#poor demon boi needs to be freed and accepted for what he is :<< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[naffeclipse]

Surprise!!! >:D

I come here fashionably late to deliver the comment I owed with interest and all! And oh boy oh boy, get ready because this one might be the longest one yet! At least that’s what it’s looking like in my notes app at the moment kñjfdhgkj (Me: writes my thought not usually longer than a sentence long because each note has a not huge word limit. Also me: nearly reaches the limit and every sentence is basically a paragraph here fkjdhgkjh)

Anyways! Let’s start! :D

Ohhh man, that poor old man. What a scene to come back to! Considering the hunters seemed to have secured the area for the confrontation I can only imagine what must be going through his mind after his last interaction with them all! Meanwhile Sun and Moon are over here just like. “Great. Someone else that thinks we killed them all. :( ” 

But ahhh I just love how it’s a slow scene that builds the tension! Because we know what happened at the end of the last chapter so we experience the restlessness as the clock ticks by. And then, they get free, and things get going.

Oh it was so interesting when they found Vanessa. The fact that she was wearing their jacket! I can’t imagine Glitchtrap would be the one to put it on her after he took the white patched one, so it’s such a sad image thinking about her dragging herself towards the discarded green jacket like it’s the last thing she’ll get to keep of y/n after this D:

Also how they identified her! It makes me wonder how much they can know from a heart. It does get explained later but it immediately got me speculating about different levels of rulebreakers. So I imagine other people who might be considered guilty but not rulebreakers might be those that were in compliance with the harm, or those that were neglectful. It seems to Eclipse both are just as bad as any rulebreaker and deserve the same fate. Thank goodness for their vow!

Also gfkjhgfjh poor Vanessa, fr XD Just got freed from a heart eating demon and she can’t get a full rest before another heart eating demon is roughly shaking her awake. Though gotta give her credit! It’s sad, but also very badass of her that she’s just so done that she won’t show any fear to them. Just that she despises them. Also respect for her for refusing to sell y/n to the new demon. From her perspective she already feels guilty for one demon taking them and she wasn’t gonna make their troubles even worse, even if that might have meant this demon ended her right then. But also I love that that’s what makes them start to reel their anger in a little, because they know that, exactly like her, y/n also thought Eclipse would kill them. They realize all Vanessa sees right now is a demon after its quarry.

And aaaahh, Vanessa noticing the patches! She must have looked at the patch in her own jacket enough times to recognize y/n’s handiwork and all the implications for that. Even so exhausted, she’s very sharp still! But oof the dread in all of them when she admits what happened. Gosh the part where they clutch the hair clip with one blue hand and one red one! Ahhh that had me feeling so many things. It’s a small moment of despair and trying not to grief, snapping themselves to action instead of thinking the worst!

And then they go back to not giving Vanessa a single break sheesh XD Oh man, the dreaded acceptance in her face when they accuse her of not protecting the children. Punching right where it hurts the most. And like, she read the book. She knows what being considered guilty means when encountering a demon that follows the sacred rules. And it’s so sad to think that she might even consider that if they had killed she would have deserved it. Ooough my heart. But then they don’t and she just has to accept that they truly do care about finding y/n, they sound desperate in telling her that the hunter needed her to not give up on them, even if for Vanessa right now giving up might be the only way to find some rest after what she’s been through. And so Vanessa just has to go “this might as well just happen huh”. Not to mention the whiplash fdkjfhdgjkh This demon that just admitted to wanting to kill her suddenly referring to themselves as the cutesy nickname y/n assigned them just like “we’re their sweetie <3” is sure gotta be something from her perspective XD

But at least as they start to calm down and form a sketch of a plan for what to do they do truly start to notice how badly Vanessa had it with how often Glitchtrap used her. Even for someone they deem guilty the act of possession is simply horrific to them. But aaaah I love how they keep reminding themselves that Vanessa is y/n’s friend and they take their hunter as an example. They try to take care of her as they know y/n would aaaaa! 

Oh, Vanessa has the scar too! This definitely makes me think Glitchtrap likes to mark what he thinks it’s his. Seems like a signature since it was also done near a finger in Vanessa’s case. At least for his vessels.

And jfkhdkjhg the amused “What do they see in you?” comment XD Boys please. I guess it would be surprising to them because she’s much more snarky and hardened than y/n haha. But glad that as they really start paying attention to her they are reminded that there is more nuance where they only bothered to see black and white. They know the guilt when they sense it, but it might not always be due to evil or negligence. Sometimes it’s powerlessness. They really are learning, and it’s thanks to their time with y/n that they are forced to dig a little deeper into what they already thought they knew. It’s learning they do on their own right now, but yet another proof of how their heart has influenced them greatly! They get to see Vanessa does care! She always did! If not for the vow, they might actually just have killed her and not learned the truth, and also not gotten the information to save the hunter.

But of course, Vanessa is learning a bit herself! I’m sure that the boys willing to be present during an exorcism, knowing how dangerous it can be for them to trust her with it, just to be there for y/n is really something for her to think about. Not then though, she really needed that nap.

(sidenote: “They will get you back, even if they must rip the demonic cryptid out of you themselves” the foreshadowing though! I read the chapter again to write this comment and I was pointing at everything with a gasp once I realized XD)

Oh gosh then we get the possession POV oof! This demon really likes to multitask. Hunting while torturing y/n with the hunters’ deaths! And aahhh what a way to hurt them. Since their mind is basically his to rummage through it wouldn’t surprise if he chose the word “gift” specifically to drive the knife into the wound. Referring to it like the boys did to the cryptid hearts they consumed thanks to y/n. Maybe a way for Glitchtrap to tell them that any gifts will be now for him alone and that they don’t belong to Eclipse anymore.

And oh! Does this mean it was Vanessa who assigned him his name? Oooo that really goes with the parallels of each of the cryptid hunters and their experience with the prolonged stay of a demon near them! Interesting!

Also interesting that Vanessa investigated on her own! FEI really are idiots for having trapped him and not gotten rid of him. Maybe they really thought they got Bonnie and were insisting the deaths were someone else’s fault, or maybe they just wanted to keep him as a way to experiment on what they could force the demons to do. Either way, they really messed up. 

And aaah the boys console Vanessa! I think it helps that she let them know that the reason she got into this whole deal was precisely because she was trying to prevent more children’s deaths, even against her employer’s wishes. She did quite the opposite of what they believed at first. Everything in her power to do the right thing. And so they truly have the full picture now. They know why y/n loves Vanessa so much.

But oh, things start to pick up then! 

Immediately, the line “your wild hair is untucked” hits so good because it’s a clear reference to how they are missing the pin AAAAA (actually, I love the emphasis you put in the descriptions of their being loose and moving so much. The hair clip logically is such an inconsequential detail in this whole equation, but it means so much actually. It calls attention to the small hope they are clinging to, and also to the wrongness of it all. The very cause that the hunter is missing it in the first place)

Ooooo the “why did you come back”, Glitchtrap knows all of y/n’s insecurities, but also can estimate some of Eclipse’s through their memories. And the worse part is that it works, because even if they don’t show it, it’s a recent still painful moment.

And oh then we get that good juicy demon lore!! I loved reading through all the encounters they’ve had with him through the years! Glitchtrap causes trauma even to other demons kfjdhdkhs And omg the security puppet bit! Ahhhhh!!! That’s seriously one of the moments in the entire fnaf franchise that stayed with me for its impact and I was so excited when I saw you referred to it! If it hasn’t been asked, I’d love to know about how you chose all their true names! Does Glitchtrap have one too? (don’t worry if it has been asked though! I’ll be going through your blog to catch up anyways haha)

And oooh Vanessa coming up with the plan!!! Ruthless but effective. And aaaahh this part gave me so many feelings though! Because this must have meant so much for her! Finally, finally, she gets to save at least one child from Glitchtrap’s claws. After watching every kid die, likely right in front of her, wanting to do everything to save them. She got the chance to save one, and she succeeded. She might feel responsible for all the others, but it was thanks to her this one lived. It would have been so unlikely that Sun or Moon could have snatched the kid without Glitchtrap hurting them or killing them. Just… aaaaah I love that she got this. The relief that it didn’t end the same way as always!

(sidenote: fkdjhgkjgh that’s 2 kids now that will probably be traumatized by y/n’s face without it actually being y/n doing the bad thing oof)

More possession POV! I want to make a note how I love the way you emphasize that it’s him moving y/n’s body. Very much giving the feeling of a puppetmaster! Even if it’s him “wearing” the body I could very clearly imagine his hands physically moving y/n’s head to look back. And oof, the way he was tearing them apart from the inside, making very sure that he would make as much damage as possible if he himself had to die. And once again, y/n would have been willing to sacrifice themselves if it hadn’t been because it would have meant Eclipse’s end also. They better never admit that or they will earn a well deserved shaking by the shoulders, I swear dksgkjñh 

Oh, Glitchtrap just really likes to mock wherever he can. The way he mocked the almost kiss, not only angering the boys but worsening y/n’s guilt at not having noticed the demon and Vanessa just out of their reach. Oh and then! Using y/n to try and get Sun and Moon away! It’s terrifying how a demon can have more control over a human body than the human in question. 

AND THEN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The double possession! The kiss!! AAAAAA The way they push Glitchtrap out together! How it was inevitable that he would lose that fight because even if their body rejected both, their mind would reject Glitchtrap specifically! The way that he can’t try to tear them apart like he did moments earlier because Sun and Moon are making sure to cut his contact with them! And aaah it’s so intense and sad how the process is so painful that for a moment y/n thinks they really will die. How in their mind they think of Vanessa and the kid being safe as what is important, but then they realize how they would not die without regrets if they did not apologize to them. The fact that Eclipse is the main reason not to give up, when their self-sacrificial nature made y/n so alright with dying if it meant they could take down the monster AAAAAA

And aaaaa the boys instantly let go as soon as Glitchtrap is out. Not a millisecond more than necessary is spent in the hunter’s body to make sure not to hurt them more. And ok, this is just gonna be some ramblings about the battle because gosh I just loved it so much. I love the fact that the boys declared Glitchtrap would never hurt another innocent. Not just children. Ahh I’m so proud of them! 

And oof ooooooouch the part where they get their chest ripped open. More parallels! Just like they did to Shoh what came naturally to them, so did they receive what another heart eating demon would do. And aaa Vanessa keeps helping! She’s so prepared!! She knew it took her a moment to find the incantation, so she got the book ready to be easy to find!

Aaaugh our boys received so much damage there, but they kept getting up for their heart aaaaa And oh you could feel the fury when Glitchtrap got so close to the hunter’s heart with his claws. He really went for it thinking he had won and the boys said don’t you dare!

(sidenote: hehe they Eclipsed the sun X3)

And whoooo boy they really did start ripping him apart, piece by piece like promised!

And what a finale to the battle! I love, LOVE, how Glitchtrap’s brought his own undoing upon himself. It was his sick fondness for the plushie that caused so many deaths, (and its image of the golden bunny suit that allowed him access to children) that meant there would be a vessel for him to be trapped in. And also his cruelty for wanting Vanessa to live and suffer through the effects, physical and mental, of the constant possession. Thanks to her being alive, they were able to find him and predict him. And through one of the beings he considered “nothing”, he was erased from existence. I find it interesting that he was willing to let Eclipse walk away after he thought enough damage had been dealt with. Not out of any kindness, I’m sure (probably to make them live with failure like the others) but he seemed to feel some kinship in a twisted way, with how he tried to convince them to also hunt innocent hearts and leave the sacred rules. Meanwhile humans are just toys. Too bad for him a toy is the last thing he was before he was exorcized. 

Aaaaa what an amazing battle Naff! Brutal and tense and so so good!

And then the aftermath! The boys tasting their blood to be sure they would be okay! They must have tasted all the pain and fear from the past day. The past hours. And then y/n admitting, now genuinely, how scared they are. Of losing them. And then make not one, but two vows! One to really drive it home how they will not betray their trust again. And aaaaah they finally coming to terms with their love for cryptids! Accepting a part of themselves by accepting them! AAAAAAA

And man, the boys really are amazing. Healing so quickly after such a battle! Once things have calmed down I can definitely see y/n fascinated (and thankful) for this ability to heal so thoroughly after a single meal. 

(sidenote: Y/n seriously about to become a mechanic for their boys haha, that knee needs some fixing XD)

(other sidenote: oh they picked the plushie up! Maybe to destroy it? hmmm)

The reunion with Vanessa was so sweet! And it was so funny that Sun was so offended that she didn’t immediately assumed they won XD And aaa she gets a hug! And a good cry too! She really needed that. And oh yeah, she will likely never eat a piece of candy again. Might as well be demonic goo in her eyes.

But ha! The “only you”. Called out! Wheeze!

And oh when y/n is thinking about telling her all they’ve been through my first thought was “Oh Vanessa gets to hear Cryptid Sightings from the start! Lucky her!” XD

And my last thought for this chapter was that if y/n is worried about making a good impression with the demon in laws they really shouldn’t be haha! I’m sure banishing The Enemy they’ve been hunting for millenia will absolutely get them in the good graces of the others effortlessly kfgdjhgj

Oh and! Now that Glitchtrap is gone, while the night terrors won’t disappear, I’m very glad there is some closure for them now. The demon is no longer out there. And when they wake up, they can breathe easy knowing that now, it really is only a nightmare. He has no power anymore.

Okay, for the epilogue!

Yay! Vanessa gets to go to a hospital! Too bad demonic possession is not really in their treatment list dkjhfkjdgh But I’m glad she’s not as bad off as we feared! And oh I’m curious about something she said! Human food tastes like ash to demons, but she said Glitchtrap was obsessed with sugar. Does that mean then that demons can taste things if they are possessing a human? hmmm interesting! (but morbid kjdgh)

(sidenote: “you can’t lingered on what would have happened if you had succumbed to the vampire bite”, well the hunter can’t but WE sure can XP)

Ahhh that’s a long stay at the hospital, but it’s nice how they establish some calm and get to figuring things out. And the fact that Vanessa’s tears are clear when they leave! Finally she is physically free from him!! Aaaaaaa

And it’s so sweet how the boy’s care extends to Vanessa now. How they keep patting her head and there’s a certain camaraderie forming. The way they tried to deal with her nightmares too how they did with y/n! It’s sweet, but a bit sad that they couldn’t help. But Vanessa did say Glitchtrap watched her sleep to make sure she wouldn’t escape. Waking to a demon isn’t what she needed. She needs time. To heal from the freshest wounds at least. Her saying that he’s still here says it all. His effects will always linger and her knowing what happened with Henry… well, it’s no wonder she still fears Eclipse could betray them. Thankfully, they’re all together though. They’ll figure it out. 

And aaaaa that final dance was everything! I cackled at the “missing what’s right in front of you” part, because I feel like they were not even including the cryptid part of the equation just the being obvious about their feelings and y/n logic-ing themselves away from noticing fjdhñkjgh

AAAA the getting out of their vessel in front of them though! When before they were so unsure about it! The fact that it’s y/n pulling them out, feeling safe, and wanting to see them! And omg them sharing their name! Something that feels so important to them, because only their loved ones know it, and it feels like they truly are giving them their being. A part of themselves that’s so personal. In a way, they are giving them what is closest to being their heart. What is theirs and only theirs. And the way they yearn for them to repeat it aaaaa! They finally get their heart knowing them as they crave. And there’s so much more for them to get to know too!

AND AAAAA THE KISS!!! Naff you describe kisses so well! So sweet, and intimate, and full of so many emotions, and it’s the hunter’s pov but you can just tell how much it affects the boys too, like it’s something they tried to imagine but didn’t know how much better it would be than that until now. Just the absolute trust in them, and sharing all those feelings and AAAAAAAA-

(sidenote: “They sink into your touch as if you felled them in one swoop” oh this line encapsulates so many thoughts I’ve had about love in general. The one person that could hurt Eclipse the most in the world right now is y/n. But they know they won’t. They know the person they can lower all defenses around and trust with their life is their little hunter, who would access their most vulnerable parts not to hurt but to cherish. To show them kindness and care and so they are happy to give themselves to their heart. To let them know how much they are able to affect them)

And that’s it! 

Naff, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this fic! Filled with wonder and tension and so many cool creatures! The relationships all so easy to get invested in! All the themes about love, and the internal struggles, and growing together, and fighting to right the wrongs that were done towards those you love, and what means to be brave and trying to do the right thing! What an amazing adventure! Not to mention how much I love your writing because honestly, it’s just so good! You know how much I love it hehe <3 This is the first fic I’ve followed from early on all the way to end too! And what a fantastic one at that! Thank you for all the time and care you have put into this story! I cannot wait to read whatever you have planned for the future!

So to end this, once again! Thank you so much for this fic, Naff! You really are amazing! <3

Ah, Chaotik! I have been rereading this over and over the past few days and I love how detailed your thoughts are and I adore how you connect the crumbs I laid out! I'm almost so happy that you enjoyed it! You are amazing. I have enjoyed your every comment/thought and appreciate you so much ♥

To answer one question: Does that mean then that demons can taste things if they are possessing a human? hmmm interesting! (but morbid kjdgh)

Yes! Demons can taste regular food while possessing a human vessel, and some even get crazy about it, like Glitchtrap obsessing over sugar. When not possessing vessels, human food is gross/tasteless to them!

Thank you, Chaotik! I treasure each and every word you leave on my fics! ♥

[chaozsilhouette]

A Father’s Love

Another piece for @winterpower98's Swap Au.

I don’t really have a time frame for this scene, but with all the horror MK has had to endure in this AU I couldn’t help myself. I just needed a bit of fluff to break up my writing. Plus, I am all for Tang showing just how much he loves MK and being a protective father figure.

The poor boy needs a break, but we all know it won’t last.

_____________________________

“Well now, aren’t you a stubborn human.” Sun Wukong mused as he took in the one who dared to separate him from his creation.

The ground was split in a dozen directions. Craters dotted the landscape. The scent of volatile magic soaked the air. Yet, in the center of all this was a small circle of undisturbed land where his boy and the human stood unharmed.

The human didn’t look particularly impressive. If he had to guess, somewhere in his early to late thirties. He was obviously healthy but still suffered from the weaknesses all humans share. No, what truly caught his attention was the strangest sensation he knew this human. Almost as if the golden fillet was readying itself by his mere presence.

The human’s talent in magic was nothing to scoff at. Admittedly, it was nothing he couldn’t brush off, but seeing a human wielding so much raw power was supposed to be nearly impossible in this modern age. However, defying the odds here one stood before him trying to keep him from one of his treasures.

He was not alone in his curiosity. The Monkey King watched as MK stared at the bespeckled man in utter surprise.

“Since when could you do that?!” The newly revealed monkie demon all but screeched.

“Not too long.” The scholar cryptically stated.

His annoyance at the lack of an answer freed Mk of his fear. Just enough to swallow his need to be supported during this horrible moment and say what needed to be said. “You’ve got to run! Forget about me and get the others to safety!”

“I’d listen to my son if I were you, human.” The tyrant stated with a cocky smirk. “Since he’s started to learn his lesson about where he belongs I can be generous. You can take all your friends back home to rest up and we can continue another day.”

With a trembling hand, MK desperately gripped Tang’s pant leg. Praying that his love would be translated behind his pathetic display. “Please. I can’t see you get hurt because of me.” They were the kindest people he ever had the pleasure of knowing. He couldn’t bear knowing they got hurt trying to save him. The only reason they were in this crisis was because of him. If he hadn’t been so weak...

If he didn’t allow himself to be used, Wukong would still be trapped.

“Mk, you know I can’t leave anyone behind to suffer this tyrant’s hospitality.” The word was hissed out with more venom than a viper pit. “Especially not after learning of Macaque’s past.” Tang adjusted his stance so his side now supported the youth. His fingers twitched randomly, his eyes remained locked onto the armored demon. “Besides, we both know Mei would gut the two of us if we even think of considering it.”

It made no sense. They were in the presence of a being that filled the nightmares of all, from the lowliest human to celestial kings, yet young simian couldn’t help but smile. “Good point.” Compared to the Monkey Tyrant the young dragon was an insect, but she had earned the fear that accompanied her ire.

“Such a touching display. But do you really think you will be able to give him what he needs? That others will accept who he really is? You can say you love him until the sun blows up, but it will never change the fact he is me.” The Monkey King’s smile showed nothing but cruel amusement, but his tail betrayed his fraying patience.

“Do you take me for a fool? It doesn’t matter what he looks like, where he came from, or how he started out. He is my Son! And I refuse to let anyone abuse his kind heart ever again!”

Two hands slammed into the ground with unnatural force. Mystic runes and circles filled the air as the battlefield was bathed in a gentle yellow light. Golden ropes wrapped around the Tyrant as the earth formed a five-sided fortress around him. Symbols were burned into each side, somehow not concealing the burning rage from Sun Wukong’s enraged expression.

With that done, Tang grabbed MK’s hand and ran knowing full well both their lives depended on it. “Come on! That won’t distract him for long.”

Or at all. They hadn’t cleared five meters before they started to rocks crumble and mystic bindings viciously snap.

Somehow the two of them were able to reunite with Macaque and Mei in order to get some much-needed distance without any major obstacles. It was silently agreed that the Moneky Tyrant had let them leave. Why? They didn’t want to think about it. All they could do was patch themselves up and think of a new plan.

_____________________________

Pigsy treated them all to a delicious meal, after yelling at the four of them for tangling with the Monkey King. About how they could have gotten killed and berating them for thinking about leaving them behind. Tang was certain Pigsy’s volume was the only reason Macaque looked uncomfortable.

That night they all stayed with Sandy. It was agreed that they should stick together until the heat dies down. Mei stepped out to call her parents to warn them about ... everything. While Macaque had essentially taken over as her father figure it didn’t mean her birth parents were no longer a target. Macaque aided Sandy in setting up the spare rooms. Piggy was just cleaning up dinner and preparing a few things for breakfast.

Leaving Tang to begin creating wards to hang around the boat and MK to uncomfortably sit as he stared at the scholar.

“Why did you do that?”

Tang pushed up his glasses, looking more grave than the teen ever recalled seeing.

“I was preparing that spell the moment I opened my mouth. I figured after that outburst it was only a matter of time before he got bored playing nice and when for the kill. Despite what movies would make you believe, talking is not a free action.” His precious disciples learned that lesson the hard way.

“No. I mean...when you said all that stuff, did you really mean it? You view me as a son?” MK could barely get the last word out. It felt like all of this was just a wonderful dream and when he awoke he’d be back on Flower Fruit Mountain.

Tang set down his brush to fully face the demon. “Of course, I mean it. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.” He poured his entire soul into that truth, a fact he was proud to scream to the heavens.

“Even when I look like this?” Sharing the same face of the demon who caused so much pain and suffering. He could barely stand it, but the thought of continuing to live in his human form just felt even more unbearable. He was tired of lies. Tired of being used.

“So you look like a demon monkey, big deal." Tang waved off the concern, regaining his trademark confident sass. "Last I checked, we are close with several demons one of which is a rather famous monkey. At your core, you are still the same MK we grew to know and care about. You may have started out as Wukong’s clone, but you have come a long way since then.”

Seeing that the boy was still unconvinced, Tang wrapped his arms around the child’s shoulders and brought him in for a hug. “You will always have a place with me, with any of us. You are loved and appreciated, Xiǎotiān. Never forget that.” Circles were slowly traced on his back as shaky breathing gradually evened out.

Xiǎotiān nuzzled his father’s neck. Taking in the scent of aged paper, ink, and tea. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Of course.” Gentle fingers slowly combed through his hair.

The world was falling into the depths of madness, but in this moment Xiǎotiān could deceive himself into believing everything would work out.

[lovee-infected]

Hi may I please have headcannons for Ciel Phantomhive who got transported to Twisted wonderland.

It got a bit long for headcanons but why not ? Ciel in twisted wonderland has got a lot to tell lol

♦♥♠♣

He assumes it all to be a dream when he wakes up in NRC , as he slides the door of his coffin open just to fall to the ground

He tries and calls for Sebastian , considering this situation having something to do with him .When Sebastian doesn't show up , he leds out a moody growl trying to find someone or a way out of wherever he was

Mirror hall didn't seem a bad place for him to wake up at ; since most of the designs remained the same over hundreds of years it was kinda similar to victorian styles from Ciel's original time . He low-key starts admiring decorations and unfortunately , steps on something's tail

Grim naturally freaks out being woken up from his slumber like this and in a few seconds the whole salon is set on fire

Crowley arrives just in time to find Ciel almost choking Grim while shouting at him to do something ; poor Grim passes out when Crowley finally freed him from the savage Phantomhive's hands

Crowley isn't sure what to do first , punishing him for intense violence or clarifying which dorm would be responsible for him

He leaves judgement to the mirror and...it doesn't go quite as expected : " Your soul is...no . Not again...this one doesn't belong to any dorms either ," mirror says . Crowley got terrified thinking that it was similar to MC's situation , but he got even worse as the mirror says : " I see nothing through him because...I see no soul "

Crowley argues that there must be a mistake but Ciel himself knows that his soul no longer belongs to him , but to Sebastian

Ciel asks if the mirror knows anything about his contract , but neither the mirror nor headmaster had any idea on what he was talking about

Ciel decides to skip that part since he doesn't want to spill more tea himself , so he asks where he is

After Crowley's hour long presentation and telling Ciel that he's stuck in twisted wonderland until Crowley finds a way to send him back home , poor boy nervously smirks

He is now sure of it all being a dream so he tries anything that would help him to wake up : Pinching himself , slapping , screaming and finally , throwing himself out of window - He is lucky that Crowley catches him before his head crashes the ground

He almost saw dead with his two eyes , so it couldn't be a dream anymore

He first freaks out at how he can't come back , but then calms down realizing that he won't stay here for too long ;Sebastian would not let

Sebastian isn't one demon to give up on his soul just by him disappearing , he is way greedier and stubborner and would do anything it takes to have his rights as long as Ciel isn't dead . So being caught in a different world or dimension was no stop for Sebastian , specially thinking that demons themselve came from another dimension

Ciel decides to be hopeful that Sebastian would find him anyway , so he says that he'll wait just there until Sebastian comes for him , ignoring Crowley's ramblings wanting him to stop being stubborn

After a few hours Ciel gives up , accepting that he can't last on his own if he just waits for Sebastian to show up : What is taking that bastard so long...

The kind and good-hearted Crowley offers him a vip stay at their all Happy and comfortable hotel , aka Ramshackle dorm

Ciel argues that he just can't live like a pig , but Crowley states that he's either staying out or at Ramshackle's . He angrily growls , having to deal with it

The next morning he wakes up to see no one but Grim , which made both of them scream . MC catches the pan before Grim could throw it at Ciel , and Ciel brings out his gun- . MC then slaps him for rudeness and takes the gun

He ends up having to head classes with MC and Grim since he has nothing else to do , though he was too young to head any of the classes

Ciel isn't used to heading to public classes , but he's okay with them since he has his experience from Weston College , but something else irritates him :

This school was a bit too similar to Weston College. Not only atmosphere but also students . He basically shared the same class with a green haired version of Greenhill . Sebek is nothing different from him except being...more annoying . He couldn't stop talking about someone he called young master which makes him look a bit like Agni

Same goes for Ace and Deuce , they seemed kinda familiar but Ciel isn't sure where he's seen them before

He doesn't like Crowley because the way he acts , talks and hides his eyes remind him of Undertaker ; making him feel unsafe whenever he is around

This annoying pace continues for him ; a socially awkward emo with long blue hair who is good enough to be Gregory Violet's Identical twin , a teenage-version of Agni who shares the same wild spirit as Suma , and many others

He thought that it couldn't get any worse until he almost screams Snake at a guy who looks JUST- LIKE - HIM , sleeping under a tree . Silver wakes up to Ciel's fascinated gaze and gives him a confused look , that makes Ciel run away

School on the other hand is terrible : Magic's history is nothing like the history he is learned by Sebastian , but he could handle studying something all new . The problem is with the rest of classes : Animal language , alchemy and and anything that requires any talent in magic ; but PE is the worst . His body is already pretty weak and he falls at asthma attacks several times . To add to that his height is another thing he had to keep up with , he is at least 10 centimeters shorter than even the smallest ones there and of course , Night raven's unraveled students don't mind bullying a short moody kiddo-

Beside his enormous problems , there are other advantages as well ;

Ciel isn't much of a people person , but students there are rather interesting to him

Still most of them seem neutral to him , but there are also ones who catch his eyes :

He doesn't like : Grim (for obvious reasons) , Ace and Deuce (too loud and annoying ) , Cater ( Is always playing with some odd invention called phone *) , Leona and Ruggie ( they bully him ) , Jade ( Looks and talks like Sebastian ) , Floyd ( looks like an illegal combination of Sebastian and Grell...+ calls him baby seal ) , Rook ( stalks on him) , Sebek ( too annoying)

He low-key likes : Riddle ( he respects him organized nature + they look a bit similar) , Trey ( acts like a loyal servant ) , Azul ( is smart with contracts and seems to be a man of culture + runs a cafe with good teas and desserts) , Idia ( he weird , yet interesting ) , Silver ( reminds him of Snake) , Malleus ( is mysterious and looks like an almighty master )

The rest are just neutral to him

( * ) : Ciel obviously doesn't know what a phone is , along with many other things invented after his age ; he thinks they are all magical tools and not something created by the hand of man

Riddle invites him to tea parties and Ciel appreciates it , at least one thing that made him calm down in this crazy world

He once goes to Mister S's shop and Sam immediately senses a demonic aura around him , asking him tons of questions about the demon shielding him . Ciel dodges from answering each and every one of them but Sam isn't yet satisfied . He doesn't argue as he Ciel resists answering but Ciel is about to leave , he tells something that makes his blood run cold : " ...We'll soon meet this mister Sebastian in person , little demon ; My friend on the other side told me"

When learning that Azul is a master of contracts , Ciel goes to him to see if he knows anything about contracts made with demons ; which he either doesn't really know or doesn't want to share since Ciel has nothing to give as the price

Azul though still sends the twins after him since he's starting to get interested after his demon sorted questions ; which made him curious of what this child might actually know

Ciel once steps into Ignihyde and gets out in 0.01 seconds . His mind isn't yet prepared to deal with a technology which won't be yet discovered until hundreds of years later from his original time

Other than Ignihyde , the dorm which really makes him feel uncomfortable is Scarabia . The atmosphere is just like Suma's palace and getting reminded of that horrible massacre with Agni's death isn't really pleasant . He meets both Kalim and Jamil in school and Kalim even invites him to parties , but he immediately says no . He decides to stay away from there as much as possible

Savanaclaw is his danger zone , he steps in = He dies . He once calls Leona Pathetic nasty cat and that is enough for Leona to set a prize for his head

Malleus on the other hand seems to be appreciating this little guest . Ciel feels a bit unsafe around him as Malleus notices his supernatural secrets , including the seal under his blindfold without him mentioning it ; but Malleus confronts him that he doesn't want anything from him and he's just interested that's all

Rook hears from Octavinelle students that Azul is after the child , and that makes him enter the challenge uninvitedly ; the Ciel catching game . After all he lives to be the greatest of hunters and also , whatever the reason was , Pomefiore would have an advantage holding what Octavinelle needed

If it wasn't because of MC , Grim , Ace and Deuce sticking to him all day he would've got caught long ago , but no one could kidnap him this easily when others were around

With his terrible situation at classes , daily argues with Grim and anyone else , bully routines and almost half of the school after him he knows that he won't last there much longer

Ciel now can't help but to pray for Sebastian to find him sooner wherever he is now...

♦♥♠♣

Note : Now now , would you guys like a second part for this in which Sebastian this time , finds his way to twisted wonderland..? (:

Update: Part 2 here!

Tagging : @lethlia @xxunrxvelingxx @ji-yaaan

[anjuschiffer]

Even in Hell, There’s a Place Called Home

A bit out of my usual writing and different from my usual formats, but there’s always a reason behind the madness. 

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This an overdue prompt I wanted to write for @chocolate1721 so after two whole months, here it is! Of course, I kinda strayed from the original concept... Hope you enjoy it!

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Concept/Context: The Batfam are demons. During a failed summoning, Damian adopts the sacrifice (Mari). He takes her home. Ensue the chaos

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Warning: graphic scenes, gore, blood, mention of animal sacrifices, human sacrifices, character death

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Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life

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AO3

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Marinette tried to keep herself calm as chants were spoken all around her, every now and then hearing the soft jingle of bells that haunted her every thought.

She stared at the pitch black ceiling as her back was pressed against the cold stone table, the blinds at her wrists and ankles cutting into her flesh. 

She had tried to fight back, but the cold shackles’ clinking laughed at her efforts, causing her to stop struggling.

So dressed with nothing but scraps of fabric to cover her chest and lower region, Marinette could only wait until she was sacrificed to whatever it was her mother and her cult were attempting to summon this time. 

They had found a new summoning book in the depths of the abandoned church, the Cult believing that they would give it a try. So after carefully planning the ritual for months and gathering the herbs and animals they could steal, and kidnap a child to sacrifice, the ritual went underway.

It was just her luck that she was the child they chose for this occasion.

It was the greatest honor to be chosen, her mother had told her…

Should she even call Sabine her mother?

What kind of mother offers their own child to be a candidate to be sacrificed?

What kind of mother encourages their child to even think about wanting to sacrifice themselves for a ritual they don’t even care about?!

Marinette let out a shuddering breath as she tried to recollect her thoughts, to compose herself as she tried to accept her unwanted fate.

However, the fact that they were in the middle of the animal blood ritual wasn’t helping. 

Marinette watched as bowls of blood were set beside her, bloody organs adorning the outer edges of the table she was strapped to. The stench of iron hit her nose, wrinkling in disgust. 

Marinette didn’t know what organ belonged to what animal, but she honestly couldn’t care. Those poor animals didn’t deserve to be killed for such foolish reasons!

More chanting filled her ears as her mo-Sabine stood beside Marinette and drew a symbol onto her forehead, forearms and stomach. 

She felt the swirls that trailed down her arms and body, knowing some dots were added along the way. 

Marinette felt as the temperature in the room began to increase, feeling beads of sweat trickled down her head. 

She felt as her entire being went cold as she felt something drag across her abdomen, screaming as they dug deeper into her skin. The grinding of the shackles rang in her head as she tugged and pulled, writhing in pain. 

Marinette could hear her screams echo within the abandoned church’s walls, a red light coming into view, an odd comfort coming from it.

She listened as her breaths started to grow longer and less short, containing more air as she bared the pain aching from her stomach.

The chants were soon spoken more quickly and with vigor, Marinette only then noticing a dagger that was dangerously close to her chest, feeling her urge to fight to rise once more.

That’s when he came into view.

Something rose to her vision, something that appeared to be human, yet it also wasn’t one. It looked at her with sad emerald eyes as everyone in the cult stopped what they were doing as the being approached her mother.

While he approached her, Marinette also heard another voice. It softly whispered to her, it’s smooth and hypnotic melody calmed her, feeling her eyelids gradually becoming heavier with each passing second. 

She soon found herself drifting off, the screams and shrieks of the cult lulling her to sleep. 

———

Damian didn’t want to go. 

“You have to go.” Bruce said, flipping a page from the book he was reading, ignoring the yells coming from the other room of the manor. 

“Why should I grace them with my presence?” Damian asked, motioning to the portal he had created. “They’re literally using animal sacrifices to summon me Father. Animal. Sacrifices.”

Bruce huffed, fully knowing what was stopping Damian from going to where he was being summoned. 

Despite being a demon, he was against animal cruelty, so much that he collected all the spellbooks he could get his hands on and changed the items needed to summon him. 

Damian had changed his animal sacrifices to using herbs and other organic lifes to summon him, placing these new changes back to where he found them, only for those stupid mortals to ignore them and make their own versions of his summoning spell or the old one they learned from their mentors.

Ignoring the set of instructions was the greatest taboo among cultists, something even demons learned about. All those years of cultist training wasted. Changing the script meant an incomplete summoning, a defective portal for any demon to use. If a demon tried to traverse through them, they could remain stuck in the warp and stop existing. However, if they did manage to get by, the summoning would be void since the cultists were not using the revamped version to summon the demon. In other words, the cultists were at the mercy of the demon they had chosen to summon. 

“You know how mortals are, believing that they’re the best at something despite knowing little to nothing about said thing.” Bruce reminded, turning another page, hearing Damian huff in annoyance. “Why not make an example of them?”

With that simple phrase, Damian appeared before the mortals that dared to think they knew what it took to summon a demon like himself. Earraping chants filled his head, Damian wishing they would stop their ununified screeching.

Traversing through his own portal, Damian appeared before the stupid mortals, feeling his blood boil upon seeing the animal corpses scattered around the room, heads with eyes wide open, stomachs ripped open as organs spilled from them. Carcasses of goats and cows pried open and hung as their blood dripped to the containers below them, the blood dripping out of it and pooling onto the floor.

Damian let out a low growl, scanning the room as the chant came to a trailing halt. His eyes finally laid on the old altar, decorated in animal organs, the blood being absorbed by the stone table and dripping onto the floor, a red river flowing down the crossing. But that wasn’t what grabbed his attention.

It was the girl that laid at the table, her hands and ankles bound to the disgusting moldy furniture, looking at him with hazy eyes.

How old was she? Why was she so thin and frail? Why isn’t she- 

Damian’s breath came to an abrupt halt. 

There, stretched across her abdomen was a vile gash, running diagonally across her body. Blood oozed from her deep gash, the skin around it jagged and already festering, meaning that if he didn’t start healing her now, her infection would grow even worse.

She could die a pointless life.

“Oh Great Spawn of-”

“Silence.” Damian cuts off, wanting to let out a grin when the short stature woman promptly shut up, her hands trembling as he made his way towards her. “Let me tell you something.”

Damian loomed over the woman, a grin unraveling itself as her eyes widened in terror as flames erupted all around the old building and on the people present, screams singing through the smoky air.

���Did you really think a demon would let themselves be controlled by a mortal? Nonetheless by one who disregarded the new changes? How naive.” With a snap of his fingers, the woman went ablaze, Damian ignoring her cries. He walked up to the girl, freed her and scooped her up into his arms. With a swish of his tail, he reopened his portal.

Just as he stepped into the portal, a hand tried to grab him. He quickly turned around and kicked the small woman away, barely hearing her final words as he watched her breathe her last breath.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Marinette.”

------

Bruce didn’t know what to say. 

“I’m keeping her.” Damian said sternly, leaving no room for debate. “She’s under my care, whether you like it or not.”

It didn’t take long for Damian to come back from wherever it was he had gone. But seeing him come back with an injured child in his arms -who’s time was slowly coming to an end- was not something Bruce would ever think of seeing one day.

The scent of her blood quickly drew attention, Tim appearing in the room seconds after Damian’s arrival while Jason walked into the common room minutes later.

“She’s a mortal.” Tim stated, walking up to the shallow breathing girl, his claws itching to analyze her. It wasn’t everyday that a mortal came to the Underworld. “She’s not going to last here in that condition.” Tim watched as the girl whimpered and stirred in Damian’s arms, Tim knowing she would die in a few moments if Damian didn’t act fast.

“Might as well grant her a single wish before we-” Jason started, his tails low and swaying eagerly near the floor.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her, Todd.” Damian growled, his tail quickly wrapping around his katana.

Why did Jason have to drop by today? 

“What if I don’t give a shit about your warning?” Jason said with a shit-eating grin, casually pulling out his guns from their holsters. 

Damian let out an even deeper growl, his wings flaring in warning. Jason grinned as he let his own wings flare in response, Damian hating that they easily rivaled his own.

While bare boned and thin, the remains of Jason’s wings were twice the size of Damian’s, a reminder from Jason that he didn’t care about whether Damian was Bruce’s son or not. Jason never saw him as a threat. He would gladly challenge him anytime.

“Boys.” Bruce spoke, rising from his chair, his book long forgotten. “Enough.”

“Let the Spawn be.” Tim proposed, watching lazily as the two continued their stand off. “If he fails to fix that girl, then you can duel him for the girl’s soul.”

“Hmm...fair enough.” Jason said, releasing his guns from his grasp, only for his two tails to catch them. “I’ll be awaiting your failure, Demon Spawn.”

With that, Jason walked away, allowing Damian to lower his wings, making them settle against his back.

“You only have a few more minutes before she-”

“I don’t need you to remind me, Drake.” Damian huffed, taking Marinette to his private quarters, Goliath purring upon seeing him. “Not now Goliath.” He softly said, petting the creature with his tail, placing Marinette onto his bed.

He frowned upon seeing the festered skin, the skin clumping in attempts to heal itself.

“Hope you make it through.”

------

Cold. 

No…

Warm…

Dark… 

It was very dark.

Marinette let out a shuddering breath as she attempted to breath, feeling something warm against her skin as her body trembled in agony as she tried to exhale.

Was she saved?

Who would save her?

No… she had to be dead.

Death sounded nicer than being alive.

“Seems like you’re awake.” A soothing voice said, Marinette quickly recognizing it. 

It was the being from the ceremony. Where was he?

Marinette attempted to speak, but only air came out of her.

“Here, drink this.”

Marinette felt as her head was lifted, a cup of some sort, brought to her lips. But as soon as the iron hit her nose, she tightened her lips into a thin line. 

“You need to drink this if you want to get better.” 

When Damian saw that the frail girl continued to struggle, he simply pried her mouth open with a spell and forced her to drink the blood, watching as the girl sputtered to breath, going into a coughing fit. 

Now it was up to her if she wanted to live or not. He already did his part. 

“Why would you- oh.” Marinette surprised herself with her slight outburst.

She would speak without struggling, but she still couldn’t see. Bringing her hands to her face, she could feel the blindfold over her eyes. That would explain why everything was dark.

“Let me help you.”

Marinette flinched harshly as light broke through her dark view, having to blink rapidly to adjust to her surroundings. 

Velvet, creams and shades of black adorned the room. Simple, yet an elegant choice of colors. 

“What happened to the-“

“They’re dead.” Damian said, Marinette feeling the bed sink at the edge to where her feet were. “It’s the price they had to pay.”

He watched as Marinette frowned, attempting to sit up, wincing as she did so. 

How did she forget about her scar? 

He watched as Marinette traced her fingers over where the gash was once, now replaced by a lighter patch of skin. The scar had a golden lining, Damian watching her confused expression as she tried to piece together the different textures of her body. 

“Will this stay like this?” Marinette asked, finally deciding to look at the being that had cared for her.

“It will.” The being responded, Marinette humming in return. “Is there a problem with it?”

“Won’t-Won’t others find it odd that my wound healed this way?”

“No one else will see it, and if they do,” Damian looked at her with narrow eyes. “They’ll know not to approach you without caution.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Golden lining around wounds and golden scars mark a person under Wayne's care or a Wayne themselves. Every demon in the Underworld knows best to avoid us and since you are under my care, they would know to not harm a single hair on you.”

“Wayne? Demons? Underworld?”

“I suppose it’s time for me to introduce myself to you.” The being said, Marinette watching as they walked up to her side, noticing their tail hanging above the ground and the wings that peered from behind them, “I’m Damian of the Wayne Manor, Damian Wayne for short.”

“Damian.” Marinette repeated, watching as his eyes softened. “Are… are you a de-”

“A demon? Yes. I’m the one that your cult tried to summon.”

“I wasn’t part of that cult.” Marinette corrected, turning her head away from Damian. “I was just the human sacrifice they decided to use that time.” Marinette dug her nails into her arms as she recalled her mother’s final words to her. 

Damian wondered if he should tell her about what her mother told him before she was burned alive.

Should he tell her that her mother apologized for sacrificing her own daughter?

That she realized that what she did was the biggest regret of her life?

Should he tell her that her mother cried as she watched her daughter be taken away from her?

That she tried to grab a hold of him while he stepped into the portal, in a desperate attempt to die alongside her daughter?

He should probably keep that to himself.

“I see.” Damian said, walking towards the doorway. “By the way, how old are you?”

“11.” Marinette watched as Damian took that information, a hum escaping him.

I see. I will be back later to check on you.”

“Thank you, Damian.” He heard Marinette say. 

“There’s no need to thank me.” Damian turned around, Marinette seeing a small smile on his lips. “I already told you, you’re under my protection. I will always be by your side.”

After all, she still had a whole life span ahead of her. 11 was no age to go ahead and die.

-------

Damian did come back later that day, fussing over her when he learned that she had tried to get up and managed to before she felt dizzy and had to lie back down.

Marinette soon regretted that, Damian now staying in the room with her, watching her every movement. He would also help to bathe her with a cloth and water and gave her clothing to wear.

The next few days were spent in comfort, Marinette and Damian getting to know one another and Marinette learning about the other residents of the Wayne Manor.

Damian learned that Marinette was a village girl, running a bakery alongside her parents until her father died during the Grand Plague. Falling into despair, Marinette’s mother seeked comfort in the cultists.

He also learned of her love for vegetation and botany. (He managed to convince his father to start a greenhouse in one of the manor’s rooms, quickly showing Marinette once it was done.)

Marinette learned to never speak fondly of Jason, as it got Damian into a bad mood and usually resulted in Damian chasing Jason around the manor for even looking at his ward.

“Todd, one day I will get my hands on you and stick a-”

“Woah there! Not in front of the child!” Jason would scandalize, covering Marinette’s ears. She would then be dragged away and carried by Jason, Damian hot on his heels.

Tim… Tim was just there, sometimes studying her from afar whenever she would join Damian into the manor library. If it wasn’t that, it was Tim teaching her the history of the Underworld, which then trailed to Tim and Damian debating on the topic of which Wayne actually caused the fall of a place called Byzantine. (It was Bruce. He didn’t mean for it to happen.)

Marinette didn’t meet Richard until a month later, accidentally running into him as she left her study that was next to the newly implemented greenhouse. 

“Holy shit.” Where the first words that came out the man’s mouth, Marinette blushing as he soon cupped her face in his hands. “Tim wasn’t kidding when he said it was genetic.”

-------

Marinette hummed as she tended to her roses, trimming off some black ones to replace the dying ones inside the manor. 

It’s been years since Marinette had left the mortal realm, 20 years to be exact, and yet… she remained 11. Or rather, looked 11 despite being 15 years of age. 

When she had asked Damian why she wasn’t aging, he replied that demon blood had different side effects from bloodline to bloodline. It also depended on the soul of the individual who drank it.

The Wayne blood was always known for its quick recovery abilities, but once Marinette drank it, it morphed into having longevity abilities alongside its healing ones. And ever since other demons heard of this, they’ve countlessly tried to kidnap the mortal girl, waging war against the Waynes.

Of course, there have been a few close calls, but the Waynes were victorious in each battle.

“How are you doing?” Damian asked, Marinette showing him her arm, golden lines wrapped around her arm. Damian held in a growl upon seeing the scar, regretting not being able to get to Mari sooner than he thought in their latest attack. 

“Better I suppose.”

“I should’ve been by your side when it happened.” Damian said as he inspected her arm, a scowl forming as he looked at it.

“Dad, I’m fine.” Marinette stated, yanking her arm away. “You know you couldn’t have known that Joker had me where he had me.”

Marinette remembered the first time she accidentally called Damian ‘Dad’. It was a little over a year since she remained at the manor. Damian had just gotten her a hellhound as a gift. Out of gratitude, she had said ‘thank you Dad’ and from there never heard the end of it, Jason and Dick always reminding her of the incident whenever they could. It was also then that she kept calling him that. 

It just felt… right.

“I know, but still.” Damian pulled her close into a hug. “I should’ve been there to protect you.” Marinette hugged him back, knowing why he was so hung up on the guilt. 

While they were demons, it didn’t mean they were void of emotions. 

She still remembered the way he looked when he had finally reached her, his form unrecognizable if it weren’t for the fact that Grandpa Bruce was right behind him. 

Getting tired of the moment, Marinette pushed herself away from Damian. 

“By the way Dad, didn’t you promise me that I’d get to take Goliath for some fresh air?”

“I-”

“You. Promised.” Marinette enunciated, placing her hands on her hips, hiding her smirk when Damian huffed.

“Fine. But I’m coming as well.” Marinette grinned, throwing her arms in the air.

“Alright! Goliath! Did you hear that?” Upon being called, Goliath came down from where he was resting, licking Marinette, a set of giggles echoing within the garden. “We’re going for a walk!” At this, Titus came into the garden, huffing as he sat in front of Marinette. “You’re invited as well Titus.” At this, the hellhound let out a huff, but he couldn’t hide the excitement. His tail was also wagging with glee. 

“Come on then, let’s get going.” Damian instructed, already leaving the room. “Wouldn’t want to come late for dinner. Alfred said he was making something special for tonight’s dinner. Something called a quiche.”

She quickly skipped to catch up, Goliath and Titus right behind her. 

How could she have forgotten? Today marks the day she was welcomed into the manor. 

20 years since the day her father brought her and welcomed her with open arms.

20 happy years with her beloved family. 

While she did miss the mortal realm, she wouldn’t go there if she had the chance. This was her home, and she loved it dearly. 

[selfcontrolbuilders]

Self-Control Story, Branch 2 - Chapter 5: The Crest of Creation

For centuries, the Crest of Creation was nothing more but a myth of those who believed Rubiss would send a savior to Alefgard. This was turned into a reality one hundred years after the master archfiend’s defeat. The birth of the first bearer was sixteen years before tragedy once more fell over Alefgard. As Erdrick’s cousin and a scion of the first one, he was well-known, but had something few understood. He loved creating and preferred building over being a warrior, opposite of his cousin in that sense.

He’s the first known to bear the Crest of Creation, whose origin remains unknown to mortals even in the present. Some say Rubiss decided to save the child when he was born by giving him the power of creation, since he’d shown himself very weak at birth. Some say it wasn’t Rubiss the one who granted the Crest to humanity. There are some people who dare say it was a deity from another world.

The answer will remain a mystery, for his life is already running out, passing the Crest’s power on his grandson, a child whose origins make of him a peculiar warrior. With his mother as a Descendant of Erdrick’s bloodline and his father being a high-ranked monster the new bearer will become a hero of legend, designed to be the vessel Rubiss has been awaiting to pour Erdrick’s soul in it… But it didn’t go as planned. The three Descendants from Gwaelin and Erdrick’s side slaughtered the high priest and his god the same day of his birth, and being a high-ranked monster, he became the vessel for the only shard of the high priest’s soul that didn’t become a sacrifice to Malroth. With the remaining gaps to be filled with his mother’s and his grandfather’s aside from his own unique shard no space was left for Erdrick’s soul to fit in, keeping him from becoming another hero in the line of the family. But his destiny had already been assigned, who will save Torland from the darkness that menaces it?

Then Rubiss thought of something. There was an illusionary world created by the last Demon Lord of Zoma’s line. There she’d sworn that the Master’s soul laid dormant. As a part monster he should be able to tame thew Master’s wild character and use his power to end with the future menace.

That way, a child’s destiny became tied to that of an illusion he didn’t even know of. That was the reason one day, during a trip in the woods of Cantlin a bunch of monsters from the Children of Hargon took him. Thus, the adventure to feed the power of the Crest begins… In a ship full of monsters with a crazy skeleton as a captain where some builders from Rippleport are kidnapped and the young boy is singing stuff at the top of his lungs in hope to get on the crew’s nerves and make them set him free.

-Can somebody make him shut up!?-a pink-haired girl shouted trying to cover her ears to stop listening the singing.

-What the hell…?-one of the skeletons got to the lower floor to see what was all of this fuss about.

The builder then changed of tune, a lyric-less song. Many didn’t know what was this melody about, but some could point out to the music scores of “Lonely Youth”, a strangely solemn song about Allen’s departure.

-Hey, you, the one from Cantlin! Don’t you know how to shut up?

-Nae nae! I do not understand the meaning of it. By the way… Kubi ga itaine…

He went onto a singing rush again. The whole ship was getting fed up of his songs a couple of hours later. A couple of minutes after the complaints were loud enough to reach the captain’s thick skull he got down and freed the young builder to make him do chores, which got him to quieten. Repairing the ship was a task as welcome as any other. Once he was finished heavy rain started falling. Eventually he was told to get shelter and ran for the lower floor. The problem was that it wasn’t long until the ship got some damage on it. He went to repair the damage until it was impossible to cover it all. Then, he was taken by the sea.

“-One day you will become a strong warrior, just like Erdrick and a very good builder-his grandfather’s words sounded in his head as his memories materialized.

-Yeah, I want to become a builder and make everyone happy, even you and mama!-he happily said to his already withering grandfather.

-I’m afraid you won’t reach in time that goal for me to see you with my own eyes. But I am certain I once will look out of my grave and see what a good builder you become, my child-the former Master Builder said caressing the child’s chin.

-Don’t say that! I don’t want to hear another sob story like mama’s!

The child turned into a little dragon and pulled at the builder’s hand trying to lift him up of bed. He wanted to play with him again like when he was younger. He wanted to go out and enjoy their games at least one more time.

-It’s no use, Ice. I’m already on my way back to Yggdrasil’s cycle of life.

The poor child refused to accept this reality. No way he was going to let gramps go. There was no way…”

“The day his grandfather had been buried and he was torturing the servants to death with his demands to get his grandfather back a blond child in a green… poncho? Appeared. He had what his grandfather had told him he’d named Thundsie. He said it was a strong sword with the power of light. He’d given it to his mother and stayed to talk with her about somebody named Allen. She didn’t seem happy by what he said, so he chose to spy further.

-He’s got pretty picky and he doesn’t speak to us as much as he once did.

-I see… So, do you have any theory…?

-Yes, I think it’s the sword’s fault. The sword he picked, so I thought if we restored the Thuderbolt…

-Thundsie can’t be repaired easily-was a sentence that escaped his lips without meaning to-She’s quite exhausted, you see, she needs rest and a lighting spell caster as a user. Leave her be, until Erdrick’s dynasty doesn’t get another one of those casters we’ll have to keep making more.

Conan looked at the child with curiosity.

-How do you know so much, young one?

Ice shrugged and returned to his previous activity, making the servants go mad.”

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[huntertales]

Preview: Twisted Nerve. (Let It Bleed S06E21)

Episode Summary: Sam and Dean Winchester’s worst nightmares come true when the reader is taken hostage by Crowley after her demon side is freed. But things only grow worse when Lisa and Ben Braden are kidnapped as well, forcing the brothers to work with an unlikely alley to save the people they love. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Warning: Demon!Reader, mentions of violence.  Word Count: 4,704.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

“Hello, darling.“

Wasn’t it every girl’s dream to wake up to the sound of of a lovely British accent? For some, perhaps. If they were into that sort of thing. For you, it was a nightmare you were about to wake up to. You had been silent for weeks now. The last time you had gotten free was...you didn’t even know when. You had been a passenger in your own skin for decades. And even when you were front and center, there was always a little voice in the back of your head, pulling you back from what you really wanted to do. You had been in the cage for all of a hot second before you were released with that bitch still attached at the wheel. This time around you were freer than you had ever been in your entire existence, but there was a guideline that only let you come free when the time was needed for others. You knew Crowley was alive well before Eve opened up her mouth. But you didn’t think he’d go an awful long way to have a chat with you.

You slowly inhaled a breath as you found yourself awakening from what felt to be a deep slumber. You blinked once, letting your eyes turn, showing the kill of hell what side he was presented with. Crowley stood over you with the same kind of smirk you remembered when he told you the good news of your departure from the cage. And the rules that needed to be followed unless you wanted to take another trip down below. You returned his smirk with a cold, unamused expression. You moved your gaze away from the demon to inspect the scenery you were surrounded by, along to find that angel, figuring he probably ratted you out long ago.

"Where's the wet blanket?" You weren't in the mood for proper greeting as you looked away from the demon. You half expected Castiel to be around here somewhere with that blank expression of his, standing in the background as Crowley conducted things his own way. You furrowed your brow slightly as you looked around the abandoned building until someone caught your attention, but it wasn't the angel. What caught your attention was someone that sat across from you. You moved your arms slightly, wondering if this was some kind of trick. Only you noticed two things. The body remained lifeless as you moved your limbs all on your own. No voice telling you to stop. "What the f—"

"Marvelous, isn't it?" Crowley inspected the real body for himself as he placed his hands behind his back. You weren't sure if this was some kind of joke. But the pain that shot up through your leg when you pinched yourself and no nagging voice in the back of your head reacting to what you did. "You see, I do keep my promises. Even though you doubted me to Castiel.”

Crowley nodded his head, as if he was giving you the go ahead to do what you secretly wanting to do. He stepped back out of the way as you took your new body out for a test spin. You felt like Ariel from that God awful Disney movie after she sold her voice to Ursula for a pair of legs to win over a man. You wiggled your fingers and toes, feeling everything move in perfect sync when you did. It took a little brain power to realize that you were free...you were really free. You found yourself walking over to the unconscious body so you were standing over it. You reached out to lightly kick her, she responded by inhaling a breath before dropping back down.

You outstretched your arms in front of you to inspect every little detail of yourself, just wanting to make sure this was real. You were a carbon copy of the woman. How they managed to pull it off was a mystery to you, but you’d be foolish to bite the hand that provided you with such a generous gift. All you knew was that she might have been the original design, but you were the better upgrade. You had everything that made Y/N for who she was. What Lucifer intended her to be. She lost it forever because she wanted to be normal. And now, after much obstacles, the both of you got what you secretly desired. She was nothing more than a piss poor human like the rest of them.

Since Y/N learned the truth about herself, she dreamed for this day to come. You’d wanted the chance to be able to control your own body without a second voice chiming into the background or someone attaching strings onto your limbs, only coming out when someone yanked on you when they needed something done. While this was a freeing experience, the devil was still in the details. You weren't convinced the king of hell was doing this out of the goodness of his own black heart. There was always a leash pulling you back from where you really wanted to go. The only way someone like you got their strings clipped was for the preparation for the end. You crossed your arms over your chest and turned your attention back over to Crowley. You wanted to get to the bottom of this before your hopes, high as a demon could get them, would be crushed.

"What's the catch?" You questioned the demon. Crowley pretended to be confused at what you were asking him, you narrowed your eyes on him as you swiftly turned yourself on your heels, suspecting there would be an angel in a trench coat behind you, waiting ever so patiently to smite you. Only there was nobody there. "I know that angel is around somewhere."

“My guess is Oz. Maybe even Chicago. I don’t know, nor do I care at the moment.” Crowley said with a simple shrug. You found his attitude a tad bit unusual. The angel and demon had been attached at the hip since Crowley proposed the idea of cracking open the door to purgatory. He waved a finger for you to follow as he began walking, leaving your doppelganger where she was. "As you way know, Castiel has a big mouth and accidentally let Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys on our big plan. Causing more messes I have to clean up."

“Well, they were bound to find out your genius plan.” You muttered underneath your breath. You and the demon changed scenery away from the abandoned run down building into what looked to be an office of luxurious standards from its sleek wooden desk and velvet lined chairs. Crowley sat himself down at the opposite end of the desk as he poured himself a drink before offering you one. You graciously accepted and sat yourself down on possibly one of the most comfortable chairs you had ever been on. "My, don't I feel fancy."

“As you should. It’s my intention for those who I do business with. And I have a proposition for you, Y/N. You do still go by Y/N, do you?" Crowley asked, you gave him a funny expression from how formal and polite he was being as you nodded your head. "It's come to my attention that you don't like me. Or how I choose to run hell."

“Yeah, I don’t. Demon's aren’t what they used to be. Even the newest demon straight out of hell wouldn’t have cracked fast as Redd—you know, that hick you hired to do all your dirty work. Bobby Singer took one stab with that fancy knife and twisted it in that idiot's leg before it was all over. He was so willing to get that pain to stop he would have confessed all of his sins for it to stop. That's not how demons should be. You aren't instilling fear for what would happen if they spill their guts." You told the king of hell how you really felt about how he operated things, expecting every word you spoke to be your last one. But Crowley sat there with a serious look on his face, as if he was listening to you. “You’re not running this place like how Lucifer intended it to be.”

"Lucifer. What does he know about torture? He's a whiny child was an imaginative idea, hellbent on destroying the world and taking us with him. Well, not you." Crowley said. "Thanks to him, I got myself wrapped up in that bloody apocalypse mess.

"Yes. But if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be in this swanky office." You pointed out an interesting fact for him to stop talking so poorly on the archangel who was your God, a Father to all of you. In a religious sort of way. You leaned back in your seat and brought the glass to your lips as you crossed one leg over the other. "Poorly managing something that was wrongfully given to you."

“I’ll agree with that. So let’s change that.”

“How?”

“Purgatory, as you know, has been a burden. Castiel and I haven’t seen eye to eye about how we want to do things. I propose we add another name to the wall. Let's talk partnership." Crowley's proposal was something that piqued your interest. You raised your brow slightly in curiosity as you sipped on the whiskey. "You and I want the same thing. For hell to run smoothly. So let's do it. Work with me. Not for me."

You were about to take another sip of your drink until you heard those unbelievable words being spoken, it took you by complete surprise. You froze in your spot and looked at the demon. The proposition of such a deal made you break into a smile as you chuckled, the response wasn't what Crowley expected as his facial expression dampered slightly. "You know, I didn't think you had a funny bone in that poorly chosen meat suit of yours. But...that's cute. Real cute. You attempting to, what, make me feel comfortable? Sweet talk me into a big plan that sounds too good to be true, and right when my guard down you're gonna kill me."

"A king his nothing without his queen."

"Lucifer promised me power, too. Look at where he ended up."

"I'll go halfsies on the souls with you from my cut with Castiel." Crowley proposed a deal no demon would be stupid enough to deny. He knew it got your full attention when you changed your body language. You lowered your glass to the desk and uncrossed your legs to move slightly forward, wanting to hear more about this. "Hell, as you know, is a full time job. And something like you is one of a kind. My God, the things you did to those poor bastards would be Alistair to shame. You worked just as hard for those souls as I have. I need someone like you to run things. Make demons stronger, better than we've ever seen."

"You're serious." You whispered.

“I've had time to think what you meant to me while you were away. And I admit, it took some soul searching to realize I'd be a fool to lose you. The both of us make a beautiful couple. Think of what we could accomplish with you torturing souls and my expertise of keeping them in line. It'll be the best sort of hell we've ever seen." Crowley said. You had to admit, you were liking what the demon was selling you. "However...there is one little problem standing in the way of accomplishing our dreams. I'm fairly certain you despise the Winchesters much as I do."

"Unfortunately. Just thinking about them gives me indigestion. I'm gonna take a wild guess and all of this plan you had with that other one—Josh—wasn't just to get me free. It's insurance. You're gonna nestle Y/N away somewhere and threaten the Winchesters to back off." You guessed what was Crowley's end game. The demon's lips stretched into an arrogant smirk at his genius plan being spoken out loud. Your lips stretched into a smile, but it wasn't out of kindness. "That has to be the most overused, sloppiest idea I've ever heard."

"I think it's a classic." Crowley defended himself. "It works—”

"Zero percent of the time. And you also forgot the other player that has a personal connection with Y/N—Castiel. Don't you think the second he realizes what you're doing he's going to run to the Winchesters? The three of them together, and with Bobby, is a forced to be reckoned with." You said. "Come on, Crowley. I know you can do better than that."

“If you think you can do better, fine.” Crowley said. “What would be your big plan?”

“Let me just say this. Power is like a seesaw. You let your opponent have too much, you’re left up in the air with your feet dangling up from the ground. If you attempt to get down it only ends with you getting hurt. And if you’re the one who has it all, your knees start to get tired from carrying all that responsibility. But when it’s balanced...it’s perfect. Threats work the same way.” You said. "We make Castiel and the Winchesters do what we want. But Y/N's only part of the plan. If Castiel runs to the boys, all of them will forget their differences and do whatever they can to get her back. But if we get someone else they also care about..they're stuck in the middle."

"I have to admit, I like where this is going. Tell me more."

"How do you feel about endangering the life of a child?"

+ + +

Dean should have been reading the journals of past family members who lived decades before him. Most of the entries he skimmed were about monsters he hunted and lore he already knew. What kept his full attention was the little scrap of paper tucked into the spine of the opened journal. Your message you must have left late into the night was the only thing he could he could focus on, and how angry you were at him for what he did. Withholding the truth had been what almost tore your relationship apart. He promised he would always be honest when you came clean about everything. But he trusted an angel he called his friend over you, someone he knew the second you were born.

It wasn’t that he lied to you because he didn’t trust you, it was because he didn’t know what else to do. Dean knew how hard you tried to keep your urges under control while working on a way to make yourself human. He felt if he told you the truth it would crush you. All your life you had carried that burden on your shoulders. He wanted you to be blissfully ignorant to the situation before he could find a way out of this. Only it turned out the same person he trusted to solve this problem ended up being the one who caused it in the first place. Dean was left sitting in Bobby's library with his head propped up in his hand as he mindlessly stared off into space, mentally beating himself up for his past choices.

Sam sat at the desk you had been occupying twelve hours ago while you drank half a bottle of whiskey Bobby had kept hidden away. You found his stash and sat alone in the dark while the boys slept. The younger Winchester knew you had taken all of this information harder than you were willing to admit. His brother was beating himself up over what he did. “Well, what else were you supposed to do?” Sam's voice broke the man's concentration out of his own personal thoughts, knowing exactly what they were about. "None of us expected Cas was working with Crowley. Especially on this level. You did what all of us would have done."

"Yeah, a fat lot of good it did. I've called Y/N ten times and she hasn't gotten back to me. Why the hell did Cas come last night? Whatever they talked about, it sure got her even more pissed." Dean said. He shook his head as he dropped his hand down to his lap. Dean had woken up only for a moment to hear voices coming from the kitchen, recognizing them as yours and Cas'. They were too quiet for him to hear what you were discussing. Whatever it was, you left shortly after. Dean shut the journal and pushed himself up to his feet, having had enough. “Well, Samuel’s journals are pointless. I mean, I’m sorry, but Jebediah Campbell has squat to tell me about how to stop Cas from cracking purgatory open.”

"Well, actually, it's not about the journals we have. It's about the one we don't." Bobby stepped into the library where he found both of the boys around the desk. Sam wondered what the older hunter meant by that. "Well, that's the bad news. Our pal, Cas, didn't stop in last night just to mend fences. And I don't picture Y/N as the kleptomaniac type."

Dean didn’t like the sound of this. He pushed himself up into a standing position after he had been leaning against the desk before the older hunter came into the room and discussed some news about the angel that only painted him worse. “What did he do?”

��Stole something. The journal of one Moishe Campbell.” Bobby said. Sam repeated the name, finding that to be the oddest thing he heard come out of the hunter's mouth. "Of the New York Campbells."

"What—So we gotta get it back, right?" Sam asked. He had a sneaky suspicion the journal was an important one if the angel was committing theft in the middle of the night. The big question was, how the hell were they going to get it back from something like Cas. However, Bobby was one step ahead of everyone, saving the day.

“Or just read the copy I had already made.” Bobby said. He handed over the manilla envelope he had grabbed from upstairs after discovering the journal was taken. Dean seemed impressed at how smart the older hunter was. "Hi, glad to meet you. Bobby Singer, paranoid bastard."

Since the journal was an unbound photocopy, each of them took a third of the pages to read and see if they could find anything useful. Dean had been distant from his work while Bobby took the chair he had been occupying not too long ago as Sam had his nose buried in the papers. The older Winchester fixed himself a cup of coffee while he tried, yet again, to call you. All he got was the same voicemail that greeted him for at least the dozenth time. And each time, he left you a message apologizing for what he had done. This time Dean snuck in the detail about the journal. He knew you might have been mad at him, but you wanted to stop Cas as much as he did.

Dean pocketed his phone and headed back to the library with two mugs in one hand and approached Bobby when he guessed he zeroed in on some useful information. "What do you got?" He asked, reaching for the journal entry Bobby had been reading. He skimmed the paper as he walked over to his brother to hand over the coffee. “‘Went to talk to Howard Phillips about the events of March tenth.’”

“That’s March 10th, 1937.” Bobby added a date as if that was supposed to mean something.

“All right,” Dean sat himself down on the edge of the desk and continued to read through the rest of the entry to himself to understand why it was so important. “So who’s this Phillips guy?”

"Phillips ain't his last name." Bobby corrected the older Winchester. "It's Lovecraft."

“Wait, H.P. Lovecraft?” Sam guessed the name he recognized who the hunter mentioned. He reached out a hand to grab the piece of paper from his brother and started to read it for himself. “Let me see that.”

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Dean asked the older hunter when his brother was reading the entry with fascination. Bobby stared at him like he just grew a second head through his shoulder. The man said this Lovecraft guy was a horror writer and listed off a few iconic titles like At the Mountains Of Madness, The Call of Cthulhu. Dean kept staring at him with not a single clue of what the hell they were talking about. “Yeah, it's—no, I'm—I was too busy having sex with women.”

Bobby rolled his eyes from the kind of remark that he should have seen coming from the older Winchester. "Anyhow, there's one notion that comes up over and over again in his stories. Namely, opening doors to other dimensions and letting scary crap through."

“You don’t say.” Dean said, seeming to become more interested in this Lovecraft guy.

"So you're saying you think Lovecraft knew something about purgatory?" Sam wondered, Bobby shrugged his shoulders at the lack of information he could provide.

“All I know is Moishe paid him a visit.” Bobby said.

+ + +

While the Winchester brothers and Bobby were discussing the Lovecraft and purgatory business, you were getting started on the second phase of the plan. You let out a low whistling tune as you adjusted the sunglasses you wore to block out the sun's rays on this afternoon as you tracked down the house number of the Braden household, the one that Dean insisted on renting after uprooting that poor family from their old one after a couple of djinns broke in. If only Dean knew what was about to happen to the woman he pretended to care for and that kid who tried to raise as his own. You would do anything to see the sheer panic on his little face.

You wanted this plan to go in a much different style than what you had originally planned. You were thinking about going up to the front door and be greeted by the lovely sight of Lisa, only her smile would fall at the sight of you and your teary eyes, here to break the news that Dean was dead. That's when you would lull her into a safety before making your way. Crowley decided why be so cautious? Go in for the kill. He gave you a few of his men and let you make an appearance, but you didn't need to lift a single finger. The perks of being in charge of hell is that not all of those demons are like Redd, some of them are strong and willingly to do whatever you ask them. So, you took the demon up on his offer.

You approached the front door of the house you had never personally been to. While it looked sweet and homey from the outside, it wasn't going to look like this for very long when you got done with it. Yo knocked on the door and waited a moment before the person you were hoping for would answer it. Your lips stretched into a warm smile when Lisa Braden stood in the doorway, appearing startled at who she saw, only she had reason to believe it was someone far different than who she expected.

“Lisa,” You greeted the woman in a friendly tone as you pushed your sunglasses to the top of your head for them to rest. Your smile grew wider when you blinked, letting your eyes turn the shade of black Dean had warned her about to run from. "I don't think we've been personally introduced before."

Lisa's natural reaction was to shove the door in your face fast as she could, but you were quicker than her. You shoved your foot into the track and placed your weight on the door. You shook your head as you heard the window right next to the door broke, the demon you brought along made their move. You pushed your way inside when the first one grabbed the woman as the other went for a man you hadn't seen before. You rolled your eyes when Lisa pleaded for you not to hurt them as she struggled to get out of the demon’s grip around her. You ignored her as you focused your attention on the man the other demon had in a choke hold.

"Matt, right? The doctor I heard so much about. He's cute. An upgrade from the last guy you were screwing." You looked over your shoulder and gave Lisa a playful wink at her choice of men. She didn't seem amused as you had when her expression didn't change from panic. You looked over at the demon holding him and made a cutting motion with your hand at your neck. "I don't think we need him."

The demon nodded his head, and with a simple twist, Lisa let out a panicked cry when she saw her boyfriend all of a few months fall to the ground. You placed your hands on your hips as you let out a sigh of a job well done, seeming unfazed at what you witnessed. The woman stared at you with a disturbed expression. She learned little about you from Dean, all she knew was that you were partially something of the supernatural beings that all of you hunted. He never told to be warned about the black eyes and coming out of the blue and killing her boyfriend.

“What the hell are you?” She couldn’t help herself but ask. You walked over to her and stood right across from her to show the same malevolent eyes you had greeted her with.

"I'm your worst nightmare." You whispered to the woman in the tone of voice that sent a shiver of fear down her spine. The frightening expression only lasted for a second before you let out a laugh as your persona changed along with your eye color again from her reaction you found nothing short of amusing. “My God. What did Dean ever see in you?"

You moved your gaze to the staircase when you noticed Lisa's eyes darted over to the top for a split second before focusing back on you, acting as if you wouldn't notice. But you did. And you almost forgot about that little brat. You began walking to the staircase as Lisa began to try fighting the demon that was holding her when she figured where you were going. You reassured the woman that you weren't going to touch a head on Ben's head. You stood on the second stair and waved a finger at the demon for him to follow.

You continued on your way upstairs and began whistling the same tune again while you went on your search to find Ben so you could greet him the same way you did with his mom. You checked every room before finding the only closed door at the end of the hall. You decided to do the honors when you stepped back and swiftly kicked down the door. Pieces from the broken door and chair you broke littered the carpeted floor as you stepped inside the bedroom of one Ben Braden. Your lips stretched into a smile when you saw the kid trying to make an escape from the window. You nodded your head for the demon to take Ben and join his mother. As he did so, you looked down at the ground to see there was a cell phone with a current call.

"I'm coming to get you and your mom, I promise...Ben? Ben?"

You bent down to pick up the phone when you heard the familiar voice of a hunter you hadn’t personally spoken to in a long time. You placed the phone on speaker when you spotted the king of hell stepping into the room to inspect the job well done. You decided to be the one to speak, greeting the hunter with a voice he sure wasn't expecting. "Hi, Dean. Fancy a chat?”

[Next Part]

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[labhra-setablaze]

Excerpt From World of Thedas Vol. II

Ser Michel & The Demon’s Promise

“I find it disappointing how often people blame things on demons. Don’t you?

They come up with stories where the demons trick them into committing some evil act, where they possess the mage and turn him into a horrific monster, where the demons are always the villains. But if you paid attention to the Chant of Light instead of just repeating it over and over in your mind like you’re doing right now, you’d know that even Andraste herself didn’t believe that. Spirits are attracted to feelings, passions, those moments that define someone’s life. We don’t put the bad feelings into your head. We come to you because they’re in there already. A good man, a humble man, could stand before a pride demon with nothing to fear. Except getting stepped on, of course.

What I’m saying is that you have nothing to fear from a spirit except whatever trouble you bring with you. A spirit is the best test mortal man will ever find to uncover the darkest parts of himself, whether that be fear or rage or pride... or choice.

Some call it desire, but everyone has desires. Not everyone makes the choice to act upon them, and if you don’t make a choice, well, what use are you? You’re like that girl who liked you near the harvest festival, but she never worked up the courage to ask you to dance, and you never knew. If you like, I could tell you her name. I bet you’d be surprised. No? Just a thought.

In any event, like all the Dalish, Clan Virnehn wanted to reclaim what they’d lost, and they summoned me and bound me in one of their little circles, but for all their talk, they couldn’t make the choice that would gain them my cooperation. I had to sit and listen to them equivocate and pontificate and generally try to bore me into helping them. That’s elves for you.

For the choices that get things going, you need humans.

Do you know the easiest con your Maker, praise His name if you’re feeling like it, ever invented? I feel comfortable sharing this with you, seeing as how you’re currently, shall we say, between a rock and a hard place. The easiest con is to let someone think that they’re conning you. Ser Michel, champion of the somewhat throneless Empress Celene, saw a demon (his words, not mine) trapped in a binding circle, and heard of the magical eluvians and a chance for his empress to escape the Dalish and regain her throne. I gave him an offer he was never going to accept - a willing sacrifice, heart’s blood, something like that - in return for never having to worry about anyone ever discovering his dirty family secret. His mother was elven, you see. Didn’t look it, since the ears never come out pointy once a human’s involved, but elf blood, common birth, would have gotten him killed for impersonating a noble. What a mad choice for a young man to make, living a lie to become a chevalier.

As I said, humans. These days, they’re the ones who want things badly enough to make the really interesting decisions. That’s why I’m talking to you, in fact. How’s the nose? Itchy at all? I always hate it when my hands are restrained and my nose starts to itch. It’s one of the worst things I can think of. Just let me know if you’d like some help.

As for Ser Michel, he was never going to accept that bargain. No, he heard me let slip the secret of the eluvians and the fact that breaking my binding circle would banish me to the Fade, and the dear boy decided to con me. Me, one of the Forbidden Ones. He got the secret of the eluvians from me, and then he broke the binding circle, which, as it turned out, was the way to free me and not banish me.

Now freed, I sent him and his empress off to the eluvians and taught the Dalish what happens when you summon one of the Forbidden Ones.

Oh, did you think I’d killed Ser Michel? Now, why on your Maker’s poor neglected earth would I do that? I get the feeling that you don’t understand me at all, and let me tell you, understanding me is becoming an increasingly important prerequisite to your continued existence. Michel made a choice. He took action, and while his sadly mortal mind didn’t quite get the consequences correct, he understood why they might exist. A man who makes choices, right or wrong, is someone I’m happy to have around. As for the mealy-mouthed Clan Virnehn, fumbling around with their binding circles and their clumsy commands... the world is a more interesting place without them.

Except for the children, of course. Children don’t have the wits to choose anything for themselves. I sent the little dears to another clan. Quite charitable of me, if I do say so, dropping a few dozen children into the laps of a clan with winter on the way. The mouths of hungry youngsters create such good choices for others. If you had a child, we’d be having a much different conversation right now.

The only other member of Clan Virnehn I left alive was the First of their clan, a young woman named Mihris. Ser Michel had chosen to leave her alive rather than kill her, even knowing that she hated him for killing some guardsman she liked. She seemed quite invested in avenging her clan and killing Ser Michel, even to the point of allowing me to possess her to give her the power to do so. Sadly, it ended up being a waste of time. When her chance came, Mihris flinched from the consequences, and with no interesting choice to keep me bound, I was forced to go my own way.

And it turns out that Ser Michel didn’t need Mihris. He had his own downfall with him all along, in the form of a promise he made to Celene’s lover: one favor for her silence on his little elf-blooded secret. The favor turned out to be forfeiting his duel with Celene’s rival, and in his pride, Ser Michel revealed his parentage for all to see. I hear the empress’s disgraced former champion is trying to find me, to put his mistake right and banish me from this world.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, shall we? I’m the only one keeping you alive right now - well, for certain definitions of alive.

Just remember, if you want to get out of there, healthy and whole, at any time, all you have to do is say yes. Not a command, not an order, nothing but an offer from a spirit who loves seeing people make interesting choices.

I’ll give you some time to think it over. The woman in the next room is worried about her son. Something to work with there, don’t you think? It’s always easier to make a difficult choice when you can say you’re doing it for someone else.”

- The demon Imshael, World of Thedas Volume 2, page 279.

[fyodorsuggestions]

Dance while we Burn

The spray of blood is messy, the arc of it perfect, the spatter of it beautiful. Oh is there anything better than this, can there be anything better? So many freed of the sin of existing so simply and so easily, without a second to suffer, without the breath to scream. This is easy, this is simple, this is kind. No bullets tearing through muscle and bone, bringing pain with them and taking lives as they go. No knives slicing through throats and leaving nothing but searing agony in their wake, no bones breaking, snapping, cracking under unnatural pressures.

There is no God of War on a rampage here, no fire racing through the streets and eating men whole. There is no God of Light searing the infidels and burning sins with Their divinity. There is no Goddess of the Hunt tearing through the poor domesticated cattle. There are no boys with birds’ feathers stuck to their arms, there are no wolves prowling by, there are no rich Kings or mad dogs, there are no exotic pets or idealistic fools.

There is nothing but a silent spectre bringing death, there is no delusional psychopath waging his war against innocents. If there is a God here, if I am it, then I am the one who seeks to soothe the world. I am the one who wants nothing more than equality and innocence, purity, I want to scrub the earth clean; scrub, scrape until my fingers bleed. And if I can’t, if the filth is a stain, if the corruption is too deep, then I will raze it all to the ground and salt the earth after me.

Isn’t that what a just God would do? Isn’t that what a good God does? To protect the people He so loves, to bless them and protect them, wouldn’t He destroy the devils underfoot to save a soul? So tell me, is what I’m doing so wrong then?

“Is it? Tell me if you want,” I murmur as another body falls to the ground, another of many, a woman with soft brown hair. She didn’t have a chance to suffer, my curse is merciful at least, as violent as her death is she felt none of it. Dead the instant my fingers brushed the nape of her neck, dead before she could even feel my presence behind her because all of humanity deserves a swift death.

I smile as I leave her there, bleeding out onto the already bloody tiles. The entire building gets to look like a sadistic madman’s macabre wax house, full of figures so carefully crafted they can’t be real and so bloodied you hope they aren’t. Oh but they are and I’m not, a madman, crazed maybe but not insane. Flitting from room to room, feeling my heart racing in my veins as I slip behind all of these poor unfortunate souls and release them from this pitiful existence as I was meant to do.

Hiding behind screens works but only to a point. There comes a time when you need to do these things yourself and if my servants would prefer to do nothing but bitterly serve then I won’t use them. If my dear worshippers want to go back on their belief then I won’t stop them but I won’t trust them either. No, if the Wolf wants to accuse and claim I’m so much worse than him, then who am I to contradict his beliefs? A better man would transcend the label, a foolish man would fall for the machinations and a stupid man would even twist his own morality to sate the hunger under his skin.

“Isn’t it convenient I am greater than Man then?” I laugh as I slip on a smear of blood and crash into a wall. The impact of it is enough to snap my teeth together and blur my vision, it hurts, oh it hurts, but I don’t really care. The laughter bubbling and boiling in my throat scalds my tongue as it pours out of my mouth, it burns my lips as froths past them; crazed isn’t the word for this but it isn’t sane either.

Laughter ringing through a morbid house of horrors should be crazed shouldn’t it? Bouncing off the walls, dancing down the halls, it should send chills down the spines of whoever’s left alive, it should act as herald and death bell but this isn’t that. Throwing my head back as I dash down the corridor, slipping and sliding through puddles of blood, this isn’t how a madman acts or sounds. My laughter is joyous, almost reckless and wild, childish? Am I nothing but a psychotic child playing at being God?

“Oh does it matter?” I snicker as I crash into a door hard enough to bounce off it, hard enough to tell the last few people alive that their death’s arrived. The last few people in this restaurant who don’t even realise what’s going on, who probably won’t right up til they’re slumping to the ground.

“Hello, can I help you?” a woman asks as I let myself in and she’s all bright smiles and innocent eyes. She looks like any other manager of any other restaurant, inconspicuous and approachable even though any other manager would’ve already called for security when a strange man walks into their office. She doesn’t know who I am but she’s used to well dressed people filtering through her office as they please, she probably didn’t even care when I slammed against her door because this normal.

When you work for the mafia, laundering their money and giving their people safe places to be, then everything’s normal. Having security cameras on you at all times with no access to the footage is normal, keeping strange hours because you never know who might need your services is normal. For the amount she’s being paid, normal can look like anything, for the amount she’s being paid she doesn’t deserve to burn with the rest of them but the world’s hardly ever that fair.

“Maybe,” I tell her, smiling as she shifts behind her desk, as she glances past me to the open door. They don’t leave door open when they conduct business, they don’t smile as her like this, they don’t bite their fingers and I think she realises. I think she realises something’s not quite right as I reach her desk and no one else follows after me, I think the fear starts to squirm in her stomach as she looks me full in the face.

“Yes I think you can,” I murmur and her brow furrows as she draws the breath to ask oh but she never finishes, the breath never reaches her lungs and the light leaves her eyes before she even feels my palm against her cheek. She barely even makes a sound as she slumps forward, dribbling her mouthful of blood as her brain hemorrhages and shuts down in less time than it takes to think. As I said, nothing is simpler and nothing is easier and nothing is kinder, she felt no pain and now she’s dead.

She’s just another casualty in this war, her and her entire staff, dead in their places without a chance to suffer. Hmm, more mercy than her employers would have offered her, they would’ve had her sacrifice herself for them while not lifting a finger to help her. They value loyalty but so rarely return the courtesy, more’s the pity.

“Your death wasn’t because of who you were or even who you worked for, you were a victim of consequence darling,” I explain with a sigh, “because I can be selfish too and I can be mad and I can be nasty.”

Burning things is an art, arson is a skill and fire is a tool. A tool to start over, a tool for tearing down Empires and leaving nothing behind but ashes. This restaurant doesn’t have a stockpile of weapons, this building isn’t made of wood but we made do, don’t we? We prepare and I prepared for this, I brought my accelerants to soak the bodies with and I know how to start kitchen fires.

When they look, all they’ll find is an unfortunate accident. When they look deeper, they’ll realise complacency is death and demons have their own twisted morals.

“Will you think I’m doing this to get your attention?” I wonder aloud as I carry my containers of gasoline through the building, splashing it wherever I please and watching it mix with half dried blood.

“Will you think I’m a child throwing a tantrum?” I muse as I pour oil into the saucepans and pots and put them all on the abandoned stoves. So late at night there shouldn’t have been anyone here but isn’t that a risk you take when your restaurant isn’t for selling food?

“Will you even stop to consider beyond yourselves? No, I don’t think you ever have, none of you ever have,” I tsk as the oil starts to boil and another laugh falls from my lips. They’re all so short sighted, only caring about themselves and whomever they claim to love as if the rest of the world doesn’t matter. They’re all so selfish, everything is about them and hasn’t it always been?

How do they fill the emptiness in their black hearts, how do they make the most of their lives, how can they rise through the ranks, how do they achieve their goals? None of them care and all of them kill and yet they have the audacity to say they’re better. Why? Because they have more power? Because they don’t really enjoy the evil they do, they had no choice, they were manipulated from birth?

We all were darlings, we all were and yet who among us is accepting responsibility for our actions? You’re letting the villain be better than you? You’re letting the murderous bastard, the evil demon, have higher morals and values?

“I’ve done terrible things but I don’t pretend like I haven’t. I don’t lie, and I don’t excuse,” I giggle as the kitchen heats up, as I pant for breath because it’s so hot.

“I don’t go back on my word and I don’t change my mind after committing so is it really too much to expect honesty from any of you?” I ask, breathing deep as the fire starts, crackling and snapping as it catches itself. Oh it’s intoxicating, it always has been as a pitiful thing in a cold alleyway to the only light on a dark night to now.

“I wish you were here to burn too,” I groan as the fire flares up and scorches the ceiling so lovely. I watch it for a few more seconds, the way it searches for something, anything to latch onto and spread along. Grease fires are hard to fight once they’re out of control and when this one spreads far enough to find the gasoline then it won’t be able to be stopped.

Which is good, I want this building to burn to the ground along with the mafia’s front and their money. Is it petty of me to do this? To take out one of their most lucrative launders just because I needed to burn something? Maybe, but I don’t care because these aren’t good people and even if they had no choice, it doesn’t matter because they wouldn’t have made a better one anyway.

[junker-town]

How I'd spend Paul Pogba's money

Week 1

My mother sees things as things. Things to be used, things as means.

I say to her, "Being poor is the worst of sins. It is not that the world doesn't care for you, it's that they don't even see you."

"You are naive," she says. "I have six children. I am fortunate (indeed, who can deny it?) and I will stay fortunate (and who can doubt that too?). My riches make me safe. I am greater than any whom Fortune can harm, and though she could take much away, she would leave me much more. Surely my comforts banish fear."

When she bought me my first soccer ball, she put it inside a kicking net so that the kicked ball would always return. I told her that when I became rich and famous that I would repay her by buying her a semi-truck.

Looking at the $130,000 machine with $4,050 worth of gold rims, she said "you always thought that these trucks were the best because they were the biggest."

Starting: $300,000

Total spent: $134,050

Remaining: $165,950

Week 2

I cut off all contact with my mother and the rest of my family. That poor shit is depressing. I don't need that type of negative energy in my life. After the second $300,000 check came in, I realized that I needed to create a "positive vibes only" environment around myself.

In the immortal words of Mr. Burns: "Family, religion, friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business."

I moved out of my parent's house and into a $1,800 per month (set aside the $21,600 for the year) Riverfront apartment in downtown Detroit with a $2,000 security deposit. Paid $300 to take my cat with me. Apparently she will also cost me $35 a month as well. In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods but the men of today only bow to money. Shameful. I paid the yearly $420 at once on some rich shit.

I joined a cross-fit gym for $150 a month, because I needed to be able to flex both physically and financially. I started drinking more water and flat tummy tea. Then I created an Instagram and Tumblr. One for pictures of me doing rich shit and the other to find random fake-deep Drake quotes to put as the captions of the pictures of me doing rich shit.

The first picture was of me posing next to my plane (Some nights I wish I could go back in life. Not to change shit, just to feel a couple things twice), because of course I bought a fucking plane. A Cessna 182 for $250k, with the fixed yearly costs — inspection, maintenance, insurance, hanger fees, and data subscription— of around $8k. Chump change to stunt so hard. Flight training cost around $11,000. Still rich, but had to postpone going to Whole Foods for the week, it would have cost an extra $11k. Bought three boxes of pizza rolls for $30 instead.

Starting: $465,950

Total spent: $293,350

Remaining: $172,600

Week 3

I spent $11k in Whole Foods for groceries for the week. On the way home, I ran into an old friend, Don Leo.

We sat down for coffee. I told him about my change in fortune and because Modeste can only marry Ernest in fiction (Eveline Hańska married a landowner and then a Count after), Don Leo said "most men confound happiness with the means that lead to it. Money in their eyes is the chief element of happiness."

"But," I said, "money can add significance to things."

"Yes, you seem to believe that."

I thought about what he said for the next few days. Then on Friday morning as he drove to work, I called him. I asked him to look towards the sky. To the space between our world and the abyss of the universe. I paid a skywriter $3,500 to write the words "Broke Boi" so that my friend could see exactly what I thought of him. Then I cackled and hung up on him. Fuck outta here with that broke shit.

Starting: $472,600

Total spent: $14,500

Remaining: $458,100

Week 4

Spent $15k in Whole Foods. I bought an extra item: something called an "Air Plant." I don't really know what it is but I guess life is just as difficult to decipher.Yet, still I live. What am I really but an air plant in the air forest of the world? Insignificant but worthy of love. I took a picture of it and posted it on Instagram (knowing the difference can make all the difference.)

Starting: $758,100

Total spent: $15,000

Remaining: $743,100

Week 5

I bought the typical Nouveau riche things: a $60,000 diamond grill, three white tigers — Kimba, Simba, Hamlet — for $140,000 (yearly grooming cost of $144,000 that I set aside), a few cars: A Tesla X P90D for $138,800, the 2017 Jaguar F-TYPE Coupe for $61,400 — five $900 suits to match — and a Ferrari 599 GTO for $385,000. Of course I put it all on the ‘gram.

Certain people need to tell me they proud of me, that mean a lot to me (sitting on the hood of the Jaguar with Hamlet).

It's more to life than sleeping in and getting high with you (looking down at my phone while leaning against the Tesla.)

May your neighbors respect you, troubles neglect you, angels protect you, and heaven accept you (holding Simba's paws up and making a goofy face behind him.)

You know life is what we make it, and a chance is like a picture, it'd be nice if you just take it (me and all three of the tigers playing on the ground with the doors of the Ferrari open in the background.)

I quit cross-fit and hired a personal trainer who charges $15,000 for a six-week session. I'm too rich to be in a stuffy warehouse with random people training to fight God. Hired a personal chef for $1,000 a month. Paid him for the year.

Starting: $1,043,100

Total spent: $957,100

Remaining: $86,000

Week 6

In my excesses there was an aching emptiness. Born poor, my sudden wealth had freed me from the oppression of poverty, of unbeing. I was a person, intelligent and worthy. Yet, I still lacked purpose. I was no longer an object but being a man came with the problems of what it was to be a man. Each pleasure brought a rising sense of unfulfillment, something even my $2,400 Charlotte Thomas bed sheet couldn't cover up. I hoarded things to set a barrier between me and myself.

I envied the fish in my recently purchased $300,000 shark tank. Born into captivity, they couldn't see their chains, but I, having pulled against the links as a poor child and now, having become having been promoted by wealth to the position of a guard, knew that I was confined to the prison all the same.

Starting: $386,000

Total spent: $302,400

Remaining: $83,600

Week 7

I sought solace in the church. I donated $50,000 for its renovations and gave $100,000 for the medical bills of its member. The priest thanked me but when he said "you've done well by the Lord," I left. He obviously knew too much.

Starting: $383,600

Total spent: $150,000

Remaining: $233,600

Week 8

Bought a $19,990 rose gold Daytona Rolex and took the plane out to Ibiza. I stayed in the Palladium Hotel Don Carlos, all inclusive, for a week at the cost of $1,700.

I spent my days there oscillating between being drunk as hell in the night and saying that I would never drink again in the morning. On one of the nights when I was ordering another five bottles of Armand de Brignac Brut gold (3 nights of this, $100,500 in total), a gorgeous woman, a model named Amina, asked me if I was rich. I said yes. Then, as if by magic, totally unexpected, we fell in love. Life is wild.

I took several pictures of the time we spent together on the island and uploaded my favorite: an image of her half-asleep with the caption "You a real ass woman and I like it, I don't wanna fight it." We partied and enjoyed the kind of love that only good looks and lots of money could bring. Spending a lot of money made me feel much better.

Starting: $533,600

Total spent: $122,190

Remaining: $411,410

Weeks 9 and 10

Amina and I took a tour through Europe ($500 for the flight to London, $3,200 for the tour itself): London, Paris, Dijon, Jungfraujoch, Florence, Montecatini, Pisa, Rome, Venice, Innsbruck, Munich, Boppard, Amsterdam, and Bruges.

In Innsbruck we visited the Thomas Flora. Amina looked at the "Venezianischer Carneval" and I looked at Amina looking at the "Venezianischer Carneval."

"It's beautiful," I said.

She closed her eyes and the world ended. "It is. But I think it would be better if it wasn't expected to be."

I bought the painting for $150,000. I'll put it next to the shark tank. Baller ass shit.

Starting: $711,410

Total spent: $153,700

Remaining: $557,710

Week 11

Spring was near and Amina and I were happy. We took so many pictures for the 'gram that I damn near quoted the entire "Take Care" album — flights in the morning, what you doing that's so important?

Imagine a music video of two outlandishly good-looking people running around in $1,800 DSQUARED2 outfits and drinking from a 30-liter bottle of Boërl & Kroff's Brut that's worth $120,000. That was our entire week. Also, I know some of you just had to look that up that champagne. Broke boys.

Starting: $857,710

Total spent: $123,600

Remaining: $734,110

Week 12

I still felt unfulfilled. The emptiness persisted. Amina suggested that I start investing my money and buying real estate. She said that I needed bigger ambitions. "Aim for the stars and land on the clouds." It's what 4:44 Jay Z would have wanted.

By her suggestion, I hired a real estate developer and put aside a maximum of $150,000 for the yearly salary and $300,000 for renovations of the places that I planned to buy. We went after properties that needed very little, if any work. We bought a $190,000 home by Eastern Market, with a $716 mortgage, then a 990-square-foot single family home by Midtown for $35,000 with a mortgage of $130.

The expenses for the homes were to come out of the $300,000 stash and the profits would also go into that account, which I made separate from my personal one. I would increase the rent frequently, with the stated reason that the area was improving.

Starting: $1,034,110

Total spent: $675,000

Remaining: $359,110

Week 13

Bought a condo on East Jefferson Ave. for $60,000 with a mortgage of $231 and a $100,000 townhome on Pembridge place ($385/m).

Paid a combined $20,000 to a few neighbors in hush money because apparently tigers are loud and aggressive.

Starting: $659,110

Total spent: $180,000

Remaining: $479,110

Week 14

I wanted to build something great. I thought that I should start a company with the name of "Anybody Can Get It, Inc," in reference to my lifelong belief that the sole reason to play sports is to embarrass your opponent. But that would take too much work. Too many moving parts.

So in honor of my mother's philosophy that the riches of materials pales in comparison to the richness of the human as a person, a dust speck in the universe but a universe unto himself, I decided to invest in the people. For my own profits, but in the people.

I invested $200,000 in a web-based solar energy engineering company called "Greenlancer."

$20,000 for the tigers. I should just let the cubs eat these people instead.

Starting: $779,110

Total spent: $220,000

Remaining: $559,110

Week 15

Since Thomas Flora, Amina has been painting a lot. She says that what she wants to do is replicate the beauty that's already in the world. Not to create it, since all beauty exists and has always existed. She wants to paint it as it is.

She says that I don't understand "how odd it is to be made of flesh, balanced on bone, and filled with a soul you've never met."

I bought her an old dialysis center for $120,000 on Conner Street that she could turn into a studio, and gave her $50,000 for redecoration.

Paid another $20,000 for the tigers. Now I know I'm being extorted.

Starting: $859,110

Total spent: $190,000

Remaining: $669,110

Week 16

Invested $150,000 in Realty Commander, a transaction management software for real estate professionals to make the buying of property easier. Also invested also $50,000 in Alfa Jango, a company that helps build the identity of startups with web-based software and application development.

Sold the tigers for $5,000 each and emptied the shark tank. The novelty had worn off, I did not love them. But with the animals gone and Amina spending most of her time in the studio, I find myself more alone than I wish to be.

Starting: $969,110

Total spent: $185,000

Remaining: $784,110

Week 17

Invested $150,000 in Cribspot, a site that helps helps college students and landlords find and manage off-campus housing, in order to prioritize my properties.

Donated $200,000 to Wayne State University, with the understanding that they will work to direct students to use Cribspot to find off-campus housing.

Starting: $1,084,110

Total spent: $350,000

Remaining: $734,110

Week 18

Bought two foreclosed condo homes, both on Seville Road. One for $141,533, the other for $101,023. Added an extra $100,000 to the account reserved for the retail properties for renovation.

Starting: $1,034.110

Total spent: $342,556

Remaining: $691,554

Week 19

Hired an assistant ($50,000) to act as landlord for the apartments and an investment fund manager ($120,000). Set aside their salaries.

Haven't seen Amina in some time. She wants to have an exhibition for her work and is spending more hours away.

Went to the movies alone, bought a combo meal of popcorn, a Kit-Kat bar, and a medium drink for $1,200.

Starting: $991,554

Total spent: $171,200

Remaining: $820,354

Week 20

Invested $500,000 into Castle, a company whose mission statement is to "to provide intelligent, investor-driven property management to real estate investors around the world." This will be the umbrella that covers all of my real-estate ambitions. We will use our relationship with Wayne State to attract college students to work as stewards and to train those interested as property inspectors.

Starting: $1,120,354

Total spent: $500,000

Remaining: $620,354

Week 21

Invested $250,000 into Detroit City FC because the most rich shit to do is to have a sports team. I go to the games wearing New Balances and terrible blue jeans.

Starting: $920,354

Total spent: $250,000

Remaining: $670,354

Weeks 22 and 23

I begged Amina to take a vacation with me again, but she declined. She was too close to finishing her work.

I don't understand. It was she who said that I needed to think bigger. What have I done but expanded our world? I've built a paradise around us, now and forever: homes, companies, influence, power. We have everything that anyone could ask for, yet she doesn't see me anymore. It's always the paintings. The damn paintings. The ugly things. Deformed bodies, twisted faces, and harsh, violent colors.

All she says is that I don't understand. "It's a matter of the soul and you don't have the eyes for it. All you see is what you see and to you that's everything."

I took the plane back to Ibiza and stayed in the hotel room drinking the finest of champagnes, doing drugs, and watching sports alone for two weeks. I opened several Twitter accounts and spent nights tweeting abuse at everyone who said that Arsene Wenger's time at Arsenal was up. Wankers.

Spent about $70,000. Whatever, I'm rich.

Starting: $970,354

Total spent: $70,000

Remaining: $900,354

Weeks 24 and 25

I didn't go home. Instead, I flew to South Africa for 10 days. I stayed in the Castello di Monte Guest House ($1,800), which included accommodation, meals, and a transfer to the hotel from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. I rented a rifle for $100 and, along with a few professional hunters and several other rich people, I went hunting for wild animals ($3,780 in total).

We were taken to the Lowveld region. A dentist among us, who was after the head of an African elephant, listed off the species that were available in the area: blue wildebeest, buffalo, bush pig, bushbuck, common reedbuck, eland, elephant, gemsbok, giraffe, grey duiker, hippopotamus, impala, jackal, klipspringer, kudu, leopard, lion, nyala, ostrich, red hartebeest, roan antelope, sable antelope, steenbok, tsessebe, warthog, waterbuck, white rhino, Burchell's zebra.

I killed a lioness ($9,700) and took a picture next to its dead body. Uploaded it to Instagram (MORE LIFE. MORE EVERYTHING.)

At lunch the next day, I couldn't eat. The dentist patted me on the back as he left, "They're just animals."

On the final day, we visited Pretoria. I was amazed by the polished wood, stained glass, and tiled floors in the Palace of Justice. The dentist said that it only cost £115,260 to build.

Starting: $1,200,354

Total spent: $15,380

Remaining: $1,184,974

Week 26

Bought some plots of land: $49,000 individually for two on Ashland street, $15,500 for one on Avery Street by Midtown, and a 2,178-square-foot house available by the old Tigers Stadium for $149,000.

There were a few homes included in the Ashland properties, and I had my assistant send a letter letting the residents know that they had two weeks to move out.

Starting: $1,484,974

Total spent: $262,500

Remaining: $1,222,474

Week 27

An article ran in the city's biggest paper, titled "Who is Zito and why is he buying up Detroit?"

The author wrote about my various properties and business investments, tried to find the reasonings behind them, and in the end does an admittedly good job in exposing my relationship with Wayne State. He insinuated that I'm taking advantage of the city when it's vulnerable for selfish reasons. "Zito has no known charity foundations nor has he done anything to help the city beyond to fill his own pockets."

Amina agreed with the author. She suggested that some philanthropy would be good for me as well as the city. "You need to think of others."

The next day I gave $15,000 to the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. After that, I gave another $15,000 to Kids Without Cancer. Then I gave the same amount to Mercy Education Project. I felt nothing. But I figured it would do well for my image.

Starting: $1,522,474

Total spent: $45,000

Remaining: $1,477,474

Week 28

The paper didn't mention my donations, so I invested $200,000 into another local newspaper under the requirement that they cover me favorably to counter any negative articles that might come from other publications.

Starting: $1,777,474

Total spent: $200,000

Remaining: $1,577,474

Week 29

Went hunting again. This time, an elephant (Don't switch on me, I got big plans). Amina has grown more distant because of this new hobby.

$2,100 for five nights. Elephant trophy: $38,000.

Starting: $1,877,474

Total spent: $40,100

Remaining: $1,837,374

Week 30

A feature in the main paper: "Zito, you took my home." It was by a man who died shortly after I kicked him out of the homes in Ashland, and they published a letter from him.

His wife said: "Zito is an evil man. My husband was worth more than all of his money..."

I paid various journalists and outlets a combined $380,000 to publish good stories about how I was making the city better by fixing homes. To write about my solar panels. But people latched on the letter, and their anger intensified when news got out that I was planning on setting up an online video channel for hunting.

Starting: $2,137,374

Total spent: $380,000

Total: $1,757,274

Week 31

The mayor called me into his office. When he finally saw me face to face, he laughed and the universe expanded.

"You're new to this."

"Yeah, but I'm getting used to being rich really quick. For the good and the bad."

"No, I mean, you're a poor kid. You just have money. That's different from being a rich man."

He told me that there's a way, beneficial to the both of us, that we could fix things.

Starting: $2,057,374

Total spent: $0

Remaining: $2,057,374

Week 32

People protested at my apartment building. Idiots. It was within my rights and power to kick anyone that I wanted off of what was my property. I had done nothing wrong.

The city council rejected the protests under the same reasoning.

Yet, as much as I was aware of my innocence, the anger of the people bothered me. But what was I to feel ashamed for? I had worked, as every man should, and had used the money and opportunities granted to me to build the world that I wanted, as anybody else would. I didn't squander my money. I built homes and invested in people. I didn't go out to hurt anyone, I simply asked for what was mine.

Amina thought that I should leave for a few days to let the people cool off. It meant that I would miss her show, but she insisted out of love, or what was left of it.

I bought a first-class ticket ($2,000) to Innsbruck and stayed for three nights at the Hilton ($390). I went back to the Thomas Flora. I wanted to see what I couldn't see, but when I looked at the lines, colors, and prices, all I saw were lines, colors and, prices. I wanted to buy a few of the paintings, but I could hear Amina's voice saying "You don't understand."

Starting: $2,357,374

Total spent: $2,390

Remaining: $2,354,984

Week 33

The mayor's plan was for the city of Detroit to loan me $50 million so that I could build a low-income apartment complex in the plot of land by the old Tigers Stadium. The interest would be at 3 percent for 10 years. I would also have to name the building after the man I kicked out of the Ashland homes. He would handle the legal process to make sure it was approved quickly.

He wanted some perks ($250,000, yearly). I was a poor boy with money, and this is what happens to people like me. But the plan would work. The people would love me.

I accepted his plan to be exploited. We were to announce the agreement in three weeks.

Starting: $2,654,984

Spent: $250,000

Remaining: $2,404,984

Weeks 34 and 35

Amina and I flew to Qatar ($4,000 for flights, $1,010 for five nights at the Four Seasons). She saw my idea and said "every plant and tree will die. Owls will deafen us with incessant hooting. The town's sun dial will be useless. I don't want any part of this project, it's unconscionably fiendish."

I paid $2 million as a down payment, including their flights and the shipping.

When we returned home, Amina left.

I can't think of the boy that I was or the man that I might have been. I have what I have and that's how one knows that he is alive. A man in relation to the things around him.

Even those who protest me, in doing so acknowledge that I exist, and I exist because of what I own. This is how his dust speck shouts out into the universe. I am significant.

Starting: $2,704,984

Spent: $2,005,010

Remaining: $699,974

Week 36

The loan was approved. The mayor and I met again. I asked him what the difference between a poor boy with money and a rich man was.

"One has power and the other pretends to."

I said, "But we are what we pretend to be."

I visited Amina's studio like a wild animal in need of shelter, coarse hair, and soul.

Starting: $50,999,974

Total spent: $0

Remaining: $50,999,974

Week 37

The mayor spoke of the future, as politicians do. He gave the people words worth more than a husband and a semi-truck.

I went up to the podium talked of the past, of regrets, of redemption. Had I been the boy I was before, I would have walked off to the applause. Had I been Amina's love or my mother's child, I would have shook hands and thanked the people for coming.

But I am not them. I could buy the love of the people with an apartment complex, but what love is that? What had I done wrong to begin with?

"In Doha, the summer temperature can sometimes reach up to 122 degrees. When Qatar was awarded the World Cup, they faced the challenge of making the climate suitable for sport. Many ideas were suggested, the most ambitious being to simply block out the sun. Artificial clouds, each with four solar-powered engines. The technology had been developed at Qatar University.

"One of those clouds costs about $500,000 and could cover a soccer field. $50,000,000 would get you 100 of them."

I pulled out a remote from my pocket, "In the words of Mr. Burns, have you ever seen the sun set at 3 p.m.?"

I cackled as I pressed the button. The machines came alive and soon the city was enveloped in darkness. As expected, everything descended into sweet, sweet chaos.

We are what we pretend to be.

Starting: $51,299,974

Total spent: $50,000,000

Remaining: $1,299,974

Week 38

I've been reading a lot in jail. Guess there are still some things that rich people can't get away with. Who knew?

Remaining: a few cigarettes

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Fairy Tail S7 Part 2

Natsu and Gray went on a battle date how cute

“If there’s something you don’t want to see then stop looking” 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Lmao at this point Fairy Tail is just kind of like ‘we were 100% expecting for someone to fight us this is just our life’ 

“Sorry kid, I like ‘em full grown” FANTASY JELLAL IS FANTASTIC

Playing keepaway with the one magical item that might help you is probably not a good idea

“Children are much easier to assassinate” calm down Lord Voldemort

This is the most adorable dark power I’ve ever seen

“Girls just aren’t meant for fighting” KILL THEM LADIES

Natsu’s using a pretty loose definition of ‘adult’

Regression Man has not taken into account that Gray has been ready to fight since birth 

Someone needs to protect these small traumatized babies

I’m so proud of Gray for being so good at strategizing even when he’s like three feet tall  

It seems likes a poor decision to kill a demon on top of a sacred alter

DRAGON UNCLE THE FIRE DEITY 

I’m laughing at Gray grabbing Lucy’s forehead I guess that’s one way to cool her off 

“We don’t know why, or who’s responsible,” said Grand Doma, as Doranbolt and Lahar shared a look that said ‘Jellal?’

Well that escalated quickly poor Doranbolt he’s had a rough few years he must have the worst case of survivor’s guilt in history

“I could’ve sworn he already gave Juvia a clear cut answer in the form of a ‘No’” He did someone teach Juvia about consent

If they are going after former council members I am very concerned for Jellal 

It’s been a wild of ride from Laxus “I Will Murder All My Friends Including My Grandpa” Dreyar to Laxus “Defender of Little Girls and Old Men” and “Probably Fuckbuddies with Freed” Dreyar 

Poor little lightning man he deserves better than this

I love that Loke is present during important times because he’s a full-fledged member of the guild in his own right

Did Loke just tell Wendy that he fucked his way into important knowledge

The answer is yes, yes he did 

Michello is a piece of shit he wants Lucy to sacrifice a pregnant woman 

“You leave the town out of this,” said Natsu, before proceeding to destroy more of the town 

This is awful Elfman has already lived with the guilt of killing Lisanna once

I imagine “Immorality and Sinners” will not be nearly as fun an episode as the title might imply 

Midnight’s new character design is less goth and more Void

Leave Jellal and Erza be!!! They deserve a home together and five dogs not torture and guilt and five-on-one battles

Maybe I should rescind my comment on Juvia, Gray seems to be far more accepting of her presence near him than before

I KNEW HE LOOKED TOO MUCH LIKE GRAY HE’S 100% GRAY’S DAD I BET

“There’s a victim inside every villain - that doesn’t absolve us of our sins” I love Jellal so much 

This intro has induced a lot of stress what are they going to do to the guild hall what is going to happen to Jellal’s eyes please stop 

Why do they keep shooting holes through the people I love 

What the fuck man can Jellal see or what surely there were better ways to break through an illusion 

Chairman Crawford, probably: Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal 

Kyoka, after murdering someone: It would seem that I have blundered

Mirajane is my beautiful demon queen she could definitely step on me

“You’ve implied that there may be a time and I am oh so willing to wait” I live for Loke ddfkjghksjghjkhfklg

Lmao @ Alzack carrying his little girl in his poncho while he battles The Ultimate Dad 

If Mira claims to have demon blood does that mean her siblings are half-siblings and also is Gray part demon because of Silver? Unclear

[Timberland voice] Only got 41 minutes to save the world 

A lot of Fairy Tail’s problems this season would be solved if people communicated better

My best guess for the soul is Gildarts by merit of the fact we haven’t seen him since before the games

Nope

“Are you trying to beat me or take me home? Because either way I’m not that easy!” I am deadass in love with this boy

Good for Wendy it’s about time she enhanced her combat abilities I know she’s a healer but she’s also a dragon slayer

Based on how many repeated shots there are this season plus the different animation they have a lower budget but they will spend every cent they have animating Gray’s titties

This is so fucked up why the little girl and the cat what the fuck

DORANBOLT TO THE RESCUE WHAT A BABE

I fucking forgot about Hades’ finger guns good lord

Richard thinks Jellal is in love with Merudy because he has not seen him interact with Erza for ten seconds in the past seven years

“You don’t choose for her” Cobra is a closet women’s rights activist

Amazing Jellal and Merudy can win over the hearts of villains with beautiful sincerity and inadvertent charm 

The Strauss family is so Pure

Lucy is always losing her top after a battle but you know what so is Gray so fair enough 

I wasn’t expecting to feel so sad about the celestial spirits oh no

LUCY IS GOING TO WIELD HER OWN PHYSICAL ATTACKS AGAIN YESSSSSSSSS

“The passion is electric” Even the villains are always gay for Erza

Gajeel, Juvia, Gray and Natsu forming #ProtectLucySquad is my aesthetic

“I’ve liked Gray for much longer than he has” I’m pretty sure his dad’s not going to try to bang him Juvia

It’s like since Doranbolt was being a good surrogate dad to Wendy they had to immediately contrast it with what a terrible dad Jiemma was

They do an impressive amount of keeping track of when things happened to them because in Gray’s mind his parents’ deaths must’ve happened ten years ago

Oh no Gray his going to fight Deliora while wearing his dad’s corpse

My baby is so smart using the elements around him to fight 

“You shut your filthy demon mouth!” Panther Lily sounds so offended yet so calm it’s hilarious 

Gray’s life is so sad let him be (but I’m happy that he’s going to be in this arc more)

Silver is embodying my will and giving Gray the world’s longest hug

“I’m an ice demon slayer now,” Well that was quick and convenient

I don’t really think Juvia is going to die but if she does it’ll be unfortunate

I just really want all of Fairy Tail to know that Lucy saved the she deserves that acknowledgement 

“This is how I die, drowning, falling, fading into black,” Gajeel is so dramatic

I can’t believe that Levy just gave underwater CPR I’m not sure if that’s medically sound 

GAJEEL DOESN’T KNOW LEVY KISSED HIM also Gajeel’s plan is totally what I thought Levy was gonna do 

Laxus my lightning baby is back <3

“I’m running solely on vengeance” Laxus pls 

Gajeel is watching this fight terrified and a little turned on

I guess there’s a reason the voice of Laxus was cast as Fight Dad in Bleach because he is truly the Fight Dad of this guild 

For the most part they try to show that no one is beyond redemption, everyone has the potential to be better or have someone they care for except Tempester who is like ‘by the way fuck you all’ as he dies

That is a plot twist I was not expecting holy shit Natsu’s dad was hiding in his body does that mean that Wendy and Gajeel also have dragons inside of them

Kinda fucked up that Kyoka is goddess of the slave planet and she’s fighting Erza who was once a slave

Juvia is just gently holding Laxus like ‘I will protect this man twice my size’

“Even making the slightest of movements causes my entire body to be wracked with pain” same Panther Lily same

Erza is the greatest warrior I have ever seen in my life

Mard Geer is so upset about being ignored by the dragon bros

OH MY GOD GAJEEL IS PAUSING IN TRANSPORTING THE WOUNDED TO SING FOR LEVY

No one loves a dramatic entrance as much as Gray Fullbuster

I love the lizard boys 

Honestly Natsu and Gray teaming up to fight the Big Bad is the battle I’ve been waiting for my whole life 

“The only thing she was ever going to be good for was continuing my bloodline” it is possible Jiemma is the worst father in this show

My boys are so in sync they can match each other’s strikes without even saying a word 

I’M SO PROUD OF MY BOYS THEY DID GOOD 

Doranbolt is so graceful that coat toss arced right onto Lisanna’s shoulders

Fucking Jellal has he just been walking around for hours while the world is ending dude needs to work on his timing 

Zeref, talking about his own murder: It saddens me, but you failed

“If you don’t get that he’s out of your league by now, you’re probably a lost cause” Fdfkghkdfjhgkfdjghklf Bickslow and Freed are killing me

I have a lot of emotions about Gray and his dad but I’m glad he’s at peace

“It is possible though, that our paths will someday cross” Erza’s garbage boyfriend missed the battle but drops by with vaguely inspiring words and a lowkey ‘I’ll call you’

Whaaaaaaaaaaat Mest has had the most confusing life

It’s a testament to how tired I am that it did not occur to me right away that Etherious Natsu Dragneel spelled out END