#ok now I'll log off and disappear

[drugsforaddicts]

[twigg96]

Even If Death Do Us Part

Daryl X Reader

Warnings: MAJOR ANGST, SADNESS AHHH, MAJOR Cannon Divergence, Slow Burn, Greif, Loss, Acceptance, Hope Rekindled, Blood, Walkers, Torture,

Whumptober Prompts: No.2) I'll Call out Your Name, but you won't call back. / Delirium

Era(s): Post-Prison, Post-Alexiandria and Saviors War, (New alternate route taken from here)

Pronouns: She/Her, You/[Y/N]

Summery: When the prison fell and Daryl felt your hand slip from his own he was so sure you'd be ok... that you'd meet him at the meeting place you both agreed on. But as hours turned to days and he and Beth were pushed into the woods Daryl lost his hope in everything. When weeks turned to months and his wife never showed up on the railroad to Terminus, the Church where he prayed for the first time in his life, or Alexandria where a new life began to bloom for everyone... except him. Daryl couldn't accept she simply disappeared. You simply had to be out there somewhere. When months fazed into years and Daryl aged and so much had changed... he didn't know how he managed with out you, but when Negan drops a lead to where you might be... alive Daryl can't pass up on the opportunity to go with him and Rick to investigate despite knowing that time might have changed everything he knew about you.

When the prison fell and all descended into chaos. Amidst the gunshots blaring and the bombs exploding, Daryl had lost sight of you in the dust and mist. He had been so certain you had taken off into the woods after your hand had slipped from his own. But maybe you had boarded the bus that was to carry those unable to defend themselves to safety but was doomed to fail in it's efforts. You always did tend to throw yourself into the line of fire to protect others... Whatever the case may be, he trusted that if you did happen to end up alone, you’d know your way around the camp well enough and be fine… you would find your way back to him. He just knew it. You’d be sure to meet up at the normal place in a day or so. Just as you always did. But as he and Beth wandered ever farther away from the prison, checking the meet up spot just as they did on that first fateful day and the three that followed only to find nothing but an empty field of flowers. Daryl’s hope dimmed just as the light in the sky. Especially as Beth pushed him to keep moving, to keep surviving without you. Even after he refused having spent a full day sat on a log where you two used to sit and talk about nothing, his fingers worrying the metal of the wedding ring he wore. He knew she would never have insisted if it weren't for the herd of walkers coming their way, that Beth would have waited until the end of time if he only asked and circumstances had been different. She had been such a sweet girl. But the herd pushed them ever farther away from what they knew as home, farther from where he knew you might be, and away from hope.

As time seemed to move without him, Daryl seemed to live in a haze. Forced through the trials, tribulations of the coming weeks without you by his side. Daryl’s hope in everything wavered. The light in his eyes that once was so bright went out. He’d lost too much. The prison, where you both felt so safe as to swear to protect each other as man and wife, even though neither of you knew what that meant for the future. Sophia, whose little broken body was still burned in his mind all these months later. Merle, whose ultimate sacrifice meant survival for him and everyone of his friends standing beside him now. Beth, who's death was so fresh that haunted his every nightmare. The guilt of which bogged him down until he could no longer stand the silence which drove him mad. You, and although he didn't want to believe you were dead the lingering doubt leaked in into his brain and ate at the last remains of his sanity making him sick to his stomach with images of what could have happened. Daryl shut himself down emotionally. Locking out everyone he loved and all the friends he made along the way. It only got worse once they found Alexandria. No one could understand why he refused to stay behind the walls. Even though Rick and Carol had a hunch they didn’t want to corner him about it. He was always hunting for his Doe. Searching for you every chance he had. When the opportunity arose to scout with Aaron, to look for more trust worthy people, Daryl immediately accepted the offer. If he sat and thought on it long enough he'd have to admit to himself that his intentions were purely selfish. His only motivation driven by finding you, alive or... well that was all his brain could truly rationalize. He told himself that once he found you, the two of you would leave Alexandria. Find a nice place to stay outside of the walls that let him breath fresh air and escape suburbia. But until then he accepted his fate inside the walls.

As weeks inside the walls slowly but surely morphed into months, Daryl's fears, his sickening anxiety became all encompassing. Judith had turned two. You had missed her second birthday... and while you were there for the first, the celebration felt hollow without you there. Despite the months that went by Daryl refused to believe that you just disappeared into nothingness. That you simply didn’t exist anymore. His searching never ceased, only broadened and expanded. His runs became longer and more expansive. Slowly he began to bring less and less home. Focused solely on locating you in your entirety. Instead of simply screaming your name into an abandoned building and recklessly killing the walkers that came out, Daryl found himself searching the faces of each and every walker he took down. Taking more risks in hope of never having to see you at the end of his blade. Anxiety was constantly coursing his veins as he went out anymore. The thoughts of: What if this was the herd you got caught up in? What if this is the building he finds you in? What if you were alone when it happened and he could have stopped it? Circulated in his head on an endless loop. One night while the two were alone, Rick had offhandedly suggested gutting the walkers Daryl took down... just to be certain. When he told Daryl why... Daryl threw up before breaking down in ugly heavy sobs that wracked his entire body and brought no solace back to his broken soul.

A full year passed since the prison. Daryl never stopped wondering or worrying. But within his little cell he couldn't help but wonder if at this second. In this moment, if it was comforting or maybe a curse that you wouldn't know about his imprisonment and torture (though he'd never admit as such) at the hands of the Saviors. While that dreaded song played on loop over and over drilling itself so deep into his subconscious, he had to wonder... if you had known would you have come riding in on a white horse like his knight in shining armor and saved him by now? Would you have had the lady balls and attacked Negan too ending up in this hell hole with him? Or would you have gotten yourself killed doing something stupid but so unequivocally you? Maybe he would he have killed you like he did Glenn. Daryl hung his head in shame, letting horrible heartbroken sobs escape his throat. How the fuck did any of this end up this way? One moment they were all so happy. Glenn was going to be a fucking father... how does that just happen? How does someone just take someone like Glenn away like that? Hours passed before Daryl felt himself go numb. Glancing down at the "food" he had thrown to the floor he felt his stomach turn before a growl erupted from within. "Eat." Through everything, Daryl was certain he could still hear your voice chastising him. "Daryl, please... you need to eat. Keep your strength up." Reaching down and grabbing the food he took a reluctant bite, allowing his mind to wander to vivid images of you. His imagination keeping his sanity afloat amidst the pain.

Five years had passed since the Prison. The Saviors war was over. Daryl's only solace was knowing that Negan was behind bars with no chance of an escape. However he still didn't feel entirely comfortable knowing the bastard was still alive. Rick was now managing more communities than Daryl ever could have imagined. This also meant as his right hand man he was tasked in helping to manage these communities. Daryl would honestly have rather have eaten raw glass than get himself into politics, but if he learned anything from his time with Rick and from observing the Saviors it was better to have these areas under their control than let them do whatever they wanted. As Daryl ended back at the Sanctuary watching the sky turn dark with a moonless sky, his mind traveled with it to the darkest depths. He wondered briefly if there were a chance that you had died back at the prison and if all his searching had been in vain. But these thoughts could only stay as long as the smoke from his cigarette could linger before he dismissed them and stood to finish his rounds.

Ten years had passed since the prison, Daryl was surprised to still be alive. Alexandria had fallen more than once. And Daryl was certain that it would end in the same fate as the prison. There were more times than not that he was sure he was going to die... but your voice in the back of his head had driven him forward. Always reminding him of the good in life. Even as the passage of time grew so long that he was sure that he'd had forgotten the sweet tone of your voice it still rang clear as if you were standing right beside him. Even whenever he had attempted to busy himself with another woman for a time. To try to move on. He couldn't bring himself to do so. Not truly. He couldn't keep your face from his mind as he closed his eyes at night. Nor the smell of your hair or the sound of your voice calling out for him. And so he quickly gave up on the endeavor coming away with only Dog as proof of his efforts. However if Daryl admitted it he was surprised most by the little community that was not only growing but thriving under Rick's supervision. Negan, once an enemy turned out to be a friend in extreme circumstances. And although Daryl didn't trust the man as far as he could throw him, he would fight beside him in a heartbeat.

So on the day that Negan approached Rick, Daryl, Maggie and Carol asking for help, to say they were skeptical was an understatement. Welcoming the leather clad man into his house for the council meeting, Rick watched as Negan sat at the dining room table. "What is it ya want?" Rick asked, eyeing Negan skeptically. Negan sat silently for a few moments glaring daggers into the wood of the table. It seemed to Daryl at least, that the man was contemplating. What exactly? He didn't know... nor did he care if he was being honest... "Just need a few people to come with me to come check in on something." Negan muttered lowly, his voice already sounding nearly defeated as if he knew he was about to be turned inside out despite only having said a single sentence. Rick shifted his weight on his legs. His hips swaying as he thought, his head hanging as he sighed. "Checking in on what, exactly?" He growled his expression guarded as he scanned Negan carefully. Negan rolled his dark eyes, resting an elbow on the table with a loud thunk he groaned. "Now... do you really need me to go into every detail here, Ricky. Or do you want me tell you what the core issue is?" Negan drawled sarcastically meeting Rick's intense gaze. Running his hands through his hair Rick sighed, pulling a chair out and gesturing for the others to do the same. "Alright, Negan... what is is this core issue?" Rick hissed threading his fingers together. If Daryl paid enough attention, he could see Rick's nails biting into the skin on the webbing on his other hand. Negan nodded a audacious grin crossing his lips. "The issue is, I seemed to have lost a community the Saviors used to service. Seems like the years haven't exactly been kind to these people and when we stopped coming around they went feral... Just ran into a bunch of them clothed in animal skins. They were using hand made weapons. Carved bows and arrows, knives made of bone, and spears made of sharpened branches. The group I was with could have easily handled the situation... if you get my drift. But I figured, Rick the Prick might have a bit of an issue if I just cleared out a whole community without his knowledge... besides I got some history with these folks. So here I am." Daryl couldn't say he was surprised at Negan's callousness, not anymore. But to hear him openly admit that he was thinking and debating on taking down a community single handed was a stark reminder of exactly who they were dealing with. "Stop looking at me that way." Negan growled seriously, glaring around the room. The silence was all encompassing and Daryl was quick to realize he wasn't the only one who was staring. Carol was the first to clear her throat rubbing her wrists anxiously. "So what do you want us to do about it, Negan?" Maggie asked seriously, shifting in her chair to sit up straighter. Negan rested his head in his hand smiling gently at Maggie. "You didn't hear a word I just said, did ya princess?" He whispered mockingly, his face morphing into a hateful glare when his arm whipped to point to the door, his fingers just missing Daryl's nose. "I need at least two people to come with me and see what the hell is goin' on there! I would like to hope you'd understand I'm tryin' to get this done all democratic like but if you make me play my hand I'll be glad to!" He yelled, slapping the palm of his hand down on the table once more in frustration.

Rick grunted glaring at Negan's outburst. "Alright... Daryl and I will go with ya." Rick muttered looking to the archer, checking to see if he was in. With a small nod, Daryl sat straighter, never really taking his eyes off of Negan. Rick took a breath sitting up and placing his own elbows on the table. "But we need to know what we're walking into... I don't feel comfortable going in blind." He muttered. Negan hummed, nodding as he ran a hand through his hair. "Fair enough, though don't know what good it'll do ya it's been about seven or eight years now since I've been there..." He muttered really emphasizing the time he spent in prison. "I wasn't originally gonna fuck with these people when I first crossed them..." Negan hummed lowly once he started, rubbing the stubble on his chin as he thought about the memory. "We had spotted their community from a distance and were planning on leaving them alone... they weren't fucking with anyone else... we had enough food with the trade deals we had in place. And the Saviors weren't as big as they had been when we met so we didn't have the people to patrol the area. We didn't want to risk it. But..." Negan hummed his eyes growing far away and distant in thought. "A woman came from the community... I have to admit she was fine as all Hell..." An audible groan escaped Rick's throat and Daryl couldn't help but feel a little sick thinking about the wives he met while in the Sanctuary wondering if one of them came from this community Negan was talking about. Negan's eyes flicked to Rick's for a moment before a shit eating grin graced his lips. "Don't worry, Ricky. She just wasn't my type. Besides, she was already pregnant when we found her." He muttered, his grin falling at the thought. "She was extremely dehydrated and malnourished when she practically ran up to our trucks begging for help. We gave her what we could and she pointed us in the direction of the community she was living in. Turns out the leader had been taking a select few women for himself... something I can get behind." Negan muttered chuckling at everyone's visible disgust. "However... what I couldn't get with was the fact he was beatin' on and starvin' these girls he got knocked up. The woman told me that at one point he had five wives... he was down to two when I got there 'cause he beat the other three to death. His newest one was his favorite to torture because... as she put it... the girl just appeared out of thin air one day. That woman... That woman was my type all over. Spitfire of a woman but feral as hell." Negan hummed rubbing his chin. "If have to guess. She's the one that took over now. Well her and her kids. They both were wild as hell and off the rails when they wanted to be. They complied with me when I was there as long as we kept her "husband"... and I use that term lightly... in check for her. But she always did good by her people while we were around and brought us what we asked for. When we tried asking for more she was the first to raise a fuss... never got far but she was one hell of a fighter." Negan blinked seemingly coming back to reality and the present. "What are the women's names?" Carol asked, picking at her nails half heartedly. Negan hummed a concentrated look crossing his face. "Think the girl that came by our trucks was Delila. If not it definitely started with a D of some sort. The other woman's name was [Y/N]." He hummed. Daryl tried not to show it on his face as his heart skipped a beat before dropping into his asshole. His mind raced a mile a minute with questions of: How could I have missed her? How couldn’t I have known? How could I have given up so easily? Trying to focus on the wall straight ahead of himself, Daryl chewed his nails trying to force himself to focus on the conversation. But as the taste of blood filled his mouth and the feeling of Carol's eyes burned into him unhelpfully he could feel himself spiral further. The only thread of rationalism he could seem to cling to was that [Y/N] was not an uncommon name before the turn.

The rest of the meeting seemed to move by in a blur for Daryl. He knew he should have been paying closer attention. That he should have been able to control the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears. But as Rick's voice became murmurs and Negan's replies became mumbled fog. Daryl simply hoped that Rick was taking in the important information as he stood abruptly making the chair he was sitting in clatter to the floor. Eyes. There were so many eyes on him it was suffocating. Daryl's grip on the table tightened to the point it made his old joints pop as he glared into the silence caused by his interruption. "Need air." was all he could get out as he stormed out of the room. Pushing open the door he found himself out on the streets of Alexandria, pacing back and forth from the front step to the garage, debating if it was wise to climb on his bike and take off into the woods now or to wait it out and hear what Rick and the others had to say. It wasn't long before Carol came chasing after him. Their endless game of cat and mouse in full effect as she simply stood on the stairs watching him pace. "Daryl..." She said so lowly it was hardly a whisper and in that moment Daryl wanted to collapse and break down. He wanted to allow himself to overanalyze everything Negan told him. But he couldn't. Not when he needed his wits about him for the mission. Not when he couldn't be certain what he heard wasn't just his over active imagination again. Not whenever your name was just thrown into the conversation so casually. "Rick will understand if you choose not to go... there are so many others that can go with." She said it so surely. And for a moment Daryl felt... an ease of calm wash over him that was indescribable. He'd think after so long after not knowing he'd be itching to get to you but now faced with the uncertainty of it all... all he felt was nauseated like he couldn't take a full breath or else he'd hurl all over the pavement. The option to not go was unacceptable and not even an option he knew that. He wouldn't let himself accept it. But knowing there was always a chance, a choice to turn away and keep from hurting himself more was comforting. "But..." She started more confidently this time. "I understand if you need to go... And you know we'll all support you through it. Even if it ends up not being her." Carol said calmly, walking down slowly and catching Daryl mid-pace standing directly in his path forcing him to stand stiffly in front of her. Reaching her hand out carefully she brushed the hair from his face before pulling him down to her level allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder. "But, no matter what happens. Even if it is her. You have to promise me that you will please... just come back home in one piece." She whispered, kissing his forehead. For the first time in so long he couldn't remember, Daryl cried real tears that left him feeling better instead of feeling hollow when he could breathe again.

Rick had decided that it was better to leave sooner rather than later. Whether it was for Daryl's peace of mind or his own, the archer couldn't truly tell. Hours had passed since they had left the gates of Alexandria. The trio marched quietly on over the dirt and leaves of the forest. Daryl couldn’t seem to quell the anxiety that bubbled and boiled in his stomach. Taking down the odd walker along their trail seemed to take the edge off. It helped to do something so familiar, something he knew was good at. Maybe the only thing he was capable of anymore. For a short while Daryl thoughts were empty. He let his body move on auto pilot. Circling the trail just like a shark before coming back to round on the others. It wasn't long before he was pulled back into his sick and twisted reality. Rick sent him the odd glance he assumed were supposed to be reassuring but after everything the man had gone through in life it only managed to look constipated. As the pavement they were walking turned to a well worn dirt path carved into the forest Negan sighed glancing to Daryl. “Do I get to be let in on whatever the fuck is going on? Or do I have to ask?” The tightness of anxiety exploded inside of Daryl's chest not letting him breath let alone speak. Swallowing hard he shrugged. Negan hummed. "Well something ya heard set ya off. Or ya wouldn't be acting so damned strange." Negan remarked. Daryl simply glanced at Negan. How could he explain ten years of grief in a way that sounded reasonable? Did he even want to try given Negan's past? He knew whatever hope was brewing in his mind was a long shot but then again if it was false hope would Negan be able to answer those questions? Daryl sighed looking to the ground. It was better not knowing than relying on a snake in the grass. Rick's concerned eyes said it all. He was thinking the same thing. And it killed Daryl to think that he might not have grown stronger at all in the ten years... or worse he he'd grown to the point of being so weak that the disappointment of loosing your trail would no longer phase him and he'd have accepted your loss without blinking an eye. Daryl feared himself the most out of all of this and it drove him nuts. Glaring at the ground he shoved his hands into his pockets, ignoring the intense stares his friends were sending his way. "I'll take that as a fuck you then..." Negan sighed.

Reality faded into a blurry void as the dead leaves and gravel crunched under feet. Focused solely on his senses Daryl took down every walker in a twenty foot radius of the trio, despite there not really being a need to. His nervous energy would allow him to do nothing else. Time after time he came back onto the path to reconnect with the others to reassure them he was still following covered with dirt, sweat, and walker blood. It was on one such silent check in that Negan suddenly grabbed him by the crossbow strap and Rick by the wrist. Negan's face was twisted into a horrific glare as he stared up at the branches of the trees. "Heard something in the tree." He whispered softly, gesturing to the slow moving shadow in the canopy above them. Taking slow and precise steps Daryl became all the more aware of the crackling of the branches over head. Pulling his crossbow over his shoulder he quietly cocked it, loading it with a single bolt as they walked on the dirt trail. Doing their best to make as little noise as humanly possible. Taking aim the smell of the dead assaulted the senses much faster than the sounds of their groans. Daryl frowned at the dead dancing at the end of a rope lining the path not far ahead of them. Makeshift stakes surrounded the tree in which they hung kept people away from ending their suffering. Wooden plaques with the names and crimes of the dead were nailed into the ground. They simply read: Here Hangs: John Headberry - Treason. Kaden Patenson - Murder. Grace Freelance - Arson and Murder. Peyton Freelance - Conspiracy. Jason Greenwater - Kiddnapping May they forever pay. Eyeing the tree Daryl felt a chill run down his spine as he shook his head. He would never understand the cruelty of mankind. "They were damned good people..." Negan muttered, looking to the ground a pained look on his face. "Damned right they were." An unfamiliar voice called from behind the trio. Whipping around to face the voice, Daryl drew his crossbow aiming directly for... a child. The boy who could be no older than fifteen had windswept shoulder length blonde hair that covered his grey eyes. Black soot like dust was smeared across his eyes and face in what looked to be a purposeful pattern. He was thin, not only from malnutrition, although if Daryl had to guess he would assume that had a lot to do with it. The skin he could see from underneath the black panther's pelt he wore as a cloak was pale and horrifically marred and scarred. How they got there, Daryl didn't know... nor want to know if he was being honest with himself. In a brief second of indecision Daryl found himself lowering the bow and unable to fire on the boy that looked all too much like Rick's eldest son. Rick must have felt the same way as the pistol he had pulled in self defense shivered in the air and lowered despite the teen pointing what looked to be a very sharp stick at the three of them. Negan however... he never wavered. "Fuckin' brat. You tryin' to get yerself killed, Lee?" He growled, grabbing the end of the makeshift spear and pushing it away from their chests inadvertently making the boy stumble a few steps back as he tried to hold firm in his resolve. The kid, Lee growled glaring at the ground before turning his gaze onto Negan. "No! No, you don't get to just call me Lee! Like nothin' happened at all! Fuck you!" He growled defiantly, tossing his spear to the ground in a huff. Negan frowned but stayed silent. "You up and disappeared when we needed you most!" He hissed, his voice cracking showing his age jabbing a finger at Negan's chest. "Look. Look at all those faces! They died because of you, Negan! They died cause you left. And, they ain't the half of those who sacrificed their lives for the greater good of the community. And what's fuckin' worse!" The boy's voice wavered and broke as a sob ripped through him. "Momma... she was so sure... so certain you'd come back riding in on your trucks to save her like you did the first time... but ya never did." The boy finished, mere inches from Negan's face.

At first Daryl wasn't sure how to react. He was stunned. Of course he had heard other communities talk about how their deals with Negan actually benefited them in the long haul but he never really believed them at all. He thought that maybe it was a fear tactic Negan had on them. All part of the torture and profit plan. But as this boy glared daggers into Negan, and Negan simply looked... apologetic and slightly heartbroken. Daryl was reminded that Negan, despite all the shit he put them all through, was in fact human too. "Your momma?.. You mean Delila's gone?" Negan asked softly. The boy huffed swiping fat tears from his face but he nodded all the same suddenly looking so young and fragile. Negan reached his hand out gently gripping the boy's shoulder, squeezing it for as long as the boy allowed before he shook it off. "She was a hell of a woman Levi." Negan whispered. Levi nodded swiping his face more, taking deep calming breaths to try and soothe himself. "Why are you here Negan? If you're here to get your shit you're several years too late..." Levi finally whispered out, glancing around Negan himself to warily judge Rick and Daryl. Negan shook his head with a sigh. Looking at the ground than to Levi. If Daryl guessed Negan was trying to find the right words to explain things to the kid... but instead Negan just pushed back his hair. "Look kid," He started solemnly. "I don't do that extortion racket anymore. We're just here to figure out what the fuck happened here." Levi frowned deeply rubbing his arm self consciously. "So what your tellin' me is you don't protect people no more... You just let 'em suffer?" He asked seriously. Negan sighed scrubbing his face. "Look, kid." Rick chimed in stepping forward. "Negan's just been real... tied up recently. Quite literally. Now he's tryin' ta make this right. So you can either tell us what the hell is going on and take us to the other's to make sure everything's ok... or we can find out for ourselves." Rick's voice became venomous as he glared at the boy, readjusting his grip on his pistol for good measure. Levi, seemingly sized Rick up before turning his gaze to Daryl. "They your new shit kickers?" He asked Negan. The leather clad man laughed elbowing Rick hard in the ribs. "Fuck I wish... but nah. These are just some... concerned friends of mine. Rick," He said jutting his chin out at the greying man. "and Daryl." Negan finished gesturing towards the archer. Levi seemed to think on this for a moment looking up to the tree full of walkers. "It wasn't long after the last time you checked in before Giedion started acting a fool again..." Levi muttered. "He started preaching to the community that if we simply believed in his word than the people the community would be kept safe from the walkers. If they got bit they wouldn't turn because his grace would heal them... It was all a crock of shit and all lies he spun before you came along accordin' to momma." Levi took a shaky breath leaning down to pick up his discarded spear. "Dangerous fuckin' lies." Daryl found himself saying before he could catch himself. Levi nodded meeting his eyes. "It got more people killed than the bastard would ever admit... I remember the horror of loved ones turned into walkers roaming out of the clinic. Giedion would always claim it was because they didn't believe hard enough. Their faith wavered and so they turned and they deserved it." Levi shook his head in disappointment. Negan looked pale and sick. "He started getting harsh with the women in the community a few years after you disappeared. He started punishing women around the community for not making dinner fast enough. He burnt all the women with hot coals as punishment one night for it. Although we never saw it I'm sure he started beating on momma and [Y/N] again. Put momma in the clinic more times than I can count. That's what finally killed her." Levi said. "What about [Y/N]? What happened to her?" Negan asked before Daryl could formulate the words.

Levi smirked a bright light filling his eyes and filling them with life and vigor. "[Y/N] stayed strong through it all. It was as if she was born to exist in adversity. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't be here today." Levi said confidently. "She met with a select few of us and started a rebellion against Giedion. She trained us to fight walkers, how to avoid walker bites more regularly. That and she actively tried to save bite victims by amputating when she could instead of simply letting them turn. I think that's why Giedion started beating on her more. He got suspicious when less and less town's folk died of bites. When momma died a few weeks ago [Y/N] appointed her kids and me as heads of divisions to the rebellion. Together we struck down four of the five head leaders who were mind controlling the community. We currently have Giedion incarcerated right now but that's only because the few that are still brain washed by him refuse to let us properly deal with him. However..." Levi shuffled his feet looking down uncertainly. "last night, [Y/N] went missing after she and Giedion went for a walk together. They were supposed to be discussing peaceful negotiations, figuring out how to move forward in a community that relies on them both. And as much as I hate to say it there is too big of a population in the community that clings to Giedion's belief system for there not to be an uprising if [Y/N] took over forcefully. So I get why she wanted to try and talk shit out... we thought she should have been safe. She was armed. He wasn't. But when he said he shoved her into the heard to escape it... When he said that he just stood and watched her get devoured until there was nothing left and that it somehow proved that she was the least worthy to be saved and blessed by whatever he fucking believed in... we all collectively lost our shit. His believers riled up to save him from us and had to be detained until further notice. Some of his followers that liked [Y/N] changed to the rebellion including my grandmother. [Y/N]'s kids had to be held back from outright killing him until we get more information... and I came out here to distract myself from doing the same... the bastard... my own father took not only my momma from me but a woman I see as a second mother as well." Daryl's heart beat in his ears and his skin flushed. [Y/N] had been here just mere days ago... now she was missing and feared dead... again. What a fucking world. Biting the side of his thumb Levi watched in interest for a moment. A small smile forming on his face as he watched. "I'll take you back to camp with me for now... it's getting dark. You three can decide what to do in the morning... Just let me finish what I came to do." Levi muttered gesturing to the walkers hanging from the tree.

The walk to the community was much longer than Daryl had expected. Maybe that was because his mind was preoccupied with other things. He wasn't focused on the path ahead. He wasn't focused on the walkers that threatened them at every turn. Rick and Levi took up the task of taking down the dead. Negan walked side by side with Daryl, sometimes guiding the archer with gentle nudges, gestures to stay on the winding path as they walked. "Ya finally gonna tell me?" Negan asked breaking the silence, watching Rick and Levi take off ahead to take care of a small but manageable hoard of walkers that were headed their way. Daryl took a shaky breath coming to a complete standstill on the path. The hot tears that fell felt so much more painful than the hopeful ones he allowed himself to have back at Alexandria with Carol. Quiet heart wrenching sobs ripped through him as he paced back and forth across the path where they were stopped. The look on Negan's face, understanding and concerned was not what he expected but he accepted it all the same. "I-I..." he tried to say shaking his head. "I think... she's my wife... [Y/N]." Daryl finally got it out. He said it out loud for the first time. And it fucking hurt like hell. Negan didn't say a word but the way his eyes shimmered in the dying light was proof enough to Daryl that there were a million questions formulating on the tip of his tongue. "Well, fuck, Daryl." Negan finally said reaching out to grasp the archer's arm firmly. "We better get up there so we can have a good old fashioned family reunion."

Daryl was grateful that Negan didn't make a fuss out of his breakdown. Instead taking up for him claiming that the archer had a bug in his eye. It wasn't much longer before the lights of a tiny town caught their eyes. The smell of wood smoke familiar to their noses by now, however the murmuring of people outside their makeshift homes did nothing to ease Daryl's anxiety. The community was small. There were maybe 12 cabins in total with one large sturdy one everyone was currently gathered around. A fire was set in the yard of this cabin, meat cooking over the flames and several elderly people warmed their hands against the heat it produced. The place looked like it used to be an old boy scout's camp ground with various weathered flags hanging around and totems sticking out from the ground. Animal skins hung from each home that matched the pelts that the people wore around their bodies. Walking up to the crowd gathered around the fire Daryl cringed away from the intense overwhelming silence that fell over the crowd when they stepped into the light. "Levi... What have you done?" A woman within the crowd gasped. "Are you trying to get us all fucking killed?!" A man screamed out. Daryl could see a father usher his young children behind him. A teenaged boy stepped between Negan and his family, his mother placed a gentle hand on his shoulder keeping him from stepping any closer. An elderly woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd a wide smile on her face, white wispy hair falling out of the braids that careened down her sides. "There's my boy. Welcome home." She mused, her accent thick and heavy, with her arms wide. Levi smiled softly at the woman, kneeling down to place his gear down before hugging her tightly. "Hola, abuela. ¿Cómo va todo?" Levi asked softly. The older woman laughed looking towards the travelers Levi had brought with him. "No es tan interesante como lo que trajiste a casa." She whispered, pinching Levi's cheek hard. "So, Negan..." She said firmly walking over the leather clad man. Negan stood straight smiling down at the small woman. "Are you here to help? Or to take?" The woman muttered seriously eyeing Negan. The greying man stayed quiet for a moment shuffling his feet. "Help." Rick finally answered stepping forward. But he was ignored completely by the woman who glared at Negan. "There is nothing left to take. The storage lockers were all emptied after you stopped showing up. The food supply started to dwindle. Now with the rebellion we are in dire straights. We have nothing but the clothes on our backs and enough to make it through the winter should you allow it." She muttered earnestly. Negan sighed and scrubbed his face. A tense silent moment passed over the crowd before he nodded. "We're here to help Gabriela... just like Ricky said." He chuckled smirking as Rick smacked him on the arm. "Then you should come inside. There is much to discuss before the next sun." She said nodding to the large cabin. But as her eyes met Daryl's she stopped staring at him for a moment gauging and judging him. Her stare burned into Daryl's skin like hot coals, instinctively making him flinch away. "He's here to help too ma'am." Rick said trying to reassure her, but instead the woman took a step closer to the archer. "You look so familiar..." She whispered. "Maybe it is nothing... but I believe we may have met before. If not in this life, surely in another." She says softly. Daryl shuffled his feet not entirely sure of how to respond. His eyes drilling holes into the ground and yet he could still feel hers staring hot into him. Chewing the side of his thumb to distract himself from the feeling he caught a glimpse of her smile. It was so similar to the smile her grandson had sent him in the forest not too long ago that it rattled Daryl slightly but he tried not to think too hard on it. "Now I know... come there is something you need to see."

Leading the men through the crowd the woman parted the people with an air of authority that Daryl knew Rick envied. The murmurs of the crowd never ceased but dimmed as they passed. Climbing the stairs to the cabin Daryl could hear glass shattering. Levi jogged to the door and swung it open just in time to watch a glass vase fly past his face. "It's 'bout God damned time you got back!" A male voice screamed from inside the cabin. Crossing the threshold into the cabin, Daryl was shocked to see two teenagers. Daryl felt his heart squeeze and his stomach flip. The girl looked so much like [Y/N] did when she was sixteen it was uncanny. Daryl had to pinch himself to be certain he wasn't dreaming. But as the girl turned to look at him with piecing blue eyes Daryl's heart sang. There were four adults placing themselves protectively between her and a teen boy who paced the entire length of the room. His hair was cut in a short crew cut. Physically it was like looking into a mirror that reverted him to his sixteen year old self. The boy was a spitting image of himself with the temper to match. The only glaring exceptions were [Y/N]'s soft eyes and the small glimpse of Merle he could make out in this boy. Daryl felt nauseous. He didn't want to get his hopes up. Didn't want to get his heart broken again but... what if they were his? The feeling of a cool soft hand in his own brought him back to reality. Looking down he met the elderly woman's eyes once more who smiled almost reassuringly. "Who the fuck-" The boy screamed pulling Daryl's attention once more. With one movement the kid flipped an end table and smashed whatever was sitting on top. Feeling the hand slip out of his own Daryl watched as the woman walk up to the teen, anxiety tightening his chest. "Abuela." Levi urged from somewhere beside the archer. Reaching out a hand the woman touched the boy's arm. "Destroying what you own will achieve nothing." She said softly. It was like a switch was flipped and Daryl could visibly see the teenager physically relaxing. "Negan, Rick and Daryl are here to help." She said introducing the trio, gesturing to them all. The boy eyed them warily. The girl nodded. “Hi.” She said so softly Daryl barely heard her. The woman smiled gesturing for the girl to come closer. “This is Fawn and her twin brother River." She said kindly, wrapping her arm around Fawn's shoulders. "Damn have you two grown." Negan said fondly a smile pulling his lips shaking his head in disbelief he stepped forward. "Ya'll probably don't remember me much." He muttered lowly. Fawn eyed Negan warily. River's head dropped staring at the ground staring at the carpeted floor in silence as if it were the most interesting thing in the entire world. "Don't think too highly of yourself Negan." Fawn hissed taking a step forward to jab her finger into his chest. "How could we possibly forget a good for nothing, two timing, piece of shit like you?" She growled glaring at him hatefully. Daryl watched Negan carefully. So sure he was going to retaliate. But the leather clad man never moved. Never even flinched. Just frowned down at the girl as she huffed and began to pace across the room. "Ya know Momma actually kinda respected you in a weird way." She growled glaring at Negan. The graying man nodded silently. "Good... then you're gonna help us find her. Got it?" She ordered so defiantly that a chill rolled down the trio's backs. "Do I need to fuckin' be here?" River asked looking to Gabriela. The elderly woman looked up to him with kind eyes but nodded her head. "Just stay until we finish talking... Then you can take a walk." River nodded once before pushing past Negan and Daryl to stand in the nearest corner watching the others like a hawk.

Gabriela flipped a few chairs back over and placed the cushions back in the couch that River had tossed around. "Come sit." She urged to the circle of chairs that now sat in the center of the lodge. The crackling of the fire place and soft murmuring of people's voices outside the cabin were all that broke the silence as the group found their seats. But Daryl found it too difficult to sit for long. Anxiety coursing hot through his veins. But if Gabriela minded him standing and pacing she never seemed to say it out loud. The elderly woman picked at her nails, taking a deep shaky breath as she seemed to think about what she wanted to say carefully. "I am willing let you and these men stay here with all the amenities you need." She paused, taking another shaky breath. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes preparing herself for the words needed to be said, her bottom lip quivered and finally she spoke. "But... I need you to get my son to tell the truth... and then-" She stopped once more covering her mouth as a silent sob wracked her body. Levi wrapped an arm around her delicate shoulders squeezing her lovingly. "I need you to kill him. He's caused too much hurt and suffering to this community. It needs to end now." Silence once again gripped the room. Daryl could hardly imagine the pain Gabriela was feeling. Glancing around the room he took in the expressions of the others. Fawn who sat stoic next to Negan had pulled a knife from her sheath and using it to dig dirt from under her nails. River leaned up against the walls chewing on the side of his thumb. Nether twin seemed especially phased by this news. "Ok. Done. We already promised Levi we would help." Negan agreed easily. Too easily for Rick. "Wait... ma'am I apricate the amenities I do. But... ta just kill him? Is there anything else-" But Gabriela shook her head. "Just find [Y/N] that's all we ask." Daryl nodded. "We will. I promise." He muttered meeting Gabriela's gaze. "Daryl... we need to talk about this." Rick whispered shaking his head. "Nah... It's settled. I'm doin' this." Daryl growled turning to glare at Rick. "Now you can either come with me... or you can leave in the morning without me but I ain't leavin' without her... not this time." He muttered.

"Wait..." Fawn whispered sitting straighter in her seat as she turned to face Daryl. "What do you mean this time?" She hissed. Watching as River pushed himself away from the wall and take a few inquisitive steps forward Daryl cursed under his breath. "Awe c'mon kiddos." Negan started an insidious smirk gracing his lips. "I'd think you both were smart enough to figure it out by now..." He teased, standing up to wrap an arm around Daryl's shoulders. But when the twins only stared at him more confused Negan rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "This here... is your Dad." He stated, patting Daryl on the chest for effect. The archer growled pushing Negan's arms away trying desperately to ignore the strange looks the twins were giving him. "God Damn it... Why'd ya have ta say that?!" Daryl hissed, backing away a few steps. Fawn stared at the archer stunned and shocked white while River was clearly pissed. "Oh yeah?!" River growled sarcastically. "Well where the hell were you all our lives and why do you give a fuck about Momma now that she's-" River cut himself off, turning away from the group. With baited breath Daryl watched as tiny tears prickled the corners of River's eyes as he huffed and lifted a delicate blown glass vase that rested on the end table next to him. Flipping it over in his palm River watched as the water and flowers inside poured out of the vessel poured out before whipping the glass at the wall past Daryl's head. "Ya know what... I don't give a fuck!" River screamed walking towards the oaken door. "Fuck this... I gotta take a fuckin' walk." River huffed grabbing his coat from the hanger before throwing open the door. "River!" Fawn screamed out trying to keep her brother from leaving. But he was already gone the door slamming hard behind him as he left. "Let him go." Gabriela urged reaching down to pick up a stray broken piece of glass. "There are more pressing matters at hand right now. You three can discuss this later."

The silence that encompassed the hall after River walked out was palpable. Rick was still staring at Daryl and Negan who had sat back down. Fawn fidgeted restlessly in her seat and Daryl could only assume what thoughts plagued her mind in this harrowing moment. Levi and Gabriela seemed to be the only two who had their wits about them as they spoke in Spanish to each other. About what? Daryl had no idea and at this moment he had wished he had taken those Spanish lessons from Rosita. "My grandma says that Gabriel is incarcerated in the basement of this cabin. He is chained up and should pose no threat to you... however you have every right to end his life should he act against you." Levi stated rubbing the old woman's shoulders as heavy sobs ripped through her. Negan nodded looking to Daryl and Rick. "Thank you... We'll go get on it." Negan muttered standing without a second thought despite the way Rick grumbled and opposed. "I'll take you to the basement." Fawn said standing a little too quickly, looking a little too excited. But Negan shook his head a gentle smile gracing his lips as he walked past her. The boards under his feet creaking with every step he took. He patted her on the shoulder turning to her only slightly as he passed. "Fawn, darlin'." He started softly, the teenager huffed and turned on her heel to follow the ex-warlord looking mildly annoyed. "I apricate the offer. But why don't you just wait at the top of the steps?" He hummed trudging towards the basement door. "I want to help! I want to be the one that kills him!" She growled chasing him. Negan rolled his eyes and stopped at the door, grasping the brass handle tightly he turned to Fawn, followed closely by Daryl and Rick. "Look, princess." Negan hissed, pointing at the girl. "This isn't going to be some walk in the park easy sunshine shit I think you think it will be... so tell you what... if you really want you can sit on the bottom stair and watch but if you interfere at all. You and I are gonna have major problems. Do I make myself clear?" Accepting a pitiful nod from Fawn, Negan swung his hand over to Rick, glaring at the bearded man. "Ricky... you need to quit your bitching." Negan ordered curtly before pointing at Daryl last. "And you get to keep an eye on that daughter of yours. Or I'm gonna get real pissed and you know how I get when I'm pissed." Negan threatened swinging the basement door open released the helpless cries of a desperate man. Negan stood straighter fixing his leather jacket and twirling his bat in his hand in a way that only brought horrific flashbacks to Daryl's mind. "Do I make myself fuckin' clear?" Negan asked seriously. Daryl found himself nodding without realizing it, Rick only glaring in response. But Fawn crossed her arms over her chest staring back at Negan defiantly. "I'm going to kill him..." She said authoritatively.

Negan scowled at the girl but didn't say a word about her outburst. Instead he gestured for the others to follow him down the stairs. The wooden boards creek and whined under the weight of the group as they thundered down them. Nails poke precariously from the sides of each boards, swaying like the waves of the sea as each person placed their weight on each stair. The moans and cries of the man held captive in the basement down below was accompanied by the rattling of the chains. Mumbled screams of a man broken comes from the basement below. Coming to a stop Negan turned allowing Rick to squeeze past, stopping Fawn and Daryl on the wooden steps with a look that would kill if he let it. "I'm damned serious." He growled looking to them both pointedly. "Piss me off and see what happens..." Pointing to the last step with Lucile he glared at Fawn. "Sit." He ordered. The teen glared at Negan, simply staring at him, refusing to move for a long moment until finally she plopped onto the bottom stair crossing her arms over her chest. "Happy?" She asked sarcastically. Negan hummed looking to Rick. "Hold that door open." He muttered pointing to the splintered wooden door keeping them from the man on the other side. "She wants to watch... Let them watch." He muttered lowly. "'sides we might need Daryl's brand of..." glancing back at the archer he eyed the leather clad man. "Persuasion." He muttered and although his voice was lilted into it's old uncanny expressions Daryl could see in Negan's eyes. The greying man was truly not enjoying this one bit. It was a job. It needed to be done.

Rick sighed and nodded that scowl from before permanently plastered to his face as he jostled the door before giving it a good push and opening it. The man inside was chained directly to the floor by his hands and his feet. Keeling on mud covered knees the man looked up to the people he believed to be his saviors through two large black eyes. His light brown hair was matted with blood and his plaid shirt was coated in the same dark substance. "Who-" He cried wincing away from the door. But when he noticed Negan at the entrance his skin went pale white. "Fuck... Fuck... FUCK!" He screamed out scrambling to get as far away from the man as physically possible by pulling and ripping at the chains making blood ooze from his wrists. Negan took a deep breath giving the man his signature smirk as he walked into the room, twirling Lucile with each step. "Gideon... Gideon... Gideon." He muttered, circling the quaking man like a shark. "What the hell have you been up too while I was away?" Negan asked kneeling down in front of Gideon, placing Lucile down with her blunt end on the ground twisting her so that the man could get a good look at her. Daryl knew he was fucking with him. Knew from personal experience... but if anyone was going to find where [Y/N] was... it was him.

The man shook his head, his eyes flicking from Negan to Rick fearfully before they landed on Daryl and Fawn. A sudden wave of rage washed over his face. "What lies did those fucking twins tell you?!" He hissed, glaring at Fawn. Negan however did not seem to like his change in attitude. Grasping a fistful of brunette hair, he forced Gideon to look at him. "Don't look at her." He growled. "Matter of fact. Keep your eyes on me. If you don't I can help it so you never look at another person ever again... Got it?" Negan hissed, pulling his knife from his belt holding the blade dangerously close to Gideon's eyes. "Now... tell me." Negan said twisting the man's hair painfully. "What the fuck did you do to [Y/N]?" Gideon whined but as Negan brought up your name he stiffened and glared at Negan. "Why do you-" He cut himself off, blinking and suddenly bursting into a fit of manic laughter. "Oh! I get it now." He nearly yelled. "I always knew those bastards weren't mine..." He muttered through a fitful chuckle. Negan, Rick, and Daryl stared at the man as if he'd finally lost his mind. "You just put that together..." Negan muttered smirking and nodding along, backing off a bit, still holding tightly to his knife. "Nah... I knew from the moment that bitch showed up... but when you did... all high and mighty with your trucks and your guns..." Gideon became quiet glaring at the ground. "Shoulda figured the kids were yours." He muttered meeting Daryl's eyes. "Ya look jest like them... wonder if yer that guy she talked about in her sleep. The archer?" He sighed shaking his head slowly with a rumble of his chest. "Bet that means Levi's actually yours then?" He asked Negan smirking up at him. Negan scowled down at him, shaking his head as he stood. "God you are fucking pathetic." Negan sneered. "Just answer the fucking question before I have to hurt you..." But Gideon just smirked up at him silently . "I killed her." He laughed.

Ice ran through Daryl's veins and the world around him faded as if he had tunnel vision staring at Gideon. It was silent for a long moment before Rick spoke. "What do ya mean?" He asked. He always did have the most level head of the three of them. He could handle a lot that the others would explode at. Gideon turned to smile at Rick with an evil and soulless glint in his eyes. "Took her out back and shot her like the bitch she was." He mumbled out through manic laughter. "Tied her to a tree and everything-" Before Gideon could finish Negan's fist had connected with his skull bringing the man down to the ground. "Tell me where she's at! Now!" He screamed emitting all the rage that Daryl was feeling but using all of his strength to simply pace the small space in front of the stairs like a caged animal. "Why so you can see her all turned like a-" Gideon sneered once again cut off by the arrow that nearly missed this time. Daryl had had enough. Storming into the room, Rick held him back as best he could. "Daryl!" Rick tried to reason through the fog of red he was seeing. If Negan cared about his outburst, he never said anything, simply lifting Gideon by the hair to look at Daryl. "Want me to let him have you? Then tell me!" He growled, kicking the leader while he was down. Spitting blood onto the dirt below Gideon was silent for a long time... too long. "Bout a mile outside the compound. You might find her tied out there... then again how long has it been?" He didn't get a chance to finish his own thought as a deafening shot pierced the air and blood poured from his mouth as he gasped for his very breath. Negan, Rick, and Daryl turned to the stairs wide eyed and shocked staring at Fawn sitting just as she was told. Glaring hatefully at Gideon she had a small pistol drawn, smoke still rolling from the barrel. Fawn stood slowly, shaking with rage as she approached Negan holding her pistol out for him and pointing to Lucile with her other hand. "Now." She muttered. Dropping Gideon to the floor, Negan sighed, taking Fawn's gun and ruefully handing her Lucile before taking a few steps back. Meeting Rick and Daryl's stunned gazes he shrugged as Fawn took the first swing. "She didn't move."

Emerging from the cellar blood splattered and with a new understanding of the girl, Daryl stood out in the grass smoking a cigarette. Rick stood close by, giving him the space he needed but he knew deep down, his friend was keeping an eye on him. Fawn had gone to wash off before their track in the morning. Which from what Daryl could tell by looking to the sky wasn't too long now. The fire illuminated the empty courtyard. An old overgrown sand pit that once was used as a outdoor volleyball pit was swarmed with traps for the undead. The Tiki Tower that he could only assume boy scouts had to climb for some asinine game of get the flag or something he never experienced as a child, glared down at him in the dim light judging him for his sins. Taking a long drag he held the smoke in his lungs looking at all the cabins he could see in the darkness. Two forms, one tall the other a bit shorter ducked behind the nearest one. Cocking a brow Daryl tossed the butt of his cigarette to the ground stamping it out, batting the cloud of smoke that circled his head. "I'll be back." He called to Rick, gesturing to the cabin with his chin. Rick, silhouetted by the fire, tilted his head to the left and nodded silently. Taking the first steps Daryl felt like every noise his footsteps made were amplified. But maybe that's what Rick meant by overwhelmed, over stimulated. He tried not to get jumpy. Tried not to take every noise as an afront to his senses. But the sound of the leaves rustling ahead of him from behind the cabin put him on edge after everything. Rounding the corner he flicked on his flashlight, holding his knife out, ready to defend himself and the others if he needed to. But as River knelt awestruck in the beam of light. His lips red and plump, spit still dripping from his lips and chin as the other young man leaning against the wall scrambled to fix himself, Daryl knew he fucked up. "Uh..." Daryl muttered, his face burning bright red taking a step back. The young man with long black hair glanced between the two looking almost sick. "Dude!" He huffed stumbling away from River shaking his head as he rounded the other side of the cabin. River growled, glaring to the ground, covering himself helplessly with one hand. Reaching around himself with the other he grasped a small rock shit-whipping it past Daryl's head. "Get the fuck out of here, old man!" He screamed, doubled over on himself. Daryl wanted to fix it. To say he was sorry... but he knew better, backing away he walked back to stand next to Rick. "Go well?" Rick asked, a small smirk playing at his voice. "Shut up."

As the morning sun filtered through the leaves, Daryl paced at the entrance of the path they were all to take. Negan watched him carefully. Rick however was trying to reason with Levi, Fawn, and River and was failing miserably. "Look... you all should just stay here... who knows what we'll find." He muttered, going full cop mode. Fawn blinked unimpressed however. "You could find our Momma." She muttered. "Yeah... but-" Rick drawled. "Even if she's dead it's better knowin' than nothing." River growled, kicking a pebble off the little path they stood on. This was a waist of time... Daryl thought rolling his eyes. "River." Levi sighed, patting his shoulder. "What River is trying to say is..." Glancing past Rick to the path he sighed. "We know this area better. You need us if you want to have a chance to find [Y/N] alive. And they deserve to know her fate... it's their right as her children." He finished crossing his arms over his chest. "If ya don't want me to come... fine. I'll stay. But take the twins at least." Rick sighed, glancing over his shoulder to the others. Daryl felt like he was literally about to implode. Throwing his arms up in the air he shook his head taking a step towards the ex-cop. "I don't know what your waitin' for Rick! We're wasting daylight!" He hissed. Negan rolled his eyes and gestured to the kids. "They wanna come. Let them." He muttered, gesturing with his chin to the path. "Now lets go."

Spreading wide across the forest the group started to search for any sign of you. Rope or chain wrapped around trees. Knives or weapons discarded. Clothing. Anything. Suddenly Daryl felt all too raw. Felt like it was the first day all over again. I'll call out your name, but you won't call back. Daryl thought a dreadful terror washing over his entire being remembering every time he searched before. Clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides he tried desperately to make your name come to his throat when the others called out. Rick's concerned looks along with Negan's sideways glances were all becoming far too much for him... his chest felt tight. Like even though he was at a walking pace on flat land he was climbing that cliff back at the farm again. Drenched in what he thought was sweat he swiped his face, soon realizing that it was tears he was wiping away. He couldn't seem to catch his breath no matter what he did. So he slowed down, leaning against a tree to try and regain his composure. The crunching of leaves and breaking of twigs rang in his ears. As the footsteps grew farther away he slowly could feel the breath returning to his chest. "Givin' up?" A voice called out and at first Daryl thought he was loosing it. But as he looked into Fawn's eyes he sighed frowning. "Nah. Just-" before he could finish the girl's hand jutted out and grabbed his wrist, pulling him along beside her as she walked. "Shut up." She ordered. "If ya ain't giving up then look! Do your best no matter what happens! That's what Momma would do." Her voice cracked slightly at her mother's name and a sadness filled her eyes that broke Daryl's heart. Clearing her throat and shaking her head it was like nothing ever happened and the girl was stoic and strong once more. Pulling her to a stop once more Daryl ruffled her hair. "Thanks Fawn." He whispered a small smile playing at his lips as the pair rejoined the others.

Hours passed. More walkers went down than Daryl had expected. You were not one of them that any of the group could tell. Each one of the group went through the downed walkers one by one to be extra certain. Stopping at a small creek to wash off and rest the group tried to devise a new plan. "We've been circling the camp all day." Fawn nearly whined, stretching out her calves. "It's the best we can do if we want to search the most space." Rick argued. "What if we we start raking the area in straight lines?" Negan asked looking at the shoddily drawn map that Rick put together. "We could go back, start here and fan out as we get farther from the starting point." He suggested, shrugging slightly when Rick looked to him. "We could but that means we'll be alone out here... I don't like that." Rick muttered. "And we already looked from here to here." Fawn pointed out. Daryl sighed scrubbing his face. His ears began to ring again as he turned away walking down the creek. Levi sat not to far away from the group wildling at a piece of wood. Giving the blonde a small nod Daryl stepped into the water feeling the coolness of the water wrap around his feet as he walked. Small fish and trout swam up stream along side him as he walked. Kneeling down he scooped some water into his hands watching as it slowly began to run a ruddy rust color as the blood was washed from his hands. Wiping his hands on his shirt he stood, his knees popping painfully. Walking a bit farther away from the group, Daryl froze when a clod of dirt rolled down the hill into the water. "Ya followin' me now?" River growled from where he stood on the hill. His back was to Daryl pissing into the trees. "What is it, old man?" River hissed, turning to look at the archer as he yanked his zipper up. "You get curious after last night? Well too fuckin' bad... I ain't into older guys." River growled, storming over the bank splashing loudly into the water. Daryl winced and couldn't help but feel the hot flush of guilt wash over him as River glared at him. "Ain't like that." Daryl muttered. "No?!" River yelled, reaching down to grab a long stick. "Cause that's what it looks like to me, ya old pervert!" He screamed, pitching the stick at Daryl. Sadness and sorrow filled Daryl's heart as the branch hit his chest painlessly snapping into several pieces, rejoining the water it was retrieved from. "River-" He tried, whispering lowly taking a step forward. "Wha'?!" River screamed beginning to pace the small space between the two banks. "What do ya want from us, huh?! If ya don't want our shit... and ya don't want-" He cut himself off grasping at the short hair on his head desperately a small whine escaped his throat. Daryl didn't dare say another word. Stepping closer to the frail boy he had been too scared to call son he reached out hesitantly. Touching his shoulder as if he'd burn the boy he gentled him closer. "Hey." He whispered. "It's alrigh'." But River just shook his head, trying to push away at first. "We'll find her." Daryl whispered. Suddenly River stopped, frozen as if by time. "How can you know that?" He whispered brokenly through heavy sobs. Daryl hummed, looking past River's shoulder to Fawn, Rick, Levi, and Negan who all came running as soon as they heard his son's first shout. "Because we're not alone in this."

Daryl walked side by side to his kids listening to them bicker back and forth as the group trudged forward. They had decided that the best course of action was to travel to the areas they hadn't checked yet, not back track. And so they continued on their circle path around the compound. The sun was just starting to lower when River came tumbling into his path... laughing. "God damn it Fawn get yer own path!" He muttered, attempting to shover her back over to the other side but only managing to shove her a few inches. "River, you know better than to-" Levi called out from somewhere beside Rick and Negan before Fawn launched the scrawny boy back into the brush and over the hill. "Bitch!" River laughed after the crashing stopped. Daryl couldn't help the amused huff that escaped his nose as he walked to the edge of the ridge. "Ya, ok?" He called looking down on River. The boy nodded already working his way back up the steep incline. A small glimmer in the distance of the trees behind River caught Daryl's eyes. There, chained to a tree, surrounded by the dead was a woman slumped against a large oak tree. "Fuck..." Daryl whispered fear crashing over him. "River stay down there." He ordered, turning to face the others. "Got somethin'! Come on!" He yelled, mentally marking where the tree was before moving to slide down the bank with River. One by one the others joined the father and son at the bottom of the ravine. "Where at Daryl?" Rick asked, tapping the dirt from the back of his heels. Daryl glared into the forest in front of him. "There." He pointed to the largest of the shadows. "Saw her on the largest tree." He mumbled, taking off without further explanation. "You sure?" Rick asked as the others followed dutifully along. "Ricky," Negan hummed, clapping the sheriff on the back, "you can either stay here or follow and find out... those seem to be your choices about now..." He mumbled taking his first step to follow along. "Ya sure it's her?" River asked, jogging to keep up with Daryl. Pushing past branches and leaves Daryl wanted to guarantee it. Even if it was for his own selfish reasons. But time after time he was proven wrong so instead he stayed quiet.

As the tree came into view and the stench of death assaulted their senses Daryl stood staring in awe. The walkers were piled three or four high around the woman chained to the tree. Some had slumped off of the pile and fallen to the forest floor creating a fifteen foot radius of rotting dead bodies around this woman, chained to the grand oak tree. Her unconscious form was slumped over, head hanging low. Her hair had shimmers of silver in it from age. The shirt she had been wearing was torn in several places and was pulled out of shape, from the walkers grabbing at her, Daryl assumed. Blood pooled beneath her from a wound in her side and her skin was gray and ashen. "No, Momma!" Fawn screamed at the top of her lungs, tears rolling down her cheeks. Sprinting forward to get to her, Levi caught her by the middle, gently lowering her down he held her close as she sobbed helplessly. River stood stock still, pale as a ghost staring at the woman. He didn't say a word but shivered helplessly as sobs wrecked his thin form. Negan sighed walking in front of the boy, trying to get him to snap out of the shock he entered into. Daryl... Daryl felt like he'd been hit in the chest with a brick. Staring at [Y/N] he felt old emotions rising. He'd come so god damned far for it all to end... here. Little too late. Stepping forward, wading into the sea of the dead, he felt Rick grasp his wrist. A familiar but kind firm look in his eyes told him all he needed to know. He'd do it... he'd do it so Daryl didn't have to. But Daryl shook his head trying so damned hard to fight the urge to wrap himself around Rick and cry. "Just make sure the kids don't see." He muttered, so lowly that he wasn't sure he said it aloud. But as Rick nodded, moving away towards Levi and Fawn he knew he'd stay good to his word.

The dead squished beneath his shoes, skin slicking off of bone as he stepped. He tried not to step in any chests, not wanting to smell the rest of the day. Not wanting the reminder of what he had to do lingering on him long after his third or fourth bath. Step by step Daryl trekked ever closer. Images of you standing at the farm an arm full of flowers as you checked his temperature after he had fallen and had gotten hurt flashed before his mind. Step. Drinking hard whiskey together at the CDC like it was your last day alive he remembered pulling you into his chest, the smell of the pine shampoo you barrowed from the scientist wafting from your hair as your laughter rang through the metal walls and your skin warm from drink. Step. Laying side by side desperately trying to quietly catch your breath after laughing your asses off in the cramped tent outside of the farmhouse your fingers intertwined in a not so secret romance. Step. Looking into your eyes in the dim moonlight from the balcony you both shared back at the prison, that feeling of pure blissful domestic romance you both believed could last forever. Step. The moment you "married" without rings or papers, promising to take his name and love him forever atop the guard tower. Step. "Until death do us part." you whispered cheekily, kissing him deeply. Stepping into the bare grass between you and the bodies he froze staring down at you, hands shaking at his sides. He could feel his friends eyes boring into his back. Fawn's distant wails were muddled as the ringing in his ears only grew with the passing seconds. Pulling his knife from it's place on his hip Daryl knelt down. Tears streamed down his face as he stared. You looked so peaceful almost as if you were asleep. If there was some peace he could hold in his chest... you hadn't turned... he was too late... but barely. Reaching out his hand he gently brushed your hair away one last time. "I-I'm sorry..." He whispered.

But as your eyes flew open and a loud fitful gasp filled your lungs, Daryl couldn't help but jump away landing on his ass. You looked around, your eyes glossed over but the heaving breaths you took didn't sound raspy like that of the dead. Meeting Daryl's eyes your concerned expression melted into one of acceptance. "I-Is this heaven? Or did I fall straight into hell?" You asked, your voice raspy from screaming. It's silent for a long moment. Only the sound of the forest around you all. But before Daryl can even begin to formulate a sentence on his tongue that isn't heavy ugly heart wrenching sobs, Fawn flew over his shoulder, splattered in the blood of the undead she clambered over before instantly clinging to her mother. "Momma..." She sobbed, nuzzling her head into [Y/N]'s neck. "Hey... what are you doing here baby girl?" You whispered, your voice shaking in delirious confusion. "We came to save you, Momma." Fawn whimpered.

Everything seemed to be moving so fast and Daryl felt stuck. Like a statue. He could only watch as River rounded him, glancing worriedly at him before hugging his mother tight along side his sister. You looked so lost. Your hair a tangled, matted mess. But still so beautiful to him. Rick and Negan were quietly bickering back and forth as they tried to break the lock that held the chains keeping [Y/N] bound to the tree. Moving slowly, as if encapselated in the molassas jar his own momma kept high on the shelf when he was kid, Daryl sat up on his knees. Truly unsure of what to do... after so long he was so sure he'd have been searching the rest of his life... But here you were. inches from his face. Breathing. Living. Alive. "Daryl..." You gasped as the chains finally fell from your body. Falling forward you were too weak to keep yourself upright anymore. Fawn, River, and Daryl moved to catch you. Your laugh. Something so sweet, so musical that he was sure he'd never hear again rang like bells in his heart as you placed your hands on his shoulders. Pushing yourself up enough to see him you smiled. "Long time no see." You whispered meeting his eyes. "Until death do us part... right?"

[carpedzem]

ok i'll bite. what the hell was the Sparrow Discord Incident

sorry for disappearing for 48hours.

um so. sparrow once got an invite to c!primeboys server and gods till this day i dont know if they didnt realise sparrow is like The Father of dreblr or that was just some sick way of harassing us more but well. he accepted, was even excited about some new friends. i obv dont know all the details bc i didnt see it, can say what i remember from what i was was told (and this also happened like almost two years ago) but that discord was. well they hated my group of freinds. in the nastiest way. people who we blocked ages ago would send each other our posts, proving that they did stalk out blogs even when they are blocked (and doing that regularly takes effort okay you have to log off/have another tumblr acc, especially if youre blocked on main). they were taking about us constantly. they were censoring our names in random messages bc apparently some of the people were so invested they would get triggered just seeing some people mentioned 💀💀💀 and yet they would not shut up about us 💀💀💀 on a server not about us, not with us 💀💀💀

it all made sparrow very uncomfortable - especially that he was openly friends with people they would constantly insult - so he left, even on the same day he joined i think. maybe even in the same hour lmao

it was fucked up but its kinda funny now and it was a little funny then like

edit bc dr3 reminded me THAT LATER THEY MADE POST ABOUT US TRYING TO STALK THEY DISCORD EVEN IF SPARROW LITERALLY HAS A PROOF OF BEING INVITED AND THEN LEAVING SHORT AFTER LIKE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 crazy how they tried change narrative after staking our discord so extreme literally failing during every possible step. clowns

[trainerspiral]

As I stagger over to collect the Ultra Ball, Forrest and his Lombre come jogging up. "I heard battling," Forrest huffs. "What happened?"

"Grimer," I say. "There's a hole." I walk over with him and point out the tiny hole in the masonry. This close to the wall, we can hear the sound of other Grimer burbling and grumbling on the outside.

Forrest hisses through his teeth. "I'll patch it. Be right back. Lotus, stay and help." The Lombre squawks an affirmative and stands at attention in front of the hole.

He starts to bolt, then turns back. "If your Pokemon are hurt, help yourself to any berries you think will help."

"Thank you," I say as he turns and runs off.

I'm hesitant to leave Lotus by himself, but if a Grimer comes through now the only way I'll be able to help is by throwing myself in front of it and hoping the V4ST is quick enough, so I walk to the orchard and start looking. Luckily I'm not far from a row of Pecha trees. I pull a ripe one off and release Coba, who lies on his side squeaking in pain. I hold the berry up to his face. "I'm so sorry. Eat this and you'll be--yow!"

I yank my hand back, unprepared for the speed of his lunge. The berry disappears, stem and all, in a single messy chomp. He shakes his head, wipes his mouth with a foreleg, and squeals up at me.

I laugh, tears pricking my eyes, and pick him up. "You did amazing," I whisper.

He makes happy sounds, but he still looks a bit weak. I wander back to check on Lotus, then go to pick a couple Oran berries for him. By the time he finishes the second one, he's scampering around the trees and I have to pick him up so he won't run off and dig up the place.

I glance up then at the V4ST, which has been quietly trailing us. I pick a third Oran berry and slowly hold it out on the palm of my hand. It cocks its head with a quizzical beep.

I say, "Thank you for saving me from the Silcoon. I'm sorry I haven't been nice to you. I'm just scared because I don't want to lose Coba, but I know you're only doing your job. I want us to get along."

It turns its head from side to side, and I'm unsure whether it's looking more at me or the offering. Then it starts making a pecking motion a few inches away from the berry, which disappears one square-shaped chunk at a time. When it's gone, it makes a cheerful sequence of beeps and does a little swoop in the air, and I feel like a weight has been lifted off me.

When I arrive back at the wall, Forrest is patching the hole. "Sorry," he says. "I try to check every week, but it's hard to--"

"It's ok," I say.

He must hear a change in my voice, because he looks up and smiles, nodding at Coba. "The little guy took care of it?"

"Like a champ," I say.

-----

Forrest offers to take over, but I want to repay my debt. With the wall repaired, the rest of the night is uneventful, and by the time dawn breaks I'm exhausted but satisfied. Forrest and his great-grandfather give me breakfast and show me to a guest room, and I sleep like a log until late morning.

True to his word, when I come back out to the kitchen area the Berry Master is waiting with a Belue Berry. "Thank you, sir," I say, bowing as I accept it.

"And thank you for your help defending the trees, youngster," the old man replies. "May you and your Pokemon blossom together."

"Floww, flowwerrr!" Liechi the Bellossom adds.

As I'm on my way out the door, Forrest hands me a bento box. When I open it I find a selection of more common berries, good for a variety of ailments. I try to refuse or offer to pay, but he shakes his head. "It's what we're here for," he says. "Good luck out there."

-----

The afternoon is sweet and mild, but the lingering smell of Grimer still hangs on the breeze. I pedal the Roto-bike around the orchard wall, taking in the trails of dead grass and noticing for the first time how many trees in the surrounding woods are shriveled and brown. If Forrest is right, Koynlab--the company I've impulsively trusted to help me--is responsible for this.

I shake my head. I may have forgotten more than I realize, but I'm no youngster, and bolting off to bring bad guys to justice is a youngster's game. I have to focus on getting Coba home, and I still have 9 more battles to go before his legitimacy will be certain. Whether they're 100% squeaky-clean or not, Koynlab has given me a lifeline, and it would be foolish to let go now.

I turn my bike west, making for Mauville City, and do my best to leave my misgivings behind.

@novelistash

[attemptingwriter]

Elder David x Reader

For @puddelssucks

I sat by the creek, kicking my feet in the water. It was a warm summer day, the air was filled with kids playing their games and eating at their snacks. I was one of the older kids, an Elder if you will, but I mostly hung out by myself.

Pushing myself off the ground, I waded further into the creek. The cool, running water felt amazing against the heat of the day.

Sighing, I glanced at my watch. 5:50. Ten minutes til the dinner tuba would sound.

I made my way out of the water, stopping at the shore to put my shoes on. I grabbed my bag and stuffed my book inside.

I smiled at the kids as I headed to the trading tree. The tuba sounded and all the kids began rushing home. I stayed behind for a moment, relishing the quietness of the creek.

"Excuse me?"

I turned around and saw a guy wearing a red cape, sweats, and a helmet. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure you're OK. The tuba sounded already but you haven't left yet." The guy asked.

"I'm OK. I always stay a little later than everyone else. I like the quiet."

He nodded. "I'm David, by the way."

I smiled. "(Y/N)."

"Nice to meet you. Will you be back tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I was planning on it."

David smiled wide, practically bouncing on his heels.

"You should come to Elder Rock with me! You can meet my friends and we can play D&D!"

I laughed. "That sounds fun. I'll meet you here and you can show me Elder Rock."

David held out his hand. "Sounds great."

I smiled and shook his hand.

The Next Day

I packed my bag full of snacks and a couple books, saying goodbye to my parents as I left the house. The second the door clicked shut, I raced to the creek.

I slowed to a walk as I nearest the trading tree. David was sitting on a log talking to one of the kids.

"You ready?" I asked.

"I think I should be the one asking you that," David said, standing up.

I scoffed. "I'm totally ready for whatever you're planning."

David shook his head, a grin on his face. He held out his hand. "Then let's go!"

I grinned and took it, following him to Elder Rock.

We came to a trail that led to a large boulder with tiki torches in front. There was a small opening underneath.

"Are you sure we're gonna fit in there?" I asked.

David sat on the ground, pushing his feet into the opening. "Yup."

I stared as he slipped through, disappearing right before my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I copied what David did and slid into the cave.

I yelped as I crumbled to the ground instead of landing safely on my feet.

Laughter filled the air and I felt David's hands on my arms, pulling me up.

"Sorry, I should've warned you about the drop."

I playfully glared at him. "Yeah you should have."

"Who's this?"

I looked over and saw another guy in a cape and glasses and one with body armor.

"You guys take this seriously, don't you?" I asked.

"You dare bring a mocker into our dwelling, David?" The guy with glasses spoke.

"(Y/N)'s cool, Mark. You'll see. Now let's play!"

Mark glared at me but sat down at the table. The rest of us followed suit.

The guy in body armor, who I learned was Barry, handed me a character sheet. "You'll need to fill this out before we begin the game. David and I can help you if you'd like."

"Thank you. This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun."

I looked around the table and couldn't help but feel like I was going to have the best summer of my life.

[greyhound-with-a-mega-wizard-hat]

The Necromancer and the Martyr part 7: The Creature

[Part 7 of The Necromancer and the Martyr]

Thorn stared at the creature in the middle of the street. It was unlike anything she had ever seen; grey skin, leathery bat-like wings, tentacles, eyes, horns, and vicious claws, talons, and teeth. She tightened her grip on her sword, glad she had not sold it, but remorseful that she would need it.

The creature seemed not to notice her, it's cruel attention fixated on destruction. Even though she was relatively far from it, Thorn could sense the hatred that oozed off the creature like pus from an infected wound. Thorn wondered why it felt such hatred, but concluded that it didn't matter - the creature needed dealing with, and preferably before it noticed her.

Though she dared not call out and risk the creature's attention, Thorn desperately wished she had Rose at her side. This creature was clearly magical in its ability, and perhaps its origin too. Thorn was outmatched. It's size implied a strength far greater than her own, it's magical ability made it unpredictable and suggested an intellect of reasonable ability.

Thorn knew she was wasting time, overthinking it. She had to act NOW. She charged at the beast, yelling a vicious war cry. The creature turned, its eyes-widened at the sight of her. Surprise? Or terror?

Thorn raised her sword above her head, ready to start the attack. But much to her surprise, the creature turned heel, and fled, launching into the sky and flying away. Thorn skidded to a halt, confused.

"Huh?" She asked almost involuntarily. Somewhat dazed, she looked around to see nervous Pyngites staring at her from their doorways.

"Ummm..." Thorn returned their stares. She and the Pyngites stood motionless whilst Thorn formulated a plan. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the smoke was disappearing, the Pyngites were putting out the fires.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. If you see a human man, please send him this way." Thorn gestured vaguely at the direction the creature had flown in. "In the meantime, check that everyone is ok and accounted for, and maybe find somewhere safe to hide, in case the creature returns." The Pyngites one by one walked up to Thorn and conveyed their thanks, then started to survey the damage done to the town.

Thorn glanced over her shoulder to see if Rose was coming, and sighed. 'Where is he? Did that creature do something to him? Did he panic and run?' Cursing under her breath, Thorn ran into the forest, and began to search for the creature.

Several hours later, Thorn lost patience. She was looking for a flying creature, whilst having no magical ability to track. This search was pointless. She screamed in frustration. "Damn you! Damn you! Fuck this!"

She sat grumpily on a log. 'The creature could have doubled back and destroyed the village by now' she thought to herself. But Thorn seriously doubted this. The creature had seemed terrified of her. Why she did not know, but it had fled as soon as she was close.

"It must have known who I am. Perhaps it has heard of me? Maybe it isn't as strong as I feared." Thorn sighed, and rubbed her temple. Something rustled in the treetops.

Something large.

Thorn slowly picked up her sword, and began to scan the treetops. In the darkness, she could see very little, but nonetheless she persisted.

There. Movement. Large branches being shifted.

A slight gleam in the darkness. A cats eye. Too large. Too high up. Not a cat.

"Show yourself!" Thorn commanded. Her voice rung out clear and strong through the trees. It unsettled her how easy it was to fall back into old habits.

The creature leapt from the tree and landed heavily in front of her. It stood up tall, measuring at easily 8ft tall, 10ft with the horns. For once, Thorn felt small. She raised her sword and pointed it at the creature. "Explain yourself! What are you? What is your quarrel with these innocent people? Why did you run from me?" She stared expectantly at the creature.

A pathetic look crossed its face. It almost seemed to shrink in on itself. All 7 eyes filled with tears.

"I can explain," whispered Rose, his voice deeper, more gravelly, but unmistakably his. "Please Thorn, have mercy", he begged, his voice breaking with sorrow.

Thorn dropped her sword in shock. Her grip loosened and it slid to the floor. She stared in rude shock at Rose. Emotion raced through her. Anger, fear, disbelief, confusion, sadness, and relief that Rose was at least alive.

She couldn't deal with all emotions at once, eventually, Thorn settled for relief. She slowly walked up to Rose, and reached up to put her arms around his shoulders, gently pulling him into a hug.

"I'm so glad that you're ok. I was so worried about you. I thought you'd died." She said gently. Rose's skin felt warm and rough, his breathing was deep and slow. He smelt of fire, and pain, and sadness.

Tentatively, Rose put his arms around Thorn, and gently reciprocated the hug. "Don't you hate me? Don't I disgust you?" He asked softly. Thorn did not answer, but simply hugged him tighter.

Rose began to cry. He pulled away from Thorn and turned his back to her. He wished she would hate him. It wasn't fair. He didn't understand why she didn't strike him down. He was exposed, a monster, why didn't she do what she was born to do?

"Rose, please, I love you, you are my best friend. I will always be here for you, no matter what, I will stand by you. But I have to know the truth, so that I can understand you better, please tell me, well, everything." Thorn reached out and took Rose's hand, grasping it in both of hers. He turned to face her, though he could not bear to look at her.

"You'll hate me for this. But I'll tell you."

[Part 6]

[Part 8]

[loousir]

[Angel] Guardian

(Image made with Picrew @ FILDGE on Twitter for Picrew creator & art)

Angel Male x Male Reader

Ampharos

Warnings: Reader getting over a breakup, catching frogs, meeting guardian angel, yes I'm aware of his name

Masterlist

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

With a heavy sigh you flopped onto your bed.

Man... What the hell...

You had just gotten back from an "outing", if you could call it that. Your now ex-boyfriend broke it off with you before you two parted ways, completely ruining a nice day.

What even happened? I though we were good together...

Thoughts started to run through your mind, eventually making tears well in your eyes, threatening to fall.

"Fuck..."

You sat up and rubbed your eyes, trying to keep the tears away but they just kept coming. In a rash decision making moment, you decided to go out for a walk to try and calm down. There was a park nearby that you always enjoyed going to. It was very secluded in comparison to other parks and you like that cause it meant very few people went.

You grabbed your phone and slipped your shoes back on before heading off to the park.

The sunspot that shone through the trees lit the ground underneath them beautifully. You let your mind go blank as you walked around for a while before going off to a particularly secluded spot in the park. It was right next to a small pond that held many frogs and fish.

You sighed once more and sat down on an old log that was near the water. To calm yourself down a bit more, you started to gently catch a frog, picking it up carefully. It didn't make any noise but simply looked at you, as if it understood how you were feeling.

The frog stayed calm as you opened your hand and let it lay down. It merely looked at you before tucking it's legs in and getting comfortable. You smiled, nearly tearing up again at the amphibian before gently petting its head with your thumb.

"What are you doing?"

The sudden voice made you jump, scaring the frog in the process, making it leave your company. You closed your eyes and breathed for a moment before looking to where the voice had sounded from. Your eyes widened slightly as you looked at the lavender-haired male.

In place of his ears, he had small white featherd wings. His back held a matching set of wings. He was like nothing you've ever seen before.

"W-who are you?" You asked. He rolled his eyes, the bored/annoyed look never leaving his face. "Does it matter?" You tilted your head slightly as he walked closer to you. "Uhm. Yes?" He sighed and stood in front of you, looking down to your mess of a form. "You're really playing with frogs after a breakup..?" He somewhat asked. You furrowed your brows and stood up, easily being taller than him. A smile rose to your face.

"Haha, short."

You laughed as his feathers ruffled and his face went red. "Five foot one is totally normal where I'm from!" You gently pat his head before walking off. "Wh-! Where do you think you're going!? I was sent here to comfort you and you're just... Leaving?!" You tilted your head again. "What do you mean?"

He just looks at you as if you should totally understand what he's talking about. He groans and rubs his face with his hands. "I'm. Your. Guardian. Angle." He says, pausing between words. "I'm. Here. To. Protect. You." You looked at him, unamused.

"I can't read your mind y'know. It would have been helpful if you said that when I asked who you were instead of asking if it mattered."

His lips press into a thin straight line. A silent moment passed. "Well uh, I've mostly calmed down so I'm gonna head back to my apartment." You said cautiously. The angel standing in front of you seemed to snap back into reality. "Then... Then let me go with you!" He said, grabbing your hand suddenly.

"You, want to go back to my apartment with me?"

He nods and holds onto your hand as if it would disappear if he let go. "Only if you tell me your name." You said, gently grabbing his hand in return. His face showed a twinge of shock before scowling. "Ampharos." He mumbled out to you. You smiled gently and pulled him along.

The two of you walked hand in hand in silence through the park. Ampharos was a blushing mess the whole time. "Aren't you supposed to be upset after a breakup?" He suddenly asked. You looked back to him for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah. But I guess I'm, still processing or coping, which is probably why I'm not super upset. I'm sure it'll hit me like a truck tomorrow."

You said as you kept leading this proclaimed Guardian Angel to your home. "So, how do I know your my guardian angel?" You suddenly asked him. He didn't respond for a moment before asking, "How would I have known you had a breakup today?" His voice was small but you heard it anyway. You thought for a moment before shrugging. "I guess that's fair. But you could have been nearby when it happened." You said matter-of-factly while looking back to him.

"Then how would I know that you..." He thinks for a moment. "You had a grilled chicken salad for breakfast this morning." You tilted your head slightly and thought for a moment. "I guess I can believe you're my guardian." You said with a teasing tone, making him flustered again. He gripped you hand a bit tighter as both of you neared your apartment building.

You buzzed you and him in before taking the elevator up to your floor. Thankfully no-one had tried to stop you to talk or ask for some sort of favor. You unlocked the door and let Ampharos walk in first before following suit. Right as you closed the door a wave of dizziness washed over you, causing you to stumble slightly. Ampharos noticed and caught you before you could fall.

"Sorry." He was a lot stronger than he looked as he supported most of your weight, taking you to your bedroom. "Just lay down for a bit, I'll go get some water." You nodded and did as he told after he sat you down on the bed. You laid back much like you did before you went to the park, staring at the ceiling, just thinking about whatever came to mind.

Ampharos came back in, making you sit up and look at him. "Here." He handed you a glass of water and you thanked him before drinking some of it. You set the cup down on the side table and laid back down as he sat on the edge of the bed next to your hips. The bed dipped down making you shift over towards him. He wasn't looking at you but his wings were pretty close to your face so you decided to gently stroke his feathers.

He shivered and looked back to you with a blush. You didn't respond and kept petting his feathers. Ampharos sighed and moved so that he was laying down next to you on the bed. "You should take a nap." He said, gently moving some hair from your face. Apparently, him doing that made you want to cry again.

You eyes teared up and you looked down to your hands. "S-sorry..." Ampharos shook his head and gently stroked your cheek before pulling you close and cuddling. You cried into his chest as he wrapped his wings around you, running his hand through your hair. "Just relax ok?" You did your best to calm down, thankfully, Ampharos was helping.

"I'll stay with you for a while ok?"

---

1307

Not Proof read, considering part 2

[tartagliaxx]

i feel like today i had the weirdest co-op with some people lol. anyways, i was planning on logging off when someone joined. i was like, i could stay for a couple more minutes and went 'hi lol', they went 'hey' and literally disappeared. i went to them and just see diluc's giant phoenix roasting all of timmy's birds. i was like you know what, whatever, let them do what they want to do. they went somewhere else, probably collected smth, and then teleported next to me before leaving my world. i was so confused, and i'm pretty sure i won't be allowing anyone except friends join me now lol

anyways, i saved 14.3k and 6 more intertwined fates for xiao! he's not my guaranteed but i'll pray to the gacha gods that we both get him since i definitely won't be able to spend money on him ;-;

— r. anon

oh my god ahahahahahaha timmie’s birds go brrr. but anw i’m pretty certain there’s not a diluc main that’s perfectly right in the head. i can understand the sentiment tho, co-op is so scary. i also had a chaotic co-op moment yesterday. it was midnight and i was about to fall asleep but my friend decided to drop by and my dumbass cant refuse so i decided to stay up just a little bit. anw i told her to come w me to heart island and she brought chongyun and kaeya while i only had kaeya. we were by the middle and lowkey forgot that chong’s ice melts real fast so the ice melted and we’re like ok chill let’s just quickly swim back to kaeya’s portion of the ice and we did. except... it melted off the exact moment we climbed. so we decided to swim the rest of the way. horrible idea because even w stamina food we were like a meter away from the island itself. i was waiting for the cooldown for the food to reset because i was a hairlength away from drowning when suddenly, i saw a faint figure slowly falling into the clutches of the treacherous seas and it’s so dramatic cause i felt like i was watching my doppelganger die and my first thought was ‘oh shit. im next.’ so i gave up on swimming and my friend was like ‘dont worry i’ll rescue you’ and its so funny to see a tiny dot slowly come closer to you while you’re holding death’s hand by the left.

also dw! xiao has no choice but to come home to us 🔪🔪 i currently have 13k and 10 fates so i’m guaranteed a 5* but since zhong is my last pull, i have a 50-50 chance with my next pity. doesnt matter tho. xiao will come home. just manifest! ✊

[fangirling-and-lovin-it]

Summary: Takes place shortly after the end of TROS.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217542#main

**

My first Stormpilot fic!

As a lot of people do I have my own mixed feelings about TROS and after I saw it and was mulling everything over, this scene formed in my mind nearly complete.

I pictured it as a bit of a mashup of the pivotal scenes in Return of the Jedi with Han and Leia talking out in the forest on Endor while the Ewoks party like it's their birthday in the background. ("He's my brother"), and Luke and Leia talking in the dark out on a bridge where the Ewoks live (Luke, what's wrong?" "Stuff. Oh btw you're my sister").

Sooo... yeah...lol, I'll stop talking now. Enjoy (possibly)!

*****

“Where’s Finn?”

In all the celebrating, the dancing and drinking, the toasting and remembering the fallen, Finn seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Poe checked inside the base, made his way in and out of the crowd outside but he was nowhere to be found. Only when he walked a few feet into the forest did he eventually find him, sitting on a small log bench and gazing up at the stars.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Finn smiled instinctively like he always seemed to do when he saw Poe, but the pilot could see there was something wrong.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on or do I need to get Rey to do some Jedi thing and read your mind for me?” Poe asked, sitting down beside him.

Finn smiled a little more but it was still tinged with the same melancholy and then fell from his face completely. “We won the battle. And the war. But that’s the thing. The fight , that’s all I’ve ever known. The Order, The Resistance. Either way, I was fighting for something.” Finn sighed, long and low, like the air he was exhaling had been sitting heavy on his chest. “Without that…who am I?”

Poe laid a hand on Finn’s arm, palm on his wrist, fingers lying gently on the back of his hand.

“You’re Finn,” he said looking into his eyes. “And you’re a good man.”

Finn started to move and for a second Poe thought he was pulling away but he brought his hand down instead, slipping it into Poe’s and holding tight. When he looked up, his eyes were shining. “You’re ok too, I guess.”

Poe chuckled softly. “Thanks for the endorsement, I’ll put it on my resume.”

“Last I checked you’re still a general. Or does Zorii want to get the old gang back together?”

His smile was teasing now but there was something in his voice, something maybe only Poe could hear. Like a glimmer of fear.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Poe squeezed his hand, looking into his eyes, searching for a sign of what he was feeling. “And I hope you’re not either. You’re a general now too remember? We have a whole galaxy to rebuild, planets and communities to help heal. We need to be leaders and I can’t lead without you.”

“You can.”

“But I don’t want to.”

Poe almost laughed when he looked surprised. He took Finn’s face gently in his free hand. “All this time, ever since you rescued me and we took off together, did you really think I wanted to do any of this without you?”

Finn didn’t answer but the gap between them was so small now that their mouths nearly brushed against each other. The sounds of laughter, music and fireworks were a distant symphony and suddenly there was no gap. No space between them. Just the warmth of lips that had waited too long to meet, and the comforting weight of Poe’s hand grounding Finn in the present and reminding him what the future could be.

****

Sometime later when they returned to the party hand in hand, Rey grinned when she saw them, taking them both by their spare arms and leading them back into the celebration.

In the distance behind them, Wrobie rested her head on Larma’s shoulder, gesturing in their direction with the glass in her hand.

“Bloody finally.”

Larma chuckled softly. “Took them long enough.”

[awkward-uwu]

A Royal Journey pt.1

Previous//Next

Genre: Fluff, Fantasy

Pairings: Female Reader x Felix

Word count: 4,487

Summery: Living in a world of magic and monsters can actually be pretty uneventful when you live inside the safety of city walls. But what happens when your closest friends bring you outside that safety?

You live in a small country by the name of Estra, a place where all types of magic and peoples are welcome, which makes for an interesting life. In this country you live in the royal city of Ironwind, and you are a cleric, a royal cleric to be exact. You moved from home and trained to be one since the day you turned ten. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, as you wanted this, to be able to help people using the name of Apollo was always a dream of yours. Being able to help the royal family was just a bonus. You live in a house connected to the temple of Apollo by the castle. You live there with five other clerics who are all a good amount older than you, as they've basically adopted you as their child.

Most days you stay in the temple praying, helping people out who come in or practicing spells. And once in awhile you get to go out into the lower levels of the city to help those who need it most these days are your favorites.

It's another normal day in the temple, people coming in and out, praying, getting healing done. You're in the back room with one of the other clerics putting away some potions when you hear the door open, and you hear a familiar voice, “Y/n, Felix hurt himself again.”

You smile and roll your eyes, “Again? What happened this time?” You walk out to the front where you see your two closest friends Felix and Chan.

Felix is the Prince, and Chan is his closest friend (even though he's more like another parent) the Queen assigned Chan to keep an eye on him because of how much Felix likes to get into trouble.

Chan is in full silver scale mail armor, and Felix is in casual light blue leather armor. “He tried to skip practice again and tripped on a log and hurt his arm.” Chan says with a sigh.

“It was boring! We just keep doing the same things over and over!” Felix pouts. You chuckle, “Let me look at it.” You walk over to Felix and take his arm to look at it and he winces, “How hard did you fall?? This might actually be broken!” Chan sighs, “Your Mother isn't gonna be too happy about this.”

“Wait! Y/n! Can't you just, I don't know, use one of your spells and fix it??” Felix says in a small panic.

“I'm not a strong cleric Felix, my spells can only do so much right now, I can go get Rita if you'd like, she's just in the back room.” You say turning to leave. “Wait! No!” Felix shouts, you turn back around towards him confused. “They don't know me as well as you do… they might put it back together wrong…” He says quietly.

You and Chan look at each other for a second, and then laugh. “Ok, but you'll have to come back tomorrow so I can fully heal it.” You say still laughing a little.

So you heal up Felix to the best of you ability, put his arm in a splint, then send them off and go back to your potions.

The upper city is bustling today, people walking around, shopping, talking. As they walk through the city, people stop their work or conversations to greet Felix with a bow or curtsy, Felix nods in acknowledgement.

“So, which one of us is gonna tell your mom about this?” Chan says walking alongside Felix. “I don't know, either way she is gonna kill me…” Felix says looking dejected.

“How about we tell her it happened at practice, that way she doesn't get as mad, plus, it's not exactly lying, you didn't get very far” Chan says with a laugh and a wink. Felix smiles and punches Chan in the arm “Rude. But thanks, I like that idea”

A small while later they arrive at the castle wall gates. The gates are an intricate silver, and are connected to a large brick wall. On either side of the gate there is a guard tower with a single guard in each. On the ground in front of the gate there are two more guards. “Your Highness.” they say in unison and bow. Felix nods and they open the gates so they can enter.

On the way in they hear a familiar voice “Prince Felix!! Chan!” A smaller boy wearing dark blue wizards robes runs up to them. “Jeongin!” Felix shouts back. The boy kneels down to bow. “Jeongin… I told you that you don't need to be so formal around me.” Felix says with a bit of a frown. “Oh sorry… I forgot” Jeongin stands up.

“Don't worry you're fine, now, why were you running so fast?” Felix asks. “Oh!! Yeah!! I learned a new spell! Do you want to see??” Jeongin says excitedly. “Uh yes!!” Felix says sounding almost more excited than Jeongin. Jeongin then pulls out a small spell book and a skinny twig like wand and reaches it out to cast the spell. “Hey! Not at the front gates!” A guard on the other side of the gate shouts.

Jeongin freezes and lowers his wand with a bit of a pout “Sorry…” He says quietly. “Hey, why don't we head to the garden, there's a nice open area in there we can use.” Chan says. Jeongin's face lights back up with a bright smile and they head to the garden.

The garden is a lush green area full of rose bushes and fruit bearing trees, there is a small pond in the center with a small island with a bench on it in the middle, four bridges leading to it. Around the pond is a grassy area where the boys sit down to watch the new spell Jeongin has learned.

“So, what happened to your arm?” Jeongin asks while they sit on the grass. “Long story, it's not important, what's important is seeing that new spell of yours!” Felix says changing the subject, Chan rolls his eyes at him. “Oh! Right!” Jeongin stands up “Ok ok, are you ready?” Jeongin pulls out his spell book and wand.

“Of course!” Felix says excitedly. Jeongin waves his wand and speaks an incantation, there's a small spark from his wand, and three more Jeongins appear around him. “Ta da!!” Jeongin says triumphantly. Felix and Chan both stand up “Woah! There’s more of you!” Felix says a little shocked.

Chan walks over and attempts to poke one and his hand goes right through it. “This is weird… but also really cool! Why did you learn it though?” Chan says as he continues to poke at the illusions. Jeongin shrugs, “I don't know, it seemed cool.”

They continue to mess with the illusions until they disappear a minute later. “Aw, that was a short spell” Felix says with a small frown. “Yeah, it only lasts a minute, I think it's supposed to be used in a fight” Jeongin says.

“Sure, because you're gonna get in a big enough fight that you'll need this, the biggest fight you've been in was probably over a quill” Felix says with a laugh.

“Not true! I've had sparring matches with my classmates and teacher before! Plus, I'm not just a wizard in training, I'm a war wizard in training, which means I'll be fighting alongside you if we ever go to war once you're king!” Jeongin says matter of factly.

Felix’s face drops a bit “Oh, yeah, right.” He frowns and looks down to the side. “Oh, Felix, I'm sorry... I forgot you don't like talking about that…” Jeongin says apologetically. “No no it's fine, I really shouldn't get like this about it, it's gonna happen no matter what” Felix shrugs.

They all just stand there for a moment. “Well, we really should get to your mother, I'm sure she wants to hear all about your day” Chan says breaking the silence, Felix lets out a sigh “Do we have to?” He whines. “Unfortunately, yes. Come on Jeongin, we'll drop you off at your place since it's on the way” Chan says as he begins to walk, and the other two follow.

They quickly make it to Jeongin's place, due to it being right near the edge of the garden. It's a wooden two-floor house with vines growing up the sides, and a few shrubs around the bottom. It's not exactly the nicest place in the castle walls, but it is pretty.

Jeongin heads up to the house “Ok we'll see you around, keep practicing!” Chan shouts. Felix waves, and they head to the castle. The castle is made up of four large round towers, it is connected by tall walls that go a little past mid tower. The walls are made up of a light grey stone, and there are light blue banners and flags around the outside walls and the tops of the towers. Chan and Felix enter through the main doors which leads almost directly to the throne room. The throne room has a long light blue and silver carpet, and the same coloured banners along the walls. It's a large room with a fairly high ceiling. At the far end of the room is the throne where the Queen is sat; on her right is a smaller empty throne, on her left is a young man with a scroll speaking to her about something.

When she sees the boys enter, she smiles. Although as she sees Felix arm her face fills with worry, and then her brows furrow and she lets out a sigh. She waves her hand to tell the young man to leave, he then bows and makes his way out.

A little over halfway to the throne Chan kneels and bows deeply “Your majesty.” Chan says. “Paladin Chan.” She responds with a smile.

Felix continues closer to the throne and bows, much less deep than Chan “Mother.” Felix says not making eye contact. “Felix. I see you've had an exciting day.” She responds. “What's the story today?” Felix takes in a deep breath, “Well, you see, I was at practice, and this hole, just appears out of nowhere, and my foot got caught, and I fell. See? And I didn't catch myself right, so now my arm is hurt.” Felix says very quickly.

“I see, and why did you not get it fully healed by the clerics? We have some that are strong enough to fully fix that.”

“Uhh… because... the only one available was the youngest one, we'll be going tomorrow to get it fully healed!” Felix explains. The queen chuckles “I see. You sure seem to like that younger cleric down there, I sometimes wonder if you get yourself hurt just to see her.” She remarks.

“What! No! Of course not! Why would you think that?” Felix says rushed and a little panicked. Both the Queen and Chan laugh “Alright alright, calm down.” She says still laughing a bit “I need to talk to you both about something. Chan, come closer to me.” She says in a more serious tone.

Slightly confused Chan gets up and joins Felix, “Are we in trouble?” Felix asks. “No, not at all, the opposite in fact. You're getting to that age where you need to start being more mature, your teachers have told me that you've been doing well in your studies and it might be time.” She states in a serious tone.

“Time…?” Felix questioned. “Time for you to go out and become the king this country deserves. I personally didn't want to do this but the council suggested this to be the best course of action. I'm sending you, Chan and whomever else who you see fit, to go outside of the city.” She states calmly.

“What?! Why?!” Felix shouts. “Felix, calm down, she just wants what's best for you and the kingdom.” Chan says calmly and sets a hand on Felix’s shoulder.

“But what if it's not what's best for me?? What if something happens? What if someone gets hurt, what if I… get hurt..?” Felix questioned quietly.

“Felix… Dear... I know this is a bit scary, but you were going to have to this eventually. Your father had to do this, and his father as well. It's been a something that every royal prince in this kingdom has had to do. You are a strong, smart young man, I'm sure you'll do great.” The queen explains.

“I guess… can I just have a day to think about this? It's a little sudden, I need some time.” Felix asks.

“Of course, you have until tomorrow at this time to let the idea set in.” She responds. “Thank you. I'll be in my room the rest of the day if you need me.” Felix says as he turns and leaves.

Chan bows deeply towards the Queen and turns to follow Felix. As they're about the leave the Queen shouts “Felix wait!” Both Felix and Chan turn back around “I love you.” The queen says with a soft smile. Felix smiles “I love you too.”

Later, Chan drops Felix of at his room, “I'll see you tomorrow morning, please don't run off or anything,” Chan requests. “I won't, don't worry. (Not far at least)” “What??”

“I'm just kidding, calm down, I'm not going anywhere.” Chan furrows his brows and squints his eyes, “Alright, I'm trusting you.” Felix smiles, “Ok, goodnight Chan.”

“Good night Felix.”Chan reaches out and ruffles Felix’s hair, then he turns and leaves.

Later once the sun is fully set and the stars are out, Felix leaves his room. There aren't many guards around at this time so he sneaks out easily. He makes his way to the garden and lays down in the grass next to the pond to watch the stars and think. After about half an hour of watching stars he begins to hear footsteps behind himself. He jumps to his feet and gets in a defensive stance “Woah! Felix, it's just me.” Felix relaxes “Jeongin, you almost gave me a heart attack.” He says clutching his chest. “Sorry… I saw you head out here and thought you might want some company” Felix sighs “Well, you're not wrong, I've just got alot on my mind…”

“Ah, so, do you wanna talk about it…?”

“Well yeah, mom is telling me I have to go out of the city and ‘become the king this country deserves’ and she says I'll be fine, but I'm not sure, I'm worried. What if something happens to the people I bring with me? What if I hurt someone? What we get lost? We could die out in the middle of nowhere?? What if… what if I can't become a good king… I'm not what this country deserves…” Felix sits down in the grass. Jeongin sits down next to him stumped for a moment. “Wow” Jeongin says softly.“Yeah” Felix responds. After sitting in silence for a few minutes Jeongin speaks up, “Felix, why are you worrying so much? You are the coolest person I know! You're strong, smart, you know how to handle yourself in a fight, you have good friends who are willing to help you. I'm positive everything go very well.” Felix sits there for a moment, still looking at the stars, “Ya know Jeongin, you might be right. What if I am overreacting? I mean, I'll have Chan with me, and I can fight pretty darn well…”

“See? You know I'm always right!” Felix then elbows him in the side, “Ow! What was that for??” Felix just laughs and lays back down in the grass, Jeongin follows and lays next to him now also laughing.

“Hey Jeongin?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you a strong wizard?” Felix asks still staring at the stars. “You know it! I'm the strongest student in my class!” Jeongin sits up “Why?” He questions. “Well, mom said I should make up a team of sorts to go with me, do you wanna come with me?” Felix asks still laying in the grass. Jeongin's face lights up, “Um yes!! I was hoping you would ask! I've learned a bunch of new strong spells, and I'll be really useful! You can count on me!” Jeongin says excitedly as he fully stands up. Felix now sits up, “Great! Be in front of the castle two hours after midday.”

“Got it! I'll see you then.” Jeongin says as he lends a hand to help Felix up. Once he's up, they walk to Jeongin's place, say their goodbyes, for now, and Felix makes his way back to his room without issue. And after some over thinking, he finally falls asleep.

The next day Felix wakes up early and Chan is already waiting outside his room “Did you sleep well?” Chan asks. “I did! Thank you for asking!” Felix says with a smile.

“Well you seem much more chipper this morning, are you comfortable with the idea already?” Chan asks with a smirk. “Yup! By the way, we're bringing Jeongin with us!” Felix says walking away “Wait what?” But Felix is already at the end of the hallway.

Later that morning they make their way to the temple to get Felix’s arm fully healed. The temple of Apollo is made of the same brick as the castle. It's a wide one story building with a tall steeple. It has light blue accents and a flower garden that goes all the way around the base of the building. The actual temple area for prying is in the far back, and anyone is welcome to go into it. The front room of the temple is a warm comfortable room with couch like chairs that have pillows and blankets on them. There are potted plants in a few of the corners, and the far right corner has a desk that you're sitting behind writing some things down.

Chan and Felix walk in and you smile “Ah welcome back, are you ready for me to fix you up the rest of the way?” You begin walking towards them, “Yep!” Felix says with a smile. As you make your way over a young lady walks in “Um, excuse me?” She asks quietly “Ah yes, what can I help you with?” You respond. “I was wondering where the shrine was, I was hoping for a quiet place to pray.”

“Ah yes, of course! Can you two excuse me for a moment?”

“Oh, I could take her back if you'd like. I've been here to pray multiple times. That way you can get to healing Felix up the rest of the way.” Chan insists. “Oh alright, thank you Chan!” You say with a smile. She follows Chan to the back and you and Felix sit down. You take his arm and you begin to take off the splint. “So anything exciting happen since the last time you've seen me?” You ask with a smile. “Actually, yes! I'm leaving the city!” He responds excitedly. You freeze, “What?? Why are you leaving??” You furrow your brows and frown. “Mother is sending me, Chan, and a few others of my choosing to leave the city. She says its to turn me into ‘a king this country deserves.” As he's saying this, you continue to remove the splint and begin the spell. “Ah, I see… so that means I won't be able to see you for a long time?” Your  eyes stay trained on his arm.

“Actually, I was hoping you could join us! We could use another person who can heal besides Chan.” The spell finishes and you look back at his face, “Really?? Why me though? I'm not the strongest cleric, and I don't really know how to fight…” You look down, setting your hands in your lap. “Oh don't worry about that, I can teach you to fight! And you'll get stronger by coming with us!” He beams as he takes your hands from your lap. “We can get stronger together!” He says smiling happily. “Alright! I just need to ask my superiors and make sure I'm allowed to leave!” You say, now also smiling brightly.

You both sit there for a moment just looking at each other, until you both realize how close you are. You both let go of each others hands and look away, hoping the other didn't see the blush on your faces. You stand up and clear your throat “I should go ask Rita about this, I'm sure she'll let me go.” You say turning around. You then see Chan leaning up against the counter. “Oh, Chan! You're back! How long have you been there...?” You question. “Long enough” Chan says with a smirk. “Ah…” Unsure of what to say you just stand there for a moment.

“Chan! Y/n is coming with us!” Felix says excitedly standing up. “It's not for sure, I still need to talk to the other clerics about it. Which I'm going to do right now, if you'll excuse me.” You say now heading to the back room.

Chan and Felix wait out in the front room for about 15 minutes, Felix starts worrying “What if she can't come? What if she gets in trouble for wanting to leave? What if-”

“I can go!!” You shout interrupting Felix. “That's great!” Chan exclaims. “Why don't you come with us to the castle? We can all talk about what the plan is there. Plus, I'm sure that Her Majesty would love to officially meet you” Chan says smiling.

“Me? Meet with the Queen?? Right now??? I need to go clean up, I am not presentable right now!” You begin to fix your hair and dust off your clothes with your hands. “No don't worry you look fine! She won't care about how you look, just, don't say anything dumb” Felix says walking up to you. “Well, ok then… I can't promise I won't say anything dumb though…” You chuckle nervously.

With that you three leave the temple. At the castle Jeongin sits on a bench near the castle doors. “Chan! Prince Felix! And… person I don't know… Hi!!” Jeongin shouts. “Hey Jeongin!!” Felix shouts back and runs up to Jeongin, “This is Y/n, she'll be coming with us!” Felix says as you and Chan follow up behind Felix. “Oh, hello! My name's Jeongin, I'm a wizard in training!” He says proudly. “It's nice to meet you! I'm a cleric… in training” You say with a chuckle. “Good, now you two know each other, I'm gonna go inside with Chan and talk to talk to my mother. You guys stay out here, Chan will come get you shortly,” Felix states and then heads inside with Chan.

You and Jeongin stand in awkward silence for a few minutes until Chan comes back out to get you, and you both go inside. On the way in you quickly fix your hair and adjust your shirt. You stay close behind Chan because you're weary of doing anything wrong. You three walk in and Felix smiles. You make it little over halfway to the throne, and Chan stops both of you and kneels to bow deeply towards the Queen. You and Jeongin copy him. “Please stand. Come closer to me.” the Queen commands. All three of you stand and make your way to the throne. “So, these are the people you choose to take with you?” She asks. “Yes.” Felix responds with a nod. “I see. Please, introduce yourselves.” She instructs. Jeongin goes up first, he kneels and bows deeply.

“Your majesty, my name is Jeongin Yang, wizard in training, it is an honor to meet you.” The queen nods and smiles. Jeongin stand up and returns to Chan's side. You then go up and kneel to bow. “Your majesty, my name is Y/n Y/ln, royal cleric of Apollo. It is an honor to meet you.” The queen nods and smiles.

“Ah, Y/n, so you're the young cleric Felix tells me so much about” She says with a smile. You stand and make your way back to Chan's side.

“Please, Jeongin and Y/n, come closer.” The queen instructs. Jeongin and you both step forward. “Now, both of you have chosen to join Prince Felix on this journey. And you both realize how dangerous this is, correct?”

“Yes.” You both respond in unison “Good, and you are both willing to risk your life for Prince Felix, correct?”

Felix speaks up “Mother-”

“Yes.” You and Jeongin respond without a second thought. Felix stands there a little slack jawed. Chan smirks, and The Queen smiles. “Good. I can now comfortably send my son into the world with you. Please, keep him, and each other safe.”

“Yes your majesty.” You and Jeongin say in unison.

“Now, you all should prepare to leave in the morning, I recommend you stop at The Heart on the way out, it's the royal guard quarters in the lowest level of the city, they should have requests for you to pick up there.”

“Understood, thank you your majesty.” Chan says with a bow and turns to leave. You and Jeongin bow deeply and do the same, Felix follows behind.

“Felix” The queen says expectantly.

“Yes mother?” He says turning toward her.

“I love you.” She smiles. He stops for a second “I love you too.”

Outside the castle you say goodbye to Jeongin, and he heads back to his place so he can get ready for tomorrow. “Hey, it's getting later in the day, we should walk you back.” Felix says. “It's not a very long walk. But alright, thank you!” You smile.

So Chan and Felix walk you back to the temple. On the way there you spot someone, or something, lurking in the shadows of the alley next to the temple, “Hey, guys, I think someone's watching us…” You gesture towards the man. The moment you say that he runs off into the alley. “Hey!” Chan shouts and runs after him and Felix walks you the rest of the way to the temple.

“I'm not sure I like the idea of you staying here with shifty people wandering around…” Felix states.

“Felix, I'll be fine, don't worry, I've got the other clerics here.” About that time Chan returns, “I'm sorry, he was too fast, I couldn't get him.”

“That's alright, we can tell the royal guard in the morning to keep an eye on this area.” You respond.

Felix looks unsure but agrees “Alright, we'll see you in the morning then. If something happens don't do anything by yourself, make sure you get one of the other clerics.” Felix tells you.

“Ok ok, I got it, I'll be fine, I'm going inside now, good night Felix, good night Chan.” “Good night Y/n” they respond in union. You shut the door, and they head back to the castle.

Previous//Next

[rip-a-dip-dip-you-potato-chip]

will this be a legit tumblr fic series? no, absolutely not I just felt like writing something. Everything else will be bullet points since I can knock out like, two to three seasons in one go.

Shannon (Shan) Maywether.

Oc introduction P1

This takes place in between season 1 episodes 10 and 11 in like a mini sode I like to call "Eye of Unfairness" its a play off the fact Shan means unfortunate and unfair in Scottish (something I recently learned)

Also feel free to change out Shannon's/Shans name for your OC if you want to! I don't mind! Keep in mind this fic was made with Shannon's personality and physical condition in mind. I also wouldn't mind feed back!

Third person POV

A day had passed since the reveal of the green ninja. It was a surprise to learn that Lloyd, a kid, was the supposed chosen one. It was shock to, well everyone on board the Bounty.

It was Wednesday, so Shannon was tasked with cooking for the day. She stood, cutting vegetables for the side dish she was wiping up alongside the English breakfast she had made. Her mind was filled with ‘what if's’. As an older sister to 10 younger brothers, 4 of which that happen to be around Lloyd’s age it was startling for her. There was no telling when the 'Final Battle' will take place and what would happen during it, took the focus from the sharp edge of the blade she was holding.

"ow, damn it-" dropping the knife on the cutting board as she cursed. Bringing the cut wound to her lips she sucked on it as she searched for the bandages they kept in the kitchen just incase if kind of thing happened.

After finding bandages and bandaging the cut Shannon finished fixing up the salad. Just as she set the freshly tossed salad on the table the other residents of the ship walked in.

"Morning Shannon" "Mornin' Zane"

The other ninja mumbled a good morning as well as they took their set's at the table and began eating the breakfast prepared.

"Hay Shannon what happened to your hand?" Lloyd asked looking at the older girls hand.

"Oh, accidently cut myself." She replied placing her coffee cup down looking over at the small blonde. She ruffled his hair earning a ‘stop it’ from the boy, and chuckled at how messy his hair was now. 

The rest of breakfast went without much problem seeing as how everyone was still riding down from the adrenaline that was yesterday. It all seemed peaceful still Garmadon walked in.

Shannon's POV

Garm walked in, late as usual. And as usual we where all kinda put off with what he was eating. Dark matter grubs I think there called? Never payed much attention to this sorta thing really. I just can't get the truth we uncovered yesterday. Lloyd being the green ninja. Its going to hard for him I can tell.

Letting out an tried sigh I got up with my now empty plate and made my way over to the sink.

"Shannon, the Bounty is landing in a bit. You wanna come run groceries with me?" Nya asked as I passed her.

"Uhh, sure just tell me when you're planning on leaving." "You got it!"

____

Third person POV

As stated by Nya the Bounty had landed not long after they finished washing the dishes. The boys were outside training. Shannon seated cross-legged on the steps just watching with Wu. Garmadon had disappeared back into the ship, probably his room for the time being. Lloyd was hanging around the place too, inside reading. And Nya was getting ready to head out.

It wouldn't be for another 10 minutes till Garmadon emerged from where ever he was.

And unfortunately for everyone he was at the steps of the ship leading to where the ninja were training, and felt like causing some chaos.

Now it's not the man's fault, he has the venom of an equally evil snake brooding in his veins.

He knew he couldn't mess with the ninja, it was like a principle thing seeing as how they where tolerating his presence on the ship. Wu literally came to what might have been hell to most folks and brought him back to Ninjago to save his son. Nyas off limits, and as much as he wants to, his son, Lloyd is probably still shaken from not just the green ninja thing, but the snakes as well.

Which left Shannon.

The young lady had made it clear since there first interaction, that she held nothing against the dark lord. In fact she even played along with his bullshit if she felt like it. Best part, she can hold her own too. She may not train with the boys often but she knows spinjitzu, and has proven to be a good fighter, Shans just lax and a go with the flow kind of person.

With that in mind, he decided to make a comment.

"Not going to change?"

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Shannon questioned, she didn't bother to look at him, as she took a swig from her tea that Wu had generously offered.

"With the amount of purple you wear you might get mistaken for a snake"

"Phff, at least I don't look like a took a bath in tar"

With that, a swift yet not powerful smack to the back of the teens head was earned. It was supposed to be playful, harmless but as the force of the hit passed through the youngers head, the sound of heavy glass hitting wood made itself known. This caused the boys to stop and turn there attention back over to the steps on the deck. As Shannon looked up, it became evidently clear she was missing her right eye.

Panic ensues.

Jay, Cole, Kai, and Zane screamed at the fact there friends eye was now just gone. Garmadons just standing there questioning if he put more power than he initially thought he did. Wu went wide eyes as he stared at the girl next to him, seeing small streams of blood leak out the now empty eye socket. Lloyd and Nya came running out to only to scream themselves.

With a sigh Shannon picked up her Eye and monical that had fallen.

"Guys, chill out!" She yelled.

"CHILL OUT! SHAN YOU EYE FEEL OUT OF YOUR HEAD" the Blue ninja yelled. Pointing at the eye in the Burnetts hand.

"Its a glass eye bolts for brain's" Shan retorted.

"Glass eye?" Cole repeated.

"Yes, a glass eye! Why did you think I wore a monocle instead of regular glasses? Sure I can't see jack with my right eye but it acts as a shield of sorts!"

"I-im so sorry, are you okay Shannon?" Garmadon asked.

"Ya, im fine" she answered.

____

After that everyone had gone inside. Zane grabbed the medical kit to disinfect and put a temporary patch over Shannon's eye. Garmadon had taken the glass eye and with the recommended disinfectant Shannon just so happen to have on her, put the bloody thing in a black glass cup filled with warm water and the disinfectant liquid mixture, to clean it. He may be the bad guy, but he's never really hurt anyone to the point they lose something like an eye.

Once done he gave the glass to Shannon who was now sitting in the armchair.

"So, umm how'd you uh- you know lose you eye?" Kai asked weirly, he feared there might be some sort of trauma along with it and didn't want to trigger it.

"You don't have to tell us!" Nya quickly added.

"Na its fine" Shannon said as she waved off there concerns.

"I was about seven when it happened. Home invasion. The guy had a gun. I had heard sound from downstairs and curiosity got the best of me. I think your all smart enough to piece together what happened next" she said. Everyone kinda relied back at the mear mental image.

"Yikes" Jay, shivered at the thought of it.

"I mean it’s not all that bad I guess. Altho I didn't have a say in whether or not I got a fake eye"

"What do you mean you didn't get a say in it?"

"It’s exactly as I say it is. When I woke up my depth perception was crap, but I had both my eyes. It wasn't until the doctor told me my parents were admit about me having one"

"So are, you like going to be ok or?"

"I'll be fine green bean, if anything this was a good thing, means I need a new one. Thankfully I shot my brother text about one lot long ago." Shannon said dismissively

"Brother?" Wu questioned.

"Okay, Nya you ready to got out?"

"Ya but it can wait-" "I'm good, I swear Nya lets go" the older girl instead as she got up and dragged Nya out the ship for their planned outing. (She put the glass with the eye in the table as they left)

"Well that was, concerning" Cole said as the two girls disappeared.

____

It was around midday the girls were not back yet. Jay was still unnerved by the eye in the cup being in such an open area, moved it over to the kitchen counter. Training was cut short because of the incident. Wu taking into account not just the mental impact of one of his charges eyes popping up in front of them, but the buildup of stuff they'd been having to deal with since his absence. Besides when the girls get back they all need to talk of a plan to get the Fang Blades back from the Serpentine before they can awaken the Devourer. 

Wu and his brother where out front on the deck talking, it felt like forever to the two of them since they last spoke in such good terms. The guys (pluss Lloyd) where inside playing video games as a pass time. It wasn't long after when the sound of a car, a taxi, could be heard coming there way. As the taxi came to a stop the guys had logged off there game and stepped out to grate the return of the only two females on their team. 

But instead of the raven and green tipped brunette haired, a blond tipped brunette boy stepped out the vehicle (not before paying of course) and made his way over to the Bounty. 

“umm, dumb question since there aren't many flying ships around, but is this the Destiny's Bounty?” The Boy asked as he neared the ship. upon closer inspection the boy was wearing a leather jacket with a white under shirt, and jeans with a pair of black converse. He had a mailman bag slung over his shoulder. 

“ya it is, what bring you all the way out here though?” Cole answered as he crossed his arms. attempting to look menacing which seemed to be working.   

“uh, I came to drop something off for my sister, Shannon?” The boy answered.

“Shannon, as in the monocle waring Shan?” Jay asked 

“yes! that one!” 

“Cool, Cool... wanna climb on board?” Kai asked him.

“Would I!” The boy, Shannon’s brother made is way up on the Bounty.

“By the way, what you name” Zane asked as the brunet dorded.

“Shane, Shane Maywather and might I say it’s a pleasure to meet the guys my sister has been staying with after all this time.” He, Shane replied.

____

“wait, so let me get this straight” Cole stood with his hands on his head, clearly confused by what was said. 

Its been about an hour since Shane was let on borde and the guy could see why his sister liked it here so much.  

“there are 10 of you? including Shane makes 11″ Cole sated. Shane just nodded as he let the earth ninja racape what Shane had told them. Wu and Garmadon where in the kitchen intently listening to the conversation they were having.  

“yup, Shan and I are the oldest, there where are the quads; Jason, Mayson, Tyson, Carson.” He started again listing his younger siblings.

“Then the triplets; Asher, Carter and Xavier. Then the last set of twins; Franklyn and Merlyn” Shane finished. 

“No wonder Shannon can deal with us so well” Jay said looking astonished.

“ya she had to deal with 9 younger brothers and one older one” Kai remarked. Shane snickered before correcting him.

“Shannon is the oldest, in fact despite us being twins, she’s technically a year older than me.” 

“But isn't being twins, like two people being born on the same day?” Zane inquired.

“True, but you see, my mom had Shannon on december 31st 1995, at around 11:55pm, I then happened on january 1st 1996 at 00:02am in the morning” Shane explained.

“dude” Jay commented. Shane laghed.

“yup,Shannons the ‘big sister’ of the house” He said glancing about.  

“i'm surprised though, i though Shannon would have at least mentioned something about you guys to us” Lloyd pipped in. He enjoyed Shannons company she made him feel welcome. And when she caught him setting up the prank for Kai as his uncle had asked him to, she gave him some pointers on how to eviscerate Kai’s high score. Even took some pressure off him as she stayed in the room in anticipation for the fire ninja so they wouldn't get too suspicious. To learn Shan had several younger brothers, like Jay commented, meade scene in how she was not only dealt with them but was able to deal with his father so well.

“Honestly,it's do be expected. Because Shannons the oldest our parents are hard on her... We come from a fairly well of family to the point where money is more or less a play thing to our folks” Shane started, the ninja(pluss Loyd)went wide eyed.

“so you're saying you guys are rich?” Jay asked dumbfounded. Shane fidgeted with his fingers.

“Y-Ya pretty much. But Shannon, and our parents, they... They don't get along at all. For all i can remember, the only time i've ever had with Shan was when she wasn't in any of her classes or extracurriculars. They pushed her to be perfect, and at the same time pushed her away. Looking back there where countless arguments over a lot of what they where doing” Shane said looking down at his lap. 

“There was this one argument that just hit the nail in the head though, a couple years back, it was during dinner and our parents had invited a business associates family over. They had a son, about three years older then Shannon and I. Our parents had announced that he would be Shannons fiance and thighs went downhill fast” Looking up once more Shane let a had run though his hair as he relieved the memory. The guys were taken aback by this, seeing as how Shan was arguably one of the most level headed people they knew. 

“sounds stressful” Kai quipped not really knowing how to respond to that, bur as a brother to a sister himself he could understand the feeling of not wanting your sibling to do be forced into doing something they don't want to. 

“You don’t half of it” Shan said with a sigh. 

“After that, she stormed out never to be seen scene again. At least physically, she managed to keep contact with me, we talk but not as much as either of us would like...” He finished leaning back and letting the surprisingly soft couch engulf him. 

“I’m glad though,she deserves a break after everything” Shane commented.

“ya well if you call fighting an army of skeletons, snakes and eventually Garmadon a brake, then you my friend are in need of a vacation as well” Jay replied plopping down next to Shane with a dorky grin. The tenshin that had been building in Shane dissipated, yup he could really see why his sister liked it here so much. 

____

Dropping the topic of who much his and Shannon's parents where that talked about other random things. It was a little bit later when the girl got back.  The two where catting about, something girl related when they walked into the main room of the Bounty. 

“Hey! Welcome back! And guess how came to visit?!” Jay sang, gesturing to Shane who was seated next to him. Shannon looked over at her bother in shock she thought-

"Good to see you again Sister!~" Shane said as be bolted form where he was sitting to envelope Shannon in a hug. As he did Shannon dropped the bags she was holding, seemingly shocked that her blood brother was here. 

“Shane?” She breathed, then hugged him back, leaning into it. 

After a bit the two separated.

“It’s good to see you again Shane! How have you been?” “Good, good, what about you? what happened to your eye? Where is it?” 

Shan laughed a little and shook her head.

“There was an accident this morning, Garmadon hit the back of my head and it just popped out” Shane stood still. Taking in the information. Once complete he turned and tried to lunged to where Garmadon was, if it wasn't for Shannon having grabbed him in that split second. He probably would have gone into a full on fist fight with the dark lord. 

“Lemme go! I'm going to eviscerate him!” Shane hissed struggling against his sisters grip. Thank the First Spinjitzu Master that Shannon trained with the boys ocashinaly. 

“Calm down little brother it was an accident” “Like HELL”  

The two go back and forth a little more till Shane camls down. Garmadon rightfully spooked at the fact that this, well mannered, e-boy looking, kid was threatened to ‘eviscerate’ him. 

“Fine, I won’t attack him, doesn't mean I won’t like it” Shane said mutting that last bit. 

“Seriously (1)Balach Milis, if you applied this anger properly, you wouldn't have to deal with what Eric and Lizzibeth right?” Shannon said as she let him go. picking up the grocery bags, and placed them on the counter. 

“(2)Flùr Gaoithe, you know when it comes to Mama and (3)Athair I can’t do do that!” He complained like a small child. 

“You really need to grow a backbone” Shane said shaking her head.

___ 

Things had settled down since then.  

“It’s getting late, I should get going, I have band practice tomorrow and need the rest.” “boo, skip and just stay here for the week” “Flùr Gaoithe” “Balach Milis“ 

With that The younger twin got up, gave his sister the new glass eye she had asked for, said his goodbyes, shot Garmadon one last glar, and left. 

“Your brother seems like a nice person” Gramadon said looking over the the greet tipped girl. 

“Ya, he’s awesome. Wish he was less of a pushover tho” 

Jay feeling thirsty, walked over into the kitchen. He spotted the black glass cup, completely having forgot about the eye inside it. Now you can't really see anything at the bottom. And Jay, in his infinite wisdom, thinking it was just some random cup of random water that had been left on the kitchen counter, and drank from it. 

“OH GOD” 

 “Did Jay drink from the eye glass?” Lloyd asked his uncle who was watching from the blue ninja form the table.

“He drank from the eye glass” Wu confirmed. The others erupted into a fit of laughter and giggles. 

__________

 (1)Balach Milis - Sweet boy  

(2)Flùr Gaoithe - Wind flower 

(3)Athair - dad

this was translated using google translate, the language being Scottish Gaelic. I know Ninjago was based off of asian culture. But like I said, Shan it scottish for unfortunate and unfair. Also nothing in the lore of the show explicitly states that Ninjago is the only continent on the planet. 

I HC that there are different parts of the world. its safe to say Ninjago is the main land where a lot of the exciting things happen, but across who knows how long away there are different countries. And Shannon’s family like immigrated to Ninjago, during it’s early years where big contributors and financial support, in building the city. 

but ye this is a mini sode, i came up with. criticism is always welcome! I will be doing bullet notes for Shan and Melody, and maye Gold to since i have an active fic about her that i haven't updated in, forever but yaaaaa. 

till next text post i guess lol                          

[serenagaywaterford]

1) Okay, I'm late (bc rl sucks), but I'm back and I'll gradually address everything. "Also do not feel any pressure to respond to my multiple essays! I understand completely!"The same goes to you, bc I feel like I'm bothering you too much. That being said, I truly enjoy talking to you. Not only you offer fresh/perceptive insights into the characters' minds (which made me a. reconsider scenes and motives, b. wanna rewatch S1 --some scenes you're commenting on are SO fuzzy in my head-- mind you,

2) 2) I’m already rereading the book), but you also provide such hilarious, sarcastic lines (some of them are absolute killers).

3) personalities” I know you have an inkling of who’s who. :D But damn, that ‘lesbianing’ bit had me giggling. Kudos, fellow anon. Since we’re on the subject, I have another question about your fic (if you don’t mind): is it post s2 or s1/s2 canon divergent? b) “Add horrid fangirls to that and it’s a big ass no lol.” Ugh. Fandom smh manages to sour my opinion of characters/ships/series I personally like. Especially when fans start pestering the creators to cater to their whims or harass actors

4) or start ship wars. Double ugh. c) “So, that’s the Mass Effect connection!” Two more similarities: i. Mass Effect’s Miranda Lawson got a lot of fandom hate back then (even though she was a famous character), just like Serena. ii. She has a back-and-forth, bickering (hateful but not THAT complex) relationship with another female character. d) “I have seen Westworld! Well, okay, just the first season. I got too tired/confused to get past the 2nd season premiere.” Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have

5) assumed. Believe me when I say it’s a good thing you stopped watching when you did. The overall quality of the series remained pretty much the same (e.g. acting, cinematography, direction), but, oh boy, some new plot twists (which I usually like) are SO OVER THE TOP in order to impress (?) the audience. It’s reached a point where some characters are unrecognizable, bc they’re servants to the plot. Maeve has a lot bigger arc in S2 and Newton is thriving (imo, S2!Maeve >> S1!Maeve), but so is

6) Strahovski/Serena. :D e) “don’t go around bitching at people who say shitty things or stuff I don’t agree with, or blocking anybody who doesn’t like her."Ah, another thing we have in common. There were times I’ve been blocked by fandom people (with beautiful edits) that I NEVER interacted with (except for maybe reblogging from each other). That’s not me complaining. Like I said, each to their own.I just find this phenomenon funny at times. Story time. Once, an out of nowhere anon (whose msg I

7) didn’t publish, bc drama is SO not my thing) said they’d block me, bc of an uploaded gifset for a canon pairing (which wasn’t to their taste apparently) that was tagged as #[series]edit (although the ship!portmanteau was right there, too, so that people could easily block it). I remember being like: "Okay. Good for you, anon!” LOL. f) “I dunno if you see spoilers but there’s one about them.) She needs therapy so much more than a cutesy feelgood storyline.” I did NOT actually, but feel free to8) enlighten me.

——–

I am sort of back! (RL does get in the way of incredibly lengthy essays about fictional TV shows!) NO APOLOGIES NECESSARY!! I am just so happy I get to read all these excellent thoughts, analyses, and feelings you have! (and that we clearly share lol, including the sheer amusement of your writing!). I really want to write more at the mo but my hands are doing that weird old lady thing where you can see the veins popping out and it makes me v uncomfortable to look at. Especially since I have little baby hands. I hate it.

Ok, I’m now kneeling on the floor and the computer is on the kitchen island. This is better. I cannot see the top of my hands. 

SO. Where was I? OW. my kneeeessss. This is a bad idea.

I’m so lost. Fic question. right. It’s post-S2. Like… quite post-S2. I didn’t even deal with HOW or WHY June is back in the Waterford’s house tbh cos I can’t be bothered to sort that out. (Thanks, show.) So, it just assumes that for some reason, she’s back. Which, if the BTS pics/video is to be believed, that’s the case anyway. 

Fangirls (and boys ofc) ruin so much for me. Even if I like the same thing initially. Ugh. Then sometimes they’ll annoy me so much that I end up liking the complete opposite of what they like. Dunno why.

No worries about Westworld! It’s a reasonable assumption! Please don’t apologise, my friend. I do agree that Thandie was very good in S1. IIRC, her character was my fav (other than Clementine lol). Yvonne S2 was just next level shit to me. Like, what you’re saying makes me wanna give S2 WW another shot but when shows get overcomplicated, they’re not much fun anymore when I’m like “BUT WHAT IS HAPPENING LOL”. 

>> “There were times I’ve been blocked by fandom people (with beautiful edits) that I NEVER interacted with (except for maybe reblogging from each other)”

EXACT SAME. It was actually in THT fandom most recently lol. Like, I reblogged one of their pretty edits once. Ever. I didn’t even say anything snarky or bitchy or rude in tags. I don’t think I added any commentary at all. Next thing I know? BLOCKED. Never interacted with them in any way whatsoever. (Typical N/J fangirl lol.) It’s the strangest behaviour and it’s that kind of thing that sours me towards sects of fangirls, and sometimes even the characters they like. Maybe that’s just petty but I think it actually just reinforces pre-existing feelings I had towards the character or pairing.) The only blogs I block are ones that are gross, RP, or spam. (RP blogs is a long history of them stealing and spamming and adding awful commentary to my posts way back in the day, so I just… block em. lol.)

>> “they’d block me, bc of an uploaded gifset for a canon pairing (which wasn’t to their taste apparently) that was tagged as #[series]edit (although the ship!portmanteau was right there, too, so that people could easily block it). I remember being like: “Okay. Good for you, anon!” LOL.”

Oh. My… WHAT. There’s a very odd sense of entitlement here that seems so peculiar to me. Like, that’s what the blacklisting feature is for? I’ve put every version of my most despised pairings, characters, etc. and it works? Very rarely does it miss on. I guess we’re just dramaphobic, mature old fandom farts. Like, “Kids, let me sit you down and tell you about this site before you could block things. Before even XKit was invented…” Not to mention every other website ever lol.

HOLY GROSS… I just got up and a centipede fell off me!! WHYYYYYY. THIS IS WHY I DON’T SIT ON THE FLOOR. (we live near the beach/woods so we get lots of bugs no matter how clean we are…) no more painful kneeling for me i guess…

OKAY. Spoilers. It’s not much but other than the June in Martha costume (which was shown in the teaser Superbowl trailer anyway by now)… there were set pics of Emily, Sylvia, Nicole, and Luke all happy and smiling. IIRC. I can’t find the post anymore. So it may not have been in character. But I dunno… it all seems… too easy? Like, I’m glad Emily is safe but omg. She’d better not be all hunky dory “I stabbed a lady and threw her down the stairs, murdered another, and ran a dude over with a stolen car, but now I’m Canada, I’m all healed!” (Not including the heart attack/crotch kicking here cos that was fair play to Emily. She deserved that.) Like, honestly, as much part of me was like YESSSS at all of those, still… that’s grievous bodily harm with intent to kill, flat out murder, and vehicular manslaughter. For Emily to do those things, you don’t do those crimes without being really broken and damaged. And… yeah. That doesn’t magically disappear when you hop over a border.

[gravityofforteana]

(from the article...Monday, November 21, 2011)

It has been about a week and a half since I've been able to post something here, and I apologize. Life has been crowded with certain unusually stressful family care situations, increased UFO book editing pressures, some rare book purchasing, selling the old family house, and generally being gassed. This Little People topic, also, has not lent itself to easy, off-the-top-of-the-head posting. But, one hundred of my case file encounters have now been logged, and I guess, ready or not, I'll unload them. I can't make any good sense out of this topic yet folks, so it's going to be: let it fly, and it's up to you to see if it's of any value to you.

Let's get the boring preliminaries out of the way first. As said, this material comes from my case files collected from published encounter claims over several years of "collecting". As with my UFO files, these cases were not collected systematically, but merely as I ran into them and thought them interesting. The sources are quite varied. About a quarter of this particular hundred were taken off one internet site where people write in their "fairy" claims. About a like number were taken from my "UFO" files, and picked out because they didn't ring particularly true as UFO cases. Others come from books and magazine articles. The only things that they have in common is 1). they struck me as interesting potentially-true encounters; and 2). they seemed to have a "folkloric entity" feeling to them. So, this is entirely idiosyncratic to me and as such hardly "scientific" to start.

The crude data arrays are to the left. The majority of these characters are "smalls" [1 1/2--4 1/2 feet tall]. They are the "Little People" we expect. About a quarter of these are "tinies". They are almost the only critters said to be winged. "Tinkerbells", if you will. They come almost entirely from the internet site "Fairy Encounters", which seems to attract mostly young girls who want to see fairies. I waded through a very large number of these claims some time ago, and weeded out a couple dozen which were reported by adults and seemed to have some redeeming characteristics. There were very few normal sized creatures in this list, and just one, I believe, extremely large one. Perhaps the folkloric big entities are all masquerading as Bigfoot or Nessy-like creatures. Normal-sized humanoids may be shunted off into the "apparitions" category and not make the Faerie listings. There were a few fairyish things which had no entity seen but included for other reasons. [fairy music, etc.]

The files for this hundred are almost entirely 20th-21st century, which is of some interest to me, as it may be saying that the phenomenon continues to today, regardless of being ignored. Had it been true that I had just collected material out of WY Evans-Wentz, Wirth Sikes, or even much of Janet Bord, the previous centuries would have been more widely represented.

As usual, with my language-constricted reading ability, all the citations are in english, and as a consequence, mostly US and UK, in about equal amounts. There are 16% European citations, though, mainly from UFO files. Ireland has very few cites as yet. There should be a few more of those in a second hundred if I ever get it done.

A general comment [therefore not universally true] about states of consciousness: Many cases of Faerie claims occur, as reported, at bedtime, lying down, dreamily staring at something, etc. This phenomenology [in these cases reported upon here] tend to concentrate heavily in the Tinkerbell-type tiny winged fairy reports. Reports of "small" dwarf, leprechaun, gnome, etc sized denizens of Faerie typically do NOT occur in these states of consciousness, but rather "normal" consciousness at least as far as the reports indicate. What this says about reality, I will leave up to you.

Despite my comment about states-of-consciousness and the Fairy Encounters site that I made above, there still were quite a few reports that I found interesting. In VERY truncated form, I'll describe some of them. They will be a selection picked to illustrate a wide range of possible experience. All of these were from the 1970s through to circa 2005. Almost all are from the US with as sprinkling of UK, and one Belgium and Germany. Almost all these stories were written in by the observers when they were much older.

1). Four young girls find tiny footprints in rural Colorado. They make a fairy house to encourage activity. Only a glowing silhouette is seen, and an arrangement of sticks like a person.

2). Three teenage girls were in countryside in Wales to paint landscapes. Saw slim thread with something riding on it. It was a very tiny "egg" within which was a "man" with a purple-colored dwarf's hat apparently joy-riding the "egg" as a minicraft. Two of the girls drew the same thing separately.

3). Two girls were playing in the backyard at night. A "firefly" showed up. It turned out to look like Tinkerbell and it stayed briefly, smiling, and assuring the girls not to be afraid.

4). One girl used to sit out in nature a lot, and built fairy houses. Nothing for a very long time. One day she saw a rainbow-colored glowing tiny winged creature flying around where she usually sat. It stayed there a while, the two looking at one another.

5). A girl and her brother were out to play in nearby woods. He ran off to pick apples. She just sat, not going after him, picking flowers. In one flower a flutterbye [I refuse to use the modern degradation "butterfly"] flew out and danced away. It appeared as a tiny fairy. It led her on until disappearing. There was her brother fallen from a tree and unconscious. She stopped the bleeding in his head. They rested and got back home safely.

6). Two guys decided to go fairy-hunting in a place deemed likely by others [one of the reasons that I am particularly suspicious of this one]. They go to a rural cemetery just as dusk falls. This reminds me of knuckleheads looking for trouble, but OK. There they are hiding behind cover in order not to be spotted by police when they saw a rapidly dancing 5" high person. It danced continuously for 5 minutes and disappeared. Making ready to leave, they found that somehow they were at the very opposite end of the cemetery with no recollection of having gotten there [this is the element of this that I found interesting enough to include this one]. This constituted a ten minute run to get back to where their car was. There are plenty of reasons to discard things like this, but the reporter didn't make himself sound too flattering in his tale, and the spatial slip is reminiscent of the Irish concept of the "Stray Sod".

7). A woman told of constantly finding that things were "going missing" and then reappearing later exactly where they should have been and where she had looked for them [thoroughly] . She attributed this to fairy-tricksters of some kind [never saw them] and finally began to just say "Come on you guys this isn't funny anymore!" and the item would pop up soon thereafter. "Fairy" or not, this phenomenon is all over the literature [usually buried under Poltergeist phenomena] and I have a sister who is burdened with these same sorts of temporary diversions.

8). A girl living in the English countryside regularly visited a friend and experienced the beautiful garden there. She began to sketch a flower when a flutterbye landed on it. But it wasn't a flutterbye afterall but rather a golden miniature person [female] with wings. It left the flower and flew up and posed a few inches from her face. Then it flew up and away. No one believed her, but she returned often hoping to see another, which she never did.

9). Two girls used to play in the woods when they began to tell one another that they thought they were seeing creatures out of the corners of their eyes and then retreating behind the trees when the girls would turn on them. Unlike other claims on this site, these were "smalls", and the girls compared them to "Santa's Elves" in size. While this would go on, the environment would be like a dreamy, fuzzy state, which would snap back to "hard reality" only once they got back home and inside.

10). A teenage girl [16] was walking down a country lane when she saw a flutterbye-sized tiny girl with wings singing beautifully while seated on a hedge. She flew up and beyond the hedge not to be seen again. The 21-year-old reporter never told anyone of this due to not wanting to be mocked.

11). An 11 year old girl was upstairs in her home while her parents held a party downstairs. Watching the raindrops on her window, she saw within one a tiny almost see-through female playing inside the drop. After a while, she decided to try to get her Mom to see it too, but the fairy disappeared. The reporter was 38 at the time of the telling.

12). A woman was sitting on the edge of her bed in a dimly lit room. Then time/action seemed to slow down and small half-inch diameter balls of light of different colors began manifesting. She was able to concentrate on one which was quite nearby. It was a tiny winged creature fluttering so rapidly that you could not resolve exactly its appearance, and whose motions gave it the more distant impression of being a ball-of-light. She felt that this went on for perhaps twenty seconds, but the rate of time made it seem much longer.

13). A young man was walking his girl in a "romantic" forest setting. They heard a strange language-like cry, and suddenly were no longer on their forest path. The environment was wrong, now featuring water-sounds burbling on rocks. They turned and were confronted by a beautiful normal-sized girl all dressed in green. She then turned into a green ball-of-light and flew off. They had to walk a ways to get back to the path leading to their house.

14). Four people in a temporary house [a camper] were outside watching a meteor shower, when two retired to bed. The other two, mother and daughter, stayed up with the family dog. The dog began barking at the back gate. Mother and daughter turned to see a large ball of white light about 20 feet from the gate. It disappeared while they ran in to wake up the father. They interpreted this as a fairy lightball.

15). Two boys and their dog were in the woods camping. The dog ran off. One boy followed. He heard beautiful music and looked to see two-inch tall men and women with wings doing the singing and partying. Shortly thereafter his friend arrived and watched too. Then after ten minutes of this, the dog came romping out of the woods barking. The fairies immediately disappeared. The next morning the friend described everything he had seen, but said that it happened in his dream.

16). Two young women [sisters] were home alone baking cookies. As they looked out their window, a small man looking like a "leprechaun" but not dressed in green, floated up over their neighbor's fence riding on what looked like a motorcycle. It raced across their yard and floated up over the next fence and away.

17). A young man and woman were driving in a scenic hilly area. They saw a large ball of white light, which disappeared into the woods. They got out and looked for it in vain. All they heard was some giggling. They continued their drive and there again was the light; this time in the middle of the road. He couldn't stop and went right over it. They stopped and jumped out. Looking under their truck, there was the ball of light making giggling noises. Apparently it then went safely away, as the young woman expressed her relief that the playful fairy/lightball was unharmed.

18). A young man at a time just prior to Halloween, had heard some tiny playful giggling in his garden which he couldn't locate. Then just on or right after Halloween, he and a friend saw two bluish glittering winged figures. They were nearly transparent as if made of gas. These two experiences tripped off memories of him having a childhood "imaginary playmate" whom he hadn't remembered in years. The imaginary playmate had been a fairy.

19). A girl was in her bedroom on a full Moon night staring out the window. Into the yard came a fuzzy figure made of light. It was a woman in a silvery long gown with bright golden hair and a crown. She was winged with glittering diaphanous silver. She stopped, looked at the Moon, turned into a ball of silvery light, and disappeared. The woman, in her thirties when she reported this, stated that she didn't know whether to call her encounter as being with a fairy, a ghost, or an angel.

20). A young person [sex not determinable from the report] was unable to sleep one night, and had an odd urging to get up and go outside. Once there, the urge continued and the witness was almost put to the ground without willing it. Immediately, Alice-in-Wonderland-like, the grass seemed growing tall all around [as the person shrunk]. A large group of fairy personages came talking and smiling and circling about. They then suddenly scattered away [the person had a blade of grass laid over one hand completely covering it]. Increasing to normal size, the witness wondered if it was just a dream. In that hand was grasped a small blade of grass. Once back in the bedroom, the brother said that he had watched it all from the window.

So be it to give you a largish dose of modern alleged fairy sightings. Note that there is quite a bit of scope phenomenologically here, but not far outside the expectations of a Fairylore sighting. I, as a UFO researcher, find the frequency of Ball-of-Light phenomena interesting, especially as many of these things found in UFO files don't sound very UFO-like. Also, though this is a "Fairy" website, one expects "Tinkerbells" but one also gets several larger critters. The majority of these things happen outside in woods or garden settings, or looking out one's window into a yard or garden. The changed environment cases smack of various forms of the OZ Effect in UFOlogy. Poltergeist phenomena and apparitional things seem to crop up. The Realm of Fairy, in fact, threatens to expand to potentially contain many other paranormal claims. These cases as presented also have a very powerful gender slant to them, which speaks to a strong sociological filter. Doubtless it is OK for girls to report fairies but not guys. Guys of course can make up for this by reporting Bigfoot.