#manga that could disintegrate me with a glance.

[daisyachain]

list of things that hikaru ga shinda natsu is about that i agree with

supernatural metaphor for when the first person in your friend group hits puberty

fable about wishing for your crush to like you back and realizing that the person who would treat you like you fantasize is an entirely different person from the one you loved in the first place

comment on the widespread idea that gay people spawn randomly in urban environments

clever little deconstruction that asks what truths folk tales ignore in their simplicity

rural high school au of tokyo ghoul

supernatural metaphor for how [miscellaneous] people have no future that they can see for themselves

exploration of how the strict external pressures of school create an environment where kids paradoxically have an amnesty to do whatever they want within those walls, and how integrating with society towards the end of high school/uni can be a cold, cold shock

[rubylarkspur22]

Another angsty fic prompt to ask but what Roleswap AU manga ending but Nezuko dies at the end after Muzan's defeat and passes away in front of a just cured Tanjiro?

OH, ANON, YOU ARE EVIL!! I LOVE IT!!! IT'S NOT THE CANON ENDING FOR THIS AU, BUT IT IS AN IDEA!!!!

DISCLAIMER: The following one shot is NOT canon to the Role Swap AU. Simply an idea proposed to me by this lovely anon!

Zenitsu finished getting his injuries wrapped up when he heard a new sound approach. Not new. Changed. Zenitsu corrected himself, because he recognized the sound. The pure kindness that radiated from it, it was undoubtedly Tanjirou. But the sound didn’t have any demonic undertones. It sounded human.

“Nezuko!” Tanjirou called out, looking around for his sister until his eyes landed on Zenitsu. The older boy was shocked to see burgundy eyes instead of the bright red he was accustomed to.

“Tanjirou! You’re human!” he exclaimed.

“Where’s Nezuko?” Tanjirou asked as he ran up to Zenitsu. “I can’t find her scent! I don’t know if it’s because I need to adjust to my nose being less sensitive, or if something’s blocking her scent, but I have to find her!” Zenitsu nodded before cupping a hand to his ear, listening for the sound he had memorized as Nezuko’s. There was no sign of it, not even her heartbeat. Zenitsu didn’t want to tell Tanjirou that his sister was dead, he knew it would devastate him, but he didn’t know if he could lie to the brother of the girl he loved.

"Tanjirou..." Zenitsu trailed off, unable to say it. Tanjirou teared up, and began searching frantically for Nezuko. He called out for her, sounding more desperate as he continued to be met with silence. Zenitsu ran after the younger boy, hoping his hearing had deceived him just the once.

Please don't let it be too late. Please let her be okay. Tanjirou ran, hoping that he had gotten there in time. He came to a stop in the town square. The first thing he saw was the mass of flesh disintegrating to ashes in the morning sun. The monster was gone. Kibutsuji was dead. He turned away from the ashes of the Demon King, and was faced with something he never wanted to see.

A pair of Kakushi were standing beside the hunched-over Demon Slayer, one of the Hashira, he couldn't remember which one it was, was seated in front of them. In front of her. Tanjirou took uncertain steps toward the group, stumbling and dropping to his knees in front of his sister. "Nezuko?" He slowly reached out to her, keeping his gaze off the bloodstained fabric surrounding where her left arm should have been.

"Kamado..." someone spoke up, but Tanjirou ignored them as he pulled Nezuko close.

"Nezuko, come on. Wake up." he muttered. He brought his hand to the fleshy mass covering Nezuko's right eye, a part of him wishing he still had his Blood Demon Art. Maybe if he had arrived sooner, or the medicine hadn't taken effect and turned him back when it did, he could have saved her. "I'm sorry, Nezuko." he whispered.

"Big brother... Why are you always apologizing?" a familiar voice, Nezuko's voice asked. Tanjirou glanced up, finding his little sister standing in front of him. But she was translucent, the morning sunlight shining through her form. Nezuko, or rather her spirit, smiled faintly, dropping into a crouch in front of Tanjirou. "Don't blame yourself, Tanjirou. This wasn't your fault."

"If I hadn't become a demon--"

"Either you would be dead, or we would both be going after Kibutsuji for what he did to mom and our little siblings." Nezuko cut in. "You may not be the violent or vengeful type, but you've never taken kindly to someone harming others, least of all those you care about."

"But why did it have to end like this?" Tanjirou asked, unconsciously tightening his hold on Nezuko's body. "Why couldn't we have gone home together?" Nezuko's gaze lowered, her expression becoming thoughtful until she sighed.

"I don't know." she admitted, her shoulders drooping with resignation. "I wish we could've gone home together too. Physically. But I guess it's just... not going to happen."

"I don't know what to do." Tanjirou muttered. Nezuko responded by placing a hand over his.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. And you won't be alone. The others will look out for you." she told him with a sad smile. "I want you to promise me something." she said. "Tanjirou, I want to promise that you're going to live your life. That you'll continue living until it's your time to join us." Tanjirou could only nod, and Nezuko responded with a nod of her own. "We'll watch over you. All of us." she assured him. "And don't try to hurry to the other side, okay? I'll flick your forehead if I see you here early."

"I promise, Nezuko." Tanjirou whispered. "I'll keep going. Could you... say hi to everyone for me? Please?"

"You don't have to ask." Nezuko replied, standing up and turning to the sun. "I'll see you when you get here. And in our next lives, if we're reborn as siblings, I won't let us hurt like this again. Promise." she told Tanjirou before vanishing. He could have sworn he saw six more figures in front of her, but they were gone in the blink of an eye. Tanjirou nodded again, letting his tears fall as he continued to hug his little sister.

"Me, too." he said at a volume only he could hear.

End

And that concludes this sad one shot. As I said, this is not canon to the AU, but it was kinda interesting to write! *turns to the boys and Kanao* HUG TIME, FOLKS!! GIVE THE SUNSHINE BOY HIS HUGS!!

[lemill1on]

ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴅᴏɴᴇ

kai chisaki x reader

spoilers for the manga ahead. tw for ocd

It was just when you were starting to forget the sound of Chisaki’s voice that you saw him again, covered in dirt and blood, standing on your doorstep in a baggy jumpsuit you could only assume used to be white. His golden eyes were dull and hollow, never remaining in one spot for long.

It took you longer than you would’ve liked to admit to realize what, in a physical sense, he was lacking. He’d expelled you from the Shie Hassaikai hideout before the heroes had raided it, and in the days following you’d assumed he was dead. You’d managed to lay low, to find a few ex-members that created a new you, and yet still he’d found you. Was this the fate they spoke so fondly of in the stories you’d read as a child? Or was this simply the end of a long chain of events?

“Kai….” Your voice was soft, sympathetic, welcoming him to slip out of his dirty white shoes and into your arms. “Where have you been?”

Chisaki’s eyes darted away from yours like a frightened animal. “Shower….I need a shower.”

You nodded, helping him out of his shoes and into your apartment. Your heart lurched every time he recoiled from your touch, a pained expression on his face as he shuffled into your bathroom.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll wash my hands first.” You expected to hear his usual praise, or even see him give you the kind of caring glance he used to.

You scrubbed your hands clean, a habit you still kept up even months after you’d last seen him. You dried them off on a clean towel and turned on the shower, carefully working on peeling away the filthy clothes he’d arrived in. You could see the gatherings of hives scattered across his skin, some settled into rough scars while others were still a fresh shade of red.

“Come on,” You prompted, helping him into the shower.

You were careful as you guided the stream of water over his skin, watching as thick brown trails of grime swirled down your drain. You thought to make conversation, ask how he found you or who had taken his arms, but you were too scared to break the near-silence that had penetrated the small bathroom.

“I don’t need your help, you know,” He remarked dryly, speaking to you as if he had no idea of your shared history. Had the events that led him to this moment wiped years of a relationship away? Did you need to jog his memory? What the hell were you supposed to do?

“Kai, your—”

“I can do it!” He snapped, moving his arms as if his hands were still there. “I just need to—I just need to wash him off of me. Then I can find the old man and….and I’ll be clean.”

“Kai, what are you talking about? Who’s he?”

You began to lather the soap between your hands, the warm scent of lavender and chamomile enveloping your nose. Before you could reach out to begin washing his skin Chisaki jerked his body away from you, a look that was more pain than disgust on his face.

“I said I didn’t need your help, didn’t I?” His arm moved toward the soap, hovering in the air for a moment before it fell limply to his side. “I have to wash him off myself—I can still feel his disgusting hands….touching me…..”

You grabbed Chisaki’s shoulder and harshly turned him to face you. “Kai stop. Whoever he was….he’s not here. He-he took your arms….”

The realization was slow. The pieces didn’t fall together, they clamored into place as your soapy hand slipped from Chisaki’s arm. You’d seen a story on the news not long after you’d moved into this very apartment, saying a villain named Shigaraki had used his quirk to disintegrate part of another villain’s body. You’d considered yourself lucky that you’d been able to escape when you had, thankful to have left your life of villainy in the past, if only to a certain extent. You never would have guessed that the victim was your own boyfriend, nor that he would eventually return to you months later an utterly broken man.

Chisaki’s gaze weakly fell upon you, the vulnerability in his body language something you’d never seen before. He didn’t speak a word to you but you could hear his plea, his pained desire to be clean again.

You kept your touch soft as you cleaned his skin, taking extra care to wash his arms. You repeated the process twice before moving on to his face, making sure he would let you before you spread the soap across his hive-riddled skin, gently stroking your thumbs across his cheeks as you studied his face. He looked the same as you remembered, albeit a bit more gaunt and tired. His skin still felt the same under your fingertips as you rinsed away the soap, still so strangely soft and warm.

There was a bit of life in his eyes when they opened, looking at you in nearly the same way they had. You could still tell by the way that he flinched when you rubbed the shampoo into his hair that his readjustment would be far from instant, but you felt that you were, at the very least, off to a good start.

“Better?” You asked, giving him one last rinse before you turned the water off, grabbing a towel from the cabinet by the sink while you waited for his response.

“I can’t….feel him. What did you do to me?”

You toweled Chisaki off, disappearing into your room to find the clothes you’d managed to sneak out of the hideout. You were glad you’d talked yourself out of throwing them away, though you weren’t sure if he’d be okay with borrowing a pair of your bigger pants to sleep in. You were surprised to hear him accept them, repeating his question to you once he had.

“I did what I always do, Kai. I helped clean you up.”

[xiaoquanquans]

at my disposal

sypnosis : y/n and chishiya became allies after y/n had saved chishiya from getting killed in a game of tag . they helped each other stay alive in the borderlands while also collecting all the needed cards to return back to the real world . after following chishiya around religiously , y/n had fallen hard for chishiya and he had explained to her that he did not care for her and would do anything to keep himself alive . all the remaining players had split out to collect the face cards . y/n and chishiya were focusing on completing the diamond cards . but chishiya did what he had to survive .

tw warnings : swearing , manipulation , death , betrayal , mentions of alcohol , self harm , blood , depression ( do not read if you somehow relate to the tw’s , i genuinely care okay ? take care of yourself bby 🖤 )

notices :

• MANGA SPOILERS!!

• mixed pov’s

• the game announcer speaks in bold and sly remarks or important sentences are written in italic

• lowercase

• this ff might be a bit confusing , because it’s a knowledge diamond based game

• chishiya’s true nature / canon chishiya

• gender neutral reader

• not proof-read

—

the game that we will be playing is the keynesian beauty contest . difficulty K♦️. henceforth, the rules shall be explained . within one minute all of you will pick a number from 0 to 100 . after everyone has entered their numbers , an average number will be taken from the addition of the numbers of all the 5 players . the player that has the closest number to the average number will be the winner and earn one point.

here we were , all five of us facing each other at this pentagon shaped table awaiting for our deaths . the rules were simple , win or die .

if you get an answer wrong you’ll receive -1 point. it’s game over for those who reach -10 points.

kuzuryuu keiichi , the third highest executive at the Beach was directly facing me , chishiya was to my left and an additional two players as well .

benzo, an wise old man and hinako a snobby looking woman .

upon heading the rules it was obvious that only one of us would make it out alive . i wished that i had known that before entering the courthouse .

i turned to face chishiya only to see him sneering at keiichi.

only one player will make it out alive .

-

chishiya

why was he so special to me , so intriguing .

i was the one who saved him but for some reason i’m also the one following him around .

i was a smart person , i figured it out quick .

it was obvious to me that i was in love with him , and he noticed it as well .

one day , we were both hanging around the poolside of the Beach far away from each other when we exchanged glances .

not long after he made his way towards me and pulled me aside .

he stared me blankly into my eyes , no emotion portrayed through them . listen , i’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at me and it’s genuinely really annoying but you have to know .

i do not like you , i don’t want to like you and i never will . if we were in a bad situation i would not hesitate to sacrifice you to safe myself . i would use you at my disposal if i had to so stop giving me those looks , you should know that i hate them and i do not care about you .

after that day , we rarely exchanged words . but for some reason i still kept following him around . he was cold to everyone else , i wasn’t anyone special . but god forbid him , he was just so unique to me . he couldn’t keep me away from him and his god complex even if he wanted to .

-

before i could speak up i was quickly outspoken by keiichi .

“ you’ve all heard the rules . if you have no further questions we will continue and start the game. ”

chishiya snickered. he knew that it was going to be him . he knew that he was clever and he showcased that every chance he could .

he knew he would be the one to walk away from the court with the card in his hand . the K of diamonds would just merely be another addition to his substantial stack of cards that he had collected or as some might say , stole .

the first few rounds had passed and everyone had gotten the hang of the game . it was simple to everyone in the room . all you had to do was get the calculations right in the time limit of 5 minutes .

hinako spoke up , “ so this game , is merely a deduction of how far the opponents can calculate? ”

i let out a quiet laugh , everyone had already registered that after the first round and here she was only figuring it out now .

you made a bet with yourself , she’d be the first one out , if not the second .

“ but what we’re reading isn’t mentality but rationality . ” chishiya replied .

after a few rounds the tables weren’t turning , keiichi had been winning every round because of his solid strategy of everyone keying in either 0 or 1 . someone had to do something or else we’d all lose to him .

so i realised i had to change it up a bit .

i quickly inputted the number 100

it took everyone by surprise , i knew i had no chance of winning because 100 was definitely too far from the average but i inspired the rest to take part in what i was doing while also taking away keiichi’s advantage.

a few more rounds passed and both Benzo and Hinako had reached -9 points . I was on -7 and Chishiya was on -8 . Keiichi was leading with -4 points .

Both Benzo and Hinako were one point away from death , so they had to be extra careful in the next round .

Unfortunately for them , they guessed a number that was too off from the answer , causing the acid on top of them to pour down , melting and disintegrating their bodies until they were gone .

Chishiya smirked at it . Their lives had meant nothing to them and so did yours . He knew what he had to do after this . How he could ensure his survival by taking you out .

-

and here you were , in the pitch black bar of the Beach . gulping down bottles of alcohol , trying your best to forget about what had happened . you weren’t weak , you kept telling yourself that even if you didn’t believe it . but deep down you knew you were .

once you were done with your bottle you slammed it against the counter , breaking it into hundreds of shards .

you took the biggest one you could find and lifted up your sleeve .

this wouldn’t be your first mark, your arm was filled with lines that were distinct in width from past experiences that you had before coming to the Borderlands .

before you could hesitate you did it . the glass shard sliced it’s way through your skin with ease .

you dropped the shard out of pain causing it to break off into many smaller pieces .

once again you scavenged for more alcohol , looking for fire whiskey which was something that could help numb the pain .

after minutes of searching you finally found a bottle-

“ y/n what happened , why is the whole bar in a mess? ”

you turned around to face kuina , a look of worry was displayed all over her face .

she made eye contact for a moment before looking down towards your arm .

“ what were you thinking? ” you heard her mutter .

she quickly took the bottle of whiskey out of your hand and placed it on the counter , after that she slowly brought you to the other side of the bar due to there being shards of glass everywhere on the floor.

once she sat you down she went to look for a medkit, leaving you to yourself and your thoughts . kuina took as little time as she could because she knew you weren’t in the right state of mine to be alone .

once she found the kit she rushed back to the bar , only to find that you’ve fainted from the all the loss of blood . it was a thin cut line but a very deep one , it looked like you might have even accidentally cut off a vein .

after you had woke up the next day you and kuina had a long talk and after that you felt much better .

until you ran into chishiya again on the same day.

-

since there are only 3 players remaining , a new rule will be added into the game. if two players pick the same number they will both get -2 points .

i was already on -8 , meaning any wrong choice would lead me to my death .

picking 0 or 1 would definitely lead me to my death , so I’ll choose a random number between 2 and 100

how about , 62 .

the results are in , chishiya is the winner , number 23.

-

y/n ( -10points )

chishiya (-8 points )

keiichi ( -7 points )

-

and that was it ,

endgame for me .

before accepting my death i had one question , how did he figure out i was going to pick 23 .

and as if he read my thoughts , chishiya spoke up .

“in order to distance yourself you would’ve picked a number in between 2 to 100 because 0 or 1 had the highest chances of being duplicates .

after clearing all the possibilities of you picking a random number i was left with 62 and 74.

and i chose between those , and to my luck you picked 62 and all i had to do from there was divide 62 in half . leaving me with 23.

with this , a player has reached -10 points , it is now game over for that participant .

chishiya laughed , “ like i said you’re at my disposal , should have listened the first time . ”

and those were the last words i heard before meeting my end .

- END -

tags: @donnyhateslife @hvrriicane @myloveforchishiya ( dm to be added to tag list )

oui oui love yall 💖

[wornoutmouse]

Baby daddy shigaraki p2

Uncle Dabi tings💖

Shigaraki stood over a man with a look of death in his eyes. "So you mean to tell me, You couldn't find the extra large Paw Patrol baby walker?" The man laughed nervously and his hands began to sweat. "S-Sir I can assure you that, we are a-all searching around but have yet to find what y-your looking for and order it.."

Shigaraki held his chin as he walked around the man like a predator. Daiki, who was currently being held by the shaking man, gurgled loudly as his unfocused newborn eyes followed his father's light hair. "I agree Dai, I don't think they are trying hard enough."

Shigaraki stopped pacing in front of the man. "How about this, you have a week to find me what I want. If you don't you will be dusted."  The man sighs with relief and relaxes his grip on Daiki, "T-Thank you sir, you won't regret it."

Shigaraki grabs a walkie talkie from his pocket, "Twice come escort the Toys are Us employee back to his job. His shift is almost over." Twice replies okay back along with some obscene profanity. The man swallowed slowly, "M-May I request to be dropped off at Subway I haven't eaten yet." 

Shigaraki sneered down at the man as he watched him absentmindedly bouncing Daiki in his arms. "Are you kidding me, supplier's of my son only get the best around here!.......you get Sub Sandwiches."

Shigaraki walks into the main bar area where the others resided. "Bye Carl!" Toga waves at the shaken man who practically falls into Twice's arms. "Spinner, Daiki hasn't eaten since yesterday so I order you to breastfeed my son." 

Spinner's eyes go wide, "And how the hell am i supposed to do that?" Shigaraki shrugs and he hands him Daiki, "How should I know, your the only animal here." Kurogiri materialises next to Spinner and gingerly takes Daiki from him, "No need for that, I have taken some of Y/N's breast milk to feed him."

Everyone jumps as the dry hand of Shigaraki appears through Kurogiri's head. "Nobody touches his mother's tits except me!" Dabi downs a shot of Patron Tequila, "Man you're hopeless." Dabi flips out a bottle of breast milk and takes Daiki from Kurogiri. "Until Y/N comes to beat your ass, I will watch the brat."

Shigaraki crossed his arms, "And what do you know about children ashtray?" Dabi side-glances at Tomura, and rolls his eyes, "I have siblings dipshit." Tomura scratches his neck and warily watches Dabi's large hands practically cover the entirety of the baby's small form.

Y/n POV:

Stress was an understatement to the emotion you were feeling. It had only been day two of Daiki's fatherly kidnapping and you had already seen two news reports of League of Villian sightings.

The newscaster spoke with professionalism as she spoke foolishness, "The leader, Tomura Shigaraki was seen in a large white van, that he then man handled an Toys R Us employee. After that while ordeal they chose to then stop for McDonalds." The camera then cuts to a young woman wearing McDonald's attire, "He ordered two McFries and a Milkshake but then came back around and ordered 5 McDoubles, I could hear many voices in the back of the Van."

You stirred your tea in an attempt at maintaining the last few shreeds of your sanity. The only thing you knew for certain was that Daiki was being fed regularly as you noticed your saved breast milk had been disappearing.

You don't have an answer as to why you weren't rushing over to the bar. Maybe deep down you wanted to trust Shigaraki  to not get into any terrible trouble with your son nearby. 

Just in the League of Villans member, Dabi has been spotted walking through Kyoto park with a bright pink baby sling on his chest. Is it a baby, or could it be something much worse."

The mug you were holding broke in your voice grip and you blankly stared at the hot drink trickling around your fingers. 

Dabi

"There are more trees here than I remember." Dabi mumbled as he lights a cigarette over Daiki's sleeping head. Daiki blinks his tiny eyes open and wrinkles his large head around as he takes in his new surroundings.

 "Is that Dabi?"

"He's hot."

"Am i the only one that sees the baby?"

Dabi gently held the back of Daiki's head to keep it upright. "Whoa there little dude, you're like not even a month old yet, can't be moving that head too much." Daiki once again settles back to sleep and Dabi rolls the sling up to keep his head against his chest.

Finding a bench, Dabi relaxes and takes in the fleeting nature and fearful looks of the public. As he sat there,, he failed to notice the large forms coming his way. 

Two large men walk behind Dabi and toss him into the air. Seeing no other option, Dabi  does his best to land on his feet, legs buckling at the force of it. "Oh hey guys, what took you so long to find me?" A larger man with a face of a hog snorted at Dabi, "You know why we're here now let's make this quick."

Dabi pretends to care as he teeters on the back of his heels. "Ah yes, the money. Well gentlemen as you can see, I am busy bonding with my nephew right now so if you don't mind…." A shorter man with a sickly appearance takes a threatening step closer to Dabi, "Maybe we should take the kid as collateral, there's no telling what kind of quirk he has if he's related to this freak."

Dabi's playful demeanor falters a bit as the sickly man licks his lips at the sight of the small mound attached to Dabi's chest. "Yeah as fun as that sounds I think my "brother" here will have to pass." Dabi looks to the left of the two men and sees Shigaraki standing off to the side in a black hoodie. The taller man laughs as Shigaraki slowly walls up to the trio, "And what are you going to do pipsqueak?" 

Shigaraki doesn't respond as he makes a beeline for Dabi. Before he could fully pass the two men, the smaller one places his paper thin fingers into Shigaraki's shoulder, "Look kid, now's not the best time to be playing hero so get lost."

Shigaraki laughs, "Kid? I'm a father, put some respect on my name." With that Shigaraki places his bare hands over the manga face and cackled as the man slowly disintegrated in front of him. Dabi smirks as he watches the larger man back away from Shigaraki.

Shigaraki turns back to Dabi with a triumphant smile. "You really thought I'd let you take my kid anywhere? Fat chance ashtray?"

"Tomura muthafucking Shigaraki." Both Dabi and Tomura freeze at the sound of your voice. You stood still behind Shigaraki who could only pray for a quick death as your footsteps came closer. 

To his relief, you walk past him and to Dabi to check on your son. Kurogiri chooses that time to materialise and you promptly drag Dabi through him while Shigaraki sadly follows from behind. 

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

You fold your hands together and look at each man slowly. "Kurogiri, you let Dabi leave your side with my child." Kurogiri does nothing but hand his head low in shame so you turn to Dabi. "You went out in public with a newborn, as a notorious villan, and got attacked." Dabi raised a finger to speak but you glared it down.

"Don't think I didn't see you lighting a cigarette with Daiki literally on your chest, I should whoop to ass on gp for that."  Dabi looked at Kurogiri for help, help was of course not given. You smile wickedly as you look at Shigaraki who avoided your eye contact. 

"I talk to you about not trusting you around our child. And you go and pull something that makes me not trust you around our child." Shigaraki looked at you  in shame. He knew better, well he didn't know better but he knew he could do better.

You look over at Twice who was holding Daiki with shaking arms from trying not let his other side toss the child like Kobe. "Please come get him Y/N-he's mine hoe!"

Daiki remained asleep during the entire ordeal of course.

???

"So Tomura has a son?" Dark laughter resounded  around the confines of a prison far away. All for One shook in his tight constraints, "And he didn't even bring him for a visit?" He joked. His featureless face went serious, "And the girl, what about her?" The sound of a faint voice resounded in the room coming from everywhere yet nowhere. "She won't be a problem at all."

Good

Just wanna let y'all know that I am bullshiting this story as I go 😚💅🏿

[thewildomega]

Star in the Sand Ch.18

Grumbling under his breath as he finished reprehending his crew he moved back to the walk board to go retrieve his soulmate but when he looked down to where she had been he saw no one. Growling he grit his teeth. "I said no wondering off." Marching down the walk board he looked down the docks for her but didn't see her. Knitting his brows he snapped his head around, his heart starting to beat a little harder. "Daz!" Seeing his first come over to the side of the ship and look down to him he plucked the cigar from his lips. "Is Y/n on ship?" Seeing Daz glance around then hearing him ask the others, he knew the answer as soon as he looked back to him. Snapping his eyes back to where she had been he saw the banana she had been eating on the wooden dock next to the crates. Moving over to the side he glanced to the water just to be sure. The water wasn't very clear but even if she had fell in she was an exceptional swimmer she wouldn't have...

"Crocodile..."

Looking over to Daz he saw him kneeling by the crates and moved back over. Seeing the man stand and hold out a syringe he felt his blood run cold. "Find her." was all he grit out before turning to sand and flying down the dock and onto the streets.

..............................

Groaning at the aching in your body you scrunched your eyes together a few times before managing to open them. Looking around the dimly lit room you knit your brows. Your limbs felt like the weighted a ton. Trying to move your hands they stopped short and you quickly looked down to see a set of heavy cuffs locked around your wrists. Snapping your eyes down to ankles you saw they too had shackles on them. Swallowing hard you looked back around the room and now noticed the bars... based on the rocking you knew you were on a ship of sorts... the brig of a ship to be more exact. Breathing heavily you heard a thumping and looked towards the dark stairway on the other side of the room to see a man walking down them. Hey you knew him, that was that guy from the stalls, the one that had been watching you. As he come to stand in front of your cell you saw him cross his arms over his chest and smile largely at you. 

"Well look who's awake." he said with a dark chuckle. 

"Who are you? What do you want?"  you asked, your voice soft and your throat burning.

"Don't matter who I am doll. As for what I want, well I'll be getting that soon enough." 

Furrowing your brows you saw him reach for something in his coat pocket. As soon as he unrolled it you felt your heart sink. 

"That's a mighty high bounty for such a little thing like you. But hey who am I to judge." he told her. Placing the bounty back up he tilted his head. "Would have loved to get my hands on that ex warlord of yours as well but eh.. I ain't stupid." 

Trying to hold back your tears you saw the man start smirking again. 

"Might want to save some of those tears, in a few days time yer life is gonna get a whole lot worse." 

That was all he said before he started back up the stairs, leaving you alone in the dark, cold brig. Tears rolled from your eyes and down your cheeks, choking on a sob you called out for your soulmate softly even though you knew he wasn't there. Curling up into the corner you pulled your knees up to your chest and laid your forehead on them. What were you going to do now? These men were going to turn you over to the marines to collect your bounty, the bounty you had just learned about. Would they kill you? Would you be executed? They had killed Ace because he was the son of Gol Rogers, would they kill you for your bloodline as well? It felt like your heart had dropped to your stomach. So many thoughts were running through your head that it felt like it was spinning. Surly by now Croc had noticed you missing. Was he looking for you? Maybe he would find you. As much as you wanted to stay positive your logical mind was taking over. Shaking with a sob you closed your eyes tight and placed your hands over your womb. "Crocodile. Please fff...orgive me. I..I love you..." 

.................................

There was a horrible clenching in his chest. They had searched the whole island, all through the night and next day but still his star had not been found. It was like she had just disappeared without a trace. They had even started searching houses, the thought that someone was hiding her crossing his mind. As he walked through the streets again, his eyes looking over every face he stopped when he heard yelling.

"Captain!"

Looking around he saw Ori come running up to him, the boy out of breath. "Did you find her?" he asked, his voice sounding desperate no matter how hard he tried to hide it. 

Shaking his head he looked up to the terrifying man and swallowed thickly. "N..No sirr b..but..."

"Speak up boy!" he yelled. Noticing the boy flinch he grit his teeth down on his cigar. He knew the boy couldn't help it and his darling had gotten on him before about snapping at the boy for his speech impediment but his nerves were too raw at the moment. 

"Bonez told me to c..come get you Sir. He..said ittt's important." Ori forced out, attempting to keep his stuttering to a minimum. 

Sighing he nodded. "Alright. Keep looking." 

"Yesss ssir." 

Without another moments hesitation he had stalked back to his ship and to his cabin when Hex pointed him in that way. He didn't like the seldom look on the man's face. Throwing open the cabin door he saw Daz standing there, a look of remorse on his face. No. Please no. "What did you find?" he asked, his voice deep. Bonez had always had a sense of sarcasm to him but the man said nothing as he handed him the paper. Dropping his eyes to it he slowly reached out to take it. His mind already had an idea about what it was he was getting ready to see but he shoved it away. Turning it over to where Daz had already folded it to he felt his breath catch in his throat. 

"Firelocks Y/n Captured. Bounty Collected."

He couldn't bare to read more than the headline, the paper turning to ash in his shaking hand. 

Seeing his captain just standing there as still as a statue he let out a sigh. Crossing his arms over his chest he blinked slowly. "She is being transported to Impale Down as we speak." nothing, not even a blink. Dropping his head he closed his eyes, "I'm sorry Crocodile." was all he said before he left the man to mourn. As soon as the door closed and he had made it a few feet away he heard the sound of things being broken and knocked over. Heavy thumping and banging filled the air of the ship but no one said a word. Nodding to Hex he saw the man go out to collect the remaining crew so they could leave. In truth they would all be lucky if Crocodile didn't disintegrate the whole ship and leave them to the sea. Sitting on one of the crates Daz let out a deep breath as he listened to his captain's rampage go on. He couldn't blame him, he knew his pain all too well. Loosing one's soulmate and child was a hard burden to bare. 

Breathing heavily Crocodile moved over to sit on the knocked over desk and dropped his head to his hand. She was gone. His love was gone. He had failed her again... and their child. There was no getting her back now he knew that. She was going to that hell. She was being sentenced to that dreadful place. It should have been him. He should be the one going to prison. She had done nothing, she was innocent. She was meant to be punished for being born... for loving him. He knew the truth, there was no way she would survive in a place like that. She was going to die, his unborn child was going to die. Before he could stop them tears were leaving his eyes. He felt them run down his cheeks and across his fingers and clenched his teeth hard to keep his unwanted sobs from ringing out. I'm sorry. "I'm so sorry my little star."

...........................

The wind blew harshly as you walked off the navy prison ship and down to the dock of doom. Keeping your eyes down you heard as the gate was slammed shut behind you and flinched. It was cold, your sundress doing nothing to keep you warm. Being led into the prison you heard the screams and cries of others around you and swallowed thickly. Following the jailer known as Domino into the prison you were first moved into a room to remove your clothing. Glancing to the guards most of which were men you tensed up but reluctantly did as you were told and removed your dress, bra and panties watching them get thrown into the fire. 

"The locket as well." Domino spoke.

Snapping your eyes up your hands moved to your locket and you felt your lip tremble. 

"Come on we don't have all day." one of the guards spoke. 

Screaming out when the whip was brought down on your back you clung to your locket and felt tears roll down your cheeks. Hearing the clicking of boots you looked down to see two shiny black boots standing in front of you and slowly looked up to see Domino there. When she held her hand out you sniffled and brought the chain over your head, handing it over to her with trembling hands. You thought she would toss it to the fire but she didn't. Not having time to question it you were yanked over to another part of the room. Realizing what was next you clenched your teeth. Being shoved down to the stone floor you covered your breasts as best you could, keeping your legs closed while a thick chain was wrapped around your ankles. Hauled up you glanced down to the boiling water under you and closed your eyes. Your thoughts went to Crocodile, he had went through this same thing and you knew from what the manga had said that he hadn't made a sound. Be like him. Be strong like him. Repeating the words in your head you felt the chain drop and held your breath however you proved to be much weaker than your soulmate. Being pulled out of the caldron you let out a broken scream, your skin already feeling burnt and blistered. 

Everything else that happened seemed to pass by in a blur, the 'baptism' making you feel faint. Dressed in stripped prison clothes that hung from your frame you walked along with Domino and one other guard who had to catch you as you stumbled  a few times. Getting to an elevator you rode down you don't know how many levels, listening to people screaming. What level were you to be imprisoned in? When the elevator stopped you followed Domino down a dark hallway until she got to a large wooden door and knocked three times. A few seconds passed before the door opened and you were pushed inside. Stumbling to a stop you heard as Domino spoke to someone and then heard that person say your name. 

"Ehh... Firelocks Y/n huh?" 

Slowly looking up you saw none other than Hannyabal there. He was dressed differently than he had been in the manga and it was then you realized he had gotten Magellan's job. So he was Warden now. He looked to have put on some weight as well. Glancing over his office as he went about looking over what you guessed was your file you saw your locket had been placed on his desk and stared at it. At least she hadn't tossed it away. 

Reading over the woman's file he looked back and forth between her and her bounty, checking off that it was really her. Seeing her looking towards the locket that Domino had said was hers he rose a brow but said nothing. "Did she give you any trouble?"

"Other than handing the locket over at first command sir no."

"So forcibly taken?" he asked the blond. 

"No. She handed it over to me." 

Humming he reached for a pen only to knock it from his desk. 

Seeing the pen fall to the floor in front of you you reached down to pick it up out of habit but let out a cry when something hard hit your shoulder. 

Watching as the guard hit the woman with his baton, knocking her to the ground he knit his brows. Seeing a small shaking hand reach up to place the pen on his desk before the officer hit her forearm with the baton again, yelling how she didn't move unless told to he heard the woman cry out but not reply. "That's enough. Leave me to get her settled." he said. 

Slowly standing again you took in a shaky breath, your shoulder and arm throbbing in pain. You could hear as they went about talking but couldn't really make anything out, your eyes moving back to your locket on his desk. 

Getting all he needed from Domino he closed his office door and walked back around the woman who was standing there silently, her lidded eyes focused back on the locket. Moving to sit in his chair he grabbed the pen from where she had placed it and lifted it to write. "State your name." 

"Y/n... L/n...." 

"Wouldn't it be Charlotte?" he asked as he wrote. 

Feeling your brow twitch you blinked slowly, "I suppose." 

"Crimes?" he asked. 

Feeling a clenching in your heart you forced your tears away. "Being born." 

Stopping he glanced from the bounty to her. Funny, to be the Granddaughter of the notorious Big Mom and the daughter of Killer Dunes she didn't look dangerous. Actually he thought she was pretty frail looking. Most prisoners here started giving everyone problems the moment they were dragged in but she had not fussed once. The young woman had even picked his pen up for him when he dropped it. Knowing she had been affiliated with Crocodile, one of the prisoners who had escaped the prison before he let out a sigh. Her eyes had not yet left the locket and as he lifted it he saw her small body tense. It was a simple gold locket, old he guessed by the ware on it. Hitting the button on the top of it he saw it open to show two different pictures on each side. One being an old picture of a man, woman and baby. He knew the man to be none other than Killer Dunes, her father. The other side of the locket set a sketch of Crocodile. It was hand drawn but it was good enough that it almost looked like a photograph. "Why him, why Crocodile?" he asked and saw her eyes drop, her fingers fettling with the hem of the baggy prison garb. 

"C..can't help who you fall in love with..."  you said in a soft voice. Just thinking about your soulmate that you would never see again made your heart shatter even more. 

Ninety-nine million berry bounty just for being linked to the wrong people. This woman was doomed from the start. She didn't choose this life. Looking her over he let out a sigh. She wasn't likely to make it a month here. Especially since they had her in...glancing to her paper he knit his brows, level five. Scratch that, she wouldn't make it a week. Snapping the locket back close he held it out for her to take. Who was he to take away what would be the last bit of peace she would ever have. 

Hearing the snap and glancing up you were surprised to see him holding the locket out for you. Thinking it may be some kind of trick you didn't move at first but then he pushed it to you more and you reached over to take it from him. "Thank you." 

Nodding he watched her put it back on, seeing her wince as she had to move her no doubt sore body. Once she had it tucked under her shirt he stood from his desk and moved around to stand beside her. 

Being led down another level you at first wondered why Hannyabal didn't take you by elevator but he soon spoke up. 

"You are being sentenced to level five, the freezing hell. Personally I think it's a bit much but it's not my decision to make. Enjoy this last bit of warmth while you can."

Still remaining silent you heard as the screams slowly faded away, only the sound of your rattling chains filling the air around you.  As the two of you came up to the large door you could feel the chill seeping through and hitting your bare feet. Taking a deep breath as he reached for the handle you closed your eyes as the door opened, the frigid cold wind hitting your burnt skin. Hannyabal didn't rush you as you walked on the frozen land with your blistered feet. Your body was already shivering violently and your teeth chattered together so much you thought they would crack. Walking by some of the cells you saw prisoners in some of them that looked to be frozen completely. Dead, they were dead. That was your fate. Continuing on you heard as the fair few of prisoners that were still breathing started cat calling you but you only grit your teeth and kept your eyes down. 

Taking pity on the woman he placed her in one of the cells that received the least amount of wind and was mostly cut off from all the others. Opening the cell for her she again gave no fuss as she walked into the cold freezer. 

Ignoring the men as they continued calling to you you walked over to the bench on the back wall and curled up on it, facing the wall. Hannyabal said nothing else as he left you to your doom. 

...........................................

Screaming out as the long blade sliced through his skin and bone he fell to his knees, his right hand clinging to where his matching one had just been. Looking up at the emperor he didn't get time to speak a word before the man was swinging his weapon again, this time slicing open his face. Feeling the warmth of his own blood run down his face and seep into his clothes he shook as blood lose took over. 

"You come back to the New World again and I'll remove more than your hand." Whitebeard warned before turning his back to the arrogant punk and walking away with his crew. 

He didn't much know of anything else that occurred only the agonizing pain he felt as he came back to consciousness. Looking up he realized he was in the cabin of his small ship, laying in his bed from what it felt like. Trying to move he found his limbs heavy. He could see the bandages wrapped around his face out of the corner of his eyes. At least he could still see out of both. Glancing down to his left arm he looked to the spot his hand should be but saw nothing there. The numb remaining was wrapped in a thick amount of bandages that were spotted here and there with his blood. Hearing a noise he looked back forward and saw the ship's medic coming towards him. 

"Wasn't expecting you awake yet." the man said. "Here drink this." 

Feeling the man help him sit up and press a cup to his lips he greedily drank at the water he offered. Once he had had his fill he leaned back and groaned as he settled back onto the pillow. Glancing to the left side of his large bed he felt his brow twitch when a thought crossed his mind. "Y...y/n..." he managed to croak out, his voice sounding hoarse. Looking to the man's eyes he followed them when he glanced to the floor beside the bed where a small form was curled up under a spare blanket. 

"She wouldn't take no for an answer. Screamed and hollered until we finally let her in. Boris has a right nasty bite to prove it." 

Huffing at the information he sighed. As the medic gave him something for pain and made his leave he glanced down again to the sleeping body on the floor when he heard her small noise. Watching her move her hand to rub her eyes he swallowed thickly. "I've told you about biting." he said, his voice still horrible sounding. Still though he saw two sea blue eyes snap up to his own. 

"Croc." her tiny voice called. 

As she stood quickly and moved to his bedside he blinked heavily. Watching as she looked him over, her little lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears he breathed out. "Y/n..." Watching as she curled up to place her head on the bed beside his right bicep he heard her start crying, the sound breaking his heart. "Come here." When she made no move to get into the bed with him he forced his body to move, gritting his teeth as pain radiated throughout his body. Dropping his right arm he scooped her up and used all of his strength to lift the five year old up onto the bed. When he went to situate her with his left hand like he normally would he grunted in agony and heard her gasp. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she cried. 

Holding her still when she tried to move away from him he slid his left arm up and laid her down in his side. "Hush now. It's alright, don't cry." 

"B..but yourrr h..hurt..." she sobbed, curling up into the nook of his side. 

His arm was too heavy to hold up so he rested it across his chest and settled for stroking her head with his fingertips. "I'll be alright." he told her. Seeing her still so upset he licked his dry lips. "You know what would make me feel better?" he asked, cracking one of his eyes open when she looked up to him with her teary eyes. Turning his head away from her some he heard her sigh.

"I'm not a baby anymore I know It doesn't work like that." she told him in a soft voice. 

"It used to work for you.. how do you know it won't work for me?" he asked and then felt her crawl up to peck the part of his cheek not covered in bandages. Grinning as she settled back down beside him, her head laying on his chest he glanced into her eyes and felt that calmness come over him. "See I feel better already." he said and saw her give him the tiniest smiles before it turned into a yawn. "Get some sleep my little star." Making sure she closed her own eyes first he swiftly followed. 

Opening his eyes again however when he heard a noise he let out a gasp when he saw what was now laying beside him. It was Y/n but she was no longer a little girl nor was she the y/n he remembered. This Y/n had dull grey eyes that were sunken in with dark shadows surrounding them. Her cheeks were completely hollowed out and her lips were chapped and thinned out to the point they were bloody. Her soft hair that was before such a fiery red was now dry and almost a greyish brown in color. It looked as if all the life had been drained from her. 

"You let them take me. You didn't protect me. You didn't protect us." 

Hearing her words he dropped his head down to her stomach that was now slightly rounded under the striped prison clothes. Snapping his eyes back up to her he felt his heart hammer in his chest and his mouth dry out. "No...I didn't mean for it to happen..."

"But you let it. You failed me. You are my soulmate, you were supposed to take care of me. Didn't you love me?"

Nodding his head he felt that lump forming in his throat. "I did. I do."

"If you loved me then why did you let them take me?"

Closing his eyes as they filled with tears he heard her continue. 

"Look at me, look at what I've become! I'm dying, our baby is dying and it's all your fault!"

Snapping his eyes open with a start he bolted up in bed, the blanket pooling to his waist. Looking around the dark room he closed his eyes and moved his hand to rub his face when he realized it had all been a dream. Another nightmare. 

"The last part was you, your own mind taking over." 

Tensing at the sudden voice he readied himself for a fight but when he looked over to the chair and saw the witch, one of the fates there he growled. "And just what the hell do you want?" he all but snarled. 

"Me? Oh I just heard you thinking about all the what if's here lately and decided to show you what it would have been like if one of those were a reality."

"So mental torture then." he huffed as he got up from bed to go get something to drink. Pouring himself a large tumbler of rum he downed it in one go before filling it up again. His own pain reliever. 

"Like I said the last part was all you." she spoke but he didn't respond. Watching the middle aged man for a time she saw him stare at the charcoal picture framed on the shelf. "You miss her dearly don't you." 

"Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to?" he spoke in a stale voice. 

"It's been almost four months Raiden." 

"So your point is what?! I should just get over her?! She is my soulmate, my other half, my... my everything..." his voice although starting off strong and full of anger quickly became nothing more than a quiet sigh. 

They sat in silence again for a while again, her listening to his thoughts until she spoke. "Yes. The answer is yes, she is still alive."

He didn't know wither to feel relieved or grief. While he was glad his darling was still alive it also meant that she was still in that hell. What state would she even be in? 

Tilting her head at the war going on inside of the man's head she sighed. "Would you like to see her?"

Snapping his eyes to the witch he furrowed his brows and swallowed hard before giving a stiff nod. Watching her boney fingers come up and give a snap he was suddenly freezing. No. Not here. Why? What had she done to be put here? Looking around the frozen wasteland he heard voices and followed them. 

"Come on girl. Come over here and I'll warm you up." 

"I know you're hungry.. I got some scraps here, you can have em' if you come suck my cock." 

Gritting his teeth and snarling at the vulgar men he looked into the cell they were all reaching into and saw her. His heart dropped to his stomach when he took her in. Moving over to the bars he went to grab them but passed right through them. Walking over to the bench she was curled up on he glanced her over. She was dressed in the god awful black and white stripes, the ones they had given her practically falling off of her. Her whole body was trembling, her bare feet curled up under her, attempting to keep them warm as best she could. It wasn't windy in here at least but that didn't make it any less cold, he could see the flushed look of her exposed skin. Crouching down beside her he leaned over to look at her face and saw her eyes open. A knot formed in his throat when he saw the frozen tears stuck to the bridge of her nose and her lashes. They almost looked like the ones from his dream, all of the shine and happiness gone from them. Glancing down to her cheeks and then body he saw her skinny and closed his eyes. He knew the truth there was no way their child had survived and even if it had he wouldn't want it to be born into this. The babe would freeze to death the moment it was born.

Hearing her sniffle he looked back to her face and lifted his hand to try and stroke her hair but no surprise, he couldn't touch her. Following her eyes he saw she was staring at her locket that she had opened and placed on the bench in front of her face. Seeing the picture of her parents there and then the small sketch of himself he pressed his lips just above the skin of her temple and closed his eyes again. "I love you my little star." 

"It's time to go Raiden." 

Shaking his head he held his own head above hers, desperate to touch her. "I want to stay, I want to be with her. You can do that, send me to her. I'll go back to that hell as long as I get to be with her."

"No. It is not your fate." 

"I don't care, I don't..." with another snap of her fingers he was back in his own room, the chill from the prison vanishing. Dropping his head low he felt those damn tears drop from his eyes once again. 

...........................................

Laying on the frozen bench which might have well been a piece of ice you shivered, clenching your teeth to keep them from chattering. How you hated the cold. It was so ironic that this was to be the way you died. After all this was how you almost perished all those years ago before Vic found you. Must be fate catching up with you. You couldn't feel your fingers, toes or ears anymore. While you knew you would be much warmer if you had the shared heat of the other imamates you chose to suffer the biting cold versus being raped. Pulling your legs up more and wrapping your arms tighter around your middle to hold what little heat you had around your womb you sighed. Truly you didn't know if you and Crocodile's child still grew there but you had yet to bleed from miscarriage. You also suffered from nausea still even if you never actually threw up what little food you had managed to take in. Pickers can't be choosers.

Sighing out you saw the breath float into the air and stared again to the picture of your love. Your thoughts often went to that of your soulmate. You wondered what he was doing now? You wondered if he missed you. While it hurt your heart to think of him with another you wouldn't want him to be alone forever. You wanted him to be happy and if that meant loving another then you would be okay with that. You wished him a happy life, even if that no longer included you being apart of it. Perhaps if you were lucky and if whatever higher power there was took pity on you then the two of you would be reunited one day after the both of you left this earth. Then again what if he had found another, wouldn't it be right for them to be together. Swallowing thickly you closed your eyes and felt tears fall from your eyes. It was best not to think about that. No matter where he was or what he was doing you just hoped he knew how much you loved him. 

"Hurry the guards will catch on soon." 

Hearing the unfamiliar voices you opened your eyes and turned over some when you heard noises growing closer. 

"Run faster." 

Seeing a group of people run by you knit your brows. The group of people were dressed differently than other prisoners and guards and it was then it hit you, The "Prisoners' Secret Flower Garden. Listening to the prisoners in the cell beside yours beg them for food or to be released you blinked slowly. Going to turn back over you heard someone let out a small yelp and then heard a thump. Turning back you noticed the person had dropped a crate with what looked like fruit in it. You couldn't see much but you could make out a hand currently picking up the dropped fruit and placing it back in the crate. 

"Oh blast this slippery ice." the male voice cursed.

Seeing two of the fruits had rolled into your own cell you turned your stiff body to stand and picked up the apple and coconut before walking over to the bars. Looking down to the man that was crouched down looking around for the fruit you licked your cracked lips. "H..here you go." God your voice sounded awful then again you hadn't used it in who knew how long. As the person looked up to you you felt your breath catch in your throat. 

Snapping his eyes up to the weak female voice he saw a small woman standing there behind the bars holding out two fruits for him to take. Blinking he stood and looked closer at the woman. "You are giving them back to me?" 

Nodding you moved your shackled hands out between the bars to give Bon Clay back the fruit he had dropped. He looked just like he did in the manga and you gave a tiny grin before your lips fell back down.

Taking the fruit slowly he waited for her to try and attack him but none came. Once he had taken the fruit she moved her trembling hands back behind the bars. She looked at him for a moment before she turned to go back to the bench in the back. "W..wait. What's your name?" 

Looking back to him you took in a shaky breath, "Y/n." 

He had seen her before, somewhere but where? "Do you and I know each other?" 

Shaking your head you saw him tilt his head. Hearing the yelling of guards and the howling of the wolves you swallowed and dropped your head. "You should go." you told him, looking back up at him you watched him lift the crate again. Clinging to your locket you blinked again. "It was nice to meet you Bon Clay." 

She knew his name. How did she know his name? Before he had time to ask he heard the snarling of a wolf. Grabbing one of the apples he tossed it to her and took off running. 

Awkwardly catching the fruit you looked down and then back up to watch him runaway. Stumbling back to the bench when one of the wolves looked at you you curled up on it, hiding your apple away until the guards were gone. Once it was clear you lifted it again, looking over it's red color. 

"Hey. Hey baby I'll give you my shirt for that apple."

"Give it here you worthless Bitch."

Continuing to ignore them you took a bite of the fruit and sighed at the taste. While you wanted to savor it you were too hungry and quickly at all of it, including the pit. Not feeling nauseous you gave a huff and moved your arms back over your belly, so you like fruit like your daddy huh? you spoke mentally and gave a small grin, laying your head on your knees you let your mind drift away again, carrying you to a happier place. 

[gurenscumrag]

Summary: The backstory of Tomura Shigaraki.

Word count: 1,244. TW// Violence, gore, emotional and child abuse. Abusive language, cursing, death.

The Beauty That Is Tomura Shigaraki.

Chapter 1: Discoloration

The dust was starting to settle, a large, bulky figure standing out amongst the smokescreen. Shigaraki rolled his head slightly to both sides, watching curiously. A permanent grin etched into his dry skin, his fingernails scratching his thigh through the black fabric. Shigaraki couldn’t help the sick need to taunt his enemies. It sent pleasurable shivers up his entire body to see the way they worked themselves up over a stupid smile. Such stupid, simple people they were, taking them down was such an easy task, how could this giant bastard be any different?

Shigaraki’s tone was teasing and lighthearted but his gaze was hardened and serious, “Were you always such a hulk?”

Shigaraki tipped his head forward, eyes narrowing almost into slits and his tone dropping into a murderous one, “Tell me, Detnerat… How’re you feeling right about now? Crappy I bet. Your plan was to let the masses do the fighting while you sat back in your comfy tower,”

Shigaraki’s raspy, medium low voice rang out amongst the stillness on the battlefield, a large hand ruffled through his dirtied white locks. He was angry, but strangely giddy. He hated to be taken as nothing more than a worthless fly. To been seen as weak and unworthy was enough to set the murderous intent off in Shigaraki. But to shove it in the bastard’s face that he was more than Rikiya ever expected was delightful to say the least, “You thought we were beneath you, so you set up this city and sent your mob after us,” Shigaraki darkly chuckled, “Never, ever expecting us to get this far. Noooo.... Not scum like us! But here I am! I’ve knocked you down a peg. So, let me ask ya, how’s that feel?!”

Shigaraki dashed forward as if he was going to strike Rikiya, instead slamming his hand down onto the ground. All five fingers touching the solid concrete. The ground made a low groaning sound, piece by piece did the area around Shigaraki’s hand start to disintegrate. The once solid concrete turning to nothing more than what looked like ripped pieces of paper. Such a sturdy platform reduced to nothing more than dust in the wind.

The crumbling and dissipation of the ground began to spread in a larger circle around Shigaraki, not just stopping at his hands as it had before. The pure childish glee of seeing his destructive powers growing had the man laughing manically. It was everything he ever wanted. He wants more power, enough power to make anyone think twice about crossing him. Enough power to take down the entire world. To destroy the stupid hero world. Enough power to strike fear into everyone who even glanced in his direction.

Off on the sidelines of the battle Twice had been watching everything take place. Twice was holding his ally tightly to his side, but stopped to admire the pure beauty that his boss was bringing to the world. What normally was a war in his head at the simplest of thoughts had formed into one; one of pure awe. Twice’s jaw dropped in shock, the words tumbling out but were full of love and admiration, “Even stuff he didn’t touch is decaying?! Hang on tight, Giran! We’re getting the fuck outta here!”

While Twice and his comrade scurried to safety, the battle between two boss villains raged on. As quick as Shigaraki’s decay had advanced, Rikiya was even faster with his quirk activated. He was already in Shigaraki’s face the moment the blue-white haired man stood up. Their faces so close Shigaraki could feel the heavy breathing of Rikiya’s breath bathing his skin. Rikiya’s voice whimsical as if he already knew the battle was his to win, “I’m the type to let my rage build up. It’s why my forehead looks like this. You killed many of my warriors on your way here, right?!”

Rikiya’s power came crashing down with an unforgiving brute force, the ground around both villains opened up, crackling and crumbling under the sheer power. His power was far louder and flashier than Shigaraki’s, but Shigaraki had more power and violence behind his quirk.

Shigaraki barely dodged in time at the forceful strike. One of his attached hands getting caught in the violent assault along with half of his real hand. Shigaraki hissed at the pain coursing from his bleeding limb up into the deepest part of his brain. He cradled the damaged hand close, but his focus was on the one he had just lost. Barely listening to the words Rikiya was spouting.

“And was it this hand that committed such evil acts?!”

Rikiya grabbed the cradled hand in his massive ones, tugging Shigaraki forward, squeezing the bleeding ligament between two fingers like it was nothing more than a grape he wanted to pop. Fear coursed through Shigaraki’s body, his eyes meeting the gaze of the hulk like being.

Could this really be the end? Could he really die because he was too cocky? Had he gone through all of those experimentations, all of that suffering, all of those stupid missions for his masters for this very moment? To die a fools death? How utterly disappointing of him. His life was worth so much more than to die such a stupid way, wasn’t it?

“Let’s not judge people by their quirks. It’s a good lesson! I was raised that way too! However! There’s a clear link between personality and meta ability. You’re someone who destroys anything he touches with all five fingers. So what do you think?

You missed my earlier questions, Tomura Shigaraki!

What burdens do you bear? What do you seek to build?!

All I see is just a hollow man… You’re just a man who indulges in destruction right?!”

His monologue, his stupid words, they should have meant something. Anything to the younger man who’s very life hung in Rikiya’s grasp, but nothing matter. He didn’t care. He didn’t listen. Nothing fucking mattered. His mind was screaming at him about something more important. More important than his life. Than anyone’s life. Then any motive Shigaraki had at that time.

That was Hana’s hand...

Did he really lose her hand? How could he have been so careless?! How could he have let them take her!? What kind of man was he if he couldn’t protect her?! God! What kind of stupid, stupid, stupid! IDIOT CAN’T PROTECT HANA?!

Adrenaline, fear, and a unmistaken pleasure all passed through Shigaraki’s visage. His pupils blown out, from fear or from sorrow, nobody knew, but the calm and serious villain was no longer present. Something more sinister and pitiful stood before Rikiya. Something he had never seen before. How could one man who seemed to lack sympathy or love for anyone suddenly seem like a kicked puppy?

Inside of Shigaraki there was a war raging. One between the younger, ignorant hero and the older, traumatized villain. The two people that constantly lived inside of Shigaraki who often caused the switch between his childish mannerisms and the serious attitude.

The war between his innocence and his reality.

The buzzing of the battlefield quieted down into nothing more than a simple humming, his vision going a beautiful sparkling white until something slowly came into view. A young boy, with soft blueish locks, scabbed over skin sat quietly on a small chair, and a voice that was familiar yet not, rang out.

“These are your mother’s hands...”

Read Chapter 2 Here

Authors Notes: This is a project I’ve been talking about to my friends for a little awhile now. I’m so immensely excited to keep working on this! You may notice that I have included direct quotes and direct scenes from the manga, and that’s what made this fanfic super special to me! It’s a mixture of the manga and my own writing to deep dive into Shigaraki and his character. I hope you enjoy and come with me on this journey :D All the titles are going to be song names! Today’s title is Discoloration by Dawn Golden

[faketextsfromlastmight]

Best of tags #09

A compilation

@awesome-milkshake-blog on Iida, Bakugou and Kirishima: (Link)

#i hope their dynamics are more relaxed like this#in their second or third year

Plot twist: All For One slips in his jail’s cell shower and dies. The rest of the series is just a sitcom.

@jay-catsby on Aizawa complaining about politics at breakfast: (Link)

#hfjdjshdhs hes that guy in the dining hall who you overhear getting too real at 8am

He’s the guy who brings up child labour laws when you receive a pair of Nike shoes on Chritsmas morning. Just kidding, he’s not that socially obtuse. But a lot of characters mentions he’s very critical of society and we see in the “Vigilantes” spin-off that he had an... interesting relationship with law enforcement. My guess is that he used to be overly political but that he mellowed out over the years.

@awesome-milkshake-blog on Bakugou wanting Todoroki’s attention: (Link)

#thats it#thats the sports festival

Yeah, Todoroki’s and Bakugou’s relationship (or, at the present, the lack thereof) is definitely a development I’m excited for in the upcoming chapters of the manga.

So far Bakugou pretends to be indifferent towards his classmates’ opinions of him (although it’s painfully clear he’s actually obsessed with the way people perceive him and reacts violently whenever things don’t go his way). There are exceptions, however. He definitely changes behavior around Kirishima (to whom he listens more) and Deku (whom he can’t help antagonizing), but Todoroki is maybe the third classmate towards whom he shows interest. I think Todoroki represents a social class in which Bakugou wants to fit in, so naturally he can’t help showing some partiality. Todoroki is also one of the few classmates Bakugou feels could beat him one-on-hand, so there’s that. Basically Todoroki was born in the superhero scene and will undoubtedly be a superhero (he got into U.A. through recommendation, unlike Bakugou who had to pass an exam), he’s a natural professional. As much as he hates to admit it, Bakugou wishes he were in Todoroki’s place.

However so far Todoroki acts very indifferent towards Bakugou’s antics. My guess is that he dismisses him as a petulant man-child and finds him too unpleasant to try to build a friendship. But that could change.

Horikoshi has already laid the ground for deeper interaction when he put Bakugou and Todoroki in the kindergarten arc. We know that Bakugou knows Todoroki was horrifically abused by his superhero father (although Todoroki doesn’t know Bakugou knows that). He looks uncharacteristically disturbed when he overhears that. Bakugou idealized the superhero scene and learning of Todoroki’s terrible childhood is his first glance at the dark side of superheroics. We do know that Bakugou respects Todoroki’s outlook somewhat because he begrudgingly obeyed Todoroki when he told him how to handle little kids. Bakugou was willing to use violence to discipline them because that’s the way he was raised, but Todoroki reminded him that there was a better way of doing that.

My guess is that this is groundwork for how Todoroki and Bakugou are going to grow closer. Horikoshi didn’t picture Mitsuki hitting Bakugou for nothing, it’s a way to explain Bakugou’s irrationally violent nature. Although Bakugou’s childhood was better than Todoroki’s, his parents failed him and he needs to realize that to become a better person. I guess a deeper Bakugou/Todoroki conversation on child abuse is upcoming. Their emotional journeys complement each other. My hope is that Bakugou, following his conversation with Todoroki, will call out his mother on her casual violence (and his father on the way he enables it). The reason Bakugou acts so horribly is that the violence he experienced at home is framed as something normal. Bakugou is unable to recognize the harm he does to others because he can’t even realize the harm he suffered himself. Once Bakugou comes to terms with the damage his parents did to him, he will be able to acknowledge the damage he did to other people (such as Deku when they were in middle school). His interactions with Todoroki will be key in this development.

@greenvalleybroccoli on Bakudeku: (Link)

#all might would never ship bakudeku though

I don’t know, he seems pretty invested into the Bakugou/Midoriya rivalry in general. He clearly seems potential in their teamwork. Personally I think Boku No Hero Academia will end on Bakugou and Midoriya becoming a superhero duo in the same agency. The status of All Might as the symbol of peace is constantly decried in-universe as problematic because it’s too much to handle for one person. Furthermore it tends to evaluate raw strength as what it takes to be a hero rather than good behavior. So in order to truly change things for the better, I think All Might will not just choose Midoriya as a successor, but also Bakugou. The new “symbol of peace” will be a duo rather than a single hero, and their true superpower will be teamwork. Bakugou is used as a foil to Midoriya because it’s a yin/yang relationship. Duality is often a form of unity.

@demiboydorito on Kirishima eating a diamond: (Link)

oh god i sure hope op meant fantasy au bc the image of a 15 yr old child just c h o m p i n g a DIAMOND is killin me

You forget Kirishima has a hardening quirk. The joke is that his body is so resistant he can actually munch and digest diamonds. Maybe he’s part Goron?

@xxwolfydoodlezuwuxx on Todoroki hanging out with Shinsou: (Link)

#todo no-#being emo with shinsou is not gonna help u man.

Shinsou’s not emo, he’s old-school goth. His design is based on the character of Cesare from “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (a movie about brainwashing/hypnotism).

@principle-of-parsimony  on Monoma copying Shigaraki’s quirk: (Link)

He'd only decay if he copied the power from like, a High-Five, since all five fingers need to be touching the object in question in order to make it decay. Now Shigaraki though, if Monoma copies his quirk and isn't careful when copying it, Shigaraki himself may start to disintegrate.

What if they touch each other at the same time? Do the quirks cancel each other out? Or do they both decay?

@paradis-smash on Bakugou’s future hero name: (Link)

#if his hero name is Kacchan i fucking quit!#I'm kidding#but please don't let it be Kacchan

I’m sorry to alarm you but I’m actually pretty sure that’s where the series is headed. Bakugou accidentally gave Midoriya his hero name (Deku), so there would be poetic justice in Bakugou embracing the name Midoriya uses for him (Kacchan). Bakugou’s arc seems to mostly revolve around him slowly realizing how his terrible behavior affects others and why it actually prevents him from progressing as a hero. His remedial internship at the kindergarten is actually all about that. Basically Bakugou is set back in his hero work by a massive P.R. problem. He’s not as approachable as Midoriya who just radiates positivity (like All Might). Actually most oh his hatred of Midoriya could stem from the internal realization that Deku’s personality is more suited to hero work than him. His aura of goodness makes Bakugou feel insecure in his own abilities. So he needs to get over that and try to learn from Midoriya, not only to imitate his social intelligence but also to realize his own qualities.

Bakugou probably hates that nickname but I don’t think he realizes it’s actually IRONIC. The “-chan” suffix is usually used by young women and children for people they find cute, but Midoriya actually finds Bakugou pretty macho and awe-inspiring. Calling “Kacchan” is his way of saying “you’re a badass, but you’re also my friend, and that makes me feel SAFE”. If Bakugou wants people to trust him more, choosing that cutesy nickname as his hero name would actually be a good P.R. move. It would subvert the expectations people have when his more irritable persona manifests.

@tis-i-the-frenchiest-fri on the eternal Endeavor debate: (Link)

Twice is probs arguing with himself in the background

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any panel of BNHA is automatically improved by a silhouette of Twive arguing with himself in the background.

@sassyakimichi on Endeavor’s dating preferences: (Link)

the last one I literally screamed "oH sHIT" so much for library discretion x-x

So now we can add “library discretion” to the list of things Endeavor’s ruined.

@missmarj on Shouto’s poem: (Link)

E. Coli and broccoli does not rhyme shouto but dammit that was beautiful

The poem as written is supposed to be bad so let’s all just pretend my mistake is actually Shouto’s!

[ksmile1313]

Why do you ship Orihime with someone who abused, tormented and tortured her?

It’s going to be a long text xDD haha So bear with me please uwu

First of all, “who abused, tormented & tortured her “. I know that he wasn’t good to her at all, but I just want to point out that he never hurt her physically (even when she slapped him). And there were also times he actually protected her (even tho it was not his duty anymore).

But yes, he played his mind games, and yes, he tried to break her spirit/hope, but why did he do it? It was because of 1. Aizen & 2. He has different beliefs and wasn’t able to understand her (but we get to that later).

Aizen is the real villain here and all the Arrancars were just his puppets. Ulquiorra was no exception.

Before Ulqui was found by Aizen, his life had no purpose, but Aizen gave him that purpose! That is, to serve him. He gave him power and a place to belong to. Idk if you read the unmasked Ulqui backstory. If you didn’t, I highly recommend it uwu. In that story you’ll get to know why Ulquiorra has this mindset of nihilism.

This is a really good analyzation of Ulquiorra’s past:

https://frostysnowman94.deviantart.com/art/Ulquiorra-s-Past-ANALYSED-211794534

Just imagine being born into a world, where you’re the only one different, unable to speak, hear, taste, feel and …  all alone. It will influence you drastically. He only knows the brutality of his own world. No one ever cared or loved him, hence he doesn’t understand those feelings at all. He thinks Nihilism is the only way to achieve contentment, that is to feel absolutely nothing ~

So what “torture” and “pain” is to us, may not be the same to Ulquiorra. This point becomes clear, when Ulquiorra tells Ichigo during their fight, that Ichigo doesn’t know true despair.

I don’t want to say that Ulquiorra is not “guilty” for tormenting Orihime though. I just want you to know how different their worlds are, so that you can understand him a bit better.

Another point is, what did they talk about when they were together? Ulquiorra made sure she ate, he informed her about her friends and most importantly they talked about the “heart”. He was genuinely interested why Orihime stood strong despite her desperate situation. The words he used might have not been the nicest, to say the least ^^’ (rip open your chest / …) but that’s the only thing he knows (Fighting, Despair)  and I also don’t think he would have ever done that :d

(And can I just point out that he complimented Orihime when he saw her for the first time in her las noches uniform? He also was considerate of her uwu after he  surprised her by his sudden appearance in her quarters, he started to announce whenever he’d come in)

And why, after all he did, was  Orihime still not afraid of him? Why was Orihime taken aback when he died, even nearly shed tears for him and reached out to him in his final moment?

Kubo actually explained what happened between them through Kaien Shiba’s words.

“Every time you and I interact…a bit of “heart” is born between us*. Heart isn’t something inside you. But whenever you think, whenever you remember someone, that’s when heart is born. I mean, if you were the only one alive in the whole world, heart wouldn’t exist, now would it*?”

( *the interaction changed Ulquiorra -> slowly grasped the heart;   *Ulquiorra was alone in his world before, Nihilism -> no heart)

“When we die, our bodies disintegrate and become part of the reishi that make up Soul Society. And when that time comes…where does your heart go? It gets passed on to your nakama (comrades). If you pass it on to them, then your heart will always live on within them.”

That is also what Ulquiorra finally understood and why he said his heart was in the palm of his hand, because he gave Orihime his heart. Or why else should he say his heart is in the palm of his  - towards her - outstretched hand? 

The connection between these two characters was deeper then you might think. On the first glance, Ulquiorra might seem like an emotionless monster, but that couldn’t be farther away from the truth. I think hueco mundo made him like this. If he would have lived around people, who care and love him, he wouldn’t have become so nihilistic. I mean he never learned “moral” or anything similar to it. That simply doesn’t exist in Hueco Mundo.

So now, why I ship Ulquihime.

Like I said before, Ulquiorra doesn’t get the concept of the heart. He only believes in the things he sees. His world consists only of emptiness & despair.

 And then there is Orihime, bright, open-minded, caring and full of love for her friends. She is the complete opposite of him in every way. (And isn’t there the saying “Opposites attract each other”? ;p haha )

With her presence and words she changes the once, so believed, emotionless Espada. And nobody can argue with me on that. Ulquiorra was the one who wanted to change her, but in the end, it was her, that influenced him. She showed him what it means to own a heart and gave him a glimpse of what it feels like to be cared for.

The development they had in this short amount of time they spent together was enormous! I just love how Orihime saved him from his solitude and how through her, Ulquiorra finally understood the heart.

They really are like Moon & Sun; Darkness & Light;  Demon & Angel; Despair & Hope; Hollow & Heart ~I fell in love with this contrast, how they seem so different, but at the same time complete each other perfectly.

And Orihime’s character never developed as much as in the Arrancar arc. She stood strong despite everything. She proved us, that she is capable of much more than of what we saw, willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her friends and fighting for her beliefs. Even Ulquiorra thought of her as a strong woman.

I love them sooo much

If you want to read more proofs for Ulquihime, I recommend you this essay: http://yulieanime.blogspot.de/2009/09/ulquiorra-x-orihime-breaking-through.html?m=1

I hope this answers your question uwu. I could have written even more about them, but I didn’t want  to write a whole book xD lol

[mochiwa4]

What if this happened instead with Shigaraki & Bakugo-

So, we all know about Bakugo getting kidnapped and shit by the League of Villians. 

In the manga, Shigaraki says an iconic line that inspired me to no end and finally write about the scene, but with a humorous twist to it.

A thin line adorned Bakugo's lips, not pleased in the slightest bit with the situation he was in.

Of course, he'd rather be in the center depths of the enemies hideout than be heroically saved by that grasshead bastard, Deku.

A cocky chuckle came from the shriveling I-look-like-I'm-related-to-a-raisin leader, a decapitating hand gripping the perimeters of his sickly pale-green skinned face. "Let's get down to business, wannabe hero Katsuki Bakugo."

Let's get down to business? What the hell?

"Why're they-"

"First off, you fucking deceased waste of air, why the fuck did you start with that sentence?" Bakugo avowed, catching all of the villains to blink in confusion.

Shigaraki let out another light chuckle. "Oh boy, you should listen before you call me that-"

"No, you shut the fuck up and listen." Bakugo didn't even know why he was rambling about this, if only that damned gravity-girl weren't singing it 24/7, he wouldn't be giving a rats ass about Disney. "Not one of you low shitheads has the privilege to say 'let's get down to business', aight?"

Twice slightly raised his hands. "Yo man, nobody here knows what you're getting at, but we ain't here to mess around."

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "You better close that god damn mouth of yours before I disintegrate your ass."

Before Twice could take an advance towards the blonde, Dabi got a death-grip on his arm and held him in place. "Let him talk, he can't beat all of us at once."

"I'm just curious as to why I'm not allowed to say 'let's get down to business', but can we get back on track now? I'm trying to make my evil plans go perfect according to the schedule," Shigaraki complained, shaking his head while waving a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

Pink-cheeks stupid singing rang in his head on repeat, and it was driving him fucking crazy. That was her favorite damn Disney movie, and she managed to get Kirishima singing it too, which pissed him off a few more levels.

"Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns!" Kirishima and Uraraka sang, trailing behind the rest of the Baku-squad on their way to the yard for their next training session. "Did they send me daughters, when I asked for SONS?"

Bakugo gritted his teeth in irritation. They came to summer camp to make their quirks stronger, not their shitshow singing vocals.

"You're the saddest bunch I ever met, but you can BET before we're through... mister, I'll... make a man... out of YOU!"

Bakugo snapped his head around with a threatening glare. "Can you guys shut up and stop screaming fuckin' Mulan! I'll kill you both!"

They both froze for a few seconds, but tried holding back a few laughs.

"Mmm, I don't believe that, you didn't kill either of us in the sports festival," Uraraka smiled confidently, earning a high-five from Kirishima.

"I'm just surprised he knows what Mulan is," Kirishima lowly whispered back.

These two idiots were going to end up blown to ashes someday.

"No, you fucking can't, what villain has any right to quote one of the most iconic lines in Mulan? General Li Shang, the damn Chinese army leader said those lines as a movement to his training camp to stop the Huns from invading, so basically you dumbasses are quoting a hero." Bakugo met the shocked glances from each villain before continuing, "All you shitheads need to go relive a childhood 'cause obviously not one of you fuckers ever had one."

Silence dwelled over the small group of villains, realizing their mistake.

"Did I really quote a hero from a Disney movie?" Shigaraki questioned, pointing a finger to himself.

"That's really disappointing, why would you quote that? We're all against hero's in general, are you really our leader or just fuckin' with us?" Spinner hissed, his body leaning against the corner in the bar, his lizard tongue flicking along his sharp teeth.

Shigaraki waved his hands. "N-No, I didn't even know I said that, I hate every hero."

Mr. Compress stepped in and strutted a pose, "Why don't we just put this to the side? It's not a big deal-"

Magne shoved him to the side, sending him coursing into the corner of the bar table. "No, it actually is! What evil-doer takes a quote from a hero?!" He snarled, whipping his head around to glare at Shigaraki.

"Hmm, guess there's going to be bad blood soon," Toga giggled from the side, or known more as the psycho bimbo-bitch to Bakugo's naming. "I guess Ochako's blood isn't the only serving I'll be sucking tonight~"

Bakugo snapped his eyes towards the mind-twisted psychotic blonde, her yellow eyes glimmering as an argument began to soar over the group of villains. His palms began to sweat more, an angry heat wave coursing through his veins, teeth gnarling into the inside of his cheek hard enough to recognize the metallic taste of his own blood. Why was that pissing him off so much? That tiny ball of sunshine could hold her own against himself, and certainly this ass-of-a-villain wasn't nearly as strong as him.

He didn't hear much of anything in the loud argumentative shouts, but now the bastard Twice was nervously unchaining him from whatever they'd locked him against. Bakugo's smirk grew as he saw Twice's hand quivering, knowing he could scare the ass away.

As soon as his body was free, Bakugo shoved Twice out of the way and lunged for Shigaraki, prying his palm open and seeing all the veins and muscles in his arm pop in his skin, the feared look in the villains eyes satisfying him further before he let a mighty explosive erupt in his hand-covered face.

"Here's my response: go fuck yourselves because you got the wrong idea of me. I can't wait to beat every last one of your asses." Bakugo smirked, his hands popping a few small crackles from the adrenaline coursing in his body.

And to think this argument all went down because of a line from a Disney movie. How ironic.

Not to mention that bubbly girl's off-key singing was the key remembrance of that, but he'd never admit that out loud that's how he escaped in the first place.

[anerdinallherglory]

Approaching Sun (4)

Author's Note: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait! I have exchanged my full-time school schedule for a full-time summer job, so I have not been able to update as frequently as I had hoped. You’ll be glad to know that I have been spending more time developing this story’s plot, connecting it to the novels and manga, and lots of research in order to make this a better story over all!  

Happy SasuSaku Month everyone!!

P.S. I mentioned last time that I enjoy the challenge of writing as closely to character as I am able. For those of you want a quick developing romance with unrealistic scenarios, I’m sorry to disappoint you. It will happen, but realistically and through proper plot progression! As always, let me know what you think!

(Chapter 1) (Chapter 2) (Chapter 3)

*This fic is tightly adapted to the Sasuke Shinden and Sakura Hiden. Please read the novels or refer to the summaries. I'm tired of waiting for their story, so have decided to write it myself. (______signifies time lapse, and . . . . signifies transitions between p.o.v.)

Pairing: SasuSaku

Summary: After 2 years, Sasuke returns to the village where friends anxiously await him. Still troubled by the mysteries of Kaguya and his personal guilt, Sasuke is split between friends and his journey. One specific pink-haired individual has perhaps waited for him with far more dedication than anyone else. Troubled by rising casualties and international dependence on her abilities, Sakura is torn between her love for Sasuke and her duty to her village.

 Chapter 4: "Walks with Ninja"

 Sasuke remained silent as they walked together towards her home. Sasuke wasn't sure where Sakura was living these days; he knew she probably didn’t live with her parents anymore, at least. He let her lead the way.

Sakura also didn’t talk and it annoyed the Uchiha to no end. He could tell she was on the verge of saying something, but just as she was about to, she pursed her lips together. She had spoken to him this morning, but now she seemed hesitant. There was a part of the Uchiha that was glad she was quiet, leaving a formality between them. However, there was a part of him that wished she would speak to end the tension that hung over their heads.

She had never been as loud or boisterous as Naruto, but this unsuspecting quiet was beginning to bother him.

He shook his head at the thought. It had been awhile since he had last seen her; there was bound to be a stiff silence.

As Sakura stumbled along, he noticed again how tired she looked.

"You work long shifts at the hospital," the Uchiha said awkwardly, turning away from her redirected gaze.

Offering him a small smile, she replied, "Yes, they often run together."

When she didn’t elaborate, Sasuke asked, "What do you mean?"

"There are a lot of demands, lately," she explained. "A team of medical ninja was sent to Kumogakure so I've been a little short staffed at the hospital."

He recalled his more recent conversation with one of the Raikage's right hand men. Sasuke had travelled to Kumogakure when he discovered their missing shinobi on an island in the Land of Water. C had told him that a Konoha medical team was sent to Kumogakure to help assist them in removing Chino's foreign chakra from their shinobi.

He remembered the acute sting in his hand when he reached into the pool of red, the chakra swirling within it cutting at his skin, trying to enter his body. The red pools in Hell Valley were where Chino had kept the ninja as she turned them into human bombs. He wondered if extracting the foreign chakra caused pain for the medic because of the chakra's nature.

"You might be wondering where Naruto is," she offered and Sasuke blinked in surprise. "Tsunade, Hinata, and He are accompanying the medic team to Kumogakure. The Byakugan can see the chakra and after helping me discovering how to remove it, Hinata was an asset to the team. After showing Tsunade how I was able to extract the chakra, she was able to improve upon the method and went in my place."

Sasuke raised his eyes in surprise. She had been the one to discover how to extract the chakra? When C had told him that Konoha had developed a way to do so, he didn’t imagine Sakura being the one responsible.

"Naruto wanted to see B, I imagine," she added quickly, interrupting his thoughts.

Ah, Sasuke thought. That made sense. It was odd, knowing his closest friend was now in Kumogakure, just days after having been there himself. He pictured the large Octopus-Bull eight tailed beast and his jinchūriki. He began to recall the battle he had with the self-proclaimed rapper, Killer B. He smiled at the thought of the world's two most obnoxious shinobi as being friends.  

Glancing over at Sakura, he thought more carefully about what she said. "You stayed," he said, matter of factly.

"Yes," she replied, "I chose to stay behind, this time." She looked away shyly and Sasuke wasn’t sure why. He looked away from her and remained silent.

After a few quiet seconds, Sakura stated, "Kirigakure and Kumogakure have their own set of victims from the exploding humans incident, but so does Konoha. I stayed behind so that I could research and develop a burn solvent that helps speed up the healing process in patients without the necessity of extreme chakra depletion on the medic's part."

She exhaled tiredly and glanced down at her arm. Sasuke snapped his attention to the direction of her gaze and noticed large circular scars running across the bottom of her forearm. His eyes widened as the realization hit him. It was shocking to make the connection between Sakura and the extent she was willing to go to. He recalled other moments of her fearlessness. Most prominently, Sasuke remembered the faces of three Oto chunin applicants terrorizing the girl who fought so desperately to save Naruto and himself. More recently, he could recall her unexpected efforts in the war. She was no longer the teammate who relied on her partners to defend her in battle. Instead, she was becoming a shinobi the ninja world relied on. The Uchiha in him had always admired power and this capable Sakura was beginning to grow in his acknowledgements and respects.

Looking back at him, Sakura offered another tired smile at his silence.

He shook his head and replied lamely, "So not much sleep then?"

"No. Not much."

They stopped at a small little apartment located in a tight alley between the left corner of the hospital and the connecting path that would eventually take you into the Uchiha compound. She reached in her pocket for the key and fumbled to unlock the door. Sasuke wanted to ask her why she had chosen to move so far across the village, but his conversational ability seemed to be exhausted.

"Thank you, again, for walking me home, Sasuke." She turned towards her door to enter but stopped short and turned to face him once more. "Can I see you again, tomorrow? I know Naruto isn't here, but maybe you, Kakashi, and I could go out for ramen like old times and catch up."

He frowned automatically before he could catch himself. He knew he wasn’t afraid to be involved anymore, but a rendezvous with his old team wouldn’t help the situation at all. They both knew he wasn’t home for good. Perhaps this was why she hadn't asked him how long he had been planning on staying. He didn’t want her to get used to his company again only for him to leave so quickly. Through his travelling, Sasuke had decided that being home meant bringing danger to the village; in other words, he aimed to eliminate the risk by searching for the biggest threat to the current peace.

If Sakura knew this, she would be devastated.

"I have to continue my training, tomorrow," he said bluntly. It was better to put a limit on their interactions with one another. It would be the best thing he could do for her.

She looked away at his answer, then gave him a small smile. "Maybe another time, then."

He nodded silently and turned in the direction of the Uchiha compound. For some reason, as he walked away, the Uchiha raised an arm in farewell. He supposed Sakura wasn’t the only one who had changed. He needed Naruto to hurry up and come back so he could return to his mission and let his friends move on with their lives.

______________________________________________________________

Sakura didn’t see Sasuke the following day, or the next, or even the next. In fact, she didn’t see him for the first week that he was here. She wanted to seek him out, to tell him he was being unfair by keeping his distance from those who cared about him. Had she not waited, waited, and waited for him to come home? And now, he was here and she was just about sick of waiting.

Sakura shuffled the papers on her desk into a neat pile and pushed them to the side. It was mid-afternoon and contemplating about Sasuke hadn't helped her get as much paperwork completed on her break like she had planned. She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Sakura began working again. The pink-haired medic had scheduled checkups for all her burn patients today which had kept her very busy. Working on these select patients within a shorter time frame allowed her to compare results between patients more quickly. Her main objective was to evaluate her burn solvent's short-term efficiency. A week wasn’t long enough for severe burns to completely heal, but she wanted to make sure the herbal cast was holding up for her patients.

The first patient was a young kunoichi named Hoko who had suffered third-degree burns across her right shoulder and up her neck and face. Unfortunately, the woman's right eye had been completely disintegrated due to its direct connection with the explosion. Sakura had barely managed to save her left eye and had spent a large amount of chakra trying to heal the rest of Hoko's face. Once Hoko had finally stopped screaming, Sakura had wrapped the right side of her face and kept a medical patch over the left eye, returning later to apply the solvent to her burns. Even though the kunoichi's former face was impossible to return to its previous state, the healing solvent paired with Sakura's chakra was working miraculously. Her skin showed little redness and the ointment was helping the skin regeneratre without major scarring. Hoko's left eye was restored while her exposed right eye socket was now almost completely covered with a layer of puffy skin.

"Does it look bad?" Hoko asked with a hoarse and broken voice, reaching up to touch the newly applied bandages. Her good eye was uncovered now and she was able to move her lips which Sakura was relieved to see.

"It looks better than I originally thought it would," Sakura replied, stretching out her palm to rest on the girl's hand.

The girl frowned despite the good news. She understood why a young kunoichi would be upset and Sakura knew she couldn’t offer any heartfelt words that would genuinely make her feel better.

After a long minute, Sakura finally said, "What you did for your village was honorable and brave. I am thankful that we can rely on shinobi like you to rush out onto the battlefield." The girl looked away from her and Sakura reached over and grabbed a mass of blue from the side table next to her.

Placing the forehead protector into Hoko's hand, Sakura said, "You may not have a right eye anymore, but in its absence, I see a badge that declares your bravery in battle and dedication to your village. There's no one more worthy of wearing this headband."

For the first time since the incident, Hoko's lips tilted upward at the edges.

"I couldn’t have said it better myself," came a voice from the doorway. They both turned to see the Sixth, displaying the white and red of Hokage. He entered carefully and presented himself to the ninja and took his hat off. Hoko tried to stand but Kakashi raised a hand and she sat back down, offering a small bow from her seat.

"Lord Hokage," Sakura interjected on Hoko's behalf, "what a surprise. We were not expecting you."

Sakura's former sensei turned and nodded in her direction, "Yes, well, I wanted acknowledge these fine ninja."

Hoko looked down respectfully when he turned back to her. The Sixth proceeded to thank her for her assistance in the fight against the exploding humans. She was going to be publicly honored along with the others if she gave her assent. Kakashi offered her a masked smile when she nodded slowly to his question.

This is how it went for the rest of her shift. Kakashi followed her to all her appointments, recognizing each ninja individually and lifting their spirits by honoring their efforts in the battle. Sakura smiled as her former teacher went above and beyond to interact with these ninja. To this day, he continued to surprise her with his performance as Hokage and in this moment, Sakura couldn’t help but feel an extreme admiration for this man who once had to drag around three ignorant little ninja who thought they knew so much.

Sakura could honestly say she missed the days where the four of them were a team, Naruto and Sasuke at each other's throats, constantly trying to outdo one another; Sakura feigning after Sasuke and yelling at Naruto; Kakashi hiding in a tree somewhere, ignoring their squabbling altogether as he read Icha Icha Paradise. How much had the three of them really changed?

"Sakura?" Kakashi asked, a few minutes after the last patient walked out the front doors. She just realized he had asked her a question and she had been too lost in pleasant memories to hear him.

"I'm sorry. Did you say something Kakashi sensei?" she asked, turning to face him.

Shaking his head, Kakashi stated, "I asked if you needed an escort home."

Sakura smiled, shaking her head and waving her right arm. "There's no need. I'm sure the Hokage has more important things to--"

"Oh nonsense," he interjected quickly, motioning towards the door. Honestly, Sakura felt obligated to stay for the night shift. She had taken on the most of the day's work herself, but they were still short on staff.

"Come on now," Kakashi called out to her. "Hokage's orders!"

She scowled at him. She hated when he used the "Hokage" card on her.

After being reassured by her apprentice, Kirai, who took charge in Sakura's absence, the pink-haired kunoichi joined her former sensei.

The streets were lit by the glow coming from the many shops and markets who hadn't quite reached closing time. It was hard to escape the attention of many who recognized the Hokage. One marketer even rushed out onto the street to offer the "Honorable Hokage" a free dango, to which Kakashi tried to politely refuse but the kind merchant wouldn’t take no for an answer. Kakashi thanked him and smiled largely.

As the two of them walked farther away from the village's center, the night time bustle began to fade behind them. Once they were out of sight from the kind merchant, Kakashi put the sweetly smelling dango in Sakura's hand. She smiled, taking a bite from one of the brightly colored dumplings on the stick. Her team had always known her weakness for sweets.  

After a minute, Kakashi removed his hat from his head, allowing it to rest on his back. He inhaled the fresh air loudly and Sakura noticed his usually fixed posture relax slightly. Seeing him this way made the young kunoichi think of the past again; back to the days where Kakashi wasn’t in charge of the village. She couldn’t imagine the stress he dealt with.

After giving him a few minutes of uninterrupted silence, Sakura asked, "What's this about Kakashi? Why are you walking me home?"

"Hm?" he asked, dropping all previous formalities. "Can't your former sensei assist you home, on a dark and scary even--"

"Let me guess," she interjected, pointing an accusing finger in his direction. "You're trying to get out of more paperwork, aren't you?"

He laughed and waved his hands innocently and Sakura knew she had hit the nail on the head.

"That's not my only reason," he defended himself, then placed a palm on the back of his hand as they continued to walk down the darkening path. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"To meh? 'Bout what?" Sakura asked, just having taken the last bite of her final dumpling.

His former playfulness turned solemn as he asked, "Are you getting the rest you need?"

Rest? Why was he asking her about that? She couldn’t just come out and tell him she hadn't slept much since the medic team left for Kumogakure. Not only was she responsible for maintaining the hospital, but ever since Sasuke's return, she had arrived home feeling exhausted but restless thoughts of him kept her from sleeping. It was all she could do to spare the chakra to erase the dark circles from her eyes every morning.

When Sakura didn’t reply, he continued, "I understand that your load is heavy right now at the Hospital, but you need to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, first."

"Who told you I wasn’t?" she asked, giving him an innocent smile.

The ninja beside her switched from Kakashi to Hokage as he said, "Actually, I have been keeping an eye on your situation since the departure of the medical team last week. I checked your hours and confirmed them with your staff this morning. I can say for certainty that you are not resting."

Annoyed at his snooping, she glared at him, pointing her now empty dango stick at him. "Look, they need me, and I know my own limits."

He didn’t look properly chastised. In fact, he gently took her left arm and pulled down the sleeve of her lab coat to reveal her circular scars. "If you knew your limits, these would be properly healed by now."

She pulled her arm away and tugged her sleeve back down. "Look, I'm doing what I have to. My patients need me and I don’t have the extra chakra to spare at the moment."

"And this is why I have arranged for you to have the next couple of days off." After seeing Sakura's gawking silence, the Hokage seemed to change back into his sensei persona as he smiled and walked a couple steps in front of her, knowing he had bested her.

"But!" Sakura implored, "What will they do without me?"

"It's all been arranged," he replied coming to a slow walk as the two of them approached her little apartment nestled into the side of an alley.

She inhaled to come up with an argument, but Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and offered her a tired smile. "So take some time off and leave the rest to me. You do too much, sometimes" he spoke from behind his mask.

As she watched her sensei begin to leave, she called loudly after him, "What am I supposed to do?!"

"Sleep!" he called back, "And, uh, maybe go visit a friend!"

A friend? She didn’t have to ask who Kakashi meant. After the white haired ninja disappeared into the night,

Sakura turned her head to look down the opposite path, the narrow one that eventually wound its way towards the Uchiha compound.

[degurechaff-tanya]

“Shields Down” A Youjo Senki Fanfic

Okay, so I wrote a fanfic! The first chapter is under the read more cut. I was inspired to write the story after this drawing by @kawacy​ took my breath away. I got so excited that I immediately started writing.

So, the summary: Ten years into the future, the 203rd Air Mage battalion has kept World War 1 going, and the Empire just won’t fall. Things get complicated, however, when the Entente Alliance decides that they must get rid of the Central Powers’ ace, Major Tanya von Degurechaff. Conflict leads to conflict, leads to conflict, leads to conflict. And what’s going on between Degurechaff and Serebryakov, anyway...? They’re getting closer, it seems...

Misc. notes: - This is based off of what the anime has so far explained. I haven’t read much of the manga yet. - If you liked this fic, feel free to drop a like, or reblog it and share with others!

Chapter 1: Preordained

“I must say, Major Degurechaff, that you’ve substantially turned the tides of the war over the course of your career.” Colonel Hans von Zettour paced behind his office desk as Tanya stood by.

“Thank you, sir,” she nodded. “I couldn’t have done it without the men and women of my battalion.”

“Of course not. But we certainly couldn’t have gotten this far without your astounding military prowess. If you hadn’t earned that Silver Wings Assault badge so long ago, we wouldn’t have recognized your ability. And without you being deployed to the Rhine, and then later forming your mage battalion, we would’ve had a quick defeat. Strategists were predicting that we’d have to surrender after four or five years. But alas! We’re coming up on ten, and it has no sign of stopping.”

“Have you called me here to discuss an end to the war, sir?”

He shook his head. “No. I believe the it will eventually diffuse on its own, but we have to give the Entente Alliance enough time for their motivation to die out. You’re unstoppable, major. Your battalion will disintegrate any hope they have of winning. As long as we keep the confidence of our citizens strong and our allies hopeful, there will be treaties coming through every mailbox, telegraph, and radio transmission of the Empire… in due time.”

Tanya smirked. “Well then, if you don’t mind me asking, why have I been summoned?”

“We’d like to award medals to several of your soldiers for the bravery and patriotism they’ve represented. I’d certainly give you one as well, but you’ve already earned the highest honor that the Empire has to give.”

Her assault badge gleamed cheerily by the light of the oil lamps.

“The only thing we need is for you to approve of the nominations.”

Tanya gave a nod and waited for him to continue.

Zettour paused in his pacing and set a hand down on the back of his desk chair. “But first, I’m interested to see if our opinions line up. Who would you say deserves recognition the most?”

“Lieutenant Victoriya Serebryakov. Easily.”

“Oh, is that so? I didn’t have her on my list at all. I was thinking of Schwarzkopf, or K--”

“Serebryakov is the most deserving soldier I’ve ever known,” Tanya replied quickly. “I don’t only say it because I know her well. In fact, I would never nominate a soldier subjectively. She’s simply the most improved, most patriotic, most determined and most passionate soldier that I’ve met.”

“Really? Despite her original homeland being the Russy Federation?”

“If anything, that’s more reason to be recognized. Her spirit is greater than most soldiers I’ve known who were born in the fatherland. She’s accepted it as her one and true identity, and I believe that’s admirable.”

Zettour was silent for a moment. His lips tugged upward at a small smile. “Very well then. I’ll allow the committee to consider it.”

-XXX-

It was a bleak June morning when Tanya led her battalion back out to the sky. There were no current orders to ambush, capture, or burn anything. Today was a routine border defense tactic that they’d all done a thousand times.

“Commander, we have an incoming mage company from the west,” Victoriya reported, lowering a pair of binoculars.

Tanya scoffed. “That’s fine. Usual routine, everyone. We’ll--”

“Oh, wait, another is incoming from the east!” Victoriya turned herself slowly, surveying all directions. “I see another in the northwest, about 900 meters away. This doesn’t feel like a usual invasion…”

The major cocked her gun. “No, it appears to be a direct assault against the battalion.”

“You know why this is happening, right?” One of the soldiers turned to Tanya. The look of panic on his face sent an uneasy feeling down her spine. “You’ve been the greatest threat to the Entente Alliance’s victory ever since this war began. They must have decided--”

“--That if I’m dead, they have a shot at victory again.” A laugh escaped her throat on the last word. “That’s the most obvious thing I’ve heard all year. But it’s another obvious fact that the 203rd Air Mage Battalion doesn’t fall to Republicans.”

Victoria smiled a bit when she heard that, bringing a fresh air of determination to her face.

All of a sudden, there was a horizontal rain of gunfire. The battalion seemed to be stuck right in the middle of a deadly crossroads of mage companies. Everyone took off into a dance of evasive acrobatics, jumping and flipping through the air. Tanya could faintly hear a man’s scream over the gunfire and looked over to see him holding onto his arm. He was singled out quickly, and two men on equipment that resembled metal skis swooped in on him. As they dispersed, his body fell down through the air.

“Dammit, soldiers! Focus or you’ll be prey to the war!” She took a few enemies out quickly, beginning to notice a rather concerning aspect of this fight. Some of them were on skis, some rode metallic horses, and others were using equipment she’d never even encountered before. This was definitely a team-up mission to decapitate the Empire’s ace mage battalion.

She saw, with rising horror, that her men were being wiped out right from under her command. “Oh lord, please bestow me with-- agh!” A bullet flew straight past her face. How close had it been to…? Her cheek was starting to feel warm with blood, and she cursed herself, realizing the bullet must’ve grazed her skin. “Dammit! For wanting me to pray to you, Being X, you’re making it difficult!”

“Commander!” She heard Victoriya’s scream, and all of a sudden there was a massive force at her back. A man grabbed Tanya from behind and pulled her right into his arms.

“Little fucker...” She could feel his breath on her ear. “I got you good!”

BOOM! His grip loosened, and he fell as Victoriya rushed forward out of seemingly nowhere. The barrel of her gun was smoking.

Tanya gave her a nod of approval and they kept on fighting. She thought her group could handle this, but they seemed to be completely blindsided. It’d been so long since the battalion had seen a true threat like this, and Tanya knew she’d be cursing herself over and over again for letting everyone get so cocky… herself included. But right now, it was time to focus and fight--

Three more of her mages fell. A glance down at the ground revealed that the land was speckled with what could only be body parts: the entrails of the empire. The 203rd Air Mage Battalion was truly becoming prey.

“Serebryakov! Notify HQ that we need backup right now! We’ve been trapped in a wide range assault!”

“Yes ma’am!” Victoriya began yelling into her headset, so Tanya decided that the only thing she could do was find a safe point to say her prayer and charge up with energy. She flew up high, higher, higher still, trying to make sure there would be no interference.

Her body parted the clouds and shot forth into ice air. It was harder to breathe here, so it wasn’t likely she’d be followed. It was even less likely that the enemy’s equipment could handle this altitude anyway.

The distant echoes of gunfire still rang through the air, but everything was still up here. There was usually a great deal of wind when she flew this high, but not today. It was eerily quiet -- as if the wind was waiting for something, holding its breath.

“Oh lord, deliver us from our time of need, and use your gracious power to bring meaning to the lives lost while protecting the fatherland today.” She swiped her hand across the air to reveal a translucent screen of iridescent mechanics, splayed out like a dashboard. She zeroed in on each enemy soldier, locking on for the coming attack. Precision and thoroughness were key here, so as not to hit any of her own mages…

Tanya began to take notice of something rather alarming. Where were all the enemy soldiers?! Only about half of the ones from before were still visible. There plenty more bodies on the ground below than when she’d last checked, but it was too far away to tell which uniforms the bulk of them were wearing.

She sensed something. There were several magical signatures nearby - closer than she would comfortably allow. They were increasing rapidly, and she had a feeling there wouldn’t be time to lock them into her assault. Tanya would have to fire this shot and then turn in time to apprehend whoever was coming at her from behind.

The commander’s decision was officially set when she saw a man aim his gun in Victoriya’s direction. The soldier didn’t seem to have noticed yet, and without fast action it would be too late to save her. Tanya hoisted up her rifle and allowed that burning, familiar sensation to return to her eyes. It didn’t hurt; it felt like a mixture of pure adrenaline and absolute devotion. The strange power brought to her by the one and only damned Being X.

Her rigid fingers pulled the trigger over and over again. The first one took Victoriya out of harm’s way, ripping her attacker into pieces as it exploded on impact. He didn’t even have time to scream. A number of similar, more panicked deaths began to follow suit.

As soon as that was settled, the commander turned, beginning to mutter another prayer. It would be a lot of power to draw at once, but if she truly focused, she might be able to regain her golden-eyed state --

“GOTCHA!”

“Damned girl!”

“Devil of the Rhine, eh? This is the one? I thought she’d be a little more feisty in person--”

With a flash of her bayonet, the man’s arm stiffened around her body. His head rolled right off his shoulders and fell to the ground below, his body following soon after. The other Republican soldiers recoiled in shock, but that wasn’t enough to make Tanya’s escape a whole lot easier. Glancing downward, she noticed that even more mage companies had arrived, and not in uniforms of the Empire. They never seemed to stop coming. All directions -- all countries -- seemed to have their eye on one spoil of war: Major Tanya von Degurechaff herself.

“You touch me one more time with your filthy hands, and I’ll break each and every one of your necks. All of you,” she glared. Even as an adult, twenty-one years of age, she was small compared to these militarymen. It really infuriated her when things came down to brute strength instead of magic. Of course, that only meant she had to show even more confidence in that regard.

“You’re tough, sure, but you’re on your own now. We’ve got you surrounded,” one of them grinned. “The men under your command are dropping like flies, so you really don’t get to be so cocky anymore.”

One of them gave a particularly nasty smirk. “With that pretty young figure of yours, you’re really more suited for other purposes than fighting, anyway. Maybe when we bring you to HQ, that can be put to the test.”

Those were the last words to blow the fuse in Tanya’s head. Her left eyelid twitched.

“Oh Lord, allow me to cleanse this battlefield of its sins and protect the fatherland. I offer you my utmost strength and gratitude.”

“She’s praying for her life!” one laughed.

“Let’s get this over with,” another added. Meanwhile, more and more enemy mage companies were ascending through the sky toward their current location.

Tanya began to plan. If timed right, she could take a considerable amount of them out. Blowing a hole in the enemy’s forces might give the remainder of her battalion a chance to escape.

“Lord, grant my wish and offer me a chance to experience your gracious--” she flew up higher, narrowly avoiding another attempt to grab her-- “blessings.” She could feel the power drawing from her physical energy as it came, but that strange, supernatural heat began to return nonetheless. It was building in her computation jewel and resonating deep within the core of her torso, etching itself miles into her soul and intertwining with every fiber of her being.

Tanya raised her gun just as someone grabbed onto her foot. There was only a fraction of a second to do this, and do it needed to be done right. She was no longer sure if it would save her, but it might still be able to save--

BOOM!

The soldier fell from Tanya’s ankle as Victoriya flew up next to her. This was the second time she’d pulled through and saved her superior. “W-we can still do this,” she panted, “But please hurry, commander!”

Tanya pulled her trigger. A huge explosion, bigger than before, ripped through the sky. Like a downward tsunami, a horrific mass of fire began to wipe out entire mage companies. Nothing in its vertical path survived.

Just as planned, a hole opened up in the enemy’s mass of soldiers as they either fled or fell victim to the flames. “Go go go!!” Tanya yelled, making sure Victoriya was at her flank as they flew on the scorched turbulence of the fire spell. Everyone was a little disoriented, but their fellow empirical mages seemed to understand the plan. They all kicked into top speed and began to retreat.

Despite the stench of charred flesh that burned their nostrils, Tanya could see that plenty of enemies survived. One in particular -- the one who’d made the sick remark about her body -- hadn’t died either. He was hot on her tail, in fact. And the worst part of it all wasn’t that she hadn’t been able to eliminate him in any of her two all-out attacks; it was that she still wasn’t sure if she’d make it out of this whole ambush without becoming his country’s prisoner.

Men everywhere were trying to round her up like a farm animal, but it was just a little bit farther to go… the ground was so close…

So close…

A gasp to her right. Victoriya’s rifle fell from her hand and disappeared into the air below them. Tanya felt specks of fresh blood simultaneously hit the side of her cheek, and she turned her head anxiously to assess the damage.

It had just been her left hand, but now Victoriya was defenseless.

Then, like the snap of a Republican’s fingers, the lieutenant was gone. They were moving through the air so fast that it looked as if Victoriya had disappeared from thin air, and it took a Tanya a moment to understand that someone had grabbed her.

The commander had a fast decision to make. She knew that at this point, she would most likely escape, successfully retreat, and head back to HQ alive and well. Or… she could return a favor that she’d been given twice already today. The salaryman inside of her was absolutely against that idea, but in this very moment, she was feeling more like Tanya Degurechaff. If that was the case, though… was Being X winning? She decided to address that issue after saving Victoriya.

Forsaking what every nerve in her tired body was screaming for her to do, Tanya turned herself around and bolted back into the bloodshed. They had a gun to Victoriya’s head, holding her like a hostage. In hindsight, this had probably been a lure to force Tanya back into the battle, but it wouldn’t have changed her mind about what she had to do.

The commander didn’t really have a plan for this. After expending so much magical energy already, both her body and mind were lethargic. Se knew she wouldn’t be able to draw out any more divine power if she tried, so praying would be of no use. There was only one thing she could do. Tanya held up her gun, aimed, pulled the trigger--

No ammo.

It was two of them this time. One soldier pulled the rifle from her hands, narrowly avoiding another swing from her bayonet, while another pulled her body against his chest and gripped her like a vise. Victoriya called something out, but Tanya didn’t process what it was. She just thrashed against the enemy’s grip. Without her gun, her magic, or her energy… all she had was her power of will. And that alone didn’t suffice.

The man holding her gave a familiar snicker. “Hey again, pretty girl.”

Oh no. The reality of this situation began to dawn on her.

“You set me up for this moment, didn’t you, Being X?”

The military men just laughed and boasted amongst themselves, not hearing her words.

“All of it was for this, wasn’t it? Why else would you really dare to give me access to all of that power…? You didn’t have to drag so many people down with me.”

She could picture him saying something along the lines of, “You’re the one who brought them down with you. If you had just kept faith from the beginning, your precious friend wouldn’t have to die as well.”

“Hey! I have a request,” she called out.

This time, they all turned. Some of the men were still wearing ignorant, triumphant grins, as if they’d just netted a mythological creature.

Tanya pointed to Victoriya. “I know why you want me, but don’t take her. She’s just an average soldier.”

“She’s still our enemy. And none of the enemies get away scot-free,” one replied. “Let’s take ‘em back.”

Everything after that was a blur. The farther they were dragged out of the Empire’s skies, the colder a sensation Tanya began to feel. It was the opposite of the way she felt when her body was charged with magical power. She felt tired, dizzy, and some other things she couldn’t exactly explain. It was enough that her eyes began to roll back into her head as they flew. The last thing she wanted to do was lose consciousness in this man’s arms, but it didn’t happen voluntarily.

Her senses dimmed to a slow blackness as they crossed the border of the Empire.