#just delete it or leave it alone so it gets lost in the mist of time

[tiger-moran]

kaelang12 I've been seeing Sherlock ads on my Google feed recently, and it drains my brain everytime. Fingers crossed it's just fan posturing and not something official

Why the fuck are people dredging up 'TJLC super secret fourth episode' nonsense AGAIN

[libermachinae]

Notes: baby robot

—

“602 RPS. Fuel pressure 124 over 75. Circuits holding—”

“Prowl, come.”

Prowl glanced up from the monitor for just an astrosec. Mesothulas was standing in front of the CR chamber, leaned so close he was nearly touching the casing, well beyond the limits of safety protocols. Even from up here in the observation deck, Prowl could see the way he quivered, fingers flexing as though he really intended to brush them over the freezing pod. He’d spoken without looking away from it, optics fixed on the narrow porthole, its view blocked from Prowl’s gaze by the glare of the lab’s lighting.

When he looked back, RPS had dropped to 598.

“I can observe plenty from up here,” he said, logging the change along with the rest of the readout flashing across his display. The system would do it automatically, but keeping his own logs allowed him to feed the data directly into his risk analysis programs, their last safeguard against any unexpected chain reactions. Reversal and shutdown commands remained queued and at the ready.

“But he can’t see you,” Mesothulas insisted, still with his gaze on the pod. There was a mechanical growl deep within the machine, systems warming to protect them against the coming temperature snap.

“I’ll introduce myself later,” Prowl promised. He had a script prepared, easily integrated into the standard basic function tests he’d plucked from the ruins of Petrex’s last construction center. It would serve to demonstrate the construct’s ability to differentiate itself from other people and recognize when it was being addressed, provided current readings held steady and they actually made it that far. “I need to keep monitoring in case of—”

“In case of what, Prowl? Our design is without flaw. He’s perfect.” Mesothulas did touch the pod then, yanking away and shaking out his hand when the cold bit back. “We’ve already run every test, accounted for every variable. You said yourself, nothing will go wrong.”

“Because I’m up here, making sure it doesn’t.” There was a hiss as the internal ventilations started to draw out the freezing gasses, and a fog appeared over the porthole as moisture in the air responded to the change in temperature. Mesothulas leaned close again, and this time Prowl decided not to bother worrying about it. “I don’t understand why this is an issue. We haven’t installed its datalogging software yet; it won’t remember any of this.”

There was a lot he didn’t understand about Mesothulas, but most of the time that worked to his benefit, their different priorities allowing them to easily collaborate by taking over parts of each project the other had no interest in. It was rare for them to clash, and if it caused him to add a few extra lines to his spreadsheets as he accelerated his tracking speed, the construct certainly wouldn’t suffer for it.

“He, Prowl. He has his own spark.”

And going by the standards Prowl had grown up with, that put it in the animate category, a step above mechanized but not yet in the autonomous phase that signified life. But that was for spliced sparks, borrowed identities who only became individuals once introduced to a unique processor sequence. He and Mesothulas had gone back and forth on what this meant for the construct, whose spark had been struck from as close to nothing as one could, and Prowl was smart enough to know it was not a discussion worth bringing up now.

“And it’s important because we’re not just introducing ourselves: we’re introducing the entire universe to him. We’re his first impression of everything. I’m not letting you waste that opportunity.”

There was a hiccup in Prowl’s momentum as Mesothulas’ sentiments caused his processor to pick up a memory. Its low priority weighed against the negligible file size meant that despite considering deleting it as it lost relevance with each new change to his life, he’d kept it buried in his archive. The auditory component had become uncoupled during one of his early processor crashes, so all he had left was the visual, grainy with the degradation of multiple transfers and processor upgrades. The file played and his optical feed came online to two Cybertronians, one standing back with a datapad while the other stood closer, his optics fixed on Prowl. They were both talking, but Prowl hadn’t bothered to watch their lips: all his focus had been on their plating, his first thoughts a string of hexidecimal codes as he tried to track all the ways their paint reacted to light and shadow.

It was not a long memory. He’d dropped offline almost immediately, having overwhelmed his processor before his temperature controls had finished booting up, and after that he’d had a specialist team to finish his construction. Though he’d had access to the database, he’d never bothered to go looking up the names of the first two bots he’d seen. Their role in his life had been all but inconsequential, compared to the engineers who spent decacycles making sure his spark and frame could maintain the advanced tactical suite he’d been built for.

“I’ll make sure the construct functions long enough to see any of it,” he said, returning his focus to the monitors. 608 RPS.

He thought he caught a glint of yellow from where Mesothulas stood.

“P—”

“Vacuum seal releasing.”

There was a louder hiss as a plume of white mist escaped the seams of the pod door. Mesothulas jumped away from it, then moved back in as soon as it had dissipated, hands up like he wanted to help the door along as it pushed out and then slid aside on a silent track. More mist spilled out, blanketing the floor around Mesothulas’ pedes, but it was hard to tell whether his slight hop step was from pain or eagerness.

“Surge guards holding,” Prowl reported. “Autonomics steady. Entering second stage bootup.”

Mesothulas gasped and Prowl looked up, concerned, but found himself just as startled. Bioillumination was a hallmark of stage two and not in itself surprising. Even the brilliant intensity, light stretching beyond the confines of the pod, was to be expected, given that they hadn’t installed any code to regulate it yet. Mesothulas just hadn’t told him the optics would be blue.

“Sys-systems disconnecting from external fuel supply,” he stammered, feeling a rush of embarrassment before he composed himself. “Fuel pressure 121 over 74.”

Mesothulas made no indication he heard, and a moment later Prowl realized he wasn’t listening at all: he was talking to the construct, his voice a low murmur Prowl couldn’t hear from his place on the observation deck.

“Entering third stage. Somatic systems coming online.”

The construct turned to look at Mesothulas. Even turned away, Prowl somehow knew the scientist was beaming, his lesson from earlier the only thing keeping him from reaching into the pod and wrapping himself around his creation like he was wont to do with Prowl.

And then Mesothulas stepped back and to the side, pointing up at the platform still without his optics leaving the construct.

“And that’s Prowl,” he said, finally loud enough for his voice to carry. “He’s worked just as hard.”

Those blue optics turned to him. Prowl knew it was only the most basic coding compelling the construct to follow the movement of Mesothulas’ finger, its bare processor unable to even register him as a separate element from his environment, let alone a fellow Cybertronian. But there was something about being caught in that gaze, watching the lenses attempt to focus when there wasn’t enough data yet to tell them what to focus on, that caused him to raise his hand in an uncertain wave.

“You’ll get the chance to meet him later, I promise,” Mesothulas said, drawing the construct’s attention back to him. “Ostaros, we have so much more to show you. You can’t imagine.”

It couldn’t, Prowl mused, watching Mesothulas attempt to link his fingers with those of his creation and pulling away with a hiss at the subsequent reminder. But this period of emptiness would not last forever. Like the science that had formed its impossible spark, the construct—Ostaros—would come into being, something pulled from nothing, a person just as much as himself or Mesothulas. Prowl would introduce himself then, to whoever it was that Ostaros became.

[b000mbayah]

Without

Warnings: I wrote this last year when I was dumb so ignore how putrid it is :)

Word count: 2k

Snow gliding through the sky as it piles up on the concrete streets. The sky is cloudy as a mist fogs up our surroundings. Streets of Seoul full of people looking for gifts for relatives. The festive holiday is coming up and people are able to spend the day with loved ones. I used to be one of those people.

I lost my true love a month ago. It was a stupid argument over the most irrelevant thing imaginable, I was just so fuming at the time that I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. It was a trap, either way I was screwed. If I had continued the argument it would have worsened and if I had stopped earlier she still would have left me.

I could see in her eyes that she was broken due to the amount of times I've done this to her. I broke her again... I've broken her for the last time, and now she's gone.

If I had said sorry she would have left, if I begged she would have left, if I had just stopped myself from shouting in the first place. She's scared of me now, her eyes so full of fear as she trembled on the spot. I'll never forget the way she looked at me every time.

The following mornings were full of me proving to her that I loved her whether she wanted it or not. I would have done anything to make her forgive my foolish actions, couldn't do that last month though. It all seems pointless, love. I mean there are positive and negative outlooks on love.

Love can fill you with pure joy and excitement to the point that you forget the numbness that you'll feel after it's over with.

It leaves you broken as if you're a ship with treasure that crashes onto land, losing all its precious moments and times as everything inside spills out, never to be found again.

There are more negatives to love than positives and I swear that I'll never forget her, she was the one I loved most and I let go of her hand, I let her slip and now she's gone.

watching her on stage made me cry every time, hearing the news JYP sent out made me depressed... hearing that she had to have a break from her schedules made me feel guilty.

I look around my room as I retreat away from the window, empty takeaway boxes and cans all around my room. My eyes droop down to my phone on the floor.

Cautiously, I crouch down and pick the electronic up off of the ground. I bite my lip as all my notifications pop up. Multiple miss calls and text messages from all my contacts.

I tap on my messages to see hundreds upon hundreds of messages from my contacts, all of my contacts had text me, all but one. The one that had deleted my number, I refuse to delete hers though, it contains too many memories for me to simply release into a void.

I gulp as I click onto Jihyo's contacts as our last conversation over the phone comes up. All of this was just before the final argument. I was questioning where she was and when she'd get home. She was only practicing with her other members in their dance studio, I let my jealousy get the best of me, again..

I throw the phone at the wall as I got dressed and headed out, I can't say in my apartment forever. I forced myself out the door for the building and into the chilly winter breeze. I inhaled and exhaled the fresh air before taking steps towards the supermarket.

Layers of trampled snow surround the street. As I pass shops I take a simple look inside.

"Y/N!" I turn on my heel to be greeted with my best friend running up to me, a member of twice. I let out a broken smile as sana springs up to me with a massive grin and arms open.

Within seconds she gives me a bone crushing hug. ''y/n, please tell me you're okay?" sana rushes in a speed faster than chaeyoungs rapping skills.

"yeah, I'm just.... Upset about the situation" I frown as she gives me a look of sadness. She nods her head and opens her mouth, "I'm upset as well, I really liked you two together" sana smiles at her words as I gulp, she really liked us together?

"I've been trying to contact you for weeks and weeks but nothing, please may I take you to dinner? You look like you haven't been eating the correct amount of food, I need to stuff you up I time for Christmas" sana says with a worried tone

"s-sure" I stutter out as she grabs my hand and takes me through crowds of people that surround the streets and up to a fancy restaurant where richer people would dine. "w-we cat eat here, it's to expensive, I don't want to cost you that much money"

"no y/n, it's okay, it's nothing really only a few hundred. My clothes are worth more than this'' sana giggles out as she gets us a table with a view of a frozen pond. It took us what? Twenty minutes to get here for a view I'd a pond with what's most likely to be frozen fish inside. I'm not complaining but like those poor fish...

"Take your time, when you're ready to order please ring this bell" a waiter explains as she hands us the menus. We thank her before she walks away.

"what do you fancy getting?" sama asks as I scan the menu's dishes. "urm, the... Mmmm"

"steak?" sana asks me as u nod and go along with the choice. Sana hums as she also decides on what she's getting. I ring the bell as the waiter from before comes back with a pen and notepad.

"what can I get for you ladies?" they ask as sana gives him the order. He bows and leaves us. I turn my head to sana who's wearing a permanent smile right now.

"please come round to our dorm, the girls miss you" I tilt my head before nodding.

"sure but I may have to avoid jihyo" sana frowns at my words but nods her head.

Soon after the meal I ended up at the dorm. Still have no idea how I'm going to deal with this but I'm just going to have to hope for the best I guess. Sana pushes the door open silently, we take our shoes off before continuing on. As we creeped up on tzuyu, even though there was no point, I managed to make eye contact with momo who was eating the packet of cookies I had sent her months ago. She must be really far behind in her food gifts if she's only eating them now.

I place a finger to my own lips as she nods and watches with curiosity filling her eyes.

As we were practically behind Tzuyu we both leap at the same time, causing tzuyu to let out a yelp as we all tumble to the floor. I let out a giggle as tzuyu groans due to the impact. "Get off of me you pathe- y/n?" tzuyu changes the subject half way through as notices me. I smile and give her a small wave. "what are you doing here?" she questions looking at me like she's trying to read me.

oh so I'm a book now????

"I invited her-" I cut sana off, "she dragged me here, oh it was awful, she demanded it and she explained how she would burn down my house and throw me in a ditch if I didn't come" I dramatically say as sana huffs out a gush of air.

"alright then... If you say so but please get off of me, you're both killing me" tzuyu states as we stand back up, dusting ourselfs off.

We enter the living room to see everyone here, including Jihyo...

"Y/N!" everyone in the room exclaims but Sana, Tzuyu and Jihyo. I somehow become covered with six different females as they squeeze me like a teddy bear. Once they all release me, I give them a wide smile and bow as they copy my action.

"y/n, how have you been? We've been busy with-" and I couldn't hear anything dahyun was saying, I am way more focused on Jihyo. Her expression is unreadable as she gulps from time to time. her eyes dart around to find an excuse to leave but nothing comes to her mind.

As soon as she looks up we lock eye contact. I forgot how much I loved those eyes, her eyes show dedication, passion, strength, love... All the things I wish I had. I probably sound whipped for her and the truth is, I am. I would do anything for us to get back together but that wont happen.

"right y/n?" I break eye contact as I respond with a simple nod since my throat is sore from all the crying and screaming I've been doing. I really have been beating myself up over this break up.

"I said that her hair looked like a donkey on steroi-" and blank out again as I make eye contact once again with Jihyo. Only this time we break it for a few seconds before reuniting our eyes.

Without me or Jihyo noticing, Tzuyu manages to take the other members away to give us alone time. Once we realise they're gone an awkward situation is placed between us...

"how have you been?" she begins as she examines the pictures hung on the walls. "pretty bad, you?" I respond as she gulps down on air. "same, what's your reason?"

I freeze, thinking on if should I tell her the truth or not? There's nothing wrong with the truth. "if I'm honest... I've been beating myself up about the breakup, I'm deeply sorry for how I treated you Jihyo. That month I had spent alone had given me time to reflect on my behaviour and what I have done" Jihyo looks at me with an interested look but there's also something else there. "continue..."

"the way I treated you during that relationship was completely irresponsible, I had spent that entire month locked up in my apartment crying about what I had done, I was so frustrated with myself that I couldn't bring myself to forget about it and I'm sorry if I'm invading your personal space by being here but I really hope that one day you can forgive me" my voice goes shaky towards the end as tears form in the corner of my eyes. Jihyo looks me up and down, about to say something when the door opens up.

I watch as a male walks up to Jihyo, I could only see the back of his head as he's asking her questions before turning around to face me. RM? "she doesn't want to see you, please leave her alone she has me now."

My eyes widen in shock but I bow and apologise once again before rushing out crying again. I rush past the other members who share a look of concern before chase after me calling my name. I ignore them though and continue to rush my way out of that place, not wanting to be there anymore due to the once sweet but  now awful memories I have there.

[izaswritings]

all that’s left in the world | chapter seven

Title: all that’s left in the world—

Synopsis: —is me.

Neku’s been shot and Shibuya is threatening to go the same way as Shinjuku, but just because the first Game is over doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten how to play.

Or: Neku deals with a nightmare city and his most annoying (and mathematical) partner yet; Shiki and Joshua commit an escalating number of illegal moves, Beat and Eri hunt down a stray Reaper, and Rhyme watches and waits for the counter-attack. Shibuya refuses to go down easy.

Fandom: The World Ends With You | TWEWY

Warnings: cursing, referenced character death via Neku’s situation/Reaper’s game, implied death/erasure via Inversion, and mentions of blood and bodily harm, though nothing graphic. If there’s anything in the chapter you feel I missed, let me know and I’ll add it on here!

-

AO3 Link is here!

Previous chapters are here!

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part seven: pact

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The sun sets.

Neku stands at the end of the street and watches, narrow-eyed, as the distant blur of light sinks below the jagged edge of the ruined city skyline. It doesn’t look quite right—because of course it doesn’t, this is a nightmare city and everything about it feels designed to be as uncanny valley as possible. He’s pretty sure it’s a sunset, though. The sky has stained a bloody red; the shadows are stretching long and thin by his feet. The cloud of dust and smog lingering in the air like a false fog has turned red too— the whole world cast in some awful, ugly light.

They’re on the edge of the city, in a residential area. The fruition of a full day of travelling through these ruined streets. It only took a couple of hours, but they’ve finally hit the end of it, the border of this twisted Game. They can’t go any further beyond this point.

There’s definitely a wall— Neku checked, and his hand still smarts from the burn—but like everything else, it’s not something he’s familiar with. The walls in the first Reaper’s Game had been clear and crystalline; this one is like blurry glass. If he squints, he can almost see through it: the suggestion of buildings, people and places alive and whole… but the way is smeared with an ashy fog. It’s as if this city has been surrounded by a great wall of mist, cutting them off from the rest of the world.

There’s no getting through that thing, Neku thinks. Not without a high level keypin, and even then, he’s not sure even that could break it. There’s something very final about this wall. Escape isn’t an option.

Argh, he can’t even figure out where they are. Those distant buildings could be Shibuya or even the other half of Tokyo, and hey! Neku wouldn’t have a damn clue. It’s not like this place has been any help. Any identifying buildings have been dusted; Neku is totally lost.

Either way, the wall isn’t coming down anytime soon. It’s useless to stay here any longer, but…

Neku grimaces, and shoves a hand back through his hair, eyeing his new partner warily. Minamimoto doesn’t seem keen on leaving; he isn’t paying any attention to Neku at all, focus entirely caught on… something.

It’s probably a tower of trash. It looks like one of his towers of trash? When they’d arrived here only twenty minutes ago, there’d been some hollow shells of cars, and weird debris littered on the ground, and the Grim Heaper had taken one look at it and grinned like a shark. Then he’d started stacking it. Neku is kind of, a little, annoyed at that. He’s also not planning on complaining. Finally, a moment to breathe.

The tower taking shape behind him, Neku watches the blood-stained air for a few minutes more, then sighs and turns away.

“We’re not blacking out,” he says, aloud. “I think we’re here for the night.” Which, go figure. The one thing that might be nice about the Game—skipping the inconveniences of shelter in an apocalyptic city—is the one thing he’s not getting. “Hey, are you listening? We should probably find somewhere to lay low.”

Minamimoto doesn’t answer. He seems intent on the tower. Neku shakes his head and moves away from the wall. Whatever. He’ll find a place himself. It’s not like they’re going to be able to go far. The sun’s setting, so… he has maybe twenty minutes before it goes totally dark.

Neku heads for one of the buildings. Sure, it’s an empty shell and looks like it might topple at a stiff breeze, but it hasn’t fallen yet all day, right? So if they’re careful, and don’t get ambushed by Noise while inside…

It’s probably fine.

It takes him a couple tries to find a room untouched. Neku gets lucky on floor number two—it used to be an apartment, probably, a small one-room place with a skeleton kitchen, whited out and hollowed and scraped clean. But there’s a bleached futon in the corner and an ashy rug on the floor and hey, it’s better than nothing, right?

He pries open the dusty window and leans out. The tower is almost completed—he’s guessing, but he’s seen enough of them to tell. “Hey,” he says.

A long pause. Minamimoto doesn’t look like he’s listening, and Neku nearly closes the window on him—let him sleep wherever then, like Neku gives a damn—but at the last moment he looks up, and his brow briefly furrows. “What, yoctogram?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to travel when it gets dark.” Cloud cover means no moon or stars; ruined city means no streetlamps… it’d be like the A-East mission from hell. Neku isn’t dealing with that shit, thanks. “The room has a rug. You can use it if you want.” Because hell yes is Neku taking that futon.

Minamimoto snorts and turns away, back to fussing with the trash. Neku hisses through his teeth, and slams the window shut. Whatever. He threw the dang olive branch; Neku’s work here is done. He’s tired. It’s been a long day, and all he wants to do is sleep.

He misses Shibuya.

He flops down on the futon and closes his eyes, and tries not to think of Shiki, or Beat, or even Joshua. He tries not to imagine what it would be like to be playing this Game with them, instead. What they would do. What they are doing now.

Shiki, he thinks—Shiki would hate this place. So devoid of color, and life, and just… anything Shiki’s ever loved. She’d despise it. Joshua too, he supposes. The lack of individuality—the lack of Music… they’re similar, in that way. It’s a weird thought, but it settles like a true thing: Joshua and Shiki would hate this place for the same reasons.

Beat… Beat wouldn’t have an opinion. He’d accept it, he’d move on, he’d adapt. He would want to keep searching after dark, maybe. He’d throw up a fist and declare there’s nothing that can stop them, not even the night. Neku would have to convince him otherwise.

He smiles at the thought. But it aches, too, somewhere deep in his chest. Neku squeezes his eyes shut. Stupid. And here I was, saying I wasn’t going to think about it.

They’ll be okay. Beat has Rhyme, and vice versa; they’re probably fine. Shiki has Eri. Joshua… well. Joshua.

Neku will be okay too. He doesn’t want to do this alone, but he can.

He can.

There’s a creak on the staircase; Neku opens his eyes and reaches for his pins, eyeing the door warily. It feels almost surreal to see Minamimoto walk in. Taboo-ified Reaper, grinning like a ghoul, slick backed wild hair and dust on his clothes, entering an apartment. It doesn’t fit his image. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person to use a door.

Minamimoto clicks his tongue when he sees the room, but all he says is, “Not bad, for a baseless binomial,” and then head for the far wall.

“You’re welcome,” Neku replies, sarcastic, and closes his eyes again, this time against the headache pounding behind his temple.

He hears Minamimoto settle by the wall, yawning loudly. There’s a beat of silence. Neku opens his eyes. “…Did you see anything past the wall?”

A scoff. “No.”

Yeah, he’d figured not. Worth a shot though. Neku rolls to his back and tucks his hands under his neck, staring up at the ceiling. “We’re not getting out,” he mutters, resigned. “We’ll have to… figure out what we can do here, I guess.”

Another bored noise. No response.

“Any suggestions?” Neku says, pointedly.

“You are zetta talkative today,” Minamimoto suggests back.

“I like having an idea of where to go.” And he’s partners with this guy whether he wants it or not. He doesn’t like it. He’s not sure he’ll ever like it. But Neku can at least make the effort.

“Tch, garbage,” Minamimoto says, sounding vaguely amused. “There’s no guidelines to this problem, Player. Different parameters. Different rules. Adjust or get deleted.”

“What are you—”

“Some numbers seem set on certain equations,” Minamimoto says, like it’s an insult. “Just because you miss the old Game doesn’t mean we can’t configure this one. You’ve got to conform to the equation, constant! Can’t force a formula that doesn’t make sense.”

Neku stills, feeling struck. “That’s— that’s not—” He sits up fast, fingers curling. His teeth grit. That’s not true. It’s not. Neku doesn’t belong in the Game, and he’s not having trouble adjusting, and he doesn’t miss it, he’s just—

But his mind is stuck on it—that moment fighting the Noise, the power singing through him, and Neku bites hard on the inside of his cheek and glares daggers at the walls.

“I am adjusting,” he says tightly. “If you would just—” No, no, that won’t work. They’ve already been through this. Neku takes another breath, and switches tracks. “Hey.”

A loud sigh. “What?”

“That thing you mentioned earlier, with— that guy.” Neku stares at the wall. “What’s Inversion?”

“Do the math.”

Asshole. “Look, I just want to know what’s going on.”

“It’s easy addition,” Minamimoto says, sort of scornfully. “Look around, yoctogram! The proof is all around you. The frequencies have been made null; it’s all broken equations now. That’s Inversion. When the math holding everything together breaks down.”

Neku frowns, trying to piece it together. “So the UG and RG…”

“It’s all fallen to zero. Ugh! Useless radian. 2 + 2 = 4. So zetta simple.”

Neku resists the urge to roll his eyes. He got an answer, at least. That’s something, isn’t it? It’s definitely more than he got earlier, even if it still doesn’t make complete sense to him.

My standards are dropping to the negatives, Neku thinks to himself, and then is a little horrified at his own almost-math joke. Cool, erasing that from his memory forever.

Still, if he’s understanding Minamimoto right, then… what, all the planes, UG and RG both, have just— crashed down on top of each other? That’s…

Neku leans back against the wall, hushed. His fingers curl into his arm. “This doesn’t make any sense,” he says quietly, half to himself. “How did this happen? This place…”

“Shinjuku.”

“What?” He turns around. “How the hell do you know that?”

Minamimoto scoffs at him. “More easy math. Didn’t you see the Gov building?”

“Wha—everything here is destroyed,” Neku snaps back, but his mind is whirling. Shinjuku. Damn it all, that fits too. Somewhere outside of Shibuya, where Coco was trying to lead them to… “Wait a minute. Shinjuku was fine this morning!”

Minamimoto yawns, looking bored again. “That was this morning.”

So, what—it just became a wasteland today? Neku leans back, stunned. Holy shit. Even Shades’ attempt at mind-controlling Shibuya had taken at least three weeks to set in. This is… he can hardly grasp it.

“How did this happen?” he says, honestly horrified now, and this time the silence stretches long. Neku looks over. He half expects Minamimoto to be asleep, but in the very last echoes of light Neku can see his eyes, staring out the window. Minamimoto is frowning. That sharp smile is nowhere in sight. And there is a furrow between his brows that seems, for a moment, almost troubled.

Neku waits. At last, Minamimoto looks away from the window, and stares down at the floor. He doesn’t meet Neku’s eyes.

“I don’t know.”

He sure doesn’t sound happy to admit it, either. Neku looks away, and leans back against the futon, quiet once more.

“…Hey, binomial. Speaking of half-finished equations.”

Neku stares at the ceiling, and then turns his head, eyeing Minamimoto warily. “…What?”

“You keep losing track of the numbers,” Minamimoto says, and his eyes glint. “Zetta often, too.”

Neku considers him, parsing through that—realizes what he means, and stills, shoulders stiffening. The visions. The voice echoing through his head. He’d known Minamimoto had noticed, but…

“Didn’t think you gave a digit,” Neku says finally, dryly, and Minamimoto actually laughs, a sharp and bright sound that echoes a little in the empty air. It seems bizarrely genuine.

“I zetta don’t,” he says, grinning outright now. “But I despise working with incorrect formulas.” His smile widens. “Spell it out.”

Neku rolls his eyes, a second away from turning around and ignoring him outright, but just as he is opening his mouth to tell Minamimoto to shove it, common sense and memory rears its head. The echo of another partnership, weeks ago, the memories Neku didn’t have and how he kept quiet, kept it silent, all the way to the end of Day Two. How different things might have gone, if he’d just trusted Shiki sooner.

Neku closes his mouth. He makes a face. He thinks of Shiki, and sighs, and sits up properly on the futon, resting his elbow on his knee. “It’s…” He doesn’t even know where to begin. It feels ridiculous, to think this all started only a day ago. “There’s this voice… this girl, I think. I can hear her sometimes.”

Minamimoto looks blank. “Well,” he says. “That’s zetta fucking useless.”

Neku scowls at him. “I don’t mean… ugh, I don’t even know what you think I mean. But it’s not that. It’s like… she’s right there with me. I’ve never met her. I don’t know her—” He thinks of that flicker of a person, Shiki’s stitched pig in her hands, and swallows. “At least, I don’t think I do? But I can hear her, sometimes. As if she’s far away, and right there with me, all at the same time.”

Minamimoto seems bored, already distracted; Neku ignores him, lost in thought now. The more he speaks of it, the stranger it seems. “I think she’s from here. Maybe. She talks about… being lonely. And emptiness.” He feels a little ill. Static crackles in his ears like a scream. “She seems… really afraid.”

Whispers echo in his head. Neku looks down at his hands, and admits, “She hates the silence most of all.”

Minamimoto stills a little, at that. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment, and in the end he looks away, his eyes dark. They sit there together in the quiet. Neku keeps his eyes on his hands. Minamimoto stares out the window again, gaze distant, as if looking at nothing at all.

At last, he says, almost muttering it: “A null set of numbers. Absolute zero.”

Neku is too tired to think it through. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Minamimoto grimaces. He tears his eyes away from the window, and tilts back his head, looking up at the ceiling, avoiding Neku’s gaze. “…It zetta sucks.”

Neku pauses. Somehow it has never occurred to him that Minamimoto might miss the music of the city too; that this unnatural silence would unnerve him, or ache in him as it does with Neku. He turns his eyes away. He feels, for once, more tired than annoyed.

“Yeah,” Neku agrees, quietly. The silence. The twisted streets. The echo, her voice still resounding in his head— please, please, help me. It’s too much. It’s too quiet.

Absolute zero.

“It really does,” Neku says, and closes his eyes.

.

“I can’t believe you wanted to keep exploring in the dark!”

It’s long past evening, the sun set and the red faded from the horizon, and this isn’t the first time Eri has said this. Crouched down in a corner of their little shelter, the flashlight glow casting twisting shadows over everything, Beat sighs heavily and kicks hard at his skateboard, rolling it across the floor.

It’s not a big shelter; his board hits the wall and bounces back, and he catches it under his foot, rolling it beneath his heel. Then he kicks it towards the wall again, because damn, what else is he supposed to do?

“I still think we shoulda gone,” he mutters, glum. “We’re wastin’ daylight!”

“It’s pitch dark,” Eri hisses back, sounding exasperated.

“We’ve got a light.”

“One dumb flashlight against the city of dark and doom,” Eri mutters, and sinks against the wall. “No. No. I am not going out—there—when those things are—”

She fumbles, inhaling sharply, fingers clenched to fists by her sides. Beat winces at the memory—man, the lungs on her. His ears are still ringing. Though he can’t really blame her. First time Beat saw the Noise, he just about jumped out of his skin.

“Psh,” Beat says now, and waves it off. “The Noise won’t hurt us. We have those pins, remember?”

Eri thins her lips, looking about ready to argue—then slumps. “I still don’t get how that works,” she mutters, and Beat shrugs. He’s not going to be the one to explain it. “Well, still. It’s not a good idea.”

Beat grimaces, but lays off, kicking at the skateboard again. It grates at him, but hey, it’s Eri’s choice. She’s the one really panicking here, especially with Shiki… well.

And while it gnaws at him, while sitting still and waiting a whole eight hours for sunrise itches under his skin, deep down Beat has to admit she’s right. Neku would say the same, probably. What are you doing? Come on, use your head. Beat can almost hear him. It sort of aches.

So he doesn’t say anything. It’s not all bad, either; they’ve got this neatass little shelter in some empty hollow of a café stand, which, score! But it grates, even so. Man, they’ve barely even started! It took longer than Beat would have liked to get to Shinjuku by foot—unavoidable, given no trains were going through there anymore, some freaky UG power thing—and by the time they’d arrived, they’d only had about an hour before the sun started going down and Eri panicked.

At least they didn’t leave. Eri was thinking it; man, Beat could just see those wheels in her head turning. But she hadn’t said it, and he’s grateful for it. His parents will worry— are worrying, probably—but if Beat doesn’t answer his phone its for good reason, and he’ll apologize later. He just… he doesn’t want to leave. It took them this long just to get here, and… well, spending the night in a ruin isn’t the best thing ever. But it would be worse, Beat thinks, to leave.

They’ve made it. They’re here. Now Beat just has to wait until the sun comes up, and then…

Soon, Phones. Shiki. We’re on our way.

Still. He feels jittery. His limbs are all wound tight with a phantom pain; Beat grimaces, and digs his palm into his thigh, rubbing above his knee. Aw, hell. He should have guessed this would happen. It’s been happening on and off ever since the car accident-that-never-was, and it’s been building to a bad day for a while now, too. Of course its kicking his ass the moment he stops moving.

He leans against the wall, sighing, still rubbing at his leg. It’s seized up something terrible, stabbing pain like his bones are breaking, but with luck it’ll have eased off by morning.

Well, Beat thinks. Maybe it will. This shelter isn’t all that comfortable, and they’re going to wake up with a lot of aches tomorrow. Shit, he might even feel worse. But then, that’s okay. Hell, compared to his situation in the final week, this is downright cozy. What’s he got to worry about this week, besides the phantom aches? Threat of being eaten by Noise? Psh, done that. Beat’s chilling.

No more time limit on his life; Hanekoma promised to help look after Rhyme; and Beat isn’t even facing this dark alone. Eri’s here! Which, granted, he doesn’t know her all that well (or, uh, at all), and the girl doesn’t seem too fond of their group anyhow… but that’s fine too. It’s nice just having company.

Eri doesn’t look like she’s really appreciating it though. This whole time she’s been as jittery as Beat feels, pacing and sitting down and standing soon after. She taps her foot like she’s itching under her skin. Her hands fiddle with her skirt and her hat. More recently she’s started messing with the brass knuckles sitting heavy on her hand; she slides it off, slides it on, makes a fist and then repeats. Beat’s getting tired just watching her.

He considers her, and kicks his board again; this time when it rolls back he keeps it still under his heel. Eri doesn’t even notice. Her eyes are glazed, off in her own world. She’s gnawing her lip to shreds.

“Shiki’ll be okay, yo,” Beat says, out of nowhere, taking a shot in the dark. Eri jolts and then stills. “She’s badass, you know? Whatever plan she’s got, it’s probably a good one.”

“Badass,” Eri mutters, and then sighs, shoulders falling. She sits against the wall, drawing up her legs. The flashlight casts odd shadows; a quiet circle of yellow light on the ceiling and a soft glow all around them, barely reaching into the corner of the room. When Eri bows her head, it makes it hard to see her eyes. “How do you know?”

“Huh? Well, uh…”

“I’ve been meaning to ask. The Game, the Reapers, the… everything. All of it. You and—that coffee guy, I got the gist of that, I think, but…” Her hands tighten on her knees. “How did you meet Shiki? Really meet her, I mean. Not that stupid lie she probably told me.”

Beat scratches his head. “Er, that’s… uh, Shiki’ll probably wanna—”

“Shiki’s not answering her phone,” Eri says, a little coolly. Beat winces. Her fingers are white-knuckled around her knees. “I—look, I just—I just—”

There’s something about the look on her face that makes Beat look away. He makes a face at the wall and then sighs, pushing his beanie up away from his eyes. “Sure, yo,” he says quietly. “I can tell you. But it’s not— It’s…” He sighs. “It’s real complicated, yo.”

Eri doesn’t move. Beat shrugs, and goes back to kneading at his tense leg. “I met Shiki same time I met Phones,” he says. He’s unsure of how to say it—even more unsure of how to break the news gently—so he goes all in. “First week of the Game, about… man, I dunno. Two months ago, maybe? It’s been awhile, yo, my memory isn’t that good.”

Eri swallows. “I knew it,” she mutters. “She was—she was in the Game?”

“…Yeah.”

“She didn’t tell me,” Eri murmurs, quieter now. Beat shifts, uncomfortable, and winces when his leg jars; he gets the feeling Eri’s not really talking to him at all. “That w-whole month, I remember, she was avoiding me, she never answered… why didn’t she tell me? If she called—I could have—”

“Our phones didn’t work,” Beat explains, eager to help, but then he pauses. There’s something in Eri’s words that strike him as off, but he can’t pinpoint it, and something about Eri’s expression makes him wary of pushing. It’s probably fine, anyway. “And Shiki…”

He cuts himself off. “…Never mind.” That’s not his story to tell, and… Beat is pretty sure that’s one thing Shiki never wants Eri to know. Entry fees have always sucked ass, but Shiki’s especially…

“I always thought it was weird.” Eri’s voice is quiet, a little bitter; Beat blinks at her, feeling strangely out of his depth. “You guys just came out of the blue, and all her stories of how you guys met in class, it didn’t… and Neku, especially, it was like—” She stops again. Her head lowers.

“Oh, yeah.” Beat tilts his head back. “Phones and Shiki were partners.”

Eri looks up. “Um…” Pause. “I don’t really know what that means.”

“Oh, uh… like…” Beat gestures. “Like me and Phones, or even me and Rhyme, y’know? You’ve gotta trust your partner! With the fighting, and with the talking, worries and everything. Sharing the burden and stuff. It’s like a, a…” There’s a word for it, he knows—p-something—but the details are escaping him. “A promise! Yeah, like that.”

Eri presses her lips. “A promise.”

“Exactly!”

“…I don’t really get it, but okay.” She looks away, towards the darkened window, and a strange smile pulls at her lips. “Haha. This is, like, so weird. You know? Everything about this really is…” Her lips press. She ducks her head down behind her knees.

Beat looks away too. The flashlight flicker, the quiet roll of the skateboard wheels over the ground; the silence, deafening, right outside the walls. He closes his eyes and thinks about Rhyme, where they are or how they’re doing; tries even harder not to think about Phones. Sees the blood behind his eyelids. Hears the bang like an echo, ringing in his ears like the shriek of tires against the road, the dull thud before the end.

And all he says is, “We’ll find ‘em.”

Eri lifts her head. “Yeah,” she says. Her voice is hoarse. “We will.”

.

Sitting at the booth of what was probably a restaurant, once, before the Inversion, Shiki looks outside the windows and exhales, her breath fogging the glass. “Wow,” she says. “It’s gotten really dark.”

The restaurant is a small, ruined place; empty booths and empty shelves and windows blank and sheer. It’s creepy in the same way the whole city is, except maybe worse, because there’s enough definition left to recognize it as a restaurant—and so much missing it’s impossible not to notice how it’s been changed. At least the booth seats are soft.

It’s like living an apocalypse novel, Shiki thinks, and scrunches her face at the table. On the one minor bright side, at least she doesn’t need to eat? Though she’s not sure how that works, either. She’s still alive, just in the Game, so…

It’s too late at night to think about that, so instead Shiki closes her eyes and rests her head back against the seat. It really is dark. The only light is this strange, ghostly kind of glowing sphere Joshua summoned and then threw up above them maybe two hours ago; it’s as dim as a nightlight, and flickers like it has bad connection. It helps, a little, but… Shiki’s never liked nighttime, and here, with no moon or stars or anything, it’s almost worse.

Joshua is seated across from her, his hand resting on his cheek and one finger drawing patterns in the dust on the windows. Where Shiki watches the light, he turns and smiles at the shadows. “Surprising, isn’t it?” he says to her, almost light. “No end to the days at all. A full twenty-four hours… this Game really is something new.”

Shiki presses her lips, ill at ease with it. She fiddles with the end of her skirt, the soft fabric woven tight and warm, the cloth soothing beneath her restless fingertips. “I don’t get it,” she admits, and smooths her skirt flat, a nervous habit. “Why the long days? This doesn’t feel like the Game at all.”

“Hm. Who knows?” Joshua tilts his head. In the reflection of the glass, his eyes seem blurry and dim. “To disorient us? To tire us? Sleeping in a ruined city really will do murder on your back.” He snickers, then, as if he’s said something funny. Shiki frowns a little. “Awful, don’t you think? For former Players especially. All that time, waiting for the next day to begin… waiting for the blackout…”

“Oh.” Shiki’s fingers curl. “So this, too…”

“No missions,” Joshua murmurs. “No Reapers. No walls. Just… waiting. Until the end.”

There is something terribly cruel about it that Shiki doesn’t know how to put into words. She shivers, and says nothing.

“Yes,” Joshua replies, as if she’s spoken. “My thoughts exactly.” He sighs and leans back against his seat. “Either way, it’s working. Even I don’t really know what to expect from all this.” His eyes narrow, a little. He drags his finger through the dust on the window, a bold and stark line across the glass. “It’s getting a bit annoying.”

Shiki bites the inside of her cheek and looks away, picking up Mr. Mew just to have something in her hands. She smooths her fingers down his stitching and wishes for better thread. She has her needle, spare strands—of course she does, she always does—but for Mr. Mew, she needs better. It’s why she’s fighting with her clothes in the first place.

Still. Her fingers itch to fix something.

Joshua giggles. Shiki looks up, startled. He’s smiling at her again, small and smirking. “Bored?”

“N-no…” Bored, in a place like this? Discouraged, more like. She can’t understand how he can sit there, laughing like nothing is wrong; it’s like the whole awful situation has barely touched him at all. “Aren’t you worried?”

He tilts his head, looking bemused. “Who, me?”

“I mean…” She stops herself, and sighs. Even if he was worried, would he tell her? She doesn’t know him, and he doesn’t know her, either, even if he acts like he does. And given that she’d snapped at him only a few hours ago… “Never mind.” She frowns down at Mr. Mew. “You aren’t the easiest person to talk to, are you?”

“You’re just full of insults, aren’t you,” Joshua replies. “Apologies if I’ve been too preoccupied to chatter with you, Shiki. You need only give the word.”

Ugh, he did that on purpose. She fumbles. “No, that’s not what I…”

He’s smiling again. Shiki bites her lip and takes a deep breath. She is not going to hit him. She refuses to let him win, damn it all. “I’m sorry. That was rude. And I’m sorry for… well, I mean, I’m not sorry for what I said this afternoon, because I meant it—”

His smile has dropped, and Shiki rushes on before he can comment. “But I don’t want to fight! And I—I really don’t think you’re a bad person. I want to work together with you.” She offers a weak smile. Oh, she’s so bad at this. “So I guess, um, truce? Allies?”

He doesn’t move. Shiki looks down at Mr. Mew. “I just… can’t you be just a little nicer? I shouldn’t have insulted you, but… you say things sometimes. We’re partners, though. And if we’re here for all seven days…”

A pause. He’s quiet, just watching her, and Shiki falters again— and then firms. Her back straightens. She holds out her hand to him. “Please,” she says, quietly. “For Neku?”

There is a long stretch of silence. Joshua’s expression is a strange one; he leans back against the booth and crosses his arms, looking vaguely bothered. He turns away, frowns at the window, and then sighs heavily, as if put upon. “Oh, all right,” he mutters, and then turns to her. “Allies, was it?” He blows a strand of hair away from his eyes, and brushes it back behind his ear irritably. Then he reaches out and takes her hand. His palm is cold and dry.

Shiki pauses, startled. She hadn’t really thought he would… but he had, and for that she offers him a smile. “Oh! Um. Good.”

She takes her hand back, and then claps. Well, that was awkward. Time for a change in subject. “So! Okay. I’ve been thinking. We need to find Shinjuku’s… ‘place,’ right? What about the Tokyo Met building?”

“Wow. You’re taking this mystery seriously, aren’t you?” Joshua leans back, resting his chin in his hand. That strange melancholy is gone as if it had never been; now he just seems amused, edging into thoughtful. “Mm, maybe. They don’t tend to be in very obvious areas, though, you realize. Otherwise, Ten-Four would be Shibuya’s.”

“Oh…” Shiki leans back, fiddling with her glasses. “Golden Gai? We are heading in that direction…”

He shrugs. She sighs. This is harder than she thought it would be. How on earth had Neku figured it out last time?

…Oh, right. Joshua.

Shiki slumps in her seat.

“Either way,” Joshua says, after a pause. “We’ll head down the main road tomorrow. I’m interested in that moment of impact, you could say… the Reaper’s Skull in the sky.” He spins a strand of hair around his finger. “Who knows what we’ll find there?”

“Hopefully not a fight,” Shiki murmurs.

“Hmm. That’s a poor attitude. I’m relying on you after all, Miss Shiki.”

She laughs, a little. Miss. She’s never met someone who can be both rude and polite all at once. It’s a bit funny. “I mean… you don’t need to, do you? Aren’t you, like, all powerful or something?”

He giggles. “Well, that’s true. I am pretty powerful. But I don’t like working up a sweat.” Joshua shrugs, hands turning up and open to the air. “Besides, even I have flaws. So do keep up.”

Shiki is well aware of his flaws. The little smile on his face says he knows that, too. But in the spirit of getting along, she humors him. “Really? Like what?”

She means it as a joke, but Joshua hums. “Mm. Well, for one, I can’t jump.”

Shiki blanks for a moment. “Seriously?”

“Mm-hm.”

She considers this. “…Is it because you’re clumsy?”

Joshua blinks. Then he smiles. He turns his face away and hides it behind his hand, but she can see his shoulders shaking. “Wow.”

“What?”

“Just… no one’s ever tried to guess why before.”

Shiki’s getting the hang of this, though. “Or guessed right?” she tries.

He makes a face. But he doesn’t say she’s wrong, and for some reason that makes her laugh—for real, this time. “So that’s it,” she says, hiding her smile behind her hand. “You’re clumsy?”

“I don’t really think you’re one to talk.”

“I’m not! I just…” Her smile fades a little. She studies the table. “It’s funny. I feel like I know you a little better now.”

“Because you know I’m prone to tripping?” Joshua sounds bemused. “All right then.”

Because beyond just being Composer and all-powerful and Neku’s old partner, Joshua is becoming someone real to her. He is a boy who laughs a lot but rarely genuinely, who doesn’t give straight answers—who is snobby, and self-absorbed, and smug. Who has clever insights. Who likes mysteries. Who can’t jump.

She’s still angry at him. She still doesn’t forgive him. She never will. But Shiki leans back against the booth and thinks of Neku, week one, and finds that maybe she can do this after all. Maybe… maybe it can even be fun.

“Well, if there is a fight, I’ll do my best.” She clenches her fist. “I’ll rip them all to shreds!”

Joshua is grinning, wide and amused. Shiki frowns at him. “What?”

“So bloodthirsty. Where do you get it from?” He tugs at his hair again. He looks on the verge of laughter. “Okay. Have fun, Shiki.”

She pauses. “…You’d be helping too!”

“Well, maybe.”

“No, not maybe…!” Joshua is definitely laughing at her. Shiki crosses her arms. This is like Neku in those first few days all over again, but worse somehow. Joshua is doing this on purpose. “Ugh. Boys.”

“Not quite. But I get your point.” Joshua waves a hand through the air. “I was just joking, dear. Don’t take it so hard.”

But Shiki pauses, her thoughts derailed from the banter. Not quite? “Wait. What do you mean not… Oh!” Her eyes widen. “Are you like me?”

The moment she says it, she flushes, and wishes she could take it back. Oh, shoot, is that a good way to ask? Does he even know Shiki is trans? Wait, Composer. Wait, but maybe—

Joshua blinks at her, and then his grin gentles, something closer to a smile, almost half-way to genuine. “Mm, of sorts.”

And that answers that. “Oh,” she says.

“Yes. Well, not entirely the same experience, however. I don’t have any strong feelings about it one way or another.”

Shiki doesn’t entirely understand what he means—she has always felt strongly on who she is, from youth to now. But she nods anyway. “Ah, okay! But, um…”

She frowns a little, unsure of how to ask this. Joshua’s smile widens. “It doesn’t really matter,” he says, sounding amused. “I use the masculine pronoun because I like how it sounds, is all. It’s just words to me. I don’t connect to one gender or the other—or even neither—in any real regard.” He shrugs. “Don’t worry. You haven’t stepped on any toes.”

“I’m glad.” She draws up her knees. She still isn’t sure if she likes Joshua all that much, but that doesn’t mean she wants to hurt him, even if unintentionally. “I guess we have that in common, huh?”

“The younger Bito sibling, too. Should we make a club?” He leans back, and hides a yawn in his hand. “Anyway. Wherever Shinjuku’s Room of Reckoning might be, it’s a problem for the morning.” He holds out his hand, and that dim nightlight sphere sinks down in the air, resting just above his palm. “Anything else you want to bother me with? Because it’s getting dark, and honestly, I would like to get some sleep.”

“Oh. Oh! Right, sorry.” Shiki turns away, leaning her back against the booth, stretching out her legs. “Um… good night.”

“Wonderful.” Their light flickers and dims; Joshua cups it in his hands and then closes his fist quietly, and darkens it to a glow so soft it barely seems there at all, just enough to keep them out of the gloom.

The silence settles around them, not quite calm, not quite right. Shiki stares at the window, thinking on all that she’s learned, and everything she’s still waiting to discover. The quiet stretches. The darkness remains, eternal. She watches the glass and despite it all, can’t bring herself to close her eyes.

Is Neku out there, too? Is he sleeping in a ruin? Maybe he’s nearby, even. Maybe he’s closer than she knows.

She swallows hard. She hopes he’s doing okay. And oh god, Beat—she hopes he got home, that Rhyme is safe and sound with him. She hopes Eri found him. She hopes Eri isn’t… isn’t too upset with her.

Shiki owes her an explanation, probably. Definitely. She’s trying not to think about it. Where should Shiki even begin? She doesn’t want Eri to know she died. Or—or her entry fee, oh god, no. And everything that happened, Rhyme getting erased and the other Players, and…

It’s just easier, isn’t it? If Eri doesn’t know; if Shiki doesn’t tell her. They can be happy and laugh like nothing has changed, like nothing was ever wrong… and Shiki won’t have to think of that time from before, when she couldn’t meet Eri’s eyes, when she could hardly look at her work without hating how it never seemed to measure up. They’re happier now, aren’t they? Is it selfish to want to keep it that way?

…Probably. If Eri found Beat, then, definitely. Eri knows something is up. Eri knows something is wrong. Shiki is—Shiki is just going to have to deal with that.

Oh, she hates the dark. She always thinks too much, too loud. It’s so quiet that everything else feels like its echoing, and it makes all those little worries rise up louder and louder in the back of her head. Awful.

She takes a breath. She draws up her knees, and wraps her arms around her legs. “…Joshua?”

A pause. She hears him sigh. “Yes, Shiki?”

She keeps her eyes on the window. He sounds so calm, she thinks. So unbothered. It needles at her. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

“This again? Really?”

For some reason that hits her sideways; heat flares up in her gut. Her hands clench, fingers digging into Mr. Mew. “Yes, really,” she says, sharper. “This place, this city, the silence. N-Neku. You keep… doesn’t it bother you at all?”

“Does it matter?” he replies. “Either way—”

“It matters to me.”

Silence.

“Yes, Shiki,” Joshua says, finally, flatly. She can just barely see him, sitting up straight now, the shadow of a frown on his face. “It bothers me. Happy?”

“You don’t have to snap at me.”

“And you don’t have to go starting a conversation every three seconds, and yet. Honestly, Shiki.” He crosses his arms. “You’re awfully chatty. Most people aren’t nearly so talkative with people they dislike, you know.”

“…I wouldn’t usually be.”

“Oh?” He still isn’t smiling. “Am I just special? How flattering.”

“No, it’s not that. I…” She looks away. Her own flare of irritation has died; now she just feels drained, and a little ashamed. He’d said he was tired, and she is bothering him anyway—snapping at him for nothing, almost the same way he snapped at her earlier today. “Sorry.”

“Hm.”

“Really, I am. It’s just… it’s really quiet here.”

“So you decided to yell at me.” He sounds annoyed. “Don’t people usually ignore others when they’re upset? Can we do that?”

For some reason that almost makes her smile. Shiki keeps her eyes on the window. “Funny,” she says quietly. “Sorry. You know, I… I was going to. From the beginning, actually. I thought I would…” She had taken the pact with the thought that she would ignore him, she would avoid him, she would do what was needed and nothing more. But…

She hasn’t really been doing that, has she? Instead she’s been arguing with him, and talking with him, making plans and ideas and getting ridiculously excited over mysteries. She doesn’t even know why. It just sort of happened that way.

And in the end Shiki rests her chin against her knees and says, “It’s just sad, isn’t it?” A beat. “I just get the feeling… that maybe we could have been friends.”

Another pause. Longer, this time. When Joshua finally replies, he no longer sounds irritated; his voice is low and muted. “I don’t see why that matters.”

Maybe it doesn’t. But Shiki looks out the window, quiet and worn and exhausted all at once, and despite it all, realizes she doesn’t feel as alone anymore. That in some strange way, in all the things they share and the ways they clash, Joshua being here with her makes braving this empty city a little easier.

She keeps her eyes on the window. “Joshua?”

He makes an annoyed noise. “What now?”

“…Do you think Neku is okay?”

He hesitates.

Shiki waits, but when he doesn’t answer, she looks back to him. He doesn’t meet her eyes. His head has turned away, back to the window. He is strangely silent.

He’s not smiling anymore. In this moment, Joshua seems tired too. There’s something quiet in him. Something pinched around the eyes.

“Well,” he says, softer than she expected. He taps his finger against the glass. “That is the question, isn’t it?”

It’s not really an answer. But there is understanding in it; the same uncertainty, the fearful wondering. So Shiki nods. She turns away, and says nothing more, and together they watch the midnight streets, waiting for the hour to turn.

.

.

.

And as midnight falls, on the very edge of that hollow city, a girl walks against the wind.

She is alone. She is all on her own. The last one left in all the world. Her eyes are empty and her hands close tight around a memory. She barely seems to move, each step slow and laboring, taking all of her strength. She wanders on into the night. She shivers in the cold. Her lips move soundlessly, as if aching to speak. Waiting to be heard. Waiting to be found.

She keeps walking. Step by careful step. And slowly, surely, the night moves on, and the second day dawns.

[void-tiger]

Shirotember (Belatedly) Days 5-7:

The Chosen, the Astral Plane, and the Black Lion

He knew better.

Shiro honestly did. But outside of running drills with his Team, and forming Voltron in combat he just...never made it down to the Black Lion’s hangar. Shiro told himself that’d it was because there was just so much to do—nearly two decaphoebs of backlogged data to consume. Crash courses in diplomacy and getting formerly integrated into the cogs of the coolition (and a lot of damage control dealing with there being “two of him”.

(Slav in particular had been gleeful about the “second robot arm” and kept bombarding both him and Jiro with new arm designs, each more outrageous than the last, complete with blue fingers and probabilities about how the designs would increase their success and survival (but never higher than 48%, apparently, with pages of things “statistically uncovered”. The reports all read like some beta-tested drug commercial, and Shiro’d had enough of those to last him a lifetime. Well, two. The temptation to simply delete each new schematic sent in was often overwhelming...but he and his twin technically needed new prosthetics and possibly multiple ones, so he forwarded Slav’s latest designs to the Holt Siblings, Hunk, or the Alteans, instead. Well until the day Matt begged him to stop and that most just got shoved into a file Voltron’s Tech Team hadn’t even scratched the surface of yet, which was more than okay for a relieved Shiro. Matt quickly helped him set up a program specific to Slav’s messages that’d automatically delete anything “robot arm related” as chaff...which just left the rest of Slav’s equally dense and frequent reports. Fantastic.)

...and any spare time Shiro found himself with desperately trying to make up for lost time with his friends, and actually being more open with his affection for them and his own insecurities. (It helped that aside from Pidge none of them were really teens anymore, but being indirectly responsible for bringing them into a war that caused them to grow up too soon, too fast still weighed heavily on him. Even if technically it was their Lions?) But all of that—while lessening the strain, especially since he could share the burden of leadership with both Allura and Jiro now—still felt more like getting flayed alive all over again, less like emerging from a chrysalis or shedding a snake’s old and too-tight skin. Especially since the Arena and Haggar didn’t create these habits, just welded them down tight, while Adam and the Garrison had actively forged them.

(Sam’s mentorship had helped, as had the Black Lion and his Team giving him purpose again. But getting locked inside a damaged Black for two years without anyone able to hear him except a desperate clone who mistook Shiro as yet one more of their shared demons for half of it... Shiro didn’t know if that guilt would ever ease.)

So, really. Shiro did know better, but he was too busy being a Paladin to...actually be a Paladin.

Coward, snarked his subconscious, which sounded suspiciously like Jiro calling him out on his learned bullshit yet again. “But not like he’s any better about this,” Shiro muttered. “Hypocrite.”

Yeah, but he learned that from you, Shirogane.

Shiro pinched his eyes shut as he let his forehead thump against the Black Lion’s hangar door. Since he’d been extracted from the Lion’s quintessence and places back inside his own body of reassembled atoms, their Bond felt muted, but not exactly weak. More like...restrained. Like the Black Lion was trying to give Shiro the space he kept subconsciously taking by accident. Occasionally gentle affection or harrowing grief and shame would filter through their Bond before quickly fading away into wisps of mist scattered in the wind. Shiro tried his best to send the Lion his reassurance and forgiveness...but he just couldn’t make himself visit. It all still felt too raw, more so than when Black spat him out so long ago in what he now knew was her attempt to keep him from getting recaptured by their shared tormentors, too.

He knew he needed to see the Lion, without being prompted by training or missions or an active attack. But...

He continued to stare at the door. Willed himself to move. “Coward,” he hissed again, this time aloud.

Footsteps echoed at the opposite end of the corridor. Shiro fought the urge to turn around. The steps grew closer, and he recognized that gait as his brother’s. Same long strides, same intentionality as his, but slightly heavier in the footfalls, like someone not quite accustomed to their growing frame yet, or hadn’t quite mastered the art of Presentation and still had small tells giving them away if you knew where to look. (Or perhaps someone who cared a bit less than Shiro learned to habitually even before his time at the Garrison.)

“You win yet?” Jiro drawled casually.

“Hmm?”

“Your staring contest with that door,” Jiro elaborated. “Think my score’s 3:9, Door’s Favor.”

Shiro winced internally. Jiro rarely spoke about the time he spent grounded, and then when he did, it always came out as a subconscious slip in the form of a joke. He never knew whether to call his brother on it or not. Not like Shiro had much room to talk, especially about stuff Champion-related...

“I’m just being an idiot,” Shiro finally said, single hand clench-fisted, head still leaning heavily against the door with his eyes mostly shut.

“‘Course you are,” Jiro quipped, laying his hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “You’re my brother.” Then shoved Shiro through the now-opening door.

“H-HEY!” Shiro squawked. Jiro simply laughed. The bastard.

The door hissed closed behind them. The Black Lion loomed above them. Shiro felt his mouth go dry, felt the ground tilt as the edges of his vision blurred and the light glinted off Black’s hull felt too bright! and—

A hand rested on his shoulder and a dark shape obscures his vision, blocking the Black Lion from view. He flinched, and a strangled gasp clawed its way out of his chest and throat.

“Takashi. Breathe,” Jiro murmured.

Much like he had the first time Shiro entered Black’s hangar when the witch bombarded the Castle after he first got pulled out of the Void. And how before that Jiro had practically shoved the black bayard into his hand and Shiro into the Black Paladin’s elevator, and said-bayard transforming into an Arm at the sight of the imposing zip line in response to his immediate need.

Shiro willed himself not to cry as Jiro’s arm snaked around his shoulders and pulled him close. He focused his breathing to time with Jiro’s steadier heartbeat, then worked on getting it to slow once he could get his lungs to simply work again. In. Hold. Release. Rinse and repeat. Blink away the itch. Relax. Don’t lose it in front of Black. Be the Black Paladin, dammit.

“I’m sorry,” Jiro murmured. Shiro felt his twin’s deep voice rumble more than he actually heard it as, despite himself, he still continued to lean into his clone’s chest. Weak. Pathetic.

“I shouldn’t have forced you in here. Just...I want you two to work it out,” Jiro admitted. “And thought that you only needed a helping hand, and—“

Shiro hummed weakly as he tried to chuckle at the unintended pun. But his body refused and even his brain didn’t quite cooperate. Right. Since when did his brain work with him, anyway? He snorted darkly despite himself at that.

“...what?” Jiro demanded in bemusement.

“Hand,” Shiro lied.

Jiro groaned in exasperation as he playfully shoved his brother away. “You’re terrible.”

Shiro grinned wider as he laughed a bit fuller at his twin’s expense. Let him think it was because of a bad pun. Technically it was...sorta.

He felt Black growl lightly and whap his head with a tail through their bond. Shiro gently shoved it away. Black sent the equivalent of meekly ducking under away from his hand, all wisping mist. A flash of guilt and panic as he tried to reopen their Bond. Black purred dejectedly but then fell eerily silent.

Shiro felt his face drain of color. ‘Black? ...I’m sorry. I know I’m not being fair. Please...I’ll do better. Get over it, press on. Please...’

His forehead tingled with a Lion’s Kiss but the Bond fell silent.

“...’Kashi? Hey, You still with me? C’mon...”

“Mmm?” Shiro blinked blearily.

“...goddammit, Shiro. Don’t do that,” Jiro huffed in relief.

“I think...I just broke my bond,” Shiro choked out.

“What? No. No I don’t believe that,” Jiro denied vehemently. “Not for one second!”

“I can’t even bare to be down here!” Shiro shot back heatedly. “Or form Voltron—“

“Quiznack, Shiro! You’d died! You’re allowed to process that!” Jiro snapped in exasperation. “But...dammit the Lion somehow saved you from that, too!”

“I know that!”

Jiro shook his head wearily. “...do you, though? Look, Tak, I’m leaving. I’ve been interfering with this Bond for long enough. Black chose you. Just...you’ll figure it out, alright? Be glad that you’re actually a Paladin.”

Jiro turned to stalk away—

—only to bounce off the inside of a particle barrier while the Black Lion roared with pent-up rage.

“What—“ Jiro exclaimed. “—the HELL! Let me out, Cat! You have him back. Leave me alone!”

Shiro tried desperately to ignore the sick, twisted head that reared inside him like a dark parasite when the Lion growled stubbornly at his twin. He grit his teeth and shoved it back down. He didn’t exactly have any place to feel jealous when he was pretty sure he’d just fucked things up for good this time. Again.

Then his head ached with what felt like the full weight of a small bull elephant as Black roared again, tail lashing against the barrier in a spray of sparks. “But I can’t even stand—not—“ Shiro stammered in frustration.

Black reared onto her haunches then brought down full-force onto the floor with a deafening boom that knocked both him and his brother, roaring point-blank at both of them again, maw opening into a glow of white, and—

—he fell face-first into glass.

Shiro groaned as he pushed himself back onto his feet, catching Ryou doing the same in the corner of his eye, then froze.

No.

He never wanted to be back here. Not again. Ice chilled his veins as he felt that all-too-familiar Just Not Warm and surrounded by nothing but the dark of the Void and stars and—

...And the stars were different. This wasn’t the Black Lion’s quintessence, but it wasn’t the strange static rush he’d experienced briefly within Voltron’s combined quintessence, either.

So...what was it.

Shiro exhaled through his nose as he calmed—barely—and tried to take stock of his surroundings. Beside him he could feel his twin do the same as he blinked in curious confusion, Jiro’s mind briefly brushing against his much like the other Paladins and Lions did when they formed Voltron.

The sky swirled in shades of deep violet, indigo and blue as stars of white and gold streaked with glittering grey comet tails traveled the great expanse overhead, and bands of green and red flares drifted in retrograde of eachother. Jiro’s mouth made a silent “o” as the site reflected in his slate-grey eyes.

And Shiro understood. Really.

He might’ve felt the same about the Black Lion’s own space, once. Maybe he actually could someday once it felt free from the taint Zarkon’s intrusion and his forced exile there that poisoned it. He felt Jiro’s concern brush against his apprehension before he could shutter it away, and Shiro couldn’t help but hate himself for spoiling this for his twin, only to be met with said-twin’s exasperated anger.

Couldn’t he exist somewhere where everyone wasn’t an empath?! Just once?

“Taks. Just breathe,” Jiro called.

Shiro snorted. “There’s no atmosphere, Ryou. You don’t need to breathe.”

“Fair,” Jiro conceded tersely. “So where do you think ‘here’ is.”

“No idea. But it isn’t the Black Lion.”

“Gathered that much myself, thanks,” Jiro drawled. “Been there a few times to fetch your ass, remember?”

Shiro nodded absently. Jiro cast him a strange look that verged on...Shiro couldn’t quite place it. Too clouded and dense, but nothing good, and he was pretty sure he was about to have it from his clone. “It feels like Voltron,” Jiro said instead. “Only more...”

“Intense?” Shiro finished instead.

“Yeah. That.”

“Only Paladins form Voltron,” Shiro said mildly.

“Oh shut up,” Jiro snapped. “And how long were you going to wait to tell me that you remembered what happened in the Astral Plane? ALL of it?”

Shiro fell silent.

“You ass,” Jiro seethed. “You knew. You knew all along!”

“No,” Shiro interjected quickly. “...not until after I flew again with Black.”

Jiro laughed derisively. “So only for most of it. And to think I didn’t want to judge you for something you couldn’t even remember to the point it might as well have been just another fucked up nightmare or vision!”

“...I’m sorry. I just...I wanted to forget,” Shiro whispered tightly.

“Right,” Jiro snarled “Because you always get to and then carry on, while I have to deal with memories that aren’t even mine.”

“And that’s my fault?” Shiro demanded.

“You said I couldn’t be a Paladin!”

“And you seemed happy enough to have my life!”

A feral scream tore out of Jiro’s throat. The empty space at the clone’s side flashed grey-lavender until it was vaguely arm-shaped, and he swung it at Shiro as he advanced forward.

Shiro caught his advance with his own flesh arm and one apparently formed from glowing indigo quintessence, and used Jiro’s momentum to bodily hurl him. Jiro twisted in midair and dug his heels into the glass-like ground to break his momentum, then rushed forward again, grey coma streaming from his eyes and nose.

Tears. Those are tears, Shirogane. Congratulations.

The fight drained from Shiro, and he sidestepped Jiro’s next blind swing.

“Fight back, damn you!” Jiro snarled. “What’s the matter, Champion? Forget how to do that, too?”

Shiro’s vision flashed white and red.

He batted away and pinned Jiro’s quintessence-arm against the clone’s side with one hand, then grabbed a fistful of his brother’s shirt with the other, and kicked Jiro’s feet out from underneath him before the clone could even react. They crashed to the ground. Jiro gasped reflexively as the impact forced the wind out of his lungs and Shiro continued to pin him against the ground.

“Gerroff!!”

“ENOUGH!”

Jiro went slack, although Shiro could still feel his mind smoldering next to his. Still, he was weary of this, so he released his hold on Jiro’s arm, as both their quintessence “arms” fizzled out, apparently. Jiro roughly shoved him off the rest of the way.

“Asshole,” Jiro sniffed thickly.

“Fair.”

“...shut up.”

The stars continued to swirl peacefully above them despite the tense silence below. Shiro thought about resting his hand on Jiro’s shoulder, to do something to somehow Fix This and ease the churning guilt inside him...but his brother’s mind remained sharp ice and bubbling cryovolcanoes. But Jiro didn’t move away, either.

Shiro oofed in shock when Jiro thumped his head against his right shoulder roughly. Which, technically a quintessence apparition right now or not, that still hurt. But, he kinda deserved it and it at least proved that whatever Laws this place followed were closer to his fight with Zarkon than...the two years bodiless he spent trapped in the Void. Hesitantly he shifted until he could embrace Jiro with his left arm instead.

“...Why?” Shiro whispered.

“Because yes I’m mad at you but somebody’s gotta stick around to get through your thick skull that that doesn’t mean we’re leaving.

“...and I wanted to be a Paladin. So badly that it still hurts. But I wasn’t ever chosen. At best all I could do was make a poor substitute while I kept your seat warm. And I didn’t know, alright? I tried everything to get Keith to stay. And the second I did, I...”

Shiro pulled him closer. “I know. I could hear you the whole time. I know you tried.”

“Then...why do you hate me?”

“...I don’t.”

Jiro scoffed.

“No, listen. Please.”

Jiro went rigid, but his ear faced Shiro. Shiro exhaled a silent sigh. That’d have to do. “I...don’t think I ever did. I definitely don’t now. But...all I could do was wait in the dark, desperate for someone to hear me. No one ever did. Black’s inner quintessence was kinda a wreck, and it looked and felt more like getting shut in a basement closet than...

“But then I think the Team must have healed Black somewhat when they tried finding a new Paladin...not that I knew that at the time. Just that I could hear them and finally see something. But I couldn’t—“

Jiro reached around and grabbed Shiro’s hand, squeezing it gently. Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, his guilt and shame becoming more than just a constant ache or shroud, threatening to choke him under its weight.

“My bonds weren’t strong enough. None of them could hear me. And then Black found you.”

“The Lion still preferred Keith,” Jiro pointed out. “I thought I’d been left. And...at any point I’d almost died, and wasn’t ever found until I thought I was drawing my last breath. I chased Voltron for a week! And then...she...didn’t want me.”

“No. That was me,” Shiro admitted in a tight whisper.

An incredulous look crossed Jiro’s face, closely followed by relief and betrayal. “...what.”

Shiro exhaled a shaky sigh. Quiznack his timing sucked. But if they were stuck in here... “The Black Lion...she...she wanted to connect with you. But I... and then you left. And didn’t come back. But then...”

“The Team was about to die,” Jiro murmured.

Shiro nodded jerkily. “It didn’t matter how I felt. I could hear you pleading to save them, and feel Black’s distress, but it was like you two couldn’t quite reach. Your quintessence was...” Shiro paused, searching for words as he gestures vaguely. “...pale. Half there. I don’t know how to describe it.”

“I always thought Black was the one pulling my slack. But...that was you?”

“The universe needed Voltron. And our Team needed a Black Paladin.”

“Then I never actually formed Voltron with them. I never was a Paladin, afterall,” Jiro laughed humorlessly. “No wonder I couldn’t get to that place Lance was talking about.”

“NO,” Shiro repeated firmly. “Black let you inside to try. I was the one throwing a fit which...I guess you noticed that.”

Jiro snorted. “Seemed more like my demons in Sendak’s voice. And they had Keith. Black didn’t need me.”

“Well, you weren’t wrong,” Shiro said wryly. “Might as well been one of them for being all but a clanging poltergeist doing nobody any good.”

“...but I still never formed Voltron,” Jiro repeated softly. “I couldn’t even be Black’s battery.”

“Hey, stop that,” Shiro admonished gently. “You kinda had a parasitic space witch leeching you dry.”

“So did you,”Jiro replied morosely. “But you managed it.”

Shiro shook his head. “Ulaz got me out before she could turn them into anything more than a recording webcam. And your quintessence is strong, now.”

“...Really?”

“Yeah,” Shiro grinned. “And it’s different than mine. So I think...you could actually form Voltron now. No assists needed.”

Jiro shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, now. You’re Black’s Paladin, and now you’re back. I meant it when I said I was done messing with your bond. I wouldn’t have, if...”

Shiro squeezed Jiro’s hand gently. “I know. But, are they even my Team?”

Jiro stared at him blankly in bemusement. “Of course they are. You’re the Black Paladin.”

“Except I only flew with them for maybe two months. You knew them for two years. If Haggar hadn’t been leeching your quintessence, you could’ve formed Voltron,” Shiro pointed out. “And I almost couldn’t. I don’t know them anymore. I barely did before.”

“Quiznack, Shiro. You’ve been working on that. And good god nobody is about to hold being functionally dead against you, either,” Jiro exclaimed in exasperation.

“But...they need a Black Paladin now,” he said weakly.

“Which you are when it counts. And a damn good one,” Jiro said pointedly.

Shiro opened his mouth to argue the point but closed it again. Jiro would only stubbornly argue his point further, Shiro’s guilt wouldn’t ease, and they’ve be back to arguing circles and he was just so tired. And wherever they were, he couldn’t feel his Lion, only Jiro...which he supposed made sense ‘cause he was pretty sure he felt their Bond snap back in the hangar, and it was all his fault.

“Shiro,” Jiro interjected into his thoughts. “Let me ask you something, and answer honestly.”

“Okay...” Shiro drawled apprehensively.

“Do you even want to be a Paladin?”

“I—“

“Don’t go into shoulds or shouldn’ts or what’s better or not!” Jiro interrupted.

Shiro bowed his head until it rested on his knees, and his left arm wrapped around his abdomen on reflex. His shoulders shook as the guilt became so overpowering that it squeezed out everything else. “...yes,” he choked out. “I still want to be a Paladin. I want to fly with Black, but—“

“Say it again,” Jiro urged gently.

Shiro swallowed thickly. Balled his fist. “I want to stay a Paladin.” He exhaled a breath. “But it’s going to take some time. But I will be ready.” He rose to his feet and raised his chin, his eyes feeling clearer than they had in movements.

The sky shifted as something moved through it, displacing the stars in its wake. Shiro’s eyes widened in wonder as a Lion took form, her pelt glittering with stars as her fur glowed ultraviolet in the absence of light. The Lion purred gently and unfurled her wings pulsating with a sun’s heart as she padded toward them. Shiro felt his feet carrying him towards the Lion of their own accord. The Lion bunted under his hand in response, brushing her cheek against him. “Hi, Black,” he murmured.

The Lion draped her tail over his arm, trailing it behind her as she paced over to Jiro. “What? What are you doing. I’m not—“

The Lion whapped the clone with her tail with enough force to cause him to stumble, then gently licked the side of his head. “Okay, okay. But you better not get any gamma rays on me.”

The Lion growled at that.

“But seriously. I’m not your Paladin,” he repeated firmly.

The Lion stared at him unamused, huffed, then shoved him from behind until he was forced to walk to keep from falling.

“You...want me to go on.”

Black flicked her tail as she sat back on her haunches. “...Okay. Guess I’m going?” Jiro called uncertainly.

“I dunno what she wants you to see, Ry, but she’s being very insistent about it,” Shiro smirked. “Better go see.”

“Fat lot of help you are,” Jiro grumbled. But he walked on, back towards the point of sky where the Black Lion emerged. Shiro watched his brother’s retreating form, how he tried to keep his shoulders back and spine straight even as they hunched slightly towards his ears as Jiro walked on alone...then vanished in a flash of watery grey.

“Ry!”

The Lion purred gently, draping a wing over him as she planted a kiss to his forehead, licking reflexively as she got a mouth full of his bangs. “You’re...saying he’s fine. Okay. I trust you.”

The Lion stared into his eyes, blinked slowly, then rubbed against him again, her back arching and tail flopped over until it coiled slightly. The Lion padded a few spaces ahead of him, glanced above and over her shoulder, then chirped expectantly.

Shiro followed.

The word behind him faded in a flash of violet.

.

Shiro’s eyes protested at the sudden light when he opened them within the Black Lion while sitting in the pilot’s seat. Gently he rubbed the levers. “Thank you. I’m sorry I doubted myself...and you.”

The Lion hummed telepathically through their bond sending a wave of fondness and relief. Shiro wasn’t sure whose it was. Perhaps them both.

A wet nose pressed at him through the link.

“Okay!” Shiro laughed. “And I’ll stop hiding things from you, too. Especially you. But...it’s still going to be some time before I’m ready to go back there. If ever. I’m sorry. I...I just can’t.”

Grief and shame, but also acceptance trickled through. No mist. “Guess that means you, too.”

“We’ll fly again. I won’t ever lock your wings,” Shiro promised. “But...I look forward us doing so at our own pace, though.”

The Lion rumbled her understanding, them fell silent. “Yeah, me too,” he admitted.

Jiro stared blankly while leaning against the interior of the Black Lion’s hull when Shiro finally left the cockpit. “Ry?”

“I’m...I’m a Paladin. I actually have a Lion,” Jiro breathed. “I met him, after Black shooed me away.”

A grin spread across Shiro’s face. “Ryou, that’s fantastic. Which one was he? What’s he look like?”

Jiro shook his head, smiling softly. “I don’t know. Not one of ours. I’m not even sure he’s been made yet—he might be from yet another comet we haven’t found yet. But...I have a Lion, Shiro!”

Shiro slung his arm around Jiro’s shoulders. “Looks like you’re still a Paladin,” he said smugly.

Jiro swatted him off playfully. “Joke all you want. But I was right about you still being Black’s favorite.”

“Yeah, you were,” he admitted.

And this time Shiro knew for certain that he chose her, too.

[crmediagal]

Update!!!

To those who may be interested: I’ve resumed posting my WIP fic, Seeds of Redemption, at my personal website: www.crmediagal.com. I had deleted the story on fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own last year due to unnecessary negativity, so I’m happy to share that the story is BACK in full force (pun intended), being revised, and updates have resumed!

* * * If you would like to receive updates and access to the story, please fill out the form on the Contact page and you’ll be granted access! * * *

Story: Seeds of Redemption Chapter 13 -  https://crmediagalhome.wordpress.com/sor-chap13/

Synopsis: The First Order may have fallen, but the Proclamation has   risen in its stead. As the galaxy is threatened by the coming of a   Second Darkness, Ben Solo must painstakingly navigate both sides, the   Dark Side and the Light. Only he is no longer alone in this fight, with far more at stake to lose than he ever would have dreamed. Rated M, AU, Post-TFA.

Excerpt from Chapter 13:

“NO!” someone was howling, but his or her violent cries were overrun by the intense, blood-curdling screams reverberating all around little Rey, who had sought shelter behind crumbled rock that was all that remained of the reformed Jedi Temple.

The chaos and shouts were too much to take in and sprung Rey’s petite legs into action. She had hovered in the shadows for too long and it was time to move.

As she began her delirious race across the mud-infested grounds, her sights half blinded by the pounding rain and darkness of night overhead, someone fell to the ground in front of her, forcing her to halt in her tracks. Her heart leapt into her throat at recognising the person’s bloodless face: her roommate, Priya. The smell of burnt flesh was nauseatingly potent and Rey noted that the hole in Priya’s back was fresh, the skin still melting on account of the hot saber that had struck her down and killed her instantly.

Petrified, Rey sprinted over the deceased girl and kept running. The disintegrated huts that had once been homes, the ruined temple that was nothing now but pulverised rock, and the dead bodies that lay strewn about beneath their ruin—or out in the open—blurred with the rain. Little Rey was grateful for that; she didn’t want to come upon another recognisable face.

Lightsabers had been flurrying in the night, spinning like torches intent to overrun the Darkness; but they were disintegrating rapidly one by one. One saber was a fiery crimson and relentless in its invasion, the others blue, like Rey’s, that fought against it and, one after the next, lost.

Rey ducked and crawled to avoid being struck. Who was this faceless heathen; this blood-thirsty monster who had singlehandedly demolished everything that Master Luke had worked so hard to rebuild?

Where is Master Luke? Rey considered with worry when, moments later, something much larger and heavier clashed with her, sending Rey head first into the mud. She yelped, easily pinned beneath the weight of her collider.

The deadly sound of a lightsaber whooshing past her ear made Rey freeze from trying to free herself. There was another awful cry—male—and then whoever was on top of the little girl went still, their lifeless body shoving her farther into the earth. Soggy footsteps carried on, soon drowned out by the rain, and Rey waited several heart-pounding moments before ably convincing herself to move. If she remained trapped beneath a dead person, she risked getting stuck in all the thickening mud and debris. Forever.

It took about a minute to scramble her way to freedom, but once Rey had successfully heaved herself out from underneath whomever had been robbed of life on top of her, a scream escaped her before she could prevent a reaction. The deceased was one of Ben’s roommates, Ajax, and the poor boy hadn’t stood a chance against the saber that had so recklessly plunged straight through his heart, leaving a murderous, blood-stained hole on the left side of his chest.

Rey scurried backward, unable to find her footing in order to stand. Where was Master Luke? Why wasn’t he putting a stop to this nonsensical brutality?

Suddenly, Rey was yanked to her feet and whoever had snatched her arm was clutching it far too tightly. She winced in pain and tried to whirl around to face this person, craning her neck and squinting to search out the face of her saviour. Instead, she let out another hair-raising shriek that had the capacity to shake the ground.

It was Ben Solo, only he no longer resembled the face of her dear friend. His eyes were as dark and bleak as the sky overhead, soulless and devoid of warmth; of life. The red rims surrounding them made him look utterly maddening in the mist, along with the splatters of blood that dripped down his face. The side braid normally worn to mark that of a Padawan had been severed off at the tip, probably by the blade of the man’s own saber. That, too, was no longer as it should have been. Ben now carried a cross-guarded saber, its shape and construction unlike any Rey had ever encountered; but she knew it wasn’t the trademark of a Jedi. Its plasma blades burned a furious red, unveiling the monster and cause for all of the death and destruction that stretched as far as Rey’s eyes could see.

She tried to wrench herself free, but Ben’s grasp was unshakable. She screamed again at the top of her lungs, and it terrified her more that Ben only continued to stare down at her, as if he wasn’t seeing her much at all, rather than engaging in combat.

“What have you done, Ben?” she wailed, her voice—and heart—fracturing like already fragile shards of glass. “Why? WHY?”

Ben only stared without blinking. Then he made a decision and dragged her forward against her will, pushing through the downpour, past rocks, and over numerous lifeless bodies. Rey dug her heels into the mud to try to prevent them from going any farther, but her strength was simply no match for his.

“Stop!” she pleaded, her pleas quickly reaching the point of hysteria. “STOP! Ben, no! STOP NOW!”

He wasn’t listening. Either that or he couldn’t hear her. His gaze was straight and narrow, unyielding to her adverse efforts and unyielding in his aim. It took Rey being lugged across the hilltop to the other side and up a short, slippery slope for the girl to understand where they were headed: towards a small, unoccupied shuttle. All sorts of flying equipment and ships were stored on this part of the island, normally reserved for training purposes; but not tonight.

Rey panicked and pinched Ben’s wrist. He didn’t so much as flinch. “LET ME GO!” she shrieked wildly and began using whatever physical means she could to pry his hand from her arm. “LET GO OF ME, BEN! PLEASE! STOP!”

“Stop this, Ben,” came that of another, its register much sterner and commanding than the little girl’s.

That finally brandished Ben’s attention. He swooped around so fast that Rey was left dizzy on the spot. One of his long arms flew across her chest and, with the other, he brought his red saber dangerously close to her neck. Rey whimpered in fear but was brought up relieved at the sight of Master Luke. She would be rescued. This horrible night would soon end.

Master Luke stepped forth from the brush and Rey immediately noted his worrisome limp. His trusty droid, Artoo, was at his side and communicated to Rey not to move. Her teacher removed his wet hood and Rey was rattled by the deep lashes etched across his cheeks and neck that shouldn’t be there, as well as a severe cut above his left eyebrow. He had apparently tried to fight off Ben from harming the students but found himself well-matched by the raging sixteen-year old. His robes were muddied and torn in spots and his mechanical hand was barely still in place. It weakly grasped his lightsaber that was drawn but not activated.

“It’s over Ben,” he said, sounding fatigued and defeated; it knocked the wind out of Rey’s lungs to hear such hopelessness from someone she admired so. “You’ve done your worst. Let Rey go.”

“No!” Ben growled, his arm curling tighter around her tiny frame.

“Just what do you intend to do to her now? You’ve done all you possibly could, Ben; you’ve destroyed the temple! And you’ve spilt enough blood this night! Please…I’m begging you, let her go. Give her a chance.”

Available to read in its entirety at www.crmediagal.com

[whiskynottea]

An Interruption in the 1st Law of Thermodynamics.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43

AO3

@theministerskat , thank you so much for being such an awesome beta!

Chapter 44. Dreams

In the morning, I felt Jamie’s soft lips against my cheek. His whispered words mingled with my dreams, causing me to doubt that he was really in my room - Lallybroch’s guest room.

“We’re leaving, Sassenach,” he announced, lightly pecking my lips with a kiss that didn’t quite alleviate my want for him.

“What time is it?” I asked confused, opening my eyes to see the most beautiful sky blue in his. He wore an indigo t-shirt and jeans, and he was smiling.

“Seven-fifteen. Go back to sleep. We’ll be back before ye know it.” With that, the heat of his body vanished from my side. I heard the door close behind him, and my heavy eyelids shut the light out again. It was too early.

I nuzzled my pillow, pulled the covers up to my chin, and thought of him.

Dream a little dream of me.

I woke up almost four hours later, and stared at my phone, stunned at how late I had slept. 

That’s what holidays are for, right?

Relieved that Brian wasn’t there to witness my waking hours - the man woke up before dawn - I stretched my body languorously and got out of bed. Having the entire house to myself had its advantages. Without bothering to get dressed, I padded to the kitchen in my pyjamas, looking forward to a warm cup of coffee. 

It was a beautiful summer day. The rays of sunshine squeezed through the curtains to dance upon the wooden kitchen table, Bran barked his disagreement with the chickens’ behavior in the yard, birds were chirping from the trees next to the back door, their song a praise to the cloudless sky. 

The house was quiet and I closed my eyes. The coffee’s scent had filled the room and I inhaled deeply, listening to all the sounds that were usually swallowed by the constant buzz of the city. I was far away from Edinburgh, and yet, this place felt like home. 

Lallybroch held a distinctive warmth, like a wisp of vanilla and cinnamon enfolding me when I stepped into the house. Brian, Jenny, Jamie… They had opened their arms to me. Even Ellen, with her fiery locks flying in the wind, smiled at me through the picture on Brian’s desk. Her eyes kind, her gaze conspicuous. Take care of them.

I suddenly felt alone. There was a note with Jamie’s writing on the table and I picked it up to see a smiley face next to a hastily-written ‘Good morning, babe. Breakfast in the oven.’ I chuckled and opened the oven door to find a bowl of porridge, with blueberries and toasted nuts.

My little chef. Jamie Fraser is not little. My personal chef, I amended.

With a smile, I took the bowl with one hand, my coffee with the other, and headed to the library. On my way there I realized I had left my phone in the kitchen, but I had read Jamie’s good morning text already, and it would probably be a while before he could send another message.

We had been at Lallybroch just for a day, when Jamie’s coach had called him, asking if he and his father could return to Edinburgh because he needed to talk to them – both of them. He apologized for the inconvenience but insisted it was important. 

Jamie and I had spent the previous night on the couch, him lying on my outstretched legs, making guesses as to the meeting’s purpose. At last, we agreed that Jamie’s coach would want to talk to Brian about Jamie’s future, and make sure he would continue training with the team during the next year.

Which was ideal, concerning our gap year plans.

Our applications to the colleges at Oxford University would be due in October. Our interviews would follow in December, and by the beginning of the new year we would know if we were accepted.

We would - I knew it. And then we would celebrate our success with a trip to Paris, just as we had agreed. Maybe Rome, too, depending on our budget.

Our budget was currently at zero, but we had come up with a way to fix that tiny detail. We had both started looking for jobs in Edinburgh, and we wanted to talk to Brian about our plans as soon as possible, because he had to let Jamie stay with Murtagh one more year. Maybe it would be easier after the meeting, if his coach talked to Brian about the importance of Jamie’s training.

But just in case, we had a backup plan too. Once Brian set his mind to something, it was difficult to convince him to change it - just like his son. So if he would insist on Jamie staying at Lallybroch, I would go with him and find a job in Inverness. We wouldn’t spend our gap year apart when the last year we had been just a phone call and 10 minutes away.

Thinking of my phone, I remembered the message he had sent me that morning and a wide grin spread across my face. It had been a gif of a sleepy baby, and a text saying how much he would like to be in bed with me. 

Just a few more hours and he will be back.  

Perched in my armchair – the olive armchair that I had declared mine – I ate my breakfast, staring at the bookshelves and wondering what to read. My gaze fell on Circe, the book Jenny had suggested, and I soon found myself lost in its pages, forgetting to finish my coffee.

I was so engrossed with my book, that the next time I checked the big clock on the wall behind me I sprang to my feet and almost ran to the kitchen. 

Two hours had passed, and the meeting would certainly be finished by now. I was sure that I would find tons of messages from Jamie wondering where I was – and yet, there was nothing.

Sassenach: Jamie? Are you still in the meeting?

Five minutes passed without a reply. Five minutes, even though he was online.

Sassenach: Jamie?

He didn’t read my messages.

Calm down, he probably hasn’t checked his phone. I heard a little, calm voice in my head.

But he’s online. An evil second one, added.

Sassenach: Is everything okay?

Nothing came in response to my texts. I paced back and forth in the kitchen, then back to the library to retrieve my bowl.

I checked my phone again. Nothing. I washed the bowl to avoid sending yet another message. Once my hands were dry again, I grabbed my phone from the table, typing furiously.

Sassenach: Where are you?

Finally, three dots appeared on my screen – only to disappear again. I felt my stomach clench. Jamie never hesitated when messaging with me. But he had never avoided me before either.

I typed again, but deleted my message. I stood in the middle of the kitchen – his kitchen – on that same beautiful summer day, and yet I shivered. I stared at my phone’s screen, waiting, willing myself not to text him again. Finally, his picture appeared on my screen, next to a new message.

Scot: Coming home, Sassenach.

That was all? No emojis, not even an exclamation point?

Sassenach: Are you alright?

Scot: Yes, fine. Ttyl. 

Talk to you later, my ass.

That wasn’t fine. It was far from fine. Miles away from fine. Jamie never texted like this.

What the hell happened in Edinburgh?

I spent the next two hours watching the clock, wishing the hands to move faster. Wishing Brian to speed up, to bring Jamie back home to me.

I needed to see him, to listen to him say he was ‘fine’ and look me in the eye. He wasn’t fine.

I had tried to resume reading, but I couldn’t focus. I could do nothing but pace back and forth, then sink in the armchair in despair only to find that my limbs needed to move as much as my lungs needed to breathe.

The house suddenly seemed too big, too empty. Every little sound drew my attention, upsetting me. A subtle sound of plates settling on the drying rack in the kitchen, scaring me half to death, a door creaking, the roof clicking… And above every other sound, the one of my nerves rattling. The same question repeating itself in my head, loud and clear.

What is wrong? What had happened?

We had everything planned, we had thought of a solution for every possible problem. This meeting was supposed to help us.

And yet, Jamie wasn’t speaking to me. We had promised we would share everything, and now he wasn’t opening up to me.

I had my head buried in my hands when I heard Brian’s car and then the front door opening. I walked to the foyer to find Brian alone, his brow furrowed, mirroring mine. 

“Jamie?” I asked, hesitantly. 

“He’s outside, lass. Give him a moment, aye?” His eyes were soft, his lips pressed in a tight line. As if he was sorry.

Sorry for what?

I nodded, but my lips moved involuntarily, asking “Why?”, even though I knew there would be no answer to my question. 

I waited five minutes. Five excruciating minutes, and then I walked back to the front door, put my shoes on, took a deep breath and stepped out. The sun blinded me for a second, and then I saw him, tall and impressive, red hair fiercer than the sun, standing on end in all possible directions.

With a shaking breath, I walked to him. He stood with his back towards the house, facing the hills, just as he had told me he did as a child, when he felt sad. The scenery calmed him down; wild and tamed, it was like him.

All my anger about him not replying to my messages and then being cold evaporated like fine mist under the sun’s heat. I wanted to hug him. To wrap my hands around his waist and bring him to me, whispering that it would be alright. But as I took a final step towards him, I felt afraid, unsure of how to approach him. I placed my hand between his shoulder blades tenderly, wishing not to startle him.

Jamie took a deep breath and let it out in a single word. “Sassenach.”

I had never heard that tone in his voice before. A relief, feeling my hand on him, mixed with concern and something that was terribly close to fear. 

“Jamie?” My voice was small, but my steps were steady as I walked to face him. “What did your coach say?”

Jamie pursed his lips together, just as Brian had done minutes ago. “Come with me?” he asked, unsure.

“Of course.” I smiled and turned to take his hand. My eyes lingered on the scraped knuckles, the blood still fresh, painting his fingers. “What happened?” I asked, swallowing with difficulty. 

“I punched a tree,” he answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You punched a tree.” I repeated. “And I guess if I go check, the tree will be worse than you, right?”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Ye’re really funny, Claire, have I told ye so?” he mocked me, but his lips curled up.

“I think you have,” I said, and took his other hand in mine. “Let’s go inside to clean that up, you bloody Scot.”

His laughter came stronger this time, and I revelled in the sound. As long as I could make him laugh, all would be well. 

Jamie sat quiet while I cleaned and bandaged his wounds. When I finished he pulled me closer, breathed in, and said, “My very own doctor.”

“Always,” I whispered, placing a kiss on the side of his neck. I pulled away then, scowling at him. “Why the hell did you do that?”

Jamie shrugged, his eyes fixed on the floor. “I didna ken what else to do.”

“Will you finally tell me what has happened? I’ve been waiting for hours, Jamie, and you kept me in the dark.”

“Claire,” he said, and his hand came to rest on my cheek. “Ye ken I love ye, aye?”

Things are worse than I thought.

“Tell me,” I pressed, feeling my heart speeding up. 

The kitchen was suddenly too small, the walls too thick to let me breathe. Jamie must had felt it too, because he took my hand and walked us outside again. 

“Come, Sassenach,” he said, when I pulled us in a stop. “I want us to be alone.”

We walked up the hill behind the house and sat on the grass. The view was beautiful, the sun caressing the hills, hues of green and yellow coloring the earth, as if an invisible hand had painted them fresh that same morning. Walking had soothed my nerves, but when I caught my breath again I felt the anxiety build in my chest, rising up in my throat, threatening to choke me.

“Tell me,” I demanded again, before tears could come to my eyes. This tension was painful, the truth he kept from me mocking me from the shadows, hidden, powerful, intimidating. I needed to know.

“There was another coach in the meeting today,” he started, and I took a breath to steady myself, but Jamie didn’t continue.

“And?” I asked, impatient.

Jamie turned away from me, hiding his face in his hands, rubbing his temples. “I was offered a scholarship,” he mumbled in his hands, so low that I wasn’t sure I had heard correctly.

“What?” I froze.

I should be hugging him now.

I wanted to move. I wanted to do something more than just stare at him, lost. Something that wouldn’t aid him in building a wall between us. “A scholarship?” I whispered, striving for more words. “That’s wonderful, Jamie!”

God my heart hurts.

The scholarship wasn’t for Oxford. Because if it was, he would have called me the moment he had left his coach’s office. 

In that moment, seeing my world tumbling down, I smiled the strangest smile of my life. Happy, sad, afraid.

Happy for him. Sad for me. Afraid for us.

He turned in my arms and cupped my face with both hands. “You know I love you, right?”

“I do, Jamie,” I answered and kissed the lips that I ached for all day, tasting him. Counting.

One more kiss, now that he’s still mine.

I needed that kiss, and all the kisses that would follow, to feel his presence next to me, inside my heart. To believe that the end of the world hadn’t come yet. “I do,” I repeated. “Tell me about the scholarship.”

“The coach was from the University of Michigan,” he said in a low voice, as if the volume would change the blow. 

Michigan. The United States. 

Oh God.

I listened to him quietly, not daring to trust my voice, unsure if I wanted to bring my feelings to the surface. This was a great opportunity for him. Maybe the best thing that could have ever happened. Jamie explained to me that the University of Michigan had one of the best bachelor programs for business administration in the US, and one of the best swimming and diving teams. He wore his mask tight, careful to show no emotions. Maybe because he couldn’t sort them out either.

“They have an Olympic sized pool for student-athletes, coaches and sports-specific dieticians and physios. Michael Phelps trained at the University of Michigan.”

Michael Phelps. Jamie’s first crush before he met me.

“It’s going to be amazing, Jamie. I’m so happy for you,” I said and hugged him again. I didn’t want to let go. I needed to keep him there, with me, in that moment while we were still together. But all I could see in front of me were broken dreams, their shards painful against my skin, carving a smile on my face that was neither fake or genuine. 

I didn’t know how to feel. At that moment, I understood why Jamie hadn’t replied to my messages, why he’d hit that tree. It was happiness and anguish mingled together in the most inexplicable way.

“I didn’t say I’m going,” he said pulling away, his eyes searching mine. Dropping his mask.

In that moment, I saw his dreams and aspirations tearing him apart in front of my eyes. Half a heart here, half there. Torn, no matter what.

I wouldn’t do that to him.

“You didn’t accept?” I asked, my voice matter of fact.

“No.” He shook his head repeatedly, as if to prove his innocence, his devotion.

“Jamie, you should. This is like a dream coming true.”

My smile was genuine this time. Not our dream, but his. There was not a me anymore, just him. I had to see him safe, whole. And if I had to sacrifice a part of me to do that, I would gladly cut it out myself.

“I ken,” he said, his voice light at the thought of accepting the offer. “But what about us, Sassenach? Michigan is… far,” he finished lamely.

Too far. But still. 

I took a deep breath, forced the widest smile on my face and took his hand between both mine.

“Are you kidding me? You have the opportunity to go to the US on a scholarship and you’re thinking about it?”

Jamie didn’t say anything, just looked at me. 

“You said you love me,” I said.

“I do!” he exclaimed, his hand squeezing mine. His eyes honest, shining with unshed tears under the sunshine.

“Well, I love you too, you bloody Scot. You will go to Michigan, and we’ll make it work. If…” I trailed off. “If you still want that. Us.”

Jamie wrapped an arm around my waist, claiming my lips with his. “Of course I want that.” His whisper was hot on my lips. “You’re the most important thing in my life, Claire!”

I smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. “We will FaceTime, we will visit, and you’ll come home during breaks, right?” Jamie nodded, and it was my turn to take his lips in mine. It was a long, unhurried kiss; trying to convince us both that we could make it work. 

“He said I have to hurry, if I want to start in January. I have to take the SATs and complete my application by the 1st of October.”

“Then that is what you’ll do.” I shrugged, and smoothed the frown between his eyebrows with my index finger.

“Are you sure?” he asked again, and I silenced him with another kiss.

“I’m sure. You have to go teach Michael Phelps how things are done.”

His laughter. That boisterous sound, filling every empty nook of my soul.

“I dinna ken what I would do without ye, Sassenach,” Jamie whispered, still smiling. The sigh that followed felt as if the weight of the world had been taken away from his shoulders.

And set upon mine.

As we walked back to the house, hands tightly clasped together, I could feel my heart beat with difficulty, my brain hurt.

No Paris. No Rome. No Oxford.

No sleeping in Jamie’s arms every night.

No waking up to his whisper breathing ‘good morning’ in my ear every day.

Dreams crushed, like the wildflowers underneath our shoes.

Chapter 45

[timeagainreviews]

A Loch back at a Zygon Era

Hello friends! I've had quite the week! Monday was my birthday, so my boyfriend and I took a road trip around Scotland. We saw lots of things from the Beatrix Potter Garden in Birnam, to the Cave of Caerbannog from Monty Python, to the Devil's Pulpit in Dumgoyne. But our main destination was Loch Ness! We settled into our hotel by watching "Terror of the Zygons," which seemed appropriate considering our surroundings. Naturally, I decided to review it here. Before I do, however, I would like to thank all of you who have been liking and reblogging my stuff lately. It means a lot to know I'm connecting with people. Thank you for your support!

On the surface, "Terror of the Zygons," appears to be just like any other serial of its era. However, if you do a bit of digging, you'll discover that there are some interesting facts about its production. Did you know that there was a sort of "real-world," tie in with the story? No, I don't mean Nessie. Think closer to Mickey Mouse. In 1975, Tom Baker played the Doctor for the August "Disney Time," bank holiday special. After introducing several clips from Disney films, he is called away by the Brigadier to the events of Terror of the Zygons. I can't help but wish this information was known to me before writing my Doctor Who and Disney article! You can watch the clips on youtube. They feature Tom being suitably bizarre.

Along with having an unusual prequel, the story also had a deleted scene from the beginning which was later colourised by YouTuber "babelcolour," for the DVD release. This edited version is the one I rewatched for today's review. The scene begins with the TARDIS materialising invisibly. The Doctor walks out from nothingness, wearing a matching tartan tam and scarf, replacing his usual fedora and scarf. Not far behind are Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan wearing said hat and scarf respectively. There's something rather humorous about the Doctor using his companions as human hat racks. Considering Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart's name, it seems appropriate that the Doctor is sporting the Royal Stewart tartan. I can't help but wonder if the costume department did this on purpose. After rematerialising the TARDIS to "fix," it back to it's usual broken police box state, the three continue their journey to answer the Brigadier's Disney Time summons. It seems an oil rig off the coast of Scotland has crashed into the sea just shortly after having lost radio contact.

After hitching a ride from the eccentric Duke of Forgill, the three meet up with a kilted Brigadier in a small Scottish inn where the landlord, Angus, plays bagpipes ad nauseam. They're really driving the Scottish shit home, which makes sense when you consider they filmed the episode in Sussex. Also gathered at the inn are Sergeant Benton, various UNIT soldiers, and a man from the oil company named Huckle. The Duke has some curt words with Huckle, informing him that any crewmen found on his land will be shot. After leaving in a huff, we see one of these crewmen wash ashore, seemingly alive. Over the past month, three different rigs have all met their demise. The gang splits up Scooby-Doo style. Dr Harry goes off to check on the injured crewmen, while Sarah stays behind to get the scoop from the locals. And the Doctor goes off to be the Doctor.

Back at the inn, Sarah mentions the odd nature of the Duke to Angus who promptly defends the duke as a good man. However, even he has to admit that the Duke has been acting strangely since the oil companies came. After letting go most of his servants, the only real bit of interaction he's had lately was gifting the inn with a goofy looking stag head. Nowadays the Duke keeps mostly to himself at Forgill Castle. The surrounding area of Tulloch Moor seems steeped in mystery. People go missing as the mist comes in, Angus tells Sarah as they're being spied upon from a distance. Eavesdropping in on the conversation over a veiny, bio-mechanical screen, an unknown figure watches from the shadows.

While driving alone, Harry spots the washed-up man from the rig and jumps out to help him. Believing him to be yet another trespasser, a beardy fellow by the name of Caber shoots the survivor and wings Harry across his brow, rendering him unconscious. Back in the bio-mechanical ship, alien villains twist and caress a fleshy panel in the weirdest form of nipple play ever seen on Doctor Who, causing the destruction of another oil rig near Ben Nevis. While trying to decipher the signal that has been jamming the oil rigs' radios, the Doctor learns of Harry's brush with death.

After checking on Harry, the Doctor goes out to inspect the oil rig wreckage where he discovers strange holes in the foundation. After taking a cast of the holes with plaster of Paris, the cast reveals what looks like the shape of an impossibly large sharp tooth. During a call with the Doctor, Sarah is attacked by the previously seen alien hand, which belongs to none other than a fearsome Zygon! I've always loved their design, especially in this scene. Something about the shape of its mouth is particularly disturbing. I was slightly disappointed about the redesign from the new series. I'm a big fan of the Zygon cat nose. I almost named one of my cats Zygon due to his dark orange fur and similar nose shape, but my partner at the time vetoed that idea. I named him Rory instead.

After discovering both Harry and Sarah missing, the Doctor discovers Sarah in a decompression room for divers, the door slightly ajar. I was annoyed by the fact that the Doctor fell for such an obvious trap, but it also led to an intriguing sequence. Harry's nurse, Sister Lamont, closes the heavy door behind the Doctor and seals it shut for decompression. Running out of air, the Doctor hypnotises Sarah and enters into a trance to conserve air. I'm a big fan of any time the Doctor acts like a bit of a mystic. I'm a meditator myself, so it's cool to see the Doctor tap into the innate powers of thought control. One of the side effects of certain meditations is a slowing of breathing. It was nice that the scene doesn't overly explain this. It allows Tom the chance to really play up his weird alien charm as his eyes roll back and he howls toward the ceiling. Moments like these are why I love Tom Baker so much. He's not afraid of being utterly bizarre.

It's around this time we begin to learn a little about the Zygons. Having taken Harry to their ship, their leader, Broton, tells him a bit about their history. After they crash-landed centuries ago they awaited rescue while subsiding on the lactic fluid of their giant Nessie-like cyborg pet known as the Skarasen. That's correct, you did not misread that- they feed off of cyborg breast milk. Only with a show like Doctor Who can you get a sentence like that. You've kind of got to love that. After discovering their planet was destroyed by a cosmic event, they redirected their efforts toward getting their suckers on Earth. The Skarasen is to be the form of Earth's destructor, as no human weapon could hope to penetrate its augmented skin. In order to move their plan into motion, the Zygons gas the village, knocking the Brigadier and the UNIT soldiers out cold, thus allowing them to move in secret. Luckily for the Doctor and Sarah, Sergeant Benton was on the lookout for them where he saves them from death by asphyxiation.

After coming to, Huckle gives the Doctor a bio-emitter that attracts the Skarasen, which he found among the wreckage of the rig. Having bugged the inn, the Zygons reveal to Harry that they use the psychic imprint of humans in order to mimic their form. He sees the likes of Sister Lamont, Caber, and the Duke, stored in hibernation chambers, maintaining a link to their Zygon counterparts. They use Harry's form to slip back to the inn where they may fetch the emitter. But he is intercepted by Sarah who is concerned by his odd behaviour. She chases him into a barn where they scuffle in a manner that had me weirdly thinking of “Super Vixens.” Russ Meyer's Doctor Who is not something I ever expected to imagine. After a bit of trouble, Zygon Harry falls from a hayloft onto his own pitchfork, killing him instantly and revealing himself to Sarah as a Zygon. However, the crafty Zygons completely evaporate his remains to hide any evidence. I wondered why they didn't just do the same thing to the emitter in the first place, but I guess the answer is "it doesn't do that." Ok, sure, whatever. Now free from his psychic link with the Zygon, Harry is able to sneak about on their ship unabated.

After realising the Zygons were working from the shadows, the Doctor assumes they must have bugged the inn somewhere, so the lads go about searching the place from top to bottom. I love Angus' indignant response to the idea that his inn might have actual bugs. Angus Lennie's performance as Angus is a true highlight in the story. Afraid of the humans discovering that the goofy stag head must be the bug, the Zygons decide to send the Skarasen to rid themselves of these tiresome humans. After figuring out the secret of the emitter, the Doctor draws the Skarasen away from the village only to find it has fused itself to his hand. But Harry's meddling with the ship's systems allows the Doctor the ability to toss the emitter in the path of the Skarasen, destroying it in the process. 

The Doctor and friends meet up and go to Forgill Castle to ask permission to drop depth charges into Loch Ness, the source of the signal. Their hope is to draw the Zygons out. Meanwhile, the Sister Lamont Zygon goes to fetch the stag head and fights with Angus in the process, killing him. It's a sad ending for one of the more likeable characters, but it's also kind of wonderful in its simplicity. I never quite understood why the Zygons needed to turn people into electric balls of something I might pull out of my hairbrush, as they did in "The Zygon Invasion." If anything, I much prefer the updates they received in Mark Morris' "The Bodysnatchers." Using venom from their suckers matches their physiology far better than superpowers. Morris really fleshed out the Zygons in a way I wish the show would. Seeing them in their initial incarnation using brute force seems far more practical to me. I think sometimes, more is less.

After discovering a way into the Zygon ship, they save Harry, but the Zygons flee with the Doctor still onboard. The Doctor gets a wonderful opportunity to match wits with Broton in a speech that includes my all-time favourite Fourth Doctor line- "You can't rule the world in hiding. You've got to come out on to the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle." Evidently, that line was ad-libbed by Tom Baker, only further solidifying my love for the man. He makes a good point though, the Zygons have mostly been working from the shadows, in secret. The Zygons fly away, masking their trail from UNIT, still hiding. I must admit, it's not abundantly clear what their plan actually is. Sure they intend to use the Skarasen against earth's weapons, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of explanation as to how the oil rigs play into everything. There's mention of turning the Earth into something more habitable for Zygons, but I'm honestly not sure. I asked my boyfriend what his impression was, and he couldn't quite figure it out either.

There's a lot of what happens at this point in the story that seems like happenstance. The UNIT crew and Sarah end up going to London, which also happens to be where the Zygons have set their next target. They plan to swim the Skarasen up the Thames to wreak havoc on Westminster Abbey. In my review for "Castrovalva," I mentioned how the Fourth Doctor's super-heroics were oftentimes overstated, and what comes next is nothing shy of extraordinary. After rigging some ventricle type wiring from within his cell, the Doctor uses his own body to complete the circuit, allowing UNIT to see past the Zygon's scramblers and pinpoint their location. I loved that it was Benton that did this, by the way. This was twice in one story where Benton got to play hero. They pinpoint the ship's location to be a disused quarry, which made me ugly cackle. Classic Doctor Who used quarries so often to make up an alien planet, that the idea of them saying "This actually is a quarry," seemed almost cheeky. Broton, thinking the Doctor has died, uses his Duke disguise once more to go plant another emitter in Westminster. After releasing the human captives aboard the Zygon ship, the Doctor sounds an alarm and sets off the self destruct killing the remaining Zygons onboard. Yay, murder!

The UNIT soldiers dispatch Broton after a fumbling fight scene between him, Harry, and Sarah. All the while, the Skarasen is working its way up the Thames. It's a brilliant little bit of puppetry mixed with stop motion animation that I found completely charming. Even if it does look a bit naff, it's effective enough to be a suitable set piece to end such an episode. It's very much within the tone of the story to have the Loch Ness monster stomping through London. The Doctor manages to trace the emitter and toss it into the open jaws of the Skarasen. It nom nom noms the emitter into nothingness, causing it to lose all interest in the Abbey. The Doctor casually supposes that it will most likely return to its home of Loch Ness. I loved that the show kept the Loch Ness mystery intact. After all is said and done, "Nessie," may still be out there. It wouldn't have felt right killing off a beloved cryptid that brings so much wonder to many. Such feelings of wonder are what Doctor Who thrives upon. Sadly, while we got to keep Nessie, we say goodbye to some regulars. This marks the last regular appearance of both the Brigadier and Harry. With the Doctor no longer relegated to the Earth, UNIT begins to play a much smaller role in the story. And Harry, now back in London, hasn't a lot of need to continue travelling with the Doctor. It's an almost unceremonious end of an era for Doctor Who.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. While I feel like it somewhat falls apart in the final act, the mystery and intrigue in the first few episodes really draw you in. Even my boyfriend, who is a casual fan, was drawn in by the atmosphere. You can see the beginnings of what was to become the more horror-themed stories such as "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," or "The Horror of Fang Rock." The Zygons are, for me at least, a classic baddie. They may not be as popular or iconic as the Daleks or Cybermen, but I think they work as their own kind of threat. Bringing them back has also proven to be successful. The Big Finish audio "The Zygon Who Fell to Earth," is well worth a listen. There's a lot of care put into this story that I think makes it stand out from others. Geoffrey Burgon's beautifully haunting music was a nice change of pace from Dudley Simpson's usual work. The track "A Landing in Scotland," is particularly memorable. The Zygon ship interior being organic was a unique touch that we rarely see in Doctor Who, save for maybe "The Claws of Axos," and the model work was also pretty damn charming. Having recently been to both Loch Ness and Ben Nevis, it really added something to the experience as well. There is a surprisingly low amount of episodes that take place in Scotland, which is unfortunate. If there's anything this trip has taught me, is that Scotland has a lot to offer. There are so many peaks and valleys covered with lush greenery and deep dark waters. It's easy to imagine that somewhere, something is lurking down below. Hats off to Robert Banks Stewart and Robert Holmes for seeing this potential, and turning out something magical.

[hiddlesgirl]

SH 313: Beati Bellicosi

Before we get into this review I just want to say that I am always honest when writing these, when I don’t like something I will always say it and explain why. I am stating this because there are several moments, scenes and content that I did not enjoy in this episode; and I will explain each one.

While I was a little disappointed and underwhelmed with this episode, there were several scenes and story points that I really liked. I really loved Izzy’s scene with Magnus, and her scenes with Alec; her storyline with the Clave looks to be like an interesting one. I enjoyed the Luke and Maryse scenes; and although it was sad I really liked the Simon and Maia scene, it was a very sweet, heartfelt and mature scene.

The first scene is one with Jordan and Heidi, I did not particularly care for any of the Heidi scenes in the episode (I will explain why as we get to each scene) but I can kinda understand where they are trying to go with the story. In this scene I find it a bit weird that a baby vampire can not only throw a dagger with pinpoint precision but that she escapes from what 4, 5 wolves? It seems pretty advanced for someone who has only been a vampire for a month tops, and the majority of that time she spent locked up and sedated.

I mentioned in my last review that I didn’t particularly like Simon biting Izzy (as to why is explained there) but I am glad that they aren’t just forgetting it or sweeping it under the carpet, they are showing that it has had an effect on her. I love Izzy so much because she will do anything for those she cares about including endangering herself; she also doesn’t want Simon to feel guilty because it was her choice to let him bite her which is why she makes the ‘drained’ joke. She knows that he will be beating himself up for triggering her addiction, especially because he knows how difficult addiction is as his mother suffers from it.

I love Simon because he immediately offers to leave if he is a temptation for her cravings; he knows that it is easier to recover if all triggers are removed and that for Izzy he is a potential trigger. He is so terrified of hurting people, and feels guilty enough for biting her, that he does not want to be the reason why she regresses and is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.

I feel bitter and a bit cheated that we did not get to see a reunion between Luke and Clary, he is her father and if it weren’t for Luke they never would have suspected that she was alive. I really wanted that father daughter reunion, especially because they haven’t really had any moments like that in a while that was just about their bond and not other situations or problems. Also, I was so unhappy that we did not see her reunion with Magnus; they released promo pictures of their reunion so we were expecting it. Yes, I know that they are taken while filming and in the time since they were taken the episodes have been edited, but I just wish that the promo pictures were looked over before being released and that any from deleted scenes are removed and not released. All we saw of their reunion was them standing with each other in the wide shot when we hear Simon’s voice, very disappointing.

But I did really like Clary’s reunions with Simon and Izzy, to see the relief and joy on all three of their faces at being together again was so wonderful. For Simon doubly so, because not only does he have his best friend back but he has the reassurance of knowing that he didn’t kill her in the first place. My eyes misted up a bit at Simon’s line ‘That’s what family’s for Fray’; they all love and care about each other so much.

I know that some people thought that Magnus hitting the keyboard trying to get the computer to work was a sign that he was not competent with technology, but if you look at the screen he has already drawn the ley lines onto a map so to me it seems like the map crashed which is why he was getting frustrated with it.

I love that Izzy decides to go to Magnus for help, although it is mostly because she thinks he will have the root she needs it also shows that she trusts him. She knew that he would offer support and help, which he does. He knows how much courage it took her to not only allow herself to be bitten but to come to him afterwards. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the root and she shoots down his offer to ask another warlock, I’m not sure why she declines this; is it just because she doesn’t want to cause him any trouble or is it because she doesn’t want anyone else knowing about her addiction (which would be understandable because it is a very private issue)?

I do absolutely hate how Magnus’ face falls though because it is written all over his face how utterly useless he feels at not being able to help her, it is just another little slight reminding him how powerless he is now. Although Izzy did not mean it that way at all, it is just another reminder to Magnus that he can’t be as helpful or useful to those around him without his magic and that cuts him to the bone. With the Iris situation and all these small reminders it is no wonder he goes looking for a way to get his magic back; magic is part of his identity and to be without it is like losing a limb, he doesn’t really know how to function anymore.

We learn that in the stead of Luke leaving Russell has once again taken up the mantle of pack Alpha, what I don’t really understand is why Luke didn’t put someone in charge before he left. He knew how badly Russell wants to be Alpha and how terribly he behaves as one, so why would he not appoint someone or at least facilitate something so that Russell couldn’t just take over.

Maia has always shown great leadership skill and always has the best interests of the pack at heart; she knows that Russell is being completely unreasonable and that his power grab is not healthy for the pack. I am very excited to see her step into the Alpha mantle.

Simon wants to help Jordan apprehend Heidi because he feels responsible for her as her sire, even though his part in her turning was completely unintentional. He knows how much harm she has caused to him, his family and innocent mundanes; she cannot be allowed to stay in society as she is because not only is she a danger to mundanes but she is a danger to the secrecy of the entire Shadow World.

Jace wants Clary to take a moment to relax and take a break from her desperate search to learn all she can about the twinning rune; not only is he scared of her burning out but he wants to be able to have a quiet moment with her now. He thought he would never see her again and now that she is in front of him he wants to make the most of every moment, and to have time away from the crisis that is Jonathan to just be them.

Clary understands Jace but she feels that she can’t rest until she severs her link with Jonathan, he feels like a constant shadow hanging over her. That she is never going to be able to enjoy her life while she is connected to him because he is always going to be there in the background tainting all these little moments.

We find out that Magnus has told Alec about Izzy’s slight relapse and cravings because he is offering her candy which we have never seen him touch before. I really like this moment because we know that Magnus was honest with Alec and knew that this was too important to keep from him; after everything that happened the first time he cannot keep any information about her addiction from him again (even though the first time he really did not know what was happening until that last moment). It also shows the growth in their relationship; plus, Magnus knows that Izzy is going to need Alec’s support but that she probably isn’t going to ask for it herself.

Also, Izzy doesn’t get mad at Magnus for telling Alec; she knows how important honesty is in their relationship and that she couldn’t expect Magnus to keep something that important from Alec. She knows that Alec means well and just wants to help her, she just feel vulnerable because she doesn’t want to be seen as weak. I adore Alec’s line ‘I wish I was a strong as you on your weakest day’, to him she has always been the strongest person he knows and seeing her recover from her addiction only solidified that. He loves and admires her so much and he cannot bear to let her think that of herself.

You can see Izzy’s fear when she tells him that her addiction is never going to go away and that it will be a shadow hanging over her for the rest of her life; she hates that the temptation may always be there and hates the feeling of not being in control. Alec tells her that he has been researching the groups that she goes to; this shows just how much he wants to understand and help her, he wants to have as much information as possible to know how best he can help her through it. He wants her to know that he is going to fight it with her, she doesn’t have to do it alone and that she has people who care about her who will be there to support her every step of the way. Best big brother in the world. I’m not crying, I just have something in my eye.

Heidi encantos this woman she knew from school, again this seems way too advanced for her. We saw in Season 2A how difficult it is to master an encanto and it took Simon several tries to be able to accomplish it, so how the hell can Heidi successfully encanto a mundane off the bat? Surely Raphael wasn’t teaching her that.

I really enjoy seeing Maryse and Luke reconnecting because they are several things in common; they have both been exiled from the Shadowhunter community, lost their purpose in life and in the process of finding a new one, have relearned their opinions of each other, have both lost the person they thought they would spend the rest of their lives with (albeit in very different ways) and their sole focus in life is their children.

Maia goes to Luke for help with Russell because she doesn’t know what else to do, she doesn’t feel confident enough to stand up to him herself but something has to be done before he destroys the pack. She is surprised and confused when Luke says that she is the Alpha the pack needs, she has never seen herself taking on that role and doesn’t know how to be a leader. She feels like her own life is a mess, so how is she supposed to help others.

I liked this scene because Luke was showing his confidence in Maia and her abilities, even if she might not see it in herself; but I do feel like it ended quite dismissively when he said ‘you’ll figure it out’ and walked off. It just felt strange because we know how deep their bond runs that he would just completely leave her to her own devices, I know that he wants her to gain confidence and make her own path, but with her inexperience and their relationship I personally think that he should have said something along the lines of ‘I’ll be here if you need advice’ before walking away, giving her that reassurance that he is still there for her and that he can be there if she needs a little guidance.

I was so confused by this next scene, when the woman tells Jordan that she overheard Heidi’s conversation and her location why the hell did they not check for encanto immediately. I know that they are probably underestimating her because she is a young vampire, but they are the Praetor. Surely they have dealt with enough vampires that checking for encanto should be one of the first things they do with a mundane victim.

Plus, why would he not let Simon go with him? Why on Earth did he not let a vampire go with him to visit a clan of vampires to discuss another freaking vampire? Especially because Simon is a Daylighter who is respected or a little bit feared by the vampires, Simon is also very level headed so could prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

Of course the Praetor going to the Du Mort goes absolutely terribly, Jordan goes in completely hot headed and even pushes around the Head of the Clan. He completely lets his emotions and anger control him which he should not be doing as a member of the Praetor. It is just completely stupid and ridiculous that Jordan goes in and accuses the Head of the Clan on the word of mundane, especially knowing how tenuous the peace between vampires and werewolves is at the best of times.

I know that the Simon and Maia break up wasn’t well received by some and I am sad to see their relationship end too because I absolutely loved their bond, but I think that it was handled very well. In 311 you could sense the distance between them and the lack of intimacy not only physically but in the scene itself, something had definitely shifted in their relationship and that happens sometimes for no reason at all.

Maia clearly still has feelings for Simon but she has made the decision that the pack comes first especially because she wants to have a bigger role, she knows that it will need her full attention and commitment. That would force her relationship to take a back seat and her partner would come second to the pack; she doesn’t want that for Simon, she cares about him so much and sees so much good in him that he doesn’t deserve to come second. She wants him to have someone who can love him entirely and will be able to put him first, and she knows that she can’t do that right now or for the foreseeable future. She knows that the kindest thing for both of them is to let go now before they start hurting each other which would be inevitable if their relationship continued as Maia goes forward in becoming Alpha.

Simon understands her decision, he knows how important her pack is to her and doesn’t want to stand in her way; he can see the potential in her to be an amazing Alpha and doesn’t want to be selfish in holding her back from that. He knows that they have both felt this shift in their relationship too, so much has happened and changed over the course of their relationship that they have changed a little as people which has changed their relationship. They both feel that distance and that the spark has faded. It is a very mature conversation and decision on both of their parts to mutually agree to let go now and move back into friendship before they can hurt each other.

I really don’t understand how Heidi is able to completely manipulate and hoodwink everyone she comes across, and why is the Head of the Clan allowing a baby vampire to dictate his moves and push him into violent retaliation. It seems a bit like lazy writing to have this month old vampire have all these skills and cunning to move all these players into doing her bidding, I know that there is probably a bigger storyline they are heading up to (maybe the return of Raphael) but giving her all this influence is just ridiculous as a viewer.

Maruke is real! Luke and Maryse share a steamy kiss, Maryse showing that Alec gets his boldness from his mother as she moves in for a second kiss similarly to Alec in 112. They part quickly with Maryse seemingly embarrassed before she rushes off with a parting smile, it seemed very abrupt but it is probably the first time she has kissed anyone who is not Robert in a very long time.

I know that some think that they are moving too fast, and I slightly agree, but with a show like this the story moves so quickly that the emotional side has to move quickly along with it or it would be devoid of meaningful, emotional connections. The entire timeline of the show from Season 1 to now is about 4-5 months which is absolutely ridiculous, really you just have to forget about the timeline and enjoy.

I am very confused at the complete turnaround Clary has in attitude towards the twinning rune, only a few hours ago she was threatening to cut it out of her flesh and now she just wants to forget it’s their and enjoy the moment. I understand the journey and wanting to get her to this point but I think that her lines earlier were much too dramatic to have such a quick turnabout, if her lines in earlier scenes were a bit less severe then it would have made a little more sense.

I like the sweet Clace moment of them telling each other ‘I love you’ because they haven’t has many opportunities to have moments like this in a very long time, they keep getting separated. I also really like Jace’s line about loving in until he dies and in the next life, I think it’s from the books; but it really helps give you a sense of how deeps his feelings for her go.

Okay, the sex scene, oh boy. Don’t misunderstand me, I am happy they got one because let’s be honest it’s over due and I am happy for their development as a couple in taking that next step. But, I didn’t like how it was shot; it felt like too much and became uncomfortable to watch. First of all they jumped straight from gentle kissing to being naked which I felt was too quick for it being their first time, it would have been more intimate if they had shown them kissing while Clary was removing Jace’s shirt and then moving to being naked. You missed out on the newness to this sort of intimacy by jumping straight to being naked.

I felt that the kisses were shot too close to their faces, it would have looked much better if they had been a bit further away so that their entire heads were in the shot instead of just getting an entire frame of their interlocked lips.

And the lighting, holy fuck did I have an issue with the lighting which I know a hell of a lot of people did. The room was lit with just freaking candles but you could see everything. It was lit up so freaking well and that got me a little (okay a lot) mad because the majority of Malec scenes, especially the more intimate ones, you can barely see their fucking faces never mind their lips (I am sorry for all the swearing but I just get so riled up).

It is showing a complete double standard, that all of Clace’s kisses and even there sex scene is lit up like a freaking Christmas tree when the only Malec kisses that I can think of that were lit well was their first kiss, the one after their date in 206 and the one after their first ‘I love yous’ in 210. Three fucking kisses out of the many (I am too mad to have a think and count them all) they have had; their first time was lit ok but nowhere near Clace’s and Malec had the fucking lights on, even the training scene kisses were in darkness.

It may not seem like a lot to some people but it is such a kick in the teeth to all the LGBTQ+ viewers who look to Malec for healthy representation, don’t get me wrong I love Malec and their relationship. They have amazing representation, Harry and Matt are amazing, and I would not change a thing about the content of any of the Malec scenes because I love them the way they are. The issue is that the same sex kisses and sex scenes are shrouded in shadows and you can barely see their faces sometimes, yet the heterosexual couples are lit up so much you can see every strand of stubble and eyelash. It is not showing them equally because it feels that the same sex couple’s intimate moments are being hidden when the hetero couple gets put in the spotlight (literally).

I honestly do not intend to offend anyone and I do genuinely like Clace, it just makes me so frustrated that their intimate scenes get treated so differently especially when Malec is such a great healthy couple and representation.

We learn that the words the Clave guard muttered before he died means ‘Heavenly Fire’ which is a secret Clave program that very few people know about. Maryse tells Alec and Izzy to stay away from this and to drop their investigation, she is terrified of them being hurt or killed because they asked too many questions, especially because she can do absolutely nothing to help them now. She has no position in the society anymore, never mind within the Clave; if they get into trouble she can do nothing but watch, which would kill her.

Despite their mother’s warnings and worry there is no way that Izzy and Alec are going to let this drop, they have too strong a moral compass to let it be. They will not stand by while Downworlders are being tortured by the Clave, especially when they both have such strong connections to Downworlders. They cannot stand by while they know injustices are being carried out by the people that are supposed to lead them.

Clace is cuddling in bed which is cute (I need Malec bed cuddles okay, especially because we saw that Alec loves cuddles and was refused them in the last episode) but to me it looked like Clary was laid in a very unnatural position. I know that Kat was getting ready to sit up but surely there was a better way to lie that would have looked more natural. Jonathan goes Harry Potter and carves out ‘I miss you’ into his own arm so that Clary sees it, has he never heard of texting? No joke though, it was creepy as hell.

Jordan appears at the Jade Wolf to say goodbye to Maia, I am a little confused as to why Maia looks happy to see him and sad to learn that he is leaving. With everything that has happened between them it seems really strange, I thought that she might be a little less hostile with him but would still keep a distance; it just seems like a complete attitude change. I know she learned the truth about his behaviour but that doesn’t change what he did.

Also, he’s here telling Maia that he lost control and Heidi played him; why the hell has he not gone back to the Du Mort to apologise to the Clan leader? He knows he was in the wrong and that he acted inappropriately, I don’t understand why he hasn’t gone to apologise and explain Heidi’s actions that led to what happened.

Once again Heidi is manipulating Griff into doing what she wants, goading him and his clan into attacking the Jade Wolf while she stays out of the way. Again, it seems completely weird that she is able to persuade a clan leader into doing something he knows is reckless and will lead to all out war with the wolves, he knows that it isn’t a smart decision and he lets himself be led into it anyway. This whole storyline has just been a jumble of confusion and ridiculousness because a baby vamp should not have been able to do all this.

I make no qualms about saying I don’t like Jordan okay, Chai is a great actor, but I really dislike Jordan. Even after Maia let him say his piece in 3A he still persisted in trying to talk to her after she told him to leave her alone, he wouldn’t respect her wished even then. And now he is giving her this speech which seems a little self pitying to me saying that he is of no use to anyone and that there’s no reason to stay in New York. Plus, I don’t like that after he attacked her those years ago he didn’t seek help for his anger issues which he is clearly still dealing with; that even after the way he treated her and knowing he has control issues he still didn’t seek help.

I love seeing Maia being an absolutely badass taking out the vampire who was going to attack her, but I thought they would have been a little more prepared to put up more of a fight with the big speech Russell gave earlier in the episode. I also felt a little cheated in that we didn’t get to see Maia challenge Russell and earn the position of Alpha, instead now she is going to become Alpha in the wake of a massacre that killed the previous Alpha. I wanted to see her be confident enough to fight for it and win it from Russell because the pack had faith in her to lead them.

I understand that Maia wanted to hide somewhere secure because Jordan was hurt but I didn’t like that she locked them in the same room Luke locked her in during 209,210? We saw how drastically she reacted then and it just felt uncharacteristic for her to put herself in that situation again, even though I know it was because she is trying to protect someone else and in that instance she puts her own comfort second. But surely they could have found another storage room or gone out the back door and hid in a storage container instead? Maybe I’m just nitpicking.

Okay, that’s it for this episode, I know I did a lot of criticizing but as I said I have to be honest and this is just what I felt. I still enjoyed several aspects of the episode, but I hope that the rest of the episodes are a bit tidier and more polished.

As always, if you want to talk about anything I have (or haven’t) written about in my reviews my ask box is open and I welcome discussion.

In 314, Magnus goes to desperate measures to regain some magic, Maia is freaking out in the storage room and Clace go on a date. I heard that we’re also getting protective Alec, who’s ready?!

[artificialqueens]

My only god is the sea (Shalaska) - Catrina

A/N: Guess who’s back back back back again? Me, and my Shalaska shit! Because one wasn’t enough… I wrote this really fast on a punch of inspiration and is highly based on one of my favorite songs: Sun by Two Door Cinema Club, which I really recommend. Weird fact: the title is taken from another song of Two Door Cinema Club called Sleep Alone. IF YOU LIKED IT please please please tell me! I really love hearing your opinions. Thanks for reading!

Summary: During a trip, Alaska realizes she’s in love with her roommate and best friend, Sharon.

“It’s just a couple of days, right?” Sharon asks again, her eyes glued to the magazine in her lap as she sits with bent legs over the bed.

Alaska stares at her for a second before leaning to take the last pair of shoes she needs to pack from the floor, carrying them to the other side of the room to her suitcase. “Yeah” is the only response she gives.

“And are you excited because Mr. Handsome wants you to take this case?” her friend’s lips curl into a smile, looking up at her.

Every time Sharon jokes about her boss, she tries her best to laugh, even when she’s annoyed out of her mind. Since Alaska mentioned how pretty her boss’ hair was Sharon took that as a beginning of a crush, naming him Mr. Handsome to mock her as much as she could.

Alaska wishes Sharon knew how wrong she is; she’s not interested in her boss. She thinks she isn’t even interested in men since she has never loved one, but her mixed feelings are too weird to explain. Alaska knows is better to shut the fuck up and just ignore the jokes.

“Stop!” she chuckles. “I’m going for work only. This is a very good chance for me to grow in the company”

Sharon’s playful eyes make her know she doesn’t believe it. “And get laid! Mr. Handsome is going with you, isn’t he?”

“I’m going for work” she repeats slowly. Her friends rolls her eyes and nods.

“Yeah, I said that every time I went to the supermarket to ‘buy more paint’ when actually I was just to see Phi Phi, and now look at us!”

Alaska sighs deeply, focusing on closing the zipper of her suitcase so she doesn’t have to listen to Sharon speaking of her girlfriend. The fact that she’s happily taken with a cut throat brunette makes her squirm uncomfortably because she doesn’t like Phi Phi and she knows Phi Phi isn’t a great fan of hers neither. They’re both constantly fighting for Sharon’s attention, which makes Alaska wonder why is the idea of sharing it so annoying.

She shrugs, moving the suitcase from the bed down to the floor so there’s room for her body. “I’ll sleep now, it’s late and tomorrow I’ll leave early”

“Sure, I’ll leave you alone” Sharon takes her magazine, gracefully standing up from Alaska’s bed. “How early?”

“At seven. Why?”

“To set my alarm. Do you think I’m gonna let you go without saying bye?” she tilts her head, grinning. Her sweet tone is music for Alaska’s ears, who only can smile and accept her proposal. “Goodnight, Lask”

Sharon leaves to go to her own room, and her perfume stays in the air all night.

-

the roads I knew

became a city

and I wonder

will you wait for me?

Alaska knows Sharon is stubborn and that she never losses a fight, so when she asked if she could go to the airport with her the next morning, she said yes immediately. In the middle of a footling chat, they waited until it was time for Alaska to approach the plane.

“Cerrone and I are gonna miss you” Sharon assures, hugging her tightly. “And don’t worry, I already took note of the days I have to water your plants. I got you covered”

She winks and Alaska can’t help but giggling. Even when she would never admit, the fact that she can spend some time away from Sharon turns out being great; she needs to think of her feelings on the other girl, and there seems to be any better way to do it than being alone.

“Thanks. I’ll call you once I’m in the hotel” she promises.

They check Alaska’s list of things she should be carrying and her papers —including her plane ticket and a map of the city she’s going to— before the blonde walks away.

There’s a feeling telling her to look back before stepping on the plane. What she sees when she does is the best she would’ve wanted to see; Sharon is smiling, eagerly waving at her and mouthing ’good luck’.

Alaska’s heart jumps in joy as she smiles and waves back.

-

With a sigh, Alaska carries her suitcase inside the hotel room she’s designed to. It’s small yet pretty, and she wonders what would Sharon think of it. She makes a mental note to send her a picture of the place later as she places her stuff next to the bed and lays to rest a little.

Instead of sleeping, which she needs more than anything right now, she pulls her phone out her pocket and texts her mother, her cousin Trixie and Sharon. The three of them reply almost immediately, but Alaska only opens Sharon’s texts.

[From: Noodles]

I’m happy you got there well Lask <3

How is Los Angeles treating you?

[From: Alaska]

It’s pretty, I kinda love this place. I should stay here forever lol

[From: Noodles]

Nooooo!! If you do I’d miss you so fucking much! :(

though I’m far away

I know I’d stay, I know I’d stay right there with you  

Alaska tries to ignore the butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she types in answer.

[From: Alaska]

Well, I can change my mind if you ask nicely!

[From: Noodles]

You better stay here because otherwise I’m afraid I’ll have to sneak into your suitcase and follow you everywhere !

Someone knocked the door and I thought it was the pizza but it’s actually Phi Phi :( I’m hungry

Sorry Lask, I gotta go. We talk later? <3

Have fun in LA !!

(but not so much fun without me!)

(jk have a lot ot fun!)

The only thing Alaska can do is delete the text she was already typing and sigh with disappointment. Her mind can only focus on imagining what Sharon and Phi Phi might be doing, her heart aching with jesouly at every possible answer.

it might be too late

what would you see?

what would you say?

what would you do?

-

The days in Los Angeles are short and boring, in the office and out of it. Alaska thought working there would be the best of her career, but there isn’t much besides a beach and streets that although are crowded, Alaska feels they’re just full of nameless faces.

She misses Sharon. Her voice, her presence, her eyes, her food, her laugh; she misses everything she’s used to have a home. And when Alaska realizes that when she says home she isn’t refering at her apartment but at Sharon, she’s scared. She feels confused being alone and angst eats her chest every time she stops to analyze it.

This is not normal, she thinks. Something is happening to me.

Earlier, Alaska had taken advantage of her free day all she wanted, drinking vodka in her room and watching Golden Girls until she realized she was a little bit drunk and lamenting about her life on a Friday night.

Trying to get any negative idea out of her mind, she takes the vodka bottle and storms out of the hotel. She rushes to the beach, enjoying the beautiful sunset Los Angeles gives in the way.

She walks with no destination until she reaches a point in the beach where there isn’t a lot of people. Sitting on the sand, she hugs her legs and rests her chin on her knee.

we fell like rain

got lost into the sea

if I don’t know

the wind will carry me

The weather these days have been changing from sunny to sometimes cloudy, and now Alaska is happy the sky is grey and the wind softly blows her hair and the mist helps to dismiss the few people in the distance. It calms her down, but even then Sharon stays in her thoughts. Alaska knows it’s where she belongs.

I’ve run

I’ve waited for the rain to come

Alaska finishes the vodka bottle as she stares at the sea for what seems an eternity. It’s blue, deep and beautiful, and under the spell of alcohol it seems to move magically.

Suddenly, a figure appears by the seashore, making Alaska frown. Her eyes are attracted at the mysterious body moving towards her spot, putting her hands on the sand to push herself up in any moment by pure instinct.

The very known face of a woman takes place on the figure, making Alaska lose her breathing.

when through that mist

I see the shape of you

“Sharon?” she asks, squinting her eyes in an attempt to look better.

I know, I know

that I’m in love with you

The figure with Sharon’s image smiles a second before it disappears into the air, blending with the mist.

[givemeakisspookie-blog]

Miss Atomic Bomb. (Aaron Tveit Fanfiction)

Chapter Two.

That little paper with the phone number messed up with her head. Marie Anne spent the whole dinner and drive back home trying to decide if she should text him. She knew he wanted her to do it, but the timing to do it was another thing. Text him in that moment wasn’t an option. The next day wasn’t either. Looking desperate, or not interested. She needed to find a middle term.

Besides that, she had no idea what she was going to text him. To be honest, the flirting thing wasn’t her thing, so just thinking about doing it was freaking her out. She usually never went and never had to start a conversation with any man, so she was completely lost in the middle of the mist.

After they had dinner, came back home and the three siblings were straight to bed. She changed her clothes, and get into bed, holding the little paper in her hand. After a few seconds, she grabbed her phone. Marie Anne wrote like ten different versions of the same text and nothing seems to be good enough. She wanted to sound cool but at the same time like she wasn’t trying too hard. There was always a word or expression that wasn’t the right one. The text was too long or too short. Some other times she sound like she was too flirty and she didn’t wanted to sound desperate.

After a long time writing and deleting texts, she stayed with one: “Hi, I’m the girl from the Yankees game. I guess you gave me your number so I could text you.”. She looked at the screen for some minutes and closed her brown eyes in the second she pressed send. Marie Anne couldn’t understand why her heart was going faster when she did it. When the text was sent the girl left her phone in her nightstand because she was sure he wasn’t going to answer soon. When the whole room was dark she finally turned to a side to try to get some sleep. Then the phone lighted up and buzzed making her jump.

“Hi Yankees girl, good to hear of you finally. I thought you weren’t going to text.”

The girl read the text several times and even then couldn’t believe it. She spent almost a minute to know what to answer that. She felt like a teenager girl waiting for a text from her crush and not like a twenty seven years old woman just texting a cute guy that she met some hours ago.

“Sorry about that, I was having dinner with your new friends.”

“It’s fine, your brothers are cool kids. How are you doing?”

“Fine. You?”

The second she pressed “send” she wanted to have a baseball bat beside her nightstand and hit her own head. “Fine. You? For real? You can’t be that sharply, can you?” she thought out loud, while locking her phone and leaving it under her pillow. It buzzed again. She panicked. She felt completely stupid when she slowly grabbed the phone and closed her eyes while unlocking it.

“Great. What are you doing? Still having dinner?”

That calmed her down. She didn’t screw things up. Not yet, at least. If something was sure was that she wasn’t going to forgive herself if she did such a stupid thing while texting.

“No, I’m already in bed to get some sleep. I have work tomorrow morning so I need my beauty rest.”

“You just pulled him over. Very good, girl. Doesn’t surprise me you’re so damn alone.” she murmured and was every time more upset with herself. It really seemed that was everything was going to end in that very moment.

“Then I should let you sleep…”

That was exactly what she was waiting for. “Great. Perfect. Superlative. Wonderful.” she said loudly. She was going to give up. It was already everything messed up.

“It’s okay, wasn’t working anyway.”

“A headache bothering you?”

Marie Anne smiled unconsciously as she covered herself a bit more with the blanket. It was a sweet thing to ask and she recovered a bit of the defeat she didn’t have yet but the one she was already living. Things were getting better.

“No. Not now, but thanks for asking anyway.”

“You’re welcome. Too much work?”

“No, just too many hours in front of the computer. Could be worse, but I like it, so it’s cool.”

“Can I ask what do you do for a living?”

Suddenly something popped into her mind. She didn’t know his name yet. She spent the whole game and dinner wondering his name and now she had his number and was talking with him for some miracle, but still had no idea of who he was.

“You realize we don’t know each others names?”

“You never asked.”

“You could have asked too.”

“Your brothers were there.”

“With that theory I’ll say your friends were there too.”

“Your brothers are around now?”

The girl needed to put the cover away a little bit and could felt her cheeks turning a little bit warm. She would like to ask why he was saying that and for what and maybe if he wanted to say something not allowed to little kids, but that was going too far. She was already thinking that far, though and wasn’t good. She wondered if he was too.

“No.”

“What’s your name?”

After almost five seconds that felt like five hours, she finally got what she wanted.

“Marie Anne. You?”

“Nice to meet you, Marie Anne. I’m Aaron.”

“Finally! Hi Aaron. What are you doing?”

“I’m about to sleep. You know, it’s passed midnight. Duh, what are you expecting him to answer to that?!” she said softly, almost moking herself even if now she was excited like if she was racing the most important race of the championship.

“Nothing crazy, watching some TV and about to read a book.”

“People still read before bed?”

“I still do sometimes. Old man style.”

Marie Anne laughed alone like if she just heard a really good joke, all that hiding her head under the covers so nobody would heard her in the other rooms even if her door was closed. Every little thing she was discovering about him was making her get more and more interesed and remember his blue eyes and smile was an extra point.

If her mom could see her all excited, smiling at her phone and waiting for his text she would totally sit her in the chair and give her a 10-hour long speech about how foolish and childish she was acting. She will repeat how she shouldn’t trust a man without knowing him and how could she do such a thing as send him a text. Besides, remembering that she’s 27 years old, and that she’d have to look forward to look for a real relationship for having a family, and not sending text and dating like a teenager. Or also say that she was acting as childish as her teen brothers.

Her mom was having one of the toughest moments in any women’s life: a divorce, and that was messing a little bit with her judgement. She was almost every second angry, she turned annoying, yelled all the time and she was being a bit unsettled with that situation. After what happened with Marie Anne’s dad, she had to handle the “boyfriend” subject more carefully. Or even the “boy” subject. Her mother was always telling her how she shouldn’t have boy friends, to not settle down with any man because he was going to let her down, and all those comments that wasn’t making any good to her or even her confidence with men. That was one of the reasons she didn’t say a word about the Yankees guy in the first place. Since the moment her dad left home, her house became a boy-killer, so clearly all her relationships -or whatever similar to it-, ended in failure, massive failure, or sometimes didn’t even end, because she couldn’t start anything.

Even with all that Marie Anne didn’t wanted to pay attention to her mother’s speeches. Her parents weren’t the first couple getting divorced in the world and wouldn’t be the last one. She knew it could happen to her some day, but she could also have a happy and normal relationship like some friends of her were having.

Anyways, she wasn’t really looking for someone. She had her friends, her brothers, her job… She was having a good time, hanging out with some guys sometimes, but anything more. Actually, when her mother started with: “You know, one day you’ll fall in love… Or you’ll like a guy so much, doesn’t matter… That day, you’ll see…”, she just turned off her ears, cause internally she was thinking: “Falling in love? Not happening. Liking some guy so much? Might be. Doubt it.”, which meant for her that all that came after that was completely useless for her.

So now, if her mother would see what she was doing she would probably yell at her, even if it was probably just some silly thing like texting. Although… At some point, she knew it wasn’t just texting.

“I can’t judge your old man style when I’m already in bed at this time.”

“We can pretend we don’t have anything else to do and that’s why we are living this old people kind of life.”

“You should be doing something else besides that?”

“No really. You?”

“Probably working.”

It sounded a bit repetitive, but it was all true. She spent since she woke up until she went to bed, and sometimes even later than that, working with her laptop. She took it with her everywhere. Parker always used to say that Forrest Gump would probably say they were bread and butter.

“You are all day working?”

“Not all day. I don’t work tomorrow afternoon. What about you?”

“Me neither.”

Now she was just a little bit curious about his job but didn’t ask anyways. It wasn’t the thing she really wanted to ask him in that moment. Marie Anne thought about it for a second and a evil little smirk appeared in her face as she wrote another text and waited for his answer.

“Good. Wanna do something tomorrow, Aaron?” ←  Previous Chapter.                                                                  Next Chapter.  →

[overdrivels]

Imagine: Reaper discovers his family

Can I just run an idea through? I’m a little stuck in a rut with my requests, so I’m just trying to churn stuff out to get through it. (Tomorrow’s the last day of our batizado and after that I’m on holiday, so YESSSS.) This is incredibly self-indulgent and I just--ugh, it’d be cute and tragic all at once.

So, this idea has been beaten to death, but a Reaper who finds out he has a daughter with the reader:

Reaper doesn’t even know what happened to you, shamefully, he didn’t bother finding out until now when he accidentally stumbled upon the file. Living in Los Angeles. Single. Dependent: one daughter. Eleven years old.

The file could not have been deleted fast enough. His fingers shook, and the cooling dread filtered through him at the implication, urging him to do something about this. But years of fighting and dealing with his baser emotions allowed him to shift his focus back toward logic.  

First thing’s first. He was no computer genius, but even he knew that deleting the data would not be so simple. The moment this memory card was uploaded onto the system, it must’ve already been replicated into the backup databases. Nothing short of deleting the snapshots and destroying the disks they were on would suffice. He could always ask Sombra, but there’s no doubt she’d look at the data, piece everything together, and find out about you and what—who—you bore.

Reaper clenched his fists against the holographic keyboard and hung his head.

“Gabriel!” He could hear your voice echo in his head clear as day. “Come on, let’s go.” Your hard determined eyes that softened only for him. “Together.” The routine squeeze of your hand around his whenever he needed the assurance—he never told you, but you always knew somehow.

“Sombra.”

The woman’s delighting laugh echoed around him. “Already on it, Gabe.”

“The cameras, too,” he growled, slightly annoyed that she already knows, but at the same time, relieved at her quick work. He always liked people who took initiative. Like you when you first asked for his time. He didn’t know whether you were mocking him or being incredibly stupid—dating your superior was a violation of some code of conduct and to that end, you even made a transfer in order to keep the relationship alive.

Reaper couldn’t admit it to you when he was Gabriel Reyes—he was too proud for that and pretended that it was more of a pain than anything, but your actions touched him and made him feel wanted—that you would go through the trouble of accommodating him, staying up late to see him, going through great lengths to keep the relationship a secret, everything you’ve sacrificed that he slowly lost sight of. He couldn’t even begin to apologize enough for that and now for leaving you alone with a daughter that could possibly be his.

And then Reaper watches you from a distance for a few days. He is nervous as fuck. But he sees that you’re happy. Weary, but happy. You’ve aged quite a bit since the last time, but it’s still you and that’s when he realizes that he still cares about you. He still gets that squeeze in his chest that makes him a little breathless when he sees you smiling softly, and then it’s almost a full blown heart attack when he sees you’re smiling at your daughter. A precious eleven year old with curly, dark hair in a french braid across her hairline that vaguely reminds him of his mother. She’s a spritely little one with a bit of an attitude, but she helps you around the house and listens to you, and that’s just cute.

This man couldn’t be any fucking prouder than when he saw his daughter throw a punch at a bully. He almost went in to defend the little tyke, but when he sees her show off her prowess, he stays back and watches, ridiculously impressed. You trained the kid well. 

It is only a few days, but he’s already attached. It’s not hard to remember how much he cared about you, not with the way that you’re so domestic in all the ways that you couldn’t be when you were a part of Overwatch. He very much liked capable people, too. 

But then, part of his mission is to kill the Overwatch agents, and he could only chalk his weird stalking up to surveillance. The higher ups give him the next batch of agents to kill and your name is there. He has a team with him, too, because it’s an Overwatch agent--Talon doesn’t take chances. 

He doesn’t want to, but can’t make his attachments known. He can’t plead with them, he can’t do anything--he tried to call it off, saying it was unnecessary to kill an ex-agent  with a child--who in their right mind would rejoin Overwatch when they had another life on the line? You’re no threat.

Everyone is dispatched anyway. You’re just another name on the list to them. They attack your house in the dead of the night, and Reaper is very conflicted--he could’ve warned you and made you flee or tried harder to make them stop, but he couldn’t have his cover blown--his plans are bigger than this. But fuck, his plans didn’t include you. It never included you--and that realization forced him to make up his mind. 

It’s too bad you’re already in action, having felt something was wrong that night. You hid your daughter in a closet, and you’re already waiting for these operatives. While you didn’t have any lethal weapons, you had ample experience with disarming people. It was a strange specialty of yours.

He thinks that he could just stay back and pretend that he’s not there. (Well, he took care of an operative or two to lighten your load before they bursted into your room.) You seemed to be holding out pretty well. It was a wonderful sight to behold--he wasn’t leaving you out to dry, and he would jump in if anything happened, but you were doing well and he remembered that he really did enjoy watching you fight and just be so strong.

But then your daughter tumbles out of the closet when some wayward Talon agent slams into it. She’s frightened, but silent, scrambling to get back into the closet where you had told her to stay. But the moment she made her appearance, the whole world stops for everyone else.

A small cry escapes the young girl’s mouth as she attempted to return to her designated safe spot. But that sound forced the world back into motion—a Talon agent, in his panic, took aim at her.

You smashed a knee into the one you’re currently engaged with, scrambling to her. Reaper surged into the room, mist rising and swarming, anger and fear mingling. He could see the agent’s finger like it’s in slow motion, slowly pulling the trigger.

You threw yourself over your daughter, who clung to you immediately. The shot fired, once. Twice.

“Ughn!”

“Mama!?”

It never hit. You whipped you head around just in time to see a wall of black mist congeal and solidify into a person, a person with gaping holes in his chest that was rapidly closing.

“Re-Reaper, s-sir! What--?”

The poor agent’s voice was strangled as the mist shot out to consume him and toss him out the room. The other agent’s head popped up from where you had left him, stretching his neck, only to get treated in the same way as his colleague. The door was slammed shut—not that it would’ve done much against any normal person, but the lock on it certainly helped.

You held your breath and your shaking daughter, eyes never leaving the figure before you. You were distinctly aware of the way your little girl was simultaneously trying to see the situation and hide herself from it, but you held her fast to your chest.

The man turned slowly, revealing his bone mask and combat gear to you. He knew he was a gruesome sight to behold, and he shouldn’t, but he’s already this far and he just had to make sure that you’re okay.

Something in your chest seized, and you held your breath, a tingle running up and down your neck when he turned. This person seemed familiar, held himself in a way that called to your memories. Someone you knew. Someone…

“...Gabriel?” 

You didn’t even know where that came from, the name just slipped out of your lips. Both the man and your daughter stiffened, and for the second time tonight, time stopped. 

Did you know? Did really know? Reaper didn’t know what to say, there’s really nothing he could say to you. But a quick sweep over you at least relieved some of his fears. She’s safe. You’re safe. That’s all that mattered.

But apparently something inside him thought otherwise and forced him to hold his hands up. Now that he’s here, he had to resist the urge to cross them—this position made him feel ridiculously vulnerable, especially under your skeptical gaze, but he should probably get his point across.

“Leave. It’s not safe here anymore,” he rasped.

Reaper left right after that, but not before taking one final look back. He sees dis daughter up close and it hits him hard just how much she looks like him and how you look at him like you’re angry and relieved and tired all at once. He definitely feels guilty about this, but he needed to get rid of the agents at your door, and maybe after that’s done and he reports that you’re ‘dead’, he could maybe sit down and explain everything to you. 

[ibangtanthings]

Sleep - pt 5

He was being silly and you smiled for him, enjoying his antics.

The scenery was nice and no one else was hiking this trail today. You snapped pictures per his request and grinned as he posed along every other weirdly shaped tree or bush.

Soon the thin waterfall was clearly audible and the narrow stream of water was within sight. You guys walked to the viewing platform and looked up at the tall phenomenon.

The mist gently touched your face. It felt good.

“Take a picture!” Hoseok told you, showing off his profile and opening his mouth to make it seem like he was drinking the waterfall.

You giggled as you saw how good the picture came out and he ran over to see.

“Okay. Now let me take a picture of you.” He said, grabbing the phone out of your hand.

You smirked and shook your head. “Let’s keep going.”

The trail grounds around the waterfall were wet and mossy. You didn’t like stepping in the mushy grass but Hoseok was running around everywhere, taking cool pictures and showing them to you immediately after each one.

“Y/N!” He called suddenly.

When you turned around to see what he wanted to show you, a flash made you blink.

“That’s it! I got it. Come here look.” He said.

“No. Delete it.” You said, using your own phone camera to continue taking pictures of the trail.

“No. I need a photo for you ID in my contact too. I’m sending it to Jimin.” He reasoned.

You shrugged but didn’t go check out the picture he took. Instead you thought about the selfie he sent so that you can put it as his ID picture in your contacts.

In it, he had a tight lipped smile that showed off his dimples. It was cute and heart warming. What you really wanted was a picture of him laughing.

After walking the long distance back down the trail and finally getting some food, the car ride was relatively short considering you fell asleep as soon as he got on the freeway.

You sheepishly got out of the car and he guided you to your room. The familiar pink cotton scent filled your nose as your body hit the bed. It was strong and overbearing but you were too tired to do anything about it.

You would have to tell Jimin that you preferred cleaner scents. He was probably working his ass off at the bar while you and Hoseok fell asleep after a long hike.

It wasn’t hard to fall asleep in your new room, it was just different. You were used to different, but hoped the room would grow on you.

Surprisingly the dream catcher began to work its magic and Hoseok nor Jimin needed to come during the night to calm you down.

Only sometimes would you have trouble staying asleep but no nightmares or dreams stained your memory. And only sometimes did you pretend to be asleep, when Hoseok peeked into your room in the middle of the night to make sure you were okay.

Therapy…well that was a different story.

“I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Y/N. There’s feelings that you have about living outside again that you need to express.” She said.

“But I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I feel fine.” You argued.

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. Anything bothering you? Annoying you? Anything unexpected you’ve come to face since leaving?”

“Hmm…not really no. I was having some nightmares since I left but they’re gone now. I got a dream catcher. It takes away all my dreams, the good ones and bad ones.” You said, hoping it was enough to peak her interest.

The sooner you could leave the sooner you could go back to Hoseok waiting outside.

“I see, and are you sleeping well or do you keep waking up at night?” She asked.

“Only rarely. I do get tired easily though.”

“That’s normal. You had such a sedentary lifestyle here so it’s normal for your body to get a bit tired now that your going out more. Mr. Hoseok seems to be taking care of you just fine.”

“He is, and I even have another friend. Jimin. We’re all roommates.” You smiled.

“That makes you happy. Good Y/N. You’re beginning to surround yourself with people who make you feel safe. That’s the first step to making your own decisions.”

“I am happy living there.” You realized, and it felt like you were making some sort of progress.

You never knew what that meant, making progress…but it started to make a bit more sense.

“Y/N. It’s okay to feel a bit numb sometimes. What you don’t want to do is stop feelings things intentionally. Let this occur naturally and recognize that when you don’t like something, it’s better to think calmly about the situation step by step, rather than let your emotions get the best of you.”

You remembered when you saw the letters from your parents on Hoseok’s nightstand.

“I understand.” You answered.

Hoseok immediately grabbed your hands and asked you how it went.

“Better than I thought it would.” You mumbled and he smiled in return.

“Guess what.” He said casually, not looking away from the road.

“What?”

“Jimin’s looking for an apartment. He said he can probably move out by the end of the month.” Hoseok said.

“Move out? Why?”

Jimin never mentioned anything.

“He wants to be closer to his job. That and now that you’re here, he can’t really bring any girls home.” Hoseok laughed.

You exhaled through your nose, with a slight smile.

It was weird how you just told Doctor Yoo how comforting it was living with both of them and now change occurred once again without warning.

You didn’t think too much of it though. He was Hoseok’s friend more than you so like always, for you, friends came and went easily.

Only Hoseok was the permanent figure in your life, which was funny because like Jimin, he was so open to everyone. He got along with everyone, befriended many people of all ages and had a good social life.

You on the other hand, well that was never the case. The few friends you had over the years lost contact and making new friends seemed unnecessary. You just needed Hoseok.

“Then it will be just us two.” You said looking outside the car window and watching the sun go down.

“Do you prefer that? The neighbors will think we’re indecent.” He teased.

You laughed, saw him smile genuinely and hoped this wasn’t a dream.

___________

“I still haven’t decided yet, but if you want me to leave you and Hoseok alone then it’s fine.” He teased.

“No need. How many times have I said it? It’s not like-”

“Oh! Why aren’t you finishing your sentence?” He pointed at you accusingly.

You smacked hand down playfully.

He giggled at your flustered reaction and got you a beer.

Hoseok sounded so sure that Jimin was going to leave.

“What is it? What are you thinking about?” He asked after seeing you get so quiet.

“I’ll have to get a job.” You said.

“Maybe I haven’t thought about it enough. Getting a job is probably the last thing on your to do list right now.”

“Hoseok is still paying for my stay and treatment at the hospital.” You admitted.

“I won’t leave then. I know how hard it is to start over. If you don’t want to work that’s fine. If you do want to work though, I could get you a job here if you want. Something like cleaning? Washing dishes? You won’t have to talk to anyone.” He offered.

“I gotta talk to him about it first but I want to work only when you’re working too.”

“Deal…but tell me something. Did something change with Hobi hyung?” He raised his eyebrows in a cute but annoying way.

“If something did change, you would be the first to know. We’re just friends.” You repeated Hoseok’s words.

“I hope so.” He said right before Hoseok walked through the door.

“You’re here!” You ran over to hug him, surprised at your own excitement.

“Did you guys miss me?” He asked, patting your back.

“No. Y/N’s just glad we can all go eat now.” Jimin teased.

He closed up the bar and you walked together to a nearby restaurant.

For the first time since getting out of the ward, you got drunk. Not flat out wasted but drunk to the point of falling asleep.

You felt the drowsiness creep up on you and they took you home just in time. Once you smelled the horrible sweet candle, your eyes shut and you mumbled a goodnight to both of them.

Without warning, Hoseok woke you up the next day bright and early to inform you that he planned a morning hike.

A dull headache greeted you but a hike seemed like the perfect cure for your hangover. You both hiked more often now since you told him it was your favorite thing to do.

It was just nice seeing him get so excited about everything on the trails and it was the perfect time to take pictures.

This time you finally put on a shy smile as he took a photo of you two by a garden. A small pond took center and turtles sat on mossy rocks.

How you envied those turtles who could hide in their shells any where and any time.

This trail was different. It was cleaner and prettier than the rest. Most people probably walked this one, and for good reason because after a few minutes you reached the circular plane of grass on top of a small cliff.

The ocean was visible from there. It was beautiful and you two were the only ones enjoying the view. From his backpack he pulled out a blanket. All along it was a surprise picnic.

Fruit, mini kimbap and he even got your favorite rice crackers from the convenience store. You lied down on the blanket and looked up at the sky, smiling as you took a breath of the clean air.

“You’re not going to eat? You need to take your medication before noon.” He said, pushing the food closer to your hand.

“This doesn’t feel real. It’s like a really good dream.” You told him.

He smiled. “If you want you can become a hippie and live this way everyday.”

“Can I?” You asked the sky.

He ate and watched the waves below while you heard them crashing into shore. After a while you sat up and ate even though you weren’t that hungry. The headache had subsided and your mind felt at peace.

It had been so long since you felt your mind relax. Your thoughts focused on the small things right in front of you, like the dandelion in front of your foot, and the way Hoseok turned his face up towards the sun.

Heck, even the weather was perfect.

For a moment you both stayed silent, just taking in the minutes of peace, sitting down on the blanket like children again.

You leaned closer and let your head rest on his shoulder. “Are you happy Hoseok?”

“Mm” he nodded. “Are you?”

“Right now yes. I feel a bit more free, if that makes sense.”

“You’re not in as much pain anymore.” He said.

“It’s all thanks to you. I’m glad I have you.” You sighed a sigh of relief.

He scooted away to face you and brushed your hair behind your ear. “I’m glad I have you too Y/N. One day you’re going to want to get rid of me though I know it.” He said sarcastically.

“Never.” You giggled.

“How did you convince Jimin to stay by the way?”

“Well you were so sure he was going to leave. He was just thinking about moving. Then I realized I would have to go work to help pay his half of the rent. That’s when he said he’d stay to make things easier for me.” You explained.

“I could manage if he leaves. Anyways, I’m kinda glad you convinced him to stay. It’s nice being together.” He said.

You nodded. “Speaking of Jimin, he said I could get a job washing dishes or cleaning at the bar.”

“A job? Don’t you think it’s a bit early to start thinking about that? I told you, don’t worry about money. I get more than enough to take care of both of us.”

“But what about my treatment?” You argued.

“It’s my responsibility. You just worry about how much weight you’re going to gain from eating all these chips.” He stole the bag from your hands.

Immediately you took it back. “You’re the one who buys them.” You mumbled, eating only a few more because he was right.

You heard his phone buzz but he ignored it. Again it buzzed and he took a look.

He threw himself back onto the blanket and sighed, placing his hands on his face. “I have to go to work.” He groaned.

“All of a sudden?” You asked, throwing yourself back too.

“Its just one class. They always reschedule my room.” He pouted.

“We could just stay here and play hooky.” You rolled onto your side curled up into a ball, closing your eyes to avoid the sun’s glare.

“You’re tired aren’t you?” He laughed.

You resisted as he tried to pull you up, eventually getting up and stomping back down the trail to the car.

After Hoseok left for work, you stayed home and played a new video game Jimin got. He said it was no fun playing alone and that Hoseok barely had time these days since you were hogging him up.

You managed to stay awake until Hoseok got home but by then even Jimin was getting ready to go to bed.

It was a quick evening, one without dinner since Hoseok already ate before arriving, and you and Jimin reheated leftovers.

As soon as the three bedroom doors closed, the entire house was silent.

__________________________

You were on that bridge again.

The street lights were like beautiful colors in your blurry eyes.

Wiping your tears away, you looked around to make sure no one was taking notice.

It was cold and snow had already stuck to the ground but you didn’t feel a thing. Not too cold or too warm. You felt nothing.

It was time. Finally it was time.

This was the last time you’d look up at the sky and pray for something better.

This is what you were going to do. You were giving back the life you didn’t ask for. The one that treated some to luxury and others to dirt.

If reincarnation was real then you didn’t even want that because you were sure that you’d be right back on this same bridge.

You took one step onto the railing and then another, only looking at your feet to ensure proper balance.

Then you looked down below at the waves crashing into the black rocks, confused and horrified.

Suddenly you lost your balance and held onto the railing with both hands, trying not to fall down. Heavy breaths escaping your lips and creating more noise in your ears besides the waves rolling onto shore.

Jimin was on his back, lying over one of the boulders. Blood covered his mouth and neck, and his limbs were oddly placed.

“Jimin!” You screamed, but his eyes didn’t open.

A bloody and weak cough escaped his lips but still his eyes were shut.

You began to cry and pressed your head into you arms, looking away from the scene. Looking upwards, you realized no one could see you dangling off the bridge.

When you looked back down, your legs went weak and it was hard to hold on.

“No…no, please! I can’t!” You wailed, seeing Hoseok’s body in place of Jimin’s.

His legs were half submerged into a small crack between two boulders, and his arm was twisted irregularly behind his back. Blood just seeping out his head, draining the life out of him.

“Hoseok!!” You screamed so hard that your throat hurt. “Hoseok please! Don’t leave me!!” You begged.

Ragged breaths escaped your throat like fire, but you couldn’t stop looking at him. You kicked your legs in anger, your hands slipping further away.

That’s when you knew why you were here. It was your turn. It was what life was giving you before you left. It was going to destroy any ounce of love you had left. Now you were truly empty.

This time you said sorry to Jimin and Hoseok.

“I hate you, I hate everything, I hate this!” You growled, feeling nothing but pain in that very instant.

Existence itself was pain and you were done. You just wanted to go.

Everything went silent. Surprisingly, you were somewhere else but still hanging off that bridge.

Below, there was just a beach. No rocks nearby, just water.

You cried tears of joy. Actual joy. The you let let go.

______

“Y/N!!”

You gasped, taking a huge breath of air as if you were really just pulled out of the water.

No. You weren’t drowning, you weren’t outside and you weren’t dying.

You were in your room, in Jimin’s arms and shivering with fear, agony, and who knows what?

It was Jimin…

Immediately you began to cry and you wrapped your arms around his neck, weeping into his chest and trying to control your emotions.

“It wasn’t real Y/N.” He whispered, hugging you tightly with his strong arms, keeping you still.

You felt like a child, weeping uncontrollably, just waiting until your body decided you could calm down.

He began to sing a wordless lullaby, grabbing your hand in his and rubbing circles into your palm.

Soon your whimpers turned into small shudderingly breaths.

“Where’s Hoseok?” You breathed.

He rubbed your arm. “Sleeping like a baby. If you want, I’ll go wake him up.”

“No. I need you to stay.” You held onto him.

You needed to know that this was real, that this body holding you was alive and breathing.

“What happened in your nightmare Y/N?” He whispered.

“You and Hoseok jumped off the bridge…and I did too.” You shuddered.

“If your friends jump off a bridge then you do too. That’s normal Y/N.” Jimin said.

You began to laugh. Happy that he could joke about it but sad that the bridge was real.

Half asleep, you felt Jimin’s hand stroke your cheek before he brought the covers over your body. The bed moved as he got up.

“Jimin don’t leave.” You mumbled.

He sat back down. By the time you woke up, it felt like you had only slept for a few minutes. You rolled over to see that Jimin was still sitting on your bed, asleep.

Hoseok you remembered.

You walked to his room hurriedly and opened the door.

He was sound asleep. As much as you wanted to wake him up and hear his voice, you just got ready for the day and made breakfast before they both woke up. ____________________

Part 6

[placetobenation]

It’s time to turn the page for the WWE.

FINAL #SurvivorSeries SCORE:#WWERaw: 1️⃣#WWENXT: 4️⃣#SmackDown: 2️⃣#WWENXT has officially TAKEN OVER #SurvivorSeries! pic.twitter.com/xJk259DDS9

— WWE (@WWE) November 25, 2019

After a very successful Survivor Series weekend for NXT, between NXT: WarGames and NXT’s win at SS, it’s time for both RAW and Smackdown to pick up the pieces. And with that, we get some brand new storylines, new faces and some old faces returning. All which should make for an interesting final PPV of the year & decade with TLC coming up in December.

A heel-ish Seth Rollins should be good for business on RAW, especially if he brings the Authors of Pain into his fold to start a new faction. Sheamus returning to Smackdown, along with more of Daniel Bryan vs. The Fiend, is intriguing. Will he partner up again with Cesaro or go it alone? Meanwhile on NXT, Finn Balor seemingly made his choice NOT to follow Adam Cole and The Undisputed Era. What comes next should define the next few months at Full Sail.

N-X-T spells VICTORY.@RheaRipley_WWE @shirai_io & @CandiceLeRae SURVIVE for #TeamNXT! #WeAreNXT #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/QDkUTy98T2

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) November 25, 2019

Star of the Week – Rhea Ripley

Hands down, she owned the week leading up to Survivor Series and cemented this week’s award by playing the underdog and leading herself and Candice LeRae to a 2 vs. 4 win over Shayna Baszler’s team at WarGames. Then, just for fun, Ripley survived the Survivor Series in an NXT win over RAW and Smackdown in the women’s elimination match, taking out Sasha Banks for the victory. Size, smarts and the “look” will certainly elevate Ripley who looks the part on any stage she’s been put in these days. Well done!

RAW

RESULTS

Lashley defeated Titus O’Neil (DQ when Rusev interferes)

The AOP defeated Ryder & Hawkins

Andrade defeated Akira Tozawa

Buddy Murphy defeated Matt Hardy

United States Title #1 Contender’s Match: Rey Mysterio defeated Ricochet, Randy Orton, & Drew McIntyre

United States Title Match: Rey Mysterio defeated Champion AJ Styles

Asuka defeated Charlotte

Erick Rowan defeated Bartholomew Kickpads

Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins (DQ when AOP interferes)

What we loved:

The town hall meeting – What better way to make Seth Rollins the bad guy than to have the entire (well, not the ENTIRE – we’ll get to that below in what we hated), RAW roster walk out on him as he takes them to task for losing Survivor Series. Lest we forget Seth, Keith Lee took you out. Remember what they say about people who throw stones, right Kevin Owens!

Not a word, as it turns out…#StunOwensStun #RAW @FightOwensFight pic.twitter.com/EIZjeZc5gq

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) November 26, 2019

AOP – Closing the show with a cliffhanger as to whether the Authors of Pain will join Seth Rollins was a good choice. The AOP took out Kevin Owens but did nothing to Rollins leaving us to believe there’s a deal there to be made. Yet, will they follow through or be their own men without Seth? Stay tuned!

Asuka vs. Charlotte – Always a classic of top notch, elite athleticism. Plus, how could we NOT love Charlotte getting the green mist? The expression alone is worth the price of admission.

VIVA LA RAZA! An emotional @reymysterio celebrated with his son Dominik after capturing the #USChampionship from @AJStylesOrg on #Raw. pic.twitter.com/gHAMeX2WXU

— WWE (@WWE) November 27, 2019

Viva La Raza – Rey Mysterio Jr. is a WWE Champion again. This time, defeating AJ Styles for the United States Championship. Surprising. Deserved. And who knows, maybe a springboard to the final chapter and bringing son Dominik along into the spotlight after the Brock Lesnar beatdown?

What we hated –

The town hall WITHOUT Becky Lynch – Where was Seth Rollins’ girlfriend to point the finger at? Becky lost too at SS. Shouldn’t she have been there too? She certainly wouldn’t have taken the venom Seth was spewing without interjecting The Man’s point of view, right? Or would she? Maybe she knew what Seth was going to do and wanted no part? I hope there’s a story there with that one. Something to keep your eye on, I think.

Matt Hardy’s return – While we loved seeing Matt Hardy return to Monday Night RAW, there could’ve been more done to further his character. Is another deletion on the horizon? Having him lose to Buddy Murphy is fine, but having him lose with nothing to it makes for a lost opportunity.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Tag Team Title Match: Champions Undisputed Era defeated Keith Lee & Dominik DIjakovic (Roderick Strong subs in for injured Bobby Fish)

Mansoor defeated Shane Thorne

Candice LeRae defeated Dakota Kai (DQ when Dakota Kai uses knee brace)

NXT Cruiserweight Title Match: Champion Lio Rush defeated Akira Tozawa

Xia Li defeated Vanessa Borne

Finn Balor defeated Tommaso Ciampa

What we loved:

Sit front row. Get your system SHOCKED.@RealKeithLee @AdamColePro #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/qrYKfJLwMl

— WWE (@WWE) November 28, 2019

Holy Keith Lee – Mr. Lee continues to impress week in and week out. And now, talk about your moves to talk about. Lee sent Adam Cole flying right out of Full Sail, into the crowd and Bobby Fish right out of the tag team match with one humungous body block.  

Balor vs. Ciampa – I was a little disappointed we got this one so soon without buildup and anticipation, but the match itself delivered. Give these guys a good 30-40 minutes though and they’ll really impress.

The Prince stands alone.@FinnBalor #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/iw291A7bmd

— WWE (@WWE) November 28, 2019

Balor vs. Cole vs. Ciampa – Way to swerve, Bay Bay! Just when Adam Cole thought he was bringing Finn Balor into The Undisputed Era, Balor pele kicked him straight out of the Balor Club. So, now we have Balor vs. Cole vs. Ciampa in so many shapes and forms to come over the next few months. The possibilities are endless with these three!

A live music video, anyone? – The open with a live performance by Josiah Williams, cut to highlights from WarGames and Survivor Series while the whole NXT roster celebrated was well done. Nice reaction from the crowd, who later disappointed, made it special as well. A moment indeed!

What we hated:

Full Sail – I’ve said once and I’ll say it again. NXT has outgrown Full Sail as a week in, week out venue. Sometimes, in such a small venue, the dramatic twists and turns lose some of the crowd appeal. I thought there was a bit of a disappointing reaction, short and sweet and understated, to Balor’s kick to Cole in the main event. If NXT’s going to be the hot brand that is on par with RAW and Smackdown, it has to be put in front or larger crowds on a more regular basis. They deserve as m

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

Roman Reigns defeated Robert Roode

Mustafa Ali defeated Drew Gulak

Nikki Cross defeated Sonya Deville

Open Challenge: Smackdown Tag Team Champions The New Day defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro

What we loved:

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED?!? #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/fM1NvHCq8F

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) November 30, 2019

The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan, part 2? – Multiple Firefly Fun House episodes on one Smackdown is a treat, a Thanksgiving Day after treat. Great stuff, right Huskus! Love the homage to all of Wyatt’s characters. Well done. Let him in Daniel! The YES movement is back and possibly with a new look after The Fiend was left with a handful of hair from Bryan’s own body!

Welcome back Sheamus – I guess The Fiend isn’t the only Smackdown superstar to get the red-light treatment! “Smackdown will be mine” says Sheamus. But who will he go after? Sounds like everyone. Let’s hope he delivers. Sorry Elias, Sheamus was cooler!

Welcome back Alexa – Awesome to see Miss Bliss return to the ring to save her bestie, Nikki Cross against Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. Here’s hoping Alexa stays healthy for a bit.

What we hated:

"There are some lines you just don't cross when it comes to @WWERomanReigns." – @WWEGraves #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/E1YhhaRG8i

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) November 30, 2019

Reigns vs. Corbin continues – Not really feeling it. While Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode against Roman Reigns has some fun qualities to it, Baron Corbin’s feud with the Big Dog is lacking a certain something. Maybe some physicality will be added at TLC to light a spark or maybe to end the rivalry once and for all.

Lacey Evans back and forth continues – Heel. Face. Heel. Face. Can the WWE please decide what they want us to do with Lacey Evans. Love her. Hate her. I just don’t get it. Now, after all those failed attempts against Becky Lynch on RAW, Evans somehow now gets a chance at Bayley and the Smackdown Women’s Title. Sure, she got a 10-second chant from the crowd, but they’re fickle.

Always Fun:

The New Day – Whether it be an Open Challenge or just Big E and Kofi Kingston on the mic, they always deliver an entertaining segment or two each week.

Parting Thought:

Stay strong Mauro Ranallo! We hope we see you soon back where you belong, calling NXT!

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!

[alittledangerx]

.

Sleeping Beauty

( ♔ ) • • • I. Main!AU

“The chill of the wind created little goose bumps along her tan skin as she shivered slightly, lying over the cool grass under her bare back. The lids of her eyelids fluttered as she felt the cool mist of the evening eyes hit her eyelashes. The blue dress she wearing did absolutely not one damn thing to fight against the cold as it clung to her skin. Raising one hand to her head she groaned in pain as the sharp needles pinched at her brain and took a deep breath, a low whimper passing her red lips. What happened? There was blood, and screams…an explosion of glass. Kai was… wait Kai? Where…Jo! Her eyes snapping open as she sat upright on the ground, her heart hammering hard in her chest.” ( READ )

( ♔ ) • • • II. Show!Elena

“Dear Diary: Today will be different. It has to be. I will smile, and it will be believable. My smile will say, “I’m fine, thank you. Yes, I feel much better.” I will no longer be the sad little girl that lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It’s the only way I’ll make it through.“ ( READ )

( ♔ ) • • • III. Book!Elena

“My brother,” he went on, “is a fool. He thinks that because you look like Katherine you’re weak and easily led like her. But he’s wrong. I could feel your anger from the other side of town. I can feel it now, a white light like the desert sun. You have strength, Elena, even as you are. But you could be so much stronger…” ( READ )

Current Storylines

( ♔ ) • • • I. Safe & Sound

Delightful Dia ( READ ) - “In order to protect Elena and Claudia from the forces out to get them, Damon Salvatore with the help of a witch in New Orleans sends the girls into a place where they will be safe…at least that is what he thinks. He had no idea he sent them literally into a battlefield and that the Hunger Games were about to begin. Follow Elena and Dia as they navigate through the world of Panem, with a slight twist.” 

( ♔ ) • • • II. The Black Pearl

Riptide ( READ ) - Elena's sleeping beauty spell sends her into a new dimension. A realm where fairy tales are real and not just in the minds of small little children.Slipping into a new body and new name, Elena Carina Jones is determined to reunite with her siblings and make her broken family whole. Even if they don't remember... and she is stuck with a certain drunkard Captain Jack that throttling would give result in the greatest joy of her life. Yet, as one adventure begins another continues. Bonnie found a loophole to the spell. As her two worlds collide slowly but surely, will the supernatural world reclaim the Gilbert Girl or will the daughter of a sea goddess and child of pirates, continue to sail out into the night.

( ♔ ) • • • III. Ring of Fire

Sempiternal ( READ ) - Elena and a small group of friends, including Anna to her dismay are going up to the Salvatore Cabin for a weekend of relation. However, due to traffic the others are going to be arriving late which leaves Anna and Elena in the cabin alone. Once it gets dark and no one else has arrived, they begin to believe that something isn't right. The intense foreboding feeling of something amiss and a chill running up their spines has the girls running to the phone to call for help. That's when they realize that the phone lines are down and that they've been locked inside. The façade of a relaxing cabin get away was dissolved and replaced with a cage for the two to be tortured in. Trapped in this Ring of Fire.

( ♔ ) • • • IIII. Shadow's Firefly

Blue Eyed Saviour ( Read ) - Summary Here

( ♔ ) • • • V. Flowers in the Attic

Lost Saviour ( Read ) - Summary Here

( ♔ ) • • • VI. The Purge

Kleine Hexe( Read ) - “THIS IS YOUR EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM ANNOUNCING THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANNUAL PURGE SANCTIONED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. — The rules are simple: weapons of class 4 and lower have been authorized for use during the purge and commencing at the siren, any and all crime, including murder will be legal for 12 continuous hours. Two girls find themselves unwilling on the night of the purge. How will they survive after 12 hours of complete and total hell…”

Elena is the daughter of Doctor Greyson Gilbert and older sister to Jeremy Gilbert. Her twin sister Katherine died in the purge the year before after being caught out after hours. At least that is what the family was led to believe.

REASON FOR PURGE: Elena and Jeremy were home alone when their house was attacked. Their father was stuck at the hospital because of a surgery complication, the house was boarded up with a state of the art security system. Only just after the purge began, the security was disabled by none other than Katherine, wanting to get rid of her perfect twin sister and slip into her place. Jeremy and Elena fought their way out and went on the run meeting up with Davina on the streets. Davina is the cousin of Matt, and she travels to Mystic Falls to see her cousin and ends up there during the time of crisis. Matt dies right in front of her, killed by Katherine. So during this time, Davina is on the prowl for Katherine to get revenge for Matt's death. Now, the three of them are on the streets fighting for survival against the purgers and their own blood.

Beatrice "Tris" Levinson

( ♔ ) • • • I. New World

Tris x Levi ( READ ) - Everyone believes that “Levi” as the rest of the world knows him has always been this strong man with a head on his shoulders. That is what he shows them. They don’t see the Eugene I see. The one who beat the crap out of the man who was also known as our sperm donor; to the point he would have killed him if the police didn’t step in because of Agatha, our step-b-itch. He lost control that day, all because he saw his little sister, beaten and bloody on the ground when he came home as a surprise from the military. He lost six months of his life… because of me. Why shouldn’t I risk mine in-order to get him out. Especially, when everyone around us is dying. He is the only family I have left. He promised Jude and I that he would always protect us. Jude is god knows where but me? Always works both ways, big brother. I am coming…

( ♔ ) • • • II. Synthetic World

Tris x Sinclair ( READ ) - words here

( ♔ ) • • • III. Third Time's a Charm

Tris x Jace ( READ ) - My life hasn’t been easy. After going through the unfortunate hell of living in a home that was supposed to be filled with happiness and light, but was all in all a purgatory… a girl deserved some fun right? A reprieve from the torment, and just be a normal 21 year old girl. Only to be quite honest… my luck sucks. One particularly bad weekend, a few friends of mine decided that I needed a break. It was my 21st birthday after all, so why not celebrate it with a bang. The bang being Las Vegas, and sneaking my ass out the house when Frederick was passed out from his alcoholic state and my step-bitch was away at a spa. What was supposed to be a weekend of fun (It was for all it lasted) led to waking up Sunday morning with a ring on my finger and a tall and dangerous man laying in my bed beside me with a marriage certificate nearby. What happens in Vegas my ass! Jace, reminded me of another man in my life that I hated with a passion now. He had the know it all ability, and cocky personality that Jude has… you can imagine how much I didn’t like that. We parted ways with a promise of his lawyer contacting me about the annulment. Only dear old dad answered the phone… leading to me being sent to the Emergency room, Eugene in Jail for almost killing our father after he came back from leave and saw our father pounding me with his fist. Oh and then six months after that the virus hit the world… so the divorce kinda wasn’t on my mind. Well until now… How was I supposed to know that the one-day I decided to volunteer and gather supplies… my past would quite literally run into me?

Concluded Storylines 

( ♔ ) • • • I. Bleeding Love - [4 responses left]

Delightful Dia ( READ ) - Dia is in the French Quarter believing that the others don’t want her in their life anymore after she ran away following the murder of Kol in Mystic Falls. They are in the midst of Hayley and Jackson’s marriage celebration. Elena, lost and confused after the death of yet another loved one, this time the one she was going to spend the rest of eternity with, decides to have her memories wiped by a certain nobleman after almost going through with Alaric erasing Damon. Neither girl knows that it was actually Niklaus, who was responsible for Dia’s disconnect from the Scooby Gang.

( ♔ ) • • • II. Guardian Blood

Poison and Wine ( READ ) - “Katherine and Elena have bonded after the events of the revelation of their true parentage. Elena now pregnant with Matt Honeycutt’s child, finds herself hiding out at Katherine’s home. With the Guardians seeking to continue the bloodline, will any of them remain safe? How does Katherine deal with the fact Elena’s water breakage happens all over her Prada shoes? ***Special Circumstance***

Closed Storylines

WHAT ARE CLOSED STORYLINES? Closed storylines are storylines that I have had over the years where the other writer and I have either stopped talking, the story concluded or the roleplay just died. After so long of being in this verse I realized that not many people are appreciative of the time they had regardless of the circumstances that some friendships have ended or when a person just leaves roleplay completely. You just discard the writing, delete or block the person and all the time & hard work you both put into the story vanishes into thin air. I want to change that.

Some of you may wonder why am I writing responses to people that aren't currently apart of my life. Or save my old writings that never went anywhere... but honestly? Why shouldn't I. To close one chapter in your life, you have to acknowledge and give respect to the past. That's what the history books say. Just because it ended, doesn't mean it was not real.

Therefore, whoever you are. Whatever our story was... In the end of one chapter of my life I learned to appreciate the memories I have had over the years in roleplay. To all my peers in this verse I want to thank you for writing these incredible storylines with me. However, long or short that period was. I hope that whoever is taking the time to read these stories, enjoy it as much as we had writing them.

( ♔ ) • • • I. London Schemes [typing my final response]

Will ( READ ) - AU/AH/Crossover - Who knew that stepping off the plane in London, England would be equivalent to stepping into a rabbit hole? 20 year old, Elena Gilbert was new to the towering walls and beauty of the campus known as Dodgson University. From what she knew, her parents died, and her younger brother was sent to an art school in Georgia, while Lena was in a mental institution because she believed she should have died with her parents. After recovering from the trauma, she was sent to live with her mother’s cousin in England and to study her doctorate program in the acclaimed university, under a new name, Lena Somers. Her fresh start. 

What she didn’t know was that in reality, her memories were wiped clean by Elijah Mikaelson after the love of her life, Damon Salvatore, was left on the other side with her best friend Bonnie Bennett. Although, she originally went to Alaric in the hopes that he would take her memories away, she realized that she couldn’t ask that of her love’s best friend and turned to the one person who could help her start over. Without vampires, the supernatural, the pain and grief, to go back before Stefan walked into her life… before she remembered that Damon met her first. Elijah, agreeing that it was in her best interest, sent her to England, to Judith Sommers, her mother’s cousin with false memories of treatments, and getting into this stable place in her life where she could become the person her parents always wished for. For a month she lived a happy and at ease in her life, but than Damon and Bonnie came back… with the cure and the gang once again reunited with Elena. 

However, before they gave her the cure to transform her to a human once more, they saw how happy she was. Happier than she had ever been in Mystic Falls, and while Damon knew that he couldn’t live an eternity without her, at Jeremy’s insistence they agreed that Elijah would re-wipe Elena’s memories after she took the cure and give her 4 years of freedom from all the supernatural world. Once she started her life after college, her memories would be given to her once more and she would decide if she would blend her two lives together or pick one or the other… Damon promised to always watch out for her, and that he would take care of her loved ones till it was time. 

With the gang gone and Lena starting her first day of college,  no one expected that there would be hidden supernatural crime underground that ruled London, similar to the quarter. Or that a young blonde man, with blue eyes would cast his eyes upon that Somers girl and mistake her for the vampire vixen that was known as Rowan Lockheart…Being the hunter he is, what better way to destroy the enemy who’s family was responsible for the death of his brother. The woman he loved. What better way to erect vengeance, on the young blossom of the crime family? Only poor little Will Oakheart couldn’t be more wrong. 

( ♔ ) • • • II. Crazy in Blood 

Tapout ( READ ) - When Damon killed Aaron, instead of Enzo finding him, it's Elena. After a fight over Damon wanting to kill off Aaron's bloodline and knowing that Aaron would be next, Elena begged him not to, pleading for his life. Damon tells Elena that while he would do anything for her...this isn't one of them. As he was walking out the door, using the last piece she could to get him to stay, Elena tell's him that if he walks out that door she would be done with him. He kept walking, and Elena followed determined to save Aaron's life... unfortunately she was too late. While the two were in the middle of a fight Enzo shows up and he infects her. Damon begins to freaks out because he has been living with this virus, and he doesn't want Elena to suffer like he has. Leaving Mystic Falls, the two set out for New Orleans to find a cure... Only with a vampire nest near by what will the rippers do? And who will be caught in the crossfire... 

( ♔ ) • • • III. Hex Girls - [typing my final response]

Firewater ( READ ) - New to Mystic Falls, Aaron a necromancer begins to have blackouts that lead her to that little graveyard that no one goes to. At least from how it appears. The town itself is in a wreck and chaos is all over, why Aaron's parents brought her here to the hunky dunk town with a clocktower straight out of a creepy movie is beyond her imagination. Which brings her back to the graveyard, past the old mausoleum and deep in the middle, there is a girl writing in her diary. Aaron doesn't know anything about that tainted Gilbert Girl, only while there is chaos brewing all around the girl looks strangely at peace. Sad yet peaceful. Aaron goes up to Elena, not realizing she is an apparition... and begins talking to her. Elena not realizing that Aaron is real... thinks her mind is finally playing tricks on her. Because of bonnie's curse she can't go anywhere. They begin to bond of their tragic lives and past loves, slowly falling into a friendship that would truly be tested when Aaron has to kill the one person she truly loved and trusted in order to test her powers. But also to save her best friend from a trapped life.

( ♔ ) • • • IIII. Forsaken Truths

Black Kitten ( READ ) - When two doppelgängers discover that they are actually sisters who share the same mother and every single thing that they thought they knew about their life was false... what turmoil would that bring? How would Katherine and Elena reconcile the fact that despite being sworn enemies they were connected further through an unbreakable bond? 

Storyline was never kicked off. All we got through was the planning stage... but all that crap alone was brilliant! I will be putting a close to this sl with the writing of the scene created in the gifs. It seems right.

( ♔ ) • • • V. Fireball

Charlotte, NC ( READ ) - It started again. The nightmares that left her sleepless as the auburn haired-girl remembered her past; that put Zanesville, front and center of her mind. Throw into the melting pot the fact that her Mate, Angel, would never be hers… yet her heart clearly hasn’t accepted that. Charlotte did the one thing that would get her to calm down… Drink.

This was a piece of writing I did when I was apart of the rpg Cursed! Check them out, they are still around.

( ♔ ) • • • VI. Contained- [typing my final response]

Firewater ( READ ) - Words go here.