#like see in one scenario i can leave the dad alive and have Veronica go back to him at the end

[caffeiiine]

ykwhat i am choosing to just never fill plotholes again. everything is plot armor from now on.

[vmheadquarters]

We’re going to play a game of written hot potato! Dozens of your favorite authors will take turns telling this story. Each writer will craft a chapter (with no prior planning) and then “toss” the story to the next person to continue the tale. No one knows what will happen, so expect the unexpected! Follow the “vmhq presents” and “murder we wrote” tags for all the installments, or read the story as it develops on AO3. — Chapter Three of MURDER, WE WROTE is written by @saoirsekonstantin​

And stayed tuned next week for Ch.4 from @chikabiddy​ -tag, you’re it!

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CHAPTER THREE by @saoirsekonstantin​

The sleet changed over to lacy flakes of fluffy snow that drifted from the sky, further covering everything in a thick blanket of white as far as the eye could see, while the owl flew overhead.  It did a cautious circuit over the house before deciding it wasn’t safe there anymore.  Flying to the left, it grew tinier in the stormy night sky until it moved out of sight, but Veronica didn’t notice; instead she raced around the back of the house toward Gia’s scream.

Logan and Wallace ran right beside her through a foot of snow, and all three came to a screeching halt when the light of their flashlights found a male body covered, in part, by snow.  Blood stained the snow surrounding him, turning it a muted maroon color.  A tree branch almost as long as Logan’s arm protruded from the man’s chest.

Tucked between two fingers, and sticking up out of the cup of his palm, was a photo of two men being intimate.  It reminded her of the image she’d seen of ‘Joe the Boss’ Masseria with the playing card in his hand, in her favorite vintage crime scene photo.  An overzealous crime scene photographer staged the infamous picture of him lying dead on the floor of a Coney Island restaurant, with the blood-spattered Ace of Spades posed resting between two fingers of his bloody hand.

She suspected a similar, if not more sinister, scenario here.  There was no way a body that big had fallen without the impact dislodging whatever was in his hand.  Despite the ever-deepening snow surrounding the body, from her spot a few feet away she saw cuts and abrasions on his hands, implying he fought back; so that would make him holding onto a photo even less likely.

About five yards straight ahead, past a few longer tufts of dead grass breaking through the snow, the red soles and three-inch heels of Gia’s ‘cute’ but useless boots stuck out of a shadowy snow bank.

Veronica stepped over to the snow-covered male body and crouched down.  After removing her glove with her teeth again, she brought her fingers to the man’s wrist, which was protruding out of the snow.  While trying in vain to find a pulse, she took a deep inhale of the crisp, snow-filled air and called out, “Gia, Can you hear me?  Are you okay?”

The gusting wind caused the branches of a nearby tree to shift, and snow cascaded down on both bodies. Gia gave no response to her voice, or to the heavy snow falling onto her.

Veronica glanced up at Logan and Wallace when she still found no pulse on the guy, she shook her head before rising and stepping around the body.

Her foot hit a slick spot, and she slipped, almost falling—except Logan was right beside her, and reached out, grabbing her. “I got you.”

With a soft up tilt of her lips she admitted, “You always do.”

He grinned at her.  “For better or for worse, I always will.”

She glanced away, and they resumed taking cautious steps towards Gia.  They reached her lying in the snowbank and discovered that when she fell, her face had turned just enough to keep her from suffocating.  Veronica reached towards her, and Logan helped her roll Gia over.  With Gia’s eyes closed and the lack of worry lines, she could have been fast asleep.

Veronica watched while Wallace reached down and touched Gia’s wrist.  She crossed her fingers and offered a prayer to whoever would listen, ‘Please let her be alive,’ while waiting for him to say Gia had a pulse beating against his fingers.

He let out a heavy gust of air.  “She’s alive.”  He leaned down and peered at her chest.  “And she’s breathing.”

Veronica gave a single jerk of her head.  “Good, now let’s look at the dead body real quick. Take a few pictures before getting Gia out of the cold.”

Logan held out his arm for Veronica, who grabbed hold of it before taking the few steps back to the body.  She took out her phone, and snapped pictures from every angle of everything she thought the police might want, even zooming in on the branch sticking out of the dead guy’s chest and the photo in his hand.

She took a deep breath of the crisp night air and furrowed her brows, uncertain whether the metallic tang in her mouth was from the snow in the air or the blood on the ground.

When she took the last photo, she leaned in closer to the guy’s snow-covered face.  After hoping the police would forgive her for touching the body, she brushed the snow from his face before gasping.  “Crap! Logan, it’s Norris Clayton.”

Dick and company chose that moment to come clamoring over through the snow drifts.  “We heard a scream.  Who’d you kill now, Ms. Black Widow?  Shit! I was kidding but isn’t that the guy who had a crush on you in school?  See, Logan, I was right.  She’s a spider waiting to eat you alive when you let your guard down.”  He affected a high-pitched voice. “Come into my parlor, so I can devour you.”

With a frown, she shook her head, ignoring Dick. “Dad said, Norris is a Deputy Sheriff now; so we’ve got a dead Deputy and a dead P.I. who used to be a deputy.”

Dick wandered over, trudging through the foot of deep snow, and after leaning closer to the body he grabbed the photo.  “Hey, what’s this?”

Veronica reached for it, but it was too late, Dick was already getting his wet fingers all over it.

Dick cackled.  “Dude, Luke, what the hell?  You prefer dudes over chicks?”

Luke snatched the photo out of Dick’s hand, and without more than a quick glance at it, moved to tear it in half; but Veronica swiped it out of his grasp.  “I don’t care who you like or what gender you prefer.  However, I also don’t care how embarrassing you find a piece of evidence, or how much you want to keep something a secret.  You destroy evidence and I’ll make sure the authorities hear about it; and you’ll need to explain publicly why you tore up a photo of you and Conner Larkin in flagrante, which I can describe with perfect clarity. And now everyone here knows it, so think twice before you go touching my evidence again.”

While she pocketed the picture for safekeeping and took her taser out of her messenger bag, Luke scowled. “Your evidence? Listen here, you little know-it-all bit—”

Logan interrupted. “I’d watch what you say if I were you and show a little respect.”

With a raised eyebrow, Luke asked, “Why, you going to beat me up?”

Logan, chuckled, and shook his head.  “Won’t have to.  She’ll splay you out in the snow with a jolt from Mr. Sparky, which is already in her hand.”  She waved her taser at him with a smirk, while Logan continued. “Make no mistake, I might make a habit of jumping in and protecting Veronica, but she can take care of herself, especially against the likes of a pretty, pampered, rich boy like you.”

Luke scoffed.  “Oh, like you’re not just as pampered and rich as I am?”

With a low, bitter laugh, Logan said, “I’ve got way more money than you could ever hope to have, but no one ever pampered me. Daddy Dearest made sure of that.  I can take care of myself.”

Veronica smirked.  “You’re also prettier than he is by a long shot.  Those arms, hubba-hubba.”

Logan laughed. “Why, Mars, are you objectifying me?”

She smirked but didn’t answer. Dick leaned over Gia’s prone form, and while he glared, asked, “So, did you kill Gia, too?”

Veronica crossed her arms over her chest.  “I didn’t kill anyone, and Gia’s still alive. Which brings us to the matter at hand; which of you strong strapping men will carry Gia into the caretaker’s house?”

Cole took a step back. “Not me. Can’t we just leave her here until she wakes up?”

Veronica rolled her eyes and articulated each syllable with crisp clarity. “And not only leave her unprotected, but let her die of hypothermia instead?”

Logan took a step forward. “I’ll do it.”

With a shake of her head, Veronica said, “No, you and Wallace are at my back and sides since you’re the only ones I’m certain aren’t killing people.  It’s got to be someone else who carries her, or…”

She marched back over to Gia, slipping, and landing in Logan’s arms.  While he righted her, she said, “See, I need you watching my six.”

He chuckled and helped her over to Gia. She leaned down and slapped Gia a few times, with increasing force.  “Come on Gia, nobody has time for you to be lying around while bodies are dropping like it’s going out of style.”

On the fourth slap, Gia moaned.  “Ugh, stop already.  I told you, Veronica Mars, they do not make these boots for hiking through snow.  What’d I trip over, anyway?  I would have been fine, but I hit ice.”

Dick leaned closer.  “Another of Ronnie’s victims… sorry, boy-toys. Norris somebody.”

Veronica stood back up and faced Dick.  “He and I hardly knew each other.  I cleared his name when a dirty ATF agent tried to frame him, but I spent all of an hour talking to him in my time in Neptune. And I didn’t kill anyone.”

With a smirk, Dick crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her. “And I didn’t say you did.  I said he was another victim of yours, as in you broke his heart, just like that Leo guy and Piz, and Troy, and Logan.”  Wagging a finger at her, he said, “If you get my boy killed, I’m gonna be pissed. You already got my dad and my brother killed.  Logan dies because of you and I’m gonna go ninja on you.”

When she began raising her arm with Mr. Sparky in it, Logan grabbed it. “Don’t, he’s not worth the trouble of explaining why you tasered him after this is all over.  And if you taser him now, we’ll have someone much heavier to carry than Gia, since he won’t be able to walk.  And to make matters worse, he’d play that card for as long as possible.”

He turned and faced Dick, eyes hard, his voice steel. “And for the record Dick, I’m tired of you always blaming Veronica for every little thing that goes wrong in your life.  Your dad was a crook who died in prison, because even at rock bottom, he couldn’t dial back the elitist bullshit.  And your brother was a rapist and murderer, who took a stroll off the roof of a building all on his own because he was too much of a coward to face the consequences of his own actions.  Both were their own people, who made their own choices and paid the price for them.  Veronica had nothing to do with either of their deaths, even if Cassidy twisted the knife a little deeper by forcing Veronica and I to bear witness to his end.”

Dick took two steps closer to Logan and snarled. “But if she had minded her own business, no one would have figured out what Dad was doing. And Cassidy was a victim, too.”

Logan shook his head. “They would have figured it out; only he would have had time to add even more victims to his list of innocents, who lost their life savings because of him.  Kendall was talking to the authorities.  And Veronica was Cassidy’s victim, not the other way around. Yes, he was Woody’s victim; however, you don’t see me or Veronica using our status as the victims of grown men misbehaving as an excuse to blow up a bus full of kids, do you?  Your brother may have still been a kid, but he made grownup decisions and hurt people.”

Dick threw up his hands and stomped off through the ever-deepening snow, while calling over his shoulder, “Whatever, dude. When you become another casualty of hers, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  The surrounding snow dampened his voice and it faded on the increasing wind with his every step away from the group.

Logan took a step towards him, but stopped and glanced at everyone who was staring between him and Dick’s retreating form. “I’ll let him cool off.”

Gia pouted. “Did you have to bring up my dad?”

He shook his head.  “Just stating the facts.  What your dad did wasn’t your fault, but I’m not going to pussy-foot around the fact he took advantage of and hurt innocent kids for his own pleasure. I’m hoping he and my dad are roasting in hell together.”

Veronica took his hand in hers and squeezed.  “If there’s any justice they are.  Now, we need to look inside the caretaker’s home. There might be a phone, or something else that might prove useful.”

Susan frowned, her arms akimbo.  “And how are we going to do that?  We checked, both doors are locked.”

With a smirk, Veronica rifled through her messenger bag and pulled out her lock-picking kit.  “Do you think a locked door has ever stopped me?”

Logan chuckled. “I know for a fact that not even an armed security system has stopped you.  Though I still maintain you just wanted to see me in nothing but a towel.”

She batted her lashes at him and brought her free hand up to her chest. “Moi?”

He nodded, and she tilted her head and gave him a once-over before returning the nod. “With those arms, the way they are now? I might pay good money for that, just to see what else has improved with time.”

He gave her his patented smirk and said in a sing-song voice, “You think I’m hot.”

She giggled before slapping her hand over her mouth, and saying though her fingers, “That never happened.”  He smirked but didn't contradict her, so after lowering her hand, she eyed him again. “And you know how good you look, with or without clothes.”

Wallace scowled.  “Hey, you think the two of you can stop flirting long enough to figure out a way off of this death trap of an island?  I may not have been the next victim, but statistically, as the only Black man here, my number is coming.”

She grinned.  “Don’t worry, Papa Bear, I’m not letting you or Logan out of my sight, so neither of you will shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon.”

After turning, she led them back through the snow drifts to the front door of the caretaker’s house; and after handing her flashlight to Wallace he pointed it at the lock, while she took off her gloves and went to work unlocking the door.

Within a minute she pushed the door open and took back her light before stepping through the doorway. She turned and flashed the light on the wall by the door.  “Dammit.  Nobody touch anything.  I think there is blood by the light switch.”

With a shaky hand tucked inside her jacket sleeve to keep both the blood from her hand and her prints from the bloody light switch, she reached out flipped it on, confirming her suspicions.  Blood smears covered the wall, as if someone had dragged a bloody hand along the wall while trying to support him or herself.

After turning and facing the rest of the room, she narrowed her eyes and picked her way through the wreckage of overturned furniture and living-room debris, including a smashed flower vase with the wilting flowers covered by the shards of blue glass and several magazines thrown into the air, and allowed to land where they would.  She reached the satellite phone on one of the few upright pieces of furniture beside the couch in the room.  She pushed the on button but nothing happened.  After picking it up, she turned it over. “Everyone keep your eyes out for the battery.”

Wallace used his boot to move some magazines. “Like the one over here smashed to smithereens?”

She skirted around the large triple blood pools on the floor.  One of them had drag marks leading up the staircase.  For the time being she ignored that and leaned closer to the shattered rechargeable battery on the floor.  “Yeah, like that.”

Logan stood inside the door. “Is it just me, or is there one blood pool too many for the number of bodies we have?  And what can I do to stop you from following the trail of blood up the stairs?”

Her lips turned up at the corners.  “Not a thing.  I will turn over every stone, look through every closet,”  She picked her way around the room, her eyes scanning everything while she continued talking. “And, hello, rifle through every backpack hiding in plain view behind an overturned chair.  I won’t miss any clues if I can help it.  Your life and Wallace’s may depend on it.  And I’ll be damned if I get either of you hurt.”

Logan dropped his voice an octave, to that tender voice he reserved for Veronica.  “You know, you don’t have to save everybody.”

With a shake of her head, she said, “Not trying to save everybody, just those who matter to me, those I love and would be nothing without.  Those who are the air that keeps me breathing.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, straightening up. “Are we doing this now?”

She gave him a shrug while she crouched and unzipped the backpack. “It’s as good a time as any, and I need you to know I still need you and I miss you.  I—I still love you, always have.  Even if you don’t take me back, I need to say it to your face at least once.  You deserve that much from me, after everything I’ve put you through.  I need to pull on my big-girl panties and admit, to your face, that you’re the only man I’ve ever truly loved; and the only one who not only gets me, but has always supported me, even when you thought I was being stupid and reckless.”

He shifted on his feet and took a step closer to her.  “What changed?  You’ve never admitted to any of this before, not in so many words, at least.”

She flashed the light into the bag, and after making brief eye contact with him, glanced into the backpack. “Life without you in it sucks. I hate it and want to go back to the world I had where you were always there.  And I’m tired of fighting my feelings; somewhere along the way, I realized that the fact you scared me with all your feelings meant I felt something worth experiencing.  Living safe is boring and never taking emotional risks makes me stagnant.  If I can take risks in every other aspect of my life, why shouldn’t I be just as brave in this instance and take the one risk that matters most?  If I’m right, and my life is a shallow empty shell without you in it, imagine what my—our—lives, together, can be... if I grow up, and act like a mature grown adult who isn’t too scared to commit, or even say I love you.”  She made eye contact again. “I do, ya know?  I love you so much.”  After glancing back at the almost empty bag, she continued, “It hurts when we’re apart, and that’s what scared me.  That you’re so vital to my happiness.  Sue says,—”

“Wait, who’s Sue?”

With heat rising in her cheeks she ducked her head. “Sue is my therapist.  Anyway, she said my fear of feeling emotions so much is a product of everything that happened to me—to us—and it amazes me you went the other way and feel so much.  But I want to experience that.  I want to be free of all the baggage, and I want to be free with you if you’ll have me.”

He stood there staring at her for a solid minute, his eyes flickering over every inch of her face, as if memorizing each curve. Then with a smirk he put her out of her misery.  “I’m not saying no, but how do you plan to work around the fact you go to Stanford while I go to Hearst?  What about the distance?”

Veronica shrugged, her gaze staying down, but her voice lowered.  “Wallace already drives up every weekend, so it’s a doable weekend trip.  We could switch off weekends, back and forth.  Or if that doesn’t work, you could transfer or I could transfer, either is a possibility.”

Without waiting a beat, he shook his head. “Stanford is your dream.  You always wanted to go there.  You’re not allowed to transfer because of me now that you’re there.”

Her lips turned up a little.  “I will ignore that ‘allowed’ part, because I’m sure you don't mean it in a controlling or bad way, and I don't want to start a fight over something so petty as a word.  But, for the record, I would.  I would switch out of my dream school, if it meant being with you for the rest of my life. I would give up Stanford and anything else that might get in the way.  You shouldn’t be the only one in this relationship making sacrifices and personal changes to compromise and make this work.”

She finished that statement by taking two ID’s out of the bag and standing.  “I choose you, Logan, now and always if you’ll have me.  And I choose to be your partner in this, a fifty-fifty–”  She paused. “No that's not right.  I want a one hundred-one hundred partnership.  No more lopsided relationship where you put in all the effort and make all the compromises, with me just taking from you without reciprocating.”

He took the five steps to her and pulled her into his arms before crushing his lips to hers.  They stayed like that until he pulled back, gasping for air. “I got into San Jose State University  It’s half an hour away from Stanford.”

She beamed before her lips turned down.  “Why did you apply to transfer there?”

With a smirk he said, “You’re not the only one who felt empty and stagnant.  I was hoping to convince you to give us a try one more time.  Our story is epic…”

She giggled again.  “Spanning years and continents.  Lives ruined, bloodshed…”

“Epic.”

Her eyes darted to the pools of blood. “Well, we’ve got bloodshed, and lives ruined in spades today; and, now, I’m even more determined to get you and Wallace out of here in one piece.  We’ve got a future to work on, together.”

He leaned in and gave her a tender kiss, and they stood there amid the destroyed living room, enjoying being on the same page, before a scream ripped through the small house.  They pulled apart and took each other’s hand before turning towards the scream.

Wallace smiled at them.  “I hope it works out for you guys.  You suck apart, both of you bellyaching about not being with the other. Do a brother a favor and stay together, so I can focus on my love life instead of yours.”

They laughed before the three of them climbed the stairs, stepping on the edges of the steps to avoid trekking through the bloody drag marks.  When they reached the top, everyone else clustered around a doorway. The girls all cried, clinging to each other, and Cole and Luke both bent over and threw up in the hallway.

The three friends pushed their way through the crowded hall and entered the bedroom before looking around the room; bed against the wall, a desk in the corner, bureau standing against the wall the door was in.  It appeared normal, except for the bloody drag marks leading to the only other door in the room.

Veronica let go of Logan’s hand, strode to it, and opened it, before staggering back and slamming her hand over her mouth.  After fighting her own gag reflex for a minute, she said, “Duncan!  What the hell?”

She turned towards Logan, blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay.  The last thing she wanted was to shed tears in front of the other oh-niners.  She’d save them and share them with Logan, the other remaining member of the Fab Four, later.  For now, she said, “Maybe I am the Black Widow.  Perhaps Dick is right for the first time in history and you should get as far away from me as you can.”

Duncan Kane’s bloodied face and lifeless eyes stared out of the closet at them.  With quick steps, Logan moved behind her and gathered her into his arms, holding her tight. “Not a chance, Bobcat, wild horses won’t drag me from you now.”

Her lips turned upward before she glanced at the two IDs still in her hand and she lost her smile after she did a double take. She pulled back from Logan enough to hand them to him, but still stay in the circle of his arms, before asking, “Recognize these two jokers with a penchant for hurting people?”

He took the cards with one hand, the other holding her to him tighter and stared at them.  “Who are Adam Rodriguez and Peter Hanson?”

After shaking her head, she said, “No idea who the names belong to but look at the pictures.  Their names aren’t Adam and Peter.”

He peered at the top card. “Dylan, Dylan Goran, the ass who hurt Trina and got a beat-down from Dear Ole Dad.”

She inclined her head, so he shuffled the cards so the second one was on top and sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Gory Sorokin.  Crap!  What are these doing on this island, out in the middle of nowhere?  You don’t suppose the assholes are here, do you?”

She took the cards back from him and examined them, even holding them up to the light.  “These are top quality fake IDs, Logan.  They paid good money for these.  If these cards are here, I’d bet my college scholarship and your trust fund that Dylan and Gory are here somewhere, too—lurking in the shadows, and possibly killing people associated with me or both of us.  Remember, Leo first stole and then sold you Lilly’s sex tapes, and while not directly connected to Clayton, you led ‘the torment Veronica’ campaign at school that he tried to intervene in, or you could even get to him through the ATF agent. You gave Ben a beat-down while he was setting Clayton up for terrorism.  And Duncan, he was your ex-best friend and while he was also my ex-boyfriend, Sue showed me that what he did was rape.”

She took a deep breath and released it even while she gripped his arm tight.  “He raped me. Somehow, I made what he did okay in my mind, because I couldn't face the fact that my former best friend hurt me like that.  And then—then I dated him. Logan—I'm so sorry that I fell for his good boy, perfect choir boy routine.  I'm so sorry I ran from you and my feelings for you.”

He pulled her back into his arms. “I forgave you for that a long time ago.”

She sniffled into his chest before pulling back. “Thank you.  I’m not sure I deserve that but thank you.”

He kissed the tip of her nose.  “I’m not sweeping it under the rug or forgetting about it.  However, I’m seeing a therapist too, Jane.  We’ve been working together on my forgiving those who have hurt me and myself, too.  So, I forgive you, because I believe you’re sorry, and Jane has helped me see how much you’ve been hurting, how confused you must have been trying to deal with everything that happened to you, including me turning the school against you.”

He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I’m sorry for that, and, now, you’re sorry for the things you did in our relationship, too.  Jane taught me that holding onto that hurt and anger will only hurt us both.  So I propose we both work on letting go of the pain and rage and heal together.  You and I have always been better together.  The problems between us always crop up when one of us forgets that and I want us to work this time 'Ronica.  It won't always be easy, but you're it for me, my one true love, and I'm willing to work for us if you are.”

She fell into him more and, damn the consequences, she sobbed all over him even with the oh-niners looking on.

A few minutes later that seemed like a lifetime, a weight lifted off her shoulders and she straightened, and kissed his chin, before she pulled back, straightening her shirt.  “Thank you.  We’ll talk later about all this when we don’t have more pressing matters to deal with… like bodies piling up.”

With another glance at Duncan’s body, she said, “So, Duncan’s connected to both of us, too.  Clayton is, I admit, a stretch, but the other two aren’t and if we include Troy and Piz, we’re both connected to them as well.  Troy dated me and stole the steroids after visiting Mexico with you and Luke, and you gave Piz a beat-down when you understandably thought it was him who recorded and distributed the video of him and me making out.”

The door downstairs creaked while it opened before it slammed shut and Veronica did a head count. Everyone but Dick was in the hallway; she waited a moment for him to come upstairs, but he never did.  She gave a heavy sigh.  “We need to go see who came in.”

Logan’s eyebrow rose.  “You don’t think it’s Dick?”

With a shake of her head, she said, “Wouldn’t he already be up here mouthing off?”

“Crap, you make a fair point.”

She turned in his arms and hugged him before pulling back.  “This time we all need to stay together for real,” she said, before leading the group back down the stairs.

[iamnotbrianmay]

"where are you taking me" with whoever you want! just make it sad!

This is a sort of sad one folks.... tw: mentions of natural death (past) 

Brian jumped into the car without hesitation once John told him that he was going to visit his father and that he wanted Brian to meet him. They had been dating for nearly six months, and it felt like a big step to meet this allusive father of his. He had just met John's mother a few nights before, and judging by the fact that there were no pictures of John's father anywhere around the house, Brian had guessed they were divorced. 

Sex and band practice had gotten in the middle of him asking John what had happened between his parents, and now that he was in a car in the middle of a country road he couldn't help but think that maybe he should have done that first. 

He watched as the trees past by and took in the beautiful scenery as he tried to formulate the correct way to ask the question in his head. He had never really heard anything about John's father before, and he couldn't deny that going in blank was a terrible idea. 

"How should I call your dad?" 

For a second John turns to look at him with a quizzical look, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, should I call him sir, or by his name, or is he one of those people that has strict rules about how people should call him?" 

There is a second in which John looks like a deer caught in headlights, then he sighs, "Just by his name will be alright, he hates it when people call him sir. He says it makes him sound old." 

"Do you think he will like me?" Brian starts to fidget with the cuffs of his shirt, nervous about meeting John's parents for the second time this week. 

John, gives him a sad little smile, "Yeah, I think he will love you." 

There is a tenseness in the air that he hadn't felt before, and Brian decides that maybe John is just as nervous, so he leaves the topic alone for now. He tries and fails miserably to try to calm his nerves, but John's cryptic answers have him on edge. Maybe John's dad is terribly ill? Or perhaps he is homophobic, and John will introduce him as just a friend, and he is nervous about being caught in the act by his father.

He doesn't really know what to expect apart from the fact that he wants to be called Arthur and not sir. At least he has that, and he won't make a fool out of himself in that aspect. 

He misses the rest of the ride as his brain makes up a thousand different scenarios of how things will transpire with John's dad, and nearly misses when they pull up into a cemetery.

The turn of events shock him enough to make his usually sharp brain ask possibly the stupidest question ever, "Where are you taking me?" 

John doesn't dignify that question with an answer, and instead parks the car in one of the many lots, before turning to look at Brian, "To meet my dad." 

They buy white roses before entering the cemetery grounds, and Brian trails after John lost as to what to do or say now that it's obvious what is happening. He feels immensely shitty now for not asking him about his dad beforehand, even more so now that he is in a cemetery dressed in a colourful t-shirt and white bell-bottomed pants. Brian wants the earth to swallow him whole. 

They come to a stop in front of a well-kept stone, adorned with flowers of all kinds, chocolates, small gifts and even a book. Said book looks to be in bad shape, probably from the rain and exposure to sunlight, so John reaches over and grabs it before taking another book from his coat pocket. 

Brian should have known something was up when John showed up to his house, dressed entirely in black, but he had never expected this. 

Once the flowers and the book has all been set, and the small cobwebs which had started to build upon the grave were pushed aside, John kneeled in front of it and lowered his head. His long brown hair was falling down the sides of his face, covering it completely, and Brian didn't know if it would be prudent to tuck it behind his ears. 

"Hello, dad," he whispered, loud enough for Brian to her if he strained his ears enough, "I'm sorry I haven't been around as much recently, but I've started a band, and it has sort of taken all of my spare time." 

Brian waited for a few seconds, terrified of making a wrong move of somehow offending John. He would not like to do any of those things, so he just waited for his boyfriend to resume talking. 

"Mom and Julie have been great this past few months. But you already knew that, didn't you? Julie came down here a few weeks ago. I hope you liked the read." 

He could start to see John's strong facade crumbling. His voice was beginning to crack, and his words were becoming mumbled, even more so than they had been before. Still, he continued talking with his dad. 

Brian was not exactly a religious person, but at that moment, he hoped that Arthur Deacon was listening to the man talking to him. Then the part in which John introduced him came, and Brian felt dizzy with nervousness. It was weird, knowing that his father's boyfriend was not alive but still being deadly afraid of what the man might think about him, it was driving Brian mad. 

"I came here to say that—" John cleared his throat, "I told mom and Clare about our little secret. They were surprised, but nothing bad happened, just like you said it wouldn't all of those years ago. I'm sorry I didn't believe you, but I definitely am not sorry that I told you back then. Especially because now I get to introduce you to my boyfriend and I know that you would love him. I don't know what I would do if that were uncertain, I'd probably wouldn't even have a boyfriend in the first place. So thank you."

John turned back to Brian and extended his hand towards him. Brian gladly took it and crouched right beside John. He certainly wasn't going to talk to John's father, mainly because he didn't know what to say, but he would be there for him is John wanted him to be there. 

"This is Brian May. He is that respectable kind of man that you talked about me having as a boyfriend when I came out to you. He is an astrophysicist and currently working on his PhD, he is the guitarist of my band, and quite probably the love of my life." 

Brian turned to look at John at that moment, eyes wide in surprise. It's not that they hadn't declared their undying love for each other before, but listening to John saying it like it was the most natural, and obvious, thing in the world made something inside Brian curl up in happiness. It might have also had something to do with the fact that he was saying it in front of one of the most important people in his life. 

"Now dad, I know you will never be able to threaten my boyfriend or walk me down the aisle as we had talked, but I hope that wherever you are, you can see me be the happiest man on the planet." 

Brian didn't notice when he had started crying, only that when he reached over to scratch his cheek, his hand came away wet. He looked at John, who in turn looked at him like he had hung the moon and the stars. It made his heart beat a thousand miles an hour, and something inside him unfurl to make room for the tremendous about of love that he felt for John at that moment. He turned back towards the grave, "Don't worry, Arthur. I will make sure to take care of your boy." 

He couldn't say much of anything else. It felt out of place to talk with his boyfriend's dead father, even if John had brought him here to meet the man. However, John didn't seem insulted by it in the slightest. Probably very aware of the fact that talking to the dead wasn't everyone's cup of tea. 

***

The morning after John had taken Brian to meet his dad, he felt a sort of weight lift of his shoulders. He had woken up the next morning feeling more refreshed than he had ever since he had started playing music with the boys, and it showed in the way that for the first time in what seemed like forever he hadn't felt like death by waking up before twelve. 

He wiggled out of Brian's embrace and walked out into the kitchen to find it alone. It wasn't uncommon, even less because it was Saturday at eight in the morning, but John still felt like the house was abnormally quiet. He made quick work of preparing his coffee and making breakfast for himself before taking it all to their, barely there, balcony to have breakfast in peace. He watched cars pass, people walk their dogs or jog down the street, and parents taking their children to school, as he slowly ate his scrambled eggs and enjoyed the morning breeze. 

For a second, he just wished that Brian was here to share this moment with him, just like he had been there with John yesterday when they had visited his father's grave. It wasn't often he let himself speak with the man more than a few words, he hated crying alone in the middle of a cemetery, but with Brian it had been different, it had felt different. Almost as if his dad was there to share the moment with them rather than John talking to a piece of stone and being painfully aware that he would never be there for him again. 

The door to the balcony opened, and Brian came out rubbing his eyes and looking for John like bugs to a lamp. The younger man instantly slid his chair back and let Brian curl on his lap like a cat, arms around his neck, head tucked into the crook of his neck and legs curled around his waist. John melted into the embrace, playing with Brian's hair as the older man willed his body and mind to wake up fully. 

"I missed you in bed," the statement was punctuated with a small kiss on the crook of his neck. 

John hugged Brian closer to him, "Sorry, I got restless." 

"'s okay," he said, "as long as you are okay." 

John chuckled at his boyfriend's sleeping response and made sure to hug him closer. Yesterday he had realised that he never had, in his 23 years of being alive and numerous relationships, been so sure about something like he was sure about Brian. Not even when he thought he was going to marry Veronica. 

"Mmm, John?" 

He pressed a kiss to Brian's shoulder, "Yes?" 

"Thank you for taking me to meet your dad yesterday. It meant a lot." 

He felt something in his heart settle in place; like a hole finally being filled or a crooked piece being put back where it belonged. It was both a wonderful feeling and somewhat painful but confirmed with crystal clear clarity about what he felt for Brian. 

"No, thank you for going with me. It meant the world."

They stayed like that for a few hours more, clinging to each other like koalas. John was even sure that Brian had fallen asleep at one point or another, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Not when he was so sure this was the love of his life.

[arinaco]

The Heroine’s Journey of Lance or The child who drowned in pursuit of a dream.

Warning: Plance

Edited by https://twitter.com/Nadezhda932

Yes, you heard right. The topic sounds the way it sounds, and if you’re confused by the fact that Lance was called the "heroine", I hasten to reassure you. The Heroine’s Journey is in no way connected with the gender of the protagonist, "she" can be both a man and a woman. This expression was accepted, because in the stories of the old times mostly women were sent to such journeys, since men suffering from mental anguish considered not manly enough. Men were usually sent to Hero's Journey, and for a better understanding of the situation I'll spend a little of your time to explain the difference.

The Hero's Journey is a literal journey where the hero is forced to leave his home - a comfort zone - so that he grows up and matures under the influence of literal trials. He must also perform a feat and receive a reward for this feat. Kill the dragon and get the princess (a sword / horse / medicine for a sick mother etc.), as a symbol of the fact that the hero won and received what he set off for.

The Heroine's Journey is a story of spiritual experiences when, under the influence of external factors, a person loses an important part of his personality, and he needs to find himself again - to restore his spiritual balance. Growing up is achieved through rethinking oneself, through finding one's place in this world and through casting away false beliefs that prevent the hero from becoming happy. Moreover, the Heroine's Journey may not have a feat, but the reward is and is always deceiving - having received the reward for his struggle, the hero suddenly realizes that this is not what he wanted. He's disappointed - he put so much effort into achieving the goal, and now realizes that all this time he was wasting himself in vain.

And I can’t help but recall the indignation of some of Lance’s fans that they didn’t let him complete the feat. He learned to wield a sword, and he wasn;t even allowed to demonstrate his skills, for example, in a duel with Lotor, like an Easter egg on an old series (those who watched the old series laughed at this statement, but this is not about that). And some of the men experienced cognitive dissonance - if the hero received the princess, then where is the dead dragon? Zarkon was killed by Lotor. Sendak was defeated by Keith and Shiro. Honevra, in fact, left undefeated. Lance... turned out to be the thief from the game in S6. A cool girl needs a cool guy, not a simple farmer. Guys, really. I understand that Lance is wonderful, but his image in the series is just that. A simple farmer who, for all his good qualities, is not at all the one who is destined to take out the Sword from the Stone.

Because the fact is that in the history of Lance there should not be a “dead dragon” - a feat. Because the feat is accomplished on the Hero's Journey, while Lance has the Heroine's Journey. And yes, the reward he received was false and only led to disappointment.

Lance's story should look something like this:

Starting point:Lance is an altruistic but insecure guy who feels like a "third wheel" in life. But he wants to change this, to become something more than a “simple guy from Cuba”, he wants to be useful and meaningful.

Journey: Lance believes that he'll gain self-confidence and usefulness in the eyes of others if he becomes a hero and becomes famous. He wants to be the knight saving princesses, Hercules of his own story. But at the same time, in the struggle for the title of a hero, he becomes more and more selfish and loses an important part of himself - his compassion and selflessness towards others.

A reward and disappointment in it: Lance receives what, in his opinion, should bring him the title of a hero and self-confidence, but at the same time he doesn't receive self-confidence. The candy, which was so attractive with its wrapper, turned out to be tasteless. In addition, his desire to have this award comes into direct conflict with his desire to help others, and this puts pressure on him.

End:Lance refuses the reward, lets his thirst for fame go and comes to terms with his conscience. Having stopped chasing after fame, like a donkey for a carrot, he finally notices that his friends love him without any fame and appreciate his efforts. Realizing that he doesn't need to become Hercules in order to be respected and loved, Lance finally accepts himself, which allows him to find his place in the world and feel happy.

This is how it should have looked in a normal scenario. But since Mr. B. changed it (I won't swear in the article, though I really want to), the end of the journey was simply deleted from Lance’s story, leaving him in a state of disappointment with the award, which in the description of the Heroine’s Journey is directly called “spiritual aridity, death".

Really. They even showed it in the end, although they finished the ending according to the changed script (you won’t erase words from the song). Lance literally buries himself at 19, disappointed in life. More absurd is only Shiro who was sent to retire at the age of 30. I'm now 30 years old, and it’s just ridiculous for me to say that life ends at 19 (30) years, now it’s only a monastery and a pension. Unhappy love is sad, but life is such a thing that someone constantly dies, and it’s not normal to bury yourself alive. Especially in the series for children. Pathological grief after the loss of a loved one is actually a disorder of adaptation and in psychiatry is considered a disease that must be treated. A person left in a state of psychiatric illness is a so-so happy ending. However, if you consider that the universe after S8 remained in complete disarray, then Lance fits into such a happy ending. By the way, the Heroine's Journeys of Lance and Allura are very similar in the sense that self-doubt becomes their main enemy. They are like brother and sister in this, go hand in hand, and that is why their journeys intersect. But if in the changed S8 Allura still got an invisible “kick in the ass, which allowed her to take a decisive step forward,” Lance remained stagnant in his uncertainty. If Allura commited suicide by her own decision, Lance just got stuck in a quagmire and choked. But let's look at the situation in more detail. And let's start with the Lance's family.  

Stage 1 - Separation from the feminine.

Lance is a kind but insecure guy. He sees that his Nice Guy status gives nothing and has no weight in society, and therefore dreams of fame.

Lance grew up in faraway Cuba, in a large provincial family of farmers. Well-off enough to feed a bunch of people without problems during S8 - when the whole Earth was in crisis - but not the great rich. The boss in the house was an active mom, and dad, judging by his behavior and the attitude of others, was a standard quiet henpecked man. You know, a handsome guy, unsure of himself, who in his youth fell into the hands of an energetic girl and spent his whole life in invisible labor on a farm for the benefit of the family. Judging by the words of Lance’s mother, it was from his father that Lance inherited stupid lines and the desire to flirt with girls, which in reality was only a pretense of bravado for both. However, you can understand Lance's father. When you're a provincial farmer, besides socializing there's little entertainment. And the presence of a beautiful girlfriend was probably the only way for a young farmer to raise his authority and gain the respect of his peers. Moreover, Lance wasn't the only beloved child, but rather one of a bunch of children, each of whom probably wanted to win a little attention from their parents. He's the youngest, and the youngest is the one for whom everyone else always decides, the one whom everyone pushes, whose opinion is never asked. And of course, the shadow from more successful older relatives constantly dominated him - the older sister made a career in science, and the older brother, unlike Lance, who resembled his quiet father, clearly inherited mother's self-confidence and constantly teased his younger sibling. And naturally, he wanted to stand out. He wanted his parents to notice him among a bunch of other, older and “more useful” children, to be appreciated and respected - but, alas, it's difficult to gain respect from others by how cool you milk cows. Here, everyone around milks the cows, it's a farm. And a simple Cuban boy, who probably watched cartoons about super-heroes, began to dream. He milked cows and dreamed of how he would break out of this gray life and become cool and famous. Dad will be proud, elder siblings will stop laughing at him. And all the girls will be his. Lance, like his father in his youth, probably sought to establish himself surrounded by other young farm guys as a "Loverboy" - but he was just a quiet, handsome guy with stupid lines, not a brutal cowboy on a powerful stallion. And such guys are loved, I would even say that girls often marry this type of guys, but don't chase them in a crowd. You need to understand that Lance wanted to break out of this life. He dreamed of something completely different. And the fact that he was forced to return to the farm... sorry, but this is a mockery. It would be better if he opened a space tourism company and named his ship "Allura". And, like captain Kirk, remained faithful to his ship, shrugging off the fatal beauties. In general, if not for Veronica, who had shown by her example that there is a way out, then most likely Lance would have finished as his dad. He would fall into the hands of a brisk girl and spent his whole life on a farm under the heel. He would drag a completely prosperous dull existence, like hundreds of other farmers before him. But looking at his sister, Lance got the idea to enter the Garrison and was able to do it. It's a pity that the provincial farmers didn't really appreciate this feat. Alas, in the Cuban hinterland there were no experts who could understand the extent of such an achievement. Only a sister supported Lance.

And in the Garrison it wasn't easy either. He entered the Garrison, but only as a pilot of cargo vehicles, and when he was transferred to combat pilots the teacher, clearly upset by the loss of a more talented student, couldn't help but recall that Lance was here only because Keith was expelled. The gifted one, but unfortunately for teachers completely undisciplined.

However, with the girls he was a little luckier. Judging by the conversation with Hunk in the first episode, Lance didn't wait for "the only one", but rather actively ran on dates. Apparently, sometimes his "wonderful" lines really worked. Another thing is that the significance of dating girls in the eyes of the population of the Garrison was extremely small - they are not bored farmers, so it remained exclusively a personal affair of Lance, and he didn't gain much respect because of it.

But Lance wanted something completely different. He wanted respect, fame, being accepted. And if Keith went to save Shiro because he was the only close person for him, Lance got in because he was sickened that everyone compared him to Keith. It's he who must save Shiro and become famous, even if it ends badly for him (do you really think that under other circumstances they wouldn't be punished?). The position of the second violin in relation to Keith enraged Lance, especially considering the fact that Keith didn't care about Lance. He couldn't understand why Lance was angry with him, they almost didn't know each other. Keith had his own personal problems, unrelated to Lance. It didn’t even occur to him that he, as it turns out, was competing with Lance for the title of the coolest, since Keith wasn't interested in such competitions.

Such rivals that he didn’t even recognize you...

Looking ahead, I just notice that as soon as Lance stopped seeing an opponent in Keith, all their contradictions vanished. Keith wasn't Lance's adversary, enemy, rival or any kind of aggressor. Keith became one because Lance elevated him to that position. Lance imagined a dragon which must be defeated, but as soon as he stopped demonizing Keith it immediately turned out that there was no dragon at all. There are no external demons in Lance's life, but internal ones. And Keith is a good example. So they find the Blue Lion. Blue sees Lance - a good guy who is ready to support others and who is most in need of support - realizes that "this is my boy" and sends the whole company to the Castle of Lions.

Where Lance meets Allura - the embodiment of his dream of glory. Not just a beautiful girl, but a real princess. Like from a fairy tale where the coolest man - Hercules - gets the princess, becomes her faithful knight, protects her and accomplishes feats in her honor. And she admires him.

Of course, from the first minutes Allura makes it clear that she'll break the neck of any dragon and give the knight a kick, but the dream didn' fade from this - quite the opposite, it became more inaccessible and therefore more desirable.

Then we see the events of the first two seasons. S1 spans several days, S2 - several weeks, or how much it took them to dock with the BoM and complete a plan to get Zarkon out of the game. Lance learns to work together and even begins to gradually feel his usefulness to the team. When Shiro tells him that they need him, because he's their sharpshooter, Lance glows with happiness. Because this is his place - the place of a support fighter - and he's comfortable in it. It's comfortable to be a blue paladin - a "leg" that supports everyone else, who will cover melee fighters.

And here an extremely important event happens. Shiro disappears. Shiro was the only self-confident mature man in the company of literal and mental youngsters (with the exception of Coran, but he preferred to remain in the shadows). Responsible commander, authority, leader who knew exactly what and how to do Under his wing, the kids were like in a kindergarten. And now bang - the kids lost him and left without a kindergartener.

Space Dad is gone, do it yourself. Nobody will insure you anymore, you have no one else to hope for. Everyone feels bewildered, it’s hard for everyone. And it's especially hard for Keith - after all, Shiro was his only close friend, his brother. The rest knew Shiro for about a couple of weeks and treated him like a counselor in a scout camp, and therefore experienced Shiro's loss more easily. But the loss of Shiro himself, not his leadership.

And after the loss of Shiro comes "The Great Transferring"

Stage 2 - Identification with the masculine and gathering of allies

Lance refuses the image of a Nice Guy in favor of the pursuit of status.

You know, I've often met conversations on the topic that everything is not clear with these Lions, what the heck is with replacing paladins, and why they don't change armors.

In the old series, Lions were simply meek machines - anyone could pilot them. But now the Lions are living creatures that even help their paladins (otherwise Hank and Pidge wouldn't be able to learn how to control them so quickly). Each Lion has a specific character and is looking for a “soul mate” in the paladin, which would dock well with it. The black paladin is a cool, stubborn leader. The yellow paladin is a confident strong helping hand foot, Green is a purposeful lover of knowledge. We'll deal with Red and Blue a bit later.

The easiest way is with Hunk and Pidge. The fact is that their characters almost didn't change during the series. Pidge grew up, but nothing more. Hunk was generally quite a mature person and had no moral problems, except for a heightened sense of self-preservation. He was even the first to get the girl without any problems (which is extremely funny comparing to Lance, for whom getting a girlfriend became an obsession).

Shiro, after his resurrection, became the white paladin - but, alas, there is so little evidence on this subject (thanks for the cut S7-8) that I just can’t back up my position with facts, and therefore I won’t force you to listen to my demagoguery.

I’ll give a couple of lines to Allura. Yes, she's pink. More precisely, blue-red. Allura has her father's temper. To act first and then think is her favorite method. In her decisive moments, Allura becomes "red" more than Keith himself. But brought up as the future queen, Allura suffers from hyperresponsibility and constantly thinks whether she did the right thing. She constantly doubts herself, constantly fusses around, asks others, although she must make decisions herself... except for those moments where Alfor's character shows up. One thing that Red doesn't tolerate is uncertainty. Therefore, Red didn't accept Allura. And he didn't care that Allura wanted to be like her father and really wanted to become a red paladin. She even started crying, phew. Keith is quite another case and therefore he's worth of respect.

Perhaps if Blue hadn't intervened, Allura would never have become a paladin. But picking up abandoned kittens is a Blue Lion's favorite pastime. Besides, Allura selflessly sought to help others, she had recently lost her people, her family, and her father even twice. Therefore, Blue took Allura. Don't offend little ones, Red, bad kitty. A little offtopic: the path of Allura - the normal path, not a bit thrown to us - showed the transition of Allura to a full-fledged red paladin. Because the princess, who constantly doubts herself, will never become a queen. She will always depend on the opinions of others and will forever remain a child. Let's move on to Keith. His path is very simple and straightforward, like the very Hero's Journey, which is his story. There is point A - Red Lion, as the embodiment of Kit's self-centered unstable teenage character, there is point B - becoming a black paladin, a mature responsible leader. The reward for the feat is finding a family. Why did Keith stay in a red suit? Because the suit shows that Keith is actually still too “red.” Until the very end of S8 there are too many hasty decisions, too much hope for luck. This is not the behavior of the black paladin; a good leader never relies on chance. I have serious suspicions that Black chose Keith because Shiro’s soul was inside. Black trusted Shiro, trusted his choice and accepted Keith (who made a lot of mess in his new position, to be honest ...). In addition, Black didn’t have much to choose from, but it was necessary to go on the mission. So he chose from what he had. But the most interesting thing is with Lance, the main character of our meta. Because he has a Heroine's Journey (!). Not a Hero's one. And while in Hero's Journey, the path of Keith from Red to Black is the path to maturity and the desired reward, then for Lance the path from Blue to Red leads to a false reward. To the blende. He doesn't gain new, he loses old. Lance's blue suit screams about who he really should be. Just remember. It's not Red who chose Lance. It's Blue who kicked him out(!).

Who told you that becoming Red from Blue is an upgrade? Allura? Allura dreamed all her childhood that she would become a red paladin. This is the dream of her whole life. And Lance always wanted to be needed, but what's easier for you - to live without a hand or without a leg? With one hand, of course, it's hard, but try to walk on one leg. A body without a head will run further. Allura said Red accepted Lance when he accepted Keith's leadership. A really strong step is to step on the throat of your pride. Red appreciated it, because he's a very selfish proud man lion, and for him it's really a feat. The same as Alfor had once done when he lost his leadership to Zarkon. Well done, he's impressed. But... Lance did it like a true blue paladin, not a red one. Everyone was feeling bad, and Keith especially, and Lance did this to support Keith because he saw his worries. He abandoned his ambitions in order to help his neighbor, like a true Blue would do.

The Red Lion, on the contrary, is the team’s main egoist. He listens only to Black, because he respects his authority, and even then not always. First he does, then he thinks, and he makes a decision instantly. Proud, emotional, self-centered in his desires. Just remember Alfor. Remember how he ran into the fight ahead of the team, so Zarkon had to save his butt. How he began to study the unknown crap on Daibazaal, ignoring the danger to his friend’s planet at first. How he succumbed to fear and decided to hide the Lions and not use it. How he "turned off" Allura when she began to argue with him and sent it to the cryocapsule. Only so that later his holographic ghost spread his arms and said: "I'm sorry, daughter, you were right." And that is the Red Lion. Determined, emotional, egocentric. The man of the moment. And yes, Red saw it in Lance. After all, the point is not only that Lance gained respect from Red by his “feat”. There was something in Lance that suited Red. For all his altruism, Lance is a child who craves the attention of his environment. And in this he's very selfish. In addition, despite doubts about his status, his usefulness, when it comes to making decisions, Lance doesn't stomp on the spot but acts. In the series, we often see how Lance doubts his importance, but we have never seen him doubt his actions. When it's time to act, Lance acts resolutely and without hesitation. And the problem here is not only that Red accepted Lance only when Blue drove him away. The problem is how the others reacted to this. It must be remembered that Allura really wanted Red. A lot. And also Allura felt that she must behave like a good boss, that means to praise subordinates for achievements, for hard work for the benefit of all. And of course, she began to praise Lance for becoming a red paladin - he made a real achievement in the eyes of Allura.

For Allura, this sword was the memory of her father. And she really dreamed of getting it.

And this was the first time that Allura personally praised Lance. Repeatedly. Allura in the eyes of Lance embodied all his dreams of status. And he really dreamed about her favor, about becoming her Hercules, her knight. And when she praised him, he felt that having risen in status to the right hand of the black paladin (and, according to Allura, that was exactly so), he became closer to his goal. That is, he saw a direct connection: the higher the status, the closer the dream. Despite the fact that being a red paladin wasn't as comfortable as being a blue one. Because along with having a certain status - so desirable for Lance - came the fear of losing that status. Remember how Lance was upset that he didn't know how to use the main form of red bayard - the traditional Altean sword. Have you ever seen Keith worry about not being able to use the Galra flail, which only Lotor and Zarkon used in the series? The red bayard transformed into the sword simply because Alfor created the bayard to suit the first paladins. However, that doesn't change the fact that, by default, the red paladin is the second melee fighter, while Lance has always positioned himself as a sharpshooter - a support fighter.

Stage 3 - Road of trials, meeting ogres and dragons

Lance asserts his status as a red paladin.

Now, after Zarkon's knockout, the paladins and BoM begin vigorous activity. Lance is increasingly asserting his status as a red paladin - he bathes in the completely legitimate attention and admiration of the rescued civilians. In addition, Allura became very close to him, and he could constantly communicate with her. He also felt important, helping her master the Blue Lion and covering in battles. The defender of the beautiful princess.

Note: guys, I understand that you really want to present the attitude of the paladins to each other in battle as exceptional. But helping a comrade on the battlefield is the thing expected of a soldier. On the contrary, if he doesn't help, he'll be called a traitor. BoM's operations don't count, as they have partisan and espionage activities, where there are other priorities. Mutual assistance on the battlefield isn't an act of goodwill, but an obligation.

Yes, after becoming a red paladin, Lance stopped hitting on Allura. Because now Allura wasn't separate from the others, the abstract mistress of the Castle, she became part of the team. That is, not a princess - a potential damsel in distress - but a comrade with whom they share bread and shelter. And of course, Lance began to treat her in a different way. But he didn' stop wanting her. As soon as Matt (young, attractive rebel) appeared on the horizon, Lance set up an absolutely ugly jealousy scene.

Despite the fact that Allura didn't give any promises to Lance, didn't encourage his actions, wasn't either his bride or a wife, Lance decided that he had exclusive rights to Allura and began to guard her like a dog. Most likely, this attitude appeared as a result of the act of “giving” the Blue Lion. Because Lance continued to consider Blue his property, and at the same time began to consider the pilot of Blue his property too. And if so, then Allura belongs to him, and lines are no longer needed. And then Lotor appeared. I must say that it's unlikely that at the first personal meeting Lotor had matrimonial or at least some personal plans for Allura. When Lotor appeared near the Haggar's ship, he wasn't there because of the paladins. If you remember, Lotor caught the transmission that the sector would be blown up, not a word about the presence of Voltron. Lotor didn't save the paladins; he saved civilians from his mad relatives. And when Lotor talks with Allura, he offers exclusively business relations. Abstract union in the name of universal good.

But as soon as Lotor said the word “union”, Lance not only triggered, he almost exploded. From the mere hint that this obviously successful man is offering his(!) princess some sort of union, Lance sharply felt a surge of jealousy and saw Lotor as his rival. While Lotor completely ignored Lance - he addressed to Allura as the head of this madhouse, and he wasn't interested in the opinion of the “retinue” of the princess. In general, Lothor was always interested only in the opinion of Allura, convinced only her and appealed only to her. As a political leader to a political leader. The remaining paladins were reckoned by Lotor to the retinue of Allura and didn't cause much interest. Doesn’t resemble anything? Remember how Lance reacted towards Keith, although he hardly remembered him? How Lance considered Keith his rival? There's only a small but very important difference: Keith reacted to aggression with his own aggression. That is, Lance received a reaction to his actions. But Lotor didn’t do anything at Lance’s aggression. What difference does it make to an elephant what kind of a dog is barking at it down there? At the first outbreak of jealousy, Lance tried to get Lotor out of the way, like he did with Matt, but he couldn't do anything with such a mastodon. And Allura... Allura has work for the benefit of the universe, and Pidge's father must be saved. And here is the legendary Oriande. She didn’t know that Lance had any rights to her. Lotor shines in front of her eyes like a supernova, so Lance's jealousy was left without any attention.

Confused by the fact that he lost his place near the princess, Lance begins to do what he never did before becoming a red paladin. He begins to feel sorry for himself. Allura lost interest in him, she separated from the other paladins and flew away right in front of his eyes to a brilliant rival. Who is, in fact, like a hero from the legends. The real emperor, handsome, great warrior, leader, diplomat, Allura looks at him with admiration. And any attempt to ridicule him is smashed against the armor of equanimity and true self-confidence. Lotor was someone that Lance had always dreamed of becoming. Lance didn’t think about how hard it was for Lotor to become like this, Lance thought it was cool to be a brilliant space prince, not just a Cuban guy.

Lance envied Lotor, like he once envied Keith. And Lance again felt not needed and began to cling with all his might to the title of savior of the universe, as well as to rush to prove his worth. When Pidge and Hunk distract him from his worries, he's very happy to have fun with them - because he really doesn’t have problems, but in moments of idleness he begins to feel sorry for himself and think about how lonely he is and no one likes him. He even complained to the mice. After all, he likes Allura so much, he dreamed of becoming her knight, but she didn't appreciate it.

If Lance was so easily distracted from his longing for Allura, so maybe this longing wasn't so terrible?

Lotor became a dragon which Lance couldn't defeat in an honest battle and was fully aware of it. In addition, it's difficult to save the princess from the clutches of the dragon, when she's already choosing curtains for the cave. Such a princess would kill anyone who dares to hurt her dragon. However, fortunately for Lance, Keith brings Romelle and the paladins defeat Lotor. The path is clear, the dragon was killed. True, not by Lance personally, but it doesn’t matter. In addition, Allura is broken and unhappy, and in need of support. But although Lotor died, his ghost remained. After all, Lotor wasn't a real dragon of Lance, he became one in his mind. And he stayed there even after his physical death. Now Lance will always compare himself with Lotor, because he's only the second, not the first. And when Veronica asks Lance if he's going to date Allura, he begins to torment himself by the fact that he's not worthy of the Altean princess. He's a war veteran, he's the defender of the Earth, he's a red paladin, but this fades in his eyes comparing with Lotor. And this is so unsettling that even the Red Lion doesn't immediately come to the call.

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

Ultimately, instead of supporting Allura in a difficult period, he sits, suffers, and pities himself. But friends will always help, right? Hunk forces Lance to invite Allura on a date, and Rommelle persuades her to agree. And Lance gets what he dreamed of.

Stage 4 - Finding the boon of success

Lance becomes Allura's boyfriend. He was aimed to this from the S1.

Which almost instantly proceeds to the next stage:

Stage 5 - Awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity; death

Lance became Allura's boyfriend, but didn't feel significant.

Because everything went wrong from the very beginning.

You know, during the entire episode Lance looked happy once. When Keith told him how much he appreciated him. For me, the date could be over right here. It’s a very positive note - two comrades are sitting, saying warm words to each other and looking at a beautiful sunset. They would have wine, snacks, and don't leave.

Because the very presence of depression of your girlfriend doesn't tune into a romantic note. Plus Coran with his hysteria about the fact that Lance is a plebeian, not an Altean aristocrat.

In any case, the family dinner wasn't as joyful as Lance had hoped. Allura was far from in a romantic mood and sought to discuss the matters whoch worried her. And the siblings began to please the guest with stories about Lance's childhood. Lance wanted to be cool in the eyes of Allura. And here he's exposed as a fool and a clown. And as a result, Lance felt ashamed. He felt uncomfortable in the walls of his own home, because his beloved relatives didn't want to maintain his authority at all. The status of the red paladin and the presence of a beautiful girl didn't help to shut up the older brother, who continued to mock him as before. The war veteran remained thechild in the eyes of relatives, because there was no one who would tell them in person that they're wrong. Finally, they run away from home and go for a walk. Allura is not in the mood, she is ready to talk about anything except what is usually discussed on dates. Allura says that she feels completely alone looking at friends who have returned to their families.

And Lance, in his aspiration to become significant in the eyes of the princess, is ready to promise her a moon from the sky and follow her even to the edge of the universe. Despite the fact that most of all he always wanted to return home. Lance tells Allura that he loves her, and she sadly nods in response. All his words didn’t really inspire her, because she didn't need anything proposed. And Lance himself feels miserable, because he understands that he can’t help Allura in any way.

Lance isn’t a fool. He realized that Allura didn't reciprocate his feelings. But he walked too long towards his goal and selfishly clutched his reward. And thereby only worsened the situation. He grabs the opportunity to be a knight of Allura, because she's a princess after all. He again turns her in his eyes from a comrade into a virgin in trouble, but as a result only failed. Remember the pirate attack. Lance forgot that Allura was stronger than all of them combined, he forgot that they should meet the enemies shoulder to shoulder, and then he watched with genuine amazement how “the princess saves the knight” - Allura beat the pirates without any problems, having saved both Lance and herself.

Lance, these are pirates who must run away from Allura...  

The second attempt to protect Allura also failed. The resurrected "dragon" simply didn't shoot at Allura, and Lance himself fell under the attack of the Alteans. Not to mention the fact that they failed to win the “dragon” - he beat them with his fists. Mad Lotor is a terrible thing by his own, and here he's combined with Sincline... Instead of gaining self-confidence, Lance felt more worthless than ever. Besides Allura, he felt useless. Allura says to him that he doesn't understand her suffering, and all he can do is agree with this and utter banal words of sympathy. Which can't help Allura in her grief. When Allura praised him in the forest just for being able to find the way, Lance beamed as if he had received the Nobel Prize. Allura simply didn't have anything else to praise him for - he did nothing significant in her eyes, and now the red paladin - the right hand of the leader of Voltron - felt joy as if he had accomplished a feat.

You fought with Zarkon, man, and now you consider this an achievement?

No, he pretends that everything is fine, trying to continue to play the role of a knight, which turns out to be frankly bad. At the first opportunity, Allura chases him away, asking to bring "something sparkly", and all he can do is to say a pretentious statement that winning the prizes is his speciality. Although he was only asked to bring a souvenir from the fair.

Such a happy couple...

And then... In the season we got, nothing happens further. Lance remains in this relationship, where he feels completely useless to Allura. Even more: having received a dark entity, Allura wakes up and begins to simply dismiss Lance. And Lance remains a passive observer. He watches her act, he watches her commit suicide. Could he feel guilty after that? After all, he couldn't help her. And he breaks down, leaves everything that he loved, and goes to live on Altea, which Allura missed so much but will never see again. Lance became the mouse that cried, pricked, but continued to eat the cactus. Just because it's a very expensive cactus, and greed didn't allow it to be left. But what was originally planned? If we take as a basis the material that TPL were able to restore, then we can approximately complete the remaining stages of the Heroine’s Journey. 

 Stage 6 - Initiation and Descent to the Goddess

Lance meets his Anima, and she reminds him of the importance of taking into account the interests of his loved ones, that you cannot build your happiness at someone else's expense. Lance looks at his relationship from a new angle.

And yes, as I spoiled at the beginning of the meta, Pidge became Lance's Anima.

Anima and Animus in the Heroine's Journey always represent opposites, which at the same time have much in common (and this is not always a romantic interest, it just traditionally becomes one). Moreover, even the opposites aren't taken from nowhere - they complement each other. Just compare.

Lance is an ordinary, unremarkable guy from a family of ordinary, unremarkable farmers, who was always burdened by his dullness comparing with more successful older relatives.

Pidge was always special from the family of specials, she stood out among other children, for which she became a white crow in her class. But the family constantly convinced her that this was an advantage, not a disadvantage.

Lance is a selfless, altruistic guy who is worried about someone else’s grief.

Pidge is rather egocentric, has little interest in the good of those who go beyond the circle of her loved ones. It's possible that this is a consequence of her young age - all children are self-centered - but fact is a fact.

Lance is a child who constantly tried to win back at least a little attention of his relatives and suffered the ridicule of his older siblings.

Pidge was always surrounded by attention. Parents adored her, the elder brother adored her and supported in everything. Pidge never doubted the love of her family; for her it was as natural as breathing.

Lance feels important to have attention to his person from relatives. And constantly selfishly demanded this attention as much as possible, because he felt underestimated.

Pidge is ready for anything for those whom she loves, and she's ready to beat anyone who harm her loved ones. She's ready to make any sacrifices for those whom she loves.

Pidge and Lance have always had fun together. Yes, Pidge was teasing him, but only when she felt that Lance's problems were not serious. When Lance really needed support, Pige always flew to the rescue. And Lance was just as ready to stand between Pidge and danger at any moment. For little Pidge, he really was a defender. And with all the differences, they had so many things and activities that they loved equally. At that time, there was nothing for Allura and Lance to talk about, except war and losses.

When Pdige and Lance were asked what they're dreaming of, they said they're dreaming of returning to Earth, weeting with their relatives and having fun together. In addition, Lance didn't perceive Pidge as a girl to drag around. Pidge was a true friend for him, not an object for self-affirmation.

And the situation with the date of Allura. Pidge was very upset when she found out that Lance and Allura were going on a date, but she also knew how Lance wanted it, and therefore even helped Allura to get her dress. And gave the game that she and Lance loved so much. For the sake of which they together completed a quest to collect money at the space mall.

You know, if Pige came to this date, not Allura, it would have gone completely different. Lance wouldn't be ashamed of the childhood stories, because he knew that Pidge had no illusions about him anyway. And Pidge would certainly say that Lance is a real hero with the same fury with which she defended her father and brother. The date didn't happen. But then there was a fair where Lance and Pidge united in an effort to get a gift for Allura. Pidge also sees that Allura is depressed, she wants to please her and is actively helping Lance to get "something sparkly".

Lance very quickly forgets what Allura requested. He decides to give her a blue lion with his autograph as a souvenir. Well, at least he didn’t decide to give his belt statue, otherwise Allura, in his absence, would forget about him for at least five minutes. And how displeased he is when he sees a purple lion. We all know who this color symbolizes. The ghost of a personal dragon doesn't let Lance go even at the fair.  

And, in the end, since it was the gift for Allura that was the purpose of their competition, they couldn't help but talk about Allura herself. And you need to understand that Lance feels very bad now. The descent to the Goddess occurs at the time of the most difficult spiritual state of the hero. Literal descent into darkness in order to meet with the Shadow. And although Lance was used to keep his feelings, then he would have shared with Pidge, he'd tell about his sadness, about how useless he feels. And Pidge in response reveals to Lance her view of the relationship between people. She explains to him that in relations with loved ones you need to think not only about yourself, you need to care about those you love. Because if you're truly in love, you're ready to give the last for the sake of the happiness of your beloved. And probably in their conversation the game was mentioned, that Pidge had given so that the date would go smoothly. Pige doesn’t just say beautiful words, she shows that she's ready to take care of Lance even if he - busy with self-pity - doesn't notice it.

"We"? What, or rather who do you mean, Pidge? All the others had time for entertainment...

And here Lance finds out that Pidge really cares about him, and this knowledge encourages him. And he's filled with the desire to take care of Allura in order to prove his love. 

Alas, he's not yet ready to let her go. 

Stage 7 - Urgent yearning to reconnect with the feminine

Inspired by the words of Pidge, Lance feels the need to take care of Allura, to show his clogged altruistic side. But Allura was also inspired by someone. Having descended into the darkness to her Shadow, Allura cleared her mind and returned to the world of the living to show who's the Space Mom here. She perked up, ready for vigorous activity and Lance's care was met only with irritation. Lance, feeling that his care isn't appreciated, gets angry in response.

Sorry, Lance, but if Red made a decision, then only Black can prevent it...

Moreover, Lance realizes that Allura is starting to move away from him. Upset, sad Allura needed his support, and for an active and self-confident one he became only an obstacle on the way to her goal. And it turned out that the desire to keep Allura close to him came into direct conflict with the desire to make Allura happy. Lance hastily tries to dissuade Allura from active actions, but she doesn't listen to him. 

Stage 8 - Healing the mother/daughter split

Lance looks at his relationship with Allura in a new light. He understands that they won't be happy as a couple.

Lance is in ambivalence. Allura’s fighting spirit rose, she ceased to be sad, but Lance doesn't feel happy. And he understands that he really needs to make a choice between what's good for him and what's good for Allura. Because he can't be with happy Allura - he'll always stay behind her.

Stage 9 - Healing the wounded masculine within

Lance refuses the reward for the sake of Allura's happiness and gets rid of the burden of envy and futility.

And now, moment X comes — an honest, open conversation between Allura and Lance. Allura confesses to him that she doesn't love him and wants to save Lotor from Honerva's grasp.

And then Lance finally clears his conscience. He refuses the reward which he desired so much. And at the same time, he's finally freed from the ghost of the dragon, tormenting him all this time. He ceases to demonize Lotor, to consider him his rival, which must be surpassed. And he agrees to help Allura save her significant other.

And he really feels that he has freed himself. He's no longer the second one, who will always lose to the first one. He's a good friend, and Allura needs him to get the other paladins to help save Lotor.

Stage 10 - Integration of masculine and feminine/Union

Lance gains spiritual balance and maturity.

Having lost his spiritual burden, Lance feels that he's important and he remembers that his friends love him. He ceases to feel envy and guilt. He's free from the burden of the red paladin, now for him it's not a yoke, but simply a title. He's again a Nice Guy Lance, who takes care of loved ones. And who feels that loved ones also care about him. He finally felt happy. What does he do after Allura and Lotor set off to restore the universes? He returnes home. He communicates closely with Pidge and comes to see how she makes robots. He probably continues his career in the Garrison. Now he's a famous pilot, he's a veteran. New horizons and respect of colleagues are waiting for him. His dream of stars came true, his desire to be at home also came true. He's where he's needed, and he's where he's loved. And once a year they all come together on Altea to take a photo. Allura will surely be interested in looking at these photos when she returns. In the universe, of course, not everything goes smoothly after the war. But now they have two gods who diligently rake up problems. The gods will cope with them. So, everyone will have that very “happily ever after.”

[creativeashproductions]

Family Hunt [Part 2] // Jughead Jones

Summary: Months after the Winchesters leave Riverdale for more hunts, you return for your own safety. Unsure of your future you run into the people you had created friendships with when you arrived. Offered a future by one of your friends you have to decide if you deserve your own chance at happiness or not. Especially when a beanie clad boy is involved.

Characters: Winchester!Reader x Jughead Jones, daughter!Reader x father!Sam Winchester (mentioned), Dean Winchester (mentioned) Castiel (mentioned), Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, and Betty Cooper

Words: 2299

Disclaimer: I do not own Riverdale or the characters. I also do not own any gifs, images or songs that may appear in this.

Warnings: Swearing, fighting, self-doubt, hunting, monsters, mention of injury, fluff and angst. Requested: yes.

Author: Caitsy

A/N: The long awaited part two to Family Hunt. Thank you for the support and patience you have.

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While the months went by fast you never took that charm bracelet off in fact you added a replica of the tattoo your family had. Sooner than you thought a year had gone by with little contact with the Riverdale teens which was understandable when you find out that Chuck was god. Then came the revelation that God had a sister named Amara whom had a connection with your uncle.

Next thing you know Castiel is carving more symbols on your body and your being sent away from your family. For your ‘safety’ which meant you were supposed to act like a normal teenager by attending school and not hunting at all. That was not going to happen so when you heard that a vampire was in the process of building a nest you were glad to head out alone.

“Ew.” You groaned feeling the splatter against your clothing as the head of vamp rolled off to the side.

“So you don’t message us or visit but you come to decapitate a vampire?”

You turned to see that a sweaty redhead was holding a bottle of water and glaring at you weakly. Archie Andrews was the first to discover you were back in Riverdale.

The second person to know was when Veronica when she reluctantly headed towards the laundry mat connected to the grocery store. The machines in her home had broken down and with no repairs in the near future she needed clothing done. You were sitting on the top of a dryer reading a news article when she gasped.

“Y/N?” The confident voice belonged to a striking ebony haired socialite.

“Hey Veronica.” You said humming as you slowly read the article for anything that seemed odd for normal people’s eyes.

“That’s all you have to say? ‘Hey Veronica’ like you never left and went radio silent?” Veronica huffed in the most ladylike fashion, “Jughead scoured every news article for hints if you were alive or not.”

“I’m alive.” You mumbled. You barely flinched when she grabbed the tablet from your hands to see what you were reading.

“Teacher Found with No Heart Following Disappearances of Students.” Veronica read out loud, “So you’re here temporarily.”

“No.” You said jumping off to grab what little clothing you had brought, “I’m in town for a while I guess.”

“Where’s your Dad?”

“Probably in a seedy motel trying to get Uncle Dean to eat a salad for once.” You sighed folding the clothing to place into the large bag you had along with a well kept backpack. You shared a few more words before you headed off towards the motel you were calling home.

“Stay with me.” Veronica called out, “Mom and I have plenty of room.”

“I’m fine.”

“I don’t want you in a motel where junkies die and murder happens to Serpents while the Sheriff turns a blind eye.” Veronica strongly said, “You can stay in the guest room closet if you want instead of a large room.”

You knew it would probably keep you more safe by not using your real name or well known aliases in the motel. You agreed a little more quick than you would have liked to admit and she knew.


“Perfect! Now can you help me figure out these machines because I don’t know what is what.” Veronica grinned.

The third person to know you had arrived in town was Jughead himself. You had enrolled into school under the same alias as last year with intentions to get through the time on the down low. You were determined to not bring attention to your life besides you wouldn’t be attending any social gatherings when you were sharpening blades and stocking up on weapons.

You were headed towards the cafeteria for food when you bumped into the recently returned Jughead. Both of you were technically new to the school, you after a year of hunting and him after a brief stint in Southside High and the Serpents, just month apart from first days.

“Holy hell.” Jughead blinked as his eyes found the charm bracelet on your wrist first, “Y/N?”

“Hey Jug…” You trailed off feeling just as awkward as you always had with the boy. His green eyes more expressive than ever.

It was obvious that you both had never stopped thinking about each other during the time you spent away from each other. It was more than likely causing awes and gags at the sheer romance novel cliche with two people amid mixed books but it was worth it to see the boy that made you feel like Lisa and Jessica made your Dad and uncle feel.

“What are you doing back?” Jughead asked clearing his throat. You saw his eyes went blank to avoid his feelings.

“Needed a break from my family. Thought returning here would be a good idea and I get to independently choose hunts.” You said shifting on your feet. You hadn’t anticipated the reunion to be this awkward.

“Cool.”

“What’s new in your life?”

“Nothing much. Joined the Serpents fully committed before deciding to just have the name and no real affiliation.”

“You joined the Serpents.” You raised your eyebrows surprised, “Well that’s a mighty nice plot twist.”

“I mean Riverdale doesn't have much else to do.”

“No murders to solve?”

“No.” The atmosphere changed to a thick silence between two people practically strangers to each other in this new scenario.

“I should get to class.”

“I have to get to the Blue and Gold. See you later.” Jughead nodded before returning to his path. You couldn’t help but star longingly at the boy.

You wished you had been born into a normal family in Riverdale so you could have grown up with Jughead and the others. SO that you could freely vocalize your feelings with repercussions happening. It was a pipe dream of course but that wouldn’t stop you from watching him.

Your thoughts of Jughead didn’t decrease the force it had on your attention and whether Betty was dating your crush. They appeared to be close with little to no time spent away from each other leaving you a mess. He had said nothing was going on between them last year, that there was nothing between them.

“They aren’t together.” Veronica said from your side.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Betty still wants him but he’s never felt anything beyond the feeling of a sibling bond. It will never go passed that for him.”
 “I don’t know.”

“Your scared of losing him. It’s great that you feel that, it means you really care for him.”

“I’m not sure how long I’m staying is the problem.” You admitted, “I don’t want to get together with him only to leave us both heartbroken.”

“Don’t leave then.”

“I can’t not go back to my family Ronnie. There are things out there that needs fighting and I’m part of the team.”

“Your a kid! You shouldn’t be worrying about if you’ll live to tomorrow, you should be worrying about boys and makeup.” Veronica exclaimed with her hands in the air.

You groaned knowing that she didn’t understand how your family wasn’t capable of the being the regular American family. You didn’t grow up with that life and you weren’t capable of leaving your family either.

“I’m aware Veronica.” You rolled your eyes, “I wish I could have your life. You and your friends have the perfect life compared to my death filled one. My uncle and Dad have died more times than I can count.”

“Stop hunting. Mom and my Dad can adopt you.” Veronica retorted. For a second you imagined abandoning your hunting life and that included your family.


“What about my family?”



“They’ll still be your family but we can be sisters Y/N.” Veronica sighed, “Just think of the things we can do!”

“I’m sor-“

“Think about it. Please!” Veronica pleaded just as Betty caught sight of you. She paled before rushing off towards the newspaper’s room.

“Fine.” You grunted shifting your book bag up higher. Maybe your family would let your graduate from high school and be a normal kid.

Dad had tried unsuccessfully to convince Uncle Dean that you should have your own choice to choose their life or the apple pie life. Needless to say that it was a long standing argument from the second they knew about you. Even Castiel had given his opinion when you had been brutally beat up by a witch.

Over the following weeks you thought hard about taking up the Lodge’s offer of adoption only if you could keep your last name. You had contacted your Dad about it but Castiel was the one to answer instead with a few words. You were told not to contact them until they in contact with you first.

You could feel Jughead’s lingering looks when he thought you weren’t paying attention but you were always aware of the boy. You were also aware of the jealous glares from Betty when you were around her crush.

“Okay class. I want you to get into partners for today’s assignment.” Mrs. Elliot announced beginning to hand out sheets, “Jughead and…the new girl.”

“Y/N.” You supplied with an eye-roll.

She was the only teacher that couldn’t remember your ‘name’ and it irritated the hell out of you. Jughead sighed as he collected his things to join your table. You both worked in awkward silence before it got to be too much for you.

“I’m sorry.” You said peering up at the boy. He tensed as he registered the meaning behind your words, “I have no excuses on why I didn’t keep in contact. It was wrong of me.”



“It was.” Jughead agreed.

“I want to explain why I did it.” You said biting your lip.


“Sure.”

“I was scared. A few weeks after I left and we were all talking I was dragged into a hunt. It was bad, Jug. Really bad.”

“What happened.” Jughead breathed setting his pen down on the table to focus on you. You melted at the concern in his eyes before you delved into the memory.

You cried out feeling the sword of the ghost’s home impale you with a vengeance that was unlike any other hunt. The spirit twisted the sword around to scramble your guts. Uncle Dean was not moving on the stairs when he was knocked out.

The spirit, you couldn’t remember the damn name, of had a hatred for young people that your family wasn’t aware of until you were imprisoned in the house. Blood trickled down your chin as the world faded in and out.

“I deserve to be alive!” The ghost screeched only disappearing when an iron poker was shoved into the form.

“Baby! Hold on.” Your Dad frantically said looking at the sword. He couldn’t remove it for fear of you bleeding out on the ground, “DEAN!”

Uncle Dean didn’t stir as the ghost appeared by your Dad and shoved him out of the way to get to you. The anger of the ghost had allowed it to wrap wire around your neck as a dagger was repeatedly shoved into your body.

“DON’T TOUCH HER!”

You weren’t aware of anything. The agonizing pain was hidden behind the shock taking over your body. You didn’t notice the scream as the ghost was defeated when it’s necklace was burnt.

“Shit.” Uncle Dean groaned holding his broken ribs while he stumbled over to his niece dying, “This is bad.”


“She’s dying.” Sam sobbed as your breathing became laboured.


“No. She’s a Winchester.” Dean told his brother, “Castiel!”’

“She’s not breathing!” Sam screamed hold his hands on his daughter’s face trying to tap her cheek for any response. Dean shoved his bloody hands into hair.

Jughead was physically emotionally shocked as you told your near death story. You inconspicuously raised your shirt where the sword had left a nasty thick scar that ruined your bikini body. Not that you went swimming often.

“A-are you okay?”



“I am now. Castiel’s powers weren’t fully restored to heal me enough. He kept me from dying but I needed to be on bed rest.”



“Why didn’t you tell me?”



“I thought destroying our friendshi-“

“We were never and never will be just friends.” Jughead sternly said turning his attention to you, “I could never just be friends with you. I would have found out if you hadn’t…survived and it would have killed me.”

You gasped as he gripped your hand in his strong one as it shook only the slightest bit. You were tearing up as he stroked the skin of your wrist with his thumb. Neither of you were paying attention to the teacher trying to get your attention.


“Y-you mean that?” You stuttered.

“I’m not good with feelings.” Jughead admitted, “Ask anyone but I know that I-I love you.”

“I’m just as bad with them but I love you too Jughead.” You breathed leaning closer to him, “Your the reason I’m going to accept the Lodge’s offer.”


“What offer?” Jughead asked leaning backwards on his stool.


“They want to adopt me. Give me a home, of course I don’t technically exist so Castiel will have to somehow create an identity to do so. That way I’m still legally a Winchester.”


“You’re staying.” Jughead marvelled feeling this intense happiness build in his chest. Somehow loved him enough to sacrifice for him.

“Mr. Jones!” Mrs. Elliot ordered when Jughead lunged to kiss you a sizzling kiss. A kiss that officially began a near fairytale romance that lasted a very long time.

It was true love if Jughead Jones was willing to kiss you for the first time in a room filled with people he detested. You knew it was true love because you swore you could feel the warm hand of Chuck squeeze your should with a wish of happiness not visible to anyone.


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[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Riverdale /S01\/E10\ Chapter 10: The Lost Weekend Airdate: April 13, 2017 @cwnetwork Ratings: 0.872 Million :: 0.32 18-49 Demo Share Score: 8.5/10 @riverdaleseries @archiecomics TVTime/FB/Twitter/IG/Tumblr/Path/Pin: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Four Months late isn't too bad, right? See, in Miami, it's never cute to be the first person at the party, and really the party never ends until someone actually says it does... And clearly the Riverdale Party is still very much in full swing. So consider this 10th Entry 'Riverdale Revisit'; the after party to end all after parties. Of course, we're going to be set up for S2 when it goes live. This is definitely not one of the tv shows that Spotlight Saga will be dropping in the coming, world famous, 'fall tv' season frenzy. But don't get it twisted, there are many on the chopping block... OUR chopping block. We're looking at what gets our blood pumping and our thoughts racing, giving us something more to talk about than "Last Night on ___insert uninspired show number #45 here___." 'Riverdale' has made a massive stir across social media and of course on The CW & their worldwide dominating partner, Netflix, as well. I love that due to streaming, the new large amounts of cash pouring in from its subsequent deals, and actually several generations full of 'cord cutters', there are no longer rules to watching and writing about television series and films... Get to them when you can, some will watch them live, some will stream them later, some will wait until they can binge them all at once like a Weekend Warrior with a pocket full of Ecstasy and a head full of hallucinogens. It's our world now, and CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and more (or less) importantly 'Nielsen Holdings', no longer control what, when, where, why, and how much. Smell that? That's the sweet smell of change... And the remnants of murder and sticky maple syrup, obvi. Ive been extremely careful not to overpraise 'Riverdale' in the past. Similar series have only led to frustration or feelings of complete frustration. Its hard to know what to expect from a show like this in the near future... We all saw the demise of similar series like 'Pretty Little Liars' and other shows that run through the same type of vein... Kind of like many of the other ones attempted over at the now defunct ABC Family where PLL first started. Like The WB, UPN, and now The CW, ABC Family has also gone through a newly rebranding process that didn't do much to help the sinking ship they now call Freeform TV... A network that only 'The Fosters' and its cheesy sister show 'Shadowhunters' seem to be keeping afloat. We aren't being negative, we're being real... And when you're at a party, or in this case, 'After Party', you've got to be real. You just gotta... Even if no one ever wanted the party in the first place. If you don't know what I mean, let me spell it out for you. Ready? Set? Spell! Ah fuck it, we'll just spill the tea... 'Let's have a Kiki! Lock the doors tight!' I sometimes wonder if my obscure pop culture references I often sneak into these articles ever actually connect. They probably don't, but to that one person that got it, FUCK YEAH! It's the birthday of Jughead (Cole Sprouse)... And much like the very similar, fellow female counterpart, Sheila the She-Wolf, another introverted style character from 'Riverdale's sister show on Netflix, 'GLOW'... Jughead is not really into parties and/or making a big fuss about a birthday or bringing any unnecessary & unwanted attention to his person. Unfortunately for Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead isn't really big on camaraderie, most definitely not in the spirit equivalent to the 'Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling'! The reasons behind throwing these two characters' each their own impromptu birthday bashes on their respective tv shows are done for totally different reasons. With 'GLOW', it was slightly annoying at first (for Sheila, anyway), but eventually it turned from an apprehensive & anxiety filled event to a touching, sweet moment, where a closed off character had a major breakthrough that was captured in the perfect beam of light, allowing a significant development and enabling an insight into another character's backstory, bringing the whole cast together for the most part. In a great juxtaposition, on 'Riverdale', the psychology behind this one is actually much, much different... It's still got the 'trepidatious yet possible potential for a surprise moment of gratification' aspect down to a certain degree, but it doesn't go down the path of the balmy & charming. The reasoning behind Betty's sudden obsession to give Jughead the party that he never wanted, and the background as to why he's so against the idea in the first place certainly doesn't inspire camaraderie or any kind of 'feel good' moments, especially at the party itself. If anything, the intent is slightly bordering on the side of creepy. Riverdale?! Creepy?!? Yup! Keep up! It's only getting creepier. You see... We've been up on 'Riverdale' and then back down, and then back up and down again... And I think everyone here will openly admit that it's mostly due to a shaky CW track record, as well as similar networks just like it, though there has been a few inconsistencies outside of this oddball tone & beautiful color scheme we're always raving about. However, when the show fully embraces its complete and total anomalous, almost freakish eccentricities, we all just fall right back in love with the show again. It's episodes like 'Chapter 10: The Lost Weekend' that completely make us forget about past network follies and shows like PLL completely losing their way after gaining our trust and enthusiasm in its beginning stages. Reinhart is effortlessly serving up 'Bizarre, Bilateral, Betty Bananas' like a full-on, award ready, seasoned vet. Seriously, I don't want to blow too much smoke up the kid's ass, but I'm pretty sure her breakthrough performance here would even make the likes of decorated actress such as Nicole Kidman proud. Betty Cooper has a duality that Reinhart not only highlights with strong, hearty performances... But it's also the efforts of Director Dawn Williamson, a phenomenal Art Department (you guys KICK MAJOR ASS), Cinematographer Stephen Jackson (this guy was award-worthy in this episode), and Costume & Wardrobe (hell, everyone involved in the smallest, minute details) framed from shot to shot... The absurdity of how tight & perfectly situated her ponytail is, how hard she clenches her hands (leaving scratch marks on her palms), even the way she holds the cake & dawns the signature 'Jughead Crown', to whoever made the call of having those weirdo party goers in horse masks in the background - Good call, guys! That was freaking CRAZY! It's all those little things that make the picture such a pleasure to watch... Turning what seems like a normal teen drama at first glance, to a finely tuned, surprisingly compelling theatrical spectacle. The crazy is in full on abundance, though... It's not just Betty. Suddenly after a string of a few disappointing episodes, I come back after a break and either see things in a totally different light, or it could be that this was just slowly building right under our noses the whole time, or *the most plausible of all three options* is that the ironically lowest rated episode of the series, according to the great analysts over at Nielsen, is actually the most technically sound, character driven, insanely atmospheric entry of the entire 1st Season. Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) finally lets go of some deep resentments she's been bottling up and goes after Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch). This is a task that I wouldn't suggest to any person of sound or capable mind to attempt in any way, shape, fashion, or form. The act is crazy in and of itself, and pissing off the 'Ravishing Redhead' that literally wears the letters 'HBIC' on the back of her cheerleading uniform, that's 'Head Bitch in Charge' for anyone too young or too old to remember Tiffany Pollard of VH1's 'I Love New York', is obviously going to lead to a backlash that Veronica won't likely forget. Sure she might get her big 'W' now, but we must remind you... There's no 'W' in 'HBIC'. Meanwhile, Cole Sprouse & Skeet Ulrich, who plays Serpent Gangster FP Jones & Jughead's father on the show, are literally close to actually convincing me that they are really father and son in real life. The little ticks and nuances that they share are out of this fn' world insane. Either these two have spent a week in a trailer together mirroring their every move or we seriously need to ring in Maury Povich for a DNA Test! Oh, and apparently there's some guy on the show named Archie Andrews (KJ Apa)... The only drawback is that they've failed to make the main protagonist (is he tho?) even remotely interesting. He's good looking, but he's not a convincing redhead, and I'm still not hooked into his arc. Hey, that's ok... Enter Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald - ChaChing!), Archie's long lost mother. So nice of you to finally drop in, Molly! Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) is ready to finalize the divorce, but we're just biting on all the possibly juicy dramatic scenarios! Who is Archie again? Back at the party, that burgeoning rivalry between Veronica and Cheryl hits its boiling point when Veronica gets a bit too carried away and accuses Cheryl and her deceased brother Jason (Trevor Stines) of having an incestious affair. Ah, gotta love seedy underbelly of the United States! The more money, the crazier the family!!! Oh but there's more! Good ol' All-American Chuck (Jordan Calloway), who actually WAS almost boiled alive, attempts to out Betty on her 'Dr. Jeckyl/Ms. Hyde' issue that surfaced when a hot tub prank got a bit too out of hand earlier in the season. To our surprise, and viewer delight, Jughead and his Dad actually had a moment, which was completely unexpected, yet felt completely real. Like I said before, Ulrich & Sprouse have stellar chemistry, and the writers seem to know this and obviously derive great pleasure in giving us this moment where the two aren't at total odds and Jughead not only carefully considers, but actually takes his biological father's advice... Providing solid proof that the series isn't trying to meander or stretch out any unnecessary storylines at all. No disrespect to fans of other series broadcast on The CW, but clearly this isn't 'The Flash'. These storylines seem to be heading into important territory at a reasonable pace, and not just hanging around to fulfill an episode number requested by an executive to make sure ad-space quotas are filled... Although I have considered that this could be an issue that the show could run into in its expanded 22-Episode Run that it's been greenlit for S2. There's plenty of juicy drama to go around, but when we see that drama making moves instead of being drawn out, then you know you've got a potentially good show on your hands. For now, 'Riverdale' is back on a solid trajectory, delivering what appears to be a set-up episode for the impending S1 finale... A set-up episode that was easily the most consistent entry to date from start to finish. The impression that an episode as good as this exists to move its characters like chess pieces, seemingly just to put everyone in place for the final three episodes is an exciting notion for the last 3 hours of S1 of 'Riverdale' to come!