#i was just watching my robot vacuum and thought to myself ’this is too good to be true’

[femvaylin]

Oohh nooo I’m stuck between planes of existence again

[eternallyyoungjustice]

Wherever the Winds Take You: Chapter 12

A/N: Another chapter! Yay! Thank you to those of you who read/liked the last chapter! This is definitely just a fun little thing I like to write in my free time for brainrot reasons, so knowing that even a couple of you read and enjoy this, genuinely makes me so incredibly happy! So thank you! Anyways, not much else to report! Hope y’all enjoy! 

Star City

July 22

07:50

The sun was already risen by the time Roy Harper swung his body through his window and into his apartment. His new black, grey, and red uniform stretched awkwardly as the material hadn’t yet been fully worn in, but it was still much easier for agility compared to the old tunic.

When the ginger looked around his apartment, however, he was shocked to find it much cleaner than it had been when he left for patrol. The dishes he had left out in the living room were gone, everything looked as if it had been dusted and vacuumed, and the room smelled faintly of citrus. For a moment, the archer thought that perhaps he had swung through the wrong window. But then he looked to his old, mishappenly stitched, leather couch and all became clear when he found the sleeping form of a familiar young brunette. She was curled up under a threadbare blanket and wearing a pair of sleeping pants that he was pretty sure were his, so he assumed she must have been here for a while.

Walking towards the sleeping girl, Roy rid himself of his mask and weapon, placing both on the coffee table as he knelt down beside her.

“Lin’?” He spoke softly, grasping her arm and running his thumb along her skin. For a moment, she did nothing. But when Roy spoke her name again, her nose twitched and a small groan emanated from her throat as Lina’s face rolled into the pillow underneath her head. Roy smirked and gently shook her arm. “Come on Frenchie, time to get up. It’s almost…” he checked the clock on the opposite wall, “4 in the afternoon in France, you should be up and at’em.”

Another moan, followed by a muffled. “Que sont les fuseaux horaires? Je ne sais pas!”

Roy stopped, hesitated, then said “yea...you know I barely passed sophomore year French by the skin of my teeth, right? I can say ‘I’m a baguette' and that’s pretty much it.”

Lina sighed and sat up slowly, her eyes drooping as she tried to run the sleep out of them. “Good morning, Roy.” She smiled sleepily.

Roy smiled back at her, rubbing her matted hair before plopping down on the couch. “Good morning to you too, Lina.”

“Sorry for coming in while you were on patrol, I needed a quiet place to sleep.”

“Trust me kiddo, I’m pretty used to it at this point.” Roy shrugged. “Everything alright?”

Lina nodded, “Kaldur and I were on patrol in Gotham until two a.m. Eastern last night...I don’t know how you guys do it. Patrols are very much not for me, I have learned.” She explained. “But then, after all that, my brother came home drunk and started very loudly talking about a party he went to last night.”

“Oh Calvin, you bastard.” Roy gave her a sympathetic look. “And I take it the, uh, ‘Cave’ you guys called it, wasn’t any good?”

Lina yawned as she stretched her arms up to arch her back, “Superboy doesn’t sleep very well, so he gets up early and watches static on the TV, and since my bedroom is right next to the living area…”

Roy nodded, looking around his apartment to study the unfamiliar cleanliness, “Well you know you’re welcome here anytime, even though the cleaning wasn’t expected.”

As Lina dropped her arms, she gave Roy a look. “The room was dirty, I didn’t feel like sleeping next to a bunch of dirty dishes.”

Roy couldn’t help but chuckle. “I swear sometimes you’re like if Dinah and Nanny McPhee had a lesbian lovechild…”

“Nanny McPhee? I do not know this woman...” Lina asked with a raised eyebrow, and she leaned over to look into a bag that was sitting on the floor by her head. Roy watched as she rummaged through her bag, before pulling out her uniform. Her hands went to the thigh of the clothing, identifying one of the hidden utility pouches, and opened it to reveal a compartment fitted to house an emergency dose of her medication.

“It’s a movie, don’t worry about it.”

Lina hummed, pulling her medication out. As she injected herself with it, her eyes shut and she focused on the feeling of cool ice flooding her veins. Once the syringe was empty, Lina took it out of her arm and placed it back in its case. Then she looked around, suddenly appearing much less sleepy.

“What time is it? I will make us food.”

“It’s about 8, I think.” Roy hummed and then got up. “But don’t worry, I got it. You’re a guest.”

Lina sprang up from the couch, waving his words off. “No no no silly, I’ve got it. Please, you know I love preparing food. Plus, you need to shower and get out of your uniform…”

Then she looked down and noticed the red and black fabric. Her eyes widened.

“You changed your uniform!”

Roy chuckled and nodded. “I thought it would help separate myself from GA, I’m also still workshopping a new alias. What do you think?”

Lina poked and prodded at the material covering his chest, studying the design and fabric. “Very cool, I bet this is much easier for stealth missions. What did you use? Where did you get it?”

“Cotton-spandex hybrid fabric, coated in CNTs with some leather reinforcements here and there.” He explained. “I got it from a guy.”

“...so the same idea as mine and Robin’s?” Lina asked with a raised eyebrow.

“How do you think I knew it would be good for agility?” Roy smirked, and Lina smiled back before pulling away.

“Well, it’s good to know you’re at least trying to be safe. But don’t think I won’t stop worrying just because you’re smart with gear.”

“I would never expect you to stop worrying, Frenchie, I’m smarter than that.”

“Good,” Lina smirked. “Now then...I will start on breakfast. I hope you have some decent food I can use...may I borrow a sweater?”

“You know where they are.” Roy gestured to the hallway that leads to his bedroom, and Lina flew off. The archer watched her fly away, then turned to pick up his weapons and put them away in the chesterfield beside the couch. Not the best hiding place, but he didn’t exactly have his own secret stash of warehouses quite yet.

“So how is the Junior Justice League?” Roy called out.

“Not the Junior Justice League, first of all,” Lina called back. “You know, you really hurt the guys’ feelings by brushing them off.”

Roy sighed, letting her comment sting him. “I’m sorry Lin’, but you know I was just stating my opinion.”

“We’re allowed to choose our own loyalties, Roy.” Lina said, walking back into the living room; now clad in one of Roy’s sweaters. “Just as you have chosen yours.”

Roy shrugged. “Ouch...but I guess I deserve that. I’ll send them all an apology text or something…”

“‘Apology text’, bah! Ce qui s'a passé à parlant dans vraie vie, là?” Lina sighed and walked into the kitchen. “We’re good though! We fought an evil air-manipulating robot named Mr. Twister the other day.” At the mention of the air-manipulating robot’s name, Lina had to tune out the sounds of angry Winds.

“Okay, that’s a terrible name.”

“Right?!” Lina exclaimed. “And I know from personal experience that air-related names can be hard to come up with but I mean...that just sounds so foolish, non?”

“Definitely.” Roy nodded. “You think there’s any relation to RT? We still don’t know where Morrow is, last I checked.”

Lina was silent for a moment, then answered. “Perhaps...he did seem to have a personal vendetta against him. And you’re right about Morrow...it doesn’t help that Red was off after the whole thing. But we defeated Twister, right? So I’m sure it won’t be any issue.”

“Your call.” Roy nodded and sat back down on the couch; deciding not to shower and change quite yet. “So...have you guys chosen a leader yet?”

Lina was, once again, silent. For a second, Roy didn’t know if she had heard him or not. Just as he was about to repeat himself, Lina replied, “no, we haven’t...I wonder if Batman will assign one before our first real mission…”

“He kind of seems the type to let you figure that out by yourselves, doesn’t he? Who do you think should be leader?”

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Lina knew her answer.

"Who do you think?"

“Yeah, figured as much. He definitely has the makings of one. But are you sure the others will be okay with that? Robin may want a seat at that table, and personally, I think you’d be a decent leader.”

Lina hummed in thought but didn’t respond so Roy decided to drop it. An unspoken agreement was made between the two, both knew that Lina wouldn’t be elected as the leader and wouldn’t try to force herself onto the position. Robin, however…

“So how is Kal? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“You would know if you reached out to him...” Lina said in an almost sing-song voice, and Roy sent her a look through the wall. Even though she couldn’t see his look, she knew it was there. “You guys are best friends, right? You should at least try and act like it. He may not admit it because he’s all stoic and calm most of the time, but trust me; he’s worried about you! To an extent we all are, but he’s not like me and the boys. He won’t drop in unannounced to check up on you.”

“That’s only you, Lina.”

“Bah! You know what I mean.” Lina exclaimed. “Obviously you can’t reach him right now because he’s in Atlantis with his parents but...just try to call him and invite him over every once in a while, okay?”

“He’s in Atlantis? Didn’t you say you were on patrol together last night?”

“He said he felt that he needed to be there or something.”

Roy let out a low chuckle. “What do you want to bet he just really wanted to see Tula?”

Although they had never officially met, Lina practically knew enough about Tula to write a small book about her. The pretty Atlantean girl who was Kaldur’s peer, friend, and crush. In the early days of her and the Atlantean’s friendship, Lina had asked him if he had someone special at home; and he had happily gone into a half-hour tangent about how Tula was not only one of the best friends he had ever had (along with his other childhood friend, Garth) but also one of the strongest, smartest, and most beautiful people he had ever known.

It was admittedly very cute, watching the usually very reserved man blush as he spoke about the young Atlantean girl. The one time that Lina actually saw Tula, when Kaldur showed a magic-infused picture of the trio of friends, she agreed that she was indeed a sight to behold. After one of his long tangents about Tula, Lina had once asked Kaldur why he didn’t just confess his feelings towards her. He replied that he had always wanted to, especially before he started splitting his time between land and sea. But for a multitude of reasons, he never had.

“You’re changing the subject,” Lina spoke sternly.

Roy let out a loud sigh at having been called out.

“Yes, I’ll reach out to him.”

“You promise?”

“Yea...but don’t tell GA alright?”

Even though he couldn’t see it, Lina rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect your stupid masculine ego.” And with that, she collected the bowls of yogurt and freshly cut fruit she had prepared and brought them out to the living room.

“My stupid masculine ego thanks you.”

Mount Justice

July 22

19:00

“Isla Santa Prisca.” Batman spoke clearly and loudly, as he stood in front of the team of 6 supernatural teenagers. Behind him shone a holographic map of an island that sat in the heart of the Caribbean. “This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous neo-steroid, a strength-enhancing drug, sold on the streets under the name Venom."

The screens flashed with images of factory blueprints.

"Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where the team comes in." The Bat turned to face the eager-faced teenagers standing around him.

"This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will." The leader of the Justice League turned back to the screens. "The plan requires two dropzones."

"So who's in charge?" Robin piped up, not at all hiding his excitement.

Batman and Red Tornado exchanged glances before the former said sternly,

"Work that out between yourselves."

Caribbean Sea

July 22

20:08

As everyone sat around the bio-ship, stale tension filled the air. Nobody dared to break the silence, if they were even aware of it. Most of the team stared ahead through the window at the sprawling sea, their thoughts locked away in their own mind. For Lina, her thoughts lingered with anxiety. The fact that they were going into their first mission without a clear chain of command made her innards tie themselves into tight knots. But instead of trying to make small talk, Lina cast her eyes up to the moon above them (trying very hard to not think about the flying contraption she was sitting in) and thought about the small bit of dialogue she and Roy had shared over the topic of team leadership…

There was no way she could be team leader.

Being responsible for the success or failure of six powerful teenagers? No, thank you. Sure, she could look after her family and Roy. But that was small stuff; making sure they ate and were hygienic, healing any minor injuries, giving them advice and making sure they were happy. But in battle? When one wrong decision could lead to real consequences…

She shivered at the mere thought of it.

Not to mention her sheer inexperience was enough to disqualify her from the discussion on its own. Just three years ago she had been a simple circus girl, a civilian, and she barely had a year of field experience under her belt. She didn't know the first thing about tactics or battle strategy. Running a hand through her hair, Lina let out a long sigh, and began mentally preparing for a mission she hoped wouldn’t go terribly wrong.

“Approaching Santa Prisca.” Miss Martian announced, snapping everyone out of their trances. “Dropzone A in thirty.”

Almost in unison, Kaldur and Lina stood from their seats. As their chairs sank back into the ship’s floor, the two teens reached for their insignias and gently pressed them. Black began to pulse from the letters on either of their waists, and slowly the darkness began to cover the entirety of their uniforms. Aqualad’s red and Zephyr’s white and gold all turned to the colour of the Caribbean night sky, leaving nothing but the metallic gold-tinting of their respective symbols.

As Lina pulled up her hood and looked down at the new look, she grimaced.

“I feel so…angsty.” The girl muttered, but then looked back up at Kaldur. Their eyes connected, silently communicating before the taller of the two looked to M’gann.

“Ready.”

“Putting bioship in camouflage mode,” M’gann replied, and the cabin’s air pressure changed as they descended from the clouds and closer to the water. The two teammates nodded at one another. “Go.”

As a hole opened up under the hero’s feet, they both fell down and into the saltwater below. Just as her body was about to breach the surface, Lina circled her hands and formed a bubble of air around her form. Then, once the two had fully submerged, the two rocketed off towards the shore. The darkness of the water made Zephyr’s human eyes strain, barely able to make out Aqualad’s form as she followed behind him, but the water was thankfully clear of any obstacles. Or rather, almost clear. After a moment, the two came across a long, large wall of netting, but Kaldur was able to promptly slash it open with a swipe of his sword, creating a hole big enough to swim through.

Not long after, they breached the surface. Kaldur poked his head out of the water for a moment, then dove back under.

“I’ve located the security sensors, are you ready?” He asked, used to speaking underwater. Lina nodded, then with one sweep of her hands, blasted them both through the water, breaking her protective bubble and lifting them into the air and over to the heat and motion sensors. When they landed, Lina pulled out a USB drive from one of the hidden compartments on her upper arm and plugged it into the large, boxy machine. After a moment, the USB began to blink a blue light.

“Heat and motion sensors have been patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in.” Kaldur spoke into his earpiece.

“Acknowledged.” Robin spoke back.

As Zephyr and Kaldur made their way over to the end of the beach, they were met with a tall cliff. Overhead, they could see trees, foliage, and other signs of a jungle peaking over the surface, the jungle that housed the Venom warehouse. Kaldur turned to face Lina.

“If you please.” The young man leads as he placed a firm hand on his partner’s shoulder, and with a small nod, Lina summoned her Winds and began lifting them as slowly and as quietly as possible. About halfway up, however, they were interrupted with their com’s sparking to life yet again.

“Aqualad, Zephyr; dropzone B is a go.” Robin’s voice came through.

Kaldur lifted his finger to his ear. “Head to the factory. We’ll track your GPS coordinates and rendezvous ASAP.”

Once they landed, Lina lifted one hand to her ear and pressed her com. “Be careful, and let us know if you need assistance.”

“Copy.” Robin responded.

And with that, the two teenagers began sprinting/flying in the direction of the factory. Partway through, however, movement caught Kaldur’s eye and he slid to a stop. Lina had to quickly drop her Winds to avoid flying into him.

“What is it?” Lina whispered as she stood, and Kaldur motioned silently over to where the movement was coming from. Stepping over a little to get a better look, they were able to make out a slow procession of armed men a few meters away...and headed in the direction of the four younger team member’s coordinates.

“Superboy, KF.” Kaldur spoke as the two partners began their sprint yet again. “Switch to infrared, see if you are being tracked.”

A moment later, Wally replied. “Got a band of armed bozos incoming.”

“Two squads, but they’ll reach each other before they find us.” Superboy added.

“Sweep wide and steer clear.” Kaldur instructed, but apparently, his words fell on deaf ears as hardly a minute later, the sound of loud gunfire rang through the forest.

“Those miscreants always find a way to bring chaos to nature, so much disruption.” A voice sighed into Zephyr’s ear.

Almost in unison, the two heroes let out whispered curses in their respective mother tongues and picked up their speed.

Once the two had reached the source of the gunshots, a large clearing amongst thick greenery; Kaldur and Lina found their teammates fighting groups of men. Some were in long, dark red coats with black face masks, and others wore typical dark street clothes. Two of the red-clad individuals caught Aqualad and Zephyr’s attention and they jumped to action; the former leaping in front of the first goon, placing his hand just over the man’s heart and lighting up his tattoos to send a surge of electricity into it, and the latter using her Winds to pick up the other cloaked man, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

The last of the men fallen and unconscious, the team turned to look at one another.

“Nice of you to join us.” Wally smiled bashfully.

Santa Prisca

July 22

20:20

“I recognize those uniforms,” Robin spoke up once the last of the men were hogtied and safely incapacitated. “The Cult of the Kobra…”

“I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca’s Venom operation.” Said Aqualad.

“Agreed.” Robin nodded. “And since there’s clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons...I’m betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That’s why normal supply lines have been cut off.”

“We get it, Kobra wanted super cultists: mystery solved.” Wally piped in. “Radio Bats and we’ll be home in time for-” He was quickly cut off by Robin.

“These cultists aren’t on Venom! Kobra’s hoarding the stuff. We don’t leave...not until I know why.”

“Until you know why?” Kid Flash spoke, frowning.

“This team needs a leader.”

“And it’s you? Dude, you’re a thirteen-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word.”

“And here we go…” Lina sighed, just loud enough that Superboy, the closest to her, was the only one that could hear her.

Robin let out a cackling laugh. “And you’re a mature fifteen? You broke our cover the first chance you got!”

“Don’t you want to lead?” M’gann asked, tilting her head towards Superboy.

Superboy scoffed, obviously not fond of the idea. “You?”

“After the Mister Twister fiasco..?” M’gann cringed, raising her hand up in rejection.

Superboy gave her a shadow of a smile. “You did alright.”

M'gann face lit up with pink as her eyes grew wide. She quickly caught Lina’s amused gaze and the French girl gave the Martian an approving nod and thumbs-up behind Superboy’s back. Turning her attention back to Kaldur, Lina saw that he was carefully watching Robin and Wally bicker with a look of mild annoyance on his face. After a moment of trying to find the right words, Lina leaned in closer towards the Atlantean so that she wouldn’t be overheard.

“Being a leader is a very important burden.” She said. “It’s important to have the one bearing it be cool-tempered, reliable, patient, and level-headed.”

Her hinting wasn’t meant to be subtle.

“A good leader must also care deeply for their team, always have their best interests at heart, and have a good moral compass.” Kaldur countered.

“Fair enough.” She nodded but then turned to look directly at her Atlantean friend. “Although one could argue that some people on the team embody all these traits, while also having real experience with combat and strategy.”

Kaldur didn’t respond, but it didn’t much matter as not a moment later Lina’s attention was diverted by her overhearing someone muttering in Spanish. In her peripherals, she saw Superboy turn towards the sounds as well.

“Look at them argue.” One man spoke in Spanish. “Free yourself now and take them while they’re distracted!”

“Quiet!” Another man, this one larger and wearing black and white face paint. “For now I play along, they’ll give me what I need.”

Superboy and Zephyr exchanged looks.

“Yeah? You don’t even have superpowers!” Wally screamed, drawing the attention back to the young arguing boys.

“Neither does Batman!” Robin exclaimed.

“Duh,” Wally scoffed, “you’re not Batman.”

“Duh,” Robin mocked, “closest thing we’ve got!”

The two’s bickering was interrupted by the man from before, the one with the painted face, laughing.

“Such clever ninos.” The man spoke. “But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance.”

M’gann knelt down to the man and began focusing, channelling her telepathy. “There is a secret entrance, but he’s also hiding something.” Her eyes began to glow white as she attempted to dig deeper.

“Ah ah ah chica,” Bane tutted, “Bane is not that easy.”

After a pregnant pause, M’gann let go of her telepathic connection and groaned. “He’s mentally reciting football scores en Espanol...this could take a while.”

“I can try and translate.” Zephyr voiced. “Mi Español debe ser satisfactorio.”

“Suffocation is an effective means of interrogation.” A deep, dark voice whispered in Zephyr’s ear, causing her to jump, straighten her back, and wave off the sadistic Wind.

“It’s not that complicated.” The man, Bane, said. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

The team exchanged unsure looks.

Santa Prisca

July 22

20:39

As the team hiked through the forest, led by Bane, each and every one of them felt uneasy. Even Miss Martian, arguably the most naive and inexperienced of the group, knew that their guide wasn’t trustworthy. It was like a ringing feeling in all of their heads, telling them that they shouldn’t be doing what they were doing. Eventually, however, they came to a cliff, and Bane silently motioned towards a large industrial compound. Robin took out his binoculars and began to scout.

“Look at all that product…” Robin whispered. “A buy is going down. But if Kobra’s not selling to the usual suspects, then-””We need to identify that buyer.” Kaldur finished.

“Just what I was thinking.” Wally nodded.

Robin scoffed. “Yeah, you’re the thinker!”

The look Wally gave his friend was the most unimpressed anyone had ever seen him. “Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers.”

A loud grunt, followed by a crashing sound made all of them turn to see Bane removing a large boulder to reveal a hidden passageway.

“Answers are this way.”

“So now El Lucador is our leader?” KF exclaimed, only to be smacked by Robin. “Ow!”

The passageway led to a gate, which-with Bane’s thumbprint-led to the factory’s interior. Bane poked his head through but was nudged to the side by Robin. After a moment, the young boy gave the all clear and ran out. When the others caught up, however, he was gone.

“Has that little fool already been captured?” Bane grunted.

“No...he just does that.” Kaldur spoke, disappointment evident in his face and voice.

“Stay put.” Wally whispered, slipping his goggles over his eyes. “I’ll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder!”

“Kid, wait-“

But Kaldur was too late, and the ginger had already sped off.

“Great chain of command.” Bane spoke, which to everyone’s surprise, earned him a deadpan remark from Zephyr.

“Bueno trabajo manejando tu fábrica.” Bane cast the girl a dirty look.

“What’s that?” Superboy piped up, and motioned to a nearby opening. It was a large garage door, littered with tall piles of crates with a forklift moving some out. The group moved to kneel behind the crates.

“It’s a massive shipment.” Kaldur muttered.

“Yea, but they’re only taking new product outside. They’re not touching this Venom.” Superboy noted.

“Maybe...freshness counts?” M’gann tried.

Suddenly, almost like a dog, Superboy’s head jutted upwards at attention.

“Helicopter’s coming.”

But of course, to everyone else, there was utter silence.

Santa Prisca

July 22

20:45

Kid Flash zipped into the control room where his best friend sat. The older boy munched on one of the energy bars he kept in the hidden compartments in his suit as the Boy Wonder sat above a knocked out Kobra cultist. The sight of the limp body on the group didn't even phase the snacking speedster, however, as he walked over to peer over the Boy Wonder’s shoulder.

"What'cha got?" Kid Flash asked.

"Chemical formulas." Robin explained, not even looking away from the monitors. "I'd say it involves Venom but…"

Robin pulled up two pictures of molecular makeups and their chemical formulas as the ginger's eyes squinted in focus. Not even after a second of thinking, Wally's granola-holding hand extended to motion to one of the pictures. "That one's Venom", then to the other, "and that one's...Woah, the Blockbuster formula from CADMUS."

In a simulated diagram, the two images formed together to create a new compound.

"Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice would be three times as strong as Venom...and permanent." Wally turned to Robin. "But how did Kobra get access to Project Blockbuster?"

"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier!" Robin exclaimed. "Using the cult to create a Venom-Blockbuster superformula!" Robin raised a hand to his com. "Robin to Aqualad, we got-" He was cut off. Static.

Meanwhile, back at the loading dock. The helicopter Superboy predicted had finally landed. A blonde man wearing a hockey goalie mask walked out of the flying machine, met by an awaiting Kobra and two of his goons; a tall punk girl with orange hair, and an inhumanly bulky male with skin akin to that of a post-Blockbuster Desmond. The two men spoke, discussing business. But unbeknownst to either of them, an invisible force watched them from above. The camouflaged martian watched closely, barely being able to hear the words they were exchanging in soft tones. But she could clearly see when the cult leader, Kobra, opened a silver briefcase. Furthermore, she could make out the several vials of purple liquid that lay inside. Quickly, Miss Martian opened a telepathic link.

"Aqualad," She mentally spoke, focusing her gaze intently on the masked man. "Sending a mental image of the buyer now."

Back inside the factory, Kaldur focused on the image of the blonde man that flashed in his brain. Once he had, he opened his eyes to the other people sitting with him on the raised catwalk Bane had taken them to.

"Sportsmaster? He is the buyer?" He muttered to nobody in particular.

Lina knew very little about 'Sportsmaster', never having run into him herself. But she recalled reading his file at one point. An average man, Lawrence “Crusher” Crock, but apparently some sort of sadist that was affiliated with the League of Shadows. He was trained in more than a few martial arts and was known to have access to an arsenal of dangerous weapons. Basically a glorified goon-for-hire, but a dangerous man nonetheless.

Kaldur raised a hand to his com. "Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?"

Upon only receiving static, he attempted other channels with very much the same degree of success.

"I cannot reach Robin, the League, or Kid. We need a plan. Now."

Bane gave a smile, an eery one that shot straight through Zephyr's spine. "I have a suggestion." And then he leapt right off the catwalk and straight into two armed cultists, quickly taking them down, but not before getting them to open fire at their attacker. The sounds of the gunfire quickly notified the rest of the security forces around the warehouse, who all rushed over to zero in on their intruders.

"What is he-" Kaldur didn't get the chance to finish his question, as the Blockbuster-esk Kobra goon (a previously normal man who went by the name of Mammoth) leapt through a nearby window and crashed straight into the catwalk. This caused the three members to fall or haphazardly fly down onto the floor, ridding them of any sense of safety.

“There goes our cover.” Superboy huffed.

Mammoth ran straight at the heroes, and the clone charged back at him, causing a resulting force strong enough to shake the whole building. As the two tanks went head-on with one another, a few dozen cultists began shooting at the two remaining young heroes. Aqualad knelt down, using his water-bearers to form a shield that protected both him and Zephyr from oncoming fire. Meanwhile, the young air manipulator lifted her hands, targetting the closest cultists she could see as her Winds picked them up and sent them all flying into metal walls.

“Where did Bane go?” Zephyr asked once she had realized that, once the shooting had started, the Spanish man had seemed to disappear into thin air.

“I’m not sure.” Aqualad shook his head as he lifted his other water-bearer to begin shooting cultists. “But I’m afraid we have more pressing matters.”

The fighting was a blur, with the members of the team very obviously outnumbered and confused, all of them internally reeling at how the mission was playing out. The large, open area of the warehouse floor made for little cover, and the sounds of repeated and multiple bouts of gunfire made it difficult for the team to get their bearings. At some point in the chaos, Miss Martian and Kid Flash had returned, only for the former to be blasted into a nearby wall by a rocketed projectile.

To put it simply, they were losing. And there was still no sign of Robin.

“Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!” Kaldur shouted.

A moment later, a sharp ringing entered each team member’s mind. Zephyr winced a little, but noted that the link didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it did during the initial cave tour.

“Everyone online?” The Martian girl’s voice rang into each member’s mind.

Superboy’s mental voice growled, but reluctantly spoke, “Yeah.”

“You know it, beautiful.” Kid Flash said from his place behind another support beam.

“Present,” Lina spoke, creating her own shield and blasted more cultists that were aiming at M'gann.

“Good. We need to regroup.” Kaldur’s voice rang.

Robin’s voice came through, rushed and chaotic. “Busy now!”

“Busy? What does he mean busy?!” Kid Flash’s actual voice sounded over the gunfire.

“Where did he go anyway?” Lina asked, but then spotted another cultist aiming straight at Kid Flash from around a corner. She delivered a quick air-strike to him, but in doing so, opened herself up. A sharp blast sliced at her arm and with a loud yelp of pain, she flew back behind the support beam for cover. “Putain!”

“Are you okay?” Kaldur asked, eyes darting to her injury.

Zephyr examined her arm, finding a tear just below her shoulder. Crimson blood seeped into her uniform, and the girl was suddenly grateful her costume was no longer white. “Just a graze, I’m fine.”

“Robin!” Aqualad called over the telepathic link. “Now!” After giving the order, Kaldur ran out, forming his weapons into water-whips and taking out as many cultists as he could.

“Strategic retreat! Kid, clear a path.”

A dark blue zig-zagged across the warehouse floor at top speeds, sending cultists down onto the ground as the remaining team member followed close behind and into a side door. Superboy lagged behind, having to wrestle Mammoth. But after a moment, the clone was able to leverage his strength into gripping Mammoth’s hands and send him flying into a group of armed men. Once the clone was able to enter into the side-passage way with the others, he and Aqualad promptly closed the door and resumed running. This only granted them a short reprieve, however, as Mammoth busted down the metal and was quickly followed by shooting cultists who open fired into the cramped walls of the hidden passage.

“Superboy! The support beams!” Aqualad exclaimed, and the clone delivered quick, strong strikes to the wooden support beams around him. Not a moment after, the rocky passage began to collapse, and with a rattling ‘boom’, all surroundings went dark.

[starryseo]

mess. [1/3] | seo changbin

pairing ↠ changbin x gn!reader genre ↠ typical chaotic roommates behaviour (humour + fluff) wc ↠ 1678 summary ↠ cleaning is the bane of changbin’s existence. luckily, you know just how to fix that. warnings ↠ a lot of swearing.  a/n ↠ when will elon musk create a thing that automatically writes my stories when i half-ass a plot

read: MESS | mayhem (part two) | purify (part three)

series masterlist

Changbin is, by all accounts, an absolute dumbass.

He could revise for an exam two hours before it started and ace it; he could bullshit his way through a 5k essay in thirty minutes with enough coffee, he could even rap to three Eminem songs, back-to-back, without breaking a sweat.

But God forbid he pick up his clothes from the floor, or wash a couple of the dishes.

No, Seo Changbin was above cleaning.

But he was an even worse chef, so, after hiding his phone, laptop, playstation controller and even a goddamn ipod, you picked up a plushie that had fallen to the floor - not Gyu, of course, because Changbin would throttle you if you touched his best friend - and whacked him with it until he woke up.

His futile attempts to push you away made you come down on him harder until he gave up, exclaiming, “I’m up, I’m up! What the hell, y/n?”

His eyes were barely open, his hair sticking up this way and that, and drool was drying on his chin - because he was no sleeping beauty. But at least he was sitting up - groaning into his hands, cursing the day you were born and every day since then, but more awake than he was two minutes ago.

“Get up, princess, you’ve got shit to do.”

“It’s too early to be alive right now,” he whined, “five more minutes?”

And, in true desperate-Changbin fashion, he pouted and gave you puppy dog eyes. One look at his face right now could bring the monarchy to their knees, and had you been some amateur you would’ve fallen for his anguish and caved in. Thankfully, you had roomed with him for two years and known him for three more, so you were more than prepared.

As soon as the words left his mouth, you lifted the plush still in your hand; his arms raised in defence, wait wait wait barely leaving his lips before you knocked the pout off his face.

“I hate you,” he grumbled, pulling back one corner of his spaceship duvet - because who the hell does astronomy if they don’t have cool starry shit in their room and they were cheap, “so, so much. I hope you know that.”

“Ditto, but it’s two in the afternoon, so get your fat ass up.” You dropped the plush on his lap before spinning around to leave his room.

He met you in the living room, pyjamas creased from sleeping for over ten hours, but right now that was the least of his concerns. Because you had prepared the cutest outfit for him.

A frilly purple apron hung from your hand and, with one glance at the smirk on your face, Changbin knew who it was for. “You’re gonna look super cute in that, y/n.”

“If only it was for me,” you grinned, tossing the clothing over him.

“Yeah,” he caught it, before throwing it back, “it ain’t for me either.”

“If you want your phone back, you’ve gotta wear it.”

His eyes narrowed at you, trying to call your bluff, but the easy smirk you wore had him groaning exasperatedly, snatching the apron from your outstretched hand.

“Hate you so much,” he muttered again, crossing his arms grumpily.

“C’mon, you look adorable!” He rolled his eyes and looked away from you, acting annoyed, but you took the opportunity to snap a picture of him. As soon as he realised what you had done, he jumped into action, trying to grab your phone but you locked it and slipped it back into your pocket. “If you do everything I say, I won’t send it to the others.”

He grit his teeth, battling between wrestling you for the phone or listening to you.

“I feel the need to remind you I still have your phone.”

He huffed out his anger, giving you the tensest smile ever before acquiescing. “Fine. Let’s do this shit.”

First order of business was clearing out his floor.

You dragged the hamper from the bathroom into his room and watched as he: picked up an article of clothing from the floor, sniffed it, pulled a what-the-hell-died-in-this face, threw it in the hamper, moved half a step forward and repeated the process. Sure, his floor would be clothesless if you helped him - or if he realised that he was disgusting and all of his clothes were dirty - but it was amusing to watch him get increasingly worried as the hamper started overflowing.

“Holy shit,” he sighed, finally done with job number one, “I didn’t even think I owned that many clothes.”

Task two was changing his bed.

You went to find him fresh sheets as he took the hamper back to the bathroom (because you didn’t trust him with running the washing machine unsupervised - he probably didn’t trust himself either).

When you returned, he was lying on his bed, playing on a goddamn Tamagotchi and the shriek you let out had him jumping off his bed.

“Where the fuck do you hide this shit?” You exclaimed, throwing the clean sheets at his face to wrench the device from his hands.

“Leave me alone,” he all but whined, pushing the bedding off his face to glare at you, “I’m tired of cleaning.”

“You’ve done shit all, Bin!”

“I’m baby.”

“Ugly baby,” you grumbled, stepping away from him, “Sheets. Now.”

He groaned, complying with your command, then cursing you further when he saw you playing on the Tamagotchi.

You were pretty startled he even knew how to change his sheets properly. You’d seen him eat an entire carton of ice cream without getting a brain freeze and yet he struggled to change his pillow case? Seo Changbin truly was an enigma.

Once his bed was set, wrinkles smoothed and duvet tucked in, Changbin turned to you with the most pleading look you think he’s ever conjured up. His eyes were practically begging for a break, hands clasped beneath his chin, but he crumbled when you grinned and said, “Vacuum time!”

He could actually see his floor now.

No more dust lingered between strewn textbooks and gone were the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling lights. His room was tidy - cleaner than the day he moved in - and, damn, was he proud of that. He had successfully cleaned his desk, his shelves, even his windowsill, and he left the window open because holy shit was he nose blind. How did you ever let him get to that state?

He was thankful you hauled his lazy ass out of bed so early, but he’d rather clean Jisung and Felix’s shared room - and he’d bet your life (never his own, of course) that their room was a dumpyard compared to his - than ever admit that to you.

You could tell he was grateful when he offered to order in take-away though.

Once dinner was over and done with, you slumped against the sofa, knackered.

“Why the hell are you so tired, huh?” He scoffed, swinging his legs over yours and leaning against the arm rest. “I did all the hard work.”

“You think it’s easy supervising your ass?”

He spluttered, shoving you as best as he could with his legs, “I’m a delight.”

“We’ll see about that tomorrow.” You replied and he raised a brow in question. “Tomorrow you’re cleaning the kitchen.”

“Bullshit,” he groaned, throwing his head back, “Tomorrow, I rest. Feel free to clean that shit up though.”

“Nope! But because you’ve been so good today, I’ll give you back your phone.” You moved his legs off of yours, stretching as you stood before making your way to your room. You tensed when he followed you, making you stop and turn back, “I think I’m capable of getting your phone without supervision, y'know?”

He scoffed, “I wouldn’t trust you with my life, and my phone is much more important.”

“Wow, okay. Just for that, I’m not getting it now.”

You thought that would work and make him argue with you but he simply shrugged, walking on, “I’ll find it myself then.”

“No!” You grabbed onto his wrist, pulling him back, “You can’t go into my room.”

“Why not? You got a shrine of me or something in there?”

“Ew, no. I just have, like, underwear out, y'know? Don’t be a pervert, Bin.”

He teasingly raised his eyebrows as soon as you said that and in the split second it took for you to roll your eyes, he dashed towards your door. Curse Chan for dragging Changbin to the gym because the muscle pig slipped out of your grip like butter.

“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”

You stuttered when you got to the door, trying to pull it closed, but he easily pushed through. “In my defence, I’ve been cramming revision for my exams and I haven’t-”

“I don’t give a damn,” he said, turning to you with a smirk so taunting the devil would quake in fear, “you fuckin’ hypocrite. Give me your phone.”

“I’ll give you your laptop too if you-”

His laugh cut you off and his steps forward forced you to move back. How was this the same man that woke up in robot pj’s with drool on his face?

“You’re waking up at 7am to clean that shithole and I’m gonna supervise your ass so hard you’re gonna-”

“Please, for the sake of all things holy, don’t finish that sentence off.”

“Fine. But get a good night’s sleep, sweetheart,” he grinned, patting your shoulder before taking a step back, “because tomorrow your ass is mine.”

Changbin had never slept more comfortably in his life, and that alone had you tossing and turning until your alarm buzzed at the dreaded time of 7am.

You thought of running to Hyunjin or Seungmin or even Jisung and Felix for safety, but after knowing Changbin for five years, you knew the man to be determined and ruthless when it came to revenge.

Changbin is, by all accounts, an absolute dumbass. But he’s also a man of his word.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM manga chapter 119 Review: A Conspiracy?

Buckle up, this review gets long.  I was away on family business for a few days so I missed this one’s drop.  It’s meant though that I’ve had longer to ponder my thoughts. 

Core take away for me is that like Hellfire Flame and Gale Wind trying to recruit Sonic set us up to better understand the Ninja arc when it showed up in the webcomic, this ‘glimpse behind the scenes’ at the conspiracies brewing sight unseen is foundation for what will burst into the open later, apparently from nowhere. 

Anyway, onto the review.  Much more under the cut.  First though, One-Shotter is still alive!  Looks like his mechanised parts are much more extensive than initially appeared. 

I tell you, it doesn’t pay to be a cyborg hero in OPM. It’s just inviting gratuitous cruelty into your life.

Soon Gets Sooner

This chapter, I honestly expected Drive Knight to just leave with Nyan and stay the international Cyborg of Mystery he'd been to date.  But he stuck around to talk to Sekingar and what we got was a glimpse indeed to the mystery plot that has been brewing from the very start.

We find out just why Drive Knight has a 100% win record: he never, ever fights unless he has carefully studied and formulated an excellent battle plan. Even if it means sacrificing his fellow heroes like pawns.  

And then things get weird. After offering data on the strong monsters in the MA, Drive Knight changes the subject to asking Sekingar about the state of the Hero Association, being very interested in just which capable heroes were left available to respond and whether or not Blast was likely to attend if the Hero Association were attacked.  And then Drive Knight went into full tin-foil hat conspiracy mode, painting the loss of the Metal Knight as a deliberate action by Dr Bofoi to gift the Monster Association with the way to take out the Hero Association.

When Sekingar spoke of not expecting the support heroes to carry out their mission without injury, I’m sure he couldn’t have imagined ending up a casualty.  When he tries to call the Hero Association to check, none other than G5 shows up to shoot his hand off.  As G5 approaches, Drive Knight makes no move to either attack G5, claiming lack of power, nor to protect Sekingar.  Even in extremis though,  Sekingar is still thinking about the support team, the hostage, and what action he could yet take.  Truly, a hero is being forged before our eyes.  He just has to survive the experience.

‘Why not me?’ That’s the central question heroes ask themselves.

Fee, Fi, Do, Fum, Cinderella's At The Ball

We'd seen Garou, who I'd dubbed Sleeping Beauty awaken from his unconsciousness. With a roar, he pummelled PPP into the ground.

Cyborg Cinderella, whom we'd left vacuuming and washing dishes while the others went ahead, may be attending the ball late, but his entrance was no less spectacular. With timing worthy of Saitama himself, just in time, one mighty kick all but split G5 in half, arriving so fast the robot barely had time to register his presence.  It's interesting what summoned him; Saitama's punch may have gotten his attention, but it was G5's energy signature that really got him on scene.

Insane kicks, flips -- and upgrades

Kuseno magic extends to clothes: the last time he used Jet Drive Arrow, he ended up naked. Now Genos isn't just very fashionably dressed, but his raiments are fire-resistant and wonderfully form-hugging.  Until the clock strikes twelve (or ten in his case), he is here to cut some terrifying shapes.

And now all the pieces are in play.

The chapter ends suddenly and ominously.  On one side, we have Genos asking, looking about as cunning as a newborn lamb, what’s going on: 

On the other, if it’s possible for an expressionless face to look unamused, then the very cunning Drive Knight looks most unamused:

Meta: “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.”  

 -- from the webcomic ‘Schlock Mercenary’ (more here)

I’d wondered why ONE had split Genos off from the rest, in difference to the was he’d gone together with the rest in the webcomic.  It was definite that ONE intended to test Genos in a situation where he had no support, bu the potential for him to discover something new and relevant to his quest is the last thing I expected. 

A peek behind the scenes indeed!  Where from and why Genos came to fetch up at Saitama’s door in chapter 7, telling a tale of evil cyborgs and total extermination, we know not.  It’s seemed increasingly far-fetched as nearly nothing happened with that storyline and the monsters we meet have nothing to do with the sort of intelligences behind any such cyborg.  It’s led to some, too many, fans claiming that in that absence the ‘mad’ cyborg must be Genos himself  -- in a twist of logic too stupid for real life  [Then again, the typical SF story seems to be written by an individual who never met an actual human being...].  I don’t know about the veracity of 90% of what Drive Knight said, but there is a conspiracy indeed. 

So, now we get to understand a bit more about Drive Knight. It’s something I’ve long wondered about:

The thing about Drive Knight is that he hasn't told us who he is yet. At present, he's a blank slate for whom many alignments are possible without betraying who he is. He could be entirely a hero, just acting in ways that are more independent than most would appreciate. He could be a member of The Organization, acting as a mole in the Hero Association. He could be an entirely amoral person, aligning himself to one group or another as suits his goals and all would be consistent with what we don't know about him. Once he declares who he is, we'll be down to many fewer possibilities.  -- myself, Reddit post   

“Everything that can be used must be used.”  With that, Drive Knight has finally told us who he is.   He is highly calculating and will use anything he can to achieve his ends.  At the expense of anyone and anything. 

What to make of all of this? One thing we can be certain of. Drive Knight really hates Bofoi, considers him a threat and reads the worst possible motives into his actions. He wastes no time in trying to sew suspicion about Bofoi whenever possible.   Why?  We don’t know. 

At its most benign, Drive Knight may be like Zombieman and the House of Evolution, seeing evil in Metal Knight and a grand conspiracy where none actually exists.   A less benign possibility is that Drive Knight may be projecting his ambitions onto Metal Knight and describing what he fears Metal Knight has in possession in order to thwart them (whoever ‘them’ is). 

Since we as readers have a quasi-omniscient view of the story, we know that quite a lot of what Drive Knight said about Metal Knight is factually wrong.  We know that he is wrong bout the circumstances under which Bofoi lost the Metal Knight.  We know that he is wrong about its fate.  We know most of all that he is absolutely wrong about Bofoi wanting the capable heroes scattered or defeated.  Dr. Bofoi has been furious with the Hero Association executives for risking the lives of any heroes raiding the Monster Association precisely because he feared what might happen if the ranks of the heroes were thinned. 

Interesting that G5 is definitely its own entity!  Once I realised that the tactical transformations formed around Drive Knight, I’d started to entertain the possibility that the two of them were the same.  That said...

I could well understand Drive Knight having done his own work to understand the nature of the strong monsters actually in the Monster Association base.  However, there is one piece of information G5 has that it could not have reasonably obtained without Drive Knight sharing it. 

When they ran off a second time, they ran off separately.   More pertinently, there’s no reason for G5 to show Sekingar this information: it puts psychological pressure on him, but if G5 just wants to kill him, there’s no point to it.  Instead, Drive Knight drawing attention to the support team and G5 drawing attention to the hostage act as a double-team interrogation to see if Sekingar has some way yet of reaching Blast in time of most extreme need. 

We’ve also learned that Blast is all but retired. It falls into line with what we've gleaned from the webcomic and suggests that he's quite old.

He's just a poor boy from a poor family: spare him his life!  (and limbs)

Dr Kuseno's occasionally prodding Genos to not forget his primary task of finding the 'mad' cyborg, as well as his warning not to fight it alone both make great sense.   In OPM, you get good at what you actually  practice.  Fighting monsters as a hero has been very useful for Genos developing raw fighting prowess. It has done nothing to prepare him to face the cruel, conniving, and creative people that the not-quite-mad cyborg and those behind him are.  Watching Genos ask straightforwardly what the situation and contrasting it to Drive Knight's complicated narrative was to realise how painfully naive Genos is. 

It's all very well to counsel non-engagement, but you deal with the monster before you: situations aren't neat and don't wait until you feel prepared. I'd hoped for another conversation between Genos and Drive Knight but this looks far more dangerous.  I've no doubt that Genos won't die, but his participation in this battle could be VERY short.

So many ways this story could wend.  A few that come to mind:

The most tragic:Drive Knight convinces Genos of his predicament, perhaps offering data on the cadres as a sweetener and Genos escorts him and the fallen heroes out of the war zone.  As soon as Drive Knight is sure Genos is safely underground, he'll kill Sekingar... and probably the support heroes into the bargain. If he burns them, the only fire-wielder known is Genos.  If he's really clever, catching up with Waganma and Food Battler, dragging them back and burning them too creates a compelling narrative of Genos (already suspected of colluding with the monsters) waylaying the support heroes as they tried to retreat and killing them all.  Drive Knight can show up at the Hero Association and continue his activities. No witnesses, a convenient scapegoat, and near total freedom to carry on his agenda.

Mortal combat. No matter what changes to the webcomic ONE has planned, Genos isn't about to get killed, so Drive Knight is either going to have to run for it or else get killed. Knowing who Drive Knight is, there is no possibility that he would defeat Genos and leave the latter alive -- even if he were that careless, Genos announcing that any enemy that gives him trouble will find that he comes back very quickly and very much stronger would put paid to that. (yes, he’s so naive!)    Either way, Drive Knight won't be working as a hero any longer.   For Genos, victory is likely to be expensive -- he runs the risk of sustaining critical damage, which will force him to retreat, or of wasting precious, precious energy that he could really use later.   Very interesting repercussions will definitely follow.

Hit him in the heroism. Drive Knight could use the heroes and Sekingar as hostages and get Genos to allow him to leave unmolested. He won't be coming back to the HA but it looks like he knows all he needs to. Genos won't like it, but as a person who has long established his willingness to take incredible punishment to protect others from harm, he won't have any other course of action.  I suspect that this is the most likely outcome.

Whatever actually happens! Only ONE (and Murata) know.  I know I need the next instalment!

Bonus question. Where is the cat?  Drive Knight dropped it when G5 showed up and it hasn't been in evidence since.

[isolavirtuosa]

Starting Over (For Real?) 21-22

[fanfiction] NaruSasu

Read the previous parts here.

- 21 -

  Land was visible in the distance.

I knew this because I could hear Naruto shrieking about it above deck, clomping around in some kind of celebratory dance.  Sai the Robot decided to join in, and the creaking that proceeded made me worry about the integrity of our vessel.

Kakashi cracked an eye open.  “That’s not very conducive to sleeping.”

“It is not,” I agreed.

He smiled at me, a crinkling of his eyes.

I sniffed and looked away.

He sat up, stretching his arms over his head and yawning loudly.  “I guess we can sleep when we’re dead.”

I appreciated his cynicism, but I didn’t want to agree with him again so I stayed silent.

“How are your legs?” he asked.

“Fine.”

“Oh, so that’s why you ride on Naruto’s back like a monkey?”

I breathed out heavily through my nose.

His grin widened.

“Can you take off the fucking mask already?” I complained.

“Aw, do you want to see my beautiful face so badly?” he cooed.

“I take it back, keep it on.”

He pulled down the mask.

His face was so normal I didn’t know how to react.

He grinned, and it was exactly the shit-eating expression that it appeared to be when you could only see his eyes.  He pulled the mask back up.

I was frozen in place.

“Our little secret,” he said cheerfully.

“I want my innocence back,” I hissed.

Kakashi cracked up.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, my voice sounding a lot more vulnerable than I intended.

“A show of good faith,” he said, sitting up.  “Let me work on your legs.”

“Hell, no!” I snapped, shifting away from him.

“I have some healing techniques,” he said, tapping his scar.

I looked at him.  “You don’t have a sharingan anymore.  So what was that energy I felt when you were fighting Morino?”

“Oh, you noticed that?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck in a very Naruto-like ‘aw, shucks’ kind of gesture.  “You really are amazing in a crisis, Sasuke.  We wouldn’t have walked away from that attack if it wasn’t for you.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“One arm, no legs, one eye devoted to making sure your… partner was safe… and you still had an eye to spare on me, all while fighting a Hyuuga!” he declared.

“A weak, disposable Hyuuga,” I said, trying not to glory in how amazing I was and focus on Kakashi’s constant avoidance of any and all topics I brought up.

“You’ve become a good leader,” he said softly.

“I’m not a leader,” I muttered.  I wondered where my team was.

“I’m proud of you.”

“Oh my god, shut up.”

He was suddenly very close.  “So as I was saying,” he said, digging his chakra into my legs.

I held in a scream.  Just barely.

Kakashi just calmly continued to work.

I leaned my head back, trying to take in deep breaths, but it sounded more like I was panting.

Then something popped and I did scream because the pain was excruciating.

“There you go,” Kakashi said cheerfully, giving my legs a final pat.

Naruto was already down the stairs and throwing his arm around me.  “What happened?!”

I melted into Naruto’s hold, my body limp.

“What the hell did you do to him?!” he shrieked at Kakashi.

“I fixed him,” Kakashi said.  “You’re welcome.”

“He doesn’t look fixed!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be operating the boat?”

“Oh, uh…”

“Well, I guess you’re entitled to a five minute break,” Kakashi said, throwing his arms behind his head and sauntering up the stairs.

Naruto grumbled angrily until he was out of sight, then kissed my forehead and started fussing over me.  “Are you okay, love?  What did he do?  Hey, Sas’, come on, talk to me.”

“I think I can walk,” I said, flexing my legs experimentally.  I was still too exhausted to even sit up on my own, though.

Naruto stroked my hair and kept mumbling reassuring nonsense at me until my senses started to come back.

I pushed him away and sat up properly.  The pain had receded, and when I tried to stand, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t fall on my face.  I teetered a little, but I stood.

“Holy crap, he really did fix you,” Naruto marveled.

“The muscles are still shit,” I muttered, sitting back down.

“But you didn’t even use chakra to stand!” he said, happily smothering me in a hug.

I pushed him away again.  “Aren’t your five minutes up?”

He gave me an annoyed look before securing a hand in my hair and pulling me in for a quick kiss.  “I love you, I’m so happy that you can stand, you are gorgeous, and I’m going to finish getting us to Water now.”

I watched him go up the stairs and I got up slowly to follow him.  It took longer than I would have liked, and I’m sure I looked like an idiot, but no stupider than I’d looked riding on Naruto’s back the last few months.

The Land of Water was doing well.  They’d had minimum damage from the God Tree, and they were probably overfishing their waters, but for now food was abundant.

Also the Mizukage had retired.

“Did she find herself a decent man?” Kakashi asked, turning the smile way up on his eye.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” the fisherman told him cheerfully.

“That’s so great,” Kakashi said, giving the man a friendly wave before returning to the helm.

“I wonder how she met anyone bein’ trapped in the God Tree,” Naruto mused.

“Do you really think the Mizukage just retired?” I asked.

He shrugged.  “We all changed in our dream worlds, and the Fifth is always talking about finding a man… like always.”

“Baby, seriously?” I growled.

Everyone looked at me.

I could feel myself going red.

“I’m your baby?!” Naruto asked delightedly.

“Yes, my diaper-wearing, non-stop-crying infant,” I said, staring intensely at the deck.  “There’s no fucking way that Terumi Mei just quit being the mizukage.”

“Loverboy has a point,” Kakashi agreed.

Naruto reached over, thumbing along the back of my hand.

I smacked him away.

“I don’t think it’s safe here,” Kakashi said.  “We should head north.”

“Where is safe?” I asked, rolling my eyes.  “Not that it matters, because we can take care of ourselves.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Kakashi said, patting me on the head.

I scowled and tried to swat him away, but he was already on the move, clamping Naruto on the shoulder.

“Just keep being your charming self and luring in as many powerful allies as we can get,” he said.

“It’d be easier to do if we got off this boat and were actually… among the people,” Naruto said.

“When we get to Lightning,” Kakashi said, taking the wheel and steering us away from the shore.

“That’s going to take forever,” I muttered, already tired of living on a boat.

But of course Kakashi was right.

The attack came at night, during Naruto’s watch.  I’d lent him my fingers to make some clones when we changed shifts, so he wasn’t completely useless like that last time we were attacked while he was on watch.

It almost felt like overkill when the other three of us joined the fight.

“Why do people even bother attacking us?” Sai asked, doodling boredly on a scroll before unleashing a half-hearted lion.

“I’ll show you to take us seriously!” one of the fodder roared, charging at him.

“We need to attract a higher caliber of enemy,” Kakashi murmured, perched on the railing of the boat with his book out.

I took down one of the attackers with a katon from where I was sitting next to Kakashi.  “I thought you didn’t want us to get cocky?”

“Yeah, but we still gotta be realistic,” he said.  “This is like stomping on ants.”

There weren’t any conscious enemies left to protest.

Naruto bounded over to me, tail wagging.  “See, I wasn’t useless.”

“You weren’t useless,” I agreed, pinching his cheeks together.

He grinned.

I let my hand slide into a caress.

We’d really become the kind of couple that carried on in public.  I hated myself for it as I continued to bask in Naruto’s smile and lack of injuries.

“They’re wearing the mark of the Water Daimyou,” Kakashi commented, eyes still glued to his book.

“What’d we ever do to that guy?” Naruto complained.

“A power vacuum means a power grab,” Kakashi hummed.

“Why don’t you say something else vague that seems like it’s insightful but isn’t?” I muttered, sliding off of the railing onto my feet.

“Lookit you,” Naruto marveled.

“Shut up.”

“But standing is so sexy!”

“Sai’s standing; do you think he’s sexy?” I asked irritably.

“You know what I mean!” he protested.

“So you do think that Sai is sexy?”

“Oh, my,” Sai said.  “Am I sexy?”

“No, god!” Naruto said, flailing his arms around.

“Does anyone want to figure out why these daimyou lackeys attacked us?” Kakashi asked.  “Or did Naruto want to rank all his travelling companions by who can stand the sexiest?  Because if so…” he trailed off, popping a hip.

“What the hell is wrong with all of you?!” Naruto cried.  He grabbed my arm and started tugging me towards the stairs.  “Sasuke is the only person I sex up!”

“What?” I said.  “Don’t drag me into this,” I protested, even as I let him physically drag me down the stairs.

“Sasukeeeeee,” he whined, helping me sit when we reached the bottom.  My legs ached.

“Naruto,” I said, perfectly calmly.

“Hm, yeah, love?” he asked.

“When did we decide that you can just talk about our very private sex life whenever you want in front of whoever you want?”

“Well, we didn’t exactly decide that,” Naruto hedged.  “But everyone knows we’re a couple, so…”

“I’m sorry, we’re a what?”

He immediately turned into Middle-Aged-I’m-Disappointed-in-You Naruto.  “We’re a couple,” he said with a frown.

“Where was I when this was decided?”

He opened his mouth and immediately closed it.

“Spit it out.”

“I think you’re rubbing off on me,” he muttered.

“Oh, were you going to hit me with an obvious but cutting truth?”

“Yeah, actually,” he said, putting his hand on my knee and rubbing absently.

“Oh, please do enlighten me.”

“No, love, I don’t think that’s the kind of person I want to be,” he said, his touch turning into a massage.

“An honest one?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

His eyes met mine slowly, probing into me.  “The kind of person who lashes out at the person he loves the most in the world just to make himself feel better.”

I did not like the way he was looking at me and I dropped my gaze.

“You looked like you were in pain before,” he said quietly.  “I just wanted to come down here and make sure you’re okay.  But then… my brain stopped thinking good.”  He paused in his massage.

I let myself look at him again and he was blushing.

“Shit, is this what puberty is?  It’s gross.  I’m gross.  I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly.

I let my eyes drift down to his loose orange track pants.  If I looked right at it, it was obvious.

“Was it Kakashi’s sexy standing?” I asked.

“Sasukeeee!”

I could actually see his erection wilt slightly and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is this the answer to all my problems?” he asked hopefully.  “Think of Kakashi, think of Kakashi…”

“You don’t think Kakashi is attractive at all?” I asked.

“Kakashi is the only person grosser than me,” Naruto said confidently.  He beamed at his penis, which was now only at half-mast.  “I mean he’s… wait… wait… do you think he’s attractive?”

I shrugged noncommittally.

“You’re not serious.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You think Kakashi is attractive!” he cried.

“Really?!” Kakashi asked, peeking down the stairs.

“No,” we both answered.

He pouted, and now that I’d seen his face I could imagine it.  “Well, anyway, we took care of the guys that attacked us, in case you cared about that.”

“Took care of how?” Naruto asked.

Sai peered around Kakashi’s shoulder.  “Tied them up and put them adrift on one of the lifeboats.  Naruto, did you already finish your intercourse?  That was quick, as usual.”

“We weren’t having sex!” Naruto said, flailing around anxiously.

“Yes, of course,” Sai said with a nod.  “So it seems like the daimyou is trying to exterminate all ninjas.”

“But he sent ninjas to fight us,” I said.

“Yeah, things are about the get interesting,” Kakashi hummed.

The smart thing to do would have been to head out to sea and go straight to Lightning.

 - 22 -

  We kept our boat near the shoreline, moving leisurely through the many islands of the Land of Water.  The citizens we met along the way went from being friendly to increasingly hostile, not even willing to speak to us when we docked.

“Meaaaat,” Naruto whined, staring longingly at the shop that had just pulled its shutter down as soon as we’d set foot in the town.

“Not ramen?” Sai teased cheerfully.

“Ohmigod, rameeeeeeen,” he groaned.

“We could try our luck at hunting,” Kakashi suggested, gesturing towards the forest.

“Or, as highly trained ninjas, we could just take what we wanted,” I alternatively suggested.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cried, shocked and appalled.

I shrugged.

He sighed, his shoulders sagging.  “Maybe you’re right,” he muttered.

I punched him in the arm and moved towards the woods.  Kakashi and I were a good hunting team, and we brought back a rabbit for each of us.

Sai and Naruto were parked on the beach, keeping an eye on the boat and an eye out for hostiles, but they seemed to be having a fairly serious conversation.  Naruto still spared me a glance as we approached, his smile reaching his eyes before he turned back to Sai.

“I wonder if goodness can survive in this new world order,” Kakashi hummed.

I ignored him and sat down by the fire, using a kunai to skin the rabbits.

Naruto sidled over next to me, his arm curling around my waist.

“Do you not see this pointy object in my hand?” I asked, elbowing him away.

“I’m a highly-trained ninja,” Naruto protested, staying stubbornly close, and then proceeding to up the ridiculousness by resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I’m trying to work,” I grumbled.

“You’re such a good provider,” he hummed, lips brushing my neck.

Goosebumps ran up my arms and I almost dropped the kunai.  “Fuck off,” I muttered.

Naruto was staring up at me in keen interest.  “Don’t be mean,” he hummed, lips moving against my skin.

I elbowed him away sharply.  “There is a time and place for things.”

“Okay, but they’re always around,” he said with a quick glance towards Sai and Kakashi, “and I just need to… something,” he complained.

“Don’t mind us,” Sai commented as he spitted one of Kakashi’s skinned rabbits and placed it over the fire.

I felt my blood pressure rising, and Naruto was sticking out his bottom lip like a kicked puppy.

He made me stupider.

I leaned in and gave him the most chaste kiss possible.

He took over, and then there we were, sucking face while I had a dead rabbit in my hand.

For a moment, I didn’t care.  I felt at peace when we were like this.  I just wanted the world to be me and Naruto-

I pulled away, embarrassed.  “Go away,” I muttered, returning to my skinning and doing a shitty job of it.

He kept looking at me like I was supposed to look back at him.

I got some sticks and put the rabbits over the fire.

Sai and Kakashi really weren’t paying attention to us.  Sai was drawing something in his notebook, and Kakashi might have actually been reading the book in his hands.

The world didn’t revolve around us.  It shouldn’t revolve around us.

I needed to stop embarrassing myself in public.

I needed to stop embarrassing myself everywhere.  What did being close to Naruto do to my brain cells?

“Where are you going?” Naruto asked, already following me.

“To the lake,” I said, holding up my bloody hand.

As soon as my hand was washed, we were lip locking again on a boulder next to the lake.

“Sorry, love,” he sighed against my mouth.

“Why?” I growled.

“I can’t really control myself anymore,” he said.  His grip was digging into the rock we were sitting on in a way that was threatening to actually split it apart.

“I’m not doing much better,” I muttered.

“At least you don’t walk around with a permanent erection,” Naruto bemoaned.

“I kissed you in front of Kakashi,” I said with a shudder.  “What are you doing to me?”

“I’m not doing anything,” he protested.  “Just being your adorable, sexy boyfriend.”

“I don’t agree to any of that.”

“Sasuke.”

I looked at him.

We were kissing again.  And again and again and…

Naruto pulled away, panting.  “Sasukeeee,” he whined.

He looked young and cute, but also ridiculously horny.

There was no chakra anywhere near us.  We’d probably be late for dinner, but oh well.

I pulled his pants down to his thighs before he really knew what I was doing.

“Sasuke!” he gasped, looking around frantically.

“Shut up,” I said, sliding to the ground and kneeling between his dangling legs.

He swallowed.  “Sas’, you don’t have to-”

“I want to.”

That shut him up momentarily, his eyes blown with lust.

I reached for him.

He stopped me again.  “Have you ever…?”

“Yes,” I snapped, taking him in my hand and leaning in.

He gasped.

My gag reflex wasn’t as finely tuned as the dream world had led me to believe, but whatever.  I was a quick learner.

Naruto didn’t have any complaints.

It was bitter on my tongue, and I ended up spitting it into the lake.

“What if some girl is swimming in there and she gets pregnant?” Naruto murmured, trying to sound worried but mostly sounding blissed-out and content.

“Sperm can’t live in water,” I said, pinching his thigh.

“Mm.”

I could feel myself smiling and tried to stop, but Naruto just looked so stupid and happy.

“C’mere,” he said.  The tilt of his head suggested it was an order disguised as a request.

“I’m washing my hand” I said, rinsing it in the lake for the second time in so many minutes.

He waited, and I came back.  He wrapped me in a hug, pressing his face into my chest.  “I’m kinda embarrassed,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay, Naruto, lots of men prematurely ejaculate.”

“You are such an asshole sometimes, you know.”

“Mm.”

He sighed.  “I was talking about… I dunno.  I feel like a sex-depraved maniac and like you’re just humoring me.”

“Do I seem like someone who humors you?”

“No, you really don’t,” he agreed.  “But… Sas’…”

“But what?”

“I just… worry,” he said.

“About?”

He took a deep breath.  Then he didn’t say anything.

“We need to get back,” I said, shaking out of his hold.  I felt my legs starting to give out.

Naruto caught me and shifted me to his back.  “Don’t push yourself so hard.”

“I’m fine,” I muttered, hooking my arm around him.

“Someone’s following us,” he murmured as we moved back towards the beach.

“About one kilometer northeast,” I said.

Naruto picked up speed, and the chakra signature picked up speed.

We emerged from the forest back onto the beach.

Kakashi and Sai were eating their rabbits, looking perfectly relaxed.

“Let’s go,” I said, nodding my head towards the boat.

“Have you picked up a friend?” Kakashi asked, taking a leisurely bite of his food while he doused the fire.

“Not sure,” Naruto said, grabbing our dinner to go and moving towards the boat.

“Should I check it out?” Sai asked, glancing in the direction that we all sensed the chakra signature approaching from.

“Let it play out,” Naruto said, and just like that we were all on the boat and moving out.

“They stopped,” I said, leaning against the railing and watching the island retreat into the distance.

“Hmmmm,” Kakashi said unhelpfully.

“Crisis averted,” Naruto declared, turning to his food and devouring it.

“When did you become the leader?” I asked, squinting at him.

“Huh?” he said with a mouth full of food.

I looked away in disgust.

“Can there really be a leader of such a band of charming misfit rogues?” Kakashi asked.

“Tell me when it’s my watch,” I said, limping down into the bottom of the ship.

I had privacy for about five minutes before Sai came down.

“Your legs are hurting,” he observed.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said.

“It is if this boat is about to be attacked,” he said with a shrug and a smile.

“They turned back.”

“Something is going on.”

“We’ll deal with it when something actually happens.”

“You are very self-sabotaging.”

I sighed, loud and annoyed.

“Does that mean I can help you with your legs?” he asked, kneeling in front of me.

“No.”

He studied my face.  “Are you ever going to trust me?”

I looked back at him.  “I don’t trust Kakashi and I’ve known him for years.  Why would I trust you?”

“That’s not true,” Sai said.  “You trust him very much.”

I rolled my eyes and pretended he wasn’t there.

“Your pride is what’s going to get you killed,” he said.  It wasn’t a threat, it was just a statement of fact, and that irritated me more than anything.

“It’s what’s kept me alive until now,” I ground out.

“Oh, I thought it was your magic eyes and your metaphysical bond with the most powerful ninja alive.”

“Myself?”

Sai burst out laughing.  It was a real, genuine sound that I’d never heard come out of his mouth before.

I looked at him.

He smiled at me, and there was something so natural about it that it felt unnatural on his face.  “Let me work on your legs.”

“I’d rather not,” I said, rolling up the loose pants I was wearing.  “But since you’re so thirsty for it…”

“I’ve had sufficient liquid intake today,” he said, shaking his head.

“You are dumber than Naruto sometimes,” I muttered.

“And you’re a jackass who can’t just say ‘thank you’ like a normal person.”

Maybe Sai was earning my begrudging respect.

It felt similar to what the medic Shigeo had done, and also as horribly painful as what Kakashi had done.

“We learn a lot of medical jutsu in the ANBU,” Sai explained.  “If your medic nin is the one who’s injured, the other members of the cell have to be able to step up and take care of injuries.”

“How interesting,” I muttered, trying to keep the pain off of my face.

“You need to be doing this every day,” he said.  “The damage to your chakra pathways was severe, and you’ve been making it worse by forcing the chakra through them to call up Susanoo and other frivolous things.”

I held in all of the childish things I wanted to lash out at him.  Because he was right.  They were all right.  I was sabotaging myself.

Sai’s eyes were fixed on my legs as he seared fire through them.  “It wasn’t someone from Konoha.  Following us.”

“Someone from Kiri,” I said.

“You think so, too?”

“The Konoha ANBU wouldn’t be stupid enough to follow us into this unknown situation,” I reasoned.  “It’s obvious that the mizukage hasn’t retired of her own free will and that the daimyou has started some kind of anti-ninja revolt.”

“But if it’s one of the daimyou’s men, then how did he get ninja to work for him?” Sai mused.

“Offers of money?  Power?  The usual ways that one hires a ninja.”

Sai hummed his agreement.

I endured the pain, and when he finished he patted my leg, standing up and stretching.

“No one can know about Naruto,” he said out of the blue.

“I thought he was the most powerful ninja alive.”

“With two arms, yes,” he said.  “With you by his side to complete his seals, yes.  But if he gets caught out somewhere by himself…”

I didn’t want to dwell on my worst nightmare.  “So you can concede that based on Naruto’s current state, I am the strongest ninja alive.”

Sai shook his head, smiling exasperatedly.  “Uchiha.”

I went to call him by his last name and realized I didn’t know it.

“Sai is just a codename, you know,” he said quietly.  “I don’t have a real name.”

“Everyone has a real name.”

“Not when you’re in Root.”

Fucking Danzo.  I was glad I killed him.  “We can find your name.”

Sai looked puzzled for a moment.  “Uchiha, are we… becoming friends?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I said, standing up slowly.  It hurt and my legs were tired from walking around all day and then being ripped apart by Sai’s chakra.

“I should try emulating you and your ‘I don’t give a shit about you’ attitude,” Sai said.  “The way you lie makes you very popular.”

I breathed out heavily and resumed pretending that he wasn’t there.

“Sasukeeee!” Naruto called, bounding down the short staircase.

I looked at him.

“I missed you,” he said, making a kissy face at me.

I thought about saying ‘the feeling wasn’t mutual’, but decided not to give Sai the satisfaction of watching me lie.

Instead, I let him pull me into a kiss.

This was exactly what I’d done in the first dream world, let Naruto turn me into an idiot.  So why was I doing it again?

Because I’d been happy there?

It was stupid.

Fuck, this moron made me happy with a look, and I was going to fuck it all up.

“Ahem,” Sai said.

Naruto ignored him and continued to love on me.

“A-hem-hem,” Sai repeated.

Our eyes met over Naruto’s head.

“I think our visitor is back on track, and he’s brought some friends,” he said, pulling out a scroll.

I could feel it as soon as he said it.  They weren’t anywhere near us, but they were coming.

“So we trounce them and continue on our course?” Naruto said, mouth still moving against my neck.

“Hope so,” Sai said cheerfully.

We moved back up to the deck.

[believerindaydreams]

crude, lewd, and gentlemanly

in which Lister pines for a roadside assistance lady. yes I am writing slash for an advert. crack played straight

well, sort of straight. not actually that porny, tragically, but I had a lot of fun anyway 

"Sir. Sir, I don't know that you want to hear this..."

"Feel free to leave off then," Lister says, not looking up. The keen and eager gaze currently being devoted to a copy of Big Easy Read Ganymede is one, Kryten can't help noting with alarm, one usually reserved for only the most pungent vindaloos and the music video of "Five Hundred and One Fun Things to Do In Liverpool When It's Raining (Which is None)" by the Spice Anti-Assigned-Sex-But-With-Female-Presenting-Nipples (ASSBUT).

In short, it is one doozy of a gaze.

"Well, it's a very small matter, sir. Possibly none of my concern, but.... well, we all can't help noticing that in the last week, you've managed to involve yourself in no less than fourteen major crashes."

"Uh huh?"

"To say nothing of the minor ones."

"Uh-huh."

"Ah. Well. Glad to see you've noticed," Kryten says, with a highly characteristic combination of hasty relief and mildly hesitant irritation.

Lister sighs, puts down the atlas. "You know what rule one is of picking up girls, Krytes? Don't do it when they're on the clock."

"As I recall, the last time you told me rule one, it was to never confuse the whipped cream bottle with the lubricant-"

"Forget all that," Lister says. "You've got eyes- okay, you have sensory diodes or whatever they are, I've got eyes. And what my eyes see is the most beautiful woman since- since- well since that time I fucked myself from a parallel universe, okay? Heh. I am such a good lay."

"What about Kochanski?"

"Maybe it's different for robots, Krytes, but humans tend to go off a woman when it turns out she's your mother."

"Or Holly?"

"...sorry? You think Holly, hello-I've-got-computer-senility, oops-that-black-hole-is-actually-a-carbon-smear, is more attractive than that dazzling star who can strip a photon drive inside of four minutes flat?"

"It depends on your point of view, sir. One of the snack machines on Level Nine confided in me once, that the right set of electro-fibres could just get them just so gnarly in the morning-"

"...Kryten, love to hear about the coffee dispenser's unrequited love some other time, not now. But you get the problem, yeah? She's got an AA time-hopper that locks on to the scene of an accident, as soon as she gets us fixed up it yanks her back three million years again, what's the point even asking for her phone number? All I can do is keep getting into accidents while playing the smoothest jazz in my collection, and just- hope for the best."

"We are running out of operable Starbugs, sir."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Lister says, fondling a set of jumper cables with something approaching rapture. "I can always crash Red Dwarf instead. Considering everything she's survived, the ship can handle a few knocks."

Something, Kryten decides, is really going to have to be done about this.

*******

"...his wingman?" the AA lady says.

"That's me!"

He is, the Cat reflects, looking smooth. More than smooth. These grandiose, sequined shoulder pads stretch out miles.

"Literally, I take it." She hits a computer module with a rubber mallet. "So if he wants to take me out for a little zero-gravity exploration while this sat-nav patch finishes downloading, why doesn't he just ask? The way he pilots, he hasn't exactly been short of opportunities."

The Cat screws up his face, thoughtfully. "Oh. Old Box Head said something about waking up to be told your whole species is dead causes psychodrama, blah blah blah, - now I’ve been there, and I can say, I wouldn't be like that! If I wanted you, I'd be all, hey gorgeous, aren't you one wozie hum-dinger of a flyer, what say we go and have ourselves a little fun...."

"But you're not doing that?" the AA lady asks after a moment.

"Lady," the Cat says, almost sentimentally, "you wear overalls. You think a fine looking specimen of a Cat like me is going to be caught dead waltzing the two step with you? All I can say is, keep on dreaming baby, cause dreaming is all you're going to get."

"...while Lister, I take it, has no objection to my fashion sense." Her mouth's twitching.

"Nope! What can you expect of a guy who thinks curry stains are a fashion accessory- so hey, you two are pretty well matched. That's one good reason for you to pair off. And another one is that it'll annoy Rimmer-"

"Will it?"

"Oh, sure," the Cat says breezily. "It'll get right up those hologrammed nostrils."

The AA lady whips the door open.

Somewhere, not terribly far distant, somebody is playing "Penny Lane" on a guitar.  

"Hey, Listy! Interested in a good fuck?"

The guitar music stops. "Thought you'd never ask!"

******

"You know, I really didn't think that approach would work. So much for plans B through W," Kryten says, stuffing down twenty feet of computer ribbon down a recycling chute. 

"Are you kidding? You just have to look at old HoloHead and pow! Hatred of him is a force stronger than gravity or those little packets of Martian sriracha," the Cat says, fiddling with the volume control. The sound of heavy breathing and a Liverpudian lilt whispering sweet nothings intensifies.

"I'm still not sure it's polite for you to be doing that," Kryten fusses. "Just because they're enjoying the ship's Exhibitionist, Squash And Frilly Umbrellas spa facilities, doesn't mean they necessarily expected anyone to watch-"

"Then be of good cheer, Kryten, because nothing untoward is going to happen." Rimmer's stride is firm, his holo-uniform freshly reprogrammed with gold braid and the E-Spacebay Blue Peter badge. "At least, not with her."

"Now Mr Rimmer, I really think-"

"It's time that Lister gave way to the inevitable," Rimmer says. "The man he's quite literally spent half his life with."

"...you mean me?" the Cat says, his tone veering somewhere between polite interest and general disgust.

"I mean me! The one who Holly decided was his perfect life's companion, out of all the possibilities on this ship. The Morecambe to his Wise, the automatic sprocket attachment to his...whatever it is sprockets attach to, I suppose. My god, we were roommates."

"Just saying? Between you and Mr Vacuum Groin over here, I'd pick the vacuum first," the Cat says.

Rimmer ignores him. "It's time I faced up to my destiny, too. Reached out and grasped the man right in front of my nose, this fried egg and chutney sandwich out of which I must take my first, mellow, unstinting bite-"

"Guys, you do realise you left the intercom on both ways," Lister calls.

Rimmer jumps. 

Falters. 

Looks at the microphone with nervous determination. 

"Lister? I think you should know. That faced with the prospect of- actually, genuinely, losing you, I've decided it's time to be brave. To say out loud, no takebacks, that I love you."

There's a pause. "Rimmer, that is just about the nicest thing you've ever said in your life."

"Wasn't it?"

"But if you think I'm gonna stop halfway through the windup for the best fuck I've had in years, just because you've finally wised up and decided that you're queer now, you need a reboot and a lie down in a quiet room somewhere."

"...does that mean, you're telling me no?"

"Course not! I'll get to you, I'll get to you- but first come first served. So we’re starting with- uh- what was your name again, sweetheart?"

"Thought you'd never ask," the AA lady says, rather coyly. "It's-"

Rimmer reaches out and switches off the feed. "Well, damn. How inconsiderate can you get? How? I ask you-"

"It's just possible, sir, that your sense of timing's off," Kryten says. Almost humming with contentment.

With two humans, a hologram, and possibly-or-not a sequin-shedding cat to get in on the action, it’s just occurred to him there’s bound to be all sorts of exciting new messes to clean up soon...

[hollywayblog]

How “The Umbrella Academy” Surprised Me

In many ways, good and bad.

This is a spoiler-free review of season one of The Umbrella Academy

I remember when The Umbrella Academy comics came out. It was 2007 and I was a broke thirteen-year-old living in suburban Australia (a cultural wasteland!) so I never actually read them, but as a rabidly obsessed My Chemical Romance/Gerard Way fan, I managed to fold The Umbrella Academy into my identity anyway. I’m not sure exactly how that works, but hey. Adolescents are powerful creatures.

As a distinguished almost-twenty-five-year-old (I’d like to acknowledge that I took a small break here to have an existential crisis) my walls are free of band posters and my eyes are no longer encircled with that thick black eyeliner that always managed to look three days old and slept in, but I still got kind of a thrill when I learned that The Umbrella Academy was being adapted into a Netflix show. It was something I had always assumed I would end up reading, back in the depths of my emo phase (which is probably more accurately defined as a My Chemical Romance phase) but then just kind of forgot about. So, great, I’m simultaneously being reminded that this thing exists, and freed of the nostalgic obligation to go seek out the comic and read it. As much as I love reading, comics have just never been my thing.

Then the trailer came out. Honestly, it kind of killed my enthusiasm. It just looked kind of generic. Apocalypse. Superpowers. Bold characters. Lots of action. My takeaway was a big ol’ “Meh.” Frankly, without my pre-existing attachment to Gerard Way and the very idea of The Umbrella Academy, I highly doubt I would have given it a chance - not because it looked inherently bad, but just because I’m a hard sell on the kind of show it appeared to be.

But it’s Gerard Way, man. I had to watch at least one episode.

The Umbrella Academy centres around the famous-yet-mysterious Hargreeves family. The seven children - six of whom have special powers - were adopted by Reginald Hargreeves, a cold and severe patriarch who didn’t even deign to name them. He made them into “The Umbrella Adademy,” a crime-fighting squad of tiny children who would later dissolve after a tragic incident. Now they’re grown up, and Dad’s dead. His spare and tense memorial is what brings the adult Umbrella Academy back together, and this is where the show kicks off.

We’re treated to a rather clumsy beginning; a gripping opening scene followed by an unimaginative montage. We get a glimpse of each of the Hargreeves’ regular lives, leading up to and including them learning of their father’s death. It’s a heavy-handed introductory roll-call, complete with on-screen name cards. It’s a baffling waste of time, considering we don’t learn anything in this montage that isn’t later reiterated through dialogue or behaviour. We don’t need to see Klaus leaving rehab to know he’s an addict. We don’t need to see Allison on the red carpet to know she’s a movie star. It dragged, even on a first watch not knowing that the whole thing would be ultimately pointless, and I’m surprised no one thought to cut it and let us go in cold with everyone arriving at the mansion for the memorial - an opening that would have both set the tone and let us get to know the characters much more naturally. Maybe it feels like I’m focusing too much on this, and that’s only because it gave me a bad first impression - and I want anyone who reacts the same way I did to stick with it. It really does get better.

The further we got from the montage the less gimmicky it felt, and I started to sense some sort of something that I liked about this show. Stylistically it was interesting, and there seemed to be an underlying depth; room for these characters to be more than brooding ex-vigilantes with daddy issues. I was intrigued enough by the end of episode one to keep watching, and was gratified as the series went on and truly delved into those depths. There was a memorable turning point for me around episode five, where Klaus (the wonderful Robert Sheehan) was given space in the runtime to visibly, viscerally feel the effects of something he had just been through. It sounds so obvious, and so simple, but it’s something that is frustratingly glossed over so often in fiction. You know. Fallout. Feelings.

It wasn’t just that moment, though. Prior episodes laid the groundwork, developing not just Klaus but all the Hargreeves. Each character feels real and grounded, each of them uniquely good, uniquely bad, uniquely damaged by their upbringing. It’s this last point I particularly appreciate, this subtle realism in the show’s execution of abused characters. We see how siblings growing up with the same parents does not necessarily mean they got the same childhood, endured the same abuse, or that their trauma will manifest in the same ways. And certainly, it’s important to see the different coping mechanisms each of them have developed. Furthermore, there is a lot more to each of these characters than just their trauma. There are seven distinct personalities going on, and I have to applaud the writers for this commitment to character. It was largely this that kept me hooked (I’m such a sucker for good characters), and to my own surprise very invested in the way things unfolded.

I love the tone, which found a cool rhythm after the pilot. The pacing was decent and the character development balanced well against the plot. I like the little quirks that remind you of the show’s comic book roots, like Pogo, the talking ape and Five, the grouchy old man in a teenager’s body.

Weirdly, I like the apocalypse stuff, which they managed to put their own spin on despite it being such a played-out trope at this point. I like that the show found small ways to go in unexpected directions, even if the overarching plot and big twists weren’t all that surprising. And most of all I love that in a world saturated with forgettable media, I woke up today still thinking about this show.

Even if not all of my thoughts were so generous.

See, for everything I love about this show, there are also quite a few things that rubbed me up the wrong way. I can’t list them all without going into spoilers, but I think it needs to be said that there are like, a fair few problematic elements in this show. I couldn’t help but notice that while women and people of colour are the minority in this cast, they also seem to cop the worst abuse. Only two of the Hargreeves siblings are female. One of them has no powers and the other’s power is influence (a non-physical power). Their “Mom” is literally a robot created for the sole purpose of caregiving; she dresses and acts like the epitome of a submissive 50s housewife. The Hargreeves sisters are also the ones most likely to be left out or ignored when it comes to making decisions, with one of them even literally losing her voice at one point (yikes!). Beyond that we have some truly disturbing imagery of violence being inflicted on women of colour almost exclusively by white men, and the fact that the only asian character is um… well, he’s literally dead. Before the show even starts.

Overall the problem is not just insufficient diversity, with white men taking up most of the screen time, dialogue and leadership actions, but the way that the few female and non-white characters are depicted.

These are all depictions that, in a vacuum, would be innocuous. I mean, just looking at the root of many of the show’s problems exemplifies that - the root being that all of these characters were white in the source material (uh, a problem in itself, obviously). It wasn’t a problem, for example, when Dead Ben was not the only Asian character but just another white Hargreeves sibling. And wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a world where you could race or gender-swap any character and have everything mean - or not mean - the same thing. But life is more complicated than that. Art is more complicated than that.

Honestly, I’m not sure if we should give props to the developers of The Umbrella Academy for diversifying their cast when the fact is they did so - and I say this gently - ignorantly and lazily. Race-swapping willy-nilly and leaving it at that ignores a lot of complex issues surrounding the nuances of portraying minorities in fiction, and leaves room for these kinds of harmful and hurtful tropes to carelessly manifest. So many storytellers don’t want to hear it, but let me tell you writer to writer that it does matter if the person being choked is white or black, male or female, trans or cis. It does matter who’s doing the choking. Camera angles matter. Dialogue matters. It’s all a language that conveys a message - about power and dominance and vulnerability in the real world. Because art doesn’t exist inside a vacuum, as inconvenient as that might be. Having the empathy to recognise that will actually make us better storytellers.

In shedding light on these issues, I am not dragging this show. I am not condemning it. And although it is problematic in itself, I’m not even saying it’s problematic to enjoy it. I’m pulling apart the lasagne, looking at the layers, poking and prodding at the individual ingredients and saying, “Hey, the chef probably should have known better than to put pineapple in here. Maybe let’s not do that next time.” I’m also saying, “When I get a mouthful with pineapple in it, I don’t enjoy that. It’s jarring and unpleasant. But it doesn’t ruin the whole meal for me.”

I’m getting better at allowing myself to dislike something on the basis of its shitty themes. To not have to justify myself when something is problematic in a way that just makes it too uncomfortable for me to watch. That wasn’t the case here. I won’t lie; the bad stuff was no afterthought for me. That kind of thing really gets to me. It does ruin a lot for me. But in this case, the show redeemed itself in other ways; mostly by just being a compelling story with characters I liked. I’m trying not to justify that too hard either.

So I liked The Umbrella Academy, and I hope it gets a second season. I also hope that the creators will listen to people like me who want to be able to enjoy their show even more and create more consciously in the future.

And please let Vanya be a lesbian.

The Umbrella Academy is out now on Netflix

Watch this show if you like: witty characters, iconic characters, complex characters, mysteries,  dark themes, superpowers, vigilantes, comics, dark humour, epic stories, shows about families, stylistic TV shows, ensemble casts, character dynamics, dramedies

Possible triggers (don’t read if you care about spoilers): suicide, child abuse, claustrophobia, addiction, violence, violence against women, violence against women of colour, death, torture, incest, self-harm, pregnancy/childbirth, kidnapping/abduction, blood, mental illness, medication/themes of medication necessity, blood, manipulation/gaslighting, homicide, forced captivity, guns, hospitalisation, medical procedures, needles, PTSD, prison rape reference (1).

Please feel free to message me if I failed to include a relevant trigger warning and I’ll include it.

[starsgivemehp]

☯ + Judgement Hall

Canon Drabbles | accepting

(WELLLLL this isn’t a drabble. It’s very long. BUT it just so happens I’d written this long ago from Frisk’s point of view, from an earlier version of Red, so getting to rewrite it in his POV and with updated backstories was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So, here you are~!)

- - - - -

“stop right there, kid.”

Red watched the human child come to asurprised halt, clearly startled by his sudden appearance. They hadn’t spokensince Snowidn, but he’d been there, watching, from Syren’s little concert tothe vents of Hotland to the winding hallways of the core. He wasn’t impressed.He stood facing them, his hands in his pockets, gaze narrowed. They gave himthat innocent, confused look, the same look they gave Mettaton, and Undyne, andVex, and anyone else who fought them. Like they couldn’t believe it. He grit histeeth.

“don’t gimme that look… you and i both knowwhat’s gonna happen next.”

They tilted their head slightly. They wereeven shorter than him, a child, their body stocky and still growing. Theirhands moved precisely, quick and confident.

‘Why are you here, Red?’

“don’t ask stupid questions. you made it allthis way, you beat my boss, and the captain, even the human-killing robot. youshould’ve died ages ago. how did you survive?”

They didn’t answer, their hands hesitating,and he scoffed.

“yeah, i know how. by making friends with them. by being nice to them until they spared you outof pity, or to return the favor. well, lemme tell ya somethin’, kid. no onespares anyone down here. that’s just not how the underground works. for years,there’s been only one rule. kill, or bekilled.”

Frisk set their jaw, straightening up, andfinally found words.

‘But I did neither of those things.’

“that’s right. you didn’t kill, and you weren’tkilled. well. good for you, kid. but now what? you can’t pass the barrier onyour own no matter how much ‘determination’ you have. you need a monster souland a human soul. and not just any monster soul, either. a monster soul thatwill persist long enough after death for you to take it and absorb it. a bossmonster’s soul. and as of right now, there are only two boss monsters. one isthe king. and the other… well, who knows where the queen went?”

Frisk lifted their hands, but he bulldozed on,unwilling to let them dig in with their talk of mercy. Not for this.

“so, kid, we got a good ending and a bad ending.the bad ending is, you walk past me and fight and kill our king – and he’s areal jerk, don’t get me wrong, but he isking – you take his soul, you pass through the barrier leaving us behind in apower vacuum. we fall into despair; monsters everywhere start falling down anddying. we struggle to survive and hope against hope that another human fallssoon. or… the good ending. you die. you give us your soul, and we break free ofthis mountain.”

Of course, the King had plans of war, butthose could be dealt with after. vex and undyne weren’t training for nothing,or just to beat up vagabonds. This kid didn’t need to know these things.

He pulled his left hand out of his pocket, palm up, hispupils softening a little around the edges. He did his best to look genuine.

“you can guess which one we’d prefer. i’m askin’ ya nicely,kid. do everyone a favor, and give it up peacefully. if you do, i’ll make yourdeath quick and painless. i’m a nice guy sometimes, y’know, and i don’t like toput in a lot of effort. fighting is a hassle, don’t you agree? “

He waited like that patiently, with his arm stretched out,while Frisk stared at him in shock. He wasn’t surprised. His offer wasdownright generous, compared to the other fights they’d been through. There wasa chance, a small chance that theymight actually take his offer, and he wouldn’t have to make this a big mess.But, he could tell already they weren’t going to take his offer. Of course. Hewas resigning himself even before their jaw set.

‘I’m going to return to the surface, and I’m taking you allwith me.’

Red sighed, flipping his hand for the palm to face Frisk.

“well, i tried it the easy way. now you get the hard way.”

He turned their soul blue and threw them into the airviciously.

Things seemed to blur after that. He was sure he’d beatenthem, he was sure he could smell the sickening tang of human blood, making histhroat close up and his soul thud in revulsion. But no, here he was again, hishand out, ready to turn their soul blue. He paused for just a moment, watchingthem.

“that expression…”

He turned their soul blue and flung them. They survived hisattack, slamming the CHECK button. He tried not to shiver, and instead smirked,enjoying their shocked expression at his piss-poor stats.

“what? thought i was stronger? i toldja i didn’t likefighting. but hey, you should’ve attacked while you had the chance, buddy.”

He attacked viciously, trying to dredge up the faintest hintof KR to make it easier on himself. He couldn’t. He couldn’t muster therighteous fury needed to make his magic spark yellow, to make his attacks domore than one measly point at a time. But even without it, he had tricks andworkarounds that gave him a severe advantage.

Things started blurring a little more, but he was gettingused to it. He was experiencing the time LOADs he’d theorized they were usingto win. But he still wouldn’t let them win.

‘Hey, Red! What do you call a skeleton that stuck its head inthe freezer? A numbskull!’“hehehe, good one kid. i’ll use it myself when i get tothe surface.”-- - - - - - - - -‘Did you sit on a pile of sugar, Red? Because you have apretty sweet ass!’“hehe. clever, but i’m a skeleton. i don't have an ass.”- - - - - - - - - -'Red, please, stop! You’vekilled me four times now!’“i know how to count,thanks. i’m a physicist. a well-rounded five, maybe?”

 - - - - - - - - - -

“lemme tell you a story.”

Red wandered over to oneof the pillars in the golden hallway. The kid was clutching their bleeding arm.The smell of blood made him nauseated, but he shook it off. He watched themwith his good eye, the blind right one closed to give him a casual look.

“so i’m a sentry atsnowdin forest, right? out there, in the middle of nowhere, is a door. the doorto the ruins, i’m guessing. but it’s perfect for knock-knock jokes. one time, iwas sittin’ there, crankin’ 'em out as usual, when i heard a voice. a laugh.someone was on the other side, and they liked my stupid puns. it was a woman. idon’t know her name, i never asked. but she really freakin’ loves puns. then sheknocked herself and told one of her own. she was good. we startedgoin’ back and forth, almost every day. we’ve been doin’ it for years now. it’sgreat.”

He knew he had a stupid,fond look on his face as he told the story. Even though he’d never seen her face,he had a terrible fondness for her.

“one day… thelady wasn’t laughin’ much. somethin’ was wrong, i could tell. y'know, i’mpretty good at telling stuff like that. so i asked her what was up. she neverdid get around to tellin’ me what happened. but instead, she asked mesomethin’. she asked me, 'Red, how do you feel about promises?’ and so i toldher, 'look lady, i don’t make promises to people unless i trust 'em a lot…but you’re one of those people. tell me what you want and i’ll decide.’ so shetold me this: “If a human ever passes through this door… please kill them.’”

'Wait, what?’ Frisksigned incredulously.

“it’s the truth.she said to me, 'Please kill them quickly and painlessly. Do not let KingAsgore torture them. Give them the mercy of a painless death from someone witha good heart.’ and so i promised her that. and then, all these years later,here you are.”

'But… but…’

“look. i take mypromises seriously. i keep 'em even if they could kill me. so i intend to keepthis one too.”

He pushed off from the pillarand outstretched his good hand again, palm up.

“you’ll never get outwithout killing the king, kid. we’ll never get out without your soul. this isthe best outcome any of us can hope for. i’ll make sure it’s painless. just takemy offer.”

It was sparing, in itsown way. Yes, they would die, but he could make it be painless. Hell, if it madethem feel better, he’d give them a hug and a last wish or dying request. He’dmake their name be known and immortalized. But, of course, they refused. Theylooked like they were about to start crying, which made his soul clench.

Don’t you do that to me, kid. I HAVE to dothis.

‘Red… I can’t. I refuseto die. I refuse to give up.’

“but why?”he asked, frustrated. “giving up is so much easier. it takes so littleeffort. it hurts less. just… give up, kid.”

‘I won’t.’

Red sighed, slowlydropping his hand.

“y’see? this is why i hate making promises.”

He rolled his shouldersand jumped back into the fray.

- - - - - - - - - -

He gave that speechseveral more times. He always gave them a chance. He couldn’t stop himself. Itwas a part of the ‘script’ he supposed. But he always doubled down after that.They kept sparing, insisting, and multiple times, he knew he snarled that hehated them as he sent another attack their way. He lost count. It had to beover 30 times he killed them total. And he could feel that he was getting tired.Reaching his limits. They were getting better and better.

No wonder they even got past Undyne.

The worst part was theirwords.

“if you’re not gonnadie, you stupid kid, then just kill me and get it over with!” he snarled, andthey reeled like they’d been struck.

‘No!’

“why the fuck not?”

‘Because I care aboutyou, I can’t kill you!’

“wha…?” He paused in hisattack, staring at them with darkened sockets. “you… care about me…?”

‘I care about all ofyou! I care about your brother, and Undyne, and Alphys, and I definitely careabout you!’

And that ridiculouslittle kid actually made it seem… believable.He recalled Vex going red in the face during their ‘play date,’ watching Undynechasing them down only to have her stalk over tot their house and mumble somethingabout cooking with them, raiding Alphys’s lab only to see her dumping out herworse experiments herself. They had all changed… Was it really only becausethis kid showed they cared? Was that really it?

…No. It couldn’t be.There had to be other things at play. It was all some sick game. He grit histeeth, yanking them with blue magic again.

“you don’t. those arejust words. if you really cared about me, about any of us… you would just die already!”

He saw vividly tearingthrough their fragile flesh with a dozen bones, the blood spattering. His soulseized at the gore, and he felt vomit welling up before the world blurred.

- - - - - - - - - -

“…survive this, and i’ll show you my specialattack!”

He had said those wordseight times before. He was fighting a losing battle. What was the point? Hethrew everything at them. Everything he had, until he was gasping for breath, themagic in his good eye sputtering, exhaustion sweeping through him. He fell tohis knees, the assault ending, and they were still alive. Bleeding, but alive.The smell was horrible, but he was too tired to even be grossed out by thispoint.

“hhh… hhh…hhh… why won’t… you… just die…?” he panted,his eye sockets completely blank now. “why… hhh… why won’t you…just… give up…? hhh… please… hhh… please just… give up…”

He held onto his ‘turn’with the last ounces of will he had in him. Even so, they shuffled closer,kneeling in front of him. He braced for the end. But instead, he heard theirsoft, mostly unused voice.

“I can never give up,Red. I’ve got to get out.”

“hhh… k-kid… i don’t… idon’t have… some special attack… that’s all i got… hhh… you, you beat me… i can’tkill you, s-so… so please, just… kill me instead…”

“No! I refuse to killyou. I refuse to kill anyone.”

“please… please, kid, i’m beegin’ ya… after allof this… i can’t do it… i can’t watch you kill the king… take away our hope. ican’t watch boss feel betrayed… i just… i can’t, kid, i can’t do this anymore,i can’t…”

He broke off in a soband hated himself deeply for that weakness. Here he was, crumpled in front of achild, crying pathetically like he was still a little kid himself. If anyoneelse saw, he’d be dead. But all Frisk did was put their little hand on hisshoulder, and rub gently.

“I won’t. I care aboutyou, I’d never hurt you.”

He shook his head,sobbing quietly again. “if you cared about me, you’d do this for me… i’ve onlygot 1… i’m all out of HOPE. watchin’ you take away boss’s hope is gonna kill meanyway… this would be the less painful way to go, please…”

“I refuse.”

“why… not even for revenge?i killed you so many times i lost count.”

“Yes… But it doesn’tmatter. I know you’re a good person. You were fighting me to protect the peopleyou love.”

“that doesn’t excusemurder… and i ain’t the only one. so many have been cruel, anyone else wouldtake one look at us and just call us all bad people!”

“Well… I believe eventhe worst person can change. That everyone can be a good person, if they justtry. I’m going through life trying to be the best person I can be. Forgivingeveryone of their mistakes and bad choices, in the hopes they’ll try to becomebetter people too. It’s working so far… Hasn’t your brother changed? You sawhim after our date.”

Red wiped at his eyes,shifting to sit on his haunches slowly. “yeah, he… he looked happy… he hasn’tlooked so happy in a long time…” He looked up at them tiredly. “you… you changedhim, kid.”

“I’m glad! Because Icare about him a lot! And I’d never hurt him, especially not by killing you.You’re his precious brother. He loves you, you know. Even if he doesn’t say it.”

Red felt tears well up inhis sockets again. His soul throbbed. He knew, deep inside, it had just… beenso long since he’d acknowledged it. What with all of their fighting, theinsults, the punches, the disappointment and goading, the vicious cycle they’dbeen stuck in… Despite all of that…

“i… i know he does. ilove him too. that’s why i want him to get to the surface. i… want him to drivea cool car, and see the sun ride every morning…”

‘I want that too.’ Friskshifted back to signing now that he was watching them. ‘I’m gonna do it, Red. I’mgoing to set everyone free.’

“but how? we can’tharness the power of your soul without killing you, and we need it. besides,the king is…”

‘I’ll find a way. I alwaysfind a way.’

“heh…” He fell silent,looking down at his hand. He was exhausted, and emotionally wrung out, and…despite all of his conviction, there was something about Frisk. Something hecouldn’t help but trust. “somehow… i believe you, kid. i’m sorry foreverything.”

They smiled at him andoffered their hand. He took a deep breath, then took it to get to his feet.

The FIGHT ended.

[caribouwritings]

The Last Known Flower

{First Draft}

           “We got to hide.”

           “Where?”

           “Anywhere, let’s try this place.”

           Pushing the steel door open, it felt as though Dante and Kevin were transported back a couple centuries back. So use to the dark mechanical world the Earth had become, seeing the wooden interior lit with warm lights wasn’t the most daunting sight inside the cozy building:  it was the books.

           Dante felt as though he and Kevin stuck out among the rows of shelves filled to the brim with colorful spines both hard and soft. After all, they were two thugs in dark clothes and military vest, covered in bulging pockets that either had weapons or stolen goods in each. Dante may have been smaller than Kevin who managed to swipe food on every mission, but his Latino looks packaged with his pearly white smile made him a whole different kind of threat.

He walked in deeper, his steel toe boots muffled in the neutral carpet shades.

           Kevin popped his collar up, following Dante. His steel gaze was unfazed, unlike Dante’s bewilderment as they walked through the aisles of books. Kevin bit into the donut he snatched, getting crumbs caught in his red mustache and the vacuumed floors.

           “What do you think this place is?” Dante wondered aloud.

           Kevin shrugged making an inaudible noise.

           Dante ran his bare fingertips over a column of books of the same name, “it’s kind of cool.”

           “That’s good for you then, lad.” Kevin brushed past him, “we can hide out here until those drone scouts go back to their stations.”

           Kevin sat down on bench in the corner, taking out his knife from his boot and began polishing the clean blade. Dante turned back to the rainbow of spines, then began walking the lengths loss in the vintage beauty.

           “Don’t get lost, lad,” Kevin called with a mouthful.

           “Yeah, yeah,” Dante replied dismissively.

           Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement at a wooden counter.

           He turned quick, seeing it was a checkout counter with a sign behind it that read Pages Bookstore. At that counter was a single robo-cashier, inventorying books by scanning each barcode on the back and stacking them into different piles. Hesitantly, he approached despite knowing how high the chances were this bot had a camera feeding data back to the cops.

           “Uh, hi,” Dante said, “this place is open, right?”

           The robot lifted its dark monitor for a face, “hello. Pages Bookstore is open 24/7 for all your book related needs.”

           It was a preprogramed answer inside its processor, and that was relief to Dante since that meant this was an older model. This also meant that there was no way the cops were getting any live data. By the time they came in to download its CPU, it would be too late to catch him.

           “Cool.” Dante stepped away, moving on to look around.

           He walked deeper into the sea of books, admiring the paintings on the wall. He paused, picking up a book that caught his eye. After a second of reading the back, he opened it up, and stood there reading the first chapter.

           Then, he heard it.

           A hum.

           He lifted his head, and saw something that wasn’t a robot passing by.

           Dante shut the book, peaking around the corner at something he never seen in person before. It was partially untrue, he’s seen women before, but this one was not dressed in the cyberpunk style with spikey heels and almost no clothes on.

As he bit down on his cheek, Dante began following the delicate beauty with a high ponytail the color of sand. He pulled on his collar as she turned into a little nook, feeling as though the fabric was restricting his airway.

Dante kept moving forward, trying to get a look at her face that was turned away from him. He stood at the corner of the shelf, knocking his knuckles on the hard cover of his book. He glanced back, seeing this girl sitting on the floor with her poodle skirt around her like a perimeter.

Dante turned to walk away in retreat, cursing himself for being scared of a pretty face despite his life.

“Murder mystery or young adult rom-com?”

Dante paused, “huh?”

“What?”

He turned back, and she was now looking up at him with the most intense ocean blue eyes he had ever seen.

“I… I was actually talking to myself. I didn’t actually see you standing there,” she held out her hand, “hi.”

Dante took her hand in his, “hi.”

“Hello,” she rambled on, “how are you? How’s it… how’s it going?”

Dante smiled, “I’m good. It’s a good night for me. What about you?”

“I’m good, I’m real good. I’m just really, really awkward.”

“I couldn’t tell.”

“Really?”

“No, I’m just lying to be nice.”

“That’s actually so nice of you, thank you for lying.”

“No problem.”

“Come here often?”

“No, I didn’t know this place existed until five minutes ago.”

“Then where do you get your books?”

“I don’t really read.”

“But that’s book three!”

Dante looked down at his book still in his hand, “I just saw the cover and thought it looked decent.”

She got up, “you got to read it from the beginning!”

“Do I?” Dante asked.

“Yes!” she hurried off to the section he picked the book up from.

Dante walked over to where she was once sitting, looking at the two books she was deciding between. Reading over the back, he could already tell the murder mystery was going to be horrible.

“Here.” She skidded to a halt in her beat up sneakers.

Dante took two more books from her, “I thought you were getting me book one.”

“And two,” she pointed at the cover, “this one is my favorite in the series.”

“So, I should read these three books?” Dante asked.

“And the other four,” she rocked on her heels, “then maybe the two other books if you really like it, but they’re not as good as the originals.”

“Got it.” Dante handed her the rom-com, “the murder mystery has a weird synopsis that just doesn’t sound easy to follow.”

“Thank you for your help,” she smiled, “and I hope to see you around… mister…?”

“Dante, and you senorita?”

She brushed her hair behind her ear smiling, “it’s Dahlia.”

Dante took her hand and kissed her knuckles, “until we meet again, Dahlia.”

Dahlia hugged her book to her chest, walking away with a smile on her burning red face.

Dante leaned back against the shelf, and watched her walk all the way to the counter and purchase her book, and then leave back into the cold city.

After a moment of patting himself on the back, he walked back to where he left Kevin, unsurprised to find that he didn’t move.

“Where’d you go?” Kevin picked at his fingernails.

“Looked around for a bit. I found a couple of books to read.”

Kevin looked up, “books? When are you going to have time to read a book? We are in a f*cking gang.”

“Keep your voice down,” Dante warned, “this place is huge and we don’t know who else is here.”

“There’s no one here,” Kevin twirled his knife.

“A girl was here,” Dante took a card out of his wallet, “she’s the one who recommended these to me.”

“A girl was here?” Kevin jumped up, “why didn’t you come get me?”

“Because it was lady-type of girl,” Dante went to checkout counter, “not the type we run around with.”

Kevin shoved his knife back into his boot, “you’re seriously paying for those? Why not just walk out the door with them? You know, like we always do, lad?”

“I feel like I have to,” Dante handed the card to the bot.

***

           Sitting in the hovercar, Dante chewed on the inside of his cheek while Kevin gobbled down a third hamburger spilling its condiments into its wrapper.

           “Don’t get that crap on my leather seats,” Dante grumbled.

           Kevin turned to Dante, and took a big bite causing ketchup to spill out.

           “I really do hate you sometimes,” Dante leaned against the driver’s door. “Where the heck are these guys?”

           “It’s a bank robbery,” Kevin licked his fingers, “it’s like an art, meaning they take time.”

Dante reached into his glovebox, and took out a book.

Kevin rolled his eyes, “seriously?”

“Just keep an eye out,” Dante flipped to the first page.

“Whatever you say,” Kevin shrugged, “just remember your job is to drive.”

“Bite me.”

Dante read for maybe five minutes, then there was a knock on his window. Dante didn’t look up, and instead moved on to the next page.

“Dante, lower the window for the pretty woman,” Kevin punched his arm.

Dante hit the button, not moving his eyes from the page.

“Hey there, handsome,” her voice was hoarse, and she smelled of smoke. It use to not bother him, but for some reason he felt sick now. She touched his shoulder with a wrinkled hand covered in cheap jewelry, “nice car. Maybe you and I can go for a spin sometime?”

Kevin nudged him roughly, whispering harshly, “Put the book down and say something.”

Dante sighed, then looked up at the woman with a heavily colored face wrapped with a messy, hot pink wig. He studied her metallic shorts with fishnets underneath that had long tears, red stilettos with the sharp heals, and the black bra being used as a top.

“Lo siento, no Inglés.”

The woman’s face went cold, stalking off, “jacka**.”

Kevin punched his arm, “dude!”

“¿Qué?” Dante couldn’t help but smile.

“You could’ve just let me have her!” Kevin yelled.

Dante chuckled, picking up his book again, “trabajo primero.”

“Quit speaking Spanish!”

“Are they coming?”

“No.”

“Keep watch.”

“I am watching!”

“Shh, I’m reading.”

Kevin stuck his middle finger up in Dante’s face.

Dante started reading again, smiling at the words projecting images in his mind. Although, his thoughts keep going back to wondering when he’d go back to Pages Bookstore and hopefully run into Dahlia again.

Kevin hit Dante’s arm, “start the car.”

Dante hit the button, then shut his book.

Two big guys in all black wearing chrome masks jumped into the backseats with nothing in their hands. As soon as the doors shut, Dante hit the pedal and they went down into the lower levels of the city and starting go into the retirement area down in suburban grounds.

Clicking a button on the stirring wheel, the black hue of his sport vehicle switched to a red muscle style as they flew up to a curb.

Dante parked, then he and Kevin turned to the two in the back, “you get the goods?”

One guy nodded, and pulled a green chip out of his pocket, “one million credits.”

“Now we bring this back to the boss,” the other said, “Let’s go.”

Dante went to drive off, but he couldn’t help but notice that the workers in the retirement home were wearing clothes in the style as Dahlia’s.

***

Later that night, Dante returned to the retirement home and parked at the curb. With the vehicle’s hull changed to navy blue, and his hair slick back.

He now just had to wait and see.

Looking through the rearview mirror, he watched wondered if he was overreacting.

He pulled the book out of his glovebox again, turning the music onto a techno station, and trying to focus on the pages before ultimately throwing the book at the windshield.

Dante got out of his vehicle, and began pacing the length of the driver’s side. He couldn’t understand why this girl had such a hold on him despite only meeting her the night before for a few minutes, in which she could barely speak.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Dante turned to the cement sidewalk, and there she was.

“Dahlia, hi!”

She jumped back, “oh! I didn’t recognize you.”

“I’m sorry,” Dante leaned on the top, “I drove by earlier, and noticed some of the staff wearing… that.”

Dahlia looked down at her tea length swing dress and cardigan, “I thought… I thought it was cute…”

“It is cute!” Dante blurted out, “you truly do look cute and… do you want to go grab a bite?”

Dahlia looked around, “no offense, but… why?”

“Because I want to get to know you,” Dante shrugged, “and I started the first book while I was at work?”

“You get to read at work?”

“Sometimes.”

“Lucky, I have to keep an eye on all these dementia people who think they’re in the era of swing dancing and poodle skirts.”

“That explains the outfit then,” Dante walked to the other side, “if you don’t want to go get something to eat, can I give you a ride home?”

Dahlia thought for a moment, then shrugged, “I guess I am a little bit hungry.”

Dante opened the car door upwards, “after you.”

Dahlia slowly ducked down, pulling her skirt close to her as she sat down in the passenger seat. He closed the door, slid over the hood, and hopped into the driver’s seat.

“Well, where are we going, senorita?”

***

           Dante flew around the city, clicking his tongue as he pulled up to a neon lit drive-thru window, “you sure you want this?”

           Dahlia nodded, “pretty please? The fries are so good.”

           Dante laughed, “Okay, okay. Pequeña pepita.”

           “Little what?” Dahlia asked.

           “Not saying,” Dante pulled up the window, tapping on the computer screen.

           “Should I take out my translator?” she teased.

           “I’m not telling you what I said.” Then flew forward to the pickup window, tapping his card onto the code reader, “and I don’t want you looking up. I want you tell me what I said when you figure it out.”

           “You know, you’re kind of a pain,” Dahlia poked his muscle.

           “Actually, I prefer to think of myself as inconveniently obnoxious to a fault.” Dante took the bag and drinks from the robo-cashier, “if my looks go, I still have my colorful personality.”

           “You talking about when you get old, in a retirement home, and think techno is better than the music of the current day?” Dahlia asked in joking manner.

           Dante nodded and lied easily, “and balding with a spare tire on my gut.”

           Dahlia snorted on a laugh.

           Dante reached in the bag and grabbed a chicken nugget, “where to now, pequeña pepita?”

           “What does that mean?” Dahlia asked again.

           “¿Pepita?” Dante flew down the colorful flyways that shimmered off the glass.

           “Yes, what is pepita?” She ate a bite of a chicken nugget.

           “You really want to know?” He glanced at her.

           The rainbow of lights glowed around her as she nodded her head up and down.

           Dante smirked, “you’re eating one.”

           Dahlia stared at him, “I thought chicken was… something like pollo…?”

           “It is,” Dante waited.

           Dahlia blinked, “nugget?”

           Dante tapped his nose, “little nugget.”

           “Oh my gosh,” she laughed, “Is this high school?”

        ��  “What about princesa?” Dante teased, “¿cara de muñeca?”

           “What is with the cheesy nicknames?” Dahlia asked through her fit of giggles.

           “I like giving people that I like nicknames,” Dante shrugged, “don’t you?”

           “They’re alright,” Dahlia said, “but I like your name, Dante.”

           Dante smiled, “Dahlia, you are a kind, sweet, pequeña pepita.”

           Dahlia smiled and passed him a nugget, “gracias.”

           He stole a glance at her as he took the nugget, “de nada.”

***

           After an hour of flying around, Dante pulled up to the curb of her apartment complex and let the thrusters idle.

           “I had fun,” she spoke first.

           “I did too,” Dante replied, “I’m glad you agreed to this…”

           “Date?” Dahlia suggested.

           “This date,” he agreed. “Thank you for going on this date with me.”

           “Thank you for asking,” Dahlia opened the door, “and I’ll be at the bookstore tomorrow if you’re interested in seeing me again.”

           Dante smiled, “I may be there.”

           Dante went to turn off his brake when he noticed the song wasn’t techno, and his station was changed, “did you change m-“

           Dahlia pressed her lips on his cheek quick, then ducked out just as fast as the kiss she gave him. Dante turned to the passenger window, and watched her press her thumb to the keypad and run inside smiling. The corners of lips began to tug upward and he felt his cheeks start to burn at the sensation, but couldn’t help but laugh a little at the circumstances.

Dante turned off the brake and dropped straight down, not entirely sure if the feeling in his stomach was butterflies or due to the rapid drop. Now flying back to the compound, he tapped the computer screen, saving the clean unaltered music station to his primary settings.

When he pulled into the block of maroon painted buildings down deep in the depths of the city, he began noticing difference he was once blind to. There was a darkness to criminal underworld, and a lack of unique people walking around to avoid standing out.

           Dante sighed and turned into the scrapyard. He parked, and pulled his visor-phone out of his chest pocket, and the book from his glovebox. He put the visor on his head like they were sunglasses, and slid out of the driver’s seat.

           Like always, he kept his head down to avoid looking at the exoskeletons hanging from the support poles. As he walked underneath, he noticed there was a fresh puddle of red with the dry stains. He wondered who got—as the boss put it—reprogrammed, but he dared not look up to see the fresh meat.

           “Lad!” He felt Kevin wrap an arm around his shoulder, “where’ve you been? Find any babes?”

           “No babes,” Dante replied tiredly.

           “You sick, lad?” Kevin redirected Dante’s path.

           “I went out for a bite,” Dante tried to turn back his other path.

           “Hope it was good, the boss has a job,” Kevin shoved him in the elevator, “and he is not happy he had to wait this long.”

           “Why didn’t you call me?” Dante asked.

           “Reasons.”

           A chill ran up his spine, and he knew there was no job.

           Dante went to run out of the elevator, only to feel a sharp pain slice through his body armor underneath his military vest. Dante stumbled to the side against the elevator’s wall, slipping down to the chrome floors as the doors sealed his fate.

           “I hate to say it, but you changed,” Kevin wiped his blade on his pant leg, “in a rapid amount of time too, and it got me worried. I had to express my concerns to the boss, you understand? If the getaway driver goes soft, then who’s to say he won’t drive the criminals to the coppers? The boss doesn’t want to lose business, so we’re letting you go, amigo.”

           Dante coughed, “you’re not my amigo.”

           Kevin knelt down, “but I am. You see, I had been following you around since the retirement center, you just didn’t notice because you were looking at someone else.”

           Dante lifted his head, “don’t talk about her.”

           “Your girl is safe,” Kevin placed his knife to Dante’s neck, “and I’ll tell her how you asked me to take care of her.”

           Without even thinking, Dante kicked Kevin’s ankle, and shoved him back. With the wind knocked out of him, it gave time for Dante to grab the knife and hide his glasses in his thigh pocket of his cargo pants. Kevin went to kick back, but Dante raised his leg and shoved his steel boot right into Kevin’s pale face, crushing his nose, then kicking again and burying his mustache into his skull.

           Dante hit the emergency stop button, looking around the small area for a way out. He noticed the blood seeping through a crack in the floor, and used the knife to pry it open. Looking down the red lit bay, and seeing nothing to grab, he weighed the possibility he’d break a bone better than losing his life.

           As he went down the shaft feet first, he knew the place would be loaded with other thugs and goons looking for him. He reached his hands out, and fingers slammed down on the ledge of one of the stops, making a painful crack and pop in several of his digits. He bit down on cheek, trying to distract himself from the pain he was feeling everywhere else.

           He pulled himself up, and used the knife to pry the door open just enough to peep through and see the coast was clear, for the moment.

           He pushed them open enough to slip through, and then ran into the corridor holding his side. Dante moved to a supply closet, and ducked inside. Flipping the switch, he was now under bright florescent lights that burned his eyes, with his only company being the cleaning supplies.

           Sinking to the floor, Dante opened his vest and moved the Kevlar made armor aside to access the damage taken to his abdomen:  The cut was deep.

           Dante grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol from the bottle shelf, and poured some on the wound—wincing at the sting—and dug around for some sort of emergency kit that was stored throughout the compound. He found the metal case on the second shelf, and dug inside for a patch and settled for the gauze, tying it around his abdomen knowing it wouldn’t be enough to stop him from bleeding out.

           Dante got up, and was struck by an idea.

           He took his visor from his pocket, and as he grabbed every flammable bottle he could, he dialed the police.

***

           Sneaking around and pouring every bottle of cleaner, bleach, and gasoline on every floor and stairway he went through as he hobbled his way back down to the ground level. His goal was to get to his vehicle, and drive away before the cops tracked his call back to the glasses he put into his chest pocket again.

           He kept his hood up and head low as he walked along the side of the building with his last can of gasoline dripping on the ground. It seemed unrealistic, but he had no other idea how to get his past mistakes to stay in the past other than to blow them up.

           Dante could see his car, just beyond the hanging exoskeletons and groups of members looking for him. As he walked under the display of dead henchmen, he wondered how this place lasted so long if they were able let him slip through so easily. By thinking about it, he realized he made a mistake because he began to notice the men casually moving toward him.

           He paused, wondering what to do now.

           A drop of blood dripped onto his shoulder. It was a fate he didn’t want, and he did not put this much work in to be stuffed into an exoskeleton and rot there in front of everyone. With a sigh, he concluded he wasn’t going to the bookstore the next night, and seeing Dahlia again.

           He dropped the can, and then lit a match.

           He heard the sirens before the boom.

***

           Dante woke up.

           Judging by the bright white lights, he assumed he was dead. The light back and forth in his field of vision, before he could make out the person behind it was a doctor in a surgical mask.

           “What’s your name?” He asked.

           Dante tried to speak, but his chest felt heavy and the sound was the air escaping his throat.

           The doctor clicked the light off, and began using it to write on his holoscreen projecting from his watch. “As of now, you’re John Doe, seeing as you’re so disfigured that not even a face scan or finger scan can identify you. Those new lungs and respirator will take some getting use to as well, please wait here, I will be back with nurse bot to perform a retina scan.”

           Despite what the doctor said, Dante still tried to get up, only to find himself handcuffed to the hospital bed. He painfully sat up enough to see his arm, wrapped in bandages that had blood still blooming from his skin. He could see his fingertips, they were raw and bright red like a boiled lobster.

           Dante felt a noise boil up inside him, starting at his stomach and working its way up into his chest, into his throat and out his mouth in a blood curdling scream, as he thrashed and flailed in the bed.

           He knew he wanted to live, but this was not how he wanted to be alive.

           The doctor returned, shoving a mask over Dante’s screaming mouth and putting him back to sleep.

***

           Ever since Dante woke up again, he was being hounded by doctors, police, and bots.

           They knew who he was, but they couldn’t place how he fit into the explosion. Their technology was smart enough to trace his call, figure out the source of the explosion, and keep him alive, but not smart enough to know what came over him to betray his criminal family.

           That was fine with Dante. If they couldn’t make him talk, he wasn’t telling them it was because he chose to hide out in a bookstore.

           Every day that passed, the more hounding the questions got until they left him alone to stare at the ceiling.

           He was in the middle of counting the specs in those forty-four tiles, when a human aid in all white dropped off his food with a replacement vase of flowers. The flowers came in patterns he noticed, and since last week was tulips, this week would be roses.

Today they were something he never seen before.

           Dante gave the vase a side-eye, “those aren’t roses.”

           “It’s another aid’s birthday this week,” the aid said dismissively as she sat his bed up, “you’re in a chatty mood today, Mr. Perez.”

           “What are those?” He ignored her comment.

           “Dahlias,” the aid answered, “the staff thought it’d be funny since it is her name.”

           Dante turned to the aid, “did she work in a retirement center?”

           The aid stepped back, her actions were his answer. “Enjoy your lunch, Mr. Perez.”

           Dante watched her leave coldly, then turned back to the rainbow of little buds of petals poking out of the rich green leaves. The sight made him smile a little, before the guilt blanketed him and he rolled away, putting his back to the dahlias.

***

           The same aid was back later with the doctor to remove the bandages.

           While the doctor snipped the gauze around his face, Dante looked everywhere else but at the mirror the aid was holding up. He already didn’t like seeing his tan skin bright red with the bandages on, he didn’t want to see what was left now that the rawness faded away.

           He tried staring at the ceiling, but the doctor’s head kept getting in his field of view, same as the aid. He looked to the doorway, seeing bots on their tracks carrying medications and food to other burn victims. They loyally followed an aid in a mixture of modern technological styles, plain colorless scrubs, and flashback styles from eras he never witnessed in his lifetime.

           The bandage went in front of his eyes, and in when he looked again a girl with hair the color of sand was at the bots’ station presetting the program for her robo-companion. The bandage went in his sightline again, as she turned her head.

           “His pulse has elevated,” the aid warned.

           “Nothing to worry about,” the Doctor said stepping back.

           Dante sat up, ignoring the mirror offered to him. He couldn’t see her anymore, and he wasn’t even sure if it was Dahlia, but she was the first person he saw in the hospital wearing a tea dress like that.

           “Mr. Perez,” the doctor interrupted his thoughts. “Would like to take a look?”

           The aid held up the mirror.

           Dante reached out taking the mirror in his shiny misshapen hand. He turned the mirror over, seeing a face that had the same texture as his hand, and details melted down like he was made of wax. The only part of him that stayed was his hazel eyes, but even so they looked vastly different on his new face.

           “In time, the pain will be more bearable and when you get out jail you could get reconstructive surgery,” the Doctor explained, “sooner if you cooperate with the police, maybe.”

           Dante glanced up, she was back hugging a book to her chest.

           “Mr. Perez, do you want to issue a statement to the police?” the Doctor pressed.

           She brushed her hand over her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. As soon as he saw that freckled nose and pink pout, he knew it was her.

           “Mr. Perez?” the aid looked at the monitor, “are you feeling alright?”

           Dante curled his wrist back, and tossed the mirror out the door like a Frisbee, cutting her off. She jumped back with a surprised yelp, and a security bot hovered past her into the room.

           “Mr. Perez!” The doctor scolded.

           “What is the situation?” The bot demanded.

           Dahlia picked up the mirror, and walked to the doorway. “Is he alright?”

           “Everything is fine,” the aid shooed Dahlia, “this guy is just disturbed.”

           Dahlia stepped inside, “that is very nice to say. First time seeing your new look… mister?”

           “Dante.”

           She froze, “Dante…?”

           “Do you know him?” the aid asked.

           Dahlia ignored her, and sat down on the edge of the bed, “Dante… is that… is that really you?”

           “I’m so sorry, pequeña pepita,” he said quietly.

           The Doctor squeezed Dahlia’s shoulder, “Miss Collins, do you know this man?”

           Dahlia looked around at the room. She took in where she was and the security measures taken to keep Dante from leaving, all the while pretending he was a normal burn patient. She then turned back to Dante teary eyed, “no.”

           Dante felt his smile he didn’t know he had fall, “but Dahlia… I like you. Please don’t do this to me.”

           The Doctor pulled Dahlia up, “time to go, Mr. Perez needs to be left alone now.”

           “Dahlia, wait.” Dante sat up as much as he could, reaching out as far as his restraints would let him, “please let me explain.”

           The security bot led them out, with Dahlia last to leave.

           She turned back, with her arms hanging at her sides, “pero… yo quiero.”

           “You want to know me?” Dante held his breath.

           Dahlia cracked a small smile, “that’s what I said, isn’t it?” she slowly shut the door, “tell me what you think, it’s my favorite story.”

           Dante looked down at where she once sat, finding the book he picked out the day he met her, right in his reach.

[mystisnykoto]

The Outsiders - Epilogue

A Tout le Monde

*click*

If... if you are hearing this, then hopefully my plan worked. B-but... gods this never gets easier... it also means that I'm... gone... It hurt and pained me to see moth-... Ruri, locked into The Net. I felt like I was the one to have truly failed her. It became my mission, and passion, that I would find a way to get the both of you back home safely.

                                                                                                                    Ruri sat outside of the workshop, watching over a group of children playing in the yard. She smiled as the children chased each other in a game of tag, giggling softly as one of them stumbled into a small pond. A small girl stopped and trotted back to check on her friend.

“A-are you okay?” the girl asked, reaching out a hand to help her friend out of the water. Her friend took her hand, standing up and tapping her on the head.

“You're it!” the boy giggled, leaping out from the pond and splashing water onto the girl. “No tag-backs!”

“H-hey!” the girl protested, letting out a huff as she chased after another of her friends.

“Be careful kids, don't want you to hurt yourselves,” Ruri spoke, as the blonde girl tagged a friend and bounded off towards the chocobo stable in the corner. The workshop door opened as Trix stepped outside, jumping back slightly as a small crowd rushed by.

“Wah! Careful kids!” Trix called at the children. Trix stepped back outside and closed the door. She flexed her hand, fluttering and rolling the fingers on her new mechanical hand.

“Yes Miss Trix!” the children called out in unison. Trix rolled her eyes as she stepped over and sat next to Ruri.

“How does it feel?” asked Ruri, looking over her friend's hand.

“It... feels strange...” Trix replied, quickly doing a few dexterity exercises, tapping the the tip of each finger to her thumb. “It's good that Iris had this just laying around, even if she didn't ever need it.”

“She had all sorts of random things from old allagan ruins,” Ruri spoke, looking over Trix's new hand. “Good thing the both of you were close to the same size, seems the arm fits you pretty well.”

“Definitely! Good thing she brought home a set of arms, rather than just the one she needed.” Trix wiggled her fingers a bit, laughing as it was able to transfer some amount of feeling back to her. “How is little Gabby getting along with the others?”

“She's doing well! It helps that several of the others were her friends when they were first put into The Net, but she is getting along with several of Iris' students, so that is good.”

“What about the others? You know, the ones that are not children again,” Trix asked, relaxing back onto the bench.

"Some of them chose to leave 'The Net' with us, and are trying to find their own place in their new world. Most decided to stay inside, which I can't blame them too much for wanting to stay.”

“Mommy!” Gabrielle called out as she ran up to Ruri. “Where is my other mommy?”

“She's...” started Ruri, as a look of sadness washed over her face. “She... she'll b-be back soon, I-I promise...” Ruri finished, as Gabrielle nodded and rejoined the other children.

“Do you ever plan on telling her?” asked Trix, looking over to Ruri.

“I... maybe... I'm not quite sure how to... or even what to tell her...” Ruri spoke.

                                                                                                                  I'm... still not quite sure what to say in this log, so... this will probably end up becoming an extended goodbye. You both treated me like a part of your family, despite being what I am. It gave me a sense of belonging and I was eternally grateful for it. I... I don't know what will happen when the terminal is used, but it requires a sort of sacrifice in order to clean and scrub someone's data. So... I'm going to give up myself so that... s-so that Ruri can go home. I don't know what will remain of me once this all happens, I don't know if I'll even have a body of my own, but regardless of it all, I do this willingly...

“Great, now get back over to the camp, the stew is ready,” spoke a woman clad in black leather, beckoning Leo back toward her and the rest of the Brigade. Leo followed after the woman, glancing back to the direction that Iris had taken off toward as meeting with a group inside of a small cavern, gathered around a campfire. A gray-skinned roegadyn spooned some stew into a bowl and held it out towards Leo, a soft smile crossing his face.

“So what is your determination?” the roe asked. “You know her better than most anyone; did your initial thoughts ring true and the android is the real girl?” Leo took the bowl from the roe, finding a seat atop a log.

“Thanks Rad, and yes they held true,” spoke Leo, eating a spoonful of stew. “But she's not soo much the real Iris, since they are both the real Iris.”

“What do you mean?” asked Vai, leaning against the wall of the cavern as she ate her stew.

“She's somehow split off from her original self, and created a second version of her,” replied Leo. “The true version of her is held within the android, whereas the original is corrupted by this other spirit or whatever is inside her, somewhat similar to those with some types of void corruption.”

“So... there are two of her?” asked a blue-haired lalafell.

“No, more like... more that there is Iris, which is the android, and then... well... Other Iris, which is the aether vacuum.”

“So... do they share memories? What makes them different?” asked Rad, eating a few more spoonfuls of stew.

“Well, it's... imagine if...” started Leo, looking over to a male midlander meditating away from the group. “Okay, imagine Stone over there, and now imagine that you magically have two of him.”

“Oh gods! Two of Stone!?” the lalafell laughed out. “One of him is bad enough!”

“N-no, we aren't actually making two, just... pretend. So, you take the second Stone, and make him an android, and put the other in some sort of hibernation. Then the android goes on living as if nothing changed-” started Leo pausing slightly, as Vai cut in.

“Except that he's now a robot, that's a bit of a change,” spoke Vai with a chuckle.

“Well, yes, but that's not the point I'm getting to. So, android Stone thinks he's the only one, but then the original Stone wakes up and comes back. But, now the original Stone lacks all these extra experiences that Android Stone has had. They are both real, but it becomes quite subjective whom you consider to be the true version of the pair, as they both see themselves as real.”

“So, what if you made a copy of the android version?” asked the roe. “Can this true-ness follow over to the new copy?”

“Well it could but it's not a thing that can transfer from one person to-” started Leo as the midlander shuffled a bit and stood up to his feet.

“The matter isn't as complex as you make it out to be,” spoke the midlander. “The Mother has asked us to destroy these two, and return these built-up aether stores back to Hydaelyn, and that is what we are to do.”

“I have confidence that Iris will take care of the issue on her own,” spoke Leo. “No need for us to intervene when we don't ultimately need to do so.”

“What makes you think that?” asked Vai.

“Iris has a knack for getting in and out of trouble,” Leo spoke with a laugh. “Out-classed or out-matched, she'll think of something to given her the advantage...”

                                                                                                                  A soft wind blew through the Shroud, a silence falling over the otherwise lively forest. A lone figure stood within the Hanging Barbs, standing before a small stone monument formed around a thin-bladed sword, marking the site of a grave.

'It's... strange...' spoke a robotic voice inside of the figure's head.

“Hmph,” Iris chuckled. She smiled, admiring the headstone as she placed a small bundle of purple flowers before it. “What makes you say that?” she asked aloud.

'Well mostly the part that we are looking over our own grave.'

“I don't think it is,” Iris spoke again, replying to her new system voice, having been replaced by her former self. “It's a grave, but not for Iris. This... this is for Aeslyn.” Iris let out a soft sigh, touching lightly over the top of the marker. “Aeslyn... who we used to be, has passed. But, Iris, whom we truly are, is still alive and well.”

'It's a wonder the elementals even allowed the burial here.'

“Probably because of the aether held inside our old body. All that aether filtering out will help the forest to flourish, and is the closest path for the aether to return to the planet.”

'And it's Ruri's favorite place.'

“Well, yeah. That was originally why I chose to bury us... h-her in this place.” Several minutes passed and Iris stood back to her feet.

'We should head back home.'

“Definitely, I miss Ruri and Gabby.”

'It makes me happy to see that Omi was able to find some peace, finally. Seeing all of her diary logs... she had been through so much more than I ever imagined...'

“We could all use some peace, for once...” Iris giggled, touching lightly over her cheek. “So much has been happening lately that... I just want some quiet time at home, to be able to live out the rest of my life with my family in peace.”

'Hopefully that is what will happen, although trouble does seem to revolve around us wherever we go.'

“Yeah... There are times why I wonder why that is so much the case. Whatever the true cause of it all, hopefully the fates allow us some respite from... well, everything.”

'Maybe, but the only way to find out if that is the case will be to keep moving forward...'

                                                                                                                  In the end, no matter what happens, I want you to know that I'll miss you both, and Trix as well. Please give her my regards if you would. If something of me remains, please take care of me. I kind of hope I get reset back to how I entered The Net, let me have a chance at a real childhood. To everyone, all my friends. I love you all, I have to go...

(First Chapter)          (Previous Chapter)         

(Other Tales)

[threads-of-gold]

@themallrats​ // @milevensecretsanta​ // the playlist // the story

All she can think about is Mike while she lies in bed listening to her Mazzy Star tape when she is supposed to be asleep. She doesn’t know when she developed a crush on him. But somewhere between frog dissections and endless conversations about the universe, her heart has started to skip a beat whenever he’s around.

But his head is always in the stars, he sees the Milky Way and uncharted planets. She flips over on her back and focuses on the glow-in-the-dark constellations on her ceiling. She makes wishes that maybe one day, he’ll notice her as more than a friend and his lab partner.

She drifts off on a sea of daydreams and with fade into you, strange you never knew playing over and over again in her mind.

.

Annie Lennox is playing at the school dance, El’s spaghetti strap falls down and she yanks it back up over her shoulder. Her heart is beating anxiously as she watches Mike eat Cheese Nips and chat with Will, his best friend and her step-brother. All she wants to do is ask him to dance with her but she doesn’t want to hear him say no.

But she finds herself walking towards him anyways because even though there’s a possibility he’ll say no, he could still say yes. She’ll never find out if she doesn’t ask, and she thinks a no will be better than not knowing.

Before she knows it, she’s standing in front of him. She clears her throat, tugs at a strand of short hair, and her words catch in her throat.

“I think my sister has something to ask you,” Will says, barely able to conceal his smile.

“Me?” Mike looks incredulous. “What makes you think she wants to talk to me?”

“Trust me. She wants to talk to you,” Will assures him. “I’m going to get some punch. Good luck El.”

Mike looks at his feet. “Hey El,” he mumbles. “What can I do for you tonight?”

“I, um, I was just wondering what you got for number 15 on our biology exam,” El answers, wincing inwardly at just how awkward she really is.

“Number 15? There wasn’t a number 15. Did I miss something?”

El shakes her head. “No. I just made that up because I had to come up with some excuse to come and ask you—”

Mike finally looks at her. “Ask me what?”

“If you. . . ifyouwantedtodancewithme,” El says it all at once before she loses all her resolve.

“Could you say that a little slower, please? I want to make sure I heard you right.”

El takes a deep breath to calm herself down. “I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me.”

“I have two left feet,” Mike confesses. “I can work my way around a scalpel but I’m afraid I’ll be terrible on the dance floor.”

“I’m willing to take that chance,” El answers, wishing and hoping with everything in her that he’ll say yes.

Mike takes her hand, startling her. “Okay,” he agrees. “I’ll dance with you.”

They stand at the edge of the basketball court as When All the Stars Were Falling starts to play. Mike puts both his hands on her waist and steals El’s breath away. She hooks her arms around his neck and together they sway to the music. Their eyes meet in the middle of the bridge and it’s all she can do not to kiss him.

He looks away quickly. . . shyly and El feels embarrassed for even entertaining thoughts about kissing him. She doesn’t even know how, even though she’s spent endless afternoons watching soap operas and perusing Seventeen magazine and Cosmo.

The song ends and Mike releases her, backing up and putting some distance between them.

She pauses. “Thank you,” she finally says.

Mike smiles at her warmly. “Thank you!”  He replies, shuffling his feet. “I don’t know why you asked me to dance.”

She almost tells him but not one episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 or Boy Meets World has prepared her for this situation. So, she shrugs and doesn’t say “I like you”.

The moment ends when Max runs up to her babbling about Lucas and how he is an absolute douche. She looks at Mike and apologizes before she goes off to help her friend with her latest boy troubles.

.

She’s dancing around the living room barefoot and in frayed Calvin Klein jeans while she vacuums. She pauses for a second to pull her curls away from her face and then adjusts her yellow headphones.

“I’m a bitch, I’m a lover!” She sings. “I’m a child, I’m a mother. I’m a sinner, I’m a saint. I do not feel ashamed. I’m your hell, I’m your dream. I’m nothing in between, you know you wouldn’t want it any other way—” she stops short when she realizes Mike is watching her, a can of Coke in hand, a small smile on his face. She blushes and turns the vacuum off. “What are you doing here?”

“I was supposed to start my robot with Will this afternoon but he’s not here right now. So, Joyce told me to make myself at home,” Mike explains. “What were you doing?”

El pulls her striped t-shirt down over her belly. “Trying to get my chores done before I started my homework. So. . . you saw that?”

“I didn’t think you were the kind of girl who listened to that kind of music.”

El presses the pause button on her Walkman and smiles. “You think about what kind of girl I am?”

Mike blushes. “What!? No!” he scoffs. “What are you even talking about Jane?”

“Wait a second do you. . . like me?” El teases, her stomach flip-flops, hoping she’s actually close to the truth.

“What!?” Mike looks like he’s about to combust. “Like you? Oh look! There’s Will. Gotta go!”

El sighs and shakes her head. She presses play again and continues on doing her chores.

.

They were all at a Christmas party and their host decides it would be a good idea to play spin the bottle. El thinks it’s ridiculous but she doesn’t say this aloud as she sits down in the circle. Mike’s across from her looking nervous, his face reflects the way she feels on the inside.

She sits cross-legged, trying to be modest in her burgundy velour dress. She tugs on her plastic choker and watches as all her friends spin the empty milk bottle and then kiss the person it lands on. Finally, Jennifer Hayes proclaims it’s time for El to take a turn.

El prays it lands on Will and nobody will make her take a do-over. She can kiss him on the cheek and be done with it. But the odds are not in her favor and it lands on Mike. She almost chokes on the piece of ice she’s been working on.

“No do-overs!” Jennifer’s friend says, smirking. “What are you afraid he’s going to turn you into a frog or something?” she asks when she notices El’s hesitation.

“No!” El proclaims, spitting her ice into her red Solo cup.

“Well, what are you waiting for? You’re wasting time!”

The world around El seems to fade, all she can hear is her heart beating in her ears and Last Christmas playing in the background. This is her first kiss, this is her first kiss and once she does it, she won’t be able to take it back. Or get a second chance to do it over again. She shakes her head, she’s wanted her first kiss to be with Mike for as long as she can remember.

Maybe she should just stop overthinking it and take the opportunity to—

She doesn’t have any more time to contemplate about what she’s going to do. Mike has pressed his lips against hers and is kissing her almost impatiently. She loses all coherent thought for 5 seconds and then it was over just as quickly as it had started.

Mike stands up and leaves the circle, El follows him as quickly as her Doc Martins will allow. When they’re in the kitchen, he whirls around to look at her.

“You were embarrassed to kiss me, weren’t you?” he pours Coke into a fresh cup and doesn’t look at her. “The Princess and the Nerd. It’s not the kind of thing fairy tales are made of.”

El shakes her head. “No!” she says. “It’s not like that at all, Mike!”

“Then what’s it like?” he asks. “Wait a second. . do you like me?”

It’s an echo of the question she asked him back in the fall, except there’s not a single hint of teasing in his question.

“Like you?” she repeats.

“I’m not fooling around, El!” He tells her. “I want to know how you feel about me. Sometimes I think you do have a crush on me and others, I have to tell myself that I’m deluded.”

“You think just because you’re a nerd somebody couldn’t like you?” El starts to walk towards him. “Well, I have something to tell you. . . you don’t know how adorable you are.”

“I don’t?”

El shook her head. “No, you don’t. . . and the truth is, I do have a crush on you. I have for a while now.” she takes his cup from his hand and then pushes an errant curl away from his forehead. “Do you think. . . I mean, is there a chance you could like me too?”

Mike nods slowly. “El, you don’t know how much I like you. You have no idea just how long I’ve liked you.”

“How long?” El asks breathlessly.

“Probably since first grade,” Mike admits. “When you came to school with your head shaved because Sarah had lost all her hair after chemo—”

El stands on tiptoe and kisses him again.

.

She studies him, studying a book on the stars. The New Radicals are playing on the jukebox, echoing what she’s feeling for him. She just can’t get enough. . . he looks up at her and smiles when he notices that she’s staring.

She looks into her milkshake, slightly embarrassed that he caught her. Of course, she has nothing to be embarrassed about. They are dating, it’s not like she’s sitting across the diner watching him like some voyeuristic, pining creep.

“Hey,” he says.

She blushes. “Hi.”

“I guess I got caught up and forgot where I was,” Mike apologizes as he closes the book and pushes it to the center of the table. “I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head, finding her voice. “No, it’s okay! It’s one of the things I lo. . . it’s one of the things I really, really like about you.”

“How I’m so absent-minded, I forgot my girlfriend was sitting across the table from me?” Mike asks as he takes her hands.

“I like how your head always seems to be in the stars,” El tells him. “I’ve always found it adorable.”

“You know, most other girls would find it annoying. They would say stuff like “why aren’t you paying attention to me?”. Trust me, I’ve heard enough from Nancy to know what constitutes as normal teenage female behavior.”

“Don’t you know, I’m not like other girls.”

“You’re not like other girls where it counts,” Mike admits. “But I believe you did make me watch Roswell with you the other night. That’s normal teenage girl behavior.”

El frees one of her hands long enough to chuck one of her French fries at his nose. He moves away so it just misses him and they laugh together.

.

It’s her birthday and Mike spends the day ignoring her. El is getting increasingly frustrated, because he’s never exhibited signs of what they’ve dubbed ‘normal teen behavior’. He brings her Pop Rocks and Coke on the monthly anniversary of the day they got together. He’s even gotten her Midol on the days she needs it. So, she doesn’t understand why he’s not attentive on one of the days it counts.

“Maybe he’s planning an epic sort of surprise,” Max says as she pops a wad of Bubblicious and skates circles around El. “He would do that sort of thing.”

“Do you know something?” El asks suspiciously.

Max snaps another bubble. “Nah. Wheeler wouldn’t tell me anything. He’d be too afraid I’d run and tell you about it.”

“Lucas hasn’t mentioned anything either?”

“Lucas?” Max scoffs. “We’re currently off again. I’m lucky if he says hello to me, never mind telling me about some crap your boyfriend’s trying to pull off.”

“You really think he’s going to do something special?”

Max attempts to do a trick with her skateboard. “Mike Wheeler is the epitome of a cheeseball and you only turn sweet 16 once. Of course he’s going to do something special! Don’t worry about it too much. Okay?”

“I named a star after you,” Mike tells her later that night as they lay on a blanket in her backyard, the radio station is playing Crash Into Me. “For your birthday.”

She turns her head to look at him. “You named a star after me?”

“Yeah,” Mike answers. “I can even show you where it is. I know it’s not a big deal but that’s why I didn’t talk to you all day. I wanted to wait until the perfect moment to tell you and you know how I feel about the stars.”

“Yeah. . .” El echoes.

“I like them almost as much as I like you.”

“It’s nice to know I’ve moved up on your list,” El teases.

Mike blushes. “You’ve always been number 1 on my list,” he tells her.

She kisses him, she doesn’t know how he does it but he always knows the right thing to say. “Show me my star,” she whispers.

.

The first time she says she loves him, they’re having an argument. She doesn’t remember what it’s about, but it’s hot out and she’s standing in the middle of her street in a two-piece bathing suit and cut-offs. Maybe they’re fighting because of the heatwave. Weather makes people do strange things.

The kids across the street are running through the sprinklers while their mom listens to The Cranberries.

As soon as the words tumble out of her mouth, Mike stops mid-sentence and stares at her.

“What did you just say?” he asks.

“I love you,” she answers, rolling her eyes. “Even though you’re an idiot.”

Mike looks even more confused. “Wait. Why am I an idiot exactly?”

“Because you haven’t said you love me!” El replies boldly.

Mike blushes and looks around the neighborhood awkwardly. “I love you too,” he finally says after a beat. “You have to know I love you too without me even saying it.”

El smiles, their fight suddenly forgotten. “I know but it’s nice to hear you finally say it aloud. Come on, let’s chase down the ice cream truck and you can buy me a lemonade popsicle.”

Mike hurries to catch up with her and takes her hand.

.

She puts all the songs that remind her of him on a mixtape and gives it to him for his birthday.

The End

.

[uncheckedtomfoolery]

Deep Space

Strap yourselves in for a giant robot story that is not gritty so much as an actual gravel pit, if that’s your thing. Under the cut.

They don't tell you how terrifying space is, when you sign on. Might be because they think you'd look at the uniform and keys they hold out, and slap it right out of their hands.

They guessed right, in my case.

There's no sound out here. Everyone knows that, but nothing prepares you for how wrong it feels in a battle. Two giants circling each other, trying their best to turn the other into a drifting, dead hulk. It's a- what's the phrase? A clash of titans, almost literally. It should be loud, but there's nothing. Plenty of pilots end up installing a simsound system, making up the sounds the machine thinks you should be hearing, all things considered. It's against the rules, but it keeps some of us sane.

So there's the quiet. At least that just gets under your skin. They say (quietly, after their tour) that nothing makes you appreciate life and all its fragility like deep space. Thousands of tons - I never looked at the specs, I'm taking some artistic license here - of steel and plastic, flying around between planets, and you still feel fragile. Where's the justice in that?

I'm still looking, if you really want to know, but never mind that. Truth is, a mech is one little mistake away from turning into a coffin, when you take it away from cozy planetside missions. The air supply, the heating, the propulsion, the navigation, or just a little part of the hull. Any of that could break down, even in a little way, and you'd be too far from help to-

We can walk out in our EVA suit and hope, but that's about it. Wait for rescue and pretend it'll come in time. They might try; pilots are expensive. They always come back for the mech. Those are even more expensive. Stands to reason. All that's between me and cold, deadly vacuum (assuming there's nothing exciting in this part of space, like solar flares, clouds of deadlier-than-usual radiation, asteroids, you name it), is a layer of robot skin, built by the lowest bidder, on an I-Want-It-Done-Yesterday schedule. The hull of my dear old MAA Indomitable.

Let me explain. Exosuits - mechs, giant robots or whatever, coloquially - were originally amphibious units, and the army and navy had a bit of a spat over the names. The compromise we got to was Mechanised Autonomous Armour, with a designation for each mech type, shared by its flagship, and a personal name for each one. They used to be unmanned, but as soon as they figured out flying one was 'safe', they decided unmanned piloting was even worse than manned piloting, and put us in. You don't skimp on the safety of a piece of hardware that expensive, if you can help it.

A couple decades later, they even got over the radiation leakage issues in the reactors, after swearing up and down there weren't any the whole time. I've got friends with grandparents still waiting on their compensation for that one.

Thus, the MAA Indomitable. It's the only one we can afford to mass-produce that's at all relevant to today's battlefields. I'll let that speak for its quality. This one came with its name already decided by its last owner, who I never met. Pitted, battered and scorched, with 'Rosinante' painted on the side in big, black letters. When I looked that up, it killed off most of my starry-eyed hope for the machine that I'd be trusting with my life.

Here's the thing. Out here, you depend on plating. AI isn't quite there yet, not enough to take control and move out of the way when it has to, so manned or unmanned, the bottleneck is us, not it. Not the hardware, but the pilot. All the mobility in the world doesn't mean a single thing when it's bogged down by the flailing monkey reflexes of yours truly.

You cannot dodge a bullet.

Out here, we pray it doesn't hit. We pray because when facing ridiculous odds in a monstrous environment, doing things we weren't meant for in places we were never supposed to inhabit, doing it all on the back of a machine we'd have to study for years before it becomes more than a black box of sufficiently advanced technology... prayer seems like the appropriate thing to do. Out here, we try to trust in plating. Try, because plating is fallible, it can't go everywhere, and we live on a line, dancing on the breakpoint where a little more protection is more expensive than rebuilding, or repairing a ruined hulk.

That's why the future of the past lied to you, and we don't have glowing swords, or lasers, or even missiles and machine guns. Those belong planetside. Out here, it's a quiet, dull dance, tracking speeding targets with guns that fire little heated ceramic darts. One simple puncture, and explosive decompression will do the rest. Hull gives out, and you just have to hope that whoever's in the glass giant opposite you has a soft spot for drifting EVA suits.

They don't tell you what it's like, fighting in space, but I've had time to see for myself. I've made up my mind. Space and I are not friends, and never will be.

A blip on my radar tells me that even out here, in deep space, I can forget about having any privacy. On the other hand, that's probably fair; I'm not supposed to be here. It's a Jackdaw – a Europan model, close enough to the one I'm piloting that I could say they're about the same, and most pilots would nod without a second thought.

Any mechanics in the room, on the other hand, would definitely throttle me.

We see each other's colours, and it doesn't go much further than that. No point in talking it out. No one watching us scouts out here, nothing forcing our hands, and neither of us – unless I'm projecting – want to be here or have anything against the other. So, why are we taking the first shots a second or two after we saw each other?

Good question. We've been at this many years by now, it's probably habit. That's the kind of thing that makes us realise, eventually, exactly how we're going back to normal when this is all over. It's not a lie, not really, it's just a question of how we go back. A bundle of drilled-in outside-context instincts and reflexes, set free and told to go back to normal.

As visitors. Just visiting, not part of the show. Something from Out There that came back one day, something other. Maybe that's just me – I never really talked about it with anyone, and everyone tells me I've never been much of a ray of sunshine. All this- it's not something anyone ever tells you. You're trusted to figure it out for yourself and, more often than not, decide not to worry about it too much.

Not like it's going to come up, right?

Maybe you're wondering why I think I can afford to talk so much in a firefight. One, you're overestimating the pace of two giant machines trying to poke a hole in each other. Two, it relaxes me, and jittery nerves will do a lot more to get me killed than a bit of distraction. So, I'm going to keep talking.

The Jackdaw flies closer, closer, spraying ceramic everywhere. I realise it's trying to put me on the defensive for long enough to get close. The Jackdaw, I remember hearing, comes with a hydraulic stake. No plating is going to save you from that, just so long as you can get close, but if you fired it, it wouldn't move nearly fast enough without a cannon three times the Jackdaw's size. So they're closing in.

I brace myself against nothing at all, out of habit, and fire a couple rounds, calling the Jackdaw's bluff, if that's how you want to think of it. I didn't do what I was supposed to, didn't follow the script, so I've got surprise on my side. It pulls out its stake, and then slowly, quietly drifts right past me. I look at its back with a stare I haven't used since I ran over a fox a couple weeks after I got my driver's license. I didn't mean to do that.

By the time it clicks, the Jackdaw is out of range. I shot out its thrusters, but momentum stays, out here. It just keeps going, too broken to turn, but I haven't pierced the hull. I just carried it across that short bridge from war machine to coffin. Explosive decompression won't kick in. Life support probably still works, even. It'll just drift along until... well. Maybe it'll hit some planet, burn up in the atmosphere. Maybe the atmosphere will be too thin, and it'll smash right into some moon or asteroid. Or maybe it'll drift forever, and the pilot will just sit there until thirst finishes them off.

I'd pretend it's kinder than a killing blow, but pretending is a lot of effort and I was never much of an actor, so I just watch. I'm too tired to put in that kind of work. Instead I make my exosuit snap off a mock-salute, and in the privacy of my little room inside a metal giant, I mutter something that was supposed to come out as “see you in therapy”. Pilot joke. See, it's funny because most of us aren't going to last long enough to get there, and even then, chances are, you can't afford to-

Well, you've got to be a pilot to laugh at it, but it's funny. Trust me. I don't feel too bad about the joke since- maybe this is another thing I've projected, but a lot of us, certainly me, took something I used to think of as the pilot's oath. Then I got tired of anything so overblown, and now I just think of it as not kidding myself. When you hold a grudge against whoever takes you out, you're really drawing a line between if and when. If someone shoots you down, and they just had to give you the wrong answer.

For me, it's more of a 'when'. Don't shoot the messenger, right? I see it coming and I promised to myself I won't take it personally. What's that do? Maybe whoever gets me is like that too, they'll assume the same from me, and sleep better for it that night. Until then, I get to do the same.

Then I take another look at the shrinking exosuit, and throw up in my helmet, because I'm only human. It takes twelve long seconds for my filters to clean the mess up. You'll forgive me for cutting the narration for a bit there.

I've taken too many hits, so it's time to fly back for repairs and a soft be- a bed. Just set autopilot, keep one eye on the radar, and talk. Why's that? You see...

Besides the obvious – mission objectives and so on – I'm here to make tragedies.

That sounded better in my head. Less sinister.

The thing is, only a story can be a tragedy. It's something told, seen and heard. Without it, you have spreadsheets and statistics, you have terrible things happening in the cold places between stars, you have stories cut short and people that stop being people. If a tree falls and nobody is there to hear it, or... something like that.

So I talk into the air. To keep myself company, to keep myself something kind of like sane, to make up for never being able to afford simsound or hide it well enough from the brass, and...

Ah, you know.

I make tragedies. Because at this point, it's the least I can do.

[angelaariasm]

VLD – Season 7- “Meh” and “ugh”

I just finished season 7 and just... Ugh. Ugh.

I was very excited about this. I even took the day off from work, got some snacks, some beer and prepared to have a blast. And I did... a little bit... sort of... There were some good moments, some “mmmm” moments and a lot of “Oh-no-no-no-noooo” moments. I don’t wanna spoil the season for anyone but I want to vent and share some of my thoughts. So I tagged this post and put everything under the cut. If you want to share your thoughts with me, feel free to do so!

Good moments (and regular moments in general)

Hunk. He steps up and saves the day. A lot. Lovely. Great. Best boyTM 

Space girlfriends? More likely than you think. “That’s my girl!” I love it! I wanted a kiss, though…

Coran changes his skin tone! Finally!

There was someone doing a prayer circle for Kolivan. Good news: it worked! Barely, but it did!

Speaking of Kolivan, I think Krolia just found a stepdad for Keith ;-) I’d ship them but apparently shipping in Voltron only brings pain to my heart

Krolia’s and Keith’s hug <3

Good bye “Lotor Clone = Druids” and “Alteans = Druids”. Speaking of which, are the druids even galra or what? (I really wanted the druids to be altean, but I guess not...)

Haggar, where are you?

A lot of action! For a moment there I even forgot that I wanted answers about my son Lotor’s fate. Like it was literally the only reason I was so hyped about this season and DW-betrayed-me-again. Where is him????

“Go galra! Go galra!”. So OOC, but still cute…

So I guess now Shiro interacts with the new ship’s interface like an altean because his new arm has a crystal perhaps full of Allura’s energy or something like that? Ok. Cool.

Shiro’s awesome. Hello, captain.

So, it’s Atlas like a new Voltron after the new-Voltron (Sincline) got stuck in the rift? Kind of cool. Kind of repetitive. And kind of sloooooooow. That huge robot is so bad at fights.

But at least now Shiro has his own big-ass robot to pilot, lol

All this time we thought Lotor was the one to be able to control his mecha without being in the cockpit. The fools!

Sendak is gone! Great :-)

That robobeast. It means Haggar has been doing some work and she’s coming next season. She’s my only hope to save this show now.

Also, altean batteries. Damn. At least that altean is alive… Right?

Matt. Wow. You’ve grown so much. And so well. Damn! ~♥

 “Mmmm” moments

“Quizack”? Did altean language in the colony evolve (like any other language) and alter some of its words? Is that why “quiznack” (from Allura and Coran’s time) turned into “quizack”? Mmm. Or is this some foreshadowing that Romelle isn’t who she says she is? What if she’s not even altean but someone in disguise? I’m rambling I know

The last commercial in “The Feud” was about Queen Luxia’s home planet and the baku garden was shown. Mmmmm. I think that’s big in foreshadowing (the garden where the baku lived gives me the creeps) but I can’t crack it up. But it reminded me of this meta and I’m… hopeful.

So, the facilities in the altean colony are empty now and there’s no sign of Romelle being worried about her people…? Not a close up to her reaction, not even a gasp? Mmmmm. Fishy…

How did the admiral get into Sendak’s ship? How did she fly there without anyone noticing she was missing from a *closed* base? How did she even manage to attain contact with Sendak without others knowing or helping her? And I really hate to be *that* person because I don’t want to hate on Romelle just because her appearance last season meant good-bye to Lotor, but did anyone notice that she was gone during the whole fight against the galra fleet and against the robobeast?

Like, yeah, I know Romelle probably wouldn’t have been very helpful in the Atlas’ bridge but Where. Was. She. Her absence is soooo fishy. Mmmmmmmm. What if she’s the one who got the admiral onboard Sendak’s ship?

 “Oh-no-no-no-noooo” moments

Ezor and Zethrid are no longer teamed up with Acxa? Whyyyyy? I buy that Ezor and Zethrid wanted to take advantage of the vacuum power in the galra empire (since they did mention something about replacing Lotor when they were working with Haggar, until Acxa told them “No one’s replacing Lotor”). I buy that Acxa is better than that. But I don’t buy them splitting apart. 

They were friends, weren’t they? Acxa did her best to keep them safe and now she’s fallen apart from them? *That* I don’t buy. Plus, it hurts my heart the idea that the only reason they got together as a team was because of Lotor. And even when their team work started to fall apart since Narti’s death, I hoped for them to overcome it and come stronger together. The three of them. My heart </3

I sort of wanted to believe the theory about Acxa being Keith’s younger sister which would explain why she has this weird connection with him. But since Krolia nor Acxa reacted upon seeing each other I guess that theory is dead now. Bummer.

By the way… where’s Acxa backstory? I’m still waiting!

I hated “Lotor” from the feud hit the poor underling just because he was frustrated. I know that wasn’t the real Lotor, but if it was some sort of psychological representation… it felt wrong. Or at least, it bother me... I believe a young Lotor would hit something or someone after his father yells at him. It’s a pretty normal reaction *for a child*. I’m not justifying such a reaction, but it’s normal from children But a grown Lotor? Nah. Of course, this fake Lotor was a child in the body of an adult. Not only because he’s acting like a brat, but because of the face he makes after Zarkon shouts at him.

Look. He’s so scared :-(

DW, really? You killed Adam? Before there’s closure between him and Shiro? Before even Shiro gets back to Earth? Reaaally? Sure, that’s great LGBT+ representation… *sarcasm, by the way*

DW, really again? How come Allura now has a crush on Lance? Like… whuuuut? After she didn’t have romantic feelings towards him for six seasons? It’s not hate, it’s just that I don’t bite it :/ I really hoped he’d matured more and learned to let her go. And I wanted her to be more than the prize for the “nice guy”. It’s so cliché :/

 Also…

LOTOR MY BOY WHERE ARE YOU?!!!

Haggar, where are you?! Why did you abandon your druids? Is Lotor with you? Is he ok? Has he tried to bit your head off? (I hope so, by the way) Is he still in the drift after THREE YEARS?

I really hope the robobeast was Haggar’s doing and not Lotor’s. If it’s Haggar’s, it fits with her character. If it’s Lotor’s… it just keeps lowering his chances for redemption. But I have to admit that the “elegance” and the dual sword fighting from the robobeast made me think of him.

When do I get an explanation about Acxa and Keith’s connection? And I hope it’s not something like “She has a crush on him”. That’s so shallow :/

DW, how is it that you manage to wreck a perfect and lovely show in three episodes (the last three in season 6) and can’t deliver in 13 episodes? Just… how?

Yes, sure, there was a lot of action this season… But there weren’t any answers. Season 7 has 13 episodes and yet it-does-not-answer anything. It took 13 episodes to go to Earth and defeat Sendak. I’m grateful the writers took their time to make it believable and not something messed up and hard to buy (like Lotor’s breakdown I’m still salty about it), but now I’m worried because there are only other 13 episodes left to finish this story. And I don’t think they (the writers) can answer all the questions and fill all the plot holes in the last season.

I lost hope in this show. It started really great but it got too ambitious and now there are too many plot holes to fill.

I’m gonna keep watching just to end it, but I’m not excited anymore. Thank God this ends this year.

I expected more from this long season because I said to myself “Well, if it took three episodes in season 6 to wreck this show with the altean colony and all the missing answers from Lotor and to end off his character with a mental breakdown and some story that doesn’t really fit with all we know about him since previous seasons, then surely this new season, with 13 episodes, can fix all that mess”.

Nope, I was wrong. So wrong.

No answers, a lot of action and yet, it managed to left me… bored. Not even angry. Just bored and disappointed.

This season was so… meh. Ugh. Just… ugh.

This is hard but maybe Voltron should have been canceled after season 5. Then I could remember this show with nostalgia and fondness, instead of being so disappointed at all the broken promises this show has left me with.

Now I have to go mending my heart. Thank God Voltron season 8 hits this year (so I can give closure to this) and there’s good fanfic and fanart to heal my broken heart.

[redsunsetxiii]

**Please do not repost without credit**

[TRANS] 2018.06.25 SONE NOTE LIVE vol. 16 with Taeyeon

Staff: This time, you tried to make new pet clothes using a sewing machine! Please share any difficulties or particular points you had.

Taeyeon: I think this required more delicacy than what I tried before: glue gun art and accessory making, so I was a little worried at first if I could make it well. It’s the first time I used a sewing machine so I thought it might be dangerous, but it was so fun that those worries disappeared! During the session, I thought of all the stylists who made our stage outfits, finely adjusted and fixed them before concerts, and once again felt gratitude for them ^^

After trying it out, pet clothes and our clothes are the same, so it was difficult to make it thinking if the sizes and corners of the sleeves and neck parts don’t match then it gets hard to wear.

Staff: It was quite a complex process that started with making the pattern, then cutting it, and threading the cord through the hood.

Taeyeon: It might have been because it was my first time making pet clothing, but it was very curious to draw on the back of the cloth with pattern paper as a reference, and then sew it with the sewing machine. How will the shape turn out, how do I connect the sleeves with the body… I believe that it’s difficult work when I haven’t imagined those kind of things. After all, I couldn’t tell that they were sleeves just by looking at the shapes at first.

I couldn’t help but think, “is this really the shape of a sleeve?”, but once I was done with the sewing machine I was surprised it properly became a sleeve (laughs).

Staff: Do you make things like accessories for Zero at home?

Taeyeon: I make food (laughs). I just buy accessories and never thought to make them. I skipped thinking about the process and today suddenly just made pet clothes (laughs).

Staff: There was work with a sewing machine this time, but have you ever made anything using one before?

Taeyeon: I don’t have a sewing machine, so this is the first time I have ever made something with one.

The sewing machines that I think of are what I heard from my grandmother, that is you press down with your foot and have to move something, so for it to be this automated…(laughs)

It’s amazing how technology is so advanced. If the sewing machine I used today was that automated, I feel like I can make anything if just understand how to use it (laughs).

Staff: Has today’s experience kindled your interest with sewing machines?

Taeyeon: I believe so. I’m the type who wants to use a device once I see it, so I thought that I wanted to try using the sewing machine as soon as I saw it on the table today. Also, I did a pretty good job today making the clothing by myself so I’m really satisfied (laughs) I want to do it again ^^

I found myself thinking that if sewing machines were as easy to use as the one today, maybe I’ll buy one (laughs).

It seems very convenient to hem the length of pants, etc.

Staff: If you were to buy a sewing machine, what would you make?

Taeyeon: If I bought one, I’d want to make Zero a blanket.

Dogs need blankets, and they are absolute musts for when you hold them or go out with them. Especially since Zero is small… Now, Zero is 1.7kg, but I think he won’t get any bigger.

Staff: Not just limiting it to sewing machines, but have you had any interest in making accessories by hand before?

Taeyeon: I’m interested in dog scarves and hats. Not just limiting it to those that are handmade, but I often buy scarves, wool hats, socks, etc. I feel like I buy more things for Zero than my own clothes (laughs).

But since I was taught to make pet clothes today, I want to wear clothes that I made in the future!

Staff: How did you select the materials for making pet clothes today? Please share if there was a reason such as the color or texture.

Taeyeon: Since Zero is small, I thought that a thick fabric would be hard to move in, so I chose a cloth that was flexible and could stretch. For the T-shirt, I thought that Zero would suit something basic, so I chose the striped pattern! I chose gray for both, but that’s because Zero is gray! (laughs) Although I said that, after all it’s my favorite (laughs). I don’t think dark colors like black would suit Zero. That’s why I make him wear bright colors and gray clothing.

Staff: What color or item does Zero especially show interest in?

Taeyeon: He shows interest in all clothing. That’s because wearing clothes = going for a walk (laughs). That’s why when I take out his clothes, he happily jumps at it once he sees it.

Although it doesn’t necessarily mean he likes it, most of his clothing is navy or blue. There’s the fact that he’s a boy, but if anything it’s because I like it (laughs).

Staff: Do you usually make Zero wear clothes or accessories?

Taeyeon: Zero is very energetic and free, so whatever I put on him he takes it off by himself. He won’t obediently just wear the scarf or hat. I wonder if he feels restless…

I don’t really give him accessories to wear because he’s a boy. If he was a girl, I’d put a ribbon on him though…

Staff: Please share if there are any important points when you select items for dogs or even pet food, etc.

Taeyeon: I select handmade pet food. I’m especially aware for snacks. Things like chicken breast meat or handmade cheese rolls. Also, recently Zero is growing new teeth and he seems itchy, so I choose bones and the like that he can chew on. I just gave him some during the photoshoot, but also things like duck meat jerky. I believe any dog would like this jerky. I haven’t seen a dog who doesn’t like it so I recommend it (laughs).

Staff: Besides food, what is Zero’s favorite item?

Taeyeon: There’s a lot of toys for Zero at home, but among them he favors a chicken toy that squeaks when chewed on. It’s red and it seems that it’s the perfect size for his mouth.

Staff: Please share if there’s a place you’d want to go to together with him wearing the clothes you made.

Taeyeon: I’ve only walked Zero around the front of my home, but recently I’ve found some paths that look good nearby. However, it was cold and we could never go there...so I want to walk there together with Zero wearing today’s clothes when it’s warm. I want to dress him in these clothes and take him for a walk soon.

Staff: Please tell us how you came to adopt Zero and if you have any episodes. Also, what’s especially cute about Zero?

Taeyeon: Zero is too cute that I made an SNS account from his point of view (laughs).

I had a black poodle named Ginger up until a few years ago, but back then I was too busy everyday and I asked my mother to take him in so that he wouldn’t be lonely. It’s been so lonely with Ginger gone… But I would feel bad to take Ginger back after he got used to my parent’s place, so I met Zero when I decided to welcome a new family member.

Actually, the dog that was supposed to come home with me wasn’t Zero. By chance at the pet shop I dropped by in, Zero was sitting there alone and I felt that it was destiny once I saw him. Because of that, I adopted Zero instead of the dog I was originally going to take home.

Staff: Where did the name Zero come from? Please share more about Zero.

Taeyeon: His name came from my favorite character, Jack Skellington, who has a dog named Zero. So I named my dog after him. My Zero is stubborn and doesn’t have any tricks that I could show, but he knows “sit” and “shake”! (laughs) If there’s a snack in front of him, he’ll perform even better (laughs).

I’ve lived with Zero since October of last year, but in the fourth month in, he was able to “sit” and “shake”! Isn’t that amazing!? (laughs)

Staff: There’s a lot of SNSD members who have pets. Have you met their dogs or cats?

Taeyeon: The other day when the members gathered, I met Yuri’s dogs. Yuri has a pomeranian and a toy poodle and she brought them both! They were so cute! Not everyone at once, but I’ve met the other members’ pets once. Sooyoung’s dogs, and Tiffany’s Prince and Princess, Seohyun’s Poppo, Sunny’s Sogeum….there’s a lot~ (laughs)

Staff: If you were to make pet clothing for the other member’s pets by yourself, what would you give and to who? Please share what color, shape, material, the member and dog, and why.

Taeyeon: I want to give a present to Yuri’s dog, Dooe. She is the same breed as Zero so I want to give a pair look. Dooe is a girl so it’d be great if she could be friends with Zero. Dooe is a slightly brighter gray than Zero, so I think a pink hoodie would be cute! A sporty pair look (laughs).

And, I want to give a present to Ginger, who’s at my parent’s place. Ginger is twice the size of Zero, so I want to make loose sized clothing for him!

Staff: Please share if there is anything that are recently into or are collecting.

Taeyeon: I’ve paid more attention to cleaning my home since Zero came. Dogs move around with their nose on the ground, so I have to properly clean up so he won’t inhale things like dust. Also, I’ve recently bought a robot vacuum cleaner and have gotten into cleaning goods.

Staff: The 2018 Winter Olympics were held in PyeongChang. Was there any sport that you favored or watched?

Taeyeon: I particularly paid attention to and watched curling. It also made the most headlines in Korea. I also often watched ice skating. I think it’s a very beautiful sport! Figure skating outfits resemble our stage outfits, so I often remember performing when I see it. I’ve heard that figure skating is remembering the choreography first and then skating. It feels like a similar environment like my own so I watched with great interest. I’d like to try it out someday.

Staff: If there’s a winter sport that you’ve tried before, please share.

Taeyeon: When I was little, I’ve went skiing before, but I remember it being very difficult and falling down a lot. I’ve skated before, but it was so long ago that I don’t really remember doing it, so if I tried it now I think I would definitely fall (laughs).

Staff: Also, not limiting it to winter sports, but what sport would you like to try out?

Taeyeon: Not to try out, but I’ve recently started pilates. Instead of a sport, I’m concentrating on pilates for stretches and training my muscles.

Staff: Yuri also seems to be into pilates.

Taeyeon: Speaking of which, Yuri has asked me which pilates classroom I go to and for recommendations! (laughs)

Staff: Please share if there’s a hot topic or a memorable episode among members recently!

Taeyeon: The other day, I went to Tokyo to see a SHINee concert with Yoona.

I had a lot of fun and talked to Yoona a lot. Recently, even if we can’t see the other members, we exchange messages.

Staff: SONE NOTE LIVE is where we give preference to what the members what to try out, but do you all talk about your SONE NOTE LIVE activities? Also, please share if there is something you’d like to try next.

Taeyeon: I often think when seeing other member’s SONE NOTE LIVEs, “I should have done that” or “I wanted to do that!” (laughs).

Seeing Hyoyeon trying to make natural cosmetics, I thought, “I’m the one who likes make up the most…” (laughs). Hyoyeon already did make up, so I guess I’ll make soap (laughs). I like things that have fragrances, so I’ve made candles before. Making soap seems like fun so I want to try it!

Staff: You want to try making something then.

Taeyeon: Eh? I can do something outside of making something? Huh, really!? I thought I checked but I didn’t know…!

If that’s the case, I want to try skating next. Let’s go skating~!! Not roller skating, but ice skating!! If so, shall I try figure skating? (laughs)

Staff: Finally, a message for SONE JAPAN please!

Taeyeon: Recently, I’m sad that I can’t meet everyone in SONE JAPAN. Next time I go to Japan, I definitely want to meet you all up close, so I’m very happy to be able to have a showcase. Please expect a lot from my Japan activities. I’ll try my best to meet your expectations!

Translation by RedSunsetXIII source: SONE JAPAN website

**Please do not repost without credit**

[yuri-or-death]

Spellbound 05: Initiation (JuriSaku)

CHAPTER: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05

Main Characters : Matsui Jurina, Miyawaki Sakura Pairings: JuriSaku, WMatsui, NanaSaku/SakuNaa, JuriMomo (friendship), and more.

Summary : Matsui Jurina is the immovable ace of St. Hildegard’s School of Magic. Considered a protégé by many Wizard Saints, her technique and mastery is second to none. Enter Miyawaki Sakura, talentless, unrefined and socially awkward. Her golden ticket for admission into the elite school is her late father’s legacy.

What happens when Sakura suddenly gets transferred to the Special Class because of a lottery? Will the mysterious ace take interest? (Magic School AU)

XXXX

The sun burned brightly this morning, the brightest it had been in the last two weeks. It was mostly clouds and rain since the week started, but now the rays of the sun could almost sear through fabric.

Even so, no amount of sunshine could faze Watanabe Mayu. Her system was carefully crafted to withstand any weather condition. When it was too hot, her sensors would stabilize her body temperature and the cold wasn't a problem either—cyborgs don't get hypothermia. Though she did need built-in heat foils under her silicon skin to prevent her circuits from freezing.

“You’re up early.” She acknowledged Sayaka who was standing by the dorm’s gate seemingly waiting for her.

A ghost of a smile crossed Sayaka’s countenance as she swung her jacket over her shoulder. Her usually punkish style was dressed down to St. Hildegard Academy’s regular polo shirt and gray skirt. The first buttons of her blouse were undone and her deep red tie hung loosely around her neck. Yet despite her carefree appearance, her strong aura was enough to unsettle any novice mage in training just by standing there. “Today will be interesting.” She almost skipped on her way out.

Mayu matched Sayaka’s steps perfectly as they made their way towards the main building. “Only because Miyawaki Sakura has become quite a commodity.” The cyborg’s tone as she spoke betrayed her disinterest. It seemed Okada Nana wasn’t the only who could put two and two together. Mayu’s astral scan of Miyawaki on the first day she appeared in class proved handy, as expected. She was able to read the spike of aura almost instantly as the distortion occurred.

“You think I can get her in my roster?”

“Statistical probability is 25%...If they do proceed with the Baptism today that is.”

“I’m sure the dimensional shift last night won't stop the Headmaster from conducting the initiation.” Sayaka rubbed her chin. “I’m actually quite excited to see if Miyawaki is indeed what we think she is.”

“Shouldn’t you be steering away from all this?” There was almost a slight hint of taunting in Mayu’s robotic voice. “When was the last time you appeared in The Round, even?”

“I can enjoy a good show as long as I’m not the one tied in strings.” Sayaka refused to answer the second question. The Round--it was  the Matsui Conglomerate’s circle of elites, the group of clans who answered to the beck and call of Jurina’s grandfather. Sayaka wanted nothing to do with it, not after what happened last year.

~*~*~*~

Professor Shinoda placed her teacup back on its coaster. She watched the cluster of students in the courtyard from the window, her eyes seemed to darken under the shadows of the curtains.

“Mari—”

Mariko’s mind was elsewhere, unable to recognize the soft timbre of Haruna’s voice. The latter had been trying to strike a conversation for the past few minutes, to no avail. The adviser of the Special Class was too deep in thought.

Finally, Haruna feigned a cough. “Mari-chan, you’ve been listless since yesterday.” She said before taking a bite of her strawberry scone. Her free hand hovered over the teacup’s rim, slender fingers glided against its porcelain mouth. “Why is that?”

“Are you not shaken at all? We’ve been breached.”

“I am. I’ve doubled sentinel patrols, even as far as flying around myself. But there’s no point in dwelling too much..”

“I’m sorry.” Mariko sighed in defeat. Her confidante was right, what has passed cannot be undone. “It’s just that our meeting last night lingers like a shadow.” As she closed her eyes, she could recount last night’s events perfectly as a mage looking into an enchanted mirror.

Miyawaki Sakura entered the Headmaster’s office, her brown eyes flickered with youthful inquisitiveness. She wanted answers, an explanation--anything to hold onto-- for the upheaval she caused.

The Headmaster, Professor Shinoda, Miss Kojima and Jurina turned to her direction. Their body language indicated that the newcomer had interrupted an ongoing debate.

Jurina’s hands fisted on her sides, while Haruna held the Ace’s shoulder as if to subdue her.

At the center of the Sakura’s panorama was the Headmaster, seated behind his desk; eyes obscured by the glint of his glasses.

“Thank you for joining us, Miss Miyawaki.” The Headmaster finally addressed her. He motioned for her to come closer with his right hand.

Sakura could feel Jurina’s heavy gaze upon her, as if silently trying to implore her to turn back and get out of the room fast.

“It is my honor.” Sakura tried to sound reverent. Although she spoke to the Headmaster, she held Jurina’s gaze. What was the older girl thinking? Why had she grown so pensive?

“How are you feeling?” The Headmaster asked.

“Great, never better, honestly.”

Mariko couldn’t stop her eyebrow from rising as she scrutinized the young girl in question. She was thoroughly apprised of what had transpired when Jurina activated Valhalla but was not content with just the Ace’s narrative. “Haruna told me you couldn’t fully recall the details of the attack.” She prodded.

“Yes, I blacked out after Jurina-san was injured. I can only remember a burning feeling engulfing my body.”

The Headmaster nodded, as if perfectly knowledgeable of Sakura’s circumstances. Like he was anticipating a move in a chess game that was all too familiar. As he laid down his glasses on the wooden desk, a ring of blue light appeared on his left iris.

He mumbled an incantation. “Give me your hand, Miyawaki-san.”

Just then, the towering Grandfather clock chimed, its deep, somber tune echoed as midnight fell.

Sakura obeyed. She placed her hand atop the Headmaster’s open palm. Thin silver lines started to crawl on her wrist until it took the pattern of a celtic cross.

“That mark,” Jurina recognized the insignia. It was the same one that appeared after Sakura’s aura flared up.

The silver pattern was reflected on Sakura’s wide eyes. “What...is this…?” At her words, the air in the room seemed to concentrate around her like a whirlwind. The windows blasted open and everything in the Headmaster’s office shook from the pressure of her astral force; building up, spiraling, scattering.

Mariko, Haruna and Jurina stood there unfazed; activating a defensive barrier of their own as trinkets and potions shattered, books leapt out of their shelves.

The Headmaster’s strong grip on Sakura’s hand did not waiver.  “The White One has branded you, Miyawaki Sakura. But now is not the time to break your chains.”

Using her free hand, Sakura tried to shield her face from the strong gust of wind. “I don’t understand any of this!” Her thoughts were all jumbled again; the sensations flooding her like an angry tempest.

Nothing was making sense. Power, so much power that it burned like white-hot pain.  Just a few days ago she couldn’t even properly cast a levitation spell but now, her whole being was leaking with astral energy for the second time today.

“Jurina, come here.” The Headmaster commanded. “Negate her.” His tone was sharp and dark and foreboding but Sakura could barely make out the words.

Jurina raised her hand, slender fingers wove through the air to create a magic circle. Pain shot through the blonde’s senses like lightning coursing down her spine. Still, she tried to compose herself—the mark of the serpent burning brightly on her wrist.

“Abyssum Vaqui.” In a flash, the wind swirling around Sakura, the spiritual pressure that hung heavily disappeared as if sucked by a vacuum.

“J-Jurina...san--” Sakura mouthed before she collapsed into Jurina’s arms.

An unseen force brought the blonde girl to her knees, her branded hand was shaking against Sakura’s back as they both crouched down on the floor.

“The Round will not approve of this, Headmaster.” Jurina softly hissed despite her labored breathing, still overcome by the pain of her curse mark. Her arm was draped over Sakura quite protectively.

“Your Grandfather will understand.”

Sakura somewhat regained her sensibilities. She lifted her head to look Jurina in the eye. “Please tell me what’s happening—” Before she could finish her sentence, Professor Shinoda tapped her forehead and she fell into deep slumber.

Jurina glanced at her adviser, there was a defiant glint in her eyes, discontent was burning inside her. “She deserves an explanation not putting her to sleep again..”

Mariko understood the blonde girl’s displeasure. “It is not yet her time.” That was the only semblance of an explanation she could offer.

“You did well, Jurina.” The Headmaster would not usually mouth off praises here and there, but tonight his favorite student earned it.

“We have confirmed Miyawaki-san’s identity, Headmaster.” Haruna said while prying away Sakura’s unconscious body from Jurina’s grasp. “From here on out, please proceed with extreme caution.”

Haruna’s last words rang inside Mariko’s head like a bell toll, indeed they were treading about dangerous waters.

“Mari-chan shall we start preparing for the Baptism today?”

“Yes, but before that, I have a delivery to make.”

~*~*~*~

Momoka watched as Jurina scribbled notes on her syllabus. “What were you doing in the Headmaster’s office last night?” She whispered.

Their History professor was writing something on the board while droning on about the Fall of the Roses. This was a regular class attended by 3rd year students of the Academy and it was boring the bodyguard to death.

The strokes of the fountain pen against the paper were elegant and concise. “Why should I tell you?”

“Because I’m the one who picked you up, half-collapsed on the dormitory lobby. You can’t keep spreading yourself too thin like this.”

Jurina did not reply. She barely made it to her room conscious last night.

“If they keep making you use void, I’ll have to tell your Grandfather pretty soon.”

The Ace finally lifted her gaze from her writing. Momoka rightfully earned her full attention.“You will say nothing.”

“J, I’m not exactly the number one fan of your quest for self-destruction.” Jurina’s frequent passing out was becoming alarming, especially for Momoka.

“And you think telling Grandfather will make any difference? Do it, if you want to see me all locked up.”

“That’s not what I—”

The bell chimed signaling the end of the joint class. Students almost skipped out of the study hall, eager for recess.  

Momoka tailed Jurina, like always. But today the blonde was more distant than usual. When the tide of students finally passed and only the two of them stood in the middle of the corridor, the bodyguard spoke once more.

“Look, I’m just worried.”

Jurina glanced behind, locking gazes with the single person she could fully trust. “I’m sorry for being difficult, Momo.” It was crystal clear to her how much Momoka was trying.

“Stop rushing into things on your own.”

Jurina wanted to promise she’d avoid danger, that she wouldn’t risk confronting Lady Jeopardy again and again and again just so she could find an ending to their decade-old struggle. She would do anything for a chance to pick up the broken pieces and right things one last time.

“It’s complicated.”

“You offend me. Am I so weak that I can’t stand by your side?”

The hurt in Momoka’s voice was difficult to miss. She spent her whole life fighting to get stronger. Jurina was the sun and though Momoka was a mere comet in orbit, were all the years of untainted fidelity to her benefactor not enough?

Jurina scratched the back of her neck. She did not mean to disgrace Momoka. It’s just that, death followed her like a longing shadow that she would take any chance to steer her good friend away from its clutches. Momoka was her knight but that doesn’t mean she was expendable.

“I’ve lost Sayanee already, I can’t...” Jurina tried to put her apprehension into words but Momoka was quicker to snap back.

“Let me make my choice—to live, to die, to struggle--it is only mine.”

The ace sighed in resignation. “Fine,” She had lost this mental battle and the price was to come clean. “Sakura has the mark. It won’t be long until she fully awakens.”

Momoka’s brows furrowed deeply as she soaked in the information. “Your meeting in the solarium that day—were you the catalyst?”

“I didn’t understand at first, but It seems our astral energies have been reacting.” Memories of their first encounter in the glass garden, the falconry match and the breach flashed back in her mind. “The pieces are falling into place.”

“Tell me Jurina, can we still stop this?”

~*~*~*~

The girls in the corridor eyed Sakura from head to foot as she and Haruka passed by. It seemed the gossip mill was yet to die down and the fact of Sakura’s transfer to the Special Class was still a cause for disdain to the regular students.

“Hey Saku-chan,” Nana came from behind Sakura and Haruka who were on their way to the cafeteria. Haruka could swear she heard a few whines from the girls as Nana came to them. Something like “Why is Naachan with the dunce?” “That girl’s been leeching on Jurina-san too!” “I bet she’s so full of herself now.”

“Naachan,” Sakura acknowledged. “Good day to you.” She smiled, paying no heed to the girls ostracizing her.

“I was supposed to ask you about what happened. But the Professor suddenly summoned you last night.” Nana said, falling in the same pace as the two freshmen.

“Even I am yet to be apprised of what has transpired.” Haruka interjected. She had tried a few times to get Sakura to speak about it, but the latter would only say her memories were blurry.

“Yeah, umm...about that,” Sakura started, “everything’s a bit hazy honestly.” She scratched the back of her head while chuckling nervously. “I don’t think I went to the Headmaster’s office...I…fell asleep.” Sakura tried a hundred times to recall the events yesterday but there was this cloud in her mind that would not let up.

“Really? You are so dead!” Haruka sounded exasperated, and quite rightfully so. She was Sakura’s best friend and being kept in the dark about all of this made her uneasy. But it’s not like this was Sakura’s fault, Haruka debated in her head.

“I swear. I only remember Jurina-san rushing in to save me. She was injured.” Sakura’s expression turned glum at the thought of the blonde ace risking her neck, yet again, for her sake. No matter how many times she berrated herself for failing to remember, the recollection of yesterday’s events was simply elusive. Did she hit her head hard...or something?

“Must be the shock.” Nana surmised. She held onto Sakura shoulder and comforted the younger girl. “It’s okay. What matters is that you’re safe.”

Sakura was definitely caught off guard by the prefect’s sudden gesture. She felt her cheeks flush and was thankful they had reached the non-crowded part of the corridor. Otherwise, she was so sure Naachan’s fangirls would rip her to shreds.

“If you need anything Saku-chan, please come to me.” What was this warm feeling suddenly gripping her heart? She’s just really nice, Sakura. Sakura repeated like a mantra in her head. Nana’s gaze was so magnetic that it reminded Sakura of a certain blonde.

Sakura and Nana could probably stare at each other the whole lunch period but Haruka would have none of it. “Jurina-san has been tangled in your affairs recently.” Haruka huffed. “Just what impression are you trying to make Saku-chan?”

“Impression?” Sakura almost choked, the mention of Jurina’s name seemed to unhinge certain gears in Sakura’s brain.

“You’re probably number one on the hit list of Jurina-san’s fangirls.” Haruka added.

“But I’m not doing anything!”

“Except playing the damsel in distress.” Haruka snickered. Teasing Sakura was quite enjoyable from time to time. Nana, on the other hand, only looked at Sakura; her gaze, unreadable.

“Haruka, it’s not like I enjoy it when Jurina-san—”

“When I what?”

The three girls jolted as if an electric current had suddenly shot through them. Matsui Jurina stood ahead, just a few steps away. Her regal figure was commanding enough to stop them in their tracks. She looked like she was engaged in a conversation with Momoka and Yui beforehand.

Sakura’s mouth gaped open mid sentence. Her mind unable to coherently form her thoughts.

“J-Jurina...san, good d-day.” Haruka almost did a curtsy.

Nana turned to the ace and gave her a greeting in the form of a slight nod, which the latter returned.

“When I do what, Sakura?” Jurina repeated, too curious as to why she had become the subject of these girls’ conversation. She tilted her head to the side, her gaze did not leave Sakura’s face.

“Uh...I…” Sakura stammered.

“You don’t like me, Sakura?” There was a hint of hurt in Jurina’s voice. Whether it was genuine or just part of her teasing the younger girl, it wasn’t crystal clear.

Panic gripped Sakura. “No! Of course I do! I mean that’s not….I don’t…” Forming a coherent sentence was becoming quite challenging for the transfer student who was turning a deeper shade of red by the second.

Jurina sighed but then smiled. She was well aware that Sakura’s memories were partially wiped out but still couldn’t help but pry. “You sure you’re ok?” She came forward to check on Sakura’s temperature—her lithe fingers lingered on Sakura’s forehead.

The feeling of Jurina’s cold touch against her skin seemed to magnify the young girl’s spiral into an incoherent mess.

This was insane. Sakura wanted to evaporate. Her dream of Jurina, as a valiant knight, saving her from falling and embracing her firmly replayed in her mind. What was happening here? Did she just actively recount her lucid dream of Jurina? Why was she even having lucid dreams of Jurina? It only served to plunge her into a deeper frenzy.

“If you keep teasing her, you’ll ‘overheat’ the poor girl, J.” Momoka interrupted, seeing how Sakura was blushing redder than a blood ruby. It was more of her enjoying highlighting the young girl’s predicament than her being concerned though.

“Maybe you should skip class today? You look really flushed.” Jurina advised while stepping away and falling back into place between Yui and Momoka.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, her heart hammered in her chest. Don’t do this Sakura. Don’t embarrass yourself further. Don’t. “Jurina-san...I—”

“Jurinaaaa~” Miru appeared out of nowhere, her arm linking with Jurina’s. She rested her chin on the ace’s shoulder and deliberately turned Sakura’s way to see the freshman’s reaction. “I’m sorry for my actions the other day. That was quite unbecoming of me.” She apologized, her overly sweet voice bothered Sakura to no end.

This was the girl who just actively tried to demolish Jurina’s reputation the other day; The girl who wanted to kick Sakura out of the Special Class. Now she was acting like some Mary Magdalene-- Oh! Woe to thee, repentant sinner.

“I understand,” was Jurina’s response. And Sakura was honestly disappointed the ace didn’t make it harder for this wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Please, let’s have lunch together. It’s a peace offering.” Miru’s grip on Jurina’s blazer was firm. She obviously would not accept a “no.”

“Only if you promise to play nice.” Jurina replied, the calm and reserved air about her did not shift the slightest. Miru muttered something incoherent before dragging Jurina.

“No you don’t!” Momoka grunted while trying to pry Miru away from the blonde.

“H-hey! Let go you brute!! I don’t want you in my date with Jurina!”

“What date? You delusional woman! I’m her bodyguard!”

“Please excuse us.” Yui bowed to Sakura’s group, still chuckling lightly at the turn of the events. ”I hope you’ve recovered, Sakura-chan. Have a good day.” She said before taking her leave.

~*~*~*~

Sae was sitting on one of the benches behind the school’s main building. She was busy fumbling with her communicator. It has almost been a week since she arrived in St. Hildegard and she was already starting to worry about the partner she left in the Special Forces.

“Sae, it’s been a while.”

Sae lifted her gaze and immediately perked up at the sight of her former team mate. “Yuko! How are things in the bureaucratic maze?” She buried her communicator deep in her coat pocket and shifted her attention to the woman in front of her.

Yuko gave her a toothy grin. “Ever so dull. I thought it would be more interesting in Central Dogma.” She sat beside Sae on the bench, her  left arm spread out on the backrest.  “How about you? Having a blast in the Special Forces?” The hunter gazed up at the sky, a flock of birds passed her line of vision.

“I was. Until the Prime Minister sent me back here to train these kids.” There were clear hints of lethargy in Sae’s voice. She placed a hand on her forehead and started to massage it. Almost a week in the Headmaster’s playground and she has yet to give a lecture. What kind of instructor did they want her to be anyway?

“The Headmaster probably requested that.“  Yuko’s gaze did not leave the sky. There was a forebodding feeling floating in her chest. That Miyawaki girl will be targeted again and the Headmaster was trying too much to leave Central Dogma in the dark about her. Should she report this to her superiors? Should she let the Headmaster do as he wished? Should she involve herself in their affairs? “Sae... something’s coming.” And though she could not see the expression on Sae’s face, she knew the other fighter was as vigilant as her.

“The intruders yesterday, they weren’t just some small fry mercenaries.” Sae concluded. True, she was not present when the confrontation occured, but Haruna and Mariko were quick to fill her in.

“That’s right. And they will come again.” Yuko closed her eyes before taking in a deep breath.

“Hey, Yuko….shouldn’t you be starting with the Baptism of the neophytes?”

The hunter nodded. An Overseer— such was the role she would play for today...maybe for a longer time even. Central Dogma and St. Hildegard Academy had a partnership, a mutual co-existence that forced her to keep her presence in this institution even if she wished for nothing else but to move forward. The Headmaster was ever cruel, giving them the freedom to walk out the gates but never to fly away.

“Yes, Takamina’s probably waiting. Will you be observing the initiation rights, Sae?”

“Sure. Those kids will be my students after all.”

~*~*~*~

Sakura found herself inside the Hall of Transfiguration, a church like structure at the zenith of the school’s main building. It was an altar where mages and hunters were conferred the Holy One’s blessing.

The tall concrete walls were intimidating, light shone from the windows, hitting the four crystal pillars that were erected on each corner of the glass platform. The stairs leading to the platform were embellished with red glowing orbs on each side. At the center of the platform was a magic seal, it was glowing a bright blue hue.

The sound of rushing water echoed inside the hall. Water fell from the eastern and western walls, forming a pool just below the elevated platform.

Sakura’s gaze was on the Hunter from Central Dogma who was in the middle of the platform.

Takahashi Minami, despite her short stature, carried an air of authority about her. Hands clasped behind her back, she paced to and fro like a general giving the order of battle to her subordinates. “As you may know, I am Takahashi Minami and my partner, who will soon join us, is Oshima Yuko. We are your Overseers for this year’s Baptism.”

The students in front of her listened carefully, unable to break their concentration from the famed alumna of St. Hildegard.

“What’s happening?” Sakura whispered to Haruka.

“The initiation rights, you’re going to be baptized...”

“And you’re not included in this? You’re a freshman too.”

“I entered earlier than you, Rika and Mion, remember? It was a special program endorsed by the Pres.” Haruka shifted her glance to Yui who was standing still beside Takamina, a smile ever present in her motherly facade.

“Why do you always leave me hanging??”

“Hey, I have nothing to do with you winning the lottery...”

Sakura sighed. She was already sure she would flunk this, god save her.

“Freshmen, come forward.” Takamina commanded. “A baptism by fire awaits you today. Take pride in this, for only the chosen ones are given the opportunity pledge allegiance to Central Dogma this early in their lives.”

“What is she talking about?”

“You get to be a hunter even before graduation, Sakura. Didn’t you read the handbook?”

Before Sakura could answer, she was pushed forward by Haruka. I didn’t sign up for this. Sakura wanted to become a hunter alright. But not this soon. She would’ve preferred actually learning magic first. But alas! Lady Destiny loved to toy with her.

Sakura looked around, her wide eyes searching. Mion and Rika seemed to be okay with this. They were waiting for Takamina’s next directive.

On the left side of the room, Sayanee and Mayu were watching. To Sakura, they gave off the feeling of being ‘outsiders’. Observant and non-committal; pragmatic and disconnected. Annin and Yuria stood beside them, the pair, on the other hand, were eager to finally have some form of entertainment.

Sakura gazed behind, Momoka and Jurina were at the far back of the Hall. Momoka whispered something to Jurina but the ace’s eyes were fixed on Sakura. The weight of her stare disarmed the transfer student, it sent a shiver down her spine. But Jurina only seemed to nod at her, motioning her too look back to the front.

Sakura did so. Her undivided attention returned to the hunter before them.

Takamina surveyed the three freshmen students. “For this activity, you will be divided into three groups.” She said and as if on cue, Oshima Yuko materialized beside her, a goblet in hand.

“All of you take a gem from the cup.” Yuko commanded, offering the goblet to all of the students instead of just the three. Her signature bestial grin adorned her face. This exhilaration is what she lived for—danger, surprises, non-conformity.

“Ehh?” Confusion was crystal clear in Haruka’s face. She just went through this not too long ago, the memories (and the bruises) were too fresh.

“With all due respect, but we already have our senbatsu passes, you can’t force us to join the Baptism of the freshmen.” Miru retorted. She just had her manicure, rough labor was not part of today’s schedule.

“Is this even allowed? They have to work for their place on their own efforts.” For once, Kizaki Yuria and Shiroma Miru were in agreement over something. Was the world ending soon?

“I do not appreciate being dragged into this.” Annin’s melancholic voice added.

Takamina did not answer. She merely stepped to the side and allowed Yuko to take the stage.

“Consider this the new method. The old one was getting boring.” She snapped and in the next breath, the walls of the Hall of Transfiguration and everything else around them disintegrated into small particles of magic dust.

They found themselves in the middle of a forest, the verdant roof was too thick that it blocked out the sun.

Sakura’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You gotta be kidding me…” Everything about the Special Class was insane. She looked at Haruka on her right and then at Nana on her other side. Haruka had a defeated look on her face while Nana just shrugged with a weak smile.

“Now take a gem from the cup and let’s start the Baptism.” Yuko’s tone darkened, the severity of her grin could force anyone into submission.

“Are you okay with this Jurina?” Momo asked.

“It’s Yuko-san...not like we have a choice.”

~*~*~*~

The crystal walls of the Hall of Transfiguration showed the images of the students wandering in the forest. Each group was projected on a different wall and the three women stood on the platform as mere spectators in this game arranged by Central Dogma’s hunters.

“Whose idea was this?” Sae asked, still confused with the turn of events. “This is outside protocol.”

“Yuko of course.” Mariko replied, her gaze never leaving the northern wall which projected Sakura’s group. The transfer student was with Yamamoto Sayaka, Iriyama Anna and Matsui Jurina.

“I think it’s rather interesting. They get to test out team dynamics while working on individual growth.” Haruka responded. She was particularly drawn to Watanabe Mayu’s group. Shiroma Miru, Kinoshita Momoka and Nakai Rika were with the cyborg.

“This isn’t rigged...right?” Mariko was still looking at Sakura and Jurina’s images on the crystal wall. What a coincidence—the two of them in the same group.

“Hmmmm….” Haruna twirled around motioning to exit the hall. “Want to take bets?” She smiled.

~*~*~*~

“Well..I bet this was definitely out of your calculations, eh Mayu-san?” Miru commented while reading a scroll.

The cyborg did not answer, she merely scanned her surroundings, drinking in each detail of the terrain they were traversing. Where was the end of this path of trees? It was almost as if the forest could stretch on and on.

“The instructions say we have to retrieve an artifact. A key.” Miru continued to examine the scroll given by Takamina. It was the only clue provided for them to finish the challenge. “A tower, a graveyard, a fairy...just what are these images?”

“Stop hogging the scroll to yourself, Ms. Primadonna.” Momoka snatched it away from Miru’s grasp.

“Hey! You brute! I was reading that—” Miru tried to regain possession of the parchment, but to no avail.

“Leave the deciphering to people who actually have the capability.”

“Just who do you think you’re talking to? You’re just Jurina’s guard dog!”

Momoka stuck out her tongue, only to aggravate Miru further. “This guard dog has a higher rank than you, Princess.”

“Get back here! You unbelievable runt! Plebeian!!!”

The two reminded Rika of kindergarten students arguing over their favorite toy. It was hopeless, Miru and Momoka getting along was like the sun setting in the east. “Nuuuu~Rika’s doomed in this group isn’t she?”

Mayu looked at her then tilted her head. “Statistical probability is 78.34 percent.”

~*~*~*~

“Seriously, did they just put Sayanee and Jurina in one team? That has to be cheating right?” Yuria complained to Nana who was walking beside her. Just a few feet away, Yui, Haruka and Mion were checking out the cave in front of them.

“We drew the lots didn’t we? It’s basically random sampling…” Nana replied as she tried to make sense of the scroll. An image of a tower, a graveyard and a fairy was drawn on the paper.

“But they’re too OP! 1st and 2nd rank?? In one group??? I bet they’re finished with this thing right now.”

“You do know that Sayaka-san and Jurina-san aren’t really in good terms, right?”

“Well yeah...but—” before Yuria could finish her sentence a shrill shriek from afar filled the air.

“AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The scream caught the attention of everyone in the perimeter. Birds nesting in the trees took flight at the sudden disturbance.

“Who was that?” Nana gazed up from the scroll. She knew the answer when Yuria, without a single word, bolted to the source of the scream.

“Annin!”

XXXXXX

Author’s Note:

Been a while since I updated! So sorry for being MIA in the writing field.

Sakura’s group is in a pinch now that Annin’s status is unknown!! The MiruMomo scenes were fun to make BTW~

Now onto the serious stuff,

When I started spellbound I saw it as only lasting for 12 chapters or so but when I plotted out the events until the end...I had 25 chapters to work on. I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction of Spellbound and came to the decision that I’ll continue the fic version if there is still some interest (a lot of months have passed without an update after all). Otherwise, I will give my full attention into the game devt of Spellbound because it’s really hard to simultaneously do things.

So this may or may not be my last update for this fic. I’d probably just stick to one shots, if ever things go down south...so I hope you enjoyed the ride and do tell me what you think.

Always with love,

A.

[maybe-writing]

Trevor could not think of many, if any, times in his thirty years of life that he dreaded going to his childhood home as much as he did right now. He dragged himself up the well-kept sidewalk, with the perfectly manicured lawn on his left, and the evenly watered flower bed on his right. He climbed up the beautiful wooden steps, ornate with ceramic garden gnomes and smiling turtles. He pulled open the screen door, and firmly face-planted into the sparkly white front door.

Trevor rapped, almost furiously but not too aggressively mind you, on the door until he got an answer. A woman in her sixties, with a half-painted face, and hair still tightly wound in curlers opens the door to greet him “Hi Trevor honey, so glad you could do this for us.”

“Hey mom, it’s not a problem.” It was a problem.

“Yeah, well the car is in the shop, so we had no other way to get to the polls.”

“Quick question. You never lock the front door when you are home. Any reason?”

“Oh, you can never be too careful in these crazy times.” His mother glided through the kitchen to move a few things and make a space for the make-up mirror, “These neighborhoods are getting quite dangerous.”

Trevor’s face couldn’t help but to show all of his furious confusion. He whipped his head around to the large bay window positioned quite squarely at the front of the house. Outside, two women in their late forties, covered head to toe in neon. Shoes, leggings, track jacket, fanny pack, even the hair ties that held their hair up in a tight perfect ponytail were matched. In sync as they shuffled past the front yard.

Mr. Abernathy in his yard, maintaining his already well-maintained lawn, as he always had since Trevor was six. Next door, a new young family that he had never met, barely older than Trevor was in his yard. He was tossing a football with a five-year-old, his platinum blond hair trimmed neatly into a precise mushroom. A woman was brushing the sunflower golden hair of a three-year-old girl in a bright pink dress. Trevor looked back at his mother bewildered. How could this woman think this slice of all-American, sugar free, all organic, Anglo-Saxon wet dream of an echo chamber could be remotely dangerous?

Trevor moved into the living room, “I’ll just be a few more minutes to put my face on,” his mother called from the kitchen island. Trevor nodded as he stepped behind his father watching a local news station. They were interviewing the candidates for the mayoral election. They were talking to the man who was currently polling the highest, taking his photo op. John Smith, not a very unique sounding name, but that’s the name he picked.

Trevor can see his father out of his peripherals, locked onto every word. Trevor was more fixated on the man, and he used that word very loosely, on the screen. His emaciated cheeks almost seemed to vacuum into his mouth every time he talked. They highlighted his sharp pronounced cheek bones. His sunken eyes, with harsh dark circles, made the yellow tint in his irises more noticeable. And Trevor couldn’t help acknowledging how soulless they were. His voice was hoarse, raw, and definitely sinister.

“So, this is the guy?”

“He wants to keep the city safe” his father remarked with gravel and venom in his statement.

“Those bumps on his forehead seem new, and like they are still growing.”

“You just want to find the worst in people.”

Trevor leaned over the couch to try and get his father’s attention, “He’s possessed by a demon. That is the main point of his campaign.” Trevor gazed at his father who seemed to be going through extra effort to avoid eye contact. “He told people to call him John Smith, because his true name can’t be translated from Latin.”

“I thought you were supposed to be Mr. Open-minded now.” The way he said it, Trevor knew it was meant to be an insult, but it didn’t quite faze him. So he simply leaned back and waited.

“I’m ready. Thanks again so much for this,” his mother said. Trevor nodded sweetly but disappointed. His father pulled himself from the couch in a manner reserved for unhappy buffalo. “Say thank you Jeff,” his father let out some semblance of the words ‘thank’ and ‘you’. Trevor’s mom glared at him and hinted at a try again. Jeff mumbled out what sounded like a statement relatively close to ‘mind your business Peggy’.

They all settled into his car, Jeff in the front seat and Peggy in the back, “There is a polling station on Maple Street.” Peggy cooed from her spot in the car. Trevor punched the address into his GPS and noticed that it was only 20 minutes away.

Trevor’s head filled with a multitude of ideas, and the possibility of changing his parents minds in 20 minutes was impossible. As he pulled out of the driveway and rolled onto the street, every neighbor they passed gave a big wave. They were clearly planning something horrible.

Why did Trevor agree to this? He couldn’t have something else to do today? He could have stayed home with his wife. Lord knows it was needed at this time. He should have said no, but they were his parents. He could stall, until they had no choice to give up and go home, “It looks like there is a branch of my bank on the way. You guys mind if I stop?”

“You’re the one driving,” Jeff grumbled, “It’s none of my business.” Peggy reached from the back to swat his arm as he stared out the window. They exchanged a small mumbled conversation of hushed inaudible words.

Trevor parked his car and informed his parents he would be back in a flash. Much to his dismay there was no line. The one time he would have been happy for a line at the bank. His snail pace through the rope guides seemed weirder than he intended. He had no desire to make the poor teller believe he was trying to rob the place, so he moved at a normal pace.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” the bright-eyed girl said in a not too threatening, please don’t have a gun, tone.

“Yeah, can I get my balance on my accounts.” Trevor said, only then realizing how stupid it sounded.

“If you have the app, you can do it yourself.”

“Yea, I know,” Trevor mumbled practically defeated. The girl finally connected the dots and took down his information and began looking up his account.

Is this really the best he could do? Meandering around a bank? This was amateur hour. “I’m sorry, it seems the computer is going a bit slow” She has clearly done this before. If he was going to do this, he was going to need to work a bit harder.

The computer found the time to finally get the balance and the teller printed it up, “Is there anything else I can get you today?” She asked, and Trevor had a few ideas but nothing remotely good enough. He could actually rob the bank, but that seemed like a lot of paperwork. He thanked her and made his way back to his car to deal with his ornery father.

“Are we all good?” Jeff said through a scowl. Trevor drove down the path set by the GPS. Trevor recognized where he was and where he was going now. The female voice told him to make a right at the light. He sat there waiting for the light to change, and the longer it took the more he built up his courage. Once the light turned green, he drove straight.

“I thought you were supposed to turn left?” Peggy called from the back.

“This is a better way,” Trevor never remembered ever lying to his parents, “we can avoid the traffic.”

“Make a U-turn” the robotic female voice said from his phone.

“We just go this way and be there in no time.”

“Make a left turn,” Trevor turned off the GPS.

“This way doesn’t seem faster,” Jeff growled after ten or eleven turns down back roads and side streets.

“Just the next left and we should be within spitting distance.” Spitting distance? When has Trevor ever said that? He knew where he was, so he knew the street was going to be backed up enough to hold them off.

As they turned onto a practically empty street, Trevor felt like the universe was really working against him today. He wasted fifteen minutes and was only a few miles away from the destination. There was a breakfast place near, and at 9:30 in the morning it could be a good way to waste time.

“I didn’t have breakfast yet; you guys ok if we stop? We have time.”

“That sounds fun,” Peggy beamed. Jeff mumbled an incoherent form of ‘fine’.

“Table for three?” the dark-haired girl asked as she grabbed the menus and silverware. As she walked them to an empty table in the empty restaurant, Trevor felt the universe was playing a cruel trick on him for playing a cruel trick on his parents. The waitress barely let them sit down before trying to get them drinks, and headed off in a flash.

“So I need to ask,” Trevor stated to break the tension “What is so appealing about this guy?”

“Well I know you lost your faith but we haven’t,” Jeff barked.

“I still very much consider myself a Christian, which is why I can’t see myself voting for a prince of hell.”

“In case you didn’t know,” Jeff huffed “he is consistently surrounded by priests and religious leaders praying for his well-being and anointing him.”

“Other people call that an exorcism,” Trevor stated without looking up from the menu, “Besides that feels like a fruitless effort. Whomever used to own that body is clearly dead.”

“He wants to make real changes.”

“Burning down churches will make some real waves.”

“He won’t burn down every church,” Peggy tried to add, “he didn’t mean that.”

“I’m sure your church is safe. Didn’t Pastor Griffin make a sermon about voting for him, because God said so?”

“You don’t get it.”

The waitress seemed less eager to return to the table this time around. After dropping off the food she practically ran away. The silence was necessary but still awkward. “He wants to put something in place to avoid any more of those riots.”

“Those ‘riots’ started out peaceful, much like this breakfast should have.”

“It always starts ‘peaceful’ with them.”

“Chloe’s doing great, since you asked in such a nice way. She’s pregnant, twenty-one weeks. So, you’ll be grandparents.” His father’s face didn’t move. His mother forced a smile that almost looked like she filled her pants with something foul. “Don’t choke on your meal with excitement.”

“Well as long as you don’t name it anything ridiculous like Dayquan or Latasha.”

“Why would we do that?” Trevor asked angrily.

“You know how THEY are.”

“They?” Trevor almost felt punched in the gut, “Have you always had a problem with Chloe being black?” His parents have always been nice to Chloe. He met her in college and when he brought her home after his third semester they were welcoming. Then again,he remembered how

his parents were also pretty upset about the one black kid in his high school being an affirmative action and how it would affect Trevor getting into a good college.

“We just thought you would be with someone different.” Peggy said under her breath.

“They destroy our cities, try to take over by marrying our children, and he wants to make sure that it doesn’t happen by strengthening the right people.”

Trevor felt the biggest wait fall on his shoulders “I finally get it.”

“He’s the only one who gets it.” Jeff snapped.

“No, I do,” Trevor said solemnly, “so let’s finish up here and we head to the polling station.”

Trevor settled the bill and drove the last few miles to take his parents to complete their civic duty. These weren’t people who were brainwashed or led astray by the serpent magic of a hell beast. These were who they were, and he was talking to them.

Jeff marched back to the car proudly displaying his ‘I voted’ sticker. He plopped down into the seat triumphant and arrogant. “All good?” Trevor asked.

“Yup,” Jeff said with no gravel, but all the smugness.

“Great,” Trevor said kindly. Jeff's eyes slightly narrowed but a grin slithered across his face.

The car ride back was much shorter, without any pit stops, and silent. Trevor pulled into the driveway of his parents’ home, “Thank you,'' Jeff said softly as he poked his head back into the car.

Trevor knew his father took the change in behavior as compliance to the cause, and that didn’t bother him, “Of course,” he could think what he wanted.

As Jeff and Peggy walked back into the house, Trevor had to accept who they truly are. He had to accept that he would change, or they wouldn’t be there for the birth of their grandchild. Either way, he would never dread having to pull into this driveway ever again, because he would be doing it less often.