#people in Monster Hunter who rush in with bombs

[inseobts]

Worse than him

eustass kid x reader

a/n: reader is inspired by jinx from arcane

words count: 3k

tags: fluff, fight, b0mbs

masterlist // ko-fi

Sabaody Archipelago is where pirates running wild, marines scrambling to keep up, and an air of pure anarchy hovering over the island. For most, it’s a place to lay low, but for Eustass Kid and his crew? It’s a playground.

“You call this a challenge?” Kid’s voice booms, echoing across the street. A wrecked marine battleship lies behind him, its parts floating mid-air in a cyclone of metal. He glares at the remaining marines, daring them to make a move “Pathetic. Bring me someone who can actually fight!”

“Captain, you’re so commanding today!” you call out, standing on a pile of rubble nearby. Your hands are full of homemade explosives, and your face is lit up like a child on a sugar high “It’s so hot when you yell at people.”

Kid glances at you, half smirking “Shut it, y/n, and start pulling your weight.”

“Pull my weight?” you pout, tossing one of the grenades into a crowd of panicked marines. The explosion sends them flying, and you beam at Kidd “I’m pulling my weight and yours. You’re welcome, by the way.”

Killer groans from the sidelines, wiping blood off his scythe “Can you two flirt after we’re done here?”

Nearby, the Straw Hats and Heart Pirates are watching from the shadows, having accidentally stumbled upon the chaos.

“Who the hell is that?” Zoro mutters, squinting at you as you blow a kiss toward Kidd mid-explosion.

“She’s with Eustass Kid” Law replies, adjusting his hat with a smirk. “Looks like his kind of crazy.”

“They’re terrifying” Usopp whispers, clutching his slingshot like a lifeline “She’s scarier than him! Did you see her laughing just now?!”

“She’s… kind of adorable” Sanji says, hearts in his eyes “A beautiful woman with a fiery spirit.”

“Fiery spirit?” Nami huffs, crossing her arms “She just threw a grenade at a group of people!”

“She’s like a wild animal” Robin muses, smiling faintly “Completely unpredictable.”

“And completely insane” Franky adds, adjusting his sunglasses. “That’s some SUPER chaos over there.”

"That Kidd is like a monster anyway, we should run and leave" Usopp says trying to convince everyone to move.

Back in the fray, you’re causing a spectacle as usual. A group of marines rushes toward you, and instead of running, you grin and pull out a smoke bomb, throwing it at your feet. When the smoke clears, you’ve vanished, only to reappear seconds later behind Usopp.

“A monster?” you echo, your voice sweet and dangerous, making Usopp jump and hide behind Robin. Then your eyes drift to Kidd, who’s stomping toward a group of bounty hunters with a murderous look on his face “No… He’s perfect.”

They all blink, and Nami takes courage for one sacond to say “Perfect? He’s...he’s a lunatic!” before hiding behind Robin with Usopp.

“Oh, I know” You sigh, clutching your chest dramatically “But don’t worry... I can fix him”

You whisper the last part but somehow Killer could overhear from a few feet away and he doesn’t even hesitate to yell at you “Girl, you’re worse than him!”

The Strawhats and Heart Pirates, except for Law, collectively flinch, while you scratch your head with a shy smile, "don't believe him, he's a just a big liar" But then your smile drops and you start to run towards Killer screming "I'm gonna make him pay!"

“She’s worse?!” Usopp squeaks after you are far enough “Worse than him?!”

“That’s impressive” Robin says, watching you with a mix of amusement and disbelief.

“Disturbing” Nami mutters.

“I like her!” Luffy announces with a laugh.

“Of course you do” Zoro grumbles.

Sanji, meanwhile, is practically swooning “She’s an untamed goddess. A true queen of destruction.”

On the battlefield, you saunter back to Kidd, who just finished throwing a group of marines into the horizon “Captain, I scared away an entire squad! Aren’t you proud of me?”

Kidd snorts but doesn’t hide the smirk tugging at his lips. Instead of answering, he grabs a twisted hunk of metal from the debris and hurls it without looking, nailing a marine who was creeping up behind you. Then, his gaze snaps back to yours, intense and full of something unspoken, “You’re lucky I don’t throw you next.”

“You’d miss me too much” you reply, sticking out your tongue.

Kidd’s smirk widens, and for a second, the battlefield feels miles away. His fingers twitch at his side like he wants to reach for you, but instead, he scoffs and turns away with a huff.

The banter makes the onlookers cringe.

“They’re flirting...” Brook says.

“Flirting?” Franky shudders “That’s what you call flirting?”

“Whatever it is, it’s terrifying” Usopp mutters.

“It’s romantic! It should have been me…” Sanji protests, clasping his hands together.

Meanwhile, Kidd and the rest of his crew decide it’s time to leave before more reinforcements arrive. As they retreat, you blow a kiss toward the Strawhats and Heart Pirates, who are still standing there in the shadows.

“See you around!” you call out, laughing as you skip after Kidd.

Just as you reach him, Kidd grabs your wrist—firm, possessive. He tugs you closer until your bodies almost touch, the heat between you as electrified as the air after one of his attacks.

“Quit messin’ around” he grumbles, but his thumb brushes your skin before he lets go.

You only smirk, eyes glinting. “Admit it. You like it when I do.”

Kidd doesn’t respond, but the way he doesn’t let you stray too far speaks volumes.

“They’re insane” Nami says finally, shaking her head.

“They’re perfect for each other” Robin adds with a small smile.

“Perfectly awful” Zoro mutters.

Sanji sighs, hearts still in his eyes “She’s the woman of my dreams.”

The prison gates of Udon slam shut behind Eustass Kid, and for the first time in a long time, you are completely and utterly… alone.

Killer is missing. The rest of the crew is scattered. And Kidd, your fiery, angry anchor, is gone, dragged away.

The empty wasteland around Udon stretches for miles, but you don’t even notice. You're sitting cross-legged on a large boulder, twirling a dagger between your fingers. Your usual manic grin missing, replaced by a scowl.

You press your tongue against the inside of your cheek, staring at the horizon where Kidd disappeared. He’s stubborn, he’s infuriating, and he’s not supposed to get caught. Not without you.

“Idiots” you mutter, flicking the blade into the dirt “They just had to get caught, didn’t they? Now I’m stuck out here, babysitting myself.”

Your voice echoes in the silence, and for once, you don’t find it funny. The loneliness itches at the edges of your mind, and for a brief moment, your manic energy dims.

Then you hear footsteps crunching through the dirt.

Your head snaps up, and the grin is back instantly, sharp, wild, and unpredictable. You grab your dagger and hop to your feet.

“Who’s there?” you call, your voice lilting with mock sweetness. “Friend? Foe? Someone dumb enough to get too close?”

Out of the shadows steps Sanji.

He freezes mid-step, blinking. For a moment, the two of you just stare at each other.

“Oh,” you say, tilting your head “A pretty boy. What are you doing all the way out here, handsome?”

Sanji’s initial shock fades instantly, replaced by his usual swooning expression “A goddess like you shouldn’t be out here all alone!” he says, bowing dramatically “Allow me to escort you to safety!”

You blink at him, and then, unexpectedly, you laugh. It’s not the sharp, chaotic laugh that usually leaves people unsettled, but something softer, more genuine.

“Safety?” you echo, wiping a tear from your eye “Oh, pretty boy, that’s cute. But I like it out here. No rules, no captain yelling at me to ‘stop blowing things up.’ It’s perfect!”

Sanji straightens, clearly unsure how to handle you “You’re… not scared?”

“Scared?” You smirk, twirling your dagger “Of what? The big scary Beast Pirates? Please. I could handle them in my sleep.”

Sanji scratches the back of his head, glancing around nervously “You’re, uh… not with Kaido, are you?”

The question makes you laugh again, this time the unhinged, unsettling kind “Kaido? Oh, no, no, no. I’m with me. And sometimes I’m with my captain. But right now?” You spread your arms wide, spinning in a slow circle “It’s just little old me against the world.”

Sanji doesn’t know what to make of you. On the one hand, you’re clearly dangerous. On the other hand…

“Little old you, huh?” he says, smirking slightly.

Your grin widens “You catch on quick, pretty boy. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Sanji. Cook of the Straw Hat Pirates.”

“Straw Hat…?” You narrow your eyes, thinking “Oh! You mean that idiot who got himself thrown in prison with my captain?”

Sanji stiffens “Your captain? Wait...how could I forget a beauty like you!! You are part of Kid’s crew!”

“Ding, ding, ding!” you sing, clapping your hands “Give the man a prize!”

Sanji’s instinct is to back away slowly, but before he can, you lean in closer, examining him like a scientist studying a specimen.

“You’re funny” you say, tilting your head “And kinda cute. Maybe if I met you before Kidd, you’d stand a chance.”

Sanji swallows hard. “Uh… Really???? thanks?”

Your smirk falters, just for a moment. You glance toward the prison again, shoulders tensing before you quickly mask it with your usual bravado. But Sanji doesn’t miss the way your fingers tighten around the hilt of your dagger, like it’s the only thing keeping you steady.

“Have you… heard anything about them?” you ask softly, almost too quietly for Sanji to hear “Kid or Killer?”

The question catches him off guard. He’s not sure how to respond to this version of you, the one that isn’t grinning or threatening or tossing explosives.

“I’m not sure” he says finally “But… if they’re as stubborn as you, I’m sure they’re fine.”

You stare at him for a beat too long, and for once, Sanji doesn’t see wild amusement in your eyes but just raw, unspoken worry. Then, just like that, you snap back into place, a smirk tugging at your lips as you punch him lightly on the shoulder.

“Good answer” you say, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “I guess I won’t use you for target practice.”

Sanji smiles nervously, lighting a cigarette “Glad to hear it.”

“Come on,” you say, turning on your heel and motioning for him to follow. “Let’s find somewhere less boring to be.”

“Wait—what?”

“You’re with me now, pretty boy! Let’s make some chaos!”

Sanji sighs, but there’s a small, resigned smile on his face “This is going to be a nightmare, or a dream?”

You glance back at him with a knowing grin, your eyes glinting in the dim light.

“Oh, absolutely” you reply cheerfully, not really answering his question.

Sanji brings you back to the others after realizing you’re a magnet for chaos, and that leaving you alone in Wano might cause more problems for everyone.

When you meet the rest of the Strawhats, their reactions range from mild amusement to outright terror.

“Sanji. Explain” Nami demands, rubbing her temples. “Why did you bring her here?”

Sanji straightens his tie, trying to look nonchalant “Well, my dear Nami-swan, leaving a breathtaking lady like her alone in this dangerous place would be unforgivable!” He clears his throat. “And, uh… she might set something on fire.”

“That crazy one from Kid’s crew?” Zoro’s voice is flat, his hand already on the hilt of his sword. “Are we seriously doing this?”

“She’s not dangerous!” Sanji insists, trying to look calm, though sweat is running down his temple “Well, not to us. Probably.”

“Not dangerous?” Usopp squeaks, hiding behind Nami “Did you see the explosives? She’s definitely dangerous!”

You ignore their bickering, tilting your head as you survey the group. “So you’re the Straw Hats, huh? You don’t look as dumb as your captain.”

“Luffy’s not dumb!” Chopper snaps, puffing up his chest.

“Chopper, don’t provoke her!” Usopp hisses.

You crouch to Chopper’s eye level, grinning “Aww, look at you. You’re adorable. Maybe I won’t blow you up, either.”

Chopper freezes, torn between pride at being called adorable and terror at the implied threat.

“Anyway” Nami cuts in, arms crossed “why are you here, exactly? Shouldn’t you be off with your own crew?”

The question wipes the grin off your face. For a moment, you look almost lost “Kidd got himself thrown in prison, with your Captain” you admit “Killer’s missing. I don't know about the others. I’m the only one left.”

Robin watches you closely, her eyes narrowing in thought “And what about you?” she asks “What’s your plan?”

Your grin returns, sharper than ever. “Oh you're really beautiful! You sure you don’t want to run away with me instead? Anyway I don’t need a plan. I’ll just wing it.”

“That explains a lot,” Zoro mutters.

“Wait, wait, wait” Usopp interrupts, waving his arms “She doesn't seem that bad right now but why is she here? She's still from Kid’s crew? That guy’s a psychopath how can we trust her!”

At that, your entire demeanor shifts. You straighten, your grin turning into a challenging smirk “Careful what you say about my Captain” you warn, your voice low.

“Oh no” Usopp whispers, shrinking behind Franky.

“He’s not wrong, though” Zoro says casually.

You look at him, tilting your head, and then grin wider “Oh, I know. He’s terrible, but he’s my kind of terrible.”

“Wait,” Nami says, holding up a hand “Let me get this straight because I love myself some gossip. He yells constantly, gets into fights every five minutes, and has the worst temper imaginable… and you like him?”

You laugh, twirling a knife in your fingers “Like him? Sweetheart, I’d set the world on fire for him.”

The group collectively recoils.

“She’s insane” Zoro says flatly.

“She’s so romantic” Sanji argues.

“She’s going to kill us all” Usopp wails.

"She's funny" Robin says smiling at her and you smile back.

The group groans collectively, but secretly, some of them are starting to like you. A little. Maybe.

The sun is barely starting to set when you finally find them.

Kidd and Killer, both still recovering from what happened in prison, stand on the outskirts of the battlefield. The war in Wano is about to kick off, and you’re not one to miss a front-row seat to the chaos. The Strawhats and Heart Pirates are already preparing for the inevitable, but you have something else on your mind: your boys.

“Kid! Killer!” you yell, rushing forward, a wild grin spreading across your face.

Kidd looks up first, his cold gaze piercing through the chaos around him. For a second, he just stares, as if making sure you’re really there. When he spots you, his lips twitch upward into an almost imperceptible smirk.

Something in your chest loosens.

“I thought you’d have blown something up by now” Killer remarks, crossing his arms with a smirk that, despite the mask, you can tell is amused.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it!” You hold up your knife, a wicked gleam in your eyes “Wanna make things more interesting?”

Kidd grunts, clearly still in his “don’t give a damn” mood, but there’s an edge of relief in his voice “I see you’re still the same.”

“Of course! What did you expect? I’m not the kind of girl who changes just because of a little alone time.” You flash them a mischievous wink “Besides, I wasn’t really alone”

Killer laughs dryly, clearly not sure whether he should be worried “that’s good”

Kidd’s eyes narrow slightly “What do you mean?”

You smirk, stepping closer, knowing exactly what you’re doing “I made some… interesting friends while you were locked up.”

“Tch.” Kidd scoffs, but there’s something sharp in his gaze. “You’re trouble.”

You lean in just slightly, voice dropping into something more teasing “And you love that about me.”

For once, Kidd doesn’t fire back. He just exhales through his nose, tilting his head at you, eyes dark and unreadable.

You clap Killer on the shoulder, causing him to stiffen “Anyway, let’s get to the good stuff. I can’t wait to see all the destruction.”

At this point, the rest of the group catches up to you, Zoro, Nami, and the rest of the Strawhats, along with the Heart Pirates, have gathered, watching the reunion with a mix of surprise, curiosity, and a little bit of fear.

Nami grins at you “You found them!”

“Of course I did. You didn’t think I’d leave my poor Captain behind, did you?” You turn back to Kid and Killer “These are the Straw Hats. You’re gonna love them. Probably.”

“Love them?” Zoro snorts, rolling his eyes.

“She’s already trying to make us all blow up” Usopp adds, gesturing vaguely to the chaos around you.

“Oh, come on. I’m not that bad.” You wink at Usopp. “Unless you want to make things fun. Then, we can talk about explosions, I saw you use a similar technique anyway”

“You’re insane” Franky says, his robotic eye narrowing at you.

“Well, someone has to be. Might as well be me.” You grin widely.

Luffy suddenly hops forward “Hey, hey! We’re gonna be awesome together! So fun!!”

You nod enthusiastically, your eyes glinting with excitement. “Absolutely” you look at Kid, then back at Luffy “Though, I think your idea of fun might be a little different from mine.”

Zoro, trying to stay focused, huffs “Can we stop with the chit-chat? The war’s about to begin.”

“Right!” You clap your hands, finally taking a step back and getting into the serious mood “Let’s do this. Just remember, I’m not responsible for any ‘accidental’ explosions.”

Kid rolls his eyes but finally speaks up. “Don’t blow me up.”

You place a hand on your chest, feigning innocence “Oh, Kid, you wound me.” Then, after a beat, your voice drops, and you flash him a sly smile “I always make sure you walk away in one piece.”

Kidd doesn’t reply immediately, but his jaw clenches slightly, his smirk lingering just a little too long.

And then, the war begins.

It’s pure chaos from the start. The clash of swords, the explosions, the screams, and the shouts of warriors all around you, it’s the kind of battlefield you thrive in. It’s almost as if the chaos is where you truly come alive.

You find yourself charging headfirst into the fray, with Kidd and Killer close behind. The Strawhats and Heart Pirates are close by, taking on their own foes. You’re all part of the same fight now. There’s an undeniable bond forming between you and your new allies.

As you duck beneath a swing of a blade, you roll to the side, barely avoiding being cleaved in two. You throw a knife, hitting the enemy square in the chest, and grin as they fall to the ground.

“Oh, you’re all so predictable.” You say, practically skipping over their bodies. “You’ve got to mix it up more, or this’ll be over too quickly.”

Your laughter rings out, and in the midst of the battle, your eyes lock with Kidd’s for a split second. His lip curls into a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but something shifts in the air between you two. You feel a spark.

Robin, on the other side of the battlefield, has been watching you, her calm demeanor contrasting yours. She tilts her head thoughtfully and smirks.

You throw a playful wink her way.

Zoro is the next to speak, though his tone is oddly respectful. “You’re… not the worst, I guess. I mean, you seem perfect for him—chaotic, dangerous, and a little insane. Maybe more than a little.”

You laugh, twirling another knife in your hand. “You have no idea, sweetheart. But we make it work.” You glance over to Kidd, who’s taking down a group of enemies with brutal efficiency. “He’s like a wild storm, and I’m the lightning that follows him.”

You throw a glance at Kidd, and for just a moment, the two of you share a silent, knowing look—a fleeting exchange that’s heavier than it seems.

Killer, walking beside you, shakes his head in amusement “I'm actually impressed by this metaphor, it's perfect”

“You know I'm smart” you say with a grin, your voice a mix of affection and madness “Hey, if we survive this, maybe we can all have a drink after. I like the strawhats”

“Just don’t blow the bar up” Kidd grumbles, his eyes narrowing at you.

“Promises, promises” you sing back, dodging another strike and lunging forward with a wild, chaotic laugh. “Come on, guys! Let’s make sure we leave our mark on Wano!”

The battle rages on, but you and Kidd seem to gravitate toward each other. A few more waves of enemies fall under your combined onslaught. Every time you find yourself near him, his eyes catch yours, a brief, almost tender moment between the chaos.

As the last of the forces retreat and the dust settles, you stand side by side, both covered in sweat and grime, but your smiles say it all.

You turn to Kidd, eyes glinting mischievously “Well, we did it. I guess you could say we’re... unstoppable together.”

He looks at you, a rare smirk tugging at his lips. His voice is quieter now, softer than it’s been all day “You’re more trouble than you’re worth... but yeah. Maybe we are.”

Without warning, you step closer, your heart pounding as your fingers brush against his arm. Kidd doesn’t step back. Instead, he leans in just enough that the distance between you is minimal, your breath mingling. The battlefield seems to disappear, leaving only the two of you in the midst of a storm of emotions.

“You know,” you whisper, “I think I’m starting to like you even more than the explosions.”

Kidd’s eyes narrow, but there's something different in his gaze now. “Then you’ll love this,” he mutters, and before you can say another word, his lips crash against yours.

For a moment, everything else fades. The noise of the battle, the world around you—it’s all gone. The kiss is fierce, hungry, as though it’s been a long time coming, and the chaos of the battlefield now feels like a distant memory.

When he pulls away, both of you are breathless.

“Never a dull moment with you,” he says with a smirk.

You grin back, your heart racing “Not a chance.”

[4d-hypermoth]

The Game Awards, but just the announcements I care about:

Pony Island 2: Panda Circus - I have very vague memories of watching a playthrough of the first game, and the sequel looks absolutely bonkers in the best of ways. Also SUNGWON!

Usual June - Not much to say except it looks cool and I hope it turns out good.

Windblown - Never played Dead Cells despite everyone saying it's great, but man they really did just brutally murder those little animal dudes. Awesome.

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla - Free update!? Based. Also that was absolutely a cyclops, I'm curious if they tie back in some Greek mythology stuff.

Big Walk - I have no idea what this game is but it better win Game of the Year 2025.

No Rest for the Wicked - Not quite sure what the game itself it, except that it's gorgeous.

5 New Sega Games - JET SET RADIOOOOO- ahm, I mean, this might just be the highlight of the entire show for me, despite how little was shown. Sega has so many cool old games that haven't seen the light of day in so long (though Streets of Rage had a game somewhat recently I think?). Anyway I'm going to break this up into individual sections despite each one having about 5 seconds of footage, lol

Jet Set Radio - Obviously this game was in production well before the release of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, but I guarantee people are going to be way more hype for this thanks to Team Reptile. Seeing DJ Professor K in this new style sent me to a higher plane. Can't wait for more on this one.

Streets of Rage - I'm not really a beat 'em up enjoyer, but it's interesting that this game is going 3D.

Shinobi - This game looks very pretty. High hopes for this one. Hope it takes notes from all the big indie platformers of the last decade.

Golden Axe - This one looks veeeery interesting. I'm only vaguely familiar with OG Golden Axe, but the art style and the game being 3D have certainly caught my eye.

Crazy Taxi - HEY HEY HEY IT'S TIME TO MAKE SOME CRRRAZY MONEY ARE YOU READY? HERE WE GO! Very curious how they adapt this one into a modern title. YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH

OD - I'm not interested in playing this (I mean we don't even know what the game is besides horror... with really detailed faces), but it's a Kojima game so I'll nonetheless watch it from a distance. Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele is a wild combo.

Black Myth: Wukong - Holy shit it has a release date. This game has looked insane since it's reveal, hope it lives up to the years of hype.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau - Everyone's fixating on the Critical Role logo lol. This one's got style and I hope it does well, but I'm not really a metroidvania guy so I'll probably pass.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Cid real!

Blade - There are very few potential Marvel projects I'd be interested in this point... luckily Blade is still cool XD

Not a game, but after that Old Gods of Asgard performance... do I need to check out Alan Wake 2??? XD

Guilty Gear Strive updates - The original gun-wielding menace has returned. Dig the new outfit. I know at least one person who will be thrilled at Elphelt's return. Curious as to how this 3v3 mode will play.

Was not expecting Elden Ring DLC news - they literally said that it was still a ways off, so idk why so many people were expecting a trailer. Happy for Monster Hunter fans, even if I'll never get the appeal of those games. So many shooters with forgettable titles and/or minimal gameplay shown. And apparently Fortnite is a games platform now? Weird.

Congrats to Baldur's Gate 3 for winning the things. See yall next year when Foamstars sweeps the Game Awards.

[maximuswolf]

Top Games from the 2020s so far (according to Glitchwave)

Top Games from the 2020s so far (according to Glitchwave) I like Glitchwave's algorithm since it gives smaller games a fighting chance of visibility if people like them enough. It's not perfect, but it does lead to more varied lists than those that the likes of Metacritic might make. It's still mainly AAA/AA games and indie darlings so there's not too many surprises if you follow multiple gaming sources, but hey, you might find something.Not including remakes since I don't think that's really fair. There's a few edge cases such as the Final Fantasy VII remakes, but I try to keep this consistent. I hope I didn't miss anything.Games which were on Early Access are included by their full release date, so if something feels like it's too old to be here that's the likely cause.100 Little Nightmares II99 Crow Country98 Streets of Rage 497 Wrestling Empire96 Persona 5 Strikers95 Paradise Killer94 Betrayal at Club Low93 Alisa92 Spiritfarer91 Northern Journey90 Final Fantasy XVI89 The King of Fighters XV88 Satisfactory87 UNSIGHTED86 The Jackbox Party Pack 785 Sifu84 Astro's Playroom83 Class of '09: The Re-Up82 Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix81 Deep Rock Galactic80 The Forgotten City79 Monster Hunter Rise78 Ctrl Alt Ego77 Blasphemous 276 Citizen Sleeper75 Tunic74 NORCO73 Kid A Mnesia Exhibition (note: Glitchwave is an offshoot of RateYourMusic so this one has fan bias)72 Helldivers 271 Marvel's Spider-Man 270 Spelunky 269 Roadwarden68 Live A Live67 Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart66 Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name65 Shin Megami Tensei V64 Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown63 Nioh 262 Tales From Off-Peak City61 Pseudoregalia60 Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition59 Lies of P58 If Found...57 Your Only Move Is Hustle56 Before Your Eyes55 Guilty Gear: Strive54 Resident Evil Village53 HYPER DEMON52 Immortality51 Ghost of Tsushima50 Tekken 849 Chicory: A Colorful Tale48 Unicorn Overlord47 Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk46 Crusader Kings III45 Risk of Rain 244 Splatoon 343 Returnal42 Xenoblade Chronicles 341 Who's Lila?40 Caves of Qud39 Bomb Rush Cyberfunk38 Arches37 Animal Well36 Hitman 335 Hi-Fi Rush34 The Case of the Golden Idol33 Kirby and the Forgotten Land32 Super Mario Bros. Wonder31 Hylics 230 Street Fighter 629 The Last of Us Part II28 Ori and the Will of the Wisps27 Inscryption26 Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon25 Neon White24 Lost Judgment23 Balatro22 Factorio21 Yakuza: Like a Dragon20 Clone Hero19 God of War Ragnarök18 SIGNALIS17 Pikmin 416 Pentiment15 Metroid Dread14 Psychonauts 213 OMORI12 Echo11 Hades10 Alan Wake 29 DOOM Eternal8 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth7 Cruelty Squad6 Pizza Tower5 Fear & Hunger 2: Termina4 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom3 Elden Ring2 Half-Life: Alyx1 Baldur's Gate 3Here's the list at the time of writing. You can filter by user tags if you want to further explore. Do note these charts periodically update so by the time you read this the order might have shifted. Submitted July 29, 2024 at 05:53PM by Lord_Spy https://ift.tt/nKlBqub via /r/gaming

[blueempty]

I forgore for two days ahaaa

I've been so late to work the past two days I forgot to look up at da sky on the way. My mind has been in a fog for like a month now but like I've been truckin. I've been worse before. But after I ranted to my mom yesterday about how hopeless civilization is, today she game me my birthday OLED Switch 21 days early because her and my brother noticed that i was "not doing well" and "seemed like I might not make it another day". Which is nice of them to notice but I guess I've been radiating that feeling more than normal even though I'm like, mostly fine. I dont feel any crazier than normal but who know

I have been feeling kinda like I'm in a time loop cuz I keep having the same conversations about shit with the same people constantly. I need to reach out and aquire more friends. Not to replace the ones I have now but ya know. Its hard to keep up with people but I gotta try a little more

But all my switch stuff is transferred and my games are downloading. Im really excited to see what Metroid Prime looks like on this thang cuz my brother has an OLED but didnt get Metroid so I couldnt look at it before. This is gonna be my excuse to load up a bunch of things i havent played in a while like Bomb Rush and Merroid Dread. It was good timing too cuz me and my partner have been playing monster hunter GU and she can get through two load walls before I clear one, so Ive been in need of a newer device lol

Peace and Long Life

[natdafat]

Some people love to rush in with bombs when the monster sleeps.

[up-sideand-down]

barret and cloud swap roles au 👀

Barret never volunteered to join ShinRa. The Corel Rebellion was quickly crushed and ShinRa agreed to let bygones be bygones if the town gave up men and women to be conscripted. Barret volunteered to save his wife and his best friend. In the end, it didn't matter. The town rebelled again and ShinRa destroyed it. Myrna was killed in the bombing. Dyne survived long enough to get to Midgar where he found Barret again. He gave his daughter up to him after Barret swore he would take care of her. Dyne was killed back in Corel when he tried to fight back again. Barret never had any ambition of rising in this company, but he made it to corporal when he was sent on a mission to some podunk town called Nibelheim. He left Marlene with a trusted friend, Kunsel. They had an agreement that if anything happened to Barret, Marlene would be placed somewhere safe. Kunsel knew places.

Cloud never left the town. He was still a mild outcast, but he made a good reputation as a monster hunter and slapdash engineer. He made deliveries around the area too. Tifa led the Soldiers and Troopers up the mountain. She told Cloud about how weird everything was. That night...the town went up in flames. Cloud didn't manage to save many people, but he did save his mother and the surviving infantry man. Cloud led the survivors out of Nibelheim and through the wilderness. He avoided ShinRa as best he could, knowing all of them were now just wanted dead.Barret didn't wake up to see who saved him, but he did follow Tifa up the mountain back to the reactor.

Barret could understand Sephiroth's anger, but not the destruction of the whole planet. When he cut down that little girl...he saw Marlene falling in her place. Barret would never let anything happen to his little girl. Zack didn't manage to stop Sephiroth, but Barret took his sword. He ran Sephiroth through the back as he looked at that thing in the reactor and talked to it. Sephiroth didn't fall though. Barret held his own until Sephiroth cut off his arm. Bloodied and loosing blood, Barret rammed Sephiroth off the catwalk like a rushing bull. Sephiroth fell and Barret damn near did too. The last thing Barret saw was Zack trying to reach for him as a man dragged the girl away. Marlene was safe now. He closed his eyes.

Zack and Barret were locked in the Nibelheim laboratory for years after the incident. Hojo and Scarlet used Barret as their guinea pig. Hojo used mako, Scarlet used technology. Barret's prosthetic arm was very painful. Scarlet lost interest before Hojo, but eventually they declared Barret useless. Finally, Zack managed to break out and took Barret with him. He knew Barret had a kid...he couldn't leave him there to rot and get prodded at. He carried Barret almost all the way to Midgar before they were ambushed. Zack was killed. Barret awoke moments before he died. Barret's psyche was fractured and parts of Zack filled in the pieces. He fixed up his arm and figured he was a Soldier. He had no memories of Marlene anymore.

Cloud and his mother eventually made it to Midgar. They stayed in the slums, working for what they could. Eventually Cloud made name for himself as a fighter and joined Avalanche. He didn't last long. Losing his town gave him a deep hate for ShinRa, but he wasn't a good fit in the organization. But he did finally make friends. During one of his last raids, he discovered ShinRa was taking kids from Leaf House to use for experiments. He found a little girl down there and took her away. Her name, Marlene. Kunsel had though Leaf House would be safe, but he was wrong. Marlene swore her papa would be coming back someday. Cloud can't bear to crush her dreams. His mother quickly adopts her though and Cloud becomes her older brother. Cloud's new Avalanche is getting ready for the big shot, taking down reactors once and for all. They just need someone big to fight. Cloud's a great shot and all...but they need more.

And that's when they get introduced to the Ex-Soldier with the hellish prosthetic. Barret Wallace.

[tokoyamisstuff]

Just My (Blood) Type - Hisoka x Ghoul! Reader⭐️—__—💧

A/N: I’ve started to rewatch HxH again, and you guys need to suffer for it. Sorry. That stupid Crossover-idea had been stuck in my mind for some time, and October a fitting time for a reveal, right?

Of all the f/o I ever had, that damn Clown is my guilty pleasure.

Summary: At first sharply cutting off Hisokas flirtatious advances, you soon realize that there’s more to him than just a repulsive murderer.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of past abuse, Blood.

Noticeable: Gender Neutral! Reader (not 2 GIFs tho), POC suitable (no mentions of blushing, etc...), I used all the Hisoka GIFs I could find

Fandoms: HxH, Tokyo Ghoul (kinda)

Words: ~2400

“The second participant to arrive at the goal is No. 13, Y/N Y/L/N” a robotic voice announced via speakers. “It took 3 hours and 27 minutes.”

So this was the end of the Trick Tower already, huh?

Not really as great a challenge as you hoped for, but whatever. That fact really wasn’t a surprise, considering that you were a Nen-User.

This whole exam up until now was a piece of cake more than anything else. Nothing exciting or challenging at all for a change.

You sighed loudly, your audible disappointment echoing through the great and almost empty hall. 

Only a dim light would brighten up the prison cell, and there didn’t really seem to be anything to kill time. So you sat down right where you stood, back leaning against the cold stone wall.

At first, you wouldn’t even bother asking yourself who had entered the goal first - until you heared an all too familiar voice.

“Congratulations. ★ I’ve expected nothing less of you.”

Goddamn it.

Before you could even find a sassy remark, the man itself already stood in front of you. Looking up, nothing less than a broad welcoming smile was playing on his lips.

“Mind if I take a seat?”

Your posture immediately stiffened as you pulled your knees tightly against your chest. 

“Yeah. And now get lost!” At least he didn’t underestemate you - otherwise it could mean your imminent death.

He wouldn’t even try to conceal his bloodlust, does he?

Ever since you first met, you gave it your best to not cross his way throughout the whole Hunter Exam - yet for some reason, he seemed to be enjoying your presence, almost as if searching for you.

“My, my...” Instead of keeping his distance, the man just sat down right next to you, making himself at home. “May I ask what I’ve done to deserve such hatred directed at me?”

Only now you realized that the Nen you emitted was an open book to your feelings.

Hopefully he didn’t notice that you were afraid of him...any hint of weakness, and you’d probably be done for.

Yet still: Hisokas voice had always been so tender and kind - a huge contrast to his true self, you thought.

That was not the only contradiction surrounding the mysterious magician. And you knew a things or two about that kind of behaviour yourself.

Only one thing was sure to you: That man was dangerous.

It was obvious what kind of monster was right next to you - his prey. How could this man stay so perfectly calm and contain himself, considering the fact that he radiated this huge amount of bloodlost?

This could only mean this was his natural state of being - and the fact alone made you shiver.

Not answering him, your eyes wandered everywhere but his direction. You remained silent as you scanned the room for any exits, but to no avail.

The two of you were all alone - for 68 hours at max.

Only god knows when the other participants will arrive and end your misery of that unsettling closeness.

“Rumor spreads that you’re planning to become a Head Hunter” the magician tried to engage in a smalltalk, putting his hand on his chin. “Why would that be?”

“Don’t play the fool, Hisoka.”

You were sure that he saw you using nen back in the Milsy Wetlands at least once, so it should be pretty obvious to him: There simply wasn’t any other choice for you to live without a guilty conscience.

“No, I honestly don’t understand” he chuckled, trying to get your attention. “Why someone so innocently looking would want such a profession, I mean.”

Gulping harshly, you now dared to meet his glare. “Look: Stop fucking with me. If you want to kill me, do it quick - but stop strolling for time, or whatever wicked game you’re playing right now.”

Of course you’d struggle, maybe even put up a fight - but in the end, Hisoka was so much more experienced than you.

And you knew damn well opposite to you, he was enjoying spilling the blood of innocents if it had to be.

For a brief second, all of his pretence dropped and he looked shocked, a little bit offended even.

“And why should I do that?”

“Drop the act” you retorted harshly, “It’s annoying. I know all stories about you, even saw you kill before my very eyes. You’re a murderer. I bet, for the likes of you, killing comes to you like breathing.”

“You’re one to talk” he answered, not sounding any less polite, “I could feel your bloodlust throughout the whole tower.”

Now your face dropped as well, and only now you felt how you were shaking - not out of fear, but anger.

“I took that as an invitation” the mage spoke playfully, letting his tongue run over his lips. “Your bloodlust lures me to you every time. We’re not that different, are we? I knew from the very first second.”

What a pain in the ass. And you were not talking about his demeanour. No.

You were simply disappointed in yourself.

For years and decades, you had principles goddamnit! Certainly you’ve never really been a saint, but...well, ever since you first found yourself lost in those golden eyes, you threw your moral compass overboard.

How could you dare to betray yourself like that and feel anything else than remorse for such a vile being?

Why the hell did you feel so damn attracted to someone you simultaneously wanted to either punch or run away from?!

“And what the hell do you want from me, then?! Why are you telling me all of this?”

“I’m just curious” he smiled, face leaning closer to yours.  “That’s all.”

You crossed your arms, now awkwardly relaxed yet still annoyed. Furrowing your brows, you just had realized that Hisoka actually managed to engage in a conversation with you.

“You first” you almost gnarled, staring him down expectantly.

“Why not?” he shrugged as he began shuffling his cards in the meantime. “There’s no greater reason behind my doing, my dear. It’s true: I enjoy killing. But I don’t do it all random. I have standarts too, you know? The people you saw me kill in here were an exception: They were way weaker, but they surrounded and attacked me first. Simple self-defense.”

Yeah. Of course.

It would’ve been way too easy for him to simply escape or at least make them unable to fight without decapitating them, but he chose otherwise.

Hisoka wrang out a twisted sound, almost like a cruel laugh as he awaited your reaction.

“Sounds like a cheap excuse. A murderer is still a murderer.”

“Tzch. What a shame.” Your words didn’t really touch him - not that you expected them to awake any kind of regret in him. “I thought you to be different than the others. Smarter.” 

You had to admit: Usually, Hisoka won’t lay a finger on innocent or weaker people. Most of the time - if he needed something from them, at least - he was very curteous, even. Or he’d simply act like they didn’t exist, sparing them from a cruel fate.

But that was part of his facade, too: A selfish man who could both be pleasure and doom, considering what would be to his favor.

“And what would that ‘standarts’ be?” You rose an eyebrow, still irritated that you kept conversating about such a useless topic.

“Good you ask” he pointed his index finger in the air, almost as if lecturing you. “I think most people are like me in a way, maybe just not so extreme. They desire to compete with powerful enemies.”

Yeah, that much is probably true - especially in the world of a Hunter.

For some people, there’s nothing better in this world than the adrenaline rush of a real fight. Especially when they need to get all out - mentally as well as physically - to survive.

You on the other hand wished you even had such a choice, and if you had, you’d obviously choose a peaceful life instead of that of a suicidal idiot.

But to each their own, right?

“Want to help me out?” He meant the card house he was building, handing you over some cards as he continued explaining. “I’d never simply kill a person that isn’t prepared or doesn’t accept a challenge. An opponent needs to give it their all - it has to be a battle between equals.”

A shaky moan escaped his throat, face tiwsting in excitement - almost seeming aroused - as he stated “My greatest pleasure comes when such people crumple to their knees and look down upon their disbelieving faces as their plans fail!”

“You really are creepy” was your plain answer, placing the last layer of the card house on top. “Do you know that?”

“Of course. I’m mad, not stupid.”

So this is what this is about.

“Now’s your turn, dollface.” The fact that he still maintained his usual, sly attitude, as well as the nicknames made you more flustered than you wanted to admit.

“I’m not human.” You revealed this fact as if it was nothing, throwing your hands into the air as if you had been catched. “At least not fully. Not anymore. It’s hard to explain, really.”

“I’m listening.”

That caught you off guard: You just dropped this huge bomb of a fact - and instead of being taken aback, he’s intrigued more than anything?!

Well - it’s Hisoka. Why are you even surprised?

It took you a while to collect all of your thoughts, since this was the first time you’d ever tell someone about your past. And gladly, Hisoka just sat there in silence, invested in his cards until you were ready.

“Long story short: I was a child slave. No need to spit out all the details, but you can imagine. Hard times, torture, abuse...I was on the brink of death when my Nen manifested as some kind of defense-mechanism.”

Now you felt like you were experiencing a headache. It was nothing new to you - this happened whenever you tried to surpress the flashbacks.

Burying your head into your hands, tears of regret filling the rim of your eyes, you forced yourself to continue.

“I knew nothing about Nen, yet as if naturally, I made a Restriction and Pledge on that day: The blood of the guilty must be shed. I’d do anything to get the power to achieve this. And whatever kind of higher might determinds the conditions, it took that sentence of mine very literal.”

“So you’re-”

“...a Ghoul, yes. My hatred was powerful enough to save my life, yet the price I had to pay for this power is something I can’t take to this day. So I’ll become a Head-Hunter and still my thirst for blood only on the bodies of criminals worthy of death.”

You’ve expected any kind of reaction: Disgust, scorn, scolding you for doing something so reckless - even attacking you right here.

However, the mage suddenly broke out in huge amusement, his muscular chest having as he laughed loudly and heartily. “You’re not very good of a story-teller.”

There was no time to react, your baffled self only able to look as Hisoka grabbed one of the cards out of a whim, infusing it with Nen.

But instead of attacking you, he cut his wrist without even twitching: Deeply enough to draw blood, yet not to leave a scar.

“Well, you must be hungry, right? Long day, many fights...”

You wanted to object, but instead of syllables your throat suddenly felt dry as if strangulated with barbwire: Seeing him licking his own blood from the card turned this invitation into sweet torture.

Usually it was no problem for you to hold back, even for weeks if it had to be - but for some reason, you desired his blood more than anyones ever before.

“No need to be shy” the man cooed, presenting his wrist to you. “When was the last time you ate?”

The blood was already dripping to the floor, making you desperate as you closely watched every drip. “W-Why are you doing this?”

“I want to see it, Y/N. Do both of us a favor, won’t you?”

There was no use in struggling against your instincts - and as soon as your tongue gently incorporated the red liquid, there was no going back.

Involuntarily, your fangs dug deep into his flesh, yet all that came out of Hisoka’s mouth were ecstatic groans - you weren’t quite sure if it was because of the pain or the strenght of your Nen.

How humiliating.

You despised that appearance of yours: Red irises, the rest of your eyes just a black pit. Together with those flame-like wings made from Nen, most people would say you came from hell itself.

But Hisoka wasn’t disgusted in the slightest - no, quite the opposite.

“Beautiful.💖”

You felt a pet on your head, long fingers digging into your hair as you finally let go off of his arm. “No, you can keep going until you’re satisfied. I heal quick, it’s no problem.”

He didn’t mean your appearance - to Hisoka, only power was attractive.

But still: Never before someone had seen you the way you were now and called you something else than a monster.

Licking your lips, you noticed that his blood tasted sweet: A lot like bubble gum. That was a surprise.

Pulling you over to his lap, Hisoka’s lips needily crashed over yours - and you didn’t reject, rather melting into his touch while he explored your mouth, tasting his own blood on your tongue.

His grip was tight and gentle at the same time, fingernails digging deep inside your flesh so he’d be able to control his murderous instincts.

He felt warm. And somewhat safe, even though that sounded ridiculous considering the situation.

After a while, your bodies would finally part again, leaving you both to gasp for fresh air. Your mind was still clouded by all those confusing emotions - yet Hisoka, pleased by the outcome, seemed to be very much petrified:

“This may be the beginning of a wonderful friendship.”

[mythrilhusk]

Korosensei Never Dies - Chapter 4

Words - 1752 Ao3 Version  Chapter 3 (Last) Chapter 5 (Next)

"Rise!" Tommy barks out. Quackity winks at Sapnap as he reaches for the weapons supplied by Bad. "Bow!" Quackity refuses to give even a shallow nod to Technoblade. The bastard doesn't deserve respect. "Lock on!" 

"Duck, motherfuckers!!" Quackity laughs and raises both revolvers, firing both in rapid succession. The unnaturally quiet explosions don't prepare him at all for the powerful recoils, and his weapons nearly fly from his hands. "Fuck!" He adjusts his grip on both and fires again and again. 

Beside him, Sapnap has dropped to the floor and now crawls under the desks, a dagger in one hand. Tommy's team fires their useless guns at the same time as the Ducklings; they're providing a useful distraction, so Quackity forgives the noise. 

At the back of the class, Philza laughs, seeming unconcerned for the safety of his friend. Technoblade simply takes the bullets, scowling at the class. He catches one bullet in his fingers and crushes it. The gunfire peters out. 

Quackity growls in frustration as he reloads his revolvers. The special bullets did nothing. Fuck Badboyhalo and his fucking useless equipment. 

"K, if you're done, we have a quiz to get to." 

"Fuck you." Quackity snarls. "Just die already!" 

"Nah." Technoblade picks up one of the bullets and inspects it. "Heh? Which one of you is working with the Hunters?" 

"The fuck are you talking about??" 

"Die!" Sapnap leaps from the floor and slashes at Technoblade's arm. 

Technoblade deflects the blow, knocking the dagger from Sapnap's hand.  Sapnap reveals a grenade and pulls the pin, leaping at Technoblade.

"Sapnap!!" Quackity shrieks, cold with horrified disbelief. 

The next seconds blur together. Sapnap has a grip on Technoblade's cloak and releases the grenade's handle, shoving it against the monster's chest. But then Sapnap flies back with a shocked yelp, landing on Quackity in an undignified heap.  A muffled explosion detonates; the class screams, shouts; all the noise hurts. 

"You motherfucking idiot, what the hell were you thinking??" Quackity hugs Sapnap tight, afraid to let go lest the stupid lug find a new way to get himself killed. 

"Sorry, Quackity." Sapnap says in a breathless, stunned laugh. "I wanted to avenge your family." 

"Don't make me avenge you, too!" Quackity untangles himself from Sapnap and brushes the dust out of his friend's hair. "You fucking idiot, you would've died!" 

"Two stars." Techno intones, his voice hoarse and pained. Did he seriously eat the grenade?? "For an exceedingly stupid suicide attempt." 

Sapnap glowers sullenly at the ground as he sits back down. Quackity glares at the bullet-pocked whiteboard behind Technoblade. 

Techno saved Sapnap's life. He could have let the boy die, could have let his other students be injured by the shrapnel. None of the weapons supplied by Bad did anything. Techno wouldn't have been harmed by the grenade. So why? Why the hell would he save Sapnap?? 

"K, since you kids seem determined to not have any common sense at all, I'm goin' to lay down a few ground rules for assassinations." Techno picks up a marker, stares at the ruined whiteboard, then puts the marker down again. "One, no explosives anywhere near yourselves or other students." 

"Why do you care, big man?" Tubbo asks brightly. 

"I don't, but it's rather inconvenient if I have to explain to President Skeppy that he shouldn't pull the kill switch on my only friend because you kids were dumb enough to blow yourselves up." Technoblade glowers at everyone in the class. "Two, poisons and toxins don't work, so don't even bother. Three, outside help is allowed as long as you don't endanger Philza or your fellow students." 

"Wait, kill switch?? What's a fucking kill switch??" Tommy slams his fist on the desk. 

"A bomb, mate." Philza says lightly. "There's a bomb in my chest that can go off at any time Skeppy chooses." 

"That's majorly fucked up." Tommy glares at nobody in particular. 

"I like bombs. They're fun to make." Tubbo says, completely unprompted. 

Quackity just sits in silence and tries to process the events, the situation, the emotions. It's all a confusing mess. 

At the end of the day, the students file out of their classroom. Quackity remains in his seat, gesturing for Sapnap and the Ducklings to go on without him. He gathers his courage. 

"Techno." He says, his voice shaking despite his best efforts to be tough and intimidating. 

"Quackity." Techno replies without intonation, busy grading quizzes. 

"Fuck you for killing my parents." Quackity snarls in a rush of heady adrenaline. "But- but I guess I should be motherfucking grateful you saved Sapnap. That- that was fucking decent of you." 

Technoblade looks up, meeting Quackity's glare with brightly glowing irises. "You are completely justified in hating me. I'm not going to pretend I've ever been a good person." 

"Why do you hurt people??" 

"Because, Quackity. I have goals. And certain people stand in the way of those goals. The only universal language is violence." 

"That- that's fucking bullshit." Quackity stands up, anger pounding in his throat. "My parents never did anything wrong to you." 

"They were the government, Quackity. And all governments are inherently corrupt." 

"Are- are you going to kill me, too??" 

"Why would I do that? Your government has been disbanded. Any inheritance you may have is to a broken, obliterated system." 

"Are you going to kill President Skeppy?" Quackity snaps, hungry for answers, curious to see the extent of Technoblade's ambitious anarchy. 

Technoblade smiles. The unpleasant look doesn't reach his eyes. "Oh, his fate was sealed the moment he entered office." 

++++

President Skeppy paces in his office. His time is running out. "Sam, I need your help." 

Awesamdude stands stiffly in the corner. "What do you need?" 

"They're pressuring me, Sam. It's hard enough to keep the leaks away from the press!" 

"I told you not to hire Hbomb." 

"How could I know he'd be a security risk??" Skeppy snaps, shoving a pile of paperwork onto the floor. 

"I told you, sir." 

"Shut up, shut up. I'm trying to think." Skeppy leaps to stand on top of his desk. 

"Don't hurt yourself." 

"Oh!!" Skeppy snaps his fingers. "I want you to lock it down." 

"Sir?" 

"Lockdown, Sam! Nobody gets into Erinome, nobody gets out! No fucking vigilantes are taking my glory." 

"Sir, the students-"

"They won't be able to kill it. Our labs are working on this day and night, they're bound to come up with something!! I'll neutralize the threat, and then I'll be heralded as the best president ever!" Skeppy swoons onto his velvet chair. 

"That wasn't exactly what I meant. Won't they be in danger?" 

Annoyed, Skeppy waves a dismissive hand. "That's why you'll be there. Put a perimeter down. Do your secret agenty stuff." 

"I still doubt the wisdom of this plan." 

Skeppy sighs loudly. "Just do it." Somebody knocks at the door. "Come in!" 

Schlatt steps inside, wearing a grin as stylishly as the cleanly pressed bow tie around his neck. "Heyy." 

"Schlatt!" Skeppy leaps up. "You're just who I wanted to see!" 

"Of course I am, baby."  

"Sam, you're dismissed." Skeppy waits for Awesamdude to salute and leave the room. "Schlatt, how much time do we have??" 

"Not enough." Schlatt plops on the table and opens one of the drawers to pull out a bottle. He glugs the whiskey. "I'm telling ya, this wouldn't even be an issue if you'd let my men do what they were supposed to." 

Skeppy glowers. "It wouldn't have been an issue if you'd just left Techno on death row instead of- instead of poking him with needles or whatever the hell you did!" 

"Heh. You like it, don't lie to me, babe. The destruction. The mayhem. A world-ending threat only you can stop. It's right down your alley." 

Skeppy picks up a pencil and chews on the tip. "It is pretty epic." 

"There you go. Now don't fucking interfere with my work again." Schlatt wobbles off the desk and stumbles to the door. "Keep in touch, baby." 

++++

"Hey." 

Three men block Ranboo's path in the forest. They're all shorter than him, but he still feels intimidated. 

"H-hey. How can I help you?" 

"You ever seen this dude?" The leader, dressed in a black cloak with red accents, holds up a paper. The masked man drawn on the paper looks painfully familiar, but Ranboo can't recall why. 

"N-no, why?" 

"Are you sure?" Another asks, adjusting his goggles. 

"Yeah, pretty sure." Ranboo shuffles uncomfortably. 

"Hm. Okay. Good, because he's a dangerous man. Stay away from him." 

"I can handle myself." The defiance slips out before he can stop himself. 

"Antfrost. George. I want a straight answer." The leader says. Ranboo takes a step back as goggles-dude and his other companion circle around him. 

"Wait, I really don't know who that is!" He doesn't want to fight. He doesn't want to fight. He just wants to be left alone. 

"Bad?" Goggles-dude asks the leader. 

"You know what? Rough him up a bit anyway." The leader smiles. "We'd like to pass on a message, Ranboo." 

"Wh-what's the message?" Ranboo's voice trembles as he turns frantically, trying in vain to keep an eye on all three of them at once as they surround him. 

"Stay off our turf." 

Panic overcomes Ranboo and his vision goes black.  

He huddles in his classroom, covered in blood. "Great." He grumbles, upset that his only set of nice clothes has been ruined. How'd they get ruined??

"You good, mate?" Philza sips tea in the corner. Rain patters on the windows and thuds on the roof. Tonight is not a good night. 

"I- I think so. What happened?" 

"Three little bitches jumped you. I heard the screams and came to watch." 

"You saved me? Thanks." 

"Hm? No, mate, I did nothing. I said, I came to watch." Philza chuckles and sets down his tea. "You took care of them yourself. Last I saw, they were scrambling to get away from you." 

"Oh. I ruined my clothes, dang." 

"Your parents can get you new ones." 

Ranboo stares at the ground. "Um. Hah. Yeah. I don't actually. Have. Parents. Or a home." He spits the last part out hastily, ears flushing with shame. 

"Oh, damn." Philza hums. "You got anywhere to hole up away from the rain?" 

"I- I have an alley." Ranboo mumbles. 

"That won't do, mate. Techno, I'm kidnapping a child." 

"K." Techno replies, his head plopped on his desk.  Ranboo hadn't even noticed his presence. 

"Uh. Is it technically kidnapping?" 

Philza draws and polishes a dagger. "Yes." 

Chapter 5 (Next)

[thelazydoodle]

I’ve RE:Entered The Nightmare

I’ve recently completed my first run  of Resident Evil: Village on Hardcore(cause I hate myself and I wanted to suffer) and I’ll get to the point and say that I enjoyed it and it was a complete step up from 7. I’ll try to explain what I enjoyed about this game without SPOILING anything, but I cannot make any promises. So this paragraph here is the front door of the tour of my talk about this game. I’ll be talking about the story, the gameplay, the sound design, the game design, and the character design of this game. Here we go

     First I’ll get to the point and talk about the story, the story picks up 3 years after 7. Mia and Ethan get relocated to another country with the BSAA, and have a baby of their own(Rose). Their night gets turned upside down, with Chris coming in killing Mia, taking Ethan and Rose with them. Ethan wakes up in the middle of an accident with the van he was in flipped over and everyone is dead. Ethan makes his way through the forest and finds himself in a village that is infested with monsters and discovers Rose is somewhere in the village, being held captive by Mother Miranda and the Four Lords. Thus making him search through the nightmare to find what he loves most and has left. Now I got our premise/ intro out of the way, let me say that I quite liked it. A little predictable and expected in some parts, but I was entertained and a bit surprised as well. Loved the characters and understood them mostly, my favorite had to be Karl Heisenberg. He’s a sassy asshole, who loves to mess with Ethan by putting him through games. He’s able to kill Ethan with no problem, but he would rather watch Ethan fight and be entertained. He’s straightforward, and doesn’t plan on trickery, unlike Lucas. Alcina Dimitrescu( Lady D, Vampire Goth Mommy, Giant Mommy Milkers, etc) was interesting to watch. Prideful, can be flirty, but hot tempered. As you progress with her section of the game, she starts laidback, flirty, and is in control, but as something doesn’t go her way or something bothers her. She loses her temper and goes berserk. It’s interesting to see her try to keep her composure, but once she’s alone she shows her true nature. Donna Beneviento, the shyest of the four. Face is covered with a veil and uses a puppet to be her representative. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get much from her while playing the first time. All I know is that she used to be beautiful, she likes puppets and dolls, and she’s not confrontational. She plays with people’s minds, sets up illusions, and controls dolls. I’ll try to look more into her when I go back, cause she’s a bit of mystery to me. Last but not least Salvatore Moreau, the “Lowest” of the four. I say this, for he says that the other three thinks he’s incompetent and ugly. He has a mind like a child, but most of the scenes I’ve seen him in. He tries so hard and becomes so heartbroken, because he wants Mother Miranda’s love and attention. He hates Ethan out of jealousy, and would kill him to gain the attention of the four lords. What’s interesting about Miranda and the Four Lords, is that they act like a family, but they’re not. Dimitrescu considers Heisenberg and the other’s like family, but she has her daughters. who are her real relatives. Salvatore only has the the other three lords and Miranda. Heisenberg seems to give less of a shit of the group, and just wants to live his life. While Donna doesn’t really say anything. Ethan himself I would say is an interesting character, for his responses to everything is so human. despite him being scared and freaking out about things, he continues on. For he wants to get Rose back.

    Next up, the mechanics. To simply put it, you take RE7 existing mechanics and add in RE4 into the mix.  Now let’s get deeper, the enemies mostly come in hordes. So you need to be a little sharper and think a bit quicker. You can block to take less damage like 7 along using a new technique of doing a quick shot while you block, it’s more of a wild shot with a chance of hitting something. So you might want to use it up close, when you want to get a quick hit. Since there are hordes, you get a bigger arsenal with a wide variety of weapon types and uses. you get to use pipe bombs, along with land mines to lure enemies and try to thin out the horde and possibly survive a bit longer. Of course, like 4 you have the use of environment to your advantage. From explosive barrels and sacks of flour to create smoke screen to make a run for it, you must use them wisely for there are small quantities. Crafting mechanic was very useful, making ammo, bombs, or first aid to help yourself on your survival. The Cache Case mechanic was useful in a way, was able to carry more items and didn’t have to worry about dropping items along the way. The Duke’s Emporium was a sight to see, buying upgrades getting treasures for money, hunting game for dishes. All beneficial to the your survival. giving more reason to explore the village to help yourself  

 I love the enemy variety, each enemy type has different variants. Lycans have bow users, melee, the full wolves, and armored ones. Ghouls had gargoyle variants, then the machine based ghouls. something that I missed that 7 didn’t have. When it comes to going after each lord, they have different feels and experiences. For instance, Dimistrescu is like playing REmake 2 and RE7 with her and her daughters are patrolling the castle and have to escape them while exploring the castle. Donna is like puzzle solving back with lucas or PT, Moreau is like a death platformer/ rollercoaster scenes from RE3REmake, then Heisenberg was like the final part of RE4. 

last but not least, the designs. The environment designs were complete eye candy (I was playing this on the PS4, cause yeah), monster designs were creepy, character designs were either pretty or down right scary. glad that the majority of the mutated forms of the bosses didn’t a shit ton of eyes( looks at moreau). the ambient noises from the game helped settle the mood when it was quiet. From hearing crow noises, fire burning, wind whistles, window banging, to hearing enemy footsteps in a different room. It gave the right presence of where you are in the game. The musical score of the game is amazing, orchestra of violins horns, drums, chants, and laughs made gave me the rush and feeling of myself being in danger. 

The few things that annoyed me in the game was picking up items, for it never really says if I picked up anything while I was being chased. I felt like I was spoiled in Monster Hunter World, when it came to collecting items, but I had to be facing the item to get it. Another was me getting hit in the back, and I was attacked a ton without a chance of healing. 

So in the end, again I really enjoyed RE: Village. Big step up from 7, loved the enemy variety, the characters, the environment, being able to explore the village, and the gameplay. just frustrated with picking up items.

[soroneir]

laaate Oumota Week Day 2: Monster (Hunter) AU for @oumota-events. Quest gone awry! Check out my Deviantart to see it in full detail, because it was originally 4000px wide and Tumblr shrunk a bunch of details out of existence.

Design notes:

When I saw “monster AU” I thought of one of my favorite games, Monster Hunter, and started thinking about what their armor would look like... and then I had to draw it.

Kaito and Kokichi are both hunters, and despite their initial differences they build up a great cooperation over time, melding their different styles to take down prey with ease. Most of the time.

Here they went to MH3U’s Flooded Forest to take down a Duramboros. Because I like Duramboros, and its verdant habitat compliments their purple. :D They managed to harvest part of the tail club (something you can do in-game), but now it’s charging, oops.

Kokichi: Light Bowgun

Weapon: As someone who does much of his work from behind the scenes during the game, he had to be a gunner. I chose the light bowgun because it’s the most mobile gunner weapon, suiting how he can appear out of nowhere. The weapon’s design is almost entirely based on the red rainbow-shooting raygun drawing in his room, with just the little mask tying it to his armor.

Ammo: Pellet and crag are generally useful ammos that I thought fit his personality more than the other basic ammos. Thunder is a reference to the electrohammer/bombs, and poison is obviously a reference to chapter 5 (yeah he doesn’t administer any poison, but I had to, and it’s purple). Paint lets him keep track of monsters, something he’d surely be good at, given that chart in his room and his general observantness. Demon boosts your ally’s attack stat, and, well, he riled a lot of people up. :D

Armor: As a gunner armor, it’s on the light side to allow for movement, being made mostly of thick cloth and leather. It’s loosely based on a pierrot outfit, with the puffy sleeves, pom-poms, and wide collar. The belt straps and checkered hip cape are from his canon outfit, and his breast is emblazoned with DICE’s logo. His left shoulder and gauntlet have game elements, marbles and chess. The boots are typical of trickster characters, and the devilish helmet represents his antagonistic role.

Kaito: Hunting Horn

Weapon: Straightforward and hasty, he’s a true blademaster, rushing headlong into combat. But he primarily plays a support role in the game. Hunting horn is the obvious choice, allowing Kaito to boost his friends while bashing his enemies in the face. The bell shape, slightly unstandard for hunting horns, is based on a spaceship engine. But the color scheme is based on his Argument Armament design.

Songs: The horn’s notes are purple, green, and red, making it strong in both offense and support. He can give a small health boost, enough to lighten a dire situation (such as lifting Shuichi out of his immediate grief after chapter 1). Or he can greatly boost recovery speed, offering long-term healing (through training)! The final song is Attack Boost L(arge), motivating his sidekicks to have the energy to fight harder.

Armor: Blademaster armors need to be tough to withstand damage, so his is made mostly of metal. It’s inspired by spacesuits, with the bright orange parts taking their color from the garment, and moon-worthy boots. The half-helmet protects his ears from roars (similar to Kokichi’s earplugs). His cape is obviously an alteration of his coat, and it’s held around his waist with a full moon buckle. To soften the sci-fi feel and add a touch of adventurer, I put fur trim on his cape and boots. The sharp, triangular edges of his star pauldron and kneecaps give a cool look. Look closely and you’ll see that his armor is peppered with nicks, dents, and gouges, each mark reflecting a time he got too reckless and was tossed across the battlefield.

I had a ton of fun designing for and painting this!

Bonus doodle for those who read all this:

[chasseurdeloup-retired]

Defying Gravity || Jane and Kaden

TIMING: Before Regan dun got shrunk LOCATION: The Carnival PARTIES: @jane-the-zombie and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: Jane takes Kaden on his first roller coaster

There was no reason for Kaden to step foot in this cursed carnival ever again. Not after last time. But something about Wu’s proposal was hard to resist. Maybe it was just curiosity. Or maybe he was tired of feeling like he was always missing out. It hardly mattered one way or another why he was here. Because he was fucking here. Standing at the entrance, waiting for his pre-zombie co-worker. Trying not to show how much he was shaking ever so slightly at the thought. “You sure this isn’t going to kill me, Wu? I’m not going to get a round two, you know.” It was easy enough to joke about it now. It didn’t feel like a real problem. Not yet. “Granted I guess we haven’t heard an ear piercing scream anywhere so I suppose you may be right.”

“Langley, if this rollercoaster kills you, you have full permission to haunt my sorry ass for the rest of my days,” Jane said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. Kaden was funny in the kind of french-guy-having-a-stick-up-his-ass kind of way, but she knew the both of them needed to blow off steam after having the banshee scream for them. She was, admittedly, more disturbed than she originally anticipated. She remembered staring at the bomb, watching the seconds tick away, just rooted to the spot. If Felix hadn’t interrupted her and let her know he was in the line of fire, Jane was certain she would have just stayed there. “And the next time she screams anywhere near my ears, I’m sending both of you the bill for when I get my ears checked, I swear to god.” She grinned at him. “C’mon, I still can’t believe you never rode a roller coaster before. That’s insane to me.”

“If I become a ghost I have bigger fucking problems than you, trust me.” Kaden rubbed his palms together, trying to wipe away the sweat as they made their way towards the roller coaster. The even interludes between screaming was a little eerie. Did no one else find it eerie? Maybe it was the whole dating a banshee thing but he wasn’t sure. Looking at the coaster it kind of looked like a death trap.”Yeah well too many people die in this town to guarantee that won’t happen again.” Which meant he had plenty of chances to worry himself drunk in the near future. Still, couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Wu’s comment. “Well I grew up in a different continent for one,” Kaden snipped at her. That wasn’t exactly an excuse. Not for a roller coaster. A state fair? Sure. Amusement parks and thrill rides? Not so much. “I don’t know, my parents weren’t big on this kind of stuff. Couldn’t really afford it.” Which was partially true but not the whole picture. “We just never had time.” Never made time. “And when I got older I don’t know, this never really called my name, I guess.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that, and yet my possessed stepstool is fine when it’s trapped in a cage in the middle of a salt circle with a couple cinder blocks on top of it and, you know, not trying to kill me. Almost pleasant, even,” Jane said. She was joking. She had to get rid of that damned step stool at some point. Jane snorted as Kaden immediately turned defensive, shaking her head. “Cool it Langley, I’m just giving you a hard time. I’m sure this one will give you exactly what you need, I’ve seen some stuff online about it.” Jane grabbed a spot in the relatively short line for the coaster. She looked up at it - it was pretty gnarly for a little carnival one. With loop-de-loops and a pretty significant drop and sharp turns and corners… Pretty cool, and exciting. It wasn’t necessarily as adrenaline inducing as some of the other activities she did on a daily basis, but it would do for now. “My dad used to take us when we were all younger,” Jane said, glancing at him. “Except he and my older brother didn’t like them, so I got to take my younger sister up with me alone while they went to go do the arcade or the shooting gallery games.” They moved forward in the line, and Jane grinned. Good. They were next.

“You still have that thing? Putain, get rid of it already.” Kaden couldn’t say much of anything. He still had that pixie at his place that he didn’t know what to do with. Guess he couldn’t say much. He let out a sigh. Being defensive was stupid, especially with Wu who was so easy going for the most part. Well guess she’d have to be if she found out zombies and werewolves existed and just rolled with it. He could feel his pulse picking up the closer they got to the front. Was there anyone behind them? He could tell them to go in front of them, look polite or some shit. No one? Putain. “You and your sister, huh? Guess they’re uh, they’re meant to be fun, right?” Why did he feel like he was going to jump out of his skin? He could fight a werewolf on a full moon and keep his nerves in check, but the thought of getting on that death trap scared the shit out of him. “Oh yeah, did the shooting gallery here. Won it. Got a stupid fucking prize. Mime plush. With wings. The lady running it was a piece of work.” Shit it was their turn now. He could feel himself shaking a little as they got into their seats. Front row. Of fucking course.

“I’m working on it,” Jane waved it off. She actually wasn’t working on it, and she wasn’t too concerned about it at this point. So long as she sprinkled the salt around the cage as a refresher every once in a while, French Fry was fine, if a little agitated. “I think they’re fun,” Jane said, with a shrug. “But I also jump out of planes and off cliffs for fun too, so take that with a grain of salt.” Jane grinned at Kaden as they were lead to their front row seats. Excellent. She got into the car, put the seatbelt in lightly, and let the bar lower down over their heads. She glanced over at Kaden, and for a moment, she felt a little sympathetic towards him. At least until the ride started moving and she felt her own adrenaline start pounding in her ears. “Relax,” Jane said, “It’s going to be just fine. When we go down, do no hands, it’s fun!” Jane encouraged him. Except right when they got to the top of the hill, getting ready to go down, they dropped backwards first at full speed.

“You what?!” Kaden didn’t exactly consider himself an overly cautious person. Hell, he threw himself into all kinds of near death situations. He liked a good adrenaline rush on a hunt. But those had a good reason behind them. They weren’t manufactured. And he trained for those. And if he never had to hunt again because all the supernatural problems went away tomorrow, he wouldn’t be mad about it. More importantly, they were on the ground. His knuckles went white as he gripped the bar around him. He’d put it on so tight he could feel his chest constricted a little. Which was fucking fine by him. “No hands? No-- You must be fuckig kidding me Wu, no h--” His words caught and heart pounded in his ear as they paused at the top. He winced, prepared to plunge face forward down the edge. The waiting was agony. But he was ready for-- “What the FUUUUUCKK!” His words blended into a scream as they started falling backwards. Not what he planned for, not what he planned for! Shit, was he going to break the bar if he gripped it any tighter? Hunter strength, putain. He let up a little as he felt a bit of a lull. Until they started jetting forward and full speed up the hill again. Oh fuck this was how he died. Not fighting a monster. This.

Jane’s scream mixed with Kaden’s, except it was far more joyful and full of pleasure than his fearful ones. As they jerked back up the hill at full speed, and then down the massive drop, Jane was true to her word - no hands - as they flew down. Jane had never been on a rollercoaster like this before. They jerked around a corner that seemed to be too tight to be possible, and Jane realized that this was the perfect burst of adrenaline she had needed. A yell of joy came from her when they were suddenly upside down down, and then sideways, and then doing impossible patterns on the tracks. “WOOOO!” She screamed, as they climbed yet another hill at full speed. “Come on Kaden! No hands!!!” She encouraged loudly, just as they dropped down the final mountain that would skid them to a stop.

When they barreled down the hill, Kaden went to close his eyes. No fuck that was worse. How was Jane having fun?! Was this supposed to be fun? His stomach was in his chest and he couldn’t feel his throat any more because he was fucking screaming. He saw the loop-de-loop coming before they got there. Was that even fucking there before? He was pretty sure there wasn’t any upside down fucking nonsense before they hopped o-- Putain de fucking merde they were upside fucking down. Upside. Fucking. Down. And then they were right side up again and he was pretty sure his stomach was still back on the first goddamn hill. There was more, sideways, corkscrews, more hills fucking somehow. There was one last drop. They paused at the top for some inexplicable reason. The anticipation was the worst. And she told him to put his hands up? No way in fucking hell was he going to do that. Or so he thought. Without any reasons, his hands released from his deathgrip on the restraints and went above his head. Not by fucking choice. Goddamn fae magic bullshit. Kaden screamed “FUCK YOU WUUUUUUUUUUUUU,” the whole way down. When they skidded to a stop and the bar finally lifted, Kaden had never felt so relieved. He practically scrambled to get out of the car. Solid fucking ground, thank god.

Somehow, Langley completely losing his goddamn mind was making the whole experience even more enjoyable. Laughter spilled from Jane as she heard Kaden curse her name out, the car jerking to a stop at the end of the ride. Her laughter didn’t end as the bar raised over their heads, and she climbed out of the car. “Come on, Langley, don’t tell me you didn’t have any fun!” Jane chuckled loudly, about to clap him on the back good naturedly before deciding that maybe that wasn’t the best idea. They walked back out to where the line for the next ride was starting. “How’s your stomach, I should have told you not to eat anything too heavy? Should we grab you something to settle it?” She was in good spirits, the high the adrenaline rush gave her soothing any worries and anxieties she may have had about anything in the world. She could ride that out for the next night, probably, before she went off and sought something else fun and exciting. She glanced at Kaden, grinning at him. “I can grab you a soda, or something. I think the stall over there has ginger ale.”

Kaden doubled over a moment. Was he going to hurl? Maybe? No. Okay. “I’m fine. I’m alright,” he said, pushing himself back to standing and forcing himself to walk forward like nothing was wrong. He was fine. Walking was weird. But this was fine. Even if he wasn’t sure what the fuck had just happened. Was it fun? He wasn’t sure. At all. “What the fuck was that?” was all he could manage to say as he followed her on wobbly legs. “Are they all like that?” Why did people do that? For fun? His throat was a little hoarse from all the yelling. Part of him wanted a tall pint of beer or really just any alcohol to calm is fucking nerves. The rest of him, mostly just his stomach, thought that was the worst idea on planet earth. The longer they walked, the more his mind played it over in his head, the whole ride. Looking back at the track it, uh, well it didn’t add up to what they did at all. But he was starting to wonder if what he was feeling was maybe some sort of joy? Something tangential? Maybe? That or it was just a sick curious fascination with something that made him want to jump out of his fucking skin just after he turned and vomited. And strangely enough… “Does it get better a second time?” he asked cautiously.

Once Jane was absolutely certain that Langley wasn’t going to ruin her shoes, she patted him lightly on the shoulder. “There you go, see? It wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Though, he made a good point. Something about that coaster was rather weird. “That was actually a bit more…. Intense than some of the ones I’ve been on before. I’ve really only seen those kinds at full Theme Parks, not traveling carnivals,” Jane said, curiously looking back at it. “More like Six Flags or some hardcore ride park, you know?” They walked and Jane was just about to offer to buy Kaden a drink for his suffering (or shocked enjoyment, she wasn’t quite certain yet), when he turned and asked her if it got better the second time around. Jane stared at him incredulously for a moment, before a wide grin stretched out over her face. She did clap him on the shoulder this time. “You know, it sure does. Come on, let’s get back in line!”

[jane-the-zombie]

Inevitability || Remmy & Jane

TIMING: Present PARTIES: @whatsin-yourhead and @jane-the-zombie SUMMARY: Two zombies, both alike in dignity, in fair White Crest, where we lay our scene... CONTENT: Panic Attack TW, Gun TW

Anger was beginning to become a problem. Remmy couldn’t find enough places to put it, and nothing was making it better. They were beginning to believe Morgan might be right-- they needed to find some way to get rid of it, because drinking it away wouldn’t work and punching it away wasn’t working anymore, either. They’d left the mansion in an attempt to not have to face Blanche tonight when the world had dissolved into black again. It’d been happening more often now. Sometimes they saw Darius’ face, sometimes they saw their own face. Sometimes they saw everyone else’s faces. But it was jumbled. Scrambled in their brain. They could never find enough of it to put anything together. Just yelling and screaming and hiding. Bombs going off. Bullets flying. People exploding. Blood staining the ground. Fists flying. Remmy looked down and only saw horror, not the house they had stumbled onto. Remmy looked down and saw a rifle in their hands, not the emptiness they truly held. Remmy looked up and only saw the men trying to kill them, not the police officer who was trying to talk them down. Brick crumbling behind them, a broken fence, a scared family inside. Remmy’s eyes, black and angry and scared, didn’t see any of it. Only danger. Only anger.

“Hey! Hey now,” Jane said cautiously. Last thing she expected to encounter on her way home from work was to run into a violent person just absolutely trashing some poor person’s lawn. Jane approached cautiously, curiously wondering if she was about to get into a fight. It wasn’t that she minded, but she was less about doing things for a rush of adrenaline when other people were involved. Now she was just trying to deescalate the situation before whoever owned that house called people on duty. Hopefully no one was home. Jane had one hand up with her badge visible, the other on her gun at the ready. She wasn’t technically on duty and she definitely didn’t want to have to shoot anyone today, but it wasn’t like she could just leave this person there like this. “What’s your name?” Jane asked. “Can you tell me that??”

Someone was approaching Remmy, but all they saw was the sand colored uniform of the men who pointed their barrels at their friends. A flash. Remmy cried out, hands curling. Brick crumbling under their grip as they stood, dizzy with the reality they were trying to live through. It wasn’t right, something wasn’t right. But they couldn’t figure out what. “Stay away!” they snapped as the figure pressed closer. “Stay away!” they picked up a rock, chucked it. Anger mounting. Reality shifted around them again, and for a moment, they saw the street. They saw the night around them, the trees, the grass, the walkway. The woman and her hand on a gun. A gun. Remmy’s eyes widened again. Something inside of them took over, that monster that was deep down, that everyone told them to keep fed, to keep calm. Remmy abandoned their spot, charging. Remmy wasn’t entirely Remmy anymore.

Did they just throw a rock at her? Jane ducked. “Hey! No, enough!” Damn it. This was going to go poorly quickly. Jane couldn’t see enough to figure out if this person was on drugs or was having a particularly nasty panic episode. Judging on how they were moving and acting and how they looked, Jane theorized the latter.  “Look, let me help you. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m here to help you.” Except something wasn’t quite right. Jane saw the shift a half-second before it happened, and suddenly they were charging at her. Fuck. Swiftly, Jane had her gun drawn and took a single shot. She aimed for the leg, as taught. She hit her mark alright. Except it didn’t do anything. There wasn’t even any blood. It didn’t even seem to slow them down. Jane scowled. “What the he - oh shit.”

Remmy’s body landed with a hard thud on top of the other person. Sandy eyes and sandy skin flashed in their head. He had a gun pressed to their chest. A swipe of the hand sent it careening. Dark hair and cool eyes flickered for a moment. The person below them wasn’t a man, it was a woman. She turned back into the man, back pressed into the desert sand. Remmy’s fist raised. Eyes angry for a moment. Until a voice cut through. This wasn’t right. Remmy’s eyes shuddered for a moment as they lurched back into the present reality, fist pummeled into the ground next to the woman’s head. No blood, no broken bones. Remmy’s whole chest surged. “I--” they started, blinking, staring wide-eyed down at the woman. “Where--” they couldn’t move, body frozen. “Where am I?”

Out of all the ways to die, doing her job surely couldn’t be the worst one. They connected with her and Jane hit the grass hard, the angry person on top of them. Adrenaline jolted through her as she struggled against them. Shit. She had a memory straight from her first year of training - unofficial rule when getting into a fight. Don’t let them get on top of you. “Don’t -” Their fist slammed next to her head and she flinched. Christ. Well, she wasn’t dead. Her gun had fallen out of her hand  and lay in the grass next to her. Fuck. Well, she wasn’t dead yet. Jane looked up at them and made a face. “On someone’s lawn in The Bend. I’m a police officer. You tackled me,” Jane grumbled. Wait. Hold on.  “I shot you,” Jane informed them, trying to get a good look at their leg. Still no blood. Her eyes narrowed. “What the hell? Get off. You’re not bleeding. Are you a zombie?” Jane blurted out.

Remmy stayed frozen for a moment until the woman snapped at them to get off and they scrambled back, kicking away the gun and grappling a tree to pull themself up. “I-I-I-- I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t-- please don’t--” a police officer? Shit. This wasn’t good. Remmy’s head felt like it was going to spin straight off their shoulders. The word zombie echoed in the night. “What-- how-- are you-- you’re a hunter.” That was the only thread of logic that made sense to Remmy. They backed up, hitting the tree. “S-st-stay away from me!” they said, fumbling around their pockets for something, anything, to defend themself with. Their head still swirling, trying to make sense of the memories flooding it and still stay grounded in the reality of the moment.

“Hey - hey, stop,” Jane sat up, pushing herself up off the ground, watching as her gun was kicked farther away from them. Wait, what? Hunter? Jane held her hands up where Remmy could see them. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it! Hold it. I’m not a hunter. I promise.” Jane was tempted to step closer but she definitely didn’t want to spook them. “I don’t kill zombies!” Well, technically, she did kill that mime zombie. But that definitely didn’t count. “I am a zombie!” Jane reached up slowly, taking out her scrunchie and moving her hair to show the bite scar on her neck. “Well, I’m almost one. I haven’t died yet. It’s okay. We’re okay! I’m not going to hurt you. Okay? Let’s just take a minute to breathe. Please. Can you tell me your name?”

Wait, what? Remmy blinked again and suddenly everything buzzing inside of them stopped. They immediately knew they weren’t in danger, and so did their head. Not a hunter. A zombie. An almost zombie. Exhaling heavily, Remmy moved tentatively away from the tree. “I-- I don’t know how I got here. How did I--?” they looked around, as if the answer would be somewhere in the grass, like it was something to be dropped and picked back up again. They met eyes with the cop again, hair mussed, patch askew. “What happened?” Eyes meeting the bite on their neck. A subconscious hand went up to the one on their shoulder. “R-Remmy,” they finally said, looking at Jane with doe eyes. “M-my name’s Remmy.”

Jane shook her head. She didn’t know how they got out there either. She inched forward, carefully. “I’m going to pick up my gun and put it away,” she announced. She stooped down and picked her gun up off the grass and stuck it back in its holster. “Remmy. Right. I’m Jane, nice to, uh, meet you.” Jane’s head tilted to her slightly. “I found you here on my way home from work. You were angry, throwing things. Tried to nail me with a rock.” Still cautious, unwilling to set them off any farther, she took another step closer. She wasn’t going to arrest Remmy, or even really think about it, because what good would it do. Besides, no one was home anyway. “Does this happen to you a lot?” Jane asked. “Where you don’t know where you end up?”

“Oh, I--” Remmy’s eyes watched the gun and they screwed them shut, pressing their palms to them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I don’t--” they pulled them away, look back at Jane. “Work? I--” was that where Remmy had been headed? Work? Where ever where they? What part of town was this? “Did I do that?” they asked, looking at the lawn. They couldn’t follow Jane’s questions well enough to be completely coherent yet. “Um, sometimes. Yes? Maybe. I mean-- lately, I think. It...yes, it’s been um...happening a lot lately,” they murmured. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” The thought came back to them. “Y-you’re a zombie. I-- you said you hadn’t died yet. It-- um. How long have you known?”

A thing that was happening a lot lately. Not good. Jane frowned, glancing back at the screwed up lawn. “Yes. You did that,” Jane said. “Why don’t you let me drive you somewhere - home, maybe?” She was more concerned about that than she was about the whole zombie thing. This wasn’t at all like when she encountered Morgan on the beach. She was pretty sure she preferred the stupid prank to something like this. Jane rubbed her neck, a little sheepish as fans  fingers trailing over the scar on her neck. “Yeah, I’m… a zombie. Or will be.” A pre-zombie? “I’ve known for a couple years. Long story.”

Remmy frowned. A couple years? Remmy hadn’t even been dead a couple of years and here this woman was, having known for that long and she wasn’t even a zombie yet. They looked over at her warily. “I didn’t mean to,” they said, looking back at the lawn, then to her. Was she going to arrest them? “I just-- I lose track of myself sometimes. I’m supposed to...I have a service dog. He’s--” where was Moose? Had he been with them? No, he was back at the house, there was no lead on their belt. “Sometimes I forget I’m not still over there.” They scooted forward a bit. “You’re not going to arrest me?” they asked after a moment, too afraid, suddenly, to look her-- or their mess-- in the eye.

Jane knew they didn’t mean too. This wasn’t deliberate. Dots started connecting in her head when they mentioned service dog and sometimes they forgot they still weren’t ‘over there’. They were a vet, most likely. This had to have been some sort of PTSD attack. Did the government know they had a zombie overseas? Oh god, did the government know about zombies? She hadn’t even considered that. She probably should arrest them, but that wasn’t going to help - what good would it do? Cite them for property damage and assaulting a police officer? No thanks. “Do you want me to arrest you?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t think that is going to help you at all. Your dog wasn’t with you, right?” She assumed Remmy would be more panicked if that were the case. Jane nodded back to where her car was - thank god she took her car into work today since her bike was getting professionally cleaned from the damn glitter. “Come on, I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

Remmy knew that their answer didn’t coincide with how they felt. Yes, they wanted to say, I deserve it. I’m a monster. But they understood why she wouldn’t. That monster part of them wasn’t what had done this, it was the more vulnerable part of them that had done this. The part they couldn’t reconcile with death. They looked back at her, and they both knew the answer. So, instead, Remmy walked slowly over to her and muttered, “I’m sorry,” quietly. And maybe it was about the lawn, and maybe it was about trying to hurt her-- but maybe it was also about the inevitability of what she would become. “I just wanna go home…” they said, looking up at her finally. “Can I just go home?”

[a-totally-legit-farm]

The Hunt (Nikoma Drabble)

drabble - nikoma | read on google docs

Nikoma had been losing his mind as of late – it had started in his compulsory excursion to Zuzu, being cooped up in supercooled office spaces and hotel rooms. He still got to drink, and smoke, but he had… More requirements. The man sighed, like he had just got a hit of nicotine or a mouthful of good whiskey –

His broadsword cleaved the leaf clad golem in twain, splitting its core, its tacky sap tarnishing the usual sheen of the carbon-greyed steel. The creature moaned in faux pain as its form dissipated, becoming little more than bark, leaves and ichor. As it gurgled, he flicked the weapon in a swift, clean motion, the force from the twist flinging his victims’ lifeblood into the dirt.

It always felt good, removing that little bit of magic from the world. After all, Nikoma reasoned with himself, it was magic that killed my dad. This was something he had come to tell himself in his years of monster hunting. He remembered the autopsy results clearly – nothing was wrong with his father; it was a freak heart attack. The only conclusion a young Nikoma could come to, in his rage-filled, sorrow-riddled mind, was that his father had been the victim of some sort of magic.

The bushes ahead rustled, and from it, poured more monsters. A pair of golems and a small fleet of giant bugs rushed his position. Nikoma pushed forwards, the man’s steps placed with powerful intent, propelling him towards the blood that his sword hungered for. The sword was something else. Nik had always been an excellent fighter, a force of nature that would take enough damage to kill a man and still march on the offense, but this sword, Vice, was a different creature. The ouroboros engraved above the cross guard was telling of its nature – self-destructive, forever hungry.

The first bug was dispatched with a well-placed front kick, his black combat boots tearing through carapace and fluorescent gore, shattering the exoskeleton of the mindless creatures.  The buzzing quieted slightly as the pink mist settled on the insect’s comrades – Vice swung left and low, through the pivot point in the closest golem’s knee, the green, spellbound husk toppling to the dirt. Nikoma followed the sing through as he was dive bombed by another beetle, leaping into a roll to try and regain his footing.

Beetles poured in from every direction now, with a golem leading each wave of insects. Again, he darted in, the six-foot tall man moving like a lightweight boxer, each footstep and sword slash carefully timed to wreak maximum havoc among the growing ranks of enemies. It was tiring work; Vice was not a small sword, yet each swing clipped at least one foe, never wasting energy in missed attacks. He cleaved through the horde of beetles, taking only superficial damage from their kamikaze-style dive bombs – it was rare for a bug to leave Nikoma’s reach once it had entered it. It was the golems Nikoma was weary of, the dense bark that made up their exterior was like rock and being punched was not in the swordsman’s list of things that were fun.

Vice spearheaded upwards as Nikoma lifted, the blade’s navy-grey steel piercing up and under the golem’s chest plates, his sword shattering the core inside, as its dead weight was lifted into the air, limbs limply dangling. It was a show of pure strength, as Vice relished the sticky ichor leaking from the now defunct golem. Again, that rush of adrenaline, that nicotine hit feeling, and a soft quenching of that ever-present bloodlust. Nikoma sighed, as he shrugged the golem off his sword.

It was quiet now, the cacophony of carapaces clacking silenced for the first time in what felt like forty minutes. Discarded exoskeletons and that bright bug meat littered the forest floors, piles of sap and bark and leaves piling amongst the corpses. It was a brilliant sight of awesome violence, and Nikoma reveled in it for slightly too long. It wasn’t what he had come into the forest for, but it was what he needed. His cuts and bruises pulsed and ached, a trail of red running from his eyebrow to his jawline. The pain was good.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

That was a mistake.

The iron grip of a golem wrapped around his ankle – it was the second he had faced, the one he had lopped at the knees. It was a rookie mistake not to destroy its core. He twisted, in an attempt to stab at it from above, but vines lashed around his right arm from the surrounding scrub, as he heard the uttering of a Fae language.  Son of a motherfucker… His irritation spiked as he realized what had happened. The reason he was here had happened.

Nikoma was aware of a rumor, relating to a possible Spriggan sighting in the deep woods. Spriggans were fae of fables, renowned for their affinity of the woods, and known master manipulators. Good thing Nikoma didn’t care for trees. He had set out, Vice crying to taste the organs of a faerie, and Nikoma willing to do the deed. After all, he was a monster hunter. And now, his target hovered just two meters in front of him. It garbled its disgusting dialect at him, and he felt the digits of the golem grow and stretch and harden around his left leg.

It was a curiously grotesque creature – its skin tone was a pasty green, with what seemed to be wrinkled leaves making up some sort of garment around the faerie. Its face was long, its nose bridging in a very inhuman way, creating deep wells for its golden sliver-irises to sit in. Atop its head was a moss that did not seem to be a part of the Spriggan itself, instead its own, independent organism, moving slowly despite the lack of breeze.

“Human, who are you to encroach upon my territory?” The Spriggan’s voice was like wind blowing through leaves, whispy and whimsical, yet the tone behind the words was sinister and menacing – and Nikoma couldn’t help but scoff at the monster. A typical fae trick, to ask a human their name. There was a lot of power in a name.

“Get fucked, monster.” Clearly the faerie did not take the insult lightly, but whether it was the f-bomb or the monstrous insinuation, it wasn’t clear – regardless, the golem and vine’s grip on Nikoma grew tighter. The man could feel the plant matter cutting into his skin, rubbing and burning as friction held two of his limbs tight in place.

 The creature’s eyes narrowed as it muttered more gibberish, “Gweles’m neb eghen’gas…” Nik spat at the faerie, saliva and blood intermingling as his disrespect landed on the fabled being. “You think yourself higher than us, gowygyon fethesik, yet you don’t realise you lunch with monsters worse than I.” Nikoma gritted his teeth – the fairy was monologuing now, great. The words had weight to them, however – magical weight, the Spriggan’s powerful persuasion pushing its rhetoric into his head. “The flame-haired one, she is a monster, duwesow’a chatelydheith , not of race nor magic, but a monster nonetheless…” The Spriggan hissed his words at Nikoma, hovering in and out of Vice’s possible strike range as his speech filled the air.

“You know this, yet you only strike us down… Pystyon…”

Nik growled, slowly rotating his sword in his right hand – and not bringing attention to his left, barely moving it at all, for he was still not fully restrained. Clearly the Spriggan had not fought a human before, despite all its wisecracks. “You know this to be true, gowyow soudoryon. Are you fine with dining with monsters, yet killing innocent peoples?” His growl turned into a snarl as his teeth become bared, and the fae retreated a few meters, in expectation of more bodily fluids.

Instead, that same flick of the wrist this time sent Vice up into the air, and with a precise strike Nikoma had caught the handle and degloved the golem clutching his ankle, and following the momentum through, slashed the vine holding his good sword arm. In a flash, he sprinted at the faerie, who had frantically begun chanting its putrid dialect. Roots burst from the ground and vines lashed from the trees – they managed to catch hold, but the warrior was a force unstoppable. Clay cracked and crumbled as the root tips ripped out, and trees creaked as the vines pulled on the smaller branches.

Nikoma leaped, screaming, sword ready to thrust into that sickly green skin. The closer he got, the more biological chains he felt halting his decent. He closed his eyes, and he heard Vice. Push now. Feed me. He thrust the blade forward – just as he came to a complete stop. His amber eyes opened, to meet the Spriggan’s golden gaze. Through its chest was Vice, soaking in a soft ambrosia gushing from the mortal gash.

He was suspended by a harness of roots and vines, now completely immobile, yet his blade pierced the ground, via the fae’s internal organs. One final rush of that satisfaction hit Nik, as he watched the life drain from his latest victim. As it died, the Spriggan uttered one final phrase.

“A-barth Duw, gwitha fleghes rag an euthvil ma…”

Its final words was its final mistake. As his organic shackles became limp and unrestrictive, Vice spoke – also for the final time. The creature has kin. They must be removed. Nikoma grunted – normal people’s swords don’t talk to them. He wiped the warm, golden blood on the bark of a nearby tree, before trekking off into the woods. He sheathed Vice, and retrieved his flask of whiskey, gulping down the bronze liquid with ease.

Oh well.

Guess he was off to kill some more fairies.

[emma-nation]

Within You - Bloodbound AU - Chapter 13

Summary: One year after defeating Gaius, the gang has finally found peace… Until a tragic incident awakens the ultimate and most dangerous threat they ever faced.

Genre: Angst/Adventure/Romance

Rating: T - Warning for violence and language

Lysimachus

Demetrius' blood was the most lethal weapon in the vampire world. No one could survive its power, not even the First Vampire herself. When his body hit the floor, Lysimachus could barely feel it. In truth, he could barely feel anything anymore. Within seconds, darkness was consuming his mind and soul completely.

The last thing he was able to see was Rheya escaping through the dark sections of the museum. Screaming and shouting suggested Kamilah still tried to go after her, only to be stopped by Amy.

"I-It'll be okay," he felt a warm hand holding his face. "Everything will be okay... I promise."

That was Katherine's voice. So calm and soothing, but also frightened and mournful. If only Lysimachus could touch her one last time or tell her how he truly felt. He tried to reach her hand but his arms wouldn't follow his commands.

"Katherine, I..." he coughed, black blood gurgling inside his mouth. "I..."

"Brother!" Kamilah cut his sentence as she joined them on the floor. Lysimachus felt a few tears dropping on his forehead. "Please... you can't leave me again..."

"Sister, kill me. Please, don't let me die as a monster."

"Hunter..." even Priya Lacroix seemed to be deeply affected by his imminent fate. And Lysimachus could swear that was impossible for the fashion designer. "Stop this bullshit. You saved me, we'll find a manner to save you too. Won't we, mortal?"

"I'm holding on to that."

The poisonous blood had already taken most of the veins of Lysimachus' body and his skin had acquired a grey coloration. He forced one last smile before feeling his conscience and his heart were being completely swept away, turning him into a Feral. He couldn't explain what happened next, but a sudden explosion on his chest made the pendant of his new necklace shatter in a million pieces. The blue light it contained involved all his body, starting some kind of healing process.

"W-What..." Lysimachus' pain started to ease and he didn't feel so cold anymore. He was even regaining some of his conscience back. "What's happening?"

"Get some rest, sweetheart," Katherine kissed his forehead and stroke his hair. "I'll tell you later."

For the next long hours, he had a restoring sleep. In fact, Lysimachus couldn't remember sleeping that well in ages. In his dreams, he was back to his home in Egypt, where he and Kamilah were having their usual spats over a feast. But differently from reality, his mom and dad were also there. They were together at the table. Happy and celebrating, as a family. More people appeared there too, Katherine, Amy, some of their friends and a few children running across the room.

"Time to wake up, lazy," Katherine's voice called him, in an attempt to wake him up.

"Five more minutes..." he complained. "Please."

"Five more minutes? You've been sleeping for over twenty-four hours!"

Against his will, Lysimachus forced himself to open his eyes and sit down. He glanced down at his stomach, to the spot where Rheya had stabbed him. The injury was mostly healed, but how he survived was still a mystery.

"This is what I went shopping for. I went to the Fae Realm," Katherine broke the silence. "The necklace contained Lady Thalissa's magic. Her power was able to overcome the darkness inside your body and bring you back to life."

"Katherine..." Lysimachus searched for her hand, enlacing his fingers with hers. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. It was the first time he actually saw her crying.

"This is why I gave it to you in first place, because I knew you'd do something stupid. For a moment, I feared it wouldn't work. I thought I'd lose you forever."

"I had to save you, I couldn't let Rheya do what she was planning. God, I don't even know what that would've Turned you into."

Katherine rested her head against his chest, holding him tightly. Lysimachus kissed her forehead and they shared a very long moment in absolute silence, only enjoying each other's company.

"I'm starving," he finally spoke. "I feel completely worn out."

"That's right," Katherine brushed some hair from her shoulder, exposing her neck. "Lacroix said I should give you some of my blood, that it'd help to speed your recovery."

"She did?!"

Katherine nodded in response. Lysimachus chuckled at the information, then he carefully traced her jugular, applying a soft and delicate bite. He tried to do it as painless as possible, drinking only enough to regain some energy.

"Are you okay?" He healed the puncture wounds on Katherine's neck. "Do you feel any different after consuming Rheya's blood?"

"I'm fine. Being human it doesn't affect me, unless she had killed and Turned me."

"Thank god, I was so worried."

Lysimachus pressed his lips on Katherine's. She deepened the kiss, parting his lips with her tongue and then she finished by nibbling on his lower lip.

"Oh, I forgot. Kamilah asked to update you about the last events as soon as you woke up."

"What happened?" He asked, concerned. "Is it bad?"

"I don't think so," Katherine shrugged. "But some big changes are coming to your world."

Indeed, big changes were coming. As Lysimachus looked himself in the mirror after a shower, he could see something had changed. There was a new power, a new force inside him.

----------

Amy

"Okay..." Priya paced anxiously around the room, together with Lester. They both glaring at Adrian. "Hunter's gonna make it, the Nighthunters managed to carry him out through the side entrance, but the cops are coming inside at any moment. How the hell are we going to explain this?"

"You mean Adrian betraying us and forgetting to mention the First Vampire was around, ready to kick our asses?" Lester angered.

"I'm sorry, but you two didn't witness how powerful and manipulative that woman can be."

"Adrian, babe... in case you've forgotten she hijacked my brain!"

"This is no time for accusations," Kamilah interrupted their discussion. "We need a cover up story immediately."

"Like the doors automatically closed after the bomb warning," Jax suggested, "and we got trapped inside?"

"And how did Lysimachus got stabbed? His blood is still all over the floor."

Amy watched the scene in silence. Her psychic powers were keeping the doors closed until they settled an arrangement. The Council Of New York could never find a way to solve their conflicts in a pacific manner, whoever was sitting on its six chairs. There was never an agreement. There was never peace. They were always on the edge of a war against each other, against their own species. She walked to where Lysimachus wounded body previously was, the bloodied dagger was still there, lying on the floor. The Nighthunters didn't dare to touch it, not without properly protection. It affected them harder than the others. Amy kneeled down and held it in her own hands, something in what was left of that black poisonous blood attracted, called for her...

"No fear, child," she heard a voice deeply inside her mind it, "embrace it."

The tip of her finger touched that toxic blood, but surprisingly it didn't cause her any harm or pain.

"Amy!" She heard Kamilah screaming distantly, as her mind was being pulled into a void.

A man, wearing a white tunic waited for her in a mindscape, with a soft smile on his face.

"Granddaughter, we finally meet."

"A-Are you..." she opened her mouth to ask, choking on her own words. "Demetrius."

"I've been waiting for you for centuries."

"Why am I here?"

Demetrius approached and touched her shoulders slightly. Different from Rheya, he didn't gave her chills. His touch was warm and made her feel secure.

"Amy, I have seen your journey. I have seen your path ahead," he spoke. "It's your mission to undo the original sin that birthed so much pain and darkness and bring a new era to the world."

"An era of peace?" Amy asked. That was always Rheya's main purpose, to unite vampires and mortals. A purpose that got lost in the middle of so much power and sorrow.

"It will be your choice to make. A choice that will change the world forever."

"W-why me?"

"You're the first Bloodkeeper in history to be Turned. The fusion of the two lines. Rheya's vampire blood in her human descendant. The sap of the tree in the blessed chalice. At last."

The prophecies, they finally made sense. Amy could finally see it, it was Demetrius all along, trying to guide her into her journey through those dreams and visions. She tried to speak again, but she started being attracted back to the real world. She could hear Kamilah calling her name.

"I am honored to have met you, Granddaughter."

Those were the last words Amy heard from Demetrius before everything vanished and she was back to the museum, in a shock state.

"Amy," Kamilah shook her body, "talk to me. Oh my god, you weren't supposed to touch this blood! It's..."

"It's okay," she was finally able to speak again. Somehow she knew exactly what she was supposed to do next. "He won't hurt me."

Her wife was kinda puzzled by this last part, and even more by what she was about to ask.

"Let me handle it? The situation with the police and the reporters?"

"What? Adrian will call some of his contacts, they will help us to come up with a cover up story."

"Kamilah," Amy held her hand tightly, with the same confidence Demetrius had when he touched her. "Not anymore. I will make it right, I promise."

She couldn't say no, they were out of options. Kamilah exchanged a glance with Adrian, who approached too, confused about what was going on.

"Adrian, I didn't come to your company for nothing. There was always a reason behind it. You believed in me that day, can you believe me now?"

"Yes," he encouraged her. "I can. Go ahead."

Amy opened the doors and the police rushed inside with heavy armory, inspecting everything and checking out each one of them. After concluding the entire group was clear, they forced them outside to search the museum for the rumored bomb. The press immediately started to take pictures and ask questions.

"Do it," Kamilah stood by her side. "It's time."

"I'll speak," Amy announced, loud and firm. The reporters surrounded her, asking a million questions all at once. "I'm Amy. Amy Sayeed. You all know me as Kamilah Sayeed's wife. But now you're about to know the truth. The truth about me, about all of us."

"Kamilah," Priya snarled, "what the fuck is this girl doing? Make her shut up or she'll cause us a lot of trouble."

"Lacroix, chill out."

"When I came to New York, I was just a normal girl trying to find a job, trying to figure myself out. When Adrian hired me, I discovered something. A new world. A world hidden in the shadows, causing years of pain and conflict."

"What is she talking about?" The reporters murmured to each other. "What does it have to do with the bomb?"

"For years, thousands of years, there have been two worlds. The world of day and the world of night. Your world... and ours. But it's time we ended that division. It's time we stopped living in secret. It's time this endless cycle of blood and pain comes to an end."

Amy revealed herself to the hundreds of cameras in front of her, exposing her red eyes and fangs and encouraging the others to do the same. Everyone started to follow her lead, even Priya and Lester.

"That's right. We're vampires. But we're not going to live in the shadows any more. It's time we come into the open. Time we put old conflicts behind us. It's time for a new era to begin. An era of peace and reunification."

----------

Kamilah

4 weeks later

Only one word could describe the last few weeks, Hell. The whole world wanted to know about the secret vampire society in New York. Kamilah didn't have a single minute of peace and privacy anymore. Especially being the oldest vampire in America, the one that walked the Earth for over 2000 years, witnessing all the changes, fighting wars and leading revolutions. Journalists and paparazzi followed her all the time.

Adrian became their main spokesman, giving hundreds of interviews and exposing details about their history. But no one had became so popular as Amy, especially among the youngest mortals. She was now some sort of role model, being photographed and worshipped everywhere she went. Her face was present on the magazine covers and on TV, her followers on social media also started to increase on a daily basis.

Amy could easily handle that celebrity life, but not Kamilah. Using that new revelation and Rheya's actions as excuse, she decided to take a break from Ahmanet Financial and stay away from the spotlights for a while. At least, locked inside her penthouse she was safe and sound from questions like...

"Kamilah, you were Cleopatra's cousin," a first reporter shoved a microphone right into her face as she left the car, "can you tell us more about her?"

She ignored him, following the way inside the building. She lost the count of the unknown information she had already revealed about her cousin and the disagreements they had in a distant past. A female reporter continued to follow her.

"Kamilah... what's the secret of your hair? There are hundreds of YouTube videos trying to achieve this level of smoothness!"

"I call it good genes."

A third reporter emerged out of nowhere, before she entered the elevator.

"Kamilah, the question everyone has been asking... you're older than Jesus Christ. Have you met the Lord... in person?"

She simply rolled her eyes, and pressed the button. Once she was back home, she could finally breathe.

"Rough day?" Amy asked from her laptop, while drinking a cup coffee with Beruthiel on her lap.

"A woman can't even buy supplies for her future garden without being harassed with unwanted questions and pictures!" Kamilah complained, making her wife muffle a laugh. "I like this new era... in parts. Some parts I truly hate."

"Guess what? They're making a movie about us and out of all people they invited Lily as screenwriter. I refuse to be part of any projects that traitor is involved!"

Since Rheya's sick game, Amy had ended her relationship with her best friend. She didn't want to see, or even hear, Lily's name.

"Amy... come on. It's a silly thing, you should forgive her. Rheya did that on purpose to cause conflict between you."

"Kamilah," Amy stood up from the chair, "you have no idea of the things I watched inside her mind, okay? How could she hit on you? Or have those disgusting fantasies? She was my best friend!"

"I see," Kamilah approached her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "But I still think you should talk to her, get to know how she truly feels. Rheya can be extremely manipulative and you know it, better than anyone."

Amy sighed in response, still not fond of the idea.

After the night at the museum, Rheya had disappeared completely. Adrian was still alarmed, contacting vampires from every part of the world but no one had seen any signs of the First Vampire's presence anywhere.

"I have a surprise," Amy announced, showing Kamilah her laptop screen. "I'm organizing an event. A huge event. It's a concert to bring together humans and vampires. There will be musicians from both species. There will be a food buffet, as well as a synthetic blood bar. The best of both worlds, in one place, during a whole night. I spoke to Adrian and he totally approves it. He thinks it's a good manner to end any misinformation we're bloody killers."

"This is a great idea," Kamilah read the flyer and embraced her wife from behind, pressing a kiss on her neck. "You're getting popular, famous, quite influent and powerful... I love it."

"I wouldn't do this without you, Kamilah. When we first met, I was just a girl, scared and insecure. You made me a woman. You always believed in me. You made me better."

"No, you made me better. How can I be so lucky to have you, huh?"

They shared a long and passionate kiss. Kamilah looked at the flyer again. A strange sensation erupted inside her chest. She was afraid, concerned about something, yet she didn't know what.

"Amy, you didn't detect Rheya's presence around anymore," she asked, "did you?"

"No," Amy told. "I was just speaking to Adrian, he still found no traces of her. I also used my powers to try to locate her but... she vanished."

Kamilah hoped she was right. But that feeling something dark was lingering in the air wouldn't go away.

----------

Lysimachus

2 weeks later

A lot changed in everyone's life in over a month. Though Lysimachus wasn't present when Amy made the revelation to the whole world, he wasn't free from the fame and spotlight. Clothing lines wanted hire him as their model. Girls screamed his name wherever he went to. Things only intensified when Adrian announced him as one of the candidates to lead Raines Corporation, after he gave up on his position to run for Senator and dedicate himself to the campaign.

Those weren't the only changes in his life. Being stabbed with that deadly dagger had consequences too. Every magic had a price and he was paying it for staying alive. A part of Demetrius remained inside him, granting him some new powers and abilities to be explored. So far, Lysimachus discovered he could enter Ferals' minds and control them.

That wasn't the worst part, Death became a part of him too. He'd often experience visions and dreams with those who already left this world. Amy's help and some training put that under control, but when the deceased person still had ties, unfinished business with the living, he'd see them around all the time.

"So..." Lysimachus deflected a blow of Katherine's sai as they trained together, "it has been six weeks."

"Since you got stabbed?" She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to find an opening in his defenses.

"That too. It has been six weeks you're staying in New York. In my apartment to be more specific."

"Well, maybe I'm not bored yet. But if you want me to go..."

Katherine was finally able to disarm him, pointing the sai to his chest. Lysimachus threw his hands in the air, indicating surrender.

"This is not what I meant. Isn't it easier to admit we're..." he lowered his voice, whispering the next word, "dating."

"Are we?" Katherine smirked. "I mean, now you've got tons of women at your feet. You're rich, famous, successful. Why would you want to settle down?"

"Because I want you. It's you that I love, Katherine. Why is it so hard for you to accept it? We have this thing going on for over a year now and we never talk about it."

She silenced, not giving him any response. In that moment, Lysimachus was sure he had ruined everything between them.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he apologized, walking away to the shower. "Forget what I said."

"No, wait," she called him back. "I... I feel the same. l Iove you too, but it's complicated."

"Because of what? The deceased woman who's constantly following you around? Who was she? A girlfriend, fiancée maybe?"

"I knew it'd be a matter of time until you discovered it with these new powers. I was planning to tell you at the right moment. She was my best friend, like a sister to me. And my whole world."

They sat down and she told him the entire story. Katherine and her best friend, Ava, were born only a month apart. They grew up together, having a really close friendship. Until the night Ava got murdered in the middle of the night by a creature, while they were camping at the desert. Katherine never stopped blaming herself, turning into a lonely and closed woman, who was unable to feel much of anything or create attachments with another person. When she finished, she was sobbing.

"Amy has been helping me... she showed me how it'd have been if I had died instead, but it wasn't enough," she wiped off her wet cheeks. "Then she keeps shaping that monster and I kill it inside my head, over and over again but... it doesn't go away. It'll never go away."

"Katherine, she's not moving on because you're not moving on. It's not the monster you have to kill, it's these bad feelings inside you," Lysimachus placed a hand over her chest. "You gotta let her go."

"What's keeping her around? Can't she forgive me?"

"No, actually she wants you to forgive yourself. She wants you to live, to fully live again. To smile, sing, have friends and a family. That's what she wants."

She leaned her head to the side, resting it on his shoulder.

"I'm trying," Katherine said. "I'm really trying. Would you help me?"

"Of course," Lysimachus kissed her forehead. "If you let me."

"Are you really giving up on all those women... for this one?"

"You mean the most amazing and beautiful woman I've ever met and also the one who saved my life? I totally am."

----------

Amy

The day of the concert had finally arrived. Amy went to the location very early in the morning to make sure everything was going according to the plans. She monitored everything, to the artists' arrival to the organization of the buffet. Without the financial support of Adrian, Kamilah and Priya, as well as their influence, that event would never be possible. The money raised from the tickets sale would be going to multiple charity organizations.

However, an early encounter with Lily was almost enough to ruin her mood for the rest of the day.

"Hey," she heard her ex-best friend voice behind her, while she inspected the synthetic blood bar received from Japan, "can we talk for a minute? I mean, this is a thing we should be doing together."

"No, it's not. It was my idea. Alone," Amy didn't even bother to turn around to face Lily. "I have no time right now, Lily. I'm sorry."

"Amy... will you ever be able to forgive me?"

"Someday, in a century maybe. If by then you've already stopped having a fetish on my wife. You were supposed to be my best friend and you betrayed me!"

"Amy, it's over already. It was only a stupid crush, but I realized it wasn't even real. It isn't worth losing your friendship for that. I'd do anything to fix it."

"You'll have to try harder," Amy stared at her with a cold gaze and followed her way. After all, she had other priorities at the moment. "Bye, Lily."

People started to arrive, crowding the huge concert venue. From the backstage, Amy watched proudly as vampires and humans started to interact and wait for the performances. Many journalists waited to enter her private room to interview her. She received them, one by one, answering some short questions. By the time it was over, she went to a VIP box with a privileged view of the concert, reserved exclusively to herself and her friends. Everyone clapped as she came inside.

"Come on, guys," her cheeks were on fire. "I wouldn't have done it without you. All of you."

She forced a smile when her eyes stopped at Lily. Kamilah had saved her a seat by her side in one of the comfortable couches. Amy grabbed a drink at the bar before sitting down.

Her wife had a mischievous smile on her face, while her brown eyes aimed at her twin brother, who was standing nearby with an arm around Katherine's shoulders.

"Hey, Amy. Remember what I always say? That I've been many things in my life, but it took finding you to make me a wife?"

"Yes," Amy nodded. "I can't get tired of hearing you say that."

"One thing I had already accepted I'd never be was a sister in law. But it's finally happening, after almost 2066 years of existence."

"Oh! So we're official now?" She glanced at the new couple. Katherine hid her face in embarrassment. "It was about time!"

"Our first event as a couple," Lysimachus confirmed. "The pictures are already everywhere. It's too late to have second thoughts. Right, Katherine?"

"Who's having second thoughts?" The Nighthunter punched him playfully.

"It calls for a toast!" Lily attempted to join their conversation.

Everyone silenced, looking at each other awkwardly, expecting someone to answer.

"Why don't we go down to the floor for a while?" Amy suggested, being uncomfortable to be around her former best friend. "The two of you, me and Kamilah?"

"Sure," Katherine agreed. "Let's get going. I can't even remember the last time I attended a concert."

Before leaving, there was one last thing that came to Amy's mind. She approached Adrian and asked:

"Where's Priya, by the way? Last thing we need is a scandal."

"Oh," Adrian pointed to the stage area, laughing. "Too late for that. Last time I checked she was already causing one, she got caught making out with one of the musicians."

----------

Kamilah

When Kamilah thought about having everything she wished for, that new life was exactly what she had in mind. Together with Amy, she planned to a small garden at the rooftop of her penthouse, as it felt rather empty. That would be a good start to gain experience, before doing something big in their house in Hamptons.

The first thing to do was to install a modern, complex and eco-friendly irrigation system. Amy watched in silence as she studied the blueprints.

"So when are they coming to install it?" Her wife wanted to know.

"They?" Kamilah raised an eyebrow.

"The workers."

"I'm installing it myself. Do you think you can help me?"

When it came to handwork, Amy was not the most talented person. She was too clumsy for all of that. An early experience, when Kamilah started to set out the first plants in the soil, was enough for them both to know she'd be better stay away from the garden.

"I'm a disaster," Amy lamented, wet and cover with mud from head to toes. "I hope I didn't kill all your new plants."

"Me too," Kamilah joked. When the girls eyes filled with tears, she realized she had taken it seriously. "Amy, no. I was joking!"

"I know I am, Kamilah. Look at you, you're so naturally talented at everything and I couldn't even press some buttons without fighting the sprinklers and rolling on the mud."

"Hey, I may be a good gardener, but you have your specialties too."

"Do I?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "Because I feel I suck at everything, most of the time."

"Okay," Kamilah involved her in her arms, without minding how dirty she would get too. "Let me see... you're good in the kitchen."

"Yeah, but I spend more time cleaning the mess than cooking the dinner itself."

She was thoughtful for a moment, thinking of more items to that list.

"You're a great vampire and fighter. In centuries I hadn't seen someone to adapt the vampire life so easily and learn so many skills in only a few months."

"I only had those advantages for being she-who-shall-not-be-named's granddaughter," Amy huffed. They both had agreed to not mention Rheya's name, or Gaius' name, anymore. "Otherwise I'd be like... my ex-best friend."

"You're angry at Lily now," Kamilah spoke. "But you're an amazing friend, listener, advisor and now, a good leader."

"Leader?"

"Amy, not every 24 years old girls will organize such a big event as you did. And that day at the museum... you handled the situation with... she-who-shall-not-be-named so well."

"I almost got your brother killed. If it wasn't for Katherine..."

"If it wasn't for you, she'd probably had killed me in that game. I saw when you moved the bottle. Also, if you hadn't stopped Serafine, all of us and those mortals would be dead too."

Amy stopped crying, but she didn't seem fully convinced of her talents yet.

"You're the best Marketing Director, everyone in the company says that. But most of all, you're the most perfect wife. I learn so much from you everyday."

"Oh my god, you're gonna make me cry again."

Kamilah cupped Amy's face, bringing her lips to hers. Amy placed her hands on her waist, bringing her closer to her body. Kamilah's mouth descended, placing kisses all over the girl's jawline and neck.

"Kamilah," Amy broke into a laugh when they parted, "now you're dirty too! We both need a shower urgently."

"There's another thing you're great at, you know?" Kamilah looked at her and raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"Oh really?! Well, but we can't take long. I need to be at the concert venue in a hour."

"In this case, we can save it for a celebration, after the concert."

Now she could finally see the accomplishment in her wife's eyes too. Being in the middle of the crowd, at the event she organized. They first stopped at the synthetic blood bar. Kamilah had heard about it previously, but she never intended to visit Japan to try it. She had some... problematic businesses in that place. In fact, she was surprised by that courtesy of The Five.

"Not like real blood," she concluded, "but it can satiate me for a while."

"I think it tastes great," Lysimachus added. "For someone who's spend most of life without drinking human blood, that should do."

They clicked their glasses before finishing them. Kamilah could tell how happy and accomplished her brother was too, even after going through such a traumatic experience at the museum.

"So, will you accept the position at Raines Corporation?" She asked, hopeful to hear a positive answer. Having Lysimachus back to New York was everything she wanted.

"I don't know yet," he sighed. "I miss my life in New Orleans but... after almost dying, I feel I should spend some time with my family too. I think I'll accept it, but not permanently."

Lysimachus stopped for a moment, pensive before adding:

"It's up to Katherine too. If she agree to stay, I'll stay."

"Oh! This is actually more serious than I thought..." Kamilah smirked, nudging her twin playfully.

"Kamilah..." Lysimachus cheeks went red. She broke into a laugh. "Can you not?!"

"I didn't want to say it in front of everyone, but congratulations, brother. Katherine is a good woman. I couldn't be happier for you."

"Thanks, sister. We still have a long way to go, but I like how we're progressing so far."

They turned around, observing as Amy playfully pulled Katherine to take pictures with her. From when Kamilah met her brother's girlfriend for the first time, she could already noticed the difference Amy's presence had caused in her life too.

"Look at that," Kamilah smiled at the sight. "She's such a natural in bring the best in a person's life. Isn't she?"

"Definitely. Katherine has changed a lot since she and Amy started hanging out. I remember how she also made me better when I first came to New York, we became friends even when I was trying to use her to get information on The Council."

"I think we can finally consider ourselves lucky."

The next song was announced and as the first notes started playing, Amy pulled Kamilah by the hand to the middle of the crowd.

"Sorry, guys," she said. "I'm gonna need my better half for this one."

Kamilah wrapped her arms around her waist, as she slowly moved to the rhythm. She recognized the song. It was one of Amy's favorites.

"This was one of our songs when we started dating," she had her eyes closed, enjoying the music. "It seems like yesterday."

"I could never forget," Kamilah whispered in her ear. "To many years to come?"

"No, to an eternity."

She turned around, kissing Kamilah for some long minutes, while the music played in the background. Time seemed to have stopped in that moment. It was the moment Kamilah realized everything was really going to be okay. They were finally in peace. And ready for what came next.

When the performance ended, they had a short interval before the next one started. Not long after they rejoined the rest of the group at the VIP box, somebody knocked the door.

"I thought we were done with interviews?" Amy furrowed her brows confused.

As soon as she opened the door, a cold breeze filled the room. It send shivers down Kamilah's spine, making every bone and every muscle freeze in place. She glanced at the others and could tell they were experiencing the same sensation.

"Congratulations, Bloodkeeper," Rheya entered the room with the same arrogant posture as always. "I had to come and see your accomplishments with my own eyes. In only six weeks, you managed to do what I never could, unite vampires and humans."

[ayanna-wild]

Not From Around Here

Word Count: 1772

Pairings: Lucifer Morningstar x reader

Warnings: angst, mild language

A/N: Request from @veromiku3, enjoy! Requests and Tag List are open! Crossover fic, Supernatural and Lucifer.

Masterlist

Summary: He might not have been the devil you knew but he was the devil regardless. Your brothers are less then thrilled to have even needed to ask for his help. So you getting close to him, well that was just a time bomb waiting to happen.

............................................................

Pain.

It was the first thing you felt when you woke up. You could practically feel the bruises forming on your ribs and you struggled to sit up. You looked around, trying to remember what had happened, or at the very least, where you were. You looked around the dark alley, seeing nothing familiar. Weren't you just in a warehouse? Like getting a bucket of cold water thrown in your face it all rushed back to you. The witch, the hunt, the spell, your brothers. That presented you with another problem. Where was Sam and Dean?

You painfully stood, looking around in a slight panic. When your eyes landed on them, at the other end of the alley you sighed in relief. You hurried over to them, checking their pulses. They were alive.

"Come on boys, time to wake up." You muttered inspecting the cut over Sam's eye.

You held your breath as you waited for them to show any signs of waking. When they didn't your panic began to grow, you were so distracted you hadn't noticed the man approaching you from behind.

"Are you alright darling?"

Your instincts kicked in and you spun around, gun ready and face cold. The man raised an eyebrow and stared at your gun. You took a moment to look at him. He was a handsome man with black hair, and dressed in a very expensive looking suit. He didn't look scared or even worried, in fact he looked almost entertained?

"Is that how you greet everyone? That's not very good manners." He said.

You narrowed your eyes at him, and spared a quick glance at your still unconscious brothers. The man followed your graze and his smile fell slightly. He took a step forward and your attention was immediately back on him. You pulled the hammer back on your gun.

"I'm not going to hurt you, or your currently unconscious friends. Maybe I can help." He offered.

You hesitated but realized there would be no way for you to get your brothers out of here by yourself so you agreed. He took you up to a penthouse where with the help of a few other men laid your brothers on his couch. Apparently he was a nightclub owner and you had woken in the alley directly beside his club.

"So tell me my dear, do you and your friends tend to hang out in alleyways regularly? If so that's a dreadfully boring thing to do, I'm sure the three of you could find something more entertaining to do."

You turned your attention of the bruise forming in Dean's wrist to him. You raised an eyebrow, this man was a bit eccentric.

"They're not my friends they're my brothers, and we were not there for the fun of it. A case went bad, I don't know how we got there." You said.

"Case? Are you police?"

You shrugged, accepting the drink he offered you.

"Sometimes."

He looked like he wanted to say something but you decided to change the subject.

"So is this what you do in your free time? Go around helping random people you find in alleys?"

He smirked and took a drink of his whiskey.

"When there's beautiful women involved, absolutely."

You scoffed slightly but still returned his smile.

"I'm Y/N by the way, Y/N Winchester."

"Lucifer, Morningstar, it is certainly very nice to meet you Y/N."

Fear made your heart almost stop and you pulled your gun out again, taking a step back.

"What are you doing here Lucifer? I thought you were in the cage." You hissed.

"Cage? What are you talking about?" He looked confused.

You frowned but kept your gun trained on him.

"Whose meat suit are you wearing this time?"

Lucifer looked increasingly more confused which in turn only confused you.

"Meat suit? I assure you darling this body is entirely my own."

A theory slowly began to form in your mind and you lowered your gun slightly.

"And you have no idea who I am? Who Dean is? Who Sam is?"

"Afraid not, this is the first I've seen if you three, and trust me, I would certainly remember meeting you." Lucifer smirked.

"That doesn't change the fact that you're the devil! That you're evil!" You snapped.

Lucifer's smile disappeared, and he took a step forward eyes flashing red.

"I punish evil, I'm not evil. I'm not the monster you silly little humans paint me out to be!" He shouted.

Your instincts told you to shot him, even though you knew it would do very little. However, your finger fell away from the trigger and you lowered your gun.

"That's much different from the Lucifer I know."

And so you filled him in, coming to the conclusion that you were in fact, in a different universe. As a matter of fact you spent the last two hours talking with the handsome devil, swapping stories and passing the time. It was no surprise that you never heard your brothers wake up. You hadn't even been in the same room, you had been showering after Lucifer offered to let you use his shower.

"Y/N?" Dean called.

Lucifer had been at his bar, fixing himself a drink when he heard your brothers sit up.

"Oh good you're awake. I was beginning to wonder if the two of you would sleep the day away." Lucifer said.

"Who are you?" Dean demanded standing up.

"Well I'm-"

"Where's Y/N?" Sam asked.

Lucifer opened his mouth to answer but Dean cut him off.

"Where's our sister."

Lucifer let out an exasperated sign and rolled his eyes.

"If you would let me get a word in I will gladly tell you two. My name is Lucifer Morningstar, you're in my penthouse, and your darling sister is taking a shower."

You heard the shots that rang out through the penthouse followed by a noise of glass breaking. You hurried from the bathroom, slipping your shirt on. Sam and Dean were awake and reloading their guns while Lucifer inspected the many holes he now had in his shirt.

"Honestly there's no call for that, this was my favorite suit."

Dean and Sam raised their guns and you quickly ran in between the three of them.

"Wait! Don't shot him again!"

"Y/N move! That guy is the fucking devil!" Dean said.

"I know."

"If you know then get away from him!"

"He's not like our Lucifer!"

Hearing that their expressions went from murderous to skeptical. You filled them in on what had happened. The witch sending the three of you to an alternate universe. Lucifer finding the three of you. Him agreeing to help you find a way home, and everything you had learned while they were unconscious.

"I don't care if he's not the same Lucifer, he's still the devil, and he's still evil." Sam warned.

"Are you sure they're your brothers Y/N, they don't sound a thing like you." Lucifer said sarcastically referring to the fact that you had basically said the same thing.

"You can't blame them, our Lucifer possessed Sam and tried to kill Dean. Of course, they're going to be a little apprehensive of you."

"My shirt would say their more than a little." Lucifer scoffed.

Dean pulled you away from him, and him and Sam stood in front of you, protectively.

"We don't need his help. We'll find our own way home." Dean snapped.

You shrugged Sam's hand off your shoulder, glaring at your brothers.

"Right and how are we going to do that? Did you have friends here? No?"

Dean fell silent and Lucifer smirked making Sam and Dean glare at him.

"Your sister is certainly a spirited one isn't she?"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say because Dean grabbed his shirt.

"Touch her, and we'll pluck the feathers right off your wings." He growled.

You rolled your eyes and looked at Sam, who was watching Lucifer with a panicked look in his eyes. Your expression softened and you placed a hand on his arm.

"It's not him Sammy."

"But it's still Lucifer, we can't trust him." Sam muttered.

You shrugged and looked towards Dean and Lucifer who were still arguing.

"No one said we had to trust him Sam, but we still need his help."

"I know. Good luck convincing Dean though."

Apparently you needed more than luck. You had been stuck there for nearly three weeks and although you were slowly making progress, you still worried you may never get home. Your brothers, well they were still less than happy to see how close you have gotten to Lucifer. In fact, they tried to avoid him altogether, and when they couldn't, in normally ended with them unloading their guns into his chest. You had to admit most of the time it was Lucifer seeing how long it would take for him to get under their skin.

"All I'm saying is we should get what we need and get as far away from him as possible."

You sipped your whiskey, watching your brothers try to make a plan. You didn't offer much input and only half listened. You excused yourself for some air and walked out onto the balcony. You stared at the lights of the city, watching the cars drive by on the street below. You heard someone's shoes hit the floor as they walked up behind you.

"Just give me a minute, I'll help you guys brainstorm." You sighed.

"Oh and what are the hunters brainstorming about? Ways to kill the devil? Because I think they may be running out of bullets."

You smiled slightly, and turned your head to look at Lucifer whenever he walked over to stand beside you.

"I thought you were Sam or Dean."

He looked offended and you laughed.

"Don't compare me to those two neanderthals."

"You mean my brothers right?"

You raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of your drink. Lucifer looked panicked as if he was worried that actually upset you.

"Well I didn't mean-"

"I'm joking Lucifer, I call them a lot of things" You laughed.

"Her favorite is calling us girl scouts." Dean muttered walking by.

You flipped Dean off making him chuckle. Lucifer noticed how your smile quickly faded and you looked back out at the city.

"Are you alright darling?"

"Reasonably worried I guess."

"Missing home?"

You shrugged, finishing off the rest of your drink.

"If it's any consolation, I wouldn't be opposed to you staying around a bit longer." Lucifer said.

He refused to look at you and you smiled at him.

"I just might."

............................................................................

Tag List: @we-are-all-alittle-strange-here @adira-secrets @gingernarwal @beththedemonhunter @lifeshortbro @im-just-along-for-the-ride @cuddly-cat-in-a-trench-coat @veromiku3

[shirtlesssammy]

2x01: In My Time of Dying

Then:

Sam and Dean Winchester: Monster hunters

Now:

We pick up right where we left off last season, only this time Netflix got the rights to the proper music. Bad Moon Rising, indeed. Sam, Dean, and John are all unconscious or dead in the now destroyed Impala. The possessed trucker jumps out to double check. Sam’s actually awake (aw, baby Sam Fucking Winchester emerges!) and threatens the demon with the Colt. The demon smokes out leaving Sam to call for his family while the horrified trucker looks on. 

Cut to Rescue 911. The Family Winchester is airlifted to a hospital. Dean wakes in the quietest hospital ever. He starts wandering around trying to find somebody only to find the world’s rudest reception station. It dawns on him that the woman can’t see him. He races back to his room, only to find himself with tubes everywhere and monitors beeping. Oh dear.

Sam rushes in and Dean starts talking to him, but just like the receptionist, Sam can’t see or hear Dean. A doctor comes to tell Sam that John is awake. Sam wants to know about Dean though. He tells Sam they won’t know the full extent of Dean’s injuries until he wakes up --if he wakes up. Dr. Doom and Gloom doesn’t know Dean’s love/hate relationship with death. If he’s alive, he often wants to be dead and if he’s dead nothing is stopping him from coming back alive. 

Sam visits John and discusses Dean’s status. He’s as determined as Dean to save him. (Go, codependency, go!). John says that they’ll look into alternative medicines and then he asks for the Colt. 

That doesn’t sit so well with Sam. But he tells him it’s in the truck of the Impala and Bobby’s on his way to tow it back to Sioux City. John tells Sam to get the Colt and to pick up some things for protection (Oh, how young Sam had NO CLUE what the ingredients were for.) Sam asks if John knows anything about what the demon meant when he said he had plans for him and children like him. John doesn’t know. 

Dean was watching the whole exchange through, and he ain’t buying it.

For Skeptical Son Science:

Sam and Bobby meet by the Impala and Bobby, needlessly cruel, admits, “This just ain’t worth a tow.” DEAN’S SOUL IS ALWAYS WORTH REPAIRING! (Natasha: Preach!)

Sam then gives Bobby the list of ingredients and tells Bobby they’re for protection from the demon. Bobby ain’t buying it. 

John visits Dean. Ghost Dean starts pleading with John to help. He hasn’t called anyone, hadn’t done a thing but sit there. “I’ve done everything you have ever asked me. Everything. I’ve given everything I’ve ever had. And you’re just gonna sit there and you’re gonna watch me die?” 

He hears a noise outside the room and checks it out. A flash of something rushes by and Dean heads to investigate. 

He finds a woman choking on the floor. No one responds to her weak calls for help, and no one can hear him yell. (What kind of hospital is this, just letting a lady die on the floor like that?) 

Sam comes back and Dean keeps trying to talk to him, with no luck. John notices Sam’s mood. Sam tells John he knows what those ingredients are for --summoning a demon. John’s got a plan (Good lord, Sam is his father’s son.) Sam is GOING OFF on his dad, and I mean, in retrospect, oops (but you kind of deserve this for not telling Sam your plan). Dean gets so frustrated watching the exchange he knocks a glass of water off the table. And then lets the audience know that he TOTALLY watches chick-flicks (I know, I know, Swayze always gets a pass). He starts to glitch out and people rush past John’s room. Sam follows them to Dean’s room where he’s flatlined and they’re trying to bring him back. 

Dean sees a reaper hovering over his body and tries grabbing it but is pushed away. It then rushes from the room and Dean gets a pulse again. Whew. He tells Sam that he’s going to get it before it gets him. 

Wandering through the hospital, he finds a woman yelling at others. “Can’t you see me?” etc. Her name is Tessa and she wants to know if she is dead. Dean takes her to her room. He tells her that they’re spirits but if they hold on, they don’t have to die. 

Meanwhile, Sam is telling John he felt like he sensed Dean and wonders if it’s possible. John says anything it possible.

Dean and Tessa wander the Hospital of Young Adult Nearly Dead Angst. 

Actually, Tessa is handling this whole almost dead thing really well. HMMM. “It’s out of my control. It’s just fate.” Them's fightin’ words, Tessa. Dean doesn’t take kindly to “fate”. “That’s crap, you always have a choice.” 

Sam’s back in Dean’s room with his handy “Mystical Talking Board”.

Dean feels like he’s at a slumber party, but dives right in to talk with Sam. Remarkably, Dean doesn’t take the opportunity to immediately spell out B-O-O-B-S. He takes control of the pointer to spell the word H-U-N-T.

Through the board, he tells Sam that there’s a reaper after him. Sam knows that if it’s there naturally, they can’t defeat it. “You can’t kill death,” Dean says rather famously. LOL those were the days. 

Sam spins into Winchester denial mode because there’s always another way! He heads in to talk to John but that little chicken has flown the coop. 

Down in the boiler room (never go into the boiler room, kids!) John unloads a bag of supplies. He takes out a piece of chalk and begins to draw sigils on the floor. 

Sam heads back into Dean’s room with John’s journal. Dean thanks Sam for fighting to save him (as opposed to his absent dad). Dean reads over Sam’s shoulder from the section on reapers, mutters “son of a bitch,” and then heads out on his own mission. 

Dean finds Tessa back in her hospital room, but this time it’s empty and sterile. He drops some interesting facts about reapers, like that they can alter perception. A reaper can appear in any form, which is why we see Tessa in the form of Neil Gaiman’s Death. 

Tessa explains her subterfuge as the only way to get Dean to listen to her (instead of stabby stabby knifey knifey). She’s the spectral presence he’s been seeing all over the hospital, gently reaping souls. “Death is nothing to fear,” she tells him. “You’re living on borrowed time.” Once I finish digging the knife out of my own heart because I just sat around remembering the episode Faith, we cut to John.

John has finished his craft project and slices his hand with a blade while chanting. (I pity the custodial staff who’s going to have to come clean this mess up.) His ritual appears to fail when a custodian does show up and orders him to get out of the boiler room. John levels the Colt at the guy. “How stupid do you think I am?”

Well...stupid enough to lone wolf this demon summoning.

Two other demons flank John. Yellow Eyes mocks John, pointing out that he only has one bullet left. John doesn’t care, though. He’s there to make a deal. 

Upstairs, Sam talks to Dean’s body, telling him that he’s hit a dead end in trying to save him. “I’ll keep trying as long as you keep fighting. You can’t leave me alone here with Dad. We’ll kill each other.” Sam begs him to stay. 

Dean begs Tessa for an exception to the reaping rule. They’re still in the middle of fighting Yellow Eyes; he can’t leave his family now. Tessa tells him that the world keeps turning no matter who she reaps. The world will go on without Dean in it. (Stares directly at the camera.)

Dean refuses to leave and Tessa drops her final bomb. Dean can’t get back into his body. He’s really almost very much mostly dead.

She gently explains that angry spirits are created by ordinary souls who try to stay behind and eventually go mad. If Dean stays, he’s gonna join their ranks. 

John offers Yellow Eyes the Colt and its last bullet if he’ll heal Dean. Yellow Eyes scoffs at John’s offer. He doesn’t think much of Dean or Sam. He then asks John if he knows about the other children. YEAH DUDE. But John definitely hasn’t told Sam or Dean about it. John’s all business. He demands to see that Dean is healed before he’ll hand over the gun. Yellow Eyes is intrigued, but he demands one further concession.

For Vulnerable Dean Science:

Tessa tells Dean that it’s time to go, or time to stay. Whatever his choice, it’s decision time now. Dean turns to her, about to say…………..something. And the lights flicker. Black smoke floods in and possesses Tessa. She looks back at Dean with yellow eyes and smacks her hand on his forehead. 

In Dean’s hospital room, he wakes up and gags on his life support tubes. YIKES. 

Cut to later: the doctor reviews Dean’s miraculous recovery. “You’ve got some kind of angel watching over you.” (Listen, I know this is supposed to be ironic because har har a demon saved him, but…. DUDE Dean you’ve really got some kind of angel watching over you. Wink wink.) 

Dean doesn’t remember a damn thing about when he was near death. He just has a bad feeling about…something.

John checks in with Dean, glad to see that he’s recovered. Sam grills him about taking off but John begs for them to not fight. It’s a mark of how little gentleness they see from their father that John begging quietly for peace makes Sam ask if he’s okay. (#JustSayin) 

John sends Sam on an errand to get a cup of coffee. Once Sam’s gone, he tells Dean about something that Dean did when he was young. 

When John returned from hunts, messed up and scarred, Dean would comfort him and tell him it was all okay. (I need a minute to cry right in your FACE.) John apologizes to Dean for putting so much responsibility on him at such a young age. Dean is being SEEN. John tells Dean that he’s proud of him. Dean double checks that it’s his father. I’ve drenched my pillow. 

John gives Dean one last mission: to watch out for Sammy. He leans forward and whispers into Dean’s ear and when he pulls away, Dean looks horrified.

John leaves Dean’s room and walks up to Yellow Eyes. He sets down the gun. Says, “Okay.” 

Sam, walking back with a cup of coffee and finds his dad lying dead on the floor.

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Quotes: The High Cost of Living:

Screw you, doc, I’m waking up.

Dude, I full on Swayzed that mother.

You’re much prettier than the last reaper I met.

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