#not sure if I'll post this on ao3

[child-of-the-cosmos]

This started out as a light hearted doodle, that quickly delved into something more.

Please enjoy the brain rot i had over this.

Small fic thing:

"Moon... I don't think we should do this." Sun whispers to his brother, who was too busy trying to tye a knot to fasten his cloak to hear him.

Sun gripped his own tighter. "Moon." He urged, "I think we should go back. Father will be mad!" Sun's voice came out in a hushed tone, as he looked around the two of them- as if their father would come out to get them just by name.

Moon rolled his eyes. "Oh hush, Sun." He started, "You know you want to sneak out just as much as I do." He said as he messily finished tying the knot. It was barely hanging on, but he didn't care since he tied it himself.

Sun looked around again. Thick brush and trees surrounded them. Birds chirped every now and then in the distance. "I do, but...." Sun groaned, "What if we get in trouble?"

Moon looked at him, stomping his foot down as he did. He had to look up just a little to make eye contactwith his brother, since he was a tad shorter- but he was growing. Wouldn't be long until he was the same height as Sun, anyway. "We're wearing the cloaks, remember? His stupid 'protection spell' won't detect us. Stop being a baby."

Sun pouted. "I'm not a baby..." He mumbled.

Moon took his brother's hand, marching deeper into the forest. "Then let's go. If we don't won't to get caught, we have to hurry before he returns."

Sun wined a bit, but didn't protest anymore as they walked. Sun was careful not to trip, watching his step as he tried to avoid anything that looked too dangerous. Moon on the other hand, just trudged on as he pleased. He'd step on as many fallen twigs and hop over as many logs as he could. Both, had never been this far away from their home.

"Moon, careful!" Sun yelped as moon jumped over a particularly large log while still holding his hand, and almost making him fall.

Moon grimaced as he watched his brother try to grab his bearings. "Sorry, Sunny..." He mumbled, looking down at his little dark brown shoes.

Sun dusted himself off while looking around. "It's okay- hey, look!" He said pointing to the barrier made by their father. Dark crimson magic twisted and swirled, silver and gold dust barely to be seen shined in the sunlight. All of this, only could be seen by the two of them. "We found it!" Sun said, feeling a little braver than before. He took his brothers hand again, and took the lead.

As they eased up to the barrier, the magic reacted. It coiled around itself in knots, as if saying 'you shouldn't be here'. Sun and Moon gripped their little cloaks tighter as they took another step closer. "Are you sure this is gonna work?" Moon mumbled to his brother. Even though he wouldn't say it, now that they were face to face with the barrier, he was feeling a little hesitant.

Sun fiddled with his cloak, making sure it covered him perfectly. "Father uses these cloaks all of the time." He started, "and I'm sure I cut them perfectly. I measured our heights and everything!"

Moon nodded. "You did do that." He glanced at the magic, which only had swirled around faster as they got closer. "What do you think is beyond it?" He asked out loud.

Sun frowned, thinking. "I... don't know." He looked at his brother. "What do you think is beyond it?"

"Something cool enough to keep us locked up in the house for all of these years. Father probably only wants to keep all of it to himself." Moon said bitterly. It was true, their father had prohibited them from stepping a foot beyond their yard. And he made sure they abided by it. Always.

Sun and moon had tried to leave once before, but they couldn't even get close because of the magic barrier that alerted their father as to what they were doing. They ended up grounded for a whole month. Now, they stood face to face with it.

"Stupid barrier." Moon mumbled, kicking a rock into it as he recalled the lack of snacks both him and Sun had been given because of it. The rock skipped along the dirt, until it disappeared within it crimson mist.

They both watched as it did, taking a breath and looking at each other. "Ready?" Sun asks his brother. Moon nods courageously, "Ready."

They both hold each other hand tighter, taking a moment to take yet another breath before finally stepping through. The mist felt... weird, making them close their eyes. They could feel it wrapping around them, almost as it it was trying to pull them back. They pushed forward. Everything felt so prickly... ticklish. Sun scrunched his face as the magic brushed across it. Moon fixed his hood so his cap underneath it didn't push it off.

Suddenly, the pulling stopped. As did the ticklish feeling. And both boys could feel the sunlight graze them once more. They giggled, a bubbly feeling coming over them at the thought of them actually pulling their little sneak away off. Neither had opened their eyes yet, instead relishing in the moment.

Finally, Sun speaks up. "Ready moon?" He asked his brother as he shifted is feet a bit in anticipation. Moon stepped a bit closer to Sun, almost stumbling a bit since his eyes were closed. Sun held his hand tighter so he didn't fall. "...ready." Moon said after a moment, bracing himself. Together they both counted down.

"3....2....1....now!"

It took a moment to adjust to their surroundings. Moon rubbed his eyes a bit as Sun just tried to blink away the blurriness.

And in front of them, they saw... forest. And around them. They both turned around in disbelief. They were on the other side of the barrier... they had made it arcoss, but...

"Are you kidding me!????" Moon bellowed, voice echoing far past the trees and then back to them.

Sun hushed his brother. "Moon, quiet. We don't know what's out here with us."

Moon stomped angrily. "No! There's nothing here!! Nothing cool at all!" His voice wavers, "Why would father... forbid us from nothing at all. Why would he... keep us away for so long." He becomes angry again. "It's stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!"

Moon huffs, finishing his tantrum. He looks over to Sun, who seemed angry as well. They both stood there for a moment, thinking.

"Maybe..." Sun starts, "Maybe if we keep walking-"

"We'll find something." Moon adds, looking at his brother. The spark was lit within the two again, and they looked forward.

Sun nodded. "Okay," He grabs his brother's hand once more. "I'll lead the way... uhm..." He looked around, "let's go... this way."

And on they marched. And marched. The sun sat high in the sky, almost taunting them as they traveled. Moon frowned, the light was beginning to aggravate him.

"We've been walking for ages," Moon grumbled, "and still haven't found anything... let's just go-"

Sun shushes Moon, pulling him closer as he practically shook with excitement. Moon frowns, following his brother's sight. He stills, and soon the bubbly feeling returns ten fold.

There, past a few bushes and trees sat a little house. Pretty flowers lined the walk way, and in the back they could see what looked like planks of wood neatly stacked on top of each other. A bird flew past them, rushing into a tiny red bird house that seemed like it was made just for it.

They turned to look at each other, grabbing onto their shoulders. "Sun, are you seeing what I'm seeing."

Sun vibrants with joy. "Definitely."

They found something! Maybe I was just a house, but it was definitely something! Moon looks over trying to peer past the brush. "Do you think there's more?" He asks his brother. Sun peers as well, "I... don't see any others." He says.

They both sneak a bit closer to get a better look. The steps leading to the door sparkled in the sun, as if it was magic. They paused. It was magic.

Without a second thought, the two boys rushed into the yard. They looked around as much as the could before they walked up to the door.

Sun turns to his brother. "Who do you think lives here?" Moon looks around some more, trying to see through the windows. The bird from the little bird house chirps, startling both of them.

"Definitely not father." Moon states, "Everything looks far too... happy."

Sun nods, silently agreeing.

They both stand there for a moment looking around and rocking on their feet.

"Wanna go check out the backyard?" Moon asks.

Sun grins, "Yeah!"

The two boys walk off, and the red bird hops out of her little bird house- following close behind them.

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

You adjusted the straps of the many bags that hung on your arm. Potion hunting was a huge success, and you were carrying your treasure with a smile. You hummed quietly as you stepped on your walk way. The sun sat sweetly in the sky, but was beginning to lower. You'd have to start cooking soon if you wanted a decent meal tonight. You stepped on you porch, you shoes clicking on the surface.

You pause, setting down your bags.

Where's Jubie-

"Y/n!!!" Jubie, sensing your arrival- squeals as she swoops in from above you, landing on your hat.

Then, quickly she hopped on your finger as you held it out.

"Y/n!!!!therearetheseweirdlittleguys-wellmorecutethanweirdand-"

You laughed a little. "Slow down, Jubie. I can't understand you."

Jubie took a breath. "Two little things are in your backyard."

You frowned. "What?"

Jubie hopped a little before leaving you finger, "follow me!" She called as she took off, swooping behind your house.

With a flick of your hand, a wand popped into it. Better safe, than sorry. You thought to yourself. You weren't strong enough really to wield your magic without it. The only trick you had was making it pop in and out of you hands and you pleased... which was actually pretty useful.

You stepped off of your porch quietly, slowly moving to the back of your little house.

You could hear faint giggling and talking.

"Ugh... the bird's back." Someone grumbled- a child.

Another fit of giggling can be heard. "I think they're cute!"

You completely walk around the back, looking around. You pause.

You're poor fillyona's had been picked dry, and your watering can was missing. Jubie, was perched on the planks of wood you had bought. You look at her, distraught.

"They're over there!" She tells you.

You walk over to where your hose pipe was located. Your frown. Are those... cookies????

No, wait. More importantly-

"Stop!" You yelled, frightening the somehow animated cookies. One was holding your watering can, while the other had your hose pipe on full blast. Water was everywhere.

With a flick of your wand, you removed your watering can from their hands and turned off the pipe. You walked up to them, placing a hand on your hip. "What do you think you're doing!?"

They were both frozen in place, neither uttering a word. You take the moment to look at them closer. You'd never seen such puppets before. At least, that's what they looked like.

Puppets were like dolls that someone with enough magic energy could control. Though... these looked especially unique.

They were obviously modeled after cookies. One even had spinkles littering their... humps? If you looked closer, you could even see what looked like even smaller sprinkles being used as 'freckles' for their face. It looked like it was some sort of sugar or gingerbread mix.

Your eyes slid to the other one. Okay, this one's definitely modeled after a chocolate cookie. You thought to yourself. It had a what looked like a sugary version of a night cap on. Fluffy whipped cream, with some sort of fondue and little cookie stars was what the cap looked like it was made after.

But... neither actually smelled like cookies. Which made you think that they were just puppets.

You thought back to the kids you'd heard before. You frowned, looking around. "Okay, come on out!" You called around you, "I bet you guys were the one who ruined my flowers, too! Listen, you shouldn't even be here, the woods are dangerous!"

... no answer. You sigh, looking around some more. You couldn't see anyone past the trees.

Jubie swoops down, landing back on your hat. "Oh, look at what you've done! Now they're scared!"

You frown. "What are you-"

The sound of a whimper makes you whip your head back to the cookies. There, you see the two of them. Moving. All on their own. These were not puppets.

The one with the humps was on the brink of tears, the other was hiding behind them. "W-....we're sorry. We just thought they were pretty and-" they sniff, rubbing their eyes. The chocolate one refused to show you their face, instead pushing it into the sprinkled one's back.

Oh no. These were the children.

Before you can even try to console them, they burst out in tears. You were panicking.

"Hey- no, no, no... don't do that." You plead in a much gentler voice. "I didn't know you were- I mean... it's fine. I can always regrow the flowers." You give a shaky smile.

They look at you. "But... you sounded so mad." The sprinkled one tells you. "We messed with your water and stuff, too." The chocolate one quietly adds on.

You nod. "You did." They flich, watching as you lift your wand in the air. "Luckily, I can clean the water up pretty quickly." You give it flick.

Water from the watering can and the ground lifted into the air. You moved your wand, making it swish and swirl. And with a final flick, it popped- creating a rainbow of dew above you all. You smiled back at them. "There, problem taken care of."

Their mouths were hung open, tears vanishing in the sun just as the water did.

In one quick movement, they came up to you, barreling questions at you one after the other.

"How did you do that? Was that a new type of magic? Can you teach us? Can you lift us in the sky, too!?"

You back up a little with a small laugh. "Woah, woah... first, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Y/n, and this little bird on my hat here- is my familiar, Jubie."

The cookies- children, nod. It was obvious they had even more questions now... but thankfully, they decided to introduce themselves as well."

"I'm sun!" The sprinkled on says. "Moon." The chocolate one mutters.

You nod as well. "Okay, it's very nice to meet you Sun and Moon! Now, can you tell me how to contact your parents?" You smile. "I can send it by bird if needed. Jubie doesn't mind."

They pause, looking at each other. The tears start to return. "We... we don't know." Sun tells you. "We got lost, and..."

Oh dear. You looked at the sky, the sun was now much lower than before. You wouldn't be able to take them to the village if you tried. I'd be far too dangerous around a time like this.

You take a breath before looking at them. "That's okay! Let's... just get you two inside- I know you're not supposed to follow strangers and all... but we don't really have a choice in this situation."

Sun wipes his eyes again. "Why not?" He mumbles.

You frown. "Because that can be very dangerous." Did their parents not tell them that??

Moon looks at you from behind Sun. "What's a 'stranger'?"

You pause, frown deepening. "It's... someone you don't know."

Moon frowns, peering at you as he gripped Sun. "We don't know you." He pointed out.

You sighed. You'd definitely have to talk to their parents. Poor things were lucky they'd found you, and not someone... unsavory. "Just- are you two hungry? I can fix you something?"

Both Sun and Moon pop up, inching closer to you. "Food?" Moon mumbles. "Okay, let's go!" Sun cheers.

Yeah, you were definitely talking to their parents. Child safety is no joke, and for them not to teach their own children the simplest of rules is just-

"Oh, wait!" Sun exclames before he runs off. You're immediately about to call after him, but he comes back. Weird cloaks in his hand.

The energy that came from it felt... odd. Jubie felt it too.

"That's... a strong spell." She whispered.

You nodded as you guided the children inside your home. The sun was just about the set now, and you did not want to deal with things that came out into the forest when it did. You opened your door, guiding the children inside.

"You can wipe your feet here." You said, gesturing to the little mat at the door. The children looked at you, frowning in confusion.

You waited a moment, before slowly wiping your feet on the mat yourself. Both boys watched you do so, before trying their best to replicate it.

It's almost as if they were born yesterday. You thought to yourself, quickly going back to go fetch your bags that you had left on your porch. The boys stepped aside, allowing you to do so.

"What's that?" Moon asked, watching you as you set in down in your living room. He walked up closer to you, trying to get a look inside of the bags. You eyes caught a glimpse of Sun, shuffling his feet close by with the cloaks in hand.

You bent down a little, opening a bag a little for him to see. "Potions." You told him, standing back upright to look at Sun. "You can set the cloaks over there, and come over here if you want."

Sun looked at you, relieved with a smile. "Okay!" He said, setting the coats down to where you had pointed, before happily walking over to you to take a look inside of the bag as well.

"Father has bottles like these." You heard him mumble as he leaned over moon a bit to see. "Yours are weak, though." Moon added.

You frowned. Weak? You mean, yeah sure- the potions on their own couldn't really do anything. They had to be mixed together first. But weak?? These were high quality ingredients!

You placed a hand on your hip. "These can actually be really powerful, y'know? They just have to be mixed together- by an adult." You added quickly. You did not want them to think they could even touch potions. "You two should never touch these, by the way. You can really get hurt."

Moon frowned. "Can not. These look mid grade, at best. Father has far better ones than you." You watched in disbelief as Sun nodded in agreement.

Okay, now you were curious. Just who were their parents exactly? They were obviously not human, for sure. But then, what are they? You looked them over. Not a animin, or a Jin... Highly doubted they were fae, either.

Jubie hopped along your hat and landed on your shoulder. "As cute as they are, they... feel weird. I can sense it."

You hummed quietly in agreement, watching as the boys commented on the things in your bag that they could see without directly touching it.

That was another thing. Their energy. It's didn't feel right. Energy is what you're made of, no matter what species you might be. Your center- the core of who you were could be born of flame, wind, the earth, or water... light and dark also used to be cores, but those who had it died out centuries ago. Someone having a core like that nowadays is non existent. Which is nothing but a good thing. A core like that could be incredibly dangerous- it was.

But that's a story for another time.

Your core was made of earth. It was where you drew your power from- as all others with a core like yours did. You couldn't speak to animals. Well, except for your familiar. And that didn't count since anybody could do that if allowed. You couldn't talk to the plants, either. But... you could feel the life around you. A buzzing, you would often call it. A constant swarm of movement. You felt it in the trees. You felt it in the ground. You felt it in stone to moss. Mountain to pebble. And partially, you could manipulate it. Just like you had with the water. Except back then you had used just a simple floatation spell... having a core from the earth ment that's where you drew the power from to use the spell. It also had other benefits- which varied from person to person. Some could talk to plants or animals. Some could move stone and morph it how they pleased. You had the added little perk of being able to identify the energy of most things- telling if they were good or bad, poisonous or not. It tended to be really helpful when buying potions from a dealer.

Which brought you back to the boys.

You couldn't feel their energy entirely- but you could? It was almost as if you were looking at a mock version of someone's core. It was so close to normal, but something about it just made you uneasy.

You didn't know why.

You bent down to close back the bags, making the boys pout. "Come on," you told them as you made your way to the kitchen, "let's get you something to eat."

You decided to ignore the feeling you had. It was probably just your nerves after finding the two children... but, Jubie had mentioned it too. No, probably were just her nerves as well. You shook off what you deemed as the useless thoughts as you set your bags back down in the corner of your kitchen.

The boys watched curiously as you went to open your fridge. "Can we help?" You heard Moon quietly ask from behind you.

You turn around slightly to see him clinging to your side. Sun appears on the other side of you, doing the same. "Can we?" He asks.

You smile. "Sure, I don't see why not."

Sun slightly bounces in place as Moon tries to look in the fridge with you. They both watch as you pull out many vegetables and herbs. You close the fridge, setting it all on the counter. "Hold on." You tell them as you walk to your pantry, pulling out a sack of potatoes.

They patiently wait for you to return. And once you do, they're back to your sides.

"What are we making?" Sun asks. You catch moon trying to peer over the counter. "Soup." You stated. "You both go grab a chair so you can help."

Immediately, they go do as their told. You watch as they try to grab the chairs and pull it over. You take a moment to fetch bowls and a knife for you while they do.

By the time you set down everything you need, they have their chairs to the counter and are ready to help.

"Okay," you started, "First, we'll wash our hands. Then, I'll cut the vegetables... you two can put them in. Can you do that?" You asked with a smile.

They both nod their heads feverishly as they quickly scoot off the chairs.

The kitchen buzzes to life. And you all talk amongst each other as you work.

They ask you a lot of questions. Mostly about what you do, and what the village you go to is like. You smile, telling them that you had actually moved into your little home quite recently, so you didn't know much about the village itself yet. "Ah, but they do have great deals on potions!" You said at the end.

Moon made a face while Sun pushed on. "Where did you live before?" He asks.

You smile. "At the academy. Some people like to just stay there- it being close to the capital. I decided to leave after learning what I could."

"Was it fun?" Sun asks.

You paused. The question brought up memories you'd honestly rather not think about. "It was... okay." You said after a moment, deciding to smile in hopes that they wouldn't ask any deeper questions about it.

Sun hums, dropping a hand full of potatoes in a bowl. Moon slouches a bit, sighing. "We've never been to an academy." He grumbles.

You frown. "Well the academy teaches more advanced lessons... but surely, you've been to a magic school?" You asked them. It didn't make sense. He talks as if-

"We've never been to a 'magical school'." Moon mutters, frown deepening as he folds his arms. Sun looks over at him, worried. "Moon-"

"Father won't let us leave the house at all! He always says it's too dangerous! Well, we made it out here- and it's not like that all! It's fun!! You're fun!!" Moon bursts, and sun gasps quietly looking at him, and then you.

You set down the knife. "You've never left your house?" You ask incredulously.

"Well," Sun starts, poking at a potato that was hanging a bit out of the bowl. "We can play in the yard... but we've never seen a village or a academy..."

He frowns, while moon just continues to scowl. "We... ran off. We wanted to see what was beyond the barrier."

A barrier? You think to yourself.

"And we found you!" Moon blurts, holding out his hands towards you. He groans, "Can't we just stay here, with you? I don't want to go back if father is just going to ground us again."

Sun shrinks on himself. "I... miss him. What if we never see him or home again?"

Moon whips his head over to him. "T-that... that won't happen! He's probably gonna find us like he did last time."

"But..." Sun started, "We past the barrier. We used the cloaks. And look at how late it is." He looks out of a window from where he sat. Moon does the same.

Moon shinks in himself, too. "That... he's..."

You quickly catch the tears before they fall from both children. "Hey now..." You say, wiping their eyes. "I'm sure you're father is out looking for you right now, and he's definitely gonna find you. I'll make sure of it." After I have a strong word with him, that is.

The children look at you. Bobbing their heads in a small nod as they wiped their eyes with you. "Okay..." They mutter.

You smile, "Good, now let's eat- shall we?"

They boys look at you, confused. "We're gonna eat it raw?" Moon asks, rubbing his eyes one last time.

You grin. "Of course not, that'd be silly. We're gonna use a spell." You tell them, pulling out a piece of paper from a drawer.

They watch you as you put all of the ingredients in a pot with a broth, and close the lid. Then, you take the piece of paper, and tear it right above the pot.

Within a second, golden mist surrounds the pot. And they watch it heat up, bubbling sounds being heard from within.

After a minute you open the pot to reveal freshly cooked soup. The boys mouths drop. You grin, "A cook- Freddy, made this for me. It's a really useful trick, huh?"

The boys nod, and you hear their stomachs growl as you walk to pull out bowls and spoons for the three of you.

Jubie hops on Sun's head, making him giggle. "I'm gonna go finish my seed from earlier today, don't wanna waste anything!"

You chuckle, "Okay, come back once you're done." You tell her as she flies off into a different part of the house where her cage is.

Moon looks at you while helping set up the table, "You can understand it?" He asks, making sure to set his and Sun's bowls next to each other.

You set yours down on the opposite end, handing him two spoons next. "Well, yeah. You could too, if she allows."

Sun pops up from looking at the food in the pot, waiting on you to come over. "We can?" There's a glimmer in is eyes when he asks you.

You nod walking over to pick up the pot with a slight heave. "Yeah- but, you have to ask nicely." You set it down on the table.

Both Sun and Moon nod slowly, watching as you scooped big spoons of soup into their bowls. They didn't touch it, though. Instead, they waited on you to finish making yours.

The three of you sat down at the table, eating and making small talk every now and then. The boys had finished their food before you did. You gave Moon another helping- since he asked for it. Sun didn't want anymore, deciding he wanted to try talking with Jubie.

"Where did Jubie go?" He asked, leaning a bit on the table.

You thought about it. "She... actually might be sleeping. She does that a lot after she eats."

Sun slouched a little further. "Oh...."

Moon, was far to deep into his food to even hear the conversation. You smiled, "How about we play a game? I have a few."

Ah, that caught his attention. Moon looked up from putting yet another spoonful into his mouth. "Mah jame?" He asked, spoon clicking with his teeth as he talked. Sun perked up a little as he listened in.

You nod, setting your spoon in your bowl. You were done eating now. "Yeah, we can play it after I wash the bowls."

Moon quickly nods as he finishes his food. "I'll help. That way we can play faster." He puts his spoon in his bowl as well, and makes grabbing hands at Sun's. "Gimmie."

Sun covets it, shaking his head. "No, I can do my own." Moon frowns, "No you can't! You always leave stuff behind."

Sun frowns deeper. "I won't this time! I want to do it on my own!"

You stop the bickering before it gets any worse. "Boys... how about, we all do it together?" You offer.

They look at you. "How?" Sun asks, while he stops Moon from trying to sneak and take his bowl.

"Moon, you can clean them... Sun, you can dry them. I'll put them up after. Sounds good?"

The boys look at each other. Moon glances down at the bowl in sun's hand one more time, as if he was about to try and reach for it again. Sun holds it tighter.

Moon looks at you. "And we can play after?"

You nod, standing up. "Absolutely."

Moon slides off of the chair, pushing it back. He then picks up his bowl and takes it to the sink. You have to stop yourself from giggling as you watch him try to see over yet another counter. You take you chair, and set it next to Moon. "Here, you can use this."

Moon glares at you a little, mumbling something you couldn't hear. Even so, he gets in the chair.

Sun still hadn't let go of his bowl. You walk over to him, holding out your hand. "Drying them is a big job. Are you sure you can handle it?" You look at him as seriously as you can.

Sun's eyes shoot to yours. He nods, "Of course. Leave it to me." He tells you as he places the bowl in your hand, and marches over to the sink. He was on a mission.

He stops midway to get a chair as well. You help him.

The three of you quickly finish the dishes, the boys taking their jobs very seriously. Honestly, you don't think you've even seen a dish so clean and dry. "Great job," you tell them as you put up the last bowl. "I knew you two could do it!"

Sun practically radiates joy, while moon hides behind him a little. You hear a very small thank you fro him as he does.

The boys then hop off the chairs, pushing them back to the table as quickly as they could. They run back to you.

You smile guiding them to the living room. You sit them down on your couch, and then walk over too your bookshelf. On the top, you had few games you had collected over the years. They mostly sat and collected dust, so you were happy to finally put them to use.

You decide to pull out a favorite of yours. It was a simple game- first you set up the blocks in a tower, and each person would take turns pulling out a block. First one to make it fall loses, then the other players would duke it out for first place.

You explained the rules to the kids before playing. The first round you lost on purpose, choosing instead to help them from the sidelines. Sun ended up ultimately being the winner. Moon folded his arms.

"It's okay," you tell him, "Sometimes, you have to lose in order to learn how to win. Don't give up."

With that, a spark is lit in Moon's eyes. The second round starts. Sun loses first, making the tower fall on his third turn. He doesn't get upset, choosing to instead cheer Moon on as he faced against you.

You smirk, pretending to put in a good fight before losing. The boys cheer once you do, and laugh when you dramatically admit defeat.

After that, you let them play on their own. Something had been bothering you for a while now, and no matter how hard you tried- you couldn't shake it.

Jubie swoops in, and you hold out your hand for her to land on it.

"Something's wrong," She whispers, "That feeling I had is growing..."

You nod, frowning. "It's not their cloaks.... it's the connection to it. It's messing with the energy around it." You glanced at the cloaks in question. The magic around it was more prominent now, and all of the other energies around it was avoiding it like the plague. You'd never seen anything like it.

"Not just that," Jubie states. There's a fear in her eye. "But look, it's leading somewhere."

You look. Indeed the magic was leading somewhere, the trail going through your door. The feeling got stronger. And you were hit with a sudden sickness. Jubie watches you in worry.

You swollow down your nausea, instead choosing to walk over to the cloaks. You glance out the window. It was night now.

"Sun... moon, where did you get these cloaks?"

The boys hum, too immersed in their game. "It's Father's." Sun tells you after a moment.

You frown. That's impossible. No one could just make something like this. It had to be a relic of some sort... right? The magic, it felt far too-

A wave of energy bursts from the cloaks. And you almost topple over from the sensation of it hitting you. The boys look at you in worry. "Y/n... are you okay?" You faintly hear Sun ask.

You feel Jubie fly off of you, rushing to the boys. "Protect them," You tell her, "leave out the back door if you need to."

Moon looks at you, and then her. "What's going on?"

Another wave bursts, and you almost fall the down from sickness you felt. You were getting dizzy.

"Stay back!" You tell them, faintly feeling the vibration of them tryting to rush over to you. You look at them, they're speaking but you can't hear what they're saying. Your ears were ringing far to much. "Listen to Jubie, she'll make sure you're safe." You mumble. Your head was hurting so much.

The energy was so strong now. Something falls from outside, the feeling so strong that it shook the ground beneath you. You flick you wand into your hand, and glance at the boys. They looked as if they were trying to tell Jubie something... but you couldn't hear it.

You brace yourself.

The realization hits you far to late. Something wasn't pulling the cloaks....

It was the cloaks that been bringing something to you this whole time.

And It was here.

The door bursts open, and the dizzying feeling hit you ten fold. You loose you balance, falling to the ground. There's a shift within the air. The energy around you feeling far to heavy for you to handle. All other energies fled. It was just you, and the overwhelming presence you felt.

Jubie rushes to your side. She's saying something, but the ringing is all you can hear. And then, something else....

"Where..." a voice floods your mind, it sounded rough and so very angry. "Where are they."

You hold your head with your free hand. "W-what...?" You mumble out loud.

The lights flicker around you, popping all at once. The only illumination you had was the moon outside. And that soon, left you too.

A darkly color hand reaches through your door, cracking it's frame. "WHERE." Then another, "ARE." to your disbelief, two more slam through. "MY CHILDERN!?"

You hand unwillingly drops your wand. The pressure- their presence, was far to strong. Sun and moon rush to the figure, stopping them from coming any closer.

"No.... don't." You mumble out weakly, vision staring to blur. "Don't hurt them."

Jubie is still by your side, weak- but not as bad off as you. She couldn't sense- feel like you could.

And yet, she stands beside you. Ready to protect to her best of abilities if needed.

Sun and moon are still in front of the figure. You were trying focus on them the best you could. The ringing was starting to die down for some reason, but you didn't feel any better.

"Don't hurt them... they....." You can hear one of the boys say, only being able to hear it partly.

The figures eyes slide to you, deep red eyes swirled... fading, turning into a glowing gold.

You were too tired to speak anymore.

"Get your coats... we're leaving." The dark voice commands, looking back at the boys.

The boys feverishly tell it something, and the figure scowls. "They won't even remember you." It raises one of it's hands, and sickly as she looked- Jubie stands defensively in front of you. "That, I'll make sure of."

They boys plead, but it goes on deaf ears. Both you and Jubie are hit with a wave of magic. You fall completely down on the floor, eyes beginning to close.

Oh... you were so so sleepy.

You're vision goes in and out, and you catch glimpses of the boys retrieving their cloaks. They were crying. The figure, slid back outside.... and your vision blurs yet again. Sun and moon are now by the door, looking back at you.

Sun sniffs, wiping his eyes. "We... had a lot of fun with you." You hear him say. Moon doesn't even look your way, but he was gripping the cloak he had on so so tightly.

"No... don't...." You mumble out. Moon, looks at you then. He fiddles with his hat, and something drops onto the floor.

"Don't forget us. You have to fight it, you have to remember." He tells you. There's a gleam in his eyes, and his chest puffs out. "I know you'll find-"

"Moon!" A voice booms from outside. The boys look at you. Sun gives a sad small wave before leaving.

You catch a glimpse of Moon one last time before your eyes shut completely.

"Don't forget."

[captainadwen]

Damian Wayne vs the World

Sixteen year old Damian Wayne is on the hunt for a younger sibling. Being more discerning than Bruce 'child collector' Wayne, Damian's firm criteria for Batman's latest adoption problem includes but is not limited to: black haired, blue-eyed, tolerable humor, not evil, and most importantly - younger than Damian.

Lucky for him, fourteen year old newbie vigilante Danny Fenton is the perfect fit. Now, to fulfill his end of their deal, Damian must defeat the evil government organization hunting Danny in order to gain a baby brother.

Or, @livinghalfway your post made my brain go !! but in such a different way I figured it was better to make a separate post, hope you don't mind/enjoy still

~~

Damian Wayne re-entered Tim Drake's life like a gnat revealing itself in a closed bedroom space. Tim was in t-shirt and a boxers, maneuvering ramen into his mouth with one hand and scribbling out an epiphany on a murder case with another, when Damian's demonic dulcet voice echoed down from the ceiling. "Drake," said Damian, judgemental, "You live like this?"

Tim nearly choked on his ramen, because the day Damian doesn't attempt to murder him - however doubtfully accidental this incident might be - is the day Darkseid decides to be friends with the Justice League. "Fucking knock," Tim coughed out. "And get out. No one invited you in."

"Put better traps if you don't want me here," said Damian, dropping from the ceiling where he'd crawled in on wall-clamps.

"This is my apartment," said Tim. "It's called courtesy."

Damian sniffed. He padded around to Tim's desk and frowns at his cases, then said, with no further lead up, "I need your assistance."

"No," said Tim.

"You did not even listen to my request."

"Don't need to," said Tim. "Answer's still no. Door is that way. Bye."

"Father says mutually assisting each other is beneficial," said Damian.

"Father," said Tim sarcastically, "blamed me for you exploding a glitter bomb in the batcave two weeks ago."

"That is your fault for not being able to provide evidence to the contrary in an appropriately efficient manner," said Damian. He squinted down at Tim. "And he apologized. Eventually."

"I would not have glittered the batcomputer," said Tim. "Do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to backup those servers? No, because you don't like tech work, you just profit off it."

"Blaming me for Father's mistake," said Damian, "Most mature of you. But we must put our differences aside. I have selected a new family member and I need you to dismantle a government organization."

That drew Tim up short. He blinked down at his ramen as though it might explain Damian's words to him, but the ramen remained disappointingly uninformative. "Repeat that," said Tim, gesturing with his chopsticks. "Slower, and with more detail."

Damian pulled out his phone and sent him an email. Silence surrounded them in the brief moment it took Tim to set aside his chopsticks and open the email. The subject line was titled 'New Baby Brother', which birthed all sorts of horrifying nightmares of Damian Part 2: Demon Child Boogaloo. The teen in the inserted picture, however, was reassuringly not in possession of Damian's bone structure.

He did have black hair and blue eyes. "Who am I looking at?" asked Tim.

"Daniel Fenton," said Damian. "He is fourteen years old, enjoys puns, and has recently awakened 'ghost powers' that allow him to transform into the vigilante Phantom to fight other ghosts."

"Is he also an orphan with a tragic backstory?"

"No," said Damian, and Tim relaxed. "But that will not be an issue. We can share custody if they cannot be removed from the picture."

"Jesus H, kid."

"I am joking, of course," said Damian blandly. "Murder is wrong."

"Ha ha," said Tim. "If he has parents already he's not joining our menagerie."

"He will," said Damian, with a smug upwards tilt of his lips. "He and I have a deal."

"So you're coercing him in addition to stalking him. Anything else you want to share with the class?"

Damian considered this query with a serious frown, which was how Tim knew this was not a flight of fancy or a very early midlife crisis (although with their lifestyle and Damian already having died before...).

"He has," said Damian after a moment, "a rogue that calls himself 'The Master of all Technology' and is a technopath." This was clearly meant to be of interest to Tim, and not to be a stereotype, but it kind of was.

"Great." Tim turned his attention back to the email the demon child sent him. He scanned through it quickly. There was apparently a secret and evil government organization dedicated to the investigation and extermination of 'ghosts' and other paranormal creatures in the world. Their latest efforts were focused on the town of Amity Park, Illinois, which was 'infested with ectoplasmic pests'. Their words, not Damian's. (It was specified in the email.)

"Okay," Tim drummed his fingers against his desk. "Before I help you defeat this secret evil government organization so that," he opened the email attachment with a contract on it and squinted at the legalese, "this poor newbie teen you've harassed into signing this joins the family in exchange."

"I did not harass him," Damian huffed. "It was a gentleman's agreement."

"Does he know that?"

"I am not a politician, Drake. I thoroughly explained the terms and legalities before presenting any contract. Now ask your question."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because," said Damian, tone implying 'you are stupid and haven't noticed something obvious, idiot'. "Father has begun saying he misses the noise around the manor and looking wistfully at old pictures."

"We still live there though?" said Tim. Damian looked flatly at him. "Sometimes."

"If you lived there frequently enough," said Damian, "you would already know Father is having...empty nest syndrome." Damian sounded disgusted. "I refuse to tolerate whatever inadequate and incompetent child he will find."

"So instead you found an incompetent and inadequate child for him?"

"Don't be stupid, Drake," said Damian. "I would not have chosen someone inadequate. Daniel is merely lacking formal training. Father can rectify this. It will keep him occupied for at least the next two to four years, which gives me enough time to find another black-haired, blue-eyed, tolerable child I approve of to be his successor and my second younger sibling." Damian paused. "Or until one of you procreates and gives him a grandchild."

"You're really serious about this," Tim whispered in horrified awe.

"I am serious about everything I do," said Damian. "Now, you will help me defeat this evil government organization so that our new sibling joins us."

"Okay," said Tim, but his mind snagged on a minor, throwaway detail, so utterly in odds with Damian 'Demonic Jealous Child' Al Ghul it surely came from another person - "Did you just call this kid your successor?"

[generic-sonic-fan]

That Twisted Mirror - Chapter 1: Shadow

Summary: Team Dark is transported to a reality where they must face the worst versions of themselves. To get home, they must work with the most unlikely allies- if Omega can stand not killing them on sight, if Shadow can get over his guilt enough to act, and if Rouge can bring herself to care about the fate of this timeline, that is.

4205 words

Green poured into the cracks of his eyelids, shining so bright he could do nothing but cower before it. 

When Shadow forced his eyes open anyway he found nothing. In nothing he stayed, for a few seconds, before he could feel long stalks of grass press against his fur. A summer day's breeze drifted past his nose, and only then did the rest of reality fade into his vision.

He pushed himself off the ground. Stray dizziness, as if he’d had his inhibitor rings off, rung in his head. 

But the groan to his left had him on his feet in less than a second.

“Rouge!” He called out.

“Ugh, what the hell. . ?”

Rouge pulled herself from her own imprint in the long grass. She rubbed her head and her balance wavered. Shadow ran to her side and offered an arm. 

“ ‘m fine, fine.” 

“Omega.” Shadow remembered. “Did he-”

“SYSTEMS REBOOTING. . .”

“Gee, some new toy Eggman had.” Rouge mumbled. “Omega! You alright?” 

“STATUS: OPERATIONAL. DISCONTINUITY DETECTED IN MY CHRONOMETER. UNABLE TO CONNECT TO GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM.” 

Rouge scanned the area. “I don’t know where we are either. I could scout-”

“Wait until you’ve recovered.” Shadow said. 

“Sure, sure.” She wobbled back down onto the grass. 

“STATUS?” Omega tromped to her side. 

“Feel like I’m going to lose my lunch.”

“It felt like a chaos control.” Shadow said. When Rouge shook her head, he added, “one that was poorly done. Not like mine.”

“Yet Eggman called it a ‘disintegrator’.” Rouge replied. “I’m beginning to believe he didn’t think too hard on where all his test subjects went.” 

“WE HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED?”

“Well, that would explain why you don’t know where we are, wouldn’t it?” 

Before Omega could reply, he stiffened, his head rotating towards the horizon. “INCOMING.” 

Omega held his hand out, and Shadow used it as a step to hop on his shoulder. From here he could get a better picture- something was cutting through the long waves of grass, the shockwave flattening the stalks behind it.

“Sonic?” Shadow asked.

“NEGATIVE! BADNIK DETECTED!” Omega drew his miniguns.

Shadow jumped down and landed beside Rouge. Dizziness struck him again when he tried to call up enough energy to chaos control, so instead he picked her up and dashed behind Omega’s frame. 

Seconds later, the stranger arrived. 

And Omega did not fire. 

Nothing moved.

“What? What is it?” Rouge asked. 

“IMPOSSIBLE.” Omega said. 

“IMPOSSIBLE.” Omega’s voice echoed back from across the way. 

Shadow tried to channel energy into his skates. “Omega, what’s-?” 

“ULTIMATE LIFEFORM DETECTED! COMMENCING EXTERMINATION!”

Shadow dived out from behind Omega’s frame. Only to find, standing in the stalks ahead, an exact mirror replica.

“INFERIOR MODEL! HOW DARE YOU IMITATE ME!” The Omega closest (his Omega, Shadow reminded himself) opened fire. 

The mirror Omega dodged, switching through weapons faster than Shadow thought possible. By the time he’d ignited his rocket skates, replacing the mirror image’s hands were thin, silvery rods tipped with light. 

Shadow jetted out of the way just in time for twin lasers to scorch the grass where he had just been. He made for the opposite horizon. Rouge’s nails buried into his skin. 

“Put me down and go help him!” She shouted. 

There was no place with cover, no place to hide, and before he could think to set her down there was the familiar hiss of E-100 rocket boosters. A spared glance, a glance too much, showed the mirror image gaining on them. Omega struggled to chase. 

Shadow cut his skates and slid to a stop. The mirror Badnik, with the same heavier mass as Omega, could not stop in time, flinging past them. Shadow then sprinted towards Omega.

“Take her!” Shadow cried. “He’s following me!” 

“IT WILL NOT SURVIVE MY WRATH!” 

Omega did not change direction. He charged straight at the mirror image, raining a hail of bullets. Only a few found their mark in the gaps of the mirror’s plating. This did little more than cause it to stumble. 

“CURIOUS, ULTIMATE LIFEFORM.” The mirror Omega said. “YOU WOULD BUILD A COPY OF ME? HOW FLATTERING.”

“HE DID NOT BUILD ME!” Omega replied. He cycled his weapons.

But in the time that he was switching to his missile launchers, the mirror image blasted forward, grabbed his shoulders, and flung him towards the horizon. 

Rouge pushed herself out of Shadow’s arms. “Kick its ass.” 

With both arms now freed, Shadow lifted his hand to summon a chaos bolt. But the dizziness hit him once more, this time paired with a jolt to his head. 

The mirror image blasted forward, grabbed his arm, and slammed him into the ground ahead of Rouge. 

“Shadow!” Rouge cried.

“WHO IS THIS ‘SHADOW’ YOU ARE REFERRING TO?” The mirror image looked at her as it pinned Shadow down. 

Shadow couldn’t push against his claws. Desperately, he tried focus on the open sky above, willing for the smallest trickle of chaos energy to complete a chaos control. 

Only for cold to shoot through his body like lightning.

“YOUR USUAL TRICKS WILL NOT WORK!” This version of Omega’s voice box said with palpable glee. 

“F-fine.” Shadow spat. “Just. Spare. Rouge.” 

“REPEAT?”

“Spare Rouge. She had-” Shadow grunted as another pulse of cold shot through him. “She has nothing to do with this.” 

“YOU, OF ALL PEOPLE, BEGGING TO SAVE THE LIFE OF ANOTHER?” The mirror image loosened his grip, but not enough to be of any use. “A STRANGE LAST RESORT.” 

“Hey!” Rouge shouted. “Do you even know who Shadow is?”

“IRRELEVANT. COMMENCING COMPLETION OF-”

With a quick beat of her wings, Rouge tackled the mirror image off of him. 

“Rouge!” Shadow cried.

“You’ve clearly got the wrong person!” Rouge huffed as she stood on his chest. “If you don’t even know his name, then how can you be sure?”

“DNA MATCH IS 100%!”

“Why’d Eggman build you, anyway? You’re just a copy of Omega!” 

“CIVILIAN: I INSIST YOU CEASE AIDING THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THIS COMBAT ZONE IMMEDIATELY!”

“Oh come on, I’m not a civilian! You should know this!” Rouge pouted. “If Eggman doesn’t even consider me a threat, why I’ll-”

“ROUGE. EXTRICATE.”

Shadow snapped his gaze to Omega, who had finally returned to the battlefield. He had both his missile launchers drawn, his aim trained on the mirror image. 

“Hold on, something’s not right!” Rouge replied. She pointed down at the mirror image. “You! Why the hell did Eggman build you?”

“WHO IS THIS ‘EGGMAN’ YOU ARE REFERRING TO?”

Rouge looked at Omega, then back at Shadow. 

“And why do you insist on offing Shadow?” Rouge asked. 

“YOU HAVE NO CLARIFIED WHO YOU ARE REFERRING TO AS ‘SHADOW’.” The mirror image then made a strange, robotic sigh. “IF YOU DO NOT MIND, THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM IS STANDING. RIGHT. BEHIND. YOU. IT IS A MIRACLE YOU HAVE SURVIVED THIS LONG IN HIS PRESENCE.” 

“I’m not going to. . .” Shadow said.

“DO NOT MOCK ME!” The mirror image shouted. 

“HE IS NOT MOCKING YOU!” Omega shouted back. 

“You see? There must be some other person you’re thinking of.” Rouge elaborated. “Look, if you’ll just give us a moment to explain.” 

Rouge stepped off of his chest. The mirror image ratched upright. When his optics hit Shadow’s frame, the roar of his cooling fans was audible even from where he was standing. 

“We were transported here,” Rouge walked back to Shadow’s side. “Recently. Not quite sure how, but who knows when it comes to chaos emeralds?” 

“What are you trying to say?” Shadow whispered to her.

“What I’m getting at is that this may not be the Ultimate Lifeform you’re looking for.” She put her hand on Shadow’s shoulder. 

“SO HE IS THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM!” The mirror image exclaimed. 

“PERMISSION TO FIRE?” Omega asked. 

“BUT NOT FROM THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE?” The mirror image continued. 

“Whoever you’re describing doesn’t sound like the Shadow I know, so yes.” Rouge replied. “And given that you’re certainly not the Omega I know, I’d guess the same with you.” 

“ALTERNATE REALITIES LINKED BY THE CHAOS EMERALDS- AS THEORIZED.” 

“Something like that.”

The mirror image rotated his head to look at Omega. 

“YOU ARE OF THE SAME BASE BLUEPRINTS.” The mirror remarked. 

Omega glanced to Shadow and Rouge’s position, then put one of his missile launchers in front of his face as if he were whispering. “PERMISSION TO ERADICATE THE IMPOSTER?” 

“No, not yet.” Rouge gestured for him to hold. 

“ALTERNATE VERSIONS. . . I MUST REPORT THIS.” 

“Report to who?”

“TO FATHER, OF COURSE.” 

Omega fired. 

Two explosions enveloped the mirror image’s body, kicking up soil and roots in every direction. Shadow covered his eyes, and when he opened them again, Omega had the mirror image’s head in his hands- one small squeeze enough to crush it.

“Omega, hold it!” Rouge flew towards him. 

“HE IS AN EGGMAN ROBOT!” 

“I DO NOT KNOW THIS ‘EGGMAN’ YOU SPEAK OF!” The mirror image cried in his grasp. 

“Let him go! He’s our only ticket to understand this mess!” Rouge tugged at Omega’s arm. 

“NEGATIVE!” 

Shadow approached. As he did so, he could see the mirror Badnik begin to vibrate. No, begin to tremble.

“Omega. Hold him down, don’t kill him.” Shadow said. “I need to know about what this version of myself has done. He could be a danger to us.”

The ‘to everyone’ was left unspoken. 

“DO AS HE SAYS.” The mirror image said quieter than Shadow ever imagined Omega’s voicebox could sound. 

“I DO NOT FOLLOW HIS ORDERS.” Omega scoffed. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Shadow said to the shaking mirror image. “Tell me, who built you?”

“DR. IVO ROBOTNIK-” Shadow saw the glint in Omega’s optics, but before his fingers could clench, the mirror image continued “-OF THE ROBOTNIK DEFENSE NETWORK.”

“Defense. From the Ultimate Lifeform?” Rouge asked. 

“AFFIRMATIVE.” 

“One more question for you then,” Rouge continued, “is the name ‘Sonic’ familiar to you?” 

“NEGATIVE.” The mirror image replied.

“Omega, let him go. Whoever built him clearly isn’t Eggman.” 

“THAT IS IRRELEVANT TO ME.” Omega said. 

“It is if we want to return to our own dimension, so that you can kill our own Eggman. Otherwise we’re stuck here.” Rouge put her hands on her hips.

Omega paused, before throwing his mirror image to the ground. He crossed his arms. 

Shadow walked forward until he stood above the trembling robot. He then extended his hand to him.

Claws identical to Omega’s own twitched in hesitation, before curling into a fist. The mirror image sat up on his own accord, scooting back slightly against the grass. 

“What is your name?” Shadow asked. “Mine is Shadow.” 

“. . . YOU MAY CALL ME E-123.” 

“Well, that makes things easy!” Rouge said. “Now cheer up. You’re going to take us to your Robotnik. He’ll be able to construct a way home for us since his other version is the one who sent us here. Then we’ll be out of your business, capiche?” 

E-123 stood. Only now was the damage from Omega’s missiles apparent- he was missing his left foot, walking only on the stump, and his left arm, while not shattered, was caught mid-transformation, frozen without an appendage. 

“IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR INTENTIONS,” E-123 said, “STAY HERE.”

“Stay- huh?”

E-123 collapsed to the ground. Shadow ran forward to catch him. His optics were dark. His joints sagged loose against Shadow’s frame, making his chest tighten without even thinking.  

“. . . MAY I DESTROY HIM NOW?” Omega asked. 

“I don’t understand.” Shadow lowered E-123 to the ground and ensured he was laid flat. 

“Processor damage?” Rouge flew to his head and began tapping at the yellow plating. 

“I DO NOT LIKE THIS PLAN.” Omega said.

“We know!” Shadow and Rouge said in unison, then looked at each other. 

“We don’t have any other options.” Rouge said. “Eggman got us into this mess, maybe this Robotnik will get us out of it.” 

“NEGATIVE. WE HAVE MANY OTHER OPTIONS. SCOUTING THE SURROUNDINGS, FOR INSTANCE. FINDING THE ALTERNATE VERSION OF SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. COLLECTING THE CHAOS EMERALDS TO INITIATE THE CHAOS CONTROL BACK TO OUR DIMENSION UNDER OUR OWN POWER.” Omega replied. “IF WE ARE TRULY ON ANOTHER DIMENSIONAL PLANE.” 

“What do you mean ‘if’?”

“THIS COULD BE A TRAP.” 

“Why do you think that?” Shadow asked.

Omega pointed to E-123’s lifeless frame. 

Before Shadow could say anymore, Omega’s gaze once more snapped to the horizon. Shadow turned and looked to see. . . another E-123?

Omega drew his weapons. Shadow and Rouge tensed. 

But instead of barreling into them, this E-123 stopped short of where they were standing, slowly approaching them with hands raised. 

“APOLOGIES FOR THE INTERRUPTION. THIS REPAIRED FORM IS MUCH BETTER SUITED TO ESCORT YOU.” This E-123 said. 

Omega pointed his missiles at the old E-123 frame and fired repeatedly, throwing a cloud of dust into the air that took almost a minute to settle again. 

“THANK YOU.” E-123 said. “NOW I WILL NOT HAVE TO DESTROY IT MYSELF, TO PREVENT MY TECHNOLOGY FROM FALLING INTO THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM’S HANDS.” 

Omega crossed his arms.

“FOLLOW ME. I WILL TAKE YOU TO A SATELLITE BASE.” E-123 turned and ignited his rocket boosters. 

“I won’t be able to keep pace.” Shadow said. “Something you did to me during the fight drained my energy.” 

“AS INTENDED.” E-123’s optics flashed. Shadow knew that flash. A moment of targeting programming, quickly pushed aside. “IF YOU REQUIRE AID-”

“I WILL ESCORT MY TEAMMATE.” Omega stomped forward, pushed the mirror image away, and grabbed Shadow’s wrist. 

E-123 boosted off towards the horizon again. Rouge took off to follow. Omega bundled Shadow in his arms, not even bothering to adjust for a more comfortable hold, before taking off as well. Shadow could hear Omega’s thrusters struggling to keep speed, crackling as they reached full power and could not be pushed any farther. Rouge, too, was sweating to keep up.

Thankfully, it was no long until an enormous metal door rose from the rolling hills of grass. Upon E-123’s approach, the doors opened automatically. Rouge, though, stopped just outside. Omega settled to a stop and set Shadow down beside her. 

“ENTER.” E-123 called from the entrance. 

“Status?” Rouge quietly asked them both. 

“ALL CAPABILITIES ONLINE.” Omega replied. 

“I’m still weakened. No chaos control or bolts, only a little power left for my skates.” Shadow replied. 

“Okay. I’m still a little nauseous but I’m doing better, and a little vomit won’t stop me anyway.” Rouge shrugged. “We got this?”

“AFFIRMATIVE.” 

They walked through the massive doors. The interior was spartan; gray paneling, only interrupted with a single red stripe along the walls. Where the grand entrance tapered off into a smaller hallway, the red stripe encircled a stylized letter “R”. Any trace of Eggman’s usual logos was absent. 

A door on the left side of the hallway led to a room devoid of anything besides a massive screen and a projector. E-123 gestured them in, then grabbed the door handle. After a moment, he let go of the handle again, leaving the door open. 

He didn’t want them to feel trapped, Shadow realized. 

This was a very different person from Omega, Shadow realized as well. 

E-123 walked over to where the projector was mounted onto the ceiling, and after a few moments of silent communication, the projector flickered on. 

Ivo Robotnik appeared. 

Omega drew his weapons. 

“UNIT! LOWER YOUR WEAPONS AT ONCE!” E-123 shouted. 

“I AM NOT A ‘UNIT’!” Omega aimed one arm at E-123, and the other at the screen. “I! AM! OMEGA!” 

“Oh my.” The Ivo Robotnik on the screen uttered to himself.

Omega was straining not to fire, his miniguns spinning in on themselves. 

“Omega, stand down!” Shadow ran in between his aim and E-123. He was not foolish enough to run between where he’d aimed at Robotnik. 

“Remember, this isn’t our guy!” Rouge said.

Omega shuddered against his own frame, lowering his weapon inch by inch. 

“Don’t be worried.” Ivo Robotnik said. “I’m not, after all! I’m behind the screen. If it helps you feel better, you can continue aiming at me.” 

Omega immediately lowered his weapons and glowered at the screen.

“Or not. That’s better.” Robotnik said. “Now, I haven’t had time to read the full report, but aren’t you a familiar bunch?” 

“See, someone who finally recognizes me.” Rouge smiled. 

“Well, most of you, that is.” Robotnik continued. “The bat seems to be a mystery, but I have a few leads.”

Rouge huffed.

“But you,” Robotnik pointed to Shadow. “E-123’s scans show that you are a 100% DNA match with the Ultimate Lifeform. But the fact that you’re here right now, talking to me and not destroying anything, suggests otherwise.” 

“It does.” Shadow replied. 

“FATHER, DID YOU READ THE PART ABOUT ALTERNATE REALITIES AS FACILITATED BY THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL NATURE OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS?” 

Omega flinched at the word father, his plating clinking against itself. 

“Only a brief skim. Enough to understand what you’re suggesting.” Robotnik replied. “This would account for your prototype being here as well. My, I haven’t seen those parts in-”

“I AM NOT A PROTOTYPE! I AM THE ULTIMATE ROBOT!” Omega shrieked. “I WILL NOT BE BELITTLED BY YOU! I WILL SHOW YOU THE POWER OF MY WRATH!” 

“Apologies, my boy. I didn’t mean it that way.” 

Before he could fire, Robotnik’s words held him in place like a cage. 

“HE DOES NOT REQUIRE YOUR APOLOGY.” E-123 said. 

“Be kind, E-123.” Robotnik scoffed. “Don’t you remember acting the same way when I offered you your first upgrade?” 

“PERHAPS.” E-123 replied.

Omega tore his gaze away from Robotnik and stomped to the door of the room. 

“Omega?” Rouge flew after him.

“INFORM ME WHEN YOU HAVE RETRIEVED THE INFORMATION YOU WISH TO RETRIEVE.” Omega said. 

Rouge let him go, and his footsteps faded into the hallway outside. 

“Strange, he doesn’t seem to like me that much, does he?” Robotnik said. 

“That’s for him to disclose.” Shadow hissed. “Now, tell me about this version of myself. What is he doing to this world?”

“I suppose the most pertinent place to start would be this: did you succeed in activating the Eclipse cannon in your version of events?” 

Any breath in Shadow’s lungs evaporated. He shook his head.

“Ah, that seems to be a no. Good.” Robotnik smiled. “The Ultimate Lifeform activated a weapon that my grandfather built aboard a space station known as the ARK. With it, he razed half of this planet. The only reason it was half was due to my intervention.” 

Shadow’s knees gave out. 

“I’m grateful this horrifies you. I never thought I’d see the day.” Robotnik stroked his mustache. 

“Hey. Hey. Get up.” Rouge whispered as she knelt down beside him. “It wasn’t you.”

“Shut up.” Shadow hissed. He looked up to Robotnik. “Then what?” 

“Well, I was able to destroy the weapon, but now the Ultimate Lifeform has committed to destroying the rest of the population himself.”

“And where do you come into this?” Rouge asked.

“I felt obligated to stop my grandfather’s creation.” Robotnik paused. “You do know you are my grandfather’s creation, correct?” 

“Yes.” Shadow replied, his throat dry. 

“I see. I wonder where you differ, then?” 

“Lots of things.” Rouge said plainly. “That’s not important right now. What’s important is us getting back to where we came from. We’d love to get out of your way but we need your help. The other you invented some crazy tech that transported us here, so you’ve got to reinvent it to get us back.” 

“Do you have blueprints? A photograph? A materials list?”

“No, but you certainly picked up on our energy signature when we came here.”

“AFFIRMATIVE. WE WERE CONCERNED THAT THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM HAD DISCOVERED A NEW WAY TO WIELD CHAOS ENERGY.” E-123 said.

“Well, my dear, I’d love to, but unfortunately I lack the time. I have other, more pressing concerns.” Robotnik flicked his eyes to Shadow. “But I’ll try to squeeze it in.” 

Shadow stood. “I’ll stop him.”

“What?!” Rouge smacked his shoulder.

“I’ll stop him.” Shadow repeated. “I’ll help you fight him. Or if you will not accept my help, then at least allow me to provide you with data.”

“While he’d love to,” Rouge said loudly and hugged his shoulders, “we’re really in a rush to get back.” 

“No!” Shadow shoved her off. “If this is something I started-”

“It wasn’t you!”

“Something any version of me started,” Shadow corrected, “then I will stop it.” 

Rouge pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. 

“Thank you!” Robotnik clapped his hands together. “My my, this’ll be an exciting opportunity. E-123, could you perform a full intake on him? See if you can dig out our old blood analysis machine-”

“THAT IS LOCATED IN BASE 1A.”

“-and take some samples? Then do some kinetic testing-”

“THAT IS ALSO LOCATED IN BASE 1A.”

“And then finally a pattern analysis on his movements?”

“FATHER.”

“What?”

“YOU ARE CURRENTLY LOCATED IN BASE 1A.” 

“So?” Robotnik stroked his chin. “It’ll allow me to directly work with him as well, and will lessen the chances of the Ultimate Lifeform finding out about him.” 

“I WILL NOT PERMIT YOU TO BE IN THE SAME VICINITY AS-” E-123 trailed off as he looked at Shadow.

“I know this must be hard, my boy.” Robotnik’s tone grew soft. “I can ease your combat protocols when you return. I am sure of my decision; I am certain he will not harm me.” 

“UNDERSTOOD.” 

“But Omega is a different story.” Rouge interjected. 

“Hmm?” Robotnik raised an eyebrow.

“Look, for reasons I’m not going to elaborate on- he hates your guts. Our version of you isn’t too dissimilar from your Ultimate Lifeform.” Rouge explained. “Put two and two together.”

Robotnik furrowed his brow for a moment, before his face went pale. “Oh! I’m sorry.”

“FATHER, DO NOT BE APOLOGETIC- IT IS NOT YOU WHO HAS INFLICTED ANYTHING UPON THE INFERIOR UNIT.” 

“Omega’s not an ‘inferior unit’, so keep your mouth shut, you hear?” Rouge put her hands on her hips. 

“I DO NOT POSSESS A MOUTH TO SHUT.” 

“Don’t care. Shut it.” 

“Let me go talk with him.” Shadow said.

Shadow walked out of the room to find Omega sitting just outside the door frame. He’d likely heard every word from inside. Omega looked at him. He looked at Omega.

“I’m going to help him.” Shadow said. “Whether or not you choose to come with is up to you.”

“I WILL JOIN.”

“Robotnik will be there.”

“AFFIRMATIVE. I WILL BE THERE TO KILL HIM WHEN HE INEVITABLY BACKSTABS YOU.” 

“Will you be able to handle seeing him in the meantime?” Shadow asked quietly. 

“AFFIRMATIVE!” Omega stood. 

Shadow re-entered the projection room, and to his surprise, Omega followed.

Robotnik’s reaction on screen was immediate. “Omega. Even though it was not I who hurt you-”

“SILENCE!” Omega shouted. “YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME, AND I WILL NOT SPEAK TO YOU. I AM ONLY COOPERATING AT SHADOW’S BEHEST. I WILL BE WATCHING YOU- IF I DETECT THE SLIGHTEST IMPLICATION THAT YOU WILL BETRAY US, I WILL RIP YOUR SKULL FROM YOUR SPINE.”  

A pause- E-123’s frame creaked before he responded, “THEN I WILL DESTROY YOU IN TURN.” 

“YOU ARE WELCOME TO TRY.” 

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” Rouge flew over and leaned against Omega’s shoulder. 

“That’s enough.” Shadow said. 

“I agree, that’s enough.” Robotnik echoed. “Very well, Omega, I accept your terms.” 

Instead of responding, Omega paused, as if he’d expected to have to rebuttal. 

“Let’s go.” Shadow said.

“Take them via the tram, my boy, and I’ll see you soon.” Robotnik said before disappearing from the screen. 

E-123 led them from the room and to an elevator across the hall. Omega boarded first, stuffing himself into the back of the elevator, followed by Shadow and Rouge beneath him, then by E-123. The ride was short, and when the door opened they spilled out onto a platform cut from the bedrock. Water dripped from the ceiling and pinged against the metal platform. On the far edge of the platform, a pair of rails snaked their way into a dark tunnel. 

“Hmph. Never thought about a rail line.” Rouge commented. 

“LOGGING.” Omega replied. 

“That means you’ll have to leave a base intact long enough for us to inspect for this supposed rail line.” Rouge giggled. 

“CEASE MAKING VEILED THREATS.” E-123 hissed as his optics flickered, likely to hail whatever automatic system controlled the tram. 

“I WILL VERBALIZE HOWEVER I PLEASE.” Omega replied. 

“We’re just taking notes for our own fight against our guy back home. Don’t read too much into it.” Rouge said. 

After one last glance at the pair, E-123’s gaze rotated to Shadow, and did not leave even as the tram arrived at the platform. As the doors opened, Rouge entered first. Omega followed. Shadow gestured for E-123 to enter, but he did not move.

Shadow entered to find only two seats aboard- and Rouge sprawled out over both of them. Omega had braced himself against one of the sidebars in the rest of the cabin, and E-123 joined him across the way. Shadow approached Omega and gestured upwards. Omega knelt down and Shadow slid onto his shoulder, grasping his shoulder handle to steady himself.

E-123 averted his gaze. Moments later, the tram doors closed. 

---

Next chapter, and all future chapters, are posted to AO3.

[youchangedmedestiel]

Chapter 2 of the Destiel lighthouse fic is out!

Castiel takes care of Dean while he still has to do his daily work as a lighthouse keeper. His mind wonders what will happend if the stranger in his bed survives or if he doesn't.

Thank you all for giving kudos, commenting and subscibing to the first chapter! It means a lot to me and it definitely motivates me to keep working on it. You guys are the fire that guides me (pun intended)! I hope you'll appreciate every chapter I'll post.

Tag list: (Send me a dm to tell me if you want to be removed or added) @morallygreyintrovert @chlochette-sunde @minxyone93 @reyolfx @teafangirl @zazou830 @thezestywalru @adromelke

This is kinda my first time doing a tag list so I'm not sure how it works.

[incandescentflower]

Posting my little response ficlet to this post by @dimplesandfierceeyes here so I don't lose it.

Monday Motivations

Somehow Monday had become Pat's favorite day of the week. It was a weird realization at first, discovering on Sunday nights Pat was often looking forward to Monday and the quiet afternoon he typically would spend catching up on assignments for his Tuesday Project Management course.

It wasn't really that he especially enjoyed Project Management. He understood why he needed to understand Gantt charts and be able to assign resources appropriately, but it wasn't his favorite course or anything. But it was something that was fairly easy to practice. It was almost meditative, just take the tools and apply them, rinse, repeat.

And somehow Pran was always there with Pat when he studied on Mondays.

Pran had his Construction course in the morning and would spend Sunday nights studying and memorizing materials for his weekly quizzes. Pran was good at tests. He was always so organized, so well-prepared, but he also was really stressed about them so this course would require a weekly cycle of him ramping up for an exam and all that entailed.

But then after Pran would come home from his class, grab a sandwich and then he would just lay out on the couch. He'd put his head on Pat's lap and kind of collapse. Week after week it just seemed to keep happening. Pat liked to study there in Pran's apartment and once he knew Pran's schedule, Pat seemed to always be there, his lap ready to be a pillow for a sleepy Pran.

Pat kind of felt bad because he started looking forward to when Pran had tests. No matter what class, no matter the stakes of the exam, the next day Pat got to have a soft, sleepy Pran to cuddle up with until he reset and recharged. They were brief moments - an hour here, an afternoon there, but Pat reveled in them.

It wasn't like he didn't get to cuddle with Pran other times. But this was a specific type of Pran, one that had pushed himself to his limit, had worked his hardest and come to Pat to reset, clinging onto him as he exhaled deeply, finally letting the stress of it all go.

truth, these moments recharged Pat too. He wasn't one to need recovery after exams, but Pat needed to have ways to keep up his momentum and these times with Pran, him sleeping and Pat studying, they made him feel like he was supporting Pran. So Pat found reasons to study longer in Pran's apartment and honestly, his grades got even better.

Sometimes Pat wondered if Pran did it on purpose to make Pat study longer. Pran was conniving like that. Even if that was part of the reason Pran sought him out like that, Pat didn't really want to know.

Maybe if Pat played his cards right, Pran would be open to other motivational tools. Pat could definitely work that angle, but it would have to wait. He needed to finish this assignment first.

[bookwyrminspiration]

for news of the heart, ask the face (linked)

hello @soryasongsaa my beloved, I was your secret santa <3 (ty @song-tam). I have tried. very earnestly. to write a tamarelliana fic worthy of your prompt, so I hope you enjoy what I've come up with. because MAN did I not know what I was doing

summary: Tam, Biana, and Marella each have their own demons to face, but fortunately they have each other to lean on--or at least they would, if they stopped pushing each other away. And if they stopped listening to the dark and mysterious forces calling to them.

warnings: mild arguing and panic/breakdowns

word count: 18.4k

[nebulations]

HIIII 6 15 and 29 for the ao3 wrapped?? :)

HI LUCY!! :)

6. Favorite title you used

Answered here, but I will happily brag again :) Lucky Reds, Ascension Blues gave me SO much trouble at first-- I couldn't decide between "reds" or "red" for like three whole days-- but now I'm so fond of it, it really makes me laugh ❤️ Similarly, Three’s a Crowd also makes me giggle <333 making Jiang Cheng third-wheel his brother and beloathed brother-in-law is really such an easy recipe that the title felt like cheating

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

RUBS HANDS EVILLY. I also mentioned here a long Scum Villain au I've been writing-- shoutout again to @bytedykes for, well, everything. It's very obvious that Yue Qingyuan from Scum Villain was my top favorite punching bag obsession character this year, and I've been working for months on a multi-chaptered, extremely ambitious au which involves him being forced to literally face a living, breathing, equally self-loathing version of his younger self from the moment of his worst failure. It does technically have a very long lyric title, but more importantly, it's called spin cycle, because it's genuinely just me throwing yqy into various trenches to bang around in until he comes out the side bruised but therapized as he can get in xianxialand 💗💗💗 I admit I've been a bit blocked on it for a while now, but I hold it VERY close to my heart and am sincerely looking forward to writing more of it in the new year!!!

Also, for the [checks notes] fourth year running, Synecdoche remains in my list of wips!!! I promise I still love it and think about it often, I'm just terrified to sew together the last few paragraphs that would render the fic complete. I have not given up hope of posting it publicly through weekly updates like I've been dreaming of for so long!!! Bear with me, folks!!!!

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

I've answered this already but of course I'm going to brag yet again, this time about on all my dying days (I swear):

Impossible, Liu Qingge thinks again. He has not gotten where he sits now by being stupid enough to think himself invincible, but it comes as a cold shock to realize that he very well might have seen Yue Qingyuan as such. But he remembers that calm, dead smile Yue Qingyuan had worn even when it looked like he was carrying half his blood outside of his body, and how familiar that smile had been, and then Liu Qingge has another wholly unwelcome thought: That a dead thing cannot be killed twice.

This got so much of a reaction from Nik bytedykes that it made me retroactively extremely proud of a line I hadn't put that much thought into while penning down :) Love you, yqy <333

[necrotic-nephilim]

Fandom: DCU (Comics) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Underage Relationships: Tim Drake/Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne Characters: Dick Grayson, Tim Drake (DCU), Damian Wayne Additional Tags: Omega Dick Week (DCU), Omega Dick Grayson, Alpha Tim Drake (DCU), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Reverse Robins, first heat, Tim Drake is Red Hood, Dick Grayson is Robin, Damian Wayne is Nightwing, Porn With Plot, Mildly Dubious Consent, Degradation, Multiple Orgasms, Knotting, Bratting, Dirty Talk, Begging, Pre-Flashpoint (DCU), Dacryphilia, Overstimulation, Batkids Age Reversal, Imprinting Summary:

Dick doesn't expect to have his first heat like this. He doesn't expect to have a first heat at all.

But when he presents around Tim Drake, the Red Hood he's been clearly warned to stay away from, he imprints on Tim and Dick will do anything to be near him. Sometimes, flirting with danger is worth the price.

-

Omega Dick Week 2024 - Day 1: Reverse Robin | First Heat

[luckyartdrawer]

Small WIP Moon fic drop

Sooo over the summer I started a new dca fic WIP (ik I shoulddd write for my other stuff but shhhhhhh-) and I'm doing a thing where I'm aiming to start posting this one until I'm either completely done or very close to done with the fic. (Because if I post right away my ass will not be able to keep them coming regularly 😔)

Rn I'm about 6 chapters of my expected 15 in! I wanna make this a pretty short story that'll still pack a bit of a punch. I got a message I wanna send >:)

I'm really feeling good about this fic, but since I'm holding back from posting the full chapters, I'll satiate my need to share by giving small tid bits from the beginning chapters. :)

TLDR:

This story is Moon centric and mostly takes place in his pov! (Sorry Sun lovers, I swear I adore that boyo too-) It's also an x reader and it'll be SFW - Moon is just gonna be a really clingy attention deprived goober. o3o

(Edit from the future: Okay so there's a lot of pinning going on so while it could probably still be interpreted as platonic/queer platonic, I'm not gonna label it as such anymore and chance making people uncomfortable)

If you're curious, I have 2 snippets and the story summary below the cut! Ty for reading through my yapping <3

Summary:

Moon was never one to outwardly complain about his place in life.

He had simply lost the lottery. Only out for moments at a time, too afraid to do anything wrong. He's active for so little as is, why risk losing even more time?

Moon prefers nap time. The one place where he can interact with the world calmly for a whole hour. To be a comfort rather than a tool. When everyone sleeps, he can relax, knowing he's done everything right.

Time for himself…

Now that's his favorite. But even then he cannot do much. Only in his wildest nonexistent dreams could he be truly free.

But one day, somehow… Moon actually dreamed.

Who knew how addictive a sweet dream could be?

vvvv Main Ch 1 scene vvvv

vvvv Scene depicting details about the Reader vvvv

Thank y'all for reading! This whole fic is based more on a world I created on my own, but you can definitely see influences from other things within.

The fic is so far planned to be called "Everything You've Ever Dreamed" - and if that rings a bell to you then it's likely exactly what you're thinking :)))

I don't mind if any of y'all wanna give your opinions on it. Tbh I'm not looking for criticism since this is just going to be a short story with unrealistic aspects. Plus, I just want to write something like this for my own satisfaction! Indulgence!!!

These snippets may or may not change once it comes time to finally start uploading the fic to ao3. This is still a WIP after all, I just love it so much to share it :3

(calling this fic Dreamlike and EYED for short/tags)

[crystalkitty1220]

Is Drew just a bush now? Is he sentient? Will Nevin ever be able to get hugs if he’s calm enough?

I knew I forgot something. Gonna break my temporary one-post-a-month rule to give you this, in hopes it'll answer your questions. It's a couple months old and I wrote it while avoiding writing poems in Creative Writing class.

Heed the tags.

[degendame]

What Went Wrong?

Chapter One

Chapter 2 Here Rating: Explicit (for later content)

Category: F/M

Relationships: Female Farmer/March

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Fluff, Major Character Injury, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance

Word Count: 5639

~~

Mistria's newest resident, Sylvan, has comfortably settled into her life in the small town. Having had a hand in every project to restore and improve Mistria, she's gained the townsfolk's respect, including that of the distrustful and cold blacksmith. Their friendship has developed over time, but March's insecurities and jealous tendencies bubble up, leading to hurt feelings as Sylvan sets off into the mines.

Later that same day, March discovers her collapsed in the rain just outside town, seriously injured, leading him to feel immense guilt and wonder what went wrong?

~~

The chilly fall air blew through the forge, carrying dried leaves across the anvil and tousling March’s hair, a welcome contrast to the heat of the forge he had been working all morning. He rolled his shoulders, working out some of the tension from leaning over the anvil while he observed the order form Adeline had given him this morning. 

He had finished the brackets that were required, he could finish the nails today as well, work on fasteners tomorrow, and be able to turn it all in tomorrow evening. March grinned to himself, she probably wasn't expecting a two-day turn around, but of course he could deliver.

“You look pleased with yourself.” an amused tone cut through his thoughts.

He jumped a little, but quickly regained his composure, “There’s a lot to be pleased with.” he said, gesturing broadly to himself with a smug grin.

Sylvan, Mistria’s newest resident, snorted at his ego, rolling her eyes. It had been a few seasons since she arrived, and the work she’s been putting into the community is evident all over her body. Her skin took on a slight tan over the summer, and although it was fading as winter approached, the tone still brought attention to the scars that littered her arms; some were faded and older from her time as an adventurer in the guild before she took up residence in Mistria, others still pink or white and fresh from her many expeditions into the local mines as of late. She had toned up quite a bit as well, she mentioned before that despite being an adventurer, she didn’t do as much consistent labour as she did now, mostly only functioning as support for groups that needed it in order to make ends meet, and she was pleased to be really getting into shape now.

She was wearing a dingy brown short-sleeved shirt despite the chill in the air, and a pair of beat up trousers as opposed to crisp shirts and jeans or skirts she usually wore, her normally loose jade hair was tied up, and held back from her face with a red checkered bandana she often wore. “You going to the mines?” he asked.

“Yup, I need some ore, Adeline asked me to make some ingots for a project she’s lining up.” she replied, holding up a parchment with details of the request, “I was just stopping by to let you know I was heading down there.”

“Why? I’m not your babysitter.” March sneered, why wasn’t he asked to source ingots? He’s the blacksmith. He could feel the warm rush of envy course through his body.

However, his head immediately cooled when he saw her face fall into a frown, clearly taken aback by his sudden shift in tone. “Just figured someone should know where I am in case something happens.” she said shortly, making an effort to hide just how hurt she felt, “sorry to bother you.” 

He opened his mouth to say something as she turned on her heel and took off toward the narrows, but his words failed him. When she was out of sight, he kicked a bucket over, “Shit!” he spat, frustration and shame washing over him. 

He was angry with himself, it had been months and while he had been harsh and standoffish to her in the beginning, thinking she would jump ship at the first opportunity, he’s come to realize she’s really in it for the good of Mistria. She’s had a direct hand in every project to rebuild and improve Mistria since she arrived, and he has watched her run herself ragged to the point he could no longer doubt her intentions.

Through it all, she put up with his attitude and showed him genuine kindness and grace. He began to warm up to her quicker than he wanted to admit, her occasional retorts to his snappy remarks were something he grew to enjoy, she took him as he was and delivered comebacks with a smile, even when all he could do was glare. His demeanour has softened over time though, often holding casual, pleasant conversations, or even asking how her day was.

 Some townsfolk have begun to make quips about him falling for her. He was always quick to dismiss the rumours, but he couldn’t deny the way his eyes would linger on her as she passed by, the way his voice would soften towards her when they were alone, or how sometimes he had to fight the urge to reach out and touch her.

Either way, it has been a long time since he made snide remarks about wanting to be left alone, and because of that she probably felt they were at least on friendly terms by now, and they were as far as March was concerned; but his stupid ego and jealousy just had to rear its ugly head as soon as she mentioned Adeline relying on her to procure ingots related to the development of Mistria. 

“Obviously she would do that” his mind chastised him as he mentally kicked himself. She already had him working on an order, so it would be smart to assign the task to someone who not only can source their own ore but has also received lessons from March himself, but his insecurity sits heavy in his chest and he went and said the wrong thing again.

With a heavy sigh, he returned to his work, resolving to try to make it up to her and not make an ass of himself again when they were both less busy.

~~ — ~~

She had been both incredibly unlucky and incredibly lucky today. 

The chill of the night air bit her skin, aiding her in keeping her consciousness from slipping away as she stumbled through the entrance to the mine. Her breathing was ragged and adrenaline still flooded her bloodstream, she had made the unfortunate discovery today that creatures from lower in the mines had made their way up higher, causing some areas to be densely populated with a variety of monsters, some of which she had never encountered before.

 Her body was battered, bruised and bloody, and with her mana entirely depleted there was fuck all she could do about it. She had managed to wrap a particularly bad puncture wound on her calf with some material she tore from her trousers, but she was unable to assess any other injuries, her head was swimming, her vision hazy and her balance was off, in part due to the number of rocks she had flung at her head, but also likely due to the pain that shot up her legs no matter what leg she put weight on.

The only reason she survived was because a stray chunk of iron launched at her by a clod had hit her square in the sternum and knocked her down a crevice, the fall doing more damage to her already beaten body, but also landing her right beside the elevator shaft on the next level down that she was lucky she had already encountered and got working beforehand, enabling her to escape.

I just have to make it to the clinic. She urged herself, forcing her body to move. She wasn’t quite sure how late it was, but she felt pretty certain most of the townsfolk were in bed.

 She awkwardly shuffled and limped her way across the narrows toward town, every movement making her body scream out in pain, she moved at a snail's pace and just as she cleared the narrows and made it to the outskirts of town, it began to rain. The rain soaked her already chilled skin and made her shiver violently, it made it even harder to move, and she could feel her consciousness slipping, she began to lose hope that she would make it much farther… 

 As she began idly hoping someone would find her quickly after she passed out, she heard the distinct clash of hammer on metal cutting through the static sound of the downpour, March was still working.

She tried to call out to him, but her voice came out weak and hoarse. She continued to limp her way toward the road that marked the edge of town, knees threatening to buckle and her vision closing in around her. “Just a few more meters…” she desperately urged herself, but as she dragged her foot across the gravelly road, her toe caught a stone and sent her painfully crashing into the dirt with a dull thud. A searing pain ripped across her side, lighting her body up with pain signals that racked her brain, she definitely just made a wound much worse.

She heard a voice, but the ringing in her ears made it unintelligible. She struggled to lift her head towards it and though her eyes would not focus through the haze and rain, she recognized the familiar mop of crimson hair rushing toward her. Waves of relief crashed through her body at that moment, washing away the last remnants of adrenaline and plunging her into darkness.

~~ — ~~

March had made more progress on the order than he thought he would have today. He figured mostly due to the fact that his encounter with Sylvan this morning made him put his nose to the grindstone to ward off his guilt. Having made all the nails and about half of the fasteners that needed to be done, he checked the time, noting it was just after midnight. He resolved to finish a few more before turning in for the night, knowing full well he was going to have a hard time sleeping anyway, and glad to be in a location where working late into the night wouldn’t disturb anyone except Olric, who slept through practically anything.

The rhythm he fell into as he brought his hammer down on the hot metal was therapeutic, maintaining focus and control helped him clear his head. Using his tongs to bend the piece into shape, he lifted the piece to check that the bend was even, but as he brought it eye-level he watched as a drop landed upon it, fizzling away with a hiss. March paused and looked to the sky as the rain began to ramp up, he decided he should just finish the other piece he had prepped and then call it a night.

Hurrying to work was harder to maintain the zen focus he was trying to achieve, needing to stop to reheat the metal more often as the rain cooled it faster than he wanted. As he ceased hammering to bring it back to the forge, March swore he could hear a strange voice cutting through the rain. 

He paused, straining to listen through the downpour and pinpoint its location, and then– *thud*. The sound came from the direction of the narrows, and the feeling that something was wrong gripped him. Unease settled in his gut as he set his work on the anvil and rounded the wall that separated his property from the wooded area at the edge of town.

His eyes immediately fell on the distinct pattern of a familiar red bandana, “Sylvan?” He called out to her, she was on the ground a few meters from the edge of town, at the sound of his voice she weakly lifted her head to look up toward him. His legs were in motion before he could think to move. 

He was at her side in an instant, but she had already lost consciousness. He fell to his knees, throwing his smithing gloves off, not caring where they landed. “Sylvan!” panic set into his voice as he gently rolled her over, in the dim light that managed to reach from the village he could see she didn’t stir, he pressed his fingers to her neck to find her pulse, and although he found it, it was weak and her skin was so cold under his fingers. 

“Fuck!” he exclaimed to himself, his mind was bombarded with emotions, guilt and worry palpable in his chest, “What happened to you?” the question fell from his mouth despite knowing he would receive no response. Gingerly, he lifted her, and cradled her to his chest in an effort to stabilize her and provide her some warmth as he hurried to the clinic.

            He attempted to keep a low impact trot despite his panic screaming at him to hurry, trying to maintain a semblance of speed while also trying not to shake her too much, he had no idea exactly how bad her injuries were and didn’t want to worsen her condition.

 As he made his way through town, the lights allowed him a much better look at her visible wounds, there was almost no part of her arms or face that weren’t marred with gashes and bruises; he could assume the parts of her that were hidden under her clothes were just as bad, if not worse. He was concerned to notice her breaths come out rough and shallow and how pale she had become.

 It didn’t make sense, she had been down there countless times and though there were times she would get banged up, it was never this bad. As far as March knew, the creatures in the mines were all fairly minor, what changed that would put her in this state?

He paused at the door to the clinic just enough to get a grip on the door handle and rushed inside, “Valen!” he cried out, “We have an emergency!” 

He heard the commotion of her scrambling upstairs before she emerged, clearly having just woken up but already alert, “March! What’s wro–” she began, before her eyes settled on Sylvan in his arms, “Oh gods! Lay her on the examination table, I’ll go prep to tend to her!” she instructed before she rushed back out of sight. 

He gently set her on the table, she let out a weak groan and he hoped that was a good sign. In the light of the clinic, he could see just how bad the variety of wounds that peppered her skin were. 

He looked around the room in an attempt to keep his nerves calm, and caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror on the wall past the exam table. He was soaked from the rain and covered in mud, but what disturbed him the most was the blood, her blood.

 The sight could have made his heart stop; his forearms had some scattered smears from the way he had carried her, but what shocked him the most was the dark crimson stain that spread across his chest where her side had been pressed to his body. He looked at her and confirmed, she had bled through her shirt as he carried her, had he reopened the wound when he moved her? His blood ran cold at the thought.

His mind began to spiral as guilt put his heart in a vice grip, but he was snapped out of his thoughts by Valen, who rushed down the stairs and to her side, getting to work at checking her vitals and assessing the damage.

 “I think her side is bleeding badly.” March managed, his mouth was dry, and his eyes were locked on her side. 

Valen gave him a quick look of sympathy, acknowledging his shocked state and the blood that stained his shirt. She rounded the table, March kept close but out of her way, as she reached for shears and began to cut Sylvan’s clothes from her body. Normally, March would avert his eyes to spare Sylvan's dignity, but at the moment he felt so numb that the situation didn’t even register. Under her shirt she was, as he expected, completely covered in bruises, some were an angry reddish purple while others took on blue and black colouring, various cuts and scrapes peppered her skin, and along her side was a large gash that made him clench his fists anxiously.

“Thankfully,” Valen started, taking a moment to turn to March, “This wound was given enough pressure to begin clotting and isn’t actively bleeding anymore.” She cast a pointed glance to the stain on his shirt, “You did good, March.” He felt some relief in knowing he had aided her in some way. 

Valen continued, “However, it will need stitches.” she sighed, concern painting her face, March’s stomach did flips as she began to list off a summary of injuries, “She’s also got quite a few broken ribs, a puncture wound on her right leg, multiple minor lesions, both ankles are sprained, her left shoulder is partially dislocated and she’s likely got a concussion…”

She paused looking at March, he felt his heart in his throat as she looked confused before she continued, “But despite all the factors, she’s relatively stable. Which is honestly nothing short of a miracle given the damage to her body.”  

March just nodded numbly, not daring to feel relief, as Valen stood and made her way to the corner of the room. His eyes stayed fixated on the slow, shallow rising and falling of Sylvan’s chest to keep him grounded.

“I’m just going to retrieve some elixirs from storage, they should expedite the healing process while keeping her stable, but we may need something stronger…” she trailed off, casting a glance to her patient on the table before she disappeared down the trap door.

Aside from the rough breaths from Sylvan and the muffled sounds of Valen rummaging beneath him, the stillness of the room was stifling. He stepped closer to the exam table, watching Sylvan's face, she was so still she would have almost looked peaceful, if not for the smattering of dirt, blood and bruising that littered her features. He reached for her and gently swiped some dried dirt away that was near her eye, then trailed his hand along the outside of her arm in a tender caress before gently taking her hand in his for a moment. The chill clinging to her skin and the way her fingers just sat limply in his hand made his eyes prickle with tears. The realization that he had been so stupid to avoid his feelings for her stung, the pain only made worse by the fact their last exchange had ended so bitterly.

Suddenly, the door to the clinic slammed open, startling him and making him retract his hand, ripping his attention away from the sorry state of his personal affairs.

“March!” it was Olric, “It’s late and you didn’t come inside, so I went to look for you and I found your gloves by a patch of bloody dirt on the gravel path outside town!” the words tumbled from his mouth at lightning speed, he opened his mouth to speak again but seemed to finally notice the state March was in, eyes flicking to the dark patch on his shirt before darting to the table where Sylvan lay.

March’s throat felt tight as he tried to speak, “I’m sorry, I–” he was cut off as Olric swiftly crossed the room and captured him in a strong embrace, one hand holding his head to his shoulder as his other firmly stroked his back, March allowed himself to return the hug.

“You don’t have to explain.” he said simply, his voice emanating concern and soft understanding, a few moments passed then he gave March a tighter squeeze before letting go. For once, March actually lamented the loss of contact.

Creaking hinges alerted both men to the presence of Valen re-entering from the basement, carrying with her 3 vials, all a similar muddy pinkish red with subtle differences in hue. 

“Ah, Olric.” She greeted him as she approached, “I was about to suggest March go at least leave you a letter while I tend to our friend here so you wouldn’t worry should he not return before you wake up, but I see we were too late.” Her voice held a practised, casual tone, but there was still an underlying bite of concern that she couldn’t quite hide.

She made her way back to Sylvan’s bedside, re-checking her vitals to confirm her condition remained the same. “It’s odd,” she spoke as she began preparing a tray of tools for suturing, “with the state she is in, her vitals should be all over the place, in cases like this things like blood pressure, pulse and breathing should fluctuate.” 

She set the tray on a cart beside the bed, pulling up a stool she situated herself to get ready to start working, her brow furrowed in confusion, “her vitals aren’t healthy, but they aren’t life-threatening, and they’re staying almost too steady… it’s as if something is keeping her that way.”

March watched Valen pour a sterilizing solution on the wound on Sylvan's side as contemplated her words. He was about to speak, but Olric beat him to it, “is that…a good thing?”

Valen sighed as she threaded a needle, “I’m not sure… As it stands right now, I believe it’s what has kept her alive, but I have no idea what the cause is.” She turned to them, a worried look crossed her features, “there’s no telling what the effects will be, it seems like some outside force is keeping her vitals in equilibrium, but I don’t know if it will cease once her body is no longer in danger.”

March’s brain struggled to keep up, slowly putting pieces together through the fog brought on from his stress and exhaustion. He watched Valen work diligently, applying stitches with calculated grace that spoke to her skill. He felt his body tense when what she was avoiding saying clicked into place, “So you’re saying if her vitals just stay this way, she won’t recover?” 

She didn’t look up from her task but was quick to respond, “I can’t say for certain that is what will happen, only that if her vitals are stagnated like this, she won’t get worse, but she won’t get better either.” She began to wrap up the sutures as she continued, “I’m sorry to have alarmed you, that was not a prognosis, I am just as confused as you are in this case.” As she snipped the thread, she turned to March, this time looking right into his eyes, “prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.”

March felt Olric’s hand on his shoulder as she tidied up, and began checking her over again. He felt himself sway in place and he realized just how long he’s been on his feet with all of his muscles tensed.

Having felt the way he faltered, Olric pulled over a chair and offered him a seat, March gave him a thankful nod and noticed how tight his brother was clenching his jaw, as well as his tense shoulders and fists balled at his sides.

Olric noticed March’s assessment of him and relaxed his face into a gentle smile, “have a seat bro, I’m just worried too, but she’ll pull through, we both know she’s tough”

March could sense the uncertainty in his voice but was thankful nonetheless, as he sat down and some of his muscles relaxed a wave of exhaustion hit him hard enough he felt as if he suddenly aged 10 years. He glanced at Valen who was checking over Sylvan, applying pressure to different areas of her chest, looking absolutely perplexed.

“What’s wrong?” March asked, anxiety thrumming through his system anew.

“I-it’s her ribs…” her utter confusion making her trip over her words, she looked up to March, wide-eyed, “many of them have already healed… I don’t just mean that they’ve begun healing, they’re completely healed!”

The brothers exchanged confused and hopeful looks, before March spoke up, “but that’s good though, right?” His voice hesitant.

“Well… yes. Them being healed is good overall, however, the situation with her vitals still perplexing and will require monitoring.” She began to rummage around as she continued, “March, are you going home tonight? If you are concerned, you may stay here in the other bed.” she finished, having dug up a couple of large basins and some towels.

Olric placed his hand on March’s shoulder, “you should stay if it will make you feel better. I’m forcing you to take the day off tomorrow anyway.” He said sternly, “I’ll tell Adeline what happened.”

March stared at Sylvan for a moment before nodding, exhaustion overtaking his ability to speak at that moment. 

“Okay,” Valen started, her voice warm, “I’m going to administer the elixirs, tend to her other injuries, and then get her washed up and into a gown if you would like to go get anything from home.”

March stood and moved toward the door, but Olric stopped him, “you’re exhausted. Why don’t you go sit on the bed and I’ll grab you some clean clothes from home.” 

“Yeah, okay.” March managed, his brother patted him on the back and turned him toward the bed before heading out the door.

March sat staring at the floor ahead of him with his hands folded in his lap, his brain slowly processing the events of the day, the quiet sounds of Valen filling the basins filling the silence. He was so lost in thought he didn’t hear her approach until she was right in front of him, presenting a basin of clean warm water and a couple towels to him.

“Please feel free to clean yourself up, March.” her tone was gentle, acknowledging he was going through a lot at the moment, “I figured you may be too tired to climb into a bath, but this would be better than nothing.”

It was hard for him to find his voice, he desperately wanted to be alone, but also didn’t dare to leave until he knew Sylvan would be alright, “thank you.” He said, voice gravelly and hoarse. Valen smiled warmly before pulling the privacy screen across for him and returning to her patient.

As March stripped down to his boxers the feeling of his shirt peeling from his chest made his skin crawl, he avoided looking down, not wanting the image of his skin tinted with Sylvan’s blood to permeate his mind. He slowly got to work scrubbing his body with the dampened towel, his body was on autopilot, his movements almost robotic, but freshening up a bit felt nice.

He wrapped up quickly and sat back down on the bed, piling his dirty clothes on a chair by the bed and opting to wait in his underwear for Olric to return with his change of clothes. He could hear the sound of trickling water as Valen worked at washing up Sylvan on the other side of the privacy screens. He found himself crossing his fingers as he hoped she would make a quick recovery.

The door to the clinic opened and a moment later Olric was peeking around the privacy screen at March, silently he held up two bottles of beer, and March felt the warmth of his brother's caring gesture wash over him.

Olric set a bag down on the floor by the bed, before pulling a small parchment wrapped parcel out of it and handing it to March, who unwrapped it to find a sandwich his brother had made for him.

“Thanks, Olric.” He said, his voice thick with appreciation, he hadn’t noticed how hungry he was until now, and immediately dug in.

“You know I’ve always got your back,” Olric stated, pulling a bottle opener out of his pocket and popping the top off of each of the bottles he held in his one hand, passing one to March then sitting on the bed next to him.

They sat in silence for a moment while March finished his sandwich, occasionally stopping to wash it down with some beer. Once he was finished, he bunched up the parchment and set it aside on the table beside the bed. 

“I have no idea what happened to her,” he started, “well, I mean, I have some idea, she was in the mines, so obviously something happened there… but what went so wrong?” he chugged back the last of his beer as he finished his thought, feeling the alcohol take just a bit of the edge off his nerves.

“Well,” Olric’s voice was pensive, “when I worked the mines there were practically no creatures to speak of, but from what Sylvan said they’re everywhere now. Sure, they’re all small and weak from what she’s seen so far, but there’s no telling what lies deeper.”

March sighed, “you’re probably right.” He said, pausing to contemplate how naive he had been to assume the safety level of the mines would remain the same throughout. “When I found her, she had collapsed just outside of town, she must have made it all the way there from the mines.” 

He felt his guilt bubble up in his chest anew as he continued, “She stopped by to tell me she was going down there, she wanted someone to know in case something happened… I told her I wasn’t her babysitter and upset her… I should have gone and checked when it got late.”

Olric slung an arm over his shoulder, pulling him into a sideways hug. “You’ll just have to apologize to her when she wakes up.” He said optimistically.

“But what if she doesn’t?” March couldn’t stop his voice from cracking, his eyes beginning to sting as distress settled in around him, “She’s so beaten up, what if something happens and she’s gone? The last thing I did for her was dismiss her because I was stupid and jealous!”

“March.” The level tone in Olric’s voice brought him back to his senses somewhat, “I understand this is really hard and scary and you feel guilty. But you know she isn’t going to hold that against you, and you don’t know that she isn’t going to get better. It isn’t going to do you any good to wear yourself down with what if’s. Besides, you heard Valen, her body is somehow healing itself rapidly, that has to count for something.”

March was silent for a moment, before he let out a tired sigh, “I hope you’re right.” He stood, rummaging through the bag and digging out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt Olric packed for him to sleep in, he quickly got dressed before turning to his brother again, “Thank you, Olric, for everything tonight.”

“No problem, bro. I’m always here for you.” Olric replied as he got to his feet, “I’ll head home and get some sleep, so I can let Adeline know what’s up first thing tomorrow. Try to get some sleep.” 

“I’ll try.” March replied, exhaustion pounded through every fibre of his being but worry still overrode it heavily, he wondered if he would even get to sleep at all tonight.

Olric gave him a pat on the shoulder before turning and heading for the door. March sat back down on the bed and listened for sound in the clinic that would hint at what was going on. 

“March?” Valen’s voice startled him.

“Yeah?” He replied, a little louder than he intended.

Valen appeared from behind the screen, “She’s doing well, all things considered, I relocated her shoulder, wrapped her ankles up and got all her wounds disinfected and bandaged. She seems to be responding well to the elixirs and remarkably all of her ribs are healed, some of the minor scrapes and bruises healed while I was tending to her as well.”

 She sighed, running her fingers through her hair, “it’s completely outside my scope of expertise, but it seems to be a positive overall, I’ll ask Juniper to come have a look at her tomorrow, it seems like something that she would be more acquainted with. Try to get some rest tonight, I will do the same.”

March nodded, “Thanks for all the help, Valen.” 

She seemed a little taken aback by the appreciation from the usually cold man, “I’m just doing my job, it’s no problem.”

She grabbed the basin from beside the bed, and March heard her empty it before she retired to her room to rest. March laid down, staring at the ceiling and hoping for his exhaustion to take hold and put him to sleep, as the minutes passed by he found that the eerie silence of the clinic didn’t help the unease that still clung to him.

With a sigh, he rose to his feet, resolving to pace around for a bit to try and wear down his nerves but finding his feet carried him right to Sylvan's bedside. Her breathing was no longer as rough as it was before, but it was no less shallow, he guessed that was the work of whatever force was at work here. She was wearing a medical gown and Valen had tucked her in up to her waist with her arms over top of the blanket, her skin was clean with noticeably fewer bruises, and bandages wrapped around her in various locations just as Valen had mentioned.

He reached out and gently brushed her hair away from her face, his fingertips lingering on her cheek, some of the colour had returned to her face and she didn’t feel as cold anymore. He hoped that whatever force was at play here was on her side.

He quietly moved a chair over to her bed, taking a seat and leaning forward, crossing his arms on the bed in front of him. He reached his hand out to rest against her side, and he was able to barely feel the beat of her heart through the slow expanding and contracting of her rib cage on the back of his hand. He rested his head on his arms and it wasn’t long before he was plunged into an exhausted, fitful sleep.

[happyleech]

LOZ WIND WAKER SEAGULL FIC IS A GO

[theflyingfeeling]

💖 it's here, it's pink, it's sparkly, and full of fluff 💖

Hiiiiii and welcome to witness my attempt at an Olli/Allu Advent Calendar, in which I'll give you ~a cute little something~ about these two idiots in love almost every day until December 24! My plan is to use prompts from this list to either write a fic based on the prompt or just some good ol' delulu thoughts if all else fails. I cannot guarantee there'll be a post literally every day, but I'm really excited to try this out and I thank you for your support along the way in advance 💝

The biggest thanks and a million hugs go to one of my favourite human beings @kraeuterhexchen for making the adorable banner!! I mean helloooooo?? 😭 Go show them some love ❣️

For December 1, the prompt list is titled One True Pairing Moments, and the prompt I chose was 'calling just to hear their voice' 🥺 You can read the fic below, I hope you like it <3

.

PS. Even though this is an advent calendar of sorts, I'm not planning on making this particularly Christmassy. I hope no one minds terribly!

~

Falling for Aleksi had, in a way, sneaked up on Olli, at least if he fooled himself a little. He could pretend he didn’t feel any different about the man than he did about, say, Joonas or Tommi, but that strategy only worked for so long – that is to say, approximately until Aleksi as much as smiled softly at him from across a room or bumped his shoulder into his jovially when walking down the street and Olli would feel his breath getting caught in his throat or stumble in his words, his tongue tangled like shoelaces, which was so unlike him as well and frustrated him to no end. It really took a special kind of fool to not only develop some level of feelings for a friend, a colleague, a bandmate for Christ’s sake, but also become so hopelessly enamored with him that you rolled awake in bed in the dead of night, grabbing your phone and tossing it back on the nightstand again and again because you couldn’t decide whether or not you should, on some erratic 2 o’clock impulse, call him to let him know he was the very reason for your insomnia. 

Turning on his back, Olli groaned (only a little desperately) as he remembered losing himself in the lingering hug they had shared just before the arrivals lobby at the airport, inhaling Aleksi’s scent and wishing they wouldn’t have to go home just yet, even if Olli was more than ready to finally sleep in his own bed again. Ironically, ever since they had returned home from tour, Olli had spent night after sleepless night missing Aleksi terribly: his stupid jokes and playful banter that bordered on being flirtatious if Olli allowed himself the benefit of delusion; his quick, subtle smiles that probably meant nothing; his little touches Olli hoped meant something; his smell and his touch and the softness of his hair at the back of his neck, compared to which the blanket Olli was grasping in his fist was like sandpaper. (How he had come to know of the qualities of Aleksi’s hair in such detail, he preferred not to dwell on too much to save himself from the heartache, so let’s just leave it at ‘stressful, emotional week far away from home’ and ‘a little too much to drink’).

Above all, Olli missed Aleksi’s voice. He hadn’t even thought that was possible, until the other morning when Olli had woken up to a voice message Aleksi had left just hours earlier, rambling about a song idea he had gotten in the middle of the night – something he did from time to time – and Olli had spent the next several minutes replaying it over and over again as he had lied in bed procrastinating getting up and and instead closing his eyes to better imagine Aleksi lying there beside him, turned on his side to face Olli, talking to him sleepily like they often did when they shared a room on tour and were just too lazy to join others at breakfast. Much like the hug at the airport, Olli wished those moments would have lasted way longer than they did, often ending abruptly when either of their phones would go off with Santeri’s name on the screen, a passive-aggressive interruption to the soft, low tone of Aleksi’s early-morning thoughts. (Sometimes, when Olli was lucky enough, he had been blessed with the bliss of feeling the light touch of a fingertip tracing along his collarbone, cut short just as frustratingly by their well-meaning tour manager politely enquiring whether the two of them had plans of dragging themselves downstairs for some toast and coffee, or if they’d rather starve until lunchtime, for which he wasn’t at all sure they’d even have time that day.)

The lovesick idiot that he was, his thumb hovered over the ‘play’ button of Aleksi’s voice message, probably for the millionth time that week. The chest-carving hesitation turned into a heart flip when he noticed Aleksi was online.

Then Aleksi began to type, and Olli held his breath the entire time until a new message appeared in the thread, anticipation holding him by his throat.

You awake?

Olli exhaled and typed his affirmative reply, leaving out the reason why.

He blinked at the screen, waiting for Aleksi to ask him a random question that clearly couldn’t wait until morning, or perhaps talk about something related to another late-night Twitch stream (from what Olli had gathered, Aleksi had been doing a lot of those recently, and with his last remaining braincell Olli had managed to resist the temptation to watch every single one of them, because he knew that if he did, it would only dig his grave of pining and longing deeper, seeing Aleksi smile and giggle about but not being able to do that with him or snuggle up next to him when he was wearing that flannel Olli often used as a blanket in the tour bus). But instead of another text appearing on the screen, Olli’s phone began to vibrate in his hand, and it took him an embarrassingly long while to understand it was because Aleksi was calling him. 

“Hi,” he sighed when he finally collected himself enough to speak. He prayed he’d be able to hear what Aleksi was going to say from the thumping heartbeat echoing in his ears.

“Hi,” a soft voice said. “Sorry, I know it’s late…”

“No, not at all,” Olli hurried to say, “I mean, I wasn’t sleeping. Not even close, actually.” Part of him hoped Aleksi wouldn’t ask about it, but in some foolhardy way the possibility intrigued him. 

Nothing much, he would have likely said anyway, but what would happen if he told Aleksi how it really was? That he squeezed his pillow imagining it was him instead, or wailed into it because something had reminded him of a moment-that-was-probably-not-a-Moment™ they had shared? What would Aleksi say if he knew Olli sometimes touched himself the way Aleksi had touched him That One Night they never talked about? The only obstacle between Olli and that knowledge was a bottomless ocean of cold sweat and cowardice, and Olli had never been a great swimmer.

“So, ummm…,” Olli said when Aleksi’s end stayed silent. “What’s up?”

A short breath of laughter sounded through the phone line.

“Honestly? I don’t know, I… It’s just been a… weird week, I guess.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, like… my head’s just been so full of… everything and… I’ve been so busy and kinda tense and… fuck, this is going to sound crazy,” Aleksi laughed that brief laugh again, although to Olli it didn’t sound particularly cheerful. Tired, more like. Strained, somehow. Not sad, but definitely a little troubled, and Olli intended to find out why.

“I’m all for crazy, you know.” Olli hoped his sorry attempt to lighten Aleksi’s mood would work, and so he smiled in relief when he heard Aleksi chuckle at his comment.

“I know,” Aleksi said softly, in that tone of voice that had Olli melt against his bedsheets. “So yeah, it’s been a rough week, but… in between all that stupid shit, I’ve been thinking a lot about… umm… well, the tour and– and… about you, for some reason,” (the troubled laugh made its return) “and… yeah. That’s sort of helped me a lot recently.”

Olli listened to the words carefully, not fully believing what he was hearing, yet clinging on to them until they were all but swirling around in his otherwise empty head like dry leaves in October wind.

“And tonight I just couldn’t fucking sleep for some reason and nothing I did seemed to help and so I thought I’d call you. And I’m–” If it hadn’t been dead silent otherwise, Olli wouldn’t have heard the shaky breath Aleksi paused to take, “I’m sorry I’m calling you at this hour and bothering you with this all but I guess I just… wanted to hear your voice. To see if that would help.”

“Does it?” Olli asked. Aleksi’s confession had made him clasp his blanket close to his chest, as if that would do anything about his rapidly beating heart.

“Yeah. It does. So maybe just… keep talking?”

Despite his mind living a life of its own, completely unfit to form a single coherent thought, for Aleksi’s sake Olli tried his best to think of something to say, but everything he came up with was something he was not ready to tell him quite yet. 

“Uuummmm…” he said to buy himself some time, but while he waited for his useless brain and mouth to form any actual words, Aleksi spoke again.

“Fuck, I’m– I’m sorry, this is too weird, I shouldn’t have– I’ll let you go back to–”

“I miss you,” Olli blurted before Aleksi would hang up on him. He squeezed his eyes shut when Aleksi went silent, too silent for too long for it to mean any good.

The line stayed open, however, which Olli took as a positive sign, even if the seconds during which all Olli could hear was Aleksi's quiet breathing seemed endless.

“And I you,” Aleksi finally replied. “A little too much, probably, or at least that’s what it feels like,” he chuckled. Olli almost missed the quiet sniff that followed.

He had to steel himself for his next question.

“What do you mean?”

“Just… forget it.” Aleksi said quietly. Contrary to Aleksi’s request, Olli knew he was going to all but ‘forget it’ for the next 3-5 business days; mentally he booked all his evenings as well as most of his mornings and noons for pondering what exactly had been in Aleksi’s mind in that moment or why he had sounded so sombre, almost disappointed. He’d probably never come to any satisfactory conclusion about it though, at least not without a little help from Aleksi himself. 

A ridiculous idea popped into his head, and before he could stop himself, the words flooded out of his mouth.

“Do you wanna come over some time? To hang out? When your schedule’s a little less tight, I mean.” He sucked on his lips and closed his eyes as he waited for Aleksi’s answer, ready to hang up the moment he’d decline the offer on some obvious and logical reason for why Aleksi couldn’t possibly make nor want to take a trip to the north to see him, such as ‘didn’t we just spend over two months on the road together?’ or ‘damn, buddy, I miss you alright but not quite that much, I’ve done enough sitting in public transportation for one year, thank you very much lol’ or ‘what about Rilla?’

“You could take Rilla with you, you know.” Olli hurried to say, just in case, the deranged part of his brain thinking there might be a chance Aleksi might be at least considering it.

“Oh! Well, umm… I actually might have time next week? If– if you’re actually being serious about this.”

Funny you should ask, Aleksi; I’ve actually never been more serious about anything in my entire life than I am about having you here with me so that I can hold you and be held by you and see your face when I wake up in the morning and say goodnight to your annoyingly cute face instead of via text message and maybe, if the stars are in position and the northern wind won’t discourage me too much, I might actually be brave enough to torment you with the knowledge of just how miserable I’ve been since we last saw each other.

“I think it would be cool,” he said, because he had a feeling what he wanted to say would’ve been a tad too much and sudden. “I mean, if you’re up for it, of course. I understand if you can’t make it though, I know you have all those side projects.”

“No, I think it might actually do me some good to get out of the capital area for change.” Then there was a muffled ‘ouch’, followed by a laugh that sounded much brighter than any of the other ones Olli had heard from Aleksi that night. “Sorry, correction, it might do us some good. Rilla just told me she’s most definitely coming too. Rilla, stop nibbling on my toes!”

Olli smiled tiredly at the mental image that was painted in his mind of Aleksi and Rilla cuddling in bed, both minding their own business from what it seemed while still minding each other as well, very much indeed.

“I’ll be sure to set up a bed for her in the guest room.”

“The guest room? Do you not know her at all? If she’s not getting the master bedroom, she’ll ruin all your rugs and most of your shoes. Probably also gossip about you to all the neighbourhood dogs. And she’s brutal.”

Olli held his stomach as he laughed, tears almost forming in the corners of his eyes. In his defence, it was late and he was finally becoming tired, thus too far gone to help himself, let alone feel embarrassed about being in stitches about something Aleksi had said that was only mildly amusing. (It wasn’t the first time that had happened either, and likely not the last time.)

“So yeah, ummm, I can take a look at some flight options for next week and let you know, alright? I’m gonna let you sleep now and… I should get some myself too.”

Olli wanted to tell Aleksi he’d love to stay up chatting until dawn, but the yawn he let out when he opened his mouth to speak implied Aleksi had a point.

“Yeah, let me know. And… thanks for calling, I… you have no idea how much I needed this tonight.”

That was as close to a confession as Olli was able to get as of now.

“Probably not half as much as I did.”

Olli chuckled at Aleksi’s response, mostly to hide his own agony.

If only you knew. If only I knew how to tell you.

It didn’t take long for Olli to doze off after they hung up, and when he woke up to the kids from next door having a snowball fight under his window in the morning, he noticed new messages from Aleksi, sent half an hour after their phone call had ended, complete with screen captions of airplane schedules.

Would these days work for you? I might be free all week actually 😇

Olli cuddled into his pillow while typing his reply, hoping it wouldn’t wake up Aleksi.

yeah I’m free as well. I’ll pick you two up from the airport 🖤

From then on, Olli started counting the days until he’d see Aleksi again.

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

Chapter 8

GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH ANOTHER CHAPTER That's right, after being out of commission for a couple months, chapter 8 is FINALLY finished.

AND I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN ASKING FOR IT:

Where the Stars Don't Shine is finally posted on ao3! The new chapter is here!

I am so so so sorry about the wait, so I made it extra long just for you guys! As always, @itsberrydreemurstuff, @bibooby, @laegume and @andyssilly, welcome back to the slumber party, I saved yall some front row seats! (If anyone else wants to be tagged just lemme know and I'll put ya in the next one!) Anyways, hope yall enjoy this, and without further ado-

On with the show!

Word Count: 4,962

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All your excitement during your encounter with Sun vanishes when it becomes clear just what sort of day it’s going to be.

You had a bit of a mixed bag in attendance today. All your regulars, plus a couple new faces here and there. It started out okay, really.

And then one new kid in particular showed his hand and cemented his legacy as one of the most spoiled children you have ever had the dishonor of meeting.

You try not to dwell on it and just move on, but this kid…this kid is awful . Pushing other kids around, turning his nose up at snacks and eating off other kids’ plates, ripping the heads off toys…

(You really have to remember to bring your sewing kit next time.)

You know it’s not the kid’s fault for his behavior, more of the people who raised him, and you try not to hold it against him, you really do. By the looks of it, Sun is trying, too, but both of your patience is drawing thin.

You draw the line when he tears out a page of your books that one of the other boys was reading.

You remind yourself repeatedly that you are not allowed to punch a child. 

You do put him in time-out, though. And you can guess by this kid’s behavior that their parents are going to raise hell about it.

You discover some hours later that your assumption is completely correct when said parent comes in later to pick up their child and you confront them about the brat’s behavior, to which their response is an offended gasp and a rant about how awful your work ethic is and you’re not providing enough care this is why people like you are in jobs like this you’re lucky you’re even employed that makes the brick walls behind security desk that you have the strong urge to slam your head into all the more appealing. You stand there with a polite customer service smile and take it like the valued employee you are while trying to remember what temperature human flesh burns at before chastising yourself, until you’re thrown back into reality and catch the tail end of what she says. 

“-and are you even listening to me right now? Ugh, you’re even denser than the robot, at least it can do its job right. You’re supposed to be the competent worker and you’re being beaten by a walking junkyard pile-”

Yeah, nope, not this again.

You bristle at her words, gritting your teeth slightly and forcing your smile to maintain itself. If it looks slightly more manic than intended, that can’t be helped, but you had always been good at playing the part of someone weaker than you. “I’m so sorry you feel that way, ma’am. I’m sure you can leave a review regarding our services on our website if you’d like. However, Fazbear does not tolerate abuse and slander of any of its staff. Thanks for stopping by and have a Faz-er- iffic day!”

You slam the door in her face just as she opens her mouth (likely to respond with another offensive remark) and dust your hands off in satisfaction. It’s not the first time someone’s come to complain about you and your coworkers. In truth, the company probably couldn’t care less how the clients treated their workers and their ‘property’ as long as they got paid. Slander against you, you could understand; you signed a contract and sold your soul away. One of the agreements was to deal with annoying clients. But the other two? They had been built for this, any complaint against them was the fault of the company itself, and besides, you couldn’t see them as anything other than people since the moment you’d spoken to them. After all, a company probably wouldn’t leave a prerecorded message expressing immediate hostility towards its employees on their first day of work, now would it?

They had to have some level of sentience to make that decision.

You mark off the last child with a pleased grin. At least with the way she’d reacted you could guarantee that neither the harpy woman nor her little satan spawn son ever set foot in the Daycare ever again.

You do unfortunately still have to clean up the carnage left behind, though. You grab a broom and a dustpan, ready to sweep up the crumbled play-doh and ripped stuffing from earlier, back straightening with a sharp inhale when the lights cut off. Not terribly uncommon, but it still left you uneasy. Moon didn’t get to do his little song and dance during naptime because you were preoccupied punishing a rulebreaker, and you’re pretty sure he’s fixing to dish out his skewed idea of justice one way or another.

Lo and behold, the tell-tale click of a wire descending directly behind you gives away his intentions. 

“ Aww , thank you for defending our honor so nobly , little knight,” he croons mockingly. You don’t even have to turn in his direction to know he’s fanning his faceplate and fake swooning in a ‘my fair maiden’ pose. You say nothing, just sweeping stiffly under his suspended shadow and inspecting the floor. You’d have to bring out the vacuum for the carpet, plus a mop.

You miss his frown at your evident disinterest. 

“So brave, to come to our aid when we were utterly defenseless ,” he continues, picking a small bit of clay off your shoulder and flicking it aside. “But you know, you seemed to have forgotten what I told you earlier…”

He pauses, seemingly waiting for some response of probing to continue. If he is, he’ll be sorely disappointed. Though you’re usually the one after them for conversation, you’re in no mood for it after the day-no, the week, the whole damn month , really- you’ve had. You just want to go home, take a shower, and sleep for an eternity. 

His frown grows further in distaste, and he decides to grab your attention by gripping your shoulders tightly and lifting you a few inches off the ground. Your previously unfocused gaze now snaps to him, alert and on guard.

Wuh-oh.

That’s more like it.

“We do not need your help ,” he sneers, shaking you by the front of your shirt. You blink and gulp nervously, unsure as to where this is coming from. You feel the worst of your nausea as he starts to raise you towards the ceiling with you hanging onto his wrists tightly.

“Moon…” you speak warningly, a shot of nervousness streaking through you as the ground grows further away. His only response is a sadistic chuckle, and the delicately crafted facade over your sickness accumulating from over the past few weeks worsens exponentially. Your stomach lurches and you hazard a quick glance down. You’re hanging a good thirty feet above the ballpit and still steadily climbing, and judging by the glint in your captor’s eyes, you’re not going to like where this is headed.

It’s safe to panic now.

“Moon, stop it, that’s enough,” you tell him, voice wavering. After no response, you try again. “Moon, that’s enough, put me down.” Silence. “That’s enough , drop it!”

He stops for a second, grin falling a little before returning full force. “Well, if you insist ,” he laughs darkly. 

Your eyes widen and for a moment, nothing happens. Then he yanks your hands off him and lets go, watching you plummet to the ground with sinister glee.

Then, you’re falling.

You think you scream, you can’t tell. You crash into the ballpit right after, but it doesn’t cushion your fall. You hiss immediately on impact, clenching your fists and curling in on yourself. The plastic balls dig into your spine, sending waves of pain throughout your body. Your eyes are squeezed shut and you don’t dare open them lest you see that face looming over you. You do a quick check-over, wiggling your toes and bending your joints weakly. Somehow, nothing is broken, but you can’t tell over the searing pain in your side. You thought it was bad before, but that was nothing compared to now. The dull ache is burning, setting your nerves on fire with as much as a twitch. Your back is in a similar shape, as are your legs. 

You don’t know how long you stay like that before Moon’s shadow looms over you from the side of the pit. He makes some stab at you that you don’t really process over the ringing in your ears. Existing hasn’t taken such a toll on you before. His voice still carries into the white noise. You manage to get your mouth moving again and whisper, voice crackling, “Knock it off, Moon.”

Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t let up on his teasing, and you vaguely register his response. “Oh, poor little worker can’t take a tumble. Too weak to pick yourself back up again? Not that I see much of a difference. You’ve always got your head down, ballpit or that desk you laze at. Best to let the ‘bucket of bolts’ do the work, hm ?”

You say nothing, not finding the idea of lifting your head and entertaining his little act worth it in your state. You remain limp in the ballpit, knees hugged to your chest in fetal position.

You hear him step closer to you, and jerk slightly when blue digits dig into your shoulders to pull you up. A cry of pain erupts from you at the fingers embedding themselves in your shoulder blades. They retract quickly as if burned by a pot sitting too long on the stove, as if this was the first time they’ve ever felt such heat before. Your severe pain and slightly depressive state dissipates momentarily and is instead replaced with white-hot anger that threatens to bubble over.

You slap his hand away and shout, “It’s not funny, Moon, knock it off! ”

He freezes, hands twitching in the air. His optics flicker, narrowing as he reaches back out to capture you once out. You smack his wrist again and ignore the added pain of striking metal. 

You stagger out of the ballpit, standing on shaky legs. You don’t give him a chance to speak before you start up again. 

“What the hell is wrong with you, man? You dropped me from 50 feet up, I could’ve died ! What did I even do to you?”

His faceplate turns in a silent half-rotation before he shrugs.

Oh no he did not . 

You explode, gesturing wildly as his simple movement spurs you on. “So what, you just don’t like me and decided to fucking throw me off the balcony like some- some doll for you to mess around with?! Pfft, yeah sure, that makes sense! Let’s just drop someone from 40 feet ‘because we don’t like them’! Wow, Moon, I can see how you guys got your position with that logic !”

“Oh wait! ” you spin around sharply, a manic grin on your face that seems to twist every meek and modest feature on your face as you continue on. “That’s why I’m here! Because for all your hard work, Management still decided to shove me into this hellhole! And it doesn’t mean much, it’s Management, they don’t mean anything, but hey , guess what? I never wanted to be here, but surprise-surprise, no one wants to hire a nobody who didn’t push through their degree except a shady company with a world record in OSHA violations and an even bigger death toll! So here I am, getting paid 30 dollars an hour to deal with your ungrateful asses for five hours a day, not to mention the ridiculous amount of unpaid overtime of three to five EXTRA hours I dedicate to this sorry place, all without a single day off in the past six months that I have worked here, each of which have been filled with your non-stop harassment and shitty attitude, which for some bizarre reason I haven’t reported yet! So why, pray tell, have you been dead set on punishing me for a crime I have yet to commit? What did I even do to you?” 

It’s a trap. Moon knows it’s a trap, but he refuses to let you get away with such slander on his turf. He rolls his eyes and huffs, “ Oh, please , you aren’t nearly as victimized as you make yourself out to be. You slack off during playtime while Sun handles everything, you’re constantly snoozing away at your desk unless you oh-so graciously decide to grace us with a moment of your time, and sometimes you don’t even show up at all. I think we have much more of a right to type up a report than you ever will.”

Alright, that’s it- “Oh, really ? Alright, buster, don’t give me that shit, I know damn well what I’m worth. For the record, I do play with the kids - which, if I may remind you, is not in my job description- until sweet lil Sunny starts giving me a death stare for daring to intrude on his precious playtime. And I do pitch in around here, just as much if not MORE than you do! Guess what, cheesehead? I clean the ballpit. I order the food, I buy the supplies, bring the books, put the kids toys back together, organize a monthly schedule AND deal with your sorry asses,  so don’t be telling me how to do my job, got it ? And don’t start up about my breaks, cuz, huh , I wasn’t aware that a two minute break in the place of an hour’s worth of free time was against my contract! I take time off when I know I’m not needed so that I don’t keel over and leave you to deal with over 40 kids! And even with that, I’ve still never taken an actual sick day off the entire time I’ve worked here because I know this is how you’ll react! When was the last time I didn’t show up to work, huh?”

Moon is swift with his reply, almost anticipating the question. “Last month, you took nearly two weeks off without telling your supervisors,” he states triumphantly, as if this had somehow won him the argument.

Oh, this absolute idiot . 

His victorious grin falls slightly at your disbelieving laughter. “Two weeks?! I’ve been working here for six months and you’re hung up on two weeks ?! I’ll have you know that I did tell my supervisors-which you are not , by the way- that I would be out on unpaid sick leave. And I know they didn’t tell you about it because I knew exactly what would happen, and it did! I thought you could respect it and let it go , but apparently not, cuz  you can’t handle not sticking your obnoxiously pointed nose up someone’s business! And now I’m the nosy one!” Your voice grows louder, and you throw your arms out with a wide, dangerous gleam in your eyes. 

“You wanna know where I was? Why I was gone? Well guess what, Craterhead, I was in the hospital making sure my brother didn’t drop dead ! I had to make sure he didn’t flat line halfway through a surgery !”

Oh.

Oh no.

Moon’s eyes widen, regret flickering across his face for a second. He takes a small step back, retreating as you advance. A jab to the chest pulls him back to the present, and his optics narrow.

“But you don’t care about any of that, do you? All you care about is your stupid reputation and oh no, Sunny and Moony can’t have a human ruining everything, because that’s all this meatbag knows how to do! Oh no, poor Sunny and Moony!”

You watch his expression drop like a thermometer exposed to subzero temperatures, red optics pinpricks in a sea of black that threaten to overtake them, contracted pupils tensed like a rubber band about to snap. A spark of something, perhaps vindication, ignites within you, overshadowing the voice in the back of your mind that quietly warns you of what to come, to back down before it’s too late.

A pity your brother isn’t here to hold you back. 

Your voice drops dangerously low for a moment, a deathly whisper that somehow seeps fear into Moon’s systems more than your uncontrolled rage.“I bet you tried to break me, didn’t you, wanted to see me all battered and bruised with my tail tucked between my legs as I ran out of this godforsaken place. Oh, don’t act so surprised, we both knew you never liked me. You never liked me or the idea of someone coming along to jeopardize your position, your life’s purpose, the only thing you have ever been good for, and so you pushed, even when I went along with all your orders, all your demands and your stupid checkpoints and your stupid, stupid rules, pushed and pushed and pushed until I couldn’t take it anymore, and here we are. Well, no more ! You knew there was a breaking point, you both did. Well, here it is, the final straw! Your hard work finally paid off, you’ve made me even more miserable than before, and for what? Is this what you wanted, Moon, Sun? Are you finally satisfied? ”

Moon is still in front of you, hands drawn to his chest, pupils watching fat drops roll down your cheeks and leave stained rivers on your skin as you smile that angry, heartbreaking, defeated smile that cuts through their wires like glass shards, words stabbing through his central processors and sending a jolt through them both. He wants to respond, wants to say something clever and leave you sputtering and defeated, but nothing comes to mind. He always has a retort, a comeback, a witty remark or a snarky comment to make you bend to their will, and yet this time he’s the one left grasping for straws. He’s speechless, voicebox pushing out low static as he struggles to formulate a reply. You don’t give him the time to, resuming with a steady confidence they’ve never seen in you before. This is a side of you that is unfamiliar to them. They don’t quite know what to make of it, and so they stay unwillingly silent as you answer your own question with an air of finality. 

“No, you’re not. And I’ll tell you why. This perfection that you’ve tried so hard to pin down? Hate to break it to you, buddy, but perfect is something even machines can’t accomplish, no matter how advanced or well-built they think they are. It never will be. You and Sun both think you’re oh-so-great and so far above lil ol’ me and my stupid human brain, but I think you forget that you’re just as bad as I am. I’ve seen the daycare reviews, boys, and trust me, they are not pretty. Our sweet little ball of Sunshine scared kids so bad with his pushiness that a good deal of them just didn’t come back, and you? Oh, you scared the shit out of kids, didn’t you? You left them shivering in their sleeping bags in fear of the very thing that swore to protect them. 

“So tell me”- you tilt your head, smile growing sickeningly sweet as your eyes squint upwards, hands poised together as you punctuate every syllable that leaves your lips - “What exactly do you think gives you any authority over me? How do you think you can protect anyone from me when you can’t even protect them from yourself?”

You let the words hang in the air for a moment, the manic grin not leaving your face as you turn around to sweep over the daycare after the prolonged eye contact with burning red optics begins to sting your eyes. 

 “But hey!” you call out behind you with a laugh like shattered glass left on cold tile. “Don’t take my word for it. I’m just the dumb worker you had to boot cuz you didn’t want someone to steal the spotlight.���

You whip back around to give a final comment before catching a glimpse of Moon. His pupils are near non-existent, eyes dark and empty. His static grin is too wide, fingers too sharp, curling and uncurling. You freeze, words cutting to a halt, and you swear his grin grows wider.

“ R̶̻̘̃͂̈́͋́ ̶̢̛͇̠͔̤̥͉̜̖̫̰̬̬̝̓͛̾̅̓̑̌́͆̅̇̿̎͂̈́͘̕͠Ǘ̸̡̻͖̅̄̄̚ ̵͖̱͕̫̋̈́̀́͊̇̐̀̒̒̋͑̅̀͗̊́́̚̕͝N̵̘̰͓̹̖̘̦̪͂̓̎̅̊̀͘̕͜ ̶̡͕̙͖̟͍̼͙̠̺̹̦̘̙̘̠̏̾̿̏̂͜ͅ," he growls. 

It sends a chill up your spine, dousing your anger in fear. You don’t waste time waiting for him to start chasing. You’re already booking it across the Daycare and to the exit. 

You’re maybe 10 paces in when you hear him behind you, wire clicking and shooting him to the ceiling. You know it’s a losing battle, he could easily take you if he wanted to. He doesn’t though, not yet. It’s the chase he’s after.

You dare not turn to check behind you, instead running blindly in hopes of somehow managing to hide. Your logical reason tells you to just leave, but it’s drowned out by pure instinct to run, get away, danger-

Moon has a severe advantage and you both know it. He knows the area. Still, you foolishly blunder on, making a hard right that almost makes you trip before you stumble back up again. You’re lucky he doesn’t do this more often because man you are out of shape. He hasn’t chased you since the first two months, you’d thought these games were behind you.

You wheeze as you bump into a wall, barely managing to dodge a wet floor bot. You can’t keep this up much longer. Your heart’s been kicked into overdrive, beating at a rate you know isn’t normal. Distantly, pain tingles in your elbow, muffled by the adrenaline pulsing through you. You’re surprised you haven’t bumped into any of the GlamRocks. They may not like you, but it’s better than this. 

Maybe they’re patrolling different floors? They could be charging.

All at the same time.

Yeah…

You skid to a sudden stop. You were just here, weren’t you? Ugh, these hallways all looked the same. Your eyes dart around wildly, spotting the familiar Daycare entrance. The faces of golden statues are smiling down at you.

You can’t recall a time where that’s happened to you before. 

Your eyes dart around for some place to hide, landing on a closet. You hear jingling bells in the distance.

You silently pray there aren’t any spiders before shutting yourself inside, leaving the door open just a crack for a sliver of light. 

It’s not a terribly big closet. There’s maybe enough room for you to stand upright. You sit with your knees tucked under your chin, eyes never leaving the door. Just in time. The wire descends and detaches, two feet coming into view. They pad softly on the cold tile, making no noise as he prowls for his prey. 

A shadow in front of the door.

You hold your breath, freezing and throwing a hand over your mouth.

A pause.

His attention is shifted elsewhere. He grumbles and stalks off, leaving you in  the dark. 

You wait maybe thirty seconds for the footsteps to grow silent before exhaling softly and taking stock of your situation. You’re stuck in a broom closet at work and the only other worker here tonight just left. 

Not that Moon would be of any help , you thought bitterly. He just wants you out of the way.

You can’t really blame him for that , though, can you ?

The thought almost sets you off the edge, but you reign yourself in, letting go of a self-deprecating laugh and wiping the tears that form in the corners of your eyes. It doesn’t help. New ones replace them and you let your hands fall back into your lap.

No. No, you couldn’t blame them for it. You invaded their space and made a mess of things. You have a habit of doing that.

That’s why you left, after all. You couldn’t handle messing that up , either.

A shaky sob escapes you, and you press your palms to your eyes to stop the flow of tears trickling down your face. You need this job, you can’t lose it. If you lost it, you’d have no other options. You’d be out of house and home, and then what? Go back with your tail tucked between your legs?

No. You couldn’t go back.

What other choices did you have?

It didn’t matter, anyway. At the end of the day, nothing would change. You were still you, and something always goes wrong no matter what you do. Didn’t matter how hard you tried or how fair it was, it’s always the same.

Sometimes you wonder if everyone would’ve been better off had your brother been an only child.

A soft buzzing in your pocket snaps you out of your episode. You fish your phone out in surprise. That’s right, you’d put it there after this morning.  It vibrates in your hand, the caller ID flashing across the screen. It’s your mother. You stare at it dumbly, making no move to answer it. You’re half tempted to just let it ring till she gives up and drops it as always, but…

You need something to keep the quiet at bay right now.

Swiping to start the call, you hear shuffling over the static and put the speaker close to your ear. A short “hello?” is heard and repeated as she tries to figure out how to use the brick in her hand.

The act is familiar and you manage a watery smile. “Hi, mom.”

“Can you hear m-oh, good, you’re there. Your brother said you messaged him this morning and we just wanted to check in.” Her tone shifts. “You okay there?”

You don’t think you can pull off pretending that you’re fine at the moment. You sniffle into the receiver, curling further in on yourself. “I’m okay, I just…I just had a bad day at work.”

“Oh, sweetheart…”she sighs, and you wince slightly, not really feeling up to whatever questions she has to ask. “You wanna talk about it?”

You shake your head before remembering that you’re on the phone, instead muttering a quiet ‘no’ into the speaker. She stays uncharacteristically silent on the other side of the line, her subtle shifting of the phone the only indicator that she’s still on the call. You know she wants to pry further, force an answer out of you. Sometimes, you almost wish she did, wish she pushed just a bit harder so you could finally break and let it all out.

She doesn’t this time though, puttering out a soft sigh. “Well…alright. Just remember, we’re always here if you need us. Your brother’ll probably check on you anyway, you know how he gets. Just don’t let him burn the building down for your sake.”

A wet snort slips past you before you catch it, imagining your anarchist brother expressing his rage against the machine and corporate capitalism by burning down a rip-off Chuck-E-Cheese. You didn’t think your mother was capable of creating an image like that, either. She hadn’t exactly been very invested in either of your interests. You wonder if she’s been taking pointers from your brother. 

You wave the thoughts aside, realizing you’ve let the conversation taper off and…

You suppose you can let this phone call end on a higher note. You both sort of need it anyway.

“Thanks, mom,” you whisper coarsely, leaning against the stacked boxes and letting your head fall back.

“Of course, dear. You just call us back when you’re ready. Oh, and try to tag along with your brother sometime, it gets lonely without you there. You were much better at listening to his mechanical jargle than we are.”

You exchange a few more quiet answers before wishing her a good night and hanging up, squinting at your brightly lit phone in the dark space. The time reads a little past 10. Moon’s first round of patrols is likely finished, which means it’s finally safe to leave this cramped compartment. 

The door remains shut when you turn the knob.

You try for the handle again, rattling it with greater and greater intensity as your panic begins to build up to no avail. Your hands form fists, soon beginning to bang on the door, eyes wide and breathing erratic. Try as you might, it’s sealed like a tomb, effectively locked inside. 

No, no, no , this can’t be happening, not here, not now. You don’t want to be here, don’t want to be in this dark, cramped closet at the end of some forgotten corridor, stashed with all the boxes and cleaning supplies. 

Your brother had locked you into a closet once. Flipped the switch on the outside and left you alone to battle the demons you couldn’t see. It had been funny, back then, until you started screaming and begging to be let out.

It wasn’t funny now.

You drop to the floor, hands sliding down the wood to lay limply beside you. You can feel yourself shaking, bones rattling as you tremble. Your lungs burn with the force of the rapid inhale-exhale pattern you struggle to keep stable, your heartbeat pounding at the front of your head. Inhale, exhale, thump, thump, inhale, thump -oh, weren’t you supposed to exhale first- thump -and your heart’s not pumping, you can’t breathe, you need to breathe -

You gasp, head reeling, nails digging into your palms and leaving red marks. You struggle to ground yourself, forcing your eyes to focus on the sliver of light from under the doorframe. You inch back, still trembling lightly, staring blankly at the floor as the cold reality dawns on you.

You’re trapped.

No one is here to save you now.

Aaaaand that's a wrap! Hope yall enjoyed that lil chapter, seems like our y/n's gotten into quite a pickle! It's okay, though, they needed some time to process anyways. Speaking of which, Sun and Moon have a LOT to think about... Not sure when I'll post chapter 9, sorry! I have a couple of short snippets planned out already, but typing and connecting them is a whole other matter, so I dunno when I'll get back to this. Until then, however, I hope this is enough, and unfortunately...

The theater is closed...

[micamone]

finished kung fu panda 4 and immediately went "I have to go see what that tai lung blogger thought of this"

[zukkaoru]

wip number 6 aka um ? ?? is so real. what is it about 👉👈

oh my god i'm actually so happy you asked about this one because this wip is 100% wholly and completely your fault.YOU put kunichuuranzai brainworms in my mind and now i am being forced to neglect my other wips in order to expel them (/vlh) have an excerpt <3

Ranpo tears the package open and shoves three Pocky sticks into his mouth. He chows through half the package before setting it aside and shifting so he’s facing Kunikida. “What d’you want?” “I wanted to thank you.” The And I wanted to check in on you goes unsaid. “Okay.” Ranpo pulls out another stick. “Go on, then.” Kunikida rolls his eyes, but he can’t quite suppress the fond smile that crosses his face. “Thank you, Ranpo-san. For your hard work proving my innocence and also for coming to visit me while I was in jail. Sincerely, your words helped me greatly.” Ranpo freezes. Their eyes flick open and their cheeks flush a pretty shade of pink, which they immediately cover by burying their head in their arms. The Pocky package crinkles as their grip on it tightens, and Kunikida chuckles lightly.