#maybe he was sent to find her or investigate her deal with adam?

[wazzi2ya]

Alastor, freshly arrived to Hell, after wandering into a desolate forest full of apple trees where a lonely woman sits, crying with tear tracks etched permanently on her beautiful face: My dear, what's the matter? Come on now, turn that frown upside down!

Eve, about to make him wish he was never born:

[thebookreader12345]

Difference of Opinion - Chapter One

Synopsis: The Intelligence Unit just wanted a nice vacation. What they didn't expect was to be pulled into an active investigation by Agent L/N, who works at the BAU

Note: This chapter is soley based on the Intelligence Unit and has no mention of the BAU and/or Y/N (the reader). Next chapter they will come into play, and the back-plot to the story is a Spencer Reid x reader. Enjoy!

Chapter Two     Chapter Three     Chapter Four     Chapter Five

Jay Halstead's POV

"Can you believe Voight is giving us all of next week off?" Adam asked.

"I know. I'm shocked. Voight is notorious for never giving his unit a day off," I say and finish up the rest of my beer.

"Hey," Kim interjected. "Don't question it, okay? Just be glad we're getting time off. I'm ready to relax."

"And I've got just the thing," Hailey spoke and set down a few more beers on the table. "I just got a call from OA Zidan, my partner when I was away in New York, and he said him and his unit were supposed to take a trip down to D.C., but they had a last minute case they had to stay back for. I guess the trip was already paid for and the Bureau doesn't want to deal with cancelling everything, so they're trying to find people to take it. OA said he'd gladly give us the trip if you all want to go."

"Hell yeah I want to go," Kevin commented. "I can't remember the last time I've been out of Chicago that wasn't related to work."

"I'm down," I confess and grab a fresh beer from the end of the table.

Hailey looked to the end of the table. "Kim? Adam?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm in," Adam exclaimed.

"If it'll give me a break from work, then sure. Lets do it," Kim responded.

"Great. I will call OA back and tell him that we will gladly take the trip off his hands," Hailey declared and pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. She then stepped away from the table and made her way towards the exit of Molly's to briefly get away from the loud noise, her phone raised up to her ear.

"Maybe Hailey being sent off to New York wasn't such a bad idea," Adam input. "Because if she hadn't gone, she wouldn't have met Agent Zidan, and we'd never be going on this trip."

"Well, you weren't the one missing a partner," I counter jokingly. "But yeah, I'm glad to be taking a trip, especially with all of you. And we all know we need this."

"I'll say," Kim muttered and took another sip of beer. A minute or two later, Hailey re-entered the bar and returned to our table just as she was putting her phone away.

"All right. OA said he'd transfer everything over to our names tomorrow morning, and then we should be all set. The flight is on Sunday at 7 P.M. We should land around 9, get set up in the hotel, and then we've got from Monday through Thursday to do whatever we want," Hailey claimed.

"I'll drink to that," Kevin chimed in and raised his beer bottle towards us all. I shook my head, a small smile playing at my lips, but lifted my bottle anyways along with the rest of the team. "To Hailey's amazing connection with the FBI, and an amazing trip to D.C.!"

"To D.C.!" we all repeated and clinked bottles.

Sunday 7 P.M.

"Flight 236 to Washington D.C. is now boarding," a woman announced over the speakers in the airport.

I got up from my seat and stretched my arms over my head as the rest of my team followed suit, and together, we got in line to board the plane. I fumbled in my pocket for my plane ticket as the line inched forward, and when I got to the front of the line, the woman standing behind her small podium scanned my ticket and allowed me to board the plane. I then hitched my backpack higher onto my shoulder as I followed after Hailey down the hallway towards the plane. Hailey walked down the aisle of the plane, and once she stopped at the first open row, she stepped aside to let me through first.

I frowned, but made my way to the seat furthest from the aisle. "I thought you wanted the window seat?"

Hailey shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me. Besides, I'm smaller, so I figured I'd take the middle seat instead of forcing you and whoever takes the aisle seat to sit shoulder to shoulder the whole flight."

"Who knew you could be so nice," I joke as she slid into the seat next to me, allowing Kevin, Kim, and Adam to take up the row across the aisle.

It wasn't long before the plane took off and we were flying east across the country. Almost immediately, I pulled my earbuds out from the bag at my feet and plugged them into my phone so that I could start listening to music. I noticed that Hailey had her eyes closed and was trying to take a short nap, and across the aisle, Kim had a book open in front of her while Adam and Kevin were getting a movie started up on a tablet. My lips twitched upwards slightly at the sight of my team all participating in their own form of relaxation. And with that, I played my music, leaned my head against the window, and watched the plane climb higher and higher in altitude.

90 Minutes Later

"Hailey, look out the window," I instruct my partner, who was sitting next to me. Hailey turned towards me and braced her arm on the arm rest separating us, which in turn supported all of her body weight, and leaned over me to get a view of what was outside. I could smell a hint of spearmint on her breath as she glanced out the window, my mind recalling that she had just recently started chewing on a piece of gum.

"Wow," Hailey breathed out as our plane turned to give us a good look at the capitol building. Even in the dark, with all of the lights, the building emitted a soft yellow light which paired perfectly with the night sky. Just then, Hailey let out a small yawn, and I glanced at her with my eyebrows raised.

"Tired?" I question.

Hailey nodded. "I may have procrastinated a bit and didn't pack until this afternoon. So I'm exhausted. I didn't get to relax much today. I'm ready to get some sleep."

"Me too," I agree and shove my earbuds back into my backpack as I noticed the plane near the airport runway.

Within the next hour, we had gathered our bags from the baggage station and separated into two taxis to get to the hotel, where we checked in and headed to our rooms. We decided against all having our own room, figuring it would be better to spend some time with the other members of the team, so we took two rooms; Adam, Kevin, and I in one and Kim and Hailey in the other. Us boys bid the girls goodnight before entering our room, which was right next door to theirs, and I immediately ditched my backpack and suitcase by the door. I was ready to change and just go to bed for the night. Adam and Kevin had the same idea as me, and in minutes, all three of us were climbing into bed.

"All right, no passing the line," Adam told me as he laid out a few pillows to separate the two of us. There were only two beds in the room, and since Kevin was bigger than both Adam and I combined, we let him have his own bed.

"Dude, if anyone is gonna pass the line, it'll be you. I don't move much in my sleep," I claim and set my phone down on the bedside table.

"Uh-huh," Adam hummed and pulled the blanket over himself. "Goodnight."

"Night," Kevin and I replied back in sync.

Monday 10 A.M.

"We come bearing gifts," Kim chirped as her and Hailey entered our hotel room.

I groaned and buried my head deeper into my pillow. "Who gave them a key to our room?"

"Sorry," Adam murmured apologetically from his spot inches away from me. That's when Hailey opened the curtains allowing the brightness of the outside to get in, and I cringed at the light.

"Shut the blinds," Kevin grumbled from the other bed.

"Dude, it's ten o'clock," Kim said.

I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Why are you guys so chipper this early?"

"Cause we've already had our coffee," Hailey responded. "We brought you guys some too."

"And you and Adam looked adorable sharing a bed," Kim added.

"Oh shut up," I mumble and stand up, stretching my arms.

"So, Kim and I were talking, and we were thinking about going to see the capitol building today. What do you guys think?" Hailey asked.

"Fine with me," Adam spoke from where he was still lying in bed.

"We'll give you guys 20 minutes to get ready. Coffee's on the table," Kim called out as her and Hailey left our hotel room.

"It's like I'm living with Vinessa and Jordan all over again," Kevin shared and sat up, grabbing his phone from the bedside table.

"Tell me about it. I can't remember the last time someone barged into my room to wake me up," I admit.

"Yeah, well, I'd prefer to not experience the wrath of Hailey and Kim, so I'm gonna start getting ready," Adam declared and climbed out of bed.

2 P.M.

"I'm starving," Kim commented as we walked down the street. "I wonder what kind of pizza they have here."

"Trust me. You don't want it. New York's pizza is too thin," Hailey acknowledged, "And I'm guessing D.C.'s will be the same."

"Well then what should we get?" Kevin questioned.

As my friends and I stopped in front of an alley to decide what we wanted for lunch, my eyes wandered down the empty lane next to us. At first, I didn't notice anything too suspicious, but I soon caught sight of a polished shoe sticking out from behind a dumpster. Adam and Kevin continued bickering about whether to get Italian or burgers, but I ignored them and took a step into the vacated alley. I slowly inched towards the shoe, and it wasn't until I had reached my destination that my friends noticed I wasn't standing next to them.

"Jay!" Hailey shouted from the entrance from the alleyway. "What is it?"

"I think I just ruined our vacation," I confess from where I was standing.

Kim frowned. "What are you talking about, Jay?" I waved them all over to me, and when my friends joined me, they all saw what I had been staring at.

Adam cursed under his breath. "I swear, even when we're not at work, we somehow manage to stumble upon something work-related. We're like crime finders or something."

"I'm gonna call 911," I claim and dig my phone out of my back pocket. Dialing the three digits, I held the phone up to my ear and waited for a dispatcher to respond.

"911," a friendly female voice greeted. "What's your emergency?"

"Hi. Yeah, my friends and I just found a dead body," I state.

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

I'm kind of on a roll right now and I've got so many ideas of what's going to happen next so I might keep writing for now. A second chapter might be up sooner than you think!

While this first chapter was very focused on the Intelligence Unit and has no mention of the BAU, the second will start off in the reader's POV and the BAU will be added to the plot. Enjoy!

----------------------------

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld​ @caitsymichelle13​

[mc-critical]

Since you said you just rewatched Isabella's arc, what do you think really happened at her end? Was she really killed or just sent away by boat to a monastery in Vienna like Suleiman said to Ibrahim? Hurrem told Nigar and Gul aga to throw them to sea, but scene was cut after Gul aga then said princess was still alive. A little hesitation seems to happen in Hurrem's face. Or maybe that really happened and Suleiman knew everything and just wanted to exculpate Hurrem so he kinda lied to Ibrahim? What do you think? :)

It remained more of a plot hole than anything, since the show didn't confirm it outright still, but I think there were much more hints given that Hürrem actually killed Isabella and SS eventually learned about it and covered for her than any other possible resolution for the plot line.

Hürrem was very adamant in throwing both Karmina and Isabella to Bosphorus and despite of the look she gave after Gül told her the princess was alive, there wasn't any indicator that she might have changed her mind. (or else they would have shown us, because think about it, would the show miss a chance in showing that Hürrem has some remorse/humanity left inside of her, even in regards to her enemies at this point? Highly doubt it.) Isabella and the servant were already gone in the morning and while I get why, say, Gülşah would wait until the morning to tell Mahidevran about her discovery through eavesdropping (she wasn't the brightest crayon in the room and the plot demanded it for a reason.), why would Nigar and Gül Aga wait until the morning to execute Hürrem's order? They knew full well that it was risky to keep her there, for that someone would find her sooner or later, Hürrem also knew that and wanted them to quickly deal with this problem (Nigar has shown her agency when it came to the orders of someone before, but given she helped with the poisoning, ordered by Ibrahim, that brought Karmina's death, would she risk Isabella being around to expose everything? And Gül Aga was unconditionally loyal to Hürrem.), so that's why I think they threw them both into Bosphorus before the morning came and were done with it.

Now, it would be something else if someone from SS's people found Isabella, told SS and he somehow intervened. Alright, but how and when exactly did that happen when SS had no idea whatsoever of what had happened to Isabella in the morning? Did he simply pull an act then? That would have been too much of a stretch, even for him. He wouldn't scold everyone and call for an investigation if he did. Even if he found out eventually, was there even a time for him to intervene? The episode was pretty tick with its plot threads, the pacing was very fast and we quickly, very quickly transitioned with Hürrem declaring her victory in front of little Mihrimah when we were still in day, while SS's confrontation with Hürrem was at night. How would he intervene and what would he do?  Make up a story and send Isabella back to her country instead? Actually, Melike Ipek Yalova once claimed that this is what happened in an interview, little Mustafa had that suspicion while Mahidevran was looking at the SS-Hürrem nightly confrontation as well, and that could be the truth and it makes what the show showed even messier as a result, but dizis are usually written week for week and Meryem Uzerli mentioned in her confession interview about her disappearance in S03 that the script was constantly changing due to Meral's illness, hence that could've been only one of the versions of what happened and Melike might have had no idea about what they ultimately chose. (similarly to Cansu Dere, who, as I discerned due to her take on Firuze's relationship with SS in the MC: "Secret World" documentary, had no idea about the poison twist, probably because that was revealed after Cansu left and they simply hadn't planned the twist in advance. Melike's last scene as Isabella was her confrontation with Hürrem before Hürrem gave the order to get rid of both Karmina and her.) In-universe, SS couldn't have possibly brought her back to her country in my opinion, why? Because he was so ready to use Isabella as a tool for his political game just until a while ago, wanted her as close as possible (that was his reasoning for having her in the harem) and while he may have given a sign to Ibrahim that he may do an exception with her as a state matter due to him having a halvet with her, wouldn't sending her to his country thwart all he had in mind entirely? Wouldn't that be a little too risky when SS declared her dead? (yes, Gritti sent a message to Frederick that Isabella was actually alive and Frederick planned to get her back somehow, but no one else next to him believed him about that and told him to stand still, hence most people still thought of her as dead and SS has no idea that Frederick and Gritti know.) Okay, maybe he wanted to protect Isabella from Hürrem doing something to her since she's too valuable as a state matter and he didn't want strife in his harem (or at least that's what he convinces himself), so he might have put her somewhere far from everyone. But wouldn't it be more logical to send her to Carl, just as he planned, again not a while ago? Maybe he wanted to have her somewhere no one expected her to be, but why in her country, he would lose political points like this?

If he brought her to a monastery for her to cleanse herself of her sins like he actually said, he gives up from using her as a political tool entirely.... why exactly? Because of Hürrem and because of protection, when he still prioritized politics over his harem after all? (and he said a few episodes ago that the empire cannot be ruled when you're influenced by a woman or her tears) He may have thought she was played enough and maybe he wanted to give her a closure, but again, we're back to when did that happen exactly when the events were running one after another? Yes, this way he would have a win-win and Isabella would be far and secluded from everyone, but where did all the grand plans with her go, how did it happen? He demanded investigation while Isabella was gone after all and if he found out from the investigation, I doubt he could've interfered, because I doubt Isabella survived a throw into Bosphorus or she somehow escaped herself or found a ship that could save her or something. Besides, what happened to Karmina then? If SS found out, she would've been thrown into Boshorus anyway, because she was dead and no one would leave Isabella hanging until he waited for the investigation results? And if not, what, his people would just drag Isabella along to a monastery off-screen? And would Isabella trust they even were SS's people after what happened to her in the harem? This would've been much of a chase. Even without people, how did SS order a boat in the middle of the night when what happened happened in the morning after? etc. etc.

I believe SS found out about this whole ordeal at a point when he couldn't have interfered anymore and made up a story to cover for Hürrem and the loss. This simply makes the most sense given the timeline of events. While we were still wondering what happened to Isabella, Valide heard Hürrem's words to Mihrimah, her telling SS and after a conversation between the foreigners that had nothing to do with Isabella, a transition between day and night happened. Then Hürrem is called by SS, Gül is worried and Hürrem tells him the following: "If you acted like this all day, everyone must have understood that it was you." (along with him being worried about Mahidevran telling SS about her suspicions, which hints even more that they were correct.) This says more than enough for me. Hürrem sees her order as executed and the results of SS's investigation must have come to him at the night and then he couldn't have done anything, but simply make up a story to save his dignity and Ego, what's done is done. The confrontation with Hürrem itself shows that SS already knows more about Hürrem's involvement in the matter than simply Valide's accusations: he looks madder than he would if Isabella wasn't a lost cause, he started to speak about how his kids should always know who he is and then switched to asking Hürrem to remember who she's standing in front of. She has apparently crossed a line, a pretty big line that went over SS's own head. He also says: "What kind of love is this, Hürrem?  Is love destroying? What's the limit of it? When will you stop? When will you be stopped?". Would he say that if she hasn't gone on the road to no return regarding Isabella? Yes, SS has punished her for something she hasn't done before in the past, he has played both with actions and words her and everyone else more than once, but this time these words leave room for something else. They hint that Hürrem has gotten what she wanted and that she couldn't be stopped, not even by him.

The confrontation with Ibrahim happened only the next day, after SS confronted Hürrem and came to terms with what happened. After all, he can't say outright, not even to Ibrahim who knew was against Hürrem and already doubted for other stuff, that Hürrem has done it under his nose. It would accommodate him much more to project the image of a higher authority who doesn't allow for stuff to happen without his knowledge and consent, for people to respect him as such and reconsider working behind his back or betraying his trust. SS wants absolute loyalty and when he can't get that or he suspects that he hasn't gotten that, he tends to remind everyone of how above them he is, no matter how much has he messed up himself or how right or wrong are his deeds.

I may be overthinking, because all this arc turned out to be was pointless fuel at the end of the day and I doubt they applied so much logic to it, but this is where I stand on its resolution.

[ironwoman18]

We Found Love in a Hopeless Place Part 24

The end of this fic has arrived!!! Hope you like this and comments your thoughts.

Read you at the end.

Chapter 24: Family

Spencer had been working in between cases trying to understand what was going on with those emails he received a few weeks ago.

“You’re so quiet… when you read” Max said as she walked to him, holding two cups of coffee.

“My brain is working… this person is sending me weird messages and I can understand quite well what he is meaning…” he said looking at her while holding the cup of coffee “I think this person was in my seminars and got my email from there”

“Not even with your super memory?” she asked sitting next to him.

He laughed softly “the problem is that there were so many people that I can’t focus on a particular person if I don’t know who I am looking in the first place”

She nodded and checked his laptop “and what do you expect to find?”

“I think this person is dealing with someone really dangerous because the way he is talking is like he knows someone might track our communications” she nodded drinking more coffee “now… I don’t know what to do, I’m trapped” he bit his lip thinking and watching the screen.

She looked at him and closed the laptop “come on… let’s go out for a walk. It will relax you” she held his cup and put it on the table then held his hand and made him get in.

“Max… I don’t know if this case is a life or dead situation…” he said looking at his girlfriend.

“Spencer… baby… I know it is important but I learned something in my career, when you can’t have new and creative ideas, you need to do something else, like going out or listen to music” she looked up at him “if you stay here your brain won’t think correctly”

“Well that’s a good theory”

“It’s not a theory, it’s a fact” she smirked softly and he smirked back “now let’s go”

He nodded and after getting jackets the couple left the apartment for a walk. They set just one rule; they cannot mention anything about his current investigation. They ate pretzels and watched the kids playing at the park.

They spent the rest of the afternoon out of the apartment. And when they got back to the apartment she looked at him before open the door “you need to relax and think out of the box. If this person is talking with encrypted messages you need to try to figure out the meaning for them” he nodded and leaned in to kiss her.

“I think that’s a great advice” he hugged her and walked in together.

After a couple of hours later they ordered dinner and decided to watch a movie, he picked Titanic. Almost at the end of the movie and a couple of tears after Jack’s dead; Max looked up at him and, as the credits started, with Celine Dion in the background she started to talk “Spencer, I had been thinking for a while about this but I knew neither of us were ready but now I think we are” she said looking his face and his reactions “I want you to move in with me. Its almost a year since we met and honestly I never had good luck with this kind of decisions but I got a feeling that it will be different with you” she bit her lip looking at him.

Spencer took a long moment to answer, making her nervous “I would love to. I know your story with your ex boyfriends and you know that I’m like an old man in a younger one but as you said… I think we are different and we love each other so I’m sure we will be perfectly fine” she hugged and kissed him.

He decided to ask for a days off to continued his investigations and to move his books and clothes to her apartment. And he was sure that he found everything he needed to know, he led a SWAT Team in a storage unit where they found the former VICAP agent Owen Quinn.

At first he thought the agent was dead but suddenly the man came back to life and they took him to check in the hospital then returned to the BAU.

“Spence… how did you find Quinn?”

“I received some emails with some encrypted information and at the end I figured them out to find him”

“Emails? Since when you… the technophobic… created an email account?”

“JJ I created one for my classes during the few months I was my hours in the field restricted, so you don’t need to worry…” he said walking to the interrogation room.

“Of course I have to… Spence, you hid information about going to New Mexico to buy a medicine for your mother, which led Catherine Adams to attack you” she said stopping him “I’m your best friend and I didn’t even know you have and email. Also I feel like you are hiding more things and I can’t tell what”

“JJ… you know I really appreciate your concern and I’m happy that you are worry but I’m not a kid or your son. I’m a grow man and I can take care of myself. I know you do it because you don’t want me to get hurt but you can’t protect me all the time” he said in a calm voice, he did not say it angry or frustrated. She just nodded and he left to start the interrogation.

It was hard to believe Quinn’s story about the marriage couple and their son keeping him hostage, so the team was trying to keep their minds open but it was hard, especially knowing his paranoia with this serial killer team.

After hours they discovered that the person who sent Spencer the emails was Theo, the son of the crazy couple, which helped them to believe in Quinn’s story. When they finally understood about the cult they led Quinn go.

The team left to Rossi’s house for a drink and maybe even dinner but Spencer and Penelope which stayed a few more time. He wanted to wait with Quinn’s son until his dad was released, and he texted Max about it, and Penelope had a few things to finished before joining the team.

But VICAP agent Mary Meadows went down with Penelope and Quinn and she killed Quinn and kidnapped Penelope.

Then took Spencer hostage with her and took them out of the FBI building.

The team thought it was Quinn’s fault at first but after watching the cameras they realized that Mary was the one who did it. Meanwhile Spencer and Penelope worked together to left breadcrumbs for the team, doing little things to lead them to the cult.

Emily recognized Mary from an old case and the team discovered their plan of killing three hundred people and Spencer was the three hundredth so they decided to leave to save him after saving Penelope.

They did not have troubles finding the Cult, and they made sure to be quiet to infiltrate and save Spencer.

On their way home and after a heartfelt conversation Emily decided to give him a little surprise to she texted Max, explained her briefly what happened and asked her to go to the FBI office. Max did not ask much, she was happy to know he was fine and on his way home so she drove to the FBI.

Emily made some calls to get her in and when they arrived to the airport, the team went to the office to see Garcia, who was crying and hugged her good friend and Comic-Con partner.

Then Emily led him to her office “I brought a surprise for you, I made sure no one see her because I know you don’t want them to know” he shook his head knowing what she did.

“Really? You brought her here?” she nodded and opened the door of her office. There was Max biting her nails waiting. She looked at him, he had some bruises and cuts on his head but he looked as handsome and perfect as usual.

She walked to him and hugged him tightly; he hugged her back and laid his head on her hair. She cried on his chest for a minute and when she calmed down he led her to a couch in the office.

“I-I got worry when you didn’t arrive but I thought you had some other things to do. T-Then Emily texted me to come here because you were kidnapped by a cult…”

“Yeah… I met them after Gidion left the team, their former leader died that day and another man took over the cult. They spent all this time killing around the country and collecting the bone that hold the tongue in place. They had two hundred ninety-nine of them and wanted there three hundred”

“And it would be yours, right?” she rubbed his cheek with tears. He nodded and his eyes were on hers “what happened to the man you found?”

“He died… the woman who kidnapped me and Garcia killed him because he recognized her” she nodded and hugged him again. She was happy to have him back but worry about what could come next “come on… I think you should meet my family” he smiled and stands up “they saved me and now I want them to know someone who saved me in another way” she smiled still with tear.

They walked out the office and there were the rest of the team. JJ looked at him then at her and she smiled, finally realizing why he was different. The rest of the team looked at them and smiled.

“Boy genius had a girlfriend?” asked Penelope watching Max close to him.

“Apparently…” said Matt looking at Luke “you own me 50 bucks” he whispered in his ear.

The Latin man signed “You are better profiler than me man…” he handed it to Matt without the others realizing.

“Guys this is Max. She is my girlfriend and the person who helped me recover after what happened with Cat” she waved at them.

“I heard so many things about you all and I’m glad to finally meet you” said Max smiling.

Each of them introduced themselves and after that Rossi invited them to go to his house for a proper dinner/ breakfast and a toast for finally meeting Spencer’s girlfriend.

Mount Pleasant Women’s Correctional Facility

Cat Adams was in her cell, bored, when one of her puppets walked in “Cat, I have information…”

“About?”

“Spencer Reid…” Cat’s bored face changed “he has a girlfriend”

“How do you know it?”

“There’s someone in the FBI that told a guard here and he told me” Cat smirked and nodded.

“Thank you Claire… I have something fun to do now” her smile grows bigger.

“The memories we make with our family is everything.” – Candace Cameron Bure.

FIN?

OOooOOooOO

I hope you liked this final chapter. Thank you again for reading and sharing your feedback. If you have plots for Maxcer let me know and I will do it.

[imjeralee]

Comfort in Despair: Chapter 21 - A Tale of Two Sisters

Leon x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Summary:

Galar is rich in folklore and tales of the supernatural.

As a Pokemon Researcher who specialises in ghost types, this is a great opportunity for you to investigate and learn more about the paranormal.

Along the way, you meet Leon (in the most awkward way possible) who becomes embroiled in your adventures.

^ Basically this story is about ghosts :/

NOTE: First update of 2021! I used my blood, sweat and tears for this chapter lol. I hope you enjoy it but there is a lot of fluff

Rating: General/Teen

@marydragneell​ here is the latest update

A Tale of Two Sisters

…

…

[Tape 4A. Audio Recording. Subject: Ezra and I discuss evil spirits:

00:02.11: Me: "Isn’t there anything we can do to help them?"

00:13.33: Ezra: "No. Evil spirits are condemned to roam without a physical form and will be compelled to wreak havoc on the living. They are beings that died with unfulfilled desires or anger and are said to 'linger' until such issues are resolved."

00:15.73: Me: "Has anyone attempted to research them?"

00:23.01: Ezra: "It was once believed that there was a way to control or communicate with them but any research or attempt on this matter is condemned by the Church."

00:24.70: Me: “But we're not aligned with the Church.”

00:26.42: Ezra: "Don't even think about it, kid."

The recording stops here.]

…

…

“How peculiar,” you utter, “I can understand what you’re saying.”

Gengar blinks blankly at you before he tells you he’s been speaking to you the entire time since you met at his master’s manor.

This must be what Ezra had noticed about you earlier. You’ve grown stronger. Your senses have heightened to another level. You’re becoming similar to Rosie except it’s taken you longer. You recall how she understood what Dusknoir was saying when you found her playing in the basement and she could communicate with it.

You’ve always understood what Gengar was trying to communicate from his actions but this…? You can understand ghost pokemon now (or maybe just Gengar). Perhaps you would grow even stronger in the future.

Mimikyu is lying next to you so you gently pick her up. "Psst....Mimi, are you asleep? Say something."

Stirring, the little glowing dots blink behind the fabric of her ragdoll disguise. "What is it, mi? Let mi sleep."

She swats you away with a claw and you put her back down; the pokemon rolls away from you, curling up. "Huh, there's no difference. What about you, Vulpix?"

The little red fox looks at you as you lift her up in your arms, her paws dangling in the air. She cocks her head to the side. "Vul."

"Hm. No difference here either," you murmur as you gently let her back down.

Leon returns to the tent after he’s done a quick sweep of the area; there’s no ghosts around regardless and there is certainly no-one else in the vicinity.

You’ve told him there’s nothing to be concerned about but he was still adamant in checking the rest of the camp just in case. You appreciate that he’s trying to keep you safe.

He zips the flap up and watches as you ask Rotom to take a photo of the bloodied hairclip on the ground and once he’s finished, you carefully slip the floral hairclip into a sealable plastic bag; it’s piano black, sleek and shiny, with the occasional flecks of dried blood and a strand of long hair.

“So… a spirit left that for you?” he asks, as you inspect the bag keenly, holding it up under the dim light of the lamp.

You nod. “It’s evidence. Looks like I have a new case.”

You tell him you saw a ghost in broad daylight this afternoon and it saw you. Now it looks like the ghost has followed you all the way out here. Also, Vulpix sensed her first. You pet her fondly as she dozes beside who Mimikyu is also fast asleep, snoozing away.

“Remember the ghost of South Miloch? Well, this is more or less the same way she contacted me, so I know this one needs help,” you add, “she knows I got the message. She won’t bother us for the rest of the night.”

He looks uneasy. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I'll post it up on my blog," you reply, and you quickly access your website and upload the photo onto a new post, typing out a message. "'If this belongs to you, please contact me'. There we go, all done. Now we wait.”

You smile at him and he flicks a glance to Rotom. It’s 3am.

“Let’s go back to sleep.”

You’re a little excited to sleep though, knowing that Gengar had spoken to you and you want to talk as much as possible but the ghost pokemon pokes his head from your shadow and tells you he’s going to rest too so you suppose you should just take it easy and sleep considering how exhausted you are.

With a yawn, you nod and flop over the sleeping bag with Leon’s arms wrapped around you. Now that you think about it, you’re amazed you were able to sleep so soundly with him beside you.

You had enjoyed being spooned so you turn to lie on your side with your back pressed against his chest and as expected, he gently worms his arm around your waist and you sigh with content. You make yourself comfortable and cosy in your spot before grabbing his arm and holding it tightly to your chest. His heartbeat speeds up and he swallows down loudly.

"Leon?"

"Y-yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"...I'm okay."

You let out a stifled laugh. “Alright then. Goodnight.”

“G-goodnight.”

Reaching over, you switch off the lamp and the tent is encased in darkness once again.

…

You wake up before Leon and during the night, you’ve deviated a great deal; you find yourself lying flat on your back and he’s curled up beside you with his face buried against your neck and his arms wrapped around your waist. What surprises you the most is how tightly he holds you and how much he’s pressed himself against your body with your legs tangled together.

He’s still fast asleep and you don’t want to wake him up so you remain still, staring at the ceiling of the tent and thinking about last night before you swerve your gaze down to the sleeping champion once more.

Leon grumbles incoherently before he inches even closer to you than ever before, burying his nose further into your nape and sighing under his breath. His hair tickles your chin, cheeks and nose and you try your best not to laugh.

Closing your eyes, you allow yourself to be at ease and to relax with a smile on your face until Rotom suddenly twitches in his spot and he rises into the air, his eyes glowing brightly before he emits a loud ring and this time, both you and Leon groan heavily in response.

“Bzzrt, eep! Mezzzage! You have received a private mezzage from PinkZzylveon! Bzz, I hope thizzz izzz urgent….” Rotom buzzes helplessly as he’s forced awake.

“Huh…?” you utter whilst Leon clings onto you, half-awake.

“Nmm…what time is it?” he mumbles blearily.

“Six am….”

“You can watch the sunrizzze if you’re quick enough…” Rotom adds, disgruntled.

“Oh….good idea…” Leon mutters and he settles himself into your embrace once more and you watch as he closes his eyes for a brief moment…then re-open again in a split second. He swerves his gaze up to you and you look at him, then Leon untangles his arms from you hastily, wide awake with shock, and promptly sits up. “Um, g-good morning…”

“Morning Leon.”

“Arceus, I-I’m so sorry.”

You watch him splutter and stammer for a few seconds before you say, “Sorry for what?”

His face turns various shades of red but when you smile at him reassuringly, he gradually calms down and smiles bashfully at you in response.

“Did you sleep well?” he murmurs quietly.

You nod. "Did you?"

"I did. It was the best sleep I'd ever had."

You are oddly flattered.

“C’mon, let’s get ready,” you reply, moving to stand, stretching slightly. “Do you want to watch the sunrise together?”

“Yes,” he agrees, as you rifle through your pile of folded clothes and hand him his hoodie to him before you grab your sweater and throw it on.

Afterwards, Rotom settles into your hands and you swipe the screen to see what this message is. It was sent to you via your blog, only visible to you. It says: This is regarding the hairclip. Please come to 23 Dorset Road, Motostoke. It belongs to my sister. We need your help. This is my number.

“Interesting,” you utter under your breath as your eyes roam over the phone number provided. The area code belongs to Kanto.

“Zzzhall we reply?”

“Not yet.”

You’re wanting to watch the sunrise with Leon, so you both get ready in the tent though he says he should leave to give you some privacy but it’s freezing outside so you tell him he can just turn round. When you’re fully dressed, you don your coat whilst Leon pulls on his thick hoodie. He takes his scarf and loops it around your neck before you both leave the sanctity of the tent and step out into the cold. It’s always frigid in the Wild Area on mornings like this which you’re beginning to get used to.

“I wonder if there’s a good spot nearby,” Leon muses under his breath before he brings out his own Rotom phone and tampers with it. He scrutinises the screen thoroughly before he beams widely. “Ah, found one.”

“Whereabouts?” you ask, joining his side.

“It’s telling us to go that way,” Leon says, pointing to the far right of the lake.

However, when you check the phone, something doesn’t look quite right with the direction he’s pointing to and the marker on the map doesn't align properly – on the contrary, it is indicating to the left.

You gently take his arm and swivel him round so he’s pointing to the other way. The marker follows his movement and the marker begins to blink, indicating he is now on the right track, in the correct direction. Leon blushes whilst you smile.

Despite having a cold breakfast consisting of berry juice, granola and yoghurt, it tastes ten times delicious than usual because you’re eating together and when you’re finished, you and Leon head for the direction of the marker.

Vulpix trots alongside you and Charizard lingers behind.

“Was she born like that?” you utter under your breath as you throw a sideways glance to the fox pokemon. She seems to be doing well despite missing an eye though she leans heavily to one side as she pads along.

“Yeah, so her owner deemed her unsuitable for battling,” Leon explains, “she was abandoned at the pokemon nursery.”

You shake your head at this.

Vulpix seems happy under your care and she looks up at you and you look at her. When you lock gazes, she wags her little tail.

“She’s still a baby. The tail is meant to split as they grow older, right?”

“Yep,” Leon replies jovially.

“I’ll make sure she grows healthy and strong.”

Vulpix yaps affectionately, you smile at her and Leon squeezes your hand tightly.

He wanted to hold your hand along the way; you had seen him glancing at you wistfully though he had remained quiet but alas, actions speak louder than words and he had gently reached for your hand, pulling you close to him and weaving your fingers together.

He blushes the entire time and his hand becomes sweaty as he sneaks little peeks at you every now and then from the corner of his eyes for your reaction.

And when you’d glance up at him curiously, he doesn’t look away as you expected; instead, he holds your gaze, smiles and brush his thumb against the base of your palm tenderly which sends numerous shivers down your spine. This is a side to Leon which you didn’t think you’d ever see at all.

It also occurs to you that you will need to tell Sonia, Jace, the professor and Graves about this. No doubt, Sonia might be squealing for days. Jace seems a little on the fence with Leon judging from your past conversations, and you’re not sure how Graves will react either but he seems relaxed about Leon.

That’s a thought for another time as Rotom leads you away from the campsite - at least a good twenty minutes or so - and you find yourselves situated at a grassy hill that’s much larger than the other spot you took Leon last time and on this occasion, the view is far more rewarding and grandiose.

A clean, grassy spot invites you to plop yourselves down along with Charizard but the flame pokemon decides not to be a third wheel; before he leaves, he nudges the two of you to sit closely together as much as possible, then he retreats to the direction of the trees where he joins Vulpix so it’s just you and Leon. Charizard gives you the equivalent of a thumbs up using his claws.

“I once told myself I’d see the sunrise with someone special…I always hoped it would be you," Leon says.

You blush heavily and he grins at your response.

When you realise he’s not looking away, it occurs to you he’s admiring you and your cheeks grow even warmer; he reaches over and wraps an arm around your shoulder, bringing you close and you blink wide-eyed for a brief moment before smiling widely.

You huddle together as the sun begins to peek out between the trees and hills. The dark horizon eventually begins to clear up, bathing the wilderness with a tawny, warm glow and you recall the dream.

“Are you free this evening?” he murmurs.

“Yeah.”

“Would you like to have dinner?”

It takes a lot to keep yourself calm and collected and you croak out, “I’d love to but where would we go? People are going to recognise you.”

“You could come over to my house. I’ll let my mum know you’re coming. She wants to see you again.”

You’re about to reply, but the sun becomes so bright you have to shield your eyes; you soak in the warmth of the sun, sighing with content and squaring your shoulders, causing him to chuckle. Unfortunately, the sunrise is over in a short period of time which prompts you both to leave.

It’s time to part ways though you have agreed to have dinner with him later at his house: Leon will return to Wyndon for his photoshoot with Miss Galar and you will check out the address in Motostoke and return the hairclip.

Leon helps you to stand and as you turn, you thought your eyes were playing tricks on you but you believed you had seen the dark silhouette of a man standing behind the pokemon as they were waiting for you.

In the blink of an eye however, the shadow disappears and you’re left staring at Charizard and Vulpix.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

Returning to the campsite, Charizard helps you take down the tent and roll it up whilst Mimikyu and Vulpix help Leon out with the packing.

Once everything’s stowed away, the campsite is vacated and you begin the hike to return to the challenger’s path, chatting and holding hands until a faint rumbling sound grabs your attention and you turn round to see a familiar and large wooden wagon approaching, pulled by a Tauros.

You wonder if Leon would let go of your hand (he doesn't) and you ponder if whoever is driving the wagon is staring (they are).

As the wagon passes you, it is driven by none other than the farmer from Turrfield, the one who passed you and Leon when you had first met. The one who wouldn't let you on and called you cursed and bad luck.

He's staring with widened eyes at you and obviously you're holding hands with the Champion. In fact, he gawks so relentlessly that he doesn't realise where he's going and he misses the gaping dirt hole up ahead. The wagon jostles, the wheel lodged fast in the ditch and he yelps as everything comes to a stop and Tauros rears with a bellow.

"Whoa there, Toro!! Easy, old boy...easy..."

The wagon's stuck; after calming the bull, the farmer jumps off to inspect the wheel and sighs, scratching his head underneath his straw hat.

You exchange quick glances with Leon before heading over. The farmer notices and begins spluttering at once.

"G-good mornin', Mr Champion! Fancy seein' you here again!"

"Apologies, have we met before?" Leon asks with a smile.

Leon doesn’t remember his face. The farmer looks as surprised as you are. You could tell him, say it's the old fart who wouldn't give you a ride last time, but you remain silent and the farmer throws a sheepish glance to the ground.

"Do you need help with that?" Leon asks.

He clears his throat and stutters out, "Nah, s’alright. You two young'uns better run along now. I got this covered..." he trots to the back of his wagon and begins to push, leaning his scrawny self against the wood. "God-freakin'-damnit, I knew I should've bought that lousy HM!"

True, the Strength HM would've been helpful in these kinds of situation. He struggles, grunting and growling, and Leon rolls his sleeves up, releases Charizard, and they both head to the back of the wagon to assist the old man.

"We'll give you a hand."

"Oh, thank you, you're so kind, Mr Champion."

"It's no problem at all, sir."

"Hey...you there, girl. Do you mind watchin' over old Toro for me?" the farmer asks, "but be gentle with 'im. He's still a brute."

You nod and stroll over to Tauros who huffs and stomps one hoof on the dusty ground, shaking himself. He's somewhat agitated but you do your best to calm him. Reaching over, you gently stroke his grizzled mane and he watches as you pat his horns and rub the bottom of his jaw. The pokemon grows still, and you smile.

"Good boy," you murmur.

"Be careful," Leon says, peeking out from one side of the wagon.

On the count of three, the men and Charizard successfully push the wagon out and you hop away as the wheel is finally freed and the wagon is back on the path, safe. The farmer looks pleased as Leon returns Charizard and heads over to your side with a grin. You check if he's fine before dabbing away at some sweat on his forehead with a tissue.

"Well, I can't thank you two enough," the farmer says as he hops into the seat. "And uh....here, this is somethin' for your troubles." He reaches to the side and pulls out two fresh bottles of moo moo milks and pots of honey which he hands over. “It’s not much but it’s the best I can do, sorry."

"No problem, sir. Have a good day."

"You too. Take care. Goodbye now."

With the minor distraction out of the way, you continue your journey and finally, you reach a fork in the path – one that will lead to Hammerlocke and the other to Motostoke.

You and Leon will part ways here.

The path looks unwelcoming all of a sudden.

You throw him a glance from the corner of your eye, wondering what he might be thinking of when he instinctively steps towards you and anxiously slides his arms around your waist, his warm hands brushing against the side of your body before he gently pulls you closer to him.

His gesture brings a smile to your face as you plant your arms on his shoulders, weaving and twirling your fingers through his thick, long hair.

“Be careful,” he murmurs, “are you sure you don’t need me to go with you?”

“I’ll be fine,” you reply with the same hushed tone he’s employed.

The moment your eyes meet, your breath lodges in your throat; neither of you make a move to pull away and you both linger a little longer than necessary before Leon begins to lean forwards.

Although you can tell he’s getting nervous again, you stand still for him as the gap between you grows smaller and smaller and your noses brush together.

Relishing your presence and the close proximity, he affectionately nuzzles you for a few seconds or so before he angles his face to the side, his lips pucker up slightly and you bite down on your lip, trying not to laugh.

Oblivious, Leon lightly skims his mouth over yours before he presses his lips against yours firmly.

He starts off gentle, being very careful not to hurt you or make you uncomfortable in any way. You let him lead this time and he kisses you coyly.

His lips are so soft against yours, slowly pulling you in and ensuring every inch of your lips are covered by his mouth.

Heat blooms in your chest and your heart thuds; your mouths seem to mould together perfectly and your thoughts are silenced as his scents enraptures you from all over along with the searing warmth of his hands on your body, his fingers faintly digging into your flesh.

He clutches you tightly to him, your lips pressing together until you sweep your hand over his cheek and your fingertips brush over the rugged stubble along his jaw.

Leon grins against your mouth then presses a light, feathery peck on your lips before applying just the tiniest amount of pressure to deepen the kiss.

You giggle lightly in response until your ears pick up the sounds of a twig snapping and you both stop at once, pulling away and glancing over to the source.

A few feet away, a couple of bushes rustle loudly until a chubby Gloom pops out and waddles from the undergrowth, followed by two diminutive Oddish; you and Leon watch as they cross the path in front of you and hop over to the other side, disappearing into the tall grass.

You sigh with relief whilst Leon chuckles and lifts your hand to his lips, pressing a small kiss over your knuckles then over your cheek before he retreats, his face reddening as he watches you for your reaction.

“H-how was that?” he asks nervously, and you know he’s talking about the kiss.

“Hmm, I think we should practice more.”

“I’d like that,” he admits quietly.

You smile fondly at him in return as he swerves his glance to your entwined hands.

”Am I...your first kiss?” Leon is your first proper kiss, so you nod.

He gleams at once, ecstatic. He’s positively glowing now.

”You’re my first too,” he murmurs.

“You’re so sweet, Leon,” you reply, and his face turns a darker shade of red.

“...There’s something I need to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Will you wait for me?” he murmurs, “I get challenged by gym challengers every day and I have been defending my title for many years…but there will be a day when I'm no longer Galar’s Champion.”

“Don’t say that,” you reply with a pout.

“It’s true, but until that day happens I’ll continue doing my best. It’s my dream to make the trainers of Galar the strongest in the world. I just wanted to know…when the day comes and Galar no longer needs me... will you be there for me?”

“Of course!” you reassure him with a wide grin, squeezing his hand. “I’ll always be there for you.”

His cheeks go pink and he nods.

“And, um…The party. It’s after my match with Volkner. The dress code is formalwear and there will be dancing. There’ll be a simple waltz.”

You go bug-eyed by the mere mention. “Dancing?? I don’t really dance…”

“Do you know how to dance?”

“No.”

He chuckles. “I can teach you the basics. I'm not an expert but I had to learn how to dance for events like these, though they are very rare.”

“Is it weird that I know how to deal with evil spirits but I don’t know how to dance?” you utter without thinking twice, and Leon laughs, shaking his head. “Alright, I’ll need to do a bit of shopping then. I'll need something to wear. I should go now.”

You toss your glance to the path and jab your thumb to the other direction with much reluctance.

“Sure, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye.”

“…Goodbye.”

You hop onto the path with your bag swinging behind you, turning round to wave as he stands limply on his spot. “Bye, Leon.”

He reluctantly sets off to his direction, waving. “Bye.”

The departure is painful.

It is strange, just waving to him and walking off. Maybe you should've kissed and cuddled more. A hell lot more. You remind yourself that you are seeing him later.

So here you are, unwillingly meandering down the path to Motostoke on your own and away from Leon who’s on the path to Wyndon; you keep throwing glances over your shoulder before he’s out of sight and he does the same; the moment your eyes meet and surprisingly enough, you’re not inclined to look away as you would usually do.

And unfortunately you no longer get to see him when you head down the bend of the path and a huge dollop of trees blocks your view and he is finally out of sight. Your heart is still hammering and your cheeks still feel very warm, your lips tingling. You can’t wait to see him again later in the evening.

Glancing up to the clear blue sky above your head, a flock of bird pokemon soars ahead in V formation and you sigh with content as you gaze at the lush forestry, at the flowing river to your left where little Woopers and Barboach weave their way upstream.

Smiling to yourself, you grasp the strap of your bag firmly to your chest as you close your eyes and inhale a deep breath of fresh, crisp air.

You head to an empty forest clearing in order to receive a better signal before you bring up the message you received about the hairclip and ask Rotom to call the number and wait for a response.

“Hello?”

The voice belongs to a girl.

“Good morning, this is the pokemon researcher of Wedgehurst. I received your message.”

“Oh! Thanks for the callback.”

“No problem. Have I called you at a good time?”

“Yes, yes, it’s all good. Do you have the hairclip?”

“Yeah. I was thinking of returning it to you today if possible.”

“Yes please, I’m free right now. Could you come over? You’ve got my address, right?”

“I do. I’ll be there in half hour tops.”

“Thank you.”

After you hang up, you call for a Corviknight taxi to take you to twenty three Dorset Road, Motostoke. The shops aren’t open yet, so you could do some investigation first.

When it arrives, you climb in and Corviknight spreads his wings with a loud caw and takes off to the skies and in a matter of minutes, you have arrived outside a quaint two-storey, detached house with umber red walls and a white door; it opens and the same pink-haired girl you had seen yesterday emerges with a Sylveon by her side.

When the carriage lands on the front lawn with a gentle thud, you climb out and as you’re about to pay the fare, the girl quickly steps over and pulls out a wad of notes from her pocket, handing them to the cabbie.

“It’s on me,” she says before she turns to you and nudges her head towards the house. “Come on in.”

“Thanks,” you murmur, as Corviknight and the cabbie take their leave.

She holds the door open for you and you step inside the house, arriving at a small entryway where she urges you to remove your shoes. She removes her slippers, leaving herself barefoot as she weaves into the lounge.

The house is an atypical home and you see nothing out of the ordinary, though you can sense a darkness has settled within. It’s slathered all over the ceiling and crawls down the walls. A pungent, sour smell invades your nose….possibly originating from old shoes or leftover food.

And somewhere upstairs, you hear muffled sobbing and wailing.

“That’s my mum,” she says, “don’t mind her.”

At the top of the stairs, the ghost you saw yesterday lingers by the banister, staring at you silently.

It’s bizarre seeing a spirit in broad daylight and in this shape and form yet your eyes do not play tricks on you. Stepping forwards for a closer look, you mentally note that her body is transparent yet her eyes are as dark as night. You scrutinize her form for a while before she turns a smooth one eighty angle and floats away, disappearing into the wall.

“That’s Flora. My sister,” the girl says, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“You can see her?”

“Yeah. I’ve always been able to see ghosts. And uh, thanks for coming by the way.”

She appears oblivious to your stunned expression and invites you to enter the living room where the negative energy is even stronger and the entire room is encased in darkness; your throat clams up, windpipe constricting and you struggle for breath. She doesn’t seem to notice how suffocated you are as you blindly make your way inside and she gestures for you to sit on one of the couches.

The Sylveon heads to a basket near the TV and curls up inside as the girl strolls past you and into the kitchen, asking if you want a drink. Tea or coffee. You opt for tea and a while later, she returns with two pink Jigglypuff mugs of steaming hot drinks and sits down on the couch adjacent to yours.

She looks at you from head to toe and you do the same.

The Delcatty clock ticks loudly on the wall.

You lift the cup to your lips and take a sip.

It's too hot.

The distorted weeping upstairs grows steadily in volume.

“I can’t believe you’re here in the flesh,” she says quietly, “I’ve read all about you, I’m a longtime lurker of your blog by the way and I love what you do. Ghosts, evil spirits, cursed objects…I’ve read every article you’ve posted.”

“Thank you very much for the patronage.”

“Oh, it’s no bother at all. I love your work. So…where should I begin?”

“You could start off by telling me a bit about yourself and what you need my help for.”

She nods and places her cup down on the glass table. It emits a loud clang. The sobbing begins to descend into persistent croaks and gasps before it acts up again.

“Sure. My name is Francesca Warren. Everyone calls me Frankie. I’m fifteen years old and I’ve been able to see ghosts for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t really a problem for me…I learned to ignore them but unfortunately, it means I can see Flora. I want to help her move on but I don’t know how or why she can’t, and that’s why I need your help. I know you wrote about this on your blog but I’d love it if you could tell me everything in person.”

You nod in response. “Of course. There are a variety of reasons why spirits can’t move on. It’s usually due to their attachments to people, places, and also there may even be things that could hold her back from making the transition.”

“Like what?”

The crying upstairs continues so you briefly flick your glance up to the ceiling.

“Sometimes it’s because there is a loved one who can’t let go of the deceased, so this emotional bond binds the spirit and thus it cannot move on.”

“Oh,” says Frankie.

“Then there are negative emotions such as hatred or injustice towards something or someone, usually their murderer. If they are severe, the spirit will refuse to move on and this is more difficult to deal with…but there are also instances when people are confused or disoriented at the moment of their death, so they may not realise they’re dead which can also impact their moving on.”

“Got it.”

“Either way, I’m glad you reached out, your sister needs to move on as soon as possible. I’ll see what I can do.”

You wonder if she may need time to mourn when you see the corner of her eyes begin to fill up with tears yet she suddenly clenches her knuckles and says, “Thank you so much. I know how much you charge and I’m prepared to pay.”

“We can talk about renumeration afterwards.”

“Thank you.”

And the crying upstairs eventually subsides.

You shift your gaze to the ceiling and Frankie does the same briefly, before she averts her gaze to you and you glance at her and for a second or so, your gazes linger for a rather uncomfortable moment or so before she smiles thinly and you are forced to respond with a smile of your own.

“Then let’s get started,” Frankie says, rising from her seat. “Uh…where exactly should we start?”

“Tell me a bit more about Flora. What are the circumstances?”

“Oh, right. Of course. Well…” she lowers her voice drastically and urges you to lean towards her so she can whisper, “my sister doesn’t remember how she died…nor does she know why she died or who killed her, but we do.”

She grabs a manila folder from a shelf of the coffee table and hands it to you; you lift the flap and pull out a newspaper clipping. The headlines says: “BLACKBELT KILLS GIRLFRIEND” and there is a mugshot of an attractive but stern-looking young man with dark eyes on the cover.

“It was him. He did it. And since then, Flora appeared to me. Do you know how hard it is to see your sister, dead as a doornail?" she says, her voice beginning to rise a few octaves.

"...I can't possibly imagine your pain."

Frankie regains her composure and takes a deep breath. "Anyway, I attend boarding school in Kanto, Fuchsia City, so I’ve been away from home for a while. I just flew back. And when I got the news, the weather was bad and I had a dreadful feeling, like something wasn’t quite right. Then I got a call from my mum, saying Flora had been killed and her body was found. I flew back home on the first flight.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been horrible.”

“It was, but seeing her like this is worse. I usually see her in the house but lately she disappears at night and cabbies are finding her at the Watchtower Ruins in the Wild Area. She’ll hitch a ride, come back to the house but she'll disappear in the cab mid-ride. It’s happened four times now. You can read how Flora was killed in that newspaper I gave you but there’s also something else you should know.”

Frankie heads to the mantelpiece in the lounge, beckoning you over.

There are only a few photos on display and the rest of the mantelpiece appears to be covered in a thin layer of dust, albeit there are some ‘clean’ spots which shows that there used to be adornments here but had been removed.

The photos contain a beautiful young woman smiling widely for the camera – Flora, of course – dressed in all sorts of evening gowns and donned in tiaras and ribbons. The awards, ribbons and trophies are also inscribed with her name and the ribbon says ‘Miss Motostoke’.

“Flora was Miss Motostoke?” you murmur, and Frankie nods furiously, “the beauty pageant is over though. Flora was supposed to compete?”

“Yeah. She made it to the finals. But obviously after news of her death, another girl from Motostoke took her place instead.”

You check the remainder of the photos and see another woman is heavily featured in some photos. “Your mum, right?"

Frankie nods.

“She’s an ex-beauty pageant queen?”

“Yep.”

Glancing at the mantelpiece, you inspect the clean spots. “What was here before?” you ask out of curiosity.

“I think it was my mother’s trophies. I'm sure her tiara was here. She must’ve put it away. She won Miss Galar a long time ago.”

It’s also worth noting that you don’t see any photos of Frankie or her father anywhere. “Is your dad…?”

“He left when I was born,” Frankie replies, a little offhandedly.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I barely knew him.”

“Can I talk to your sister?”

Frankie deadpans. “Um….you can try,” she says dryly, “she doesn’t actually talk. I’ll show you what I mean. Follow me.”

Frankie leads you out of the living room and to the stairs where you see a tall and dark shadow standing at the top of the landing: you freeze on the spot but it’s not Flora – it’s a bedraggled looking woman with long hair framing the sides of her face….and she is bathed in squirming dark tendrils that has completely swamped her from head to toe.

Whilst you merely stare, Frankie is clearly alarmed and exclaims, “Mum! You gave me a fright.”

“Sorry, Frank,” she blows her nose into a tissue; her eyes are swollen, red and watery. “Who’s this?”

Frankie flings her glance to you and introduces you briefly, mentioning your name but she doesn’t say you are a researcher and that she invited you. Instead, she tells her mother that you are a friend of Flora’s.

“Hello ma’am,” you say, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

The woman looks a little confused before her eyes ultimately narrow into slits. “Flora never mentioned your name to me before,” she hisses with much suspicion.

“It’s okay, mum. We’re friends.”

Without another word, the woman tosses you another wary look before she retreats into her room and you hear the door slam shut.

Frankie glances at you and bites on her lip nervously. “Sorry. My mum usually isn’t like this. She’s completely changed since Flora died.”

You nod as you begin your ascent up the stairs which you find rather steep, and the higher you go up, the pressure of the house increases and you let out a loud gasp of breath.

“What’s wrong?” Frankie asks, with an eyebrow raised.

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

You shake your head limply and as you pass the mother’s room where more dark tendrils squiggle and writhe between the gaps of the door, you murmur a quick chant to bless it but at the same time, you can see Frankie's mother inside.

She sits on the edge of the bed, crying and clutching a silver tiara in hands. It's the Miss Galar tiara - a beautiful, glimmering silver crown that glints brightly under the light adorned with a pink gemstone in the middle.

You quietly step away; she doesn't notice.

The shadows dissolve in a quick moment and you follow Frankie as she escorts you to a room. The door is closed and a plaque decorated with flowers says ‘Flora’ in flowery print.

Frankie takes a deep breath and slowly eases the door open as silently as possible.

The first thing you notice is that the room is musty. Her room must have been closed off for some time and there is a thin layer of dust on the ground. Frankie instructs you to keep quiet and to be as careful as possible as she tiptoes around the bed where the sheets haven’t been touched and there’s a pillow with a dent in the middle where someone used to lay their head down on it.

You follow her, creeping around the desk where a sketchbook lays open on the surface containing a bunch of fashion designs along with an unused pen that stands beside a ballerina figurine. A dressmaking mannequin is propped to the right near the bookshelf where a beautiful, tailored ruby red dress has been slipped over.

Frankie heads over to the dress at once, dusting at the pauldrons with her fingers before she glances at you; you’re fixated on something else entirely. Flora stands in front of the wide window with her back to you, her neck uncomfortably bent to one side.

“Flora?” you say quietly.

She does not reply so you swerve your gaze to Frankie and she whispers, “See what I mean?”

Flora was responsive enough to leave behind her hairclip for you though.

A few seconds later and she slowly turns round, her eerie and empty eyes meeting yours. Now you believe otherwise, so you tell her your name and who you are, what you do.

“I’m here to help,” you add, “Frankie and I will do our best to help you move on.”

The spirit appears calm and docile but it is apparent she is responsible for the dark presence that has encompassed the entire house and most noticeably, their mother. The energy is emitting from her in little wisps.

“In order to do that, you need to tell us what you want.”

“The pageant.”

Frankie’s jaw drops.

Flora’s voice is faint. An echo.

“She talked,” Frankie breathes out.

”What about the pageant, Flora?”

“I need to compete. I know it’s over but I wish there was a way I could have participated.”

You contemplate for a while before you swerve your eyes to the dress on the mannequin. Frankie gawks at her sister with disbelief.

The room drops into silence before you say, “There is a way. I can... let you possess me.”

Frankie continues gawping. “What?”

“It’s not unheard of. I can let you possess me and we’ll hold our own private pageant. I think we're both roughly the same height and size, so...the clothes shouldn't be an issue.”

“S-seriously???”

You nod.

“Are you okay with that?” Frankie splutters out, “will you be okay??”

“Yes. We need to help her move on. If this is the only way to help her, so be it. If we do nothing, she’ll become an evil spirit; she’s already at an early stage-“

“Who on earth gave you permission to go in here?!” screams a shrill voice, and Flora immediately vanishes whilst you and Frankie wince uncontrollably from the extortionate noise.

Frankie’s mum stands at the doorway, her face flush with anger.

“Get out!! Get out at once!”

“S-sorry mum,” Frankie says and you’re both quickly booted out of the room.

You watch the woman inspect the dress before she hysterically checks the pillows and the sheets, before she sighs with relief when everything is intact.

“Um, let’s go,” Frankie mutters under her breath, tugging on your sleeve.

Once you’re downstairs, you tell Frankie you should take your leave, which she agrees. She watches as you pick up your shoes and slip them on.

“By the way, did you mean what you said…that Flora will become an evil spirit? Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious. She’s haunting you and your house."

"Don't say it like that, I'm glad I still get to see her!"

"It's the truth. There are spirits who have unfinished business and the longer a spirit remains on this plane, the more it will begin to lose consciousness of itself. It will begin to warp and lose shape and form. It will lose everything.”

“But Flora’s not…she’s not evil.”

“There are plenty of reasons why evil spirits are created. It doesn’t necessarily have to be because it is evil. They no longer belong to this world, Frankie.”

She nods meekly.

“But you’re right. Your sister was gravely injured, particularly on her head…so I think that’s why she doesn’t recall how she died because if she did, well...she would’ve turned into an evil spirit immediately. Most evil spirits want to exact revenge against their murderers or they inflict their pain and suffering onto others. By then, they’re unsalvageable.”

“So…it’s a good thing Flora doesn’t remember?”

“Well, yes and no...but let’s not focus on that. There are several things we need to work on right now. Firstly, since we’re going to help your sister move on and her wish is to compete in the pageant, we need to reenact it. That means I need the clothes she was going to wear for it, any props and accessories, but I also want you to ask your mum for permission. Second, we should get a tiara or something for the pageant if possible-“

“Oh! Leave that to me, I could just borrow my mum’s. She won’t even notice!”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Will this work though?”

“Yes, it should.”

“Okay, let me get my sister’s stuff ready. I’ll let you know how I get on. When will we hold it?”

”I’ll be in touch.”

Without further ado, you leave the Warren residence and turn to look at the house one last time.

Flora stands at the window of her bedroom, staring limply outside.

…

[ayshaelshamayleh]

What is Divine Will in The Arab Israeli Conflict & why is it essential to the current discourse?

The Arab-Israeli conflict has been ailing me extensively for the past few years. Not exactly for the reasons that are common amongst Muslim-born Arabs. But for reasons pertaining to contemplations about Divine Will. As a scholar of The Holy Bible -one who has studied the Quran, both having grown up in a cultural context rooted in it and having had to study it as a spiritual seeker in the process of finding a faith/creed - I am burdened by uncomfortable questions. As someone who believes in God, solidly, I am broken by my inability to understand God’s hand in this war that lives so close-by. 

Let me explain my point-of-view: I experience the bible as true word of God, on a personal basis. I live with it. I study it. I model it. I am Arab. I live in Jordan. Israel roots its claim to Palestine in a biblical promise made by God, and narrated in The Holy Bible. 

I find it important for there to be Arabs, accustomed with the bible, engaging (and in fact leading) the discourse about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Arabs who are interested in the conflict must know more about the biblical context, no matter what they themselves believe, so that the conversation is more productive than it has been. If your opponent is claiming God is doing this, and it is difficult to understand how it is possible for an entire country to come into existence out of nothing, the question of “is this by God’s will or not?” must be important for every believer or spiritual seeker on both sides. This way you will speak clearer, and more convincingly, using a language all sides understand and relate with. You should not deny religious belief systems are at the core of this conflict, for everyone involved. You can’t care how uncomfortable that process is, it’s uncomfortable for all of us. And if politics, especially in a land heavily documented to be God’s, is a physical manifestation of the design of the energetic realm; it is important for all those who really look for or believe in God, to ask: “what’s up?”, and to consider that a priority question in their outlook, should they be true believers, true thinkers, true citizens. 

Let’s deal with what’s in the bible about this conflict. To summarize, in the bible the Jews are promised to be scattered amongst nations, and God’s subsequent redemption brings them back to a Promised Land. From Abraham to Joseph to Moses to Joshua to David, the journey that is the blue-print for the spiritual-Jew takes him/her from living somewhere, God approaching him/her and wanting a relationship, as part of a chosen people (chosen by random, not because they are better than the rest, but just to use them as a sign, a symbol, for His relationship with all of humanity at a certain point in history). So then, like the rest of us, they dance between committing to Him and wanting worldly desires and comfort, falling in the face of fear to truly trust Him, to follow His voice and wait in the silence, to move in obedience, to humble themselves as to have a sovereign God over them. They didn’t do that. As you and I don’t do that. As we all don’t do that.  

So then, God -having had good things to give them, good things to promise them, good ways to love them (the quintessential Perfect Lover) - in pain scatters them (‘because it’s over’). He scatters them into Egypt through Joseph, where they move and are eventually enslaved. To taking them out of Egypt, through Moses, wandering a scorched land of a desert for 40 years, so that everyone dies but their remnant (a minority out of them that loved God back in action), who are then given their ‘promised land’. And in the historical bible this does indeed correspond to areas in historical Palestine and its surroundings. David becomes the King of Jerusalem. Solomon builds his temple. Then the cycle goes downhill again, by the time of Daniel, famous for surviving a cage of lions, the jews are back to enslavement in Babylon. The downhill cycle continues.  

One important point to mention is that all throughout the Old Testament, the people of God are promised a Messiah, and to define “messiah” in lay terms: it is the someone or something through which we are saved, making life perfect and peaceful (it’s what every human dreams of and is alive in wait of - the perfect peaceful good life; the Messiah is the spiritual linguistic term that corresponds to the tool which brings about that life we dream of; the life-like heaven we pursue, the perfect state of us becoming perfectly ‘corrected’ and at peace with our existence). 

Now the New Testament tells the story of the Messiah, who is named Christ Jesus (consider it a random linguistic term for now that corresponds to this ‘tool’). Just to avoid confusions, because life is such that we are prone to mistaking a new car or a promotion or a new wife for a messiah -I just confirm that if you want to delve into the realm of precise language and the human-Divine story in order to discern whether the life you have is the one promised to you by God (or if you are living in a land way off-track), the ‘Messiah’s’ character is historically embodied by a man who happened to go by the name Jesus, at random (just the case, neutral). The things you like and fall in love with remind you of the character of ‘Jesus’. If we are to use his name just as a name of a character that is uttered by some people on the route through which we get to that life-like heaven, it’s just that. The gospel gives you a full and short enough narrative about that character (philosophically, artistically, literarily, poetically, historically, literally) to be able to use it as a reference for your life in that practical and simple, manual-style way - should you be one interested in answers that come through such a pallet.

So this fella, Jesus, a jew himself, a son of the lineage of David, a Christ of God comes to settle the debt between God and humanity once and for all. This guy comes to give us a tabula rasa, not just that, but a permanent stay in the life-like heaven. In fact, he says he’ll be inviting you and preparing us to live practically and truly as children of God. Like we feel that way, experientially. Now as you can imagine, you turn out to be indebted to the God that you avoided, silenced, maybe cheated on, but who still shows up (from Adam to your name). So this ‘tool’ of a Messiah is necessary. 

We fully understand the feelings of God on that front through the Book of Hosea (in the Old testament). The prophet of the times was called by God to get married to a cheating wife as a sign of the era and the feelings of God about humanity’s relationship with Him. The endless dancing, not settling, confusion, blurred lines, not making a decision about His presence and involvement, confusion, fear-of-commitment; mess. That wife, symbolizing the people of God, keeps running away into the hands of men (and man-made things), until she finds herself in a slave market. That slave market has modern iterations we are familiar with: selling our souls to jobs we hate, making money that is useless to spend on band aid solutions for the void and the endless pain of wanting life-like heaven but losing the way, insisting that is the only way it goes. That was Hosea’s wife; just like us. Wanting to skip investigating God’s design of life in favor of good times, and “busy-ness”.

Now if you’ve ever been cheated on, imagine that happening over and over for centuries with someone - the brokenness and ridiculousness and unfairness pile up, and Him showing up to create a life for you doesn’t mean the wounds went away or that His showing up is sustainable on an energetic level (think “accounting”). So (to be very simplistic in handling Christian philosophy) something needed to wash things over, resolve you, heal you, get a final fix so the two entities -you and God- could be ‘together’, compatible again, somehow -in friendship? In romance? Him, your Perfect Lover (each up to his capacity in His will). And that route that does that, mathematically and mythically and literally and linguistically, was randomly assigned the name Jesus. 

So what would it take God to reconcile us to Him, according to the bible (the new testament)? The answer is counterintuitive and very difficult to accept or agree to believing in. Before I lay it out, there’s this parable in the new testament that Jesus narrates that might help. There was once a man (alternate man with “God”), who owned a vineyard, and worked very hard at it, dug the winepress, built a tower, and lent it out to some farmers (alternate farmers with “us”) and went to a faraway country (alternate that with “life”). When harvest time came, the man (/God) sent his servants (/friends that walk around in your life constantly annoying you about God or things that remind you of such) to get his share of the fruit as agreed. The farmers (/us) responded by refusing the owner’s end of the bargain, so they beat the servants (/annoying friends) and killed them, so the farmers kept the whole harvest to themselves (/as they wished). The man (/God) sent more servants again. The farmers (/us) killed them again. So then the owner of the vineyard sent his son (alternate that with “Jesus”), thinking the farmers (/us) would respect someone as close and dear and connected to him as an actual son in this ordeal, and that we would give this son the rightful share. When the farmers saw the son, they said to themselves this is the heir, come let us kill him and keep his inheritance to ourselves. And so they did, just that. Killed him to get the land (/life) for themselves with no accountability before its owner. 

The proposition that is difficult to understand or agree to is that God, instead of finding a system that would make us pay for our unwise choices in our relationship with him, knew we couldn’t possibly manage to do that. So, be patient with me here and see it in mythical terms for a second; God paid the price of our wrongs by sending someone of Himself, allowing us to witness ourselves choose to kill him, and in response He showed us He resurrects, and everything not of His dies, to reach out to us for further correction again. The cycle of life keeps moving in that direction. God is here for good. At His own price. This is what makes “God” God, his capacity to love, counterintuitively. This personally moves me. 

The Christian philosophy essentially says God made a truce that is light and easy. If you are drawn to the character of this son, if you love this one who lived loving Him and his neighbor, showing the way, forgiving, sacrificing himself; you are saved and you enter your life-like heaven. The alchemy that happens within you, evolving you, as you pursue your belief in him changes your character into a state able to find and enjoy heaven. Now this life-like heaven isn’t easy. It entails embodying a life like that of God’s son. Loving God. Loving people. Telling the truth, even when it’s difficult. Having people mistrust your goodness. And instead of you choosing to retaliate, choosing to expose your wounds and your pain. Humbling yourself before God and man by asking your Maker for the strength to be good in truthful terms, for the sake of the people’s love for God and God’s perfect love for people. You will be persecuted because of that. You will be whipped. You will struggle. Yet within that life, God Himself works miracles in you and through you. You witness them. You feel Him, real, and strong. You know God. You see Him. Daily. He knows you. Personally. And there’s nothing else you need after that point, apart from enjoying your faith. And thus, heaven is on earth. In that counterintuitive and difficult way. 

Needless to say, what I’m describing above is not the ‘state’ of Israel. Let’s tie this back to the Arab-Israeli conflict. One of the reasons the historical Jesus was not accepted by the historical jews is because they were expecting a political King for a messiah. A man who controls life. Who leads them to physical prosperity; monetary, “real”. Christ was too ethereal for the historical jew. Too intangible. Promising a kingdom of heaven, not earth. So those who are jews in today’s world are an expression of a spiritual state that hasn’t accepted that the ‘messiah’ (the tool to life-like heaven) can come. They find it hard to grasp that after Adam and Eve’s fall from heaven on earth in pursuit of the physicality of life and its desires, the story ends with God coming down to earth to be with us. But that “being with us” is inside of us -I hate to break that, I know it’s an overstated statement. It demands letting go of the world enough to experience Him, rely on Him, see Him, find Him within the eye of the soul. Peace comes out of that silliness, that wherever your geo-coordinates may be in the universe, you are in God, and you work hard at maintaining that (through discernment of what is and is not God) and you suffer in His name. Faith isn’t a hobby. Faith is a full-life ordeal. 

Let’s tie this back to the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict again. What is going on has to do with another important belief that is so rare. Jews, christians AND muslims all agree on one thing: The world will end with the second coming of Christ (in fact, to Jerusalem). I don’t need to tell you that in today’s post-COVID era and post-Deal-of-the-Century, etc. reality, many feel -as secular as we may be- that the world keeps feeling like it’s ending. Now since all three creeds (i.e. the majority in this region) piously and unanimously agree that earth is destined towards a direction leading to the “arrival” of Christ, then all who are “correct” by their own standards, should be living in pursuit of knowing Christ, regardless of your religion. Your religion stipulates that, should you be a true believer. 

Those who do not know Christ, if they believe in God or are asking questions about God, should learn about him. It is a part of your religion. Social taboos on that front should not concern you, because you claim to believe in God, not people. A life of faith demands a life of your own faith in action, in behavior, in practice - waking up in the morning and working on yourself to find more about your God everyday, about your ‘religion’ everyday. Asking the uncomfortable questions. Anything else is not belief, or creed, it is a facade and a lie. It collapses. If you are unsure there is a God, the most important goal in your life is to go find out whether there is. Don’t wait till a deathbed. 

In my twenties I watched my father die over six years. His real and actual deathbed was fatally propped in our living room. And I watched. I watched him reckon with death. I watched his life be accounted for, both in the human realm and in the other one. I watched him apologize for wrongs he had done people. I watched him pray. I watched him pretend to have beings in the room other than my family. He was asked questions by them (very intelligent, logical and concise). He even gave answers he would turn to me and say were right or wrong or ones he was unsure of. He became so beautiful in his withering, the most loving essence of him palpably fragrant. I saw Christ. He was devotedly Muslim. Not in how he applied laws. But how he practiced, so humbly elegant, real faith is something so dense and real, but unseen, unacknowledged, unaccounted for. That humanity is the only one I wish to see. 

Life takes time. People have different paces and different paths. Intrinsic in the choices they make about how they live life and what they name things (e.g. ‘Israel’), they express what they worship, you express what you believe is the right modem for life. You can’t control your neighbor. You can just worry about your stuff - another overstated statement, I know. 

Here is a political state calling itself “Israel” that believes in doing good for itself and for its people, in hate and at the expense of what’s outside of itself. Is that wrong? They themselves say “no, not when it’s for our best and we are a chosen people”. In my contemplations about Divine Justice, I ache to understand how it is fair that God gives others a choice in how they treat things around them. How is God “God”, if He leaves it all to people? There seems to be no power behind it. Just suffering, and bleeding, and dying on a cross. That’s no God at all - I would imagine the spiritual jew and most Arabs would agree. Not impressive enough to warrant belief. Too passive, many people I’ve crossed paths with have said this. 

As a person of faith, I struggle with those questions as well. I find myself stuck between a rock and a hard place. I experience God as so perfect as to give people choice, even in how they treat Him, and in how they treat others. He is magnanimous as to warrant freedom of speech and behavior. But don’t take that lightly, because you will win. So it’s on you in the smallest of moments. Life and how the people around you experience it depends on you and your choices. There is divine judgement but you are allowed to do whatever you wish, it has consequences, but that’s not the reason you do good. You do good because you believe in the intrinsic value of creating a good world (should you live in a life-like heaven, then that’s imperative for you). Doing good to avoid punishment points to a young state of faith, baby believer, there is much space for development. We work towards becoming adults in God. 

I fail to understand what sort of life to lead to contribute to the resolution of problems that claim people’s lives around me. I feel the situation, it hurts me deeply. Life and God get confusing to the point of total implosion. To be real, since finding faith, the condition of my life is often signaled by whatever is happening in Jerusalem. If you want to know how I am, look up ‘Jerusalem’. Not because Jerusalem causes my pain at all, but my pain coincides with it, like truth. It’s like we’re in the same box of existence. Not by choice, I don’t even share any genetic roots to the place. I’m a random person of God. That state hasn’t been good. 

I feel that an important response (in addition to the other responses out there) to what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah would be to compile resources again and get the people to live in a neighborhood that loves them. Man should not need to negotiate his value amongst the people who live close-by him. In all cases, and despite complexities, man must live amongst the people who are concerned about him, willing to carry him all the way through. I pray that that comes through, and if in any way I am helpful, I’m interested in collaborating.

I’ll end with this good thought by pastor and author Tim Keller:

“Anger is love in motion to deal with a threat toward that which you really love (to disintegrate the threat) – to see what your heart loves the most, you need only ask what you are defending.”

Worth the think. 

[changingourdestiny]

Season of the Hunt Part 1: The Hive, the Crow & the Spider

Summary:

When news of Sagira’s death reaches Fireteam Paralight, they immediately head for the Moon to aid Osiris in hunting down Xivu Arath’s High Celebrant. However, they are saved by a new and unexpected ally.

Next Part: Here

“Fireteam Paralight, we have a developing situation that I need you to take point on. For the past few weeks, Osiris has been trying to assess the damage caused by the return of the Darkness. He believes that Xivu Arath, the Hive god of war, seeks to take advantage of the power vacuum left in its wake. Osiris was investigating physical manifestations of her magic near the Scarlet Keep when…his Ghost, Sagira, was slain. Osiris delivered a message through a secure channel requesting that you personally aid him in this hunt. He’s desperate, Guardians. I need you three to save him from himself.”

“Going down below the Moon’s surface, Lightless. What is Osiris thinking?” Blaze muttered as Fireteam Paralight approached the entrance to the Hall of Wisdom. “Wouldn’t you hunt for the one responsible if someone killed Firefly?” Adam asked. “Fair point.” “I still can’t believe Sagira’s…” Rae began but trailed off. “I’m…I’m worried about Osiris.” Ghost began, “If Sagira’s gone then-” “Don’t worry about me but keep your voice down.” Osiris’s voice came through, “I’m using an external comm. I thought I was hunting Sagira’s killer…the High Celebrant of Xivu Arath. But now I think it’s hunting me. Meet me in the Hall of Wisdom.” “On our way.” Rae replied. But as they made their way through the entrance, another voice came through the comms. “Your friend is in a lot of danger.” “Who’s this?” Rae asked. “A concerned Ghost. Osiris shouldn’t be here, especially in his condition.” “We appreciate the warning, but we know what we’re doing.” Ghost replied, “If you and your Guardian are here to help…” “My Guardian. Right.”

As they descended below the Moon’s surface, Rae couldn’t help but notice Blaze looking uncomfortable. “You alright there, Blaze?” “Not really.” Blaze replied, “I’m getting a sinking feeling in my stomach. And when I get that feeling, it means I’m either about to receive a vision, or a vision I received previously is about to happen.” “Did you get any visions recently?” “…n-no.” “Okay…well, let me know if we need to stop for a minute.” “I-I’ll be fine. We need to hurry and find Osiris before the celebrant does.” Blaze walked a few steps behind Adam and Rae and Firefly whispered to her, “You’re not telling them? Really?! What if he’s-?” “Shh!” Blaze hushed, “They’ve enough to deal with right now. Chances are I’ll receive a new vision and things will be fine. Let’s just focus on finding Osiris for now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hate it when they do that…” Blaze sighed in frustration as the small Fireteam managed to escape the Hive ambush into the Shrine of Oryx where Rae spotted Osiris on a platform above them. “You’re here. Finally.” Osiris called down, “Is it done?” “All good on our end.” Rae called back, giving a thumbs up, “Blaze just gets crabby when we’re on the Moon.” “I do not!” Blaze argued, giving Rae a light shove. Osiris chuckled slightly, “Good to hear. I’ll come down to y- oh!” As Osiris went to turn around, he was knocked to the ground by a Hive knight, his gun tumbling off the edge. “Osiris!!” Rae exclaimed. She went to aim her auto-rifle at the knight, who raised its sword up high, when…

*SHINK!*

A blade pierced though its chest as it fell to the ground, disintegrating as it fell to the floor. Rae was just able to make out a humanoid form in the shadows behind where it once stood. The figure walked towards Osiris, who was still on the ground in shock. Rae froze in place as the figure stepped forward, the light hitting their face. Staring down at Osiris was Uldren Sov. “We warned you it was going to be dangerous down here. Especially for the Ghostless.” The Ghost Rae and Ghost heard earlier appeared beside him, scolding Osiris who seemed less shocked now and more confused. “I’m…I’m glad to see we’re all okay, though.” The Ghost continued, trying to sound more optimistic, “I’m Glint, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Osiris gave Glint a small wave as Adam glanced between Uldren and his Fireteammates. Rae’s eyes were wide in shock, while Blaze seemed more surprised, but Adam could see her hands shaking slightly. “Go on, introduce yourself.” Glint floated beside Uldren, motioning to Osiris and Fireteam Paralight. “They call me…the Crow.” He began, looking down at Fireteam Paralight, “My boss wants to see you.” “Impossible…” Ghost muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fireteam Paralight landed in the Tangled Shore at Thieves’ Landing. The trio had flown there in silence. Adam glanced between his teammates before speaking, “Ok, I’m can’t stand the awkward silence so I’m gonna say what we’re all thinking right now: Uldren’s a Lightbearer named Crow now. It’s weird and nobody saw it coming. Petra’s gonna flip, who knows how the Vanguard are gonna react, and a lot of Guardians aren’t gonna be happy. There, it’s been said.” “That’s not…entirely true.” Blaze muttered. Rae glanced at Blaze in confusion before a look of realization crossed her face, “You had a vision of this, didn’t you?” “I knew he had become a Lightbearer. I wasn’t expecting to see him on the Moon.” “And you didn’t think to give us a heads up?” “I was afraid that if word got out, it would’ve set off a man-hunt.” “Blaze.” “I know you’re mad, but he probably doesn’t even know who he is!” “Blaze.” “I just wanted him to have another chance. Away from Riven, away from the Scorn, away from Mar-” “Blaze!” Rae placed her hands on Blaze’s shoulders, “I’m not mad.” “You’re…you’re not?” Rae shook her head, “I’m with you. That isn’t Uldren we saw on the Moon. I could tell just by looking at him that it’s not the same person anymore. I don’t fully know what’s going on right now, but let’s find out before deciding on what to do next, okay?” Blaze nodded. “Okay. Let’s go see the Spider then.”

As they entered the Spider’s room, Crow transmatted in beside the Fireteam. “What’s this?” Spider leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at Crow, “Thought I told you to bring me the Warlock Osiris. Explain yourself.” “Osiris…” Crow began, but was cut off by Ghost, “Lost his Ghost. He’s gone back to the Tower to recover.” “You Lightmongers never cease to amaze me. You deal violence so easily and suffer loss so poorly.” Spider seemed to glance briefly at Rae and Blaze upon saying this, “Such fragile killers.” “We’ll finish what he started.” Rae replied, glaring up at the Fallen. “And what’s that, hmm?” “Avenge Sagira. Eliminate the High Celebrant.” “I had it in my sights.” Crow began before glancing at the Guardians beside him, “If your friend hadn’t needed saving.” Rae went to argue but was cut off by Spider addressing Crow, “You forget your place, little bird.” “My apologies, Baron.” Crow hung his head slightly. “Now then.” Spider once again turned his attention to Fireteam Paralight, “Perhaps we can help each other out, eh? I know how accomplished you are at exacting revenge.” Rae’s eyes narrowed at Spider as he chuckled to himself, “If you know something, just spit it out already instead of wasting time.” “Hmm…someone’s grown an attitude since we last worked together.” “The only thing we’ve grown is a lack of patience with you.” Blaze replied, “What do you know?” Spider leaned back in his chair, “Xivu Arath is using her High Celebrant and those damned cryptoliths to corrupt Eliksni. Cabal too. But I’m losing soldiers and Glimmer by the Skiff-load. I know what Osiris was doing on the Moon. And I know you’ll fare far better, given the, ah, proper motivation.” Spider turned to Crow, “Leave us, Crow. The Guardian and I have terms to discuss.” Crow turned and entered a side room, which Rae had noticed the last time she worked with Spider. As soon as Crow was out of earshot, the Fallen Baron turned his attention back to the three Guardians. My little bird sure is something, isn’t he? I have to imagine you share in my appreciation of fate’s cruel sense of humour.” “I’ll admit it’s ironic.” Rae replied, “Man who hated Guardians more than anyone else becomes one.” “Mind telling us how you got your greasy little claws on him?” Blaze asked. “Found him wandering the Reef like a piece of wind-blown trash. Aimless, hopeless. No memory of the prince he was. Now, I could have sent him off to the Tower, but…we all know what’s waiting for him there. I couldn’t let that happen, so I took him in. As a kindness.” “I could’ve arranged for him to receive Vanguard protection.” Rae replied. “Think you could’ve arranged it fast enough before someone put a bullet in his Ghost? Besides, let’s not pretend that your fellow Vanguard would be thrilled to see him.” Rae let out a quiet growl as she glared at Spider. “Thought so. As far as Crow’s loyalty is concerned, I took a few extra precautions and made some…modifications to his Ghost’s shell.” Rae narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “What ‘modifications’?” “If he ever flies too far from the nest…boom.” “You rigged Glint’s shell with explosives?!” Blaze exclaimed, a few odd flames flickering from her eye. “Spider, you’re lucky he isn’t a registered Guardian.” Rae growled, “Tampering with a Ghost’s shell is a serious offense and I am seriously tempted to let Blaze have her way right now.” “Let’s try to focus on the Xivu Arath problem for now. Even though I wouldn’t complain if Spider went up in flames…” Adam spoke up, muttering the last part under his breath. “Adam’s right.” Rae sighed in frustration, “I take it this is you asking for another partnership?” “Indeed.” Spider replied, “You go out there and do what it is you do best, and I’ll ah…lend you the resources you need to get it done. Maybe even a little extra something on the side, hm. Just don’t mention the name Uldren Sov. For his sake.” Rae was silent for a moment before sighing, “Fine. But know that if I hear of anything bad happening to Crow because of you, Xivu Arath won’t be the only one on our current to-kill list.” “Ha! Duly noted.” Spider chuckled as the Fireteam made their way into Crow’s workshop.

Rae glanced around the workshop as the trio entered. It was somewhat tidy aside from the odd clutter. Crow stood at a workbench and turned around as the Fireteam entered. “Crow, right?” Rae began as she approached him, “I never got the chance to properly introduce myself earlier on the Moon. I’m Vanguard Raegalia Drakyx, but most people call me Rae. This is my team, Fireteam Paralight.” Rae motioned to the Hunter and Titan behind her, “Adam, our Titan. And our Hunter, Blaze.” “It’s nice to meet you.” Crow nodded, “The Reef’s sky has holes in it…and the whole system’s in chaos. Of course, Xivu Arath decided now was the right time to corrupt herself an army.” “Makes sense.” Adam nodded, “Using the chaos to her advantage, hope the Darkness provides enough of a distraction to keep the Guardians from looking into it.” “Any info about these corrupted soldiers of hers?” Rae asked. “We call them Wrathborn.” Crow replied, “Most of them are Eliksni, like Spider. Others…hmph, well. Spider wants the lines of Glimmer open, Hive god or not. Asked me to help you deal with Xivu Arath’s High Celebrant.” Crow glanced at each of the Guardians briefly, “Apparently, the Guardians of the Last City are old friends of mine. But…I don’t remember you.” “I don’t blame you. All Guardians lose their memory upon being resurrected for the first time.” Rae shrugged, “Either way, we’re happy to help if it means avenging our friend. So where do we start?” Crow took out a large Hive-esque object from under the desk, “I found some Hive artifacts gathering dust in Spider’s trove and fashioned them into a lure. Wrathborn go crazy for them. When they take the bait…” Crow was silent for a moment, “I wish there were some other way. But her magic’s driven them mad. Hunting them down is the only way to weaken Xivu Arath’s grip on the Shore. Like Spider says…violence is the only language the Hive understand. For now, we can start small, work our way up her command chain. When we reach the High Celebrant, we’ll take it down. Stop Xivu Arath from corrupting anyone else.” “Sounds like a plan.” Rae took the lure from Crow, “We’ll charge this up, plant it at the cryptolith, and take down the Wrathborns that show up.” Crow gave them a nod and as they went to leave, he spoke up once more, “Hey…don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s…nice to be working with other Lightbearers.” “We look forward to working with you too.” Rae gave a kind smile before leaving the lair with Adam and Blaze. Crow stared at the workshop entrance for a moment, lost in thought, before shaking his head, muttering, “No…probably just a coincidence…” before returning to his workbench. But as he stood there, he found himself absentmindedly fiddling with something under his cloak.

A silver ring hanging from his neck with a fire agate stone.

To Be Continued…

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 7 (HLITF)

if anyone possibly wants to get on a tag list I’d be happy to make one 👉 @theshove 👈 If you wanna catch up, Part 6 is right here! Happy reading :) Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn’t want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests. Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer? Warnings: Language, Reference to sexual activity, Forceful nature, Description of bloody scenes

~~~~~~

When I woke up next, there was a face right in front of mine. I yelled out in surprise to see Kaga peering down at me. 

"Hush with the shouting." He frowned as he straightened and I jumped up. I looked around to find I fell asleep in his living room. "Why are you out here?" He asked and I remember the nightmare I had last night. 

"I-I couldn't get to sleep in there," I muttered, shy that I didn't have a very good excuse. Instead of questioning me further, he threw a towel in my face, telling me to go shower.

As I walked into Kaga's bedroom, I noticed something glinting in the sunlight. I kneeled down and reached under his bed to pick up whatever it was. It was a picture frame, cracked before I had anything to do with it. There were men dressed in suits, one I recognised as Kaga. I started to worry that, in my frantic awakening last night, I knocked it off. Pretending like I hadn't seen anything, I place it on the sideboard, hoping he won't realise as I ran into the bathroom. 

~~~~~~

When I got to school, at a different time to Kaga as he left while I was in the shower, I was listening to Naruko gossip about my night at his apartment. As usual, she was less worried about me messing up than she is with the risque situations she can think up. 

"You two alone... seeking out each other's skin to heal your tired bodies." She goes off into her own little world as she pictured it. "Then your shadows overlap..." I quickly tried to silence her as her retelling of the night got too vulgar for me. A memory of him recently out of the bath flashed through my mind and my cheeks burn brightly. ‘Not to mention how much nicer he was...’

~~~~~~

After school, I was walking to the Instructor's Staff Room for a briefing on Takeda's mission. My leg still hurt and I had to rebandage it in the infirmary during my break because it started bleeding again. ‘I’m lucky it wasn't that deep, but it needs to heal quickly or I'll fall behind.’ I began to worry about my training as I walked along. Taking a quick sigh, I knocked on the door. 

Many people were already there, so I walked fast enough so that no one can see my limp and bowed my head to Instructor Kaga. "I'm truly sorry for inconveniencing you yesterday." He didn't even look in my direction as he looked at the papers in front of him. "I understand that I failed miserably and I'm very sorry." Thinking he wasn't listening, I tried apologising again.

"This mission is back to square one thanks to you." He spat. "I have no need for useless morons." He scowled but still couldn't look at me. 

"Yes sir. I will be more careful next time." I straightened my back, trying not to seem scared as he rightly reprimanded me. 

"You can leave already. Disappear." His final words made my heart stop, but I quickly regained my composure. 

"I have no use for useless morons. Get lost. Now." He announced again and I tried to find the words to respond. He seemed angry. Usually, he would just be annoyed and get me to do more meaningless filing. But, right now, there's hatred in his words. 

"Didn't you hear me? I'm done with you. Get out." He didn't even raise his voice to brush me off, but he may as well have. Everyone around us acted like nothing was happening, just like at the station. I clenched my fists to calm myself down. What had changed since last night? 

"Yes sir," I muttered, turning to leave when the door opened. There, Ishigami came to stand in front of Kaga.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Ishigami directed his question to Kaga, but I was the one who tensed up. 

"It's no big deal. Just getting rid of this moron." 

At my instructor's words, Goto stared at me. I try to seem unaffected by them, but I felt so tired from the little sleep I got last night, I couldn't meet his gaze. The triggering words don't help, my fists clenching harder, but I couldn't feel the pain I'm sure I'm inflicting on myself. I couldn't feel anything. No pain. No warmth or sensation. It wasn't only the mental scars I left that house with. 

"Kaga, explain." Ishigami looked at Kaga with a stern expression. 

"As you know, the investigation was a failure thanks to her mistake yesterday. There's no value in using her, so I'm disposing of her. That's all." The triggering words he was saying set alarm bells to go off in my mind. I was left frozen in this room of professional detectives. 

"Same as ever, aren't you? You can't simply-." Soma tried to butt in with a smile, maybe even to help me out, but he was cut off. 

"This is my decision," Kaga argued. Even though it was my first job, there seemed to be no excuses in the Captain's eyes. Why was I surprised?

For a moment, I felt numb. My heart was hammering hard in my chest, my temper through the roof, and stress pumping through my veins, mixed with the maddening adrenaline. Squeezing my eyes shut in an effort to calm myself down, I took a deep breath, not really caring how strange or pathetic I might have looked trying to console myself. When I opened my eyes again, luckily, no one was looking at me.

"Excuse me," I muttered before he could insult me further and left the room without a reply. 

~~~~~~

I escaped to the rooftop, seething with anger and trying to breathe through it. ‘Why am I so stupid?’ I scream at myself, kicking a trash can with my injured leg. 

‘Okay, that hurt more than I thought.’ I held my foot, hopping over to a bench by the railing. 

"What is wrong with me?" I asked myself, letting my head fall into my hands. ‘I'll never be able to help Juna at this rate.’ I let out a heavy sigh, falling back in the seat to look up at the orange-hued sky. 

Soon, the door to the roof opened again and I heard someone call my name. It was a girl's voice and, getting ahead of myself, I thought it was my sister coming to comfort me. Unfortunately, it was just Naruko and some of our male friends. Naruko saw me physically deflate as she approached. She sat down next to me, placing a hand on mine. 

"Did you really get cut from doing undercover work?" She gasped and I almost laugh. 

"Yeah, but that's not what's bothering me." I forced a sad smile as our male friends stood around us.

Naruko smiled to encourage me to continue. "I think my sister's in trouble." I sighed, bringing my knees up to my chin. She seemed shocked and told me she thought Juna was dead. The guys were more shocked, they had no idea about any of my relatives. 

"What would give you that idea?" I raised my voice in shock. She explained how sad I seemed when she brought up the pictures and anything about my family. 

"Well, I can assure you she's still alive." I laughed, maybe trying to make myself aware of that fact. I sighed just thinking about it and fell back on the back of the bench. 

"We didn't grow up in a great family. My dad was a pretty bad influence and my mom left us when we were kids. It was hard to leave home, but when we did, we kinda lost contact." I tried to be as vague as possible, but I wanted to get some of this stuff off my chest. I had been bottling it up for years. "I guess I've just had her on my mind lately." I looked at my printless fingertips and wiped my thumb over them again as if reminding myself of the damage my father could do.

"Well, Instructor Kaga has been pushing you really hard." Naruko smiled and I nodded. She probably thought the stress of school was rehashing old memories. "You made it here! So don't get down on yourself when an instructor forces you to do more than you could do." She tried to cheer me up. Even though she made sense, it was nice to think Kaga trusted me enough to do more than I thought I could do. Besides, if I wanted to stay here, I needed to be able to do this stuff.

"Besides, it's probably best he cuts you loose now." Our friend spoke up and I threw him an inquisitive expression. 

"How's that?"

"There's a rumour about him. That he killed his part-." Before another classmate could continue, I brushed it off. 

"I don't believe it." My adamant statement seemed to shock my group of friends. "I accept he's mean and scary, but leave a man to die..?" My brows furrowed as I contemplated everything the instructor had done for me. 

"Isn't there a saying for that? There's no smoke without fire?" The men started to shrug off the rumour as something they would never really know as true or not and they all left me on the roof to cool off. 

~~~~~~

Left with my own thoughts, I started to realise what being fired as Kaga's aide meant. I would have no access to the case. No way to make sure my father was involved. No way to tell Juna if she would be safe or not. And I sure as hell couldn’t keep tabs on who the team was dealing with. 

I groan out upon the realisation that I had messed things up so much more than I originally thought I had. 

"You depressed over Hyogo tossing you out?" A voice I wasn't expecting to hear called from the direction of the fire escape and my gaze darted over. 

"Shinonome?" My face screwed up in confusion as he walked over. 

"Or are you depressed over being yelled at?" Ayumu finished his question as he came to a halt in front of me. 

"I've been yelled at far worse than that before." I laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking back to when my father was ever in a 'good' mood; whenever he didn't feel like he needed to punch the closest thing to him

"Wow, you're tough." The young detective smiled and I stared up at him. 

"Besides, it's not like he's yelling for no reason..." I sighed, pouting at my own shortcomings. 

"Then why are you making that face?" He looked down at me suspiciously and I felt like glaring back. Whenever he asked me questions I felt like I was being interrogated. I didn't trust him or his stupid smile, and I especially didn't trust his words of consolation- if that's what these words were meant to be.

"What're you doing here anyway? Coming to accuse me of being a missing person again?" I frowned, dropping my chin into my knees. I just wanted to mope around now, not have him question me. Ayumu just sat beside me. Maybe he was here to hear me out. Maybe he was here to tell me I was out. But I couldn't tell when the only expression he had was somewhat positive. 

"I came here to save people, and all I've done is mess up over and over again." I sigh, staring at the floor in front of me. "It's like I don't know anything, no matter how long I've been here. Every time I try to fix something, I end up doing something worse." Thinking back to when I tried to stop Takeda from being suspicious of us by pulling Kaga close, I also remember how I eventually broke the investigation. 

"Well, if you're comparing your detective skills to Hyogo's, you would be close to nothing." Ayumu laughed and I secretly glared at him. 

‘How was that meant to make me feel better?’ 

"It's because that guy has put everything he has into becoming a detective." The statement made me think back to everything I had been holding back. All my past experiences with the law and seeing it fail miserably, just like I felt like I was doing, had been locked away so no one can figure out who I was or where I came from. I didn't want anyone to get close or to draw any unneeded attention to myself, it had only ever gotten me in trouble. But, when you're in a competition to get to the top, or pass the bare minimum bar, you really need to show everything you've got. 

"By the way, they may seem like complete opposites, but Ishigami is the same way." Ayumu leant over to pull me out of my thoughts. 

"Don't tell them that." I laugh at the idea of both of them having a similar trait. 

"We're here because those two recognised something in us." The instructor closest to my age added and it filled me with a little hope. Until I remembered my application here was totally falsified. 

"But..." Ayumu got my attention again before I could spiral. "I've seen very few people last this long with Hyogo. Let alone a woman or a student." I started to think that maybe my childhood experiences could have attributed to my ability to withstand the man's abuse with a smile most of the time. 

"I can follow him like a puppy all I want. That doesn't mean I'm at all helpful," I complained, thinking back to my late night filing sessions and carrying Kaga's papers from classroom to classroom. 

"Really? I'm sure Hyogo would've cut you off much sooner if that's all you do. Just think about the guy in the alleyway." Ayumu seemed a little surprised with my depressed attitude. 

"What?" I recalled defending Kaga from that blade-wielding maniac as we tailed Takeda. It was an instinct, mainly meant for when I was protecting Juna from any of the men in our house. 

‘Kaga wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place if not for me though...’

"Since he hadn't then... surely some part of him approves of you?" The word echoed in my brain and my heart fluttered at the idea. "Well, it could just be his fickle temper too..." Ayumu immediately shut me down. "The only time I thought you were helpful was when you made me tea." The innocent smile he portrayed was completely different compared to his demeaning words. 

"And I was just starting to think we could get along." I sighed, standing up once I realised my private time wasn't mine anymore. Although, I did feel a grin growing on my face as I thought about the possibility of Kaga approving of me. If only a little. 

"I'm going to put everything I have into this exam." A grin finally appeared on my face. 

"Where did this come from?" Ayumu, on the other hand, was evidently confused. I had only ever done one exam in my life, and that was the officer's exam in the police academy. I did pretty well in it, so I was confident I could prove to Kaga I wasn't completely useless. 

"That's all I can do, for now, to prove I'm worthy." I looked triumphantly into the distance. 

"Do your best. But Hyogo will be giving the exam." The information slightly deflated my resolve. 

"That means I'll just have to try harder than my all." I nodded to him before turning and leaving the rooftop.

~~~~~~

It was the weekend after my abysmal show of a mission and I was on my way out of the school to meet Juna at the cafe I suggested to update her on my situation. It was hot. Unbearably so. So I'm wearing shorts, which I hadn't worn since enrolling in the basic training academy. And, to hide my face from anyone looking for someone with my features, I had a baseball cap and sunglasses.

"Atsuko, where are you going?" I heard Naruko call out to me in the cafeteria. Usually, on our days off, I'm doing work for Kaga. Maybe there was one blessing to come with being let go. 

"I'm just leaving campus for a bit. Need to clear my head." I kneeled down to grab the coffee can I bought from the vending machine. Naruko was in her casuals as well as everyone else in the room at this point in the morning. 

"Oh? I thought you were going on a date." She cheered and I just laughed her off, used to her vivid imagination by now. 

"I'll see you before curfew!" I waved behind me as I ran out of the cafeteria.

~~~~~~ 

Just as I was about to pass the school gates, I heard my name again. I turned to see Instructor Soma wearing his usual suit. 

"Are you teaching today, Instructor?" I asked as he walked up to me. I was in a rush, but I disn't want to seem rude or suspicious in front of the only friendly special instructor. 

"Something like that. Are you on your way out?" He asked with his kind smile. 

"Is that a bad thing?" I laughed awkwardly, not wanting to seem like I was slacking off after Kaga dropped me. 

"Not at all, we all need some r'n'r" Soma grinned at my reaction to his question. 

"Then you should too, sir! I'll see you around." Finding that I'd have to leave now to catch my train in time, I ran out the school gates.

~~~~~~

At the cafe I used to work at, I took a seat at one of the tables outside. It hadn't changed much, except for some of the staff that ran around taking orders. The last I heard, my father didn't control this area of the city. Control in the sense of demanding protection money or laundering money through its businesses.

After I asked for a coffee and what I remembered my sister's favourite drink to be, I saw a woman walking up the street with long, flowing green hair. She sat at the table behind me.

"Were you followed?" I asked low enough so only she could hear, hiding the movements of my lips with the edge of my phone I knocked against them casually. 

"No, I went on three different lines to lose them. And left my phone in his house." She replied in a whisper as well, looking down at the paper menu left out on the tables, lifting her shades only slightly with one hand. "What about you?" Her question surprised me, seeing as she was the one being held hostage. 

"Who's going to follow me?" My face screwed up in confusion before I realised I had to be covert, sitting up and looking around just in case her own concerns were valid. I shuffled in the metal seat, my own sunglasses sticking to the place on the bridge of my nose with the glisten of sweat that collected there due to the weather and my nerves. Luckily, I didn't see any familiar faces or vehicles. 

"You literally go to a school for cops." She laughed in response and I heard the screech of her chair being pushed back as she stood up again. I jumped up as well, turning to my sister dressed in large sunglasses to hide her face from recognition. 

"I'm so glad you're safe." I breathed a sigh of relief as we enveloped each other in a tight hug. I sniffed to hold back my tears, of relief or fear I didn't know, and the fresh scent of the shampoo my father had us use filled my nose. The sense of fear that I drew from that made me hold her just a bit tighter, my arms wrapped around her neck.

"I had to get to you, didn't I?" She pulled back with a bright smile, noticing my tenseness, and we sat back down on my table. I took off my sunglasses but left on the cap and she left her glasses on. 

"Not like you to wear shorts, though." Juna looked down at my bare legs once we got our drinks. When we lived with my father, I hated showing any skin in front of our creepy uncles, or anyone for that matter. My sister grew a little concerned at the bandage around my shin.

"I came to the realisation that heatstroke is more important than keeping my modesty." I laughed nervously in response and she giggled, pushing her questions to the side for now because I seemed positive. As we made easy conversation, I felt my nerves bubble up again.

"Juna... I... I got kicked off the case." I told her, anxiety written all over my face. Her hand freezes from stirring her iced tea and my palms became clammy around my freezing coffee. "I messed up when we were following Takeda and we got attacked. He got away and my instructor got really mad." I explained slowly, trying to speak in a low voice so no one would overhear who or what we're talking about. 

"Actually, I have something to say as well." She responded in a low, frail tone and I gulped to push away my guilt. I put her in danger by asking her here, just to tell her that I was losing my chances to save her. 

"There's a meeting happening at a hotel in a week. Dad's going to be there, along with a lot of the uncles... Katsumi, I'm scared they're going to do something really bad." Her glasses were off now and I could see the true fear in her eyes. 

"And... I overheard someone talking about a detective that broke into one of the offices. They mentioned a woman that they found familiar..." She didn't have to explain why they found me familiar. I already knew who she was talking about. I sighed, frustrated I had been so reckless. "They know you're in the city, but I don't think they know your name or where you live..." She explained and my heart stopped. I was lucky Kaga doesn't refer to me by name and I didn't have my badge on show. 

"I think we need to leave while we can. The next meeting is going to be big. If you can manage to be there, I'll be waiting for you. But I'm leaving the first chance I get." Her words echoed in my skull. 

‘I'll have to leave my life behind? The one I worked so hard to get? I'll have to leave my job, Naruko..? I'll have to leave Kaga...’ The words vibrated in my skull like a resounding alarm as I thught about what being discovered meant. 

"I have money and a ride. Somewhere to stay. It won't be difficult once I get away. Katsumi, I want you to come with me. My life has been so empty without you. So much more than I expected..." Juna reached forward to grab my hand. I was biting the tip of my thumb, trying to plan with the information she gave me. 

"We'll be safer together..." Juna added on, leading off when she realised I was stunned to silence, clutching my hand to bring me back to earth but knowing I couldn't feel her support that way. Her fingers worked up my wrist and I finched when she touched the skin on the inside of my wrist, a place I could feel, and my gaze fell on her. She looked just as scared, just as earnest as she was the day I talked her into running away. I never thought I'd be the one that would hesitate. 

"What about our plan, Juna? I'm so close. If I can just get the pictures to one of my instructors, he'll be locked up. Maybe even executed. They're already doing an investigation." I explained. I really wanted to stay. I was enjoying the life I had made for myself. Even with how hard it was right now. Even if the people I had grown close to c ould never know the real me, the reason I became a cop, I felt like they knew the me I had become. Hopefully they trusted me enough to not ask why I had those pictures.

"What happens when they ask you where you got them? When they find out who you really are? Who we are? The moment dad realises where you are... He'll kill both of us." She argued back, trying to bring me to my senses. 

"You're not safe there, Katsu. Just look what happened to you when you got involved with his case." Juna gestured to my bandaged leg and I cursed how right she was. If they were already suspicious, it wouldn't take them long to realise what I was working on. The threat of being discovered would push them to be more reckless. More unpredictable. Who knew what they'd be willing to do. 

"I've been out for too long. Look at this. It might help you decide." Picking up the black backpack she had carried here with her, Juna sighed. 

"What is it?" I asked, pulling on the zip. I peered in to see a few files of paper, a piece of cloth and a flash drive. 

"I found your old camera hidden in our room," Juna explained as I pulled the paper out to find photos of gruesome acts and forced them back in desperately but carefully enough not to crease them. 

"Juna..." I led off, knowing how dangerous it could be to get these images. 

"I saved some accounting documents to the flash drive. It proves they're embezzling from uncle's company and they’re paying off cops and hitmen. I think I saw Takeda's name in there as well." She continued and I looked at her in shock. 

"You're a better detective than I am." I laughed defeatedly, ashamed she had to do this when it was my job to protect her. I should never have left her or made us try and forget each other.

"It's kind of exciting. I can see why you do this." She returned a tired smile. She was probably kept awake at night, worrying that someone would discover what she was doing. I know I was.

"What's this?" I pulled out a silken rag decorated with red splatters. 

"It was under dad's bed. I'm not entirely sure, but it might be from mom..." She led off, knowing what this meant. 

‘So he really did kill her.’ I clenched the bloodied scarf in my hand, having a vague memory of our mother possibly wearing it. 

"I have to get going. Will I see you at the hotel?" She stood up without the bag. I looked up and smiled sadly, giving her a heavy nod. 

As she turned to leave, I noticed a black SUV approaching the shop with the back window pulled down. Seconds later, a hand pulls a gun through the window. 

"Gun!" I screamed, running to Juna and pushing her to the floor with the full force of my launched body. As bullets sprayed into the glass storefront, I held my body over my sister's to protect her. 

When the blaring bangs halted, I hesitantly raised my head to look around. Car alarms were going off and I could hear a woman crying loudly as I searched for the car. 

"It's gone," I muttered, standing up to get a better view of the street. 

As I looked at the destruction in front of me, my sister hobbled to her feet. "A-Are you okay?" She looked at me with trembling legs, arms reaching out to hold mine, maybe in an effort to stable herself or make sure I'm actually alive. I saw some customers rising from the hiding spots and heard a man calling for help.

"You need to go. Before the police get here." I rushed to my sister's side, guiding her in the direction she was already going. 

"But Katsu-." 

"They'll question you if they see you here. Go home, tell dad it was a rival or something. Just go." I spoke in a low voice as I pushed her along. "I have things here," Were my last words to my sister as she started running down the street.

When I turned back around, I saw some bodies laying on the floor and glass was sprayed everywhere. 

"Ma'am, can you call emergency service?" I kneeled in front of a woman who was likely in shock but seemed otherwise unaffected. She gave me a rushed nod as I got up to look at the injured.

There was a man lying in the doorway with the cafe's uniform on. A woman in a similar uniform was holding him up, tears spilling out of her eyes as blood poured out of his abdomen. I hurriedly grabbed a fabric tablecloth from where I had been sitting and rushed over to them, not caring for the glass mugs that shattered on the ground. 

"Sir, are you awake?" I asked, remembering to apply pressure to the gunshot wound from my training in the police academy and what I could gather as a child. 

"H-He passed out. Or he's dead. I... I can't tell." The woman stuttered out as his head laid in her lap, voice hoarsening as she spoke. 

"Miss, can you press on here. I need to see if anyone else is injured." I didn't try to make my voice softer as I grabbed her arm, pulling her to my side. I had felt him breathing through his mouth. There's nothing more I could do for him personally. I had no first aid kits and no professional medical training apart from this.

"Bu-But what if he dies?" The shock she was in prevented her from wanting to touch him except for cradling his skull in her lap. 

"He won't if you apply pressure. An ambulance will be here soon, but he won't live if you don't do this." I forced the tablecloth into her hand and then on the man's side where he was hit.

Once I ensured she was aware enough to continue, I moved onto the next person. There was an older man, resting, or having fallen that way, with his back against the half-wall of the cafe. He was clutching his shoulder, red seeping through the partings of his fingers.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" I slid to his side, asking to see his wound so I could assess the damage. 

"A... A little woozy." He stammered out, trying to act strong but I could tell he was scared. 

"That'll be the shock. The bullet went straight through, so it should be an easy fix when you get to the hospital." I explained as I took the tie from around his neck, obviously asking first. 

"Well, I've lived this long. I guess I've gotta keep going." The man was in the makings of a suit, but I assumed he had left his blazer at his office. Tying the tie over his wound, I took a few of the paper napkins from the host's counter just outside the front door and stuffed them under the tie. I knew he'd be too weak to put appropriate pressure himself. 

"Too right. Stick tight, help will be here soon." I put a comforting hand on his other shoulder and gave him a calm smile before heading inside.

Climbing through the now empty window frame, as I wasn't sure if I should move the man from the doorway and sure as hell didn't want to try and step over him, probably scratching up my legs on the shards that settled there, I looked around for anyone crying. Calling out, I heard a little kid yelling from the back of the small room. My eyes widened at the familiar cry of an innocent child and charged to where I heard them. In the corner, behind the service counter, a little boy was sitting next to a woman with blood already puddling at her sides.

"H-Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" Knowing how traumatic it could be to witness something so horrific, I kneeled by the opposite side of the woman the boy is sitting. The spots of red on her blouse, holes ripped through it, was obvious she had been hit twice, maybe three times, I couldn't count right now. Not when it was possible this kid may watch a human being die right before his eyes.

"M-Mom got hurt." I could see he was trying to hold back tears as he held his mom's hand. I looked down at her body and saw a splatter of red pumping out of her thigh far more intensely than the others on her torso. The mother's expression was pained and she looked a little out of it, probably delirious with agony and blood loss. 

"Toto. Are you alright?" She mumbled over and over as I found something to plug the hole in her leg.

"Is that your name? Toto?" I tried to distract the kid from his mother's slurred words, trying my best to plug the two other holes in her body. Hopefully, god please, I could help her enough until paramedics arrived. The kid nodded curtly, scared if he talked he would cry. 

"I'm Atsuko. Can you be brave for me?" I asked, pressing on the wound that likely came from a major artery. He looked up at me. "I asked a woman outside to call the hospital, but she seemed a little shaken up. Can you call them for me?" I tried not to let my gaze leave his, wanting to draw his attention away from the wettening body below us. Taking the phone from my back pocket, I hand over what must look like a relic to him.

The boy called the emergency services and put it on speaker so I could talk. "This is Officer Atsuko Motomori. There's been a shooting at Cafe Zero down Empire Street. Please send paramedics for at least three victims." As I announced my badge number so they knew I wasn’t lying, I spoke fast and clear, noticing the mother's consciousness fade. 

‘You can't do this. Not to him. You can't die in front of him.’ I moved from her leg to her torso, feeling for a pulse on her neck. ‘It's weak, but there.’ I started pushing on her chest to keep her heart beating and blood pumping to her brain. Luckily, there was a waiter watching over us that had a belt so I could secure a makeshift tunicate to her thigh so she doesn't bleed out as fast.

"Ambulances and police are on their way." The operator responded bluntly. 

"Can you take him somewhere else?" I peered up at the waiter standing in the opening of the counter. 

"No! I don't wanna leave my mom!" Toto cried out but I shot him a concerned and slightly annoyed look, probably scarely similar to Kaga's. 

"Your mom doesn't want you to see her like this, okay, Toto? I'm going to make her better so that you guys can go to the hospital together, but it's going to be scary." As I'm telling him, sweat is growing on my brow far thicker than the ottest day on earth could make as I pressed all my body weight on the woman's chest to a rhythmic beat. 

"I-I'm brave enough." The boy stuttered and it was clear he was terrified. 

"You're not a wimp to go, Toto. You're not cowardly to hide, you're brave to leave your mom's life in someone else's hands. Trust me, you don't want to see this." I lowered my voice so only he could hear, hoping to seem more personal. He looked from me to his mom's sleeping face and I could see the tear dams break behind his eyes. He got up and took the hand of the waiter, walking to a table on the other side of the counter.

"You can't die on him, you hear me? Do you know what that will do to him?" I panted as I whispered, enraged my father would open fire on a building of civilians. It was likely that the people following Juna hadn't lost her and decided to do this as a warning. Hopefully, for both of our sakes, my sister could convince him that this was some sort of action performed by a rivalling gang trying to intimidate him or a gang members betrayal.

When I next checked the mother's pulse, it was slightly better than before. 

"The paramedics are here!" A voice called out and I looked up in relief. Toto came running around the corner, probably having escaped the waiter, and looked down at his mom, covered in blood but slowly awakening. He cried out her title and ran to her side and I couldn't help but smile. I stood up, calling the paramedics as they made their way through the door, having extracted the male waiter.

"She lost consciousness for a bit, but I performed compressions and she's coming around again," I explained as they came running around the counter. I grabbed Toto and pulled him off her so the trained professionals could get a look at her before sending her to an ambulance. 

"I-Is she going to be okay?" He asked as I picked him up, carrying him around the counter so that we wouldn't intrude. I didn't want to give him false hope if I was too late to save her, but I didn't want to break his heart unnecessarily.

"She should do good. It was all because of your bravery that she woke up again." I laughed, tapping underneath his chin to get him to raise his head. I only noticed now that my hands were covered in blood. I looked down and so were my legs, having kneeled in the mom's blood that had come out before I got to her. 

"Thank you!" He cried out, wrapping his arms around my neck as he sat on the counter.

Then, the paramedics announce that they were ready to go. I told Toto to go with them and he ran after her gurney.

Finally having a moment to myself, I dropped to the floor in exhaustion. I had been running on so much adrenaline that my head now felt light as I sunk to my knees. Soon, the waiter who had helped me with Toto ran to my side, helping me up so I could sit in a glass-free chair.

After he got me a glass of water and the other paramedics on the scene looked over me for any serious injuries, I heard police sirens driving closer. Several uniforms came out of the cars that pulled up outside and started questioning us all about the incident. I explained how I had seen the car approaching and, after I heard the gunshots ending, went to help the people who were injured. I left out the part where my sister had been here, not wanting to get her involved, and hoped no one else noticed her through the mania.

"Well done, Officer Motomori. You were good to act so quickly. Although, you do look a little pale. Do you want a ride to the hospital?" The officer questioning me slapped his booklet shut and I jumped a little at the sudden noise. 

"I-I should be fine." I stuttered, even though I noticed my hands shaking. I had already refused an ambulance ride, I definitely didn't want to go in a squad car.

"...Okay. We'll give you a ride back to your home. You can't go wandering the streets like that." The older man chuckled and I looked down at my reddened body. The bandage I had around my leg had unravelled and my own wound had started bleeding again, probably because of any glass that I most likely kneeled in. I had a lot of little cuts as well.

"Can I make a call first?" I look back up with a tired expression and he nodded, handing me his phone. I had washed my hands by now, so I wasn't too worried about getting blood all over his possession.

Shakily, I typed in the number for the Instructor's Staff Room. "Captain Ishigami." The stone-cold voice spoke up over the phone and I was somewhat disheartened, somehow expecting to hear my mentor's. It wasn’t like he would answer a phone anyway. I shook my head. 

"U-Um, sir, it's Motomori. I'm sorry f-for disturbing you. But... There was this... This..." Not knowing how to explain the situation, I took in the scene around me. There was glass swept all over the floor and tables and chairs are overturned. I could see bullet holes in some of the furniture and the actual bullets were either in the wall or on the floor next to it. A cold shiver ran through me to finally understand how close to death I really was and the sweat on my body only made the breeze blowing through the hollowed window frames icy.

"Motomori, what is it?" Ishigami sounded annoyed that I was lost for words. Then, the officer who had been watching me took the phone back. He introduced himself before explaining the situation, but I wasn’t  really listening. 

‘I was actually able to save someone.’ Joy filled my heart. My father had done something despicable to so many innocent people, and I was actually able to help. I didn't just have to sit there and take pictures for when I could use them in an investigation, I was able to stop a murder from taking place in the first place. However, that delight was short lived.

"Alright, Officer Motomori, you're captain will be by soon to pick you up." Hanging up from the conversation with my instructor, the officer looked at me with a smile. 

"Did that really just happen?" I looked up at him with shame and fear wrapped in my expression. Even though I was able to help, it was still my fault they all got hurt in the first place. If I hadn't come here or told Juna to meet me, there would never have been a shooting. Toto would never have had to see his mom almost die. 

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" The officer put a hand on my arm as my gaze wandered again. At the end of the counter, I could see the puddle of blood left by Toto's mom slowly crawling out, almost taunting me with the knowledge of my naivety. 

‘How could I think we could meet safely?’  

I nodded with a small, encouraging smile.

~~~~~~

By the time Ishigami arrived, I was still sitting with the cop, just trying to compute what happened. He looked at the destroyed cafe, and then at my bloodied body. Soma was with him, but no Kaga. I found myself looking around them in hopes he would be here. 

"Captain Ishigami. You have a very capable, young cadet here!" The officer sitting with me jumped up, trying to lighten my spirits by praising me. "She was able to act quickly and three people are on their way to the hospital instead of our morgue." However morbid, the statement was true. It was lucky I had the training I needed to save them.

"Atsuko." Soma kneeled down in front of me to catch my gaze as it drifted to my legs. The blood had dried by now, staining my legs and my clothes. I looked at Instructor Soma as he smiled kindly. 

"Instructor. I...I'm sorry." I apologised, but I'm sure they didn't know why. He laughed at this and I realised what I said. I bit my lip to stop myself from talking further. It was an instinct from a child. The last time I had seen this much blood in one room.

"I'm not Kaga. I'm not going to yell at you. Come on, you need to rest. Remember that r'n'r we talked about?" He s stood up and I followed his rising stature with my eyes. 

"O-Okay." Embarrassed by the apology I made, I got up. As I was walking out the door, I remembered the bag Juna had left for me and rushed to pick it up, making sure the zip was closed so that no one could see the contents.

"Is it really okay? Won't your car get messy?" I asked as Ishigami tells me to sit in the back seat. My legs were covered in blood, thankfully not all mine. I only had little cuts and scrapes. And when I say covered, it looked like I was wearing red shin pads. My clothes were likely ruined and I felt like I might smell a little, having exerted so much energy trying to keep Toto's mom alive. 

"It's fine, just get in." He got in the driver's side and I was forced to jump in before I got left behind.

~~~~~~

When we got back to the academy, everyone that was sitting out in the rays of the setting sun were staring at me. I probably looked crazed. Maybe they thought I had flipped out after Kaga dropped me from the case, because it looked like I had killed someone. Suddenly, Naruko ran up to me as I walked behind the instructors. 

"Atsuko! Oh my god, what happened to you?" She held my arms as she shrieked. 

"There was a shooting at the cafe I went to. Don't worry, I'm not hurt." I laughed, trying to help her not worry. To be honest, I probably wasn’t as affected by that scene as I should have been. I had watched people die before, many times before, so I was somewhat used to it. 

"You're covered in blood!" She yelped again and I could tell Ishigami was getting annoyed. I reassured her that it wasn’t mine and she just sighed. "How are you so calm?" She sounds exasperated as she held my arm, encouraging me to keep walking to the dorms. 

"My dad was a butcher, so I'm used to blood." It took me a moment to respond with a nervous shrug, hoping to make up a viable lie. Hopefully the instructors wouldn't feel the need to double check that information on my made up file.

"I swear you're not even human." She laughed, thinking back to all the training I was able to do without complaint.

~~~~~~

Once she escorted me back to my dorm, I threw my bag far underneath my bed and took a shower, scrubbing at my skin to get all the blood off. I hadn't realised, but I had smudges all over my face from where I was wiping the sweat off my brow. 

‘This... This can’t happen again. I can’t let it happen again’. I clutched the water basin to hold my weak body up during my contemplation. I felt so guilty and helpless in that moment. If I couldn’t go back in time and stop that shooting from happening, stop Toto’s mom and all those people from getting hurt, I would have to make sure it never happened ever again.

~~~~~~

When I was done cleaning myself up, I went down to the cafeteria to get a well-deserved meal.

"Hey, Motomori! Heard about that cafe. Well done out there!" A male classmate called out from his table as I passed. 

"Oh, thanks, but I was just doing what I could at the time." I showed an anxious smile, not wanting to give it more attention than it already had.

"Motomori, did you really bring someone back from the dead?" Another called out from a different table and my gaze whipped around. 

"W-Well, it was a close call, but she didn't die. And how did you hear about that?" I replied, stumbling over my words as everyone started to surround me, asking questions of what it was like to be in such a disastrous scenario. 

After a bit, having escaped the line without buying any food, I got overwhelmed and stormed out the hall.

~~~~~~

On the roof, I made sure whether or not anyone was there before I started to pace. If Kaga wast here, I would ave hated for him to see me so freaked out, he would think I was more moronic than he already did. Unfortunately, I saw him in his usual corner, breathing out smoke. Just as I was about to turn, his gaze caught mine. He looked down at my body, scanning for any signs of fear or delayed shock. When he saw that I'm neither shaking nor swaying, holding my breath just in case my racing heart betrayed me, he turned back to the view of the city before him. I released the breath I was holding and ran back to the door, wanting to be here as much as I wanted to be badgered by my overexcited classmates.

~~~~~~

Once I returned to the dorms, it was a little after dark. "Oh, Atsuko, there you are!" Naruko cheered when she saw me pass by a common room she was lounging in. 

"Sorry I had to leave! I just needed to get some air." I smiled, although nervous that she would ask me where I had been. 

"It's not a problem. Those guys were too pushy." She shook her head and frowned at some of the men that had surrounded me earlier. 

"So, what did you do today?" I asked, wanting to get my mind off those memories. She looked a little surprised at first, but soon understood why I asked. 

"I got to do some serious studying for next week's exam!" She smiled brightly as we started walking to our rooms. 

"Oh yeah..." I quickly remembered a big part of my plan for next week might be greatly impeded if I were to attend.

"It's at this hotel. Apparently it's a big meeting of some major crime syndicates!" Naruko was so excited, she didn't even notice me stop. 

‘Could that be the meeting Juna was talking about?’ I started to think about how, if the mission went well, I wouldn't have to run away again. I could continue my life here, like my past wasn't a thing. As Naruko pulled me back to earth, I showed her a smile full of hope.

[atopearth]

Tales of Crestoria Part 3 - Growing from Mistakes (Ch 3-5)

Anyway, about time Kanata and Misella got captured by Aegis and Leon? Haha. As for Aegis' close relationship with Queen Rebecca? Nope, that's just spelling disaster man. Aegis is probably as naive as Kanata if he thinks that this is okay, because even if he knows so, people don't, and it doesn't help that the Queen personally visits him a lot. He's pretty silly and innocent to think that him being her confidant is okay when she's supposed to have the king and many other people to rely on. It definitely doesn't help that she does all this so publicly. Btw, since we haven't seen Leon much, and this was probably the first time I heard him talk so much, I finally confirmed that his VA is definitely Midorikawa Hikaru! Tamahome (Fushigi Yuugi) brings back all my memories! I also loved him as Yoshino Yuusuke (Clannad), yes, he is one of my favourite VAs too, so I'm glad I have his SSR! Anyway, I'm not sure why he's so adamant on capturing Vicious since it doesn't seem like a justice thing like it is for Aegis but I do appreciate how kind Leon is to be concerned over Aegis and want to watch out for him.

 LMAO at the prisoners feeling like they're being disrespected because Kanata and Misella kept talking and ignoring them, and then when they do talk to them, Kanata says nice to meet you like they're at a party or something hahahah. Nice to see that Rebecca isn't just a damsel in distress and actually has been actively finding a way to escape from the kingdom. Not surprised though, she's young, kind and beautiful, whereas the king is so old and definitely evil lol. I feel sorry for her that she got dragged into becoming queen just because the king loved her beauty. Like dang though, she was a rural farm girl and he was able to find her? That would suck. Or I wonder if he goes around looking for beautiful women lol. Okay, he does lol, he even finds beautiful men, eugh. It's nice to know that Rebecca was once pretty naive though and thought that everything would be like a dream come true since the king proposed to her, and it was only after she married him that she realised how crappy her life could become. To be fair though, at least she's still in his good favours as a queen and didn't get demoted into servant or something after he finished playing with her. I guess her maintaining her beauty helped lol. I feel sorry for Rebecca, I really wanted her to live even if she was kinda delusional and hopeful that Aegis loved her. Kinda silly how the king could appear so suddenly in the sewers though, like how did he catch up to them so fast and how did they not notice lol. Anyway, I feel sorry for Aegis the most. He didn't even kill anyone but he's been framed for trying to elope with Rebecca and then killing her when she became a liability. At least for Kanata, he really did kill his father. In this case, Aegis is completely innocent. He's such a kind and righteous soul that wanted the best for his kingdom too. It's so saddening. Leon to the rescue! I'm happy that Leon prioritises Aegis over disgust at having to ally with Vicious since he seems to hold a grudge against him or something. It seems like Leon is really strong! Ooh, Yuna saves the day with her boat? Good to know she's the informant that Vicious frequently deals with. Her manner of speaking is interesting yet annoying though lol. Anyway, kinda cool that this Ivis person was able to create the Nation of Sin whilst forming a barrier that protects it from the outside world, and even preventing people without the Stain of Guilt from being able to enter the place or even see it. It seems like they really wanted to create a safe haven for all these people. It's funny that Vicious calls it a boring place, but I guess it's understandable lol, in any case though, I'm not surprised it's a boring and peaceful place. With all the chaos that comes with being a transgressor, what makes Vicious think they'd be crazy here? Lol. I mean, if they were, I'm sure they'd get kicked out lol.

Lmao, even though Aegis is getting kinda annoying with the transgressor this and transgressor that (his situation is understandable though, so I don't really blame him), I love how Kanata just drags him along, and Vicious just wants Aegis to remember that he is a transgressor now too lol. It was heartbreaking when Aegis finally kinda opened up and talked about how his parents were poor but did their best to fulfill his dream of becoming a knight, so in order to repay them, he worked hard to become a righteous knight, yet that all backfired on him when he lost everything and he's even being helped by the people he stubbornly believed to be the worst and has even become one of them, it's just pretty depressing. It was nice to see that the warmth of the transgressors' stew really got to Aegis. I'm happy to see Aegis fight for these defenceless transgressors that are getting massacred by the little girl (who is the culmination of the thoughts of condemnation etc) and her army of enforcers. I'm kinda surprised all the transgressors died though, like, did no one think it was possible that they might get attacked one day and prepared for that? I doubt not having a blood sin is an excuse too, since Aegis fended at least some of them off without it. Oh well, at least the little furry creature survived hahaha. Maybe we'll get an SSR version of the furry thing one day if it evolves into something strong🤣 I guess it's good that they've resolved themselves to fight against the world and the vision orbs instead of just hiding away now though. Lmao at Misella naming the little creature after meat, I guess Meakyu is a kindaaaa cute name.

Omggg it's Luke!! I love him. He's so spoiled and whiny, but it's hilarious. Lmaooo when Luke said Misella should sell her dress so that they would have money to hire a carriage and Kanata said if they sell it, she'd be naked and that would be awesome LOL. Priorities, Kanata. Omgg, I didn't expect them to have Luke once again make an irrevocable mistake that would cause innocent people and their town to be destroyed... But, like Vicious said, the biggest problem lies with the Senegal guy who knew what kind of guy Luke was and lied to him that the "monster" needed to be defeated when it was actually keeping the mountain intact and safe with its' mana. Wow, Senegal is so ruthlessly cruel... I can't believe he even killed the Southvein people who were able to evacuate from the landslide and survive. Not too surprising since they interfered with his mining but still crazy. Even more crazy that his fabricated lie is that he had no choice but to decimate the town because he sent Luke as a peace envoy and Luke ended up killing one of the residents in self defence (due to their hatred of Northmine people), like excuse you?? Is no one going to investigate the landslide and other stuff? Or are they so powerful that they can block people from going there? Btw, so nice to see Jade!! I guess the reason why Misella has been thinking that Kanata isn't really "Kanata-like" is because instead of advocating for his sort of belief in justice, he is now instead taking things into his own hands to punish others that he thinks "deserves" it. Not saying he's wrong since people like Senegal probably do deserve it, but in a sense, it just kinda becomes the idea that instead of the vision orbs doing the condemnations, now Kanata is doing them, and really, is this how justice is supposed to be, and really, can they save the world like this? Since really, because of their belief in their own views, they ended up killing the guardian spirit of the mountain to save Luke, like yeah, they had "no choice", but was it really like that, or did they just not think of other methods to prevent stuff like this from happening? Have they kinda become used to the idea that they should just solve everything with the violence and condemnation that they were dealt with?

I'm kinda happy to see that everyone is helping out Luke in wanting him to find his own path after the sins he committed, causing so many deaths even if he didn't intend it. Aegis is right, Luke's higher position makes him even more responsible for his lack of knowledge and his naivety, so it would be nice for him to face his sins and grow as a person. Well, I guess rather than it being something nice, he really needs to grow up and understand that his decisions can really change lives. But, I think that with Jade and Asbel there to guide him, he'll be good as long as he tries. Lmao at their great idea of earning money, I'm not sure if Kanata, Misella and Aegis could win prize money as a theatre troupe lol. It's funny how Misella thought Aegis wanted her spot as the heroine when they haven't even decided on what to do lol. Penelope must be dying from how bad Kanata and them are loll, although she does seem to be literally dying too. Anyway, nice to see that Yuna vows to not use her vision orb and instead tries her best to uncover all the facts and the whole story (as the journalist she is) with all the evidence she can gather to piece everything together rather than relying on a vision orb to do things when it only shows one side of things. 

On the other hand, it's nice to see that Kanata and them have realised the existence of the crazy researcher Malcolm experimenting placing human souls in monsters and the other way around. It seems that he was the one who made Emil share his body with Ratatosk now. I guess Kanata will definitely meet up with Cress again one day then (since Cress is adventuring with Mint, Emil/Ratatosk and Marta to prevent people like Cress' master and Emil's situation from happening again). Forgot to mention, but it was really cool seeing Lloyd and Colette! Well, it was kinda obvious that Penelope was dying, but it was nice to know that the reason Yuna is deterred from using her vision orb is kinda similar to Farah. Yuna used it on Penelope's mother to show her physically abusing Penelope as a child when she made mistakes in training to be the best actress, and although it's definitely terrible to allow something like that to go on, it's also true that Yuna hurt Penelope a lot by using the vision orb on her mother and having her condemned to death. As she said, there were definitely other ways to handle the situation, but because everyone from the moment they are born have been ingrained with the idea of the vision orb, everyone decides to solve their problems by using it instead of thinking about other ways. They probably think it's a hassle to deal with problems any other way when you can so easily record it and have other people help make the judgement on what to do instead of thinking for yourself on what other things you can do to rectify the situation. But yeah, I'm sure Penelope doesn't really blame Yuna, since really, her mum was abusive and Yuna wanted to protect her.

Omgg their pirate costumes are so cuteee! Especially Misella's! Love it! Meakyu's is pretty hilarious lolll. It was a pretty cool idea to pretend the pirate raid was actually their stage play that was a part of the festival. It wouldn't have been cool if the pirates were actually stronger than them though hahaha, but all's well ends well. It's pretty silly but funny how Vicious was the one who lured them all here to chase some made up treasure just because he wanted to steal a ship from the pirates lolll. He's so drastic, I love it. Awww, Patty and Chat are so cute~ I love how the townspeople dragged them away to treat them to food for their "good show" against the pirates haha. Honestly, I know Yuna meant well and everything by telling people that Penelope's performance sucked and that they should look forward to her next one instead because she knew how dissatisfied Penelope was with it and how much she would want to stand up again to rectify how bad this one was, but really, Yuna (and the party) are the only ones that know Penelope's true feelings. So really, it's hard for people to not dislike her for saying such "disrespectful" things about Penelope's "last performance" especially as a close friend. As for the condemnation towards her, really, it's just a bunch of petty people everywhere that don't like her journalist articles lol, but it is rather interesting that you can be condemned for something like this. It really shows how the importance doesn't lie in the gravity of the crime, the vision orb is just a depraved way of wish fulfillment for those who abuse it to get rid of people they don't like. I like how Vicious helped Yuna come to terms that what she said wasn't wrong, because she knew that praising her crappy performance was the biggest insult to Penelope, and really, these people have no right to condemn her for what she thinks just because they think that Penelope is dying so no one should say such things. They didn't even bother listening to why she said it and I'm sure they knew what she said was right anyway but were just too spiteful and self absorbed to care since it was their best "legitimate" opportunity to get rid of her. The only good thing out of all this is that for once, there were actually other people next to these crazy people that were trying to tell them that it was unreasonable and possibly a misunderstanding and that they shouldn't be too hasty to condemn Yuna like that, which is a first that I very welcomed. I mean, it honestly felt like these people used their brains for once compared to the villagers in the previous chapters. Maybe you could warrant it as the difference between countryside villages and city towns, but whatever it is, it's nice to see that the story is at least veering a bit away from "every person aside from the Tales characters are either dumb, crazy or evil". 

Anyway, nice end to the chapter as Kanata further resolves himself to change the world and Yuna will accompany them as their "pen" since "swords" can't resolve everything. The only sad part is that I used my gleamstones to draw but still couldn't get SSR Yuna, but at least I got an SSR Aegis loll. Overall, I do look forward to the next chapters and characters. I mean, Eizen (the guy who got annoyed at Vicious for using Aifread's name to lure the crappy pirates here) looked pretty cool and I would totally draw for him if he got an SSR. He'd probably fit in well with my team of beautiful boys LOL. He seemed like a best boy for some people, so I guess I'll look forward to if he'll have more appearances soon! Otherwise, I would like to see Tear, Natalia and Guy (outside of the recent event)!

[ezrisdax-archive]

Thoughts on a fun way to make a Star Trek/Mass Effect crossover? Or characters interactions cross-series?

like a full crossover? hmmm, certainly it’d be a parallel worlds type situation where I feel in Trek world the Leviathans didn’t evolve and create the Reapers and thus life wasn’t constantly wiped out and that’s why there’s more of an alien populace in the galaxy to explain the stark differences. And then time travel would get involved too since ME takes place before Trek.

So depending on which Trek you’re gonna go with (which for me I can pick any) there’s some wormhole shenanigans going on only what they call wormholes are the dark energy spots that Reapers use in ME time. The crew is investigating them when they go through it and end up in ME time (or if you want the ship accidentally goes through a la Voyager crossing over quadrants).

At first the crew is clearly trying to not get involved but can’t resist the chance to explore and learn the differences and when they realize this isn’t their actual past and can interact with the place more, which brings them into contact with the Normandy which has been sent to investigate the strange readings so we get to crew interactions of (which I’ll put under a cut cause it got long):

Spock and/or Tuvok, and Liara discussing the Vulcan Mind Meld versus the Asari meld and coming to the conclusion that they might have a genetic link back

Tali and B’Elanna having a field day comparing notes (and complaining) on what it’s like keeping a ship together when you don’t have all the parts you really need since Tali used to do that with the Quarian ships and B’Elanna does that now

Kirk and Shepard discussing choices made that shape worlds for better or worse despite the best of intentions and geeking out over model ships. You can’t tell me that doesn’t happen.

Bashir and Mordin are the only people able to understand each other in their speed talking and excitedly sharing notes about different aliens.

Worf and Wrex and Grunt immediately start a fight (bonus points for Wrex insulting Worf for sounding like Uvenk whom Dorn voices)

Seven and Legion (in a world where he lives, what do you mean he dies) discussing what it’s like going from a hive mind to being individuals and coming to find yourself and who you are as a person, like Legion clearly was more involved in finding this aspect for his people as opposed to Seven who had it forced on her but they share the desire now to learn and become an individual and protect those they care about

Janeway and Shepard blow something up by accident while trying to investigate something because of course they do

Samara and Deanna sitting down and just discussing life because I feel like these two would be friends and smirking at their friends antics and secretly betting on who’s gonna get into what danger

I actually have a lot of thoughts about paragon!Shepard and Michael being similar characters in the sense of having this burden of the galaxy placed on them and speaking out against things that people refuse to see except for the crew they’re apart of and trying to warn people of a war and do their best to prevent it and bring people together

Tilly and Tali and Gabby together would be a delight I feel, just talking excitedly about everything under the sun. including the sun.

Sulu and Joker arguing who's a better pilot and Sulu being fascinated how Mass Effect fields work when it comes to piloting and Joker proudly explaining it

Sisko tries to adopt Grunt from Shepard (no I’m mostly kidding, I think that Sisko and Shep have a great deal of respect for each other in caring for the crew and having in placed in an almost god like reverence in certain situations and the struggles with that. and then also Sisko brings back baseball to the Mass Effect world. Shepard absolutely hates that)

I figure the EMH would actually be most interested in biotics and the science of that and writing down to make a paper to publish as the first hologram to do so.

Likewise EDI is fascinated with hologram technology that Trek’s have and if the ships have ever developed sentience in any way and if she can incorporate some of that technology into the Normandy to further her own development

I think Kira gets along with Wrex and is angry at Salarians on his behalf once she hears what was done to the Krogan because the genocide of a species hits hard with her

Tilly and Samantha are even worse than Bashir and Mordin at talking so fast no one gets it but them and they very much do enjoy talking to each other

Tom and Steve have shuttle races until they’re ordered back by their bosses because really guys

Geordi has a lot of talks with EDI, some about his friendship with Data and the human side of interacting with a being that’s trying to learn about humanity themselves but most about the ship and the benefits of integration with it that allow you to be aware of everything that’s happening on it

also Data and EDI tell the worst jokes and everyone regrets this

Picard and Thane drink tea together and discuss philosophies and Thane talks about his species old artifacts and how they were lost to his culture and Picard just listens with interest and some ideas on how you could maybe get those back

Jadzia and Jack get along surprisingly well, they have a holodeck fight at one point and Jadzia takes tricorder readings of biotics and then they go out drinking together

on the flip side Ezri and Miranda get along in terms of being forced to live up to unreasonable family expectations (all though far less harsh in Ezri’s case) and having to carve out your own identity and also like...weirdly everyone hating you for no other reason than your character exists

Bev gets into playing poker with Kaidan and Steve and now they’re all trying to beat each other constantly at it

Saru and Liara get along the easiest at first and discuss the wild things their crews get up to and how they eventually just started to go along with the madness

Kasumi keeps trying to steal from Tuvok but can’t manage it and thinks it’s the best challenge she’s had in years. Tuvok just wants to talk to Thane and get back to the Delta Quadrant already captain.

Harry and Jacob get to talking about having to prove themselves and always being looked over and the troubles of trying to get your own command

Bones hates all of this, Kirk what the hell have you done now. That said he and Zaeed get to drinking and talking about the bullshit that comes from space travel. All though Zaeed’s is more about how annoying it is to try to kill someone in it. Bones thinks he’s just over exaggerating and not a mercenary at first.

James keeps showing off for literally everyone and turning things into a competition with whoever he can when it comes to physical activities, he’s still sulking that Data beat him until he finds out that Data is an android and then calls foul on it.

Odo and Zaeed grumble about everything together

B’Elanna and Ashley have a book club that they don’t tell anyone about and share romance novels and poetry while complaining about how everyone doesn’t expect it from them and that’s part of why they don’t tell people those parts of themselves

Uhura gets the translators turned off on the Normandy to listen to everyone’s dialect and language and is quick to pick up on it, she’s especially good with Drell and enjoys conversing with Thane in it

Liara is absolutely freaked out that Deanna sounds like her mother and Deanna is absolutely using this to troll her whenever she can because it amuses her

Grunt and Chekov get into arguments about history of all things despite that people keep pointing out that they’re from alternate worlds and therefore it’s different anyway

Chakwas and Chakotay sit down to talk about what it’s like sorta taking care of the crew and just ridiculous stories of things they’ve put with

Riker at one point talks to Miranda about clones and dealing with someone who is the same genetically as you but isn’t you and do you have a relationship with them or leave them be (they don’t come up with an answer really)

Mordin gets banned from taking samples of other aliens

Nog and Gabby talk one point about being sorta new to the experiences of war and frontline suddenly and the horrors that come with it and share their experiences of being trapped by the Reapers vs being in a Jem’Hadar fight and coming back from that

Guinan doesn’t care much for Javik but they do have one good discussion about what it’s like being one of the last of your species and seeing so many of them die due to a machine race (and worse, converted to serve that race) that you just can’t fight back against no matter how much you try (or that’s what they thought at the time)

Samantha and Spock and Kirk and/or Airiam have strategy game nights and really get into it and Spock will typically leave while Sam and Kirk are still geeking out over it until the morning

Quark is banned from the Normandy point blank

Worf tries to get everyone to appreciate Klingon opera, the only one he manages to get into it are Grunt and Legion

Scotty is especially fascinated with the drive core of the Normandy and talks to Adams about it constantly

Chakotay and James having a boxing match at one point

Jake interviews like everyone and is thinking about turning this experience into a novel and enjoys listening to everyone’s stories

O’Brien and Garrus get caught up in calibrations, can you come back later

okay this literally is getting too long already but I could keep going. I think then there’s a group discussion about the Borgs vs the Reapers and the troubles everyone faces in those fights and a lot of back and forth about things that have worked for one crew that may help someone else out (like the Changeling cure to maybe help the Genophage cure or vice versa)

[lucaniisdellamorte]

This isn’t completely solid yet but I wanted to write out how things go in the twins canon

So the twins were born and raised in Wayhaven, after their father died Rebecca more or less dropped them off with an uncaring uncle and very very rarely ever saw the twins growing up

We’re talking like.....she’d maybe visit for a weekend a month

Poloma dated Bobby in college and it was her first real love but after Bobby stole her work, lied to all their friends making it seem like she was trying to steal from him, and ruining her reputation, she decided she wasn’t going to going to make that mistake again

Pax was one of the people that Bobby couldn’t persuade and after everything he absolutely loathes him

Pax was the first one to be promoted to detective about a year or so before the old detective I don’t remember their name retired, more or less so they could coast through the last year of their career

Poloma was promoted simply because of that detective retiring

Okay so moving on to the events of Book One

Both twins are at the crime scene and both twins go to that abandoned warehouse, they take Poloma’s car since Pax only has his motorcycle and it’s still too cold to be riding that around

Pax pepper sprays Adam

At the Official Meeting, Pax is professional and welcoming, Poloma tries to be welcoming but gets a little snarky with Mason (Felix kisses Poloma’s hand and she likes him immediately)

Listening to the four talk, Poloma highly suspects that these are the same four people they ran into at the warehouse but after asking about it Pax is convinced that they aren’t

At Adam’s dismissal of them, Poloma goes with the “ah yes you obviously don’t need our help since you’ve already caught the guy orrrrr...wait...no you haven’t” which leaves Pax to to play peacekeeper alongside Nate

So since Nate is present in all three investigative routes, here is how I see that playing out, Nate and Pax go to talk to Verda while Poloma makes a call to Tina to get the details on their witness and get a cup of coffee since Pax fixed that earlier

Then when those two are done, Poloma, Nate, and Mason go to talk to Mrs Hudders

After ub leaves for the evening the twins sit down and chat, Poloma still thinks ub are the same guys as the night before and with how weird Nate and Mason were after talking to Mrs Hudders (and after Pax tells her about Nate’s reactions when they were talking to Verda) she’s convinced they’re hiding something and is frustrated that these guys that were sent to “help” them are probably doing nothing more than standing in their way

Pax doesn’t agree, well he agrees they’re probably lying about something but really believes that since ub is there to help that they’re really trying to solve the case while including the twins as much as they can. Since they’re shady Agency types there’s probably a lot of things that are Top Secret. Poloma isn’t convinced.

The next day Pax and Nate go to talk to Kate, Poloma goes back to the station

Both of the twins, Nate and Adam go to talk to Verda

They decide to split up a bit, Nate, Adam, and Pax looking into the weird blood while Felix, Mason, and Poloma focus on the connection between the victims (this is also where there starts to be hints that Felix and Poloma absolutely cannot work alone together because they’ll distract each other)

Poloma loses to Pax in rock, paper, scissors, and has to take the call from the mayor

Both twins get to have their moments with their lis on patrol

Then for the fight with Adam, Pax leaves to talk to Verda, Poloma talks to Kate and comes back before Pax which leaves her to fight with Adam and then she runs into her brother down in Verda’s office

They both decide to leave Adam to cool off and head to the hospital, Pax drives and Poloma calls Mason but after Poloma tells her brother that Nate hadn’t been in the office when she got back, Pax leaves him a voicemail too 

Poloma gets snarky with the receptionist at the hospital so Pax volunteers to go talk to Murphy while she hangs out in the hallway

When she hears the glass breaking, Poloma runs in and of course sees the broken beaker and Pax bleeding, Murphy does the whole take her hand, try to convince her to calm down and sit which doesn’t work so he now has confirmation that these are the people he’s looking for

Pax convinces Poloma that they need to stay at work that night even though Poloma would very very much like to go to the bar with Tina it’s been a week okay the girl just wants a bREAK They work in Pax’s office and when he goes to grab them both a snack and some coffee Bobby makes his appearance and ends up bugging Pax’s office

Somewhere in here Douglas had managed to sneak back into the station, possibly looking for a place to sober up a bit before heading home

Pax returns and immediately kicks Bobby the fuck out of the building

The fight goes down about the same with the added bonus of Pax saving Douglas and telling him to run, each of the twins gets to help out their li, Pax fights along side Felix and Poloma ends up pulling the fire alarm to end it

Only Pax ends up getting knocked out, Poloma manages to duck is this something she ends up teasing him about forever? The answer is a resounding Yes

Everyone heads to the facility, Poloma drives probably to transport her brother? With Nate and Adam at least probably? Either way no one says anything

The facility stuff plays out easily enough, Pax wakes up and is really only happy to see Poloma and Nate, Poloma makes a joke about how she’s fine because “apparently only one of us is smart enough to duck” Poloma takes the “actually them being vampires makes this whole thing make sense” and after a little convincing Pax takes the “...okay” option

The tour is...cold to say the least, Pax doesn’t hold back with the criticisms of Rebecca ,the secrets she’s kept from them, and how she’s made sure to put her work before her children, Poloma says nothing

The reveal about their blood is tense to say the least but they both agree to do the tests

Both of them stop outside of their lis doors though on different mornings

Once they’re back at work, the twins, Nate and Mason all head back to the hospital to scope out the lab

They rotate whose apartment they stay at which is fine with the twins since no matter where they stay at least they each get their own bedroom

Also somewhere in here Felix reveals that it was UB at the warehouse that night and a very vindicated Poloma gets $50 off of Pax and tells him “this is what happens when you doubt me”

Pax and Nate get to have breakfast together, Mason and Poloma get to check on the thralls

They’re at Poloma’s apartment when the attack happens, of course they have their little talk with Rebecca (still just as cold as their every other interaction mostly thanks to Pax) and they both still get moments with their lis since they get their own rooms, how the actual confrontation goes is a little hazy for me since I’m bad at planning big action sequences like that but uh...more thralls probably?

Anyway the twins end up caught

Before the transfusion Poloma just rips Murphy and his plan to shreds because this asshole went through the trouble of kidnapping them and isn’t even sure his plan will work and she’s not at all impressed

The transfusion is rougher on Pax and that leaves Poloma to get them both the fuck out of there (she manages to loosen the buckle with a pen) and more or less has to help heave her brother out into the room where UB finds them

Murphy bites Poloma on the neck

They still end up catching Murphy though by tripping him thanks to both of the twins and then they both pass out (Poloma from obvious blood loss and Pax from exhaustion)

The rest plays out like this, the twins are kept in the same room, Pax heals up faster since he didn’t have to deal with the extra burden of blood loss so they’re playing a card game on Poloma’s bed when Rebecca and UB come to visit, Pax ends up in the hallway talking to Nate while Poloma gets to talk to Mason

Now for Book Two!

Both of the twins have nightmares about what happened, Poloma’s revolve around the bite while Pax revolves around his inability to help his sister both during the fight and the transfusion

The twins talk to the Captain together, both of them reassuring him in their own way that they know they still work for him (Poloma picks the “surely more help is a good thing” while Pax is just like “yes sir”)

They drive separately to the warehouse since the weather is nice and Pax is just itching to drive his motorcycle

More coldness from Pax upon seeing Rebecca again (the fact that she hasn’t seen them at all in the last two months not helping the situation), while Poloma at least tries to be a little friendly by thanking her for giving Adam the dmb

Pax doesn’t approve but at least he keeps his mouth shut

Poloma ends up having to leave first since she gets a text from Verda about some test results pertaining to a case, Pax leaves some time later after getting a text from Tina about work as well

Pax doesn’t like that there’s a carnival in town without a license while Poloma is a little excited about it and the sense of normalcy it brings

Pax stays at the station with Verda while Poloma goes out with Tina to the bakery for a late breakfast

Both twins get to walk home with their lis, though its Pax and Nate that discover the sick supernatural

That means Pax also has to deal with Bobby

Meanwhile Poloma and Mason are interrupted by phone calls about what happened at the same time, Poloma asks “what are the odds that both of us getting called at the same time is a good thing”

Everyone gets updated at the facility, Poloma and Pax both expressing to Nate that while they want to protect everyone, Pax isn’t sure how to do that against a disease, while Poloma says that whatever this is she’s sure they can figure it out

Pax finds Ub outside of the station later and while he doesn’t shy away from talking to the Mayor he also doesn’t make any sort of greeting

Poloma is waiting inside the station for Pax (and her coffee) and bemoans the fact that ever since the attack, Douglas only seems to listen to Pax now

Poloma is the one drawn away by the phone call, while Pax leaves to grab some papers from her office while she’s doing that, when they both return she is the one to threaten Mason with a fire extinguisher when he goes to light his cigarette

Both of the twins are happy to see Verda’s family and when little Cara asks to sit on Nate’s shoulders, Poloma elbows Pax and just grins making him roll his eyes

But he absolutely thinks that’s adorable as fuck okay he just doesn’t need his sister’s teasing

While Pax is being all heart eyes, Poloma is the one that connects the carnival and the illness

Poloma finally gets in a witty remark with the whole “if you need a big car you’re just compensating” line

She and Mason along with Nate and Pax are all going to the carnival tonight though not at the same time, Nate and Pax leave first in an agency suv while Poloma and Mason leave about fifteen minutes later

Pax and Nate go for the carousel first and then head to the games (Pax gives the rabbit to Nate) while Poloma and Mason go the fortune teller and then the carousel, Adam tells Poloma and Mason that Pax and Nate are going for the house of  mirrors first so they need to pick one more attraction before heading there themselves so they go to the games as well

 Since their radios cut out when they go in, Pax and Nate have no way to warn Poloma and Mason about what happened to them before they go in themselves and subsequently cause their own radios to stop working

The twins head home together with Poloma driving after that whole post carnival talk, after she drops off Pax he runs into Douglas and when she gets home herself she runs into Bobby. Pax lets Douglas stay with him for a bit and he ends up seeing Falk and his friends first so he calls Nate first

Poloma’s call to Mason is followed only a few minutes later (which I’m sure went over real well with Adam)

So both Bobby and Douglas end up at the warehouse and while both of the twins are willing to talk about Douglas and why he’s dressed like Pax, both are very obviously more hesitant to talk about Bobby. Pax tries to give Poloma an out simply stating that Bobby is a real fucking annoying reporter but Poloma admits that he’s her ex, thinking that it’s best to get that awkwardness out of the way not that she divulges any more details than that

The twins compare notes about how the attacks happened before each is driven home by their respective li

Poloma and Mason bang

The twins decided to split the difference between fight training and research, Poloma gets research in the morning with Adam and Nate while at the same time Pax gets fight training with Mason and Felix, in the afternoon they switch so Pax gets his moment with Nate in the library while Poloma gets her moment with Mason in the training room

Pax goes to the lab to find Verda and sabotages his work while Poloma goes to find Tina in the backroom and encourages her to find the truth

When they find out about the maa-alused, Poloma suggests that she’s the best person to go speak with them with both Mason and Pax agreeing with her (Pax has a line here about how if his sister says she can do something, he trusts that she will period)

Pax stays at the warehouse with the other three ub members while Poloma and Mason go the carnival and both agree to stay the night afterward and have been given their own rooms

They both also get their moments with their lis in the night after having nightmares

Felix is sent to hang out with the twins but after seeing that Pax really does want to just do work, picks to hang out in Poloma’s office and they proceed to make paper airplanes for hours and the rule that they’re not allowed to work together alone is born

Since Poloma was sent to talk to Falk, he appears in her mirror

Everything at the facility goes down easily enough with both twins impressed by not only UB’s tiers but their own as well. Pax goes for the more aggressive route when they talk with Rebecca about Rook but Poloma cuts in to be more sympathetic when Rebecca tells them that she didn’t look into his death

Back at the warehouse, sitting around with UB just shooting the shit is the first time that the twins really feel like they’re apart of this little family

So of course the subject of Rebecca and their own family is brought up, Poloma fields these questions saying that she’s sure working together will only bring them closer together, Pax rolls his eyes so damn hard its a miracle they stay in his head but at least he knows when to keep his mouth shut (I swear one day they’ll tell UB about how Rebecca abandoned them as children but not today)

Poloma diffuses the situation when Falk and his friends burst into the warehouse, Pax was super ready to fight them

After they visit the burned down carnival, they both get to walk back to their vehicles Pax with Adam and Poloma with Felix

Pax isn’t impressed by Unit Alpha but Poloma loves them instantly

Pax gets the call from Verda and when he tells Pax that Tina has recently gotten into some interesting books, Pax knows that this was Poloma’s doing and oh man is she gonna get an earful later when they aren’t near the facility or anyone that works for the Agency

The twins, Nate, and Mason all go to the sewers, Poloma uses her deductive powers to find the tunnel that the trappers are down in time for Pax who uses a map he downloads to his phone to confirm she’s right (she bemoans the fact that she should have bet money on it, now she’s out like $50)

For the actual fight, Pax fights while Poloma out smarts the leader and the twins work together with Nate to successfully rescue Sanja, Mason ends up hurt

Pax is understandably uhm...tense when they bring up that the Trappers knew who he and Poloma were because of their blood test results (and really how the fuck did they get a hold of those Rebecca hmmmmm) and specifically says that they don’t need her help especially since they’re part of UB now. Poloma doesn’t say anything but at least gives her brother a halfhearted glare

Falk signs the treaty, Pax and Poloma are attacked by the trappers outside of the facility but they deduce and science their way out of that

They run into Tina and Verda’s family at the carnival and Pax is instantly suspicious of what Tina and Poloma are talking about when Tina pulls her away (because of everything he might have forgotten to chew his sister out for spilling the beans)

Pax runs into Douglas while Poloma runs into Bobby, both are equally disturbed for different reasons after their encounters

Both end the chapter getting their moment with their lis!

[blackmissfrizzle]

Truth Hurts

Title: Truth Hurts

Characters: Dean x black!reader, Sam, Chuck, and Castiel

Summary: Dean finds out that the reader knows he cheated on her with Anna.

A/N: a companion fic for A Match Made in Hell. I’ll be doing more of these to detail Dean’s and the reader’s relationship at different times. Also, no tags this time. I’ll probably update later.

Based off episode 4x18

“I’m full-frontal in here, dude.” Dean complained as he read the newly discovered books about your lives.

This was supposed to be a regular case. The three of you went to a comic book store, investigating for a case, when the clerk asked if you were LARPing and then proceeded to tell you about the ‘Supernatural’ books.

Now you were sprawled in the bed with Dean, reading about your confession of love to Dean before he went to Hell. Whoever this Carver Edlund guy was, he sure did have a way with words.

Sam was sitting at the table with his laptop delving into the ‘fandom’ of Supernatural. Dean took the laptop and to his pleasure he found out there were some Dean girls, but he lost it when he found out there was some Dean/Sam girls. Hey, to each their own.

Most of the feedback on you was positive. They loved that you were a total badass, but some were rightfully pissed that you lied about your family lineage to the boys. There were some racist trolls, because God forbid a black girl gains the attention of one of the world’s perfect specimen. Oh, if they only knew the truth about their precious Dean Winchester.

“Do people really think you and Sam make a better couple? This is blasphemy!” Dean slammed Sam’s laptop in annoyance.

You had to give it to Dean, he put on a good performance. He almost convinced you he was the perfect boyfriend, but you remembered that you caught him with Anna unbeknownst to him.

“Hmmm, I think me and Sam would make a cute couple.” Sam smirked at his older brother and Dean had to hold himself back from smacking it off his face.

Dean pulled you out of your seat and into his lap. He gave you a kiss, which you didn’t return with as much enthusiasm and it was becoming more frequent. After, you guys find Carver Edlund, Dean decided he would talk to you to figure out what’s going on.

Thanks to proving you were ‘super fans’ of Supernatural and a bit of oversharing from the publisher you were able to find Carver Edlund aka Chuck Shurley.

Sam, Dean, and you find yourselves knocking on the door of a cute little house. When Chuck first answered the door he thought you three were playing a joke when Dean introduced y’all. He still thought it was a joke when you showed him the arsenal in Baby’s trunk. It wasn’t until Dean said his last name and you switched your eyes to black did he believe you.

You found yourself with Sam and Dean, in Chuck’s quaint home that was littered with empty beer bottles.

“Oh, you’re still there!” Chuck jumped when he turned around to you three.

“Yup.”

“You’re not a hallucination?”

“Nope.” Dean popped the p while standing there irritated.

Soon, Chuck went on a rant that he was a cruel and capricious God. He kept detailing almost every awful thing that happened to the boys and then asked them if they truly lived through certain events.

“And you,” Chuck steered his gaze towards you. “All those nightmares about hell and then to find Dean cheating on you with an angel no less!”

You couldn’t stop Chuck from revealing your secrets, but the murderous look on your face told him that he made a big mistake.

“I’m sorry, I…I…I forgot he didn’t know yet.” Chuck immediately apologized. He knew your powers could get out of control if you were extremely emotional and he didn’t want to be a target.

Too bad for Chuck, you were embarrassed and pissed. The boys were looking at you with pity and you needed to get out of there fast. You stormed out the house, ignoring Dean’s pleas and when you slammed the door you sent objects flying off the shelves with your powers.

Dean gripped Chuck by the collar, upset with him for revealing his big mistake but more upset that he knew he just broke whatever he had with you.

Sam pulled him back, even though all he wanted to do was punch Dean himself. “C’mon dude, let him go.”

After everything settled down, Chuck explained what he was writing next. He told the brothers that he wrote himself into the book confronted by his characters.

You were pacing down the sidewalk, trying to rid yourself of the anger when the boys came out. Sam threw you an apologetic look before he got into the Impala.

Dean reached for your hand, but you moved to escape his reach and he knew right then he lost you.

“I don’t wanna talk about it. Not now. I just wanna figure out how Chuck is doing what he does and do a bit of laundry, ok?” You kept your gaze hard, you didn’t want Dean to know he had this much of an affect on you. He shooked his head yes and dropped the topic. Dean knew better than to push your buttons when you’re already pissed.

At the laundromat, Dean was reading the transcript that Chuck gave him. He was exactly describing the scene before you. It captured your irritated bitch face and Sam’s brooding shoulders.

Needing some space from Dean you exited the laundromat, but not too long after Dean followed you.

“What did Shurley mean by nightmares?” Dean asked barely above a whisper. He knew it was better to ease into his infidelity instead of jumping in.

Not making eye contact with your boyfriend, you fumbled with the bracelet he gave you. “When you came back, I started having nightmares. They started once we slept in the bed together. At first, I didn’t know what they were, but soon I figured out it was your time in hell. I saw everything, Dean!” Tears were streaming down your face.

“I saw how Alistair cut into you and tortured you. How he would use my face, Sam’s, and Bobby’s, to mess with you. I saw and felt everything! I felt your joy when you took Alastair’s deal and jumped off the rack to put bodies on and torture.”

Dean’s adam’s apple bobbed as he tried to contain his own tears. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

You wiped away a tear and gave Dean a dry laugh. “Because I was trying to do the healthy thing and let you tell me on your own time. I didn’t want to make you talk until you were ready. But it turns out you just didn’t want to talk to me. I should’ve known better. Eventually, you couldn’t wait on me any longer and you would go back to your usual type.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Y/N I did not sleep with Anna because we haven’t had sex yet or because she’s supposedly my type.”

“Then why?”

Dean hung his head in guilt and licked his lips before he answered. “Because she got it. She told me she knew about what happened in hell and I shouldn’t blame myself. Y/N, I thought if I told you I would lose you forever and I can’t bear the thought without you in my life.”

This time you made no attempt to wipe away your tears. You looked at Dean through blurry eyes and replied with venom in your voice. “Well, great job Winchester, you just lost me.”

Each of you stared at the other, mourning the loss of your relationship. Sam came out the laundromat and looked guilty for interrupting the intimate moment. “Ummm, Chuck called he said there’s an emergency.”

Grateful for the interruption, you ran to grab your laundry and went to Baby. When you met up with Chuck, he told you that Lilith was coming and she and Sam were going to have sex in ”…throes of fiery demonic passion.” Ugh, disgusting!

It turned out that Lilith is not possessing a child anymore and was now a dental hygienist. Well, at least according to Chuck she was hot.

Sam laughed at the idea of him and Lilith together, but Dean didn’t find it funny. I’m fact, he took Chuck’s transcript as a ‘what not to do’. There’s was no research for Sam, no bacon cheeseburger for Dean , no fighting between the brothers, and no refereeing for you. But all that went to hell. The waitress accidentally gave Dean the wrong burger, the boys managed to argue in a calm manner, and you still ended up getting in the middle while scrolling through your phone.

All three of you had your own mission to avoid Chuck’s vision. Sam had to stay locked up in the motel room, Dean had to park his car to avoid driving around in it all day, and you had to stay away from your father, which should be easy.

After Dean left you and Sam in the motel room, Sam tried to get you to talk about your feelings and he even gave you the puppy-dog eyes, but you couldn’t do it. So, you left the room and somehow ended up at a park bench.

Suddenly you felt an unwanted presence next to you. You were about to pull out your gun, but someone gripped your wrist before you could. That someone was your demon father.

“How did you find me?”

“I was monitoring your power usage, since someone doesn’t call.” He nudged your shoulder.

Rolling your eyes, you scooted further away from him. “Maybe someone would call you if you didn’t murder their mother and try to make them lead a demon army.”

“You got a point. But I’m here to talk.” He gave you a fatherly pat on your knee. “Before Alistair untimely death due to your boyfriend and his brother.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame he died before his time,” you dramatically rolled your eyes.

“Anyway, before he died he told me that a certain Winchester slept with that fallen angel. And as a father, I’m trying my hardest not to rip his throat out.” Your father’s eyes flashed to black for a millisecond.

It must’ve been keeping your emotions bottled up, because you ended up sobbing in your father’s lap. Despite being a demon, your father was soothing and held you.

For a moment, you believed you two were a regular father and daughter until a ping from your phone brought you back to reality. Dean texted you, saying that you needed to come back to the motel room ASAP.

“Winchester calls and you just drop everything and go running, huh?” Your father was angry at how fast you moved for Dean.

“You has to ruin the moment. Just don’t bother contacting me anymore.” You were walking away when your dad left you with one parting statement.

“It’s inevitable, Y/N. We’ll break all the seals and you’ll be fighting on our side one way or another. Stop tricking yourself into thinking you’re a hunter or a conduit of good. Hell, Dean even slept with a literal angel before you. Maybe he knows deep down that someday you’ll reach your true demonic potential.”

Anxiety, fear, and tears suffocated your throat. Your dad said all the things you feared ever since you met the Winchesters. Not trusting your voice, you flipped the bird at your dad.

By the time you got back, Sam and Dean were arguing. Supposedly, Chuck was a prophet and everything he writes comes true. Oh, you guys were screwed. Dean was bent on leaving town before Lilith got there, but Sam wanted to take the opportunity and fight.

The fight was getting bad, Dean brought up how Sam’s been using his psychic powers to kill Alistair and you took that as your cue to leave the room. Sometimes it was best not to get in the middle of their fights.

Leaning against Baby and drinking some water, you were contemplating your life with the Winchesters when Dean came storming out the room.

“Sam’s stuck on staying?”

Dean wiped down his face in frustration. “Yeah. He’s just ugh.” Dean finally took in your demeanor and noticed the puffiness of your eyes. He reached to grab your hand and this time you didn’t pull away.

“I’m gonna take a guess here, according to Chuck, you should’ve met with your demonic daddy. How that go?”

“Surprisingly good. He threatened to rip your throat out and I might just take him up on that. Then, he had to rant on about my silly demonic potential. You know the usual stuff.” You waved your hand in dismissal.

Dean opened up hid mouth to apologize, but you stopped him. “I don’t need your apology. After this I’m gonna go to Bobby’s and help him find out how to stop the breaking of the seals.”

The fluttering of angel wings broke the uneasy silence between you and Dean after your declaration. Dean begged his angelic friend to find some way to interfere, but Cas claimed it was fate. However, in so many words Castiel suggested we get Chuck near Lilith and an archangel would come.

With the threat of getting shot, Chuck complied with the plan and you guys succeeded. Lilith smoked out of her meat suit and Sam was saved.

Immediately you grabbed your duffle bag and your car keys. You felt a tug on your bag before you could throw it in the trunk.

“I’m not gonna apologize again because I know you don’t want to hear it now and I’m not gonna beg you to stay with me, because you deserve better. Just please let me know when you get to Bobby’s.” Although, Dean didn’t say those words, his green eyes did. You could feel his apology but you didn’t want to accept it, you were still angry at him and yourself.

Swallowing back some tears, you gave Dean a head nod and continued to pack up. Once you got settled into your driver’s seat is when you finally replied to your boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. “Thanks. I’ll let you know when I make it. And umm,” you were fiddling with your keys to rid yourself of your nervous energy. “I’m gonna use this time to figure out want I wanna do with our relationship, k.”

Dean slowly smiled at his chance to earn you back. “That all I can ask for sweetheart.”

You pull out of the parking lot and kept your eyes in the rear view mirror to look at Dean until he disappeared from your view.

[morbid-n-macabre]

Fayetteville, Georgia-

40 year old Chris Benoit was a famous WWE wrestler and family annihilator. The "Canadian Crippler", as he was known in the wrestling world, murdered his wife, Nancy, their 7 year old son, Daniel, then committed suicide during the 3 day weekend of June 22nd through the 25th of 2007.

On Friday Nancy lost her life. She was killed in a second story room; her limbs had been bound, a cord wrapped around her throat, and she was strangled. There were bruises on her stomach and back where Chris had presumably pressed his knee into her, and at some point she suffered a blow to the head. When she was deceased, Nancy was covered with a towel and a Bible was place near her body. Toxicology later proved that Vicodin and Xanax were in her system, but sources claim that these were her everyday medications.

It's believed that someone during Saturday night little Daniel was murdered in his bed. It's thought that Chris drugged his son with Xanax ahead of time, then suffocated him; many believe that Chris used his famous signature wrestling move, the Crippler Crossface, to end his child's life. As with his mother, a Bible was discovered in very close proximity to Daniel's corpse.

Throughout this weekend Chris had been in contact with his close friend and fellow wrestler, Chavo Guerrero. Chris had missed a show, which was very much out of character for him; Chris explained that both Nancy and Daniel both had a nasty case of food poisoning and he may need to take them to the hospital.

On Sunday, Chavo and a a few other wrestlers received text messages from Chris's phone. These messages named the Benoit family's full street address, stated that the garage door was open, and the dogs were chained up in the back yard.

Since I try to be as factually correct as humanly possible, I'm not real sure as to who initially discovered the bodies. Most sources state that the police were called to conduct a wellness check, but others say that the Benoit's neighbor, Holly Schrepfer, was sent to the home to check on the dogs thereby stumbling upon the crime scene. Chris had passed away from apparent suicide just after he sent those texts to his buddies. He'd gone into his workout room, stacked on 240 pounds, and rigged the weight machine to hang himself; the wrestler's neck had been broken. The home computer's search history showed that someone had recently researched "the quickest and easiest way to break a neck".

As for Chris's motive, some think that Chris murdered Daniel because he suffered from "Fragile X Syndrome", but doctors say that the boy did not have this condition. It's said that Daniel had needle track marks on his arms at the time of his death, that Chris had deemed Daniel small for his age so he was treating the 7 year old with growth hormone injections. It's also said that Daniel had been having a hard time in school, and was being held back a grade; it must be mentioned that the boy's teachers say this is absolutely not true. As for Nancy, it's rumored that there had been some recent problems in the Benoit marriage. The relationship had been a passionate one; at one time the couple had separated and Nancy had filed for divorce, but according to friends those troubled times had seemed to be behind them. Furthermore, the shape of Chris's brain definitely needs mentioning. The man had been a superb wrestler, willing to perform stunts in which few others would dare attempt. Due to this, Chris's brain had been severely damaged; he'd suffered multiple untreated concussions, a broken neck in '01, and the steroid abuse certainly hadn't helped his condition. During autopsy the athlete had ten times the level of testosterone in his system, and his brain was comparable to that of an 85 year old Alzheimer's patient. Matter of fact, had this tragedy not occurred, doctors say that Chris would've had maybe 10 months left to live.

Those close to the wrestler say that Chris had been acting increasingly strange before that tragic weekend. He'd been quoting scripture and seen with a rosary around his neck. The wrestler had not been a religious man, yet Bibles were found next to all 3 corpse; a note which read, "I'm preparing to leave this Earth" was discovered inside one Bible. He'd been having strange nightmares, and kept a diary in which he wrote to his recently deceased best friend, Eddie Guerrero. Chris had become paranoid, thought people were following him, he wouldn't even take his trash out to the curb for fear that someone would rifle through it. Chris wouldn't allow his son to play in the yard, he had began taking detours on his way home, and was adamant that Nancy not stay out late after dark. The man had been terrified that someone was watching him, planning something sinister against him.

For many, these are little signs that all was not well in Chris's mind; for others, it's proof that he truly had been in trouble. Maybe someone really had been following him, meant to do him harm. Some believe that Chris and his family were murdered, and yes it does sound preposterous, but there is some evidence which points towards it.

The most popular theory is that fellow wrestler Kevin Sullivan murdered the family, and he did have some pretty serious motive! Back in the day Kevin and Chris were very close friends who played adversaries in the ring; during this time, Kevin and Nancy had been married. You know how the wrestlers have their storylines? Well, the Chris/Kevin story eventually lead to Nancy, who played a character known simply as "Woman" in the wrestling industry, had been having an affair with Chris. Kevin, Nancy's then husband, was not only cool with this fantasy, but he helped to write the story! In order to make it more realistic, Nancy and Chris were seen hanging out alone, they were often purposely discovered out in public on romantic dates, etc. Well, eventually this pretend affair turned into the real deal; the pair fell in love. Nancy divorced Kevin and married Chris, understandably creating a rift between the three. Kevin always blamed his former friend for the disillusion of his marriage. So, knowing this, there are some things which do not sit right.

First, and this is chalked up to coincidence, but at 12:01 am on Sunday morning, before anyone was aware of the murders, Nancy's death was announced on a wiki page. This has been explained away as a silly fan prank, but it's still odd. More worrisome are the statements from Chavo, which have made many people question the whole thing. We've already discussed that he had been in contact with Chris throughout the weekend. He's stated that during an early weekend call with Chris, someone came to the door; Chavo listened to what he would later describe as a scuffle, then the call disconnected. A few hours later Chris contacted his good buddy to say that all was well, and he ended the conversation with "I love you Chavo". This unnerved Chavo; he said that Chris sounded tired, and he was concerned for his friend. Again, Chavo and Chris had been very close, they hung out all the time. One of Chris's final texts to Chavo read, "My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville Georgia. 30215". Why would Chris send his best buddy his address when Chavo knew exactly where he lived? Though I can not confirm this, it is reported that some of these texts were sent after Chris was already dead. Another bothersome fact, there were empty beer cans found near Chris's corpse, but autopsy concluded that the wrestler had not been drinking. So, who drank all of that beer? And do you remember the neighbor lady, Holly Schrepfer? She claims to have seen another wrestler near the Benoit home during this weekend, a wrestler who had absolutely no reason to be there. If all of this weren't enough, these murders took place on the 10th anniversary of Kevin and Nancy's divorce!

Now I'm not giving my opinion on this case, just telling you what I found during my research. That said, one thing is for sure: it doesn't appear that police conducted a thorough investigation of the case. It was automatically deemed a family annihilator situation, and that was that; Nancy's family claims that the police had left behind suitcases of steroids; these definitely should've been seized during the a search of the home. If they missed illegal substances, what else didn't they pick up on?

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/24-reasons-that-will-prove-that-chris-benoit-is-innocent.453787849/

Out of this entire case, one fact chilled me to the bone when researching this case. You'll find very little mention of it, but young Daniel had a large kitchen knife tucked under his pillow at the time of his death. Why would a 7 year old boy be sleeping with a knife? Was he afraid, and if he was, of who? What did that child know, what had he witnessed during this weekend of hell? Had he been aware of his mama's murder, was he aware that he was next?

*There's much, much more to this, I could be here writing for a few more days but I wanna go ahead and post this. If you'd like to jump down this vast rabbit hole with me, here's a link to get you started. You gotta check the facts with links like these, but this one will get you started. Let me know what you think!

[justkpopjokes]

Nice to Meet You, Angel. || Demon!Joshua

Ft. Joshua/Jisoo(s Chri—actually no, the complete opposite)

Anon: Demon Joshua😏

A/N: This AU has gone through 4 whole plot rewrites rip. kinda inspired by Good Omens!! (also 2 aus in a week?? whaaaaaat)

!! This is a gender neutral!reader fluff with 1945 words~ !!

Before we begin the plot, lemme quickly go through the basics of the universe

yayy lin’s doing world building again

there are angels and demons in the universe, simply just the optional jobs of people’s souls once they die

if they choose this job, they don't remember much of their life on Earth, but they do remember events they associate w/strong emotions bc it helps them

for ex. an angel could remember how sad a death made them feel so they know to prevent it

and a demon can remember how angry a bully made them felt so they can make people that level angry

both angels & demons take the form of their bodies when they were alive and roam on Earth

they can also return to Heaven/Hell and observe Earth from their respective realms

also yes demons can be summoned, but lmao you can also just give em a phone call via incantation

the angel equivalent to this phone call is praying

demons can pretty much do anything as long as it relates somehow to the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth)

angel powers are more holy/good, and they can grant things in prayers if they choose, etc

Anyway, YOU KNOW THIS BOI??

THiS bOi sHUa

he's chill af for a demon ok

one of the first demons so like no one really knows how he’s a demon bc he’s so polite

there’s some speculation that he was one of the first to fall but like

what the hell did he do???

But also some say he became a demon out of spite bc he saw a demon commit a “sin” that actually helped someone

so he became a demon just to help people in a more… unholy way

and then he was upset angels hated him just because he was a demon

like wow spirit discrimination

NOW YOU—

you are an angel (literally)

you’re the angel that protects like. atheists/"non-believers" bc c'mon just because they don’t believe in God/gods doesn’t mean they shouldn't have access to that protection service

(yes hello you’re calling APS, the Angel Protection Service sponsored by God, how may I help you?)

so yeah you’re pretty chill yourself since you have to constantly deal with people who don't believe in you lol

One fine day, you were listening to a prayer from a sick college student

ok it wasn't really a prayer but they were like "oh please, my god, let me get some sleep tonight"

you gladly put them to sleep and they slept soundly at night

when you checked on them the next morning, you noticed—

A dEmON?!?

…lying right next to the student (but above the covers, he has boundaries), who isn't stirring at all

if the leather jacket and ripped jeans didn't tip you off, he had some horns on his head to confirm ur suspicions

You: "Hey what in the world are you doing here?!"

???: "What? If they get up rn they won't be able to pay attention in class. I'm letting them rest first"

You: "Wha—who—okay, okay okay… who are you?"

"I’m Joshua, nice to meet you, angel"

Shua knows he has the name of an angel so afterwards he's like. Don't get it confused bish.

you ask him what he's doing, and basically, he's using the sin sloth on this sicko student so they stay in bed and recover instead of going to class

Even tho you feel iffy abt letting a demon affect a human right in front of you, an angel, you are a bit intrigued

you haven't seen a demon use their powers for good before…

who is this guy??

anyway he disappears, presumably to Hell, once the student needs to wake up

which is when u miracle them some bread to get

But don't worry, you're destined to meet again~

which you did, on several occasions

and ok maybe you were glad to talk to someone who was actually interesting

so, yknow,,, if another angel was like "hey y/n uhh there's a demon… bothering? someone? idk but it's a non-believer, that's ur jurisdiction right"

you had a guess on who this demon was…

…and you were right

Joshua: "Oh hey angel"

You: "Ew, you make it sound like a pet name"

JS: "Well I don't know your name, do I?"

You: "Oh. Right. It's Y/N."

he still calls you angel tho, smh that flirt

y'all just bicker and/or chat for a bit whenever u go help the same person

Like one time when he insisted that you let him use gluttony on a teen so they'd eat a lot of ice cream that day

they had just been through a bad break up so u let it slide

Or another time he used wrath on a timid kid so they could stand up to a bully

all of these ended w/you two bickering while walking away

There was this little girl you were watching from heaven who was writing a letter to "Whoever Can Do This"

little girl started listing a bunch of things, which you assumed were toys

but then you realized it was actually stuff like food, friends, a puppy, a loving dad who will go out to the park with her—

so u go down there to check on this lil child

…and that's when you see a familiar leather jacket watching over her and suggesting other things to write

you can’t see him from heaven so ur like gosh darn it I should’ve known

"Joshua?? I should've known it was—"

*cue both shua and the child turning around*

JS: "Oh hey, nice to see you, angel"

Lil' Nugget: *GASP* "Mr. Josh is this ur s/o???"

JS: "Hm? Oh, I mean, no, but um…"

You: "Josh what have u been putting into this one's head…"

Shua's all like "greed! Her dad's been ignoring her since her mom died so we're writing a list of things she wants"

then the smol girl smiles so wide and is like "Mr. Josh is helping me! He's my new friend!!"

ur like awww dangit ok I'll let it slide if u let me help

Once she finishes it, Josh hands the girl's list over to you

he explains quietly he wants you to miracle her dad to pay attention+love his daughter again so they can have/do all the other things on the list

you read it over again and do just that

The little girl gives the list to her father, your miracle allowing them to have a fun afternoon eating ice cream and playing with her toys

And you and Josh have a nice time too~

once y'all left that girl's room, he invited you for some soda

"Coke? I hope you mean Coca Cola"

"Yeah, uh, there's a place with a vending machine not too far from here. We can walk"

You don't spend time on Earth often, but you learn as you walk w/Josh that he "prefers the air up here"

mainly bc he doesn't fit in with the other demons, but he also just likes spending time with humans

(obviously tho he needs to go down to hell occasionally for like conferences and such)

you don't remember if you've ever been on a date before lol

Josh doesn't either, but he does remember how jumbled up ur emotions get, which he is not ready for

then again of course he has, I mean look at that charm

however, you can't remember if the feeling you get when going on ur little date with Shua is love :/

it isn’t really, but just bc this is ur first “date,” so it makes sense

But Josh makes sure to take you out again… for dinner!!!

you were investigating the use of lust and pride at the same time

of course, it was just Josh helping a guy find someone to hook up with

you were kinda disgusted and wanted to leave, so shua gladly took your arm and pulled you away to a restaurant!

y’all had a nice dinner, paying with some money Josh had collected

and then you went to walk together and chat some more

he’s breathtaking, and he actually wants to spend time with you despite y’all being on opposite sides of an inevitable war

You don’t care, going on more dates just to talk and not have to care about ur jobs and other stuff

Shua hears you yell “what the hell” at some point and he’s like woAH you can say that???

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not really polite, but I can. Can you say ‘Thank God?’”

“‘Thank God?’ Well look at that, I can. Good point”

you love him because he’s so chill and doesn’t give a f*** abt anything

except you and humans, apparently

like he could’ve burned or smth by saying “Thank God” or be confined to the basement of Hell for helping people/talking with you, but he doesn’t care lmao

However, no one really knows you’ve been talking with a demon tho so uhhh

when they do you get in a little bit of trouble w/the archangels

ur boss was essentially like “y/n what the HECK are you doing?!? you’re on thin ice rn”

you get mad at him, trying to defend Joshua

and you’re right in doing so, since he just wants to help people with a different set of powers

ur archangel boss sends you back down to Earth, saying you can’t return to Heaven until they work smth out

(they probably want to burn you with Hell fire)

You warn Josh, knowing they might burn you

he’s adamant on keeping you with him, so y’all try to hide or smth

which won’t work of course, but you can try, right?

right?

Shua and you sit together on a bench, with you leaning on his shoulder

“Joshua… I’m scared, I don’t want to be burned!”

“Don’t worry y/n, it’ll be okay. I love you, angel, nothing bad will happen”

and just like that, you remember what it feels like to love

“You’re right. I love you too. Help the non-believers for me if I go, alright?”

“I’ll help them just for you.”

Your archangel boss is smart, knowing the worst punishment for you is to be reincarnated without memories

you wouldn’t remember Joshua at all

and when he drags u back up to Heaven, you want to cry

do angels cry holy water? anyway

you’re sent back to Earth as a baby that can’t fend for itself

You remember nothing.

You’ve recently graduated from college and are out looking for a job

you’ve gotten rejected and fired so many times

for ex. just now, after you were arguing with someone who spoke another language that you didn’t know and there was no translator available

the customer wasn’t willing to cooperate either, ignoring your attempts to use an online translator smh

it’s late and you’re tired, so you leave, angry, and start coughing frantically when you inhale too much smoke coming from the alley next to you

naturally, you’re like “What the hell?! Dude, you’re not supposed to be smoking this close to an entrance!”

“Why do you care? You don’t work here anymore”

you take a better look at the stranger once he steps into the light of a nearby lamppost

it’s a dude in a leather jacket and ripped jeans who drops his cigarette

“Need help getting a job, y/n?”

“how do you—what—who are you?”

he extends a hand out to you, which you shake reluctantly

“I’m Joshua. Nice to meet you, angel.”

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Descendants OC Compilation Part 1

Yes, another post to outline my Descendants, but now with all faceclaims and titles - this is mostly for my own reference but of course feel free to enjoy!  Also this will hopefully help me keep track of which OCs to make proper introductions for so feel free to tell me your favourites! 

Avalon Le Fay in King And Lionheart (fc. Emma Dumont): Daughter of Merlin and Morgana Le Fay (mixing disney with bbc’s merlin)

Nimue, daughter of Arthur and Gwen, and Avalon Le Fay, daughter or Merlin and Morgana, had always been thick as thieves, and had always been ready to declare war on Auradon.  Ever since the formation of the Isle, King Adam and the Fairy Godmother had been insisting that Morgana was still a villain, and therefore belonged on the Isle, and once Avalon was born, she agreed–so long as her daughter could stay in Camelot.  When Arthur was killed barely a year later, Merlin and Gwen partnered up to raise their daughters and run a kingdom, until the girls would be old enough to do so themselves.  Of course Auradon never trusted the one kingdom that refused to unite, and insisted that the girls be sent to Auradon prep, and so they went–reluctant as could be. Everything was fine, mostly–the other princesses looked down on Nimue’s love of swordfighting, and Avalon was never seen as anything but a villain kid, but they still had each other.  They could tolerate it all, biding their time. But at sixteen years of age, everything they’d ever planned gets thrown for a loop when it’s declared that four children from the Isle would be moving to Auradon. crossover with @seaweedhufflepuffocs​

Maria Frollo in Long Live The Queen (fc. Hazelle/Bellamie): Daughter of Claude Frollo

Maria Frollo hated her father.  It wasn’t an uncommon sentiment on the Isle, but it was still true.  She hated him.  More than she’d ever hated anyone.  Lucky for her, she met Queenie and Helena in the marketplace one day and found herself being taken under their wings.  She knows that she isn’t tough, not like they are, but if there’s one thing she learned from her father, it was how to rain hellfire down on her enemies

Queenie in Long Live The Queen (fc. Darya Lebedeva): Daughter of the Queen Of Hearts

First there was Mal, then there was Uma.  Mal defected, turned good; Uma had a martyr complex without the brains to do, well, anything.  Now they’re gone, and there’s a new queen in town.  Queenie, along with her right hand man Helena, and their loyal supporter Maria, is running the show now.  And if anyone crosses her, she knows what to do; off with their heads 

Helena in Long Live The Queen (fc. Kimmy Schram): Daughter of Hades

Living on the Isle wasn’t easy, but there was something particularly difficult about it for a goddess.  Her dad couldn’t be kept on the Isle–they’d tried, no one died anymore, he was allowed to return to the Underworld.  But when Helena was born, she was cast away to join the rest of the Villains and their children, forced to fend for herself.  Being a goddess had its advantages too, she was able to survive and rise up with no problem.  Soon she was the right hand to the newest queen, and hell would freeze before she let anyone take that away from them.

Elise Charming in Enchanted (fc. Lili Reinhart): Daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming

Elise is Chad’s twin sister and polar opposite (well other than being preppy and a cheerleader).  She truly believes in second chances and is super excited for the VKs to come to Auradon?  And definitely falls in love with Evie but thinks that Evie is straight

Finley Rider in Stolen Heart (Fc. Virginia Gardner): Daughter of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider

Her name is Princess Finley Ryder - Corona is officially part of Auradon but they still have their own royal line.  When she was ten she was at some fancy gala party at the museum and got really bored, and got caught stealing Jafar’s staff (no one noticed that she also got both lamps) and she gets sent to the Isle on one of the shipping barges, and the first person she meets is Jay.  Once they’re a bit closer and she’s been officially accepted into the VK circle, she tells him that she still has both of the lamps, Jay makes her promise not to tell anyone else and they’ll keep them as a last resort bargaining stool.  And then they get summoned to auradon (she’s not supposed to go but Jay convinces Jafar who convinces Maleficent who “convinces” the driver) and she has to face the people who exiled her

Princess Isabelle in Tale As Old As Time (fc. Danielle Campbell): Daughter of Belle and Adam

Ben’s twin sister, who is actually the firstborn.  She believes that she should be the queen (and so does Belle) but her father insists on Ben because Isabelle is significantly harder to control.  Her endgame love interest was going to be Mal but now I’m torn between Mal and Audrey for her.

Violet Kingsleigh in Up The Rabbit Hole (fc. Meg Donnelly): Daughter of Alice and the Hatter

Violet Kingston loved growing up in Wonderland, she really did.  She loved spending mornings in her aunt’s - the queen’s - gardens; she loved fighting lessons with her parents and reading with Absolem; she loved playing with the Tweedles and hide and seek with Chess; and, of course, she adored her dad’s infamous tea parties.  Yes, Violet loved everything about Wonderland.  Especially that it wasn’t in Auradon.  It was perfect.  And then the queen is cursed, and all of Wonderland knows that Auradon is to blame.  But they can’t declare war without proof, so suddenly their young princess is being sent to Auradon prep to investigate.  Violet knows her mission.  Violet is absolutely and entirely focused.  Violet is most definitely not prepared for the boy-king to have invited a group of teenagers from the Isle Of The Lost to start school on the same day as her.

Harley Hook in Lost Girl (fc. India Eisley): Daughter of Captain Hook

Harley Hook was a pirate, through and through.  Always at her brother’s side, always with Uma and the crew, always near her beloved Gil, Harley Hook was a pirate.  And as a pirate, she absolutely hated Mal’s gang.  They thought that they were so much better than anyone, just because of Mal’s mom - big whoop, it’s not like Maleficent could even use magic on the Isle.  So yeah, Harley hated the VKs, her loyalty was to the crew, and she was never seen away from Harry or Gil.  And then the princeling decides to bring children of some of the worst villains to Auradon: Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos.  And Harley.  Harley couldn’t be more furious at being taken away from her crew, or at being sent to Auradon, or at being forced to work with the VKs to get Fairy Godmother’s wand.  But she knows that if she wants to get back to the Isle, back to her family, she needs that barrier down as much as they do.  She’s just not sure that they can cooperate long enough for that.

Francie Facilier in Shadow Tales (fc. tentatively Amandla Stenberg): Daughter of Doctor Facilier

Why is it that people on the Isle only ever talk about Celia Facilier?  Well according to her, it’s because she’s the superior sister; according to Francie Facillier, it’s because she choses to fade into the shadows from which she came.  Francie knows everything about everyone, knows every corner of the Isle, even knows how to get off of it.  But even though she’s supposed to be evil, she’s not quite evil enough to force anyone else to listen to the villains lament on their glory days, on when they were the most feared in all the land.  Whatever, big deal, who cares?  Maybe the Beast-King should have left them all dead.  But he didn’t, no way of changing it now, so maybe it’s time for Francie to put all of her knowledge to work and crown herself Queen of the Isle.

Lani in One Foot In The Sea (And One On The Shore) (fc. Madelaine Petsch): Daughter of Melody

Melody’s daughter, the first second generation child to be born, and to go to Auradon Prep.  She’s half part of Auradon (because of Eric’s kingdom) but also Atlantian which is still separated, and she’s trying to unite the two but is being torn apart by it

Trina Tremaine in I’m Still Here (fc. Lana Condor):  Daughter of Lady Tremaine

a daughter of Lady Tremaine, much younger than the other two, only a couple of years older than Dizzy.  She and Dizzy are extremely close but are separated when she’s brought to Auradon.  Probably also treated badly by Lady Tremaine, ends up becoming quite close with Cinderella during that first family day where everything went wrong.

Rosabelle in The Rose Has Her Thorns (fc. Zoey Deutch): Daughter of Gaston

A daughter of Gaston, Gil’s little sister, Ben decides that he can’t bring other VKs and not the child of his parents own villain, so Rosabelle gets brought to Auradon.  I don’t know much but I’ve decided that she becomes quite close with Belle (I think that she would have been majorly mistreated by Gaston and Belle can tell as soon as they meet) and Adam really hates that.  Her hair is naturally blonde (like Gil’s) but she dyes it on the Isle.

Titania aka Tia in Two Roads Diverged (fc. Emily Rudd): Daughter of Fairy Godmother

in a slight AU where the Beast is honestly really dark, FG has twin daughters and he forces her to send one to the Isle (I’m not sure if it’s specifically because they’d be magic or if there’s a one child rule because he doesn’t want anyone being able to overthrow him) but FG hides her away somewhere instead?  Or she does go to the Isle but then escapes in D3 when the VKs and Pirates leave after visiting Hades.  I have very little plot beyond that but in D3 when Jane and co find the statue of FG, Jane thinks of getting the wand, but when she goes in she sees this girl taking it (and not being stopped by the shield because she has the same blood) and discovers that she has a twin, and then they overthrow the beast or something - introduces herself to everybody as Tia because of the power of real names

Noelle in Only Love, Only Hate (fc. Kiernan Shipka): Daughter of Elsa

Absolutely hates Auradon because they tried to send Elsa to the Isle, but is forced to attend Auradon Prep for political reasons and she and Ben fall in love, kind of a Romeo & Juliet vibe - title comes from the Romeo And Juliet quote “my only love sprung from my only hate”

Myra Frollo in Hellfire (fc. Elle Fanning): daughter of Claude Frollo and Cinderella (nonconsensual). 

Because of the Beast’s hatred of magic and the time period of both Hunchback and BATB, Frollo is not sent to the Isle (the Beast claims that he’s a hero for his valiant effort to protect the city from witchcraft). Frollo assaults Cinderella, and Myra is the result. Beast grants Frollo custody but she occasionally gets to spend time with her mom. She’s very close with both Cinderella and Chad, but not Prince Charming. Chad knows that her father is abusive and it’s a big part of why he is so opposed to VKs coming to Auradon - if Frollo isn’t considered bad enough for the Isle then how horrible must those villains and their kids be

Lyssa in One Last Hope (fc. Vanessa Morgan): Daughter of Meg and Hercules

daughter of Hercules who the fates predicted would be evil and is therefore sent to the isle as an infant and is raised by Hades but then Ben includes her in the group being brought to Auradon

Charity in A Twist In Truth (fc. Sabrina Carpenter): daughter of Belle and Prince Charming

Doesn’t know that Adam isn’t her father until a curse is placed on his bloodline and she realizes that she’s unaffected

Faith in The Hands Of Fate (fc. Paris Berelc): daughter of the Fates (their scissors are seen in the Villain Room of the museum) who was raised on the Isle

Blair in A Change Of Fate (fc. Adelaide Kane): Merida’s adopted daughter

Looked down on by the rest of Auradon because she doesn’t have the proper bloodline)

Cheryl in Daughter Of The Devil (fc. Margaret Qualley): daughter of Chernabog

Gloria in Mother Knows Best (fc. Camila Mendes): Daughter of Mother Gothel

Hannah in Wish I Were Here (fc. Kat McNamara): Daughter of Hans

Hannah never knew who her mom was, and knows that her dad has no magical abilities whatsoever, but when she steps foot into Auradon she discovers that she can do magic and finds herself on a quest to learn the truth about her past

Sonya White in Ties That Bind (fc. Grace Phipps): Daughter of Snow White (in the same series as NAME and Name)

Sonya and Snow both consider Evie family and Sonya is determined to do whatever she can to help Evie - including getting the wand

Anissa Radcliffe in Ties That Bind (fc. Maia Mitchell): A daughter of Anita and Roger Radliffe, from the same series as Sonya and Layla

Layla in Ties That Bind (fc. Naomi Scott): A daughter of Aladdin and Jasmine, from the same series as Sonya and Anissa

Casseopia in Where I’m Meant To Be (fc. Mackenzie Foy): Daughter of Meg and Hercules

Raised on Olympus by Hera and Zeus, their demand after Hercules turned down godhood, and recently sent to Auradon Prep

Isadora Darling in Second Star To The Left  (fc. Olivia Holt): Daughter of Jane Darling

After Adam became king of Auradon, he had Fairy Godmother put up a barrier around Neverland, just like the one around the Isle, but no one knows where it is - somehow, Isadora finds it and makes it to the other side.

Maisie in Who Is The Monster (And Who Is The Man) (fc. tbd - open to suggestions): (full name Margaret), daughter of Esmeralda and Phoebus.

Because of his hatred of magic and the time period of both Hunchback and BATB, the Beast sends Esmeralda to the Isle (a few years after the villains, when she’s three months pregnant). She names her daughter Margaret because it was the name that Phoebus wanted. When Ben finds out that she’s on the Isle, he thinks it’s absolute bullshit and immediate includes Maisie in the kids to be brought to Auradon

Hayden in Dying Is An Art (fc. tbd, open to suggestions with purple, green, or blue hair): Daughter of Maleficent and Hades, raised by Hades

Forever Tag List: @themildestofwriters​ @gottaenjoythelittlethingzz​ @dancerdramatic14​ @seaweedhufflepuffocs​ @iceandwaterfairytail​ @agb-random @foxesandmagic - want to be added to the forever/fandom/character tag lists for fics or all content?  shoot me an ask!

Descendants Tag List: @katiesocs

[slashtakemylife]

Voltron x ATLA x LOK fusion

A prompt or idea of sorts of the Voltron characters that follows a bit on the ATLA and LOK storylines with little changes, I also added a bit of Voltron’s lore into it

It’s a bit long and I in fact cover 3 arcs from beggining to finish but there are some blank spots which is why it won’t be made into a full fic but I hope you enjoy the ride

Allura, an airbender and the Avatar finds herself in the last and most prominent of the Air Temples being decimated by the Fire Nation, in order to protect her from the Fire Lord’s rage, her father, knocks her out and send her with Coran and her bison away, they catch a storm and when they go down the water she freezes them

- time skip of only a few years - (10?)

Keith, is a firebender from Republic City looking for his missing brother Shiro, his last clue sent him to the South Pole were a stranded Fire Nation boat may have more information on his wereabouts, he sees a south pole-ner? looking at his reflexion on an ice, he tries to bypass him but Lance, a waterbender from the South Tribe spots him, he then wants to capture Keith, who he thinks is a Fire Nation soldier, to impress the ladies and fellas at home however Keith gets the upper hand and easily defeats him, leaving him on the floor covered in snow, Lance in a tantrum brings forth a giant ice that has Allura and Coran along with their bison, named something that I would love if it sounds similar to the Castle of Lions (Cas? just straigth out Castle?)

Allura doesn’t trust Keith because he is fire nation, Keith doesn’t give af and leaves them to reach that ship and they separate, Allura goes with Lance, however Lotor, the exiled prince shows up, Allura can easily beat Lotor but he sends his soldiers to attack the village.

After Keith finds what he needed in the ship, he knows Lotor is attacking them due to the smoke of his ship so he goes to help, that is how he gains Allura’s trust, Keith tells them he is looking for Shiro, he is an important metalbender that has helped keep Republic City safe, however he was sent to Ba Sing Se to help protect it with a few of their squad, they succeed but he ends up captured, there are rumors on him being alive but no one can do anything, thus Keith leaving, he knows he is close

Allura, Coran, Lance and Keith go save Shiro from an ice prision, (long haired Shiro), he has no arm but when he finds metal he uses his bending to create one, while his metal arm works as a natural hand, he still needs some adjustment time to get used and learn how to bend with just one arm, he tells them their most important task is to protect and train the Avatar, Republic City is the most advanced, heavily protected city and is filled with masters that would gladly teach the avatar, btw Allura can’t reach the pasts Avatars and her Avatar state is either weaken or she just can’t reach it, they think it’s a spiritual thing, remember this detail ;)

And then this is the reason this is just like a prompt because basically the next part is just Lotor giving chase and shenanigams happen, in the middle they find Hunk, an earthbender who’s village has been taken by the FN and took his father, they liberate them all and he joins them in their quest, they go to an air temple were a group of non benders has taken over the temple, they were seeking refuge from the fire nation and found the temple, they are tech junkies, once the FN took notice there was someone in the temple they attacked, their inventions helped protect them but with little resources they knew a second wave would decimate them, Sam agreed to be taken away so long as the temple was spared, his son was also taken away as guarantee, Katie Holt just knows his father and brother mysteriously disappeared, leaving Colleen in charge, she escapes as goes by the name of Pidge to avoid being discovered and joins the team

So they reach Republic City (I have to say it’s mostly Adashi but there is story, bare with me please) were Shiro (obviously) reunites with his husband Adam and gives them a place to stay in their home, he wants to announce Allura as the Avatar and begin her training, Adam tells him not to, apparently there is a new issue

Sendak, the equalist, they say he can take bending away and has been kidnapping benders and striping them of their bending to create a benderless world, the kidnappers are expert at close combat that use chi blocking and electricity to kidnap them, this makes Shiro nervous, so they wait out

Next day finds Adam not going to work, Shiro asks if it’s okay given the situation and Adam says he is just a worried husband caring for his recently appeared husband

The truth is the next, Adam is the highest ranking non-bender in the police force, they obviously prefer benders and of course there is the police force of only metal benders, Shiro is a high rank officer (even Chief maybe?) before he was deployed to aid Ba Sing Se from an incoming attack, Adam had a hard time proving himself as a non bender in the police force, the way he reached the top was with his amazing fighting skills and chi blocking, he uses the later to handle benders, so many people in the police force were wary of him, everything Adam fought for, all the time he took to convince the benders he was equal to them, died in 5 seconds when this radical dude showed up (ADASHI TIME! Can I interest you with in-training yet prodigy metal bender Shiro crushing hard on also in-training Adam as he decimates his 5th bender opponent with his bare non-bending hands?)

While they had yet to investigate him fully, he feels uncomfortable since everyone is suspicious of him, some think he is their true leader. So Adam is using Shiro as an excuse to ask for an early vacations to take care of him and also, Adam does want to take care of Shiro, come on! He hasn’t seen Shiro since his deployment nearly four years ago and after he was announced as missing in action, his little brother who lives with them, just dissapears as well so yeah, Adam is not letting his boys out of his watch Ever Again

Again there’s a reason this is a prompt or I don’t know but smth smth happens, Allura is discovered to be the Avatar, they find Sam, he knows part of Honerva’s plan I’ll cover in a few, smth smth, time skip XD then Adam is having an interview done, since he is the highest rank non-bender they want an interview regarding the recent equalizer events, in reality they just give an introduction on who Adam is, the interviewer does the “what you think” question and goes to commercial

There in the radio booth is Sendak and he wants Adam to support the movement since he is one of the most prominent non-benders there is, transmission comes back and instead of a pro-equalists speech, Adam makes a pro-benders one (even mentioning how the love of his life it’s a bender for extra tears)

So anyway, Shiro realizes it’s a trap and he desperately tries to reach Adam but unfortunately Adam gets kidnapped because he refused to bow down to the equalists

In reality, Sendak takes them to Haggar, she is in Republic City because it has the biggest concentration of benders and the most powerful as well as diversity, so the bending is just her taking out their spirit energy/quintessence, leaving them benderless, she trained Sendak to be a blood bender in order to temporarily chi block their bending and make them faint enough for her to act

They go to save Adam but in there, Shiro finds Adam, he is brainwashed and tells him he should allow Haggar to take his bending away so they could have a happy benderless life, away from the battlefield like Adam always wanted, Shiro is one of the strongest benders there is so they do use Adam as bait for him, he has no choice but to shock Adam unconscious, still he losses his bending before Allura can get there, Haggar with so much spiritual/quintessence energy from taking the benders and now one of the strongest, Shiro, goes against Team Avatar until only Allura is left and she also sees she can energy bend even if it’s a little so she is able to defeat her but she escapes, she restores Shiro’s bending as well, btw Lotor also reached Republic city and gets a redemption ark, he changes like Zuko in Ba Sing Se and goes to Team Avatar to reveal that Haggar wants to release Vatu and make Zarkon a dark Avatar

The third ark is they discover the story behind it all, so here it is:

We go back to the paladins of old, GoodZarkon is the Avatar, great friends with the previous Paladins of Voltron, a group of representatives of each nation that helps the avatar with it’s affairs, they had the issue of Vatu being released, you know the 10,000 y/o, it was with them that happened so they make plans to imprison him again

However GoodZarkon’s wife, Honerva believes she can put an end to this cycle because every 10k years each avatar has to deal with him, you just need one avatar to fail for everything to be over, she has been studying spiritual leaves and vines from the spirit world and finds their energy source, which she names quintessence, we all have it, in fact that is what allows benders to bend but spirits can use quintessence at will for so much more, she actually wants to release Vatu and make something with him, not imprison him

Vatu could have tricker her into thinking this would put and end to the squabble, of course they all disagree but shit happens and Honerva is badly injured, maybe a spirit passes through her and she get’s weird? Vatu tells GoodZarkon that with the combined power of him and Raava inside him, they can heal Honerva, so he releases him and tries to contain both entities inside, but only works for them to fight inside GoodZarkon, Vatu just wants to have his cycle like Raava and have her be locked away, the paladins come over and manage to separate both entities out of GoodZarkon, they imprison Vatu and release Raava for her to look for an Avatar, since it was Alfor the one who physically releases her to the world, unbestknown to him, it makes Raava latch onto his energy signature and thus falls into a days old Allura

Leaving GoodZarkon “dead” and out of the cycle but actually he and Honerva both survive as Zarkon and Haggar, since Zarkon had Vatu inside him and Honerva is now kind of spirit crazy Haggar, few years later they kidnapp the current Fire Lord and go to the spirit world were they find the face swapping spirit and they exchange the face to that of the current Fire Lord into Zarkon so he becomes Fire Lord

Zarkon slowly begins his quest of conquering the world but really he is looking for the Avatar because he wants to be the Avatar again, he wants to drag Raava out of Allura and into him again or, release Vatu and take him instead, Haggar is in charge on finding where he is and how to release him, the old paladins sealed the entrance

There was peace in between the old Paladins fight with Zarkon and his supposed ‘death’ were Allura grew but one day the Fire Nation went crazy (they face swap, it’s Zarkon now) and started to want to conquer the world, they were able to keep him contained but they struggle and Zarkon is incredibly powerful due to having previously had both entities inside his body, he retains his core element bending which is fire, and lays waste on the air nation, the paladins join once again to defeat him but without the avatar they can’t do a thing, Alfor knows Allura (now grown up) is the avatar but he considers she’s still to young, Allura wants to fight, wants to fulfill her destiny but one day Zarkon finally lays waste on the final air temple, Alfor sends her and Coran away

Back to the present, The Paladins knew the Fire Lord was previous Avatar Zarkon but said nothing to no one, they just said he died while saving the world from Vatu, that is the reason Allura can’t reach the previous Avatar since the link is broken since Zarkon is not really dead but he’s no longer the Avatar? She finally strips away any connection and finally can connect to previous Avatar and reach the Avatar state at it’s full potential

Big fight, they win, end