#important question: if you use no longer human on him would the rats disappear or would fyodor just become unable to control them?

[daz4i]

What if fyodors ability was just secret rats. Secret rats in his sleeves. Secret murder rats. He opens up his coat and there’s pockets full of little guys in there just hanging out.

when we see him kill people in one touch it's actually all the rats getting out of his sleeves and eating that person from the inside really fast

[tiifalockhart]

End of the F**king World

Pairing: Sephiroth/Reader

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: major character death, implications of stalker behavior, mentions of torture, mentions of insanity, portrayal of mental illness, end of the world, anxiety, depression, alludes to suicide

A/N: this wasn’t a request, however, this idea had been on my mind for quite awhile. with lots of motivation, i finally put it into words. please keep in mind that there are huge trigger warnings for this content, since it is probably the most angsty and intense thing i’ve written on this blog!! i hope you enjoy reading, feedback is greatly appreciated

Ao3 || Masterlist 

After it all had fallen apart, there was nothing left to hope for. 

Genesis was gone, Angeal was dead, Zack was dead, Sephiroth was... Dead? His body was found deep inside the destroyed Nibleheim reactor, so it was possible that Sephiroth was dead, right? But...

You aren’t supposed to see dead people.

So why was it that Sephiroth was constantly following you around? Why was he silently watching you at all times? No matter where you looked, he was there. It was chilling to see his cat-like mako eyes pierce into your skull. His twisted smirk made your stomach churn and want to run away as fast as you could, but there was no where to run. He was always with you. Whether you wanted him or not, it seemed like you didn’t have a choice. 

What did you do to earn such a strange connection to the dead? 

That’s right... In Nibleheim, you were there. You were one of the sole survivors that witnessed it all. The roaring flames, the deafening screams and cries of dying people, the sound of buildings collapsing and blades crashing against one another, you relived it every time you closed your eyes. 

Sephiroth sought out to kill you, even though you were a simple bystander. But... That wasn’t the complete truth, was it? You were more important than anyone else at Nibleheim. That’s why he came after you, right? Think of it as... Young love, a childhood best friend, his only friend, that’s what you were. That is, until you mysteriously disappeared and left him all alone. You were taken far away from Shinra after being deemed as... “Intruding.” You and Sephiroth were just children, you didn’t understand the world. You always thought wishfully because even as a child, you knew that Sephiroth didn’t belong in a laboratory twenty-four-seven. You put all of these ideas of “running away” or “sneaking out” into his head. He became obsessed with the idea for the longest time. He wanted to run away, he wanted to experience this life that you mentioned so many times, he wanted to experience normalcy. 

When Hojo caught wind of this... Disobedience, he sent you and your family far away. He sent you as far away as he could. Your father began to work at the Nibleheim Mansion as a book keeper as punishment for your indiscipline. Sephiroth felt betrayed by your disappearance. He blamed you for the punishments he received for wanting to escape. He blamed you for leaving him alone to deal with it. He never forgot about it, instead he bottled it up and chalked it up to some kind of cruel training he had to go to. 

As he grew up, those thoughts bothered him less and less. He figured he would never have to see you again, therefore he would never have to face that trauma again. Instead of coping with it, he pushed it away to the deepest place he could and tried to forget about it. But as things around him began to crumble, all of his past traumas began to surface again. Genesis ended up leaving him, so did Angeal. His two friends, his only friends since you, ended up leaving him. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for him to snap. The moment he knew he was being sent to Nibleheim for a mission, dread began to build up inside of him. As if it were a sixth sense, he knew something was going to happen here. He made sure to keep his guard up as they arrived at Nibleheim, who knew what was going to happen?

What he didn’t expect, though, was that the threat he was dreading would end up being himself. Dealing with the loss of his two friends was enough, but he never expected having to face you after all those years. You looked exactly the same from when you were a child. Sephiroth knew who you were in an instance when he saw you in that village. He knew that he couldn’t stay. He had to run from you, he had to run, he had to. He avoided you like the plague, unwilling to unpack the bottled-up regret and anger he held for you. His mind couldn’t stop wandering to his childhood with you, he began to question everything. Why were you here in Nibleheim? Why did you leave him? Why was he punished because of you? Why did Genesis and Angeal have to leave, too? He felt sick, he felt weak and dizzy, nothing was making sense anymore. 

That was just the tip of the iceberg, though. 

The moment his eyes landed on those monsters in the reactor, he felt something inside of him shatter. He needed answers. He needed anything. 

He needed something. 

Something to grip onto.

He was losing his mind. 

What was reality? What was real and what was fake? 

He couldn’t hear himself over his own thoughts anymore. He was descending into madness. He couldn’t stop himself from wandering into that library. It was similar to a deep, primal instinct. It felt like he was hunting for prey. But there was no prey. He was hunting for... Nothing? It didn’t make sense, nothing made sense anymore. The voices of concern were drowned out by his mind screaming at him. His mind told him that he couldn’t eat or sleep until he had answers. Who was he? Who were his parents? Why did he want to escape? What are these voices in his head? 

He paced back and forth until his legs were numb, his fingers frantically flipped through the pages of those books, his heart pounded in his chest to the point where it was deafening. He was terrified for the first time in his life. But it wasn’t because of some foe he had to face. No... 

He was terrified of himself. 

That’s when he stumbled upon the documents named ‘Project S.’ His fingers trembled as his eyes scanned the pages. His arms grew weak, he couldn’t stand anymore and ended up collapsing against the wall. He slid down the wall slowly as he took in every bit of information. 

He was... A monster? 

No.

He was an Ancient...

He was a God.

This was his world. 

It all belonged to him.

He was betrayed by everyone. He was treated like an experiment on his own Earth. He was destroyed and numbed to the cruelties of this Earth, used by simple humans for their own bidding. He was dumbed down to a puppet. Everyone else had to have known, right? His mother was Jenova... The J.E.N.O.V.A.? They lied to him. How could they all keep this from him..? His own friends, his mentors and companions? Why did they... It didn’t make sense. Even Zack hid all of this from him... His last friend...

It all started with the books. 

Sephiroth burned them all. He was caught up in a fit of rage. He was betrayed by everyone. Everyone he’s come to know has known what he is, but decided to hide it. His entire existence was a lie. It was all fabricated from birth. How many people knew besides the scientists? The people he laid down his life for ended up betraying him. He would never forgive the human race for what they’ve done.

Before he knew it, the entire village was in flames. Overcome with rage, Sephiroth decided he was personally going to rip the world apart. Everyone would suffer because of what they’ve done to him. There was no room for negotiation anymore, they lost that privilege many years ago. 

During this fit of rage, Sephiroth’s eyes managed to land on you. This was where it all started, wasn’t it? You could have saved him, you could have told him the truth. You knew what he was, but you participated in treating him like... Like some lab rat. You lied, and you were just as guilty as everyone else. 

He couldn’t stop himself from raising Masamune over his head. His vision was red with anger, he was no longer thinking for himself. His mind screamed at him. This is what they wanted, wasn’t it? A truly powerful being... 

He’d show you what power really looks like. 

It was all your fault. 

How you managed to escape was a mystery to all. How Sephiroth was still alive was a mystery to you. You couldn’t wrap your head around it. 

You remembered that day very clearly. You hadn’t even known Sephiroth was in Nibleheim. You didn’t know that he still remembered you. You didn’t know that you planted the seed for his inevitable mental break. 

Now, you were cursed with a daily reminder. His eyes would never leave you for as long as you lived. You assumed the same fate followed you into the Lifestream. 

The day of the Nibleheim Incident, you took off into hiding immediately. You couldn’t face the guilt that possessed you. You could still clearly hear the pain in Sephiroth’s cries as he stood over you. “You took everything from me!” It played in your mind on repeat. He died knowing that it was all your fault this happened. His last few words would be permanently ingrained into your brain. You slightly wished that he had just finished the job in Nibleheim... But you somewhat convinced yourself that that wasn’t his intention. 

Now that he was staring you in the face, you couldn’t believe that he intended for you to die in Nibleheim. He fully intended on you living with your sins and carrying that burden until the end of your time. 

It’s been months now since his first appearance. You remembered when you first saw him after Nibleheim many months ago. You were making your morning deliveries, casually walking around the Sector 5 slums. You approaching the small orphanage located at the top of the slums, ready to face the children when you suddenly stopped in your tracks. Your eyes had been focused on the ground as you walked, so when you saw black boots suddenly appear in your vision, a confused expression formed on your features. You slowly lifted your head to look up at the mysterious figure, only to let out a blood-curdling scream and fall back. 

In front of you stood the silver-haired SOLDIER, he wore a twisted and sickening smirk, his eyes held a glint of... Desire. His left hand tightened around the hilt of his blade as he stared down at you. Fear consumed you as you prepared to finally die, your eyes squeezing tight as your hands came to cover your head. 

When nothing happened, you slowly lifted your head again to see everyone around you staring at you in confusion. Sephiroth was gone as if he completely vanished into thin-air. The ladies working at the orphanage stared at you, fear evident in their eyes. They held the children back from approaching you, as if you were the one to be feared.

No one else had seen Sephiroth. 

You were the only one. 

You quickly got up, not bothering to dust yourself off or gather your things, before taking off to your small shack. Surely, it was part of your imagination. People have mentioned having hallucinations and stuff, maybe that’s what happened. You tried to think it through logically as you splashed cold water on your face. When you lifted your head again, you felt his presence in the back of the room. 

“Why are you here?” You asked, your voice shaking as you turned towards him. He was leaning against the wall casually, his smirk still present. Instead of answering you, he simply looked in your direction before walking further into the house. His gaze sent chills down your spine. What kind of desire is he holding inside? 

Life went on like that for months. Eventually, you were forced to grow used to his presence, no matter how oppressive it was. He would follow you anywhere, basically. He hardly said anything, if he did, it was probably something obscure and ominous. Eventually, you began to talk to him more, finding it unreasonably hard to cope with what life has become. You were never sure if he was listening or not, but deep down inside, you kind of hoped. 

You were never sure what Sephiroth was intending to get out of spending all of his time with you. It kind of made you anxious, knowing that you had some... Purpose to him, something that made you special from everyone else. Even through the hard times like the fall of Sector 7, he hardly ever left your side. 

There was one night where you felt particularly lonely. Sephiroth seemed to be gone, no where to be found. It was odd, even if you were his sworn enemy, you still found yourself concerned if he wasn’t around. That night, to somehow distract yourself, you wandered out into the Sector 5 slums, hoping to cope with the suffocating loneliness. That’s when you heard the news channel booming from the monitor at the center of the town. You approached the crowd quietly, feeling your heart drop at the announcements. 

President Shinra was dead. They claimed it was from Avalanche, but you knew better than that. From behind you, you heard his chilling voice. 

“You agree that he deserved it, don’t you?” Sephiroth asked, his voice low. It sounded like just a whisper in your ear. The question was odd... He wasn’t asking for your opinion, instead he was asking which side you were on. 

President Shinra did deserve it, though, didn’t he? While you would never wish death upon someone, it was undeniable how terrible of a man the President was. You could only respond with a weak nod of your head, feeling too repulsed to give him anything more. 

You moved to take off back to your home, only to feel the burning sensation of his gloved hand wrapped around your forearm. “The end is nigh... Who’s side will you be on?” He questioned. You forced yourself to look back at him. 

“What end?” You asked, your voice shaking as you spoke. Sephiroth didn’t give you an answer, instead he let go and slowly backed into the shadows, leaving you alone once again. 

What end was he talking about? ...End of the world? No, he doesn’t have that kind of power, does he? Honestly, you weren’t sure what Sephiroth was capable of in this form. He was powerful before he died, but what is he capable of now that he is dead?

You wouldn’t know his true power until it came to you in dreams. Since President Shinra’s death, and your odd conversation with Sephiroth that night, you had been having weird dreams. They weren’t the kind of weird that you forget in an instance of waking up, no... These dreams were visions. They were of what was to come. You saw visions of people you didn’t know dying, you saw a giant star in the sky slowly closing in on the Midgar tower, you saw visions of the Lifestream erupting from the ground... They had to have been connected, didn’t they? 

Sephiroth was no longer around for you to question him. It’s like he suddenly vanished, like he never existed after Nibleheim. Had you imagined it all up? It was getting hard to tell. You couldn’t bring yourself to search for him. You didn’t want to see him anymore. Truthfully, you wished you had never seen him in the first place. 

It seemed like months had passed since then. You were really keeping track of time anymore, honestly. Things began to change in the world around you, though. Above you, in the sky, a meteor pushed against the atmosphere of the world. Everyone else was terrified of it, but... You honestly couldn’t say that you were afraid of it anymore. After months of visions, you saw it coming. 

This was the end that Sephiroth was talking about, wasn’t it? 

The end of his torment.

The end of the human race.

The end of the fucking world. 

You hated him for it. There was no one that could stop him... He knew that, everyone seemed to know it except for the innocent lives. You heard the daily questions from bystanders.

“Why is this happening?”

“Are we all going to die?”

“There is nothing we can do to stop it, is there?”

Humanity’s downfall rested in the palms of a revenge-stricken God, and there was nothing that could be done about it.

By now, you had already accepted death. It was inevitable at this point. The fates of everyone were completely compromised at this point, death stared everyone in the face. It was only a matter of time until the Meteor made contact with the Earth. 

You remembered when the evacuation of Midgar began. Every single person was forced onto trains, cars, buses, whatever mode of transportation was available in poor attempts to escape fate. You watched from the window as the bus drove away, your eyes glued to the Meteor. Only a few days from then...

Those next few days were absolute torture. The entire world played a waiting game. There was really nothing to do to prepare for impact. Any preparations would be futile. In the end, there seemed to be a collective loss of morale. 

This was the end.

Just a few hours before the Meteor struck, you remembered hearing that familiar unsettling voice. “What a beautiful creation.” Sephiroth commented, his eyes fixated on the star. You looked up at him, your burning gaze quickly turning into one of shock. He stood next to you, blood decorating his face and suit. 

“What happened to you?” You asked softly, your brows furrowing slightly in concern. As much as you hated to admit it, you still cared for him. 

He shook his head slowly. “I...” He hesitated, seeming to return to his old self for just a moment. He slowly turned towards you, regaining that twisted look. “Will never be a memory.” He hissed, before completely dissipating in front of you. 

Below you, the ground began to shake. Your eyes shot up to the Meteor, expecting to see Midgar destroyed by now, but to your surprise, streams of green were fighting it off. There were screams coming from the people around you, they all cheered on the Lifestream. You couldn’t bring yourself to cheer though. This was fate, wasn’t it? You found yourself strangely conflicted. 

In the end, the Meteor ended up being destroyed before it could even touch Midgar. You watched as the Meteor disintegrated into small rocks. The population around you cheered unendingly, thanking the Gods for survival. You found yourself unsure. You survived, but at what cost? This battle with Sephiroth isn’t over... You knew that deep down. A quiet sigh left your lips as you turned away from the celebrating crowds, finding it hard to relate. 

This wasn’t the end, after all. 

[linkspooky]

Right now, people are speculating if tomura has lost his humanity which includes his attachment to the league now that he was awakened with his new quirk as a ‘transcendent being’. I wonder how he will interact with his team when he returns? Will he question how the heroes managed to get the jump on them? How will he react to twice’s death? To Dabi letting in a hero spy into their lair and causing this raid and twice’s death? Is the tomura we have seen grow disappeared or is he still the same?

SHIGARAKI TOMURA - A VERY HUMAN VILLAIN

People may question if Shigaraki Tomura has lost his humanity since acquiring AFO’s power, however I would like to point out that it’s a running theme in the manga for characters to frequently question the humanity of Shigaraki and see him as something less than human, or a force that only exists for evil and destruction. 

However, despite the fact that the heroes and Shigaraki’s enemies insist that Shigaraki has lost his humanity, the story shows the opposite. As much as Shigaraki has changed over the course of the story, he has also stayed the same. 

Shigaraki started out as a kid who wanted to be a hero who saved others, and specifically a kid who would go out of his way to play with the bullied kids. Everyone knows this by now, I would say however growing up in that household shaped Shigaraki to have core values that don’t really change no matter how much he changes as a person. 

Number one, the most important thing to Shigaraki is freedom. In a childish way he sees it as the freedom to do whatever he wants, because that is how All For One influenced him. 

All for One specifically told Shigaraki that being born with the power to destroy means that he should use it without restraint, and never try to hold himself back because in doing so he’ll only hurt himself. AFO tried to influence him to be an unstable manchild because that would make him more dangerous and fearsome to the general public.

However, Shigaraki’s destruction is always a response. He always destroys for a reason no matter how much he insists his destruction is completely random. One of the key themes of My Hero Academia is that in times of crisis you will remember your origin. Shigaraki’s origin is a household that oppressed him to the extent that he wasn’t allowed to become a hero. All he wanted was someone in that household to agree with him rather than deny him. He wanted people to stop telling him he was wrong. 

Shigaraki values freedom, specifically freedom from oppression. Oppression that specifically denies the needs of an individual just because they disrupt society. For example, the opppression that had Himiko’s parents turn abusive on her calling her a demon child because she was born with a strange quirk. 

In that way Shigaraki fights for a kind of true liberation, different from what the liberation force fights for. The Meta Liberation Army while wanting to overturn society also repeated several of society’s oppressive attitude, juding people’s worth based entirely on the strength of their quirk whereas Shigaraki is willing to accept people like Compress, and Spinner who do not have super powerful combat efficient quirks and value them just as much as all the other members from his team. 

Shigaraki also knows the feelings of someone who has not been saved. He’s reflected on this several times, even as early back as his conversation with Deku. He knows that the way the current society functions, it ignores the plights of victims like him that are either too inconvenient to save. 

It’s what Shigaraki says to Deku word for word: “I could hurt you right now and not a single person would come save you. They’ll all walk by and pretend it’s none of their business, because they all think a hero is going to come save them.”

Shigaraki is willing to give people like Twice a chance, even though he was insane and his quirk no longer worked as well as it once did. Not only that, but when people make mistakes Shigaraki never throws them away. Giran is captured and ratted them out, and Shigaraki went to go save them. Twice makes a mistake and because of that Magne is killed, but rather than get angry at Twice, Shigaraki simply asks Twice to do his best to make up for his mistake, and that he’ll be doing his best alongside him. 

Shigaraki understands the feelings of: “If only somebody had saved me” better than anyone else in the manga. This is something that even the kids don’t question. The kids in their complete and unwavering faith in the hero system can’t even respond to questions like “Who should you really be saving?” 

Shigaraki also goes out of his way to save people even after they’ve made mistakes, or betrayed the league. Giran ratted on them and got nearly every member killed, and yet not only did Shigaraki walk right into a trap to save him, he also took special care to make sure he was alive, and rescued safely when he was in the middle of getting pounded. 

The final is also somewhat of a paradox. Shigaraki has been manipulated to think that he hated his family, and  wanted to kill everyone. 

However, all of Shigaraki’s actions show the opposite. Not only does Shigaraki feel guilt for killing his family several years after the fact. Not only did he intentionally hold back his quirk at first because he was afraid of killing again. The words of his family stayed with him. Shigaraki only ever remembers his family in a mostly positive light. 

In his heart, Shigaraki holds himself accountable for what he did to his family even though it was an accident. At the same time, it’s revealed to us in his dream sequence that he already forgives his family for what transpired today, he remembers his grandparents being kind to him, he doesn’t resent his mom for just watching what his family did to him and even reassures her, he tells his sister he doesn’t care that she tattled on him anymore. 

His family is someone he can never forget in both senses of the word. He doesn’t forget the times his family household was kind to him, the genuine love his mother, grandparents, and sister all showed to him, and he hasn’t really stopped mourning them ever for a single moment. He even still keeps Nana’s hand, the last hand that wasn’t broken and wears it after his so called “liberation” from his past memories of them. Yet, at the same time he doesn’t allow his family to deny who he is. 

Shigaraki is someone who has been influenced by people all of ihs life, his abusive father, AFO, and then all of AFO’s constituents and the other villains he’s fought against so far. However, at the same time Shigaraki has remained the same kid throughout all of this. Always Shimura Tenko. Always the kid who wanted to play with the kids who got bullied. Always the kid resentful he didn’t get saved. 

2. Shigaraki is better than what created him

Eri is referred to as a cursed inhuman existence born only to destroy, simply because of the quirk she was born with, completely neglecting who Eri is as a person. Deku however says that just by slightly changing your perspective, you can see how kind and gentle Eri is. 

Shigaraki is a character much like this. The people around him, mostly heroes always insist that he’s inhuman and again and again that he can only want destruction because of his quirk. Yet, the people closest to Shigaraki know how kind, and gentle he can be. 

So we have characters like All Might, Mr. Completely Ignores Endeavor’s abuse of his own family, constantly saying that someone like Shigaraki can’t possibly have a cause for all of his destruction. Ignoring what Shigaraki says when he tells them that heroes can be violent too just like villains, their violence is just categorized differently. 

Shigaraki is continually told he has no reason for wanting to destroy things, that there could be no possible motivation behind his actions. This is something that even AFO himself said, that Shigaraki simply lusted for destruction because he was born that way.

Characters insist again, that Shigaraki isn’t capable of creating anything, or achieving anything because he can only destroy. This is an identity that’s forced on him by his environment ut it’s not who he is at the center of his being. Even when he’s getting the tar beaten out of him by Re-Destro what he thinks is not that he wants to destroy, but rather that he wanted his family to tell him it was okay for him to be a hero.

So we reach the most recent chapter with someone once again asserting that Shigaraki cannot possibly want anything other than to hurt the people around him, and destroy what he can.

Even ENDEAVOR (lol) of all people accuses Shigaraki of not fighting for the right ideals. Yet, Shigaraki has always shown to be fighting for something. 

People insist that Shigaraki was just born that way, that he just wants to destroy. Yet, there are very specific environmental factors that shaped him into who he is. Shigaraki who apparently has no reasons for doing the things he does, has the longest backstory in the series (four origin chapters in total if you count Shigaraki Tomura: Distortion). Shigaraki’s line against Endeavor also implies that Shigaraki has been fighting for the same thing from the start. That he’s always had a cause, something to fight for (or maybe even just fight against) and that he simply believed what other people constantly told him. 

So, no clearly the All For One quirk being given to Shigaraki has not changed who he is as a person at all. Shigaraki’s thoughts always rest with his friends and his family.  Shigaraki’s first literal action upon waking up is to call Machia to his side, and protect the league. Shigaraki’s actions also saved Himiko, because if Machia had not picked her up she likely would have gone on a suicide mission. 

So, there is one last point I want to make: The reason the plan is going so wrong right now is precisely because Shigaraki is someone who chooses again and again to put his trust in others. First, it went wrong because not only did he allow Dabi free reign to invite whoever he wanted to the league, but he also trusted Twice with his location. 

Shigaraki won’t throw Dabi out of the league for saying that he’s only here to use the league for his own benefit, because Shigaraki has always known this about Dabi and lets him work with the league anyway. Shigaraki is someone who puts his allies before themselves and gives them the freedom to be who they want to be. 

Shigaraki has said mutliple times the league can do whatever they want. He’s not really selfishly minded or motivated like AFO is. If anything, Shigaraki is much more likely to sacrifice himself, or put the group’s needs first. The Shigaraki that we’ve seen right now is the same progression of the Shigaraki we’ve always known: he fights on the front lines to draw the heroes away from his friends, he fights himself instead of needlessly risking his own allies, he needs his allies by his side. 

The raid happened because of Shigaraki’s trusting nature twice. Not only because he allowed Dabi to invite Hawks to the league, but also Kurogiri’s capture and betrayal someone Shigaraki was genuinely close to and listened to for counsel led to his location at the hospital being ratted out to both Eraserhead and Mic. So it’s not Shigaraki not trusting others that led to the Hospital Raid, but rather it’s because Shigaraki chose to trust others that this is all happening.

YET, when this happened last time with Overhaul Shigaraki didn’t stop trusting others. He didn’t throw Twice out. His choice back then was to take responsibility and trust Twice even more to fix the mistake he made. Which will likely be his response again. 

Shigaraki also fights against anyone who tries to control or oppress him the same way his father did once. When AFO tries to physically control his own body, he frees himself of the vestiges.

Shigaraki won’t lose his trust in other people, and won’t lose his close relationship with the league, because Shigaraki has already sustained this kind of loss before. Over and over again. He loses most of the Nomus, he loses Magne, he loses AFO. Yet, at those times when he loses these things Shigaraki’s response is always the same. 

Shigaraki is struggling to be better that the environment that created him. Shigaraki’s arc is not one of him losing his humanity, but rather Shigaraki keeping his humanity in the face of constant losses. 

His environment is really truly something that should have robbed him of his humanity. There are people like AFO who are out there to make him into a puppet, to rob him of all agency, and identity. Yet, Shigaraki always fights back against those trying to control him and tell him no.

Shigaraki won’t turn on the league, because his connections with the league are what make him human. It’s his connections with others he makes over and over again in the face of his extremely oppressive environment, first with Kurogiri, then with the league that allows him to stay the same at the core of who he is. 

While Shigaraki is constantly dehumanized by both the hero system and the villains he fights against, he’s actually one of the most human characters in the whole series. Not only is he very sympathetic and understandable where exactly he is coming from, but he’s also always, always, always, always, struggling against a set of very human flaws. 

[knjnvrland]

Prank Wars - ch.5

> pairing | jungkook x reader

> word count | 3k

> genre | college!au, fluff, smut, angst

> warnings | swearing, alcohol consumption

> synopsis | College can be a stressful time in anyone’s life as it is, why don’t we throw a little prank war in the mix to make it harder?

> fic masterlist

> A/N | English is not my first language, I’m sorry for the eventual spelling mistake, please let me know if you find any! 

CHAPTER 5 - Yogurt

“Hey y/n, can I borrow a pen?” Jungkook was sitting across from you at the library, you just turned your case at him so he could grab whatever he needed.

There were a few of you studying for your exams on the shared table. Alice was already used to this new weird friendship between you and Jungkook, seeing as she met with you at the entrance of Yoongi's building the day she got back after your terrible date had happened, and you just ended up explaining everything to her, but the rest of the group was still very much confused and not really adapting to these new dynamics. 

Every time you and Jungkook had any type of friendly interaction, a weird look would be exchanged between the boys who happened to be near, this time it was Namjoon and Jimin. Namjoon was actually studying for a test, while also helping you out with yours, seeing as he still had his notes from when he took that class, but Jimin was just hiding out from Hoseok, as the older one had been texting him for hours now wanting to have an extra rehearsal that day.

“Why is Hobi texting the group chat asking where you are?” Alice was taking a break on her phone.

“I swear to god if any of you rat me out our friendship is over” Jimin’s desperation was made clear in the tone of his voice, and none of you dared to contradict him.

“Why can’t you just tell him you’re tired today?” You asked, pushing your laptop away from you to rest your eyes for a bit.

“Or maybe just tell him the true” Jungkook added “we can’t put up with his shit anymore” he then found a pack of gun in your case and took one out, not really asking if he could, and extending another one to you, which you took gladly. Jimin looked weirded out by the small interaction again, but didn’t say anything.

“He helped me out a lot last year, I can’t do this to him” he dropped his face on the table with a sight.

“But you also have a lot to do, just tell him the truth” you insisted “besides you can’t keep this up for long, he’s coming to meet me here in a few” at that both boys across from you widened their eyes.

“fuck, where can we hide?” Jungkook was already gathering his stuff.

“wait, you’re also hiding from him?” Jimin was quick to follow.

“Yeah, I told him I had a dentist’s appointment, now hurry, he can be here any second” Jungkook was already putting back his coat and grabbing his stuff.

“you can hide at the studio, I’m going there now, I can let you in” Alice took her chance to scape the extra studying she was supposed to be doing, and started packing her stuff.

“will Yoongi be cool?” Jungkook stopped his frenetic getaway moves. Ever since his prank, and specially after Yoongi heard what came after with your date, he was banned from the studio. Yoongi even went as far as changing the password for the front door, and refused to help Jungkook out with the music classes he was taking on the side, even though he promised he would.

“Yeah, we’ll grab him food on the way there, I can help you out, he was talking about needing you this past week anyway, this might as well be your best shot” Alice started moving to the door without looking back, and the boys shared a look before following her. They were halfway out when Jungkook turned around and ran back to you, dropping the pen he just borrowed in front of you and giving you a quick peck on the top of your head while saying a barely understandable ‘thanks’, you couldn’t even respond and he was already gone again.

Your brother gave you the weirdest look, at which you only rolled your eyes and slammed your notebook shut. “let's go to Jin’s, I need coffee, I’ll explain everything there”.

“Wow ok I wish I knew all that a couple days ago when I bumped into Ray” Namjoon was beside you at a small table in the corner of your older brother’s cafe.

“It's honestly not that big of a deal” you sipped on your latte, wishing it was still as warm as when you got it. The story took longer to tell then you expected because of the thousand questions Namjoon interrupted you with. “If anything it helped me realize that Jungkook is not that bad”

“Of course he’s not that bad” Jin took the empty chair across the two of you “but why is he not that bad, again?”

“oh my god it’s such a long story, ask Joon to update you later” you grabbed one of the scones he sat in front of you and took a bite “hmm that’s actually the best one so far”. It was becoming routine for whenever you dropped by, you’d be forced to try a new recipe.

“Right? I told Alice this was the best one, but she insists on arguing the pecan one is what should be on the menu.” He took a piece of it as well “see? It’s great! I’m a genius!” That being said, he stood up and disappeared to the kitchen again, only to pop his head back out “I haven’t forgotten about Jungkook, once these cookies are ready I’m coming back out and want to hear everything about it!”. You rolled your eyes and Namjoon dismissed him, the two of you being used to the gossipy side of your older sibling.

“As I was about to tell you” Namjoon continued “if you ever need anyone to beat him up-“

“I’ll ask Jin” you completed, and although annoyed, Namjoon couldn’t really contradict, you all knew that Seokjin was the one who putted more hours in his working out and was definitely the strongest of your friend group. “but no one is getting beat up, let’s just forget he ever existed”.

“It’s your call” Joon finished his iced americano in a gulp “but you and JK are good, right?”

“Yeah, I think we’re friends. The morning after I slept over I woke up to him making me scrambled eggs, I can’t really stay mad after that”. It was true, you woke up really confused, not knowing where you were, but your sense of smell was the one to remind you, first with the peach scent all around you, and then with the smell of fresh breakfast. You were surprised to see Jungkook at the kitchen, specially because he never helped when all of you got together to cook, and the sight of him in an apron, in front of the stove, humming softly to himself, was an image that warmed your heart and you couldn’t shake off of your head ever since.

“I’m glad, we were all starting to worry how far the pranks would go, Tae even started a bet” he chuckled “the strange thing is that he betted on you” at that you laughed out loud. The thought of Taehyung siding with you was not a frequent one on your mind. You were about to ask Namjoon what the actual bet was, when Jimin bursted through the doors of the cafe, startling a couple of girls in the table by the entrance.

“You!” Jimin pointed your way, and took four steps, if much, to cross the whole cafe and stand beside the table “You’re going to help me”.

“What now?” You were already dreading your next task. The last time Jimin requested your help with such urgency you had to pretend that you were his jealous girlfriend to get him out of a horrible date.

“Jungkook. I must kill him” he was out of breath as if he ran all the way to the coffee shop as he plopped himself down on the empty chair your older brother was just in a few minutes earlier.

“Ok I can’t deal with this again” Namjoon shoved the rest of his croissant down his throat “leave Jungkook alone” you could barely understand him, but you figured out what it was, as he took his book and moved to sit on the counter where Jin was now finishing up a few orders.

“I don’t know if you realized, but our war is over” you clarified to Jimin “no more pranks for me”.

“Oh but it isn’t” Jimin stole the rest of the scone you still had in front of you “your new bff-“

“not my bff” you interrupted.

“whatever!” Jimin was clearly not up for the banter. “that asshole that we let hang out with us sold me out to Hoseok and I just spent the last hour of my life filling up his and Taehyung’s place”

“and my brother is not the target here because…?” You stole back the final bite of your food.

“because he set me up with a freshman last week and I swear to god it was the best head I've ever-“

“ew okay TMI! How many dates can you even fit in your schedule?” You were honestly impressed.

“not important” he then tried to steal a sip of your latte and you just gave it all to him. It was cold anyway. “the point is, I want blood -or at least some very public form of humiliation- and I need your help”

You rolled your eyes but you knew that you could never say no to Jimin. “okay, what do I have to do?”.

You were outside the boy’s changing room. Every Monday and Wednesday you had running practice, and every single time you ended up bumping into Jungkook as he went to his swimming practice. It was so routine that you never even acknowledged it. But Jimin noticed it, apparently, as he texted you your sign.

Chim Chim: yogurt You: ? Chim Chim: that’s the sign You: you could’ve just said that Chim Chim: just go ffs You: ok ok You: but if I get caught You: you’re paying for my food for a month Chim Chim: just fucking go omg

You tucked your phone inside the pocket of your hoodie and carefully opened the door. You could listen the sound of the showers running, and a few boys talking on the room next door, but there was no one on sigh. You tiptoed your way to locker number 10 -of course his number would be 10- and was about to unlock it with the numbers scribbled down your hand when you noticed it was open. What an idiot, honestly. The door cricked as it opened and you stopped breathing, afraid anyone could hear it. But no, all the human noises still came from de other room. You opened the bag you had with you and quickly began shoving everything in the locker inside it. After a few seconds pondering -you couldn’t spend that much more time in there anyway-, you retrieved his bucket hat and his car keys, putting those back into the locker and closing it without locking it back, as if you were never even there.

Once you were out of there, you finally released the breath you were holding in, and texted Jimin to let him know it was done. Then you made your way outside the building to meet up with the rest of the dancers that were waiting in the cafeteria across the entrance of the gymnasium. 

“How did it go?” Taehyung was sipping on a soda can, while Hoseok scrolled through his phone and Jimin looked at you expectantly.

You set your bag on the table and opened it, revealing every single one of Jungkook’s itens of clothing, as well as his phone, wallet and house keys. “I left behind his car keys” you pointed outside the window, to a car parked up front that you knew was his “and his hat” you smiled triumphantly and highfived the three boys, taking your empty seat again.

Now it was all a matter of time as the three of you patiently awaited for the show. It was about 5pm of a Monday, and the cafeteria, as well as that area of the campus, was fully packed. It took longer than any of you anticipated, as you watched while Jungkook’s friends left the building laughing, but with no sign of the younger man. You were typing away an idea for a short story in your phone when you heard Jimin’s loud laugh beside you, startling you. Soon enough, everyone near you was laughing, as they all looked outside to a, you guessed, very naked Jungkook streaking across the street with only his hat covering what he could manage to cover with it, and car keys in hand.

Just as he unlocked his car, right before he got in and away from all the stares, jokes and, surely, people photographing his ass, he looked straight at your table -straight at you. You smiled apologetic and could see a glint of something in his eyes, although you could not understand what that meant. As Jungkook drove away, the three remaining boys congratulated you and each other once again, and Jimin stood up with Jungkook’s things to drive to the younger boy’s place and give it all back. Jimin had his fun, but he was not a terrible enough person to leave someone at our day and age more than a few hours without their phone. Besides, how could Jungkook check out the pics already being posted all over social media without it?

Once again, you felt a bit bad, but it didn’t last long as when you were leaving the cafeteria, you could already hear a group of girls sitting by the register commenting on Jungkook’s physique, and you could tell that the whole scene that took place minutes before would only bust up his reputation. You could understand why, the amount of sports the kid did really were showing, but just before you could let your imagination run too wild, your phone rang with a twitter notification. Yup, definitely a reputation booster. Jungkook would have to thank Jimin, after all.

The last few weeks of the semester went by fast, and soon enough your last week of classes was here. You had just left Hoseok final performance, the one that Jungkook, Jimin and Tehyung had been practicing with him, and went out to grab a few commemorative drinks. You were all a bit tipsy by them, with Jimin and Taehyung leaving the group table to dance and Namjoon off somewhere with a girl. The rest of you still on the table were making small talk to the best of your ability, trying to ignore the loud music coming from all around you.

“I’m going to get another beer, anyone want anything?” Jin stood up first, and all of you nodded, agreeing on another round.

“I’ll go with you” you had to stand up to let Hobi pass, and that’s when you noticed the whole room spin around. 

“Careful there” Yoongi held your arm, giving you support and helping you sit down again.

“Someone already had too much” Alice teased and you glared at her general direction, not really being able to focus.

“I can’t believe I agreed to this” you had your last big final in a couple of days, and could already tell the next one would be lost on you, you were never good at studying after a night out.

“We can go home now sweets” Alice extended her hand to hold yours across the table “I can’t have a late night today anyway” she turned to Yoongi to give him a pack on the lips, and then motioned you to stand up with her. Jungkook ended up helping you out, but you were not that drunk that you couldn’t walk straight, it just took you a while to get used to the change from sitting to standing. You locked arms with Alice while she ordered an Uber, and the two of you made your way to the front door.

Yoongi and Jungkook watched as you left, and soon after Jin and Hoseok came back with the drinks.

“Where did they go?” Jin took his sit back by Jungkook.

“They left” Yoongi took a sip of the fresh beer in front of him “y/n was drunk and Alice has to wake up early”

“Well, more for us then” the three man clinked their bottles and were about to chug them down when something buzzed under Hobi’s butt “what the-“ he took your phone from under him, which was buzzing with some unknown number on it “someone forgot their phone”.

“It’s y/n’s” Jungkook recognized your case straight away. It was a simple transparent one, but you had the habit of pressing flowers in the middle of your books, and then using them to decorate everything you own. And there it was, in between your phone and the case, a small turquoise dry flower. “I can drop by to hand her tomorrow” he extended his hand, but Hoseok was hesitant to give it away.

“How can I trust that this is not another one of your pranks?” He moved the phone further away from his friend.

“How could it be if I didn’t even know she was going to forget her phone?” He stated the obvious, at which Yoongi agreed, motioning for Hobi to just give it away. "I spoke with Alice about dropping by tomorrow to do my laundry anyway, the last machine in our building broke a few weeks ago and I’ve been using theirs”.

“That’s convincing enough for me” he gave Jungkook the phone, and the boy tucked it in his front pocket after setting it to silent mode.

They kept drinking for a few more hours, but ended up having to carry Taehyung and Jimin out as the two boys were too drunk to walk properly, and the night ended with a lot of babysitting on the older guys side, with Jungkook disappearing as soon as he could, along with Hobi, and Namjoon never returning from his escapade, Yoongi stood around to help take them to Jin’s place and just spent the night there. Because of the confusion, however, they didn’t see the many missed calls from Alice’s phone the next morning, with you freaking out on the other side.

>A/N | not gonna lie I really love writing the pranks. Have a nice day, wherever and whoever you are :)

TAGLIST | @w1tchcraftt​ @girlwiththeglittereyeliner​ @teresaisla​ @nctssidehoe​ @kawaiimusiccollection​ @nininek12​

TAGLIST IS OPEN

[i-am-church-the-cat]

Time and Time Again

WC: 6292

Summary: The Kippens are from the 19th Century, and they’re time travelers. The GHC is from the 1970s and very much not. (Also did you know the name Cyrus was really popular in the late 1800s?)

AO3

TJ spun around in his office chair, trying to come up with a reason why it was so important to be at the office at three in the morning on a Saturday. Wensley had telegraphed him, asking him to stay late. He hadn’t been aware that ‘late’ meant ‘till the wee hours of the morning. TJ sighed and shot a balled-up piece of paper at the rubbish bin, smiling as it went in. He had come up with a game of getting the balled up paper in the bin, getting different points for different distances. As he was about to shoot a three-pointer, his mentor came rushing in, affectively hitting his wad out of the air. 

“Seriously”, TJ exclaimed while Wensley yelled, “No time for games, come with me! QUICKLY!”. TJ watched as he disappeared into another hall as quickly as he came and went up to follow his enthusiastic mentor. 

He followed Wensley into a smaller room TJ knew he used for more secret projects. The room was Wensley’s usual organized chaos with papers and gears and tools scattered throughout the room. At the back of the room, however, was a cylindrical machine. It had gears and pipes coming off of it, all curved to stick close to the side of the mechanism. The contraption had a door that seemed to lead to nowhere. 

Wensley was bouncing between different tables and muttering to himself. 

“What’s all of this?”, TJ asked as he made his way around half-made inventions and stacks of books. 

Wensley’s head snapped around. “TJ, come come come, it’s finally done”, he said, flapping his hand at the fifteen-year-old. 

“What’s done?”, TJ asked coming to stand next to the scientist, careful to not get in his way. 

“The time machine”, he answered like it was obvious, indicating the large machine in front of them. “I’ve been working on it for years. The mathematics were the hardest, finding a way to jump through space-time. I’m the beginning I had tried a more straightforward approach of just moving so fast that you were effectively moving at a different time than everyone else. But that would only make you go forward in time and was actually really hard to accomplish even if the math was there. I then…”

TJ realized his mentor wasn’t going to stop soon and math really gave him a headache, even when it was just being explained to him, so he cut him off, asking, “Does it work?”

“Well, I haven’t done human trials on it yet but all the rats came back fine”, Wensley said. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Me?”, TJ blanched. “Uh-uh, no way, you are not putting me in that death trap again.”

”It’s not a death trap, it's a time machine”, Wensley corrected. “And I need you to do it. I can't do it because I have to be here to fix anything if it goes wrong.”

TJ debated it in his head. He loved Wensley, he really did. They had met when he was seven and he was fourteen. The other boys had been messing with him because he couldn't do a lot of things they could do. But TJ soon found out that Wensley could do a lot of things others couldn't, and they were a lot cooler than wrestling and playing around in the mud. Since then, TJ had been a constant guinea pig for his friend, and never once had he been seriously hurt in the testing of something. TJ groaned. 

“Fine”, TJ said. “How do we do it?”

“Step into the machine. All the controls are  .”

TJ nodded and walked toward the machine. The metal was cool as he pulled it open and went in. It was a little cramped—TJ was bigger than most people this age—but not unbearably so. He heard muffled words through the machine and tried to shout back, but he doubted Wensley could hear him. 

TJ day there for a few minutes before the machine started to spin. It started slow but soon increased in pace. The fast TJ spun, the hotter the invention got. TJ accidentally brushed against the metal and felt that it was still surprisingly cool. Suddenly, a loud pop rang through the machine and it stopped, throwing TJ into one of the walls. This thing definitely needed a seatbelt. 

He took a minute to keep the world from spinning before slowly opening the door. He opened it to see a long hall. He stepped out of the machine and looked around. He heard another pop and turned around. Where the machine should be was a storage closet and a note on the floor. TJ picked it up, seeing that it was from Wensley. 

TJ

You should not be able to see the machine since it moves things but not itself. I set you for July 1, 1880, 15:00. Be back here by 17:00 to get picked up. 

Wensley

TJ shook his head and tucked the boy into his pocket. He closed the closet and looked down the hall. One side seemed to lead further into the building and the other had double doors leading outside. He chose the doors, deciding to see what America looked like five years in the future. 

In the end, it wasn’t much different. He walked around getting his bearings for a while. He had some money so he got a bit to eat. He mostly just watched people, until he came to a most peculiar sight. Outside a very wealthy looking mansion were glass spheres that seemed to capture light. There were no flames in the lamps. TJ looked on amazed as a butler of some sort flicked them on with delicacy, clearly not very used to them either. The butler gave him a look and he figured it was time to move on. 

He was pretty tired by the time 17:00 rolled around. It was pretty early, but he had been up for almost 22 hours by now. He stumbled into the building, stepping into the closet just as the first bell started to toll. He was in the machine again, spinning and hot, before it stopped with a jerk and he almost flew out of the machine and onto the lab floor. 

“Seriously?”, TJ grumbled, moving to sit in one of the chairs when Wensley started to bombard him with questions. He tried to answer them as best as he could, but TJ doubted he did a good job when the next time he opened his eyes, he was laying on the ground, a light shift thrown across him and light streaming through the windows. 

“What happened?”, TJ asked groggily, sitting up. Wensley popped up from behind a table at the noise. 

“Oh good, you’re awake”, he said coming up to him. “You passed out after you came back. Slept for two days. I’m guessing that the longer you spend in a time you aren’t supposed to takes more out of the body than the same amount of time in your present time. Though I think I’d new trials, I’m thinking we should…”

“There were balls of light”, TJ suddenly cut it, the image of the glass spheres flying back to him. Wensley gave him a look and he elaborated. “There were hollow glass spheres with little wiring inside that gave light when a switch was flicked. No flame.”

Wensley looked lost in thought, “Well, I guess a lot has changed in five years.”

TJ slowly got up and Wensley reached one of the tables and handed him a plate of food. Suddenly, the door burst open. 

“Tyberius James Kippen”, his sister Amber called coming in. Wensley flinched at the sound and gave Amber a glare who sent him an apologetic look. Amber was two years older than TJ and would probably be working with Wensley if she didn’t get her job at the library. 

“Hi Amber”, TJ said around the food he was shoveling into his mouth. 

“Don’t ‘Hi Amber’ me, you’ve been gone for two days”, his sister seethed. TJ turned to Wensley. 

“You didn’t tell her?”

Wensley gave him a confused look, “Was I supposed to.”

TJ shook his head and turned to his sister who was looking between them expectantly. 

“Sorry, Wensley made a time machine”, Amber’s jaw dropped open. “I tested it and when I came back, I passed out. I only just woke up.”

“We don’t know why”, Wensley cut in, not looking up from his table. 

Amber looked between the two before grinning widely. “I call next.”

***

It was about two months later and they had found out that if you go to a time where you were alive in, it was like you were giving energy to two people. All the exhaustion you’re counterpart felt, added onto your own. They hadn’t been brave enough to test if the same thing happened to the counterpart but Wenseley’s current standing was ‘no’. 

Amber and TJ have made several trips back and forth through time in those two months. They had learned a lot about what was to come and what had already happened. They went to big things like the signing of the Declaration of Independence and smaller things like the birth of their mother. They had gotten pretty accustomed to the ways of traveling space and time unnaturally. 

Something that always stayed the same, no matter where the went in time, they were spat out in some sort of closet or a small room that looked like the machine until you opened the door. They couldn’t control what room the landed in, however, which led to some pretty awkward situations (TJ walking in on a classroom full of kids and Amber having to sneak in and out of a boy’s bathroom).

It was two months of experimenting and science with no boundaries. 

So, of course, it was only a matter of time before that changed. 

Amber has just gotten back from a trip when there had been a knock on the building’s front door, which almost never happened, Wensley always delivered to his clients. TJ went to check it and found three men wearing suits and giving him a hard look. 

“You know where Dr. Wenseley Marks is, son”, one asked. 

“Uh yeah”, TJ answered uncomfortably. “I can bring him to—”

“I think it’d be better if you just take us to him, son”, another man said. 

TJ thought that was a really bad idea. He didn’t like people he didn’t know coming into his space and he only let Amber and TJ into his lab because they were friends and his field agents. He would certainly not like three strange men coming in here. 

“No, I really think—”, TJ tried again, but he was cut off by the men pushing past him and into the building. 

“Hey, you can’t just—”

“United States Secret Service, son”, one of them said, showing a badge. “So we can ‘just’.”

The men scoured the room and seeming not to find what they came for they made their way down the hall, opening doors and rummaging in rooms. TJ tried to protest, but there were three to his one and they were all bigger and older than him. 

One finally reached the lab and TJ could hear Wensley’s confused cry of outrage as the men in suits burst in. TJ quickly followed to see the men standing in front of Amber and Wensley who was looking perplexed and uncomfortable. 

“United States Secret Service, sir”, one said. “We’re here because we were notified of someone breaking space-time. One of our past agents saw a boy with blonde hair and green eyes twice nearly a decade apart, not having aged even a day. We have spent a long time finding you.”

“What do you want with my time machine”, Wensley said stiffly, not caring how they got here, just wanting them to leave. 

“We want to use it for the United States government.”

“No, no, no”, Wensley said shaking his head furiously, looking hard at the ground right in front of the men. “It’s my machine, you can’t have it.”

One of the men started to say something, but another cut him off. “We don’t want to take it from you. We want you and your two agents to come work with us. We’ll have agents assigned to your branch and they will defer to you and these two. You can run the machine and still conduct your experiments, we’ll just use it for missions every once and a while.”

Wensley was still shaking his head, but it was less an answer and more just a way to help him think. He passed his eyes over Amber and TJ, but they were as lost as he was. 

“No one will use the machine without my say so?”, Wensley asked. 

“No one”, the man assured. The guy he had cut off looked upset but the other guy was impassive. 

It was silent for a minute as Wensley deliberated. Finally:

“Okay.”

***

1 Year Later

“Good morning Agent Kippen.”

“Good morning, Nancy”, TJ greeted one of the assistants as she looked over the notes on her desk. “Is my sister in yet?”

“Agent Kippen should be in momentarily.”

“Awesome, thanks.”

TJ walked up the stairs to the upper control room. He greeted the technicians before walking back into the study. Wensley was looking a lot like he had the first time TJ had time traveled. He was mumbling to himself as he made notes on the pages scattered through the room. While he was thinking, he picked up a few gears and messed around with them. He got an idea and dropped the new device onto a table, now a miniature music box. 

“What’s going on, Wensley”, TJ asked, sipping his coffee as his old mentor and best friend fluttered around the room. 

“There have been some flukes with the new machine”, Wensley said, not seeming surprised that TJ was suddenly there. “The linger a mission takes the longer it takes to get the agent back. What time is it?”

“Uh, 07:00”, TJ said. 

“Amber should have been back an hour ago”, Wensley said movements speeding up. 

“How long has she been in 1975 again?”

“Two weeks.”

“Do you want me to go and get her?”, TJ asked. “Maybe her machine just got bumped a little.”

“Yes, yes, that could be it”, Wensley said, not really listening. “You can leave now.”

“Yep”, TJ said, popping the ‘p’. He left and told the technicians to set a machine to where Amber should be right now. They had since been able to control the landing of a machine so that it would learn and specific safe spaces. There were agents all around whose job was to be alibis for agents when they had to stay somewhere for an extended place of time. A lot can change in a year, TJ had discovered. 

He set his coffee down and waved at Nancy again before stepping into the machine. They had added straps but TJ was so used to it he didn’t need it. The room started to spin and soon TJ was hurtling to Shadyside, Utah, September 3, 1975. 

***

TJ was spat out into a plain-looking room. He exited and went downstairs. Well, finding his sister wasn’t too hard. 

“Amber”, he called and his sister whipped around. She looked worried. “What’s up, you were late and Wensley was starting to worry.”

“TJ, I don’t know what’s going on”, Amber said shakily. “I went to the closet at the assigned time, but nothing happened.”

TJ frowned as Amber led him to a room on the other side of the hall as the one TJ stepped through. She went to the closet and TJ stepped in, but he couldn’t find anything that could be disrupting the machine. TJ shrugged. 

“Well come on, just use mine, I told them to pick me up in half an hour. tell me about the mission.”

So Amber told him how she had found the informant and learned the location of the lost archives. The agents were a couple and their story was that they were new residents for their jobs. They both worked the jobs to maintain cover but barely interacted with the public. When thirty minutes had passed, they went into TJ’s room. They stepped into the closet, expecting the spinning of the machine. I didn’t happen. 

“What is happening?”, TJ asked once they had stepped out. 

“I don’t know”, Amber said. “But I think we’re stuck here until we figure it out.”

“You’re telling me we’re stuck a hundred years in the future?”

“It’s not like we haven’t been in worse situations.”

“Our tech always worked in those situations. We have no security now.”

“Look”, Amber said sharply, trying to stop her brother’s freak out. “It’s just for a little bit. Wensley will find a way to get us out. We just have to act like normal teenagers.”

“Oh yeah, and how do we do that?”

TJ wished he hadn’t asked. Cause two weeks later, he was walking into Grant High School. 

***

Amber was eyeing everyone suspiciously. She had gone into her first class as a senior and had quickly gotten bored. She took her job very seriously and made sure to know the school curriculum of every generation. She could do 1975 in her sleep. What she did not know how to do was act with these people. She knew her brother was probably freaking out somewhere but he hoped he didn’t have to do too much math. TJ was smart, but Math didn’t work for him. Amber has learned that it was called dyscalculia and had tried to help her brother so that he wouldn’t struggle too much if he had to use math. She never expected him to have to use it at school though. 

Amber’s eyes continued to scan the room as she stepped into her fourth period. They caught on a girl with short black hair doodling in her notebook. This was a senior art class and she clearly wasn’t a senior, but the page seemed to come alive underneath her pencil. Amber wanted to talk to her. 

So she did. 

“Hi”, she said, coming up beside her desk. The girl looked up and Amber swore she was the cutest human Amber had ever seen. “I’m Amber. I’m new.”

The girl smiled up at her. “Andi”, she said, reaching out a hand which Amber shook. “You wanna sit?”

Amber nodded eagerly and slid onto the stool next to Andi. They quickly got lost in art and conversation. 

***

TJ’s day was going better than he thought. Math still sucked, but he rocked History, English, and Science. He had seen his sister at lunch and they talked briefly. Now was TJ’s last class: Physical Education. 

TJ had always been good at sport, even before he was trained by the United States government. He doubted he had anything to worry about. 

But of course, he was wrong. He has lots to worry about, just not what people normally worry about in PE. 

He was almost too good. He ran double the laps as everyone else without even breaking a sweat. He was nearly asleep as he did the normal drills. When he got to the rope climb, he scaled it in six seconds flat and dropped without worrying and landed on his feet in front of the whole class. Compared to the other kids, he was almost Superman. And he, of course, drew attention to himself. 

“You trying to make us look bad?”, a boy slightly smaller than him asked, breathing heavily. TJ had run circles around everyone at basketball. The only one even barely keeping up with him was this girl who was glaring at him from next to the boy. 

“Why would I do that?”, TJ asked. 

“Who are you?”, the girl asked sharply. 

“Uh, my name’s TJ?”, he answered like it was a question. 

“Lay off, Buff, we can’t help that he’s good”, the boy said again, straightening out. “I’m Marty, this is Buffy.”

TJ shook the guy’s hand. The girl, Buffy, still looked a little upset, but she also shook his hand. The three of them spent the rest of the class chatting and running around. Buffy eventually loosened up to him and he learned that they were both ran track and played basketball. Buffy said they should shoot some hoops some time and Marty said he should try out for the team. TJ said sure and that he would think about it. 

The trio walked out of the gym together after school, heading to the front. They were walking up to a group of people and TJ was laughing at something Marty said when he nearly stopped in his tracks.

In front of him was the cutest boy he’d ever seen talking excitedly to a boy and girl he didn’t know and...his sister?

“Hey guys”, Buffy called as they strolled up. The group turned to them and Amber let out a bark of a laugh. 

“Hey little brother, fancy seeing you here”, she said as the group looked back and forth between the two. 

“He trumped us in basketball so we had to bring him”, Marty said, Buffy, saying that he didn’t really ‘trump’ them. 

“Marty, Buffy”, Marty said pointing at himself, then Buffy. He turned to TJ and pointed to the other three. “Andi, Cyrus, Jonah.”

TJ’s eyes lingered on the cutlet boy as he was introduced and he knew Amber could tell. 

“Amber and TJ Kippen”, Amber said. “At your service.”

“So, where are you guys from?”, Jonah asked as they started to walk away from the school. 

“New York”, they said at the same time, cause it was true. 

“Why would you ever want to move from there?”, Cyrus asked. 

“Trust me, it wasn’t our idea”, Amber said. 

“We move around a lot”, TJ said. “Our parents’ jobs mean we move around a lot, but New York is kind of like our headquarters. We’ll move somewhere for a bit, then go back to New York, then we’d be on the road again.”

“I couldn’t imagine living anywhere other than Shadyside”, Andi said and the others agreed. 

They ended up outside a diner the others say they frequent often. They were there for a few hours before it started to get dark and they had to leave. The Kippens headed home a little lighter than when they had left. 

***

Just because they were stuck in a different time, didn’t mean his training was any less important. Amber had rolled his eyes when he had told her he was going on a run but had waved and told him to stay safe before going back to talking on the phone with Andi. Which they were definitely going to talk about later. 

TJ was jogging around the park, feeling calmer the more tired he got. He looked over at the playground and saw a familiar face on the swings. He and Cyrus hadn’t been able to talk much over the week, so he didn’t know him very well. TJ desperately wanted to change that. 

As he got closer, he heard Cyrus singing. 

...go down

That’s how we make the swing go round

Drag your feet

You go slow

The more you drag

The less you go

“Nice song”, TJ said. The boy jumped and turned to look at him. TJ hadn’t really planned for after that so he said. “Got one for the slide?”

Cyrus preceded to sing his slide song.

“I did not expect you to have a song for that”, TJ said honestly, giving Cyrus his best smile. He returned it and TJ felt something in his chest flutter. 

“Wanna sit?”, Cyrus asked, nodding his head toward the other swing. TJ went over and sat down, swaying a little. 

“What are you doing out here so early?”, TJ asked. 

“You’re out here, too”, Cyrus replied, avoiding the question. 

“Yeah, cause I can’t run in my house and I have to meet Buffy and Marty for basketball in an hour.”

TJ looked over at Cyrus and he seemed to be debating something. TJ started to swing. Cyrus would tell him if he wanted to. 

“I come here when I’m feeling bad about myself”, Cyrus finally admitted quietly. “So, fairly often.”

“Why is that?”, TJ asked, just as quiet. Cyrus shrugged but it wasn’t really an answer. 

“Bet ya I can swing higher”, TJ challenged, trying to lighten the mood. 

“I’m scared to swing high”, Cyrus confessed. TJ grinned down at him before launching himself off the swing. He ran behind Cyrus. 

“Underdog!”, he yelled, pushing the boy up and over his head. The boy gave a surprised shout, but he didn’t sound upset. TJ turned to look at him and found him grinning down at him. 

“That was exhilarating!”, he cried. 

“What another one?”

“No thank you.”

“Hmm, too bad.”

TJ started to push him and Cyrus laughed as he ran under him again. They swing and chatted until they saw Buffy and Marty coming up to them. TJ waved to them before turning to Cyrus one more time. 

“Call me whenever you want to swing again”, TJ said. “Or just, whenever.”

Cyrus smiles and nodded and TJ gave him one last big smile before running up to Marty and Buffy. 

“You and Cyrus look comfortable together”, Buffy said as the walked to the court. TJ shrugged but he couldn’t shake the huge smile on his face. 

Maybe being stuck here wasn’t so bad. 

***

Amber watched Andi as she talked excitedly about the new headband she wanted to make. Amber and TJ had been in Shadyside for a few weeks and were no closer to finding a way to get out. Amber was starting to not really want to. 

“Amber are you listening?”, Andi asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course”, Amber quickly assured her. 

Andi gave her a look and Amber continued to smile at her. Andi blushes and suddenly looked down a small frown gracing her face. 

“Maybe we should finish this tomorrow”, Andi murmured, not looking at Amber. 

“What?”, Amber asked, confused. “Why?”

“I just remembered I have a lot of homework I need to finish”, Andi said standing up.

“But—”

“I’ll see you later”, she said. Then she was gone. 

***

TJ liked Cyrus’s house. Well, both of his houses. They were a lot more cozy and comfortable than his house with bare walls and cold rooms. Cyrus’s house was covered in color and cloth and pictures. It was an actual home. Not just a base. 

They were currently in his head at his mom’s house. They were stuffed full from dinner and were laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. They had been talking for a while, but now they just laid there in comfortable silence. 

“Hey TJ”, Cyrus suddenly called. 

“Hmm?”

“What does your name stand for?”

“Why?”

There was a pause, probably Cyrus shrugging before realizing TJ couldn’t see him. “Just curious.”

“Tyberius James.”

“Like Star Trek?”

“Like who?”

“Captain James Tyberius Kirk from Star Trek.”

“My parents named me before that show came out, Cy.”

“Oh, right.”

TJ pauses before saying, “Everyone thought it was weird so I made it an acronym.”

“Everyone thinks my name is weird”, Cyrus said. “You and Amber are actually the first ones to say ‘Cyrus? That’s a funny name’, or some variation thereof when you met me.”

“I’ve known a lot of Cyrus’s”, TJ said. “Though none like you.”

It was quiet for a second. TJ didn’t know why but the air seemed to have changed. Cyrus sat up then and TJ followed. They looked at each other for a bit and TJ was about to say something—he didn’t know what but he talked when he was nervous—when his mind went blank. 

Soft lips touched his own but before he could react they were pulling away again. Cyrus looked terrified and TJ was pretty sure he was saying something but TJ couldn’t hear him, just wanted him to stop freaking out. So he grabbed his face and kissed him. The boy froze in shock before melting against TJ. TJ drew out the kiss a little longer before he pulled back. 

Cyrus looked flushed, his eyes still closed. He opened them slowly like hew was waking up from a dream. “We shouldn’t have done that”, he said softly. 

“Why not?”, TJ asked. 

“We just, shouldn’t”, Cyrus said, dropping his hands from where they had grabbed TJ’s arms. “We aren’t supposed to.”

TJ grabbed his chin softly and raised his eyes to TJ’s. “Why not?”

They stared at each other for a bit, the words hanging in the air, and TJ was sure Cyrus was going to push him away and tell him to get out. But he didn’t. He pulled him back in. And TJ forgot that he wasn’t supposed to be here at all. 

***

Andi has been avoiding her. It had been a week since Andi had suddenly left her in Andi Shack and Amber had only caught glimpses of the other girl. She was upset and she couldn't figure out why. Well, she could, but she didn’t want to admit it. 

It all came to a breaking point when they got paired for an art project. Andi has barely looked at her all day, but they had to work on it. They walked to her house in silence, every step making Amber angrier and more anxious. 

Finally, Amber let out a frustrated groan and garages her friend. Andi let out a shocked noise but Amber just dragged her around a corner and back behind a building. 

The building was close to the forest so the could t be seen from the street and there were no doors on the back wall. Amber stopped and spun around to face Andi. 

“What’s going on?”, she asked. 

“I don’t—”

“No”, Amber cut in. “Don’t say you don’t know. You leave me sitting in Andi Shack with no explanation, you avoid me for a week, and now you won’t even talk to me. Please, Andi I just want to know what’s going on.”

The girl was looking down at the ground looking guilty and sad. Amber felt regretful and was about to apologize when Andi said, “I’m scared.”

“Of what?”, Amber asked. 

Andi looked up at her before surging forward. Amber caught her in her arms as their lips met. Amber was frozen for a second, but she soon melted against the smaller girl and pulled her closer. Andi gave a little sigh as she pulled away. 

“I’ve been wanting to do that for three months”, Andi admitted as she rested her head against Amber’s. The blonde hummed in agreement. 

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to make up for those three months”, Amber said and softly pulled the girl back. 

***

No one but their friends knew. Marty and Buffy had basically figured it out and Jonah just seemed to think it was normal. When they were with their friends or alone, they belonged to each other. And it was getting increasingly aggravating that they couldn’t do that in public. 

Both of the Kippens knew that this would always how it would be. They didn’t even think they’d have what they did, in all honesty. But it still wore at them that they had to spend their days next to their partners and pretend that they weren’t madly in love with them. 

And that was just the normal problems. 

They still hadn’t told anyone who they really were and there was a looming threat that one day, the boy would come and they’d be called back. Not the best circumstances for anyone, let alone gay teenagers in the 1970s. 

It was New Year's Eve and they didn’t have any plans. All their friends were spending time with their families out of town—or state in Cyrus’s and Marty’s cases—and their ‘parents’ had to go to D.C. for a debriefing. They were sitting at home watching the box tv broadcast the ball dropping. 

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

As the clock struck midnight, the house shook and they both heard a loud pop. They looked at each other in surprise before quickly running to check their closets. The note was inside of Amber’s

Amber and TJ

If you are reading this letter, it means we finally hit the right time when time machines started working again. For some reason, all-time machines fail during 1975. My most likely guess is that it is now January 1, 1976. We have not figured out why this anomaly occurred, but it shall be rectified. The pickup time set in place will be on January 10, 1976, at 18:00. 

Wensley

They didn’t know what to feel. They stared at the letter. Then at each other. Then at the closet. Repeat. They sat there as the bell struck the half-hour, the first hour, and so on. They say there until they couldn’t anymore, ‘til exhaustion overtook them and the fell asleep in front of TJ’s closet. 

***

School states again on the fifth. It was the first time they would be seeing their friends again since they got the letter. They still didn’t know what to do. So they did what they did best. Disappeared. 

They made themselves nearly invisible at school, a feat of impossibility seeing as the two had quickly become pretty popular in the way athletes and pretty girls tend to do. If you checked the attendance you would find them in every class, but no one could have told you if they had actually been there or not. They could tell they were worrying their friends, but they were too scared to face them. How could they tell them that just as everything was fitting together, they were leaving? 

But avoiding a problem doesn’t fix it. And in this case, it only makes it worse. It was the tenth, and Amber and TJ were getting ready to leave. 

They didn’t have any stuff there, so it was mostly mental preparation. The clock struck 18:00 and they stepped in the closet. They didn’t notice the bedroom door opening behind them. 

They walked out onto the lab floor and were quickly met with agents checking on them. Then the door behind them opened again. And out stepped their friends.

***

“This is the biggest breach of protocol I’ve ever seen. How could you have let this happen? Did you lose all your training in three months? I should have known better than bringing children into a government organization...”

The Kippens stood at attention in front of their supervising officer. They felt his glare on them like a ton of bricks.

He was right

They had let their emotions take over basic protocol and have almost ruined their best friend’s life work and put their friends in serious danger. If they had just told their friends they were leaving they could have avoided everything. But they didn’t. 

“You know better than to get attached”, he finally finished, sounding tired. He sighed. “Look, you two are my best agents. But I don’t think you can do this...”

The Kippens started to argue but he held up a hand. 

“I don’t think you can do this right now. You guys are still kids. I shouldn’t have pushed this on you”, he looked over at the one-way glass that separates them from where their friends were sitting, very confused. 

“Maybe, you guys should grow up first.”

“Sir?”, TJ asked. 

“Agent Kippen, Agent Kippen. I’m giving you two a long-term mission. Explain to your friends what all of this is, then go back to Shadyside. When you’re eighteen, or now for you Amber, you’ll go to the government’s training academy and get ready for this branch. Once you’re finished, you will come back here with your positions waiting for you.”

The pair looked at him in shock. They stared at him for a minute before he asked, “Am I understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, you are dismissed”, and with that, he left. 

They looked at each other for a bit before turning to look at their friends. 

Amber took a deep breath. “You ready?”

“Not even a little bit.” 

Then they walked in. 

***

2 Years Later

“I can’t believe senior year is almost over”, Andi said as she leaned back into Amber who was smiling behind her. 

“We could always go back”, TJ jokes and laughed at the five shouted ‘no’s. 

Their friends had been more than a little surprised when they told them. Amber and TJ had been scared they would be mad at them. But then Marty made a joke about how they could be in 2075 right then and they realized they weren’t. Amazed and upset they hadn’t told them, yeah. But not mad at them. Not really. 

They had met Wensley who complained to TJ and Amber that they were abandoning him. They assured him they weren’t and they were never more than a time jump (or the new time call that Wensley had invented) away. And the Kippens were more than happy to bounce back to whenever Wensley was.

Their friends started to talk and Cyrus turned around in TJ’s arms. He smiled and kissed him slowly for a minute, forgetting anyone else was there. He pulled back to rest their foreheads together.

“Promise you’ll come to visit as much as you’re able”, Cyrus whispered.

“Of course”, TJ promised. “Yours is the only time I want to be in.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes before pulling him back into a kiss. Time travel was the best thing to ever happen to him.

[themaskedwriter]

Fairytale Symbiosis (with a side of world domination, of course)

Platonic! Eddie Brock x reader, martial arts! Reader (who, for story purposes is short and a teenager.)

Warnings: swearing, body horror (a bit, pretty mild), symbiotes, martial arts, imprisonment, carnivores, inappropriate humor, basically anything from the movie Venom will apply here. VENOM SPOILERS

Synopsis: Y/N has always hated the entitled, world-destroying, no-soul types- and Carlton Drake fits that description perfectly. Naturally she sneaks into his lab intending to do some damage, but gets much more than she bargained for. This isn’t a war she can sit out of, not when world domination is at stake, so helping Eddie and Venom is the natural choice…for her. Her symbiote, however, may have other ideas.

CLUE: If adorable symbiote fluff isn’t what you’re looking for, I dabble in plenty of other fandoms- my blog is a pretty creative mix of many things, including my animals- one of which is referenced quite often in this little fic (little, by my standards, that is.)

word count: 2607. will probably be continued on my account, once revealed.

–

A Host. It needs a host- badly.

The containment tank walls are as bare as usual as it paces back and forth, sliding along the substance, slamming against it every few seconds. It’s hard to breathe in there: hard without a host.

Homeless, the Drake man calls them- the hosts he brings as offerings. Their fear when it takes over is palpable. The emotion leaves a taste in its mouth that drives it to the brink, but just as it thinks it will be satisfied, the body dies. The host dies. None of them have the fight in them that it requires.

“Open it.” Carlton orders as the newest prospect finally looks at it.

It slides out, creeping toward the human, the pheromones in the air enticing, empowering, delicious-

The back door to the lab slams open, admitting four security guards holding a girl between them.

It doesn’t look, just slips up the smooth cloth of the man’s pants. Beneath it, the human quivers in fear. It wishes it could drool…soon, soon, but the fear- the fear is so palatable, so tangible…

A shout. It pauses, looks.

The girl moves so fast the other humans have no chance, but to its trained eyes…

Jiu-jitsu, itthinks, karate, muy-thai, as the girl wraps her legs around the neck of one security guard, using her body to flip him onto the floor. Blood spurts as his head slams into the ground, but she’s unaffected, already moving. The second security guards’ arm breaks under her touch before the third shoots a taser into her back. Can’t be more than a youth, itthinks, noting the height and weight differences between her and the others. Not ideal…but that attitude, that skill…useful.

It absorbs into the host offered to him as the girl drops to her knees, fighting through the electricity to rip the taser cords from her back. Flesh is ripped as well, but she screams and throws a punch.

“Why did you bring her here?” Carlton Drake demands, watching the girl as she tries to get up on legs that waver. She glares daggers at him, spitting blood. He does not bother to flinch, doesn’t even smile when she’s physically restrained by the guards- who are more careful this time.

“We found her sneaking through the containment area, sir.” One says. He gives the girl a solid shake.

“I’m lost,” she growls, spitting blood once more. “Dunno how I got here. Dunno where here is.”

It can smell her lie. She knows exactly where she is.

“Kill her.” Drake commands, turning back to his experiment- to them.

“I want her.” Chaos snarls, its body and the humans’ flickering back and forth. Even as the body fails, even as it drops to the floor and the klyntar steps out of the crumpled skin, it watches her.

She hides her fear well.

Drake jerks his head and it’s done- she is dragged, incapacitated, into what it’s come to consider its cell, then thrown to her knees before it.

Chaos pulls itself up before her as the door closes, watching her body shake. She stares defiantly back at it, her fists clenched.

For a second, girl and symbiote watch each other. Drake, on the other side of the glass-like material, seems perplexed. Chaos, however, almost can’t do it.

As much as it’s always been the perfect soldier, even it has limits- and it can’t help but to think this girl is too pure for it, too innocent, too young. After all, where it comes from, the young are prized above all. it doesn’t want to take her if she doesn’t want to be taken. Her fear is unlike anything it’s ever smelled; it’s tinged with anger and resilience.

But it can’t wait any longer, it’s already gone too long without a functioning host, not some drugged-up addict whose body was bordering on death even without the klyntar.

Chaos, the largest and most deadly of the symbiotes, touches the girls’ hand gently at first, sliding from her fingers to her palm, up her wrist and forearm, to her bicep. She quivers, breathing hard and fast, but she does not scream. I do not want to hurt you, it whispers against her mind; she jerks at first, eyes widening in surprise. it can sense her thoughts going a million miles a second- she knows there is no fighting, but she has not given up. She’s already thinking of revenge. I do not want to do this without…how do you say? Permission.

Her quivering stops. Confusion replaces fear as it gives her a vision of what they can achieve together- it can already sense that she’s a perfect match- perfect as if born to it.

“No one has even asked before.” She murmurs, eyes darting up to Drake, who watches with fascination as Chaos curls around her arm. She takes a deep breath, lets it out through her teeth. Her gaze remains locked on Drake as she consents- then as Chaos slips into her body like a glove.

She screams in rage, its voice echoing hers as they fuse, symbiote and host, one.

“Chaos,” it growls through her mouth. “I am Chaos.”

Drake’s eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning, watching as Chaos envelops its new host, its perfect host. Her body, small but wrapped and corded in muscle, disappears under it as it takes over, protecting and defending her.

What now? She asks it.

Now we bond. Itreplies to her and her only, receding into her chest. Now we plan.

–

HUNGRY. it snarls, angry at everything. Caged…caged like a beast. Caged like a dog. Not a dog. NOT A DOG.

“Chaos,” you murmur, eyes closed as you meditate, “not helping.” Then, to the space between your minds, I’ve been caged too, remember? We will get out. We will get out of here and leave this place behind us, forever.

It goes eerily quiet.

What aren’t you telling me? It’s been three days, three long days since you were thrown into the cell, since scientists have started poking and prodding at you, watching you around the clock, monitoring your vitals. You feel like a lab rat and being so damn close to Carlton Drake isn’t helping; you’re within strangling range if you could just get out of there.

We will eat him first. Chaos says, dodging your question. You sigh. It’s always the same with it.

What happened to no secrets? You ask the klyntar -whose species had been revealed to you during a long, boring night- as it wraps around you, manifesting in coils like a snake.

This, itreplies, a hint of sadness to its gravelly voice, this I cannot tell you.

Outside of your cell, there’s movement. Drake.

Riot. Chaos growls, perking up.

“Let them out.” Drake commands. His words as their law, the scientist standing beside him does as asked and opens the door. You stand, Chaos guiding your movements as you stand before him. Your fingers twitch to be around his throat, the backstabbing, murdering, all around awful person- but Chaos recognizes the one it’s been trained to follow all of its life and so it holds you back.

Drake’s smirk makes Chaos’ control falter. “Hungry?” he asks, gesturing to the homeless man down the hall, oblivious to the conversation.

Chaos smiles, but you don’t. we can’t eat him, he’s innocent.

He’s food.

You thought I was food when you first saw me. Now we’re besties.

Silence. Then, we must do as Riot commands.

So you take orders from it without question? I thought you weren’t a dog.

It snarls, puffing up at your comment. I was born and bred to obey him.

You are your own being. No one can control you.

A pause. Isn’t that what you are trying to do, little human?

I am trying to help you. It’s not exactly easy.

It scans your mind, finding images of the unfortunate, the kids made homeless because of their sexuality, their gender identity, because of circumstances out of their control. It sees your own struggles, the perseverance. For a second, it thinks of how easily you accepted its pronouns, the tiny nuance to the English language it had deemed very important, thinks of your banter, your acceptance of another species in your body. It sees your drive, and something in the symbiote is moved by it.

You’re making me soft. Itmurmurs to you.

I’m giving you a conscience.

We must do whatever it takes to get out of here.

…fine. But I don’t have to like it.

It walks your body over to the homeless man, lets the human underestimate you. Lets him think you’re not a threat. Then it takes over, swiftly killing the human before it can feel any pain.

Compromise, it thinks, knowing Riot will never be able to tell the difference and wondering when exactly it became your protector instead of its leaders’. An ideal shift of that magnitude couldn’t’ve happened without notice, surely, except it did. And it cannot be bothered to care.

– Your chance comes quite quickly; with both Riot and Drake believing that Chaos is in control of you instead of just inhabiting your body, you are given all of the freedoms that the symbiote had on its home planet- and while you know you won’t have a chance at killing Drake, Chaos assures you that Venom (who recently escaped, hence the added security in the form of you,) would do quite nicely as a distraction. With its display of blatant disregard, Chaos was beginning to wonder if Riot’s concerns were, in the end, based in truth. Were the humans truly a dangerous species, despite all of the klyntar blustering? It curls inside your chest, a seething biomass, slowly learning your internal functions the same way it learned from the other hosts- the ones whose bodies attacked it at first contact- and it thinks that maybe, just maybe, humans may be worth saving.

Atleast one of them is.

Chaos keeps guard as you walk out of the front door of Carlton Drake’s building, unmolested by the guards who’d only recently thrown you into a cell. It watches, silently, bristling at every new sound, until you are blocks away.

“We made it,” you whisper as you stop, leaning against the brick façade of a building a mile from the lab.

We, Chaos murmurs questioningly, so quiet that you can’t hear. It wonders at the feeling in what would be its chest. We.

And just like that, you have the undying loyalty of a klyntar.

To your habitat then? Chaos asks you, snaking over your arms under the black jacket you wore. It coils around your wrists, squeezing gently before absorbing back into your skin.

You snicker. “It’s called a home, silly, but yes. Home.” For a second you walk toward your small loft apartment, but your steps quickly falter. Chaos senses your sudden apprehension.

We will pack what you need and leave, they will know where you live. We cannot stay long.

So you don’t stay.

–

Eddie Brock, once a journalist, is used to people thinking he’s insane. At least borderline. But he’s never been insane like this- looking over his shoulder every two seconds, knowing that Venom is right there, feeling the symbiote in his every blood vessel, every pore. It’s like tripping on acid, the feeling of the black sludge all over and yet nowhere.

“Whose idea was it, huh?” Eddie growls, head twitching to the side as if he were talking to someone who isn’t there- the action gains him a few odd looks, but he doesn’t really care, stomping down the street anyway. “The kiss, I mean.”

Not important, Venom says. How are we going to stop Riot? He has things we’ve never seen-

“Not my problem, V, I told you I was done after all of that-“

World domination isn’t your problem?

Eddie growls, turning into a side alley that cuts through to the next street over. It’s a long alley, long enough to be creepy, but he’s got a symbiote. What do the criminals have, guns? Laughable. He’s never been afraid of dark alleys anyway, not truly. “You or Anne? It had to be someone. There are plenty of other ways to get-“He cuts himself off as a small, hooded figure steps out in front of him. Venom is assessing before Eddie can even blink. “Can I help you?” She’s standing square in the way, hands in her jeans pockets, hood shading her entire face.

Food? Venom asks.

“No- Eddie snaps. The girl doesn’t flinch.

“You’re the one who needs help, Eddie.” She finally says, looking up at him. “With your little problem.”

Normally, when someone says that to him, it means he’s got an awkward boner- so naturally he’s surprised for a second, frowning at her as she stands there like it’s perfectly natural to accuse someone of indecency. He opens his mouth but doesn’t know what to say for a change, and Venom’s silence doesn’t really help. Finally, his mind catches up…somewhat. “What?” he splutters, walking quickly towards her. “Who are you?”

A few steps away, Venom breaks its silence.

Eddie, STOP.

And Eddie is pulled to a sudden halt, blinking at the unassuming teenager in front of him.

Venom envelops him in a heartbeat, leaving Eddie no time to protest the change. The girl, once again, doesn’t even blink- and that’s when Eddie understands. Riot? He asks his symbiote.

“Chaos.” Venom says to the small girl. “Why are you here?”

A grey-blue head manifests over her shoulder, staring up at Venom with those opalescent white eyes they all share. It’s all fangs, white veins webbing over it like scars. Even still, Eddie can’t help but notice that it’s severely less ugly than Riot. But then he sees the girl who the head is connected to, and he wonders why he didn’t see her in the lab. She would’ve been hard to miss, simply because she looks like she’d beat the crap out of anyone who stood in her way, simply by the steely gaze.

“Venom.” Chaos greets the klyntar. “It seems we have both found a host.” It squints. “Did you pull yours out of the trash?”

To its credit, Venom only shrugs. “If you are here to insult me, you can leave. I am perfectly happy continuing to ignore you.”

Chaos grins, a feral grin that somehow speaks of bloodlust. “We are here to help you defeat Riot.”

Eddie, inside of Venom’s protective shell, can feel the shock that rolls through his symbiote. “You?” Venom asks, deforming into just a head, mirroring Chaos himself. “But you’re-“

“Was. I was Riot’s right hand.”

“Literally?” Eddie squeaks, picturing that monstrous right hand separating itself into a pile of goo-

Venom wants to believe Chaos, it really does, but its seen the other klyntar in action, and finds it rather hard to believe that it could turn on its leader so quickly.

“I could’ve killed you fourty-three different ways by now.” Chaos helpfully points out. “But I haven’t. Because we have a common goal.” It glances at its host, who raises her hand to stroke down its cheek. Something unbelievably like love passes over the grey biomass. “I’ve found something worth rebellion.”

“Alright.” Venom says, darting its tongue over sharp teeth. “Where do we start?”

–

Later, when everything is said and done and Eddie is finally somewhat alone on his couch, staring at the wall in quiet contemplation, he only has one thought.

He takes a sip of his well-earned beer and sits back.

“So she’s got one up her ass too.”

[willofhounds]

I need to connect

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23330155

A/N Once again this will be another one-shot.

Warnings: No happy ending. Soulmate au. Aizawa/Izuku pair

"Speaking"

:Thoughts:

Aizawa's POV

Coffee in between hero work and before he was needed at the school was his usual routine. There was one shop in town that made the best roast. It was strong enough to keep him awake most mornings.

Shouta was more exhausted than normal, however. More than one cup was needed to keep him alert.

Heroes from all over the city were called in for a fight. Apparently, the Kings were at it again. Normally heroes didnt interfere with the Kings as they kept to themselves. However, the Red and Blue King were becoming increasingly public with their fights. It seemed almost as if a war between them was on the horizon.

Just before the appearance of quirks, there was a discovery in Germany. Scientists had found a Slate with unrecognizable carvings etched into it. They called it a relic and began to study it.

Germans and the Japanese thought it would create the next level of soldiers for war. Given the state of their world at the time it could have made the difference. If they could only learn how to forcefully activate the relic.

The relic was rightfully dubbed the Slate. By bringing mice as test subjects they found the Slate resonated with certain rats. When they resonated with it the rat would gain heightened intelligence or extra powers. Their powers were marked by a sword above their heads. It would be later named a Sword of Damocles.

Despite the scientists' best efforts, they were unable to get it to resonate with a human. Until a bombing run happened on their facility. More than half of the scientists were killed. Including a young scientist who was the twin sister of the head scientist.

Her brother was saved by the Slate's power and was given the power of the Silver Sword of Damocles. Adolf K. Weissman became the First and Silver King.

After that Japan took it back with them. A young Lieutenant became the Second and Gold King. With Weissman wanting nothing to do with the world any longer he took control over it.

As time passed it was revealed that there were 7 Swords of Damocles. Those who wielded the Swords and the powers that came with them were declared Kings. Kings only answered to themselves and in serious situations the Gold King.

Then came quirks and with the heroes. In the beginning heroes and villains alike fought against the Kings. It wasnt until the Gold King stepped in that peace between heroes and Kings resumed.

As long as innocents weren't injured the Kings would answer only to each other. Clansman had to answer to laws just like normal citizens. Though most ignored that rule. They felt the only ones they answered to were the Kings that commanded them.

Times were changing though. The Gold King was getting old and could no longer keep control over the younger generation. SCEPTER4 led by the Blue King stepped in when things got too dangerous. Or if the Red King was involved.

Heroes were beginning to be needed for rescues more often than before. SCEPTER4 could create shields to protect civilians but the flames of HOMRA were powerful. If the police even though it was HOMRA, SCEPTER4 would be immediately notified.

Heroes couldn't even put out the fire correctly until the Red King left. His mere presence was enough to keep the flames going.

Last night had been no different. Shouta helped rescue trapped civilians while SCEPTER4 tried to suppress HOMRA. At one point it appeared the Red King had lost control over his powers. Even at the first aid site half a mile away, they could feel the heat.

It was well after three am when the two groups dispersed. More than a dozen members of HOMRA were captured and arrested for their part in the destruction. None of them seemed particularly important and that frustrated the underground hero.

As he entered his favorite coffee shop he noted that it was mostly empty. A boy maybe in his late teens or early twenties was ordering at the counter. From the back all he could see was his green hair and that he was wearing a black t-shirt with jeans. The way he held himself spoke of quiet confidence.

The barista said cheerfully, "Its good to see you again, Midoriya. Your usual again today? How is Totsuka doing?"

Midoriya replied equally as cheerful, "I am well. Need Mr. Kusangi, Tatara, and Mr. Mikoto's coffee as well today. Mr. Kusangi was injured last night against the mafia group that's been causing trouble. Then the Blues showed up and only aggravated his injury. So Tatara and I will be running the bar."

There was a widening in the barista's eyes as she exclaimed, "Oh no! Poor Mr. Kusanagi. I know he means a lot to you guys. He's always looking after those of us who can't look after ourselves. Or those of us who are being bullied. Before HOMRA we had no one we could really go to for help. Heroes in this area are too overworked to help with anything like the mafia."

Shouta froze in surprise. HOMRA attacked a mafia group? That was why they were out last night?

That didnt fit their M.O. From what he learned they were a ragtag group who focused on their own needs. Heroes and the police never considered that there might be more behind the fights.

Midoriya answered, "We will always look after those that we can. If anyone else tries to let me or Tatara know. Or you drop by the bar anytime."

"Goodbye, Midoriya. Tell Mr. Kusanagi that we all hope that heals quickly."

Midoriya turned to face Shouta who stayed as relaxed as possible. He couldn't arrest this kid right now. Not only was he likely another small fry. Heroes and police couldn't take in a King or clansman unless they were committing a crime.

He was lucky that his hero clothes could be mistake for civilian clothes. Unless he pulled his goggles out from under his scarf then he wouldn't be seen as a hero.

Midoriya passed by him and because of the small space between Shouta and the door. Their shoulders bumped. Right where the soulmate mark that he had hidden every day since he decided he wanted to be a hero. The younger man didnt even pause as he went through the door.

Another thing that had appeared with quirks and King were soulmates. Most people had a soulmate and when they turned seven their mark appeared on their body. Shouta's was of a black cat with red eyes and a green bunny encircled by a red flame. Connecting the two animals were a white that looked like his capture scarf.

Something itched in the back of his mind. It felt off in a way but for the moment he ignored it. He needed information and this was the best spot to get it. A quick text to Hisashi asked his friend to watch his homeroom class.

With that done he approached the counter. The barista gave him a grin and inquired, "What can I get for you?"

Shouta replied nodding over his shoulder at the door, "Black coffee with two sugars, please. What can you tell me about that boy?"

"Midoriya?" She questioned absent-mindedly, "Honestly not much. I first met him when HOMRA first took him in. Word is that his mother was murdered by a villain. HOMRA took him in when his father abandoned him. Ever since that day he has not left them. Like most members, he is loyal to a fault."

"Do you know his first name?"

She nodded as she replied, "Izuku I believe. Izuku Midoriya."

That was all the information she could give on the teenager. It was enough however that he could start an investigation when he got back to the school.

As he expected both Hizashi and Nemuri cornered him as soon as he returned. They were curious about why he would be late. It wasn't often that he was late beyond a few minutes.

With some well-timed snaps, he was able to get then to back off. He didnt want to get them involved until he was sure about the boy. That would require research.

What he found was alarming. Izuku Midoriya was classified as a missing person but presumed dead. Inko Midoriya had been murdered by an unknown villain in their home when he was just 6 years old. Hisashi Midoriya had taken custody of the child for a short time before he disappeared.

Three months after the murder of his wife Hisashi filed a missing person's report on Izuku. The police searched but there were no signs of the boy. It was as if he disappeared off the face of the earth.

If he was picked up by HOMRA then that would make sense. If Midoriya was part of the fighting then the higher ranking members would protect him until he could protect himself.

Shouta's estimation of his age was right on the mark. Midoriya was 17 almost eighteen now. He had been with HOMRA for over a decade. That would make the bonds thicker than blood. It would also make him one of the first clansmen.

When the mother was murder Mikoto Souh had only been a King for a few months. Would a King mark a child as a clansman was the question. There wasn't enough information to answer it.

In the afternoon he took a nap in preparation for the upcoming evening. He awoken not by his alarm but by his soulmate mark burning like it was on fire. Anger that was not own coursed through his mind.

A moment later his phone went off. An officer said on the other side where explosions could be heard, "Eraserhead! You need to get down to the Southside immediately. Villains have acted HOMRA's base!"

Fuck! Absolutely nothing good could come of this.

Izuku's POV

He ducked behind Mikoto as a blue flamed villain rushed at HOMRA. The heat that his King gave off in response even made members of HOMRA flinch. They were strong and resistant to fire. That did not make them invincible, however.

There wasn't time to hide behind his King. He had a job to do that only he could perform.

Most of the clan were heavy tanks like fighters. There were three who preferred to stay out of the fighting.

One was Anna Kushina. She was the princess of HOMRA. Like Izuku she had been taken in when her family abandoned her. She was born a Strain. Someone who had abilities but they didnt come from a King. She could see the auras of Kings and clansmen. As a second ability given when she became a clansman, she gained a location ability. They thought she had a slight clairvoyance ability but it was hard to tell.

The second was Tatara Totsuka. He was a friend of Mikoto and Izumo before HOMRA was founded. Tatara held the ability to calm the hearts of those around him. In all the years he had known the older man he had never seen him fight. Always using his ability to stop a fight before it truly began.

Finally was Izuku. After his mother was murdered by a villain and his father abandoned him Mikoto took him in. With the help of Izumo and Tatara, he learned what he would in school. Through Mikoto, he learned how to fight.

Unlike the others, Izuku could use his flames in a fight. The difference was that he chose not to. He held the ability of barriers. Drawing runes in blood activated flame barriers. If you did not carry the mark of the Third King then you could not pass through the barrier.

It wasnt a perfect technique. The amount of time it took to create the runes in made him a target. Though he found out if they weren't removed then they could be used multiple times.

There were traps laid all around the bar for just such an event. Still, he had to set extra rune circles. That would make the barriers stronger. It also gave Yata and Rikio time to evacuate the civilians.

As he finished drawing the final rune he sat back on his heels. Blood dripped from his palm onto the ground. To get adequate blood to draw runes with he had to cut open his palm. He activated his red aura cauterizing the wound. Another pink and silver scar appeared on his palm.

Bringing up his wrist he tapped on his watch calling Yata. The younger boy answered, "Yo?"

"Are all the civilians evacuated? The runes are drawn and ready to be activated," he said watching as Izumo's flames struck out at the villains.

The villains were a tag team that he had seen before on the news. One had a size quirk that allowed his body to grow to enormous sizes. The other could shrink whatever they touched. Including organic materials.

It made sense that Izumo was the one fighting him. Izumo used his lighter to attack at long range. He was the strategist of HOMRA.

Yata replied, "All civilians are evacuated. We are ready for a full-on attack. Be ready to raise the barriers. Yata out!"

Izuku shouted disconnecting his phone, "As soon as Yata and Rikio enter the circle I'll activate the barrier! Anyone not suited for this fight fall back and assist the injured civilians!"

"Sir!"

Members of HOMRA sprung into action. The lower members ran towards the villains. They would keep the villains from escaping. The middle-ranked members were leaving the area to assist the civilians.

Two taps to his shoulder signaled that Yata and Rikio were entering the barrier site. A twinge of annoyance went through the back of his mind. It wasn't his own annoyance. This wasnt the time to think about such a thing though. He had to set the barrier.

Izuku put himself on the battle side of the barrier. Cutting open his hand again he placed his bloodied palm on the primary rune circle. A black shadow rushed across the barrier line into the fighting. It was already too late to stop him from activating his aura the circle's flames erupted from them. It formed a barrier of fire.

He shouted above the fighting, "King barrier is set!"

Mikoto only turned to give him a slight nod. Then nonchalantly joined the fight. Even against villains with quirks he never went all out. The only time Izuku ever sees him get serious was against Reisi Munakata.

Reisi and Mikoto fought like cats and dogs. It was because they were order and chaos in terms of their powers. Blue and red Kings were forever destined to clash. No one could say otherwise.

Izuku stood ready to join the fight when he found an unwelcome sight within the barrier. A man in black sweats with a scarf wrapped around his shoulders stood there. Covering his eyes were a pair of yellow goggles.

It took a moment for Izuku to recognize him. It was the man he bumped into at the coffee shop. Those goggles themselves struck a cord within Izuku. They looked just like the one on his soulmate mark.

His mind was racing. They bumped shoulders in the coffee shop. That was when he started feeling emotions that weren't his. The shoulder that he bumped held his soulmate mark.

The man asked watching the fights as they broke out, "What is going on here?"

Izuku pulled a lighter from his pocket as he said, "Villains attacked our home. Without heed of the civilian's homes that line our streets they attacked. Low and middle-ranking members kept them busy while everyone else evacuated civilians. HOMRA may seem like reckless thugs to you, hero but we care for those who cannot defend themselves. The barrier of fire was only set when everyone was gone."

Eyes widened behind the goggles. Izuku could feel the man's surprise and understanding. Everyone looked down upon HOMRA for being a gang of thugs. The lower-ranked members fit that bill more than the higher-ranked.

Outside of fighting with the Blues HOMRA tended to keep to themselves. It was only when one of their own was threatened that they picked fights.

Izuku was startled by a flash of movement that did not belong to the fighters. Just inside the doorway of the bar stood Anna and Tatara.

What in the twelve hells were they doing outside of the bar? Orders were to stay in King's room.

Mikoto snapped, "Midoriya! Protect Totsuka!"

That had him moving ignoring the possibility that he ran into his soulmate.

:No Blood. No Bone. No Ash,: he chanted within his mind.

The tiny embers that lay just beneath the surface of his skin erupted into flames. He didn't need the cadence for setting barriers. If he wanted to fight then he needed the embers ignited into a true flame.

Rushing to Tatara's side he checked on both he and Anna. They were in good health. Simply watching the fight between the clan and the villains.

The lighter in his hands was just like the one Izumo carried. In fact, most of the middle-ranked members and higher had one. It didnt matter if you smoked or not. The lighters carried the mark of HOMRA engraved into the metal.

They were a right of passage for every clansman. After serving the clan for a year each clansman was given a lighter and a pack of cigarettes carrying the mark. They would forever be a reminder. No matter where you went or if their paths strayed from that of the clan. They would forever be apart of HOMRA.

Izuku used him as a long-range weapon. The metal was strong enough to withstand the flames of his King after all. It would be a waste not to use it when he didnt smoke.

Watching the fight play out was just like the others. Misaki Yata the red-haired vanguard attacked using his skateboard for speed and extra power. Both he and Rikio acted as tanks. They hit hard and blocked attacks meant for the King.

Izumo was watching for any sort of opening to land long distant attacks. The stiffness of his posture spoke of the pain he was in. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even be in the battle but it was all hands on deck with this attack.

And the King... Mikoto was never one to go with any plan other than his own. The man had heat radiating off of him. Nearby metal object began to distort the closer he got to them. The two villains froze as Mikoto closed in on them.

Above their heads was the Red Sword of Damocles in its glory. Their fires were feeding off of its strength. Fires that were nothing in comparison to the King's.

A rough sounding unfamiliar voice said next to him, "So this is the power of a King. I have not seen this up close like this before."

It was the man from the shop. What was he doing following Izuku?

Izuku responded with a growl, "This is just Mikoto toying with them. Only us clansmen are truly giving it our all. We wish to end this before the Blues decide to make an appearance. Who are you?"

The goggle bearing man replied, "I am the underground hero Eraserhead. I've seen the destruction your people cause. It's hard to believe that you would be attacked without provoking it."

"You're just like everyone else," Izuku bit out scathingly, "You only see what we do in the present second. You don't see past that at why we do what we do. Or at what cost..."

A hand closed around his shoulder cutting Izuku off. A pleasantly warm and calming fire went through him. It calmed his anger at the man in front of him.

Looking back he saw the warm light brown eyes of Tatara staring at him. There was a slight shake of the man's head. Izuku took a deep breath to calm his anger.

Heroes were all the same. They looked down upon the clans. Thought so little of them that they were little more than villains. That wasn't the truth, however.

HOMRA took a lot of the blame for people just having fire quirks. It was easier to write off for the police than spending time actually investigating. They didnt deserve that kind of reputation. HOMRA looked after each other. The eyes were family. Sometimes the only family that they could count on.

Tatata said his eyes turning cold in a way that was rarely seen for the soft-spoken blond, "You should not underestimate a clan's determination. Or let what you see on the outside affect your judgment," then something shifted in his face and the Tatara so lover why the clan returned, "Come by the bar sometime. Find out who we really are and what it means to be HOMRA."

There was that gentleness that showed a scared child that there was still good in this world. With his insistence, Izuku was taken in by HOMRA. He became the youngest clansman of the red clan.

Eraserhead huffed and a flash of annoyance went through Izuku. It wasn't his own. The soulmate bond there was no denying it any longer.

Then suddenly the man leaped forward. Using his scarf he attacked the villain that had strayed to close to them. A quick knee to the face and the villain was out cold. It all happened in an instant. If he had not been watching he would have missed it entirely.

The second one who was already pinned to the ground painfully by the vanguards. Yata had his foot planted in the villain's back. The others had his hands tied so that he couldn't getaway.

Mikoto called out, "Brat, take down the barrier. We will hand these two over tonight," Mikoto bent down to growl at the one they had pinned.

It was too far for Izuku to hear but he had an idea. Most likely a threat for them to never return to the city. While not all of it was HOMRA territory they would know if these two came back. If they did they would not survive the second encounter.

Concentrating on the runes he destroyed the primary rune circle. The barrier fell with it. The flames dissipating almost immediately. The buildings and roads were scorched but without any permanent damage.

Almost as soon as they fell the area was swarmed with police, SCEPTER4, and heroes. Choosing to ignore them he went to check on members of his clan. A handful of lower-ranked members had some broken bones but nothing too serious. Izumo was by far the worst off. He tore his stitches in the fighting. Pale he was barely able to remain standing.

As third in command of the clan Izuku began barking orders. That had the ranks moving and taking the injured inside the bar. The uninjured formed a perimeter in order to keep out unwanted guests.

Mikoto and the higher ranking members faced off with SCEPTER4. They were tired from fighting with the two villains but they would stand their ground.

Eraserhead called out, "Heroes stand down," eyes turned towards the man questioning his order, "HOMRA did not start this fight. They were attacked by these villains. As is their right they protected themselves and subdued them."

Police and heroes alike gave them wary looks and a wide berth. The vanguard released the unconscious villain while Eraserhead put cuffs on his. Mikoto aided Izumo back into the bar followed soon by Tatara and Anna.

Izuku stayed to answer the police and heroes' questions as well as those from SCEPTER4. A small smile crossed his face when he caught Reisi glancing at the bar with carefully concealed worry. Only six people knew this but Reisi and Izumo were soulmates. Their soul marks were of the Red and Blue Swords of Damocles circling in harmony. An action very rarely seen in their time.

As much as he disliked the clan itself he would not deny the man information. If it was him he would hope someone would alert him on the changes of his soulmate.

As the heroes and police began to disperse the civilians returned to their homes. Many called out thanks to Izuku and asked him to wish his clan well.

He approached the Blue King cautiously eyeing the stiffening members of SCEPTER4. Reisi held up his hand to stop them from coming any closer then stepped so that he met Izuku halfway. A flash of jealousy went through Izuku but he quashed it knowing it was not his own.

Izuku said with a small smile, "He overextended himself," there was a furrowing of the King's brow as the only sign of his worry, "Don't worry he will be fine in a few days."

There was a near-silent sigh of relief and tension released from the other's shoulders. In a whisper, Reisi said, "Thank you. Look after him and Souh. Those two are always getting into some trouble."

Then he turned and began barking orders. Slowly even SCEPTER4 began to leave. Then only Izuku and Eraserhead were left. With a glare in the man's direction, Izuku turned to head inside the bar.

[som3thingcr3ative]

Fairytale Symbiosis

It’s finally home! This was posted on the lovely @themaskedwriter ‘s blog, and now it is here on mine! Chapter two will be posted very soon!

Fairytale Symbiosis (with a side of world domination, of course)

Platonic! Eddie Brock x reader, martial arts! Reader (who, for story purposes is short and a teenager.)

Warnings: swearing, body horror (a bit, pretty mild), symbiotes, martial arts, imprisonment, carnivores, inappropriate humor, basically anything from the movie Venom will apply here. VENOM SPOILERS

Synopsis: Y/N has always hated the entitled, world-destroying, no-soul types- and Carlton Drake fits that description perfectly. Naturally she sneaks into his lab intending to do some damage, but gets much more than she bargained for. This isn’t a war she can sit out of, not when world domination is at stake, so helping Eddie and Venom is the natural choice…for her. Her symbiote, however, may have other ideas.

Tags are open!

A Host. It needs a host- badly.

The containment tank walls are as bare as usual as it paces back and forth, sliding along the substance, slamming against it every few seconds. It’s hard to breathe in there: hard without a host.

Homeless, the Drake man calls them- the hosts he brings as offerings. Their fear when it takes over is palpable. The emotion leaves a taste in its mouth that drives it to the brink, but just as it thinks it will be satisfied, the body dies. The host dies. None of them have the fight in them that it requires.

“Open it.” Carlton orders as the newest prospect finally looks at it.

It slides out, creeping toward the human, the pheromones in the air enticing, empowering, delicious-

The back door to the lab slams open, admitting four security guards holding a girl between them.

It doesn’t look, just slips up the smooth cloth of the man’s pants. Beneath it, the human quivers in fear. It wishes it could drool…soon, soon, but the fear- the fear is so palatable, so tangible…

A shout. It pauses, looks.

The girl moves so fast the other humans have no chance, but to its trained eyes…

Jiu-jitsu, it thinks, karate, muy-thai, as the girl wraps her legs around the neck of one security guard, using her body to flip him onto the floor. Blood spurts as his head slams into the ground, but she’s unaffected, already moving. The second security guards’ arm breaks under her touch before the third shoots a taser into her back. Can’t be more than a youth, it thinks, noting the height and weight differences between her and the others. Not ideal…but that attitude, that skill…useful.

It absorbs into the host offered to him as the girl drops to her knees, fighting through the electricity to rip the taser cords from her back. Flesh is ripped as well, but she screams and throws a punch.

“Why did you bring her here?” Carlton Drake demands, watching the girl as she tries to get up on legs that waver. She glares daggers at him, spitting blood. He does not bother to flinch, doesn’t even smile when she’s physically restrained by the guards- who are more careful this time.

“We found her sneaking through the containment area, sir.” One says. He gives the girl a solid shake.

“I’m lost,” she growls, spitting blood once more. “Dunno how I got here. Dunno where here is.”

It can smell her lie. She knows exactly where she is.

“Kill her.” Drake commands, turning back to his experiment- to them.

“I want her.” Chaos snarls, its body and the humans’ flickering back and forth. Even as the body fails, even as it drops to the floor and the klyntar steps out of the crumpled skin, it watches her.

She hides her fear well.

Drake jerks his head and it’s done- she is dragged, incapacitated, into what it’s come to consider its cell, then thrown to her knees before it.

Chaos pulls itself up before her as the door closes, watching her body shake. She stares defiantly back at it, her fists clenched.

For a second, girl and symbiote watch each other. Drake, on the other side of the glass-like material, seems perplexed. Chaos, however, almost can’t do it.

As much as it’s always been the perfect soldier, even it has limits- and it can’t help but to think this girl is too pure for it, too innocent, too young. After all, where it comes from, the young are prized above all. it doesn’t want to take her if she doesn’t want to be taken. Her fear is unlike anything it’s ever smelled; it’s tinged with anger and resilience.

But it can’t wait any longer, it has already gone too long without a functioning host, not some drugged-up addict whose body was bordering on death even without the klyntar.

Chaos, the largest and most deadly of the symbiotes, touches the girls’ hand gently at first, sliding from her fingers to her palm, up her wrist and forearm, to her bicep. She quivers, breathing hard and fast, but she does not scream. I do not want to hurt you, it whispers against her mind; she jerks at first, eyes widening in surprise. It can sense her thoughts going a million miles a second- she knows there is no fighting, but she has not given up. She’s already thinking of revenge. I do not want to do this without…how do you say? Permission.

Her quivering stops. Confusion replaces fear as it gives her a vision of what they can achieve together- it can already sense that she’s a perfect match- perfect as if born to it.

“No one has ever asked before.” She murmurs, eyes darting up to Drake, who watches with fascination as Chaos curls around her arm. She takes a deep breath, lets it out between her teeth. Her gaze remains locked on Drake as she consents- then as Chaos slips into her body like a glove.

She screams in rage, its voice echoing hers as they fuse, symbiote and host, one.

“Chaos,” it growls through her mouth. “I am Chaos.”

Drake’s eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning, watching as Chaos envelops its new host, its perfect host. Her body, small but wrapped and corded in muscle, disappears under it as it takes over, protecting and defending her.

What now? She asks it.

Now we bond. It replies to her and her only, receding into her chest. Now we plan.

 ~

HUNGRY. It snarls, angry at everything. Caged…caged like a beast. Caged like a dog. Not a dog. NOT A DOG.

“Chaos,” you murmur, eyes closed as you meditate, “not helping.” Then, to the space between your minds, I’ve been caged too, remember? We will get out. We will get out of here and leave this place behind us, forever.

It goes eerily quiet.

What aren’t you telling me? It’s been three days, three long days since you were thrown into the cell, since scientists have started poking and prodding at you, watching you around the clock, monitoring your vitals. You feel like a lab rat and being so damn close to Carlton Drake isn’t helping; you’re within strangling range if you could just get out of there.

We will eat him first. Chaos says, dodging your question. You sigh. It’s always the same with it.

What happened to no secrets? You ask the klyntar -whose species had been revealed to you during a long, boring night- as it wraps around you, manifesting in coils like a snake.

This, it replies, a hint of sadness to its gravelly voice, this I cannot tell you.

Outside of your cell, there’s movement. Drake.

Riot. Chaos growls, perking up.

“Let them out.” Drake commands. His words as their law, the scientist standing beside him does as asked and opens the door. You stand, Chaos guiding your movements as you position yourself before him. Your fingers twitch to be around his throat, the backstabbing, murdering, all around awful person- but Chaos recognizes the one it has been trained to follow all its life and so it holds you back.

Drake’s smirk makes Chaos’ control falter. “Hungry?” he asks, gesturing to the homeless man down the hall, oblivious to the conversation.

Chaos smiles, but you don’t. We can’t eat him, he’s innocent.

He’s food.

You thought I was food when you first saw me. Now we’re besties.

Silence. Then, we must do as Riot commands.

So you take orders from it without question? I thought you weren’t a dog.

It snarls, puffing up at your comment. I was born and bred to obey him.

You are your own being. No one can control you.

A pause. Isn’t that what you are trying to do, little human?

I am trying to help you. It’s not exactly easy.

It scans your mind, finding images of the unfortunate, the kids made homeless because of their sexuality, their gender identity, because of circumstances out of their control. It sees your own struggles, the perseverance. For a second, it thinks of how easily you accepted its pronouns, the tiny nuance to the English language it had deemed very important, thinks of your banter, your acceptance of another species in your body. It sees your drive, and something in the symbiote is moved by it.

You’re making me soft. It murmurs to you.

I’m giving you a conscience.

We must do whatever it takes to get out of here.

…fine. But I don’t have to like it.

It walks your body over to the homeless man, lets the human underestimate you. Lets him think you’re not a threat. Then it takes over, swiftly killing the human before he can feel any pain.

Compromise, it thinks, knowing Riot will never be able to tell the difference and wondering when exactly it became your protector instead of its leaders’. An ideal shift of that magnitude couldn't have happened without notice, surely, except it did. And it cannot be bothered to care.

Your chance comes quite quickly; with both Riot and Drake believing that Chaos is in control of you instead of just inhabiting your body, you are given all of the freedoms that the symbiote had on its home planet- and while you know you won’t have a chance at killing Drake, Chaos assures you that Venom (who recently escaped, hence the added security in the form of you,) would do quite nicely as a distraction. With its display of blatant disregard, Chaos was beginning to wonder if Riot’s concerns were, in the end, based in truth. Were the humans truly a dangerous species, despite all the klyntar blustering? It curls inside your chest, a seething biomass, slowly learning your internal functions the same way it learned from the other hosts- the ones whose bodies attacked it at first contact- and it thinks that maybe, just maybe, humans may be worth saving.

At least one of them is.

Chaos keeps guard as you walk out of the front door of Carlton Drake’s building, unmolested by the guards who’d only recently thrown you into a cell. It watches, silently, bristling at every new sound, until you are blocks away.

“We made it,” you whisper as you stop, leaning against the brick façade of a building a mile from the lab.

We, Chaos murmurs questioningly, so quiet that you can’t hear. It wonders at the feeling in what would be its chest. We.

And just like that, you have the undying loyalty of a klyntar.

To your habitat then? Chaos asks you, snaking over your arms under the black jacket you wore. It coils around your wrists, squeezing gently before absorbing back into your skin.

You snicker. “It’s called a home, silly, but yes. Home.” For a second you walk toward your small loft apartment, but your steps quickly falter. Chaos senses your sudden apprehension.

We will pack what you need and leave, they will know where you live. We cannot stay long.

So you don’t stay.

 ~

Eddie Brock, once a journalist, is used to people thinking he’s insane. At least borderline. But he’s never been insane like this- looking over his shoulder every two seconds, knowing that Venom is right there, feeling the symbiote in his every blood vessel, every pore. It’s like tripping on acid, the feeling of the black sludge all over and yet nowhere.

“Whose idea was it, huh?” Eddie growls, head twitching to the side as if he were talking to someone who isn’t there- the action gains him a few odd looks, but he doesn’t really care, stomping down the street anyway. “The kiss, I mean.”

Not important, Venom says. How are we going to stop Riot? He has things we’ve never seen-

“Not my problem, V, I told you I was done after all of that-“

World domination isn’t your problem?

Eddie growls, turning into a side alley that cuts through to the next street over. It’s a long alley, long enough to be creepy, but he’s got a symbiote. What do the criminals have, guns? Laughable. He’s never been afraid of dark alleys anyway, not truly. “You or Anne? It had to be someone. There are plenty of other ways to get-“He cuts himself off as a small, hooded figure steps out in front of him. Venom is assessing before Eddie can even blink. “Can I help you?” She’s standing square in the way, hands in her jeans pockets, hood shading her entire face.

Food? Venom asks.

“No-“ Eddie snaps. The girl doesn’t flinch.

“You’re the one who needs help, Eddie.” She finally says, looking up at him. “With your little problem.”

Normally, when someone says that to him, it means he’s got an awkward boner- so naturally he’s surprised for a second, frowning at her as she stands there like it’s perfectly natural to accuse someone of indecency. He opens his mouth but doesn’t know what to say for a change, and Venom’s silence doesn’t really help. Finally, his mind catches up…somewhat. “What?” he splutters, walking quickly towards her. “Who are you?”

A few steps away, Venom breaks its silence.

Eddie, STOP.

And Eddie is pulled to a sudden halt, blinking at the unassuming teenager in front of him.

Venom envelops him in a heartbeat, leaving Eddie no time to protest the change. The girl, once again, doesn’t even blink- and that’s when Eddie understands. Riot? He asks his symbiote.

“Chaos.” Venom says to the small girl. “Why are you here?”

A grey-blue head manifests over her shoulder, staring up at Venom with those opalescent white eyes they all share. It’s all fangs, white veins webbing over it like scars. Even still, Eddie can’t help but notice that it’s severely less ugly than Riot. But then he sees the girl who the head is connected to, and he wonders why he didn’t see her in the lab. She would’ve been hard to miss, simply because she looks like she’d beat the crap out of anyone who stood in her way, simply by the steely gaze.

“Venom.” Chaos greets the klyntar. “It seems we have both found a host.” It squints. “Did you pull yours out of the trash?”

To its credit, Venom only shrugs. “If you are here to insult me, you can leave. I am perfectly happy continuing to ignore you.”

Chaos grins, a feral grin that somehow speaks of bloodlust. “We are here to help you defeat Riot.”

Eddie, inside of Venom’s protective shell, can feel the shock that rolls through his symbiote. “You?” Venom asks, deforming into just a head, mirroring Chaos himself. “But you’re-“

“Was. I was Riot’s right hand.”

“Literally?” Eddie squeaks, picturing that monstrous right hand separating itself into a pile of goo-

Venom wants to believe Chaos, it really does, but it has seen the other klyntar in action, and finds it rather hard to believe that it could turn on its leader so quickly.

“I could’ve killed you forty-three different ways by now.” Chaos helpfully points out. “But I haven’t. Because we have a common goal.” It glances at its host, who raises her hand to stroke down its cheek. Something unbelievably like love passes over the grey biomass. “I’ve found something worth rebellion.”

“Alright.” Venom says, darting its tongue over sharp teeth. “Where do we start?”

 Later, when everything is said and done and Eddie is finally somewhat alone on his couch, staring at the wall in quiet contemplation, he only has one thought.

He takes a sip of his well-earned beer and sits back.

“So she’s got one up her ass too.”

[omg-someone-actually]

I Wouldn’t Mind

- an ongoing WIP I’ll probably never finish because what are words so here have a snippet -

I’m actually proud a bit of this part

When Sirius emerges from the room he has been hiding in (only now realizing it must have been the Room of Requirement when the door disappears behind him) it’s much later than he thought it was. His thoughts are sluggish and unfocused. His stomach rumbles from not eating anything since breakfast. But even thru the haze in his head, he can’t get rid of the feeling that he’s forgetting about something. Something very important… It’s right there but he just can’t put a finger on it.   It’s when he’s coming in the Common room, deep in thoughts, when it finally hits him. Through the window right ahead he can see a moon. However, it’s not just regular moon but overwhelmingly huge moon shining brighter than Sirius has ever seen it. And it’s rounded.

Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck, how could I forget it’s the full moon tonight?? Holy shit…

He can’t leave Moony alone with only Prongs and Wormtail. It’s usually Padfoot who plays the most with the wolf and is the most capable of being any sort of a rival. While Prongs isn’t that bad either he usually takes care of Wormtail and is making sure he doesn’t end up accidentally trodden. But now? Without another canine?? James must be the one to somehow entertain the wolf and while Sirius isn’t much worried about him (He’s got antlers, he’ll be fine. Besides, Moony had never hurt any of them…intentionally…) what about Peter?

He’s out of the castle in no time, using one of the many secret passages to get out unnoticed, and running towards the forest.

The moon is out, so they won’t be in the Shack anymore because Remus has already transformed. That means they’re somewhere in the forest. But fuck him if he knows where. So he changes into Padfoot and immediately is sniffing the ground, the air… Anything that could tell his highlighted senses where he should be looking for his pack.

And he can’t. smell. a thing.

At least nothing useful. Only grass, other unimportant animals and flowers. So many different blooming flowers he thinks he might pass out. Bloody spring.

After a few more minutes of furious sniffing, he finally catches something else. The musky scent of fur and…and something he’s been dreading since he left the castle. He can smell fear.

Padfoot immediately sets off after the faint trail and it’s not too long until he sees actual footprints of a stag he recognizes. (Prongs, unawares, always leans a little bit more on the right, so the trail is deeper on that side. That’s how Sirius knows in which direction they went.) He quickens his pace, even more, completely forgetting he can’t sense the wolf anymore.

When he reaches a small clearing, he staggers to a halt as a frantic stag with a terrified-looking rat on his antlers appears on the other side.

The animals meet in the middle and quickly transform back into humans. James looks positively livid, Peter more shaken than anything.  

“Where have you been, mate? I haven’t seen you since morning! Remus told us you wouldn’t join us tonight, maybe ever. What the hell happened?” demands James.

Sirius, only now remembering the reason behind his panic attack, immediately starts to freak out. Of course Remus wouldn’t tell anyone what happened. Of course he probably thinks Sirius hates him now, of course he’d rather beat himself up inside than voice anything out loud. Of fucking course.

“Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” Sirius hectically tugs on his hair (a nervous trait he caught from James over the years) as he impatiently walks from side to side.

“That doesn’t matter now, lads. We must find Remus before he hurts himself or anyone else,” insists Peter.

That stops Sirius in his tracks. “What do you mean find Remus?” Only now realizing in his frenzy that Moony is nowhere in sight, which is good in its own way seeing as they’re perfectly edible snacks in their current form. Is he really being that reckless? Jesus, his brain is slow tonight.  

James is looking a little bashful when he responds, “Well, you see… Moony went a bit berserk tonight. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I tried to entertain him, I really did. But I also had to keep an eye on Wormtail and… I swear I turned for five seconds and he was gone. We’re trying to find him ever since but a stag and a rat aren’t exactly the ideal trackers…”  

“Yeah, Okay. We need to split up. That way we can cover more ground. I’ll try to track his scent, you try to search the places we usually play at and if you don’t find him, guard the edge of the forest. I’ll send a Patronus if anything happens or if I find him, you do the same, okay?”  Sirius, his brain already back in mission mode, only waited for their affirming nods before he’s running again, changing into Padfoot between two strides.  

The longer he seeks the more desperate he gets. Moony could be anywhere, doing anything. He could be clawing at himself again with no one to stop him. What if he hit some important artery this time? Especially when James said he had gone berserk… He could be chasing other animals but what if he stumbles upon something horrible? Sirius knows there’s a little chance Moony would encounter something more dangerous that werewolf on a full moon but cold dread is clenching his inside all the same.  

He’s so frantic in his search that he almost misses the change in light. It’s almost dawn.

Shit, shit, shit. Remus needs me and I can’t even find him.

Sirius might have another panic attack if he wasn’t Padfoot. The scent he catches next is for sure triggering. It’s blood. And what’s worse, it smells familiar. Padfoot tracks the little drops follows them as they become smudges and runs for his life when they reach the size of little puddles.

He doesn’t have to run far. A tree or two after the biggest puddle yet lays something huddled on the forest ground. It’s dirty, naked and definitely human. But what terrifies Padfoot is the amount of blood it lays in and how still the body is. It’s not moving, not shivering and it almost looks like… like not even breathing. 

Padfoot is at Remus’s side in no time, sinking to his once again human knees, assessing the damage, the panic properly setting in now he’s not a dog anymore. There’s so much blood.

Tearing his jacket off and pressing it to the worst wounds on his torso, he asks, “Moony, can you hear me?”

No response. Sirius puts his other hand on Remus' cheek. It’s deadly cold.

“Remus, it’s me, Sirius. Please, can you hear me?”

Silence.

Sirius, terrified, leans closer, putting his ear to Remus’s face. When the faintest breath escapes his mouth, Sirius is more relieved than he ever was in his life. Quickly pulling his wand out, he applies every healing spell he can think of, cursing himself he hadn’t talked Madame Pomfrey into teaching him more than just the basics.

It’s not enough.

Some of the smaller cuts on Remus’s face and hands heal but they were probably just from the fall when he fainted. The big bleeding gashes from werewolf’s claws aren’t that easy to mend.

Sirius fires spell after spell, fully sobbing now, “Moony I’m here. It’ll be alright, I’m here.”

When he can see the spells aren’t doing any difference anymore, he sends Patronus to James and Peter. Then he immobilizes Remus and makes him float next to him. The body binding spell doesn’t stop the bleeding but it slows it down a bit at least.

Thank God Sirius had a growth spurt during the summer and is usually the tallest one in the room (he has a few inches even on Remus and that’s saying something). His long legs are carrying him across the forest at rapid speed.

There’s no other way of getting Remus faster to infirmary without exposing themselves as Animagi and Madame Pomfrey knows they know about Remus condition so she hopefully won’t ask too many questions.

The only thing on Sirius’ mind for the rest of the way back to the castle is: please don’t let it be too late.

[coolstudentsandwich]

Ancient (Twenty-third Day Of Inktober)

You know, there’s a lot of ancient things in this world: ancient artifacts, ancients books, maybe some ancient dragons, and my mother.

You think I’m repeating myself? Well, now you know how I feel about this whole “progress of the world”. What’s the saying? “The more things change the more they stay the same”? That one. I think it describes this world perfectly. 

I mean, wolf people are no longer slaves, the dragons don’t conquer human lands, and all that, but sometimes I feel I could take an old history book, that would perfectly describe what’s happening right now with... everything.

The humans are still stupid, the cat people are still as cute as before (Though I don’t mind that), I think I shouldn’t talk about wolf people here, and dragons...

Oh! I have an idea! Let’s talk about ancient dragons! 

What do you think? Oh wait, I don’t care about that.

You know, even though dragons like their military, and weapons, and conquering, you probably now think there might also like one more thing - their family. This a little too cute way to describe it, but it’s the truth. 

Adult dragons care for their young, and later the young care for them when they become ancient. And I mean ANCIENT. Did you know dragons can live a little bit longer than humans?

Anyway, this is a story of one of these ancient dragons. Enjoy.

Once, there was a city, where there lived a wise, elder dragon. He was very knowledgable, and you could very easily tell that, because he painted his greyscales with old dragon runes. Actually, when I think about dragons have a thing for painting stuff to show something. 

They use paint for all sorts of different purposes, sometimes for important rituals, sometimes to show off their status. This was more to show off his status, as a wise, ancient dragon.

Few reptiles lived to such age as him. He was really special.

Sometimes people came for him for words of advice, about what they should with this or that.

But one day a human came to him.  He introduced himself as a historian and wanted the dragon to tell his whole life story, for a book he was writing. 

He asked the dragon to tell him about the time when he was young. 

“Well, firstly...“ the dragon started. “When I was younger there weren’t any pesky ‘historians’ asking me stupid questions.” he was quite angry.

The historian tried to calm him down, telling that the books he’s working on it’s very important.

“Very important? You know what’s very important?“ the dragon asked angrily. 

“What’s very important?“ Asked the naive historian, thinking there’s a chance that this will go well. 

“The important thing is that my sons are somewhere far away, probably fighting in some horrible war! They could die at any moment now, and I wouldn’t know!” the dragon almost started to cry.

“But mister... There wasn’t a war for over fifty years if not more.“ the historian quickly responded.

“Oh really?” The dragon looked confused. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. “I guess you’re right. I remember when I was fighting in the war. Humans really couldn’t crack that.” he patted his chest, covered in hard scales. “So they decided to act like rats. They attacked the food. Never tried to fight close. Cowards.” the dragon loudly scoffed.

“Interesting...“ the historian said. “What more could you tell me about the war?“

The dragon just laughed. “Did you know how did I get that?” he pointed a sign painted on his head. It looked a little bit like a flame. 

“Hmm...” The human started to think for a few seconds. “This... is a sign that means... You can breathe fire!“

“What?“ the dragon was a little surprised at these words. “Very good joke, but you should know that this talent is reserved for the royals.“ he explained. “You want to write a book about us, reptiles, but you don’t know this symbol means ‘justice‘?”

The historian looked like he wanted to just disappear, but besides that, he stayed quiet. 

“And if you want to know...“ the dragon continued. “I tell you about how I got this symbol... I still remember that day, like it was just yesterday...“

The dragon seemed to drift off to some distant memory. For a moment the reptile closed his eyes, like he was trying to remember every single little detail.

“It was the day when I and my party were venturing through the human lands, as you should know there was a little bit of tension between us and humans. We gave them some resources to trade, and what they gave us in return? Fifty boxes. Fifty boxes of rotten food. A good diet is one of the foundations of being a good warrior, you know. Sending spoiled food is like a slap to the face.“

“So... they send your party to... talk things out?“ asked the historian.

“Of course not!“ The dragon responded quickly. “...well, we had some diplomats on the team. But most of us were prepared to fight. Even the ones who wanted a peaceful solution were prepared to draw the blade if the things go south... We came to a human city, from which the food was sent. We arrived at night, maybe a little tired, but ready to fight at any moment, like the warriors we are.“

When the dragon was talking, the historian carefully noted each and every little thing he was saying.

The reptile didn’t even notice and continued talking. 

“We tried to reason with the human lords who sent the boxes, but they started to say they had completely no idea what we were saying. And they don’t know about any boxes being sent to us. One of the diplomats on my team told me to check around the castle of the human lords, to avoid a potential misunderstanding. I was still pretty young back then, and I was disappointed that the rest of my team will beat up the humans without me. You know, it was quite a fun thing to do.“ the dragon smiled, showing a set of white, sharp teeth. 

The human took a step back but continued to note. 

“Well anyway, you won’t belive what I found, in their magazines.“ the dragon continued.

“...rotten food?“ asked the unsure historian.

“Yeah, rotten food and someone with a rotten mind.“ the dragon started to look quite serious. “I found a demon.“ he paused for a moment. “I still remember his wicked grin. Covered in fur darker than the night itself. He looked like one of the wolf people I once saw, but something... no, everything was so off-putting about him. Mostly, his eyes, constantly staring at me. And that voice was...“

“Scary?“ the historian tried to finish the reptile’s sentence.

“No!“ the dragon quickly corrected him. “It was... so annoying! I have no idea how could anyone ever listen to him!“

“You weren’t terrified of that demon?“ the historian was very surprised. He couldn’t believe what he heard.

“No. I don’t fear many things. And also back then I was so much more reckless than I am now. Even if he was scaring me, I would try to act like he has no effect on me.“

“But... this description sounds like Chaos! One of the scariest demons!“ the historian tried to explain the situation to the dragon, but he only waved his hand like it was nothing.

“Hey, you don’t know anything dragon culture, I will act like I don’t know anything about human culture. Anyway...“ the reptile decided to continue. “It turned out he was putting all the rotten food in the boxes that were later send to us. I knew he planned something. He started to talk to me, telling me how amazing would it be if I just ignored him, and go to beat up some humans.“

“And what did you do?“ 

“I ignored him and decided to go to beat up some humans.“ the dragon smiled again. “Just kidding. I showed him this!“ the dragon showed the human a very long blade. “You should saw his when I pulled my blade! I think his eyes became twice at large!“ the dragon couldn’t stop laughing. “Anyway... Later, when I explained my situation, I was rewarded. When he tempted me with lying to everyone, I choose the truth.“

“That very noble of you.“ the historian smiled.

“Nah, there was still a war sometime later. I don’t even think this whole Chaos had any role in that. When I look at this situation now, this whole rotten food deal looks like a big prank. He was probably laughing the whole time he did... But in the end, I laughed when I chased him with my sword! Those were the days, I tell you. Not like today...“

“I think we should stop here... I’m out of paper.“ the historian quickly gathered his notes and started to leave. He felt like he had an amazing story on his hands. “...could I come back some other time?“

“Come tomorrow if you really want. I might make you some tea. You know, my children are too busy to visit me, and my grandchildren can’t even talk... It’s nice for someone to be here.“ the dragon showed a very happy, genuine smile, and waved goodbye to the historian.

You probably wonder now, where was I in all this? Was I the historian? Or maybe the dragon? Or maybe I was the tea? Nope!

I followed that bastard! (The historian I mean. The dragon is kinda cool.) Why did I followed some historian and later called him a bastard? He stole my journal! And he planned to make it his own book! His own “findings” about magic! He didn’t even ask me! Or credit me! This was a very personal journal, you know. And he would probably make a lot of money on it. 

You know, I need to publish my own book someday. Do you think my debut should be “My Mother is a heartless witch”, or “My brother’s father is big, fat bastard”? You know, I actually might tell you the story about the second one someday...

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @aussiebee!

******

Dear Journal, I’m not calling you a diary, as this is in no way a diary. This is a scientific journal. Or something. Yeah, I’m not very good at this either way. BUT! Considering this is for my own use only, I don’t have to be! Take THAT, Harris! Of course I am getting rambly and miss the point of the exercise!

Right. What is the exercise you might ask? I will tell you! You see, dear journal, there is this guy. Pretty hot guy, if I do say so myself. The hottest. Like water is evaporating with his hotness before he can actually drink it. I’m surprised he isn’t dead from dehydration... Wonder how long you could last if you were just drinking steam...

I’m back! Yeah, I get carried away sometimes. Get used to it. Right. So. Hot guy. His name is Derek. Derek has chest and arms carved by gods, eyebrows that can make you question the stupidity of your existence just by turning your way, and the cutest bunny teeth you’ve ever seen. I’m also pretty sure Derek is a werewolf.

Your first question might be, what kind of werewolf. Well, if you think about movies, there’s a lot of possibilities. But the only real ones (as far as american magical scientific society knows) are the ones who can turn at will into wolfy-looking two legged monsters with claws and teeth from hell and can flash their eyes either gold, blue or red, according to their power status. Which is more complicated and I actually took a course on that, so... That would be for longer. How do I know Derek in particular is a werewolf, you ask? For several reasons. Derek himself is not that subtle, if you know what to look for. Especially when he is with his pack, which... is another group of ridiculously hot people.

Anyway, he sniffs everyone he meets sooner or later, he touches everyone he considers friend a lot and he growls at people he doesn’t like. Also, I actually saw his eyes flash three months ago on a full moon. Yeah, werewolves don’t have to change on a full moon. They are just much more likely to wolf out then. I even think I can anticipate your third question, that’s how awesome I am. How the hell do you know so much about Derek? Are you a stalker? Ok, that’s technically two questions.

The answer would be... kinda? If you didn’t notice from my description of his cute teeth when he laughs, I am kinda crushing hard. I’ve been for the last half a year since Derek transferred to our uni. And I admit I can get a bit... obsessive. Just ask Lydia Martin from my high school. She has forgiven me since then, but there was a reason why I was able to tell them the exact shade of her hair, when she went temporarily missing... I am trying to hold back with Derek. While I do have his schedule memorised (I can’t help it, it just sticks in my head...), I haven’t (yet) followed him around campus to see where he eats and I haven’t (yet) grilled all of his friends about his likes and dislikes. If you didn’t notice, I’m kinda proud of myself.

I am kinda tired of just obsessing from a distance, though... And that is where this experiment comes in. I got a book about werewolves from the school library. Every university has at least one magical course, and a section of the library open only to the students of it. Which I am. If you were wondering. Probably not. Anyway. The book on werewolves. I used it for a final essay on werewolf packs and their most common dynamics for the werewolf power status course, but there was this section... On how to date a werewolf. As a human. Which is kinda cool? And I really wanna try it? On Derek, specifically?

So! We are going to be treating this as an experiment and I will try to note my successes and unavoidable failures here. Wish me luck, dear journal! You piece of recycled paper.

Stiles

.............................

1. Making an eye-contact

One of the very important things you need to do before wooing a werewolf is getting their attention. Now the best and easiest way by far is to make an eye-contact and wait for them to invite you closer. A bit creepy by human standards, I grant you dear journal, but... well, the author and the A on my werewolf essay says to trust this book so. Here I go.

Ok, journal, this was a biiiit of a mistake. Well, not completely, I guess. I looked at Derek really intently during lunch. For the whole half an hour. As I said, it’s a bit creepy by human standards. So of course, Derek looks up, looks around, looks at me again, and... Starts glaring. And I must be completely doomed, dear journal, far more than I even realized. Because I have never thought you could be this combination of terrified and aroused. His big friend (Boyle?) was even getting up and coming my way... I bolted. I like my life too much and am unfortunately a grade A coward. Oh well. Attempt number two.

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2. Leaving your scent behind

Werewolves naturally rely on sense of smell for orientation. Especially when it comes to their pack-mates and potential mates. I don’t necessarily have a concrete plan in mind... The book offered/suggested leaving behind articles of often worn clothing, spending a lot of time in places they frequent, like their favourite armchair and stuff, and so on... None of which is of course doable and still remains in the sweet sweet area of deniability.

So, I had to become creative. Remember when I said I had Derek’s schedule memorized? Well, it really was just finding out where he sits. I left my favourite hoodie there. Sacrificed it for the greater good. When people will talk about my inevitable failure, I hope they will mention the Great Loss of the Red Hoodie. It disappeared of course. I do not believe Derek took it. Somebody else must have gotten to the classroom first and decided they don’t have enough clothing. Or something. I liked that hoodie. This sucks.

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3. Making yourself known

I do know I had said that the last one will be hard to try out and look innocent if it comes out, but this is basically impossible. I actually have to go and talk to the guy! Damn. This book is killing me. That’s what I get for only skimming through the chapter titles before deciding to go through with the plan. Oh well. Dear journal, it is far too late to back out now. Be the hero your best friend thinks you are. He might be wrong in this, but you have to at least try. Scott is counting on you. Well, the poor sod thinks I’m just getting my courage together to try and talk to Derek like a normal person, but... Eh. No. This way is more interesting. Here I go! No turning back now!

Abort abort abort! This wasn’t even moderately a good idea! I just came up to him, waited looking at him until he turned in my direction and then squeaked. In my defence, he was with

the rest of his pack, all of them looking Tall, Gorgeous and like they wanted to eat me alive. Especially the hot blond. She actually licked her teeth. It was scary. So there I stand, having just came up with the sound of a dying rat, Derek judging me with his eyebrows and the rest of the pack laughing at me and intimidating me even further. I said something about him having a nice shirt and once again (you guessed it) bolted. I am sitting in the bathroom now. Locked in the last cabin and writing in this excuse of a journal. God, I really thought I had left the times of hiding in the bathroom behind after gratuating high school...

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4. Being a good provider

Nothing tells a werewolf you like them as much as you bringing them food and showing them you can take care of not only yourself, but of them as well. This of course doesn’t necessarily extend just to the food. Why do you think I’ve done laundry so often in the last few weeks? I actually have more than three pairs of underwear at any time. A bit weird. Anyway. You might know my family is originally from Poland. I don’t speak polish or anything, which... Shame. It’s a pretty cool language. But my grandmother did leave me one (1) recipe for a polish speciality. Pierogi. I can make them. Mostly. I made them quite a few times at home at least. And they have always turned out good. The thing is, there I have a real kitchen to use. Here in the dorms? Not so much. But what am I if not persistent? Even if I do end up chickening out and not bringing Derek anything, I damn want some pierogi for myself now.

That went... Surprisingly well. Like. Freakishly well. Granted, I went to use the kitchen at one in the morning specifically to have it all to myself, but... there was even a spare pan. Who would have thought? I also ended eating like half of them... But at least I know they taste good, right? Now I just have to find Derek and share some with him. He tends to go to the library on Fridays... That could work well, right?

So... Has anyone told you you shouldn’t eat in the library? That you are going to get thrown out on your ass if you do? Apparently, there is a new librarian/bouncer at the uni... And she takes her job very seriously. She also looks like she does karate or something, because despite being small and cute, she actually bodily lifted me up and carried me out of the door. Bright side? I did manage to talk to Derek for about two minutes before offering him the pierogi and subsequently getting thrown out on my ass. But that also meant Derek actually saw the whole thing from the front row seat, including (but not limited to) the aforementioned polish treat scattering all over the pavement. And laughing quite a bit about it. He didn’t come out of the library to help me. Just stared at me through the window and laughing. Ow. Ow, my dear journal. My feelings. But damn it, I have already come this far!

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5. Making a good impression on the Pack

Once again, something easier said than done. The whole pack is intimidatingly gorgeous. There’s Boyd (that’s his name!) who’s big and smooth and has a chocolate skin straight from the factory. There’s Erica, who’s tall, blond and has a rack from heaven. And speaking of heaven there’s Isaac, who actually looks like one of those cherubs from some kind of a painting. It’s all really unfair. And don’t even get me started on Derek’s younger sister Cora. I think Derek might have another older one, buut... What do I know, I’m just a mild stalker. The book calls for me to make friends with all of them, so that they can put in a good word for me

but also to let Derek know I would work well with his pack. But at this point an argument could be made that I am pretty much suicidal. Let’s do this!

That went... Surprisingly well. I tried to start with Boyd, but he’s not really... talkative. Erica, his girlfriend as it turns out is, though. And she knows a lot about comics. We shared at least a half an hour of discussion on DC comics. She’s my new catwoman. It’s awesome. And Isaac is not that bad either. He’s a little sarcastic shit, but so am I. I think we hit it off. Even Boyd seemed to start to warm up to me by the end. He even said bye and hit my shoulder so hard I almost fell down! It was awesome! Now, I tried to ask around about Cora... Turns out she’s studying at the other uni in the city. Also, yes, Derek has another sister. Who, it turns out, is Laura Hale the California state attorney. That is... So awesome. Really intimidating. But awesome. I wasn’t able to meet them though. And I decided I should probably stop asking so much as the people were actually starting to look suspicious... But! This was really encouraging! Dear journal, I might be onto something here. Let’s go for the final step!

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Interlude: Derek

Derek was starting to get mildly paranoid. Is it a bad sign, that the kid you’ve been mildly crushing on, is suddenly behaving really strangely? Derek first noticed him about three months back. He was tall, had surprisingly broad shoulders and eyes like molten gold. And there were cute moles all over his face, that Derek desperately wanted to count with his lips. And this is the part where Cora got up, sent him her best disgusted look and went to tattle on him to mum. Who of course immediately called him and gushed about his first real crush... It was really embarrassing. The point is... He never really thought it would go anywhere. The kid didn’t smell like a werewolf, just something spicy and warm. There was something familiar about that smell, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t any kind of supernatural creature. He just probably liked using the same spices his mum did. So Derek has decided to watch from afar, marvel at the cute smile the kid had every time he found something interesting in the library and maaaybe overshare a bit with his friends.

And then one day the kid stared at him for ten whole solid minutes. And he suddenly looked like a little psychopath. Derek found himself panicking. Does he know about the werewolf thing? Or worse, does he know that Derek has a crush of the size of Cali? Will the boy try to murder him in his sleep? Or maybe kidnap him and use him as an experiment in one of his classes? Who knows, really... Even through his quiet protests, Boyd started to get up to find out, what was his problem, when the kid bolted. Actually ran away. Derek was left baffled. Things really started getting weirder from there.

There was a hoodie left on his seat in introductory econ. Derek was fairly sure it was The Kid’s, just by the scent. He valiantly avoided burying his nose in it and stuffed it inside his backpack. He put it in the Lost and Found later that day. His backpack still faintly smells like the warm spice. If Derek sometimes sticks his face inside it and then claims to any passerby, that he can’t find something, that’s nobody’s business.

And then the kid actually came over. Derek felt a wave of nervousness course through him, but also... Hope? Maybe the kid feels the same way? And then he just... squeaked and ran away again. His friends of course saw his nervousness and made fun of him for the rest of the week. Great.

The incident with the food actually looked really promising. The kid’s name is Stiles, it turns out. Not really a common name, but who is Derek to judge. It strangely seems to suit him.

The weird little dumplings didn’t look that appetizing, but they did smell heavenly, with ground meat and cheese. So of course it was only a matter of time Stiles was thrown out from the library. Derek didn’t necessarily think it was called for to actually throw Stiles out but... the face he made was adorable. Maybe Derek shouldn’t have laughed at him like that, but it was just... so funny. He actually looked for a minute like Laura’s toddler when somebody denied him a toy. Shame about the food. Derek at that point firmly decided to finally do something about his stupid crush. The werewolf thing wasn’t ideal, but... Maybe his mum would give Stiles the talk over the summer? He will ask, when he calls her on Friday.

Which he did. After that his mother cooed about him bringing a boyfriend home the whole call, with Laura joining her at the end. Those two were really far too similar. But yes, he had the official go ahead from his alpha to try and court this human. With a newfound determination, he went to search the campus for his hopefully future boyfriend. And he wasn’t able to find him anywhere. His friends apparently talked to him for a whole half an hour, and Erica actually gushed about her new Batman-loving friend for the next few days... And then Cora called him. Stiles has tried to ask around for her at her own uni on the other side of town. Is he trying to... what? Derek didn’t understand this at all. But it still seems strangely sweet. Derek smiles to himself. Ok, he really needs to find him now.

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6. Actual asking out

My dear journal! This is the day! I’m actually waiting outside of Derek’s last class of the day. Either way our shared suffering is over. The experiment shall be concluded after today. I will either spent the evening in the arms of a sexy werewolf or drunkenly crying into Scott’s shoulder. Fingers crossed for the first one, but let’s be honest, with how the steps went, the second one is far more likely. I am a realist, my dear journal. I’ve already bought the alcohol. It’s sitting innocently in my cupboard for now, but one word and Scott--- “Hi.”

Stiles raised his head and squeaked. Again. Derek was standing above him in the rapidly emptying corridor and... smiling? Oh god, he’s even cuter than Stiles previously thought!

“Eeer... Hi! Hi. Sorry about that, I kinda spaced out there for a bit. I do that sometimes, just, you know, sit around and think about... stuff... and... Yeah.”

Derek has been looking at him with this weird expression, almost a... affectionate one, dare he say it? He finally shuts up, and just stands there and stares back. Maybe, if he waits for a bit longer, the perfectly scripted speech he had memorized yesterday, will come back to him.

“So... “ Derek looks down and then back up at him shyly. “I actually wanted to talk to you, about something...” He nervously bites his lip and Stiles almost melts inside. How can a person be so unbearably hot yet so cute and adorable at the same time? How is that even humanly possible?

Stiles finally clears his throat. “Yeah, me too, actually. But you go first!” Because if Derek is planning to ask him to stop stalking him, the love confession will be... Awkward, to say the least.

Derek laughs a little and nods. “Okay... Right. Well. I just really like you. And I would really invite you for coffee.”

Stiles feels his jaw fall somewhere towards the ground. What? “What?”

Derek starts to look a little crestfallen, but pulls back his shoulders and says it again, louder. “I really like you and I would like to invite you for coffee sometimes. If you drink coffee. If not then for tea. Or something.”

Stiles blinks at him a few times, his brain still scrambling wildly to catch up to what his ears are actually hearing. “I like coffee.” He finally manages to get out. Derek smiles in relief and it’s like the sun has come up after a rainy day.

“Is five o’clock tomorrow good with you? We could meet at the Full Moon Café around the corner from the campus...”

“Oh, the one that serves the werewolf version of coffee? Sure.” Brain to mouth filter, Stiles! Now Derek looks really really startled. And not in the good way. “Right... Sorry, I know about the whole...” Stiles wildly gesticulates towards Derek “werewolf thing.”

“Oh... that’s a relief actually.” Derek blinks a few times. “So... see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah... See you.” Stiles waves after a hurriedly retreating Derek in a fake cool and collected manner, before getting down to the floor, curling into a ball and proceeding to quietly freak out over the whole thing. He’s going to a date with Derek effing Hale!

“So... did my plan work?”

“What plan?”

“My plan to woo you the werewolf way. I stared at you, I made you food, I sacrificed my favourite hoodie for you... Tell me it wasn’t for nothing! Please...”

“Stiles, your hoodie is still at the Lost and Found at the Information center.”

“Oh... Cool. So. Did it work.”

“You are far too lucky you are so cute.”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

“That wasn’t a no though.”

[mamichigo]

Rules: Complete all the questions you want, expand and explain your answers as much as you want, and have fun!

If you can, tag some people you want to join in on the fun!

Tagged by: @datura-foxglove (and @joeys-piano tagged my main, so I'll just do this here! Thank you to both of you <3)

Tagging: @ahvulon-nightingale, @that-taters-my-tots, @ladytective, @jollyquinn13 (only if you guys want to do it, of course! <3)

Question list here

What ability would you have in the BSD universe?

(What would it be called? What’s its purpose? How does it work?)

Oh boy, that's a good question. I'd like to think it'd be called City of Everlasting Rain (title of a book I'm working on). I'd be able to create very convincing copies of people already dead, and the copies can move but not speak. It can technically serve as an offensive ability, but it's more a psychological attack than anything else.

Restrictions: I need to know the exact face of the person I'm copying. If the person is not dead, it won't work. The copy would be lacking fine details that I have no way of knowing about (like a birthmark in a place that isn't visible). I can only do up to 3 copies at a time, and not of the same person.

If you could claim someone’s ability in BSD, whose ability would you want?

Light Snow. There's just something about a stealth oriented power that I really enjoy. The ability to disappear from everyone's eyes and also to create illusions is one I would deeply appreciate.

What group/organization would you join?

(ex. Guild, Port Mafia, Armed Detectives’ Agency, Rats, etc.)

Can I please say none? JFKFKFKFK With how my body reacts to stress, I'd probably die from a heart attack on the first week. But if I really do have to choose, then the ADA. They have a more “weird family” thing going on, I think I'd thrive way more with them.

However, given the nature of my ability, maybe I'd end up being blackmailed into joining the Rats before the ADA can find me first. Can I get an F

Which BSD character do you identify with the most?

I think on a more obvious level, definitely Dazai. Given his boredom and his depression, he’s definitely a character I can relate to. The way he puts on a smile and makes himself out to be just an “unaware idiot”, for example. Even the small stuff like procrastinating or being really bad at organizing things, including his own room. This is exactly why I’m very sensitive to how people treat Dazai and his character arc tbh; we can actually see how he’s growing from the person he used to be, and slowly finding meaning in what he’s doing, which is really important to me. If he were to die at the end of BSD like some people theorize it will happen, I can assure you BSD will leave a very bad taste in my mouth, and I’d probably never pick it up again.

Who are your top five favourite BSD characters?

(You can change the number)

1. Ango (duh)

2. Dazai

3. Odasaku

4. Ranpo

5. Yosano

Are there any authors that you’d want to bring into the BSD universe that hasn’t arrived yet? Or do you have OCs?

Hmmmmm I don’t think so...? I’m a very go with the flow person in regards to characters showing up, I’m satisfied with whatever new author Asagiri brings into the mix. Besides, my favorite author and inspiration (Edgar Allan Poe) is already in BSD so I don’t have any other wishes. Maybe only Conan Doyle when we get to know more about the English ability users.

Favourite Scene(s)?

Aw geez, uhm... Well the scene that stuck with me the most is the one where Dazai eggs on the Mimic soldier, urging him to shoot Dazai. That scene had a lot of impact on me, and it still does (so it’s no surprise that my reply to the next question will be from that scene as well jhfdsfk)

The hospital scene with Ango and Dazai. To me, that’s the moment you can truly see the extent of the rift between them, all the strong emotions that go unsaid. It’s the scene that cements the dynamic of their relationship post-Dark Era, and I never tire of watching it and picking it apart.

Favourite Quotes from the Authors/Characters?

“I hope you can see the joy in my eyes. With just a press of your fingers, you can give me what I desire most. [...] Please, take me with you. Wake me from this oxidizing world of a dream...” - Dazai, episode 13.

This one for the reason I already said above. I have a lot of feelings and thoughts on this scene, but it’s more than I am willing to discuss here.

“Sakaguchi Ango, a intelligence officer with the Port Mafia. A mysterious intellectual, no one knew who you really were.” - Odasaku, Episode 13.

This line right here destroys me every single time, because, to me, it summarizes Ango’s relationship with the other two. They have been friends for, what, around 2 years at this point? Odasaku can say he understood Dazai (and he did, as shown by his last words to Dazai), but can the same be said about Ango? At this point, he wasn’t yet aware that Ango was a traitor, but you can feel the uncertainty in their relationship. He’s sitting there, where he friend lives: a mostly empty hotel room. In the animation, the song that plays in this moment is sorrowful, even melancholic. I don’t know if this is supported by the novel, but I take this scene as the moment when Odasaku is only now starting to face the fact that he never knew Ango at all.

Btw, my copies of No longer Human and Poe’s works are in Portuguese and I’m too lazy to look up the English quotes, so this is it I suppose FHDUSJIFS

Who would you want to bring to life to be your best friend? Waifu/Husbando?

Please Odasaku if you’re out there, I’m begging you.... Pretty please.....

Also of course I’m marrying Ango, what kinda question-

How has Bungou Stray Dogs changed you as a person? Did you learn anything from it?

I wouldn’t say that the anime itself changed me? But it was thanks to it that I met one of my best friends, who always helps me to grow as a person. For that, I’m forever grateful

[thelittleddemoncat]

Cyan's backstory

(( I am not much of a writer, but this should give you the general idea on my tiny little guy’s past.  When I first made him, he was just a rare species without a backstory or a reason why he was away from his own kind, but it developed into him being one-of-a-kind because he wasn't born naturally.))

Location classified but believed to be somewhere in a European forest, a traveling scientist found the remains of tiny humanoids. They were centuries-old and not much was left of them. It looked like that there was more than one specimen but no bodies completely intact as decay and time did most of its job with little being preserved. While there are plenty of stories of tiny like humanoids both and around the world and just on the continent alone what specifically these were was never identified. While the land was dried when the remains were found evidence shows the place flooding long ago is what likely killed off these creatures. No information was released to the public as the remains were taken for private research. The scientist, name classified, but for the sake of the story he will be called Dr. A.E Wilson was government-funded for his research, but would need to come up with something groundbreaking to keep being funded. Like a mad scientist he did research into making living creatures, not to bring back directly whatever species he found, but to use what DNA he could extract, mix and manipulated it to make something new. Despite these specific individuals meeting an untimely fate, Dr. A.E Wilson had reasons to believe that the species has a whole had an incredible lifespan and adaptations. The remains were of something mythical, he would say that much, but the word magic never made it onto the paper work. Regardless if Dr. A.E Wilson believed he could use science to explain the creatures or if he knew truly what he had, didn’t matter, calling it magic would make the funding disappear.  Anything that was magic would be turned into unconventional science on paper. Many governments would pay big for biologically engineered soldiers and some research for such things has been documented in the past but with little to no success. Dr. A.E Wilson was not interested in making a full-on biological weapon from the get-go, but did agree to make something that could be used in espionage. When he was a small child Dr. A.E Wilson was fascinated with the idea of getting a pet chameleon only to be disappointed that their abilities were exaggerated in stories. With human DNA, possibly his but this is neither been confirmed nor denied used to fill the gaps in the genetic code found by the specimens, he started manipulating parts of the DNA to mimic the chameleon, giving his creation a tail and a few scaly patches somewhat scattered across the body. He would also use unconventional science to give his creation the chameleon's longtime imaginary ability as well as keeping the color change mood indicator, but it wasn’t an one on one direct counterpart to the real animal. Cyan, born in a test tube deep in a lab would only get slightly taller than the unidentified humanoids found five years before his creation. He is a true hybrid of science and “unconventional science.” Dr. A.E Wilson could have easies made him grow as big as a human, but he saw Cyan only as a prototype which would be easier to keep on lock down with the smell size. He educated his creation in somewhat the same way a human child would be educated but this was to show that what he created still had human intelligence and to make communication for feedback easier for data purposes. For the first part of his childhood, Cyan did not question never leaving the lab or even being in a modified rodent cage most of the time. His biological needs were met, but he was never even given smell a toy to entertain himself with and he just didn’t know any better. To him at the time, the lab was the only world to exist. For a while it was just him and Dr. A.E Wilson, the scientist was not that fatherly to him, only seeing him as an experiment and nothing more, but Cyan had nothing to compare him to, he got what he needed from him, no more or less.   Cyan easy but mostly uneventful existence besides Dr. A.E Wilson’s education lessons and being asked to use his abilities in front of the camera, at the time didn't understand the concept of being recorded and wouldn’t learn it unit years later, would eventually change. When Cyan was about ten he would start to put the pieces together that there existed more than just the lab. Dr. A.E Wilson, not the youngest man around when he stared his research give in to finally hiring some lab assistants. “Where did those others come from?” he would ask but was never given an answer to by the head scientist himself. He would learn little by little just by listening into small talk that the assistants had. There was so much more than the lab out there and he wanted to see it for himself.   Cyan after sometime, built up the courage to start communicating with the assistance asking them about the outside world. Unlike Dr. A.E Wilson, some of them were more willing to tell him things, but would go dead silence as soon as he asked if he could leave the lab. One of the assistants eventually rubbed the back of his head telling him “look Cyan, the research here is very important and you are a big part of the research… You need to stay here, for a bit longer.” “How long?” Cyan asked and before the assistant could give a sugar coated answer Dr. A.E Wilson stepped into the conversation. “You will only ever see the outside if it ever becomes necessary the move locations otherwise there's no reason for you to leave.” Another assistant feeling sympathy for the little guy also chimes in. “But shouldn’t he be allowed some time outside? It’s not like he’s a lab rat, he has human intelligence so shouldn’t he have the right to some fresh air?” Dr. A.E Wilson grow annoyed with us before answering coldly “He is a lab created experiment, not a human, he is not entitle to the same rights. If you want to keep your job here then you must understand what he is, what he is for and not put your misplaced sympathies onto him. Without my work, he wouldn’t even exist to begin with.” Cyan for the first time in his life felt the stabbing pain of sadness, turning blue for the first time, making the scientist happy to have more data for his research as the assistants turned away the train themselves to be just as cold to the little guy as Dr. A.E Wilson.   A few more years and things would get worst when Cyan hit puberty and Dr. A.E Wilson decided it was time to test his endurance and pain tolerance. He would push Cyan more and more as days and weeks have gone by. This was also the time that Dr. A.E Wilson would start experimenting to make cloth that would turn invisible when Cyan did, taking many tried to get it right. Cyan tries leaving the lab a few times, but the doors were always locked whenever he was out of his cage and Dr. A.E Wilson had heat seeing goggles to find him with. “Please, let me go out.” Cyan would bag from time to time. “I won’t run away, just five minutes.” Dr. A.E Wilson would always coldly tell him no, that he couldn’t risk something happening to his research. After sometime Cyan gave up on ever seeing anything beyond the lab walls. One night when Cyan was nineteen after spending his childhood as a lab experiment with his future not looking much better an accident would change his life forever. He was in his cage, in the lab alone when faulty wiring on an old machine sparked out. The place caught fire in an explosion that should have killed him and the smoke insulation almost did, but the fire also triggered some emergency unlocks and doors to open automatically, including his cage. He was able to run out without being stopped, he had to if he wanted to live.   By the time Dr. A.E Wilson got back to his lab and the fire department put the flames out, he knew after intensely examining the lab for remains that his creation did escape. Dr. A.E Wilson tried using his goggles to find him, but Cyan was already long gone. Free but no longer having food, water or shelter provided for him, Cyan would use his abilities to hide among people and take what he needed. It was a struggle at first, still is at times, but Cyan was able to adapt to his new lifestyle and learn so much about the world that was once forbidden to him. He never stayed in the same place for too long unless he had to both from wanting to see as much as he could and fear of being found by Dr. A.E Wilson or others that would use him.  Despite his past, he's a friendly nature little guy, but he lives using a lot of caution.

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

The Sewer King’s Carol: The Second Ghost

The Sewer King’s Carol Drabbles Arch: link

Previous Drabble (First Ghost Part 2): link

As we continue on in this trek through the blizzard of soot, leaving the empty lair of the past behind, I feel the grip of the ghost slowly disappear as I found another bright light in front of me. It seems similar to the one I saw at the commercia, and I wondered what it would entail. What scene would the ghost pick this time? Can't be good if they wish to torture me. I hear the rat's scream again. Oh how he screamed. "What did you give me sprit?" I ask. "What did you give me that I should be thankful for.. Should I be thankful for the surface dwellers' meddling in my plans? Should I be thankful for my lair being destroyed!? Tell me, what!?"

               There was no verbal response. The light in the distance seemed to be fading. "Hey! Answer me, spirit! Answer the sewer king's question!" My pace quickens as I catch up. The light approaches closer and closer in the pit of darkness. I could even here the faint sound of music. Violins and the vocals of humans. Accordions and percussion. I run and run and run until the soot was all behind me and I can make out shapes. The shadows of trash cans, the smell of tasteless surface food, and the source of the light, a single lamppost at the end of a dark alley. I look up at its glare in confusion as I approach it, keeping my figure hidden from the chance of a nearby human noticing me.

               "Spirit! Ghost! Where am I?" I ask. I look back, but all I see is a dead end where the homeless slept and the cracks infested the pavement. I slowly camouflage my fur into my surroundings and begin my search for a possible manhole. How dare the spirit abandon me at such a dangerous place! He wanted me dead; there was no question. At least his folly was over. Now, I could go to more important matters: finding my only friend.

               As I walk around, the surface becomes less and less appealing. I was never fan of the surface's obsession with light as if they needed it everywhere. On Snowdown day, they seem to embed every streetlight, every building, every home with bright decorations and inanimate poro statues. Not to mention that the music grows grating with the humans singing the same song. Snowdown day.. Snowdown day.. Snowdown day.. and I'm tired of it! Tired of the voices. Tired of the strings and instrumentals, yet it somehow gets louder and louder in this wretched surface dweller city the more I walk forward. How could anyone stand this? I tried to plug my ears. I tried to use those ear plugs that seem to drone out fireworks, but they were all useless. It kept echoing in my brain. Even after I found a manhole, I could still hear the music from the pavement above.

               Eventually, I made my way to the next location: the Goopy One's previous home. As I move closer, the music slowly fades away, giving in to uncomfortable, inconsistent silence. The houses around me were all dark and, unlike the other sectors that I've passed, there was no lights or decorations or statues. I could hear the silent winds around me making the buildings groan and weep as they attack at their hastily mended wounds. They may look the same, but the doors weren't, the windows had no glass, and the familiar skittering of insects grow more apparent the deeper I went.

               I went into the Goopy One's home to see all of the wallpaper drying up and all of the furniture taken away. I look at the fireplace where we once sat where it was all covered in soot. He took me here after he found out that I tried to ruin Snowdown last year. The Goopy One and I sat around here all night as his creators merely watched from a distance. I remember their cautious eyes petrifying me behind my back. I remember the male creator having a gun right next to his side and his hand sitting comfortably at the trigger every time I looked back. Every second I always sworn I heard it clicked. "Don't worry," the Goopy One would tell me as I jerk my head back. "He won't hurt you. As long as I'm here. He never seen you before.. He kinda reminds me of you sometimes honestly."

               "Really..?" I murmur to myself in the darkness, sitting in the same exact spot and looked above where the pictures used to hang.

               "Cares too much, honestly. I'm just glad he let me do this."

               I look back and the chair wasn't there. He no longer lived. The illusion was gone. Where I once saw pictures of a happy family and the disgusting dead tree that stood tall, there's nothing now. It reminded me of the sewers with the house's loneliness except the screams that happened occurred years past. I look to the hallway and see a faint light in the distance, coming from a hatch that seemed to be blown open. I tip toe slowly down the stairs to not make a sound.

               "Goopy One?" I ask as I trudge slowly. There was no response, but as I look into the hidden basement, I saw a small lantern with a certain blob building materials close to the wall to my left where his bed once stood. He was meticulously designing something with his heated hands. His products seemed oddly misshapen yet familiar like a human child's drawing. I approach closer and closer to see what he was planning. Was it against me? Was it against the surface dwellers? I see metal planes.. metal UFOs.. metal steam golems... these have to be weapons! Maybe he can control them with his mind.. I immediately try to grab for one, but my arms phase through. I look at my hand in disbelief before doing it again and again and again to no avail. "What.. what is this!?"

               Then, the Goopy One finished the last weapon and placed it in the bag. He held it still before he looks down with a doubtful look. He finished all of the materials, but that wasn't the task he had. Could he even do it? Suddenly, I hear a faint sound of music behind me with a familiar tune. I mouth the lyrics.

               "Snowdown day.."

               The Goopy One looks up at the wall and grip the bag with purpose. “I can do this..” he says happily. “Yeah.. I can do this! Hope you guys are ready!” He hoisted the bag over his shoulder and ran through me. I step back in surprise, closing my eyes waiting to be hit by weight of an elephant, but I felt only a breeze. I opened to see the sole lantern sitting on the floor and the quiet music still playing. I turn around to the door and I only saw a woman. A woman floating in the air with her blue-yellow hair and her bright red dress floating about. Around her was a golden instrument with a holiday wreath and some stockings as if it's a surface dweller fireplace. With her delicate fingernails, the maven carefully strums the strings to finish out the snowdown's carol.

               I point my crossbow at her. "Who are you?" I ask.

               "I am the second of spirits. The one Snowdown's present. One that results from the past." she speaks in clean clarity within my head. She never moved her lips.

               "What..." I said. "What did you do with your music..?"

               "If we talk further, your friend would go further. I suggest we follow him. You don't expect to run after him.. don't you?"

               I take the hand reluctantly, knowing I had no choice. She was responsible for this state, and this ghost.. there was no use arguing against them.

               I jump from house to house. Going from pipe to pipe to leave my gifts for the children of the sector. In this day of Snowdown, most people were either sleeping or partying with alcohol and shimmer in their hands. It's perfect for me. I had no one stopping me at that point. For every house I went, I leave the hastily wrapped gift below the tree or in the stocking and slowly made my way out. As I skipped over the numerous gaps between the houses jubilantly, I always imagine each kid's reaction as I place them down. The child happily flying the plane as he makes engine noises. The thrill of imitating Blitzcrank's grab at random family members through his figurine. Maybe even some sword play-fighting, and I plan to witness each and every kid's reaction as much as possible. Imagining that happiness... it just brings back old memories. Always such a warm feeling.

               As I approach the last house, I wrap the last gift up quickly, a metal gun with some soft paper balls inside for ammo. The house loomed over the neighborhood as it stood on the edge of the sector away from others. I remember in my weekly visits to the sector I used to live, there was a family that decided to move away from the vibrant community. I always remember my mom and dad always talking about the people around us and telling great stories. Why would anyone leave that behind?

               I slowly sneak into the house with the wrapped toy gun. I went through the chimney and saw what seemed to be a stereotypical room with some lights, king poro statues, and a grand Snowdown tree. I look behind and see the stockings each labeled with a name. "Dad", "Mom", and "Michael". Guess I was right with the kid being an only child. I put the gun into his stocking and checked to see if the gift had the classic "From: Santa" on it.

               Creak...

               My eyes widen. I look back and see him. A middle aged man looking at me with a gun with a frightful and worried look. I raise my hands to show no harm and stepped back to the chimney. "Hey pal.." I said. "I didn't mean any harm.. I just wanted to give your son a gift. Just.. playing Santa."

               "Santa doesn't exist.." he growls aggressively. "..and I know you're definitely not him." He fires the gun, scattering parts of my body on the floor. I hear everyone wake up.

               "What's going on!?" the wife screams.

               "Dad!?" the son shouts.

               "Some... something's in our house! Don't know what he wants.. but he wants something! It’s Zaun! He has to want something!"

               The second shots fires as I climb to the rooftop through the chimney. I felt the shot almost hitting my face. I climbed and climbed. The third shot fired and I felt it pierce my back. Everything below me was spiraling into chaos as they scream and shout for my demise until.. I saw the sky. I felt the freedom of the air. I grab the ground below me and stretched my arms back. I release my legs and when the family finally got out, all they saw was a  green comet flying away.

               Smack!

               I feel the pavement hit my face. I look up and saw the abandoned homes of my childhood. All abandoned because of me.. My hand dove into my body as I slowly grab the bullet within me and observed it. It was a large bullet. Something meant for, at the very least, fatal injury. I throw the bullet on the pavement and run back to the safety of my once living house. To them, I wasn't playing Santa; I was playing a criminal.. Thankfully no one saw me. Thankfully I didn't see their reactions.

               I watch in horror through the window as the man tries to shoot the Goopy One in smithereens. I can hear their incessant shouting as they try to murder my once loyal subject. When he tried to jump out, I hear the door next to me unlock. A large male, a large female, and a small male come out, watching as he flew to his home. The male still had his gun cocked in the sky as if he could shoot from so far away.

               "What was that, dad?" the small child asks.

               "Check the kitchen! Martha check the safe! Now!"

               The door slams and I was merely alone with the spirit..

               "What was he doing spirit!? What was he doing.. This is exactly what I thought would happen!!" She simply pointed to the window. As I walk towards it, she begins to play another song. Through the glass, I see the human boy look into a sock hanging from the fireplace, only finding the gun that the Goopy One made. He smiles with happiness until looking away from the sock to the kitchen, most likely in response to the other humans' stupid screaming. He hides the gift in his pouch and goes to my window and looks up at the sky with eyes full of happiness and hope, mouthing the words "Thank you".

               I look back at the spirit. "That doesn't change anything.." I growl. "So he made a person happy.. He gets shot! But that's fine because his stupid surface dwellers are happy!!" She didn't even look up. She was just playing the music as the boy looks up trying to see the Goopy One again.

               "You.. What are you doing with your stupid music!!" I shout aiming my crossbow for her. "The kid's house is happy that his house was invaded.. You make the Goopy One give stupid small weapons to everyone at the risk of his own life.. He gotten shot! How.. how are you making them do this.. this.. nonsense? Brainwashing them... Is Snowdown just about this? Stupidity?"

               "My music lives in everyone Twitch.. This is just a day when my music is the loudest. The music exists outside of Snowdown." the maven slowly floats towards me. Her skin turned green and her feet began to touch the floor. The dress got ripped away as I saw the Goopy One appear right before my eyes. "It even exists within you.."

               I step back. My hands shake. The music grows louder and louder... I couldn't hear anything! "No.. No! You're not the Goopy One! Stop this.. Stop this now! Get out of my head.. GET OUT!"

               "Come on pal.." she imitates. "I'm your friend after all."

               "No.. No! Get out.. Get out! Stop it!"

               "Hey.. is something wrong? I just wanted people to be happy."

               "Stop it! STOP IT WITH THIS MADNESS!" I life the crossbow. "HAUNT ME NO LONGER!" The trigger was fired. The arrow pierced the spirit's chest. Crack begin to form on his skin.

               "And here I thought.. you could change buddy," she said in the voice of my best friend. She suddenly dissipates into snow and the music goes silent. The lights of the house grow dim, and I was left alone.

[ilovelocust]

Mirror Mirror V.2 (Part 16)

Note: So this is the planned end of Mirror Mirror. Thank you all for taking this ride with me. Now that it’s over, feel free to send me any lingering questions you might have! Sometime either today or tomorrow I’ll post the complete version for ya’ll.

<< First < Prev.

There is a line of heat against Shiro’s back, chasing away the chill that sneaks under his blankets. An arm rests around his waist and a nose is buried against his neck, another body curled around him, keeping him safe. If only he could stay like this forever, in the comfortable state between dreams and waking. Where his whole body is limp with relaxation and everything feels good, but the day cycle is starting in the castle. The lights are growing gradually brighter, a gentle reminder that he needs to get up.

Shiro gingerly removes his partner’s arm. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep dust from his eyes. Keith’s slow steady breathing doesn’t change. Peaceful despite all of Shiro’s restless turning through out the night. He hadn’t needed to toss Keith out after all. Even with his stress, Keith’s presence had remained comforting, the press of him soothing to some part of his soul that craved human contact even after everything. Asking him to stay had been the right idea. He’d needed this.

Carefully Shiro crawls over his partner and gets out of bed. He’ll let Keith sleep a little while longer, before waking him for breakfast. Shiro pads quietly to the shower.

.

The mood in the Kitchen is dour. He’d wanted to wait to inform everyone on the bridge, but Pidge wanted to know how the interrogation went and once it was brought up everyone had chimed in with questions. There really hadn’t been a reason to keep this from them, so now they all sat in silence, appetites mostly ruined. There was no way to know when or how many would come to rescue the Prince, but the other universe’s Galra would not let them keep him in their holding cell for long. After their meal, they’d need to begin preparing for another attack.

Shiro sets his spoon down, bowl clean of the green goo that was their go to for easy meals. He doesn’t skip meals, not if he can help it, “I’m going to update Allura on our situation. Meet us, when you’re done and we’ll go over our plans.” A couple nods, good enough. Shiro drops his bowl in the sink and heads for the door, only to nearly be run over by Coran.

There is a split second of pity in the older Altean’s eyes before he’s speaking, “The prisoner is gone.”

.

The Prince wasn’t loose on the ship. Sometime after their meeting, Pidge had turned the cameras back on, and they showed clearly where he’d gone. The Prince had been washing dried blood from his face, when suddenly he froze, staring at his hands. Seconds later he’d been consumed by a flash of crackling energy. It didn’t take Slav to realize he’d been pulled back to his original universe.

He’d be back. Of that there was little doubt, his retreat was only temporary. His captor didn’t go through this much effort, just to give up on his prize. As long as the Prince was out there, Shiro would never be safe again.

That’s why he had to make sure he couldn’t do anything else ever again.

.

Shiro picks up the device the Prince brought with him to the Castle. Pidge, Slav, and Hunk had been working night and day to determine that it was a recall device and piggy backing their own controls over it. Good for one trip there and back.

“No one will think any less of you if you let someone else go,” Keith says, quiet enough to be for Shiro’s ears only. He’s hovering close, eye’s pleading. He’d voiced the loudest objections to this plan, and would certainly like nothing more than for Shiro to allow him to go in his place.

“It has to be me,” Shiro says. They have to confirm that the Prince is on the other side, and Shiro is the only one that they know won’t be immediately shot if he’s caught, “I’ll be back before you even have a chance to miss me.” Shiro squeezes Keith’s shoulder and gives him a smile that wavers a bit too much. He turns away before Keith’s watery eyes can make him change his mind.

Shiro secures his helmet, just in case he gets dropped into hard vacuum, and walks to the center of the room. One last trip, one last trip and all this is finally over. After this, he’ll never see his captor again. Shiro signals Slav, and the now familiar tingling begins in his extremities. This is the last time…

-

Abruptly the tingling ceases, Shiro’s senses come rushing back to him in a tidal wave. Dark purple, recycled air, sharp angles, silence. He made it. He’s on board one of the Galra ships. The room isn’t familiar, filled with machines he’s never seen before and covered in oddly glowing runes. There is a clang behind him. Shiro whirls. A single Galra, dressed in white, stands behind him, eyes wide in shock, clipboard at his feet.

Shiro doesn’t give him a chance to recover. A punch to the gut, a sweep of his feet, then the glowing point of his finger tips against a purple neck. The scent of burning hair wafts into the air, “Whose ship is this?” Shiro growls. He could wander around, hoping to run into proof of the Prince’s presence by luck, but direct questioning is a much surer method.

“Champ-” Shiro punches the Galra before he can finish that word. He’s the one in control now.

“Whose ship is this?” Shiro repeats, pressing his finger tips closer to the throat.

“Prince Keith! This is Prince Keith’s ship!” The Galra shouts as his flesh begins to cook. Progress.

Shiro turns his hand off, dragging the Galra to his feet, “You are going to take me to him. If you try to call for help, you know what I can do.” This man isn’t an innocent. Not like all those he fought in the arena. He could have worked as a mall cop or a simple shop keep, but he chose to aid a monster. He can end him if he tries to fight. He will end him.

“Y-yes sir,” Shiro doesn’t let himself recognize the fear in those yellow eyes.

They make it two hallways before they are spotted. Sentry drones two of them. Easy enough to dispatch, sparking circuitry showing through the hole he rips in their chaises, but that means he has to step away from his hostage. He turn back to see the tale end of the Galra’s white coat disappearing around the corner.

Rats, he overestimated his own reputation, or maybe underestimated it. Either way he gives chase. He doesn’t stand a chance. Like most of his species, this Galra has a good foot on him and is all legs. It’s like trying to run down a cheetah. He’s lost him in the winding corridors in seconds.

There is only one chance. Shiro slides to a stop and listens. He hearbeat pounds loudly in his ears, but he strains his ears for the slightest noise anyways. Nothing, nothing, something. Far off to his right, something high pitched and panicked. Found him.

Four turns and words take shape, “I’m not on anything!” White coat in front of some sort of communication station. If the sentries weren’t bad enough, now security is certain to swarm him. Time for a new plan, “Do you really think I wouldn’t recog-” The Galra’s sentence cuts off, a single gurgle makes it out of his throat, before he collapses to the floor dead, spine severed at the back of the neck. Shiro deactivates his arm. The death was quick, merciful. He wouldn’t have survived the day anyways. He doesn’t need to feel guilty.

Shiro takes a steadying breath and steps in front of the camera, “Tell the Prince I’m back, and I will only surrender to him.” The Galra on the other side of the screen is still gaping when Shiro destroys the monitor.

The Prince will get his message, and he will come. He’s certain for reasons he can’t afford to examine right now. He just needs to wait, and very carefully think of nothing but the plan.

The sentries arrive first, tens of them, at the end of each hall. Blocking him in, making sure he doesn’t run, as if there is anywhere on this ship to run to. None of them raise their guns, none of them approach, they’re waiting too.

Thump, thump, thump, marching boots growing closer. Precise, but not as precise as the perfection of robotics. The sentries on one end part, lining themselves against the wall. Shiro’s breath catches in his throat, there is a group, but he only sees one. The Prince.

He’s wearing the same armor he invaded the Castle’s peace in. The same bright smile, that hides the pain he’s planning to inflict. Shiro fingers are numb on the device, but he finds the right button. The Prince’s location confirmed. Just a little longer and it’s all over.

“Takashi! You came back,” The Prince voice is pure delight. None of the surprise that should be there from Shiro willingly coming back to this hell. His guards stop, but he continues to stride forward. Shiro steps back. His captor frowns, head tilting as he stops, “Takashi?”

Little pricks along Shiro’s fingers, like he’s laid them somewhere awkward and they’ve fallen asleep. Almost done, just a little bit longer, “I need to tell you something.” Shiro’s heartbeat’s thundering, his breathing right on the edge of too fast. He must look like a cornered beast. His forearms begin to prickle as well.

The Prince must think so too, he holds out his hands as if trying to calm him, as if Shiro could trust him, “What is it? What do you need to tell me?” The Prince takes a step forward again and Shiro matches him backwards. He can’t feel the floor under his feet anymore.

“It’s important,” Shiro says as the hum of static begins in his ears. His vision starts to fade.

His captor’s frown is shifting from perplexed to annoyed, his shoulders tensing in irritation. He’s the only thing Shiro can still see, “Then tell me, already.” The Prince snaps, over the white noise in Shiro’s ears.

Everything tingles now, he can barely feel his lips past the sensation, but this is the most genuine smile he’s ever given his captor. There is only one last thing he has to do, “Keith,” Shiro says, his own voice almost inaudible, “I’m leaving you.” Everything goes white.

Takashi Shirogane disappears in a flash of light, replaced with a borrowed warhead on a ten second timer.

[bumi-illustrates]

Reverie: Chapter 5

“Michael, you can’t be serious. You’re putting too much trust into that slimy little furball!” Chrome protested, pointing accusingly at Vene.

“How can I be slimy if I’m a furball?” Vene challenged with a smirk.

“Because; you’re hairy with a rotten personality.” Chrome said flatly.

“Look, I know this is crazy. All of this is. But we need to recover more of those flash drives.”

“So, send me. Why would you risk that information falling into their possession instead of sending a trusted friend you know?”

His tone made me nearly second guess myself. He was hurt, that much was obvious. Beyond that, he was scared. Who wouldn’t be? Only a handful of survivors in a crumbling city with monster predators at every corner and a leader who wants to send one of those said monsters to retrieve important information? I would be scared if our roles were switched. I’d also think whoever came up with that idea was an absolute moron. It’s a good thing I’m the leader.

“You know why I can’t. You’re the only doctor here. What if you get hurt, or worse?” Chrome pulled a face and I smiled softly, “I get why you’re concerned about my decision, but this is how it has to be. As long as no one finds out about Vene, we’ll be fine.”

“And I’m a master sneak!” Vene puffed his chest proudly, “No need to worry Chrome-a-lot! I’ll get your precious little flash drives and you can study to your heart’s content!”

Chrome opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a knock at the door. All three of us froze and trained our gaze to the direction of the noise.

“Chrome? Are you in there? Is Mr. James with you?”

“Uh, yeah! Oh second!” Chrome croaked out, trying not to sound panicked.

Vene quickly jumped onto my shoulder, disappearing somewhere in the straps that held the gun to my back as Chrome and I tried to look as if we hadn’t just been making friends with the enemy.

“Come on in, Nessa!” Chrome called, attempting to look busy.

I had a hand placed on the desk next to him, acting as if I had been looking over his shoulder. I straightened to greet the young girl that came walking through the large doors. She smiled at me and I felt my eyes widen in a mix of shock and horror. I pushed the memories away and smiled back at her. It’s not her. I told myself, you know that.

“What’s up, kid?” Chromed asked, turning on his seat to face her fully.

“Tabi wanted me to discuss the plans for the excursion tomorrow with Mr. James. Who knew he was so hard to find?” She laughed, it reminded me of bells jingling but sent a chill down my spine.

“I’m afraid I don’t recognize you, I’m sorry.” I apologized, watching carefully for her reaction.

She only laughed, “I can’t imagine you would recognize me. I spend most of my time helping Tabi with inventory and I occasionally help Chrome with any filing he needs done. My name is Vanessa. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. James.”

“Please, just call me Michael.” I spoke carefully.

She beamed, “Alright, Mr. Michael.”

I felt my eyebrow twitch slightly but, decided to leave it, “what did you need to discuss with me?”

Her face fell slightly, and she looked up at me with large golden eyes, “well, Tabi had gathered a troop for you, but with the attack, our defenses are weakened considerably. She made some suggestions on a troop change but wanted you to approve them first.”

“My guess is she wants to keep some of them here to help repair the first sector.” Chrome said.

I sighed and nodded, “you’re probably right. I’ll go talk to her.”

I began to walk off only to have the raven-haired girl step in front of me, “Tabi is in the second sector trying to work out scheduling the shifts for tonight. I’m not currently needed anywhere, so I will accompany you!”

“Uh, sure. Okay.”

She smiled and turned to lead the way. I felt something shift on my back and almost went to swat it until I remembered that Venenata was back there. As I began following Vanessa, the Noctis spoke quietly from behind me.

“There’s something off about her.”

I narrowed my eyes at her back, “I’m glad you think so, too. I’ll need to talk to Chrome about this later.”

“I don’t think you should. You may think she’s mostly normal, but she smells horrid! Like rotting flesh! I doubt Chrome-dome would be much help.”

“Rotting flesh?” I hissed.

I narrowed my eyes further at her. I knew it.

“Vene, I need to play it cool for now. I need to know more about the situation, but be ready to act.”

“Say no more.” I could hear the smirk in his voice as he shifted back into his original hiding spot.

“Are you coming, Mr. Michael?” She asked, her voice bubbly and bright.

“Right behind you.” I replied with a smile, cringing slightly inside.

When we finally reached the second cavern, she led me to the tent that Tabi was in. We found her leaning over a map spread out on a table with a few men and women standing around her.

“There you are. Here are the troop suggestions I’ve written up. Vanessa, go back to the-“

“Hold on, Tabitha. I’d like her to stay here. Let’s finish one thing at a time. She can do whatever you need after we finish here, understood?”

Tabitha narrowed her eyes, “why? She has no other duties here.”

“She’s young. I want her to learn.” I argued, glaring steadily back at her, challenging her to say something else.

She grunted softly, “fine. She can stay here.”

I gave a tight smile before turning my attention to the list she handed me. I raised an eyebrow, “why do you want us to go alone?”

She sighed, as if irritated with my question, “we need soldiers here to repair the main gate. I run inventory so I know exactly what we need. It will be a quick trip.”

“You have no combat training. If we’re attacked you won’t be able to protect yourself. Absolutely not. I will not allow you to leave.”

She straightened up and squared her shoulders, as if ready for a fight, “I don’t recall giving you a choice.”

I stared at her wide-eyed, “excuse me?”

“This is the only option we have! We need the manpower here and you can’t go alone!”

I glared down at her, unmoving, as I went to speak, Vene stopped me, “be cautious. She smells of death and power.”

I wanted to ask him how he can smell power and what the heck he was talking about, when a white light glinted just above Tabi’s mop of blonde hair. Trying not to be obvious, I threw my head back slightly and groaned, acting as if frustrated. In this position I caught a glimpse of a few white lights above her head. I quickly glanced over and noticed similar anomalies above Vanessa’s head. As I moved my head back down, I growled, seeing the same strings of white light above the others’ heads.

“Hey, do you guys smell that?” I asked, my smile turning crooked.

I wanted to believe I was crazy, I wanted to be wrong. But I wasn’t.

“Smell what?” Vanessa asked curiously.

My heart broke. I had already lost her once. I could feel Vene shift slightly as he hissed in my ear, “What are you doing?”

“They’re puppets. Each person in this room is already dead.”

The silence covered us like a thick blanket. No one spoke for a long moment. It was Tabitha who finally spoke.

“I’m sorry, we’re what?”

I looked at her from underneath my eyelashes, “I never got to meet you before the Day of Dreams. I had only heard about you from Chrome. Three weeks after the massacre, you and a small group of others show up here, looking for other survivors. From then on, stragglers continue to show up every few days.”

She stared at me, waiting for me to continue. By this point, the others in the room were also staring at me, but not like I was crazy, no. The look in their eyes. They were smiling like a madman. I had caught them, and they knew it.

“Honestly, I’m surprised it took me this long to figure it out. But if you wanted your ruse to last longer, you shouldn’t have brought Jenna into this.”

Tabitha’s smile spread wide across her mouth as she began laughing. It sounded as if violin strings had just been snapped as the bodies hit the ground in a heap. All except two.

“I underestimated you, Mr. James. You’re smarter than you look.” Vene whistled, poking at me with the name.

“So, Mr. James. You’ve figured me out. I’ve been watching you for some time now.” A familiar voice spoke through Tabitha. Her lips moving, but her eyes were beginning to glass over.

“I figured as much.”

She laughed, “I suppose my little rat turned out to be a little rat indeed.”

At that, Vene pulled himself up to sit on my shoulder, “I beg to differ on the rat thing. You got me on the little part though.”

She ignored him, “I have a proposition for you, Mr. James.”

“Whatever it is, you can forget it. I want no part of you and this horrible reality you seem to so badly want.”

She cackled horribly, “Oh dearest me! You have become much stronger since last we met, child. I thought the sight of your dead lover would certainly leave you a shaken mess.” She sighed, almost dreamily, “I suppose you humans are more unpredictable than I originally thought. What fun!”

I tried to ignore my stomach dropping as Jenna’s body hit the floor next to me. Chrome had never met Jenna, so it was easy for this monster to make him believe she was a girl named Vanessa.

“Did you like my puppet show? Oh! I so hope you liked it! I’ve been practicing, you know! You wouldn’t believe the amount of energy it takes controlling all my puppets!”

“I suppose I wouldn’t.” I growled.

“Well, it’s been fun, dear. But I must attend to some business. I do hope we’ll see each other soon, young Michael James.”

With that, the invisible strings holding Tabitha snapped with an eerie echo. Her body hit the floor and all I could do was stand there. Trying to work the nerve up to look outside the tent. Sucking in a breath, I began a swift pace back towards the lab. My heart was racing, my blood was boiling. And with each crumpled body I passed, the urge to vomit intensified. How many of these people did I hug? How many corpses did I care for and grow attached to? How long did these people suffer?

“How did you figure it out?” Vene asked quietly.

“I didn’t.”

“What do you mean? You just-“

“She gave me the answer. Between you suddenly being able to smell she was a corpse to me being able to see the strings controlling them. She wanted me to find out. She gave me the answers and she knew you were here. Whatever tricks she was using before she nullified them so we would catch onto her. She wanted us to figure it out.”

Vene was quiet for moment as we entered the safety zone. It was worse than the floor above. Bodies littered the ground. Bodies of woman and children, bodies of people that most likely died seven years ago and until now, they were unable to rest peacefully. It sickened me. It wasn’t until we approached the lab doors that he spoke, “You don’t think I played a part in this, do you?”

His tone made me stop in my tracks. I didn’t turn to look at him, but I found myself smiling slightly, “it hadn’t even crossed my mind.”

I began walking again and I could physically feel Vene’s mood brighten. He’s a strange thing.

I took another deep breath to steel my nerves, afraid of finding Chrome the same as everyone else. A corpse being used in that witch’s sick game. As I went to open the doors, a sneeze was heard from within followed by muttering, something about dust and cleaning. I couldn’t help the smile that rose to my face as I quickly opened the doors to find Chrome digging around in a rarely used drawer, a large dust cloud rising around him as he shifted papers around inside.

“Oh good! I thought you were going to be a useless corpse now, too!” Vene sighed loudly in relief.

Chrome slowly stopped and looked at us like a deer in headlights.

“What?”