#i was looking at those tentacles a few months ago and immediately recognized them in the new story

[where-is-caithe]

here's something fun and neat that I noticed in the Hole

I've seen these funky little dudes somewhere before

around the Maws of Torment in the Desolation! haha! neat!

[lovely-echoo]

Sleepy Bois Inc x FranBow!Reader

In-game AU

Part 1/? Pt.2

Plantonic!SBI x Young!Reader

(10/11 years old)

OneShot/Drabble(?)

Genderneutral reader (they/them) 💜

INFO; If you haven't played or seen game play of Fran Bow then you can skip this if you'd like. If you don't care then go ahead.

Summary; Basically if you've seen/played the game you should know how this goes, you take place of Fran. So you go/went through the same things she did and you still have Mr. Midnight. This takes place while Fran is still in the mental hospital and then got teleported near the SBI.

Honestly I kept thinking about this but was afraid to request it to anyone so I'm doing it my myself-

If I get any info wrong, I'm sorry! I rewatched Markiplier's game play so it shouldn't be way off.

P.s not everything is described the same.

(^ art by sunquids on twt)

CW/TW: mentions/includes of cussing, gore, death, blood, consumption of medication, sexual assault (brief mentions of Damian/The King)

Fluff/Normal

(Angst if you squint)

How you ended up there - How you met Philza and Technoblade

As you were walking around the hospital, you decided to take a pill to see if it'll help.

You watched as your vision blurred and some sort of demonic noises rang in your ears.

After a few seconds your vision cleared up, you took a look around the front desk.

The once dull and lifeless room had turned into this even duller and just plain deathly like room.

Blood was everywhere, random body parts of babies where thrown around. A skeletal figure was hung with what looked like an umbilical cord wrapped around its thin bones, it was connected to this baby covered by a blue blanket.

Just about everything looked grotesque.

Suddenly the floor ahead of you opened and this slimy black tentacle like arm grabbed you by the waist and pulled you in.

It seemed you may have passed out during your fall because you woke up to the sounds of hissing and supposedly two men.

Oh and let's not forget the killer headache causing the ringing in your ears. :)

You rubbed your eyes as you sat up, the light around you seemed much brighter than before.

You looked at the two men in front of you and then glanced down, you spotted Mr. Midnight!

His fur was spiked up and his ears were flat against his head. He seemed to be trying to protect you from the men.

Ignoring their presence you immediately scooped up your precious fur baby in your arms.

Your mind completely forgot about the fact there are two strange looking men in front of you.

A few droplets of water dripped down your (S/C) cheeks onto your (F/C) shirt/dress.

You started crying, so much happened in a short period of time and you found your cat you oh so desperately tried to find.

It panicked one of the adults. Said adult was an average tall man with slightly longer blond hair than average, he also had a green and white striped bucket hat. But what stuck out the most was the large pair of wings behind his back.

At first you thought that it was your pills fault but everywhere around you looked….

Normal?

It seemed like your meds wore off while you supposedly passed out.

But that doesn’t help or ease you at all. If the side effects wore off then how the hell did he have wings?!

The blond walked towards you slowly, like you were an injured puppy. His blue eyes roamed around your body, as if studying your every mouvements.

The other man who was beside him earlier seemed to tense up and looked at him as if he grew another head. He was on edge you assumed.

But he looked even weirder to you. He had long pink hair tied into a loose braid falling over his shoulder. Was it natural? He also had tusks peeking out from his bottom lip, they were large but not enough to be in the way. His skin seemed to be on the pinker side, it was roughed up with scars and calloused in certain areas. You noticed he had pig ears poking out his crown. Is he a king of sorts? Wait, that reminds you of someome... Oh! The king of course!

Ah yes, the king. You quite missed him actually, he was playful and let you use his cane- sword to get a key. But he didn't know about that part. You wonder if he's doing alright right know, the asylum sucks. And the shadow thing next to him said weird things to. Who exactly is the holy man? Why'd the shadow say he took off his clothes?

You couldn't dwell on it to much as you got distracted by the approaching man.

He reached out his hand to stop the winged male. “Phil-”

But the man named ‘Phil’ interrupted the crowned male by putting up his hand. He stopped his hand and let it limp to his side.

“It’s alright Tech, they seem harmless.” ‘Phil’ reassured, though ‘Tech’ nodded his head with a stern expression. There was still hesitance in his sharp red eyes.

‘Phil’ took the same hand he put up and reached it out to you. A soft and kind look in his eyes, you could’ve gotten lost in them if you weren’t careful.

“You alright there kid?” He asked, crouching down to meet your height from where you sat.

“Y-yeah, I think so…” You winced, your throat was hoarse and dry. You peered at ‘Phil’ as he took out this glass bottle with what you assumed was water.

He handed you the fragile bottle, he saw the look of hesitance in your childlike eyes. But something about them set off alarms in his head, they were dull. There’s nothing wrong with that of course! But they were too dull, at least for a mere kid.

He recognized a glint of trauma in your (Eye Shape) eyes, those beautiful (E/C) orbs had seen something they shouldn’t have. Haven’t they?

“Don’t worry mate, it’s fresh water.” He examined the way you handled the cork, you were inexperienced. He could tell you’ve never needed to do it, but why? It’s really the only way so far to keep water with you.

Did you not have any?

While he was lost in thought, you just had noticed he had an accent of sorts. Nothing wrong with it, you've just never heard of someone with it.

(^ Ignore that if you are british)

While the winged male was off in his own world the piglin hybrid watched as you sniffed the clear liquid in suspicion before letting your cat smell it as if you were looking for their approval.

To his surprise they did give it to you, the black cat nodded it’s head and squeaked out a meow. That strangely sounded like a yes- but he dismissed the thought. Probably was just the voices fucking with him.

You gulped down the water as if you hadn’t had any for months.

‘Why tf are they so desperate-’ ‘lowkey kinda concerned lmao’ ‘they look like they’d be an orphan tho’ ‘lmao maybe’ ‘idc about the kid, i want the cat’ ‘absolutely-’ ‘Nah fuck the cat, im allergic.’ ‘lol and?’ 'PFT ANY ASKERS???'

Those were all different voices speaking and overlapping each other.

Technoblade sighed as he glanced at his father, he knew him on the back of his hand. He let him be and slowly walked next to Phil and kneeled down.

“What’s your name kid?” he asked, taking the empty bottle you had handed him. “(Y/n), (Y/n) (L/n)/Bow.” You bluntly answered, looking at him in the eyes. He noticed how bloodshot they were, I mean you did cry not even 5 minutes ago.

"What's yours?" You questioned tilting your head a bit in the process.

Unbeknownst to you, some voices in a certain someone's head were losing their shit, squealing and chanting ‘protecc tiny bean’ over and over again.

"The name's Technoblade, but you can call me Techno." Strange name in your book but your not the one to judge. You simply nodded your head in acknowledgement.

"That guy is Philza, but you can call him Phil." He pointed his thumb to the unfocused man. Technoblade or Techno- cleared his throat.

“You’ve got somewhere to stay? Where are your parents?” “Why can’t you mind your business?”

Techno’s eyes twitched in annoyance and his teeth clenched to hold back any crude words.

Although he noticed the flash of pain in those dull (E/C) orbs of the mentions of your parents.

He sighed once again, something you noticed he did a lot. At least, so far he did.

“Look kid, do you have a place to stay or not?”

And that's how you ended up meeting your new family. . . <3

I may include a taglist if anyone's up to be tagged lmao

[shinechermont]

Knives

Ursula sighed. Again, she found herself alone inside her house. 

She liked to be alone, but sometimes the silence could be suffocating and tedious.

Reaper and Error spent virtually the whole day away from home and returned only at night, usually when Ursula was already asleep, making sure they could only have a family moment for breakfast only. 

That day, however, they didn't show up for breakfast.

Ursula understood that they were busy with her jobs, but that didn't stop her from making her upset that they didn't even come to have breakfast with her.

She decided to take a walk to avoid thinking about it. Walking around the AUs always helped her improve her mood. 

Ursula teleported to Outertale, one of her favorite AUs.  

She walked for a few minutes while watching the starry sky. God, she would never get tired of that magnificent view of outertale heaven.

She ended up heading to a virtually empty area, which was also the same area that Error liked to take her when she was a minor.    

Ursula sat there and took out her knitting needles. She took her ropes and began sewing quietly. Sewing was one of the things she liked to do the most. 

She decided she would sew a pair of gloves, as it wasn't something she knitted too often.   

-_-_-_-_-

Ursula ended up making ten pairs of gloves. Don't judge her, she was feeling very inspired that day.

She began sewing the twelfth pair when she heard footsteps. She looked back and saw a skeleton with some scars on her face. He seemed familiar...

Oh, it was the skeleton she had met weeks ago! The one with a grumpy look and that was incredibly rude! His name should be Mirage, if Ursula remembered well. 

Ursula wasn't quite sure what to do at the time, so she just waved to Mirage.

The other skeleton looked at her at a glance. He just walked again like he didn't see anything.

Ursula thought he didn't recognize her. She sighed and continued sewing the pair of gloves.

After sewing a few more pairs of gloves, she decided to go to town.

-_-_-_-_-

Arriving in the city, Ursula was looking from afar at the people who inhabited that AU. Maybe she could talk to them? No, they would probably ask her to leave, as would her alternate versions of the AU she lived in.

She decided to go into a small grocery store nearby and buy chocolate powder to make hot chocolate later when she got home.

After a while walking through the market corridors, she finally found a packet of chocolate powder. She took the package and walked towards the cashier.

Suddenly, she saw the same skeleton as before, Mirage, walking toward the back of the store. Generally, she would just continue her path, but curiosity spoke louder and she ended up discreetly going after Mirage.

He was in front of a weapons section. Ursula forced the view to see what he was doing.

Mirage was stealing knives from the shelves and putting them in his pockets and under his clothes.

Ursula was shocked by what she was seeing. She knew he was someone a hundred percent reliable, but not like that...

Ursula decided to leave as soon as possible and maybe tell someone what Mirage was doing, but Saddle ended up bumping into a shelf and knocking over some fishing equipment that were there.

Mirage immediately heard the noise and looked around until he found Ursula. He glared at her.

Ursula felt she was going to have a bad time.

Mirage walked up to her. He had the usual grumpy expression.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I-I came here to buy some stuff, of course," she said trying to look away from his face.

Mirage rolled his eyes.

"Did you see anything?" he asked with a more angry expression.

"N-no. I was just passing by and I ended up hitting that shelf.", she lied.

Mirage didn't seem to believe what she said. He gave her a furious look and quickly got out of that hallway.

Ursula sighed. What the hell was he going to do with those knives? Why did he need so many knives?

She decided to go to the cashier and pay for the package of chocolate powder. She tried to tell herself that those questions were not her business.

She was just leaving when she saw Mirage walking outside the store. He was moving really fast.

Curiosity spoke louder again. Ursula felt that things would not end very well for her.

She left the store and went after Mirage. She was at a favorable distance and was being as discreet as possible. 

Although she was taking as much care as possible, Mirage eventually realized that she was being chased and turned to her. He pointed tentacles at her menacingly. 

Ursula froze. She made a mental note telling her not to chase anyone who's stealing knives again. 

"You'd better go away," Mirage said, "Or I'm going to have to spend more time here cleaning up your dust."

Ursula did not know whether she ran away or invoked her scythe.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted Mirage.

Ursula quickly got out of there as fast as she could. Mirage didn't seem to be bluffing.

When she saw that she was out of the field of sight of him, she opened a portal straight to her house.

-_-_-_-_-

Clearly, that was one of the worst rides in Outertale, just didn't get over the turn when she found an alternate version of Error that attacked her once.

She sighed and decided to take a look at the pairs of gloves she had made earlier that day. However, they were not in her poncho, where she had left them.

Crap. They probably fell off her poncho while she was chasing Mirage.

Ursula was a little upset that she had lost the gloves she had made. She wanted to give them to her parents as a gift.

She decided she would make more gloves for them, but just after making some hot chocolate for herself.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

After two months without writing a chapter, here I am!

If I did some grammar or spelling errors, please, tell me in the comments.

Mirage belongs to @ari-cuno

Ursula belongs to @shinechermont (me)

Hope ya like it!

[anistarrose]

The Liching Hour (TAZ Balance AU)

AO3: archiveofourown.org/works/22963831

Summary: Taako is a lich, but he doesn’t die alongside Barry when his memories start to fade. In fact, he doesn’t die for another whole decade… until he arrives in Refuge, and first hears the clock strike noon.

Characters: Taako, Lup, Barry Bluejeans, Kravitz, Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch

Relationships: Lup & Taako, Kravitz/Taako, Barry Bluejeans/Lup

Additional tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Major Character Undeath, Angst with a Happy Ending, relationships listed in order of focus

“Taako is a lich too” is definitely an AU that’s been done before, but I couldn’t resist giving it my own unique twist! I actually started writing this fic exactly eleven months ago, when I was still fairly new to TAZ, but I forgot all about it until a few weeks ago when I came back to dust it off and finish the last few scenes.

(if you want an accompanying soundtrack for this fic, then I strongly recommend Lifetime Achievement Award by Lemon Demon! the song has big lich energy)

***

The set of planar systems traversed by our IPRE was indescribably vast, but far from the only one of its kind. Over eons, countless other universes are forged and then left to their own devices by elusory, non-interventionist creators — and in more than one of those universes, a ship called the Starblaster takes flight, propelled between planar systems by the strength of the bonds between its crew. In more than one of those universes, members of the IPRE put enough faith in those bonds to undertake a great risk — fusing their life forces with their magic and becoming liches, constructing a failsafe to protect their family from the Hunger that pursues them.

In one of those universes, Taako joins Lup and Barry in taking that risk. The ceremony goes as smoothly as the transformation into a lich can go, and the three of are all able to hold themselves together, thanks to their love for each other and their crewmates...

But when Lucretia feeds her records of their journey to the Voidfish, when Lup is already trapped in the Umbra Staff and Barry cleverly cheats amnesia by falling to his death off the deck of the Starblaster, Taako stays in his living form. Being undead isn’t the first thing he forgets — no, it’s Lup that he loses first, for Taako’s bonds with his twin are more carefully documented in Lucretia’s journals than anything else he’s done or cared about over the century — but the second that awareness of lichdom vanishes from his mind, the second he forgets the safety net he has in place in case of death, a self-preservation instinct kicks in again after nearly two decades of lying dormant. No need to go charging into uncharted and potentially deadly territory — Taako’s good out here.

For over a decade, he avoids death, and he never remembers what happens to him when he dies. Sometimes animals will shy away from him for no apparent reason, and maybe that faint burning sensation that fills his chest whenever Merle channels Pan to cast a healing spell on him is a little weird — but there’s no dogs on the moon and Merle hardly ever casts healing spells in the first place, so Taako just... tries to forget about it when he can, and convince himself it’s normal when he can’t.

He has a vague suspicion that he hasn’t been like this forever, but he can’t remember a clear date of onset for these symptoms, so he just brushes them off and keeps them to himself. It’s no one’s else’s business, anyways.

Or so he thinks, until he meets the Grim Reaper one fateful Candlenights.

***

There are two presents left under the shrub, both in similar silver-wrapped boxes — but one is addressed to all three Reclaimers, and the other is specifically labeled for Taako. Neither indicates the name of the sender.

Magnus and Merle don’t even attempt to hide the jealousy in their stares as they watch Taako pick up his gift, but something compels them to all stay silent and open the boxes as subtly as possibly while the Director makes conversation with Johann on the other side of the room. There’s nothing inherently suspicious about them other than the lack of a “from” name, though the handwriting on the tags is extremely familiar, but Taako still positions his arm to shield the box from the view of the others before he opens it and sees the contents…

The interior is plush purple velvet, cushioning two items: a coin and a note. The coin is golden and about as big as the circle made by Taako’s index finger and thumb when curled to meet at the tip, and it’s engraved with runes he doesn’t recognize — but he can read the accompanying note, though he has no idea what to make of what it says.

Keep this to yourself. If you ever encounter a situation in which you need it, you’ll know what to do with it when the time comes.

A quick use of Detect Magic reveals that the box and note are completely mundane, but the coin is enchanted. Nothing feels inherently volatile or dangerous about the complex divination spell it’s imbued with, but it still gives Taako a sinking feeling, like it’s something he should be forbidden from possessing.

So he casually slips the coin into his pocket and pops the note into his mouth, chewing and swallowing as he peers over Merle’s shoulder to examine the other gift — an identical box, this one holding three circular blue patches with twelve smaller circles embroidered around the circumference and an unreadable acronym word lying in the center. There’s another accompanying note here too, this one simply reading: “For your eyes only.”

Then, three different noises happen in very quick succession: Magnus turns to Taako and whispers “What was in yours?” and a second later, the Director echoes “What is that? What did you guys get?”

But before any of the boys can blurt out some lie despite not knowing why they feel so compelled to hide the gifts, the Director’s necklace unexpectedly interrupts the conversation, glowing faintly as a staticy, panicked voice yells “Lucretia!” The Director instantly whirls away from the boys, angrily whispering into her pendant which replies with words that are hard to make out from a distance.

Almost on reflex, Taako slips one of the patches into the same pocket as the coin and disposes of the second note with the same method he’d used for the first, cleansing his palate with an elderflower macaron immediately afterwards. He doesn’t think about the patches or the coin for a long time after that — but then again, he ends up getting distracted by a lot over the course of the next few hours. With the impeding crystal apocalypse, and the floating lab, and the death crimes and all.

***

“Well, that’s weird,” Noelle says. Her satellite dish is blinking green as it rotates, scanning the perimeter of the Cosmoscope two, three, four times. “At first, I thought it musta just been interference, but… one of you guys isn’t a lich, are you?”

“A what?” Magnus asks.

“A lich. The signal was real faint at first, but it just got stronger, and now it’s fluctuating a whole lot…”

“Nope, not me!” Magnus declares, with surprising confidence considering that he doesn’t appear to have any understanding of what being a lich means.

“Well, not that I’m aware of,” Taako answers slowly. “But I think even ya boy here would know if he was a lich. Right?”

“I’m friends with a few liches!” Merle adds. “They’re fun at parties.”

Noelle sighs at Merle’s comment, and then continues: “Yeah, Taako, I guess you’d hafta know if you were one. Guess my scanner’s just on the fritz.”

***

“Now Taako, Taako, Taako,” Kravitz mutters from within the sapphire mirror, and the pure exasperation on his face is almost adorable. “Care to take a guess what your bounty is for? I would really hope that you, at least, would know.”

Taako has a feeling he’s been saved for last because his crimes are the worst, but he’s got no clue why — there’s no way he’s died more than fifty-seven times, right?

“I dunno, is it about that tentacle thing? 'Cause don’t worry, my dude, this is a safe and non-judgmental environment where you don’t need to be afraid of being yourself —”

Kravitz's eyebrows raise and he looks aghast for a moment, but recovers quickly. “Taako, you've died twelve times — but alone, that makes you practically a law abiding citizen, compared to the company you keep! I never thought I’d see the day that I’d thought Magnus, with his 19 deaths, would be the least of the evils present, but — but —”

He sputters. “But you three all seem determined to make your crimes as unprecedented as possible —”

“Unprecedented, that’s me!” Taako laughs, and tries to ignore the half static-drowned screams of all his instincts, telling him to run as far away from Kravitz or any portal to the Astral Plane as he can get. “But uh, what is the deal with my bounty if —”

“Playing dumb about dying is one thing,” Kravitz growls, “but you’re really playing dumb about being a lich?”

“But I am dumb,” Taako blurts out, before the accusation really sinks in. “I’m just a humble idiot wizard!”

Kravitz bursts into bitter laughter. “An idiot necromancer, more like. Do you really —”

“There’s no way,” Magnus cuts in. “If Taako was a lich, we would have to know!”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that you would, given how long the three of you have been cheating death together!” Kravitz replies.

“Okay, first of all — how do you know we’ve actually been cheating death for that long?” interrupts Merle. “We could’ve just died all those times in the span of, I don’t know, a month or two! We’re really incompetent.”

Magnus and Taako nod in enthusiastic agreement as Kravitz sighs.

“And second of all?”

“Uh... I forgot what I was going to say second.”

“Of course you did! What won’t you three conveniently forget — GAH!”

A giant skeletal hand reaches out of the Eternal Stockade and grabs Kravitz by the robe, dragging him inside the Eternal Stockade. It slams the door of the prison with a force that Taako winces at, all the way on the other side of the sapphire mirror.

“Did we solve the lich puzzle?” Merle asks. “Are we free to go?”

“Gonna be honest — just personally, I’m not too worried about the lich puzzle!” Taako shouts back, as a high-pitched hum emanates from the crystals around them and the room begins to shake. “Mostly just thinking about how much I don’t want to remember what dying feels like!”

“You know, that’s fair,” Merle agrees as he watches a complete skeleton materialize behind the hand, wading through the Astral Sea and towards the mirror. “That’s pretty fair.”

***

“Look, you saved my bacon back there,” Kravitz tells them after Legion is defeated. “Not just my career, but the world too. Things would have gotten very, very nasty, in a way that I wouldn’t have exactly wanted to put on my résumé…”

He sighs. “And Merle, Magnus… I would be willing to let you off with a warning, because you’ve technically never escaped the Astral Plane, and that leaves a convenient little loophole in the law for you two to slip through. Even Lucas — he’s learned his lesson with necromancy, it looks like. But Maureen, Noelle, and especially you, Taako — you’re all going to have to come with me. I can’t make exceptions for those of you who have succeeded in a jailbreak — nor can I do so for a lich.”

This time, he doesn’t spit the word lich with any of the disgust or outrage that were in his voice before, but rather speaks slowly and solemnly — and if Taako didn’t know better, he might think Kravitz actually felt bad about having to lock him up.

“Look, Ghost Rider.” Taako’s heart is racing just a little bit faster than he’s comfortable with, and the worst part is he doesn’t know why. It’s tempting to blame it on the slight crush may or may not be developing, but his crushes — although few and far-between — definitely never send his pulse up this fast this early in the relationship.

“You seem like an okay fellow who’s just trying to do your job, so I’ll be honest with you — I can’t remember ever touching necromancy with a ten-foot pole. Look, I used to make my living as a chef, and when you’re cooking the last thing you want is your meal coming back to life in front of you. I’ve got no motive!”

“Does your book with the bounties say anything else about the charges against him?” Magnus asks. “The charges against any of us, actually?”

“Not a single thing, I’m afraid. The bar’s not very high, but you are some of the… less unsavory bounties I’ve hunted, which is why I genuinely hate to say this, but —”

“Oh, so it’s savory you like? Let me take you out for an evening at Taako’s Bar and Café, and I’ll cook you up as many savory dishes as you like —”

“The — the bar,” Kravitz stammers, slipping out of his Cockney accent, “is so not high —”

“He just wants to help you broaden your horizons!” Merle chimes in. “You must not get out of the — the, uh, whatever your plane is called very often, do you?”

Kravitz sighs. “It’s the Astral Plane, and — and look, we just… we need to get going, alright? Taako, I… I could give you the benefit of the doubt, I suppose, and let you stay here until you die and return to your lich form, but I still need those two souls in the robots to come with me —”

“Wait!” Magnus interrupts. “Gambling with death is a trope for a reason, right? Can we play cards for their souls?”

Kravitz shrugs. “You know what? Sure! This day can’t get any wilder!”

***

Boyland’s rites of remembrance aren’t until tomorrow, but Taako is down in the Voidfish’s chambers ahead of time, Umbra Staff clutched tight as he stares at the twinkling galaxy pattern within the jellyfish’s bell.

“Uh… do you need something?” Johann asks after Taako’s stands there silently for about a minute.

Taako twirls his umbrella and shifts it from hand to hand, half expecting it to fire on its own again like it had when talking to Angus, but it stays dormant.

“Can your jellyfish pal, like… I dunno, choose what it innoculates you for?”

“Uh… no? At least, I think we woulda noticed if it could… why are you asking?”

“I was bored.” Taako turns to leave, but before he can get back in the elevator, he hears the Voidfish sing a short tune — not quite as loud as when Magnus had touched its tank, but definitely the same three notes.

***

Taako dies a few times in Refuge before he notices anything weird about it — well, not that dying and being revived continuously isn’t weird albeit familiar, but at first he’s just immediately whisked off to the white space alongside Merle and Magnus. No special treatment for him — until the first time that they die before the hour ends, and everything starts unraveling.

Magnus leans away from locker as he opens it, but it proves to be a futile precaution as the sound of an explosion blows out their eardrums and shockwaves tear through the room, sending the floor beneath their feet blasting towards the ceiling at the same time that massive boulders rain down from above, crushing the cave’s occupants before there’s even a chance process what happened.

As the dust settles and the roar of the explosives and falling rocks dies out, Taako blinks — except it feels strange, like it’s not his physical eyelids moving as much as it is his vision shifting into another spectrum, as if someone had just cast True Seeing on him.

Huh, he thinks. Thought that would’ve killed me.

And then: Of course it killed me. I’m a lich.

(Well, there goes any chance I had with Kravitz —)

I’m a lich like the Red Robe — no, like Barry. And like —

Like Lup.

How could I forget Lup?!

The sensation of incorporeality hits him on a delay and doesn’t stop hitting him, harder and harder until he feels like he’s about to disintegrate. His red-tinged skeletal hand drifts through the air, catching the silver threads that hang lazily like cobwebs in the space all around him as his spectral fingers curl into a fist. He clutches those bonds with every ounce of strength he has but they’re unraveling now, just like his robe, like his magically deformed essence…

He’s ready to disintegrate, to unravel, to crumble into ash just like Lup’s skeleton in Wave Echo Cave, because of course it was her, it was all that was left of her —

I found her but she was gone — everything was gone, except for her robe and —

“Taako?”

Lying just a few feet away from the hem of his robe is Lup’s Umbra Staff, pulverized into a dozen smoldering fragments — and above it floats another red-cloaked figure, eyes blazing red like miniature versions of the explosion that freed her.

“Taako, I’m here!” she assures him, and her echoing voice is a chorus of too many simultaneous emotions to count — it’s worried, and desperate, but joyous and relieved and comforting all at once. “Don’t break down on me now, Taako! It’s okay!”

Something solidifies in Taako, a grounding sensation so powerful he feels almost corporeal again, but words are failing him, motion is failing him. He stays frozen as the bonds he’d clung to wind back into place, stretching from his arms to Lup’s and pulling them together into the closest thing to a hug that liches can achieve, and he feels warm.

“You idiot,” he finally chokes out. “You didn’t think that absorbing magic shit would make a bad combo with being a fucking lich?”

Lup is literally beaming with happiness, emitting beams of light that would blind someone with physical eyes. “You didn’t exactly realize either, you dingus!”

They stay in the embrace for a few more minutes — and Taako may or may not let out an ugly, messy sob or two, complete with tears and snot made of pure magical energy that crackles like lightning when it strikes the rubble below — before he finally feels stable, and Lup quietly asks:

“How much time do we have? Forty minutes? Thirty-five?”

“What?” Her words don’t sink in immediately, but the second they do, Taako immediately feels like the victim of a sick joke. “Oh, shit. The Umbra Staff’s gonna get fixed next loop, and — and I’m not gonna remember you’re in there —”

“It’ll be okay,” Lup assures him. Taako can tell from the tone of her voice that she’s just as frustrated as he is with the irony of the paradox, except trying to redirect that anger into stubborn optimism. It’s a lifesaving skill for liches of their particular breed, that ability to channel destabilizing negative emotions into sustaining positive ones — a skill Taako hasn’t had much practice with, lately.

“There’s got to be some way to cheat the loops — you know, a loophole.” Lup laughs — a rasping, echoing noise that would probably be terrifying to anyone who didn’t know her, but is a massive relief for Taako to hear. “It’s practically in the name. We’ll figure something out — we always do. Let’s just think — and besides, I’m sure Magnus will get you blown up at least another two or three times, so we’ve technically got even more than forty minutes.”

“Right, right, okay. Physical objects are a no-go, Magnus figured that out after his bank robbing stunt —”

“Yeah, I think I caught that. So we’ll have to try something magical —”

“Wait.” A thousand different realizations are slowly coalescing together all at once in Taako’s mind, and he struggles to find words to articulate any of them. “How much could you, like — how much could you see from in there? You helped me out fighting the vine monster, right, and — and ruined Ango’s cookies, so… you musta been pretty aware to do all that —”

Lup looks down at the remains of the Umbra Staff, now reduced to mostly ash.

“I could see and do plenty, if I put enough effort into it,” she explains, “but it wore me out quickly, especially casting spells. After I spelled my name, I was just… clinging to consciousness for the next few weeks. That stunt might not have been the best idea, since I’d figured out by then that you couldn’t remember, but… I had to try.”

“Did you see Barry, in… let’s see, Goldcliff and the Cosmoscope? He, uh… wasn’t doing so great that second time…”

“He’ll be able to hold it together,” Lup declares confidently. “He’s stubborn like that.”

“Do you think he realized… your situation? He was pretty stable until he saw you —”

“He would have done something about it by now if he’d known, though…”

“Yeah, of course, you’re right. But he definitely seemed like he had some kinda plan — wait, I think I got it! Where’s my body?”

“Wait, got what?”

Taako levitates a few boulders out of place, and summons two Mage Hands to rifle through the pockets of his corporeal form. “Our way out of this time paradox shit, courtesy of Barold himself! As long as it didn’t get crushed — ah, here we go!”

One of the Mage Hands procures a familiar golden coin, imbued with a divination spell of Barry’s own engineering that Taako finally recognizes. “Well, I guess I don’t know for sure that Barry sent it to me, but it’s his spell and came alongside some IPRE patches, so I’m gonna say it sure wasn’t from Lucretia.”

“Is that — is that the spell he made when Magnus was worrying about the Temporal Chalice overwriting things without us knowing?”

“Yeah, storing info across timelines is its whole gimmick! He knew we were going to go after the Chalice eventually, and musta realized that I would forget anything I did as a lich if a time loop like this revived me —”

“Gods, I love him!” Lup shouts, laughing and lighting up with joy all over again. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s send Amnesiac Taako a message!”

***

Taako faceplants in the dirt alongside Merle and Magnus, alive again and holding an unbroken Umbra Staff. As always, Roswell stands guard outside the gate, and Taako and Magnus immediately start running through their explanation.

“Great job, Maggie!” Merle mutters under his breath. “Now we’ve gotta go through this whole shebang again.”

“We’ll be able to make a great speedrun video on Fantasy Youtube by the end of it, though!” Taako whispers back, and Roswell tilts their bird head in confusion.

“What? What’s a speedrun?”

Taako opens his mouth to reply, but a slightly muffled yet incredibly familiar voice from within the pocket of his skirt beats him to it.

Yo, Taako! T to the double A-K-O! I’m you from half an hour ago now, so listen up!

“What the fuck?” he blurts out, digging out the coin. “That’s — that’s not me! I never said —”

I know you don’t remember recording this, but there’s something you’ve really gotta do, the coin goes on, still in Taako’s voice, and he drops it to the ground and stares at it in horror. It’ll make sense later — well, maybe a long time later. Eventually, I hope!

“I don’t trust you!” Taako shouts, not sure if he’s expecting the coin to respond or not. “I don’t know who’s behind this, but I know a trick when I hear —”

You need to break the Umbra Staff, Taako, a second speaker explains, and Taako goes stiff at the sound of her voice. And you need to break it again in every new cycle — or every loop, I should say, until you get out of here. Please, Taako, trust us. We’ll explain as soon as we can, I promise.

Magnus kneels on the ground and pokes the coin gingerly, as if expecting it to explode. “Taako, where did you get this? Do you know what triggered it to —”

Taako snaps the Umbra Staff with his bare hands, and a column of fire erupts around him.

As his vision turns into an orange blur, he can just barely hear Merle yelp in shock and Magnus shout in concern over the roar of the flames, but he doesn’t feel afraid — which is itself a deeply unsettling feeling, because he should really be terrified out of his mind — but he just can’t fear this fire no matter how hard he tries. The warmth of the flames that weave so deftly around him is not harsh, but rather, comforting — almost fiercely comforting, in a way Taako wasn’t prepared to be comforted, a way that makes his heart seize up just like the woman’s voice that he couldn’t help but trust.

The blaze consolidates into a spectral figure in red who floats in front of him and nods, face obscured by the cowl of her robe but a smile manifesting clearly in her voice nevertheless.

“Thank you so much, Taako. I knew you’d come through.”

Then Magnus swings Railsplitter through her — harmlessly, of course — and she turns to face him.

“What do you want from this town, Red Robe?” Magnus yells. “Why did you bring Jack and June here?”

“Magnus, calm down! Really, I should be asking you about Jack and —”

She pauses, noticing Magnus’s disoriented expression. “Shit, was that static? You know, that’s probably for the best. Let’s start over: Magnus, Merle, Taako, earth elemental who’s name I missed —”

“I’m Roswell. Could you please identify yourself?”

“Magnus, Merle, Taako, Roswell — but mostly you Tres Horny Bois, or whatever you call yourselves these days — first things first, I’m not the Red Robe you met before. Second and on a related note, yes, I’ve been in Taako’s umbrella this whole time. Yes, it sucked. And third…”

She sighs. “You’re just going to have to take my word on this one, but I literally can’t explain who I am or why I’m on your side. It might seriously damage your minds, but I should be able to tell you my name, which is Lup.”

“Lup, why do I trust you?” The name feels strange in Taako’s mouth — familiar, except it shouldn’t be, except it is, except it couldn’t be, except…

The contradiction just spirals on forever, boring a hole in his mind that aches like hell and makes his stomach churn.

“Taako — oh, Taako, you’re not thinking about it too hard, are you? You can’t think about it too hard — you see why I can’t try and explain anything else. I would if I could…”

Slowly, with help from Lup’s Mage Hand, Taako stands up. He can’t even remember when he fell to his knees, but… he tries not to think too hard about it. Just take things one step at a time.

“Lup can help get us out of here,” he tells Magnus and Merle. “I don’t know why, but I’d trust her with my life even outside of a time loop, so… we’re doing what she says now.”

Magnus shrugged. “You know, I guess we could do a lot worse than putting a competent woman in charge, even if she’s undead. Lup, whatever your plan is, I’m down for it.”

***

By the time the purple worm dives back down beneath the earth with her children, Taako’s just about ready to collapse. Physically, he’s uninjured — he had a lich and an earth elemental watching his back, after all — but mentally, he’s a wreck. The persistent roar of static in the back of his mind has taken its toll, especially since the loop where he died before anyone else, and woke up to find Magnus and Merle giving him the two most confused and concerned looks he’d ever seen on their faces.

So when Avi freezes, glowing red, and everyone’s Stones of Farspeech go dark, Taako barely has the energy to wonder why until another robed figure materializes, holding a finger to his lips —

“DID YOU RETRIEVE THE…”

Every fold of fabric freezes in place, as lightning washes over the Red Robe’s form.

“LUP?!”

“Hey, babe,” Lup whispers, unfazed by the lightning bolts as she floats forward to wrap her arms around the other lich. “Thanks for the coin.”

“But — but how?” the Red Robe stammers. “How are you finally —”

Several curls of hair, made up of ghostly orange fire, escape from under Lup’s hood as she explains, and the Red Robe gently twirls a coil of flames around one of his skeletal fingers. “How are you really here?”

“You’re not gonna believe this,” Lup explains, “but it turns out that magic-absorbing staffs and beings made of pure magic aren’t actually the best combo.”

“Oh my god, we’re idiots,” the Red Robe gasps. “We’re magical undead idiots.”

“Love you too, Barry,” Lup murmurs.“God, I missed you so fucking much.”

“Wait, like Barry Bluejeans?” Magnus asks, at exactly the same time that Taako mutters: “Ugh, get a room.”

Barry whispers something to Lup that Taako doesn’t catch, and then both liches turn around.

“So, slight change of plans,” Lup announces. “It looks like the bubble isn’t quite down yet, but once we get that taken care of… anyone else up for a moonbase infiltration?”

“I’ve got one condition,” Taako immediately announces.

“What’s up?”

“If we run into the Grim Reaper, neither of you crimson lovebirds know me.”

[bapydemonprincess]

Meet the Parents

HELLO EVERYONE! Hope you’re having a happy last day of 2019, cause I sure am!! The past couple days me and @grelleswife have been working together on this story! >w<

It’s about my dear gloomy boi Ambrose and his new companion Eddie that we’ve developed together.

This story takes place months after Ambrose forming the contract with the demon, and when he finally decided it was time to try and fix this mess, for the little corvus found himself regretting this at every turn.. as his bond with the demon grew.

It was time to seek out help from higher powers, thus throwing caution to the wind and heading back to his family’s home to introduce Eddie to the other demon in his life: His Mother.

Hope you all enjoy this!!! Because @grelleswife and I had a LOT of fun making it!! 🖤🖤🖤🖤

Ambrose was constantly shouting at himself in his mind as he drove himself and his companion across country to his family’s home.

“You’ve gone mad, haven’t you?” It went on. “First you contacted a demon, contracted the demon, and now that you’ve known the demon for- what, a couple months, you want to take the demon home to your family. TO YOUR HALF DEMONIC FAMILY.”

But Ambrose kept driving, already knowing they were nearing the family’s property, and recognizing every little detail and tree and just slowly spiralling into a little panic attack.’

“Hey, now..” Came a voice from the side, quiet and understanding as always. “I can practically smell your sweat, you know. It’s okay, Ambrose. I’m sure things won’t go as bad as you may think they will..” A brief chuckle. “I mean, I’ve gotten used to acting human and living like a human, so I’m sure I can pull off a visit with your family.”

Ambrose didn’t respond. Couldn’t respond. He knew he had dug his own grave, now. He knew he’d likely dug Eddie’s grave too. This.. this poor young demon, who merely thought this was just going to be a “meet the parents” scenario like any other time in any media you can imagine, had no idea the dumb mortal he’d made a dumb contract with was actually bringing him to likely get insta- killed by an even more POWERFUL demon.

Mum had explained “demon ranks” years ago one time. The memory was very vague, but there was definitely a lot hanging on a demon’s power as well as some kind of title.

And if his Demon Mother could commit feats like stopping a train with just one hand, or put a dent in a heavily armored tank with just one finely dressed shoe, then Ambrose was most certain he/she was a goddamn powerhouse in their own right. And the chances of said powerhouse even KNOWING about his current predicament with this other demon, who likely could NOT do anything like what they could, made surviving this whole day very, very unlikely.

Ambrose almost wished he could fast forward to the “getting killed by Mum” part and just go on with his afterlife..

Oh, but here they were, at the driveway. Nothing looked any different than it had the many million times he’d come back.

And it wasn’t the first time he’d even brought someone new home, either.

It was just.. a few minor differences, like say this one was gonna.. y'know, take his soul at one point (again, if he survived this) and all because he wanted some goddamn demon powers.

His foot slammed on the break halfway through the driveway. There was only a few meters left.. but SOMETHING finally spoke up in his brain and body and did the “hopefully” smart thing!

Eddie slightly jolted in the passenger seat, eyes widening in shock at the sudden halt, when they could tell themselves that they were so close!

“Um, what was that for?”

“We can’t go in.”

“… Why not?”

“Eddie, just trust me. We cannot go in.” Ambrose’s words were coming out sharper, faster. He wasn’t able to move; not even just his eyes to look over at the demon.

“Then why did we even come here, Ambrose?”

“I DON’T KNOW, OKAY, I just- I made a dumb choice. I came up with a dumb idea! I do it all the time, Eddie!”

“Ah, Ambrose-”

“I know, I know this looks bad, but listen, you have NO IDEA how bad it REALLY, REALLY IS, EDDIE!”

“Ambrose..”

“I mean it’s SO BAD, I know for a fact that the minute we go up to that door, BEFORE we can EVEN knock on it–”

“AMBROSE!”

“WHAT, EDDIE??”

Ambrose finally snapped his head around to glare at the demon while he seethed and panicked, feeling like this one time his panic was justified in every sense of the word, when.. he finally managed to focus on Eddie, who was staring ahead at something, and merely lifting a hand to point at it. And Eddie himself looked like he now had something to fear, too.

And as Ambrose turned his head again to look up ahead at whatever it was, his brain kind of had already began realizing.

What he’d predicted in his ramble that would happen.. was already beginning before they’d even stepped outside the vehicle itself.

Up ahead and at the end of the fresh, bright green lawn, standing on the front steps in front of the front door, was none other than Sebastian Michaelis.

Standing there.

Watching.

Waiting.

Both youths in the vehicle remained seated, staring back, frozen in place like two little wild creatures that knew, above all else, that a predator was right before them, and it would only take one single movement for the predator to be on them.

The threatening personage standing before them outwardly resembled a mortal man, but Eddie knew the truth that lay beneath the deadly beauty of his exterior. That aura…he hoped in vain that he was mistaken, but there no denying the grim reality. This was another demon, far older and more powerful than he, with a commanding presence that could readily hold sway over lesser spirits. Such indomitable strength…by the nine circles, that demon must be one of the Diabolical Gentry!

“W-why didn’t you tell me that one of your parents belonged to hell’s nobility?” Eddie squeaked out, barely forcing the words from his trembling lips. Ambrose didn’t possess a scrap of demonic power—that was why Eddie had been summoned by his irascible master to begin with. Still, Eddie couldn’t believe that he’d failed to pick up on Ambrose’s heritage. Was he that weak and naïve? Why hadn’t Ambrose trusted him with this secret? However, any hurt and shame that Eddie normally would have felt were promptly supplanted by an overpowering terror. Like all demons, Eddie well knew the taste of fear, the delicious tang it lent to cursed souls, but he’d never truly experienced it himself. This was akin to torture, every fiber of his human body screaming Danger! Danger! even while his consciousness grappled with the fact that there was no escape.

“My family’s too damn complicated,” Ambrose stuttered. His face had gone chalk-white, far exceeding his usual pallor.

The next thing they knew, the car doors were ripped off the automobile, and black tentacles snaked around the two youths. Eddie screamed like a wounded hare as he was hoisted aloft. The other demon’s tentacles tightened around his waist and encircled his arms and legs like manacles before making their way to his throat, choking the young demon with merciless brutality.

The elder demon snarled, flashing their sharp white fangs. “I’ll only ask this once, scum. What the hell is your business with my child?”

Tears of pain sprang to Eddie’s eyes as he glanced furtively at Ambrose, whom the demon had drawn close to himself like a mother hen sheltering her chicks. Wouldn’t revealing their contract be considered a betrayal of his master? Though his false lungs screamed for air, Eddie clenched his teeth and remained silent. If this is to be my final hour, I won’t defile our covenant with my cowardice.

The other demon’s eyes blazed crimson in their fury, and he bent Eddie’s limbs until the bones creaked dangerously. A little more effort on his part, and they’d snap like twigs. “Answer me!”

“J-just t-t-tell him, Eddie!” Ambrose cried, whirling around to face the captive demon. For the first time since he’d made Ambrose’s acquaintance, the white-haired corvus looked panic-stricken. “Don’t hurt him, Mum! Please!!!”

“Mas…ter…” Eddie croaked, grimacing in agony.

The other demon stiffened, and his gaze darted to the white seal on Eddie’s left hand.

“You…contracted…with my son?” he whispered. Somehow, the softness was more far frightening than his earlier roar. Incredulity, horror, anguish, and grief raced across his face in rapid succession.

The demon swiveled his head to look at Ambrose, who shook uncontrollably. “Show it to me.”

Ambrose stood rooted in place.  

“SHOW IT TO ME!!!” the demon roared, his expression contorted in agony. Despite his current predicament, Eddie couldn’t help but feel a measure of sympathy. After all, what parent would want their child to sell their soul to a devil?

Meekly, Ambrose pulled off his right glove and showed the back of his hand to his demonic parent, displaying the seal emblazoned thereon. The boy hung his head, but the demon grabbed him by the chin, staring into those gray eyes as if trying to divine the secrets of a lost language.

“What have you done, kitten?!”

Wheeling around to face Eddie, the demon growled, “Contracts be damned. While I still live, no one will lay a hand on my children. You are vermin, less than nothing, compared to one such as I, and I will end this here and now.”

“NO!!! Leave Eddie alone!!!” Ambrose screamed, struggling helplessly against the tentacles that still bound him.

Just at that moment, two people burst out of the house, presumably summoned by the present commotion. Their attire and dark skin reminded Eddie of the mortals who hailed from East India. One of them was a tall, vigorous man with white hair and a hand swathed in bandages. Eddie instinctively flinched at the power emanating from him…divine power. The other person appeared somewhat younger, closer to Ambrose’s age, with black hair and gentle, carmine eyes. They also sported dark, feathered wings, a little tail, and a small pair of horns, and their aura baffled Eddie. He immediately sensed their demonic energy, but they also bore the same heavenly light as the man did. He’d never met anyone like this. Of course, Eddie’s mind was largely preoccupied with his imminent demise.

“Sebastian, what’s the meaning of this?” the man gasped, staring at the flailing Eddie.

“Mama, please let that demon go!” the younger one begged, clutching at Sebastian’s arm. “We should discuss this peacefully!”

“There is nothing to discuss now except how I will destroy this insignificant little imp of a demon and sever their sorry attempt to steal Ambrose’s soul!”

“MUM, DON’T! PLEASE DON’T!!!”  Ambrose found himself shrieking at the top of his lungs, even as he felt his throat burning, his panic rising to levels so high, he was barely aware of what he was doing when he managed to somehow rip through his mother’s grip on him, and practically tackled the tentacle covered young demon.

“Ambrose’s soul?” Agni repeated quietly, still staring and trying to put everything together, but not having enough time before seeing his youngest son grapple the younger demon along with Sebastian’s tentacles. “By the Gods! Ambrose!” He immediately shouted in alarm, knowing for sure what his husband had been about to do with those tentacles; It wasn’t the first time he’d seen them in action, after all.

Aarushi was covering their mouth in horror, but unable to look away, eyes shrinking to tiny beady red dots.

And Sebastian was snarling even more, looming in on the two now in one spot, his whole form almost all inky black, except for his bared long fangs and his glowing, seething eyes…

“Get off the little wastrel at once, Ambrose.” He commanded in a mildly low simmer, but his voice warping to a deep growl all the same. “We will discuss your idiocy in this in a minute, but for now I have to remove the source.”

Ambrose lifted his head from keeping it resting- no shielding Eddie, and his dark stormy eyes glared up at the elder demon hanging over him, filled with a familiar anger.. a feeling almost close to hatred itself, but not quite. He felt the little demon in his grasp and under the dark inked tentacles start shaking violently. He recalled Eddie bringing up briefly something about sensing others emotions, especially certain ones that stood out the most.. Perhaps like say, whatever the hell it was he was feeling currently.

“No.” He simply snapped out. “I- I will not move until you BACK OFF and let me actually EXPLAIN, Mother! So- So if you wanna rip someone up, you’ll have to take me as well!”

This response immediately had the demon physically jerking back, another snarl leaving his mouth.

Sebastian didn’t speak again for even longer, slit pupils just taking in the entire scene before him of his precious kitten SHIELDING a demon whom he’d agreed to a contract to, thus giving away his SOUL. His LIFE.

It was catching up to him now.. however long Ambrose had known this demon, had been contracted with this demon, their bond had CLEARLY grown in that small window, and now… now….

Ambrose noticed even more tentacles rising, and even the entire front lawn growing dim.. the sun itself had entirely vanished…

Fuck, I’m DEAD. He immediately thought, but all he could do was squeeze the lump he’d been clinging to the past few minutes, wishing he could say something to the demon. Something like “I’m here, I’ve got you” or “I’m so sorry” or maybe something like “It’s been actually nice getting to know you for the past few months… Eddie..”

“Am… brose..?” He heard Eddie hiss out, and cracked open his eyes. Wait.. had he said that last part out loud?? Shit.. WAIT! Ambrose finally noticed the tentacles were GONE and.. he was just hugging EDDIE!!

Ambrose peeked back up at his Mum and the others, and saw once again his mother had returned to his human male form, not just a black inky silhouette anymore.

But that didn’t mean he was any less scary right now.. Oh no, Sebastian was absolutely livid as he still remained in that spot, but with his shoulders up, and his hands curled into such tight fists. His teeth had shrank a bit, but he still bared them all the same, and those eyes… oh nothing had changed about those.

“You wanted to explain, then explain, Ambrose.” Sebastian uttered, voice still quite low.

Now they all stood there on the front steps expectantly; Mum, Dad, and even Goddamned Aarushi, who Ambrose shoulda KNOWN would be visiting here by some fluke as well. After all, Aarushi had no qualms with returning to their family a lot more often than Ambrose…

“Alright.. okay..” Ambrose finally breathed out, and slowly, gradually, pulled away from Eddie, who he was also surprised hadn’t passed out by now.

“Look, a.. couple months ago, after um, having a really.. pretty bad day, I went to a local old book store that had popped up in the area, and just thought of looking around and finding anything to help feel better! That’s all… Then- then I happened upon a book that went like “Various Rituals for Everyday Use” and, I thought- I dunno, I’d just read it for the hell of it!”

As he took a pause, he noticed the various changes in his family’s face… Both Father and Aarushi having looks of surprise and almost fascination, though Aarushi kept that constant look on of concern for their younger sibling in place as well. And Mum was… well, obviously he needed to keep going or else things would just go back to the doom and tentacles again.

“So after going through most of it, I came upon apparently what was some kind of easy, “modern” way to contact a demon with no mess! Y-you know, like with a ritual sacrifice or something..” Ambrose trailed off, losing steam as he recalled certain stories that had similar situations.. BUT he REALLY didn’t want to dwell on that yet! NOT YET!! “All it took was a piece of paper, and writing out why I wanted a demon, and what I wanted from them, and to sign my name in my blood before putting the paper in an open, natural spot. So I went a bit outside town to a nature reserve forest I liked going to, and just put it on a tree stump and waited..”

“A piece of paper.. on a tree stump.. in a forest.” Sebastian was repeating now, eyes trailing off to look out into space while he processed this.

“Ye- Yeah.” Ambrose got out, sort of starting to slouch where he stood as realization took hold on how utterly stupid this all sounded. He then noticed Eddie at his side turn more towards him, looking like he wanted to reach out and touch Ambrose, comfort him while he tried to tell this totally unbelievable story…Just don’t, He tried to telepathically tell him. Just don’t bother, Eddie. I know I’m a dumbass. I’m just trying here.

Seeing his master look so frail and pitiful—so alone—made Eddie want to wrap him up in that human gesture called a “hug.” However, Ambrose’s demeanor and the amalgamation of fear, embarrassment, and anger brewing inside him suggested that this might not be the best strategy. Instead, Eddie shyly moved his left hand toward Ambrose’s right until they were almost (though not quite) touching, and decided to jump in to spare his master further humiliation.

“A-and that’s how I was summoned!” he squeaked, trembling as three pairs of eyes turned towards him. The elder demon (Ambrose’s “mum”) glowered balefully, but the other two (Ambrose’s father and sibling?) looked curious, albeit concerned. “The ritual wasn’t especially potent, but I’m…well, rather weak, so it was enough to help me make the crossing over to the mortal world,” Eddie continued haltingly. “I hadn’t contracted since Queen Victoria’s reign, and I was curious about how much time had passed and what changes had occurred since then. Then I met Ambrose, and he said that he’d brought me here because he wanted demonic power.”

“Oh no, Ambrose!” his sibling cried, bringing their hands to their mouth, tears glistening in their eyes. While visibly distressed, Ambrose’s parents didn’t seem surprised. “Not this again, kitten,” the demon muttered in despair. Eddie blinked, taken aback. It was almost like they’d expected his master to make this specific wish. Ambrose slouched lower, his eyes downcast. Unable to resist the impulse any longer, Eddie grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The corvus shot him a startled look, but he didn’t reprimand Eddie or jerk his hand away. His curmudgeonly tendencies had been subdued by the frightening experience they’d just endured.

“S-so when Ambrose told me his wish, I offered to serve him for as long as he desired,” the young demon stumbled on.

Ambrose’s mother scoffed. “You expect me to believe that there were no other stipulations to this contract of yours?” he spat.

“W-well…um…not really,” Eddie said bashfully. “I haven’t had many contracts, and I want to learn as much I can, experience as much as I can! And serve my master to the best of my abilities and…just have someone to talk to. As I said earlier, I’m not terribly strong, so other demons either pass me by or treat me cruelly.”

The older demon stared at him and shook his head in disbelief. “You truly are an amateur.”

Eddie blushed, and Ambrose scowled. “It’s not his fault, Mum. Eddie’s made some mistakes, but he tries his best!”

Eddie brightened. His master could be dour and gloomy, which made the demon fret that he wasn’t doing a good enough job. But now Ambrose was praising him!

“It’s because he deserves my best!” Eddie blurted out. “My other masters treated me like a thing that they could torment and kick around at whim, or a mindless tool to achieve their wicked goals, but Ambrose made me feel like a person. We’ve watched movies and browsed antiques shops together. He can be cross with me at times, but he’s never laid a hand on me. I love reading to him or just talking to him—he’s awfully clever, I’m sure you know that, bloody brilliant! A-and he gave me presents of my very own! My glasses…and this pocketwatch.”

Fumbling for a moment (as he was still holding on tight to Ambrose’s hand), Eddie removed what had become his most prized possession from his front pocket. The other demon drew in a sharp intake of breath, pain flickering for a moment in those ruby-red eyes.

Oh no. Maybe Eddie shouldn’t have done that. Had he unwittingly accepted a family heirloom from his master?

“Am-ambrose is the best master I’ve ever had,” Eddie plunged ahead, feeling overwhelmed by his devotion to the pale, sad youth and the maelstrom of emotions raging within Ambrose’s soul. “I’d do anything for him, even die for him. It hurts me when I how lost and angry he is, and…and I just want to make him smile!” To Eddie’s bewilderment, his eyes burned with tears. He still wasn’t completely used to inhabiting a human body, and he supposed mortal forms more readily reflected the inner workings of the heart. Ambrose had flushed pink, while the rest of his family gazed at Eddie in silence.

“I know I’ll have to eat his soul whenever he’s finished with me, b-but I don’t want to,” Eddie whispered brokenly. He thought about how Ambrose had tried to shield him from his mother’s wrath. ‘If you wanna rip someone up, you’ll have to take me as well!’ The little demon put his head on Ambrose’s shoulder, shaking uncontrollably. “He’s precious to me.”

“Enough!” the other demon cried, with the same pained, haunted look in his eyes as when he’d seen the pocketwatch.

You didn’t grow attached to your prey. That was one of the cardinal rules by which all demons abided. What point was there in caring for a soul that you would devour? But, against his better judgement, and without being aware of it until it was too late, Sebastian had gotten attached to the deeply wounded but indomitable Earl of Phantomhive. The watch this “Eddie” now had in his possession was a poignant reminder of the vanished past, of the child to whom Sebastian had been not merely butler, but sword, shield, teacher…father.

In a different way, the feeble, naïve imp had apparently bonded with Ambrose, who sat in stunned silence while Eddie wept against his shoulder. Sebastian still wanted to obliterate this demon from existence, but his heart was torn by the grief of which Eddie had gotten a foretaste—the unbearable pain of destroying what you have come to love.

“Moonlight,” Agni’s voice broke the silence eloquently, stepping up to be near his husband again as he enveloped the demon’s clenched fist in his own hand. He lifted it to his lips and kissed it right there as he looked into his husband’s pained expression, and knew without a doubt exactly what Sebastian was feeling after he too had seen that familiar pocketwatch. “Please, let’s go inside and sit down. We can all discuss this further once we’ve all settled in.” He looked over at the two young men across the way (though the former khansama had an inkling the demon was not always a man), and smiled warmly to them, trying to show as much as he could in the little time he had that he himself welcomed them here no matter what was going on currently. “Perhaps we can serve up some tea as well. You still love my chai tea, right Ambrose? Does your friend drink any as well?”

Ambrose ran a hand back through his hair, taking a deep breath in and then out, trying to will his face to cool down from going so red! “Um, well he usually just makes me the tea and uh, drinks whatever I’m drinking, so.. Eddie?” He asked the other by his side, and after a pause, slightly twitched his shoulder to get the demon’s attention too. He knew Eddie was still aware, but he’d likely become a little overwhelmed after that bout of crying.. And as awkward as it was currently to just stand there and let the demon weep on him, especially after he’d.. basically poured whatever kind of heart he had out in front of Ambrose’s family, Ambrose didn’t want to turn harsh or let his discomfort get to him. No, not this time. He staved it off in favor of just trying to pep the demon up gently.

They were not out of this yet, after all.

Meanwhile, across the way, Aarushi had taken a loud breath out. A sigh of deep relief that their brother was still intact, as well as their new companion. They’d only just MET, after all, and despite the predicament their brother had gotten into, Aarushi wanted to get acquainted with this young demon! It was rare to meet another demon, after all. From all of Aarushi’s knowledge, they were always dangerous, no matter who you were, and it was best to just stay away!

But to meet one around their age or even younger maybe?? That certainly sounded like fun! If… Mama would allow it.. hopefully..

—

While Agni busied himself with preparing the tea, Eddie and the rest of the family seated themselves around the dining room table. Sebastian noted that Eddie was still holding Ambrose’s hand and was tempted to make an acerbic comment, but he decided to let that pass…for now. Ambrose himself looked exhausted to the point of collapse. Parental instinct took over, and Sebastian reached out to smooth his mussed-up hair.

“Mum, you’re embarrassing me,” Ambrose hissed, his face turning blotchy red.

“Sorry, kitten,” Sebastian sighed. It always pained him when his child spurned displays of affection, but the realization that Ambrose’s days might be numbered rubbed salt in the wound.

“Ambrose, you know Mama’s just like that,” Aarushi chided gently. Ambrose rolled his eyes but said no more. In spite of his present anxiety, Sebastian smiled. Ever the peace-maker, little Aaru, truly their father’s child.

Turning to Eddie, Aarushi asked, “What kind of demon are you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“I don’t mind,” Eddie stammered, huddling closer to Ambrose. “Um…I suppose I’m what you’d call an imp. One of the lowest ranks. N-no title, or anything of that sort.” The little demon’s gaze darted timidly to Sebastian. Both demons were aware that Eddie was hopelessly outclassed. A few gruesome seconds, and Sebastian could easily remove that contract seal from his kitten’s right hand…

“That’s okay! Titles aren’t everything,” Aarushi said reassuringly. “What really matters is who you choose to be.” Eddie blinked and stared at them—a common reaction to Aarushi’s kindness. Sebastian himself still marveled at having brought such a softhearted child into the world.

Their black wings flapped cheerfully. “Oh! I’ve been so rude! I never actually introduced myself to you. I’m Ambrose’s older sibling, Aarushi,” they chirped. “Father’s human, but the goddess Kali blessed him with her power. Mama’s a demon, as…as I’m sure you figured out by now.” Their bright red eyes fixed Sebastian in a sad, reproachful look. Aarushi abhorred violence, and Sebastian reflected ruefully that they might scold him for his behavior when they were in private.

“Mama and Father met and fell in love while Mama was on contract. Later, they got married and settled down here to raise a family!” Eddie’s mouth formed a surprised little “o.” Such unions were practically unheard of in hell.

“I had no idea!” Eddie exclaimed. “It’s just…Ambrose is mortal, so I naturally assumed…”

Sebastian glanced over and saw a dark scowl twist his younger child’s face. “It’s complicated,” Sebastian interjected smoothly. The story of how Hannah had stripped an infant Ambrose of his demonic powers to save his life remained a painful one, and they had enough troubles with which to contend. Right on cue, Agni emerged, bearing five steaming cups of chai.

In an attempt to change the subject, the demon brought the chitchat to a close. “But enough of that. We need to concentrate on the matter at hand—what to do about this contract.” Agni seated himself next to Sebastian and placed a hand over his. Just having his husband present made the demon relax. They would fix this. He’d been one hell of a butler in his day, and they would fix this.

Sipping his tea, Sebastian’s mind raced through centuries of knowledge on diabolical covenants. “There are a limited number of outcomes that a contract may have, the most common of which involves the demon devouring the contractee’s soul,” he began slowly. His throat closed up on the last words, and pictures of Ambrose’s dismembered, bloodied corpse rose unbidden to his mind. Agni squeezed his hand comfortingly. Have courage. I’m here, the gesture seemed to say. Not wanting the younger demon to sense his distress, Sebastian continued resolutely. “However, Eddie has indicated that he no longer wants Ambrose’s soul for this purpose.”

“No! Never!” the demon shook their head emphatically, gazing at Ambrose with an open adoration that made the young man blush.

“One means of forestalling this outcome is to kill the demon or demons involved, which renders the contract null and void.”

Ambrose’s eyes flashed fire. “Mum…” he growled. At the same time, Agni pleaded, “Now, moonlight…” and Aarushi begged, “But Eddie’s nice, Mama!”

Sebastian leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Calm yourselves. I could do so if I wished, but it appears I am outnumbered.”

After a brief silence, Eddie plaintively asked, “What else can be done?”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed pensively. “That depends on the phrasing of this particular contract. Do you recall exactly what you and Ambrose said when you formed the covenant?”

“That Eddie would lend me his power for as long as I desired, that he would serve me faithfully to the fullest extent of his abilities, and that he could claim my soul when our contract came to an end,” Ambrose jumped in. Eddie nodded. “Yes, that’s right!”

Relief rushed through Sebastian. He could work with this. Cocking an eyebrow, he remarked, “Kitten, it’s fortunate that you summoned an inexperienced imp. Most of us would never agree to such vague terms. ‘For as long as I desire!’ You could stretch the contract out for the duration of your lifespan!”

Both Eddie and Ambrose looked mortified. “Sheesh. I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. Like I said earlier, I’d had a bad day,” Ambrose grumbled. “And how was Eddie supposed to know this stuff?”

“In this case, your blunders might literally be your salvation. We can find a few loopholes, I think,” Sebastian winked. An idea—admittedly, an outlandish one—began to piece itself together.

“Eddie, are you quite sure that you said you would claim Ambrose’s soul when the contract ended? You didn’t include any words that specifically alluded to eating?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Eddie replied.

“You’ve thought of something!” Aarushi exclaimed happily, eyes shining. “I know you have, Mama!”

“It’s risky, but I might have a solution. When demons speak of claiming a soul, it’s generally understood to refer to the act of soul-eating. However, an ancient, much less common use of this phrase describes a ritual in which a human soul is transformed into a demonic entity.”

Everyone around the table froze.

“That’s impossible, Mum,” Ambrose whispered.

“Exceedingly difficult and fraught with risk. Not impossible, kitten,” Sebastian corrected him. “It can be done, but only if various conditions have been met. The human must be allowed to reach the end of their life peacefully, dying of natural causes. Otherwise, the trauma of having the soul ripped from the body will doom the ritual to failure. The human in question must agree to be changed of their own free will. Ideally, their soul should also have some prior connection to us. This is certainly true in Ambrose’s case. In addition to being a contractee, he’s my son, and one of the Matriarchs already had to alter his soul in his infancy.”

“It’s a long story,” he added after seeing the look of curiosity on Eddie’s face.

“I-I don’t think I’m strong enough to complete a ritual like that…” the young demon said apprehensively.

“You don’t have to be. Our family is on good terms with that particular Matriarch, and she’d lend you her power. In fact, a Matriarch’s presence is required for this type of ceremony. They’re the founders of our race, after all, and their brand of magic is crucial. Even then, success won’t be guaranteed, I fear. We’d be interfering with the natural order of things, and there are always consequences to that. Not to mention that other demons might try to foil our efforts if they caught wind of it.”

Sebastian’s eyes burned scarlet with determination. “But I will go to any lengths to save my child, even desperate ones.”

The surprise and awe around the table lingered a little further, only small noises coming forth, such as Aarushi’s audible choked gasp and the soft noise of Agni kissing his husband’s hand once again as he looked only at him with such pride and relief. A look that clearly said “I knew you would think of something.”

And then Ambrose was lifting his head, his chest noticeably rising and falling as well as he took in this plan, and all it implied.

“M… Mum..” He was only able to get out, before a choked sob made it through, and a tear finally visibly rolled down his left cheek. “You… you would… you would l-let me..?”

“Ambrose…” Aarushi was squeaking out now, seeing their brother in such a state immediately affecting them. And instantly Aarushi was getting up to to go to his other side, wrapping arms around him and holding on tight.

And for once the young man didn’t struggle from the sudden hold, his mind and body still locked down as he stared on at his mother, whom he’d stubbornly rebelled against for years, whom he’d run away from within a moment’s notice. A part of him simply wanted to deny it. After all, there WAS so much time between then and now. An entire lifetime of waiting.. an entire lifetime for something else to come up. For his mother to change their mind and hunt them down and sever Eddie to pieces, if the mood hit them.

But across the way, in this strange and rare moment, Ambrose saw and actually felt his demon mother’s tender gaze on him.. Telling him all that the ancient demon felt, and had always felt since his birth.

And once again another sob came out, and Ambrose’s head sunk again, his long white hair coming around to cover his face the lower it dipped.

“Thank you… Mum…” He managed to choke out, “… th-thank you.. so much.”

And then he felt a hand cupping the side of his head, he looked up a little, and saw through his hair a tearful Eddie, as the demon tried to get their beloved master and friend to rest his weary head against them this time.

And Ambrose went without complaint, as the tears and sobs kept coming.

And while that happened, Eddie looked back up at his master’s mother and father over the table, and nodded in agreement with what Ambrose had said. There were no other words, truly, for how grateful he was for getting to stay with his master after all this, and get the chance to change the mistakes they had made, to change fate itself for Ambrose.

—

Ambrose eventually calmed down enough for them to all finish their tea, and Agni suggested that he and Eddie stay the night. “It’s been an eventful day, and you two especially need to rest,” he’d urged. Not to mention the matter of Ambrose’s badly damaged car, but Mum could repair that easily enough. Eddie fetched their suitcases, and Ambrose pointed him in the direction of his room. Turning in the hallway, Ambrose nearly ran into his mother. For a moment, the two stood awkwardly, neither knowing what to say. Ambrose was still trying to process what had happened over the past hour. But he suddenly knew that what he needed more than anything right now was to be held. So he did what he’d refused to do for years on end—hug Sebastian and rest his head against his chest. His mother’s arms were around him in an instant, loving and secure. Ambrose found himself crying again, body wracked with quiet sobs. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, not only for today and the whole muddled business with the contract, but for all the years of anger, bitterness, and resentment he’d put his long-suffering mother through.

“There, there,” his mum replied soothingly, stroking his hair with a trembling hand. Impulsively, he clutched Ambrose tighter. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have been that vicious, but you scared the hell out of me, Ambrose. When I saw that seal, the only thing I could think of was that I was going to lose you—"

He broke off, burying his face in Ambrose’s hair. “Watching one of my kittens suffer such a fate is more than I can bear,” his mother whispered.

“But all I’ve ever done is b-be mean and ungrateful…and push you away.”

“You’re still my child, kitten. I’ll always love you, no matter how much you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you!” Looking up with tearful eyes, Ambrose stammered, “I-I love you too, Mum.” His mother’s eyes widened (normally, Ambrose would rather die a slow and painful death than say anything of this sort) before the demon started to purr and gently kissed the top of his head.

Eddie’s voice drifted down the hall. “Ambrose! Are you coming?”

“Just a minute!” Ambrose yelled over his shoulder, sniffling and wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

“I’d best let you go before your demon gets worried,” Mum smiled, smoothing Ambrose’s hair back into place. This time, Ambrose let him.

“You’re sure you’re all right, dear?” Mum asked fretfully as Ambrose turned to go to his room.

“Yeah,” Ambrose replied. To his shock, he found himself smiling, and he felt more content than he had in years or…ever, really. “I think I am.”

[superjumpintomyheart]

Thunderbolts and Lightning (Marina x Pearl)

Marina was one of the best combat engineers in the octarian military, and when she went AWOL, Octavio had one less person working to make him more powerful. He had to reuse ideas from his previous machinery to try and upgrade his gear, but it could never be as good as what that combat engineer could create for him. After he kidnapped Callie and the New Squidbeak Splatoon put him back in a snow globe, he heard the Squid Sisters talking about a group called Off the Hook. He heard the name Marina and his interest was piqued, that was the name of his combat engineer that went missing so long ago... could it really be her?

As he continued to eavesdrop on their conversations, he learned more about Off the Hook and that Marina was indeed an octoling. It wasn’t until one afternoon when the duo showed up in the canyon to visit their friends that Octavio knew for sure Marina was his engineer. He’d recognize her unique tentacles anywhere, someone so talented could never leave his mind. No, not like that, he wasn’t that bad of a guy, he needed her for his weapons, his arsenal, for octarian society itself, not... reproduction. She avoided his gaze, doing her best to ignore him but he saw the nervous glances she shot his way. If he could lure her back in somehow he could have everything he had ever wanted in the past three years since she disappeared, and he knew just how to do it.

It took months of planning and secret contact with soldiers from his army, but eventually they would kidnap Pearl and turn her against Marina, forcing her to come back to where she began. Callie’s kidnapping was merely a test run compared to this new plan, it was well thought through and detailed, dare he say fool proof. Octavio was well aware that he’d need to go deeper with the brainwashing rather than just a pair of shades, how he would do that was undetermined yet, but he had teams of people working on a fully developed plan, he trusted his elites to come up with something good. And boy did they, electroshock therapy was the final conclusion after they learned of Pearl’s accident when she got electrocuted, they decided to use the weakness of her fear against her.

They had successfully captured Pearl and broke Octavio free in one swift mission, the team of octolings hardly making a sound in the night. An invisible kettle lead them to what Pearl thought resembled something that was a cross between a training ground and a prison. When they locked her up in a cell though, she was leaning more towards the prison definition.

It was a generic block cell, concrete floors and walls, iron bar doors to keep her inside, and tally marks on the walls from previous prisoners who were counting down the days until they were free. Maybe she should start her own tally mark calendar, if this was going to be her jail experience, why not do it all?

Her time in the cell was short, maybe a day at the most, until a pair of black-tentacled octolings arrived and moved her to a different room. It was far away from the other rooms, located on the lowest level of the facility. She had a very bad feeling about this, not only the fact that she was being held captive by Marina’s former boss and biggest threat to Inkopolis, but this room had to be so isolated for a reason. Was it a torture room? A secret place to keep her hidden from anyone who would come to save her? Both?

The door opened, reveling a small room with a separate control-like room, visible through thick panes of glass, and a single chair. There was another door that looked like it lead to the control room, but it was under strict security. Pearl examined the chair, hesitantly wondering if it did what she thought it would.

There was no more time to ponder, however, and she was being pushed into the uncomfortable metal furniture and locked in. Maybe it was just to keep her in place, that control panel was for something different, right? She felt her heartbeat quicken as she lost control of her body, unable to move from the chair or get away from the people surrounding her.

Octavio was smirking as his plan unfolded, seeing the fear in the girl’s eyes brought him a reassurance that this plan would go well. Soon he’d have his best engineer back, and maybe a little inkling soldier too.

The two octolings who had been Pearl’s escorts entered the control room where Octavio was, standing on either side of him. He nodded to them, “Good work girls, and welcome Pearl.”

“As if I want to be here with you psychopaths.”

The DJ shook his head, “Here’s how things are going to work around here, if you obey us, things are going to be a lot easier than if you choose to fight. Because you already have shown some resistance, we’re going to give you a little taste of what will happen if you continue to act this way.”

There were a few beeping noises, some movement, and then a sudden pulse of electricity. No, no, no, cod damnit not again. Flashbacks ran through her mind, the shock that had ruined her all those years ago was all she could feel, the intensity of that one shock was enough to destroy her body’s growth cycle and leave her permanently stuck in her current body. She couldn’t help the scream that escaped her throat, though it was short lived as the electricity suddenly vanished and she was left shaking from both fear and aftershock.

“Look, I’ll do what you want just don’t go near that panel again, fuck all of you-” Pearl tried to reason with her kidnappers, who didn’t seem to be taking any shit from her. Each of her snarky comments were followed by short controlled shocks, nothing that would damage her in the long run. They still did plan to use the hypnoshades, the electrocution was more of tool to help speed up the process and hopefully make it more effective.

Octavio exited the control room, leaving his two guards to take care of the shocking mechanism. He shot a devious look at Pearl, telling her before he exited the room, “You might as well make yourself comfortable in that chair, your little friends won’t be coming after you for a long time.”

“That’s what you think, they’ll find me before you can even step foot into your over glorified office, they’ll save me just you wait!”

Pearl did not, in fact, make herself comfortable. She would protest and scream and kick and fight, but all to no avail as each action they disapproved of was treated with more shocks and more locks to keep her still. There were bars around her torso and biceps, her thighs and calves, leaving her utterly helpless against the chair.

She lost track of time too quickly, only telling time by when there was a soldier by the control panel or not. They would come in once each day to give her food, and they worked in shifts to watch and (attempt to) train her. The training was useless, as long as she still had free will in her mind, they’d never break her. They obviously hadn’t heard of the MC Princess down here, she was too tough and stubborn to ever give in to their oppressive beliefs. Even if it meant getting continuously electrocuted, her fears weren’t enough to scare her into submission.

After what felt like an eternity of octolings trying to change her morals and beliefs, she was shaking, her veins prominent against her pale skin and eyes bloodshot from crying. She was weak and drained of all the energy she had, too tired to argue and deal with the pain of the shocks.

The sound of the heavy metal door opening made her ears ring, steel scraping against concrete and rusty hinges, revealing an elite octoling with a pair of sunglasses. The glasses looked mechanical, she couldn’t see what was so special about them though, that was until they were put on her. They forced her to see differently, quite literally, the octoling in front of her now registered as an ally as well as Octavio and the rest of the army. She thought she could now hear a dubstep beat playing in the distance too, it was entrancing, she’d do anything to hear more of that song.

“How do you feel?” The soldier asked, giving a sly smile to the inkling.

“Different,” Pearl replied.

“Good, that’s how you’re supposed to feel. Now, about your little friend...”

The octoling went on to try and successfully train Pearl, finally explaining their plan to lure Marina back to Octavio’s forces to work for them again and gain her trust. With the shades on, she thought the plan was perfect, and Marina was a trader for leaving them in the first place. Her mentor seemed to like that response. She continued to ask questions and run through what part the inkling would play in their glorious plan. Marina’s skills could give them the power to take over all of Inkopolis, the tech she made was revolutionary, once they had her, they would be unstoppable.

When they thought they had thoroughly trained Pearl, they allowed her out of the room to go practice some fighting techniques with a few soldiers (on the occasion that she would need to fend for herself). On her way down to the next room, an octoling rushing by bumped into her and knocked her glasses off, causing her to feel dazed and dizzy at first. As the affects of the glasses wore off, she realized she was out of the room, the chair, she was free from the restraints. The only thing that she could focus on was escaping, and that’s exactly what she tried to do.

She tried.

A group of octolings found her no more than ten minutes later and immediately took her back to the room with the electric chair. This time, Octavio was back by the control panel with an elite octoling, she knew she was in big trouble.

She was not going to give up without a fight, she tried to squirm away from the soldiers holding her, but it only made them more forceful with her. Her lack of strength was apparent, and they easily forced her into the chair once again. The metal locks clicked around her wrists and stomach, preventing her upper body from moving almost completely. She attempted to kick the octolings away from her, but was only met with a backhand straight to her face.

“You don’t get to touch us, doll. You aren’t the one in charge of yourself.”

Pearl glared at her, she wanted to wipe that smug look right off her face, oh the things she would do if she had just one hand free. Her moment of stillness allowed the locks by her ankles to click in place, holding her still. After learning what they planned to use her for, she promised herself she wouldn’t give up until the New Squidbeak Splatoon came to her rescue or until she escaped, whichever came first. She hoped it was the latter, the idea of Marina anywhere near this place made her shutter in disgust, Octavio didn’t deserve to even look at her.

“What should we do with this one?” Octavio asked his partner, leaning over the control panel. “So many fun options to choose from, what do you say about the auto setting? We could run it all day just for her, or what about the motion detecting setting? We wouldn’t even need a guard in here to watch her because she’d have to stay perfectly still if she didn’t want to get shocked. As always, we could do it the old fashioned way too... the highest setting on here would suffice.”

“That last one sounds like a fair punishment, sir.”

The DJ smiled devilishly, “Very well, max it out.”

Pearl’s eyes grew wide, “Max?! That’s gonna kill me you octo slob!”

“Oh we won’t kill you, what use is dead bait?”

The rapper’s breathing grew heavy watching the octoling set up the intensity level, maybe it would be better to die at this point. She couldn’t handle any more of this nightmare she was in, the electricity was starting to get to her head. After all if she was dreaming, the easiest way to wake up would be to die... no, she couldn’t think like that, what about Marina and Off the Hook? She couldn’t leave behind the two things she loved more than anything in the world just to stop suffering through her phobias.

Without any more time to think, electricity coursed through her veins and spread throughout her entire being. She hadn’t even gotten to curse Octavio out yet, but her punishment was inevitable now. Her screams were ear shattering and her sobs were heartbreaking, the electric current flowing in her body like the ocean. It felt as though she had been struck by lightning, though this bolt lasted far longer than a regular one would have lasted. Her mind was growing foggy, the corners of her vision started to cut out and she couldn’t hear herself screaming anymore, though she was sure she still was. She couldn’t feel the electricity or the cold metal of the chair she was in, the last thing she saw before she went under was sparks flying from the panel and octolings running from the room.

-

When Pearl woke up, there were hands shaking her, delicate yet firm and a voice rung inside her head. She blinked her droopy eyes open, lazily bringing her head up to look at whoever was shaking her awake. Instead of the bright red or pure black of a regular octoling’s tentacles, she saw plum brown and teal colored ones swaying nervously around a dark skinned girl.

“Mar...?” Was all Pearl could get out in her dazed state, still feeling the effects of the electrocution.

“Yeah, yeah! Pearlie it’s me, oh thank cod you’re alive,” Marina rushed her words as she held her girlfriend’s face in her hands. “We gotta get you out of here, give me one second while I go figure out the control panel.”

The inkling shook her head as violently as she could with the little energy she had, “No... don’t touch it please, no more, no more.”

She felt her eyes fill with panicked tears and fear, her mind simulating the feeling of the shocks they had given her. Marina quickly realized that Pearl was not awake enough to focus on anything besides whatever had happened in that room, she quickly assured her that she was only going over to release her from her restraints. Still, the octoling didn’t fail to notice the way she trembled as she watched her walk over to the panel. It wasn’t anything too complicated, but, boy, was it damaged. It looked like it had fried itself, busted knobs and broken glass scattered along it while the corners were charred and black. This thing had to have been in better condition before she showed up... had Pearl screamed so powerfully that the machine broke? She had an insane voice, evident from when she helped save Inkopolis from Commander TARTAR. Even if she had used that scream to protect her city, she had assistance from a killer wail, it wasn’t purely her voice. Had she perhaps used that same type of cry to break herself free here?

Marina had to tinker a bit with the parts to get the metal restraints to unlock, but it didn’t take her longer than a few minutes. The inkling slumped down as the locks around her wrists, ankles, and torso opened and failed to hold her up any longer, and Marina scooped her up in her arms to take her back home. Callie and Marie had taken care of capturing Octavio, it was just up to her to go get Pearl and bring her to a safe place. She wished she could’ve been the one to put Octavio back in that globe, when she found out her girlfriend was missing, she was ready to do whatever it took to get her back. When she found out it was the DJ that took her girlfriend, she was ready to splat him into oblivion and the rest of his army to get her back. She trusted the squid sisters gave him a good run for his money, though.

When they arrived back at home, Marina got Pearl settled down in bed and made some food and tea for her, knowing she probably hadn’t eaten in a long time. It had been a whole week that she was missing, an inkling could survive that long without eating, but she hoped they had given her at least one meal. While cooking, she felt overwhelmed at all the thoughts running through her mind, finding her girlfriend strapped to that chair was the worst sight she had ever seen. Imagining what had happened to her in that room was terrifying, and she couldn’t bare to think about how long they had been hurting her.

Marina shook her head to clear her mind and grabbed the plate of food she had prepared and the cup of tea, bringing it back to their room for Pearl to consume as she wished. The inkling was curled into a tight ball when she entered the room, shaking lightly under the blankets.

“Pearlie...” the octoling said softly, as to not scare her. “I brought you something to eat and drink, how are you feeling?”

Pearl looked up at her partner, watching her place the plate and cup on the bedside table. Her voice was barely a whisper, “I’m okay.”

She was not okay, her veins still stuck out prominently on her arms and up her neck and her already pale skin looked stark white. Her muscles were tense and ached, she didn’t have the strength to get up even if she wanted to. Her mind was a mess too, replaying everything that happened to her over and over again.

It must have been obvious how much it was bothering her, because the octoling sat next to her girlfriend on the edge of the bed. Her soft gradient eyes were full of concern and worry, a gentleness that the inkling almost forget existed.

“Will you tell me what happened?” Marina asked and brought her hand up to touch Pearl’s delicate skin, cupping her face gently and running her thumb over her cheek.

The inkling closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, nodding softly and reached out to grab hold of her girlfriend and bring her into the bed with her. They settled in, Pearl took the food she had been given and ate a small amount of it before she began, she felt like she’d need all the extra energy she could get to tell this story.

“Octavio took me, or rather, one of the soldiers did. They brought me to some secret place in the canyon where they kept me, I was in a regular cell type room at first but then they moved me to another room with... the chair. The electric chair,” she felt a wave of shivers run through her body at the mental image, trying to ignore the way her mind was reminding her what those shocks felt like. “They strapped me in and it was non stop from there, everything I said was wrong, every word that came out of my mouth that they didn’t like, they shocked me for. It was like reliving the accident all over again and again and again.

“I got too tired to fight back anymore, and that’s when they brought me the shades, like Callie’s. They were... they were going to use me to get you back, Marina. Octavio wanted me to be the bait, to comply and work with him to get you back.”

Marina looked down, reminded of her past working in the military. She had been proud of her achievements then, but now she looked upon the weapons she had built and commendations she had received and frowned. They were proof that she was an excellent engineer and smart cephalopod, but the meaning behind each of those titles made her sick. Working for Octavio again was her worst nightmare, and to think it was almost a reality.

“I tried to get out, but they caught me before I could. When they brought me back, they put it on the highest setting, I was...” she shook her head. “I was so scared. I don’t know what happened after that, all I remember seeing was sparks and those fuckers running away.”

“Oh Pearlie,” the octoling wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, pulling her close to her side to comfort her. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you like that ever again.”

Pearl put her plate on the beside table and fully cuddled into Marina, both arms wrapped around her like a koala bear. Tears stung in her eyes from reliving the events that had taken place, and she wasn’t afraid to let them fall. She craved the safety of the embrace and gentleness of her partner’s touch, she needed to know for once in the week she had been gone that she wouldn’t be hurt by anyone. Here, in their mansion, nothing could touch them.

“If only I would’ve been there when they took you, I could’ve stopped this from happening—“

“Marina, it’s not your fault, I don’t want you thinking for one damn second that any of this is your fault. What matters is you saved me, you rescued me from that hell and I’m forever grateful for that, I love you, nothing could make me think otherwise.”

Marina nodded, giving Pearl a tight squeeze and replying, “I love you too, Octavio messed with the wrong cephalopods this time.”

“I’d personally like to strap him to an electric chair, see how he likes it.”

“For once, I think your violent problem solving sounds like a wonderful idea,” The two laughed at the bitter humor, settling under the covers together and chatting until they felt their eyes couldn’t stay open any longer.

That night, they slept with an undercover brella and a pair of dapple dualies by their bedsides, tangled in each other’s arms with a relaxed playlist playing quietly to aid them in falling asleep. The silence filled with their steady breathing and music made the large house feel not as empty, and the two of them knew they were safe and sound as long as they had each other.

[princessamericachavez]

Travel companions

He’s been watching them for quite some time, but never from this close. It’s usually through Jester’s eyes, her sketch book, her tales that he’s known them. Well, not entirely. He got curious too and would some times observe their adventures from the shadows, getting to know Jester’s new friends with his own two eyes. He’d been the first one, after all, and he wanted to make sure they all lived up to his standards. 

The Traveler liked observing them, even in their worst situations, as Jester ran around torn between fighting beasts and keeping her friends alive. He’d gotten to the conclusion that he’d chosen well. Tricksters, after all, aren’t too hard to find. Many in this world enjoy creating chaos, but too many seem to enjoy it most when it harms others. Good hearted mischief, in the other hand, is a much rarer gem, and in his not very humble opinion, Jester embodies it wonderfully. 

Perhaps it’s that good hearted playfulness that made Jester —and himself— like Mollymauk so quickly. He is, after all, a kindred spirit in more ways than one, and The Traveler finds him a great addition to his cleric’s adventures. There’s no cheerfulness in him now, though, as the tiefling kneels next to Jester’s body trying to shake her awake.

“Come on, kid, not like this,” Molly mumbles, pouring a healing potion into her mouth, trying to steady his own shaking hands to do so, but the spilled liquid will make no difference at this point, the Traveler knows.

“Move, move, maybe I- I can stabilize her or- or something,” Beauregard shoves Molly away and takes his place, pulling out her healing kit and searching the cleric’s body for wounds. There aren’t any. This isn’t that kind of issue. “I- I don’t know what to do,” she admits, voice shaking. 

Seeing her from up close for the first time, The Traveler notes her youth. She’s even younger than Jester, which is quite funny considering the tiefling sees her as an older sister, what could have been, what she could have had. He’s not sure if he agrees with that assessment. In his opinion, the monk is irreverent in a strangely boring way, too busy with suspicion and ambition to enjoy her own adventures. Jester approves of her, though, so he is willing to give her a try. 

There’s a shriek as a third person reaches the body, and it fills the musky carven with a shiver cold enough for The Traveler to feel it too. Ah, the other trickster child. He would claim her for himself too if given a chance, if her motives were less instinctual and her actions driven towards fun rather than survival. He’d accept her too, though, because he likes her. Much like Jester does, he sees in her another suitable playmate, and quite enjoys the shenanigans the two girls can get into on their own. It’s a match he’d quietly encouraged, and of which he’s rather proud. As the goblin cries, however, all he feels is a strange kind of sadness, clenching inside his chest. 

“Can you do something?! Please, Caleb! With your magic, you must- please!” Nott asks loudly, standing up to grab at the human’s clothes and tug desperately. 

“I don’t believe I can,” he says, rubbing her hair, his eyes set on Jester but clearly looking at something farther away, lifetimes ago.

Ah, the wizard. This one he likes even less than he does the monk. Too serious, too moody, too sad for his taste, but in him he knows Jester saw a challenge, a person to make happy somehow despite their differences. He’s seen her dance around him for months, with jokes and pranks and more than one argument… and he saw it all eventually pay off. It’s a thing he’ll admit he doesn’t understand, an unusual kind of friendship that at times reminds him of a pair of siblings he once knew. It’s important to Jester and, judging by the way his face has paled and his fists shake, it might be to him too.

“We need to do something!” Mollymauk snaps. 

Good, good. The Traveler has never been too keen on patience either. 

“I can’t,” Caleb insists. “I do not know- I don’t think I even could bring her back… only a cleric could.”

“She is the cleric!” Beauregard snaps, standing back up. Her eyes hold back tears. Yes, she is very young, and full of rage that she throws against the nearest rock. He’s confident he hears her knuckles snap against it. 

“Hey, hey, knock it off! That’s not helping!” Molly grabs her arms. 

“There are temples in town,” Yasha speaks up. “There were temples, I saw them. We can find clerics there.”

Without waiting for an answer, she scoops Jester up in her arms. The Traveler watches her closely, standing by Jester, close enough for his breath to slightly ruffle the white tips of her hair. The celestial one, he notes, Jester likes talking about her, admires her quite a bit. It’s not her strength that catches his attention, though, but the softness with which she looks at the tiefling, her jaw set with determination. He approves of the sentiment, but this won’t do. 

Those temples won’t do, he whispers in Mollymauk’s ear, pushing the idea into his head. The tiefling tenses, and the Traveler is amused to see that he recognizes the intrusive thoughts in his brain. He doesn’t mention it, though, he just says: “Those deities are not right for her. They’re just the ones allowed.”

“So what?” Beau snaps. “We just need them to bring her back, not to worship their gods or something.”

No. He won’t have it. He won’t be able to be with her if she goes there, and she is his.

“It’s her deity that we need to contact,” Fjord intercedes. “We can’t do it there without them noticing.”

The Traveler turns around to look at the half-orc. He’s been quiet, keeping his distance, and even now his face is practically a mask, unreadable. Jester loves Fjord, she has for a while even if she might not truly realize how much, but he? Oh, he doesn’t like him. Fjord is filled with lies, curling like tentacles around his every word, he smells like salt and seaweed, he belongs to another whose darkness dims the warlock’s true intentions. And yet, this is the one Jester has chosen, her first friend after The Traveler, the object of an affection that almost rivals the one she shows him. He is competition. He makes her laugh and encourages her and he looks after her… but that isn’t Fjord’s role to play, that’s his. 

“Shakaste!” Nott jumps. “We should take her to him! He can help!”

“How would we find Shakaste?” Beauregard asks, voice edging in anger. Molly is still holding her arm. 

“I- I might be able to,” Caleb jumps, dropping to his knees. He scatters his books on the floor and begins searching for an incantation. Five minutes later, he puts it together with shaky hands and sends the message. “Please, we need your help. Jester needs your help. We are North of Zadash, in a cave by the mountain. Please hurry.”

“Did it work?!” Beau and Molly ask at the same time. 

Caleb holds a hand up, then perks up.

“It worked! It worked! Oh my god! Yes! He said- He said he’s coming. A few hours. He is coming.”

Hours?!

The cave grows colder with his anger and the six travelers flinch a little. He groans and huffs and plane shifts away until the time has passed. At least they have an incoming solution, and that will do until he is needed again.

It’s hard to tell time when he’s not around mortals, but he feels the call once the ritual starts. He’s midway pulling strings in a fun and intricate political game he’s been playing with —the rich and powerful are incredibly fun to toy with and almost too easy to manipulate— but he drops it all immediately to show up to the ritual. 

Shakaste, he notes, looks exactly the way Jester described him in her drawings. Even in her cartoonish version, she captured the gentleness of his features, the wild hair, and the comforting aura that surrounds him. His white eyes shine, as do his hands placed on Jester’s body. 

“Does anyone have anything to offer to the ritual?” Shakaste asks with a calm voice that quite contrasts against the sudden wave of panic that goes through the remaining Mighty Nein. They look at each other, tensely, until Nott —the brave one— stands forward.

Nott says nothing, just puts down her mask next to Jester, and a handful of flowers. The first circle on the ground lights up and The Traveler feels Jester’s familiar soul for the first time since her death. She is still in the Raven Queen’s realm, but she’s awake, listening. He extends his reach, trying to get to her, to bring her closer to home. 

“Hey,” Mollymauk intercedes next, kneeling by her side. His voice is very soft, but in the darkness where Jester is it resonates and makes her soul feel stronger. 

“So, tiefling to tiefling,” he says as a confidence, and as he speaks he starts moving jewelry from his horns to hers, “this isn’t my first time dealing with this kind of thing, you know? It’s a wonderful story, that I might tell you about later, but for that you have to come back, yes? I mean, we still have so much to do, and honestly it wouldn’t be fun if it’s without you so please, please, come back to us?” 

As he finishes with the jewels, he puts down his deck of cards, next to Nott’s offering, slices his palm with his swords and lets the blood drip on them. As soon as the blood falls, something moves in the air of the cave, some dark energy that The Traveler has recognized on Mollymauk’s fighting and that now manifests itself in his spiritual plane. It circles around Jester’s body, then moves towards the darkness where her soul is and holds on to her, like a chain, pulling her closer to this world.

And next, of course, comes Fjord. The Traveler watches as the man takes the spot Molly had been on kneels next to the cleric. He’s barely spoken, as far as he knows, but when he does his voice is clear.

“Jester? I- No, that’s not right. It’s not you who we should be calling for, is it, darling? It’s The Traveler.”

Finally.

With a laugh he stops everything around them, keeping Fjord, Jester and himself inside a nice little bubble to talk. He appears then, physical and tall before the kneeling half-orc.

“You called?” He asks, tilting his head, as if he hadn’t been waiting for this moment from the instant Jester fell.

“I did,” Fjord says, standing up on his feet. His usual drawl is gone, as is his sheepish air. He stands tall, chin held high and eyes trained on him. 

“So this is your real voice,” The Traveler smirks, narrowing his eyes at him and crossing his arms over his chest. “That explains some things.” Like the veil of lies that usually covers his words and the easiness with which he seems to fade into the background when he wishes to.

“Yes, it is,” Fjord says, shifting his weight a little. For a second, he seems unsure, but The Traveler is not about to help him out of the awkwardness by breaking the silence. He finally clears his throat and says: “I- I don’t know much about the gods, or religion, or magic. I’m still learning.”

“Clearly,” The Traveler snorts.

“Yes, uh, yes. But I do know you,” Fjord goes on, slowly, not breaking eye contact. “I do, because you are the most important thing to Jester, and she is- I’m hoping she is as important to you… as she is to me.”

“You lie to her,” The Traveler says, hiding his accusation behind amusement.

“No, it’s not that. I- She knows me, maybe not my history, but the part of me she knows, it’s real. It might be the only thing that’s real anymore. And she is real, and fun, and kind, and too good to die like this after all the shit she’s been through. She deserves more. I just want to bring her back, I’ll do anything. Please.”

The Traveler considers him carefully. It might be the false voice being gone, or it might simply be his words, but something about the warlock sounds honest. He thinks he spots, for the first time behind all the shadows, the light that Jester keeps talking about, earnest and heart behind the many faces.

“Jester says you are her best friend in the world,” Fjord goes on. “I want to believe that you want to help her too.”

And there’s a look in the half-orc’s eyes that suggests that the distrust is mutual, but there’s frankness in it too, a strange offering that rings of desperation to The Traveler’s ears. And that kind of desperation is exactly the kind a god, or some other kind of creature, might latch on to. It's dangerous.

“I do,” he finally replies, taking a step forward and offering Fjord a hand. The boy shakes it firmly, shoulders easing with relief.

With the contact, The Traveler hears waves, smells salty water, and takes notice of the shadows that still linger behind Fjord like tentacles, he feels observed and he doesn’t like it. 

“Word of advice,” he whispers as his physical form vanishes, “next time be more mindful of who you make deals with.”

“Wha-”

Before Fjord can get another word in, he lets go and the world recovers its pace. The rest of the party find Fjord standing there, with his hand out stretched and staring confused at the emptiness in front of him. The Traveler finds it rather funny. As they try to ask what happened and the half-orc mumbles lies and excuses, they are interrupted by a loud intake of air. 

The ritual continues and Jester finally comes back from the shadows. In the crossroads, The Traveler kisses her forehead and sends her a wave of reassurance, so that her awakening may not be too violent and her own death won’t put fear inside her bright heart.

Give them hell, he whispers with a smile. You chose them well.

[lisa-in-the-sky]

Bar/Restaurant x Space AU.

Hi, I just sent you one of those trope mash ups and, clever me, didn’t put a ship in there. Sooo… Sam Wilson x dealers choice?

I….got a little carried away.

send me two tropes

It turned out it doesn’t matter what planet you’re on or from, being in customer service fucking sucked. Everywhere. Sam found that out about three days into first job in Ychyn when a Fe’ali wiggled it’s eyebrows (Sam wasn’t actually sure he should use that word for a creature whose face looked like the mangled remains of a blown tire) at him and then hit on him with some truly horrifying pick up lines before puking all over the bar and having to be dragged out by security. The section of the bar could be replaced, but Sam was never gonna forget the smell.

Unfortunately, his intergalactic trip had pretty much sucked him dry financially, and it turned out that once you landed in an alien metropolitan mecca, opportunities and cash for getting out were slim.

Sam had been working at Sin Sin’s Leopard Lounge for three Earth years, four months, 27 days, and he was sure of two things. First, he’d never stop smelling like tebholhy - bright orange space booze that Sam refused to let near his mouth after an incident involving two Arb girls and a hoverbike left him sore and voiceless for a week - and second, his only way off this hell-planet was death.

It was shaping up to be another phenomenal night at the lounge. An hour into his shift and Sam had already had to pry Striddax tentacles off his wrist, watch several Knins do body shots, and had four drinks spilled on him. His head was throbbing in time with the techno grinding out of the speakers, and the bar was only going to get hotter and more packed before he could go home.

Sam hated late shifts.

He wiped several ounces of josk - more horrible alien liquor - off his hand on his apron, squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment against the music, and picked up glasses for his next customers.

“What can I get you?” he half shouted.

“Two of those fun green things,” a guy said.

“Bucky, no,” said another.

It took Sam several moments to realize that the translator in his ear wasn’t delayed at all, which meant–

Sam looked up and met two pairs of completely, perfectly human eyes. He stared for a moment.

“Don’t be a spoilsport, Steve,” the first man - Bucky - said. He had dark hair pulled into a little bun and broad shoulders. The arm he had leaning casually on the bar was metal. He winked at Sam. “We can have some fun.”

Sam’s eyebrows went up because wow, forward, but he still smiled because humans. Humans never came into this bar. Also, they were attractive humans and Sam hadn’t been hit on by anything bipedal in a galactic age, so he really wasn’t going to complain.

The other man, Steve - tall and blonde and also very good looking - sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Excuse my partner,” he said to Sam. “He’ll make a pass at anything that walks and talks.”

“Not anything, baby,” Bucky said. “Just the good looking ones.”

Sam laughed. “Way to make a guy feel special,” he said.

“You’re a human working in this dump,” Steve said. “You must be.”

Bucky laughed, nudging Steve with an elbow. “That’s the spirit, sweetheart.” He turned back to Sam. “So, gorgeous, got a couple minutes for a drink?”

Sam was grinning, about to tell them he was up for it as long as there was no tebholhy involved, when there was a crash and a roar from not too far away.

“I’m going to wear your puny human dicks as trophies!”

Sam jerked back, staring at the Striddax that was charging through the crowd, straight at the three of them. It was the same one who’d been getting all touchy with Sam not twenty minutes ago. Awesome.

Steve turned immediately, reaching into his coat and pulling out something that looked like brass knuckles until he slipped it onto his hand and it sprouted a large, circular shield. He dove for the Striddax, catching it straight in the middle with his shield.

Bucky sighed. “Be right back,” he told Sam, and turned to the rapidly unfolding chaos as well, pulling out a gun from the back of his pants and unfolding it into an entire rifle.

Sam stared. Bar fights were normal - it was a bar in one of the biggest cities in the galaxy, after all - but they usually didn’t involve the few humans who came to Sin Sin’s, and no one was ever pulling out tech like that. Weapons weren’t even allowed in.

Everything had paused, even the music, and people were pulling away from the fight, shouting and placing bets. It looked like the Striddax, large as he was, wasn’t going to get the best of the two men, who were clearly well trained and used to working as a team. They danced around the Strid easily, ducking in and out for blows and exchanging their weapons with ease.

Sam was ready to put his money on the two of them when the Striddax managed to interrupt them in the brief hesitation that came when they switched weapons. He knocked Bucky over a table before whipping around to throw Steve into the bar.

Steve managed to partly catch himself, grunting when his torso still followed through and caught the lip of the bar. The gun he’d just gotten from Bucky whizzed past Sam and smashed several bottles of booze. Steve made eye contact with Sam for just a moment before the Striddax was on him, picking him up by the back of the shirt and throwing him into Bucky, knocking them both back over. He rushed again while they were still untangling themselves, grabbing each with two tentacles, one around their torsos, the other sliding up to encircle their skulls.

Sam didn’t really think about what he was doing. All he knew was that both humans were about to have their heads involuntarily donated to Striddax scientists, and Sam was not about to spend the night cleaning up blood and whatever else had been spilled in that particular area.

He got more josk on his hands when he scooped up the gun Steve had lost. It was weird, some kind of tech he didn’t recognize, but it had a trigger and a sight and a barrel, and it was second nature to raise it to his shoulder, aim at the Striddax’s back, and squeeze the trigger on his exhale.

The burst of green energy caught the Striddax right between the shoulders, traveled through his entire body, making him seize up for a moment before he fucking exploded, spattering everything in a thirty foot radius with gore.

The room went quiet. Sam lowered the gun. Damn it. Now he was going to have to clean up Strid blood instead. Brilliant.

Bucky and Steve were picking themselves up, heads still attached and coated in Striddax guts. Bucky wiped his eyes while reaching into his coat and pulling out another gun.

“No one steps into this area,” he said, shaking entrails violently off his hand and glaring at the quiet crowd. “Unless you want the same.”

Steve was rooting around in the gore on the ground, eventually pulling up the Strid’s biometric identifier. He tossed it to Bucky, then waved a hand at the crowd. “Carry on.”

There was another brief moment of silence, and then the music started back up, the beat drop spurring a huge cheer from the crowd. Steve and Bucky trudged over to the bar, looked at the disgusting stools, then sat down.

“Thanks,” Steve said.

Sam blinked at them. “What the fuck.”

“There’s a thirty million credit bounty on that guy’s head,” Steve said.

“Can I have my gun back?” Bucky asked.

Sam was about to hand it over, then paused. “Did you say thirty million?”

Both of them gave him wary looks, then nodded.

“Great,” Sam said. He examined the gun for a moment, then found the mechanism to fold it back into its smaller size. He held it out, just out of Bucky’s reach.

“That splits nicely three ways,” he said.

“We did all the work!” Bucky said.

“Fine.” Sam shrugged. “Call it payment for keeping you in one piece, and getting me covered in Striddax.”

Bucky opened his mouth to protest again, and Steve laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You’d have to come all the way back to Huebli with us,” Steve said mildly. “That’s at least a week long trip.”

“A trip off this planet with two attractive bounty hunters and ten million credits waiting at the end?” Sam smiled and tucked the gun into the back of his pants before yanking off his apron.

“When do we leave?”

[ecotone99]

[HR] The case I was on had 718 Disappearances linked to it.

It started as a simple Friday, I had just woken up, and after getting ready for work began heading to the Police Station, when I received a call on my cell phone, it was from a Hidden Number, which is typical seeing as though I work for the Defence Department, we, investigators, like to stay untrackable.

I answered.

“Hello, I’ve got an evidence sheet for Mr. Wattel”, the voice was shaky, petrified almost, and real, which was weird, callers with hidden numbers always had some sort of a voice filter applied.

“Yes, that is me.” I answered.

“You are likely on your way to work, I’m going to need you to divert your path to HQ, your case is… One of a kind, to say the least.” He said, still with a weird undertone to his voice.

“Alright, I’ll be there in-” BEEP, the caller had hung up.

HQ was about 2 hours away, so I took the first exit off the highway and sped off. About 20 minutes into the trip, I receive another call, still a hidden number.

“Mr. Wattel, when you arrive at HQ, head to Executive parking and go straight through wing 8-E to the Evidence desk.” Said a new man, it still didn’t seem like he had a voice changer.

“Alr-” BEEP, he had hung up on me.

1 Hour and 15 Minutes into the trip I receive a final call, from the client who ordered this precise case.

“Hello, this is Mr. Wattel speaking, how may I help you?” I asked after several seconds of complete silence on his end.

Suddenly, they erupt in tears, I can hear them muttering something in between their sobs, but nothing I can quite piece together.

“I am going to need you to calm down if you want to speak to me.”

The crying continued for about 2 Minutes, when the voice suddenly became extremely clear, sharp, it was metallic, and not at all like my client’s.

“Mr. Wattel, tell me your security response code.” I felt chills running down my spine, Security response codes are extremely confidential and the public should know nothing about them, witness protection program members included.

I hung up instantly, probably not the wisest of choices, but the remainder of the drive was peaceful thankfully.

Upon arrival, I parked at the spot closest to 8-E I could find, turned the engine off, got out and walked to my trunk to get my backpack. I spent a few minutes looking for my staff ID, it had been buried at the bottom of my bag after not being used for several months.

I lifted my head and noticed 10 Armed men had surrounded me, likely an escort. This got me extremely interested in what had happened that I would need a VIP-Class escort to get from my vehicle to a wing entrance, also slightly worried. I greeted them and began to go towards the building, I scanned my ID, and proceeded inside to find that only one was still following me. I looked behind, the other men began barricading the entrance, I knew I had been locked in, 8-E is an isolation wing with a single door to the outside world, and another door leading to solitary confinement. 3 people were standing by the evidence desk, seemingly waiting for me. One of them, I actually recognized, it was Mrs. Andrews, she had been my partner in the academy several months prior. I walked up to them, they did not utter a single word, Mrs. Andrews handed me the file, you could hear a pin drop as I was reading the sheet, nobody dared speak.

*Type: Confidential Case

Investigator: Mr. Wattel, Mrs. Andrews, Mr. Black

Initial Situation: Triple alleged kidnapping

New Information: 718 People gone, all in similar situations, where it should have been noticeable by all authorities, we are still searching for more victims.*

My heart skipped a beat as I read the amount of disappearances, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I reread it, it was correct. One of the other men broke the silence,

“Welcome to the Team, my name is Jon Black.”

“Welcome, I think you might already know me. We will all be stuck here, in isolation, until we get this case figured out, your family has already been informed” said Mrs. Andrews, with a clearly fake smile

The third man stood still, he didn’t introduce himself, he was just shaking, paralyzed.

There were a few other people sitting in the waiting area that I was able to catch a glimpse of. Well, people would be an overstatement, creatures. They looked like those creepy stock photos, one of them had their mouth sealed, or rather had no mouth whatsoever. Another man had an IV beside him and had 4 arms, the last one had a suspiciously large amount of eyelids covering his face. Just looking in that room made me shiver.

We walked to the interrogation sector, which was filled to the brim with family members of the victims. I took the first room on the left, Mrs. Andrews occupied the 4th room on the right of this narrow corridor, she claimed it was her lucky number. As per protocol, each person was interrogated, the cold and gray walls of these small rooms weren’t helping or reassuring anybody. Out of all the stories we received, we identified only about a quarter as plausible explanations, the rest as fiction. Most of the stories we said were most likely were people turning their back only to see their loved ones vanish, the rest were tales of black tentacles spreading, some people claimed it was

But this was a government super secret case so all of the stories were kept as plausible for us to sift through with more attention later. Mrs. Andrews had been on several of these cases prior to this one, Mr. Black had just graduated from the academy so the 2 were working together mostly. I had already been on one isolation case, about a chemical weapon reserve built by the Texas state government.

We all took a break to go to an office and discuss our findings, which was close to absolutely nothing

"Well, what have you found?" Asked Mr. Black

"Lies." Answered Mrs. Andrews with a sigh, she was stubborn and very picky.

"Absolutely nothing we can go off of" I replied

"I investigated one of those men" He said, pointing at the waiting area, "the only thing I got out of him was the word Black, he was either calling my name or saying something about his experience, after that I let him go back."

6 hours into this intense questioning session, I got one of the “Creatures” into the room I had occupied for interrogation, this was the one with the superficial amount of eyelids. He came in with one of the security guards, who stood within the room, I could spot a taser in his holster, seriously creeping me out. I asked the creature the regular questions;

“Who are you?”

A gut wrenching screech came out of its mouth, this was going to be no easy task.

“How did ‘this’ happen to you?”

He lifted his shirt and pointed at a small device, stapled into his stomach, releasing another out of this world shriek.

“May I investigate this object?”

Immediately, I saw every single eye open, they were looking at me extremely menacingly, he began flailing his arms, at which point, the guard was preparing to tase him. I used all the calming techniques I was taught in the academy on this extraterrestrial being and told the guard to put away the weapon. The guard obliged, though doubtful and unsure, seeing the expression on his face. I took the creature’s response to my question as a clear “no”.

“What did it feel like?” I asked, in a rush to get done with this one, all the contents of my previous meal were already halfway up my oesophagus from terror.

He either didn't hear the question or didn't want to answer, I still needed information so I repeated the question.

"What did it feel like when you were abducted or captured? Who did it?" I asked, more sternly this time.

He definitely understood the question, and was not happy, his eyes suddenly went pitch black. He repeated, in the creepily clear voice I had heard on the phone many hours ago,

“Mr. Wattel, tell me your security response code.”

Roots of black were growing onto the rest of his face. The guard seemed perplexed as to what was happening but did not seem surprised in the slightest, he quickly pulled out the taser and shot at this humanoid, whose skin had turned almost metallic and completely deflected the probes.

The black had continued spreading down to his neck, then to his arms, but it didn't stop at his body, it spread out onto the desk on which his hands were laying. Onto the walls from there, and like roots from his feet. The guard had completely lost his marbles and was desperately trying to open and bang on the door, Mrs. Andrews rushed from her interrogation desk to mine and was equally terrified and trying, as was the guard, to liberate us. I felt my own body starting to be consumed in this dark substance, which I could now tell was not solid, it was more like a thousand little tentacles. And the world suddenly froze, the last thing I saw was the guard in a panic with the worst facial expression I've ever seen on anybody, and the door's middle window fading into black. There was no sensation, it was just void.

I had woken up, this same black matter still present everywhere around me, but it seemed like I’d been spared, it hadn’t consumed my body like it had everything else in the room. The guard lay a few feet away from me, motionless, also completely unscathed.

I could feel the tiny serpents that comprised this material, slithering under me. Looking around more attentively, the walls which had previously enclosed the 3 of us had vanished, as had the creature. The roof and floor extended infinitely from what I could tell. What was even weirder was that it wasn't pitch black like it should've been seeing as there were no light sources within this 'realm' from what I could tell, you could see fairly well.

I was hoping I would wake up in the warmth of my bed, but it didn’t happen. My only option seemed to be to stand up. I did, the minuscule organisms seemed to pay no mind to me, squashing their bodies with all my weight. My curiosity to find out what this goo was overwhelmed by a feeling of loneliness and hopelessness, so, in a fit of rage, I threw my fist at the floor. That hurt, it turned out to be completely solid, I began to doubt my mental state heavily.

Not knowing what to do next, I started walking in as straight a line as I could. Just a minute into the walk, I heard a yell from behind me, I froze, I had definitely not expected to hear any sounds during my venture, it was coming from behind me, I swiftly turned around, prepared to run for my life.

It was the guard, he had awoken and was jogging towards me, not wanting to be left behind in this space, I let him join me, fairly happy to have company. There was no way for us to keep track of our direction and location as there were no objects to keep track of, just roof and floor. We continued walking as linearly as we could, though I was sure we were just doing large spirals around this 'room'.

After around 3 Hours, I finally came up with the idea of checking my cell phone, which should’ve come to me much sooner. Well, I took it out of my pocket and unlocked it, now, on a normal day, I’d usually see my home screen and a few SMS or Missed calls, I determined that it currently wasn’t a normal day, I had nearly 800 missed calls, all of which were hidden numbers, and not a single SMS, which was bizarre, the usual ratio was 5 SMS to 2 Calls. Voicemail had been left so I went ahead and checked it, I felt the blood drain from my face as I listened to the first one. That same exact voice I had heard before, repeating a multitude of times,

“Mr. Wattel, tell me your security response code.” After freezing for a few seconds, I got myself back to a state where I could at least process my thoughts and continued listening to these messages.

The four or five more recent ones were all the exact same. I had completely given up at this point, but I did notice something peculiar, I had outstanding network coverage, although it was interesting to know, it served absolutely no purpose. I was just about to put away my phone when I get an alert;

"Mr. Wattel, we have just woken up after being sucked in by a similar black substance as you were. You may not even be alive, but there are three of us, a guard, myself, and Mr. Black, try to respond somehow."

My limited technological skills would not be of use, so I thought of the only other logical thing to do, yell at the very top of my lungs, to give them an orientation to follow, if indeed they were with us.

Mere seconds after I had screamed, the serpents began to slither up into a statue or shape in front of us, they formed a dark and obscure face with an extremely agitated expression, adding to the fact that about a thousand tentacles, snakes, or whatever they are, are building a human face above us, the room was suddenly entirely lit up, I could tell because I was squinting from it and also the fact that the guard, still with me, was illuminated., Though, still, not a single light source was visible.

I was expecting the worst with this creature, and I think that is basically what I got. It gaped it's mouth, only to reveal the beast that had sat with us in the room just hours prior, well I say hours, I have no idea how long I was asleep, the clock on my phone is acting weird.

He jumped and immediately began running at us, me and the guard separated and began running in different directions, which was probably the best thing we could have done, as the creature was trying to keep track of both of us and, even with all of its eyes, couldn't quite do it, causing it to kneel and rub its eyes for a few seconds before picking up the chase again, going after me, there was no escape, I knew that, but I kept running and running. I closed my eyes to concentrate every bit of strength my body had on increasing the distance between me and the creature. Then, I knocked into something, I wanted to be ended, right then and there, quickly, without any pain. Opening my eyes for what I thought would be the last time, I spot human skin, Mrs. Andrews!

The moment of happiness and relief was short lived, as I looked behind, I couldn't see the multiple-eyed man, but a black mass was coming straight at us, I was pretty sure I could see the guard that had been with me, being absorbed by it. Fearing for our lives we darted off perpendicularly to the movement of this glob. We weren't fast enough, it caught up, and one by one, I could see people being picked off from beside me, one by one. "What will happen to my family?" was the only thing I was able to think of as I slowly reached my death. I knew my legs were definitely aching at this point and were about to give out but the adrenaline pushed me a little bit farther, when I looked behind again, I felt joy running through my body, I had outpaced the mass, or rather it had lost all of its horizontal velocity.

This is where I'm at, I still signal reception on my phone for whatever reason, I'm using it to release this, I have 4% left, and I likely won't find a plug anywhere. I don't know if I can survive much longer, my stomach is struggling and I probably strained my ankle from all the running, I'm a detective, not an athlete. Whatever the hell this black material is, I still don't have the slightest clue as to the physics behind it. I think I'll just keep walking, nothing else to do…

EDIT: This is a repost of one of my stories on NoSleep.

submitted by /u/i_like_things_cus [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2XGImr6

[darkcloud-kcalifornia]

Sooo happy that summer is over.  That season is a bane upon my existence.  But hey, the temps about 30 degrees cooler than a month or two ago, and the winds gonna be a blowin’ tomorrow, so how about celebrating with some Nanoha?  …OK, I would have been watching this anyway, but now I can do so wearing a festive, pointy hat.  So let’s get down to episode 7, “Hotel Augusta”.

* And the episode starts off with Tea unloading her insecurities as early as the pre-episode intro narration.  Gonna be a nice, fun episode!

* Once the episode starts properly, the officers fill the recruits in on the next mission while approaching their eventual destination in Storm Raider.  They’re informed of Jail, and the mission is security detail at an art auction which includes some approved Lost Logia.  Which makes me wonder what makes them approved.  They’ve been deemed harmless?  The scientists have all the tech they can get for them and need to recoup cost of research via artifact dealing?  They’ve been rendered completely inert?

* Subaru, I don’t think it’s generally a good idea to give superior officers pettings.

* Back to the briefing, the reason they’re going to provide security is there’s a concern that one of the Lost Logia might be misidentified as a relic by the Gadgets.  That and there’s usually some under the table dealings at big auctions anyway, so, you know, there’s that too.

* Caro is curious about what’s in the 3 small boxes next to them.  There’s a game show joke in here somewhere.

* To answer her question, let’s just say… “bomb casings”.  But more seriously, if they wanted to be subtle, they wouldn’t use their badge to get in or have uniformed troops outside.  The others would be dressed up too.  And if they’re not being subtle, they should have dress uniforms they can wear instead.  Oh well, why question fanservice?  Besides for the enjoyment of nerdy nitpicking.

* Wait, so Hayate’s Device being a “Book of Darkness” type named “Tome of Night Sky” is public knowledge, but everything else is classified?  This makes me wonder if they thought they could fool anybody who did the research for a few minutes.  It also makes me wonder if there are other “Book of Darkness” type Devices out there now. Just how popular a model is it? Actually, did it predate the incident on Earth, with early attempts to replicate the legendary feared planet destroyer in at least some scaled back form?  Or heck, was it a model that technically never went away entirely, it just became less popular after the BoD went haywire?  “Book of Darkness” actually being a recognized type raises so many questions…

* Tea muses on the nature of Riot Force 6, specifically how much power it actually has at its disposal, how Hayate has so many S rankers who answer personally to her for some reason, and how even the support staff are the young prodigies of their fields. And then she comes to the conclusion that she’s the only “average” one in the whole group, making her far behind the curve.

* The large hooded figure with the little purple-haired girl finally let’s his face be shown, showing that he is in a fact a he and apparently in the 30s-40s range at a guess. They’re nearby the auction, but the girl doesn’t sense what she’s after in there.

* A tiny mecha-bug lands on the girl’s finger and informs her that the Gadgets have arrived.  The thing looks like a little thumbtack with legs and a couple of insect wings.  Weird.

* Shamal picks up the enemy on her sensors and Signum sends Caro and Erio to form a defensive line with Tea as immediate command.

* Apparently the kids went all this time without knowing Zafira was one of them talking dogs.  I wonder how long he’s been able to con the recruits out of table scraps and belly rubs that way?

* We get a very abbreviated transformation sequence for Shamal, who is suddenly twirly, naked, then clothed again.  Boo! Give her a full one!

* Signum’s and Vita’s are a little more elaborate, but only just barely.  Have to admit I’m not feeling the love for the Wolkenritter’s transformations, here.

* The sponsors of the auction have been informed, but decided that an evacuation wasn’t feasible so they’re gonna stall until the danger is past and hope nobody notices. Not a very good plan as far as safety goes.

* And so the fight begins. Amusingly, it only takes Signum a single blow to take down one of the big orbs that gave Caro and Erio so much trouble two episodes ago.  Oh, and as Tea notes, they’re doing that with their limiters on.

* Jail calls up the hooded figures and we get names and titles for them, Knights Zest and Lutecia.  Jail admits it doesn’t look like the Relic is there, but asks the two to help him out with an “experiment” anyway.  Zest tells him to shove it, as their agreement states they don’t have to fight if a Relic isn’t involved.  Lutecia agrees though so Jail sends the specifics to her Device, Asclepius, which looks a lot like Caro’s only purple.

* Zest asks Lutecia if she’s sure about this, but she doesn’t have the same animosity he and “Agito” do towards the doc.  Then she makes with the summon magic among transparent and purple spotted tentacles, calling forth “insekt zug”.  This would apparently be a swarm of those little thumbtacks.

* The mecha-bugs fly into the far larger Gadgets, and suddenly they’re both stronger and far more competent.  What once ran purely on AI now has little pilots inside of them.

* Lutecia bypasses the front-line defenders entirely by teleporting the Gadgets straight to the hotel. Meanwhile Rein tries to locate the enemy summoner, only to discover that little thumbtacks that fly are actually a threat at her size.

* One of the bugs finds the mission objective, and Lutecia asks “Garyuu” for help.  Interesting that while she commands the small bugs, help from this second summon is a polite request.

* Holy crap, the big ones have missile launchers.

* Shamal gives the order to hold the line until Vita gets back from the front, but Tea argues that they need to go on the offensive.  Then Shamal warns her that she can’t handle as many blasts as she’s trying to make right now, but Tea claims she and Cross Mirage have this.  Then Shamal is proven right when a shot goes wild and the only reason Subaru didn’t subsequently get blasted out of the sky by one of Tea’s shots was Vita diving in for the save.

* Vita is absolutely livid at this, and commands both Tea and Subaru to stand down.  Yeah, Riot Force 6 might be casual about a lot of things, but they do not put up with disregarding orders and friendly fire.

* Meanwhile while everybody is busy with that the mostly unseen Garyuu breaks into the back of a truck in the parking garage and smashes one of the crates to get the briefcase inside. Sorry, Riot Force 6, but Mission Failed.

* Riot Force 6 isn’t actually aware of this though, so Hayate gives the kudos for a successful battle before bantering with a gentleman with long green hair named Inspector Acous.

* Nanoha and Fate are surprised to discover that the items of the auction are being introduced by Yuuno.

* Subaru tries to tell Tea it wasn’t her fault, but Tea just wants to be left alone right now, and not in the usual tsundere way of being grumpy.  Once Subaru is gone, she can have a mini-breakdown over the fact that yeah, it totally was her fault.  She screwed up bigtime, and everybody knows it.

 And that’s the end of the episode.  This one was OK, we got some nice action, a bit more of a look into some of the antagonists, and most importantly, a bit of insight into Tea’s self-esteem issues. Ones that aren’t going to be helped any by nearly killing her “tolerated friend” (i.e. obvious love interest) while going against a commander’s wishes twice over.  That’s gonna be a black mark on the record.