#only just finished the first trial i was YELLING at the screen when they were suspecting gonta

[ivoryratdoggerythethird]

i’ve only had kirumi and gonta for a day and a half and when something inevitably happens to them i will blow this computer up

[spnsisterimagines]

Mario Kart

Summary - Y/N decides to engage her brothers and Castiel into Mario Kart, not realizing what she was getting herself into.

Pairings - Dean Winchester x Sister!Reader, Sam Winchester x Sister!Reader, Jack Kline x Platonic!Winchester!Reader, Castiel x Winchester!Reader

Word Count - 1,911 words

"Let's get it!" Y/N squeals, claiming her spot on the middle of the couch. She was practically bouncing up and down, waiting impatiently for everyone to join her. The Dean Cave had brightened considerably since she had added a few redecorations. While Dean initially denied her, she had forced him to allow her to put up LED lights, several polaroids from her camera(they were mostly of herself smiling widely at the camera while Sam and Dean looked mildly annoyed with fake smiles. There was also a real funny one where Sam was unconscious on a hunt and Y/N decided to pose beside him), as well as posters from their favorite bands. Not to mention the added dock to the TV stand to hold her Nintendo Switch that Sam had bought her for her previous birthday. 

She supposed he regretted it now, since she was forcing him to play a game he'd never even heard of.

He entered the room first, holding a big bowl of popcorn and a soda. Dean followed close behind, Little Debbie packages hanging from his mouth since his arms were occupied with pillows from their bedrooms and a pack of beers for himself. Jack was the only one to come empty handed. He happily took the spot beside Y/N, waving merrily as Castiel also appeared with two sodas(both of them for Beth because he was just so considerate), taking the spot on her other side.

"I'll give this an hour before we switch to movie night, Y/N," Dean warned as he occupied his armchair, which was to the left of the couch. She had discovered this old thing at a garage sale. It had been a rather stressful day because Dean had refused to strap it to Baby and they had to hound what little friends they had for a truck. Since most of their friends were dead, Y/N had hot wired one outside of a bar and returned it before the drunk redneck inside could notice it had even left. She was sure the dent in the bed was there before they put the couch on it. Sam had not been happy about that.

Sam took his own armchair, which was to the right of the couch. 

"What is it, again?" he asked curiously. 

"Is the only thing in the media you've ever heard Facebook? You've seriously never heard of Mario Kart?" Y/N asked, happily accepting one of the sodas from Castiel. "Dad really did a number on us. I was introduced to this through Charlie." She got up to grab the number of controllers necessary for four. Jack was eager to try the game, but he was always open to trying new things, something Y/N could appreciate.

After connecting them to the Switch, she handed them out to her brothers along with Jack before returning to her spot on the couch between the angel and nephilim. 

"If I remember correctly from what you've told me, it's a racing game, right?" Castiel asked.

"Exactly, except with a few quirks to make it interesting. Like, um...I could throw a shell and hit one of them and vice versa. Or a banana peel. I'll give them a trial run before we actually get into it. Are you sure you don't want to try it, Cas?"

Castiel shook his head. "I have seen how you play with Charlie, and I don't want to be on the receiving end of your anger. And I rather like watching you in your element."

Y/N smiled, blushing, before playfully pushing him. 

"I need to get drunk to stomach this," Dean said, offended as he popped one of the beers open and took a gulp. "Keep the PDA to a minimum guys, you've got a kid next to you. Alright, what buttons do I push to hit Sam?"

"What the hell?" Sam scoffed. 

"What?"

"We haven't even started and you're gunnin' for me?"

"Uh, yeah!" 

"Alright, alright! First we gotta pick our player," Y/N mediated, pressing the buttons to get them to the screen full of Mario players. "I already got mine." She moved her icon until it landed on Wendy, before selecting her. "Obviously the best character, hands down."

The three boys maneuvered their icons over different characters, for some reason taking it a little too seriously on who they would choose. Sam selected his first. 

"Luigi?" Dean scoffed.

"You got a problem?" Sam asked. 

"No, but...why Luigi?"

"Who cares, I just chose him."

"You have to have a reason, man." Dean shook his head, before selecting his own. 

"Why'd you choose Bowser, then?"

"Because he's a badass. And he'd beat the holy hell out of Luigi if the games lost their PG rating," Dean shrugged.

Jack hummed thoughtfully, still scrolling. "I choose him!" 

He selected Toad. 

"Why him, Jack?" she asked. 

"I like his hat."

Y/N snorted, but it was a valid enough answer. Once everyone was ready, she selected the settings for the game and then decided to use the time to explain to them how the controls worked and anything else they were curious about. After a few trial races, they were ready for the real thing. Castiel was sitting patiently, his hands on his lap. 

"You assholes are going down," Dean declared, bringing his remote closer to him. 

"So much for being appropriate in front of the kid," Y/N sneered, but she was just as ready.

She set the game to go through ten races with a random select for the roads. 

And with that, they were off.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Dean yelled, nearly jumping to his feet. His first empty beer bottle slide across the floor from his rapid movement. "I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH IT! I DIDN'T GO NEAR THE GODDAMN PEEL!"

"That might've been mine," Sam stated, smugly. "But Bowser also takes up half the road, so avoiding it was probably impossible anyway."

Dean squinted. "You callin' me fat, Sammy?"

Sam shrugged. "Luigi's doing just fine."

Y/N hid her smile as she hit her own item, snatching that smile right from Sam's face.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, incredulous, the red shell sending Luigi off the edge of the map. 

"You got in my way!" Y/N sang. 

It only seemed to get worse from there. What was supposed to be an hour of playing turned into four with the bowl of popcorn thrown across the room at Dean when he had decided to hit Sam three times with three separate shells before snagging first place and doing a lewd dance as a way to declare his victory. Y/N's hair had bristled up, becoming bushier almost as though it were alive. Her right eye was twitching, and her hands were cramping by now. 

Jack, however, was having a good time. He has gotten last place the entire time, but he was still having fun, and that's what truly mattered.

Castiel, on the other hand, seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack, not knowing whose side he should take because all three Winchester siblings were completely out of their minds, including Y/N.

Finally, it was the last race. Everyone's nerves were shot. Sam's hair seemed even more raggedy than Y/N's, and his shirt was stained with soda because Dean decided to take vengeance by chucking his pillow at him when Sam was taking a big gulp. They had to pause the game for several minutes while Sam fought for his life coughing and wheezing because the soda went down the wrong pipe.

"I'm afraid I must at least attempt to deter you guys from participating in another race. There aren't any weapons in the Dean Cave, but I'm sure you three will find a way to kill each other," Castiel said, worried. "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack nodded enthusiastically. "I'm having fun!"

"I will let it be known if I lose, someone is dying tonight. I will call Billie to fix it, but someone has to die tonight if I lose," Y/N threatened. 

"Good luck with that, I'm kicking all of your asses, and you can kiss mine when it crosses the finish line," Dean said.

"I don't even care if I win, as long as you guys lose. And I'll make sure it happens." Sam jeered. 

With that, the race began. Aside from Jack and Castiel, everyone was bloodthirsty. Surely no matter who won, someone was gonna be pissed off. Castiel was making a mental note to grab Jack as soon as possible and escort him out of the room while the siblings brawled. 

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Y/N shouted, jumping to her feet. "WHO DID IT! WHO DID IT?"

"I did!" Sam happily announced, moving to and fro with the turn of his controller, as though he were in the game himself. 

"I'm gonna get you, Sam," Y/N snarled, pressing hard on the buttons, trying her best to catch up to her brother, collecting any items she came across, but none of them were good enough, so she kept using them without thinking until she heard Dean curse and also jump to his feet. 

"THAT WAS ME, JACKASS!" he yelled, completely distraught. "I didn't even do anything this time!"

"You probably deserved it anyway!" Sam shrugged, continuing to maneuver through the AIs to get to the front. 

By that time, Dean and Y/N had caught up, and with all they had, they used their items to completely screw each other over up until every kart had passed them. In the end, they were the bottom three with Sam first, Y/N second, and Dean in dead last. And for a moment there after, nobody said anything. They were completely beside themselves in utter shock at what just occurred. 

"What just happened?" Y/N asked, deflating considerably. 

"We lost..." Sam mumbled. 

"Screw you guys, I lost overall!" Dean scoffed.

"I won!" Jack suddenly cheered, leaping to his feet and jumping up and down. "I won!"

"You what?" Y/N asked, shocked as her eyes trailed to the top. Sure enough, Toad was in first place. "You're kidding!"

"I can't believe I won!" Jack said, smiling as he high-fived a proud Castiel.

"I want a rematch," Dean commanded, sitting back down and retrieving his controller. 

"Yeah, me, too!" Sam agreed. 

"I'm down!" Y/N eagerly agreed, about to grab hers when Castiel snatched it. He went around the room, taking up all the controllers.

"Given that it's five in the morning, and just a couple moments ago you three were ready to quite literally rip each other's throats out, I'm going to recommend everyone get up and get to bed instead," he instructed curtly. "I think we should postpone a future night of games indefinitely, at least for a little while until you three can learn to control yourselves."

"What-but-you can't-" Y/N sputtered.

"Quite literally, I can shut off whatever is necessary so you can never play the game again with just a snap of my fingers," Castiel warned. "Shower and get some sleep. Jody already told us she needed to discuss something at noon tomorrow, and it would be rude if we were tardy. C'mon, let's go!"

With a grumble, everyone got up and cleaned their mess, ignoring each other vehemently as they walked out. Except for Jack; he was practically skipping. 

There was another good thing about tonight that he knew about. He was the one that triggered the lightning item that really stumped the three siblings and put them at the bottom three.

[lokifantasies]

The Trial PART 1

Summary: The long awaited trial against Evan Nichols has started, and the foundation of the case against him has been laid out.

WARNING: GRAPHIC TORTURE AND SEXUAL ABUSE EXPLAINED.

Character(s): Loki, Thor, Jade, & Evan

Read the Mischievous Life series here!

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The trial is here. It's the day that your family has been waiting for since this whole nightmare started. Unfortunately, Loki and Jade are both adamant that you remain on bed rest for the sake of the growing baby, and you ultimately end up losing the argument when you try to force them to let you come. Loki assures you that he'll be by her side for the both of you – supporting her the entire time.

In the back of your mind, you know the stress of hearing and seeing the evidence would be too much for you, and no one wants to see anything happen to your baby. Thankfully, Thor also appears to support his niece and brother – sitting on Jade's right as Loki sits on her left.

"I don't wanna see him," Jade mutters – looking down to the floor when Evan walks into the courtroom with his parents.

The teenager looks like he's injured – his leg has a slight limp, and his eye is swollen and dark. However, the seventeen-year-old has a smug smile on his face – his ego being stroked when he sees the television cameras on him. He takes his seat in between his lawyers, and they group together to discuss something quietly. Loki, Thor, and Jade try their hardest to hear what they're saying, but they're speaking far too quietly.

"I don't understand how he could have a defense," Thor says to you and Loki. "How can anyone deny that he did what he did?"

You shrug. "I don't know, Uncle Thor. I just want this to be over with."

The prosecution begins their opening statement by laying out all the facts of the case and making it clear what Evan Nichols is being tried for. His charges are as follows:

- 1st degree aggravated kidnapping

- 1st degree sexual assault (with forcible penetration)

- 1st degree sodomy

- Conspiracy to commit a kidnapping

- Conspiracy to commit a felony

- Felony stalking

- Harassment

- Attempted murder

- False imprisonment

- Assault with a deadly weapon

The first few witnesses to testify are the first responders who saved Jade from the small space she was being held in.

"Could you please state your name for the court and how you became involved in this case?" the prosecutor, Mr. Jeff Bards, began to question the officer.

"Brian David Wilson. I'm an NYPD SWAT officer who responded to the 911 call to 4892 E Graves Road," the witness explains.

"What happened upon arriving at the address?"

The officer took a deep breath before speaking. "We, the SWAT team, forced our way inside the house, and we started searching. I began to hear some muffled pleas for help, and when I followed them, I came across the fake wall in the home's basement. After removing the fake wall, I discovered that there was a small crawl-space type room."

"Can you confirm what the photo on the screen is?" Mr. Bards asks – a photo of the tiny, dark space where Jade had been held showing up on the screen.

"Yes, that is the crawl-space," he confirms

"And where was Ms. Lokisdottir located?"

"She was located in the back corner of the crawl space. She came out from hiding when she saw me, and I pulled her out of the space," officer Wilson stops to take a deep breath and gather his thoughts – trying to push his feeling aside. "Afterward, I carried her out of the house and to the ambulance that was waiting outside."

There's silence as the officer exits the witness stand – looking towards Jade and Loki as he goes to take his seat in the rows. The other officers testify – stating similar things to what the first one did. Then, everyone hears the fateful words.

"The prosecution calls Jade Pandora Lokisdottir to the stand, please."

Loki and Thor wrap their arms around the shaking sixteen-year-old – remind her that they're right there, and if she needs to, just look at them and they'll help her.

"You can do this, my love," Loki says softly. "Just pretend you're having a conversation."

"Okay," Jade nervously breathes out.

Thor hugs his niece close before she stands up. "You are so strong, Jade...just like your parents. You got this."

Jade exhales and nods – trying to walk up to the witness stand without falling. On the way, she refuses to look at the defense's side of the courtroom – disgusted as to how anyone could defend Evan.

Oh well, everyone has a right to a defense.

For a moment, Jade looks towards Evan. A smirk appears on her face when she sees his injuries – wondering who she needs to thank for the revenge. Before Jade turns her attention away, Evan takes the chance to blow a kiss towards her – excited to watch the goddess relive the nightmare he put her through.

"Could you please state your name for the court?" the prosecutor asks – looking directly at Jade.

"Um," Jade's voice is soft against the microphone. "Jade...Pandora Lokis-Lokisdottir."

"And can you tell the court how you came to know the defendant?"

Jade takes a deep breath and exhales – looking towards Loki and Thor for support. "Ye-yes. Um, we met at the mall when my parents took me shopping before the school year started. That weekend, we went out on a date, and then we started dating."

"Were you and the defendant ever sexual?

"Not...really," Jade answers. "Um, we only ever had oral sex, but that's it. I wa-wasn't comfortable with ever going any further than that."

"So, there was never any consensual sexual intercourse?"

"No."

"How long were you and the defendant dating?"

"Four months."

"During that time, did the defendant act inappropriately towards you in any sort of way?"

Jade exhales. "Yes. The last night we hung out together, he tried to force himself on me, but he ran away and drove off when I yelled for my dad."

"Ms. Lokisdottir, can you walks us through the day of September 3rd?"

Jade shakes her head and exhales nervously – looking towards Loki and Thor for their support. This is the first time she's ever spoken about what happened to her, and hopefully, it'll be the last.

"I was...at school, and Evan told me he wanted to speak with me privately, so I followed him out into the parking lot to smoke marijuana and talk in his car. When we got to his car, though, he locked the doors, and he took off from the parking lot." Jade swallows hard before continuing. "Um...I begged for him to stop and turn around – just let me go back to school, and I wouldn't tell anyone. But he didn't. He kept driving – pulling a knife from under his driver's seat and holding it to my throat. I tried to do as he said – hoping that he'd let me go, but he never calmed down. When we arrived at his house, no one was home. H-he led me into the basement and pulled a dresser away from the wall. It was a secret room behind the wall, and he made me...uh...he made me take all of my clothes off, so I was completely nude. He put a collar around my neck, and he connected it to a bolt in the floor so that I couldn't move much. He left for, I guess a couple hours, and he left me in the dark room. I remember how cold it was. It was freezing...especially since I didn't have any clothes. When he came back, he started to...do things."

"Could you explain what things were done to you by the defendant?"

Jade's eyes begin to tear up – her breathing becoming staggered as she thinks about how to word the horrific abuse she had been put through. The looks of support from Loki and Thor, however, give her a strength that she didn't know she had.

"There was...a metal bar," Jade begins quietly – biting her bottom lip to keep her thoughts going. "He had a long lighter with him, and he started to heat the bar up. He was laughing when he pressed the hot metal to my thigh – smiling at me while I screamed in pain as my skin started to burn. There's still a burn scar on my left thigh. When the bar finally cooled down, he threw it to the side. He grabbed me by the chain leash and forced me down to my knees. With his other hand, he...took his penis out of his pants and pried by mouth open. He grabbed the back of my head and used my mouth to get himself off. No matter how much I cried, and begged, and pleaded, he didn't stop. He found it entertaining. It turned him on." Jade looks out to see Loki and Thor becoming angrier by the second, but they're trying their best to remain calm for Jade's sake – knowing that they need to be her support. "After he was...finished, he uh, forced me to lie on the dirty floor. I tried to keep my legs closed, but he punched me in the face, which caused me to jump. Before I could try to close my legs again, Evan had them spread, and he began to...force his mouth...on me. I felt his teeth bite me, and I knew I was bleeding, but it seemed to turn him on even more. H-h-he reached over and grabbed the metal rod again, and h...I'm sorry...can I just...a moment?"

"Take your time," the prosecutor assures Jade – maintaining a professional composure.

Jade exhales deeply – closing her eyes and trying to gather her courage to continue.

"H-he began to use the metal rod to...assault me. He shoved it inside me – giving me cuts and bruises. I was bleeding, but he continued to thrust it in and out of me until he was satisfied. I thought he would finally be done, and I thought he'd take me home, but then I felt him begin to...insert himself...his...penis...into me. I tried to kick him off, but he held my legs as tight as he could to stop me from moving. It...I'm pretty sure he was trying to cause me pain. Finally, I stopped fighting – wanting him to just hurry up and let me go. I tried to stop crying because I didn't want him to be anymore satisfied with himself, but when I felt his fingers start to go into...the other side, I started fighting again. He pulled me up by the chain, and he forced me to look into his eyes. I remember he said that I was now his slut, and he was going to break me until I learned to love it. After a couple of minutes...he...ejaculated into me, which later resulted in a pregnancy. Evan was still wanting more though, so he turned me over and held my face to the floor as he entered my backside. Again, ignoring my cries and screams for him to stop. I lost track of how many times he did this...I think I may have blacked out or something, or maybe my brain made me forget in order to protect me from the memory, but the next thing I remember was being alone, redressed, and I heard the police officers calling out for me."

"Thank you, Ms. Lokisdottir," the prosecutor says with a proud smile.

[otterskin]

I didn't like the LOKI show, no matter how hard I try, and it's messing with me.

My mother died at the end of December. A lot of other bad things happened as well, like the severe brain injury of my father.

I didn't cry. There was so much to do. I did it. And even then, when there was nothing left to do, I didn't cry.

I found distractions.

Today I went to see the Green Knight after a tough week at a new job that had me leave my father in another province even though he still needs help. I was trying to get back to the life I'd dropped.

I loved the Green Knight. The Arthurian Legends are as dear to me as Norse Mythology, and my copy of them had the Green Knight on the cover. The film was truly excellent, evoking the feel of the story whole still doing something unique and very A24. I cried at one point, like I did when watching the first THOR, because of how much it meant to see something I'd loved since the very first years of my existence finally make it to the big screen and be...right. It's own thing, it's own artistic product, but right.

Then I opened a tab in a browser and saw I had some messages on a website I comment on. It was just some minor criticism of the LOKI show I'd posted beneath an article and how it handled certain things.

I was downvoted. Berated. Hated. Lumped in the ad hominem twitter users who attacked the director and writer (I'd never, ever!) Told I was biphobic because I wanted to see more of a queer lens (I even addressed how difficult it is for bi people in queer cinema and society in general in my criticisms of the romance, but even that wasn't good enough - just disliking it was 'bad'.) I was told I just wanted my 'fanfic' made (I never made any laundrylist of plot points I demanded). I was accused of being a begrudged shipper (ha! If anything I'm an anti-shipper). I was told that I should love the show, it was awesome, and I was bad for not thinking so.

And I started to cry.

I don't cry. Only at movies. Not at real life. I didn't cry at my grandparents's funerals, I didn't cry when I was left with the body of my mother in the hospital room and my brother cried on my shoulder. I didn't cry when working through my dad's severe new disabilities as I realized how much he had lost. I didn't cry while realizing how messy my parents' finances were. I didn't cry when my mother's friends called me in the middle of the night and cried into the phone. I didn't cry when saying goodbye to my dog and going back to a rundown apartment with a terrible smell so I could go to work in a dark room for hours at a time.

But now I'm crying and writing this.

I've realized why. During everything, I looked forward to the LOKI show. The first THOR is deeply nostalgic to me and I watched it often in my first year of Uni when I was away from home. It tied in thematically to what I was going for. Thor 2 came out before I went on exchange, and while I disliked it overall, talking about it was a welcome distraction from my anxieties. Thor 3 was nerve-wracking, but it also came out during my first major job which I was struggling with, and I saw it so many times in theatres...it was such a huge comfort.

Looking forward to LOKI wasn't just a distraction. It was like a promise. A promise that I'd make it till then and see it and maybe it'd give me some comfort.

That's on me. That's a personal thing. It's an unreasonable expectation.

But I needed it, all the same.

Then it came out.

I tried. I really tried to like it, to forgive it, but the problems are things I've criticized for too long in so many other things. I always try to be respectful about, I never go ad hominem and attack the creators, only critique their work and I always mentioned what I liked but...

I didn't like it.

I have no urge to rewatch it.

And the Green Knight...the Green Knight was everything I wanted and needed it to be. It didn't let me down, though I've been anticipating it about as long as the LOKI show. They're very different, obviously, but in my heart they share the same compartment.

And after a very trying day...I realized how badly I needed to rewatch a Loki show I liked. But I can't even enjoy THOR or Thor:Ragnarok anymore. It's like everything I did like has been poisoned.

This thing that got me through immense pain is causing me pain. I don't want to be toxic. I'm sure it's in me. I try so hard not to wallow in disappointment, but to not even be allowed to talk about my problems without being lumped in with abusive online monsters...

I can't do it. I just can't.

This is supposed to be an escape, not another trial.

I needed the LOKI show to be good, so I could come out of the dark into the light, or at least walk through the night with a lantern ahead of me. And instead it was just more darkness, and it's not even entirely its own fault. It's the online discourse. It's the uncalled for harassment of Herron and Waldron. It's the taunting jabs at people who didn't have a good time as if we're all jerks. It's having people roll their eyes when you point out things that made you uncomfortable in the story, it's feeling slightly gaslit when you find something gross that the story intended to be gross and then being told it's not gross, actually.

I'm sorry. I don't want to cause pain. I just...

I needed it to be good. And unlike Thor 3, which delivered me respite in a dark time...it let me down. Worse, it's hurt me.

I said I don't cry, only at the movies. Something about them lets me cry in a way nothing else does. I can't cry at a funeral, but I can cry in a movie theatre at the drop of a hat. It's a release valve, a way for me to process things.

I think I was waiting for LOKI to give me permission to cry. To give me something that could release this pain in me. And instead, it just gave me more.

I never should have given it that power. I didn't want to. But I had to, to get through this.

I'm putting away the few THOR pieces of tat I have. I feel foolish. I always knew it was a capitalist piece of art, chucked from creator to creator with no creative shepherd, which in itself was stressful.

The fandom is no sanctuary for me either, since I'm primarily interested in the family dynamics and I'm sick of 'Odin is an ABUSIVE MONSTER' stories or even unrelated fics and posts just dropping in hate for him that's not at all canon but seems to be very popular to the point where people think it is. Especially since I often read these stories when I need to think of home and my father. Or, most pleasantly of all, when I get called an abuser or abuser-enabler because I say I like Odin as a character. I also can't really bear to deal with anything to do with Sylvie, whom I had high hopes for as someone who wants more female tricksters, but instead I got this...this Mary Sue that's very hard to criticize without being yelled at. I swear I'm coming at her writing as a feminist and I don't hate anyone, I don't, I just...sigh. She's just personally frustrating to me and not being able to discuss it without being called names sucks.

Not to mention I'm asexual, and I always struggle with romance in media being pushed as the 'ultimate relationship more important than any other'. Part of the reason I liked THOR so much was that romance was not the main feature of THOR and definitely not THOR 3 (while my disliked Dark World was all about it, and so is LOKI). And when I criticize the romance, I get called a prude (guilty, I guess), a troll, or, my favourite, just 'a hater'.

I don't want to hate. Who wants that poison in their veins? I'm here because the Thor series HELPED me because I LOVED it. And now I look at the things I used to love and I...don't, anymore.

So much is asked of me right now. I can't willingly invite this painful thing to sit on my chest as well, especially since the world is already shoving it into my face without my doing anything, in ads, in news, in everything.

I suppose that's why I've leaned even more into Odin lately. He was untouched by the LOKI series (though not the Simpson special, which worries me). He's a trickster, he's queer, he's nuanced, he's 'misunderstood' (that old cliche, but he's misunderstood and misrepresented by the people always yelling about how this or that character is misunderstood, which amuses me, except when it gets to me), and he's in many ways free to make my own.

I still have some stuff I'm going to publish that's practically finished. Finnesang has a lot more written for it but needs some major sit-down time for re-writes and edits. Lokabrenna is practically done, just needs tweaks and Beta. I'll be here a little longer.

But I think I'm going to have to step back for now and put my passions into other things.

I will be back. After all, after Thor 2 came Thor 3. Maybe Love and Thunder will right the ship and Thor can still be awesome, and maybe eventually a creative I love will come to work on the franchise. Really, that's the key for me - I loved Branagh before THOR, and loved Waititi before Thor, and disliked Waldron's work (though I gave him every benefit of the doubt and hoped and prayed to be wrong - sadly, it was what I expected.)

But...if LOKI season 2 is more of this, more romantic tropes I hate and Loki being an afterthought in his own show and his family being devalued for new characters...I can't do it. I can't watch something I used to love just throw that all away for something I dislike.

My tears are finally drying. I wrote a lot of this while the screen was blurry, so I hope there's no grammar or typo too embarrasing. I'm not sure I have the strength to re-read it. Sorry for the rant. It helped me feel better.

Thank you all. I hope I feel differently someday.

[triforce-princess]

well, i finally 100% completed hyrule warriors age of calamity in its entirety, including post game content, so i’m finally going to write a full review. beware this review will contain every spoiler imaginable so please do not click the read more if you haven’t finished the game yet and don’t want to be spoiled!

tl,dr; this game is a lot of fun despite some of its shortcomings and it’s really nice to see characters get the development they needed in breath of the wild. also a huge improvement gameplay-wise from the first game. if you’re a fan of breath of the wild it’s worth a try, just don’t expect breath of the wild style of gameplay! and if you’re a fan of the original hyrule warriors, you are going to love this a lot. ok now to get into the details. this is extremely long;

about the gameplay; it took me a while to fully adjust to the new controls and mechanics, but once i finally understood it it was so much fun. i originally wasn’t crazy about the sheikah slate runes since it was difficult at first to remember that a. i had that ability, and b. when the proper time to use it was. but when it finally clicked for me it brought a whole new interesting layer to the gameplay that challenged my memory in a fun way. it took me even longer to learn what the use of the rods were but those were great in a pinch once i figured it out. i also loved the flurry rush mechanic since dodging is a pretty important aspect of the gameplay. all these new layers added to this gameplay makes me wonder how i ever put up with the original hyrule warriors gameplay lol. something i wasn’t entirely crazy about was the wall jumping and paraglider stuff? i never really found it useful and it always just became a problem when i was trying to dodge and i’d be confused about why my character was slowly flying around at critical moments.

the camera in this game was pretty frustrating. with the more organic map & lots of tight spaces (which i’ll get more into later), the camera would get stuck a lot and you’d be unable to really see what’s going on and it got pretty frustrating at times. i wish there were some way they could fix that but i’m not sure what they could do without having the camera go out of bounds & show the edges of the map. maybe they could’ve made some of the objects that are in the middle not be things the camera get stuck on though.

i also felt like there were too many special effects going on with some enemies and attacks, sometimes it would cover up large parts of the screen & you wouldn’t be able to see what you were fighting and that was pretty stressful (i found myself frequently yelling “i can’t see!!” when i’d defeat a guardian or something in a room with lots of other enemies. this only became an issue in the later parts of the game though.

now about the maps, i do love how much more organic and natural they are. it’s a big upgrade from the original which had a lot of wide corridors leading into square rooms which were allied/enemy basses. but unfortunately, this causes issues with navigation and the camera getting stuck (like i mentioned before). i had a lot of problems where the map was too natural and i was confused about why i was getting stuck on level geometry when it looked like i could walk through there. i think the breath of the wild style makes this confusing too because you can’t really undo a thousand hours of being able to walk through nearly everything. but also it was just really unclear what was a wall and what wasn’t sometimes. i was surprised i actually had to zoom in on the mini map and look at that to move around at times. definitely an ambitious aspect of the game & i appreciate the effort and detail, but i don’t know if it works that great for this style of gameplay. i also don’t know why they bothered putting so many small details on the ground if they’re just going to pop in so close to the camera. it was kind of awkward when you cleared out all the enemies & were traveling to another location and it was the only noticable thing on screen.

speaking of ambitious, we can’t ignore this game’s framerate issues. it’s the first thing on everyone’s minds when talking about this game. most of the time, it was pretty acceptable. but they definitely pushed this game farther than the switch can go and it shows. i really appreciate the love they put into making this game as detailed as they did, but i don’t know if it was worth it in the long run. there’s only a couple times i can think of where the framerates got absolutely unacceptable, and it always seemed to be when there was a lot of electricity and enemies on screen at the same time. it happened once during the final vah naboris mission and another time where there were a ton of electric lizalfos all shooting electricity at once at the same time you have to fight an electric lynel. but, i’m not the kind of gamer that loses my shit over dropped framerates, i grew up with the n64 & have had to put up with poor early emulation many times in my life so framerates don’t really phase me until it just gets unplayable.

wasn’t crazy about how many late game missions were just boss rushes, but that’s pretty standard hyrule warriors fare. at least it was more fair in this game where most of the time you only had to fight one boss at a time and the next boss wouldn’t spawn in until you beat the first one, so there was no risk of accidentally aggro-ing a boss in another part of the map & have an unfair fight on your hands like in the first game. it was pretty anti-climactic how the seemingly final mission which had the highest recommended level was just another boss rush, and not even the hardest one (it was just a bunch of regular malice bosses in a row).

bit of a side note but i didn’t like having to grind for materials and find koroks for 100%. the koroks weren’t nearly as bad as breath of the wild though, thank god.

i’m pretty disappointed that some content that’s clearly in the game isn’t unlocked in the base game, it’s looking pretty likely that they’ll add it as dlc later & pretend it’s new content to make the game relevant again...i’ve always firmly believed dlc should be extra content that’s added in later. hopefully they’ll add some really cool stuff as dlc alongside the stuff that’s in the game & it won’t be so disappointing. there’s two characters i was sure would be unlocked as playable characters (sooga and astor) but i found it weird that you don’t get them in the post game and instead you get to play as the egg guardian (terrako) and calamity ganon???? talk about subverting expectations. also really frustrated to learn that zelda’s royal dress isn’t available in the base game but its in the files & is just missing one body part?? really hope that’s just a free update and not like, paid dlc. kind of dumb that they didn’t give the devs one extra day to model feet on the character.

about the story; the story starts out really strong i feel, i loved seeing characters get the development they didn’t get in breath of the wild and this game’s story makes breath of the wild’s story feel even more incomplete than it did before this game came out. and actually seeing the story play out in chronological order in real time without link having amnesia gave the story so much more feeling and connection. this is probably my favorite aspect of this game because i was always so disappointed with how disconnected you feel in breath of the wild because of the way the story is told. and it does so much of a better job illustrating link and zelda’s feelings. i’m probably the single most difficult person to convince when it comes to link and zelda being in a relationship or having feelings for eachother and i thought this was quite possibly the best master sword scene in any zelda game;

in previous games link has always had to prove his courage in a variety of trials spread across the land and to me its really boring, especially after how many times its been done. the thing that gets me about this scene is the master sword deems him worthy because of his desire to protect zelda even when he’s been beaten down & disarmed. that was a really beautiful moment to me & i’m glad they wrote the scene this way.

speaking of being worthy of power because you want to protect someone, i wasn’t really that crazy of zelda unlocking her power just because she loves link but honestly this game illustrated it in a much better way & i’m more down with it now. i loved this shot how it really captured what she was feeling;

it’s also in general awesome to see the champions in action, both in gameplay and in cutscenes. i remember being in awe the first time i got to play as urbosa. it feels like we finally really got to know them and how powerful they really were, instead of breath of the wild just telling us they were cool & we just had to believe it.

now for the part i know people say this game is shit because of; the time travel aspect. yeah, it’s a little silly and nonsensical, but honestly, it was kind of fun. and i don’t get how a time travel plot is somehow weird for the zelda series. the most critically acclaimed game of this series, ocarina of time, is entirely revolved around a time travel plot & the heroes would not have won if it weren’t for time travel in that game. yeah, it’s goofy, but this series is known for its nonsensical aspects & plotholes. there’s always some kind of unexplainable magic in this series that solves problems. i don’t think that makes this game shit. plus i was kind of starstruck when i first got to play as sidon lol. i was thinking to myself, man, who would’ve known 3 years later we’d get to play as sidon! crazy! none of the champion descendants were really my favorite to play as but it was still cool to see them & play as them.

something i didn’t understand was why kohga and the yiga clan joined zelda’s cause? i feel like a vital scene got cut. i don’t get why he’d join even when astor betrayed him, considering his group’s ambitions and how many times they tried to kill zelda. and where’d sooga go? the scene of astor betraying them kind of implied he was going to die but we never got confirmation of that, and he even shows up in a post game mission as an ally (no cutscene, just one line of dialogue during gameplay)

as for the ending, i guess it was alright? astor was a really lazily written villain and i just did not care for him at all. kinda don’t even care that we don’t get to play as him (yet, probably). calamity ganon’s design in this game was terrible. and i guess it would’ve been hard to make it work, but no beast ganon? just felt a little to easy to wrap up. despite this i guess it was nice to see hyrule get a happier ending even if it was a bit nonsensical at times. also this is just a bit of a personal thing for me but i liked seeing  hyrule before it was destroyed. it always bums me out when you find a locaiton in game that’s been destroyed & you can only think about what it mightve looked like before. this is something that’s bummed me out since wind waker (was always disappointed you don’t get to see what greatfish isle is like!!) and breath of the wild gave me so much disappointment in that aspect lol.

one final thought but it was odd to me how many lines revali got & how often he interacted with link lol. was weird to see him slowly warm up to link a little towards the end (but of course he’s still a little mean...). no other character acknowledges link as much as revali. this scene confused me the most??

there were so many other people revali could’ve spoken to. he barely even acknowledges teba who was the one who specifically came to his aid!! and the way link looks at him with big puppy eyes?? link barely makes a facial expression at anyone else! and how revali expresses gratitude for the first time in his life after looking at link’s stupid cute anime face and smiles (but he turns around because he would be too ashamed to smile at link i guess)

anyway that’s it, i finally got out all my thoughts about this game. this went on way longer than i intended and i’m sorry if you read the whole thing & it took forever lol. this game is fun, get it.

[spcncershybrid]

Their the One

GIF IS NOT MINE!

Spencer Reid X Witch!Reader

Luke Alvez X Reader (Platonic)

(Summary: When a series of “witches” start dying in your hometown. You and the team try to solve it while keeping your secret under wraps.)

Word Count: 2.5K (i went off)

Warning: Swearing but like one word and crappy google translate Latin.

You walk towards the elevator seeing Luke holding it open. "Are you ever going to tell him?" He questions as you step into the elevator. "That is a secret that stays with us, Alvez. No one can know." You say sternly staring at him. "Look they might suspect something. From friend to friend, you need to tell him Y/N. Or someone might get the wrong impression." Luke says swaying back and forth. "Wrong impression how?" You question turning towards him. "They might think...you know." Luke says scratching the back of his head. "No Luke I don't. But whatever you do, this incident stays between us." You say stepping out of the elevator heading to your desk, Luke following. "My lovely little birdies don't get too comfortable. We have a case and it's a bad one." Garcia says walking up to us. Luke glances at you as he puts his stuff down in his respected place. "This isn't over." You say pointing towards Luke. He raises his hands feigning defense. "Shall we?" He says as we start walking towards the conference room. You spot your boyfriend Spencer and give him a peck on the cheek. "Missed you earlier." You say sitting next to him. "Sorry I was the first one Garcia called." He says sheepishly looking down at the file. "We are all headed to Salem, Massachusetts." Garcia says as she flips through the images on the screen. Oh my.

"These four women were found dead dressed in similar fashion to then the obvious witch trials." Garcia says. You gulp down the lump in your throat. "My guess would be the unsub thinks these women are direct descendants of the women killed back then." Tara says adjusting herself in her seat. You purse your lips together looking at the crime photos. Luke sighs softly as you glance over towards him. The glance doesn't go unnoticed by the room full of profilers. "These women were all killed in the span of a week from when they were abducted." Hotch says reviewing the photos. "So he abducts his victims and keeps them hostage for 3-4 days then kills them why?" Spencer says. "Maybe he believes he's found justice you know the ideas and beliefs behind witches." You say aloud to the team. "He could be living in a delusion that he is a witch hunter and these women are witches." You continue. "What were there C.O.D's?" Luke asks Hotch. "There were ligature marks found on the neck and ankles of the first two victims. The last two were stripped and found in water." Garcia says.  "Our latest victim Jeana Morris was found this morning our unsub can have his potential next victim. Wheels up in 30." Hotch says standing heading to grab his go bag. You stay and collect your thoughts as everyone leaves. "You okay?" Spencer says walking up to you. "Yeah Spence... this case just hits close to home. My family believes in witches but this unsub is on a whole other level." You say smiling softly at him. "I'll save you a seat next to me on the jet. JJ hogged up all of our talk between case time." Spencer says smiling heading out to the bullpen. You start collecting your things. "You okay with this?" You jump slightly hearing a voice come from the doorway. "No. I knew these women, Luke. We went to school together. Juliet told me last week to watch out and now she's dead." You admit to Luke. "Were they apart of your circle?" Luke says questioningly. "You mean my coven. No um our families do the do's individually but we talk amongst each other on the things we cast, say, or write." You say shoving your stuff in your bag and head out with Luke. You catch JJ's gaze over towards the both of you. You quickly look away continuing your conversation with Luke. "They each were powerful enough to stop him. I wonder what happened. Oh gosh what am I going to say to her parents." You exclaim towards Luke. "Nothing Hotch can't know you know the families that'll be a disaster." Luke says grabbing his go bag as we reach his desk. You sigh heavily grabbing your bag and head towards the elevator with the team and onto the jet.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

The team talks amongst themselves about the case wondering what the unsub's stressors are. You glance out the window getting lost at the scenery not even focusing on the words exchanged by the team. You feel a large hand on your knee pressing in a comforting manner. "Hey." Spencer's voice snaps you out of your trance. He smiles softly rubbing your leg. "Hey." You sigh. "What's the deal with Luke you seemed tense when you guys were talking earlier before we left." He whispers glancing over to the team to see if they're looking. "This case hits close Spence. My family knew the victims families we all weren't close but it still is sad as they're near my age and from my town." You admit to Spencer only slightly lying. "When we land Luke, Y/N, JJ head to the crime scenes. Reid, you and Dave head to the M.E. Lewis and I will set up at the police station. Is that clear?" Hotch states as we all nod in unison towards him.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Luke, JJ and you head towards the first crime scene. JJ takes the lead as you stay trudging behind with Luke. We examine the scene in front of us. "Poor Jean." You say as your stomach flips. "What?" JJ says turning back to you. "Nothing. The victim reminds me of my old friend named Jean. They look similar, they have the same hair and eye color, just different skin tones." You say quickly to JJ. She looks at your facial expressions and hums turning her attention back onto the body. You crouch down to the body and whisper "ostende vision." You shut your eyes as images of her death and blurry faces flash through your head like a movie. You open your eyes standing up nearly passing out. Just in that moment Luke's phone rings. "Yes Rossi. Okay we'll check now." Luke says moving his phone away from his ear. "Y/N check if she has a tattoo on her wrist. A crescent moon with a four pointed star." Luke says staring at the body. You crouch down and grab Jeana's wrist although you already knew the answer as you had the same tattoo. "Yep why do the other victims have it." You say to Luke as he nods in conformation. "Yes Rossi they do. I'll send the picture to Garcia." Luke say's into the phone before snapping a picture of Jeana's tattoos and sends it to Penelope. Luke pulls you to the side. "You have one too right?" He says. You nod slowly. This can't be good.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

We just finished giving the profile but Garcia is narrowing it down to find our unsub. You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. You pull it out to see 'Magic computer woman' aka Garcia. "Yes Pen. Hold on I'm putting you on speaker." You say bringing the phone forward for everyone to hear. "Okay Sir with the info you have oh so blessed me with I was able to come up with our guy." Penelope says. "Mr. Wes Barber. Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts went to high school with our precious Agent Y/L/N. His mother died when he was ten, when he went to give a statement on his mother's death- oh dear this is awful. He said he saw flames emerge from her feet and swore he saw an older woman do it saying some phrase in Latin. He never disclosed her name though. Afterwards he was in and out of foster homes due to reckless and violent behavior. Once he turned 18 he moved to LA and slowly made his way back to this town. He mentioned to his therapist 'Wanting to get revenge on the people who wronged him'." Garcia says. Wes is behind this. Oh gosh that means you're probably next. "Garcia, what is his connection to the victims." Hotch says. "High school mostly. Jeez I wouldn't want to cross this guy. I'm sending his work and home address now as well as an abandoned warehouse under his name. Go get our guy." Garcia says hanging up. "Y/L/N, Reid, and Alvez you go take the house. JJ and Lewis work address. Rossi and I take the warehouse." Hotch says as we all start moving out putting on our vests. Luke goes into the driver's seat immediately as Reid hops in the back with you. 

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

We make it to the house and step out drawing our guns. You head towards the back as Reid follows Luke. They walk towards the front door. "Wes Barber! FBI!" You hear Luke say as he pounds on the door. No noise is heard as Luke kicks in the door. You enter the house through the back door. "Hello witch." An unknown voice says. You whip your head to the voice. Wes... "Excuse me?" You question not trying to give into his game easily. "I know your bloodline it's infested with evil witches who killed my mother!" He yells. "Jeana got what she deserved. They all did." He spat angrily. "Look buddy I had nothing to do with it." You say stunned at his words. "Liar!" He says reaching into his pocket and pulls out his gun. "Wes Barber put down your weapon." Spencer says standing next to you with his weapon drawn. "No they need to feel my pain. Remember the river Y/N. Huh? You and your little friends used to go there and perform all sorts of stuff." Wes says twirling the gun in his hand. You grit your teeth at his words. Spencer steps in front of you in a protective manner. "You brung back a mini bird with her. You moved twigs with your mind." Wes says directed heavily at you. "Does your team ever know?" He asks. "What is he talking about?" Spencer whispers. "Wes don't you dare involve my team. What happened was in the past." You say stepping towards him. Luke enters the room with his gun pointed towards Wes. "I want them to know I'm not crazy come clean and I'll confess my wrongdoings Agent Y/L/N. '' Wes says. "I will put my gun away Wes what do you want to see?" Spencer asks as he holstered his gun. "The use of her powers in the flesh. Pyromancy and Telekinesis." Wes says staring at you intensely. "Wes you are living in a delusion. Witches aren't real." Spencer says. You look over to Luke taking in his expression. Anger mixed with sadness. "She knows what I mean. Raise up her sleeve, she's one of them. She has their marking." Wes says. You look towards the floor stunned. You take a deep breath. "If I show you, you'll drop your weapon." You say stepping towards him. "I promise." Wes says stepping back unloading his gun. Spencer and Luke immediately step forward, going to arrest him. "Wait." You say as the boys look over at you like you've grown multiple heads. You look over to Wes' unlit fireplace. "Ignem." You say focusing your energies on the fireplace as it lit up immediately. "D-did you?" Spencer stutters whipping his head towards you. You nod uncomfortably. "Again." Wes says smiling wickedly, obviously enjoying the situation. "Ignis pila." You say flattening your hand as a fireball emerges from it. You flip it over making it disappear immediately. Spencer looks over at you shocked but mainly sympathetic towards the whole situation. "Now telekinesis." Wes says, stepping forward, smirking. "Gladly." You say mirroring his expression. "Motus." You say pushing your hands forward sending him flying into the wall. Luke and Spencer flinch stepping backwards drastically. You grab your handcuffs walking towards Wes. "Next time you decide to make me use my magic in front of my boyfriend and friend it'll be to snap your neck. As for sending you into a wall, that was for Jeana, Alice, Octavia and Juliet. My best friends who you killed for your sick and twisted fantasy." You say cuffing him and pull him up to face you. "I'm actually thankful they burned your mother. She was a sick bitch anyway." You say walking him outside towards the cops that have accumulated outside. Luke is the first to step out after you. "At least you don't have to hide it. Go easy on him." He says sympathetically. You chuckled softly at his words and nod seeing Spencer walking out of the house confused. You walk up to him and nudge his shoulder. "Hey." You say softly. He immediately brings you into a hug which is surprising as he doesn't necessarily give them.  You bury your head in his neck. "I wanted to tell you I promise I just couldn't." You say wrapping your arms around his waist. He steps back smiling. "It's okay you had your reasons but is it true he said you had a tattoo like them." He says grabbing your arm. He pulls up your sleeve revealing the same tattoo the victims had. "Can you do more things?" Spencer questions, smiling at you, his eyes lighting up with excitement. "Yes Spence. I can do a lot." You say as you open the door to the FBI van hopping into the back with him Luke again taking the driver's seat. "What could your friends do?" He asks sadly at the fresh subject. You smile sadly. "Jeana could move things like me. Octavia could control water. Juliet had premonitions mainly she was the one that warned me. Alice could summon these light balls of 'doom', which were basically mini explosives that she summoned, she used to call it her 'glow stick blow stick'." You say laughing at the last part. "As for the woman that burned his mother. In all reality it was a man, the old woman he saw was someone manipulating his reality to make him believe one thing but it's another. He probably found out and they told him actual witches in the town." You say staring out towards the window. "Luke you didn't seem phased by it. Are you one?" Spencer asks. “No. I may have magic hands but I am no witch.” Luke says laughing. You roll your eyes playfully as you guys head back to the police station and soon enough back to your now home in Quantico. 

Bonus:

“Hey babe!” You hear Spencer yell from your shared living room. “Yeah.” You respond yelling back. Receiving no answer you head down to see him fiddling with the fireplace. “Can you… um light this up?” He says scratching the back of his neck. “You are never living down this magic thing are you?” You ask grinning at Spencer. “After you popped popcorn with your bare hands I am never going near fire ever again.” He says smiling as you light up the fireplace with your hand. He walks towards you giving you a kiss mumbling thank you and guides you to the couch for your monthly movie marathon.

[mfingenius]

Heyy!! You're posts have been motivating me through this quarantine. Thank you for writing so much and spreading joy. I loved the Dreville and Laurent/Nik fic you wrote recently. A prompt i was thinking of: Like what if soon after their parents die ( Laurent is 14 and August 19), August gets into a lot of partying etc, at college, and kind of pushes away Laurent when he asks to visit, only to find out later that during that period the regent abused him. Lamen optional Thank you so much !! :)

Ahhhh thank you so much <333 I’m very glad I’m helping at least a little... I hope you’ll like this :D

TW: MENTIONS OF CSA

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

Auguste finds out when it’s in the news.

He wakes up, same as always, hating everything and with a pounding headache; he doesn’t remember the name of the girl in his bed, and he doesn’t care, either. He’ll kick her out as soon as she wakes up.

He goes to the kitchen, searching for some painkillers; he swallows them down with tequila - a bad idea, he knows, but he doesn’t think he has any water left - and sits on the kitchen table with a groan. It’s barely seven - he never sleeps for more than a few hours at a time - and he enjoys the quiet of it.

His apartment’s a mess, but he doesn’t particularly care; he’ll call a service to clean it up later, and it’ll be trashed tonight again, and he’ll have maids coming in tomorrow, again. It’s become a routine. 

He’s seriously considering going back to sleep with his forehead against the kitchen table when his phone begins to ring. He groans, jerking upright and beginning to look for it among the clothes thrown over the kitchen floor. When he finally finds it, he checks the name on the screen to make sure it’s not Laurent, feeling a pang of guilt as he does it; it’s not that he doesn’t want to see or talk to his brother, it’s just been - hard. 

Their parents died three years ago, when Laurent was eleven and Auguste was seventeen, and they were both sent to live with their uncle; Auguste had left just a few months after that, after getting into college on a football scholarship - not that he needed it, since his parents left their entire fortune to him and Laurent and he’s currently wasting it away in parties and anything that makes him feel good for three minutes - and Laurent is... different now.

He’d wanted to visit Auguste a lot, at first, seeming desperate to get away, but Auguste had brushed him off whenever he could; he didn’t want Laurent to see what a mess he was. After a while, Laurent had stopped asking to visit, but he still calls. Auguste picks up sometimes, and though he usually ends the call as soon as he can, he is trying.

He knows he’s not doing very well, which is why he’s immensely relieved when it’s only Jord; he’s one of Auguste’s best friends from Arles, before Auguste moved to Delpha to go to college, but they haven’t talked since Jord called him an irresponsible dick for getting drunk every day for three months after his parents died.

“Jord?” he asks, picking up. It must be important if Jord is calling him; he’s never apologized, and Auguste hasn’t either.

“Turn on your fucking TV,” Jord snaps. “The news.”

“Which channel?” Auguste asks tiredly, walking to the living room and searching for the remote. It has to be here somewhere...

“Any fucking channel, Auguste!” He hasn’t heard Jord sound this angry... well, ever.

He gives up on searching for the remote, instead clicking the button to turn the TV on and stepping back to see the screen properly. It’s already on a news channel, and Auguste is about to ask why Jord has decided to call him at seven in the morning to tell him to turn on the news when he catches the headline.

Laurent DeVere, second son to billionaire DeVere family, taken away from his uncle because of alleged child sexual abuse

Auguste stops breathing.

“Get on a plane,” Jord snaps. “Now.”

Auguste is booking a plane ticket on his laptop before Jord has even finished the sentence.

*

The plane ride to Arles is only an hour and a half; he’s back at his Uncle’s house before ten, swallowing and knocking on the door. He’d scoured the news obsessively while on the plane. It seems no one knows who tipped off the police, but that they’d gone to their Uncle’s house to question him and seen it, seen him - doing things to Laurent; Auguste can’t think about it.

He already threw up twice.

The reporter had said their uncle had been arrested immediately, and now Laurent was awaiting for a word on what would happen; Auguste doesn’t want to think about his brother, sitting there all alone, just waiting.

The door opens, and he expects to see Laurent, but it’s not; there are three men in police uniforms there, and behind them, Auguste can see many more; the house had been swarmed by reporters, yelling and taking pictures, so Auguste had had to sneak in through the back of the iron-wrought fence, an old spot he’d quickly learned of after he’d begun sneaking off to parties at night.

His uncle might’ve known, and simply not stopped him because it was convenient for him.

Auguste nearly retches again.

“I’m Auguste DeVere,” he says. “I’m here to see my brother.”

“No one is allowed in or out,” one of the officers tells him. “You have to get off the property.”

“He’s my brother,” Auguste snaps. “And he’s fifteen. I’m here to see him.”

“You’re the brother, then.” Behind the officers, steps up a woman; she has olive skin and long, wavy brown hair. “I’ll take care of him.”

The officers leave, and Auguste tries not to sound too impatient when he says, “Yes. And who are you?”

The woman smiles grimly. “My name is Kashel. I’m your brother’s social worker. We’ve been trying to reach you for hours.”

Auguste had forgotten his phone in the apartment after kicking the girl he’d slept with out. He grimaces.

“Social worker?” he asks. “Why does Laurent need a social worker?”

Kashel looks at him like she’s not entirely sure if he’s dumb. 

“Well,” she says, careful. “Seeing as your brother’s fifteen and his current guardian is awaiting trial for child abuse, we need to find him another one for the time being, and then someone permanent.”

“I am,” Auguste says, without hesitation. “I will be. His guardian.”

“Mr. DeVere, we don’t give children to anyone-”

“I’m his brother!”

“You smell like alcohol,” Kashel says bluntly. Auguste rears back, surprised. “And tobacco, and it’s nine thirty in the morning. You look like you haven’t slept, you didn’t answer any of our insistent calls for two hours, and, if I’m not wrong, you’re a university student. You’re not exactly in peak condition to take care of another human being.”

Auguste can’t find anything to say; he cannot - Laurent cannot go to someone else, he just can’t. Sure, Auguste hasn’t been the best brother these past few years, and he’ll have to change everything about his life before it’s even acceptable for Laurent to be near, but he has to take care of him, Laurent is the most important person in the world to him.

He doesn’t know how he seems to have forgotten that.

“I-” he tries. Then again, “I-”

“Right now, you can see him,” Kashel says kindly; she doesn’t look to be older than him, must be only twenty one, and yet she seems calm, entirely put together. Auguste feels like his life is falling apart. “I’ll take you to him.”

Auguste steps inside numbly, watching as a dozen people walk around the house, each doing different things; he doesn’t know what they’re all doing, and, quite frankly, he doesn’t care. He wants to see his brother.

Kashel takes him upstairs, to Laurent’s room - walking through his uncle’s house is a surreal experience. Auguste never thought he’d be back here - and, before she opens the door, she looks at him sternly.

“Do not promise him anything,” she says. “Don’t pressure him to tell you anything, and don’t push for details-”

“I don’t need an instruction manual to talk to my brother,” Auguste snaps.

She purses her lips. “As I’ve heard it, you wouldn’t know, seeing as you haven’t spoken to him for a while.”

Auguste pales, but she does not look in the least apologetic.

“I devote my life to these children, Mr. DeVere,” she says. “My priority here is keeping him safe and not to make this any harder than it already has been. If I have to keep him safe from you, I’ll do that, too.”

Auguste nods.

She looks him over once again, and then knocks on the door softly.

“Laurent,” she says, opening the door slightly; her tone is nothing like the one he’d used on Auguste before. She steps through and then closes the door in Auguste’s face.

He waits impatiently, listening to her talking to Laurent; he can’t quite make out the words, but he assumes she’s asking him if he’s willing to see him. He doesn’t hear Laurent’s response, but, a second later, the door opens, and Kashel steps aside with one last menacing look towards him.

Seeing Laurent is more surreal than walking through the house was; he looks unbelievably thin, somehow exactly as Auguste remembers him and not like that at all, dark bags under his eyes and a look on his face that Auguste has never seen before and wishes to never see again.

He tries to smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Laurent is impossibly quiet.

They’re both silent for a while, and it seems maybe Auguste did need a manual on how to talk to his brother; he wishes he’d paid more attention to Kashel. Don’t promise him anything. Don’t pressure him.

“I-” he tries. I’m sorry? Laurent would have every right to kick him out for saying that. Why didn’t you tell me? Did you try to tell me and I didn’t answer the phone? When you wanted to visit and I said no, why didn’t you insist more? 

That wouldn’t be fair; Laurent had made countless efforts to talk to him, to be with him, and Auguste had felt bad about pushing him away, but now... knowing what was going on while he was at parties and refusing to talk to Laurent, it’s a million times worse.

“I-” He doesn’t know what to say. He sees it clearly in Laurent’s face, how uncomfortable he is in the room, and though fury boils inside him, he ignores it. “We can go somewhere else.”

Laurent nods immediately; as they go from room to room, Auguste watches him. They don’t step into Uncle’s rooms, because Auguste assumes most of it happened there, but he searches Laurent’s face for any sign of discomfort any time they go somewhere; the dining room doesn’t work, and neither does the kitchen.

Laurent grimaces in the living room, and wraps his arms around himself warily in Auguste’s old room; the Laundry room doesn’t draw as big a reaction as anywhere else, but it’s also noticeable, so Auguste doesn’t want them to stay there. When he is considering giving up - this was happening, after all, for three years in this house - they walk into the library, and Laurent’s face is sweet relief.

Auguste exhales.

“You’re here,” Laurent says, after he curls himself into the big armchair. 

“I am.” Auguste swallows. Laurent doesn’t look at him, and Auguste swallows again. “Laurent, I’m sorry-”

“I’m sorry,” Laurent says, at the same time, and they both look at each other surprised.

“Why are you sorry?” Auguste asks, surprised.

“I-” Laurent’s cheeks are red, suddenly, stained as though he’s been slapped. “I tried to - I didn’t want to give you any trouble - and I’ve made you come all the way here - and now Uncle’s in jail and it’s my fault-”

“What?” Auguste asks. “What?”

“I swore I wouldn’t-” Laurent’s eyes are bright, wet, and he blinks quickly. “He told me I would just bother you and he was right - I swear it wasn’t me who called the police, I didn’t mean for any of this-”

“Laurent, what are you talking about?” Auguste asks, heart beating wildly. “I’m not angry at you. I don’t care if it was you who called the police. Fuck, if it had been you I would’ve said well-done. I’m sorry I left you here, I made it so hard to reach me-”

“It’s not your fault,” Laurent says; he’s nothing like Auguste remembers him; he’s clothed from neck to wrist to toe, everything tightly fitted and dark, nothing like the child Auguste remembers. “I know I’m - a bother, and I really didn’t-”

“Laurent, you never bother me.”

“You didn’t want to see me.”

And isn’t that just perfect? Auguste had been unknowingly helping along a narrative their Uncle had been telling Laurent, about being a bother, about being unloved, Auguste had made him feel all those things.

Fuck; he doesn’t know how he’s fucked up so severely.

“I-” Auguste swallows. “Laurent, I’m not... perfect. I wasn’t - I’m not having the easiest time, and I didn’t want you to see me like that and I was selfish, I never once thought about-”

About what might be going on with his brother, never once saw the signs that were probably already there.

“I’m so sorry,” he repeats, hollowly.

“I-” Laurent wipes at his eyes desperately, and sounds oddly fragile when he speaks. “Can I - stay with you? I don’t want to go anywhere else-”

“Of course,” Auguste says immediately. “Fuck, Laurent, I’d never let you go to anyone else, I - I love you, so much, I’m so sorry-”

“Promise me, please, promise I-”

Don’t promise anything, Kashel had said. You’re not exactly in peak condition to take care of another human being.

Auguste doesn’t care; he’ll get custody of Laurent, whatever he has to do, however he has to change his life for it.

“I promise,” he says.

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

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Commissions

[midyearflowers]

ok i havent beat the elite 4 yet but i finished the necrozma plot line in ultra moon and ive got some thoughts

-      i really love this game. the changes they made were great and going back to sun to grab some mons for my dex felt so empty. i feel ultra added a lot more scenic things to routes and the additions of the beaches and mantine surfing is awesome. i didnt really give this gen much thought when it first came out, like i liked it but found some of the mechanics were weird or annoying. i wasnt interested in the new pokemon and thought the trials were too different from the gyms. but now i absolutely love it. its such a breath of fresh air honestly. and i made it a point to have teams of only alolan pokemon and i really came to like them a lot. being able to get the giant totem pokemon in ultra is great too. i cant gush about it enough

-      i was a little disappointed that they scrapped lusamines story with nihilego. it really fit her character in sun and i feel that without it the whole “cryogenically storing pokemon” and her personality were kinda out of place. i think they couldve kept it in and had the story mostly follow sun where she was only working with the recon squad so she could collect the ultra beasts as well, and then once you bring her back from the nihilego event the squad couldve been like “despite her betrayal we would be willing to help heal her so long as you take care of necrozma as initially planned.” like the way the player handled the situation impressed them and they decided to have them help instead of learning pokemon stuff themselves

i just feel like it couldve worked cause with the idea of humanoids living in this universe with the ultra beasts theyd obviously have info on them, and the fact that nihilego is like a parasite and saps the life force from people theyd probably have experience dealing with the aftermath (also lillie didnt get to yell at her to be a better person and that was such a good part of sun)

-      I GET TO RIDE THROUGH THE COSMOS ON THE BACK OF A GIANT MAGICAL SPACE CAT!!!!! that shits fucking TIGHT. i love solgaleo so much my big golden kitty with a big mane and its light form gives it little golden booties. i love lunala too the design is so cool but its wings take up so much of the screen rip. like using it in battle i cant see the opposing pokemon lmao. lunala definitely fits a little better with cosmog and cosmoem in terms of design with the purple and gold in an oval shape but both legendaries are so good

-      i wouldve liked to see more ultra recon-like people but the concept as a whole was neat. aliens from another universe seeking to right the wrongs of their ancestors and also learn about other worlds. i like that necrozma wasnt seen as some big monster that was terrorizing people for no reason, but a creature that had been wronged and even when it lashed out and hurt others they still recognized that it was in pain too and the only way to solve the problem was to help it as well as themselves

and i think this might be the first time in a main game that there was like, almost a justification? for the player character to have these legendary creatures in tow. like necrozma needs its light and will get that light from being near solgaleo/lunala, so to have a trainer that is powerful enough to defeat ultimate necrozma carry them around would be the most logical course of action to preventing another disaster

-      it still does feel weird that you can catch the tapus tho. like these are the guardians of the islands, why can this one trial goer just catch them and keep them in their team or in a PC box?? i get the whole “catch em all” thing but it wouldve probably made more narrative sense for them to just be like a super challenge. either individually really powerful or you fight them all in a row kinda thing

-      z moves are so OP looking and pretty cool and i love them. i love how each type has its own dance, theres a few special ones for specific pokemon like the partner cap pikachus z move is adorable. what i find hilarious tho is how ridiculous they are in the animation. like for example ultimate necrozmas z move is like, total nuclear annihilation through absorption of all the universes light. and then the target just gently faints afterwards lmao. or the dark type move that straight up sucks pokemon into a black hole. theyre just so over the top and i hope they bring it back in some form like how you can have some mega forms in alola

[mochiyoonfi]

Our Utopia Final Chapter

Synopsis: final chapter of Our Utopia!!

Warnings: Immediate smut. Followed on from Our Utopia PT 2 mentions of rape, assault and trauma.

Words: 3.9 k

A/n: I was in hospital dealing with some things, but now I’m back!! There was too many text blocks to fit both of these in one part sorry.

It had been a while since your.. more than awkward talk with Yoongi, when he invited you over to his apartment.

Stepping into his room, you were nervous at the prospect of so much privacy with him. But when he took your hand to lead you into the bedroom, one with rose petals surrounding the bed, your nerves disapperated. Romantic music played softly in the background, soothing your ears.

He smiled awkwardly. “Is it cheesy?”

Tears flowed from your eyes. “No.. it’s wonderful.”

Launching into a speech about how he admired your strength and will to fight through your trials, you felt bad to feel your desire growing.

Why was him speaking so damn attractive?

Speech finished, he grabbed your hand, a seductive grin washing over his face.

“I want to be perfect.” He whispered to you through passionate kisses.

You shook your head. “You already are.”

Surging forward, he pushed his body against you. Hands gripping your waist and the back of your head as he thirsted for your touch. He craved your body in the same way you craved his.

Fingers tracing the outline of his toned stomach, he took purchase at a spot on your neck. You moaned into his mouth, his lips leaving a loving hickey. His hands slipped under your shirt, sliding it away from your body. Right as you cringed at the open air, he kissed a line up your collarbone.

“You’re beautiful. More beautiful than any angel.”

You giggled, raising an eyebrow teasingly. “How many angels have you seen in your life?”

He couldn’t suppress his smirk as he replied, ��Only you.”

You laughed, cringe taking over, even when it was the sweetest compliment.

His hands danced over your stomach as his innocent eyes searched yours for permission. You nodded, eyes squeezed shut.

Yoongi sighed out loud happily as he slipped your shorts down from your hips. You whimpered, feeling his fingers press against your panties. He looked up, eyes staring a hole into your mouth. “Don’t worry baby. I’ll make you feel amazing.”

Pulling your panties down, he kissed upward towards your pussy. His fingers slid over your opening, pressing inwards slightly.

You shuddered. “Y-Yoongi..”

He looked up. “What’s wrong baby?”

“I want.. I want you.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, he smirked. “And you’ll have me. I just don’t want it to hurt.”

In the middle of his sentence he slipped his finger inside your pussy, other fingers dancing over your swollen entrance as you bit back a moan.

Grinding your hips upwards you twisted into his rough fingers, loving the way they sped against your most sensitive area.

His other hand wandered from holding your thighs spread to your breast, massaging it, pulling at the erect bud of your nipples. You whined again, your senses on fire as he gave you attention slowly and lovingly.

“You’re so wet..” He marveled. The attention he lavished on your pussy made you shiver.

He entered a second finger, causing the both of you to sigh in unison when it slid in all the way to his knuckle.

An electrifying feeling shot through your body as he began to pump his two fingers inside.

“Shit baby.. I..” He groaned at the lewd noises your pussy was making. “I.. I want to take you right now. I just want to fuck you until you don’t want anything else but me.”

You whimpered, grabbing his hair slightly to edge him towards your face.

“Then do it. I’m yours.”

His lips smashed against yours, tongue instantly slipping inside your mouth. It swirled inside before he leaned back, your spit slightly visible on his lips.

Still perfect, you thought.

He undid his belt as his eyes never left yours. Finally he slid his boxers down, revealing his semi hard cock. It wasn’t too long. It wasn’t too big. It was pretty normal.

And that’s what turned you on the most.

How did he make normal so fucking attractive?

“I’m going in baby.”

You whined your agreements.

His cock pressed against your entrance, pressure enough for you to tremble. After what seemed like years but were only seconds, his cock was enveloped by your pussy.

Yoongi leaned against your chest, groaning as he subtly rocked into you. “T-tell me when I can move.”

Mind swarming in pleasure and serenity, you forced your eyes open to stare at the absolutely divine man on top of you. “M-move.”

He hissed as his cock sunk deeper inside. Finally he drove back out, plunging in and out and his buff arms wrapped around you.

You cried out small moans, unable to contain yourself. You’d never felt anything like this. The ecstasy unwinding inside your body was completely alien.

You gasped into his shoulder as he rammed into your G-Spot. “Y-Yoong!”

He leaned back, eyes connecting with yours as he drilled into you relentlessly, sweat dripping from his tanned skin. “Yeah b-baby?”

“I-” Yoongi thrusted particularly hard and you let out a large cry of pleasure. “I-I’m going to..”

A grin spread across his perfect lips. “Are you gonna cum baby?”

You nodded, needily grinding back against his cock. He let his hand wander down to your pussy. Strumming his finger against your clit, he looked back up at you.

“Then do it. You don’t need my permission.” He groaned, feeling your pussy tighten particularly hard.

You gripped his back, moaning and sighing, a complete mess. His speed never tampered or wavered however. Yoongi continued at his stoic rate, groaning every time you clenched, hands never slowing either as they pinched and pressured your swollen clit.

“Y-you’re so fucking tight.” He groaned.

You shuddered against him, his cock reaching new depths with every thrust.

“Y-Yoongi!” You moaned, the string snapping as you shuddered against him, bucking slightly as your orgasm overtook you.

As you rode out your orgasm, panting and whining, Yoongi smiled lovingly into your eyes, kissing your neck as he continued thrusting into you. His fingers never left your clit either, providing you the fulfilling constant pleasure.

“Y/n.. I-I’m going to-” He groaned, thrusting faster as your senses finally seemed to calm down. Both of his hands were back to gripping your arms, his beautiful fingers still shining with your own slick.

“Y-you c-can.” You replied.

With that, Yoongi sped up, desperately thrusting into you as if there would never be this experience again. His dark, lustful eyes never left yours as he only closed his eyes to moan. His hips swiveled as he finally moaned out loudly.

“Y-Y/n. Shit. Shit. Y/n.” He thrust into you slowly, retracting after a few seconds of slow bucking.

He ran his hand along your jawline. You panted, tired and sweating. Your hair stuck to your face. There was no way you looked good.

As if he read your mind, he kissed you slowly. “You.” He pulled back. “Are the only beautiful angel I’ve ever seen. I love you.”

Your eyes lit up, another sensation overwhelming you. Love. It was love. And Yoongi felt it too.

You hugged him wordlessly, grinning against his muscular body.

This was perfect.

It had been months since your first well.. encounter with Yoongi. There had been more of course. You were having lunch with your brother, happy to get the chance to have a conversation with him.

“Namjoon. I actually want to tell you something.”

His dimples flashed. “Tell me anything.”

“I.. I had a passion for music at the start. It was really my first love.” You took a deep breath. You hadn’t admitted this to anyone. “But it’s not my love anymore. I’ve fallen out of it. My heart.. it lies elsewhere now.”

It wasn’t just your falling out with the music you sang though. Your past was a broken light. Something that, if you could fix it, you could lead others out of their darkness too.

And that’s all you wanted.

Happiness.

But not just for yourself.

“I want to help people… who went through something similar to what I did. No one should be alone through that. I’ll do the 7 year contract. I’ll be an idol still until it’s over. But after that.. it’s over.”

Namjoon threw his arms around you, bringing you into a close hug, smiling at you with a warmth only a brother could share.

“I’m not really too surprised. I could feel it coming. I just want you to be happy too.” He gestured around him. “I was born for this. The sounds of my fans singing my songs that I pour my heart out to. One day I’ll do more. I’ll have more in my life. But right now, this is my life.”

He beamed at you. “It’s just not your life. You’re meant for more than people cheering. You're meant to save lives in a different way to the comfort we can provide for a brief second through lyrics.”

Namjoon hadn’t had the easiest life. Even the most perfect things are

somehow damaged. He didn’t always have the easiest time. Sometimes he wanted more than he could have.

But his destiny, his true love?

It lay with his band mates and his fans.

The perfect combination of support and comfort. No one could comfort you more than someone who barely knew you.

He already found his destiny.

“It’s been a year since their debut, but they’re already winning so many awards! And here’s another one! Best Single goes to the rookie band, UT-Opia!”

You grabbed your band mates hands, giggling and laughing happily. It was amazing how much everyone loved you.

The large screen flickered behind the hosts, catching your attention. Pictures and videos of the night that still haunted your nightmares and dreams alike flashed on it.

Gasps and yells erupted from the crowd around you, your face being so recognisable that they knew it was you in only seconds.

You wanted to cry. No, even better, you wanted to hide away where no one could find you again. Where no one could jeer at you, or even gasp when they saw you.

But you couldn’t.

Everyone was watching. Most of your country was watching.

This couldn’t be the solution.

Your legs trembled as you got up from your seat, passing your stunned band mates. Hands fumbling as you stepped on stage, the microphone you gently took from a host suddenly impossible to hold.

You felt as though you shouldn’t do this. Like this was a bad idea.

But, fuck it.

What’s the worst that could happen?

You told everyone how the night had happened. How it had haunted you for years. How drugs had torn you apart before your rehab stay. Your days wasted in hospital and therapy.

But it wasn’t a waste in the end.

Your therapist was part of your healing even. You had rebuilt your trust with the singular, wise man who counselled you. The person who helped you find out that even when it seemed every man you met hated you, there were still a few good people left.

The way this inspiring man had influenced you so heavily you had decided to get a degree in psychology yourself. And then you realised the other element of your life.

“RM. My older brother.” You said. “The thing that kept me clinging to my life. I’m probably not the only one, it was Namjoon.”

Your eyes caught on the countless light sticks belonging to BTS fans.

“My family. I would hang on for him. I didn’t want to die.”

You sighed. “Then again. Who does want to die? All we really want to do is stop hurting. Not stop living. But that’s what I wanted countless times. I wanted to end it all so I wouldn’t struggle any longer.”

“But I didn’t want him to blame himself. I wouldn’t be able to end it, because I knew Namjoon wouldn’t survive it.”

You looked out across the countless blank faces in the crowd. “We’ve all suffered. It’s not your fault. Stop blaming yourself. We’re all broken. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be fixed. To all those women, men and any person who has struggled through what I had to. It’s a big deal, despite what others say. It’s never your fault. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. No one deserves to be mistreated. Not even when you feel like you deserve nothing. You’re precious.

“There’s a way to heal. But it’s up to you to find the strength within you to heal.” You opened your eyes, letting tears wash over your face. “Don’t give up that fight.”

The entire venue was dead silent. Then someone began clapping. Your eyes snapped to where BTS sat. Namjoon was standing, clapping. The rest of BTS stood up as well, clapping.

People all around stood up, clapping to show their support.

Not as many as would be desirable, but you knew how badly some of these idols could face backlash if they supported you.

Giving the microphone back to the host, you walked off stage, head held high.

Backstage your manager apologised desperately. She said she didn’t know how that footage was able to be shown. Or how someone could have gotten their hands on it.

You just shrug, numbed.

“They’ll find the culprits! Don’t worry Y/n.” She comforted you.

Your band mates rushed backstage along with BTS.

The majority of them had no idea of your past. They had no idea how you were feeling. If you were even close to okay.

You turn to Yoongi, grabbing onto his shirt, ready to collapse.

“P-please take me to an AA. I-I don’t want to.. to do something I’ll regret.”

Yoongi quickly nodded, grasping you tightly against his body. He wasn’t out of his depth with AA meetings. He had been to some before himself.

“I’m going to.” Namjoon demanded.

You nodded, not caring at this point.

Only minutes later, Yoongi was driving you there as you lay in Namjoon’s arms. He cradled you, letting you sob against him.

The way you cried like he’d never seen.. Namjoon felt his heart break for his baby sister.

Your heavy eyes opened to blasting light from your phone. You moved Yoongi’s arm from around you, as you had slept in his room with him, not wanting to be alone.

You picked up your phone. The ID simply said Big Hit.

Feeling your stomach drop, you slid out of Yoongi’s warm embrace. What had you done..

Yoongi sleepily blinked, confused. “What’s happening?”

You shakily told him, his eyes widening, lump forming in his throat.

Slipping out of bed, you got ready to go. Ignoring both Namjoon and Yoongi’s offers to drive with you there.

You had to do this by yourself.

Dependence wasn’t something that resided with you.

So you drove there by yourself, mind and heart on the brink of exploding.

Arriving was extremely stressful. Never before had an elevator ride seemed to take so long.

Your entire group was seated along with every important Big Hit executive you’d ever heard of. You could feel the room’s eyes on you, but bravely, you sat down to listen through whatever reason you were there.

“The people at the award show managing the cameras were bribed. We secured the backstage footage and they’re currently in jail, waiting to be charged.”

You took a deep breath. Sounds good so far.

“And the… men from the footage shown on the screen have been identified and tracked down. They’re also waiting in a jail-”

You broke down in tears. Finally. It had been so long. But that wasn’t all. Of course.

“You’ll have to testify.. unfortunately.”

A female executive took over. “Your speech was moving, sweetheart. Online support is already flooding through.” She smiled sadly. “Of course there will be some hate. But already #justiceforY/N is trending Worldwide.”

You were shocked. The reaction from citizens was mainly.. positive?

“1, 2, 3.”

Everyone in the jetting bowed their heads in respect from the woman’s count. You began to cry again, from the happiness sparking inside you. Maybe you had already done something good. Maybe you had started a new wave of public justice. Especially for women. They began speaking again, but it was all about basic procedures. Your mind was set on talking to your band mates.

The opportunity finally came, and you were left alone with the girls.

“I-I’m..” You took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for not telling you guys.”

Ji-Eun quickly waved you off. “No, no. It’s not something you needed to tell us.”

Baram nodded quickly. “Y/n, it’s horrible to hear what happened to you. You didn’t deserve to go through that..”

Heeyoung shook her head. “No one should have to go through that.”

Aiko still looked at you with her bright eyes. “You’re incredible. You’re so strong. I.. we all admire you.”

Luna nodded in agreement. “I’m so glad you’re our leader.” You burst into tears, and the other girls embraced you, giggling at how awkward the group hug was.

But it was nice.

When the door clicked open, you found Namjoon and Yoongi standing outside. They looked proud.

They probably already knew.

You ran over, throwing your arms around them. The most important men in your life. The loves of your life. The sibling love you’d never shared with anyone else, and the soft and loving relationship with Yoongi.

“It’s almost over.” Namjoon whispered.

Well, he was almost true. First day of the trial, the entirety of BTS insisted on going with you.

Moral support, they called it. You rolled your eyes, but only to cover how much it actually meant to you.

You were finally able to confront your demons. And honestly, seeing them again, you realised how pathetic they were. They weren’t the nightmares. They were just the nightmare fuel.

After another powerful speech, this time rehearsed and prewritten. You never wavered. It was your time to shine. And their time to go down.

“Guilty.”

It sounded amazing coming from the judge. Even better from the jury. Sure, the sentence wasn’t anything like 30 years or life. But 15 years sounded great anyway. At least everyone knew they were guilty.

At least you knew they were guilty too.

It wasn’t long after the court trial that your parents came down from your hometown to visit.

They had seen what had happened on TV. First abruptly from the Award show, and secondly from the broadcast Court Trial. They felt the parental need to see you. Needing to know if you were okay.

And because they missed you.

“I’m so proud of you Y/n! All the women in town love and support you so much. You’re so honest! Just the way I raised you! How can you get more successful? I love you so much my little baby boo-”

“How the hell did they let that happen?” Your father interrupted.

Namjoon scoffed. “Bribery. Stupid fucks are in prison now.”

Your mother hushed him. “No swearing.”

You could swear she winked at him though.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

You patted Namjoon’s arm. “Bro, I told them not to-”

“We couldn’t tell you. You would give everything up. And that would’ve broken Y/n further.” Your father sighed.

“And if there’s anything harder than having your children suffer, it’s having them suffer alone.” Your mother said. “We tried our hardest to help her..”

Namjoon launched himself at them, hugging them tightly. “I forgive you guys.” You giggled and wandered over to join the family group hug.

“Mrs Kim?”

Yoongi hesitantly talked to your mother, but he knew he had to. Or he would regret it.

“Thank you so much for looking after Y/n.” He blurted out.

Your mother laughed. “I should be thanking you. I’ve never seen her look at so much love, except for at me of course, before.” He grinned. Bowing slowly to her out of respect. She hit his head.

“Don’t act as if I were old.” She tutted playfully.

“Mum?”

She turned to you. “Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Thanks. For being there for me. You were.. you were just always there. For the darkest times, you shone through for me. It wasn’t easy.. and when Dad couldn’t be there..”

Yoongi looked away. His mind raced with the relationship with his own parents. This is how it was supposed to be..

Your mother grabbed him into a hug after you. “You take good care of her. I couldn’t be happier.”

You couldn’t help but beam as your overprotective mother got along well with Yoongi. You could already tell your dad loved him.

It seemed they couldn’t stay long enough.

But when they left, it seemed they were simultaneously replaced with Yoongi’s parents. They weren’t nearly as happy as your parents.

“Why would you be with this.. damaged girl?” His father demanded.

His mother scoffed. “Not only that. She’s dirty. So foul..”

Yoongi was upset. Probably rightfully. You heard what they were saying about you. However, when you looked at them, all you saw was two broken people. And that wasn’t easy to look at.

“Shut up!” Yoongi snapped, glaring daggers at them. “Y/n-”

You took hold of his hand. “I love your son. I know that’s probably not easy to accept. And you probably think there’s someone better for him out there. But there isn’t. Yoongi is my true love. And even if you try to pull us away, heck, even if fate tears us apart… my love for your son will never change.”

His mother sighed. “Whatever.”

As Yoongi begrudgingly said goodbye to his parents, you noticed the way his mother hesitated. Like she wanted to say something. Maybe apologise. Then she shut her door and they drove away.

“What about the future?”

You turned to your boyfriend. “The future?”

He nodded. His beautiful, bright eyes looking out across the scenery from the hilltop. “Like what do you want to do?”

“Like kids?” He nodded. “Well.. maybe. How many would you want?”

“Two maybe?”

You giggled. “What about 9?”

Yoongi slipped his arm around you. “It would be a bit of work.. but hell if we can’t try.” Giggling, you snuggled against him. Smelling his musky natural scent. It calmed you. Like a warming reassurance you could neither see nor hear.

“Marriage?” He whispered, words lost in the cold air. But you still heard them.

You relaxed further into his embrace. “It.. would be nice.”

“Maybe a Grammy?” Yoongi laughed.

You kissed his jawline. “They’ll be insane not to give you one.”

“I’d like to go to Australia.” He commented.

You laughed. “It’s hot there Yoongi. I hope you’ll prepare yourself for the heat.”

“It’s already too hot when I’m near you.”

With that you snorted, leaning back into him as he wrapped his arms around your torso in a full in back hug. “That’s too cheesy, even for you.”

He smiled, his gummy smile. “Aren’t you glad you’re here?”

Unable to resist, you kissed his lips quickly. “I’m glad I’m here with you.”

“That’s good, because I never want to leave you alone.”

You could hear the sincerity in his voice. It made you bubble with excitement. There was so much you could still do with him.

Yoongi set his head on your shoulder, lips grazing your ear. “It’s the best place in Seoul.” He murmured, right into your ear.

Feeling the warmth of his body on yours, you sighed happily. “It’s perfect. You can see the sun set over all of Seoul.”

“You’re perfect.” He whispered.

Smiling wider now, you placed a hand in his hair, ruffling it. “We’re perfect together.”

[bleachanimefan1]

Turtles Forever Part 77

Bishop's Gambit

In the Lair, Splinter, the turtles, and the girls were all meditating.

"We have faced many adversaries, we have fought many battles, and we have been victorious," Splinter said. "But, do we know why?"

"Because shell we're good," Mikey answered, holding up his arm. Splinter smacked him with is staff. "Uh, sorry sensei."

Splinter cleared his throat. "We have survived these many trials and tests by following the path of ninjitsu and by finding and using?" Leo thought for a minute.

"Our inner strength?" he guessed.

"Yes, Leonardo, only by focusing on our inner strength can we overcome our enemies," Splinter finished. However, Mikey wasn't listening as he directed his attention towards the pool, confused. "Michelangelo, where is your focus?"

"Uh, right over there, sensei," he answered, pointing to the pool. Strange devices were floating in it. "In the pool."

"What the shell are those things?" Donnie questioned.

"Ground Force to Night Sky, the packages have been delivered," one of the drivers reported.

"Roger, Ground Force. Stand by."

Bishop stepped forward. "Proceed," he replied. The devices activated as they emitted a high frequency throughout the sewers. It drives the rats out, sending them running out into the streets. Leatherhead was hearing the frequencies as well.

"What is that noise?" he asked, painfully as he tried to cover his ears. "I can't think! It has to stop! Someone make it stop!"

In the lair, Splinter was having the same reaction as the rats, as well as Alopex. They both tried to cover their ears.

"Master Splinter?" Leo asked in concern and turned to Donnie. "Don, what's the matter with him?"

He picks up one of the devices. "It's these!"

"The sound, I can't block it out!" Splinter explained, painfully. He faints and Leo catches him in time.

"We need to get them out of here, now!" Leo shouted.

Everyone took the elevator up to the surface and climbed into the Battle Shell, driving off. On the streets, they still heard the sound coming from the devices as they were scattered throughout the city.

"Man, I'm hearing it up here, too!" Raph complained as he drove.

"There seems to be some kind of sonic disruption throughout the city," Donnie explained, looking out the window. "And although it doesn't appear to bother humans, it's clearly targeting to other species."

"Like rats," Leo replied.

"And foxes," Mikey added.

Bishop was in a helicopter. "Beginning sweep to mobile mutated genetic signatures," a soldier reported as he searched the screen until it spotted the Battle Shell. "Right there, sir. Looks like our target."

"Intercept them." Bishop ordered.

"Night Sky to Ground Force, Operation Mousetrap is a go. I repeat, Mousetrap is go."

Suddenly, vans swarmed in front of the oncoming Battle Shell, blocking the road. "What the shell?!" Raph exclaimed and quickly turned as they opened fire. He dodges the bullets, but helicopters were now hovering above, following. They launch several missiles at the Battle Shell.

"We got missiles incoming!" Mikey yelled as he looked out from the passenger side window. Raph manages to dodge some of the missiles but one manages to hit as it lands directly into the Battle Shell. Everyone screamed in surprise until the missile breaks apart, revealing small rounded beads inside of it.

"What are those things?" Mikey panicked.

"I don't know!" Donnie exclaimed. The beads unleash a strange gas and one by one it began knocking everyone out. The truck screeched to a stop as the turtles and girls, along with Mona, holding Elizabeth, tried to get out quickly but was succumbed by the gas, passing out on the street. Three black vans pulled up. Soldiers ran out and took Splinter and Elizabeth. They carried them into the vans and drove away, while several soldiers stayed behind to guard the turtles and girls.

"Targets acquired, sir."

"What about the turtles and girls?" Bishop asked on the other end of the radio.

"Neutralized, sir. Your orders?"

"No survivors," Bishop ordered. The soldier nods to the other three remaining men and they lifted their guns, aiming at the turtles and girls.

"You heard the man, let's finish this," the soldier ordered. Just as they were about to fire, a large shadow lunged out at the soldiers, attacking them. It was Leatherhead. Sounds of their screams haunted the streets before they went deadly silent.

The turtles and girls began to wake up as they found themselves in the abandoned train station. Leo noticed that Splinter was not there.

"Master Splinter!?"

Mona's eyes widen in horror realizing that Elizabeth was gone as well.

"No! Raph, Lizzie's gone!" she cried.

"What?!" Raph's eyes widen as he held Mona, trying to calm her down, and looked around. She wasn't there.

"They abducted them," Leatherhead explained. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop them. Luckily, the gas was non-lethal."

"Which means, that whoever abducted your sensei and the little one, wanted them alive." a voice called out, surprising Leo and Leatherhead. The Fugitoid stepped out, walking towards everyone, his body was composed of salvaged parts.

"Whoa, new threads, Professor Honeycutt?" Mikey asked.

"Yes, those segments of my memory were purged. We recovered blueprints for my former Sal 1000 body. Overusing Earth technology makes it seem rather...homemade." he replied.

"I hope Master Splinter and Elizabeth are alright," Leo murmured, worried.

"Well, at least we know who took 'em. Those were Bishop's flunky commandos. Now, all we have to do is find 'em!" Raph growled.

"But how?" Donnie questioned.

"Wait a minute, we still have Bishop's subway train car, at least half of it,"

"Let's take this thing apart and find some answers," Leo said as they stepped into the car, starting to take it apart. Donnie placed his laptop next to the Fugitoid.

"I can't seem to hack into the system. A lot of this seems to be Federation and Triceraton tech."

"As well as other alien technology that I am unable to classify," the Fugitoid said. "Your Agent Bishop gets around for an Earthling."

"I don't think that he is even human to begin with," Yuuki commented.

"Wait, there," Leatherhead pointed to a blinking icon on the map. "An automatic recall layered into the train car sub circuitry."

"Hmm," the Fugitoid pondered. "If we reactivate it..."

"The recall signal should be triggered." Leatherhead finished.

"And if we're on board, it'll take us right to Bishop's location." Donnie added.

In Bishop's lab, Splinter was strapped to a gurney as he was starting to wake up. He struggled to break free out of his restraints.

"Oh good, you're awake, Master Splinter." Bishop said, walking up to him, holding Elizabeth.

"Bishop," Splinter glared at him. "Let the child go. She will be of no use to you."

"How wrong you are," the agent smirked, as he tickled Elizabeth's chin who responded back by trying to bite his finger. "Your unique genetic makeup has been very useful to me indeed as well as hers. In fact, the mutated DNA I'm extracting from you even as we speak will help save all humanity."

Splinter narrowed his eyes at him, gritting his teeth. "But, you look confused. Allow me to explain. I work for the Earth Protection Force, a secret government organization assembled to face a mounting crisis. A crisis dating back to 1870, when President Grant created the EPF."

A screen appeared behind Bishop as it came on, revealing a man that resembled Bishop standing next to the president. "After the first extraterrestrials crashed on Earth, extraterrestrials as crisis that continue to this day as we've seen with the recent invasion of those savage Triceratons." he turned to Splinter. "I guarantee you, similar invasions will follow. And someone has to be there to stop them. That is the purpose of the EPF, my purpose, to create a new humanity, a new superior race born of enhanced DNA."

Splinter saw that Bishop was hovering over something, lying on the table. "DNA that have been acquired from genetic manipulation, alien autopsies, and even stolen from your sons and the girls."

Splinter glared at him. "But, it was your mutated rat DNA being nearly so human that has allowed me to finally complete the process, and for that, I thank you." Bishop powered up his laboratory equipment. Electricity began to surge as it began to shock the specimen strapped on the table.

"Yes! It lives! The new evolution of humankind!" Splinter saw a person that looked like a human but it was wearing a helmet on their head and armor.

"The Slayer!"

The turtles and the girls, the Fugitoid and Leatherhead were riding on the train as it took them to the tracking location of Bishop's base.

"Okay," Raph called out, turning to them. "Next stop, Bishop Central."

Bishop walked past his experiments that were in glass tubes. "Not only are these future members of the Earth Protection Force, but they are the new humanity. These clones are awaiting the final DNA sequencing. By cellular acceleration, I can give birth to an army within six hours, fully trained thanks to my advances and bio-data transference. And your DNA. I've uploaded complex survival tactics into this prototype."

"What will you do with them?" Splinter asked, as a crane was lifting him up into the air.

"Mainstream them into the population, of course," Bishop answered. "We have aliens out there right now, living amongst us. My Slayers will ferret them all out."

"Lots of innocent people get "ferreted out." What if errors are made?" Splinter protested. The crane stopped as he was hovering over a glass container.

"Not my concern," Bishop replied. "I'm a bigger picture kind of guy. Besides, my calculations suggests that it would be beneficial if fifty-seven of the the Earth's population simply...disappeared." The crane lowered Splinter into the container. "Just think, my little lab rat. Your DNA will make it all possible. You're lucky you're such an unique organic specimen. You shall be preserved." The container was now beginning to fill up with a green liquid.

One of the soldiers, walked up to Bishop. "Sir, the recall signal for A13 has been activated," he reported. "It's on it's way in."

"Hmm," Bishop murmured, in thought. "That train should haven been destroyed. Prepare a suitable reception, just in case it's occupied."

The train approached as it rolled into a stop. The soldiers ran up to it, surrounding the train. A couple soldiers walked up to the car door. Leatherhead immediately attacked them. Donnie spinned his staff and kneed a soldier in the stomach. Donna jumped over a soldier, landing behind them, as they tried to attack her with their gun. She quickly turned around and slapped a glyph on their backs.

"Huh?" the guard asked confused. Donna smirked. The glyph activated as the guard was launched from off of his feet, slamming into the ceiling then flew at a couple of other soldiers, smacking into them. They fell off the edge, landing right on the train tracks. They let out a loud shriek as the tracks shocked them before going silent. Donnie and Venus both cringed as they watched with a shocked and disturbed look on their faces. Donna turned to them with a smile on her face.

"I'm sure they're okay," she reassured them, as she rubbed the back of her head. No, I'm pretty sure, in fact, that they're dead. Mikey runs up to two soldiers, who were firing at him. Leo and Yuuki disarmed them. "Leatherhead, the door!"

Leatherhead holds it up. "Hurry!" The Fugitoid, the turtles and the girls run over to him. "Hurry, I can't hold it much longer!" He holds it open for them as they run inside then drops it behind them. More guards ran over to the mutant gator.

"Alright, freak, slowly get to your feet and make no sudden moves," one of them orders. Leatherhead's eyes turned into slits, getting angry. He growls and turns around and attacks them.

The group quickly rush into Bishop's lab. They stop when they see Splinter in the containment tube.

"Master Splinter, no!" Leo cried out.

"Master Splinter!" Raph shouted. Everyone heard the sound of clapping to see Bishop as he approached them.

"Elizabeth!" Mona cried out as she saw her in Bishop's hands. Elizabeth's eyes widen happily as she saw Mona and Raph who had scared and angry looks on their faces. She tried to reach out to them with her hands.

"Baba! Mama!" she squealed, happily. Mona's and Raph's eyes widen in shock as well as everyone else's. Elizabeth had said her first words.

"Bishop!" Raph growled.

"I must say, I'm impressed that you found me," he smirked evilly as he told them. "but you won't be staying."

Everyone rushed towards him, but Bishop made no move as they got closer. Then the Slayer landed down in front of the agent, protecting him from everyone. Leo stepped back before charging at him. He tried to slice the Slayer with his swords but he dodges. The Slayer jumps over to the staircase as Leo tries to chase after him.The Slayer turns around and kicks Leo away. Raph growls and charges towards him with his sais. But, the Slayer was quicker as he grabs onto the railing of the staircase and swings around and kicks Raph back.

Mikey ran up to him, spinning his nunchucks but the Slayer grabs them. He throws Mikey into the wall. Donnie jumps up, using his staff but the Slayer moves out of the way. Donnie swings his staff, but the Slayer dodges it and knocks Donnie down the stairs.

The Fugitoid inches over towards Leo as he gets up. "Get Master Splinter out of there!" he told the Fugitoid.

"Absolutely," the Fugitoid rans off, to where Master Splinter was as Leo lunged at the Slayer.

"I'll help." Donna pitched in, running off to help the Fugitoid.

Raph stabs his sai into the Slayer's arm, he flips over him. The Slayer pulls Raph's weapon out and the wound begins to heal by itself. Raph makes a shocked look as the armor breaks off from the Slayer's arm. The Slayer looks at it for a minute then grabs Raph's other sai, spinning them in his hands. Raph pushes Mikey out of the way as he throws his sais at them, stabbing a control panel. It sparks behind Raph as it exploded, knocking Raph to the ground. Leo ran on the catwalk above while Mikey and Alopex fought with the Slayer. Leo swings in on the crane, hitting the Slayer with his swords. He stumbles back, sparking. He pulls off his helmet, revealing his face. He had Bishop's face, but the other half was robotic as well.

Everyone gasped in shock. "Bishop?!" Donnie asked in surprise. Bishop's clone turned to them.

Bishop walked up to him. "Handsome devil, if I do say myself."

"Okay, now I'm officially freaked out!" Mikey commented while the others had their mouths still open in shock. The Slayer began to jump around, quickly.

"Oh believe me, you ain't seen nothing yet," Bishop added as the Slayer climbed on some tubes then turned his head, looking at everyone, without moving his whole body, then turned invisible.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Raph retorted, getting his sais. The Fugitoid and Donna walked up to the computer to free Splinter from the tube.

"Don't worry, Master Splinter," he assured. "I'll have you out of that nasty bio-suspension fluid in a jiffy." The crane moves and begins to lift Splinter out of the container. Suddenly, a chain with a claw hook latched onto the Fugitoid's arm.

"Oh dear," Bishop pulls the chain, ripping off the robot's arm. "That was totally uncalled for." Bishop throws the Fugitoid's arm away.

"Step away from those controls, cyborg."

Donna rushed towards Bishop as she tried to grab Elizabeth but he dodged her stepping to the side. Donna slammed a glyph down and an ice pillar shot out, catching Bishop off guard, making him accidentally let go of Elizabeth. Donna quickly rolled and caught her in time before she hit the floor.

"That was a close one," she sighed in relief. Elizabeth babbled as she cooed as she reached out squishing Donna's face with her hands.

"Not close enough," Bishop called out as he flipped over the ice pillar, landing behind Donna. Donna's eyes widen as she tried to cover Elizabeth in her arms. Bishop reached out to grab Elizabeth but Donna quickly ducked out of the way. She tried to run but Bishop grabbed her arm, pulling her back, hard. A loud snap was heard as Donna's arm was pulled out of it's socket and she yelled out in pain. She kicked Bishop back and flipped away from him, landing on her feet, still clutching Elizabeth in her other hand, tightly.

Then, the crane that was holding Splinter, drops him and it also breaks the gurney that he was strapped to, as it lands on the floor, freeing him. He was still soaking wet, as he faced Bishop.

"Bishop, you will not succeed!" Splinter shouted, as he picked up a pipe, spinning it.

"Wrong," Bishop corrected him. "Neither you nor your little green brats can stop me."

Raph and Donnie were with each other as they searched for the Slayer as well as everyone else who were in pairs. Suddenly, Slayer appears in front of Mikey and grabs him as he kicks Alopex away. "Guys, he's over hereee!" the Slayer throws him into the wall and flips, kicking Mikey against it. He falls to the floor and rubs his head as the Slayer escapes. "This guy doesn't play nice!"

"You don't understand," Bishop throws his hook at Splinter. "I've created life!" Splinter jumps over it and knocks Bishop down, pinning him with his pipe. Bishop flips, knocking Splinter off of him.

"Bishop, no one has the right to play God!" Splinter exclaimed. Bishop surprises Splinter as he pulled the chain using his hook to wrap around Splinter.

"I am taking the necessary steps to defend the world! It is my duty!" He breaks Splinter's pipe using the hook and flips Splinter over. Splinter lands on his feet.

"The world has enough monsters! It does not need yours!"

Raph and Mona were searching for the Slayer. He turns himself visible as he lands on a containment pod behind them. He jumped away, when Raph turned around, sensing him, while Mona continued on ahead. "Come out, come out wherever you are, you ugly freak." The Slayer appeared behind Raph and Raph turns around, growling. The Slayer turned invisible again and flips over Raph, kicking him from behind. Raph tried to charge at him but the Slayer grabs Raph's wrist and twists it. He slams Raph's sai into a pipe, pinning him to the wall as he punched Raph's shell repeatedly. Raph turned around and runs towards the Slayer only for him to grab Raph and lift him up and toss him to the ground.

Not to far off, Leo and Yuuki heard fighting in the distance.

"Raph?" Leo murmured and gasped, before turning to Yuuki.

"Let's hurry!" she quickly told him. They quickly turned around the corner, only for Raph to be shot out in front of them, as he was thrown, crashing into some of the pods nearby, where Mona was. A containment pod falls on top of Raph, as he struggles to hold it up, and sees another one of Bishop's clones inside of it.

"Bishop?"

Leo and Yuuki jump, down hearing a growl. They looked up to see the Slayer climbing on the vent and saw that he was heading towards Splinter. They followed after it. Splinter kicks Bishop from behind as the Slayer jumps down, getting ready to attack Splinter. Leo and Yuuki jumped into the air and kicked him. The Slayer lands into the containment tube with the liquid.

"Professor Honeycutt, the tank! Seal it!" Leo shouted.

The Fugitoid sends an electric current into the vat, shocking the Slayer as well. Bishop gets up to see what is happening. "No! My Slayer!" Splinter jumps up and kicks him.

"This is over, Bishop!"

Bishop adjusted his glasses and turned to see Splinter charging at him. He jumps and lands on the hook, hanging from the ceiling.

"My plans are far from over, rodent!" Bishop jumps off from it and lands. "You have no idea!" He grabs his chain, spinning it. Splinter glared at him and Bishop throws the chain at him. Splinter uses his pipe to block it but Bishop takes it from him. Splinter jumps over a gurney and Bishop breaks a part of it with his chain. He throws the gurney at a shocked Splinter. Splinter kicked it, breaking it into pieces. Bishop throws his chain and the hook latches onto a engine turbine.

Splinter bends down and picks up a piece of the gurney and throws it at a lever, activating the machine. Electricity from the turbine shocks Bishop, electrocuting him. He growls and pulls the chain off, but the turbine explodes. Bishop and Splinter are sent flying in different directions from the explosion. Bishop was impaled by a hook on a chain, screaming.

Raph and Mona rushed over to Donna, as did everyone else, as she handed Elizabeth over to Mona.

"Elizabeth!" Mona shouted as she took her from Donna.

"Whoa, dudette, your arm!" Mikey shouted in concern. Donna hissed in pain as she tried to support her arm. Venus used her chi magic to try to lessen the pain on Donna's dislocated shoulder.

"I'll pop it back into place," Donnie told her as he was about to. But, Donna moved his hand away.

"There's no time," she told them. "We need to find Splinter."

Splinter groaned as he got up, seeing Bishop on the hook, but also saw that the explosion had caused fires, too.

"Sensei!" He turned to see everyone running towards him.

"My children," he said in relief.

"We have to get out of here!" Leo told him. The fire and the explosion had caused water to start flooding the room as well. Splinter looked back towards Bishop to find him not there. He was gone!

"You will pay for this, mutants," everyone gasped as they saw him climbing up a ladder, escaping. "One day, you will all pay!" They all ran over to the ladder, following him.

"After him!" Mikey yelled as Splinter climbed up it first. More turbines exploded as the room was beginning to flood, destroying the lab. The flood water also carried the Slayer's tube, as it fell down a pipe, just as the lab was destroyed. Everyone soon found themselves in an elevator as it carried them up to the streets and ran out of it, water rushing out of it as they did.

"Whoa, we're in the middle of Midtown!" Mikey said. They didn't see Bishop anywhere. He had somehow managed to elude them.

"And Bishop's nowhere in sight." Leo pointed out.

"We will see him again. Such men are hard to destroy." Splinter told them.

[igirisuhito]

Title: We’re not in a position to be loved Relationship(s): Shuichi Saihara/Ouma Kokichi Rating: Mature Summary:  Numerous prompts sentence writing meme from Tumblr, except I have no idea how to be brief. Exploring the dynamics with Oumasai, mostly during strange encounters after trials. They have very mixed feelings about eachother Trigger Warnings: Brief mention of power dynamic imbalance

[Ao3 Link]

——— ☆ • ♧ • 🃏 • ♧ • ☆ ———

Angst

Knowing that it was Kokichi's body in there seemed so much more painful than if it had been Kaito. He died as he lived, confusing, lying, leaving everybody with a burning hatred. 

Shuichi bit at the insides of his cheeks to quell the tears building up in his eyes. It wasn't fair, he deserved at least some closure on Kokichi's actions. 

Nobody deserved such a painful death, not even him. 

AU (in which Kokichi wasn't given the memories he was meant to be nor was his mind wiped) 

Click

"W-why did you lock the door?"

"Hush Shuichi.” Kokichi spoke quickly, spinning around and poking Shuichi hard in the chest. “Now tell me, you're suspicious of your 'Ultimate Detective' status, right?" 

He flinched, surprised by the sudden touch. "...Do you want me to hush or answer the question?"

Kokichi pouted dramatically. "THE QUESTION!!" 

"Okay um… I guess? Like, I only solved a single case..."

"Right! But you don't remember how you got here?" 

"N-no I don't..."

Groaning loudly, Kokichi’s hands threaded into his hair as he began to ruffle it angrily. "Fuck me, this sucks!"

Shuichi watched the other boy closely as he continued his temper tantrum, angrily stomping across the room and beginning to shuffle through the mounds of paraphernalia in his room. There was evidence from the two previous trials, a whiteboard, large stacks of paper and other… things.

"Aha!" He yelled excitedly as he pulled out a brightly coloured tablet from underneath some stuff stolen from the warehouse. He slapped the device into Shuichi's hands aggressively. 

In his shock, Shuichi blinked a few times. "Is this a kubs pad...?" 

"Yes." Kokichi nodded once.

"So this is..."

"My motive video, yes."

"I don't think we should-" 

Before Shuichi had even finished his sentence, Kokichi had leaned over his shoulder and tapped the screen, bringing the video to life.

"Alright! Back by popular demand, it's time for the motive video! Who's the most important person in *your* life? And now, without further ado…

Kokichi Ouma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader… 

He caused mayhem the world over as the leader of the secret organisation, D.I.C.E. And by 'mayhem,' I mean petty nonviolent crimes and harmless pranks. 

Anyway, Kokichi had ten loyal goons working for him. These goons were like friends and family… The most important people in his life…"

"See all these guys? I don't know any of 'em! I didn't run some secret organisation, I used to just harass stupid idiots on the internet!" Kokichi muttered away, words spat with frustration as he yanked the tablet from Shuichi's hands. "I don't have those memories like the rest of you do!" 

"So you're…not the Ultimate Supreme Leader?"

"No! That's what I'm saying!" 

"Then why do you act like that…?" 

"Well I'm sure if the mastermind realised I knew they'd kill me in a heartbeat!" With a sigh, Kokichi threw himself onto his bed. "Jesus what kind of guy does awful things and then follows it up with 'That's just what an Ultimate Supreme Leader does!'? I was dropping hints to you the whole time! You really aren't an Ultimate Detective, huh?" 

Shuichi didn't know what to say. He simply stood there, mouth hanging agape as he watched the boy spill his secrets. 

A scary realisation gripped at his heart, and he twisted his head around to look to the corner of the room. "B-But what about-"

"I busted all the cameras in the room the night we got here.” Kokichi muttered casually, crossing one leg over the other and twirling a strand of hair in his hand. “Doesn't seem like Monokuma's noticed yet." 

Right right. That's logical. Shuichi took a moment to process the new information in his mind. 

"So this, our memories, our talents, everything. It's all fake?" He brought his hand to his mouth, mumbling to words behind his fingers. "What Kaede died for… isn't even real?" 

"Right on bucko!” A snigger slipped past Kokichi’s lips as he grinned bitterly. “This shit's all fabricated by somebody who was dumb enough to forget to plant those fake memories in my brain and wipe the real ones!" 

Shuichi's chest tightened. He could feel some sinking feeling in his gut, twisting and winding its way up to strangle his windpipe, threatening to make him break down in tears right there. He swallowed the feeling down, transforming his sadness into a burning anger. "W-why didn't you say something earlier… before everybody died?" 

"Again, I didn't want to inform the mastermind. The only people trustworthy enough were Rantaro and maaaybee you. I really just took a punt when it came to telling you, which was pretty risky especially since it was your girlfriend who clocked the only person I could trust." Kokichi sighed again, glancing up at the ceiling.

Biting hard into his lip, Shuichi found himself running out of words to say that didn't involve screaming at the boy. "So, what now then?" 

Kokichi smiled sadly. "I don't know. I really don't know. "

Crack

"Focus focus… what turned the handle of the sliding lock?" 

Shuichi muttered to himself as he pressed his foot down on the accelerator, speeding up in preparation of hitting the wOuman representing the correct answer. 

He had driven this taxi quite a few times now and was getting used to it. The neon lights, the oversaturated sunset, those massive billboards. 

Thunk

Ah, yes the killer used the Katana…

As he was headed out of the city, he began to realise that he really couldn't tell what was on those billboards. Driving at 100km/h makes it hard to see anything but the road ahead. 

He lifted his foot from the pedal slightly, allowing himself to get a better look at whatever nonsense was being displayed there. 

Above Shuichi was a large picture of Kokichi Ouma, dressed not in his usual 'attire' if you can even call it that, but rather a frilly pink apron.

A frilly pink apron and nothing else. 

Shuichi floored it. Ignoring the sensation of his heart beating out of his chest. 

"No wonder I'm meant to drive so fast… gay thoughts can't travel at such high speeds…"

Future

"Heeeey Shuichi! You're lookin pretty depressive." 

Shuichi ignored the teasing voice.

"Heeeeeeeey." Kokichi plopped himself down on the desk where Shuichi had been working, making it impossible for him to focus on the work in front of him and ignore the boy. 

Shuichi sat back in his chair, remaining completely silent. 

"Why are you ignoring me? I thought you loved me, Shu?" 

Gritting his teeth, Shuichi slapped his hands over his ears. A mixture of rage and sadness boiled up inside his chest causing tears to prick at the corners of his eyes.

"Shut up! SHUT UP! YOU'RE DEAD!"

He shook his head aggressively. When he finally opened his eyes again, Kokichi was no longer there to start back at him sadly, like he were something pathetic.

 First time

A sight Shuichi had never expected to see greeted him upon entering the classroom. 

A shorter man with purple hair and a strange white getup had a robotic looking boy pinned down against a desk, their hips pressed closely together. Just what had he walked in on?

"So you do have a dick?" The shorter boy grinned mischievously

"Yes-! No-!” The robotic boy refuted, struggling to push the other off “Please just let go of me!" 

The purple haired boy seemed to become aware of Shuichi's presence in the room. He twisted his head around in a creepy owl-like way to glance at him, before letting go of the robot boy with a big grin.

"Well hello there! I don't believe we've met!" The boy scurried over to Shuichi, grabbing his hand and giving it a firm, quick shake. "Kokichi Ouma, Ultimate Supreme Leader! It's lovely to make your acquaintance." 

Shuichi stepped back a little, surprised by the sudden change in personality. "Oh, um… Shuichi Saihara.... Ultimate Detective."

Kokichi’s expression changed suddenly, leaving him looking rather surprised. "Oh? A detective? I'm sure we're not going to get along, but I look forward to seeing more of you!"

"R-right..." Shuichi stammered, mind still reeling from the quick succession of events. 

Humour 

This scene was one Shuichi had… not been expecting.

He wanted to have a more extensive look around his lab, especially with what sort of dangerous stuff was in there. Maybe find a way to lock all that poison away so nobody could access it? 

But his plans had come to a halt. There was something wrapped up in a blanket sitting in front of the fireplace. 

Somebody was in his lab. 

Shuichi stepped into the room quietly, it seemed whoever was there hadn't noticed his presence. Thank god they'd left the door slightly ajar… 

He picked up the sand timer from the coffee table. It was quite weighty and could definitely do some damage if struck with a strong enough force. Gripping the metal tightly, he began to lightly stalk his way over, careful to not startle the intruder as he made his way closer. 

The detective's heart was racing. Who would even be in his lab? Surely nobody was stupid enough to stir trou-

…

It's Kokichi, isn't it?

This only made things worse. Should he be scared or angry? Was Kokichi going to attack him? Did Kokichi already know he was there? Did he plan to try and poison somebody?! 

Possibilities were beginning to pile up in Shuichi's mind, exacerbating his anxiety. Panic was beginning to set in as the boy raised the sand timer above his head, fully prepared to strike.

Snooore

Shuichi froze. Was Kokichi…asleep? 

He lowered the sandtimer, still keeping a firm grip as he crept closer to the fireplace in order to get a better look at Kokichi. 

His suspicions were confirmed. The boy was sat cross legged in front of the fire with a book in his lap. Drool was leaking from his open mouth as he snored softly away, completely oblivious to the blood dripping down his forehead. 

Ehh?! Blood?!

Shuichi gasped loudly, perhaps a little too loud as Kokichi startled awake. 

The Supreme Leader glanced towards Shuichi, then to the object in his hand. "Oh, Shuichi! Finally come to beat my head in huh? I'm surprised it took ya this long!" 

Fluff (continuation of humour) 

"Wh-what?! No!" Shuichi stood with his mouth hanging open for a moment before tossing the sandtimer aside. "Wh-why are you in my lab?" 

"Huh? Isn't it obvious?" 

"...reading?"

Kokichi sighed, flexing his fingers in an odd yet overwhelmingly gay gesture. "No, are you stupid? Geez, I thought you cared about me."

Before Shuichi could question what he was rambling on about, Kokichi wiped a little bit of blood away from his eyebrow. 

"Oh, right. Did the wound re-open?" Kneeling down next to him, Shuichi eyed the rivulets of blood shining on his forehead. They were beginning to dry and flake, but the wound still looked wet.

"Mm, yeah, it's not a big deal though. I wanted to see if there was any medicine in here that would help the blood clot faster, but alas, only poison. I mean, what kind of fake school is this if it doesn't have a nurses office?" Kokichi murmured the last sentence barely loud enough for the other to hear. 

"Sorry, I think there's a first aid kit in here though.” Rising to his feet, Shuichi walked over to the poison’s cupboard, beginning to search the room starting with where he was pretty sure he last saw it. “Let me have a look."

Kokichi went to object, but swallowed it before he could get the words out. He was pretty sure if he tried to stand up again, he would go down like a sack of bricks.

"Ah! Here it is." Shuichi exclaimed, perhaps a little too excited with his successful search. He picked up the small box, scurrying over to where Kokichi sat before kneeling down in front of him. The box was opened with a click, and Shuichi opened the lid. Inside were numerous bandaids, gauzes, swabs, etc. It was a pretty standard kit, which was surprising, considering the fact it were surrounded by poisons. 

He reached for the bottle of alcohol, something to help clean the wound to prevent possible infection. Kokichi seemed like the type to be negligent with a wound, so of course he had to do it for him. He then grabbed a small cotton gauze, placing it to the side as he twisted open the lid of the bottle.

Kokichi observed closely as he placed the gauze over the lid, tipping the bottle upside down so the alcohol soaked into the gauze. He was surprised but just how experienced Shuichi seemed to be with this kind of thing.

“Wow Shuichi, you seem to be a reeeeal expert at this stuff! Maybe they should re-title you ‘Ultimate Nurse!’” He mocked, laughing a little as Shuichi glared up at him.

“Basic First-Aid training is a requirement for being out in the field.” Shuichi muttered, putting the bottle down and raising the gauze to Kokichi’s head. “This will sting a little.”

He thread his hand into the purple bangs, pulling them back to get a clear access to the wound. Shuichi had no qualms with hurting Kokichi, however, as he was not very gentle as he wiped the gauze over the gash in his head.

Kokichi squirmed in pain, gripping the blanket tightly in his hands as he whined. “Ow ow ow ow!! Stop it Shu!!!” 

A warmth was rising in his cheeks, probably all that blood returning to his head. Shuichi’s fingers were cold against this scalp, it was embarrassing, humiliating. Why did he have to baby him like this? Especially when he had been so adamant about rejecting Kokichi in the past.

“It doesn’t hurt that much, you’re being a baby.” 

“You’re so mean Shuichi.” Sticking out his bottom lip, Kokichi pouted dramatically. 

Shuichi did take the effort to make his touches a little more gentle, only because he didn’t want to listen to Kokichi’s whines, of course.

When all the dried blood had been cleaned off, he tossed the bloodied gauze into the trash can. He scrounged around in the box a little, seeking an appropriately sized bandage that he wouldn't have to cut down. When he found one, he held it up, checking to see if it fit.

For a second, Shuichi found himself staring. Kokichi looked nice with his hair up, showing off those pretty purple eyes and surprisingly dark lashes.

Then he reminded himself of the awful things Kokichi had done. Throwing Gonta under the bus, laughing in the face of his death.

Shuichi pressed the bandage to Kokichi’s forehead, sticking it carefully over the wound. “Even though I helped you, I don’t forgive you. I need you to know that I still think you’re a terrible person, Kokichi.”

Kokichi’s heart sank a little. “Nobody asked you to! I don’t want your forgiveness.”

He slapped Shuichi’s hand away, rising to his feet quickly. He blinked back the lightheadedness, steadying himself before walking to the door. 

With a shaking hand, he opened the door. He opened it halfway, before pausing.

“...Thank you.”

The door slammed behind him, leaving Shuichi alone in the room, surrounded by First-Aid equipment.

Hurt/Comfort

The doorbell rang, the sound reverberating around Shuichi's tiny room. It was probably Kaito finally coming for training tonight.

Though… Shuichi glanced up at the clock quickly. It was kind of late for that…

With a sigh, he got up from his bed, springs creaking beneath his shifting weight.

He opened the door, only to find an empty corridor with nobody there. Strange… who on earth would have the audacity to play a prank after such a horrific trial? It could only be one person.

"Kokichi…?"

A soft gasp could be heard from down the hall. Shuichi leaned out of the doorway, spying Kokichi awkwardly escaping down the stairs.

"Haha!" He laughed. "Guess who just got ding-dong-ditched! As if I'd be coming to seek advice from you so late at night!" 

Shuichi narrowed his eyes, preparing to growl out an insult to Kokichi, something about being so insensitive after three people had died. He hesitated, however, upon noticing the watery gleam in those purple eyes.

The detective sighed and held his door open with one hand. "Come in, Kokichi."

Kokichi's mouth gaped at the sudden invitation. He wasn't going to let it pass, and dashed towards Shuichi before throwing his arms around the boy's waist and squeezing him tightly. 

"I… don't want to do this anymore..." Kokichi mumbled, burying his face into Shuichi's shirt. 

The other boy flinched at the sudden touch, something that was incredibly out of character for Kokichi. There seemed to be no threat, though, so he dropped his guard with a sigh.

Shuichi carefully placed a hand on Kokichi's head, petting him gently. "I know..."

Smut

"Ohh! Who would have thought that you were skilled in more areas than investigating? Isn't this a little illegal though? Sticking your dick in a suspect?" 

'Is anything technically illegal if it's a dream?' Shuichi wondered as he stepped one leg at a time out of his slacks.

"Hey! Keep on the task at hand, pretty boy." Kokichi snapped, clicking his fingers in front of Shuichi's face. 

"A-ah right. Sorry..."

Unresolved Sexual Tension

"So when faced with a problem you don't understand, you resort to violence, Shuichi? You're such a brute, just like Kaito."

"Shut up! There's just no logic with you! Why do you even keep doing this?!"

Kokichi refused to break eye contact for even a second. The boy pressing him against the wall dug his fingers even harder into his shoulders, stabbing into the skin below painfully.

"Do you feel nothing?! Isn't there even a single shred of empathy left in you?!"

"Shuichi." Kokichi smirked. "It's been incredibly cute watching you play detective, but unfortunately I don't think your blind luck will help you any longer."

The shorter boy shoved Shuichi off with a strength he hadn't shown before, leaving the detective stunned and a little shaken.

As Kokichi walked back to the trial room's elevator, Shuichi caught himself staring in awe. 

"...cute?"

[emma-nation]

Unfinished Business - F!Sam x MC Fanfiction

Summary: When Sam Dalton is caught in a scandal, Anna Schuyler is the only one who can help her. But will her former nanny be able to leave the past behind?

"Samantha Dalton was like one of good dreams you don't want to wake up from. You close your eyes, you force your brain to remember every minor detail, you begin to imagine what comes next... hoping to be in control. You want to fall asleep again. You want it to continue, but it's too late now. You're wide awake."

Genre: Angst, Romance

Notes: Hell yeah, three ongoing multichapter fics. I'm so screwed 😎

Tag List: If you wish to be tagged in future chapters and fics of this pairing, let me know.

"I can't do this anymore, Sam," Anna did the best to avoid her eyes. With the right look, they could melt the ice that had formed around her heart for the last few weeks. One look could make things warm again, but only for some time. Time enough for her to open up and fall in love once more, immediately followed by the realization all of that was nothing more than an illusion. She'd be fooling herself again.

This time she just had enough. It was the end.

"Anna, I'm sorry," the CEO didn't know very well what to say. Despite her usual calm voice tone, Anna could sense the nervousness in her words. "But Sofia is my wife."

"And I'm only the nanny."

"This is not what I meant. We just... we allowed ourselves to get too carried away. It was good while it lasted but now, we must face reality."

It was just a dream. Samantha Dalton was like one of good dreams you don't want to wake up from. You close your eyes, you force your brain to remember every minor detail, you begin to imagine what comes next... hoping to be in control. You want to fall asleep again. You want it to continue, but it's too late now. You're wide awake.

----------

Anna collected her stuff from the desk, giving one last emotional glance to the classroom in front of her. Before leaving for Summer, her fourth grade students had prepared her a small surprise. A little party with cake, snacks and a "Thank You, Ms. Schuyler" sign hanging in the back of the room. They also drew her some cards, which she saved for when she got home. It could become very emotional for her workplace.

"Anna," the principal appeared at the door, catching her attention, "I came here to congratulate you. It was your first year as a Science teacher in our school and you captivated all the kids, as well as their parents."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Rockwell," Anna smiled. "I love working with children and now I see I made the right decision taking this job. This year was the most rewarding experience of my life."

"So we can expect you to return next year? I'm sorry, the parents keep me asking this question all the time."

"Absolutely!"

"They'll be glad to hear that. Have a nice Summer, Ms. Schuyler."

After living in New York for the last two years, Anna was finally ready to drive to her mother's home in Rhode Island. They both had saved enough money for a road trip across the country. Her mom deserved to live that dream after caring for her ill step-dad for some long months, until his recovery.

When she arrived at her apartment, her best friend, Jenny, was still at work. What meant she'd have enough time to finish packing without having to stop to hear the latest gossip about the company she worked for, or unsolicited dating advice.

"But first," Anna pulled the small pile of cards from inside her purse, "let me cry my eyeballs out."

And she did. She learned how to love and connect to each one of her students. Those cards need to be kept in a special place, where she'd always be able to read them and remember the sweet moments she shared with those children.

Grabbing a box in her closet, Anna accidentally came across a picture of the Dalton twins. She didn't even remember where she had placed it, when she was getting rid of everything related to that family. All she wanted was to keep those boys' memory out of sight. She missed them too much for words. They were the reason why she accepted that job as a teacher in first place.

"I wonder how different they must look now," she thought. "They're already nine."

With a tightness in her chest, Anna placed the picture back in its secret spot.

"I still can't believe you're really going!" Later that evening, Jenny complained in the living room, where she divided her attention between painting her nails and watch TV.

"Well, it's time for you to come with terms with that. I'm only returning by the end of Summer," Anna responded from the kitchen, while she finished washing the dishes.

"Anna, we could have the Summer of our lives. Think about all the hot men and women you could meet, all the parties we could attend..."

"I promised my mom, okay? We've been planning this trip since I finished college."

Jenny was suddenly teleported back to her side, wrapping her arms around her like a clingy teddy bear.

"But I'm gonna miss you," she spoke with a mournful voice.

"I'll miss you too," Anna assured her. "I'll keep you updated on every detail. Don't worry."

"I know your mom is going with you but... Anna, it's time for you to find someone. Even if it's only a one night stand."

"This is not the main purpose of this trip. This isn't about my sex life, I want my mom to relax."

"It has been two years, for god's sake."

"I know. And I'm glad I've set my priorities straight, I live with my best friend in a nice apartment, I got this amazing job and I love my students. I don't need anyone else in my life to be happy. I am happy."

Jenny rolled her eyes, crawling back to the couch. She should know it was useless to bring up this subject. Anna's heart was indefinitely closed for balance. If that was one thing she learned from her last experience was that shouldn't open up so easily.

"Shut the hell up!"

Jenny yelling so loud in the living room, made Anna almost drop the plate she was holding.

"You need to come here right now and watch this," she added.

"I'm sorry, Jenny. You're not getting me into that steamy TV show you're always obsessing about."

"It's a really good TV show, okay? But it doesn't matter at the moment. You need to watch the latest news!"

Jenny was actually watching the news. Nothing good could've happened to spark that sudden interest. That had to be something stupid or celebrity gossip. Against her best judgment, Anna approached the TV.

"If that's something silly, I'll kill you for interrupting my tasks!" Anna's mouth suddenly dropped when she read the headline on her screen. "Oh."

"Dalton Enterprises Scandal: CEO Sam Dalton accused of insider trading."

Images of police officers closing the company and carrying out boxes and computers for further investigation appeared on the screen. As well as Sam being conducted to the officer's car while journalists and photographers chased after her.

"Karma's a bitch, huh?! Mrs. Perfect is going down!"

Anna didn't answer to her best friend. She was still trying to process what her eyes were watching. Her heart seemed to stop for a second as the camera focused on Sam's face. In just a few seconds, her eyes had the desperate need to capture every detail. She wanted to know if she looked any different, if she had changed her hair or even her clothes. She wanted to know if some make-up was trying to hide the bags under her eyes for lack of sleep, or if she had been so happy with her marriage she was appearing even younger. Any minor signs that would make her mind create a possible scenario of what Sam's life could be right now.

She hadn't seen or heard of Samantha since quitting her nanny job. Though it was difficult, she managed to avoid any news related to the Dalton Enterprises CEO. They didn't part in good terms, yet one thing she was sure about, Sam was a decent person. She would never get involved in such a scandal. She had a reputation to keep.

"I... I don't know what to say," Anna was finally able to mumble some words. "Honestly I don't think she'd do that. There must be a misunderstanding."

"Anna! Are you seriously defending her?! After everything she's done to you?"

"No. I just..." Two years had passed since the wedding. Anna realized a lot could've changed. Sam could've changed. She had changed. "Maybe you're right."

As she lied in bed, millions of thoughts started running through her mind. What would be of the boys? Who would have their custody in case Sam went to jail, her parents or Sofia? Could Sofia or Robin have any involvement in that scandal?

Anna didn't get any sleep that night. When she woke up in the morning she was still exhausted.

The apartment was silent and peaceful. Jenny had already left to work. She was alone. No one would witness or even judge her next action. After preparing herself some coffee she sat down and started to research more about the insider trading scandal.

"I'm not interested, only curious," she mentally assured herself as thousands of articles started showing on her laptop screen.

Not only Sam was being accused to cheat on Sofia with another woman, but she tried to cover up the affair by giving her mistress a check to purchase Dalton Enterprises stocks. The launch of a new and revolutionary product in the coming weeks would surely grant her some cash. In the following days of the launch, the woman and her husband made millions of dollars.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Sam?"

The trials were scheduled for the next few weeks, and in case of conviction, the CEO could spend over 20 years in prison.

Only a couple of days later, Anna was in the garage placing all her luggage inside the trunk. She had to leave immediately, for her own sanity. The scandal was a great reason to stay away from New York City. The television wouldn't stop talking about that subject, or show the face of the woman she once loved.

"Dammit," entering the car, Anna noticed she had forgotten her cell phone upstairs. The latest events had impacted her more than they should. She was constantly distracted and anxious, secretly following the last developments of the case.

She picked up her phone, returned to the car and turned on the radio. Playing some loud music always helped her to relax. The crowded streets and the buildings slowly started to stay behind as the road approached.

"And I'm here, to remind you of the mess you left..."

Anna sang aloud, completely involved by the song. And then, her eyes almost missed it. Through the rearview mirror she saw a blur moving on the back seat.

"What the..." she needed to remain calm and act cautiously. The roads were impressively calm and deserted, a perfect scenario for murder, like in every horror movie. She slowly slipped her hand into her purse, grabbing the pepper spray. "I'm not one of those chicks who die so easily."

In one sudden fast move, she stomped on the breaks and turned around, spraying whoever was hiding behind her seat.

"Anna!" She was able to take a better look. The figure was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. "Stop, please!"

She was able to recognize that voice even among millions of people. The years hadn't erased it from her memories.

"S-Sam..." Anna pulled the disguise, confirming her suspicions, "what are doing here? In my back seat?"

"I can explain."

"You better."

She returned to the driver's seat, attempting to relax. Samantha Dalton was inside her car, for some very screwed up reason.

"I know it's strange," and now she had moved to the passenger seat, being at a short distance from her. Close enough to notice how her presence was making her nervous. Close enough to notice she wasn't breathing. Close enough to see her hands shaking. "But I needed you to hear me."

"You could've called, Samantha. Or even showed up at my door! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"You wouldn't answer. Would you?"

And that was it. One look and all the walls melted away. Her heart started beating faster, reminding her of the moments they shared two years before.

"No," Anna answered, fighting those feelings. "I wouldn't."

"I need your help, Anna," Sam touched her arm briefly, but enough to know she'd cause impact. "I'm in serious trouble and you're the only one that can help me."

[paipayaseeds]

she jolted awake at the headache-inducing music that blared in her room, covering her ears as her gaze shifted towards the monitor. she lagging behind a little; confused as to what the hell was going on. staring at the screen, she realized it was depicting... death. oh... so this is it, huh? before she had a chance to spiral, she was distracted by a loud slam of the door.

“k-kiibo?! what was that? who... w-who was....?”

“don’t worry about it. it’s not anyone you want to see right now.”

kiibo heard another urgent knock at the door, his hand not even leaving the doorknob yet. he yanked the door open, “SHUICHI I- huh?”

“s-shuichi? huh? it’s me, kaito!” the robot peeked his head out the door, looking around for the detective, but seeing nobody. how and—more importantly— why had he left so quickly? seeing as fumiko was already awake, he saw no point in shutting the door on the man in front of him. “nevermind, we don’t have time for that, come with me,” he said, grabbing the robot by the arm and running down the stairs and out the door with him to the game room. he was a robot, for crying out loud! of course he’d be helpful in fighting monokuma. fumiko was left alone, shocked. the music still echoed in her room and she didn’t know what to do.

was shuichi at the door the first time...? she thought. she stepped out of her room slowly, closing the door that was left open by the two boys behind her. she forced herself to move, not allowing her body to freeze up, no matter how badly it wanted to. her breathing became erratic as she went down the stairs. where is everyone...? nobody seemed to be around. maybe they were in their dorms like she was? where is shuichi?

“s-shu...?” her voice cracked. she sounded pathetic, and looked it too. her footsteps started getting faster and, soon enough, she was in the school. “shui-chi...” she sobbed quietly. she turned the corner and caught sight of a blonde girl catching up to someone.

“i’m- i’m coming!”

obviously, she followed kaede. however, she was sprinting, and fumiko worried that something might’ve happened. she walked down the stairs and noticed shuichi running towards the library with the pianist not too far behind. immediately, she ran as well.

“SHUI-ugh!” she couldn’t finish his name because she got the wind knocked out of her when she fell to the library’s floor. she heard the familiar announcement chime go off, what? it was light outside, why is there...—

“a body has been discovered!”

huh? she lifted her head up from the ground and looked in front of her—

what the fuck

what the FUCK?!

she scrambled towards the unconscious boy on the ground, shaking him, “w-w-wake up...! stop it! w-get up!” her vision got blurrier as she made a fruitless attempt to get rantaro moving. she raised her hand, preparing to slap his face to ‘wake him up,’ but she couldn’t when she felt kirumi’s gloved hand on her wrist. “....n-no..........” she whispered in a shaky voice, tears running down her face. screams of those who were just now entering the room filled her ears as she looked at the- at the dead body in front of her. scrambling again to get far away from it, up and off the floor, she caught sight of shuichi.

“s-shuichi, you.... y-you said- you said nobody would d-d-die! you lied to me!” she yelled, the expression on her face visible to him without her mask. the poor girl had done nothing but break this man’s heart today, and she wasn’t even aware of it. surely her panicked words wouldn’t make things easier for him. “you lied, shuichi! you lied! YOU LIED TO ME!” she sobbed, eventually being dragged out of the room by... by someone. she didn’t notice who, nor did she care. her mind only focused on one thing: it should’ve been you.

———

ok first of all damn that escalated quickly and also

i’m assuming shuichi would realize he had the little sensor thing and run back to kaede, bc otherwise kaede wouldn’t have known when to roll the shot-put ball? i think ajaksjdnsjfjd i had to refresh myself a little bit on what happened here

so same to you, if you want me to rewrite it just let me know! also i just wanted to ask- if we get to the class trial part, do you want to write it out or skip it? personally, i’d rather skip it bc i definitely don’t remember the details of the trials and those things were like 2 hours long dnsnsnfjsjf but i’m okay either way i think! sorry for accidentally making it stressful by setting it during the killing game when it’s been months since i’ve played it </3

Shuichi felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over his already unsteady body as he saw Fumiko; earlier, he hadn't got a hard glance at her, but as he finally saw her active—er, well- if you can call crawling to a dead body... active.

Maybe if she hadn't looked so devastated, he would've been overjoyed that she had been looking at him something he wasn't sure she wanted to do. A small part of him had expected her to run to him and ask for comfort, but he was quickly proven wrong as he flinched back from her gaze. Almost immediately, he brought his hand up to feel for his hat—only to be disappointed again as it hadn't been there.

He wasn't sure how long he could maintain eye contact with her before crumbling onto the floor from the crushing guilt. He had messed up so bad, to think she would even want to hold a conversation with him was probably an overestimate.

Shuichi's wide and regretful eyes only seemed to widen more as Fumiko started yelling at him. He parted his lips to speak, trying to find the words pathetic excuses that would help them at least mend their relationship, even if it was just a little.

—but instead, he thinned his lips, there wasn't anything he could say to make this better, was there? The only thing he could do was... investigate. As his ultimate title pushes him to.

Rantaro... was dead, right? He looked at the monitor that stopped playing that terrible music, 'The monitor stopped too...'

He furrowed his brow, so... did that mean, he was the mastermind? If he died, and the monitors stopped then, that meant... everything was over, right? The killing game was... over?

But then he recalled Fumiko's angry outburst, and shortly found himself in another conflict of feelings. Was Rantaro dying, worth it? To get out of the killing game, by killing someone; wasn't that... wasn't it wrong?

Shuichi watched in silent distress as Gonta pulled her out of the room with ease, his glasses accessorized eyes gleaming with worry. "Gonta wants Fumiko to calm down...! U- uh, Gonta don't know what to do, other than to say— it's- it's going to be okay! Shuichi is detective! He'll find out what's going on, for sure! Gonta swears!" With his eyes intense with belief and assurance, he gazed into Fumiko's one eye, seemingly unfazed by her scar.

Gonta had always been judged by how he looked, and so, her scar was nothing to him. It was a part of her, and it had already been a norm the moment Gonta glanced at her.

Before Gonta could continue reassuring Fumiko that everything was going to be okay soon, the man of the hour soon interrupted their conversation, peeking a nervous eye through the crack of the door, he slowly pushed it all the way out.

"C- can I talk to her?" He didn't seem to notice the pair of robotic eyes burning holes into his back as Shuichi had been too busy reciting his apology and explanation in his mind. She seemed upset(damn wow we really do have a detective here), so, maybe if he shared with her the details of what he had collected, she'd be more assured? Or maybe it'd at least make some sense.

Well, he'd worry about that later, right now he had been crossing his fingers as the likeliness of her denying his offer to talk was high.

[itsuki-minamy]

“K - SIX IDOLS”

CHAPTER 1: “SPRINT DREAM” (Complete)

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen."

"Good Morning!"

A pure voice echoes through the Kendo hall of "Promotion Scepter 4".

Many remains of that remain, in the office that was created with the remodeling of the old Army facilities. The Kendo hall is one of them, and the idols belonging to "Scepter 4" sometimes take lessons there and other times hold their swords in their hands.

And at the beginning of the week, there was always an instruction from the president, the "Idol Blue King", Reisi Munakata.

Munakata makes a soft voice in front of the idols lined up in a "rest" position.

"By the way, this week is the biggest event of the year for my production, "Sprint". The "Dream Live Tour" will take place. I hope to have the encouragement of each member so that no preparation or lesson is neglected."

"Yes!"

The responses of the idols are not disturbed. More than an entertainment bureau, the closer rigor to the police or the military was due to the nature of representative Reisi Munakata, and it was also a feature of "Promotion Scepter 4".

The group's glasses glowed brightly, staring at an idol.

"But recently, I have received some concerns, Andy Domyoji-kun. Go ahead."

"Yes!"

Domyoji, who was called by name, screamed to death. From his normally cheerful face, blood is drawn in the blink of an eye.

Domyoji took a heavy step and stepped out in front of the superior.

There is no anger in Munakata's expression. A slight smile floats on the sleek face like a statue. That doesn't mean that Domyoji and the other idols were relieved that they didn't understand the superior.

It was a man named Reisi Munakata, who sentenced to death with a smile.

"Domyoji-kun. The other day, there was a report that you were 5 minutes and 27 seconds late for the entire "Gyumetai" lesson. Is this true?"

"Actually, that's…"

"What is an idol in "Promotion Scepter 4"?"

"Ah, idols aim to be the ideal humans who should become the norm for people..."

"Do you have your own excuse for being late, knowing that?"

"No, I'm sorry..."

Domyoji is drooling. It was like a prosecution and a defendant, but in this case it was a military trial rather than an ordinary court. The sentence is already decided from the beginning, and this exchange is only a ritual.

Munakata acts like he's convinced of something,

"Ok. Let's ask Domyoji-kun to do one of the highlights of the "Sprint Dream Live Tour", "Extreme solo part, Idol from above 6500~”."

"What?"

With a strange voice, Domyoji's expression was frozen in despair. Munakata smiles and touches his shoulder intimately.

"As you know, "Extreme Solo Part" is one of the most popular projects on "Countdown Dissolution, Shoumutai". This time it's a solo part while skydiving from an altitude of 2,000 meters, so his brave figure will be a great copy on the big screen."

"President, please! That's! Just forgive me!"

"What do you say? This is your chance to get more fans. And if you're at the mercy of your life, you won't be late for lessons."

Munakata treats Domyoji, who clings to his eyes, with a smiling smile. The idols are silently staring at the horrible sight.

"Kindness is called haste. Let's start the special training today. Akiyama-kun, Benzai-kun, please take him to the office to complete the procedure."

"Yes!"

The same members of the "Shoumutai", Himori Akiyama and Yujiro Benzai, grabbed Domyoji crying from both sides. Domyoji screams while ruffling his hair.

"Not! I don't like the "Extreme solo part"! Akiyama, Benzai, I am a posterity, so don't miss out!"

"Hold on, Domyoji."

"Oh. Get angry and train. Hopefully you won't die."

Domyoji was dragged out of the Kendo room.

When the door closed, Munakata saw the idols lined up. All the idols looked at Munakata with a better attitude than before.

Munakata says, looking at him with satisfaction.

"Don't be late either. As members of society and as idols who should be a human norm, please respect that."

"Yes!"

The voice of the idols who responded contained a desperate sound.

++++++++++

"Sorry, President! I can't make it on time!"

The driver's scream also contains a desperate sound.

As he listened to him in the backseat, Munakata gracefully reassembled his legs, put his hand to his jaw, and muttered, "Hmm."

"Sprint Dream Live Tour", first day, 4:52 pm.

Munakata's transport vehicle got caught in heavy traffic filling the road and got stuck at all.

Until the day before, Munakata was planning a large-scale live concert in London as part of the overseas expansion of "Promotion Scepter 4". The big picture and charisma of Reisi Munakata, the "Idol King", managed to shake up the stubborn management of the French entertainment world. A few hours ago he won a partnership and a contract in the EU and returned triumphantly to Narita airport.

From the transport vehicle, Munakata continued to instruct the "Sprint Dream Live Tour". Back home. Although he has a difficult schedule of immediate events, he does not have fatigue or mistakes. There was a figure like: the perfect idol king.

It was in the time after Sakura's exchange that the news of the accident and jamming arrived.

Fortunately, no one died, but traffic was completely paralyzed. A line of cars continues towards the horizon, and it takes 30 minutes to finally reach 100 meters. Literally, he was forced into a state of immobility.

If nothing is done, the big event that is approaching a few hours later, will expose the mistake that the "Idol King" will be late.

In such a critical situation, however, there was no impatience in Reisi Munakata's expression.

"Ok."

Munakata says cheerfully to the driver reflected in the rearview mirror.

"I understand the situation. Please, I'll get off at the next intersection."

"But it will take 30 minutes to get there and, according to traffic information, the situation is similar on the lower road."

"It doesn't matter. In the meantime, let's get ready."

Munakata took his PDA out of his pocket and made a call. Munakata's trusted deputy director responded with two calls. It's Awashima Seri.

"Where is he now, President?"

"Currently, we are targeting a four-way interchange. It will take about 30 minutes to get there. I am planning to get out of here."

"That is…"

Awashima groaned. Even if he can get off the four road interchange, it will take more than an hour from there to the location, regardless of the mode of transportation. Since the show started at 6:30 pm, arrival on time is desperate.

After a few seconds of silence, Awashima's voice regained its composure.

"I would like to review the song list. The current program is to start with the president's number at the same time the performance begins, but we will correct this to start from "Shoumutai" and put the president's turn as far back as possible."

"Rejected."

Munakata categorically blocked her.

“Changing the song list will cut the rhythm of the fans. As idols, we shouldn't give fans any kind of anxiety."

"However! If this continues…!"

"I will be on time."

"......"

Awashima lost the words.

He was not surprised by Munakata's recklessness. She knows more than anyone what kind of person Munakata is and what kind of idol he is. He's never the type to talk about the impossible and break the plan.

If Reisi Munakata says that he can do it, he certainly can do it even if all other humans can't.

The next time Awashima opened her mouth, there was a determined intention.

"So, President. Please give us instructions."

A satisfied smile reached Munakata's mouth.

And 30 minutes later.

As soon as all contacts were completed, the transport vehicle passed the toll booth.

The lower street was still full of cars. Since Munakata hated traffic, he analyzed the situation. Progress is not much different from high speed.

However, that is no longer relevant to Munakata.

Because this is the end of the transport vehicle.

When he got out of the vehicle, the driver's seat window was opened. The driver looks from there and says...

"President, I wish you good luck."

Munakata smiled calmly at the young driver.

"Yes. Please drive carefully and come back."

That said, the next moment, Munakata was on the run.

With a forward leaning sprint style, Munakata is steadily increasing in speed. He reached a row of cars that couldn't move like a tombstone, and finally couldn't see his back.

Even after that, the conductor continued to pour his longing eyes beyond the horizon where Munakata disappeared. Holding on his chest the driver's cap that he took off as a sign of respect.

++++++++++

That day, Kazumasa Hatanaka (19) was driving his favorite Hara Chari.

He is in an unprecedented mood because he was able to finish his work early. The construction company he works for has been working hard these days, but yesterday they calmed down and was able to pay him. Hatanaka, who worked especially hard, was allowed to return home as the president had a special plan that day.

Akemi Hatanaka (18), a heavy wife, waits at home. Just thinking about it will loosen the origin of Hatanaka. When he wondered if he could serve his beloved wife and a child he had yet to see, his tired body mysteriously strengthened.

(Oh, that's right. Should I contact her to get back to Akemi soon?)

Suddenly, Hatanaka took out his mobile phone while driving the Hara Chari. He tries to send a message to his wife using one hand to handle and one hand to write.

Was when…

"You…"

"Oh?"

Hatanaka was about to fall due to the noise surrounding his ears. The body, which was about to slalom, was held by an outstretched hand and returned to its original trajectory.

While running to Hatanaka's side, the bespectacled man yells in a soft voice.

"It is a violation of the Road Traffic Law to use a mobile phone while driving."

"Uh, oh, sorry."

“In addition, it has already exceeded the legal speed of motorized bicycles. Wear your helmet correctly. It is meant to protect your life."

"Ah, hey, uh, yeah, sorry."

Hatanaka, who was once feared for being a "Chitaka mad dog", simply admitted his guilt not because he understood the accuracy of the words of the man with the glasses. This is because he was upset and scared by Hara Chari's run and the appearance of a man running side by side on only his own feet.

The man with the glasses smiled at Hatanaka's stunned face.

"Okay. If you follow the law and try to drive safely, you won't make driving mistakes like you do now."

(No, no, I'm going to be mad now because you called me. Do you want them to tell you that driving safely is something like running at that speed?)

The word never left Hatanaka's mouth at last. The man with the glasses raised his hand slightly and said, "Excuse me, bye." and then sped up and disappeared from Hatanaka's sight.

Hatanaka was stunned as he slowed the Hara Chari to 30 km / h.

(Is that so? I wonder if the god of the road advised me...)

There is a yellow light ahead. It stopped at the stop line correctly where it would normally cut, and the director took control.

(From now on, I will drive safely.)

++++++++++

That day, Nami Sakai (6) looked at the giant tree with tears in her eyes.

A blue balloon is stuck in a tree branch. It was in the hands of Nami just a few minutes ago, and in the hands of her beloved grandmother ten minutes ago.

Nami felt like a treasure when she received the blue balloon from her grandmother's wrinkled hand. She would take it home, about 10 minutes on foot, and she rushed to show it to her mother, but she accidentally fell off.

The balloon, which was detached from Nami's hand, floated in the sky and was blown away by the wind. She got trapped in a giant tree.

The giant tree has a height of about 10 meters. The blue balloon got caught near the top. Even if she asked the adults who passed by to take it, they just laughed and shook their heads.

Can't she get it again?

Every time she thought about it, she was filled with regret, sadness and guilt, and it turned into tears and appeared in Nami's eyes.

When the tears were about to break, Nami suddenly noticed something approaching from a distant road.

(Eh?)

In her childhood thoughts, Nami makes such a judgment.

In fact, in the distance it was like a colored wind. If she thinks it were there, it is way ahead. Nami stared at the blue breeze, which flowed without shaking her side, for a while, forgetting her sadness.

Suddenly…

With that wind, the eyes met.

The moment she thought that, he was already in front of her. When he stopped, the wind was not the wind, but a grown man with glasses. The skin is white like a woman and the facial features are beautifully groomed.

For some embarrassed reason, Nami looked down at her toes. The voice of a kind man spills over her.

"Do you have any problem?"

Nami looks at the man.

When she looked into the eyes behind the glasses, she felt like she was being sucked into the deep sky.

Nami opens her mouth to be fascinated.

"I cannot do it."

The man looks at the balloon at the point. Nami looked away and turned down. She was sure this person couldn't do it, and like everyone else, he would laugh and say "Give up", she felt such disappointment in her small chest.

But the man said in a nonsensical tone.

"Please wait a bit."

The man was already kicking the ground when she turned her face away.

He clings to the trunk of the huge tree and climbs up when he's ready. He deftly found the dents and bumps that could be called a steps, and in the blink of an eye he reached the top and took the blue balloon in his hand.

Nami was looking at the man who came down the same way, her mouth hanging open.

"Here it is."

Although he offered her the balloon, she was unable to receive it for a time. Then, finally picking it up, she asked with all her courage.

"Oni-chan... what?"

If you translate those boring words into something that makes more sense, it would mean something like "That move was out of the ordinary, who are you?"

The man accurately grasped the meaning of the question, smiled a little,

"I am an idol."

He responded like this.

Nami didn't really understand what an "idol" was. She blinks and look at the man. With a smile on his face, the man reached into his pocket and handed Nami a card.

"If you grow a little, come see us live."

The words "Promotion Scepter 4, President Reisi Munakata" were written there.

Of course, Nami can't read the card. She doesn’t even know about the existence of a business card. However, she thought the blue-tinted card was beautiful. Blue was Nami's favorite color.

Nami finally remembered what she should say to the man who gave her something nice and got back what she wanted back.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome. Well, I'm going."

The man bowed, turned blue again, and ran down the road.

Nami won't forget him forever.

++++++++++

An hour after the start of "Sprint Dream Live", the heat in the Tsubakimon Dome was visibly increasing. At the same time as the entrance began, a group of fans flowed into the audience seats like a flood, and they began to furnish the place with posters, posters and items with each of the recommended men drawn. At the same time, fans are excited about the upcoming festival and are looking at the stage with shining eyes.

To meet that expectation, a scene similar to a battlefield was unfolding in the backyard of the stage.

"The president has arrived at Shikaido Station! We will move on to Sequence B!"

"The target has been set at point B! We will wait until the president picks it up!"

In the temporary monitor room with the sign "Headquarters for the execution of the president's return plan", a part of the backyard, reports were constantly being raised.

The purpose of this headquarters is to fully support the return of Munakata. The staff involved are elite to make the "return plan" successful, from organizing and contacting various locations, managing the schedule, passing on traffic information and understanding Munakata's current position.

In one of the compounds in the panel, his current position is always displayed by the Munakata PDA tracking system. Awashima asks the staff while looking at them with a tight gaze.

"What is the progress of the plan?"

"It is 2 minutes and 15 seconds late, but it is within expectations. Currently, the Sequence C execution unit is moving. We will get to Point C on time."

"So…"

Awashima occupies a small area and looks at the monitor.

The plan is going well. At this rate, he can be in time for the opening ceremony, even if it's at the last minute. Unless something unexpected happens.

"Deputy Director Awashima."

Awashima looks around in a loose voice, rolling her shoulders.

Fushimi Saruhiko was as if he was leaning against the monitor room door.

He is the star idol of "Promotion Scepter 4", which is the center of the popular "Shoumutai" unit. Many fans were fascinated by the lonely atmosphere, and about 30% of the customers who packed the dome today are looking for him.

Awashima opens her mouth as she calmly looks at Fushimi.

"Fushimi. You should be in the final stages of doing a "Dream Corps."

"If the president is late, there won't be any 'Shoumutai', right?"

Awashima's beautiful eyebrows drew a dangerous angle.

“The plan is on the right track. You do not have to worry about that."

Fushimi laughs. It was an annoying laugh.

"Isn't there a countermeasure in case we run out of the star? Do you really think he can pull it off?"

"What do you mean?"

Fushimi casually pulled his hand out of his pocket and tossed what he was holding to Awashima. Awashima takes it deftly.

It is a recording medium in the form of a micro card.

"If you don't, I will. I made a new list of songs. If the president is late, I will."

Awashima's expression becomes more and more pronounced in a throwing tone. She squeezes the recording medium and she says quietly.

"Do you think I will receive this?"

"If you don't need it, you can throw it away. I can't bear to expose ourselves to that person's mistakes."

Awashima quickly waved her arm and threw the recording medium back.

"President…"

Fushimi deftly accepts that which came back like a bullet. Awashima, looking at the stagnant eyes behind the glasses as if shooting.

"I will not make any mistakes."

"Sorry."

Fushimi shrugged slightly and went back to his place. Looking back at Awashima over his neck.

"Well, tell me if you need it."

With that alone, Fushimi left the monitor room.

Awashima stared at the monitor room door for a while, staring into his eyes. It's like doing it is a protest against Fushimi.

It's not that she doesn’t understand what Fushimi is saying.

Believing is different from believing blindly. Fushimi's view that he assumes the worst and take countermeasures is entirely correct.

However, Awashima did not receive that song list. She refused to even see it and turned around.

She felt that receiving it would be a distrust of Munakata, who had confirmed that he would be on time.

"The president has reached point C! Collection complete!"

"We have started to move! The plan is going well!"

Awashima muttered unknowingly, listening to the reports that came in one after another.

"President, be careful."

Those words were like a prayer.

++++++++++

That day, Yuri Yamazaki (26) was vaguely in front of Shikaido station.

She works in a product store managed directly by "Promotion Scepter 4". It was supposed to be closed today due to the shift, but she got an urgent call from her boss about 5 minutes ago. She had no particular plan, and she was quick to get to this point because she was drawn to a pretty good vacation assignment.

Anyway, Yuri thinks.

It was a strange call. Being with the bicycle in front of the station instead of the store.

Apparently, they told her to lend the bike to someone, but they did not tell him who to lend it to and only told her the time of the meeting. It would be profitable to get a vacation allowance on this alone, but Yuri checks her cell phone while deeply thinking that she would complain if she was forced to do something else.

Seeing the displayed time, she sighed.

The "Sprint Dream Live Tour" will begin soon. Like most idol shop clerks, she is a fan of “Promotion Scepter 4.” She decided to work at an idol shop because she loved idols.

However, just because she is an employee doesn't mean there are benefits. Controls in that area are tight, and the clerk who secretly secured her own live ticket was sometimes ill. She must take the ticket herself, and if the lottery is lost, the schedule may disappear from the vacation she got, just like the current situation.

Two minutes have passed since the specified time.

"I wonder... if he's late, can I contact him?"

She doesn’t know, the murmur leaks out. After 5 minutes, she will contact the store manager. Thinking of that, she suddenly looked up.

And she doubts her eyes.

Someone was running from the street in front of the station, at tremendous speed. He easily overtook the next bike and came closer. Yuri instinctively tried to back away.

However, when she saw the man's face, she doubted her sanity.

"Ah, President?"

What she unwittingly said was the nickname of Reisi Munakata, the representative of "Promotion Scepter 4" and "Idol King". Naturally, it spread from the case where the idols under his command called him "President."

Faced with the stiff lily, Munakata strode over to a halt. He exhales a little and smiles at Yuri.

"Excuse me, are you a store clerk?"

"Eh, yes!"

Her voice shook. Feel the blood of her entire body concentrate on her face. The reason is that Yuri Yamazaki's favorite idol is Reisi Munakata.

Half in panic, she yells out the questions that come to mind.

"But why are you here?! What happened to the 'Sprint Dream Live Tour'?"

"I'm having a little problem and I've taken a different route than normal. Don't worry, I'll be in time for the opening."

She felt as if the blood that had risen through her head was coming down this time.

In other words, it is an emergency. Yuri was a fan and she knew how confusing it would be to be late for the opening ceremony. Perplexity, pain, disappointment. Just imagining being there, the pain felt like its own.

Yuri rushes up and says.

"Is there anything I can do?!"

“Lend me the bicycle. It's enough."

Yuri blushed again. If she thinks about it again, it was probably all part of the plan coming here. It is not a feat for the Munakata representative to give instructions to the directly administered office.

"Please..."

"Thank you."

Munakata straddled the bike without showing any pretense of noticing Yuri's tension. Somehow, it was an unattainable sight. The King of Idols, who can only be seen on TV or on stage, sits astride her bike.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going."

"Oh, yeah!"

Yuri instinctively stopped Munakata who was trying to get out.

Munakata looks at Yuri with his foot on the pedal. She held her breath with a mysterious look.

("Please sign.")

She had to desperately suppress that desire that came to her mind. Hasn’t she just found out it's an emergency? There is no second chance. And yet, unable to say such a silly request, that embarrassment forced Yuri's awkward smile and false words.

"Please do your best. I support you!"

Munakata, however, was looking at Yuri's face with calm eyes that looked through all her smile and strength. Munakata laughed lightly at Yuri, who suddenly became flustered and reached into her pocket.

"What should I write?"

"Eh?"

"I have a pen, but I don't really have colored paper. It's not in good taste with a notepad."

Yuri blinked many times. The feeling of regret, even the time she was wandering and wondering why him could see through her desires made her stiff.

Yuri handed him the PDA she was holding in her outstretched hand to Munakata. With her voice asking "Is it okay here?", she was fascinated by the magically moving pen. She picked up the PDA again, looking at the Munakata signature written there, and it was like a soliloquy.

"Why...?"

"I am an idol."

Munakata's response, as well as their relationship, was open and frozen.

"Idols live up to the expectations of their fans. My job is to capture your expectations."

"......"

"Good luck then. Thank you for your continued support."

With a courteous greeting, Munakata pedaled off the road in no time.

Yuri holds her PDA to her chest while watching him back. She murmured in an emotional voice, promising to turn it into a relic, and she was about to buy a new one.

"President, I will follow you for the rest of my life!"

++++++++++

That day, Yojiro Sato (51) was driving his own high-speed boat and racing in Tokyo Bay.

His main business was fisherman, but he also works as a fishing boat captain as a side job. In any case, the main job is to chase the school of fish, current high-speed boats are used for that purpose.

But today's work was different than usual.

The client was a fishing cooperative and the content of the request was mysterious: "Anyway, I want you to go to Chiba city using a high speed boat." He goes through it several times, but it seems the reason he couldn't get the point was because the fishing cooperative was asked to go further.

Sato accepted it simply because the reward was great. Otherwise, it would not accept suspicious requests.

However, when he passed by the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, he began to regret it.

He doesn't think it's a dangerous story.

It goes without saying that Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world and Tokyo Bay is a large adjacent port. Many are trying to carry out illegal transactions by sea. Unfortunately, he has heard stories of people involved in such problems at the level of rumors.

He's been through the fishing cooperative, so he doesn't think it's something to worry about.

Even so, a bit of anxiety washed over Sato's mind.

At that moment the radio sounded. When he reached out his hand and responded by reflex, he heard an unfamiliar voice on the back of the radio.

"Hello. Is this Mr. Yojiro Sato?"

It was a feminine and intelligent voice. Sato responds while confused.

"Oh, yeah. That's right."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Seri Awashima. I was the one who made the request."

"Oh, I see."

The confusion disappeared, but Sato pressed his face into place. Listen to Awashima's words, eager to decline the request in the event of an emergency.

"First of all, I apologize for reporting uncertain content to you in the application. I was in a hurry, so I thought about explaining after taking the first step."

"Okay, but what kind of job is this after all? It doesn't appear to be a fishing request."

"Yes. I want you to pick up a certain person."

When suspicion and vigilance increase, he raises his eyebrow. Sato asked in a low voice.

"Who is that? He is not a criminal, right?"

"What, criminal?"

From the other side of the meeting, he could feel the sign that Awashima was completely disappointed. The voice that echoed next seemed to lack a bit of calm, unlike before.

"Incorrect! The president is not involved in such things!"

"Oh, yeah."

At the angry response, Awashima coughed a little.

"No, sorry. It may be inevitable that it looks like this. I would like you to pick up Reisi Munakata, the representative idol of "Promotion Scepter 4"."

While driving, Sato is confused.

"Why do idols want to get on our ship?"

“As I said before, it is an urgent matter. He didn't seem to be in time for a regular water taxi, so I contacted you."

"Hmm... Well, it's okay."

Sato is not familiar with idols. He is simply not interested. From time to time he sees them on television, but to him they all have similar faces and clothes, so he cannot tell them apart.

That sect image is probably one of those idols. No wonder that is used instead of a taxi, but, work is work.

"So where should I pick him up?"

"Please wait a moment. I'll link the information on the president's location to that PDA."

"Eh?"

A second after the stupid voice leaked out, a spot of light lit up on the GPS map attached to the ship. Sato opens his mouth and looks at it moving at high speed on the map.

“Did you get the location? The point that lights up in blue is the current position of the president."

"Yes, I got it."

"Good. Get closer to the point of light. It also shows the next meeting points."

The GPS map reacts again and projects an orange spot of light. It shows a jetty near the beach park, that made Sato panic even more.

"Wait a minute! How did you do that? This is my PDA, right? Why can you operate it on that side?"

"There is no time to lose! I took emergency measures! Rest assured that we have formal permission to use the system!"

"What is that system?"

To Sato's confusion, Awashima doesn't reply. "More than that!" When he started yelling, the blue point of light on the map continued to flash.

“He is approaching the meeting point. Thanks for your cooperation. Awashima, over and out."

And the radio was unilaterally cut off, leaving only Sato who was confused.

The ship curves and begins to move parallel to the shore. Sato alternately compared the map and the coast. If this location is correct, Munakata will soon be in sight.

"Ah."

With that said, he opened his mouth. Someone was there. That's probably definitely Munakata.

From a distance, he can only tell that he is a man. It would have been indistinguishable on its own, but the appearance of a human who could ride a bicycle at a speed comparable to that of a high-speed boat fits this unusual situation perfectly.

"What should I do?"

Sato is a man of the sea. He is confident that he can handle most things that happen at sea. However, he had never imagined such a situation. Sato looked towards the beach while maintaining his speed.

At that moment, Munakata pointed forward.

Sato looks ahead so he can catch it. A jetty leading off the shore blocked the ship's path as it gently curved.

Reflecting a sailor, Sato curves the speedboat along the jetty.

Munakata's bike has picked up speed.

"Hey, it can't be!"

Unknowingly, Sato was screaming. Because he understood the man's thoughts. Because he understood the meaning of "meeting point" that Awashima said on the radio.

The bicycle races down the jetty at a speed that exceeds that of high-speed boats. Sato made the boat's engine run at full speed. It was not because he understood their speculations, but because he thought that, as a man of the sea, he would not be able to stand upright if he was driving a boat and losing to a bicycle.

The bicycle and the speed boat run next to each other for a very short distance.

For the first time, Sato saw Munakata's face.

Munakata was smiling with a clean face in front of him. It was not the expression of a human reaching such high speed on a bicycle. He was horrified. Perhaps this is a monster that seemed to drag him to the bottom of the sea. Even such an imagination took over his head.

Munakata's bicycle leaned over. At the end of the jetty, Sato's high-speed boat drew closer and Munakata jumped with the bicycle with only the spring from his body.

Sato opened his eyes and looked at the figure of Munakata leaping against the sun.

After a short break, Munakata's bicycle landed on the back of the high-speed boat, made a sharp turn, and came to a stop.

"Fu..."

With a sigh, Munakata wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

"......"

Sato was just looking at Munakata, who was behaving like a human, with his mouth open.

When he got out and parked at the bicycle rack, Munakata looked at Sato and said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you. Sato Yojiro-san. My name is Reisi Munakata. Thank you for your transportation to the planned location."

Swallowing hard, Sato asks suspiciously.

"You are a human?"

After opening his eyes somewhat surprisingly, he replied with a bitter smile.

"I'm just an idol."

++++++++++

At the Suzugaya sorting yard, Domyoji Andy (19) turned his pale face down and swallowed nausea.

He, who is scheduled to appear on "Sprint Dream Live Tour", is at that location because the Suzugaya courtyard is a helicopter landing site owned by "Scepter 4."

The event titled "Extreme Solo Part, Idol from Above 6500~", is Domyoji's assigned role this time. The event of strumming a guitar solo while skydiving from 2000 meters above the sky is sure to be a great thrill if it succeeds, but it can only be said that it is insane.

For today, Domyoji was repeating a special training every day. In total, it would have fallen enough to reach the surface from the stratosphere. Domyoji said that if he ran for Guinness, he would not pass, and gave a tired smile.

At that moment the door to the waiting room was opened and the staff entered.

"Domyoji-san, please prepare for take-off!"

"Eh?"

His eyes are round. Domyoji looks at the watch as it is. There is still some time left before the live begins. The turn of "Shoumutai", including Domyoji, was supposed to be in the second half of the opening ceremony.

"Is it still early? Was there an accident?"

Anyway, when he got up and left the room with the staff, Domyoji was so quiet. He doesn’t know what kind of problems are waiting in the live presentation. Not only staff but also idols need to take this into account and respond flexibly.

"There is no change to Domyoji-san's appearance time! We are going to pick up the president from now on!"

Domyoji opened his mouth. The staff didn't look back and pushed the door in front of them while walking quickly.

At the landing site, the helicopter was already preparing for takeoff. The high-speed rotating main rotor disperses a roar like a gunshot. Defeating the sound, Domyoji yelled at the back of the staff.

"What happened to the president? That person is surely the interpreter for the opening ceremony!"

“Currently, the president is crossing Tokyo Bay! We'll pick him up at sea and head straight to the Tsubakimon Dome!"

Domyoji is confused. He is crossing Tokyo Bay? He has no idea what the hell is going on. What he knows is that he is about to fly high again.

After sitting on the seat and fixing his body with a harness, Domyoji finally noticed.

"Hey! Don't I need it if I pick up the president?!"

"It's the president's judgment that it's a waste of time to go back every time! After leaving the president in the dome, Domyoji-san will wait in the sky until the time of the "Extreme solo part, Idol from above 6500~”!"

That was brilliant. Wait a minute, he try to tell if he would be flying all the time, but then his body was fixed. Jumping out the rear hatch, the staff gave Domyoji a big thumb up.

"Thank you good luck!"

The hatch closes as he continues. The sound of the rotor increases the pitch. Domyoji's stunned face disappeared into the darkness of the plane.

++++++++++

"The President has arrived at meeting point E! The pickup helicopter that was already waiting has started to approach!"

"Let go of the rope, the helicopter must be very careful!"

"Got it! Let go of the rope! Try to drive safely!"

Brilliant laughter erupted in the monitor room as the pilot made a joke. Private language during the operation should be strictly prohibited, but Awashima felt a slight smile on her lips. This would indicate their high morale. She doesn’t have to worry.

"President, I secured a rope! Start climbing."

"Domyoji, can't you point the CCD camera at the president?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll try."

Domyoji hastily responded to Awashima's voice. After a while, a rough image appears on one of the monitors.

Munakata was about to board the helicopter. Standing in the open hatch, he turns and pays him homage. A high speed boat floating ahead, probably Yojiro Sato, a man who appeared to be the captain took off his hat and waved it.

The expression of the image has been softened.

"President. Thank you for being safe."

On the CCD camera, he sees Munakata smiling.

“Thank you for your hard work, Awashima-kun. Did you worry?"

Awashima shakes her head slowly.

"I wasn't worried."

It was a lie. During these 30 minutes, Awashima has looked at the clock no less than 50 times. It's not because she doesn’t trust Munakata. It is probably due to the weakness of Awashima's heart.

Munakata's deep eyes can even see Awashima's inner heart. Still, she looked directly at her boss and reported on the situation.

"We are on time. If you move at full speed from the current location of the president, it will be enough to reach the inauguration. The president's suit has been brought to the room of the occupant of the helicopter."

"Okay. Let's finish all the preparations on the fly. Has the final landing point I submitted changed?"

"No, there are no changes. The helipad is already in control."

At that moment, one of the monitors lit up red and emitted a warning sound.

"What?"

"I will confirm it!"

Staff operate the console quickly. Awashima holds her breath and stares at the movement.

Finally, the staff raised a strained voice.

“There was a fire at the Tsubakimon Dome Hotel! Looks like an evacuation notice has been issued at the hotel!"

"No!"

“No recommendations have been issued for this place! Deputy Chief, what do we do?"

Impatience melts in her hand. Various thoughts come to mind instantly. How big is the fire? How to accept evacuees? Should the concert be canceled, even if no recommendations have been made? The enthusiasm of the people involved and the fans for this live show is extraordinary. But if something happens to the fans, it is irreparable.

An intelligent voice broke those thoughts.

"Awashima-kun. Confirm the evacuation of the hotel guests."

Raise her face. Beyond the CCD camera, Munakata's rough expression was as calm as if he were sitting at his usual office desk.

Awashima looks at the staff. The personnel turned to the front and quickly returned to operating the console.

Finally, he told the staff in a shocked voice.

"We share the confirmation of the status of the place, but the evacuation of the three guests has not been completed! It seems that we are reconfirming the people who have been in the air and have been evacuated!"

"Three people. That means they are…"

The CCD camera points in the other direction. Seeing that, Awashima took a breath.

Near the window on the smokeless floor. A man and a woman are crouched in a narrow space. The woman appeared to be holding a child.

"The number of people matches. Apparently, the evacuation was delayed."

Awashima looks at the image from the CCD camera. Imagine a tragic future for a family left behind at the scene of the fire and blood gushes from their faces.

And Munakata said of course.

"I am heading to the rescue."

Awashima knew that Munakata would say so. Knowing that, she still screams...

"President! Don't do it!"

Domyoji's camera captures Munakata's face. Munakata wasn't looking there. He murmured, looking serious at the scene of the fire, perhaps putting together another thought.

"Awashima-kun. About us?"

"Ah..."

The answer to that was fixed. Awashima squeezed her hand so tightly that her nails dug into her palm.

"We are... idols...!"

"What kind of person is an idol in "Promotion Scepter 4"?"

"Our goal is to be the ideal human who should be a role model for people."

Munakata looked at Awashima with a teacher's gaze, watching over the poor students who gave the correct answer.

"So that's it."

"Huh!"

Munakata goes to the scene of the fire. Although he is an idol, he is only a human. There is no guarantee that he will be able to return safely, so the worst consequences may await him in the future.

And, while looking at the worst, taking steps to prevent it from happening is also a condition of being an ideal human.

Awashima said that decisively when she took a little breath, exhaled and was ready to do it.

“We will contact the various parties involved in the handling of this incident and request assistance in rescue activities. I pray for your safety, President."

Behind the camera, Munakata nodded slightly.

Fushimi Saruhiko clicked his tongue as he leaned his back against the wall.

If Munakata's decision was stupid, Awashima, who followed him, could only be seen as a fool. He are an ideal person and he are trying to ruin his job by getting caught up in an additional idea. Fushimi's frank opinion is that, it is the role of rescuers to help the victims, and that is why they have to get rid of that work.

But he will never reveal it. At least not yet.

It only deals with possible situations.

Makes a call from his PDA. The other party came out with a ringing sound. Before they say something to him there, speak up.

“Akiyama, I got a job. Call the members of the 'Shoumutai'."

While saying that, Fushimi turned away from the wall and quickly headed to the end of the hall.

++++++++++

That day, Maki Arakawa (29) was visiting the Tsubakimon Dome hotel with her husband Takashi Arakawa (32) and their son Daichi Arakawa (0).

That day was Maki and Takashi's third wedding anniversary. The Dome Hotel was the place where Takashi proposed to Maki, and it was customary for the couple to visit this place on their anniversary every year.

With a new family member who is less than a year old, Maki and Takashi huddled together and wanted a night view from the living room. Takashi leans into the champagne and Maki leans into the non-alcoholic sparkling wine, looking at each other with a smile. In Maki's arms, Daichi, who had just fallen asleep, was giving a silent sigh.

A little compliment to a family that usually leads a modest life. Still, Maki was happy enough until the explosion happened.

The moment the explosion caught her, Maki was thrown to the ground with her husband.

When she woke up, her head was covered in black smoke.

"Daichi?"

The first thing that came to mind was the safety of her son. Looking down into her arms with a pale feeling, Daichi was still asleep. It was just a moment of relief, and he was soon filled with smoke-colored anxiety.

"What the hell?"

There was no way to answer that question. Her husband has wandered off a bit. He appears passed out, bleeding from his head. When she saw him, she was terrified that his heart would stop, but at least he seemed to be breathing.

Maki crawls closer to her husband, feeling pain glowing throughout her body. There seems to be a fire somewhere between the black smoke that comes in and the heat that burns the skin. That fact irritated Maki and made her reach out her hand.

"Get up."

The husband does not respond. Maki raised her face slightly and looked around her.

There is no one but them.

Is it after everyone has evacuated? Have they been left behind? Even if she gets lost, she does not know where to go and cannot leave her husband. It was decided that she cannot take him or her son on her own.

Fear and anxiety clench Maki's throat.

She takes the PDA out of her pocket and touches the emergency number. However, Maki herself wasn't sure how much it meant. The fear that surrounds her is getting stronger. Even if the rescue team is dispatched from now on, will they arrive in time?

"Yes, what happened?"

Communication has been opened. Maki squeezes the words out of her throat that moisten her body.

“Please help, please help. Please, please."

Unless this child is saved.

The moment he muttered a sentence-like word in a weak voice, a roar deafened Maki's ear.

A helicopter appeared outside the living room, behind a glass window.

A high-speed rotating rotor disperses a bombardment sound and the strong wind moves in the opposite direction. The helicopter tilted slightly and a sliding door pointed into the living room. Maki saw with wide eyes that a man with glasses was standing in the place that had already been opened.

It was not a rescue team. She knew it at a glance. After all, clothes are different. She had never heard of a rescue team dressed in such white, flowing clothing. It has beautiful bright colors and is like the clothes that idols wear.

The man with the glasses laughs smartly when he sees Maki. Then jump out the sliding door with a run.

"......"

Maki loses her words and watches over the elaborate suicide scene. From the PDA that fell to the ground, a Fire Service official said, "What happened? Please respond!" She heard a scream, but couldn't react. That was not the case.

The man crossed his arms, jumped high and rough, through the window, rolled across the living room floor, and landed brilliantly.

He balanced on his right foot, left knee, and right palm, and lifts his face to look at Maki.

Then he said with a smile.

"Hello."

"Ah, hello."

Barely responding, the man approached slowly, keeping low.

Behind him, there was a figure that jumped in the same way. He rolls on a glass covered floor, jumps and screams.

"Gak! The glass stabs me!"

“Domyoji-kun, continue with the preparations immediately. Be careful not to inhale smoke."

"Yes! President Munakata!"

When the man named Munakata approached Maki, he lifted his body, turned it forward, and began to wrap something.

"Oh, that...?"

“We will get away from this. Please hold your son firmly."

The soft voice in her ear soothed Maki's fear. She hugged her son tightly and, through her armpits, Munakata fixed a harness on Maki's body.

Munakata looks back and calls out to Domyoji, who is also wrapping the husband in a harness.

"Are you ready?"

"Well, somehow!"

Domyoji nods wrapping her weakly passed out husband around his body with a harness. When Munakata turned around, he turned his smart eyes towards Maki.

"Don't worry, I'll get you to safety immediately."

Somehow, however, she had an unpleasant sensation.

Maki looks out the window with her harness wrapped up. She sees the back of a helicopter that was going very far away. Maki asks, swallowing hard.

"Isn't that the one you ride?"

"Unfortunately, the emergency exit leading to the helipad is blocked by fire. Landing is difficult and jumping from here to the helicopter would not be possible with you in tow."

The question of what to do then did not need to be asked.

Munakata walks over to the broken window while tying Maki and Daichi to himself. The trampled piece of glass rings. A strong wind from the high sky blew and caressed Maki's cheeks forcefully.

The Tsubakimon Dome can be seen below. She wonders if he was doing some kind of live performance, and she could see the crowded seats even from such a high place.

Munakata looks at her calmly and has a soft voice.

"And we have less than five minutes to get started. This is the only way to get there on time."

She is not sure what you are talking about, but she understands what "this method" means. Maki looks towards Munakata with tears in her eyes.

"I'll ask you just in case, you've done it before, right?"

Munakata responds with a smile on his face.

"I read the manual."

Maki tried to resist, but her hands were empty and only scratched the air. Maki, who was shaking, saw that she could no longer understand the language, Munakata placed the sole of the shoe on the window frame.

Smooth to the end, Munakata says the last sentence.

"Ok, let's go."

"Hm..."

She can't say wait a minute.

Munakata was a man who executed words. A second after he said that, he had already jumped from a height of 100 meters above the ground with Maki and Daichi.

++++++++++

Basically the longer it takes to fall, the faster it will fall.

Its formula, commonly known as gravitational acceleration, is 9.8 m / s, and a rough calculation consumes a height of about 100 meters in less than 5 seconds. Knowing that, it's probably a bit more serious. She would have resisted.

Fortunately, the fear fainted her and it did not interfere with Munakata's work.

At the time of take-off, Munakata quickly opened the parachute. Munakata experienced a free fall for a time until the acceleration died due to air resistance.

At the sound of the wind, Munakata heard laughter.

Suddenly the baby was laughing in his arms. He wondered if he was enjoying the fall, and while hearing a laughing little voice, Munakata was laughing too.

"It's fun? It may be common for you."

The parent's "up and down" game and the current situation may not change much for this child. With that in mind, Munakata precisely operates the parachute.

Air resistance travels through the harness and squeezes Munakata's body. Munakata looked at the Tsubakimon Dome below, while reducing the burden on mother and child as much as possible. Already in his direction, the dome has been opened to reveal the stage.

"President, please respond. Let us know the current situation!"

Awashima's voice echoes from the device close to the ear. Munakata responds to that.

"This is Munakata. We are currently gliding about 70 meters from the earth's surface. We will proceed to land on stage."

In the center of the stage is a circle of bureaucracy, the end of today's sprint. There are 2 minutes and 47 seconds until the start. The image of landing, taking off the parachute, and entering the performance has already been created in Munakata's mind.

"No problem. Everything is fine. Awashima-kun, let's meet up on stage sleeve!"

At the image of Munakata, a sudden gust of wind disappeared.

"Yes!"

Before thinking of anything, Munakata had to devote all his energy to controlling his posture. The parachute, which was about to rotate like a cone, was operated with one hand like a hot kneading jumper, and in the worst case it prevented a free fall due to the disappearance of air resistance.

"President? What did you do?"

Awashima screamed at the anomaly.

"Well, it's not a big deal. I was exposed to the wind from the building and my posture was altered for a moment. The check was completed, but there is a problem."

"What kind of problem is it?"

“The current gust of wind has blown me off the field a lot. If nothing is done, we will land in the audience seats."

Awashima took a deep breath.

Due to the gust of wind, the chances of landing on stage were nil. A similar gust of wind might bring the whole picture back to the landing course, but it's like waiting for a miracle. It was the role of the believer, not the role of the idol, to hold onto heaven with prayer.

Munakata ponders as he spins in the air.

He cannot get off in the audience seats. No action can be taken that could compromise the safety of the public. Not only Munakata himself, but even the metal parachute hardware cannot be dropped on the heads of fans.

So there is only one way left.

"We will take a landing course outside of the dome. We won't be in time for the performance, but we can't help it."

Awashima squeezed out a rough voice.

"Come here."

Until now, Munakata has been racing to get to the performance on time and not disappoint the expectations of the fans. It is not unfortunate that the effort turns into a bubble.

However…

Munakata stroked the baby's hair, giggling happily at his mother's breast, with his fingertips.

"Don't be sorry. We are idols. Those who seek the best. But if that doesn't come true, we can choose the next best option."

"President..."

Awashima's voice has a bitter resignation.

But she was also an idol. Awashima starts working after dispelling it in an instant.

"I get it. Immediately, personnel will be sent to the outside of the cupola, and the president, the mother and the child will be immediately collected. Even if the delay is unavoidable, it should be as short as possible."

"Yes. Thank you."

A sudden voice interrupted Munakata who was about to approve the decision.

"It's not like that."

Munakata slightly opened his eyes.

He can't be wrong, it was the voice of Fushimi Saruhiko, the center of "Shoumutai".

"What are you doing?"

"Please be quiet, Assistant Principal. President, there is no need to change course. 2 minutes to start. If so, it is time to do so."

"What?"

"Akiyama, do it."

With Fushimi's command as the trigger, a sight of pure white spread under his eyes.

It was a huge cloth that completely covered the audience seats at the Tsubakimon Dome. The pure white fabric that glows under the light has a blue dyed stamp in the center. That's the emblem of “Promotion Scepter 4”, the flag of the idol that they should be proud of.

"Now you don't have to worry about landing in the audience. Please come down quickly. The stage is set!"

Watch the scene and listen to the words.

A powerful smile appeared on Munakata's mouth.

"I get it."

Then she slowly descends towards the emblem of his proud "Promotion Scepter 4".

++++++++++

"Huh... someone..."

In a park located outside the Tsubakimon Dome, Domyoji Andy was trapped in a tree and called for help with a weak voice.

The rescued person, tied in front, fainted slightly. After all, he never woke up during the drop or after the landing. He doesn't think there is any difference in life, but he wants to be rescued as soon as possible and taken to the hospital. It's about time Domyoji's shoulders scream from their weight.

"Oh, Domyoji-san! You were in a place like this!"

At that moment, a light illuminated Domyoji's face with a voice of salvation.

They were the staff of "Scepter 4." It looks like he was holding a ladder and looking around the dome. Domyoji mutters through tears when he sees them preparing for rescue.

"Hail me..."

Domyoji, who was saved several tens of seconds later, asked the staff with a deep sigh.

“No, what happened to the president? Did he do it on time?"

"Yes! It seems that with Fushimi-san's ingenuity, he was able to make it in time for the performance! It seems that he is performing well as of now!"

The staff deftly pulled out the PDA which projected a live image.

6:23 pm. The stage lights go out and the noise from the audience seats quickly subsides. For example, fans' expectations, enthusiasm and excitement increase.

The silence of passion, as if you could see it.

A suddenly glowing spotlight pierced the darkness.

In the center of the stage was a man crouched with one knee raised. He is dressed in a beautifully decorated suit and holds a microphone in his slim hands. There is not a single mistake or a single wrinkle in his clothes. The ideal idol is that person, the Idol King who was there.

Those in the audience, behind the television who are watching him, probably don't know how he got to that stage. Munakata must say that it is also the idol's responsibility not to report it.

As soon as the song started, Munakata looked up. A confident smile. An act that can be said to be solemn. Take a fixed turn and start singing.

Domyoji laughed impressively as he watched the fans' enthusiasm explode.

"I'm glad. He is on time."

"Yeah, I'm glad."

The staff laughs too. Only they know how many difficulties Munakata had to go through to be in that place. These difficulties have finally been overcome and the goal has come true.

"Well then, I'm ready too."

Domyoji says that, shaking his head. He also has a major role in the "Extreme solo part, Idol from Above 6500~". For that, he has to go back to heaven.

The staff stopped Domyoji's back.

"Domyoji-san, it's very difficult to tell... but Domyoji-san's part is gone."

"Eh?"

The staff scratched their heads at Domyoji, where their eyes became a point.

“It seems that it is impossible to take off on time because the helicopter has run out of fuel on the previous flight. Therefore, we will reproduce the PV of the album released next week as a replacement for the emergency. That was decided."

Domyoji froze and said...

"What is that? Has all my special training so far been for naught?"

Look at the facial expressions of the staff, quietly but surely.

"What is that? Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Domyoji's scream echoed around the outer edge of the dome.

[sustraiii]

TEAM ZRCN ARC 3 - CHAPTER 14

Back with out heroes for this chapter, as Team ZRCN begins some extra training with the Mob Ops.

NEELA

“Um, what’s that doing here?” Xanthos asked as they stepped into the room. “I thought we were supposed to be training, not watching an educational video.”

Neela could see he was referring to the hastily prepared projector and screen that had been put up in the training room, a stark contrast to the sleek designs elsewhere in the base. As the two of them came closer to inspect the object and try and discern what it was doing there, Cherry walked in behind them.

“Alright, kids - class is in session,” She said with a smirk. “Take your seats.”

Still confused at the purpose of the projector, Neela and Xanthos hesitated for a moment, before finally sitting down in the two chairs that had been dragged in from the comms room. They waited in silence, waiting for Cherry to do or say something, but it was soon apparent she wasn’t fully prepared judging by how much she continued to mess around with the projector.

Beside her, Xanthos raised a hand.

“Yes, Mr Ravindra?” Cherry asked, looking up when she saw him waving his hand to get her attention.

“I thought we were supposed to be training today? You know throwing punches and - “

“I’m the teacher today, Mr Ravindra, so I’ll decide how we’ll do the training,” She cut him off, trying her best to retain a serious expression, which ultimately gave way to an amused grin. “Don’t worry you’ll get to hit things in due time.”

Not long after she said that Cherry appeared to get the projector working, and turned it on ready for the “lesson” she had prepared.

“So, as you two know, Wren decided that whilst you and your team are here with us, it’d be beneficial from you to get some additional training from us. Especially since your schooling has been interrupted with all this business with the Rossi’s,” Cherry explained. “What you don’t know is that we - we being myself and my fellow Mob Ops - have taken it upon ourselves to assign one of you to each of us for a more personal training experience.

“Now, I’ve prepared some slides to go over with you today that should help address some problem areas for each of you. Neela, let’s start with you.”

Neela blinked in surprise when Cherry pointed at her, before clicking the projector on. The first slide appeared on the screen and Neela recognised it as a still from the first robot attack in Mantle. It was the moment when she and Cordovan had combined their semblances to temporarily disable one of the robots. 

“That right there is a wonderful bit of teamwork,” Cherry commended. “The execution was practically flawless, but there wasn’t much room for error here, was there? Had the robot altered its course your attack would have failed and due to your semblances both requiring a degree of focus, it could have left you vulnerable had the robot decided to lash out again.”

Cherry paused to let this sink in before pressing on. “At any rate, it was not as problematic as the move you tried to pull off here.” She flicked to another slide, this time showing the moment where she had attempted to spear the robot that had been coming for Zelde.

“Was I wrong to do that?” Neela asked, perhaps a little more defensive than she intended to be. “I was trying to save Zelde.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Cherry assured her, offering a small smile as she did. “In fact had it been any of my team, I would have likely done the same. Your problems lie in the fact that you were too emotional when you attacked.”

Neela frowned but said nothing. Had she been too emotional when she attacked? She didn’t think she had been, she had just wanted to protect Zelde. But perhaps she had been a bit too hasty to rush in and defend her. Had she given time to pause she might have been able to have defeated the robot with her following attack or be better prepared to counter its twisting motion that had felled Zelde and nearly taken out Xanthos too.

“So what do you propose I do? Not care for my teammates?”

“Of course not!” Cherry responded, raising her hands in defence. “Caring too little is just as bad as caring too much. It’s about finding a balance, Neela. Remember when you’re part of a team you’re not the only one counting on you out there.”

Neela nodded solemnly. She still didn’t believe herself to be that emotional, but she would not argue against Cherry’s teachings. Neela had seen how the older huntress had handled herself against the Karkadan and Krypterons, both by herself and with the rest of the Mob Ops, and was certain she had more than enough experience to back up her words of advice.

“I can’t wait to see what slides you have for me,” Xanthos quipped.

“Well actually, Mr Ravindra, I think a more physical example would benefit you.”

“What do you - ACK!”

Before Xanthos could even finish his sentence, a pair of arms wrapped around his midriff, and with a small grunt in effort, his assailant lifted him out of his chair and proceeded to fling Xanthos backwards like a rag doll. Neela might have found the move to impressive had she not been concerned for her partner’s safety. Rising from her seat, Neela whipped around to face Xanthos’s attacker, finding Elio stood behind them with his hands on his hips and his head thrown back in laughter.

“Is he supposed to be here?” Neela turned to ask Cherry. But it was apparent she was not to get an answer from her newly appointed mentor, for no sooner had she turned around, Cherry aimed a punch at her head, and Neela barely managed to move out of the way in time. “I’ll take that as a yes then.”

“Woo! Trial by fire!” Elio whooped.

Slowly rising back to his feet, Xanthos looked over questioningly at Cherry. “So am I not getting a slideshow?”

“No, sorry,” Cherry said, flashing him an apologetic grin. “That was only for Neela.”

“Darn. Now I feel left out.”

“Hey, enough with the chit chat, you’re cutting into my lesson,” Elio said, glaring at Cherry playfully who stuck out her tongue at him in return. Elio smirked before turning back to Xanthos and Neela. “Okay kids, we’re going to see how you handle a more physical exercise. You two are gonna team up against me and Cherry.”

Prompted by her name being said, Cherry came over to stand with her teammate and stood confidently waiting for the next move.

“Give us your best shot.” Elio encouraged.

Neela and Xanthos hesitated, sharing a look between each other. After Cherry’s little lesson, and Elio’s sudden attack on Xanthos, neither of them seemed in a hurry to engage their teachers. It was Xanthos who moved first, pointing out he had a tendency to fight without his weapon more than Neela did, so he should have in theory been able to handle himself well.

Xanthos came forward and aimed a punch in Elio's direction, which the older man merely deflected with his arm. Not to be deterred, Xanthos tried again, only to be met with the same resistance before Elio shoved him back. Nearly every strike Xanthos aimed at his opponent was either parried or dodged skillfully, though there were a few times when his more sudden movements forced Elio to back off and come at him from a different angle.

Sensing an opportunity, Neela hoped to jump into the fight, and use the fact that Elio was otherwise distracted by her partner to get the upper hand against him. A quick jab to his back caught him off guard long enough for Xanthos to roll out of the way. But now Elio's attention was on her.

One advantage Neela had over Xanthos was that she was faster, and it was that which she used to her advantage. If only for a minute, until Elio began to counter her too. And with how precise his movements were, Neela got the impression that his ability to parry their attacks was more down to his semblance as opposed to simply years of practice. Any remaining advantage she had further slipped away when Xanthos - rather than focusing on Cherry who had been inching closer - decided to join her in engaging Elio again. Any other person might have struggled against two opponents, but Elio handled it with ease, knocking Xanthos back with a sudden jolt of his body, before using the momentum to pick Neela up and throw her into Cherry's path.

Grunting in annoyance at being thrown, Neela didn't have a chance to get up by herself, before Cherry was upon her, forcing her up with a light tug.

"On your feet student, the lesson isn't over yet!"

"You know I don't remember the professors training us like this. Usually they tell us in advance before they try and kick our asses," Xanthos quipped from behind them.

"Well you're not at school right now, are you?" Elio pointed out.

"Besides do you think your enemies will go easy on you?" Cherry chimed in, before throwing a punch into Neela's right shoulder. 

"Always be aware of your surroundings and what your enemies are doing," Elio advised. "You never know when they might strike!" There was a yell of alarm from Xanthos when Elio suddenly lunged at him, forcing Xanthos into a grapple. Neela glared at the two of them and considered running to help, before Cherry dragged her back. Neela huffed in annoyance as she struggled to keep up with the flurry of hits Cherry unleashed on her. It was too late when she realised that every hit she was unable to parry from Cherry was hitting her harder and harder. When the last punch came, such was the strength behind it, that it genuinely winded her for a moment, and left her too weak to defend herself when Cherry lifted her up onto her shoulders and threw her directly at Xanthos.

The two of them collided with a smack, and Xanthos stumbled to the floor, with Neela splayed out on top of him. 

"Well, I think that's a wrap today," Elio said, clapping his hands together. He came closer and extended a hand for Neela to take. Understandably, after his previous ambush she was wary to accept him "Don't worry you're safe now."

Despite his assurances, she still hesitated a moment before finally accepting his hand and being heaved onto her feet. Elio then proceeded to do the same for Xanthos.

"You two did pretty good today," Elio commended. "It's good to know that you can handle yourself, even without the use of your weapons."

"You call that 'handling ourselves'?" Neela laughed. "You two ran circles around us - especially you."

"My semblance helps," Elio admitted, rubbing the back of his head absently. "It allows me to identify how someone thinks - or in Ravi's case, doesn't really think - in combat."

"Well, I'll try not to take that as an insult," Xanthos grinned.

"It's not an insult, bud," Elio assured him, giving him a light pat on the back before his expression shifted to a more serious one. "But you should heed my words in the future. You're not a bad fighter, if it's any consolation, but you lack control. When your attacks consistently fail, I noted that you lash out quickly in response, neglecting to take note of what your opponent is doing at the same time. Such as when you tried to tackle me at the same time Neela was."

"And mine boosts my strength when people around me are more emotional," Cherry explained, coming over to join the trio. "Which is why you're looking and sounding like you've ran a half marathon as opposed to a simple training exercise." She added whilst looking at Neela. "It's also why I encouraged you to keep your emotions in check earlier."

"That'd explain it," Neela said, rubbing her side to ease the pain beginning to settle there.

"I'd say our lesson is done for today," Cherry said. From out of her breast pocket she fished out a credit card, and handed it towards Xanthos. "Elio and I have some paperwork to catch up with, but why don't you two go out and treat yourself to something nice. Consider it something of a peace offering too for, you know, not telling you we were going to kick your asses."

"How generous," Xanthos said, before snatching up the card from Cherry's hand. Cherry and Elio said farewell after that, leaving the two of them alone for a moment. Neela waited until they were out of the room before sighing.

"That was rough," She commented, stretching out her arm.

"Yeah," Xanthos agreed with a nod. "I think I'll be feeling one of Elio's punches for a good few weeks, even though it didn't break my aura. And having you flung into me was certainly an experience."

"It wasn't something I was planning," Neela laughed. When her laughter subsided, she rested her hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Come on you, let's go get ourselves something to eat whilst we're still able to walk properly."

Giving a nod in agreement, Xanthos put his own arm around Neela's waist, before the two of them headed out together, tired from their training but keen to learn more in the coming days.

[piningfor-pinestwins]

Natural Attraction - Snapshots (ch.4) (Stan X Reader Slow Burn; Eventual Not SFW)

It’s sunset before you decide to leave your room again, remembering that there’s some work to be done for you to categorize the newest critter into your journals. You take the newest edition, with a clean cover and a spine that’s barely been cracked along, holding it close as you make your way down to the living room. Your camera is hanging loosely from its strap around your neck, swaying with your every step as you make your way through the uncharacteristically-quiet cabin and down to the lab. Though you’re curious as to why, you’re hopeful it’s a blessing and not a foreboding warning. Because really, you need to get some work done.

When you make it down, Ford is already sitting at his messy workspace, hair looking like his fingers have been run through it in thought. The man looks tired, and you almost move to mention it before he turns and takes notice of you, leaning back in his chair as he offers a worn smile in your direction.

“If you’re looking for the eyebat, he’s over there.” Ford points to where a cloth is laid over the mason jar from earlier, the critter having apparently calmed itself from where it was once batting its wings against the glass.

What has you all worn out? You tease lightly, moving toward where the creature is housed on Fidds’ desk and pulling up a chair as you do. “Oh, the usual. Right now, I’m handling this grant situation, and Fidds is...well, his lady troubles never seem to cease, and he tends to ramble about them.”

You chuckle lightly at that, settling into the chair at Fiddleford’s desk and removing the cloth from the eyebat’s container, watching the sleepy little thing stir at the low light. Well, that’s why I try not to date where I’m researching. Gets messy, you hum the words, picking up the jar and lifting it to get a better look at the little guy, turning the glass in hand as you start to inspect.

You’re pushing your journal open when Ford hums, a sound half in-amusement, and half questioning. “Is that so?” Without knowing why, your cheeks start to burn, a kernel of almost-dread starting to fall to the pit of your stomach.

Mmhm, you answer simply, starting to write down a few general observations of the thing ahead of you instead of engaging in whatever the hell he could be implying. Jesus Christ, no thank you.

“F came down and told me you and Stanley were becoming...friendly,” he explains, and you hope he doesn’t notice that your pen stills from where it had been writing on the page. His voice seems even more amused when he starts again, so you think he noticed anyway, “Is that the case?”

Now, Ford is a friend. Even if you had been seeking...romance, or what-have-you, with Stan, it wouldn’t be an issue. You...think. But, since they’re brothers, well…

Not in whatever sense you’re implying, Ford. Despite your words, your face continues to burn, feeling almost as though you’d been caught in a lie. Though, you haven’t been. Nope. No fraternizing here, even if you’ve thought about...well, the mind wanders, so what?

Ford seems to notice this tension, and you hear the dull rolling of an office chair toward you before six fingers land to squeeze at your shoulder, his voice fond. “I don’t mean to imply anything. I’m just...suggesting, you know, that…it’s okay. To..do. That.”

When you turn to look at him over your shoulder, putting the jar down into your lap, his brows quirk a fraction. You’re sure the heat on your cheeks is a little visible in some way or another, and his reaction seems to confirm it, though he softens into a smile before you can worry too much about what he’ll say.

B-Besides, when do I have time? We’re constantly running and going—which is very fun, mind you, and I wouldn’t want to—

“Ford! We’ve got it set up! Come on!” Fidds’ voice comes from upstairs, the creak and slam of the screen door following him as he assumedly heads back outside. “Ah!” Ford stands, a new excitement in his eye as he quickly pats his pockets, looking for something.

“The tracking device we had to finish up with today is ready--I hope. This is technically a trial run, but.” Ford points to the jar in your lap, nodding excitedly, “If you don’t mind, could you bring that up with you?” You nod, a little surprised at the sudden burst of excitement, but grateful for the attention to be shifted away from you for another blessed moment.

You hastily scribble down a few extra notes about the creature, hopeful you’ll be able to read your own writing when you get back to it later. Shifting your things in your hands, you push the journal beneath your arm, your pen behind your ear, and you securely hold the glass jar with both hands as you follow Ford up the stairs. The excitable man hurries from the door-- quick, long strides taking him out from the house and through the squeaky screen door, which you barely catch with a foot kicked out in front of you, making your own way outside with the curious bat watching up at you.

When you catch up to Ford, you see the ‘new toy’ in question. Stan is standing beside it, absently rubbing at his lower back with a mutter while Fidds is tapping at the console of the thing, watching the radar map on the screen come to life.

“Yes!” Fidds perks, turning to look at you and Ford with glee. Stan turns at that, catching your eye and straightening himself up as he meets your gaze. You offer a little smile, which he returns, moving to rub at the back of his head, and you quirk a brow in his direction, reminding him of his earlier injury. He remembers then, his smile lifting a little more as he ‘begudgingly’ drops his hand back to his side.

The eyebat flaps its wings against the jar at the realization it is outside again, seemingly confused as to why it hasn’t taken off in flight. You have to hold to the jar a little tighter, looking at Fidds and Ford in question.

“We put the trackin’ device on him when he was sleeping—Ford was scared t’death that the little guy would wake up halfway through, but it was painless. Y’can see it, right there.” Fiddleford takes a step closer, pointing to the bat through the glass. You spy the little black chip that sits on the edge of one wing, a red light blinking there that you hadn’t noticed before.

Huh...this won’t affect his flying, will it? You ask, having grown maybe a little fond of the friend in the jar (who does not feel the same about you, if the way he batters his wings against the glass is any indication). Ford shakes his head, “No, not at all. Though, the light may attract mates or...something. Species are odd about that kind of thing—but, that’s why it’s as inconspicuous as possible.” The brunet grins, reaching to take the jar from your hands, “I’m excited to see what our little friend has to offer.”

Wait! You say suddenly, remembering that you haven’t done the thing you’d meant to do in the first place. You turn, finding Stan standing next to the machine, leaning against the thing now. When he looks down at you with a raised brow, you quickly push the jar into his hands, pulling your camera from where it had been forgotten around your neck.

“Huh—Oh! Right, here…” Stan remembers what you’re needing and moves to hold the jar a little further away from himself as you fumble with your camera, fiddling with the flash and hoping the setting sun won’t mess up the picture too badly.

Fidds and Ford share a look you only catch from the corner of your eye, and you hear Stan hiss through his teeth. You glance up at the closer twin to catch Stan staring daggers at the other two, his cheeks lightly pink—or, maybe that’s just a trick of the light from the setting sun. When he notices you looking, his face softens, clearing his throat as he nods down to the camera in your hand, “Go ahead, toots. Get your picture, so we can let the little bastard go home.”

You smile gratefully at him as you nod, adjusting your camera in hand and looking through the viewfinder to square up the picture, Stan shifting himself even further out of the frame as you do. You frown, looking up at him from over your camera, You’re allowed to be in the shot, Stan.

“O-Oh, well, I...figure, you know, this isn’t my entry into your journal--it’s this guy’s! Don’t wanna steal his thunder.” He grins cheekily, and you quirk a brow at him unamusedly.

I’m worried you’ll drop the jar, Stanley.

“Well, she’s got a point.” Fiddleford muses as he’s turned back around to the console, looking over his shoulder at the two of you. Ford sighs, unamused as he stands with his arms crossed next to the machine, “At any rate, could we move it along? We’ll lose daylight soon.”

Stanley rolls his eyes at his brother, blowing upward at the hair that’s slightly overgrown to fall in his eyes, and you giggle at the motion, catching his attention. He looks at you with quirked brows, and you start to raise your camera again at the look, his demeanor shifting some. He stands up taller, holding the glass jar against his chest as he poses himself for the camera, and you look through the viewfinder again to see him quickly suck in a breath to tuck away his gut and puff out his chest, his smile broad and genuine.

His motion makes you laugh as you click the button, the flash blinding out white before it disappears. In the instant that the light fades away, there’s the sound of shattered glass.

“Shit!” Stan yells, looking down at the shattered mason jar as a black blur flies upward from it, the eyebat taking hurried flight far, far above you and the boys. Its wings beat quickly away, and Ford swears as he can do nothing but watch the creature flit away. “Well...I suppose it’s good we were planning to release it tonight, anyway. Though, it may be a lost cause to follow it tonight.”

“But look!” Fidds says excitedly, quickly patting Ford’s arm and gripping him by the long sleeve to pull him toward the console. Ford looks in surprise at Fidds before looking at the screen, watching it come to life as the little red dot blinks in the same direction as the eyebat.

“Yes!” Ford laughs, excitement bubbling up and showing in his face. He looks to you and Stan, and you nod to the excitable twin, turning your head toward the other to find him still looking up where the eyebat had disappeared to. Stanley looks down to meet your eye and smiles, then grins wider at his twin’s excitement, moving quickly closer to clap Ford and Fidds’ shoulders in triumph. “You’ve done it! Look at the li’l bastard go, Jesus he can fly…” He laughs, the three of them staring in awe at the red dot as it goes across the screen.

In all the hullabaloo, you finally recognize the feeling of the mechanisms of your camera working, and you catch your printed picture as it starts to fall from its slot, giving it a good shake as you listen to the guys chatter on excitedly about their newest device.

Fiddleford glances back at you and motions you forward to look too, and you join in next to Ford with a grin, hearing him babble on about how this new technology will affect how he’s able to research the creatures of Gravity Falls, and Fiddleford is beside you, reaching to slap Stan’s hands away from the screen because “Fingerprints, Stanley!”, and you laugh between them as you turn to look at the shaken-and-developing picture in your hand.

There’s Stan front and center, sucked-in-gut and grinning like mad with a blurry jar in his hands--the eyebat inside apparently having been startled by the flash of light as it reflects off the glass. Even as upset as you are about the ruined picture of the eyebat, you can’t stop from smiling at the goofy man in the picture, with his grin wide and dimple on display, his amber eyes looking at you through the lens of the picture.

“Aw, shit,” Fidd’’s voice comes from over your shoulder and you look back at him, feeling your face start to get warm when you realize you’ve not been paying attention, “The eyebat didn’t even get in the picture! It’s just your smilin’ mug, Lee.”

Stanley and Ford come to join over your shoulders, looking at the picture, though you only feel your face get warmer as Stan moves to take the thing from you, his fingers lingering against yours.

“Dammit! I’m sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to just...make it about me. God knows the next time we’ll find one of those things, too…” Stan groans, looking down at the still-developing picture with upset. He doesn’t seem to notice the new nickname he’s called you, though you definitely do, grateful for the setting sun adding its red tinge to everything, because it might cover up the heat you feel across your nose and cheeks.

It’s alright, really, you quickly say, reaching to take the picture back and looking at Stan with a smile, I-It’s just...a good addition to the blooper pictures I take. Remind me to show you those sometime, they’re a riot. You grin, holding the picture closer to your chest as you speak. Ford shakes his head, pointing to the dot on the device, “Well, we’ll at least be able to see the little guy again, else fails. But, for now, you...may just have to take a picture of my drawing. Or try your own hand again.” He grins, and there’s almost a bit of teasing in his voice. After all, he was your lab partner through college, he knows your skill level (or, maybe, lack thereof).

Stan doesn’t look to the screen, catching your eye again as Fidds moves to slap Ford’s hand away (“Fingerprints!!”), meeting your gaze with a smile as the two begin to bicker. You look down at the picture again, then back up to his face, huffing a little chuckle as you shrug, It captures you quite nicely.

“I s’pose it’s not the worst picture I’ve taken--pretty sure that’s in some yearbook somewhere, though.” He laughs, and you smile with him. You nibble into your bottom lip, moving to say something about the new nickname, but he stops you with a step forward, the crunch of shattered glass interrupting whatever words you could have said.

“I, uh...guess I should get somethin’. Sweep this up.” Stan murmurs, looking down at the remnants of the glass jar before glancing back up to you. You swallow as you nod, motioning your head toward the house, I-I think I should turn in. Been a long, exciting day.

“Heh, that it has, hon--Toots. Toots.” Stanley quickly corrects himself with a cough and a clear of his throat, his cheeks pink when he looks up at you to see if maybe, you’d noticed.

You had, in fact. Just like you had the first time, too. Warmth blooms in your chest, much like it had earlier, and it starts to travel up your cheeks all over again despite yourself. Illuminated by the porchlight, you see Stan’s cheeks going red, too. You figure he must have realized you noticed, and though you aren’t sure if his blush is from embarrassment or endearment (or even both), you nod, giving him the extra confirmation.

Goodnight, Stanley, you say gently, fondness leaking into your voice as you hold the picture close, moving up the porch stairs.

“G’night, hon.” He says just as gently, watching you head up the back porch and through the squeaky screen door once more, the creak of the rusted hinge only bothering you a little bit as the words linger in the air. You almost stop on the other side of the screen, though for what reason, you are unsure. The warmth in your chest blooms further and you steal a glance over your shoulder, finding the man bashfully rubbing at the back of his neck as he watches you go, and you quickly hurry on your way further into the home, down the hallway, and back up the stairs by-two.

When you shut your bedroom door behind you, you find yourself leaning back against the wood, realizing that you’re still holding the portrait to your chest. You look down at it, trying to fight the smile that bubbles forth all at once to your lips, and you snicker at the hilarity of the picture itself, and at your own ridiculousness. You’re just...getting closer as friends. He’s friendly. He’s got tender nicknames for everyone, you’re sure--you’ve just upgraded from ‘toots’ (which might be a preferable change, you think). But…

Even so, you’ve got this prime picture. Sure, it’s a little off-the-wall and goofy, but...it’s good, nonetheless. Something Stan said makes you think, and you move toward the little writing desk you’ve situated beneath the triangular-shaped window of the attic, pulling your journal toward yourself as you flip to an empty page. You figure, it couldn’t hurt to have an entry about him, could it?

No, definitely not. He counts as a ‘creature’ from Gravity Falls.

You reach for your pen, pushing down the page of the book and giving the spine another little stretch as you lean down to write, pushing the picture into its place with the little fold-ins built into your journal. Once you’re pleased, you sit back with a smile, admiring your work as you read your penmanship across the top of the page.

Stanley Pines.