#one of her friends wants to resurrect her so she won't be gone for long but still

[jade-bright]

Just so yall know,

There's some versions of my same age sterek au in my head, where Stiles' grandmother, Claudia's mother, is a(n) seer/oracle (someone with the ability to see what will happen in the future).

Anyway, in some worlds, at some point, Grandma Gajos sees how Claudia will lose herself and die when Stiles is still fairly young. She doesn't do much about it since she's had to grow up reminded and reminding herself to live in the moment, but it all comes to a head when Stiles loses most of his spark, (as the price for bringing Paige back from the dead) that's when she knows Claudia will soon not be her Claudia anymore.

So she let's her grandson and his friends have some time to recover from their friend's death and resurrection, and let both the Stilinski and Hale families process the fact that the other is part of the supernatural world, before she starts getting herself involved with Stiles' relationship with Derek.

Firstly, this is a born werewolf of a strong pack and a long line of Hale's, she is going to walk up to the Hale house and demand strongly suggest and recommend that Derek officially and correctly court her grandson, (Stiles can whine all he wants but a spark deserves no less than a proper courting, especially her own grandson).

After both of them have proven themselves worthy mates to the each other and their families, with some help from Peter (because he's the only reasonable one hadn't tried to talk her out of this whole thing, and willingly helping with little to no fuss) she starts to plan a mating bond ritual combined with a handfasting ceremony.

Both parents of the boys try to reason with her, in that they shouldn't be tying their sons together so early, when they're both still so young, but she knows her daughter won't be able to be at her son's wedding (doesn't yet see that almost all the Hale's won't be either), and that if there's one good thing about her power is that she knows Derek is it for Stiles, she's seen several versions of her little Mieczysław and there's not one where he doesn't end up with Derek Hale.

She continues on her mission of getting them married through spark and werewolf means, she knows even if it'll only be recognized by those of the supernatural world, it won't matter because this is much more meaningful to both families.

When she's sitting in the front row during the ceremonial ritual and can see right in front of her, the deep true love these two boys have for each other, she's more than happy to have gone through with this. And when she's at the after-party watching as Claudia and Talia get to dance with their new sons, she's truly reassured in that she'll never regret her decision in doing this.

This adventure of Grandma Gajos ends with howls and sparks of light going into the night, and for some, it'll be the last good moment they'll have for a long time...

[krethes]

(Continuing my efforts to break out of my writer's block...sad Remus & Lily content)

It's hard, seeing someone you love—the first person you ever loved—in pain. He wasn't used to it, not like Lily was. She saw him in misery every month, visited him in the Hospital Wing with a sack of sweets and a thermos of heavily honeyed tea for his scream-raw throat. But Lily never let her hurt show, not when Snape betrayed her confidence, not when people called her names, not when Death Eaters fired off lethal curses around her. 

But she's in his arms now, broken, sobbing. It's not quiet. It's loud and gasping and a deep, unending pain, and Remus knows it. Knows it so keenly, he can barely stand to be here with her. But he must. He will. No one can bear this alone. Remus had Sirius. Lily normally has James. But they're on a Mission, and even the news of his wife's mother dying was not reason enough for Dumbledore to bring James home early. 

What a load of shit. 

Remus has long since started to see the heartlessness behind their general. Perhaps it's necessary. Perhaps it's what they need to do to win against a ruthless, genocidal maniac. Or perhaps he's just too focused on the mechanics and not the cogs making it run. 

His shirt is soaked with salty tears, and Remus would do anything to lessen her pain. He gathers Lily closer, kisses the top of her head, her forehead, her cheeks, and briefly, chastely, her lips. She tastes like salty tears, too. It's not sexual. It's just…comfort. She sighs against his mouth and buries her face into his neck after a few seconds, crying silently now save for a hiccup or two. 

Remus rubs her back in soothing circles, though it seems pointless. He can't do anything to help. A cheering charm would only force laughter and a smile, but her heart would still be breaking behind it, a hollow, jagged mockery of the true emotion. 

"What am I supposed to do?" she whispers when the sun has gone down and the moon rises, fat and heavy in the sky. It's not full, but close, and Remus hopes Sirius will make it back before then. Make it back at all. Lily's voice is frail and torn, hoarse from her crying. Her scent is sour, misery and anguish and fear, but Remus doesn't shy away from it, overwhelming as it is. 

"I don't really have an answer for you, love," Remus admits. His mother died a few months ago and he still wakes up with wet, tear-streaked cheeks. He still thinks about visiting her in Dover, but remembers she's buried in the neighboring town as he's pulling on his coat. And his dad, well…he's fucked off to Merlin knows where. Left behind an absolute mess in the house, vanished into thin air. Maybe he's dead, like Lily's dad. Maybe he's just trying to disappear. Remus wants to, sometimes. Just get up and run and run, outrun the horrors that plague him.

They've lost so much this year. Friends, family, sleep, innocence. Remus has committed sins he can't even tell Sirius about, and the knowledge of that haunts him like a ghost. 

Lily is quiet for a long time, but Remus senses she has something she wants to say. "Your dad…" She clears her throat and looks up at Remus, her fair eyelashes clumped together, cheeks wet. "His library, he-"

"Lily." Remus cuts her off with a sharp shake of his head. "No, it's not-"

"It's not fair! I don't- I won't…I wouldn't do anything, I just… I just want to know if it's possible."

Remus sighs and rests his chin on her head. "It's possible." He'd read through everything. The loose leaves of parchment scattered around his dad's library that spoke of reanimation, resurrection. Necromancy. The theory was sound. Remus immediately checked that his mother's remains were still undisturbed after, and was relieved that his dad hadn't gone through with it. Or hadn't yet. 

"Can I just-" Lily bites her lower lip and pulls back to look up at him again. "Please? I just… to pretend. Just for a little while. That I could…that she could be here."

Remus closes his eyes, fighting the drowning pull of her grief. He's never been good at saying no to her, and has been even more rubbish at denying the allure of the darker magics. They both share that, the appreciation for the mysterious, the forbidden. Maybe it's how they were raised. Maybe it's the dark creature in Remus. Who's to say. 

"... Alright. Get your coat. I'll show you everything."

[margridarnauds]

So, my Honour Mode Anathematisma Run, aka "How Many Ways Can I Fuck Up This Run Without Dying"

So, I got the Friends cantrip, which I've never really used before on this difficulty level. This is important for down the line.

Ana is RIDICULOUSLY powerful because I installed a cambion mod because it's what Hell's Little Princess deserves.

We easily demolish most of the early Act 1 things that can end an Honour Mode run easily, even getting the Everburn blade.

Then...we get to the Grove. I'm not able to prevent Zevlor from being punched by Aradin, but it's *fine*. Kagha's there, wants to speak with us, etc.

Ana goes to talk with her with her bardy powers

Because this is Honour Mode and redos are MUCH more expensive (and I don't want Arabella to die), I use. The Friends cantrip.

It succeeds, Arabella runs free.

Then...it runs out. Kagha and co. turn hostile immediately.

Worse, when I try to run out as a way of getting RID of the temporarily hostile buff, the druids decide that's the time to start the tiefling genocide party. I'm able to take down Kagha and the remaining druids, but then I have to take down the rest outside.

It's...not pretty.

I'm able to put them down, but there are a lot of casualties. Including Wyll and Dammon. Wyll...who is Ana's canonical love interest.

Okay, fine, this would make me reload another game, but we can move ON from this. It'll be *fine*. Especially once I resurrect Wyll. We're back on track.

I still have to give Rath money in order to make him like me again even though he turned on Kagha.

...I go to recruit Karlach. She shames me for killing everyone in the Grove. Calls Wyll a rat.

...well, she's not joining our side AND was rude, so she's gotta die.

Okay, so a lot of people are dead AND Karlach's dead, but we can move on from this.

I go to the Owlbear cave after convincing the expendable Absolutists to avenge their brother. The owlbear cub stays hostile after I kill both of the older owlbears. I have to knock it out. (I'd been hoping to trigger Wyll Approval Points by sparing it in the cutscene)

I go to the Zhentarim locked in the cave. Unfortunately, even though I succeed in convincing Flind to kill all her pack mates, I'm not able to get her to eat herself. So she's gotta go.

I'm not able to win this fight because my team's exhausted after everything else, so I'm able to book a retreat with Astarion.

I get everyone resurrected, do a long rest, go back, kill Flind. Rugan and his buddy are dead, but they're Banites (albeit hot Banites), so I don't care about them.

Go to Waukeen's Rest, save everyone there, go to the Zhentarim hideout, hand over the chest. I go to negotiate for the painter's release. And I use. Friends.

I have to fight the Zhentarim.

At least I got a Titanstring bow out of it.

Astarion is lagging behind in approval, so I decide to go to the swamp. He kills Gandrel instantly because he hasn't revealed he's a vampire.

I go back to the Goblin Camp, prepared to kill the leaders + make it to the Underdark (it's...going to be fun giving Halsin the news). I go to Priestess Gut, especially since she's USUALLY the easiest to kill.

...some combination of my dialogue means she isn't willing to even talk to me and tells me to go away. So I have to initiate combat. I cast Silence so she won't call for help, but she runs outside of it and does it anyway.

She then DRAGS Roah Moonglow, aka One of the OTHER Best Merchants In Act One, into the battle. I have to put MORE Zhentarim down as well as deal with Priestess Gut.

Eventually, I kill all of them.

So, at the moment, Ana has a relatively poor relationship with Astarion (even though she allows him to munch on her), not NEARLY as good a relationship as she could have with Wyll (even though she's making him worse now that Karlach's gone), Gale has been asking for magical artifacts freakishly fast, we've lost a total of four merchants, the druids are dead, and Karlach is McFucking Dead. And I honestly have no idea whether the Owlbear Cub will spawn, especially since Korra is too focused on me poisoning her friends to want to play Chicken Chase.

And we still haven't had the chance for the Family Reunion with Raphael.

At least Ana's new design is hot?

[vixsims]

took some of the current PVWT teens to test out a new lot and try some fun new activities like skydiving.....did not realize the sim i chose to skydive had the unlucky trait....now she’s dead ! this fun, casual outing sure took a turn ! 

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

PLS elaborate on the leaf incident 👀 👀 👀

So! Buckle in, we're in for a RIDE.

In Charian (the land they live in), there is a certain groundcover (I picture it something like mallow in height, though the leaves are different and more abundant), which is favoured by the alyen.

It has mildly hallucinogenic properties, among other things. It can trick the one who consumes it to believe that they are more capable and able than they actually are. Taken to excess, it has long-term health issues, especially as relates to various senses. Its short-term effects are liable to happen at just about any consumption level, unpredictably.

For reasons known only to themselves, the alyen promote it as a healthy substance to feast off generously. Of course some of the tairen also eat it, but in general more sparingly. It is severely frowned upon, especially under Sheba's leadership, and is akin to calling the Darkness (the dragon who they are preventing from being resurrected/released) the Queen, as a taire.

Now we come to how this affects Paddy and leads to the actual leaf incident. He's very much the sort who will follow all the really important tairen dictates, and make a noise about doing so as well. So when he has a chance to impress a newcomer (who he is about to deliver safely to the tairen since she is such a danger to their cause), he talks up how he never does anything Sheba truly doesn't want him to do, et cetera, et cetera.

Then along comes a band of alyen. Paddy sees this as a good opportunity (spy/scout that he is) to get information from them, especially as regards Taira and whether they know Taira exists yet. So he tells Taira to hide, which she does. She hides where she can see him.

Unfortunately, they were just approaching the largest patch of the leaf (it doesn't have an actual name yet; does it need one? feel free to suggest names to me) in the area, with the express intention of harvesting plenty to keep dosing the alyen with. Of course, while harvesting, they may as well have a blowout feast of it.

They're understandably suspicious of Paddy himself. He's acting all breezy and correct and they're not entirely trusting him. So some of the others begin to harvest. Paddy, of course, is wildly outnumbered, and hence absolutely cannot let them suspect him, or he's dead. He manages to keep out of the harvesting with some excuse, and keeps talking to the others.

(Taira, still and silent, is watching from the undergrowth. Oh, and at this point she's covered in mud, so she's not particularly visible.)

But the time comes when they stop harvesting and start feasting. They notice that one (1) of their members isn't touching it, and that's Paddy. They push him to eat some.

Given how much most of them have literally just been eating, and the assortment of animals, and Paddy's position in the group at present, at this point he could cut his losses and make a break for it. There's a 99% chance that he'll escape, and Taira will be able to sneak out after him later.

However, Paddy, being his usual sometimes arrogant self, believes that the leaf won't affect him too much. He wants to show up to his new friends - because even though they are different sides of the war, he wants to feel accepted there too. He believes he can handle it, so when somebody asks him if he wants to try some (he claims health problems in childhood made him unable to digest it), he responds, Don't mind if I do, and instead of just taking one leaf, voluntarily consumes a large bunch.

Taira, watching, feels shocked and betrayed, especially because he promised her he wouldn't go too far with it. Eventually, the alyen fall asleep, as does Paddy. He, however, rises earlier than any of the others, and intends to find Taira and sneak away. He did not account in his plans for the fact that his smell and taste are entirely gone, and his other senses are significantly worse than they were (they recover in time, but not for at least several days). Since Taira has shifted position, he cannot find her. He goes to and fro begging her to forgive him and show herself and come back. (That particular section is inspired by the excellent and heartwrenching scene in the film The Silver Fleet, in which the main character pleads with his wife to let him in, if she loves him, and she resists him. Taira does a very similar thing.) He gets very close to her, but she manages to elude him.

I forget exactly what happens next (and with the addition of new characters since I noted all this down, it may change), but it ends with Paddy bound in captivity by the group of alyen, and Spry leading Taira back to safety with the tairen, who will come and rescue Paddy. Except Spry isn't actually a taire, and has secretly told the alyen about her existence (maybe that's why they suspect Paddy?) and takes her to them, so that she is captured too. Originally I had her trying to free Paddy and thereby being captured, but I like this better.

Spry then, leaving Taira and Paddy in the clutches of the alyen, goes and informs the tairen that Paddy has been captured. Paddy is unaware of Taira's capture, and it is at this point that the flying wombats come into play to save Paddy.

Some of this needs better plotting out, but that's the basics of what's going on with the leaf incident, anyway. And that is where the earlier excerpt regarding treason - I think the first I shared on here, and should be under the tag paddy, and possibly sheba as well - comes in, when Paddy faces Sheba, because he essentially lost Taira to them, by sharing food with the alyen.

I would love to know your thoughts, you and/or anyone else. Originally, this was written as a reference to Bree's arrogance, in The Horse And His Boy.

Did you enjoy this?

[loversarcanas]

I’d love to hear about your au!

WEHEHEHE rubs my gay little hands together im so glad you sent this ask thank you <333

im gonna put it under a read more bc it's A Lot of words and I don't wanna down anyone out

tldr: sashanne valentines day and resurrecting the romantic art of burning cds for the one that you love <3

it's the week of vday st school and everyone is buying valentines for others and stuff and anne, ever the romantic, daydreams about one day someone giving her a real valentine (the girls give each other friendship chocolates every year or smth like that) and sasha's like 'hmm maybe I'll give her a valentine from a fake secret admirer so that she can feel good about vday - also this definitely won't awaken any dormant feelings I have about her or anything'

so she goes to marcy with this idea, and since marcy and sasha have both dated people and know how badly anne wants that she's ALL for it. and they plan to get her like one of the carnations that are sold at school but think 'yknow annde deserves more effort than JUST that" so they come up with an idea for a mix tape/cd bc 1. it's unique and 2. anne LOVES music and would think it's the most romantic gesture EVER. and since marcy is a big gamer she has a cd drive on her computer at home and they pick up a pack of blank cds and get to work

the first cd it's really just some basic pop punk romance songs that would throw anne off their trail and would seem like something a random guy would put on a playlist for a girl he liked, and sasha slides the cd in anne's locker after cheer practice (after anne and marcy have gone home) so she opens her locker the next day to find the cd and a note taped to it from the 'secret admirer' and anne is just. BUBBLING with joy, she's never gotten a valentine before and it's something that she's ALWAYS wanted, she's practically JUMPING for joy. and there's this warm feeling in sasha's chest watching anne like this, a kind of warmth that she never got when so many other kids in the school gave her valentines, and it makes her want to do it again

so she makes another one, writes another note, maybe tapes a herseys kiss to this one. she puts more heart into the songs she picks, tailors it slightly more to what kind of music anne likes (not enough to make it an obvious change though), and drops it in her locker again when she's not there

marcy, while sasha is at her house, questions how long she's going to do this for - because she doesn't want anne to feel strung along by a secret admirer who doesn't even exist. sasha tells her she'll only do it until valentines day, so for the rest of the week - reassures her there's nothing to worry about. in the meantime she's sitting with these feelings she's realizing she's had for anne for a while now - and that it's definitely the reason she wants to keep going. she has this deep urge to spoil anne and wants to keep seeing her happy like this, see anne smile BECAUSE of her... not that she can admit that out loud to anyone. if she told marcy, she knows marcy will try to play matchmaker and potentially reveal what sasha is feeling before she's ready. and she isn't close enough to any of her other school friends to trust them not to tell - plus being the popular head cheerleader means that if word slipped out, rumours would spread like a wildfire she couldn't contain.

however her plans fall short two days before valentines day, when anne confronts her - saying another cheer member told her she saw sasha putting the last cd in her locker. sasha has no choice to come clean and tell her that she did it so anne wouldn't feel left out on vday. which anne is still hurt by, saying how much worse it hurts having this false hope that someone would go through all this for her, and then realize it was all just an elaborate prank - and tells her that she's especially upset that it was sashs's doing and walks away, refuses to talk to her for the rest of the day.

so when sasha goes home, she breaks down. realizes she made a fatal mistake. even when her intentions are good, her execution just manages to hurt her. so she does the only thing she can think to do in that moment - her words failed, so music will speak for her

the next day, there's an envelope in the boonchuys mailbox with anne's name on it - a single cd with a single song on it. when anne plays it, the sound that comes through isn't any popular musician or band, but rather sasha's voice - her singing a song she wrote herself, accompanied by guitar. a love song that outlines her feelings for anne and her apologies for leading her astray, that she was a coward and hid behind the facade because she was too afraid to face anne with her feelings, or even gave these feelings herself.

the note was signed 'your not-so-secret admirer' and that's when everything clicks

so anne goes to sashas house and knocks on her door, asking to come in and talk

they sit on sasha's bed in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before annd speaks up, asking if she really meant all that, to which sasha tells her yeah, she did. she originally started this because she didn't want anne to feel left out again, but the reaction she got from anne made her want to keep doing it. and before she realized, she was encountering feelings she wasn't prepared to deal with, and that she truthfully didn't even know what would happen if she did come forward with them

and anne tells her that the reason she was so hurt that it was sasha pulling the prank, was that she wanted it to be real instead of a joke. and of course sasha is like "well.... it is real, so you don't have to worry about that"

they're both flustered and anxious and can't even look at each other, but sasha bites the bullet and nervously asks anne to be her valentine tomorrow, and anne responds by grasping her hand, still not looking at sasha, and nodding with an "i-i'd like that" (we love parallel moments)

and finally, valentines day arrives, and for the first time anne gets her dream fulfilled- she gets a real true valentine and her first date with sasha, who decidedly pulls out all the stops on their date (to as much of an extent that one can do in middle school) and anne still keeps all those cds after <3

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 5 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Guardians

Helloooo! Did you think I was done? No!

My PhD thesis chapters were approved last week, so have some celebratory meta. I haven't seen the latest Season 4 episodes, so do forgive me for not being up to date.

Welcome to the next part of my analysis of the basic concepts of Miraculous Ladybug. Today we are talking about Master Fu, Order of the Guardians and how little everything here makes sense. I highly recommend reading previous parts to fully understand this one, but I'll try to quote most parts of earlier posts.

Order of the Guardians

Order is an international and ancient organisation (New York Special showed us the guardian from North America and he was dressed like Su Han). Presumably, Miraculous jewels were created by these people. Guardians are responsible for the preservation of jewels and knowledge about them. They also distribute Miraculouses to worthy people around the world to combat mostly magical threats, but sometimes jewels are used against normal threats too. It's implied that Master Fu used Miraculouses during WW2 when he was in Paris. Perhaps he performed some spywork with Marianne, but the magical nature of his interferences was discovered and he was forced to flee, before returning to France many decades later.

Why does the Order need so many people to take care of a 3 Miracle Boxes? If its only purpose is to preserve knowledge, keep magical secrets and distribute Miraculous jewels then wouldn't it be more logical to have Master-Apprentice system? It's much easier to keep magic knowledge a secret and train a few people in martial arts than doing the same in the self-sufficient temple full of people, keeping in mind that a good part of them are teenagers and children, who are bad at keeping secrets. Also a single person can travel around the world much easier to give out Miraculouses. Imagine that we have a few active guardians traveling the world with Boxes. What do other people at the temple do in the meantime? They teach the next generation about the powers of each Miraculous and Mirakung Fu, but besides that?

Master-Apprentice system gives us more personal conflict between Fu and his mentor and makes his relationship with Marinette and Adrien more nuanced. In this scenario Fu accidentally caused the death of his Master at 14 because he wasn't careful. It makes sense for him to take on only 1 or 2 students if this is how things were done with Miraculous Guardians. This Wang Fu is very cautious and protective, he spent the majority of his life afraid of hurting someone else and never took an apprentice as a result. But now he is ready to try again, since he is not getting any younger and he likes these 2 kids. He wants them to succeed. Maybe Master Fu, becomes the father figure for Adrien in this situation and a guide for Marinette. Just think about it. This way writers avoid the need to develop all these extra characters (Su Han) and traditions related to the Order. All inconsistencies I mentioned before and later in this post are gone now! Hell, even memory loss and the changing of the Miracle Box shape could make more sense. We also raise the stakes post-amnesia, if it happens of course (the whole Season 3 finale didn't make sense, so stay tuned for my next meta). Marinette and Adrien are on their own now, there's no one who can give them answers. It's very fun scenario, which has potential to be brilliant. Any thoughts on that?

The existence of Order of the Guardians is not quite a secret, at least it wasn't in XIX century China. Master Fu in "Feast" says that guardianship was considered "a great honor". It implies that people who lived close to the temple of the Order knew about Miraculouses and what exactly guardians did for the greater good.

The existence of other Miracle Boxes around the world makes sense from a real-life perspective. Writers have the ability to create many stories set in the same universe and use them for merchandise and an almost unlimited amount of content. Judging by the unholy amount of specials in production, this is exactly what the creators are going to do. It probably won't go down well, but who knows?

However, it doesn't work in our main story. The main conflict is Paris-centred. Gabriel's motivations revolve around Emilie's resurrection and Season 4 gives us more reasons to suspect that Adrien's mom wasn't as wonderful as everyone says. Hawkmoth still remains the main villain of the show and most likely it's going to stay that way. There's no point in moving the main story to different places for the sake of introducing more Miracle Boxes from around the world. Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't needed to fight something halfway across the world unless Hawkmoth also changes locations.

LB and CN are centrepieces of this franchise. They brought success and money to ZAG. Creators constantly need to remind the audience that this new piece of media with new characters who will never be mentioned again is connected to Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Writers have to come up with reasons to include our heroic duo into the story even if makes no sense.

New York Special had to introduce American Heroes whose names rarely come up in the fandom because people stopped caring about them or their stories shortly after the release of the Special. I barely saw any content dedicated to them. In order to bring LB and CN into the story, you have to include Hawkmoth too. Gabriel suddenly needs to get his hands on the Eagle Miraculous and goes to USA. Marinette and Adrien suddenly have a class trip to New York. Unfortunately, their presence in this story is required only to expand the world of Miraculous and attract fans of the show, so that they could keep an eye on new content related to newly introduced characters.

In the end, it's not their story. Events of the special don't affect main story of the show and the development of the love square is merely an illusion, because Adrien and Marinette are no closer than before. In season 4 LB and CN are growing apart and their test of trust in NY Special doesn't matter. Perhaps, some people don't see it that way and it's their right, but I find it hard to see NYS as a valid contribution to canon. I mean, even people in large portion of the fandom state in the tags on AO3 that "specials are not canon", "specials didn't happen" or "ignores both specials". It speaks volumes about continuity and preferences of your fandom.

Shanghai Special didn't give us more information about the Order, which is located in China, history of Miraculous jewels. We still don't know much about how Gabriel and Emilie found Peacock and Butterfly. Maybe, Marinette's family had connections to Miraculous jewels. Maybe, Adrien does some snooping and discovers research his parents made while Gabriel is away. All of these are relevant to the main story. However, we got something much different in the end.

Marinette chases Adrien across the globe and they make new friends. Fey becomes Ladydragon and now has a direct contact with Marinette through her uncle. Gabriel's desire to get his hands on the Prodigious comes out of nowhere. Apparently, he had been planning this trip for years, presumably even before Adrien was born. It probably happened at the same time as Agrestes found 2 Miraculouses. He bought bracelet-key (which is also a Miraculous apparently, but its Kwami is a Guardian of the Prodigious and they existed separately for a very long time - and let us not dwell on this mess) from some shady mafia boss, who can easily find out just who Gabriel really is (fashion designer billionaire) and use this information to blackmail him. This Special didn't answer important questions, but it gave us a new superhero character.

The real question is whether Miraculous as a project will survive long enough for writers to create content for every minor character they introduced in all specials. This is only a beginning after all.

Miraculous is not a global show and it can't be globalised in a way that makes sense, at least with Ladybug and Chat Noir in the centre of action. Case closed.

Mirakung Fu

I liked the idea of Mirakung Fu introduced in "Furious Fu". It makes sense and things rarely do in this show. Miraculous grants its holder superhuman strength, stamina, endurance and ability to fight. This means that essentially transformed heroes are guided by magic in combat. There's nothing personal in the way Miraculous holders fight. You can predict their moves and learn how to fight this magic guidance, which is what Su Han does.

However, if the holder has any special training, skills or knows any martial art in their civilian life then they become more dangerous opponents during transformation because now their fighting is a mix of magical moves and their personal knowledge, tricks and style. Therefore, Adrien and Kagami as skilful fencers have more chances of winning against someone who knows Mirakung Fu than Marinette, for example.

Memory loss

At the end of season 3, we find out several things:

apparently, now Miracle Box can change appearance to suit its guardian;

when Guardian passes down the Miracle Box to someone else, they lose memories not only about everything related to Miraculous, but also about pretty much everything in their life (Fu doesn't recognise Marianne, instead he experiences the love at first sight)

Master Fu trains Marinette to be the proper holder and next Guardian off-screen. He says that her training as the holder is complete in "Feast" and wants her to become the next Guardian. Fu told her lots of things, and yet, he never mentioned the fact that he would lose his memory after relinquishing the box, nor the fact that Marinette would lose her memory afterwards. She finds out about this from Wayzz after the battle with Miracle Queen and the letter that Master Fu gave her. That's not proper training! How on Earth do you forget to mention this memory loss? How?

Master Fu's amnesia is a convenient plot device that removes him from the narrative almost completely. That's mostly all there is to it. Why? Because it doesn't make sense.

Fu was around 7 or 8 when he started his training. The disaster at the temple happened when he was 14. He stated that his training was never complete, which means that he never passed any magical ritual, never swore an oath or was bound by some kind of spell that made him subjected to the rule of memory loss.

Miracle Boxes belonged to the order, not Fu. Their design reflected their country of origin because these Miraculous were made and kept in China. They were just standing there on the shelves not magically bound to anyone in particular. When Feast attacked, monks just tossed Wang Fu the miracle box and grimoire. No one at the temple lost their memory after Fu took the box with him (Su Han is the proof). Su Han not only remembers Fu and his mistake but everything that happened that fateful day as well. In "Furious Fu" Marinette explains Su Han that Master Fu lost his memory in the very first conversation they have. However, after Ladybug and Chat Noir fight Su Han on the roof and escape with the Miracle Box, the latter searches for Fu and attempts to take his staff from him. In this scene, Su Han acts like Fu knows very well what is going on and who he is.

Su Han should be aware of the memory loss rule as the Celestial Guardian. He remarks on the different shape of the Mother Miracle Box and calls her "incorrect", which means that Su Han should have been able to easily tell that previous Guardian lost his memory and the Miracle Box is now bound to someone else. But he doesn't say anything. Moreover, since Su Han is supposed to know about amnesia, he seemed awfully chill about forcing this 14-year-old girl in front of him to give up the box and her memories. Hell, Chat Noir wasn't on board with this. But we get zero reaction from Su Han.

During the first conversation between Marinette and Su Han, he doesn't ignore what she is trying to say, instead he actively comments on every word. Even if Su Han didn't listen when Marinette told him about Fu's memory loss, than he still should be able to understand that Fu doesn't recognise him, because of common sense and the "incorrect" shape of the box. But nothing of the sort happens. Because writers apparently forgot that "memory loss" is supposed to be known to everyone in the Order. On-screen it looks like Su Han is not aware of the "amnesia rule".

"Furious Fu" makes the concept of memory loss a plothole no matter how you look at it. Just like "Timetagger" and "Chat Blanc", as well as "Kwamibuster" this episode is not consistent within itself. It does not surprise me, however.

Grimoire and Guardian Staffs

Let's talk about the Miraculous Grimoire. Good things first.

There are no illustrations of Miraculouses in camouflage. Kwami can't read its contents, only guardians can. Certain elements are written in riddles as an additional precaution. The book contains only the information people have learned so far, which means that Miraculouses have more unexplored potential ("Mr. Pigeon 72"). It describes powers of each Miraculous, provides information about weapons, has instructions for potions that don't make sense (see previous parts).

Unfortunately, everything is about to go downhill from here.

Guardians are taught how to read the writing in this book. They can read it just like people learn to read texts in a different language. This means that one can read Grimoire like any other book (you don't need to consult some guide to decode each letter or word). Master Fu proclaimed Marinette an almost fully trained Guardian. He should have taught her how to read the Grimoire then (he doesn't know the code very well, but he knew enough to understand the general meaning and content of the book according to "Collector"). He didn't. We don't know why. He shows her powers of every Miraculous but doesn't teach her the code.

Master Fu knows that Grimoire now belongs to Gabriel Agreste. He knows that it's dangerous for someone else to have it. If they knew how to read the Grimoire, they could discover all secrets of Miraculouses and harm Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes. It's very important to keep the information about the code top secret because Fu is not the only one with the source material.

What does he do then? Master Fu proceeds to write a French translation of Grimoire for Marinette, a translation that he doesn't even need. He carries it with him at all times on a tablet (without any precautions) just like the Miracle box after "Feast". Naturally, it means that in "Miracle Queen", Gabriel and Nathalie easily managed to get their hands on the tablet and Miracle Box. It allows the plot to happen, sure. But it doesn't make any sense.

"Furious Fu" created another curious plot hole. It will probably be ignored, of course. Su Han has a staff with a magical compass that allows him to find any Miracle box, but not the Miraculous jewels for some reason. How does the staff work? Can it locate the box without the Miraculous? If yes, then it seems useless. What's the point in the ability to locate an empty box? If it can locate the box only with the Miraculous jewels inside, it implies that the staff can track the location of every Miraculous too. So, Su Han could just locate the Butterfly and Peacock without any problem. But he talks about reassigning Ladybug and Black Cat to adults and defeating Hawkmoth like locating the Butterfly is not possible. This situation makes the Guardian Staff a simple plot device that creates plot holes and its only purpose is to explain how Su Han found Marinette.

Also, I have a few more words to say about this. Master Fu had a Guardian Staff that was never mentioned before. I wonder why? That's because the staff didn't exist before "Furious Fu" was written. Writers just went: "Do you know what would be cool? If Fu's cane was really a secret Guardian Staff with a compass all along that he decided to keep even after he lost his memory? It would make people wonder whether Master Fu is faking amnesia, and everyone will definitely call him an awful mentor after this even though we kind of tried to make him a good and responsible person."

Fu didn't give it to Marinette and didn't mention it to her. Why? When he gave up his memory, he should have written about this in his letter at least. Why did he decide to keep it? He can't use it anyway now.

Please note how in the flashbacks Fu didn't take any staff with him when he escaped the temple. Su Han seemed to know how Fu's staff looked like. It means that Master Fu didn't make this staff himself, because it belonged to the Order.

Su Han wasn't even surprised that Marinette didn't have the staff as the current Guardian. Was she not supposed to have it? He never questioned the fact that the former Guardian without memories has the staff. Su Han actually returns this staff to Fu after he is deakumatized and Fu acts like they have never met before. Why did Su Han gave the staff back when he knows what it is and to whom it should belong (to him or to Marinette as the current Guardian)? The staff is useless in the hands of the civilian. Does Marianne know about its secret? We'll probably never find out, unfortunately.

Guardian Staff of Master Fu has a compass too and therefore this also makes it a plot device, just like Su Han's staff.

[anobscurename]

ocean eyes – chris evans

previous part: PART XIX — masterlist

concept: you finally have had enough. the slowest of slow burns. part twenty of many.

pairing: chris evans x reader

word count: 2,4k

warnings: you might cry; i know i did. angst.

author's note: i needed my comedic relief comfort characters for this one in the beginning tbh cause... well... you'll see. this one is for @miss-jackson500 because i haven't dedicated one to her yet and she's? amazing?!

You had wondered – for the days that followed – that if maybe the rescheduled meet-up hadn't been cut short by Anthony, if things would be different.

You came to the conclusion that all that really would've been different was that you'd know a little less.

"You're finally going to do it, huh?" Anthony grinned from across the pool table. You had, according to the original plan, all come together at the old bar where you'd first met the two. "You're going to tell him how you feel?"

"Is it a bad idea?" You asked, missing your shot. Your mind was heavily distracted, and it was showing through. You were usually wiping the floor with the duo, but now you were losing four balls to one.

"No, no, it's a fantastic idea," Anthony bent down to line up his next shot. "Tell her it's a fantastic idea, Seb. Better yet, tell me who the Black Widow should be with."

Sebastian, who had been sat to the side, waiting for his turn, rolled his eyes and took a swig of his beer. "I admit nothing until I see a ring."

"Speaking of rings!" Anthony jumped up excitedly – either from the prospect of marriage or the thrill of pocketing his ball, leaving team Falcon and Winter Soldier with just the black on the table – "I'm thinking a round cut two carat, set in rose gold? Colour scheme would he lavender, of course, because as best man–"

"You can get fucked if you think you're going to be best man."

"Of course I'm best man! Look at me, I'm the bestest man around, I'm fine as–"

"You can both get fucked if you think there's going to be a wedding," you laughed.

Anthony hissed a curse under his breath as he missed the winning pocket, reluctantly handing the cue off to Sebastian, who hopped off the stool to land gracefully on his feet.

You chalked your cue, determined to not lose yet another game to these dipshits. "I haven't even told him yet, what if he doesn't feel the same way?"

Anthony and Sebastian both looked at you, incredulous. "I mean this with only love, and it comes from a place deep within my heart... Are you blind?"

Sebastian was even balking. "Even I could tell, and I have the social skills of a pineapple."

"Okay, fine! You both are clearly biased, you saw us kiss."

"No, we watched a softcore porno is what we did, y'all devouring each other like that in public–"

He cut himself short, having to laughingly dodge himself out of the reach of your playful slap.

"I'm asking Scott for the final opinion," you proclaimed.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, eager to play and win the game, bouncing the end of the cue on the wooden bar floor. The rubber stop muted the noise.

You opened up the text thread you had been maintaining with the younger Evans. Should I tell Chris?

You didn't need to elaborate, Scott would know what you meant. There was a pause on his end, and you had just been about to put your phone away before his response bubbled up.

Sorry, was just changing your name in my phone to sister-in-law ;)

That was all the answer you needed.

You finished the game – you lost, mind overrun with giddiness and the odds having been stacked against you long before – and you were hugging Anthony goodbye.

When you'd asked where he was headed, he'd just given you a sly wink and a "wouldn't you like to know."

That left just you and Sebastian, and you decided to walk him back to his hotel before heading home.

"How long you going to be in L.A. for?" You'd asked, just to make conversation.

"A week or so, maybe? And then I'm jetting back to New York. I haven't been home in so long, I think the dust has taken over my lease."

You chuckled, and continued on in a pleasant silence.

You gave him a departing hug in the lobby, and hailed a cab back to Chris'.

You were so high on the exhilaration of finally telling him and ending this will they/won't they charade once and for all. So excited, you'd nearly missed the unfamiliar Bentley in the driveway on your way in.

But it didn't go unnoticed.

You came in, greeted happily by a yapping Dodger, and the smell that hit you was one of Valentino perfume – overpowering the usual scent of Chris lingering in the house.

"Hey, Dodge," you whispered, giving him a vigorous petting session. "Where's Chris? Where's your dad?"

Dodger gave your hand a wet lick, slobbering over your keys, and you laughed lightly.

The door to the pool was open, and you could hear splashing and giggling – pitched more feminine than you'd ever heard Chris go.

Curiosity killed the cat. And satisfaction was never going to resurrect the plummet of your excitement. No, that was replaced by shock and anger. Even if you knew you had no right to feel that way.

"Chris?" You'd called out as you padded across the lounge. "Chris, whose car is in the driveway? I have something I–"

Blindsided, your slobber slick keys fell from your hand to jangle uselessly onto the ground. It was that that finally grabbed his attention.

He had been otherwise excruciatingly preoccupied with the topless girl in his lap, legs locked around his waist in a languid grind, his hands smoothing over her curves as they all but explored each other's tonsils in a moaning kiss.

Red flashed across your vision as well as your cheeks, and you ducked your head. Embarrassed and feeling stupid, you quickly grabbed your keys. "I'm sorry, I'll go..."

You quickly turned and dashed to your room, ignoring the tears in your eyes, and the call of your name.

"{Your name}, wait!" Chris cried, water sloshing as he clambered out of the pool. "{Your name}!"

You slammed the door shut behind you, making it clear you wanted isolation. Pulling out a duffel bag, you began throwing clothes into it, careless of what you might need, just needing to leave.

Sebastian had asked you once how much more you were going to put yourself through before you'd had enough.

And this was it. This was the breaking point. This was enough.

The strength in which Chris frantically ripped open your door had it banging against the adjacent wall, but you couldn't even look at him. Your eyes were blurry as you continued violently packing your clothes.

You didn't even know where you were going to go. You just knew you had to. Go.

"{Your name}, stop," he said, soft in direct comparison to the panic he felt in his chest. You were leaving him. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" You spat out. And then, just to change the subject, because not even you could bare to dwell on it too much: "You're getting water on your floor."

"{Your name}–"

"Don't talk to me, Chris. Rest your tongue a bit, it sure was busy earlier."

"As was yours, too, I'm sure," he bit back.

Your movements stuttered at the reciprocated rage. To your knowledge, he had no right to feel as you did in that moment. None.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

There was provocation in his eyes, and his searing gaze only fuelled your fire.

"Have fun with Sebastian?"

Your scoff was followed by a bewildered laugh. "I went out tonight with Sebastian and Anthony, Chris. We're friends. Welcome to the world of platonic relationships, professor, we've been waiting for your arrival."

And like the cut strings on a puppet, tension left his body – anger being replaced by confusion.

"I... I thought..."

"You thought wrong, Evans," you seethed, pushing past him to the bathroom to grab your toiletries. You made an effort to bump him, your shirt sticking to your skin with the water droplets still dotting his toned body. "And to think I really thought..."

"Thought what?" His voice cracked out.

"Thought that you might actually care about me!" You finally snapped. You were yelling. You didn't want to yell, but you were, voice echoing in the acoustics of the bathroom.

"I do," he whispered. His conviction was quickly draining from him, being replaced with an inevitable sadness and feeling of loss. You hadn't even left yet, but he knew that nothing he was going to say would make you stay. He knew he'd gone too far. It didn't stop him from trying. "I loved you, {your name}. I still do."

You had hoped that if he ever was to say those words, it would be under different circumstances. In fact, you'd found yourself imagining whole sunset beach scenarios, late into the night.

"I thought you were better than that, Chris. Manipulation? That's low."

"It's true. I've loved you–"

You didn't want to hear it. You weren't going to give him the opportunity of persuading you into staying. You knew you should've left long ago. "I can't say the feeling is mutual."

It was a lie. It was a lie, because if you really had felt nothing, then you wouldn't be acting like this. But you needed the upper hand, because Chris had basically knocked you over with the force of his admittance. You couldn't let yourself be dragged back in. Not this time. You had too much self respect for that. Not when he still had lipstick smudged on his lips, disappearing into the scruff that shadowed his jaw.

You had to avoid looking at his pained expression at your words. No matter how much you were hurting now at his profession of love, you knew he might possibly be hurting a little more at your rejection.

"And if you really did..." You trailed off, struggling to say the words love me. "Well, you have a really funny way of showing it."

"Pretending not to love you is the hardest role I've taken on, and I did it for you."

Red was dancing back into your vision, your shock growing alongside the fury.

"How is that for me?"

"Because that's what you wanted!" He was finding his voice again, raising it in his desperation. "Believe me, I wanted to fight for you. I would, would wage wars for you," he stuttered out. "But you never wanted that from me. You wanted to pull away, from this, from us. And I let you because I would do anything you asked of me."

"So you stayed away because you wanted to keep me?" You worded it slowly, just to make him understand how ridiculous it sounded.

"...Yes."

"Are you stupid? Actually mentally deficient?" You zipped your bag, brushing past him again, this time making sure to have as little contact as possible. He all but occupied the whole doorway.

"If I had told you then you would have left!" He was following you now, following you to the front door. "I told you I wanted you in my life, even if it meant the pain of never having you."

You had hoped to slam the door in his face to make your point known, but where Chris had slacked in fighting for you before, he was making up for now. He caught the door before it could close, trailing after you into the driveway.

"There's something wrong with me. I ruin things. So I let you have your space because you are the greatest thing that has happened to me in a long time, and I'd be fucked if I ruined you too!"

"It's a bit too late for that," you said, finally looking him in those ocean eyes. They were bloodshot with barely restrained tears. But your resolve was iron. "Congratulations, Evans. You've ruined me."

You heard Dodger pawing at the door, whining low and long for you. If you thought leaving Chris was hard, this was what made you break.

But you turned away from them, from that house, tears falling freely. A sob escaped your lips, barely stifled.

"Put on a shirt, Evans," you managed to get out. You wanted the last word, even if it brought very little satisfaction. "You have company."

———————

Your first call was to Anthony. He hadn't picked up, and you remembered his other plans.

The second also went unanswered – the friend who had become a self proclaimed L.A. local upon graduating high school, and who had let you crash at their house when you'd first arrived. She was probably at work, and so you left her a quick voicemail asking her to call you back.

The third did, on only the second ring. You had almost lost hope in anyone else being awake at that point, so you hadn't composed yourself before he picked up.

The first thing he heard was your sob, which you quickly cut off with a greeting.

"What's wrong?"

"Can I crash with you tonight? I need somewhere to go."

"What happened? Did–?"

"I don't want to talk about it," you said quickly. He shut up almost immediately. "I just... Please?"

There was a pensive silence on the other end, and you felt the need to fill it.

"I tried Anthony, but he wasn't picking up."

"Yeah," came the small chuckle crackling on the other end. "He's got a hot date tonight. Must be going well."

"I wouldn't do this if I had anywhere else to go, but I don't, and it'll only be for one night–"

"Of course you can stay," he assured, sushing you softly. "Can't believe I made you ask twice."

————————

Sebastian met you in the lobby, taking you up to his room almost immediately to avoid strange looks and any unwanted public attention.

He explained to you in the elevator that although he had tried to get you your own room, the hotel was fully booked. He sounded quite apologetic for that.

You didn't say much, because if you spoke, you were scared you were going to start crying all over again. And you'd just managed to stop, averting your eyes from your teadstained appearance in the mirrors.

Sebastian's room was a big one, on the pricier end of all the hotel had to offer. A large king sized bed stood to one side, bedsheets twisted as if he'd clambered into it right when he'd gotten back.

There was a lounge suite to the side, looking like a set-up you'd see on the glossy pages of Architectural Digest, and although the curtains were drawn, you could see the city lights sprawling out before you through the crack.

He was still in his outfit from the bar, shirt and jeans slightly rumpled.

The television was on, playing the original Nosferatu quietly in the background.

"I'll take the couch," Sebastian offered, dropping off the bags he'd taken from you.

You declined him with a shake of your head.

"{Your name}," he said, tender, placing both his hands on your shoulders to make you look at him. "You've been through a lot tonight. Take the bed, I've got the couch."

You didn't have the strength to fight his insistence. You didn't have the strength for much any more.

When you'd gotten out the shower, dressed in your pyjamas, Sebastian finally asked you again what had happened.

You just shrugged tiredly, climbing between the cool cotton sheets.

"I just had enough."

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x05 - I'll Stand By You

So just a little note from me, the person behind the season 2 detailing.  I am trying really really hard to keep emotion out of these posts...which is really really hard for me because I'm an inherently emotional person. I'm a glass case of emotion, ready to shatter at any given moment. (#dramatic)  But I want to be true to the intent of this blog and keep my feelings, biases, and, you know, shipping out of this blog.

It was really really hard to do with this episode. Because I straight up ugly cried for like, 45 of the 60 minutes. 😂

So I guess, the point is, I'm proud of myself and sticking to the details here. My regular blog is where I'm doing the emotional flip out thing! 😂

EPISODE SUMMARY:

ACCEPTING REALITY — The discovery of some complications with Max’s (Nathan Dean) pod forces Liz (Jeanine Mason), Michael (Michael Vlamis) and Isobel (Lily Cowles) to confront the possibility that they may not be able to save him. Elsewhere, Maria (Heather Hemmens) and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) make amends. Kimberly McCullough directed the episode written by Alanna Bennett & Jason Gavin (#205). Original airdate 4/13/2020. 

DETAILS:

Max/Isobel/Michael reunite at age 11 according to what Michael tells Alex in 1x10.  So that would make the opening of this episode set in 2002ish.

Michael tells Max and Isobel, "I remember you. I don't know you."

"After nobody adopted me for a year they just stuck me with the name of that trucker who found us."

"I didn't ask you for anything."

This is like the thesis statement of Michael's whole history with Max in the flashbacks.

"Don't pay more than you collect, kid. Passing credit back and forth is a good way to get stuck with somebody forever."

Rosa's art. 

What I can see says: "...what they all told me, but I didn't listen" and "Stand the shelter".

Rosa on her dreams

"I have not had any freaky dreams in weeks. Okay, Max is probably off haunting Isobel now that they're strong enough for their psychic twincest weirdness."

"How long has that been happening?"

"Um, I don't know. It's an old boom box."

"Rosa, have electrical appliances been malfunctioning around you?"

"I really thought it was just a side effect of the handprint."

"If being in the pod introduced a new protein into your system it could have altered your DNA too. You could be developing abilities."

"Liz, look. The handprint is changing.  It's smaller."

"It's fading."

"Tell me this is a good thing."

"I don't think so."

Michael and Liz theorizing on why the pod shorted out:

"The pod's got a charge. It's like a battery powering the preservation process. This one's gone dead."

"Did the generator blow the electromagnetic threshold?"

"I think a surge came from the pod itself. But that pod has lasted almost a century. It shouldn't glitch out."

"Okay, well, then, this one did."

"All right, stop. It doesn't matter why the pod is broken. It just is. So how long does Max have?"

"My theory is that being tethered to Rosa through the mark is what kept Max from going brain-dead, and in turn the stasis process is what kept the mark from fading. So he could be gone by tonight."

"Okay, well, we have three more pods. So let's just put him into another pod."

"No. He's just gonna do it again. I haven't told you everything. I didn't want to scare you. I didn't want to be the one that took the hope away."

"Talk now, Rosa. Right now."

"I was seeing Max in my nightmares months before I told you about it, and he was begging me to stop you. He said that he was in a lot of pain in there."

"That's Noah's pod. Noah told us it was broken. It wasn't keeping him in stasis. He could feel time passing. None of us thought of that."

"We've been doing everything we can to make Max stronger. He pulled his own plug."

Note...as far as we know Isobel was the only one who knew about Noah's pod being broken.  In 1x12 it was before Liz arrived at the house that he told them about the broken pod, so only Max and Isobel heard that part of the story.

Alex on his training. "NSA intelligence cryptology training".

Monitor screen in the secret lab:

Noah's heart is still too weak to transplant. Kyle says it needs at least eight more weeks

"I wrote a paper for a bioethics class on patients in vegetative states who feel pain. Sometimes it's all they feel."

As a non sciencey person, I was wondering if bioethics class was a real thing. Tonight I saw an interview on the news with a UC Berkeley bioethics professor on COVID. So yes, it's a thing.

Alex on Michael that summer post-Rosa's death:

Starting fights with jocks

Broke into the drugstore

Not going to UNM

Hasn't hung out with Max all summer

Got busted for stealing hubcaps (Kyle's hubcaps, we learn later) 

Became a walking bar fight

Was in jail when Alex left to enlist

Michael on Max in 2008:

"It's more than that. And it's less than that. We were friends when we were kids, but now Max reminds me of a bunch of stuff that I'd rather forget. The only thing that we have in common anymore is Isobel."

Max's yearbook had a pencil stuck in the page with Liz and Max's photo in it. (The one we first saw in 1x03).

"Biology Club. Max hated science. He was in that club for four years just to watch your sister chew on the end of her pencil."

Max's mindscape:

First just desert, clouds, and then lightning strikes (destructive energy?)

Liz's antennae -- they disappear from Isobel's hands

Rosa describes it as broken

Crashdown special is Max's favorite "Little Green Man milkshake".

The Crashdown counter is kind of merged with biology lab equipment. 

The juke box is there

The Crashdown booths

Jeep

Neon Crashdown sign

One of those claw drop game machines (from the Crashdown) but it's filled with baked good displays.

The yearbook

Later, everything else is gone except the one Crashdown booth, the Jeep, and the neon sign.

The distorted music they follow to find Max is the Cactus Groove song in the music list...just, messed around with. See @angsty-nerd's post here:

"I'm the hothead. You are the hero. It's always been that way."

"You stole the hubcaps off Kyle Valenti's graduation present. Both his parents are cops. Do you want to end up in jail tonight?". 

👀 Tonight, specifically. 

Michael seemed excited about the job at Foster's Ranch until he found out that Max set it up for him.  Max found out about it from his dad (only like the 2nd or 3rd mention of his dad in the series so far).

"When I got back in town I asked Max why you and your brilliant mind hadn't changed the world yet. He said you didn't care about the world enough to bother changing it. He believed you could."

Max and Isobel in the mindscape:

"You're okay. I could feel something was wrong with you.  Everything felt…"

"Cold. I know."

"You can't be here. It's finally ending.  I can feel it. But I don't know what happens if you're in my head when I die."

"So it's true? You want this?"

"I could feel my connection to the outside world getting stronger, so I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. I released a surge. You have to let me go, Iz."

"I can't take it anymore."

"Okay."

"I am so sorry."

"I just want to memorize this."

"Okay. Okay.  I need you to tell Liz something."

"You can tell her yourself.  She and Kyle are prepping for surgery.  They're going to use the faulty heart. She just wants to talk to you before you die."

"No. No."

"You won't be suffering. They're just gonna bring you back and then let you go."

"No you have to stop this.  You cannot bring me back under any circumstances."

"Max? What is really going on?"

"I am dangerous.  Whatever Liz is bringing back is not me. It's just some broken shell."

Maria on her mom's computer 

"Her nurse said that for the two weeks before she went missing, when she wasn't trying to escape, she was talking to someone online."

The 21st birthday flashback

Isobel gets Michael to help move Max after getting drunk on tequila.  He passed out in front of the tattoo parlor. It's the same tattoo parlor Michael goes to at the end of the episode.

Max's weird drunken statement.

"The thing is, there has to be there. Okay? There's always three. Until the very end.  I'll show you...What it means is you should be here…'cause it's all broken without three. So we'll figure it out.  You'll find your way back."

👀 Until the very end. Interesting.

On Max becoming a deputy:

"You know he did the whole police academy thing because of you, right? He thinks you're gonna get into the kind of trouble you can't get out of if you don't know someone."

Back in the mindscape:

"I figured it all out. She, there's an energy to suffering, there's an energy to death, and when I heal people, I absorb that energy. So when I resurrected Rosa, I took in ten years of emptiness. So if you resurrect me, you will be bringing back an infection. Don't want… I don't want to come back as a monster. I don't want to hurt anyone that I care about."

"That's what this is about? We've been hurting, Max. We don't work without you."

"You will! You will. You are stronger now than when I died. All of you are. You, Michael, Liz, you will survive this. The three of you. No, you need to stop them, Iz. Now."

"Okay. I love you."

"You too." Isobel disappears.

Max is using pretty similar wording to his drunken rambles in the 21st birthday flashback

We don't see that Max is chained down until this next exchange with Rosa. Isobel didn't see that detail as far as we know.  Didn't hear the chains clanking when they stood and hugged. Only after Isobel left.

"I'm sorry this is happening."

"Isobel is lying. She is buying time.  You know she'll never let me go. But you can feel the darkness too, right? That's why you don't like being in my head. Because you know it's real."

"I didn't want that to be true, but yes."

"I know my sister and I know your sister and they'll never give up. So you have to be the one to stop this surgery, okay? Or I will destroy everything that we love. You have to stop them to save them. Now go.  Please, Rosa. Go."

Isobel explaining to Liz

"When he saved Rosa he absorbed all of that dark energy. He's gonna have to expel it."

"And he's afraid he's gonna kill someone when he does."

"Yeah. So we just need someone stronger than Max to take that hit...if he thinks he needs to protect us he obviously doesn't know how capable we are. Bring him back, Liz. I'll handle the rest."

"I get it now. It's gotta be the three of us."

"He would never pull his plug to end his own suffering. Unless he thought he was saving us from something. And I'm a little sick of his heroic martyr crap."

In case you missed it, Michael did not know that.  At the beginning of the hospital sequence Isobel is telling Liz what she learned in Max's mindscape and says that she hasn't been able to get ahold of Michael.  Michael figured it out on his own. He finally "got it".

The pacemaker:

Isobel with Max at the end… everything is gone except the Jeep. And Bright Eyes playing (the song he and Liz danced to on their first date back in 2008). And then his eyes close and Bright Eyes fades away.

“First thing I remember is the three of us. We woke up terrified and lost. But together. And then all of the sudden I was alone. I got real good at being alone. I had given up on people entirely. And then you found me again. Hell of hero move. You showed up just in time. When you are a kid who nobody loves, kindness is a currency. Friendship doesn’t means jack. Family just lies, and hurts, and leaves. I’ve only ever known love to be temporary. So yeah, I push people away. Every time someone threatens to care about me I test their love until they have to leave. Connection is conditional. Everybody eventually gives up on the guy who refuses to be rescued. But you were the only one who I couldn’t run off. You never believed me when I tried to be something I wasn’t. So this thing in your chest, it might give your heart a pretty solid kick every once in a while. Consider it payback. It’s my hero move, Max. If you wake up, you consider us even, okay? If you wake up, we can be a family.”

Good visual parallels during Michael's speech. Alex and Kyle drinking together during the "and then you found me again". Maria walking up on "the guy who refuses to be rescued"

Max is in the coma for three weeks.  Wakes up at the secret lab (instead of his house, which is where he was previously.  I'm guessing it was a planned wake up because he's no longer plugged into all of the IVs and whatnot.

"I begged you to understand."

"Max, it's gonna be fine."

"No… I told you to let me go. I can feel it inside me."

"It's...it's symmetry, okay? It's just energy for energy.  We can deal with that. Fight it, Max. This isn't you."

"I don't want to hurt you. I need to get out. I need to get away from you, from everyone."

"I can't let you do that."

Max shoves Isobel and runs. When he shoves her there's a slight ringing like the sound they use when the aliens use their powers.  Isobel follows and stops him with her powers.

"I made a promise that if you came back and you weren't Max, and you were actually going to hurt people that I would kill you. I figure, hey, you got to play God. Make life and death decisions all on your own. Well it's my turn now."

MUSIC:

1. Letters To Cleo "Here and Now"

2. Lady Antebellum "Love Don't Live Here"

3. Cactus Groove "Fallin"

4. James Talley "Big Thunder"

8. Ross Copperman "Stars Are On Your Side"

5. Lindsey Ray "Keep You Safe"

6. Tommee Profitt feat. Sam Tinnesz "With you Til The End"

7. Bright Eyes "First Day Of My Life"

The Cactus Groove song is the first song this season that I haven’t been able to find on Spotify… let me know if any of y’all had any luck with it!

[emptymasks]

I Won't Rest Until I Find You

Pairing: Alucard | Adrian Tepes / Trevor Belmont

Words: 3208

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Read on Ao3

Notes:  This is set during Curse of Darkness, but in my mind it could continue on with the show’s continuity as well.

So I guess I want to start with a disclaimer if Trevor seems out of character to some people: I haven't watched the Netflix show yet. I know Castlevania from the games. But I do plan on watching the show.

I’m making Castlevania art too, and if you’re interested in fan-merch and pins, I’m going to be starting a Kickstarter soon for some Castlevania pins.

I've been loving these games and characters more and more and have been wanting to create content. I also make art (@emptymasks on social media and on my Etsy shop) and I am soon going to launch a Castlevania pin Kickstarter.

I also want to say something about kins, so if that isn't your thing or makes you uncomfortable then please stop reading. I'm @emptymasks on tumblr, but I just made a side-blog (which is also a kin-blog) for Castlevania @princeadriantepes.

Also, also! I have a Castlevania Discord server! DM me or send me an ask for the link Sever is LGBT and kin friendly.

Phew, thank you so much if you read all of that text. Now onto the story...

“Why did you attack me?” Hector’s shout echoed through the empty castle.

Trevor shook his head and sighs.

“The place to which Isaac has gone can only be entered by those who possess very advanced powers; I had to test you.” He explained.

“I see.” Hector moved forward. “Meaning you would have me pursue him?”

“Indeed, but first you shall need my help. Come.”

Trevor led them throughout the castle. He hated that he remembered the layout. Everywhere he looked there were memories. Fights and injuries and screams. He had fought Grant along that corridor not too far into the castle. The poor man still awoke in screams, fearing he was in a body that wasn't his own. He’d been working hard to rebuild the villages and houses. And then Sypha, having to hide her magic from the world. Trevor had seen his fair share of dark magic and monsters before facing Dracula, but despite that had not been so blind to think magic could only be evil.

Trevor slowed his walking as they entered the main hall. The place of their final battle, and unfortunately it seemed, for future final battles as well. They had made a great team, his ‘legendary three warriors’ as people had already begun calling them. Grant, Sypha and…

Trevor’s feet halted.

“It’s for the best.” Alucard had said.

“Who for? Because it certainly isn’t for us. It isn’t for the people who you could help protect.” Trevor yelled.

Sypha had put a hand on his arm, wanting to calm him.

“Trevor, after everything I have done… I cannot risk becoming like my father.”

“You won’t.”

“You cannot know that!”

Trevor had never seen Alucard shout before. He looked so distraught.

“Cursed blood flows throughout me. It is only a matter of time that it turns sour, or some dark powers try to turn me into him, or use me for his resurrection.”

“You are stronger than them, Alucard.” Trevor tried to reach out his hand, but Alucard stepped back.

“We cannot know what the future holds. I cannot take the chance that I will hurt others…”

“And what of the chance that you could help them? You’re reasoning makes no sense, are you truly so blind that-”

“I killed my own father!” Alucard turned to face him, tears streamed down his face. “Do you not understand that! I know what he did, I know he was deserving of such a fate… But that does not ease the pain in my soul…”

“Adrian…”

“Let us help you.” Sypha said.

“I care about you both greatly. Thank you for being my friends… But this is something I must do. I will not ask permission, nor seek approval. But please do not think badly of me, and do not blame yourselves.”

Alucard turned to look at them one last time.

“I love you.” He stared at Trevor as he spoke.

Trevor lunged forwards, but Alucard had already transformed had flown into the shadows of the night.

“Belmont? Are you alright?” Hector’s voice cut through his memories.

“Ah, yes. My apologies, I was simply remembering exactly where…” Trevor trailed off as he walked towards the centre of the room.

He pulled off a glove and reached for his knife. He didn’t wince as he pulled the blade through his closed fist. His nails dug into the cut as he squeezed, and the blood dripped out and mingled with the red carpet.

The stains glowed for a second, before a seal grew out from below them.

“There. ‘Tis done.”

“So, the Belmont blood acts as a key…” Hector mused. “And what lies beyond this point?”

“Do not ask. If you knew your heart might waver. For now, hold the image of Isaac in your mind, think only of defeating him.”

“Very well.” Hector said and stepped onto the seal.

“Hector, hunt him down. And when you have him, show him no mercy.”

He watched Hector’s body disappear into the light, and his feet started to move backwards.

He knew Alucard was here… Or rather, his body was. Sypha had knocked him out that night as nothing could console him. Sypha had been trying her best, but she could see his heart was not whole anymore.

“I miss him too, Trevor.” She had said one night. “But he made his choice, we have to respect it.”

“Why must we?” He bit back.

She signed.

“I heard Grant was asking after you again today.” Trevor was aware his voice sounded distant.

“Yes… He hasn’t given up on me yet.” She made her voice sound light, as if she was wanting Trevor to laugh.

Trevor shifted, unsure if he should face her.

“Would you… Are you considering taking him up on his offer?”

He saw her eyes widen slightly. He thought for a second she was going to slap him.

Instead she sighed.

“Do you want me to take him up on his offer?”

“I just want you to be happy Sypha… I fear that your happiness cannot be found with me.”

She stood up walked across the room.

“You loved him back?” She mumbled.

“Didn’t we both?”

She chuckled, but she sounded sad.

“Perhaps you should look for him?”

“And what happened to leaving him with his choices?”

She walked back over and pushed his longer hair away from his face, her fingers grazing over his scar.

“Because I want for you to be happy too. I do not think I can stand one more day of you sulking.” She smiled. “I try and reach for him sometimes… There’s something of him in the castle’s ruins. Whether it’s just memories or it’s him I cannot tell but…”

“It’s the only place I have to start…”

“You’re not mad I didn’t tell you sooner?”

“Sypha… Love, you have only ever tried to protect me from my own stupidity. I do not blame you for protecting yourself from it too.”

Trevor glanced back at the seal. It can only be closed from the inside, which meant Hector should have no trouble leaving (unless he fails), but… if he leaves it does mean something could follow Hector inside… The castle was rather empty though…

Before Hector had arrived, he’d sworn he was close. There was something amidst the ruins behind Dracula’s accursed throne. The presence of another entering the castle caused him to cease his search for he feared Isaac was entering.

He wouldn’t be leaving the room… He would only be taking his eyes off the portal for a short while…

Well it didn’t seem to matter what his brain thought the right thing to do was, because his body was already doing the selfish thing. He dug through the rocks until he found a hole. He ran back to grab one of the candles from the wall and gave one last glance to the seal, before he jumped down.

The candle didn’t provide much light, but that combined with the small rays coming in from the entrance to pit revealed more stone. Parts of pillars and archways and cracking gargoyles. None of them seemed to have life in them, but Trevor brought his whip out all the same. He held the candle up to the back wall, hoping to see something there, when his foot become wedged. More stone, Trevor assumed, until he felt his knee resting against the same object. He brought the candle to scan the shape. It was far darker than the rocks, and it stretched out beyond where the candle could see. Trevor kept himself along its side as he manoeuvred around it. The edges seemed to get wider as it went up and Trevor’s breath caught in his throat as they become thinner again almost at the top. He kept his whip in his hand as he reached a finger out and sure enough there was a lip, an opening.

Trevor took a deep breath and hoped Isaac wasn’t about to jump out at him.

In one motion Trevor threw the lid of the coffin open and jumped back with his whip ready to strike.

But nothing jumped out.

He kept his arm outstretched as he neared the coffin and peered over. Despite the low light, there was no mistaking the pale skin and golden hair. Trevor had to fight the urge to reach out and touch him. He placed the candle down in order to reach for a vial Sypha had given him.

“Once people hear you’re searching for someone, it might not take some long to realise who it is. And you know how those succubi like to transform into loved ones to lure people in. Throw this onto them and any illusion like that will be displaced. If you pour this on him and nothing happens, then its him.”

Alucard was going to kill him for drenching him… Not that he wasn’t going to kill him for stealing him away either but… that was something he could deal with later.

He splashed the potion onto Alucard’s chest, remembering Alucard throwing a fit anytime Trevor got his hair wet. He watched the potion soak through the shirt and… into his binding. Trevor was going to have to tell him off for that later… But if this was a random monster, it wouldn’t know to wear binding… Trevor hoped and waited, made himself count to twenty just to be certain, and Alucard’s body didn’t change.

Trevor reached out a shaking hand to cup Alucard’s sleeping face. He looked so peaceful… Trevor could feel the guilt welling up, but… This wasn’t just for him. He hoped he could help Alucard too. He shouldn’t have locked himself away because he thought the world was better off without him… He needed help… He needed to allow himself to be helped.

Trevor felt the rumbling beneath his feet before he heard it. Rocks started to fall into the pit and it felt as though the ground was moving upwards…

Not again…

He grabbed Alucard’s limp body and slung him over his shoulder. Jumping on top of the coffin he flung his arm up so that the whip latched onto a pillar above them. He carefully removed a hand from Alucard, letting him angle his body up to support the weight, and used both hands to climb the whip. He was lucky that despite his height, Alucard didn’t weight very much. He carried Alucard out from the ruins and into the hall, before setting him down and going to inspect the seal, which was now glowing brighter.

Shit.

He could see the spires raising up past the windows and could hear the storm more clearly. The castle was once again flowing with power. The seal seemed to be pulsing now and Trevor could feel the power coming from it. The castle was waking up and it wouldn’t be long before everything inside it would too.

Wait… Everything…

Trevor heard a groan and the whip was ready to lash out before he had even turned around.

He gasped.

“Alucard…?”

Trevor watched as Alucard brought himself to his feet. The dhampir seemed to come to his senses at the sound of his name, his head shooting up and pale eyes locking onto Trevor’s. His eyes scanned across Trevor’s body, taking in the new clothing and hair… And his ageing, Trevor thought as he felt a little self-conscious.

“Did something happen? Is there some emergency?” Alcuard's voice was dry.

“Not exactly… That is to say, there is a fight going on, but not one we need take part in…”

“Then… Why am I…?”

“Need I repeat what I said before? You deserve to live, Alucard. You deserve to stay alive, and you deserve a chance to be happy.”

“I was.” Alucard spat. “You couldn’t be satisfied could you?”

Trevor walked towards him, but Alucard stumbled back. His strength clearly hadn’t returned to him yet.

“Why, Trevor? Why did you have to wake me up? Why did you have to bring me back?” Alucard’s voice was breaking.

“Perhaps because I couldn’t live with myself.” Trevor continued to walk towards him. “Perhaps because you told me you loved me and then ran away. Perhaps because you gave up and left to go and die for no-”

“I wanted to die!”

Alucard’s voice rang out throughout the castle. The storm seemed too quiet. Alucard was shaking and he bent his head down and clutched at it as he cried.

“No one should feel like that…” Trevor whispered. “Let me help you, Adrian. Let me take care of you. I love you too-”

Trevor groaned. Why did this shit always happen?

He saw red hair out of the corner of his eye, and glanced down at the blade sticking out of his chest. He was dimly aware of Alucard lunging up and Isaac easily pushing hem out of the way.

“Fiend. What are you doing here?” Trevor tried not to move too much around the dagger.

“I can’t have you interfering beyond this point.” Isaac kicked Alucard as he tried to stand. “Only just awoken, little lord? You haven’t any strength in you at all yet. As for the seal, I left that to Hector.”

Trevor tried to reach out to Alucard, but Isaac pulled him back against the dagger.

“Impossible. The seal can only be undone by a torrent of demonic energy, Hector could not know that.”

He felt Isaac move back and prepared for another blow, when Isaac fell and Trevor grabbed onto the dagger to stop it leaving his chest, wincing is it cut into his hands through his gloves. Now wouldn’t be a good time to die of blood loss. He stumbled onto his knees and leant forwards.

“Fools!” Isaac picked himself up from where Alucard had tripped him. “Do not equate a devil-forgemaster’s power with that of an ordinary sorcerer. For a seal like that, the magic produced in battle is more than enough. Placing a guard there proved to be your downfall… But enough talk.”

Isaac reached for the dagger’s handle, still sticking out of Trevor’s back. Alucard pulled himself upwards and tried to beat Isaac to it. Isaac’s hand was grasped around the handle when a sudden burst of light knocked both of them backwards.

Trevor cried and fell to the floor, and Alucard crawled over to him.

“Julia! You still insist to side with them?” Isaac wiped the blood off the dagger with his hand.

“You may not realise it yet, but I am trying to help you brother.” She said.

Isaac stared down at the fallen Belmont and laughed.

“I would stay and chat, but Hector is waiting for me.” He cackled as he teleported away.

Julia rushed to Trevor’s side and started to push him onto his back, only for Alucard to grab her wrist.

“I’m trying to save his life. You would do well to help me.” She urged, pushing his hands aside and getting to work.

“Am I supposed to know who you are?” Alucard slumped back, tiredness and confusion overtaking him.

“I’m Julia.”

“…Right”

Trevor was dimly aware of Julia’s hands pushing his clothes open as she murmured incantations. Whatever she was saying seemed to be helping as his vision came more into focus and the pain lessened.

He cast his eyes over to Alucard. He seemed to be staring at Julia as if he wanted his eyes to burn through her. Trevor chuckled, and in an instant those pale eyes were on him instead.

“I see age hasn’t made you any less overzealous.” Alucard said.

Trevor could have wept again if he wasn’t so tired.

“Come here,” Julia turned her head to Alucard as she stood up. “You both need taking somewhere safe to rest and heal.”

Alucard dragged himself over to them. Julia tapped her staff on the ground and after the light engulfing them faded, Trevor looked upon a familiar building.

“Should I be worried that you know where I live?” He questioned Julia.

“You should be thankful, I just saved your life.” She put an arm around him to help him up.

Alucard came around his other side to help as well, but he still seemed as if he might collapse at any moment and so Trevor tried to not put too much weight on him.

“Thank you, Julia, truly… What will you do about your brother?” Trevor asked.

“Isaac has been lost to me for many years now. All I can do is aid Hector and hope he frees my brother from this curse.”

“Then I wish you luck. But be careful inside that castle.”

“I will be.” She nodded goodbye and transported herself away.

“So… Who is she?” Alucard asked.

“I have no idea.” Trevor replied.

He looked over at Alucard and smiled, a smile which grew wider when he saw Alucard fighting against his lips twitching upwards.

Trevor moved himself closer and groaned

“You’re supposed to be resting.” Alucard’s hands were on his shoulders.

“So should you.”

Trevor’s hands moved upwards and pushed the coat off Alucard’s shoulders. Alucard seemed too tired to fight him. He moved his hands up to cup Alucard’s face, his thumbs gliding over the pale skin.

He let out a shaky breath. He was crying again, but he wasn’t ashamed. He’d done it. He’d found him.

“Please, stay. I know you wanted to be asleep, but I promise you I can help you. I can make you feel better, closer to whole… And if I’m allowed to be selfish, then please don’t leave me. Alucard, Adrian please, please I can’t lose you again, I won’t survive it, so please…” Trevor was aware that he was rambling and saying the same things over and over but he couldn’t seem to stop.

He didn’t want to stop begging until he heard Alucard’s reply.

He watched Alucard’s eyes widen and his hands come to grip at Trevor’s coat.

“You missed me this much…?” He said in wonder.

“Of course I did. How could I not? Please… Say you’ll stay… Stay with me…”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is. It is easy. We’ll deal with trouble as it comes. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but I promise I can help ease the pain of it. I promise. I promise I’ll take care of you.” Trevor’s hands were moving backwards and grasping around Alucard’s neck.

He sobbed when he felt Alucard’s arms come around him. He was aware that Alucard was crying too.

“Please…”

“I can’t promise that I’ll get better.”

“I know. But give yourself a chance. Let yourself try.”

“…And you’ll stay with me.”

“After everything that just happened, does it seem like I’m going to let you out of my sight.”

He heard Alucard let out a choked laugh and held him tighter.

“I’m not going anywhere, Adrian. And neither are you, agreed?”

“Agreed… I suppose I should say thank you…”

“You don’t have to say anything. Let’s just get some rest. And you better be here when I wake up Adrian Tepes because I swear to god-” Trevor cut himself off as Alucard started laughing.

He shuffled back and pulled Alucard down with him onto the bed.

“Rest, Adrian. I’ll be here when you wake.”

“As will I.”

[caydesgirl-uldrensprincess]

New and Old Faces

Alright here is part 2 to Lost Light and Chapter 2 in ‘His Queen of Hearts’ on my Wattpad page. Enjoy!

——————————

Chloe woke to chaos. Red Legion were storming the streets —the city over run. She felt so weak, light completely drained from her system.

'I need to find Moondance,' She thought, heaving herself up, wincing at the pain. Chloe didn't dare cry out in fear of being spotted. Pain coursed through her body, limping as she walked, clutching her sides in agony. She stayed out of sight of the Red Legion.

"... Chloe...?" She heard.

"Moondance!" The Huntress exclaimed, running through the excruciating pain to the source of what called her name.

She found her ghost laying on the ground, his blue shell cracked and broken. Chloe picked him up.

"Moondance, what happened?" She asked, taking shelter a under bridge.

"The Light is.... gone....Red Legion.... everywhere..... Chloe, I can heal you, but...... I can't resurrect you," He muttered, as he healed his Guardian.

Chloe stilled felt completely drained, even after Moondance healed her.

"We should get going."

The Huntress nodded— clutching tightly to her Ghost— and headed to the edge of the city: sticking to the shadows, not to be seen by the Cabal.

"Any news from the Vanguard?" Chloe asked after about ten minutes of traveling.

"No, Cayde went MIA and Commander Zavala ordered everyone evacuate the city and planet," Moondance explained.

Chloe nodded, hopping everyone was alright, especially Cayde. A few hours later, the Huntress and Ghost found themselves out at the edge of the city. Going through a hole in the wall, Chloe left the city.

A few days later...

Chloe looked at what looked like a camp, but there were dead Guardians everywhere. Only there were two still alive. An Awoken Warlock and an Exo Titan. The Warlock had bubble gum pink hair and the Exo had a red paint job and a horn, just like Cayde's— not facing Chloe. She realized that these two Guardians were her best friends.

"Izzy, Tori!" Chloe called.

The two whirled around, a surprised, but happy look in their faces. Chloe ran to them, engulfing them in a hug.

"Clo, we thought you were dead!" Isabelle exclaimed, tightening her grip on the Huntress.

"Glad to see you didn't kill yourself, but you look like shit," Tori stated, her pink optics scanning Chloe.

"I can say the same thing about you guys," The Huntress pulled away from the hug and chuckled.

Moondance looked at the fallen Guardians, "Without the light, they had no chance of survival. Chloe if you die, I can't bring you back."

"Then I won't die," The blue haired female stated, picking up a hand cannon and some ammo.

Chloe looked into the distance, she noticed a falcon. She noticed yesterday and the day before that. Was it leading her somewhere? Possibly to Cayde or the other Vanguards?

"That falcon, are we following it, or is it following us?" Moondance asked.

Isabelle looked at the falcon. Her sapphire Awoken eyes studying it. Then tapped her chin. Chloe noted that Isabelle usually did this when she was in deep thought or thinking.

"That falcon arrived this morning, it's been sitting there for a while, is it leading you guys somewhere?" The Warlock asked, her gaze shifting to the Huntress.

"I think, my thoughts want it to be Cayde, but my guts says it not."

"Chloe, are you ever gonna tell the Hunter Vanguard how you feel about him?" Tori asked.

Chloe blushed, "Maybe, but not until I'm ready."

"Fine, But lets get going," The Exo female stated, marching forward.

The other females followed, walking deeper into the canyon. They traveled for the next few days, occasionally running into some Red Legion. The women took them out and continued on. The falcon took the trio deeper and deeper into the canyon. Chloe looked at her surroundings, it was slightly foggy and they were jumping down short cliffs. On the next jump, the trio missed called to the ground with a loud THUD.

"Who left three perfectly good guardians lying around, things must be worst than I thought," Came a female voice

Chloe stood up and noticed a woman wear a poncho, standing in front of the trio. Gun shots fired in the distance.

"And that's our que, time to go, people!" The woman shouted.

Moondance looked at her, "Uh, But.... Wait, where.... where are you all going?"

"As far away from here as possible," The Woman answered.

A falcon sounded in the distance and the woman stopped. The same falcon the trio had been following landed on the woman's outstretched arm.

"That falcon... it belongs to you?" Hermione, Isabelle's Ghost, asked.

"The names Suraya Hawthorne, and this is Lewis. The best piolet we got. And you three are?"

"I'm Isabelle Brigham And this is my Ghost Hermione."

"Tori-3, Percy is my Ghost."

"And I'm Chloe Brask, And-"

"Daughter of late Hunter Vanguard Andal Brask?" Hawthorne asked.

"Yes, and this is my Ghost, his name is Moondance," The Huntress finished.

"Nice to meet ya. Fit to fly?"

"I guess."

"Probably gonna need one of these, too," The Falcon Lady stated, tossing Chloe, Tori, and Isabelle auto rifles, "Time to make yourself useful, 'Guardians'."

Hawthorne then turned, "All right, people, spin 'em up! We got a long flight ahead of us!"

The trio followed Hawthorne onto a ship, unknown of where they were going. Just hoping it was somewhere safe.

[randomfuturetone]

Final act:

"RANDOM FUTURE TONE"

- "Yes... It needs... Me." Chuchu says.

- "I don't understand." Bunny says.

Chuchu remembers her talking with Astra, smoking a cigarette.

"Love... Because I care so much about the others that I would prefer to be gone, and they continue to live their lives without me than losing any of them."

- "Chuchu... You..." Astra says.

- "Yes. Yes I." Chuchu says.

- "Rehtomama Chuchu!" Lunny says, hugging her tight. "No, no no no, I won't let you!"

- "Chuchu... Again..." Flurry says.

- "It won't happen, Chuchu. We'll think of something else." Bunny says, trying to keep her composure.

- "That mind reading thing is still working, right? Your Bunny sense?" Chuchu says. "You know what we need to do. You know what is going to happen."

- "I can't lose you, Chuchu. I can't... I can't... I can't lose you." Bunny says, bursting into tears, hugging Chuchu. "Because I love you, I love you more than anything.."

- "And I love you too, that's why I have to do this, for love."

Bunny and Chuchu share one last, long kiss.

Everyone is crying as Unnatural waits, down on the floor, looking at nothing.

- "I will never understand... love... I will always hate." She says.

- "Right right, get up, idiot." Chuchu says, taking Unnatural. "You are the one who let me live. Through my fury, my sadness, my tears, I found happiness. I created a world, which led to the creation of thousands of worlds. So I'm good, I'm fine with the past, I don't regret a single thing. You need me to be evil, and I need you to be good. You need my human element and for that... I have to leave this world..." Chuchu says.

-"I will live forever, because sadness lives forever." Unnatural says.

- "We already defeated sadness. We'll do it again. In fact, you already lost before fighting. And we already won." Chuchu says.

"No time travel...No reality changes... No resurrections." She says, looking at everyone. "This is where my life starts, and where my life ends. Thank you."

Everyone holds hands one last time, with Natassha and Bunny at the front.

- "Mama..." Lunny says.

- "There. Bunny, you will always have a part of me.” Chuchu says, looking at Lunny.

- "Time... Reality... Dimensions... Powers... Mind... Love... Everything together. The spell… will work." Natassha says.

The girls surround Chuchu and Anastasshia in a circle.

- "Say the words, say you WANT this. Nothing happens until I hear you say it." Bunny yells, crying.

- "I want this.” Chuchu says, crying, smiling, and staring into her eyes.

Natassha's magic fills the air, Unnatural slowly fades, along with Chuchu.

- "These sweet feelings of mine, since I give them to you, please accept them, ok?" 🎶 She sings as her last words.

Chuchu is gone.

The universe itself

The entire existence

The one has spoken

And THE VOICE was born.

Flurry opens a portal, pushing the entity formed by Chuchu and Unnatural inside.

- "it's over" Natassha says.

- "Everything... is over.." Bunny says through tears.

- "Bunny... I'm sorry, Bunny..." Trakimer says, hugging Bunny. Natassha joins the hug.

- "Excuse me... Baki... Trakimer.." Astra says, timidly.

- "Both, both at this point, but I know what you want" Trakimer shines, returning to Bakimer, long hair with no cross or triangles.

- "I always dreamed about... I always wanted..." Astra can barely speak.

- "Just do it, my best friend." Bakimer says. Both share a warm and beautiful hug, both crying of happiness.

- "I'm sorry about everything." Astra says.

- "You did nothing wrong. I will always be a part of you, and you will always be a part of me. My Astra, my star."

- "Right, my Bakimer, my star."

Bakimer turns into Poppin one more time.

- "Then, who are you now?" Maia asks.

- "Let's say... both?" Poppin says.

- "It's over." Astra says, as her body starts to fade. "I did it, my life is complete."

- "Astra... Astra... Why don't you stay with us?" Maia asks.

- "I helped you create the cycle of the rft story. I met my best friend Bakimer. These extra days of life were amazing. Thank you for bringing me here, Natassha.” Astra says.

- "I did my best." Natassha replies.

- "I'll return to the real world for a last breath, then... I'll be part of The One." Astra says. "You will always be my angels, my stars. Thank you for everything.” She says, as she slowly fades away.

- "It seems like I've seen something I shouldn't have." Flurry says.

- "Same." her shiteyanyo says.

- "Right. Flurry, don’t worry. It’s not going to hurt." Natassha says, approaching her.

- "Hold on. I need to ask you something." Flurry says.

- "This future... is inevitable, right?" She asks.

- "The future is not written, dear." Poppin says.

- "Dear? Does that mean... You and me... In the future..." Flurry says, flushing.

- "Yes. We." Poppin says, and kisses her on her lips.

Flurry smiles, then closes her eyes, and Natassha does her magic.

In a bed in a hospital, a girl in her mid 30’s opens her eyes after a long time. Taking her tube off from her nose, she gives a deep breath.

- "Mommy... Misha... Limer... I'm coming." She says as she smiles, closing her eyes. The machine connected gives a long tone, and its screen draws a single straight line.

- "I'm now one with the stars." She says with her last breath.

The girls return to their own period of time. The house is silent. Bunny stays in Chuchu's room, crying, when she hears the door knocking.

- "Leave me alone." She says.

- "Bunny... I did terrible things... And I've been working on this for a while... I had a little help with the design, though!" Maia says. "My fingers did their best... This way... She will always be here." She says, giving her a box. "I hope you like it, bye!" Maia quickly leaves the room, and hides behind the door along with Natassha, Lunny and Poppin.

Bunny opens the box...

A plushie with the form of Chuchu.

She hugs the Plushie tight.

- "I understand... I understand now... Life or death. Separation or togetherness. We are always together. Because death breaths life, and life doesn't exist without death. I understand. It doesn't matter if you are far away, because there's a part of you that lives in me, right? Your memories, your love, still alive in me. We only exist in the reader's imagination, we are not alive, yet we exist, we bring tears and smiles... That's what being alive means... Feeling. I understand. It doesn't matter if things are harder now, because sooner or later, everything will be fine... Thank you. Thank you, Chuchu, for making the story happen. Thank you reader, for bringing me to life. Thank you Val, thank you Sho, thank you Alice, thank you Jako, thank you Emsy.

Thank you Miku, Luka, Rin, Kaito, Meiko, thank you everyone!

And for all our readers; congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! You are now part of The One! You are the one! We are The One!

Goodnight, everyone!"

The curtain rolls down.

The public rises and screams in joy as they roar in applause. The curtain rolls up in the theater.  Bunny, Chuchu, Natassha, shiteyanyo, Poppin, Maia, takoko, Astra, Lunny, Anastasshia, Limer, Bakimer, Flurry, Yumeko and Eka, all the characters hold our hands and bow at you, the reader.

"Thank you! Congratulations!" We repeat, waving our hands as you, the reader, smiles unstoppable into tears of happiness.

This was a story hidden from the light of the day, a tragedy and a comedy for those who had followed the path of curiosity. They are, and always will be, blessed by the angels.