#i know it's supposed to be one of the many personified apocalypses but like

[my-hetalia-aus]

idk why i want characters i like to suffer so bad, but hey no one says I can’t so now I’ll do it for a personified country.

So initially before this became a general au blog that no one knew about, it was supposed to be an apocalypse au blog, which also no one would know about. The synposis is that a pesudo-world war breaks out among countries struggling in the frozen wasteland earth has become; America, Germany, China, and France as the newly founded Titan Wing Alliance, and Russia, England, Canada, Prussia, Italy, and Japan as the New World Nations. I haven’t posted about it in forever but I got the sudden urge to make a country suffer, so I’m just doing America.

Because damn, I hurt this lad.

Essentially in the aftermath of whatever event brought the world to its knees America fell apart. Everything that could go wrong went even worse; there were bunkers set up to keep people safe, but in many it only doomed them to starve. Communication was nearly impossible, and the remnants of the government struggled to keep a hold on any meaningful power. Even worse were multiple warring factions that clawed away at what little order there was left, inevitably leading to a total collapse and takeover by the largest of the factions. 

America’s mental state was kind of yeeted out the window by this. For most of the ordeal he was missing, left alone as everything degraded around him. He mellowed out when the faction took over, but was irreparably damaged mentally. Memory loss, personality changes, the works. He was like a different guy. He knew the rough timeline of his own history, but everything blurred together into a mess of fighting and malice. Like, when getting members for his alliance he knew who France was, but had no idea he was like a father to him. Same goes for England and others he was close to.

This new America is abrasive and malicious, never lets his guard down and doesn’t have time for childish things. Hoe doesn’t even remember what a burger tastes like and doesn’t care. Bastard hoe, absolute ratman who wants to kill Russia ‘cause “I remember fuck all but I know you and I have thrown hands, and you have things I want.”

Oh also he still needs glasses but doesn’t realize it.

America got really edgy in this au that’s all I’m saying.

[in-defense-of-the-horror]

AHS Cult: A Rant

I’m working on some more organized AHS content, but I really just want to talk about this in the meantime, and I figure it’s good to get some of that out of my system.

SPOILER ALERT: Please, please, just watch Cult before you read this. It’s a fantastic season and not worth ruining.

One thing that I feel I’ve heard about each of the last several AHS seasons is that they were going to go back to the basics, and utilize the same elements that made Murder House so enticing.

It sounded good - for a long time Murder House was my favorite season and absolutely the one with the best pacing, an area that I felt was really weak in the following seasons.

As those of you who have been following me for awhile know, Hotel eventually displaced it as my favorite season, but when I heard that Roanoke was going to be more like Murder House, I had high hopes.

Of course, Roanoke has been the worst season by a long shot and while it was more like the debut season that got me so hooked on the show, it was similar in all the wrong ways; similar setting, rehashed plot, alienating characters, and after re-watching it to prepare myself for the Netflix release of Cult, I almost reconsidered watching this season.

But Cult was like Murder House in all the best ways, and I am so glad to have seen it.

It focused around a tight group of characters, getting into what scares them as individuals and the impact that they have on the dynamic of everyone else involved. It was immersive, well-written, and each episode took us further into the minds of the cult members, giving us more information about their past and building expertly on the premise.

The politically charged premise also led to Cult having the best social commentary out of any season (which you could probably tell was the case just by watching the opening credit sequence.) It took the concept of obliterating the two-party system that has led to so much discourse in America, promised something better, and drew the audience in much the same way that the characters were being drawn in before turning everything on its head.

It opened up a lot of moral discussions about what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s effective. What if the only way to bring about the change we desire is through the same sort of chaos and radical action that we’re opposed to? A frightening thought, and a delicious underlying premise for the season.

Kai Anderson is one of the best villains ever to appear on television, and personifies exactly what we should fear from cult leaders. He’s deplorable, and this is something we get to see early on, but he has an undeniable charisma (we could expect no less from Evan Peters) that is downright chilling. Showing the power he has on people helps assist one of the more amazing aspects of Cult, it shows the members as both the killers and the victims. Everyone in the season is so much more sympathetic than I would have expected, which is magnified when Kai forces them to open up about their deepest fears, many of which are all too relatable.

And that fucking opening sequence.

Cult opens to election night on November 8th, 2016, and you know right off the bat what you’re getting into with this season. The emotion in that scene was unforgettable, the terror all too genuine.

That’s what it comes down to for me, I think. Other seasons (Hotel, and potentially still Murder House) may have been more entertaining and more inclusive to horror sub-genres, but Cult is the first season of the show that really scared me.

I think one of the more notable aspects of the season was a lack of diversity when it came to themes, which actually proves something I’ve been saying for years, that American Horror Story needs to focus better on its main narrative. Murder House was able to balance human-created horrors with the paranormal and religious horrors very well, but every season since that has run into some downfalls.

Asylum tried to include too many things (Asylum, Church, Serial Killer, Aliens) and even though I loved each of the arcs individually, it felt too scattered. Coven balanced its witch and voodoo arcs very well, but at the expense of character development. Freakshow’s focus was on all the wrong characters at the wrong time, excluding some of the most intriguing members of the cast. Hotel came closest to re-finding that balance because the setting lent itself out to more compartmentalized stories, allowing it to tackle ghosts, vampires, killers, etc. but the first third of the season was spent focused far too heavily on the least sympathetic and dynamic characters. Roanoke might have nailed the tight narrative aspect if its structure hadn’t been all over the place, but I suppose we’ll never know.

Cult nailed it though. It had less going on for it than any of the previous seasons in terms of stories and horror tropes, but it really didn’t need to have fall backs. The psychological and political aspects to the topic were more than enough to really engage audiences without introducing strong supernatural or mythological elements. 

I always like the seasons best right after I finish watching them for the first time. It’s very possible that, in the following weeks as I pick apart the season, it will lose a little of its magic for me, but right now, I’m a little blown away.

I hope this is more of the tone that we can expect from Apocalypse, which I now look forward to binge-watching next year.

[goatsandgangsters]

tell me what you know about the fallouts

ohohohohoh SO General Fallouts: 

there are… presumably four Fallouts, but conceivably there could be five? I’ve literally only ever heard people talk about New Vegas and Fallout 4, which IMPLIES THERE AT AT LEAST TWO OTHERS but I don’t know if NV counts in the numbering or not, so there might be three other secret fallouts that no one ever talks about 

general principle of The Fallouts is that it’s like….. post-nuclear apocalypse? has a fun retro 50s vibe, despite the—you know—apocalypse. but it’s also still futurey? anyway that happened and society like, p much died and I guess we’re in the future now but we stalled out with the 50s aesthetic

so we’ve got—I GUESS???—Fallouts 1 and 2. in all my time on the internet, no one has ever mentioned these. I know absolutely zero things. I don’t think anyone else does either. I mean, YOU—kARA—PROBABLY DO but you know All The Things so

has a catchy soundtrack 

drink coke

the only Fallout that matters, Fallout: New Vegas 

Benny Siegel is there. You can fuck and/or murder him. I’m sure this is exactly the legacy he would have wanted. It takes place in—surprise, surprise—New Vegas, which is Las Vegas, but NEW and post-apocalyptic. I really… don’t know what you do in this game, besides fetch quests across the Nevada desert and banging gangsters. But frankly, that sounds like absolutely sufficient game play to me. Seriously, what more do you need?

OH, THERE’S CANNIBALISM. That’s what more you need. You can be a cannibal. It’s frowned upon and your companions don’t like it, but fuck them, live your truth 

Dead Money (??) sucks and is hard 

Fallout 4: Oh Hey I Live Here 

It’s set in Boston, which is where I live. Fallout 4 is the reason why I see tourists outside Faneuil Hall taking pictures of the sign marking it as an actual fallout shelter.  

You can visit many historical sites in and around Boston, such as the Boston Common and the Boston Public Library (and its courtyard, which is has in the game and in real life). However, to my knowledge, you usually don’t get attacked by giant mutant bugs in current actual Boston.  

In terms of the game’s objective, you have……. a son? You’re supposed to go find your son? Nobody actually cares about their own son and just goes off and does fetch quests instead? None of us were cut out for parenthood, only video games 

Companions 

I’m separating this off because I’ve osmosis’d some companions but I don’t know if they’re in NV or F4

YOU HAVE A DOG. I know you definitely have a dog in F4 but I think you might always have a dog? I’m not sure. I just know you have a dog. This is an important quality in a video game. He’s A Good Boy. 

There’s like, a snarky robot that floats after you wielding menacing attachments that make me think of the dentist’s office. I think it has a British accent and talks shit about you, but I could just be personifying 

There’s a creepy looking guy with like… no skin? Kind of zombie-esque if you will? But I’m also pretty sure people ADORE him, generally, so I might catch shit for calling him creepy. I think he’s F4? 

I mean, I know there’s a mod where you can turn Benny into a companion so you don’t HAVE to murder him. It’s a pity the same could not be said of the Havana Conference. 

Your companions get really pissy when you loot dead bodies, which like… come on guys. the world has fucking ended. society has collapsed. JUST LOOT THE DAMN BODIES AND GET ON WITH YOUR PROBABLY SHORT LIVES (there’s mutant bugs and shit, okay, you’re probably gonna die)

there are Factions. I don’t know what that means. But I know they exist. Sometimes people bicker about which Faction they agree with. There are some creeps who seem like “oh hey, welcome to our perfect little commune” and you’re like “oh haha this is great, so much better than wandering the post-apocalyptic wasteland” and thEN (I don’t know what comes after the “and then.” I just know there IS an “and then.” Maybe this is where the cannibalism comes in) 

OH THAT QUOTE, THAT ONE QUOTE, people are always posting that quote about like “the fire within me etc etc the fire around me” on inspiration blogs and shit, but then it’s just like… it’s just some dude. it’s just what some dude in fallout said. I think he might be kind of a fucked up dude. 

send me a fandom I’m not in and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned via dash osmosis

[d-debased]

chapter 2: when i was a monster

An excerpt from “Debaser: The Life & Times of D Debased (An Oral History)”  

Morrisey: “We had been invited to a club - somewhere in LA, I forget the name. Very exclusive. D was adamant that I’d be there. I mean, verging on desperate. We had a session booked at Sound City for the following day. I show up to the club and I’m not on the guestlist. And so I stand outside - in the impossibly long line-up - like an asshole. I’ve nearly given up, when I look up to the balcony - and there he is - smiling, very pleased with himself. Decidedly making eye contact with me, and he mouths ‘fuck you Morrisey.’ Then disappears. Obviously he never showed up for the recording session.” 

David Bowie: “It’s cliche of course, but fame destroys. It’s destroyed so many. And precious few are aware of it while it’s happening. Until it’s too late. Brian Jones, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, those silly twats from the Backstreet Boys, most of whom are in rehab now - no one’s immune. Some are more susceptible than others. But D was an anomaly. Fame didn’t destroy him - he destroyed the very notion of fame.” 

Leonardo DiCaprio: “It started around the time ‘Almost Beautiful’ came out (D’s most celebrated acting role, 1998). ‘The emotional impact of James Dean & the virtuosity of Marlon Brando’ - that’s what they were saying about him. Before this film came out… everyone thought he was a washed up former child star - you know, dragging around a bruised ego and expensive prescription pill habits. Now he was an A-list actor - overnight. And imagine how he must’ve felt. Fuck all of you! And he didn’t hide the fact that he considered himself among the greatest actors of all time. At the age of 22, no less. We were close. But after ‘Almost Beautiful’ I never heard from him again. And no one saw it coming - he walked away from acting forever.”

Winona Ryder: “He loved Kerouac. Worshipped him. He wanted to create an idea of himself that was larger than life. He always told me that - ‘my life must be larger than life.’ We dated for a while, but he was too out of control to really commit to anything. This was right when music became consuming for him. His Brian Wilson period.”

Courtney Love: “D Debased, against all better judgement, decided that he was a rock star and not an actor. And that he didn’t really need to try - it would just happen. We were friends-of-friends through Sandra (Bernhard) - anyone in LA or New York who was up to no good in the late 90s knew D. He played me some demos. They sounded like shit, in terms of fidelity.. But they were amazing. And he knew it. Kind of a Daniel Johnston aesthetic, but the songs had fucking Bruce Springsteen-sized emotions - and ambition. And they were as good as any Springsteen songs”

Kim Deal: “I played on some of the early demos. One night he told me ‘The Pixies had a couple good songs. But isn’t it crazy how I’ve transcended their entire body of work in a week of barely trying?’”

Mary Timony: “I remember that. It was a sincere comment, too. Like not a hint of irony.”

Kim Deal: “And then he was quick to add, “No offense or anything. You played bass with them for an album, right?”

D: “I was Kerouac for a few years. It was all very uncreative. Dressing up pointless hedonism as though it were something meaningful, artful. It was all very selfish. And unimaginative. Jack Kerouac died a sad alcoholic living in his mother’s place. That’s what I’d modeled my career on up to that point. I could do much better than that.”

Bowie: “Fame made him a monster, and he didn’t deny it. He didn’t run from it. He embraced it. And, very consciously - unapologetically - he became the anti-Christ, the embodiment of the most vulgar qualities of celebrity. All of the descriptors that a celebrity fears most - out of touch, narcissistic, deluded, bloated, egomaniacal - he personified these things. Very enthusiastically. And for a while it seemed like he was in control of the narrative.”

Tom Waits: “I was there at Sound City while D was… whatever he was doing there, I’m not sure what that was exactly. He was charming - in a way he didn’t mean to be. I’ve never met anyone so aware of how offensive they’re behaving yet... comfortable, totally comfortable in that role. He asked me at what point it occurred to me that I’d transitioned from cultural icon to pathetic cliché - and how was I managing that? Very earnestly - as a matter of fact. No trace of malice. He was a stranger, and I was more devastated by that 5 minute exchange than by anything anyone has told me since.” 

Scott Weiland: “He called me up one night, this is the early days of Velvet Revolver - I’d sent him the demos for our first record, expecting some light praise. Nope. D lectured me on why my album was the worst piece of shit ever made. For an hour. He’d prepared notes on each song. It was surreal. This all coming from a former child actor who’d never picked up an instrument in his life.”

Bowie: “Yes, the legendary ‘98 sessions. Our record label executives had finalized what was to be a simply massive collaboration between D and I. Mostly I was confused, but I suppose it was a bid for relevancy at this stage in my career, which seemed wise at the time.” 

Rob Zombie: “We were doing very bad things one night in 98, maybe 99. All night, at this scummy hotel on Sunset. He told me he had Bowie at the studio but didn’t think he’d bother making it that day. Obviously I thought he was full of shit.”

Bowie: “We had 5 days booked. He showed up on day 2 - fucked out of his head - demanding that I dress up in the Labyrinth suit before we sat down to write. He kept saying ‘Bowie, we need to see your package. Let’s see that package! Dance Magic Package!’ It was so beyond disrespectful. I almost found it endearing. He was clearly just a monster of a human being at this point - out of control, utterly debased. But, oddly, in control. Spiralling but fully in control.”

D: “I was a high functioning fuck-up. For a while I pulled it off. And then I didn’t.”

Chloe Sevigny: “Hideous people. He surrounded himself with hideous people. He was Kerouac and Styles Immaculate - sycophantic little rat - was his Neil Cassidy. And if you’ve read On the Road then you know how highly they valued the women around them.” 

Courtney Love: “His entourage was just pure evil. Like the worst people on the planet, with D as their center of gravity. D made Bobby Brown’s crew seem like mormons.” 

Lindsay Lohan: “Our history is well documented. I have no comment.”

Corey Feldman: “We were best friends for a number of years. Then he stopped returning my calls. Vanished. I saw him at the Viper Room a few months later and - it still seems surreal - I walk up to him and he pretends he’s never met me. I pleaded with him. It got ugly. I couldn’t believe he would pull this shit. They kicked me out of the club, and I know why. I should mention in the span of those few months we went from two former child stars to one former child star and one superstar who’d just achieved massive success. Coincidence? He left me for dead.” 

Styles Immaculate: “The more shameless and evil he became… you’d think it would turn people off. But they wanted more. They loved the abuse. Everyone, me included”

Whitney Houston: “We frequented the same clubs for a year or two. He came on too strong, and I felt embarrassed for him. But he certainly wasn’t embarrassed. The way he treated the people around him… it was shocking. But they adored him for it. It was a cult. We started spending more time together - intimately. I really can’t explain it.”

----

D: “So many of us are secretly hoping, waiting for the apocalypse. I grew impatient. I made it a reality for myself.”

Jodie Sweetin: “I was there when there right around the time the clubs turned into meth dens. He was living a double life. And no one knew. We lived in a bombed out hotel - Sunset Pacific Hotel - for probably two months. You didn’t have to wait til night time there - it was 24 hours non-stop all the time. That hotel ruined my life. You’d think it would ruin D’s too, but somehow he came out of it unscathed. And then… well everyone knows what happened next. He was bigger than God.”

D: “They want you to die young. So they can hold you in time forever. You’re a projection, an impossible ideal. If you stick around too long you become human. And no one’s interested in that. I refused to die young. And they hated me for it.”    

[deactivatedashe-s]

My List of Stories

Secret: zero: 

Anthony Slaughter has been living alone on the side of a cliff he carved out, completely self-sufficient, for the past ten years. Before he knows it, he’s chasing a thief into an electric trap and is waking up to the world he never had the chance to learn from. The leader of the guild he fell into looks like someone from the past… No, he is that person. He needs to get out of here before they discover his secret.

Litheliun: 

This is why he didn’t want to travel past Earaat. Ziren and Riden have been travelling the continent together for a good portion of their life. All it takes is some poor management of a ship and suddenly Ziren is running across the world in order to reunite with the person who holds his greatest secret. Along the way, he runs into those who barely even seem to connect with his goal. Unfortunately, they all carry bits and pieces of a history that had been lost in time, a history that may relate to his grey-eyed partner a little too much.

Eternal: 

The sequel to Litheliun. Nearly 600 years after Ziren and Riden disappeared, life continues on. The people they left behind live their lives. However, they never did fully finish what they started. Leia returns to the scene larger and more powerful than ever. Phiran and the daughter of the queen regent, Melody, are forced to leave behind the invaded Capital of Oshiean and seek out the help of the Spirit Catalysts. Along the way, Phiran unearths facts about himself and others that were buried in time. Guilt, grief, and chaos reveal themselves in spades as they all wonder how it came to this. 

Millennium War: 

The prequel to Litheliun. Tens of thousands of years prior to the course of events that make up Era of Realisation is the true history behind the one known as Riden Olivyon. It all starts with the era known as the Millennium War. Reidoux Youthly lives a life of tragedy. Her life begins a secret. Too shortly into it, she’s already lost most of it. Emotions are detached and revenge consumes her. She’s destined to fail but not before she places a curse on the world that cursed her very existence by name.

Short Stories: 

This is literally just random instances in the lives of the Litheliun crew during, before, between, and after the events. It consists of a poetic summary of Reidoux’s PoV from beginning to end, the events leading up to Liluna and Chiron’s marriage, TJ and Diamante’s own love life, Ziren’s narration between Litheliun and Eternal, and more. 

re:Meetings: 

Day’s past is a mystery. He is an aberration. He leaves a vague impression of recognition on many of the people he comes across yet none actually can place it. His only clue is a small, irremovable band around his left wrist with a circular charm. When the independent group that had taken him in, Evani, is blackmailed into taking part in another war after their empire had fallen from the last one six years ago, Day decides to assist them in a plan to escape. Unfortunately, that entails befriending the king of the country that reduced them to a small village… Where is this melody coming from?

Meetings: 

The prequel to re:Meetings (ironically). Amale has been trying to protect itself from the Evanence Empire’s attempt at imperializing the peninsula for the past decade. On one side of the war, a young prince and his retainer fight for their country against all odds. On the other side, a noble lady sneaks her way into the army to assist her fiance. Somewhere in between, a boy assassin falls in love with an unfortunate bystander. None of them know that fate plans to tear them all apart.

Lock and Key: 

It was World War IV in 2107. It lasted for only seven days, but it was enough to send the world into watery apocalypse. The human population went from a striking 9.7 billion to just 2.3 billion. Magic. That was the cause. No one knows how it was discovered or why they just suddenly knew it. However, there’s a journal floating along the water that explains it all. It’s locked, but the search for the key has begun. Avery James knows more than anyone else on this watery abyss of a godforsaken planet. She’s determined to return the books to the hands of its rightful owner. 

Valentia: 

Riddle was a rescued slave that caters to the royal family. After years of being trapped in the dark, he finally has some semblance of a normal life. After being framed for a crime he didn’t commit and pinned to a wanted criminal with the ironic name of Rhyme, suddenly he wonders why he ever wanted a normal life. This is fun! While running across the dimensions, he meets invaluable friends and discovers secrets about himself and his past. Yet, he can’t shake the illogical phrase Rhyme whispered to him when they first met. “You’re a valiant knight, aren’t you?” Riddle didn’t even do anything when they met. 

Fantys Aurea: Academy: 

Skylar Davit is a villain. That’s a fact that will never change. It may have been pure chance that his school burnt down but transferring to the greatest hero academy in the country with his cousin and partner-in-crime was a decision that he doesn’t regret. His roommate may be a clusterfunk of saturated primary colours and white that suffers from casual existential despair and hyperactivity and his cousin might be insinuating something he doesn’t really get but he’s not planning on leaving… After all, too many of students and faculty here in Phantom Rhea Academy are too suspiciously related to what made him become the villain he is. 

Game of Chase: 

A spin-off of Fantys Aurea. The heist was supposed to be fun. Curse the spirits, Alice’s cold just had to destabilise her power, huh? Skylar and Sora somehow end up dimension hopping after an artefact of unimaginable power. Skylar just wants to go home already and take a break from Sora’s unending pining. Why should he care if some random dimension blows itself up? It’s not like they’re the one dimension hopping. Why does Sora need to have a hero-complex?!

Fantys Aurea: University:

A collection of short stories that occur after the events of Game of Chase and FA:Academy when Skylar decides to attend college as a Psychology Major. The others are self-sufficient or making their wages already. At least he's not alone... If only the personified definition of cheery despair would pay attention to him!

Godly Affairs: 

Meth is a god. That is a fact of the universe. What kind of god is he? Well, that’s the mystery. His mind is a blur, a jumble of colours like the empty pocket universe he’d been trapped in for aeons. He vaguely remembers the sound of playful laughter and the impression of metal working. Finally freed from his prison, he resides in the Aurea Pantheon’s other-world until he can assist him like the weapon of mass-destruction they believed he was before they discovered his amnesia. He wants to discover who he is but his only lead is the arcane god who resides in the Mirrored Forest.

Caelus: 

Caila’s country was falling apart from a civil war. Her servants had forced her to hide and before she knows it, she’s falling through space and time. Alex, Alice, Anthea, and Aias live in the heart of the Forbidden Forest, hidden. They’ve lived for centuries after having left their mark as the Heroes of Legend in the world of Caelus. They never expected visitors in the form of two escaped slaves, one a fae and the other a human from Earth?! All of them are speechless until Alice pipes in. “Welcome to Caelus, the world of stories, my Princess.” Now, their goal is to return Caila to Earth before it’s too late.

Ever After: 

The spin-off shorts of Caelus. Like the Litheliun Short Stories, these are narratives of the lives of the Caelus crew any point in their lives undocumented in the main story. It follows their lives before the prodigy twins created the interdimensional portal that drops Earth humans into Caelus and changed the destinies of everyone involved. It also narrates their lives afterwards.

Dragons: 

The first part occurs in their youth. A group of youths had ventured into the forbidden caves and soon found themselves whisked through the sky and surrounded by the dragons who live there. Out of the many children, only three found the courage to live amongst the dragons while the others dug deeper and created a civilisation for themselves within. The second part deals with the lives of those three children after discovering they had been brought to the future and that their dragons had returned to the past. They willing restart their lives, separated… Good thing dragons have a tendency to be immortal.

Falling in Wonder:

In a particular city forgotten by the outside world, there is a trio of heroes against outside forces, a trio known as Wonderland. What happens when a stranger from the outside shows up and begins to disrupt the daily lives of the citizens in Memory Coast? This person is different. He is different. He will begin something new.

Most of these stories are not available online. However, you can find the unfinished, original (and very cringe-worthy) drafts of Secret:zero, Litheliun: Short Stories, re:Meetings, Valentia (then named Never Give In), Secrets Behind Lock and Key (rewrite and original), Caelus, and Falling in Wonder on my Wattpad account here! The original draft of Litheliun is complete and currently in the process of being rewritten. If you’d like to read the first eleven chapters of the original draft, you can look through the early stages posts of @ahotcupoftea for those. For the entire draft, please message me. Actually, if you’d like to read any of the unpublished drafts for all or any of the stories I have, please message me and I wouldn’t mind sharing or posting them!

P.S. Secret:zero, like Lock and Key, is a rewrite of the story I titled Secret but with a different execution and narration. That one can be found on a much older and much more cringe-worth account from my middle school years. Secret has a similar plot line to Zero but the original took place in a werewolf universe under the PoV of Lucas (the leader) while Zero takes place in a fantasy-guild-esquire universe in the PoV of Anthony (the betrayer). Lock and Key (rewrite) can be considered the sequel to the original. The original has a set-up like a journal and is quite literally the journal that Avery looks for in the rewrite. However, the original sequel was meant to take the PoV of the author of the journals.