#otherwise it would have been linked

[the-batkin-colony]

[fourswords]

to be quite honest shadow's characterization in the fsa manga was always something that raised more questions than answers for me because it's like. he's got a mile-wide inferiority complex about being link's shadow we all know this but when did he have the time to develop that inferiority complex in the first place. how long was he lurking around after ganon created him before the events of the manga actually started. what did he witness or hear or both to make him so fucking angry

[tempo-takoyaki]

To celebrate 2k followers on instagram, I drew what my followers requested. Here are some of the sketches I made!

[immortalsins]

HANNIBAL 2.01 Kaiseki

I got to be Will Graham today. I consulted at an FBI crime scene; I stood in Will's shoes. I looked through his eyes and I saw death how I imagined he would see it.

[myrkkymato]

Inspired by Sevika comforting the reader after a nightmare by @archangeldyke-all

[hella1975]

taob chapter-by-chapter summary except it's brief and mildly insensitive (obviously spoilers ahead)

chapter 1: hakoda and the water tribe crew are on a boat. zuko is on a boat. it's just after the blue spirit episode. two world's collide and they fight each other. zuko loses. zuko gets injured. it's not funny. during the fighting however a young crewman from zuko's ship - a teenage boy called lee - is killed. the swt take zuko prisoner and so ensues a very chaotic series of events

chapter 2: zuko is placed in the infirmary where we meet the fan favourite healer, kanut. hakoda decides to enter correspondence with general fong bc he doesnt want the hassle of dealing with the fire prince (fair) and zuko throws soup at him. he escapes but it lasts like 5 minutes LMAO. it's not funny. hakoda threatens to hurt zuko if he firebends again and zuko reacts v normally

chapter 3: zuko is, fundamentally, a dumb cunt and he escapes again, this time bumping into the Biggest Warrior Who Is The Entire Reason He's In The Infirmary To Begin With; chena. kanut intervenes before a fight breaks out but zuko is still taken to hakoda for his first proper interrogation. they go back and forth before zuko reveals he went to the south pole. not believing zuko's avatar shenanigans in favour of assuming there was a raid, hakoda decides to go home to check

chapter 4: OUR VERY FIRST TOMKIN FRATERNISES WITH THE ENEMY. we officially meet the youngest crewmen; tomkin and nanook. cultural misunderstandings see the rocky beginning of their friendship with zuko. it's also decided to put zuko to work bc no one really knows what the fuck to do with him and he's just moping about the boat atm. another crewman, aput, is put in charge of zuko's chore duty, but is joined by tulok, the man who killed lee, which makes zuko uneasy. he's brainstorming another escape attempt when hakoda asks to speak with him

chapter 5: a letter arrived from general fuckfeatures saying he was happy to take zuko off hakoda's hands (bruv 😐) in three weeks time. hakoda finds himself reassuring zuko but, in a panic, zuko lashes out and flees, cornering himself on the bowsprit of all things. hakoda tries a different approach and talks zuko down. they talk for a long time before zuko feels comfortable enough to come back to the deck, but when he does, he slips and hakoda instinctively saves him, which causes a moral panic for both of them. the bar is truly on the floor

chapter 6: we arrive at the south pole! the crew find out zuko was telling the truth and never led a raid. hakoda is v perplexed by zuko and in a bid to try and find out why he doesn't commit gratuitous violence he winds up admitting that he wasn't actually going to attack zuko's ship that very first day. we also get a kanut backstory! this is his chapter fr

chapter 7: hakoda's revelation leads zuko into a crisis thinking it was his fault lee died. lots of lee turmoil in this one. you are not immune to explorations into the moral greyness of war. tomkin backstory! zuko gets his stitches out as well as a lecture from kanut on the importance of community/family. zuko is very quickly realising these people are not at all what he was told, and they're realising the same of him

chapter 8: sleepy zuko is not rocking with arctic winters. where the fuck is agni. this is very funny to everyone else involved. he soon wakes up tho bc we get THE AURORA SCENE

chapter 9: THE GANG GO HUNTING! zuko cant kill though and hakoda is being so brave about it. more lee turmoil as zuko starts interviewing everyone like 'Yes or No: No Violence Is Ethical Under Wartime?' and receiving different responses, none of which feel right. regardless, he goes back to the village and actually has a moment where he's laughing with tomkin and nanook and doesnt feel like they all hate him, so naturally it all goes to shit bc tom nook - misreading the situation so badly they should get an award for it - start asking about zuko's scar, and they go too far and he lashes out and boom! one burnt tomkin coming right up. JUST as they were starting to trust him too. life's a bitch

chapter 10: scar reveal chapter!!!!! there's tears and hugs and it's all generally v cathartic <3

chapter 11: zuko continues interviewing people. tomkin sets all of nanook's shirts on fire for shits and giggles. kanut starts pushing the zukka agenda on complete accident. hakoda carefully pulls out the adoption papers. kanna is horrified. more news at 10

chapter 12: tulok and zuko! they talk! they come to a conclusion on their wartime morality dissertation! they give lee a proper burial! zuko decides he wants the war to end! zuko ends the chapter with thee most obvious line of foreshadowing known to man no seriously what was that

chapter 13: the great rum heist of 99AG. zuko also gets fried by lightning but this isnt about him bc we officially get OUR FIRST TOVAH POV

chapter 14: we stop in wei hai where hakoda makes zuko promise to be less reckless. chena joins the Adopting Zuko bandwagon except he's caught on a stirup and is being dragged unwillingly along through the mud. meanwhile, tovah isnt what she seems and reveals a very malicious side to herself that is very focused on zuko

chapter 15: gaoling! the kids dick about on the beach and generally get to act their age before convincing hakoda to let them go into the town together. while in gaoling, tomkin reveals he's a HUGE blue spirit fan. zuko has a meltdown about it. tomkin then tries to get the attention of a girl he likes, but she waves at zuko instead (HELP) and tomkin takes that personally. like yes king that's zuko's fault he's just too much of a pussy magnet guilty as charged. zuko is just very confused bc he's fully gay but he's fully not okay about it so instead of clarifying him and tomkin just fall out. pray for nanook. chapter ends with two footsoldiers, oro and renmin, being told to send word to tovah that zuko is in gaoling and to keep an eye on him

chapter 16: nanook knows what zuko is. hakoda doesn't. tries to talk to zuko about embracing queerness anyway. it goes HORRIBLY bc zuko's just like 'i dont think my great-grandfather - inventor of homophobia - would like this' and storms off all angsty like. he goes to gaoling WHERE TOPH IS!!! she bumps into zuko on her way to earth rumble and they decide to beat each other up at a secondary location as like. a bonding activity. kids being kids. meanwhile oro and renmin are all about profit maximisation these boys want a PROMOTION baby, so they decide to ignore tovah's orders and eavesdrop on the water tribe camp, overhearing that the boy they're watching over is PRINCE ZUKO. they decide to kidnap him and take him to general fong, and if the water tribe put up a fight, they'll kill them. zuko overhears this

chapter 17: zuko decides - instead of running to save his own skin - to go back to the water tribe, but remembering the injuries and potential fatalities of their fight in ch1, he decides to do this alone. he's so clever. he sneaks into camp to get his swords and just before he leaves to intercept oro and renmin, he remembers his promise to hakoda about being more careful. wanting to leave something to show the water tribe he left willingly and to make it look 'less reckless', zuko leaves ONE of his dao swords behind. i love metaphors. cue a fight scene with oro and renmin god i fucking hate writing action scenes this one still elicits a trauma response out of me. zuko surrenders when they threaten to kill the swt and goes willingly. his firebending stops. he gets blood on his hands. shadowing the fore if you will

chapter 18: toph goes to meet zuko and he doesnt arrive so she immediately snitches on him to his adoptive family. the water tribe find evidence of his fight with oro and renmin and combined with hakoda's knowledge that he wouldn't just leave one sword behind for no reason, they know he's been kidnapped again lol. BATO ARRIVES! tovah goes to fong saying she lost the prince and fong is like 'oh ffs :('

chapter 19: bro i swear i almost got death threats for this chapter 😭 zuko arrives at fong's base and it's immediately clear he's not there to have a funky good time. fong kills oro and renmin because he doesnt want anyone knowing he has the fire prince and he cuts zuko's hair to send to ozai and enter negotiations. meanwhile bato has to be the voice of reason and, because they're outnumbered due to most of their men waiting for them at chameleon bay AND this is clearly fong's doing so they have to be politically careful AND they cant be seen being actively fond of the fire prince, it's decided they cant go look for zuko (at least not yet). chena is the most vocally against this. im so normal about them. zuko gets taken to a prison beneath fong's base by the prison warden - who he nicknames spider bc of his apperance - where zuko meets two young boys. zi se (5y/o) and lanse (10y/o) - war minnister qin's sons. both boys are shouted at/threatened when news of the northern air temple arrives and zuko defends them. lanse is killed, and days became weeks became months (🤭🤭🤭)

chapter 20 - appendix between book 1 and book 2. not important. go girl give us nothing

chapter 21: zuko in the cell with the five year old he's totally not developed a codependent self-sacrificial bond with. we see life in the prison aka chan - the biggest prisoner - fighting zuko for food and zuko just being BRUTAL like these two are just tearing into each other rn. zuko's firebending is gone and he's scared of fire now from being tortured. meanwhile our above-ground gang reveal it's been four months and they're going into the day of black sun arc and bc of war politics the water tribe have had to ALLY WITH GENERAL FONG NOOOO. very tense convo between him and them BUT he does reveal that zuko is alive which is more than what they knew 5 mins ago

chapter 22: TOVAH BACKSTORY! fong asks her to keep an eye on the prisoners while he's gone bc she's his most trusted soldier and she's like huh. what an odd request. i think he's hiding something. im so hot and clever. so she goes to the prison cells and what do u know there's a boy matching prince zuko's description right there. she breaks him and zi se out and throws spider to chan and the other prisoners where he literally gets torn to shreds. hot girl summer. the day of black sun happens and the adults are taken prisoner while the kids (including tomkin and nanook) escape on appa. kanut punches fong tho and gets taken seperately for bad behaviour. i giggled

chapter 23: zuko above ground finally! it's all rlly overwhelming but tovah gets them out of fong's base and all the way to the woods before zuko starts threatening her. she reveals that she's part of the white lotus and has been working for iroh this whole time. we get more of her backstory r.e her vendetta against long feng and the dai li. we catch up with kanut and he's put in prison WITH iroh. when unclehoods collide. the gaang arrive at the western air temple

chapter 24: zuko and zi se arrive at the white lotus camp and a healer - akinari - sees to zi se but when he tries to check zuko, zuko lashes out and breaks his arm. it's all just a lot for him and zi se is struggling too. after a bad nightmare, zi se asks zuko to promise him that they're safe now and zuko - with a very healthy relationship with promises after hakoda let him down - realises the only way he can promise that is if he kills fong. he comes to the decision and when does, his fire comes back blue. meanwhile, sokka starts brainstorming about which prison his dad was taken to, figures it out bc he's the most character of all time, and sneaks off to break hakoda out of the boiling rock. the same prison tovah told zuko fong was in....

chapter 25: zi se reveals to zuko that he's got a rotten tooth (months in unsanitary conditions with poor if nonexistant hygeine measures are a BITCH! hate it when that happens) and zuko has like? a whole downwards spiral about it? he takes it as confirmation that - at least as he is now - he cant take care of zi se and he's 'failed' him after sacrificing everything trying to do the opposite. it's basically confirmation for him that he needs to leave not just to kill fong but also just to be alone. i gotta put me first! tovah gives him his blue spirit mask LMAO and those two leave the camp on akinari's war balloon. tovah is going to break iroh out. zuko is going to kill fong. high treason besties that slay together. meanwhile iroh and kanut are bonding over the trauma that is dealing with zuko, and they decide their own escape plan. sokka gets to the boiling rock and, not long after, so does zuko. they bump into each other and have a !!!! moment before deciding to work together (sokka doesnt know about the Kill A Man plan zuko's got going...). tovah gets to iroh and kanut easily enough and tells them about zuko. they both decide they need to go to the boiling rock as well

chapter 26: zukka sleep in a cupboard overnight and NO ONE is gay about it at all ever. sokka sees zuko's scars and knows Something Bad Happened since he saw zuko last but zuko is deflecting at the speed of Repress Everything so not much comes of it. still, they bond and sokka actually really clicks with zuko and wants to help/befriend him and he's generally pretty chuffed with their alliance. meanwhile, hakoda and fong are being transported to TBR together bc they're the respective leader of their groups. hakoda clobbers fong. it's v fun. the guards take their weapons including zuko's dao that hakoda has kept with him this whole time. sokka sees suki and zukka decide to split up; sokka going after hakoda and zuko going after suki. they agree to all meet again in TBR's old library. zuko and suki get their old weapons back from where they're all stashed before being caught by chit sang, who wants in on the escape. suki asks after her warriors but chit sang says the only earth kingdomers to come in recently are a general that morning. zuko knows it's fong and goes a bit crazy like 👹 bring him 👹. meanwhile, sokka has already got hakoda to the library bc he's the compotent half of zukka and they're there when kanut and iroh come bickering in

chapter 27: bonus chapter! all the shuhon prison shenanigans with chena, aput, tulok and bato. they start a food fight and meet suki's kyoshi warriors. this fic is so fun and angstless

chapter 28: SIKE! everyone is in the library; sokka, hakoda, iroh, kanut, suki, zuko, chit sang, fong etc. there's reunions and dramatic dialogue and sokka feels very betrayed by EVERYONE and iroh is not communicating with his tormented nephew AT ALL and hakoda is so worried about what will come of this that he also isn't communicating that well either. it's a SHITSHOW. kanut is chill about it tho. so anyway zuko kills fong and is all like 'im evil :) i need to go to the land of evil people where i dont feel guilty about being evil :)' so he returns to the fire nation with azula and no one can rlly do anything about it lol. there is a frankly silly amount of comments on this chapter i literally barricaded my house to escape the screaming and bitching of my comment section

chapter 29: ZUKO ALONE CHAPTER! he's en route to the fire nation. this is almost entirely just him and azula having very tense conversations trying to figure each other out bc their relationship is VERY warped from canon. zuko is summoned by ozai and ozai says he's welcome home and he's proud of him for doing something that is literally HAUNTING zuko and zuko's like 'hmm. should probably unpack the implications of that at some point'. they all go ember island like in canon and mai is like my arranged-husband-since-childhood in CHRIST you have septicemia' and he's like 'nah'. him and azula talk on the beach and zuko finds out she has blue fire as well and it's a nice 'we're terrible but we're terrible together' moment. she reveals that ozai is planning to destroy the earth kingdom and it jolts zuko into realising he cant just step out of the war; he needs to act like he swore he would when he resolved lee's death. he knows he needs to leave the fire nation to warn the others of ozai's plans

chapter 30: ANOTHER ZUKO ALONE CHAPTER! zuko packs a bag and decides to just like. TRASH his room lmao take that fire nation! azula catches him and those two have another moment. they're very angry and hurt by each other but she also doesn't snitch on him to ozai when she realises what he's doing so it's just very complicated. zuko goes to yell at ozai anyway and gets a lot off his chest in that conversation. he escapes with help from mai and flees the fire nation as a traitor

chapter 31: we check back in at the western air temple! everyone is v concerned about sokka and tom nook are struggling being the only real 'adult' presence. the other water tribe men are en route to the western air temple and are all reeling from the news of zuko. sokka particularly is Not Okay about it all and him and suki basically break up. he talks to hakoda but he's not ready to hear the full story yet, so they agree to discuss it another time. meanwhile, zuko goes to the white lotus camp to get zi se so those two reunite! yay! hope this doesnt further their co-dependency! they journey to the air temple and zuko's injury gets progressively worse. the rest of the tribe reunite at the temple

chapter 32: HUGE FUCK OFF REUNION CHAPTER JESUS CHRIST THIS HAS SO MANY SPIDERMAN POINTING MEMES. so sokka finds zuko in the woods trying to figure out what the FUCK he's gonna say bc he's not seen everyone since literally chapter 16. zukka are zukka. zi se is their divorce lawyer. sokka eventually takes zuko to the temple and everyone chokes up and hugs and it's so cool. zuko explains about the comet and ozai's plans and then immediately passes the fuck out bc that's what happens when you don't treat an infected wound! kanut is fuming

chapter 33: fever dream chapter!!! all those fucked up fever dreams god i loved writing those i should give zuko septicemia again just so i can write more fever dreams. the gaang come to terms with zuko being in the camp; suki is chill with it, aang and toph are ecstatic, and katara is reluctant but has too much of a bleeding heart to overlook the Tortured Teenager and Literal Five Year Old. sokka is the only one actively against zuko rn. everyone else sneaks in to see zuko and we get our first bit of comfort in ages <333

chapter 34: zuko getting Rest and Recuperation and biting it and biting it and biting it. he talks with hakoda who confirms he's actually wanted at camp and zuko - who thought they'd all hate him - is like what the fuck, so they get a lot of clarification there. katara comes in and offers to use her water healing on zuko, but she comes in with food and we see the beginnings of zuko's inch resting relationship with food now after starving/fighting for food in prison. he has to chuck the food away to stop himself from seeing katara as a threat and that combined with what she's seen of zi se's behaviour is enough for katara to be like 'ah. this is an Issue'. the whole thing is just a lot for zuko and he has a panic attack when katara leaves, seeking comfort from zi se like they always did in prison except zi se doesnt need zuko as much as he did, and it's just a very stark reminder that ZI SE is getting over things but zuko just cant seem to. he lashes out and shouts at zi se, who cries and is found later by sokka. sokka comforts him and zuko sees and is SO normal about it

chapter 35: zuko gets discharged from the infirmary and is immediately faced with kanut and bato's 'we've been friends since childhood and ARE going to be annoying about it' shenanigans. meanwhile sokka is figuring his shit out and decides he's comfortable enough in himself to finally start over with zuko. those two have a talk and decide to have a clean slate and zuko takes it... weirdly seriously. like bro is DETERMINED to get his redemption by sokka. cool the jets freak that's how homosexuality happens!! oh also aang tries his first real attempt to get zuko to be his firebending teacher and zuko is effectively just like 'omg thanks for asking! fuck no 🙏🔥'

chapter 36: sike!! aang no.1 bully manages to bug zuko into going to the firebending masters with him and zuko saw an opportunity for a day out with free childcare and didn't look back. they do the whole firebending masters episode as normal just with some taobification (aka zuko is a massive baby about it) and then they come home with a healthier relationship and hearts open to the element of fire <3 beautiful showstopping never gets old

chapter 37: SOKKA AND HAKODA FINALLY TALK AND FIGURE THEIR SHIT OUT JESUS CHRIST YOU'VE NEVER SEEN TWO MEN MISCOMMUNICATE SO BADLY SINCE HAIKYUU. zuko however cant get out of eating with everyone today and it really triggers his food trauma. he spirals and lashes out at tulok when he goes to reach for him, pointing a knife at him and nearly wounding him. obviously this makes zuko freak out and he runs outside. tom nook comfort him and then so do the others. still it's a huge step back for zuko and he's really beating himself up over it. also zi se says 'good soup'. taob is increasingly becoming me seeing how much shit i can get away with

chapter 38: just a hakoda, zuko and zi se chapter that at the time i thought read as a shitty bonus chapter but has lowkey become one of my favourite, most integral chapters of book 2. zuko is having a nightmare and goes for a walk around the temple to calm down, which then sets zi se off crying when he wakes up and zuko's not there, and they proceed to just make each other worse from that point on. like that is the plot of the chapter. zuko starts shutting zi se out when he cant stop him crying which is when HAKODA FATHER FIGURE NO.1 finally steps in <3 he comforts zi se and puts him to bed and then comforts zuko, who has a really cathartic scene of just shouting and saying shit he's been needing off his chest for a WHILE. he falls asleep with hakoda watching over him

chapter 39: sokka drops his food plan to the delight of zukka readers everywhere. seriously i took the piss with the slowburn tag. zuko agrees to start having his meals with sokka and it goes better than expected and is also a weird take on the forced proximity trope, bc apparently shoving them in a cupboard in TBR wasn't enough. bato is On To Them. meanwhile tulok found a waterfall and tomkin bullies nanook, zuko and toph into going with him which causes our latest zuko freak out: Coming To Terms With Your Damaged Body Post-Torture. still they have fun and zuko takes a little healing step in the right direction which becomes a LEAP when it starts absolutely pissing it down. the Rain Scene u will always be famous

chapter 40: GAY CHAPTER! canon aroace kanut PLUS bato-hakoda-kanut flashback PLUS queer adults being comfortable and idiotic PLUS lesbian chena mention PLUS zuko starting to tackle his own internalised homophobia PLUS our roots of kanut and zuko bullying each other into life-changing revelations. i fed you so well with this update

chapter 41: it's decided that they're gonna leave the air temple soon but azula goes 'we leave when I SAY WE LEAVE' and ruins everything. before that though zukka go hunting and zuko gets a Very Normal Amount Of Protective over sokka when he cuts his knee. those two are making PROGRESS. tom nook have a gay sparring scene... i know the rituals are intricate... AZULA ATTACKS! tense sibling moment! mailee slaying (literally)! the gang deciding to flee! everyone splits up! zuko & tomnook go with the gaang and the swt crew go with the others! tragic. i am booed off stage

chapter 42: ZUKO AND KATARA BESTIEISMS ERA. starts off with zuko generally shutting down, being really overwhelmed to be back out in the world and retreating to his tent as a result, missing the simplicity of being back in the cell. insane thought process from your local trauma victim. tom nook try and help him but are almost TOO accomodating, and in the end it's sokka who helps most because he's able to kind of shake zuko out of it without babying him. still, zuko goes on to lash out at AANG OF ALL PEOPLE and it causes a fight between him and sokka. katara speaks to zuko alone and those two just Get Each Other i mean it we need more zuko-katara friendship in fics NOW. they relate over being angry at the things that have harmed them and being unable to forgive and move on quite as well as their peers, and the chapter ends on a really sweet note of the two of them sitting with that admission and finding solidarity in each other

chapter 43: a taob take on the southern raiders ep. katara's leftover anger bubbles over and she starts snapping at everyone. tom nook have a very fruity scene where nanook longs harder than a wife waiting for her husband to return from war. what's all that about buddy. finally, katara's bad mood comes to a head and she upsets zi se, which makes zuko feel like he needs to acknowledge her temper, but first he needs to deal w the other water tribe sib. zukka talk! zuko apologises for their spat last chapter and they have a weird 'let's promise to be vulnerable with each other in a bro way forevermore' moment. guys being dudes. sokka tells zuko about kya and why he thinks that's what has katara in such a bad mood. zuko then talks to katara and says that he can help her find the people who killed her mother if that's what she really wants. zuko and katara bestieisms will always be in any atla fic i write. katara very firmly decides she is in fact going to commit premeditated murder which sokka and aang are NOT chuffed about in fact sokka is pissed OFF with zuko and those two fight AGAIN however in the exact same pov sokka realises that he fancies zuko. lord grant me patience. katara and sokka talk it out and eventually katara decides not to commit murder. epic loss for murder everyone boo for the left-wing agenda.

[bloomingbluebell]

man... rhoam's "redemption" in aoc really sucked, huh?

like botw SHOWED us, several times, how much pressure rhoam put on zelda to unlock her powers, despite her telling him, several times, that it wasn't working. he got angry and banned her from doing not only something she saw as useful, but something that she was clearly very interested in and passionate about because she "wasn't dedicating enough time to her prayers." yes, his diary expresses regret for it, but at the end of the day, if zelda saw that it wouldn't mean much to her. the actions rhoam took, and the way zelda grew up under so much pressure that she nearly died as a child in one of the springs (this is in urbosa's diary, iirc) mean so much more than his regrets and his intentions. it took him nearly 10 years to realize that he fucked up, and by that point it was too late. the calamity had returned, and rhoam had lost any chance he had at making things right with zelda.

meanwhile, in aoc, all that's there is some half-hearted scene in the temple of time that's supposed to make everything better? yes, aoc had a very different and arguably better outcome than the calamity that led to botw, but the damage was still done by rhoam. it's still the same hurts and abuse and trauma that he put his daughter through all because of the prophesized calamity.

[musette22]

Everyone: has a rich variety of fannish interests that change and evolve over the years

Me: stucky :)) 4 eva :)

[antirepurp]

i perused the frontiers requests on gamebanana and i have to admit. that there is one character model request. that could be very chaotic of me to deliver. cathartic even. but im not sure if it would be a good idea necessarily

[corellianhounds]

Amidala the Resilient

Media: Revenge of the Sith

Rating: T

Word Count: 3,942

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, pregnancy, Force-choking, blood and injuries, traumatic labor and delivery, death in childbirth, no happy ending.

Art Credit: Iain McCaig, The Art of Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Summary: In a universe where Anakin gradually descended into the Dark side of his own volition from the beginning— where his ambition and love were genuine and admirable, but the temptation of power too much— his turn is something much more destructive and purposeful. Amidala’s plan for retaliation is just as much so.

Padmé Amidala can feel tension twinging in her back and thighs. The pit in her stomach has coalesced into a tight knot as she steels herself for what she must do, bringing a mattock and salt to the ground where pruning shears should have been used long ago.

Anakin had been too far gone for a long time, and the fault lay in her and everyone in his life willingly turning a blind eye too often to his myriad of faults. In the past two hours she has seen actions the result of which came from an upbringing where his temper, jealousy, and ambition were allowed to slide because those who thought him destined for some great cosmic good were willing to overlook occasional— and often objectively justified— acts of wrath and ruthlessness. He had always been so good at justifying his reasons and putting his actions in a more favorable light, showing enough willingness for correction over the years people thought he was receptive to guidance and change.

What she’d come to realize with dawning horror was that the seeds of destruction had been sown long ago, and though the vines had borne occasional good fruit, they had always grown with selfish intent, inevitably choking out everything around them in an effort to keep his own desires hidden behind the barrier of thorns.

In the next hour, she will come face to face with the monster of a man he’s become.

The Jedi master doesn’t know. Kenobi knows she has some plan but wrongfully assumes it is to appeal to whatever mistaken shred of humanity might remain in Anakin. Obi-Wan— even now, even after what they saw— cares for him as a brother and would sooner cut off his own hand than see Anakin completely lost to the Dark. Padmé however has finally seen clarity of purpose.

For Anakin to be stopped, he must be killed.

The ship arrives on Mustafar. Padmé wrenches herself away from the viewport as Obi-Wan lands and she gingerly lowers herself to the cargo hold, donning a cloak. Obi-Wan hurriedly finishes the landing cycle, calling her name as she gathers her strength, but she’s hardly listening to him at this point and she knows she must conceal herself from him so he has no chance of stopping her.

A hand on her shoulder makes her flinch, and the Jedi lets go almost in surprise. “Padmé, you don’t have to do this. I will talk to him.”

“No,” she says, keeping her left hand secured across her waist beneath the voluminous sleeve as she cleared a path to the lowering gangway. “He’s made it very clear he’s past the point of reasoning with the Jedi. I will speak with him, and if I cannot convince him to come with us calmly, or I cannot ascertain his next move, I expect you to do what’s necessary to end this treasonous rebellion. That is an order.”

It was all false diplomacy, of course, for his sake. Padmé had no intention of believing Anakin was anywhere close to the realm of negotiation. They were far past that.

But she needed assurance that she could get close enough to Anakin to act decisively. She couldn’t have Kenobi interfering, not at this juncture.

Oppressive heat surrounded her as she swept down the ramp to the barren ground. Magma roiled and churned, flames flickering at the edge of the peninsula as Padmé approached the figure so cloaked in darkness an aura of blackened energy almost seemed to emanate from his form. The grip of the hidden dagger dug into her hand, grounding her as she approached.

Padmé’s eyes burned with a ferocity to match her husband’s. It was time for this to end.

When Obi-Wan had seen her determination in the hold of the ship he had never for a moment anticipated what it would lead to.

Padmé steadily approached Anakin, cloak and hood protecting her from the blaze. He could see her speaking forcefully with him, her face hidden from view but Anakin’s darkening by the moment in response. His right hand, devoid of glove, clenched the hilt of an already ignited saber, the bloodshine blade standing in stark contrast to his own cloak. Its presence alone was alarming, but Obi-Wan had been subject to so many tragedies that night already, he merely assumed Anakin had readied it in the expectation of facing his master.

What Obi-Wan hadn’t known was what Padmé concealed until she tried to close the distance between them, her own blade in hand. What followed happened in the span of a heartbeat.

Anakin’s saber blocked it on instinct, easily halting the approach of Padmé’s dagger, his eyes widening in surprise. In the following moment his left hand raised and with it, so did Padmé.

Obi-Wan’s astonishment lasted only a fraction of a second as he yelled “NO!” Padmé’s feet left the ground as an invisible force clutched her neck in a crushing, intangible grip, and in the breadth of time Padmé scrabbled at her throat, Obi-Wan acted.

Anakin stumbled back from the force of the bolt hitting his shoulder, releasing his hold on Padmé. Padmé crumpled to the ground in a heap, and Anakin’s sights zeroed in on Kenobi, standing at the mouth of the ship with both blaster and lightsaber in hand. Snarling, Anakin stalked towards his old master and brought his lightsaber down, red clashing against blue.

Padmé Amidala, heartbroken and dying, drags herself bleeding to the communication console.

Kenobi can hear her movement in the bay and yells her name, telling her not to move, that he’ll come to help her as soon as the ship breaches the atmosphere, and she stalwartly ignores him, cradling the underside of her belly with one hand and using the other to support herself on the railing around the sparse artillery deck. Her broken ankle protests at every movement, sending lightning arcing up the leg where she puts her unsteady weight. The cramps in her abdomen spread like bone-coral, sharp and hot and agonizing in her pelvis, sides, back— Every tendon and muscle in her body screams at their owner to relent, to succumb to the creeping darkness pressing around her vision, but she cannot allow herself peace until she finishes what she started.

Padmé staggers at the ship’s turbulent acceleration, her forearm slamming out against the bulkhead as the lights flicker, and she curses the unsteady pilot she thought was her friend. Perhaps if she’d been accompanied by someone more decisive, someone whose fatal flaw wasn’t a love too great for a brother that no longer existed, Anakin would have been dealt with and she’d have the wherewithal to fight against the added pain of a labor she was sure would tear her in two.

Sweat pours from her brow and forces her already shaking, slippery hands to scrabble for purchase on the blasted polished finery of a spoiled noble’s ship. Her muscles spasm and she gasps in abject terror as she feels something inside her snap; the membrane within her had ruptured.

Gravity pulls on her bones as her muscles betray her, and she collapses against the bench. Fingernails scrape vinyl and she chokes out a guttural, rending cry of pain in the effort it takes to haul herself upward into the seat.

Obi-Wan is yelling again. Traitorous coward.

Padmé punches in the covert frequency on the transmitter. Her other hand rests on her stomach, her infants moving restlessly under her touch. She forces the hot flashes of pain back, shoving down every instinctive response to curl in on herself.

“Sabé—,” she says into the comm, gritting her teeth and tasting blood once more; the contractions were stronger and with a strangled grunt she yanks the comm closer, ignoring the frantic waves of worry rolling off of the useless Jedi in the pilot’s seat.

“Sabé, if you find the man who was my husband,” she chokes, the creeping black at the edges of her vision beginning to overtake her.

“Kill him.”

Obi-Wan sat listlessly on a bench in the hold, what bloodied clothing he still wore sticking to him like a second skin. His hand rested on the makeshift bassinet, a gun locker repurposed into a cradle.

He could only imagine what directive she’d felt necessary enough to strain herself to get across the sublight waves; he could only imagine because the message was encrypted and the recipient unknown, and her mind had been shielded from his probing. He didn’t know whether to blame his failed use of the Force on the heartbroken, distracted nature of his psyche being pulled in a thousand directions as he’d manually flown from Mustafar’s orbital pull in order to make the jump to lightspeed, or to blame some unknown energy stalwartly blocking him from Padmé’s mind. Reaching out to her had felt like hitting a steel wall.

The tumult of their departure had preoccupied him until he was sure he’d escaped whatever enemy fighters Anakin’s new master had sent after them, the maneuvering less of a dogfight and more of a half-cocked evasive prayer for the hull to remain intact long enough for them to break atmo. Klaxons blared and the astronav’s interface barked orders, warning him of too many systems he already knew were damaged enough that if they took even one more hit to the hull they would be obliterated; shields were failing, exterior panelling being shorn off, the pursuing fighters gaining on them— Until by some stroke of luck he’d found a slip in space to pull through and immediately jump to lightspeed.

Lightspeed jumps themselves were already hazardous to expecting parents’ health. He was terrified of the condition she had been in when he’d finally gotten her onboard, and the fact he could sense her moving with purpose somewhere below decks while he tried to shake the fighters had sent his heart rate skyrocketing.

Piloting had never been his forte. As soon as they’d hit hyperspace he’d slammed a hand against the autopilot controls and bolted from the dash, scrambling down to the hold below.

He swore under his breath, calling her name and skidding to a halt beside her. Her face twisted in agony, her hands clutching the underside of her abdomen. Obi-Wan knelt beside her, hesitant to move her and instead ran a quick check over her vitals, astonished at what he found.

Broken bones in her leg, fractured ribs, internal bleeding, damaged trachea— how had she even moved?! By all rights she should be dead and yet something had propped her up long enough for her to drag herself to the terminal and send a message.

And now she was in labor.

“Kenobi—” she spat derisively, grabbing his tunic. “Get— up—”

“Padmé, hold still, let me—”

He was cut off as a violent shudder wracked her body, her limbs curling in on herself with a gurgling cry. Panicked desperation lanced through him as he reached out and grasped tendrils of the Force, gingerly cradling her neck and attempting to delicately, swiftly mend ligaments he couldn’t see. If he was even a millimeter incorrect, she would die.

A misaligned vertebrae shifted back into place, and Padmé screamed.

Obi-Wan bit back a sob, carefully tracing his fingers on either side of the back of her neck with as much force as he dared in an attempt to still her and provide what pain relief he could as his own energy was leached from him. Padmé gasped, her eyes flying open, her expression stricken as she looked up at the ceiling. Her iron grip loosened as the tension dissipated, if only in one area. She gulped air as if coming up from the bottom of a lake, and Obi-Wan settled as he felt his strength wane. A concrete task was better than guesswork at unknown variables.

The reprieve didn’t last long; Padmé grunted in pain, convulsing as a contraction rippled through her torso again. Further assessment revealed her leggings and the floor beneath her to be drenched, and Obi-Wan’s panic flared again.

“I have to get you up—”

“If you move me I will kill you,” she spat harshly. She trembled despite the ferocity of her glare, her hand still twisted in his robe. “There is no time— Here and now, Kenobi. Make do.”

“Padmé—”

“Look around you,” she seethed. “There’s no level surface in this blasted ship big enough to work. There are no other choices. There is no one else to help. Sleeves up. Now.”

Kenobi’s brow remained twisted as he stripped off his outer tunic, knowing it was laden with silicate and volcanic dust. Padmé propped herself up on her elbows as he raced to scour his hands and forearms, coming back to remove her boots so he could work her outer garments free. Whether the blood seeping between her teeth was due to the injuries she’d sustained or because she was gritting them hard enough one had cracked, he didn’t know.

Padmé gasped again as the fracture in her shin shifted— He wanted to settle her, to fix this, but the contractions were coming more quickly and closer together. They were running out of time.

He finally seated himself before her, kneeling and shaking in just his undershirt and trousers, feeling acutely unprepared for what was to come. Battlefield triage and casualty care were the extent of his healing knowledge, and though he was adept at relieving or numbing acute nociceptive responses, it was usually with soldiers whose minds were open for him to assess areas of injury. A commander with a blaster burn would be focused on the point where his plastoid hadn’t covered. A civilian’s attention after suffering a fall would be turned to the joints and bones that took the brunt of the effects of gravity.

Labor and delivery were far too different from his experience in the medical field.

And Padmé was still blocking him out.

Her knuckles gripped bone-white to a ridge of floor plating, one knee bent and her foot planted flat. The other lay weakly to the side, and Obi-Wan grit his teeth as he raised it up to rest over his thigh despite the lancing pain he felt radiating from her, tucking a blanket beneath her and readying his hands for whatever instruction he prayed she could give. With him gathering his wits and her gathering her strength, they set to work.

The whole ordeal couldn’t have lasted longer than ten minutes, and it was the longest and most arduous process of their lives. Between her strangled cries, his intuition, and the muscle spasms that told him everything about this was wrong, Kenobi’s concern grew with the pool of blood beneath her, and she forced him to focus on the children, refusing to allow him any modicum of time spent healing her injuries between her screams. Untended bone cracked further as she thrashed, her screams echoing back in the cargo hold.

By the time Kenobi had swaddled the two squalling— living!— infants in what sterile dressing he could find from the field kit, Padmé had gone a sickly pale. Her skin was waxy under the recessed halogen lighting, her hair sticking to her forehead. Dark circles rimmed her eyes and different muscle groups continued twitching of their own accord as if sparked by electricity. Obi-Wan was torn between ensuring the infants had been properly cared for, and wanting to drag Padmé to the captain’s berth to fully assess her wounds and heal her: Padmé kept stubbornly shoving him away, tears tracking unnoticed down her face as she continued to choke out instructions for the care and keeping of her children.

He’d finally been forced to stop when that iron grip returned in full force— Padmé grabbed his arm and yanked him down to where she had propped herself up against the wall. Kenobi lurched forward, her ashen face now level with his. She forced her voice to obey despite the strain in her throat, rasping the words she needed to say.

“Keep them away from him.” The venom in her tone was undeniable. “You keep them safe, Kenobi, get— get them as far away as you can—”

Kenobi grunted, refusing to let her continue her orders. He pressed a palm to her chest, willing those wisps of energy to sustain her just a few moments longer as he tried to haul her up into his lap, coax her arm around him so he could lift her— If he could just get her somewhere comfortable, somewhere clean, if he could focus—

Padmé shrieked in pain, clawing at his chest and arms, and the sum of their separate fights came crashing down on him as the Force dissipated from his mind’s grasp. His knees gave out, his strength sapped from the energy he had poured into her, and they lay heavily back against the terminal yet again. The children cried distantly behind them.

“Padmé, please…” Obi-Wan pleaded, tears streaking down his face, but she shook her head yet again.

“Keep them safe,” she coughed, begging for the first time. “Get them away f-from—”

“He’s gone, Padmé, Anakin is gone—”

She shook her head fiercely, squeezing her eyes shut. “No. He’s there. I can feel him.”

“Listen to me— Anakin is dead, I saw him—”

“You’re wrong,” Padmé said. Her breath rattled. Tears dripped from her chin. “If— If you won’t k-kill him then t-take care o-of them. Wh-Whatever it takes.”

Her chest hitched as she gasped around the liquid filling her lungs. Her bloody hand trembled against his neck. She hiccuped, her eyes went glassy, and her hand fell away.

And in the stillness of hyperspace, Padmé Amidala Naberrie passed from one life to the next.

It had been an hour since then. Only an hour since Obi-Wan had had to keep himself from buckling under the weight of his grief, an hour since he’d sobbed on the floor of a ship as one of his oldest and dearest friends died in his arms. The former queen of Naboo, dying in the bloody cargo hold of a stolen ship, her own life stolen from her by the one person the two of them had trusted beyond measure while her infant children cried out for comfort he felt wholly incapable of providing. Obi-Wan wept alongside them, digging his fingers into the cold, unfeeling floor, wanting to scream as the agony of heartbreak threatened to overwhelm him.

So many dead, or lost. There was no solace even in the Force.

But as Obi-Wan Kenobi found himself doing so often in his life, he shoved his feelings down into the furthest recesses of his broken heart, let go of another loved one returned to the Force, and turned himself back to the task at hand.

The infants were asleep now. He’d shakily scrubbed at his face and arms with cold water and spared only enough time under the sanisteam to ensure he was clean enough to handle them before finding a spare undershirt for himself. He fed them, cleaned them up, and held both of them together against his chest as they squirmed, dissatisfied at their situation before accepting their present accommodations and falling asleep. By the ship’s chrono he had roughly two standard hours before the ship was due to drop out of hyperspace.

He sat unseeing in the captain’s berth with the ad hoc bassinet nearby. Padmé was still in the hold; he couldn’t be two places at once, and he couldn’t stay down there with the children.

Something bothered him about the infants in his arms, though. Once the girl had passed from Padmé’s body, it almost seemed like the barrier keeping him from sensing Padmé’s thoughts had broken. He was too drained and scattered to dwell on it as his last moments with her had been focused on her well-being, but despite his utter exhaustion he had a suspicion that had already begun to crystallize under the sheer openness of the twins’ young presences within hyperspace.

It troubled him.

Whatever message she’d sent was evidently received by the people she’d needed it to. Bail Organa met him at the hastily assembled but covert rendezvous, his ensuing shock and horror upon entering the ship’s docking ramp turning to commanding resolve as he followed the trail of destruction to Kenobi’s station. Organa had to shake him from his stupor before Obi-Wan could tell him of Mustafar, of the newly appointed Sith and Padmé’s scheme, and of Padmé’s last words. The senator’s brow furrowed. He knelt next to the Jedi, looking over the sleeping children.

“What of Anakin?”

Obi-Wan shook his head tiredly. “I cannot sense him. I don’t believe Anakin is alive.”

“… Who else did she contact?” Bail asked.

Tears dripped onto Obi-Wan’s shirt. “I don’t know.”

Bail sighed, bringing one hand up to rest on his shoulder. “I am truly sorry, Obi-Wan. For everything.”

Obi-Wan couldn’t respond.

Bail’s team, handpicked and vetted by the senator himself, worked below decks as the men weighed their options. The aftermath of the despotic coup was rippling out and changing by the minute; the Jedi had been slaughtered and scattered, the clones had broken all communication, and the Senate had reached a fever pitch of chaos. Anything that needed to be done had to be done now.

The feeling of loss that bordered on consuming him was one he’d rarely felt in his lifetime as acutely as he did now. The comfort he found in the Force was absent. He’d felt like a ship unmoored when his master was killed. Now it was as though he’d been dropped into the middle of a hurricane.

Bail’s hands were clasped loosely together against his forehead, elbows resting on his knees as he bowed his head in thought. Kenobi could have been a corpse for how still and gaunt he was.

“Obi-Wan…” Bail began. “Are you certain Skywalker is dead?”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan said. “I cannot sense him at all.”

Bail was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “… But you, of all people, couldn’t sense what must have been growing within him. Is it at all possible the body of Anakin remains, but the reason you cannot find him is because the man we knew is entirely lost to the Dark?”

A chilling fissure of clarity cut through Obi-Wan’s senses. His reaction told Bail everything he needed to know.

Even if it was only a suspicion, they could not afford to waste time figuring out the emperor’s next move. Anything that could be used to motivate Vader had to be hidden from public knowledge. They couldn’t leave a trace of his past behind.

Bail mulled over his thoughts, then stood, gesturing for Kenobi as his resolve hardened to steel. “Come. We have work to do. We will mourn when we are done.”

Sabé trembled with the effort it took to control her breathing. She stowed her bag behind the seat of the starship and brought the engine to life, moving with purpose as tears streamed unbidden down her face.

The ship rose, coordinates locked in place to meet the others of her gathering retinue. These weren’t the orders of former nobility, of a governing senator— This was the last request of a dying friend, someone whose very existence was woven into her bones. Padmé Amidala’s death would not be in vain.

Sabé looked out beyond the stars, her breathing finding stasis despite the ocean of grief beneath it.

“My hands are yours, Padmé,” she said to herself. “For as long duty compels them.”

She wasn’t going to kill Anakin. Not until he felt every bit of the pain and suffering he deserved.

Notes:

The line “clarity of purpose” comes from Saw Gerrera in the Andor TV show

I wrote Sabé’s line before seeing that one similar was used in one of the books. Good to know I was on the right track with a character I know very little about lol

[moongothic]

There's like a part of me that realizes that I've written so much Crocodad Meta that at this point I should probably just compile and condence it all into like a giant Propaganda Post

'Cause like. Sure it's all still on my blog, but few people are going to go digging through all the crap I've posted in the past few months for all the Crocodad Evidence, so just showing it all into a single post would make for like. IDK something I could use to make a compelling argument for why Crocodad could be real

(Also it would be more like, Crocodad evidence you might find on a more meta/narrative level, like on-going themes and Oda's story telling tropes/habits etc. Other people have already made posts that breakdown and analyze Marineford and compile all the subtle details+easter eggs etc so I wouldn't even go into any of that. I mean SURE I could regurgitate all that info too but it'd be easier to just link to someone else's post instead and save myself some time lol)

But also.

Do I really want to spend an obscene amount of time making that post. Do I really want to do that.

[aeolianblues]

hey man if converting to a new religion means you need to suddenly turn ultra-conservative and become okay with transgressions that you wouldn't have accepted outside of religious contexts and you constantly are walking on eggshells for them to accept you then WHAT is the fucking point. What's the point. 'Point of religion is peace and love and keeping a conscience and society in check' but the entry point is trial by murder. Sure. This is 100% a good, peaceful, stable and non-violent idea. 100% not a cult and brainwashing.

[fuckspn]

HUGE shoutout to the cold open of atomic monsters for making it canon that drinking demon blood would eventually turn sam into a demon, thereby retroactively making the demon blood storyline from season 4 less dumb

[josecariohca]

.

[eliquidsconchshell]

I’ve said it before and I WILL say it again ‼️‼️

Autistic Clank >>>>

[spittingspite]

10 first lines fanfiction game

Rules: share the first line of the last ten fics you wrote and tag some people

I was tagged by @cryptid-crawly

OwO now I get to root through my fics and remember how I really need to write more fhsfffjgh

1. Diagnosis: Phantom Lovestruck, chapter 3

The day hasn't even started, and Shouta is already regretting agreeing to discussing the upcoming trip in person rather than over email.

2. Untitled

Consciousness cradles Shouta almost as tenderly as sleep does, coaxing him awake before he can have the presence of mind to refuse it.

3. Smile At Your Discretion

Shouta doesn't look in the mirror often.

4. The Bonuses of Coworkers, chapter 2

Toshinori stumbles into the teacher's lounge half asleep, still yawning and rubbing his eyes.

5. Knock Knock

Toshinori's breath is hot on his skin, every brush of his lips a whisper of a promise.

6. Push 'Til I Shatter And You'll Bleed From My Shards

"Remember," Dabi's voice warns him through the receiver, "we can't help you once you go in."

7. Tied Up With Want

Toshinori wasn't sure what to expect from Aizawa's apartment.

8. Untitled

The room is silent aside from their heavy, trembling breaths, intertwining in the air to create a breathy duet for just the two of them.

9. Untitled

The warehouse the police have been led to is dirty, crumbling, and overgrown with weeds.

10. Let Me Be Your Wings, chapter 5

It's not the first time Crowley's seen the bookshop after the fire, but looking up at it now, towering tall and proud over the Bentley like nothing ever happened to it, still feels weird.

And I tag @fghtinus because I love you and your writing ❤