the Meat Epilogue. @w@ I am not 100% sure John’s mind is fully realizing the implied 3 person relationship that is being talked about as a potential possibility, by the way. With the way he’s talking, it makes it sound like he’s saying to use the coin to choose Karkat or Jade, rather than yea or nay to a situation with both of them.   Particularly with the reference to his logic, and the “same chance” business. Either that, or John is sortof wishy-washy and weird, and is in fact not keeping a constant goal/argument/side as he proceeds in this conversation.

It’s beautiful to see Dave suddenly becoming confident, now that it’s in his wheelhouse.   And sortof awkward and sad, seeing John flail about like this.  But he’s always been that sort of silly jokester, so I will embrace this and accept it.

It’s funny how one can get these intuitions about things, yet be unable to properly explain them, at times.   Of course, this rarely happens to me, because I’m a bit of a windbag (joke at Egbert’s expense), and am willing to look up words that may or may not fit in order to help me organize my thoughts, but it *is* certainly a phenomenon which I am familiar with.  Particularly, in the context of attempting to make connections with others, by which they may or may not latch onto and be able to infer the true meaning you’re trying to get at.

... Yeah, that is definitely one of the things being a friend is all about.  And sadly... I think Dave is right.  He probably does need to talk to Dirk.  Not that it is likely to do all that much good. Dirk’s not all that great, as far as Heart players go, and as a brother, he’s been remarkably distant with Dave, but... well, it somehow seems right, even if it’s something dreadful and somewhat repulsive.  Given that Dave is having a hard time figuring this matter out, and he’s not able to properly latch on to John’s nonsense, this is probably the best option.

I mean, it got Caliborn out of a particularly nasty bind, one time.  ;D

Yeah...  I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that “cracked” will apply to all situations, but having someone who knows and understands you-- how vibrates on the same wave-length, you might say --is absolutely necessary for some issues.

This is incredibly silly. I don’t think that is appropriate on the part of the proprietor, all things considered.  Moreover, it strikes me as curious insofar as I don’t think anyone ever came to try and help them order?    I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t understand how the fanciest restaurants work.  Or something might have happened while John was gone.  Them noticing he was gone probably had something to do with it, but... still pretty ridiculous, regardless.  I mean, who even kicks out a pair of gods? XD

(Super cute.)

How very true.   Time is something difficult to properly hold onto even in the best of times. That one is unequipped to do something that might make a difference does not necessarily mean it’s your fault that bad things happened. For example: one should not blame terrified bystanders for not mobbing a lone gunman in a mass shooting and forcibly stopping them before anything can happen, or at least partway through.  At times, life will present you with barriers of that sort that are almost impossible to overcome, and one has to think of what can be done for the future, rather than dwelling on the past. Of course, the cataclysm is in Dave’s future at this moment, and John could technically do a whole lot of other things to make events work out; yet as the narrative subtly suggests, while the possibility technically exists, it may not be something that is feasible--- for not only is Gamzee’s presence passively screwing with everything, now (and in particular, messing with characters’ abilities to make important choices well, probably), but there is the issue of the narrator potentially manipulating things, as well.  ��If they are being subtle enough, rather than trying to force certain actions like Dirk did at certain points, it is difficult to oppose such a being’s control. Man, I wish I knew for certain who was doing said narration, right now.

>:

[jamesbuchananxsteviegrant]

Not So Safe Haven | Bucky x Steve x Reader (Angst, Fluff)

Category: Angst, Fluff (Suggested) Age: 15+ Trigger Warnings: Gun violence, hostage, threatening/blackmailing with weapon, physical violence Ship: Bucky x Steve x Reader Summary: Someone Breaks Into Stark Tower And Uses Reader As Hostage Request: “Concept: reader works at stark tower as tonys assistant and is dating stucky. When someone from tonys past storms into the building, crazed and armed, y/n is the first person he sees. He uses her as a human shield and tries to make her take him to tony whilst inconspicuously holding a gun to her so nobody catches on. Except one of our sweet angel boys notices the look of terror behind her eyes and catches on to her hinting. Cue angsty stand-off with reader caught in the middle” Contains Spoilers for: N/A Word Count: 1,665

---

“Excuse me, Miss.” A masculine voice calls, catching the woman’s attention. She spins around from her position at the elevators, waiting for them to come down to the reception floor.

“Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you?” (Y/N) responds, naturally holding the papers in her hands up against her chest as they show confidential information.

“Yeah, possibly. You’re (Y/N), right? One of the Avengers. I’m looking for Tony Stark?” The man explains, tilting his head in question.

“If you’d like to see Mister Stark then you’ll have to ask the reception desk to contact his assistant for you and they’ll schedule you in a meeting and get back to you as soon as possible, sir. Does that help?” Her smile doesn’t fade, the last thing she expecting is for this to take a horrid turn.

She’s had this conversation many times. People asking to see Tony and she simply tells them the procedure and they comply, but this guy wasn’t asking. He was demanding her. She realises that when she feels metal pressed up against her side. Her entire body tenses up and her eyes snap up to meet his.

“I said: I’m looking for Tony Stark. Have I made myself clear?” He repeats, raising a brow as she glances around, daring her to speak. “Trust me, I’ve got three rounds in here and I will use all three on you if you even try.”

(Y/N) visibly gulps and nods.

“Good. Let’s go.” He says as the elevator dings and the doors open.

What kills the woman is the number of people who get in the elevator with her at a number of different floors. She remains unable to say a thing as the gun remains firmly pressed against her body, to any bystander it merely looks like a hand resting on her back.

“This way.” She whispers as they exit the elevator.

Fortunately - or unfortunately, (Y/N) still unsure - the woman knows that in order to get to Tony’s main office - where he’ll be right now with Pepper - she has to pass by the four conference rooms. One of which is where her two lovers are in a mission briefing. The glass walls being an advantage.

She slows down her pace discretely and glances to her left, meeting Steve’s gaze as he smiles gently at her. What makes him suddenly frown is the desperate, pleading, scared look in her eyes as she looks back at him. That’s when he furrows his brows. Looks at the man she’s walking with, analysing his entire body, and then he notices the position of his hands. Steve can’t see what the exact contact is, but he can take a good guess.

The man jumps up out of his seat and yanks the door of the conference room open as (Y/N) was just passing it. She pauses and sees Bucky coming up behind him as well, also with furrowed brows.

“Captain. Sergeant.” (Y/N) greets, her voice absolutely trembling.

Buck instantly tenses up, his metal arm whirring at the sound of her distress yet so unsure as to why. The man beside her probably involved

“(Y/N), you’re due in this meeting.” Steve attempts to make something up, trying to get the man beside her to back-off, yet he only shoves the metal harder into her back.

Hey eyes snap shut and it sends the super soldiers into a panic. They know.

“She’s helping me out right now.” The gentleman states.

Bucky turns to look at Nat who’s sat in the room and gives her a look. A look that says help. She nods and instantly asks Friday, as quietly as she can, to get all the team up to this corridor.

“What is it you’re after, sir?” Steve asks, trying to keep his cool, Bucky’s arm resting on his lower back helping.

“She’s taking me to Stark. It’s urgent. Now, we really need to go.” The man’s words are followed by him shoving the metal into her again and she reluctantly begins walking away, only making it two steps before she is stopped by two people.

Clint and Wanda.

“Sir, I’m happy to take you to Mister Stark. Miss (L/N) here is required in that meeting, and as you can imagine it’s rather important.” The archer offers.

The man knows he’s fucked at this point but he’s not leaving this building without what he came here for. He’s too close now. Acting fast, one arm wraps firmly around the woman’s throat as the other holds the gun to her temple. turning so he’s facing all of them. Clint, Wanda, Steve, Bucky, Nat and Scott who was in the meeting.

“Bring me Stark and the girl doesn’t get hurt.”

A whimper ripples out of the woman’s mouth at his actions and she meets Steve and Bucky’s traumatised stares.

“Put the gun down and we’ll take you to Stark.” Clint attempts once more but the man growls and shakes the body in his hands, tears filling her eyes.

“I’m not fuckin’ stupid! To hell you will!” He hisses, cocking the weapon.

(Y/N)’s mouth drops open and her lips tremble as she tries not to panic. She’s a God damn Avenger and could take on the entire world alone but she’s never been so scared in her life until now.

“Drop the gun.” Bucky warns, the man smirking.

“Oh, yeah, you two are this bitch’s boyfriends, right?” He laughs, watching the duo’s muscles flex as they tense, furious yet scared.

“Let her go. Nobody needs to get hurt. You can see Tony, that’s fine, just let her go.” Steve attempts, but the warning shot that the man fires on the wall beside his head shuts him up, Bucky yanking him aside just in case.

“I’m getting more satisfaction out of seeing the Avengers at my God damn mercy.”

“You’ve got some nerve coming into my tower and threatening my people.” Tony’s voice speaks up as he strides down the hallway.

“Ah, Mister Stark, a pleasure.”

“You know this man, Tony?” Steve asks, watching the man raise a brow at the blond as if to ask if he’d really associate with a dickhead like him.

“No. I don’t.” He confirms. “What do you want?” His eyes are glaring at the man.

Meanwhile, (Y/N) meets Steve and Bucky’s gaze.

You’re okay.

Steve mimes the words to her and she daren’t move her head to acknowledge them. She manages a trembling smile at best.

I love you.

She mimes it to both the men and it pulls on their hearts. Bucky hates it because of the look in her eyes as she conveys her message. She’s saying goodbye. He shakes his head and she simply smiles again.

It’s suddenly all over as quickly as it started as metal flies through the air and knocks the man’s head, side on, knocking him straight out, gun dropping to the floor, along with the girl.

“(Y/N)!” Both Steve and Bucky call, diving toward their girl as Thor calls back his hammer.

“Good man.” Tony nods the to God who simply nods.

“Who is this peasant?”

“Not a clue, but get the police in-“

“Already done.” Pepper’s voice greets, prompting the man to spin around and see his woman walking toward him with police alongside.

“You’re good, aren’t you?” He grins, watching her smile and shake her head.

“You’re okay, sweetheart, you’re okay.” Steve’s voice mutters, pulling the woman into his and Bucky’s embrace on the ground.

She’s trembling and tears are falling but she nods, gripping onto their hands with one of her own in each.

“Are you alright, (Y/N)?” Nat asks, stood beside the trio.

(Y/N) glances up and forces a smile, nodding.

“Yeah. Was just a bit…”

Everyone nods.

“We get it.” Wanda smiles in understanding.

“Thanks, Thor.” (Y/N) whispers, giving a shaky smile up at the man who nods.

“Of course.”

“Can the briefing wait?” Bucky asks, glancing up at Nat who was leading the meeting. She nods.

“I’ll tell Fury to postpone.” She confirms, receiving an appreciative nod from the man.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs.” He adds in a whisper to Steve and (Y/N) who both nod. “You got her?”

“Yeah.” Cap whispers, lifting her up, bridal style.

They don’t speak until they’re back in their room, Steve sitting himself down on the bed with (Y/N) in his lap, Bucky crouching in front of them.

“You’re okay, doll. You’re okay.” The brunet whispers, taking one of her trembling hands in his. She grips onto it as if one of her only lifelines.

“We’ve got you, sweetheart.” Steve adds, one arm wrapped around her, holding her on his lap whilst the other strokes patterns on her back.

She nods and keeps her head against the Captain’s chest, listening to his regular heartbeat whilst her eyes lock onto Bucky’s as he smiles up at her.

“I’ve genuinely never been so scared.” She whispers, Buck tightening his grip on her hand. “It’s stupid. I can fight HYDRA yet was scared of a pathetic citizen with a gun.”

“No. It’s not pathetic. There’s a difference. You go onto a battlefield with HYDRA knowing what you’re dealing with and being fully aware of the risks. That bastard put your life on the line in the comfort of your home where your safety is. You see this tower as your haven and we know that. The fact that you were so close to death inside this building that is your bubble of safety is what scared you and it makes sense. It scared us as well, doll, you have no idea.” The Winter Soldier explains, leaning down to kiss her knuckles.

“Tony’s gonna up the security. If it means having checks over everyone who walks through the reception main doors then so be it. I’m not risking that again.” Steve adds, kissing her hair. “I love you so much, sweetheart. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“I love you too.” She whispers, her words directed at both men.

[out-of-this-town]

The will to protect

Inuyasha AU, InuKag, romance & adventure

Before dying, Kikyo ties Inuyasha’s life to her little sister, Kagome, in order to ensure her safety.

Inuyasha is not too pleased about getting dragged into this mess and demands that Kagome undo the spell. Unfortunately for him, she has no idea how to do that. As danger draws near, Inuyasha has to find the willingness to keep Kagome out of harm’s way as Kagome tries to find a way to release Inuyasha from the spell.

Chapter 2 (ao3) (ff)

Kagome woke slowly, and for one blissful moment, she didn’t remember why she had fainted in the first place. But when she saw the silver hair and dog ears, it all came flooding back.

Her sister was truly dead. Killed by that monster. No longer could Kagome doubt the stranger’s words, she felt it in her very soul. She knew that only Naraku could have taken down Kikyo. He had tried so many times before and this time he had finally succeeded in his hellish goal.

Kagome felt like she couldn’t breath. The only reason she wasn’t crying, was that she didn’t wish to do it in front of the jerk hovering over her.

She swatted her hand at him, trying to shoo him away so she could sit up. He scowled at her, but wasted no time moving back.

“Why are you still here?”

“Did you forget what I said? Your dumb sister cursed me and you have to undo it,” the demon growled.

“I don’t have to do anything for you. And did you forget what I said? Even if I wanted to -and I don’t, I can’t undo curses. That was Kikyo’s thing,” Kagome snapped back. “And what the hell did you say to my dying sister to get her to use her last strengths on casting a curse?”

“Well you’d better learn how, because if you don’t I will make you regret it.”

They stared at each other for a moment, Kagome wondering where she had dropped her arrow. She wanted to stab him.

“And like I said: I. Didn’t. Do. A. Thing,” the demon went on. “Saw her bleeding on the ground, went to go past her and after Naraku, she called me over, I didn’t know what a fucking lunatic she was so I went, she cursed me and now her sister is going to undo it or I swear to the gods, I will tear your village apart,” he ended with a show of his teeth.

Oh, he was definitely well on his way to earning himself a stabbing.

With trembling feet, Kagome stood up, eyes never leaving the demon. “Leave. Now. I have better things to do than fight you.” Like tell the villagers their most skilled priestess and best hope for protection was dead. Fun times ahead.

“No. I hate to repeat myself, but I ain’t going nowhere until you release me from the shit Kikyo did.”

“You do know I’m a priestess too, right? I could very easily kill you,” Kagome growled as she collected her bow and arrows off the ground.

“So why haven’t you?” He sounded so smug and sure of himself. She really, really, really wanted to stab him.

The reason she didn’t was the same as why she hadn’t already used her powers to drive him off -her feelings were too unstable at the moment, her body weak from the shock of the news. Hands shaking too badly to even aim her bow.

A priestess needed to be calm and in control to use the divine powers. Things that Kagome sure as hell wasn’t right now. She couldn’t even remember the simplest of protection spells with the way her thoughts were running around. And while Kagomw wasn’t as powerful as Kikyo, on a normal day she could have created a protective aura strong enough to spook this intruder off for the rest of the day. She could have shot him with a purifying arrow on any other day. But not today, because today her sister was dead and Kagome didn’t remember how to breath.

“You all right?” Her eyes snapped up to the blurry red figure. 

Why couldn’t she see? Were these tears? Or was she going to faint again? Why did her chest hurt? She didn’t find her voice in order to answer him, to tell him that she was fine.

“Don’t go fainting on me again. If you do, I’ll dump you in the river,” his words were harsh, but there was a gentleness to his voice. And then he was next to her, his hand holding her arm and making sure she didn’t fall. “You gotta breath, you idiot.”

And she tried, she really did, she just couldn’t feel any air in her lungs. Kikyo didn’t have any air in her lungs ether.

Where was her body? Had she been left where she died to be eaten by animals and demons? Had humans found her and dumped the body in some nameless grave from where Kagome would never find her in order to pay her respects? Gods, the thought pained her. One of the greatest priestesses, her sister, rotting away in a demon’s gut or a shallow grave.

“In. You got to breath in.” Sharp claws took a hold of her jaw and tilted her head up. All she could see clearly was the golden glow of his eyes. He shook her head gently and took a loud breath to get her to follow his lead. It took a few tries, but eventually she managed to get a shaky breath in and then out. He kept his hold on her for a long time, until she seemed to have calmed down a bit and recovered her ability to breath without assistance.

“Thank you,” she whispered, voice cracking as he took a step back and let go of her. He didn’t answer, just looked at her with keen eyes.

Kagome swallowed and tried to decided if she wanted her next question answered. But she had to know. “Was she in pain?”

“It was a very bad shoulder wound. She seemed calm, wasn’t crying or begging to be saved or anything.” Kagome kept her eyes in the direction of the village, not wanting to show her reaction. The relieved breath she released might have given her away, though.

Bleeding out wasn’t the most pleasant way to go, but there were also worse. Kikyo had gone with dignity. Naraku, no doubt, would have loved to take his time taunting, tormenting and humiliating Kikyo. He couldn’t because he was interrupted. Kagome would have thanked the dog-eared demon, had she not been so sure he would be smug about it.

“What was the curse?” she asked and started to walk towards the village, trusting that he would follow. Kagome didn’t like the idea of of undoing her sister’s last act, but this demon didn’t seem all that evil. Maybe Kikyo had just been confused on her last moments and thought that she was cursing Naraku? Blood loss could do a number on a person.

“She- uh- she tied my life to yours,” he said hesitantly.

Kagome stopped dead on her tracks, bow nearly slipping from her fingers. “She did what?” disbelief colored her voice.

“Yeah. She said my life was locked with yours. If you die, I go too. You’ll be fine if I die, so congrats; you didn’t get the shitty end of this stick” he did not sound happy about that. Not that Kagome could blame him. “If I get too far from where you are, I’ll get sick and weaken.”

“Why on earth would she do that?!” Kagome’s head was spinning again. Why would Kikyo do that? They hadn’t been close in years. In fact, Kagome was pretty sure Kikyo hated her a little.

“She said something about Naraku going after you. Apparently, she didn’t think you’d survive that, so instead she is forcing me into keeping your ass safe,” he sounded very irritated about being made to be part of this. Again, she couldn’t really blame him.

And now Kagome was growing annoyed too. At her dead sister, no less. Sure, she wasn’t as skilled as Kikyo, but a little trust in her abilities would have been nice. Instead, Kikyo made an innocent bystander to be Kagome’s meat shield. Kagome was becoming certain that this hadn’t been an act of sisterly love. It was more likely that Kikyo wanted to be sure that the village wasn’t completely defenseless, and a demon protecting the village priestess would be a great protection. Or forcing a demon to protect her was just one last insult from the dead priestess.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Kagome started to walk again. “What’s your name?”

“What does it matter?” 

“It doesn’t, I suppose.” Kagome shrugged. “But it might take some time for me to figure out how to break the spell, so I’d like to know who I’m talking to. Assuming you don’t want to be referred to just as ‘demon’.”

It took a moment to realize that the other footsteps had stopped. When she turned around, she saw the demon gaping at her.

“You mean you’re going to undo it?” She was a little offended at how shocked he sounded.

“Well, yeah. I don’t want anyone dying just because they are forced to protect me,” Kagome tried to keep her voice light as she, once again, started to head towards the village. 

They walked some distance in silence before his voice startled her. “Inuyasha.”

“What?” She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

“My name is Inuyasha,” he was quiet for a moment, hesitating. “And I’m a half-demon, not a full one.”

Kagome felt like slapping herself. Of course. There had been something odd about his aura, but she hadn’t looked deeper into it. Some priestess she was. Maybe Kikyo was right and she really was useless.

No more words were exchanged until they reached the village edge where Inuyasha froze in place, his ears flickering atop his head. He looked ready to run off.

“I’m going to go visit Kaede -she’s the former head priestess. I have to tell her about... -about Kikyo. Kaede might also know about the spell and help me with breaking it.” Kagome took in Inuyasha’s guarded look. “Unless you cause trouble, she won’t drive you off. You are welcome to wait here, though, if you would prefer.”

His ear flicked one more time before he nodded. “I’ll come to keep an eye on you. Can’t have you plotting against me with that old bat of yours.”

[boyfriend-cal]

Because I Had You – Calum Hood description: me being emo while listening to Shawn Mendes strikes again! Calum is reminiscing on your relationship together, even though it’s in the past. sad but also fluffy. based on the song Because I Had You by Shawn Mendes. a little bit salty bc i decide to be productive for the first time in months and tumblr deletes my drafts :(

 friendly reminders: join my taglist, read my masterlist, and send in requests!

Important: plain italic is the past, bold italic is the future

Word count: 1.6k

 ++

Calum tapped his bottle against the bar to tell the bartender to give him another one. He was thinking of you again. He didn’t only think of you when he was drinking. He thought of you all the time. It was a problem. He’d even switched the brand of beer he drank because his favorite was something you’d convinced him to try and he ended up loving it.

He always felt like he should’ve fought harder at the end of your relationship. He’ll forever hate himself for not trying to at least. He changes his mind about his last beer and decides to pay his tab, so he can leave. After he throws enough money down for the bill plus a tip, he’s out the door.

The cold air hits his skin, and when all he can think about is how much you’d enjoy being outside on a night like this, he knows it’s time. It’s time to find someone else.

Calum passes the library you met him in. He remembers hearing your laugh ring throughout the entire building, but instead of complaining, most people just enjoyed it. Then he can clearly see another memory.

“Calum, stop goofing around. I need to find this book, so I can finish my paper.” You roll your eyes at him, but the Calum can tell by the smile on your face that you love his pestering.

Cal turns around and starts thumbing through the books on the shelf. He giggles at some of the titles, just to distract you. You sigh, feeling like you should just give up. The book you were looking for was old, and for a specific topic, so you weren’t sure why you thought you’d find it anyway.

“Baby, look what I found.” You spin around, hoping he’d found the book you desperately needed. Instead, he was showing you a cover that said, “History of Love.”

“I already told you to stop it. I don’t think we’re going to find what I want here, so let's go.” You make sure the shelves around you look neat before you turn to walk out of the aisle. Calum calls your name again.

“This right here is where we’ll go one day. You know what for? For being the most iconic couple in the history of couples.” Calum joked, and he loved the way blush crept onto your cheeks. He could tell you were trying hard to fight a smile, but you lost.

“Such a dork. I love you.” You reach forward, placing one hand on either side of his face and kissing him softly.

“I love you more, baby girl.”

He continued to walk towards his lonely one-bedroom apartment. He could make new memories with someone else. You certainly had, but he wasn’t going to let himself be super bitter about it because you genuinely looked happy.

The next building that catches his attention is the café that you two became regulars at. He hadn’t been inside in months just because he wasn’t sure if you’d be there. After your first date there (where you spilled your coffee all over him, so he gave you his), you decided it could be something you two often did. You liked their poetry nights, and he liked their karaoke nights. It had something for both of you.

“This place looks homey.” You comment as Calum holds the door open for you. He smiles and shrugs, you were right. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and half of the area had tables for eating while the other half was filled with couches and recliners. It felt like the kind of place you’d live in.

“What can I get you two?” The cheery old lady behind the counter pulls both of your attention away from the room.

“Oh hi! Uhm, he’ll have an Americano, and I’ll take a caramel Macchiato, please.” You step up and order for the both of you while Calum has his back to you. He’s still scoping out the room.

“Names?”

“I’m Y/N, and this is Calum. What's your name?” Calum turned to look at you. You were beaming with a smile like you always were. He loved that about you.

“Sharon, nice to meet you. Would you like any sweets to go with your coffee?” Sharon points to the display case and the gasp that leaves your mouth as you gush over how good everything looks makes Calum chuckle.

“We’ll take two danishes and one slice of the lemon loaf.”

Calum taps your shoulder and lets you know he’ll pay so you can go find a spot to sit. As soon as you turn around and start to take in all of the little details, he knew he wasn’t getting you to leave anytime soon. He thinks it’s lucky that there’s only one other person in here because sometimes your bright and bubbly personality comes off annoying to bystanders. It was one of his favorite things about you.

He watches you sit in one chair and then get up to move to another until you find one you want. Then, you have to get up again to look through the books on the shelf. Calum realizes he’s been so focused on you that he hasn’t even paid yet until Sharon clears her throat behind him.

“My apologies. How much?” Calum shakes his head a little bit, pulling his wallet out from his back pocket.

“$14. Don’t apologize. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a couple so in love.”

Cal hadn’t seen Sharon since a couple of weeks before the breakup. When you two first met her, it was only your third or fourth date. At first, it startled Calum to think that he was already head over heels for you, but he was. Instead of running away as his instincts told him, he chose to embrace it.

Calum shuddered at the thought of walking into that café with someone else. He knew Sharon would see right through him. He thinks that might be the hardest part of moving on with someone new, taking them to all of the places that he used to go with you.

But then again, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

“Oh, look, Calum! This place is so cute. Want to go inside?” She looks up at him with pleading eyes. He looks to the quaint, quiet place in front of him. Somewhere that is so familiar. But he doesn’t hesitate, he nods and leads her inside.

Sharon is inside, behind the counter like she always is. Her smile never falters even when realizing who’s not standing next to him. Calum things, this is fine, he can do this. What was he so worried about?

His date steps up and orders an iced blended drink and then turns to him and asks what he wants, but Sharon already keyed it in and nods. Calum asks her to pick a spot to sit and then starts to pay for their drinks.

“How about a slice of lemon loaf also?” He smiles weakly, remembering again. Sharon nods and says, “It’s on the house, sweetheart.”

When Calum turns around, he expects to see her browsing the books or running her fingers along the different fabrics of the various recliners. Instead, she’s sitting on a barstool and looking at her phone. It’s okay, he thinks, not everyone can be like you. In fact, no one is like you.

Cal waits for the drinks before he joins her. She tells him “thank you” but says nothing else. After a few minutes, Calum tries again to make conversation and this time she bites. They’re both laughing at a story she’s telling about a prank her little brothers pulled once, and suddenly they’re too wrapped up in themselves to see or hear anyone else.

Over some number of months, things are good. Calum tells himself every day that he’s happy. He wakes up, makes plans with her, and it works. It distracts him for a good while.

He takes her to the library and she sits with her feet in his chair while he reads. Sometimes she reads too, sometimes she bugs him in a cute but also annoying way.

Other times they hit up Calum’s favorite bar. She’s not afraid to get the party started on karaoke nights and she loves to be in the middle of the dance floor. Calum prefers to watch, but steps in when she makes a pouty face and bats her lashes.

And then, one day, they’re sitting in the corner of the coffee shop. Their knees are touching and their fingers are interlocked. It’s very personal looking to anyone on the outside, one person in particular. Calum notices that the bell above the door rang, but he doesn’t look up until a moment later. It was a mistake.

You’re standing there, at the door, alone, and staring right at him. He watches your eyes move from him to her, to his hands, and then back to his face. Calum feels like he’s been caught doing something wrong. He realizes he did and that this is all wrong.

The sound of someone clicking the lock button on their car keys, followed by the horn, is what pulls Calum back. He takes back his previous thought. It would be as bad as he thinks. Because he could try, and he could make something work, but he’d never be completely satisfied. Calum could distract himself for a good amount of time, but he could never love her in the right way. All because once, he had you.

++

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[ofsinnersandsaints]

where do you run

AO3

Keyleth is restless after her fight with Raishan and her forced alliance with a dragon she can't begin to trust.

When she can't sleep, she seeks out companionship and despite a castle full of allies the only person she can think to go to is Grog, and she finds the kind of comfort and understanding she hasn't known for a very long time.

It was sometime after midnight, and Keyleth had gotten zero sleep.

Not for lack of trying, she’d tossed and turned in her bed for more than an hour. As the clock crept towards one am she threw back the covers and moved to sit cross legged on the expensive rug covering the cold stone floor.

Mediation had worked in the past, so she closed her eyes and tried to settle her mind and calm her soul but no matter how hard she tried clear her thoughts, they inevitably drifted back to Raishan which made her want to punch something all over again.

She was exhausted, verging on punch-drunk, and getting increasingly frustrated at her lack of sleep.

Determined to give it one more try she tried imagine herself weightless, floating in a clear blue sky, but the whole time there was a pull, like a thread tied to her ribs, which kept tugging her attention down the hall to the second door on the left.

Restless, her skin feeling too tight, Keyleth got up with a curse and wrenched open the door to her bedroom and padded barefoot down the dimly lit hall.

There were guards at either end, but they didn’t seem to be paying her any mind. It was their job to make sure no one attacked, not to make sure everyone stayed in their proper rooms.

Still, she felt a little like a teenager sneaking into a boy’s room after the adults had gone to bed.

“Grog,” Keyleth called quietly through the door, because she worried a knock on his door might wake up Vex who had incredibly sensitive hearing. “Are you up?”

There was movement on the other side of the door, the heavy footsteps which she easily recognized as belonging to Grog. When he opened the door he looked obviously surprised to see her outside his room in the middle of the night. “Keyleth?”

“Were you sleeping?” she asked, suddenly embarrassed and uncertain. The last thing he probably wanted was to be bugged in the middle of the night by an awkward druid. He’d probably been getting ready to go bed; she should have thought this through instead of going on impulse. “I’m sorry-gods, I shouldn’t have barged in like this.”

Keyleth was already taking a step back when he smiled, small enough it was barely visible through his beard. “You didn’t barge in, you’re still in the hallway. Did you need something?”

She felt stupid and childish. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh,” and as if that explained everything Grog opened the door and waved her in. “Welcome to Casa Grog. You want something to drink?”

Keyleth followed him inside, shutting the door behind her with a soft click. “You have alcohol in your room?”

“I have the bag,” he explained, picking up the bag of holding and dropping it on the table which was half covered with weapons. “We’ve got that shitty tasting sand wine, but I was talking about the jug. You can get some decent beer out of it.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ll have a drink.”

Grog pulled two cups from the bag, one looked like a piece of dented tin and the other was encrusted with gems, then the alchemy jug and poured them both a glass. He gave her the pretty jeweled one and Keyleth wondered if he was being kind or if he didn’t see a difference in the cups.

She imagined that, for him, it was what alcohol inside that mattered more.

Since there wasn’t a lot of options for sitting Keyleth perched herself on the edge of the bed, and Grog all but sprawled in the chair next to the table. Letting herself be distracted she studied the chair because Grog usually dwarfed most furniture, but this one actually seemed to be made for him. “Did Percy get you new furniture?”

“Yeah,” he said as a he took a long drag from the cup, then immediately reached for the jug to refill it. “Had it ‘specially made because all the shit here is made for scrawny people. I got a backache from everything. What are you doing here?”

He tacked the question on the end like he’d only just thought about it, but Keyleth knew he was more clever than he let on and was likely trying to catch her guard with the hopes of getting an honest answer.

“I can’t just want hang out?” she evaded, taking a large drink of the beer. She had the vague idea of getting drunk but wasn’t sure it was the best idea in current emotional state.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “But you’ve never wanted to before.”

“Fair enough.” She shifted, resting her feet on the foot board, and stared down at her bare toes peeking out from under her nightgown. “If you wanted to learn how to fire a gun, who would you go to?”

“Percy.”

She looked up at the immediate answer. “Throw a dagger?”

“Vax,” he answered, his brow lowered and she thought he understood she was leading up to something.

“And if someone wanted to learn to control their anger?”

“Me,” he answered as the corner of his lips twitched. “You feeling a need to control your anger, Kiki?”

Keyleth tried to portray a calm exterior, but there was a flame catching somewhere inside her and she thought if she didn’t vent some of the pressure she’d explode. Instead of screaming or yelling she just turned the cup in her hands, and kept her gaze steady with his. “You saw me with Raishan earlier.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And I lost control.”

Grog snorted. “You really didn’t.”

Keyleth was confused, she’d felt herself lose control, had watched almost as a bystander as she raged at the green dragon in human skin. She’d seen Vex’s surprise and worry, had felt Vax’s stare.

They all thought she’d lost it.

“What would you call it then?”

“Being righteously pissed the fuck off, but you didn’t lose control. I know what that looks like,” he bit out. “Kevdak lost control when he beat me within an inch of my life, Percy lost control with that punk kid who drove the Briarwood’s carriage. You yelled and it was fucking justified. If it had been me? If someone had gone after Wilhand? I’d have taken an axe to her head, fuck everything else.”

There was something about how controlled his voice was which made him seem all the more dangerous; lounging in a chair with every muscle relaxed, but eyes as hard as steel. Something shifted inside of her as she watched him; her heart was beating differently in her chest, and she could almost feel the blood in her veins pumping quicker.

It felt like rage, but the edges were smoother.

Keyleth took a long drink, the beer wetting her suddenly dry throat.

“I’ve never yelled like that before.”

“Yeah, you have.”

She was surprised at his rebuttal, and tried to search her recent memory for a time when she’d let loose as she had earlier that day. “I have?”

“Well,” he corrected, “Maybe not quite that mad, but you got pretty close when Tibs killed that old lady who was running away. You were worried we were losing our morality.”

Keyleth remembered it vividly, those months when it felt as if their group was going to fracture at any minute. “I’m still worried about it. I’m worried I’ll get so mad I’ll forget where my lines are and become the thing I hate.”

“If you’re looking for guidance in morality, I’d go see Pike. But if you want to know what I think?”

“I do,” and she was completely sincere about it.

“We’re about to fight a fucking conclave of dragons, and if you second guess everything you do it’s like having one arm tied behind your back and we need you at your best. You can’t go forward scared of what you’ll do; and when it comes down to it, if you cross a line, you can always walk back. You can’t take back what you did, but you can try and not do it again.”

“I never thought about it like that,” she admitted. She’d always seen ‘wrong’ as something you couldn’t go back from. In her mind she had two choices, do right all the time, or be evil, but that wasn’t how the world actually worked.

“Is this why you can’t sleep? You just keep worrying about Raishan?”

“I’m just so angry, and there’s so much inside of me and I don’t want it. I want her to feel it,” Keyleth all but growled, putting as much hatred and poison into the words as she could. “To carry the weight of it. I want-“

“Revenge,” Grog finished for her, his gaze level with hers.

Keyleth almost startled at the directness of it, of how he seemed to be looking into her as much as at her.

It was like being seen for the time, and she couldn’t turn away because this was what she’d come here in the middle of the night for.

Without even realizing she’d come here looking for the one thing she didn’t think she could get anywhere else: Understanding.

“I get revenge, Keyleth. You don’t have to explain it to me.” He pushed himself off the chair and walked across the room, bending at the knees so his eyes were level with hers. “You helped me get mine against Kevdak, I’ll help you get yours from Raishan.”

Yes, Grog understood, and he wouldn’t make her feel bad because to him anger wasn’t something to be buried or dismissed, anger was a tool the same as his axe or her spells. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” he assured her, and she believed it. Then he did something unexpected, he reached out and took her hand, slowing curling the fingers in until she made a fist. “In the meantime, I’ll teach you how to throw a punch.”

Keyleth smiled, the idea for some reason incredibly amusing to her. “You’re going to teach me how to fight?”

“It’s a good way to manage the rage,” he explained. “Who knows, you might even be good at it. You could kick ass even when you’re not a walking mountain.”

“I’d appreciate it,” she agreed, because she trusted him. “Thank you.”

He shrugged like it didn’t matter, but there was a softness around his eyes which helped settle her. “It’ll be nice to have someone to spar with, if you don’t mind getting a little bruised up.”

Keyleth shook her head. “You don’t scare me.”

Grog laughed and straightened, gesturing to her other hand as he asked, “You done?”

She looked down at the cup in her hand, empty. “Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

He took the cup from her hand and tossed into the bag of holding before draining his own cup and adding it to the magical abyss. Then he turned and leaned against the table, crossing one ankle over the other. “When you’re less pissed off and sad, remind me to tell you how fucking hot you were when you were laying into Raishan.”

Keyleth huffed out a surprised laugh, could feel the blush darkening her cheeks. She didn’t even know what to say to that so she changed the subject. “Can I ask for one more thing?”

Grog shrugged, “Sure.”

Keyleth smiled, he was the only person she knew who would agree to something without knowing what it was. That was how his heart beat, with unquestionable loyalty.

“Can I stay here tonight?”

He watched her for a minute like he was trying to figure her out, and she half expected him to ask why and then she’d have to try and figure out how to put these feelings into words but instead he just nodded. “Sure. But keep in mind I snore.”

They’d all slept around the same campfires for months, this wasn’t news to her. “I’m fully aware of that, Grog.”

“Good,” he stood up and studied the bed, then the room.

“What?”

“I’m just trying to choose which side to sleep on,” he explained, his eyes narrowing. “When we sleep in big houses we tend to get attacked from the windows, so I’ll sleep over here.”

Keyleth snorted, she might not be able to throw a punch but she was hardly helpless. “I don’t need to be protected, Grog.”

“Oh, I know that.” He sat down on the bed and began untying his boots. “But I’m a meat shield, that’s my job. Take the first hit so you can hit back.”

Keyleth moved across the massive bed until she got to the top, pulling back the covers so she could settle in. “We would make a pretty badass team.”

“Fuck yeah, we would.” She heard the sound of his boots dropping, “Lights on or off?”

Keyleth thought about the candles burning and couldn’t imagine going to sleep looking at flames which would be cousins to the ones which killed her people. “Off.”

He went around the room and turned off the lanterns and blowing out candles; in the darkness she heard him move closer, the mattress shifting under his weight as he climbed into bed beside her.

There was a tension there between them, thick enough she thought she could mold it, but it wasn’t awkward or weird. But shouldn’t it be? It would have been with Vax or Percy, but for some reason having his big, solid weight a few inches away, close enough to touch, allowed to breathe easy for the first time all day.

“You’re not going to jump me in the middle of the night, are you?” Grog asked after a moment of silence.

Keyleth burst out of laughing, shifting onto her stomach as the last of the heaviness in her gut disappeared, which she suspected had been his intention. “No, I think I’ll be able to control myself.”

“Don’t hold yourself back on my account,” he quipped as he settled on his back. “Just wanted to know so I don’t take a swing at ya when you start groping me.”

Keyleth shook her head, bundling the pillow beneath her head as she burrowed under the blankets, closing her eyes, a smile still on her lips. “Good night, Grog.”

She thought she heard a smile in his voice when he replied, “G’night, Keyleth.”

The next morning she woke to the sounds of Grog moving around the room. She pried her eyes open and watched as he gathered stuff from around the room. “The sun’s barely up, what are you doing?”

“These rippling muscles don’t take care of themselves,” he informed her pertly. “I’m going to pick up some cows, throw some soldiers around. Maybe run to Emon and back.”

“As one does,” Keyleth teased.

“You’re more than welcome to stay,” he told her as he picked up his axe. “But if you manage to roll out of bed before noon I’ll show how to punch someone without breaking your thumb.”

Keyleth’s eyebrows lowered. “You can break your thumb punching someone?”

Grog shook his head, an exaggerated look of disappointment on his face. “It’s just sad, how little you know. Come down and I’ll teach you a thing or two. Here,” he showed her his axe. “First lesson is free. This is called a weapon,” Keyleth laughed at his over-done enunciation. “You hurt people with it.”

“Sharp end goes into the bad guy?” Keyleth asked, playing along.

“You’re a natural,” he praised, slipping his axe into the loop on his belt. “I’ll see you later, Kiki.”

“See you later, Grog.” She thought about rolling over and going back to sleep but called out to her friend as he reached the door. “Grog?” He turned to her, a question in his eyes. “Thank you, for anything.”

“Anytime,” he promised and walked outside.

The group would likely be getting up soon, Keyleth thought as she once again got comfortable in Grog’s bed. She should probably go back to her room before anyone realized where she’d spent the night.

Not that she was embarrassed, but they would all think it meant something it didn’t and she wasn’t in the mood to explain.

Having said that, the bed smelled like Grog and his pillow still carried some of his body heat; it was an easy enough thing to wrap her arms around it, feeling safe and calm, and fall back to sleep.