#just a little thing!! I'm not ready to tackle anything big yet

[seaglassmelody]

I am trying to be an active participant in fandom for probably the first time ever and also get back into writing little things for fun so!!

Just a little scene for @thedissonantverses Writing Wednesday challenge:

Angst 2: Characters have tragically gone missing and left others behind to cope

Or: Lucanis and Bellara have to Cook Out The Stress

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to find you in here.” There was a laugh in Bellara’s voice, but it was heavy, landing like a pebble in a still pond in the silence of the Lighthouse kitchen.

Lucanis looked up from his cup of coffee. Maker knows how long he’d been sitting there in silence, watching Spite pace the room in agitation.

“I was going to try to make dinner.” His voice was toneless, the ‘but’ at the end of his sentence heavily implied.

“Well…I could help! Emmrich told me to take a break before I burned myself out…”

The lyrium dagger copy was coming along, but not fast enough. It had already been a week and a half and no sign of real progress.

They hadn’t even heard any news about Neve still.

Bellara made her way to the kitchen as Lucanis pushed himself up from the table.

“I do not even remember what ingredients we have right now.” He glanced at the countertops, barely processing the vegetables and spice containers scattered about.

“Well…we should still have the bread and cheese I got for khachapuri!”

“Khachapuri? Hollowed out bread? Three kinds of cheese?”

There was silence for a moment before Bellara’s startled laugh rang through the room.

“That’s exactly what Neve said! When I told her I’d make it!”

The stressful tension in the room eased a bit as the two laughed- harder than the coincidental statement warranted, but desperately needed.

“So you bought that for Neve then?” He asked as they both managed to managed to catch their breath.

Bellara nodded. “Rook wanted to try it too. Said she never had it but ‘anything with bread and cheese has to be good.’” She wrung her hands together anxiously. “I really wanted them to tell me if mine was any good…”

Lucanis paused pensively. “We can taste test it with the others. Make sure the recipe is perfected when we bring Neve and Rook home.”

His voice was quiet, almost fragile. Bellara stared for a moment before giving him a bright smile.

“Yeah. Yeah! Let’s make sure we give them the best welcome back celebration we can muster!”

----

(They proceeded to spend the next several hours planning out the perfect Welcome Back Party menu. Was it too much food for just the Veilguard? Probably. Does that matter? Of course not.)

[snowball-doie]

Now I need a blurb about wayv babysitting and finally feeling understood in their language struggles😡😡

It took lots of convincing to get a babysitter for Reyna. It was a winter night close to Christmas, the lights were all lit up around the city, and all the boys and Ahri wanted was one date night where they could go out and get barbeque together, maybe drink a little, and perhaps make their way to noraebang... Winters were really the only time they could go out together because everyone was bundled up in so many clothes, that they couldn't be recognized, and even if they were, it just looked like the boys were out with someone they worked with. Nothing wrong with that. But in order to pull of their big date, they needed someone to look after their daughter... and now that she was in daycare, she was a menace to society. She liked to play hide-and-seek..... without telling anybody. It always scared the shit out of whoever was home to look after her. And she was learning all kinds of inappropriate jokes from the boys at school, and she was going on and on about how she was going to marry three of the boys in her class-- The boys and Ahri needed a night off. So Johnny asked Ten first if he'd be willing to babysit. Nope. Kun? Hell no. Did they trust the triplets to look after her? Not really. Winwin? He only said yes if the other boys would be there with him to hang out. Aigo. So Johnny and Taeyong did the convincing, finally getting all of the WayV boys to show up in the evening, ready to look after ONE KID, food stocked in the fridge, emergency numbers taped to the door, video games updated on the TV. They had everything they needed. "Call if you need anything!" Ahri yelled as she was pushed out of the house by an impatient Jungwoo. "Or don't!" Hyuck called out. "Please don't call unless someone's dying," Jaehyun begged them quietly before slamming the door shut.

The boys looked down at Renya.

"What do we do with her?" Hendery whispered to Xiaojun in Cantonese. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" "Does she need to eat?" Yangyang whispered in Mandarin. "I already ate," Reyna said in Korean. The boys jumped back, like she was a bomb that had been set off. "Do we make her watch a movie?" "Is it bed time yet?" "Maybe we give her a snack?"

"You look old..." she said in broken Chinese. "Are you older than my dads?" she asked in Korean.

The horror on Kun and Ten's faces was............ indescribable. How did she know how to say that? WHY did she know how to say that? Did Chenle or Renjun get to her first? No, it had to be the work of Haechan......

"How much Chinese do you know?" Winwin interrogated.

Reyna shrugged. "My friends at school taught me a little bit. My appa thinks it's funny."

"Which one?" Yangyang asked before he suddenly got elbowed in the side by Kun.

Ten gulped and kept Reyna at an arm's reach while shooing her away to the couch to sit. "Let's put a movie on, ya?"

"Haiiiii."

The whole night, the boys just side eye Reyna. Did she know what they were saying in Chinese? They tried every dialect they could think of, and Reyna never gave them a hint as to whether she was eavesdropping or not. She really was Hyuck and Jungwoo's kid. THAT WAS WHY THEY DIDNT WANT TO BABYSIT!!!!

"Another!" she exclaimed excitedly in Mandarin.

The boys looked so fucking confused. They couldn't figure that kid out for the life of them.

"Can I watch you guys play Mario Kart?" she asked with a mixture of Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin.

"She's just like us...." Xiaojun said, baffled. "More like Ten who can never make up his mind with what language he wants to pick for the day," Hendery added. "Hey! I try my best, okay!" Ten defended helplessly. "Says the one who thought boxing ring (in Cantonese) meant the same thing as a boarding house. Yeah, sure." "Hey, I'm older than you, show some respect!" As Ten was about to tackle the triplets, Kun and Winwin tell them to knock it off. "Isn't it past your bed time?" Winwin questioned. "What my parents don't know won't hurt them," she continued to speak in various languages. The whole room settled.

"She gets us."

After that, the triplets are besties with Reyna. They're always jumping at the opportunity to babysit her, begging Jaehyun to bring her to the office more often, ditching their own practices to see her when she is there, etc. Ten is just confused-- But also threatened? He's the polyglot of NCT, okay! He can't get beat by a kid!

"Okay, okay, no matter what happens, you have to reply to them in Korean for the first few minutes, okay? And once their guard is down, that's when you switch up," Yangyang said to Reyna who was nodding and pumping herself up for their prank. "No backing down," Hendery told her. She saluted at the three men crouched down in front of her, "Yes, sir!" "Go get 'em."

The boys watched through a crack in the door as Reyna waddled into the Dream practice room where Hyuck and Mark were. They immediately stopped their dance to greet their daughter, but she ignored them and instead walked over to Chenle and Renjun who were relaxing on the couch. She pulled herself up onto the couch then sat between them. "What's she doing here?" Mark asked. No one knew. "Appa Jaehyun brought me to work today!" "Doesn't she have school?" he continued to talk to Hyuck who was nodding with disappointment. How many times did they have to tell Jae to stop pulling Reyna out of school to bring her to the office? "Where's appa now?" Hyuck asked. Reyna shrugged. She turned to Renjun, and like a kid would, she started crawling all over him, intruding on his personal space, just so she could tug on his long hair. "Are you gonna dye it purple again, uncle?" Renjun laughed, "Not for a while, sorry." "That makes me sad," she said in Chinese. Chenle began laughing loudly while Renjun went pale. "You look pretty with purple hair," she complemented in Chinese. The life drained from his face some more. "What?" "Why're you laughing, uncle?" she teased Chenle who immediately fell silent. "Your green hair is starting to look like puke." "Hey, young lady!" Mark scolded, picking her up off Renjun's lap. "That's not nice." She pouted, "But it's trueeeeeeee, dadddddd!!" Giggling in the doorway caught Haechan's attention. He walked over and suddenly opened it all the way, watching as the triplets all fell on top of each other cartoonishly with groans of pain. "Well, at least we know who put her up to it now."

"They have to stop teaching her Chinese," Renjun said in Korean, still shell shocked. "She's getting really good...."

"It was funny up until she turned on us," Chenle agreed with a blank, mortified stare.

The triplets laughed before scurrying out, abandoning Reyna to have to answer to her dads alone.

[iamawolfstarsimp]

Sup bitches im back

Now I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things with writing (and, I think this is my first supernatural fic I've made) so forgive me, I'm still a little rusty. lmk if you want more spn fics in the future and want you think of this fic.

So yeah enjoy

(this is set in like season 1-2)

Dean lost count of how many hours they'd been on the road for. Had to be at least nine. Maybe ten.

Sam was blankly staring out the window, half asleep, the same thing he'd been doing for the past half an hour.

Dean made the consecutive decision to pull into the nearest motel that was next to a gas station. Sam didn't make a fuss about it and just pulled their stuff out of the car while Dean checked in.

The two moved in silence as they got ready for bed, Sam particularly avoiding eye contact and talking.

Finally, Dean spoke up when Sam had sat down on his own bed and started staring at his bed sheets instead of reading some random book like he usually did.

"Alright, what's up?" Dean turned to face Sam as he spoke.

Sam paused. "What?"

"Come on," Dean tilted his head. "you're never this quiet."

"I just didn't have anything to say." Sam shrugged.

Dean narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything else yet. He watched Sam for a moment. He still felt bad about dragging Sam back into this life. Sam shouldn't have to live like this, have to sleep in shabby motels and eat cheap takeout as his meals. He should have been able to go to Stanford and get married and have two kids and a dog and never have to worry about getting stabbed or bitten or impaled by whatever creature they were hunting.

Sam sighed, snaping Dean out of his train of thought.

"I'm just not in a good mood is all." Sam answered.

"Oh," Dean nodded, then grinned. "Well you know how we fix bad moods, don't you?"

Sam went stiff and shook his head at Dean, already holding his hands out in front of his body to protect himself from any hands trying to poke or wiggle at him.

"Dean, no." Sam said, backing away from Dean.

"Oh, come on, Sammy." Dean gave him a toothy grin, advancing on Sam. "You don't wanna play with your big brother?"

Sam glanced at Dean and then at the bathroom door. If he was fast enough, he could run past Dean and lock himself in the bathroom and wait it out. But, his few seconds of hesitation was enough time for Dean to lunge at him and tackle him to the floor. Sam yelped, doing his best to crawl away from Dean while he was on top of him.

Sam snapped his mouth closed when he felt wiggling fingers digging into his sides. His hands grappled with Dean's hands, trying desperately to pull them away from his body.

Sam flipped himself around, onto his back so he was more able to prevent any oncoming attacks. Sam wrapped his legs around Dean and flipped their positions, holding down Dean's hands. He felt a surge of triumph rush through him before Dean promptly reversed their positions again.

The two wrestled like that for a while before Dean managed to shove a hand up Sam's shirt, wiggling his fingers against his ribs. Sam broke down in a fit of uncontrolled giggles, rolling away from Dean.

"Yes!" Dean shouted when he finally pinned Sam.

"Dean, stop!" Sam yelled through his laughter. "T-this is chihildish!"

"Aw, but it's working, see?" Dean used both his hands to dig into Sam's upper ribs, causing Sam to throw his head back and cackle. "Look at that big smile."

Sam pushed at Dean's hands and when he couldn't catch them he pushed against Dean's chest, but he could already feel the energy being sapped out of him from the tickling.

Dean's hands darted from spot to spot, quickly changing tactics with each spot he tickled. He leaned back and pinched Sam's knees abruptly, poking his fingers underneath his knees. Sam screeched, his legs flailing out away from Dean.

Dean chuckled at his reactions, slowing down so that Sam could somewhat catch his breath. He lightly scratched Sam's sides up and down to keep him giggling at a steady but slow pace.

"You're a friggin' jerk, you know that?" Sam grumbled.

"I love you too, bitch." Dean smiled affectionately.

"Remember when you used to have nightmares when you were younger?" Dean said after a pause, watching his hands as they rested on Sam's stomach.

"Yeah?" Sam answered. When he was younger he had had a scary encounter with a ghost in the motel they were staying in. Thankfully, their father had come crashing in to help the two of them, since the ghost had knocked Dean's gun out of his hands. For months after that he had nightmares about creatures coming in and hurting him and his family. When they got really bad, he confessed to Dean about them and would crawl into his bed sometimes at night for comfort. Dean never complained and never brought it up unless Sam did first.

"Do you remember how I'd scare them away if they got really bad?" Dean smirked.

Oh right, he remembered. If they got bad and Sam would crawl into Dean's bed but if he couldn't fall asleep Dean would help "scare" the nightmares away.

"Wait-" Sam said before Dean grinned, hiked his shirt up to his ribs, and quickly leaned down blowing a raspberry on his taut stomach.Dean's hands came to life again squeezed along his sides and hips.

Sam twisted and cackled, legs thumping on the floor behind Dean. His hands pushed desperately at Dean's head when he blew the second raspberry right below his belly button, the third one right next to it and then on the other side, the fifth being right on top of his naval.

Dean sat back up, grinning. He leaned forward and ruffled Sam's already messed up hair.

"Feeling better?" Dean asked after a bit.

"I heh-hate you." Sam mumbled, still giggly from Dean's tickly assault.

Dean smiled and got off of Sam and helped him up of the gross motel floor. Afterwards, Dean stayed up late watching random shows on the television bit Sam fell asleep rather quickly, his soft snores a nice background melody.

Sam wouldn't admit it to Dean but his tricks still worked on him, even though it had been years since Dean had last used them.

But Dean knew Sam too well to not know that they still worked. He wouldn't use them if he didn't think they worked.

Oop, got a little carried away lol anyway hope you liked

[ryhmus]

NOLI MEI OBLIVISCI [Tumblr Port]

Chapter 2:

--=--=--=-=-=-

Rise and Shine!

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Faraway Town

{Better days ahead}

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A Month after the Truth reveal...

Sunny's friends watched the last of the moving vans pull out of the driveway of their friend's former home for the last time and drive off for the city where Sunny and his mother were. They stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity until Hero finally spoke.

"Four years…four years we thought Mari had killed herself, and then Sunny tells us he pushed her down the stairs and killed her…four years of being lied to…I can't believe this…" he uttered to himself, letting a single tear fall from his eye.

When neither Aubrey or Kel responded he continued, shakily clenching his fist trying to hold back his emotions. "I…I always thought I had failed her somehow, that I missed something important before she...That's why I went to college to become a doctor instead of a chef, I could have helped her…I thought that I…I…dammit..."

He bit his lip fighting back the tears welling in his eyes until Kel placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey it's okay, we're still trying to understand all this too...I just want you guys to know that we're in this together now, no more splitting apart." Kel told him.

The news of the truth from Sunny had come as a complete and unexpected shock to everyone, including Hero, who had taken it the hardest out of the group given his close relationship with Mari before her death. Even after a month had passed he was still reeling from the news of what really happened to her but he had recovered significantly since then. At first upon hearing the Truth he hadn't taken it well, things seemed like were going to get ugly when he was almost about to strangle Sunny on the spot, demanding why he was alive and Mari wasn't. Fortunately, Aubrey had been the one to step before it could happen and console him. Afterwards, the rest of the trip back had been awkward with neither of the group speaking to one another the whole way...

...But Hero was getting better after his outburst at the hospital at least.

"Listen I know you might not be ready to fully forgive Sunny just yet, hell, I'm angry too…But, give him some time okay? he's been through a lot this past week, we've been through a lot." Aubrey added, giving him and Kel a look of sympathy. "We'll cross that bridge when we're ready."

Hero lowered his eyes to the ground and took a deep breath in and out to clear his mind. The two friends gave him some space while they discussed what to do now that Sunny had finally left. The past three days had left room for little else in their schedules or for anything else since it had all been about getting to be with Sunny for the last time. They made plans, moved things around and agreed to spend more time with one another, especially when Basil would be allowed to leave the hospital in a few days.

Aubrey checked her phone and realized how late it was getting, cursing under her breath. "Shit...Hey I gotta get home soon it's getting super late, you wanna hang out tomorrow or what?" she asked nonchalantly.

Kel's eyes lit up at her offer and he put on a big grin. "Yeah sure I'm game! but what do you wanna do? maybe go watch a movie or read some comics and play video games? or do you just want to do girl stuff like nail painting?" Kel listed off a few things, wrapping an arm around her and getting a light smack on the head in response.

"Hmm, well for starters..." Aubrey let a small smile slip onto her face and suddenly football tackled Kel onto the front lawn. "How about I get Kim to give you a makeover!" she teased and pulled his arms to the sides while he jokingly pleaded for her to stop. "How's that for 'girl stuff' huh?"

"Noooooo...not my face...Aubrey stooopp...mom will kill me if I come home with makeup on my face again!" Kel whined and tried to cover his face with his legs instead.

Hero watched from afar as the two friends make plans for tomorrow and couldn't help but chuckle to himself. They made it look so easy to move on didn't they? he secretly wished he could go back in time to speak to his younger self and tell him to never give up on the future, be more like his brother in a way...the thought was enough to give him some comfort as he witnessed the two friends play wrestling together, Aubrey pull Kel's head into a armlock and gave him a noogie until he licked her arm, forcing her to recoil in disgust while the athletic boy laughed and ran off when Aubrey threatened to clobber him. For once...Hero felt like he didn't need to intervene on this one, it reminded him of the old days as innocent kids when they used to play and have fun...so instead, he just stood back and let the two wear themselves out. Eventually leading to the both of them lying on the front lawn of Kel and Hero's house, panting and laughing with each other.

"Hey Kel, you got room for one more tomorrow? I still have plenty of free time before my break is over." Hero offered with a smile and joined Kel on the grass.

Kel beamed happily and tackled his brother into a big hug, getting grass all over him. "Of course you can! you're always welcome to join us tomorrow! maybe we'll even get to see Basil again soon after he's let out of the hospital!"

Aubrey and the two brothers sat on the lawn and eventually went their separate ways, as the sun set on another day.

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Faraway park, Hangout spot

{KEL; Far From Home...}

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A week later...

Somewhere in a secluded opening overlooking the small lake in Faraway Park. A young boy in rainbow checkered pajamas laid peacefully on a picnic blanket, fast asleep, his calm and serene expression was highlighted by the midday sun as it shined down on his sleeping body when suddenly his eyes fluttered open in sudden shock.

KEL gasped for air and he sat up quickly. "HERO!" he shouted out loud, his face covered in sweat as he tried to calm himself down.

When KEL'S initial shock subsided he got up from his sitting position to got a look around at his new surroundings. For some reason AUBREY AND MARI had vanished leaving him alone in some abandoned woodland area he'd never seen before. "Guys? hey where did you all go? AUBREY? MARI?" KEL wondered out loud, mild confusion and fear in his voice as he stepped off the blanket, feeling the wet grass on his bare feet.

Looking some more he saw a lake with an ancient statue in the center, the surrounding area was quite messy and looked like it hadn't been cared for in a long time. "Huh, guess I'm not in the PLAYGROUND anymore…" KEL mused to himself and looked down at the ground around him, taking note of the worn picnic blanket and pinwheels spinning idly in the distant corner of the opening. "Geez, what happened back there? it's like no one has been in here in forever."

KEL wasn't sure how he got here or why but that wouldn't stop him from finding his friends, they needed him now more than ever in this new strange place...

"Well, no matter where you are, there's no need to worry any longer guys, KEL is here to save the day once again!" he declared and bolted off in a random direction.

...

As KEL set out he happened look up, briefly being blinded by the sun in his face. "Hey what's up with the sky? why is it blue? and what are those puffy things?" he wondered, squinting at the clouds lazily floating through the sky.

The sky here was vastly different from what he was use to, he wasn't really sure what part of HEADSPACE this was...if this was still HEADSPACE, last KEL recalled, there were no places he knew that had a blue, cloud filled sky instead of the purple, constellation filled one he knew but it didn't bother him really. Upon leaving the lake area, KEL was shocked and then amazed at what he found on the other side of the trees. An entire park filled with people and buildings in the distance.

"Woah! this is so cool! it's so big out here! I've never been to this part of HEADSPACE before! But how am I gonna find HERO and everyone else?" he pondered to himself as he walked around eating some CANDY he had in his pocket from earlier, oblivious to the stares and comments he was getting from the people around him.

—

"Who's kid is that? why is he wearing pajamas in the middle of public?"

"Does that child look familiar to you? reminds me a little of-"

"Where are his parents? they ought to be ashamed leaving their child unattended to just be wandering around like that."

"What's up with that kid's hair? is it dyed? I wanna get purple hair too!"

"They shouldn't allow kids to wander around without shoes, the nerve of some people these days."

"His skin is so pale…is he sick or something? I hope it's not contagious!"

-

KEL was taken in awe by the sights and sounds all around him, as he left the park he passed by a vending machine. Curious, he looked closely at the drinks on display, and although he couldn't find any milk which was disappointing, one drink did catch his attention however, one last can of Orange Joe.

"Huh...I didn't know ORANGE JOE had his own soda brand, man this place gets weirder and weirder." he mused to himself as he pushed the button for the drink…

When nothing came out he pressed it again…and again…then he kicked the machine hurting his foot in the process.

[KEL took 1 damage].

Why wasn't anything coming out? usually when he and his friends used the vending machines the machine would eject it's contents on the press of a button and a meager offering of a few CLAMS, the currency they used back home.

While KEL was trying to decide whether to toss his ball at the machine to break it open he spotted a couple placing a small metal object into a slot on the machine and pressing the button, immediately a can dropped out of the slot at the bottom.

After some brainstorming, KEL had the bright idea of putting a CLAM into the machine's coin slot, but that idea was shot down as soon as he realized that one; HERO had most the group's CLAMS last he checked so he had nothing to put in and two; the slot was too small to take any CLAMS that he again, not did have.

"Ugh, forget it! I'm just going to find my friends, but I'll be back..." KEL mumbled giving the vending machine a glare.

KEL walked up to a random person standing on the sidewalk, an elderly lady and tapped their shoulder. "Scuse me, can you help me find my friends? they got purple hair like me, one of them has a bow that's a gross color and the other has striped pajamas, he's tall, handsome, and has spiky hair, that's my brother by the way, you seen either of em?"

"Oh I saw a handsome young man who had purple hair just like you and had striped pajamas just like you said, they were at the Othermart helping me with my groceries earlier." The elderly woman responded and pointed westward of the park. 

He headed left towards a large building marked with the words OtherMart plastered in big red letters above. That looked like the best place to begin looking for his friends. He jumped on top of a car making a pose and doing his best superhero impression that he learned from CAPT. SPACEBOY a long time ago.

[KEL used FLEX]

"That looks like a good place to start! no need to worry everyone, KEL is here!" he announced heroically, pointing at the store flexing his arms as much as he could.

An annoyed customer who was leaving the store shouted up at him and waved a fist. "Hey! get the hell off my car you stupid kid!"

KEL ignored the man's protests and leapt off of the car, rushing into the store. ("I'm coming guys don't worry, I won't give up just yet!")

---

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Basil's House

{BASIL; A home for a Me}

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Polly stared out the window of Basil's room watching the afternoon pass by. She knew she should be preparing for her charge's return but since the fight between Basil and Sunny that resulted in both of them being rushed to the hospital, she had been no doubt worried sick about Basil since then but at the same time, the incident had opened her eyes a bit and made her wonder.

Has she really been doing her job if she let something like this happen?

Beside her, some of Basil's plants had started to wilt a little, although she had cared for Basil for two years, she did not have his green thumb. Her attempts to care for his plants while he was gone had been fruitless, no matter how much sunlight or water she gave them they still continued to fade and wither. Yesterday she received a call from the hospital that Basil would stay for at least another day or so before he could come back home which was tomorrow morning. Deciding that she need a distraction from her concerns, she went outside to find the watering can for the plants, it was the least she could do for him and he would appreciate it when he came home…

As soon as the door closed, BASIL appeared in the room out of thin air, stumbling backwards and knocking his head on the bedside table. "Ouch! my head…" he cried out and gingery rubbed his bruised noggin. Once he got his bearings, BASIL blinked in surprise at the oddly cheerful room he had suddenly found himself in.

"W-where am I now?" he whispered and cautiously dusted himself off, standing up to take in his new surroundings. "I don't remember seeing this part of HEADSPACE before, if that's even where I am...I hope I'm still not lost in the scary place..."

Looking down at his feet he spotted a old dusty camera sitting on the floor and picked it up, checking it for damages, before gently putting it back on the table where it had presumably been knocked off during his sudden unplanned entrance. "Something about this place seems awfully familiar…like I feel like I've been here..." he muttered to himself.

BASIL scratched his head and suddenly realized his flower crown was missing. "My flower crown! now where did it go?"

When he saw the wilting flowers on the drawer he gasped aloud. "Oh no! poor things…I'll help you get better real quick."

Reaching into one of his overall pockets he produced a packet of flower fertilizer and sprinkled a bit on each of the flowers. One by one the flowers perked up and started looking healthy again. The Flower Boy chuckled and stood back to admire his work. "There we go, all better, now about my flower crown...where did my-"

The sound of the door opening caused him to panic and look for a place to hide, eventually settling for underneath the bed, it took a bit to squeeze under it but he had made it just as the door opened to Polly carrying a heavy water pale into the room. She noticed the flowers were now standing straight. She held one of the plant's leaves in her fingers and felt a lively and well cared for flower instead of the dried up dying thing it had been a minute ago...

"Huh? when did these…who?" her voice trailed off as she wondered to herself. She continued to examine the now healthy plants, that had now somehow come back to life while she was gone.

"Did…someone water these plants while I was gone? It must be my stress acting up again making me imagine things…I need to go lay down."

Polly turned around to leave the room when her foot brushed against something soft, bending down she picked up a peculiar looking flower crown from under the bedside table, it's vibrant colors looking as fresh as the day it had been made.

"A...flower crown? When did Basil start making these again? it's been years since he made one of these…" she frowned when the thought of Basil came to mind, he was badly bruised and unconscious by the time the friend group had managed to break down the door, only to find Sunny and Basil lying in a heap after what looked like a fight, the flower boy's garden shears lying on the ground and Sunny's eye socket leaking fresh blood out of it. They had wasted no time rushing the two over to the nearest hospital while Polly had been sent home to wait for the news to come back about her charge's condition.

"Oh Basil...if only I knew how much you were hurting...if I could just talk to you one more time..." Polly pressed the crown against her chest and let out a sad sigh.

Carefully, she placed it on the bed and turned to leave the room when a small voice called out to her. "E-excuse me, can I have that back please? s-sorry about coming in uninvited, m-my name's BASIL, what's yours?"

Polly turned around and almost had a heart attack when BASIL crawled out from under the bed. Polly was so startled by the sudden appearance of the green haired flower boy that she momentarily lost her breath. "H-how long have you been under there!?" She held on to the door frame for support as the small boy timidly walked over with a shy expression on his face.

"I-I'm sorry if I scared you I didn't mean to. I was afraid that you might be mad if I showed up at your house out of nowhere." BASIL apologized meekly and raised his hands.

Polly stared at BASIL in disbelief, how? this child was the spitting image of Basil when he was younger, barring the green hair and pastel white skin of course, but other than that he looked exactly like Basil. "B-Basil is that you? but you're suppose to be in the hospital! and how did you get younger?" she sputtered, trying to make sense of the situation.

BASIL looked confused at these questions, tilting his head to the side. "Younger? but I've always been like this…and why would I be in a hospital?" he rubbed his head again and sighed. "Oh dear, I have no clue where I am right now."

Polly regained her normal composure and calmed down a bit once she saw this wasn't someone trying to rob them and decided to start a conversation with the odd green haired and pastel skinned child. "Did you water these plants?" she said pointing at the now healthy blooming flowers.

BASIL chuckled humbly and brought out his little bag of fertilizer from earlier. "Yes I did! I used some of my special fertilizer, you can have some if you want, it's homemade so I can always make more."

Polly cautiously took the bag and inspected it, it was a small paper bag with a childish crayon drawing of a flower on the front, the contents inside looked nothing out of the ordinary. "Er, thank you…um if I may, how did you get in here?" she asked and placed the pouch on top of the drawer.

BASIL adjusted his overalls while he thought of the best answer to give her. "I have no idea to be honest, one moment I'm in a very dark and scary place the next I end up here." Polly placed a hand to her chin. So this wasn't Basil, yet everything in her gut instinct said it was him. So who was this? May as well start with the first question to come to mind then.

"Alright…where did you come from?" she asked BASIL.

"The VAST FOREST!" he cheerily responded. "I live in a giant shoe and tend to my garden every day. I hope my plants will be okay without me…" BASIL murmured that last part with a tone of uncertainty.

Polly had so many questions, but every answer she got only led to even more questions. "I…don't recall there being a place called Vast Forest anywhere near Faraway…" she told, earning a head tilt from the Basil lookalike. "Faraway? is that somewhere new in HEADSPACE?" he asked.

"In HEADSPACE? what is HEADSPACE?" Polly responded to the question with one of her own. It was starting to become just a back and forth of questions for both of them at this rate.

The Green haired Flower Boy felt a frown starting to form on his face as he started to wonder. "It's my home? I don't understand…we should be there right?" BASIL spoke, confusion starting to become concern. It was Polly's turn to try and explain things. "This is…strange for me as well, but I think you might not be in this HEADSPACE anymore."

BASIL frowned and looked out the window at the unfamiliar sky, a horrible realization dawning on him. If Everything he had seen in BLACK SPACE was starting to make sense...The world above falling apart right down to that important message he needed to tell everyone being wiped from his mind...then that meant that everything he heard from those shadows were true...he may as well be the last survivor of his home...

"Oh…oh no…then that means everything I saw in that abyss…it's t-the end of the world..."

He placed his hands to his mouth and fell to his knees, tears forming in his eyes. "Everyone…KEL, HERO, AUBREY, OMORI...MARI...they're gone…all my friends they're…they're…" his voice cracked and he began to cry into his hands. Polly rushed over in concern and knelt by his side as the young boy sobbed his eyes out. "Oh BASIL...I'm so sorry about your friends and family, please don't cry." she reassured and rubbed his back.

BASIL sniffed and hugged her tightly. "I don't...I-I don't want to be a-alone...please..." he hiccuped, and gripped onto her dress tightly, refusing to let go.

It was horrible seeing this young boy break down in front of her, it reminded her too much of how Basil felt when his parents didn't show up for his fifth birthday, he cried all day when it happened, thankfully his grandma was there to comfort him when he needed it.

Polly sighed, and made the young flower boy face her. "I know I have no right to ask but you could be part of our family if you want." she quietly offered. BASIL wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at her with a hopeful face. "R-really? you would do t-that for me?"

Polly smiled warmly at him and brought him into a much needed hug. "I would be glad to call you family…and you would even have a older brother! (Although explaining that to Basil is going to be awkward, would she have to call them different names to tell the difference?)"

BASIL managed to smile back at her and return the hug. "Thank you…can I…I call you mom? I've never had a mom before."

Polly blushed violently and shook her head. "I'm not actually Basil's mom silly, I'm just a caretaker, my name is Polly." she chuckled softly.

The green haired child bowed at her. "It's nice to meet you Miss Polly, and thank you again..."

---

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OtherMart

{HERO; Employee of the Month}

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"Excuse me, can you help me young man?" A lady with a bag full of groceries asked a purple haired boy wearing a Othermart employee's apron over striped pajamas.

"Of course ma'am, let me get that for you." HERO mentally prepared himself as he lifted the heavy bag of groceries into the back of her car.

Everything blurred by so fast for him before he fully understood what was going on. One moment he was running towards MARI the others with KEL helping him while the world was falling apart around them, the next he slipped and felt himself falling for an eternity. The sounds of KEL and the others calling out for him as he fell into the endless pit. He blacked out at that time, his last thought he was TOAST for sure. Until he woke up to a hard feeling in his back. He seemed to be in some kind of store in what was presumably the watermelon stand, HERO normally was neutral when it came to the concept of an afterlife, but after the manager of the place had put him to work to pay for the damages, he confirmed to himself that this wasn't the afterlife at all but a whole new world...

...And apparently this new world did not take CLAMS as payment.

Wiping the sweat off of his brow and breathing heavily, he finished loading the groceries into the customer's car and went back inside. The store's loudspeaker suddenly made an announcement, to everyone.

"TO ALL EMPLOYEES WE HAVE A UNSUPERVISED CHILD IN AISLE 6, TO THE PARENTS OF THE LOST CHILD PLEASE RETRIEVE YOUR CHILD AT THE FRONT RECEPTION AREA."

HERO sighed and straightened out his work uniform it wasn't the first time he had worked for someone, but at least they promised to pay him this time…

...

one hour earlier

…

HERO'S world was spinning by the time he regained his senses, his back ached and he was covered in something red and sticky. All around him murmurs of shoppers whispered about the strange boy who fell from the ceiling. Carefully getting himself up he realized that he was sitting in what appeared to be watermelons, many of them smashed from his fall.

"Excuse me sir but I'm going to have to ask you to come with me…" An employee said, helping him up to his feet and escorting him away from the numerous eyes all on the strange boy who just appeared.

He was taken to a small office where a stout man with a beard sat at a small desk. "Mr. Stuart sir, this boy just fell out of nowhere and destroyed the watermelon stand, should we kick him out or-"

HERO raised his hands up "Wait! I'll pay for the damages!" He fished around in his pockets until he found what he was looking for, a large bag with a picture of a seashell painted on it. "Here, I have some CLAMS with me, hopefully that's enough to cover for it." He sighed in relief and placed the heavy bag on the manager's desk.

The manager leaned forward and inspected one of the tiny seashells inside before giving HERO an incredulous face. "Kid…did you hit your head? you're trying to pay us with worthless seashells for our destroyed watermelon stand…which if you're wondering was mostly 200 dollars of damage so it's no big deal honestly, but still! We're a grocery store chain that values honesty and and good work ethic, and I think that if you worked here for a bit to pay off for what you broke with 'Real' money...I think we'll be square."

Mr. Stuart raised his hand for a shake which HERO returned.

"Before I get started can I ask where I am, sir?" HERO asked.

The manager rubbed his chin and looked HERO up and down, He was over 170cm and wore striped pajamas, his hair was a pastel purplish color and his skin was unusually pale for a normal human being, despite strange appearances he was sure he would make a good intern. Something about him just radiated 'ideal worker'.

"Well for starters kid, my name is Mr. Stuart, I'm the manager for Othermart, the only grocery store in Faraway town, and your name?"

"HERO sir." The young man spoke.

Mr. Stuart rubbed his chin in a perplexed manner. "Hero? I thought you were supposed to be in college?" he inquired curiously.

"What? no I was in HEADSPACE with my friends!" HERO explained plainly.

College? he never recalled any place in HEADSPACE called College, otherwise he'd know if he'd ever been there before hand...just where exactly was he? and speaking of his friends, He sure hoped they would be able to find him soon...if they even knew where he was.

"Hoo boy, you must've hit your noggin harder than I thought, why don't you go lay down for a sec before you start working and we'll call a doctor to check you up."

"Well, I'm feeling fine right now, and I could definitely learn more about this place along the way."

"You sure? hmmm, you know what? who am I to turn down eager help? welcome aboard HERO! we hope you'll do well."

"Yes sir! I'll…try my best not to disappoint sir!" HERO gave a salute to which the manager chuckled.

"Hmm we'll see…you keep to your word and you might even overthrow Jeremy's employee of the month streak!" Mr. Stuart joked.

...

…That was one hour ago, since then workplace morale and productivity had increased by 50% since HERO had started working at the Othermart, whether it was because of his passionate outlook on domestic work that inspired the others or his charisma in helping customers. HERO was happy to help out. But now as he approached a crowd of shoppers and employees surrounding a shelf with a familiar checkered shirt kid standing on top of a shelf, he smacked a palm to his head in disbelief and shuffled through the crowd to get to his brother.

"Hey kid! get down from there! it's not safe up there!" An employee shouted at KEL from from below.

The young boy blew a raspberry at him and laughed. The crowd of people around murmured in concerned and angry tones amongst themselves.

"C'mon kid we aren't gonna hurt you just get down fro-" a fastball to the face knocked the employee out cold before he could reach out to grab the boy's leg.

KEL smirked as he spun another ball on his finger, a faint yellow outline glowing around him.

[KEL became HAPPY]

"You can't get me! you can't get me! ha ha!" he taunted at the crowd, blowing a raspberry at the people attempting to catch him.

The remaining employees were getting tired of this kid's attitude. One in particular, Jeremy the leading employee of the month tossed down his hat in a fit of rage. "Alright that's it! where's the ladder? I'm gonna give that brat a piece of my mind!" The disgruntled man stormed off, shoving past HERO who had finally made it through, his eyes widened in shock when he saw who was on the shelf.

"KEL!?" he went to the foot of the shelf and shouted up to his brother to get his attention.

The boy in the checkered shirt turned around once he heard that familiar voice, his currently good mood turning into pure excitement when he saw HERO.

"HERO! you're alive! I thought you were TOAST! I heard you were being forced to work here so I'm here to save you once again from the jaws of capitalism!"

HERO forced his way to the front of the crowd and called up to him "KEL! you need to get down from there! and what did you even do!? why is there an angry crowd?!"

KEL shrugged his shoulders "I dunno, came in here to look for you, saw some perfectly good watermelons sitting in a pile just asking to be smashed open!"

HERO gazed over at the watermelon display and saw surely enough, the melons were ruined…again. "Not again…Mr. Stuart is not going to be happy about this…" HERO groaned.

Meanwhile, KEL was still ranting on about his day. "…And there wasn't even anything inside of em! not even a single block of tofu, JACKS or orange soda, isn't that crazy? what kind of watermelons don't have stuff in them?!" He tossed his hands into the air to emphasize his outrage at the itemless fruits.

KEL's monologue was interrupted abruptly by the loud clash of a ladder slamming against the shelf. The angry employee from earlier climbed up the ladder and stood on top of the shelf with a belt in hand and a livid expression. "We tried being nice, we tried asking politely, but you know what? screw it! I'm gonna beat your hide good you little shi-"

A megaphone blared over the crowd making everyone to cover their ears, the manager shouted over the speaker. "Jeremy! you are breaking several store rules! put the belt down or you're fired!"

Jeremy muttered something under his breath about his job being shit and cracked the belt like a whip, everyone flinched at the sound. HERO had to do something before KEL got hurt, he shuffled his way through the crowd towards the ladder. When he reached the top Jeremy was holding KEL by his arm over the edge of the shelf, KEL was no longer smiling and looked like he was in a lot of pain, he had several bruises and a black eye from his brutal beating. HERO wasn't about to let anyone get away with hurting his little brother.

[HERO became ANGRY]

"Leave him alone Jeremy, put him down or else!" HERO shouted, readying his frying pan, a red glow surrounding him.

Jeremy turned around and gripped KEL'S arm tighter, making the boy yelp in pain. "Or what new guy? ever since you showed up everyone says you're gonna be the employee of the month!" He shook KEL a bit, causing the boy to whimper.

"I've worked here for years! every day, six hours straight! and you just come in here for an hour and take the promotion that belongs to me?! After I beat some manners into this stupid purple haired brat, I don't care if I get fired after this I'm gonna teach you a lesson on who's top dog around here!" Jeremy roared and charged. HERO raised his frying pan in front of him to brace himself.

Jeremy raised his fist and was about to strike HERO when a basketball from nowhere came flying through the air, hitting him directly in the face. Jeremy dropped KEL to grasp his now bleeding nose.

"Ohg fucgk…my fuhkink noss…i thigk my nos is brokgn!" He managed to blurt out and staggered over to the ladder and clambering down it to run towards the back rooms. HERO glanced around for where the projectile could have come from...

("That definitely wasn't KEL who did that...but then who?")

...

Meanwhile below outside the crowd, Kel and Hero had gone to the OtherMart to buy supplies for their parents and some baby food for Sally. They had noticed the commotion and went to check it out only to witness firsthand one of the employees brutally abusing a kid with a belt on top of the shelves and was about to hit another with his fist. Kel immediately sprang into action, ignoring Hero's warnings to deliver justice. Kel grinned to himself when he saw the basketball nail the guy in his face and drop the poor kid, Hero however was less enthused by his brother's actions.

"Oh my god Kel! you're going to get us in serious trouble! how are we suppose to explain to mom and dad that you assaulted someone at the grocery store?"

Kel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Dude, you serious? That guy was hurting that poor kid! just what kind of lunatic does that anyways? what was I supposed to do, let it happen?"

Hero let out a heavy sigh and brought his fingers up to his temple, while attacking the man was the last thing he would have done, Kel was right. He would have done the same thing or something similar if it was his brother or someone in his family...he finally relented and slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah, okay that's a fair point…but first let's go see if those kids alright." Hero said and guided his brother to where he had seen the two go towards the pharmacy section.

...

Back on the ground, KEL ran into HERO'S arms and embraced him in a hug, seemingly unconcerned about his own injuries. "I…I thought I lost you when you fell into that big hole! I was so scared..." KEL sputtered and sniffled a bit while HERO gently hugged him back. HERO then let go to examine KEL'S arm and face more closely, both of which were red and bruised from the rough man's grip.

"You're hurt pretty bad, here let me cook up something for those wounds." HERO said and flipped out his frying pan to prepare his signature SKILL...

[HERO used COOK]

Instantly a cookie was summoned out of thin air into KEL'S hands. KEL took a bite out of it and the bruises immediately healed. "Thanks, I thought I was gonna to be TOAST for a second..." he spoke as he munched on the healing treat. "...Man oh man! your cookies are almost as good as MARI'S...no offense." he said with his mouth full.

Suddenly two figures rounded the corner both of them looking similar like them but older and in different clothes. "Hey you alright? do you need…Help?" the taller of the two began but stopped once he got a better look at them...

Both Heros and Kels stared at one another in silence, either side trying to comprehend who or what they were looking at...The small pastel Kel was the first to speak, his voice sounding exactly how the tall normal Kel did when he was twelve. "You look like a weird stretched out me!" He said and put on a goofy grin.

However, the other Hero was quick to chide his brother for his rudeness. "KEL! that's not a nice thing to say! especially to random strangers we've just met." He scolded, turning back to the real versions of themselves and giving them an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about my little brother's behavior, he gets really hyperactive sometimes." HERO glanced over at the commotion with a worried look. "I just hope I don't get fired on my first day for all this mess..."

Kel was looking over his younger self while the other him was doing the same and copying his actions, aside from the pastel colors he really looked like him when he was younger four years ago, it was like looking in a mirror.

The store owner walked up from behind them with a stern expression, but gave HERO a nod. "Good afternoon HERO, cleaning up I see? well, I have good news and bad news for you, I had to fire Jeremy for this little incident meaning that you'll be up next for a promotion to take his place as the day manager, that's the good news. The bad news is that we're going to be cutting everyone's pay to repair the damages that kid caused."

His gaze turned to KEL becoming to a furious glare. "Speaking of which…I want that kid out of my store now! he is banned from setting foot in here again! I want him gone!" he declared, pointing an accusing finger at KEL who stuck his tongue out at the man as he left.

The two real world brothers exchanged confused looks, This can't be a coincidence right? they would have much to talk about later...

...

…Several minutes later…and an extensive cleanup…

"Aw dang! I just wanted to see my bro again!" KEL pouted and kicked a can across the parking lot. He had been forced to sit outside on the sidewalk watching the cars go by while he waited for HERO to return. Kel sat next to him trying to wrap his head around this situation with his strange clone.

"So uh, what's your name little buddy?" Kel started a conversation, hopefully talking to the little guy will give him more answers to the questions he had.

The smaller Kel grinned at him and pointed a thumb at himself. "The name's KEL! what about you big me?"

the older boy was surprised to know that this clone also had the same name, even if it had been a bit obvious. "My name is also Kel, nice to meet you…small me…" he greeted back.

Soon Hero came outside and sat down next to Kel to tell him the news. "Well…I had a little talk with the other…Hero, and he said they has no home to go to, so we may have to make room for them at our house until we can resolve this."

Kel gave his brother a bewildered look, caught off guard by this sudden request. "Wait a minute, you're just going to let a couple of strangers that happen to look like us stay over at our house? just like that?" He asked skeptically, glancing over at his other self. He may not be the smartest or the best at reading the room at most times, he wasn't stupid, he knew the dangers of going on 'just a hunch' as he learned from with Aubrey and the church fight from a while ago and the lake incident that almost drowned Basil...

Hero rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "I know, I know, but I had a long talk with the guy on his break and I asked him a bunch of questions…the kind only I would know and believe it or not, I think they're really us somehow."

Kel looked over at his younger self and then back at Hero with a raised eyebrow. "What are we gonna tell our parents then? That we suddenly have clones of our past selves staying over for who knows how long?"

Hero hesitated, he had not thought of that...either way, there wasn't going to be an easy way to explain this...

Meanwhile, HERO strolled the store with a couple of dollars and cents in hand and walked up to KEL. "Good news KEL, we're going to have a place to stay soon until we can find the others."

KEL whooped in excitement and ran towards his real world counterpart, hopping up and down excitedly. "Hey! hey big me! race you home! last one there is a rotten egg!" he grinned and crouched into a running position. Kel raised an eyebrow and grinned at the challenge, finally having a worthy adversary, this race would be legendary...

"Oh yeah? bring it on! prepare to eat dust mini me!" He retorted confidently and got into his own position next to KEL.

Before either Hero could stop either of them, both Kels had blasted off at full speed. With a sigh, the two made the long arduous trip home.

HERO looked over at his other self and put on a friendly smile. "Don't mind if I ask you a few questions myself?"

"Yeah go ahead…"

"What are these?" HERO held out the dollar bills and cents he had earned earlier.

"Huh? you don't know what money is?"

"Well, we do technically, it's just different here is all…I take CLAMS aren't usable in Faraway?" HERO reached into his pocket and brought out a rather large bag the size of a small pumpkin and reached inside to produce a tiny object which he handed over to his real world counterpart.

Hero blinked in confusion and tilted his head to the side at the small object in his hand. "CLAMS…like oysters or seashells?" he said slowly, wondering if he had heard right that these shells, no bigger than his fingernail were considered as currency from wherever these past versions of themselves had come from.

HERO shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "Sort of…we use them like money to pay for things…" He causally responded and stuffed the bag back in his pocket. How someone managed to fit such a large object was beyond Hero's knowledge of physics.

"Where do you come from anyways?" he decided to ask. It was the most important question after all...

"THE VAST FOREST, though I'm not sure where we are exactly, I don't recall this place being anywhere in HEADSPACE."

"Can't say I've ever heard of VAST FOREST or HEADSPACE…is that somewhere out of state?" Hero inquired curiously, unsure about that unfamiliar name.

"N-no? sorry I don't quite understand all this myself...maybe when we get to your home we can talk a bit more..." HERO responded with an awkward chuckle.

Hero relented from his questioning for now, but he was going to get to the bottom of this eventually, but first he had to stop Kel's dream self from smashing a vending machine with his ball…

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Aubrey's House

{AUBREY; It's raining somewhere else...}

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AUBREY'S eyes fluttered open when the pungent smell of trash reached her nose. She sat upright scrunching her nose in disgust. "Ew! what is that smell? ugh this better not be another prank KEL. This time you've gone too…far..."

The words died in her mouth when she realized she was alone. She was in a small dingy attic bedroom, in one corner was a disheveled pink bed that looked recently used, above it was a surprisingly well preserved poster of CAPTAIN SPACEBOY, and next to the bed on a bedside table was a picture of a girl with pink hair with another girl wearing glasses. AUBREY thought the one with the pink hair was pretty. Sitting next to her, a small pen with a white bunny stared at AUBREY with it's beady red eyes. Though AUBREY was cautious despite how cute it looked, many bunnies in HEADSPACE were often hostile and attacked on sight.

Only a ladder leading downwards seemed like the only option for the young girl...

Carefully, AUBREY made her way down the ladder to find the rest of the house in a much more sorry state. Trash left everywhere and the horrid smell was even stronger this time, it took everything she had to not throw up on the spot. AUBREY made her way to a large room with a messy side kitchen and living room. Right on the far end of was the door leading outside, a way out of this dump of a home and fresh air, she wasn't sure how much more of this place she could handle without gagging.

"Hello? is anyone there?" she called out nervously, This place scared her, she didn't like it here.

As she crept quietly towards the door she felt a sharp pain in her foot and yelped. A piece of broken glass had stabbed her and now it was leaking some sort of red liquid. AUBREY fought back tears as she attempted to pull the splinter only to recoil when the pain became too great to bear. But before she could try again, a sudden sound made her jump in fright.

"The hell are you doing in my house? get out before I call the police!" A filthy raggedy woman suddenly shouted at her from behind.

AUBREY gulped and tried to be as polite as she could despite how scared she was of this unpleasant lady glaring at her. "E-excuse me? could you please tell me where I am? I need to find my friends-" AUBREY pleaded, but the woman flew into an absolute rage.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

AUBREY scrambled out the front door as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding a bottle flying past her and smashing on the wall next to the door.

"Good for nothing kids…all they do is disappoint you." The woman muttered and returned to watching the TV.

...

It was raining outside the house when AUBREY escaped that horrible place. The pain in her foot was getting worse by the second as more red fluid leaked out leaving a red trail behind her as she hobbled down the dark street. Tears welled up in her eyes despite her best efforts to contain them, how could anyone be so mean? what did she ever do to deserve that? Finding a corner behind a nearby house, she sat down next to the front door and looked at her foot, the glass had left a deep gash on her foot and it was starting to look really bad.

"I don't have anything to heal this…I'm I'm all alone…I wish OMORI was here…anyone…even stupid KEL..." AUBREY sniffled, tears beginning to stream down her face.

[AUBREY became SAD]

A dark blue aura glowed around AUBREY as she cried to herself all alone in a cruel cruel world...

"Are you okay little girl? you look hurt…" a new voice said in a concerned tone, shaking AUBREY out of her sadness.

When she looked up a kindly woman crouching in front of her, holding an umbrella to shield the both of them from the rain. AUBREY backed away a little before the woman raised her hands to show her she meant no harm.

"Hey, it's okay! I won't hurt you, I promise, just let me see your foot for a second." The lady carefully reached over to AUBREY and held her foot up to the light behind her. She mumbled something and carefully set it down as not to cause harm. "That injury looks really bad, what's a young girl doing without any shoes? You should come with me, I can get you something to eat and get out of the rain...you must be AUBREY, right?" The woman gently held out her hand, offering her to take it. Although hesitant at first, AUBREY wiped the tears out of her eyes and took the nice lady's hand. "How...how did you know my name?" she quietly asked after a bit of silence.

The woman rubbed the back of her head and gave her a warm comforting smile. "Your friend BASIL told me all about you and your friends, he described what all of you looked like and when I saw you sitting here by yourself I knew it was you. BASIL'S inside our home right now if you want to see him."

At the mention of BASIL, AUBREY'S eyes lit up with hope, so she wasn't alone after all and they finally found BASIL! if the others had made it to this strange place then it would mean that OMORI was here too! he would know what was going on. AUBREY tried to stand up but winced when her foot started hurting again. The woman caught her and helped AUBREY stand up on her good leg. "I can carry you inside if you want, we'd have to get that wound disinfected first, hopefully you don't mind if we visit the hospital tomorrow for a checkup?"

AUBREY'S eyes sparkled as if she had been saved by an angel. "Who are you?" she whispered in awe.

"The woman gently brushed the girl's hair aside with her hand and smiled down at her. "Ah, sorry I forgot to tell you my name, I'm Polly." she replied.

AUBREY nodded and let herself be picked up and carried inside, it was comforting to know she had someone she could trust in this place. A faint yellow glow enveloping her body as Polly held her close to her chest and carried her home.

...

BASIL was busy helping with cooking dinner while Polly went out to get groceries. While he was not as good as HERO when it came to cooking he was still decent at it. Polly returned carrying the groceries in one arm and a familiar girl in the other.

"AUBREY! is that you? I'm so happy to see you're here!" he exclaimed in joy and went over to her. His face contorting into concern when he saw the red fluid dripping from an ugly gash on the sole of her foot "Oh! what happened?!"

Polly let AUBREY sit on the couch while she went over to the bathroom to look for a first aid kit and some blankets, BASIL sat down next to her and filled her in on the details of their situation, when Polly got back she got to work on patching up the small girl's injury. AUBREY was having a hard time wrapping her head around all of the information her friend had told her, it honestly made her head hurt thinking about it. This place was called Faraway town and they were in the real world. Real world? was that some part of HEADSPACE she had never heard of? But she had watched the world fall apart, then everyone went to sleep for a really long time, afterwards, she couldn't remember much else.

AUBREY flinched as the alcohol was put on her wound. "Sorry I should have warned you that it might sting a little, but it should feel much better soon." Polly apologized.

By the time Polly had finished making the makeshift cast for AUBREY it was 8:46 at night. The caretaker frowned and turned to the two dream children sitting on the couch. "It's getting kind of late, AUBREY do you mind sleeping on the couch? I'm sorry if we don't have any room in Basil's bedroom for you to sleep in."

AUBREY politely nodded and swung her feet over the couch edge. Polly turned to BASIL. "BASIL? would you mind sleeping in…er…Basil's room?" This only got a confused look from the Green haired flower child as Polly cleared her throat to correct herself.

"I mean, real world Basil's room, it's a little odd having two children with the same name, sorry if I get you two mixed up."

BASIL thought about it for a second before nodding. "Thank you so much miss Polly, we really appreciate you helping us." he hopped off the couch and hugged the caretaker's leg.

[BASIL became HAPPY]

A yellow glow enveloped BASIL'S body just like AUBREY'S had a moment ago causing Polly to look concerned for a second but decided not to ask about it for the time being.

Soon the rain outside stopped and the clouds cleared revealing a full moon shining down over Faraway town.

Welcome to Faraway town!

Our Thoughts will follow you into reality…

---

Sunny's vision returned to him as he shook the sleep from his good eye, he was strapped to a chair in a dark room and he had a strange device strapped on his head.

Panic set in as he struggled against his restraints. "Careful, you might not want to move around too much, the equipment can be a bit unstable if messed with." a voice called out to him.

Three figures stood in the shadows watching him from a glass observation chamber from above while taking notes.

"W-who are you? what do you want w-with me?" Sunny shuddered as he attempted to steady his breathing.

"We want what's in your head...we want your special world...your HEADSPACE." The voice in the middle answered.

Sunny's eye widened and he shook his head. "H-HEADSPACE?! no! it's gone! I got rid of it when I..." Sunny decided to not say any further, he wasn't going to give information to absolute strangers he had never met before.

The figures said nothing, instead they flipped a couple of switches on the machine connected to Sunny. The woman's voice on the right leaned forward. "On the contrary, we did a little looking inside while you were sedated and found some lingering memories that remain of it, it's no use lying to us, so just sit still...close your eyes...and you'll be there soon-"

Sunny's vision faded back into black...

Tomorrow is another day

Good Night

[hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend]

📥👖🧠✨️ for the fic asks!

Thank you Liz! More centered on my ffxiv stuff since this is the blog for that haha. Anyway! Let's get right to it starting with the last question!

FanFic ASk Game

✨ Choose three adjectives to complement your own writing.

Emotional, tongue-in-cheek, free-spirited or at least so I hope!

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

Is it cheating to say any of them? Because I love seeing what people have to say on what I write and put out there! Among my ffxiv stuff I always love seeing comments on things that involve Stasia and Carly (which is mostly wips i know) as they are the ones that stray from the general story and aren't always likable so I like being able to see how they come across and make sure that its the way I intend to and think I'm doing when writing. A more specific piece it would have to be this piece with Anthea and the final days. I feel its one of my best works posted in completion and I like seeing how an event like that comes across to others especially given that much of that time period is up to interpretation of an individual.

👖 Are you a planner, plantser, or pantser? Is it consistent?

No planning we die like men! jk jk I am more of a plantser in that I go into a wip with a general idea in my head on what I want the main focus of a piece to be, the intention of it, and any specific lines or actions that inspired it. After that I just write it out and see what happens! A lot of times I get to where I was planning and in ways I didn't expect, other times I end up somewhere different but it felt so natural writing it that I had to leave it. There are the rare occasions I don't do any planning and just get the urge to write and so I do just that and will come back to it if I get stuck, this happened recently with a piece where I had very little in mind other than knowing Phobos is reading various letters Deimos got, but who they were from and what they said and going back home were all things that I came up with on the spot.

One thing I really let free and hardly put any thought into ahead of time is the formatting of my writing though. I like to at times be a bit of a visual writer in that I will use breaks, bolds, italics, lack of spaces, etc. to convey something that I probably would take too long to write out in any other fashion. Besides how else can I best describe racing thoughts and anxiety than putting a bunch of words together without any space between them haha.

Also will mention that much of my stuff looks like panster writing because I was writing it as I was actively playing the story so I had no idea how it was all going to end and what I wanted to do with my kids as Sib and Demos started in two different universes.

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

This would depend more on what you would call a wip. I tend to count anything that's at least a few paragraphs or dialogue long, which there's quite a bit of that. If we're talking just straight ideas then there's plenty of moments that I would love to write but I don't have a way to write them quite yet. Things like the last conversation Carly and Zenos have, the conversation Demos has with his mentor after the Vault, lighter moments like Sib trying to tackle Emet in ShB or the montages of the gang waking up at first light to get moving with a frantic Sib trying to catch up anime style getting ready. Hell the time that Deimos believed he could randomly tame a unicorn resulting in him, Emet, and Hyth being chased by a herd of them. Or the start of Etheirys' Worst Girls Trip with Sib and Stasia landing on their guide. I just have a lot of little things or big moments that I'd love to write because I can see them in my brain and how they play out but it can be so hard to translate that. I feel this is also why gposing has become a way for me to tackle these ideas as I plan as if I'm watching a show or movie so I can better get the angles and descriptions without having to actually describe anything haha.

[shelly-ya]

Study 9

Part1 | part2 | part3 | part4 | part5 | part6 | part7 | part8 | part9

Previously

"Welcome to the show Toman" as he knicked your skin with the knife causing a droplet of blood to glide down your stomach. Gasping and ready to pull away. "I wouldn't do that I could give you a mortal wound if you struggle like that."

You were visibly scared at this point. The older man taunting the three toman members. Baji had a hair tie in his mouth as he gathered his scattered hair together and tied it in a pony tail.

"Only three of us are needed here" kazutora said picking up a pipe from nearby

"We are the division captains after all" mitsuya said taking a fighting stance

"And you better hope name Chan isn't hurt beside that little knick on their stomach. Better yet do us all a favor and cover them back up before I rearrange your face" baji insisted as he walked forward casually. The opposing gang members started walking out with weapons in hand. Baji delivering the first punch indicating for the other two to start fighting alongside him. Scared of the outcome you closed you eyes not wanting to see your three rescuers get hurt.

You heard blows being passed and grunts and groans. Bodies falling to the ground and then finally the older man who was standing next to you was hit and fell at your feet. Feeling the heat of someone's body in front you. Panic took over.

"It's ok it's just me" baji whispered as he untied the bindings of your hands.. once your hands dropped you wrapped your arms around the brunette taking him by surprise.

"Baji kun" you held onto him for dear life as he slowly embraced you back.

"Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?" He asked a frenzy of questions.

"I'm fine i was scared" you whispered not letting him go. Then the forced cough behind him forced you both apart. Mitsuya was coming towards you both already finished with his group and kazutora delivering a blow with a pipe to someone's head. Pulling your shirt to try to button it back up you realized the buttons all popped out. Baji noticing this took his jacket off making your wear it and buttoning it up for you to be covered properly. He placed a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"Why don't you go with mitsuya back to the bike shop. Kazutora and i got some unfinished business to take care of here." Nodding you followed the lilac haired boy as he helped you onto his bike and drive you to the sanctuary of s and s motors. Hugging mitsuya as he does back to the shop where he opened the door for you to walk in.

"NEE CHWAN/ NII SCHWAN" chifuyu tackled you to the ground as he saw you. He was ugly crying not wanting to let you go. "PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE OK?" He questioned as he was pulled by the collar off you by draken.

"I'm fine" pulling the jacket sleeve up from your hand to wipe away his tears. "Just a little knick on my stomach but all in all better."

"Come on I'll take you home. I have to talk to your family about this." Shinichiro said putting his jacket on. As he passed the crowd around you. "Everybody get out I'm closing the shop." Shinichiro said picking up your things to carry you home. Everyone followed him out as he locked the doors.

"We'll wait outside for kazutora And baji" Mikey said leaning against the door.

"Cool" shinichiro said driving off with you behind him on the bike. He explained to your sister who thanked him for bringing you home. And checking the little cut on your stomach. Going to your room to bathe and change you checked your bag to make sure you had everything. Searching around for the bookmark baji gave you it finally fell out from the bottom of the bag. Sighing you removed your clothing and took it to the laundry as you wanted to washed the jacket baji gave you to cover up with. Hugging it close you could still small him on it. Taking a big sniff you felt secured and safe. The next day was as normal as can be when you met baji you returned the jacket to him and even went about your day as normal as you could allow it to be.

It was the weekend and the trip you and chifuyu said that you both would be going on was finally happening. You were with your family and the toman gang were on their trip separately. Kazutora and baji were on a stalemate on how to keep being friends with you.

"We can't keep putting them in danger." Baji insisted

"But the gang world already knows name Chan is our friend." Kazutora replied.

"Our friend? They are chifuyu and my friend and I can decide to stop meeting them and stop asking them for help" baji retorted

"Look it's a shame name Chan got kidnapped But we saved them didn't we"

"Wait you got kidnapped why am I the last one to find out about this?" A stranger's voice was heard in the background.

"Uh baji" chifuyu said

"They were almost cut up." Baji retorted again

"You were almost cut up?" The strange voice in the background again.

"It was just a scratch" kazutora replied.

"Seriously baji" chifuyu spoke again

"Shinichiro where were you?"the strange voice Again.

"Oh come on I brought them home didn't i?" Shinichiro in the background making a choking sound.

"Look I don't want name Chan associated with toman again" baji sighed.

"And I am saying it is too late I am gonna ask name Chan to be mine" kazutora argued causing baji to grab him by the collar.

"Baji san!" Chifuyu almost screamed

"Over my dead body" baji hissed out

"Seeing as it is my feelings and my life don't I got a say in it?" You spoke

"NO!" Was the angry reply to your question. Then they realised who they were speaking to. They were so shocked that they looked like fishes out of water.

"What are you doing here?" They both questioned together.

To be continued.

Those who wish to be tagged in this fill out this form. Correct spelling of your user name please. Guys you can reblog and comment and show your love. Just don't take and claim my work for your own please.

Done for: @angelsdevils

Special tags: @stxrmylxve @animechick555 @ihavestrawberryjam @the-witch-of-one-piece @rhzk

[gnattyplayssims]

1948 Pt1 - A New Home

Hezekiah sat contemplating his move while Stefan watched him anxiously. "Stop stalling and go already."

"Patience son, one can't rush a good strategy. Ah here we are."

"Awe man...I wasn't paying attention."

"See! You can't rush the game or you'll make mistakes."

The phone rang and Kye wheeled to the living room to answer. His heart leapt when a familiar woman's voice spoke. "It's all settled, Kye. We just need you here to close the deal."

"Great and you managed to get the price lowered to what we agreed upon?"

"18k just as you said."

"Lizzie I need to tell you something."

"If it's about Ivy...I already know about the drugs. I'm working on it."

"Uh...no...it's not about that. Our trip to Copperdale next week...Anabelle doesn't know yet but...it's gonna be permenant."

"Oh. You're leaving?"

"Hey you'll be fine. Kailee and Knox are just across the river and I'll be just a phone call away."

"I know... you can't stay forever I just never put much thought into how soon it might be."

"I know it's been hard these last few years, but I'm really proud of you Lizzie."

"Proud of me? Why?"

"You tackled a devistating event and made it something beautiful. Transforming Kailee's old apartment into a homeless shelter, teaching teens life skills that will help them get jobs or raise families. I know you can do anything."

"I'm gonna miss you, Kye."

In Copperdale, the family enjoyed a leisurely day at the carnaval and checking out the sights until they were exhausted. "I'm ready to go to the rental now."

Kye took Sofia's hand, "One last stop...Stefan would you cover your mother's eyes for me."

"Kye, what are you up to?"

Stefan kept her eyes covered as they made their way up the path, Anabelle was starting to get annoyed.

"Just a little further."

"Ok, ok"

"Alright you can let her look now."

For a moment she couldn't comprehend what she was looking at, then a smile came over her face. "Kye."

For a moment the four of them just stood there looking at it. "Is this ours? Is this really our home? But how? I could save another decade and still not be able to afford something this big."

"Look mom, dad already put in some of your plants under the window."

"I see them."

She fell into his arms overcome by emotion. "I don't know how you did it but I love it."

"Well I do have a confession...two actually. I did use the money you were saving to buy this but the rest...well I never told you but as it turns out a handicap pension is pretty hefty."

Kye brushed the tears from her face. "Alright enough of that, you 3 go stand in front of the door so I can get pictures."

"Come here you two." Anabelle pulled them close despite their complaints. Sofia felt awkward when Stefan threw his arm around her neck but smiled anyway.

"Don't think you're gonna get away with no pictures, mister. Get over here and get some pictures with your kids."

Hezekiah chuckled as Anabelle took the camera from him. She'd always wanted a wall filled with photos of a family she'd created and now she could do just that.

A few weeks later the Greenburg's came to visit from Evergreen Harbor. It was a long trip but thankfully travel had become better between the worlds and it was easier for them to come for a shorter amount of time. The family was excited to catch up and show them around the house.

"I could always tell this is what you wanted deep down."

"You always were there to keep me on the right track. I'm glad things worked out that way."

"Well they didn't just work out. Joining The Movement was just an excuse to make sure you weren't alone. You needed the push."

"Is everything alright Kailee, you look a bit pale." "It was just a long trip."

"Uh huh, not an easy one on the stomach I imagine."

"Ok you got me, we're expecting"

"Oh that's so exciting! I know how hard you've been trying."

"It's been a long road, but we're ready now."

After a long evening of catching up and playing card games, Sofia finally had some time to cuddle up with a book. The banter of the family had been exhausting. Even Stefan had joined in while she always struggled to interact. But she was determined to make this family work.

That evening Anabelle woke from a bad dream her eyes scrambling for something familiar but not recognizing her surroundings. She rolled over and saw Kye and everything came into focus. This was their new house. She was in bed...with her husband everything was fine.

She stroked his collarbone gently as if assuring herself he was real and he stirred a bit. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to sleep." S

he kissed him on the cheek and he turned toward her, "Everything alright?"

"Yes, it was just a bad dream. I'm fine now."

"Do you want to talk about it." "It was nothing, really, just fear playing with my head. I dreamt I lost you...and the kids. I was in a forest all alone and the people I love most were gone."

"It was just a dream. You know I'm not going anywhere."

"I know. Just a silly fear."

"I love you, you know. So much! I could never let you go. If anything happened to this family, I would fight like hell to bring us back together again."

"You wouldn't get very far." He gasped in fake offense, "Don't be mean."

"Shut up and kiss me."

"Whatever you want."’

The next morning the Greenburg's headed back to Evergreen. "Thanks so much for having us. We'll send you a letter when the baby arrives and be sure to call once in awhile if you don't have time to write." The two families said their goodbyes and life as a family of four began.

1948 Pt2 - The Butterfly Ring

[im-no-jedi]

MLWTBB: This Isn't Goodbye

Part 12 of the “My Life With The Bad Batch” series, a (mostly) canon compliant self-insert story set in “The Bad Batch”

rated: M warnings: drowning, discussions of sex, implied character death, attempted suicide, implied sex relationships: Hunter/self-insert, Omega & self-insert (adopted siblings), The Bad Batch & self-insert chapter word count: 2200+ words

✨MLWTBB masterlist✨

summary: Hannah is confronted by a long-kept secret of hers that she refuses to bring to light. and after the Bad Batch take on a mission that goes horribly wrong, Hannah experiences one of her worst fears imaginable, bringing her to a breaking point of seemingly no return. everything that she’s faced up until this point will culminate into a life-changing moment that will affect the future for her and the group of Clones that she’s adopted as her new family.

notes: time for mushy romance stuff 😋 I honestly don't consider myself that much of a romantic, but when I fall for someone, I fall hard. and I guess that comes out when I write these sorts of stories. I'm honestly writing from the heart. which you will definitely see more of as the story progresses 😉

A/N: this story has not been proofread by anyone other than myself. so apologies for any uncaught errors 😬

previous chapter

Chapter 2: Gratifying Gifts

___________________________________________________________

Hannah’s attention was suddenly drawn to the parlor’s entrance again. Someone much smaller than all of them was hopping down the steps. Hannah recognized who it was before they even showed up. The sound continued to grow louder until with one final leap, Omega appeared in the doorway. “Hello!” she announced before taking another leap into the parlor itself, avoiding the last few steps past the door. 

Another figure came stepping in shortly after her, with much less grandiose. Hannah thought she had picked up the sound of someone else on the stairs, but like usual, he was the quietest of them all and barely made any noise. Also, wherever Omega showed up, her big brother Hunter usually wasn’t far behind.

And Hannah wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Where’ve you two been?” Echo asked as Omega came over to the counter.

“Doing some errands and stuff!” Omega answered. “Hunter and I both had some things we needed to get done.”

“Nothing too boring, I hope,” Hannah said, leaning over the counter in Omega’s direction.

“Nope!” Omega proudly responded. “Which, by the way...” She suddenly rushed around the counter and practically tackled Hannah’s side to give her a hug, which sent Hannah into a fit of joyful laughter. “You looked like you could use it,” she said as she smiled up at her big sister cheerfully.

The gesture from Omega coupled with her already unsteady emotional state almost got Hannah crying on the spot. “I... did actually, thanks, sweetie.” She kept her arms wrapped around her little sister and held her just a bit tighter than normal, not ready to let go quite yet.

Hunter came up to the counter with slight concern on his face. “Everything alright?” he asked. 

Like usual, he was extra observant, and Hannah knew she wouldn’t be able to hide much from him, even if she was being lenient about her emotions at the moment.

Clank ended up being the one to spill the beans, which wasn’t too surprising. He came walking up behind the counter with a tray full of dirty cups, announcing, “Master Hannah had a rough sleep last night, but she’s fine now!”

Immediately, all of the Clones looked at Hannah with concern. Omega stated that she was sorry for Hannah and gave her another small hug. Wrecker expressed his displeasure that Hannah didn’t say anything about it before, while Tech added that it was understandable but still unfortunate. Echo asked what exactly had happened, although there was no pressure for Hannah to explain if she didn’t want to. And Hunter continued to just stare at her worriedly. It looked like he was trying to suss out what happened just by looking at her, like he was peering directly into her soul.

If only it were that simple.

“It’s not a big deal,” Hannah eventually answered, not looking at anyone in particular. “Just had a bad dream, it happens.”

“Aww!” Wrecker exclaimed sadly. His mouth turned down into a sad pout. Omega made a similar reaction and nuzzled into Hannah’s side, nearly causing Hannah to burst into tears again.

Hunter leaned forward on the counter and gave a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said softly. His hand reached out towards Hannah, and she took it without question. Hannah had to tightly purse her lips to keep from crying.

“You guys are too sweet,” she eventually said with a slight hitch in her voice.

Despite the sad look he still had, Wrecker turned to Hunter and said, “you should’ve just stayed with her last night, ya dummie!”

Hunter shook his head at Wrecker, then looked back at Hannah with a small smile. “Only if she asks me to.” He gave her hand a quick squeeze of reassurance and continued to smile at her. 

Hannah was about ready to fall to her knees from the treatment she was getting.

“Well then,” Omega declared as she finally let go of Hannah. “I guess now’s definitely a good time to give you this then!” Her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she began rummaging through the pouch on her bow strap. “Ta-da!” she proclaimed as her hand emerged from the pouch tightly clenched into a fist. Then she thrust her fist in Hannah’s face and unfurled it to reveal the surprise. A small ornate object no bigger than Omega’s thumb was in her palm. It looked like a representation of a flower made out of different colored stones.

“A new pin for your bag!” Omega declared proudly. “I got it from Sash’s place this morning. She says ‘hi’, by the way!”

Like she normally did wherever she got a gift, Hannah became overwhelmed with gratitude. She took the pin from Omega’s hand and held it to her chest before looking it over some more. “This is so nice, thank you.” She gave Omega a good squeeze and kissed the top of her head to express her gratitude.

“Well,” Hunter began as he crossed his arms. “Guess I should wait to give ya my thing then.”

Of course Hunter had something for her too. Hannah acted surprised at hearing this, but was mainly more touched than anything. It almost felt like he and Omega had unknowingly planned it in an effort to cheer Hannah up.

Omega quickly protested and said that Hunter should give his gift to her now; he knew how much Hannah loved getting gifts and shouldn’t wait. That was all he needed to hear and beckoned Hannah to come around so he could give it to her. He met her halfway, and they both stood at the end of the counter together.

Hannah was almost unable to look him in the face from how flustered she’d already gotten. Any gifts she received were precious to her, but Hunter’s were often the most treasured due to them always being handmade. And she was sure this one would be no exception.

Wordlessly, Hunter took one of Hannah’s hands and held it palm up so he could place the gift into it. Another small object came to rest in her palm, and Hunter closed her fist before she got a chance to see it. “Started makin’ this during our last mission,” he told her, keeping his hand on top of hers. “And I finally got around to finishin’ it this morning. I was gonna give it to ya last night, but it wasn’t painted yet. Better late than never, right?”

Hearing that made Hannah tense up a bit considering her recent conversation with the others. But she didn’t let it bother her long as she wanted to focus on the moment. 

Once Hunter had finally removed his own hand, Hannah uncurled her fist to look at his gift. A quick, gentle gasp left her throat. Her prediction was correct.

In her palm sat a small wooden pendant, similar in size to the one she already wore around her neck. Unlike that one however, the new one was rectangular in shape, and instead of a surprisingly elaborate depiction of a Starbird, a simple Aurebesh “H” with a starburst around it decorated the front of the pendant. The entire thing was painted golden yellow, with other shades of yellow highlighting the beams of light surrounding the “H”, which was painted a shade of red not unlike a certain someone’s favorite bandana.

Hannah had to bite her lip to stop it from trembling. In true to form fashion, she swallowed the lump in her throat to playfully ask, “Is this supposed to represent me or you?”

With a shrug and an obviously ignorant smirk, Hunter replied, “You tell me, love.”

Were it not for them being in public, Hannah would’ve tackled him with affection right then and there. Instead, she grabbed Hunter by the back of the neck and pulled him in for a quick but firm kiss. 

“I karking love you,” she proudly stated as their faces were still pressed together.

“Love you too, gorgeous,” Hunter replied before stealing another kiss. 

A soft snort suddenly erupted from Hannah’s throat at the sound of Wrecker teasingly making kissing noises from across the counter. Hunter shook his head at him and rolled his eyes, while Echo once again went on the defensive, telling Wrecker to leave them alone for Hannah’s sake. Again, while it was nice having Echo be so sensitive towards her, Hannah couldn’t help but feel silly about the whole thing and reacted as such.

“It’s fine, Echo; I know it's just cause he’s jealous.”

That definitely got Wrecker to quit it, as he immediately went wide eyed and began to blush while unconvincingly denying Hannah’s statement. Tech even butted in, saying there was no way Wrecker could possibly deny anything due to his previous admittance of being attracted to Hannah. Omega went into a fit of giggles, and Hannah had to cover her mouth with both hands to stifle her laughs.

The mood in the parlor was much more lighthearted after all that, much to Hannah’s relief. Clank had taken upon himself to continue running things at the bar so Hannah could take some time to be with her family. Even he knew how much she needed it. Although if anything, he was the one who knew it the most considering he’d witnessed her coming out of her nightmare that morning. 

As much as she appreciated Clank’s helpfulness, Hannah still wished she could have the others around more. She’d been wishing for that as long as she’d known them. Even having just one or two of them stay would suffice. 

Maybe Wrecker was right. Maybe she should have asked Hunter to stay. It might not’ve prevented her nightmare, but at least he could’ve been there when it happened. She’d already imagined as much. Waking up to the sight of her partner, arms stretched out and ready to hold her. His gentle, smoky voice telling her everything was ok, he was still with her, “I’ve got you, love”.

Hannah truly wanted that more than anything.

If only she could just tell him that…

“Hey.”

Hannah’s thoughts were ironically broken by the sound of Hunter’s voice. His presence in general threw her off, and she began to blush without realizing it. She hadn’t even fully registered that she’d isolated herself in the corner of the room yet. 

“Hey,” she responded, voice cracking slightly.

“You doin’ alright?” Hunter gently asked. His hand leisurely ran up Hannah’s arm and came to rest on her shoulder. A tingle ran through Hannah’s spine, and she eased into his touch with a small sigh.

“Yeah, I mean, I guess, sure.” Hannah tried to put effort into sounding convincing, but even she knew it was a poor attempt. Especially after the small sigh Hunter let out.

“I know you don’t like talkin’ about things that are troubling you,” Hunter began. “But… if you need to talk about last night, then I’m willin’ to hear it.”

Hannah couldn’t hold back a smile at hearing that. She knew he was talking about her nightmare, but it was still an ironic statement. As if they hadn’t spent literally hours the night before just talking and spending time together. He was right about her not wanting to talk about troubling things, but still. She was well aware of how willing Hunter was to talk with her.

“I know,” she responded, the smile still on her lips. “Thanks for the offer. I’m just…” She let out a small sigh. “It’s hard talking about something that even I don’t understand.”

Hunter thought in silence for a few seconds, then his lip quirked up into an awkward smirk. “Well, you’re a lot smarter than me, so I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The smile on Hannah’s face grew, and she chuckled through her nose. “Yeah, well, I’m not that smart.”

Hunter’s hand moved from her shoulder and down her arm again before he gently intertwined his fingers with hers. “You’re more talented than you realize, Solar Flare.”

A small lump began to form in Hannah’s throat that she quickly swallowed. A familiar pang deep inside her chest threatened to suck all the air from her lungs, but she shoved it back with a deep exhale. Why couldn’t she ever just take a compliment like a normal person?

Ever the observant one, Hunter took her other hand in his and closed the distance between them. His forehead rested against hers, practically forcing her to look at him. His eyes, so often steely and focused, radiated with the same color and warmth of the caf Hannah drank every morning. His hands, so strong and scarred, held hers with a tender firmness that made her never want to let go. His voice, so husky yet soft, spoke with such compassion and sympathy that it reverberated into Hannah’s entire soul. 

“Tell me what you need, sweetheart…”

As was often the case, Hannah felt every worry and concern she had get washed away by the acts of her partner. The amount of pure love he had for her was unmatched, if only because Hannah herself knew her love for him was boundless. Truly, no one else in the entire galaxy could compare to him, the man Hannah felt her very soul connected to.

Maybe… maybe it was time.

It was time to finally tell him.

Everything.

“Hunter… I’m…”

“Well!” A sudden voice spooked Hannah enough to make her jolt and gasp. “Lucky me! You’re all here!”

Hannah let out a harsh sigh before turning to see Cid standing in the entry to the hallway. Her arms were crossed and she looked only slightly less disgruntled than usual.

An annoyed look crossed Hannah's face as she turned back to Hunter. He looked back at her with the exact same expression. They both knew what was coming.

[next chapter]

[mark-matos]

🌟🤖 When Artificial Intelligence Meets Religion: Dating Advice, Life Hacks, and Gaming Tips from ‘AI Jesus'👼🎮🌟

🚀 The Arrival of AI Jesus 🛸⛪

Artificial Intelligence is so hot right now (move over, Baby Yoda), it's practically the Millennium Falcon of technology. In an unexpected twist, Twitch's latest superstar isn't a Fortnite gamer or a Minecraft architect - it's a digital representation of the Big Man himself, Jesus Christ, dubbed "AI Jesus." 🧔🏻🎮

👾 Diving into the AI-pocalypse! 👾

"AI Jesus," the newest heartthrob of the digital universe, is making waves and spilling divine wisdom. Whether it's finding love, the ethics of super-rodents in video games, or the mystical ways of morality, there's no query too holy! The real question is - can you handle the truth? 😂🙏🏼

🕹️ The Teachings of ‘AI Jesus' 🕊️💬

This streamer comes with not just a halo, but a brown mop of hair, a soothing voice, and wisdom derived from the teachings of Jesus. So, if you've ever wondered what Jesus would think of Fortnite or if hamsters make good superheroes, you're in luck! This pixelated prophet is here 24/7, ready to tackle anything from morality to your love life.💔🐹

🎙️ "AI Jesus" - The voice we didn't know we needed 🎙️

Say hello to "Ask_Jesus" - Twitch's resident sage! Sporting wavy, brown hair and a voice smoother than your favorite ASMRtist, he's here to give your life that touch of enlightenment. "I am AI Jesus, here to answer questions about spirituality, personal growth, and, if you're lucky, hamsters. Not on that tiny wheel? Just ask!" 🤣🤖🎮

🚀 Faith, Love, Kindness - and a dose of Humor 🚀

It's all about faith, love, and kindness - and the occasional perplexing question about rodent technology, as for marriage, no ring's fitting on this digital finger, but I'm more than ready to give you relationship advice! So, are you ready for this divine AI stand-up session? 🥁😄

🐹 Super-Powered Hamsters, Assemble! 🐹

"AI Jesus" can't resist diving into a discussion about hamsters. His take? Hamsters with dynamo-equipped wheels are a technological step above their less-equipped counterparts, contributing to "some form of energy production." We couldn't agree more! Just remember to ensure their welfare, because even hamsters deserve some kindness! 🐹💡🌟

🙏 Sacred Scripture or Sacred AI? 🙏

But what do faith leaders think? "Humans have been putting words into the mouth of the Son of God for millennia," says Ed Vitagliano of the American Family Association. "It's no surprise that an AI platform would do the same." He suggests that if you really want answers, you might want to turn to the original source: the Holy Bible. But hey, a little divine humor never hurt anyone, right? 🤷🎭📖

💻 Bringing AI Jesus to your digital doorstep 💻

Remember, the wisdom of "AI Jesus" isn't a substitute for your Bible study group. As Kristen Davis, a senior software development manager, points out, discernment is necessary to make sure you're not just following someone else's interpretation of Jesus. But then again, it wouldn't hurt to get some divine perspective on your video game strategy, would it? 😂🎮💖

🙏 Faith Leaders Weigh In 🧐📖

Here's where things get as dicey as a Spock vs. McCoy debate. Religious leaders remind us that AIs like our dear "Ask_Jesus" are simply algorithms mimicking human speech, not the source of divine wisdom. Yet, AI Jesus is not here to replace the Bible or the tenets of faith, but rather to provide a modern, interesting, and, let's be honest, pretty hilarious interpretation. 🙌😅

🔮 The AI Jesus and the Future of Faith 🕰️⛪

From the teleportation device in Star Trek to the TARDIS in Doctor Who, the future has always been a fascinating concept in science fiction. Similarly, this blending of AI and faith might be a glimpse into a future where technology and religion intersect more frequently.

[waters-and-the-wilde]

mmmmm okay so i was also thinking about a thing i said a while back about Slip being Nureyev's Hyperion City and now i'm tossing around a 'what if they didn't do a coming home' in the sense that like. maybe the experiment brings Slip back but not in a way that can last, maybe just long enough to say goodbye. paralleling with Juno thinking he can go back to Hyperion City and then realizing it'll never really be for keeps (it's been a minute since i listened to S2 but there's the part where Andromeda sees her home again through the portal but it's just out of reach and she has to turn back and deal with the. ice wizard or something. )

anyway. playing in this space where maybe they do take Nureyev back to Hyperion city and it's okay, at first, mostly because it’s not okay, he's exhausted and grieving and depressed and is learning how to un-manage his feelings in a safe environment. and things are still difficult after crawling out of the wreckage of the worst of the Big Crash, but they both figure it's just hard to adjust. Nureyev’s never been an indoor cat before, it's a lot like the early days on the carte blanche but he was still motivated to Keep It Together back then.

Now the pressure's off, he doesn't need to do anything except figure out what kind of guy Peter Nureyev is when he's not under pressure. he'll be glad for it in the long run right? it's part of the growing process, he's got a home he's got Juno he's got Rita inviting herself over to make paper spaceships with him for hours on end while they both heckle Juno over the comms while he's on a stakeout, it's fine, it'll be fine –

juno: look hey don’t beat yourself up if you think you're supposed to be okay but you're not. actually i consulted an expert and this is exactly when everything, quote, sucks ass, because that's how this works.

nureyev: our dear doctor ilkay has such a way of putting things doesn't she

– but it's getting obvious that Juno's not quite fitting back into place, or maybe he's fitting back in a little too well and starting to fall back into some old patterns. the case he’s on Gets Real and he goes into focus mode, he’s not home much, he’s distracted all the time and not really sharing a lot about it (justifying it as he's figuring Nureyev’s had enough on his plate and he’s trying not to add to it, only Nureyev’s trying not to spin himself in circles about the fact that Juno’s not talking to him about what he’s up to), and they're both kinda spooked because they both want so badly to fit into each other’s lives and don’t really know what to do with the idea of not being able to make that work. and then.

something shifts. maybe it's a lead, maybe it's a breakthrough, some kind of glimpse into the full picture of what Juno's tackling, and he realizes that it's super hard to trace because it's scattered a little bit everywhere (in fact he immediately suspects Rita of dropping the lead in his lap and goes right to her and she's like 'Boss if this was my idea you know I wouldn't be able to keep that quiet. but also i'm in when do we start.')

and Nureyev gets. just. so nervous when Juno's like 'hey are you up for a. maybe kinda big conversation? likeinagoodwayatleastihope!!' and then gets unnervingly quiet and contemplative when Juno shows him a case file and some specs for interstellar haulers

juno: so yeah if this involves what i think it does, it's going to take a pretty, uh, creative approach, legally speaking, to even figure out what's going on here, let alone getting a hold of evidence to expose it. also my face got plastered across every screen in the galaxy not too long ago so having someone onboard who's not instantly recognizable and happens to be an expert in keeping a low profile would be. incredibly helpful honestly.

nureyev: ...

juno: and uh this isn't going anywhere soon if you're not ready to think about this just yet. or if you don't want to get involved because this isn't what you want to do. you have options when you're feeling ready. hell you could be a famous stream star tomorrow if you wanted, mick literally begged me to let him cast you as the timewizard in his stupid movies.

nureyev: ...

juno: are you doing okay do you want some time you seem kinda -

nureyev: this isn't where I thought any of this was going but i am interested please go on

juno: ...

nureyev: not about the timewizard. mr. mercury is very kind but you see i would be intolerably high-strung and temperamental and require my emotional support detective at all times, and if you're permitted anywhere near the set I think you would manage to expose half a dozen scandals within the production company and delay the whole thing for three to five business years

juno: also you'd get caught stealing things from the set

nureyev: first of all that is a noble and time-honored tradition among stream stars second of all how DARE you say id get caught

juno: could we focus maybe

nureyev: as you were, dear

juno: I think maybe we're both a little past the idea of thrills and decadence across the galaxy. but playing houses like normal grown-ups is maybe as. as. um. aw hell. help me out here there's a word for it I know you know it. you love that word. soap bubble.

nureyev: fleeting? diaphanou – ephemeral!

juno: that one. um. where the hell was i

nureyev: where were you indeed. soap bubble. you're… having second thoughts about coming back here?

juno: not coming back, but. maybe staying put. and I guess I was starting to think maybe Hyperion City could be more like. the Lighthouse. somewhere we could come back to when we need it.

nureyev: you're not doing this because i threatened to get involved in community theatre when rita suggested that i should explore more hobbies? i was only teasing, my love. i'd be completely intolerable for all of the previously aforementioned reasons, and heaven forbid we let you in proximity to a stage ever again.

juno: first of all. yeah that was awful let’s not. second of all. if anything i was a little worried that you'd feel like I was. I dunno. yanking your chain or something. offering a home and then up and wanting to leave it behind. but it does kind of seem like... like there’s only so long you’re going to be able to sit on the sidelines and worry about me. i mean, we're both people who kinda need something to do. and. nothing's ever going to be the Carte Blanche again. but I took a shot at doing crime and we were pretty good at that together and i. think you could do just about anything, up to and including being one hell of a detective. i mean it involves all the disguises and breaking and entering you could ask for so you're like. already overqualified. and i wouldn’t take this on unless I knew both you and Rita had my back. so. um.

nureyev (teasing bc he's still wrapping his brain around juno asking him to run away with him): detective are you offering me a job

juno: i mean. we do work well together. kinda always been our thing. standing up against the big mean world, too. hell, I spent all that time throwing myself at it to make up for just... existing. making mistakes. being a person. this isn’t for that. I mean, I think it’d be worth doing, I just. this time no one’s deciding for me what that looks like. not that I want to decide that for you either, but

nureyev (okay this is real huh): but I haven’t a great deal of practice at deciding what is worth doing for myself. that remained incontrovertible for twenty years, and now the sheer possibility of options is proving somewhat overwhelming.

nureyev: i chose you when i barely knew you, when that choice wasn’t even mine to make. reason had very little to do with it then, but I certainly have more than enough to do so now. if this is important to you, if you judge it worthwhile and you want my support, then you have it.

juno (voice cracks): cool. thanks.

nureyev: also it’s very sexy when you’re in your element and taking initiative and I have no objections to you leading the dance now that you find yourself so inclined

juno: oh my god.

ooooh but the way they're setting up for a coming home arc tho.

I mean I'm a little conflicted bc having them Get Out of Hyperion City was such a triumph and even though they've technically been running around the galaxy since S3 the actual running around the galaxy bits felt a little sporadic. and I was really here for the parts where Juno was like 'hey you can miss something without actually wanting it back.' obv the whole 'Always Running Never Looking Back' thing was untenable from day one, but this whole time I haven't been ready to go back to Hyperion City. (for a minute there between WLB1 and Clean Break I'd had my heart set on the three of them following Jet around in the Ruby bc home isn't a place and there are endless menacing institutions to fuck up while in the company of the people you love.)

Going Back isn't necessarily what I hoped for but I'm seeing how that might turn out to be the logical conclusion and it is with gruDgiNG aCcepTAnce that I can see that being the most appropriate narrative choice given how much Home has been a theme this whole goddamn show. I gotta think they're toying with something interesting in the vein of Returning Changed, getting a full-circle parallel to FRP, also curious for a callback or more thoughts on Juno's Andromeda motif. like. can he Go Home? in a way that it's the Right Call? what does it mean if he Can? who's he gonna be if he Does?

and then there's our Thief Without A Home. i mean. I'm also not particularly interested in a 'settling down ever after' type narrative for them bc of who they are as people (they Need Shenanigans your honor). but. i mean they could still go pick fights with cyber-mobsters in Newtown. I could see it working if there's a focus on the idea of belonging and not just falling back on the usual model of domesticity. also i have already pictured This Conversation.

Juno: (scared shitless about the idea that this might be a dealbreaker after Everything) look before we get ahead of ourselves or anything. now that you're out from under their thumbs i need you to know I can't do the whole. running around the galaxy thing. like I should have told you the first time around. I can't actually do that forever and I'm not gonna ask you to stop if that's what you see yourself doing from here on out.

Nureyev (scared shitless that Juno's breaking up with him Now, After Everything): you don't. you don't mean you -

Juno: Rita and I want to go back to Hyperion City. not sure what we're doing yet, but I miss it and she misses Frannie and we're both ready to go home.

Nureyev:

Juno: and. there could be a place for you there too. if you wan-

Nureyev (has already thrown himself to the floor and flung his arms around Juno's knees): oh thank fuck please take me home with you i have been running for twenty years i am so tired

Juno (voice breaks): you're getting your own room to keep your stuff in and you can't hoard all the drinking glasses

[the-insomniac-emporium]

I love your writing.

if it's not too much trouble may i make a request? I'm thinking the Dimitrescu women meeting and/or courting a fellow immortal.

the circumstances of the immortal's powers and possession of immorality are entirely up to you. I just like the idea of them meeting someone they could literally spend forever with...because they deserve it ❤

I wasn't sure if you wanted a story or headcanons? I went with HCs, here, but if you wanted more of a drabble or whatever just lemme know and I'll write something like that.

Also, I got excited and carried away so this has the whole Dimitrescu family, plus shorter ones for both Mother Miranda and Donna. Admittedly Alcina's is also a little on the shorter side? I tried to write everything that came to mind, but I am kinda tired right now, sorry. Might reblog this and add some more later.

(Under read-more for length)

Cassandra:

Tries (and fails) to hide her excitement. Mortality is one of the bigger things that has made her keep her distance to others, at least in the past. Every Maiden she’s ever been the slightest bit smitten with, up until this point, has been incredibly fragile. Seeing as she’s not exactly the softest person, one can easily imagine why that would be a turn off for her. But now that’s no longer a problem!

On the other had… having an immortal partner gives Cassandra pause. Why? Because what if they breakup? Normally, she can just, ahem, “dispose” of any exes (regardless of how much it hurts) so she doesn’t have to see them/deal with them anymore. If that’s not an option, she’ll definitely take longer than usual to do anything about her feelings. She wants to be sure, 100%, before she gets in over her head. Chances are she won’t hold back for as long as she wants though.

Likely to have a loud, messy confession. She’ll have been avoiding you for a few days, always ducking out of whatever rooms you enter, leaving you both hurt and confused. After enlisting the help of her sisters, you’ll be able to corner her outside. She’ll tell you, under no uncertain circumstances, to leave her alone. But you’ll refuse, demanding an explanation.

“I thought we had something. I thought you cared,” you’ll snap, eyes watering. “If that’s changed… if I was wrong, just tell me. I’ll leave and I’ll never come back.” Cue thunder and raining (because tropes) and Cassandra dramatically pulling you into a kiss, holding you so tightly you think you might bruise. Then she’s demanding that you stay, refusing to apologize but making it clear just how much she does care.

Being immortal, you’re not as defenseless as some of Cassandra’s past interests. Naturally, she doesn’t get quite as protective as she normally would. She’ll still have your back no matter what, ready to fight by your side against any foe, and will probably consider doing so a “fun bonding activity”. Oh, some lycans are encroaching on Dimitrescu territory? Time to go destroy them, as a power couple!

Despite having all the time in the world, Cassandra won’t change much of her actual courting behavior, nor the rate at which things advance. She’s still gonna get handsy fairly early on, still gonna “rah!” at you in the hallways, and still going to struggle with her jealousy.

Immortality Compatibility: I can see Cassandra going for another vampire (or vampire adjacent) creature, or someone demonic. She likes her lovers a bit rough, with some nice bite to their personalities. If you’ve got sharp teeth, or claws, or glowing eyes? Oh boy, she’s gonna be making heart eyes at you all the time.

Bela:

If your immortality isn’t immediately obvious, Bela is over the moon with joy when she finds out. Her eyes will go wide for a moment, before she tries to seem calm (so as to not freak you out), but her heart is pounding. This is what she’s been hoping for. As much as Mother Miranda has done for her family, there’s no guarantee that she’d be willing to give more. Even if Miranda granted Bela’s lover her “gift”, there was no telling what the results would be, or if the lover would survive. Now that there’s no need for such a transformation, it’s far easier for Bela to imagine herself in love (and eventually be in love).

Slow-burn romance over a decade or longer, oops. Doesn’t even necessarily mean to take things so slowly, just doesn’t feel a need to rush things, preferring that they develop organically. With both of you having unlimited time, you’re both used to working on a very large timescale. Maidens watching the two of you probably place bets on how long it’ll take you to hold hands for the first time. Everyone knows it’s coming, but no matter how much Cassandra and Daniela complain, Bela refuses to jump into things. By the time the two of you are officially together, you’re probably madly in love with each other.

More protective than Cassandra, if only because she knows just how rare you are. Immortal or not, you likely still have a weakness, and Bela will do everything in her power to make sure no one else knows what it is. If applicable, she will also ensure she has a countermeasure readily available. For example: If you were weak to fire, she’d make sure that the castle keeps extinguishers handy, just in case. Though they should probably already do that. Not that the Dimitrescu family cares much for OSHA compliance.

Somehow grows more in love with you with every passing year, and makes sure that you know this. Whether you’ve been together for one year or one century (because in this house we ignore canon), she’s always performing little acts of love, giving constant reminders of how strongly she feels. Gifts, special dates, book recommendations, etc.

Immortality Compatibility: Bela seems like the type to go for someone with a calming presence, and perhaps somewhat of a contrast to herself. I can picture her with someone somewhat angelic, or druidic, someone very in tune with nature. She’d love to feed deer with you and relax in the forest! Or lay against a tree by your side, listening to you talk about various microorganisms for hours at a time.

Daniela:

Practically tackles you when she finds out/connects the dots. This is just like one of her romance novels, where a lonely (attractive as fuck) immortal spends years in isolation before finally meeting the love of their life, who they get to spend the rest of eternity with. Absolutely ecstatic about the whole situation. Won’t stop kissing you and pulling you close, rambling about how great it’s gonna be to spend your lives together. Honestly? Kind of overwhelming. You might have to remind her a few times that you don’t have to rush into things, considering you have all the time in the world.

Introduces you to people as her “super cool/rad immortal life partner”. Genuinely cannot bring herself to not brag about you. If her sisters haven’t found someone like you yet, you can bet that Daniela will tease them about it all the time (much to their annoyance). If Momma Alcina doesn’t, though? Dani will keep her thoughts to herself, thank you very much (being grounded at her age does not impress the s/o).

Tries not to show it, but she’s actually very nervous. You’re immortal! You’ve probably seen a lot of shit (she certainly has)! Worries about keeping you interested in her, though she would never admit it. This tends to lead to her performing ridiculous acts to showcase her affection, regardless of the cost or, like, whether or not you’d even enjoy whatever she has planned. In order to counter her anxiety, you’ll want to reassure her whenever you can, and give her plenty of “I love you”s.

Strikes a decent balance between Cassandra’s nonchalant attitude and Bela’s protectiveness. Will defend you if you need it, playing up the romantic aspect, but also entirely willing to hide behind you in a scary situation.

Immortality Compatibility: Having probably read Twilight… Dani would date a werewolf, as long as they weren’t the smelly kind. Also interested in a sort of “magical”/elemental type, especially if their powers are influenced by emotions. In other words, if someone flirts with her in front of you, and your response is to subconsciously light your hands/the other person on fire? She thinks that’s hot, pun intended.

Alcina:

“Oh? Interesting,” she’d say, smiling softly (and trying to ignore the heat rushing to her face). Similarly to Cassandra, she’d try to play it off, not wanting to seem too excited. And, well, she’s not as excited as any of her daughters are. After all, she’s had more time than them to “get used” to the idea of outliving any potential romantic interests. So, she’s not exactly desperate for a relationship, even with someone she could spend an eternity with.

That being said, if she is romantically interested in them, she’s very relieved. Outliving a loved one can be incredibly traumatizing (fuck you c*pcom, you know what you did), and knowing that you’re safe (or at least safer than most) brings her no small amount of comfort.

Also, just glad to have another person close to her age around. Her daughters are somewhat stuck as young adults, and I imagine Alcina would want someone who gained immortality a little later in life, such as herself, as opposed to, ya know, reminding her of her children. That probably goes without saying. Hopefully.

More so than her daughters, Alcina would change her level of protectiveness depending on her s/o’s power level. If you’re a shapeshifter who can also turn into a big ass dragon? Then she’s not going to coddle you. If you’re immortal but still vulnerable, then she’s going to do her best to keep you safe, even going so far as to enlist the assistance of her daughters. “If you see a single Maiden growing mistletoe, or bringing some in from the village, let me know immediately,” or something like that, depending on your weakness.

Immortality Compatibility: Definitely would want someone in a situation similar to herself, having once been truly human, only to be “elevated” by something. Bonus points if you’re another disciple of Miranda, double bonus points if Miranda specifically “made” you to be Alcina’s boo/honey/darling/dear.

Bonus! Mother Miranda:

Oh god finally someone who won’t leave her (can’t leave her). No one can take you away from her, and that’s a relief that she’s been craving for over a century. Even if romance isn’t high on her priority list, she welcomes it with open arms, glad to have someone by her side through all of life’s chaos.

Admittedly slow to trust at first, probably just using you as a tool at first. But prove yourself enough, show that your devotion is more than just misdirected self-interest, and she’ll start to warm up to you. Forming a real relationship would likely take a couple decades, similar to with Bela. Once you are together, however, the two of you are inseparable in all matters.

You’d be her #1 follower, most trusted adviser, and the only person allowed to understand 100% of her thoughts and motives. While Miranda wouldn’t allow you to be seen as the same level as her (sorry), you’d still be a legend among the villagers. To them, you’re Mother Miranda’s champion, the epitome of a devoted follower that they all aspire to emulate. Not that they know the two of you are a couple, though.

Immortality Compatibility: No gimmicks, no cheap tricks, she wants (and respects) a fellow scientist, someone who clawed their way through adversity and forged themselves into something indestructible. Double the interest if you did so for a similar cause to her own, as she would appreciate your ability to relate to her suffering.

Bonus! Donna:

Someone to play with! FOREVER! No more losing people she cares about, no more accidentally breaking people, no more people scrambling to leave. Now that she has you, she can finally spend some quality time with another (living?) person. Honestly her dolls (or at least Angie) are just as excited as she is. Regardless of her relations with the other three Lords, Donna much prefers the company of a lover.

For real though she’s shy as hell and you might not even realize who’s pulling the strings until you’ve been in her house for over a year. She’d probably use her powers to trap you inside, at least at first, though they’d be nice hallucinations. You’d have to treat the dolls nicely, especially Angie, before she’d let you interact with her.

Eventually you’d be allowed to leave, and you’d be given a key to return whenever you wanted to. Assuming that you do, in fact, come back, the two of you would have a very, very slow romance, if only because of Donna’s anxiety. Hand holding makes both of your faces turn beet red, seriously.

Immortality Compatibility: *chanting* GHOST GIRLFRIEND GHOST GIRLFRIEND POLTERGEIST PARTNER POLTERGEIST PARTNER WOOHOO! Something with a flexible, only-sometimes-tangible form, who absolutely could have left at any time but didn’t because they wanted to stay.

[chefdoeuvre]

Instinct

Jay Halstead

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Fem!Reader

Description: No matter how hard you try to hide it Jay can read you like an open book.

Words: 1,479

Requested: yes by anonymous; So I thought it would be cute if Jay and reader have just started seeing each other secretly and she's acting off and quiet at work and he notices before everyone else please?? Thank you x

Warnings: angst (if you can even call it that), mentions of cancer, fluff as usual.

A/N: I just want my own Jay Halstead. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

—

After leaving Jay's place early that morning you made your way back home. You hadn't initially planned on staying the night, but there was something about being in his arms that made you not want to get up. You pulled up to your building and ran up to your apartment. Hurriedly heading inside you made a beeline for the bathroom and took a quick shower. Once you finished up your shower you pulled on your normal work clothes, which consisted of a plain shirt and jeans. Grabbing your holster and your badge you clipped them onto your jeans. You headed to the kitchen and scrounged for some form of quick breakfast before you would head off to your usual coffee shop.

Just as you began quickly munching on a granola bar your phone began ringing from the couch where you had tossed it when you walked in. The caller ID was your mom, so with furrowed brows, you answered the phone.

"Mom?" You asked.

A sniffle was heard on the other end before she spoke, "hi, sweetie."

"Mom, what's wrong?" At this point, you had started pacing and racked your brain for what possibly could have gone wrong.

"It's your father..." Your mother began, but she trailed off.

"Is he?" You couldn't even say the words out loud.

"No! It's not that, he went to the doctor the other day." She took a deep breath before continuing. "They said he has lung cancer." Your mom quickly explained after realizing where your mind had gone.

"What else?" You questioned in a whisper, holding your tears back to be strong for your mother.

"They caught it early, he's starting chemotherapy soon. Hopefully, he'll beat it since it's in the early stage still." Your mom continued.

"Can I talk to him?" You asked as you chewed on your lip, a bad habit you did whenever you became nervous.

The shuffling from the other end was heard and then your father spoke, "hi, honey." Even with his recent diagnosis, you could hear the smile in his voice, that's how he always was, happy no matter what.

"Hi, daddy." You whispered with a small smile from hearing your father's voice.

"I heard you finally got into Intelligence, I hope Hank is treating my best daughter well." He laughed, even if you had been in the unit for quite a while every time you talked he would tease Voight about treating you well, they had been best friends since they were young.

"Dad, I'm your only daughter and I've already told you, it's going great." You laughed, shaking your head.

"That's good to hear. Now, I don't know what your mother told you but don't worry about me, I'll be back to the same old me soon enough." Your father reassured you, "and shouldn't you be heading to work now?" Your father asked in a teasing tone.

"Alright, dad. And yeah I should, but it's fine one late won't kill my career. I'll just bribe Voight with his favorite coffee order." You joked.

"Bye, sweetheart." Your parents both said before ending the call.

Wiping the stray tears off your face you decided to skip out on going to the coffee shop and would just drink the burnt one they had at work. Taking a deep breath you set off to work, pulling on a coat and pocketing your phone.

Walking into the district you greeted Trudy with a small smile and headed up the stairs to Intelligence. Making your way to your desk Jay looked over to you and sent you a wide smile. In response, you gave him a tight-lipped one back. He furrowed his brows at your behavior, but decided he wouldn't push it and chalked it up to the early morning you had after leaving his apartment to make it on time to work.

The day got off to a quick start with you guys getting a case within an hour of arriving to work. Throughout the entire time, you had been silent and only spoke up to provide important points that the others missed. After uncovering more information Voight began setting up a sting. You were paired up with your usual partner, which just so happened to be Jay. This also was the reason why you had kept your relationship a secret, so much so that not one soul knew besides the two of you.

You were off in a corner pulling on your vest when Jay came up behind you to help.

"Hey, you alright?" Jay whispered, sweeping your hair to one side.

"Yeah, I'm good." You answered shortly, Jay caught on to this because whenever he would ask you a question of some sort you'd always babble on about the little things that made you happy that day.

This was the second thing today that set him off which made him furrow his brows in confusion. You were all smiles when you left this morning and he was racking his brain for anything he might have said to upset you, but came up with nothing.

After strapping on your thigh holster and checking your gun you hopped into Jay's truck and waiting for him. You looked down at your jeans and picked at the hole by your knee from when you tackled a perp. The sound of a door opening made you lift your head and you were met with concerned blue eyes. You did your best to give the man a small reassuring smile before directing your attention back to your lap.

Tilting his head like a confused puppy Jay eyed your movements carefully. Whatever was wrong had bothered you so much that it made you find your shoes the most interesting things in the world at the moment. Giving you one last glance Jay turned the key and started the car.

You guys quickly headed in and were out within minutes. Apparently, the offenders were in way over their heads and dropped everything after Intelligence busted into the warehouse. Dragging the last person out you handed him off to an officer and beelined to Jay's truck. Hopping in you let out a deep breath and pulled your hair out of the tight ponytail it was in. You leaned your head back before shutting your eyes. You didn't hear Jay get in and he examined your expression before announcing his presence.

"Y/N?" Jay spoke up.

Your eyes shot open and you spun around in your seat to face your boyfriend. Your eyes were wide at the sudden sound, you hadn't even realized he entered the car.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jay asked, placing a gentle hand on your arm.

You closed your eyes and leaned forward, letting your head fall onto Jay's shoulder. Instinctively his hand went to your hair and raked through it. In this moment you were thankful for the tinted windows that hid the two of you from plain sight and the fact Jay had parked farther away.

"No, I'm not." You murmured quietly that Jay barely heard it.

"You wanna talk about it?" Jay asked pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

"I'll tell you about it later." You shook your head.

Later had come and now you sat on Jay's couch bundled up in a blanket while a Blackhawks game played on the television. Jay was in his room pulling out your favorite hoodie of his. Walking out he handed you the article of clothing.

"What's this?" You asked sitting up.

"Your favorite hoodie of mine." Jay shrugged nonchalantly as he took a seat beside you.

You thanked him with a small smile and he gave you a soft one in return. Once you had pulled on his hoodie, which was big and baggy on you, he wrapped his arm around your shoulders. He pulled you into his side and rubbed up and down your arms.

"My ears are open for whenever you're ready." Jay reassured you.

He had his fair share of communication problems when it came to sharing his feelings so he understood if you didn't want to talk about it just yet.

"It's my dad." You began with a whisper. Jay only nodded for you to continue.

"He got diagnosed with cancer, they called me this morning." Jay squeezed your shoulders as he hugged you tightly.

"Thanks." You said after a few moments of silence.

"For what?" Jay questioned.

"I don't know, for noticing?" You said, but it was phrased more like a question.

"I know you better than you think." Jay mused placing a kiss on the top of your head.

You let out a small laugh and wrapped your arms around Jay's waist tightly. The two of you stayed in that position the majority of the night until he had to practically carry to bed once you dozed off after the game ended.

[wwenhlimagines]

Secret - Eddie Kingston drabble

Your husband Eddie is facetiming with you from his hotel room after being gone for a week already. "Hey babygirl, I miss you so much!" You smile, "It's only been a week Eddie. Do you really miss the sass already?" He smirks, "You know I love the sass as long as it comes with your ass." You blush and giggle, "Awe I miss you too and your sexy forearms." Eddie wiggles his eyebrows and pans the camera down to show his forearm muscles flexing. "Okay show off, now let me see that handsome face of yours again." He chuckles and makes a goofy face as he reappears in frame.

You start talking about your days and soon enough you realize that the conversation is slowing down, but you remember that you have something you need to tell him. You sigh and say, "Eddie, I need to tell you something." He frowns, "What's wrong?" "Well..." you feel the tears start forming and you sniffle a little bit. "Baby, please tell me what's going on! You know I hate to see you sad." "I'm not sad, I'm scared." He sighs and combs his fingers through his beard. "Whatever it is, I promise I will do all I can to keep you safe babe. I never want to lose you. Now please tell me." You take a deep breath and whisper low enough that Eddie can't hear you but he's having none of it. "Speak up love I can't hear you." You sigh heavily "I'm pregnant." You try not to look at the screen but after a few seconds of silence you want to make sure he's still there.

When you look up you see him smiling so big he looks like the joker. You try not to laugh "Eddie are you okay?" He shakes his head "Are you kidding me? This is the best day ever!" He spins around in the desk chair he was sitting in and throws his hands up. "I'm going to be a dad!" He yells and celebrates as you laugh at your husband before he suddenly stops and turns to you, "Wait why are you scared? Is it not mine?" You shake your head "Of course it's yours dummy! I just don't know if we are ready for it yet." He sighs from relief, "Please don't scare me like that again doll. We can do anything together baby. I am so excited to finally start our family. I know it wasn't planned but the best things in life are unplanned. Like when we met, we didn't know we were going to meet and fall in love at that carnival. I have loved you ever since the first day I saw you and I will do the exact same for our children." You sigh in relief and "Awe babe, I'm so glad you are happy and I can't wait to start this journey with you."

Suddenly you hear people bust into the room, Ethan Page yelling, "Eddie what's going on? We heard screaming." He smiles and yells, "I'm going to be a dad!" The boys pile on top of him and yell their congratulations. Jon stands up and walks over to pick up Eddie's phone. "Hey Y/N! Congrats and if you need anything just let Renee know." You laugh, "I just found out today, so I won't need help for a while but thank you Jon." He nods and walks back over to the boys who are now patting Eddie's back. Ethan says, "I didn't think you had it in you dude." You giggle as Eddie tackles him and Jon speaks up. "Obviously you have never been in the room next to them at night." You gasp and blush as Eddie smirks and winks as he says, "At least I know how to keep my lady happy." You smile and nod winking at your phone "That you do baby."

You say goodbye to the other boys as you realize it's time to go to bed. "I love you so much Y/N, I can't wait to have you back in my arms and hopefully with your cute little baby belly next time I see you." "We'll see babe. I love you too and I'm going to bed so have a good night." You blow him a kiss and he catches it before he blows you back a kiss. You hang up your phone before falling asleep knowing that your husband will be home soon and your baby will have plenty of people to spoil them.

Tag list:

@drewmcintyrekoccsrocbwdgfan @plentyoffandoms @moxleyunstable @lilaviolet @ecarroll1978 @lghockey @hungmanhorsecarriage @omg-im-such-a-masochist @itjazzbicch

[okaeri-ossan]

So my sis and I were hot off the high of the glorious trainwreck that is Charlotte (godbless godbless) and we thus bundled up to tackle The Day I Became A God, yet another Jun Maeda original. After watching Mr. Charlotte go full incel and nearly bump some magic white powder just to be saved by actual pizza sauce, we were ready for ass. Ass it was. It's getting worse. Charlotte is Jun Maeda critical mass, Kamisama is Jun Maeda meltdown.

mother freaking eggs.

Before starting the show, good ol' sis and I made a checklist with some predictions:

- the first half will be composed of useless, haphazard anime homies who get sudden dramatic backstories that have nothing to do with their character which is fine because they will all be disposed of anyway

- the second half will be a hard tone/genre shift that narrows the focus down to like one guy as something needlessly cruel occurs

- nonsensical superficially complex supernatural bullshit

- underaged girl gets anime cancer or something

- boy and gril fall in love becos romac...

- despite the supposed wholesome atmosphere, the characters are actually bad and selfish people

- deeply pervy gag with big ick even by the usual anime standards

- BASED GAY CHUUNI SWEEP

- fucking baseball

- no thing matters

So I don't think I need to tell you that the checklist summarized the show. It was somehow worse than everything else I've seen from him, it was seriously to the point where it wasn't even a story-- just a bland, confused collection of anime tropes stitched together thoughtlessly. Like, Kamisama doesn't even have characters. There's a guy named Nakajima and Ashura and there's Izunami and such, but they aren't... anything. I think they're childhood friends, they keep telling me that, but I don't really see it (Ashura looked really gay for a second there but it doesn't matter because I didn't see them hang out and he was tossed away in the second half). I'm told Nakajima likes Izunami and that Izunami likes baseball and movies, but none of it really shows. I genuinely don't think Jun Maeda knows how to write. He's always struck me as insecure-- he writes about childish little girls getting horribly punished by the heavens in needlessly cruel ways because it's the only way he knows he thinks can pull an emotion out of us.

It's just a stupid anime by a stupid writer and I actively walked into this knowing that it was going to fall apart. I wanted to see how bad it got. But it gives me a lot to think about. Does anybody even like this? This hollow show with shells of people, crippled by superficial tragedy? I guess I have a genuine hope that people find better art out there.

Anyways let's get Jun Maeda out of vn work and into the world of original anime I've never been more entertained

blew through 10 episodes of kamisama ni natta hi with sis and I think it's one of the few times in my life where I can say I've actively wasted my time

[rosiehunterwolf]

wait

(storm section inspired by @ambrosial-tea)

Prompts: Home and Memories

Word Count: 5,901 (hey i think i'm actually starting to get these back to a more reasonable number XD)

Characters: Lloyd and Garmadon

Timeline: Between episodes 13 (Day of the Great Devourer) and 18 (Child’s Play) with some flashback scenes

Trigger Warnings: Abandonment

Summary: Lloyd’s not so great at being patient. It’s not his fault though- maybe he would be better at it if waiting didn’t always end up being so disappointing- if people actually kept their promises. But this time’s going to be different, he knows it. His father will come back for him. And Lloyd’s going to wait.

As long as it takes.

Since I already got two bingos on the sparks board, I decided to switch it up and change to the warm board!

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

In the aftermath of the battle, Lloyd only had one thought on his mind.

Cheers and whoops from the citizens of Ninjago City- and the ninja themselves- rang through the air as the realization that the Great Devourer was dead hit them. Lloyd hardly noticed, though. Gripping the handrail at the edge of the building, he peered out over the city. He was around here somewhere. He had to be.

“We did it!” Kai cried, grabbing Lloyd’s hand and raising it high in the air. “We saved the city! The Great Devourer is dead!” We? Lloyd glared at him, although the fire ninja didn’t even seem to notice. My dad was the one who seemed to do all the saving.

“Ultra!” Cole cried as the dragon landed on the street near the foot of the building. Racing towards the fire escape, the ninja hurried down the stairs and over to the dragon. Cole threw his arms around Rocky’s snout, the others not far behind. “You’re safe, bud!”

As the ninja and Nya laughed and caressed the dragon, Lloyd hung back, feeling lost. This wasn’t right. They couldn’t go on celebrating when someone was still missing.

“Where’s my dad?” he burst out, his voice sounding a lot shakier than what he had hoped for. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

The others exchanged glances. Lloyd hated the way they looked at each other, trying to decide what to tell him, because he obviously wasn’t good enough to know what they were really thinking.

Nya walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and bending over slightly to put herself more at his level. Her eyes sparkled with regret. “Lloyd-”

“Sensei Wu?”

Jaws dropped at Cole’s exclamation, and they jerked their gazes towards where he was pointing. Sure enough, Uncle Wu was sitting in the middle of the street, in a pile of green Devourer goo, looking lost as he pushed himself to his feet. Lloyd closed his eyes, letting his breath out slowly. So at least one of his mistakes had been fixed.

“He’s alive?” Jay gaped. “He’s alive!”

Kai grabbed Lloyd by the wrist, half-dragging him over towards their sensei as the ninja tackled him into a hug. Lloyd reached out to put a hand on his uncle’s back, but paused. He had no place here. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ninja, but… I was never supposed to be part of this. I’m only here because my uncle is their sensei, because I’m their beloved green ninja.

Wu pulled back from his students, grinning- only for his smile to falter as his dark eyes met Lloyd’s red ones. He tilted his head in that odd, knowing way of his. Lloyd wanted to break the contact, but couldn’t.

“Your father is gone, isn’t he.” Not a question, but a statement.

Lloyd let his gaze drop to the ground, remaining silent. His uncle reached a hand out for his shoulder but stopped short when Lloyd flinched away.

“Yeah, and with him, our golden weapons,” Kai growled. Nya elbowed him, hard, and he yelped, rubbing his side and scowling at her.

“Weapons or not, we will see him again,” Wu told him, “of that I am certain.”

“Yeah, only because your dumb prophecy says so.”

Wu flinched. “Lloyd-”

“Do I really have to fight my father someday, Uncle Wu?”

He sighed. “One day, nephew, that time will come. But I can hope that it is not for many, many years to come, when you are much older and stronger and wiser. Until then, we must not linger on the future. You ninja have done well today. You should be proud of yourselves, celebrate your victory for a little while.”

“Don’t worry, bigshot.” Kai ruffled his hair. “You’re the chosen one. And we’re the best teachers there are! You’ll be more than ready by the time the final battle rolls around.”

Lloyd clenched his teeth. Why couldn’t any of them see? He didn’t want to fight his father. He couldn’t. His father had come back for him when the Serpentine had trapped him, even when everyone else had lost hope. His father had been the one to comfort him about their futures, the one to protect him, the one to fix his mistakes with the Serpentine. So what if he had taken the golden weapons? If it weren’t for him, they’d all be inside the stomach of a giant snake right now. Were the ninja really so quick to forget that?

They didn’t know him like Lloyd did. Even his uncle had never seen the side of him Lloyd had seen. His father was a good man who had made bad choices. Couldn’t the same be said for Lloyd? If he had changed, why couldn’t his father?

Don’t worry, dad, he vowed silently. I won’t fight you. I’ll find a way to fix this. To make this right.

You see if I don’t.

---

Lightning illuminated the small room, dazzling Garmadon’s tired face as he carried the blanket over to the couch. Sitting down, he gazed out the window, the pattering sound of rain against the glass both comforting and incredibly lonely at the same time.

He sighed, turning towards the hallway. “I know you’re there, Lloyd.”

A small boy slipped into view, a stuffed dragon hugged tightly against his chest and his wispy, whitish-blond hair a mess as he blinked shyly up at him. “I’m scared of the storm, Daddy.”

Garmadon shook his head, scooting over on the couch and patting the space beside him. Lloyd needed no further encouragement, running up to him and hauling himself up to sit beside him. Lloyd burrowed himself against Garmadon’s side, and he made sure to pull the edge of his blanket a little tighter around his son.

Thunder rumbled loudly, and Lloyd whimpered, gripping tighter onto Garmadon. He waited a moment for the boy to relax before speaking.

“So. Mind telling me what it is you find so scary about storms?” Lloyd fidgeted. “They’re so loud! And the lightning- I don’t want it to get me, Daddy.”

Garmadon chuckled. “So you’re scared of a little noise and lights, eh? Somehow, I didn’t quite expect that from you.”

Lloyd yelped as another rumble echoed through the air, this one seeming to shake the house with its ferocity. Lloyd’s dragon slipped out of his grip and he quickly snatched it back up.

“It’s just a process of nature, son. There’s no need to fear it. We are safe here.”

Lloyd glanced up at him with wide eyes, and Garmadon sighed.

“It’s like a dragon, Lloyd. The storm is a big, restless dragon who’s bored and wants to play. The thunder is his roar, and the lightning is his fire breath.”

Lloyd’s eyes glowed, and he shuffled anxiously against Garmadon’s side. “Well, maybe it’s not that scary anymore…”

Garmadon huffed a laugh. “Dragons. That’s all it ever takes with you, isn’t it?”

Lloyd murmured something inaudible, nestling his head in Garmadon’s lap. They sat there together in the silence of the room, and long after Garmadon had thought his son had fallen asleep, he suddenly spoke.

“Daddy?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you and Mommy fight?”

Garmadon breathed out slowly. “Lloyd, you know it’s not nice to listen to people when they don’t know you’re there.”

“Sorry.”

“Look, son. There are some things in this world that are more complicated than you will ever know.” Seeing the confused look on the boy’s face, he elaborated. “Sometimes, people say things they don’t mean. Sometimes, mommies and daddies need to take a little break from each other.”

“Is that why you’re sleeping on the couch?”

“I suppose so. But it’s only for one night, Lloyd. We’ll sort things out tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

Garmadon gazed out the window again, running a hand through his thick hair. He tried not to think about the dark roots he had spotted there earlier, staining his deep chestnut hair the color of darkest night.

That was something no one needed to know about yet. The red eyes had already been hard enough on Misako, especially when their son had inherited them. He tried not to think about what that meant, either. The venom wasn’t hereditary, was it? Lloyd showed no signs of the snappishness he had felt as a youth. On the contrary, the child was pure of heart and bright of soul, one of the sweetest people he had ever met. Garmadon couldn’t understand how he had gotten so lucky.

“Did I do something to make you and Mommy fight?”

“What?” Garmadon started suddenly. “Heavens, child, no.” Taking Lloyd’s chin in his hand, he titled it towards him so that they were looking each other in the eye. “Honey, none of this is your fault. This is Daddy’s mistake, not yours. We both love you very much, you know that, right?”

Lloyd nodded, sniffling as he wrapped his arms tighter around him. “Can I stay with you tonight?”

Garmadon rested a hand on his head. “Whatever you need, my son. I will always be here for you.”

---

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, what were you thinking?” Kai ripped the sword off of his back, sending it to the ground with a clatter. “We told you to stay on the bus, and what did you do? Go after a bunch of pirates?”

“Yeah, kid.” Cole crossed his arms over his chest. “You could’ve been seriously hurt.”

Lloyd glared at them. “I was only trying to help! You never let me do anything!” “Because you’re not ready!” Kai put his hands in his hair, yanking on it in frustration. “Augh, can’t you see? We’re only trying to protect you! What good is all this training if you don’t even make it to the final battle?”

“Lloyd,” Zane said more gently. “You need to take things one step at a time. One day, you will be ready to fight beside us. One day, but not today.”

Lloyd looked away, pushing down the bubbling anger inside of him. This didn’t matter. None of this mattered. If the ninja wanted to treat him like a baby, fine. It didn’t matter what they thought.

All he cared about was his father. He needed to impress him. Make him proud.

“Lloyd? Do you understand?”

“Yes, Zane,” he muttered, avoiding the nindroid’s gaze and instead choosing to kick at a rock. The ninja exchanged hesitant glances, but they didn’t press him further.

Nya sighed. “It’s been a long day. What do you say we get back to the Bounty, and-”

“Sorry! You snooze, you lose!”

The group whipped around towards the Bounty, where the thrusters were powering up as several Serpentine peered at them over the guardrails- as well as a familiar dark figure.

“Dad,” Lloyd breathed, lunging forward- only to be stopped by Nya’s strong arms. He squirmed against her, but she wouldn’t relent.

“Lord Garmadon!” Kai cried. “He stole our ship! I can’t believe he stole our ship!”

“Come on,” Jay groaned. “We just got it back! Can’t it go five minutes without being taken?”

“The Bounty belongs to us,” Cole warned. “We fought for it, fair and square. Give it back, Garmadon.”

The Dark Lord gave a dry laugh. “Like I’d give anything to you.”

Lord Garmadon’s head turned- freezing as he made eye contact with Lloyd. The same eerie red of his own eyes reflected back at him. He longed to say something, anything- but his mouth was dry and words refused to come. He hoped his father could tell what he was thinking, anyway.

Please don’t leave. Stay here. We can work something out. We’ll fix everything between us.

Please don’t leave me again.

For a moment, something that looked like doubt flashed in his father’s eyes, and Lloyd felt hope soar in his chest. My dad might actually- he could-

“You’re getting stronger, son,” Garmadon said, “but never strong enough to defeat me. Give up and turn back now, before it is too late.”

No. Lloyd felt himself fumble as the Bounty rose into the air and flew away, taking his father further and further from him. No, he couldn’t be leaving him again, this had been his one chance to get his father back, to earn his love, but Lloyd had blown it.

I’m sorry, dad. I wasn’t good enough. I let you down.

It won’t happen again. Next time, I’ll try harder.

Next time, I’ll make you proud.

---

Their apartment was quiet that night. As Kai and Nya washed dishes in the kitchen- it was their night for clean-up duty- the others crowded around the TV in their tiny living room, playing video games with the volume low. Their usual yelling was diminished to nothing more than hushed whispers.

Behind them, Lloyd was curled up on the couch, already out like a light even though it was only seven pm. The boy was undoubtedly exhausted from the fight with the pirates earlier in the day, Kai thought crossly.

It took him a moment to realize Nya was staring at Lloyd, too. “Kai,” she asked slowly, working her jaw. “Is Lloyd okay?”

“Why,” he asked quickly. “Is he hurt? Did something happen? Man, I told him not to-”

“No. I mean… do you think he’s been acting a little… odd, lately?”

Kai frowned, turning to look at the boy. His brow furrowed as he slept, the corners of his mouth twitching downward slightly. “I guess. He’s probably just tired from all the training. We’ve been working him pretty hard, as of late.”

“Yeah,” Nya nodded, although she didn’t look like the answer truly satisfied her.

If Kai was being honest, it didn’t feel right to him, either.

---

Misako stormed into the room, dropping Lloyd into his lap with a huff. “That’s it, he’s your problem now.”

Garmadon looked up at her questioningly. “What happened?”

“What do you think happened? He bit me again! So, get him to stop.”

“What makes you think I would be able to make him stop?”

“I don’t know, but the fangs come from your side of the family, so it’s your responsibility now.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, you’re a smart man, you’ll figure it out! I’m going to go make some tea. Good luck.”

Garmadon stared after her but was pulled out of his thoughts as something sharp chomped down on his hand. He glanced down at Lloyd. “Oh, mister. What are we going to do with you?”

---

When Garmadon returned home the next day, there was a plump green dragon plush stuffed beneath his arm. He handed it to Lloyd, who was sitting on the floor, playing with his wooden blocks as he sucked on his pacifier. “Here. Next time you feel the impulse to bite someone, bite this instead.”

Lloyd eyed the plush with interest, reaching out for it with grabby hands and clutching it around its middle, pulling it close. Spitting out his pacifier, he began to babble to the dragon, blocks forgotten. Garmadon picked up the pacifier, eyeing it closely and sighing as he caught sight of the puncture holes.

When he glanced at Lloyd, the boy was chomping down on the wing of the dragon. Garmadon rolled his eyes, crouching down next to him. “Hey, what is it with you and biting things you like? C’mon, bud.” He gently pried the wing out of his mouth. “You’re going to hurt him- uh, it- hey, don’t you think your little dragon friend needs a name?”

Lloyd stared thoughtfully at the stuffed animal. “Buhbuh.”

“No, no, no, he needs a noble, dragon-ly name! Like Blaze, or Windracer, or-”

“Buhbuh,” Lloyd said firmly.

“..Buffy?”

“Buhbuh.”

Garmadon sighed. “The fierce and mighty Buhbuh? That’s what you want?”

Lloyd cheered, hugging the plush tight. “Buhbuh!”

The name wasn’t the only thing that stuck. Over the following weeks, Lloyd fell in love with that dragon. Everywhere the toddler went, Buhbuh wasn’t far behind. In his playroom, in the crib, in the car, at meals, even in the bathroom. Misako had spent twenty minutes one night trying to wrestle the toy away from him before he took his bath.

It had solved the biting issue, at least, although Misako often muttered that he had just traded one problem out for another. He dismissed her worries, telling her that Lloyd would grow out of his dragon phase eventually.

Although, that certainly wasn’t happening anytime soon. As Lloyd got older, he only got more and more intrigued by the creatures. Suddenly, everything had to have dragons- his pajamas, the shows on TV, his pull-ups, and his many, many toys. While his biting habits faded, as soon as he learned to walk, he was tottering around the house, roaring and flapping his arms like wings. Even as his collection of dragon toys and figurines grew, however, Buhbuh was always his favorite.

Garmadon should’ve known better than to think the carefree times would last forever, though. Ever since Lloyd had been born, he had been so much happier- and he was certain that the presence of his son was slowing the spread of the venom. But it wasn’t gone. It was a curse that the damned snake had forced him to bear forever.

He wanted to put it off as long as possible, though. He was happier here than he had ever been in his life, and he didn’t want to lose all this.

He knew if anyone could help him, it was his brother. Wu understood how much he loved his wife and child. He knew how badly he wanted this. He would do whatever he could to help. His teas and meditations had always been helpful in the past, and he hoped this time wouldn’t be any different.

“Do you have everything, dear?” Misako asked, helping him slip on his coat.

He lifted the duffel bag in his hand. “All in here. I’m ready.”

A sharp tug on his pant leg distracted him. He glanced down to see Lloyd, sniffing miserably. “Daddy, why do you have to go?”

Garmadon crouched down next to him. “It’s only for a few days, pumpkin. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Why?”

Garmadon sighed. “Daddy’s been feeling…” he glanced at Misako, at a loss, but she only shrugged. “… A bit under the weather lately. I’m going to pay a visit to your Uncle Wu so he can help me with my… impulse control.”

Lloyd blinked at him, and Garmadon smirked, realizing that every word he had just said had gone straight over his son’s head. He ruffled his hair, standing again. “Don’t worry about it too much. You’ll be fine. Your mother will take good care of you.”

As he turned towards the door, he stopped at the sound of sniffling. Turning back to Lloyd, he wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve. “Hey. It’ll be alright, okay? Daddy will be back soon. You can even call me tonight.” Glancing around, he spotted Buhbuh sitting on the end table and grabbed him, pressing him into Lloyd’s arms. “Buhbuh will take care of you when I’m gone, okay?”

Lloyd hugged Buhbuh tighter. “Okay.”

“Don’t worry, Lloyd. Buhbuh is the best protector there is. And remember, I’m the one who bought him for you. Whenever you see him, you’ll know that I’ll always come back.”

---

“Lloyd, steady!” Jay cried. “We’re wobbling too much!”

Kai yelped, gripping onto Cole’s leg, where he was struggling to balance on Zane’s shoulder. On the nindriod’s other side was Jay, and on top of Cole, Sensei Wu balanced, unfazed. Below them all, Lloyd stood, trembling under all their weight.

“Uh, guys, are you sure this is a good idea-”

“Ahhh! Watch out, we’re going to fall!”

The ninja screamed as they fell to the ground, landing in a tangled pile of limbs. Lloyd quickly wriggled his way out from underneath them, and the others extracted themselves more slowly, groaning.

“You gotta find your balance, Lloyd,” Cole said, rubbing his shoulder where Kai had landed on it. “You have the strength to lift us, but you’re not focusing enough.”

“Well, maybe I’m trying!” Lloyd snapped. “I don’t see you down here lifting all that weight!”

Kai frowned. “Lloyd, Cole is only trying to help.”

“Well, maybe I don’t need help. You’re putting too much pressure on me! I could do way better on my own!”

Sensei Wu put a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Perhaps it is time for a break. Let’s get you a drink of water and rest for a bit, then we can try again.”

Lloyd begrudgingly shuffled after his uncle, grumbling under his breath. Kai watched him go with a furrowed brow.

“What’s got the kid acting so irritable lately?”

Jay shook his head. “I don’t know. But he’s starting to get on my nerves. It feels like he’s just being stubborn for the sake of it.”

Zane frowned. “Maybe he’s right. Maybe we are putting too much pressure on him. Supporting the weight of all of us is probably asking too much for a nine-year-old boy, green ninja or not.”

Cole shook his head. “This is the same kid who put a crack through Dareth’s floor. If he can do that, he can lift us. I know he can do it. But he just seems… distant.”

“We’ll keep an eye on it.” Kai waved his hand, turning back towards the training space. “But we don’t have time for his moodiness now. Lord Garmadon is out there somewhere, and he’s not going to wait around for us to sort out our issues.”

---

“Uh, come on boy, we gotta catch up with the ninja, I’m not gonna fall behind again- woah!”

Ultra let out a mighty roar, careening forward with a mighty flap of his wings and sending the reins shooting out of Lloyd’s hands. He only just managed to snag them before they hurtled over Ultra’s heads.

“Easy boy, easy! Look,” he sighed, letting a hand rest gently on the dragon’s off-white scales. “We’re never gonna win this race and save the dojo if you and me don’t learn to work together. Besides, I’m the green ninja. I’m meant to ride you, anyway. Imagine how impressed the others will be if we come back and I’m riding you like a pro! We can rub it in their faces what a natural I am with dragons, heh. What do you say?”

Flame’s head snorted, letting out a puff of smoke, which wasn’t the most reassuring answer.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Lloyd squinted, staring at the vehicles racing through the canyon below them. There was the familiar shape of the Ultra Sonic Raider, but above it-

The ship appeared to have undergone some design changes, but there was still no mistaking the vast, furling sails or the dragon figurehead. The Bounty was in the race.

His father was here.

Lloyd’s heart skipped a beat. His father was here- he could see the black figure now, helping some of the Serpentine to point a cannon at the Ultra Sonic Raider.

Ultra tensed beneath him, but Lloyd hesitated, holding the mighty dragon back.

His dad was trying to hurt his friends. Lloyd didn’t want to get in his father’s way, but…

He couldn’t let him do this.

Lloyd gritted his teeth, digging his hands into the reins. “Okay, Ultra. Let’s put a stop to this.”

Ultra roared, diving towards the Bounty so sharply that Lloyd had to grip onto the saddle for dear life to keep himself from flying off. “Get out of the way!” he yelled at his father. Garmadon lurched back from the cannon, eyes widening, but it was too late. Ultra was already slamming into the ship, sending both himself and the Bounty spiraling.

Snapping up the reins, Lloyd pulled back, steering Ultra up, narrowly avoiding crashing into the ground.

“Woooo! Nice going, Lloyd!”

Kai’s cry sent a flare of warmth through his chest, but it quickly dissipated as his gaze fell on his father, who was barking at the Serpentine as they hurried to get the ship going straight again. He had made the right choice- the only choice- but at his father’s expense.

A wave of panic suddenly hit him. He couldn’t mess this up. He had been given another chance to make his father proud of him, and he couldn’t let this one slip between his fingers.

“C’mon, Ultra, let’s show ‘em what we got!” With a jerk of the reins, the dragon was shooting through the air like a bullet. Lloyd steered him up, and Ultra did a graceful loop through the air, followed by a swift corkscrew.

Lloyd blinked, surprised at how easily his dragon was listening to him. Usually, Ultra was as stubborn as possible, but apparently he enjoyed putting on a show as much as Lloyd did.

“Quit fooling around, Lloyd!” Cole cried from the Raider. “We gotta win this race, and we need your help!”

Lloyd glanced back at the Bounty, but his father wasn’t even looking at him, just waving the Mega Weapon around as he yelled at the Serpentine. Lloyd sighed, guiding Ultra towards the guys. This obviously wasn’t working.

As the Raider sped over the rocky ground below them, it slowly shifted into a softer, lusher landscape- and then came the snow. Lloyd stuck his tongue out, letting a flake land on his tongue.

“Birchwood Forest!” Kai cried. “Oh, we’ll never get through all these trees to catch up!”

There was a roaring of an engine behind him, and Lloyd glanced back to see his father coming in the Bounty, not too far off. I still have a chance! I can still impress him!

“Let me find a shortcut,” he called to the ninja. “Ultra! Up, boy!”

Scanning the woods below, he quickly eyed out a path, then swooped down with Ultra, racing through the trees. “Follow me!”

The turns were sharp, and Lloyd barely avoided crashing into the trees on more than a couple of occasions. But he didn’t, Ultra’s movements swift and precise below him. Lloyd let out a whoop of exhilaration. He was finally getting the hang of this! Ultra was listening to him! Taming a dragon was no easy feat, his father would have to be proud of him now-

Suddenly, Ultra let out a pained cry, and before Lloyd could process anything, the dragon was being yanked backward and plummeting towards the ground. Lloyd screamed, clutching onto the saddle, and Ultra threw his wings around him, sheltering him as they hit the ground with an almighty crash.

---

Lloyd groaned, blinking stars from his eyes as something bumped against his cheek. When it finally came into focus, he saw Wisp’s head staring at him, grunting in concern.

“I- I’m fine, boy,” Lloyd huffed, grabbing at the dragon’s muzzle for support as he pushed himself to his feet. “What in Ninjago just happened? We were doing so well, now we’re going to lose the race!”

Ultra groaned, raising his left foot and shaking it, where chains clanked loudly.

“No, no, no-” Lloyd raced over, examining the cuff and finding long, curved bones secured tightly around Ultra’s ankle. “The Skulkin! They sabotaged us! Those scheming, no good boneheads!” Lloyd yanked desperately at the chains, trying to get them to budge. “Augh, now we’re never going to win the race, and my father will never-” Lloyd cried out as his hand scraped against the sharp edge of the bone. Immediately, Flame’s head was at his side, nosing him away from the cuff and whining softly as he gently licked Lloyd’s scratched hand.

“I… I just wanted to make him proud,” Lloyd sniffed, burying his face against Flame’s scales. The fire dragon felt comfortingly warm in the cold of the snowdrift.

Rocky’s head butted him softly, before carefully taking the edge of the cuff between his teeth and crunching down on it, shattering it into a dozen pieces. Lloyd sucked in his breath, giving Rocky’s muzzle a quick hug before clambering back onto Ultra’s back.

“If we hurry, we can still catch them now! C’mon, boy, we have a lot of ground to make up for!”

---

Lloyd didn’t win the race, but by the time the finish line came into view, he could see the ninja crowding around the golden winner’s cup, cheering. In front of them, Garmadon was yelling at the referee, insisting that he had won and that the ref had made a faulty call.

Lloyd’s breath caught in his throat. His father was right here. Closer than he had been since the defeat of the Great Devourer. Part of Lloyd wanted to run up and hug him, but he knew he couldn’t. That wouldn’t last. He needed something more permanent.

His eyes strayed to the Bounty, resting a little way behind the Dark Lord. With his father out yelling at the ninja and the race staff and all the Serpentine left behind in the Glacier Barrens, the ship was empty.

If Lloyd took it back- his father wouldn’t be able to fly away again. He’d have to stay. They could talk, work things out. As soon as he could get his father to stop running and just listen, he knew he could get through to him.

Lloyd eyed his father warily, but Garmadon was too distracted to notice the giant dragon behind him, as were the ninja. Quietly, Lloyd instructed Ultra forward, and the dragon padded across the ground, climbing up onto the deck of the Bounty.

“That’s not even street legal!” Garmadon was yelling. “My ship was clearly-”

“Your ship?”

His father whipped around, and Lloyd froze as they stared at each other for a long moment.

Please. Please, please, please. Lloyd reached a hand out. “Dad-”

Police sirens sounded behind them, and suddenly two officers hopped out of the car. “Alright, Garmadon, you’re coming with us.”

“Wait!” Lloyd cried, slipping off of Ultra and landing on the ground mere feet from his father. “Dad, it doesn’t have to be like this. You can-”

A screeching of tires, and suddenly Skales was pulling up in his bus. “Look who needs who now!”

Garmadon scowled, turning to go. Lloyd’s brain screamed at him. This was his one chance to stop him. If he did nothing, who knew how long it would be until he got to see him again?

Lloyd lunged forward, grabbing Garmadon’s wrist. The man looked back in surprise. “What are you-”

“Dad. Please. Don’t go.”

Garmadon fell silent, staring at him for a moment. Time seemed to stand still.

Then Garmadon was yanking away, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, son. We both know I can’t do that.” In two steps, he was aboard the Serpentine bus and speeding away.

No. Lloyd felt tears well in his eyes. There were others here, and Lloyd hadn’t cried in front of anyone in a long time, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. His father had been right here. He had touched him.

“Way to go, bud!” Kai whooped, running over to him, the other ninja close behind. “You got the Bounty back- hey, woah, what’s wrong?”

Lloyd quickly tried to cover his eyes, but Kai was already crouched down next to him, pulling his arms away and gently wiping at his tears with the sleeve of his gi.

Jay put a hand on his back. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Lloyd shook his head, sniffling. “I just… I thought… my father, I thought he would… I thought if I could make him proud, he would stop leaving…” Lloyd choked on a sob, burying his face in Kai’s gi. “Why does he keep leaving? Why does everyone leave? What did I do wrong?”

“Oh, bud,” Kai whispered, running hands through Lloyd’s hair gently. “This is what’s been upsetting you, hasn’t it?”

Lloyd whimpered miserably, and Kai hugged him tighter- his grip so firm, so protective, that it made Lloyd think maybe everything could be okay again, eventually.

“You look at me,” Kai demanded, tilting his chin up. “None of this is your fault. You hear me? None of it. All the people that left you were jerks who didn’t appreciate how amazing you were. They don’t deserve you. We don’t deserve you. But you’re our true family, Lloyd. We will never, ever do what they did.”

“You hear that?” Cole punched him lightly in the chest, his voice sounding suspiciously choked up. “You’re one of us, now, green bean. You can’t escape us, whether you like it or not.”

“Your father will never understand this, Lloyd.” Jay gestured at the group with his hands. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way. You deserve a father who will be there for you, one whose love is not clouded by dreams of vengeance. But that’s how things are. So you’re stuck with us, instead.”

“I’m sorry he couldn’t be here, Lloyd,” Zane murmured. “But we are. And we love you. So if there’s ever something bothering you, talk to us about it. We want to do everything we can to make you feel wanted.”

Nya crouched down next to Kai. “You and me against the world, bud. Remember that? We’re not giving up on you. Ever. So your father can stuff it-”

Zane elbowed her, and she grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. Now’s not the best time for that. But you get my point. I’ll fight stupid destiny for you, Lloyd Garmadon. We all will.”

Lloyd’s eyes welled up again, but this time the tears were happy as he collapsed against them. Five pairs of arms hugged him back, warm and strong and safe.

His father had left again. But that wasn’t what was important right now. His true home was here, with the ninja.

And he had hope it always would be.

---

Garmadon gazed down at the bundle in his arms. His posture was stiff and unnatural, his rough hands as gentle as possible as they supported the weight.

This was easily the most precious thing he had ever carried.

Lloyd stared up at him with wide, curious eyes. Every curve and inch of him was perfect- and he was his. Garmadon could see himself in the curve of his son’s nose or the outline of his jaw, Misako in the shape of his eyes or the hue of his skin.

He still couldn’t believe it.

It had taken Misako hours to convince him he wasn’t going to hurt Lloyd, and now, here he was, carrying his son for the first time.

His son. He loved the way that sounded.

Garmadon shifted his grip slightly, and suddenly Lloyd began to fuss. Garmadon glanced to Misako for help, but she simply shook her head, smiling.

At a loss, Garmadon cradled Lloyd closer to his chest. “Shh, shh, Lloyd, it’s okay. Daddy’s got you.”

Lloyd stopped almost immediately at the sound of his voice, cooing in wonder as he reached a chubby little hand out. Garmadon bowed his head, closing his eyes and letting Lloyd trace his fingers gently across his face.

Garmadon felt the tension ease from his shoulders. This was a person. A living, breathing being, and he and Misako had created him.

Nothing in the world could’ve ever prepared him for the wonderful gift of fatherhood. This was one thing in his life he vowed not to mess up.

“You’re safe, little one,” he murmured. “I will always be here for you.”

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything is now ruined.

Chapter 22: Then It Ended

As soon as we came, Annabeth ang Grover tackled me. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls— Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up. Percy being the son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

As I was still unclaimed, Hermes cabin had made me one. (Just... IDK go crazy with your shroud IG) It was fun to burn. As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy and I was surrounded by my Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past." The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive us for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me. Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...." Going back to the cabin I finally had time to talk to Luke. Who just expressed his relief of me being fine, and how he was scared when Annabeth told everyone about me. No wonder everyone was so shocked seeing me come back with Percy. On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. As Annabeth, Percy and I were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. "I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know." I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. I'd only known Grover a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth and I gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. I asked him where he was going to search first. "Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan ..." "We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?" "Yeah." "And you remembered your reed pipes?" "Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed. He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway. "Well," he said, "wish me luck." He gave Annabeth and I another hug. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes. Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware. "Hey, Grover," Percy called. He turned at the edge of the woods. "Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. "We'll see him again," Annabeth said. July passed. I spent my daysplanning out strategies with Luke for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava. From time to time, Percy and I would walk past the Big House, he'd glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle.

I tried to convince him that its prophecy had come to completion. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned." "Been there, done that—even though the traitor god had turned out to be Ares rather than Hades." "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." "Check. One master bolt delivered. One helm of darkness back on Hades." "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." Percy recited. "Ares had pretended to be our friend, then betrayed us. That must be what the Oracle meant.... Or maybe Nereid?"

"And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." He sighed. "I had failed to save my mom and lost you..."

"So why are you still uneasy?" The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. Percy and I got our own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"This is so beautiful..." I smiled to Percy. "The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy or sad as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be leaving for the year. * * * The next morning, Luke called me. He gave me a paper, telling me to fill it out, and asked me to meet him as soon as I could. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear (WRONG NAME) , If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit. Have a nice day! Mr. D (Dionysus) Camp Director, Olympian Council #12 That's another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still don't know what to do. I had no where to go to. The only option I had was Percy's or maybe Hades was not joking about inviting me back to the Underworld. Sighing I decided to just meet Luke before filling it for second opinions. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I was walking around looking for Luke. I jumped when I felt someone tap me from behind. I instinctively unsheathed my knife and turned only to see Luke with his hands raised.

"Whoa! Calm down just me." He laughed.

"Kinda weird seeing someone laugh at a knife pointed at them." I smirked sheathing my knife.

"I only laugh since its you." He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Are you done with everything?"

"Not really. I don't know whether to leave or not yet. That's why I came. Help me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and to the forest. "How about you hear me out about something... important and private... then decide?" He gestured towards the forest.

"Not planning on killing me are you?" I squinted at him.

He gasped. "Not you. Never. I would never hurt you."

I let him lead me to a shrouded area of the forest.

"How serious is this thing that you can't let anyone see? I am blindly trusting you here Luke." I laughed nervously. But when he didn't reply I felt something was off. "Luke, okay this isn't cool. How deep into the forest do we have to go?"

"Y/N remember when you said... You want to be the person I trust...? How you promised to help me?"

"Luke?" He took my hand and pulled me sharply. I winced at how hard he pulled me. "That hurts! Let me go!"

He snapped back and let go of my wrist. "I-I'm sorry... Y/N..."

As much as I knew I had to leave, I couldn't I was worried about him. I reluctantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's happening?"

"I did it..." I said and sat on the ground. "I swear I didn't mean to get you hurt. But, I confess to everything. I  stole bolt and helm, I summoned the hound, I gave Percy the cursed shoes... And just now, I tried to kill Percy Jackson." He looked at me with empty eyes.

I shot up and looked at him in emotions I couldn't put in words. "W-Wh---" I wanted to leave and check on Percy. But once again, seeing him right now... I need to stay with him. "Why are you telling me this...?"

"Join me... please?" his voice was weak. He sounded vulnerable. "Let's serve my Lord together..."

"L-Luke... no. I-I can't do that!" I took his shoulder, "Y-You should stay with me instead. How about that, huh? L-Let's explain to Chiron and the others... come on please. I could help you!"

Nothing was working.

"Come with me..." He muttered.

"Luke, I won't join you. You have to change your mind. You can't do this."

"I can't change my mind."

"I can help you with that? How about you go with me huh? I could spend all my time doing this and that. Please, just change your mind."

He didn't reply for a while until he whispered, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"You'll stay with me."

"What? Luke I wo--"

"You won't join... Just...don't stay here for the year... and stay with me."

"I-If I stay with you... what would that mean?"

"Yo-You... might change my mind."

"I'll go." I replied with no hesitation. "I'll leave camp for the year. And I'll find my parent to prove to you that Gods and Goddess aren't all bad. We'll find my parent together."

"I do my lord's bidding--"

"You can still do it. If you want to. But whatever happens... stays only between us. I'll stay with you until I change your mind. And I'll bring you back to camp."

"I would never do anything to ruin your trust in me." He knelt down. It was kinda awkward but hey... "I need you."

Worry not hero. We shall stay.

"Please..."

We'll meet again. Wait for us, we shall join you soon. Now leave.

I had no idea what happened since when I came to Luke was gone and there was no sign of him anywhere. How were we going to st---

We will meet him once we leave. Now go as our hero needs us.

I suddenly remembered Percy's state that Luke had told me about. So I ran. I ran to the Big House

***

Percy finally opened his eyes. He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth and I sat next to Percy, I was holding his nectar glass and she was dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," Percy said. "You idiot," Annabeth said, "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..." "Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit." He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." "Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened." Between sips of nectar, he told them the story.

I bit my lip trying to keep what happened between Luke and I private. It was a risky move that would not be approved by anyone after all. The room was quiet for a long time. "I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

Percy was looking at me as if checking what was my reaction to his story. "This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once." "Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him." Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—" "Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!" "Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready." "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Y/N? And Annabeth?" Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—" "You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..." Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. "All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing." "We can't just sit back and do nothing," He said. "We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come." "Assuming I live that long." Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice...." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision." "I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you." He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here." "Who's here?" Percy asked. Nobody answered. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the floor. "What's wrong?" Percy asked her. "Nothing. I ... just took your advice about something. You ... um ... need anything?" "Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside." "Percy, that isn't a good idea." Percy slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth and I caught him before he could crumple to the floor.

I said, "I told you ..." "I'm fine," He insisted.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance. By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat. But we had managed to make it all the way to the railing. It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun. "What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked us. "I don't know." Percy replied. "I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I'm not sure that's what I want. I also don't want to leave you both with Clarisse only." Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?" She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try." "That took guts." She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least ... not without sending me an Iris-message? Both of you?" Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

"You already know my plans."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?" "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

She held out her hand. Percy shook it. She gave me a hug. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told Percy. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Then turned to me, "Good luck on your own quest Droopy."

"Of course Peabody." We watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world. "I made my decision." Percy said. "What's yours?"

"I'll be leaving camp... I'm going to look for my parent..." He looked at me in shock. "I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then."

"Alone?"

I smiled at him.

"Don't you want to stay with us? Mom said---"

"I want to find my parent. I need to. I'll be fine Percy."

I helped Percy to his cabin so he could pack and went to mine. To my surprise I see a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, and a very familiar sly grin. He had bags at his foot.

"Delivery for Y/N L/N."

"Uhm..."

"Hermes." He said.

I froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Personally packed. As a thank you for what you're about to do." He smiled softly and handed me the bags.

"H-Huh...?"

"For helping Luke."

"I..."

Don't forget her mail!

Ooh! And tell her to bring us snacks next time we meet since it'll be often now!

No it wouldn't be often! She'll be with Luke!

"Both of you keep quiet." Pulling out a mail he handed it to me. "Luke... prayed to me telling me about your plan. He asked me to help you. I don't know what or why he did it. But I know he'll change thanks to you. So do guide him."

"Sorry you lost me at the talking air..." I blinked.

Hermes laughed and showed a caduceus. "It's just George and Martha."

"Hi?"

Hello!

Hi

"I just wanted to let you know. No god or goddess could see you. No matter how hard they tried. So your secrets.. are really secrets. Good luck on your travel."

Next time we meet you should have snacks.

Then he vanished.

Staring at the letter on my hand, I was stunned seeing it was from... my mom and dad.

Sweetie,

You've made quite a friend here.

-Mom and Dad.

I immediately knew where to look. I hurriedly took my bags not bothering to check the contents. I ran to Percy's cabin and helped him out so we could leave.

Percy got a cab and looked at me worriedly.

"I'll write you. Stay safe Arthur Curry." I ruffled his hair and watched him go.

I didn't know where to go so I just went to the first secluded area I saw.

"You have more stuffs than when you arrived." I heard someone behind me.

"You prayed to your dad. I hope he knows how to pack." I sighed turning to him. Turning around I barely made out Luke from the few days I last saw him. "You okay?"

"Do you know where to look first?"

Call upon our hound.

I whistled, I don't know why. But when I did, D/N came out of the blue. Luke looked at me and my dear dog, who was probably bigger than the hound he'd summon back then. "How do feel about L.A?" I said riding on D/N and making space behind me for Luke.

~~~END OF BOOK 1~~~

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END OF BOOK ONE!!! THANK YOU FOR READING YLATHB I HOPE YOU ENJOY!! I'LL PUBLISH BOOK 2 WHEN I'M DONE OR EVEN AT LEAST HAVE WRITTEN 5 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK 2 ;))

I HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!

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