#like saying how dare enemies of Shield attack a ‘defenseless girl’ of that the other men of Shield will help her when her mission goes awry

[hannahthedragon]

My favorite part of video games has to be people telling stories of things unique to their playthrough. It's just so magical to hear about all these different memories from playing the exact same story. So with that here's a Fire Emblem Three House's fic based around my experience with chapter 17 of Azure Moon. Changed slightly for story reasons of course.

Warnings: Mild gore, death, and of course spoilers for that chapter.

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The Hill I'll Die On

It was a fight just like the one they had oh so long ago. The battle of the eagle and loins. An odd choice of names since all three houses were to partake in it, and this fight was no different. Almost identical to the last one except this time it was no game, and any injury taken would be more than a trip to a healer. Edelgard sent Bernadetta up to a hillside covered with a wooden fortress, her skill with a bow meant she would be the one manning the ballista as defense against the two armies out to kill them. Bernadetta wasn't sure if she could agree with Edelgard, but she held so much power that Bernie couldn't dare speak against her. She couldn't even speak to her when they were simply classmates. It wasn't long before the blue lions approached, which were the only real threat they had to worry about, as it seemed the deer kept to themselves for the most part if she didn't engage. The Loins seemed to have the same plan of following the namesake of the battle and had eyes only set for their army.

Before she could even get a good look at the enemies Dimitri was engulfed in a blinding light, someone used magic to teleport him next to the base of the hill. She swallowed the terrified shriek that she wanted to scream so badly. She has only heard whispers of rumors about the beast the prince had become, but that could not describe the horrid husk approaching, not a semblance of humanity left on his face, clutching his lance so hard it looked ready to snap in half. He wore an eyepatch under the locks of unkempt hair, finally a physical scar of all the trauma he has gone through. She couldn't find the courage to shoot at him, instead aiming the ballista at only half familiar faces, the pair of green hair and single wyvern indicated it was the siblings from the monastery. Her shot crumbled the ground around them, keeping them in place for sometime. By the time she had finished the shot however Dimitri was already at the top of the hill, she stumbled backwards as tears began to cloud her vision, ready for the beast to end her. But to her surprise he didn't attack, he didn't say a word to her, simply turning and spearing another soldier clean through the chest, dead in an instant as the spear pulled back through their body and returned to his side. 

Just now reaching the hill as the rabid prince continued cutting through enemies was Linhardt, someone who once belonged to the same house as Bernadetta. It seemed he was still loyal to the professor even after all these years. Now fighting on the opposite sides of the war. He warped Dimitri ever closer to Edelgard as she continued to think of the past. Maybe things could have been different if she had gone with the professor too. Maybe if she hadn't been such a coward and left her room she would have been invited to join. Now that she thought about it she was invited to join. The last month at the school when everything was in chaos. The professor took time out of their day to sit down and have tea with her, she remembers the berry scent it had, her favorite type. They had asked if she wanted to transfer to their class, an odd question so close to the end of the year. The professor likely understood what would happen to those still with Edelgard. Of course she had to be a coward and reject, any change was too much change for her. But it was too late to regret her decision, and now was the time to protect Edelgard. Bernie spun the ballista around the other way and aimed at Dimitri. Linhardt could be ignored for now, if nothing had changed he was still a simple healer, and likely still had the same distaste for bloodshed. She fired at Dimitri ready if for nothing else to hold him back for a minute to slow his advance. The bolt flew towards him, hitting him right on the shoulder. Yet. He didn't even flinch. Did it not hurt him at all? How strong was he! Or does he truly feel nothing anymore? He kept walking.  eyes with nothing but pure hatred on them.

Luckily she was right about Linhardt, when she finally could take her eyes off the unstoppable force of a man he was simply healing a far away ally. However two more people approached, the professor themself and the only person who could rival Edelgard in her hatred of Dimitri, Felix. Before any of them had the chance to exchange anything with each other whether it be combat or words, Edlegard shouted a command to her army. Or maybe a threat to the enemies. It was hard to hear only making out the words crimson flames. Those words were quickly met with an explanation as a hail storm of fire rained upon the wooden structure. It hit with a massive explosion hurting everyone who stood upon the hill, now turned ablaze in an instant. Bernadetta fell to the ground as wooden chips sprayed into her leg, and the smoke made it hard to see let alone breath. The first sight she saw looking up towards the other was Linhardt. His eyes terrified and frozen in shock. Not everything had changed in 5 years, or since he left her class, just as she expected the sight of so much blood in an instant made him quickly lose consciousness, she reached her hands out to instinctively even if she couldn't do anything, luckily he was surrounded in a similar light that Dimitri was and was quickly pulled away from the danger. Now leaned in the arms of the young girl who had not aged a day since the war, trying her best to wake and calm him as her brother already headed towards the fire, safe from the air. Next her focus was brought to the two actual fighters, Felix had shielded the professor from danger as they desperately searched for a way out of the flames. This was it, this is where her story was going to end. Edelgard had sent her up here by herself only to pose as a trap. A sacrifice for what she would call a noble cause no matter what. Suddenly everything didn't seem so noble. Bernadetta's fears turned to rage for what had to be the first time in her life. Rage towards Edelgard, rage towards the church, rage towards every person who fought in the war and most importantly rage at herself. For every little choice she could have made to not be here right now. If only she weren't a coward. Now was her time to finally act. If she didn't she would never get another opportunity. Bernadetta grabbed the bow from her back, stood up ignoring the sting in her leg, and armed it, facing the weapon towards Felix and pulling back. He was defenseless, training his sword everyday would mean nothing from this distance. She wanted to yell something at him, shout her feelings at the top of her lungs, but all that came out was a scream as she let go. Right into his back. It didn't kill him, but the next shot would. The professor reacted in shock, ready to be the one to protect him, but before they could Felix pushed them aside and pulled out a shining bow on his own.

"When… when did he learn that." She thought as he let go. "Things have changed haven't they Bernie? This is war after all." Another thought as the silver tipped death approached. "I'm sorry professor…" She mumbled as it entered the side of her stomach. Her angry scream now turned to a scream of nothing but pain. The loudest anyone had ever heard her. The loudest they ever would. She collapsed to the ground, the crackling wood scorching her half conscious body. Burns spreading across her exposed legs, and lighting the wooden arrow still in her body on fire with it. She couldn't breathe anymore as the smoke and charcoal turned the scene black, or maybe her vision did that all on its own. Her tears evaporated instantly in the heat. "I should have said yes…" was all she had the strength to say, as everything went dark, and the fire turned cold.

[lilithsgayadoptednephew]

Holy Hands

Fandoms: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!   Not Rated Graphic Depictions Of Violence F/M, Other Complete Work

Chapter List

Chapter 31

Luke didn't rise again.

Michael rounded on the defenseless humans before him, diving towards them before the brothers had time to notice. MC reacted on instinct, throwing Acacia to the ground and out of harm's way before shoving the approaching angel with their palm. Hoping to draw his attention away from their sister.

As they stretched their hand towards the enraged Angel, it was not their palm that made contact, but a large golden shield.

Honestly, where would they be without Lilith's bow?

Michaels approach was stunned by the defense, but he continued undeterred. Moving past MC completely to grab their frightened sister off the ground. The boys had caught on by now that they were under attack and swarmed threateningly around Micheal.

"Put her down" MC growled. For a moment it was easy to forget they were a human with how they sounded.

"Now you stay back MC, I don't want you getting hurt." He said sweetly.

"That's new," They spat.

"Well it occurred to me…" he wrapped his hands tighter around Acacia's wrists to keep her secure as he spoke. The brothers didn't dare move while she was being threatened. "Of course you'd be predisposed to sin, you've been amongst the source of it for over a year. I just need to give you the forgiveness you've been missing." He leaned down as if talking to a child. "I can fix your wayward mind, my Lamb. I can take you away from these terrible influences and remind you of your inherent innocence."

They stared wide eyed as he finished his explanation. With his relentless pursuit of the brothers they should've figured it out sooner. Michael was obsessed.

"Let the girl go, this is between us." Lucifer called out in hopes of drawing Michaels attention away from the humans.

Acacia sensed the distraction of her captor and raised her knee up. Stomping with all her weight right on Micheal's foot.

"Aaah!" He pulled back but only held her wrists tighter. "Insolent snake! That's enough." The angry man dragged the fighting human over the railing. Gasps and cry's sounded from the surrounding people, all of which considered Acacia family.

All of which had seen the consequences of that drop.

Holding the railing with one hand he held the squirming girl over the ledge with his other. She hyperventilated at the sight of the water churning below. The melting snow was no longer contributing to the water level and it had lowered considerably. Below her was not the water Lucifer had fallen in weeks earlier, but the harsh rocks exposed by the lowered tide.

She was too scared to even scream.

Any other words Lucifer had died on his tongue. He just stared and sympathized too closely with the look of animalistic panic in Acacias eyes as she looked down.

"You will all do as I say or the human falls!" He called to the small crowd. There was deathly silence. The wind whistled as it blew quickly over the concrete of the bridge. Acacia's wrist started to ache and her shoulder felt like it was pulled taffy, but she tried her best not to move. If she fell now it would be the death of her.

MC locked eyes with their sister. They slowed their breathing and relaxed their muscles, Acacia had to see they had this under control. Even if they didn't. They gripped their shield firmly and gave their sister a small smile. She calmed a little too, assured that MC would figure something out.

Lucifer didn't care much for Acacia, that was no secret. But she was MCs sister. He saw from the corner of his eye how MC consciously tried to reassure her without words. How they were racking their brain for a way out while trying to look like they already had one. It was too familiar, and he had to respect it. Lucifer turned his attention to Michael. He had stooped to threatening a human to get his way. And he did it in such an odd way. Dangling her over the bridge, and he didn't use his wings...where were they?

Mammon was distressed . He'd only just figured it out with Acacia! And she was...was… oh God why didn't he have his wings in case he dropped her? Mammon's wings weren't large enough to support his weight in flight, what if Michael slipped? What if he broke her arm dangling her like that? What if something happened and he couldn't save her and he never saw her smile or heard her snort-laugh again and he was stuck alone in an empty world with no one to–

Acacia saw MC was calm, but Mammon was visibly losing his shit. They all were at a standstill.

"I want everyone on their knees" Michael demanded. With no other option the boys lowered themselves to the ground. Months ago there would've been a bit more protest, but being human had humbled them all. MC stayed standing, hoping Michael wouldn't notice as they inched closer.

That's right... I'm just a silly human. I can't think for myself or speak against you. I can't act. Focus your attention on the boys, Michael. They are the threat, not little old me.

Acacia let out a small whine. MC looked to her and saw tears forming in her eyes. Her skin was tearing where Michael held her wrist. Blood trickled lazily down her arm and she stared at it with pain in her eyes. Her face going white. MC broke into a sprint.

They practically flew to the railing before there was time to react. There was no choice. With one hand they shoved their shield in Micheal's face, knocking him aside. The shield flew from their grip and went with him. With the other hand they grabbed Acacia by the collar of her nice leather jacket and threw her towards safety. MC felt relief for a brief moment as their sister grabbed the railing with shaky hands.

They let out a sigh as they fell, too late noticing they had no hands left to save themself.

0Time stopped.

Lucifer was formulating a bargain with Michael in his head as he saw MC make a mad dash over the edge. He wanted to run, to fly, to save them . To protect them like he promised himself he would, but he couldn't move. He looked at the drop he'd suffered mere weeks before and he froze.

He knew he'd never get over it in time.

Now they were falling, time was practically meaningless as his senses took in every excruciating detail of what was happening. Forcing life into slow motion. MC fell, they didn't even seem to care they were going to…

Lucifer's heart beat in his ears as he turned to Micheal. The angel's eyes were almost as frightened as he felt. He'd known Micheal for a long time, and that was Michael's greatest weapon against him. Now it would be their solace. they could read each other like a simple story book. The terrified eyes turned to his and there was a wordless agreement.

0Michael watched as his human fell in their sisters stead. They fell so slowly it felt like an eternity he couldn't move. They'd never be forgiven if they perished now. They'd never realize and repent and finally be his. His stomach dropped with them as they fell, his feelings he tried to deny forcing their way past his throat and behind his teeth. He couldn't save them. He had no wings.

His eyes locked with Lucifer's and his own thoughts were mirrored. It had been millennia since they'd read each other so quickly, but the response was instantaneous. Muscle memory.

Save them

Lucifer practically begged, but Micheal shook his head almost imperceptibly. The demon instantly put it together. Micheal didn't have his wings, he didn't know why but it didn't matter. All that mattered was MC was falling. And he had to do something fast, something that he'd never live down.

"I don't–" Michael started to explain, but he didn't need to finish telling Lucifer about his wings. His response was like stone.

"Take mine"

0MC only fell for a few moments, their eyes screwed shut. They didn't want to see themself hit the rocks.

Acacia was safe

Micheal had no leverage

They were ok with this.

But it wasn't rocks that greeted them as their heartstopping fall was interrupted. It was the giving jolt of landing in someone's arms. They didn't process this at first. Then there was a single wonderful moment where they thought...they naively believed perhaps Lucifer had saved them.

Then they opened their eyes, and nearly screamed as they saw themself in the arms of the enemy.

Micheal was a little unsteady on wings that weren't his own. Lucifer's were darker, stronger, and there were 4 instead of 6. He'd lost a pair when he fell and it never occurred to Michael just what a difference it made. He couldn't imagine what a strong flyer Lucifer must've been with 6.

Landing on the bridge he didn't release MC right away. They didn't like that apparently because they pried themself out of his arms upon touching down and stood away from him. Eyes staring in abject terror and an arm in front of Acacia.

He looked at the scene before him, now that the humans were safe the Brothers circled like a pack of jackals. All except Lucifer who was content to watch his brothers as he stood almost imperceptibly between Michael and MC. His wings returned to him and made him look much larger, matching the accusing glare he leveled the angel with.

What...what had he done? He knew MC had affected him in a way that made him weaker but…

The fear for their safety. The willingness to abandon his mission to save them. Agreeing with Lucifer. He'd fallen farther that he thought.

His mind reeled and his feelings twisted in his throat like a mass of writhing snakes. He had to leave. Not only could he not face all seven of them without leverage, but he couldn't do anything with his mind and morals in such a frenzy. He cast one backward glance at MC, they looked at him like a rabbit would a wolf, and the knife in his gut twisted farther.

They were more confused than he'd realized. He had to save them from this, and he made a silent promise that he would.

With that in his mind, he fled.

[bungostraydoggos]

May I get some imagines of Atsushi, Chuuya, and Tanizaki reacting to there fem s/o saving them and ending up in a coma as a result? Thank you! Love you writing :D

Nakajima Atsushi

It’s been about five months since that incident occurred that led to this present day full of glum and disgustingly bittersweet. No matter what the doctor and nurses say, their encouragement felt artificial to the poor detective and hearing Dr. Yosano’s personal opinion on the matter, it didn’t make him feel any better. Atsushi slides open the private patient room and sits beside the white bed. He stares at her sleeping face while grasping her hand softly and gently. The sickly smell of the hospital was almost unbearable for Atsushi’s sensitive nose yet he’s been here almost every single day. The beast boy shifts his empty gaze towards the window, reminiscing back at that time where all of this mess started. Ah, yes, he still remembers it clear as day and unfortunately, not once did he thought he deserved forgiveness. Atsushi’s mind flashes back to the past when he was assigned to infiltrate and dismantle a foreign organization who were invading Yokohama near the harbor. He managed to sneak into their base with his significant other who was also assigned with the daring mission. Atsushi was the main character of the plan and yet he failed when the enemy leader pulled a surprise attack and initiated a bombarding parade. Explosions happened from left to right while neighboring boats were heavily damaged from the recoiling shrapnels that flung here and there from the dire explosion. Atsushi couldn’t see anything until he saw a sudden blue, oceanic scenery slanting from his perspective. He was pushed off the edge into the sea by a person he knew all too well to be true. Atsushi’s hand tried to reach out to his significant other, but she only gave him a pained expression with a reluctant smile plastered on her face as he embraced into the deep blue waters. As a result, she saved Atsushi from the explosion as she became kinda like the martyr of the whole incident. Atsushi hated the fact that she tried to sacrifice herself to save a cowardly weakling like Atsushi who couldn’t even fulfill the mission that primarily assigned to him. To this day, he still believes it is his fault that his dear significant other has entered in a coma-like state right in front of him. Atsushi holds their hands, shaping their hands into a prayer like his. He wonders if god exists because if so, he prays desperately until dusk that his significant other will wake up soon.

Nakahara Chuuya

Yokohama’s night scenery was unfailingly bright. Its city lights were bustling and glowing with excitement as if anything depressing didn’t exist. The private Yokohama hospital was quiet compared to the popular city of Japan as most doctors retreated back to their dorms or apartments while the nurses continued work and tend to the patients nonstop throughout their ghost shifts. One of the nurses came inside to the VIP patient room and changed the IV drip of the comatosed woman. The nurse looks at the poor patient and sighs. A feeling of pity crept inside the nurse lady as she cleaned the room while another nurse came inside to help her. “I wonder if this patient have any family members? Usually, we’d have visitors requesting but this patient never has any visitors...”The nurse who came inside after her coworker responded.“Actually, there is one person... but he never stays longer than three minutes.”She gives a puzzling look to her fellow nurse, “I wouldn’t call that a visit if it’s only for three minutes.”The beeping noises of the machine filled the atmosphere like background music between the two nurses sharing a conversation. The senior nurse who felt pity for the young woman in comatose changed her blankets as she continued to listen to the other nurse’s ramblings. “This is only a rumor but apparently, the one person who visits this patient is supposedly a member of the Port Mafia organization and on top of that, an executive too!”The feeling of pity grew stronger. What kind of unfortunate event has led to this patient in bed asleep for two years? Could it be that evil Port Mafia man was the sole reason that this poor girl became in a comatose state? Maybe... but once again, the feeling of pity grew stronger. “I feel sorry for this girl. She has no family and no friends. I bet that rumored Port Mafia man isn’t visiting her with good intentions.”The younger nurse objected her coworker’s statement. “I don’t think so,” she points to a white vase on the windowsill that held a beautiful flower, “see that?”The purple flower looked strikingly beautiful but strangely, its bud was closed and the purplish petals were huddled together as if it was hiding. “It’s an anemone flower. Although it’s a sorrowful flower, it also means anticipation.”“Anticipation? Anticipation for what?”“To the day they’ll wake up. You see, that flower closes up like that in night while it blooms during the day,” the nurse continues, “the Port Mafia man I mentioned places a new anemone flower every single day. Romantic, isn’t it?”Now it all makes sense. The nurse who felt nothing but pity for the young patient came to a realization that this patient was in truth well loved and taken care of. Even though she didn’t have any family, she did have someone who deeply cares about her. After cleaning up, the two nurses leave the patient’s room and head off to their next duty. To summarize, Nakahara Chuuya has been visiting his significant other every single morning since the day of the unfortunate incident that happened two years ago. Chuuya took on a dangerous mission that led him into a trap but thanks to his significant other who got the help of Mushitarou’s Perfect Crime ability, Chuuya’s partner became injured and resulted in a coma while ultimately saving Chuuya. It would be no exaggeration that Chuuya’s feelings was filled with guilt, anger, and sadness but as a strong man who promised himself to watch over his lover, he’s been visiting his girlfriend at the Yokohama hospital while leaving a single anemone flower every morning. Perhaps the most pitiful person isn’t the patient like the nurse thought, but actually Chuuya himself...

(The next morning came, and Chuuya’s purple anemone flower bloomed with anticipation.) 

Tanizaki Junichirou

Since the incident of three months ago occurred, the Armed Detective Agency has become busy with nonstop requests and missions. Kunikida and Atsushi would often go investigating together while Dr. Yosano and Edogawa Ranpo solves detective cases whereas Dazai and Kyouka does their own thing when needed. In particular though, Tanizaki has become profoundly busy at work--- more so than anyone else at the ADA which was strange and a little worrying since he has become unhealthily and darkly workaholic due to his significant other has entered in a comatose state. Many of his friends were worried about him but Tanizaki would often shrug off their concern and put on a fake smile saying he appreciated their thoughts. The only person who knew the complete truth was Naomi who has been visiting Tanizaki’s significant other every day at the hospital. She came inside the room with white flowers and a fruit basket. She takes a seat beside her brother’s girlfriend while grabbing an apple and peeling the skin skillfully with a knife. She sighs. Although she knows she’s in a deep sleep, Naomi hopes that there may be a chance that her brother’s lover was listening to her speak even asleep. Naomi talks about her day and all the funny things that has happened at the ADA before coming to a short silence. She begins reminiscing the past. “You might be wondering how my brother is doing. For the most part, he’s doing okay but at the same time, not so much.”Naomi sighs at the fact her brother has never visited his significant other--- not even once.“But don’t worry, he’s only upset that he wasn’t able to save you even though you saved us. Ever since then, he’s been taking on dangerous solo missions and wouldn’t even ask for backup or help.”The knife slipped and pricked Naomi’s finger as she tried to peel the apple skin. Tears began to well up as her voice swelled. Naomi recalls the day where she was held hostage by an enemy group. As Tanizaki tried to save his sister, one of the hitman shot a sneak attack at Tanizaki and Naomi. Bullets came fast like the speed of lightning and while the siblings were left defenseless, Tanizaki’s significant other became their shield as she jumped in taking the bullets to the chest and head--- protecting them. Tanizaki took blame of the incident no matter how much his sister protested. Perhaps the reason Tanizaki has never visited his partner was because he wanted to become stronger first before finally visiting or maybe, he promised himself some things that guaranteed his significant other waking up one day. Stream of tears came dripping down on Naomi’s cheeks and onto the white cotton sheets. She looks up to her sister-in-law and pleads.“Wake up soon, okay?”Unbeknownst to Naomi, Tanizaki stood behind the door of the patient room all this time while listening to the soft sobs of his sister along with the soft heart monitor beeps of his beloved’s. 

[platonicone]

Devotion - Story of the Oracle and her Shield

Chapter 1 - The New Omen

Fate, some embrace it, some abhor it, yet few truly understand it. The Oracle was a prisoner of a cruel fate, yet she bore it with a smile. Destined for hardship and heartache, she carried on her journey, from Insomnia to the Disc of Cauthess, to awaken Titan. It was there where everything changed. For better or worse none of us knew.

A colossal fist slammed on the ground, hurling debris in all directions. She had successfully dodged Titan’s attack, but it was flying debris that caught her. Small shrapnel-like rocks had lodged into her forearm and temple. She hissed in pain and removed them as a small stream of blood started to flow.

Before she could do anything else, Titan slammed down his enormous fist. She raised her trident out of reflex, temporarily halting Titan’s attack. It was Titan’s sheer power versus her defiance. The crushing force with which Titan was pushing his fist down would soon overpower her. She realized it and quickly erected a magical barrier deflecting the attack and buying her a few precious seconds.

“I am not your enemy. I seek your blessings for the King of Light, so he may fulfill his destiny and banish the darkness from this world,” said Lunafreya, clutching her trident.

“The power of the gods can only be claimed by those deemed worthy. Be it the Oracle or the King, they must prove their mettle,” an ethereal voice responded.

“If, for Noctis’ sake, I am required to fight, then I will fight, even with the Gods,” she said with a firm determination in her eyes even with blood dripping down from the side of her face.

Titan roared in response and unleashed the next set of attacks. Lunafreya dodged each of his attacks. She summoned the energy around her trident and unleashed a devastating attack on Titan. Not expecting such a powerful counterattack, Titan was dazed. Taking advantage of this opening, she continued sending a volley of attacks to gain an upper hand momentarily. This only angered Titan further.

Not to be outdone by a mortal, Titan stomped the ground, sending shockwaves all around and knocking Lunafreya off her feet. She flew back a few feet and landed with a thud on uneven ground. The impact of the fall had dislodged her trident from her grip and it landed farther from her.

She tried to get up but her body had given up and refused to move.

She had endured a great deal of physical trauma in the last few days and her body couldn’t cope with it. After barely escaping from the jaws of death during the fall of the Insomnia, she had traveled to Lestallum among the refugees after overcoming great adversities. Without rest or recovery, soon she marched on to awaken Titan. Physically, her body wasn’t trained to endure such hardship. Her body had long since given up; it was only her willpower that drove her.

Titan continued to stomp in rage, hurling debris in all directions. Once again, her mind told her to get up, but her body refused to obey. She crawled towards her trident, which remained painfully out of her reach. She tried to push herself up when a huge piece of boulder flew towards her and landed on her leg. She let out a piercing scream as the weight of the rock crushed her leg. She was sure it had broken her ankle.

With her trident out of reach, her leg trapped and her body unable to move, her ability to attack or defend was nullified. She had come to awaken Titan; she had not been expecting a fight with it. It took armies to bring down an Astral. To confront Titan and survive this long was a feat any warrior would be proud of. But this was the end. She had put up a good fight. One more attack from Titan would be fatal.

“Willpower alone is not enough to overcome the impending darkness. If you can’t pass my trial, what hope do you have of succeeding against the combined might of daemons, Starscourge, and the Usurper? Mayhap you or your king are not worthy to consort with the gods,” said Titan in rage.

“Let me end your misery, the slave of fate and destiny,” said Titan. With that, Titan coiled back his fist and, with all his might, charged towards the defenseless Oracle.

She had many visions about her future, but this, a premature death without fulfilling her calling, was not one of them. Her mind ran through all the possible scenarios and concluded there was no escaping this situation. She closed her eyes and thought of one person she loved the most: Noctis.

'No! This is not how it is supposed to end. My calling is to awaken all Astrals for Noctis. I cannot die here.’ Her mind tried to defy the odds. But looking at the reality of the situation, she couldn’t help but think, 'Could the Astrals have forsaken me? No, that can’t be. I must be steadfast in my faith, even when all hope is lost. Oh the gods above, please me!’

She saw the giant’s fist descending upon her and, with no means of defending herself, she instinctively closed her eyes, and waited for the fatal blow.

A few seconds went by but that fatal blow never came. With her heart still pounding like a drum, she opened her eyes wearily. She was greeted with a sight of Titan’s colossal fist hovering just a few feet above her with a sword-like weapon preventing its descent. She traced the sword with her eyes and looked at the owner, clad in all black, blocking Titan’s mighty attack.

“You all right?” Asked a cool and collective voice as he glanced back at her.

She nodded in response, which wasn’t missed by the stranger looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

“The good thing about a fight with a colossal enemy is that there are plenty of areas to strategically target,” he muttered to himself, as if remembering a lesson he had learned. With all his might, he swung his sword deflecting Titan’s fist. He immediately followed it up with two volleys of blizzard spells aimed right at Titan’s eyes.

Titan screamed in agony and retreated momentarily. This gave enough time to the stranger to lift the rock trapping Lunafreya’s leg.

“Thank you,” she said, as she pulled her leg out from beneath the rock.

“No time for formalities,” he stated, and proceed to cast a healing spell on her.

She closed her eyes as the feeling of rapture engulfed her whole body. For the time being, she forgot how much pain her body had to endure. She would love to be in the state forever if that were an option. But all good things must come to an end such is the cruel nature of life. As the effect of the spell wore off, the pain sensation returned, but with much lesser intensity.

“Take cover behind that boulder, I’ll fight this thing,” he said, just in time to block a renewed attack from Titan.

“No, I’ll fight with you,” she refused his offer. She tried to get up and walk towards her trident, but she stumbled on the first step, and fell to the ground. She noticed her ankle was badly damaged, and walking was excruciatingly painful.

“You’re in no shape to fight so just sit this one out,” he disagreed, while parrying Titan’s attack.

“This is my fight,” she said, as she crawled towards her trident with pertinacity.

“You will only end up getting hurt further,” he said, looking at her struggle as he dodged another attack.

“I don’t care if I get hurt. I only care about fulfilling my duty,” she replied quickly.

“You can’t fulfill your duty if you are dead, can you?” He asked sternly.

“If I don’t even try then how different is it than being dead?” She retorted.

He placed his hand on his forehead. “Whatever. You are stubborn,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“I am not stubborn. I am determined,” she said, with fury in her eyes, as she clutched her trident.

“Determined to die, that is,” he said under his breath, but Lunafreya heard it and gave him a look of contempt.

“Just stay out of my way,” he said, as he readied to charge at Titan.

“What a jerk,” she hissed under her breath, but he heard it. It was very unlike her to get angry at anyone, but here was a stranger who inserted himself in the middle of her covenant with the gods, and then have the audacity to tell her what to do.

“Look, you are hurt. You will only be a liability on the battlefield,” he said, trying to reason with her one last time. He took his eyes off Titan momentarily to look at the girl who was arguing with him in the middle of a battle. It was a costly mistake as the impact of Titan’s fist easily knocked him back a few feet.

“The Fallen has risen? How? He was erased. Matters not, for he shall fall again,” said Titan, angrily at the intruder.

Before the stranger could get back on his feet, Titan’s other hand was ready to pounce on him. Titan’s fist was barely inches away from his face when a translucent golden magic shield blocked his attack dead in its tracks.

“Not much of a liability now, am I?” She said with a hint of a smile.

He tried his best not to react to her comment, but instinctively a hint of a smile crept on his face.

“Well, then, let’s defeat this thing together. We can’t win by defending only,” he said, while getting up under the protection of her magical barrier. She quietly nodded in response. He extended his hand, and she grabbed it, and used it as a support to get back on her feet.

It was the first time she noticed the stranger closely. He wore a black leather bomber jacket over a white deep V-neck T-shirt which parts down the middle of his chest. He wore black pants, and white fur trim along the collar of his pants. A sash partially covers his right leg. He wore a lion-like pendant and a similar belt buckle. He had a distinctive scar which ran diagonally across the bridge of his nose. His unruly shoulder-length brown hair and a short boxed beard gave him a matured look. The way he was dressed was unlike anything she had seen before.

“My, my, what is he doing here?” Said a distant observer, removing his fancy hat. “Him being back is, dare I say, a bad Omen,” said Ardyn, before breaking into a hysterical laugh at his joke. “What an interesting twist in the tale. Bahamut, what are you scheming now?”

On the ground below, the warrior launched himself towards Titan, expertly dodging all the incoming attacks. Lunafreya could tell he was a seasoned warrior.

He hacked and slashed at Titan with great agility. She too joined in by unleashing bolts of magic towards Titan. For the first time in this fight, it felt as if they had an upper hand.

Their victory was short-lived, as Titan swept his colossal hand swatting both of them. That attack caused them tremendous damage. Before they could recover, Titan stomped on the ground, causing a shockwave to knock them off their feet. Titan followed it up by forming a fist and targeting Lunafreya with it.

Because of her ankle injury, she struggled to get back on her feet quickly. She was about to be crushed by an incoming attack when the warrior in black covered her, and took the brunt of the attack. He falls away grimacing in pain.

Titan targeted him next, as he lay on the ground defenseless, still recuperating from the last attack. Just as Titan’s attack was about to land on him, a magical barrier protected him once again.

“This magical barrier of yours is very helpful. How long does it last?” He asked while getting back on his feet.

“I don’t know. 10 seconds maybe?” She said unsure.

“Hmm,” he thought for a second, and continued, “that should be enough.”

“Enough for wha-” Her sentence was cut off as Titan’s attacked knocked Lunafreya off her feet once more. Another pounding of the fist next to her, sent debris hurling towards her, reopening her wounds.

He saw a stream of blood gushing down from Lunafreaya’s hand and head. He looked at Titan with rage-filled in his eyes and ran towards Titan launching different spells all over him. Some hit Titan on his face, some on his hands, and some on his chest. As he got closer to Titan, he slashed him with his sword, creating sparks on each impact.

Instead of defending or even attacking him, Titan launched another attack targeted at Lunafreya again. He rushed back and covered her just in time to protect her, but once again they both were knocked down to the ground. Lunafreya erected her barrier to buy them some precious time.

While lying next to her, he noticed the blood had entirely covered one side of her face. “You’re hurt,” he said, with a hint of concern in his voice.

“I’ll live,” she assured, with a faint smile.

She uttered some spell and healed him, which took him by surprise.

“You should heal yourself first,” he stated the obvious.

“No, you took the brunt of the attack multiple times for me, and you are hurt too, so I should heal you first,” she argued.

“God! You are so stubborn,” he said, putting his hand on his forehead. “Here,” he gestured towards here, casting another healing spell. While it did not stop the bleeding entirely, it eased her pain.

“Next time, heal yourself first,” he said, as he got back on his feet.

Their fight commenced. The dance of attack and defense carried on for a few minutes, with momentum swinging back and forth multiple times during this battle.

Instead of him attacking from close quarters and Lunafreya supporting from the back line, they adopted a new strategy where they fought back to back. It was a lot more efficient than their previous strategy, as now one barrier can protect both parties. They both took turns attacking, so others could get enough rest in between. It surprised them how well they fought together.

“My name is Lunafreya,” she suddenly said, realizing she had not introduced herself to the stranger.

“Squall Leonhart,” he said, without shifting his focus from Titan.

“Have we met before?” Lunafreya asked the stranger.

“No,” he said definitively, before adding, “but you look familiar for some reason.”

“Strange, I feel the same,” she confessed, parrying the attack.

“We need to get an upper hand in this battle. At this rate, we will run out of stamina and all our spells soon,” he remains focused on the task, while sidestepping Titan’s fist.

“What do you suggest?” She asked.

“I don’t know enough about this thing to draw any conclusion. What do you know about this giant?” He inquired.

“Well, this is an Archaean called Titan. The legend says that when the meteor fell on Eos, Titan intercepted it, and has been carrying it on his back for eons,” she said, as she erected her protecting barrier.

“I don’t need a history lesson right now. Just give me any information I can use to defeat it,” he said, getting agitated.

“I don’t know of such information. I was not planning to defeat it,” she said sheepishly.

“You were fighting against it, but had no plan of defeating it?” He said partly surprised and partly frustrated, as he deflected another attack.

“I wasn’t planning to fight with-” she said before he cut her off mid-sentence, “what was the thing you said about Titan carrying something on his back?”

“It’s a meteor this Astral has been carrying for eons. He is protecting this planet by not letting the meteor hit the ground, or so the legend says,” she repeated, her ‘history lesson,’ annoyed at being cut off mid-sentence earlier.

“That’s it!” He said, as his eyes lit up.

“What?” She asked, unsure of what he meant.

“Attack him on his back where the meteor is being held,” he instructed.

“No, that is reckless, I will not do that,” she defied.

“God! Why are you so stubborn?” He complained.

“We don’t know what kind of chaos it could unleash if that meteor hits the ground,” she replied still in shock at his preposterous idea.

“He won’t let it fall at any cost,” he argued back.

“How can you be so sure?” She asked with a reservation.

“Because ever since the fight started, he has used only one hand to attack. His other hand is always supporting the meteor,” he explained the rationale behind his plan. “And if he is carrying it for eons, then chances are, he will try to hold it up at all cost.”

“It is too risky,” she doubted, while wiping her face off the blood.

He turned around, grabbed her hand, and looked straight into her eyes. “Just trust me on this one.”

His commanding tone left no room for argument. She nodded in silent agreement.

He ran towards Titan drawing his attention, while Lunafreya prepared her attack. She said a silent prayer before letting out her attack, hitting the spot where the meteor was lodged in Titan’s back.

Titan let out a deafening roared in response. Titan was furious but, before he could counterattack, Lunafreya attacked again. As the weight of the meteor shifted on his back, Titan immediately focused on readjusting it.

With Titan distracted, Squall let out a volley of blizzardga freezing the entire Titan.

“It’s time to end this,” he declared. His heart was pounding, his focus laser-sharp, as adrenaline ran through his body. It was time for his limit break.

He ran towards Titan with unmatched speed, slicing him with his gunblade multiple times, causing massive damage with each hit. He stepped back and raised his weapon over his head to summon a large aura of energy around it. He charged the energy until it formed a pillar extending into the sky. With a mighty force, he brought down his gunblade and the pillar of energy with it, destroying anything within its path causing an exorbitant amount of damage to Titan.

“Finish it,” he instructed her.

She swung her trusty trident and unleashed a massive amount of energy aim at the heart of Titan. The frozen Titan appeared to shatter into million spectral pieces in the surrounding atmosphere.

Squall looked at Lunafreya, asking for her silent approval to check if it was over. Her face was expressionless, as she was unsure of what would happen next.

Within seconds, the spectral pieces dissipate, and Titan was revealed once again. Titan adjusted the meteor on his back and sat back in a dormant position.

“Mayhap I misjudged your strength,” Titan said in a humbler tone.

She stepped forward confidently with a trident in her hand. “Will you forge a covenant now?”

“Yes. But, I shall first test your king’s strength, before I surrender my power unto him,” said the ethereal voice in a divine language.

“I have full faith that he shall pass your trial. Thank you, for your kindness,” she said, bending her knee and bowing down her head slightly. She was still graceful as always, although she could barely stand.

“Is it over?” He inquired from a distance.

She nodded with a charming smile.

“I hear by form a covenant with thy soul,” echoed the ethereal voice, as gold lights emanated from its body, some of which coalesced around Lunafreaya. The energy circulated around Lunafreya for a few seconds, before lifting her off her feet, and suspending her a few feet in the air. The surrounding energy suddenly imploded on her. As her body absorbed the massive amount of energy, she screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground.

Squall caught her just in time, as her head was about to hit the ground. He cradled her in his arms, as she seemed to be in a deep slumber. Was she exhausted or unconscious? He didn’t know. He quickly checked her pulse. He let out a sigh of relief, when he detected a normal pattern of the pulse.

It was the first time he noticed how beautiful she looked. Something about her felt so familiar to him. A sudden jolt of a headache had him clutching his head in agony. It was as if a distant memory was trying to resurface from the depths of his mind. He vaguely remembered holding a girl in a coma, tenderly in his arms. He caressed her face, but everything was a blur. He could not recall who she was or how she looked. He clutched his head in agony as the memory faded.

A warrior without a past and an Oracle without a future, united in a cruel game of fate.

“Bravo! What a spectacle that was. This was as good as last time, if not better,” Ardyn said, from a distance, eating popcorn in his lounge chair. “Now that my dear friend Squall is back, perhaps it’s time for a rematch with the Astrals. What say you, Bahamut?” He broke into a burst of maniacal laughter, as a dark aura started oozing from him.

Earlier That Day

Gentiana opened her eyes and quickly realized where she was. She was in the beyond, in Bahamut’s domain.

“I know that you can sense him too,” said the ethereal voice of Bahamut.

“Bahamut, what is Squall doing here? How did he–” Gentiana’s curiosity was cut short by Bahamut.

“Do not finagle, Shiva. I had trapped him in the beyond, it is impossible to escape from there without divine intervention,” howled Bahamut in rage.

“Are you accusing me of helping him escape from your prison?”

“I merely suggest the likeliest possibility, as you are the only one among all the Astrals who is fond of that traitor.”

“Let me assure you, I had no role in this,” she said sternly. “I have learned my lesson from last time,” she said with her eyes cast down in a humble tone.

“Have you?” Bahamut asked. “How about you prove it to me?” He challenged.

“What must I do to prove my loyalty?” She asked.

“Do that which you failed to do the last time,” he offered.

“What!”

“Yes, kill him and all that you lost shall be restored to you.”

“You can’t be serious!” Gentiana said, appalled at the proposal.

“Should you kill him, that which is most precious to you will be restored. I want to see the old cold-blooded Shiva back.” He tempted Gentiana with an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Then I shall do what I must,” Gentiana said coldly.

“I like this attitude, but let’s not get too hasty,” he said with a sudden shift in tone.

“What do you have in mind?” She asked hesitantly.

“Gain his trust and use it to your advantage. Assign him to be the shield for Lunafreya, and guide them through the trials. Bring him to Altissia, to the very location where he betrayed us, and slay him there.”

“What purpose does this serve?”

“My purpose is not your concern,” he said commandingly.

“Maybe so, but is Lunafreya not your concern? Wouldn’t she be hurt by his presence?”

After a long pause, Bahamut finally responded, “I don’t determine fate, I simply enforce it. They are slaves of destiny and duty; they will tear each other apart. Such is their providence.”

“How many times must history repeat itself?”

After an outstretched silence, Bahamut spoke again, “History is only important to those who remember it. He remembers none of it: not of his old world, the Omen, or even his history with Eos. His memory is like a puzzle with missing pieces, and you are forbidden to assist him. He must not learn of his past.”

“You intend to leave him in his ignorance. To what end?”

“Learning about events from the past would corrupt his redemption. Should you tell him, you will suffer the consequences,” Bahamut said in a menacing tone.

“Understood,” Gentiana said with an icy stare.

'Everyone from his old world perished and were reborn on Eos, but he remembers none of them. Moreover, he has no recollection of the events that transpired during the Omen. I wonder if he will even remember me. Can fate be more unkind?’ Gentiana thought grimly.

“He awaits you at Garden of Fenestala Manor,” said the Bladekeeper, breaking Gentiana out of her thoughts.

She glanced at the Draconian before leaving the ethereal realm of the beyond.

“Please forgive me, Eos,” said Bahamut, once he was alone.

Author's notes

Since characters from a different world e.g. FFXIV and Serah (Terra wars) can pop in and leave without altering the overall narrative of the game, I thought why not do something similar for Luna. Unfortunately, we don't learn a lot about the heroine of this story in FFXV, which ironically gives freedom to fill up those gaps as per our imagination. So I picked Squall (Leon) Leonhart (FFVIII)/(KH)/Dissidia to serve as her Shield (I have a good plot reason to pick him.) However, the challenge is to bring Squall into this lore (and take him out at Altissia) while leaving the main FFXV story intact, to the point that not a single dialogue from the game should be changed for any characters involved.

Please leave a comment if you've enjoyed the story so far. It would be very encouraging to hear your feedback. Thanks :)

[littlenightingale98]

Zutara Month Day 1- Vigilantes

Zuko wiped the blade of his sword clean. Nearby, Katara was bending the blood off the cobblestone. This was how they worked. This was how they would save their home.

The Hundred Year War had ended long ago. But there was a new threat to peace. A group of non-benders were taking a stand against what, to them at least, was the real evil in the world.

Countless benders had died already. How these people were managing to pull that off, Firelord Zuko had no idea. But he did know one thing. They had to be stopped.

Katara sighed. Zuko turned to look at his wife. Her face was grim. "Hey, are you okay?", He asked, his voice laced with concern.

She looked up, catching her husband's deep golden gaze. "No. I'm not okay."

Zuko sheathed his sword. He didn't like seeing her like this. Katara had a soft spot for people in general. She was a kind, caring soul. A healer. But, if need be, she was also the strongest fighter he knew. She had saved his life on more than one occasion.

He pulled her into a tight hug. "It's gonna be okay, Kat. I promise. It may take a while. It's gonna be a fight. It's gonna be a struggle. The good side always wins, though."

Her eyes were fierce when she pulled back from the hug. "You've got that right. Let's do this."

"That's my girl," Zuko said before planting a light kiss on her forehead.

They both turned to face the entrance to the rebellion leader's headquarters. This was their final stand, just the two of them. This was life or death.

Katara pulled water from the pouch tied around her waist. She swirled the water around her, slowly lifting her arms so it pooled over her head.

She threw her arms forward. The water hit the door so hard it knocked it off the hinges. Screams erupted from the room. Katara positioned herself to strike again, this time throwing guards instead of a door. She glanced at Zuko, giving him a sharp nod that signaled he should go in now. They had developed this system long ago when they were only teenagers. She would watch his back while he went after the main target. Should something happen while he was fighting said target, she would be right there to take over.

Zuko ran into the room as soon as he got the okay. A chuckle sounded straight in front of Zuko. He lifted his eyes to see a man dressed in black clothing sitting on a chair that closely resembled a throne. "My, my, my, waterbender. Look what a mess you made out of my throne room."

Zuko hissed. "Don't speak to her."

The leader chuckled again. "I don't take orders from you, Firelord Zuko. See, your family started all of this. Now it's my job to end it."

"The war has been over for years!", Zuko exclaimed.

"Yes, that's true. But. The hatred of non-benders from the Fire Nation has not ended. In fact, it's rubbed off on the other three nations."

Katara stepped into the room now. "And that's inexcusable. Just like what you are doing. Benders are people too!"

Another chuckle. "Firelady Katara. You're right. They are people. They're people who threaten my existence. At one point you knew what that felt like. Then you turned around and married the man that did those horrible things to you and your family. I'm not gonna take morality advice from a traitor."

Katara ground her teeth together. She clenched her fists so tight she could feel blood running down her finger tips from her palms. "Zuko is not responsible for the actions of his father."

The man shrugged. "If you say so. The fact still remains, however. He did hurt you in other ways."

Venom spewed into Katara's voice. "I forgave him for all of that. He never killed anyone that was innocent for what he believed in. You did. You're no better than Ozai."

Suddenly, side doors to the room busted open. Guards poured into the room. Zuko and Katara turned so their backs were touching. Katara pulled the water from her pouch and let it climb up her arms. Zuko's palms grew warm as he produced fire that climbed up the blade of his sword. They were surrounded.

They leaped away from one another, nearly jumping straight into the crowd of guards that surrounded them. They each threw their element, allowing them to collide in the middle of the room where they had been standing only seconds before.

Steam rolled over them and the guards. Nobody could see anything. This was another trick they had developed during their battles.

Zuko expertly cut the guards down, dancing with the blades like they were a part of him. He would slice one guard, only to twirl and bury the blade hilt-deep in the chest of another.

Katara spun the water around her body, dancing with the element. She threw spears from the belt of water when a guard got too close. She threw with deadly accuracy, hitting jugular after jugular, spraying the room with blood.

One last guard on Katara's side remained. She used the water for a whip this time, twirling her body and landing in a crouch. The blade of the guards sword had caught her cheek as she flipped over him. She felt a tiny trickle of her own blood making its way down her face. She used one gloved hand to wipe it away before standing and turning to face her husband.

"You're defenseless," Zuko said to the rebellion leader. "You might as well surrender."

"Never." The word came out as a hiss. The man quickly grabbed something in his robes, and launched the thing at Katara.

Zuko's world came crashing down around him when Katara's scream split the air. It was something he had heard many times in his nightmares. A throwing knife was buried hilt deep in the left side of her chest.

Near her heart.

Zuko didn't have time to run to her. During his shocked phase, the man had leaped from the throne onto the floor, narrowly missing Zuko's back. Zuko spun to face the man, seeing nothing but red. Tears pricked his eyes. "How dare you."

"One less bender in the world, dear boy. And when I'm done with you, it'll be two less."

The man lashed forward with his sword. Zuko pushed his own blade forward, using it as a shield. Sparks flew from the sharp metal as the two blades met.

Zuko spun again, trying to get a good angle on his enemy. The man dodged with ease, once again striking his sword against Zuko's. This dance continued for what seemed like eternity.

Finally, the two men broke apart. Their breath was ragged. Their bodies were drenched in sweat. Their hearts raced like that of a race ostrich-horse.

The rebellion leader screamed, once again rocketing himself towards Zuko's chest. The blade found it's target, ripping Zuko's shirt and leaving a trail through the skin of his chest.

Zuko cried out in pain, falling backwards from the force of the attack. He lay there, ears ringing, waiting for the killing blow. Waiting for the stab wound that would reunite him with his beautiful wife.

But it never came.

Zuko opened one golden eye to search the room. Only to be met with a sight he didn't expect. Not in a million years.

Katara was up, on her feet, fighting despite the blade that was hilt deep in her chest. She threw wave after wave of water against the man who had hurt them, barely giving him a split second to catch some air between her attacks. Her face was twisted in pain, but nevertheless, she continued to fight. She was determined to end this man, once and for all.

She finally stood less than two feet away from the man. She used her bending to turn the water into an ice javelin. "Any last words?", She hissed through her teeth.

The man laughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood where the water had knocked some of his teeth out. "This isn't the last you've heard of me, Firelady Katara. Years from now, your children and grandchildren will still be struggling against us. They will die. We will win. You can't defeat us all."

"Watch me," she said before slamming the ice javelin through his throat. The man grabbed at the ice, his breath rattling through the hole in his neck. Blood poured down his chest and onto the floor. His feet began slipping in it, ripping the hole in his neck wider and causing more blood to spill.

Finally the man died, pinned to the wall by Katara's ice. She dropped her fists, releasing the water. The man's body slumped to the ground.

Zuko walked closer to Katara. "Are you okay, my love?," He asked.

She grimaced, lightly touching the blade that still rested in her chest. "I'm fine.", She said before facing him. She stood on her tip-toes, planting a soft kiss on his lips. "Let's go let the world know."

Later that night, Zuko lay next to Katara, admiring what he almost lost that day. She now had a soft bandage where the knife had been only hours before. The doctor had no idea how she managed to survive it, but she had. She was just lucky, he guessed.

As was Zuko. Katara had been keeping a secret from him for the last month. His hand found her belly, and a smile spread across his face. She was going to be the mother of his child.

She mumbled in her sleep before turning over and nestling herself deeper into his chest. He gently raised his hand to push a stand of dark brown hair away from her face. Memories flashed in his mind, taking him back through all the years he'd spent with the pretty waterbender. They really were a force to be reckoned with. You couldn't hurt them, you couldn't break them.

God help anybody that dared to try.

[platonic-one]

Devotion - Story of the Oracle and her Shield

Chapter 1 - The New Omen

Fate, some embrace it, some abhor it, yet few truly understand it. The Oracle was a prisoner of a cruel fate, yet she bore it with a smile. Destined for hardship and heartache, she carried on her journey, from Insomnia to the Disc of Cauthess, to awaken Titan. It was there where everything changed. For better or worse none of us knew.

A colossal fist slammed on the ground, hurling debris in all directions. She had successfully dodged Titan’s attack, but it was flying debris that caught her. Small shrapnel-like rocks had lodged into her forearm and temple. She hissed in pain and removed them as a small stream of blood started to flow.

Before she could do anything else, Titan slammed down his enormous fist. She raised her trident out of reflex, temporarily halting Titan’s attack. It was Titan’s sheer power versus her defiance. The crushing force with which Titan was pushing his fist down would soon overpower her. She realized it and quickly erected a magical barrier deflecting the attack and buying her a few precious seconds.

“I am not your enemy. I seek your blessings for the King of Light, so he may fulfill his destiny and banish the darkness from this world,” said Lunafreya, clutching her trident.

“The power of the gods can only be claimed by those deemed worthy. Be it the Oracle or the King, they must prove their mettle,” an ethereal voice responded.

“If, for Noctis’ sake, I am required to fight, then I will fight, even with the Gods,” she said with a firm determination in her eyes even with blood dripping down from the side of her face.

Titan roared in response and unleashed the next set of attacks. Lunafreya dodged each of his attacks. She summoned the energy around her trident and unleashed a devastating attack on Titan. Not expecting such a powerful counterattack, Titan was dazed. Taking advantage of this opening, she continued sending a volley of attacks to gain an upper hand momentarily. This only angered Titan further.

Not to be outdone by a mortal, Titan stomped the ground, sending shockwaves all around and knocking Lunafreya off her feet. She flew back a few feet and landed with a thud on uneven ground. The impact of the fall had dislodged her trident from her grip and it landed farther from her.

She tried to get up but her body had given up and refused to move.

She had endured a great deal of physical trauma in the last few days and her body couldn’t cope with it. After barely escaping from the jaws of death during the fall of the Insomnia, she had traveled to Lestallum among the refugees after overcoming great adversities. Without rest or recovery, soon she marched on to awaken Titan. Physically, her body wasn’t trained to endure such hardship. Her body had long since given up; it was only her willpower that drove her.

Titan continued to stomp in rage, hurling debris in all directions. Once again, her mind told her to get up, but her body refused to obey. She crawled towards her trident, which remained painfully out of her reach. She tried to push herself up when a huge piece of boulder flew towards her and landed on her leg. She let out a piercing scream as the weight of the rock crushed her leg. She was sure it had broken her ankle.

With her trident out of reach, her leg trapped and her body unable to move, her ability to attack or defend was nullified. She had come to awaken Titan; she had not been expecting a fight with it. It took armies to bring down an Astral. To confront Titan and survive this long was a feat any warrior would be proud of. But this was the end. She had put up a good fight. One more attack from Titan would be fatal.

“Willpower alone is not enough to overcome the impending darkness. If you can’t pass my trial, what hope do you have of succeeding against the combined might of daemons, Starscourge, and the Usurper? Mayhap you or your king are not worthy to consort with the gods,” said Titan in rage.

“Let me end your misery, the slave of fate and destiny,” said Titan. With that, Titan coiled back his fist and, with all his might, charged towards the defenseless Oracle.

She had many visions about her future, but this, a premature death without fulfilling her calling, was not one of them. Her mind ran through all the possible scenarios and concluded there was no escaping this situation. She closed her eyes and thought of one person she loved the most: Noctis.

'No! This is not how it is supposed to end. My calling is to awaken all Astrals for Noctis. I cannot die here.’ Her mind tried to defy the odds. But looking at the reality of the situation, she couldn’t help but think, 'Could the Astrals have forsaken me? No, that can’t be. I must be steadfast in my faith, even when all hope is lost. Oh the gods above, please me!’

She saw the giant’s fist descending upon her and, with no means of defending herself, she instinctively closed her eyes, and waited for the fatal blow.

A few seconds went by but that fatal blow never came. With her heart still pounding like a drum, she opened her eyes wearily. She was greeted with a sight of Titan’s colossal fist hovering just a few feet above her with a sword-like weapon preventing its descent. She traced the sword with her eyes and looked at the owner, clad in all black, blocking Titan’s mighty attack.

“You all right?” Asked a cool and collective voice as he glanced back at her.

She nodded in response, which wasn’t missed by the stranger looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

“The good thing about a fight with a colossal enemy is that there are plenty of areas to strategically target,” he muttered to himself, as if remembering a lesson he had learned. With all his might, he swung his sword deflecting Titan’s fist. He immediately followed it up with two volleys of blizzard spells aimed right at Titan’s eyes.

Titan screamed in agony and retreated momentarily. This gave enough time to the stranger to lift the rock trapping Lunafreya’s leg.

“Thank you,” she said, as she pulled her leg out from beneath the rock.

“No time for formalities,” he stated, and proceed to cast a healing spell on her.

She closed her eyes as the feeling of rapture engulfed her whole body. For the time being, she forgot how much pain her body had to endure. She would love to be in the state forever if that were an option. But all good things must come to an end such is the cruel nature of life. As the effect of the spell wore off, the pain sensation returned, but with much lesser intensity.

“Take cover behind that boulder, I’ll fight this thing,” he said, just in time to block a renewed attack from Titan.

“No, I’ll fight with you,” she refused his offer. She tried to get up and walk towards her trident, but she stumbled on the first step, and fell to the ground. She noticed her ankle was badly damaged, and walking was excruciatingly painful.

“You’re in no shape to fight so just sit this one out,” he disagreed, while parrying Titan’s attack.

“This is my fight,” she said, as she crawled towards her trident with pertinacity.

“You will only end up getting hurt further,” he said, looking at her struggle as he dodged another attack.

“I don’t care if I get hurt. I only care about fulfilling my duty,” she replied quickly.

“You can’t fulfill your duty if you are dead, can you?” He asked sternly.

“If I don’t even try then how different is it than being dead?” She retorted.

He placed his hand on his forehead. “Whatever. You are stubborn,” he said, sounding annoyed.

“I am not stubborn. I am determined,” she said, with fury in her eyes, as she clutched her trident.

“Determined to die, that is,” he said under his breath, but Lunafreya heard it and gave him a look of contempt.

“Just stay out of my way,” he said, as he readied to charge at Titan.

“What a jerk,” she hissed under her breath, but he heard it. It was very unlike her to get angry at anyone, but here was a stranger who inserted himself in the middle of her covenant with the gods, and then have the audacity to tell her what to do.

“Look, you are hurt. You will only be a liability on the battlefield,” he said, trying to reason with her one last time. He took his eyes off Titan momentarily to look at the girl who was arguing with him in the middle of a battle. It was a costly mistake as the impact of Titan’s fist easily knocked him back a few feet.

“The Fallen has risen? How? He was erased. Matters not, for he shall fall again,” said Titan, angrily at the intruder.

Before the stranger could get back on his feet, Titan’s other hand was ready to pounce on him. Titan’s fist was barely inches away from his face when a translucent golden magic shield blocked his attack dead in its tracks.

“Not much of a liability now, am I?” She said with a hint of a smile.

He tried his best not to react to her comment, but instinctively a hint of a smile crept on his face.

“Well, then, let’s defeat this thing together. We can’t win by defending only,” he said, while getting up under the protection of her magical barrier. She quietly nodded in response. He extended his hand, and she grabbed it, and used it as a support to get back on her feet.

It was the first time she noticed the stranger closely. He wore a black leather bomber jacket over a white deep V-neck T-shirt which parts down the middle of his chest. He wore black pants, and white fur trim along the collar of his pants. A sash partially covers his right leg. He wore a lion-like pendant and a similar belt buckle. He had a distinctive scar which ran diagonally across the bridge of his nose. His unruly shoulder-length brown hair and a short boxed beard gave him a matured look. The way he was dressed was unlike anything she had seen before.

“My, my, what is he doing here?” Said a distant observer, removing his fancy hat. “Him being back is, dare I say, a bad Omen,” said Ardyn, before breaking into a hysterical laugh at his joke. “What an interesting twist in the tale. Bahamut, what are you scheming now?”

On the ground below, the warrior launched himself towards Titan, expertly dodging all the incoming attacks. Lunafreya could tell he was a seasoned warrior.

He hacked and slashed at Titan with great agility. She too joined in by unleashing bolts of magic towards Titan. For the first time in this fight, it felt as if they had an upper hand.

Their victory was short-lived, as Titan swept his colossal hand swatting both of them. That attack caused them tremendous damage. Before they could recover, Titan stomped on the ground, causing a shockwave to knock them off their feet. Titan followed it up by forming a fist and targeting Lunafreya with it.

Because of her ankle injury, she struggled to get back on her feet quickly. She was about to be crushed by an incoming attack when the warrior in black covered her, and took the brunt of the attack. He falls away grimacing in pain.

Titan targeted him next, as he lay on the ground defenseless, still recuperating from the last attack. Just as Titan’s attack was about to land on him, a magical barrier protected him once again.

“This magical barrier of yours is very helpful. How long does it last?” He asked while getting back on his feet.

“I don’t know. 10 seconds maybe?” She said unsure.

“Hmm,” he thought for a second, and continued, “that should be enough.”

“Enough for wha-” Her sentence was cut off as Titan’s attacked knocked Lunafreya off her feet once more. Another pounding of the fist next to her, sent debris hurling towards her, reopening her wounds.

He saw a stream of blood gushing down from Lunafreaya’s hand and head. He looked at Titan with rage-filled in his eyes and ran towards Titan launching different spells all over him. Some hit Titan on his face, some on his hands, and some on his chest. As he got closer to Titan, he slashed him with his sword, creating sparks on each impact.

Instead of defending or even attacking him, Titan launched another attack targeted at Lunafreya again. He rushed back and covered her just in time to protect her, but once again they both were knocked down to the ground. Lunafreya erected her barrier to buy them some precious time.

While lying next to her, he noticed the blood had entirely covered one side of her face. “You’re hurt,” he said, with a hint of concern in his voice.

“I’ll live,” she assured, with a faint smile.

She uttered some spell and healed him, which took him by surprise.

“You should heal yourself first,” he stated the obvious.

“No, you took the brunt of the attack multiple times for me, and you are hurt too, so I should heal you first,” she argued.

“God! You are so stubborn,” he said, putting his hand on his forehead. “Here,” he gestured towards here, casting another healing spell. While it did not stop the bleeding entirely, it eased her pain.

“Next time, heal yourself first,” he said, as he got back on his feet.

Their fight commenced. The dance of attack and defense carried on for a few minutes, with momentum swinging back and forth multiple times during this battle.

Instead of him attacking from close quarters and Lunafreya supporting from the back line, they adopted a new strategy where they fought back to back. It was a lot more efficient than their previous strategy, as now one barrier can protect both parties. They both took turns attacking, so others could get enough rest in between. It surprised them how well they fought together.

“My name is Lunafreya,” she suddenly said, realizing she had not introduced herself to the stranger.

“Squall Leonhart,” he said, without shifting his focus from Titan.

“Have we met before?” Lunafreya asked the stranger.

“No,” he said definitively, before adding, “but you look familiar for some reason.”

“Strange, I feel the same,” she confessed, parrying the attack.

“We need to get an upper hand in this battle. At this rate, we will run out of stamina and all our spells soon,” he remains focused on the task, while sidestepping Titan’s fist.

“What do you suggest?” She asked.

“I don’t know enough about this thing to draw any conclusion. What do you know about this giant?” He inquired.

“Well, this is an Archaean called Titan. The legend says that when the meteor fell on Eos, Titan intercepted it, and has been carrying it on his back for eons,” she said, as she erected her protecting barrier.

“I don’t need a history lesson right now. Just give me any information I can use to defeat it,” he said, getting agitated.

“I don’t know of such information. I was not planning to defeat it,” she said sheepishly.

“You were fighting against it, but had no plan of defeating it?” He said partly surprised and partly frustrated, as he deflected another attack.

“I wasn’t planning to fight with-” she said before he cut her off mid-sentence, “what was the thing you said about Titan carrying something on his back?”

“It’s a meteor this Astral has been carrying for eons. He is protecting this planet by not letting the meteor hit the ground, or so the legend says,” she repeated, her ‘history lesson,’ annoyed at being cut off mid-sentence earlier.

“That’s it!” He said, as his eyes lit up.

“What?” She asked, unsure of what he meant.

“Attack him on his back where the meteor is being held,” he instructed.

“No, that is reckless, I will not do that,” she defied.

“God! Why are you so stubborn?” He complained.

“We don’t know what kind of chaos it could unleash if that meteor hits the ground,” she replied still in shock at his preposterous idea.

“He won’t let it fall at any cost,” he argued back.

“How can you be so sure?” She asked with a reservation.

“Because ever since the fight started, he has used only one hand to attack. His other hand is always supporting the meteor,” he explained the rationale behind his plan. “And if he is carrying it for eons, then chances are, he will try to hold it up at all cost.”

“It is too risky,” she doubted, while wiping her face off the blood.

He turned around, grabbed her hand, and looked straight into her eyes. “Just trust me on this one.”

His commanding tone left no room for argument. She nodded in silent agreement.

He ran towards Titan drawing his attention, while Lunafreya prepared her attack. She said a silent prayer before letting out her attack, hitting the spot where the meteor was lodged in Titan’s back.

Titan let out a deafening roared in response. Titan was furious but, before he could counterattack, Lunafreya attacked again. As the weight of the meteor shifted on his back, Titan immediately focused on readjusting it.

With Titan distracted, Squall let out a volley of blizzardga freezing the entire Titan.

“It’s time to end this,” he declared. His heart was pounding, his focus laser-sharp, as adrenaline ran through his body. It was time for his limit break.

He ran towards Titan with unmatched speed, slicing him with his gunblade multiple times, causing massive damage with each hit. He stepped back and raised his weapon over his head to summon a large aura of energy around it. He charged the energy until it formed a pillar extending into the sky. With a mighty force, he brought down his gunblade and the pillar of energy with it, destroying anything within its path causing an exorbitant amount of damage to Titan.

“Finish it,” he instructed her.

She swung her trusty trident and unleashed a massive amount of energy aim at the heart of Titan. The frozen Titan appeared to shatter into million spectral pieces in the surrounding atmosphere.

Squall looked at Lunafreya, asking for her silent approval to check if it was over. Her face was expressionless, as she was unsure of what would happen next.

Within seconds, the spectral pieces dissipate, and Titan was revealed once again. Titan adjusted the meteor on his back and sat back in a dormant position.

“Mayhap I misjudged your strength,” Titan said in a humbler tone.

She stepped forward confidently with a trident in her hand. “Will you forge a covenant now?”

“Yes. But, I shall first test your king’s strength, before I surrender my power unto him,” said the ethereal voice in a divine language.

“I have full faith that he shall pass your trial. Thank you, for your kindness,” she said, bending her knee and bowing down her head slightly. She was still graceful as always, although she could barely stand.

“Is it over?” He inquired from a distance.

She nodded with a charming smile.

“I hear by form a covenant with thy soul,” echoed the ethereal voice, as gold lights emanated from its body, some of which coalesced around Lunafreaya. The energy circulated around Lunafreya for a few seconds, before lifting her off her feet, and suspending her a few feet in the air. The surrounding energy suddenly imploded on her. As her body absorbed the massive amount of energy, she screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground.

Squall caught her just in time, as her head was about to hit the ground. He cradled her in his arms, as she seemed to be in a deep slumber. Was she exhausted or unconscious? He didn’t know. He quickly checked her pulse. He let out a sigh of relief, when he detected a normal pattern of the pulse.

It was the first time he noticed how beautiful she looked. Something about her felt so familiar to him. A sudden jolt of a headache had him clutching his head in agony. It was as if a distant memory was trying to resurface from the depths of his mind. He vaguely remembered holding a girl in a coma, tenderly in his arms. He caressed her face, but everything was a blur. He could not recall who she was or how she looked. He clutched his head in agony as the memory faded.

A warrior without a past and an Oracle without a future, united in a cruel game of fate.

“Bravo! What a spectacle that was. This was as good as last time, if not better,” Ardyn said, from a distance, eating popcorn in his lounge chair. “Now that my dear friend Squall is back, perhaps it’s time for a rematch with the Astrals. What say you, Bahamut?” He broke into a burst of maniacal laughter, as a dark aura started oozing from him.

Earlier That Day

Gentiana opened her eyes and quickly realized where she was. She was in the beyond, in Bahamut’s domain.

“I know that you can sense him too,” said the ethereal voice of Bahamut.

“Bahamut, what is Squall doing here? How did he–” Gentiana’s curiosity was cut short by Bahamut.

“Do not finagle, Shiva. I had trapped him in the beyond, it is impossible to escape from there without divine intervention,” howled Bahamut in rage.

“Are you accusing me of helping him escape from your prison?”

“I merely suggest the likeliest possibility, as you are the only one among all the Astrals who is fond of that traitor.”

“Let me assure you, I had no role in this,” she said sternly. “I have learned my lesson from last time,” she said with her eyes cast down in a humble tone.

“Have you?” Bahamut asked. “How about you prove it to me?” He challenged.

“What must I do to prove my loyalty?” She asked.

“Do that which you failed to do the last time,” he offered.

“What!”

“Yes, kill him and all that you lost shall be restored to you.”

“You can’t be serious!” Gentiana said, appalled at the proposal.

“Should you kill him, that which is most precious to you will be restored. I want to see the old cold-blooded Shiva back.” He tempted Gentiana with an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Then I shall do what I must,” Gentiana said coldly.

“I like this attitude, but let’s not get too hasty,” he said with a sudden shift in tone.

“What do you have in mind?” She asked hesitantly.

“Gain his trust and use it to your advantage. Assign him to be the shield for Lunafreya, and guide them through the trials. Bring him to Altissia, to the very location where he betrayed us, and slay him there.”

“What purpose does this serve?”

“My purpose is not your concern,” he said commandingly.

“Maybe so, but is Lunafreya not your concern? Wouldn’t she be hurt by his presence?”

After a long pause, Bahamut finally responded, “I don’t determine fate, I simply enforce it. They are slaves of destiny and duty; they will tear each other apart. Such is their providence.”

“How many times must history repeat itself?”

After an outstretched silence, Bahamut spoke again, “History is only important to those who remember it. He remembers none of it: not of his old world, the Omen, or even his history with Eos. His memory is like a puzzle with missing pieces, and you are forbidden to assist him. He must not learn of his past.”

“You intend to leave him in his ignorance. To what end?”

“Learning about events from the past would corrupt his redemption. Should you tell him, you will suffer the consequences,” Bahamut said in a menacing tone.

“Understood,” Gentiana said with an icy stare.

'Everyone from his old world perished and were reborn on Eos, but he remembers none of them. Moreover, he has no recollection of the events that transpired during the Omen. I wonder if he will even remember me. Can fate be more unkind?’ Gentiana thought grimly.

“He awaits you at Garden of Fenestala Manor,” said the Bladekeeper, breaking Gentiana out of her thoughts.

She glanced at the Draconian before leaving the ethereal realm of the beyond.

“Please forgive me, Eos,” said Bahamut, once he was alone.

Author's notes

Since characters from a different world e.g. FFXIV and Serah (Terra wars) can pop in and leave without altering the overall narrative of the game, I thought why not do something similar for Luna. Unfortunately, we don't learn a lot about the heroine of this story in FFXV, which ironically gives freedom to fill up those gaps as per our imagination. So I picked Squall (Leon) Leonhart (FFVIII)/(KH)/Dissidia to serve as her Shield (I have a good plot reason to pick him.) However, the challenge is to bring Squall into this lore (and take him out at Altissia) while leaving the main FFXV story intact, to the point that not a single dialogue from the game should be changed for any characters involved.

Please leave a comment if you've enjoyed the story so far. It would be very encouraging to hear your feedback. Thanks :)

[ashtheshortstack]

Garlic in the Cauldron - Ch 7

Garlic in the Cauldron

Adrien Agreste learned from a young age that witches were the enemies to vampires. He was taught to kill on sight, drink them dry, and never look back… however, meeting a witch named Marinette threw his entire world off balance.

Ch 7  - Bleeding Love

Read on ao3

<-Previous Chapter/Next Chapter –>

With each passing day, Alya’s suspicions continued to grow. Marinette was definitely keeping her at arm's length. The subtle hints that her best friend gave her (whether Marinette realized it or not), and the way the raven haired girl would just stare off into space and smile sometimes had Alya coming to one conclusion: her best friend was crushing hard. Maybe even in love.

But why wouldn’t she tell her? Alya knew something had to be up. Marinette had never hidden her crushes from her. Not even in awkward teenhood. She remembered Marinette’s emotions fleeting from boy to boy as a tween. One day it was the boy who sat behind her in training, the next it was the boy who came into the bakery asking for a magic macaron.

Alya couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that Marinette was hiding something from her. If she tried to bring remotely anything up about dating, Marinette seemed to bristle and change the topic. It had been going on for almost two months, and Alya wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. She wanted to know what was going on in her best friend’s life. And she’d do whatever it took to find out.

Even if it meant setting up a stake out across the street from Marinette’s home. Alya hovered on her broom, hidden just out of sight of the bakery. She began noticing the pattern… Every other night, Marinette would leave on her broom then come back hours later. She always had a stupid, dopey smile on her face when she returned.

Was Marinette sneaking out to see a boy!? That was crazy! A goody-two-shoes like Marinette never seemed like the type! She didn’t know she had it in her. Alya was kind of proud, actually. Maybe, Marinette’s teenage rebellion phase was just coming a little late. Marinette did have the weight of the witch race on her shoulders according to the oracle, after all.

Even so, if her bestie was sneaking out to be with a guy, she wouldn’t tell anyone! But, he needed the best friend approval test for sure. She needed to meet this guy. There had to be something wrong with him if Marinette was hiding him from everyone.

If he dark spice dealer… Alya would have a cow. While she knew Marinette had her earrings that were supposed to protect her, if she resorted to black magic to take out Gabriel Agreste then Alya would have to talk some sense into her best friend.

That evening, when Marinette snuck out, Alya followed her. She followed her to the forest just outside the coven, which made Alya’s dark magic theory even more plausible. Her heart roared in her chest, no matter how much she willed it to stop. She was terrified to learn the truth. There were so many things Marinette could be doing. Training with Master Fu? Practicing spells on her own time? She could just be taking a late night walk every other evening to handle the pressure.

Alya was stunned with what she saw to say the least. Marinette was laying out a picnic blanket? Whoever she was meeting was already there. She was meeting a guy! This kid was blonde and had bright green eyes. He wasn’t a warlock she’d seen in their coven… maybe he was from a different one? Couldn’t have been a dark spice dealer… those people are green with dark eyes from the effects of dark magic.

That was a relief at least…

So what was it? Why was Marinette hiding him? Alya watched as they shared a laugh, Marinette’s cheeks were flushed. Oh jeez. The girl had it bad for this guy…

“Alya!” Trixx hissed, growling.

Alya hushed her familiar with a finger to her lips, whispering in a harsh tone. “You’re going to get us caught!”

Trixx quickly changed into her fox form, teeth gritted as she snarled. “That boy is a vampire!”

“What!?” Alya quickly covered her mouth.

The boy… the vampire seemed startled. She assumed they must have been far enough for Marinette not to hear… but not him. He grabbed his hood, shoving it over his head. She assumed to shield his probably pointed ears.

With her cover blown, Alya emerged from the woods. Her wand was hot and hissing as she drew it. Fingers shaking, she held the wand up. “Get away from her!”

Marinette was clearly stunned to see her. Her blue eyes were wide with panic. “W-Wait, Alya!”

“I don’t know what kind of trance this vampy put you under, but we’re going to break it right here and now!” Alya demanded through gritted teeth.

She was seething. How dare he do something like this to her best friend! He probably knew she was the witch from the prophecy! He was creating an in to their coven! He was going to kill them!

The vampire scrambled back, only pissing her off more. Alya held her wand more confidently. “Don’t you move, blood sucker! I’ll turn you into a damn toad faster than your head can spin!”

As she went to cast the spell, Marinette’s hand suddenly swatted her wand out of her hand. “No!” she screeched.

Alya gaped, watching her wand fly and hit the earth a few feet away. Now, what would she do? She was defenseless! “W-What are you doing!?” she shouted at her friend.

“You don’t understand!” Marinette cried, tears welling in her eyes. Her hands were trembling, bottom lip quivering. Alya realized… she really had no idea what was going on here. Marinette swallowed, shaking her head. “Please, don’t hurt him,” she begged.

Alya couldn’t believe her ears. She gawked at her. The vampire made no moves to attack. He just sat there, green eyes blown wide as he watched them both. She couldn’t believe Marinette even had her back turned to him. Let alone was telling her not to hurt him.

“Marinette… Just what is going on here?” Alya asked, hands going sharply to her hips.

“He’s—he’s my friend,” Marinette sputtered quickly.

Noting how the vampire grimaced at those words… Alya knew that was a fucking lie. They were much more than friends. Marinette may be a good liar, but Alya could sniff out bullshit when she knew it.

“You’re telling me you’ve been sneaking out for months to canoodle around with a vampire!?”

“Have you been spying on me!?”

“Only because you haven’t been telling me the truth!”

“This is low, even for you, Alya!”

“Says the one snogging with a vampire!”

“You don’t know what I’ve been doing!”

______________________________________________________________

Adrien watched, unsure of what to do as the two girls bickered with one another. Obviously, that was Alya. Her best friend she had mentioned to him many times. He knew that Marinette mentioned Alya could be nosy… but spying on her and following her out here was something neither of them expected. He assumed Marinette hadn’t been feeding her enough lies to satisfy her.

“Just leave us alone, Alya!”

Alya seemed entirely exasperated by the entire situation. Honestly, if Adrien was in the same position, he’d probably feel the same. The night he met Marinette, he was entirely overwhelmed by her kindness even after he’d almost drank her blood. Their relationship was taboo. It made sense that this would be the reaction to it.

“What if he’s an Agreste, huh!? What then!?”

Wait… what was that supposed to mean?

“A-Agreste?”

The girls paused, stunned at his voice. Marinette’s eyes were wide as she stared at him. Slowly, Adrien pulled the hoodie off his head, gazing at both of them. Plagg hopped down from the tree, suddenly joining into the situation.

“Adrien, I wouldn’t go there…” Plagg warned.

Adrien shook his head. “No, I need to know. What’s wrong with being an Agreste?”

“Ha! Told you!” Alya smarmed, hands going to her hips.

The look Marinette gave her was menacing. There was a fire in her eyes he’d never seen. She was so angry that her friend would even insinuate that he could even be an Agreste. But he didn’t understand…

What had his father done?

Taking a small step towards him, Marinette eyed him carefully. “A-Are you? Are you a member of the Agreste clan?”

Swallowing thickly, he nodded. “I-I’m more than just a member, Marinette.”

His love went sickly pale. Her blue eyes went wide as the gears seemed to turn in her head. Marinette’s hand clutched to her chest. “O-Oh my God... Your mother—Your mother is the vampire the covens banded together to kidnap.”

Adrien couldn’t understand. He didn’t know what was going on. “What are you talking about? You already knew my mother was killed by witches.”

“You—You were the vampire’s son. You were supposed to be killed with her, but you weren’t. Oh—Oh my God…”

His head was whirling. What the hell was she talking about!?

A beat of silence passed.

“Your father… is Gabriel Agreste?”

Suddenly, he figured that being Gabriel Agreste’s son wasn’t just a bad thing for him. He knew what cruelty his father was capable of at home. He knew that his father wasn’t a good man. But by the reaction of both witches in front of him, this what Plagg meant when the familiar said there was a lot that Adrien didn’t know. He felt so ignorant. He couldn’t understand.

Shifting his weight from side to side, all Adrien could feel was shame. He couldn’t look at her. He felt guilty. And didn’t even know what he’d done… “Y-Yes.”

“Your name is Adrien Agreste.”

“Yes,” he said weakly.

Marinette let out a sob. Her knees buckled as she fell to the ground. Her palms went to her eyes, hiding the fresh tears he knew were covering her cheeks.

“Marinette…” he took a step towards her.

But she held up her hand, stopping him in his tracks. “Please, don’t,” she muttered. “I-I can’t. Not right now. We can’t—We can’t do this.”

Chest growing tight, he wanted to reason with her. Wanted to beg for her forgiveness. “M-Marinette, please. What did my father do!?”

She shook her head, hugging her arms tightly around her stomach. It was like… she couldn’t even look at him. Was she disgusted with him now? She looked to Tikki who had remained silent since her and Plagg joined the fray. “Did you know?”

“Yes,” her familiar answered. It was the quietest he’d ever heard her. She seemed so ashamed of herself as she hung her tiny head.

“And you didn’t tell me!?” Marinette was so furious. He felt so much guilt that her anger was directed at Tikki. Wasn’t this his fault?

“I-I tried, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to ruin what you two had.”

“So, you just let me suck face with the vampire who is the son of a monster!?”

Tikki didn’t answer. Her beady blue eyes met his. With every hiss of Marinette’s words, he felt his heart crack a little more. A monster… she thought his father was a monster. She wasn’t wrong. He knew that. But the way she said it with such distaste. She didn’t even mention that she loved him.

Did she think he was a monster too?

He should’ve told her. The day he met her. He should’ve said “my name is Adrien Agreste.” She could’ve tucked tail and ran. Never fell in love with him. Never felt this pain or hurt. If he’d simply uttered his last name, she never would have been put in this situation. One that could have been easily avoided if he hadn’t been so stupid.

Adrien gulped, taking a step back. Hot tears burned his eyes. This was his fault. Entirely his fault. He hurt her. His existence in her life was a mistake. He loved her. He loved her. And he’d destroyed that by not knowing the truth. This was taboo. They’d both known it was. He should’ve been smarter. This never should have happened.

Marinette noticed him move, her eyes meeting his. There was fear there. Was she afraid of him again? The last thing he’d ever wanted was to see her so afraid of him again. And he’d blown it. He messed up everything.

“I…I have to go,” he said quickly.

“A-Adrien, wait! I didn’t mean—”

He didn’t.

He left. Flying home with tears in his eyes.

Plagg would tell him the truth. Now.

________________________________________________________________

Plagg gave him space at first. The only sounds filling Adrien’s room were his heartbroken cries muffled into his pillow. He didn’t understand what he’d done to deserve such a horrible fate. He fell in love with a witch. And now, it was time to face those consequences. He was so angry with himself for doing this. For hurting her.

For falling for her.

Finally, he heard Plagg patter onto the bed. Sniffling, he looked up from his cotton pillow, peaking up at the creature. The pillow was soaked from absorbing his tears and was damp as he kept it pressed beneath his nose to hide his rosy cheeks.

Plagg sighed, lying down on the bed. “Whenever you’re ready, kid…”

Nodding slowly, Adrien let the pillow fall into his lap. “Tell me.”

“I guess I should start with… this entire vampires vs witches war was started by your father.”

Fingers clenching the pillow, he could’ve sworn he heard the fabric ripping beneath his nails. “W-What?”

Plagg nodded, a sorrowful gleam in his eyes. “Your father went into a frenzy, and instead of attacking a human, he attacked a witch. After discovering how strong witch blood made vampires, he decided to continue hunting down witches and feeding on them instead of humans. Well, there’s a lot less witches in this world than humans, and he was leaving evidence behind. Every victim had vampire bite marks clear as day on their necks. Your father could have healed the wounds and covered his tracks… but he never did. It was like he wanted to be found.”

That sounded so much like his father. What bothered him the most was that he had no idea this was truly the type of man he was living with. Gabriel was underhanded, sneaky, and aggressive. Everything vampires were “supposed” to be. But even Adrien thought his father was sickening to be around.

Speaking up, Adrien pulled at the thin material. “So, my mother…”

“After the evidence kept gathering around your father, majority of the covens decided to unite and take matters into their own hands. They—They tried to take you.”

He gaped, staring at the familiar. “W-What!?”

Plagg was struggling to continue, he could tell. But Adrien had to know the truth. Not matter how painful it was. “They tried to kidnap you and use you as a bargaining chip to get your father to stop murdering witches. Your mother offered herself instead.”

“Were they planning to kill me?”

Shaking his head, the cat hummed. “No. Their intention wasn’t to kill anyone, just simply to get Gabriel to stop killing for the safe return of his wife. But, as you may have noticed, your father doesn’t take being put in a negotiating position very tactfully. He gathered your clan… and slaughtered an entire coven as a message.”

Adrien gulped. No wonder Marinette thought his father was a monster. He even agreed with her. Chewing his lip, he held in a sob. “Plagg… I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t you, Adrien. Don’t take on your father’s burdens. Emilie—Emilie knew what had to be done. Your mother sacrificed herself in hopes that it would stop your father. She told the witches who held her captive that killing her may have enough consequences to stop him from continuing down this path,” Plagg paused, taking a deep breath. “Your mother wanted nothing more than to prevent what has happened to you. She didn’t want you to be caught up in this again. Your mother died to protect you. She begged the covens to keep you a secret and say that they killed you as well. And when your father found out that witches assumed his son was dead… well, clearly he locked you away so people would believe it.”

So much information overloaded Adrien’s mind. That’s why Marinette was freaking out. She never would have assumed that he was Gabriel Agreste’s son because he was supposedly dead. All of this…. All of this was because of his father! His mother’s death wasn’t on witches, it was on his father. She died because of him!

But Plagg… Plagg knew so much. Adrien eyed the familiar. “You… sound like you know first-hand.”

The cat grimaced. “Let’s just say… when I came here that it wasn’t the first time your father had killed one of my owners.”

That made sense. He was sure that Plagg was probably sick of his father by that point. He’d chase the culprit down too. He couldn’t imagine Plagg’s surprise to find him locked up in his room all day. Plagg probably thought Gabriel’s son would be a monster in training, not a naïve vampire who knew nothing about—well—being a vampire.

“As soon as I met you… I knew you were going to be great. You may see falling for Marinette as a major problem right now, but Adrien, I can assure you. It wasn’t a mistake. This is your fate. Your destiny is intertwined with hers.”

Fate… Fate and destiny seemed to be witchy mojo that Marinette mentioned everyone once in a while. Then she started using words like “soulmate” and it terrified him even more. It was so ironic that out of all the witches he met, it was one from the coven where a young witch was supposed to defeat his father.

And maybe that would be the day he waited for. Maybe, when all of this was over… he could reunite with Marinette. She certainly had a distain for him after that evening. The witch was absolutely furious with Tikki for not telling her that he was an Agreste.

“Did you tell Tikki who I was… or did she figure it out?”

“A little of both.”

Adrien let out a dry laugh. “So, all that time in the tree wasn’t spent talking about soap opera gossip like I thought, huh?”

Plagg grinned. “Nope, just about the two stupid young adult love birds we were trying to protect. Which, I’m sorry about by the way. Trixx is a sneaky familiar and can make other familiars unable to sense her as well as her owners. That sly fox is nothing but trouble.”

“D-Do you think Marinette will ever love me again? After the war is over?”

“She still loves you, Adrien, she’s just… a little shocked right now,” he assured.

“This wouldn’t ruin things between us? How do you know?”

“A little buggy knows a lot about her owner.”

________________________________________________________________

Adrien sat in the usual tree he hid in while waiting for Marinette to arrive. It’d been a week since he’d last seen her. Since he’d learned the truth. Even if she didn’t want to be with him, he figured he owed her an apology. Whether he’d meant to or not, he’d lied by omission. He didn’t know his last name held so much weight. How heavy of a burden it was…

While Adrien didn’t expect her to show, he couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed when she didn’t. Marinette had a cellphone, however, since his father kept him in the dark ages Adrien didn’t own one himself. He had no way to contact her.

Sighing, he leaned against the bark. His foot dangled idly to the side.

“Did you really think she’d show up?” Plagg asked, licking a paw as he lay on a lower branch.

Adrien shrugged, picking at the bark beneath his nails. “I was hoping,” he muttered, voice wavering as he tried to hide the disappointment that ached in his chest.

He missed her.

Plagg stood, stretching his back with a groan. The familiar hopped up into the branch with Adrien, making the leaves at the tip of the branch rattle. The vampire watched, a bit stunned, as Plagg climbed towards him and crawled into his lap. There was a purr buzzing in his throat as Adrien timidly scratched his head. It was… nice. He’d never noticed that Plagg’s fur was very soft. It was comforting while he felt so awful.

“What are you going to do, kid?”

Stroking the cat, Adrien gazed down at him. Plagg was looking at him so expectantly. Like Adrien should know the answer right then. But he didn’t. Adrien had been lost many times in his life. However, this was the worst. This was the lowest he’d ever felt. Losing Marinette was losing the greatest light that had ever entered his life.

“I need to go talk to her.”

Plagg’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? That’s risky.”

“She’s worth it. I have to know how she feels.”

_______________________________________________________________

When Adrien found himself perched on the railing of her balcony in his bat form, he was at a loss. He didn’t know how to approach her. Didn’t know how to apologize. Where to even begin. He was nervous… terrified, even. The last thing he wanted was to see her fearful of him again. Disgusted with him again. The thoughts plagued him as he balanced there, waiting for something to happen.

What if she never wanted to see him again? The idea of the love of his life hating him because of his father’s actions was almost too much to bear. He loved her. With every part of his being. He longed to be with her again. His heart ached at the thought of her. His chest was so tight, heart pumping harder than it ever had in his life.

Swallowing, he gathered his nerves. Returning to his natural form, he bent down, knocking on the trap door as anxiety overwhelmed him. His fingers trembled as his knuckle rapped against the wood.

Plagg stood next to a potted plant. Adrien was too uneasy to note the little detail that the familiar could easily knock one of those over. He was a cat. And a little shit. He’d probably do it in a heartbeat.

The door creaked open; Marinette’s expression was suspicious as she timidly opened the door. Her eyes blew wide at the sight of him. She yelped, quickly slamming the door back down.

“W-Wait! Marinette, please, we need to talk.”

“I can’t,” came her muffled reply.

“Please, Marinette…” he begged, voice hoarse. Hot liquid stung his eyes. God, he couldn’t cry. Not now. He had to speak to her. “Please. Plagg told me everything. I know what my father did. I’m sorry I was ignorant and didn’t understand. I wish I had known…”

He reared back in surprise when she flung the door back open. Her brows were pinched, eyes hard as she stared at him. “You really didn’t know?”

“I didn’t know anything, I swear. My father has kept me in the dark my entire life. I had—I had no idea my mother sacrificed herself for me. My father locked me up and hid me from the world to make everyone think I was dead.”

He noticed her swallow. “I did. I thought the son of Gabriel Agreste was dead. We all did. It’s why I—I never suspected he was your father. I just thought you had a really shitty dad.”

“Let me in. We can talk about this, please.”

Sighing, she nodded. “Okay…”

Adrien tried to hide the elation he felt. His ears perked, heart flying higher. He didn’t want to expect much, but it was nice to be allowed to explain himself.

So, when he found himself sitting on her chaise, he did just that. Marinette sat away from him on the other side of the room. She was weary, and that was fair. It wasn’t every day that you find out that your—uh, whatever he was to her—was the son of your mortal enemy. Granted, if Adrien had known this entire war was his father’s doing, he’d never pursued Marinette in the first place.

“Plagg told me everything. I’m so sorry for not knowing and for not understanding how much danger I was putting you in. I could have really fucked up. And I hope you forgive me for that.”

Marinette crossed her arms, cocking a brow. “You’re putting me in a lot of danger right now, you realize.”

He gulped. “I do. But I couldn’t—I couldn’t let you go without saying goodbye. Or without letting you know how much I…” he trailed off, fiddling with his thumbs and avoiding her gaze. “How much I love you.”

“Adrien, please, don’t do this.”

Gazing back up at her, he hid behind his bangs. “I do though. I love you so much. You have been the greatest thing to ever happen to me, Marinette. And I’m so sorry that I didn’t realize how wrong of me this was.”

Marinette hugged herself, shifting uncomfortably as her hands rubbed up and down her arms. She shied away, not looking at him. If she didn’t return his feelings, that was okay. He had to accept that.

“If this changes how you feel about me, then I understand. Being in love with the son of the man who literally called for the extermination for your entire race is—is a hard pill to swallow I’m sure. I never meant to hurt you, Marinette, I—”

“I’m the witch from the prophecy!” she all but shouted.

Her volume startled him. Adrien’s eyes blew wide, brows shooting up past his hairline as he gaped. He’d heard her words, but processing them was an entirely different story. Marinette. Marinette was the witch from the prophecy she’d told him. She was the one who was supposed to end the war.

Marinette was the one destined to eliminate his father.

“O-Oh my god,” he finally sputtered out.

“That’s why we can’t do this, Adrien!” she cried, arms curling into her chest. Hot tears leaked along her cheeks. “I’m supposed to kill your father! This is the most twisted fate, and I… I just can’t handle it. I can’t be in love with you knowing that I’m supposed to eliminate your clan. Your family. I’m supposed to hurt you. Get rid of you! And I know I can’t do it. I-I’m going to fail.” Marinette sobbed as she slid down the wall to the floor.

“Marinette, no,” he pleaded. Adrien stood from the chaise, falling to his knees in front of her. He cupped her cheek, pressing his forehead to hers. “You won’t fail. I… I’ll help you.”

Her eyes shot open, gazing up at him in astonishment. “What?” she gasped.

“I’ll help you. I want to stop this war. My mother wanted this to end, Marinette, that’s why she gave her life up.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not. I’m offering.”

She said nothing. Only gazing at him in a stunned silence. Her eyes seemed to search him, looking for any sign of deceitfulness that she could. But he knew there wasn’t any. He was being entirely honest with her. He’d do whatever it took to fulfil his mother’s last wish for peace.

His heart cracked when she shook her head. “I—I can’t. Adrien, this is so much bigger than either of us realized. We’re in over our heads. You’ve told me the kind of monster your father is at home. I can’t imagine how much more brutal he’ll be if he knows that you’re helping me.”

“Marinette, I can handle myself.”

“I can’t let you do this.”

Gently, he pulled her in placing his lips to hers. The kiss made his chest tighten as so many emotions swirled within him. His stomach churned, eyes watering. This didn’t feel like a normal kiss. It felt like goodbye. And it hurt. So much.

Marinette pulled away, giving him another peck on the cheek. “You need to leave. You need to run away from your clan and don’t look back. Forget about them. And—And forget about me. I can’t promise the outcome of this. I don’t want that guilt hanging over you if something were to happen to me.”

Her words stabbed him like daggers. He didn’t want to admit that she could be right. Adrien was so tired of the women in his life having to be noble. Having to sacrifice herself for others. Why couldn’t he do something about it?

“I can protect you,” he insisted, eyes pleading into hers.

Marinette shook her head, pushing him back by the chest. “You need to go.”

Swallowing thickly, he finally gave in. Pressing a small peck to her forehead, Adrien took his leave. When he reached her balcony, Plagg stood there waiting. No pots throw about, thankfully. The familiar asked nothing. And the two of them flew back to the mansion.

Lonelier than it had ever been…

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #118: To The Death

December, 1973

Dormammu strikes me as a guy that would be more interested in ‘to the pain.’ And I’m not one to criticize cover combat strategies but maybe don’t all jump at Dormammu in one easily Evil Eye’d clump.

Last time: Dormammu tricked the Defenders into collecting the Evil Eye, Loki tricked the Avengers into ineffectually trying to stop them. The two teams finally realized something was up but not in time to stop Dormammu from stealing all the Evil Eye bits and merging Earth with the Dark Dimension.

This time: Things are bad forever. Buildings are warping, people are turning into monsters and not in the cool way.

But no matter the odds, the Avengers and Defenders will fight

to the death, yes.

God, Namor. I don’t know what you were going for but it probably wasn’t constipation. And got to love Cap trying for an intimidating flex.

And then we zoom out a little and the assembled heroes look less mighty and dynamic and more royally screwed.

They’ve got a couple royals among them so yeah, royally screwed sounds right.

Geez. Look at that disproportionally huge upper body monster man and his tiny legs. Look at that girl turning into a dragon feets up. Lookit everything being on fire and buildings sagging like a souffle.

This is some good ‘world gone to hell’ art.

The Avenging Defenders and Defending Avengers get to work holding back the monsters. But they have to hold back because these were people once and will be people again if they can thwart Dormammu.

Dr. Strange casts a quick spell to prevent the two superhero teams from turning into monsters. Sadly, that’s all he can protect without expending too much energy to face Dormammu.

It really kind of drives home the shit that the teams are in. But for a roll of the dice, they could have been the ones turning into monsters.

Now, the only way to stop this is to stop Dormammu. And the only way to stop Dormammu is to go to his dimension. I guess since Earth isn’t fully merged he has to stay on his side until the hour is up.

But Cap raises the point that they can’t just desert Earth. Hundreds of people could be killed in their monster forms before they could fix things. Hell, the monster people might kill people who have yet to transform.

But they can’t split the party. Dormammu plus Evil Eye means they need to confront him with their full strength.

What is a superhero to do? Leave the few to possible death to save the many? There’s no easy answer.

Not unless SHIELD shows up to lend a hand. Hey, just like Age of Ultron!

Now, monsterfying is happening all over the world but SHIELD is an international agency at this point so hey! Problem solved. SHIELD will take over the Los Angeles situation so the Avengfenders can deal with the big picture.

Now, yeah, debate cut short with a convenient answer but I’m glad Englehart addressed that there would be collateral damage. That the heroes couldn’t just pop off and fight a fire-headed jerk without leaving behind a bad situation.

I like it was Defender Dr. Strange who said they needed to go after Dormammu and Avenger Captain America who worried about leaving defenseless civilians behind. That feels about right for where the teams would respectively focus.

Anyway, Dr. Strange casts his dimension jump spell and off the two teams go. While SHIELD begins a holding action. Although, I’m not sure how you perform a holding action when an entire world is going bonkers and your own people might turn into monsters.

Because, yeah. That happens. SHIELD didn’t get a fancy protection spell against monsterfying.

Countess Valentina Allegro de Fontaine transforms into a big lizardy monster and turns on Nick Fury. He stuns her but realizes that anyone else could turn at any time. This holding action is doomed if the heroes don’t come through.

SPEAKING OF, welcome to the Dark Dimension, Avengers and also Defenders. Hope you survive the experience.

And the Dark Dimension is weird and, yes, mostly poorly lit.

Thor wants all the fliers to fly ahead but Dr. Strange cautions him not to stray from the gray, meteor pocked trail. The laws of reality are weird in the Dark Dimension and its not safe off the trail.

Some of the Avengers are resentful to take Dr. Strange’s lead but they all charge forward along the gray path.

Meanwhile, miles or millenia ahead, Dormammu shoots off rainbows from the Evil Eye to amuse himself.

Loki is unimpressed. Because he can’t see anything. So maybe Dormammu should fulfill his part in the bargain and restore Loki’s sight now? After all, Dormammu couldn’t have pulled this off without Loki’s aid.

Dormammu thinks no. In fact, he thinks its kennel time for Loki and puts him in a mystic pink cage. See, once he got the Evil Eye, he realized that Loki had tried to screw him over by alerting the Avengers.

So he can stay in the cage and think about what he’s done.

AND THEN THE WATCHER SHOWS UP! Oh but don’t fret. He’s not here to interfere. He’s just here to watch. Two dimensions merging together? That’s a pretty sweet spectacle.

I guess Dormammu appreciates an audience because he promises enough spectacle to justify the Watcher’s entire existence of watching things.

Also, Dormammu swears by his sister. Is her head also on fire?

Meanwhile, the Avengers and Defenders hit a snag. The path just kind of ends. Also: now they’re being attacked by the Mindless Ones. Good news though: the Mindless Ones brought their own path so there’s the way forward.

Feels kind of like a side-scrolling beat-em-up. You hit the end of the path. A bunch of dudes show up that you have to beat up and then it lets you continue forward.

Problem is that physical combat just makes the Mindless Ones excited. So instead all the Avengers that have ranged blasty powers all line up and blast at the same time, causing the Mindless Ones to flee off-panel.

But they left their sweet pink road.

Mantis, who apparently has an internal clock rivaling the Andalites, tells the group that they only have twenty minutes left. I say rivaling because apparently she ‘literally feels each second being ripped from the cosmos around her by the invisible hands of time!’

That sure is a power to have, Mantis.

Meanwhile, lets check in on the homefront. Buncha heroes fighting monsters and reacting to this bazonkers event. I think the best might be Dracula objecting to Earth becoming monstery because it might affect him. AND THAT MUST NEVER BE!

Or Luke Cage grumbling that this was supposed to be his day off. Later on he would try to take Martin Luther King Day as a personal day only to get wrapped up in Vision and Scarlet Witch’s problems. Poor Luke.

Also Gorgon doesn’t know Triton’s name. What’s funniest about that is that the marvel wiki tries to justify it as in-universe sarcasm. Sometimes people mess up, guys.

Meanwhile, the Dark Dimension. The Avengers and Defenders have finally reached Dread Dormammu.

Unfortunately, he has a shield up to keep the Mindless Ones away from himself. Dr. Strange can sunder the shield but it will take time. And they probably don’t have a lot of that left.

Also, think about the Watcher’s vow of non-intervention. I think its doomed to failure. Because just by showing up, he influences events even a little. People generally know that something is significant when the Watcher shows up. In the Infinity Gauntlet event, Thanos knew that a big battle was headed his way because the Watcher showed up to watch. Granted, Thanos was near omnipotent at the time so its not like it affected things much there.

So lets look at here instead. The Watcher shows up to watch. Thor sees the Watcher and shouts excitedly because its someone he knows because Thor is always jazzed to see a friend. Dormammu suspects that this excitement means the Watcher was lying about being neutral. The Watcher goes ‘how dare, non-intervention is my game, dawg. I love these guys but I’ll stand by and watch them brutally slaughtered, that's how much I’m about non-intervention.’

And then Dormammu tells the Watcher to chill out.

But while this conversation was going on, Dr. Strange bursts through Dormammu’s barrier. You could argue that the distraction the Watcher provides just by being present is an intervention. The Watcher is a bad anthropologist, probably. At the least, he should invest in a cloaking device.

Anyway, Dormammu isn’t worried. Why, with the Evil Eye backing him up he can merely wave his hand and instantly K.O. the Defenders.

Alas.

Still, the Defenders have been trouncing the Avengers this whole crossover. Time for them to pull their own weight. Plus, the final part of this story is taking place in an Avengers book.

The Avengers are uncowed and shout that thing they love to shout and rush forward.

So Dormammu turns the ground into quicksand.

Because if you have power overwhelming, why not mess with your enemies. Its not like they can stop you, probably.

Except for Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, and Thor all the Avengers fall victim to the quicksand. 

Scarlet Witch wants Thor and Iron Man to try to pull the rest of the Avengers free but Swordsman tells her not to stop for them.

He’ll use the heat rays from his sword to fuse some solid islands out of this quicksand to give the bogged down Avengers something to hang onto.

... Okay. Not sure if that’s how quicksand works but whatever.

Iron Man, Thor, and Scarlet Witch run forward to confront Dormamu. Dormammu is okay with this. In fact, he likes the humanity of these superheroes. Makes them more fun to play with. In fact, they’re so human why not become all human.

And he vanishes Iron Man’s armor and turns Thor into Donald Blake.

Kind of weird that Scarlet Witch is still running around. Whats the deal?

She was born with her power. So she can’t be separated from it, at least not in the same way that affected the other two.

Of course, Wanda phrases this differently. And also says “You cannot stop me!” So 10/10 for confidence there.

So instead Dormammu attacks Scarlet Witch with a harmless little rain shower. NOT! Its a glue storm. And now she’s covered in glue.

Dormammu is being weirdly non-violent with his ways of stopping the Avengers.

I guess because its all a game to him. Although I fear its because he doesn’t want to break his new toys just yet.

But with all the Avengers incapacitated in one form or another, there’s nothing to stop Dormammu from winning in abouuuuuuuuuuuut... five minutes. Oh, sorry. Five of your Earth minutes. Dormammu minutes are presumably cooler.

But Loki has been waiting for an opportunity. Dormammu’s attention is fully taken up with gloating over the Avengers and not paying any to Loki in his mystic cage.

So Loki busts out one of his less used powers and transforms into an insect to fly between the bars of the cage. Relying on the sound cues of Dormammu’s ceaseless yammering, Loki grabs Dormammu from behind and tries to pry the Evil Eye away from him.

I wonder if he learned any good wrassling moves from growing up with Thor.

Now Scarlet Witch is the one who has been forgotten. Still pretty ensnared in goo, she takes the opportunity to unleash all of her stored power at the Evil Eye.

Because its thought-controlled. And from what I gather, usually has to be triggered by touch. But with the probability warping power of Scarlet Witch’s arbitrary mutant power, she causes the Evil Eye to trigger itself.

And the Evil Eye eats Dormammu. And, uh, sort of goes off right in Loki’s face.

Due to probabilities gone mad, the energy discharge fulfills Loki’s most fervent hope and restores his sight to him. It just... has a minor side effect of driving him totally insane.

With Dormammu defeated, the dimension merge is cancelled. The people unmonsterfy, the landscapes return to normal, and a confused Ben Grimm takes credit for fixing everything.

Back in the Dark Dimension, the Watcher congratulates the Avengers and Defenders and decides to explain some things.

Apparently Dormammu’s extra-dimensional form is composed of raw energy that is constantly on fire. This energy is generated by belief and worship of Dormammu, like with most mystic entities. So that’s how the Evil Eye ate him. It probably can’t eat anyone not made of energy. Probably.

But Dormammu will be back. And not even in the ‘this is comic books and he’s an iconic villain, of course he’ll be back’ sort of way. More in the “those who love sin will continue to call upon him -- and in time, their reverence will reshape him!”

Way to screw the rest of us over, all you sin lovers.

As for Loki. He had Dormammu’s energy blasted through his brain. And no brain from Earth’s dimension can cope with so much sorcerous force. His mind has broken under the strain, reverting him to the mentality of an infant.

I don’t know if ‘totally insane’ is in fact the right way to describe that?

And since the Watcher has been handing out free exposition like its going out of style, it would be nice if the Vision answered a question. Why did he panic instead of fly when Dormammu made the ground into quicksand?

Vision can’t answer the question because he doesn’t understand it himself. Yet another weird clue in some long mystery about the Vision.

But anyway. The day is saved thanks to the Scarlet Witch mostly. So Dr. Strange scoops up the Evil Eye.Time to go back to Earth and use it to fix Black Knight. Also he just up and erases everyone’s memory of seeing Iron Man and Thor’s civilian identity so they can reveal it when they choose.

WHICH IS NICE I GUESS BUT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICER IF DR. STRANGE HAD ASKED FIRST! He just erases everyone’s minds without a by your leave.

And he half-asses it too because Iron Man and Thor presumably still know each other’s identities since they found out independently.

I get that status quo is god and maybe the decision to have Iron Man and Thor’s identity be revealed should happen in their respective books but instead of having mind erase happen, just make it so nobody saw their faces? The Defenders were unconscious, the Avengers were mostly stuck in the mud. Really only Scarlet Witch would have seen and recognized them and she can be trusted with a secret.

Hell, that would be a good thing to follow up this story with. Thor and Iron Man having a quiet conversation with Scarlet Witch after this to formally entrust her with their secret identity.

Alas.

So that was the Avengers/Defenders War. The Avengers go on from this to have a Halloween adventure at the Rutland Halloween Parade. Remember last time they went to Rutland, straw feminism kicked their butts.

The Defenders go on to try to unstone Black Knight with the Evil Eye to mixed success. Its technically counted as the final part of the Avengers/Defenders War despite the war being over. Maybe I’ll cover it but basically the Defenders end up transported to the 12th century Crusades, discover the Black Knight living through the body of one of his ancestors, and have to stop Mordred from getting the Evil Eye. Prestor John ends up with the Evil Eye, implying a weird time loop. And Black Knight decides to stay in the past times so he can continue fighting in the Crusades and I guess eventually meets Exodus, Mysterious Overpowered X-Men Villain #71.

So. The Avengers/Defenders War. It was more of an Avengers/Defenders Scavenger Hunt. And the Avengers really underperformed until the end when Scarlet Witch grabbed the Quidditch and won the game for Earth.

I mentioned that it reminds me a lot of JLA/Avengers and I’ll go into that a little now. We have two teams clashing where the Avengers are way outmatched. We have them fighting over a number of arbitrary powerful items. We have the conflict being engineered by outside manipulators. We have all the arbitrary powerful items being taken away from the heroes once they’re gathered and used to make the world go screwy. And we have the two separate teams spending some time to get to know each other, decide that they’re not so bad, and then teaming up to kick a cosmic jerk in the face. And also, Hawkeye is a member of both the fighting teams.

These very broad points also correspond to JLA/Avengers.

Its probably a coincidence but I wonder if the Avengers/Defenders War was used as an inspiration for how to handle an extended crossover between two unmatched teams. JLA/Avengers was written by Kurt Busiek and he’s kind of a continuity buff.

I know that the ‘two superhero teams fight because villain pulling the strings’ thing has become a cliche but a hero vs hero story where the teams are able to just hang out and socialize and part on good terms feels good.

[moonlightfiction]

Chapter 11 - Part 4

This one was written on the train on my mobile but yes, it’s time to conclude chapter 11!

Start Here Previous Part

Just as Filian had said, the wind was still cold in this area of Gladisu. The sun wind still seemed to be so far away and anyone with a settlement would want to hide in their houses.

But this was in no way cold for Ina. Where she came from, this kind of weather was summer. It could still be a little bit warmer but that was so rare. She had learned long ago to use the cold to make her stronger.

It also made her movement much easier and quicker.

But she hadn’t even finished her question yet, when Frecker also started to move. With his shield up, he put himself between Falenyo and her.

The daggers clashed against the shield’s metal. Ina immediately jumped back. Her feet only touched the ground for a little moment. A swing from the sword forced her to jump back a second time. Frecker’s weapon grazed her lower arm slightly.

Before she could even feel the pain, the wound healed again. A slight, surprised frown appeared on the lady’s face. Did Falenyo not understand her position?

Another swing. Another retreat. This time, Ina’s jump brought her on one of the lower branches.

A deep gap was left behind on the ground from where the guardian lifted his sword again.

This fight had never been a joke at all. Not from the moment she had pulled her daggers with her mission in mind.

With the flexible branch, Ina launched her next attack.

Her opponent lifted his shield above his head.

As if she was so reckless to aim for a stake from above. She reached the trunk of a tree behind him and changed the direction. With a strong thrust she shot herself once more at Falenyo.

Don’t get distracted. Always focus on the target. Quick and clean. First the mission, then the witnesses.

Frecker’s audible gasp made her smile. He wouldn’t be fast enough. She could sever ties again. She could finish her mission and return home.

The delicate back was too defenseless. Why did you even try to heal me?

Ina could almost see how Falenyo’s ears twitched.

Instinct got the better of the little cleric. Little rabbits sure were fast. At least in the face of danger.

The best protectors were those who had the unconditional trust and help of their charge. Falenyo knew exactly what she had to do. She reached out to Frecker and jumped to him.

As he grabbed her hand to pull her to him, he put up his shield in front of her. The priestess was immediately out of reach. It was until then the guardian finally changed his stance. He was not only ready to protect anymore but also ready to kill the assailant at any time.

Ina couldn’t be bothered by it. Her gaze was fixed on the shield. What kind of face was Falenyo making right now? Was she trembling in fear or even in shock about the broken trust?

As Ina was staring at the shield, her eyes focused more on the ornaments. Such a beautiful piece of art. Nothing a simple guardian should be able to afford.

Frecker was simply staring back at her. But he didn’t move. He was waiting for her.

Yet her attention shifted. “Oh! That’s Mehen’s sigil!”

It was just for a little but the guardian lost his steadiness for an eye’s bat. He almost flinched back as if he was hit.

He didn’t do it but that small moment would still have been enough for Ina to harm his charge if she had really wanted to.

But she had found Frecker’s secret. Like that, she had had her training and the knowledge she was looking for. Hence, she started laughing and put her daggers away.

The uneasiness on his face amused her.

“Now I know why you are such a perfect guardian for our little priestess.” There was a slightly mocking tone in her voice. As she was still chuckling, she observed her opponent.

He was too unsteady now. Hesitation could be seen in the grip of his sword.

Of course, she knew his past. It was not an honorable one. In fact, it was remarkable that he still had kept his shield and hadn’t discarded it yet.

Frecker’s eyes weren’t meeting hers anymore. But he wasn’t staring at the ground, either. Instead, he was staring at the person behind his shield.

Was that pain in his eyes? Did the little girl he was protecting also understand what it meant to bear Mehen’s sigil? As a priestess, it was very likely. When the guardian pressed his lips on each other, it seemed like that.

“That was really interesting! You really know how to bring out Frecker’s serious side!” Filian’s sudden voice cut right through the tension.

He raised and walked to his companions. A slight smile was on his face. He touched the shield lightly as he got to them. A silent sign to get Frecker to relax and put the shield down. A diplomat.

Ina grinned as she noticed the stiff crinkles around Filian’s smile. He wasn’t happy about the uproar she had created. He just wouldn’t say it. A tactician in employment for a head of state would never walk around and make enemies so simply.

Unlike Ina who would take out anyone who just might become an enemy to her employer.

Those quiet waters who loved to scheme things behind everyone’s backs were truly an annoying bunch. If Filian still had had his familiars, he would have been the next she would fool around with.

But right now, he was too boring and so she just returned the warm yet distant smile. They surely were never going to be friends. Just like her and Frecker.

The guardian hadn’t relaxed at all. His shield was still up and he held Falenyo close. He had every reason to be suspicious after all. Ina had just tried to kill his charge.

But as Filian was also on the ground now, she couldn’t try anything funny anymore. Surely the tactician hadn’t been stepping between them just for fun. Ina still hadn’t had the chance to see how strong the young man was without his familiars. There was no way she would launch an attack like that.

Thus, she just brought back her most energetic smile and asked, “Now, shall we continue? The griffons have rested enough by now, haven’t they?”

She peeked at the beasts that were just giving her a condescending look. No, she couldn’t bring herself to like those, either.

At least, there was the little innocent one named Falenyo. Her voice sounded strange from behind the shield but the excitement was clear. “Yes, let’s keep going! We have to meet the Grand Duke as soon as possible!”

Frecker looked down at his charge and sighed. He was still keeping his shield up but soon the cleric pried her way out of his protection.

The smile on her lips was as vibrant as ever.

Seeing that, Ina couldn’t resist the urge. Within a few steps, she was next to Falenyo.

“Aaaw! You’re just too cute!” she squeaked and hugged the little girl tightly. One hand rubbed the back while the other tousled the carmine hair.

A shriek was heard from Falenyo, “Ina, stop it!”

But Ina wouldn’t as she noticed how tensed up the girl was. Obviously, the priestess had been taken by surprise. And as her eyes wandered up, her smile grew wider while Falenyo stiffened.

As much as Frecker had as he wasn’t trying to get Ina away from his charge.

There has always been a reason why the priestess would hold her head when she was surprised. But this time Ina didn’t allow her to do that by hugging her.

As the lady had suspected, now two bunny ears were sprouting from the little girl’s head.

An audible gasp came from their two male companions. Especially Frecker’s expression was a shocked one.

The guardian, who had always been wearing a stoic face, stared at his charge in unbelief now. Paired with the completely frozen Falenyo, Ina burst out in laughter.

“Yes, you are definitely too cute! There was no reason to hide these fluffy ears at all!”

She reached out her hand to touch the white fur. Before she could touch the cleric, her ears caught a sizzle.

She quickly jumped back.

An arrow pierced into the ground where she had just been standing.

A second arrow followed.

Then a third.

Ina jumped back a few more times.

Frecker had immediately positioned himself in front of Falenyo.

Filian reacted as quick as the others. Within a few tugs he had freed the griffons and shouted, “On the mounts!”

The guardian turned around and lifted his charge to put her on one as the others also started to climb the beasts.

But by that time, a few arrows had already grazed the animals’ wings, keeping them from taking flight.

As two strangers emerged from behind the trees, Frecker kept the cleric behind him while taking a battle stance. Ina and Filian followed his example.

There was a young woman with brass knuckles on her hands was examining them curiously. Next to her was a man, readying the next arrow on his bow. On his head were two cat ears, on his back a black tail whipping furiously.

As he carefully took aim, he looked at Ina and warned solemnly, “Don’t you dare hurting a priestess of Light.”

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