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YA SFF Books by Asian Authors

Ash by Malinda Lo: In this variation on the Cinderella story, Ash grows up believing in the fairy realm that the king and his philosophers have sought to suppress, until one day she must choose between a handsome fairy cursed to love her and the King’s Huntress whom she loves.

Along the Indigo by Elsie Chapman: Marsden yearns to take her sister and escape Glory, a town famous for seedy businesses, but her friendship with Jude yields secrets that may chain them to the Indigo River forever.

Alpha Goddess by Amalie Howard: In this sci-fi retelling of Ramayana, Sera is a Hindu goddess incarnate and must battle between her good and evil sides in order to save the world from becoming hell on earth.

Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) by Susan Ee: It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her 17-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel, Raffe.

The Archer at Dawn (The Tiger at Midnight #2) by Swati Teerdhala: Set in an Indian & Hindu-inspired world, long-held secrets will force Kunal and Esha to reconsider their loyalties—to their country and to each other.

The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif: After being fired from the Athena Protocol, an organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice, Jessie Archer investigates a human trafficking case in Belgrade, while her former teammates have been tasked with bringing her down.

Blood of a Thousand Stars (Empress of a Thousand Skies #2) by Rhoda Belleza: Rhee risks her crown to negotiate peace terms with villainous media star Nero, while framed assassin Aly plots revenge and Kara seeks technology that will erase her royal past.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco: Tea’s gift for death magic means that she is a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community, but when an older bone witch trains her to become an asha - one who can wield elemental magic - Tea will have to overcome her obstacles and make a powerful choice in the face of danger as dark forces approach.

The Bronzed Beasts (The Gilded Wolves #3) by Roshani Chokshi: With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, unearthly songs, and the shining steps of a temple whose powers might offer divinity itself, but at a price they may not be willing to pay.

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi: An epic YA fantasy about a girl with a special power to communicate with magical beasts and the warring kingdom only she can save.

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh: In 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight, half-Asian Celine Rosseau, a dressmaker from Paris, becomes embroiled in a murder mystery, connected to the glamorous supernatural cohort, known as the Court of Lions, and catching the eye of their mysterious, charismatic leader, Sèbastien Saint Germain.

Broken Web (Shamanborn #2) by Lori M. Lee: With Queen Meilyr bent on destroying the magical kingdoms, Sirscha becomes caught between a war in the east and the Soulless in the west.

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad: Set in the city of Noor, along the Silk Road which has become a refuge for those of all faiths, Fatima becomes embroiled in a war between two clans of powerful djinn who threaten to destroy her peace in different ways, forcing her to make unlikely alliances to survive.

Caster by Elsie Chapman: In this Chinese-inspired, magical Fight Club, Earth is already at the brink of environmental disaster due to the magic overuse. And 16-year-old spell caster Aza Wu must navigate through an illegal, underground battle magic tournament, while evading local gangs and police scouts to save her family from ruin.

Catalyst by Lydia Kang: Zelia Benten has lost her father, the love of her life, and any future she might have imagined for herself. Now she, her sister, and the band of illegal genetic outcasts they’ve come to call their family are forced to run when the safety of their foster home is compromised.

A Clash of Steel (A Treasure Island Remix) by C.B. Lee: Set in 1820s China, Xiah joins Anh and her motley crew in pursuit of the hidden treasure of the legendary Dragon Fleet.

Chainbreaker (Timekeeper #2) by Tara Sim: In 1876, someone is destroying the clock towers that control India’s time. Teenage mechanics Danny Hart and half-white, half-Indian Daphne Richards as they travel to Agra to investigate a series of clock tower bombings.

The Chariot at Dusk (Tiger at Midnight #3) by Swati Teerdhala: In the final book of this epic fantasy trilogy, the lands’ fate, their people’s livelihoods, and the bond that sustains their world all depend on what Kunal and Esha can offer—to the gods and to each other.

Champion (Legend #3) by Marie Lu: June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic--and each other--and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic's border cities.

Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye: Love, spies, and adventure abound as apprentice warriors Sora and Daemon unravel a complex web of magic and secrets that might tear them—and the entire kingdom—apart forever.

Control by Lydia Kang: In 2150, when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, seventeen-year-old Zelia must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes.

Court of Lions (Mirage #2) by Somaiya Daud: After being swept up into the brutal Vathek court, Amani, the ordinary girl forced to serve as the half-Vathek princess Maram’s body double, is desperate to continue helping the rebellion But can she bear to remain separated, forever, from Maram's fiancé, Idris?

Cross Fire (Exo #2) by Fonda Lee: When the peaceful alien-run government withdraws from Earth, it seems that the terrorist group Sapience is going to get the "free" Earth it wanted; but Donovan Reyes, member of the security forces, and once a prisoner of Sapience, realizes that freedom comes with a price.

The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye: Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia. The Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye: Vika struggles with dangers in her new role as the Imperial Enchanter while Pasha faces disputes about his legitimacy and Nikolai considers how far he is willing to go to return to the world.

A Crown of Wishes (Star-Touched Queen #2) by Roshani Chokshi: Gauri, princess of Bharata, has been captured by her kingdom's enemies and faces a future of exile and scorn--she has nothing left to lose. But Vikram, the notoriously cunning prince of a neighboring land, promises her freedom in exchange for her partnership on his team to win the Tournament of Wishes.

The Damned (The Beautiful #2) by Renée Ahdieh: Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The price of loving Celine Rousseau was costly. But as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.

Dark Goddess (Alpha Goddess #2) by Amalie Howard: In this Indian-inspired fantasy, a girl who is the avatar of the goddess Lakshmi must work to prevent the apocalypse at the hands of demons.

Dark Goddess (Templar Chronicles #2) by Sarwat Chadda: Billi SanGreal, a teenaged member of the Knights Templar, must prevent a young girl, who is being hunted by werewolves because of the dangerous powers she possesses, from falling into the hands of the ancient Russian witch, Baba Yaga.

Daughter of Dusk (Midnight Thief #2) by Livia Blackburne: After learning the truth about her bloodlines, Kyra can’t help but feel like a monster. As tensions rise within Forge’s Council, and a vicious Demon Rider attacks continue in surrounding villages, Kyra knows she must do something to save her city.

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He: In this Chinese-inspired fantasy, Princess Hesina of Yan is thrust into power when her beloved father is murdered, and she’s determined to find his killer–whatever the cost.

The Devil’s Kiss (Templar Chronicles #1) by Sarwat Chadda: 15-year-old Billi SanGreal has grown up knowing that being a member of the Knights Templar puts her in danger, but if she is to save London from catastrophe she must make sacrifices greater than she imagined.

The Devil’s Thief (The Last Magician #2) by Lisa Maxwell: Esta and Harte set off on a cross-country chase through time to steal back the elemental stones they need to save the future of magic.

Divided (Dualed #2) by Elsie Chapman: When the Board goes after West Grayer for refusing to kill her next target, West must uncover the truth of the past to survive.

Dove Arising by Karen Bao: On a lunar colony, 15-old Phaet Theta does the unthinkable and joins the Militia when her mother is imprisoned by the Moon's oppressive government.

Dove Exiled (Dove Chronicles #2) by Karen Bao: Phaet’s past catches up with her when the Lunar Bases attack the community and reveal that Phaet is a fugitive. She’s torn between staying on Earth with Wes—whom she’s just discovered her feelings for—and stowing away on a Moon-bound ship to rescue her siblings.

Dove Alight (Dove Chronicles #3) by Karen Bao: Shy, introverted Phaet Theta has gone from being a top student to an interplanetary fugitive to the reluctant but fierce leader of a revolution. But as the death tolls rise, the cost of the war weighs heavily on Phaet. Phaet started this war because she lost someone she loved. Will she have to lose another to end it?

Eclipse the Stars by Maura Milan: Criminal mastermind and unrivaled pilot Ia Ccha and her allies make unpredictable choices as they fight to keep darkness from eclipsing the skies.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan, Laia, fighting for her family and a soldier, Elias, fighting for his freedom.

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean: During a once-in-a-generation competition to find the new empress, Mari, who hides a terrible secret, Taro, the prince who would denounce the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human outcast, will decide the fate of Honoku.

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza: Two sisters, Rhee and Kara—sole survivors of a murdered royal lineage - must reunite from opposite ends of the galaxy to salvage what’s left of their family dynasty and save the universe from a greater threat.

End of Days (Penryn & The End of Days #3) by Susan Ee: After a daring escape, Penryn and Raffe are on the run, but a startling revelation about Raffe’s past unleashes dark forces that threaten them all. When the angels release an apocalyptic nightmare onto humans, both sides are set on a path toward war. Forced to pick sides in the fight for control of the earthly realm, Raffe and Penryn must choose: Their own kind, or each other?

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee: 15-year-old Genie Lo wonders if she’s qualified enough to gain admission to an Ivy League school, then becomes powerful enough to break through the gates of Heaven with her fists.

The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa: Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allison Sekemoto will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever--and possibly end human and vampire existence.

The Ever Cruel Kingdom (The Never Tilting World #2) by Rin Chupeco: To break the cycle of sacrifice, twins Haidee and Odessa need answers that lie beyond the seven gates of the underworld, within the Cruel Kingdom itself. The shadows of the underworld may hunger to tear them apart, but these two sisters are determined to heal their world—together.

Exo by Fonda Lee: For a century now, Earth has been a peaceful colony of an alien race, and Donovan Reyes is a loyal member of the security forces, while his father is the Prime Liaison–but when a routine search and seizure goes bad Donovan finds himself a captive of the human revolutionary group, Sapience, terrorists who seem to prefer war to alien rule, and killing Donovan just might be the incident they are looking for.

Fair Coin by E.C. Myers: When evil versions of himself and best friend Nate appear one day, teenaged Ephraim embarks on a dangerous odyssey through parallel worlds to make things right.

Firestarter (Timekeeper #3) by Tara Sim: Colton, Daphne, and the others must choose between those striving to take down the world’s clock towers so that time can run freely, and terrorists trying to bring back the lost god of time.

Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) by Kendare Blake: In this conclusion to the Three Dark Crowns series, three dark sisters will rise to fight as the secrets of Fennbirn’s history are laid bare. Allegiances will shift. Bonds will be tested, and some broken forever.

Flame in the Mist by Renee Adhieh: The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by the Black Clan. Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of this gang. But she’s quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan’s secret hideout, where she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru.

For A Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig: 16-year-old shadow puppeteer Jetta Chantray performs with her family’s traveling troupe, the Ros Nai. But as rebellion seethes and as Jetta meets a young smuggler, she will face truths and decisions that she never imagined—and safety will never seem so far away.

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee: Sirscha Ashwyn, while training to become the queen’s next royal spy, discovers she’s a rare and powerful lightwender and is summoned to the realm of the Spider King, where her newly awakened abilities are needed to cull the bloodthirsty Dead Wood.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao: A reimagining of the evil queen from Snow White based on Asian mythology in which 18-year-old Xifeng must unleash a jealous god on the world and set free the viciousness of her own soul in order to become Empress.

The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa: Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren. But Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions as his trail leads straight to the one place they must protect at any cost -- the last vampire-free zone on Earth.

Fury of the Phoenix (Kingdom of Xia #2) by Cindy Pon: When Ai Ling leaves her home and family to accompany Chen Yong on his quest to find his father, haunted by the ancient evil she thought she had banished to the underworld, she must use her growing supernatural powers to save Chen Yong from the curses that follow her.

Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee: A teenage girl must keep her ability to manipulate the threads of time a secret, but when her brother goes missing, she risks getting caught up in a revolution in order to save him.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta: Eris Shindanai and Sona Steelcrest, two girls on opposite sides of a war fought with Windups, giant mechanizes weapons, discover they’re fighting for a common purpose–and falling for each other.

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi: Paris, 1889: Treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie gets the chance of a lifetime when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help in exchange for a priceless treasure: his true inheritance.

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig: From modern-day New York City to nineteenth-century Hawaii to places of myth and legend, 16-year-old Nix has sailed across the globe and through centuries aboard her time-traveling father’s ship. But when he gambles with her very existence, it all may be about to end.

The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco: Okiku has wandered the world for centuries, but when she meets Tark she knows the moody teen with the series of intricate tattoos is not a monster and needs to be freed from the demonic malevolence that clings to him.

The Girl King by Mimi Yu: Sisters Lu and Min become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust: As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Princess Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan: When Lei, seventeen, is stolen from her home to become one of nine Paper Girls, the Demon King's concubines, she proves to be more fire than paper.

Girls of Storm and Shadow (Girls of Paper and Fire #2) by Natasha Ngan: After escaping the Hidden Palace, Lei and her warrior love Wren must travel the kingdom to gain support from the far-flung rebel clans.

Girls of Fate and Fury (Girls of Paper and Fire #3) by Natasha Ngan: The last Lei saw of the girl she loved, Wren, was fighting an army of soldiers in a furious battle to the death. With the two girls torn apart and each in terrorizing peril, will they find each other again or have their destinies diverged forever.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh: A feminist retelling of the Korean folktale The Tale of Shim Cheong, set in a town where every year a girl is sacrificed to the sea to stop torrential rains, but when a brave teen girl dives in herself to protect a loved one, she discovers a spirit kingdom in need of saving.

The Great Destroyers by Caroline Tung Richmond: set in alt-history, 1960s America where WWI & WII were fought with giant mechs, biracial Chinese American teen Jo Linden is Team USA’s most unlikely pick in the annual Pax Games, an Olympic-style competition that pits mecha pilots against each other.

The Heartforger (Bone Witch #2) by Rin Chupeco: With a thirst for vengeance, a band of terrifying daeva at her command, and her resurrected lover Kalen by her side, dark asha Tea is ready to face her adversaries.

A House of Rage and Sorrow (Celestial Trilogy #2) by Sangu Mandanna: As gods, beasts, and kingdoms choose sides, Alexi seeks out a weapon more devastating than even Titania. The House of Rey is at war. And the entire galaxy will bleed before the end.

Huntress by Malinda Lo: 17-year-olds Kaede and Taisin are called to go on a dangerous and unprecedented journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen, in an effort to restore the balance of nature in the human world.

Ignite the Stars by Maura Milan: When outlaw Ia Ccha is captured by the Olympus Commonwealth and revealed to be a 16-year-old girl, they force her to serve them by joining the Commonwealth's military academy where new acquaintances cause Ia to question her own alliances.

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa: Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city, until she too becomes an immortal vampire. Forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls, she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend -- a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

Inferno (Talon #5) by Julie Kagawa: Ember Hill has learned a shocking truth about herself: she is the blood of the Elder Wyrm, the ancient dragon who leads Talon and who is on the verge of world domination. With the stakes rising and the Elder Wyrm declaring war, time is running out for the rogues and any dragon not allied with Talon. The final battle approaches. And if Talon is victorious, the world will burn.

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman: Japanese American teen Nami Miyamoto finds herself in a limitless world where the human consciousness goes after death, where she battles an AI entity posing as a queen that has hacked its way into the afterlife.

Isle of Blood and Stone by Makiia Lucier: Mysterious maps from opposite ends of the sea cast doubt on the whereabouts of two princes, presumed dead.

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan: A debut fantasy inspired by Chinese mythology, in which peasant girl Anh, cursed with the power to steal souls enters a tenuous alliance with exiled prince Altan, bent on taking back the dragon throne, and save the empire from a cult of dangerous priests.

Journey to the Heart of the Abyss (Light in the Abyss #2) by London Shah: Leyla McQueen has finally reunited with her father after breaking him out of Broadmoor, the illegal government prison—but his freedom comes at a terrible cost. As Leyla celebrates his return, she must grapple with the pain of losing Ari. Now labeled the nation’s number one enemy, Leyla must risk illegal travel through unchartered waters for the truth behind her father’s arrest.

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena: Set in a world inspired by medieval India, the story tells of a girl, Gul, with a star-shaped birthmark who is prophesied to be the downfall of a tyrant king, the warrior women who come to her aid, and the boy she falls in love with.

The Keeper of the Night by Kylie Lee Baker: set in 1890s Japan, half-British reaper, half-Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough flees London and enters the Japanese underworld under the service of Izanami, the goddess of death.

King (Dragon King Chronicles #3) by Ellen Oh: Girl warrior, demon slayer, Tiger spirit of the Yellow Eyes - Kira is ready for her final quest! She must save her cousin, the boy fated to be the future king, uncover the third lost treasure, and face innumerable enemies in order to fulfill the famed prophecy.

A Kingdom for the Stage (For A Muse of Fire #2) by Heidi Heilig: The rebels are eager to use Le Trépas’s and necromancer Jetta’s combined magic against the invading colonists. Soon Jetta will face the choice between saving all of Chakrana or becoming like her father, and she isn’t sure which she’ll choose.

Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix (Rise of the Empress #2) by Julie C. Dao: Princess Jade has grown up in exile while her stepmother, the ruthless Xifeng, rules Feng Lu. Ready to reclaim her place, Jade embarks on a quest to raise the Dragon Lords and defeat Xifeng and the Serpent God once and for all.

Legend by Marie Lu: In a dark future, when North America has split into two warring nations, 15-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and prodigy June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

Legion (Talon #4) by Julie Kagawa: The legions are about to be unleashed, and no human, rogue dragon or former dragon slayer can stand against the coming horde in book 4 out of the Talon series.

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana: Amrita must unravel the mysteries of her past to save her kingdom, but in doing so, she herself might come unraveled.

The Light At the Bottom of the World by London Shah: Set in a future where the Earth is underwater, Leyla McQueen must navigate the treacherous abyss to find her missing father, but discovers a world drowning in lies.

Live in Infamy by Caroline Tung Richmond: 80 years since the Axis won World War II, and America was divided between the victors: the Nazis in the East and Imperial Japan in the West; but now resistance is growing in the Eastern territories and 16-year-old Chinese American Ren Cabot finds himself drawn into a resistance group.

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna: 15-year-old Eva is the clone of a girl living far, far away on another continent--and when this 'other' dies, Eva must step in and take over her life.

The Infinite (Gates of Thread and Stone #2) by Lori M. Lee: Kai always believed the only danger to the city came from within. Now, with a rebel force threatening the fragile government, the walls have become more of a prison than ever. To make matters worse, as Avan explores his new identity as an Infinite, Kai struggles to remind him what it means to be human.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao: blending Chinese history and mecha science, Wu Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. Features a poly F/M/M main romance.

The Iron Will of Genie Lo (Epic Crush of Genie Lo #2) by F.C. Yee: Along with a few other contenders for the throne, heaven-appointed guardian Genie and her friends embark on a Heavenly quest to an in-between world.

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen: An intergenerational story of a mother and son struggling to relate to each other—the mother an immigrant to America who wants to make a home for her family in an unfamiliar country; the son Tiế trying to figure out the best way to come out to his parents. Through telling each other fairy tales, they’re able to find common ground.

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas: When her ailing father is conscripted to fight invaders from the north, Mulan dresses as a man to take his place in the army, but an old enemy and an attraction for her troop's commander complicate her mission.

The Memory Keepers by Natasha Ngan: Seven is a thief with a difference - he steals downloadable memories from banks and memoriums to sell onto London’s black market. But one night, as Seven is breaking into a private memorium in a wealthy part of London, he is caught in the act by one of its residents; Alba, the teenage daughter of London’s most famous criminal prosecutor.

The Memory Key by Liana Liu: In the not-so-distant future, everyone is implanted with a memory key to stave off a virulent form of Alzeimer's. Lora Mint fears her memories of her deceased mother are fading, but when her memory key is damaged she has perfect recall--of everything-- which brings her mother's memory vividly back--but may also drive Lora mad.

The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall: A desperate orphan turned pirate, Flora, and a rebellious imperial daughter, Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, find a connection on the high seas abroad the Dove, in a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic.

The Midnight Star (Young Elites #3) by Marie Lu: Adelina is forced to revisit old wounds when a new danger appears, putting not only Adelina at risk, but every Elite. In order to save herself and preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

The Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne: Kyra, a highly skilled 17-year-old thief, joins a guild of assassins with questionable motives. Tristam, a young knight, fights against the vicious Demon Riders that are ravaging the city.

Mirage by Somaiya Daud: In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, 18-year-old Amani is forced to work as a body double for the princess who is hated by her conquered people.

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco: In a world ruled by goddesses that has been split in two—one half existing in perpetual scorching Day, the other in freezing Night—twins separated at birth Odessa and Haidee embark on a quest across the great divide and rule a reunited world.

Mooncakes by Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker: Teen witch Nova Huang runs into her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help.

Moribito, Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi: The wandering warrior Balsa is hired to protect Prince Chagum from both a mysterious monster and the prince's father, the Mikado.

Moribito II, Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi: The wandering female bodyguard Balsa returns to her native country of Kanbal, where she uncovers a conspiracy to frame her mentor and herself.

Night of the Dragon (Shadow of the Fox #3) by Julie Kagawa: As darkness rises and chaos reigns, fierce kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko and her shadowy protector Kage Tatsumi, will face down the greatest evil of all.

Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee: Resigned to a life without superpowers in a world full of them, Jess takes a paid internship where she helps a heinous supervillain and works with her longtime crush Abby, but stumbles on a massive plot.

Not Your Villain (Sidekick Squad #2) by C.B. Lee: After discovering a massive cover-up by the Heroes’ League of Heroes, shapeshifter Bells Broussard and his friends Jess, Emma, and Abby set off on a secret mission to find the Resistance.

Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee (Sidekick Squad #3): As the Resistance moves to challenge the corrupt League of Heroes, Emma Robledo realizes where her place is in this fight: at the front.

On This Unworthy Scaffold (Shadow Players #3) by Heidi Heilig: Jetta’s home is spiraling into civil war.Le Trépas—the deadly necromancer—has used his blood magic to wrest control of the country. Meanwhile, Jetta’s love interest, brother, and friend are intent on infiltrating the palace to stop the Boy King and find Le Trépas to put an end to the unleashed chaos.

The Only Thing to Fear by Caroline Tung Richmond: After 70 years since Hitler's armies won the war, 16-year-old Zara St. James lives in the Shenandoah hills, part of the Eastern American Territories, under the rule of the Nazis--but a resistance movement is growing.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He: In a near future when life is harsh outside of Earth’s last unpolluted place, Cee tries to leave an abandoned island while her sister, STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara, seeks escape from the science and home she once trusted.

One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns #2) by Kendare Blake: Preparing for the queens' sixteenth birthday celebration and navigating the fallout of the Quickening, sisters Arsinoe, Katharine, and Mirabella reassess their strategic paths to the throne using new understandings of their powers and destinies.

Our Violent Ends (These Violent Delights #2) by Chloe Gong: In 1927, Shanghai tethers on the edge of revolution. After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. Then a new monstrous danger emerges in the city, and while secrets keep them apart, Juliette must secure Roma’s cooperation if they are to end this threat.

Prodigy (Legend #2) by Marie Lu: June and Day make their way to Las Vegas where they join the rebel Patriot group and become involved in an assassination plot against the Elector in hopes of saving the Republic.

Quantum Coin (Fair Coin #2) by E.C. Myers: Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe embark on a mission across multiple worlds to learn what's going wrong and how to stop it. They will have to draw on every resource available and trust in alternate versions of themselves and their friends, before it's too late for all of them.

Ravage the Dark (Scavenge the Stars #2) by Tara Sim: After escaping the city of Moray, Amaya and Cayo head to the port city of Baleine to find the mysterious Benefactor and put a stop to the counterfeit currency that is spreading Ash Fever throughout the kingdoms.

The Reader by Traci Chee: Set in a world where reading is unheard-of, Sefia makes use of a mysterious object to track down who kidnapped her aunt Nin and what really happened the night her father was murdered.

A Reaper At the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir: Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger as the Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, Laia of Serra, and Elias Veturius all face increasing dangers.

Rebel (Legend #4) by Marie Lu: Brothers Eden and Daniel Wing struggle to accept who they’ve each become since their time in the Republic, but a new danger creeps into the distance that’s grown between them. Eden soon finds himself drawn so far into Ross City’s dark side, even his legendary brother can’t save him. At least not on his own.

Rebelwing by Andrea Tang: At a prestigious prep school, scholastic student Prudence Wu, who smuggles censored media in a futuristic North America divided by culture wars and becomes an unlikely revolutionary, after being imprinted by Rebelwing, a sentient cybernetic dragon.

Renegade Flight (Rebelwing #2) by Andrea Tang: Pilot-in-training Viola Park, a probationary student at GAN Academy, enters a mech combat tournament that becomes a fight for the future of Peacekeepers everywhere.

Rising Like a Storm (The Wrath of Ambar #2) by Tanaz Bhathena: Gul and Cavas must unite their magical forces―and hold onto their growing romance―to save their kingdom from tyranny.

The Righteous (The Beautiful #3) by Renée Ahdieh: Pippa Montrose is tired of losing everything she loves. When her best friend Celine disappears under mysterious circumstances, Pippa resolves to find her, even if the journey takes her into the dangerous world of the fae, where she might find more than she bargained for in the charismatic Arjun Desai.

The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee: The never-before-told backstory of Avatar Kyoshi, from a girl of humble origins to the merciless pursuer of justice who is still feared and admired centuries after she became the Avatar.

Rogue (Talon #2) by Julie Kagawa: Unable to forget the human boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, Ember is determined to save him from execution with the help of rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues.

Rogue Heart (Rebel Seoul #2) by Axie Oh: Two years after the Battle of Neo Seoul, telepath Ama must use her telepathic abilities to infiltrate the base of the Alliance’s new war commander, Alex Kim, her first love who betrayed her.

The Rose and the Dagger (Wrath and the Dawn #2) by Renee Adhieh: Unsure who to trust, Shahrzad takes matters into her own hands to try and break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

The Rose Society (Young Elites #2) by Marie Lu: Adelina Amouteru’s heart has suffered at the hands of both family and friends, turning her down the bitter path of revenge. Now known and feared as the White Wolf, she and her sister flee Kenettra to find other Young Elites in the hopes of building her own army of allies. Her goal: to strike down the Inquisition Axis.

Ruse (Want #2) by Cindy Pon: In near-future Shanghai where society is divided between the fabulously wealthy business elite and the masses they exploit, Jason Zhou must play a dangerous cat and mouse game with the ruthless CEO of an all powerful corporation which has an ever-growing choke hold on the polluted metropolis.

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim: In the city-state of Moray, Amaya, orphaned by a powerful merchant’s greed and condemned to seven years aboard a debtor’s ship, returns to seek revenge only to encounter the merchant’s son in this gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Serpentine by Cindy Pon: Although 16-year-old Skybright feels lucky to be the handmaid and companion to the daughter of a wealthy family, she is hiding a secret that threatens to destroy her position and her closest relationships.

Sacrifice (Serpertine #2) by Cindy Pon: When Zhen Ni discovers that her new husband, the strange and brutish Master Hou, may not be all he seems, Skybright and Stone must travel through the terrifying underworld to save her.

Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda & Valynne Maetani: Set in contemporary Japan, Shinto temple priestess Kira Fujikawa, must seek the aid of seven ruthless shinigami, in order to protect Kyoto from an ancient evil.

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells: Maren, desperate to save her kidnapped girlfriend Kaia, plans to steal one of the emperor’s dragons and storm the Aurati stronghold, but her success depends on becoming an apprentice to the mysterious dragon trainer, which proves to be a dangerous venture.

Talon by Julie Kagawa: In a world in which near-extinct dragons pass as humans to grow their numbers secretly, siblings Ember and Dante Hill prepare for destined positions in the world of Talon only to be hunted by a dragon-slaying soldier.

The Ship Beyond Time (Girl From Everywhere #2) by Heidi Heilig: Nix has escaped her past, but when the person she loves most is at risk, even the daughter of a time traveler may not be able to outrun her fate—no matter where she goes.

The Shadow Mission (The Athena Protocol #2) by Shamim Sharif: Jessie Archer faced down death to prove her dedication to Athena, the elite organization of female spies she works for. Now she’s back on the team, in time to head to Pakistan to take down the man whose actions spurred Athena’s founders to create the secretive squad.

The Shadow of Kyoshi (Kyoshi #2) by F.C. Yee: Kyoshi’s place as the true Avatar has finally been cemented. With her mentors gone, Kyoshi voyages across the Four Nations, struggling to keep the peace. But while her reputation grows, a mysterious threat emerges from the Spirit World. To stop it, Kyoshi, Rangi, and their reluctant allies must join forces.

Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa: Demons have burned the temple Yumeko was raised in to the ground, killing everyone within, including the master who trained her to both use and hide her kitsune shapeshifting powers. Yumeko escapes with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of a mysterious samurai, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. Yumeko knows he seeks what she has…and is under orders to kill anything and anyone who stands between him and the scroll.

Shadow Girl by Liana Liu: When Mei arrives at the beautiful home on Arrow Island, she can't help feeling relieved. She's happy to spend the summer tutoring a rich man's daughter if it means a break from her normal life. Yet she can't shake her fear that there is danger lurking in the shadows of this beautiful house, a darkness that could destroy the family inside and out...and Mei along with them.

Shadowsong (Wintersong #2) by S. Jae-Jones: Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother’s and her own musical careers. But when troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King—who he was, who he is, and who he will be.

Smoke in the Sun (A Flame in the Mist #2) by Renee Ahdieh: After Okami is captured in the Jukai forest, Mariko has no choice—to rescue him, she tricks her brother, Kenshin, and betrothed, Raiden, into thinking she was being held by the Black Clan against her will. But each secret Mariko unfurls gives way to the next, ensnaring her and Okami in a political scheme that threatens their honor, their love and very the safety of the empire.

Sisters of the Snake by Sasha & Sarena Nanua: an Indian-inspired fantasy where twins separated at birth—one now a princess, the other a street thief— must switch places in a bid to stop a catastrophic war that threatens to tear their kingdom apart.

Silver Phoenix (Kingdom of Xia #1) by Cindy Pon: With her father long overdue from his journey and a lecherous merchant blackmailing her into marriage, 17-year-old Ai Ling becomes aware of a strange power within her as she goes in search of her parent.

The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves #2) by Roshani Chokshi: Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but at a terrible cost. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God. Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into icy heart of Russia.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim: The Wild Swans meets East Asian fantasy where an exiled princess, Shiori, must unweave the curse that turned her brothers into cranes, assisted by her spurned betrothed, a mercurial dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic.

A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) by Sabaa Tahir: Laia of Serra is now allied with the Blood Shrike, Helen Aquilla. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory–or to an unimaginable doom.

Skyhunter by Marie Lu: Robbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows firsthand the brutality of the Federation. Their cruelty forced her and her mother to seek asylum in Mara. When a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye.

The Shadow Glass (Bone Witch #3) by Rin Chupeco: Bone witch Tea’s dark magic eats away at her, but she must save the one she loves most, even while her life—and the kingdoms—are on the brink of destruction.

Song of the Abyss (Towers of Wind #2) by Makiia Lucier: When menacing raiders attack her ship, navigator Reyna must use every resource at her disposal, including placing her trust in a handsome prince from a rival kingdom.

Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao: After cruelly rejecting Bao, the poor physician’s apprentice who loves her, Lan, a wealthy nobleman’s daughter, regrets her actions. After learning that Bao’s soul has been trapped inside a flute by a witch, Lan vows to make amends and help break the spell.

Soul of the Sword (Shadow of the Fox #2) by Julie Kagawa: As the paths of Yumeko and the possessed Tatsumi cross once again, the entire empire will be thrown into chaos.

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna: In this sci-fi retelling of the Mahabrahata, Esmae learns that the King of Wychstar is offering the unbeatable warship Titania to the winner of his competition and she sees her chance to return home and help her brother win back his kingdom.

The Speaker (Sea of Ink and Gold #2) by Traci Chee: Having barely escaped the clutches of the Guard, Sefia and Archer are back on the run, slipping into the safety of the forest to tend to their wounds and plan their next move.

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim: 17-year-old Maia Tamarin poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor, and embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses, from the sun, the moon, and the stars, with help from the mysterious court magician, Edan.

Spell Starter (Caster #2) by Elsie Chapman: Yes, Aza Wu now has magic back, but now she’s in the employ of the gang leader, St. Willow. Who soon decides that having Aza as a fighter is much more lucrative than as a fixer.

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar: Inspired by Hindu mythology, half-mortal, half-star Sheetal enters a celestial competition to save her human father’s life.

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi: Treated with scorn and fear in her father's kingdom because of a formidable horoscope, 16-year-old Maya commits herself to her education only to land in an arranged marriage that culminates in her sudden elevation to the throne, a situation that is threatened by dark secrets and Otherworldly magic.

Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Choski:Three lush and adventurous stories in the Star-Touched world.

Steelstriker (Skyhunter #2) by Marie Lu: After the fall of Mara, and with the fate of a broken world hanging in the balance, Talin and Red must reunite the Strikers and find their way back to one another.

Storm the Earth (Shatter the Sky #2) by Rebecca Kim Wells: Maren and her girlfriend Kaia set out to rescue Sev in Zafed, and free the dragons from the corrupt emperor.

The Storyteller (Sea of Ink and Gold #3) by Traci Chee: Sefia is determined to keep Archer out of the Guard’s clutches and their plans for war between the Five Kingdoms. As Sefia and Archer watch Kelanna start to crumble to the Guard’s will, they will have to choose between their love and joining a war that just might tear them apart.

Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan: In this steampunk fantasy set in Qing dynasty-inspired China, warrior girl Anlei teams up with a thief to save her village from shadow spirits, but after arriving at the Courts of Hell, a discovery challenges everything they know about who the real enemy is.

The Suffering (Girl From the Well #2) by Rin Chupeco: When an old friend disappears in Aokigahara, Japan's infamous 'suicide forest,' Tark and the ghostly Okiku must resolve their differences and return to find her. In a strange village inside Aokigahara, old ghosts and an ancient evil lie waiting.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong: In 1920s Shanghai, starcrossed heirs to rival gangs, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov, must work together to face a monster that hunts the city streets before the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War.

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: A fantasy about triplet sisters separated at birth, where one of the sisters will grow up to be queen of their magical island, but in order to ascend to the throne she must hone her magic for a dark purpose: assassinating her other two sisters before they kill her first.

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman: 15 bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.

A Thousand Fires by Shannon Price: In modern-day San Francisco where three gangs rule the city streets, half-Filipina teen Valerie Simons enters the Red Bridge Wars to seek vengeance for her younger brother’s death, but soon finds herself torn between old love and new loyalty.

The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala: In ancient India, soldier Kunal hunts the “Viper,” rebel girl Esha accused of killing his General, embarking on a dangerous cat and mouse game and where both must decide—loyalty to their old lives or to a love that’s made them dream of new ones.

Timekeeper by Tara Sim: set in an alternate Victorian era where clock towers control time, about a teen clock mechanic who is assigned to repair a damaged tower and finds himself falling in forbidden love with the boy he mistakes for his apprentice, but is actually the tower’s clock spirit, and whose life is threatened by a mysterious attacker planting bombs in clock towers across England.

A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir: Laia and Elias fight their way north to liberate Laia’s brother from the horrors of Kauf Prison. Hunted by Empire soldiers, manipulated by the Commandant, and haunted by their pasts, Laia and Elias must outfox their enemies and confront the treacherousness of their own hearts.

Two Dark Reigns (Three Dark Crowns #3) by Kendare Blake: A victorious Katharine sits on the throne, Mirabella and Arsinoe are in hiding, and an unexpected renegade is about to wage a war of her own. The crown has been won, but these queens are far from done.

Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of Stars #2) by Elizabeth Lim: With a war brewing, master tailor Maia Tamarin will stop at nothing to find her love Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.

Vicious Spirits (Gumiho #2) by Kat Cho: With the support of Somin and Junu, Miyoung and Jihoon might just have a shot at normalcy. But Miyoung is getting sicker by the day and her friends don’t know how to save her. With few options remaining, Junu has an idea but it might require the ultimate sacrifice and, let’s be honest, Junu isn’t known for his “generosity.”

Want by Cindy Pon: Set in a teeming, pollution choked Taipei which follows a group of teens living on the seedy fringes of a highly divided society that works only for the elite as they decide to risk everything to take down the powerful company which controls the city.

Warcross by Marie Lu: When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

Warrior (Dragon King Chronicles #2) by Ellen Oh: Kira, the yellow-eyed demon slayer of Hansong, continues her quest to find the lost treasures of the dragon king's prophecy, save her cousin, the prince, unite her kingdom, and defeat the demon lord

We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya #1) by Hafsah Faizal: In a world inspired by ancient Arabia, 17-year-old huntress Zafira must disguise herself as a man to seek a lost artifact that could return magic to her cursed world.

We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal: When Zafria, the Hunter, and Nasir, the Prince of Death both embark on a quest to uncover a lost magic artifact, they encounter an ancient evil long thought destroyed - and discover that the prize they seek may be even more dangerous this time.

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles: Showgirl Kallia, haunted by a dark past, must compete in a magician’s competition in order to secure her ambition and freedom from the handsome, enigmatic keeper of the club, Jack, even as mysterious accidents seem to plague her every move, while crossing paths with another talented magician, Demarco.

When Night Breaks (Kingdom of Hearts #2) by Janella Angeles: The competition has come to a disastrous end, and Daron Demarco’s fall from grace is now front page news. But little matters to him beyond Kallia, the contestant he fell for. With time running out, Kallia must embrace her role in a darker destiny.

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho: After 18-year-old Miyoung Gu, a nine-tailed fox surviving in modern-day Seoul by eating the souls of evil men, kills a murderous goblin to save Jihoon, she is forced to choose between her immortal life and his.

Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu: Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Knowing the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she is determined to put a stop to his plans.

The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad: A a multi-perspective feminist narrative about a fierce band of magic-wielding girls—the Wild Ones—who have collectively survived unspeakable things, and together are determined to save other girls from the cruelties and tragedies they’ve had to endure in their own past lives.

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones: After her sister is kidnapped by the Goblin King, Liesl journeys to the Underground and is faced with an impossible decision when she finds herself captivated by the strange world and its mysterious ruler.

Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco: A girl descended from Filipina mythological heroine Maria Makiling, finds herself caught up in a war between two fairy tale kingdoms, where the fate of Avalon is at stake.

Windborn by Mary Fan: With magicians hot on their trail, air nymph Kiri and magician’s apprentice Darien embark on a treacherous journey through dangerous lands to freedom.

World After (Penryn & The End of Days #2) by Susan Ee: Penryn's search for her kidnapped sister, Paige, leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans, while Raffe must choose between reclaiming his wings--and his role as the angels' leader--or helping Penryn survive.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Adhieh: In this reimagining of The Arabian Nights, Shahrzad plans to avenge the death of her dearest friend by volunteering to marry the murderous boy-king of Khorasan but discovers not all is as it seems within the palace.

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee: As 17-year-old Carr 'the Raptor' Luka rises to fame in the weightless combat sport of zeroboxing, he learns a devastating secret that jeopardizes not only his future in the sport, but interplanetary relations.

#authors of color #booklr #book recommendations #book recs #asian authors #yalit

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ironclawpoint · 3 years

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travis, jeane, and henry are shelter children: the abridged nmh3 headcanon for pals who havent killed the past

(and yeah there’s spoilers)

Who is Kamui?

In The Silver Case, Kamui Uehara is a legendary serial killer in Japan’s 24th Ward; he was arrested for the killings of several political figures in 1979 and suddenly broke out of prison and resumed activity in 1999. He notably had silver eyes. Plot twist: THIS IS A LIE, the 1979 Kamui and 1999 Kamui are different people (ish), and the No More Heroes Kamui is technically not this Kamui, even if he technically... is.

Danni, what the fuck.

Yeah man I know Kill the Past lore is fucked up.

How is this possible?

It’s a government conspiracy!!! The 1979 Kamui, also known as “Format” Kamui, had a personality type (obedient & with a lot of “criminal power” - aka capacity for chaos/destruction) that the Powers That Be determined would be really good for creating numerous controllable government sleeper agents to shift the balance of political power as they saw fit. This personality base was mass produced by imprinting it onto vulnerable young boys in the Shelters (Kamui Maspro) and later young girls (Ayame Maspro).

What’s a Shelter?

Horrible dystopian toddler reeducation bunker where young children were kidnapped, forced to do menial soul sucking tasks in a sterile environment, and reeducated before being subtly planted back into society as sleeper agents. Thousands of kids from the 24th Ward were taken. 1999 Kamui and NMH Kamui were both products of the Shelter. Specifically, NMH Kamui is the “ultimate” Kamui Uehara, having successfully absorbed the memories of previous Kamui consciousnesses to become a quasi-godlike meta-aware and fourth wall breaking being, in conjunction with the mysterious powers of the silver eye he had implanted into his socket, which also grants functional immortality...

DANNI WHAT THE FUCK

YEAH I KNOW BEAR WITH ME.

Isn’t that kind of like the Coburn Elementary stuff in Killer7?

IT SURE IS! Coburn and the development of Emir Parkreiner as a Japanese sleeper agent in American politics is quite close to Kamui/the Shelters. I also headcanon that Coburn is an American iteration of the 24th Ward’s Shelter Project, as, essentially, the government in both Killer7 and TSC are invested in controlling the population via (often violent) social engineering.

So how do Henry, Jeane, and Travis play into this?

As of NMH3, Henry has revealed that he and his siblings fled from their serial killer father and were captured and brainwashed into believing they had separate lives. In this headcanon, I posit that the three of them have been manipulated and influenced to become assassins due to whatever conditioning they received at this event, possibly at another Coburn-like project or facility. I’m undecided on whether the father who raised Travis / abused Jeane is their blood relative and the same as the serial killer or not, as it’s possible Travis and Jeane were returned to him after conditioning.

first of all HENRY HAS A FUCKED UP GREEN THIRD EYE LIKE EMIR. LIKE, LOOK AT IT.

NMH Kamui, in Travis Strikes Again, notes many similarities between himself and Travis: he has similar fourth-walling abilities to the type of being that Kamui has become and, like him, has a large amount of criminal power. On their own this doesn’t necessarily mean anything except travis fourth wall break kill real good, but combined with all the other heavy Kill the Past stuff we’ve seen and Henry’s backstory reveals, it’s not too tough to read into Travis having unknowingly developed into a being on the same level of existence as Kamui: in other words, a self-aware viewpoint for the player.

“Ayamestock” or “Kamuistock” characters, due to their conditioning, are often found in dangerous careers and think little of bloodshed; they are also usually being moved around like chess pieces by higher outside forces.

We don’t know what the hell the UAA or Sylvia is doing as of NMH3. The UAA was no longer false as of NMH2, but why do we still need this bureaucracy / to have the fights taped and widely circulated on the dark web as of TSA? Not to mention that Travis is an “above-ground” assassin while there’s an underground... tl;dr, I suspect Sylvia of manipulating Travis as a pawn, as she has since NMH1, in a way that might involve the Emerald Order and whatever figures were originally manipulating Travis/Jeane/Henry.

The siblings’ separation also fits neatly into the concept of the Shelters: at least one pair of siblings was separated via the Shelter Project, conditioned, then adopted into different families for the sake of spreading out that influence.

Travis has issues with unearthing suppressed memories (perhaps due to tampering?) in NMH3, plus Henry’s experiences with Mimmy in NMH2 suggest Henry does as well.

We don’t know much about Jeane, but “failed” Ayames and Kamuis -- those who didn’t take up the programming well enough -- are usually people on the fringes of society who aren’t placed anywhere influential and have to reckon with their latent violent tendencies some other way, ie CRIME and MURDERS. With her brothers as possible Kamuis, it’s possible she was an Ayame candidate as well, but remained an outcast due to her lack of compatibility. Ayames are also known for being purer / more given to bloodlust as the Ayame project, taking place after the Kamui one, had perfected the conditioning process-- see: the fact that she nearly took Travis out.

Finally: it would be cool and I like it.

#ty issa for helping me clarify this!!!

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glitterdragonthegreatprotector · 3 years

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Behind the slaughter

This is for the ask game right?

Behind The Slaughter: Who killed kids? William or something/someone else?

In my AU, William was the host to two entities. The player, and Chara.

Players pick beings that are DETERMINED enough to bend time to their will, while Chara looks for someone they can manipulate into murdering people. Chara and the player are in a symbiotic relationship. Chara makes Genocide routes easier for players (healing hosts over time, keeping the "game" interesting by narrating and describing things to the player, giving them options when they complete a route, etc.). While players get the L.O.V.E Chara needs to survive. Being the demon of Genocide, they need to eat that energy. They can't mass feed from murders around the world, because demons like Chara need their "parent/s" to feed. Both humans they were born from have been dead for centuries. So they now go from partner to partner, feeding on the L.O.V.E they gain.

William is an unwilling killer in my AU, having started as a child, and had stopped shedding blood when he became a monster underground. But there's another host after him, that ends up going back in time and stealing his kills.

His child Frisk, ends up being Chara and the player's next host. After killing everyone in the underground, Chara gives the player the option to finish what they started, by giving Frisk Afton's old save file. Not only does frisk end of up killing the MCI kids, but they kill the bullies, everyone in town, all the animatronics, and then takes their Genocide across the earth, killing everyone that gets in their way. Frisk ends up killing literally everyone in this timeline that I call "True Genocide". Humans, animatronics, monsters, animals, demons, angels. No one is safe from the destruction. In a kingdom of blood, oil, and bodies, Frisk becomes the last person they can kill, before starting the world again.

#fnaftale #underverse #fnaf au #undertale au #underfazverse #crying child #frisk the human #william afton #king afton #king william #frisk afton

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vagueandamorphous · 4 years

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I just think Killer and Color are interesting foil-ish characters of each other and that’s a part of why I like their dynamic so much.

(Maybe I misunderstood/misremembered something but from what I currently know)

Both of their ‘arcs’ begin with a choice in response to repeated Kill Everything routes. In Color’s case he resorts to taking and absorbing the 6 souls in the jars and it works, kinda. || Killer can’t find a way out, and it continues until he’s so desensitized he can’t feel anything in response. His Chara then starts giving him the choice to kill alongside them, and between the type of coercion and how long it goes on for, it almost isn’t one. So it also works, kinda.

Color absorbs the 6 souls, ends up with all the known soul traits except Determination, but also trapt in his void unable to directly interact with the underground he protected. || When Killer’s soul mutates he ends up with enough Determination that he can steal control of his timeline from Chara, and does. The cycle of resets and death keep going, it’s just changed hands.

Color is forgotten by his underground, including his brother. He’s like his Gaster, from what people know he doesn’t exist. || Killer’s creator once posted something about how Killer leaving makes his timeline into a normal UT timeline except the sans is gone. Everyone remembers him, his brother keeps looking, he’s just gone.

While Color was in his void, he had not that much to do but talk to his Gaster and watch everyone else go on without him. At least until things start going wrong again. || Killer ended up developing psychosis during his stay in his timeline so he’s dealing with hallucinations of the people he knew even after he left. (Basically Color was stuck outside of what/who he knew, Killer left them behind and they followed. Weird comparison, but it makes sense to me.)

From what I can tell Color has taken initiative and control of his own life outside of his timeline. I vaguely remember something about him working together with Epic and Delta (may have stopped or I just misremembered), not saying everything is great for him now but his choices seem to mostly be his own. || For someone who has so much Determination, Killer isn’t great at being in control of his own life. In his AT he’s living up to what Chara wanted from him. He’s killing and repeat. Goes to work for Nightmare? He’s a tool to help spread negativity, and if he starts to go soft his boss can manipulate his soul to keep him line. And why would he want to stop? Isn’t this what the player wants?

^^^ Theory/wild guessing about why: Maybe it’s Killer has more drive, but lets other people decide where he’s going. Old habits and such right? Color may not have much DT, but he has stuff like Perseverance and Courage to back him up, and he actually knows where he wants to go. Believes he’s the right person to make that choice. Or that he’s supposed to be pushing back on some level, he’s canceling out some of his DT on himself?? It’s at least partially the version of him that’s been in control just wants more interesting chances at doing a violence tho. IDK

((Minor and not really related to being foils BUT: Killer’s apparently really interested in ‘studying’ souls, whatever that means. Something to do with stage 4??? He seems mostly interested in human ones, and Color has absorbed several of them. Worried theory that when Killer says he wants Color to kill him if he sees him at stage 3, it has something to do with that.))

Long list and mostly for me, but foils are interesting in general and I like this as a set of. Might add more to this later on.

#not tagging because its mostly for my interest and not clogging the tags

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randomnotesofmyown · 4 years

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Urasawa’s Monster (43-44)

Episode 43 - Detective Suk (Or. world crumbled)

Detective Suk at the basement where three bodies were found. He was unprepared for the scene and vomited.

Later that night, Suk went to a bar to meet with his friends, he vowed to avenge Zeman, a person he respected from the bottom of his heart. His friends tried to excuse themselves but Suk asked them to stay and drink some more with him. Then he spotted the blonde girl he had a crush on, so he walked over and started chatting, about himself, about his boss who got killed, about what he would definitely do. Then, realizing he knew nothing about the girl in front of him, Suk asked her name. She said she didn't really know, the only things she knew were the Cedok Bridge and the three frogs. Then she left.

Next day, at a briefing session at the police station, an absent-minded Suk was called out. After work, Suk went to the same bar, the blonde girl from the day before seated next to him. After Suk started talking about the first witness of the murders of an unlicensed orphanage, she asked questions about that witness. While describing what that witness looked like, Suk figured something and he made a call. The blonde girl left the bar while Suk was on the phone. When he finished the call and stepped outside the bar, the blonde girl was already nowhere to be seen. Then Suk recalled the Cedok Bridge and the three frogs, and he started running.

He found the three frogs, and said to himself that he would meet the girl again if he showed up there. Then, at the sounds of footsteps, Suk turned and saw a man (Dr. Temma). Suk walked away from the three frogs sign as Dr. Temma walked toward it.

Next day, Suk arrived at the hotel where Grimmer stayed but was told that Grimmer checked out in the morning two days ago. Certain that Grimmer was the killer, Suk blamed himself for not realizing it earlier.

As Suk walked out of the room, he saw fellow detective Patera at the door. Patera told Suk to keep the case a secret, because

When Patera told Suk about the secret investigation Zeman was working on, he only turned his head but not his body, probably a signal of Patera saying something untrue or he had something to hide. Anyway, he only turned to face Suk when he warned the young detective that he could get himself killed if he got too involved.

Patera then asked Suk if he had a girlfriend. Embarrassed, Suk said no, she was just a blonde girl he saw at a bar. And Patera asked where the bar was.

At the bar, Patera approached the blonde girl, and started by saying that Suk wasn't coming.

Another next day, Suk became agitated that Patera did go to the bar...

Because Patera was known for being a player.

Inside the office, Patera produced a bag of whiskey bonbon that someone gave him and if anyone wanted some.

Suk was told to pack Zeman's personal belongings and send them to his wife. He found a gym locker key in his boss's drawer. He opened the locker, found lots of dirty shirts and a file folder in it. Suk flipped open the folder and realized that was a personnel record. Then, recalling what Patera said about secret police, Suk became curious why info of Patera and Janacek were not included in that folder.

Then, Suk found something else.

It was a pile of 5000-dollar notes.

Suk brought those notes to the police chief, who in turn asked Suk what he made of the things he found in Zeman's locker.

A few moments of silence, the police chief said it was a very alarming problem.

The knowledge that the person he looked up to turned out to have taken illicit money was devastating for Suk, his voice broke as he said it was unfortunate...

The chief cut off Suk's thoughts by telling him not to say anything about the discovery.

Later at night, the police chief, Patera and Janacek had a private meeting.

Janacek said he wanted a drink, Patera produced that bag of whiskey bonbon, saying that it was given to him by a hot chick. And the three men each took one.

At the bar, Suk told the blonde girl about his discovery of what Zeman did.

Suk told the blonde girl that he could only find peace in her now.

Inside the police station, the police chief, Patera and Janacek died.

End of episode 43.

Episode 44 - double darkness (or, tricked)

News reporters were on scene at the police station, and as soon as they spotted Suk, they started bombarding him with questions. A more senior police officer stepped in, told the reporters that Suk was in charge of something else. He asked Suk to go and then told the reporters to wait for the notice of an official presser.

Suk at an orphanage requesting to talk with the children about the Petrov case. He was given 15 minutes per child.

The first child Suk interviewed was asked about the relationship between Grimmer and Petrov, the content of their conversation. And that boy recalled fragments like "education", "experiment", and "kinderheim 511".

Every child said Grimmer was a nice man.

When it was Antonin's turn, he stated outright that Grimmer was not the killer.

Antonin met up with Grimmer and gave his back the item he entrusted him. Then the kids played a soccer game with Grimmer.

Suk approached Grimmer.

Suk expressed his uncertainty on who he could trust.

Grimmer's reply...

Before he left, Grimmer placed something in Suk's hand and said it was a deposit box key.

At the three frogs, Dr. Temma asked people about the background of the sign. A man recalled that a beautiful woman with her child lived there. She was using an alias. One day she and her child were taken away in a black car.

After that, a fire broke out in what people assumed to be a vacant room. And people found a child inside it. The child went missing after being saved from the fire.

Hanging out at the bar with the blonde girl, Suk talked about things on his mind following the death of Zeman, what he discovered about the secret police agents who went underground, and Grimmer entrusted him with something.

Suk walked the blonde girl home and they continued talking. The blonde girl asked Suk what Grimmer entrusted him with.

A key to a safe deposit box.

The blonde girl told Suk to not tell anyone about it or he would put himself in danger. Then, before she ran off, the blonde girl said her name was Anna Liebert.

Anna walked back, greeting anyone she saw along the way. In her room, Anna removed the wig, washed away make up and revealed his true identity: Johan.

End of episode 44.

Comment: in a way similar to his dealing with Karl in episode 27, Johan, disguised as Anna, won over the trust of Suk, whose similarities with Karl were perhaps blindly obvious to Johan the observant manipulator.

Both Karl and Suk were young, unsophisticated, and they were both disappointed in a significant other. Johan picked up these and used them to extract the piece of information he needed. From Karl, the material evidence that could prove his identity; from Suk, the item Grimmer entrusted him with.

And similar to Dr. Temma back in episode 2, Suk became disillusioned with his supervisors. And in perfect parallel with what happened to Dr. Temma's supervisors, Suk's bosses got killed by poisonous candies.

Perhaps the introduction of Suk marked the replay of events with huge, life-changing significance and the beginning of the end of Johan? In Death Note, an anime series similar to this, two phases could be identified: Yagami vs. L and Yagami vs. Near + Mello.

Then, did a similar pattern exist in Monster?

#urasawa naoki #monster

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laurens-lil-fics · 6 years

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Hallucinate - Matt Murdock x Powered! Reader Part 7

Series Summary: When members of a criminal organization start flooding precincts all over New York, turning themselves in, Daredevil must investigate to see what new player has them running for the hills.

Chapter Summary: (Y/n) finds out the truth and Matt tries to get her back before it’s too late.

Word Count: 2621

Warnings: angst, violence, mentions of needles.

Author’s note: We got one more chapter! Don’t worry, it’s much more wholesome than this lmao

By the time Daredevil returned, (Y/n) had made herself comfortable on his couch. She was rubbing her legs, grunting in pain as she tried to massage the cramps away.

He felt her glance in his direction, stopping what she was doing as she watched him approach. Once he sat on the opposite end of the couch she continued massaging her legs.

“Do you remember what happened...?” he asked, resting his elbows on his knees.

She stopped once again, staring off in a random direction. She was silent for a moment or two, thinking over the events of the past week, before shaking her head slightly.

“Not really...” she answered, digging her fingers into her thighs under her dress. “I remember bits and pieces. Getting caught at my motel, getting strapped down then-”

She grew silent again.

“Then...?” Daredevil asked, hoping for her to continue.

(Y/n) slowly looked up at him, her tongue darting over her lips. “You came for me...” she whispered, almost to herself. “You took care of me...”

He slowly nodded, his leg bouncing anxiously as she seemed to be studying him closer than she ever had. “I did... I needed to keep you safe until I got Blum and his buddies behind bars...”

She brushed her fingers over her temples, feeling the tiny scabs where the needles once penetrated her skin.

“Do you feel different?” He remembered how the lab tech he interrogated mentioned how they used a degenerative form of the serum on her this time around. If there had been any changes they would have known by now, at least that's what he thought.

“I feel exhausted... other than that, not really...” she trailed off, opting to look around his apartment rather than at him.

“I know what they did to you... and I know why...” he began, his statement failing to get her looking his way. “We can still do this the right way... I gave the police enough evidence to put Blum in prison for the rest of his life. And best of all it’ll come at no risk to you.”

“Fuck the risk.” she stated simply, slowly getting up and shaking off her legs. “You know what they did, you know he deserves to die. Even if it’s just him, he deserves it.”

Daredevil quickly stood up and gently took hold of her arms. “(Y/n) it’s too dangerous. We don’t know if the serum affected you in any way, you could get yourself killed.”

(Y/n) chuckled lowly, slowly pulling away from his grasp. “There it is again... you know my name...”

Daredevil huffed in frustration, making another move towards her only for her to press her hand to his chest.

“No... How did they know to find me here? How did Blum know to send his killer to this building?” She questioned, stepping away from him.

He shrugged. “I-I don’t know, maybe they followed me here? Decided to strike when they knew you were here and alone-”

“That’s not it.” she cut him off, slowly pointing a finger at him. “No... they bided their time, but they didn’t follow you...”

Matt slowly felt an energy begin to envelope him, causing him to be the one to step away this time. “(Y/n), don't.”

“Who are you?” she murmured, holding her open palm towards him.

“Don’t.” he protested, feeling the energy prod at his head. “Don’t do this...”

“Don’t make me...”

Before Matt could make a move, (Y/n) lunged forward and gripped his helmet, fighting with him to get it off. He tried his best to push her back, get her away from him, but he could feel his energy begin to drain just as it had the first night they met.

(Y/n) stumbled away from him, helmet in hand. Her breathing hastened, and Matt felt her glancing back and forth between him and his helmet.

“You... You were the last person they saw me with...” she murmured, gripping the helmet tighter. “Of course they came here...”

She flung the helmet aside and turned away from Matt. She clutched at her chest before stepping away from him and leaning against the wall. She slowly hung her head and sniffled softly.

Matt licked his lips before taking a cautious step towards her.

“I’m sorry...” he apologized, reaching a hand out towards her. “I lied to you... I just wanted to keep you safe.”

(Y/n) sniffled once more, wiping the moisture from her cheeks. “You wanted to keep me safe... so you lie? You lie and make me...”

“That wasn’t the original plan... I thought if I kept you close I could-”

“YOU LIE!” she barked, an energy throwing him against the wall at the opposite end of the room. “You manipulated me, just like him!”

Matt struggled against her hold, “(Y/n), I didn’t mean-”

“YOU BE QUIET NOW!” she shouted, slowly walking towards him. “You didn’t mean for me to find out! You were afraid of me, you had no reason to be afraid of me!”

“I-I’m not!” he objected, feeling his body press harder against he brick wall. “I was- I was at first! But then I got to know you, I know who you are now, (Y/n)-”

“You don’t know me, you are just like Blum! You want to control what you don’t know!” She now stood directly in front of him, “Well now I control you!”

Matt slowly crumpled to the floor, the energy dissipating as (Y/n) turned away from him and made her way towards his door. “You stay here... Once I’m finished with Blum, I’m coming back for you.”

Matt began to call out to her, choking on her name as he heard her bare feet pad their way out of his apartment, then out the front door of the building, until he couldn’t hear them.

He struggled to regain his energy, he forced himself to crawl towards his helmet with what little power he had left. Once it was on, he slowly sat up and began to meditate, to focus on his core and his energy.

Once he had regained enough to chase after (Y/n), he would. He didn’t have much time.

Matt reflected on the events of the past two weeks, meeting (y/n) at the docks then meeting her at Josie’s the next night.

Deep down he wished he had just approached her as Daredevil and only Daredevil. He wouldn’t have hurt her otherwise. He thought he was being smart. He thought this was the best way.

Her words replayed over and over in his head: You want to control what you don’t know.

Deep down he knew that was true. He never saw (Y/n) as anything more to a threat to his city, he had been trying to play her, until their last night together as Matt Murdock and (Y/n) (L/n). What a load of good that last night did him.

He had to find her, had to talk to her. If he couldn’t stop her from killing Blum, then he could at least try to stop her from harming herself.

Matt stumbled his way towards the third of the facilities Mr. Mackie had told him about. He almost fell off a couple buildings on his way there, but that was bound to happen if someone telepathically drained your energy.

He could hear her inside, on the last floor of the underground facility. He could feel her.

He slowly approached the building. He earned his first warning, and the windows of the warehouse above shattered, the pieces blowing out into the streets. Matt shielded himself, quickly running inside to escape the raining destruction.

The elevator had been destroyed, ripped open and crushed at the bottom floor. Matt huffed in frustration before grabbing the cable of the elevator and slowly shimmying down it. He moaned and groaned in pain, struggling to keep himself from plummeting to the ground floor.

He winced as the energy grew thick, like a fog, as he got to the third floor.

There were still three more floors to go, but the smell of death had him jumping from the cables to investigate. Death and Chemicals.

Though none of the people on that floor were dead, they were close to it. They didn’t have a lot of time.

Matt approached the room where the smell was the strongest, making his way to a table in the center of the room, sniffing after the smell of the serum he vaguely recognized. He heard the four IV bags beside the table, all empty. One needle shared two bags, Matt slowly picked it up, the smell of (Y/n)’s flesh heavy on it.

“All those guards were a real drag till I got down here.” (Y/n)’s voice echoed through the halls. Matt turned back towards the hallway. "I got my new juice.”

He pressed on, back towards the elevator to climb to the sixth floor.

“You were too eager to wait for me?”

“(Y/n) I know this isn’t you...” Matt grunted, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. “It’s the serum... it’s fucking with your head.”

“Maybe I really want you dead and you’re not as charming as you think?” The cable he clung to shook at this, causing him to tighten his grip.

“I get that you’re angry...” he reasoned, “but I’d like to think I got to know you at least enough to know you don’t want to kill anyone.”

The cable shook harder, and Matt began to shimmy faster in hopes that he couldn’t break his leg from being thrown off. “A-at least that’s why no one up there is dead!”

“I told you...” she growled, “that no one but Blum had to die... You’d know that if you listened to me.”

He gingerly stepped onto the elevator, climbing through the grate and landing inside. “Yeah... yeah you’re right about that.” he chuckled awkwardly. “I want to listen now, though...”

“The time for listening is over, Red.”

The energy was almost suffocating on the bottom floor. Again, no one was dead, but he could just feel her intent to kill.

She was in the room at the end of the hall, that’s all she’d allow his senses to pick up.

Matt slowly approached it, worried what his radar would pick up once he opened the door. (Y/n) gave no warning, no threat, she was going to let him waltz in. And that scared him.

He held his breath. And opened the door.

His radar immediately picked up (Y/n) levitating in the middle of the room, her back to him. She was facing Blum, who was currently retrained by the metal beams and steel rebar the kept the structure standing. The larger beams wrapped around his limbs, keeping him at eye level with her.

The rebar, well, the rebar stuck through his hands, shoulders, and legs. A little added pain for (Y/n)’s pleasure. The blood and the sound of Blum’s muscles straining against he metal had Matt’s stomach churning.

“(Y/n)!” he called. She didn’t turn towards him. He called again, but she refused to look his way.

“I told you, no more talking, Red.” She said calmly. Her fingers twitched, and with them the rebar squirmed, earning a howl of pain from Blum, followed by some curses.

“Is this really what you had in mind for killing him?” Daredevil asked, stepping towards her. “It’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Well, I’m dramatic.”

Daredevil sighed at this, trying to ignore the energy poking and prodding at him. “I guess you’re right... remember when you ate that slice of pizza? You said it was like fire, but I could smell the peppers were pretty tame...” he offered, hoping that could catch her attention.

“You could smell that?” she scoffed, continuing to move the bars.

“Yeah... I could also hear your heartbeat... how it’s even more irregular than usual, probably all that crap you put in your system.”

She tilted her head in his direction at this.

“I could hear the strain on it... how if you push yourself any more you’ll die... All for this piece of shit.” He explained, listening as (Y/n) turned to fully face him.

“All the better for you and your city.” She spat.

Daredevil slowly shook his head at her. “No... you can help me make this city better. You can start by letting the cops take this asshole and all these other assholes to prison...”

(Y/n) looked at Blum, the energy around them shifting, weakening. This allowed Daredevil to step closer to her. He brushed his hand over hers, but she quickly pulled back.

“You lied to me!” she shouted, almost trying to remind herself what he had done. “You lied to me and manipulated me, why should I trust you?!”

Matt bit his lip at this. She didn’t have to have him in her hold to have him frozen in place, the weight of his own actions was enough.

“You have every right not to trust me... you’re right...” he admitted. He listened as her heart rate quickened. His hands took hold of his helmet and he pulled it over his head, forgetting about Blum and forgetting about his identity. All that mattered was him showing (Y/n) how much she meant to him.

“But don’t punish yourself for what I’ve done...” he let the helmet fall to the ground. “I lied to you... I hurt you... I controlled you so you wouldn’t hurt anybody, and I was wrong... But none of that is your fault... none of this is your fault...”

(Y/n) shifted uncomfortably in front of him, unsure of what to do with herself as Matt gingerly held her hands.

“Blum made you think everything that’s happened to you is your fault... but he’s wrong... You don’t have to punish yourself for his actions... You can just rest...”

(Y/n) looked him up and down, “And I guess you want me to rest where you can watch me...? Make sure I don’t explode?”

Matt shook his head, “No... not unless you want me there, helping you as much as I can... Say the word and you’ll never see me again... you just have to promise me you’ll get some help...”

She slowly relaxed, her feet finding their way to the ground. “They hurt me...” she croaked, lungs constricting as she tried to hold back her tears.

He nodded. “They did... we did... and I give you my word, we’ll never do that again...”

(Y/n) shook against him before collapsing into his arms, hugging his waist. “I-It doesn’t feel good... It’s in my head, Matt...” she sobbed into his red suit.

“I know, I know... we’ll get you to a doctor, but first we need to get you out of here.” Matt said, slowly stroking her back.

“Mr. Murdock...?” the mention of his name had Matt tilting his head in Blum’s direction.

The man chuckled through the pain, watching the two separate from their embrace. “Good... she’ll be needing a good lawyer once I’m out of this...”

“No.” (Y/n) said, wiping her tears. She stepped towards him, levitating once more in front of him.

“You promised your boyfriend you wouldn’t kill me...” Blum warned, his tone smug.

“No I didn’t...” (Y/n) murmured, slowly raising her hands to his head. “You’re not going to die... you’re just going to forget.”

She cupped his head in her hands and Matt knelt to retrieve his mask. Blum glanced at him, only to see the Devil smirking at him.

“I’m going to put you in the same hole you threw me in... and you won’t claw your way out like I did...” (Y/n) whispered.

All the energy that once hung in the air blew past Matt, right into Blum. Matt heard his screams. Then nothing.

Tag list:

@sisterwinchesterwriter

#Matt Murdock #Matthew Murdock #matthew murdock x reader #matt murdock x reader #Daredevil #daredevil x reader #Daredevil series #Hallucinate series

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leonhaxor · 6 years

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Hello, yes, welcome to a Deltarune Theory

So, we all know how Gaster was the royal scientist for King Dreemurr. Built his greatest creation, the CORE - which we know that is a massive power source - and that Gaster famously "fell into his creation." Most interpreters thin it's the CORE he fell into, but it's not exactly elaborated upon. We also know what whatever he fell into, he basically became a glitch in the system of UNDERTALE's reality.

Do we really know HOW his CORE works, though?

The CORE was Gaster's greatest creation. Which, as far as we ever knew, was an absolutely MASSIVE energy reactor that provided power to all of the Underground. These are the facts here. Judging by all the lava, it'd be safe to say the power source was geothermal in origin.

The thing is, as far as 'greatest creations' go, this seems a little bit... too mundane. Yes, it's massive. Yes, it looks like Shadow Moses and Hollow Bastion had a lovechild (the castle in KH1, not the variant with an actual town around it). Yes, the overworld theme there is a banger. But at the end of the day it's still a glorified power plant. To his credit, it's unknown how long it actually took him to make it, as well as the implied time period they were sealed away being at least around Medieval Times, if not further back.

But even then... what about the CORE could shatter Gaster's existence across time and space (assuming it was the creation at all)?

Monsters can die to a lot of the same things any other living being can die to. There might be certain allowances, based on what kind of monster they were. If the CORE was geothermal in nature, if a fire elemental was to fall into its workings... well, barring the "drop of water in an ocean" possibility, it's highly likely they'd survive intimate contact with such high levels of heat. A monster that may or may not be a skeleton, like Gaster is widely believed to be? Probably has a melting point.

With the heavy implications that his fall into the CORE spread his essence across time and space, and the specific attention to getting those details across... would a fall into a mere geothermal reactor, no matter how large, actually spread one's being across existence in such an anomalous manner? What would set it apart from dying in literally any other part of the Underground, where monsters turn to dust instead?

As we have seen in both UNDERTALE and deltarune, a Fall is an *incredibly important thing*. Chara/The First Human fell into the underground, arguably fucking up everyone as badly (if not more so) than the human wizards of old who trapped monsters in the Underground. The six human children that came after did the exact same thing, leaving only their SOULs and their gear behind for Asgore and Frisk, respectively, to use. Frisk... well, they too fell into the Underground, and gave us the means to interact with that world.

What do monsters call dying of old age in their culture? Falling down. You know who also did this by the time we're in Chapter 1 of deltarune? Gerson. There’s a book in the The one person alive who knew what the delta rune was, and who has been getting an awful lot of mention for a dead turtle, but I'll get to that later. Note that there was a distinct difference in the way that it was described for Gaster - he “fell into his own creation,” but he did not “fall down.” Humpty Dumpty might have been pushed.

But the point is, Gaster's own fall is fascinating because like in the context of the human children's falls, his Fall marked a beginning of a story (most obviously, Alphys', but I'm not sure that's where it ends), and the context of an end (such as Gerson's fall in deltarune, and his posthumous reverence by the community that he was from, much like the Followers do).

...so, what exactly might be the cause for Gaster's non-existence, regarding the CORE itself? How exactly did any of that end up being relevant?

Let's talk about deltarune's story for a second.

Recall that the Knight has been referred to by Spade King in crimson text... which, if you recall, is rather similar in color to that of the human SOUL in Kris.

But what kind of creature could this Knight be, to fight the Spade King and instill such profound loyalty within this monarch? When he is so powerful, so cunning, so ruthless, as we see him in his boss battle (as well as indirectly, though his effect on the Darkners' Kingdom)? What if I told you...

Ahem.

Jokes aside, we do have to consider what kind of monster this Knight would have to be, one with the power to create the Holy Fountains. One that we haven't actually seen onscreen, and have heard even less of than King. Except... we might actually have seen someone, or rather something, that DOES have ties with the Knight, or at least his ability to manipulate the Fountains.

Kris.

Or rather, their SOUL.

Or even more specifically... a SOUL that we simply control.

Let's walk back a bit from the stinger, and work our way from there.

Here's a picture from the final scene we have so far in the Dark World, specifically of the “fountain” that we encounter.

If you are viewing this in-game, the pattern is constantly scrolling diagonally, along the same line but in different directions. If you pay attention to it, you'll see this strange symbol that looks like a chinese fingertrap with spades on the ends.

Now take a look at this picture from the vessel creation screen. It’s been taken from just before the other menu items appear, for maximum clarity.

Note how, while there is a constant rippling effect from the center, not unlike water in a pool, we can clearly see that there is a shape being distorted.

One that bears a striking resemblance to that of the fountain itself.

Both times we see this pattern, texture, whatever you prefer calling it... there is a brief interval where we see it, before a *Red SOUL* is seen in the center of it. And, directly afterwards, we are shown a white light that encompasses the entire screen, before we are brought into the World of Light.

Curiously, in the earlier variant, the screen turns white from the center x-axis and outwards, where the second one turns white from the center y-axis and outwards. Not entirely sure of the significance of the differing choice in axis, but I think it has something to do with the context of each entry. The first is our entry into the game, or rather the prologue, while the latter is our entry into the epilogue.

I believe that the former is representative of the SOUL's entry into the CORE, while the latter is representative of it returning from the depths of the Dark World.

Yes, you read that right.

I believe that the entirety of this game take place inside the CORE.

Between the curious reactions to entering his name into either of the inputs, along with all of the references to sounds and words associated with him, most people think Gaster is the narrator in the opening sequence. Or Chara, according to @Squigglydigg's initial theories playing the game. But while that'd be interesting to explore, I'll have to go a third route for the moment, as I believe there is more evidence to back this idea up.

I might as well address the name input easter eggs before I go farther. Neither "Frisk" nor "Chara" happen to elicit any sort of unique response from the narrator whatsoever. If you name Gaster as the Vessel, the program soft resets. But if you name him as the Creator... it shuts down immediately, before you can truly enter the "R."

I believe that this narrator we are introduced to is actually a program designed by Gaster himself, made to oversee the CORE's operations.

If Gaster is named as the creator of this vessel, the program crashes. Note that this name is also used as that of the SAVE file's profile. As far as we know so far, the vessel's name is inconsequential. It's been hypothesized that this vessel will become relevant in later chapters, but it is unclear if and how it would actually be used.

My current thoughts as to what the creator has to do with this program... is that whoever is actually using the program is in some form of VR simulation. One that, as suggested by the cage at the end of the chapter, is meant to trap the player. I’ll get more into how it tries to do so in the next part of my hypothesis.

I haven’t forgotten about the "Chara" figure at the end of the chapter. I think this is actually a clue to the true identity of the Knight, or at least the World of Light's equivalent. Recall that the one in the Dark World is never seen, but is able to summon the Holy Fountains of Darkness. King, in his fight, has an odd hatred for Kris specifically, calling them the specific name of "Lightbringer" for the first and only time so far in the game. Picture the act of what the Knight *does*, bringing forth a fountain of shadows from the Earth. When Kris stands before that castle fountain, it erupts into light (and is presumably destroyed, but then again, we don’t actually see the aftermath of this action).

The Knight is implied to be obscenely powerful, in both conventional combat and enough to create dark fountains, enough to make King into a willing and eager servant. If we look back at UNDERTALE's genocide route, we see Flowey (who in terms of power and personality greatly resembles King) eagerly supporting "Chara" in their slaughtering of the Underground. And, by the time we have defeated Sans, we've made them into a truly unstoppable killing machine. Note how the Knight's colortext has a unique red and black gradient effect, representing their ties to the darkness while also bringing to mind the infamous red text that accompanied our player-made killer's thoughts. Thoughts laid out in simpler text rendering, but noticably brighter hue than that associated with the Knight.

Also recall the words of Seam the Shopkeeper, should you defeat Jevil. He heavily implies that Jevil is only a taste of what is to come, that later enemies will be even more powerful than that reality warping madman. In the world of UNDERTALE, what has proven more powerful than a human with high LV?

Apart from human error... not much comes to mind, honestly.

In the next part of my Game Theory(TM), I’ll be going over what I think Ralsei’s part to play in all of this really is, as well as what the CORE actually *does* to generate power for the Underground.

#deltarune #game theory #squigglydigg #because some of what she said in her stream of the game got me thinking about things from another angle #which i will get into soon #but this post is kind of goddamn long as it is

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diceprophet · 7 years

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Pathfinder Session Zero Notes

Adventure: “Living Weapons” [SOFT REBOOT]

I’ve been meaning to reboot my Pathfinder game for some time now. Unfortunately, we’ve been on hiatus for over half a year, so all of us forgot how to play with the complicated ruleset. Thus, we opted for a flashback one-off in order to re-acquaint ourselves with the game! After some consideration, we decided to elaborate upon the backstory of one of our main characters: a reformed bandit named Velnor! This was not a pretty story...

Part 1: Unpleasant Upbringing

Velnor was raised as one of many bastard children of a warlord simply referred to as Revanant. This mysterious figure was the undisputed leader of a ruthless mercenary group known as the Spider Eyes Marauders. Despite his parentage, Velnor received no form of special treatment or endearment from his father, and was cast into a life of brutal violence from a very young age.

By age nine, Velnor was grouped into a squad. His new partners were all orphans, outcasts, and former slaves, and included the likes of Kai the human monk, Ty the half-elf druid, and Elton the half-orc barbarian. Every day these children were pushed beyond the limits of their strength and endurance, gradually honing them into cold-blooded killers.

Part 2: Wilderness Explorers

Although the four were barely acquainted with one another, they were quickly forced to rely upon each other to survive. With barely any preparation, they were abandoned in the wilderness and given two simple objectives: survive and find their way back to the encampment.

The druid Ty (and his temperamental snake, Ger) proved to be a massive boon in locating a source of fresh water. Later that day, Elton also demonstrated his battle-lust in how he fearlessly charged an elk nearly three times his size. The quartet managed to whittle down their prey’s health until the monk Kai descended upon its head with a skull-shattering axe kick.

The four ate their hearty meal in general silence around a campfire. Every now and then, someone would speak up, but conversations usually went nowhere. Velnor repeated to himself the most important lesson that his father had taught him: “A good soldier follows all orders.” Ty played with his snake Ger, and they two appeared to be inseparable. Kai meditated and remained calm, despite their dire circumstances. Finally, Elton fidgeted with his weapon, eagerly awaiting for another chance to experience the thrill of combat.

Elton’s prayers were answered as the crew followed the path back to the camp. A pair of starved and mangy wolves emerged from the shadows and attacked, and the party met them head-on in a confrontation of steel and tooth. Velnor almost fell in the battle after being grievously injured in the leg, but he persisted and fought valiantly. Once the party returned from the ordeal, they realized that the wolves had been secretly kept in the camp and deprived of food; the creatures had been released by their trainers once they had braved the wilderness, and were but another cruel test.

Part 3: Target Acquired

After surviving the initiation, all four children were tattooed with the insignia of the Spider Eyes. The symbol was an indicator of their ultimate allegiance. It also housed a sinister and yet-to-be-known magical spell. Their masters gave them explicit instructions to refrain from invoking the magical tattoo until they encountered their target, or they would meet a grisly demise.

They’re first mission was to infiltrate Aelindorg Village and assassinate a half-elf paladin named Aeris Valenya. She had stolen a ring with a red jewel from the organization, and they wanted it back.

Part 4: Desecration

With only a name and an objective, the four were left on the outskirts of the village, without their weapons and gear. They would need to discretely enter the town, locate a supply cache, and hunt down their target. After some minor deceptions at the gate and a quick search, they found their equipment, along with some new alchemical items. They received four healing potions and four experimental mutagens that would help them turn the tide of battle, if they were overwhelmed.

Once they were suited for combat, they began the task of infiltrating the heavily guarded church by finding a hidden path through the sewers. Underground, they had to contend with packs of disease-ridden rats, enchanted suits of armor, arrow traps, and a few guards. But with grim determination, they managed to cut a bloody path into the temple of Iomedae. Ty set his snake upon the head paladin, filling her veins with agonizing venom. Velnor forced a critically wounded Kai to imbibe a feral mutagen, transforming him into a hulking beast that carved out destruction with his bare hands. Elton also drank a mutagen, and lashed out with all of his might and swiftness.

Lady Valenya was rightfully horrified that the Spider Eyes would manipulate and indoctrinate children as young as they were, but she ordered her soldiers to stand strong and defeat them. They party quickly found themselves outnumbered and outclassed. Kai was the first to fall from a fatal sword wound, and a massive swarm of spiders erupted from his corpse. In that moment, the remaining three learned what the tattoos could do. And in their desperation, they invoked the summoning magic. Ty released a swarm of feral rats from under his skin, and they washed over the knights, crawling into their armor and gnawing away at their flesh. Velnor, much to his own horror, released a swarm of botflies from his mouth; this deeply traumatizing event kept him paralyzed with fear for the rest of the encounter. Lady Valenya was finally killed by Ty, and her lifeless corpse was quickly consumed by rats. The others in the church succumbed to the hostile swarms of vermin. However, the encounter ended before Elton could invoke his own tattoo spell.

Part 5: Corruption of Flesh

The party acquired the red jeweled ring and fled the destroyed church before reinforcements could arrive. They then backtracked through the sewers and emerged at the edge of town, bloodied but not beaten. Kai was dead, Ty had lost his snake in the melee, and Velnor was in shock, but Elton was deeply satisfied with how many he had slain. As they continued fleeing the city, Ty suddenly felt that the ring was becoming warmer with each step away from the church. Sensing danger, he abandoned it and began to run as fast as his legs could carry him. Suddenly, the gem dispersed a fine red mist that filled the air. Everyone in the town was abruptly seized by a spellbourne disease that ate away at their bones, causing them to bleed to death from the inside out. The paladin had stolen it from the Spider Eyes and intended to purify it, but the quad had slain her before she could complete her mission. Ty escaped, taking great pains not to breathe in the red cloud. But Velnor and Elton were not so lucky.

The last two members of the band fell to the ground as an unseen fire crept along the entire length of their bodies, filling them with immeasurable agony. Velnor held onto conscious the best he could, but eventually blacked out. But no before he watched Elton bleed out as the Red Rot destroyed his internals. Despite the pain, Elton sadistically smiled as the life left his eyes.

But all was not dark forever for young Velnor. When he awoke, he heard the voice of his father and other senior members. The experiment, as they called it, was a success. The Red Rot, a mysterious affliction created from Revanant’s blood, was highly lethal and wiped out almost 100% of the townsfolk and people living in the surrounding territories. It was too effective, though, and the rapid onset of death prevent the disease from being effectively carried and spread. “He survived? Impressive. As expected of my blood,” Velnor heard his father say as he fell into the darkness once more.

Flash forward to the future, nearly fifteen years later: Velnor has long since departed from the Spider Eyes. He and his friends, an elf ranger named Hawkeye and an ifrit bard named Amon, have set out to rid the world of the Spider Eyes once and for all. Currently, they are following the trail of a vampiric antipaladin and mass-murdered called Valkyrrion, who is rumored to be Revenant’s right-hand man.

Part 6: Game Master’s Closing Thoughts

This story helped me tie together a few of the characters backstories, as well as gave me a way to flesh out a couple reoccurring villains’ lore, too! In the storytelling aspect, I am satisfied. The character who plays Velnor is ready to seize destiny by the bollocks and carve out a path of bloody vengeance against the “father” who traumatized and used him. The next time they meet, Velnor will not battle with Revanant with words; that’s a promise.

However, the delivering could’ve been considerably improved. I emphasized a sense of weakness upon the players (they were basically children, after all), which allowed the tone of the story to remain consistent, but in hindsight made the game drag in the earlier bits. Most people play games to feel empowered, not at the mercy of a cold and uncaring world. We have IRL for that. I’m not sure how I would’ve done that differently, but perhaps I’ll try starting on an empowering note instead of a debilitating one.

Also, fuck the audio issues. Discord, Roll20, Chrome, Comcast, whatever was causing the constant goddamn audio dropouts, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.

If you liked this story and want to see more, please consider following us on Twitch, for more intense tabletop skullduggery!

#pathfinder #tabletop #gaming #RPG #d20 #roll20 #role playing games #DnD #Dungeons and Dragons #game master #dungeon master

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cheshire-dog · 7 years

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Yoshiya Kiryu, a character study

Spoilps obviously

Yoshiya Kiryu, or Joshua, stands out as an oddity in 'The World Ends With You'. Almost everything about him is at odds with the universe he inhabits. His casual, grey clothing contrasting with a modern, colourful world of fashion that's distinctly Nomura in design; His voluntary and illegal entry into the Reaper's Game almost invalidating the fear and stress felt by the rest of the cast; His misanthropy and contention with being a sarcastic pessimist directly defying the narrative's belief in becoming a better person; And most importantly of all, his crippling loneliness contrasting not only the sociable cast, but even himself and his own philosophies. It's this juxtapository nature and his emotional and characteristic complexity that makes Joshua such an interesting character to deconstruct, and within that deconstruction is there not only greater depth in understanding Joshua, but also in understanding the character of Neku Sakuraba - the game's protagonist, and reverse-foil to Joshua - and the game's own themes and ideals.

This post assumes that you have played through all of TWEWY's main storyline. However, any information from the Secret Reports and Another Day will be explained.

The Beginning

To start understanding Joshua, we must see him as we do initially; how he appears at face value in one's first playthrough. Throughout Week 2, he is seen as a manipulative, condescending, sarcastic, misanthropic liar who only plays the game for kicks, and enlists Neku as a forced bodyguard to help Joshua "jack" Shibuya's underground. However, this Joshua is also sympathetic, being ostracised through life due to a "second sight" which caused him to see something that was socially nonexistent, which led to loneliness, implied suicidal depression, and an eventual apathy to death - as, to him, death was literally a game which allowed him to exist among people he could finally relate to. He may be an arsehole who maybe killed Neku, who shows no concern for the players and reapers being erased around him, and who trivialises the suffering of those around him just by being a voluntary player, but of course he is. Actions and personality may not be justified by backstory, but they certainly can be explained and understood. Why would someone who was conditioned to see death as an improvement upon life care if his actions - or inaction - led others to death or erasure? The week also plays host to a deep friendship being formed between the two partners, as they discuss and share philosophical views and morals, though Neku begins to see his own personal change through Joshua stating things Neku once agreed with but had since reconsidered following his bond with Shiki. This combination of hate, respect, and kinship regarding Joshua ends dramatically with Neku learning that Joshua attempted to save Neku from his real killer, and witnessing Joshua's valiant sacrifice to save Neku again - successfully, this time. Neku's hate for Joshua turns into hate for himself and the hostility he showed Joshua, and even moreso hate for the game that had now taken every single friend he'd had - Shiki as a hostage, Joshua and Rhyme as victims, Beat as a turncoat, and his long lost friend who was assumedly erased following a car accident (though that would only ever be brought up during Another Day, it is safe to assume it happened in both timelines).

How ironic that this emotional development must be turned back towards Joshua as the third week ends.

In the dramatic climax of Neku and Beat's takeover of the Shibuya Underground, a coup originally inspired by Joshua's own ambitions, the unimaginable happens as Joshua appears and is amalgamed into Draco Cantus, and after Neku's victory, paralysises everyone in the Shibuya River sans Neku and himself, reveals his title of Composer, and makes his identity as Neku's killer certain, all in order to challenge Neku to a duel "for Shibuya". This sudden wave of reveals, this unravelling of Joshua's web of deceipt, strikes the player and Neku. A friendship built on lies and manipulation all having to be faced at once as Neku has to force himself aim a gun to the sociopath he'd considered a friend. But Neku fails to consider that friendship in past tense, and collapses his arms, and Joshua pulls his own trigger. Upon this loss, Joshua looks down at him with his trademark cocky smile.

Yet, after this, Neku wakes up in Scramble Crossing, free from the game, with a pre-established friendship with Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme. Neku lost the duel, but Shibuya was spared.

This is where we must further analyse Joshua, critique his inconsistencies, and learn the truth behind this enigmatic personality.

The Duel, or, Why Neku?

An important place to start is that final duel. The first question would be "why duel?" Joshua is the Composer, after all. Even in his low-frequency human form, he's far more powerful than Neku without being faced with restrictions in the form of rules and games (as evidence, he killed Taboo Minamimoto with his weakest attack, something a max-stats Neku with the best deck builds can't do that quickly). With Kitaniji, he had the reasoning that he was making a bet with his immediate subordinate and advisor, someone whose opinion is important in the Composer's decisions, but Neku is just a pawn that Joshua was more than willing to murder, and whose express purpose in the game was to destroy Shibuya on Joshua's behalf. So, I ask again, why duel? A theory I'd read about in shibuyasmusic's fanastic piece on Joshua (link here) is that it was not a duel on whether Shibuya lives or dies to begin with, like the player is meant to assume, but that it's a duel for the title of Composer. But that opens yet more questions. Why, still, the decision to duel? Why the change of heart? And, arguably most importantly, why give Neku of all people a shot at Composer? But to answer all of these, we must first ask why he chose Neku as his proxy to begin with.

Thankfully, the Secret Reports answer this question. Upon the decision to play the game for Shibuya, Joshua swiftly consulted the Producer, who is confirmed within these same reports to be Hanekoma. The latter offered his murals as perfect spots to scout for potential proxies, as they were imbued with two important codes (as detailed in the Week Joshua Day 5 secret report): One to attract those with strong Imaginations, and one to strengthen said Imagination. This made his murals a perfect location to find worthy candidates. Neku was, supposedly, picked specifically due to his attitude. His proxy being "the worst person in Shibuya" would act both as a constant reminder to Joshua why Shibuya was corrupt and needed to be destroyed, and also a certification that his proxy could not change ways during the game - that they might stay the scum of the Earth, causing them to act completely selfishly to Shibuya's detriment and prove that the city couldn't be saved. It is also worth noting that Joshua himself shares most of the traits that made Neku such a perfectly awful candidate. More on that later.

Despite all of Joshua's forethought, Neku changed. He'd opened his horizons, befriended people he'd once ignore and silently judge. He ceased fighting for himself after only one week, instead fighting for Shiki, revenge on Joshua's hehalf, and eventually the very thing he was supposed to aid the destruction of: Shibuya. While this might have meant nothing in the logistics of Joshua's plan, with Neku's newfound goal to save Shibuya actually serving Joshua's need to overthrow Kitaniji just the same as the original, intended goal of taking over Shibuya for selfish reasons, this change of heart meant the world in the mentality of Joshua's plan to raze Shibuya. With the personification of Shibuya's corruption ironically undergoing a total reversal of attitude, the prospect of Shibuya improving its state was now plausible. This revelation, coupled with Joshua's own interactions with Neku, witnessing his growth and their own parallels, struck Joshua, leading him to spend most of Week Beat reconsidering his original plan. Once again, more on that later. For now, one of his most important aspects as a character: his rampant hypocrisy.

Joshua and Hypocrisy, Among Other Things

Joshua is a complete hypocrite with a literally almighty sense of superiority. Where he might be a close-minded person who cares only for his own values and completely seperates himself from others, he detests the same sentiments coming from his subjects. Where he has honest philosophical discussions with Neku about misanthropy and the absurdity of expanding your worldview, he specifically chose Neku as a terrible person because Neku held those views. As a stranger, Neku is scum; as a friend, he's relatable. It's this divine hypocrisy that led to Shibuya deteriorating under the ruling of a terrible person, and Joshua's wish to destroy Shibuya without realising he caused the deterioration from the beginning. As the Composer, Joshua very literally holds the right to judge, and being the misanthrope he is this leads to a very heightened sense of superiority and a high set of standards that he himself cannot meet. How such a flawed person could be Composer under the angels' rule is beyond me, but his personal failings led only to Shibuya's downfall and a firm belief that he was right to judge the city for it. His apathy brought about by his assumed childhood - I should mention now that I believe Hanekoma's story to be true, just not as recently occuring as he might have the player assume - causes him to abandon hope quickly and opt to eviscerate his "mistakes". Even in his low-frequency human form, this complex continues with him assuming the worst of all Players and Reapers, leaving several to die for little reason other than assuming they were scum, and displaying a readiness to murder Neku in an act he genuinely saw as just and reasonable. If his leaving people to die sounds familiar, it may be because that's exactly how Neku acted in the early days of Week Shiki. I'd like to reiterate in further detail the parallels between these two characters and their service as foils.

Allow this to be a study of Neku's arc, for a moment. It's important to understand Joshua as a foil. Following the drastic changes Neku undergoes in Week Shiki, coupled with the sudden return of his memories and essentially identity, Week Joshua serves to let Neku look retrospectively on himself; he gets to see how he's changed, and is given an opportunity to rethink himself and come to understand his personal philosophies better. His recollection of CAT, nostalgic tour of a city he despised just a day prior, and conversations with a partner essentially embodying his personality not one week earlier all serve as a mirror to Neku, allowing him to truly grow by comparing his old self to the person Shiki inspired in him. It's very much a week of reflection, the calm before the storm that is Week Beat. What this means for Joshua is that he is distinctly depicted as immature here. As Neku spends a week in a pseudo-meditative journey to enlightenment, Joshua constantly acts like a child, being a stubborn brat when Neku won't help him "find" Shibuya River, sarcastically hitting on Neku *just* to taunt him, and, strangely enough, engaging in mature conversation about the Sisyphian task of getting along with people. While these conversations are by and large the most maturely he ever acts in this week, with even his sacrifice being held back by the trademark cocky smirk, he's still explicitly childish in the narrative's eyes. As Joshua talks about how people can never truly expose themselves to one another, and how he's not even bothered by this as he talks of his introverted mind being a peaceful garden that needless bonding would only disturb, Neku's silently reconsidering the fact he once agreed with this. "Is that really how it is?" These conversations are framed as Neku seeing the absurd pessimism in what he once believed; an evolution for Neku that derides upon Joshua. And Joshua comes to recognise this. Through the week, Neku's maturity affects him. This is shown in a climactic "end" to Joshua's arc, of sorts, as he abandons his selfish attitude and sacrifices himself to save Neku...

...Of course, he doesn't actually, though while this will be reframed through the finale to be one final lie and a betrayal of Neku's trust, within the greater narrative and this interpretation of Joshua, the sentiment is still there. He may have needed to save Neku to beat Megumi, and secretly didn't sacrifice himself at all and only teleported to the universe of Another Day (Another Day has a strange climax, it's weird. And yes, it's canon), but his growth was real. Even if his faux sacrifice is unrepresentative of anything anymore, the emotions it originally elicited still hold true. After staring his flaws in the face, and viewing someone he once saw justice in murdering grow into a compassionate person, Joshua spent his week recovering from the Level i Flare discussing with his alternative self whether he should truly destroy Shibuya. While most of what occured during his week in Another Day is unknowable and everything I say about it is purely theoretical, considering the nonsensical ending, it seems safe to assume they arrived at the decision that Shibuya would be spared. But he didn't know if he was worthy. This is where the duel, and the three questions surrounding it, come back. Joshua changed his mind sometime during Week Beat, with his change being inspired by Neku's own. He saw the potential of a Composer in the matured Neku, and believed Neku might be more worthy than himself, but he knew that he couldn't just say "hey I'm not actually dead btw you're God now," so he made the best of a bad situation. He put Neku in a position where Neku could either deliver capital punishment to Joshua, which would deem Joshua not worthy of the position and give the title to Neku, or he could hesitate, as he did, which would prove that the worst people truly can change, and Joshua would continue his rule as Composer with a newfound sense of philanthropy and patience.

Some Kind of Ending

To fully complete this analysis, I should explain my beliefs on what Joshua was prior to his becoming Composer. I've already said I belive Hanekoma. Second Sight is a real occurance that occassional scanned pedestrians will display, and it genuinely makes sense that Joshua might have had it when he was human. I've already briefly described what I imagine it was like, though to further explain, I imagine he was horribly outcast. Few people knew the UG existed, so he would undoubtedly be shunned and even probably called insane for seeing something that didn't exist for most people. I once said he would see death as literally a game, which he would. He'd see the Reapers, understand why they do what they do better than any Player, and he'd know that, in the UG, there'd be no second sight or ostracisation. I honestly believe he killed himself to be able to go to this wonderland of sorts. But his suicide isn't too relevant, strange as that sounds. It's more the reasons he would kill himself, which stayed true until his week with Neku. He'd be apathetic, wanting death as a complete improvement on life, and understanding death as a second existence; nothing to fear. His isolation would cause him to detest people, and the fact they could never understand him inspiring his belief that nobody can ever understand one another. Eventually, he'd become Composer. Eventually, his loneliness would return from his youth due to his limited contacts as Composer, and eventually all of his unaddressed flaws would run rampant. Until the two weeks that changed everything.

Or, at least, that's what I think. This may have gotten a bit emo, considering that Joshua's the kid who runs around, trolling and hitting on Neku in his favourite Lapin Angelique dress. But that's the conclusive timeline and arc I came to when studying this fantastic character. Thank you for reading, and remember that Joshua did nothing wrong...

...also he's literally Ryo from Devilman, but, like, less horrible and with a way more hopeful character arc.

EDIT: this post is fucking ancient and garbage but im keeping it up for posterity

#twewy #joshua

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ebaeschnbliah · 7 years

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SHERLOCK BBC - THE LIST OF THOUGHTS & IDEAS

________________________________________________________________

Revised and updated version and under the cut .... because it's a bit longish. :)))

July 2017 _______________________________________________________

THE RETURN OF BASKERVILLE ....... Baskerville revisited in S4

HENRY KNIGHT ....... The story of a very interesting character and a mirror for Sherlock

THE RAINBOW CROWN ....... The vitruvian man, the rainbow crown and Sherlock's ‘I love you’

THE GOVERNOR AND HIS WIFE ....... The first task of Sherrinford - Reichenbach all over ... with a touch of TBB

DAVID DAVID DAVID ....... A comparison of the three David's in Sherlock BBC

FIVE FUNNY STORIES ....... The stories Sherlock mentions at the wedding in TSOT and their possible connection to each series of Sherlock BBC

THE ONE IN THE COCKPIT ....... About pilots and drivers, flying and driving, aeroplanes and cabs, queens and serial killers

MOVIE WATCHING IN MYCROFTS HOME CINEMA ....... The movie Mycroft watches at the beginning of TFP and the manipulated part of it

A COFFIN FOR LOVE ....... The third task of Sherrinford - Sherlock and love

A SMASHED GLASS OF CHAMPAGNE ....... Screen caps of the falling glass of champagne in TSOT

WHEN SHERLOCK LIES DRUGGED IN A CAB ....... Musings about the strange parts of the PILOT

COVERED IN BLUE ....... Blue from the end in TFP to the beginning in ASIP

June 2017 ______________________________________________________

THE THREE GARRIDEBS OF SHERRINFORD ....... The second task of Sherrinford. Who are the three Garridebs?

ONE OF A KIND ....... Sherlock is Eurus - what an image reveals

SHADOWS ON THE WALL ....... Musings on the shadows in Faith's memory who are almost going to kiss (TLD)

ANOTHER SIGN OF THREE ? ....... Sherlock, John, Mary - different facettes of one character

JIM'S SONGS ....... Are the songs mirrors for Sherlock's own past?

THE NOTE IN THE BOOKCASE ....... A piece of lost information

FATHERS AND SONS ....... David Welsborough and Major Barrymore

A DOG BARKS IN THE NIGHT ....... When John wakes from his nightmare in ASIP

ELLA THOMPSON ....... The changeable therapist

May 2017 _______________________________________________________

TWO TIMES CHARLES ....... Carl Powers and Charlie Welsborough

THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS ....... Boomerang, hairpin and hairband - are they connected?

EXPLOSIVE - IT'S MORE ME ....... A metaphorical reading of ASIB and Irene Adler

MAGIC AT SPEEDY'S ....... The 'vanishing' mirror behind Mycroft and 'endless mirroring'

MRS. WENCESLAS ....... Good king Wenceslas and a Chrismas song

April 2017 _______________________________________________________

SOME MUSINGS ON DAMP COATS ....... Faith's coat - a possible connection to the pink lady from ASIP?

STALKING THE DEERSTALKER ....... The silly hat throughout the series (used as a port key to change levels in the Mind-Palace?)

THINGS COMING IN PAIRS ....... It started with the kidneys - but didn't end there

SHERLOCK, THE STAG AND THE SKULL ....... Colors & symbolism in TAB

THE REICHENBACH FALL TIME CONUNDRUM ....... Time and daylight

I DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW ....... Asking for an explanation

A . N . Y . O . N . E ....... One word throughout the story

ABOUT DETECTIVES AND DOGS ....... A name and its history

March 2017 _____________________________________________________

AN INCANDESCENT MIND BEING USED ....... Genius, brother, prisoner (Sherlock = Eurus)

UNDER THE SIGN OF FOUR ....... A.G.R.A. Alex, Gabriel, Rosamund & Ajay - Who are they?

ADDITIONS to UTSOF ....... A.G.R.A. and the 4 assassins from TRF

LITTLE ROSIE - THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM ....... An interpretation

PLAYING WITH COLORS AND THOUGHTS ....... Not the common color code

ONE - TWO - THREE ....... Three players, three bombs

AROUND THE PATIENCE GRENADE ....... What images are telling

WHEN THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE THROUGH ....... Touching the glass that isn't there

VIVIAN NORBURY ....... Who is the person who almost outsmarted them all?

February 2017 ___________________________________________________

A E R O P L A N E S ....... The importance of aeroplanes throughout the story

A STRANGE PERSPECTIVE ....... Eurus cell - shot in different angles

THE ROADS WE WALK ....... From 'headless nuns' to sisters turned into 'ghost stories'

THE BLOOD CARPET ....... Like a puddle of blood on the floor

ON THE ROLL OF A DICE ....... Mary's hiatus in TST - really neat?

DEATH & CHESS & MANY CASES ....... About the appearance of death in each episode

FOUR STAGES & FOUR CASES ADDITIONS ....... Stages inside stages

TALKING ABOUT THE FINAL PROBLEM ....... Steven Moffat, BFI Screening Q&A 01 2017

AJAY - SHERLOCK - JIM ....... Characters with similarities

OH HAVE YOU HAD SEX ....... How I reed that scene

A STUDY IN MIRRORING ....... Eurus/Sherlock vs. Eurus/Jim

SAVING JOHN WATSON ....... From the PILOT & ASIP to TLD

January 2017 ____________________________________________________

THE FIVE HOSTAGES ....... Connections between TGG & TFP

FIVE YEARS AGO WHEN IT WAS CHRISTMAS ...... Eurus, Jim & Sherlock

YELLOWBEARD'S HAIRBAND ....... Eurus, Victor & Sherlock - Symbolism

THE SYMBOLISM OF EXPLODING BOMBS ....... 221b hit by explosions - TGG and TFP

RIGHT UP YOUR STRASSE ....... DI Lestrade using german language

HOLMES FAMILY PICTURES ....... Mycrofts manipulated movie from TFP

IT'S AN EXPERIMENT ....... More thoughts about the PILOT theory (EEMP)

THE FINAL PROBLEM ....... First impression - symbolism and subtext

A DETECTIVE LYING DOWN ....... Throughout the whole story

SHERLOCK is ANYONE ....... Sherlock fighting his demon(s) - drug addiction

THE STAGE IS SET (once again) ....... Possible startingpoints for EEMP

WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED ON JANUARY 15th ....... A PILOT verse theory (EEMP)

HE'S STILL NOT MOVING ....... The bloodhound and John

THE APPLETREE ON THE GREEN WALL ...... Apples and roses - symbolism

ON THE TRESHOLD OF SAMARRA ....... Sherlock will be epic

JUST LOOK - HOW BEAUTIFUL ....... Mirrors of the special kind - buildings mirrored in car roofs

ACTION MAN & GINGERBREADMAN ....... Burned to a crisp - parallels

WHERE IT BEGAN - WHERE IT ENDS ....... Carl Powers & Charlie Welsborough

THE MASKS ARE CRUMBLING DOWN ....... Sherlock's facade is falling

PORKY PIGS AND LOTS OF BLOOD ....... Dead pigs throughout the series

NORBURY ....... The yellow face in TST

AMMO STRIKES AGAIN ....... Parallels and the Urban Dictionary

December 2016 __________________________________________________

WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED ON JANUARY 15th ... (first post of it but Tumblr 'ate' it - restored in January)

THE STAGE IS SET - THE CURTAIN RISES ... (first post of it but Tumblr 'ate' it - restored in January)

THE BAFTA CYMRU MONTAGE ....... A very special kind of montage

TPLOSH or TILOSH ....... Somtimes silly thoughts arise ... or maybe not?

November 2016 __________________________________________________

A DOCTOR IN HIS NATURAL MILIEU ....... Two surgeries and their very different lightning

PRETTY GRIM FAIRY TALES ....... Following the trace of media

A MIRROR HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT - EDITED ...... More parallels between Sherlock & Mary

A MIRROR HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT ....... Parallels between Sherlock & Mary

READING INFORMATION ....... Sherlock and Magnusson reading people - a comparison

SOME COURTROOM DEDUCTIONS ....... Courtrooms and Hearing rooms

A LITTLE GIRL, BLOND WITH BRAIDED HAIR ....... The traces of hair, hats and pigtails in Sherlock BBC

DRESS MEETS BELL ....... The doorbell of 221b and Mrs. Hudson's dress

October 2016 ____________________________________________________

THE EMPTY HOUSES ....... Three different Empty Houses in Sherlock BBC

UNDERGROUND NETWORKS INVISIBLE ENEMIES ....... Cults, agents, terrorists in TEH & TAB

A SHADOW OF MASSIVE PROPORTIONS ....... Magnusson & Mycroft - another comparison

THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE ....... 'Impossible' cases - in TEH and TAB

THE EMPY HEARSE - THE EMPY HOUSE ....... The Reichenfach Fall - a comparison between Sherlock BBC and ACD canon

THE GAME IS AFOOT ....... Shoes, feet and footprints throughout Sherlock BBC

I'M ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU ....... Mycroft & Moriarty - another comparison

MOUTH LIKE A CRIMSON WOUND ....... The trace of lipstick throughout Sherlock BBC

BOOMERANG ....... The boomerang-effect, backfiring, the back of heads and blunt instuments

IT'S YOU MAJOR SHOLTO ....... A perfect Sherlock mirror

September 2016 _________________________________________________

THE ONES AND THE OTHER ONES ....... Musings about the different tenor of episodes - are the middle episodes revealing the Holmes family history?

MYCROFT AND MAGNUSSON ....... A dark comparison

STRANGE SIMILARITIES (edited list here) ....... ASIB revisited in HLV - recurring motivs and situations

THE BOND AIR CONUNDRUM ....... From the rehearsal to the cancelled 'Flight of the Dead'

NEAT - DON'T YOU THINK ....... Reichenbach and Bond Air under the lens - not as neat as one would think

CONNIE KENNY AND RAOUL ....... Mirrors for Mycroft, Sherlock and John?

August 2016 ____________________________________________________

OH! IT'S CHRISTMAS! ....... In each series of Sherlock BBC it is Christmas at some point

PLAYING WITH MIRRORS ....... Ricoletti, Carmichael and Sholto

DREAMS ARE TRICKY ....... The 'Bride' is aiming at a bakery

THREE TIMES JIM ....... Three times Jim brings Sherlock back from the verge of death

LIFTING THE MASK ....... Extended Mind Palace Theorie - a possible version

MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY ....... Different faces of Mary Morstan

JOHN - MARY - SHERLOCK ....... Comparison of the three shootings - John/Hope Mary/Sherlock Sherlock/Magnusson

JOHN MOVES HIS ARM ....... A closer look at Magnussons assassination

COMING BACK - GOING BACK ....... Sherlock coming back from death to go deeper

July 2016 _______________________________________________________

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL ....... Dark Mycroft and his possible motives

OF KINGS AND QUEENS ....... Who is the 'King' in Sherlock BBC?

MORE THAN JUST A TWIN ....... Who could be 'Sherrinford' - a speculation

AM I SENSING A PATTERN THERE ....... The antagonists of each episode in Sherlock BBC

June 2016 ______________________________________________________

THE BUS STOP SCENE ....... A Harry Potter connection?

AT THE REICHENBACH FALLS ....... About Moriarty's motives to kill himself

THE GREAT GAME ....... Carl Power's shoes starting the Great Game and even more shoes at setlock

A STUDY IN SHERLOCK ....... Pictures from each episode and setlock

A STUDY IN JOHN ...... Pictures from each episode and setlock

May 2016 _______________________________________________________

ABOUT AGENTS AND EX-AGENTS ....... The CIA agents of ASIB vs. Mary

April 2016 _______________________________________________________

IT'S NEVER TWINS ... UNLESS IT IS ....... Mummy Holmes - the secret twin?

March 2016 _____________________________________________________

THE RUG-PULL EXPERIMENT ....... Dark Mycroft - the secret puppet master?

VICTORIAN GHOST STORIES ....... Thoughts about Mark Gatiss's statement

MAGIC IN SHERLOCK BBC ....... Real magicians involved in Sherlock BBC

January 2016 ____________________________________________________

WHAT MADE HIM LIKE THIS ....... Hints at Sherlock's past in Sherlock BBC

THE MYSTERIOUS CULT ....... The disguised women in the crypt

THE CARMICHAEL CASE I ....... Connections to THOB

THE CARMICHAEL CASE II ....... Thoughts about different mirrors

________________________________________________________________

About EMP and EEMP

________________________________________________________________

Extended Mind-Palace Theorie - Starting point at the CAM Tower shooting

Extraordinary Extended Mind-Palace Theorie - Starting point any time before the CAM Tower shooting

EMP-Masterpost ....... Collected works of the fabulous EMP-Group

Reasons for EEMP (24.11.2016) .... About the possibility of an extended Mind-Palace going further back than CAM Tower.

A possible EEMP-Structure (30.08.2016) .... First post about the possibility of EEMP

________________________________________________________________

SHERLOCK HOLMES ADAPTATIONS & OTHER STUFF

________________________________________________________________

SCHWANENSEE ....... Tatort Münster - Thiel & Boerne (a lot of Sherlock-like visuals)

SHERLOCK HOLMES (2010) ....... Octopus, dinosour & dragon combined with a deadly feud between brothers (Sherlock vs. Mycroft)

YOU CAN'T KILL AN IDEA ....... 'V for Vendetta' in Sherlock BBC (an Underground full of explosives ready to blow up parliament)

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN ....... 'V for Vendetta' in Sherlock BBC

SHERLOCK HOLMES IN NEW YORK ....... Roger Moore as Sherlock Holmes (Moriarty, bank robbery, tons of gold, tunnels, Irene Adler)

WILLIAM SHERLOCK SCOTT HOLMES ....... Excerpt from 'SH in New York'

YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES - THE PYRAMIDE OF FEAR ....... How Sherlock Holmes and John Watson met at school and their very first case (AU)

JUST A MAGIC TRICK ....... The magic trick in 'Sherlock jr.' the silent movie

SHERLOCK JUNIOR ....... Silent movie with Buster Keaton (solving a crime while dreaming of it)

THE GOLDEN YEARS - TV Series with Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes

THE LEADING LADY - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on a Viennese adventure with bombs, anarchists, 'Die Fledermaus' (the bat), Dr. Freud and Irene Adler

'Undercover in Eastern Europe'

'Un Ballo in Maschera'

'Digging for gems'

'Detective, doctores and trains'

THE INCIDENT AT VICTORIA FALLS - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Waton on an African adventure with hidden treasures, secret twins, elephants and rainbows

NEW RUSSIAN HOLMES - Igor Petrenko, Andrei Panin ... by Andrey Kavun

EPISODE ONE: BAKER STREET 221b

EPISODE TWO: ROCK, PAPER, SISSORS

EPISODE THREE: CLOWNS

GRANADA HOLMES - Jeremy Brett, David Burke, Edward Hardwicke

VALIANT SHERLOCK HOLMES ....... The Eligible Bachelor - Granada Version (recurring nightmare, ghosts from the past, facing demons)

OMNE IGNOTUM PRO MAGNIFICO ....... What happens when mysteries get explained (The Redheaded League - Granada Version)

CHISWICK ....... Connections to 'The Six Napoleons' Granada and ACD

OH ... IT ISN'T 3G ... IT IS 3G ....... 'Three Garridebs' vs. 'Three Gables'

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI ....... 'The Three Gables' in Sherlock BBC

HERCULE POIROT - David Suchet

DEATH IN THE CLOUDS ....... Detour to Agatha Christie's Poirot (eyes with clocks in it)

ABOUT SMOKE AND MIRRORS ....... Poirots 'The big four' in Sherlock BBC (when a big terror network turns out to consist only of one man - who is an actor)

VARIOUS SERIES:

THE MYSTERIOUS BELLYBUTTON ....... House MD 'No reason' references (investigating inside the head)

A BABY IN 221b BAKER STREET ....... Episode with Ron Howard 1954-55 (Tony .... is it a girl's or a boy's name?)

ROBERT BALDWIN ROSS ....... The man who loved Oscara Wilde

IT WAS WORTH MANY WOUNDS ....... Poem by mrspencil

THE SACRED BAND OF THEBES ....... Gay warriors in ancient Greek

NORTH GOWER STREET & HS2 ....... 'Baker Sreet' and HighSpeed 2

IT'S FORTUNATE THAT I'M NOT A CRIMINAL ....... Canon reference

#the list of thoughts

39 notes · View notes

regiqoa · 7 years

Text

Why Chara Is Evil and You Need To Shut The Fuck Up About Them

So recently I’ve been seeing so many videos, texts, essays and even blogs by the UT Fandom defending Chara, making some of those Character Defense Squads, saying that they’re actually good and that there’s much more to them besides how they’re portrayed in the Genocide Run and it’s honestly becoming a hassle, if not worrying. I am familiar with Tumblr’s habit of going out of its way to look deeper into things just for the sake of erasing an evil character’s traces and dark tendencies and thus turn them into a pure sweetie who did nothing wrong and it’s honestly annoying me. You guys are having sympathy for a character that’s supposed to be a PSYCHOPATH. And before you come saying “Chara is good, the player is responsible for the Genocide Run! The PLAYER is the real villain!”, the hole is a bit lower than that. Just because the player is indeed responsible for the Genocide Run doesn’t mean Chara isn’t evil. Bear with me. Let us begin then. Let’s look into the arguments people use to defend Chara as a “good” character and I will turn them around and, trust me, there’s not much you’ll be able to say to defend them after this because the logic in those arguments are HORRIBLY flawed.

“Chara was only laughing away the pain when Asgore got sick and nearly died after eating that poisoned Butterscotch pie made by them and Asriel!”

While laughing away the pain is a huge theme in Undertale (Hell, Sans does it all the time), I HIGHLY doubt they were laughing at stress. Let’s look into the VHS tape where this situation is mentioned and talked about by Asriel:

Asriel: Howdy, <Name>! Smile for the camera! Ha, this time I got YOU! I left the cap on... ON PURPOSE! Now you're smiling for noooo reason! Hee hee hee. What? Oh, yeah, I remember. When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right? The recipe asked for cups of butter... But we accidentally put in buttercups instead. Yeah! Those flowers got him really sick. I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset. I should have laughed it off, like you did... Um, anyway, where are you going with this? Huh? Turn off the camera...? OK.

So Asriel playfully tricks Chara, they start laughing and all of a sudden they just remember how they nearly killed their dad along with Asriel, right? In those circumstances and context, it means Chara remembers poisoning Asgore as a prank, something funny to laugh about, the same way purposefully leaving the lens cap on was for Asriel. So, yeah, they weren’t laughing any pain away; they were sadistically laughing at the pain Asgore was in and how probably they were rubbing their hands together while cooking up their little plan to use Asriel to destroy humanity under the guise of “freeing everyone”. This tape also really goes to show how different Asriel and Chara are, as Asriel also mentions how he felt so bad at the incident. I should also mention how Chara smiles creepily at Flowey’s distress when they make him scared of them when he realizes Chara would never hesitate to kill him if he got in their way and they are also shown smiling when we see them for the first time after killing Flowey at the end of the Genocide Run. Also, isn’t it Flowey himself who comments Chara has a "sick sense of humour”? Hell, many many Monsters comment on the protagonist’s “creepy smile” or "strange expression" throughout the Genocide Run, not to mention the =) face that appears instead of the exclamation point (!) atop the protagonist’s head before they fight a monster starting from the Waterfall area is highly associated with Chara. They’re HAPPY to be fighting the Monsters they come across and hunt, they’re happy to kill.

“Chara is clearly uncomfortable with the player the second time they do the Genocide Run”

This argument likely stems from that one line of Chara’s during their monologue if a Genocide Run is done twice:

"But you and I are not the same, are we? This SOUL resonates with a strange feeling. There is a reason you continue to recreate this world. There is a reason you continue to destroy it. You. You are wracked with a perverted sentimentality. Hmm. I cannot understand these feelings anymore."

I’d say “impatient” is the right word, not “uncomfortable”. At this rate, the player’s and Chara’s motives and desires are different. The reason the player continues to recreate and destroy the world is to satisfy their completist desire of wanting to find out every single thing there is to know about Undertale (or any game, for that matter), even if it means traversing the Genocide Run more than once, which is exactly the “perverted sentimentality” Chara is referring to and, considering how much of a real pain in the ass it is to complete it, it’s no surprise that Chara calls such an action “perverted". So they don’t understand you anymore, your desires are not the same anymore. The same is commented by Sans during his fight:

“i know your type. you’re uh, very determined, aren’t you? you’ll never give up, even if there’s uh… absolutely NO benefit to persevering whatsoever. if i can make that clear. no matter what, you’ll just keep going, not out of any desire for good or evil… but just because you think you “can”. and because you “can”… you “have to”…”

Chara on the other hand desires to go out and destroy humanity (and the Monsters, too), which brings me to my next point: The post-Genocide Pacifist Run. Chara is dead and thus lacks a physical body to do anything, so they know the only way to escape the Underground is through Frisk, the character the player controls. Have any of you ever paid attention to what Chara says after what I just put above?

"Despite this. I feel obligated to suggest. Should you choose to recreate this world once more, another path would be better suited."

Chara is suggesting the player “tries another path” and is thus manipulating them into doing the True Pacifist Run so they can go out and destroy both the Humans and the Monsters that now reign the surface.

“Chara didn’t destroy the Humans and Monsters of the surface in a post-Genocide Pacifist Run, they’re bringing justice to the player! They care about the Monsters and is thus punishing the player!”

No, it’s NOT Chara punishing the player, that’s the game itself doing this. One of Undertale’s main messages, especially the Genocide Run, is that your actions have consequences. The only thing that happens at the end of a post-Genocide Pacifist Run (or Soulless Pacifist Run) is that Chara fully possessed Frisk’s body after the player sold them their SOUL and now, with the Barrier separating the Humans from Monsters destroyed, Chara can now go out and destroy both species that live in the Surface. I mean, DAMN, Toby Fox said it himself in his Twitter when asked about the Soulless Pacifist Ending. There is absolutely NO “justice” in Chara’s side. If they were REALLY a good and pure person who loves the Monsters then, well, I’m sure they wouldn’t have to kill them just for rubbing it in the player, right?! Seriously, don’t ANY of you realise how pathetically contradictory this argument is?!

“But Chara is just a child!”

Bitch, have you ever watched two movies called “The Good Son” and “Child of Rage”? Go watch them, your argument is once again invalid. I will also mention how these two children are psychopaths. Also, the youngest arrested and condemned killers of the 20th century were brought to justice when they were both 10 and their names are Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who kidnapped, tortured and killed 2 year-old James Bulger. So yeah, with real-life evidence, children like Chara are completely capable of being psychopathic murderers.

“Chara is the narrator of Undertale! They nicely narrate every enemy and object to you!”

No, it’s not canon. It’s never said anywhere that they are. The narrator through the ENTIRETY of Undertale is completely up to speculation. Have you ever heard of something called an “omniscient narrator”? Hell, it could be Frisk narrating stuff to you in a Neutral or Pacifist Run. It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to say it could be the player themselves, considering the amount of 4th Wall Breaks in the game and how Flowey is aware that there’s people that watch gameplays of Undertale out there. The only pieces of narration that are clearly narrated by Chara are the ones in red in New Home in the Genocide Run (which are written in first person). This is also the very same place where Flowey talks about him to Chara the most, should I add. This argument likely exists because the narrator in question is always saying “you did <insert action here>”, in third person as if talking about someone else. Well, the same thing happens in the Genocide Run. There are TONS of entries in the Genocide Run narrated in third person.

“Papyrus is sparing you”

“You punched the dummy at full force. Feels good.”

“Glad Dummy lets you go”

“You took the Snowman Piece”

“You took the key and put it on your phone’s key-chain”

“You feel like you’re gonna have a bad time”

“You feel your sins crawling on your back”

It’s also worth noticing how darker and crueler the narrations both in first and third person get the more the Genocide Run progresses, right? It’s because the more you kill, the more you allow Chara to posses Frisk and the more they can manifest themselves.

“Chara lectures the player when the world is completely destroyed”

Yes, that is true but that still doesn’t make them good, they’re merely acknowledging the reality of the player’s actions. They sound completely cold and stoic saying those words and asking the player if they’re above consequences, which shows they’re neutral about this, not sad or bothered, not to mention it is them who destroy the world REGARDLESS of the player’s choice. I should also remind you that, right after that, the player is left with no choice but to make a literal deal with the devil (as Chara calls themselves “the demon that appears when people call its name”), giving Chara their SOUL as a deal to make them bring the world back. Chara also calls the player a “great partner” if they agree to destroy the world with them so its plausible to think that this is yet another form of manipulation.

“Chara may call themself a demon but Asriel calls himself the ‘God Of Hyperdeath!’"

Exactly. Asriel is the GOD of Hyperdeath. “Of Hyperdeath” is merely a name and a very obvious one, considering Asriel inherited his father’s trait of being terrible at naming things. However, think about this: A God is a creator or recreator, a deity, a divinity. When you look at what he says during his fight, this name makes perfect sense:

“You know, I don’t care about destroying this world anymore. After I defeat you and gain total control of the timeline, I just want to reset everything! Then we can do everything all over again!"

Asriel’s intentions are not remotely bad, even. He does not wish to harm anyone, he only wants to reset the entire timeline and redo what he and Chara did wrong, even if it means killing the protagonist to gain their Determination, for the greater good.

“Chara forgave Asriel for his betrayal!”

Dude, WHERE do people get this from?! Chara clearly DIDN’T forgive Asriel for betraying them and is clearly merciless to him at the end of the Genocide Run. They inclusively mention his betrayal when talking to the player:

“At first, I was so confused. Our plan had failed, hadn’t it?"

When Flowey is talking to Chara in New Home, they make him scared of them the moment he realizes that they would never hesitate to kill him if he got in their way, not to mention Chara is the one to make Flowey realize that his “kill or be killed” philosophy does not work, he knows Chara is much stronger than him. Hell, Chara clearly doesn’t care at all for Asriel as they, not the player, CHARA completely MUTILATES Flowey right when he reveals his true identity as Asriel after killing Asgore in one shot. Also, speaking of which, it is clearly stated on the books in the “Librarby" that the stronger the will to kill a Monster a human has, the more damage their attacks will do. One more thing worth mentioning is this parallel right here which pretty much speaks for itself:

Asriel, in the second True Lab VHS tape: Okay, <Name>, are you ready? Do your creepy face! AHHHHH!! Hee hee hee! Oh! Wait! I had the lens cap on... What!? You're not gonna do it again...? Come on, quit tricking me! Haha!

Flowey, in New Home: S-s-stop making that creepy face! This isn’t funny! You’ve got a SICK sense of humor!

The real thing that goes to show that Chara is evil is their relationship with Asriel/Flowey. Asriel was never comfortable with Chara’s plan, to the point that he cried at the thought of having to hurt or kill anyone. Flowey (who is equally evil), on the other hand, understands and even admires Chara for their murderous genocidal tendencies when he talks to them at the end of the Ruins and in New Home, not to mention Flowey only recognizes the protagonist as Chara if the player is doing the Genocide Run. It’s also worth mentioning that it was because of Chara that Flowey acquired his “kill or be killed” philosophy. Hell, Asriel even comments that Frisk and Chara are completely different from each other despite their very similar fashion choices and that he was only projecting. Hell, he’s the one who admits and recognises that Chara was never the greatest person.

Now on to something to top it all off: The Sociopath Flowey and Psychopath Chara theory. What you’re about to read now is a written adaption of a video in Portuguese explaining that Chara is a psychopath, whereas Flowey is a sociopath.

So, as you’ve probably gathered, there’s not much data about who Chara truly is but the they are just enough for us to understand their mentality and perspectives throughout the game. Chara was the first human to fall down Mount Ebott after the war that separated humans from monsters. Upon falling, they are found by Asriel, Toriel and Asgore’s biological son, and is adopted by the Dreemurr family as a family member. However, when Asgore gets awfully sick after eating a pie prepared by Chara and Asriel, Asriel feels bad about everything that happened, yet Chara LAUGHS in relation to that (I already proved your little “they were laughing away the pain” point wrong so shut the fuck up). Instead of putting “cups of butter” to make the pie, Chara uses Buttercups, poisonous golden flowers in the recipe, causing Asgore to fall horribly sick. Seeing the potency that the flowers have in Monsters, Chara starts to cook up a plan. Chara then gets terminally ill (too) and, before passing away, they ask Asriel to take them to see the golden flowers of their village in the Surface. Throughout the game, it is revealed that Chara had poisoned themself intentionally so that Asriel could absorb their SOUL and thus cross the barrier so that they could kill humans together and harvest their SOULs. So, yeah, Chara INTENTIONALLY poisons themself so that they have the chance to kill humans (which they succeed with the sole exception of Frisk that they posses depending on the ending we achieve in-game). But anyway, upon reaching the Surface, Asriel is attacked by the humans, for they have thought Asriel had attacked and killed Chara. This causes Chara’s desire to kill humans to manifest into their fusion and put it in a state of hatred but Asriel is able to resist that and let the fusion be attacked. Asriel then returns to the underground horribly wounded and both Asriel and Chara thus die. This story takes us to the story of Flowey; when Asriel died, his dust was spread across Asgore’s garden of golden flowers. Later, Alphys, doing experiments with Determination, injected the first flower that bloomed after Toriel left Asgore with Determination. The initial experiments didn’t work, which made Alphys return the flower to Asgore to be replanted in the garden. However, the flower woke up alive in the garden and thanks to Asriel’s essence from his dust in the garden, Flowey retained Asriel’s memories, but he also noticed that he din’t feel any emotions since he didn’t have a SOUL and thus was unable to feel love, joy or compassion. Those, dear readers, are all the information available about these two characters, so now let’s move on the psychological part. All of these informations affirm that both Chara and Flowey suffer from psychological problems, with Chara being a psychopath and Flowey being a sociopath. Now let’s analyse this a bit; many people assume amiss that psychopathy and sociopathy are the same but that’s wrong. Indeed, both disorders are very similar but there are a few details that set them apart so let’s see what psychopathy and sociopathy have in common, first:

Both are “antisocial personality disorders”;

Both lack empathy;

Both despise and disobey rules of social behaviour;

Both do not feel remorse or guilt;

Both are violent and hurt people;

Now that’s where things change. Differing from a sociopath, a psychopath possesses the following symptoms: The origin of their disorder is in the innate condition of their existence. According to a research made by the International Institute of Minnesota, 60% of psychopaths are psychopathic by heredity, meaning they were simply born this way. Now:

A psychopath has GREAT chances of being a nice and well-mannered person with a good professional career;

A psychopath possesses a very controlled temper and behaviour;

A psychopath is highly manipulative;

A psychopath is completely incapable of creating (real) bonds with other people;

A psychopath is generally very smart, intelligent and carefully calculates and plans their actions and risks, leaving the least amount of evidence as possible in their crimes;

Whereas a sociopath is very different. The origin of their disorder has great chances of being generated due to the environment they live in. Researches show that great part of sociopaths have become sociopathic due to their precocious institutionalisation, meaning they were NOT born this way. Now:

A sociopath has difficulty in being polite or well-mannered and generally cannot maintain themselves in a job;

A sociopath has a behaviour of loss of control that generates hate and anger;

A sociopath is impulsive and spontaneous;

A sociopath is capable of creating bonds with other people or an individual group;

A sociopath is spontaneous and thus leaves marks and evidences in their crimes;

Now it’s when we analyse how Chara and Flowey fit in those profiles, starting by Chara. Chara is a psychopath: If we analyze their story enough, we’ll see that their story is indeed based in a frenetic impulse of psychopathy. Like I said above, a psychopath is usually a well-mannered person and gets very well socially. Chara was very well-seen by the Monsters while living in the Underground, so much that they say they “filled the Underground with hope” and therefore had great capacity of interacting with others. However, when we look into the manipulation thing, Chara is an extremely manipulative character, both while living in the Underground and at the end of the Genocide Run. Their attitudes in relation to the player at the end of the Genocide Run testify that: They induce the player to erase the world and is thus manipulating them by doing exactly that. They are intelligent, they know they need you to escape to destroy and kill everyone, so they need you to do their bidding, which is exactly what happens at a potential post-Genocide Pacifist Run. The same way they manipulated Asriel: to take him to the Surface as a SOUL inside him and carry their own dead body so the humans can see and make the mistake that leads them to attack him. Chara is clearly manipulating him by doing that. Chara also does not possess sympathy or empathy for anyone; When Asgore eats the poisoned pie and gets sick, Chara sadistically laughs at what happened and thus does not feel remorse before that. Another example of Chara’s lack of empathy towards anyone is how they didn’t care for how clearly uncomfortable Asriel was with their plan, they literally have to convince him through guilt-tripping and manipulation when he’s CRYING to go along with their plan:

Asriel (fourth True Lab VHS tape): I... I don't like this idea, <Name>. Wh.. what? N-no, I'm not... ... big kids don't cry. Yeah, you're right. No! I'd never doubt you, <Name>. Never! Y... yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone. I'll go get the flowers.

This tape really goes to show how Chara clearly despises weakness, chastising Asriel for being “weak" and only cares about gaining more power, not caring a thing in the world on how other people feel. Remembering that Chara does all of this calculatedly, planning everything step-by-step, the same way a psychopath would do. Now, it is said by Asriel that Chara “hated humanity” and people just assume that this somehow means that they are actually depressed and abused and jumped on Mt. Ebott as an attempt of suicide, right? Well, that’s unfortunately NOT the case. The real reason why Chara “hated humanity and felt very strongly about it” is NEVER stated out loud and Asriel even goes to say that Chara never said why they felt this way. That’s right, Chara has no reason to hate humanity, they do what they do because they want to and because they LIKE hurting and killing. Like I said above, psychopaths are born psychopaths; They just want people to die and suffer by their hands and they leave it as less evident as possible, to the point of using Frisk as a physical vessel for them to kill Monsters and they only reveal their true colors and their plan to erase the timeline at the very end of the Genocide Run. Not to mention the way they fell down Mount Ebott is a bit suspicious to me. The intro of the game shows them tripping on a vine then falling on the hole leading to the Underground so it isn’t really a stretch to say that they’ve been lying to Asriel to gain his sympathy (another form of manipulation). Now on to Flowey. Flowey is a bit more different. Yes, Flowey also has the very same destructive impulses to destroy everything and everyone, but differing from Chara, his attitudes and motives to do that are different. First off, Flowey doesn’t have that much of a good capacity to interact with other monsters, as his explosive temper and his urge to attack everything he comes across turn Flowey VERY distanced from the others. Indeed, Flowey usually resides in an place that’s excluded from the Monster society, the Ruins. Flowey also isn’t very polite, his way of speaking is very different from the others. His signature “Howdy!” is southern slang, the way country people speak, whereas Chara, should I also add, politely greets the player with “Greetings”, a very formal way of saying hello. All of Flowey’s explosive behavior and lack of control towards Frisk, especially at the beginning of the game, shows that he doesn’t calculate his attitudes or his actions and is impulsive, the same way a sociopath acts. Also differing from Chara, Flowey has and had bonds, with Papyrus and possibly many others after he found out about his power to reset, save and load and, of course, with Chara. Flowey constantly feels like he has to do Chara’s bidding and even apologises to them at one point, showing that he is capable of bonding with someone, different from a psychopath. Flowey’s acts of violence are also very clear; he doesn’t do it all in secret like Chara does, he shows it in your face that he is indeed an antagonist. Who else makes crimes leaving marks behind? A sociopath, obviously. And surely, Flowey wasn’t always a sociopath, he became one, he is what Asriel became after being manipulated by Chara, Chara made him a sociopath (if not the boredom he felt after seeing all the Underground has to offer but you get my point). Indeed, Flowey/Asriel only turns evil and sociopathic due to the manipulative influences of Chara, Chara made him this way, Chara was the starting point for Flowey to start having those attitudes of violence in the game. To sum it all up: Chara was born a psychopath, as they have no reason to hate humanity, and Flowey is a sociopath because he was manipulated by Chara as Asriel. He doesn’t do what he does because he wants to, he only wants to satisfy Chara.

Conclusion (Chara=The Player/Character Analysis): Now, it is indeed a bit difficult to explain this line of thinking. Every RPG has in its essence killing and defeating your enemies, getting stronger, winning new equipments, gaining experience to evolve in levels and going to face new challenges. But that’s different in Undertale. This game values every single character it has, from simple enemies to NPCs, killing and defeating is not a necessity. Indeed, the more you kill, the worse your (most precisely Neutral) ending becomes. It really goes to show how being stronger than everyone else doesn’t necessarily make you better than anyone else, and in Undertale, the exact opposite happens, it makes you the worse. It completely goes against the idea that the more you kill, the better you are, without caring about anyone else, without the least bit of remorse, being the very best at every cost even if it means killing everyone around you. Chara is never met in person at all in every other route of Undertale besides the Genocide Run, and that’s because every EXP and every LV you gain gives them power, thus causing them to grow stronger and mentally posses Frisk. Why do you think Chara is the embodiment of the feeling you get every time your statuses increase? Why do you think you’re supposed to name them after yourself as the player (as stated by Toby Fox himself)? That's because completing a Genocide Run would be just like completing an RPG like any other and Chara is that feeling we have inside of us every time we gain more power, when we feel nothing upon seeing people get hurt, upon seeing the news of terrible things happening in the world and feeling nothing at all. They’re that evil voice whispering “kill them, you have the power” when we’re clutching a knife in our hands just about to cause pain and suffering for those who hurt you instead of feeling empathy and learning to forgive. Have you noticed how Chara is the only character in the entire game that we don’t fight? It's because Chara, being the feeling of only wanting more power and feeling no empathy for others at all, can only be defeated by doing good to others, by forgiving, by making friends and not using or manipulating them into doing what only YOU want them to do. Chara only resurrects at the very end of the Genocide Run, when everything and everybody are truly destroyed and only for wanting more power, they tell you that your “human SOUL” and your “Determination" are what brought them back to life, meaning that, upon wanting to become more powerful, you as the player, acquired their traits. HP. ATTACK. GOLD. DEFENCE. EXP. LV. Every time time a number increases, that feeling, that's Chara. With your guidance, Chara has finally resurrected, they could have never done this without you and have finally realised why they’re back to life: power, and that’s exactly what Chara represents. As that old saying says: “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The player needs an equal, a representative in-game to represent their thirst and lust for power, their want to be the best at every cost and to kill everyone in their way if needed. Chara is a separate entity that lives in all of us, our thirst and lust for power that, if one lets it grow, can destroy worlds regardless of one’s choice, because YOU are never in control. Chara takes the game's control away from the player more and more as the Genocide Run progresses and, towards its end, more and more and more Monsters do not recognise Frisk as human anymore. That is because, as you kill, you literally strip yourself of your humanity. Is it really you in control of your actions, or your greed? Are you really the one making the rules, or your selfishness? Is there really anything more than just your ego and your futility that keeps you going? Are you leaving good things to the people around you or are you just an asshole wishing to manipulate everyone and have an easy life? Are you a true true friend or do you manipulate your friends and steal their attention, their empathy and sympathy with lies just so they can all cater to your needs and whims? In other words, you inner Chara? Soulless monster, you have no excuses to say you haven’t been warned, for when there is nothing nor nobody around you, do not complain that you did not know where you were going to.

I am open to discussions and will ignore flames.

#chara #undertale #chara undertale #undertale chara #chara is evil #why chara is evil #discourse #essay #by me #arguments #your argument is invalid

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hopeymchope · 7 years

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Fandom Character Reaction Musings (that Have DR2/DR3/UDG Spoilers)

So... I’ve noticed something weird about the Danganronpa fandom on ol’ Tumblr.

Nagito Komaeda: Literally tried to bomb a school just to “help” his “friends” get out of exams. Shrugs off the deaths and suffering of others to the point where he feels blessed to find a waterfall after his plane crashes, killing everyone else aboard. Creates and enacts an elaborate plan to murder the Ultimate Impostor in order to “help” his classmates “grow even greater hope,” but he steps aside when someone else clearly intends to do some murdering instead. When he discovers that his “friend” Hinata is a Reserve Course student, he treats him hammered shit that he found scraped against his heel, because although Komaeda dislikes his own weak “talent,” we watch how he seems to truly despise those without any talent at all and treat them as though they should be subservient to him as personal slaves.

Some of his actions are possibly explained by a brain disease he brings up in the non-canon Free Time Events in Island Mode, although there’s no way to tell whether he’s speaking the truth about said disease or not; it’s left open to the player’s interpretation. We also learn in some of these scenes that he sees balance in his luck, and has endured a lot of personal losses that he thinks are offset by the good things that come after them (which could be a psychological coping mechanism). Thankfully, he is forced to confront his personal prejudice against “untalented” people within the Neo-World program thanks to Alter Ego and Hinata’s own efforts at reviving him after his attempted murder-suicide of all his friends.

In the end, he gets to live a happy and guilt-free life with his pals, albeit while being on the run from justice due to still being perceived as an evil “remnant” by the remaining police/military forces on Earth. He also seems to be fully reconciled with Hinata, although it’s left unclear if this is because he stopped hated “untalented” people or if he just likes that Hinata is also Izuru Kamakura...

Tumblr DR Fandom Reacts: Komaeda must be protected, he did nothing wrong. He is pure and beautiful and shouldn’t be so hard on himself. How can anyone stand to sit by and watch this poor boy say awful things about himself?! He also deserves to be in a relationship with Hinata for life.

Haiji Towa: Cowers in an underground base unsure of what to do when the children begin murdering all adults. For a long time he simply works with Shirokuma to rescue and protect as many of the victimized adults as possible within this base, but our leads/heroes are disgusted that he won’t get out of the basement and counter-attack against the kids. Throws the leads out of the base when it it is attacked en masse and many adults die thanks to Komaru being followed there by the kids. When he finally DOES counter-attack against the kids at the behest of the lead heroes, they are disturbed by how much pleasure he takes in striking fear into the murderous children’s hearts and how destructive his weapon is. He reminds them that not only did everyone in his base lose family members to the children... all of them, including himself, watched the children literally torture their loved ones to death on a city-wide broadcast.

We eventually learn he is struggling with both the guilt and shame of not doing more to stop Monaca’s collusion with Junko because he didn’t want to hurt his family’s name and reputation, but also full of vengeful rage against her and the other children for murdering the rest of their family and enacting their plan to kill so many of the city’s residents. Even once he knows most of the psycho killer children are under mind control, he is too possessed by grief and hate to want anything other than their deaths after what he’s seen them do. We also learn two more disturbing facts about Haiji over the course of the game: He physically abused his adoptive sister Monaca in her youth (though we simultaneously learn that Monaca was a psychotic, deranged manipulator since the same age; how much you think one of these affected the other one of these varies between players) and he thinks Komaru (who is 16-17) is too old for him because he likes his girls “as young as legally possible” (which in Japan would mean he likes 14-year-olds... uhhh errrrr thanks a lot for that).

In the end, we see him lost and alone with numerous other adults who are still in throes of brutal grief, and Haiji is left to reel from the angst of what he failed to do against both his adoptive sister and the other children... but we don’t know much about his fate from there.

Tumblr DR Fandom Reacts: Hate him so fucking much, I bet he also abuses women and molests kids, fucking burn him at the stake, worst character ever, no one must ever be allowed to defend him, if you do then you enable the literal Worst People, he’s DR Hitler. We should all accept that he canonically died horribly for his crimes, as he deserves.

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I’m not saying you aren’t allowed to hate both or like both or anything like that, of course. Both have plenty of reasons to be blamed for plenty of awful things. I’m just sayin’ that the epic level of this particular difference in reaction, given their relative actual crimes (vs just association with some crimes) and relative amount of guilt they each carry FOR their crimes, is kinda fuckin’ weird, guys.

It’s kinda fuckin’ weird.

#haiji towa #danganronpa fandom #tumblr fandom #danganronpa

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dracox-serdriel · 7 years

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Orion - Chapter Seven: The Heavenly Shepherd (The Flash)

Title: Orion [AO3] [LJ] [FF] Chapter: The Heavenly Shepherd Universe: The Flash Pairings: SnowJay (Caitlin Snow/Jay Garrick), SnowHunter (Caitlin Snow/Hunter Zolomon) Word count: 14,000 Spoilers: All episodes through 02x18 Versus Zoom and all comic books that feature Zoom/Hunter Zolomon. Rating: NC-17/MA Chapter summary: Zoom finally makes his move against the MTU, and Caitlin goes on her first mission as Bellatrix.

Canon-divergent as of 02x18 Versus Zoom. Caitlin Snow and Jay Garrick meet under strange circumstances, but the attraction between them is immediate and the connection, real. Stranded on Earth-2, Caitlin fights for her survival against Zoom, the seemingly unstoppable meta-human who has fallen in love with her.

Set immediately after the events in 02x18 Versus Zoom, Orion includes flashbacks to missing scenes during canon episodes of the season when SnowJay was developing.

Read Orion from the beginning.

Additional content warnings: This chapter contains graphic descriptions of violence, human experimentation, graphic descriptions of trauma, descriptions of meta-violence, and a lot of other terrible stuff. The other chapters talk about a war zone, but this chapter drags you neck-deep into it.

Orion Chapter Seven: The Heavenly Shepherd

Fort Green stood in the shadow of the Appalachians. It was an unremarkable army base named for an admiral who, some two hundred years ago, did something worthy becoming the namesake of the structure, though most historians maintained that the story was more folk legend than fact. Technically, the fort's mission was a well-guarded secret, but anyone with the right connections could parrot the same report: Fort Greene was where the youngest, greenest recruits and officers went to get whipped into shape with grueling missions deep in the wilderness of the mountains. It was staffed with nothing but untested soldiers and a handful of old timers who were assigned there to wind down their careers.

Perhaps that was why, for four hundred miles in every direction, there was nothing but sleepy towns with five or six thousand souls at most. Neither was there a historical site, landmark, tourist trap, or public attraction of any kind, despite a recent influx in government funds for unspecified infrastructure improvements.

Thirty miles from Fort Greene, there was a four-story office building that, for all outward appearances, was the research and development branch of some company with a very forgettable name. Beyond the locks on its doors, there were no obvious security measures, not even a fence.

There was no reason to suspect that it was the primary stronghold for the Metahuman Tactile Unit.

It was an incredible feat of ingenuity, hiding a fortress in plain sight. An intricate underground tunnel system - expanded exponentially with government funds - enabled the undetected transport of goods, personnel, and prisoners. The supposedly ramshackle army base provided formidable resources when called upon; its phony reputation just one more aspect of the facility's concealment.

For the past two years, countless metahumans had sought this facility, yet Blink tracked it down in two months, mere days after uncovering the MTU's secret weapon. Her sudden, sweeping successes did not go unnoticed, and despite having Totem and several others confirm the voracity of her intel, Hunter felt uneasy by Blink's recent insight into the MTU.

There was only one reasonable conclusion: she had an asset. A prisoner, a minion, a decryption key... something that gave her an edge. Most metas in her position would've handed over whatever-it-was to Zoom as soon as they discovered it, not only to win favor but also to be rid of the responsibility. Blink, however, insisted that her victories required nothing more than her extended teleportation abilities, which Totem had provided at his command several months prior.

Withholding from Zoom was a brazen thing to do: metas had died for far less. That was what bothered him the most. Blink wasn't foolish or suicidal enough to lie to him. Something else was going on; he could feel it.

It left Hunter in a quandary that Zoom never had to face. He had a strict policy of never allowing any meta to become indispensable. Every minion needed to know that if they stepped out of line, they would be killed and replaced without a second thought. Blink had transformed into a key player overnight and was rapidly approaching that "vital" label he so loathed, and now that Caitlin was under his protection, he couldn't let anyone hold that kind of sway. It was only a matter of time before Blink attempted to wrest control of real power.

She won't.

He didn't need pitiful self-reassurance. No, what he required was leverage -

Blink would never risk her son's wellbeing, let alone his life. Not for anything.

Hunter took a deep breath. He had gotten so wound up that he'd forgotten about her son. Some of his older lieutenants had adult children, but Blink was the only significant player that had a child who depended on her. That made the equation very different.

The only thing she might do is take her kid and run. But not now with the MTU hunting them both.

Hunter felt much calmer, much more in control. He had time to figure out Blink's asset and endgame, assuming she had one at all. Until then, he'd keep close tabs on her, and a very durable tracking device on Blink Junior. Just in case.

Don't leave her on the front lines.

That brought a smile to his face. Normally, a raid like tonight's would depend on Blink's gift for sabotage and mayhem, and after what the MTU did to her son, she was chomping at the bit to wreak havoc. That meant his precaution would also serve as punishment.

His smile widened. Doling out retribution - even a small one - was well within his comfort zone.

Caitlin trudged up the stairs to the kitchen, weary to the bone. She hadn't slept well the night previous, tossing and turning with dreams so vivid they allowed her no rest. Actually, it was just the one, over and over again, as if she fell back into the dream as soon as she closed her eyes. One minute, she was in her bed, and the next, she'd be standing outside on the doorstep with a cold wind riffling her hair. A distant silhouette waited on the beach, little more than a hazy shadow on the horizon, yet she felt drawn to it. Her feet would slip through the sands as she rushed to meet whoever awaited her. Each time, she came so very, very close... close enough to recognize Cisco's warm smile right before she jolted awake.

It made her homesick and compounded her loneliness. Maybe that was why she felt disappointed when she found the kitchen empty. That was certainly more palatable than the idea that she, on some level, wanted to see Hunter.

No, this is how abuse works, she reminded herself. He gets inside your heart, messes with your head, makes you dependent on him, isolates you. Don't let him win. You didn't want to see him. You wanted to see Cisco or Iris or Barry because you don't want to be alone. You miss them, not him.

She rationalized all the way to her bedroom. Had she not been so mired in her thoughts, she might've noticed the faint scent of electrified iron or the minute signs of disturbance, and she wouldn't have been so startled when she found someone standing by her bed.

After a moment, she realized it wasn't a person but a manikin decked out in a deep blue suit that reminded her of those worn by the various Doctor Midnights. Instead of the symbol of their mantle - a light blue crescent moon - on the forehead, it had a many-pointed star with radiating lines. There were other deviations, such as the cut and color of the trim, which more closely resembled Killer Frost's suit than Doctor Midnight's, yet it still maintained the general look and feel. Anyone would be hard-pressed to distinguish between the two with a quick glance.

Caitlin didn't have to inspect it any further to know that it had been made for her, but she couldn't imagine why. She turned to take in the rest of the room, expecting to see Hunter casually leaning against the far wall smugly waiting to explain everything, but she was alone.

She returned her focus to the suit, wondering after its construction. Usually, designs like this were implemented to resolve environmental issues that arose from meta-powers, like the friction Barry generated when he ran at superspeeds, or to augment and control their abilities, like Cisco's Vibe Goggles. But she had no powers to facilitate or compensate for, so why would someone make her a suit?

That was when she noticed the note on her bedside table.

Bellatrix:

Apologies for the delay in dinner. It will be ready at seven.

Rest up while you can because, before dawn, you'll be suiting up.

Be ready.

It wasn't signed, and she didn't recognize the handwriting. It also didn't sound like something Hunter or Totem would write, and she wondered if the author might be the one responsible for the meals and the general caretaking of the house. She wanted to thank them, whoever they were.

Caitlin's stomach growled loudly. Seven o'clock couldn't come soon enough.

Fire and ice collided, and the resulting tremor shook open the already-cracked walls, splitting them down to the foundation. Cheers of triumph joined the cacophony of destruction as the bulk of the meta-army finally received the signal to attack. The rise in numbers forced their enemies into a hasty and desperate retreat. An unnatural darkness descended over the area and choked out all the lights, compliments of a powerful quasi-mystic named Shade. Hunter never trusted the man, but his ability to manipulate shadows proved invaluable to a siege.

But even Shade is expendable, he thought as he donned his Nightshade Goggles, designed specifically to see in Shade's overcast.

He winced at the initial brightness, but his sight rapidly adjusted, becoming twice as sharp. He took a moment to watch the throng of metas charge down the brave few who stood their ground to provide cover fire for their fleeing comrades. A handful of stragglers likewise fell under his soldier's advanced, perhaps victims of Deathbolt's blasts or Berserker's unstoppable fists. Wave after wave of his minions flooded the battered facility, making the possibilities truly endless.

He couldn't let them have all the fun, now could he?

He sped into the fray, and to him, everything unfolded in painfully slow motion. It took centuries for the retreating agents to shout, "Zoom! Run! Zoom!" After that, it was eons before they pulled the triggers on their already-raised weapons, and an age before the bullets left their chambers.

Struck with a playful idea, Zoom wound through his enemies and spun them this way and that so that carefully aimed, specially enhanced, anti-metahuman weapons achieved nothing but friendly fire when they discharged.

Normally he would blaze through personnel in a battle, but tonight he had the exotic pleasure of disarming and maiming his foes before leaving them helpless to the wrath of the oncoming storm of his meta-army. The high from running mingled with the euphoria induced by the snapping of bones and the spilling of blood. He got caught up in his revelry, barely noticing Pyranis directing flame like a missile or Scrap effortlessly deflecting the very bullets designed to revert his body from steel to flesh.

He raced ahead, ready to decimate whatever security measures the MTU had mounted in their next feeble defense. This place was like a maze, a castle with countless areas to fortify and fall back to, and he was going to tear every last one of them down.

He was zipping through the next corridor when his feet went out from under him. He was knocked on his ass, blue lightning and all.

Looks like you've just met the MTU's secret weapon.

Zoom glanced up at the sole defender of this particular fortification: a woman in her late twenties with a modified assault riffle pointed right at his heart. The orbs of her jade eyes shined unnaturally under the influence of the Nightshade Goggles, flaring dramatically with her medium-length blond hair.

He had more than enough time to take in her features and confirm her identity before the bullets started flying. He dodged them, but it was far from an effortless evasion. It was like he was running through Turtle's field of stolen kinetic energy but fifty times worse. Something was acting like a dampener on his powers... all of his powers, leaving him with only the barest of super-speed.

That, and she was using friction-targeting bullets, which were drawn to him like tiny angry magnets. He took a few hits to his left arm and shoulder before he broke past the dampener and led the bullets into the next hallway, where they struck a handful of MTU reinforcements, cutting them down like a bolt of lightning.

He immediately sought Killer Frost, going so far as to whisk her away before her kill shot hit its mark. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes since he escaped the secret weapon, yet in that time, she had injured Pyranis and Scrap. Her victories drew the attention of the most powerful metas advancing on her position.

It was foolish, but this woman had been responsible for the capture of countless metahumans, including Geomancer, Gigawatt, Count Vertigo, and Silencer. The reports suggested - or, rather, hinted - that she had a resistance to meta-abilities, but if his recent experience was any indication, her abilities were far more expansive. He wanted to see it for himself.

So he dragged Frost behind a secure barricade and watched as Deathbolt delivered blast after blast as he closed in on the seemingly invincible MTU Agent. She dodged a few, but most of them hit her, though they may have been drops of rain for all the effect they had on her. She was remarkably patient, waiting until he was only a few yards away before returning fire, hitting her mark on the second try. Zoom had no idea what kind of weapon discharged, but it made Deathbolt wail in agony as it threw him through a solid wall of cement and steel.

She didn't even notice when lighting charred the floor behind her feet. She rounded on Typhoon when he screamed in a rage. He loosed a dozen more bolts, but each one grounded rather than striking her. Undeterred by the wind and hail of his frustration, she raised a handgun and pulled the trigger over and over again, which Typhoon evaded. It was a simple enough diversion; it kept him occupied as she closed the distance between them. Before she reached him, however, Black Siren let out a screech strong enough to crush a man's skull.

He watched as the energy of her scream rebounded on Black Siren, silencing her booming cry and throwing her clear across the room, where concealed by a barricade caught her. He couldn't see who it was, probably a member of her entourage or one of the other Sirens.

Zoom had seen enough. He didn't have the luxury of being impressed with her, not while she was mowing through his army like The Terminator. She had defended herself against five of his best fighters as many minutes, and beyond that, she had done it all without night vision goggles or any defense against Shade's shadows.

He grabbed Frost's arm and said in his modulated voice, "Remember, I want her alive."

She sneered, but he didn't give her time to reply before he sped her into the line of fire. Again, his powers began to dwindle, as if something was leaning on his abilities, choking them off at the source. He skidded to a graceless halt far closer than he had planned, nearly tripping over Frost as he put her down.

"Agent Cameron Chase?" Frost prompted.

"Yeah. And who the hell are you?" Chase demanded.

"Killer Frost."

Zoom bolted from the fray, grabbing Typhoon and relocating him to a high vantage point overlooking the thickest part of the fighting.

"Destroy them," he ordered.

He left Typhoon before he could reply.

The only true threat in this entire building filled with anti-metahuman measures and weapons was Special Agent Cameron Chase, and he needed to secure her capture before beginning the next phase of his plan. So he raced for a better line of sight and kept moving, diverting overly curious parties while observing the fight.

Chase's assault rifle was discarded, trapped in a solid block of ice. She pulled out one weapon after the other, but Frost froze them before she could fire. Yet she kept going, as if she had an endless supply of firearms inside her coat. He smiled. It had only been a theory until this moment, but Zoom had surmised that someone resistant to meta-powers would be easy prey to an other-powered person who was presumed metahuman. Chase was just like the people she took down: a metahuman too reliant on her own powers. It was clear as day that she had never before faced an opponent with abilities intact.

Killer Frost loosing her powers unencumbered by doubt was a beautiful thing to behold. She was glorious in a fury, though even then, she didn't hold a candle to her Earth-1 counterpart.

His happy thoughts were interrupted by a piercing scream.

It came from Frost. He could see her lips move and her face contorted, but it sounded like it emanated from somewhere else. It was like his mind refused to believe that Frost was injured.

But in the next second, black-red blood blossomed over the right side of her suit, spouting from near her collarbone. Chase pressed her advantage, raising a miniscule gun for another shot, only to have Frost retaliate with a harpoon-sized icicle. It was poorly aimed and barely scraped Chase's arm as it pierced her coat and embedded into the wall behind her, trapping her arm and giving Frost the time she needed to turn the pesky gun into an ice cube.

He should've been furious with Frost for attempting to kill Chase, but he found he was more concerned about what Caitlin would do if Frost died from a treatable wound.

She would never let you hear the end of it. She will never trust you.

Frost pinned Chase down and frosted-over her coat with a single, chilly finger. The MTU's secret weapon was slowly turning blue.

It was lamentable, but he really did need Chase alive.

He waited until the last second to yank Frost away, earning an icy blast for his trouble. He vibrated it off as he growled at the pain, but in truth, he was pleased. He stood right next to Chase, but this time, his powers were intact.

"BLINK!" he shouted. "BLINK!"

The teleporter appeared as if rising from the mists, her face neutral, though he knew she was furious that he ordered her to wait in the shadows during such a battle.

"Take Agent Chase!" he ordered. "Keep her sedated in a carbyne cell. I'll call when I need you again."

She nodded her head, yes and begrudgingly took hold of the slightly frozen MTU Agent. Then they both vanished into the darkness.

Though nobody could see beneath his cowl, Zoom was smiling like a madman. Now the real fun could begin.

Several hours later... Caitlin jolted awake, confused. She had been so certain she wouldn't be able to fall asleep when she curled up on top of her bed, but now she couldn't imagine what had so rudely awakened her.

Then, as if her mind was catching up to her senses, the acrid smell of chemicals and blood filled her nostrils, driving her stomach into churning knots. It was the kind of scent that came with a taste, and it was so horrid it made her gag.

"Caitlin?"

He appeared in front of her with his telltale flash of blue lightning, his soft voice a stark contrast to his battered suit.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Her first instinct was to recoil, but there was nowhere for her to go. The offensive odor lingered, burning the inside of her nostrils.

"I'm fine," she replied. "It's just... that smell..."

He ripped off his cowl and revealed his sweaty face, and it made her wonder what he had just been through. He seemed off to her, like he had returned to his senses after days of neglect.

You're imagining it.

"I apologize, but there's not much time," he explained. "Your suit will protect you, even from the smell. But it's not enough to keep you safe. So if you're serious about coming on this mission, I need you to promise me two things."

"What two things?" she asked, tempted to refuse his requests out of spite.

"You will remain with your bodyguards at all times," he said.

She didn't like the idea, but without powers of her own, she wouldn't it be able to defend herself or patients. She would need help. At the very least, it sounded as if she wouldn't be stuck with him all night.

So she nodded her head, yes.

"Good," he said. "And promise to remember that you don't know these people."

"What?"

"In this universe," he explained. "No matter who they are to you on Earth-1, you don't know them on Earth-2. They don't take kindly to strangers who know their legal names. Taken names, and only if you absolutely must. You don't know these people, Caitlin."

She saw true concern in his eyes, and it worried her. Whether or not his feelings for her were real, he had a vested interest in keeping her alive. That begged the question, who did he think she'd see and mistake for a friend?

"All right," she replied. "I won't forget."

His curled his lips and bared his teeth, giving her a brief glimpse of his ugly smile before it disappeared under his cowl.

"Get dressed, Bellatrix," he said in his modulated Zoom voice. "Blink will be waiting for you downstairs in ten minutes."

His lightning flickered, but he hesitated, lingering in her room for a few seconds too long. He zipped over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, light and gentle through his mask.

"Be careful," he added.

He raced away before she could respond, leaving her somewhere between annoyed and startled. Her eyes wandered to the clock; it was nearly two in the morning.

Again, she turned her attention to the suit. It seemed silly, but if wearing this thing was what she needed to do to keep tabs on Hunter and figure out his endgame, then that's what she'd do.

She struggled to put it on. The material was much heavier than it appeared. It was one solid piece, which forced her to pull it on from her feet, and the fact that it was made to be skin-tight didn't help matters. Yet, after four full minutes fighting with it, it slid into place, and every inch of it fit her perfectly.

She glowered at the hood and mask before pulling it on. She thought it would feel stuffy and suffocating, but the material was light and didn't restrict her breathing, though mercifully, it canceled out the foul smell that still hung in the room.

She descended the stairs, surprised at how natural the suit felt, like a light summer dress. She found Blink pacing in the kitchen, practically exuding impatience.

"We need to leave," Blink said abruptly. "Keep alert. We'll have the mercs with us - "

"The who?" Caitlin interrupted.

"The mercenaries," she replied tersely. "Heat Wave and Colonel Cold. They call the shots. Do what they say when they say it. It's my job to get you in and out alive, and for my son's sake, I will not fail. Do you understand?"

If she was being honest, Caitlin didn't understand anything. She had demanded to join this mission to protect her doppelganger and to prove to Hunter... to show him... damnit, she had been so frustrated and angry, so desperate to make a point, she hadn't really thought about what she was asking. Now she was about to enter siege with Earth-2's Mick Rory and Leonard Snart bossing her around while she scrambled to save... who, exactly? Bloodthirsty minions of Zoom? The so-called doctors who removed Blink Junior's eyes as an experiment?

Caitlin Snow was a doctor. She had taken an oath to do no harm, and as part of that, she had helped people she loathed and saved people she didn't trust. Every time, she told herself that she had done the right thing. Was that what she was doing now?

It didn't matter. She knew Blink wasn't going to wait for her to wrangle her doubts, so she quelled her tumultuous thoughts with self-deceit.

"I understand," she lied.

Somewhere between heartbeats - between the moment Blink reached for her and actually grabbed hold of her - she decided that tonight she wouldn't be Caitlin Snow with all her attendant complications... tonight, she would be Bellatrix, whatever that meant.

The next thing she knew, she was standing under the night sky. Blink had teleported them to a small clearing in a forest that reeked of burning flesh and embers.

Without a word of explanation, Blink set off through the trees, and Caitlin followed, scrambling to keep up. The tree line came to an abrupt halt at a cliff-like overlook that opened into a smoking crater with the charred and battered remains of an office building. It looked like the epicenter of a disaster or a terrorist attack.

That's because it was a terrorist attack.

"You're early," a woman said from behind them.

Caitlin spun around, surprised. She had expected Heat Wave and Captain - no, Colonel - Cold to be similar to their Earth-1 counterparts, but here they were decked out in cyborg-like enhancements. She assumed the man outfitted in a suit of metallic red was Heat Wave, which meant the woman in cerulean blue steel was Colonel Cold. They were both white with dark brown hair, and something about their body language made her think they were siblings. It was hard to tell, though, because they were wearing heavy-duty goggles that covered most of their faces.

"Why are you still in Nightshades?" Blink asked.

"Shade hadn't dropped the shadows when we left," Heat Wave replied, his voice surprisingly smooth and soft. "But we should be good to go now."

Colonel Cold had hers off before he even finished his sentence, and Caitlin had to stifle her gasp of surprise. Though she had only met her Earth-1 counterpart a few times, she would recognize Thea Queen anywhere. It was enough to make Caitlin glad that she had a mask concealing her reactions.

No matter who they are to you on Earth-1, you don't know them on Earth-2.

Hunter's words echoed inside her head, and while she didn't trust him, she took his warning to heart. She didn't know this Thea nor the man she worked with, and since Zoom employed them, assuming the worst was her best option. She couldn't think of her as Thea.

She's not Thea. Not your Thea.

"Well, now that our ride is here, I say we're good to go," Colonel Cold said. "Ready, Doc?"

Feeling the urge to assert control on the chaos of her life, Caitlin said, "It's Bellatrix."

Cold gave her a look somewhere between dispassionate amusement and a death stare, dispelling any chance of mistaking her for Earth-1 Thea Queen.

"Well, then, Bellatrix, hold on to something."

She felt Blink's hand on her arm, and the world dissolved around her. When it reformed a few moments later, it was too hot, and smoke clouded her vision. As her senses adjusted, she took in the wreckage around her. Walls of solid metal and concrete had chunks torn and beaten out, their rubble strewn across the floor, obscuring broken furniture and rubbish. Everything looked unnecessarily eerie in the dim emergency lighting.

It was overwhelming. She frozen until the cold metal of a very large gun nudged her shoulder.

"Move, Doc!" Heat Wave barked.

"Got a patient down the corridor, Trix!" Cold yelled from ahead.

As Caitlin moved forward, she realized that she didn't have a medical kit. She had expected to collect one or at least a few supplies before arriving.

There was nothing for it now. She stumbled into the next corridor, which was filled with bodies. The first two were beaten to a bloody pulp, their skulls smashed in along with the majority of their long bones. A third had burns so severe that it had shriveled to three-fourths its natural size. Three others had died from something that caused them to bleed from the eyes and ears. She checked the five possible survivors for a pulse and found nothing. Six lives gone in the span of a few feet.

"Over here, Trix!" Cold shouted.

She pushed ahead to where Heat Wave was clearing debris from a man trapped under part of a collapsed ceiling.

"Shit, it's Scrap," Heat Wave grunted.

There was real concern written across his face. They must know each other, and with a name like Scrap, the patient was likely metahuman.

Scrap seemed to be in his late teens, maybe his early twenties at the oldest. He had a mop of brown hair and kind-looking blue eyes, but though they were opened, he was listless and unfocused. He didn't respond when Heat Wave said his name, nor when Caitlin crouched over him and took his pulse.

"Scrap, can you hear me?" she asked. "My name is Bellatrix. I'm a doctor."

He didn't respond at all, and his breathing took on a strained wheeze. Seconds later, half his skin turned to steel, and a bubbling, hollow scream poured out of him, echoing before it even left his lips. She pulled back to observe and noted that it was unilateral over his entire right side.

"What are his powers?" she yelled to Heat Wave, who had his back turned to them.

He glowered at her over his shoulder before he said, "I'm here to make sure you don't get dead. Not to hold your hand."

"You know him," she pressed. "Or know of him at least."

"I got us covered," Cold said firmly. "Two minutes."

Heat Wave stowed his gun across his back like a sword, before he joined her at Scrap's side.

"He can transmute his flesh into some kind of invulnerable metal," he replied. "They developed special bullets for him, but he adapted to them... no idea how."

The steel fell away, leaving Scrap panting for breath and looking all too human. She quickly inspected him for wounds, but there wasn't a drop of blood on him. Severe bruising covered his right arm with deeply purple marks, so she checked his torso and found the same pattern along his right side.

"What the hell happened to him?" Heat Wave asked.

"Probably a crush injury with internal bleeding," she said.

Wishing she had more tools with her, she gently pressed against the edge of the wound, eliciting a small grunt from Scrap. The redness didn't blanch, but even as she looked at his skin, the bruises seemed to spread.

Where's a Sharpie when you need one?

Then suddenly, her right glove's index finger pulled back to reveal a slightly spongy surface. It was inky black.

She swiped her finger down the edge of his torso's bruise, but before she got even halfway down, she saw the purpling move beyond the mark. Hematomas often spread after a serious injury, sometimes for days, but they always followed gravity.

"Help me get him on his side," she said. "We need to get him on his right side."

"His injured side?" he repeated incredulously.

"Yes, now!"

They rolled him quickly, and Scrap whimpered in pain.

"T-t-tommy," Scrap muttered. "Stop... it's too much. It's too loud."

"This is hurting him!" Heat Wave protested.

She barely heard him. She was so intensely focused on the line she'd drawn that she shut out all other stimuli. She waited, and she hoped -

But then she saw the bruise grow even farther beyond the line. Whatever happened to Scrap was still going, and moving at an alarmingly rapid rate. She couldn't tell how bad the damage was without some kind of CT or tissue scan.

"Too loud! Too loud!" Scrap cried.

"Back on his back," she said to Heat Wave. "We need to get him to a medical facility. He needs a surgeon, and - "

"No can do, Trix," Cold interrupted. "It's either you here and now or nothing - we move on and leave him."

"Blink can bring him - "

"He goes nowhere until he's been cleared of Trojans," Heat Wave interrupted.

Trojans... she'd read about them while helping Blink Junior. It was an umbrella term used to describe implantable, attachable, or otherwise disguised technology that could have any number of ill intentions, from tracking a subject's location to somehow impacting their immediate environment, like disrupting transmissions or sabotage. The only way to ensure the patient was free of them was a full body scan.

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that?" she shot back.

"Have you even scanned him yet?" he snapped.

"With what?"

"Is this your first time in the suit?" he asked, his voice mocking.

"Yes," she replied.

His expression went from disbelief to confusion to eye-rolling disapproval, like he was too good to protect someone on her first mission.

"Left palm has a scanner," he said. "Forehead thermometer in the left middle finger. You can read blood pressure by wrapping either hand over the bicep. That can also read heart rate. Scalpels and other pointy things in the belt and boots."

"You seem to know a lot about someone else's suit."

"Nothing that anybody saved by Doctor Midnight couldn't tell you."

The marker finger had just sort of... happened. She flipped her left hand up and focused on the palm, and sure enough, it started to glow. She waved it over the edge of Scrap's bruise, and she nearly flinched when a stream of data appeared at the corner of her vision. The scan projected to the left of her eye openings.

Doing her best to ignore the countless questions born of her curiosity about Earth-2 technology, she closed her right eye to focus on the scan results. There was some kind of foreign substance moving inside his body. She rescanned his torso to make sure the reading was correct.

It was the same as the first: tiny foreign bodies were moving, just below the dermis, no, deeper, below the fascia.

"Damnit," she muttered. "Nanites."

The most advanced of the anti-meta poisoned utilized nanotechnology to attack internally, destroying minor blood vessels first, causing an array of symptoms from minor aches and pains to immobility and severe nerve pain, sometimes lasting hours before killing its victims. It was combined with a chemical cocktail that arrested most meta-healing powers, slowing them to near-human rates.

It had been created as an enhanced interrogation tactic, and more importantly, it had an antidote... no, an off-trigger.

"We need someone with sonic powers," she said. "They can initiate the nanite self-destruct sequence."

"Cold," he said with an oddly formal tone. "Any of the Sirens nearby?"

"Motley Siren's been screaming his head off for a doctor," she replied casually. "Doubt he'll be interested in helping."

"Got any better idea?" he sniped.

Yep, definitely siblings.

"Blink, go get Motley for us," Cold ordered. Then she turned to Heat Wave and added, "But to be clear, he's your problem now, Heat."

Unsure of how long she'd be waiting, Caitlin tested out the other tools the suit offered. Scrap's temperature was low, but his heart rate was elevated, which further confirmed her suspicion of nanites.

There was an explosion of sound, and Caitlin instinctively covered her patient. Heat Wave got to his feet and raised his weapon, standing between the doctor and the approaching danger.

"You left Lullaby on the floor! Alone!" someone yelled.

"Before the doctor can get to her, she needs help here," Heat Wave said. "Your help. Faster you get it done, the faster we get to Lullaby."

The new arrival made a series of frustrated sounds and half-insults before he finally grunted, "Fine, fine! What is it, Doc?"

"It's Bellatrix," she said, though for the life of her she didn't know why she had suddenly become so insistent on her alias. "I need you to emit a sonic pulse that is strong enough to interrupt nanite's communication, so it will trigger - "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the self-destruct sequence," Motley interrupted. "It's not like I've never blasted nanites before."

Caitlin took a moment to really look at Motley. His voice and mannerisms were familiar, but his garish meta-suit concealed his features. He wore a particolored suit of red and black, complete with matching cowl and jester's hat. Had it not been slightly charred and covered with blood splatter, he might've seemed comical.

She stood back and allowed him access to Scrap.

He extended a gloved hand over Scrap, who was getting worse. A visible power emanated from his palm, striking Scrap heard enough in the chest to make him buck involuntarily as he wheezed out a scream. Motley didn't even flinch. He continued the blast, moving his hand up and down at a steady pace over Scrap.

He drew his head back and yelled over Scrap's screams, "Done! Lullaby is this way!"

"One minute," she replied.

She grabbed her patient's wrist to check his heart rate, which was dangerously high and increasing every second. This wasn't just a physical reaction to the sonic pressure; it was probably a product of the nanites in his system. If it continued like this, he would need adenosine to stabilize his heart rate.

She ran her hand over the "belt" of her suit, though it was more of a thick liner over her midsection. It contained a number of small vials of adrenaline, a number of anti-seizure and pain meds, but no adenosine. She flipped the liner closed. She'd have to lower his heart rate some other way.

She crouched over Scrap and began to perform carotid sinus massage with her free hand while continuing to monitor him with the other.

It worked, his heart rate decreasing steadily, but once it dropped below one hundred and forty, Scrap transmuted into some kind of non-organic metal similar to steel. As he flickered rapidly between flesh and metal, it became impossible to compress his artery in the appropriate rhythm.

"Scrap, if you can hear me. I need you to control your power," she said. "Can you hear me? Scrap? Scrap!"

"Ah, come on!" Motley shouted. "Haven't we wasted enough time on this loser?"

Ignoring the angry Siren, she waved her left hand over Scrap's body and confirmed that the nanites were no longer moving on their own. Motley had successfully neutralized the nanotechnology, and it was up to Scrap's body to clear out the now-harmless contaminant.

"He's free of Trojans," she said. "Blink, he needs to be taken somewhere he can be monitored and given intravenous fluids."

"There's a medic tent outside," Blink replied. "I can get him there but won't promise any more than that."

Scrap's heart rate was down to one hundred and twenty. With the nanites disabled, it was a wait-and-monitor game now.

"Okay, take him," Caitlin said to Blink. Then she turned to Motley and said, "Lead the way to Lullaby."

"I decide where we go and when," Cold barked, the iciness in her voice perfectly illustrating her alias. "Blink is clear. Take Scrap and return once you pass him off. The rest of us are staying here."

Motley let out a hiss as Blink and Scrap vanished. He paced, stopping and starting erratically, as if he was about to explode, but he was clearly too afraid of Cold to defy her. So he huffed his breath in and out, vocalizing his frustrations without words, all while trying to look casual.

Cold's expression was difficult to read. Had she held them up just to toy with Motley? Or was she truly waiting on some kind of all-clear signal?

She's probably a sociopath. This is just her putting a subordinate in his place.

After several incredibly awkward minutes, Cold said, "Right, we're a go. I've got your six, Mot. Lead the way."

Motley Siren bolted for the next corridor with Cold on his heels. Heat Wave motioned for Caitlin to go, and once she started, he followed behind her, walking backwards with his gun raised.

They passed through a hallway riddled with blood and the dismembered bodies of at least four individuals. There were also victims burned beyond recognition; she didn't have the heart to count how many. The next chamber had bodies laid out as if in triage, some with makeshift dressings and a few restrained with rope or zip-ties. Doctor Midnight - one of them - must have been through here but hadn't gotten to treat everyone yet.

Caitlin doubted Cold (or Motley, for that matter) would allow deviations from their current course. All she could do right now was hope that Doctor Midnight would return. She'd find a way to double back to check on them.

To that end, she struggled to memorize their route through winding halls with poor lightning. Three rights, a left, another right...

"Step lightly!" Cold shouted. "Group up! Passing through a no-fly zone, Trix!"

All of a sudden, Heat Wave faced forward and jammed her up so she was inches behind Cold, forcing her to move at an uncomfortable pace.

He lowered his voice and explained, "For the newbie, no-fly zone means keep in line, no stopping, and keep your hands to yourself. Even if you see your sweet old gran, you don't stop. Got it?"

"Yeah," she grunted breathlessly.

The hallway was a tight squeeze. It had been barricaded and fortified before someone blasted through it. The rubble was filled with the wounded. Most were impaled on or crushed under debris. All of them were crying out in pain, most too far-gone to do anything other than beg, but as they passed more and more, a kind of death wail started, undercut by pleading murmurs. She choked down her horror as hot tears poured down her cheeks, welling up in odd places as they became trapped by her mask.

These people needed care; she might be able to save some of them if she acted quickly. Those she couldn't save... she could still help them. At the very least, she could manage their pain. Cold seemed more than content to leave these people to die. Caitlin screwed up her courage to speak. She couldn't abandon the injured, not like this.

She opened her mouth to ask - no, demand - that they help these people, but before she could speak, a rumbling tremor stole her voice and her footing. She stumbled into Cold, who grabbed her arm and dragged her ahead.

"Ceiling's giving out!" Cold shouted. "Move! Move! Move!"

She was right. The vibrations upset the already precarious supports and badly damaged walls, so Caitlin didn't have time to consider her options. She charged ahead full-force, and together, the four of them cleared to the next corridor moments before the ceiling came down behind them.

The stitch in her side forced her to stop to catch her breath, leaving her close enough to hear the pitching screams before absolute silence and stillness fell. She found it hard to breathe as the combination of panic and rage collected in her chest, leaving no room for air.

You saved Scrap.

She did. She diagnosed him and administered care so he would have a fighting chance, despite all the unknowns. She clung to that strand of hope, but in truth, it was a band-aid over a bullet wound. But it was all she had, so it had to be enough.

"Come on, Doc," Motley pleaded. "Lullaby is around the corner."

She moved to join him without hesitation, but distracted though she was, she still noticed Cold's sneer of disapproval. She flanked Motley without comment, and Heat Wave followed her lead. But Caitlin's instincts told her that this particular misstep wouldn't be forgotten.

Cold needs to believe she's calling the shots.

They turned the corner, and Motley swooped down to a young woman's side.

For the second time that night, Caitlin felt sucker punched. She was looking at the silently writhing form of Earth-2 Sara Lance, her mask discarded beside her and her suit in disarray. Motley had seemed familiar to her, but she never would've thought imagined Quentin Lance in Motley's outrageous outfit.

She crouched by Sara's side.

Don't think of her as Sara. She's not Sara.

"The bastards hit her with some kind of anti-sonic technology," Motley said. "It's like she can't speak, can't sing, can't make a damn sound."

Sara's - no, Lullaby's - heart rate and blood pressure were off the charts. She had minor abrasions and bruises on her arms and legs but no major injuries. Caitlin scanned her but found nothing.

"What are her abilities?" Caitlin asked.

"You serious?"

"To rule out all the specialized MTU weapons, I need a description of her abilities," she said with doctorly authority.

"There's a reason people call her Singsong Siren. Her voice... when she sings, her voice... it affects people."

"Affects them how?"

"I don't know how it works!" he snapped.

"Anything you can tell me," she insisted. "Anything."

"She can sing anyone - even the worst insomniacs - to sleep," he replied with reverence in his voice. "She can calm manics, set saints on a rage, induce euphoria in the most downtrodden of souls, a crushing depression in the most joyful, or childlike naivety in the most cynical. She sings, and it happens."

"Can she induce pain?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah, anyone who tries to fight the emotions she sings to induce feels pain," he responded. "How exactly does this help my - uh - Lullaby?"

"There are prison cells that can rebound a meta's ability back on them," she said.

"Come on, Doc! When last I looked, she's not in a cell!"

Rather escalating with her own retort, she said, "I need you to hold her still. Can you do that?"

If Motley had any reservations about her, they didn't slow him down. He pinned Lullaby's torso, legs, and wrists, holding her steady while Caitlin scanned her head and assessed for trauma. Beyond superficial lacerations - likely incurred when she collapsed to the ground - there were no signs of injury or foreign bodies.

It was possible that she was experiencing somatosensory seizures; ictal pain could erupt anywhere in the body. But what could have triggered them? And why couldn't she make a sound?

Don't overcomplicate things.

If this were any other patient with apophenia, Caitlin would suspect nerve damage. So she ran her hand over Lullaby's neck, searching for abnormalities, but it was difficult to feel the anatomy through the thick gloves of her suit. What she really needed was contrast imaging, which wasn't possible in current circumstances. Her best guess would have to do.

Bilateral paralysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerves.

That made the most sense, given the symptoms, but there were no external indicators. It was an unlikely enough problem, but for it to happen to a meta whose power emanated form her singing voice...

It must be her worst nightmare.

Nightmare. That reminded her of a technology developed to treat REM-related sleeping disorders. For a handful of patients, it was marginally successful, but for others, it amplified them to a crippling level. The company responsible abandoned the clinical trials very early on, but it resurfaced about six months after the particle accelerator exploded, modified as an anti-metahuman tactical device. It didn't affect most metas, but those it did experienced prolonged bouts of relapsing and remitting sleep paralysis, complete with auditory, visual, and tactile hypnagogia. Some even experienced uncontrollable, rhythmic motion.

She said, "She needs to be moved. Is there a somewhere we can use? A cot or a desk or something?"

Motley nodded his head, yes, but when Caitlin went to help lift her, he said, "No, Doc, I got her."

He looked remarkably like his Earth-1 counterpart as he lifted his daughter in his arms.

He's not Detective Lance, she reminded herself. Who knows how many people he's killed today.

He carried her to an unused countertop across the room, about thirty feet away, and she followed. Cold and Heat Wave shadowed them silently.

Caitlin swept the surface clear so he could safely lay Lullaby out.

"Now what?" he asked. "Surgery?"

"No..." she replied. "You need to talk to her."

"What?"

"Talk to her," she insisted. "Hold her hand and talk to her the way you used to when she was little and would wake up in the middle of the night, scared from a bad dream."

"What the hell kind of a doctor are you?" Motley scowled, stepping between them as if to protect his daughter.

"The kind of doctor who knows all the weapons at the MTU's disposal," she replied fearlessly. "Even those that didn't make it to general use by law enforcement. Now that we've eliminated her exposure - "

He interrupted, "Exposure to what? Don't say that damn cell technology again! Because in case you didn't notice, Doc, I was standing right next to her, and I'm not writhing on the ground!"

"Only fifteen to twenty percent of those with an active meta-gene are affected," she countered. "That's why it never graduated to general use. That, and it requires persistent, direct exposure to remain effective."

Motley opened his mouth, his expression livid, but he hesitated. Then he sealed his lips and clenched his jaw, lending a sinister air to his garish costume.

"How sure are you, Doc?" he growled.

"As sure as I can be in the field," she replied. "It'll wear off within the hour, but if you don't see any change in half an hour, don't wait. Get her to a medical facility. I'm sure Cold will let you use Blink."

"Yeah, Trix," Cold interjected. "Nice to be remembered."

"And what about in the meantime?" Motley asked.

"Hold her hand," she replied. "Talking to her will ease her transition, but she'll still wake up scared and disoriented. She's free of Trojans and safe to move, so as soon as she's able, get her out of her. Not outside, not the medical tent - but off the premises. Now that we know she's susceptible, this place is too dangerous. Traps could be anywhere. No matter what, get her out of here. To the Comet, if you can."

"But if you're wrong - "

"Get her to the Comet," she pressed.

He oscillated between belligerence and resignation before he went to his daughter's side and took her hand.

Caitlin wanted to comfort him, but they had already left countless people to be crushed by a collapsing ceiling. There were others out there who needed a doctor. There was nothing more to do for Lullaby outside a medical facility. Motley wasn't Detective Lance, but it was clear he cared for his daughter. He wouldn't abandon her.

"Well, Trix, if you're done here, we got a situation," Cold said. "Blink can't get to us, so we have to go to her. Next stop: Robotics Lab."

"Robotics Lab?" Motley repeated. "You'd be nuts to go to that hell hole."

"Then call us Pecans, Mot, because we're going," Cold said. "Catch you on the flipside."

She brandished her gun before spinning on her heel and leading the way. This time, Caitlin didn't wait for Heat Wave to signal her to go; she fell in line and followed with him not far behind.

Caitlin wondered if Cold had extrasensory powers. She obviously received or obtained up-to-the-second intel, but she didn't have any communication devices on her. It wasn't the kind of thing she could casually ask a stranger, but her curiosity refused to abate, though perhaps she indulged it as a welcome distraction from the horror of her surroundings.

She thought she'd seen the worst of it on the way to Lullaby, but she was woefully wrong. There were dozens killed in what must've been a hailstorm of bullets, given the state of the remains and the walls. The next hallway was filled with soldiers who had been trampled to death despite their full body armor. There were bodies suffocated in a gas attack, frozen solid and frosted over, slowly dissolving in acid, burned and charred, torn in half, pulverized... she didn't stop to check for pulses.

This place is a tomb.

She told herself that they'd find a survivor around the next corner. And the next. And the next. Each time she was proven wrong, she became a little more lost, but she continued to hope... she didn't know how else to do this.

Just breathe.

"Button up!" Cold barked. "Tight edge ahead!"

Again, Heat Wave wedged her against Cold, but when they passed into the next corridor, their proximity failed to stop her from freezing. Her hands when to the nearest wall to help brace herself as she instinctively anchored her weight to the floor. When he met her resistance, he stepped back.

Heat Wave almost certainly could've forced her to move. She wanted to believe that he was a good man with compassion, but his restraint was more likely a byproduct of the dangers that lay before them.

The ceiling and walls had been blown away, comprising a tiny section of a crater that spanned five stories, rising straight up into the night sky and running all the way down to the catacomb-like basement, where bodies and rubble piled up like too many dishes in a sink.

The sole surviving wall had a thin stretch of solid floor wide enough to pass, but only barely so, and there was no railing or barrier between them and a gapping three-story fall.

"What's the matter, Trix?" Cold asked. "Not a fan of heights?"

While she never enjoyed elevated places, she'd never been afraid of them per se. She couldn't deny the vaguely ill feeling that gradually escalated to nausea. She attempted to respond to Cold, but when she looked up at her, words failed her.

Then she saw Cold's steely exterior falter, exhibiting a flicker of humanity that she hadn't expected.

"There has to be another way," Caitlin mumbled.

"Ordnance and Typhoon took out this whole area - and not on purpose," Cold replied. "There's no other way to the other side of the explosion. In case you forgot, that's where our ride is. So, unless you plan to stay in this building forever, you're gonna cross here. Got it?"

"Relax," Heat Wave chimed in. "We've got grappling hooks."

She was not at all reassured.

"Trix, either you move now, or Heat will carry you," Cold pressed.

The thought of being shouldered and dangling mid-air churned her stomach. So she wrenched her hands back to her side and took the smallest step forward. Her entire body felt like lead, and she wondered if being stranded in a strange universe by a madman had weakened her constitution. Or had she always been this way? It was difficult to remember.

"Good choice," Cold said. She sounded very, very far away. "Keep up."

It felt like hours to the other side, even though Cold set a relentless pace. She felt very little relief when they reached the next solid, walled-off room, so she was glad that they didn't slow down or stop.

After a few more winding halls, Cold stopped abruptly outside a room that ran the length of a very, very long corridor with floor-to-ceiling windows. Two men waited inside, flanking the first large glass door. One wore black and white leather augmented with a symbol of an upside-down horseshoe of navy blue. The other was in a suit of deep red with pale yellow undertones and dark green trim.

"You didn't mention Berserker was here," Heat Wave said to Cold as he raised his gun.

"Didn't know," she shot back. "Colt made the report." The man in deep red stepped into the hall and took off, leaving horseshoe man - who Caitlin presumed was Colt - to usher them inside. She could only wonder after Heat Wave's distain for the mysterious and fast-moving Berserker.

Colt didn't speak as he led them inside to an area that had been converted into a makeshift emergency room with countertops, chairs, and tables serving as cots or instrument trays. One for each of the ten injured.

"Why are they restrained?" Caitlin asked.

"Protocol," Heat Wave responded stiffly.

"More like common sense," Cold said. "Restrain the unfriendlies."

"They're all unconscious," Caitlin pointed out.

"They all look unconscious," Cold corrected. "They stay restrained until I say otherwise. Got it, Trix?"

Caitlin nodded her head and set to work assessing her patients. Respiration, pulse, and blood pressure was within normal range for all for all of them. Four were covered in lacerations, abrasions, and gashes, with the worst of the latter hastily wrapped up to reduce bleeding. She would have to scan them to be sure, but she suspected broken bones.

These were the kinds of injuries she'd expect to see in people who were hit by the radiating blast of an explosion. Cold had mentioned there had been an unintended one not far from here.

She assessed the remaining six patients. They had all been knocked unconscious, almost certainly by the same person, given the nearly identical head trauma.

"Do we know what happened to these people?" Caitlin asked no one in particular.

"Colt happened to most of them," Cold said dispassionately. "He's good for captures, so if he's here, that can only mean one thing. These people have information we need."

"If that's true, why are they still here?" Caitlin asked. "Why risk leaving them in a building that could explode or collapse on them?"

"Because they haven't been cleared for transport," Cold replied. "No one goes anywhere until they're stable, clear of Trojans, and most importantly... until I say so."

Arguing wasn't going to get her anywhere, so Caitlin replied, "Fine. Once I've cleared them, I'll mark their foreheads with an X in permanent marker."

"Attagirl, Trix!" Cold said.

She confirmed that the patients were stable and free of any wounds that might render them unmovable. The only exception was one woman with a broken arm that needed to be set; the rest had uncomplicated rib fractures with minor head trauma. They would need to be monitored for the next few days, but they should all recover. Before she could mark them with X's, however, she needed to confirm they were free of Trojans.

And that was where she hit a snag.

All of them had a submuscular implant, though no two were in the same location. She guessed they were monitoring devices of some kind, almost certainly equipped with GPS. They were too deep for a superficial extraction; it would require a skilled surgeon.

Or a speedster who can phase through the body.

The queasiness that she had felt standing over the gapping crater resurged in full force. No, she wouldn't ask Zoom for help. There had to be another way.

With no acceptable recourse, she moved on. Nothing could be done for the ribs; even if she had compression belts, wrapping them could restrict respiration. That left the broken arm for her to set. It was all she could do right now, so she scanned the instrument trays for an appropriately sized splint and material for a sling.

She adjusted the patient for the procedure then took a steadying breath as she lined up the arm. This patient was in for a very rude awakening. With brutal precision, she set the arm, immediately moving the splint into place.

The patient woke with a scream, the restraints barely holding her back. Caitlin quickly secured the splint with what she hoped was medical tape before slipping the sling on, which was slightly complicated by the straps holding her in place. She then marked her forehead with a small but visible X.

"A heads up next time, Trix!" Cold shouted.

She hadn't even thought about warning her guards, but she made a mental note of it for the next time.

"You're okay," she said to the woman panting in pain. "You're going to be okay. I set your arm, and I can give you something for the pain if you'd like."

"Are they gone?" the woman said hoarsely.

It was only when she heard her voice that Caitlin realized she was treating none other than Earth-2 Eliza Harmon. In this universe, she had cropped dirty blond hair and lighter eyes, but her facial expressions, her voice... she reminded Caitlin too much of the friend she lost, all because she had been relentless in pursuing Velocity-9 as a "cure" for Jay.

Eliza's death wasn't your fault. Neither was Trajectory. She made her own choices.

It was difficult not to think of Eliza as another victim of Jay's - Hunter's - time on Earth-1, especially looking into the face of her recently injured doppelganger.

"Are they gone?" Eliza repeated.

"We're the only ones here. You're safe now," Caitlin said. Then she added, "What's your name?"

"Eliza," she replied.

"Eliza, I need help with the implants," she explained. "Yours and everyone else's. Can you help me with that?"

"All MTU personnel have a monitoring implant," she explained. "It's protocol."

"Implanted by a surgeon?"

"No... a surgical program," Eliza replied.

"I have to remove the implants before I can move anyone," she said. "And some of these people need a medical facility. Sooner rather than later."

Eliza's eye fluttered shut as her jaw clenched. Clearly, she didn't like what she was being asked.

"If the equipment isn't damaged, I can run the extraction program," Eliza mumbled. "But we'd have to go to the bio-med bay in the robotics labs - "

"We're in the robotics lab," Caitlin interjected.

Eliza's eyes went wide as her heart rate skyrocketed. She fought fruitlessly against the straps, flailing recklessly and helplessly.

"Eliza, stop! Stop! Tell me what's wrong!"

She stilled, but her heart continued to thump hard, as if she was fleeing a ravenous bear.

"Why are we in the Robotics Lab?" she asked.

"Not my decision," Caitlin replied. "The explosion wasn't far from here, and this area is large and stable."

"You... you swear?"

"I promise," Caitlin replied. "How far is the bio-med bay from here?"

"It's the next lab... they're connected with internal doors," Eliza said. "But... we can't just go in there... the guards, and the... the others..."

She didn't complete her thought, and her heart rate and respiration remained elevated, making Caitlin wonder what in the bio-med bay inspired such terror.

"Don't worry," she said in an attempt to reassure her. "I'll make sure it's safe first. For now, just try to relax."

Eliza looked far from convinced, but she nodded her head affirmatively before slumping back against the counter that served as her medical cot.

Caitlin turned to speak with Cold, who had already gravitated toward the patients and awaited her approach.

"You sure you wanna do this, Trix?" Cold asked. "Think we can trust her?"

"To save herself and her own people?" Caitlin countered.

Apparently, her rhetoric proved persuasive because Cold chuckled and brandished her gun, almost like she was toasting her good health.

"Heat!" she called. "Escort Trix here to the bio-med bay. Blink will bring the patients along once she and Colt get back."

"Got it," Heat Wave said as he waved Caitlin over.

They moved noiselessly through the lab toward the doors on the far side. It was filled will fascinating machines that constantly caught her eye. The majority of the technology in the lab was adaptive or assistive robotics for surgical procedures. It exhilarated her curiosity until she began to connect the dots between the mechanical equipment and the MTU's uses for it.

The doors into the bio-med bay were knocked off their hinges or smashed straight through with chunks of wall to match. Heat Wave led the way, stepping over the least-saved doorframe.

At first, there was nothing but untouched lab equipment, including several neuro-surgical assistive machines, but then the landscape changed.

It was like they stepped into hell.

The room was full of carbyne cells not unlike those in Zoom's mountain lair, though there were dogs, pigs, and even monkeys in these. All of the animals were dead, their lifeless eyes glazed over and opened in an accusatory stare. Various monitors read TERMINATION SEQUENCE COMPLETE.

They killed them all when they realized they were under attack.

Bodies littered the spaces between desks: charred, beaten, bloody, and broken. No pulses, cold to the touch... whatever happened here occurred hours ago. Heat Wave kept her moving, not giving her more than the time required to check for breathing and a heart beat, so they quickly made it to the center of the lab.

Had she thought they were in hell before? Well, she was wrong, because this - this was hell.

Animals were not the only subjects in this laboratory. The next cells - no, that was too humane a word, these were cages - contained people, all as dead as their animal counterparts. At least, she assumed as much, since their monitors likewise read TERMINATION SEQUENCE COMPLETED. Zoom's minions had smashed through the carbyne and covered the victims with sheets, lab coats, or anything they could find.

She asked Heat Wave, "Who were they?"

He shook his head, no, but the expression on his face gave a very different answer. He clenched his jaw, and suddenly, his eyes flared, appearing like tiny suns where his sockets should have been. He closed them, but the light radiated through his skin, which barely contained the glow.

She felt the temperature rise. Perhaps she imagined it... or maybe, in this universe, Heat Wave earned his moniker for something other than the heat gun he carried.

Caitlin wasn't sure if concern was warranted, but it didn't look as if he had it under control. In fact, he seemed like he was going to explode. She discreetly put some distance between them, hoping that if he needed help, he would ask for it.

Then it stopped as abruptly as it started.

"You know," he said gruffly, trying to act as if nothing had happened. "Check'em, though, just to be sure."

She didn't argue, but climbing into that first cage was worse than she imagined. It was too small to lie down in, and the carbyne walls were clear on all sides, leaving the subject without privacy, space, or dignity. The body inside was cold, and from the petechial hemorrhages in the eyes, she surmised that a gas displaced the oxygen in a confined space - no doubt the very cage in which she stood - caused suffocation. It was a horrible way to die, especially while on display.

She moved on to the next cage. And the next. And the next. When she found a vacant cell that had been busted open like the others, a thrill of relief and hope washed over her.

"Do you think an empty cell means a survivor?" Caitlin asked.

"Survivors?" Heat Wave repeated skeptically. "I'm all for wishful thinking, but... nobody survives a place like this."

She persisted in confirming the dead long after she lost count. She had to be certain that she hadn't left anyone behind.

She hesitated outside one cage that was bloodier than the other, worrying at what she might find. She uncovered the body and discovered a teenage boy, sixteen at the oldest. Unlike the others, he died from blunt force trauma to the head. She felt sick as her mind pieced the evidence together, forcing her to watch the events unfold as if they were happening before her.

The boy saw what was happening to the others in cages around him, and he felt the air thin. Pure panic drove him to trash at the walls, and the desperation to survive gave him strength enough to ram his own head against the carbyne with all his weight behind him over and over again, covering the walls with his blood, and after the final blow, his brain matter.

He must've been terrified.

She staggered away from the sight, her mind racing. She felt like she was suffocating, like she was jammed inside one of these cells, asphyxiating. She tumbled into the next row of horror and yanked off her cowl, desperate for air, but instead of a breath of fresh air, she inhaled the stench of institutionalized murder: decay, antiseptic, and the faintest hint of smoke.

Reeling from the choking scent, she almost didn't hear her name.

"Caitlin," a familiar voice cried. "Oh, my sweet Caitlin!"

Her eyes went to the speaker, a woman inside a cage yet still alive. The walls of her cell had been smashed in, but the survivor hadn't left.

Because she's frozen in place.

Caitlin couldn't believe it. She was staring at the face of Doctor Carla Tannhauser, her mother.

She's not Mom.

"Caitlin," she murmured. "They did it. They cured you. They promised me they would."

Her stomach clenched. Mom - no, Carla - thought she was her daughter, cured of whatever transformed Killer Frost into a heat-hungry ice queen. Caitlin couldn't let her think that; she needed to get her out of here. She had promised Frost to help Mom in this universe.

She's not Mom.

Caitlin couldn't bring herself to explain things to Carla, especially not when she got an unobstructed view. She was frozen from the waist down in a solid block of ice. Her lips were blue, and her teeth chattered as she shivered violently.

Before she could stop herself, she said, "What did they do to you, Mom?"

"It doesn't matter," she replied. "Sweetheart, he's alive. He's okay. They promised me."

"I'm going to get you out of here," Caitlin said. Then she yelled, "Heat Wave!"

She had enough presence of mind to drag her mask over her head before he arrived.

Carla started to ask to see her face again, and she kept asking as her voice faded.

"You called?" Heat Wave asked.

"Can you melt this ice?"

"Come on," he said, flashing a genuine smile. "What's my name?"

He waved for her to step aside. Then he aimed the heat gun at the block of ice, loosing a stream of fire that cut the chill in the air. Unfortunately, it barely made the ice sweat.

"What the hell?" Heat Wave grunted.

"He's alive... he's with..." Carla mumbled.

She fell silent, and Caitlin ran to her.

"Wait! Wait!" Caitlin yelled. She dropped her voice and pleaded in a whisper, "Mom, wait, please... stay with me."

She wasn't breathing, and her heart wasn't beating. Her body temperature didn't register on any of her instruments.

"We need to get her out of here," she said. "Melt this ice. Warm her up."

"Bellatrix, she's gone," Heat Wave said.

"She's not dead until she's warm and dead," Caitlin retorted.

"You know meta-biology doesn't always follow the rules!"

"She's not metahuman!" she countered, her voice much louder than she intended.

"She's right," someone said.

No, no, no.... this isn't happening.

She turned to face Killer Frost, who seemed unmoved by her mother's demise, though there was a fury in her eyes that betrayed her anxiety.

"Frost, I can save her," Caitlin pleaded. "I just need you to get rid of this ice."

"The Colonel sent me to replace you. She's expecting you," Frost told Heat Wave. Then she turned to Caitlin, "And you... get out of my way."

Heat Wave left without another word, and Caitlin stepped out of the cage to give Frost room to work. She watched intently as her doppelganger focused all her energy on the ice that trapped her mother. Slowly but surely, it evaporated, defrosting the entire area and thawing Carla's flesh, restoring a rosy complexion to her skin.

Frost carried her out of the cell and laid her on the ground, stepping back to allow Caitlin to begin compressions.

After several fruitless minutes, however, a chilly hand came down over her shoulder.

"She's gone," Frost said.

"No, she's like you, she can live - "

"The MTU protocol for a siege is total termination," Frost interrupted dispassionately. "She would've survived the cold... but not the poison. She's gone."

It was probably a bad sign that her icy, emotionally imbalanced doppelganger was the one talking sense to her, but Caitlin didn't care. She didn't want to believe it.

You must. She's gone.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I thought - I thought I could save her."

"She was dead as soon as they took her," Frost said.

"She kept saying that he was here," Caitlin added, grasping at straws.

Frost dragged her to her feet, grappling with the collar of her suit.

"What else did she say?" Frost demanded, every feature of her face livid. "Tell me!"

"Just that he was safe, and... and that he was with the others."

"Think, Doc! Where is he? Did she say where he was?"

"No, only that he was here," Caitlin replied. "She wasn't making any sense. She thought I was you!"

Frost shoved her away in disappointment.

"Was she talking about Deathstorm?" Caitlin asked.

"I need to find him," was all Frost said.

"Listen, there's a woman who survived the explosion. She knows the equipment, and she's ambulatory. She with Cold. Maybe she can help."

Before she could finish, Frost was off, racing back the way she came, leaving Caitlin too many steps behind as she scrambled to catch up. She couldn't leave Eliza at Frost's mercy, not in her current state.

Then she felt a heavy weight drag her to one side, and she veered away from Frost's path, doing a complete one-eighty. Her mind... it didn't feel right.

Memories of doctors in white loomed over her, their merciless eyes observing her terror, her pain with cold-blooded indifference as they cut into her, as they barked another callous command. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think.

Caitlin... Caitlin...

No, these weren't her memories. She knew that voice. She'd heard it in her head before.

Caitlin always kind.

Images and feelings besieged her, too belligerent to ignore, too many to experience. Her head pounded with pressure, and her emotions pulled her in every direction. All she could understand were quick flashes, tiny moments of significance compressed to an unbearable degree.

The fear of being dragged through a portal without knowing what was on the other side. The euphoria of a new home, of no longer being alone. The sting of loss and the rage that followed. The wrath of retribution against the assailants. The shock of capture... and then nothing but the agony of being trapped and experimented on. The torment that came from knowing freedom was a dream that would never come true again.

Caitlin came back to her senses mid-vomit. She couldn't stop the retching, and she didn't want to. She needed it. She needed to purge all the poisons inside her. It felt like it would never be enough.

When it finally abated, she examined her surroundings. She must've wandered off when Grodd's thoughts overcame her because she didn't recognize where she was. There was an enormous carbyne cage set out like a fish tank in front of half a dozen desks.

Grodd must've pulled her here in a desperate call for help. That meant he was alive and nearby.

She raced to the edge of the fish tank, doing her best to keep her mind clear.

Grodd wasn't the only one in the fish tank, or the Intensive Care Unit, as the monitors called it. Two men were restrained on medical cots near the front. The first was called the Donor, and as far as she could tell, he was only heavily sedated. The second, Wild Card, had recently had both arms amputated, and from the looks of it, he was in dire need of post-operative care. He had bled through his bandages and had an elevated heat rate, likely because he was in pain.

Unlike the rest of the lab, this cell hadn't been broken into, so Caitlin had to set up an electrical current like the one she used in Zoom's lair to take out one of the carbyne panels. She busied herself with what was in front of her, removing the Donor's IV and giving him adrenaline to counter the effects of the sedatives. She administered pain meds to Wild Card before applying new compression bandages to prevent him from bleeding out.

Caitlin always kind.

She rounded on Grodd, who was at the back of the unit.

Caitlin... give final kindness to Grodd.

The great ape's body was unrestrained, but only because shackles were no longer necessary. His head was at an unnatural height, contained inside a clear dome-like bubble. As soon as she saw it, she felt her cervical spine crack and snap as the horrible whooshing and grinding of a medical saw dug into her flesh. The pain was followed by... nothing. No feeling, no sensation... her body was gone, and there was nothing but the abiding ache of loss.

"Hey, Doc? Doc!"

She gasped as she returned to her senses, Grodd's memory fresh in her mind and clear as if it were her own. The Donor had gotten his feet under himself and come to her aid. He was cradling her, as if he'd caught her when she fell... but she couldn't remember falling.

"You shouldn't be on your feet yet," she said to him. "You need some time before the sedatives wear off."

"You mean he does," the Donor replied, pointing back to his bed... where he still sat.

"Relax," the Donor said. "That adrenaline you gave me was just enough to spawn this copy."

"The Donor..." she said, realizing who he was. "You clone yourself."

"Don't call me that," he replied as he guided her back to her feet. "That's what they call me... using my copies for spare parts..."

Desperate for a happy memory, she dug in, and the moment Cisco named the Donor's Earth-1 counterpart came to the forefront.

"Multiplex," she blurted.

"Multiplex," he repeated. "I like it. You okay, Doc?"

"No," she replied. "I'm not."

Final kindness.

She wanted to tell Grodd that there was hope, that Totem could help him by bonding him with a familiar and accelerating his healing. But something told her that Totem's powers wouldn't work on Grodd... because he was an ape or from Earth-1, or maybe both.

"Poor bastard," Multiplex said.

"He wants me to... to... show him a final kindness," she said, unable to say what he really wanted.

"You know him?" Multiplex asked.

She nodded her head, yes.

"He wanted to be with others like him, so I helped send him to the gorilla sanctuary," she explained. "All he wanted was not to be alone anymore... and I'm the reason he's here."

"No one in this world is innocent," Multiplex said. "But that's no reason to take blame that isn't yours. The MTU did this. This is no more your fault than it is mine."

It was a kind thing to say, but it was based on ignorance. Grodd wouldn't have been on Earth-2 to become prey for the MTU if Caitlin hadn't helped trick him into that portal. She didn't have the energy to argue her guilt; she only wanted to press the issue to avoid the real conflict.

"I'll do it," Multiplex said.

"It should be me," she said.

"No, it shouldn't," he replied. "You remind me of my wife. She has a kind heart, and doing this... even for someone that she cares about, it would cripple her."

"And what about you?" she asked. "What about your heart?"

"My heart's only a few minutes old," he quipped. "It'll bounce back."

"Thank you," she said.

Then she turned to Grodd, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just wanted you to have a home."

Words failed her. What could she say to comfort him?

Grodd found home.

She saw the image of a luscious jungle centered around a light-haired gorilla with silver eyes. She was beautiful and gentle and strong. In that moment, the only thing that Caitlin felt was persistent, unmovable, indestructible love.

Caitlin... always... kind...

"Doc? Doc!"

The voice was loud in her ear, shaking her away from the pleasant bubble that was fast growing dark. She looked at Grodd, hoping to speak with him again, but it was too late. Multiplex had administered a fatal dose of sedatives.

Trying to keep herself together, she scanned Wild Card and found no sign of Trojans. Multiplex's clone was free, too, but the Prime wasn't.

"We need to get him to the others," Caitlin said. "Hopefully they can remove his Trojans with the technology - "

She stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered what she had been doing before Grodd drew her away. She had been following Frost to protect an unsuspecting Eliza Harmon from her wrath. How long had she left them alone? What had happened to Eliza?

Was Ronnie alive?

Even if he was alive, he wasn't her Ronnie. He was Deathstorm.

"Found her!" someone shouted. "You, Bellatrix!"

She turned to see horseshoe man - no, Colt - a few desks away.

"We need another doctor," he announced.

"We need help," she replied. "Two are ready for transport. The other - "

"I'll handle them," Colt interrupted. "They need you. Now."

"We'll be fine," Multiplex added. "Thanks to you, Bellatrix."

She went to Colt, who pointed toward a bustling intersection not far from where they stood. She could see at least two Doctor Midnights at work. What on earth did they need a third doctor for?

There didn't seem to be a point in asking Colt, so she walked as swiftly as she could. Cold swooped in before she reached the throng of activity.

"I was hijacked by a telepathic gorilla," Caitlin said preemptively. "There was nothing anyone could've done to stop it, least of all me."

"You sure you're not telepathic, Trix?" Cold asked, giving her a cocky smile. "Though I think it's important that nobody hears about your... unauthorized excursion. Things might get dicey. My employer isn't the forgiving type."

"My lips are sealed," she promised.

"Good," Cold said. "Don't get comfortable, Trix. I don't think we'll be here for long."

With that, Caitlin passed into the buzzing hive of people, and she saw what had attracted so much attention.

Children.

There were dozens of them, ages ranging four to twelve. There were even infants and toddlers. One Doctor Midnight was working with Eliza, who was mercifully unharmed (though handcuffed), on removing Trojans from the kids. Before she knew it, they had waved her over and walked her through the process. She needed to scan to locate the implant and then select the corresponding program to extract it.

She felt... thin. Wrung out. Torn apart. It wasn't the ideal the time to perform detail-oriented tasks. Her movements were sluggish at best, and her bedside manner was abysmal.

She only managed to help three kids before an alarm sounded. She had thought this place had been buzzing with activity before, but the speed amplified. With all the meta-powers in proximity, it was impossible to be certain what was happening. She caught sight of Blink teleporting in and out over and over again, transporting no fewer than five people at a time.

She also saw Cold barreling towards her, her gun at the ready, before Frost appeared out of nowhere.

"Remember your promise to me, Caitlin," Frost said, her voice stern.

Before she could point out that their - her - mother hadn't survived, a two-year-old boy was pressed into her arms. He had the most enormous blue eyes she'd ever seen and a tuft of dark brown hair that made him the spitting image of someone she'd never be able to forget.

"Ronnie," she whispered.

"RJ," Frost corrected.

"He's beautiful," she said.

She meant it. He was probably the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She was so focused on him that she barely registered Cold's barking orders at her.

"Did you hear me, Trix?" she said loudly. "You've been recalled. Now."

It was only then that she realized Frost had left her with RJ and was nowhere in sight, though she could only see a few yards in all this chaos.

"What about you? And Heat Wave? And Frost?"

"Sweet of you to ask," Cold said sarcastically. "But Heat and Cold never run from a fight. I'm not Frost's keeper. You and the kid are next up with Blink."

"Fight?" she asked. "What fight? I thought the fighting was over."

"'Was' being the operative word," Cold replied. "Reinforcements from a secondary site. Nothing we can't handle. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about."

She winked before turning on her heel, and in the next instant, a mob of people surrounded her and RJ. Then Blink appeared, and the world around her vanished only to reappear as the night sky.

Blink didn't stay to chat. Caitlin was left standing on the edge overlooking the crater they had just escaped. She found herself the center of a huddle of children, surrounded by no fewer than three Multiplexes. There were others she didn't recognize, some shepherding the others, but most collected at the edge to watch.

She clutched RJ closer as the earth shook violently. All eyes fell on the wrecked building below them as more and more gathered around. It was nearly impossible to look away, especially when an alarm screeched, echoing into the mountains.

That's when the blue lightning flickered. It started as a few streaks, but it soon filled the entire valley, a constantly changing path of blue then white then black. The dawn came, the gentle morning sun easing its way into the picture of smoke and flashes of light. It was hard to tell from her vantage point, but it seemed like Zoom was evacuating people to a second location.

Caitlin stifled a sob as RJ's tiny hands explored her mask. The alarm became louder and louder, rising with the morning sun, and she watched without blinking. The blue lightning never stopped.

Chapter notes: The title of this chapter, The Heavenly Shepherd, comes from the Ancient Babylonian name for the Orion constellation.

Author’s notes: Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out. It's a bit longer than I intended (even after I cut a great deal from it), and there's every possibility I will update and change it. There is also a limited amount of Hunter/Caitlin interaction, but it was unfortunately necessary at this part of the narrative. All I can do is promise that the next chapter will definitely make up for it, though I don't have an ETA on when that next chapter will be complete.

I hope you enjoy this installment and are looking forward to the next one!

For next or previous chapters, go to the main Orion page.

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