#love them both but yoru is so over the top and its great

[cptnghoulowl]

I have nothing to say except that Yoru might actually be my favourite character in Chainsaw Man part 2.

She is such a cringefail dumb bitch (affectionate).

Absolute dumb dumb.

[jhoudiey]

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve added anything to Loru, but I’ve FINALLY finished her birthday fic! Yay! My bird girl is 18 now! The only warning for this I guess is Implied Violence, 2900 words. Borrowed Theo and Kore from @girl-in-the-tower and Scarlet from @rikanoctrix since I want to try and add more OCs into Yoru canon going forward.

__________

“Neee Fugu-chan” Floyd grumbled, having kicked his way unceremoniously into Yoru’s room

“Floyd it’s too early for you to be this loud, what do you want?” She mumbled, not bothering to pull herself up from her mattress where she way laying face down

“I wanted to be the first person to wish you a h----aaappy birthday”  he said, stifling a yawn

“You’re too late for the birthday thing, sounds like you came for a nap”

“That too” he said casually, throwing his uniform jacket toward her desk chair. It missed and landed in a pile on the floor. He jumped over Yoru and bounced slightly when he hit the mattress. She shoved one of her pillows at him, opening her eyes the tiniest amount.

“Its only 9 though, who already said happy birthday?” he whined, clutching the pillow to his chest to look at her. She blinked slowly at him before responding. 

“Ortho at exactly midnight, Idia at like 6 this morning when we realized the time, and my dad when I got home. If you wanna nap do it quietly, I just got to bed” she turned away from him and buried her head in her pillow again. 

“Have any big birthday plans?” he asked, looking over the edge of his pillow. She rolled back to glare at him

“Dinner later with my dad and some staff. That’s it. No you can’t come. It’s not a party. Good night” she said bluntly, shoving her face back into her pillow.

“Night Fugu-chan!” Floyd murmured, curling up on the other side of the bed.

It was already dark when she woke up, she could smell dinner being cooked from downstairs and hoped that Crowley had at least asked some of the cafeteria ghosts to cook instead of trying to cook it himself. He’d tried to bake her birthday cake 2 years ago and almost set the house on fire, he hadn’t attempted cooking since. Yoru showered, threw some clothes on and made her way downstairs to the dining room. 

“SURPRISE!” She was almost blown backwards by the noise and took a step back. The room was full of staff and the few friends she’d managed to collect while haunting the grounds of NRC. Floyd grinned at her from behind Jade and Azul, Ortho was floating near the front of the table with a huge smile on his face with Idias tablet floating nearby, and the staff were all gathered around the room wherever they’d fit. She’d never had a birthday where so many people came for dinner, and was taken a aback

“Neeee Fugu-Chan!” Floyd called “You said I wasn’t invited but I bet you never knew there was going to be a party for you!” He smirked at her, Jade chuckling softly beside him. 

“Uhhhh...what...is going on?” she asked, looking around the room at everyone, still shocked to see so many people. Crowley swooped down on her from across the room, draping his arm across her shoulders. 

“Oh my sweet daughter, I thought for your 18th birthday we should have a spectacular party for you with all of your friends and family!” he gestured around the room with his other arm. “Everyone is here to celebrate with you, so make sure to not run away!” He steered her deeper into the room, sitting her down at the head of the table laden with food. She awkwardly glanced around the room, was she supposed to say anything? Were there customs for this sort of thing? She sat in silence, fidgeting a little in her chair, hoping that someone else would say something to break the tension that had settled over the room. 

“Yoru-san! What sort of gifts did you ask for!?” Ortho chirped enthusiastically, flying a little off his seat. For Idias birthday the three of them had hidden away and played a few board games, what she wouldn’t give to be repeating that experience right now.

“Ummm… nothing. I usually just get whatever I need throughout the year myself… I don’t really know what I would ask for”... She trailed off looking around the room once more, were they going to expect her to open presents? Was there even presents to open? Generally the teachers gave her new notebooks or reference books, but they’d always just leave them for her on the table without ever having wrapped them. Yoru wasn’t sure what else to say, and was worried she’d be further interrogated about gifts; she started filling her plate, hoping that the food would at least act as a buffer for the pressure that was slowly spreading through the room. As she was piling her plate to tottering she noticed an unfamiliar face in the corner near professor Yule, she paused and stared at the girl wondering if they’d met before and she’d just forgotten. The girl smiled shyly at her and waved, Yoru was certain they’d never actually met before, there weren't any other girls at NRC, and there wasn’t any reason for a random girl from the village to be here…

“Yoru, this is my daughter Kore” Theo said to her with a slight nod “She’s come to stay at NRC with me, though she’ll be living in Ramshackle dorm with Yuu for the time being. I’m sure you’ll get along” He smiled at her, knowing that it was unlikely. Yoru was, afterall, prickly and not very open to new friends and Kore herself could be difficult. Yoru grimaced and gave the girl a quick nod before turning back to the table, hoping that there weren’t any more surprises planned for the evening. Theo let out a sigh of relief “honestly I thought that was going to go way worse” he chuckled a little looking at Kore. She had her face set and was looking towards Yoru’s back, fists tightened into balls, daring Yoru to say something about her lack of magic. 

The night carried on, conversation flowing more easily once everyone started eating. Azul was trying to worm the recipes out of Crowley so he could co-opt them for the lounge, while Crowley was giving every excuse he could to not have to admit that it was the ghosts that had cooked and not him. As dinner wound down, Yoru started getting anxious again as she wasn’t certain what was supposed to come next. Why did Crowley think it was a good idea to have her entertain a room full of people? Luckily everyone was entertaining themselves for the most part, so she’d been able to have a muttered conversation with Idias tablet, making escape plans for as soon as she was able to sneak away. 

“Yoru-san! Me and Ni-san made you this, he said that it would help you out a lot!” Ortho cheered suddenly from the table. “N-Not so loud, Ortho” The tablet groaned “Sorry Ni-san! Look Yoru! It’s a tablet like the one Ni-san has! He set it to easy mode cause he knows you suck!” Ortho beamed at her “Wow Idia, real nice.” She said sarcastically “You know what I meant! You suck with computers! I made this one idiot proof, just for you hehehehe, there’s no way you can mess this one up!” Ortho thrust the tablet at her, where it floated near her head “Oh this is weird” she said, looking sideways at it as it beeped quietly at her, even if it was set to be user friendly, she knew she’d have to get Idias help setting it up later.  

“Yoru! My girl! You’re 18 now! Congratulations!” Vargas boasted, throwing an arm around her shoulder. She suspected him and Theo may have had a few too many drinks, he was being more affectionate than normal, and Theo was actually smiling. She didn’t blame him, having to deal with Crowley out of a professional setting could be draining. “You can’t turn 18 without a proper gift though! I brought you something!” He beamed at her, pulling the largest container of protein powder she’d ever seen from out behind his back. She couldn’t help but laugh a little, of course he would think protein powder was a good gift- not that he was wrong. Protein powder would be really useful for her to get back into shape, she’d ended up losing a lot of weight over the winter and needed to gain it back... It had been a while since the two of them had done any training, she made a mental note to ask him to get back to sparring once her wings had fully grown back in and her mobility was back to 100%. 

“Vargas, isn’t that a little… hmmmm” Crewel had started, before sighing and shaking his head a little “Nevermind, Yoru, I think this book of antidotes to rare poisons will come in handy” He said, glaring at her. She knew that look too well, there would be hell to pay if she poisoned herself and needed his help recovering again. She’d hoped that maybe her New Years accident wouldn’t have made it to Crewel’s ears, but Crowley was always a loudmouth so she suspected everyone in the room knew that she’d almost died a mere 4 weeks before. “Thanks Crewel” she muttered, rifling through the pages. 

“A book of antidotes, Crewel? How disappointing” Theo scoffed, cutting Crewel off before he could respond to Yoru. They’d had a long standing rivalry and no way he’d let Crewel get another word in. “here Yoru, this may be of some help. I found it on one of my expeditions.” He handed her a small compass with the needle spinning wildly “It’ll point you to what you need most at any given time” He smiled at her, chuckling a little at the needle spinning dizzyingly fast. Yoru grinned, Theo always had the neatest stuff, she was glad to be given an artifact of her own, even if this one seemed to be broken. If it wasn’t, it should be pointing towards the Ignihyde dorm, since at that moment she wanted nothing more than to be hiding away in Idias room in silence. She slid the compass in her pocket and  glanced to the side toward Kore who was there holding out a cabbage. “I didn’t know what to get you since we’ve never met, but I think everyone has a use for cabbage so here!” she thrust it at yoru who grabbed it with both hands, a grin growing across her face. Cabbage. As a gift. “This is great, I love cabbage” She smiled, thinking it was probably all downhill from here, food was really hard to top as a gift, good job girl she had never met. As she turned to put the cabbage down, Azul cleared his throat gently from the table. 

“Ahhh Yoru-san! While we’re on gifts, we’re pleased to say we’ve brought one for you as well!” He smiled at her and Floyd handed her a box. All three of the Octavinelle boys were smiling at her as she opened it, it was quite unnerving to be watched so closely by them. Inside was what she realized was her Mostro Lounge uniform. Azuls smile widened “I’m glad Professor Crewel was able to lend a hand to assist in the tailoring of it, it should fit perfectly for you to start work with us in the Lounge tomorrow”. Yoru rolled her eyes at him. “Oh yay, can’t wait. What if it doesn’t fit?” she asked. Crewel scoffed at her. “I tailored it, of course it will fit, there is no question.” She sighed, knowing he was right. He’d been able to alter her high school uniform for her perfectly before she realized that Walpurga Nacht Academy had a strict “no alterations of any kind” policy. 

“Here Yoru-chan! You can use this to take orders in the Lounge!” Scarlet interrupted, beaming at her. She’d been the nurse at NRC longer than Yoru had been alive and was excited to be here celebrating her 18th birthday with everyone. She handed Yoru a shocking pink notebook with cartoon unicorns all over it, complete with a neon-holographic sticker sheet of cute and cuddly creatures. “You can use it to take notes too! I know how much you write down, so I knew a notebook would be handy!” Her smile was shining so brightly Yoru had a hard time looking at her, she felt guilty knowing she’d only ever use this particular notebook if every other object that could be written on disappeared from existence. She took the notebook and placed it on top of the box containing her Mostro Lounge uniform, ready to be carried upstairs back to her bedroom. She felt her chance to escape the party was approaching, the pile of gifts needing to be carted away a blessing in disguise 

“Hmmmm my favourite demon-chan has so many gifts!” Sam exclaimed, looking around at all of them, “Perhaps she doesn’t need another...” he teased, smiling widely at her. “Hmmm, but if she didn’t need any other gifts, then what would I do with this vial of Dragon blood?” Yorus eyes widened. She’d asked Sam if he could try and find her some more than six months ago but he’d never gotten back to her. “Sam! You found some! This is amazing!!!” She was ecstatic, holding the vial in her hands, an entire new world of potion making opportunities opening up to her. Crewel and Crowley gave each other a short glance, it wasn’t a good idea for her to have something so dangerous, especially if she was going to continue experimenting on herself. “Hmmm Sam, perhaps that isn’t a good gift for a young woman?” Crowley tried to protest, the glare Yoru shot him quieted him down immediately. “Thank you Sam, this will be really useful”.

“Ahhh Sam, again with the dangerous gifts” Trein sighed handing Yoru a small book bound in a strange leather. “Here Yoru, you had asked me before about Harpies but I wasn’t able to tell you much. I’ve found a history of them, as brief as it is, hopefully this will answer some your questions” He gave her a small smile, she accepted the book with a small nod. She had been beginning to wonder more about her mother and the Strophrades Isle, but there was nothing in the library on the topic, which she had found strange. She’d meant to ask Crowley the best way to get there and information on her mother, but had forgotten . Even if she had, she assumed he’d talk her ear off, having been starved for conversation with his daughter for the last month. She had vowed to never speak with him again after he’d given Azul permission to drug her, and so far had been able to keep the promise to herself. 

She placed the book on top of the others and grabbed the pile of gifts to carry up to her room, the cabbage and protein powder balanced precariously on top. “I uhhh.. Don’t know how birthday parties are supposed to end so thanks everyone…” she muttered, walking out of the room to start climbing the stairs to her room. “Just a minute, Nugget!” Crowley called after her “You never got my gift!” he called up the stairs behind her, she ignored him. 

“How embarrassing, headmaster, your own Nugget ignoring you” Jade said quietly, staring at Crowleys back. “Jade, if I ever hear you call me Nugget I swear I will rip your tongue out” Yoru yelled down the stairs. “Fufufu, than I shall make sure you never hear me” he grinned. “Neee  Fugu-chan! What if I call you Nugget-Chan?” Floyd yelled after her, Azul, Jade, Ortho, and Idias tablet laughing quietly. “The same goes for you Floyd! I will eat your tongue for dinner!” She threatened. Everyone remaining in the room grinned, trying to think of ways to work the word Nugget into their everyday vocabulary. 

“Oh!” Crowley cried out suddenly “We forgot the cake!” He rushed into the kitchen, returning moments later with a two-tiered white cake with a large 18 drawn on the top in green icing. “Yoru! Come back and get some cake!” Crowley's face fell when there was no response, he knew she’d likely left out the window already, the promise of cake not enough to bring her back. “Well, it would be a waste to not eat it…” he mused to himself before looking at the room at large “Okay! Who wants cake!” He smiled at everyone raising their hands. 

***

“Hey, where’s the cake?” Idia asked when Yoru pushed her way into his room.

“Cake?” She questioned, holding the tablet he’d made for her out to him. “I need help setting this up” He sighed and grabbed the tablet from her hand, easily tapping through the screens to set it up for her.

“You come and ask me for favours and don’t even bring any cake, what kind of friend are you!?” he complained.

“We didn’t even have cake, what are you talking about?” She sat down on his bed, watching him tinkering with the tablet. 

“Crowley said there was cake, and you didn’t bring any with you!”

“Oh. I must have left before then. Ortho is still there, get him to bring some back and we can eat it here”

“Oooh! Good idea!” He whispered to Ortho from his tablet, a childish grin creeping across his face at the promise of cake.

[himurokira]

Underdogs Report!

The live was amazing, I really do love Erosion so much and I'm so glad they decided to stream the entire thing

God it would have been incredible to see in person like I would not have hesitated planning a JP trip but travel bans lmaoo-

Both performances were really good but imo vocally they sounded much better during the night performance so if you're looking to buy delayed viewing tickets or smth I recommend the night one

Also Su did really amazing for it being his first live, he also did some uhh very interesting things

The costumes were soo nice I really love what the costumer did with the designs, I was kind of worried about Yoru's outfit in particular but they managed to make it look not like a single dad, Ranchan looked incredible! I also love the personal touches he added (the wig, contacts, and tattoo)!

Anyways onto the performance

Setlist was pretty much the same for both performances except the last song

Live opened with Vigilante and I almost cried since I didn't think they'd perform it and also it's the song that got me interested in the series (insert me screaming no fxcking way to my friends when I heard the first note)

Then they went immediately into From a Spicy Peak, which is... Well I like the song but it was really just Chibasho and Ranchan singing while Tosshi, Su, and Yuuya stood in the back

The guys did a very quick introduction and then went into Radhead very fun and aggressive

Then they sang Aspiration immediately after. God I think it would be really rough to go from Radhead to Aspiration bc they're both very intense songs but they pulled it off really well! They gave Tosshi a mic stand which is always a dangerous prop to give someone ww

Short intermission where the had a short voice drama

Drama 1: Erosion live rehearsals! Yoru and Toxin start fighting over how Toxin's doing the scream in Underdogs - Toxin freaks out (as he does) and when he calms down he and Yoru try and compare their screaming. They each end up breaking one of Neight's glasses lenses as a result. Byakuya joins in and his scream ends up shattering the light fixture and killing the lights. Neight passes out and comes back as Ura Neight and goes on a tiny rampage because Byakuya was joking about how Neight's scared of the dark. Then the scene changes to Toxin alone talking about finding "that" for Carnelian.

Then it’s time for Lighthouse, really nice choice it really broke up the tension from the drama part and Su sounded lovely his voice is really nice 🥺

Next up was The Oath, beautiful and haunting Yuuya did incredible I could not believe how well he held those notes especially in Byakuya's voice (biased). When he did the たからものなの bit I was floored it was so haunting, I got chills, he really did that God KING!

Sham'ing next, ahh I really love this song, all five of them went to the top of the stage and they all had masks that they tossed away as their solo parts came up. Sham'ing already hits but hoo! Hearing it live is something else, I was really impressed with Ranchan's rapping in this one

Drama intermission again!

Drama 2: This takes place during the live, the boys are on stage addressing the audience when something happens, Toxin then Yoru drops their mics- somethings wrong. Soon all five of them are wheezing on stage, something happened to make them all want blood at the same time. "That" must be there, it's the only explanation. Toxin soon wanders off and starts addressing someone (pointing at self meme?) and how he'd finally found "that" for Carnelian. Toxin gets closer the screen goes dark and then the sound of Toxin drinking blood happens.

MC part next! The guys talk about their experience crack jokes etc etc I can’t remember all the details

Su shows up with his vest zipped up, Chibasho takes off his jacket and gloves bc its hot, and during night performance they get Ranchan to take off his button up and vest because if you know you know

Pien koete paon koete pien ga okadosu koi no suke

Time for Getout, another intense and fun one

Then onto the title song Underdogs. Ohh y’know this and that, the performance was great as expected. Su takes off his shirt, and just performs shirtless for half the song 🤪, twitter was in a frenzy, me and my moots were screaming, if anything brought everyone together during the live it was Suzuki Ryota taking off his shirt hhaha so like if you see inexplicable fanart of Neight shirtless this is why

Song ends and there's a short break for everyone to change before MC/announcements/encore

Announcements first which are all on the official twitter already, album, artbook, new apparel collab (aha my wallet).

One last MC part, Tosshi being the oldest member and by extension the mom of a group has a bit of a heart to heart, thank u tosshi we love u tosshi.

During night performance Su was kind of messing around with Chibasho and Yuuya, they were dancing to the side while the others were talking it was funny I love the dynamic they have going

Then final song time!

The day performance got the title track of the album "What is Mine"

And the night performance got the second new song from the Ecstasy version of the album "The Sun Also Rises"

Both of the songs really go off as expected, stan talent stan Erosion, and it makes me super excited for the album I cannot wait

All in all the live was amazing, really loved the energy it was fun it was intense but it did have it's slower moments. It was a really great live that captured Erosion's vibe I definitely recommend getting the delayed viewing tickets if you're a fan and able to!!

[ryuukia]

[Translation] Tsukihana Kagura Cast Presentation: Geppaku (Procellarum)

Merry Christmas everyone~! Working on this was a bit more difficult because, well... life, but at long last, here’s Procella’s cast presentation. Ryota’s already done with Alive so expect me to post those starting next week maybe?

Many, many thanks to Ryota and Chrome for assisting with this and helping with the proofread! Please don’t repost/retranslate/reuse my translations. Likes and reblogs are appreciated!

Nation: the affiliated country’s name Flower name: the name as a dancer Dance technique: the name of each person’s characteristic dance Dance props: the name of the tool used while dancing (there are cases when none are used)

Shimotsuki Shun

“Geppaku, let’s us go ♪”

Nation: Geppaku ※chief

Flower name: Geppaku (Moon Spirit)

Dance technique: Amanotokotachi no Kami

Dance props: Folding fan / Inscription: [Shisoku] (Downfall for everything)

This young man is the lord of the ‘Shimotsuki’ household, a lineage that carved its place into the core of ‘Geppaku’, one of the oldest and most mysterious nations as well as Shikkoku’s other half.

The powers he was born with are so strong that simply his presence can greatly affect his surroundings. Because of that, he spends most of his time in the depths of a palace kept under strong protection (seals) and layers of barriers…… Yet despite his awful situation, he simply answers with “It’s fine, it’s fine ♪” when being asked about it. 

He prefers staying indoors as his palace is exceedingly comfortable (his soft, fur futon is his favourite) and if he’s required to go out he can just use a quick technique to do so.

In other words, the seals are pointless. He’s nothing but ‘a shut-in with no desire to work, both of his own volition’. Regardless of all that, his dance is beautiful enough to steal the soul of any person who happens to witness it. 

Fuduki Kai

“It’s all right when we from Geppaku receive all the other colors!”

Nation: Geppaku

Flower name: Souhaku (Pale)

Dance technique: Wadatsumi (The God of the Sea)

Dance props: Long sword / Inscription: [Seigaiha] (Wave Pattern)

He's the son of a servant who visited the ‘Shimotsuki’ household frequently and is Shun’s childhood friend, the latter happening due to Shun’s wish of wanting to play with him more in his younger days.

He has always had a lot of great accomplishments, and while he plays around with Shun, his ability to use his techniques is exceptional. He has even become a very distinguished person in their nation.

He has a special connection with water and his strong point is a technique he uses to control it.

During the Tsukihana Festival's live broadcast, he and Shun incorporate a combined method that uses his water mirror technique atop a watchtower.

Interview with Shimotsuki Shun (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

You wouldn’t expect to see me on the stage dancing loosely with a folding fan in my hand, would you? Alright, Shun-sama will show you how serious he is ☆…… Just kidding. The rehearsals brought me the chance to watch and share advice with units that have dances similar to ours, like QUELL and VAZZY. Such exchanges happen often behind the scenes, it’s what makes joint stage-plays fun.

On the other hand, Shu and Takaaki have a lot of experience, they’re without a doubt professionals ♪

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

White tea.

A white tea with a pleasant scent would be perfect. I want to have a tea party with everyone!

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

In the innermost parts of a mysterious country, I’m the lovely character who snuggles in soft fur all day. All the Procella members have taken care of their hair and cut their nails with particular attention to detail, you know? ... Just like always? That's right (laughs). Fufufu no fu~♪

Interview with Fuduki Kai (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

The highlight is the elegant choreography that Shun's great at!

Eh? I seem like I'll be bad at it? No, no. This is where my experience as someone with a lot of ballad songs will shine through! ... Or at least, I hope it does (laughs)!

The song’s got a certain atmosphere to it, so in order to not ruin that I’ll practice until I can show off Fuduki Kai’s beautiful side. Fighting!

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Panna Cotta.

Holy Cotta.

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

This time my role’s a bit more mysterious than the previous ones.

While I do give some sort of advice to the other nations' members, I always do it with a bit of an enigmatic smile on my face (laughs). I’ll do my best!

Haduki You

“Well, I may take things lightly…but at the right moment I won’t lose, y’know?”

Nation: Geppaku

Flower name: Shirahae (White Breeze of the South)

Dance technique: Nanten Sojou (Ascent from the Southern Sky)

Dance props: No props

Ever since ‘Geppaku’ took form, the control of the power spots has been split between day and night. 

The ‘Haduki’ household is in charge of the day territories, with You being the third son among the monk brothers.

His carefree character stands out a lot, though he's skillful and well-rounded as someone who has mastery over a wide range of techniques to match the situation.

His childhood friend is Yoru, the only son of the ‘Nagatsuki’ household, a lineage who protects the night territories. Dusk is the point when day is replaced by night, a moment marked by a joint dance between the two sides. 

Nagatsuki Yoru

“Would you like to try your luck?”

Nation: Geppaku

Flower name: Jihaku (Innocent heart)

Dance technique: Unjou Roukaku (Celestial Castle)

Dance props: Rabbit mask / Inscription: [Gyokuto] (Moon)

Yoru is the only son of the ‘Nagatsuki’ household, a family who controls the night power spots. He’s a gentle person by nature, just like the darkness of the night which envelops people closely and quietly.

People who have lost their way look for him for some power when they're "down on their luck." He's probably someone who can bring hope to people who find themselves in a dead end.

You from the ‘Haduki’ household is his childhood friend, the two being on good terms even in the present.

Although the dance performed at dusk doesn’t hold any meaning whatsoever, for the two of them it’s more of a tradition. It seems that not performing any dance disturbs their balance.

Interview with Haduki You (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

I feel like it's both soft and strong. My movements are pretty heavy while Yoru's are pretty gentle and soft. It continues on for half of it and then at the end, our movements will match! I think that's the best way to summarize it. I think our movements are very fitting for a Japanese dance or a [kagura] so please check it out~♪

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Soft serve or vanilla ice cream. 

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

I know you've missed me!

Interview with Nagatsuki Yoru (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

The rabbit mask I have to wear gives off the impression my dance is a light ‘walk on the clouds’...... or at least hypothetically it should be (laughs). For now, walking on top of clouds is still not possible (laughs bitterly). Since this rabbit is most likely to fall from the clouds, all I can do is practice.

Lately, You’s been devoting all his attention to this so I will also do my best and not waste a second until the real performance. I have a special mixed drink to help me with this.

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Geppaku rice cake.

One that makes use of pure white rice cake.

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

This story is about a world far away from here. I’m not wrong to say that even their customs, their food, the landscapes they see, and the words they utter are also completely different.

Being able to draw everyone into the world is important, too, isn't it?

Let’s join together this adventure detached from books!

Minaduki Rui

"May all sins be purified.”

Nation: Geppaku

Flower name: Asagara (Epaulette Tree)

Dance technique: Oharae (Great Purification)

Dance props: Evergreen / Inscription: [Namidafuri] (Falling Tears)

This young man is the son of the ‘Minaduki’ household, a family which apparently invited the mighty ‘Shimotsuki’ on this land a long time ago.

Upon the latter's settlement, a number of power spots took birth on the ‘Geppaku’ territory and the people living there were said to be able to use mysterious techniques.

The role of the ‘Minaduki’ household, who have the power to easily interfere with the ‘Shimotsuki’ household, was to keep the latter in line as well as heal and serve them.

…...Which is what’s written in history books, but now their complicated relationship is over and the households are simply on good terms.

Kannaduki Iku

“Let’s dance until your wish becomes a star shining high in the sky!”

Nation: Geppaku

Flower name: Shirogane (Silver)

Dance technique: Oguchi Makami (T/N: The kanji translates as ‘wide-mouthed wolf’. The name belongs to the Japanese God of wolves)

Dance props: Folding fan / Inscription: [Gyougetsu] (Dawning Moon)

When he was only a child, his parents met an unexpected death and Iku ended up being taken by a Shikkoku warrior who happened to be there. He spent the following 10 years touring each country, earning him a quite unusual personal history.

Although he lacks what some would call a ‘worldly sense,’ and he’s slightly unfamiliar with the ways of the world even among the people from ‘Geppaku’, he turned out to be a capable and valuable person, with general ideas and values.

Iku received a small corner of a room in the ‘Minaduki’ house, assists Rui with work, and puts up with Shun’s selfishness. Moreover, everyone seems to spoil him.

He goes on adventures together with Kai and You, eats Yoru’s meals and then sleeps. For him, those are the highlights of his everyday life.

Interview with Minaduki Rui (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

The combination of Ikkun and me is, probably, the one with the biggest difference in dance skills among all the units.

But that’s a story about how realistic the two of us are. I’m sure that the Rui who lives within “Tsukihana Kagura” dances as regularly as I play the violin and that he dances well.

That’s why I have no choice but to do my best.

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Milk pudding.

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

Please come and see Geppaku’s good sides, at least once. 

We’ll also do a prayer for good luck.

Interview with Kannaduki Iku (Procellarum)

Q. Please tell us about the highlights of this stage play and your impressions or story behind your partnered dance.

When Rui told me at the end of our joint lesson that he’d like to work overtime, I was a bit moved (laughs).

He may say he’s still got a long way to go, but I can see that his stamina is definitely better than before and the way he treats his body has really improved. To me, it doesn’t seem like he gets tired as easily anymore. 

No, I also have to practice even more so I won’t lose to him!

Rui~, let’s perform a beautiful dance!

Q. In Tsukihana, all 12 nations have their own specialties, but if you could come up with a new specialty for your own country, what would it be?

Something with a strong milk flavour!

Thick ice cream!

Q. Lastly, leave a short message for the fans.

Although the dancing is the main part, the drama part is also pretty complicated! Archaic words are mixed into the script, and there’s a lot of difficult expressions (oh man…). With a dictionary in hand, I’ll force it all into my brain!

Everyone, make sure you come and see the results of my hard work!

If you like my work and you want to support me, you can now buy me a coffee by clicking right [here]. I also started taking commissions, more details are right [here]. Thank you~

[har-rison-s]

Knickers

Warnings: SMUT!

the baby pink of your underwear would have been enough to kill a man, but add lace to the edges and dean’s funeral is ready to plan. he melts at the sight of it, and it’s visible in his eyes and whole face. his jaw goes slack and eyelids drop to a certian level where he can still see. but his eyes are completely gone, there’s clouds of lust and desire and he’s already dreaming a thousand dreams at the moment. but why would he need that? his real, true dream is right in front of him. and she’s got pink underwear on.

had he not any self-control, he’d be drooling onto the sheets, but dean licks his lips and blinks. either to get his head straight and focus or to get himself out of dreamland, neither of you know which one. his hands slide over the equally smooth materials of the knickers and your skin in appreciation. is it silk? is it cotton? he doesn’t care. it’s heavenly. your skin is already a whole another thing, but this underwear on you is just the perfect combo.

his fingers adjust the underwear to your figure, bringing its edges down and then back up again, teasing you unknowingly - he’s so in wonder and awe he doesn’t really realise his actions’ effect on you. or does he…? he doesn’t glance your way, he’s taken by the color and fitting of your new pair of underwear. his fingers slip under the material, grazing both the garment and your skin at once. your body shivers and you sigh. dean moves his hands to your inner thighs and spreads them apart slowly, and you gasp. with lack of filter, your teeth bite your lower lip in anticipation and hope for what’s next.

dean’s thumb presses right next to the edge of your underwear, the pits of your inner thighs. it makes you moan, and he finally hears you. the moan is needy and begging, and he hears everything in that one sweet sound. don’t you worry, he wants to say, everything’s coming soon enough. he hasn’t got time to say the words because he himself is impatient, and he can’t waste a second more of not being totally engulfed in you.

his lips are the first to touch you and they’re soft and slow, but they arrived suddenly. so you gasped, but instantly moaned as you melted as well. dean kisses your underwear again and his eyes close. you’re so soft and warm against him, you are the dream he’s wished to have all his life. dean thinks how it is to kiss you, he remembers the slow, teasing kisses exchanged between you two minutes ago and he moans. it shakes you up and you inhale sharply through your mouth while feeling his kiss deeper and, seemingly, deeper into you. he seems to draw away in a few moments’ time, and you’re ready to protest, but dean groans softly, admiring you from above.

“these bloody knickers, darling.” he says and he’s right back to where he was seconds ago. his hands grip around your thighs and his mouth stretches wider around your clothed pussy. before your eyes tightly close, you catch a glimpse of him looking at you from below through his fallen hair strands and god, that view could have been enough to come on the spot.

dean’s tongue makes an entrance in the act of pleasuring you, pressing on your underwear over the spot of your entrance. your whine is so high it could as well be taken as a falsetto, so desperate and full of lust. his tongue and lips over your knickers, over you, are pleasurable enough to make you cry. as his tongue massages over you, your wetness begins to dampen your gorgeous underwear and dean can taste the hint of it on his tongue.

he doesn’t stop. he licks you and he kisses your center endlessly, even when he sees your knickers completely wet with him and yourself. his hands grip your thighs tighter and he licks as deep as he can, but at one point he’s gotten tired and he finally moves yoru underwear aside. it was great pleasure for you both the underwear being in-between, and you’d love for him to do it again and again and again, cause it makes you so sensitive and drives you almost over the edge.

what does drive you over the edge is dean, once getting your enticing knickers out of the way, licking slowly at your entrance. it’s slow, but sudden, like before, and is all that you need to come. your voice does its best at hitting high-notes (pun intended) as your body shivers and you dig your hands and feet into the bed’s matress. dean doesn’t stop, though his pace has slowed and he returns to kissing your clit.

dean licks your liquid up once it starts dripping out of you, and you taste sweet, making him feel divine and fall in love with you even more. it makes you moan again, squeezing your eyes shut and rolling your fingers into fists. you fear he’ll go again, and you fear you’re not ready for it. “dean…” you sigh in slight protest, but he withdraws. though not before collecting the rest of you on his fingers and moving up towards you.

his fingers in front of your face, you open your eyes to greet him. “open up.” he beckons, hinting at your lips with his eyes and you comply without a complaint. your angel lips part in awaitance and your mouth is filled by dean’s fingers dripping with your liquid. you close your eyes at the taste of yourself on dean and then open them only to look him straight in the eyes. dean shivers from the look you give him, once again realising he’ll come in his joggers any next second.

you wrap your fingers around his wrist and move his hand in and out of your mouth slowly, taking his fingers as deep as you can. “so good, angel.” he praises in a contented sigh, imagining all sorts of things with you as his eyes drop closed. “taking my fingers so well.” your tongue pushes itself between his two fingers and he whines, just like you did not some ten minutes ago. “fuck…” comes a strangled sigh. dean tilts his head back as you continue your sweet torture on his fingers. with his free hand, he reaches back down to your clothed center and slips a finger inside you and, GOD, the feeling is wonderful, penetrating you in two places at once.

“fuck me, you’re so perfect. so perfect for me…” he’s in total bliss. you take his index and middle finger out of your mouth and kiss along his knuckles, the top of his palm, until you reach his thumb and push that into your mouth. dean is sure he’s actually coming now. nothing can match your lips around his thumb and your warm pussy around his index finger. you moan around his finger, eyes closing at him massaging your sensitive spot softly, with slight pressure. “so warm for me, fuck, darlin’.” dean says. “i’ve gotten you so wet and warm again, haven’t i?”

you know he actually expects an answer, and, with his thumb still between your teeth and lips, you respond. “you have, dean.” it’s spoken in a sigh of pleasure. you feel your walls tightening again, pressure building in the lower part of your stomach again. he’s unbelievable, but so are you.

“could spend my whole life just there, making you come again, and again, and again,” he speaks. the image of you coming multiple times on end because of him crosses both your minds hence your next moans and shudders mix together. wouldn’t that be a dream, huh, “buried in your warmth and your love.”

“and i — yours.” you respond to him. dean angles his fingers just right and you moan, biting down on his thumb. your eyes close tightly and your body stiffens.

“aw, love, are you going to come again?” dean teases and you nod, whining, as his fingers begin to fasten their pace and with every push they reach deeper inside you, nearing your spot each time. dean’s head moves lower to you and you chase his lips, but he went for your neck instead, kissing from your ear down to your collarbones.

he’d forgot about his thumb still in your mouth until you bit down on it again and he groans. “come again, darlin, i know you can, come on,” dean urges right as you intended to tell him you were about to come. his fingers pushing deeper and deeper inside you and his thumb in your mouth and his lips on your neck are all driving you crazy after your first high and still in its daze, your head spinning—

“ugh, dean!” you can’t help but cry out, but dean immediately changes his thumb to his index and middle finger to silence you, which makes the pleasure grow. and your over-sensitivity increases the pleasure as well, feeling everything twice the normal amount and intensity.

you come on his fingers with the most enticing expression on your already beautiful features. head thrown back into the pillow, eyes shut, eyebrows arched upwards as if you’re near crying, lips parted around his fingers. “fuck, you’re gorgeous.” he can’t stop the truth from spilling out his mouth.

he takes his hand from your lips before he moves downwards your body as you’re still recovering. pushing your scandalous knickers aside, he cleans your sum with licks and kisses. they drive you insane because now you’re double sensitive and you whimper, oh, you whimper. your hands go into dean’s hair, gently entangling with the curls as quiet cries leave your lips in response to his gentle assault on your entrance all while looking at you.

once he’s seemingly done, dean pulls your knickers off of you since they’re quite ruined until they go into the washer. he then moves upwards, wraps his arms around your waist and rests his chin just underneath your clothed breasts. he’s looking at you with the most innocent and loving eyes a person could have, as if he didn’t just make you come twice and only with his mouth and fingers. he could make you cum with only a look, if he wanted to.

your fingers move the strands fallen on his forehead back behind his ear and then you caress his scalp gently, so, so, so in love with him, perhaps even more now, in your post-orgasm haze. you offer dean a gentle smile and he kisses your skin below your breasts with utter sincerity and offering. he’s truly given you his all.

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 21: The Depths

"Lelouch! Kallen!" Suzaku shouted as he watched in horror as they both disappeared through the wormhole's wall. Rai and Shirley followed shortly after on the other side. Before he could shout further, though, he felt something strike Yoru, and his vision turned black.

Had Suzaku been watching from outside, what had struck hs Lion was the Blue and Yellow Lions, spiraling out of control in the opposite direction of everyone else. The Paladins inside of them screaming in terror the entire time. The three Lions as one collided with the far wormhole wall and disappeared.

o~o

Up above in a crystal blue sky, the wormhole opened its vast purple chasm, and spat the three Lions out, hurtling them towards the icy planet down below.

Though Suzaku was still unconscious, Milly and Rivalz continued to scream as gravity took over, and the three Lions slammed hard into the ice-covered surface. The impact was hard enough to break the ice open, and the three Lions started to sink deep towards the bottom of the planet's sea.

The crash was also hard enough to wake Suzaku up, as the impact nearly sent him flying out of his seat. Miraculously, even without seatbelts of any kind, he remained in place.

When Suzaku's eyes finally adjusted to seeing clearly again, he yelled in shock, seeing only the dark, murky depths surrounding the trio. Warning lights were blaring in red all around him as he tugged a couple of Yoru's controls to try and rouse her.

"Okay, that's not working. Um," Suzaku took a deep breath and then called over the comms, "Rivalz, Milly, you two okay?"

"Well, besides the fact that I got sucked out of a wormhole at light speed, then crash-landed on an ice planet and ended up underwater, doing great," Milly answered back sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'm fine too," Rivalz answered. The Blue Paladin took the time to try and activate one of Polaris's systems, but a warning light was all that answered him upon doing so.

Milly was also trying to wake up Maeraka, but wasn't having any luck, "My main system is down. The crash must have screwed it up. Do either of yours work?"

"Negative," Suzaku answered.

"Yeah, I'm on reserve power. My Lion's pretty much dead in the water," Rivalz grinned, laughing at his pun.

The Purple and Yellow Paladins groaned in frustration.

"This situation's bad enough, Rivalz. Don't make it worse with puns," Milly scolded with a frown.

"I'm just shocked we hit a planet. Didn't Rai tell us that space was 90% empty?" Rivalz asked as the three Lions started sinking past large rock outcroppings.

"Apparently, we got pretty lucky," Milly agreed, "maybe the inhabitants here can help us out, though."

"We should get back in contact with the others immediately," Suzaku said, as he pressed some buttons on the commlink, "Hello, Princess? Lelouch? It's Suzaku. If you can hear me, please respond!" the only thing that came out through the radio was static. Suzaku groaned, "The signal must be out of range."

"Or it's not working at all," Milly said, anxiety in her tone, "I mean, you and Kallen fought Zarkon two-to-one, and from what we could see, it looked like a tough fight."

"Tough? More like awesome! I mean, did you see that cannon Kallen and Aka pulled out? That was cool!" Rivalz exclaimed.

"Fight?" Suzaku breathed out an exhausted laugh, "More like a beatdown. Kallen and I were hitting Zarkon with everything we had, but we barely even made a dent in him. When Kallen pulled that cannon out, I think the only thing that did was surprise him. It honestly didn't look like he had even broken a sweat."

Rivalz gulped loudly on the other end, and Milly's face paled. The two Paladins now really hoped that they wouldn't face Zarkon themselves.

The three briefly braced themselves as they felt their Lions softly land on the ocean bottom.

"Anyway, let's check for damage and get the Lions running," Suzaku ordered.

"Copy that," the other two replied.

Just as Rivalz was about to try some buttons again, to his pleasant surprise, Polaris's lights started to blink on again, the room illuminating in a soft blue glow.

"Oh, good. Polaris is coming back online now. Welcome back, beautiful," he grinned as her head lifted up, and her eyes flashed with light.

Rivalz was also the first to realize that they weren't the only ones down at the bottom, as a humanoid figure suddenly swam out of view of Polaris's lights.

The Blue Paladin blinked, "Uh... guys, did-did you just see something swim by?"

"What?" Suzaku asked, sounding confused.

"No, I didn't see anything," Milly added.

Swallowing the small knot of fear that was forming in his stomach, Rivalz turned Polaris's head to the left. He saw the same creature again but managed to get a good look at her figure, and he gasped.

"No way!" he exclaimed, "Guys, this is going to sound crazy, but I think I just saw a mermaid."

"Wait, what?" Suzaku asked, sounding shocked.

"Okay, Rivalz, how hard did you bang your head when we hit the planet?" Milly asked skeptically.

"No, I'm serious!" Rivalz shouted in frustration, only to yelp when he spotted the mermaid swim by again, Polaris's head following it. "Look! There it is again!" Rivalz was trying so desperately to keep his eye on the creature, that he was having Polaris swim around in literal circles. "Hey, come here! Where you going?" Suddenly the mermaid made an angled swim upward, causing Polaris to do a backward somersault before she finally stopped. "Hey, slow down!"

"Rivalz, careful!" Suzaku shouted, "We have to stay focused and get to the others... You're outside of your Lion," Suzaku frowned as he watched the Blue Paladin manually leave his Lion to swim closer to the mermaid.

"I know we have to find the others. I'm just saying maybe this thing can help," Rivalz told them as he looked back at them. "Also, it's a mermaid. A mermaid! Come on, let's find it."

"Hey, wait up!" Milly exclaimed as Rivalz started swimming the direction the mermaid disappeared to. She quickly exited Maeraka to catch up with Suzaku reluctantly following behind.

Once the two caught up the Blue Paladin, Suzaku activated his gauntlet, and a blue light appeared from the end. He shined it around the rock formations that surrounded them, and eventually, the glow did fall on the mermaid in the distance. She seemed to be waiting for them to follow her.

"Come on!" Rivalz exclaimed once they spotted her, his jetpack spurting him forward. Milly and Suzaku were quick to follow, Suzaku still shining the flashlight. The mermaid weaved around the rocks as if it were a jungle gym, but she never got too far away that they lost her.

"I can't believe this," Milly exclaimed, sounding excited, "we're actually chasing a mermaid! Of all things!"

The only one that didn't look like he was in fairytale land was Suzaku, who kept a skeptical frown on his face the entire time they followed the mermaid. "Either way, we still need to be careful. She could be dangerous."

"How can a mermaid be dangerous?" Rivalz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Harry Potter. Spiderwick Chronicles. Pirates of the Carribean." Suzaku listed off, matter-of-factly, "The mermaids in all of those series are dangerous!"

Before any more debate could sprout from their conversation, the mermaid suddenly turned sharply to the left and disappeared.

"Hey, wait, wait, wait! We're friendly!" Rivalz called out after her, Suzaku's light still shining in her direction.

Milly then gasped as she looked in front of them. The boys followed her gaze and gasped as well.

"Whoa! And here I thought Atlantis was a fairytale!" Rivalz exclaimed. Down below, they saw what looked like an underwater village with a large, bushy garden in the center, and a building they could only assume was a palace directly behind it.

"Hello," a friendly voice greeted them from behind. The Paladins leaped back and were surprised to see the mermaid that they had been tracking directly behind them. Her hands were folded in front of her. "Welcome to my village. Here, all are safe and warm."

Now that they had a proper look at the mermaid, the trio could say that she didn't look like any mermaid they'd ever seen. She had pale pink skin, a powerful orange fishtail, raggedy pink finlets situated on her hips, and pink stripes on her tail and crotch area. Her eyes were entirely blue and reflective, with pink discoloration on her eyelids and two spots in the semblance of eyebrows. She has long pink hair with prominent side-bangs and a white patch running down the middle, with flimsy pink antennae located on her forehead. She was also wearing a yellow, short-sleeved crop top exposing her torso. The shirt had a green ruffle collar, a reverse sweetheart neckline and pink spots on the shoulders. She also had on pink ballroom gloves with sharp-looking fins on the elbow.

As the mermaid smiled at them, the Paladins then heard the sound of rushing water behind them. Looking back, they yelped as two large muscle sea creatures, wearing some kind of armor swam up behind them. One looked like alien walrus and the other a large purple, humanoid fish.

"Please, do not startle out guests!" the mermaid scolded the soldiers after the Paladins had scattered away from them. After they saw that it was safe, though, they approached the merfolk again.

"I am Florona," the mermaid finally introduced herself with a soft smile, "The almighty Queen Luxia, keeper of our land, would love to meet with you."

"Wait. How did your queen know we were here?" Suzaku asked suspiciously.

Florona just smiled mysteriously, "Queen Luxia knows all."

This answer didn't sit well with the Purple Paladin. Something in his gut told him that something was wrong, but he knew he couldn't do anything without proof, first. While he made a quick mental note to be cautious, he followed Rivalz and Milly as they were escorted to some giant seahorses that they were encouraged to mount.

As the three merfolk escorted the Paladins closer to the Castle, they couldn't help but notice how beautiful the village itself was. The homes seemed to be made mostly of rocks and coral, and small crevices glowing with glow and pink light illuminated the background. More merfolk of all shapes and sizes stared after them as they passed by.

"This place is beautiful," Milly commented with a small smile.

"Yeah…" Rivalz agreed with a nod.

Suzaku, though he admitted to himself that it was a pretty place, still spoke cautiously, "Guys, I know this mermaid thing is cool and all, but we really gotta go."

"We will, Suzaku, we will, but let's meet this queen first. Besides, maybe she can help us," Milly argued back.

"Yeah," Rivalz nodded before an almost devious grin spread over his face, "and, if I just happen to find the future Mrs. Cardemonde, well, then that is alright with me."

The Blue Paladin then suddenly yelped as he felt something hit him hard in the shin. Looking over, he saw that Milly's ride had drifted a little closer to his, but the Yellow Paladin continued to stare ahead as if nothing happened.

"Sorry, foot slipped," she quipped aloofly.

Rivalz scowled. Sometimes he wondered what was going on in that girl's head.

The seahorses eventually came to a stop in front of the palace's entrance, and the three Paladins dismounted. Waiting for them at the front was who they could assume was the queen surrounded by two additional guards. She had teal skin, a long, dark blue fishtail that was speckled with teal spots, and large smooth finlets on her arms by her wrists. Her eyes were also blue. Her hair was light seafoam green and styled into two large hoops behind her back, and her ears were also small purple finlets that had large thin dangling earrings hanging from them.

"Space travelers, I am Queen Luxia," she greeted them warmly, "I welcome you to our village as honored guests."

"The honor's all ours," Rivalz greeted before attempting to bow, "I'm Ri-i-i-i-valz!" he then yelped as the water accidentally sent him floating over backward.

Despite this embarrassing stunt, Suzaku was quick to recover, "Hello Your Majesty, I'm Suzaku, and this is Milly," Suzaku turned and gestured to the Yellow Paladin, who was assisting Rivalz in getting upright again, "We need your help. We crash-landed on your planet, but we really need to get back in touch with our friends who are in space. Would you possibly have any way of doing that?"

The queen smiled, "Suzaku, Milly, Rivalz, I can solve all of your problems. Here, we are all safe and warm."

"You use magic, don't you?" Milly guessed, "This castle's a ship, isn't it? This castle is a ship, am I right? Just don't say anything if I'm right." Milly held up her hands jokingly as she smiled from her babbling.

"Here, I've brought you these," the queen said, as another guard swam up behind her, carrying what looked like a giant conch shell, "The bubble coral will provide you with all the air you need."

The merman swam up to Suzaku and placed the coral against his helmet. To the Paladin's surprise, a giant bubble came out of it and engulfed his entire head. He gasped as he ran his hands along the bubble's surface. It felt dense like thick plastic and showed no signs of breaking in his grip. Even when his hands did penetrate the surface, no water rushed in afterward as he lifted his helmet from his head.

"We thank you," Suzaku said graciously as he lowered his helmet to his side. The merman quickly administered bubbles to Milly and Rivalz as well.

"Cool!" Rivalz exclaimed as Milly laughed. The queen started speaking again as they bost took off their helmets as well.

"And rest assured, your space vessels will be well protected," she gestured above them, and the Paladins turned and gasped as they saw their Lions, with particle barriers up, being transported on thick beds of seaweed towards the palace. "Now, please, follow me."

Before they could do so, Rivalz noticed the large glowing plant behind them, the one they had been able to see from the edge of the village, "What is that?"

"That is the giver of life to our people, the Baku Garden," Luxia happily explained, "When the waters froze over, we were forced to live down here. The garden provides us the warmth and food we need to survive. Because of it, we are taken care of. Here, all are safe and warm."

Suzaku tensed as alarms went off in his head. There was that saying again. It was being said way much too often around here to be considered normal…

o~o

Inside, the Paladins were pleasantly greeted with a banquet that the queen had arranged once she saw them land on their planet. Shells and other things used as their instruments were being played softly in the background. Several mermaids escorted the trio to seats at the front table, large amounts of food and cuisine were already lined up along the middle. The queen herself was seated at the head of it.

Though it looked strange (then again, most alien foods did), the food was delicious. As Suzaku bit into some sort of pastry, he couldn't help but grin as Rivalz smiled alluringly at a couple of mermaids that were lingering by the table. They giggled at a joke the Blue Paladin made, and Rivalz laughed proudly to himself.

Glancing over at Milly, he blinked when he noticed the stink eye that she was subtly shooting at the Blue Paladin. She was attempting to mask it by piling her plate with food and shoving the first thing in her mouth, chewing furiously.

Suzaku chuckled. When were these two going to get a clue? And they called him dense?

The Purple Paladins then turned his attention to the monarch sitting nearby, "Thank you for the food, Your Highness, it tastes great."

"I'm glad you enjoy it. It was picked fresh from the Baku Garden," Luxia smiled before she gestured to the stage in front of them, "And I hope you enjoy the entertainment."

Drums started to play as Suzaku, and his friends drew their attention towards the drawn red curtain. A stage light glowed, and what appeared to be a young mermaid dancer was twirling gracefully from behind it.

"Whoa," Rivalz sighed as he looked on, his cheeks coloring slightly. This only caused Milly to scowl deeper.

However, the curtain soon lifted, and a mermaid didn't greet them, but a purple octopus with another small creature on its head. The creature twirled in the air before spreading out its tentacles widely.

Rivalz nearly choked on his food upon seeing the dancer's identity, and Milly started laughing at the absolute horror-struck reaction on his face.

"Anyway," Suzaku said, drawing his eyes away for a moment to turn to the queen, "about us getting in contact with our friends, how can you help us? We just got out of a large battle, and they may need our help."

"Please, let's discuss that after the dance," Luxia said politely, still gazing at the octopus.

Suzaku frowned at having the matter brushed off, but figured that he should be polite enough to comply. It was just a dance show… right? He shrugged as he turned back to the octopus.

The creature flipped again before turning sideways and spinning slowly in a circle, the lights shining off it, making it look like over a dozen legs were waving in front of them.

'It's like one of those… optical illusion… things…' Suzaku thought before his head suddenly felt light, and his thoughts jumbled together.

"This dance… is amazing," Milly commented, her eyes slowly glazing over.

"Yeah," Rivalz nodded slowly in agreement, eyes also getting hazy, "It's the-it's the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Luxia said to them, her voice getting strangely more echoey, as more light seemed to penetrate from the dance, looking almost like a vortex, "Put your mind at ease. Let your consciousness drift like the tide."

"Sure, I can do that," Suzaku murmured, his head bobbing down like he was about to fall asleep. His head then suddenly shot up, his eyes wide open and pupils dilated, "Wait, we were just talking about something. Weren't we?"

"You were just telling me how much you like it here," Luxia softly whispered in Suzaku's ear, "how much you wanted to stay forever."

"Really?" he asked, starting to feel weak in the knees.

"Really," the queen confirmed with a smile.

"Yeah. Here, we are all safe and warm," Milly agreed, sounding dreamy, "Guys, I think we should stay here forever."

"Okay," Rivalz replied in a slurred tone, floating lazily above the table.

Queen Luxia smiled in victory.

o~o

After the banquet, the Paladins were escorted to a room that they could sleep in. The beds themselves consisted of some sort of giant oysters with soft pink foam for cushioning. Sleeping underwater was fascinating. It made one wonder why they needed beds at all. Because they never stayed in them.

Despite laying in them for a few minutes, the Paladins were soon drifting slowly away from them around the room. They even floated into each other sometimes. This resulted in Milly, somehow, holding tightly to Rivalz with a content smile on her face, slight drool sliding down her chin.

"Hey Euphie," Suzaku mumbled in his sleep, "I hope you…" he yawned in between in sentence, "...enjoy this daifuku I made for you. The filling is strawberry flavored… I know you love strawberries."

The Paladins were in such deep slumber that they didn't hear the wall behind them break open from a clawed hand. The claw them proceeded to carve a bigger hole around it, and the wall was removed to reveal three jellyfish peaking in. Well, sort of. There were three jellyfish, but they were on the heads of three other figures that stealthily swam into the room and approached the slumbering Paladins.

One of them approached Suzaku and covered him in a thick seaweed blanket from head to toe. Another approached both Milly and Rivalz, and seeing that trying to pull them apart was probably a bad idea, wrapped them up together. The three figures then proceeded to drag the three Paladins out of the hole that was made.

They successfully pulled out Suzaku, but Milly and Rivalz got stuck partway. Not to say that they by themselves would not have fit through, but due to being held together, they were just too big.

The three figures still attempted to pull them through, as quietly but gently as possible. This was their one shot to pull off their plan; they didn't want to hurt the land dwellers accidentally.

They were forced to halt their efforts when they spotted a patrol swim by. They weren't seen, but next time they might not be so lucky.

"Leave them," the leader, wearing a giant orange jellyfish, said urgently, "We have to get out of here."

The figure trying to tug them out let go, and the three of them swam off quickly into the darkened sea.

o~o

Suzaku was still fast asleep when the figures brought him to their lair. They had set him down on a soft pile of seaweed but had bound his hands behind him. They had also placed a big starfish over his eyes.

After they left briefly to retrieve something, they returned, relieved to see that he hadn't moved. One of them cautiously swam up and poked him firmly on the shoulder. Suzaku grunted and sat up, still feeling drowsy.

He smacked his lips a few times and opened his eyes, only to met with darkness thanks to the starfish.

He blinked in confusion, "Hello?" he called out drowsily, looking around, "Um… Good morning!" when he still didn't get a reply, he questioned further, "Where am I?"

"He's awake!" one of the figures whispered urgently.

"Why am I blindfolded? Is this a game? I like games..." Suzaku smiled with a dopey grin. Then one of the merfolk approached him with a fat fish that they squeezed close to his face. It exuded a thick green gas into Suzaku's face but soon faded away.

Whatever the gas was, it also woke Suzaku up from whatever trance he was in, as he suddenly sat up more straight, "Wait, where am I? Why am I blindfolded? What's going on?" He shot to his feet and kicked furiously in the water, trying to get some sort of bearings despite not seeing anything.

One of the figures grabbed the starfish that was on Suzaku's face and pulled it off. Suzaku shook his head and blinked several times to adjust to the lighting again. In front of him were three figures floating in front of him. All of them were wearing some sort of green seaweed poncho with different colored jellyfish on their heads. The one to his left was orange, the middle was a yellow-green, and to his right was a teal colored one.

"It's okay. You were mind-swished, but now we want to-"

"Kill me?! Well, think again!" Suzaku shouted, interrupting the teal one and using his jetpack to shoot past them down the tunnel.

"Wait! Come back!" one of them shouted after him, but Suzaku wasn't listening, too busy trying to find a way out.

He gasped fearfully when he almost ran headfirst into some spears and other sharp weapons that were sticking out of the wall. He almost turned to swim the other direction, but paused and took a moment to use them to cut through his restraints.

Now with his arms free, Suzaku grabbed his Bayard but didn't activate it just yet as he swam down another tunnel. He shouted in surprise again when he ran into a room that was filled with bones from dead fish of all sizes. Now starting to get a little scared, he turned and fled down the next tunnel. He was swimming by a small outcropping when a movement caught his eye.

Slowing down to investigate, he inhaled when he saw that the room was filled with multi-colored jellyfish. Seeing that the fish weren't trying to hurt him, he swam in to take a closer look. But, much to his surprise, the jellyfish suddenly increased to about ten times their original size, blocking his way.

With a yelp, he swiftly turned around to leave, only to see the exit blocked by the three merpeople that brought him here.

He activated his Bayard, holding the katana in front of him with a threatening frown.

"Who are you? Where are my friends?!" he demanded.

"Please, we are not here to hurt you," the one with teal jellyfish said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture, "I am Plaxum."

"Blumfump," the orange jelly said.

"Swirn," the yellow one introduced.

"Okay, but you still didn't answer my question. Where are Milly and Rivalz?"

"We tried to bring them too, but we couldn't, but we need your help. We believe you are our savior," Plaxum explained before she and her companions bowed to him.

Suzaku relaxed a little, hearing the desperation in the mermaid's voice, but still didn't lower his katana.

"Your savior? What do you want with me?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"The queen is mind-swishing everyone, controlling their thoughts," Blumfump explained, his flippers on his hips, "We believe you can stop her."

Suzaku did lower his katana this time and looked at the mer in a mixture of confusion and horror. What was going on?

o~o

Back at the palace, Milly and Rivalz finally managed to wake up on their own. They looked around, confused as to why everything was upside down. They then looked at each other. Only then did they realize the predicament they were in.

They screamed in surprise as they tried to break free of whatever was holding them together.

"Help! Help! Somebody!" Milly called out as she struggled to push free of the wall they were wedged into. Rivalz's own struggles weren't helping much either.

At the entrance to the room, the two were relieved to see Florona and Queen Luxia enter the room with some guards. Florona was carrying a tray of food in her hands.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she swam closer to the pair in alarm.

"I don't know, and we're stuck in the wall somehow!" Rivalz exclaimed as he tried to wiggle out.

"Yeah, and-wait!" Milly did a quick scan of the room, "Where's Suzaku? He's gone!"

"There was a break-in," the queen realized as the two guards helped the two Paladins safely out of the wall, "Those cave-dwellers must have taken him."

"Them again?" Florona asked, sounding frustrated, "What should we do?"

"Those meddling mermaids are harmless, but the air-breather could prove troublesome if he doesn't fall back under our control," Luxia said with a scowl.

"Wait. Wait, wait, wait, what? Who needs to fall under our control?" Rivalz asked, looking around confused.

"Where's Suzaku? We gotta find him!" Milly exclaimed.

"And we will," the queen reassured them as she pushed them to sit down, "Don't worry your little minds about it. But first, we need to sit down and eat, talk, clear our heads."

Florona held the food out to the two Paladins. But they both seemed reluctant to take anything.

"No, we can't eat right now. If Suzaku's been taken…" Rivalz began while also popping a small piece of food in his mouth. The second he swallowed it though, any thoughts of Suzaku disappeared, and his eyes rested solely on the food, "Oh, boy. That... That is good, though."

"Rivalz, we can't-" Rivalz shoved a piece of a pastry into Milly's mouth before she could finish, and soon Milly was joining him in devouring the food in front of them.

"See? That's all you need. Here, we are all safe and warm," the queen told them.

The two Paladins, having finished the plate of food, contently floated up from their seats lazily began drifting around the room.

"Okay," Rivalz murmured.

"Yeah, we'll let you handle it," Milly slurred with a dreamy smile.

With the two Paladins successfully distracted, the queen turned to face her soldiers, "They are going to come. We must destroy what remains of their kind and bring Suzaku under our control. But first, Florona," the queen turned to the mermaid, "you were in charge of watching the air-breathers. So, now, it is time for you to take a swim in the garden."

Florona looked up at Luxia, and for a moment, a flicker of raw fear flashed across her face. But she soon bowed her head, submissively, "Yes, my queen."

o~o

"Okay, okay, hold on, let me make sure I understand," Suzaku said after the rebel mermaids finished explaining to him what was going on, "You think that the queen is brainwashing her own subjects? Do you have any proof of this? Why would she even do that?"

"What do you remember from yesterday?" Swirn asked casually as she swam around in a circle above them.

Suzaku took a second to think, "Well, we crashed here, saw the mermaids and the village, met the queen, then we had dinner, and then... uh... we-" He started in surprise when he realized that he couldn't remember anything after that. It almost felt like...

"My Geass originally was the ability to compel anyone to obey when I make eye contact with them. The drawbacks that I've noticed so far are that I can only do it once per person. So now that I just used it on Coran, it won't affect him again."

'And from what we've noticed, it also seems to affect the memory too… oh, please don't tell that that's what the queen has too!'

"You can't remember, can you?" Swirn asked.

"No, you're right, I can't," Suzaku shook his head.

"That's because you were under her control," Swirn insisted.

"Our theory is," Blumfump said, holding up a poorly done drawing of the queen with what looked like sonic waves coming from her mouth towards an almost dead looking mermaid, "the queen controls minds by using her voice to strike certain head switches in your ear pan."

Plaxum then swam up behind Blumfump with another drawing, this time of what looked like lasers coming from the queen's eyes, "And her magnetic stare locks on to your eye-to-brain pathway plug."

Suzaku felt his insides turn cold when he saw that drawing and heard the explanation. Lelouch specifically said his Geass could only activate with eye contact. Was this something that it was capable of doing? Could he enslave an entire nation if he wanted to?

"Plus," Swirn added, yet another picture of the queen shooting out sound waves right next to her, "her mind-control sonar is always broadcasting through the waters. Bong! Bong! Bong!"

"And she trains her people to use hypnotic movements to lull you under her control," Plaxum finished, swimming up closer to the Purple Paladin.

"Wait, I do remember a dancer at the banquet," Suzaku told them.

"Good, because I haven't finished my picture for that one," Blumfump said, before throwing the drawings behind him, before swimming up and practically getting in Suzaku's face, "But you see, she was infecting your brain!"

"Wait, so are you saying-" Suzaku was unable to finish his sentence as Plaxum dragged him off towards a giant clamshell. She tapped it once, and upon opening, several different colored jellyfish started swimming out of it into the open water.

"Sit," Plaxum said as she practically threw onto the clam. Suzaku landed with an 'oomph' and then yelped as he felt something wrap around his head. Looking up, he saw that Swirn was using seaweed to measure it.

"The entire village is under the queen's mind control," Blumfump said and was about to say something else when Suzaku interrupted.

"If that's the case, how come you three aren't brainwashed?"

"I was just about to explain that," Blumfump said before continuing, "You see, the only reason we aren't is because we wear these jellyfish that hide our brains from her powers. It's like we have no brains whatsoever. You can't control what doesn't exist."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Suzaku nodded and shrugged.

"Our heads are completely empty," Blumfump chirped.

"Yeah, I get it, it works," Suzaku said as Swirn then held the seaweed to measure his face vertically.

"Many years ago, the queen froze over the surface by blocking the thermal vents," Swirn explained to him as Plaxum started to swim among the jellyfish, trying to select the correct size for him, "She forced everyone to the depths, where she began to brainwash them. They became her prisoners."

"What size?" Plaxum called out.

"Eight and seven-eighths aquameters," Swirn answered.

"Okay, but why is she doing this?" Suzaku asked. There had to be a reason. Maybe there had been a rebellion, and she was being paranoid or-

"To kill them!" Blumfump exclaimed.

"Wait, what?! Why?" he asked, shocked.

Blumfump actually swam back a little and paused, "Well, we don't know that for sure, but hundreds of mermaids have disappeared and... never come back."

o~o

Just outside the Baku garden, Queen Luxia led Florona to the entrance of it. Here she had cast many of her disobedient subjects, never to be seen again. It was for the greater good of keeping her people safe and warm.

"Goodbye, Florona. It is time to return to the giver of life," Luxia ordered, and Florona slowly began to approach the mysterious garden.

If she had been on land, tears would have begun welling in her eyes. She knew if she went inside, she wouldn't come out. But it was by her queen's orders. And she could not disobey.

o~o

"We've tried to take out the queen, but failed several times," Swirn told him sadness coating her tone, "And every attempt depletes our numbers. Now, there are only three of us left. Without you, there is no hope."

"Found one," Plaxum said as she started swimming over with a sizeable jellyfish in her arms.

"So, what exactly makes you think I can fix this?" Suzaku asked, honestly.

"We saw the mer-cat you came in," Blumfump explained, "We think it can stand up against the queen and her forces. But first, you'll need one of these."

Plaxum came over with the jellyfish, "Now, they sting pretty bad and don't smell great."

"If my theory is correct, the smelliest ones block the most mind-control rays," Blumfump said further as Plaxum came closer.

Hearing Blumfump's talk about all these theories briefly reminded him of working with Lloyd and Cecile in the Engineering department. Though he doubted that Blumfump was a sociopath like the Earl. He wondered how those two were doing. Who was piloting the Lancelot now?

"So, are you a scientist or something?" Suzaku couldn't help but ask.

"No," Blumfump denied.

"Also, they can sometimes make your face swell," Plaxum added just before she put it on, "and you might experience hearing loss."

"Could you just put it on, please?" Suzaku asked almost impatiently. His outburst startled Plaxum a little, but the mermaid then quickly complied. Suzaku braced himself as the jellyfish was shoved onto his head.

Once the jelly had settled onto his head, Suzaku cried out, bending over and clutching his air bubble. It burned. Very, very badly.

"Is it burning?" Plaxum asked, "If it's burning, that means it's working!"

It took about a minute for the stinging to finally stop. Suzaku's face had swelled up pretty badly, especially around his mouth and left eye. But he'd endure it. The faster they did this, the faster the jellyfish came off.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" he asked through his puffy lips.

The rebels brought Suzaku to their map to explain their attack plan.

"Here's what Blumfump came up with," Plaxum said, turning her attention to the larger merman. He was holding a small figure that looked like a mini person.

"This is you," he gestured to it, "You act like you're still thought-swirled and get past the guards," he made the figure jump through the structure that must have been the palace over to the three mini clams colored purple, blue, and yellow. He placed 'Suzaku' down next to the purple clam and picked it up, "Get your mer-cat and grab the queen," he used the clam to snatch the queen figurine in its 'jaws,' "We'll mount a full-scale attack on the castle and free the people," he moved the three remaining figures inward around the Castle.

"Seems like a good plan," Suzaku admitted. He could see Lelouch coming up with something similar, though he would've added his own little Zero flair to it too. However, there was a small problem Suzaku couldn't overlook, "I'll be honest though, I'm not the best actor. What will happen if they suspect me?"

"If your acting fails you," Blumfump started, before reaching into his poncho and pulling out a large puffed up fish. He tossed it towards the Purple Paladin, "this holds three doses of antidote to use on the guards. It should interrupt the queen's mind-control long enough for you to escape."

Suzaku took the fish, nodding, "My friends are in their too… but I promise that I'll do whatever I can to help."

o~o

Suzaku peaked out from the outcropping he was hiding behind. He was disappointed to see that several merman guards were keeping an eye on their Lions. Now that the swelling had gone down, he could see a little bit better. He took a deep breath before swimming out towards them.

"Good evening, soldiers," he greeted as politely and casually as he could, "quite the safe and warm day we've been having. If you could excuse me, I need to grab something from Yo-no!" Suzaku cried out in horror as the guards immediately threw a net over him and dragged him back towards the palace.

They took him straight to the throne room, where the queen sat serenely on top of it. She smiled down cruelly at Suzaku, who glared defiantly back at her.

"I had a feeling you'd come for your vessel," she said.

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded, "They're your own people! They don't deserve this!"

"All I'm doing is keeping my people safe and warm. Is that really so wrong? Servants, take Suzaku to the Baku Garden."

Suzaku heard the doors to his left open, and he gasped in horror as he saw Rivalz and Milly staring stoned face at him.

'Oh no!' he thought, realizing that Luxia was controlling them. Before they could grab him, he acted quickly and shot upwards with his jetpack over their heads. Even though they were underwater, Suzaku was still a warrior at heart. He wasn't going down without a fight!

"Everyone! Capture him!" Luxia ordered furiously, pointing at Suzaku's form.

With Suzaku now on higher ground, he had a good advantage as he waited patiently for the guards to come at him. Once they were in range, Suzaku managed to knock them both out with two quick but powerful kicks to the head.

Looking back down, he gasped as he saw Milly and Rivalz charging him as well, their expressions having not changed at all. He knew they would be mind-controlled, but he didn't expect to fight them. He didn't want to hurt them if he could. Suzaku leaped off the wall quickly began swimming to the entrance. In the process, he pulled out the fish that contained the antidote. If he could fire it at them together, it should snap them out of it.

He ducked when he saw Rivalz attempt to grab him from behind. He grabbed hold of the Blue Paladin's foot and flung him away into one of the throne room walls, temporarily stunning him.

He almost didn't see Milly swing her kusarigama at him, but he managed to turn in time. Instinctively, he grabbed the end of the chain that flew at him, barely missing the blade part of the weapon. He admitted that it was a risky move, one that he was sure Todoh-Sensei would've forced him to do a hundred push-ups for, but Milly was still pretty inexperienced with the weapon, so her aim wasn't always the greatest either.

He tugged forcibly on the chain, drawing the Yellow Paladin towards him with a yelp of her own. He made little work of tying her up with her own weapon before taking the fish and squeezing it forcefully in her face.

Milly gasped and blinked, "Huh? What-what wait, what's going on, why am I tied up?" was the first thing she asked before looking up at Suzaku, "Suzaku, why's there's a jellyfish on your head?"

Relieved to see that Milly was free from the hypnosis, he says, "I'll explain later, but I need you to grab Rivalz!"

"Wait, why-whoa! She cried as Suzaku tugged the kusarigama chain again, this time freeing her from that, but making her spin rapidly for a moment. Suzaku doesn't have time to help her, though, as Rivalz came up and tackled Suzaku from behind, causing the Purple Paladin to lose his grip on the antidote fish. It helplessly bounced off the wall and outside the palace.

Suzaku managed to kick Rivalz off of him before he made a beeline for the fish outside. He managed to snatch it up again and would've been tackled again had Milly not grabbed the Blue Paladin first, locking her arms around his elbows and legs around his knees.

"Sorry, Rivalz," Milly apologized as he struggled. Despite this, she managed to hold Rivalz long enough for Suzaku to squeeze the antidote at the Blue Paladin as well.

As the mist cleared, Rivalz's eyes went wide before he shook his head rapidly, "Whoa! Whoa! Where am I? What am I doing? Milly, you're kind of hurting me."

"Sorry," she said again before letting him go, seeing that he was back to normal, and turned to their purple compatriot, "Anyway, Suzaku, about the jellyfish?"

"Guys listen," Suzaku said, swimming up to them with a severe frown, "you've been mind-controlled by the queen, and you were trying to kill me. And she's done the same thing to all of the other merpeople here!"

He gave a brief summary to them of what the rebels told him what was happening.

At one point Rivalz tried to comment, "Wait, that sounds a lot like-"

"Lelouch's Geass, I know," Suzaku nodded, "We can worry about that later! We need to get to our Lions now!"

"Got it!" Rivalz nodded.

"Right!" Milly agreed as the trio shot away from the courtyard and toward the Lions that were still parked beside the palace.

Before the three could make it to their Lions, to their horror, they were surrounded by several royal guards. Suzaku pulled out his katana again while Milly held tight to her kusarigama as well.

Suzaku braced himself to defend when one of the guards charged. But it turned out he didn't need to as the guard instead got hit in the face by a familiar fat fish. Turning around, Suzaku was relieved to see Plaxum and Blumflup swimming up behind them to back them up. In the distance on a giant manta ray, Swirn could be seen firing several jellyfish at attacking soldiers as well. Plaxum threw a starfish shuriken at one of the guards that pinning his arm directly to a rock wall.

Suzaku grappled with one of the guards before leaping off of him in a backflip, disarming the guard just before an antidote fish was fired at him as well.

"Wait, who are these weirdos?" Rivalz asked, in a little too much shock to try and help. Milly had managed to block a couple of coming attacks, but the rebels took care of most of the other soldiers already.

Suzaku swam up beside them and smiled, "Don't worry, they're with us."

"Come, we must hurry to your mer-cats," Plaxum called over. The Paladins didn't waste another second as they quickly swam inside each other there Lions.

Once Suzaku was situated inside of Yoru, he pressed a button that opened his Lion's jaw. Plaxum swam inside and hung onto one of the teeth, "You hanging on?"

"Yes, let's go!" Plaxum called out as the jaw closed.

"Okay, so what's the plan exactly?" Rivalz asked over the intercom.

"We need to grab the-"

"We need to grab the queen and take her to an ice prison that Blumfump built, where her mind-control powers will be trapped because of the thick ice and the jellyfish," Plaxum finished for Suzaku.

"Um, who's that?" Milly asked.

"That's Plaxum. Just go with it!" Suzaku shouted before Yoru, and the other two Lions shot off towards the palace entrance.

As they approached the entrance, the team plus Plaxum saw several figures standing at the entryway. One of them their target.

"There she is!" Rivalz shouted as they charged straight towards it.

Plaxum let out a savage growl as she loaded a slingshot she had with her and shot two more antidote fish at the palace entrance, engulfing the queen and several guards in the green mist. Thanks to the confusion it caused, Plaxum then shot out a grappling hook with an octopus at the end of it that hit the queen right in the middle. With a grunt of surprise, Luxia was reeled into the Purple Lion and detained at last.

"Got her! Let's go!" Suzaku shouted as he and the others took off towards the ice prison the rebels had prepared.

Inside of Yoru's jaw, Queen Luxia groaned and opened her eyes, looking around in confusion, "Where am I? What's going on?"

Plaxum, still holding the end of her jellyfish grapple, glared vengefully at the monarch, "What's going on is you're not mind-controlling these people anymore, Your Majesty."

"What? Mind-control? Me?" to everyone's surprise, the queen sounded confused and even scared. Luxia looked down as if in thought before her eyes widened, and she looked desperately at Plaxum, "No! Please, my people are in danger! You must go back!"

"Plaxum, what's going on?" Suzaku questioned from the pilot chamber.

"Nothing! It's a ruse!" the rebel insisted stubbornly.

"You sure?" Milly asked on another comm. For some reason, the queen's reaction sounded genuine. Had they gotten something wrong?

"I wasn't controlling anyone," Queen Luxia insisted stubbornly. Suddenly her eyes widened again, and she gasped in horror, "The Baku!"

"She's lying!" Plaxum exclaimed.

"I'm not. Please!" the queen pleaded as she tried to explain, "The last thing I remember is that organism in the garden falling from space. I went to inspect it. I thought it was a plant."

Unbeknownst to them, back at the palace, the Baku Garden walls started to quiver erratically.

"Wait a minute, we've been eating that plant," Rivalz realized, his mouth already salivating from the memory, "And it's delicious! It's so safe and warm."

Before Rivalz could nod off again, Suzaku cried out, realization hitting him like a bullet train, "We had it all wrong! The queen had nothing to do with this! It was the plant the whole time. She was just the first one to be mind-controlled."

"But why?" Plaxum asked, clearly confused.

"The Baku has been harvesting us all. We are its food source," the queen explained frantically.

"No way…" Rivalz gasped, eyes wide.

"Guys! I think she's telling the truth. Look out the window!" Milly shouted, looking back at the palace.

Turning their Lions around, the trio watched in horror as what they thought was a peaceful, harmless-looking garden, slivered to life. Dark violet light seemed to absorb into its being. Like a massive, angry anaconda, the Baku rose from its resting place and let out a mighty and deafening roar, its mouth opening to reveal rows of sharp serrated teeth inside its mouth.

Gasping in shock, Suzaku quickly opened Yoru's mouth, "Plaxum, get the queen somewhere safe!"

The rebel quickly led the queen away from the Lions and the creature it was now facing. With civilians out of the way, the Lions prepared for battle.

"Okay, change of plans, that Baku thing is our real target. Let's take it out!" the Purple Paladin exclaimed before he charged towards it.

The Baku reared back and charged towards the Lions, gliding swiftly through the water and quickly knocking Maeraka and Milly out of the way while Polaris and Yoru dodged it with ease. Rivalz quickly shot a beam in the Baku's direction when it attempted to hit Milly again, but it promptly slithered out of the way to avoid being hit.

"Whoa!" the Yellow Paladin cried, struggling to maintain control through the turbulence, "Guys, that thing's too quick for me. I can't hit it! Maeraka's not very good in the water."

"Really?" Rivalz asked, "Polaris is moving better than ever. There's something about fighting underwater that's making me feel extra quick and powerful."

"Yeah, Yoru's feeling pretty good too," Suzaku observed, as he smoothly corkscrewed around the Baku's tail, "Which is weird, she should still be healing from our fight with Zarkon."

"Maybe it's due to the lack of light down here?" Rivalz guessed, "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but when we're right out in open space and in darker places, you and Kallen almost match neck to neck in speed. And Yoru's ability is some sort of black hole suction so…"

"So Yoru works better at night, got it. Must be the same for Maeraka, but in light and daytime," Suzaku concluded.

"Huh, makes sense," Milly reluctantly agreed.

"Anyway, I think I know how to stop that thing," Suzaku told them.

"How?" Rivalz asked as the Baku swirled around them once again, Milly barely dodging its hit this time.

"Simple. We gotta stop shooting where the creature is and start shooting where the creature's gonna be!"

"So… like this?" Rivalz asked as Polaris shot out a stream of ice in the Baku's path. Just as the beam should've hit the ocean floor, the Baku's head got his with the attack instead, encasing it in a prison of ice.

"Great shot Rivalz!" Suzaku cheered with a grin.

The victory was short-lived as the Baku used its tail to break the ice, showing that little to no damage had been done in the process.

"Okay, take this!" Milly shouts as she has Maeraka shoot out a supernova in the Baku's direction. The flash bomb went off, and the Baku screamed in surprise. But once it wore off, the only thing it seemed to do was annoy it, as the monster quickly smacked Maeraka down towards the floor.

"Milly!" Rivalz shouted as he and Polaris raced after her.

Gritting his teeth, Suzaku spiraled out of the way of the Baku's tail and shot toward some rocks in the distance. If he could get it away from the village, they would have more space to fight and fewer casualties.

"What do I do?!" he whispered desperately. With perfect timing, Suzaku felt Yoru purr confidently as several images flashed through his mind, "You think that'll work?" receiving a nudge of confirmation, Suzaku inhaled, "Alright, here goes!"

Turning around sharply, Suzaku faced the Baku head-on, and just as the creature seemed about to strike, Yoru opened her maw and started sucking in the water rapidly around the Baku. The suction was almost acting like a drainage pipe, pulling the water inward like a whirlpool.

The Baku roared in shock and tried to swim away, but the force of the pull was too much for it to break free.

"Alright! Go, Suzaku!" Rivalz shouted gleefully. Before he could give any more comments, though, he felt a nudge from his own Lion and looked down at the controls. To the side, an image that looked like sonic waves lit up, "What…? Oh, okay! Here goes nothing!"

The Blue Paladin thrust his controls forward, and Polaris let out a loud roar. Appearing on her back, very similar to how Aka's appeared, a giant cannon came to life. With a burst of power, a giant sonic beam shot out from the cannon, engulfing the Baku on the other side.

The monster was now stuck between a rock and a hard place as it struggled to stay away from the whirlpool Suzaku had created and the sonic waves Rivalz had let loose.

Off to the side of the battle, Milly looked in awe as the two boys practically had the monster pinned down. But Milly wasn't the type of girl to stay out of a fight that easily.

"Come on, girl, let's not let them hog all the glory!" she smirked as she shot one her controls forward, and Maeraka shot a bolt of energy at the rock wall above them. The beam sent the rock wall crumbling down around them, beginning to bury the Baku alive.

"This place is coming down! Let's get out of here!" Suzaku shouted as he and Rivalz ceased their assault and quickly retreated away from the falling rocks. They heard the Baku let out one last cry of anger before a large boulder collided with its head, silencing it forever.

"Suzaku, that was so cool! You practically made your own whirlpool! And Rivalz, you just dropped a sonic boom on that thing!" Milly cheered happily.

"Hey, but you finished the job with that rockslide Milly," Rivalz complimented, "so thanks!"

"Oh, I try!" the Yellow Paladin giggled as the three Lions turned back to the palace victorious.

o~o

After everyone had calmed down and it was confirmed the Baku was gone, everyone returned to the palace. The queen and the three rebel fighters stood at the entrance waiting for them.

"So, Blumfump, the jellyfish, the magnetic stare, the hypnotic dance. You got it all wrong. It was the food that the Baku was giving all this time," Suzaku explained to the leader.

'But… even though Geass also didn't have anything to do with this, I still want to talk to C.C. about it… if this is something Lelouch is capable of...' he didn't finish his thought, feeling too sick to his stomach to do so.

Blumfump, however, didn't look too upset about being proven wrong, and instead looked rather intrigued, "Well, I did say they were theories. Mer-science isn't always about getting the right answer."

"I want to thank you all for what you've done," Queen Luxia said graciously, "You've freed my people, and I will do all I can to protect that freedom. I vow to be the voice of my people," she then turned to the three rebels, "I beg of you to help. Will you be my advisors?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Blumfump immediately said, pulling out some scrolls from underneath his poncho, "I have some great ideas. Have you ever heard of electricity?"

Plaxum then swam up to the Paladins personally, "And I wanted to personally thank you, Suzaku," and, to everyone's surprise, the mermaid swam up and kissed Suzaku's helmet. Despite himself, the Purple Paladin couldn't help the small blush that spread around his cheeks. Rivalz stood to the side, mouth hanging open jealously.

Plaxum then sighed, "Finally, I can remove this thing," she said, as she took hold of the jellyfish, to reveal a beautiful blue mermaid that smiled back at them.

"Woah!" Rivalz gasped, eyes sparkling at the mermaid's revealed beauty. It quickly ended though with Milly giving him a sharp elbow to the ribs.

As Rivalz took time to recover, Milly quickly approached the queen, "Queen Luxia, the reason we came here in the first place was to see if you could help us find our friends."

"Of course," the queen answered. Two of Luxia's guards then brought out a giant clamshell that they placed in the center of the square.

"It has been many years since we have activated the energy beacon, but perhaps it is time to rebuild our civilization and reach out to interstellar travelers once again." As the clam opened to reveal a beautiful pearl sitting in the middle of it, the queen exclaimed, "Activate energy beacon!"

The pearl in the middle of the clam suddenly glowed a bright gold, and moments later, a brilliant ray of light shot up from it, ascending towards the planets surface, easily breaking through the thick ice that surrounded them. It reached high above the atmosphere and could easily be seen from the planet's orbit.

o~o

Moments later, from space itself, a familiar wormhole opened up, and Rai and Zerith swiftly exited it.

"I see the beacon!" Rai exclaimed as he pushed Zerith closer towards it.

o~o

"There is a mer-cat in our system that appears to be heading our way," Luxia informed them as the image of the Green Lion appeared on the surface of the beacon.

"It's Zerith! Rai's coming!" Suzaku exclaimed in relief.

"See guys? I told you they could help us," Rivalz said, crossing his arms with a smile.

"Yeah, plus we saved a whole planet by ourselves! Now we can brag to the others back at the Castle," Milly smirked.

"Duly noted," Suzaku chuckled and shook his head fondly.

"You know, I can totally get used to this whole 'Defender of the Universe' thing," Milly commented with a smile as they watched Rai approach ever closer to the planet.

[everythingisgayandnothinghurts]

Five Times Jace didn’t kiss Alec and one time he finally did

Hey all!! This was prompted to me by @dahdarios and it took me so long to get it done.  First Jalec fic here so go easy on me guys haha.  Hope you all enjoy it and happy reading :)

~~~

Jace paces back and forth across his bedroom, glaring at the book laying innocently on his bed like it had personally offended him.  He had laid up reading it all night long, trying to find some loophole that made this sick feeling in his stomach leave him alone.  He curses aloud softly and runs his hands through his hair, pulling slightly at the ends.  The sky outside is darkening quickly and he needs to get his clothes on for the ceremony and stop torturing himself.  They had decided to do this months ago, the parabatai ceremony.  Alec is his best friend without question.  He’s also his only friend, but that was another thing altogether.  He keeps telling himself that’s the reason for these feelings he couldn’t explain or control.  It is the reason his palms have started to sweat every time he’s around Alec, and also why he’s dropped the staff three times this week while sparring.  

He didn’t realize what was happening until some boys had been visiting from the L.A. Institute two weeks ago.  They were all tall, tan, and full of muscle over every inch of their bodies.  They also tended to spar with their shirts off altogether, and that had been one hell of a distraction.  Hodge had left them to spar amongst themselves while he had to train these visiting strangers.  Jace had attempted to follow his orders by sparring with Isabelle, but that had proved to be a futile effort.  He beat her without the slightest bit of effort since she was too busy looking over at their visitors.  She kept smiling every time one of them glanced their way and was too distracted to be of any real competition.  He wanted to whack her upside the head and ask her what had gotten into her when Alec stepped in and told Jace to just spar with him instead.  

“Come on Jace, she’s too busy having a crush on those stupid boys to actually work.”  He had rolled his eyes and snatched the blade from his sister’s hand, who for once didn’t even protest at being left out of something.  They had spent the afternoon sparring pleasantly enough and it wasn’t until he was in bed that night that he had realized Izzy was the same amount of distracted that he was these days and that the cause was likely the same reason.

In short, he realized he was fucked.

“Hey,” Alec slips in his room easily with practiced ease, as they had been doing this for months.  Being close friends and slipping through doors in late hours when they were supposed to be doing something else, normally sleeping.  

“Hey Alec,” Jace says, the knowledge eating at him slowly like some kind of parasite.  He thought about telling Alec nearly all the time, of this feeling that had taken residence in his heart and just wouldn’t leave.  Then he has to think about what that would honestly help.  He would hurt Alec by telling him and not becoming his parabatai, since anything not platonic would be absolutely forbidden.  Chances are Alec would never feel the same way about him anyways, so the whole thing would be a moot point.

“Jace, are you okay?” Alec asks, his voice low and comforting the way it was after Jace woke up shaking and crying tears he couldn’t control.  Alec had seen him at his lowest so many times and Jace trusted him with everything...just not this.  “If you have any doubts about this….just tell me.  This is as big as getting married.  Well, in a way.”  Jace glances up to see a bright blush on Alec’s cheeks and it melts his heart.  “Jace, I know I’m not the best fighter yet.  I’m improving and I’m practicing and I will live up to-”

“Stop, Alec, stop,” Jace says quietly with a hand on his arm.  “I don’t have doubts.  I am lucky to be your parabatai.  The luckiest Shadowhunter in the world.  I want to do this, absolutely.”

“Thanks Jace,’ Alec mumbles as his eyes lock on Jace’s hand on his arm.  “I guess nerves got to me.”

“I’ll see you in there,” Jace tells him with an encouraging smile.  “Tonight Maryse brought out all the stops for dinner.  We can celebrate later and everything will be great.  You could even stay over tonight in my room….if you wanted.”

“Yes,” Alec says without hesitation.  What the hell was he thinking?  Inviting Alec to his bed when he felt this way?  Was he some kind of masochist?  When the ceremony was complete there was no backing out and changing his mind.  There would be no chances after this.  Alec would have to be his friend and his brother with no other ties between them.  

Jace didn’t kiss Alec that night, but he did bind his soul to him, and that would have to be enough.

~~

“Alright ladies and gentlemen, we are not yet done for the day,” Hodge’s voice booms across the the training room where Jace lays with Alec and Isabelle, trying to recover from the last set of burpees they had had to endure.  He loved being a Shadowhunter, but training was always going to be a pain in the ass.  

“Hodge, please, I’m going to die,” Isabelle begs with her large eyes peering up at their tutor.

“When you can successfully outrun a demon for six miles you’ll thank me,” Hodge says wryly as he helps her to her feet once again.  Jace doesn’t know if he’s this tired all on his own or if he is feeling some of it from Alec, who looks far more exhausted than his sister but he hasn’t said a word in complaint.  He strips his shirt off and Jace feels his eyes lingering, no matter how much he wishes they wouldn’t .  Alec was gorgeous with firm muscle all over his body bulking up by the day.  

“While I train our miss here on her birthday present why don’t you two go back to some basics with hand to hand combat?” Hodge suggests as Isabelle immediately lights up and runs to the cupboard on the far side of the room where her new whip is held safely in its velvet box.  

“Yes sir,” Alec says obediently as he trudges to the open space used for sparring.

“Can you at least admit to me you’re tired so I don’t feel like an idiot?” Jace hisses to him as he walks closely behind him.  

“You can’t feel it?  I’m surprised,” Alec says with a smirk in Jace’s direction.  “We’ve run four miles today on top of every other torture Hodge can think of.  Not to mention we were up until two last night.  Of course I’m fucking exhausted.”

“You’re sick,” Jace says suddenly, realizing why he feels so off today without a real cause.  “Your throat hurts and yoru body aches.  You’re sick.  Why didn’t you tell Hodge?  I wondered why you weren’t miles ahead of me during laps today.”

“Shut up,” Alec says lowly, even though Hodge wasn’t anywhere near them.  “It’s just a cold.  I’ll be fine.  This whole you reading my emotions thing is annoying.”

“Not like I’m good at it,” Jace sighs as he takes his place across the circle from Alec.  “You ready for this? I’ll go easy on your sickly ass.”

“Sick or not I can still whoop your ass,” Alec says confidently and if he smirked one more time Jacee was going to have to kill him, or himself.  Alec silently counted down and then they were going at it with everything they had.  Jace lived for the sparring and the physical, tangible way of touching Alec as much as he wanted without needing an excuse of any kind.  He loved the way he cound anticipate Alec’s moves as easily as his parabatai anticipated his.  They were the only two that could truly challenge one another in this way.  Jace had beaten Hodge soundly last week, and then promptly Alec had pinned him only moments later.  

Over the last half an hour they were going at it Jace only pinned Alec once to the mat while Alec slammed him for the third time into the mat.  Jace beat Alec at everything else, but hand to hand combat was his weakness.  It was probably at least partly because Jace is incredibly distracted with Alec pressed against him like that.  He looks up into Alec’s hazel eyes and for the millionth time thought about how beautiful he was.  His eyes darted to Alec’s lips several times and that was when Jace realized they were actaully alone in the training room.  He has no idea where Hodge had stolen Izzy off to, but the room was empty and Alec wasn’t moving from his position on top of him.  His hand was on Jace’s chest while the other held both his wrists.  Their legs and hips were pressed together snugly and he couldn’t stop looking at Alec’s full lips inches from his own.  Alec is panting above him and Jace can feel his breath on his face and for some reason it was driving him crazy.  They were both sweating profusely with Alec’s knee between his thighs and this position was actually quite ridiculous.  

“You let me win,” Alec says lowly as he licks his lips a few times.  Jace seriously wants to strangle him.  

“I was distracted,” Jace replies, not even remotely lying.  “I didn’t exactly let you win.”

“What the fuck could have distracted you?” Alec asks with a tiny smile.  “We’re literally alone in a room full of mats.”

Damn Alec Lightwood and his gorgeous….everything.

“My shoulder is starting to ache,” Jace replies instead of answering, feeling the twinge start to matter.  Alec seems to come back to himself and lets him up.  His parabatai still sits close enough to touch as they catch their breath.  Jace hates him and hates how his heart won’t stop racing since Alec is so close still and he can smell him so vividly, his aftershave permanently etched in his brain as the best smell in the world.  

“You okay?” Alec asks, likely getting mixed emotions through their bond and Jace never thought about how annoying it would be to have someone have an open book to his emotions.

“I’m good,” Jace says.  It isn’t the full truth, but he can’t say it’s exactly a lie either.  He is good as long as Alec is next to him, but the torture lies in that he can never be as close as Jace wants him to be.  “Do we dare go shower?  I don’ t know if I can do anything else today.”

“Pretty sure Izzy charmed him to let her out of training, so I”m gonna say let’s go for it.”  Alec reaches a hand out to help him up and once again they end up with their faces inchest apart.  Jace’s lips ache from how much he wants to kiss Alec in this moment.  He wants to feel Alec’s heart beating under his hands and feel his breath on his face for an entirely different reason.  

He doesn’t kiss Alec in the training room, even if his body is aching with the effort of holding back.  He doesn’t , but by the Angel does he want to.

~~

Five years go by and Jace wishes he could say his feelings were under control, but instead they grew by leaps and bounds.  They were eighteen and their lives were crazy.  Alec barely spoke to anyone these days, including him.  He had saved a mundane girl, turned Shadowhunter, and for some reason Alec wouldn’t even speak to him beyond their duties and during hunts.  Clary was spunky, fun, and fed his reckless side but she wasn’t Alec.  She didn’t bring him the peace he needed in his life.  Now that Valentine had reared his head all over again his nightmares were back once again.  He woke up alone and instead of someone coaxing him back to sleep he now went out to train before anyone else was up.  Alec always arrived shortly after he did, no doubt feeling him through the rune, but he never said a word to him about it.  

“Why are you sitting here cleaning blades with me?” Clary asks one night as they sit in the weapons room cleaning arrows and seraph blades.  Jace doesn’t let Clary touch Alec’s bow or his arrows as he cleans them meticulously, like somehow that would make their rift smaller.  “Isn’t this grunt work?  You’re the elite around here.”

“Nothing wrong with going back to the basics,” Jace says dully, hoping the rhythmic motions of cleaning will help his mind clear.  “Plus, you might do it wrong.”

“Did Alec send you in here to watch me clean things?  Seriously?” Clary asks with outrage in her voice.  “Does he really think I’m that much of an idiot? I can’t believe you two share a soul.  At least you’re decent to me.”

“Watch your mouth” Jace warns, voice low and menacing.  He only ever lost patience with Clary when she spoke poorly of Alec, and it happened more and more often the more awful his parabatai was to her.  

“Alec hates me,” Clary pouts, looking like a spoiled toddler in the moment and Jace could scarcely grasp just how much she had left to learn.  

“Alec hates everyone right now.” Jace responds.  “If he’s barely talking to me, then he isn’t talking to anyone else.”

“Just because he’s emotionally stunted and doesn’t know how to deal with a crush,” Clary scoffs as she sets another blade carefully where it belongs.  

“Alec doesn’t have a crush,” Jace says dismissively as he carefully finishes the last of his brother’s arrows and places them exactly where Alec likes them.  

“Wait, you don’t know?” Clary sounds impatient and her green eyes were fixed on him and wide in shock.  “You share a bond through your soul and you don’t know he’s in love with you?”

Jace sits there reeling, his head a complete mess and his heartbeat pounding in his ears.  She wasn’t right, couldn’t be.  There was no way she could know something that intricate about his parabatai when he didn’t.  Alec didn’t love him, couldn’t love him.  He made this oath with Alec to tie their souls together because he would never feel that way.  It was the only way he lived with himself the last six years every time he’s in Alec’s arms and never wants to let go.  The love he felt for Alec was destroying him slowly, and in a fucked up way that’s how he knew it was actually real.  It was the way Valentine taught him.  If it was something that destroyed you in a way you thought you would die, well that was love.  

“Alec doesn’t like men,” Jace says and only by careful self control did he control his hands from shaking as he finished up the last blades.  “You shouldn’t talk about stuff like that around here.  That’s dangerous with how the Clave is.”

“He may not like men, but he does like you.” Clary says confidently as she tossed the towel to the side and stood up.  “That’s why he’s been so moody probably.  You’re spending a lot of time with me.  SInce you assume he likes girls, I’m sure he assumes the same about you.”  She goes back to her rooms with a wave and a goodnight, hardly knowing that she had turned his world around.  

The next day Jace convinces himself to just tell Alec how he feels.  That maybe telling him will end this rift between them.  They can both stop being jealous of things that don’t exist.  He joins his brother and Izzy in the training room and before he can say a word Lydia Bramwell appears and they are announcing their marriage.  Jace once again is left with his heart breaking as he tries to read Alec as easily as he once had.  He can’t of course because they haven’t really spoken in days and everything is off with them and mostly awful.  

“You were supposed to tell them no,” Izzy snaps at their brother before turning away and stalking off.  Jace has no idea what slips between his numb lips before he follows her.  They end up in her room and he pulls his knees up to his chest on her bed.  

“He is such an idiot,” Izzy rants with hands on her slender hips, walking between the bed and the window.  

“What did you mean?  Who was he supposed to say no to?” Jace asks her, and is impressed that his voice stays so even when inside he is a falling apart mess.  If Clary just didn’t say anything last night he would have coped with this, but now the doubt in his mind won’t leave his heart alone.  

“Mom and Dad want him to marry someone the Clave has a high opinion of so we can keep the Institute in the family,” Izzy says in a heavy voice.  “He is an idiot and going along with their stupid plans.”

“He…” Jace clears his throat which causes Isabelle to give him a look.  “He might like her Iz.  She’s beautiful and smart and good at her job.  They seem to be friends.”

“Except she’s the fucking wrong gender,’ Izzy says with a roll of her eyes.  Jace’s heart stops for the third time in the last twenty-four hours and there’s no way that can be healthy.  That was the second person to say that Alec didn’t like girls, without even the slightest hesitation.  He may not trust Clary’s opinion of Alec, but he did trust Izzy.  

“I need to go,” Jace mutters as he darted out of her bedroom.  Isabelle was too angry to really even notice his hasty exit.  He walks quickly through the halls he calls home and tries to lock away the part of his brain screaming at him to go find Alec and tell him already.  Tell him the things he’s kept in his heart for six years.  Tell him that he can’t live without him, and that it has nothing to do with the rune on his hip.  He went to his usual spot to brood and he found Alec already there.  They did freakishly share a brain sometimes.  

Jace wanted to kiss him so bad….but not like this.

Not with Alec looking like the world is on his shoulders and has beaten him until he’s given up completely.  He knows that nobody except their totalitarian mother approved of this engagement and that Alec craves approval from others like air, even when he certainly never needs it.  Jace walks closer slowly and Alec’s bright hazel eyes caught his own and Jace quickly sat next to him and pulled him into a hug.  Alec isn’t crying, and maybe that makes it worse somehow.  This wasn’t fair, and if he didn’t like women then this marriage would do nothing but torture him the rest of his life.  

“You don’t have to do this,” Jace whispers him as he strokes his hair gently, away from any prying eyes of the Institute.  “But if you do, then I will treat her like she’s the love of your life.  I’m here for you Alec, no matter what.”

“Thank you Jace,” Alec says hoarsely as he hangs onto him tightly.  “I have to do this for the Institute, for our family.  If we lose the Institute we lose the only home we’ve ever known.  I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Do you love her?” Jace asks, if only to torture himself a bit more.  He knows this won’t do anything except hurt him either way the cookie crumbles.  If Alec says yes then it will feel like a stab to his already tender heart, and if Alec says no then it will feel like drowning in water so thick he can hardly move.

“No,” Alec says with his eyes closed and his lower lip between his teeth.  Jace rubs his back and hopes he can do something to make this not so torturous.  

“If you decide to do something for yourself this time, I”m here for that too.”  Jace hates how much he loves Alec’s muscles under his hands and he had started dreaming of bare skin under his hands and those runes under his tongue, tracing intricate patterns into his skin.  He bites his own lip harshly and forces his mind to forget those late night fantasies.  He couldn’t kiss Alec until he was sure.  Until they both were absolutely sure this was what they wanted.  

~~

Jace keeps himself busy the morning of Alec’s wedding to Lydia by making sure everything was getting done and he was everywhere but where Alec was.  He didn’t know how he was about to feel watching Alec on that altar with someone else, but he really didn’t want to find out until it was happening and hopefully the sight of Maryse and Robert would help keep him the fuck together.  He was avoiding Izzy as well, in case she had learned to read him as well as she read Alec.  Nobody knew his feelings, and he would do his best to keep it that way.  The one thing Valentine had taught him to a fault was how to hide his feelings from everyone else.  

Before he knew it Alec was in front of him standing by the altar and Jace was straightening the lapels of his jacket somewhat unnecessarily.  The crowd was already gathered and even though they had made up from their feud last night, Jace feels like things are off with his parabatai.  .

“Alright, you ready for this?” Jace asks as he hides his shaking hands behind his back.  Alec is getting married today and then that will be the end of chances.  He will be a married man and if Jace were to do anything it would not only break his parabatai bonds and oaths, they would break marriage ones as well.  He feels a knot in his stomach and it aches like nothing he’s ever felt before.

“As ready as I’m gonna be.” Alec replies, looking a bit nervous but nothing like the torture Jace was going through.  Alec may like men, but that didn’t mean he felt anything for a man in particular.  He tries to smile, but it falls a tad short.   “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.” Jace squeezes his arms for a second before letting go and taking his dutiful place behind his parabatai to wait for his bride to show up.  He feels absolutely sick to his stomach as he watches this unfold in front of him.  He feels tears spring to his eyes and he hopes everyone will just take it that he’s so happy for his parabatai on the biggest day of his life.  

Then, Magnus Bane bursts in the room just as the rune to finalize everything is about to be placed on Alec by Lydia’s delicate hand.

Jace wishes that he would have been the one Alec was grabbing and kissing like that.  It’s a kiss that looks full of unspoken passion and longing.  It lasts what feels like an eternity as Jace is fixed to the spot.  He wonders what he ever did to deserve this form of torture.  

He didn’t kiss Alec, and Magnus Bane beat him to it.

~~~

Life is not destined to be kind to him it would seem as months fly by and the only thing that happens is getting kidnapped by Valentine and tortured for a few months.  He’s grateful he has been banished from the Institute, but not so grateful he’s wound up staying with Magnus.  He has no idea  what has been happening between the warlock and his parabatai the last few months, but he wasn’t ready to find out.  

Jace slowly sits up from bed and grits his teeth against the pain that radiated from his ribs that have so far been the slowest to heal.  He was mostly just exhausted all of the time and if he ever ventured out of this room he laid on the couch to watch a movie with Magnus.  He didn’t want to like Magnus, he really didn’t.  For all he knew Alec was in love with him and they were close to the marriage step themselves.  Shadowhunters fell fast and normally for good.  He was about to hobble out since he hears Magnus in the kitchen when he hears a knock on the door.  It was probably some client and Jace was not in the mood to deal with strangers  He pauses with a hand on the doorjamb and the other on the knob to see if whoever had come was here to stay.  

“Magnus,” Alec’s voice was piercing to him and Jace felt a flash of joy through his rune and his knees were threatening to buckle.  It would seem that the kiss at the wedding had lasted all these weeks and now Alec was here at his loft.  He didn’t pay close attention to their words, but he listened to the tones of their voices and wanted to die.  They both sounded so damn happy and warm towards one another as they talked quietly in the direction of the couches.  Once the voices stop Jace lets himself flop back on the bed and tries to ignore the pain in his heart and throbbing through his body.  The pain won’t let up and he rolls carefully on his side to bury his face in the plush pillows and lets the tears finally come that he never wants to let fall.  He cries for the way his heart keeps being broken over and over again.  He cries because of the pain he can’t escape asleep or awake.  He cries for the confusion and pain of the last few weeks that won’t stop assaulting him.  For the first time since he’d been a child he lets himself sob openly where nobody would hear him.  

He’s crying so hard that he doesn’t hear the door open or the quiet footsteps of the warlock over to his bed. He doesn’t hear Alec at the door, asking if he’s alright or Magnus telling him to give him space.  Jace only notices he isn’t alone when Magnus touches his shoulder gently.  He flinches away from the soft touch at first before relaxing a bit even though his cheeks heat up.  

“I brought you something for pain,” Magnus says softly as he hands him a vial of a purple potion that Jace vaguely recognizes as what he’s been taking the last few days.  He takes it with a shaking hand and downs it in one gulp, trying to keep a straight face at the awful taste.  Magnus swings his feet up on the bed and reclines against the pillows.

“What are you doing?” Jace asks in confusion.  “Alec is waiting for you out there.”

“Actually he’s here to see you,” Magnus corrects him mildly as he clicks his fingers to make a television appear at the foot of the bed, rising from the dresser effortlessly.  “I told him you needed some space for a while.  He’ll come back in the morning.”

“He isn’t living here yet?” Jace asks with a touch of bitterness as he curls into himself.  He really wants to be alone so he can feel this pain and have it be over with.  He feels the sobs wanting to rise again as he thinks about Alec living here with the warlock.  Kissing him and loving him and showing him the smile he had only ever shown himself and Izzy in the past.  

“Why would he be living here?” Magnus asks with his brows furrowing and confusion on his face.  “Blondie, what do you think is between your brother and I?”

“He’s in love with you.” Jace tries not to choke on the words, but the tears were still pressing and they slipped down his nose as he ducked his head and tried to make them stop before Magnus saw how weak he was.  

“Oh Jace,” Magnus says softly and the sheets rustle as he lays a hand on Jace’s bare back and guides him to lay down.  Jace isn’t strong enough yet to fight him off but he lets out a whine as Magnus shuffles closer and puts his arms around him.  He likes Magnus well enough, but only Alec had ever held him.  Only Alec had ever seen him cry.  He wants to tell Magnus to tell Alec to come back, but at the same time he isn’t ready to see Alec yet.  He doesn’t know how to be around Alec yet, when thoughts of him were the only thing keeping him sane on Valentine’s torture ship.  Magnus is rubbing his back softly and it all felt so wrong that all he wanted was Alec, but he couldn’t very well tell Alec what was causing his sobs and he hated lying to his parabatai.  “Jace, darling, I’m not dating your brother.”

“What?” Jace hiccuped softly as he was trying to stop crying, honestly he was.  His body just didn’t want to cooperate.  The medicine always worked quickly to make him quite out of it and his body quickly relaxed into Magnus’s warmth.  

“I’m not dating your brother,’ Magnus says again, but it didn’t make any more sense than the first time he said it.  

“You kissed himi at the wedding.  You.. you two like each other?” Jace says, though he wasn’t so sure this time.  

“I did kiss him,” Magnus agrees, seemingly happier now that he was calm and laying against him.  “That doesn’t mean we’re in love.  Alexander is a surprisngly good actor.”  Jace felt his own face contort in confusion.  “Jace, your brother and I became friends months ago, good friends rather quickly.  I am attracted to your brother, but he only has eyes for you.  It was quickly obvious that he was crazy about you and that’s what the memory demon told him as well.  He was confused and upset, but never attracted to me.  I couldn’t let him marry Lydia like that when he didn’t love her.  I showed up to stop the wedding, without much of a plan in mind if I’m being honest.  Your brother took it from there and kissed me quite thoroughly.  You’re a lucky man Mr. Herondale.”

“Alec loves me?” Jace mumbles as the medicine was taking over his will to stay awake and participate in this conversation fully.  “He really loves me?”

“He really does,” Magnus agrees as he turns on the TV, but didn’t move from holding Jace close.  Unfortunate Jace slips into sleep before he can think too much on that conversation.

~~

Jace hasn’t brought himself to talk to Alec still, even after he knows how Alec feels.  The fact that he returns his feelings is great, truly great.  There was still so many things to consider before they got a happily ever after.  There was the parabatai part of it which made it forbidden, and the fact that the Clave was not as progressive as they all may be.  Nobody would accept it and it would be an uphill battle from the very start.  Magnus keeps giving him disapproving looks for not so much as talking to Alec yet after weeks since they had spoken in the guest bedroom.  They were back to business as usual at the Institute, and Jace lets himself be comforted by routine.  

He never expects to see Alec up on the roof about to jump off.

He knows Alec has been hurting and confused thanks to the rune on his hip, but not to this extent.  Not enough to end his life.  Magnus told them it was all only due to a spell, but Jace didn’t believe it for a second as he sees Alec sitting on the floor crying and hiding his face in his hands with Magnus sitting at his side.  Jace feels unbelievable guilt as Magnus dismisses his sister, Clary, and his mother easily by saying Alec was having some emotional reaction to the spell.  Jace finds he can’t move, not with Alec in this state.  

“Shh, darling, you’re okay,’ Magnus says soothingly and Jace wonders how the hell he is so good at that.  How can be be better at comforting Alec than he is?  Alec was the other half of his soul and still Jace can’t find words to say.  

“I can’t anymore Magnus,’ Alec sobs softly and the words break Jace’s heart further.  “I can’t feel like this anymore.  I can’t feel this for him.”

“You won’t forever,” Magnus promises him with a kiss to his head.  Jace shifts awkwardly and the glare was unmatched by anything he’d seen before as Magnus looked over at him.   “I thought I told everyone that Alec and I needed a moment alone.”

“I can’t leave,’ Jace says in a voice barely above a whisper as he hugs his arms around himself.  “I can’t leave him like this.  I...  I want to talk to him.”

“Oh, now you want to talk to him?” Magnus asks scathingly, and it’s no less than what he absolutely deserves

“It’s okay,” Alec says.  His face was now dry of tears but the look in his hazel eyes told Jace this was far from the first time Alec had cried over this.  He bites at his lips and slowly walks forward so he can sit next to Alec against the low wall that Alec was standing on just a minute ago.  “Magnus, it’s okay.  Let me talk to Jace.”

“I’ll be right outside,’ Magnus squeezed his arm gently before gracefully and smoothly getting to his feet and leaving them alone on the roof.  The silence is a heavy one as they sit for a minute and let the wind be the only noise between them.

“This isn’t about the spell,” Jace says quietly as he feels the ache through his bond worsen a little as they sit here.  He has no idea if touching Alec will hurt or help in this situation.  They had been avoiding this moment for over six years and now it was here.  Jace has to just tell him how he feels, has to let him know that Alec isn’t alone in this.  He needs to stop holding them both back from what they want.  

“It isn’t,” Alec agrees quietly, his voice hitching on sobs still in his throat.  “I… I haven’t been okay for a while.”

“I know,” Jace says quietly.  He’s felt Alec’s anguish and decided to ignore it.  It was easier than trying to confront all these feelings between them that neither of them asked to feel, but had attacked them relentlessly anyways.   “I should have….well, I should have done something.”

“There’s nothing you can do,” Alec says miserably as he stares at his knees again.  “I… I have to figure out how to live with this.  I’m sorry that I feel like this.  It isn’t right or normal and I know it’s forbidden.  I can’t lose you, not like my father lost his parabatai-”

“Alec, come on, I”m not like your asshole of a father,’ Jace cut in and he stopped the barriers that they both put up to grip his arm and letting his hand trail down to Alec’s to squeeze it tightly.  “I’m nothing like that and you’re never going to lose me.  Not even if the rumors about me and Clary were true and I was madly in love with her.”  They shared a grin at the ridiculous thought that Clary could be with him when she was so obsessed with their sister.  “Alec… You’re my parabatai.  You’re the most important person in the world to me.  I.  Alec, you’re not alone in this.  You will never be alone, but you aren’t the only one who feels this way.”

“What?” Alec was staring at him with a blank expression and with tentative hope in his eyes.  “Jace… do you know what you’re-”

“I’ve known for over six years,’ Jace says and his heart is pounding in his ears.  He looks at Alec and instead of the nerves getting worse they slowly calmed.  This was Alec, his best friend.  This was the person he had come to trust with all his secrets and all his fears.  Alec had never let him be alone, even when he deserved it.  Magnus had told him weeks ago that Alec was in love with him and right now Jace has no idea what had taken him so long to just sit here and look at Alec exactly like this.  Look at Alec the way he deserved to be looked at the rest of his life, as if he had hung the moon.  “I’m in love with you Alexander Lightwood.  I don’t care if it destroys me, but you would never do that.”

“I never would,’ Alec agrees as he places a hand on Jace’s cheek and the blonde can feel it trembling against his skin.  “I love you Jace, i”m in love with you.  I have been for what feels like forever.”

“I should have done this so fucking long ago,” Jace mumbles as he finally lets his lips crash on Alec’s like some kind of tidal wave.  He kisses Alec like that boy has always deserved to be kissed.  It’s rough and hurried and messy and somehow perfect.  Alec smells like home and Jace can feel their hearts beat as one as one hand rests on the side of Alec’s neck and the other is on his waist.  

He finally kisses Alec Lightwood, and nothing has ever felt so right.  

[jennifercascino]

What is the first creative moment you remember? My kindergarten teacher letting me ‘stamp out’ the letters of a poem I wrote, a special project on my own.

Was anyone there to witness it? My mom and my teacher, Ms. Matthews

Best idea I’ve ever had? To be a solid and committed partner to my husband.

What made it great in your mind? It was an idea that regarded, nurtured and cared for all of the best parts of me and my hopes for the future letting me focus on the positive and leave all the negatives behind.

What is the dumbest idea? To leave my mom’s bedside before she was fully recovered because I missed my vapid day to day life in NYC.

What made it stupid? She died and I didn’t get to say good bye.

Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea? yes, a series of bad choices and emotional addictions to fill empty space and loneliness.

What is your creative ambition? To make art that gets out to the public and hear feedback that pushes me forward creatively

What are the obstacles to this ambition? I don’t know how to get it out there and be heard. too many artists, voices, visual stimulation, art noise, lost in the crowd of artists

What are the vital steps to achieving this ambition? keep making art, keep posting art, keep talking to artists, network with people who want to see art

How do you being your day? I wake up to the calling voice of my son, MOM?! I make him breakfast, we get dressed and I pack his lunch while trying to stay on time but make things light and fun. Trying to not make him feel rushed and play while moving forward. Then walking to his school, I go to the gym for an hour.

What are your habits? What patterns do you repeat? Habits: checking social media, strength training, photographing walls, picking my nails, listening to music, drawing all over everything, wine, halo top, watering my plants.

Describe yoru first succeessful creative act? Making tape covers from collage and spraypaint for music mixes for my friends in jr high school and having my art teacher discover them and see them as art when I didn’t know that is what it was!

Second creative act? Starting art school in college and making my first project in the first 2 nights, an illustrated book of Alice in Wonderland. It was fantastic and I knew I was in the right place at the right time, art school was going to be worth a damn.

Compare them. It was really about expressing myself in a new way and having someone validate it. Then expressing myself again in a new way and feeling validated even before anyone saw the art or said a word. I knew it was good and was true.

What are your attitudes towards money, power, praise, reivals, work, play Money: good to have, opens doors, always comes back around, sometimes its abundant, sometimes their is none, have to pay your own way, no relying on others, save when you can but don’t be to frugal as you could be gone tomorrow, enjoy it. Power: I appreciate the people behind the scenes, I do not seek power over others but wish to have enough control/power over myself that I stay strong within the confines of society. It can be so misused, abused, unfair, unjust - especially in politics and social structure now.

which artists do you admire most? Marcel Dzama, Dave McKean, Hannah Höch, Basquiat, Mark Rothko, Jerome Witkin, Ange Miller, Julie Houts, Garance Doré and a lot more

Why are they your role models?They are hard workers, bold, quirky, original, humorous, emotional and brave. They capture wit, lust, jealousy, edge, flair, joy, angst and danger. 

What do we have in common? I try for all of it but only succeed with some things some of the time.

Does anyone in your life regularly inspire you? my son, my husband, my artistic friends, my exercise partners, instagram

Who is your muse? Isn’t that a person that inspires you? I would say my son. or brooklyn.

Define Muse: someone who inspires you?! 

When confronted with superior intelligence or talent, how do you respond? Intrigued, attracted, jealous, magnetized, interested, competitive, hopeful

When faced with Stupidity, hostility, intransigence, laziness or indifference in others, how do you respond? I think living in the city has hardened me against this a bit, yet softened me to not respond with as much passion or anger or protest. I have had some intense and frightening encounters showing my innate responses. I hold back if I have to but talk if I think it could do any good or be received with understanding.

When faced with impending success or the threat of failure, how do you respond? Success: accept what comes modestly but gathering hope. Threat of failure: don’t think I have completely failed at anything yet, always a chance to keep at it, build on the shaky ground, push forward. except lithography, lol, didn’t do so well with that.

When you work, do you love the process of the result? both, time flies during the process and I love implementing ideas as they come to me. The product is important to me as well, I am very protective of it as it is a part of me.

At what moments do you feel your reach exceeds your grasp? Often in parenting, art, learning new work, taking on school, relationships, family issues

What is your ideal creative activity? sitting down to cut up paper/magazines for collage after gathering for new supplies

What is your greatest fear? I will lose my family or my sight.

What is the likelihood of either of the answers to the previous two questions happening? either could happen at any time.

Which of your answers would you most like to change? Always have new artists that I like better and inspire me.

What is your idea of mastery? Working hard, producing a something that fully represents you with skill in insight and sharing it with the world.

What is your greatest dream? I would like to make my son proud to have me as a mother, I would love to create illustrated books for him that he can pass on long after I am gone.