#it’s like. she was never going to be left alive bc I don’t think Arthur even plans on making it out of his crusade for peace yknow

[zeb-z]

Vanya seemingly being honest in her guilt - something Arthur understands like no one else - but that being what seals the last nail into her coffin, so to speak. Because Arthur gets guilt, this immortal endless guilt, probably more than anyone else. He knows what it means to try to atone for something you cannot. And like guilt, he gets anger. In trying to find some sort of humanity, to relate to his better nature, she just pissed him off - because she was the one who turned him, she was the one who orchestrated and sat back and watched as he did what he did. How dare she be the one who survives and try to move on, how dare she claim to suffer the same guilt that claws at him, that haunts his nightmares. She doesn’t get to feel this, she doesn’t get to have this redemption, or mercy.

And at the same time, I don’t think Arthur was ever really going to let her go. I think her fate was sealed when Arthur reached out to Magnus to be there - a human friend, a hunter friend, called not only to shoot Vanya should things go south, but to take out Arthur as well, should he lose himself in a frenzy. It was probably sealed far before then, despite the century Arthur had to deliberate. There was never going to be any room for any forgiveness for her, because he has none for himself.

[groundbreakingdot872]

"Are they together now?"

Actually IN TEARS

-*-

Although Arthur was called the 'Once and Future King' I still think this was more of a metaphor, or a common legend than actual reality. (Full disclosure tho, I WISH they would come back!) I think the theme of 'the dead never really return' hits the nail on the head and was the show's way of telling the viewers that the impossible... was just impossible all along.

Merlin gets strung along on this last line bc he’s hopeful to a fault, (and bc Kilgarrah is a sneaky lizard to a fault lmao) and the idea that the ‘golden age’ of Arthur would return - and become immortalized - was really the only thing he believed in by the later seasons…

(A good example of his die-hard optimism for the legend would be in the s4 finale, where everything goes to shit, and any reasonable friend would give their friend ‘gentle criticism’ on their flaws, that some of it IS valid. Tristan was right on some lvl -

Arthur paid too much attention to the schemes and issues in his citadel and was ignorant to the everyday problems of his surrounding kingdom. But instead of trying to explain this to Arthur, as kindly as possible, Merlin doubles down on this ‘legendary’ idea, faking the sword in the stone, even though, he, of all people, would know Arthur had never bought into the idea of his special status anyway.)

Yes!, the Fisher King was an immortal, ✨magical✨ King but I would argue that his passing and advising of Merlin had nothing to do with Arthur and had more to do with Merlin.

This isn’t a fully-fledged idea, and I've seen it as an hc from some other people: that Merlin is the ‘Future’ to the ‘Once and Future King’, as the second side of the coin, he immortalizes the legend and keeps magic alive in Albion just by his living through the next 1,500 years…

I don't believe Arthur's destiny was fulfilled only through Gwen. I believe she fulfilled some of it, but, if there's no magic now, does that mean she failed? What happened to magic? When and why did it become a myth?

These are good questions! But I don’t necessarily believe that bc there is no magic in our world now (as far as we know 😉) - Gwen failed.

I think magic, as a concept, was bound to disappear anyway, If we’re to take realism into account. Merlin’s time saw the rise and fall of many rulers who were too pragmatic, too keen on squashing down the enigmas and unexplainable energy magic thrives on.

And if we’re to go with the explanation that ‘bC oF sCiEnCe’ magic eventually faded away, I think it was bound to happen anyways. Besides, a golden age is only ‘golden’ if it’s a short period of time, right? 

I do like your second idea of a more ‘successional’ and continuous period of happiness and prosperity in Camelot! Though I guess that's also contradictory according to history (smh), with Camelot falling to the Saxons shortly after Gwen's rule.

also

💜I LOVE THE IDEA OF GWEN BEING THE NATURAL NEXT STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF RULERS GAH💜

That's poetry right there!, I gotta admit she showed them up, and Camelot was in left in capable loving hands after Arthur - something he completely supported!

Imo, I think 'gifting' Gwen the throne after Arthur's death was the best thing the writers did for her all of seaosn 5. After sidelining her in most of the plots, and reducing her charcter as a voice-peice for Arthur's [deemed] greater self-esteem, leaving Camelot in her hands was both bittersweet but a neccessary change for the Kingdom to flourish.

A new era was in bloom, one that makes the chant 'For Camelot' ring all the more true!

I searched through every Merlin episode transcript for the phrase "For the love of Camelot!". Arthur usually shouted it before a battle, and everyone else would parrot it back to him (eg. The Coming of Arthur, The Sword in the Stone, The Diamond of The Day, etc.). He also simply used "For Camelot!" at least once (Lancelot). I wondered if anyone other than Arthur had independently used the expression, not in response to Arthur, and I found that only one other person had.

In the same episode that "For the love of Camelot!" was first used, by Arthur, Gwen said it to Arthur, while he was on his deathbed:

You're not going to die, Arthur. I'm telling you. Because I know that one day you will be King. A greater king than you father could ever be. It's what keeps me going. You are going to live to be the man I've seen inside you, Arthur. I can see a Camelot that is fair and just. I can see a king that the people will love and be proud to call their sovereign. For the love of Camelot, you have to live.

At first, I thought Uther had also used that expression, since he was once King of Camelot and all his decisions had allegedly been made in Camelot's best interests. Yet he hadn't, and I couldn't even find an episode where he'd said "for the good of Camelot" or something like it, though I'm almost certain he used a variation of those words more than once.

This whole thing began because I had theorized that Arthur, Gwen, and Uther alone had uttered the phrase "For the love of Camelot!". To me, that would've reflected the fact that they, and only they, ever had the honor of being accepted as legitimate rulers of Camelot. They'd cared for Camelot the most, and their different approaches to ruling fascinate me. It's somewhat poetic that, in the end, Gwen was the only one besides Arthur to independently proclaim "For the love of Camelot!". She and Arthur ruled together for a few years, and they had similar beliefs and thoughts on ruling Camelot.

Arthur was constantly divided between Uther and Gwen, between tradition and reform. Uther and Gwen represented opposing styles of ruling: Uther represented the conservative, patriarchal, authoritarian style of ruling, which placed power above people; Gwen represented social reform, equality, kindness, a more modern approach to ruling in which the strength of a kingdom was measured by the well-being of its people and not its military prowess.

Arthur was the first in Camelot to knight commoners, breaking the first rule of the Knight's code, and to walk away from tradition by both marrying a servant and marrying for love; he shared Gwen's vision of a "fair" and "just" Camelot (descriptors they both used).

However, fear, outside pressure, and loyalty to his father, often steered Arthur towards Uther's vision of a strong, powerful Camelot. For example, in Another's Sorrow, Gwen worried Arthur was seeking revenge for his father's death; Arthur almost started a war to achieve it, as Uther would've done. In the end, he chose peace over revenge, but, in his grief, Arthur had almost failed to see reason. He initially showed Odin that Camelot's biggest strength was its Army, only to prove that Camelot's biggest strength was actually Arthur's kindness, hope, and compassion.

I just find it so fascinating that Arthur, Uther, and Gwen were all connected through Arthur. The figurative tug-of-war between Uther and Gwen was the main contributor to Arthur's growth. That's even more meaningful when you remember that Gwen wasn't just Arthur's love interest and moral compass, but also a future ruler of Camelot.

Throughout the series, Camelot knew four rulers: Uther, Morgana, Arthur, and Gwen, and all of them rose to power differently. Morgana and Uther "took" Camelot by force, through war (though the people of Camelot never recognized Morgana's claim to the throne); Arthur, on the other hand, inherited Camelot by birthright, and Gwen via her marriage to Arthur. The people of Camelot never chose any of their sovereigns, but they had approved of Arthur and Arthur approved of Gwen. In fact, Arthur and Gwen were the closest Camelot ever came to a democratically elected leader: Arthur, because he genuinely had the majority of his people's support, and Gwen, because she was chosen, by Arthur, based on merit and not on her royal blood or her connections. Gwen didn't become Queen because she was born into the right family. She became Queen because of her morals and her commitment to Camelot, even if Arthur had also married her for love.

Arthur and Gwen were truly the only rulers of Camelot who ever had the right to claim to do anything "for the love of Camelot!".

[janiedean]

ooh so linked to the Brienne ask re: the kingsguard part. What are your thoughts on Aerys’ kingsguard, especially like Arthur Dayne who Jaime from what I remember has complicated feelings for but pretty much idolises him. And they’re so loved by almost everyone in universe!!! Like idk how to think about them really my feelings for them are also complicated

+ okay good because I honestly don’t see why people love them so much like most of the things we’ve heard about them are like. Objectively bad. And like yeah the idea of them is cool but well that can only go so far. also I’m sorry if these asks are a mess I’m exhausted!! ALSO I think you’re amazing for answering all of us anons with such detail I always love coming on to your blog

(putting both asks in the same place uu)

in order: the fact that they're loved by everyone in-universe and fandom actually likes them (or at least arthur dayne hahahahaha god) is like... some of george's best trolling because guess what the entire point is that they're supposed to look like amazing people/the real deal when instead they're all terrible the end - except again for the poor martell prince whom we don't know enough about and I'll give him a pass bc martell people are usually not stupid af but in order:

as I said george has made a point of stating that knighthood is a rotten institution and the kg especially aerys being like... what should be the highest honor for a knight is equally as rotten as knigthood in general and is made of people who do Not Deserve The Title - I mean again hey it's orders so marital rape is fine, hey we're leaving the 15yo to man an entire castle? WHY NOT, the king is mad? WELL WE SWORE TO SERVE HIM, like not counting martell prince there isn't one single person in the aerys kg except jaime who actually upheld the oaths they swore ie protecting the innocent so make of that what you will

the fact that jaime aka the fifteen year old is literally the only one who gets the job and then goes there like 'hey we're basically covering for marital rape what the fuck' and no one else bats an eyelid should already say everything there is to say about these people's moral standard

the fact that none of them actually stuck up for the fifteen-year old who was obviously not ready for the job nor tried to idk do anything to make it easier on him or whatever also says everything about their moral standard because honestly fuck you

the fact that everyone thinks they're amazing jaime included when they're all pretty much shitty is like... well, same as fandom does, which means that the readers bought what people in-narrative do... except that the moment you scratch the surface it's really damned bad

and I'm saying barristan is on thin ice because from his chapters you can see he's like... not a bad dude but like his reaction to jaime being in there still when he saw aerys is 'ah that fucker who killed the king and was so proud he had to try and get into it at fifteen'? like??? fuck you?? honestly the fact that all of them literally served a dude who put people on fire and was a menace/danger to the realm and then have the gall to think that jaime is the worst or who didn't like try to help him or anything while he was obv struggling with his vows and the fact that he was serving a madman says all about their moral standards, again

and honestly arthur dayne is the literal worst of all of them because like - first of all oh you knight the 15yo who goes along with you slaying bandits and you don't try to dissuade him from joining the kg? what the fucking fuck am I supposed to think - second of all you don't even warn him of what is expecting him when he joins when you've been there for a while? - but third of all which drives me insane and I hate that fandom sleeps on it and goes around happily like ARTHUR/LYANNA THE SHIP OF DREAMS... okay listen like I have literally zero investment in lyanna as a character or in r + l and I don't necessarily think he did everything - I think they had a mutual infatuation and eloped and she sorely regretted it and then it was on r. who shouldn't have like acted on it because he happened to be the 20+ year old with a wife and kids, but there's the whole tower of joy situation - in which sorry but we have arthur fucking off KL with other kg people and leaving all the others in the literal shit bc they'd have to deal with aerys and it'd be less of them than they should be, to go with rhaegar to the tower of joy to help him elope which whatever, and then lyanna was left there after r. had to go back... when her brother and father were burned alive and like if she knew that then I doubt she'd have wanted to stay and if she didn't then they withheld fairly important fucking information, so like he stayed there guarding a pregnant 15-16 yo who most likely did not want to be there and who is pregnant by his best friend whose family oh accidentally murdered half of hers........ and lyanna was there even after rhaegar died so I mean it's not like the moment he happened this dude goes and says 'hey maybe we should actually go back and see if we can solve this mess' no he kept her prisoner there anyway - on top of that... here I'm wildly speculating but: he had to know rhaegar was dead and when ned showed up if we are to believe him and idt he was unreliable on that... ned didn't want to fight him or kill him he just wanted to get his sister and leave and like he was most likely in love with ashara aka arthur's sister so why the fuck would he want to kill him right, and like rhaegar's dead and arthur has nothing to lose by letting ned up especially knowing that lyanna is fucking dying in childbirth like she's dying her brother's there just let him up and solve it later esp when the dude doesn't want to kill you....... but no ned had to kill him because he wouldn't budge and why the fucking fuck wouldn't you budge at that point? your side lost the war, the guy you were friends with that you did all of this for is dead, the girl is about to die at least let her die with her family, why? - only thing I can deduce from it: that rhaegar told him that the baby's survival was the most important thing because third head of the dragon blah blah blah and that if the war was lost to just grab the baby and lyanna if she survived and fuck off to essos until he grew up, except that lyanna didn't survive so the conclusion is that he tried to stop ned from going up there bc he'd have found out about the baby and tried to stop them and at that point who gives a fuck if lyanna died or not but he'd have liked... let her die and kill ned in the process and done that most likely, and sorry but when they knightly vows are, I would like to remind everyone, In the name of the Warrior I charge you to be brave. In the name of the Father I charge you to be just. In the name of the Mother I charge you to defend the young and innocent. In the name of the Maid I charge you to protect all women…. like... what, what exactly has this dude done that would qualify as that? because lyanna would be young and innocent and a woman and he basically is letting her die, that behavior does not qualify as bravery and he'd like... deny the kid a chance of growing up with his family period if he killed ned and he didn't seem to particularly give a fuck las we checked, and that's like not counting the whole 'oh I won't tell the 15yo who idolizes me that he's signing

his life away to trauma nor I will support him for shit when he does' part of it, but the tower of joy stuff is shady whichever way you look at it and honestly the more time passes the more I'm convinced this guy is just a complete pos and the worst of them all except gregor when it comes to like 'people thinking you're a good knight and you're actually a pos instead' and I'm dying on that hill until george proves me wrong

and on that the thing is that... I ranted about it once here but basically jaime idolizes the shit out of him because he never saw that even if his subconscious kinda knows because when he had the weirwood dream his greatest fear was confronting the former kg and everyone was accusing him of stuff he couldn't have physically prevented (more ranting on the weirwood dream here) and he's there like 'ah I wanted to be arthur dayne but I became the smiling knight instead' but like... actually he is more of a true knight than arthur dayne can ever hope to be? because like in the above meta I was talking specifically about how to pia he's like... better than arthur dayne, but like not to be that person but jaime who thinks he's the gregor clegane of his time and not arthur dayne, while arthur dayne was... doing the shady toj thing with lyanna - saved an entire city from aerys blowing it up - risked his neck for brienne even if he didn't even like her as in he got himself kicked in a healing stump when he couldn't even stand up for himself so she wouldn't be raped - risked his neck going back for her at harrenhal and jumped into the bear pit without even knowing how he'd manage it - was actually being a decent person to tommen until c. forced him to leave - the moment he saw what happened with pia he gave her her rapist's head when she's like a commoner no one gaf about and took her into her service - when his squire wanted to bed her he like told him to be kind to her jfc - is per tyrion the only relative who actually loved him/freed him/actually stuck up for him (and tysha is on tywin thank you all very much and jaime feels so great about it he doesn't think about it until he can't anymore) (also he was the one chasing the bandits away in the first place so he was probably there like oH I HELPED A MAIDEN too lmao god fuck tywin) - actually stuck for his cat vow bc he took riverrun without bloodshed - sent brienne after sansa with the magic amazing sword because he wanted to upheld their shared vow to cat going against his own family - the moment brienne shows up like hey wanna blow this joint and leave the army you don't wanna lead to find sansa he didn't even like blink before saying yes and I'm supposed to think that in between him and arthur dayne he isn't the only one who actually stuck to his vows as well as he could/knows anything about them/is actually a trueknight™? because lmao the fact that jaime doesn't fancy himself one because of aerys when everyone fancies arthur dayne one when the latter did absolutely fucking nothing beyond slaying bandits to put his money where his mouth was while jaime didn't even like brand himself like that and still did all of that and half of it was acting on instinct not even like doing the math before and *he* was the one wanting to be knighted at fifteen and took his vows seriously when oh wait knightly vows are basically the epitome of selflessness is like again grrm trolling the hell out of everyone characters included but it's clear from the narrative imvho and I can't wait for the moment he serves the just desserts and a) jaime realizes it b) everyone else in-narrative realizes it c) bran timetravels to the fucking toj and we find out what actually went down there and this saint arthur narrative is burned to the ground because honestly no

there, I think I spat out almost all of my venom XD

[clareguilty]

By Your Side

Hello i wanted these two to smooch bc i think theyre very cute alsdjaldjasl

Arthur Morgan/Kieran Duffy Rating: T | No Warnings Word Count: ~2100

 It was weeks before Arthur was on his feet again. Abigail said the wound in his shoulder must have gotten infected, that his body was overworked enough as it was. She threatened to tie him to the bed.

 He was never alone for too long. The girls took shifts, sitting with him, reading to him, feeding him. Lenny, Hosea, even John. They were all there for him.

 Marston, damn him. Sat there for hours, arms crossed and brows pinched. Hardly said a word, just groused and grumbled and looked at Arthur like he couldn't decide if he wanted to hit him or kiss him.

 Arthur had felt the same way after John nearly got eaten by wolves. The bonds of brotherhood or something like that, he figured.

 And then there was Kieran. Duffy boy. Not an O'Driscoll. Skittish and quiet, only ever coming around when no one else was nearby.

 Even though Arthur was laid up with a bum shoulder and battered ribs, Kieran was afraid of him. Always looked ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

 But he kept coming around. There was something pushing him to fight that meekness.

 Arthur finally found out late one night. It was dark, and all he could see of the boy was the silhouette of his unkempt hair. But he was there.

 "I know how Colm can be," Kieran said. Quiet. Apologetic. "No one deserves that. Especially not you."

 Arthur was quiet for a moment. So that was it.

 "You don't deserve it either."

 Kieran's breath hitched, like no one ever told him that before. Arthur's heart ached. He had been cruel to the boy, and he regretted it.

 "You hear me, boy?" Arthur asked. "You're too good for this. You deserve better."

 Kieran sniffled and was gone in an instant.

 He didn't stop coming around. Continued to spend his nights sitting quietly near Arthur. It was nice, not being alone.

 "Duffy," Arthur hissed one night.

 "Yea?"

 "How's my horse? I want to see her."

 "She's just fine Mr. Morgan. I've been spoiling her these past few weeks for you."

 Arthur huffed. At least the beast was in good hands. Arthur preferred the company of his horse to most everyone, and he hated being away from her for so long. But he trusted that Kieran was taking good care of her.

 "How far can you walk?" Kieran asked.

 "I dunno, Abigail never lets me get very far." Arthur had been confined to a very small radius the past several weeks. Every time he tried to sneak away from his bed, someone caught him and turned him back around.

 "Well," Kieran said slowly. "She's asleep right now. Grimshaw too."

 Arthur was already pushing himself up, groaning in pain. Kieran was at his side in an instant. "Here, Mr. Morgan. Lean on me."

 Arthur was heavier than Kieran anticipated, even after his infection had weakened him. Still, the two of them stumbled and staggered towards the horses. It was slow going, but Arthur was determined.

 The horse looked fine -- cleaner than ever before. Kieran must have brushed her every single day. As soon as she saw Arthur, she stomped her hooves and tossed her head.

 "Hey there, Old Girl," Arthur reached for her with his good arm. "I've missed you."

 Kieran huffed and wheezed as he shouldered Arthur's weight, but it was worth it to see the way his eyes crinkled. Arthur looked happier than he had in a long time. They made their way back to Arthur's bunk, laughing as Kieran nearly toppled them both.

 -

 Abigail gave him hell for walking, but Arthur didn’t mind too much. He shot a wink at Kieran while she ranted and raved about “rest” and “saving his energy.”

 And damn if Kieran didn’t blush bright red, nearly tripping over himself. It made Arthur’s heart swell.

 -

 Teasing Kieran was far too satisfying. The poor boy wore his heart on his sleeve. Arthur constantly ribbed him.

 “You’re too young to be drinking that, boy.” Arthur snatched a bottle of shine from his hand. Was Abigail going to chew him out for getting drunk? Probably. Was it worth it to see the way Kieran’s eyes widened as Arthur licked a stray drop from the lip of the bottle? Definitely.

 -

 Finally, finally finally -- Arthur was strong enough to get back to work.

 There was no chance of him going out. He could hardly walk the length of camp without needing to sit down for a while, but he itched to work, to be useful. The girls enjoyed the company, teasing Arthur for his shoddy sewing skills and unevenly cut vegetables. As long as he didn’t have to spend another minute trapped in that damn bed he would take as much criticism as Susan could dish out.

 His strength came back, and he could carry crates and bags of feed and bales of hay. So he took to working with the horses alongside Duffy boy. He was easy company, and even easier to tease. They were both quiet, good with the horses, content to spend long afternoons sitting in the sun, Arthur sketching quietly in his journal and Kieran sprawled out in the grass letting his mind wander. Arthur often wondered what went through the boy’s head. He was too sweet for his own good, foolish. Not terribly bright but certainly filled with plenty of ideas under his ratty old hat.

 “You’re awful kind for a killer, Mr. Morgan,” he remarked one day out of the blue.

 Arthur bit back the first words that flew to his tongue, an empty threat that would send the boy running with his tail between his legs. Instead he chewed his lip for a moment, considering.

 “I don’t just kill anybody. I tend to try to leave more alive than I do dead -- when I get the chance that is.” Arthur shrugged.

 “Like me?” The boy was looking at him with those wide, pleading eyes. Arthur could never quite figure out if the kid wanted something from him or if he just looked like that.

 Again, he had to hold himself back. He no longer took pleasure in scaring the boy shitless, and he had to fight the reflex in him that always wanted to growl and threaten. It was okay to let his guard down. As much as he hated to say it, he trusted the boy.

 “Yeah, like you,” Arthur shook his head. “Who else would humor me like this? Certainly not Bill.”

 “You think I’m funny?” Kieran’s head cocked to the side. He looked puzzled.

 “Yeah,” Arthur said flatly. “Hilarious.

 The boy pouted. Arthur had to admit it was effective. “You’re teasing me again,” he whined.

 “You make it too easy.” Arthur reached out and ruffled his hair. Kieran practically melted under the touch. He flushed bright pink, a dopey grin spreading across his face before he ducked away, skittering off like he always did.

 -

 The boy cowered and ran under any kind of attention, so Arthur had to hide his staring. He didn’t care who else saw him as long as Kieran didn’t know he was being watched.

 He liked watching Kieran. He was sweet and eager and gentle. From what little he had gathered of Kieran’s past, he had every excuse to be just as bitter and angry as the rest of them. Arthur was a selfish fool, he knew, but he wanted as much of that sweetness as he could get.

 “What’s with you and the O’Driscoll?” Marston asked, sitting down directly in Arthur’s line of vision and effectively blocking his view of Kieran and Mary-Beth sitting together with a book

 “He’s not an O’Driscoll,” Arthur grumbled.

 John’s grin turned sly. “You’re too easy to read, Morgan.”

 Arthur took another drink from his beer. Since he couldn’t watch Kieran, he enjoyed the way the afternoon sun played off of the surface of the water. “I will drown you in the lake,” he said coolly.

 “Then you’d have to deal with Abigail bein’ sore with you. I’m pretty sure she wants the privilege of drowning me.” John looked far too pleased with himself. He thought he was so damn clever.

 “We’ll do it together then.”

 Marston let out a loud, raspy laugh, banging the table with his fist. Arthur almost wished he would go back to sulking and whining about his scratches.

 “I’ll leave you to your staring then,” John shook his head, still chuckling, and wandered off.

 -

 Arthur felt like he was stumbling. Unsure of himself and out of his depth. There were many things he could do: kill, rob, steal, ride, shoot. He did not know how to be sweet. But he wanted to. He wanted to show Kieran the same kindness and consideration that he had shown Arthur. He wanted to make up for how cruel he had been to the boy.

 When was finally feeling well enough to ride into town, he stopped by the general store to refill his satchel with supplies. The barrels of taffy would normally have never caught his eye, but he remembered how excited Kieran had been when Mary-Beth broke off a piece of her chocolate for him. Kieran liked sweet.

 Arthur bought two bags.

 Jack was thrilled to get a bag of candy. Abigail thanked Arthur for his thoughtfulness and eyed the second bag with a gleaming curiosity. It felt like everyone in camp was conspiring against him.

 Kieran smiled so brightly when he noticed Arthur heading his way. He hadn’t even given him the damn candies and he was already beaming. Arthur did his best not to fumble his words.

 “Finally managed to get to the store, and I picked these up for you. I noticed you liked sweets and I was already getting some for the boy-” Arthur cut himself off with a shrug, awkwardly holding out the bag of candies.

 They were both blushing fools. Kieran took the bag, holding it delicately as if it were the most valuable thing in the world. “I can’t wait to share them with you, Mr. Morgan.”

 And Arthur knew he was done for.

 -

 Kieran was filthy. Covered in mud and dust, hair unkempt and unwashed. It had stormed recently, and everyone was covered in dirt to some degree. Somehow Kieran had attracted the worst of it.

 Arthur frowned at the boy. One of the mares hadn’t taken too well to the weather, and Kieran hadn’t left the horse’s side since. He was breaking of small pieces of oatcake and waiting patiently for the horse to eat. He lit up with a smile every time, and Arthur wanted to kiss him so badly.

 But the boy was covered in mud.

 Arthur waited until the horse had finished eating before striding over and hauling Kieran up by the scruff. “Come on, Duffy. We’ve got to get you clean.”

 Kieran was taken by surprise, tripping over his own feet as Arthur dragged him along. “It’s no trouble Mr. Morgan. I’d just wind up dirty again tomorrow anyways. The ground’s not dry yet.”

 “Then we can wash you again tomorrow,” Arthur said. He led them through the trees towards a nice stretch of creek, running water, about waist deep. It was a nice spot to bathe when he couldn’t make it back into town.

 “Strip,” Arthur was already tugging his own boots off, digging a bar of soap out of his satchel. Kieran only hesitated a moment before shrugging out of his clothes. Those would need to be washed too, but Arthur was too busy dragging the boy into the water with him to care.

 Kieran didn’t protest as Arthur lathered up the soap and began scrubbing mud and dirt off the both of them. He had always craved Arthur’s touch, and the scrape of the callouses of his palm against bare skin was almost more than he could handle.

 He hadn’t expected Arthur to dig his fingers into Kieran’s side, causing him to yelp and jump away. Arthur was grinning, looking far too pleased with himself. Kieran smiled back and splashed half-heartedly at Arthur.

 They wrestled in the creek. Arthur easily overpowered Kieran, dunking him under the water a few times and tackling him into the silt. Kieran howled with laughter and clung to Arthur for dear life.

 And then Arthur kissed him. Already breathless and panting, he dragged Kieran in and pressed their lips together. It was clumsy and awkward for a few moments as Kieran froze in shock, but he kissed back eagerly once he found himself again.

 Arthur pulled away with a contented sigh, shaking water out of his hair and chuckling to himself. “Been wanting to do that, but you’ve been sleeping in the damn mud for three days now.”

 Kieran turned pink and then red, clearly overwhelmed. Arthur pulled back a little to give him some space.

 “What if-” Kieran started and then lost his courage. It took him a few tries to get through his words. “What if I slept by you instead?”

 Arthur wanted nothing more.

[kittyprincessofcats]

RWBY Volume 8, Episode 13 (Worthy)

Well, wow. That sure was an episode that happened.

Thoughts under the cut.

Anyone who leaves spoilers for episode 14 on this will get blocked.

- First of all, I want to now talk about the spoiler I saw for this episode last week, to put the anger from my last post into context: After I had just finished watching episodes 8-12 and started writing my post about them, I went into one of the RWBY tags bc I’m dumb and saw a post that said (I don’t remember the exact words, but more or less): “I’m so glad Yang is finally dead, so now her fans can shut up about her and everyone can ship Blacksun instead.”

… Yeah. Imagine seeing that when you haven’t seen the actual episode and have no idea what really happened. I honestly completely panicked for a few minutes, before remembering I don’t actually know anything and this might just be a “Weiss gets impaled in Volume 5, but one episode later it turns out she’ll be fine” situation. So then I had to look up what actually happened to Yang, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to sleep. So, to the person who made that post: Fuck you. Not only did you freak people out for no reason (because come on, there’s no way falling into the void actually kills you – and even if it does, we at least definitely don’t know that for sure after episode 13), but even if Yang had actually died, it’s super shitty that your first reaction to a beloved queer character’s death would be “yay, now people can ship my m/f ship instead”. Like, I don’t care if you personally dislike Yang/ dislike Bumbleby/ prefer Blacksun – show a little bit of decency.

Phew. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest because it really made me angry. Now let’s get into the actual episode:

- “Worthy” as a title pretty much already made me predict that Cinder would succeed in her plan, since “you have to be worthy” was what Watts told her in his speech. She’s gotten the message and is now back to efficient plans – and while I love to see it, it also very much scares me when it comes to our heroes’ survival chances. The last time Cinder was doing well, we lost Pyrrha, so… help.

- And gosh, this whole episode was so intense! I feel like it mostly set up a bunch of very intense situations that are going to escalate in the last episode that I’m very much not ready for.

- I still think the whole central location between the worlds is really beautiful, if dangerous. (They should have specified to Ambrosius that they want handrails or something.)

- Nora using her hammer like a witch’s broom was amazing.

- I also loved the scene with Jaune and the people at the train station; that was really funny.

- The middle of the desert might not have been the best place for the exit. Didn’t the group consider that there might be a sandstorm or something else unpredictable out there? Couldn’t they have picked a better exit point?

- Cinder causing an explosion in the middle of the evacuation that throws multiple people into the void was bad and all – but it was still one hell of an entrance!

- I love that now that Cinder realized that she has to rely on teamwork, she’s suddenly being so nice to everyone. Apologizing to Neo, complimenting Watts on “tearing the kingdom apart with nothing but his intellect”, that soft “You deserve this, Arthur”, complimenting Team RWBY on their plan, thanking them for teaching her “one last lesson”. Yeah, maybe she’s just talking to Neo and Watts like this because she needs their help, and to Team RWBY because she’s confident she’ll win – but it’s still amazing to see the shift in her attitude and how she’s clearly changed her tactic.

- It’s insane to me that some people correctly predicted that Cinder would ask Jinn the last question based JUST on the fact that there’s a part in the opening where everyone else freezes in time while she walks past them. Holy hell! I love trying to guess stuff based on the intro, but I would have never thought that far.

- Cinder’s question to Jinn seems like a waste considering it was Jinn’s last question, but maybe it just seems that way to us as viewers because Jinn didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know. Was it the right thing for Cinder to do? I don’t know, to be honest. Yes, it did give her the chance to ruin the heroes’ plans, but I have a feeling Salem won’t be happy about the question being gone. Pretty sure Salem was going to ask Jinn how to get the Beacon relic, and now she can’t do that. (Cinder ruining Salem’s plans for the beacon relic? Let that be foreshadowing, please.) I mean, maybe it’s worth it from Salem’s POV if it gets them the staff and then she’ll have 2 of the 4 relics – but they could have still gotten the staff later, while I don’t know if Salem has any plan B for the beacon relic. And I’m a little worried about Cinder now. I always thought that Salem wouldn’t kill Cinder no matter what, because she still needs the Fall Maiden for the beacon relic – but if she now has to wait another 100 years for the beacon relic anyway, I’m not sure if she’ll have a reason to keep Cinder alive. (And I’m still worried about that “Some lives will end much too soon” line playing over that scene of Cinder clutching her Grimm arm in the opening.) I also wonder if Cinder even knew that this was Jinn’s last question. Did Jinn even tell her that? Also, when will the 100 years even be up? Do the questions just reset every 100 years regardless of when they were used? So maybe we’re already at year 80 or something and will only have to wait 20 years?

- The cut from everyone at the central command place screaming to them being dead was kinda funny in a “very dark humour” way.

- When Harriet first jumped onto that ship with the bomb, I, like an idiot, thought that she was finally being sensible and trying to get the bomb as far away from Atlas and Mantle as possible, not that she was trying to still drop it on Mantle. She and Ironwood might as well be working for Salem’s team at this point, because they’re doing everything to help the villains’ plan. And the villains are even counting on it! Watts freed Ironwood from his cell and is piloting Harriet’s ship. Those two are just straight up helping Salem’s team in their attempts to… what was it? Save Atlas?

- Ironwood killing Jacques was awful and proves once again that Ironwood has zero morals left. And I didn’t like Jacques, but that was the kind of death that absolutely no one deserves. He had no way to escape or fight back, he was defenseless, locked up in a prison cell with nowhere to run – that’s not just a murder, that’s an execution without a trial. And Jacques wasn’t even a threat, he wasn’t in the way of any of Ironwood’s plans. Ironwood killed him literally just because he could. And no one who thinks they’re the good guy (and Ironwood still thinks he’s the good guy) should go around just killing people who aren’t even a threat.

- And then we have Yang falling into the void. Honestly, as heartbreaking as Blake’s sobs and anger are, I kind of love this from a “supreme angst, let’s see my faves suffer” perspective. That said, Yang better actually be fine or else.

- Actually, my prediction is that the rest of team RWBY will jump into the void to save Yang in the last episode. Because they’re all falling in the opening, and because “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life”. That’s pretty much the only prediction I feel somewhat confident about, for the rest I have no idea.

- I wonder if it would have been better if Penny had just gone through the doorway and gotten the staff to Vacuo. I get why she didn’t, because Yang just fell and her other friends were in danger… but at the same time, she was supposed to protect the population and the staff (and she has the maiden powers that I’m sure Cinder still wants). If she had just gotten out of there, at least the group in Vacuo would have had some help against the sandstorm and the Grimm. But then again, it would have also severely weakened Term RWBY’s chances against Cinder and Neo… it’s a tough call, really.

- “Why didn’t you just learn your lesson?” “Oh, Penny… I did.” Okay, but that’s the thing: She really did! Just not the lesson Penny wanted her to learn. And notice how Cinder called Penny by her first name again? She didn’t use to do that. I still think somewhere down the line Penny has earned her respect.

- I wonder if Penny’s technically weaker now because she’s human (?? is she??). She’s definitely not used to fighting without her robotic parts (as you can see when she tries to reach for her swords and realizes they’re not there anymore). I summoning those swords like she then did her semblance or another maiden power?

- Blake now has to choose between helping Ruby and helping Penny and Weiss – gosh, the suspense…

- I’m glad Vine at least finally tried to stop Harriet now! (Better late than never.) But I really wouldn’t blame Qrow and Robyn for crashing into their ship. It’s not like they had any way of knowing that Vine was trying to talk sense into Harriet. Also, Qrow crashing through Harriet’s windscreen was amazing.

- Winter and Ironwood are going to fight to the death and I’m so scared of it. (I just need Winter to survive, please…)

- When Weiss described the doorway as a “one-way ticket to Vacuo” last episode, I briefly wondered if that meant they wouldn’t be let back through, but then I brushed it aside and didn’t think about it too much anymore. Oh, damn. You really do have to be very specific with Ambrosius.

- I’m not even sure which location is the best to be in right now because they all seem very unsafe: Atlas and Mantle are unsafe because Atlas is falling, because Mantle might still get blown up by Harriet, and because Salem might still come back any time. The place between worlds is unsafe because of the void and because there’s a big fight happening right there. And Vacuo is unsafe because of the Grimm and the sandstorm. So really, they’re all awful for the civilians right now.

- And now I’m thinking the volume might actually end with the protagonists split into three groups as well: Team RWBY in the void (that they’ll spend Volume 9 finding their way back from), one half of the other characters in Vacuo (Oscar, Ren, Emerald, maybe more?), and the other half still in Atlas/Mantle (Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Winter, maybe more).

- I’m super nervous about the last episode. I haven’t seen any spoilers at all so far, and I plan to keep it that way. I’ll probably completely ignore anything RWBY-related until next week because the anxiety would kill me otherwise. I’m really worried we’ll get a character death or even several. And ironically, my first prediction on who might die this Volume (Penny, Nora, Winter, Cinder) hasn’t changed all that much. I’m worried about Penny because she has the Maiden Powers and the staff, so Cinder will come after her (but I really think it would be an awful writing choice to kill her off after we just went through so much to save her). I’m very worried about Winter because she’s engaged in a duel to the death with a man who has a big canon that he just blew someone up with. I’m worried for Cinder because of the opening and because Salem might be pissed at her for using the last question. I’m worried for everyone who’s still on Atlas and might get blown up by the bomb (Qrow, Robyn, Marrow, Winter again). And I’m very worried for the characters who are in the in-between realm. Not so much Team RWBY, but I’m worried about Nora, Jaune, and Penny. So yeah, I’m pretty much worried about everyone and very much not ready. Now let me ignore RWBY’s existence for a week – or only reblog posts I already have saved as drafts – because it’s the only way I’ll know peace.

[cinematicnomad]

1, 7, 25 for the fanfic end of year ask :)

001. favorite fic you wrote this year i have a soft spot for take my hand (take my everything) which was the first fic i wrote this year! and kind of the first step back into writing creatively on something new that wasn’t the 7 year monster sterek fic. also my first foray into 9-1-1 fic and was just a lot of fun! 

007. longest completed fic you wrote this year the longest fic i wrote was my second for the year! so show me (family) wound up being around 16k+ for 9-1-1 which kind of burst out of me over the course of one 48 hour window unlike take my hand which took a few weeks to crank out. 

025. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read SO MANY FICS DUDE!!! i’m gonna rec a couple, some that i re-read this year and some that i discovered for the first time, all from a variety of fandoms. BUT heads up, you didn’t specify a fandom so it’s gonna be a little scattered. also someone else sent me this same question but specified 9-1-1, so i’m gonna reserve those recs for that ask. GET READY!!

and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (7/7 | 84k+ | M) destiel; AU: college/university; john winchester’s A+ parenting; angst with a happy ending

only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet jack allen is just kansas mechanic dean winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.

until, that is, a string of coincidences leads dean to auditing a poetry course with one dr. castiel novak. the professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia’s foremost expert on the poetry of jack allen.

note: i discovered this fic back in the pre-pandemic times of feb 2020 and i’ve read this fic TWICE since, leaving a lengthy comment each time. the poetry in the fic itself is stunningly gorgeous and i have a habit of reading it out loud to myself while reading bc it begs to be heard. this fic is seriously beautiful and makes me want to read all the poet!dean au’s out there in the world. unfortunately there aren’t that many so i just keep coming back to this well. i don’t think i can express enough how much i love this fic. 

lost time by ARCurren (105/105 | 350k+ | T)  bransonxsybil; AU: canon divergent; outsider POVs; original characters; slow burn

the story of a free spirit who was asked to give up the man she loved for a system she didn’t believe in and what happened next. AU after 3.04. 

note: did i think, when i stumbled across this fic years ago, that it would wind up being one of my all time favorites that i return to time and again to re-read? never. did i re-read it for like the dozenth time this year?? 110%. this fic is everything i want from fanfiction—it’s beautifully written, expands on canon, and shows me all the hidden moments the cameras never did (not to mention it’s historically accurate and delves deep into irish politics of the time). the first third or so of this fic is all about tom and sybil’s slow burn romance at downton, but the fic really bursts into its own when we follow the two to dublin and get introduced to all of the author’s deliciously detailed oc’s. heads up warning: this fic was never officially completed, though the final chapter is a beautifully written summary of the final arc of the fic. even so, it’s fucking worth it. 

misfire by mothlights & unpossible (6/6 | 28k+ | T) sterek; time travel; angst with a happy ending; alive hale family; magic; alternating POV

“the debt must be repaid,” she says, and it has the weight of a vow. the words resonate through him, ringing through his ribcage and the bones of his jaw, and stiles loses his breath and maybe his grip on reality because she draws herself upright and where there had once stood a supermodel-level MILK now there is galadriel’s much hotter older sister, a presence of unmistakable power in their ordinary, smells-vaguely-of-thai-takeout hallway. 

“oh shit,” stiles says. 

note: this fic is the first in the misfire ‘verse and i need you to understand that it literally broke me when i binge read these fics a month or so ago. i am a sucker for a solid time travel fic especially bc there are such few good ones in fandom. but this gets at the heart of it all by exploring the idea of stiles getting the chance to save derek’s family and taking it...after he and derek are romantically together in his true timeline and then actually dealing with the ramifications of how that alters everything and how stiles survives in this new present where he and derek are virtual strangers. everyone should definitely read this, but you should also know that i fucking sobbed while reading the sequel (which also has a happy ending, but really digs deep into the nitty gritty angst of the repercussions). 

map of the world by seperis (11/11 | 154k+ | M)  destiel; end!verse; alternate universe; canon divergent; original characters; slow burn

the world’s already over and they’re already dead. all they’re doing now is marking time until the end. 

note: look, if you don’t know about down to agincourt by @seperis, what are you doing with your life?? the series is over 1M+ words so far, the fic author is on book 4 out of a planned 8, and it’s fucking phenomenal. i know i’ve tagged a couple of these recs as slow burn but...this is the slowest slow burn to ever burn. canon!dean travels back into the end!verse timeline just as lucifer kills dean and somehow cas made it out alive and has to keep dean safe while he learns to become his end!verse counterpoint. the world building in this series is intense and i cannot recommend it enough. i’m still in the midst of my re-read bc it’s SUCH an endeavor but i highly recommend it to everybody. 

invictus by ellanasan (116/116 | 355+ | M) hayffie; au: alive abernathy family; pre-hunger games; canon prostitution; slow burn

“so then, before i can even think about doing something stupid like trying to stab him with his fucking golden paperknife, he gives me a choice, see?” haymitch continued, almost detached. “either i play nice like all the other victors or he’ll kill my family. i could either become his puppet—greatest punishment he could give me, according to him—or i could become the example.”

AU in which haymitch’s family lives.

note: hello, have you ever wondered what the hunger games series would be like if haymitch’s family were alive? i fucking hadn’t until 2 years ago when i stumbled across this fic and fell head over heels in love with this ship. @ellanainthetardis is my go to hunger games fic writer for anything exploring canon and i’m obsessed with anything she writes about the OG victors pre-canon (finnick, joanna, chaff, etc). this fic is just 300k+ exploring that world and all the intricate details of how cruel the games could really be. HIGHLY recommend. i definitely re-read it this fall when i needed a pick me up.

don’t know what i’m supposed to do (haunted by the ghost of you) by crazyassmurdererwall (1/1 | 30k+ | T) sterek; canon divergent; angst with a happy ending; ghosts; stiles POV

stiles sees dead people. yep. seriously.

(he’s got this. he’s totally got this. so what if one of them is derek’s mom?)

note: did you know that @crazyassmurdererwall is one of my all time favorite people? and that she’s wicked talented? and that in our spare time she’ll send me a billion fic ideas that are amazing and i get to hear all the intricate details of her plot bunnies? but i digress. this fic is one of my all time fave sterek fics i’ve re-read it sooo many times. there’s just something about the heartache and stiles’ insecurity and the way he tries to shoulder it all on his own. and then there’s alli’s brilliant writing, the way she weaves through a scene and paints a picture just so and manages to tug at your heart strings with her precise word choice. there’s some amazing world building in this fic as it explores this other facet of the supernatural that canon teen wolf never touched upon, and i’m so grateful for that bc alli is the only one who should be allowed to write about ghosts and teen wolf together. 

lagavulin and guinness by snarfle (10/10 | 163k+ | explicit) hartwin; slow burn; PTSD; suicidal thoughts; graphic depictions of violence; domestic abuse

plenty of people had looked down on eggsy throughout his life. he had gotten fairly used to it. didn’t mean it was fair, but he knew how these things worked. what really sucked was that the new arthur was worse than the old one.

“eggsy grimaced. he didn’t know how to explain to harry—who seemed like he hadn’t been discriminated against a day in his life—that the new arthur kept giving him what amounted to suicide missions, and that he was currently bleeding out in a warehouse because of the deliberately bad intel she had given him.”

also featuring: dean is harder to get rid of than eggsy thought, his mum is going off the deep end, there are way too many nefarious plots in play, and eggsy is really beginning to wish that harry would stop holding his hand and kiss him instead.

note: look, i know i recced this literally less than a week ago but i ALSO stayed up til 5AM re-reading this last night and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. i was on a bit of a kingsman kick earlier this year, so i’ve actually re-read this fic TWICE so far in 2020. i will give you a serious warning in that this fic delves deep into domestic abuse through the lens of a variety of different relationships. it also explores the potential for abuse in hartwin, bc this fic is one of the few that actually commits to the fact that they’re literal spies who murder people. actively. a lot. but seriously, this fic is one of my fave in the fandom and i STRONGLY recommend it. 

waste of breath by bryrosea (1/1 | 22k+ | M) loganxveronica; canon compliant; missing scenes; navy; past child abuse

logan echolls, the nine years, and the navy.

note: bryrosea has an obscene number of amazing logan and veronica fics (her canon divergent series stay with me is another i re-read this year), but i’ve found myself returning to this fic a lot over the years. i’m a sucker for canon compliant fics that explore the missing scenes in between canon and this fic hits all the right buttons by diving deep into how logan echolls went from being a trash fire at hearst college at the end of s3 to being a decorated navy pilot by the movie. it explores logan seeking out therapy and making a life for himself that he can be proud of, all while pining after the girl who got away. and bc this author is amazing, she followed it up with a sequel from veronica’s point of view in the series done by only me. 

the law of equivalent exchange by awed_frog (8/8 | 60k+ | M) destiel; POV castiel; pre-canon; post-canon; canon compliant; immortality; reincarnation

“and what’s the point of it?”

“of love? there isn’t one. loving is its own purpose.” 

note: i mean??? i don’t really know what to say except that this is one of the truly most beautiful fics i have ever read. it follows castiel through time as he meets different reincarnations of sam and dean across history and falls ever more deeply in love. it is achingly tender and so ecstatically written that i die just thinking about it. and that summary? i mean. holy fuck break my heart why don’t you? i don’t know how i missed out on this fic for so long since it was published in 2015 but i only learned about it for the first time back in july and it was. life changing?? when the fic finally reaches the canon timeline and he meets THIS dean it’s peak yearning. 10/10 will read again.

ahead in the count by elisela (17/17 | 50k+ | E) sterek; AU: sports; pitcher!stiles; teacher!derek; long distance relationship; getting together

“yankee fan,” derek says, laughing when stiles makes a disgusted face. “the bronx bombers, stiles, you can’t be a new yorker and—”

“stop talking right now,” stiles sighs, shaking his head. “i can’t believe i still want to kiss you after that,” he says, pulling derek in by his coat. “this is making me rethink everything.” 

“i’ll never watch them again,” derek promises, and stiles laughs against his mouth. 

or: stiles is a starting pitcher for the NY mets when he meets and falls in love with derek. derek doesn’t know. 

note: i read SO MANY of @elisela’s 911 fics this summer, which i loved, and then she got into teen wolf and started writing sterek and i just about died. this fic is amazing, one of my fave sterek AU’s that i’ve read in years. it’s just the right amount of drama and angst and fluff filled with all the joys of miscommunication and character relationships that makes reading sterek such a joy. reading this fic and finding out eli needed fic recs pushed me to dive back in to reading sterek fics for a bit this fall so i can say with the utmost authority that this is one of the best i’ve read in a long time. 

i used to think one day we’d tell the story of us by notequitegucci (2/2 | 32k+ | M) gendrya; alternate universe—modern setting; outsider POV; friends to lovers; friends to lovers

9 times a stark encounters gendry + 1 time he meets the starks.

note: again, this is the first in a 2 part series titled love me like you do that explores arya and gendry’s dynamics together through the point of view of her family. game of thrones ended last year with a whimper but i keep returning to the gendrya tag on ao3 to seek out new, amazing content and also to re-read some old favorites. i can’t remember if i came across this for the first time last year or this one, but i’ve read it and re-read it more times than i can count since and i love it more than i can describe. i’m a total sucker for outsider POV fics and my biggest pet peeve in canon is the fact that none of the stark’s ever found out that arya and gendry had a history together. this modern au fic almost makes up for it by giving me a gendry encounter with every family member and then the big reveal. it’s peak content. 

theeeeeeese recs got a little away from me. i wasn’t originally intending on adding lengthy notes to each entry but ... oh well!! these are all amazing so please enjoy. 

fanfic end of the year asks

[simply-ellas-stuff]

My thoughts on Zack Snyder's Justice League because I watched it

The opening sequence, bc even tho the repeated scream audio was stuipid this opening was better

The new meeting between batman and Aquaman - that drawing on the wall in the og was unnecessary

Diana's extra badassery

The design of Stephen Wolf, because now he actually looks scaryish

The Queens emotions about losing her sisters of Themyscira - QUEENS DON'T JUST SEND THEIR PEOPLE INTO BATTLE EMOTIONLESSLY THESE SCENES WERE NEEDED - FUCK

THE BIGGER WITH IN THEMYSCIRA WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CUT THAT OUT?! - oh right, its because the previous director is sexist as fuck,

Stephen Wolf's Daddy Issues because that's fucking hilarious

Bruce explaining his want to find everyone bc of his promise

The close up on the fly things because that actually made it scary

THE FUCKING LIGHTING CEREMONY IN THEMESCERIA HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT

Diana's extra badassery after getting the Arrow because WHY THE FUCK WAS THAT CUT?! This explains SO MUCH about how Diana knows SO MUCH about a time she wasn't alive in and I have NO FUCKING CLUE why it was cut!?

Arthur Curry is a Stripper - Confirmed!

Arthur and his trainer talking, but idfk why they kept the bubble thing Although I do like that they clarify that it's not just Mera who can do that bubble thingy

The scene between Stephen Wolf and the stone-wall dude person was cool and it explained why Stephen Wolf was so desperate

Zeus, Ares, and Artemis prepped for battle along with Poseidon in the flashback was FUCKING AWESOME!!! Diana's Aunt as well, the shows of the Green Lanterns, and the ring returning to the planet [Although they should've named Artemis, bc she can easily be mistaken for Athena - Also; Artemis' roman equivalent in the goddess Diana ]

Darkseid being in the flashback, which explains a lot

The Gods vs Darkseid was FUCKING AWESOME

Barry's awkward rambling after running into Iris

ALSO IRIS FUCKING WEST!!!

The Big Belly Burger Reference, nicely done

My dad says Iris' car is beautiful

BARRY SAVED IRIS BITCHES

The slow-mo crash gave me anxiety

My dad says, "I know you got all the time in the world but c'mon this is ridiculous" about that scene then "That beautiful car..."

THE SCENE WITH STEPHEN WOLF AND THE ALTLANTIAN MAKES EVERYTHING MAKE SO MUCH MORE SENSE BECAUSE HOW THE FUCK DID STEPHEN WOLF KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE MOTHER BOX IN ATLANTIS

Do. Not. Make. Diana. And. Bruce. Romantic. Don't. Fucking. Do. It.

The use of slow-mo is kind of redundant

Victor being fucking AMAZING even tho he's getting in trouble at school

Victor and Mama's discussion gives some life to the 2-Dlike Cyborg from the og movie, WHY THE FUCK WAS IT CUT?!

Victor's inner-world where he's still fully human

Barry being sarcastic as fuck towards his father lmfao

"Very attractive Jewish boy"

The reference to Grodd YAAAAAAAS

I still hate that Barry's lightning is blue and not red

The explanation of the Speedforce and Snacks

"What are your super powers again?" "I'm Rich" Still one of the best lines

I love Diana's shirt in the scene with Alfred

"Looks like you have a date, Ms. Prince" lmfao - Unless his name is Steve, I doubt it

I feel like Victor and Diana would be a good brother/sister duo, ngl

Burying the fucking box at your mothers grave was the stupidest shit I have ever fucking seen Victor.

COMMISIONER GORDON HELL YES

Barry's utter fail at being normal around Diana

The underwater click-like dolphin speak was cool, but still kinda dumb knowing that later Aquaman speaks underwater just fine - ngl

Nice Liquidkinetics, Mera. Amber you're still a cunt.

Also, Mera says her parents died - Wasn't her father alive in Aquaman??

Victor seeing the bat-signal explains how he knew how to find them, honest

The badass entry of Bruce, Diana, and Barry makes me laugh

Barry is far too close to Bruce

Victor scared Barry LMFAOOOO

If Victor's father is the head of STAR Labs where the fuck is Harrison Wells?????

THEY LEFT BARRY BEHIND, ASSHOLES

Diana's annoyance at Barry running ahead is such a Mom thing

Stephen using the bug thing makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE

Diana trying to make a plan and it getting ruined fits with the exasperated Mom theme she's got going on.

THE SONG HEN DIANA GOES AGAINST STEPHEN WOLF, THE FUCKING VOCALS ALONG MAKE ME HYPE AS SHIIIIIIIIT

"I Belong To No One" I FUCKING LOVE IT

HEEEEEEEEELL of a push Barry lmfaooo

"Thank you Alfred" "Don't mention it" Mans is bored of your shit

"Sword Lady" LMFAOOOOOOO

Diana's x-move thing against Stephen Wolf YAAAAAAAAS BITCH

Diana saving Barry's ass - Accurate!

Victor taking over the Crawler makes more sense this way, honest

OKAY YOU AN ACTUALLY SEE AQUAMAN IN THE WATER AND IT MAKES IT MAKE SO MUCH MORE SENSE

That jump onto the crawler was smooth as fuck Diana!

Stephen Wolf getting visions from the boxes also explains a lot about some shit

"I know the requirements, I wrote them" Suuuuuuubtle lmfaoo

Victor brining the box them also fits better

Why is this Stone looking mother fucker speaking Latin?

Hello Darkseid, you look particularly dramatic this evening

Victor's explaining how he knows about the box makes a lot of sense, why was this cut again??

Actually explaining the fucking Mother Box was Helpful

Mrs. Kent and Lois having a heart to heart holy shiiiit

Martha talking about how Clark's death was drowned out by Superman's - wooow

WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH MARTHA'S EYES IS THAT J'ONN J'ONZZ?! THATS THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER HOLY FUCK IT'S J'ONN J'ONZZ

Ironic that Ezra-Flash's hero is Superman while Grant Gustin's hero is superman lmfao

Diana and Arthur chatting was cute, the quote was awesome and the Atlantians totally copped that quote from the Amazonians

Alfred being a sarcastic fuck is my favorite

Alfred being the voice of reason, as always

Arthur helping Barry pick a hat is AMAZING

Diana telling the boys to change, mom or big sister?? lmfaoo

Barry's social awkwardness gives me second hand embarrassment

This little infiltration arc makes SO MUCH more fucking sense

Every one being suited up and triggering the alarm is amazing

Mr. Stone fucking trusting his son is my faaaaaavorite

THE SUITS ACTIVATED AND CAME OUT WHEN CLARK WAS MOVED PAST THEM DUDE WTF

IS LOIS PREGNANT?!?!?!

Barry looks like he's about to throw up

BARRY HAS ALREADY TIME TRAVELLED THAT LINE SHOULDVE BEEN KEPT IN

Arthur being antsy about not doing the resurrection makes so much sense

VICTOR SEEING A POSSIBLE FUTURE IS THE BEST SHIT

I love vision-Diana's Norse burial

EVIL VISION-SUPERMAN DUDE CMON

THE MISUNDERSTANDING MAKES THIS WORSE AND BETTER AT THE SAME TIME

HE REVERSED TIME WHEN HE RESURRECTED SUPERMAN WHAAAAAAAAT

The Military arriving was a sensible addition

The fancy ass dramatic ass arrival of Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Cyborg when Superman gets to the monument is hilarious

Victor loosing control is the woooooorst

The Lasso of Truth almost got through to him but he's a stubborn fuck

Superman functioning in Flashtime is something I will never understand

Yeah lets shoot at the guy whose indestructible, right

"you should probably move" LMFAOOOO

Batman v. Superman part 2 insert eye roll here

headbutts like children - and that's cheating on the playground Clark.

Heat vision makes so much more sense than "do you bleed?"

Lois coming in cluuuuutch

I like Lois' appearance better than Alfred bringing her, it fits Lois better

Arthur and Barry now have rivalry lmfaooo

Mr. Stone being obsessed with the mother box is annoying as fuck

Mr. Stone is an idiot and he should've fucking left the box alone

That was a horrible death why was that necessary?!

Arthur being a pessimist in this movie is honestly hilarious, tho why is he anti-love??

Barry being surprised at Batman's richness is never not funny

"I'll take that as a yes" okay Clark, don't show off

IS LOIS PREGNANT OR NOT?!

"Its really me Ma" Best scene of the whole fucking movie

Barry and Arthur heart-to -heart "I thought you didn't car" "I never said that" BUILD THIS FRIENDSHIP

BRUCE TELLS DIANA OF THE VISION

Bruce talking about faith never bodes well

THE QUEEN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL

"uh with the power of love" "Barry" LMFAOOOOOO

THE KRYPTONIAN SUITS LOOK AMAZING

Since when does Superman have Geokinesis??

I LOVE HOW BOTH OF HIS FATHERS ARE TALKING TO HIM I FUCKING LOVE IT

THE SUIT UP SCENE ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME IT LOOKS AWESOME

"just have to knock a little louder" Well, that's one way to knock Bruce

Nice crash boy

Straight up sounded like "Loud and queer" lmfaoooo

Diana leading the teeeeeeeaaaam Hell Yes!

I do miss the "I think we're all gonna die" lasso-Arthur scene tho. it was stupid - but funny.

DIANA COMING IN FOR THAT SLICE AND DICE BAYBEEEEY

THE TEAM SHOOOOT YES totally taken from Marvel but fuck did it look good

"you really are out of your mind" says the idiot who talks to fish

"not done yet" vs "your welcome" I like the second one better

Glorious hair Arthur lmfaoo

Fucking chair eject

NICE SHISH-KA-BOB ARTHUR FUCK

Alfred doesn't even fucking blink when Clark arrives

ARTHURS TRIDENT DOES THE WAVY THING ON LAND TOO BROOOO

Oh yeah, step back for the demi-god princess

DONT PISS OFF DIANA AND DO NOT USE HER FAMILY TO FUCK WITH HER IT NEVER ENDS WELL

The familiar flash buildup power ring will never not make me happy

Daaaaaayum Diana!!

Nice catch Arthur

Diana knows her mother and sisters are alive bc they sent the arrow to her, so why is he even trying it??

NICE SAVE SUPERMAN!!

"Not impressed" Smooooooth

THAT FINAL BATTLE IS FUCKING AWESOME

TIME TRAVEL

BADASS DIANA WITH THAT DEPCAPITATION

You sent Today at 5:44 PM

Them all standing there was straight up "Fuck with us, I dare you"

The epilogue was great but that dream was confusing, are we doing Alt-universe shit??

MARTIAN MOTHER FUCKING MANHUNTER BITCHEEEEEEEEEEZZ

IS LOIS PREGNANT OR NOT?!

[nami-writes]

Bittersweet Reunion - Watch Dogs: Legion [WIP]

(can you tell i had no clue what to name this)

so i wrote this after i played wdl and finished the finding bagley mission bc i loved that there was a canon mlm pairing and i thought the whole meeting bradley thing was Incredibly unsatisfying so i did this and originally i was gonna have bagley and arthur get back together but then it started writing itself and bagley wouldnt date arthur bc that’d go against his morals and i was like shit thats not what i planned but also i realized it was in character so this is that disaster lmao

“I’m ready for the rest of my life, Arthur. And I want you to be a part of it.”

The sixth audio file ended with what sounded like a kiss, and Lindsey had to pause to take it in. Bagley had really had a life— a lover. A lover he had to leave behind.

“Arthur… I should remember more about him. But I don’t.”

It sounded so rushed, so nonchalant, that Lindsey knew better than to believe his tone and even Bagley himself knew it. Because, truth was, he was processing the same things Lindsey was and more. He really was damned to eternity, being a human turned AI and all, because now he was experiencing quite a lot of thoughts and certainly not enjoying it. Where was Arthur now? Did he still remember him? Did he miss him? Why was Bagley even wondering if his not-boyfriend still missed him?

Some part of his human half wondered if it’s possible to find Arthur again, meet the person his past self was so deeply in love with that now he found himself longing for him too.

“Sir—”

“Don’t touch me!”

Bagley was pulled out of the thoughts growing less and less artificial by the second as the next audio file began, already far more emotionally charged than the ones prior.

“These people are here to help you, Bags—”

“Don’t call me that!”

He’s snappish and frustrated and angry and current Bagley could almost feel it too. There’s more struggling as Bagley— past Bagley— seemed to be fighting someone off.

“She did this! Someone stop her!”

‘She’ must’ve been Skye Larsen, who else could it have been? He wanted to hope Natalie would listen— just listen, goddammit, this was all Skye’s fault, don’t you know what she’s done?— but he knew it was no use. They didn’t know. Natalie didn’t know. Not a fucking soul knew what she did to him.

“Don’t hurt him! He’s not usually like this!”

“Get out of my head! Get o—”

His voice died out as more noise played, then an unfamiliar voice called for an ambulance.

“Bags. Bagley. Bra—”

And it ended there.

“I’m assuming that ‘she’ was Skye Larsen,” he said to Lindsey. “Seems like the usual suspect where brain fuckery is concerned.” As controlled as he usually was, not even he could keep the slightest bit of anger out of his voice by the end of his sentence.

The next audio file began with a man explaining that Bagley had early on-set dementia, which intrigued him because it didn’t explain when exactly Skye got her hands on him. Then the sister from prior audio files spoke with that same strangely familiar voice, just as demanding as before. “You listen to me. I don’t care what it takes. No brother of mine is going to waste away in some hospital.”

Something was wrong. There was a piece missing somewhere between those memories and he had an idea of where it could be found.

Skygarden.

“Why do I have a feeling we’re not up here to reminisce?” The audio began as Lindsey snapped the last photo.

“Right. I’ve been thinking a lot about your epilepsy.” The sister. Of course. He still couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but she sounded awfully familiar, but not in a good way. In a this-person-has-the-same-name-as-my-primary-school-bully way.

“That’s nice. My doctors stopped thinking about it years ago. I had to give up so much because of it. Rowing, my mates, my…” A sigh followed after he trailed off and he had a feeling that that sigh replaced the word ‘boyfriend.’

“I’m sorry, Bradley.” Bradley. That name sounded familiar. Come to think of it, that must’ve been what Natalie called him in the seventh audio file just before it cut off. He supposed it sounded familiar because, well, it is— was— his name, but there was something more to it. He just couldn’t figure out what. He ran a quick search for Bradleys in London, but of course that left him with thousands of Bradleys and not a single clue as to how to filter out the useless ones.

“Wow. Look at you using my real name for once. I must be truly fucked.” Fucked was an understatement. How did he go from a human to nothing more than an AI? It wasn’t that he was unhappy as an AI, especially considering he worked for DedSec and they were wonderful, they really were, but to think he was once human…

“What if I told you I had something that could work?”

Something deep inside of him that vaguely resembled a computerized heart dropped at those words. He had a bad, bad feeling about this.

“Ha. Never knew you were funny.”

But Skye Larsen created him, didn’t she?

“I’m not. It’s a tech we’re developing. It’s early stages, but… have you ever heard of neural mapping?”

“No.” No, it couldn’t be.

“Here. Let’s go to my lab. I’ll show you.”

Who was this sister?

“Lead the way, Skye.”

And the audio ended.

“I was Skye Larsen’s brother.” It was strange to say out loud. “I’m Bradley. Bradley Larsen.” That was why she sounded so familiar. That was why Skye Larsen was his creator. Fuck. “Bradley Larsen…” He returned to his search for Bradleys and narrowed it down to one Bradley Larsen, brother of Skye Larsen, son of Sinead and Kevin Larsen. “I’ve found a room pre-paid through to April 4, 2040 under the name of Bradley Larsen— paid for by S. Larsen.” Skye.

“So you might still be alive,” Lindsey said. “Where’s the room?”

He checked his databases. “St. Pancras Hotel.”

And when she arrived, it was no less than what he expected, if less than what he wanted.

He left not quite satisfied.

But what else could he do? His father was gone and his mother and sister were dead. He checked his deep profiler and found Natalie through Bradley, but it seemed she was dead as well. And then— Arthur Jenkins, former spouse. 

“I think I’ve found Arthur from the sixth audio file,” he said. “Mind getting him for me?”

“Say the word, Bags,” Lindsey said.

He found his schedule and looked for his soonest outing. “He’ll be at Crosier & Cherry Tree at 8 PM.” There was a tinge of sadness in his voice at the location that they both decided to ignore.

He checked the rest of Arthur’s profile, too curious to resist. His photo was attached. To his surprise, Arthur was a curly-haired ginger. Apparently Bradley had known more people with no souls than just Skye Larsen. Age 29, worked as a bartender at Crosier & Cherry— that was why he’d be there. Associated with Melissa Phillips, friend; Natalie Walker, deceased friend; and Bradley Larsen, former spouse. Metadata… looking through it could’ve broken his heart if he had one.

He had countless searches involving dementia up until he was 28 and had hundreds of recorded visits to St. Pancras Hotel, Bradley’s room. Hundreds of visits that, when he accessed the records, seemed to just… stop. Daily-to-weekly visits simply vanished into none. Numerous phone calls to Skye Larsen that Bagley could only assume were angry and accusational because he was charged for harassment due to a complaint from Skye on the same day he stopped visiting.

He tried. He really tried, and then Skye fucked it all up like she always does.

“Bagley, I’ve found him.” He turned his attention to Lindsey’s Optik and, sure enough, he could see the ginger in the photo through the glass window. “Want me to bring him back to the Hackerspace?”

He considered it, but bringing him back would’ve meant involving the others. This was just a one-time thing. “No, just— could you get him somewhere I could talk privately with him?”

“Sure thing.” He watched as she entered the pub and approached Arthur at the counter.

“‘Ello, mate, what can I get for you?” he asked, uncannily cheery with a smile on his face. Something told Bagley this should’ve made him feel… something, but he felt not even a twinge of recognition from anywhere other than the photo on his digital profile.

“I’m here to talk to you, actually,” Lindsey said.

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow and took a second to look her over a second time, his customer service smile fading into skepticism. “Do I know you?”

“No, but I know someone you do. Mind if we talk somewhere else?”

He shrugged. “S’pose not. Better get it on with, then, I’ve got to get back to work.”

Shit. Time was running out and they were already heading to a back room and Bagley hadn’t a fucking clue what to say so when he was cast onto the nearest unwatched telly before Lindsey left, all he could think to say was “Hello, Arthur.”

And then there was a silence where Bagley was internally cursing himself for being such a bloody idiot and Arthur looked like either he was about to drop to his knees in awe or he had shit himself. And then he broke the silence.

“Bradley?” His eyes were lit up with hope, hope Bagley knew he’d have to destroy because he wasn’t Bradley, not really. But he’d worry about that later.

“Oh, Gods, that’s going to be my version of Bradley’s stupid nickname, isn’t it? Though, if you ask me, Bagley is a perfectly good name,” he remarked. He had no idea how to properly handle a situation in which he was meeting the lover he had in a past life, so, naturally, he reverted to his usual self. Arthur was in love with him before, he can put up with him again.

Arthur chuckled, cracking a smile. “Now I know you aren’t Bradley. He hated that nickname.” He took another moment to comprehend what just happened. “But, really, how? How are you— what are you? What is” —he gestured vaguely at the TV screen— “this?”

“That’s a funny story, actually, see—”

“Bradley,” Arthur interrupted him, his smile turning solemn. “I’m serious. Last time I saw you, you were in a bloody wheelchair! What happened to you?”

There was another silence where Bagley tried to think of something ‘serious’ to say, but his actual response felt much more natural to him.

“Don’t call me that,” he said, a feigned grumble but unseen smile in his voice, “that’s not my name.”

And at that, not even Arthur could keep a straight face, but his smile didn’t last long. “Bags. Please. I need answers. I was so sure it was that bitch Skye— sorry, I know she’s your sister and all, but— I spent so long searching for ways to help you and trying to get her to fucking stop— you only ended up in the bloody hospital after she got involved and then she wouldn’t let me keep seeing you and I couldn’t—” His voice broke then and he had to pause, clear his throat and collect himself. “I’m sorry, I tried, I didn’t want to stop visiting. I really didn’t. I’m sorry.”

Bagley didn’t know how to tell him it was all in vain; Skye won in the end, she always did, and he didn’t even remember being Bradley or knowing Arthur at all. As far as he remembered, he’d only known Arthur for five minutes.

“Bagley?”

“It doesn’t matter.” There was no use in prolonging it.

“...What?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he repeated. “I’m not Bradley.”

“Are you mad? Of course you’re Bradley.’

“No, I’m not. Bradley is still in St. Pancras. I’m Bagley.”

Arthur gave a confused chuckle and crossed his arms. “What are you talking about?”

“It was Skye,” he finally said. “It’s a long story, really, but in simpler terms, she tried to fix Bradley’s epilepsy through a process called neural mapping. It essentially separated his consciousness from his body, which gave him dementia and took my human body. I’m his consciousness, but I’m not him.”

Arthur didn’t respond. He seemed to still be processing what he’d just heard.

“And I’m sorry to say, but my memory was wiped not long after my creation. I don’t… remember anything about being Bradley.” He paused. Arthur knew what that meant, and he knew that his next sentence was going to confirm it. “I don’t remember anything about you.”

Arthur took far longer to respond than Bagley would’ve liked. “So you’re—” He stopped. “So Bradley’s really gone.”

“Unfortunately so.”

More silence. “Then why are you here?”

That was a good question, actually. Why was he here?

“I suppose I came to say goodbye,” Bagley said. “Give you some closure on Bradley, so you know what happened. I know you two were quite close.”

He scoffed. “Close is an understatement.” His voice softened. “We were going to get married,” he said. “At least, I think we were. If Skye hadn’t gotten involved— if I’d only had the time— I was going to propose. Had a ring in mind and everything. I’m fairly sure Bradley knew, too. I just wanted us to have that one thing before… before it was too late.”

Bagley had to take a second to let it sink in. In a past life, he’d almost gotten married. How much had he missed out on as a human because of Skye? His voice was solemn as he spoke, a first for him. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” Arthur offered no elaboration before something else seemed to cloud his mind. Silence seemed to be something both of them were good at. Bagley considered directly asking what was on his mind, but Arthur spoke before he could decide. “Can I ask something of you?”

“Ask away. I’ve only got the rest of my non-life.”

“...Could we try it again?” he asked, hesitation in his words. At Bagley’s confused silence, he uncrossed his arms, a willing show of vulnerability. “I mean, could we try… us, again? I know you don’t remember anything about me or Bradley and you’re not Bradley, I know that, but— maybe something good could come out of it. Maybe— maybe we could still have something.”

“You want us to…” He trailed off, thinking it over. By ‘something,’ he meant a relationship, but— could he be in a relationship? He was still an AI. He wasn’t Bradley. He wasn’t even attracted to Arthur. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he could feel attraction, if that was built into his operating system. Everything in him wanted to say no, it would never work out. An AI taking part in human affairs was a recipe for disaster.

“We could start from the beginning,” Arthur added, as if he knew what Bagley was thinking before he even said it. “I know you don’t really know me so we can start out just friends, nothing more. We can take it as slow as you want and if you decide there’ll never be anything more, we can just stay as friends if that’s what you’re comfortable with. But if you think there can be more, we can try that.”

It was tempting, but… Arthur was still human. And Bagley was not. “Arthur, I’m not sure I was made for this.”

“Then let’s find out,” he said. “I’m okay with anything you are.”

“No, I mean I’m not sure I was made to feel attraction. I believe that’s a fairly important part of relationships,” Bagley said with a hint of humor in the last sentence, though it disappeared by the next. “I’ve never felt that way toward anyone and I’m not sure you’ll be an exception.”

He sighed. “Bags. It doesn’t matter to me whether you like me as a friend or as a boyfriend. What matters is whether or not you’re comfortable with me. I didn’t fall in love with your attraction. I fell in love with you.”

“You fell in love with Bradley,” he corrected. “Not me.”

Regardless of how tempting the offer was and how curious he was to see the extent of his human capabilities, it’d only be an experiment. A trial run of a relationship with someone who was only willing because he was still attached to the person Bagley no longer was. It would be cruel to take advantage of Arthur’s hope for his own curiosity— no different from what Skye did to Bradley. He might’ve had his human body stripped from him, but he still had his humanity.

“Arthur, I’m not Bradley,” he said. “And I know it’s hard to accept, but I can’t be the person you want me to be.”

[everyonesawhoregrace]

Nothing But A Memory

@awesomemikaus​: request where reader is Campbell's daughter, but she doesn't know anything, about the reason she came to town and so on, and Tommy plans to use her as a spy, approach her with that motive, but when she realizes that she doesn't know anything , falls in love with her, also that the reader is an angel. And then hell breaks loose when he finds out. very angsty pleaese

An: I'm gonna name my CHILD Sloan. Also , thank u for requesting this bc wow. I loved this. So much. So much that it's 4K words. X

"She can't get hurt, Arthur! Oi! Listen to me!" The brother was clearly upset by how nonchalant Arthur was to his statement. Only once the brothers met each other's eyes did Thomas feel comfortable enough to speak again. "She can't get hurt."

"She's our enemy, what the fuck do you mean she can't get hurt?!" Arthur's eyes widen, he can't wrap his head around Thomas's statement. Not even a bloody week ago, the two were plotting her death.

Thomas grabs a fistful of his brothers shirt and pulls him to his chest. "You lay a finger on her and I swear, Arthur..."

"She's Campbell's daughter." He reminds his brother, just in case he tumbled and took a fall for the worse.

"Please!" Tommy's never pleaded to anyone, let alone his brothers.

But with the weak way Thomas executes his words, Arthur feels a pang in his heart. Thomas falls back to his chair and lets out a shaky breath. He knows that his brothers fell spellbound to the lady.

"Fuckin' hell, Tom..." Arthur takes a step back, swallowing. You've fallen for her, haven't youse?"

3 Days Ago

Sloan Campbell arrived to Small Heath by the luck of the late night train. She was overjoyed to enter Birmingham, the busy, underdeveloped city. As a lover of history, she stayed concentrated in the vast city, occupying her time in libraries, city hall and the museum. Of course she was oblivious that her father, was on a special mission in the very city she was visiting. Alas, twas only Aunt Pol, John, Arthur and Thomas knew about Sloan's visit. It was the Shelby clan who had a plan to mercilessly sacrifice the lady in return for Campbell's injustices to them.

"He's causing chaos throughout the damn city nevermind our own business." Thomas banged his closed fist on the table, during their regular meetings.

The topic of inspector Campbell was brought up. Thomas got upset rather quickly before Polly Grey decided to make the boys feel reassured.

"You don't pay him no mind, we'll get him soon enough." Polly snaps, "Thomas sit down, I've got something to tell you lot."

She watched the colour return to their faces as she told them about Sloan Campbell, the only daughter that stems from the likes of inspector Campbell. She explains Campbell had a love so deep for his only child. He would do anything for Sloan. Anything.

It was Polly Grey who suggested the boys dangle the life of poor Sloan over Campbell, allowing him to flee the city in return for his daughter's life. It was going to be an exchange, simple, harmless. It would only scare the girl.

But it was Thomas who had allowed the darkness to consume him. Once Polly left, he had begun to stir up another plan.

"We need to punish him the way he's punished us." He said after a few drinks were in his belly.

Thomas put down his hat on the table and looked at the blades within the stitching of the flatcap. He was motivated by the idea of killing her.

Polly was discrete, only use her, do not actually harm her. Polly would no allow for the brutal killing of a lady. Especially an innocent one. And innocent she was. And yet, Thomas had different intentions.

Thomas continued. "Like the ones in the war who wanted us dead. We need to kill them before they kill us."

"Fuck yea..." Arthur concludes, after a line of coke. He rubs his nose and grabs a glass of whiskey from the table.

John speaks up. "We ought to blind her Tom,"

"No, worse. We kill her, and lay her body on the same ground Campbell walks so brazen on. This is our city, it's about time we show 'im that boys."

So, it was a plan, the brothers all agreed. Thomas was to be responsible for the capturing of the lady. Arthur and John were going to gut like her a pig and that Inspector Campbell will go running back to Belfast.

There he stood in city hall, awaiting her presence when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Who would've thought the person who tapped him was the lady herself.

Of course, she didn't know who he was. All she wanted was to know where the ticket booth was, after all, she had noticed the stranger had a ticket to the tour.

"Sorry to bother you, but could you point me where the ticket booth is?"

Thomas was frazzled, no, he was rather nervous. Not by the woman herself, nor the fact that the person he was going to shoot dead was standing before him, but rather, her remarkable beauty. She looked nothing like the photograph he was given, no, that was too old of a photo. It was blurry and did not do her justice. The woman before him was breathtakingly stunning, God like. She took his breath away, alongside everyone else within her presence.

He pointed to the ticket booth, she had smiled revealing such a pure soul.

She looked nothing like the awful Chief Inspector Campbell.

Following that dreadful day, Thomas followed Sloan around the city. She was shy, happy, she wore her emotions on her chest. She was unjustifiably beautiful. Petite, brown hair that framed her perfect face. She was the type of woman to use her hair to hide her face, and she smiled, and she laughed. She was goofy, original, she didn't want to please the fucking world. She simply wanted to live. Sloan would always drop a coin into the beggars hat, but more than that, she would stand beside him and ask him if he's alright. She was perfect, the more Thomas studied, the more his cheeks grew hot and his hands grew sweaty.

Yes, that she was, picture perfect.

Finally, Sloan had noticed him peeping one day while she read a book in the library, she raised her head as he ducked his. Pretending to be occupied in a book until she cleared her throat. Sloan stood before him.

"Can I help you?" She asked Thomas, who had looked up at her.

He wanted to run away, feeling his throat dry. He shut his book and got lost in her eyes. "Sorry?"

"You've been watching me from the second I got here. Never mind the fact that I'm nearly certain you're the same lad I had encountered a day ago 'round City Hall."

"I-" He began. Again, she's taken him by surprise. Thomas thinks fast. "I wanted to ask you if I can take you out. I find you beautiful and, yah, will you allow me to take you out for tea or somethin'?" He felt his heart race, his face heating up. He wanted to roll his eyes to the back of his head. Take you out for tea or somethin'? Really Thomas?

She chuckles, narrowing her gaze at him. But the truth was, Sloan was flattered. The man before her was a tall and handsome with great posture and teeth. Hopefully he's got a good paying job too.

No, to Sloan, the man before her was undeniable, most of the men in the world were pretty fucked up from the war. All they do is drink and fight. So, she cracked a smile and replied dubiously, "Alright then. I'm staying at the Midland Hotel, pick me up for eight tonight."

And with that, she spun around and walked her way back to her seat, where she opened up the book she was reading and started where she left off.

Thomas didn't tell the boys that he was going on a date with Sloan fucking Campbell. Instead, he told them that he was going to entertain the new barmaid Grace. They cheered him on, and off Thomas went.

Though it was a fake date, the closer the lad got to the Midland hotel, the more anxious and uneasy he got. Thomas was fumbling with his tie, shifting in his suit. He got feverishly irritated with the cuffs on his blazer and nearly tore them from his suit altogether.

Meanwhile, Sloan readied herself rather quickly. Wearing a navy blue dress and black kitten heels. She had allowed herself to calm down after finishing two glasses of champagne.

She stood before a mirror once finished and beamed at the finished product. "So, you find me beautiful?" Her serious, sexual face makes her giggle.

"Oh Sloan," She turns to her side and runs her hands along her dress. "You do look mighty fine though."

And she did, with her hair in light curls and a touch of makeup on. She put on her favourite perfume and listened to the radio, Sloan was a natural beauty, but she looked especially stunning tonight.

So stunning that when she walked down the stairs to the lobby, two men had offered their hands to assist her before Thomas was able to get to her. He made sure to claim her before any man would.

"Hi." She says, her hand falls into his. His hand is warm, and she flushes. The two are nervous.

Thomas stands tall, "Hi, you look..."

She's taken his breath away, all he does is shake his head. The silk material of the dress is plush around her curves. Thomas notices her décolletage, Sloan's stunning. Thomas quickly concluded and leans down to kiss her cheek.

"You look absolutely mesmerizing tonight, Sloan." He whispers in her ear.

She blushes, and as the two get on with their first date, she can't help but hold her tongue, wanting to tell Tommy the same thing.

He was kind hearted, chivalrous. He took her to a restaurant where people grew rather interested in Tommy and Sloan. 

They were numb to it, she discussed her passion of history he explained his passion of horses. They listened to each other in great detail. He explained that he had three brothers and a sister, to which she told him that she was an only child.

"Are your parents alive?" He asks, knowing the answer. But there was something so sweet about listening to her speak. Thomas grew fond of her voice, among many other things.

"Yes, and yours?" She tore apart a piece of bread and popped it in her mouth.

"No. Are you close to your parents then?"

She takes a sip of her wine. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents. Also. Yes and no. My mum and I are very close, but my father and I could have a better bond for sure." Sloan mentions Thomas's full plate. "How come you're not eating?"

He runs his sweaty palms over his pants, "I'm too nervous to eat." He replies honestly. His stomach twists and turns in knots. Somehow, the dinner that was supposed to be a stall before her death, ended up being so much more than that.

She blushes, looking down. "Do I make you nervous?"

Sloan looks at him with big eyes, and Thomas is nearly certain she's capable of murdering him. Right there. At that very moment. All he desires is her lips against his, and her body against his.

You take my breath away, Sloan.

After dinner, the two walked side by side down the street. Thomas has so many good qualities about him, it made Sloan very happy. Even though he was a hard shell to crack at first, he opened up and revealed things to her that he would have a hard time with admitting to anyone else.

Beaming, she up and into his eyes, "Thomas,"

"Yes." He raised an eyebrow, looking down at her.

"The people of the city practically bow down to you, I can't help but wonder what it is that you do."

His mouth twitched, "I own several businesses."

"Business that involve horses? You had told me you love them."

"Yes, something like that." Thomas doesn't want to give much away. After all, he is a no good criminal.

She chews on her inner cheek and Thomas smiles.

"Is there something else you'd like to ask me?" He stood in front of her, preventing the two from continuing their walk.

"No." She reveals, meeting his baby blue eyes. "I just want to tell you I had a great time with you tonight."

He ought to grab that face and kiss her all over. No, he thinks about the plan. How could he forget!? Death to the inspector’s daughter. But as she poured her heart into him, he can't help but put that idea in a cupboard in the deep depths of his mind, and shut the door. Death to the inspector’s daughter, no. Not her.

"As did I," He grins, and is startled when she rests her hand on his chest and leaves a soft kiss to his cheek. Thomas flushes, "Thank you."

She chuckles and mentions the hotel down the street. "Will you walk me to the hotel?"

Fuck. The end already?

Thomas nods and the two of them walk a little closer this time. He puts an arm around her and once they stood in the lobby together, Tommy Shelby willed himself to bent down and kiss her. Though it was a ballsy move on Shelby's part, Campbell deepens the kiss. She hooked her arm around his shoulder and went from a quick peck, to a passionate kiss.

She gives his hand a squeeze as she settles into her heels. "Thanks again for a tonight."

"No," He's drunk off of that kiss. Where did she learn to kiss like that? Holy hell. "Thank you." So much.

The two went their separate ways. Tommy feels as though he's walking on clouds. Sloan doesn't feel an ounce tired as she lays in bed, flattered by the kind words shared tonight.

Once he's home, he doesn't resort to the drugs as a sleep aid, but rather, Thomas falls asleep dreaming pleasantly of Sloan.

The two became inseparable. Thomas surprised Sloan with flowers the following day, he took her to Johnny's Yard, where they spent an evening under the stars. They held hands this time, and he smiled and laughed more. He wanted to kiss her lips again, and she wanted nothing but the same.

"You've brought me to the outskirts of the Small Heath, where there are portable homes and plenty of cow shit to keep a garden alive for years!" Sloan pinched her nose, giving Tommy a silly face as she sat beside him. "I wish you had told me, I wouldn't have worn heels."

The two of them sat under the stars. The soft autumn breeze was welcoming. The women from the homes had prepared a dinner for the young couple. Thomas was adamant on keeping Sloan out of the city. Campbell had harmed Polly just hours ago, and that scared Thomas. He feels conflicted though, with admitting to his family that he fancies the Inspectors daughter. Thomas doesn't quite know what to do.

"I reckon I was conceived here." He whispers, kissing the top of her head.

Sloan laughs, burying her face in his chest. "Well I'm honoured to be here, then. Despite the cow shit."

Thomas flushes. "I want to own this land someday."

"You should." She looks up and smiles at him.

"I've never told anyone that before," Tommy chuckles. He notices the long grass shift in the wind. "I've never really thought about the future like this, before."

"Why?"

"There was nothing really good for me to look forward to until now." He found himself looking at Sloan before admiring. "Until I met you."

Her heart melts, and she lunges at him, covering him in kisses.

Laying together afterward, Sloan had noticed the stars in the sky settle into bright white lights. She smiles helplessly, cuddling into his chest, the smell of him is delicious.

Thomas also gets lost in the night sky, with his lady by his side, what else can he do except take a deep breath and feel like life is complete. That night the two of them made love under the stars. It was slow and soft, yet feverish and passionate.

Sloan had giggled as the Thomas laid on his back struggling to breathe. "What is it?" He asked, oh, he could hear Sloan laugh forever.

"I've never made love outdoors before." She whispers.

"Nor have I." He replies honestly.

The two lay nested together until they fall asleep.

He had been stalling with the boys. Apparently things between "Grace the Barmaid" and Thomas had been progressing. The boys believed it, gullible they are. Polly stuck her nose up as Thomas told the family a lie. But regardless, they agreed, a day after tomorrow, they were to kill Sloan Campbell.

That evening as the two of them laid naked, listening to their soft breaths and the night sky, he had something very important to say. Something that's been occupying his mind since the first time the two of them went on a date.

"Sloan, why aren't your father and you close?"

Certainly she's just as fucked as her father is. It was John who said that as a way to excuse the fact that they were going to kill a woman.

"Well I don't agree with the things my father does, his values, his beliefs, they're...well, they're quite terrible." She reveals, feeling comfortable with talking to Tommy about this. "Aside from the fact that he used to hurt my mum."

He grits his teeth at the thought of young Sloan having to witness any form of abuse within the home.

Thomas cradled her head on his chest, as he tended to do after the two of them made sweet, sweet love. So, John was wrong, she isn't bad like her dad. She's just as loving and good as Thomas knew she was all along.

With that, he goes on to ask her an extremely important question. "Do you reckon you love me, Sloan?"

She stops running her hand over his chest and sits up to look at him. She's red from the sex, or perhaps it's the question he's asked her. "Tommy-"

Thomas sits up and combs through her hair. The loose curls that fall from her bun. "Honestly. Do you?"

"I..." She said, her eyes drift elsewhere. "I do have strong feelings for you but love?"

He swallows, making up his mind rather quickly. "I love you, Sloan. And I'm going to propose somethin' and I want you to listen to me."

Her eyes widen.

"Come away with me. Let's go somewhere only we know, somewhere quiet and freeing and-"

She puts a finger on his mouth. "What are you talking about? Running away?"

He grabs her wrist and Tommy leans in to run a hand over his jaw. He gets lost in her sincere eyes. "I don't much about the world, Sloan. Hell, I feel as though I barely know meself sometimes. But a life with you, I do want. I-I need it, to be honest." He set his lips firmly, his time his thumb runs over her bottom lip. "I'm certain about you."

"We can't run away together."

"Why not? I've got enough money to travel the world-" Please, please, please allow me this!

"I want to stay here." She whispered, watching the colour in Tommy's eyes shift from a soft blue to a the bright sea blue. Her fingers caress his cheek just as he was doing to her. "With you, n-not run."

His shoulders dropped. But he had hope, one last sliver of hope. Thomas noticed the crease in between her forehead and gently kissed it. "Meet me here tomorrow evening. Think about it, Sloan. I'll have my bags packed, and I hope you will too."

She nods, agreeing that she'll consider the idea of running away with Tommy.

Unfortunately, that night, when Tommy dropped her off at the hotel, he didn't receive a goodnight kiss.

Sloan didn't sleep. She paced around with nothing but an occupied mind. The truth was, she was beginning to fall deeply in love with Tommy. But to run away? It was something she didn't want.

It led to so many questions, like why did he want to run away? Why was he so adamant? Sloan felt her heart sink to her stomach as her heart rate lowered, she fell asleep with nothing but an aching heart.

The following morning, Tommy stood before his family. Today was the day Sloan Campbell was to be murdered. Polly still hadn't a clue of their plans so she was not invited to the final meeting. The entirety of that meeting, Tommy was quiet. He had his bags packed at home. He had sent a letter addressed to her to the Midland Hotel, a love letter if you will. One that contains solid information that will hopefully push Sloan into leaving with him. 

"Why is he being so quiet?" John had grumbled to Arthur who shrugged.

"I 'ave no fuckin' clue." He whispered back before the doors to the Garrison opened, revealing a shaken Polly. Her eyes are hungry for blood, her eyes set on Tommy.

"Been doin' your job have you?" She asks, hasty and panicked.

"What?"

"Spying on Campbell's child, Tommy, hows that been?!" She’s got her hands on her hips.

Fuck. He's been caught. Before he can confess, or lie, he cheek is met with Polly's hand. She slaps her nephew hard, like when she had caught him stealing from the baker down the street.

"Have you no disregard for this family?! You're fucking his daughter!"

Arthur stood from his seat, his eyes meet Thomas’s. "What the fuck is she talking about, Tom?"

“Oh yea, I’ve heard about the love letter you’ve written to her. The delivery man was practically shaking in his boots, Tom! Soon, Campbell himself will know about this!” 

“Listen to me-” Thomas begins, but Arthur lunges forward but John grabs his older brother. 

“Enough, Arthur! Sit down!” 

“I ought to kill the both of youse!” Arthur barks.

"She can't get hurt, Arthur! Oi! Listen to me!" The brother was clearly upset by how nonchalant Arthur was to his statement. Only once the brothers met each other's eyes did Thomas feel comfortable enough to speak again. "She can't get hurt."

"She's our enemy, what the fuck do you mean she can't get hurt?!" Arthur's eyes widen, he can't wrap his head around Thomas's statement. Not even a bloody week ago, the two were plotting her death.

Thomas grabs a fistful of his brothers shirt and pulls him to his chest. "You lay a finger on her and I swear, Arthur..."

"She's Campbell's daughter." He reminds his brother, just in case he tumbled and took a fall for the worse. John tries to break the two up, but there isn’t a soul that can tame Thomas when he’s passionately angry. 

But with the weak way Thomas executes his words, Arthur feels a pang in his heart. He knows that his brothers fell spellbound to the lady.

"Fuckin' hell, Tom..." Arthur takes a step back, swallowing. “You've fallen for her, haven't youse."

"She's happy." Thomas whispers, looking down as he chucked his cigarette on the cold street. "With me, I mean, she's happy."

“Fucking hell!” Arthur slams his hand against the table. “Out of all the girls in the land, you pick her!” Of course Arthur was thrilled for his brother, after all, he hadn’t been with a woman since before the war. But Sloan was too risky.

Polly speaks, "Tommy, you cannot love a woman like that, she, her father is an inspector for the government."

"But I am."

"You are what?" She's afraid to even ask.

"In love with her." He whispered.

“What do you want to do then?” Arthur finally asked after calming down. “Marry her and run off?” 

He felt his breath shake, “I honestly don’t know.” 

And yet, he found himself in Johnny's Yard at dawn. Thomas stilled as she stood on the grounds. He had wished, prayed and pleaded that she would accept his letter and pack her belongings. He saw her frame at the top of the hill, she stood beside the tree the two had laid in the past two evenings. Sloan’s heart was breaking as she stood by herself. No bags packed, all she had was the letter he had sent her at her side. She had met him here, this was the second time, and like the first, Sloan was quite anxious of what was to come.

Thomas didn’t allow the time or heart to say anything, so, instead, he cocked his gun back and swallowed. With her back to him, be began. "In the bleak midwinter."

She was shaking, and it pained Thomas to see her this way. She dropped the letter, the wind consumed it. Thomas looked up and watched as the love letter soared into the air.

"Thomas," She whispered. Sloan felt her heart in her throat, choking her. She clenched her fists. "Please why are you-"

"Shut up!" He snapped, it tore him apart. "Shut up."

Tears roll down Sloan's cheeks, all she can do is muster the strength to turn around. Her eyes met Thomas's, and when she saw the barrel of the gun, Sloan did feel like dying. Her heart was broken, the man she had fallen so rapidly in love with was going to kill her. This was a devastating love story. A tragedy she had read about in Julius book, Creid Erton.

"You didn't mean any of it then?" Sloan's voice is shaky as she speaks so timidly. "The love, the vow to protect me."

“I told you we should leave together. You should have listened.” His eyes glazed over. “You should have listened!” He shouts, and his fingers rim the trigger. 

There is a pop, and a bullet sores between the two. Tommy grabs Sloan and forces her to the ground, she gasps, looking up at Thomas who shields her, “Stay down.” He tells her. 

“Sloan!” Campbell’s voice comes from the bottom of the hill. “Shelby, you bastard, give me my daughter!” 

Sloan panics. “Let me talk to him” She tells Thomas, “He won’t hurt me if I tell him I’m safe-” 

“No!” 

“You pointed a gun at me, he thinks you’ll kill me.” 

Fuck, she’s right. “Be careful, please.” Thomas allows for her to stand, she slowly makes her way towards her father. 

“Dad, I’m alright.” She has her hands up. 

“What the bloody hell, Sloan?! What are you doing with Tommy? Do you know who this man is?!” Campbell lowers his weapon. 

“I love him, dad.” She starts.

“Love!?” He laughs, and raises his gun. “Yer just as stupid as yer mother.”

Thomas gasps and Sloan lets out a cry before a stray bullet punctures her shoulder, she falls back and sees the beautiful sky. Thomas is on his feet and shooting at Campbell who dies from a gunshot to the head. 

He races down the hill and grabs Sloan who is losing more blood every second. Thomas put pressure on it, and she screams in pain. He repeats that he loves her, and he’s sorry. Her world goes dark and the next time Sloan wakes up, she’s in a hospital in Belfast. 

And Tommy Shelby is nothing but a memory.

[agentlancelots]

rules: answer 30 questions and tag blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

tagged by: @viciousvoiid​ ( ty!! )

name/nickname: caitlin but i prefer cait

gender: cis woman

star sign: pisces sun, scorpio moon, virgo rising

height: 5′2″ and a half ... i went to the doctor last week

time: 9:18pm

birthday: february 18th

favorite bands: uhhhh just whatever <3 most of my favorite artists aren’t bands so

song stuck in my head: give it up by kc & the sunshine band

last movie: i think it was arthur newman? definitely a colin firth movie

last show: pride and prejudice 1995 ... wasn’t kidding when i said colin firth rights

when did i create this blog: july 2017

what do i post: sometimes resources, usually gifs or just silly little posts i like

last thing googled: panda hamster 

other blogs: none that i use

do i get asks: not unless i’m in the rpt talking about something

why i chose my url: after the loml, roxy morton, who is still alive and well thank u

following: 366

followers: 742

average hours of sleep: right now it’s like 7/8, but if i’m working it’s around 4

lucky number: 2

instruments: i played violin and clarinet in school, could only play a clarinet if i picked it up right now... i can play jingle bells on the guitar uhhh that’s it

what am i wearing: comfy pj pants and a captain america shirt

dream job: i don’t dream of having a job <3 i would simply like to be paid to do nothing

dream trip: i want to go back to ireland at some point, would love to go to scotland or anywhere in the uk really ... niks is with me on this dream trip

favorite song: is this of all time or right now .... bc of all time idk, but currently it’s drivers license by olivia rodrigo ... please don’t look at me like that

last book read: i haven’t read a book in years but i’m fairly certain it was the mist by stephen king

top three fictional universes i’d like to live in: i have no clue ... but i CAN say that i would like to live in a fictional world of the mid 1800s where i live in the english countryside ... i am married off to a rich military man who is gone all the time ... i am left with a big house, servants, and can do whatever i please ... he eventually dies in the war and i inherit everything <3 i don’t have children and i never marry <3 i am just a rich and sexy widow with a big home who does whatever she wants

tagging: whoever wants to do this ! here i’ll tag @hellotheres even though i know everything about her ... a subtle brag <3

[monkeebratz]

@liamnl​

(I wrote most of this up at work on tumblr mobile and it didn’t save ANY of it, so apologies if this is disjointed af as I tried to remember what all I wrote)

I won’t lie, I mostly just keep picking Diana bc she’s one of the only Justice League characters I’m familiar with beyond the absolute basics and I feel comfortable adding her. Like. I had to google who Doctor Fate is. 

(Not that he doesn't seem like a good fit tbh, tho idk which version specifically you mean? Since ig there's several?? I think if I knew more about his character and background, I'd explore him in the universe and how he interacts with Mari and the Miraculous. If you have any specific ideas, I would love to hear about them tho!)

And hoooo HOOO. Adrien calling the class/the Dupain-Cheng's about Mari being in Gotham, on the arm of one of the Rogue Gallery, as well as Damian Wayne. There are many, many unkind comments from the class. More of Lila's lies as well, hope she KNEW Marinette was working with Hawkmoth! No doubt she took his place and ran away to Gotham to play in the big league! How could she! (Honestly in this story, the class never learned she was lying so this bullshittery is still going strong.) 

Adrian just... doesn’t add to that, he knows his Lady would NEVER, and his father handed over his miraculous willingly, but Mari would kill him if he blew all of their secret identities. Even if he IS rather angry and upset she took his ring. He knows shes mad at him but that’s no reason to throw such a tantrum about it and steal his stuff! 

And as for Tom and Sabine, well. They have many mixed feelings about hearing where Mari is. Bc on the one hand, they didn’t know why Marinette ran away, and its such a relief to hear that she’s alive and where she is! But on the other, they still don’t UNDERSTAND. They don’t know that their constant encouragement to get with Adrian, letting him in the house, knowing that SOMETHING was bugging her at school but not knowing how to help and just. Letting her deal with it. All of that contributed to Marinette just running away after she gained her Guardianship. None of them really know why she left, they just ASSUME what they can, from what they know and understand. 

(And listen this is a whole nother rant about the fact that, in the show, Mari is legit stalking Adrian. Her friend. And crush. Like. That’s absolutely what’s going on and from what i’ve seen (aka not much plz no spoilers) from the finale, she may be finally be letting go of this. And Tom and Sabine seem pretty aware of what she’s doing so no doubt they don’t think much of Adrian’s behavior but damn. DAMN. I DON’T CARE FOR THIS SHIT. anyway back to our regularly scheduled program-) 

And honestly, both of them would probably go to Gotham as soon as they can, but it takes time, and they run a popular bakery. By themselves. So its going to take a couple days at least. And by that time, really, most everything will be in motion and Tom and/or Sabine would be getting in Marinette’s way with the Justice League or the Rogue Gallery. 

But lets say Tom DID immediately go to Gotham. Track down Marinette. Shows up to Arthur’s with broken English and Rapid French and Arthur has no idea what’s going on. Really, just assumes he’s heard about Mari from one of the Rogue’s and starts measuring him for a suit. Mari, of course, hears the commotion, and just about brains herself trying to run down the stairs to throw herself at Tom. Because that’s still her dad. She still loves him. And she missed her parents something fierce, even if they hadn’t really helped with the whole... situation. 

Its a very touching reunion tbh, and Arthur of course offers to let Tom stay above the shop too. He really thinks Mari should head back with her family, but, well. Mari’s really never listened to him anyways. And, as nice as it would be for a Dupain-Cheng family reunion, Tom doesn’t know what’s going on and Mari doesn’t really want to give her father a Miraculous. So she wouldn’t. She’d tell him to go back to Paris and wait for her to come back. (She wouldn’t.) 

Yeah you were probably hoping for the big sappy reunion with everything fixed but... no. Mari has started making her own life, and as much as she loves her parents, they don’t really have a place in it here in Gotham. And after everything that happens with the reveil of the Miraculous to the Rogue Gallery and the Justice League after her, and her eventually rebuilding the order... she doesn’t particularly want them there. Oh, she’ll visit on occasion, and call, but the straw broke this camel’s back a while ago. 

hhh i really need to write the next installment of this au so everyone can get an explanation but I am. A sleepy bean. 

[daisydays-26]

Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs: Jack Stoty Idea

So I know the end credits gave us that fish girl but I’ve had this idea in my head and I’d like to propose it. Also it’s longer than intended and it’s on mobile version. I’m sorry.

So, what if the F7, being newly reintroduced as their dwarf forms, get a call from a woman one day. Of course the gentlemen set out this time, with Snow White bc I really want to include her. The girl that calls them is non-other than Rapunzle (which I know Prince Average mentioned but I’m getting to that. Also this Rapunzle is heavily based on the Disney one, bc I wanted to give her magic hair, if that’s alright with you guys.)

Rapunzle has just discovered that she is indeed a missing princess of a kingdom. Her suspicions began when Prince Average found her and tried to convinced her to leave her tower, with the exception that she date him. She refuses, due to Mother Gothel telling her to never trust strangers and Rapunzle kicks him out of the tower. However, before she does so, Prince Average tries to tell her that she’s a missing Princess and will reunit her with her family if she came with him. Rapunzle states that he’s crazy and must be mistaken, throwing out of the tower.

Overtime, though, she begins to notice little things. Like how every time Rapunzle even mentions going outside, her Mother quickly shuts her down, even if she agrees to go with her. Or how they share no genetic resemblance. Or the fact that they live in a tower in the middle of no where. One night, Rapunzle confronts her, leading to them fighting and Rapunzle nearly escaping. Then the F7 arrive.

She explains her situation, and that her hair is so long due to her mother needing to climb the tower and that it had healing powers, which are lost if cut. Which is the whole reason she stayed in the first place, she thought that Mother Gothek was protecting her when really she was using her. The boys sympathize and ask why she needs them. Rapunzle request that they help her find the kingdom that’s missing her, and to help her learn about reality while doing so. She wants to have new experience while also staying safe. The world is still so new to her. The F7 (or F8 with Snow) agree.

Some of the boys talk amongst themselves in the journey about breaking their curses, however most of them are already in loving relationships and are just waiting for the kiss. However, Jack mentions how his fish woman was just trying to get to his riches, and left him for another merman. He then goes on to say how he isn’t going to try to gain her affections solely for a kiss. He will go with the flow and if things happen they happen, but if he’s honest, he not sure he’s ready for anything new. The rest of the F7 give their condolences as they walk along the trail to the nearest city, where they begin their investigation.

So the story would be that Mother Gothel follows them and try to hunt them down while the boys help Rapunzle and split up and all this. There might be some cute scenes between Merlin and Snow, where he gives her tips in adventuring, but she out does him and winds up being able to investigate better than him. For the most part Jack would stay with Rapunzle while they ask around and adventure. Rapunzle’s in awe of everything and Jack would just find her adorable at everything she’s doing. At some point as they’re walking to meet up with the rest of the group to see what they’ve found, Jack noticed Rapunzle covering her arms with hair. “Why are you doing that?”

“Well it’s because I noticed people looking at my freckles and my hair, and I just don’t like people staring at me.”

“I’m sure they’re staring because of how beautiful you are. You should not be embarrassed of things like that. Your freckles are lovely.”

“Thank you.” (I thought this seems sweet bc Jack seemed very particular about his skin. It would also work toward the liking someone despite looks or what other people think someone should look like.)

So everyone reunites and Snow mentions how she found out that someone heard news of a missing princess near (Enter Kingdom Name Here). They begin to head that direction. While on the road, they stop and Rapunzle and Jack have a talk while everyone else is asleep. It would be something about parents. Maybe how Rapunzle was nervous to meet hers due to her never meeting them before. What if they’re not as great as she’s making them out to be? Or she doesn’t know how to act around them? Or she’s not the daughter they’ve always wanted-

Jack relieves her worries by teing about his past. How he never had a dad and his family was always poor. That he use to no take life very seriously, and his mother would always get frustrated with him about it. But even till the very end she loved him. So no matter who her parent are, they’re going to love her, and she’s going to love them. Especially if it’s been 18 years. It’s very sweet. Soft smiles after wards.

The next day they arrive at the kingdom to find that it’s a celebration, another bouniful year for the kingdom lots of thriving, but it’s also another year without the princess. The kingdom decides to focus on the brighter things. There’s lot of visitors for the fireworks and lanterns latter that night. The gang decides to join the celebration for the day before meeting Rapunzles parents, mainly because she’s not ready. There’s a lot of cute moments where Jack and Rapunzle hang out. Maybe even some scenes where no one is looking and she’s enjoying her self and it flashes to Real Jack looking at her. At this point he’s fallen for her. The gang rents boats to watch the fireworks and lanterns. The triplets braid her hair bc “she can’t get in the boat with all that hair.” They split up in boats as is follows; Merlin and Snow, Arthur and Hans, Jack and Rapunzle, and the Triplets.

Of course Jack and Rapunzle are gonna have that moment of “you get to find a new dream.” Sorry I’m basing so much of this off of Tangled, I just think it’s really fitting. Like:

“What do I do now? Now that my dream is ending.”

“Well that’s the fun part, you get to find a new dream.”

Okay so like “I See the Light” is def happening between them bc it’s super cute and fits the motif of seeing the real you. And I think the lyrics are really fitting. And Rapunzle is just mesmerized at these lights. And then right before the last line there’s a rise in the song and that’s when they kiss and Jack transforms back. And then the last line is “Now that I seeeee youuuu~” and Rapunzles face is shocked but also excited. And then while they’re on the boat he says he was cursed and all that. Rapunzle’s chill about it and they kiss again.

And then, they set up camp on the edge of the forest near the pond they were at. Everyone sleeps soundly until there’s a shuffle in the middle of the night. Jack wakes up to see Mother Gothel has kidnapped Rapunzle. He cases after her only for Mother Gothel to steal a horse and leave. The rest of F8 catch up to Jack.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Rapunzle! No time to explain. Follow me!” Jack hastily grabs a horse- leaving Merlin to pay- and they all chase after her.

And then there’s some big confrontation in the tower where Jack gets hurt while fighting off Gothel. Rapunzle has to heal him but Jack cuts her hair off, turning it red. Gothel dies. And then they do the thing. You know:

“Rapunzle,”

“what?”

“You were my new dream.”

“And you were mine.”

The F8 arrive, hurt and sad at the scene. Then Rapunzle crys and heals him. And he says the epic line of “Did I tell you I’ve always had a thing for red heads.” And She hugs him. The F8 tackle him.

“You’re Alive!!!”

“Not if you keep lying on me!”

And then they reunit her with her family and they get married. Sorry this is so long.

EDIT: THEY FRENCH BRAID HER HAIR HOW COULD I MISS THAT

[opheliasbrokenmind]

new chapter - john shelby

requested by: anon said ‘3 from the prompt kiss for John Shelby ❤️’

prompt 3 : A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond.

word count : 2.7K+

a/n: well well well, so i made up the monastery and nursing education thing, don’t know there is something like that lol. btw this one doesn’t include martha and the kids bc i didn’t want to make the reader suffer much more hahaha. enjoy yourselves loves <3333

When you heard a knock on the door, you jumped slightly and closed your book. ‘Who the fuck is that at the three in the morning?’ You murmured and wore your cardigan on your silk nightgown. The person knocked again but you wouldn’t say that knocking, he was hitting the door wildly. You frowned, a little afraid but didn’t worry so much because you knew people can’t dare to come to your house, knowing who you were. In the end, you were a beloved friend of Shelby’s. At least most of them. They knew you since you were a teenage girl, you moved to Small Heath when you were fifteen. After a short time, you became friends with Ada and of course, with the rest of the Shelbys. 

Ada was your best friend and you always got on well with Tommy and even his family thought you were something.. more than friends. You always see him as a friend, though and same thing for him. You two supported each other and gave advice, but nothing more. You also got along with Arthur and Finn, even with Polly and his son Michael. The only problem was John Shelby. You had to admit, things weren’t that bad before but now you hated each other. You were at the Shelby house when you first met him, he asked you if you were a whore. ‘Excuse me? You know nothing about how to talk to a lady, do you?’

You shouted and he threw a cocky smile in your way, ‘A lady?? You’re a teenage girl or a whore who looks so young, love. I’ll vote for the second, considering your clothes.’ He said the last part slowly and turned his eyes to your naked legs, you were wearing just a nightgown. You opened your mouth to talk and stop his glances but Ada burst into the room, ‘John! Stop looking at her like you’re about to eat her!! What the hell you thinking you’re doing? She is my friend you lunatic idiot!’ Ada screamed and Polly came in, ‘What’s happening?’ She turned your eyes to you, waiting for an explanation.

‘Well, last night I stayed with Ada and came here for a glass of water and I saw him, h-’ Ada cut off your sentence, ‘John was eye-fucking her when I came in! You need to do something Pol.’ Polly rolled her eyes, ‘You’re not little kids Ada, figure this out yourselves.’ You went upstairs, ignoring John’s eyes and Ada followed you. ‘I’m sorry, y/n.’ You smiled gently, ‘‘s okay, A. You’re not responsible for him, he didn’t know who was I also.’ She let out a heavy breath, ‘Thanks for not freaking out right now.’ You laughed and hugged her, ‘You’re my best friend.’

So your first meeting with John was not great but that didn’t stay like that. Soon, he apologized and when Ada went to a monastery for nursing education, you two got closer. You had blood phobia and you were definitely not a religious person so you didn’t go with her. John took you out of the country sometimes and you had so much fun with him. When that summer ended, you were like twins. Oh, but twins don’t have feelings for each other, do they? Feelings that make your heart flutter, you wanted to scream every time you saw him. You understood you fell for him when Ada asked you questions but all you could think was John.

‘From earth to y/n, what’s wrong with you?’ She asked and waved to get your attention, ‘Nothing, just thinking.’ She smiled, ‘Thinking about who?’ You looked at her, ‘John. No! I mean, Jews. What do you think about the Jews?’ You asked, trying to hide your stupidity. ‘My sweet y/n, you think you can fool me? Don’t tell me you fell for him. You’re not that stupid, he is arrogant.’ You grinned sheepishly, ‘Of course not. We spent some time together when you were away and he is a good guy. That’s all.’ Ada smiled but looked suspicious, she didn’t ask more questions, knowing you won’t answer.

Your friendship with John didn’t end but you weren’t close when Ada came back. You were too afraid to tell him how you felt, what if he ridicules you? You couldn’t bear it, you knew this. He was only two years older than you and years went so fast as you turn to eighteen. You thought your feelings would disappear as you grew up, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Even looking at him became torture for you and seeing him with random girls... You didn’t believe life after death but if there was a place called hell, yours would be just like this.

Then your worst nightmare came, the war. You didn’t want to let him go, you thought of everything to stop him from going there, but you didn’t do anything. You wanted to tell him, write to him. The years were so painful, they were like centuries. You didn’t spend a day without thinking about him, wondering if he was still alive. You prayed to God you didn’t believe for him. You prayed for all of them, every fucking hour of every fucking day. ‘You’re really going.’ You said when he was leaving for the war. ‘I am, aren’t I?’ He smiled widely as your heart skipped. ‘Come back here one piece, alright?’ You told, trying to sound like you don’t care. ‘I’ll be here.’

He looked bemused, ‘You’ll be here?’ You frowned, ‘Of course I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.’ You whispered under your breath, he heard you anyway. You stepped closer and planted a kiss on his cheek, moved away when his hand touched your small one. You ran to the Tommy and hugged him, leaving a shocked John alone. He stood for minutes, his hand on his cheek you kissed. That little kiss was the only thing you did on purpose to show him your feelings, but in your thoughts, he’d think you were just like a sister for him. You never believe that he’ll love you back and maybe that was the reason why you didn’t tell him.

You couldn't sleep when you haven’t heard from him. You couldn’t sleep when you reminded yourself that what could he’s dealing with right now. You couldn’t sleep when the news wrote that there were bodies they couldn’t specify their identities. You couldn’t sleep when the war ended because you didn’t hear from the boys for a while. You couldn’t sleep, you were too afraid. But they came back, they came back to their family. You were helping to Ada and Polly with the business. You went with them to the train station. 

You saw the three eldest Shelby boys, you knew they changed before you saw them. They came back as men. When you looked into John’s eyes, you couldn’t see him. You couldn’t see the boy you loved for years, there was a broken man in his eyes. You didn’t know what to do so you greeted him simply and left there, saying that you didn’t feel good. You couldn’t sleep that night, it was like the boy you love was gone. You cried all night and didn’t go to work for a few days. Ada came to your house and found you in your bed, sobbing. She didn’t say anything but she understood you even though you said nothing.

The conversations you had with John was only formal, you didn’t speak to him unless it was necessary. His family noticed but didn’t say anything, Tommy tried to talk but you refused. You couldn’t sleep when you heard that John was going to marry Esme. You didn’t expect anyone to ask you or tell you but it was so unexpected for you. You didn’t go to the wedding, finding pretexts. You heard that he was happy, you didn’t do or say anything but when his lovely wife started to work in the betting shop.. that was too much, even for you. 

John was there when you rudely opened the door of Tommy’s office, ‘Can we talk?’ You asked Tommy, ignoring his brother’s eyes. ‘Yeah, I’m listening.’ He noticed you didn’t want to speak in front of John, of course. ‘Alone.’ You insisted. ‘Whatever you’re going to say, you can tell him.’ Tommy pushed you and you did everything to stay calm. ‘Alright, I’m quitting the job.’ John’s lips parted apart, a shocked expression covered his beautiful face. ‘What?’ Thomas didn’t say anything like he was waiting for this. ‘I want to start a business of my own.’ That was all you said.

You cried that day when you left the building. You didn’t bother to pick your things, you knew Ada would bring them to you. You had plenty of money, you bought a place near your house and turned it to a flower shop. There were women to help you and you weren’t so sad for a while. But one day the doorbell rang and you saw the man you never expected, John. He came in and walked to you slowly, you froze. ‘Hey.’ He said. ‘How can I help you?’ You asked like he was a stranger to you. ‘I came here to buy some flowers, for Esme.’ That was enough for you, you called a woman. ‘Can you help this man? I have some errands to run.’ 

You left the shop, went to your house and after drinking some alcohol, you allowed yourself to break into tears. You wanted to die, to disappear. You’d be thankful if someone came in and killed you. Someone actually came, but he was Tommy. He knew, of course, he knew. He took you into his arms and you cried, stopped holding the tears. The pain you felt made you feel sick, you couldn’t take it. ‘I’ll kill myself.’ Your voice cracked, Tommy held you tighter. ‘That’s not happening, love. Not as long as I live. John was there because they fought. I don’t think they can continue this.’ He explained and you asked, ‘What?’

‘When I forced him to marry Esme, I thought he’d love her and I’d win. I didn’t expect him to act wild, he hates her. I mean, he always tells that he can’t be with a woman he doesn’t love and I’m tired of this, you know. If he doesn’t want this, I can’t control him for years. I just want to ask you one thing, are you going to tell him how you feel?’ You looked at Tommy and gave a shaky breath, ‘No. I stayed silent for too long and I’m not willing to reveal my feelings now. Do they even matter, to him? I don’t think so, Tommy. This is a thing that should have ended years ago, I’m just being childish.’ He didn’t say anything and left after comforting you. 

It’s been two weeks since all of these happened, you continued to work and Ada came to see you nearly every day. You didn’t see the other Shelbys, at least you didn’t see John. Finn brought you some pastries from the cafe you used to go when he was a little boy and Michael asked you if you needed anything. You also spent some time with your other friends but you weren’t expecting anyone. ‘Hello?’ You asked as you opened the door and you were speechless when you saw the person outside your door. Your jaw dropped to the floor as you stared at him with wide-open eyes. ‘W-what are you doing here?’ You forced yourself the speak.

‘Can I come in?’ was all he said before stepping in, you closed the door behind him. He walked and sat on the big sofa you were reading on until he came. ‘What’s happening?’ You talked again, trying to put a stern expression on your face. You walked to where he sat slowly, dragging your feet. You stopped when you stood in front of him and couldn’t speak when you saw his face. John Shelby’s beautiful face was covered in tears, you brought your hand to your mouth as you stepped back. A new feeling attacked you, fear. What could make him came to your house at the three of the morning and cry? ‘I’m sorry.’ He whispered as a tear fell down from his cheek. 

His hand reached for you and then you saw that his wedding ring was nowhere to be seen. You didn’t protest when he pulled you to sit next to him. ‘Why are you sorry?’ You asked but didn’t wait to hear an answer and hugged him shyly. ‘Jesus, y/n. I’m so sorry. I should have known.’ He cried softly on your chest and you squeezed his shoulder, tried to show that you were here. ‘Shhh, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want. You can tell me later.’ You spoke kindly, reaching for the thin blanket without leaving him. ‘No. I have to speak, you have a right to know.’ He stopped you and you gestured him to speak. 

‘I.. I don’t know where to start. You probably don’t know, we divorced with Esme cause I couldn’t stand anymore. Tommy told me something... something that I should know before. I thought you hated me y/n. You always seemed nervous whenever I came. You didn’t even look at me, you didn’t speak to me when we came back from France. There was always a distance between us and I thought that was what you want. I wanted to be with you, I wanted to tell you that I love you but I was scared! I was scared because I thought you saw me as a friend, as a brother. How could I be so stupid? I should have talked to you. We lost years, y/n and I broke your heart countless times, didn’t I?’

You couldn’t say anything when he stopped talking, you were stunned. You knew that he was telling the truth and the truths... are bitter. You didn’t realize that you were crying until a big hand covered your cheek and his thumb wiped the tears away. You tried to stifle a sob but you couldn’t.. You sobbed as he took you in his arms and hugged you but you escaped from him. ‘I can’t believe.’ You whispered to yourself and closed your eyes, ‘I love you, John. I loved you since the day you took me to picnic the summer when Ada wasn’t here. But... I don’t know what to do right now.’ Then, the first time that night, you looked at him. You saw the deep meaning behind his ocean eyes, you saw how different he looked.

John looked at you, your lovely eyes still shining with tears but they were looking at him directly. His stares fell from your eyes to your lips, your mouth parted slightly as he licked his dry lips. He thought how vulnerable you looked before talking and then, a breathy demand fell from his lips, ‘Kiss me.’ You felt the feelings in his voice and you didn’t hesitate for a second before touching to his lips with yours. You kissed him softly at first but passion took you over and he responded to you, capturing your lips. You took off his cap as his hands cupped your cheeks and he deepened the kiss. When you parted away, both of you were breathless. You didn’t open your eyes and John rested his forehead on yours.

He moved away from your face a little to see you better, he was mesmerized with the sight. That was the face he wanted to see every morning when he opened his eyes. ‘I love you since I saw you that morning, in the kitchen. You were the most natural and innocent girl I’ve ever seen in my life and I was captivated. I want you since that day, y/n. I’m sorry for not telling you how I felt earlier.’ You opened your eyes and smiled brightly, ‘I’m sorry, too. But we wasted enough time.’ He looked nervous and you continued, ‘I told you I’ll always be here when you were leaving for the war. I’m still here and I won’t leave.’ A small smile played on his lips, ‘What do you want me to do now?’

‘Now? Oh, kiss me.’ You said and he attacked to your lips as his smile widened and you laughed into the kiss. It was like you were sixteen again, the boy you loved was in your arms and kissing you. Yeah, you waited for too long but it worth it. It was the beginning of a new chapter and both of you were ready for it.

[glatisants]

Albion: The Legend of Arthur (Part VII of XIII)

Part VII: Mons Begonogus

The Battle of Badon begins.

***

Griff tells Arthur that he intends to serve him as well as he can and that he feels he’s been given a new start on life, and confirms that he’s fully on board with having Cynon see justice if that’s Arthur’s wish.

Faramir tells Medraut his forces are sweeping north, will “cut into the country like a blade under the ribs,” and should encounter Ambrosius and his forces soon enough. Medraut is annoyed that Faramir’s forces overstepped the agreed-upon boundaries in their invasion, and points out that he would still like to have a people left to rule when this is over.

Arthur and Gwenhwyvar speak. She is concerned that they have not had enough time to prepare for the incoming Saxons; in contrast, Arthur is blithely untroubled. Arthur hints that he wishes they could’ve found some time together, but she brushes him off—there’s been far too much to do, and they both needed the sleep.

Griff and Cled inform Owain that Myrddin has been spotted following the warband. Gwen catches him alone and confesses that she is worried their people have gotten too used to victory, that Ambrosius is getting old, that Arthur doesn’t see the danger that they see; Owain cannot describe the dread he feels, and agrees that Arthur believes in his uncle entirely. She says that Ambrosius claims to unite all Britons but they remain fractured, and if they do survive the Saxon invasion they’ll only face more hardship in the future. Owain tells her about Myrddin, and she demands to see him.

The two of them find Myrddin, and he recognizes Gwenhwyvar, mistaking her at first with her deceased sister Gwenhwyvach. They knew each other when she was a young girl, and she says she thought him dead. Myrddin explains that when he went into the woods he vowed that he would return in troubled times, and he prophesies that there will be war, death, and chaos.

He says that the wrong stories have been told for too long, and this will destroy them. Their people are not the Romans; the fact that Gwenhwyvar can command her warriors is a way of the old tribes, one that Roman tradition would not stand for but Ambrosius was happy to ignore bc she was useful to him. The Britons are also not united by Christ, and the old gods have crept back to the people; even Ambrosius venerates Mithras while upholding the Christian faith. He says that the Britons are no united people, and that’s just a story they tell themselves to make sense of the havoc they cause and justify their actions.

Owain is uncomfortable with this sort of talk, but Gwen hushes him and asks Myrddin what stories they should be telling instead. He responds that the people must be ready to act when the Romans finally falter; in a vision, he saw that a golden dragon would rise and unite the people at last, and he believes this figure to be Arthur.

The two talk as they leave Myrddin. Owain is relieved—if the predictions are correct, that will mean a peaceful succession and a triumph over the Saxons. Gwen tells him what she knows about the prophet—he was once a warrior and advisor to a lord and renowned for his political skill, but when his lord was killed by Ambrosius, he feigned madness and went into exile. If he hadn’t done so, he would have been put to death. Gwen’s father respected Myrddin, and she does too; she’s allowed him to join her retinue, as she believes they’ll want him close, if his visions are indeed true. Owain is fine with it, as he’s Gwen’s baggage now.

Myrddin mutters to himself about whether pride and courage will be enough to see Ambrosius and his men through the battle ahead.

***

A messenger approaches Ambrosius and his men to tell them that several thousand Saxons are coming their way, slaughtering all in their path, and they intend to destroy the army. They will only have a day to prepare, at most. Too far along the road to turn back, and too few to face the Saxons head on, they head to the old fort of Badon, in the hopes they can scrape together an advantage and maintain a decent defense. Gwen is reluctant, as the fort has been abandoned for many years, and may be in poor shape; she also points out that it was a difficult corner to defend even in better times, and there’s nowhere to fall back once the Saxons arrive. Ambrosius decides that they will go there anyway. At Badon, they find the fort in reasonable shape, with enough supplies for a few days, and they assign men to their positions.

Owain and Arthur talk. They’re both nervous, and while Arthur likes the anticipation, Owain wonders if coming there was a mistake. Arthur reassures him that they’ll be fine, they always are (which I take to mean things will not be fine).

Ambrosius requests Arthur’s presence in the chapel. Ambrosius expresses doubt for the future, and asks Arthur if his hope to unite all of Albion has just been an unachievable dream. Arthur reassures him, but Ambrosius fears he could be running out of time, and tells Arthur that when that day comes he must take power with both hands, for there is a distinct possibility that neither of them will survive the battle ahead. As such, Arthur’s efforts will carry a great deal of weight in the coming times, and everything rests on him.

Cynon meets with Aergol, and asks him what he thinks their chances are like. Aergol’s keeping a cool head, but Cynon can perceive that his father is afraid—he’s never seen him afraid before. He confesses some of his insecurities about not being his father’s favorite, and Aergol tries to reassure him, but Cynon just responds that it somehow feels too late for him to try to seek his father’s approval.

Griff and Cled wait and keep watch in one of the towers, and discuss past fighting experiences—Griff says that he never remembers the battles, just the waiting.

Arthur checks in with Owain; they’re both starting to agree that going to Badon was a mistake, and it’s the first thing they’ve agreed on in a long time. Arthur says they’ve been through a lot together, and that Owain really is his best friend. Owain starts to say something about if they don’t make it out, but Arthur stops him, saying they will, that they have to. At that moment, a scout rides up to the gate with the news that the Saxons are coming.

The men soon see that there are thousands of Saxons closing in on them. Arthur is covering the gate, and he gives a rousing speech to encourage his men to fight. The men hold the gate as the Saxons attempt to push through, and the men under Owain’s command at the wall successfully drive back the first wave. Cynon is triumphant, but Ambrosius says they’ll be back, and Gwen adds that they were merely testing their defenses. She and Ambrosius are both grave—they can see that they have too few men, and nowhere to go.

Aergol tells the generals they have to hold the gate. Arthur follows the order, but Owain points out that they won’t be able to hold the fort for long. Meanwhile, Cynon excuses himself to meet with Rhun. He wonders aloud if Arthur may come to harm out there, and Rhun coolly replies that ideally that won’t happen before they see their victory, for he’s their best hope at getting out alive.

Like Owain, Gwen worries about what they’ll do when the men are unable to hold the gate. Both doubt that it will be enough.

The Saxons start firing arrows at the fort while trying to force the gate. Owain warns Arthur not to lead from the front, but Arthur says his place is with his men, and insists that it all rests on his shoulders. While rallying his men to hold their formation, Arthur is hit; Gwen and Owain rush to get the gate wedged shut and pull him back, but he appears to have been slain. Owain desperately calls out his name in the hopes that he can still be revived. 

[goodboyeijirou]

i just had the most extensive dream about this like russian revolution like anastasia au for drarry and OMG IT WAS SO GOOD

hedwig was the lady who took him in and then liek way later he named the owl after her

he runs from the dursley’s who are abusive fucks

hedwig teaches harry about the great parts of communism why it’s great

one day there’s an american prisoner (like hagrid or something) at the place he lives

and he starts spewing all these things about the dangers of communism and how the czar (voldemort) is taking advantage of it and how he and the order (of phoenix) will help take it back and restore the only living heir of the royal family

well they transport him away in a train (hogwarts express) to be taken to the palace for voldemort

harry stows away

halfway through they stop and harry is in danger of being caught so he gets off (little does he know it’s ron and hermione trying to rescue hagrid at which they don’t succeed)

whole time he keeps getting flashbacks of his parents being killed by an evil man and his followers

he is wandering when he’s found by draco and snape

they are in charge of finding “the chosen one” for lord voldemort

they take him in, not telling him he’s being taken to the dark lord not to his godfather who is searching for him

he wears a hat for most of the time

draco has never been a supporter of communism or the dark lord

he doesn’t know snape is secretly working for the order of the phoenix

so maybe that’s why his entire body is screaming at him to protect this boy

or maybe it’s the fact that harry is the most beautiful and kind person he’s ever met and oh no he’s falling

draco spends his time grooming harry for “sirius”, cleaning him up and teaching him how to act around royalty

he takes off harry hat and sees his scar and freezes

this is the real harry potter...

...and draco is sending him to his death.

he kind of recedes and harry worries

why is draco not spending any time with him anymore? did he do something wrong? after all he had started to develop feelings for the blonde

snape takes over his “grooming”

tells him that he knew the royal family, was an advisor for them. knew harry’s mother since childhood. loved her just as long

he stares at harry for a moment, a deep sorrow carved in his features and says, “You have your mother’s eyes.”

harry is left alone with his thoughts for a moment and reflets with hedwig

draco comes in and starts telling harry the truth when the train gets attacked

draco thinks he is betraying snape and hiding harry away in the wardrobe but then snape tells him that he is working for the other side and will help draco

during battle (it’s the death eaters) snape is killed by voldemort

when draco returns, harry is gone.

lucius finds draco in his room and takes him to the dark lord

voldemort asks him where the boy is and draco explains that the boy was a fake and during the battle he fled

voldemort is mad and makes draco take on the dark mark to pledge his allegiance to communism and the new regime

draco suffers through the whole thing, thinking about green eyes and the warmest heart.

meanwhile...

harry is rescued (yay!) by the order (molly and Arthur weasley) and taken to 12 grimmauld place

he meets sirius and happiness ensues

why was he taken though? draco and snape were doing the same thing

oh honey.. they were taking you to the dark lord to be killed

snape is a traitor

draco is the son of monsters (poor boy)

draco would never.. would he?

plus he thought snape loved his mother.. (doesn’t know he’s dead from protecting harry)

well anyway

there’s an uprising

harry is taking back the throne and restoring russia to its former glory

the order storms the palace and a huge battle ensues

draco keeps catching glimpses of harry fighting his way to the heart of the battle

unbeknownst to harry, draco is protecting him

later in the battle, harry is ultimately captured by bellatrix

they don’t know if this is the fake or real harry potter (with how many fakes there have been presented as real to voldemort)

they summon draco (can’t present the wrong boy)

“is this him?”

draco can’t speak

harry is in front of him, on his knees with this look of utter... determinedness

draco blinks, swallows his panic and speaks, “i can’t be sure.”

harry’s eyes widen microscopically

bellatrix repeats herself, “are you joking? you were the one who brought disgrace to the malfoys when you saved the boy in the first place. so if you recognize him, which you should, you should say so, boy!”

and suddenly harry’s memories fly through his brain a mile per second

he sees those eyes, though larger and younger, sees the worry in them as he sneaks harry and sirius out of the palace through the servants quarters.

he sees them now, still worried but now with a twinge of guilt and he looks away from harry with his brows decidedly furrowed

before they can get any farther, the order storms the room and chaos follows

draco crouches down time harry, looks him in the eyes, reaches for his hand and whispers “follow me”

so harry does

with wonder in his eyes, he follows this boy

this boy who refuses to conform

who perseveres through his beliefs steadfastly

and who harry can’t stop thinking about

harry thinks he would follow him to the ends of the earth if draco so desired

but instead he follows him into the servants quarters of the palace

harry recognizes the room, the situation

he pulls back on dracos hand and they stop

“draco, i...”

those eyes stare back at him fondly

before harry can get any more words in, the ground underneath them starts to churn and their eyes widen before the continue running out of the palace

they make it outside and are halfway across a bridge when it’s rips in half, throwing draco into the river and harry to his hands and knees an few feet away

“DRACO!!”

basically there’s a battle but voldemort like gets the upper hand and they also end up back near the palace

well guess what there’s the death eaters

voldemort captures and takes him to the death eaters in the forest

here’s the prisoner! it’s hagrid

turns out the reason why harry felt drawn to him is because hagrid took him from the palace from draco to the dursley’s (who were distant cousins of the royal family but avid communists) (also took from sirius bc at the time they thought sirius was the one who let voldemort in, but it was snape ): )

so they recognize each other

voldemort has harry and says like “finally the last of the royal family will fall to communism!”

and then voldemort stab

but he miss important organs ya know

so voldemort walks away and says, “check if he dead”

narcissa walk up

she say “will you spare him?”

“i love him”

she squeeze shoulder

“he’s dead”

hagrid sad :(

“we have won, comrades. let us show the enemy. you. take him”

hagrid have to take harry back to courtyard

voldemort say “he is dead! the prince is dead! you lose binch! now, if anyone want to be communist, come on”

draco! he appear!

“Lord voldemort you’re a pussy ass bitch let go of my dead boyfriend”

or something like that

harry hear draco and he say

“i’m alive!” he stab voldemort with dagger tried to kill him with and run to draco

they embrace and then run!

they fight for a bit and then voldemort come back he not all the way dead yet and harry fighting but not doing great (also draco was knocked unconscious from blow he took for harry early on)

and then the sword of gryffindor appear (it’s the royal family one) and draco take it

harry in the ground voldemort coming towards with knife and then chop!

he don’t have a head :)

draco saves the day!

he drops the sword and runs to harry

“are you alright?”

“i am now”

epilogue time!!

they get married and are kings of russia :D

[generallynerdy]

Our Little Secret Part 14/Finale (Merlin & Child!Reader, Mordred X Reader)

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13

Summary: (Y/N) and Merlin have to come to terms with their little secret being revealed. Everyone else has to adjust to the fact that they’ve been lied to for years by the two people they trusted most.

Key: (Y/N) - your name

Warnings: eMoTiONs, mentions of injuries, mentions of near death, recovery, magic-phobia?, u can’t prove that it’s an author insert fuck u

Word Count: 4,236

Note: is it,,,is it over yet? am i free,,,? extra long final (except the epilogue) part bc i love u

    “This is harder than I thought it would be,” (Y/N) muttered, legs hanging over the edge of the mountain.

    “Really?” Beside her, Merlin snorted. “This isn’t even the worst it could be.”

    She looked over at him with wide eyes. “What’s the worst it could be?”

    “Uther could still be alive.”

    “Touché.”

    The pair rested in silence, watching the sun slowly crawl up the sky. Dawn had come a while ago, but they had yet to leave Camlann. Arthur wanted to scour the battlefield for their men, dead and wounded. They gathered all the dead and were giving them proper funerals or packing up their bodies to take back to family, if they had any. The wounded were taken care of by Gaius, but many of them didn’t survive.

    (Y/N) had not entered the medic tent again, instead spending her time with Merlin and giving Arthur a few hours time before she dared show her face. It killed her to stay away from Mordred, but she felt it was best.

    “I’m sorry for everything,” (Y/N) said suddenly, breaking the silence. “For not talking to you, for not listening to you, either.”

    “No, you were right not to,” Merlin admitted, not looking away from the view in front of them. “I was being ridiculous. I was so worried about Mordred being the druid to kill Arthur that I didn’t consider that my decisions might push him to that.”

    (Y/N)’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t your fault, Merlin. Morgana controlled him.”

    “The only reason he didn’t choose it on his own was because of you,” Merlin said, finally turning to her. “If Arthur had made a decision against magic or someone doing magic, Mordred might have turned. You being here stopped him and I should’ve seen that.”

    “So…” She grinned. “Are you sorry for being a clotpole?”

    Merlin sighed and put an arm around her, drawing her into a hug. “I’m sorry for being a clotpole.”

    It took (Y/N) a while to get the courage to go into the medic tent again. When she did, she saw Leon lingering by Mordred’s cot. Gwen and Arthur were nowhere in sight, nor was Gaius, but he was rather busy as it was.

    She wandered over to the cot, pulling up a chair and sitting on the opposite side that Leon did. She didn’t meet his gaze at first, just taking Mordred’s hand and remaining silent.

    “(Y/N)?” Leon started.

    It took everything in her to ignore him, to look down at her hands and refuse to make eye contact. Though he couldn’t get her complete attention, she was still listening and he knew it.

    “I don’t hate you.”

    (Y/N)’s head shot up against her own intuition. She didn’t speak, eyebrows lowered and searching his face to see if he was lying.

    “I don’t hate you,” he said again, a little louder. “I could never.”

    He’d heard what she said to Gaius about being worried that everyone would hate her. What (Y/N) didn’t understand was how he didn’t hate her.

    “I’ve been lying to you since I’ve known you,” she said. “How are you not upset?”

    Leon sighed. “I’m...upset you didn’t feel like you could trust me with your little secret, but nothing else.”

    “You--” (Y/N) tilted her head. “You don’t think magic is evil?”

    “Druids saved my life, remember?” He smiled fondly. “Since then, I’ve known magic isn’t innately evil. And neither are you. You’re my friend, my sister. The most evil thing you’ve done to me is have Spot wake me up in the morning.”

    (Y/N) laughed shakily, remembering it fondly. She did it a little too often, more than Leon would like, but it was entertaining.

    “The others don’t hate you, either,” Leon said.

    She shook her head. “You don’t know that.”

    “I’m sure of it. If they really love and care about you, then this won’t change anything,” he told her. “It hasn’t for me.”

    “Thank you,” she whispered, moving her hand from Mordred’s to his, making him smile.

    There was a pause before he squeezed her hand and stood, letting go. “I’ll check on the others. Take care of him.”

    “I will,” (Y/N) muttered as he left.

    For a good while, (Y/N) was left alone. She dozed off a few times, trying to get much needed rest. Gaius dropped by and checked on her wounds, which were luckily minor. She never left Mordred’s side, constantly making sure he was alright. It took him a few hours, just as Merlin predicted, before he began to stir.

    “(Y/N)?” He croaked out, opening his eyes slowly.

    She snapped to attention and smiled, holding his hand. When he started to sit up, she stopped him. “Careful, careful. Merlin said you’d be sore.”

    “Ow,” he muttered, but froze. He smiled slightly. “The spell worked.”

    In his moment of awe, (Y/N) leaned forward and took him in her arms. She held him tightly and felt his arms wrap around her lovingly.

    “I was terrified,” she whispered. “I thought I’d lost you.”

    Mordred let her go for just a second, drawing closer to her face and caressing her cheek. “It was you that brought me back,” he muttered. “Seeing you broke the spell.”

    “I love you, too,” she said, echoing some of his dying words. She kissed him softly, hand buried in his messy curls.

    After that, they spoke in hushed tones. (Y/N) updated Mordred on what had happened. They held a brief moment of silence for Morgana, remembering the woman she had once been. She told him about what Leon said to her and he celebrated with her, but then the conversation was drawn to the topic of their magic.

    “They all know about my little secret now, too,” Mordred muttered. “The rumours can’t have passed by them.”

    (Y/N) took his hand. “We’ll be okay.”

    “You really believe that?”

    “We’ve been through so much worse, Mordred,” she said firmly.

    He laughed a little. “Fair enough. I have almost died twice-- and that’s not counting my childhood.”

    They shared a laugh that was interrupted by a dog’s yip. Spot raced in from out of nowhere, trying to jump on Mordred’s bed and smother him. (Y/N) reprimanded him and he soon calmed down, but neither of them knew where he came from.

    Unbeknownst to them, Gwen and Gaius had kept him in the medic tent the whole time, keeping the loyal dog from harm.

    There were many bridges to cross on the way home, but at least they had each other.

    Back in Camelot, rumours flew left and right. The majority of the population was aware of Mordred’s presence in the city and were furious, confused as to why Arthur would harbour an enemy. He planned to speak on his behalf, but he wanted answers from Merlin and (Y/N) first.

    Meanwhile, the animosity, or at least tension, between (Y/N) and the other knights did not go unnoticed. Merlin’s temporary absence from his master’s side was noticed, too, as was Mordred’s stay in the court physician’s quarters rather than his own in the knights’ quarters. The entire tightly knit group of Arthur’s closest friends seemed to be falling apart, for reasons unknown to everyone.

    One day, (Y/N) was summoned to the throne room, though Mordred, Merlin, and Gaius were told to remain behind.

When she arrived there, after nonstop reassurances from the Merlin to the young knight, she found that it was not the council gathered, but instead her friends. Gwen and Arthur sat on their thrones, while the knights stood dutifully about the room. (Y/N) had a distinct feeling that this was not a purely social audience.

Arthur began to question her, as if she was a suspect in a crime. Leon shot her uncomfortable glances, wishing he could make it stop.

“How long has Merlin been teaching you?”

Merlin had already had a long discussion with Arthur, giving him practically his whole life story, from his father, to his mother, to his powers, to the dragon he freed from under Camelot. Arthur knew almost everything about him. Now, it was (Y/N)’s turn.

“Since a few years after I met you, my lord,” she said.

His expression showed no change. “Who knew about your...little secret?”

“Merlin, Gaius, Mordred-- ever since we were little.” She began to list them off, remembering each fondly. She paused, saying the next name too quietly for him to hear.

“Speak up.”

(Y/N) sighed. “Lancelot.”

Leon shot her a sympathetic glance and Gwen looked absolutely decimated by this fact. A few sombered, but the expressions were gone as quickly as they had appeared.

“Morgana knew, too,” (Y/N) muttered.

Arthur lowered his eyebrows. “You told her?”

“No, sire,” she stammered. “She, uh, had me followed and I didn’t realize. It was a while before Ismere-- just after we buried Lancelot.”

Suddenly, Arthur asked a question that left her dumbfounded.

“Have you ever used magic against someone? Or to get what you wanted?” He asked stiffly.

Her jaw dropped as she looked up at him, appalled that he could even ask her such a question. She glanced around at the others, as if asking whether they believed she could be capable of that, but most of them didn’t make eye contact. Elyan just looked away, perhaps ashamed at the question. Gwaine stared right through her, which was arguably more chilling. Percival was the only one to meet her eye. She couldn’t read him, though. (Y/N) didn’t know what he meant, looking at her like that.

“No, sir,” she said firmly, teeth clenched. “The worst I’ve done is defend myself.”

“And the second part?” He questioned further.

She paused. “One thing.” They all looked terrified, but she smiled. “I used my magic to help a little druid boy escape the castle, a long time ago. Morgana, Merlin, and my lady were there. You were, too.”

She spoke bravely and Arthur went silent after that, his eyes darkened with reminiscence. They had saved Mordred long ago, even though he was a druid. (Y/N) was trying to remind her king of this.

“I asked Merlin to take me as an apprentice the day I met him,” she said, taking her turn to give a speech. She was young, but she had so much to say. “I started a few years later and I-- I didn’t realise what I was getting myself into. I didn’t understand the secret I had to keep, the people I had to keep it from. I didn’t understand the consequences. But I did later. And I could’ve easily given up then, but I didn’t. My magic is part of who I am, it has been for a long time. Just because you know about it now doesn’t change me. But I am sorry, deeply sorry, that I’ve hurt you-- all of you.”

As (Y/N) was leaving the throne room, she did not see Leon go to follow her.

“Leon--” Elyan started, grabbing his arm to stop him.

The senior knight turned to him with a frown. He looked at all of them gathered, who were staring at him, waiting for his move. He scoffed a little and pulled away from Elyan’s grip, shaking his head at them.

“I can’t believe you,” he said to them as a friend, rather than a knight. “It’s (Y/N).”

With that said, he was met with silence. He shook his head again and rushed out of the throne room, catching up to (Y/N). He took her arm and they started toward god knows where.

As soon as he left, Percival took a second to think before following him. No one dared stop the giant, nor did they dare even try. He caught up to Leon and (Y/N). They didn’t make him say a thing, simply letting him join them. That was enough of an apology-- and a reassurance.

Later, when (Y/N) returned to check on Mordred, she was accompanied by Percival. Leon had to abandon them earlier for work purposes.

Entering Gaius’ chambers, they found Mordred asleep in his bed, but he was not alone. Sitting in a chair pulled up beside him was Queen Guinevere, who looked up as they walked in. (Y/N) froze up and turned to Percival, but wasn’t sure what to say.

“(Y/N),” Gwen said. “Can we talk?”

“Of course, my lady--” She began.

Gwen interrupted her with a shake of her head. “Just as friends,” she smiled.

Percival cleared his throat and nodded at both of them. “I’ll just--” he started, backing away from the room. “Goodnight.”

(Y/N) closed the door behind him as he left. When she and the queen were left alone, there was silence. The young knight crossed the room to Mordred’s bed, checking on him as he snored lightly. She couldn’t help smiling to herself at his peaceful slumber, but let the smile fall when she noticed Gwen staring.

Trying to avoid conversation, (Y/N) lifted her hand and began a spell, gesturing to the pitcher of water on the table. She stopped instantly when she saw Gwen’s eyes widen, the yellow glow in her own eyes fading.

She started to walk toward the pitcher, but Gwen spoke, stopping her.

“You shouldn’t have to hide it,” she said.

(Y/N) reeled. “What?”

    “You don’t have to hide it now,” Gwen repeated. “Why avoid using it if there’s no consequence anymore?”

    “I--” (Y/N) sighed. “I don’t know if Arthur would like that.”

    The queen smiled. “Well, he’s not here now, is he?”

    She was shaken by the queen’s easy going reply. Unsure, she lifted her hand again. She finished the enchantment this time and the pitcher went flying into her hand, spilling just a little bit of water. Two cups flew over from the table at her command as well and soon she was pouring the liquid into them. (Y/N) passed one to Gwen and kept one for herself, pulling up another chair beside her.

    “Did you know?” (Y/N) asked her suddenly.

    “About your little secret?” Gwen laughed. “No, of course not.”

    The younger one tilted her head. “Then how are you so...unbothered by this?”

    “I just think it explains a lot,” she admitted. “Besides, I’ve suspected Merlin for a long time.”

    “You’re kidding,” (Y/N) gaped.

    “He’s not exactly conspicuous,” Gwen laughed.

    She shrugged with a fond smile. “Well, he’s kept it hidden for this long.”

    “Fair enough.”

    “What made you think he had magic? When were you really sure he was hiding something?” (Y/N) asked out of pure curiosity.

    Gwen sighed. “You were so angry with him after Mordred came back with that spear injury, the one that almost killed him. I didn’t understand until I considered that he might have magic. You were upset because he wouldn’t heal him, weren’t you?”

    “He refused,” (Y/N) confirmed, nodding solemnly. “I stopped talking to him after that.”

    “I don’t blame you. If someone did the same to Arthur…” She trailed off, not even wanting to think about it.

    It was beginning to get dark, so (Y/N) lit a few candles, requiring just a simple spell. Gwen almost awed at it, which made the young knight flustered. No one had ever taken this much of an interest in her magic, not since Lancelot.

    “It really doesn’t bother you?”

    “Absolutely not,” Gwen reassured her. “It explains so much and-- and it sounds silly, but I feel like I know you better now.”

    (Y/N) could not help hugging her friend, burying her head in her shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered. “It means so much to me.”

    A soft knocking came from the door and both women turned their attention to a short figure entering the room. It was Elyan, who seemed to have been there for a good while. He had heard at least the last part of their conversation, which (Y/N) felt red in the face about. Gwen looked rather pleased with herself, though.

    The queen stood and crossed the room, taking her brother’s wrist and dragging him back over to (Y/N). The young knight stood from her chair to meet them, remaining silently confused by whatever was happening.

    “Tell her,” Gwen said firmly to her brother.

    Elyan took a deep breath. “(Y/N), I--” He glanced at Gwen, who nodded. “I’m sorry I’ve been treating you terribly. To be honest, I was...not happy when I found out about your little secret. Magic killed our father and since then--”

    “I understand,” (Y/N) said quickly.

    “No, wait,” Elyan stammered. “Just because one sorcerer killed my father doesn’t mean every sorcerer will be just as bad and you certainly won’t. I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry.”

    Before she could say a word, he hugged her tightly, almost cutting off her airflow. She laughed, telling him it was okay and hugging him back. Gwen stared on proudly at her work, as it had taken hours to convince her brother to speak to (Y/N). Though she still could not convince Arthur to work out these things, at least she could get Elyan to do so.

    “I love both of you so much,” (Y/N) said softly, dragging Gwen into the hug. “You’re like the siblings I never had.”

    As Arthur had yet to speak about the rumours going around that (Y/N) and Merlin were sorcerers, the former was loathe to go outside. However, when she heard that Gwaine had left the castle and run off without any sign of where he went, she knew she had to do something. She had a feeling she knew where he was-- and a feeling that he was waiting for her.

    She found him in the clearing outside the city, just where she thought he would be. It was here the old Lancelot had been put the rest, because it was such a perfect place for him. It was here Gwaine had trained (Y/N), because she thought Lancelot being there would help her. It was here Morgana had discovered her little secret.

    “Gwaine?” (Y/N) asked quietly.

    He was standing above the stone, holding the hilt of his sword so firmly that it looked as if it might shatter like glass. “I knew I could never replace him,” he said without turning around. “I knew I could never be as perfect as he was. I knew I couldn’t be him.”

    “Gwaine--” She tried to say.

    “But to not tell me about this?” His voice betrayed him as he turned, eyes wet with tears. “To know that I was nothing compared to Gaius, to Merlin, to Lancelot, to Mordred? To find out I was nothing in your heart? Why, (Y/N)?”

    “I couldn’t tell you,” she sobbed. Her heart was already broken at his words. “I wanted to-- I planned to after Ismere, but-- but--”

    She took a deep breath, trying to shove away the memories. She didn’t want to remember Ismere, much less what Morgana had done to her there. However, she needed to tell Gwaine what had kept her from telling him everything. He had to know that he was just as important to her as the others, that she meant so much to him that she would rather have died than have him hate her for this.

    “Morgana found out about my magic, like I said. But she knew I had to be taught by someone. She used you-- you and Percival against me,” (Y/N) said, shuddering as she did. “To find out who taught me. She needed to know who Emrys was, the one destined to destroy her-- that was Merlin. I almost told her. I would have told her, given time. After we got out, I knew I couldn’t tell any of you. If you knew about Merlin, who he was to Morgana, then she could have tortured you, pulled it from you and I-- I would’ve been to blame.”

    “I wouldn’t have told her,” Gwaine hissed. “Do you trust me so little?”

    (Y/N) leapt at him and wrapped him in her embrace. “I know you wouldn’t have. I just didn’t want her to have any reason to torture you like she did with me. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” She kissed his cheek, still shaking. “You mean so much to me. You’re not New Lancelot-- you haven’t been for a long time. You’re Gwaine.”

    Arthur was the last one left.

Everyone else had approached, apologised, and asked more about (Y/N) and Merlin’s magic. In fact, many of them were rather curious about the whole thing. They were amazed by the range of bullshit the two could get up to with the assistance of their magic alone.

Meanwhile, the king refused to talk to either of them. He had shut himself off from the world, from everyone, even Gwen. She was scared for him and begged (Y/N) to step in. Perhaps she could appear unthreatening to him, unlike Merlin. Perhaps she could get through to the man.

She caught him alone in the throne room one morning, a place where he was cornered. He sat upon his throne and watched her with curious eyes. Then, he stood, leaning over the back of the chair and sighing.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” He asked.

“I wanted to more than anything,” she said in almost a whisper. “But I was just a child. I was so scared. I was terrified of Uther, of Agravaine, of someone discovering me and-- and what you might do if you found out.”

She noticed his face flash in betrayal and sadness for a second, but it disappeared in an instant.

“I didn’t want you to have to decide between saving me or following the law. It wasn’t fair,” she muttered. “And I didn’t want--”

She stopped.

“Didn’t want what? To die?” He laughed coldly. “Can’t blame you there.”

“Every day of my life was a risk. I could’ve died any day, but I didn’t want to die at your hand.” She took a deep breath. “But more than anything, I-- Arthur, you have every reason to hate magic. You have every reason to hate it for what it’s done to you, for what people have done to you using it.”

It was true, every word that she spoke. Magic had killed Arthur’s family; corrupted them, tortured them. Arthur had every reason to despise magic and neither Merlin nor (Y/N) could deny that.

“I was terrified that hate would translate to me,” she admitted.

His eyes softened and he looked upon her with wonder. “You thought I would hate you? Why?”

“Because--” She scoffed. “Because I chose to practice something that had done such harm to you, to all of us. I just didn’t want you to hate me and-- and I still don’t.”

Suddenly, the king crossed the room. He paused, standing there in front of her. That little girl who had stood up to him about punishing Merlin unjustly was gone. She was a woman now, a powerful sorceress that Arthur owed for a great many things. Part of him was still upset, both at her and himself for the fact that she hadn’t told him, that she felt she couldn’t trust him enough to tell him about her magic. But the other part held nothing but love for her.

It was this part of him that took over when he hugged her, shocking her to the point where she froze.

“I don’t hate you,” he whispered. “I’m upset you didn’t tell me and I don’t know how long it will be before we can fully trust each other again, but I don’t-- and I will never-- hate you, (Y/N).”

The young knight sniffed heavily and hugged her king, who was more like her brother at this moment. She took in a deep breath and almost laughed out of relief.

“You’ll talk to Merlin, won’t you? Tell him the same thing?”

“I don’t know. I look at him and I want to punch his teeth out.”

“Call me crazy, Arthur, but that sounds about normal.”

Elsewhere…

A small hut in the woods was practically invisible to those who did not seek it out directly.

Inside this hut, a girl in a dark cloak pulled its hood over her face. She mixed herbs and vials together in a small bowl. It produced a blood red liquid, which she gathered in a tiny bottle, shaking it about. She turned to face a long wooden table that held a great weight on its ancient legs.

A dead man lied upon it, his dark hair and beard ratted. He was dressed in rugged peasants’ clothing, an outfit unfitting for a knight of his standing.

The witch-- ahem, sorceress-- took the bottle carefully and poured it into his mouth, forcing him to swallow it. After a moment of unresponsiveness, the dead man gasped into his lungs his second breath of first life. He looked around wildly, but was tied to the table as a precaution.

Meanwhile, the girl turned and smiled at him. “Alright, you handsome bastard. Up and at ‘em. I didn’t murder a man for nothing. Time to send you back to Camelot before my readers murder me.”

Merlin Tags: @pearlll09

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