#if he was part Roma it might be why his mother took him as a toddler and fled fascist Italy

[arctic-hands]

Someone else on one of my genealogical groups asked for how to access records on the Service du travail obligatoire, France's slave labor program to Nazi Germany. I've been looking for online access to those records for years since I found my great-grandparents in the Arolsen Archive as forced laborers in Munich. I can't help this person because I still haven't found that resource so I'm throwing it out here, anyone know where I and this other person (whom I am presuming is also American) can find records or other resources?

[tethrarisms]

A long time ago, I saw a post of yours which mentioned you didn't like Waid's take on Doom. I just wanted to say that I personally warmed up to it a lot more after reading Waid's reasoning behind it here ( https://community.cbr.com/showthread.php?168363-Mark-Waid-s-Doctor-Doom-Manifesto-(plus-extra-material) ), and I figured if it made my reading experience of his Doom material more palatable, you might be interested in it, too. <3

Thank you so much for your insight and apologies in advance but this will entail an essay...

To be completely honest... I really disagree with some points of Waid's takes and I believe a reread wouldn't change my perspective, especially when I look at his reasoning. Let's see a few things he said:

1. "This is hardly A Great Insight, but the reason Doom became king of a nation and wants to expand his sovereignty is because the most expedient way to fool yourself into believing you have power is to control everything you see and pretend that nothing else is important."

Hm, no. Waid is completely ignoring Victor's whole context of being born Rromani. He didn't become king to fool himself, he did it because Latveria was ruled by the man who persecuted his mother, father and his people for decades.

Fortunov was a facist ruler who took notes from H*tler himself for leadership purposes. Despite losing both his mother and father, Victor remained with the Zefiro, growing and providing to his people by selling con trinkets to nobles. That's what put him on Fortunov's radar yet again, resulting in a second persecution.

(Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Books of Doom #1)

Like, yeah, he loves validation. He absolutely does, it does wonders to his ego. But we can't ignore the fact that HIS PEOPLE was persecuted and enslaved. He returned to set them free.

(Books of Doom #5)

2. "I think 'Doom the Noble' would tear the head off a newborn baby and eat it like an apple while his mother watched if it would somehow prove he were smarter than Reed.

I'm sorry but what the fuck did I just read? 😭 This is UTTERLY racist, picturing two Rromani people brutalizing a baby for petty reasons over a white man, like 💀 There's literally a racist stereotype that Roma people kidnap and eat children, so again, WHAT THE FUCK

Not to mention the fact that he also pictures Cynthia as evil (or at least conniving). Simply put, it's bullshit. Cynthia has never been evil. First of all, she made a pact with Mephisto in order to save her people from Fortunov's persecution. Obviously, she was tricked and her soul, doomed. But the moment she believed Victor's "betrayal" towards Stephen was real, she refused to be part of it and chose to remain in hell. That was precisely what saved her soul. She was redeemed, her light so strong that blinded Mephisto.

(Doctor Doom and Doctor Strange: Triumph and Torment)

3. "Why has even the pre-scarred Doom always been driven to be the smartest, the most clever, the best? Look at how he grew up! G****es are outcasts, derided and shunned; of course Doom grew up eager to prove himself."

Okay, this is plain racism.

4. "By the way, the truism that Victor von Doom is, despite his villainy, a noble man is absolute crap and I can point to about a thousand moments in Stan and Jack's run that bear this out."

WRONG.

Yes, Lee and Kirby's initial portrayal of Doom is the ol' cartoonish villain, similar to Magneto even. But it doesn't mean he didn't show signs of humanity and altruism, even within Lee's writing.

(Fantastic Four Annual #2 and Fantastic Four #17, only to mention a few examples from Lee. I have more from other stories whose editor was Lee himself. That is, he approved of those.)

I mean, yeah, I can see what Waid was going for. A very petty, amoral and one-layered Doom. But he contradicts himself by portraying him as a man without a heart, especially in the core material he claimed to be based on.

If anything, Victor is deeply flawed, which only adds MORE layers to him. Yes, he's driven by his obsession with Reed, but it boils down to a simplistic view of their complicated relationship. Victor is a lonely man. And having Reed around is the only way he finds purpose in his intellect. See, he says "equal of Reed Richards", not superior as it's often stated in future issues, which means he considers Reed his only worthy opponent.

--

That said... I'm sorry if it wasn't your intention, but reading his take on how he talks about Rroma people was the last nail in the coffin for me, honestly, especially when he uses a slur.

It's okay if people prefer their Doom to be full evil, really. But to ME, he's way more interesting when his layers are all considered, just like I prefer Magneto to have his background to justify his character's decisions. If not, they'd be just one-layered psychos like, say, Carnage. And again, it's fine if people enjoy this kind of characterization for Doom, but then I wouldn't have those tender moments between Val and Victor.

Thank you again for remembering of my old posts about Victor and sharing the link! I appreciate the kind gesture 💜 (and apologies if I sounded rude or anything, that one particular statement really bothered me :/ )

[writteninscarlet]

Her smile grew, allowing the amusement to show through. She was so used to being cautious - there had always been a reason to hide some part of her through her life, be it magic, Roma, mutant… Now Wanda held confidence well earned, yet it was difficult sometimes to just relax. But she would try her best now. “Good taste,” she responded, and she meant it.

There was some struggle or question in his mind. She didn’t need magic or telepathy to know that. She didn’t need to be an alternate mother for him either. Wanda thought he probably had a fairly good poker face when required, but it wasn’t quite good enough for her scrutiny yet. Part of her wishes to assist, but why be so pushy? No need to scare him off when a little guidance later would suffice.

Her smile remained and she gave a shrug, “I think I’m allergic to naps - never seems to work. Though I know a few people who almost instantly fall asleep. I might be slightly envious.”

A soft nod. Wanda took in the snippets of his father. Of what he’d heard. “Sounds about right. As long as people wake at the right time of their REM cycle, they can normally feel refreshed and— And I’m not about to start giving you a lecture or bore you with facts.” As an insomniac, even with medicine magical or prescribed, she’d read up on such things. Her smile was more relaxed now, at least. Comfortable.

She arched a brow, a silent way of questioning his answer but again she let it go. Not quite her place. So she accepted the words at face value for now. “I’m glad I’m past that stage - not that I actually sat such things, but probably for the best. Prep… science… exams… not my areas of expertise. So I definitely wish you luck.”

Hm. It was never good to jump right in to who she was or what she did - but she could sense the magic coming from him. It would have been stifling for some people.

She wouldn’t lie to Billy, any Billy. So she said the truth, just not all of it yet. “I run a shop. It’s small, and local, in a town called Lotkill. You know when you watch a horror or thriller the place is ‘never on any map’ or is middle of nowhere? That’s Lotkill - but it’s actually genuinely bright and nice. No horror show.” Wanda was tired but there was enough energy to give him a proper grin. “I collect things to sell - and harvest plants and medicine. I travel a lot and meet a lot of… people to do it. It’s specialised.” A little wiggle of her fingers and letting some magic loose - not visible, but testing the air. Maybe he was not yet open to sensing such things. She’d find out.

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, I'll always be a fan of The Haunting of Hill House. Blythe Manor, too," Billy said. He kept his tone friendly and jovial, aware that his first impressions weren't always the best. That's what dad said, anyway. The man was never a fan of the eyeliner or the nail polish, and he had some good points. He knew what a lot of people thought, especially older generations. But, come on. This day and age, he didn't care all that much. He had a pleasant tone and he could make it work for him.

He had to, now. Something about this meeting felt a bit different. He could recognize the color of her hair, the way her mouth moved. He'd seen it in the dreams he dismissed. But it couldn't be right. Right?

Ever since he found the damn puzzle piece - but it was all in his head. It wasn't real. He knew where he had been when those Hex walls went up. He had the proof. The evidence. All those dreams were in his head. His mother was gone, he'd never had a brother.

"Well, I know naps are for kids but I hear they're making a come back." Billy shrugged. "My dad claims to never have napped a day in his life, but I know for a fact that it's a lie. Just because you don't intend to fall asleep doesn't change the title given. You know, I read the perfect length of a nap is anywhere between like, twenty minutes to an hour and a half. You got a couch?"

The last words caught him off guard. It probably shouldn't have, he had asked her that. She would have every right to shoot it right back his way. He laughed it off. "Oh. I was up all night studying. SAT Prep, science. Other stuff."

Other stuff had taken up a good chunk, but come on. He wanted to impress Agatha, and honestly, it was more interesting to study anyway. Not that it mattered, dad didn't know or understand. He just thought it was some fancy new science the way that math had changed since he'd gone to school. Billy twisted his bracelet under his sleeve. "What sort of work? If I can ask."

[doctorhelena]

Anything that seems USO show related always has me going 👀👀👀, so Spies and Showgirls?

(For this WIP game)

It is indeed USO show related! This is a story in which Peggy is sent undercover on Steve's USO tour, after the SSR receives intel that someone on the tour is a Hydra mole trying to get access to the serum. 

Peggy is not undercover as a showgirl - she's in the role of Senator Brandt's representative/liaison on the tour (complete with an American accent that impresses Steve) - but she is posing as Steve's girlfriend in order to explain why they're spending so much time together.

I posted the first chapter for Steggy Week 2019, and then decided that I need to finish the whole thing before I post any more chapters, because there is a mystery plot regarding the Hydra mole and I don't want to accidentally write myself into a corner.

Anyway, I have been working on it on and off, and have most of four chapters written. (And I was recently re-inspired to get back to it, since it has a sudden new relevance after a certain recent scene in She Hulk! 😂)

Here's a snippet from Chapter 4, in which Steve meets his costume:

Steve frowned, but Kitty had disappeared into the general bustle as everyone found their belongings, chatted, made plans for the evening. George had disappeared, and Peggy, clipboard in hand, was still across the room speaking with the stage manager. Betty pushed herself up from where she was leaning on the motorcycle. “If you want to run your lines tonight, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of volunteers,” she said, stretching her shoulders. “Not me, though. I’m going to have a nice hot soak in the tub.” “I’m so sorry,” said Steve, wincing at the dark bruises already visible on both legs and one arm. Betty shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t all your fault.” She smiled at him. “Anyway, they’re only bruises. We dancers are tougher than we look. Check out a ballerina’s toes some time.” “I can help you with your lines,” offered Dot, tucking a red-blonde curl behind her ear and regarding him through her eyelashes. “Gosh, I know exactly you you feel. It took me ages to memorize the ‘Star-Spangled Man with a Plan’ song.” Steve took a cautious step back. Roma snorted. “Dot, his girl is right over there.” She stretched her back like a cat, and Steve could hear the joints in her spine crack. “Yes, and she’s perfectly capable of helping him run his lines,” said Peggy, giving Dot a dirty look as she joined them. She took Steve’s arm. “Now, the particularly handy thing about your costume,” she said, “is that it comes with a shield big enough for you to simply paste your lines on the inside. Problem solved. Now you can take me to dinner.” Dot looked impressed. “Huh. I never would have thought of that.” Peggy shrugged. “Necessity is the mother of invention, and I’m starving.” She kept her arm linked with Steve’s as they left the stage and strolled down the hall towards Wardrobe. “So, do you feel ready for the big time?” she asked. “I have to admit, the motorcycle trick is rather impressive.” “Aside from the part where I nearly killed Betty?” he asked, wryly, and she squeezed his forearm and glanced around the nearly-empty hallway. “She’ll be fine. And you’re doing quite well, all things considered. I don’t think you’ve bumped into a single thing today.” She was right, he realized, which cheered him up considerably until he saw the costume. It was even worse than he’d been imagining. There were indeed tights, worn under very short shorts that did nothing to provide even the illusion of modesty. The top half featured a red and white striped waist panel that looked like it might have been cut from a circus tent, and unfortunately Roma hadn’t been kidding about the little stuffed wings protruding from either side of the head. “Oh, it’s not that bad,” said Peggy, when he emerged from behind the dressing screen. “You’re showing far less skin than the showgirls are.” He noticed, though, that her eyes kept straying to his backside, which, he told himself firmly, was just an example of her attention to detail in maintaining her cover.

[peachscribe]

peach’s summer book list

i had a lot of fun compiling the list of books i read during the 20-21 winter, so i decided i would do a summer one as well! i still have a lot of books i own but haven’t read, so im definitely not lacking in material

if you didn’t see my winter list, how my book list works is basically like this: i read a book that i own but have not previously read, write a short summary immediately after finishing the book, write down my thoughts on the book, and then provide a rating for the book. i also might include background info on why i read this particular book/feelings about the author, but that depends on the book. that’s how each entry works

without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

okay so i absolutely adore another book by andrew smith (written after grasshopper jungle) called the alex crow. it’s one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally i wanted to see if grasshopper jungle would make me feel similarly. just like the alex crow, grasshopper jungle’s plot is. so fucking weird. it stars austin szerba, a teenage polish kid who lives in ealing, iowa, and is often sexually confused regarding his girlfriend shann and his best friend robby. and in ealing, iowa, austin and robby accidentally and unknowingly unleash an unstoppable army of huge six-foot-tall praying mantis bugs that only want to do two things: fuck and eat. and i just have to say: andrew smith’s got an absolutely dynamo writing style. alex crow is similar, where it’s a book about kind of everything all at once, framed in a moment centering around teenage boys. it’s fantastic, and it’s more than a little gross, and i love it. this book made me feel so many things, and i thought austin was such an amazing narrator and main character to identify with. this book has it all: shitty teenage boy humor, fucked up science experiments, and poetic imagery that will make you want to cry. and explicit lgbt characters.

412/10 andrew smith what do you put in your water i just want to know

2. Burn by Patrick Ness

patrick ness has written a plethora of some of my favorite books (such as a monster calls, the chaos walking trilogy, and the rest of us just live here) so when i saw this one in the store i knew it would be a great one. burn is an alternate history fantasy that takes place in 1957 frome, washington, during the height of the cold war, and it begins with a girl named sarah and her father hiring a dragon to help out on their farm. but there’s not just dragons, farm living, and cold war tensions; there’s also a really shitty small town cop, a cult of dragon worshippers and their deadly teenage assassin, a pair of fbi agents, and a prophecy that sarah’s newly hired dragon claims she’s a part of. i think eoin colfer’s highfire was on my winter list, which also featured a story that included dragons and shitty cops, so when i first began burn i thought it was funny to have two books that had both things. you know, if you had a nickel etc etc. but that’s really where the similarities end because burn is entirely it’s own monster (dragon). burn is entirely invested in its world, and its fascinating. not only that, i had no clue where the book would take me next. there were so many surprises and amazing twists that honestly just blew me away. this book also includes beautifully written complicated discussions on family, race, and love - it features interracial and queer romances as the two most prominent romance plots which was such a nice surprise from a book i wasn’t expecting to have that kind of representation. this book is witty, fast-paced, and a very heartening read - i absolutely adored it.

9/10 dragons and becoming motivated by the power of love and friendship are so fucking cool

3. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

i hate this book! as meat loves salt is a historical fiction novel which takes place in seventeenth century england, which is going through a grisly civil war. the protagonist, jacob cullen, is a servant for a wealthy household and is engaged to another servant in the house. but due to certain events that are almost entirely jacob’s fault, he flees the house and is separated from his wife. from there, he joins the royal army and meets a kind soldier, ferris, and the two become fast friends. jacob and ferris’s relationship begins to bridge past friendly, and jacob struggles with his homoerotic feelings as well as the growing obsession and violence inside him. also, they try to start a colony. listen, i don’t know how to describe the book because so much happens, but it basically just follows jacob and all the terrible decisions he makes because he is, truly, a terrible person. ferris is kind and good, and jacob is scum of the earth. he sucks so bad. the entire time i was reading this book (which took absolutely so long), all i wanted was for jacob to just get his ass handed to him. i wanted to see him suffer. and it’s not like i just personally don’t like him - i believe the book purposefully depicts him as unsympathetic even though he is the narrator. i did enjoy the very in depth and accurate portrayal of what life would’ve been like in seventeenth century england, and i think it was interesting to read a character that is just the absolute worst person you’ve ever encountered and see him try and justify his actions, so if you enjoy that kind of thorough writing, then this book would be perfect for you. however, i did not see that bitch ass motherfucker jacob cullen suffer enough. i’d kill him with my bare hands.

2/10 diversity win! the worst man on earth is mlm!

4. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

i know ive had a friend tell me how great one of schwab’s other book series is, but truthfully i bought this book because the cover is sick as hell and it was on a table in the store that advertised for buy two get one free, i think. something like that. anyway, this savage song takes place in a future in which monsters, for whatever reason, suddenly became real and out for blood in a mysterious event nicknamed the phenomenon. august flynn is one of these monsters, but he takes no pride in that fact and only wants to feel human. kate harker is the daughter of a ruthless man and is trying her hardest to be ruthless, too, but deep down she knows it’s just an act. their city, verity, stands divided, and kate and august stand on either side - but when august is sent on a mission to befriend kate in the hopes of stopping an all out war, the lines begin to blur. this book rules. august and kate are such interesting and dynamic characters, and the narrative is familiar while still being capable of twisting the story around and taking the feet out from under you in really compelling ways. this savage song is part of the monsters of verity duology, and i can’t wait to dive into how the story continues and finishes.

11/10 sometimes you can judge a book by it’s cover

4a. Our Dark Duet by Victorian Schwab

this is the sequel and finale for this savage song and i’d figure i’d update everyone: fantastic ending, beautiful, showstopping, painful.

12/10 loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for schwab’s other books

5. White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

oh boy. okay. white is for witching is about a house, and it is about the women who have lived inside of it. when her mother dies abroad, miranda silver begins to act strangely, and there’s nothing her father or her twin brother seem to be able to do about it. she develops an eating disorder and begins to hear voices in the silver family house, converted to a bed and breakfast by miranda’s dad; and she begins to lose herself in the house and the persistent presence of her family legacy. white is for witching switches perspective dizzingly and disorientingly between miranda, her twin eliot, miranda’s friend from school named ore, and the house itself. this story is a horror story as much as it as a tragedy as much as it is a romance as much as it is a bunch of other things. oyeyemi brings race, sexuality, nationality, and family into this story and forces you not to look away. this book is poetry.

(like i mentioned briefly, this book heavily deals with topics of race and closely follows miranda’s eating disorder. read responsibly, and take care of yourselves)

15/10 this book consumed me and i think i’ll have to read it another 10 more times to feel it properly

6. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

okay. okay. strap in for a ride. these violent delights is a romeo and juliet style story, taking place in glittering 1920’s shanghai. the city stands divided - not only between the foreign powers encroaching on chinese land, but also between the scarlet gang and the white flowers, who are at the height of a generations-long blood feud. juliette cai, heir to the scarlets, has recently returned from four years abroad and is determined to prove herself ruthless enough to lead. roma montagov, heir to the white flowers, is standing strenuously on his place as next in line due to a slip up four years prior and is desperate to keep hold of his title. and in the midst of juliette and roma’s burning history with each other threatening to combust, an unnatural monster lurks in the waters of shanghai, loosing a madness on scarlets and white flowers alike. this book has it all - scorned ex lovers, political intrigue, deadly monsters, and all set on a glamorous backdrop of the roaring twenties. i absolutely was enraptured by this book and the way it plays around the story of romeo and juliet so well that it easily became it’s own monster, but with the punches and embraces of something classically shakespearan. gong does just an absolutely breathtaking job of fitting this fantastical story amid the larger world of shanghai and the real life historical events that had shaken the city to its core. completely immersive and outstandingly heart racing.

17/10 i was chewing on my fingernails for the last thirty pages and will continue to do so until the sequel is released (our violent ends, 16 nov 21)

7. The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino

you ever heard of the american dysfunctional family story? this is most definitely that. at the same time george westfall’s cancer takes a turn for the worse, a hurricane hits the east coast, and suddenly all at once the issues of his health, the hurricane, and all three of his children’s achingly dysfunctional adult lives are crashing into each other. reunited by george’s death, the westfall siblings have to face their grief, each other, and the problems in their own lives they attempted to put on hold while planning their father’s memorial. this is a nice story about grief and loss and love and somehow finding the humor amidst it all.

(this book does include a depiction of an autistic child who does experience several pretty bad meltdowns due to ignorant people around him not understanding how to cater to his needs. im not an authority on what depictions are or are not harmful, but i do believe this depiction is ultimately loving and well-intended.)

7/10 it made me laugh and cry and was generally one of those books that somehow hit you close to home

8. Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

fierce fairytales is a poetry anthology that reimagines classic fairytales from a modern, feminist viewpoint, acknowledging that the line between hero and villain, monster and damsel, are not as clear cut as the classics try to make you believe. this book also includes illustrations done by the author herself, which i think is really cool. my personal favorite story reimagining was the story of peter pan and captain hook, called ‘boy lost’ which looked at how peter and hook’s relationship began and rotted. all in all, i think this collection of stories had a lot of important things to say and said them in frank, easy to understand poetry and prose.

7/10 beautiful message and pretty prose, but at times a little cliche

and that’s all from the summer! my fall semester starts tomorrow, and overall i feel very good about all the reading i did this summer. i even read four other books not on this list for work! so i definitely feel like i made the most out of my time, and im really glad i was able to read so many stories that made me feel a variety of different things

thanks so much for reading this list, and let me know if you read or have read any of these books and tell me what you think of them!

happy reading<3

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids) (8/8) or (13/13)

Blood of Olympus pt.2 - The War

Hello! If you're here, it means you probably already know - but check the masterpost for both warnings and the other twelve parts.

I want to thank everyone who followed this fanfic? Imagine? AU? for the month it took us to get here. Tell me what you thought about it, if there's anything you are anxious to see in the epilogue - yes, we'll have an epilogue!

If you like my writing, you might be happy to know that I'm starting another AU - same style, no patience for prose - this time, a daughter of Zeus! Percy. Don't worry - it bares almost no similarities to this, and part 1 will be out before the epilogue, so stay tuned. For now, good reading :))

Maybe it was the death of Malcolm, but after that night, there was something different about the crew of the Argo II. Their journey to Gaea changed them.

Will notifies them as soon as morning rises, leaving Annabeth secluded in her room and Perseus to whatever was happening upstairs - they are told not to interfere.

No one knows exactly what happened on the deck between Perseus and whoever dared to attack them - there is nothing there but sea salt and dried ichor when Frank goes to take his shift.

The screams will haunt him for the rest of his life - they pleaded for mercy, but after this journey, no one in here is a merciful person.

There's an aura - an aura Frank recognizes well, for it clogged around Hazel in her first days in Nova Roma. An aura of death. Perseus is looking at the sunrise, cleaning his gold-stained ax.

He looks happy - for the first time since Tartarus, he is humming a melody to some song that Frank is pretty sure is from Disney. Percy grins at Frank.

"Hey, man."

Frank doesn't ask. He trusts Perseus - Perseus took a whip to the back, side by side with him. Perseus fell on Tartarus for his best friend. Perseus would give his life for any of them. The son of Mars Ultor is sure he did what he had to do.

It still spooks him a little when Perseus leaves, whistling what he now recognizes as Fathoms Bellow.

They're journeying to Delos - for more half a day - and then, finally, to Athens. Frank wonders if the monsters are too afraid of them - or if Gaea just told them to stop attacking.

The fact is that, for several hours, no monster touches them again. Might be the death air encapsulating the ship's bow. Might just be their reputation.

With nothing to do, Frank watches as the sun rises and his friends starting to walk around.

Leo has no fixed hours - so he might be either awakening or going to sleep. He crosses through Frank in his post and rambles for a second - the Legionis thinks it's cute.

Leo crosses Hazel - she never wakes past eight unless she had a night shift - who is probably going to breakfast. They exchange a kiss, and Frank's heart aches.

Hazel stops to talk with Jason - the last one awake, since Perseus and Will are probably sleeping, Annabeth still hasn't left her room, and Nico and Piper went to their room after the morning announcements - probably to grief.

The blonde is uncharacteristically serious for such an early hour, but with recent news, it's expected. Frank goes back to look at the sea - and wonder if any of them will ever be free of this.

The two of them retract to the war room - to plan the attack on Gaea. They are at a serious disadvantage. It might be better for them to ride back to Long Island and try to unit the camps and plan a war - just like they did with Kronos/Mount Otris.

It's very improbable that Gaea will give the same considerations to put Manhattan to sleep. Kronos wanted power - not to destroy humanity. Gaea is a nesting mother who lost her kids - she wants chaos.

But with all giants here - wouldn't be easier to do this here? Even if they have no support whatsoever? If they tailed back to Long Island, would the giants run rampant through Europe?

They wait until after lunch - when everyone is more or less up - to congregate and vote.

"There are seventeen giants - one for each Olympian plus Trivia, Proserpina, and the Fates, except for Dyonisus who has two and the twins who share two - and nine of us."

"Fifteen" Retorts Percy from his place opposite to Jason "I killed Aristaeus - the bane of Proserpina - yesterday. And the bane of Ares... Damasen... he was a good giant. He didn't reform."

Jason doesn't argue - Perseus was the one on Tartarus - even though he wants to ask who helped him kill the giant - and if he killed them afterward.

Fifteen is still a staggering number of giants. They have no chance alone - so after Delos, they solve to make their last stand on Camp Half-Blood.

Will, Perseus, and Jason are the ones to go down to the small island. Finding Apollo is exceptionally easy: it's just a matter of following the sound of the lyre.

He laughs at their request - full-blown laugh. Jason wants to punch him - the world is ending.

"There's no need for flowers. You already have the Physician's Cure. This is a name my son gave to his union to Zagreus - life and death."

Jason wants to scream. He wants to kill Nike - who is in her island, chilling after sending them in a goose chase. But Perseus and Will are already miles ahead of him - whatever happened last night unlocked something in him, even if the gloves never left.

"You'll come to Long Island. You'll fight - for as long as needed - against Orion and Gration." It's Will - defying his own father. Jason doesn't know if he has the courage.

"Promise - on your immortality, because I don't trust the Styx."

"I could still evaporate you"

"You won't. You need us too much."

Apollo promises - maybe because he sees everything and knows more than Jason about whatever will happen, maybe because that ax still bears gold in it - and exchanges some words with Will that neither of them hear as they walk back on board to tell the news.

Will and Percy disappear into a room - it makes something stir in Jason's stomach, as he remembers that he no longer knows this Perseus, but the one he knows, he loves.

Will and Perseus talk for hours - before being invaded by Leo - only to keep talking until the next morning.

"Change course to Athens. We have the Physician's Cure. Gaea will rampage through Europe. Hercules is on her side. There's no way we can go back now."

They agree - there's no crossing Hercules little island again.

An IM from Reyna cements their decision. A group of demigods serving Gaea - including the Censor that unjustly tried Hazel and was exiled - tried ambushing she and her sister - but the Amazons and the Hunters won against them. Thalia is alive - and she drove an arrow through Gwen's eye, the traitor in Nova Roma.

The Hunters called the Pegasi - and they all set course to Athens - while Reyna followed the statue who set course by the sea. Pegasus himself is going to Athens - he fought once against the Giants, he would do again.

They reach Athens in a little more than five hours. It's the last day of their time - and they are ambushed as soon as they cross the Parthenon.

They fight well - Gaea wants Perseus and Piper, so they rally around them.

Perseus is a fighting beast himself, but he is overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters and unable to help others. He kills the Minotaur once again - the armies of monsters are almost endless - is the battle of Manhattan all over again.

Piper strikes against the three gorgons - Medusa can't petrify anyone without petrifying her own allies - and keeps the head as a prize.

Nico is in the sky - he looks like part of the storm. The flying monsters rally around him, but Nico doesn't disappoint - his sword cuts through them like butter.

In the end, the nine annihilate the whole army - Gaea has just her giants now.

But in the fray, two griffins escape - carrying with them Jason and Hazel. Now they have no option but to follow.

Perseus almost hits his head on the wall. Why was he so dumb? Gaea was playing them. Gender had nothing to do with the sacrifice - it's just one of the sea, one of the earth. And Hazel, as much as she is a daughter of the sky, her powers exist on earth.

He could deal with the bounty hunt on him. Even on Piper - just a person to protect - but not on two. He was not expecting this. Perseus thinks Gaea must be laughing right now.

He feels guilt creep on him. That was his plan, and now two of his best friends are gone in the sky. Leo looks even worse than him - he is weeping as if the two demigods are already dead. They probably are.

Annabeth takes the reins - and they fly to the Acropolis quicker than ever. The ship slams against the ground - it probably needs repairs. But they are here.

Jason doesn't remember feeling that much pain. He wakes up, chained in a sacrificial altar, Hazel just behind him. Their powers don't answer - the chains are as dark as Perseus' ax: stygian iron. In front of them, Porphyrion and Polybotes laugh.

"We'll be glad to offer your fathers your severed heads"

He wishes to talk back - but his mouth doesn't work. It's Clytius taking his voice away, right behind them - holding a scyther that is not unfamiliar. Is the same scyther that took Uranus manhood - the same one that cut him to pieces and reduced him to the sky.

"We take an arm from the daughter of the earth, blood and flesh, so that her connection with the ground is given to our Mother, so she is able to reclaim her dominion."

There's blood everywhere. Hazel's left arm is twitching on the floor, and she lets out an ear-splitting scream, before passing out.

"We take the ability from reproduce from the son of the sea, blood and flesh, so that his fertility will be given to our Mother, so she is able to reproduce again, the ability his father took from her."

Jason feels like the world is spinning. They will... they... they want to castrate him. He sees Hazel's blood staining the marble and the floor, running through his skin, and he wants to vomit - but something is preventing him from doing so.

Hazel is paling fast - she'll be dead in thirty minutes if they don't stop the bleeding. But he can't move. He can't help. A scream strangles in his throat.

If Hazel's voice was able to cut through Clytius magic, would his powers too? If he focused enough if he stretched himself enough.

Jason forces himself to stop thinking about the chanting, and focus. He imagines Nico - with no family, losing Hazel. Or Frank and Leo. Or Perseus. He pushes and pushes.

He doesn't find a source of water - but he feels her blood. He can stop it from coming out - just for a second, just for a minute, just until they rescue them.

They are going to rescue them. They are - none of them are dying today. They have to survive this war.

Jason focuses his thoughts on good things. After this, he is going to go to college. He is going to spend time with his sister. He'll work on greek-roman relations. He'll ask the male Praetor on a date. He'll punch Octavian. Everything will be just fine.

The scyther is just over Clytius head, ready to strike when an arrow takes its place in his eye. Thalia, mounted on Pegasus, barges in. The horse is bigger than Clytius - and he takes their chains, before flying off to the arena.

Thalia cuts his chains - throwing a gladius at him. Hazel is still passed out - curled into herself in the ground. Jason stands before her, still doing his best to keep her blood inside. It won't work for long.

The giants follow them - but to no effect. The ship crashes between them, the demigods jumping off - armed to the teeth. With a scream of war, the Amazons and the other Hunters come flying in their own Pegasi.

Reyna is not with them - Jason hopes, not for the first time, that the demigod settlements are in peace. That they won't have to deal with two battlefronts.

It's not the time for petty wars. They should be here, helping, if they were not caught up in past fights of over a hundred years ago. Gaea is much more urgent than whatever they are debating.

These fighters are not enough - they are fighting a losing battle. No gods are coming, and between immortal hunters and Amazons, no one is a deity.

Jason starts thinking he is hallucinating - wishful thinking - for the sky opens, and from there descents all the Olympians and Hecate. Nike is the first to appear, guiding the chariot of Zeus, a scream of battle in her lips.

Juno is in a chariot guided by peacocks. Behind her, Aphrodite - that's not Venus, but Jason has never seen Aphrodite so ready for war. There are no doves or flowers in her - just a giant bow and arrow and a spear, riding in a horse side by side with her husband and her lover.

All twelve Olympians, plus Hades, plus the Fates, plus Trivia, Nike, Juventa, Bia, and Enyo. Proserpina is not there - nor the court of Atlantis.

Jason can't help but think is too little too late. Why they didn't show before? Before Hazel lost her leg? Before Malcolm died? Before Perseus fell? Before this journey took everything from them?

The gods pair off with their children - Hades with Perseus, Athena with Annabeth, Aphrodite with Piper, Mars with Frank, Zeus with Nico, Hephaestus with Leo, Juno with Hylla, Thalia with Poseidon.

Before pairing with Will - who looks reluctant to do it - Apollo comes to them. Jason is good enough to go - but he won't leave Hazel.

"I can't regrow her arm - not here, not now. And never, if it has been amputated by a titan weapon. The best I can do is close it."

Jason is so tired of the gods being unable to do stuff they should be capable of, but he sighs and nods. Hazel's color starts coming back, even if she doesn't wake up.

It's Trivia who comes to take the place of Jason. He stalls - he doesn't trust any deity anymore with the well-being of his friends - but they are not much, and they need him to fight. He joins Ceres as she raises a sickle to go against her bane - Asterius.

The hunters follow their mistress and Amazons divide themselves between the remaining gods - Dyonisus and Mercury - and they attack.

It's not enough. They are stretched too thin. Clytius is the only fallen one after thirty minutes of battle - Trivia burns him down in rage for her acolyte and makes a still groggy Hazel make a little cut on so he dissolves.

Perseus fights alongside his father, mounting Mrs. O'Leary as he does Cerberus. Small Bob can't die unless struck by celestial bronze, so the giant's effort to kill the creature is useless. Both of them don't hold back. It's the first time he really remembers his training with the Lord of the Dead. But mostly, he remembers Persephone too, and the gardens of the Underworld.

Percy has to go back to her. To his stepmom, and his mom, and his other stepmom. He has to go back to his life - the life he can barely remember now, but that was everything for him.

He has to go back to the gardens and the lakes, to blue cookies and bare feet. At least one of the rulers had to be in the Underworld, so Persephone is waiting for them to come back.

It gives Perseus strength. They have to win, so the earth can prosper - so that they can go back to the Underworld. So he can meet Thanatos, and play with Cerberus, and debate with Charon. So that they can be a family.

They keep fighting, but even with Perseus renewed will, there's no winning. Alcyoneus retorts them blow for blow and they tire quickly. Hades turns to him - there's a grim expression in his face when he throws his helmet to Perseus.

Perseus notices to late what his father is about to do - and is unable to prevent it.

"FATHER"

It's the first time he recognizes it. Hades has always been the lord of the dead to him - he only ever called him father in mockery. But this time, it's yelled in anguish.

"Tell Kore that I love her."

A giant blow from the Lord of the Dead makes both of them stumble. The giant falls to the floor, but not before running his sword through Hades' neck.

It's the first god to fall, and when Perseus cuts Alcyoneus' head in return, he stays dead. But it's not enough, because Hades is dead.

He'll have to tell Kore. Kore that loves Hades so much that she leaves the surface for months on end to stay with him. He'll have to tell her that he wasn't enough to save Hades.

Cerberus whine loudly and tries to wake his master - he sniffs at the ground soiled by ichor. No giant is able to approach the body or Perseus - Cerberus growls at every enemy who tries. Small Bob stays by his side, fighting alongside him.

A tear escapes his eye. After so much time, so much resentment, he didn't think he would care. His father lies on the floor like a puppet with the strings cut - and Perseus rages. He closes his father's eyes but doesn't stop - there's still a war going on, so he puts on the Helm of Darkness and goes on to join Ceres and Jason.

A scream rings through the arena - is Poseidon, noticing his oldest brother is gone. He throws his trident at Polybotes head - between him and Thalia, the giant is gone in the next ten minutes.

The god of the sea runs through the field, stepping through dead bodies and avoiding the corner where Trivia is taking care of Hazel. He clutches his brother's prone body and cries, ichor staining his clothes. Cerberus whines at his sound - it's heartbreaking.

Across the field, all four siblings cry together for their fallen brother, but none of them as badly as Poseidon. There's a cold spreading through the field - and soon enough, the sky opens again.

It's Vesta. The last Olympian - the one who stayed behind to tend to the hearth. But now, she looked as fiery as her nephew - descending from the sky with no armor or chariot. The eldest child.

Family - that's Vesta domain. Perseus never saw her fight, but she does this time - throwing herself against the closest giant - Gration.

But Hades is not the last to fall.

Between Jason and Perseus, there's no match for Asterius. Ceres cuts his head off, still sobbing for her son-in-law and brother, sobbing for her widowed child. It doesn't help when her sister falls by her side - Juno, in full battle armor, is cut in half by Eurymedon.

Perseus thinks it might be a scene worthy of being painted - her lifeless eyes stare at the sky, as her crown rolls off her and stops at the giant's feet. Hylla keeps on fighting - now joined by her mother, who changes from Enyo to Bellona.

Zeus, in rage for his wife's death, kills Porphyrion before striking against Eurymedon with his general and her daughter. Nico, even if he never cared for Juno, follows suit - there's a path of destruction behind them, where lightning bolts hit the floor and filled the ground with craters.

Dyonisus kills Elphiates with his oldest daughter by his side, but his brother doesn't die as easily. Athena is still fighting against Enceladus - Annabeth striking the giant from all angles, in perfect synchrony with her mother, with help from Nike, who shields them both with her wings.

Mars and Mercury fight against Hippolytus - but he is faster than even the god of travelers, and evade them at every turn. Frank is a dragon, and then an elephant, and a snake - but nothing hits the giant.

After a blow on the arm by Bia, Periboea spears the still masculine body of Piper. Her blood falls from in-between her legs as Aphrodite - scarier than even Ares - runs her spear through the giantess's eye, killing her.

To save her daughter, Aphrodite shifts her completely into a girl - it's jarring, and something that takes adaptation, but the only way she can keep fighting without dropping.

But it's too late, the damage is done. Gaea is awake, by the seed of a daughter of the sea. Perseus exchanges a look with Leo through the fray - Mimas is just defeated, as Hephaestus smashed his head in with his hammer, but he regenerates quickly as if nothing happened.

There's no winning anymore. The fallen giants don't rise again - the Doors are closed - but the seven remaining ones don't die either - Enceladus, Eurymedon, Orion, Mimas, Otis, Hippolytus, and Thoon - their mother healing all their injuries.

The gods that killed their banes rally together against Gaea - but it's futile. It's just like Perseus in Tartarus - there's no battling a primordial in their own turf.

Will leaves his father to battle Orion, with his sister and the hunters - as Gration lays, probably dead, across the feet of his brother, courtesy of Vesta - and joins the duo.

The three of them sprint through the muddy ground, and onto Festus. There's no winning from Gaea on the ground - but they might have one way.

"Don't let me die, okay?"

Will and Percy join hands across Leo's forehead - and try to bless him the best they can, without being gods themselves. A green sheen covers Leo - and this might be it.

Leo mounts Festus - now again a giant dragon - and rises to the sky. It is enough to attract the Earth. She leaves her battle against Vesta, Aphrodite, Bia, Poseidon, and Ceres - to go after the dragon.

"Trying to escape me, my little demigod?"

An explosion of fire rocks the sky. It's not enough to kill Gaea, but between Zeus' thunder and Leo's explosion, the primordial is unconscious.

Perseus focuses - on keeping Leo's soul in his body. Will, by his side, shines as Apollo himself - there's a sheen of sweat in his face. It might've worked

None of them have the power to kill her now - just the union of all the remaining Olympians would even be capable of rendering her asleep again.

They can't find Festus or Leo - Perseus renders this as a good sign, the sign that their powers were enough.

But for now, with her unconscious, she can't heal the giants. So the remaining gods do quick work of killing them - the last to fall is Eurymedon, with Zeus' bolt across his forehead.

The king of the gods falls on his knees and weeps. Juno is dead. Hades is dead. There are six hunters and twenty amazons remaining - from tens and hundreds.

Mrs. O'Leary died - from a stray arrow. Cerberus paws the ground where her dust is - Perseus can't even imagine his puppy back on Tartarus.

Nike - both wings pointing into different sides, spine broken by Enceladus foot - is sprawled on the ground. Her unblinking eyes stare at Athena, who is holding her hand.

"Did... did we... win?"

"Y-yes"

"Give them the... the crowns... don't forget..."

"I won't"

"There's no... no friends.... in victory. I wish I had... someone."

"I am your friend, Nike"

"My best one... don't let them forget.... champions don't die..."

"Never"

She gags in her own blood. It drips around her chin. It's the first time Perseus sees Athena cry. It hits him - they, all of them, have known each other for thousands of years.

Mars is crying by his mother's head, his spear broken on his feet. Juventa, burned blonde hair blowing around her face, hugs Hephaestus as he cries for their mother - the one that never cared for them, but that was their mother anyway.

Vesta has Hades head on her lap, while his body lays broken on the floor. Ceres is trying to calm Poseidon - but the god of the sea can't stop crying.

On the other side of the Arena, most demigods are together around Hazel - Will is explaining about Leo, but most of them look hopeless. Hazel is crying in Frank's arms.

Eight of them are here - Hazel is missing an arm, Piper went through a jarring body change and Frank has a broken leg - but eight of them are alive, and there's hope for Leo.

Perseus stands in the middle - not joining the gods or the demigods. He looks at the ichor stained floor, the upcoming battle against Gaea looming. Cerberus and Small Bob are together on each side of him.

Apollo - from where he is laying with his unconscious, but alive, sister - raises to help the demigods. None of them are happy about any godly presence - but they need treatment, so they let it happen.

Perseus is the first to break the silence after everyone is healed. Some gods are still crying - but there's no time for grief now. He doesn't look at where his father lays dead - he can't process this right now.

"We... we need to go. To Long Island. We need reinforcements - the war isn't over."

"We need to recharge" Is Hephaestus that retorts "There's no way we can fight right now. Maybe in a day or so but..."

"I don't think we have this time." Jason points "We could try and stall things, prepare... Can you send us there?"

"I can" Say Pegasus, who was fighting alongside Thalia.

Perseus wants not to care. To say that Juno or Nike deserved it. But it's not fair - not even them deserve to die, to go back to the void or Tartarus to reform or be lost for centuries.

Annabeth, however, sits in her corner with the ghost of a smile in her lips - so many demigod's lifes lost for them, for their petty struggles, and now they have to pay the price too. Everyone is paying the price now.

If they helped before, if they didn't spend months cooperating with Juno's useless plan, perhaps now no one would be dead. They could have united the demigods without waisting eight months on stupid missions to kill giants - just for them to come back.

If they stopped thinking about their "oh so bad" split personalities, maybe they could've made this journey quicker, instead of letting them spend two months going in side-quests, fighting minor gods, and retrieving useless information.

So yes, Annabeth is vindicated. This - all of this, those deaths, the ichor soiling the ground - it's their fault.

Piper feels tired. This - this body, this recognition from her mother - is all she ever wanted. But now that she has it, she can't even appreciate it. Was it worth it? She would give everything back for Perseus' leg, Hazel's arm, Malcolm, Leo.

She looks at their mismatched little family - and remembers that yesterday, they had lunch together - all of them. It was not the best moment, but they were laughing.

They could've been happy. If they weren't demigods, most of them would be in college by now. They wouldn't be broken.

Perseus solves to travel by shadows with Cerberus - he still has his father's Helm, and the immortal horse won't let him mount with it. He feels sick - that's his father's dog and his father's armor. But that's their chance of survival.

No god look at him when he melts into the darkness - it's too fresh, too painful. Part of their family is dead.

She jumps on the Pegasus, holding Hazel up - she can barely hold on to her brother in front of her. The wound is closed, but the daughter of Jupiter is off-balance - there's nothing on her right side.

Hazel closes her eyes and rests her head across Nico's back - she is so tired. Leo is gone - maybe forever - and she doesn't have an arm. There's nothing there - nothing. She goes to move and she forgets it for a second - but then she tries to hold tighter to Nico and can't.

Nico feels his sister's tears on the back of his shirt and holds tight to Frank - who is almost strangling Will in his efforts not to panic - he is flying over the sea.

Jason is behind Piper - he is the last one - and he is much more comfortable. That's his half brother after all.

They land in Long Island after ten painful hours - and Will seethes, because their journey could have been so easy, so small - but the gods were too occupied by their insignificant problems that they had to journey for months.

One after the other, they dismount just shy of the river - Jason thinks the naiads look mad when Frank vomits all over their water.

"Flying on a ship is a thing. Flying on a horse is another."

He stills looks queasy when they cross the Pavillion. There's no one there, which is weird because it's morning. There's no one anywhere.

Perseus - powered by the Helm - is the first to get there - almost two hours before them. And the first thing he listens makes him utterly mad.

"Give our soldiers back - or Nova Roma will strike back!"

It's Octavian's voice coming from the hill that harbors Thalia's tree - and Perseus sighs. He looks at himself - he needs a shower, and sleep, and food. They need traps. They don't need a second war.

He is in no condition to fight right now. So he'll have to put his diplomatic skills to use - just the reminder of his father's death sparks a dull pain in his chest - still covered in ichor and dust, his ax slung over his shoulder.

Cerberus stays by his side. Perseus sends Small Bob to Persephone through the old Labyrinth entrance - he needs the big dog, but the skeleton tiger would just be easy prey.

"TWELVE LEGION, STOP"

Perseus looks mightly tired as he takes on the scene - the greeks following Clarisse, Connor, and Lou, the Romans following Octavian and Mike Kahale. Reyna between them, with the gigantic statue.

The demigod looks between his first and his second family, none that he ever fit right, both of which he was the leader, and hold on to Cerberus.

"We - and by we, I mean nine of us, greeks and Romans, the Amazons, and the hunters - just defeated fifteen giants, with the gods. In Athens. We could've - and should've - had reinforcements."

"Percy-" Connor starts, but Percy raises a hand to stop him. There are shadows curling against his arms - his celestial bronze leg shines under the Athena Parthenos.

"I may have been gone for a while, but I'm still your leader - and their Praetor. You choose me to lead - both of you. Me, and Reyna, and Annabeth, and Frank, and Jason."

"Praetor Jackson-"

"Shut the hell up Octavian, this is all your fucking fault" Intercedes Reyna.

"I went through Tartarus - for a month - because of that damned statue, to close the Doors so you could be safe. I don't care about your petty little problems now - Earth has risen."

"IT'S A LIE, IT'S ALL LIES" Screeches Octavian.

"How can you know? You were here, raising trouble and creating unnecessary problems while we went on the freaking mission to save the world."

Octavian tries to reply, but Reyna's sword in his throat stops him.

"My father is dead. The gods are coming - but we need to stall Gaea. There's no time for this."

"I say kill him." Replies Reyna.

"I agree." Says Perseus, to the surprise of no one "We're the Praetors of Nova Roma. Our word is the law. For treason against our people, you're condemned to death, Octavian Simmons."

"Apollo will curse you for this!" Are his last words as Reyna cuts his head off. Mike Kahale backs down - no one would dare to go against them, not when Perseus is holding the symbol of his father in his hands and the Guardian of Hell in his side.

"Now that... that was solved, let's prepare for the true war. Gaea is coming - in hours from now. We have to hold on until the gods come."

They enter the Camp - the Greeks and the Romans aren't a unit, but at least they all trust Perseus, who sits on the top of the amphitheater with Reyna, and they wait until the others get there. Jason is the first to come to sit down by them - followed by the other six.

"I won't ask you to trust each other. I ask you to fight - with all that you can. Juno and Pluto, or Hera and Hades, are dead." Cries erupt from that, but silence quickly at Reyna's fulminant look "Nike, or Victory, has also fallen. Pray for your parents - burn food, whatever - so that they can take strength. They should be here in a few hours. We just need to hold on."

"Romans and Greeks - no one will survive if we don't fight. Together. For now, you take your orders from Reyna and Clarisse." It's Jason who completes.

Reyna and Clarisse sit down to discuss ideas - they don't trust each other, but are both daughters of war - and their objectives are simple. Lou goes to call her brother as Connor joins the table - Alabaster apparently refused to join the battle against the Romans.

While Romans and Greeks trade strategies and weapons, the travelers rest. Perseus is the first to fall asleep - holding his father's Helm of Darkness like a teddy bear, while most of the others keep their distance from it.

Cerberus makes the campers stay away from the eight. Two of his heads sleep and one keeps growling at whoever gets too close.

Annabeth is the last to fall asleep - she joins the strategy group for about thirty minutes before joining her quest mates behind the giant dog - it sniffs at her. She wonders if remembers the red rubber ball.

They have eleven hours to plan and rest. It's a miracle - Leo managed to knock Gaea down for 21 hours, almost a day.

At least is enough time for everyone to sleep and eat and plan traps. It won't be enough against the primordial, but it might just hold her for a while. They have no way of causing explosions to Leo's proportion - at least they have numbers.

Gaea rises from the earth like an evil mountain - she is the ground. Some of them - the ones on bare earth - die immediately, sucked into the mud as it turns to quicksand.

Frank takes the lead as the whole army charges against the goddess, striking again and again in every part they can find.

They last the three hours before the gods appear - but they lose two-thirds of their forces. Mangled corpses are everywhere on the battlefield.

The gods win - against a tired Gaea - without major losses for themselves. There's no need to recount their battle, for they will lord about it for many centuries.

What counts, however, is the deaths on the demigods' side - the ones who will be forgotten in the shadow of their parents' victory.

Connor sobs over the almost unrecognizable body of his brother, who died holding hands with Katie Gardner, being veiled by her sister, Miranda.

Hazel is helping Alabaster to find his sister, who missing somewhere in the rubble with the other 56 demigods, who are unaccounted for. The first they find is Clarisse - her still hot corpse trying in vain to protect Chris Rodriguez.

Jason holds Thalia's circlet - the only remaining thing of the Lieutenant of Artemis, who came into the battle with her mistress and died to save her. There are just two hunters alive. The sister he barely knows - and won't ever have the chance now.

Piper holds on to him - she can't bear to look as Mitchell and Ariel mourn little Lacy, killed by a fallen tree. Drew died taking a stone to the head for Piper - she doesn't know how to feel about it.

Will would help - but sadness devours him. Of his whole Cabin, he is the sole survivor. All greek children of Apollo are gone. His boyfriend is also dead - his metal foot caught on the quicksand, and he was swallowed by the earth.

Nyssa mourns her siblings - Jake, Leo, Thalassa, Kira. There's only six of them now - back to where they were just after the first war.

Reyna is alive - although with half of her face burned. Hylla - the last of the Amazons - hovers over her, tending to her injuries.

The smaller cabins help each other - there wasn't a lot of them at first, and now there is even less. Cabin 17 has no demigod alive - and won't ever house one again.

Frank is helping the legion to unearth the bodies and rescue the survivors - it's weird to see a giant mole with only an eye. He is the one who holds Hazel's hand as they have to break Lou Ellen's arm to take her from under a pillar.

Grover died protecting Juniper from Gaea's earthquakes. He became a little juniper tree, side by side with hers. Coach Hedge is the only satyr from Camp Half-Blood left.

But maybe the worst scene is where the Pavillion once was - Perseus Jackson is flicking in and off, large gashes in his torso. Hazel is the one to find him. Most of the survivors - and the eight travelers - stop to look. It's their leader, their savior.

Nico holds his head as blood pools under them - the irony, Perseus took a boulder in the chest for him, flying across the Camp at the end of the battle, and Nico was again unable to catch the hero.

Annabeth sobs over his body, screaming. She lost Luke to the gods. She lost Thalia to the gods. She lost Malcolm to the gods. She lost Leo to the gods. She lost Grover to the gods. Everyone is gone - she won't lose Perseus too.

"FIX HIM" She screams at Apollo "FIX HIM"

Apollo shakes his head sadly. In his benefit, he managed to save all demigods who still held on after battle - and most of their limbs - but Perseus is too far gone.

"FIX HIM! HE SAVED YOU. ALL OF YOU. HE DESERVES TO LIVE!"

"Annabeth, he is beyond-"

"YOU ARE GODS! WHAT ARE YOU FOR?"

"We can't, child"

Annabeth doesn't relent. She lost too much. She lost everything. They took all she was, all she had. She won't fail Perseus.

"Immortalize him."

"Annabeth, no-"

"Shut up, Nico" She barks. There's a mad look in her eyes. "You didn't let Heracles die, and he deserved it far less. Save Percy. Make him a god. You have the Fates right there."

Most of the gods look uncertain. Perseus denied immortality the last time - but they couldn't let the hero die.

"DO IT"

No one disagrees with her. Most of their friends - the ones who know Perseus better, who aren't blinded by grief - look horrified.

Nico would argue strongly - but he promised himself that no harm would come upon Perseus after Tartarus. So he backs off - better than he hates them forever than dead.

Zeus is the one who finally takes a step forward. Perseus soul is almost leaving him - it's now or never.

"All in agreement?"

The gods nod and raise their hands over his prone body. It burns so brightly everyone has to look away

When they look again, there's Perseus - still missing a leg, but better than ever. He looks like his father - uncannily so. There are tears in the corners of Ceres's eyes. Poseidon can't look.

Juventa brings the jar of nectar - she is the one who can grant eternal life, the one who guards over her mother's apples. She puts the jar to his lips, and the boy - the god - wakes up, disoriented.

"W-what... h-how am I here? I-I was with Charles and... and Ethan..." He mumbles under his breath, looking lost.

The Fates look at him - but there's no pity in their eyes. He sees again the blue line being cut - is his life. It's gone. Even before they speak, he knows what happened.

"Earthopener, The Silent One, The Rich One, Lord of the Dead. Hail Perseus, the Underworld God"

[thejacketandthehook]

The Art of Pretending

Title: The Art of Pretending 1/?

Author: thejacketandthehook (aka everystareverywhere)

Summary:  Killian Jones needs a family and needs one now. In order to impress his boss, Killian hires a single mother and her son to pretend to be his wife and son for the weekend. Nothing can go wrong, right?

Author’s Notes: Hello all! Here is my submission for the @captainswanmoviemarathon!This is based off of the Lifetime movie, "Borrowed Hearts," starring Eric McCormack and Roma Downey. The movie came out in 1997, and I consider it to be one of the first made-for-tv Christmas movies.

A couple of years ago I was watching it and thought this would be a fantastic scenario for our favorite Captain and Savior. I wrote it and then stopped, and then started it again, only to stop again. When I saw this movie marathon, I knew instantly this was the movie I wanted to do and I wanted to make sure that I finished it this time.

I hope you enjoy it!

Rating: Teen (for language mostly)

Word Count: 3534

A3O

Henry Swan looked up at the night sky and closed his eyes. If anything in his eight years of life has taught him, it was the first star you saw was the one you always made a wish on. And so he did. He closed his eyes so tightly, his little fists clutched, and his mind could only focus on one thing.

A house.

Not necessarily a home, because at eight he really didn't understand the difference between a house and a home. To him, they kind of meant the same thing. And he did have a home, with his mother, Emma, and their landlord, a fiery older woman she insisted that everyone call "Granny." But it was Thanksgiving, and he knew that he should be giving thanks for the fact that he has a roof over his head, friends and family to eat with, and food on the table - even if his mother does make him eat vegetables.

But they lived in a small apartment where you can hear every sound all the tenants make. You couldn't have the air conditioner on at the same time as the oven, and God forbid you try to take a bath without the neighbors below complaining of a leak. Henry's room was also the size of a closet, which could only contain his bed, a small dresser, and an even smaller toy box. He was getting too big for the room, honestly. The rest of the apartment was rundown, and he knew that his mother was doing the best that she could. She worked really long hours as a waitress in a local diner.  

But no matter how hard she worked, it never seemed to be enough. The only thing he asked for for his birthday this year was a fairy tale book he saw at a secondhand book store. The book is amazing, but it also cost upwards of fifty dollars. He felt bad, because he knew that his mom was getting a bill after bill after bill. She tried to hid it from him, but he knew was "LAST NOTICE" meant.

(He looked it up online, honestly.)

So while he was wishing for a house, a smaller part of him was hoping his mother could get a better job or something to help get more money. They needed it.

Henry also needed a bigger room.

"Henry!" his mother called from the dining room. "Food's ready!"

Walking away from his window, Henry took a deep breath before bouncing into the room. "Smells delicious, Mom!"

"Oh, thanks kid. But Granny's the one who cooked everything," she said, gesturing to the older woman who walked in carrying the turkey.

"Hey, I made the dessert!" Granny's only grandchild, and fellow waitress at the diner that Granny owned and Emma worked at, Ruby piped up. "It's apple pie." She winked at Henry. "Your favorite."

"It's supposed to be pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving," Emma said, coming into the room wearing oven mitts as she carried a casserole dish filled with mashed potatoes.

"We have that too," Mary Margaret Nolan chimed. She was Emma's best friend, and Henry's godmother. Henry looked at her as more like a family member than a friend, along with her husband, David, who was putting ice in the cups. "David made a fresh pie this morning."

"Only the best for my nephew," he said, grinning at Henry.

The table that was only supposed to seat four sat the six of them somewhat snuggly. Henry was squished between his mother and aunt, and he smiled as he looked around. After everyone sat down, Granny insisted that they should say grace, and though Henry only went to church for Easter and Christmas (and the occasionally Sunday when Emma feels that they should go), he bowed his head too.

He might have said his only little prayer, because when you're desperate for a change, you'll pray (or wish) to anything.

"Let's eat!" Granny announced as she got up to cut the turkey. There was a lot of chatter and music playing softly in the background. Emma filled Henry's plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn, and he thought that maybe the house wasn't big, but his heart certainly was.

~*~

Three weeks before Christmas. God, did he hate this time of year. Everyone was so fake, pretending to be in the Christmas spirit when really they were just looking for a way to buy their mother a gift that was way too expensive because they're not actually sure what she would want.

Killian Jones sighed as he entered his place of work and walked past the receptionists who might have said hello to him, but he wasn't sure. Because right now, he had big news. Huge, really. And he really needed to get to the thirty fourth floor to find his business partner (and perhaps closet friend) David Nolan.

Killian began working for the Woodman Corporation right out of college. He started as everyone does, an intern before just working his way up. Now he's the manager of this branch in New York, and overseas hundreds of workers. Not bad for a boy who came over to America when he was fifteen with his brother and barely any money in their pockets.

The Woodman Corporation was the company you wanted to hire when you wanted a building made. "We make dreams come true!" had always been the slogan. And though Killian wasn't exactly sure about the dreams part, they certainly did make wonderful buildings. And the owner, Marco Woodman, was just the kindest soul one could meet. Killian had the occasion to meet him once before, which was when Mr. Woodman came to visit his New York office, and Killian had just started getting paid for his work at that time. There was another branch in Boston, one in Chicago, and one in Los Angeles. Rumor was that Marco wanted to go overseas, and back to his home, London. Killian would almost kill for the position. Killian too was from London, and would love to go back. Nothing was really keeping him here in New York anyway.

Killian got on the elevator, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He had to see David and tell him the news. Now. He was going to burst if he didn't tell his partner the news in the next minute.

Killian has known David for only the last number of years, but it certainly feels longer than that. While Killian had already been working here when he arrived, David had an air about them that screamed “Royalty” and walked around like he had a stick up his butt. In actuality, Killian and David hadn’t really become that close until two summers ago when they were accidently stuck in an elevator together. Though it was only forty-five minutes, the two men realized that they had quite a bit in common and after that moment became fast friends. David is the first person that Killian runs to with news, and vice versa. So it’s no wonder that not only would Killian practically run to his friend’s office, but that he knew David would share the same excitement with him.

Finally, the elevator dinged and he got off, quickly making his way to David's office. Barely greeting David's secretary, Killian burst open the door to David's office before proclaiming, "He's coming here."

David looks exactly how you picture Prince Charming from those fairy tale stories you probably heard about years ago. Tall, masculine, with blue eyes and sandy-brown hair, he was definitely the typical “boy-next-door” that every daughter wants to bring home to show their momma. Fortunately for David, and unfortunately for all the women who work at this branch, David met his soulmate when he was in high school and married her straight after college. Killian thought he was foolish to marry the one and only girl he ever truly loved, but David told him that she was “the one who he made sure would never get away.” Killian scoffed at that, and called him a blind-loving fool in his mind.

When Killian came bursting through the door, David looked up from his desk. "Who? Jesus? Has the second coming come so close to Christmas?"

"No, you ninny. Marco is coming here."

David stood up slowly, a look of astonishment and awe on his face. "Are you serious? Dude, this is huge. If he's coming here that means..."

Killian started to grin. "I know."

"Maybe the rumors are true. Maybe he is going to make a branch in London."

"Oh, how I hope they are."

"That might be why he's coming. Maybe he's here to offer you the job."

Killian crossed two fingers. "I do sure hope you're right."

David pretended to be hurt. "And you would consider leaving me and Mary Margaret in this our hour of need?"

"Our of need? Mate, she's pregnant, not dying. And she's got another three months to go. I can come back from London by then."

"Would you really go?" David asked, sitting back down behind his desk.

Killian shrugged. "Probably. I mean, Liam is back there, you know, with Elsa and my nephew. And I do love New York, but...I don't know. Maybe I should go back. Besides you, I have nothing really tying me here, you know."

"I'm touched that you would consider staying for me."

Killian smirked. "You know I love our bromance. Is that what Mary Margaret called it?"

"Yeah, apparently, that's what her students call it nowadays. A friendship between two men."

"They're ten. They don't know what's hip any more than we do."

"They're closer to understanding it."

Killian sighed as he sat down. "Isn't that true? But back to the matter at hand – Mr. Woodman coming here. Now. I wonder if Regina knows about this.”

“Probably,” David sighed as he sat back down behind his desk. “She’s the head of P.R. here, if anyone should know about Mr. Woodman’s return, it –”

“Men,” Regina Mills, said sternly as she threw open the office door. With her dark black hair and dark brown eyes, Regina was beautiful, but she was by no means a warm woman. However, she had a sort of soft spot for Killian and David, which is why they only gave a small jump when she walked into the room, and didn’t scream or nearly jump out of their chairs (which Killian would be ashamed to admit may have happened once. May have.) “Did you hear the news?”

“About Mr. Woodman?” David asked, as Regina walked further into the room and nodded. “Yeah, we did. We were just discussing why he might be coming here.”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? He wants someone to take over the London section.”

“And what, you want the job?” Killian asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Please,” she scoffed, as though the thought alone was ridiculous. Killian has known Regina long enough to know that she was being serious with her answer. “The last thing I would want is to move to London. All that rain and eating fish?” She shuttered, and Killian and David gave a small grin to each other before looking back at her. “No thank you. No, I wanted to talk to you about Mr. Woodman, and….”

Just then, David’s assistant, Ariel, popped her head into the office and said, “Mr. Jones – sorry to interrupt, but your assistant called. He said that you have Mr. Woodman on the phone.”

Killian, David, and Regina all looked at each other. Killian was so excited, he barely noticed Regina’s face pale as he replied, “Send the call through to here.” Ariel nodded before closing the door behind her.

“Killian, before you take that call—” Regina started, but Killian waved her off.

“Whatever it is, it can wait, Regina. This might the moment my life changes,” he grinned at his friend, who grinned back at him.

“Yeah, about life changing…” But before Regina could get another word in, the phone on David’s desk rang.

Killian smiled before he leaned over, picked up the phone, and pressed the button to except the call. “Mr. Woodman, sir, what a wonderful surprise.”

“Mr. Jones? How are you doing?” Marco asked in his old Italian voice.

“I’m fine, sir, just fine. And how are you?”

“Bene, fine. I needed to talk to you, Mr. Jones—”

“Please, call me Killian.”

Marco chuckled. “Killian, eh? Killian, I needed to talk to you. I would love to come to New York to visit, yes? I want to see how we are doing there.”

“Oh, you’re coming here?” Killian asked, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice, even though he looked at David and both pumped the air. “Oh, sir, that’s wonderful. In fact, I insist that you stay at my house, as my guest.”

“Killian, that is very kind, very kind. I would love to stay with you and your family.”

He smiled and was about to respond when Marco’s words registered. Smile fading, he shook his head as he asked, “Stay with my family—?”

Before he could ask what exactly Mr. Woodman meant by that, Regina took the phone out of Killian’s hand and said, “Mr. Woodman? Regina Mills here, how are you?” She paused as he answered. “Oh, I’m fine, just fine. Yes, Killian is fine, he just got into a coughing fit, poor thing.” She lied, looking at him and then glancing away when he mouthed, Regina, what the hell? “Oh, yes, Killian would love to have you come and meet his family, I’m sure.” She paused again before, “Yes, Mrs. Jones and their child are anxious to meet you too.” Killian’s eyes almost bugged out of their head, his mouth dropping before he looked over at David, who was just as stunned as Killian was. “Yes, I will pass along the message. Yes, Killian is fine now. We can’t wait to see you either, Mr. Woodman. Ciao.”

As soon as the phone was back in the receiver, Killian all but screamed, “Regina, what the bloody hell is he talking about?! What family does he want to meet?!”

Regina leaned on David’s desk, and though her shoulders were back and her back was straight, she kept looking down at her shoes. She muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?” David asked.

She cleared her throat. “I may have touched up your image a bit.”

Killian raised his eyebrows even higher and leaned forward. “Wait. What?”

“Well, it’s just,” she paused before continuing. “I know you’re a hard-working man, but…Marco has certain expectations, and Killian….”

“Yeah?”

“Well, you just…don’t meet them.”

“What do you mean? You just said I’m a hard-working man.”

Now she looked at him. “You are! And you completely deserve that London promotion. But Marco is a family man, and he expects his employees to also be family…people.”

“You’re not a family person,” David muttered before sinking further into his seat when Regina gave him a glare over her shoulder.

“That may be true,” she added softly as she looked down before flicking her hair over her shoulder. “But I’m not the one who needs to impress Marco for a job.”

“What are you saying, Regina, that you ‘spruced’ up my image?” Killian asked, his stomach going somewhere near the floor.

Looking him straight into the eye, she proclaimed, “That’s exactly what I did.”

Killian shook his head and began pacing behind the chairs that were facing David’s desk. “Wait, you told Marco that I have a family? What kind of family?”

She shrugged. “The normal kind. A wife and kid.”

“Regina, why would you do such a thing?” David asked. “Killian’s not a bad guy.”

“No, I know that,” she insisted. “But I mean…you may have a bit of a reputation.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Killian, don’t play stupid, it’s not a good look on you,” she snapped at him. “You know how it looks that at every Christmas party or celebration we have in the office, you either show up with a woman no one has seen before or sees again, or you come alone. And Marco is a well-established business man, who prides himself on a having a good family.”

“Didn’t he adopt?” Killian asked.

“Does it matter?” Regina replied. “He has a kid. He loved his wife until her passing. He prides himself on hiring people who are loyal and respectable, and who know that family is above all else.”

“How in hell do you know so much about this?” David asked.

“I’m the P.R. person, of course I need to know almost everything about our C.E.O.” She rolled her eyes.

“There’s just one problem with your plan, darling,” Killian said, clutching his hands on the chair and leaning forward. “I don’t have a bloody family!” Taking a deep breath, he said as calmly as he could, “You know that I only have my brother who is in London right now.”

“Yes, yes, I know that,” Regina nodded. For once in her life, Regina paused to think about what she should say next. "I might have come up with a hypothetically family for you, yes. In all honestly, I just said it so he would meet with you."

"We have met!"

"Yes, years ago. Killian, you were barely out of college when you two met. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he doesn't even remember you."

"Well, gee, thanks," Killian replied sarcastically.

"So," David interrupted, finally. "Let me get this straight. When Mr. Woodman comes, Killian - who just invited him to stay at his house - is going to showcase his family, which he doesn't have?"

Regina nodded. "Yes, that's pretty much the story."

David looked Killian sympathetically. "You're screwed, man."

Killian gave him a look before he replied sarcastically, "Thanks mate."

"Listen, we'll fix this." Regina stated.

"How? Are you going to tell Mr. Woodman that my "family" died tragically in a car accident? Because I don't see how we can fix this?"

"We'll give you a family, dumbass!"

Killian raised an eyebrow before looking at David and commenting, "She's the one who invented a family for me, but I'm the dumbass?"

"I was trying to make you look better!" Regina argued. "I don't think Mr. Woodman- once more remind you, a family man - would want to hear stories about how you have dated every woman in New York."

"That's not true," Killian scoffed. "I haven't dated you."

"Thank Heavens for that," David commented.

"Can we focus on the problem at hand? Where the hell are we going to find a family that will suit our needs?"

David suggested, "Craigslist?"

"We call acting companies," Regina replied, already taking out her phone and, knowing her as he did, started looking up nearby acting organizations. "I'm sure for the right price, anyone will pretend to be married to you for two days."

"Hey!" Killian shouted, feeling the slightest bit insulted.

"Wait, I think..." David started to say, his eyes wide in thought. But just as quickly, he shut his eyes and quickly shook his head. "Nah. Never mind."

"What mate?"

"Well, it's just...I actually know a single mom with a young boy. And she could really use the cash."

Killian looked at David like he was an angel from up above. "Are you being serious right now?"

"Completely. She's a single mom living in an apartment that is basically the size of your living room. I think she's trying to save money for something bigger, so you would totally be helping her out."

Killian scratched the back of his neck as he looked at Regina. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "No harm in asking. It would work perfectly in all honestly." She looked over at David. "This woman is trustworthy?"

"Emma? Oh, completely," he replied without a bit of hesitation.

"What about her son? How old is he?"

David thought about it for a moment before replying, "I believe eight, and he's got a wonderful imagination. He'll have no trouble selling the family part, I promise."

Killian still looked unsure. "I don't like this. Faking a family for a business deal?"

Regina took him by the shoulders as she whispered, "Killian Jones. This is not just a business deal. This business deal could help our company go global, if we sell to London. Who knows, Paris could be next, then Germany, you don't know! But this is the deal that you worked day and night for."

"The one that she was willing to lie for, to make you look better," David added. Regina gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.

Killian shrugged off Regina's hands as he said, "I know, I know. I just...I don't like the idea of being dishonest."

"I know it's not ideal, mate, but it's a hell of a deal."

“Do you think she would go for it,” Killian asked David. “This…Emily?”

“Emma. And…honestly…I don’t know. She’s the only person I’ve ever met who is more stubborn than you are. But I can ask.”

Killian took a deep breath before replying, “My fate lies in your hands.”

[notalwaysthevillian]

Shattering Stereotypes

Warnings: Slight bullying, friendly teasing, kissing, mention of illness

Pairings: Romantic Mox and Remile established, Romantic Logince to come

Word Count: ~2.1k

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Chapter 14

Once Roman had told his parents about the tryout, their relationship seemed to improve. At least as far as Logan could tell.

“Hey, I know we normally work over at your place, but my parents wanted me to tell you that we could go over there too.” Roman told Logan a few days later. “My mom thinks I’m avoiding them, which I’m not and I haven’t been -”

“Ro...man.” Logan corrected himself. If he gave Roman a nickname, he’d never hear the end of it from Patton. Or Virgil. Or any of his friends. “I don’t mind if we work at your place. It’d be a nice change of pace from my own parents.”

“Oh, come on, your parents awesome!”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “They tease me at every given opportunity. Your parents don’t do that.”

“They might, given the chance.”

“Roman.”

Roman let out a laugh, reminding Logan how far gone he was for this boy. “Alright, well how about we head over to my place tonight?”

“Got a date with your boyfriend, Prince?” Toby called out from across the hall.

Roman spun on one heel. “Better than a date with detention, that’s for sure.”

Anger flashed in Toby’s eyes, but there was nothing he could do. If he acted, someone would report him to a teacher and he’d be suspended from school. Instead he flipped Roman off and continued down the hall with some of the other baseball players.

“I can’t wait to hear how bad the team is going to do this year.” Roman said as he glared at Toby’s back. “Not to be cocky, but I pretty much carried the team.”

There was dead silence on Logan’s end. His head was reeling from that interaction. Roman hadn’t denied anything, hadn’t said that they weren’t dating. When Remy got wind of this, he wouldn’t spread the rumor, but he certainly would confront Logan about it.

“...ay, Logan?”

Blinking back into reality, Logan realized that Roman had still been talking to him. Concerned eyes stared at him. “What?”

“Are you okay? You zoned out there for a sec.”

Blood raced to Logan’s cheeks. He ducked his head into his locker, pretending to look for something. “I’m fine.”

“...okay.” It was clear that Roman didn’t believe Logan, but he merely changed the subject. “So are we good for going to my house then?”

“Yeah, just let me text my dads.”

Logan opened up the group chat he had with his parents.

Logan: I’m going to Roman’s today after school instead.

Better Dad: Is he feeding you?

“Roman, um...are we eating over at your place, or?” Logan asked, cursing his easy blushing cheeks.

Roman gave him a nod. “Yeah, my mom cooks enough for an army anyway. Whatever we don’t eat she takes down to the shelter.”

“That’s nice of her.”

Logan: Yes

Awesome Dad: Be home by 10!

Better Dad: Thomas let the kid have some fun

Better Dad: Just not too much fun ;)

Rolling his eyes, Logan locked his phone. “I’m good.”

“Let me guess, they’re teasing you about coming over?”

Logan lightly shoved Roman before the two of them headed for Roman’s house. He lived a bit farther from the school, but it wasn’t as though Florida got cold often.

When they reached Roman’s house, Roman grabbed their jackets and hung them up in the closet. “Could you take your shoes off?”

Logan did as he was asked. Just as he finished toeing off his shoes, he was nearly knocked over by Dahlia, who came flying around the corner.

“Hi Logan! Can I hug you?”

“Sure.”

Dahlia wrapped her arms around his legs and squeezed, nearly knocking Logan over. Roman caught him before he fell, settling him on his feet and turning to his sister. “How dare you knock over the new royal advisor!”

She shrieked with giggles and darted off into the house.

“Royal advisor?” Logan teased as he followed Roman up the stairs.

“She likes to play princess.”

Too late, Logan realized that Roman was leading them to his room. The last time he’d been here, he’d been deterred from exploring upstairs, and Roman had been in the home theater anyway.

“Voila!” Roman let the door swing open, pulling Logan inside. “Casa de Roman.”

“Casa means home.”

“You know what I meant.” Roman laughed, tossing his backpack on the bed.

As he pulled out their homework, Logan took the opportunity to look around the room. He’d expected Roman to have much more sports memorabilia on the walls, but then again that had been a stereotype.

There were a few shelves hung up around the room, holding a trophy here and there for baseball, as well as a few medals. But for the most part, Roman didn’t have too much covering the plain white walls.

His bedspread was a deep red with flecks of gold that caught the light. The pillowcases looked like they were a gold satin, which made Logan laugh a little.

“You don’t have a lot of...you in your room.” He sat on the floor, pulling out what he had for their project. A small note fell out and Logan stuffed it into his purple folder before Roman could notice.

“Yeah.” Roman looked around his room. “Good thing, I wasn’t the real me until recently.”

The fond look he gave Logan had the latter blushing a deep red. “We should get to work.”

Over the course of an hour and a half, they’d both moved to get more comfortable on Roman’s bed.The two of them worked with no interruptions before Margo knocked on the doorframe. 

Seeing Roman’s mother in the doorway, Logan nearly fell off the bed.

“Dinner time!”

When dinner was over, Logan texted Thomas and gathered up his homework. “Tryouts are tomorrow, right?”

“Yep, right after school so we won’t be able to work on our project.”

Logan gave him a smile. “See you at tryouts.”

“You’re going?!”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I go support a friend?”

There had been very few times Logan had gotten Roman to blush, but this was one of those times. He relished in the way that the heated cheeks just seemed to make Roman glow.

“Thanks. Um, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye.”

The next day went by agonizingly slow. Roman had been bouncing in his seat during most of English, mumbling his monologue under his breath.

Lunch had been Logan trying to stomach his food while Remy and Emile pretended that they totally weren’t making out when the lunch monitor looked away.

And Virgil had teased him throughout study hall, making sure that he didn’t take it too far.

Needless to say, Logan was relieved when the final bell rang.

“Hey, care if the rest of us join you?” Virgil asked as they headed towards the lockers.

Logan shrugged. “I don’t mind at all.”

The five of them met up in the lobby, flowing into the auditorium together and finding seats. Emile and Patton talked about a new episode of Carmen Sandiego. Virgil listened in, rubbing circles on the back of Patton’s hand with his thumb.

“You helped him with his monologue, right?” Remy asked, his arm snaked around Emile’s waist. How it wasn’t uncomfortable for him due to the auditorium chairs, Logan would never know.

“Yeah.”

“So when he’s saying it, he’ll be thinking about you?”

Logan elbowed Remy hard. “Shut up.”

Mrs. Torres, the choir teacher, walked onstage, followed by Jamahl, the band teacher. “Alright, we’re pulling names out of a hat for the order. First up is Marisha Johnson.”

The five friends sat through everyone’s auditions, clapping when they were finished.

“Do we clap even if they’re terrible?” Remy mumbled, earning a quiet scolding from Emile.

Finally, it was Roman’s turn. He cleared his throat, turning to face the teachers. “Hi, I’m Roman Prince. I’ll be doing a more modern version of Romeo’s monologue.”

He took a deep breath before diving into it.

“But...wait. What’s that light in the window over there? It is the east, and Juliet - she is the sun. Rise, beautiful sun, and kill the jealous moon. She is already sick and pale with grief because you - you Juliet, her maid, are far more beautiful than she. Don’t be her maid, because she is jealous. Virginity makes her look sick and green. Only fools hold on to their virginity. Let it go. Oh, there’s my lady. My love.”

At this point, Roman’s eyes landed on Logan. He could feel the others looking at him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from Roman’s.

“How I wish she knew how much I love her. She’s talking, but she’s not saying anything. Who cares? It’s her eyes that speak, her eyes that say something. I will answer them. I am too bold. She’s not talking to me. Two of the brightest stars in the sky went away on business, and they ask her eyes to twinkle in their place until their return. What if her eyes were in the sky and the stars in her head? The brightness of her cheeks would outshine the stars the way the sun outshines a lamp. If her eyes were in the night sky, they would shine so brightly through space that birds would sing! Look, how she leans her hand upon her cheek. Oh, how I wish I was the glove on that hand, so that I could touch that cheek.”

As soon as Roman finished, there was a beat of silence and then an uproarious applause.

“Thank you Roman.” Mrs. Torres did her best to not play favorites, but everyone could see the twinkle in her eye. “Next up is Artie Zenith.”

When auditions were over, Roman darted over to them. “How did I do?”

“You were amazing!” Patton squealed.

Emile nodded. “I’ve never seen someone deliver lines so flawlessly.”

“Good job, Roman.”

“Yeah, you were way better than -” Remy was cut off as Emile kissed him to stop his sentence.

Turning, Roman looked at Logan. “You’ve heard it a million times. Was this time any better?”

“Way better.” Logan could feel his blush deepening. “You nailed it.”

“Cast list will be posted on Monday!”

The weekend was fairly uneventful. Logan was just as excited as Roman to see the cast list. Roman had worked so hard, and he was so talented. There was no way he wasn’t going to land a part.

Monday morning, Logan found himself standing in the lobby with his friends, waiting for Mrs. Torres to come by and pin up the list.

It was swarmed as soon as she did so. The five of them stayed back, waiting for Roman to tell them the news.

He launched himself out of the crowd, a huge grin on his face. “I got the lead!”

A cheer went up from all of them, echoed by the crowd of theater kids.

Logan held back, waiting until they were headed off to English class. “Congratulations. You deserved it.”

“Thanks, Lo. I couldn’t have -”

Logan erupted into a coughing fit. Reaching around him, Roman grabbed Logan’s water bottle from the side pocket of his backpack and held it out.

Flipping the top open, Logan guzzled everything inside, his breathing returning to normal. “Thanks.”

“You okay?”

“For now.”

Those words couldn’t have been more wrong. Over the course of the rest of the day, Logan felt worse and worse. He didn’t eat anything during lunch, ending up running for a trash can just before the bell rang.

It felt as though he blinked and he was at home.

“Shh, Lo, just lay down.” Thomas said, pulling back his covers. He helped Logan into bed, placing a cool washcloth over his forehead. “I’ll be back with some water and some crackers.”

Nodding, Logan slipped into unconsciousness.

He woke to voices outside his room. After a moment, the door opened and Roman walked in.

“I heard you went home sick.” He said as he walked in. “Is it okay if I grab the project folder from you?”

Logan flailed a hand, gesturing toward his backpack. “Purple folder.”

“Thanks, Lo.” Roman hovered in the doorway for a moment. “I hope you feel better.”

As he left the room, Logan fell asleep once more.

[fallen-in-dreams]

Chasing A Dream

Links: FF.net & AO3. Pairing: Sakura/Kakashi. Summary:  Her mother always told her to follow her dreams. In this case, her dream happened to have silver hair, mismatched eyes, and a smile that took her breath away. And she was determined to follow him all the way, even if he decided to break her heart. KakaSaku AU. Status: Complete.

Enjoy. ^_^

.:.

Sorry I have to leave so abruptly, Daddy. I’ll come back as soon as I can, okay? I know you’re disappointed in me. I wasn’t trying to shame you. I love you. I love you both. I’ll see you soon. Tell mama I’m fine. I always know my way home. - Love, Sakura.

.

Sakura Haruno walked for half a mile to get to the service area where she knew that drivers congregated before leaving Wajima. She did her best to dress like a foreigner and not show her Roma origins—nomads (Sanka) were considered as un-Japanese as any foreigner (Gaijin). She wouldn’t win the sympathetic ride with a stranger wearing her usual bodice and scarf.

She decided on a simple shirt and her nice jeans; they fit comfortably and hugged her well. It was cold out, even in the middle of the day, so she brought a heavy coat; one that was still easy to wear with her travelling backpack.

Her goal was to hitchhike her way to Tokyo. Depending on traffic and how long it would take to get a ride, the trip would take about seven hours. It would be expensive if done with public transportation; she had to save what little money she had for those things once she actually got to her destination.

To him.

And she was unfamiliar with the more typical ways of travelling through Japan. This was her last option; she had put this off long enough. For the first time since the last time she’d seen him, she wasn’t running from her problems; rather, meeting them head on. Before her father got it into his head to ruin things with that famous temper of his. Images of silver hair and mesmerising, mismatched eyes, invaded her thoughts unbidden and she sighed deeply before looking around contemplatively.

Service areas like this all over Japan made hitchhiking that much easier. Cars, trucks, motorcycles—there was a plethora of drivers to choose from. Sakura had hitched before—her first time had been when a second cousin went into labour. The pinkette was twelve years old at the time, and her parents were nowhere to be seen, so she’d had to make her way to the hospital on her own. It was easy, safe, and fun, really.

If you were careful.

A girl on her own was an easy target for perverts and predators, but Sakura always made sure to go with families or women; she was a good judge of character, so that elderly man had been a smart choice, regardless. But she wasn’t a weakling; she knew how to handle herself. Anyone who tried something with her would get a twisted arm and a swift kick to the shins or balls. Whichever one tickled her fancy.

This place was perfect; away from the expressway and most people here were headed in the same direction.

A few minutes into her perusal, a teenage girl waved at her and Sakura waved back. She looked to be with her parents. They had a Suzuki and ample room. She approached them with her sign; it read ‘Osaka’.

Sakura put on her best friendly smile and fake accent. “Konnichiwa.”

“You going to Osaka?”

The pinkette nodded silently, remembering that while it was uncommon for Japanese people to hitchhike there were no laws against it; it was just best to appear to need help, like a foreigner rather than a local.

“You speak Japanese?”

Maybe it was her hair, but she was often treated like a foreigner no matter what she said or did; she didn’t understand it. But she always just went with it. The key was to look as harmless and friendly as possible.

“Hai.”

The girl conferred with her parents and then came running back over to Sakura and threw her arms around her. “You look like you are a good person. We can take you as far as Toyama, okay?”

“Hai.”

“Okay!”

The girl talked Sakura’s ear off the whole time, going on about her family vacation and how she loved Winter so much.

So bloody much.

But Sakura kept her smile on and upon disembarking at a service area near the Toyama train station, felt compelled to show her appreciation. She bowed deeply. “Doumo. Arigato.”

Alone again, she sighed nervously.

One ride down.

Shifting the weight of her backpack out of nervous habit, she ambled her way through the crowd of vehicles, glancing at the faces of the drivers and any passengers they might have. She was looking for the concerned face, the curious face; the honest face.

Found three.

It was a couple and their six-year-old boy, wearing matching outfits, looking like they were heading for the Alps. They accepted her quickly, saying how they didn’t want to leave her here on her own, and looking so vulnerable.

“There are some sickos these days,” the mother muttered, while the father nodded in agreement.

They seemed sane to Sakura.

“We’re going to Myoko,” the little boy said excitedly, the moment the pinkette climbed into their Subaru.

Sakura humoured him, listening to him talk about all the skiing he was going to do, and that he had to go to some boring wedding instead of the night-time Onsen. He was really cute, and she found herself feeling wistful and nervous, thinking about what awaited her at her destination. So much so that she gave in when he pestered her about where she was going. She told him almost everything...

“Sayōnara, Sakura-chan! And good luck!”

Left again at a service area, Sakura quickly got to work scoping out the people and their vehicles again. The next car she got belonged to another group of friends, middle-aged women on their way to some kind of religious retreat. She listened to their excited chatter in polite silence but was glad to be on the move again.

Next ride.

It was like riding a bike now; her instinct didn’t fail her as her eyes zeroed in on five people who looked around her age, almost twenty. They turned out to be college students on holiday and could take her all the way to Tokyo—their ultimate destination was Yokohama, where apparently, they all had family.

They were so boisterous and so energetic that it was contagious. Sakura found herself laughing for the first time in months. It made her temporarily forget her imminent problems. They were so warm, she found herself drawn to them. A loud blond guy in particular, seemed to just radiate kindness, and the banter between him and the raven-haired guy she assumed was his best friend, was the highlight of the trip.

When they made it to her drop off point, she was disappointed.

The blonde girl took her elbow and stopped her from leaving dejectedly. “You need money for the bullet train? They’re faster and will be safer this time of night.”

Sakura shook her head as they suggested giving her the money. “I couldn’t–”

“You can.”

“We insist. Go get your man!”

A wad of cash was shoved in her hands and bouts of cheers from the group followed her as she walked away, and Sakura blushed heavily. That little boy with the concerned parents had opened a floodgate and she couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut! This was highly unusual behaviour. Did everyone around here give money to strangers?

That had been a particularly rowdy group of college students, she decided naively. Definitely out of the norm.

Best to just accept the money and get on the train.

Sakura waved back at them and made her way in the direction they’d indicated. Tokyo was a very odd place. There was a bus station nearby, and the train station was lit up and dazzled her. She strained her neck looking around; its services also included commercial centres for shopping, dining, and entertainment. Everything was so big and lively! She spent a few minutes just gaping like a tourist before remembering why she was here.

Sakura steeled herself and took the directions the students had given her to the correct station and line.

She bought her ticket from the vending machine and passed through the Fare Gate, rushing to get onto the locomotive. She just wanted to get this part over with. The Tokaido line would take her directly to her destination.

Sakura pulled out a piece of paper as she took her backpack off and sat down next to it in her seat. All she had was an address, and vague directions; she’d gotten it from her father’s own journals. She read it silently, committing it to memory. This was it. This was what she’d been dreading and anticipating. When she would finally see him again.

Sighing, she settled into the seat and stared out the window, her eyes taking in the beautiful landscape as the Shinkansen Bullet Train started moving. It was this kind of view that she loved most about travel. Having been a part of her family performance group her whole life, she was no stranger to moving around. Japan was truly the most hospitable and exciting country; even when they did stick to the Ura-Nihon (the backside of Japan).

And it was that lifestyle that had gotten her into her current predicament.

She remembered it like it was yesterday.

.:.

Gypsies, tramps, and thieves: dealings with those unwanted was not something most businessmen would risk. That was why just talking to Kizashi Haruno was considered on par with black market dealings. Moving things across prefecture borders via Roma who performed shows for a living supposedly came with all the mystique of illegal dealings but with none of the danger of dealing with the Yakuza.

It was the preferred choice for shady men who were too cowardly to deal with the real crime syndicate.

And Sakura was both repulsed and intrigued by her father’s dealings. Every client had their own story to tell, though, and she was a sponge for information. Every negotiation and patented deal were slightly different to the last, but they were all conducted the same; in brisk, formal manners with no-nonsense chit-chat and a back-and-forth debate that seemed redundant.

Eager to listen in, she always took the initiative to pour the tea for her father and his clients when they met in his tent. They paid her no mind as they continued to talk business—after all, what would a little girl know about the price of illegal dried meat or black-market liqueurs? She learned a lot from listening in but could only linger for so long.

Several months after her eighteenth birthday, a new business associate of her father’s caught her eye; and this man did seem to be bothered by her presence during their talks. He was so no-nonsense that Sakura imagined he’d have her standing to attention and saluting if he’d wanted to, but he also greeted her father with a smile that seemed genuine (a twinkle in his eyes) and a handshake that didn’t look designed as some macho display of dominance.

It took her breath away.

He was… different from the others. And his visits lasted longer; her father seemed to like him more and more every time they sat to talk business. And when Sakura poured the man’s tea he said, “thank-you” when none of the others would even look at her, probably thinking her some simple serving girl. When she froze in shock for a few seconds, he raised an eyebrow at her and waited for her to move away before taking a sip from his drink. When she didn’t leave the room immediately, his gaze would flicker to her curiously.

She often felt his mismatched eyes on her as she left the room. He didn’t dare to stare at her in any disrespectful way with her father in the room—he definitely wasn’t as ignorant or creepy as her father’s other clients. She had no idea why he was there because, instead of paying attention to what he was saying, she would be focused on his voice. And he would stop talking once he realised, she was listening in.

His curious looks turned into intense stares and she would give him a shy smile before exiting the tent. It was an interesting back and forth—kind of like flirting. Sakura had never flirted before, so she wasn’t sure if she was doing it right. Her father had been in talks for a few weeks in order to marry her to the son of a friend (a well-placed man in their Roma clan), so she was expected to avoid boys, sex, and the like. But Kakashi Hatake was responding to her awkward flirting, catching her eye when her father was distracted, giving her a dark, penetrating look when she was doing chores and he was passing by with Kizashi leading the way out (or in) to their encampment.

He wanted her.

And she had to admit, it felt good to be on the receiving end of his obvious need, though she considered him a gentleman, since to the casual observer, he seemed to treat her well enough; his smiles were innocent and his choice of honorifics when addressing her were appropriate for their non-relationship status. He was just a business acquaintance of her father’s and nothing more.

At least, that was what she thought. She was soon to be betrothed, after all.

But she couldn’t help imagining her life however, if Kakashi made a claim for her and took her away to live with him. She fantasised that he would save her from her boring life; she loved her family, but Sakura craved more. She had no idea what his life was like, but she wanted it. The sexual tension between them would not go away; a sense of both trepidation and anticipation filled her being. Sakura knew it would be frowned upon, that her father would rage, but she wanted him too.

Didn’t men usually make the first move in these situations? She’d heard they did.

Maybe he was just biding his time?

On what was apparently his last dealing with her father, Kakashi found himself in a pickle; his ride home had abandoned him, and her father insisted on letting him hitch with them, as they were headed in the same direction, come morning. His mind was made up and that was the end of things. Kakashi Hatake gave a grateful smile, his eyes twinkling when they met green and Sakura blushed under his gaze, her own smile eliciting another one of his dark, penetrating stares. She could feel a heat building up inside her as he licked his lips and exhaled deeply.

“Sakura?”

Her mother’s voice snapped her out of her reverie and Sakura dutifully left to help her, with whatever she needed. It was almost dinner time.

Supper was a nightmare. Sakura rubbed her thighs together, trying to hide her obvious interest the entire time. Luckily, only Kakashi noticed.

That night, long after her parents had gone to bed, Sakura Haruno lost her virginity.

He’d come to her tent, knelt down in front of her, parted her legs, and taken his time introducing her to sex. It had lasted for hours. And he spent most of the night inside her before slinking back to his own tent after she’d fallen asleep. When she woke, the only proof he’d been there were the indent from his head on one of her pillows, the foreign soreness between her legs, and the smell of sex that still lingered in the air.

She was profoundly disappointed.

And he’d seemed to have gotten what he wanted, acting normally on the rest of their trip, giving only a minute longing glance in her direction to show her she hadn’t imagined it before leaving their caravan behind.

“He’s such a nice man,” her mother said, watching him go. “And so handsome,” she added, fanning herself. “We should have him over more often.”

Sakura swallowed back a sob and forced herself to pretend everything was all right, so she could go back to her normal, boring life. But three months later, a discovery upended her life, and everything changed.

 .:.

“Forty-Six, forty-seven...” Sakura counted off the numbers as she made her way through the hallway. Kakashi Hatake lived in a luxury high-rise building with a view of the waterfront as well as a park. She wondered idly how many of his illicit dealings paid for this place. He had to be no normal smuggler to afford a place like this; it was far out of her reach, even if she were to drain her father of the combined intake from his clients.

She stopped at the correct number and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

This is it.

Yep. All she had to do was ring that bell and wait.

And wait impatiently.

Is he even home?

She’d heard the bell ring through the apartment from her position but there was no other noise inside.

The passing maid gave her a strange look, adding more to Sakura’s embarrassment; reminding her she wasn’t dressed to match the décor. She sighed, undid the buckles on her backpack and slid down the door to sit to wait for him to turn up. It wasn’t the middle of the night—just barely ten o’clock—so surely, he wasn’t fast asleep yet?

Speaking of sleeping; Sakura drifted off so quickly she didn’t remember falling asleep when a hand was gently shaking her awake. It seemed all her worry had exhausted her more than she’d realised.

“Sakura?”

That familiar voice had her freezing instantaneously, then slowly looking up into the mismatched eyes of her lover. That thought made her blush, but she fought it down. He knew better than to ask if her father was aware, she’d camped out in front of Kakashi’s door; what they had, what they’d shared, no-one else could know.

The energy between them shifted; it had always been electric.

As he stared at Sakura, Kakashi couldn’t help but think that everything was about to change.

He sighed, rubbed his left eye tiredly, and helped the girl up, off the floor. She was exactly as he remembered, except that she wore normal clothes instead of the bodice that had flared at her breasts, giving him an ample view of her goods. He smirked inwardly, remembering rubbing his hands over those very supple goods not three months ago.

Was that why she was here? He was confused. He cleared his throat.

“Do come in.” He unlocked the door and swung it open to let Sakura into his apartment, taking note of her sudden and obvious nerves, not to mention that she had a death grip on her backpack. “Please take your shoes off. The maids here are vicious if they catch even a whiff of the outside on these hardwood floors.”

Sakura nodded and looked around for a shoe rack.

“Here.”

Kakashi led her off to the side to place her things.

“Do you want some tea?” He might as well play the good host, considering her father had always been gracious to him.

“N-no.” Uh... “Yes,” she amended after shivering.

“What kind?”

“Hot.”

He didn’t bother pointing out to her that tea came in hundreds of flavours and was always “hot”. Well, all the tea he’d bother drinking, anyway. He busied himself in the kitchen, instead. “Make yourself at home!”

Sakura carefully placed her shoes on the rack and shrugged off her coat. Her hand went to her stomach and she felt mild panic; this was why she was here, but it was terrifying. She closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds of Kakashi moving about in his kitchen, preparing their tea.

I can do this.

Gingerly, she made her way into the kitchen, too nervous to take in the large and gorgeous apartment he owned. It had never occurred to her that he wasn’t single… but now the question tormented her brain. The idea that she’d slept with someone’s spouse, that she had trekked across the country to see him and was laying her pregnancy problems on someone who was spoken for… she suddenly felt cheap.

Sakura stopped a foot from the kitchen and glanced back at the living room, eyes darting about and looking for clues of a girlfriend or wife. There were none. But she wasn’t going to stop panicking until she knew for sure. Taking a deep breath, she entered the kitchen, laid her coat on one of the kitchen stools, her eyes on the back of Kakashi’s head as he whistled along with the kettle.

When he turned to face her, she felt her insides squirm in nervous anticipation; but the kitchen island bench was high enough to hide her small protruding belly. He smiled that award-winning smile.

“I’ll just be a minute, you can wait in the serving room if you want, then we can talk about what brought you to my humble abode, yeah?”

She wasn’t sure how to interpret that hopeful look on his face, but she nodded, waiting for him to turn back to the tea before slipping out into the other room like he suggested.

Oh gods.

Her nerves had just skyrocketed.

Sakura studied the pictures on the opposite wall to the tatami mat, entwining her fingers as she attempted to simmer her nerves. None of the people in the photos looked like his “other half” so to speak; there were people in business suits and an elderly couple in several that looked like Kakashi’s parents. The one that stood out was a photo of Kakashi and two others—a guy and girl, but the way those two were holding each other, she figured she didn’t have anything to worry about.

I hope.

She spun around quickly as Kakashi entered the serving room, like she’d been caught reading his dirty magazines or something. He wasn’t looking directly at her as he moved to place the tea try on the low table in the centre of the room. He looked up and her breath hitched.

“Oh, you took the coat off? I turned the thermostat up, so you don’t have to keep that heavy jacket on–” He paused. “Uh, Sakura?”

His eyes fell to her stomach and widened. “W-what?”

His eyes roamed over her shirt; with the coat out of the way, he could suddenly and terrifyingly understand why she’d come all this way on her own.

“Hai, Kakashi, it’s yours,” she said, to break the silence.

That made it easier. She was showing already, but it was mostly still just bloating; she’d deliberately worn a tighter shirt and cosy jeans to show it off. After taking off her coat, her baby bump was difficult to miss. To the casual observer, she didn’t look pregnant until she’d removed the coat.

Kakashi continued to gape at her.

“Kakashi?”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, quickly recovering his speaking ability. “It’s just... a shock.”

She nodded. “I know. I’m sorry too. But I didn’t know how else to tell you. Daddy...”

She trailed off and he understood. Kizashi was going to kill him. It didn’t matter that he needed the Hatake business right now, his daughter had been defiled and impregnated. No decent father would just let that go. And Kizashi was as decent a father as Kakashi had ever seen. He couldn’t imagine a scenario where the older man wouldn’t yell at him and call him every name under the sun for this.

He swallowed heavily.

“Where does he think you are right now?”

“Not at home.”

He chuckled humourlessly. “I suppose so. Uh,” he motioned to the tea. “Don’t want to waste my hospitality, right?”

She nodded and sat down; he ran a distracted hand through his odd hair and sighed, moving to pour her tea for her, before allowing her to pour his. They sat in silence, across from each other, avoiding eye contact and just enjoying the rich flavour of the tea he’d chosen. She wanted to ask what flavour it was but was feeling too nervous to start idle chatter. She was as nervous as he was, looking everywhere but at Kakashi as she delicately sipped at her tea. When they were both done and the silence dragged on, Sakura was beginning to worry he was going to send her on her way with little but a “I’m too old to have a kid” or some such nonsense.

She cleared her throat, her eyes lowering to her hands, sitting in her lap and twiddling like a schoolgirl. The fear and dread came rushing back when Kakashi seemingly had nothing to say and she didn’t know how to start the topic of what to do now. Her fidgety hands moved from her lap to her knees, back to her lap, and then finally to the serving table. She splayed her hands out, faced down, frowning at them.

Sakura only had to wait a few more minutes after her fidgeting stopped before the father of her unborn child finally broke the silence, causing her to look up at him, now fixated on his mismatched eyes.

“I don’t regret it,” he said slowly. “I…” He held a hand over his face in an attempt to cover his blush, but the look on her face told him he was busted. Kakashi chuckled, resting the hand on hers, instead. He rubbed his thumb over her hand. “It was amazing. You were amazing.”

It was her turn to blush.

“What I’m trying to say is...” He sighed. “I... don’t regret it.” He chuckled at his own expense again. “I’m not really helping, am I?”

She smiled. Sakura appreciated what he was clearly trying to say. She had him tongue tied, apparently. It was a good feeling, surprisingly. It meant she wasn’t just a notch on his belt—she wasn’t forgettable and unwanted. She cleared her throat again.

“Where do we go from here?” She asked, her voice trembling. She was scared of the answer, but also… not. It was strange.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair—he did that when he was both nervous and unsettled, she’d noticed. Or at least, she gathered so. He wasn’t the most open person, that much was obvious.

“I–”

Whatever Kakashi was going to suggest was drowned out by a loud, abrupt serious of knocks on his front door. Whoever it was wasn’t bothering with the doorbell and sound irate and impatient.

Sakura paled immediately. Her father might’ve put two and two together, somehow… she’d told her friends where she was going. But the caravan answered to her father, so if he really wanted to squeeze information out of them...

Oh my god.

“Hatake!”

Yep, that was Kizashi Haruno’s angry voice.

Kakashi and Sakura stared mutely at each other. They both knew that the longer they took to answer it, the more hell there’d be to pay.

“Kakashi I swear, if you don’t open this damn door–”

Kakashi quickly strode over and swung the door open before Kizashi could finish that sentence.

“Daddy?” Sakura squeaked, standing up.

Her father’s eyes dropped to her protruding stomach as her hand fell to it instinctively. For a moment, it looked like the wind had been knocked out of him; then his face screwed up and he shoved his way inside, leaving Kakashi to close the door in an attempt at some kind of privacy.

Kizashi spun around and growled audibly, his eyes narrowed in on his business partner.

This was it. Sakura knew what was coming.

Kizashi Haruno was infamous for his temper, and when he was at his most angry, her father was a rambler.

His hands flailed and gesticulated as he ranted. “Kakashi, you bastard! What the hell did you think you were doing with my daughter!? She’s soon to be betrothed, not the concubine of a low life porn smuggler!”

Sakura’s eyes widened at this piece of information.

“She’s supposed to lay with her husband, not some one-off, out-dated lady’s man! She deserves better! She deserves more respect than this! To think that Mebuki thought you were a good guy. What the hell is wrong with you, Hatake? I don’t care that you’re a staunch bachelor, you will do right by my baby girl and marry her before it’s too late! And don’t you dare try to blame my little girl for your midlife boner. Take some goddamn, fucking responsibility!”

Silence met this proclamation, but the air was still rife with the tension created by Kizashi’s anger. He huffed and attempted to calm himself; he wasn’t normally a violent man, but he really wanted to punch Kakashi’s lights out. But there was no way he would stoop to that level in front of his little girl. He would deal with that urge later.

Kakashi, for his part, looked thoroughly shamed. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair (again), and nodded toward his future father in law.

Meanwhile, Sakura’s heart was racing. When the hell had this escalated to marriage? The logical part of her brain knew she could no longer marry that son of a friend within their Roma clan, but to marry Kakashi… Well, it wasn’t a horrible idea. But her brain had yet to plan ahead that far, so she was gobsmacked by her father’s insistence; not to mention Kakashi’s strangely immediate acquiescence to this demand.

“Sakura!”

“Daddy?”

Kakashi took the hint and stepped into the kitchen to give them privacy, a little too fast for Sakura’s liking.

Kizashi sighed, one hand falling to her stomach as he kissed her forehead. “What am I going to do with both of you?”

“Daddy, I—”

“It’s my fault. You felt you couldn’t talk to me. Did he… uh, take you against your—”

“No, daddy,” Sakura said, clasping his hand that was still on her stomach. “I wanted it.” She blushed as he glared up at the ceiling. “I’m so sorry.”

“I know. I got your letter.” He sighed as her face dropped. “I just want what’s best for you and I’ve failed you. Now you’re trapped with Mr. King of Black Market Erotica. Nothing immoral,” he assured her when she scrunched up her face in disgust. He sighed again. “Hatake! Get your arse out here!”

Kakashi did as he was told and waited until Kizashi had finished ranting at him again before seeing her father out. “I’ll be in touch for preparations,” her father said, before the door closed.

“Well, that went well,” she chuckled nervously.

They stood in silence again. It felt like she’d aged ten years in the last ten minutes. But as Sakura rubbed her stomach, and Kakashi couldn’t help but watch the motion carefully, she thought maybe that was okay. The father of her baby was no spring chicken. She smiled and he stepped over to her cautiously, placing a hand on her stomach.

Those mismatched eyes of his stared down at her and her breath caught in her throat as they twinkled, and he smiled. He was so beautiful. She suddenly couldn’t wait to see what their child would inherit from him. Sakura stood on her toes, held his face in both hands, and kissed him. He responded immediately; every inch of her body hummed, reminding her of their night together. Of their connection.

“I’ll do good by you, Sakura. I promise,” he said, once they were forced to stop in order to breathe.

And she believed him.

.:.

[abjectaspiringfailure]

Touka and Kuzen - contrasting managerial styles

TG 143

I wanted to take a look at Touka and Kuzen through the lens of how they handled situations differently, and how they handled their creations of cafes for their loved ones. It’s well known that Touka’s creation of ;re paralleled Kuzen’s creation of Anteiku. However, Ishida goes out of his way to show the immense differences between these two characters. This difference, and how it came to be, is portrayed in their backstories, and how  they carry themselves in the actual story. This post will cover things in both TG and TG;re.

So, to start with, we’ll cover Touka’s backstory. Then, we’ll cover Kuzen’s backstory. Then, we’ll note the difference between these two characters, how it shows in their backstories, how it shows in their characters, so on and so forth.

TG;re 71

Touka’s first encounter with tragedy is at a very young age. Her mother and father are engaged by Arima. While her mother holds them off, her father escapes with her and her brother. The loss of her mother leads her father to engage in ghoul cannibalism and developing a kakuja. Eventually, he ends up running into multiple ghoul investigators lead by Shinohara and Kureo Mado and is captured by them.

There are two versions of the stoy here - according to Yomo in TG;re 71, Arata was targeted for his power. Touka’s story in TG;re 120 is that her father was killing ghoul investigators; there, we learn she laments her father’s decisions, and blames herself for his actions.

TG 71, 70

Touka and Ayato end up being turned into the CCG by the very human neighbors their father encouraged them to trust, respect, and make sacrifices for. Touka is forced to kill one of the CCG agents that attempts to capture them as a result, and they flee.

TG 71, 70

Of course, before he left, her father instilled lessons on Ayato and her. These aren’t the only ones, of course but they are the ones we’ll be discussing. Before leaving, Arata instructs Ayato that he must keep his sister safe. For Touka, he instructs her that she must teach him about life. These are things that parents often say to their children, but it ends up taking on a different meaning for Touka and Ayato due to their childhood. Because of their circumstances, Touka ends up shouldering these burdens herself, quite literally, in the form of Ayato.

Now, lets talk Kuzen.

TG 119

Kuzen grew up completely alone. He never had anyone but himself to rely on - as a result, he ended up killing countless humans and ghouls. He started cannibalizing at a young age not for the reason that many other characters do - loss of others and the desire for strength - but instead because he wanted to live a long life and not go hungry (this is reminiscent of Roma’s backstory TG;re 135). Because of his strength and willingness to kill, he comes into contact with V. V provides him with food, shelter, and clothes, and in exchange, he continues what he’s already doing - killing. Kuzen’s needs in regards to safety, food shelter, and clothing are met. However, he feels unfulfilled.

The hierarchy of needs is not necessarily linear, but, generally speaking, it goes like this: human beings have physiological needs (eg food, water, shelter), safety needs (eg not fearing death), esteem needs (eg a career), social needs (eg love and family), and finally this leads to self actualization (eg fulfillment of one’s potential). Kuzen’s physiological, safety, and esteem needs are all being met by his employment by V. However, he still lacks loving and belonging. He still isn’t reaching his potential.

TG 119

And in comes Ukina, serving Kuzen coffee. Ukina was, according to Kuzen, an undercover journalist. The topic of her current story was V, the organization Kuzen worked for. Kuzen believes that Ukina was unaware of his status, as he was of hers, and that they happened upon one another. Eto provides a different version of the story - Ukina approaches her father because she’s aware he’s a member of V (TG;re 64).

Ukina is the first person Kuzen ever connects with intimately. She teaches him how to read the complex kanji he cannot understand. Through Ukina, Kuzen finds a place of belonging and higher fulfillment. Kuzen gets close to Ukina; she accepts him even after she finds out he’s a ghoul. Kuzen spares Ukina, and they eventually have a child together.

TG 119

Eventually Ukina’s objective is found out. Of course, V cannot let that stand. V orders Kuzen to kill Ukina. He does so, with Ukina’s last words being her remarks about his loneliness. One thing I want to note here is that, contrary to popular belief, Kuzen didn’t leave V. He simply stopped being part of their secret police. He just flat out says this, in much more polite words. That’s what “unable to cut ties” means. That’s why every time he goes to “work”, he’s wearing a V uniform. It’s why Kaiko can just walk right up to him later on in Tokyo Ghoul. There’s a reason why Eto was left in the 24th ward, after all.

This isn’t to say Kuzen didn’t make his own moves against V (such as sheltering Rize from their view), but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a member still. All of the members of V are shown making moves against other members of V - eg, Kaiko, introduced as the face of V, helps Furuta kill the Washuus who are supposed to be higher ranking members of V. Arima and Furuta are both members of V and make their own moves against it. Matsuri also immediately considers members of V to likely be the culprit behind the attempt on his life. V in general is a very Darwinian organization that seems to compartmentalize and encourage, unintentionally or not, competition among its members as is common with authoritarian organizations.

Now that we’ve established these backstories before they began interacting in universe, lets take a look at how these two characters interact, and how they play off one another.

TG 71

There are substantial takeaways from these backstories, and what these characters actually value at heart. Kuzen’s story is a story of loneliness preceding tragedy - Touka’s story is a story of loneliness succeeding tragedy. Kuzen was always alone, but surviving. That is his state of being. It is what he knows. Touka’s situation was always with a family - making sacrifices to protect family, to survive with family. While both Kuzen and Touka ended up alone for a time, their actions and reactions are different.

It’s best encapsulated by Kuzen’s words to Touka after he hears of her and Ayato getting into a fight Tsukiyama, and splitting up once again. Kuzen’s words to Touka here aren’t exactly subtle - he’s not exactly being coy about implying Touka should prioritize herself over Ayato, by noting that fighting for family and food has its limits before mentioning Ayato’s violent tendencies. Kuzen then implies that Touka going for school and working at Anteiku would help her do better with Ayato. This makes no logical sense, however.

TG 71

The tragedy of Touka and Ayato was, from Ayato’s point of view, caused by humans. Arima took away their mother, followed by their father being taken away by Shinohara and Mado, followed by almost themselves being taken away by their own neighbors. They were betrayed by the very humans they suffered for at their fathers request. Touka is not only going to school with more humans, becoming friends with humans, she’s also spending time at Anteiku working as a human waitress, seving human customers, to pay Kuzen back. As a result, Ayato is being left alone, unchecked, and unguarded. Ayato gets upset and ends up running away, causing even greater chaos than he did when he was with Touka, and in much greater danger as a result.

This isn’t Touka’s fault. She’s a child herself in a very rough situations. Children running away from home isn’t uncommon, especially when they’re under stress and they feel they’re unappreciated and unloved, as Ayato does here. That doesn’t mean that he’s actually unappreciated or unloved, of course. The difference between a normal human teenager running from home, and Ayato running from home, is that Ayato’s family, in the form of Yomo and Touka, aren’t doing the smart thing and coming after him. They’re just letting him run rampant. Now, fortunately, this ends up working out for Ayato (YMMV) in that Aogiri Tree takes him in, rather than the CCG, or a rival ghoul gang that was angry at his attacks.

However, this is still the exact opposite thing that Kuzen intended. If it wasn’t for things that Kuzen couldn’t have predicted (eg Tatara), Ayato may very well have died. This is kind of a repeating pattern with him and it goes understated. So, before we go any further, lets go over his and Eto’s backstory again, before we get back to Anteiku.

TG 119

Ishida actually demonstrates how this plan failed, but lets go over this story, because there’s some obvious flaws with it.

So Kuzen leaves Eto in the one place that V will never find her. Inexplicably, Eto just comes out of nowhere, “filled with hatred of the world”, and decides to attack the CCG. During these attacks, she receives a lethal wound. Fearful that V might pursue Eto in addition to the CCG, Kuzen becomes Eto’s substitute and attacks a random CCG base, receiving a lethal wound himself.

Okay, lets start with Eto’s motivation for her attacks. This is only going to be briefly covered, because the Eto/Touka parallels post covers this attack more thoroughly. Eto didn’t just pop up out of nowhere, as we know, she was actively being hunted by V and the CCG to begin with.

TG;re 66

Noroi ended up like Noro because V killed him. Shortly thereafter, as coincidence would happen, the CCG decided to do a “whack a mole” operation where they run into Eto at the specific coordinates they were sent to investigate in the deep section of the 24th Ward. It really can’t be stressed just how low the odds of this are.

TG;re 127, TG 80, TG 95

The Goat base in the middle of the 24th Ward in the D sector was 5 kilometers below the surface. The place they were attempting to escape to by going deeper was E14. Sector F124 is described as being part of the “deep”. We’re not given any reference points, and because V14 was just below the surface, it’s not necessarily linear. However, Eto was still located over 5 kilometers beneath the surface at the minimum.

The 24th Ward is a highly confusing, inconsistent labyrinth that is incredibly hard to navigate. And yet somehow, inexplicably, Marude’s team happen to run into Eto in the deep section they were sent to investigate. The implication here is that V failed their mission of killing Eto, and then tried to follow up with the CCG to kill Eto.

Why do I say the CCG’s battle with Eto occurred shortly after Noroi was killed? It’s simple.

TG;re 62

Noroi isn’t present with Eto when she is attacked by Marude’s team. You’d think that as her protector, he would be. Even Noro isn’t mentioned at any time for the original Owl campaign, despite being a known as a powerful fearsome ghoul of Aogiri. Eto’s also explicitly a penniless orphan right after her rebellion.

This is the first sighting of the One Eyed Owl and Eto cited both her mother’s death and Noroi’s death as a reason she cannot accept V, and Eto’s battle with Kasuka Mado is a parallel to Touka’s and Hinami’s fight against Kureo Mado, wherein Eto plays the part of both Hinami and Touka.

TG 124, 16

Eto didn’t just pop out of the abyss a fully formed kakuja that just hated the world. She didn’t even have a kakuja when she started her campaign, it’s shown as just a kagune. She was provoked by the the world controlling fascists that were intent on killing her and even went looking for her in the place that her father said would protect her from them to begin with. Kuzen knows, even after he “protected Eto”, that V was still pursuing her. We know this because he explicitly says so.

TG;re 71

So, lets move on to the part where Kuzen says he protects Eto. Eto receives a “lethal” wound…

TG;re 61

…that isn’t lethal to a kakuja one eyed ghoul. She literally lost an arm. It’s just damaging her combat ability to the point she was forced to run against multiple special class level investigators with reinforcements on the way. This type of injury is a non issue when it comes to “survival” to someone like Eto, who can, for example, be sliced in half and then chucked off the top of a skyscraper and survive. A ghoul’s regeneration is only stopped when their kahukou is severely damaged.

Then Kuzen takes her place without informing her or coordinating with her, and then also receives a “lethal” wound…

TG 69

And this somehow makes V and the CCG stop pursuing Eto because why, exactly? What changed here? If anything, shouldn’t the CCG and V be more enticed to go after the Owl, as it just received yet another supposedly lethal wound, if said lethal wound was really considered significant to begin with? It’s not like Kuzen immediately stepped in minutes after Eto received her wound and covered for her while she escaped. She explicitly escapes on her own.

Lets look at the logic here from two perspectives, one where Eto is in hiding and  the CCG and V don’t know her identity, and one where she’s in hiding and they don’t.

If Eto was in hiding, and CCG and V didn’t know who or where she was, they wouldn’t be able to find her immediately to finish her off anyway. She’s in no immediate danger danger of being attacked as long as she’d not found. In that case, Kuzen’s attack is pointless. Actually, it’s less than pointless - it’s pinning an attack she had nothing to do with on her, and giving the CCG valuable anti-Owl experience to use against her due to the similarities of their kakujas.

If the CCG and V does know who she is, then it doesn’t matter if Kuzen attacks again. This attack doesn’t change the fact that, in this theoretical scenario, Eto’s identity has been exposed. Kuzen’s just getting into another fight that is pinned on Eto and changes nothing.

How does this stop Eto from going on the offensive again and running into V or the CCG? What’s stopping the CCG and V from going after Eto while Kuzen’s faking his attack? Now that Kuzen just ran into some random fight completely unrelated to Eto and received a “lethal” wound, how will he be able to help Eto if she is attacked? The answer is “it doesn’t do any of that”, because we know what ends up happening.

TG;re 86, 69, 52

Arima engaged Eto so close to the time frame that he engaged Kuzen, you can even see that Eto hasn’t even gotten enough time to regenerate her arm yet. Eto was made into a figurative quinque of Arima’s at the age of 14 because Kuzen’s attempt to protect her had no logical way of doing so.

TG 139

Because Arima wasn’t referring to a replacement for IXA here when he said he needed a quinque. Because Kaneki was not literally a quinque he went around killing ghouls with. Arima was referring to a new metaphorical quinque to replace an old one. The old one being Eto.

This isn’t fridge logic, this is something Kuzen should have thought about immediately, and it’s not like he didn’t have time. Kuzen says that he immediately knew that Eto was his child, and consider the description of the Owl campaign.

TG 69

Kuzen had months to think of a plan to help Eto. This was what he decided to do. Kuzen’s plan was liable to fail. It never made sense to begin with in any way, shape, or form to accomplish its goal to save Eto, and so of course it didn’t. Why would it? Kuzen’s not solving any of Eto’s problems - making her feel loved, actually protecting her, giving her guidance.

If it weren’t for Arima secretly hating V and his job, and Eto telling Arima she wants to “fix the world” she would have been killed. Eto survived because of Eto. Lets compare this to Touka, who was in a similar situation with Hinami

If you’re wondering “what should Kuzen have done?” the answer is to ask Touka, who actually succeeded at her goals.

TG 23

I talked above how Volumes 2 and 3 of Tokyo Ghoul are effectively a parallel between Eto, and Touka and Hinami. It’s well known that Touka’s creation of ;re was meant as a parallel for Kuzen’s creation of Anteiku. There’s a reason for this. Lets take a look at how Touka handles the situations with Hinami and Kaneki that Kuzen’s also in, shall we?

TG 16

Kuzen left Eto in the 24th Ward. He tries to do the same with Hinami.   Immediately, Touka gets enraged. You can’t just leave an orphaned 14 year old alone in the 24th Ward. The 24th Ward is considered one of the worst places in Tokyo Ghoul to live, let alone for an orphan. Children shouldn’t be left unattended in general…

While Touka’s reaction here (”Kill all the doves”) is an overreaction, it’s an overreaction to Kuzen’s overreaction. And yes, this is an overreaction. What logical reason is there for Kuzen to throw Hinami in the 24th Ward? I think it’s safe to assume it relates to the CCG confrontations that he gives moments later to Touka’s idea of killing all of the CCG.

TG 16

That still doesn’t make sense, though. Because even if he’s not on the radar because of his connections with V, Kaya, Koma, and Yomo are. A ghoul’s face being exposed is a big deal, yes, but the investigators had no knowledge of what Hinami actually looked like, and a simple investigation of his own could have solved that.

TG 20

To clarify this description is so vague as to be meaningless. It’s basically saying “this vaguely child sized person with a clover dress and a coat”. Hinami literally has to change her clothes and survive a few months and she’ll no longer fit this description in any way. In the end, there is a middle ground between these two sides - Hinami stays with a member of Anteiku and they protect her, and that’s exactly what happens anyway.

TG 31

Oh and also Hinami gets a haircut, grows because she’s still growing, and changes her clothes. Because she’s alive. The thing is, this is such an obvious and simple answer to the problem at hand that it should have been Kuzen’s first reaction. Touka’s not realizing this immediately is logical. Touka herself has a history of losing people to the actions of the CCG - her own parents directly, and indirectly Ayato. Touka being blinded by her rage is understandable.

Kuzen, meanwhile, has no excuse. He’s many times her age. He’s coolheaded enough to realize not to attack the CCG, and he’s old enough that he should have experience to realize the flaws in his logic. Again, like with his decision to “help” Eto, this is not a split second decision.

TG 17

As a result of him not doing so, the very thing he was trying to avoid, Doves dying, ends up happening anyway. And the very result he was trying to avoid, vengeful Doves, follows. This is a pattern with Kuzen’s actions. His actions keep leading to results he doesn’t want, because his actions have no logical basis of succeeding at anything he claims he wants them to.

TG 25

Kaneki, Touka, and Hinami subsequently are all almost killed. Kuzen and Yomo eventually show up, but they were mainly preoccupied with Kaneki and in the case of Touka it wasn’t even a last second save Hinami did. Kureo Mado’s quinque was in the midst of being swung meters away aimed at Touka’s head when Hinami cut it off.

All because Kuzen lacked the foresight to think that abandoning an innocent 14 year old in a hellhole was a bad idea. And he really should know better. Kuzen left Eto in the 24th Ward after Noroi died and he got… obvious results.

TG 32

Lets move on to Kaneki’s encounter with Tsukiyama. We’ll start this by making an observation of Touka warning Kaneki about Tsukiyama. This might seem insignificant, but it’s not. Touka’s warning almost worked, were it not for Tsukiyama’s cunning and Itori’s goading, Kaneki would have likely avoided the Gourmet Arc. It’s rather interesting comparing this to both Itori and Tatara’s commentary on Kuzen, where they both make a good points about Kuzen’s treatment of Kaneki.

TG 34, TG 54

There was literally no good reason for Kuzen to not warn Kaneki of the impending danger around him. We know Kuzen’s reasoning here, according to Yomo, it’s to keep Kaneki from getting caught up in the confusion. The problem is that’s already too late. Kuzen already knows Kaneki’s mixed up in V’s business, the CCG’s business, and the Clown’s business, whether he likes it or not. He knows, and decides not to tell Kaneki.

To get back to Tsukiyama, Kuzen’s reaction shows, once again, a lack of learning anything.

TG 40

This is one of the many times that Yomo starts to questions Kuzen’s decision, but doesn’t fully follow through with the thought process. And it’s hard to do so, which I’ll get into later, because Kuzen has many redeeming qualities. But that doesn’t change his downsides. Remember, his inaction almost resulted in three of his people getting killed, and resulted in two members of the CCG getting killed.

Tsukiyama himself literally almost just had Kaneki tortured to death and eaten alive by a group of hungry ghouls. They just finished having a conversation with Kaneki about this very issue. Yomo is clearly worried about Kaneki, and he has a very good understanding of his strength because he’s been training him. This is not stuff that has not already come to pass - this is stuff that has passed.

TG 40

Que Touka, almost as if it’s a joke and she was listening in on them. As if her expression directed at the discussion and Kuzen’s poor decision making, and not Loser. As if it’s meta commentary.

TG 42

Touka picks the opposite decision that Kuzen does, and is in the right. Had she not shown up, Tsukiyama would have likely eaten Kaneki and Kimi, and killed Nishki. You can’t really be hands off when the guy in question is trying to kill one of your people, you know? But Kuzen doesn’t see it that way.

TG 18

You could say that, in a sense, Touka is paying Kaneki back for his own disregarding of Kuzen’s direct orders saving her in the process. One of the patterns that goes hand in hand with Kuzen constantly getting the worse outcomes is of course, characters going against Kuzen’s will and getting improved outcomes.

TG 59

Kaneki’s rescue from Aogiri is actually an example of Kuzen doing the right thing. Still interesting to note that Touka immediately knows she’s going to save Kaneki and makes it known, which contrasts with Kuzen’s malingering on the issue.

TG 124

Kuzen’s stand at Anteiku was also just pointless. He frames it as a stand against V for Eto when Kaiko chats with him, but how does fighting at Anteiku do so? How does this protect or help Eto? How does fruitlessly dying against the CCG stop V from going after Eto? Again, it doesn’t.

Even if Kuzen was going to be chased by V, we know you can avoid them for years with occasional fighting (see: Shachi, Noroi and Eto, Rize pre-Binging). And if you actually want to fight them, there are better means than playing defensive against a bunch of CCG agents protecting literally nothing.

TG;re 140, 65

It’s not like this is like Rushima and Coachlea, where the goal is to split the forces of the CCG to enable a rescue operation. The diversion Aogiri Tree made was an absolute necessity for the success of the Coachlea raid. And it’s not like there are countless numbers of noncombatants who couldn’t defend themselves if Kuzen didn’t fight, like in the 24th Ward. The stand made there was a necessity to stop the slaughter of civilians.

Kuzen didn’t have to fight, and neither did the Dobermans or the Apes. A lot of people just ended up dying for no reason. Anteiku was just a place that could have been rebuilt, which is exactly what the rest of the Anteiku crew sans Kuzen and Kaneki did. It was literally a building, the people inside the building are what mattered. And Kuzen decided they had to die and then effectively blamed it all on Eto. Because regardless of whether or not that’s what he intended, that is what he did.

TG 128

Kaneki is clearly implying that this entire battle, this entire fight is entirely Eto’s fault here, he’s just not saying her name. We’ll get back to this later on, because it’s important, and it explains a lot of the Anteiku/Eto interactions.

TG 130

Now the Anteiku raid itself. Kuzen framed the entire thing as a fight for Eto. He brings Kaya and Koma along with him, but as noted above, this doesn’t actually help Eto in any way. As noted above, if Kuzen just ran away, hid himself, anything, really, there would be no consequences to anybody.

Touka attempting to rush to Anteiku was a foolish move, and it makes sense that Yomo stopped her. The problem is Yomo’s response to Touka’s response. Touka’s the only person in this situation who’s actually shown putting any thought into the situation, and yet she’s being belittled for it.

TG 130

Kaneki, Kaya, Koma, and Kuzen are all on suicide missions for no good reason, hoping that things will work out. Touka is desperately trying to understand, but can’t, because there is no logical reason for this to happen. People are just dying over a literal building. Touka’s objection destroys Kuzen’s argument here about redemption through death and how arbitrary he makes it. Yomo really has no good responses to Touka’s objections here, he just deflected with saying she’s too young to understand the thing that he himself doesn’t understand. He even outright agrees with her.

TG 130

He tries to play off her being confused by a senseless action leading to countless deaths as her “throwing a temper tantrum”. He adopts Kuzen’s policy of inaction once again, even though he feels this is all wrong. He even acknowledges this years later.

TG;re 171

The problem is that he still doesn’t see the pointlessness of Anteiku, here. No one does. Even Nishki and Kaneki were trying to rationalize the battle as Kuzen trying to cause enough chaos that the Anteiku crew would not be found.

“Or how it could have ended without losing Anteiku…”

We are literally shown how to have ended the situation without losing Anteiku, outside of a name change. It’s literally a situation that Yomo himself was in just months before in universe. It’s just that Yomo can’t bring himself to acknowledge the reality of Kuzen’s actions. He somewhat seems to have started to understand it towards the end of ;re, but not quite. On some level, he’s still trying to justify the battle. “Maybe if I had fought in that battle” is just that. The right answer would have been to… not fight.

So, what was Kuzen’s real reason for the battle of Anteiku?

TG 120

I think the answer is the same as it is for many characters in this series. We hear it from Touka, who rather purposefully shares many parallels with both Kuzen and Eto, talking to Kaneki, in an arc that is a parallel to Kuzen’s own. Saying this to Kaneki in the chapter right after Kuzen tells his story to Kaneki, and right before the destruction of Anteiku.

Kuzen didn’t establish Anteiku solely for Eto’s sake. He did it so he could say to himself he founded Anteiku for Eto’s sake. Kuzen didn’t fight the CCG for Eto’s sake. He fought the CCG so he could say he fought for Eto’s sake.  He did it for the self satisfaction, a way to soothe the guilt.

Because Kuzen , just like Kaneki, hated being alone. And so he starts doing anything he can to stop from being alone, while paradoxically wanting to die while living as long as he can, like Kaneki did. Anteiku is a parallel to Kaneki’s story as a whole.

TG 126

Just as there’s a reason Eto was hunted down and forced to work for Arima (and yes, she’s forced to; the moment Arima discovered her identity, she has no choices left) despite Kuzen’s “protection”, there’s a reason that Anteiku was destroyed despite Kaneki’s “protection”. Because destroying Aogiri doesn’t solve the underlying issues that cause threats to Anteiku to begin with.

It doesn’t break the bird cage caused by V, it doesn’t solve the issues between humans and ghouls, it doesn’t even remotely encourage that. Destroying Aogiri doesn’t even solve the immediate threats to Anteiku in Tokyo Ghoul - V, and groups that work with them, like, say, the CCG. The groups who actually targeted Anteiku and actually destroyed it, and not just a theoretical that Kaneki proposed in his head.

TG 63

Because Aogiri never intended to attack Anteiku, a few individual members did of their own accord. Think about it this way: If they were intending to destroy Anteiku and kill all of its members, why would Ayato be in Aogiri when his goal is to protect Touka? There’s nothing that actually indicated that Aogiri had any interest in Anteiku outside of just checking out Kaneki’s worthiness as a possible One Eyed King.

Tatara, Eto, and Arima never even intended for Kaneki to be tortured in the first place.

TG 54, TG 75

Tatara actively writes off Kaneki and gives him to Ayato, not Yamori. Ayato, as in the guy who angers Yamori, and who Yamori didn’t want to cross. The reason Kaneki was tortured was’t because of Aogiri using Yamori as a roundabout means to do so (why would they bother doing so in such a manner?), it was because of, primarily, Nico’s extensive machinations enabling Yamori to do so.

TG 58

Kaneki projected Yamori, a guy who has less in common with the average grunt of Aogiri as Kijima does the random grunt of the CCG, onto the rest of Aogiri Tree. Yamori was legitimately hated by the Aogiri members as a whole, this is made explicit on multiple occasions. Yamori also rather explicitly has literally no loyalty to Aogiri Tree.  His motive? “it’ll be fun”.

Yamori torturing Kaneki was explicitly treason here, in the sense that he had to commit treason to do so. The only reason that the Bin Brothers didn’t try to fight Yamori was Nico and the oncoming CCG battle. We’ll leave this at that for now. However, it’s made clear that Nico was the one who enabled Yamori to torture Kaneki by stopping Kaneki’s and the others’ escape at every turn and being the one who lead Yamori to him in the first place.

TG 139

The tragedy of the original Tokyo Ghoul wasn’t that Kaneki’s actions amounted to nothing because the CCG’s attack made Kaneki’s actions against Aogiri meaningless, and he decided to shoulder the burden of fighting everyone alone. The tragedy of the original Tokyo Ghoul was that Kaneki didn’t actually protect Anteiku, because his actions had nothing to do with protecting Anteiku. In the end, Kaneki ends up in an unwitting battle against the One Eyed King and is defeated before he can reach his goal of Anteiku. He fought a series of pointless battles against Aogiri, because a Clown set him up.

TG 78

That’s why Nico’s saying all this to Furuta in a chapter called “Diversion”. It’s… literally right there. Eto and Aogiri a diversion for Kaneki from his true goal: being loved and finding happiness. Nico even kind of just outright says they had Kaneki tortured because they wanted to see the changes a human goes through when they enter despair. There is a very, very good reason why Kaneki is always portrayed as being at his worst when he’s going after Eto in both Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul ;re.

They’re mentioning Eto indirectly here, and how she’s not the One Eyed King (Nico lied to Kaneki - not Furuta) to foreshadow quite a bit. The tragedy of the original Tokyo Ghoul was that Kaneki’s actions were meaningless the entire time, that he wasn’t actually fighting the real threats to his loved ones, and he learned the wrong lessons from his experiences.

TG 143

That was the point of this entire scene with the Clowns celebrating at the end of Tokyo Ghoul. Like, they’re even referencing Yamori’s line here. Kaneki went on some random warpath against someone who is mostly irrelevant to his happiness and could have even been an ally to him (like Tsukiyama, or Nishki), who eventually became an ally to him in ;re, but not the actual threats to Antieku.  Kuzen is the same as Kaneki. That’s how they parallel. The only difference between Kaneki and Kuzen is that Kaneki was tricked and misled, whereas Kuzen wasn’t.

TG;re 71

Kuzen is completely aware of this fact. He knows his actions aren’t actually helping Eto. That’s the subtext here, even if Yomo doesn’t pick up on it. Yoshimura even lampshading that, more often than not, he gets the opposite outcome than what he wants in his statements here.

TG;re 62

I believe this scene to be grossly misinterprreted. The question I usually see pop up here is “Why is Eto getting so unreasonable here, so ungrateful towards her father?” There seems to be this perception that Eto could just walk in through the front door, that Kuzen would just welcome her with open arms. But there’s nothing to suggest that he would.

TG;remake 1, TG;re 62

This novel Eto drops in front of Anteiku is about the longing for parents, or in other words, a family, while living in a hellish situation. Just look how long he lingers on the novel she drops in front of his door. This indicates the novel itself has meaning to him.

TG;re 63, TG 124, TG 119

Consider that Eto looks just like Ukina. Now consider that Eto makes public appearances and has her novels known around the world. Kuzen even imagines Eto in his mind’s eye during his speech to Kaneki. The implication here is that Kuzen is just as aware of Eto as she is of him. The other implication here is that Kuzen’s lingering on Eto’s novel because he knows she just walked by and dropped the novel as a message to him.

The real question should be “How does Eto know who Kuzen is?”

TG;re 71

The implication here is that Kuzen came forward to Eto. Given his foiling with Touka, and his intentions with Hinami, all point towards one thing: Kuzen’s last embrace of Eto? Wasn’t from when she was a baby. It was probably shortly after she published her novel. That is how he knows V is still pursuing her. That is why she is so angry. That is how Eto knows who he is. That is why Kuzen lingered on Eto’s novel for so long. Kuzen did with Eto the exact same thing he wanted to do with Hinami. Only with Eto, there was no one to tell him “this is wrong”.

Eto started working as a novelist as a 14 year old. Eto was forced to become a child soldier as a 14 year old, fighting a war against V, who controls the entire world, as a 14 year old. Not for her own selfish ends, not for simple revenge, but for the plight of her fellow ghouls.

TG;re 65

And Kuzen’s not helping her, he’s not taking care of her, he’s not taking notice of her, he’s not actually doing anything for her. The opposite of love is not hatred - the opposite of love is indifference. And Kuzen comes off as being completely and utterly indifferent towards Eto’s struggles. Eto’s writing novels about living through hell, because she’s being hunted by V, other ghouls, the CCG, and the only support system she believes she has at that moment is maybe Arima.

TG;re 62

So when Eto walks by Kuzen having a happy fun time with his new family, while she’s suffering alone, when she’s being hunted by V, she gets upset. And it’s completely understandable. She’s struggling alone.

(this image is from TG 125 and TG;re 71)

Kuzen wished for Eto’s embrace, to have a cup of coffee with her. He created Anteiku as a home for her, the name being an anagram of her name and her mother’s name; but in the end, it never amounted to any more than a wish. V was never going to go away without someone to stop them, and Kuzen had already resigned himself to never be able to do anything to beat them.

Therefore, Eto could never come to Anteiku. Kuzen referred to Eto using such terms with fantastical connotations, but simultaneous common usage, such as “wish” and “miracle”. Perhaps that was by design? Because he knew the arbitrary requirements he designed to be met could never be.  These words would have immediate meaning to those around him as merely expressing desire; but in reality, they’re acknowleding it’s pure fantasy.

We’ll contrast Touka’s inaction with Kuzen’s inaction, because they’re two very different things. Both Kuzen and Touka made homes for Eto and Kaneki respectively to return too, and both avoided grabbing them and bringing them to those homes. But the reasoning here is polar opposite.

TG;re 42

Touka doesn’t want to bring Kaneki to this home she made for him because by being part of the CCG, he’s protected. The investigators know his identity, and will search him out if he runs away. Being in CCG custody and under their protection? It’s the safest thing for him. Of course, if he does run, he will always have a home at ;re. Touka is actually ignoring her own wishes, her wish for Kaneki’s return, because she thinks this sacrifice is necessary to keep Kaneki safe - because she believes he’s safer without her.

The other part of this equation is, of course, Haise Sasaki and the members of the CCG. Haise Sasaki is just as much a part of Ken Kaneki as any other “personality”. Haise is not something that can simply be removed from Kaneki.

TG;re 121

Which is something that holds to be true. The moment “Haise Sasaki” became “Ken Kaneki”, Akira Mado stopped associating with him. Because names are not without meaning. Memories are not without meaning. The thing that brought Kaneki to Touka, was the thing that took away Haise from Akira.

TG;re 99

And in the end, when V and the CCG does come for Kaneki, even after his identity has been exposed and his face plastered all over television?   Touka has Kaneki stay at ;re, fulfilling her promise.

TG;re 124, 123

And Touka is also forced into a situation where she learns there’s an army on its way to her location. So what do she and Kaneki do? They don’t fight a pointless battle they run, sending Kaya and Koma aways instead of forcing them into a suicide battle. While Touka is fond of ;re, she recognizes ;re as what it is: a building. Something that can be rebuilt, an inanimate object. Of course, things don’t go as planned, and Mutsuki, Aura, and the Oggai show up to fight Kaneki.

The violence Kaneki and Touka used here is proportionate to the threat they faced until they can find an opening to leave. Because the important people were sent off. They had already left, because that’s the logical thing to do when you find out an army is approaching your position and there is nothing of strategic value in the place you’re staying at.

TG;re 130

And even when the CCG followed, Touka still stayed with Kaneki. Compare this to Kuzen’s response to V and the CCG hunting for Eto, his teenaged daughter, who’s identity is not truly known by anybody. And hey, even if they come for you, guess what? Touka has the answer there, too. Touka had an objectively harder job than Kuzen at this point, because Kaneki’s face is now being plastered all over the news. Eto is a… relative nobody. V is hunting her down, they’re trying to kill her, but it’s not like her identity is known to such an extent.

Many people recognized Touka’s parallels to Kuzen with regards to ;re and Anteiku, but I’m not too sure I agree with people about what they meant. The reason Touka succeeded in making a home for Kaneki and Kuzen failed in making a home for Eto wasn’t because Eto “couldn’t understand Kuzen’s love for her”, but because Kuzen never made the right decision, and moreover, knew that in his heart. Touka makes this explicit by rebuffing every decision he makes at every level. That’s why she’s a better manager.

That is not to say that Kuzen didn’t make some very good decisions, because he did.

TG 9, TG;re 71, TG 125, TG 71, TG 47

Kaya and Koma were, at one point, violent ghouls who fought others often. Because of Kuzen’s leadership and guidance, they calmed down. They joined him, and became more peaceful. And not just them, but those who followed them.

Or lets use Yomo as another example. Kuzen saves Yomo’s life from Arima, then brings him under his wing. Mellows him out. This is going to be a pattern with Kuzen. Kuzen also saved Yomo’s niece and nephew.

For Touka, Kuzen acts as her father figure and sends her to school. Touka is noted to have “cooled” a lot from this. She established one of her most important relationships here.

For Kaneki, he gives him a family. He tells him, at his weakest moment, he has a place to be. Anteiku is a place of belonging Kaneki discovers when he, as someone who always felt he had nowhere to belong besides Hide, believes he has become a creature alien from both worlds.

He also gives Nishki a way to have relatively moral food. Nishki is also mellowed out by Kuzen’s actions. He becomes far more accustomed to peaceful interactions with others.

It’s just that, if you notice the pattern, none of these good decisions have anything to do with Eto. And indeed, good decisions make people more willing to make people overlook bad decisions. But it doesn’t change the fact that he failed Eto. It doesn’t change the fact that he didn’t help her. It doesn’t change the fact that he got people killed, because of decisions that had immediate, easily seeable answers available to him. But, a reoccuring theme of Tokyo Ghoul is this:

TG;re 159, TG 1, TG 47, TG 98

People really, really, really don’t like to acknowledge the bad. They only want the good. That there is a hidden truth to the world, a darkness, that no one wants to face.

TG 54

It’s best encapsulated by Kaneki’s statement here. Kuzen hid a ton of information from Kaneki - information Kaneki desperately needs. But at the same time, Kuzen gave Kaneki food, a family, counsel, and the ability to do things. Kaneki has very good reason to have doubts in Kuzen, but he writes it off as just his irritation and confusion. Irritation and confusion that was caused in part by Kuzen’s hiding of information from him.

As for why Kuzen treats Eto the way he does? He can say it’s V, but I think it’s more than that. Kuzen has some interesting wording that he uses when he goes on his speeches, pertaining to one thing: “Birth” and its negative effects.

TG 78

He first says it here, relating birth with anger, sadness, death and mass murder. But the best example, the one that gets cited as being “such a good speech”, is the one I want to focus on:

TG 126

“from the instant we are born, we are evil”

His speech itself is in reference to an interpretation to the idea of the Original Sin, which is literally the chapter title. The Original Sin, in the way Kuzen applies it, is the belief that all people are born filled with sin, more or less as Kuzen describes it. This speech itself comes off as kinda cool when you consider how it contrasts with his managerial position at Anteiku, his attitude, and his past, but as Kuzen describe the Original Sin, it’s arguably literally meaningless.

“acts which snatch things away are equally evil”

“life itself means evil”

Kuzen’s statement equates, say, Donato stealing children’s lives with Amon stealing donuts as a child. It’s honestly a really depressing speech. The speech comes off as someone who was forced to kill countless people to survive, and then willingly killed countless more at the behest of a conspiracy, attempting to justify themself. A conclusion so meaningless that “death squad member” is equal to “newborn baby”, which is literally the point, because he’s clearly trying to rationalize his treatment of Eto here with this philosophy.

TG;re 63, TG 119, TG 1, TG 70

Both Eto and Kaneki greatly resemble Arata and Ukina. Kuzen’s killing of Ukina is the darkest moment of his life. It is, quite literally, the only time that we ever see Kuzen shed a tear - that we ever see Kuzen truly express vulnerability to such a level. For Touka, this is a reminder of the good times she had, the more simple times. The time she spent with her father was special to her. Touka has positive memories of her father, who kept his darkness hidden from her; Kuzen has negative memories of Ukina, who he was forced to kill. The resemblances carry emotions that are completely contrasting, and further explain Kuzen’s avoidance of Eto.

“I know that I am ‘evil’, and so are you“

Based off of what Kuzen’s wording here and his mind’s eye view of a “violent ghoul”, he associated Eto with death, with destruction, with evil.

TG 40

Because when he’s describing a ghoul committing senseless murder, he’s thinking constantly of Eto. Eto’s body language actually contradicts his descriptions of course, showing immense stress. This is honestly just Kuzen projecting, which you realize in chapter 119, because he’s describing himself when he was younger and thinking of Eto. He’s literally seeing the worst of himself in Eto. And Eto also sees the worst of Kuzen in herself. That’s part of the reason why she wrote the Black Goat’s Egg.

Kuzen’s rebellion, in the form of the Battle of Anteiku, did nothing that couldn’t have been done better. No one ever got the chance to directly call Kuzen out for what he did, to try to get him to reconsider, Touka being the only one who even considered it, at least not in a way were it was trying to justified his actions. He staged this massive battle that legitimately served no purpose. All because, ostensibly, “for Eto”.

TG;re 86, TG;re 52, TG;re 69

The One Eyed King plan is something that has a limited time table to complete. And if Eto doesn’t do what Arima says, then he could force her to become the One Eyed King by attempting to fight her and killing himself like he did against Kaneki. Which is something Eto doesn’t want, because she thinks everything she touches dies. Because she thinks she’s toxic. I went over this in the Eto’s novels post, but the Black Goat’s Egg is basically about Eto’s self loathing and belief she’s toxic.

TG;re Vol 5 poem, Black Goat’s Egg excerpt

TG;re 74

There is some inference here, essentially the idea that Arima gave Eto the same choice he gave Kaneki when it came to Touka - it’s not explicitly stated, but there’s some hints. I understand there’s the idea that Kuzen and Eto made no attempt at reconciliation, and that’s actually understandable. But… I’m pretty sure the subtext is they did, because the literal text is that she’s bothered by his passing.

TG;re 65

Furuta brings up Kuzen here, and the death of those around her because of her actions. Something that really grates on Eto. Eto has no real response to Furuta’s points, because these things actually bother her, which is why she just responds with “I’m on the size of the weak, you’re on the side of the strong”. It’s a deflection about  

Eto is planning on dying here to atone for her sins. She doesn’t think she’s someone worth living, worth saving. That’s why she smiles in the same manner as Kaneki after making a request for someone to do something they’re already planning on doing, for Kaneki asking Urie to save Mutsuki, and for Eto asking Kaneki to fight Arima. Eto is actually paralleling Kaneki throughout his “Reapernki” and “Shironeki” phases, and these parallels run back 13 years.

TG;re 68, 55

You’ll notice there was an awkward pause here from Eto that went completely overlooked during this conversation when Kuzen was mentioned by Kaneki. This isn’t her being angry. This is her not having anything to say when he immediately brings him up, the rest of her conversations with Kaneki being constant quick witted banter (that devolves into mentally ill rambling shortly after this, but).

This awkward pausing is actually repeated later, with Eto’s human father figure, Shiono. An awkward pause, followed by a joke. These scenes aren’t a perfect parallel; but they’re rather close.

TG 99, TG;re 119

There’s more hints of course, and it relates to Rize’s treatment by Furuta. You can actually see Rize here and the immense agony she is clearly in. This is a clear cut indication that Kanou donors aren’t given any type of pain supression system, and that more over, they’re fully aware of their surroundings.

Why is all of this relevant?

TG 143, 124

When you cut to Kuzen, if you look closlely you’ll notice that he’s smiling. And it’s in a panel that was paralleling an earlier panel, where he’s miserable when talking with Kaiko (with the panel mentioning Eto’s existence is a betrayal of V), but smiling next to Eto. Pretty hard to do when your body is hooked to machines and being harvested, right? The idea that the last panel we see of Kuzen was drawn this way for no true purpose seems rather unreasonable, no?

You can’t peacefully smile in immense pain like that. But you can if you’re not in immense pain. Kuzen would logically be on painkillers here, and since Kanou didn’t do this for Rize, it would logically be at Eto’s request. Is that a good ending? No. And this also doesn’t excuse what Eto did here. I think that will probably be hard to swallow given the general assumptions surrounding Eto, but I didn’t agree with the idea that Eto didn’t care for her father, because her actions towards him don’t make sense otherwise. I’m also not sure how else someone going through a painful procedure would smile and be completely asleep outside of painkillers.

TG 99

It further explains why Furuta knew to use Kuzen against Eto. If Kanou knew Eto cared about killing Kuzen, he would have probably mentioned that to Furuta. Kanou and Furuta were consulting constantly. Kanou knew, back when Kaneki confonted Kanou in his lab, that Kuzen and Eto were related by blood. Kanou had been aware of Kuzen and Eto’s relationship from the beginning.

To get back to Eto, the problem here is that Kuzen’s speech, his entire rebellion against V, is being framed as for Eto, but because how horribly he pulls it off it ends up being against Eto. Because no one actually benefited from the Anteiku battle outside of V; it was demonstrably meaningless in its objectives. But in the end, it wasn’t meaningless to the people it left behind.

Because everyone who survived Anteiku? They all worshiped Kuzen. And Kuzen just staged this massive fight, which meant nothing and did nothing, while framing it as for his daughter who they don’t know. The daughter they’ve been told is a horrible monster. The daughter they believe was the one who was being unreasonable, when Kuzen was the one who decided they could never be together. The daughter who objectively had no control over Kuzen’s actions at any time, but is being blamed for them regardless.

TG;re 75

Eto, of course, ends up saving the Anteiku crew from certain doom not once, but twice. It should be noted that Eto jams up the machinery here befoorehand, too, so even if she fails to manifest her kakujja, the Anteiku crew won’t die.

TG;re 75

And rather than trying to seek understanding or reconciliation they just. Don’t. Ever. Because there’s good reasons to have blood between them, but there’s… no attempt at understanding. Eto sincerely attempts to help them here. She is the only reason they are alive.

The idea she might be saving them because she’s keeping a promise, or she’s trying to help Hinami out, or they’re her fellow ghouls, or she’s Kuzen’s child, and therefore helping out family, doesn’t even enter into their mind.

TG;re 175

They don’t do much of anything both times, there was a refusal to even acknowledge her the second time. She actually shatters the Kuzen quinque, here, too. That’s how they were able to win against Kaiko, because he lost his SSS rated quinque that allowed him to effortlessly dominate them. They were about to be killed by Kaiko, and she’s objectively the reason they’re alive, and there’s a refusal to acknowledge her.

There was a refusal to even acknowledge her existence for the last 80 chapters. They’re literally doing the exact same thing that Yoshimura and Arima did to Eto. Well, except one person:

TG;re 129

[return-of-a-space-cowboy]

Loves me loves me not pt1

(yandere Narancia x female reader)

You woke up in the middle of the street, late at night.

"What the fuck happened?" You asked yourself. You felt your hands and legs cramp up, like a serious case of pins and needles. You looked at your hands and to your horror that metaphoric saying was literal. You had sewing needles covering them and small strands of string loosely hanging on your body. You let out a loud scream and they sunk into your skin, you looked at your chest to see a freshly stitched wound visible through your binder. You tightly gripped the old home made pendent that your childhood friend Narancia had made you.

'How did my life get to this, living on the street' you thought.

You started to backtrack through yesterday.

You had woken up to find £100 in your sleeping bag, brought some breakfast and went to the second hand store to buy some boys clothes. You then decided to buy a block of chocolate before heading to the prison and talking to a whale of a man who called himself Polpo. You told him that your name was Pasito (Pa•She•Tou) Roma and told him about your four years of homelessness and how you wanted to join Passioné. He gave you a rather... Strange task. In order to join you had to keep a lighter on for twenty four hours and return to him then and he would let you join.

You had managed to hid the lighter in your sleeve and had managed to get out before the fire got to out of hand, however the flame went out after

Three hours but how would he know if the lighter had gone out so you relight it. After that you blacked out and you woke up here.

You looked at your watch 11:54pm, you had been out for nine hours. You felt that strange feeling again and there those needles were again.

Suddenly it finally came to you. When you had relight the lighter an arrow had appeared in front of you and stabbed it's self inside of you.

'what fucking kind of joke was this!' you restrained yourself from screaming.

🍊🍊🍊

You eventually returned to Polpo and gave him the lighter back, which he rewarded you with the Passioné badge before sending you off with an address and a name, Bruno Buccellati.

'hope he gets a bullet to the head' you thought as you left.

🍊🍊🍊

After an hour of searching you had finally found the address, a small restaurant. That was closed. You knocked on the door and waited about ten seconds before it opened up. A tall black haired male stood in front of you, looking straight into you with an intimidating glare.

"Umm... Hello sir... I was wondering if... A Bruno Buccellati was here" you stuttered. Instantly his intimidating glare disappeared and a kind look replaced it.

"Yes, that would be me" he replied.

"Well, Polpo told me to come here, I just joined Passioné" you stated.

"You must be Pasito then, welcome. Come in I'll introduce you to the others" he said as he moved out of the way and lead you into a room with four other people, who were all preoccupied. A man with long white hair, wearing a full black outfit and dark make up on his face sipping tea next to another male wearing the weirdest outfit you had seen. A blue and white beanie, matching midriff jumper and a pair of tiger patterned pants eating pizza.

On another table were the other two. Another white haired male whose red suit looked like it had been thrown into a lion inclosure. And a familiar looking black haired male.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention" Bruno yelled and everyone turned to face you.

"This is Pasito Roma, he passed Polpo's test and has been assigned to work with us" he said as he gestured to you. You couldn't help but feel sweat dripping down your forehead. The easy part was fooling Polpo, however now this was the hard part, having to keep up with this persona that was established.

"I hope you all treat him kindly, he's had it rough for the past few years"

The gang welcomed you before Bruno sat you down next to the black and white haired boys before sitting next to the other white haired male who had poured him some tea.

"Welcome to the gang Pasito!" The black haired male said as he gave you the brightest smile possible as he held out his hand.

"Names Narancia Ghriga" he said. You went into complete shock. After all these years. Many had told you that he died from his eye infection but no, he was right here in the flesh.

You were just so overwhelmed, you wanted to let him know it was you but then you would have blown your cover, maybe it was best that you didn't say anything besides would he have forgiven you for abandoning him...

You took his hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you Narancia" you said.

"And this crabby bastard next to me is Fugo" he said as he pointed the the younger male next to him.

"That's Pancotta Fugo" he said as he slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ah, What the fuck was that for!" Narancia whined.

"Your not paying attention to the problems I've given you" Fugo hissed.

"Yeah they're problems alright" Narancia rolled his eyes in discontent, Fugo sighed.

"Hey Pasito, maybe you could help the little runt out" he asked as he gave you a pencil.

"Ummm... I don't think I could help, my step father took me out of school in third grade" you lightly chuckled in embarrassment while scratching your neck.

"Great... Another idiot to teach..." He hissed with a voice full of venom.

🍊🍊🍊

Throughout the day Narancia couldn't help but make comparisons between the new guy and his childhood crush, the soft (h/c) locks, the vibrant (E/C) eyes. His mind couldn't help but drift into memory lane.

🍊🍊🍊

Down in the fields Narancia sat looked down at all of the various flowers that surround him, he couldn't help but think about the girl at daycare. Her hair, her eyes and her smile just made his heart beat rapidly.

He remembered a little thing that he had learnt not to long ago.

'If you have a crush on someone, pick a flower and pull it's petals off, with each petal you pull you say "loves me" then "loves me not" with the next petal until they're all gone and what ever the last petal is ... Would tell you if they like you back'

So he did

"Loves me...

Loves me not...

Loves me...

Loves me not...

Loves me...

Loves me not..."

"Loves me!" he exclaimed as he picked the last petal. He flinched as a hand rested on his shoulder.

"Whatcha doing sweetie" a comforting voice said. He turned the see his mother beside him.

"Um Mama... ah..." He stuttered as a blush grew on his face. He was absolutely embarrassed that his mother may have overheard him.

"Does my little boy have a crush?" she gushed as she started tickling him, causing him to burst out into laughter.

"O- ok mama ha ha, I do" he struggled to say as he tried to escape her grip.

"I bet she's the sweetest, most beautiful girl to exist" she said as she stopped her tickle attack and pulled him into a tight hug.

"But I'll always love you Narancia and I'll always be right here beside you" she said.

"I love you too Mama, to the moon and back" he said as he returned the hug. She picked him up.

"It's getting late now, we should head back now. I'm making margarita pizzas tonight"

"Aww yeah my favourite!" He cheered.

🍊🍊🍊

"Hey Narancia, you've been giving the new guy lovey eyes all day, what's up man?" Mista said he pulled Narancia aside, he didn't answer and a small blush on his face appeared.

"Ooh, don't tell me your gay" Mista said as he sighed.

"No,no,no! I'm not! It's just that he reminds me of a girl I had a crush on long ago!" he argued back.

"Well now that you mention it... Pasito is a bit on the feminine side" Mista said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Just slap on a pair of tits and he could pass as a swimsuit model" he chuckled and Narancia's face became redder the a tomato.

"What? Are you imaging that?" Mista asked as he elbowed him

"No!" Narancia lied.

🍊🍊🍊

"So Pasito, what's your stand?" Mista asked as he passed you a CocaCola

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?" you asked as you are the last bite of your dinner.

"No one can successfully do Polpo's test, it's a trick he pulls to make sure every member has a stand" he responded.

"But what is a stand?"

"It's an ability made from someone's spiritual energy" Bruno explained.

"Well... I don't know mine" you said.

"Did anything weird happen after you were hit by the arrow?" Bruno asked.

"Well actually now that I think of it... When I woke up I had these sewing needles poking out of my skin... And they just retracted. Also a cut on my chest was sown up" you explained.

"Come on Pasito! Show us, show us your stand" Narancia begged.

"Ok... I'll try..." You sighed as you  closed your eyes and tried to summon it. You began to feel that strange sensation again and you opened your eyes and looked at your hands to see the needles and thread again.

"Woah... That's kinda disturbing..." Mista mumbled.

"What does it do?" Fugo asked.

"I don't really know... I guess I've gotta find out" you said.

"From what you've said it might be able to sew things together but ultimately it's up to you to find out what it can do" Bruno said.

"Our limo is here now let's get going"

🍊🍊🍊

"Hey (y/n), why isn't your Mom here yet" the black haired boy asked.

"Mom must have drunk to much wine again" the (h/C) girl sighed.

"Hey, maybe you could stay over at my house tonight! I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind" he suggested.

"Really! That would be great" she said as she pulled him into a tight hug.

🍊🍊🍊

Once you had entered the large building that would be your new home, you had instantly copped yourself up in the bedroom that had become yours. You had sorted out your bed and put away your clothes before laying down.

'I can't believe that Narancia's here, in the Mafia of all places' you thought. It was a hard pill to swallow and you felt that this was your fault. If only you had beaten some sense into that old bitch, your step-grandmother. Maybe he wouldn't of had gone through whatever hell he had experienced.

🍊🍊🍊

"I'm so sorry" you cried as you clenched the bars that seperated you from Narancia. He just stayed silent with a look of guilt on his face.

"It's not your fault, you don't have anything to apologize for" he said.

"I've tried to tell the old coot that you weren't the one who beat her but she just won't listen" you continued.

"I don't care about that, I'm glad that your trying to help but this is my fault... I should have never trusted those guys" he gave you a small smile as he held your hand.

"I'll just deal with whatever I get, as long as your here with me I'm happy" he continued. You sighed as fresh tears began to form.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible" you said as you turned to see your step father walking through the hall towards you.

"I can't see you anymore... My step father... He wants me to disassociate with you" you murmured.

"Your parents are are absolute shit heads! Don't listen to them!" Narancia yelled.

"I don't have that choice" you sighed as your step father grabbed you forcibly.

"I promise I'll wear the necklace you made me in first grade, everyday!" You vowed.

🍊🍊🍊

A knock on the door tore you away from your thoughts. You opened it to see Narancia, he was just giving you a blank stare.

"Hey Narancia, what's up?" You asked before he closed the door behind him and shoved you into the wall.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" You responded.

"Tell me who you are, why do you look like..." His eyes trailed down to your neck, he grabbed the chain around your neck to reveal the pendant that he had made all those years ago.

"Is that really you (Y/n)?" He murmured as tear formed in his eyes.

[reprobateubeg4]

“Bent and broken is all I've been

No universal truth this time

No other universe but mine”

https://open.spotify.com/track/0MS73IbO2WiweyVEw6oPbm?si=RdWNgVRfQCSUPMxjwVj3Ow

[[I woke with a deep breath and stretch and looked around the room to see I was in mine. I sat up to see my boots off and on the floor but the rest of me was still dressed in clothes from yesterday. I walked to the bathroom and looked over myself in the mirror. I washed my face and re-applied a fresh face of makeup. I changed out of my clothes into some shorts and a tank and walked out of the kitchen. The coffee pot was brewing and a part of me couldn’t remember setting it but I was glad I did. I reached for a mug from the cabinet.“Hey you’re up, thought I was gonna have to take you to the hospital..” I swung the mug in a panicked spin. The mug shattered against his head. His hand gripped his head at the spot and I stared at him.]]

Detective Dick? The fuck?! That was my favorite coffee mug, asshole.

[[ “Ah, damn. You ever gonna call me by my name” he handed me his mug and went to start picking up the pieces.]]

No, it fits you. You are a dick. The fuck you doing in my apartment? You snooping my shit? That’s why you wanted to talk to me… see proved my point again, you’re a dick.

[[He swept up the mug and dumped it in the trash. “First of all, I found you to give you, your car. Secondly, I found you half asleep and starving, fed you and brought you home. You’ve been asleep for like two days. By the way Happy Birthday.” My eyebrows furrowed and I went to find my phone. Fuck, it really was that day. No messages. No calendar events. But the date was the date.]]

Surprised you even remember. Doesn’t matter birthdays are stupid. At least mine seem to be.

[[“Aw, come on, birthdays aren’t stupid.” I groaned at my headache and set the mug down by the coffee pot. I pushed Detective Dick towards the door and opened it.]]

Thanks for your help and the car. Goodbye.

[[“You don’t need to spend your birthday alone…” I rolled my eyes and slammed the door before locking it. “He’s got a point.” I took a deep breath as I curled both fists at the sound of my mother.]]

Good thing I’m not alone then, right?!

[[“Oh, I think she might be losing it. I knew you were batshit..” I growled at the sound of Adryan’s voice. I swung the door open to see Detective Dick still standing there. “Who are you talking to?” I rubbed my forehead.]]

Myself, I guess.. I don’t know. Did you say something? Maybe I’m losing it. I need a drink… or many.. get me some vodka and a cake? Maybe some pizza too?

[[“uh, sure. Are you sure you're okay?” I nodded and waited until he walked away before shutting the door back and leaning against it.]]

Jiminy cricket eat me now… I’m losing my mind.

[[“I wouldn’t say that too loudly, she’d probably take you up on that offer.” the voice of my dad sounded out. I closed my eyes and covered my ears.]]

Laaa aaaaa Laaaaa Laaaaaa I can't hear you! Leave me alone!!

[[I changed into pants and pulled on my lace up boots. I needed to see my aunt, something wasn’t right and maybe she knew how to fix it. I grabbed my keys and phone and walked out the door. “Where are you going?!” The three sounded out in unison.]]

What I should’ver done when I came back, going to go see Aunt Roma. Happy Birthday to me...

[seawatersavior]

Roma - Enchanted Tailor

If you were to count Roma in the order of who joined the SV Mercenaries first, she should of had the #1 spot. However she reluctantly takes the #3 spot. Roma met Titus when she was still part of her original clan, she was a noble with only one task, produce heirs to establish diplomatic relations. Her husband was stern, cold and distant. She lived the majority of her life hidden away in a silver pagoda, deep in the castle grounds, far from where anyone could reach her. She was banned from leaving and could only step out of her prison at night, when the guards weren't watching her. They weren't there to keep anyone out, just to keep her in. At night she would sit in her window looking over the palace walls into the dark forest that lay beyond. She would do this until one day, a pair of eyes would stare back.

Roma was a little stunned, she clearly noticed a pair of eyes, but she only saw them for an instant. After waiting and watching, she did not see them again. She would continue to watch every night, a little excitement would do her good, and so she never let her husband know. Winter was fast approaching, and as the trees began to loose their leaves Roma became discouraged. With no foliage she couldn't pretend like that creature was still there, the white snow made it clear that nothing was there. She sighed and went to close her window when she caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of her eye. She snapped to look but there was nothing. But she knew she saw it! She wanted to find it!

Roma wanted this more than anything, and without thinking jumped out on the edge of the window, while the pagoda stood higher up, there was a few ledges that protruded outwards. She shimmied closer to the edge, gripping the hem of her night gown in one hand and the wall with the other. And then she fell.

The ice beneath her feet had given out, try as she might she couldn't revert to dragon form to spread her wings. Her tears lingered in the air as she fell, was this it? Is this how she would die? Before she had the chance to scream, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her and they crashed onto an open room. She lay stunned on the floor, the air had been knocked out of her. She looked over at the person lying next to her, he was a mess of blue hair, rather thin and seemingly just as winded from the fall. The sound of foot steps rang out as the guards were alerted to the noise. Upon hearing their clamoring the boy shot up, he was young and lithe in appearance, his face covered in hair but unable to hide the secrets his right eye contained. That eye was dark. Dark lines spread on his face, all spreading from that point. She couldn't discern much more as he ran and jumped out the window into the snowy storm.

The guards burst in and found her laying there, instead of asking if she was alright they picked her up and tossed her over their shoulder. "She finally tried to escape!" they laughed heartily as they threw her back into her room. "Don't try that again little lady, the lord instructed us to kill you if you ever make the attempt to escape, consider this your last warning." She lay there on the floor, at least the floor was padded with many rugs, so she didn't hit it too hard. But she was certain she saw her curtains shift. She pushed herself up, arms weak and cold but the warmth of her room was beginning to thaw her. She had curtains, tapestries, quilts and throws scattered all through out her room. She walked over to her pile of blankets and gave it a poke.

A quiet, but started "ow!" rang out when she met something in there. She yanked off the top blanket to uncover the young man from before withing. He was covering his eye in pain, whoops.

"Ah I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she sat down next to him and patted his back. "Are you OK? You're barely wearing anything and it was terribly cold out there."

The boy retreated into the pile and smiled, "Well these blankets of yours are pretty soft, so I hope you don't mind the company. I am in fact freezing," he reached out a hand in greeting and said, "my name is Titus, I've always wanted to meet you after seeing you peek from your tower."

Roma smiled sheepishly, "So I wasn't insane, I knew I saw something peeking through the canopy." The pleasant thought energized her and she stood. "Lets dress you up I can't have you freezing on me." She walked over to her closet and pulled out a trunk hidden within a mountain of linens. "I may be a useless trophy wife, but he can't stop me from sewing!"

The boy shimmied over in what can only be called a blanket burrito. When she opened the trunk a little gasp escaped his lips. "Did you make these?" There was an assortment of apparel of varying sizes and shapes, for children, for adults, for something remarkably tiny. She pulled out some varying pieces and pulled him aside. "Lets get to dressing!"

Time passed like this, Titus would come and visit her pagoda, Roma would dress him up, and he would hide whenever anyone would come for Roma. But it would seem that his presence would not go unnoticed.

Roma's guards came today strangely more polite than usual, Titus had taken his usual hiding spot in a pile of plush sheets and pillows. He could see through a small gap between the pillows, but he could not be seen. As Roma stood by the door she quickly dropped to her knees in a bow. "My Lord, how kind of you to visit this humble wife." She lifted her head with a smile on her face, "How may I be of service to you today?"

A tall figure entered the room, his presence making the air suffocating. "Where is he."

Roma was too good at playing her part, "Forgive me my Lord, but whatever do you mean. The familiar you provided for me has long withered away.

"Bull Shit." With a snap of his fingers the guards began tearing apart the room. They had no mercy, and used their swords to pierce each pile of downy material into scraps.

Roma scampered to her feet and pulled at the mans robe, "Stop! Stop! Why are you ruining my room!?" She was roughly pushed back onto the ground before she could inquire further, but she didn't need to.

The Lord stomped on her hands and pulled at her hair, "Tell me where he is or who he is or I will break these sinful hands of yours! How dare you frolic with another while I provide you everything!" He pressed down hard as she screamed in agony. "There is no one! My Lord there is no one but my thoughts to spend time with me!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, but these seemed to enrage him further as he puller harder. "My Lord I assure you, please, do not destroy the only happiness I have."

"Then how dare you defy me! There was no trace of magical prowess on you before, but now here you are before me, exuding magical essence to anger me!" He removed his foot from her hand and let her head drop to the ground when he released her hair. He grasped her bruised hand squeezed, the pain was intense, but Roma could only focus on the cyan aura radiating from her hands. Magic.

She wasn't supposed to have any, in order to keep her obedient, her powers should've been sealed as a child. She had never been able to use them, so how could she even understand when her magic began to surface? She couldn't control it.

"ANSWER ME!" he yelled as his boot rushed towards her face, but it never made contact. Dark tendrils wrapped around his leg holding it back. They glanced back to find the source and found that none of the guards were moving. Their eyes were dark, a malicious mana poured from their orifices as they began to hit the ground.

The Lord quickly took his sword and sliced through the dark tendrils, and watched as they retreated into a pile of pillows.

"What sort of monster have you been rolling around with?" the man exclaimed, but he couldn’t speak for long as a blast of water magic shot at him the pile. Titus emerged then, his markings spreading more and more, reaching out as if trying to find something to hold onto.

Suddenly Roma remembered what he had told her once, he wasn't entirely dragon, and it took a lot of his energy to keep his malice sealed in. In the midst of the chaos she had almost forgotten she had been trying to help him! And now he was trying to save her with the very magic he tried so hard to contain. She scurried over to her storage chest and began to dig while trying to avoid being blasted with magic. She had hidden something in there, something she was certain would help him! Finally her fingers felt the cool smooth surface she was looking for and pulled it out. Her eyes went wide when she finally saw its condition, the sealing mask her mother had worn and handed down, it had broken in half! She wasn't certain it would still work, but she had to try! She held the mask in one hand and looked at her other, she needed to try and use her magic! Sure enough a few sparks danced on her fingertips and she glanced at the two fighting behind her. The Lord was a light dragon , his attacks blast of light mana there was no "residue" to his spells, but Titus's water spells left puddles everywhere, that was her chance! Magic can't be so hard right? She just needs to unleash a strong concentrated surge, that should be enough.

"Titus!" she yelled, "Catch!" She threw the broken mask at him while grabbing onto the Lord's arm. Sure enough Titus was quick to catch the mask, and Roma did the only thing she could think of, she released a surge of magic from her hands, the lightning quickly took its form and coursed through the water on the ground. Titus jumped back as far as he could, avoiding the potent wave that could surely take him out. The Lord however, was being tightly gripped by Roma, his eyes white as the current ran through his body, the pain numbing his body and mind. As Roma stopped her haphazard spell she let the Lord fall, she herself had suffered no repercussions from the spell, physically at least. Mentally she was drained, her mana having been almost entirely released from her body. She staggered over to the window and stepped over any puddle, just in case. "We uh, need to go." And once again, she fell.Barely conscious she felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her as she passed out.

When Roma awoke she was in a humble bed in a cramped room. A soft warm light came in through the windows lighting up the area. She was alone it seemed, but a plate of fruit was on the nightstand and a jug of water was there as well. She tried to stand, but her nerves were extremely sensitive, so she stayed in bed eating fruit. Night came and the door opened, waking her up from her sleep. She knew that blue hair all too well and she sat up as Titus walked in and closed the door behind him. From here Titus explained that she had been out for a few weeks, and he had taken her to a distant territory where he hoped her husband would not find her. She had depleted so much magic her body had gone into a state of shock it seems. In those weeks Titus had discovered that the mask did indeed work for him, but it had taken a lot of damage when she fell and he dropped it trying to catch her. But he came with good news! He was putting a small clan together in the hopes of trying to accomplish his goals of being a strong leader. While his current line up was currently seeking a good base of operations, he had returned to her every night to feed her his own mana. Due to her sleeping in she was now technically the third to agree to travel with him. What a shame, after all she would have been #1 had she been awake!

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids) Mark of Athena Pt. 2 AU (4/7) or (9/12)

So yeah it got... big. I wasn't expecting it - but sure! Here it comes part 2 of 3 of 5! Check the masterpost before reading - it's essential for the understanding. And read the warnings before proceeding. Enjoy and leave reviews and suggestions :))

Hazel, Leo, Frank, and Perseus go back to the Argo II, to find Piper trying to wrangle the Cornucopia into not just dropping mountains of food.

Perseus tries to help - and between him and Jason, who is the son of a fertility god after all - they manage to get a picnic - which, great because it's already evening and they're all hungry teenagers.

That's when they discover that's Jason's birthday - the 23 of July, coincidentally, Neptunalia - and begin to swarm him. It's shocking that he never had a birthday party - or birthday cake. The Romans don't care about it - their prowess in the training fields is what marks them as children or men.

Perseus - who was kidnapped in mid-November, months after his birthday - is internally shocked - but can do nothing about it.

He doesn't think he could give anything useful to Jason in such short notice - so Perseus promises to, after this all ends, take him to see something new - perhaps Cairo? He is sure Carter would be happy to see him.

Ah, yes. The Kanes - one of his only adventures in between those two big prophecies. He went - with Nico of all people - to help the Egyptian sorcerers - and almost ended up possessed by Sadie's god boyfriend's mother. Overall, a bizarre experience.

And he never wants to share a body with Neftis again. It's weird, it's bizarre, he doesn't like it, he gets body disphoria - no.

Even though the Egyptian Underworld is really cool - there are a lot of snakes down there. And a lot of space - which is weird, because Hades also takes a lot of space. Are these hells in different dimensions?

That's not even counting the time he and Thalia mind-wiped a Titan - with Lethe's water of all things. He left Bob/Iapetus under Persephone's care - and then promptly disappeared. Not literally - Perseus just had no time for the titan, and it's something he regrets deeply.

Maybe after this all ends, he can go visit Bob and the Kanes. Maybe it's time the pantheons are no longer apart.

Perseus knows that all pantheons eventually cross - Isis is as Greek as she is Egyptian - but they don't talk about it. They pretend their Isis and the greek one are different - while the goddess has so many aspects she might as well be a thousand different deities.

Is there a Hindi pantheon? A Polynesian one? Is Amaterasu real? The Orixás? Quetzalcóatl? The Nordics? Are the Celtics aspects of the Norse? What about the Welsh? How many Underworlds exist? If any worshiped god appears - does God with a capital G exists? Perseus is going to find out. But now he has more pressing issues right now.

Leo doesn't want to discuss Nemesis, but, after singing happy birthday to a very embarrassed Jason (who is probably pondering the implications of Perseus' offer - Leo is pretty sure the guy isn't asking his bestie in a date, but who is he to shatter his buddy's delusions?), Perseus corners him.

He doesn't know what to do about the price - he isn't sure of much. Perseus promises that nothing will harm him under his watch. It's weird - Nobody ever cared about Leo before. Perseus hugs him - the first time he starts a hug himself - and Leo feels like, maybe, that's what having a family feels like.

He wonders if Charles Beckendorf was for Perseus what Perseus is trying to be for him - he wonders if Percy is doing this out of guilt. Leo can't complain - the arms feel warm around him.

Percy and he return to the party, to see Piper in a panic. She asked Katoptris for a way to Nico - under Hazel's prompting - and it showed her a vision of Nova Roma organizing the army to invade Camp Half-Blood - Reyna is stalling them, but not for long. She prays for Perseus to come back - she can't do this with no allies.

The reason for it is apparently the abduction and coercion of two of their praetors, their General and a Centurion - enough to start a war. Perseus could shadow travel back - but it would take at least a week to come and go - and they do not have a week. Any Iris Messaging would be useless - they would think he controlled by Piper.

So they go to sleep, hands tied. Doesn't Octavian see they have bigger fish to fry? Lady Terra, Gaea, is out there - planning to destroy everything. He might as well be on league with her.

Perseus sleeps and has another one of his prophetic dreams. It's a giant - one he doesn't recognize - explaining to Ephialtes why do they need Perseus.

Apparently, to wake up Gaea, they need a mortal son of the Earth and a mortal daughter of the Sea. Daughters of the sea are easy to find - all children of Aphrodite are technically from the sea - but children of the Earth can only be children of Hades or Pluto.

And she tried other options - they tried to sacrifice a son of Demeter and a daughter of Venus Victrix - but it wasn't enough. The power in their blood was too diluted, their connection to life only enough to give Gaea this bare level of awareness that she uses to torture them. To wake up completely, she would need Perseus' blood - Perseus' and Piper's - the strongest daughter of Aphrodite alive.

Gaea voice taunts him from somewhere, telling him to not worry - she took the girl who loves him forever, that Annabeth and Malcolm will no longer be a problem.

The vision changes and shows a spiral staircase near the forum, and Perseus can hear their voices screaming - but he knows there's the place they need to go if they want to find Nico. He is not scared - he went through worse. Perseus has no time to dwell in Gaea's taunts - it's probably just her messing with his mind again.

He wakes up and tells his dreams to Jason. They decide they should go - and take Piper and Hazel - the more involved with this side quest of theirs - with them.

Jason goes first - he breathes underwater, and looking at the giant well, Perseus is almost regretting coming. When he comes back, he tells them he had found something, which turns out to be a Nymphaeum.

The nymph Hagno - who Perseus mentally calls old Hag - and others - the nine nymphs that watched over Zeus with Gaea when he was born - appear and flood the chamber with evil water - they say it's payment - the gods' own them. Perseus can see where Zeus' entitlement comes from.

He starts to panic - he shouldn't have come. He hates water - he is going to drown here, under this muddy water that looks way to much like the muskeg for his liking. Hazel is trying to calm him - with no success because she starts panicking too - she is a child of the sky, after all.

The nymphs begin to drain the three of their power, stealing Jason's control over water, Perseus' control over the earth, Hazel's control over electricity, and Piper's beauty in order to be young again.

Perseus is so tired that he keeps paying for the gods' debts, that he keeps giving and repairing their mistakes - that these people keep throwing their grudges unto them. He just wants to let go - die, finally, but they will just throw their problems to new innocent people.

Because Perseus is innocent. They all are - they are children! This can't keep happening, the gods can't keep throwing their shit onto them! And there's no stopping it - he thought last time he solved everything, but alas, he can't solve every little squabble the gods start.

He helped the demigods and minor gods. And then there are nymphs, dryads, satyrs, fauns, centaurs, spirits, personifications, titans, children of titans, primordials, rivers, monsters. An array of immortal beings who would keep on asking, keep on holding eternal grudges that demigods would pay for.

There is no number of wishes that could ever solve this. They would have to reform the whole Olympus - to be the ones making the decisions. To be the ones to stop sending twelve-year-olds in harrowing death missions.

Maybe, this time, Perseus should become a god. Maybe if he is the one judging, he might be able to help. He might be able to stop the gods from doing stupid decisions that only prejudice their kids.

But what if he can't? What if he becomes one of them? Is he prepared to lose everyone he cares about? He was always a loner - but is he able to leave everyone behind? His friends? His mother?

While Perseus wallows in his own panic and misery, Piper comes up with the idea to funnel all their positive thoughts into the Cornucopia, which releases the positive emotions as clean water. It's lucky they have Hazel and Jason - because Perseus is in a very dark place right now.

As the three release almost all their power into the Cornucopia, the nymphs become young again and spare them, as the power they gave them as a gift, and they restore the four back to full strength, as well as telling them the location of Otis and Ephialtes.

Perseus doesn't take this as an apology. He doesn't think it's enough - the nymphs tortured them for their own sake and act as if it's a favor that they restored them - and he has a grudge.

They took from them - and didn't give anything back. A little bit of information and the powers that are already theirs? The hags steal their powers and give them back - and think this is mercy?

Perseus is going to show them what mercy is like. As soon as they are out of the Nymphaeum, the earth trembles - he makes the whole thing collapse into an opening in the earth. He is sending all of them directly to Hades - they took from him and had the gall to tell him to be grateful.

The others in his group look at him worriedly, like he is going to kill them next. Perseus is okay with that - it's not the first time someone hates him because of what he can do. He tells himself it doesn't hurt.

It's a lie.

They go back to the ship. The sun is rising - Hazel gives the others the bare bones of the story, leaving out the part where Perseus freaked out and killed ten nymphs out of rage.

No one asks why they are so tense - why Perseus stormed to the training arena and didn't left since, why Jason doesn't make eye contact with anyone else, why Piper went to her room in silence.

Jason goes to talk with Perseus later - Percy doesn't want to talk. They spar twice before the son of Hades' relents and cries - he didn't want to kill anyone, he just wanted someone to pay.

Jason tells him no one hates him. That those nymphs were monsters - empty platitudes. Perseus says how much he hates drowning - Jason shares how much darkness scares him sometimes.

Piper comes in halfway and lays down on the floor with them, and shares how it's still hard for her to feel like herself - to look at her body and see a girl. How she hopes one day to have the right parts, to be able to wear what she likes and don't feel like a boy.

Leo is the next to wander in - "Are we sharing traumatic life stories?" - and tells them how much he still feels dumb, inferior to those around him - the way his fire always damned him. Frank comes next - him and the peril of ever dying, the crippling anxiety of a piece of wood.

Will is the last to join in. Will tells them about being the responsible one - how it was hard when Lee lost his arm, when Michael died and he was only thirteen.

He tells them how Lee got depression after Michael died and the one-armed boy couldn't help, couldn't save his brother. Will tells them about how he fears for his twelve siblings - how he is the youngest acting counselor because his only older brother doesn't leave his bed anymore.

They just lay there on the floor, together. Until Hazel appears - she had a vision. Nico has no more time. They thought they had some hours more to mindstorm - but alas, it's time.

Not everyone can go - it's a rescue mission, a stealth one at that. And Leo needs time to steer the ship towards the giants. So Perseus, Jason, and Hazel go after her little brother - and Frank, Leo, Piper, and Will will meet them there.

The trio finds the cage - suspended meters over the air. Hazel uses her powers over energy to bring it down - the metal is so overcharged that is simple for her, while Jason battle the two giant eagles with a mini hurricane.

Hazel frees her brother - who is barely breathing - and it seems too easy. The giants appear - and while they cannot kill Perseus, their onslaught against the other two is immediate.

Perseus fights against Ephialtes while Jason battles Otis. Hazel stands guard over her frère's prone body - no one is taking any more family from her.

It's a sight to go down in the myths - Jason is fighting with his sword - Undisonos - against Otis. His chest keeps emitting a sound - the siren song - which keeps distracting the giant, while they strike against one another.

Perseus is not doing worse - stone spikes appear every time Ephialtes tries to stab him - shadows curl around the giant's throat, strangling it.

Ephialtes taunts Perseus - says Annabeth and Malcolm are already lost, already gone. That this is his legacy - causing the death of his friends. It only serves to push him further.

In the midst of the battle, a hydra appears - and Perseus has no qualms in spearing each of its heads with a stone spike, before burning them with hellish fire, draining his powers to kill Ephialtes before the giant destroys him.

Hazel gets caught in the earth trembling - and passes out by Nico, who has no forces to defend her. It's Jason who ends up defending both of them, after a well-localized jab into Otis sternum.

It's not enough - they start to reform immediately, seeing the lack of a god's help. Perseus - who is sustaining himself into the wall and can feel at least four broken ribs and a twisted ankle - rages. He doesn't stop when Dionysus appears.

Dionysus is not Bacchus - he isn't a mindless drunk. But he is a selfish bastard - and says he will only help if they entertain him enough.

Perseus wants to scream, didn't they entertain the gods enough?! Didn't he die enough for them, for their cushioned, easy lives?! Didn't he do enough?! He lost all his teenage years - his whole life - to keep their asses safe, from Hyperion, Kronos, mythical monsters, his own friends.

Jason and Perseus agree to fight together this time and charge the two - both of them at the same time, both equally about to drop down - but rage fuel both of them.

Perseus is drawing strength from the earth below - the same earth that reforms the giants again and again - while Jason pulls force from the river behind them.

Jason blasts the giants with a wave that can only be compared to a small tsunami causing the fake mountain the two were holding to fall on Ephialtes.

Otis charges the two and Perseus trembles the earth, throwing him into the lake, and the two slash at him - Perseus with his ax, Jason with his sword. Jason then uses the water to keep the dust from reforming.

It's like fighting with an extension of themselves - where Perseus fails to block, Jason appears - when Jason misses a step, Perseus is there to cover him. The earth starts to shake - stronger this time - and they know they are doing this together.

Ephialtes then escapes from the fake mountain and charges the two, but they are keeping up. It's difficult, however - Perseus is drained to the point of exhaustion, and Jason is only going because of the water behind him.

A misstep and Ephialtes almost takes Jason's head off. Perseus is only safe because Gaea needs him - for her sacrifice, for her everything.

But the Argo II appears overhead and blasts the giant with Greek Fire from the cannons. Leo is whooping from the balustrade with sunglasses perched at his nose - Perseus can faintly hear "Fireworks" from Katy Perry blasting from inside the ship, and wonders if he has already lost any of his remaining sanity.

Dionysus considers that the show was entertaining enough, and finishes both giants with his Thyrsus, claiming the victory to himself. Perseus resists the urge to punch him - he is getting way better at this.

Before he leaves, he confirms Ephialtes words - Annabeth and Malcolm will be lost to the weaver - and tells them where to find them.

Back on board, Nico - under the care of Will, who can barely touch the over-energized guy - tells them he was captured by the twin giants as he looked for the Doors of Death.

He tells them he never found the other side - for he could not go into Tartarus - but the earthly side - close to where he was captured - was in the House of Hades - heavily protected by monsters.

Perseus thinks that only he will be able to go into Tartarus - they have to close the Doors both ways, after all. But there's no returning - and no way for him to survive down there.

Will this be his legacy? Dying in an Underworld wasteland, alone? Nico looks at him and must catch what he is thinking, because when everybody leaves the infirmary, Nico holds his wrist.

"Don't do it, Percy-..." He coughs "Please don't do anything stupid. I can't lose you."

"How could I?" Perseus answers "You carrying all the stupid with you. How could you think it was okay to just-..."

"Promise me, Percy" Nico interrupts, as seriously as he can. "I know I did a lot, and you probably hate me..."

"I don't hate you, Di Angelo" Perseus sighs. "I promise you - you'll never lose me okay? I didn't come all this way to save your ass for nothing."

And he leaves, still uncertain. Is it worth it? Could they find a better way? Or does he need to die - over and over again? Were the Fates mad the first prophecy didn't take him?

Annabeth tricks Arachne - and is tricked back by her own hubris against her brother, who keeps telling her to shut up, taunting the already defeated monster - who ends up opening the hole into Tartarus.

They blast a hole into a parking lot - just in time to rescue the children of Athena, who partially already rescued themselves.

"Hey, Wise Girl"

"Hey, Corpse Breath"

Everyone works together to load the statue into the ship. This time, there's two children of Athena. This time, there are ten people in the ship. This time, Nico has never walked into Tartarus.

But in somethings, history never changes: Arachne attaches a thread to Annabeth's weak leg. She tries to bring the child of Athena to the pit with her. But Perseus - who is just behind her - is quicker.

Perseus uses the shadows - with the last of his reserves - to pull Annabeth back, cutting the thread linking her to the pit with his ax. Annabeth is safe - one of her hands holds to the ladder.

But Perseus is not.

He flickers - like a ghost. These were the last of his energies, and he topples backward, into the Pit. A hand holds on to him - Nico. He tries to fly them out - but he is still too weak.

It's time.

"It was always supposed to be that way, wasn't it?"

Nico holds on in despair - he can feel hands holding his calves, trying to push them back - But Perseus is muscular and tall, and there's no one to help.

"No, no, Percy, don't you dare to let go, don't you dare!"

It was always his destiny - the one who sacrifices himself for everyone else. Nico thinks that, if Perseus doesn't ask for his own peace this time, he might ask on his behalf.

"Someone needs to close it from the other side. I am the only one who can."

There's a smile upon his lips - resigned to his fate. There are tears on Nico's eyes. The hand slips.

"You promised!"

He can hear Annabeth screaming, trying to get to them. The floor is too slippery. Nico feels Perseus slipping - the boy flickers again, like a ghost.

"Di Angelo, please"

A figurine of Zeus. A pavilion full of spartoi. Grover telling him stories. A white cell in Olympus. Green eyes flashing black. An invincible demigod against a thousand monsters.

"No, no, I won't fail you, not again!"

A greek with no memories in a toga, a fist punching his face, the warmth of a hug, walking through ruins, his capture.

"Nico, let me go."

Nico's mistakes pilling up, adoration swelling in his chest like a thousand suns. Maybe that's what love feels like.

"No!"

The hand keeps slipping, the Pit pulling him in, and Perseus flickers again - his hand can barely hold on to his ax.

"I see you on the other side"

He falls.

Alone.

Silence. There's a scream caught on Nico's throat - he won't be able to recall the next minutes. Somehow he takes Annabeth back to the ship. He doesn't remember climbing the ladder.

He thinks he wants to jump after him - but restrains himself - it was not the time to play the martyr.

They ask about Perseus, but neither of them can speak - their voices are gone. The parking lot collapse.

Jason keeps asking - if Perseus has shadow travelled, if he called for Blackjack, if he got lost.

"He is gone"

Nico finally answers, because he can't take the questions anymore. They don't understand.

"Gone? Gone where?" Asks Leo, still confused.

"He fell" It's Annabeth, in shock, who replies "He... He fell in the Pit. To save me. Percy fell. He... he's gone. He is in the Pit. Oh, oh my gods Percy is in Tartarus. It's all my fault I can't - I can't, he is gone, gone!"

She starts crying copiously. Malcolm holds her - he is the only one able to do so. Jason falls onto his knees, lost to the world. Piper sits beside him in shock. Will goes overboard and vomits - he looks like he is about to pass out.

Frank supports Hazel as the girl starts crying, trying to breathe and finding no air. Leo sits - there's tears in his eyes, but a determined look in his face. He looks at Nico, as if prompting him.

"He asked us to meet him on the other side." It's everything he needs to say. No one stops crying - but everyone is startled into motion.

"Festus, raise the sails. We've got a brother to save."

They are going to the House of Hades.

[moneymakerextraordinaire-blog]

And Then the World Tilts | Jon, Celia & DeSoto

[in which it all gets pushed out into the open! tw death]

CELIA

It was terrifying. Seeing how quickly her husband went from concerned to...to overly controlling, assertive….she felt sick. And the way that he held her arm. She had to get away. And Celia needed to find DeSoto. Her heart was pounding as she ran from the lifeboats, from the area where the crowds were the largest.

When before she had more romantic notions of seeking out DeSoto, of telling him she loved him, of just...of sticking by him as she had wanted to when the ship docked...now she just had this image of her husband, and the desperate desire to find the person who had only ever touched her with kindness.

It took her too long. It took her too long but she finally caught sight of the Italian man who had captured her heart. “DeSoto!” She cried, picking up speed and going until she could launch herself forward and wrap her arms around him. The arm Jon had gripped still ached, but she would rather focus on DeSoto. “You’re here!”

DESOTO:

Titanic was sinking. The ship of dreams, the one that had been rumored to be unsinkable was capsizing beneath him. Already he and Roscoe had put their mother in a lifeboat, ignoring her tears and trying to soothe her as best they could. And as Roscoe had pushed him away and told him to find his girl, DeSoto couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Celia wasn’t someone he wanted to leave behind. But he also didn’t want to leave his brother behind. It took only a hard look from Roscoe, though, to have him moving and pushing against the crowd. He called for Celia, trying to find her in the crowd. Part of him hoped she’d already gotten into a lifeboat and was far away from the ship. At least then she could start over in America. Get away from the husband who she didn’t love.

But then he heard his name and soon after had an arm full of the woman of his dreams. “Celia,” he breathed out as he wrapped his arms around her. He didn’t know whether he should have been relieved or not but it didn’t matter with her in his arms. Without thinking he cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers firmly. “We need… You go. Get in boat.”

JON:

Jon really did feel bad about hurting Celia. As he was talking to the officer, a hard lump started to form deep down in his stomach. He’d done it for her own good, right? He’d only wanted to get her in the damn boat. Why wouldn’t she get in the boat?

He turned around to look for her when he saw her run past him. Where was she going? Not toward the boats. That was for sure. Jon took off running after her, determined to stay by her side and protect her. It was crazy that he had to do this. This had to be some sort of nightmare, right?

But it wasn’t. It was really happening and they were going to die, both of them, if he didn’t convince her to save herself.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been running, but soon he watched Celia run into the arms of a man, throwing herself at him.

What? Who was--

Jon saw red. This man was kissing his wife. Why was…?

He slowly started walking toward them.

CELIA

It was such a relief to be able to feel him and to know that DeSoto was still present. Or at least, that she could be with him for a little while longer. Anything was better than being physically forced onto a boat by her husband. Her husband who had no qualms about hurting her to get what he wanted.

She leaned in to return DeSoto’s kiss, a little bit of tension disappearing from her. He was there, he would...well she wasn’t sure what he would do, but he had always been gentle with her. Celia could count on that at least.

But there was only a short moment of relief before DeSoto was suggesting the same thing her husband had. Albeit in a different way. Celia could feel her body tense again and she shook her head, kissing him once again. “No. No I...I said we’d leave the ship together. And if we can’t-” She worried at her lip. “I want to stay with you. Will you...will you let me do that?”

DESOTO:

He felt her tense and he pulled away with confusion. She wanted to stay with him. He was going to die on this boat and she wanted to stay. He didn’t understand. America was what they both wanted. A chance to start new. To change their lives. Even without him she could do that. She could stay with his mother, help her start over.

“Stupid girl,” he breathed, giving her lips another soft kiss. The answer to her question was yes, of course. While DeSoto wanted her safe and alive, he was still a selfish man. Love was not anything Des had ever believed in. It was not something he’d ever find. He enjoyed his trysts with the different women in their little village in Roma. But Celia was different from all that and he wanted that, wanted her.

He moved to hold her upper arms gently, looking at her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. And, honestly, to him she was. So much had surfaced in the time he’d met Celia; even if it had only been a few days. “If— Yes. You ‘ave what you want. You stay. With me.”

JON:

Jon saw red. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This man was selfish. He was the worst sort of man--the kind who did not protect the woman he loved. How dare he tell Celia she didn’t have to get on a lifeboat? This almost angered him more than the fact that they were kissing.

It also angered him how wrapped up in each other they were. They were so wrapped up they didn’t even see him coming.

Jon walked up behind this coward of a man and grabbed him by the back of his jacket, jerking him away from Celia.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked, his eyes blazing with anger.

CELIA:

It happened so fast that Celia almost had no time to really be grateful that DeSoto could respect her decision. One minute they were in each others arms, and the next there was Jon of all people yanking the man she had come to love away from her.

For a moment, she too saw red. Because it was one thing for her husband to be cruel to her. It was an entirely different thing for him to do it to someone else. Not just someone...DeSoto.

Celia pushed herself forward and moved to grab hold of one of Jon’s arms. “Let go of him! Let go of him right now!” She was past the point of shame with this. Not since Jon had decided that her choices didn’t matter. “He’s- he’s a better man than you.”

DESOTO:

He was jerked away from Celia so fast that his head spun. But the minute he got his bearing, DeSoto reared back before striking out at the person who had grabbed him. He’d never met Jon, had only seen him from afar. But as he looked at this man, he couldn’t fathom why Celia had ever married him.

“Who are you?” He parroted the question, moving to step in front of Celia. If this was her husband he wouldn’t let her get hurt by him again. Especially not over him. He only wanted to do good things for her. Even if they were condemning themselves to a worse fate by staying on the ship.

His fists stayed balled by his side as he glared at the man. “You not hurt her,” he all but growled. “She want stay. I do not tell her no. She has right. What she want matters.”

JON:

He’s a better man than you.

That was wrong. For several reasons.

It was wrong because all Jon wanted to do was protect Celia. It was wrong because Jon would never steal another man’s wife. It was wrong because, when it came down to it, this man was a selfish man and Jon would’ve always put Celia above himself. He would have given her whatever she needed to live happily.

Jon was so angry, he thought he could choke this man to death right now. He wouldn’t, because Celia apparently cared for him and that was an important consideration. So no. He wouldn’t kill him.

He stared at this man, his fists clenching at his sides, and before he knew what he was doing, he punched the man right in his face and felt a crunch beneath his knuckles. “You don’t deserve her if you would let her die here.”

CELIA:

Her stomach dropped and everything seemed to slow down for a moment as she watched her husband hit her lover. This wasn’t right. She had done this. Celia had been the selfish one, wanting to cling to the man that had actually cared for her. Who had cared about her feelings and continued to respect her decision...no matter what he might have thought about it.

She shrieked as Jon’s fist connected with DeSoto’s face, and fury had her lunging forward before she could think about how bad the decision might be. She reached out and she shoved Jon as hard as she could, twisting so that she could be between the two of them.

“Don’t. This isn’t your decision to make. Jon, you don’t get to let me go, and he doesn’t get to let me do anything. I have a mind of my own and I’ve chosen to stay.” Her breathing came out harsher than she liked, the running and the force and all making her head spin a little with her corset. She chose to ignore it. “If you choose to hit anyone, you hit me. Go ahead. You’ve already hurt me once today. Go on.”

DESOTO:

DeSoto felt the blood drip from his nose before he registered the pain. The man retaliated so quickly that it took the Italian by surprise. But it only served to fuel DeSoto’s anger further. Without thinking he lunged again, striking the other under the chin. DeSoto didn’t care if he was making a scene or if people were staring. He would not allow this man to take Celia away from him. Not when she didn’t want to go.

But before he could make another move, Celia was jumping in front of him. Fire exploded from her small frame as her chest heaved and she spat word after word toward this man. DeSoto was proud of her. Even if he didn’t understand everything she said. He understood enough. She wanted to be with him and she did not care what this man thought.

“He… he hurt you?” His attention was brought to her as he stepped towards her. “No again. Never. I will protect you. You never touch her again.”

JON:

Pain blossomed under Jon’s chin as the other man hit him quicker than Jon could react. His hands reached up to grasp at his face as he tasted blood. He’d somehow bit himself in the lip, splitting it open.

Celia jumped in front of him, her words washing over him in a rush of fury. Jon didn’t know what to say. She was still being so foolish. He almost wanted to cry--he might’ve if he wasn’t so fucking angry. He just didn’t understand why she’d choose to die when she could save herself. It made no sense to him in the slightest.

Then she told him to hit her and he almost laughed because it was so ridiculous. This whole situation was beyond absurd. They were on a sinking ship and his wife was telling him she was determined to die here and if he wanted to do anything about it it should be to hit her because he’d already hurt her.

When the other man spoke, Jon lifted his eyes, his anger flaring hot again.

“If you’re going to protect her,” Jon spat, “perhaps you should start by getting her on a fucking boat, you absolute moron.”

He wanted to hit him again, but he didn’t dare. Celia was still in the way.

CELIA:

Celia glanced over at the man she had fallen for, worrying at her lip and nodding reluctantly. She held up the arm that Jon had certainly bruised. It was clear where the skin was irritated, and the bruising more evident the longer this went on.

“DeSoto, he tried to physically drag me onto one of the lifeboats,” Celia informed him, breathing starting to settle again. At least a little bit. “I’ve told you...I will not.” Her tone was cooler than she’d ever let it be towards her husband. But she had long since lost her patience with him.

Celia considered the man for a moment, shifting to pull the ring that she had kept on her finger since they had been married off. And perhaps it was petty, but she tossed it at him as hard as she could. “You can protect that. I choose to stay with DeSoto until the end.” She reached back to find DeSoto’s hand, tangling her fingers with his own to try to steady herself a little.

DESOTO:

None of this really made any sense. It seemed both men wanted Celia safe but this man--- her husband, he didn’t care about her choice. Maybe he did not know how exactly how to speak to her, to get her to understand. DeSoto and Roscoe had had to do that with their mother. Coax her into one of the lifeboats. But then, neither of them would ever think of actually laying a hand on their mother. No matter what.

But that was just the way they were raised.

“She do what she want. I will no hurt her.” He spoke firmly, squeezing her hand gently as her fingers wound their way around his. He’d protect her from this man. A man who could mark someone he loved so easily. For a moment his jaw clenched as he thought about that. About him marking up Celia’s flesh for selfish reasons.

Again he moved to stand in front of Celia, shielding her from her brute of a husband after she threw her ring at him. “She made up mind. You go.”

JON:

Jon could barely hear what either one of them were saying.

The moment Celia threw her ring at his chest, Jon’s mind ceased to function. This was all one giant mistake. The whole situation. They shouldn’t be here--any of them. It wasn’t fair that Jon had been cheated on. It wasn’t fair that Celia couldn’t be bothered to care about her own wellbeing. It wasn’t fair that the boat was sinking and soon none of this would matter.

Everything was red.

Jon was going to die on this boat and now, so was Celia. Because this man was going to let her.

Before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed DeSoto by the collar and yanked him forward, his knuckles digging into the man’s throat. “What kind of man are you? You’d let her get herself killed?” He said it softly, almost whispering, right up in DeSoto’s face. “How can you even call yourself a man?”

Jon let him go and immediately punched him right in the face, his knuckles hammering against the man’s nose again, then his eye. He hit him several times, each time all he could think about was that he’d failed Celia.

CELIA:

She felt horribly sick. Her selfishness and desire to be loved if only for a short time had caused….it had caused this nightmare. The ship was steadily tilting, and here were the two men she had attached herself to fighting. It was ugly...and it was also a waste of the little time they did have.

Celia couldn’t continue like this, watching them fight each other endlessly. “Jon! Jon stop it! Stop it! We’ve made our point ten times over. And I suppose I can mention...the boats are gone.” She had seen that the side they were on, at least, had gotten them all in the water by now.

It wasn’t the point though. And just as she moved to try to break them up again, the ship lurched, and a panicked group of passengers swarmed past them to start up to the stern of the ship, knocking her off balance and sending her flying. For a terrifying moment she lost sight of them both, hands going up to protect her head as people ran by and over her frantically.

DESOTO:

DeSoto only grunted as he was punched repeatedly. At this point it didn’t matter. This man would grow tired just as the other brutes Des had fought. And when that time finally came, he’d take Celia and run. The ship was still sinking even as they stood there arguing with each other. There simply wasn’t time for it. They needed to get higher, find something to cling to. Maybe they’d have a chance then.

That time came quicker than DeSoto anticipated as the boat lurched, the sound following it a horrendous thing that made his stomach drop. Panic followed a moment later as he turned and couldn’t find Celia. He pushed the other man away from him, calling out for Celia.

He found her quickly, pushing the people that were nearly trampling her away. “We must go,” he took her had in his and pulled her up. The man that had just beaten him was not a priority. Only a hindrance if he didn’t let them get away. Which if that did happen, DeSoto would retaliate with his full strength. No matter what Celia said. They were going to at least try to have a chance to live.

Once she was standing and stable, DeSoto pulled her close and pushed past the other man, glaring at him. “I am better man than you.” He grit out as he started running, making sure that Celia was close behind him.

JON:

One second he was seeing red, and the next the world began to tilt.

Where was Celia? Jon looked around frantically before finally spotting her swept up in a group of rushing people. DeSoto beat him to her, his face a ragged, bloody mess, and he took Celia’s hand.

Jon could see the man loved Celia. What else could it be? He was still standing here after taking a beating and he was holding Celia tight to his chest. For a moment he appreciated that perhaps, if they were all going to die, at least Celia had found love.

It was hard to hold grudges when the ground beneath your feet was slipping away from you. All bets are off when walls become the floor.

Jon rushed forward, reaching for Celia’s hand. He had to tell her he was sorry. He had to try to make this right.

“Celia,” he said, just as he caught hold of her fingers. He looked up, meeting her angry eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said, trying to smile as his eyes filled with tears. “Be happy.”

It was all he could manage before the crowd pulled them apart again and he lost her forever.

Jon stood still, unable to make his feet continue to move. People pushed him aside, left and right, until he standing was no longer an option. Jon heard his leg snap as a man ran over him yelling for his daughter, his green wool coat snagging against the railing. His arm went next, as an entire family trampled over him.

Jon felt an explosion of pain in his temple before, mercifully, his world went dark.

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday, backwardsandinhighheels!

MockingHunter for @backwardsandinhighheels, written by @ozhawkauthor

He was trapped. Again.

“Why is it always the bloody boot?” Hunter groused to himself, feeling desperately around for the safety catch. Those bastards had fucking removed it, he finally realised. He had no way out until they pulled him out, no way to get to Bob, to help her. Agonised, he shut his eyes, squeezing them for a minute.

It had seemed like such a simple job. Hunter had liked Pete Wisdom the moment the fella introduced himself; he’d seemed straight-up and the intel he’d given them had certainly been good. Wisdom had been a little vague on exactly why his own MI-13 people couldn’t infiltrate the neo-Nazi cell themselves, but he was offering bloody good money and both Hunter and Bobbi fit the bill physically. Bobbi, with her height and her blonde, blue-eyed beauty, was the absolute ideal that the extremists were looking for.

He hadn’t realised until too late that their leader really wasn’t impressed that Bobbi already had a husband. By then they were well and truly embedded in the cell, and the smooth bastard was doing his level best to get into Bobbi’s knickers.

Hunter knocked his head on the floor of the boot. It was his own fucking jealousy that had got him in this situation, he freely acknowledged. Bobbi had no intention of sleeping with the Shithead (as Hunter was now calling him) but she did plan to flirt, to use the attraction to get close, to find out more about the cell’s plans.

Hunter hadn’t been able to take it. Seeing Bobbi on the Shithead’s arm, his fat pink hand stroking her slender thigh, had snapped something inside him. He’d jumped the gun and decided to search the command bunker.

Well, he’d found the plans, all right, but he’d been caught, and Bobbi was ‘convicted’ right along with him of being a spy. And now they were both being taken to locations unknown, for purposes undoubtedly nefarious. He only hoped that Bobbi was being taken to the same place. Together they might just possibly have a chance of kicking enough neo-Nazi arse that one of them might get away to warn Wisdom of the very real and serious threat to the country.

Lance Hunter had already tried to give his life more than half a dozen times to protect Bobbi. He’d somehow never managed it. This time, though, this was something bigger. This time he had to succeed, because it wasn’t just Bobbi he was protecting. It was the land of his birth, the home of his people.

Mother England.

“This is an unexpected surprise,” a voice said, and Hunter’s eyes snapped open; how had he not felt the car stop?

How was he no longer in the car???

He was still lying down, curled in the foetal position with wrists and ankles secured together with zip ties, but he now appeared to be in some sort of cave. He couldn’t see any visible light source, but the walls were glowing faintly golden - and there was an old geezer sitting at a table a few feet away, just now turning to look at him.

“I’m feeling kind of surprised too,” Hunter said, “don’t suppose you can cut me loose?”

“Certainly,” the old geezer said, getting up, and bringing with him, not a pair of scissors or a penknife, no, an absolutely bloody massive sword.

“Fuck me, what?” Hunter tried to scramble backwards.

“The only sharp tool I have on hand, I’m afraid,” Old Geezer said apologetically, and with surprising delicacy flicked just the very tip of the sword at the cable ties.

The archaic weapon had to be bloody sharp, Hunter acknowledged, as the plastic parted like butter. Old Geezer stepped back, set the sword down on the table again and sat down, as though suddenly exhausted.

A little unsure of just what the hell was going on, Hunter sat up slowly, got to his feet. “Excuse me if I seem rude,” he said, “but where the bloody hell am I, and who the fuck are you?”

Old Geezer actually smiled, as though amused, gestured to a chair opposite him. “Please, sit down.”

Hunter didn’t see that he had much choice. The cave had no visible exit. Slowly, he sat down, looking at the table. The sword was the only thing on it, apart from a flat wooden box a little bigger than his hand.

“My name is Merlyn, and you are in the Heart of Avalon,” Old Geezer said conversationally. “And your name?”

“Lance Hunter,” he said, almost by instinct, and then “Wait. Merlyn? Avalon?”

“Yes, that Merlyn and that Avalon, Lancelot. It has been many centuries since you walked this earth.”

“Lance, not Lancelot,” Hunter said hurriedly.

Merlyn gave him a secretive little smile.

“Okay, I’m hallucinating, right? Overcome by engine fumes.”

“I’m afraid not.”

Merlyn’s eyes were like polished black pebbles, peering out from beneath bushy grey eyebrows. Hunter couldn’t look into them for long.

“So, what?” he said finally.

“You have a mission you must complete. For Britain. Your need was great enough to bring you here, where few have ever come before. I see in you strength enough, and so I am empowered to offer you a choice. You may take up the Sword of Might, or the Amulet of Right.” Reaching out, Merlyn opened the wooden box, revealing a golden pendant with a deep red stone set in it, hanging from a heavy cord.

“And the catch is…?” Hunter asked suspiciously.

Merlyn smiled. “The Sword is the path of violence, the Amulet the path of reason.”

Hunter looked from the sword, gleaming silver and he already knew brutally sharp, to the softly glowing red stone in the amulet.

“Not so long ago, I’d have grabbed the sword and legged it,” he said slowly, “but one thing Coulson taught me is that you really have to use your head. So… I’m gonna ask why I can’t take both.”

Merlyn looked completely and utterly startled. “Nobody has ever asked that before!”

“Maybe I’m just a greedy ambitious arsehole, then, but I don’t think I like being tied down to one option like that. Violence has its place, but so does reason. Violence without reason is what the cocksuckers I’m trying to stop resort to; reason without violence is something they don’t respect. So again, is there some reason why you need to hoard one of them like a dragon sitting on its gold? I won’t keep them both, if that’s what you’re worried about. Bob always was better at being the voice of reason than me. She can have the amulet.” The sword called to him; he could almost hear it in the back of his mind.

“I am afraid that won’t be possible,” Merlyn said. “Give me your hand, please, Lancelot.”

“Please stop callin’ me that, you’re makin’ me really bloody nervous.” Hunter held his hand out, and Merlyn took it between his aged, withered ones, peering at his palm. “Did Lancelot get this choice?” he suddenly thought to ask.

“No. The sword was already held by another. Britannia needed two champions at the time, so I elected to give you - Lancelot - the Amulet anyway, hoping to balance violence with reason.”

“Why do I have the feeling that didn’t turn out so well for you?”

“Do you need to ask? They were never meant to be held at the same time by two different people.” Merlyn let go of his hand, stared at him again. Hunter had the uneasy feeling that the ancient being was staring directly into his soul.

“Love was their downfall,” Merlyn said, “that they both loved the same woman, yet not enough to be able to share her. You hold in you a greater love yet; the willingness to do whatever you must to see the woman you love happy, even if it means letting her go.”

“Already did that once,” Hunter said steadily, feeling somehow more able to hold Merlyn’s gaze now.

“Perhaps my downfall was not enough faith,” Merlyn murmured, as though to himself. “Very well. Britannia needs her champions, now more than ever, yet I will not risk dividing her against herself again.” He sighed, took the amulet from the box. “Nobody will ever be able to take this from you,” he told Hunter, “not even I. Should you die, it will return here to the Heart of Avalon, as will Excalibur.”

“Wait,” Hunter’s brain finally caught up. “Wait, that’s Excalibur? I thought it had to be given by the Lady of the Lake, or pulled out of a stone!”

“Roma is not here right now, and merely lifting it from the table will be proof enough of your worth,” Merlyn said with an amused smile.

“Does this mean I have to be King of England? Being filthy rich’d be nice and all, but I don’t think I’d be good at all the pomp and circumstance shit. I swear too much.”

Merlyn chuckled, standing up and moving around the table. “No, a king-champion is not what Britannia needs in this day and age.”

“I don’t think I’m really what she needs either,” Hunter said, “but since I’m still ninety-nine percent sure that this is a petrol-fume hallucination, go for it, me old son.”

The amulet felt very cold as it settled around his neck. He didn’t feel any wiser, but then, he supposed, it was a dream, so he wouldn’t, would he?

“Take up the sword,” Merlyn said quietly, and Hunter reached out.

The worn leather-wrapped hilt felt utterly natural in his hand, and though he’d expected the blade to be heavy - Merlyn had apparently struggled to lift it - it actually felt incredibly light, like a broom handle. Standing, Hunter swished the blade experimentally a few times.

Behind him, Merlyn started chanting something, in a language was sure he’d never heard spoken before but somehow found distantly familiar, like an ache at the back of his brain. Whirling, Hunter gaped to see the magician no longer ancient, but standing tall, his hair and beard still white but his face appearing no older than middle-aged.

“Wait a fucking min…”

************

He startled awake with a yell, jerked up and smacked his head on the roof of the boot.

“Fucking ouch!”

He put a hand to the lump on his head, cursing under his breath again. “Should’ve known it was just a fuckin’ dream, no way Merlyn would give me Excalibur…”

His hands were free. How the hell had he managed that? They’d been bound tightly with cable ties, more hooked around his ankles and linked to the ones on his wrists to disable him completely. The tight plastic was gone, though.

With a sudden feeling of unreality, Hunter felt at his neck. Inside his shirt was a cool lump of metal that definitely wasn’t there normally.

“So I’m still dreaming…” and now I’m dreaming myself locked in the boot of a fuckin’ car. Why can’t I get good dreams, like me and Bob on a beach in Ibiza, her wearing that little tiny teal-blue bikini… Twisting over, his hand brushed something cold.

Hunter froze before very carefully feeling along whatever he’d touched. If he was dreaming that sword in here, it was really, really sharp…

… it was the sword. His hand closed around the warm, leather-wrapped hilt.

Hunter swallowed.

“On the off-chance that this is actually not a dream,” he said aloud, “thanks, Merlyn.”

He thought he heard the ghost of a chuckle somewhere in the back of his brain, just before he wrapped his fingers more tightly around the hilt and stabbed the sword hard through the back of the seat in front of him.

************

 There were some thumps and thuds when the car stopped. Bobbi wasn’t quite sure what she expected to see when the trunk lid popped open, but she really hadn’t expected to see her husband, smiling cheerfully down at her.

“Hey, darlin’. You all right?”

Cramped and stiff, she blinked in the bright sunlight beaming down on her, unable to believe her eyes for a moment. “How…” There wasn’t even a mark on him. Lance had rescued her before, but she couldn’t think of a time when he’d done it without picking up at least a few contusions.

“Do you think you’re dreaming?” he asked, puzzling her immensely.

“It’s possible,” Bobbi allowed, “since I wasn’t really expecting you to escape. Farley took great pleasure in telling me all the horrible things he was planning to do with you.” The bastard had laughed at her screams of rage and fury before ordering her bound and chucked into the trunk of the car. Her last sight of Lance had been him being beaten to the ground by half a dozen of Farley’s men. Since she couldn’t see any sign of the bruises he had to have picked up in that beating, maybe she was dreaming.

“If it is a dream, I’m glad you’re here.”

He grinned, that old, rakish smirk that made her heart turn over in her chest. “Don’t freak out, but I’ve only got one knife to cut you loose with.”

She nearly screamed as he held up the sword. It had to be over four feet long. “Jesus Christ, Hunter, where did you get that?”

“That in and of itself is quite a story.” Cutting the cable ties that bound her carefully, Hunter reached in to help her up. She took his hand, climbed out of the boot, and looked up at him.

“Okay, so this is definitely a dream,” they both said simultaneously. Hunter looked at his feet to check that he wasn’t standing on a ledge or something, but no, his boots were on a level with Bobbi’s.

They were also dark blue, which they hadn’t been that morning.

“That’s an… interesting outfit,” Bobbi said slowly. “This is quite some dream.”

“I’ve never been taller than you even in my dreams,” Hunter said, puzzled. The boots didn’t look or feel like platforms, and he was looking down at Bobbi from about a six-inch height difference. Which should mean he was on stilts. He stamped experimentally.

“You look - bigger. Not just taller.” She touched his arm, measured the breadth of his shoulders with her hands. “You didn’t get given any super-soldier serum or anything, did you?”

“Maybe that fish oil pill finally activated or something,” Hunter shrugged off the shock, though he couldn’t quite explain the outfit. It looked like a British version of Cap’s dark blue battle suit, with deep red and thin white crosses overlaid on his chest. “Or maybe Merlyn threw the suit in along with the rest.”

“Who?”

“You know what, let’s talk about this later. I’m having a really weird day, but the fact remains that I think this is a public road and we’re surrounded by dead neo-Nazis.”

He wasn’t wrong, Bobbi realised, looking around. She was in the rear of two cars pulled up at the roadside, and there were quite literally bodies spilling out of the front doors, blood pooling in sticky piles on the road from the multiple stab wounds each of them were pierced with. One of them didn’t have a head. She looked back at the sword in Lance’s hand.

“It doesn’t seem to need cleaning,” he said, correctly reading her glance. “The blood sheets right off.”

She said nothing, just took a few steps forward and peered into the back of the other car. Most of the back seat had been literally cut to pieces, bits of plastic and upholstery mingling with the blood and body parts.

“I’ve seen some crazy shit in my time,” Bobbi said slowly, “even aliens, but this is right up there, Hunter.”

“I know.” For a long moment they looked at each other, and then Hunter said, “On the very small possibility that we’re not dreaming, luv, I really think we’d better get a move on. Farley isn’t here, which means he’s somewhere else, and we need to let Wisdom know what I found in that bunker.”

He was right, and Bobbi drew on all her training, pushed aside the impossibility of what Hunter had done and the evidence of her own eyes. “Phone,” she said.

“One of them must have one,” Hunter looked around at the dead men. “And then I think we’d better get the hell out of here before anyone shows up and starts asking really awkward questions. Excalibur isn’t very easily hideable.”

“Exca- no, you know what, I’m not ready to deal with that right now.” She’d rather search the bodies. The first’s phone had been neatly sliced in half. The second had a locked iPhone, which she could bypass with a bit of time - which they didn’t have.

The third man’s pockets turned up a wallet full of cash and a cheap, generic-brand, unlocked burner phone. Bobbi held them both up to Hunter, who nodded.

“Good job, luv!” He’d been busying himself pulling bodies out of the less messy car, the one she’d been travelling in. “Let’s go!”

She had to stare as he laid the sword down on the backseat before getting into the driver’s seat. “Shouldn’t you hide that in the trunk?”

“If we happen to run into any more of Farley’s thugs, I’m leaving it where I can get my hands on it, thanks very much,” Hunter said.

“Let me drive, then…”

“Luv, we’re in England. You know I love you, but on this side of the pond? I drive.”

“On this stupid side of the road, you mean,” she grumbled, getting into the passenger seat. There’d been blood all over it, but Hunter had done a fair job of cleaning it off with one of the dead men’s jackets. They’d have to ditch the car as soon as possible anyway and find another; finding her some clean clothes at the same time shouldn’t be too hard. She slid another sideways glance at Hunter.

On the other hand, her husband and partner had now suddenly become a whole lot more noticeable than he had ever been before.

She pushed the thought away as he started the car. Deal with what you can, right now. The longer things went on, the more convinced she became that she wasn’t in a dream.

Which means that seriously weird shit is going down.

Bobbi dialled Pete Wisdom’s phone number.