#no risks could ever be taken for landon

[landonkirbyappreciation]

It’s so absurd how they had golem Landon telling Hope that she needed to worry about Landon less and everyone else more. When Landon had literally melted, been trapped in Malivore, been trapped alone in a prison world full of monsters with no help or powers, for how many weeks, all while everyone else was safely living their lives at the school. But no, don’t worry about Landon, worry about everyone else. That sort of mentality really sums up the show though, like… Landon is in grave danger, Landon is trapped in another dimension, Landon’s body has been taken over, Landon died, Landon is trapped in purgatory, Landon lost a piece of his soul, every bad thing ever is happening to Landon but let’s not worry about any of that and focus on other irrelevant things instead. And care about anyone and anything else but him while he suffers. That was basically the show in a nutshell.

[xalecjacobs]

MERROCK TASK #9

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND...

Alec Landon Jacobs

—

Playing Next:

Mutt by Blink-182 [x]

Can’t Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers [x]

40oz to Freedom by sublime [x]

tw: drug abuse, reference to sa allegations

When coming up with Alec, immediately the two things settled were his two loves in life: music and his high school sweetheart. My next question was basically how can I complicate things, as the sucker for a dramatic backstory that I am. In came the idea that the music was what broke the relationship, and therefore Alec’s belief in love, apart.

The perfect set up became that Alec had spent his entire twenties out on the road as a musician, and all of the troubles that came with that. The drugs, the girls, the financial struggle. The next question became, well what kind of music did he play? What’s more angsty sadboi than pop punk? Even more, a pop punk boy who’d made his name in the warped tour scene?

Alec was heavily inspired by all of the band dudes that I grew up with and around. Being a warped tour kid, I grew up to establish relationships with bands of various degrees of fame and plenty of local guys who wanted to be those bands. From the way he speaks to the way he carries himself, Alec through and through is the epitome that scene in the late 90s and early 00s in Southern California. As a 2000s warped tour emo in SoCal myself, it was just perfect. And with the demise of that tour, it became the perfect set up to have Alec returning to Merrock after more than a decade, trying to settle into “regular” life for the first time while already in his thirties. Regular life meant a job. Of course Alec would be that kid who was doing stick-and-pokes on friends since before he could drive and subsequently kept tattoo equipment with him on tour. Tattoo artist it was.

Upon that decision, I worked my way backwards. How did he end up in Merrock in the first place? His parents, was the obvious choice as he was in high school. However, something told me he was heavily influenced being raised by “cool” parents. The easiest way to relate to your parents without finding them desperately out of touch, I feel, is when they are fairly young. In came the idea that Alec had been raised by a single teen mom, someone he was much more a friend with than a son to. It made sense that Alec would be a sort of inspirational story, from growing up in poverty to touring alongside these internationally renowned bands. Even if financially, touring musician wasn’t exactly making him the riches one may expect. In all of this, FC choice was easy. Anyone who’s been in groups with me before knows I’ve used Tyler frequently, brooding mysterious rockstar is something he pulls off well. Plus, he has the voice! I’m still waiting on a new EP, it’s been 10 years..

Love, sex, and relationships are a huge part of Alec’s story. The muse for the entirety of his music career has been his one and only serious relationship that he never quite recovered from. The one regret Alec has in life is letting his dream come in the way of his future with the one person he considers to have ever been truly in love with. This to say, he has never truly allowed himself to fall in love again since. Alec is now known for his long string of hook ups and flings, never one to entertain a single person for too long at the risk of developing feelings.

Another big factor of Alec’s life life, taken directly from Tyler’s, is his sexuality. Tyler publicly came out as bisexual in 2019, at the age of 32. Being as Alec had been with his high school sweetheart until the age of 23, it made sense that he too would have come out publicly closer to 30.

Now the inspiration for unknown destination. The band concept was developed by both myself and a former member of the group, narrowed down to be stylized after one specific band’s discography from 2006-2012. Unfortunately that band has since landed in hot water with the type of allegations that plague the scene, so I now tend to reference bands like state champs instead as having the same sound. Either way, 00s/10s pop punk is all you need to know.

Alec is ultimately your classic case of bad boy with a soft heart. He’s a bit of an ass at times but he’s got a lot of love to give.

[reidandweep]

No Better Outcome

Spencer Reid x Reader (female)

A/N- I had a request for a Spencer imagine where the reader was held at gun point by the unsub and Spencer had to talk them down. I said it would be finished last week and posted, but to be honest, I hated how it was so I re-wrote the whole thing. I ca’t remember who requested it either.

Word Count- 2336 words

Warnings- Angst, Fluff, mentions of guns and murder.

“What do we know about this guy?”

Y/N glanced at Reid as she continued to drive to their destination. The team had been called to Baltimore on a case the morning before. Four couples had been found brutally murdered in their homes; located across the city. The team had quickly learnt that all the couples were newly engaged and had very healthy, happy relationships.

“Landon Reeves, aged 24. Garcia looked into each of the couples lives and found that Landon works at the local auto repair shop. Each of the males have visited the shop in the past three months, all complaining about the same problem with their cars; faulty breaks. Landon was the one that handled all the bookings.”

Y/N nodded her head as Reid spoke, taking in the information.

“So, we’ve got a 24-year-old, Caucasian, male who has fixed all four male victims’ vehicles in the last 90 days, which they all coincidentally needed the same job doing. Sounds like to me; Landon might have had his eye on them before they entered the shop. There’s too much coincidence between the couples for him not to have.”

Pulling up to a red light, Y/N turned her head to look at Spencer.

“The murders looked disorganised but were actually very meticulous. All the women were mutilated in the bathroom, but their bodies were tucked into the beds. They were covered and their arms crossed; showing signs of remorse. But the male victims were splayed and left out for all to be seen. He hid the women’s modesty and treated the men like animals.”

Honking drew Y/N from her thought process. Swivelling her body to face the wheel once more, she continued to drive.

Spencer comprehended Y/N’s words.

“Maybe he lost a fiancée or girlfriend? Left him for someone else or even cheated.”

Spencer shook his head.

“Usually, if an unsub targets woman that remind him of an unfaithful partner, the attack towards them would be messy, violent, and have shown forms of sexual assault. This hasn’t occurred here. The women were shot clean through the heart. No signs of sexual assault or torture. Garcia already looked into any past relationships of Landon’s. No spousal deaths or even any signs of a partner from his social media. Ever.”

Y/N pulled up on the curb outside their desired location. They had already checked to see if Landon was at work before they travelled to his home. Speaking to his co-workers at the garage, they were more than sure he was their unsub.

“Well, let’s go do our job Dr Reid. All we can do is question for now.”

Spencer chuckled as Y/N opened the SUV door, sliding out and adjusting her appearance; making sure her gun was secure in her holster. Shaking his head, Spencer stepped out and walked to her side.

Walking side by side as they walked up the steps of the house, the pair stopped at the door; Y/N stepped forward and knocked on the wood.

They waited for any sign of an answer. Spencer looked through the window to see a figure walking towards the door.

The pair stood straight as Landon opened the door.

“Landon Reeves?”

“Speaking?”

Y/N glanced at Spencer as he spoke.

“I’m Dr Spencer Reid and this is SSA Y/F/N Y/L/N. Were from the FBI. We just wanted to ask you some questions.

Landon begun to shift uncomfortably in his stance.

“About what?”

Y/N stepped slightly as she spoke, noticing the increased edge of his tone of voice.

“We just want to ask about a few of your customers. Of course, only if it isn’t a waste of your time.”

Landon stood silently for a while before he allowed them into the house.

Insisting Y/N to go first Spencer kept his eye on Landon, just in case he tried to run for it as they walked inside. He didn’t.

Shutting the door behind Spencer, Landon ushered them into the living room; offering them to take a seat on his sofa.

He gave of waves of discomfort. Fidgeting with his hands, biting his lip, and avoiding eye contact. He was guilty of something. But murder? Y/N wasn’t how sure. Something would have had to make him snap.

Y/N allowed Spencer to take the lead in questioning as she discreetly surveyed the room.

“Mr Reeves, on a weekly basis, how many customers do you have come into the workshop?”

Landon shrugged his shoulders.

“It depends. Some weeks are better than others.”

Spencer nodded his head.

“On average, according to the week, how many cars do you repair which the fault concerns the brakes?”

Landon shuffled in his chair as he uncrossed and re-crossed his arms.

“Only about one or two. We mostly get broken taillight or problem with the exhaust.”

Y/N’s eyes caught the pictures on the fireplace as she pretended to write down Landon’s answers. She knew Spencer would remember what he said word for word, so she had no worry but to focus on surveying the area for any information that could help.

Above the mantel piece sat an array of pictures showing Landon with multiple different people. Pulling out her phone, Y/N texted Garcia requesting details on Landon’s family. Not more than two minutes later, she got a reply.

From the information Garcia found, it seemed Landon had a good family. No problems concerning abuse, abandonment, gambling, nothing. But the description of the family didn’t coincide with two pictures. Landon and his family were all brunette. But he had two pictures on the mantle of him and a young blonde woman; who looked eerily like the victims.

“What does me fixing a few brakes and taillights have to do with the FBI?”

Y/N looked up at Landon at the sound of his agitated question.

Spencer went to answer his question, but before he could, Y/N interrupted the young genius.

“How long have you and your girlfriend been together? You’re a very cute couple.”

Landon looked in the direction that Y/N was pointing. His body became tense for a short moment; his hands clenching in fists. Spencer noticed the change in his demeanour.

“She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just best friends.”

Y/N nodded her head.

“What’s her name?”

Landon licked his lips as his nerves spiked.

“Celeste.”

“Well, I think you and Celeste would make a cute couple. You should ask her out?”

Y/N walked to stand slightly closer to Landon to gage his reaction.

Landon continued to tense up as Y/N carried on talking and walking closer.

“Or is she already taken? Because she looks an awful lot like three women who have been murdered in the following months. All whom were customers of yours.”

Spencer went to step forward.

“Y/N-“

“Does she not call you back anymore Landon? Cancels your plans? Or doesn’t even bother to make them herself?”

“Shut up.”

Y/N took another step closer.

“Is it because she doesn’t love you back?”

Before another step could be taken, Landon suddenly pulled a gun out from the cushion of his sofa, pointing it towards Y/N.

Spencer quickly drew his gun, aiming it at Landon. He could tell by the look on Y/N’s face that she knew he had a gun the whole time.

“Landon put the gun down.”

Through his earpiece, her heard Hotch’s voice.

“Reid, we’re on our way. Y/N’s mobile is called through to Garcia. We can hear everything, so stay calm.”

Spencer kept his focus on Landon in front of him.

“Landon put the gun down and we can talk, okay? She didn’t mean what she said.”

“Yes, she did!”

Y/N flinched at the sudden raised voice from the unsub. She knew the risk when she began to ask him questions. But there had been lives lost, and she did not want to walk away from this suspect, and another life be taken. She would risk herself always. Spencer knew this and he hated that she would always risk herself to save everyone else.

Spencer glanced at Y/N as he saw her flinch. Looking back at Landon, he saw the boys hand shaking. Keeping his own arm locked and in position, Spencer tried to defuse the situation.

“I know how it feel. To be love someone for so long and so deeply that it rips you apart to know they don’t feel the same way back.”

Landon looked away from Y/N and towards Spencer; tears of frustration falling down his face.

“But just because they don’t love you back the same way doesn’t mean they don’t care.”

Y/N couldn’t tear her eyes away from Spencer as he spoke.

Landon shook his head, the gun shaking in his grasp, as he repositions it in his sweaty grip.

“She was the best thing about this place. Everyone said we were meant to be together. Everyone! But she left with him. Moved to a whole different fucking state after knowing him for 2 months. We’ve known each other for 14 years. I’ve loved her for 14 years and she left me for someone she’s known for 2 months!”

Reid licked his lips, preparing himself for what he was about to say. He knew this could change things between him and Y/N, but he couldn’t risk the thought of her getting hurt. Or even worse, dying.

“I was 25 when I met her. I’ve been in love with her for over ten years. Watching her with other men, listening to her date stories, being there to help mend her broken heart, and so much more. We’ve been side by side nearly every day. Spending holidays together and birthdays, even when we didn’t need to. I thought for a while she liked me back. But I couldn’t put her through all the issues and problems that I come with.”

Y/N looked at Spencer in disbelief.

“I knew I loved her approximately four months after I had known her. I accepted she didn’t love me back after two years of hoping that she did.”

Spencer to a cautious step towards Landon; watching as the boy’s grip on the gun loosened as he recognised himself in Spencer’s story.

“But I would rather have her in my life every day, in any other way, than to not have her there at all. Because I would miss having someone to watch Doctor Who with when we both can’t sleep. I would miss the lunch trips to the food trucks when work was quiet. I would miss the good morning texts and goodnight messages. I would miss so much that I get in a friendship, that I wouldn’t in strangers of unreciprocated feelings.”

Spencer took another step forward.

“You choose, Landon. But, if you drop your weapon, and let us take you in, Celeste will still see you as her best friend; who she loves dearly.”

Landon looked at Spencer with tears streaming down his cheeks; his lower lip wobbling. Slowly, he lowered his gun, letting Spencer take it from his hands.

Passing the gun behind him, Spencer focused on cuffing Landon as Y/N quietly stepped forward and grabbed the gun.

Just as he clicked the cuffs shut, the rest of the team walked through the door.

Hotch and Luke moved to take Landon from Spencer, as JJ and Tara moved to consult Y/N. Checking her over for any injuries, the women asked if she was okay. Y/N reassured the pair, but she could not waver her stare from Spencer as he watched Landon be escorted out and into the police vehicle.

Sensing the looming conversation, the team all walked outside, leaving Y/N and Spencer in the house alone.

Silence befell upon them.

Y/N walked towards Spencer, placing a hand on his shoulder as she spoke.

“Spencer I”

Spencer swivelled around in her grip.

Before Y/N could say anymore, Spencer pulled Y/N into a tight embrace. Quickly interlocking her arms around his neck, the pair basked in each other’s presence. Spencer was the first to pull apart.

“Never put yourself in a situation like that again. You realised he had a weapon and still antagonised him. What would you have done if he had fired? What do you think I would…”

Before Spencer could finish berating Y/N, she grabbed his face between her hands and pulled his lips against her own. Moving her hands to tangle into his hair, Y/N pushed her body flush against Spencer, gasping as his hands instantly moved to grip her hips. Pulling her impossibly closer, Spencer’s mouth moved against Y/N’s feverishly.

The pair slowly pulled apart as they both filled their lungs back with air. Spencer couldn’t help but blush under Y/N’s gaze.

Y/N giggled at the rising pink in his cheeks. Placing a quick peck on his lips, Y/N looked Spencer in the eyes.

“I love you Spence. I have for a really long time. That’s why those other guys never worked out because I was trying to get over you, and I couldn’t.”

Spencer couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss her again.

Once again pulling apart, Spencer rested his head against her own, and allowed for the smile to take over his face.

“I love you too. But please stop putting your life in danger.”

Y/N leaned back and laughed at Spencer’s words.

Glancing out the window, she could see the team almost ready to leave. Y/N pulled herself from Spencer’s embrace.

“Unfortunately, with the job we have, that’s one promise I can’t make.”

Spencer rolled his eyes with a smirk.

Y/N placed her hand in Spencer’s, interlocking the digits.

“Come on, Dr Reid. We got a case to officially close.”

The pair walked out the house hand in hand, as they walked towards their team. Giving Spencer’s hand a squeeze, she let his hand go and she continued to speak to Hotch and Luke, about the details of what occurred.

Spencer stood by her side, listening to her words and interjected when needed. While it wasn’t the exact outcome they expected the case to end with, it sure could not have ended any better.

A/N- I hope you enjoy. I have a few ideas that I’m going to write. One in particular is going to be a more personal one so stay tuned.

Taglist- @danielleslegacy​

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 52

Previous / Next

-

"You guys ready?"

"I hope so".

"I still think this is a waste of time".

"C'mon landon, it's better then nothing".

"Kids, we're heading in, just stay focused on your roles and don't draw too much attention to yourselves".

Marco took in the lead into the crowded cafe, all the kids behind them in their disguises, all wearing masks and staying close behind. The place WAS more crowded then landon was used to, so perhaps there was something to be said about finding more info here from locals. There were guards, regulars citizens, and perhaps some well...unsavory type people lurking all over.

It made landon well...nervous.

All of them stepped in for some show?

Usually when this event happened he was either in his booth or at home, and even in the booth he was barely paying attention. Sure, this place was decently popular and had quite a bit of talent but this all still made him uneasy. But perhaps that was more because he was going to have to perform in front of all of these people, and not the people who came in general.

Someone special had to be performing for this many people to even BE here.

Whatever, who cared, this trip would be a waste.

He just needed to focus on performing so they could go home, that was it, no need to dwell on all of this unless needed. This mission was just to hear rumors and get more leads, a crowded area like this was bound to have people they could question further on details. They'd just see where this went, boring or not. Though landon was trying t keep himself together right now.

His mom had been helping him get better, but his mom wasn't the same as...this.

Granted, he was more then allowed to back out if he so wanted to, but he couldn't bring himself to, he said he'd help and to back out right now of all times...well he'd be more mad at himself for it. This felt like something he had to do too, something he needed to do. He'd played in front of small groups, but never large ones this size, if he ever wanted to perform more...this was something he needed to get used to.

At least his face as covered, and his mom was here. He was not ready for everyone to see his face while performing like this at all, the thought of being nearly attacked still in the back of his mind. He did not know what might happen if people knew who they were, though with marco being royalty, maybe they should've been the last person to be escorting them.

It was lucky no one even seemed to notice, unless they were all just ignoring them entirely. Which, with everything else going on landon could see people not knowing what their owns royals looked like anymore. If anyone did anything though, marco could take them, hopefully keep them from telling anyone else who should not know int he slightest.

Marco had to admit, they liked having the kids here.

Sunny looked pleased as punch to be here though, ever since landon had taken her here she had thought about performing on that stage and now, she could finally do it. She hadn't been able to do something like this in such a long time, and she didn't count the play she put on to distract the adults. This was a real audience, looking for a performance, from her.

It was something she only really got to do in her dreams for a long while, and she got to do it with her new family and friends? How could she be more excited? She never got to even do something in front of such a good crowd back home either! She always had to perform for her friends and family and rarely much else, this was some freedom she was thankful to get to enjoy.

And she loved her costume too, she just wished her parents got to see it, they would be super proud if they had.

But that was besides the point, the fresh air was nice and so was the company. She was hooked to lexi so much she was glad to have sky and landon along for the ride for once, though lexi was trailing behind, simply because marco didn't want to leave her alone. Scribbling behind them, also in costume, her role being boiled down to being a manager, but really she was meant to scribble down anything she found useful.

Which could range for lexi, what she found useful and what others found useful might not be one and the same, but she was perfect for this kinda job. The record in which she made anything and wrote stuff down was surprisingly fast, and it was better she did that while marco protected her, so their info taking didn't distract from the kids at all during all of this.

Lexi seemed to understand the job pretty well, though she also seemed to be scribbling everything and everyone she saw since she entered so...the results of this test may be a little mixed. Marco was at least kind enough to get them all drinks as they took a table and had a small huddle session to go over what their full plan was and if there was anything they needed to change.

"Ok, you all will be backstage soon and getting ready for your performance when they call you on, see if you can get anything from the performers, get some gossip. We don't think her left mewni, so if they're around someone else must've seen them, and well...you never know if they might be around here. I'm going to be around the dining area, watching lext and keeping an ear out.".

They all seemed in agreement, if even nervous agreement.

They just wanted to do this and make sure everyone was safe.

It was a risk, but now was the time for dumb choices and risks. Sky reached out to hold the hands of sunny and landon so they could stay together, landon hesitant to take it at first before sucking it up and taking it. This was bout trust after all, and even if sky was a little unsure about trusting him after recent events, they had to put all of that aside and get things back on track.

Marco from their spot was going to see what they could get on their side of things, they could keep an eye out for anyone shady and strike up some conversation with some of the residents with lexi next to them. This mission relied a lot on gossip and help from people outside of the royals and spies, fae knew full well the demons down here loved to chat, it was worth looking into.

Marco would much rather do this, then have the kids sit here by themselves and be at risk.

They had to head backstage, and thankfully landon knew where that was. A side room he had never been in himself but knew was there from the times he'd seen performers go in and out of before and smelled of old perfume and makeup. He'd never really been back here before for obvious reasons, though he had alays been cruous, though he never planned on really performing up here despite thinking about it sometimes.

It wasn't very big, not much of a shocker there, but it didn't matter, at least they couldn't get lost in here. Though the place was a little crammed with how many acts there seemed to be. But the nice thing is that helped then blend in a lot more, people would not stare at them nearly as much if there were tons of other strange people to be looking at instead of this group of teens.

Honestly he felt safer with sunny in the lead if anyone, since sky was lacking in magic she was the most powerful one between the three right now, though, she would've been the most powerful one even if they both did have wands. Sunny was so happy but she still could stab anyone in this room if they even considered laying a hand on any of them if she so needed to.

The dagger still in her tail's grasp, just in case she might need it, she never could know what any of these demons might do if she wasn't paying any attention to them

Landon felt like a protective older brother and yet she was the one more likely to be saving him, she was trained and far better at fighting then he ever was.

She was so small and yet so ungodly terrifying.

Thankfully no one really paid them much mind, the performers all talking to each other and getting themselves ready. Landon knew quite a few of these people from previous years, and they all were pretty talented. Well, the poetry guy wasn't very good but at least he was still passionate about this after he was booed off last year. But what did get landon's attention was someone sitting off in the far corner.

Their hood was up, so no seeing their face for the time being, at least it gave off the opinion they were trying to hide their face, and usually when someone was trying to hide their face it was for a reason. Normally they wouldn't even pay this person much mind, after all they didn't want people to pay them mind either and they were also wearing their own masks.

But something about them seemed, familiar.

Sunny must've sensed it too, because she was also looking in that direction at the person, her eyes narrowing at them. She didn't bother to wait, she ushered everyone to follow her as she approached. Landon suddenly very nervous and sly confused about why this person caught sunny's attention and not, well, any of the other single lone performers around here.

Sunny smirked, crossing her arms.

"Nice guitar".

The figure looked up, before gasping.

"You kids are here too?".

The hood was instantly lifted and the face of a familiar monster welcomed the sight of the teens.

"Meteora"

She instantly felt her stomach drop, stopping her playing entirely, "Well, this was a new twist i wasn't expecting, what are you all doing here? Is this another mission i've been made unaware of, i swear, i need to get more in contact with katrina about all of this. Or did you kids sneak out? Cause well, actually i won't rat any of you out on that, the castle is getting stuffy".

"No, it was the mission part, marco's here".

The monster sneered, like they had something bad or told her they got her ice cream or something.

"Oh...great", the tone of those words both seemed annoyed and frustrated, after all it was not always the best sign when the royal family was lurking around while you work.

She looked like she was smelling something really bad when hearing their name, but quickly she clamed herself down. "Anyways, how did you know it was me? I was trying to keep to myself here". That's when sunny bit her lips, "I've uh...seen that guitar before, and i recognized it, it screams you after all". Meteora actually smirked, kinda impressed at the girl's observation skills.

"Maybe we outta consider making you a spy if you can notice details like this so easily", sunny instantly felt like she was glowing hearing that from her, she must've missed meteora back home so much. "Anyways, are you here to spy too or is this like-?", she eyes the guitar and meteora shrugged. "I come here often, usually in disguise, and thought, y'know...why not? I almost never get to do this for myself, i only get on stage a few times per year and i like it here".

Honestly that was fair, landon should've expected her here to some extent when he found out she'd been here before. Guess it never really came to mind because why would it? Meteora had been so busy with other things imagining her taking a break was now just...weird. Though maybe seeing her like this instead of her usual more dominant self would make it easier to talk to her.

She was trying to put luna away and maybe talking to her might...well maybe not prevent it, but it could give them more info on what else meteora had against luna.

"Does...katrina know you're here?".

It was a simple question, but it gave a big reaction out of meteora, who turned her head. "Hey, she has her family diner, i have my music, we're allowed to have lives outside of our jobs, besides...i needed this time after...stuff". Sky noticed a slight glance towards her and she quickly could tell "Stuff" meant, "Finding out about my past and that my mom gave up on me being the next queen".

She felt her throat dry a little, guess if that happened to her she'd want some more alone time as well to not think too heavily about it.

Would also explain why she was hiding her face so much.

Last thing she needed was a bunch of citizens knowing who she was and getting upset with her around this time, especially now that she knows why they might. Before it was easier to say they were crazy, but she couldn't do that now, now she knew why they were upset with her. At least she was still comfortable enough to go to a place like this, even if she was anxious about it now.

She huffed, "Anyways, you squirts are gonna perform huh? What'cha doing and do i need to call for backup?". She was partially joking but it was her job to protect them so...she would be prepared in case of something bad at a moment's notice. Sunny was quick to explain, "Oh, it's like a play, but landon is providing the music! We're gonna go out there and impress everyone with our talent!".

Meteora didn't seem to be buying it considering this situation was far too strange to be the entire truth, but to sky it was obvious sunny would nail it on her end.

But her?

Sky was bad at stuff like this, and she really hoped sunny wasn't under the impression she was going to do a good job and impress everyone. Because the higher the expectations the worse she'd get, she wondered if she even remembers the lines as she should. Cause if she was standing onstage with nothing coming out things could be far worse for her social life.

And it wasn't even like she had much of one before this point to begin with.

"Well, i wish you luck? But as a spy i will be keeping a close eye on you since i know you're here now, just keep that in mind, it's kinda mw sworn duty to protect you and everything". Well at least she was still willing to keep them all safe, even off duty, though they just hoped it never came down to that, a show of their spying could kinda ruin everything.

"Good luck to you too meteora!", sunny said with delight, before moving away from her, they had other people to check out. Though sky felt a lingering glance at her as she followed the rest of the group. All these people were laughing and chatting and practicing and here she was, nervous to do anything. She needed to relax, angel and nora and oh god, judas...they all thought she was brave and tough, she could handle this.

She didn't have to be super good at it or anything, she just needed to focus on the task and that was it. As long as she didn't vomit on the stage and pulled herself together she would be fine, though she didn't like the idea of the crowd booing her offstage either. She would rather be good then bad, the humiliation might end up being too much for her.

The play was just a means to an end, if they went in here and performed nothing there was a good chance someone would look into the reasons why, making things far worse then it needed to be.

And she was wearing a mask too, so no one would notice her and her cheekmarks, so at worst they'd just think she was someone else and forget her when the next act came on. God, since when did she have so much stage fright? She must've been hanging out with nora a lot more then she thought, she was picking up some of her traits. She took some breathing exercises and focused on sunny...

Who was already chatting up another demon.

She worked fast, wasting no time getting to the point and getting all the information she could.

She was such a social butterfly that the band she talked to seemed to take kindly to her instantly because of course they did. She was quick to make friends and who could blame anyone for loving her instantly. But considering she was doing this to trick people into giving her info it really told sky how scary she could actually be, that people would never realize how good she was at getting info from them by being a sweet young girl.

Not that she wasn't sweet, but when she did stuff like that it almost scared sky more then the dagger she kept on her.

Even Landon seemed unnerved, standing away from her and next to sky. He was slightly looking at the bluenette, knowing things were slightly awkward between them after he expressed his desire to well...use his magic for maybe not the best purposes. Now that he came clean to his mom he was worried what sky would think when she found out, if that even mattered to her at all.

He just didn't want her to be on his bad side, especially since it was her wand he would have to borrow if he wanted to use it again. There was no way she was ever letting him use it again if he made any kinda wrong move. Of course sky wasn't happy about what he said, she had spent so long being ingrained about the danger of hurting others with the stuff, that magic is less controllable when too emotional.

She nearly had done it herself after all.

He was going to have to gain her trust properly if he was going to get a chance with the wand again, and that meant staying on her good side for now and working his way up. I guess this mission was great in that aspect, a chance to do better with sky. I mean hey, he worked things out with bernard and was getting better with his brothers and mom so-

"Hey, sky".

Sky looked over to him like he said something weird.

And well, maybe it was a little weird for landon of all people to be trying to talk to her, especially in a somewhat cheery voice and on a mission of all things. But it was as good a time as any. "Sorry um, i just wanted to say i was...thinking about what you said, about using magic out of anger and stuff...and...i'm sorry for getting upset. I'm just...angry about what happened and not being able to stop it".

Sky's face shifted of one of confusion to one of sympathy.

"No...i get it, i lashed out because of what happened to angel", it was hard to really be mad at him, it was his crush that got kidnapped and hurt after all. She'd be mad too in his position, "I just don't want us doing it again, cause it's messed me up so much at this point that who knows if it might make things worse in the future if we're not careful y'know?".

"You're not mad with me?".

"I mean, i don't agree with you, but i also screwed up, so...i guess i'd be a hypocrite for not understanding why this happened. Look, just be careful with your new powers or whatever, or you might hurt someone". She said that last part softly and he nodded, he didn't want to hurt any of his friends, and after that scare with the levitating he needed to be extra careful now.

"Thanks sky, means a lot to me".

"Yeah yeah, though the wand's in repair for now, so we're both not using it for some time being. Thankfully i'm trying to get super good at non-wand magic, so maybe i won't need it magic afterwards". Well, it would probably take years of practice to get right, but at was better then nothing entirely. The demon seemed impressed by that, especially with how hard it was.

"You uh...done any spells?".

"Not yet, but if i keep it up long enough i'll probably be able to do at least one, i'll be sure to keep you updated".

So she was still mostly powerless, he found himself hoping nothing bad happened on this mission because sky was going to have a harder time protecting herself without magic. She could fight a little, but she in no way was as good as her mom was without her wand, athletics wise. Just how long would that wand be damaged before they found a way to properly fix it anyway?

"You're practicing it with angel right?".

Guess it was kinda obvious the more she thought about it that she and the prince were up to something, "Yeah, he does magic without a wand all the time so...y'know, i can do it with him, without one of the adults having to come in since they got other stuff to do...i mean our magic is exactly the same but...it's better to have company when practicing then not i think".

He thought back to having mason with him when he did spells.

"Yeah, i guess it would be more fun to do with company to help cheer you on...", he really should fully talk to mason about it, but the kid had went out of his wa to not say anything and stay around his dad of all people now, not even having the nerve to really look at landon. Mason had to know landon wasn't really mad at him, but he still must've felt bad for it.

He had handled things with his crush, he had to repair it fully with his little brother now. This was now about him working things out with everyone, he could talk to mason, maybe judas next, and well...

He clenched, remembering luna.

Well, maybe he could entirely skip her on that front, but he did want everyone else to be on better terms with him, celeste he wanted to keep in his favor too, cause even she got a lil mad with him. He seemed to have a habit of having people in his life that he managed to either make upset or had issues with didn't he? He had his work cut out for him now, he didn't even know how to help with bernard's parents.

He almost felt it would be rude for him to go up to them and tell them how to raise their own kid, this felt like something an adult should be doing rather then him, because they were unlikely to listen to him and anything he actually said. But he was making progress with others so...there had to be a good chance he could do something to help right?

"Maybe...i could join you...sometime? I want to be able to train, it would mean so much to me to have a chance...".

He said it without thinking too hard, it kinda mostly just slipped out. Sky even looked at him for a moment like she thought he was crazy, but to his surprise she shrugged, "I mean, if you want. You might not do much of anything but...hey if you wanna join us we can't exactly stop you. We just hang out in the gardens and blast stuff mostly, though yeah...that's still mostly angel.".

"Angel is blasting stuff?".

"He's getting more powerful every day i think, i've never seen him so eager to practice magic. He only knows so many spells but at the same time he knows those spells very well, so it's not that bad". Wow, even angel was getting more powerful then landon was at this point, at the very least he wondered if he couls surpass him when he only knew one spell...now...he was discovering new ones.

Maybe he could look more into eclipsa's offer, after all, she had taught angel more about magic so maybe she was a good choice to help after all.

Sure, he rejected her before this point but she'd still take him back right? But if his mom was going to teach him there was no need to go out and find a new teacher was there?

And yet-

He was heavily considering it, more then he did originally.

"Anyways, he's good, and that's why the garden has a little more damage then it did the last time you guys all saw it, sorry about that! Sometimes he tried something and things turn out more destructive then usual, but nothing a little magic can't fix", thankfully no one had seemed to really notice the garden was starting to look a little more unnerved as of yet. "But yeah, sure, it's ok if you join if you're careful or whatever, maybe you can find some time there alone as as well to practice. We find the whole plce kinda comforting and it's an open space so usually no one will get hurt there".

"Yeah, maybe", if that were possible at the very least, and who knew if it was anymore, he might not get much but he'd suck it up and at least make some form of an attempt, he could ask eclipsa and train with them and his mom could hep as well, it was well...perfect. He felt so much relief all of a sudden, no one seemed to hate him as much as he thought and they all did want to help and hang out with him.

Maybe this outing was just what he needed to get his voice out there, and fully get all this weight off of his chest.

Speaking of such, now sunny was performing tricks for the people she was supposed to be questioning, not that it was shocking to anyone in the group "Y'know, sometimes i forget she's my sister, she...isn't like us. Treating her like a sibling feels...strange, and i thought it was me who was the black sheep of the group". Sky laughed, "Yeah i get it, i got sisters out of this and yet i forgot we're related technically".

"I can see it a little".

"Pft, don't lie, we know you can't".

"No but...you got the whole...creative spirit in you and we can all tell, i think it's genetic"., sky rolled her eyes and pushed him aside," My family is all the same in a weird way, so i guess somehow that's a little comforting. Just like for as long as I've know you all you're dweebs who love boy bands". But she felt herself cause for a bit, "I wish i could stand out among them though".

"You do".

"Hmm?".

"Sky, we're known you for years, if anyone knows what you're like...it's us, and we know you're stand out", she looked over to him, thankful, but still sad, "It's more complicated then that, but...you got really sappy all of a sudden". Landon was rarely the sappy one in his family, in fact he usually was the least likely to do any of this mushy stuff, so hearing it from him had to mean something.

"I doubt myself a lot, i can't help it".

"Yeah...same", this was something weird to talk about with sky but maybe it was just what she needed. They had a lot in common in ways, and this was a good time to talk like they rarely had before. Sky playfully hitting him, "Hey, good job with your crush by the way, i know that whole thing must've been so uncomfortable but you got through it and i'm impressed".

"Well, good on you for well...taking a break? You're kinda overworking yourself and it's freaking everyone out seeing you do so...cause like...you're not exactly known for it".

"HA!", she said, louder then she should, "Angel made sure i did...he got upset seeing how stressed he was he got others to do my tasks for me...i've gotten so used to doing stuff you have to drag me out of it now". If angel hadn't done anything she might still be having a rougher schedule, she just felt better doing everything herself at the time, but branching it out...WAS a good idea.

"Well before you didn't wanna do work much at all so...i guess they got you to do queen stuff kinda now", it wasn't exactly queen stuff but in terms of taking up leader roles, not being hooked to judas all the time and becoming her own person...yeah it did seem to have done nothing but benefit to her being the next queen. Like this was some kinda therapy session he got tricked into.

Then sunny waved hands in front of them, getting their attention.

"Hi, you guys do know we have a mission to do right? You guys better focus before you get too distracted, we don't want marco to get soo worried about us being back here do we?", she had a good point as they nodded between each other understanding. Sunny did not seem unhappy at all though, she looked rather delighted to see them getting along.

While they had been busy sunny had actually figured out a few things that might come in handy believe it or not. Her social nature made it easier to gossip with others in comparison to the other two, though with her being so young the teens could only hope the demons were being serious and that their gossip hadn't been mockery to the young demoness.

The demons indeed had been gossiping to themselves and while there was probably more to the story, there was word of some weirdo around mount boom. It was not exactly confirmed on if this was the person they were actually trying to find but it was something to work up and off of and the teens looked baffled sunny actually got that out of someone with ease".

"How did you even manage to get any of that out?".

"I like to talk to people, it was really easy, demons can't resist talking about strange people anyway, i just asked what they saw", sky hoped it wasn't a joke though, because she could see it being so. They go out to a mountain and quickly get pranked and put in serious peril, her moms dealt with that a number of times as is and this was too easy to be real.

Landon also seemed skeptic thankfully but sunny thankfully wasn't pushing the rumor, "We'll just keep it in mind, back home there were weirdos living in the caves all the time! So nothing too standout but we can check into it! Now, c'mon, we got more people to meet!". She headed around and it became clear she was heading this mission more then the others were.

People were already performing and she was eagerly talking to them before and after they finished, on occasion looking into the crowd. Sunny was probably looking for marco and lexi but sky also thought she was being careful for any threats out there as well. There was a lot of talking among the people watching the shows and the topics were probably mundane but-

She had to admit, this idea wasn't bad, hearing the gossip of the underworld was a handy way to get info even if it wasn't all truthful. People were talking about all the stuff going on like it was brand new, and with that masked face plastered everywhere it was only a matter of time before they caught them. So it wasn't all bad, for the time being at least. She also felt like she got to chill for just a little bit, something she never got to do on other missions, missions involved fighting, missions involved going out there and getting dirty.

Rarely did missions result in her having fun with her friends like this, well, if you found this kinda thing that fun.

Plus she got to hide her face, no one had to see who she was and judge, it kinda made her feel a lot better being here then she would otherwise. It was like going out as a new person, without all of the burden she had being the princess. She could do nearly anything hidden like this, no one would know who she was and no one could tell her one way or-

"Sky, we gotta get on stage!".

The princess had been so lost in thought she forgot they still had to perform, her eyes blinked to shake herself from her thoughts. She needed to quickly recall her lines she had been practicing as sunny quickly dragged them on stage, the announcer watching them fly past, sky already sweating. How could she have forgotten all of her lines already? There was no way!

It was her nerves, she was forgetting because of her nerves.

This wasn't the time for that.

She actually had managed to do well when she performed for the kingdoms with her spells, but that was because judas had been there to help her out and make her feel safe and comfortable and he wasn't here right now. But maybe if she could recall some of the stuff he said to help her maybe she could pull herself together as to not blow their cover entirely.

Judas always had a way with words when it came to these kinds of things, it was what he was all about. She forgot what he said but she did picture him in her head, reassuring her and hugging her and letting her know she could do this. It probably said something if just the thought of him doing this was enough to calm her down, if even a little slightly.

Hopefully most of everyone put far more focus on sunny then her, as sunny was by far the better performer. But her mom always said usually the worse performances were the ones people wouldn't forget when there were so many good ones, so maybe that was not actually going to be the case at all. Thankfully landon was still pretty good, even if he also seemed kinda nervous about this.

He was making it easier for himself by keeping his eyes closed the whole time, if he did he could picture himself anywhere, and not surrounded by people who could mock him. It made the process so much easier, and thankfully his mom was there to watch him just in case anything actually did happen. He had a lot of reasons not to panic right now in comparison to sky.

At least their performance was like...10 minutes tops, so it wouldn't last that long, mostly because the show had tons of other acts after them and they weren't allowed to hog the stage like crazy. Thoughts swarming through her head as sunny started them off, the play was pretty simple, as it would be for the time limit they had. Sunny was meant to be a fox and sky a deer, two spirts with a rivalry.

It was sunny's idea but for a short play, it was not bad.

It just might've been way better if they had someone other then her to play a role, but sunny wouldn't care, the point wasn't to impress these people anyway. Landon in his tree mask played softly in the background as sunny gestured towards sky, "You are standing on my turf young spirt! Please leave and go back to your own lands! This is my place and mine only!".

"I-i'm not, afraid of you!", she almost missed that line but she got it, feeling a little less nervous after seeing a more positive reaction then she thought. Trying to take a good stand on the floor like she was willing to headbutt if she could. It was a deer thing right? She wasn't making all of it up? She had have been doing it right, so far things seemed to have gone well without anything bad happening and she and sunny weren't making themselves look like idiots.

Look, even the crowd seemed to be throwing some roses their way to tell them how good they were doing.

Wait.

Those felt too hard to be roses.

That's when sky turned her head to get a better look and nearly ran off in horror, because they were not throwing roses at them at all.

As in, the audience was tossing water bottles and rather soft fruits at them on stage, splattering on the surface and getting everywhere.

Wait, that was bad, BAD bad, she'd seen this kinda thing in movies before, mel showed them to her.

They must've gotten them from their snack bowls for them to...eat? She sure hoped that's what they were for. Man the underworld was weird sometimes if they threw these like these were flowers, she was shocked marco was just watching this like it was normal instead of standing up. They did seem to be the youngest ones here too when sky thought about it, all the others had teams of adults, was this their way of mocking them?

Wait...were they booing?

They were booing weren't they? They didn't like the boring play and now they were trying to kick them off the stage, and sky suddenly felt all her confidence drain from her face in a flash. How was she supposed to perform when she was being booed and having things thrown at her? Her lines were becoming blank in her mind and she was almost about to jump off the stage and run.

So much for the good opinions she had seen before.

Then she got a better look at marco, who was signaling to them that if they wanted to leave they could. They didn't want to blow their cover, and that's probably why they hadn't done anything yet, despite wanting to. Though sky kept the show going with her best performance she could muster as a snack hit her face, guess the people here preferred their musical acts and found this to be a major downgrade.

What a bunch of jerks.

Marco was about to stand up and blow their cover out of anger but then one of the bands stepped in, then another, the bands sunny had been talking to backstage. They quickly shut up the rowdy and rude people from the crowd, sending sunny a nice smile her way. She looked relieved, she had never been...booed before like that, it sent her into some form of shock.

Sure what happened last time was bad but-

The demons growled at the rude customers and for a moment sky thought about how these people barely knew sunny and yet wanted to help. This play did mean something to the small and strange demon girl, and this brought back a small spark in her step as she kept up the act. She was no longer as nervous as she had been and was just having fun.

Rarely had sky seen sunny sad. but her little frown was so...terrifying

Who could boo at a little girl like this, one as young and as lively as her even? Sunny was nothing but nice to everyone she met and rarely had anyone got hurt due to her actions, she could make anyone smile in their darkest moments and some jerks were booing her? It hurt more because sunny had been looking forward to this too and she was treated like this.

Marco seemed relived, send them all a thumbs up for their efforts. Sky got back in focus and landon was also able to focus again on what he was doing before he also had a panic attack and just let them all to fend for themselves. Sky could feel a new energy inside her, like she was just charged up on batteries after what they all jus did for her small band.

They helped them, they actually came over and helped them even if they didn't have much useful information relevant to the whole reason they were even here, it was...actually really shocking. Landon knew how aggressive people down here could be so he wasn't shocked to get a negative reaction, but he had to admit, this was nice to have.

Bless sunny and her ability to make friends with everyone as fast as she did, if things had gone on much longer a fight would have broken out and the entire night would have been for nothing.

At least it didn't seem to result in any fight, which was even better, landon was not in the mood to fighting some wierdos, he wasn't anywhere near good enough like that to last more then a few seconds. The wave of relief passed and they continued with their performance, sky trying to bumble through her lines as she hoped they wouldn't have things thrown at them again.

She felt better pretending to fight and dodge honestly, even if it looked funny to the audience. She simply tried to keep focus, this was like her training with angel, she needed to focus and not pay attention to the audience.

"We may be off two worlds, but that doesn't make us enemies, nor does it mean our homes can't welcome another", sky said, hoping that sounded right, sunny smiling and taking her hand, "You had no need to save me as you did, but...perhaps i truly have misjudged you, and for that i am sorry, i wish to apologize for the burden i may of caused you, i know at times i can be too much another bother those around me-".

"You're not a burden...", sky said.

Sunny paused, leaving sky to wonder if what she said was in the script or not.

"Well, it was still rude of me before-".

"It's ok to be standoffish, we didn't know much about each other, sometimes you can't trust people right away and that's ok...and sometimes you can. We're all different like that, and friendship is built on trust and time so...i'd like...to be proper friends with you...if you'd give me the time to do so...if you want to of course. I would like more moments...like this, with you".

Ok, that was very much not in the script, in fact sky was sure she forgot the rest of it entirely.

But sunny didn't seem to mind at all, if anything she seemed to find it sweet and like it more then what she had written. It felt so much more genuine then what sky tried to do before, she actually sounded like she meant it, and she probably did, no, she DID mean it. Sunny smiled sweetly and ran in to give sky a hug , holding her tight, "I'd love to have more moments like this with you".

Landon has already stopped playing and she could hear marco awwing close by at the moment, in fact, people all over seemed to find this moment very cute in fact and sky heard some clapping. Sunny leaving the hug as the clapping got louder, accompanied by some cheering, not all of it was probably genuine but it didn't seem to matter. Sunny motioned for sky to bow and they did, landon following after, more at ease that his magic didn't act up or anything.

They headed offstage into marco's arms, hugging them tightly and making sure they were all actually ok after all of that.

"I'm so sorry i did not expect them to get so...like that, you guys weren't hurt right?", all of them shaking their head, they had all been through far much worse to be hurt by some food. But marco was still concerned, proud, but concerned. Taking them to a place like this maybe wasn't the best idea, but normally a cozy place like this wasn't so dangerous, though they actually seemed...happy?

Landon looked relieved he had actually done that, onstage, without any issues.

Sky looked happy she performed well.

And sunny seemed super happy that things had gone well and she got to do a live performance.

Though the plan was...lukewarm at best, to some extent, it did feel like something these three needed, an outting that did more good then harm. Galexia quickly joined the group hug and marco was quick to usher them to their seats before anyone got a closer look at all of them. Though it was at that time sky remember marco had no idea about something in particular-

and sure enough the next act looked VERY familiar.

"Is that-", the queen's eyes were quick to widen as sky and landon exchanged glances.

Meteora hopped up on stage, instrument in hand.

The monster was partially still in disguise, but only partially, she was still noticeable enough that of course marco could tell who she was. Meteora was a spy but this was not one of those moments she really had to care about that, she was here for herself, not work. Though there was some clear hesitation, probably in fear someone would remember who she...was.

Marco seemed stunned about her being here, also wondering if she was here for her job before noticing she was really here to play. The crowd seemed far more excited for her then they did for the kids, but i guess meteora had that kinda energy about her being a young rockstar. She learned those moves only from her mother and she was going to put them to good use, and she did.

Sunny had a hard time hiding her excitement, she was whistling and cheering as meteora started jamming her solo. Though thankfully her cheers were drowned out by the crowd, keeping her more hidden among the demons. marco seemed to be pondering if the reason the place was so busy had something to with meteora herself, judging by the crowd's love for her.

At least that's how it came across.

Geez, how many jobs did meteora have? I guess katrina did have a second job helping her family though so it figures meteora might have one as well, though music was not the first thing that came to mind for anyone here. Probably because if she was a popular musician it would be assumed they would know about her to an extent, or that she would've been pined to a certain rampaging monster earlier as well.

Regardless she seemed to get through it all with no issues whatsoever, including no fruits being thrown at her. So if anyone did know who she was, they did not seem to care at all about her past, in fact she seemed pretty happy up there and less scared of being found out if anything.

Lucky her, at least she doesn't have dislike they had, but she's also scarier to make mad anyway so if they did piss her off they might risk becoming literally souless. She was rewarded with flowers being thrown at her which was confusing at first because no flowers had been allowed into this building, then they noticed they were pulled flowers from the décor to throw at her. Guess she was far more popular then they thought, or the people just loved her THAT much.

No one was more happy they sunny though, she must've really missed meteora, but seeing her thriving here really made her super happy.

Marco had a hard time focusing on the task with meteora on stage though, she was someone who easily got them very distracted. Just a lingering worry in the back of their mind that she might get upset at seeing them or lash out, especially now that eclipsa had explained things to her. It had been easier to avoid dealing with it since meteora and them hadn't spoken for years and she had forgotten but now-

And right now there was no excuse they could make to really avoid her either, she knew they were there and on top of that she probably knew exactly why they were there as well.

Marco sighed, they were probably overthinking this, that was LONG in the past by this point and it was doubtful meteora eve cared about any of it. It was just something hard for the human to forget no matter how much they tried, meteora being here was just...bringing back memories they had long since repressed to the best of their ability up until this point.

It must've shown on their face because sky and landon were looking at them with concern. Marco quick to reassure them before they got freaked out, "Sorry, i always get this way around meteora, bad memories, i'll be ok kids...no need to worry". But their words didn't sem to be doing much, probably because that kinda response never worked if it was one of THEM saying it.

"Ok so i might get just a tad anxious about meteora sometimes, she might not have her memories but i still have mine and well...i've talked about it, it's not fun and...i'm sorry i wasn't planning on dumping on you kids about my own issues today.", they seemed like they actually felt bad and sky quickly interjected, "Hey, i deal with jude's stuff all the time, it's ok...you know how...he is when it comes to the bad stuff".

"Yeah, yeah you're right, i'm sorry...sometimes it's hard to forget the past...even if i so badly want to...and...i'm sure she does as well", they eyed meteora, "I should probably talk to her but i feel like that new info might be fresh on her mind and i'd hate to make things worse for her, we have a mission going on and i can't be distracted right now".

"You can push it aside slightly to talk to her after she gets off the stage", sky offered, "The night is almost done anyway and we all have each other, as long as you stay close by you'll be fine, and besides, meteora knowing we're here will make sure she'll be even more careful just to keeps us safe. So don't worry about it too much, we can handle being here for a minute or something".

"You know you just had things thrown at you not even that much time ago right?".

"Yeah but we can still handle it, we're in disguise anyway, like we'll be fine and you're close by anyway, just in case".

They still seemed nervous but if they weren't too far away then it might not be that bad, meteora had just gotten off stage after all and she clearly noticed where they were sitting, so if anything did happen she could get right into the action. "Fine, just do not leave this table and if anything bad happens, don't hesitate to fight back, i give you permission".

They got out of their seat to approach the monster girl as the kids stood by. Careful to move through the crowd without drawing too much attention, keeping their mask on tight and hoping meteora would know it was them without even removing it. But she probably would, marco had the funny feeling even though she barely grew up around him, she had some lingering memories of her past life.

But they couldn't dwell on that part, it was a good time to talk to her before she vanished again, that's what this was about.

Time they took their own advice and did confront their issues, better now then ever. Meteora would be heading back to her job as a spy when she got the chance and they might not see her again for years, so if this helped get everything off their chest they might as well go for it. But meteora stopped them, pressing a hand out, and looking at them intently.

"Look, i didn't know you'd all be here so...this was my time off and i wanted to join...i...sorta play around mewni a lot...not a crazy amount but- anyways just don't think to report me for being here". She was being so defensive, did she really assume marco was going to get her in trouble for this? Marco was mean sometimes but they were never on that level of mean.

It did remind him of why they barely talk tho.

"Meteora, it's fine, i just want to talk to you i promise, you were doing great up there and the kids tried to tell me you were before before you were on stage"., she seemed kinda relieved at that but also a little insulted, "So what's this about then? The kids aren't hurt are they? I saw what happened out there and i gotta admit, that was pretty messy".

So she even saw all that happening to the kids and still didn't come to help? Marco might've been more mad if they hadn't done something very similar, the human just changing the topic before they got upset, "Meteora, i wanted to confront you about the stuff that happened, the stuff that happened years ago". The monster girl raising an eyebrow, she had not been expecting that at all.

"I know for you it might not be the same anymore since well...you know, you forgot, but for me i just need more closure because we don't have a lot of good memories together, and i would prefer to be on good terms with you and feel safe with you around. I understand if you say no though, it's just been on my mind and i wanted to speak to you.

While she seemed skeptic, meteora reached out and shook their hand, huffing.

"Alright then, fair enough", again, in their head they imagined things going far worse.

Was meteora really much nicer then they gave her credit for? they glanced to see the kids staring at them still, ushering them to go on. "Look, i know me being back has got everyone kinda...on edge, i can tell, you're on edge, the princess is on edge...my mom's kinda on edge...i get it, but i just am here to do my job and help out, that's it. Nothing up my sleeve, everything is under the bridge".

"I'm sorry if we came off-"

"I'd rather not think too hard on what...i did before this point, i wanna focus on my life...my new life...to the best of my ability, so if any of you think i'm mad or hold grudges, i'm not...i'm not that person anymore.". They could tell they hit some sort of nerve though, the pain must've still been very fresh for meteora and she was not ready to deal with it right now of all times.

"I'm so sorry,", marco backed off, "I just...wanted closure for all of that...".

She had a point though, she was not the same person they had been tortured by so long ago, how could they properly have closure with her if she wasn't even the same person anymore? Marco suddenly felt a little stupid having attempted to do this how they did, backing up and bowing their head in some form of apology. They had screwed this up and it was better to leave it be.

But meteora spoke up, clearly having more to say on the matter then they had been expecting.

"Hey...".

"Hmm?".

"It might not give you closure, but...i don't hate you...not like i think i did before. You...have good kids, really good kids, Just take good care of them, not all of us get a second chance to do things better". Marco nodded, understanding, "Meteora i promise you i intend to be the best parent i can be, and i will. My kids...mean the world to me, i won't fail them any more then i might have already".

"Good, and sorry...i just, don't want to talk about...how i used to be. I...prefer to be...who i am now".

Marco understood, "Well, i hope we can still have a fresh start...all of us, with you, together".

They reached out to shake her hand and meteora took it, she squeezed rather tightly, probably just to mess with them, but still shook their hand in alliance. "Now, as your first step of showing me you're good at your job, you should probably take all those kids hold before they get themselves hurt, this place is full of some feisty demons and i think you could tell that after they made a mess out of the kids".

"Fair enough".

"But first-".

The kids perked up as they got greeted with smoothies, right on meteora's tab, who was gladly sitting with all of them as they took notes, she was a spy after all, this kinda thing was right up her ally. She was far more ingrained in the gossip then they were, being a regular citizen and not some royal snub, guess it really did have it's perks to be just like everyone else.

"Some weirdo living by the volcanos? Pfft, well i'd be shocked if no one tried living near mount boom, not everyone here to known for their minds or being smart. But hey, a lead is a lead, me on the other hand? Been chasing some leads for awhile now, not a lot of results, i'm honestly shocked you all are even trying when we seem to have already gotten the person we want-".

Sunny shifted in her seat.

Meteora glanced at her, " I know you all have some...strange attachment to that girl but she's bad news, i can tell and so can everyone else, you're wasting your time trying to prove it isn't her". Meteora really was confident in this wasn't she? Guess it was hard to argue with her much, it did all look strange. Though her accusations against luna did make sky think-

And the expression on her face was enough to peak meteora's interest.

"Are you about to protest?".

"No it's just-".

"Spit it out...".

Sky wasn't even sure she should say anything, it was unlikely to even go anywhere, but i guess if they had nothing to lose right now it wasn't too weird to bring up...maybe. "Hey, meteora, i don't wanna accuse or anything, i was just curious if...when it comes to angel's mother, if well, you were at that one event for monsters at the time...before she ended up sick and-".

Meteora raised an eyebrow, and marco looked a bit panicked at what sky was implying.

"Wait, where did THIS come from?".

Honestly it did seem to come almost entirely out of nowhere, arana had little to nothing to do with luna and why she was being accused. In fact her sickness came before the masked mess, so they had nothing to do with it by the looks of it, and yet...if luna had some ideas here maybe there was a lead here, or maybe, she could beat meteora with her own logic on this.

"Meteora, i'm just asking if you have any idea of that event lead to what happened, with Arana?", it was a far shot but it was better then nothing at the very least, maybe meteora could answer her questions. It's not like there were many better places to do it when they barely could even find the monster woman anywhere, as long as they were careful around these crowds of people.

"Why do you think i would know anything about why that happened? Sure i attended but-", she seemed confused, but also a little annoyed that sky had just interrogated her out of the blue like that. Her job involved this kinda stuff all the time, and rarely was she ever the one being questioned on anything, so this was all very new to her and rather shocking all things considered,

"The bug, the parasite that went inside of her...it's not from mewni and...you leave to other dimensions all the time...so...i just want to know if you have any idea how it got...well...into her food", she could see were this was going and she wasn't liking the sound of it at all, being accused the way she was. Sky was rather bold to even be doing this, especially to someone who was kinda an ally, but maybe if she played this card she might have an easier chance at protecting luna.

Meteora didn't appear to like these implications in the slightest, though she was impressed how sky went at her like that.

"What does this have to do with me and luna?", she got right to the point, folding her arms, "This is avoiding the case entirely to focus on something else, something serious and not involved in this matter at all, while what happened is tragic, this has no reason to even matter in the blonde's case, not unless you have something you really think could be of use here ".

"I do".

"And what's that?"

"Circumstantial evidence...if your evidence against luna holds up, then so does the evidence against you hurting the queen, it's, easy to accuse when you have so little to go off of". Meteora sent her a look that told sky she was being rather silly trying to do whatever it was she was doing, but it seemed she wanted to hear more of where sky was going with this.

"You gonna get me arrested? I feel like you're threatening me".

"No...well...i'm just saying, your evidence is mostly convenient and...could be faked, and how easy it is to accused someone based on judgments like that, sometimes things aren't as they seem y'know? Luna is innocent, she's being framed...i just want you to look at all of this from a new angle, because making judgements based on few evidence...could be scary".

"Luna made that accusation against me didn't she?".

"How did you-".

"I know you've been talking, so i assume she had you say this hoping to sue it as blackmail or something against me into letting her go. Which does not work, it's very cute that you think it might but i don't work that way, i've been doing this far too long kid. Gotten all kinds of threats, You got some kinda of guts to even attempt so i'll give it to you".

"I just want you to rethink things, luna isn't behind this...".

The other kids also looked at her, pleading.

Marco coughed into their hands, "Listen, meteora, we don't know for sure if you have anything to do with the sick queen thing, it's only a guess and i'm deeply sorry we accused you like that, we just have a lot of questions as you can see". She raised an eyebrow she now knew they were into her about that entire situation with the queen and there was no going back on any of it.

"I would never-".

"We never meant on purpose, we just know there had to be some way a creature like that could've ended up...here, and well". She had to admit luna was smart coming to this conclusion for how frustrating she was. As far as people attending that party who went through many other dimensions go, meteora was really the best candidate, even if she had no idea.

"I suggest we talk about this later then, but, i'll keep what you have to say in mind, if that's fine".

They could agree to that, at least she was listening.

This had forced sky into silence about it though, and back to work as she sipped down her frozen drink. Thankfully nothing else seemed to go wrong that night, meteora was even happy to have herself magically tested in case the kids had their doubts about her being her. Which was fair up at this point when people were now being mind controlled to do things they didn't want to do.

Well, if meteora knew about this and that she did it, she didn't seem to actually want to talk about it at all for now.

Till next time.

But it was over, they could all go home and take a well needed break, it was a far better mission then it could've been, and for once it was great to have another adult step in to help. Though sky felt stupid for even saying anything back there, how could she accuse meteora like that? She must've sounded desperate to convince the monster that luna wasn't evil that she said whatever came to mind.

But it was fair right? If luna could be accused for just wearing the clothes then meteora could be accused for just being at the wrong place at the wrong time, she couldn't use this against luna when there wasn't anything defiant, especially when mind control was a thing going on. She was lucky meteora even listened to her instead of laughing her butt off at sky's accusation.

Marco seemed astonished she even said that to the monster's face, it was bold, bolder then sky would normally go. Sky was already in enough hot water with the high commission and had been a high suspect, so doing something like this, well it was just asking for her to get in more trouble. Though really, lexi, sunny and landon seemed...kinda impressed.

None of them would've been that bold, not to meteora at least.

Shedding their costumes away and safe and sound in the castle and finally dismissed, marco was quick to do another un over of all of the kids to make sure they were ok. They were clearly still heavily affected about the kids being booed off stage how they were, they were supposed to have been there to keep them safe and the kids were being hurt, how could they not be upset?

Marco finally lets them go on a mission to help, not even a big mission and they-

"Queen lucitor, we're ok, honestly, we've been through worse then a bunch of crumby jerks", sky said as marco checked her for bruises, "I know it's just, me and tom were so worried about you kids getting in trouble and...you're on my watch and yet something still went wrong. I know you all can take care of yourselves but...it hurts me as a part to watch something like that".

"You tried to motion us to leave, because you couldn't blow your cover...it was kinda scary", sunny said, fixing her hair, "Like You froze the first time, like you didn't know what to do but try and coax us away". Marco swallowed some spit and nodded, "I did freeze a little because of the mission, i'm really sorry about that, i should've went in right ahead the first time, i just...i didn't want to risk worse happening if you kids were caught, everything moved so fast like i couldn't process it and...i'm sorry i let all of you down but not stepping in right away".

Landon was silent, guess even if the mission went well, they had to address that whole aspect of it even if they did not want to.

But then they saw marco start to cry and their mood shifted, landon mumbling under his breath.

"I'm glad you were there, i...i really am, it was really nice".

Marco looked up at their son, surprised at his words, but so grateful. "I'll try and do better if i can, i guess i still have my own issues to work through...but...i'm sorry i didn't step in right away". Only for sunny to say something, "But it matters that you trusted us too, you can't always be there to protect all of us, so...giving us space to handle issues is nothing to be ashamed of".

The human smiled.

"You're right about that too, my anxiety may of gotten the better of me when it really should not have."

"We all get scared sometimes, it's ok", sunny reached out, quick to give the human a hug, a sign of forgiveness and comfort. Before the others quickly joined in, wrapping their arms around the human as he hugged them back. Landon was not one to even get involved in hugs like this but, this was his mom, and he was not going to be the only one to not hug his own mother.

Marco smiled, "Thanks kids, we'll meet up later and we can pass on this information to the others, so hopefully some of this info might be off use, we'll get some additional info from the other spies later, but let's take a break, we all need one, you all might nee a long nap.". They laughed and patted all their heads, "And so do i, I'll also well...keep an eye...on meteora".

Sunny giggled, "You guys are friends now right?".

"Well, probably not, but it's a good start to something proper at the very least so...i'll take it."

As they headed out marco pulled sky aside, while still eyeing the others, "What you did back there was brave but...just be careful, i'm not sure how luna will react to you telling meteora all of that information, could be massively dangerous". She nodded, "I'm sorry, i was trying to help but...yeah, but hey, maybe it might go somewhere...maybe?".

"Well, i just hope this means meteora doesn't come for her faster and harder after finding out she accused her of possible attempted murder, just be wary of what you say around her if you can...you never know what can be used against you". Sky nodded, "Alright, thanks...i'll try not to throw our theories out to the people we're accusing next time...kinda a dumb move".

"Hey i made dumb moves too, so does your moms, it happens...just...be more careful".

And sky could feel her nerves start to stiffen as she headed down the hall, hoping she really hadn't made a huge mistake to further ruin their investigation and plans.

Because if she had, they were in for a handful.

[handonhaven]

Even since 3x08 came out I've been seeing that the twins deserve a better friend than Hope. Since she almost got them killed because she was so desperate to save Landon. Okay I'm not saying either side that situation was okay in anyway. But I would side more with Hope because she didn't know that would happen and she even felt bad for it. I just want to know how that one situation erases everything she's ever done for them and erases they way the treat her(I had hope for their friendship back in season 2 and now that's just gone). Also I like to think a big part of why Hope was so desperate was because she felt like she couldn't trust them. I mean MG was lying to her for weeks. With some of the comments Lizzie made it, she made it seem like Hopes feelings didn't matter or wasn't important. And Joise just up and abandoned her after she sent into Josie's mind to save her. And when Hope went Josie for help, she cared more about the fact Finch was mad at her and that she didn't have Lizzie okay to help(like Lizzie is her parent and can tell her what she can and can't do). Then she did about helping her friend who's been hurting for weeks or helping her other friend who was stuck in the prison world. So I wouldn't blame Hope if at some point she stops trusting her "friends". So I'm just really wondering if people are choosing not to see how the twins treat Hope because they're their favorites.

I totally agree! Yeah, I really do think that the main reason people are saying that is because the twins are their faves. Because when you look at the show overall, it’s Hope who deserves better friends. And yeah, I’m on Hope’s side with the whole 3x08 situation too. Not that I’m saying it’s okay for the twins’ lives to be risked or for them to be infected with dark magic, I just think that Hope’s actions were more understandable. For me, looking at the circumstances and what Hope had been going through and what she was feeling, her intentions, and her remorse after, are huge. (Especially in contrast with Lizzie’s motivations for some of her actions, like siding with MG because of her feelings for him, plus her lack of remorse, etc.) And people don’t seem to care about that, just about Hope’s actions, without considering the reasons behind them. While also giving Lizzie and Josie a pass for all they’ve done. But yeah, Hope didn’t know that dark magic would be involved. And in the scene, you can see that she believed they could make it if they just pushed through. And once they all started getting infected was when she realized how bad it was and she apologized.

But another thing that I’ve wondered is why everyone seems to think Lizzie and Josie would’ve died. I get that it was a possibility, but just how likely was it? Because wasn’t that same dark magic inside Josie when she went dark? She had taken in all that dark magic from the sandclock on her own and survived, so unless the magic had grown... But even then, Hope also has experience with dark magic when she had the Hollow inside her, which was the darkest, most powerful magic, and she was able to survive it for a while. It was killing her, but it didn’t happen immediately, they were able to get it out of her before it did. And the magic from the ascendant would have been split between Hope and Lizzie, and later Josie (which was why she stepped in in the first place, so less of it would go into Lizzie) so I’m not sure if it would’ve been enough to kill them? And sorry to go off on a tangent, I just have also wondered if another reason Hope maybe thought they could survive is because of their experiences with dark magic in the past.

But anyway, yep, Hope does that one thing and suddenly everyone forgets, or doesn’t care about, all that she’s done for the twins since the show started, and the way the twins’ have treated her continues to be excused. And honestly, I feel the same way about their friendships. I had hope they were all gonna become good friends. Maybe even be the Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline of the show, but I don’t have hope for that anymore either. They hardly act like friends at all imo, and definitely not close ones.

And yes, exactly, that’s a very good point. I don’t see how anyone can blame Hope for how she was feeling after how she had been treated, and it does make sense that it would make her more desperate. I mean, trying to save someone you love who has been trapped alone with monsters in another dimension is reason enough to be desperate. But then if you had been lied to, treated like your feelings were irrelevant, and been abandoned when you most needed help, that would just make the situation tons worse. And what I also find so sad is that Hope still seemed to think they would help her, or at least that Lizzie would. And after all Hope’s done for them, you’d think they would. And some of them were willing to help, but you could see how betrayed Hope looked when Lizzie made her decision, and when that was her last chance? After everything she had been through, what did people expect? And yeah, I thought that was interesting about Josie as well. Like, she’s been able to, as Hope’s subconscious would say, “run away from her problems.” She’s been able to be at the high school and try to start fresh and do what’s best for her, all while Hope and Landon have been suffering. And then when Hope asks for help, she’s more concerned about her crush and Lizzie’s approval? I’m glad that she was eventually willing to help, but that was still pretty unbelievable.

But yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hope stops trusting them either. That would be more realistic, but I doubt it will happen if it hasn’t already tbh. I think it was Danielle who had said there would be tension between Hope and her friends, but that lasted for like, not even a couple episodes? Because then Hope was the one who had to resolve things in 3x09, while she received no apology for what the twins have done for many episodes. The way they’ve treated her still wasn’t addressed, and I don’t think it ever will be. It feels like Hope is expected to be perfect while everyone else can do whatever they want (except Landon, he’s gotta be perfect too). Because yep, like you said, the twins are their favorites. And Hope is just there to be the “hero” and the friend who is always there for everyone, so she’s gotta be flawless I guess, and not do anything that might involve her not putting everyone else above herself and Landon. So yeah, it’s... frustrating, to say the least.

[cordonian-literature]

The Aftermath - Ch. 26

Water Fun

Summary: Everyone does their best to have fun at the Regatta. During the beach party, Liam and Riley spend some time together. 

Word Count: ~3.7k

Warnings:  mention of character death

*All characters belong to Pixelberry, except those that are unique to my story (I’ve also used some characters and fictional instances from Donna Tartt’s book “The Goldfinch”)*

Catch up here!

Tags: @captain-kingliamsqueen @gkittylove99 @lovablegranny @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @mom2000aggie @kingliam2019 @queenrileyrose @shanzay44 @cordonianroyalty @hopefulmoonobject @hopelessromanticmonie @cinnamonspongecake @kuladekiwi @twinkle-320 @iaminlovewithtrr @charlotteg234 @amandablink @texaskitten30 @tinkie1973 @louiseingram1208 @queencatherynerhys @pens-girl-87 @missevabean @ladyangel70 @sanchita012 @cordonianprincess @liamandneca @cordonia-gothqueen @pink-diamond13 @queenwalton​

I’m not sure if the tags are working or not, but I hope I got everyone down! If you would like to be added/removed, please let me know, I wouldn’t want to annoy anyone with notifications :)

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

- Maxwell - 

When everyone — except Liam — walked out of the palace, they were glad to see Hana coming along. They understood if she would prefer to stay in her rooms instead of attending her cheating husband’s party, but she walked down the steps and into a car with Riley and Olivia, her face emotionless.

Rowan was coming with the Beaumonts in their limo after Maxwell had asked her to. He noticed that Savannah and Bartie were taking a liking to her, but of course there was Bertrand who always gave them a look when he saw them together. 

At the marina, the colorful boats interrupt the peaceful blue waters. The sun warms the tops of everyone’s heads, but not unbearably. In the crowd of people, Maxwell notices Riley and the children, and waves them over.

“What’s up, baby blossoms?” he says to Gabriel and Eleanor. “You two look fantastic.”

“Thanks!” Ella cries. She was wearing a sailor dress, while her brother wore a matching suit. “We’re sailors! Argh!” 

“That’s the sound pirates make, Ella,” Gabriel tells her. 

“Oh... aye aye, captain!” she says instead. 

“That’s... also what pirates say.” 

The girl’s shoulders slump. “Then what do sailors say?” She looks over at her brother, who shrugs. 

“Oh! What about,” Maxwell thinks aloud before crying, “All hands on deck!”

“All hands on deck!” the baby blossom repeats.

“Settle down, you three,” Bertrand tells them in low voice. He jerks his head towards an approaching cameraman and reporter. “We don’t want them to see foolish behavior, do we now?” He says menacingly to Bartie and the baby blossoms. Noticing that the reporter was making a beeline for Riley, he tries to quickly say, “Lady Riley, please remember—”

“Good morning, Lady Riley, it’s lovely to see you!” Ana de Luca interrupts Bertrand’s harsh whispers. 

“Thank you, Ana!” Riley responds. “It’s wonderful to see you as well.” 

“Just like your first Social Season, you’ve made quite a splash on Cordonian headlines! The people are itching to know how your relationship with His Majesty is going.” 

She shoves the microphone in Riley’s face, but she doesn’t flinch and flashes a show-stopping smile. “There is a lot for both of us to catch up on, but our top priority is giving Gabriel a good support system.” 

“Understandable. But... you said there was a lot for both of you to catch up on? Are you suggesting that King Liam didn’t know you, or your son’s whereabouts ever since you left Cordonia?” 

Riley pauses for a second, but quickly catches herself: “Of course not. King Liam—”

“Then how come Cordonia’s heir is only being presented to the people now?” Ana interrupts her, plastering a concerned look on her face. “Surely you know the threats to the country that arise during such situations?” 

Maxwell understood that Ana wanted answers, both for her story and for the people of Cordonia, but she really didn’t have to bombard Riley like that. 

“My relationship with King Liam ended on a sad note,” Riley picks up again. “You know the scandal that surfaced during his Coronation. He was understandably upset, as was I, and our relationship had to come to a close. And since we couldn’t prove my innocence, he had to choose Countess Madeleine, who I know would have made a great Queen. I found out that I was expecting during the Engagement Tour, and to prevent another scandal and for the safety of my child, I withdrew from court and informed His Majesty.”

Maxwell was taken aback for a moment. Riley was saying all these lies so easily. He knew she had to, but he was still shocked. He looks down at the baby blossoms to find them looking up at their mother.

“Was that the reason he broke off his engagement to the Countess?” Ana asks again.

Riley flashes that smile again. “You would have to ask him that question.” 

“So what exactly happened after he broke the engagement?” 

“Accommodations were made for me to return to Cordonia, but King Liam decided that it was better to stay away for a while longer, seeing that there were many threats to the monarchy and his own safety. The last thing we would have wanted was to put our child at risk.”

Before Ana can ask another question, a herald trumpeting breaks through.

“What’s happening?” Eleanor asks up to Maxwell. 

“Liam’s gonna say something,” Maxwell tells her.

They all turn to see Liam on an elevated platform with Prince Leo near him, smiling out at everyone. A crowd forms around him, and Maxwell notices Liam look in the baby blossoms’ direction and smile. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen of Cordonia, I welcome you all to our Royal Regatta!” his booming voice cries. 

The crowd around him begins to cheer and clap. Ana de Luca follows her cameraman over towards the main crowd, and they both disappear between the bustle of people. 

“This day,” Liam continues, “holds both historical and personal importance. Cordonia, for as long as any of us have known is, has prided herself in remaining a generous nation, even when our neighbors are not as benevolent. The Regatta was also a favorite event of my father, the late King Constantine.”  

Maxwell notices a shadow cross over Liam’s face, but it disappears in an instant. 

“In his memory, we celebrate, and hope for the continued prosperity of Cordonia. So without further delay, let the festivities begin!” Liam concludes. The crowd cheers again, then disperse. 

From the corner of his eye, Maxwell sees Drake and Jessica walking in their direction. Jessica’s bright smile and casual dress contrast with Drake’s expressionless face and his usual denim outfit. 

“I heard a few nobles were gonna race before the actual thing?” Drake asks Maxwell. Jessica greets Rowan and the baby blossoms. 

“Yes, I believe Duke Rashad, Landon, and Hakim are some of the main contestants,” Bertrand answers. 

“And, uh...” Maxwell leans forward — taking a look back at Hana, who was in a conversation with Olivia and Riley, neither of which were paying attention to anything the rest of them were saying — “Neville’s gonna participate, too.” 

Everyone makes a face, giving a quick, pitiful glance in Hana’s direction.

Maxwell looked around and noticed people getting ready for the race. He raises his head, hoping to see Liam somewhere, and sees him in front of the royal yacht conversing with someone. 

“Baby blossoms,” he leans down to them. “You guys should go over to where Liam is.” 

“Where is he?” Ella asks. 

“At the royal yacht,” Maxwell tells them. 

Gabriel grabs his sister’s hand, then leads her away from their group. But after a few seconds, they return, and Gabriel says, “Yeah, I don’t know where that is.” 

“C’mon, ya little blossom babes, I’ll show you.” He begins leading the way to where he saw Liam, then turns back towards Rowan and tells her to follow. 

She blushes, and rushes up to them. 

Maxwell doesn’t see Liam anymore, but he still leads the children onto the royal yacht. When Liam hears them board, his face lights up and the baby blossoms run up to him.

“Daddyo!” Eleanor cries, running towards Liam with her arms out. Liam grabs her and lifts her over his shoulders and onto his back.

Eleanor giggles as she wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso. Liam proceeds to march around the yacht, Gabriel following them and laughing along. 

Maxwell notices a variety of sweets and snacks laid out on the table: fruits pierced with small sticks that had cute animals at the ends of them, and everything from cupcakes to cookies, also in the shape of animals. 

Liam stops when the herald comes onto the boat and tells him, “Your Majesty, it’s time for you to announce the beginning of the races.” 

Gently, Liam helps Eleanor off his back, who pouts. "Wait right here,” he tells her, then follows the herald off of the boat and back onto an elevated platform near the starting line. The herald hands Liam a starting pistol, and he holds it above his head. 

“Racers, ready!” he calls out. Liam pulls the trigger and yells, “Go!” 

The boats take off into the distance, and Liam rushes back onto the yacht to collect Eleanor in his arms again, letting Gabriel enjoy his fresh fruit. 

Liam invites everyone else onto the yacht. While the women engage themselves in conversation, Maxwell, Drake, and Bertrand stand around and talk to Liam, who gives most of his attention to the baby blossoms. 

Maxwell looks around at the activity around him, and is suddenly reminded that barely than two months ago, none of them could have imagined they’d all be together again. Back then, everyone had become accustomed to the boredom that their lives had been put into. But seeing everyone now, Riley talking happily with everyone, a smile on Liam’s face bigger than Maxwell had ever seen — he feels grateful for everything. 

He stares at Rowan for a moment, silently hoping that she would look back at him. When she does, she smiles at him again, and he loves that look in her eyes. She breaks off the stare to glance at the children, and Maxwell is suddenly reminded of Boris. 

He didn’t remember seeing the man anywhere after the Derby. Maxwell stands and looks out towards the docks. There are so many people that he can’t point out any specific person. 

“The boats are back!” Gabriel announces. Everyone walks towards the edge of the yacht. When Maxwell focuses on the two small figures that were beginning to come into view, he tells everyone that it’s Rashad’s and Neville’s boats that are in the lead. 

They all stare at the two boats in anticipation, and they hear cheers from the docks go out when Rashad’s boat passes the finish line first. Maxwell glances towards Hana to see a satisfied smile on her face. She seems glad Neville lost.

Liam walks closer to the shore and begins to applaud, congratulating Rashad. Both men exit their boats and shake each other’s hands, but Maxwell still notices Neville snarl after he turns away.

Once everyone is back on the harbor, Neville tells everyone that his party is beginning, and people begin to board his ship. 

“Aren’t you going?” Olivia turns to ask Liam, who was already walking back towards the yacht with the baby blossoms in tow. 

Liam frowns, then comes back up to the group. “Of course not. I refuse to have such an abhorrent man in my presence, especially one that has—” Liam breaks off for a second to glance down at the baby blossoms “—insulted my children, and a friend, no less. Anyone who doesn’t wish to attend can join me.” 

They all turn to look at Hana, who doesn’t make eye contact with anyone, and stares out at the sea. “Neville said that he expects me to attend,” she tells them in a low voice. 

Riley links her arm through Hana’s. “I’ll go with her.” 

“But, Mama,” Eleanor tugs lightly on her mother’s pant leg. “I wanna go with Daddyo.”

“Go ahead, baby,” she allows, shaking her head and chuckling when Liam smiles at her. The baby blossoms follow Liam back onto the yacht as the rest of them reluctantly pile onto Neville’s boat. 

On the boat, everyone crowds around Neville as he welcomes them. Olivia, Bertrand, Savannah, and Drake (being pulled along by Jessica) break off to mingle. Riley and Hana grab a glass of champagne from a waiter, and Maxwell and Rowan follow.

They go towards the end of the boat and take a seat on the cushions. 

“God,” Rowan comments. Maxwell turns to her, noticing her gaze on Neville. “How did that type of person get married to Hana?” 

They both watch Neville as he speaks to Adelaide, looking her up and down without any sense of modesty.

“Poor Hana,” Maxwell mumbles. 

He watches Neville, whose eyes reach Hana. Still talking to Riley, she seems oblivious when he begins to walk over to her. But before Neville can get too close, Hana stands and walks over to Rashad. She talks to him with a broad smile over his face, and Neville reddens with anger.

They watch the racing boats leave the starting line. After the boats have gone from view, the group walks around to mingle. Once that got tiring — and Hana was tired of continuously walking away from Neville every other minute — they sat back down with new glasses of champagne, this time joined by Drake. 

The five of them sit for hours, Rowan’s head resting on Maxwell’s shoulder, causing his heart to beat faster. Drake watches Jessica in the crowd, while Riley and Hana continue to talk quietly. 

What feels like hours later, Jessica comes up to Drake, her smile gone. 

“I’m leaving, darling,” she tells him. He stands, holding her hands in his.

“Everything okay?” he asks her. 

She shakes her head and lowers her voice. “Papa passed away.”

“What?” Drake breathes. Rowan and Maxwell turn to look, slightly worried.

“He was in the hospital this entire week.” She says nothing else. 

“I... I’m so sorry.” Drake brings her hands up to his lips. “Want me to come with?”

She shakes her head, gives him a peck on the cheek, then leaves.

Maxwell thinks that Jessica’s neutral face is odd, but considers that it would be even weirder to break down in front of the entire court. 

More time passes, during which Maxwell itches to get up and dance. But there was no chance he was going to have fun at a party whose host had hurt Hana so much. He wishes he can apologize to Rowan; he wanted her time in Cordonia to be fun. He never asked her when she’d be leaving to go back to New York, but he feared that it was probably soon. 

When the boats finally come back and reach the finish line, he leads their little group off of the boat, Rowan under his arm. 

“Beach party time!” he cries. 

- Liam - 

Once the races were finally done, Liam leads the children towards the beach. Gabriel and Eleanor were reluctant to leave the yacht, and Liam was glad that they had enjoyed it so much. 

He was worried about them lately, and how they were adjusting into their new lives. Not only that, but Liam was also concerned about them missing Theodore. He wanted to ask them about it, but thought that it was better for him to be a fun distraction rather than bring up things for them to worry about.

Thankfully both the children had on swimsuits under their outfits. They leave their things in the limo and race for the water, where some nobles have already begun partying. 

Liam laughs with the children as he watches them splash around, but then remembers that he forgot to tell them to put on sunscreen. He wonders for a moment if it really matters, then decides to call them back. 

While they get out of the water, Riley and everyone else appears, all of them wearing swimsuits already, except for her and Maxwell. Riley holds a little bag, from which she produces a tube of sunscreen. Once enough is applied to each of the children, they run back into the water towards Hunter and Heather, with Bartie following behind. Liam notices his brother in the water as well, then sees Drake start swimming towards him. 

Bertrand proceeds to talk to other noblemen under the shade and away from the water. Hana and Savannah both find towels and sit on the sand under umbrellas. Rowan walks towards the water, then calls out for Maxwell, who still has his shirt on. 

“Actually, Rowan,” he says to her. “How about we eat first?” 

“Don’t you wanna have some water fun?” she says to him, the water up to her ankles.

Maxwell hesitates, and Rowan grabs his arm to pull him towards the water. 

“I promise we can eat later,” she says to him. “But what’s a beach party when you don’t even have fun in the water?” 

He seems like he wants to pull back, but Maxwell allows her to guide him. 

“You can take off your shirt if you want?” she tells him when they’re almost knee-deep in the water.

Maxwell takes a second to stare at her, then quickly removes his shirt. Once Rowan sees the tattoo, she cries out, “Ohmygod, that’s so cute!” 

“Aw,” Riley sounds, still standing next to Liam. “I’m glad they’re getting closer.”

“As am I,” he says. “Though Maxwell being romantically involved with anyone is the last thing I expected, it’s nice to see my friend happy. Especially after everything he’s done for me.” 

Liam looks pointedly at her, and smiles when she turns to look at him. “And what has Maxwell done for you?” There’s a sense of joy behind each of her words.

He leans as close to her as decorum will allow to whisper, “He was the one who sponsored you to come to Cordonia, and he was the one who planned for us to have moments alone during the Social Season.” 

Liam notices her look at his lips. “Hm,” she mumbles. When Riley looks back at his eyes, her gaze is playful.

“Will you accompany me somewhere?” he asks her.

“Of course.” 

Liam looks around to check if anyone was looking at them, then takes her hand and leads her down a trail. 

After Riley had left, he had returned to the Forgotten Falls multiple times, but only to stare at it. Only to remember the time alone they had spent together. 

He helps her climb up, worried about her leg. When he pulls himself up after her, Liam sees Riley stare at the waterfall. He hoped that the smile on her face was in remembrance of their love, instead of thoughts of what could have been between them — such were the thoughts that were running through Liam’s mind right now. 

“Do you want to go for a swim?” Riley asks him. 

He knew they weren’t going to climb up to the waterfall like last time, and was elated that she still wanted to get in the water. “You don’t have a swimsuit,” he reminds her.

“So?” She laughs at him, then begins to take off her clothes. Liam quickly averts his gaze, then questions why he even did that. 

He takes off his own clothes, but before he can get his shirt over his head, Liam hears a splash. Riley’s clothes are on the ground next to him, and there are ripples in the water. He shrugs the rest of his clothes off in a hurry, then jumps in. 

Liam opens his eyes under the water, and sees her legs swimming away from him. He pushes his arms and legs to go after her, slightly mesmerized by how she gently kicked to keep herself afloat.

He lets himself fall to the bottom, then pushes himself up, grabbing her hips in the process and raising her above the water. She cries out, clearly doing her best not to laugh.  

He holds onto her, keeping half of her body above the water. She holds his shoulder and looks at him while Liam spins them both in the water.

“The court will be going to Applewood tomorrow,” he tells her.

“I know,” she responds. “I don’t need Maxwell to tell me which event is next. Thankfully, I know it all by myself now.” 

He looks up at her, refusing to let her go, and almost brings her down to kiss her, but catches himself. 

“Do you think we could leave for Applewood early? You, the children, and I?” Liam asks. 

“Why?” 

“I want to show them around. It was one of my favorite places growing up. The royal family was rarely bothered at Applewood, as it was mostly kept away from the spotlight. Before the rest of the court arrives, I want them to enjoy that.”

He looks up at her to find Riley staring at him. There’s a smile on her lips, and she slides down to kiss him. 

At first it takes him a little by surprise. Liam felt that he forgot what her lips felt like, but like second nature, one of his hands travels to her hair. He runs his fingers through it and relishes in the warmth that radiates off her body. He wants to bring her closer to him, but she pulls away and gives a little laugh. 

“What’s so funny?” he asks her, expecting an answer. 

She doesn’t give one, but swims over to the edge of the water to pull herself out. He follows her, then pulls her back towards him, pressing their lips together again. When she gently pushes away a second time, Liam wants to almost scold her, but the smile on her face is too contagious. 

She lays on the ground and he sits next to her, wanting to touch her again. For now he consoled himself, basking in her presence. Lying next to him was a woman who was not phased by time; even after ten years she never failed to make his heart race, make him want more of her. 

They stay like that for a while, her head on his shoulder. He tells her that Applewood is where he’ll announce that the nobility will have their belongings searched. Liam says that he’s concerned about their reactions.

Riley tells him how bad she feels for Hana, and how she wants to help her friend get out of that marriage. Liam mentions that Duke Rashad might be able to assist, and Riley says she’ll try to speak to him. 

When Liam wonders aloud how the children may be doing, or whether they ate or not, Riley states that she thinks they should return. 

They put on their clothes and share one last, lingering kiss before making their way back to the beach, where the children had just finished eating and said that they wanted to go to sleep. 

Liam insists that they go back to the palace in his limo, and knows Riley cannot deny the children’s persisting. On the drive over, Eleanor falls asleep. Liam carries the girl to her room, and after putting her to bed, steals one last kiss from Riley before leading Gabriel back to their quarters.

[argylemnwrites]

Fight or Flight - Chapter 1: Flee

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Heir (Book 3, Chapter 1... just kidding. I wish, though)

Word Count: ~3300

Rating: R (language only)

Summary: Riley knows what needs to be done.

Author’s Note: So, maybe TRH3 will interest me if we get something like this... but we won’t. This is an AU (not officially yet, but undoubtedly this won’t be the path PB takes) that picks up immediately after the end of TRH2. I don’t know if I’ll play around any more in this universe or not, but I had a lot of fun exploring how Riley Liu would actually react to everything that unfolded. This wasn’t exactly what I envisioned when I started writing this piece, and it probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like how this turned out, and I hope some of you can enjoy it. Thanks to @shz256 for asking me to tackle this topic! I don’t know if this will be how you envisioned it or not, but it’s where these characters led me.

Riley felt as if things were happening in slow motion, but as if time was somehow passing by faster than normal, too. She could barely catch her breath, trying to follow the discussion about ancient, unused statutes that would somehow take her daughter from her. She needed to listen, to understand, to pay attention, but it was hard not to be overwhelmed by panic. They were trying to take her baby.

It felt like a horror movie, so surreal and shocking, listening as Landon and Kiara, two people she trusted, pronounced her an unfit mother. Kiara, who was always direct with her, who had never been dismissive or involved in a scheme against her. Until now, apparently. And Landon, who she admired, who she knew Drake looked to as a model on how to be a member of the nobility with some common sense. Well, fuck ‘em.

Fuck all of it. Fuck this country and it’s stupid backwater practices. Fuck social seasons and childhood betrothals and and apple themed everything. Fuck her child being heir to the throne. Fuck Liam for asking. Fuck Drake for convincing her to agree. Fuck being a duchess. Just… fuck. She never wanted her life to look like this, her daughter a political figure before she took her first steps, expected to bear the burden of the crown. She knew what she had to do. She would die before they took her daughter from her.

There was exactly one person who she could trust who was also in a position to help her. As she wrapped her arms around Bridget, holding her close, her eyes darted around the room frantically. Olivia was already on her feet, coming to stand next to Liam, who was now apparently debating the finer points of this fucking law. Widening her eyes and staring her down, Riley was able to get her attention. Olivia tilted her head down slightly in acknowledgement, sliding back a half step and turning her head partially to the side so that Riley could whisper in her ear without drawing too much attention.

“I need you to slow them down,” was all she breathed out before pivoting on her heel. The door was only a few feet away. With the element of surprise and Olivia defending her, she could get out of here. Make a run for it. The main gate was out with all the press and citizens there, but if she could find the back driveway that Drake had told her-”

A hand on her shoulder tugged her back around before she’d even fully taken a step, sharp red nails digging painfully into her skin.

“What the fuck are you doing?” hissed Olivia, taking advantage of the fact that Liam and Barthelemy had both stepped closer to each other, raising their voices ever so slightly, though nowhere near loud enough to be considered yelling, to serve as a small distraction. Even still, she and Olivia didn’t go completely unnoticed. Both Drake and Hana were watching the two of them closely, Drake clearly torn between stepping over to join her and staying where he was and not drawing any more attention to her conversation. Maxwell just seemed lost and in shock, standing off to the side, staring at his fingers. And Kiara had glanced their way briefly, but quickly flicked her eyes back to the brewing confrontation between Liam and Barthelemy. Everyone else seemed to be ignoring them.

“I’m getting the fuck out of here before they take my baby,” Riley ground out, her voice breaking slightly at the end, sliding her hand over the back of her daughter’s head as she started squirming. It was hard to soothe her when she felt like she might throw up if she had to stay here a second longer.

“Calm down. We need a better plan than-”

“I don’t fucking have time, Olivia. I have to go. Now.”

Olivia sighed, then pulled a small blade from a hidden pocket near her waist and slid it into Riley’s hand, “My driver is out front. Ray. Show him I gave you this, and he will take you to the Lythikos keep.”

“No, I need to get out of Cordon-”

“Riley, take Bridget there. You will be safe. Lythikos will not tolerate a Beaumont-led invasion. The citizens will take up arms before that happens.”

“I can’t risk that. I need-”

“You need more of a plan than just running on foot. You know I’m right, so go tell Hana that you are going to go change Bridget’s diaper. Then calmly walk out of here and straight to my town car.”

Riley knew further discussion would be pointless, and she was just wasting time. Fighting every urge in her body that told her to just bolt, she took those few painful steps closer to the assholes who were trying to take her child so she could tell Hana they were stepping out for a diaper change. Hana squinted slightly, clearly not sure why she was being told this info over Drake, but nodded. Riley could feel Drake staring at her, practically boring a hole into the back of her head with his gaze, but she couldn’t worry about him right now. Her daughter had to be her priority.

She strode calmly to the back of the room. Olivia passed her the diaper bag and gave her a nod as she heard Barthelemy cry out, “Duchess Riley, where are you going?” but Riley just kept walking. She couldn’t risk looking back. She caught Hana’s calming voice start to explain, and all she could do was hope that would be enough and that everyone would buy it. 

She kept her arms wrapped around Bridget as tight as she could, striding down the hall and through the entryway. She wanted to bolt, run straight through those doors, but she didn’t know if she could trust anyone at the palace right now. She had no idea if they had heard gossip and knew what was coming or if they were about to feel as blindsided as her. 

“Babababa!” Bridget babbled excitedly at a pair of guards that were stationed near the front doors, squirming wildly in Riley’s arms.

“Shh, Peanut. You gotta stay with Mama right now,” Riley murmured into her hair as she adjusted her grip on her daughter. She nodded at the guards as she passed through the palace doors, hoping they just assumed she was stepping out because her child was being disruptive. She was sure she looked anxious, though, and the only reason she wasn’t visibly trembling was because of how tightly she was holding Bridget.

She heard a few cheers from what was left of the crowds that had gathered outside the gates to see the arrival of all of Cordonia’s nobility for the start of the Social Season, but she couldn’t worry about them at that moment. She squinted in the sunlight, scanning the drive for Ray, finally spotting him pacing next to a town car maybe a couple hundred feet away, tucked around a bend in the drive that limited its visibility from the front gates. She realized he was smoking while he read something on his phone as she got closer, propelled forward by pure adrenaline. He didn’t glance up at her until she was only a dozen or so feet away, likely not expecting anyone to be approaching him for a while. When he realized she was walking toward him, he quickly shoved his phone in his pocket and stood up straight.

“Your Grace, can I help you?” Ray asked as she closed the rest of the distance between them, dropping his cigarette to the gravel and snuffing it out with the heel of his shoe. Bridget tucked her head into Riley’s shoulder and clutched at her collar. She didn’t like being around strangers, probably a side effect of all the galas and balls and shindigs she’d already been forced to attend. It made Riley feel guilty that she had let things get this far before she took any action, having already subjected her daughter to so much she didn’t deserve.

Riley unclentched her fist just slightly, trying to show Ray what Olivia gave her, but her hands were shaking more and more as the reality of her plan set in, plus she was reluctant to loosen her grip on Bridget even slightly. “Olivia told me that you would drive me where I need to go if I showed you this,” she said, her voice quivering slightly as she finally flashed him the razor thin knife Olivia had given her. Ray jerked his head up when he saw it, staring at Riley for a few tense seconds before scanning the palace behind her. Riley chanced looking back. No one had followed her out here… yet.

“Of course, ma’am. Where are we heading today?”

Riley took a deep breath. She knew what she needed to do. “Ray, do you know the closest border?”

He didn’t react to her question with any shock or surprise, just glanced up as if he were recalling a map in his mind. “The closest from the capital would be the Auvernese border, but I am guessing that does not suit your needs.”

“No, not exactly.”

“Well, The Greek border is probably the next closest.”

“Perfect. That’s where we’re going.”

Ray nodded and moved to open the door for her, but stopped suddenly. “Are you and Her Royal Highness the only passengers today?” he asked, eyes locked over her shoulder in the direction of the palace doors.

Riley nodded, letting her eyes flutter shut and taking a deep breath as she gripped Bridget tighter with her left arm, sliding Olivia’s knife into her grasp better. She was ready to do what she needed to do.

“So the Duke of Valtoria won’t be making this trip with you?” At Ray’s second question, Riley’s eyes flew open and she spun around in shock. There was Drake, essentially power walking across the drive, head jerking back behind him repeatedly.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Well, I will be in the driver’s seat, ma’am. Whoever gets in the car with you I can take, unless you tell me ‘hit it, Ray,’ alright? If you tell me that, I’ll remove anyone who isn’t you and the princess. Does that suit?”

Riley just nodded weakly. This morning, she could have never pictured a time where she would possibly be making plans without Drake. Plans in opposition to Drake potentially. But she wasn’t sure how he was going to feel about this. About abandoning Liam and their friends and their country in a time of crisis. But she needed to protect her daughter, whether her husband was on board with that plan or not.

“What are you doing out here? They’re going to get suspicious.” she asked as soon as he was close enough that she could keep her voice low. Bridget squirmed in her arms, reaching for Drake and calling excitedly for “Dada,” but Riley kept a tight hold on her. She couldn’t let go of her daughter for anyone at the moment.

Drake opened his left hand, revealing a tube of diaper cream. “Olivia nicked it from the bag and dropped it on the floor so I would have an excuse to go after you. We gotta get going, though.”

“We?”

“Olivia just told me we’d be under her protection at the Lythikos keep and that we’d discuss details later, so on the drive, if you could fill me in on anything else you know, that would be great, Walker.”

Drake moved to open the car door, but Riley shook her head, a few of the tears she’d been fighting starting to trickle down her cheeks as she clutched Drake’s arm, halting him.

“Drake…” 

He took one look at her and grasped both her shoulders tightly, dropping a light kiss to her temple, “It’s gonna be okay, Riley. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Bridget. But we gotta get out of here. The sooner we enter her duchy, the better.”

“Drake, I’m not taking Bridget to Lythikos,” she croaked out, opening her eyes and taking in his expressions as he tried to understand what she was saying.

“Olivia said-”

“I know. Olivia doesn’t know.”

Drake swallowed roughly before he spoke again, “So where-”

“Greece is apparently the best option from here.”

Another rough swallow, “Did you have any plans to tell me you were running away and taking our daughter to a foreign country?” His voice had a harsh edge to it, but he wasn’t livid yet. But Riley knew it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge. Not today.

“Drake, I just… I can’t stay and… I would have gotten word to you. I just can’t risk them getting their hands on her. I have to keep her safe.” Riley knew she was rambling, but she just wanted him to understand. It wasn’t about him, it was about doing everything she could to keep her daughter. Hell, there were all those stories about women who lifted cars by themselves to save their babies. Going to hide out in a different country was nothing compared to that.

“Riley, listen to me. This is insane,” Drake kept holding onto her shoulders tightly, but his voice was more desperate, pleading, needy than it had been mere seconds earlier. “We don’t have any luggage or our passports or any of Bridget’s things. If we flee, this gets ten times worse. Come with me to Lythikos. We’ll fight this from there. All of us.”

“What do you mean, all of us?”

“Liam, Hana, Maxwell, Olivia - everyone. Barthelemy right now is in there trying to strip Liam of his title, and I’m no legal scholar, so I have no idea if he has any leg to stand on here. But together we can fight this coup. We will fight this coup.”

Riley just shook her head, tears falling more and more rapidly now. She’d known he would see this as a national matter. But she just couldn’t. Not anymore. “I’m done, Drake.”

“Done?” he pulled back, jerking his hands off her shoulders as if they had scalded him.

“Done being a duchess. Done letting my kid be used as a pawn in fucking political games. Done trusting Liam to sort this out, just waiting for the next shoe to drop. Because the next shoe always drops, Drake. Blackmail and assassins and foreign invasions have been constant, and I’ve haven’t even been here three years! I’m done with Cordonia. I’ve given them enough. I’m not giving them my daughter.”

“Ri-” Drake started, but the words kept flowing out of Riley, all the anger and hurt and fears and struggles just bubbling out, no longer shoved away and ignored.

“This was never supposed to be us! We were never supposed to be raising the heir to the throne! I’m not cut out for this, but I tried. I tried when Liam asked for our kid. I tried when my entire pregnancy was a media circus. I tried when my daughter’s future looked like it was going to be tied up in a foreign marriage alliance. But I am done trying, Drake. Because now they are trying to take my child from me, and I refuse to risk becoming my mother.”

She let out a ragged breath, trying to calm herself. She didn’t have time to get into all this, not now. She needed to be on the road, putting as much distance between her daughter and those asshats and douche nozzles as possible. “I am doing what I need to do to keep my daughter by my side. And if you need to stay and fight this coup, I get it. But Bridget is not going to stay in this country a second longer than she has to, and there is nothing you can say to change my mind.”

Drake just stared at her and Bridget for a few agonizing seconds before nodding at her. “Okay. Yeah… okay.”

Riley tensed slightly at that response, not sure how to interpret his words, but after a moment, Drake continued, “So, we better get going,” tilting his chin towards the town car behind her. “He onboard with the change of plan?”

A little sob escaped Riley as relief washed over her and she sagged forward against Drake’s chest, comforted by the strong, solid arms that immediately wrapped around her and Bridget. She’d been ready to do this alone, she really had. But Drake wasn’t going to let that happen. He hadn’t really let her face much alone since she’d first set foot on Cordonian soil, an impulsive New Yorker with no idea what she was in for. He’d had her back long before he loved her, long before he liked her even. And even now, years later, it still felt like a blessing she never could have expected.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured into her hair, “I’ve got you both.”

Riley let out a rough sigh, raising one hand to wipe away the tears still spilling down her cheeks. “Thank you, Drake.”

“Riley, I told you - I’m not gonna let anything happen to you or Bridget. Got it?”

She nodded, pulling back in his arms to meet his gaze and offer him the best smile she could muster. 

“Good. But we need to hit the road. This is already a long “diaper change,” and someone is bound to go looking for us,” he said, taking a step towards the car, sliding his arms from Riley’s back to grab Bridget who had twisted on her hip to grab onto Drake’s shirt. This time, Riley let him take her from her. “Before I put my foot in my mouth in there, I need to know what Ray knows.”

“He thinks Olivia is having him take me wherever I want to go.”

“Got it. You set?” he asked, opening the door for her with one hand as he bounced Bridget on his hip slightly.

“Yeah,” she responded, sliding into the back seat of the town car. Drake was seconds behind her, and as soon as he closed the door behind him, Ray twisted around to face them.

“Ready, Your Graces?”

Riley clutched Drake's hand on the seat next to her and gave Ray a little nod, “Yup. Same plan.”

“Excellent. Just knock if you need anything,” Ray said, turning back to face forward, starting the car and raising the privacy divider between the driver’s and back seats. 

Within seconds, the car was rolling forward. Bridget was babbling, patting her chubby little hands against the window. She loved car rides so much. Drake, on the other hand, sat rigidly straight, staring out the window with her, but clearly just as anxious as Riley that they weren’t even going to make it off the palace grounds without getting stopped. But they barely paused for a few seconds at the guard station before the gates swung open and they turned onto the main road.

Riley let out a massive sigh of relief and Drake closed his eyes and tipped his head back, also letting out a rough breath as he gave her hand a squeeze. As they picked up speed, distancing themselves more and more from the palace, Riley leaned over to rest her head on Drake’s shoulder, smiling up at him as he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. He dropped a long kiss on her forehead before pulling back and nodding at her, slowly and surely. For now, they were safe, and they were together. It was a good first step.

Permatag:  @walkerswhiskeygirl   @riley--walker  @bebepac @ravenpuff02 @oofchoices @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5  @mfackenthal  @thequeenofcronuts  

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @ao719 @mskaneko @katedrakeohd @jovialyouthmusic @marshmallowsandfire @axwalker @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie

Drake x MC: @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria  @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @notoriouscs  @drakesensworld​

[imkylotrash]

Can You Keep A Secret?

Pairing: Zed Evans x reader, Hardin Scott x reader (related)

Summary: You’re Hardin’s cousin and followed Hardin to America. You’re friends with molly and the other but Hardin doesn’t want Zed to be around you because he’s afraid they’re not good for each other. That causes some drama. requested by @find-another-place

A/N It’s set while Hardin has the bet thing going in but Zed is obviously not a part of it. 

“I should get going,” you say loud enough for Hardin to hear but not loud enough to alert everyone sitting around you. It’s yet another night of partying at the frat house and while you would normally enjoy a night of fun with Hardin and Molly, tonight you have something else planned. 

“Where were you going again?” he asks clearly suspicious. He’s been that way ever since he found out you and Zed went on a date. 

“I have a deadline to finish, Hardin. I’m going straight home,” you reply. He can’t really argue with that since he’s the one who got you the book deal. Without your knowledge your dear cousin submitted your work to Vance who was ecstatic about your writing style so now you had a book deal and a deadline though that wasn’t the real reason why you were leaving tonight. 

“No detours?” 

“No detours,” you sigh, “but it’s not like it’s something you decide anyway.” Getting up from the couch you nod to Molly who immediately follows you. 

“What’s up?” she asks. Even though Molly has a bad reputation of being a complete bitch, you don’t really care since she’s never been anything but a good friend to you. 

“I need Hardin to be distracted. Think you’re up for it?” you smirk knowing that it’ll be no problem for Molly to distract Hardin even now that he’s been spending so much time with that Tessa girl. Without another word Molly goes to sit on Hardin’s lap and while he looks slightly annoyed about it, he still allows it. For a second, you wonder how long it’ll take for him to admit that he likes Tessa. Then you remember that you have other places to be, so you grab your stuff and head out to where your new favourite car is parked. 

“Hi,” you smile getting into the passenger seat. 

“So, where do you want to go?” Zed asks giving your hand a light squeeze before turning on the engine to the car. 

“Your place. I figured we could cook together.” Before pulling onto the road he raises your hand and kisses it. The gesture turns your cheeks red so you look away. You’ve never been very romantically inclined and the closest thing you had to a boyfriend back in England was a guy you hooked up with twice rather than just once. In that perspective you resemble Hardin a lot but when you came to America and met Zed, something changed for you. Suddenly, you wanted all that cheesy romance that you normally only saw in films. The sweet gestures and whispered promises. You want it all and Zed gives it to you. If only Hardin could see that instead of being so bothered about the fact that you want to be with Zed. You know there’s some history between him and Zed, but Zed would never intentionally hurt you. And with the bet concerning Tessa, you don’t really feel like he has a leg to stand on. 

“What’s on your mind?” Zed asks bringing you back to the present. 

“Just you and Hardin,” you reply staring out the window, “I wish you could get along.” 

“Don’t put that on me though. I tried to talk to him.” And you know Zed tried. You tried, Molly tried, even Landon tried just to help. But there’s no talking to Hardin when he gets like this. He just wants to have it his way but you won’t let that stop you. 

“Turn the car around?” 

“What?” 

“Turn the car around, I’ve changed my mind.” Zed pulls over on the side of the road with a look that clearly says “you’ve lost your mind”. 

“We’re going to the party. I don’t want to sneak around anymore.” Hardin does not get to decide who you date. If that were the case, you’d tell him to drop Tessa immediately. 

“Are you sure? Last time he saw us together didn’t exactly go well.” He scratches the back of his head, A reflex he has when he gets nervous. 

“I totally respect if you don’t want to, but I’m so done sneaking around. I don’t want Hardin to control my life.” He’s kissing you the second you finish talking. It’s rough and passionate and you love every second of it. 

“Let’s do it.” Half an hour later you’re back at the house where the lawn is filled with people either making out or puking their guts out. It’s a disgusting scene and you can’t believe you were once one of the people on that lawn. 

“Ready?” Zed asking and when you nod he gets out the car to open your door. You silently pray that this will not go as badly as you imagine it. But of course no one’s listening because you only just make it through the door before Hardin has Zed pinned against the wall. 

“What are you doing with her?” he demands to know. 

“Hardin, stop!” you yell trying to get him away from Zed but he’s not budging. Thankfully, Zed is standing completely still instead of provoking him. You make eye contact with him and he gives you a slight nod. 

“Hardin, listen to me! We’re dating, okay. We have been for a few months now.” His fist connects with Zed’s jaw making you cry out. Tristan grabs hold of Hardin and pulls him away. 

“Are you okay?” you ask searching Zed’s face for any kind of injure. It’ll definitely bruise but he seems alright. 

“Look, Scott, I like her. Okay? This isn’t a bet or petty revenge or whatever you may think.” Grabbing hold of your hand he gives you a reassuring squeeze. It’s all that keeps you from jumping Hardin yourself. It’s so typical that he wants to control everything and everyone. Even now with three guys holding him back, he’s still trying to punch his way free and get to Zed.

“You will accept this or I tell Tessa!” You don’t really mean it, but he’s leaving you no choice. If he refuses the accept you and Zed then this is the alternative. 

“You wouldn’t,” he spits and you can tell the anger coursing through him. Maybe it’s a bad idea to agitate him right now but the problem is that you’re getting angry too. 

“Are you willing to risk that?” You shouldn’t have come. It was a stupid idea so you spin around and drag Zed with you out the door. Before you can get in the car Molly comes up to you. 

“Thank you for making this an interesting party,” she laughs and you can’t help but laugh a little yourself. Why you ever thought this could go well is beyond you. 

“Y/N!” You turn around ready for round two but he seems more relaxed now. 

“I don’t do apologies.” Raising your brows you wait for him to continue. 

“If you truly like him then I guess I can leave it alone. But don’t come crying to me when he breaks your heart.” He points his finger at Zed but you smile anyway. This is the closest you’ll get to acceptance from Hardin and you’ll gladly take it. You engulf him in a hug which he returns slightly hesitant. 

“Thank you,” you whisper before letting go of him. You walk over to stand beside Zed and he places a kiss on the top of your head. 

“Don’t do that shit in front of me,” Hardin warns making both you and Zed chuckle. 

“Then don’t look,” he says before kissing you properly. It’s sweet and short but enough to stir alive the butterflies that have taken residence in your stomach since you started dated Zed. 

[boat-dock]

Me Again chapter 2

a chapter of Hope getting to be a normal teenager for once in her life 

Landon was never able to look Hope in the eyes. A week in he said he needed space, and three days into that she broke up with him. Hope wasn’t going to be with someone who didn’t want to be with her, no matter how much they used to love each other. That didn’t make it hurt any less, Hope walked aimlessly down the hallway fighting back tears, determined to keep her head held high. She was Hope Mikaelson and she could handle a breakup, she’d been through so much worse. 

She ended up outside the twin’s room, their door was slightly ajar and she could hear them talking inside. After stopping herself from turning and leaving, Hope pushed the door open, deciding that she needed her friends right now. Josie met her with a small smile which quickly faded when she saw the look on Hope’s face,” Hey what’s wrong?” she asked worried, moving to make room for Hope on the bed. Looking equally worried, Lizzie came from where she was sitting at her desk to join them.

After settling into Josie’s bed Hope waited a moment just enjoying her friends’ presence, before telling them what happened,” we broke up,” she mumbled, staring at the wall. Both of the twins tense next to her. After everything that had happened between her and Landon, they were the couple of the school, everyone expected them to be together forever. She thought it herself for a period of time, but situations change and people change. 

“What happened?” Josie asked softly, gripping Hope’s hand in her own with her eyebrows scrunched together. 

Unsure how to respond, she joked,” I guess me not being in my body is kind of a deal-breaker.” 

“He did not dump you!” Lizzie gasped sitting up straight and looking completely dumbfounded. She could practically hear all the names running through Lizzie’s head that she was going to call Landon the next time she saw him. 

Hope laughed bitterly,” No I dumped him,” she admitted, sinking deeper into the bed like it could swallow her whole. They sat in silence, or what Hope considers silence which means Lizzie was probably talking but she wasn’t really paying attention. Her mind spiraled, replaying every moment she and Landon had spent together, all the times he said that no matter what he would always fight to be with her. She stopped and looked Josie, meeting her large sad dark eyes,” How did this happen to both of us Jo?” she asked 

“I don’t know,” Josie responded sincerely, before getting a sneaky look in her eyes,” but you know what that means.” no Hope did not know what it meant,” It’s Lizzie’s turn now,” she grinned. A laugh bubbled in Hope’s chest which spilled out when she saw the look on the blonde’s face. It was a bright and genuine laugh, that had her holding her sides.

“In his dreams,” Lizzie spit, rolling her eyes at her sister’s insinuation. 

Hope couldn’t stop laughing still, the thought of Landon and Lizzie was so absurd and would crash and burn so quickly and violently that it would be amazing to watch. When she finally calmed down she sighed,” I needed that,” 

The moment was ruined by Lizzie’s phone vibrating in her pocket. With a quick glance, her eyes widened and she got up to head toward the door. She was moving quickly and in a way that suggested that she didn’t want them to ask where she was going, so of course, Hope had to ask,” Where are you going? What’s going on?” 

Lizzie froze, a look of guilt passed over her face and for a second Hope thought that she might actually lie to them. “Um… it’s- there’s,” Hope raised her eyebrows as the girl fumbled all over herself. Lizzie groaned, resigned after she realized that there was no point in lying to them,” There’s a monster sighting in the woods,” 

“What is it?” Josie asked, leaning forward.

“No clue yet, but you two aren’t allowed anywhere near it,” she said before quickly leaving the room. She was right, Hope was more vulnerable in this body than she’d ever been before, not counting the entire other person in there with her, and Josie without magic is as good as a human. Them going out to face a monster was completely dumb and reckless and Hope’s entire body was screaming at her to go anyway.

Her inner turmoil must have been more visible than she thought because Josie read her like a book,” You can’t Hope,” she said.

“I know,” she growled, running her hands through her hair, it was courser now than her actual hair is. The whole body was foreign and strange, she was a parasite living inside it and both she and the original owner were suffering because of it. She couldn’t just sit here while her friends were out risking their lives, to defend the school and the town, she couldn’t. She needed to distract herself.” but if I just sit here while they fight I’m either going to go crazy or I’m going to go help, so come on let’s ditch and go to town,” 

Whatever happiness Josie had experienced earlier while joking about Landon and Lizzie had disappeared and her usual guilt had taken its place. “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m up for it today,” that was her answer to everything these days, that wasn’t going to class or staying in her room. 

Hope closed her eyes and sighed, trying to find a way to snap the siphoner out of it., ”don’t do this Jo,” she said. Hope better than anyone understood what she was going through, the weight of the guilt, and how easy it was to let yourself drown in it. “Look I know what you’re going through, ok I do, but shutting down isn’t going to make it any better,” 

“It’s not that simple Hope,” Josie said, turning in on herself. 

“You don’t think I know that,” Hope’s temper was starting to get the better of her.” and I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it’s not your fault because it is, you made a bad decision. But Jo, everyone makes bad decisions, you saw what happened to me when I was younger and I let the guilt run my life and I don’t want that for you. Do better than me Josie,” 

“How? How am I supposed to live with myself?” she asked 

Hope hadn’t really figured that out for herself yet, but she had to give Josie hope for the future. Things would get better. “Every day you try and do better, even when it feels impossible.” she moved closer to Josie trying to make her words sink in,” and today to do that you’re going to start with a shower, then the both of us are going to get dressed and go out to town, to shop or see a movie or eat or do literally whatever we want to do, because if I just sit here I”m going to lose it.” she didn’t argue, in fact, Hope might even say that she looked excited. 

While she was showering Hope picked her out an outfit, it was a purple sundress with little white polka dots on it and cap sleeves. She left it laying on her bed and went to get ready herself. Around 30 minutes later Hope was ready and walking back to the twins’ room, she was wearing a maroon (her classic color) dress that flared out at her waist with a belt and her favorite high heel booties that used to make her feel taller than she actually was. 

Josie was dressed and drying her hair at her vanity, she noticed Hope in her mirror and spoke,” why am I wearing a dress? I get that getting me out of my room is an accomplishment but this seems like overkill,” 

Hope chuckled, happy that despite everything the younger girl was going through she was still able to crack jokes,” We are dressing up because I just broke up with my boyfriend,” 

“That’s a valid reason,” Josie answered, starting to do her makeup. Hope made herself comfortable on the bed, absentmindedly flipping through a book that was sitting on the nightstand. Instead of reading, she was not so subtly watching Josie, she didn’t really mean to but something about the younger girl fascinated her. She was able for a while to say that it was because they were best friends, Hope had never had a friend like this before Josie so she didn’t really have anything to compare their relationship to. But now without Landon, she was looking at Josie in a new light, she noticed the way she always felt better when Josie grabbed her hand, how they always took care of each other even when everyone else thought they were lost causes. 

Her confusion spread across her face, could she like Josie as more than a friend, she had before, but now she had so much more to lose. Josie snapped her out of her head somehow Hope had completely missed her moving all the way across the room to stand next to her,” Hey, are you ready to go?” 

“Yeah sorry I was just in my head,” 

They gracefully avoided everyone they knew as they left the school and climbed into Hope’s car. Gunning it out of the gates she rolled the windows down to feel the wind on her face, refreshing and free, she pushed all thoughts from her mind that weren’t about shopping and having an impromptu photo shoot in the park. Normal teenage girl things. Maybe she could forget that she wasn’t in her own body or that she was probably developing feelings for her best friend who was sitting in the passenger seat. 

“Where did you get this car?” Josie asked, running her hands over the expensive leather that coated the whole car. 

Memories of driving this car with Elijah pushed forward and a small smile snuck onto her face,” It was my uncle’s he left it for me when he died, I was too young at the time so my uncle Kol kept it for me, but I think he forgot he had it till recently,” 

Josie scoffed,” Your uncle just left you a Bentley, god sometimes I forget how loaded your family is,” They arrived in Mystic Falls but Hope just kept driving, letting the town disappear in the rear view mirrors. “Where are we going?” 

“This town is too small” she stated plainly,” there’s not enough here, but there’s a big mall a few towns over.” Josie’s face lit up, she obviously knew where Hope was talking about.

“Oh, I haven’t been there in so long!” 

“Time to put some of my family’s money to good use.” she laughed, shooting a smirk at the brunette on instinct. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw color spread across Josie’s cheeks. 

The mall was filled with people, which was unsurprising for a Saturday at noon, but it felt like it was just the two of them. They spent the whole day running around the mall, trying on and buying anything they wanted, at the beginning Josie wouldn’t let Hope buy her things whether it was pride or guilt, Hope wasn’t sure, but there were a few pieces that were so beautiful, Josie’s whole face lit up when she tried them on, so Hope insisted. The majority of the day was spent shopping for Hope, new shirts, pants, shoes, some jewelry, she normally didn’t like to be this crass with her money but very few of her old clothes fit this body. 

Hours later, they crashed on a bench in a pile of bags, stuffing their face with greasy food court food. While the food filled her stomach a different kind of hunger began to coarse through her, she’d handled being a vampire fairly well over the past few weeks, but she’d skipped her morning blood bag. She fought back the hunger and forced herself to focus on something else, the smell of her burger, the way Josie’s hair was falling in front of her eyes, anything but the fact that she could hear the heartbeats of every person in that mall. Josie finished off the last of her milkshake and then started laughing, shaking her head,” god we have so many bags,” she giggled, looking through all of the bags,” why did you need so many new clothes?” 

“Well I can’t really keep wearing my old clothes, they don’t fit,” she scoffed motioned to herself,” my body is shorter and curvier than this one,” 

“Yeah I noticed,” Josie replied without thinking, then her cheeks reddened. Once again Hope threw her a classic Mikaelson smirk.

“Now does that imply that you’ve been checking out this body or my original one,” she purred, enjoying the reaction of the younger girl. For a moment they just looked at each other, drowning in each other's eyes, despite everything Hope found herself leaning closer till she could feel Josie’s breath. It would be so simple to kiss her, everything in her was screaming to. Josie’s heartbeat picked up, it was like a drum in her ears, pounding away at every inch of self control that Hope had, till all she could feel was Josie. 

She pulled back. Not like this, if she was going to be with Josie it couldn’t be like this, in some body that wasn’t even her’s. The rules of consent blurred in Hope’s mind, this body couldn’t consent to kissing anyone because it’s owner was dormant and if there was one she knew it was that a non consensual kiss was never the answer. She could wait, eventually she would be back in her body then she could tell Josie the truth.

She couldn’t read Josie, she shut herself off in a way that Hope knew all too well. She reached up and brushed the hair out of Josie’s face, tucking it behind her ear, maybe letting her fingers linger just a moment too long. “Come on, we should really get back to the school,” she whispered before standing and leading the younger girl away.

“Don’t you think we should bring the clothes we spent all day getting?” she asked slyly looking back at the sea of bags they abandoned on the ground. 

It was Hope’s turn to blush, she had been so caught up in Josie that she’d completely forgotten all about the bags. The embarrassment was worth it though to see that breathtaking smile on Josie’s face. 

[salvatoreschool]

Legacies Boss Says Josie and Jade's Romance 'Felt Right'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of Legacies, read at your own risk!]

Legacies has never been afraid to try out off-the-wall concepts for special episodes, which is probably why this week's film noir adventure felt like par for the course. What could have been a cheesy filler episode actually turned into a hilariously wild ride that still managed to deliver a few huge developments in the overarching storyline.

As part of a magical therapy exercise, the kids found themselves in a black-and-white murder mystery simulation that was supposed to help them deal with the trauma they've all been through this season. Unfortunately, Dark Josie (Kaylee Bryant) wasn't in the healing mood, and she decided to slowly but surely kill off everyone else in the game — vven Jade (Giorgia Whigham), who Josie has clearly developed an attraction to (an attraction that's totally reciprocated, by the way.)

They all made it out of the simulation, but not even Alaric's (Matthew Davis) underground cage could hold Josie, and now she's officially on the loose. TV Guide spoke to executive producer Brett Matthews about those vibes between Josie and Jade, Raf's (Peyton Alex Smith) mysterious connection to the Necromancer (Ben Geurens), and how worried we should be about Dark Josie's new supervillain status.

Where did the idea to do a film noir episode come from in the first place?

Brett Matthews: Well, we always start from a place of character, and we have some interesting character journeys going on right now. And it felt like it was a good time. One of the great things Legacies loves is to do these sort of format-break episodes. We knew our characters had sort of a lot of emotional trauma over the course of the season, and specifically coming out of episodes 12 and 13, which were sort of throwback, Vampire Diaries-style, intense episodes, that this notion of, of a group therapy project came about. Of course, it becomes magical therapy, and that sort of got us to the box.

Then it was about what genre sort of felt right, and we pitched on a lot of things. As the calendar to having to make the episode drew closer, film noir is just something that's really important to me and has been since I went to Wesleyan University. There's a an amazing woman there named Jeanine Basinger, who founded that film program, and she teaches classes by genre. That noir class she taught is just something that's going to stay with me forever, so it really is a love letter to that and those times. Noir thematics are so consistent, and it just lended itself to everything we were trying to do. When we break format, like to break format big, and so the opportunity to actually do a black and white episode as a black and white episode to sort of limit ourselves to the production techniques of the time and to really try to shoot it as if it were made during the period was just sort of a cherry on top of everything else and too get an opportunity to pass up.

When you told the cast about it, who was most excited and who took to it most naturally?

Matthews: Julie was like, "This is amazing, none of the cast is going to have any idea what you're talking about." I don't think that's necessarily true of everyone, but, you know, we did pull a couple sort of seminal noir films that we shared with the cast that sort of represented the archetype that they would be portraying. And you know what? They did their homework, and they really did just sort of lock in and understand that we were going for them playing the roles as if it was genuine. It's not characters playing characters, they don't have self-awareness in this moment. So they really are playing the type, and everybody just really, really embraced it and dove in.

It was such a joy to shine a light on our hair and makeup and wardrobe departments to really let them cut loose. So much of what we do is beauty work and they make the kids look amazing week in and week out, but this is one of those rare chances where they really get to be the star of the show along with the stars of our show. And under Mike Karasick's direction, who's our Director of Photography most weeks, but has directed for us going back to The Vampire Diaries — it was just sort of a perfect creative storm to make this happen. He was definitely the right person to direct it, and everybody was totally willing and gave him 110 percent, and I think it shows.

Now that Dark Josie has taken over, is real Josie still in there somewhere?

Matthews: In the same way dark Josie was always with Josie, Josie's probably in there somewhere, but she is not the one at the controls at the end of Episode 14. At the end of this episode, Dark Josie declares herself a supervillain, and that is going to be her path as we head into the next episode. It is going to have a profound impact on our characters and on the school. And we'll learn a lot more about what she wants, and why she wants it, and the lengths she's willing to go to get it.

What can you say about how the Super Squad is going to deal with this, especially given the twins 17th birthday is right around the corner?

Matthews: Yeah, that's going to be a real problem. Their idea of what Josie and Lizzie's (Jenny Boyd) birthday party should be is probably going to differ greatly from Dark Josie's, and it's a really good villainous turn... It's really exciting. Big moves happen in that one, and you will understand better Josie's agenda. Dark Josie really is just this reaction against the Josie we know and love, which is always helping people, often to the detriment of herself. Dark Josie is that side of your personality that says, "this is not right," — that selfish side that she usually represses so deeply because she is so selfless. But when that runs wild, it is going to be all about her and what she wants and how she wants it, and that's obviously a title shift from how she normally operate. That wave is going to be felt.

Speaking of what she wants, I did love to see something sparking between Jade and Josie this episode. What can you say about that pair and where they're headed?

Matthews: We really like that story. Giorgia Whigham is somebody who I worked with on Scream and have always just thought very highly of and thought played really well into those prison world episodes. They're two characters that have history, and so we want to explore that side of Josie in the same way we want to explore romantic opportunities with all of our characters. It just felt right as people who had shared history, who met in really extreme and intense circumstances. It was just something we wanted to look deeper into, and so it is a nice little story that will sort of play out over the coming episodes. We're excited. It's two really good actresses doing really good work and we love that dynamic.

Something is clearly off with Rafael. What can you say anything about what he's going through and how the Necromancer might be involved?

Matthews: We begin this mystery with Rafael in this episode, and it is a mystery that will play out over the course of the next couple episodes and has a real profound effect on the season, on the character, and on his relationships with all the other characters. Raf's obviously been a little in and out this season, and he's been out spending time with his father. Now that he's back, his presence is really going to shift us into the end run of the show. Like I said, it's a mystery so I don't want to give away too much but, generally speaking, if the Necromancer is involved, it's not awesome. So the question is why and what, and how did whatever happened between him and Rafael happen? That's a story that will really play out and and really influence the end run of the season.

How much of a problem is Hope's (Danielle Rose Russell) fear that she's going to have to pick someone or something over Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) going to be for that relationship?

Matthews: I think that's always Hope's existential crisis, right? It's like she wants to love people, but she's afraid to let her self love people. The show goes as Hope goes, and so that dilemma is going to be very front and center. Landon's new powers are sort of putting it to the test, and so it really is Hope's trauma. Having love lost so many times and having felt it so deeply, knowing what it does to her, can she allow herself to love knowing that in the world that these characters inhabit, love very well could become loss again? If she loses what she believes is kind of her soulmate, would she ever be able to recover from that, and does she believe that not loving is a safer solution? I think that's always in the character, and it's certainly something we will see more of, and it is a decision she will have to make by season's end.

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

[landonkirbyappreciation]

So in 3x08, the squad is talking about how risky it is to go to the prison world to save Landon, saying they need more time, they need to prepare, they need to find another way, etc. Yet in 4x01, they come up with a plan pretty quickly to go into Malivore’s mind as if that’s not risky?

With the prison world, they didn’t even know that the dark magic would be a problem when trying to get there with the ascendant. As far as they knew, the dangers were the monsters, Malivore, the Necromancer, and the risk of any of them escaping back into the real world. And while it’s true those factors made going to the prison world risky, they had been dealing with all of those things throughout the entire show anyway? They all have supernatural abilities and are well-equipped to defend themselves and protect each other, at least when it comes to the monsters, and they had all dealt with the Necromancer too. And Hope’s blood could be used as a weapon against Malivore to weaken him if they ran into him. But also, they’ve used an invisibility spell how many times? That would’ve taken away a whole lot of their concerns about the risks knowing that Hope could’ve done a locator spell to find Landon, made herself invisible and gone to get him, made him invisible too, and then both of them gotten out of the prison world undetected, avoiding any danger from monsters or Malivore. Hope wouldn’t even have needed help from anyone except one of the twins to help her get to the prison world. And again, even if something went wrong, they still have other defenses, like their supernatural abilities and Hope’s blood, to use against Malivore and monsters like they always have. But even with these advantages, they still thought it was too dangerous.

But then in 4x01 they all agree on going into the mind of the enemy, when they still aren’t even aware of all of Malivore’s powers and abilities. They’re walking into the unknown, possibly a trap, knowing full well that Malivore is planning on torturing them mentally because he tells them. Yet they are still willing to take these risks for Cleo. And the whole reason they were doing this was to find Cleo so that she could tell them how to save her. Because they have become so lazy that they have to rely on her and her muse powers to give them ideas so they can know what to do. They didn’t even take the time or effort to try and come up with other ways to save her, despite the fact that characters throughout tvdu have come up with their own plans for how to save each other from impossible situations time and time again without a muse. But the “super squad” can’t think of anything, won’t even try, so their first idea is to take these risks just so that Cleo can inspire them to know what to do. They don’t take these risks to try and find Landon however, even though that is essential at this point to know whether or not he’s still in there. But also, how was Cleo even in Malivore’s subconscious? That still doesn’t make sense to me since it’s Landon’s and Malivore’s mind that they share, not Malivore’s physical dimension, so why would anyone else but Landon and Malivore be there? It makes no sense for Cleo’s physical body to be inside their mind, or for her to be able to see Hope or MG. Are we supposed to assume that everything inside Malivore’s dimension is somehow reflected in his subconscious and can appear there? And that he and anyone else in his mind can mentally interact with those in his dimension? None of this is explained, but however it works, how was it that the squad knew that by going into Malivore’s subconscious they’d be able to find Cleo? Their knowledge about Malivore’s abilities and his dimension and how it all works, especially while he’s inside Landon’s body, is very limited. Them assuming that they’d be able to see Cleo by going into Malivore’s mind would have to have just been a theory, since none of them have ever done anything like this before. Plus, it’s infinite darkness anyway. So even if they knew for sure they’d be able to somehow see Cleo, they’d have to find her first. And how could they know if they’d ever be able to find her in the endless darkness? It could’ve taken them ages. Of course somehow they were miraculously able to find her in less than a couple minutes, but again, how could they have know that? They were willing to take all these risks, willing to go into Malivore’s mind, not knowing what they were walking into, despite all of Malivore’s warnings and threats, for Cleo. The only reason they all even made it out okay was because of Landon, who came to their rescue, who they didn’t even try to look for. Yet they weren’t willing to save him from the prison world even though they knew a lot about what they would be dealing with and had a lot of experience with it. They still weren’t willing to do that for him. Because they were scared of Malivore getting back into the real world, but they’ve got no problem with going into his mind. Make it make sense.

The difference between the way that they value Cleo’s life, or basically anyone else’s life, vs. Landon’s, and what they’re willing to do for everyone but Landon, is so apparent it’s sad.

[ryan-c-larke]

"Miss me?" (part 1)

Hope was gazing out the window, after her blood transfusion with simu-Landon, her body felt weak - but in healing. It was around 7, and she felt bored as ever, although one thing kept pegging at her thoughts constantly- Landon - and she felt brimmed with sorrow. He had come into the room an hour or two ago to help set everything up, and he avoided her relentlessly. Every question she posed, he dodged while he could. She understood that he was conflicted, but after all this time, she thought he truly loved her...at least simu- Landon does, she snorted at the thought. Landon took simu - Landon away after everything was set up, he even wanted to hold hands with her before being taken away which was adorable. She began to blink lazily, a yawn forming, she decides to take a nap. Darkness started to creep in outside her window, the moon slowly rising. All of a sudden she hears a soft crack, a noise, someone's entered the room suddenly; she opens her eyes in alert but she can't see anyone in the vicinity. She sighs, thinking its probably just house settling noises or her mind playing tricks on her. And then there right in front of her begins to form a shape, a man begins to form in front of her bed. Her eyes widen in shock, speechless to say anything. "Miss me?" Ryan Clarke says, with a little smirk on his face. Hope stammers, un sure of what to say. Words start to form, and she starts with "Clarke? How'd you get in here?", he begins to walk closer to the side of her bed. "Oh, just my trusty ring here, creates illusions" he says proudly. Hope lays there, not moving, the shock factor and wary sleep affects still contaminating her head. A million thoughts run through her mind, but she can't let any words out. "So, I bet you weren't expecting me to be back so soon...or at all. Kind of stings, you know... being abandoned." He says, while staring softly into Hope's eyes. She could tell he was genuinely hurt, and guilt did begin to settle within her. "I-Im sorry. But you know why I did it. If circumstances have been different, I would've helped you too..." That's all she was able to spit out from her word jumble. Clarke was so close to her, she noticed, she could feel his energy bouncing off. She didn't know if this was apart of his illusion or if she just ...felt something. He was standing right by her bed, she could recognize the smell of his cologne that remained the same from when they were stuck in the Malivore prison world. "I know. You're a good person, you're trying to help your friends - I get that. I'm just so glad I was able to get out of there, although with a pretty bad deal. My father screwed me over, but whatever- I'll get to him eventually. " his words sound bitter at the end, and he began to look away, deep in thought. Hope looked into his dark brown eyes and risked a question, "Why are you here?"

[doyelikehaggis]

for the domestic ship meme! Handon and Sizzie

Thank you so much! I'm sorry it took so long for me to get to this; I should never have decided that I want to write 12 Christmas fics. I've done Handon for this post and will do Sizzie in another, hopefully soon!!

Who reaches out to new neighbours: Landon feels like they have to at least be polite and present themselves as friendly, while Hope is convinced that they can't take the risk of trusting new people they know nothing about. Unfortunately for her argument, that leaves her wide open for Landon to point out that the only way they'll get to know more about them is by talking to them. He goes over with that bright, goofy smile and fumbles over his introduction a little, but is all in all a very upbeat neighbour.

Who remembers to buy healthy food: Hope, usually.

Who remembers to buy junk food: Landon. It's usually his main priority, mostly because it was always the cheapest thing he could afford that would last him a couple weeks, since dinners were either always so scarce or taken away from him. Hope's managing to get him used to real meals.

Who fixes the oven when it breaks: Landon has more experience in that general department what with working at the Grill for a while. Hope, on the other hand, is more skilled in the magical fix department.

Who waters the plants/feeds their pet(s): They're both pretty good at remembering to do it. Hope may forget a little more than Landon, but she uses a simple spell to keep it alive. Landon, still discovering and getting used to his powers, conjures up small rays from the tips of his fingers on days where the plant isn't getting enough sunlight.

Who wakes up earlier: Neither of them. Unless you count Landon staying up until 3 am because his sleep schedule is a mess. Sometimes Hope wakes up first because of that, but it's rare.

Who makes the bed: Landon has a habit of just doing it without thinking, having needed to in his foster homes. Hope does it with a flick of her hand.

Who makes the coffee: Landon. His job may be cleaning the tables, but there have been shifts where he's had to take on a little more, and he's gotten pretty skilled at making coffee, Hope's order memorized in his head.

Who burns breakfast: Also Landon. He's great with coffee but not with food, because he was never really taught and it was hard to teach himself in a lot of the foster homes he went through. Hope knows a little more, both from her mom and her aunt Freya teaching her, and from all of the cooking shows she watches. Hope still adores when Landon attempts to make breakfast for her.

How do they let each other know they're leaving the house: Hope will find him wherever he is, tell hin she has to head out, and give him a quick kiss before leaving. Like a normal human being might. Landon rushes out, usually because he's late, realizes he never told Hope, and hurries back in to call out to her. She always smiles, shakes her head, and calls back that she loves him before hearing the door close again.

How do they greet each other when one of them gets home: Hope smiles, happy to see him, especially if she's had a bad day. She'll pull him in, kiss him, then ask him how things were. Landon lights up when she comes home, wearing an even brighter smile, and asks her about her day.

Who brings home little gifts like flowers/chocolates more often: They both do. They like the surprise and the romance of. Landon will typically bring home some cake or dessert from the Grill, or buy something after his shift ends. Hope adores the look on Landon's face every time he sees the chocolates she's brought home, and the flowers that she most definitely did not use magic on.

Who picks the movie for movie night: Hope's never too fussed about what they watch, whereas Landon is determined to get someone into Star Wars. He typically picks the movie, trying to switch it up between Lord of the Rings and something that Hope doesn't lose interested in after the first one.

Their favourite kind of movie to watch: Action. Maybe some sci-fi. There's the odd romance.

Who first suggests a pillow fort: Landon does, because there's a storm outside and he always used to make a little fort as if it would protect him. So, he suggests it now that he feels safe, wanting to share it with someone he loves, replacing old memories with new. And because it's funny to watch Hope attempt to put it together and get frustrated when it collapses because she forgot to use something to stop it from caving in the middle.

Who tries to distract the other during the movie: Landon doesn't mean to distract Hope; he just has a lot of excitement and knowledge about the movies they watch, and he likes telling her things about them. Hope is the one who actively tries to distract him. Usually, successfully.

Who falls asleep first: Hope. She doesn't have the best sleep schedule, but it's easier for her to fall asleep. Landon loves the school, and he loves Hope, but it's still taking some time to adjust. They both stir in the middle of the night from nightmares, though, and the other soothes them until they fall back asleep then do the same.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: Gonna use the answer I gave on the other Ship Ask Game because it still sums it up - They switch. Sometimes Hope just needs to be the little spoon because she needs to be held and cuddled up in Landon's arms, and he is more than happy with that because he just likes having her close. But there are also nights where the roles are reversed and he feels far safer with her arms around him, tucked up behind him than he ever has anywhere else.

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 25

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- Landon never felt happier to see the three-headed dog in his entire life, all of her ears perking up as he walked in with celeste and  she eagerly started giving him big kisses with her tongues. He felt himself lean into it, petting her much to her delight. He really hoped he wasn't heading in for a trap himself, cause that was the last thing he needed to deal with today. He just hoped wherever this girl was it wasn't too far away, it couldn't be right? He swore she looked familiar. It was hard to get a good look at her from where he sat but still. "So hows this gonna work, we going good cop and bad cop on this random demon girl? Isn't that maybe an abuse of power for you?", he gave what she considered an awkward look that told her well enough he wasn't entirely sure. "We'll just, find her and ask her some questions....that's fair right..? I mean, she's a kid....she can't be too tough". Actually that was a lie, he had no idea what to expect out of this kid, especially when she had hands on papers from the book of spells. He bit his lip, pulling out his compact to take a pictures of both sides of the paper, just in case he needed it.

"You don't think she's....", celeste drawled out as the dog came him to smooch her as well, forcing her to be wary of her wiped away her makeup on her cheeks. "Her? No, i kinda don't think so...but having a book of spells page, we should at least ask how she got a hold of it...it made it's way to the underworld somehow and we'd do better to see why.". He motioned for the dog to sit, he wasn't used to having her track down things for him, that was usually his parents. But he knew she could do it, so there had to be a way. "Yeah....and what if lucy here takes us somewhere else instead? to all the other people who've fingered that paper..". "Look, i'm trying ok? Could you at least sorta kinda help instead of making it worse on me right now?", she reluctantly held out the paper, frowning as she held it up to lucy, "Uh...hi? Sniff this, we need to find the demon girl who was holding it...can you find her?". Yeah, there was no way this was working at all, though the giant dog was sniffing with all of her heads, looking up at landon as he smiled awkwardly and shrugged. She moved back, panting before sniffing the air, landon taking this as a positive sign. "C'mon, let's open the door and get on her back.....", celeste couldn't even protest as landon flew and pulled her up, but just barely. Riding a dog was not something fairly common to the girl but she didn't have much of a choice as the doors were opened and lucy bounded out of the room and outside of the castle. Her noses high in he hair and smelling around as her companions gripped her collar fiercely. Celeste regretted going as she practically hugged the collar. This wasn't like riding a unicorn, this animal was much MUCH more unfitting for giving rides. She was bigger, and had a much higher risk of throwing them off her back, celeste was sure she'd be sick. Though much to her surprise, the dog soon stopped, scooting to a stop of course, and making Celeste feel more sick. She tried to catch her breath and get herself together as she tried to make light of where lucy had taken them and if it was even where they were supposed to be. Landon seemed to have held himself much better then her, probably because he was used to this to some degree. Thanking lucy before helping celeste off and telling his dog to stay. "The stables?". "It's where we keep the dead unicorns, dark horses, all that jazz... they run our carriages and are used by soldiers at times as well, my family doesn't really go down here all that much. The nice thing about skeleton horses though? You don't have to feed them, though the dark ones really enjoy demon fruit.". Celeste hummed in interest as she followed him along, "So....you think she's here? In the stables? I mean, don't tell me you have people living in here...". "Actually no, i think.....I think i get it...", landon headed inside the grand building housing most if not all of their equestrians, it was made of stone more then anything, dark stone, even their stables were covered in dark architecture. Skulls along the walls, and torches for light, as she checked out the snorting and even talking horses in their stables. The place even actually smelled like a stable, well, that and....burned toast? Well, it stuck, that was for sure. "Is every building in the underworld look gloomy and dead?", celeste asking, kicking some rocks inside that turned out to be alive and moving. Landon seemed to find her question ridiculous, snorting as he walked passed servants taking care of the horses and cleaning up any messes they could find, "Well, i mean, what did you expect down here? It's sorta our thing, have you even been to the underworld that much before you started staying...here?". "No...things.....were complicated...plus i never had a reason to come down here...", he shrugged and kept moving, looking around every corner before stopping, and motioning towards his sister. Celeste stood next to them and looked to where he was staring. He found her alright, a small girl sitting by herself in the stables, going through the brushes used to clean off the skeleton horses and said brushes falling out of her hands half the the time. This girl seemed clumsy overall, but it was very much the same one they saw. Now at a better distance, they could make out her features better. She was blue for one, blue skin, dark blue hair with a bit of a light blue streak in it, a tattered dress tied with rope and covered in good luck charms, long orange and black horns that stuck upright, and one big orange eyes that stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to her mostly blue color scheme. She had a lot of luck charms alright, from very dried up 4 leaf clovers, to a rabbit's foot, to even a horseshoe from one of the horses of the stables tied to her. Guess she was a little superstitious. No wonder Landon felt she was familiar, she was a servant, he'd probably seen her around the castle a few times even if he usually didn't pay that much mind to most servants considering his terrible social skills. Though he would admit seeing someone so young be a servant here bothered him just a little bit, his parents would never agree to letting kids as young as mason take on tough tasks so this was an odd revelation. He cleared his throat though, knowing he'd need to speak to the rather gloomy looking girl and ask her question. Though before he could think of what to say, Celeste had already taken the matter into her own hands, bumping past him and over to the girl. "hi, who are you?". Well, that was one way to do it. The girl looked up, and though landon was expecting a confused and maybe innocent reaction, the girl herself seemed rather unenthusiastic about their appearance, in fact she seemed like she didn't really care much at all about being called on. She glared over both of them with her one eye and her eye lingered on landon a bit more, she probably knew he was one of the princes, which would definitely make her one of the few who did notice him. "Prince lucitor? What are you doing down here?", seems the girl wasn't void of sass, looking him up and down and then Celeste once more. "Just so you know, i'm not the head of the stables so...maybe you want to talk to my superior?". Landon sighed and held out the paper instead, the girl's eye widening, "We saw you drop this.....why do you have a page from the book of spells?". So they were just going to come right out with it weren't they? No prep, no idea what to expect. Just lay it all out there . Landon was expecting denial, outrage, even maybe violence, but instead...he was met with relief. "Oh? So that's what that paper was? I wasn't entirely sure about it, plus the writing is in another language entirely, i almost thought it might've been from the lucitor archives since Relicor keeps the weirdest things down there...". Landon blinked at her, shaking his head, "Wait? What? You didn't even know what this paper was?". The small girl shrugged, "When i found it i assumed it was important but I've never seen that book before...well, then again i can't really see most books that aren't from a bookstore of library and don't accidentally burn up.". "It's from the butterfly kingdom", Celeste grumbled, the girl looking towards her, "Oh? Well that explains so much actually....well, you can keep it then...i was hoping to return it to wherever it came from but....seems i continued my streak of losing things.....that's 5 times this week". The two royals looked at each other, well, this was the last thing they expected, watching the girl trip and get back to sorting through her items. Landon coughed, "Uh...where'd you find this? It's kinda far from home...". "The woods...i went to the surface and found it, i think someone lost it out there....probably the princess or someone who really didn't keep track of their items". "The woods?". "There's a nice patch out there where i like to pick clovers for my collection...", she motioned to the dead clovers attached to her dress, "It was there, lying around....though i assume you two weren't the ones who lost it?". They shook their heads at her, "I see many things in those woods, not a safe place...full of creeps....i haven't been back since, but that's because knowing my luck, i'd run into the person who lost that paper out there and i probably don't want to know at all.". Landon looked the paper over and handed it to celeste, "Have you ever seen anything...creepy in there?, like a masked lady?". "Prince, why are you looking for masked ladies?", she was such a young girl and yet she asked rather good questions, "I thought you weren't into ladies?". Celeste snickered at that one and landon sighed, "Ok, who told you that one?". She finished gathering her stuff and started heading over to one of the skeleton horses, clearly prepared to clean him, "My family's been serving yours for years, everyone talks, word gets around...it's common knowledge in the underworld at this point, for the record i don't blame you for going after human boys, they probably smell better then the cold depths of the afterlife". Landon shook off his embarrassment to proceed with questioning as the weird girl started to dust the dead horse. "Look, she's a wanted criminal, or he, or they or...whatever they are....maybe you've seen where they're camping out...". "Oh Fae!" Fae? Odd name. The girl turned to another demon who bowed at the sight of the prince before acknowledging the small girl again, though she seemed rather anxious around fae, as if the small girl would attack her despite her small size "Please make certain you finish sweeping your part for today before heading out, and tell your family hello for me?", Fae nodded to her and she bowed to the prince before moving away rather quickly. The girl went back to work before looking at her companions, "Describe this masked lady...i'm just assuming you aren't going to leave until i spill the beans on whatever you need.". Did she actually know something or not? Landon wasn't sure of anything around this girl, she seemed rather moody and unhelpful but she was all they got right now. "Tall, i think? White doll mask with a crack, long flowing black dress, you can't seen any of her skin in her costume...". "She, they, he,whoever... has good taste...". "She scares the living daylights out of everyone in mewni because no one can find her, we need to know if you've seen anything peculiar.". "Nah, i'd remember her.....". "We think she broke into lucitor castle once, like, and kept lucy from even sniffing them out, do you think you have a reason as to how they could figure that out?". "She sounds fun....well never saw her but....if you're looking for something weird I did receive...a note....ages ago it feels", she glanced to them oddly, "Asking me for information about the lucitor kingdom....in exchange for helping me with....things, but it burned before i could really do anything with it...so if you're looking for something odd, well....yeah...some person was desperate for help with the castle....but then again, there are many demons who'd do anything to enter.". Landon snorted, "Burned? How?", but that seemed to make the girl more embarrassed, "Things tend to get destroyed around me, i was probably the last person they should've asked for help...people who're around me, tend to end up dissapointed". Landon was already sure he knew where this was going, "Well.....you know, we believe this person....broke into the castle....at one point...so...". The girl didn't seem amused, "Prince, i'm sorta obliged to be as truthful to you as possible, I had nothing to do with anything like that....i got a note and it burned.....don't even know who sent it, i'm only 13 here.". She was quiet for a moment, pausing in her work, "I rarely go anywhere outside of the stables, truthfully i wouldn't have been any use...". "But this person thought you'd be useful?". "If they thought i was useful, then they must've been desperate to find anyone....because they didn't know me..."., she closed her one eye, thinking, "Also probably a bad burglar in the first place considering i might've just went to the king and queen with the note....they really didn't think things through..". Didn't think things through? That didn't sound like the type of villain they were going after? They seemed so much more cunning, and powerful to do something as dumb as that. Must've been someone else then, right? False lead, dammit. "Geez if you were gonna be this helpful why didn't you come to anyone about any of this?", Celeste stepped forward, making the young demon's pointed ears twitch, "I'm 13, if a 13 year old girl went up to you and told you this stuff without any proof how would you think you'd react?" She turned around, leaning against the skeleton horse and sighing, "being a peasant is not the same thing as prince pink over there living in his castle, the crimes that happen, the rumors, The small oddities? We know about them...". "You're kinda young to be well...a servant?". "Family's been serving yours for years, we need the money and this was the only job i couldn't screw up....because technically I can't accidentally kill things that are already dead", she shrugged, " Don't worry, your parents never assigned me anything better for adults,they knew we needed the money so they gave me this opportunity, i take care of the horses...even you could do that.".  Geez, the last thing landon expected when looking for this demon, was to get so many more questions then answers, such a strange little girl. "You think i'm weird, don't you?". "What?". "i can see it with my one eye......", she pointed to her large orange eye, for emphasis, "It's fine, i know i'm strange....you've only just met me and i'm spouting out nonsense about my family and problems and weird junk, but you asked for it...". The horse behind her laughed, reminding landon that, oh yeah, their horses could speak English. She rolled her eye, "I went out to find a place to read to myself and take a break but...i didn't expect it'd lead me to meet Prince Landon of the lucitor kingdom...". "Well i didn't think it'd lead me to someone who had so much to talk about...". "I have....a habit of getting into bad situations....just my luck..". She looked around, keeping a eye on the other servants, "Well, you can take that paper with you, i don't need it for anything. But whoever had it might come looking for it, and if it's some giant creepy lady thing then maybe you should watch out prince...". They exchanged looks and fae paused, looking between them, "What else do you want? You wanted more info, i told you everything i know!". Celeste coughed into her hand, "I was kinda like..attacked....by something in those woods, and now you're kinda saying you found this paper in these woods....are you sure you've never seen...anything else out there?". "Those woods have always been creepy, tales of bogbeasts and evil plants that drag you under and mysterious figures, if you're so sure they're out there...you're better off looking, but.....yeah wandering in the woods tends to be a bad idea.", she started cleaning her section and the two followed her,"Didn't you admit to going into those woods at your age? You're younger then both of us!". They both did kinda have a point as Fae put her cleaning supplied away. "I'm a servant girl, it's much worse if the prince goes missing out there then me...". There was silence. "Hey uh....thanks, for being helpful, and uh......talking to us about all this", landon mumbled, hands in his pockets, "Uh......if there's kinda like, anything I can do to help I-". But the girl cut him off, "Don't die, cause if i cause a prince to die....well....yeah...". She was a strange girl, but considering what landon thought she'd be, this was very much an upgrade. "Hey, if that paper is from the butterfly castle, and there's some freak wandering around...uh...does that mean....everyone is in danger?". To be honest, everyone seemed so concerned about the royals and other kingdoms, he hadn't even considered the citizens were in just as much potential danger. He felt a lump in his throat trying to answer, "Well, yeah....uh....I was unaware....you all knew so little about everything...I'm sorry...". Fae nodded, "Just be careful out there.....and um....i wish you luck on your mission Prince Landon, though....here...". She grabbed one of her clovers from her dress and handed it to him, "You might need some luck....we all do..". He clutched it before looking her over, thinking about something before spitting it out, "hey um....fae....". "Hm?". "We need to check out that spot, what if.....i paid you to take us there?". - Judas was still on edge. Still no word from Nora and now he was expected to just....do what with luna? Hang out? He was unsure about her but he didn't have much of a choice at this point, waiting for her just overall made him nervous and sky's texts weren't entirely helping. They needed luna to be in the best of moods if they ever planned to get something out of her and here sky was, making her more mad. I guess if it did anything it seemed to finally put a crack in her that no one seemed to manage to do before, and even though judas rightfully told sky she went too far as he looked through his texts. Having Luna mention anyone by name from where she came from was quite impressive. He waited outside the training room of course, hearing kelly wave out the knights as they finished up and left. Some even bowing to the prince on their way out, and he knew that blonde when he saw her, bun up and still rough looking. She paused at the sight of him, sighing to herself as she looked him over, judging him. "You told me you wanted to talk to me after training, I'm assuming this is meant to be important?". She eyed around them, watching for any listeners peeking around. "We need to talk, about some of the recent things going on, so....you got some free time?", she huffed but seemed a little more content now that judas was actually seemingly listening to her for once, it'd been awhile since just the two of them spoke, and usually when they did it resulted in slight tension. "Sky with you? Or are you really here alone to talk to me? Knowing her she already told me she had a spat with me earlier i'd rather not speak of.". "It's just me, i figure that would make you the most comfortable....I was thinking we could talk over a game of ping pong? I believe we haven't finished our match?". She scoffed but she also seemed to actually smile at that, "Cute, but we're here to talk about serious matters, not go out and play....last time it was because we butted heads, i'd rather not be angered any more then I already am from earlier and if you ask a single question about whatever sky told you...I swear..". "How about this, i tell you the info if you beat me?", he was being so smug about it, even though honestly he was sure luna had other ways at her disposal to get information out of him. And just as he expected, luna tapped on her disguised wand, unimpressed, "I would rather not have to get info from you from more.....controversial matters....no more games jude. You should spill the beans on whatever it is you want to talk about, you know full well calling me about info you don't intend to tell me is just asking for trouble...". "Gee luna, if you were so worried about losing you could've just told me.". She was competitive, he knew this would make her bend. Sky told him despite how sweet and caring he usually was, he also could be a major jerk if he wanted to be when he was teasing his friends and family. Something about that smile he had and his tone of voice, Judas described himself usually more of a nerd at heart, but then again he did seem to look almost like a mix between a prep or jock from one of those cliche high school movies he'd seen with sky and his family. The kinda guy you'd want to challenge and beat at his game. And Luna hated being bested or not seen as the top dog if anything. "I don't like that you have the ability to both make people love you, but also make people want to punch you in your perfect teeth...", she grabbed his arm, "Very well, let's go to the underworld, we'll talk there...but don't waste my time please...". She seemed rather thankful to find out they weren't going back to the safe room to play this time around, as the underworld had a clear game room, which was where the lucitor family always went to challenge each other to games. "I'm assuming what you have to say has nothing to do with any word from my mother or....well, the Spiderbites right?". He picked up a paddle and looked up at her, "No, it's neither of those things, i'm left in the dark for both those things as well at the moment....i hope they're ok though, i'm kinda worried about all of them.". She hummed, picking up a paddle, "Hearing some Intel about the ponyhead kingdom, their son escaping last night....not very reassuring to hear with everything else happening. But honestly the likelyhood a ponyhead can work that costume is very small.". "Not unless there's several in there working everything...", he mentioned, grabbing a ping pong ball and preparing to serve. "Well considering they have confirmed hands, I'll take that as a no.". He served and the ball bounced towards her, the two smacking it back and forth over the spider-weaved net. "Your Magic high commission seems rather.....well....they seem to do very little...", she gave a rather hard smack of the ball back towards him, "Doesn't bode well when even they can't find the things they should be able to find on a whim...if magic is going fuzzy in this reality...sheesh i don't want to imagine that...". The ball flew past her on the next turn and she sighed, going to pick it up, "Mewni is falling apart, do you have any idea what happens when mewmans start panicking?". "I...got some idea...",he said, swinging back and forth, "You should see some of them around me, snarking about my arm and sometimes terrified about me attacking them.....loki claims it's not true, people love me and i'm just not seeing it....but...I dunno, being born or er...created kinda imperfect....and having that constantly beating down your door, telling you everyone secretly hates you....it's a voice that's hard to get entirely rid of, no matter what you do...". She hit another rough shot, judas almost missing it but managing with a quick save, "You're probably heard all the speeches huh? The ones where you're told to ignore it, to scare them to teach them a lesson, that when you'll be king you won't have to worry about it, that you'll prove them wrong.". Judas said nothing, letting her talk and continue with her train of thought, he was surprised though, she was entirely right about all of those things. "You both duely want to keep them happy and oppose them instead of taking one direction or the other, it's a hard bargain because you don't know if it's better to be accepted by everyone or stay true to yourself. Is that correct?". Judas looked rather stern, catching the ball with his hands to look up at her, directly in the eyes from his side of the table, "If you're reading my mind, just so you know, it's not really cool to pry into other people's personal issues..". "No mind reading needed, i can just tell....", she replied simply, "For the record though, if you ask me what to do in your situation....don't let those people win, tradition might make people happy, but....well, it can be old fashioned and...i can't say our ancestors always made the right choices in the long run. I say you exceed expectations, strive to be the best and they'll learn to put up with it. You're being coronated soon right? I suggest whatever party you have, it's both elegant, and fitting for you...". "Why do you care?". She hummed, leaning against the table, "I just do, you'll never be a good king if you let everyone push you around like that and feed into what they want...". "Look, didn't we want to talk about info, the reason you're here?". She silenced herself before nodding, looking over the boy's face with a certain fascination. "Ok, spill the beans, why'd you really drag me here....?", Judas was about to answer when luna held out a hand, "I can tell i'm no one's favorite person around here, so the fact you wanted to hang out with me, tells me i'm missing something...". Oh shoot, she was on to them already? He needed to think of something fast to keep her distracted, even if he didn't know why eclipsa wanted him to do this, the last thing he wanted was to be on luna's bad side. "I don't hate you", he practically blabbed out. "Hmm?". "I don't hate you...", he repeated, "You're.....not easy to deal with, but....i don't really believe you're a bad person.", he sighed and headed to the far side of the wall, leaning against it. "Look, i have a younger brother, he's difficult to deal with sometimes, but when he's mad with me....i don't believe he really hates me....I don't believe you really think that you think the mind-wiping thing is entirely moral or that you think people who don't make progress are some kind of waste." "You don't know me judas..."., she smirked, "Things are just different for me...". "Look, you're kinda hard-edged, not great at making friends, and everyone is kinda intimidated by you...but....you clearly do care about people, i don't think you're so concerned over your mother for no reason. She means something to you back home? You have people back home you're desperate to see again aren't you?", the blonde snorting, shaking her head, "You're really trying to figure me out judas, i give you props, you're way better at it then celeste or sky are...you pay attention to things." "Do you not open up because you don't want us to know, or don't want anyone to miss you when you're gone?". "Is there actual info you wanted to tell me or is this an interrogation?", she walked over next to him, leaning against the wall as well, "For the record, i can't say you're very good at it, but it's a solid attempt.". They stood in silence, luna's shoulders sinking and looking around the game room, "Honestly keeping myself mad and stern all the time is tiring....but it's also necessary, between pretending to be a knight and trying my best to find what i need...you just have to keep up apperances..". "Why?", he mumbled. "Why?". "You're not home anymore, maybe you're like this at home....but....you don't have to be this way around everyone here...". "Says the guy trying to keep up appearances for people who hate him...", she laughed to herself, sending him a look that sent chills, "No wonder I enjoy your company more then the others, we have more in common then I thought....". She moved away from the wall, hand running along the pinpong table, "I have to admit, you're fun to challenge, but if you came out here to find out some secrets, you're going to have to keep guessing it seems.". "Luna look, i don't wanna pry into whatever is going on back in your universe, but i also don't want us to be enemies....we're clearly not communicating well and we don't seem to really trust each other. We should talk luna, we're going to have better chances if we're on the same team and working together here and if you truly respect me, then i think we both need to work out whatever's the matter so we can get things back on track and get this mission to get you back done....". She paused for a moment, thinking something over before taking a deep breath and looking judas in the eyes, "I've been doing my own research, but knowing you that was one of your many guesses into my mind, mind you, not very successful research, but still research.". She seemed relaxed, "I've been trying to find celeste all day so she would actually speak to me on everything happening but at this point this mission is falling apart so badly i'm not sure it would've lasted another day...". Judas's eyes widened. "Oh don't give me that look, you've been hiding things from me as well, i can tell...". He closed his gaping mouth, "Has she told you anything....personal?", only to be met with the relief of a shaking head. "Apparently i'm not nearly as good as commanding people as i am back home, your brother and Celeste? they fight back, they don't listen....they go long stretches to ignore and hide from me, they clearly weren't as up to the task as i expected them to be...i supposed that's what i get for hiring random teens rather then experienced solders...". Wait...landon was working with you?", he sounded surprised, not only that, but also a little dissapointed , luna picked up on that as well, "Purely out of spite for you, though considering how little he's done i'm not sure if he really meant it or it was from a spur of the moment thing to spite you..". Judas froze in place and looked genuinely heartbroken as his shoulders sank and his ears seemed to point downwards, "I....didn't know it was that bad...". "I wouldn't let it ruin your life, i've seen his type, void of attention for so long that it takes a hold on them, till they reach their breaking point and are so starved for attention they are willing to do anything to get it. You blame yourself too much and it won't make anything any better...", she was right, and judas nodded, "I know, i know it's not my fault.....i guess it just....hurts? to know your brother....feels this way...about you. I'm supposed to set a good example after all...". "Aren't we all? we're royals judas, our job is to be an example for our kingdoms, to be an example to others...it's....a lot of pressure to put siblings on top of that", she had a point, eyes wandering to the door, "I'll be honest, i don't agree with you sometimes and i think you need to take some things more seriously, but.....i can't say i enjoy watching you feel miserable.". She picked up one of the paddles again, "Another round? I still haven't beaten you yet...". "Didn't you say you never had fun, aren't your duties more important to you?". "Well, yes....they are, however....right now....". She practically leaped over the table with the grace of a gazelle and got into position, "After you dragged me down here and interrogated me and tried to pry into my inner thoughts, i now consider it my duty to crush you to pieces using my paddle...". Judas snapped out of his sadness to see her slam her hand on the table, scaring him as he grabbed his own paddle, "You're just doing this to make me feel better aren't you? You know you don't reallly-". "I'm not void of compassion, or do you really think that little of me?". His brows firmed, clutching his paddle tighter. "You're on...". He held back less then before, and luna was pretty good, not as good as him, but sill good. Maybe this was what eclipsa meant, getting luna to trust them again and open up with them, or maybe she just wanted luna to stop looking like a snobby mother, one or the other. Though as they kept playing, their playtime was ended as luna put it to a stop, catching the ball in her hand instead of using the paddle. Making Judas stop, almost worried something had come over her. and it did. an idea, in fact. "Luna...what's wrong?". "Judas....I have... a proposal for you....". - "Not the best day for a lesson...is it?". "What gave you that idea?". Eclipsa laughed into her teacup, "Well, judging by the fact guards are scattered all around my tower like little beetles sure helps, look at this poor boy, he looks as bad as I did when i ate some bad chocolate.". She was pointing to angel, on his usual side from sky, who was a nervous wreck this time around. His hair, thought still tied up, was messy as all heck. He was clearly sweating, and he wasn't even looking at anyone with any of his eyes. Sky had noticed this when he walked in for today's lesson of course, but she almost didn't even want to ask what was the cause considering everything about angel's background that could contribute. She wasn't good at the whole "Comforting thing" exactly, yeah sure, angel broke down in front of her and sought comfort once before but still....she wasn't used to it. Plus Eclipsa being in front of them, knowing her, only made it kinda worse in general. If Judas was handling luna, she should handle angel. Worse case scenario, they swap , though sky's last encounter with the tall and bossy blonde probably would make talking to her again.....less favorable. Judas was clearly better with both of them then she was still, but that was probably because the guy was normally a very friendly person and the only reason people didn't like him in her eyes, was that they judged him for his arm. Angel and Luna both seemed to hold some type of respect for him, regardless of how they felt about his opinions on them. Not to say there was no respect between her and them but....yeah. "I'm fine...", angel said in a 'not so very fine' voice, in his defense though, everyone seemed a little on edge. Angel's father dropped him off as he usually did, but this time he preferred the boy was on watch by someone, forcing angel to be picked up by eclipsa herself this time around. Much to his embarrassment it seemed, and much to his father's pleasure as it seemed he was still very much a Eclipsa fanboy, Sky may not have witnessed it herself but, judging by eclipsa's reaction and angel's after, it was mortifying. Though she doubted it was the reason he seemed so sickly. "Aww dear, I know right now times are stressful and scary, especially with star's plan to enchant the kingdoms.....but i promise, you'll be safe here....at least in the meantime. Honestly, we're lucky lessons weren't cancelled, but don't worry, things should hopefully only get easier from here." Angel didn't seem so sure but he silently kept to himself, his four eyes wandering around the room, as if expecting something to pop up and kidnapp him from the corner somewhere. "What's the lesson for today?", he muttered, still not looking anyone in the face. "I was thinking more....magic related?". This got the kid's attentions alright, even angel, who gave the woman a skeptic look. "I'm weak at magic, you know that...". "Well so was sky, so i see this as a great learning opportunity!". The teens exchanged looks before angel went back to ignoring everyone around him, "Sky is not weak...you saw how well she does, with or without her wand. She's kicked me from the kingdom 173 times.....whether her wand works or not...". His dark haired companion only raised her eyebrow at him and gaped at his statement, "Wait? Don't tell you you counted every single time that happened? Seriously? Did you make marks in a book or something about this? Please tell me that was a random number you picked out...". "I have a day planner that has all my visits to the castle for....well that, so....yeah...", he looked embarrassed, but then he shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't have a compact, what do you think i do when i'm not at butterfly castle?". She sighed, fair enough, she'd normally guess prince stuff but even that was kinda out of the question since angel's idea of prince stuff was different from actual prince stuff that judas took care of. "Regardless, I think at a time like this...maybe it's better we move on to spells, don't worry it's going to be perfectly safe and not involve any fighting this time. Especially since there are guards out there who would probably add another mark to my record if i did, on the plus side though, Queen Janna's pranks are hitting more then ever since there are guards everywhere she can mess with, can't deny the one who fell into her bucket trap made me laugh.". She stood up, heading over to her bookshelf, "Now, sky may own the magic book of spells now, but that never stopped me from making my own collection of spells......sky....any spells you're currently working on for now?". Angel even turned to sky as she felt herself be put on the spot, "I-I uh....I've been a little busy to really come up with any....i mean, Fireskull Frenzy is a fun one, but uh....last time i used that i burned a tower and i'm not trying it anytime soon...". "Don't you have more...?", Angel popped up yet again, "Your bubble charm? Shard hearts? Of course your licorice rope counts as well....i also believe you made your own cloudy recently as well since you were always conjuring your mother's before...". Alright, now angel was starting to enter weird territory again, and it must've shown clear on her face since it made eclipsa laugh, sitting down with a dark book in her hands. "Oh c'mon sky, he's fought you so much, no doubt he'd know you quite well in that field", she wasn't wrong but it was still odd. "Uh......do arachmen really even have spells? Did you guys...like....ever....have spells?". Angel looked personally offended, "All monsters can use your wand sky.....which means all monsters can make spells, just because my species could do magic without a wand doesn't mean we never invented spells outside of making silk.". Then his face grew sad, "But, most of those recorded in our history...were burned, by queen solaria....even if we couldn't do magic much after the mewmans took over....losing those records....only made things worse...we stopped magic altogether and only knew the one spell...our weakest...honestly our ultimate is considered so unpredictable because we were never given the magical practice to control it, that war completely destroyed us...". Eclipsa's sad expression was enough for Sky to realize maybe that question was a bad idea. "Uh.....moving on...". "Don't worry sky, magic actually can be different depending on species, prince lucitor after all has different magic then you, and so do the ponyheads...it's not a weird assumption to make, i personally....i believe it's more of an in between, correct angel?". He grumbled for a bit before nodding, "Yeah, it's half our own magic, and partially theirs because we can't conjure it without magic that's not personal to us internally. We can do spells you can't....I think..". "Have you ever....tried using them?". "There's no point in trying things you can't do, servants do silk and outside of that...it's just the one web spell....that's it for me. Not like i'm in a position to create spells either, not skilled enough, too busy on other matters..." He trailed off, clearly thinking about other things, "Anyways, don't focus on that, you're the family that focuses on magic, you're the one who can go practice your spells.". Geez, he had no trouble at all trying to built trip her about her family history did he? He was so blunt about, but he also wasn't wrong. With her mother going out of her way to keep angel out of the castle aside from these lessons, sky really lacked an opportunity to hang out with him and question some of the things she wanted to ask , yeah globgor was out there doing his own investigating but there was something that told her angel was more of the person to put her focus on. Besides. leaving from this point on will no doubt be harder then it used to be, so going to angel's own castle wouldn't work out for her. She needed a way to keep him here, just a bit longer. "Sky?", Eclipsa tilted her head and smirked, "How about showing us some of your more innocent spells? You have been using your wand and practicing right?". Well, sky had to admit that she really hadn't been, she'd been falling behind a bit ever since the physical teaching stopped and mostly because she was now surrounded by more competent magic users who could do these things without her. Even as she took out her wand now her expression was enough indication for eclipsa. "It's ok dear, but honestly....use that wand more often.....don't be afraid of doing magic if you need to..". Sky looked over to angel, who simply blinked at her as she stood up. "I dunno, what if i try and my wand malfunctions and...", then she heard angel shush her and she turned in annoyance, "It only malfunctions because of your conflicting emotions, when your really god for it, it works just fine". She almost felt like rolling her eyes, Like yeah maybe, but that didn't entirely explain how or if she was responsible for bringing her sisters here....did it? Man that was so long ago, she really had no idea how she felt during that time. She knew she was still kinda upset, but she also was determined to do something, anything? It was a thing with her family, they had a problem? Use magic to fix it! Find a spell and make it work! Practice and keep up with said practice so you're ready to be a good queen. She looked at her wand, it's shiny heart shaped gem-stone glistened at her. There was still no telling how that had happened that night and who was entirely responsible, for all they know the masked person was just some rouge causing mayhem that had nothing to do with anything. But they'd never know unless they caught him, her, it. And there was a high chance she might be under suspicion or worse if she did nothing. "Princess Butterfly?" Angel got her attention, and sky looked at her wand again, thoughts and idea running through her head. With luna not being here, or any of the girls for that matter, she was finally on her own to make these choices when it comes to magic. Do her own thing, do things her sisters couldn't. Sure, Sunny seemed to share a care for Angel because she was rather empathetic and had a sweet spot for monsters in need, but Sky had the history, it was almost bizarre to think just all the memories she had stored about fighting this pest of as prince actually meant something to a degree. Angel sorta seemed to treat her with some kind of respect, she knew that, but it's not like throughout their childhood they were close with each other or anything, she mainly ignored him and she and judas had rarely hung out with anyone but each other. And yet, Angel seemed to know things she didn't think he'd pay attention to, geez now she almost wished she had paid nearly as much attention to him instead of being annoyed all the time so she had something to use against him. But regardless, if anyone was gonna get this from him, it'd be her. It better be. "Yeah yeah.....uh....is this really a good place to be doing magic? If i break anything in here we're so dead...", in which eclipsa snapped her fingers and everything cleared out, including the couches as angel fell down and landed on his back with a small whine. Eclipsa moved off the side of the room, ushering the fallen prince to join her as he lifted himself up with his extended legs and moved away, grumpy about his tea being gone as well until eclipsa magicked it up for him. "Honestly I've been waiting for you to do magic for a very long time...ever since i heard you were improving, angelus, name one of sky's spells....something that won't severely ruin my room please? I want Globgor to come by later and watch the stars.". Angel sighed and thought for a moment, going through his head, " Lazer Bat Blast?". Sky giving him a look before attempting to do the spell herself, jumping up and airming up before a measly purple bat came out and landed don the floor. Welp. "Look, it's a lot easier to do this stuff when i'm not being watched or....under pressure...", well, it wasn't too bad when bernard and melaine had been watching her but bernard was more focused on his card tricks and melaine well...she would like what sky did no matter what, sky kinda wished she was here right now. She'd had so many crazy ideas she was bound to know what to do in this situation, even if it was something from an insane earth movie. What would melaine do? Or Judas for that matter? Well, if melaine were in the process of thinking about how they'd question angel, well...actually she'd just do it, outright, pad and all without needing to worry about keeping angel here longer. If Judas were doing it he'd pull angel aside, talk to him in private, work a way around to discover what was happening, he was firm but also somewhat gentle. Those options kinda were out of luck considering how little they had in common with sky herself. "Sky?". "Look, i'm thinking ok!". "Dear.....don't think so hard about this, it's your wand, you're in control, don't focus so much on us, do it your way...". Her way? Duh. "Ok, well.......let's uh.....let's try that thing again ok? ", She grumbled at the flopping bat on the wooden floor, flapping about and just barely being able to get off the air. Not her best work, and the looks on her guests faces really weren't helping her already low self esteem. She hadn't used this spell THAT recently so she might be out of practice, but if she was ever going to manage it she needed to focus and do what she did before when fighting angel. Just get through the class, and then she could focus on what to do about angel later. "LAZER BAT BLAST!!!", she went for it again, this time trying to focus her wand a little better, luna talked to her about that didn't she? Wands and how best to grip and position them for her spells? The information was coming back to her again, and in a final blow the spell actually came out almost successfully. Not completely, but the 3 bats that did come out, were flying, and still had lazers that were actually working. A better attempt then her first one alright. Even eclipsa smiled, impressed, butting angel next to her to clap and lose his usual downer tone. He was reluctant, but still did so, he wasn't exactly heartless. Sky still wasn't fond of them watching there but at the very least she was a little more confident then how she started out , motioning for them to shoot her another spell to try. Not that she expected this to work full time, but as long as she avoided their gaze and kept her focus, she should relatively be fine right? Right. Angel asked her to summon her darker cloudy because of course he would, which unfortunately led to a few poofs before a successful first attempt was made. She kinda felt bad this "Lesson" was more for her then Angel though, it wasn't particularly kind of eclipsa to set up a class she could do but angel couldn't, unless...she was expecting sky to do something . She glanced over to angel, "Uh....you wanna come here and I mean.....we could at least...". She was inviting him to join? And do what exactly? "Uh.....at least...what now?". "I mean, do your web spell! It's the one you know right?". He blinked at her, "You....want me to use my magic? it doesn't do much! You know that! It's just a simple sticky web spell". But she still motioned for him to join still, and awkwardly and very un-prince like, he shuffled over. Smoothing out his fancy clothes and standing next to sky. His hands glowed only a little bit before sky saw webbing form, she really wasn't used to seeing it like this, well....not being shot at her from far distance and as he played target practice with it. She found he was better at it then she thought, webbing up her bats to the walls. Guess when you only have one spell the learn, you learn to easily master it. He wasn't even being smug about it, but then again, it wasn't typical for him, Loki maybe, but not Angel. If this is what he could do with weak magic, sky'd hate to see him at full power, pinches out, eyes glowing, and vemon prepared for attack. Geez, and people thought their butterfly forms were scary, no wonder even solaria was anxious about his species to reduce them to decay and hiding. Angel stopped when he finished his practice, huffing and reaching up to fix his hair, as some had got lose and had blown in his face from it's normally organized ponytail. "Go again....produce some spells...", Sky's nervousness at being watched by her frienemy and strange sorta grandmother was washed away, it was almost like doing magic alongside judas and her usual friends, where embarrassing herself usually didn't matter. She seemed to do more accurately after that, to the point she was actually enjoying herself, even eclipsa was enjoying the show of the two teens having fun together as more of sky's spells go stuck to the stony walls before eventually retreating into her wand. "That was kinda fun actually...", she mumbled, "i guess there's less pressure when it's more of a game then my mom asking me to do something over and over again cause I kept failing....or where she got weird about me not being perfect during my presentation in front of literally everyone". The older woman shrugged, "Well with your mother, it was either that, or mostly winging it....though i suppose i'm not one to talk, I had a habit of winging it sometimes as well...probably because me and Star both were looking for trouble most of the time, when trouble normally found you...". "Is it bad...i'm not..", she waved her hands around, "Winging it?". "Honestly if you were able to "Wing It" every time you got yourself in a jam, i don't think you'd be nearly as cool. You get through things with ingenuity and support, i say that makes you rather impressive in your own way.".She was probably saying it to make her feel better but Sky accepted it. Man why did the positive reinforcement she received slip away so easily, it was almost like she wanted to look down on herself way too much then keep eclipsa and judas's positive words of encouragement with her. "Well....", she eyed her monster companion and awkwardly patted his shoulder, much to both their discomfort still. This was still taking some getting used to and neither seemed entirely sure where they were at this point in their strange relationship, "You did...a good job.....with the whole.....webbing thing, well honestly i shouldn't be surprised considering how good you are with it when we had to fight and stuff but...yeah....there you go". She wasn't good at giving him compliments either, "She might as well be complimenting the drying of paint.". "Thanks?", he said, eyes looking to her hand as she pulled it away rather fast, "For the record i'm still mad at your mother....don't think...I'm not still mad...". She sighing, rubbing the top of her wand against her cheek, " Well, that's something we share in common....i'm kinda peeved at her too....". Eclipsa looked around the room, hands on her hips," i'm going to put things back in place, would you two be dears and grab some snacks from the kitchens? there's still time left in our lesson so we might as well eat together and i'm sure the guards can escort you there and back...oh and...watch where you step, you know the queen likes her pranks". She sent sky a wink as furniture started to reaper back into the room once again. Angel blinked at her before sky grabbed his arm and moved him out, good, eclipsa actually was giving her an opportunity to talk to him and ask him questions, whether on purpose or not, well...who can tell with eclipsa? Regardless she dragged him to leave, thankful, the guards taking note and one following them along because of course. Sky let go of angel's arm, and made a cough, the boy's pointed ears pricking upwards and he huffed as he lifted himself on a bit with his legs to walk instead, almost giving him the impression of floating next to her . "Spit it out, what is it this time....? If this is about us hanging out like we talked about....it's become more complicated now...especially in regards to what happened last night ". "Well yes, we wanna do it...but actually...I kinda wanted to ask you....something". He looked down at her from his current position, though something told sky he was anxious sky was about to ask him something rather.....weird. Though i guess when she thought about it, asking him about breaking into the castle and about the silk thing were not normal questions, it almost took her a minute to figure out how she should even ask him. "Look hey....it's been awhile...like...some time...but....that sleepover....why were you...like....in the caste?", ok, that probably was the worst way to phrase that but now she had to roll with it. And Angel's bewildered expression fit as he seemed to be wondering if the princess was serious or not, "If you're asking If i was up to anything...I was not, i was in bed and found myself there....in front of prince lucitor...". His ears dropped and he seemed utterly embarrassed, "He believed i was truly responsible...and....i can't entirely blame him either...". He shook his head, "Look, i'm not entirely proud of everything I did in my attempts to help my people who were wronged, but it's fairly embarrassing to be looked down upon by a fellow monster prince..". "Wait, what? Judas doesn't look down on you. I mean, he doesn't always agree with you and kinda thinks you should sorta know better but then again he acts like a mom to everyone, but yeah, like...he's the guy who kept telling me we should try and get along and stuff for the betterment of the future. I mean, you've seen him......he kinda does his best to not hate anyone, even when he's mad at someone....he doesn't think you're a bad person....I can promise you that."., she was sorta stumbling over her words but it seemed to be working judging by the boy's rising ears. "He doesn't?", angel seemed surprised, before coughing, "He's....a respectable individual, he's one of the few people who ever understood....well, he treated me like a person more then...an obstacle at least...". He paused and looked to sky, "Tell him i'm sorry....". This got sky's attention as she looked him over, "For what? Is this about stealing his compact or something?". Angel's eyes shifted around and he held his shoulders, "Sure, something along those lines...". They made it to the kitchens and sky realized angle had never been here before, getting back on his normal feet and awkwardly trying not to hit anything in the kitchens. The staff seemed happy to see Sky, angel seemed more of a mixed bag, no doubt that he had probably made their jobs harder from past protests in the past. He avoided eye contact with all of them as sky asked one of the staff for something they could eat, receiving some fresh rolls, a whole bag of them to bring back. Sky grabbed one to eat, the smell of fresh baked rolls reminded her of when she and judas were still kids sneaking food from the kitchens to make a fort and hung out in her room together, spending time under a nice pillow fort and fussing about their parents. Usually they'd grab a dozen or so cookies, some rolls, maybe even some fruits, though honestly the reason they probably stopped sneaking food out was judas's arm liked to pop out at inconvenient times and boy did it give them away easily. Angel it seemed, had never really had food....like this before, since truthfully, he was still a poor prince after all regardless of improvements. Though his reluctance to eat warm buttery rolls seemed to surprise sky, angel had a good sense of smell after all, he almost seemed entranced by the food as sky urged him to try it. He took a bite, chewing before immediately going in for another, considering his diet back home mostly was insects and whatever berries and creatures they managed to grab in those woods, this was brand new to him. And yet, he called a pizza place with jude's compact. Huh. "You seem....to really like these rolls...". "It's warm and buttery and.....reminds me of....spending time with my mom...", his mind wandered and he sounded sad again before wiping away his tears, "It's good, we don't get food as good as this stuff back home, guess we never had the freshest ingredients or anything....this isn't made with magic right?". his eyes seem to bug out with every flavored bite, and the princess watched him finish with extreme delight, "No, mom says food made from magic never tastes as good as food without it, it probably tastes funny to be honest anyway...". "Well, i wish we had more back home....". Sky had to take the basket away from him just to make sure he didn't eat the rest, "Nope, don't....we're bringing this back...c'mon.". She pulled him along she she found him actually smiling, a rare thing for him in her presence. But she needed to continue with her line of questions, even if globgor would look into the silk thing himself, hearing it from angel might at least help with her role on this wired team and make her seem more capable instead of putting her things aside. "Hey...so...the silk thing....you said you can do that again right?". "Not me exactly but-". "How'd your people get the magic for it?'. His eyes widened, "Oh? Um.....it was a rather kind gesture from a family member of yours...we didn't exactly need to "Get" magic, we're only so weak magically because of our lack of practice on much magic and exposure to the stuff is rare to come by. But, we were given a scroll on that spell again...and with some practice....the spell had finally been revised after so long. Our people stopped doing it and passing it along because they were afraid of solaria, who burned away everything, my people thought it best to avoid magic to avoid her gaze....but this act of kindness, might mean we can profit once again...". "Wait wait wait....who did this? Describe them?". Angel avoided her question though, moving forward and on his way back to eclipsa's only to find a bucket falling from above the doors as soon as they were opened in his quick attempt to get away from the princess. Sky moved faster to catch up with him, wondering if there was a reason he refused to actually answer that question and noticed the bucket as soon as the double doors were forced open. One of her mother's pranks no doubt, typical they'd run into one now of all time. And what happened next was in seconds as sky cast a spell, her licorice spell to rope around the boy and pull him out of harms way, only for him to be pulled back into her. He caught the rolls rather well surprisingly enough, but it seemed the impact of him hitting sky didn't leave her without injury. Sky rubbing her forehead and mumbling as angel panicked, the guard who was protecting them ran over in worry as sky felt herself close her eyes and pass out. "Sky? Princess? Skyler!?". Angel's panicked voice was the last thing she heard when she blacked out. - Sky saw only green, doors and voices, some calling out her names, she seemed to have no idea what was happening or where to go, though what she did know was that she was alone, and kinda terrified. Whoever was chasing her seemed to come from anywhere and everywhere and she both wanted to move and not move at the same time. She wanted to call out but couldn't speak, she wanted to hide but had nowhere to go, the light was getting brighter and her heart was beating faster. Where was she? Where was everyone else? Who was out there? She was panicking, the voices were getting louder, chanting her name over and over and- "Sky?!". Her eyes opened, making out the blurry images in front of her, she knew she was on something soft at the very least, and after a few minutes of readjustment she could fully comprehend that she was in eclipsa's tower, on the couch. Judas was here, with Luna, Eclipsa, and Angel, and surpisingly.....both her moms were here as well, looking over her and making sure she wasn't too injured. Sky tried to recall what happened and realized she must've passed out during the whole thing. "Oh thank goodness....", Star sighed, scolding Janna for her bucket pranks as Sky's other mom laughed and simultaneously showed an expression of guilt, a rarity for her. Judas smiled, typical for him, and luna seemed thankful but unamused, typical for her. Angel on the other hand looked more sickly then when he arrived earlier that day, awkwardly handing her one of the rolls they received from the kitchen. Sky took it awkwardly from him as the adults talked among themselves. Star seemed to thank angel, if you counted a nod as a way of saying "Thank you". Clearly star wasn't still sure about the boy but was in no position to really act scoffy about him, especially since he presumably was the one who had brought sky here. Star then started talking to eclipsa, pulling on her hair, "I'm glad sky's ok but....please, keep a closer eye on her next time....I REALLY don't wanna find out she drank something dangerous or got burned or anything...". Geez, did her mom think she was stupid or something? Thankfully classes were still going, but Janna's pranks were going to be reduced from now on, at least, if that were even possible. Star was still unfortunately incredibly busy, only checking on sky carefully before being forced to head out, janna on her heels and sending sky a jokey apology smile. Everyone else though, remained, Eclipsa making Sky some tea to help comfort her as Judas and Luna took their seats. "Don't worry about your mothers, they'll be ok, but you should thank personal angel over there for immediately bringing you here to get you help, bless his soul, he didn't know where your infirmary was..". Angel blushed in embarrassment,  crossing his arms and tuning away as sky mumbled out a "Thanks towards him", he took another roll from their basket, eating it to help comfort him a little more as Judas grabbed his teacup. "You feeling ok? We were coming to find you and talk but this....really wasn't how we expected to find you in the slightest....", judas, being too sweet as ever, as per usual. Sky rubbed her forehead and adjusted her hat, " Apparently Angel slamming into you hurts more then I thought it would...". "You imagined angel slamming into you?", luna asked, "What kinda fights do you two normally get into?". Now angel looked like he wanted to hide in his clothes, embarrassed and probably guilty for being the reason sky got hurt in the first place, ears folding against his skull and curdling up into a little ball on his seat. And Sky gave luna a look, actually kinda annoyed at luna for probably making him feel worse about the situation. Yeah she got injured, but she'd been injured plenty of times before and she kinda saved angel from a much worse fate, thankfully. "Look, what are you here for....either of you?", honestly the sooner they moved the conversation along to something else the better at this point. She knew Judas had plans to talk to luna in private, to get her to speak, but wow he worked fast, she was at least expecting him to do something later tonight. But him and luna very much seemed on the same page, well if luna looking more determined then annoyed was some kind of giveaway since she rarely would go off to something like this unless it was important. "We're here for you.....we.....", he looked to angel, "Me and Luna need to speak with you, we've talked and we're on better terms.....but....there's something more we need to speak about.". He stood up and coughed, getting Eclipsa's attention, "Eclipsa? May me and luna go get some ice for sky from the infirmary? She might need some just to be safe...". Eclipsa looked over from her teapot to nod, "Of course, Angel, here....come help me till they get back, I want you to try some of this new tea i got from the monster village...". Angel walked over to her, his eyes briefly looking at the three other teens in curiosity as he headed over, sky getting off the comfy couch to be dragged away and out the door. Sky didn't have much time after to react as they headed to the courtyard and pulled her behind a rose bush to move away from the guards around the place. Sky brushed some leaves from her nice hat as she looked over the two in front of her with their stern faces, like parents ready to scold their child. Sky didn't like the look of this already. "Guys? What's going on?". They exchanged a look, and spit the news out fast. "We're going to the spiderbite kingdom, the three of us....we're going to find nora and miss Jackie...".

[chaos-weekly]

Rain pounded on Libya’s abdomen. Well, it pounded around her and on her, but she mostly felt it on her abdomen, where her bandages had bled through from the gunshot wound that refused to heal. Probably because she hadn’t stayed still for more than a few hours in the last week and a half, but it wasn’t like she had the luxury of rest and recovery.

Footsteps approached, squelching in the muddy field. Liya lay on the dirt shoulder of the road. She was a few hours’ drive from Boston, out in the closest you could get to the middle of nowhere in Massachusetts. It wasn’t like New York where she could hitchhike upstate to the Finger Lakes area like she used to love doing.

No, Liya would never see her favorite place again. And no, Liya didn’t regret her decision. Her father had done the unspeakable—probably had been doing it for a while—and leaving was worth it. There was no guarantee she’d survive much longer. Her abdomen wasn’t her only injured body part. The other shot the soldier had taken had hit her upper arm, even if it only grazed. She couldn’t go to a hospital, not without having paperwork and insurance. Which she didn’t have, because Liya couldn’t use any of the aliases she got from her father or the Bratva.

Basically, Liya was stuck in Massachusetts on the muddy shoulder of the road in the torrential rain.

The footsteps had stopped, but they grew closer. Liya didn’t open her eyes. Maybe if she couldn’t see them they’d think she was dead, or maybe they wouldn’t see her at all.

A gentle nudge hit her side. The cry of pain and her now open eyes were involuntary. Liya found her attacker in the form of a handsome man with an appraising stare. He didn’t look pitying or concerned. Maybe intrigued?

“So you’re not dead,” the stranger said. He didn’t have a Boston accent. He sounded just distinctly neutral.

“No thanks to you,” Liya hissed, a hand gingerly coming to rest on her gunshot wound. She hissed again, sharper this time. Touching it was a bad idea.

“Hm.”

Liya closed her eyes again, but it didn’t last long. She could feel him staring at her.

“Are you going to leave?” She opened her eyes to stare him down from her place in the mud.

“You’re hard to track down, you know.”

Panic. That was what she felt. This guy was coming for her. He knew her dad. Papa wanted her dead. Or he at least wanted her back. Probably to sell her to someone else for revenge for leaving. Or to marry her off to some associate so he could strengthen the New York Bratva’s numbers. Or to forge an alliance. Either way, as sick as it was, Liya was glad she had found out her father’s dirty secret and left.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice shakier than she had willed it to be. So much for confidence.

“I don’t know yet.”

Something was up with this guy. Liya didn’t like him. He was following her, but he didn’t have a use for her. That wasn’t normal.

“Then why bother tracking me?” Liya snarled, but she was soon whimpering as the downpour grew stronger.

“You left the Bratva, Rozaliya. You’ve survived a week and a half already. You’re the Boss’ daughter. You have a price on your head.”

Now the whimper was from fear, not pain. Liya hated her weakness. She hated that she was losing strength. She hated herself.

“So you’re gonna sell me back? Claim the money?” Liya knew the figure paying for her return, preferably not too disfigured. It was a good seven figures. That type of money wasn’t offered by people like her father. Not for a missing person. Not for a traitor.

“No.”

Liya looked at him sharply, finally studying the stranger as best she could in the cold rain. He was tall and thin with a bad haircut and hooded eyes. If it hadn’t been for the stupid haircut, he might have been properly attractive.

“What do you want, then? Can’t you leave me here to die?” She looked skyward again, turning her face from him.

“I’m taking you with me, I’ve decided.” Before Liya could respond, the stranger had picked her up.

////

“Does she knows who you are?” Joe Bram asked in a stern, cold voice. As the leader of the Irish mob, he was a tall and strong man with a dark beard and chilled eyes. He intimidated most people, but Cerin found his own adoptive father—the second in command—to be more physically intimidating. Not that Cerin would ever tell Joe that.

“She knows I work with illegal organizations and that she has useful knowledge. She also knows we might be able to offer her protection.”

Joe didn’t look too happy with that answer. “She shouldn’t know anything. She’s Bratva! We can’t trust her.”

Cerin didn’t budge as Joe stepped closer. Again, Dad was freakier.

“She left because her father was involved with sex trafficking. She has secrets of the trade. You’ve been talking about getting more into weapons for years, Joe. Rozaliya is our in,” Cerin said calmly. It had taken quite a bit of wheedling to get her reason for leaving, and Cerin knew it would strengthen his argument.

“Get rid of her, Cerin,” Joe spat. Again, Cerin didn’t move, even if spittle had flown into his face.

“If we give her back, the Bratva will wonder what she told us. They’ll investigate or attack. If we kill her, they’ll attack. If we set her free and word gets out that we had her? They’ll attack us. Rozaliya is an investment, Joe, and she’ll be worthwhile for us.” Cerin knew bringing in the estranged Bratva Princess unauthorized was a frowned upon move, but he also knew it would be for the best. He was saving her life or whatever, but he was also opening doors for business and advancement. If he could get her to help them—and he would—then she could give them the insider tips and tricks on the weapons trade.

“She’s a needless risk,” Joe exclaimed, turning to Cerin’s father, Landon, in frustration.

“You’ve done too much, son,” Landon scolded. Cerin’s mood soured further. He knew his dad wouldn’t be happy, especially not after the Cleveland incident the month before, but he was trying to get back in their good graces! He needed to be back in their good graces if he as gonna maintain his power.

“Give her a chance,” Cerin pleaded, surprising himself. She reminded him of himself, which was probably why he was fighting for her so fiercely. That and he knew his idea was a good one. Mostly the latter.

“For what? To f—k us over?” Joe laughed caustically. Cerin’s lips thinned.

“To give us info. I’ll do the dirty work. I’ll take the risks. I’ll prove to you that she can be trusted, and you’ll thank me when she helps us more than anyone else.”

“And how do you plan on keeping her in line?” Landon challenged.

He smirked at his adoptive father. “Simple, I sell her back to her father if she’s any trouble. Explain that I found her and found her significance and turned her back in.”

Joe spun back on Cerin, but he spoke first. “Joe, we both know I can talk my way out of anything. I’ll bring her to her father myself if she isn’t useful. Trust me, she’ll talk.”

Landon hummed in thought. “He has a point, Joe. But where will you keep her?”

Cerin shrugged. “My apartment, probably. I have that guest room. I’ll lock my apartment and ensure she can’t get out.”

Joe threw his hands up, ever the expressive one. “Fine. Keep her. Whatever happens is on your head. I don’t care who you’re related to or how helpful you are, Cerin. I will not hesitate in killing you myself.”

Cerin didn’t flinch. “Noted.” He nodded to his father and Joe, and then Cerin left to go find Liya (who he had kept locked in his car). She still needed medical help. Maybe Adam could help with that instead of just autopsies on corpses.

[multistoty]

Hope knew this wasn’t going to be easy. It was eerie how her brown eyes mirrored those of her lover when she had had to leave him. They were on Alderaan where there were guards and people who would clamber to die for the girl in front of her. Jedi were hunted as it was, but her father would never stop. Darth Vader and Klaus would come for her with the ferocity of thousands of suns. There were too many things that had been done to save this girl and hide the bright star of her force sensitivity. She would stay on a planet close by should the little princess need her while Obi-wan was on tatooine. Darth Vader could not know his children lived. A shine came to the blue of the elder girl’s eyes with unshed tears. It would be easier to have Leia’s usual verbal dressing down than the broken face of the youngling. So much like Padme when the world had gone crazy. They had promised her that her children would be safe and that meant denying this attachment. The force was a cruel mistress. It had taken her family, her home, her future, and the man she loved. Landon’s brother Roman cut down in arc of a red light saber had been cemented into her view. Hope did not do fondness or emotions. General Kenobi had teased her that if she wasn’t so self righteous and sacrificing she would make a good sith. No. Hayley had sent the father of her children down that path. That wouldn’t happen even if the idea courted her. Jedi rules said love was the enemy. Yet, she felt it for this little found family. For the holos of little Luke Obi-wan had sent her. For the boy who she had left broken with a kiss. A boy she denied her feelings to even with him. Better for him to hate her than love her. A swallow was difficult for her to attempt. While she was short even in her combat boots, leia was so small to her. The way she had looked up to her had been nothing that the Mikealson had ever known. It felt as much a reward to make her laugh or smile as it had when Obi-wan seemed to swell with pride for her. “Little Love, I am not breaking my word. Remeber you saw the holonews showing a young picture of me next to yours, my father fell. He hunts me thinking I would be safe and happy at his side. I will not put you at greater risk than you are. You are a bright star in a galaxy of darkness. It is of the utmost importance that you be here to bring about the change necessary. Use your voice even the blaster skills I taught you. The world is at your fingertips and it will be charmed by you just as I am. One day I will return to you, but I need you to stay out of trouble for them. No that you are loved, my princess, by so many. I talked to Bail. He was able to keep his emotions out of this and see the reason that I was not capable of. You have a warrior heart beating in your chest. Do not fear it. Let it lead you. There are so many things that this world requires of us that are wrong. I never meant to make you care. I didn’t want too, but I couldn’t.” The redhead bent to run a hand through the thick hair of the little girl in an expert deal. Words drying on her moving mouth. “your birth mother is who my first promise is too. To ensure a future to you where you had what I didn’t. Safety. A home. Someone to tell you they love you every single day. I was to be my family’s hope that was why they named me. I watched the rest of my family fall. It can’t be you. i won’t allow it to be. I am so proud of the person that you are.”

“Since I can’t stay, I made this for you. It’s a bracelet like Landon’s but a little more fitting of a princess. It took me a month of saving to get you something so beautiful, but there is a chip embedded that will be like a beacon sending me your location if your in danger. I couldn’t tell you everything about your parents, but there was a stone like this in your mothers wedding ring. Carry a piece of me and her for you. My aunt Freya used to tell me that family heirlooms are important. As annoying as you are, you have become my family. And I don’t like a lot of people. May the force bring us back together if you haven’t taken over the galaxy by then.” (From hope, @multistoty )

“Wait what?” Her gaze snapped back up to the older woman.

“You said you’d stay here with me! You said you’d protect me always! You can’t leave.”