#like there are no good timelines on this arc they all hurt like woah

[etlu-yume]

"We'll protect the people we love with these hands, Raise your eyes, it's time to fight. The end of earth, because we don't want to see that, With our hearts decided it's time for battle."

(Sailor War, 1993-2002, multiple versions throughout the SeraMyu verse)

Excuse the roughness, but the new album art for Cosmos bothered me so much. There was so little movement. And... no matter what way you look at it, Stars arc is /not/ a happy time??? (if I feel up to it I might try and come back and do the starlights + Kakyuu too)

[stxrmylxve]

Hi!

How about a Mikey x reader do-over? Like after time-leaping into the final timeline he got the chance to set things right with his family and frienda but also the reader? Meet them again for the first time or give them a better life... I am curious how would that go in your mind?

Only if you are into such a thing?

Also big thank you on your chifuyu x reader piece from before. I loved it. 💜

Oh my gosh hi again!! i’m so so glad you liked it <33

READ BEFORE: pre timeskip mikey is in the bonten arc where he was white hair and is a killer. post timeskip, he goes back to when shinichiro was alive. in the anime, it does say that was when he was a tiny kid, but take that out and imagine him as the toman leader. sorry for the confusion 😭😭

“shinichiro, you don’t understand. I have to go back.” mikey pleads to his older brother, the hazy figure flickering in and out of view.

“manjiro, how am i supposed to send you back when i’m dead?” he asks, being met with sickening silence as he begins to fade out.

“i’ll do what i can, but there is no guarantee, little brother.”

Mikey doubled over and cried, knowing that it probably couldn’t come true. he cried for what felt like ages until his eye became blood red. he got up and walked past the haitani brothers, not uttering a word as he drove off on his bike. The drive home was silent and as he walked in, he went straight to his room to lay down.

He knew he had screwed up. badly. he didn’t want it to end up like this, but he got too caught up in fixing parts that didn’t need to get fixed, not to mention in the wrong way. he drifted off to sleep in thought, hoping to sleep soundly and wake up to a whole new, and correct, world.

“jiro, manjiro..”

the words woke him up, but yet his eyes were met with a white background.

“hello?” he called out, the image of shinichiro and y/n flickering into vision.

“good morning sleepyhead.” y/n says with a giggle as shinichiro grins down.

“where am i?” mikey asks as he looks around; everywhere was pure white.

“in a loop. i had a talk with a friend of mine, they can send you back.” shinichiro scowl as mikey beems with delight.

“really?! this-“

“but,” shinichiro interupts, causing mikey to wither almost instantly as y/n fades out, “promise me this, manjiro. fix y/n correctly this time.” he finishes with a sour frown.

mikey tears up at the sight he had seen so vividly; the sound of you falling limp on the ground as the men beside you cackled and took down their poles. he had hunted all of the men down, but it still didn’t feel right. it hadn’t fixed anything, you were still gone from his life and would never come back.

“i promise.” mikey mutters as he wipes his tears with a determined smile and held his hand out. shinichiro smiled back and took his hand, and the rest was a blur. it was like he was getting sucked into his own skin, something too small it didn’t hurt, but it was beyond uncomfortable.

He shot up in his bed, sweat coating his forehead like a sheet. he looked around, it was his old bedroom. he found the placement of the clock, it’s numbers reading ‘10:26 am, August 14th’ as he sighed.

Izana kicked the door open with a sigh, mumbling something before turning to mikey. “mikey, you have a meeting at 11:00, remember? get ready or you won’t have enough time to get to the shrine.” he says as he shuts the door again, a big smile forming on mikey’s lips as he jumped out of bed.

He threw on his uniform and brushed his teeth, cursing when a drop of toothpaste fell and got on his sock and the floor. he stumbled out of his bedroom and was met with the smell of shinichiro’s cooking, dragging him to the kitchen to see his older brother alive and happy.

“MANJI- oh, good morning.” he says, surprised mikey was down here before his morning call.

He doesn’t respond, just rushes over and hugs the taller man as small tears form in his eyes.

“woah hey, what’s up?” shinichiro asks. he guesses that he wouldn’t know about the time leap since this shinichiro wasn’t present in the conversation.

“nothing, and hey, don’t go to the bike shop today? okay? I’ll cover.” mikey says with a smile as he takes a dorayaki off of the counter and walks to the door.

“mikey, i have detailing to do-“

“no, don’t do it today. take the day off for once, please?” he pleads, knowing all too well how it would work out by night time.

“fine. don’t be out for too long, i expect a movie tonight!” shinichiro calls out as mikey waves and walks out of the door.

When mikey gets to the shrine, he is met with toman fighting.

“draken, you know it’s a bad choice! kisaki will ruin us-“

“shut up takemichi!” baji says as he punches him, nailing his right in the nose with a crunch.

“baji-san, stop!” chifuyu calls out as he rushes to takemichi’s aid, wiping the blood gushing from the boy’s nose with a frown.

“baji, drop it.” mikey says darkly as he walks through the fight, everyone stiffening and rushing to their formations in an instant.

“draken, do the meeting. baji, come here.” mikey says as he muches on his dorayaki, draken cocking an eyebrow before shrugging and beginning the meeting himself. baji rolls his eyes and trudges over to where mikey sat away from the meeting.

mikey takes the last bite and punches baji in the gut, catching baji off guard as he doubles over with a groan.

“what i says goes, alright? i want kisaki out, now.” mikey says as he glares at baji with angered eyes, “by the way, if you lay another finger on takemichi, you’re out too. you even made the rule of no fighting amongst members, idiot.” mikey says as he walks away, sitting back down next to draken as he looks through the crowd for kisaki. of course he wasn’t there, how generous of hanma to show up.

“hanma! come here.” mikey calls as the taller male perks up with a grin. he pushes through the gang members, his lanky limbs throwing people down as he walks up a few of the steps.

“where is kisaki today?” mikey asks, hanma’s eyes narrowing as his smile falters in a frown.

“he had other business to tend to, he will be coming towards the end of the meeting.” hanma says after a while as he turns around and walks back to his conversation, his dark tone shifting to his chaotic self as he wraps an arm around takemichi with a grin.

As if on cue, kisaki shows up with a scowl as he joins hanma’s conversation.

“baji~” mikey coos as he nods towards the man, a sigh emiting from the man as he walked over with draken towards kisaki.

“im going to leave now, fill me in if anything happens.” mikey says as mitsuya and hakkai nod, allowing mikey to walk through as they watch the gang and continue to talk.

mikey looks at the time on his watch, 11:36am on the clock as he smiled. that wasn’t the worst timing persay.

he walks through an alleyway, the men scurrying to the sides as mikey walks through. he gets through and takes a right, following a small path before being face to face with your house. your parents were sitting on the front porch chatting.

mikey nervously walks towards the house, your parents going quiet when they heard the gate creek open suddenly.

“uhm.. is y/n here?” he asks as your parents look him up and down with a frown.

“what do you want with her?”

“hey mom- oh, hey mikey.” you say as you create a awkward stalemate conversation.

“hey, can i come in?” he asks as you look for confirmation with your parents before nodding.

“sure, let me talk to them first though.” you say with a smile as you move aside so he can walk in, a small peck landing on your temple as he brushes past inside.

If he remembers right, a gang came to your house and got you and your parents. he never apologized and it bit him in the butt not too, so he was here to change your fate and redeem himself. you eventually came back inside, a frown on your face as you grumbled something and met him in your bedroom.

When you walked in, mikey was looking at all of the photos on your wall, most of which were you with a big proud smile of your accomplishments.

“what did you need?” you ask, startling him as his head drops to look at the floor.

“i’m breaking up with you.” he says, silence looming over like a storm cloud as tears formed in both his and your eyes.

“may I ask.. why?” you ask as you walk over to your desk, fiddling with a stress ball as he walked over to the window. He would have answered why, but at the gate stood the big gang of moebius, preparing to storm through the gates for you.

Mikey dashed down the hallway, flying down the stairs as he ran outside with a devilish look.

“wanna go at them? get through me you fuckers!” he yells as he runs right at Osanai, charging into him and throwing him down. he jumped from person to person as he knocked each of them out, grabbing a steel pipe from one of their hands to hit the other ones out. by the time he was done, the ground around his was littered in bodies and blood.

He looked up to see your parents staring at him in horror, holding you back as you thrashed around. he dropped the pipe as tears rolled down his cheek, turning around and walking away dispite your calls.

“Mikey watch out!”

[just-horrible-things]

‘Verse: Resistance Story: Unlikely Salvation, co-author @whump-sprite Timeline: Arc 2, Alex and Ari have been living together a little while

Alex Stabbed, pt3 [ First | Pt1 | Prev | Next ]

It's cold that drags her back to full wakefulness. Not acute, air-hurts-to-breathe cold, but the slow and steady discomfort of not being quite warm enough to sleep. Alex is still cold against her, despite the close press of their bodies and the layer of insulation over the top. 

Shit, she thinks, she was going to try and get some sugar and hot fluids into him, once he was a little warmer. She shouldn't have let herself doze. It's hard to let go of Alex. It feels good, holding him close. But she's done enough damn damage, making herself feel good at his expense. 

So she peels herself off him, tucking the covers carefully back in close so as to keep in whatever warmth he has, and rolls out of the bed. They've made a right mess of it. They'll need to move again - and soon. She killed a guy and she left the murder weapon at the scene, covered in her prints. They need more distance. But not now. She cranks the thermostat up, shivering, and puts the kettle on. She can find more clothes to pile on top of the covers, too. He deserves more than her faltering efforts, but he'll have the best she can do.

---

There are no dreams, at first. Just warmth, and relief, and the pleasure of something soft beneath him rather than the cold stone floor. 

But when she leaves, when the cold and the pain set back in, he dreams of her. 

Give me something, anything, and this can all stop, she hisses. She's on the other side of the room, standing calmly, while the guard slams the metal baton into his abdomen. 

I don't know, I don't know any of that, please, please, they, please, interrogator... 

Thud. He wails. She smiles. 

And then he tells her Anders' address. He tells her the place where they teach the children. Then the safehouse that's their makeshift hospital, because they can't trust the real ones. 

It's not enough. Thud. He keeps talking. He can't stop. Thud. She smiles, and tells the guard to keep going. 

"Please, interrogator," he moans out loud into the pillows, while the interrogator herself is making him tea.

---

It ought to cut deeper. But she's heard it so many times, both when he was hers and she was the government's, and since then. So often when he sleeps. It's just familiar, where it ought to be painful with guilt. 

So she twists the knife herself, reminding herself of how tirelessly he spent his magic on her broken bones. How he went above and beyond, dulling the pain for her, cool hands on her inflamed skin. Bought her food, drove her away from danger, paid her way while she found her feet. How he did all that, after everything she did to him. 

He cared for her, knowing what she is, when she broke him without caring enough to wonder if he might be a better person than her. 

There, now it stings like it should. 

"Alex," she answers softly. "Alex, you're safe, I'm not going to hurt you." 

Her voice wobbles a little, and she swallows to make it steady. She wasn't stabbed, she wasn't tortured. She has no right. 

"Wake up, Alex. I'm not going to hurt you. Are you thirsty? There's tea here for you - you don't have to do anything, it's yours as soon as it's brewed..."

----

Alex... Alex, wake up, not going to hurt you.... 

He wakes immediately, and with confused, bloodshot eyes looks at her as he grabs at his abdomen where the guard beat - no, where they stabbed him - shit, shit, shit. 

"What did I --- Ariadne, what did I say --- while I was sleeping, what ---" He tries to sit up, and looks at her in panic, not entirely sure whether she is his friend or his interrogator. Had he said it all? Had he said those secrets, out loud, in his sleep? She can't know them, still can't know them --- 

---

It's not exactly a surprise, how he startles awake, but it still makes her jump. She's on edge. 

"Woah, woah, shh, you're still injured-!" It comes out a little more forceful than she means - not with anger but just surprise and fear for him. 

—

The pain and exhaustion overtake him, and he falls back, gasping, a bit of blood soaking through his bandages onto his fingers. He can't heal in front of her, even if he could heal at all --- can he? Is that allowed? 

He can't begin to think about tea.

—

She deliberately drops her voice to answer the question. Indoor voice. Calm as she can keep it. "You didn't say much." What does he think he said? It seems urgent. She knows about waking with the dreams still more pressing than reality. "Just 'please', and 'please interrogator'." She feels as bad as she should, repeating it. How ashamed, he must feel, to still beg in his sleep. How cruel of her, to rub it in. 

But he seems desperate to know. And it's not as if it's anything he hasn't said before. God, what a thought to have. She shouldn't think such things. He has meant it every time, she knows, and she didn't care. 

"Nothing else," she assures him. "Just that, and then you woke up. Please don't try to move yet...?"

---

Just please, and please interrogator. Alex falls back on the pillows in relief. "Okay." 

That's fine. Only a sliver of shame. He's gone well beyond humiliation with her, a long time ago. He's sobbed and pleaded and whined and flinched and yet somehow, she doesn't seem to think he's pathetic. He is, of course. But he knows that. It's no revelation. 

If it were Taryn there maybe he'd say it hurts or he'd ask her for another blanket because it's still cold. But it's not Taryn, and he doesn't want to ask her for anything, not knowing what request might be too much. His bones sink into the bed, chilled to the marrow. His abdomen is a spiral of pain, radiating under his ribs and up to his shoulders. If he heals again, the cold will be worse, the cold that has only started to release its grip a few millimeters under three blankets with the heat turned all the way up. The pain or the cold. He'll take the pain, for now. 

He remembers, suddenly, that he fell asleep with her holding him. 

That he felt safe, warm, like that. 

Because if she's soft and curled around him, she's not stern and cruel and in the corner, signaling the guard to keep going with an impassive, brutal face. If she's holding him to keep him warm, she's incompatible with that. 

He wants to ask her to come back. But that's more impossible, more ridiculous, than any other request he might make. 

"Not moving," he says obediently. "Hurts to move."

---

She nods, relieved, and turns a fraction of her attention back to mugs and hot water and as much sugar as will dissolve. For a moment she wonders if it's selfish to be making herself tea too. But she's cold. Most of her is still listening for any sounds Alex makes, trying to work through what she can say to him. 

"You’re safe here,” she starts. “This is a BnB because we couldn’t stay at the other place, but our stuff’s in the car. We can stay here…” For how long, she's not sure. “At least for tonight.

"I know it hurts, I can't fix that, I would if I could. There's painkillers, if you can swallow them. It'll help a little. And tea, I hope it'll warm you up a bit, and you need to get some water in you, you lost a lot of blood..." She's rambling, she knows. But she doesn't know how present he is, whether he's here or lost in memory and clinging dream. 

She makes herself shut up to offer him the hot drink. Careful, not sure if his hands will have enough grip to take it. Moving cautiously. Wary of spooking him with any sudden motion that might be taken as aggression.

---

"Please," he murmurs, to all of it. It's hard, with his magic and thus his soul running on empty, to reconcile her, this attentive creature making him tea and bringing him painkillers, with the cruel interrogator of his dreams. They only look a bit alike. How --- he doesn't know how. 

"Why ---" he murmurs first, and he isn't sure if he knows what he's asking why about. 

He grips the tea with shaky fingers, momentarily afraid that if he drops it, he'll be hit. A tiny flinch, at the thought. 

The warmth soaks into the frigid little bones of his fingers. He drinks it right away, and savors the burn on his tongue. 

It comes to him. 

"Why are you doing all this for me?"

---

Why? 

The question floors her. How could she not? Alex is everything she has. 

He's the reason she's still alive. He saved her from death and worse. He's her anchor, with every other tie she had in the world cut. He's the most moral person she has ever known. If she devotes her life to doing everything for him she won't ever make up for a fraction of what she did to him.

"Because you're hurt," her mouth is saying. Hesitant, faltering. "You need it." And I need you. 

But how can she explain that, if he still doesn't expect her to reciprocate basic necessities? Living and working together, planning how to make ends meet, she thought they were starting to settle into a routine. It was almost starting to feel comfortable. 

But how could he ever feel comfortable around her? 

She feels hollow, like his words opened up some chasm inside her and her insides just fell away, leaving a brittle shell. She needs him, but she doesn't deserve him. 

"We're... in this together, aren't we?" she is asking anxiously. She curses herself as soon as the words leave her mouth. She can't ask that of him, as if her newly good intentions entitle her to a comfortable relationship. 

"I just want to help you, if I can..."

---

Another swallow of tea. The throbbing beneath his ribcage makes him dizzy, tilts the bed under him, twists his thoughts into clouds that slip through his fingers. He doesn’t know if he’s thought we’re in this together a good way to describe them. Sure, they’ve behaved as some sort of team, if only for basic necessities, ever since her limbs were able to carry her.

She needed him, at first. Needed him for any hope of a life not spent confined to bed in agony from Taryn’s cruelty.

She doesn’t need him, anymore. So why was there fear in her eyes at the thought of losing him?

“But, I… I mean, y-you’re healed now, int- Ariadne.” His tongue feels dry in his throat. He takes another sip, presses the hot tea to his cheek as if it would ground him. “Why, h-help -”

Speaking is effort. Thinking is worse. He was her prisoner, and then he was her healer, and now --- now --- 

What am I to you?

How can I be good for you, now?

---

Why help?

Two quiet, hesitant words, but the question is so vast Ariadne has no idea how to wrap words around the answer. She stares dumbly at Alex.

Why help?

It’s so obvious to her, and yet she can’t put together a single reason.

“You saved me,” she fumbles. “You… I owe you. I owe you a lot. It’s… not enough, helping you. But if I can…” You can have everything I can give. It still won’t be enough.

“I want to help you,” she repeats, voice thick with emotion. “That’s all I want.” She can feel the colour in her face, but for once she doesn’t hate it. She should be ashamed. She’s ashamed of everything she is.

“You deserve… so much better.”

---

He’s known it, in the way she’ll bring him food and it’s not a reward for good behavior, remembers his preferences, lets him have the bed when there’s only one. But it’s never fully been said out loud. There’s been a change, not just in which one of them is gazing up at the other with agony-ridden eyes, but in the way she views him.

The way she views warlocks?

The way she views herself?

The lips of the interrogator speak strange words, of help, of deserving better, and he shouldn’t believe her, shouldn’t believe her for a second, not with the way she sat and demanded cruelty be inflicted on his body, unyielding metal on fragile skin. A day at work for her, a new horrifying chapter in his horror-filled life.

But he does. Believe her, and he’s glad of it, because if she feels that way about him, it must mean he’s done well. Made her happy. Been good.

There is part of him attempting to make sense of her words, of what has happened here, fighting its way out from behind the overwhelming desire to please.

And that’s the part that speaks hesitantly and says, part statement, part question: “You want… to help me.” Breath, pause, swallow. “You… wouldn’t want to go back anymore. To the feds. Even… even if they’d welcome you.”

---

It hurts, confronting the truth.

Day to day she -- doesn’t quite forget, can’t forget the reality of how she lives now -- but she doesn’t feel it like she does now. Shame burns in her face, her eyes, her throat. Deeper, in her core, the hollow weight of horror that makes it almost hard to breathe. All of it sharper for having to put it into words.

“I don’t want to go back,” she repeats. “Even if they’d have me. Welcome me.” A breath in. She has to force the words. “I was… very wrong, to hurt you. I’ve… been wrong about… a lot of things. I want… I don’t want to do that any more.”

Clenching her teeth has not stopped the tears from forming. She hates herself for crying - a sharp flash of fury that she has to try and swallow in case Alex thinks she’s angry with him. She brushes the tears off her cheeks roughly with the back of a hand. There are more.

She takes a deep breath, and tries to ignore the tears. “If you’d rather I just left, it’s still on the table. Once you’re well, I mean. You only ever need to say. We can split the money and you’ll never see me again. I won’t go back to the feds.”

Alex is quiet. He finishes his tea, and wordlessly Ariadne holds out her hands for the mug. The kettle is still hot, and starts to hiss and rattle almost as soon as she switches it on.

“I don’t want you to go,” he says, sounding uncertain. “Then I’ll stay,” she says. “As long as you want me to, I’ll stay.”

I’ll do better, she wants to promise. I’ll make things better for you, better than they are.

But she doesn’t know what she can promise to do, when it’s her fault that everything is fucked in the first place.

[Next]

[seqka711]

Ranking the six main boy/girl ships in Yu-Gi-Oh from best to worst!

Not all main girl ships are created equally, I'm afraid. Let's take a look at each ship and see what's up! (Except Sevens because as I mentioned in a previous post, I am way too far behind to comment on anything in that show.)

First up is Anzu and Yugi! And YES I do ship them! However, I don't ship Atem and Anzu. Anzu was friends with Yugi, and started to see him in a different light when Atem started showing up. However, those changing feelings also started to influence her feelings about Yugi as well. We saw that in Duelist Kingdom. Then in season 2 when she realizes they're two separate people, she gets really confused! Anzu doesn't know how to feel anymore! Then Atem and Yugi are both playing wingman for each other, so that's not helping matters. I don't really ship Atem and Anzu because Atem just doesn't seem super interested in their date. I know he had other things on his mind, but if they wanted me to ship it, now was the time to show off some chemistry and they didn't.

We saw in GX that Yugi grows up to look just like Atem and he also grows more confident over the course of the series. After the end of Duel Monsters, I think they're both too hurt by Atem's passing to be digging on each other. But, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and I feel like she's gonna come back from the states and have some heart-pounding feelings when she sees him again. And Yugi's feelings didn't change, they were just put on the back burner. So hopefully when they meet back up, sparks are gonna fly! At least, I hope so. <3

~

Next up is Asuka and Judai! When I watched their first duel, I was 100% on board with this ship. They were cute, they had great banter, it was a fair fight. I loved it! But over the course of the series, I started losing interest in their relationship, fast. By the end of season 2 I was pretty convinced they had abandoned Asuka x Judai for Asuka x Manjoume, and honestly, I was 100% on board with that, I love a good romcom couple and those two have dysfunctional romcom energy. Plus they had evil power couple vibes when they were running the Society of Light together, so I thought for sure they were gonna have Manjoume and Asuka be better friends post possession.

Then season 3 came a long and I was like "woah, they DID do that on purpose! I was right!" when we saw the Judai x Johan x Yubel love triangle they spent the entire season on. Asuka and Manjoume were of course relegated to background characters, as was everyone who wasn't a transfer student. And then the series ended with a pretty definitive Judai x Yubel ending and I was like "cool I like it".

But then season 4 made me question everything by making it clear that Asuka was still crushing on Judai?!?! Uhhh.... what? You haven't mentioned this crush in OVER TWO YEARS ASUKA. You've both changed so much! I thought the whole point was "she had a fleeting crush on him in year 1, but people change and so do our feelings"! I thought they had her fall out of love with him on purpose!! You're telling me the writers just wanted us to ASSUME she was still in love with him this whole time?!

I honestly love the whole "had a crush on him, now that I know him better, he's an amazing friend but I don't like him that way anymore" dynamic and they RUINED IT so bad. And for what? To say "well they fought the whole time, but now look! They can tag duel together!" Well, jokes on them, because a few episodes later Judai and Johan will show off some of the tightest teamwork in the show and I'll have to throw Asuka x Judai in the trash. </3`

~

Yusei x Aki!!!!!! AHHHHHH I LOVE THEM. Their first duel is very romantic in my opinion. Yusei lives to help people, and it's actually a flaw of his that he'll help people no matter the cost. Usually that's sort of a "who cares" flaw in a protagonist, but for Yusei, it adds a lot of depth to his character. The reason he helps people even at the cost of himself is because he feels enormously guilty due to his parents' involvement in Zero Reverse, and he feels like he owes the world (but especially Satellite) everything. Yusei tried to go to jail in Kiryu's stead, but failed, and I think that only compounded his guilt even more.

Then, when Yusei sees the chance to help Aki, he does it. He's scared of her, but he rallies his courage to face her so that he can help her. And it's only natural that Aki would fall hopelessly in love with him after he continually put himself at risk over and over again JUST to help her. I love the episode where she rescues him from being kidnapped and then accompanies him on a riding duel. I think it hits me harder because it reminds me of how much I want to drive a motorcycle but can't because of reasons I won't go into. But part of her desire to learn to riding duel is because she wants to feel the same things Yusei feels. And that's so cute!

Unfortunately, I do have a certain headcanon that gets in the way of my shipping desires. I won't get into the whole headcanon, but I think Yusei might have ended up time travelling back in time to fix Zero Reverse and prevent Zone's future. And Aki wouldn't have come with him because we see her in the flashforward. Yusei is still giving her strength though. And I like to think that maybe a much older Yusei was able to help a much younger Aki control her powers and not enter a cult in the new timeline. And if my headcanon isn't true, then GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES GUYS. <3

~

On the one hand, I love Kotori x Yuma. They’re so adorable! Not only is Kotori surprisingly self-aware of her crush (usually the YGO girls love to deny it) but Yuma clearly treats her differently from the rest of his friends, even though he doesn’t know why (yet). Kotori’s confession at the end of the show is SO CUTE AND ADORABLE and Yuma accepts and I love it!

But… I can’t love it as much as I WANT to love it. Kotori’s character, especially in Zexal II is kind of boring. I liked her a lot in Zexal I actually. I thought it was fine to have a character not duel as long as she was doing something else. In season 1 she occasionally gets shit done. Or she’s there for comic relief like when she’s riding the duel coaster. Or arguing with Orbital 7. It wasn’t much, but it was something. In season 2, she’s a total non-entity. I thought the duel where she gets possessed was very funny, but I almost wish that her getting possessed by a Barian was played for drama rather than laughs.

I think what could have been cool is either a) after she can hear Astral, her and Astral team up for a duel or b) when watching Yuma she started to memorize his strategies. Or both. Or neither, just get this girl something to do BESIDES watch Yuma! In the end, my love for how adorable these two are is always somewhat soured by Kotori’s squandered potential. <3

~

Speaking of squandered potential, Yuzu and Yuya are next on the list. I love these two A TON! I’ll be perfectly honest and admit my biases here, I am NOT the biggest fan of Arc-V. The show had a lot of problems, and I’m harsher on it than most.

But one thing I really did like about the beginning of the show was Yuzu! She was independent, driven and her dueling was getting better as the show progressed. Just like Kotori, she became a non-entity in the latter seasons. However, I ship Yuya x Yuzu more than I ship Yuma x Kotori because Yuya was always keeping Yuzu in mind during the latter seasons. So it still felt like the ship was in focus, whereas with Kotori x Yuma, the ship kind of disappeared since more important things were going on. For Yuya, nothing was more important than getting Yuzu back, so really I had no choice BUT to ship it. How could I not? It was so sweet! She was his whole world! I wish we got more scenes with the two of them together though. Them never tag dueling is a crime against humanity. Also its total BS that only Yuya and Yuzu got to come back, but whatever, I guess. I was happy that the two of them reunited and even HAPPIER that the show was finally over. <3

~

Last and basically least, Yusaku x Aoi. Or Playmaker x Blue Maiden. I’ll be honest, I don’t ship this at all. The show doesn’t go through any effort to get us invested in their so-called “relationship” and if I had watched this show on its own, unaware of the series’ tropes, I wouldn’t have assumed they were a “ship” at all. With Judai x Asuka, I actually liked the fake out (at least until S4 when I wondered whether or not the fake out was actually on purpose or if the writers are just morons) but with Yusaku x Aoi I get frustrated because it wouldn’t have been that hard to GIVE them some chemistry. They’re both interesting characters, and I think Aoi and Yusaku could have had an interesting dynamic if Aoi had learned Playmaker’s identity a lot sooner.

What I think the show should have done was have Aoi discover Playmaker and Soulburner’s identity at the same time they discovered each other. Then have Aqua come into the fold a lot earlier. Trios are popular in fiction for a reason, and I think Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi would have been an excellent trio. Specifically, with both Yusaku and Aoi being so reserved, their relationship would be very understated. But that’s not a bad thing. It just means that the writers would have to put more focus on the little things. Like, maybe after a while of being friends, Yusaku sits next to her in class. That would be a small thing for other people, but for those two, that’s huge! I could also see there being a fun episode where Ai tries to trick them into going on a date but fails spectacularly. The two of them end up spending time together to foil the plan. That could be really cute! LITERALLY ANYTHING is better than NOTHING.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t ship this because the writers thought they could get me to ship it just by having boy meets girl and then having them shake hands over a hundred episodes later. And no. I refuse. I need a LITTLE more than that, please and thank you. </3

~

That was a very long post! All in all, 4/6 ain’t bad at all! Or maybe it’s more like a 3.5 since I only gave Kotori and Yuma a small heart? It doesn’t really matter, I’m a multishipper. At my heart and soul, I’ll ship anything. Like I said I don’t ship Judai and Asuka, but I totally have shippy fanart of them on my phone, lol. It’s more like… which of these ships would I defend in court and which ships do I only like because I’m trash that’ll ship anything?

Oh, I guess I did title this as a ranking... Well, I'm sure you can figure out my most and least favourites by how much I used caps lock, so it should be fine.

Give me ANY Yu-Gi-Oh ship (straight, gay or in between) and I’ll dissect it like I did these six.

[missnight0wl]

For the ask meme thing, can you do Penny, Ben, Merula, Charlie and Skye?

Well, it turned out rather lengthy. I was even considering splitting it to separate posts, but I don’t know… I ended up putting it under the cut. If anyone actually cares about it and prefers similar analyses to be in shorter posts, let me know!

Penny

First impression:

“A popular blonde girl? Well, all right, I guess.”

Impression now:

“Why. Are. You. Everywhere?”

So yeah, I’m among people tired of seeing Penny in almost every side quest while also being very prominent in the main story. The difference is that, for me, it started already at some point in year 4. 

I’m not saying that she’s a bad character or anything, but I just feel like her potential is terribly wasted for the sake of putting her on the screen, even without rhyme or reason. One thing that bothers me is that Penny is flawed – which on its own is a really GOOD thing. The problem is that it’s not being explored but usually just excused by circumstances instead. Penny is impulsive and she performs badly under pressure, but we see it mostly in situations like after Scarlett’s death, after Beatrice went missing/got trapped, after Merula stole her potion – and it’s never addressed after. And I believe it should, especially in situations like the last case I mentioned. Sure, it’s understandable that Penny wanted to get justice and recognition she deserved, but also the fact that she went straight to making someone impersonate a professor… feels a bit extreme.  What I’m trying to say is that it’d be beneficial for Penny to make her flaws more “part of her”, in a way. For example, when we were considering both Penny or Charlie for the Portrait Vault, I wanted someone to say that Penny indeed might want to help because of personal involvement, but she also performs badly when strong emotions are involved.

Another thing is that even the thing which should be Penny’s main strengths (gossiping, “personal network”) are almost meaningless for the main story. Like, I don’t recall any situations where she used her connections to learn something about Jacob from older students etc. It’d be great to see her researching Rakepick alongside Tulip during year 4, too, yet Tulip was doing it alone. There was one situation in Y4Ch4:

… but even if you say “yes”, it’s never brought up again. Of course, using Penny’s gossiping more effectively means more Penny in the game, and we don’t really need that. So it’s rather the idea for how her character should’ve been written from the beginning: remove her from side quests which do absolutely nothing for her character, and use what you gave her from the start. Because currently, Penny feels kind of empty…

Favorite moment:

I’m not sure if I have one, to be honest. It’s not that I hate all of them, but none is particularly special for me. I did like our conversation from Y6Ch11 about Beatrice which showed that Penny can work on accepting changes:

Too bad that it was quickly thrown to trash since everyone loses their minds because of that stupid escapee, so…

Idea for a story:

I don’t want more stories with Penny so I don’t really have ideas for one.

More seriously, though, it’d probably be something involving acknowledgement of Penny’s flaws and working on improvement. Something that would expand the scene I mentioned above.

Unpopular opinion:

I feel like a lot of things I discussed already are unpopular opinions… Still, here’s something else:

Penny’s hairstyle is ugly. There, I said it. I know it’s silly, but it bothers me ever since I saw it for the first time in the game. I can agree that Penny is a stereotypically pretty girl, but the hairstyle kind of ruins the whole design. It’s just… so unnecessarily complicated. Like, it’s 4 in 1: hair down, two braids on the sides, a braid on bangs, and a knot on a back. Just pick two, it’d be much better! I can’t help but think that it was a “bring your child to work” day at Jam City, and some 5-years-old was like: “I want her to have this, and this, and this… and this!”. The hairstyle doesn’t have to be super complex to be impressive and draw attention.

Favorite relationship:

Hm, probably with Chiara. The first Halloween TLSQ is a hot mess, but the relationship between those two girls, how Penny overcome her fear, was a really nice element.

Favorite headcanon:

Penny having her own Apothecary at Diagon Alley or in Hogsmeade. I imagine she’d have many propositions to become a professor etc., but I think she’d like to have her own place where she can do her experiments, maybe give advice to her customers. She’d probably be in touch with Liz because of the ingredients (I can see “no creatures were hurt” labels). Oh, and with Chiara too, perhaps to help her with the Lycanthropy cure.

Ben

First impression:

“Either you have a great story or you’ll be used as comic relief.”

Impression now:

“Stop using my boy’s story as comic relief!”

Of course, that’s an oversimplification. But there is something about it that Ben was never really presented… seriously. First, it was his anxiety which was usually being exaggerated, and I assume it was partially to make it look funny. It was only during classes when we could find out that Ben’s father is an actuary, that there’s a ghost at his house and Ben’s parents didn’t believe him about it, that he was bullied in his Muggle school. All of that are very real reasons for his insecurity to develop. And I think that we should’ve talked more about that. Because now, people are used to Ben not being serious, and when they see lines like:

… they also don’t take him seriously. Hell, I’m not sure the writers take him seriously when I see something like that.

I really don’t mind New Ben, but I do think it could’ve been much better executed. Especially when it comes to what led to his change – which brings us back to how terribly bad Y5Ch30 was…

Favorite moment:

His part in the O.W.L.s TLSQ:

Idea for a story:

Any story explaining some of many mysteries Ben holds.

Unpopular opinion:

I’m not sure if it’s an unpopular opinion, but I think that whether or not you (mostly) trusted Ben in the previous years, it should’ve had a bigger impact on the relationship between him and MC in year 6. I’m also really bothered that we’re not getting an option to tell him that he was brave even in the past. I know that a lot of situations showing Ben’s courage were optional, but still. I’d like to remind him that he was already protecting his friends when he took the spell on himself during the attack at the beginning of year 5, or when he disarmed Rowan put under Imperius. Those are constant points in the story.

Favorite relationship:

Definitely with Charlie. I’m really upset that the writers didn’t pay much attention to that, and we only got glimpses of Charlie being supportive of Ben. Still, it was really endearing and enough to steal my heart.

Also, I want to mention here the relationship between Ben and Rowan, because it’s another thing that I wish would be elaborated more. I mean, I understand that it was overshadowed in later years by Rowan being suspicious, but I feel like what we’re kind of forgetting is that they’re part of the original trio: MC, Rowan, and Ben. I’m not including Penny here, because yes, she was there since year 1, but she’s a popular girl, a friend of everyone. The trio was a group of awkward kids, not exactly fitting to the rest. And while Rowan was always closer to MC, they cared about Ben as well (I believe they did all that time and still do). When Ben went missing, Rowan was really upset:

I really hoped we’ll get more of them growing back closer after Y5Ch19, but… yeah.

Favorite headcanon:

Ben becoming a healer. He’d be great at this, not only because he’s a powerful wizard, but also because his patients will appreciate his calming attitude – that is when Ben overcomes his own trauma.

Merula

First impression:

“Well, I guess you have to be in that game.”

Impression now:

“Well, I guess you have to be in that game.”

I’m not even being sarcastic. My current opinion on Merula is pretty much the same as it was at the beginning: I don’t really care. There were some changes on the way, of course, from “Woah, you’re an intense one, huh?”, to “Can you just leave me alone?”, to some small hope in year 4 that she might be turn into something interesting, to finally end with total disappointment after our meeting at the Three Broomsticks in Y5Ch2.

I never really had high hopes for Merula, simply because the whole “enemies to friends” and whatnot is not really my thing. I might end up liking it, but it’s not something I’m seeking for on my own. So I was more like: “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes since I’m already here anyway”. And… it didn’t really go anywhere. Some months ago I wrote a post about Merula not changing throughout the story (you can find it here), and sadly, I think it’s still true. And personally, at this point, I just accepted that Jam City can’t handle her arc properly. But I also know that they think that they need such character to be included, just because.

Favorite moment:

When Merula was defeated by Torvus and MC looked really happy about it (even though I know it was likely just a coincidence).

Seriously though, I don’t think I have one.

Idea for a story:

The story I really wish to see – and which is crucial for Merula’s redemption arc to even begin – is Merula acknowledging things she’s done to people, where she apologies for that and at least try to treat them better. I’m talking here not only about MC, but also about the others (it could be actually more important, in my opinion). You know, something similar to “A Christmas Carol” might’ve been interesting. Now, I’m talking more about the idea, I don’t think Merula should get the whole Christmas quest for herself – although it’d be more satisfying and meaningful than taking her to the Burrow.

And make it part of the main story, not some side quest lost in the timeline!

Unpopular opinion:

The opinions on Merula are so polarised that I guess everything might be considered unpopular. So hm…

All right, here’s the thing. I can’t really feel sorry for Merula about what happened in the Portrait Vault. Not because I think she deserved it or anything – absolutely not. I don’t want her to suffer either physically or emotionally. But the reason why I am not emotional about THAT scene is because it was just so… pointless and stupid. It doesn’t make sense for anything.

First of all, I can’t see it as Rakepick betraying her trust since she didn’t use her admiration for her own benefit at all. Like… ugh. If Merula didn’t like Rakepick at that point, it’d change nothing. Also, what’s the point of it for Merula’s character anyway? The game tries to tell us that she regressed because of that, but there was little to no progress, to begin with. She treated people badly before, she does it after - they’re the same picture. It didn’t even make Merula realise that she shouldn’t idolize powerful people only because they’re powerful – she’s doing the exact same thing with her “crush” on Jacob!

Favorite relationship:

Don’t really have one. To be fair, we don’t know much about Merula’s relationships. And from what we know, I’d say they’re more or less toxic, so I just can’t really call any of them my favourite. That being said, I’m quite curious about her relationship with Diego. I wouldn’t call it a friendship from what we’ve seen, but she was treating him… decently? And is it even a thing anymore? Yet another thing that could’ve been explored more.

Favorite headcanon:

Again, don’t really have one.

Charlie

First impression:

“What have I done to deserve your support?”

Impression now:

“What have you done, my boy, to be treated so terribly by the writers?”

Let’s start by saying that I still think that Charlie is arguably the most supportive of our friends overall. It’s not that the others are not, it’s just that Charlie’s role in year 4 is very prominent to me – especially when we keep in mind that Bill told us that Charlie wanted to help us already at the end of year 3, so before we (and Charlie) could’ve known that it’ll involve the Forbidden Forest. But then… something happened in year 5, and I just don’t get it. I’m still upset that they wrote him as if he had never anything to do with the Cursed Vaults if you take him to the Portrait Vault. Then, he had a pretty nice moment in year6 when he offered his help with Trelawney’s prophecy:

… and then we had a recent situation with Ben. And to be frank, I get Charlie here. In fact, it was probably healthy for him to finally “snap”. Because when you think about it, Charlie and MC have one important thing in common: they deal with emotions by ignoring them. After Ben’s attack in year 4, Charlie focused first on helping us with the Forest Vault, then on helping Ben. Right after the Portrait Vault, he focused on Bill. In year 6, he focused on his brothers, he immediately caught the opportunity to focus on helping MC with the prophecy. The only reason why he told us about wanting to leave for Romania was that MC wanted to meet with him. So yeah, Charlie has plenty suppressed emotions – just like MC does.

There’s also another problem with that scene, in my opinion. You see, while you can say: “Well, he knew what he was signing for by befriending MC”, and I can agree that he should know that… I don’t think he does. Or rather the writers don’t acknowledge that. It’s something I’m noticing more and more often since the end of year 5 (not only with Charlie). Because when you look at what Charlie said, she referenced only that: Rakepick’s betrayal and the present events. And it simply doesn’t make sense. Why it’s the escapee that he’s worried about? He should be worried that even with Rakepick gone, someone might be controlled and forced to hurt their friends. That HE can be forced to hurt his own brothers or MC. He could’ve both blamed MC for that AND be scared about that. It’d be so much more powerful and meaningful, and just cohesive with the story. And I’m just… so upset about it.

Favorite moment:

Of course, the “Egg Hunt” SQ.

Seriously, it was so good. The ending is adorable, but I really like it as the whole. It treated Charlie really well. It used his passion for dragons, but also showed him as a good friend, and we got a glimpse of his resourcefulness when it comes to earning money, for example (and his tendency to do crimes!).

Idea for a story:

Anything showing more of his personality. He’s going to basically represent the Order of the Phoenix abroad – show us this charisma. There were already some moments for that in the story, but we need more. Charlie is not only about dragons.

Unpopular opinion:

Hm, it’s sort of related to what I already said about his character being changed in year 5. You see, many people claim that Charlie was ruined in year 5 in general, from the start – and I can’t agree with that. It only happened in the second half. Compare those two scenes, for instance.

Y5Ch13 (if you’re a prefect, there’s no middle line):

And his weird concerns about going to the Prefects’ bathroom by the end of the year:

I don’t know, it almost feels like two different characters to me. Another example is the scene where we met Duncan.

(…)

Charlie’s fans complained that he didn’t react here, and he only thought about a dragon at the end. But listen, here’s a thing… Yes, it was really sweet that Bill went into defensive mode and all, but Duncan is a freaking ghost. He couldn’t do anything to MC. So yeah, of course, Charlie was focused on the passion of his life when there was no real danger. And the fact that he didn’t react to Duncan “insulting” Jacob – well, neither did Bill, because it was a conversation between Duncan and MC, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Also, the chapter ends there, but you know what happens in the next one when we go to meet Torvus? Charlie is there with us, even though we didn’t even ask him (we were with Tulip and Merula when we decided to go there)! And that’s because the Forbidden Forest is where something dangerous might actually happen.

Just because Charlie was less present in year 5 and sometimes showed that he thinks also about himself doesn’t mean that he became a worse friend to MC or cared less about them.

Favorite relationship:

It has to be with Bill. Their bond is sweet and their interactions are often hilarious.

Favorite headcanon:

I really like headcanon about Charlie having magical dragon tattoos which move. I added to it a little that he got the first tattoo with Bill when they went together on a holiday trip around Europe. I wanted it to happen after Bill’s graduation, but it doesn’t really go along with the events of the Portrait Vault in my mind, so maybe it’d be after Charlie’s graduation.

Skye

First impression:

“Are you sure you’re not related to Oliver Wood?”

I mean, they do have a pretty similar mindset about Quidditch…

Impression now:

Honestly, I can’t say much here. I quit the Quidditch storyline right before the first match, and while I took a peek on the plot right after this and the Comet TLSQ, my experience was somewhat limited. I can say that I definitely enjoyed her the least from the new characters. I suppose she’s just not my type of a person.

Favorite moment:

As I said, I didn’t really like interacting with her, but her scenes with Orion were pretty entertaining (I know I’m cheating because it’s more about Orion than Skye, but shhh…).

Idea for a story:

Again, I don’t care about Quidditch so I didn’t give much thought to that. But I suppose it’d be interesting to see the Quidditch gang interacting with the regular gang (though I’m fairly certain it won’t happen).

Unpopular opinion:

I don’t really have an unpopular opinion on Skye, but here’s one for the Quidditch content in general: it’s pretty boring. I’m kind of biased since I wasn’t interested in that addition, to begin with, but I gave it a shot. The characters are all right, the gameplay mechanisms are not the worst for a mobile game, but overall? I’m disappointed.

First of all, it doesn’t even feel like it’s about Quidditch. I wanted them to at least pretend that some sports strategic are involved. For example, before the first match, I’d like to hear that the opposing team has a new keeper so it might be good to choose a move based on distraction etc. Anything. It always brings down to the question: “Which new character you like the best?”. And speaking of characters, while I can agree that they are well-written (mostly), I really don’t think they were needed. I’d like it much more if the time spent on their creation was dedicated to developing the ones from the main story. Finally, I wish Quidditch chapters were being released along with the main chapters, simply because with the current schedule, year 6 will last forever. It’s not really a problem for me personally, but I just don’t want to think about people whining twice as much as it was with year 5. Not to mention forgetting the plot… 

The Quidditch addition was hyped as if it was the best thing to happen since the release of the game. But in my opinion, it might be the worst.

Oh, and I just thought about something more Skye related. The way they presented Parkin’s Pincer? It’s a damn foul, and nobody can tell me otherwise. You’re basically throwing off another player of their broom. Seriously, what the hell?

Favorite relationship:

With Orion, I guess?

Favorite headcanon:

I kind of go along with headcanon that she has a pretty heavy Scottish accent. I’m not sure now if I stole it from @/wilhelminafujita or I saw it circulating in more places…

[pomegranate-belle]

ok so i saw ur posts about murderdock and leme just say that any redemption arc with him needs a foggy he clearly is just a sad boi who has never been loved and all he needs is fog to legitimately sit him down and say "woah dude killing is bad" and he's just kinda confused like what not even a lil stab? imagine spider-gwen teaches him how to beat baddies w/o killing and he's just like i didn't know this was a thing?? Gwen and fog are his proud parents when he shows the most basic human decency

Afsgsgfdj anon I love you and your faith in our boy. 💖 You inspire me.

I do agree that Foggy would have to be a pretty big component of any Murderdock redemption arc, but imo these slightly-bruised avocados need lots of marriage counseling before they’d be any good for each other. Given that they still call one another “Matt” and “Foggy”, and some dialogue that alludes to previous collusion between them (tsk tsk, no fraternizing with opposing counsel Mr. District Attorney!) they are still somewhat close in the Gwenverse but they tend to feed one another’s bad sides. Without a Matt that pushes him towards #justice and getting paid in pie, Foggy is a bit too pragmatic — he cares more about keeping his job/reputation than he does about who might get hurt in the process. And without a Foggy who has the confidence and emotional influence to rein him in, Murderdock has a double-dose of regular Matt’s manipulative nature and none of his desire to protect.

That said, my headcanon about “Matt gets his ass kicked intellectually by Foggy in college and is consumed with lust about it” still stands in this universe, and I think if the Hand tried to hurt Foggy, Murderdock would go completely berserk. Which might jumpstart him into the realization that he has some Feelings he’s been ignoring.

The thing is, I feel like Murderdock is way more volatile than most other Matts. I mean he’s still Matt so you’re right that he’s a sad boi who needs lots of TLC, but he’s also a Hand assassin and the Kingpin, so a redemption arc likely isn’t going to be easy sailing — he IS the bad guy, after all. But since the thing that turned him down the path to villainy wasn’t under his control, I really do want him to get a redemption arc — and I want Gwen and Foggy to believe he’s worth it.

Currently I have four basic Murderdock “redemption” scenarios:

1. Gwen leans hard into Murderdock’s attempts to mentor/corrupt her to evil and uses their time together to try and do a little manipulating of her own — turn him to the Light Side, as it were. Possibly she also gets the idea to bring Foggy into it from her trips to the OG comicsverse with 616!Spider-Woman.

2. Post-SG timeline, when the Hand is trying to assassinate him, Murderdock goes to Foggy and accidentally gets him almost killed too, realizes he has Feelings, and they possibly convince Gwen to put them in witness protection in another universe (although this would probably require heavy SHIELD supervision/jail time).

3. A Foggy from another universe falls into the Gwenverse and completely bowls Murderdock over with his unabashed love for Matt Murdock. Murderdock catches feelings and then angsts about alt!Foggy wanting to get home to his own Matt, but decides to defy the Hand in order to help him.

4. The Spider-Verse 2 plot, where Murderdock finds out about Gwen’s watch, steals it, and decides maybe that’s how he’ll escape the Hand’s control — which backfires spectacularly when they send an army of ninjas after him to conquer the Milesverse and kidnap Foggy for leverage. He also probably meets the Milesverse’s Matt and Foggy, who are Well-Adjusted Girlfriends, and starts secretly pining for a relationship like that of his own.

At the moment I’m leaning strongly towards a combination of 1 and 4, because it has some great possibilities for single-Spider-Person-brain-cell shenanigans, where Gwen’s bad experiences with Murderdock make her and Miles super suspicious of the two overly nice lawyers trying very hard to become Miles’s weird aunts (pre-DD reveal and post-N&M meet Miles-as-Spider-Man) — but upon realizing with some help from Peter B that Gwen’s Matt is the odd one out, they hatch a hare-brained scheme to “course-correct” him. About halfway through it is when Murderdock catches on that something’s fishy, follows Gwen to the Milesverse, and decides that he’s going to use it as his escape route from the Hand.

No matter what though he is definitely gonna have to become less stabbity, and I can only imagine that learning curve will be downright hilarious. :D

[just-horrible-things]

‘Verse: Resistance Story: Unlikely Salvation, co-author @whump-sprite Timeline: Arc 5, Ariadne is loyal to the Resistance

Begging for Water, pt5 [ First | Pt1 | Prev | Next (alt) | Next]

There is no reason left to keep Ariadne alive. She should be taken out and executed. She is not looking forward to being dragged out of the cell with all her broken bones. But at least it will be over soon.

Except no one comes to kill her.

The fear and guilt and shame she conjured to fling at the mindfucker don’t go away just because she is alone in her head now. They circle like sharks, ripping pieces out of her at will.

She is twice a traitor now. She is worthless. She is a failure. Anders Reyan taught her personally and she still couldn’t keep that fuck out of her head. She shouldn’t have let it get to that point. She didn’t have a strategy. She couldn’t keep her head.

She should be glad that no one is coming for her. She isn’t worth saving. She couldn’t help Alex, in the end. She has only made his life worse. And now he will mourn her too.

—

When the door opens and admits the asshole who was the least awful of her interrogators, Ariadne panics.

No more, please no more, there’s no reason to hurt her any more.

She scrambles weakly backwards, whimpering in terror..

“Woah,” he says, “calm down. It’s only me.” As if he hasn’t beaten her and whipped her and found a dozen ways to make her scream.

Dry sobs bubble up and overwhelm her, splitting her ribcage open with every harsh breath.

He crouches beside her and tilts her head towards him and she is too terrified to pretend that his touch is a comfort. “– ple-ease –” she gasps out “– please jus – kill me, please sir – please –” He breathes out slowly, and there is regret in his eyes. “That’s not authorised,” he tells her. “Not yet.” “– why –? sir ple-ease no mo-ore …” “I brought you water,” he says. She wants it too badly to refuse. “please sir,” she begs promptly. “please sir, ple-ease, please…” He’s already unscrewing the cap. “Here. No catch.”

He has to support her head for her to drink. His hands are warm. Irrationally she wishes he would let her sleep in his lap again.

“I can’t stay,” he says, sounding almost apologetic. “But I’ll come back.”

She doesn’t feel good about that promise. But the implications are beyond her grasp. She just wants it all to stop.

[ Next (alt) | Next ]