#probably hammer smash or something to do with strength

[lunarcrown]

Happy birthday @opalwhisker !!! Here’s Bravo being a classic stubborn soggy see-through-shirt pest ~

[evergreenglade]

SSBU Roster's Building Skills

Would (insert character name) be good at building something? (These are merely my headcanons.)

Mario - 1000%. One of his alternate costumes is a builder costume for Pit's sake.

Donkey Kong - Not really. Would probably use too much brute strength and accidentally smash something. Besides, construction sites jog too many bad memories.

Link - Pre-Ultrahand? Maybe. Post-Ultrahand? Absolutely.

Samus - Definitely, but I think she'd be more well-versed in futuristic technology stuff as opposed to the classic hammer and nail.

Dark Samus - Would rather destroy something.

Yoshi - The most he could probably build is a Lego set, and even then, he probably couldn't keep himself from trying to eat the pieces.

Kirby - Same as Yoshi, except he somehow nearly choked on a Lego once and hasn't dared to try eating one again since.

Fox - He knows a little bit on how to repair ships, but for the most part, he doesn't have much knowledge on building things. Typically, he lets Slippy handle that stuff. He'd be a quick learner, though.

Pikachu - Probably wouldn't be able to sit still for long enough to do it. He's best used as a retriever for parts and tools.

Luigi - Absolutely. He might not have had his builder outfit make it to Smash, but he's just as capable as Mario.

Ness - Doesn't have much experience, but this kid can build whatever he puts his mind to. He might need some helping hands, though, because there's nothing you can't achieve with the power of friendship on your side.

Captain Falcon - Better at repairing than building. I can honestly see him being the type of guy to turn the instructions upside down when something confuses him.

Jigglypuff - Could probably build a Jenga tower if she tried hard enough, but would rather tell others to build stuff for her.

Peach - Doesn't have much experience with building anything, but she's determined and won't stop 'til she gets it right. She'd probably want to have the assistance of the Toads.

Daisy - Same thing as Peach, except she'd be too stubborn to ask for help.

Bowser - Depends on what it is. If it's something for his kids, then he'd try his best to make it himself, usually coming out with amazing results. If it's anything else, he'd step off to the side and let others do it for him.

Ice Climbers - Sure, they're handy with toys and stuff, but they don't really know where to start when it comes to bigger projects. Hand them a set of instructions and things might turn out okay.

Sheik - Yes. Sheik's smart enough to build anything, no matter what it might be.

Zelda - Also yes. She can construct a phantom knight with her powers, and wisdom is kinda her whole thing, so she'd be good at figuring out how to build something. Plus, she has the blood of the goddess, so she could probably just wish to build something and---ta-da!---it's done.

Dr. Mario - Same as Mario. I mean, they're the same person, after all.

Pichu - No. This adorable fluffball would have too much energy and not enough attention span.

Falco - He also lets Slippy handle everything construction-related, but he has more knowledge on the subject than Fox does (at least, when it comes to spaceship stuff).

Marth - Has probably never seen a hammer used for anything other than combat in his life. He'd be good at giving commands, but he'd rather leaving the building itself to the professionals.

Lucina - Pretty good at building models, but has never tried her hand at anything life-sized.

Young Link - Yes. He's actually gotten quite skilled with crafting things out of wood.

Ganondorf - Why build something yourself when you can just take someone else's work and call it your own?

Mewtwo - Are you kidding? This guy has telekinesis on his side; he can build whatever he puts his mind to. Literally. Which is probably not a good thing for the other fighters.

Roy - I don't know for sure, but he could probably put those strong arms of his to good use.

Chrom - He'd probably be pretty good at it, considering how strongly he believes in being able to achieve something with enough faith and determination.

Mr. Game & Watch - Only good at building extremely specific things. His 2D-ness kinda limits his options.

Meta Knight - Bro built his own airship. I think he's more than capable.

Pit - Now here's a guy that I think would be pretty good at building something. Unless you hand him a set of instructions, that is.

Dark Pit - Same as Pit, except he'd find a way to burn the instructions out of frustration.

Zero Suit Samus - Would actually be more capable than before now that she has two working hands as opposed to one hand and a cannon arm.

Wario - He's actually quite handy, but more often than not, he's too lazy and would gladly let others do it as long as they don't ask to get paid for it.

Snake - Yes, yes, yes. This man is good with his hands.

Ike - I can see him being able to build weapons and help out with the heavy lifting on big projects.

Squirtle - Isn't great at building things himself (especially if they're taller than him), but is a great assistant.

Ivysaur - Contrary to what most might think, she’s pretty good at building things. Her vines help her do a lot of heavy lifting, and she’s smart enough to figure out how to put stuff together.

Charizard - Tries his best, but accidentally ends up crushing or destroying whatever he's trying to build. Can not handle delicate projects.

Diddy Kong - Absolutely. This little guy is incredibly crafty, having fashioned his own peanut popgun and rocketbarrel jetpack.

Lucas - Again, with the power of friendship, anything's possible. Would rather build stuff with buddies than do it by himself.

Sonic - No, mainly because he wouldn't be able to focus. Sonic strikes me as the type of guy who just can't sit still for too long.

King Dedede - Yet another lazy one who'd rather have minions do it for him. Also, he ate concrete once just because he was curious about the taste.

Olimar - Probably one of the best builders on the roster. Calm, cool, collected, and has plenty of experience with numerous types of builds.

Lucario - Doesn't have much experience with building things, but would be good at it considering he's got nerves of steel.

R.O.B. - Can easily build and repair stuff as long as it's not himself. If that's the case, then he might have a few problems.

Toon Link - Will try his best, but needs tons of extra help and guidance.

Wolf - Is best at building and repairing guns and spaceships. Can not work collaboratively. Do not pair him up with anyone else unless you want to witness a fight.

Villagers - Definitely. These cheeky little dudes are excellent craftsmen and are natural-born leaders. Their cities and islands wouldn't be where they were today without them.

Mega Man - He was originally created to be an assistant to Dr. Light, so chances are he probably would be pretty good at helping with a project.

Wii Fit Trainers - No. They're too focused on exercise to know how to do anything else.

Rosalina & Luma - Absolutely! Rosalina created an entire functional Comet Observatory, for Pit's sake!

Little Mac - His hands are made for punching, not building.

Greninja - Probably not due to zero interest and zero experience.

The Mii Fighters - A troop of train wrecks. I can't see these guys getting anything done, especially if they're in the same room with each other.

Palutena - She's a goddess. She could probably build whatever she wants.

Pac-Man - Not unless he has plenty of Power Pellets to eat. This guy gets cranky and demotivated on an empty stomach.

Robin - This tactician has no building skills whatsoever aside from making D&D models.

Shulk - Can repair weapons with ease, but doesn't have much experience otherwise. If he's really feeling it though, he'll stop at nothing to make sure that whatever he builds is perfectly functional.

Bowser Jr. & The Koopalings - Now here's a crafty bunch. All of them have immaculate crafting skills and can find a way to make something no matter what you give them. Putting them all together, you have one hell of a construction crew. If only they'd use their building skills for something other than mischief...

Duck Hunt - Tries, but fails every single time (which is kinda expected considering neither of them have opposable thumbs). The sheriffs usually have to step in and take over.

Ryu - With his calm mind and big, strong arms, I think he'd hit the nail on the head (more so with construction projects than with anything technological).

Ken - He doesn't have the calm mind, but he does have the strong arms, so I think that would count for something (also more so with construction projects than with anything technological).

Cloud - Yes, but is more well-versed in weaponry and some forms of technology. It's not one of his most prominent skills, but it's something he has under his belt.

Corrin - They don't have much experience due to their upbringing, which makes them a little clueless to the process as a result. However, they'd be quick to learn if another fighter showed them how to build something.

Bayonetta - Would rather have others do it for her, and if anyone has any complaints, they better ask their mum how to speak to a lady.

Inklings - No. It wouldn't be long for it to turn into a turf war.

Ridley - Would rather burn everything to the ground.

Simon - Is resourceful when it comes to constructing weapons and preparing holy water. Has more knowledge about old-school structures than modern ones.

Richter - Same as Simon, except that his knowledge extends to different types of traps as well.

King K. Rool - This is the type of stuff he has minions for.

Isabelle - Doesn't have any experience when it comes to building itself, but would be excellent at organization.

Incineroar - Would be good at it if he focused enough, but unfortunately this is not the case. Would somehow turn the whole thing into a competition and crush whatever he built if he didn't win.

Piranha Plant - Doesn't know how to build stuff and doesn't care either. Would probably eat the materials, as well as those trying to use them.

Joker - Yes, he's crafted various items that are useful for phantom thievery and is smart enough to comprehend how things are put together.

Hero - Also yes, especially if all of them are working together.

Banjo & Kazooie - I can see Banjo being good at building things, but Kazooie might have some problems.

Terry - Better at knocking things down than building things up, unless he's giving you a pep talk.

Byleth - They've definitely got the smarts for it. I wonder if there's a unit on architecture in their lesson plan...

Min-Min - Yes, she's pretty good at pottery when using her normal arms. Don't expect her to be able to build anything with her battle arms, though.

Steve & Alex - I don't even need to answer this one.

Sephiroth - Would rather burn everything to the ground x2.

Pyra - Not really due to inexperience, but is interested in learning how to forge weapons. Is great at working with others collaboratively.

Mythra - Also not great, except she'll try to learn stuff herself and would be too stubborn to accept help (which usually doesn't end too well).

Kazuya - Typically pays others to do it for him. Firmly believes that his hands were not meant to create but to destroy.

Sora - Yes, but he'd need help and assistance from others, especially if there's something he's stuck on. He's a firm believer that two heads (or more, if possible) are better than one.

Note: These are just my headcanons. Some characters I am less familiar with than others, though I tried my best to do some background research on them. If there is some sort of discrepancy here, please kindly let me know, and I will revise it.

[themuffin2649]

Yandere Shenanigans Part 7

Broken

TW: idk

UNFINISHED

——————

Something’s up with those two, but for different reasons.

Vincent’s reason was more obvious, he was trapped in this prison for days. Despite having nothing to do and enough to eat, he looked sleep deprived, with heavy bags under his eyes. He was also very dramatic and emotional (more than usual), there were scratches on the walls, he lost some weight, and he gave up the two most valuable things he possessed to get out of his prison.

Was this the work of solitary confinement on his psyche? God that’s cruel.

Leon on the other hand was more disturbed, but I can’t pinpoint why

It’s like he’s planning something behind my back, but it’s not for me. He seems more distracted yet focused, could that be the anger from encountering Vincent?

“There, we can use this!” Leon said, pointing at a structure that can substitute as a hammer.

He then kicked structure until is cracked, and then snapped it off.

The two then walked back to Vincent’s cell, and Leon readied the hammer.

“Brace yourself!” He said, as he lifted the hammer and smashed it against Vincent’s cell. It didn’t break on the first attempt, or the second, but the third blow broke the glass to the cell.

“Weird, I wonder why his cell was harder to break.”

“Probably to keep his snobby ego contained.”

“What was that Leon?”

“N-Nothing!”

Vincent, out of desperation, crawled out of the cage, not caring about getting hurt by the broken glass. The two swore they saw some tears of joy as he finally left his prison.

I’m free, I’m finally free…

It had been days, but he felt like a prisoner released after years of confinement. Even prisoners had the right to speak to other cellmates.

“Thank you.”

“Follow us, we have to find him.”

Vincent nodded and followed the two, something he wouldn’t have done had he not been in solitary confinement, with only the aliens as company.

…

Leon looked at the rings, then back at Vincent.

It should have been me!

It didn’t matter that he gave them up, he still chose him. He didn’t choose him.

Memories came flooding back at him. Watched his friend propose to Vincent, watching the whole wedding, watching them eat together, watching Vincent take away his only friend, the only one who had loved him. The one he spent 8 fucking years protecting, just to get dumped for this sack of shit.

With a fist tightly clenched, rage boiled down in the deepest pit in his chest. His strength to control the raging storm in him was starting to fade, and he felt himself quickly start to unravel until his body finally took action.

With the swing of his fist, he had the strength to kill Vincent in one blow.

//

CRACK!

//

When Newt looked back, his eyes widened at the sight of blood and the cracks on the wall.

“Leon, w-what have you?!”

He was breathing heavily, and he still shook, his mind now processing what it he had just done.

He had redirected his fist to hit the wall instead of Vincent’s Head, and now his fist were bleeding from the impact.

Poor Vincent scampered away from Leon, trying to get as far away from him as he could. He could have been killed just now…

“I… I Can’t do it…”

“Leon, what is this?!”

“BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!”

…

Vincent didn’t even say a word, he didn’t even dare to, he sat back like a cornered animal in silence, hoping it would buy him some form of invisibility from the situation.

(To be Continued)

[votestaynight2]

9th Day - Mydear, straydead (Scene 3)/10th Day - strike lovers (Scene 1)

――――I'll protect Tohsaka. Saber isn't dead yet. Even though Kuzuki was an unexpected monster, Saber hasn't lost yet. And besides, Caster shouldn't be able to finish Saber off.

"――――――――" I put strength into my grip. I glare at Kuzuki, so as not to miss even his blinking. The instant he faces Tohsaka, I slide myself in between them. Knowing Tohsaka, I bet she'll jump instantly to the side to shoot Kuzuki――――

"Kya…!" There's no time to do so. It happens in an instant. The instant I think Kuzuki's body wavered, he is in front of Tohsaka.

She's astonished, but Tohsaka instantly points her hand at Kuzuki. But the right hand that almost pierced Saber's neck… …Strikes Tohsaka right in her chest.

"Ah――――guh……!" Time stops for Tohsaka. She's hit right in the center of her body and has her breath stopped.

That's it. As she cannot breathe, she cannot cast her spell and has most of her ability as a magus cut off. She managed to instantly jump back, so the attack only stopped her breath.

But the next attack… Even though she jumped back, it's only about a meter or so. Such a distance… It's not even considered a retreat against Kuzuki――――!

"Kuh――――!" I move in between them. Using my wooden sword as a shield, I face Kuzuki, who's about to attack Tohsaka. He thrusts his fist.

"Wha…!?" I can't see it…!? How did Saber avoid such a―――― "――――, guh――――!" I desperately protect my left side.

I hear a heavy sound and the sound of my wooden sword breaking. I see Kuzuki getting ready for his next attack.

――――I'll die. I feel it instinctively. My strengthened wooden sword was like metal. If he can destroy it in one blow, he can destroy any part of my body.

――――I can't stop him. Tohsaka is coughing painfully behind me. I can't see his attacks, and my only weapon was destroyed.

His fist accurately goes for my temple. Emiya Shirou will die from that hammer-like attack. Having my head smashed off, I would probably splatter a rain of blood and brains.

――――I'll die if I don't stop it. A weapon. I can't match him. I'll need a strong weapon to make up for the vast difference in our powers.

It closes in on my brain. I imagine myself dying. No. If that happens…

――――I'll die if I can't stop it. A weapon. I need a weapon. A weapon that he can't destroy. Not a quickly-furnished weapon like a wooden sword, but a proven, strong weapon. The finest quality at that, a weapon undeserved by me. Yes, the weapon he carries would probably be――――

"――――Trace, on." Then I'll make it. I'll make it even if it's impossible. I'll make it no matter what the consequences may be. I make myself believe that strengthening and reproduction, things that already exist and things that do not already exist, are similar.

That's right, there's no time to think. Fake it no matter what. It does not matter if something gets destroyed in the process. I don't care even if it's just a fake. Hurry. Forget everything. Don't I know that I'm not the only one who'll be killed!? If I can't stop it, Tohsaka will……!!!!!!!"

"Huh, no way…!?" That spectacle… Tohsaka speaks out for me. "Hm――――" A deep voice. Is that Kuzuki's voice? Something might have happened to my ears as I can't hear properly.

No, not only my ears, but the senses of my limbs are too weak. Only my right eye is functioning. I watch the approaching fist. I observe as someone else's action blocks the attack.

"――――――――" My arms are about to rip off. Even though I have no feeling, I hear my nerves tearing off.

In my hands are his twin swords. Yang-sword Kanshou and Yin-sword Bakuya. The names of the swords. Even though they're haphazardly reproduced, the swords still present their existences to the wielder.

――――But I'm sorry. I can't project you guys perfectly with my skills.

"Guh――――!" "―――――――"

We spring apart. The twin swords that parried thirty attacks break as if saying they cannot take any more. It's not because they lost against Kuzuki's fists. The swords disappeared because I couldn't maintain their image.

"――――――――" The twin swords must have been unexpected, as Kuzuki shows hesitation for the first time. Then… A strong wind is created in the intersection.

"Saber…!" I look toward the wall. Saber must have healed as she is standing up. Caster is backing away from her.

…Yes, that's why it was a mistake. Even though she was defeated, Saber still had her powers. So there's no way Saber, who has powerful magic resistance, could be cornered by Caster. It is Kuzuki's role to finish Saber off. But Caster made a mistake. She must have been planning something, but that extra thinking caused her to lose out on her perfect chance.

"――――――――" Kuzuki retreats. He stands as if to protect Caster and… "This is it. We'll retreat, Caster." He makes a precise decision.

"Master…!? No, Saber is hurt. You should be able to defeat her again――――!" "She is not someone who would fall for it twice. It is I who underestimated her. I should have attacked her one more time."

…Kuzuki is right. Saber was cornered because Kuzuki's techniques were too odd. But that's only up to now. I can't cope with it no matter how many times I receive them, but Saber is already used to the attacks.

The main point of a tactic is not to have a concrete shape. Even though they are strong, Kuzuki's attacks are too odd, so they are easily seen through. Therefore, they must be fatal on the first strike. That is the difference between a "technique" that is trained to an art, and an "action" that is trained to the utmost limits.

"…I understand, Souichirou. Yes, a Servant should obey its Master." Who was that directed at? Caster's robe flutters as she finishes.

…There's nothing after that. The bluish-purple robe circles Kuzuki, and as if through sorcery, they disappear without a trace.

"…Crap. Now there's no way Kuzuki will come out from the Ryudou Temple." After Caster and Kuzuki disappear… Without caring for her wounded chest, Tohsaka grits her teeth in regret.

…I understand how Tohsaka feels. Since we attacked them, Kuzuki will now stay in the Ryudou Temple. So we will have to go attack their territory if we are to defeat Caster.

But the Ryudou Temple has a gate watcher called Assassin, and Kuzuki and Caster aren't easy enemies either. We'll lose if we just attack recklessly. But we have to go to the Ryudou Temple if we want to defeat Caster.

"Rin. I will warn you that the temple is a treacherous place for us Servants. There is not much chance of winning even if we get Archer and try to force our way through." "…Heh. I know how strange that mountain is. I won't follow them out of vexation, nor will I drag your Master into going there."

"――――Then you will give up on defeating Caster?" "Are you kidding me? I don't like getting beaten, and more than that, I can't let Caster be. I think your Master has the same opinion on that." She asks me by looking at me.

"[line13]" Saber must have followed Tohsaka's example, since she looks as if she's asking me whether that is the case.

"Of course. We can't leave those two be. Caster won't stop collecting magical energy, and her Master, Kuzuki, said he won't stop her. Then we'll just defeat them. It seems Assassin is at the Ryudou Temple, but everything will be over if we defeat Caster's Master, Kuzuki."

"Yeah. I don't think Kuzuki-Sensei will easily let us take his Command Spell, but we should be able to do something if we capture him. …I guess we'll have to stick to planning for now…" ―――Then. I don't know why, but Tohsaka suddenly…

"By the way, what was that, Emiya-kun? Wasn't strengthening the only magic you could use?" She asks me with a serious expression.

"――――?" Does she mean reproducing Archer's swords? Well, I'm still surprised myself, but I don't think she should glare at me for it.

"Answer me. You told me before that strengthening magic is all you can use, right?"

"Well, that's right. Projection is the first magic I was able to use, but I was taught to use strengthening magic because projection is inefficient. …Oh, didn't I tell you about this?"

"―――No. I'm mad that I haven't heard about it." She glares at me. I don't know why, but Tohsaka is really pissed.

"Then let me ask you. This isn't your first time using the projection magic?"

"Oh… I guess not. I do it quite often to get myself together after I fail the strengthening magic. But it's not like I can project something useful like I just did now. I can get them looking the same on the outside, but they were all empty on the inside."

"Empty inside? What do you mean? Do you mean you can only reproduce the appearance?"

"No, I'm thinking about what's inside as well, but I can never manage to do it. That's why I'm surprised right now. What I imagine isn't close to the real thing, but the swords just now were pretty close."

"I see. Then does it mean you acquired projection before strengthening?" "It's more like that was the only thing I could do. My father told me it was useless and that I should use strengthening instead."

"―――Yeah. I would have told you the same thing as well. …But that's strange. You reproduced Archer's swords for such a long time, but you still can't project normal things. …Maybe you have a limited attribute. There are magi who aren't versatile, but very powerful in one matter…"

Tohsaka starts thinking by herself. She does not even look at me… "―――Let's go home for today. It seems Saber used magical energy to heal herself, so we have to let her rest." …And she goes home like that.

There's no one at the house. The hallway's dead silent. My ears might still be screwed up, as I can't even hear my own footsteps. The numbness in my limbs won't go away, and I don't feel like I'm stepping on the ground.

"――――――――" Surprised that I can still walk in this condition, I go with Saber to my room.

"Let's not train today. You must be tired, right? You were pretty badly wounded too." I talk to Saber once we get to my room.

"…No, I do not have a problem. I have used magical energy to heal myself, but I am still able to replenish that magical energy. More than that, Shirou. Is there anything wrong with your body?"

"…? No, I'm fine. My limbs are still heavy, but this is like muscular pain, so I bet it'll be gone by tomorrow."

"……All right. But please tell me if your body is hurting."

"Yeah. You can wake me up too if anything happens. If you get hungry at night, I'll make you something." I can't provide magical energy for her, so all I can do is make some food to cheer her up.

"…Shirou. Please do not push yourself." Saber goes to the next room.

"……Yeah. I guess I'll go to bed." I set my futon down and lay on it. My limbs are a bit numb. It might be the effect of magic I'm not used to doing, as I feel like I'll pass out if I let my guard down.

"…Hm. …What's going on――――?" I guess… I'm tired. The ringing in my ears annoys me, but I think I can still get a good night's sleep――――

"―――! ―――Ah……"

"Ah, gu―――, guh―――"

"Haa―――Haa―――, ha, gi―――"

"Ah―――guh―――……!!!!!" I squeeze the futon. It feels like hot metal is coming up my throat. Every muscle, every bone in my body is messed up.

"Gi―――ah, guh―――!" I hear a grinding sound with my numb ears. The sound of creaking bones is coming from within me. What don't they like? My bones are twitching as if to complain to me, and my ribs are shaking as if to burst out of my body.

"Guh―――haa―――……!" Pain runs throughout my body. My whole body is pushed down by a great force, but the pain is coming from within. It's condensed in a small place, but the contradiction is that my body is expanding.

"Gah―――……!!!!" On top of my futon, I wiggle around like a bug and try to bear the unknown pain.

"Haa―――ah, ah―――" …My brain's burning. My brain must not be able to endure the pain, as it is like a sauna now. I don't care if this is compensation for magic over my level, or if this is the abnormality Saber was talking about.

"Guh―――ah―――………" But for some reason, I don't want to ask Saber for help. I don't want to worry her, and I have to be responsible for what I did. "…It's natural… to do so…… since I'm a guy―――" I suppress my moaning as I sweat.

…The clock I look at with my vague mind says it's not yet midnight. I should be able to escape this pain if I sleep, but I'm sure the pain will wake me up even if I do.

"Ha―――Haa―――gu―――……!!!" …I'm going into a daze. My mind's boiling up. The pain should go away once the sun comes up. But until then… I have to bear this pain for about seven hours, and this fact by itself seems like a bad dream―――

Interlude 9-2

The place is not too pleasant for him. Frustration and delusion, envy and jealousy. This place, permeated with emotions, is like a cursed room. It should have been his, but this room was never used for him.

"Damn――――this place stinks like piss." This is all his delusion. A stranger's child spent a few years in here and threatened the Matou blood for a long time. That's the only past he knows. His father never said anything, but his grandfather told him a bit of what happened here. His father did not choose him and decided to kill off the Matou blood, but his grandfather wished for the revival of the Matou family.

That's why he has no feelings toward his father. His father taught him existence and failure. His grandfather taught him superiority and privilege. Thinking about what his mother gave him, Shinji laughs.

First of all, women are not needed at the Matou household. He heard that his mother is some Carrier, but she must have become useless after giving birth. He can bet on it that he'll find what used to be his mother in this room. But he has no intention of searching for such a thing. First of all, he does not want to see that which gave birth to his unskillful body.

The basement is filled with decay. Strange worms are wriggling around deep within the dark. There should not be any more nutrition to suck out of here, but the worms are still living here in this underground training area.

…No. From the beginning, this place has been used not to raise people, but to raise bugs. What can be seen inside the dark are swarms of bugs with black wings. Even the shadows on the walls must be black bugs. ――――In it all… A golden man unsuited to this lowest pit is there.

"Oh, you were here, Archer?" "―――――" The golden man, Archer, does not look at his master and just stares into the darkness.

"I have good news. Kotomine said he'll overlook any of our actions. ―――Hah, I thought he showed promise, but he really is useful! That means we won't get in trouble no matter what we do, right!?" Talking in delight, he walks towards Archer. "[line9]" Archer finally notices his master. The red eyes move.

"――――! Oh, no, I didn't come to complain to you. I don't care where you go and what you do. I respect my Servant's free will. I'm tolerant, unlike others."

Shinji's pressured by the red eyes, but he still approaches Archer. Even if Archer may be an ominous existence, he is only a Servant. Therefore, he maintains his arrogance against Archer. He shows leniency, but he still displays that he is the stronger one.

"―――I see. Kotomine thinks highly of you, huh?" "Yeah. I guess he owes my grandfather. He said a bloodline with a history like mine should win over some third-rate magus. ―――Hah, that's obvious. He's stating the obvious, but he's good at determining who's strong. I'm thinking about maybe thanking him if I obtain the Holy Grail." Joyful laughter echoes through the room.

"―――Then let's start, Archer. We don't have to worry about catching people's attention. Go ahead and kill all you want, eat lots of souls, and get strong. …Then they'll be next. We'll have to crush that annoying Saber and go settle things with Emiya." He pats Archer on the shoulder. Archer watches as if something unpleasant has touched him.

"What? I told you we're going. No matter what hero one may be, a Servant has to obey his Master, right?" He must have imagined himself raping Saber and letting his friend crawl on the ground. He orders Archer in high spirits. But the golden man does not move. "―――Shinji. You do not understand what the Holy Grail is." And he says his Master's name for the first time.

"――――Huh?" "Ignore the other Masters if you want the Holy Grail. They are only sacrifices. If you really wish for the Holy Grail, there is something we must obtain first." "Something we have to obtain first…?" The boy, Matou Shinji, looks at his Servant. His feet are moving back unconsciously, and he has let go of Archer's shoulder.

"Let us obtain that first. I am lending you my powers to obtain the Holy Grail. The only common goal between us is the Holy Grail. Well, I do understand how you feel. Revenge is delightful. To seek pleasure is proof that you are human. I shall take part in that joy once we are done with what we must do."

Archer smiles for some reason. …Sensing something evil in it, Shinji finally feels uneasiness about the Servant's identity. The eighth Servant. A heroic spirit that should not exist. ―――The strongest king of heroes, said to have existed since the last Holy Grail War――――

"…Oh yeah. Come to think of it, I haven't asked you before." Shinji speaks, still trying to preserve his superiority.

"What? I shall answer you if you question me, Master." "It's about your wish. What do you want to do after you obtain the Holy Grail, Archer?" It's a natural question. A heroic spirit that is half immortal and has all the treasures in the world. What can this man possibly wish for now?

"――――What? You did not know?" Archer says so with surprise. His face is smiling as if he found a small happiness.

"I allow everything that is magnificent. A splendid ornament is something I must admire the most. But―――I cannot stand giving it to the meaningless extras." "…Extras…?" "It happened a long time ago. I chose ten servants and tried to kill the one that I did not need. What do you think happened, Shinji?"

"Huh? They were all slaves, right? Then didn't you kill them all?" "No. I actually could not kill anybody. None of the laborers were meaningless in the old world." He shrugs his shoulders ironically and steps forward. …A deeper darkness. He raises his foot over the dark shadow.

"But this world is filled with extras. I believe there would not be a single meaningful person even if I sought through a thousand people. ―――Man, this world has gotten so friendly to humans."

"…? I don't get it. What do you want, Archer? You want the Holy Grail because you have something you want, right? Then――――"

Archer does not answer. The golden man does not even turn to his master and…

"It is a simple thing. A lot of something is ugly by itself."

…Lowers his raised foot into the darkness.

…A smashing sound. On the ground are numerous smashed bugs, with more swarming around.

10th Day - strike lovers

"――――It's morning…" I slowly open my eyes. The night that felt like it'd last forever has ended.

"……Good. The pain's gone." I don't know if I could not bear the pain anymore or if the pain went away at some point. Anyway, I feel no pain and I don't feel sleepy nor tired. My head has cleared up, as I managed to get about three hours of sleep.

"All right. I'll go make breakfast." I get up from the sweaty futon. …Then. As soon as I get up, my left foot slips.

"Huh?" I touch my left foot thinking it's strange. There's nothing wrong with it. There's no pain nor blood, and―――I don't feel like I'm touching my leg.

"……Hm." I don't feel anything on my left leg or my left arm. I try pinching the left side of my chest and, again, feel nothing.

"……" I guess my body hasn't fully healed yet, even though the pain went away. The whole left side of my body is numb and it doesn't feel like it's my body. Um, I think something like this happens frequently――――

"It's like when I sleep in a wrong position in the shed. I'd use my arm as a pillow and blood wouldn't be flowing in it when I woke up." Yeah, that. This is like the numbing one gets from having the blood circulation to a limb cut off temporarily.

Well, it moves fine, so it should heal in time. It reacts slowly and it feels like I'm moving it using a controller, but it shouldn't hinder my everyday life if I'm careful.

I refrain from using a knife this morning and make a simple breakfast consisting mainly of bread. My dominant hand, the right hand, is good, so I can use the frying pan. I cook some ham and eggs, instant clam chowder, and make breakfast for three.

"Itadakimasu." "Itadakimasu." The two bow and dig into the toast.

Saber eats the toast and salad like always, munching and nodding. …Yeah. It's interesting to see Saber using chopsticks, but Western food suits her more.

"――――――――" Saber's usually quiet. It's not that she's untalkative, but it seems like she considers silence a virtue. So this is how she is during meals. It's easier for me to stay quiet during meals, so a meal like this is ideal for me.

"…Huh?" Then, I realize why it's so quiet this morning.

In a word…

"Hey, morning! …Oh? We're having French food this morning?" …Fuji-Nee didn't stay over last night.

"Yup. I cooked French food this morning. So just be quiet and eat." I give Fuji-Nee her mug.

"Hm? But this kind of smells like instant food, Shirou." "It's just your imagination. Your nose isn't working too well since you just woke up."

"I see. You might be right. Oh, good morning to you too, Saber-chan. I'm sorry I couldn't come home last night." Fuji-Nee gulps down the hot clam chowder like some kind of sports drink. I bet there's some special coating on her throat.

"Good morning, Taiga. I did not see you yesterday. Was something wrong?" "Hm? Yeah, I had to work… well, no. I'm just going around visiting people who are sick. But that ended yesterday, so I can relax again today."

She puts margarine on her bread while she's speaking. It doesn't really matter, but Fuji-Nee doesn't use butter. I can ask her why, but I don't want to since I'm sure I'll get a stupid response.

"……Hey, Fuji-Nee. How many students are in a serious condition out of the ones who went to the hospital?" "No one's in a serious condition. They're all just staying at the hospital to be safe, and I hear they can all come back to school next week. It's all right, Shirou. Just relax, and don't worry about that incident."

Fuji-Nee bites into her toast. She looks so carefree that looking at her makes me feel like I can trust her.

"――――I see. That's good." "Yup, everything's all right. I'll be looking forward to dinner tonight."

She has a peaceful smile. …Yeah. At times like this, she reminds me that Fuji-Nee is Fuji-Nee.

"Then I'll be going. Please take care of the house while I'm gone, Saber." "Yes. That is fine, but… Shirou. I did not see anything made in the kitchen. Am I to go without lunch today…?"

"…? Oh, no. I can come home early today since it's Saturday. I'll be a bit late, but I'll be back by lunchtime to make lunch."

"――――I see. Shirou, it is troubling if you do not tell me about such matters. It seems you are pretty careless this morning. Your reactions are slow too. Do you have something that is worrying you?"

"Huh? No. My body's still heavy from yesterday, but this should get back to normal in no time." The left side of my body is still numb, but it doesn't hurt, so there's no problem. I can't tell Saber about such a thing and worry her.

"Well, you're right that it's my fault. Meals are your only hobby. I'll make a big lunch to show my apology, so let's call it even." I wave goodbye and go to the door.

"Hm. I cannot agree with what you just said. It is only that I would not have energy in emergencies if I skip meals――――" "Just forget about it. See ya, Saber!"

I leave Saber's complaints behind me. "Whoa―――this is more tiring than I thought."

I touch my numb left leg. It didn't happen when I was in the house, but I start feeling sick once I start walking. Even though it doesn't affect my movements, it's a big mental burden to walk with a numb body.

"…No, I have to bear it. This is nothing compared to those two." Even though she healed up, Saber got her throat cut and was smashed against a wall. Tohsaka took that hammer-like blow to her chest. It should be nothing for me, as I didn't actually take a hit.

"―――――Well." I step out with my numb left leg and start walking down the hill. …I feel slightly nauseous. I walk to school with ghost-like steps.

…Then. School's over before I notice it.

It might be because of my body, but I don't have a sense of time. I don't remember anything about the lectures, and I'm not too sure what I did either.

"―――Could this be bad?" The left side of my body is still numb. Even though I don't feel anything, having it numb for so long gets me worried.

"I don't feel it, but it seems like it's getting heavier." …The nausea won't go away either. And, of course, Kuzuki wasn't at school.

"―――I'll go home. Saber's probably hungry." I grab my bag to go home. I think I've forgotten to do something, but I should remember once I go home and rest.

"――――Oh." I remember when I walk up the hill with my numb left leg.

"I forgot to talk to Tohsaka." I forgot about it since I had my hands full with my body, and since my head was spaced out. Well, I'm sure nothing big happened since she didn't come see me. Considering my condition, I can contact her once I get better.

"I'm home." I announce myself loudly and head to the kitchen.

I put the food I bought in the refrigerator, wash my hands, and put on my apron. I'll be making codfish pot tonight, so I'll use some meat for lunch. I think about making teriyaki chicken and start getting ready.

"Are you home, Shirou?" Saber must have heard me, as she comes in from the porch.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm late. You can rest while I cook. You must be hungry――――" …Crap. I dropped the dish in my hand since I was preoccupied with Saber.

"Shirou, the plate is broken." "Yeah. That's the first time I've done something like that." I'm surprised as well, so I respond stupidly.

"Sorry. I'll clean it up right away, so you can sit right there." I pick up a piece. "――――Huh?" I drop it.

"It seems you are tired, Shirou. No, I will clean it up, so you go ahead and cook."

I guess trying to pick it up with my left hand was a mistake. …Well, that's a good lesson. My left hand is still numb, so I'll be really careful when using the kitchen knife.

"Shirou. Please do not push yourself. Please make something simple. I am glad that you are trying to do your best, but I do not want your blood in our meal." Well, I don't want that either. I'd be a failure as a cook.

"All right. Then I'll put effort into dinner and make a simple lunch. I'll still make what I was planning to, but I won't use any pumpkin or white radish. Is that all right?" I take 200 grams of chicken, put it on the cutting board, and carefully ready my fork. I have to make the main dish with care because of what I told Saber this morning.

"Yes. I will be looking forward to it, Shirou." Saber replies, as if she can sense my enthusiasm.

"――――――――" I'm more enthusiastic now. I'll poke some holes first with the fork and――――

"…Doorbell?" "Shirou, it seems there is a visitor." "I guess so. I'll go get it."

"I'm coming――――!" I jog to the door. It's rare for someone to come visit at this time. Fuji-Nee doesn't ring the bell, and she has a spare key. I don't have many guests, and since there aren't that many houses around, I don't have many neighbors.

"…Who could it be?" Well, it's not anyone hostile since my father's boundary field isn't ringing, so I bet it's someone from Fuji-Nee's place.

"Who is it?" I open the door. Then, my mind freezes.

"[line12]" "[line12]" We stare at each other silently. …Well, I'm just dumbfounded, but Tohsaka looks angry.

"T-Tohsaka――――why are you here?" I ask a natural question with my mind blank. "You skipped our regular contact." Tohsaka answers simply.

"I skipped our regular contact? Well, I did forget to go see you… But did we ever agree on such a thing?" "[line12]"

Tohsaka glares at me silently. …This is bad. I don't know why she's mad, but I feel like I've done something really bad.

"…Sorry. I apologize for forgetting about it. It was a natural duty as your ally to contact you on a regular basis." Being pressured, I apologize. That must satisfy her.

"―――Yeah. Our situation hasn't changed, so it's natural for us to check up on each other." Tohsaka seems to have calmed down.

"――――――――" I sigh with relief. It's surprising enough to see Tohsaka at my place, so having her get mad at me here is like an out-of-this-world experience. I have to take care of this troublesome situation as fast as possible.

"―――I understand. I'll contact you, so you can go home now. I'm sorry you came all the way here." …Hey. Why make a face like that?

"…Tohsaka? I got your message, so aren't we going to meet up at the park under the bridge?" I get a bad feeling, so I ask timidly. …That must have been the last straw. As Tohsaka is good at reading what I fear the most…

"No, this is a good opportunity, so we'll hold the meeting here today. You wouldn't turn away a friend who came to see you, would you?" She smiles like a devil and says a devilish thing.

"Wha―――have a meeting here… Are you going to come into my house…!?" "What? You came into my house as well. And it's not like this'll be my first time, so there's nothing you have to hide from me."

"Oh." That's right. It was Tohsaka that treated my wound on that night I first met Saber.

But then, I was just confused about this Master thing, and the fact that Tohsaka was at my house didn't register. Even if we're cooperating, Tohsaka is Tohsaka. She's the school idol and a girl of my age. It's an outrageous situation for her to come into my house… Wait, why is she coming in!!!?

"Well, I'm coming in. We're going to be talking, so we can do it in the living room, right?" "H-H-H-H-H-H-Hold on, you idiot! It'll be terrible if you come into my house!"

"It's fine, it's fine. Oh, and I haven't eaten lunch yet, so I'll be counting on you." The intruder, Tohsaka Rin, comes into the house.

"Whoa, hold on…! Stop doing things without thinking!" I object in a loud voice, but it has no effect on my enemy. The intruder carelessly goes into the living room, leaving me confused out in the hallway.

…So. After the three of us have lunch, we talk about our future plans.

The topic, of course, is Caster. We talk for about four hours on how to beat her at the Ryudou Temple, but the results are not good.

"…Geez. I guess the only thing we can do is to beat them straight on. If what Saber's saying is true, Servants can only go in from the front entrance."

"Yes. There is a strong boundary field against spirits on that mountain. My only option would be to enter from the front gate. …Since Archer has independent action as his class ability, I am sure he can manage to get in there by force."

"And after he manages to get in there with all his might, Caster will be waiting for him, right? That's not good at all."

"…You're right. He can't be the target when he's the one who should be shooting the target. Well, I'm sure Saber and Archer would be able to beat Assassin together, but cornering Caster after getting into the temple would be another problem. From what I hear from Emiya-kun, there's a big pool of magical energy there. If we corner her badly, she might take us out along with the whole Ryudou Temple."

"Certainly. Caster does not seem like someone who will graciously accept death. If she is going to die, she will try to take us down with her. It does not need to be mentioned that the Ryudou Temple will be destroyed as well in that case."

"Don't say scary things, Saber. Are you saying Caster will self-destruct if we corner her?" "I bet you she would." "She probably will."

"……" They're in perfect unison. Come to think of it, Saber and Tohsaka have the same opinions, and it seems like they approve of each other in combat. Both of them are saying not to attack there, so challenging the Ryudou Temple must be really hard.

"Oh, it's this late already?" The clock's sound echoes through the living room. It's six o'clock and the sky is tinted red.

"―――Well, I guess the meeting's over. I have to start preparing dinner." I get up. I'll be making codfish pot tonight, so it won't take that long for me to cook it. All I need to do is to cook the rice and make something that'll go with the pot――――

"What? Why are you looking at me?" "――――――――" …Well. Why is she making herself at home when we're about to make dinner?

"And you're sitting so far away from me. I don't know if that's your usual spot, but it's inconvenient unless you come closer while we're talking. Why are you sitting way over there?"

Tohsaka, who is sitting magnificently at the table, stares at me, who is sitting at the very corner. …There's only one reason why I'm distancing myself from Tohsaka.

"Shut up, my usual place is right where you're sitting! It's like this because you stole that spot!" I complain with all my might.

"Ohh. I see. You didn't care about it outside of here since we're Masters, but you go back to being yourself back at home, huh?"

"I-Is that bad, you idiot!? This is normal since I'm a guy…!" It's strange not to be nervous when it's a girl of my age, and Tohsaka at that.

I've been having the meeting normally, frantically telling myself that we're both Masters. It's pitiful, but I was nervous throughout the meeting, and I don't know how many cups of tea I had.

"But isn't that strange? Saber's a girl too, and from what I hear, Sakura and Fujimura-Sensei come here as well, right? Then I should be no different."

"……" It's not! Saber and Tohsaka are different, Fuji-Nee and Tohsaka are different, and Sakura and Tohsaka are different. First of all, I can handle being with Saber because she's someone to fight alongside with.

"…Heh, just go home. We're having dinner now. Archer's waiting for you at your place too, right?" "Oh. I can't go home when we haven't decided anything yet. Aren't we going to talk about our future plans after we eat dinner?"

"――――――――" Oh, I feel really dizzy.

"Guh… Is that already determined, Tohsaka?" "Am I wrong? I don't care if you don't want to. So you're fine with letting Caster do whatever she wants for a while, huh?" "Gah――――" I swallow my words.

"Shirou. She does have a point. There is no problem even if she stays here." To make things worse, Saber is on Tohsaka's side.

"――――All right. But I won't be held responsible if you don't like the food here. And Fuji-Nee―――Fujimura-Sensei will be coming, so you can convince her."

"I know, I know. I already know how good you are from the lunch you made, and I also know about Fujimura-Sensei. I'm aware of it, so don't worry about it."

"――――Heh, I won't be held responsible even if you regret it later on." I look away from her and head to the kitchen.

――――Then. I wash my hands, go to put on my apron, and notice that it's not there. …No. First of all, I don't even remember taking it off after preparing lunch in front of Tohsaka.

"Huh?" I look around.

Tohsaka looks at me, laughs, and… "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I just don't know about a guy walking around in an apron, Emiya-kun." …Speaks with an expression of triumph.

I cut the codfish. I've cut up the cabbage, and the white radish is grated. "…All right. All I need to do is put these in the soup and put it on the stove…"

The pot is boiling. It's a simple dish, so the soup is like the only thing I can work on. That went well, so all that's left is to prepare the plates――――

"I'm home! Man, it's so cold that it started snowing." There's commotion as Fuji-Nee comes home. "Welcome home. It started snowing outside?"

"Yeah. It's not much, but it looks like it'll pile up. Wow, we're having pot food for dinner? Great going, Shirou. Wow, I feel good. Maybe I should have some alcohol." Fuji-Nee goes into the living room, saying scary things.

"Hello, Fujimura-Sensei." "Oh, it's Tohsaka-san. What's going on? It's rare for me to see you here."

……? Fuji-Nee naturally accepts Tohsaka's greeting. She hums, goes past the living room, and comes into the kitchen.

"Wow, that's a good codfish. They say white codfish is the best, so sake's really gonna taste good with that."

Fuji-Nee opens the refrigerator. Then. After taking out a snack and eating it…

"WAIT, WHY IS TOHSAKA-SAN HERE!!!!!?"

"Hey, Tohsaka-san! It's not 'hello'. What are you doing here at this time!?" After swallowing her snack, Fuji-Nee marches into the living room.

"Emiya-kun is treating me to dinner. As for you, aren't you lacking a bit of common courtesy, coming in here without ringing the doorbell?" The Tohsaka army calmly counterattacks Fuji-Nee.

"Ugh… I-I'm a supervisor here! Shir―――Emiya-kun's dad put me in charge here, so I'm like family here!"

"I see. Then I shall formally greet you. Hello, Fujimura-Sensei. I spent the whole day here. I will continue to study for the exam with Emiya-kun after dinner, but please do not mind us."

"Wha―――Shirou… no, Emiya-kun! What is the meaning of this!? Since when did you decide to hold a study session with Tohsaka-san!?"

"Sensei? Please do not push yourself if it is hard to address him that way. It does not concern me how you may call Emiya-kun. I do not care if you call him by his name or with '-chan' added on. I respect people's privacy."

"Ugh―――Tohsaka-san, did you hear about it from Sakura-chan…?" "I cannot say what Matou-san was talking about, since I must respect her privacy as well. But I wish it is as you imagine."

Fuji-Nee falters in front of Tohsaka's smile. …I understand how Fuji-Nee feels. You feel pressured and cornered when she makes that smile…

"―――I guess the match is decided. I can leave them now." Actually, it wasn't even a match to begin with. It's only a matter of time before Tohsaka talks Fuji-Nee down. I'll let Tohsaka take care of it and I'll go cook dinner――――

The snow stops before the pot is empty. It only snowed for about two hours, so I bet there's only a bit of snow out there.

"Shirou, I put the dishes in the sink." "Oh, thanks. I'll go wash them real quick." I get up and head to the kitchen.

"Are you doing the dishes? Maybe I should do it. It doesn't balance out if I'm the only one getting treated." Tohsaka gets up as Fuji-Nee sits down. The proposal is delightful, but I can't let a guest do the dishes.

"No, you'll just owe me one. Just sit there since you just ate. And Fuji-Nee, you're to go prepare the bath." "All right, I know." Fuji-Nee is obedient, maybe because she's full now. It'd be easy for me if she were always like this, but that'd be kind of boring as well.

"Oh." I dropped another plate. It's been twenty minutes since I started doing the dishes. This is the second plate I've dropped on the floor.

"……Hm." I can't excuse myself saying that it's because my left hand is numb. I must be lacking concentration if I'm dropping dishes because of such a small problem.

"――――――――" I calmly think for a second that I should put it off until my left arm heals, but I shake off the idea.

I roll up my sleeves and continue with the dishes. I can only accept it if it's some outside factor, but I can't accept an internal factor causing it. There's no way I can't win against myself, so I can't admit defeat.

"Hm――――" As a result, I recklessly increase the damage. This is the third plate I've dropped. I put a towel below me after I dropped the first one, so it fortunately did not break.

So it shouldn't be a problem, but―――― "――――――――" It's really awkward having Tohsaka's eyes on me every time I drop a plate.

"…Fujimura-Sensei. Is Emiya-kun always like that?" I can hear Tohsaka from the living room.

"Don't be stupid. Shirou has never broken a plate before. I bet he's nervous because you're here." Because you're his enemy. Fuji-Nee adds.

"――――――――" Tohsaka ignores her and stares at me.

"……" …This is hard. Half my body is numb, so if she watches me and distracts me―――whoa.

"Damn." I cluck my tongue and look down at the broken plate. This is the fourth one now. I knew I was going to drop it, but I couldn't move my left hand quickly enough. "……" I slowly look behind me…

"――――――――" …She's watching me. Tohsaka is observing me really closely.

Then. She suddenly gets up and comes over here.

"Emiya-kun. I'll do it, so you go and rest." "But…" "Don't step on the broken plate, okay? I can figure out where to put what, so you can go drink some tea." Tohsaka rolls up her sleeves and stands by the sink.

"――――――――" I guess it can't be helped. It's hard to stop Tohsaka once she makes up her mind, and to be honest… …It's vexing, but Tohsaka looks so beautiful when she's washing the dishes that I'm fascinated by her figure.

Fuji-Nee's the only one in the living room when I get out of the bath. Tohsaka's shoes are still at the entrance, and I bet Saber's at the dojo.

It's almost nine o'clock now. I――――

[flingmetothemoon]

The-Quill-Warrior's idea of Amy's Piko Piko Hammer if it has more rocket powers.

Description: Going from Simpsons to Sonic… HELP ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME

But anyway, this is an idea that sparked in my head when I was fandreaming about the Sonic franchise. What if Amy Rose's Piko Piko Hammer had a rocket function? Wouldn't that be something?

She could deal even more damage, with quicker versatility and agility, and as a bonus, she could even flip it upside down and ride it like a jet-powered scooter! It sounded so cool to me, that I had to get it down on paper. Even though Sega's probably not gonna do something like this, I just thought it was at least worth jotting down.

The idea came to me after I thought about how Amy could be playable in Sonic's boost-style gameplay, as well as when I was thinking about King Dedede's Jet Hammer from Super Smash Bros.

I call it the "Piko Rowsh Hammer" because apparently "piko" is the sound the hammer makes when struck (I personally don't hear it.) So I thought about adding a rocket sound effect to that name; something like "RRRRROWWWSSSSSSH!!", and that's why I call it the "Piko Rowsh Hammer". It can also be called the "Love Rocket Hammer".

Also, Amy's design in this is not my idea. I took the liberty of using the design made by the endlessly talented Shira-hedgie, because I think it is the best design for Amy that I've seen in a while. Also, she's a wildly talented artist who is a master of expression and movement. And she can draw Sonic characters amazingly well. I highly recommend you watch her; her stuff is great!

Also, if you didn't notice, I went for a different art style this time from what I'm accustomed to, just to see if it really works. So far I like it, but it might need some tweaking. What do you guys think of it?

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Oh but that doesn't end there, I commented to express my even cooler idea… C:<

Imagine that along with a switch to open up an opening on each side of the hammer where she can blast pink energy balls and lasers or pull out spikes and break through solid rock, landmass and flesh easier, or maybe even a switch that activates all of the above! Imagine all of that among with the fact that she can multiply more hammers out of thin air as shown in Sonic X and the theory you wanna go with the idea that her golden rings on her wrists could be limiters that Shadow wears, what if she takes them off and fights off with her new upgraded hammers in all of her GLORY! :D One thing she have to be careful with is for the love of Chaos, DON'T CRUSH SONIC WITH THEM! X'D

Also, the edges of the hammer can serve as wheels and the handle can pull out 2 another smaller handles to hold onto and she can ride her hammer like a Segway. She can do this or fly on it with rocket fuel to save up as much stamina as possible. With these powers and abilities, she can beat multiple enemies 10x her size and natural strength! :O

But she doesn't have to be the only one to be this deadly, besides his X-Tornado, remember when Tails can summon an arm cannon to shoot out energy balls, flicking hands, and tail swipe?

(I like to think on the other side from this fanart by artsonx is another arm cannon he can use on his other hand so he can shoot from both directions) Well perhaps he can get bigger impact from using these attacks by using a gadget that is like his rocket propelled ice skates, except with more rocket hoverers on the bottom instead of ice skates to boost his speed and so then he won't always tire his tails out.

So then you'll get a young yet determined power couple full of passion who can be able to stand on their feet in battle without needing to stand by the sidelines cheering on Sonic to do all the hero work for them when he just wants to explore the world around him and chill. Tails needs to believe in himself and Amy believes in him. I loved it when they seemed to spent more time with each other than with their own supposed idol combined in Sonic X and I miss that aspect. 💛🦊🌹💗

I think that the reason why Sega, IDW and Archie never really let Amy and Tails have moments together is because they knew that deep down putting the two of them together would bring nothing but mischievous chaos.

Like imagine:

Tails being as smart as he is with his inventions and determination guiding him and Amy with her impressive strength and fiery drive fueling her, they would make the most deadliest ass kicking duo. Like they would ruin lives if they were given more time to interact and yet they never really do and thus that makes Sega, IDW, and Archie absolute cowards-

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Hello there Villain, I would like to request Snippet of a Hero getting sedated and when they wake up, they remember and/or Villain reminds them of all the (Embarrassing, Awkward, Cute, etc...) things they said in their delirious state and Hero is just wallowing in embarrassment, which Villain finds adorable. Thank You -Sidekick

The hero woke up to the most terrible sound on earth — the ringing of a digital alarm clock.

Said terrible sound hammered through their skull and assaulted their brain with a ridiculous amount of strength and patience. In a desperate attempt to stop this violence, the hero turned around and smashed their arm on the alarm clock. When the cursed piece of plastic still continued to torture their brain, the hero clenched a deadly fist and nearly destroyed the thing without looking at it.

At least the ringing stopped.

“Not a morning person, huh?” The hero groaned at the sound of the villain’s voice. It was nothing more than another evil that waited for their downfall. Just like the alarm clock. The hero played with the thought of picking it up and throwing it at the villain’s head. However, that would have required definite dedication to raise their own head and the pillow was just so damn seductive right now.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fuck off, you heathen,” the hero mumbled, their words muffled by the incredulously soft pillows. They sank right into them, letting the fabric swallow them whole. God, they had never felt more comfortable.

“My, my. You should be nicer when you’re in my sheets.” Oh no.

The hero’s head jumped up and they turned around in the bed which was, in truth, not theirs as they frantically searched for the villain’s eyes. Once they had found them, their own gaze slid across their body. The villain’s hair was wet — probably from a very early shower, the villain seemed to be that kind of person — but they were already dressed.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t realise,” the villain said. The hero felt the heat poking in their cheeks and they averted their eyes instantly. No, they had not realised that it was the villain’s bed.

They sat up and pulled the blanket closer, a desperate attempt to cover their —how one quick look down revealed— sparsely clothed body. How on earth did they end up in the villain’s bed?

“Wait, we didn’t…no, we did not…” The hero didn’t remember much but they felt like a night with the villain would be unforgettable. Also, they were pretty sure nothing scandalous had happened because the villain was too calm for that. Not a hint of the disgusting embarrassment the hero felt was in their enemy’s gaze.

“No, we did not. However, you offered a great show for everyone who was willing to endure your terrible slurring and cursing.” The hero frowned which hurt and they wanted to fall back into the heaven the villain’s pillows were.

“Wait, was I drunk? What the fuck happened? I remember nothing.”

“That seems to happen when you pay sketchy bars which are full of villains a visit. I still don’t know what you were doing there but someone thought it to be funny to put something into your drink. Twenty minutes later, you were almost on the supervillain’s lap and telling them all your little secrets.” The villain’s jaw set. “I had enough pity to drag you out and bring you home.”

They had their I-am-going-to-murder-someone-expression but that dissolved quickly when the hero spoke up.

“Wait, was it some kind of truth serum shit?” The hero acted unbothered but in secret, their brain worked on suppressing to be kicked into panic mode.

“I don’t know. You were pretty out of it. And the things you said when I brought you home…I’m not sure if it was the truth.” The villain’s now sober expression turned playful. They put the glass of water in their hand to their lips, a smile forming. “But if it was, you know where to find me.”

They took a sip.

“Oh, come on. What could I have possibly said? I have barely secrets. You already know my identity, so it can’t be that bad.”

“You described on several occasions numerous ways to have sexual intercourse with me.”

Upon hearing that they just…they just stopped. All of their body systems came to a total halt. The hero couldn’t say anything. They couldn’t move, they couldn’t breathe — all they could do was stare and try not to die of embarrassment. Which seemed more impossible every second such suggestive scenes scorched into their brain.

This was terrible.

“Was funny, actually. You’re quite creative.” The villain placed the glass on the dresser and through their blurred vision, the hero saw them coming closer. The hero had zoned out completely. Nevertheless, they felt that their body was still working as blood rushed to their face like a river would in a valley. God, this was awful.

The villain sat down on their bed and the hero could feel the mattress obey under the villain’s weight.

“Don’t worry. The other villains didn’t get to hear that, those lovely sentences were reserved for my ears only.” The villain tapped the tip of the hero’s nose with their finger, forcing the hero to wake up out of their personal limbo of embarrassment. They turned to the villain, too stubborn to look away.

They had known the villain for a long, long, time. Longer than they should have. Their history was rich. Full of team-ups and betrayals and tears and hugs.

Despite their weekly fights, the villain was the closest person the hero had in their life. And sure, maybe they were deeply desperate to connect with them even more. But…they wanted to burn that part of themselves. It was embarrassing and wrong and it hurt because it wasn’t meant to be more than a hypothetical dream.

The horror was apparently deeply fried into the hero’s eyes.

“No need to be ashamed.” The villain grinned and bit their bottom lip. “It was surely no truth serum.”

Both of them knew that was a lie.

[magnoliawitchcraft]

HOLD A FUNERAL FOR YOUR OLD HEART

I have been thinking a lot about grief. Probably because I have been doing it pretty consistently. Sometimes I feel as if I am getting worse. Other times I feel as if I am getting better. But it sits like a cannonball on my chest. It caves in my ribs and hollows me. But that's part of my practice, learning to sit with it. Letting time pass and heal with people I love and devotion to my practice. A victory only won through patience and the gifts of others.

That being said, I am also crazy.

So I did what any stellar, big bosomed, dramatic woman of my stature would do. I threw a party. If you're still reading, you might be interested in throwing a fun'eral for your old, broken heart too. I know I did. Fuck it, that bitch will be back in a week. Here's how I did mine. You're going to need:

-empty box (make it small, like a cardboard jewelry box or a matchbook)

- piece of paper

- something to draw with, but the more time you put into the drawing, the better.

- Something to light this on fire (don't be stupid, stupid. It's not witchcraft if it's not fire safe).

THE PROCESS

Draw your heart. Make it however you want. Runes, sigils, art, secrets. Something worth devotion and time, literally put your heart into it. For easy prompt, write down what you feared and what's worth acknowledging and letting go of.

Put that shit in the box (if you're Yzma from the Emporer's New Groove, put that box in another box. And then mail that box to yourself. And then smash it with a hammer.)

Now here comes the fun part. Throw yourself a party. Just for you. Alone. Get all dressed up in your best goth outfit. There are musts in witchcraft, but theatrics for this spell is a mist. Play the most over dramatic funeral music you can. Like "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban. Or "Wind Beneath my Wings" by Bette Midler. Lean into the silliness of the whole event. Make sure that you are along and have a genuinely nice time by yourself. And when you're done putting on this show for yourself, read the person who you were a eulogy. This is the one serious part of this entire endeavor.

-THE EULOGY-

This is the hard part because you have to be kind to the person who you were. You have to be kind to the part of yourself that feels yucky. Self love isn't always accessible, but you're by yourself. This is a good time to practice one action of self kindness. Depending on where you are emotionally, you might not have the practice and strength to be able to perform self kindness. If not, you're more than welcome to base yours of mine.

For me I wrote something like this:

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to honor the passing of me.

From one point of time to the next, I will move and transform. The person who I was is honored here. They are at rest within the casket of time. You have taught me much, but I no longer wish to be ruled by you. Thank you for serving me well. May your rest be sweet and warm. I ask for your guidance and protection cares and informs me."

This concludes the eulogy.

-THE BURIAL-

It's time to bury your heart! This is an important step because the earth heals all that is returned to it. There are lots of ways to give your old heart a burial. The traditional way of burying it in the earth is most conventional (if it's not biodegradable like plastic or glass, don't put it in the ground, we share the earth with critters). However you can also:

- burn it

- let it down a stream

- put it deep in the garbage

- scatter it to the wind

- take it to a park and leave it underneath a bush and then when you try to get on the bus you realize you were late to the bus and then wait 20 minutes for the next bus because you're not psychic just a witch

Regardless, there is one final offering that we leave for the person that we were. That is the joy of living now. Before leaving or releasing your heart in its coffin, thank your heart and tell it a story. Sing it a song. From your body and breath, speak words of promise for tomorrow. While the old heart might not be able to come with, the new heart will experience enough joy for the person you are and the person you were.

Now get on the bus and listen to some 70s disco. Congrats on the fun'eral, go celebrate.

May the gifts of the earth be ceaseless at your hearth.

<3 Magnolia

[lazypeachsoul]

are you thanking me or your god? - u.r.

Pairing: Uhtred Ragnarsson x fem!reader.

Request: by @viktoria12 “Hey can you write a imagine with Uhtred? The content is up to you🙏”

Warnings: Nothing.

Word count: 1.601 words.

A/N: I have to admit this was a bit tricky because I've never read uhtred imagines. But it was fun, i really like uhtred as a character. i hope you like it and I'm sorry it has taken me some time to post it.

Masterlist.

To be added to my taglist use this forms or write me an ask!

Winchester was the busiest it had been in a long time. With the coming of spring, the merchants were returning to the city to trade and spending too much time around the alehouse. Spirits were high after the blessing given by the priest on Easter and the year was expected to be calm and fruitful. Except for the danes lurking in the surrounding areas. But nobody would dare talk about that when it’s the Lord’s day.

Good weather meant people would go outside more, and therefore more gossip. Every turn you took on your way to the market, you would hear a different rumour. Most were about the health of the king, some were about the threat of a battle. You even heard one about danes walking around the city freely.

But your head was too centered on the task at hand. Abbess Hild had asked you to go to the market for flour and other necessities, and you wouldn’t dare disappoint the Abbess. You weren’t even a nun and you still followed her orders like a soldier.

Your house was close to the convent and, ever since you walked past the gates and into their garden when you were young, they had treated you like their family. Sometimes too much when it came to the boys your age. But they were only trying to protect you.

Sister Hild, later Abbess, had always surprised you. Not only did she have a strong will and personality, she was also physically strong. More than what a woman of god should be. but still, with all her strength, she needed you to go buy the necessities that they couldn’t get from their garden.

Too distracted by your thoughts and the gossiping going around, you collided against someone making you almost tumble to the dirt floor. If it hadn’t been for a quick hand grabbing your dresses you would be covered in mud and other disgusting stuff.

Looking up you saw a scruffy looking man, but not in a bad way surprisingly. This man looked almost too different from what you were used to seeing around Winchester. Something about his reaction told you he was trained, and the scars in his hands and handsome face gave away he was probably a soldier. For who is what you were curious to know.

Realizing the compromising position you found yourself on, with a man holding your dress, you quickly tried to regain your balance. The man let go and you tried to stutter an apology, but your attempts were stopped by a sweet but authoritative voice behind you.

“Uhtred! I was looking for you, we need to discuss…” Her voice got interrupted when she recognized you in front of the man. “What are you doing here, darling? I thought you would be in the market by now.”

“I tried Abbes, I just had a little-” You tried to speak but were interrupted by a deep voice. In a normal situation you would be angry at such interruption, but when you heard the voice you couldn’t really care about it.

“We had a small incident, Hild. Don’t worry, nobody is hurt.”

The voice fit the man perfectly. With a deep voice he spoke calmly and yet you could pick up a joking tone towards the Abbess. Who is this uhtred man? Why is he joking with Hild? But wait, how does Hild even know a man like him?

Full of curiosity you realized you were still standing between them. Clearing your throat you nodded at Hild and turned around with a smile to your saviour.

“Thank you Lord for helping me. I’m in your debt.” Nodding your head you moved past them, not missing the small smile on the man's face.

“You owe nothing to him, young lady. He's heathen. He doesn’t deserve your compassion.”

A loud laugh was heard from the man along with what sounded like a smack, probably to the leather of his armour. The words of the Abbess circled your brain for the rest of the day. So he was a heathen, a friend of Hild and incredibly handsome. Great, what a mysterious man.

After your chores were done and you took some time to relax outside of your house, the world seemed to dissipate around you. The soft sound of quick steps and panting made you look up from your dress, breaking the peace of your surroundings.

Eanflæd was running towards you, people looking her way either worried or weirded out by your young friend’s race. She reached you just in time to ungracefully collapse on the bench you were sitting on.

“Is everything okay, Eanflæd? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you run that fast. Not even when the chickens escaped.”

She was trying to regain her breath, but took the time to pinch your arm for the reminder of the chicken run.

“You...you…” She panted before taking a big breath. “You weren’t going to tell me you have been seeing the Dane-slayer.”

“Who?” You couldn’t hide your surprise.

The only person you had seen outside your family was the man who sold you the produce for the abbey. And also that man…

“Are you talking about Uhtred?”

“You know him enough you don’t even talk about him like a lord?”

You tried to hide your laugh but a small snort came out.

“I don’t know him. He merely saved me from an ugly fall this morning.” Shrugging you tried to dismiss the gossip. “But you do seem to know about him, so tell me…”

The next day didn’t allow for much thinking about ‘the Dane-slayer’. You had been working non stop in your father’s farm and everything hurt. But your mother has asked you to take some fresh eggs to her friend, and you couldn’t say no to your mother’s gentle face.

It was late enough for the ruckus of the market to have died down, but not enough for it to be dangerous or improper for a young woman to be walking around unaccompanied.

Too absorbed in your own thoughts you didn’t hear the neigh of the horse until it was too late for you to react. Looking at the animal getting closer you couldn’t help but try and pray that you would be saved, but no prayers came to your head at that moment.

Just when you were about to give up and close your eyes, something yanked you out of the way making you barely dodge the horse and the man on the cart who was yelling at you. Your heart was hammering in your chest, ears ringing and hands shaking. The eggs were no longer in your grasp but smashed against the floor, although in that moment you could make yourself care for them.

The same hand that had yanked you out of the way, spoon you around. Your saviour was none other than yesterday’s saviour. you really were in debt with this man now.

“Are you okay?” His voice was worried, a contrast to the day before’s joking tone.

Time seemed to slow while you assimilated what had happened. Probably too much time passed before you could answer but the man didn’t seem to care. When you could trust your voice to speak again, the words came out all at once.

“I was nearly trampled by someone’s horse in the street, but you stepped in just in time to get me out of the way even if it put you in danger as well.” He smiled at the jumbled words and after a deep breath you tried to regain your thoughts. “Thank you, lord.”

“Are you thanking me or your god?” Uhtred spoke and you knew he was trying to avoid your shock at the incident.

You thought about the answer and tried to smile, probably looking more like a grimace.

“Both? Yes, I think I’m thanking both.” Your voice lowered, probably to avoid other people hearing you talk that way about the Lord. “Both is good.”

He smiled and took a step back looking at you, probably checking for any injuries. The people of Winchester were used to accidents and didn’t normally care, but you could feel some stares on you. Probably because of Uhtred and his fame.

“You seem to be in one piece, can’t say the same for the eggs.” He pointed at the road.

“You have saved me twice now, lord. I might have to ignore the Abbess and ask you what I should do in return for you.”

“I wouldn’t ignore Hild. You don’t want to know what she can do with a sword.” He tried to dismiss the conversation but your curiosity only grew. “I only ask for one thing in return.”

You nodded, asking for him to continue and still trying to imagine Abbess hild wielding a sword. You knew he was a soldier, and a good one. But Hild? No, she was a woman of God.

“Stop distracting yourself when walking around. If you don’t you might end up like your eggs.”

“But if I stop getting distracted, what would you save me from, Dane-slayer?”

What possessed you in that moment to utter those words you couldn’t really say. You just knew it was not entirely proper and that if your mother heard your ear would hurt from the scolding. But the smirk on Uhtred’s face was worth it.

“So you know who I am. But I know nothing about you. Is that unfair?”

“I have my ways, Lord Uhtred. Maybe when you save me next time I could tell you something about myself.”

"Let's just hope it's not a dangerous situation then. Just to make sure you can tell me after."

taglist: @webreathfandoms

[sleeping-on-cracking-ice]

Y/N gets attacked and Chishiya is sure she will handle everything but when he sees her later there's blood everywhere, later he finds out that attackers actually cut her cheek really deepy and she will probably have a scar. He feels guilty and try to make it up by bringing something special (like cute pictures of cats bc he remembers when she quietly told Kuina that she loves cats) and from that day he is always trying to make sure that Y/N is doing fine. (2/2)

Of course! Here you go!

A Ginger Cat | Shuntaro Chishiya

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Characters(s): Chishiya (ft. Kuina, OC, Ann)

Summary: You get hurt during a game, but Chishiya thinks that you can handle it yourself. Later when he discovers that you were injured more worse than he thought, he brings you something to cheer you up

Warnings: swearing, blood

Word Count: 4.6k

*reader is female

The registration room had an eerie aura, you swore you could’ve heard a pin drop in there. Nothing was moving except the occasional piece of dust flying past in the breeze. You stood with your back to the wall, glaring up into the bright florescent light that had seemed to become an all too familiar ongoing theme of these homicidal games.

The wall was cold and rigid along your spine, but you put up with the small sharp pain. There was nowhere else to wait, besides on the disgustingly dirty floor. You had to gain as much rest and strength before beginning the game.

Kuina sighed heavily to the right of you, glancing at the game phone she had picked up a few minutes prior and rolling her head back against the wall in boredom. Chishiya stood next along from her, earbuds lodged in his ears and blasting loud music while he held his gaze strictly on the ground in front of him.

“Come on,” Kuina groaned, stretching her hands above her head. “When is this game starting? We’ve been here for a solid half an hour.”

She walked to the entrance of the registration room and peeked her head out the door. “I’m surprised no one else has come. Maybe it’ll be just us,” she suggested, turning back to you and Chishiya.

“That sounds great, until it’s a game of hearts,” you bluntly stated, fiddling with the fabric of your shirt. Chishiya and Kuina both turned to you, sudden concern on their faces at your accusation.

The room fell quiet once more, until a familiar voice echoed through the room from all your phones simultaneously.

“Registration is now closed,” it spoke. “Game: Mice, Cats and A Dog.”

You frowned at the strange game name, having heard nothing like it before. You felt a feeling of relief wash over you as a five of clubs card conveyed itself on your screen. You were anxious you had accidentally manifested it to be a hearts game with your sly comment earlier.

“Rules: Players are the Cats. There are three live Mice to catch, each hiding in different areas around the building. Once found, the Mice must be killed using your own preference of weapon that is available on the table in the registration room.”

All three of you glanced towards the small table positioned next to the phone table that was scattered with small weapons that would hardly be enough to hurt a human. You had been wondering why they had offered such shitty weapons.

“Although, you must avoid the Dog’s gaze, for it will kill the Cats on sight.”

Your heart dropped at that last statement. You were to be hunted.

“You have an hour to kill all three Mice and return to the lobby with the bodies. If you fail to do so, all exits around the building will be closed and several more Dogs will be released and finish off the remaining players. You have ten minutes to position yourself in the building before the Dog is released.”

The list of rules on your phone screen shifted to a timer for ten minutes, already beginning to count down. You turned to Chishiya and Kuina.

“Any strategies?” Kuina asked, looking between you and Chishiya.

You pursed your lips in thought. “Split up. That seems like the most logical option. It will be quicker to find the Mice then,” you proposed, crossing your arms over your chest and scanning over the small map nearby that disclosed the layout of the deserted hotel the game was taking place in.

“But then the “Dog” will have more of a chance to find us if we split up,” Kuina argued. Kuina always focused on the safer route to ensure everyone’s survival rather than the easiest.

“No, it will be worse if we’re together, cause it can kill us all at once,” you retorted, walking over to the weapon table and starting to scan your options.

“I agree with Y/N,” Chishiya spoke up, pushing himself off the wall and strutting over to stand next to you and help pick a weapon. “I played a game very similar to this one. The best option is that we separate. Only then do we have a chance of finding the Mice in the time limit.”

Just as he said it, the phones all announced you had nine minutes left until the hunter began searching for you.

“One mouse each, and if you find yours early, keep searching so we can speed up time.”

You nodded at Chishiya’s command, snatching a small hammer and a pocket knife from the table for your weapons. You all walked out of the registration area (the front desk of the hotel) and into the empty lobby, watching as the hanging chandeliers glistening against the moonlight shining through from the obnoxiously big windows.

If anything could have gotten worse, you had to find tiny mice in a huge hotel in the complete darkness of night.

***************

You took to the upper bar.

The area in itself didn’t seem that big. But when you found it, you realised that it would be incredibly hard to find a single mouse in the cracks and small spaces between all the furniture. The eerie aura didn’t help much.

You sighed in frustration after searching underneath yet another couch. “What the fuck is this game? How the fuck am I supposed to find a rodent in a huge place like this?” you whispered angrily, flopping down on the couch dramatically.

It had been around forty-five minutes since the “Dog” had been released, but you have always been quite confident in your escaping and hiding strategies, so you weren’t too worried. The only thing you were concerned about was finding a mouse. Chishiya and Kuina had to have caught theirs by now.

A small scuttling noise cut you from your thoughts. You snapped your head towards the bar, where the sound was emitting from. A wave of excitement filled you, becoming hopeful that the noise was the mouse you were searching for.

You stood from the couch and quickly walked towards the bar, making sure not to make too much noise in case you alerted the rodent. The noise seemed to have come from behind some bottles beneath the counter. You crouched down on your knees and looked along the shelves, scanning for any sign of movement.

“Come on little mouse,” you taunted, becoming frustrated. When you noticed the flash of illuminated eyes staring holes into you through the glass of a tequila bottle, you quickly snatched the neck of the bottle and pulled it from the shelf, locking eyes with a desperate mouse with it’s back half stuck in a mouse trap.

The mouse shook violently against the trap, letting out small squeaks of pain and glaring at you with fear in it’s eyes. Although, it’s most noticeable feature was a large cross that almost seemed burned into it’s lower back. The cross had no fur or skin along it.

“This has to be one of them,” you reassured yourself, reaching to pull out the small pocket knife.

You picked up the mouse trap and hissed as the mouse managed to nip a part of your finger in defence. “Little shit,” you muttered, before pressing the point of your knife against the mouse’s back and pushing in harshly to kill it.

You hoped that you would just end it’s life and that would be that. But of course, the game had to throw in some sort of twist.

As you stabbed the small rodent, a impossibly loud screeching sound emitted from it’s tiny throat, making you drop the creature in shock and cover your ears.

The animal screeched and screeched, pain dripping from it’s cries that echoed across the room angrily. You began to panic, realising that there’s a chance the hunter could hear you. But maybe that was the point.

“Shut up!” you yelled over the mouse’s cries. You pulled the knife swiftly from the mouse’s fur and continued to repetitively penetrate it’s skin, mercilessly making it shut up while blood splattered across your angered face.

You breathed heavily once the room had fallen silent once again, staring down at the mutilated dead rodent. For a short moment, you felt bad for ending it’s life so unpeacefully.

Your head snapped up to look over the bar when sudden heavy footsteps made their way down the hall outside the bar. Your heart leapt to your throat and you turned to press your back against the bar, keeping your head down so whoever it was couldn’t see you.

You cringed as you picked up the remains of the mouse, holding it tight in your hand so you wouldn’t drop it. If Chishiya and Kuina had finished their halves, all you had to do was get to the lobby and you would be fine.

You placed your spare hand over your mouth to quieten your breathing, listening to the footsteps of the stranger who brought themselves into the room. The rapid movement of their feet made you anxious. You had never encountered a hunter that could run as fast as that.

You heard them flip a few tables over, hearing glasses smash against the walls aggressively. You closed your eyes tightly in realisation. The attacker was trying to make it harder for you to leave quietly if you were in there.

When the room fell quiet, you slowly peeked your head over the top of the bar. You managed to catch sight of the hunter themselves.

They seemed to have resembled the body of an older male, fit and tall. They had long, baggy pants, a black t-shirt while holding a machete that easily was as long as your arm. But most oddly, they wore a mask that conveyed a snarling German Shepherd.

The hunter was preoccupied over by the lounged area, looking behind the back rests of the couches and underneath coffee tables.

‘If I stay here any longer, they’re guaranteed to find me,’ you thought to yourself.

You decided you were going to attempt to leave. You had more of a chance of surviving by running than hiding.

You lifted your legs and trudged towards the edge of the bar, ducking underneath the table that was placed at the end before slowly rising to your feet. A quick glance down at your hand was enough to reassure you that you hadn’t dropped your ticket to a few more days of staying alive.

You kept your eyes locked on the hunter, making sure they didn’t turn their back as you were trying to leave. You thought you had almost made it before you miscalculated your step and tripped over a shattered glass on the ground, making you stumble forward and a loud noise erupt from the impact from your shoe to the glass.

As soon as you regained your balance, you didn’t even bother checking if the hunter had heard, you knew they did. You immediately took off running, holding your pocket knife in one hand in fear. You weren’t even halfway down the hall running towards the lobby before you heard the Dog’s footsteps behind you, trailing close and fast.

“Chishiya! Kuina!” You screamed out, picking up your pace and holding the body of the dead mouse close to your chest to make sure you didn’t drop it.

There was no way they were going to help you now, especially against someone like that. You were on your own for now, so you put faith in your own legs to carry you all the way down to the lobby.

Your heart was racing as you almost fell down the flights of stairs, so desperate to get away. At some point, you glanced upwards and saw your pursuer on the flight above you, making you feel sick.

“Fuck,” you gasped out, quickly scrambling down the darkened stairs. The blood of the mouse’s corpse seeped through your fingers as you held it in a tense fist, dripping down your arm grotesquely.

As you neared the ground level of the hauntingly big hotel, you stumbled as you jumped the few remaining steps and saw a sign that had an arrow labeled “Main Lobby” pointed to the left. You took in that direction, glancing behind you to see the “Dog” hot on your tail.

But unfortunately, you took too long to look at the sign. The “Dog” quickly caught up, grabbing an aggressive fistful of the back of your shirt and yanking you backwards towards them. You were too scared to scream. The air was forced from your lungs as you were pulled back, landing on the ground with the “Dog” suddenly standing over you, feet planted on either side of you.

Before you could even think, their machete plummeted down towards your face, making you flinch your head to the right, narrowly avoiding the blade. Although, the edge of the sharp metal managed to graze your cheek, creating a long gash along the side of your face.

The “Dog” continued to attempt to stab you in the face, stumbling above you as you attempted to kick their legs out from underneath them. In a sudden desperate attack, you kicked with all your might at their locked knees and they let out a yelp of pain as their knee buckled harshly backwards. You took the opportunity to run, not even giving them a second glance. You knew they’d already be back on their feet, after you again.

As you neared the humongous room that was labeled the lobby, you saw Chishiya and Kuina by the big doors that led inside. They seemed to have been banging their fists against an invisible force, separating you from them. The game must have locked them in when they placed their dead mice in the box that was located in the centre of the huge hall.

Their faces changed their hopeful expressions when they saw your pursuer, the blood running from their cheeks, making them pale. As soon as you entered the lobby, passing through the invisible force with ease, they followed behind you quickly.

“Hurry! Throw it in!” you heard Chishiya cry to you desperately behind you. You glanced back to see him slowing down, holding out his taser towards the “Dog” in case they managed to reach you. The electric light of his taser lit up significantly in the darkened room.

Once you reached the small white box placed on the table in the centre of the room, you shoved the disgusting remains of your victim inside, watching as it landed on top of two other mice.

Everything froze. The “Dog” immediately stopped running, dropping to their knees and face-planting onto the ground in front of Chishiya. All three of you stopped in shock, heavy breaths filling the air. Had you done it?

“Game Clear. Congratulations.”

The collar around the “Dog’s” neck exploded, blood splattering the walls and coating the gorgeously patterned carpet with it’s own artwork. You had seen it many times before. Once more couldn’t hurt.

“Took you long enough,” you heard Chishiya smartly remark. You glanced towards him, raising an eyebrow. He looked smug, as always. Not a single scratch on him.

“Give me a break, I had to face someone three times the size of me,” you remarked, rubbing your face tiredly. Your adrenaline had calmed, and now the pain of your deep gash on your cheek settled in. You hissed as your palm grazed it, pulling back and looking at your hand to see blood across it.

“Shit,” you rasped out, wiping your hand on the material of your pants.

“You okay Y/N?” Kuina questioned, walking over to you. You shook your head, dismissing her. “Yeah I’m fine. Just a small gash. It’ll heal soon enough,” you reassured.

“Are you sure? That looks quite deep,” Chishiya commented, strutting over and using his hand to push your chin to the side so he could look more closely at it. The feeling of his hand placed so gently on your skin made your heart suddenly race, and you panicked and pulled your head away before he could even see your wound.

“No, it’s fine,” you insisted, attempting to hide your embarrassment. “Let’s go back. It’s getting late, and I’m tired and hungry.”

***************

You stood in your bathroom, attempting to wash your clothes that you wore at the game earlier. You were soaking and scrubbing them in the bathtub. No matter how much blood seeped from the fabrics, it never seemed to be clean enough.

You grunted, annoyed and tired. Kuina said she was going to spend some time out nearby the pool with Arisu and talk to him about his game. Chishiya didn’t say where he was going, but you assumed it would be the roof or something away from everyone else.

A wet feeling along the side of your neck made you suddenly flinch and hit your skin, worried it was a weird bug of some sort. But your eyes widened when you brought your hand back and saw the concerning amount of blood spread across your palm.

You stood up from the side of the bathtub and leant against the sink, looking to the large mirror. “For fucks sake,” you sighed out as you caught sight of your large gash again. “This has been bleeding for hours. How do I make this stop?”

You winced as the moist towel you used earlier was once again dabbing along the skin of your face, collecting up the annoyingly large amount of blood percolating from your cheek. You were becoming afraid that it wasn’t going to stop at all, but you were too stubborn to go to Ann for medical help.

You’ve seen her weird dissection obsession, so you felt uneasy putting the trust of your health into her hands.

The blood dripped quicker the more you attempted to clean it up. Soon, there were miniature blood puddles scattered around the sink as you kept trying to clean them.

*********** “Hey Usagi, have you seen Y/N?”

Chishiya was making his way around The Beach searching for you. He usually liked spending his late nights having a drink with you in a quiet corner of the ground floor pool. Although, he hadn’t been able to find you and he was getting worried. You usually were either down in the lobby or with Kuina after games.

“No, I haven’t. Sorry Chishiya.”

He huffed annoyed, thanking Usagi and walking away from the dance floor. He thought he should check in your room as a last resort, but if you weren’t there, that’s when he would really worry.

He slowly made his way up the multiple flights of stairs, passing by a few people on the way. During the walk, he zoned out in his own thoughts, his mind filing with you.

How would he ever tell you how he felt? He believed you only saw him as a friend, an annoying one at that. Especially since you happen to banter a lot with him. The thought made him smile, he loved that you didn’t take his bullshit seriously and treated it like a game.

‘How do I let her know that I truly do care for her?’ he asked himself, fiddling with the drawstrings of his white hoodie as he strolled down the brightly lit hall. He hadn’t ever been the best with emotions, so how could he show that he was genuine about his romantic feelings towards you?

When Chishiya reached your room, he lifted his fist to knock on the rotting wood, freezing suddenly. Why was he hesitating? He’s done this so many times before, why was he suddenly nervous? He shook his head, embarrassed for catching himself in these thoughts. He had worked himself up again.

He knocked on your door loudly three times before calling out to you. “Y/N? You in there?” The silence that followed his call made him anxious. He knocked again, this time more persistently.

“Coming!” he heard your muffled voice call through the door. He stood back from the door as you opened it, giving you a small smile. But it soon disappeared from your face when he locked eyes with the bloody tissue that you held to your cheek.

“Hey Chish,” you groaned out, lazy eyed and turning back into your room, leaving the door so he could come in. Chishiya rushed to you quickly. “Wait, Y/N. What’s going on? Why are you hurt?” he asked frantically, pulling on your shoulder to get you to look at him.

You brushed his hand off of you. “It’s fine. Just a small gash from the game earlier. It started bleeding again,” you said, giving him a stare.

Chishiya shook his head and cupped your face, avoiding your cut, to have a closer look. “No Y/N, that doesn’t look okay. It’s bleeding way too much.”

You stayed still as he replaced your hand holding the tissue on your face with his own, being as gentle as he could as he cleaned the blood gathering around the gash.

“Here, sit down on the bed,” he muttered, indicating towards the end of your bed. You both shuffled over and sat down, Chishiya still holding the tissue on your face.

You could feel his hot breath against your lips as he examined your wound. His dark eyes glistened in the dim light of your hotel room. He looked ethereal. But he took a quick glance towards your eyes, snapping you from your daze. You hissed as he caught a bit of the gash on the tissue. “Sorry,” he apologized, moving his hand to your chin to readjust your position.

He then sat up and walked towards the bathroom, walking quickly so the blood of your injury didn’t drip too much. As he was there, you heard a soft gasp. He probably had found the blood-covered sink and towels.

He returned back with a clean towel that he found in your bathroom cabinet. He held a somewhat annoyed expression on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me this? If I knew it was this bad, I would’ve helped you out.”

You shrugged your shoulders. To be honest, you weren’t too sure why you didn’t tell Chishiya or Kuina. It just didn’t seem that big of a deal.

“You’ll need some stitches,” he concluded, holding a clean towel underneath your cut. “Also, stop using tissues to clean the blood. They flake easily and can stick to your injury.”

You nodded, looking down in embarrassment. You wish Chishiya didn’t find you like this. You hated making anyone else worry about you when it wasn’t entirely necessary.

“Look at me,” he demanded, bringing your head up with a gentle hand on your neck. Your breath got caught in your throat as he wiped around your cheek, cleaning up any excess blood.

“Come on. Let’s get you to Ann,” he said, standing up and holding his hand out for you.

You took his hand and he pulled you up playfully, making you almost stumble into him. You glared at him. “Wow. Even when I’m injured you’re still a bully,” you teased. Chishiya smirked and winked at you, making you roll your eyes.

And yet, the whole way to Ann’s medical room, you didn’t let go of his hand.

***************

You woke as the sun hit your eyelids, illuminating your room with bright rays of light. The sun was strangely gorgeous that morning, so you woke up in a good mood.

You sat up and stretched, letting out a large groan as your bones popped in your back. Although a wince made its way onto your face as you yawned, making the skin of your treated gash stretch.

Chishiya had told Ann to place a protected medical patch on your cut, since he thought it would be better than just leaving it in case of it getting infected or worse during your next game. So for the time being, you had a flat piece of cotton taped on your face. Ann said to only leave it on until it had certainly stopped bleeding through, as well as to change it around two or three times a day.

When your eyes finally adjusted to your surroundings, your sight landed on a strange scene in front of you.

At the table on the end of your bed, there was a small plushie of a ginger kitten. The makeshift fur on the stuffed toy was slightly dirty and it was missing a bead for an eye, but it still remained strangely comforting.

You crawled to the end of your bed and reached out to grab the plushie, bringing it close to you and looking over it for anything. Who knows? Someone could have put it in your room as a trap.

But it was proven safe when you noticed the small, neat writing on the end of the kitten’s tail, which read ‘Chish’.

You chuckled at the childish toy, realising Chishiya must have snuck it into your room while you were asleep.

“Idiot,” you laughed, “Can’t tell me he likes me as his friend but he can put enough effort into finding a stuffed cat in the Borderland for me.”

It felt special, because you knew Chishiya would have had to go into deserted Tokyo to find such a gift for you. You looked on the table and saw a small piece of paper. You frowned and reached out for it and opened it.

‘Here’s a stupid plushie for your troubles. Kuina said you liked cats so I thought you’d feel better with this xx’

You laughed at his half-hearted message. Chishiya never was that good with words, but he didn’t have to be in order for you to understand how he felt towards you.

Although the plushie was a bit beaten and battered, it still brought such a sense of home to you.

***************

You sat in the lobby, watching everyone scuttle around. Your usual drunken party group passed through every now and then, which was always good entertainment.

You jumped as you felt a pair of hands suddenly grip onto your shoulders, quickly moving to your eyes and covering them.

“Guess who?” the stranger asked cheekily, making you relax when you recognised their familiar, cocky voice.

“Get your hands off me Chishiya,” you giggled, pulling on his hands and turning around so you would face him. His face held a big smile across it, which was so unlike his usual neutral expression.

“What’s got you so happy?” you questioned, raising your eyebrow. Chishiya pulled away from your face and jumped over the back of the couch so he was then sitting beside you.

“Nothing, I’m just happy to see you,” he admitted, laying his head on your shoulder comfortably. His boldness was rather prominent then more than you had ever seen.

“How’s your cut?” he asked, looking up to examine the patch on your cheek. You shrugged it off. “It’s fine, not too bad now.”

Chishiya smiled, and suddenly leaned forward and left a lingering kiss on your good cheek, making your eyes widen at his action. “That’s good,” he gushed and continued on like he didn’t do anything.

“Yeah. Um...” you muttered awkwardly while rubbing the spot on your face where he kissed. “I wanted to say... thanks for the gift earlier,” you said, placing an arm around his shoulder comfortably.

Chishiya beamed happily, but tried to hide his blush by turning away from you. “No problem,” he mumbled out, trying to sound like he didn’t care.

You laughed at his response. Chishiya may have not been that good with words, but he didn’t need to be for you to notice that he really loved you.

[commander-gloryforge]

have 2, 16, 25, and 27 for soleil, if you’d like! :D @kerra-and-company

What's their class/elite spec? Weapon of choice? Did they purposely train for it or did it just sort of happen?

Soleil is a Guardian and will later become a dragon hunter :) she’s probably learned to use multiple weapons but for now she will almost always use the hammer! it’s her favourite weapon because of how heavy and deadly it is. it doesn’t need much to smash someone’s skull or slam someone away from her! later when she also uses a bow it will be a nice little contrast to her heavy big closeup weapon :)

What's their greatest fear (be it one of the three from the personal story or something else entirely)?

oh this requires some thinking. i feel like i haven’t developed her enough to give a proper definitive answer? but. answering on the spot, weakness is something she’s terrified of. soleil prides herself in being physically as well as mentally strong, her whole life everything’s been about being strong and doing whatever she wants by herself. i feel like she’d be terribly scared of losing that one thing she can always rely on in any way. (that being said, there’s a 99% chance of me taking exactly that away soon)

and another fear, well… i think the only thing more terrifying than losing her own strength and power would be losing aryel.

What are they self conscious about?

OUGHH i don’t know i don’t know… it’s not like there’s nothing to be self conscious about but it’s hard to pin down right now. i mean, there has to be something that even makes her so afraid of losing power in the first place. i feel like i need to do some more digging into the deeper levels of her personality because i tend to just see her on that surface level of “violent and loyal”. oh hey. actually that’s a great thing to be self conscious about. deep down she feels like she’s nothing but a war machine, herself as well as many people around her struggle with seeing her as a person with emotions, struggles, fears and desires that go beyond “kill kill kill”. she feels like she’s flat, especially compared to aryel who is someone with such deep passion and interests, with complex emotions. i think she feels… just plain stupid. just dumb. oh

How good of a leader are they?

okay this one may come as a shocker. Soleil is a GREAT leader. yes she’s impulsive and hot headed but she’s brave, loyal, a brilliant fighter, and she’s actually brilliant when it comes to battle tactics. she observes danger quickly and immediately knows how to act, and the soldiers of the pact trust her instincts, more so than they trust trahearne or aryel. if sol steps into a camp, the morale goes UP, she’s excellent at motivating and inspiring the people around her because she really is always ready for a fight herself.

she quickly adapts to leading big armies (even though she pretends like she hates her position at first) but people also usually rely on her when it comes to smaller groups or guilds. she’s still “just” the co-commander, so technically aryel is still above her, but really she’s the best leader out of the two. she will probably also take the position as the leader of dragons watch when the day comes :)

thank u for sending asks and sorry it took long and also sorry that this post may be a bit long. and ALSO sorry for mentioning aryel in every single question. do not separate :)

[tigerkirby215]

5e Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Andrew “Silver” Silver. Made for Riot Games.)

That feel when Arcane Episode 1 comes out tomorrow (at time of writing) so I’m making a build for Jayce in like 4 days lol.

I think Jayce is a cool concept that was kinda doomed from the start to not appeal to many people. Other transforming champs had far more interesting kits meanwhile Jayce kinda just... has both a gun and a hammer? While Samira proves that design works Jayce puts way too much focus on that I think. Not helping is the fact that he has one of the most basic kits I’ve seen and basically no lore. God I hope Arcane gives Jayce a personality...

At least his simple kit makes it easy to design a kit for him... Shame that Intelligence is useless in 5e.

GOALS

This is what the future looks like - Of course the main appeal of Jayce is his hammer that’s also a cannon. It was meant for mining? Yeah yeah sure sure...

Accelerate! - Speeding up protons isn’t the hardest thing to do, and it’s always useful to both move and shoot fast!

Feel the thunder - Of course shooting is only half the battle. The other half is smashing!

RACE

Jayce is a human, believe it or not. It’s almost like most of Runeterra features humans. And while I’d love to give Jayce a Dragonmark as I think playing him as a Dragonmarked character would make a ton of sense in an Eberron campaign I’m going to opt for accessibility and go for good ol’ Variant Human instead. You get +1 in two different stats (increase both your Charisma and your Strength by 1), proficiency in a skill of your choice (grab Investigation and pretend that you’re an Intelligence character), and a Feat at level 1.

I’m actually going to go all out on being a generic human and grab the human-specific Prodigy feat from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything! You learn one language of your choice (again pick your poison), get proficiency with a tool of your choice (kinda the main reason I grabbed this feat: take either Smith’s Tools or Tinkerer’s Tools depending on your DM), and proficiency in one skill of your choice (I’m cheaping out and taking Religion to continue pretending to be the Intelligence character.)

But most importantly you get Expertise in a skill of your choice: we’ll of course be taking it in Arcana to understand Hextech better than anyone else. Which oh yeah you should probably get Arcana from your background: don’t be afraid to modify your background for Arcana proficiency as well as proficiency in some tools!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Jayce is a pretty boy first and foremost... Well, he’s a smart boy first and foremost but in-game he’s a pretty boy first.

14; DEXTERITY - For once “something something Medium armor” is quite justified since Jayce does wear a Breastplate!

13; STRENGTH - You’re carrying around a giant mining tool all the time, and it’s a requirement to multiclass.

12; CONSTITUTION - You need some sustain in top lane.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Shame that Intelligence is useless in 5e. I’d love for this to be higher but we need everything else more. See if the actual smart people (IE the actual Artificer) can make you a Headband of Intellect.

8; WISDOM - Victor sees Jayce as a bit of a hot-head and seeing as Viktor is basically robot Jesus in everything but gameplay I’m more inclined to believe his opinion over Jayce’s. Or maybe I’m just a simp for Viktor.

Feel free to swap Intelligence and Constitution if you want worse health but better roleplay.

Also feel free to discuss with your DM the possibility of playing both a Warlock and a Paladin based on Intelligence! I think it’s more than justifiable to play your character as a scholarly knight, and honestly Intelligence is such an underutilized stat I’d gladly promote more intelligent characters in my campaign.

BACKGROUND

There’s quite a few backgrounds for Jayce, as he’s a man of many hats! There are three that I think would work best so pick whichever one you think would be the most fun and make your own Jayce!

BACKGROUND 1 - SAGE

The most obvious one: Sage (or Cloistered Scholar from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide) will let you play up Jayce’s intelligence. You get proficiency with Arcana and History as well as two languages of your choice. But the main appeal of being a Sage is the knowledge of a Researcher. You know where to find important information, and if you can’t find it you can always ask professor Heimerdinger!

I personally went for Sage but again pick what you fancy and build your own Jayce.

BACKGROUND 2 - NOBLE

If you’re a Pilty you’re a Noble. You get proficiency with History and Persuasion along with a language and gaming set of your choice. But notably your Position of Privilege makes it easy to smooze around and socialize. If you want to lean into the more Charismatic side of Jayce then this is the background for you.

BACKGROUND 3 - CELEBRITY ADVENTURER’S SCION

Acquisitions Incorporated is a book I will shill whenever given the chance. Piltover is a city of progress and the Giopara clan (yes that’s Jayce’s family name) didn’t get there by doing nothing! We’re going to be treating Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion more like “Noble 2″ with a famous name around the world! Along with proficiency with Perception and Performance (which tbh I may swap around) and two languages of your choice you can do a little bit of Name Dropping. Clan Giopara has made a number of important technological discoveries (notably the invention of Hextech) and I’m sure that level of prestige is bound to get you places.

(Artwork by West Studio. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Starting off as a Paladin because you can’t be the Defender of Tomorrow if you’re not a Paladin! But really it’s so we can actually get some armor and a weapon in our starting equipment; proficiency in Athletics and Persuasion is a nice bonus too.

You also get Divine Sense, letting you detect celestial, fiend, or undead (thankfully for Heimerdinger it doesn’t detect Fey) within 60 feet of you as long as they’re not hiding behind a wall. You can also grab a Refillable Potion to carry 5 health points of healing in Lay on Hands, that you can either give to yourself or an ally! You can also use 5 Lay on Hands points to neutralize a disease or poison. This ability will grow in power as you get more Paladin levels but for now it’ll serve as a nice pick-me-up.

Since there isn’t much to talk about at level 1 let’s address Jayce’s weapon: a Warhammer is the obvious choice and you’ll need one for other abilities down the line, but it’s not exactly a two-handed weapon. The weapon you’re looking for would be a Maul. A maul is strictly two-handed (and heavy) which means you can’t use it with a shield but the plus side is that 2d6 packs quite a whallop compared to 1d10.

You are more than welcome to grab a shield if you want more AC, but if you’re going to go two-handed you may as well go all out with the Maul. My recommendation for your Paladin starting equipment would be to get both a Maul and a Warhammer and opt for a shield later (if you even choose to use one) as they’re not that expensive. All of this won’t matter in the long-run but until you get some proper big-hitters you will have to pick and choose your weaponry carefully.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

I SWEAR THERE’S A REASON WE’RE GOING HEXBLADE. Thanks to Hex Warrior you can swing a weapon with Charisma: currently it can’t have the two-handed property (so no Maul) but it does mean you’ll be swinging a little better with your 16 Charisma versus 14 Strength.

You can also inflict Hexblade’s Curse with your Bonus Action for some Anathema's Chains utility. You deal extra damage to the enemy each hit equal to your Proficiency bonus, crit on a 19 or 20, and heal for your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level when the enemy dies. You can use your Hexblade’s Curse once per Short or Long Rest.

But of course Warlocks also get Spellcasting, notably Pact Slots which come back on a Short Rest which may be important for a Paladin. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list like Booming Blade since you don’t have Extra Attack yet, and Prestidigitation for all sorts of general Hextech utilities. You can also learn two first level spells like Shield from the Hexblade list because it’s Shield, and Armor of Agathys for a Bramble Vest into healing matchups.

LEVEL 3 - PALADIN 2

Look you’re playing a Hexadin you may as well grab Divine Smite fast. It’s kinda the main appeal of this multiclass: turn spell slots into 2d8 damage, plus an extra d8 per spell level up to a maximum of 5d8 from a 4th level spell slot. And if you hit an undead or fiend the damage increases by another d8. (For a maximum of 6d8 against fiends or undead specifically.)

Oh and of course with Divine Smites based on your spell slots you get Spellcasting too! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level: Divine Favor will serve as a Hyper Charge of sorts, Thunderous Smite will serve as Thunderous Blow, Shield of Faith will help for protection, and Detect Magic will help you deal with Hextech.

And finally you get a Fighting Style: since we can’t get the legally not Artificer cantrips anywhere else we’ll be going for Blessed Warrior to take both Guidance and Mending. Yes it is sad that the Mending cantrip is an important part of building Jayce, and you are more than welcome to take a more practical fighting style instead if you so desire.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 2

Going back to Warlock for Eldritch Invocations: uhhh ima be real with you chief we’re in it for the long haul so just grab Eldritch Mind for now. We’re also going to wait on spells for a bit...

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and man I wonder what the character with a superpowered hammer will have. Pact of the Blade will let you summon any weapon to your hand as an action... Well except for ranged weapons.

That’s what Improved Pact Weapon is for! Along with making your Pact Weapon a +1 you can also make a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow as your Pact Weapon. My recommendation would be to go for a longbow since you can’t shoot multiple shots from a crossbow, and the longbow has the best damage and range out of the bunch. Of course since you’re a Hexblade you can shoot any of those bows with Charisma!

If you don’t want to shoot a weapon for Jayce’s Mercury Hammer feel free to just use Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast instead. It’s most likely more effective overall, but in the name of ability accuracy I took Improved Pact Weapon to transform your weapon.

You also now have second level spell slots which you’ll probably be using to Smite, but you can also grab Branding Smite for the enemy revealing part of Shock Blast, and Misty Step. For Flash.

(Artwork by Michelle Hoefener. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 3

Back over to Paladin, as Jayce fights for the glory of tomorrow. That’s why we’ll be going for the Oath of Glory! You get your Channel Divinity at level 3 of Paladin and can use it for various different options: if you want to take To The Skies then Peerless Athlete will give you advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks for the next 10 minutes. You can also carry, push, drag, and lift twice as much weight as normal; and the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet.

Alternatively if you want to inspire innovation and pretend that you’re a healer then Inspiring Smite will let you give out temporary hit points to yourself or allies within 30 feet of you after you use your Divine Smite. The total number of temporary hit points equals 2d8 + your level in this class, divided among the chosen creatures however you like. And finally Tasha gave you the option to Harness Divine Power if you just want more Smite slots; I mean spell slots. You can recover a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up, so currently a second level spell slot which you don’t even have lmao.) You can currently only use this once per Long Rest, but you will get more uses later.

You also get Guiding Bolt and Heroism as spells from the Oath of Glory, for a Shock Blast that will make it easier for your allies to hit an enemy and some fearless progress! And finally you get Divine Health, because innovation doesn’t take sick days.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins can finally get an Ability Score Improvement: Charisma kinda controls everything that you do so increase that by 2. This does mean you can prepare more spells but I’m going to wait for...

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get Extra Attack, so you can shoot or smash twice in a round! Unfortunately because of how Pact of the Blade is worded you can’t shoot then stab (because it takes an action to switch weapons), but don’t be afraid to talk to your DM about making the weapon swap a Bonus Action.

As a Glory Paladin you get Enhance Ability innately, as well as Magic Weapon which sure would matter if your weapon wasn’t already magical. You can also prepare second level spells like Warding Bond to keep your allies safe, and Aid which you can cast with your Warlock slots for maximum spell slot efficiency! I mean, unless someone else can cast it at a higher level. Then you should probably get a different spell.

(Artwork by Choe HeonHwa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 4

Hopping back over to Warlock and hey look at that another Ability Score Improvement! Cap off that Charisma so you can both swing and shoot with maximum gusto!

You can also learn another spell like Shatter to send a Shock Blast into a crowd, and can also grab Mage Hand as a cantrip. Viktor did have some good ideas: extra hands are useful.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get to replace a lot of stuff: for a start keep Improved Pact Weapon but replace your other Invocation with Eldritch Smite, for more easily accessible Thundering Blows. For your Lightning Field take Cloak of Flies: yeah it’s Poison damage and yeah it’s only 5 per turn, but it’s extra damage for free that can’t be saved against. There are perhaps more useful options but this is more accurate to Jayce and still certainly useful if you want to get into a big brawl!

You can also prepare a whole lot of third level spells like Counterspell, because Jayce seems the type to have Counterspell.

You can also replace Misty Step with Thunder Step if you want more distance with your Flash, but Misty Step still has value since it’s a Bonus Action that you can cast with your Paladin slots.

You can also grab other useful spells like Blink, Hypnotic Pattern, Vampiric Touch, Mirror Image (2nd level), or Tongues if you so desire, but I picked the spells that fit Jayce the best.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

We’ve got everything we wanted from Warlock so now it’s straight down Paladin. 6th level Paladins get to defend their own tomorrow with Aura of Protection. Put simply: you (and allies within 10 feet) get to add your Charisma modifier to their saving throws. You like a +6 Concentration check? How about a +14 Charisma save?

You can also prepare more spells but honestly we got everything we need for Jayce. Feel free to grab what you want until we can prepare third level spells.

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 7

7th level Paladins get to open the Acceleration Gate thanks to Aura of Alacrity! You move 10 feet faster, as do your allies within 5 feet! (Not 10 feet because I guess WoTC decided that moving slightly faster was too OP.) Additionally you can use Harness Divine Power twice per Long Rest, to keep your energy reserves at maximum.

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 8

8th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement but we’re finally going to grab Great Weapon Master. Hope you’ve been using your Maul well because you can now take a -5 to hit to deal +10 damage! Additionally if you either crit or kill an enemy you can make an attack with your hammer as a Bonus Action. Of course Great Weapon Master only really supports your hammer but as a Paladin you’re expected to be in melee. Honestly your ranged options are more of a backup in this build.

(Artwork by Xuning Cui and Kudos Productions. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 9

9th level Paladins can prepare third level spells! For a start you do get Protection from Energy as a Glory Paladin, but far more importantly you can Hyper Charge thanks to Haste! This works regardless of if you choose to go for melee or ranged combat, and will always be useful. Just be careful not to lose concentration!

Additionally you can prepare spells like Revivify and Aura of Vitality to pretend that you’re a healer, and Blinding Smite to continue being the Paladin!

LEVEL 15 - PALADIN 10

10th level Paladins get Aura of Courage. Allies within 10 feet of you can’t be frightened, and neither can you. So fight for Piltover without any fear!

You can also prepare another spell and now’s the point that I’d recommend mostly utility spells: Remove Curse? Dispel Magic? Unpreparing some of your lower level spells? Remember that the reason you’re a prepared caster is so that you can have what you need when you need it!

LEVEL 16 - PALADIN 11

11th level Paladins get Improved Divine Smite which despite the name doesn’t improve your Divine Smite. It does let you add a d8 of Radiant damage to all your melee attacks however, just to solidify that melee is better than ranged top laners.

LEVEL 17 - PALADIN 12

12th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement and remember how I kept Booming Blade even though you now have Extra Attack? Well because of funny D&D interactions the Warcaster feat will let you use Booming Blade when making an Attack of Opportunity. It also gives you advantage on Concentration checks, and will let you cast while holding a giant hammer, which is why we’re taking it.

(Artwork by Christian Fell. made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - PALADIN 13

13th level Paladins can prepare 4th level spells. You can carry a QSS around to use Freedom of Movement, and can also use Compulsion to persuade a crowd that Hextech is the future! You can also prepare spells like Death Ward for a Guardian Angel, or Staggering Smite for even more Thundering Blows!

LEVEL 19 - PALADIN 14

14th level Paladins can use magic to destroy the magic. Cleansing Touch will let you end one spell that’s affecting a target you touch as an action. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.

And you can prepare another spell, but at this point just pick your fancy really.

LEVEL 20 - PALADIN 15

Our final level is the 15th level of Glory Paladin for Glorious Defense. When you or another creature you can see (not necessarily an ally is the funny thing) within 10 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to give them an AC boost equal to your Charisma modifier (so a +5; you’re basically giving them the Shield spell!)

If you end up blocking the attack you can then strike back at the foe, as long as they’re within range of your weapon. (This is actually one of the few times that being in cannon form would be beneficial!) You can block attacks a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Oh and to top it off you can use Harness Divine Power three times per Long Rest, to make sure that your hex-batteries never run dry.

I may as well discuss: WHY ISN’T JAYCE AN ARTIFICER?

The very simple reason is because no subclass fits his abilities of having a weapon that swaps between forms, and the reason for that is that Artificer is a very new class with very specific themes. Every Artificer subclass has a pet with the exception on Alchemist and Armorer: Battle Smith would’ve fit Jayce well (you could have a Repeating Heavy Crossbow and a +2 Maul to simulate “switching” weapons) but then you’d be stuck with a robot dog which would make no sense for Jayce. You could also play an Armorer Artificer and use Firebolt for your ranged attacks but I don’t think the same feeling is captured, especially since your melee attacks would be flavored as gauntlets instead of a hammer.

I went for the Hexadin build for a variety of reasons. The main one is that Pact of the Blade would be the most direct way to swap between a melee weapon and ranged weapon, although Eldritch Blast was also a great replication of Jayce’s ranged attacks with is nice too. As for Glory Paladin I was actually surprised how many abilities the subclass had that fit Jayce: increased movement speed, powerful ranged blasts, and weapon boosts. The Charisma-based SADness was more of an added bonus of none of the Warlocks fitting Jayce well, although I also wanted to be able to make Jayce swap between melee and ranged attacks without investing too much in both DEX and STR.

I am planning to make a homebrew Artificer subclass based on Jayce, but that’s with a big TBD (to be determined) tag on when it’ll come out. Until then this build replicates him with official content, and I think with a bit of homebrew from the DM (notably making you an Intelligence caster instead of Charisma) this build works well-enough for Jayce.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Strength through progress - The great thing about being a Hexadin is that the only stat you need is Charisma, so you can actually grab other good feats like Great Weapon Master and Warcaster.

Never a wrong step - The other great thing about being a Hexblade is that Aura of Protection keeps your saving throws very high. A +6 CON save with Warcaster means that you should be making most Concentration checks with ease. And with Shield (and Glorious Defense) you can keep your AC safe too!

I'm always ready - The final benefit of being a Hexblade is the Pact Slots. Having two slots that come back on a Short Rest means that you can always have spells like Haste and Counterspell at the ready. Not to mention Harness Divine Power in case of an emergency if you need your spell slots back.

CONS

Eyes on the horizon - Guidance and Mending are fine and dandy as cantrips but you’re losing out on other potentially better Fighting Styles like Great Weapon Fighting or Defense. It doesn’t make a huge impact in the long run but every little bit helps, especially since you don’t have a Shield since you’ll be using a Maul.

I fight for a brighter tomorrow - When you reach level 20 it’s hard to remember the steps you took to reach it. Making a Hexadin build delays a lot of your stronger abilities in the name of easy ability scores. If you’re starting around level 8 then this won’t be a big problem, but from level 1 the first few missions will be tough.

Electrify - The other bit of honest truth is that there’s little reason to have a bow as a Paladin. Pact of the Blade is cool but even with Improved Pact Weapon it’s unwieldy, and you’d honestly be better off with Eldritch Blast. But where’s the fun in that? Well at least Eldritch Blast doesn’t require you to carry arrows with you too...

But you can’t make progress without some struggles. The world may fear magic but harnessing it is just one step for a brighter tomorrow. If everyone can embrace that then the city of Piltover will be able to overcome any challenge! As long as no kids break into your penthouse, at least. Innovation is often the fire that ends up lighting the powder.

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

[lopsided-whiskey-grin]

If Minute Man Mobius is your speed perhaps. Maybe you. You should maybe. Unless? Nay, nay, banish it- lest? 👀💦💦💦

(Premature ejaculation kinkfic please)

I am having so many big brain thoughts about this request I can hardly think straight 🥴 also do you know how long it's been since I've written smut? Waay too long omg so thank you for this

Fun stuff under the cut 😏*****

ok so here's what I'm thinking…

WHAT IF Mobius is a Minuteman when Loki is captured and taken to the TVA? Hasn't been promoted to agent yet. He staunchly follows the rules: no relationships, no touching, no getting involved with ANYONE. But Mobius is a curious man, he can't help it. He's seen things when he's gone on missions to all those different planets and planes of existence and timelines, things he's kept tucked in the back of his mind, things he's wondered about, things he's wanted to experience. But he WON'T because there are rules, goddammit, and if the TVA has set a certain rule in place it's probably for a good reason, right? Right?

Minuteman Mobius is assigned to the Loki variant case. He's a good little grunt, does what he's told, when he's told. He's on the the team that nabs the Asgardian god in the Gobi Desert. He's the one that wrestles him back through the Time Door after Hunter B-15 throws the time-twister around his neck. Mobius can feel the surprising strength emanating from Loki as he struggles against his hold; bicep bunched, shoulder straining, pure unadulterated rage. Mobius finds he is at a loss for words to describe the feeling of the sudden heat that pulses through him at the contact. His breath quickens, his heart rate ticks up. Must have to do with the adrenaline or something, he reasons.

Later, after Loki's arraignment with Renslayer, Mobius is tasked with guarding the variant until one of the agents can decide what to do with him. They're in the time theater together, alone. There are two more minutemen outside the door, but here, in this space, there's only a hollow, angry silence with Loki sitting at the small table, fuming, and Mobius standing quietly, awaiting his next orders. He keeps his eyes locked firmly on the variant, gaze traveling over every inch of him. Mobius wants to feel that raw power from Loki again. The abrupt thought surprises him and he shudders. It's a quick thing that he pushes away immediately, with a cough to clear his throat and one hand smoothing down the front of his armored gear, but not quickly enough that Loki doesn't notice.

He turns in his chair slowly, his eyes locked on Mobius and Mobius has to force himself not to take an instinctive retreating step. He instead straightens his back and raises his chin, gripping the butt of his pruning stick. It's no use. Loki rises and slinks toward him with a predatory grin like a... like a cat, the name of which Mobius has just learned two days prior.

Mobius swallows hard. The chinstrap of his helmet cuts into his throat. But he does not take one step back, even when Loki comes to a stop right in front of him. Loki has a good few inches on him and he has to cast his eyes up just a little to keep his gaze centered on him.

Mobius' heart is thudding in his chest. He's never been this close to someone before, not like this. "Back off, variant," he says in a voice that's not as commanding as he'd hoped.

Loki narrows his eyes. "No."

A bead of perspiration tracks down Mobius' temple and he flexes his fingers to get a better grip on the pruner. His voice trembles when he tries again: "I said back off, vari-"

His words are cut off as Loki simultaneously grips his collar and the wrist of the hand holding his weapon. He is yanked forward until their faces are mere inches apart and Mobius suddenly can't breathe. A tremble wracks through him and he looks up at Loki almost helplessly. He has never been touched this way, ever. He's suddenly struck with the realization that it's all he's ever wanted. All he's ever craved.

A pulse of heat rushes through him, pooling right in his gut. His cock thickens rapidly and his knees weaken. Mobius' next breath catches in his throat. He can hardly make sense of anything that is happening.

Loki flashes a wicked grin, full of understanding and Mobius is almost lost in it. The hand that had been gripping his collar moves up the side of his neck and Loki's fingertips find the fine hairs at the nape just under his helmet. Mobius swallows thickly. His pulse is hammering away, making him lightheaded.

And then Loki dips his head down and his lips find the soft flesh of his throat where the rapid beat of his heart flutters just under the surface. And it's too much. It's not enough. Mobius feels hot and tight and he does not know fucking why.

"I- I don't," he stammers, but he's unable to articulate anymore words because the very next second Loki is laving a wet, slick stripe up his neck with his tongue and sucking against the skin right under his earlobe.

A white hot bolt of pleasure sears through him at the contact and he comes immediately with a hitching moan, soaking his TVA issued briefs with pulse after pulse of his release. He almost topples forward with the force of it, but Loki steadies him with at hand at his waist.

Mobius slowly looks up, his cheeks flushed with arousal and embarrassment. He doesn't know what to say. In this moment he's not sure if he even knows how to speak.

Loki's gaze pins him as he trembles with the aftershocks of what has happened. Intrigue and something deeper swirl within the stormy blue depths.

"Interesting," Loki breathes softly.

And before another moment passes, the door behind them suddenly smashes open and the room becomes a flurry of chaos with agents and hunters and minutemen flooding in and roughly pulling them apart.

Loki is pushed forcefully to his knees with a growl. Mobius' feels a possessive anger burn in his chest when he sees it. Their eyes lock one last time before Mobius is shuffled out of the room, thrown with force into the hallway. He hits the far wall, shoulder connecting first with a crack of pain, and he sinks down slowly, more confused and bereft than he's ever felt before. He wishes with everything inside him that they just had a little more time.

[renegadeontherunn]

hi fiona!! can't wait to see all the prompts you'll write! how about 21 for rex and ahsoka?

!!! kt!!! thank you so much for the ask!!! asjkdlkas someone tell me how to write less please AKJSDSAKK

21. "Why are you always so reckless, huh? Do you ever think about what would happen if something happened to you?" // from these prompts! // read it on ao3!

They limped—or at least, Ahsoka limped—up through the forest and eventually emerged at the edge of the hill where peach-orange grass gave way to a navy cliffside. There was a jagged path carved out, wide enough for them to get across in 2, maybe 3 lines. She could make out dark blotches a few miles away—Anakin’s ships. So they had been able to land. That made one of them.

“We should go around,” Rex’s gruff voice said as he came up behind her. Ahsoka looked over her shoulder at him. He eyed the dropoff warily. “There are rockslides this time of year and I don’t trust this cliff.”

Ahsoka turned back, head craning up to examine it. “That’ll take too long.” She nodded toward the other ships in the distance. “Anakin needs our help and this is the fastest way to the landing zone.” She stepped onto the path, one hand on the cliffside to steady herself.

Rex moved forward. “Commander—”

“It’s fine, Rex. We have to help Anakin.” She tried to ignore the scorching pain shooting up her leg. Her shoulders moved with a breath. “Trust me on this one.”

She was stopped by a warm hand on her arm. “It’s not safe. Especially with our wounded.” Ahsoka could feel his eyes on her leg. “We can’t help General Skywalker if we’re dead.”

“Rex—”

“All due respect, Commander, trust me on this one.”

Ahsoka gritted her teeth, shifting once again to face him. Her mind briefly raced through alternatives, outcomes, a headcount, and with one more twinge in her ankle, she sighed and relented. “You’re right.”

Rex gave her a nod and turned to direct the troops back around.

Her eyes found the horizon once more and Anakin’s ships that rested there. She had a bad feeling about this battle. Something was going to go—

“Commander?” came Rex’s voice at her shoulder. Ahsoka didn’t look at him, instead closing her eyes, brow furrowed as she listened, as she felt. The ground shook lightly under her feet, the faint screech of metal against metal, metal against stone. “What is it?”

Ahsoka came up from beneath the waves of the Force, eyes opening as she unhooked her lightsabers. “We’ve got company.” As soon as the words left her mouth, a battalion of black-plated droids materialized around the curve of the cliff. They stopped in what seemed like surprise, and there was a shout from Rex. Her side shot first, quick as they’ve always been, and in a breath, Ahsoka was deflecting bolts from every direction.

It was a pretty typical battle, as far as strategy goes, and Ahsoka found herself getting lost as the droids approached and withdrew in turn, her spinning lightsabers loops of light in clouding dust.

Rex appeared at her side. “What’s the plan?”

“You said there are rockslides here?” She sliced through another two droids.

He stopped shooting, incredulous gaze boring into her even through his helmet. “No.”

Ahsoka twisted in front of him, habitually falling back into their familiar sword-and-shield technique. Rex’s pistols were in the air once more, his aim deadly even as he kept his focus on their conversation.

“We wanted to go around anyway. Why not block them here?”

A shot skimmed off Rex’s shoulder. “You’re not serious. That’ll get us all killed.”

“No, it won’t,” Ahsoka insisted. “Just get all the men off the path and onto the hill. I’ll bring the cliff down in front of us.”

She risked a glance behind her and, seeing that everyone was off the cliffside already, Ahsoka pushed Rex back. She steadied herself in the Force and pulled.

The ground rumbled, there was the sound of crunching metal, and then Rex’s hand was on her arm, trying to tug her away. There was a shrill gasp in the Force and Ahsoka saw a massive column of rock headed straight for them.

“Rex!” she shouted, throwing herself into him and sending him to the ground a few feet away. She scrambled forward, and the rock collided with the spot where they had just been standing.

But Ahsoka hadn’t moved far enough.

The column had completely smashed through the path and the rest was crumbling away. She tried to run, but her broken ankle clipped the edge, her stomach dropped, and then she was falling.

She blindly reached out, scrabbling for purchase on the cliff, but gravity’s grip was not so easily curbed.

“Ahsoka!”

Rex was leaning over the side, hand out; Ahsoka’s hand brushed his, fingers slipping past each other, just too far to reach, and she plummeted. Wind rushed past, rocks cascading down alongside her. She saw Rex’s well-worn helmet grow smaller and smaller, and then something slammed into her and the world cut to black.

--

Someone was screaming. There was a ringing cutting through Ahsoka’s brain and everything was muffled as she blinked squinting eyes open, but she knew she could hear screaming. It got louder as she tried to move her legs—tried, because she couldn’t even feel her legs, couldn’t feel anything but searing, scalding pain up her spine, down every nerve—and when she gasped in a breath of dust, the screaming paused and turned to coughing. Ahsoka’s chest shuddered, her throat scraped so raw she thought she might vomit.

Then she opened her eyes fully, saw the blood pooling beneath herself, and did vomit. Pounding head, pounding heart, Ahsoka weakly tilted her gaze up. Far above her was blurred movement, a wave of white dotted with blue swirled down and around and back up again. Her neck ached so much it tingled, turning numb. Her wrist vibrated and beeped.

Wait, that wasn’t right. Wrists don’t normally do that. She slowly moved her arm up onto her stomach, saw the faint blink of green that was, she realized after a few stuttering breaths, her comm. Another second in agony and she clicked the call through, surprised it was still working at all.

“Ahsoka!”

Rex.

It was Rex. Some of the fear swelling in her throat eased at the confirmation of his presence. Rex was there. He’d know what to do.

“Ahsoka? Can you hear me?”

She licked cracking lips. “Yeah.” She hoped her broken voice would carry. Wondered if her broken body would need to be carried too. “Yeah, I’m here.”

A sigh of relief made static on the other side. “Are you alright?”

Ahsoka took stock of herself. Broken leg, obviously, maybe both. A concussion if the pain-filled sleep tugging at her was any indication. And she was pinned—half her body nearly crushed under the immense pieces of cliffside that’d fallen with her. Jagged stone cut into her shoulder.

“Ahsoka?”

She hesitated. “I could use some help.”

A muffled swear, a shouted order, the sound of a hundred quick, urgent footfalls. His voice was tight when he spoke again. “We’re coming to you now. Can you walk?”

Ahsoka shook her head before she realized that was a bad idea—her vision whited out at the corners—and that he couldn’t even see her anyway. “No.” Her head swam. When had it gotten so cold outside? “I’m pinned. I think my leg’s broken.”

“What about the Force?”

Oh. Ahsoka had forgotten about that. But when she dipped into its familiar depths, sleep, the dangerous kind, pulled at her—down, down, down—until Ahsoka gasped and ripped herself away. Adrenaline hammered her heart. “No. Don’t wanna risk it.”

Rex didn’t bother asking for further information. The footsteps got faster.

“Are you okay?” Ahsoka asked softly.

“Yes, sir,” came the rough reply.

She nodded, forgetting again that he couldn’t see. “Good.”

“Good?”

Ahsoka blinked. “Yeah. That’s kind of what I was going for.” Her chest tightened, ribs shifting; she should probably stop talking.

“You can’t just—” Static crackled over the comm. They must’ve hit a deadzone.

Ahsoka drifted her eyes along the crimson sky, sinking in and out of unconsciousness as she waited.

“—mander? Commander?”

“Here,” she said belatedly, her brain coming back to the surface. “‘m here. ‘m fine.” Trees rustled in the wind. Ahsoka thought she could hear them coming, not just over the comm, but actually hear them, in the distance. She suddenly remembered where she was. “Gonna try to get out.”

Rex’s voice bit through the air immediately. “No, don’t. You’ll hurt yourself more. Just stay awake.”

She shifted, readying herself to try pulling her leg out. “’s fine, I got it.”

“Commander, stay exactly where you are.” His voice was clipped. “Don’t try to move.”

Ahsoka groaned, lightning zipping up her leg. “I got it.” She was starting to sweat, despite the cold. It had been cold, right?

“Ahsoka, stop!”

And she did, blinking in shock.

Rex’s tinny voice continued, wired anger cutting through the comm. “Why are you always so reckless? Do you ever even think about what would happen if something—” Ahsoka couldn’t tell if he’d cut himself off or if they’d hit another deadzone, but either way her head throbbed with pain and guilt.

“Sorry,” she mumbled back. She was completely spent of energy, spent of strength, and her body ached with agony.

“—and on the cliff—” Rex’s voice suddenly cut back in.

“Wasn’t trying to be reckless,” she interrupted, voice breathy. There was a crucial piece of information he was leaving out. “Trying to save your life.” Ahsoka dropped her head onto her arm.

There was the sound of shuffling, static rocks shifting beneath far-away feet. “What about saving your own life?” Past the haze slowly encroaching on the world, Ahsoka wondered why he was so angry with her. She didn’t think she’d ever heard him so emphatic. He’d scolded her plenty of times—follow orders this, don’t run off looking for trouble that—Ahsoka should’ve been used to it. But still.

Cynicism seeped out of her exhausted mind. “Can’t save everyone.” It was something Anakin had told her, back when she’d first become a Padawan, back when she was determined to get everyone out of this alive. When she’d thought that was even an option.

“You can try.”

There was a pause, and in it, Ahsoka breathed, her eyes slipping closed.

“Ahsoka!”

Rex was shaking her shoulders, his face, bare of its helmet, twisted in worry above hers. Ahsoka’s heart shuddered, stumbled, like it’d just remembered that it had to beat. Her hand instinctively clutched his arm.

“You’re alright.” People were moving, pushing the rock off her, and Rex’s voice broke through the onslaught of pain. “We got you.” His hand was on her shoulder. “I got you.”

[thekingofwinterblog]

Getter Robo Retospective - Getter Robo Part 1 -Ryoma Nagare

So, Iv’e been wanting to do an overall retrospective of the Getter Robo manga franchise for a while now, and since the Getter Robo Arc is nearing it’s finale as of the time of this writing, and will either give it a definite ending, or be the final nail in the coffin that the series will never be finished before Getter Robo falls into public domain, I thought now might as well be the time to do it.

As such, I’ll be doing an overall analysis over the entire collection of Ken Ishikawa’s Getter Robo manga series, it’s plots, themes, characters, and covers the various ideas this crazy and amazing sci-fi series covers.

Also, this retrospective will NOT cover the various anime adaptations, or the behind the scenes stuff that has gone on with Getter Robo over the years, such as Go Nagai being credited as the writer of the original manga despite only having come up with the overall concept and designs for it(the rest was by Ken Ishikawa), or the way that Ken went back and added in some extra chapters in the original two manga to explain some things and to tie the early manga more closely into what came after.

For the purposes of this retorspective, I will be focusing exclusively on the manga itself, and what it has to offer, without going into anything else.

And of course there is no place better to start, than the beginning.

So, what is the story of the original Getter Robo Manga?

Well, the overall plot of the original manga is about the conflict between two sides of a conflict, as laid out rather well in it’s prologue chapter.

The first is our protagonists, the Saotome Institute of Japan, who’s leader and namesake has invented the titular giant mecha, the Getter Robo.

Powered by a revolutionary newly discovered form of energy called “Getter Energy”, this enormous metal behemoth is a fighting machine unlike any other.

This war machine was originally supposed to be used for space exploration, but due to necessity, it has instead been reworked into a fighting machine.

It’s only weakness is that it requires 3 different living pilots to operate it to draw upon its full strength.

Opposing the Saotome Institute, is the forces of the Dinosaur Empire

An empire of humanoid Sentient Dinosaurs that long ago was forced to flee the Earth’s surface after it was bombarded with a strange kind of energy from space that was deadly to their kind, their only way to survive being to use their incredible technology to hide on the only place on Earth where the rays couldn’t reach them. The Earth’s very core.

Now, after millions of years underground, and the rays that forced them beneath the earth to begin with having seemingly ceased, they have finally returned to reclaim the earth’s surface for their own. At it’s disposal, it has incredible technology, and giant cyborg dinosaur monster in it’s quest to wipe out the newcomers, the human race, to achieve total dominance over the Earth.

If you think this premise sounds very generic, and you’ve seen it in some form or another in countless other Mecha series, you are not wrong. Ancient evil group attacking the protagonists, and only the new giant robot can stop it, probably the biggest stock plot in mecha overall, having been done in everything from Neon Genesis Evangelion to Megas XLR in some form or another. The set pieces and details are different, but the overall plot is the same.

However, where Getter Robo fits into this, is that it was one of the first giant robot manga there was, and many, many of the tropes and ideas it pioneered would be used and imitated by its successors.

In fact, I would argue that Getter is the second most influential mecha series in history, only second after it’s big cousin, Mazinger Z.

However, we are not here to detail how it influenced the manga industry, but how Getter holds up on it’s own, and in this regard, despite having a plot that has been overused time, and time again by it’s successors, this isn’t really that much of a problem for Getter Robo. Because like any good Mecha series, Getter’s biggest strength is it’s cast of characters.

Starting off in chapter 1, we are introduced to the first of the Robot’s giant pilots.

Ryoma Nagare.

Each of the pilots of Getter Robo is given an introductory mini-arc to set them up, and Ryoma’s is easily the best of the 3.

We are introduced to the main character of most of the franchise at a very unusual spot to open a main character, especially for a Shonen protagonist.

At the end of a revenge story.

To put it bluntly, Ryoma does not start off this series as a particularly likeable, nor good person, as his introductory scene is him crashing a perfectly legal martial arts tournament and beating the everloving shit out of it’s referee, it’s participants, and the judges who arranged it.

His reasons for doing all of this?

Revenge for his old man.

As it turns out, Ryoma had a massive beef with the arrangers for this contest, as his father, Ichigan Nagare was a pro karate champion back in the day, whose reputation was purposely destroyed by those arrangers.

Now he’s come to take revenge by utterly crushing their disciples on national television, to hammer in the point that his father’s martial arts was superior to theirs for all the world to see.

During this whole thing, we also get a very good look into how Ryoma thinks at this point in time.

When the arranger tries to appeal to the “Sacredness” of the Sport to get him to stand down, Ryoma laughs in his face, proclaiming that there is nothing sacred about combat at all. The only thing that matters is who emerges as the victor.

This is backed up by how he doesn’t show the least bit of compassion or honor to the first of the contestants he defeats, easily smashing him to the ground then gloating over him after having demonstrated the sheer difference in the combat prowess between the two of them.

He is very blunt about the fact that he believes that one should pursue strength for strenght’s sake alone, and never stop until you have crushed anyone who stands before you. Always train to get stronger, and always seek out those who can challenge you and beat them too.

Might makes right.

This is a REALLY good introduction for showcasing Ryoma as a character. How he thinks, his immense near superhuman strength, his ruthlessness, his pride in his own strength.

It also ties in directly into the themes of this series, as this kind of thinking is essentially Evolution itself boiled down to it’s bare core. The survival of the strongest. What is the point of Evolution after all, if not this? Those with the traits to survive and thrive will do so, while those who cannot, will be crushed by those who can, who in turn will pass down what made them successful to begin with.

Of course that is not what the actual message of this series is, but it is a concept that this series is rather blunt about, and it’s not a coincidence that the most prominent of all the main characters of this series began his journey while believing wholeheartedly into that ideal.

All in all this scene is just great, and it sets up Ryoma really well, as well as making it clear that this is a boy who has a lot of growing to do as a person.

And so, having achieved his life’s work that he’s trained for for years and years, Ryoma nagare quietly leaves the arena, leaving behind a dozen bruised, battered and broken men on the ground.

Of course this display of power has not gone unnoticed, as in the audience were two men from the Saotome Institute who came here hoping to find someone strong enough to pilot their giant robot.

As it happened, they just found one that fit the bill rather spectacularly.

Then in the next scene we are showcased Ryoma’s home.

Ryoma Nagare, a fighting genius that at the tender age of 16-17 smashed the greatest karate practitioners in Japan with ease while being outnumbered a dozen to one, lives in a ramshackle part of town, in a rundown old building that has broken windows, a leaking roof, and can at best be called a ramshackle cottage.

It’s a rather brutal contrast to the sight of the prestigious, well made and maintained karate tournament building we were just in.

Inside we find the sight of something else rather unusual for a Shonen protagonist. Having now achieved his goals, and avenged his father’s memory, Ryoma is slowly starting to come to the realization that this has all been one giant waste of time. He hasn’t actually earned anything on this journey. His father is dead, he’s still poor, and his only belongings is this shitty building and the clothes on his back.

As we learn here, Ryoma has spent his entire life being trained in martial arts, to insane degrees even for an adult man, much less for a child. All for the purpose of one day doing what he did today, and avenging his father’s memory.

This scene really hammers in the fact that for all his ridiculous strength, Ryoma is a child, and he has a child’s way of looking at things.

He thinks back fondly on being pitted against stray dogs in death matches, and he reveals here that in his mind, this was all about “Redeeming” martial arts somehow, as if this display would really change anything in the grand scheme of things within the sport.

It wasn’t of course. This was all about revenge. Everything Ryoma ever trained for was for this moment, this moment of what should have been absolute and total triumph as he achieved a truly spectacular victory and proved his father’s fighting style the best in all the land and he has proven that he himself is the strongest fighter in all Japan.

Instead he is coming to the realization that so many people that wasted their lives on vengeance have come to over the years. That it was all a giant waste of time.

Revenge is a suckers game.

Having achieved his goals, Ryoma has found them to be completely empty, and has nowhere to go. This is a really fascinating way to open up a character arc, as usually a character that learns the lesson that David Xanatos knew so well, happens either at the end, or somewhere later down their line. Ryoma however, learns it in the very first chapter, and now has to find something else to live for.

However, his soul searching is then interrupted by a few gentlemen from the Saotome institute.

Who immediately tries to kill him.

Now before I discuss the next part, I wanna praise this overall scene, because it really works great within the context of this chapter.

Ryoma has been introduced as a massive asshole, who firmly believes in the mantra of Might makes right, and he doesn’t feel any regret at having brutalized a dozen of innocent people, just the fact that he realizes that there was no real satisfaction to be had from it. Now the other shoe drops, and HE is attacked in his own home, completely unprovoked for reasons that frankly he has no personal involvement in on his own side. While this attack does have an in universe reason behind it, it main purpose is that it serves as a nice cathartic moment for the reader, as while he’s never going to legally punished for what just happened at the tournament, he is punished by the narrative for his actions, which is something i’ve seen far, far too many stories do over the years fail to do with asshole protagonists.

It also serves to put Ryoma’s current belief in Might Makes Right to the test. After all, aren’t these men doing exactly what he said that those who practice martial arts should do? Seek out those stronger than them, then crush them.

All of this makes it a shame that it is horribly undercut by the one, genuine stain on the original manga. Namely that one of the attackers is this guy.

And it’s at this moment you realise, oh yeah, this was made in 1970’s Japan. The unfortunate fact is that Mangaka of this period generally based their depiction of black people on early American comics(Which had plenty of this kind of artwork), and Ken Ishikawa was unfortunately not an exception to this rule.

He would THANKFULLY not repeat anything like this later down the line(his depiction of black people is far more natural and realistic in later manga), but hot damn is it both uncomfortable and distracting to read the pages with this guy. And it’s a real shame too, because frankly, not only is the following fight scene very good as a narrative punishment for Ryoma, but it’s just a good fight scene in general.

Unlike the Tournament fight, which was mainly a beatdown to establish Ryoma’s ridiculous strength, this is an actual fight, which showcases Ishikawa’s ability to draw energetic, exciting fight scenes where action flows very naturally.

It also shows that for the kind of ridiculous strength Ryoma possess, he isn’t some superhuman, as early in the brawls he’s heavily wounded by the rather mundanity of taking a throwing knife to the shoulder. This is in general something that makes action if Getter Robo stand out from other shonen series too. When characters, or Robots for that matter, takes hits, they rarely shrug them off with no problem, instead taking real, genuine damage that doesn't just instantly go away. They might power through them, but that isn’t the same as them disappearing into the ether.

In any case, the battle ends up outside the house when Ryoma is thrown through the wall.

He’s then forced to do the classic, catch the blade between the palms of his hands trope, which is depicted much more believable than most cases I’ve seen, as despite succeeding, it still left him bleeding from those palms.

Ryoma then redirects the blade into the big guy who is attacking him from behind, killing him. I really love how the artwork sells that this is a desperate move on Ryoma’s part. He is genuinely fighting for his life here, and he’s pulling out every trick he has to to win despite his wounds.

He then follows that up by ripping the blade out, and throwing it at the knife thrower guy. I also like that after doing so, he immediately falls flat on his ass, in a rather realistic manner(he is fighting in the rain after all, so the ground is undoubtedly pretty slippery.), while also showcasing the force of the throw. My only main complaint is that for this one panel Ken forgot to include the wound and the knife on his shoulder, as I think it would really sell just how desperate Ryoma is here if we’re visually reminded in the moment that, oh yeah, he’s powering through and using the arm whose shoulder has a knife in it to to throw this thing.

Thankfully, that missed opportunity for visual grittiness is more than made up for by the next part.

Having now effectively won the battle(I think the swordsman broke his foot in the fall, at least that’s how it looks), Ryoma suddenly realises that, holy shit, he just killed someone. The contrast between here and how he looked as he challenged the tournament fighters couldn’t be more different. The cooky, arrogant youth is completely gone, and you're reminded that Ryoma is just a kid. A kid who just had to kill someone. The bravado is completely gone, leaving only a kid who is tired, confused, in pain, and probably pretty scared.

He is then approached by the man who just had 3 grown ass men jump and attack him, Dr. Saotome.

Wounded, and mentally exchausted as he is, he is in no position to argue as Saotome declares that Ryoma is what he’s been looking for, and as one of his men rips the knife out of his shoulder, Ryoma screams before losing consciousness from the pain. Afterwards he is dragged into a car, and bandaged up.

Then as they're driving, the’re attacked by a giant flying dinosaur that grabs unto the car and flies away with it, Ryoma and Saotome barely managing to get out in time, alongside one of Saotome’s unlucky goons who breaks his neck in the fall.

And so ends Chapter one of Getter Robo.

All in all, other than the horribly racist black guy, this is a really good first chapter, that sets up Ryoma Nagare really, really well, showcasing his way of thinking, his origin, and where he needs to grow, while also showcasing his ludicrous strength, and that he is fully capable of going balls to the wall to win a fight, which will be showcased many, many times in this series. It also ends on a reminder of the fact that oh yeah, this is a series about one side vs dinosaurs, as Ryoma gets his first introduction into the enemy he will be fighting time, and again in this manga. It also gives a distinct first impression of just how ruthless Saotome is, as he is perfectly willing to send 3 dangerous goons on a teenager just to test his prowess in battle, which is absolutely going to come into play in future chapters.

All in all, it’s a good start. Not an amazing beginning, but certainly a good introduction to our first main character.

[sukiglycerin]

yours, senpai || katsuki bakugou.

* pairing: pro-hero!katsuki bakugou x manager!reader (gender neutral!)

* genre: kind of,,, angsty not really, fluff

* words: 1,884

* warnings: all i can say is sorry shouto, usage of sEnpAi (used for upperclassmen) and kOuhAi (used for underclassmen), i keep doing manager!reader nd bakugou, reader has a bad day, cussing, bakugou being soft

* original request:  okay so i’ve seen so many bakugou fics about him getting jealous but I remember having an idea to write about the reader getting jealous over bakugo for something so little because of them having a rough day i don’t really have the time to write it but if you get around to it and actually wanna write it i’d definitely give it a read

* a/n: this is finally here! i’m really happy with how it turned out. ngl, this was almost named “y/n and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” but be glad i didn’t LKDSLFSL there will be a second part to this that’s just,,, pwp for fem!reader. so, look forward to that next week! @toishi is the best for proofreading this~~

bakugou always had girls over him. it was just a thing, a norm, that had come to be as a pro-hero. that didn't make you like it more, or anything, but you had to accept it. you knew it would never really change; even in your high school days, the kouhai named bakugou would be the talk of the girls in your year, fawning over his smooth skin and rugged look. (it was as though they'd completely forgotten the sports festival in your second year.) you never understood the appeal; to you, a third-year in the business course, bakugou was just an immature hero-wannabe, one of the boys that came a dime a dozen in japan. heck, this was a hero school; you were surrounded by them.

your first interaction with bakugou was in your third year. you'd been partnered up with a hero course student as a project, learning the ins and outs of marketing to a hero's strengths and managing said hero. girls absolutely ogled you for being partnered up with the bakugou, but you found it slightly revolting. to idolize a second year, a kouhai, who had anger issues and a terrible fashion sense? you did not see the appeal. if anything, you were concerned about how to contain the explosiveness of his personality and package it into a pretty looking present. his face constantly made the crudest of expressions, and the words that fell from his lips were completely vulgar. 

after the project, your perspective of bakugou slightly changed; his face wasn't always unpleasant to look at (typically when he was off-guard) and his personality had softened a bit. he, at least, had the decency to call you senpai; according to a rumour from your friend, class 2a's infamous pretty boy, shouto todoroki, spoke quite plainly. too plainly. it was like he had a bone to pick with every upperclassman he talked to, not bothering to use the proper honorifics and talking shit when upset (the latter, though, wasn't confirmed by your friend, you'd just heard it around).

you kept in touch with bakugou, and the honorifics never really dropped, even though you'd told him it was fine to speak casually. you'd both graduated from high school, thus bakugou became a pro-hero and you started an office job at a hero agency. you worked your way up through the company, though it was an incredibly slow process due to the sheer size of it. it was then bakugou offered you a position at his agency; as his manager.

manager was a heavy word in your mouth. the only times you'd even echoed the job were your school project with bakugou and the one time you'd handed a schedule to a sidekick during one of your internships. besides, you didn't want to earn the job simply because you had the right connection; you wanted to earn it, and as of then, you didn't quite feel you had. when you'd voiced this concerned to bakugou, he bluntly told you that he believed you were fit. (your first reaction was: what kind of reasoning is that?) he then followed up that he was in desperate need of a competent manager, and that if you could do one day he'd be grateful and pay however much you asked. it was a surprising request from such a popular, in-demand hero, but you supposed it wouldn't hurt.

it has not hurt at all in the five years you've been his manager. the closest thing that has come to hurting would be the fangirls, and even then, most mean no harm. somewhere in the middle you'd started dating bakugou, and it was almost as if you were dating his fangirls as well, with the way they always tried to contact you or hammered you if they recognized you in public. thankfully, the latter was extremely rare.

however, today was not a particularly good day for the appearance of fangirls. whatever power in the universe had decided to awaken you on the wrong side of bed (literally, you found yourself face-to-face with a spider and two alarms too late), and now you were blessed with a meet-and-greet for bakugou. 

fanmeets were held once in a blue moon for bakugou (thankfully), because he was more concerned about his hero duties than how his fanservice would make some girl's heart burst out of her chest. lucky for you, the universe blessed you to have one today.

really, the only thing you can think of as you drive to work is the sight of bakugou's face. he's always quite cute in the mornings; the rasp of sleep on his tongue and a slight pout he has when talking. it would be enough to reenergize you for the day, you know for sure.

conveniently, he is nowhere near his office when you arrive to work. you pull out the calendar on your phone and realize: he's currently being styled for his fanmeet, and you definitely won't be seeing him for another hour. you sigh, heading to the lounge to make yourself coffee. this was gonna be a long day.

conveniently, you burn your hand in the slightest making your coffee, and it seems to have started a time bomb of your patience. careful not to burn your tongue on the godforsaken coffee, it gets cold. you're stuck in an elevator with a bunch of stockholders who do not smell pleasant (a potpourri of conflicting fragrances is not ideal), and somehow, you almost trip up walking while fuming about the horribleness of your day.

conveniently, you forget where you put the paper copy of today's schedule and must begrudgingly adhere to the plain, unannotated one on your phone. the hold time for the fanmeet venue takes far too long for a priority customer (such as yourself and ground zero), and listening to eine kleine nachtmusik for the billionth time as the same monotone voice apologizes for the wait does nothing to brighten your day. damnit, mozart, it's morning, and you have 8 more hours of this shit. thankfully, the venue has not completely forgotten about your existence and you're able to confirm everything, and then you find yourself driving to said venue to meet up with staff. traffic is one hell of a nightmare to someone having a bad day.

you sit in your car, which seems extremely cramped and humid because you've been sitting in it for too long, clicking on and off radio channels to the point you make a rhythm based off the clicks and somehow your radio hasn't broken and traffic hasn't moved an inch.

you arrive at the venue on time with no bakugou in sight; ah, right, he's retouching his makeup and hair. he doesn't even need makeup, in your humble opinion; his natural skin is literally glowing. you're just about to approach bakugou (who, maybe on second thought, needs the makeup, considering how angelic he looks) when one of the staff asks that you check that the projector is on the right channel, and then the fans pour in. you try to convince yourself that each fan has spent an abhorral amount of money to get into this event and that you should treat them with respect, but it's so damn hard when they're all nosebleeding and making grabby hands at bakugou. you're grateful you're not a bodyguard, or you're sure you would've decked the teen with the green shirt who attempted to full-on makeout with bakugou before being politely escorted out.

you could barf at the fanservice so gracefully sown into the fanmeet; the way bakugou so effortlessly intertwines with a fan's, or how he ends a smooth line with a heart-killing smirk. it's absolutely disgusting recalling that you taught him all of that.

needless to say, you have a lot of pent-up frustration by end of the day. the fanmeet ended smoothly, though halfway in, you considered ditching your position as manager to become a nosebleeding, crying, grabby-handed fan just to make contact with bakugou. perhaps the last straw for you was after the fanmeet; as the two of you exited the venue, tired, a fan (probably around bakugou's age) approached bakugou for a picture. bakugou accepted, and she apologized profusely for bothering the two of you. you were stuck behind the camera, grumpily watching as she put her hands on bakugou. a rational part of your brain knew her touches were as polite as possible, but the rest of your brain selectively ignored this fact. you fumed taking the photo, gritting out a smile as you handed back the fan's phone (stopping yourself from smashing it on the pavement). who were these fans, taking away you from bakugou? 

"senpai," bakugou deadpans as the two of you drive home. the word brings a sense of comfort to you; strange to an outside viewer, you know, but it somewhat acts as a pet name bakugou used on you. the word brings you back to simpler times, when you and bakugou were clear-cut senpai and kouhai, nothing else. even when you became his manager, the word "senpai" rolled so smoothly off his tongue, despite the roles being switched. you started having a penchant for the word, it becoming a word of comfort to you. for you, entangled in a strange manager/lover position to bakugou. senpai. it reminds you of who bakugou was, and how much he means to you now.

"eh? what's wrong? you've been lookin' upset all day," bakugou grunts.

"it's... trivial," you say. you rarely get jealous; you trust bakugou, and know he'd only ever have eyes for you. "let's talk about it when we get home." you make up your mind to discuss it rationally with bakugou when you get home. very rationally, with cuddles and all.

one thing that fans will never ever get are bakugou's cuddles, and you smile to yourself at that. they'll never know what it feels like to feel safe in bakugou's arms, to be enveloped in his scent, to feel home with bakugou, and be able to call him only yours. in that way, he's your little secret.

when bakugou asks what's wrong at home, you simply reply, "missed you." the two words are enough; he's stepping towards you, a little hesitant, and then his arms are around you, and the familiar scent of caramel greets you.

"had a bad day," you confess, "and watching all the fans and the fanservice..."

"fuck the fanservice," bakugou says, and his grip gets slightly tighter. "i'd leave it all for you, in a heartbeat. i'm... i'm only yours." you look at him, and he's looking away, face scrunched in a frustrated expression and cheeks dusted pink.

"you should know that, idiot," he grumbles. 

you smile. "love you," you say, pecking his cheek softly. he flushes deeper at this, glancing at you then away again.

"don't make me say it back," he mumbles. "you know i love you too."

it's at night when the feelings of jealousy bubble again. you can't help but feel insecure, replaying the day's events in your mind. those girls had so much that you didn't - surely, they were much more attractive, much more sweet and kind. 

"mine," you mumble, pressing yourself against bakugou.

"stop thinking, moron, and sleep," bakugou grunts. "of course i'm all yours."

[loki-hargreeves]

Once Upon a Dream - Loki x Reader [Chapter 4]

Warnings: angst, fighting, blood, gore, character death (not really but also kind of yes?) vulgar language, amnesia  Word Count: 8K Chapter summary: You need to guard the tesseract and make sure the portal stays open - even if it means fighting Thor. Unexpected events lead to a tragic situation that only a miracle can fix. Loki seems to have a heart wrenching solution for that. Author’s Note: I’m sorry for being so slow with updates. I’ll try to grab myself from the neck now 🥺 Once again, I’m not following canon 100% so forgive me for the differences. Listen to: OUAD playlist on Spotify 

[Chapter 3] ~ [Chapter 5 - coming soon!]

THIRD POV

[CH 4 I Dreamed A Dream]

~   But there are dreams that cannot be And there are storms we cannot weather   ~  

“I won’t let you stop him, Thor.”

“And I can’t let you help him.”

“So be it,” Y/N was disappointed that even Loki’s own brother couldn’t understand. She was ready to fight. 

The sword felt light in her hand although it had been a while since she had last picked it up. Without wasting more time, she ran toward Thor who seemed to be waiting for her. She didn’t have time to mope around.

Just as she raised the blade dangerously, Thor shielded himself with his hammer. To his surprise, the impact of her sword was much stronger than he had anticipated and he had to brace himself harder. Even with the power of the Mjolnir against her sword, he struggled to push her off him. 

“Why do you look so surprised?” Y/N asked him through gritted teeth, finding encouragement in the look of disbelief on Thor’s face. She poured power from her soul and into the sword, making it more effective the longer they stood like that. 

“Just getting started, that’s all,” He brushed the look off his face and replaced it with a grin. Surprisingly, he used his legs to kick at her, forcing her to step back. As she attempted to strike him with the sharp sword, Thor threw the Mjolnir right at it. Both weapons flew off into the distance and Thor ran toward Y/N.

She didn’t have time to pick up her sword as she prepared for Thor’s tackle. As he wrapped his arms around her waist, she jumped and clung to his back tightly. Thor hadn’t expected her to jump, so when she kneed him in the chest, his grip loosened. It was the perfect distraction for her to kick herself off his body and let him stumble forward. 

They turned around to face each other once more. This time, Thor was closer to the balcony and he stood between Y/N and her sword. The Mjolnir returned to his hand smoothly, leaving Y/N unarmed. But not for long.

Thor held onto Mjolnir a little tighter as if to show her that she couldn’t stop him. If she tried, she’d have to face the hammer. 

Y/N wasn’t afraid of Thor or his hammer. She was so overwhelmed with power that she could feel it all over her skin, like electricity. It was warm and difficult to contain for much longer. The magic within her was practically begging to be released. Adrenaline was rushing through her body as well and she could feel the blood boiling in her veins. Nothing could stop her now.

The two of them eyed each other so intensely, both ready to attack if the other moved. Y/N was trying to think of a way to go past him so she could guard the tesseract. Thor was willing to do anything to stop her so they could put an end to the madness around them. 

Time felt like it was frozen when they were face to face. By now, Y/N allowed her power to grow around her hands. The energy around them absorbed into the orbs in her hands and grew quickly, casting a glow in the apartment. Holding onto so much power made Y/N confident. 

Thor watched how her power grew and he knew he had to stop her. He remembered how she had defeated dozens of enemies with one blow when she let her powers get the best of her. 

Quickly, he swung his hammer and threw it at her, hoping to pin her down in time. 

A smirk plastered her face as she had expected that. Thor could be so predictable. Smoothly, she used her power to hoist herself up in the air, allowing the hammer to continue past her and into the wall, smashing it in its way. As she had the upper hand, she released the blasts at Thor’s both sides so he couldn’t dodge it. 

Thor leapt forward on the floor to avoid the merciless blasts that were ought to swallow him whole. Just as he landed on the floor, he felt the heel of Y/N’s foot on his hand and she stepped on it. Thor grunted out in pain as he failed to free his hand - and to summon Mjolnir with that hand. She stepped on his hand with all her strength and it made Thor cringe with discomfort. 

“You’re in my way,” Y/N spat coldly, looking down at Thor who was struggling. Magic was growing around her hands once more, creating a cloud of green. 

Thor didn’t like the sight of her with that much power. The look on her face was intimidating. Thor had seen in a few times before in his life and nothing good ever followed from it. This was a woman who was ready to do anything for her freedom and to aid Loki on his journey too. 

She was so close that he could feel the heat radiating from her and it was painful. He reached out to Mjolnir with his other hand and hoped it would reach his palm in time.

“If I go, you go,” Thor let her know mysteriously. 

Just as she released her power and directed it at him, she felt something hit her ankle hard and painfully. Mjolnir! 

Thor didn’t have time to get out of the way and had to take the blow against his back. Her powers were torturous, even through his armour. The floor beneath them crushed and Y/N lost her balance, falling down the hole with Thor. They plummeted down several floors until finally, one of the levels managed to brace their fall.

Y/N hit the floor harshly and rolled over a few times. The moment she stopped rolling, she forced herself back on her feet and she ignored the pain of the impact. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed that they were on an office floor. All the people who would’ve usually been there working were now gone. Thor was nowhere to be seen. 

“Fuck,” She cursed quietly and narrowed her eyes, scanning her surroundings and prepared herself for a surprise attack. The hole in the ceiling was still cracking up, but it was so small that it wouldn’t do much more damage. Small bits and pieces fell out of it in a dust cloud. 

Despite the Chitauri army wreaking havoc outside, it was oddly quiet in the Stark tower. So quiet in fact that she could hear her own heartbeat drumming in her chest. 

In order to be as silent as she could, Y/N used her powers to levitate just above the floor and move forward without making a single sound. Thor couldn’t have gotten far. 

As she turned around a corner to look beyond the rows and rows of office desks, she still couldn’t see him which was odd. Thor didn’t seem like the type of enemy who hid and plotted his next attack. He seemed more like the direct action kind of guy. 

That’s when a thought struck her mind. Had he flown back up to the highest level to destroy the portal? 

Annoyed that she had wasted time looking for him down there, she groaned and returned to the hole in the ceiling. She collected more energy for a few brief seconds and then flew right back up again, landing smoothly on the ground as she reached the correct level. Just as she had thought, she saw Thor on the balcony trying to talk to the doctor who was working on the portal. 

His cowardliness was infuriating. 

On her way to the balcony, she picked up her sword. It was still charged with energy, and Thor hadn’t looked over his shoulder yet to see her. He probably expected her to be down there looking for him for just a bit longer. He was wrong.

It was all a surprise to Thor when she leapt at him and swung her sword against his armour. Thor stumbled forward, but he had remained unharmed but it was only a matter of time before the blade would pierce the Asgardian armour. He turned around and pushed the sword off of him with his hammer. Seeing Y/N right behind him that cold look in her eyes sent shivers down his spine. 

They were standing outside now and the edge of the balcony was awfully close. Erik Selvig had returned to his station and he seemed unbothered by the two of them. He was only focused on the tesseract and keeping the portal open. 

“Clever trick,” Y/N admitted, “but I’m no fool.”

“ I should’ve expected so much from someone of your kind,” Thor realized now. Any ally of Loki’s was just as slippery as the Trickster himself. 

Y/N walked closer to him and Thor took a step back. She remained cautious because he could just as easily throw her off the edge as she could do that to him. 

“You can still stop this-”

“Never!” 

Thor was disappointed to hear her answer. If the circumstances were different, he would’ve been happy to see how committed she was. But he couldn’t allow things to progress. He had sworn to protect this realm, even from her and Loki. If he failed today, he would fail himself, his father and all of Asgard. 

“How can you trust Loki?” Thor wondered. “He is the god of lies and tricks, Y/N. There is no guarantee that his bargain with you will uphold once all of this is over.”

“You don’t get it, Thor!” Y/N growled angrily. She almost laughed at his attempt of winning her over. “What Loki and I have goes deeper than mere words.”

As she spoke, Thor tried to come up with a plan to defeat her. He glanced to her side, looking at the sturdy wall to see if he could leap at her and use it for support, but she caught the movement of his eye just in time. 

As Thor lunged at her once again, she met his attack with her sword. Thor nearly ran straight into the tip of the blade, but he stopped. It gave her a chance to swing it at him, forcing Thor to take a step back and hit the wall. With one swift move, she pointed it at his throat, making Thor tilt his jaw up to avoid injuries. He tried to move his hammer, but she pushed the sword tighter against him, almost breaking his skin.

“Don’t even think about it!” Y/N warned him against using the hammer.

Thor was trapped.

It would’ve been easy to push it further, but Y/N’s muscles felt like stone. Her hands were trembling as she held her sword that was pressing against Thor’s neck. One wrong move and he would suffer greatly. 

“I know there’s still good in you,” Thor dared to say. If she was evil, she would’ve taken advantage of their position by now. 

“I never said I’m evil, Thor. We’re just two ends of the same coin,” She knew that comparing him to her would infuriate him. There was little he could do as he stood here. 

She didn’t want to kill him. Her heart said no to that wile act. Instead, she would trap him with her magic. With one hand, she kept the sword in place as she used her magic to glue Thor against the wall. The glowing material surrounded Thor’s limbs and it grew brighter and brighter. 

Thor was panicking now. He didn’t want to be trapped by her magic, but he couldn’t do much without risking great injuries. After pondering his choices for a while, Thor tried to move only to learn that he couldn’t. The brightness died down and when he looked at his arms and legs, he saw that they were chained. 

Y/N pulled her sword away and stepped back, looking at her creation in awe. Thor was truly tied down now. 

“I hope it’s comfortable,” She smiled a little bit and tightened the chains without even touching them, forcing Thor to lose his grip on Mjolnir. It fell down on the floor right next to him. He looked helpless as he struggled against the chains. Thor seemed like a lost child when he realized he wasn’t winning the fight. “You’re going to be like that for a while.”

“Are you too afraid to fight me?” Thor wondered, trying to rile her up so she would lose focus on the chains and he could break free. After all, keeping up the magical bounds would drain her of energy sooner or later. If she had used real chains and charged them with power, it would’ve been easier, but she hadn’t had a better option.  

She put on a thoughtful look and leaned against the wall next to him just to mock the god of thunder, “I think I already did.”

Thor looked around him desperately. The Chitauri were destroying everything in their way and he knew that the people were terrified. The portal was a fierce eyesore in the sky and it didn’t seem to stop spitting out enemies. For a moment, he felt truly defeated. He wondered if creating thunder and blasting her with lightning could help. Could he do that without holding his hammer?

All seemed to go according to Y/N’s plan until an arrow appeared out of nowhere. Clint had seen them from a distance and he hadn’t hesitated to shoot at Y/N in order to help Thor out. 

Y/N had been so focused on Thor that she didn’t have time to react. The arrow pierced her through her abdomen and she could feel it hit the wall behind her through her skin.The shock of it all was enough to break the spell and the chains that held Thor down cracked into bits and pieces. It snapped in several links and then just vanished into thin air. 

Just like that, Thor was free again.

Y/N looked down at the arrow that was sticking out of her stomach and the sight made her sick. She dropped her sword and immediately put her hands around the wound, feeling hot blood pooling around it and through her fingers.

“Oh no,” She breathed out in pain. Right now, it hurt more in her soul rather than it did physically. Adrenaline numbed her to a point where she didn’t have to experience the raw pain of it all - yet. 

Thor was genuinely worried for her, although it had been of great help. Now that he was free and she was injured, he could shut the portal. But first, he needed to help her. Despite it all, Y/N was Asgardian. He knew that now and he couldn’t let her suffer. If he did, Loki would lose it and Thor didn’t want Loki to find hidden strength in a moment of despair. It was odd how people found strength they didn’t know they had until they truly needed it. 

“Sit down,” He tried to help her. 

“No! Y/N refused to let him help her. Thor’s mistake was that he assumed the blow had weakened her. For the moment he had tried to reach out for her, she used all her strength to create strong energy blasts. She aimed them at Thor and sent him flying right off the edge of the balcony. 

Thor yelled out in surprise and fell out of her sight. Moments later, the hammer was summoned by him but Y/N didn’t see or hear him anymore. 

As she was all alone, the reality of the situation weighed down on her. There was an arrow pointing out of her stomach and it had possibly pierced some vital parts of her. She knew she couldn’t run around with it inside of her, but she also knew that if she was to pull it out, she would bleed out.

Somehow hers shaking legs carried her inside to safety. She collapsed on the floor and finally, the pain got to her. It burned agonizingly and every time she moved even in the slightest, it grew worse. Y/N forced herself to sit on the floor and she leaned against the back of the sofa. She could still watch the balcony from there and whoever walked inside from the other entrances wouldn’t even see her. So for now, she had no choice but to stay there.

“Ah shit,” She cursed when she ripped her clothes around the arrow to see it better. The surrounding skin was tender to touch and blood was dripping out of it. Had it pierced her back? It had felt like it, but Y/N couldn’t be sure and she wasn’t keen on finding out either. Instead, she closed her eyes for a moment and attempted to heal herself. Could any amount of magic truly heal that? One thing was for sure, she had to try. 

As she sat there, a smile curled up her lips. Out of all her enemies, Hawkeye had managed to harm her. It was almost comedic to her - if it wasn’t for the fact that she was in serious danger. 

“Oh Loki, I hope you’re doing better than me,” She thought out loud. 

Where was Loki when she needed him the most?

                      A nearby explosion followed by glass smashing burst Y/N’s bubble of thoughts. How long had she been healing herself? Her eyes felt weary and she had lost track of time. As she looked around, she saw Loki rolling over on the balcony. The sight of him was a surprise and for a moment, she was relieved to see him. 

Unfortunately, the relief didn’t last long because the next person to join the party was the raging beast. The Hulk barely had time to land on the balcony before he leapt at Loki. The two of them rolled inside and broke more windows on their way in. Loki separated from the beast and he hit his head on the floor hard. Despite how painful the impact looked, he got back up on his feet like it was nothing. 

Y/N knew that her wound was still too bad for her to get up there and face the Hulk. But she was on standby. If Loki needed her, she wasn’t going to let an arrow stop her. So far, they hadn’t noticed her sitting behind the couch with bloody hands. Everything hurt so bad, but she almost forgot about the pain when she looked at the Hulk. Surely, she’d be breakfast for him if he got his hands on her. She didn’t like the thought of that at all.

“ENOUGH!” Loki suddenly yelled. He sounded so done with everything, provoked even. She knew instantly that something was pushing on his mind. It couldn’t be good. 

She grunted in pain as she moved closer. Loki was holding a furious speech and to her surprise, the Hulk had actually stopped for a second to listen. 

“- I will not be bullied by aah!” Loki was caught off guard when he was attacked. The Hulk grabbed him by his legs and brutally smashed him against the ground repeatedly. In his strong arms, Loki was like a rag doll. He didn’t even put up a fight. 

Y/N couldn’t just sit there and look at the mess. It physically pained her to see Loki treated like that. When she got back up her feet clumsily, the Hulk dropped Loki on the floor and he stayed down. The wind was knocked out of him and he stared at the ceiling, completely stunned. 

“Puny god…”

“Stop it! She yelled at the Hulk with tears in her eyes. 

He looked at her and prepared to attack, but when he saw the arrow, even the Hulk let his guard down. Not for long, but he certainly inspected the situation. 

Cautiously, she made her way closer to Loki, only one step at the time. Her eyes never left the Hulk’s. He looked so angry behind the grimace, but he didn’t attack her for some odd reason. 

“Please, just let me help him,” She whispered now. Healing her wound without many results had drained her energy and she was beginning to feel weak and nauseated. The sight of Loki like that didn’t help much. 

Loki hadn’t moved at all. He just laid there and whimpered in pain as he struggled to breathe. Had he even acknowledged Y/N’s presence at all?

When she was deemed too close to Loki, the Hulk tightened his fists and took a step forward. Before she would face him in a fight, another person joined them.

“Step back!” Natasha had arrived. When? Y/N had no clue. Miraculously, the Hulk listened to her but he wasn’t happy about it. He murmured something nasty about gods underneath his breath and walked away like a grumpy child. 

In shock, Y/N turned to face Natasha. Why had she stepped in to help her? That was a mystery but Y/N was genuinely thankful for that. 

Without exchanging words, Natasha just watched as Y/N fell on her knees beside Loki, unable to keep herself up for much longer. The Black Widow didn’t see her as much of a threat by now so she didn’t intervene. They had much bigger problems to think about now that Loki was down.

The first thing Y/N checked was Loki’s breath. She had heard his whimpers, but to feel his breath against her palm was a huge relief. 

“Hey,” She cupped his face in an attempt to gain his attention. He didn’t react to her voice at all. His eyes were closed shut and it almost resembled sleep. If only he was just asleep. The wound on his forehead was bleeding, but it was only a scratch compared to his other injuries.

“Loki, wake up,” She didn’t realize how beaten she was until now. Loki was unconscious and she had an arrow sticking out of her which was beginning to drain the rest of her energy. Everything became more difficult, even breathing. The pain was so overwhelming that it was hard to even think straight. 

She could either try to heal herself more in order to put up a fight against the Avengers, or she could try to heal him. Time was their enemy. As much as it frightened her, she decided to help him. 

With both hands on the sides of his face, she leaned against Loki as much as she could without the bloody arrow getting in the way. Her forehead rested against his gently and then she focused on all her power, directing into him. When she felt her magic blending in with his, it almost felt like someone was tickling her gently. His magic crashed against hers like waves on a stormy sea. The more she borrowed her magic to him, the harder it was to continue. The tickling sensation turned into something heavy and miserable. By now it felt like Loki’s magic had grabbed onto her very soul and it was tugging at it. 

Eventually, Loki opened his eyes. As soon as he realized what was going on, he stopped her. 

“Y/N!” He repeated her name a few times so she would snap out of it. The flow of energy stopped and her body collapsed. Loki sat up and grabbed her just in time before the arrow would've pushed through her completely. 

Gently, he turned them over so she was on her back. Luckily, the arrow hadn’t pierced her back which meant she could lay down on the floor When he saw the arrow, Loki felt sick to his stomach. The sight felt like a punch in the gut and it troubled him greatly. How had this happened? 

Loki’s first instinct was to find the agent who was responsible for this and make him pay for what he had done, but when he learned just how terrible Y/N’s condition was, he couldn’t even consider leaving her side. Loki felt guilty. It weighed down on his shoulders and he regretted dragging her into this. Once again, they were facing misery. It was like fate was testing them. When would it stop? When could they be happy?

He didn’t give a damn about the war, nor the portal. As long as he could help her, Loki would face the consequences. Right now, he couldn’t think about anything or anyone else than her. 

Y/N looked at Loki’s concerned expression and it hurt her. Seeing him injured and so worried over her was like a knife in the heart. But at least he seemed to be alright. He was going to make it. 

“I’m sorry,” She apologized, feeling the need to do so. In her mind, she had failed him. In a moment that could’ve turned out victorious for them, she had let her guard down and Hawkeye had managed to get a good shot at her. 

“Don’t apologize,” Loki was quick to say something. “You’ll be alright,” He wasn’t entirely sure if he believed that himself. He forced himself to look at the wound and it was worse than he had imagined. How long had she had it in her? Why wasn’t her healing powers working against it? 

A realization sent shivers down Loki’s spine. As happy as he was when he knew she would survive, he felt miserable. They had just found themselves again. This moment reminded him of the past. When he had lost her before. It was too similar and it wrecked him on the inside. 

At least he could keep his promise. She’d be alright. 

Natasha was watching them from a safe distance, but she didn’t focus on what they were saying. There were too many other issues she had to think about. She was willing to let Loki help her as long as he wouldn’t try anything else. By now, the portal had been closed and the others were finishing up their tasks. She was still waiting for Tony’s update. Last time the team had heard of him, there had been talk about a bomb. Tony had told them he had an idea.

The Hulk had left the building as he struggled to contain his rage near Loki. Natasha hoped that she could get some backup soon, but she also felt oddly confident in the situation. Loki seemed like he only had eyes for Y/N and nothing and no one else in that moment. 

“I can help you,” Loki wanted her to understand that his intention was good. His lips were quivering now and he failed to mask how upset he was. 

Despite how exhausted and weak she was, she picked up on that. “What are you talking about?” 

Loki moved slightly so he was sitting comfortably right next to her. He helped her move so she could rest her hair on his lap. It was easier to work when she was closer to him like that. 

“I’m going to have to remove this,” Loki explained carefully and glanced at the arrow.

Y/N followed the trail of his eyes. The idea of him pulling it out of her was gnarly and she knew it wouldn’t feel nice. What did she have to lose? 

“Do you trust me?” Loki needed her answer.

It was scary, but she wasn’t afraid to trust him, “I do.”

Tears were gathering in the corners of Loki’s eyes. His mind was blocking out everything else. He refused to waste energy by thinking about their defeat or Thanos. Now all he could do was focus on her and making sure she’d live. 

He grabbed the arrow and took a deep breath as if to prepare himself for the inevitable. Y/N gave him a nod which encouraged him to pull it out. Carefully, he began tugging at it. He could feel every little movement as he removed the arrow which was sickening. How could anyone hurt her? Loki didn’t understand that. He blamed himself for not being there to watch her back. 

Once the arrow was removed, crimson blood oozed out of the wound and soaked her clothes and eventually the floor. She winced out in pain and squeezed her eyes shut. Loki had no time to waste. 

“It’ll be okay very soon,” Loki promised her sincerely. He bent down to press a comforting kiss on her forehead, one that he knew he would savour for as long as he’d live. She didn’t respond to him, but she heard his voice clear as day. 

Loki took one last glance at her. It felt like goodbye all over again. In a way, it was. Then he put his palm right above the wound, feeling the hot blood on his skin. He closed his eyes and focused entirely on healing her. 

When Y/N felt the pain subside ever so slightly, she tried to face Loki. Her vision was blurry and she could hardly see past him. Instead of his usual green magic, a white light began to grow around his palm. It surrounded her wound instantly and began to spread all around them, until they were inside a shield of magic. The pure energy of it all was so strong. If anyone from the outside had tried to reach them, they wouldn’t have been able to do so.

Y/N watched in awe as the air around them turned into a whirlwind. It was gentle but it played with his hair. Next thing she knew, Loki opened his eyes and they were white. It looked like all the colour had been drained from them and they shone so brightly that it was nearly impossible to look directly into them. What was he doing?

“I need you to know that I’m sorry,” Loki turned to face her. Was he crying?

“W-why?” 

Loki was quiet for a moment. That’s when Y/N picked up another source of light. It came from her own palm. As she looked at it, she saw the stars again. Why were they shining? One star in particular stuck out. Unlike the other stars that shone just as brightly as the other, this one was more intense. 

“I never meant to drag you into this. This was never supposed to happen,” Loki was talking about everything that had happened. In his mind, they should’ve been together, possibly on Asgard. They deserved to be happy. But life had been cruel and separated them. Was this a direct result of all their wrong choices? 

“I chose to be by your side,” Y/N remembered. By now, speaking felt immensely difficult. Her body wanted to sleep. Her eyes hardly stayed open. The idea of accepting the darkness that so desperately wanted to surround her was tempting. It no longer scared her. 

Loki lifted his palm from her wound. As he did that, she noticed that the stars beneath his skin were shining as well. The magic he was using was strong, but strange. Why did it feel so familiar? 

When Loki reached for her hand and touched it, she didn’t feel his touch anymore. Everything was so numb. The lack of feeling made her feel so shallow. 

All of a sudden Y/N felt her heart skip a beat. Right afterwards Loki let go of her hand. The star from her palm suddenly raised above and floated in the air right underneath Loki’s hand. One of his stars joined it and they watched how the small lights danced together. In a bizarre way, it was beautiful. Calming, even.

Carefully, as if he was trying not to drop something, Loki moved the stars toward the brutal wound. The lights merged into one bigger star and it twinkled a few times. It almost looked like a diamond with a million cut edges. The magic that was stored within it was so powerful it could’ve moved oceans apart. Even though Y/N was weak and she felt like she would succumb to nothingness at any moment now, she could feel the magic in her soul. 

“I wish there was another way,” Loki’s voice was quiet. Then he lowered the star and pressed his palm above her wound again. This time, he could feel the change. It closed as the magic began to heal her. 

Loki knew that soon enough, they would be strangers again. It tore his heart to pieces, but he knew it was for the best. He was going to make sure she wouldn’t suffer for the consequences of his actions and then he would leave her in the past - forever. They had tried to make things work out several times, but it had never been successful. In his mind, he brought misfortune to her. Everything he touched seemed to turn to dust. 

“Goodbye,” Loki whispered his farewell to her, unsure if she could hear. She was blessed with a fresh start, but he would be cursed with knowledge, with their memories. 

“I love you.”

As if someone had breathed life into her lungs for her, Y/N gasped dramatically. She blinked and the next time she opened her eyes, she was in an entirely different place. 

Everything turned pitch black. The darkness enveloped her completely. 

Where am I?

Who am I?

Thoughts swirled in her head as she stood in the middle of nowhere, all alone. How did she get there?

When something flashed by her side, it startled her. Y/N turned around but she was too slow. The mysterious figure had already vanished. 

“Hello?” She called out for anyone who could hear her frightened voice.

Another flash of light caught her attention. And another. another. It didn’t stop until she saw countless of figures all around her. Where did they come from? They were all whispering something, but she couldn’t make sense of it. Their voices merged together into one big mess that grew louder and louder until it hurt her ears. 

There was no use in hiding. There were no places to run for shelter. She was surrounded by these mysterious flashes and they terrified her. 

It quickly overwhelmed her. Y/N covered her face with her hands in an attempt to block out the bizarre creatures around her. A few seconds passed and everything turned silent again. Her heart was beating hard. It felt like it had leapt to her throat at this point. Did she dare to look?

It took every ounce of courage she had to remove the hands from her face. When she did, she saw a figure standing right in front of her.

“Who are you?!” She wasn’t even sure who she was, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Did the stranger know how scared she was?

He just stood there. His emerald eyes didn’t move. As she looked at him longer, she realized that he didn’t move at all. He was completely frozen in time. 

Her eyes scanned the other figures that stood all around them. No one moved, but they all stared at her ominously. Being surrounded by these people with no way out was like a nightmare. The place seemed never-ending. The figures were in rows as far as her eyes could see. 

Several of them resembled the man who stood right in front of her. They looked younger, some seemed older. There were several faces in the crowd, but this one stuck out the most. His raven hair and piercing gaze were somehow familiar. So Y/N decided to be brave and face him one more time. 

“Can you hear me?” She wondered. Her voice echoed in the odd space. 

Instead of saying something to her, the man reached out his hand. When she looked at his outstretched hand, she noticed something that resembled stars right above his palm. They were mesmerizing and it was hard to look away. The lights had a gravity to them. 

There were nine stars in total, but only six of them were twinkling with light. Three of them were dull, like a dying fire. It reminded her of darkened coal. Burned to an end. 

Did he want her to touch them? Why wasn’t he speaking? 

“What are they?” She needed to know.

The man’s cold expression shifted into something more sympathetic. “Our lives, Y/N.”

Y/N?

That must’ve been her name. It felt right. 

What did he mean by that? 

“Am I dead?” She barely managed to push the words out of her mouth. The idea of being dead was startling, but it made sense. 

“I suppose you could say that,” the man replied calmly, “but not for long.”

Not for long?

“What do you mean?” Y/N had to know. Her poor heart felt like it was going to explode. Nothing made sense and she felt so lost and lonely. 

“Once you are ready, you can return to your third life.”

Third life?

A shocked laugh escaped her lips, “This is madness.”

“Is it?” The man questioned her mysteriously. 

Silence fell over them. Only this time, it didn’t feel as scary. Y/N studied the countless of faces all around her. Some of them belonged to a boy. An older man also shared that face so she assumed it was the same person. She saw a man and a woman who were always standing next to each other, no matter how many duplicates they had. One of the people around her always held onto a hammer. One was missing an eye. And there were so many more. 

Why was this person the one talking to her? And why did she feel so sentimental about this stranger? Were they strangers or had she forgotten him? 

“Who are you?” She repeated her earlier question. 

“I’m merely a memory,” he explained, “you’ll have to find me again.”

By now she knew that he wasn’t going to give her any direct answers. The best thing she could do was to take in all the details on his face. If there was a chance that she could find him, she was definitely going to do so. He was the only clue she had on anything. 

“How do I return to it?” Y/N questioned him after a while. This strange and dark place had nothing more to offer her. She felt ready to face whatever came next. The unknown was both frightening and ever so tempting. It made her curious. 

“Take my hand,” The man instructed her. Although it was slightly strange, she trusted him. 

And she did so. The moment she touched his hand and he closed his fingers around hers, the other figures vanished into thin air. The darkness began to fade and it felt like the world was caving in on them. 

The man disappeared as well. For a moment, she was all by herself. Everything was fine, until the sensation of her falling took her by surprise. Y/N flinched and her eyes opened wide. 

She noticed people all around her. They were all bloody and their clothes were dirty. The place they were in was fancy, but the broken furniture and windows were evidence of something awful that had happened. Did she die there? 

Y/N was sitting on the floor and she wanted to stand up,  but a man was pointing an arrow at her. 

“Don’t move,” He sounded angry. 

“Woah,” She raised her arms in surrender, not wishing to die and return to that dark world she just came back from. This man didn’t look anything like the one who had talked to her. 

“Her spell is broken!” A familiar voice made both of them turn their heads. A tall man had said it and he was facing them with his back. Y/N saw a green cape and long, dark hair. She couldn’t believe her luck. It must’ve been the same man.

“You!” She smiled despite having an arrow pointed at her. “It’s you!” She couldn’t believe her eyes when he turned around and she saw his face. Then she saw the handcuffs and the blonde man who was holding onto him. Was he a prisoner?

“What’s going on?” A redheaded woman seemed confused by the situation. “I thought she was a goner.”

The man with the cape kept a cold look on his face, “She was for a moment. But she’s much tougher than you’d think.”

The blonde man tugged at his arm, “what did you say about a spell, Loki?” 

Loki? So his name was Loki? Y/N tried to remember that as she watched them from the floor. 

“Did you really think I would trust her to be loyal to me after everything? That I would leave the tesseract into her hands after we had spent so long apart?” Loki laughed mockingly and then faced her again, “I used something far stronger than the sceptre to turn her to my side. It seems like a little brush with death wore it off.”

She couldn’t believe her ears. The only clue she had was him and he was talking about putting a spell over her? Why did he sound so mean? 

The redheaded woman made the guy lower his weapon and the arrow was no longer pointed at her. 

“Can we trust him?” The arrow man seemed suspicious of it all.

“There’s only one way to find out,” The woman replied and knelt down on the floor next to Y/N. “How are you feeling?” 

“I...I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Y/N needed to know. A terrible headache was forming in her head at an alarming rate. Her mind tried to put all the pieces together but absolutely nothing made sense. Not knowing anything or remembering anything was like hell. 

“The wound is gone,” The woman noticed as she glanced at Y/N’s stomach. 

What wound?

“Who are you?” 

“Do you really not remember?” The woman narrowed her eyes and seemed to look right into her soul. She certainly had a tough expression.

Cautiously, Y/N shook her head no. 

“I’m Natasha,” She introduced herself, but still remained suspicious. “We have to take you with us just in case you are tricking us,” She pointed at Loki as she spoke. Then rather gently, she helped Y/N up on her feet. “We’re going to get to the bottom of things.”

For a moment, Y/N felt lightheaded. She didn’t fight it as Natasha put handcuffs around her wrists. It’s like her mind was so overwhelmed by everything that she was unable to do much. Why were they in handcuffs?

“What happened?” 

Everyone in the room shared strange glances. Why was there a huge, green person in the room as well? Why did he look so angry? 

“Loki what did you do to her?” The blonde man wondered bitterly. Everyone seemed to blame Loki for this, whatever this was.

“I already told you, now didn’t I?” Loki was quick with his remark. The two of them seemed to have a complicated relationship. Their outfits resembled each other’s and stood out from everyone else there. 

Natasha nudged Y/N gently so she would walk with her, “I usually know a liar when I see one. I think she’s genuinely confused,” she let everyone know. 

Confused was an understatement. 

“Okay all of you, let’s move!” A brown haired guy spoke. There was a strange blue light underneath his shirt that immediately caught Y/N’s attention. It was located right above his heart. He was also carrying a silver briefcase and he had what looked like guards on both his sides. Whatever he was carrying must’ve been priceless.

Everyone began to make their way into the elevator, including Natasha and Y/N. The green thing tried to get into the elevator as well, but it was full. All Y/N could do was to just stand next to Natasha and silently take in her surroundings. She didn’t know what to think of it all. 

As the elevator doors closed, the green one hit it so hard that the metal bent. No one seemed surprised by it, but Y/N was shocked. How had he done that? 

She turned around to look at Loki who now had his mouth covered by a metallic mouth guard.  Asking him anything at all would’ve been useless because there was no way he could answer with that thing on. No, she didn’t know what he had done or why he was treated like a prisoner, but it didn’t mean she didn’t feel for him. His face had appeared before her just a moment ago. Clearly, he was important. 

And he didn’t even look at her. 

Why did it hurt? 

Loki was all she could think about when they were led out of the elevator. The ground level was swarmed with people. A lot of them wore suits and the overall tension in the space was obvious. Looking outside through the big windows, she could see destruction and smoke. It didn’t take a fool to know that something terrible had went down there, wherever they were. 

They were stopped when a group of armed men walked right up to them, blocking the entrance. 

“May I ask you where you’re going?” An older man questioned the man with the briefcase. It seemed serious. 

“To lunch and then Asgard, and I’m sorry, you are?” The blonde one had let go of Loki as he answered the man’s question. 

The man with the briefcase answered for him, “Alexander Pierce.  He's the man, one of the folks behind Nick Fury,” He explained the latter a little bit quieter. 

Alexander didn’t want to waste any more time, “My friends call me Mr. Secretary. I'm gonna have to ask you to turn those prisoners over to me.”

Prisoners?

Y/N realized that only she and Loki were handcuffed. He must’ve been talking about them. The idea of going somewhere with Alexander Pierce made her uncomfortable for whatever reason. Like she wasn’t able to trust him at all. 

“Loki will answer to Odin himself,” The tall blonde man explained, “and Y/N? She’s not really a prisoner. I think not.”

“Oh they’re going to answer to us, Odin can have what’s left...of Loki,” Alexander sounded quite sure of himself, “And I’m gonna need that case. That's been S.H.I.E.L.D. property for over 70 years,” He gestured toward the briefcase. Whatever was inside it was beginning to catch Y/N’s interest. Why were people fighting over it? She wanted to know what it was.

“What do you mean? Why are you keeping Y/N?” Briefcase guy wondered. 

“She, just as the case, has been our property for years. We are not done with her!”

Their property? The sound of that made Y/N’s skin crawl. Why did they speak of her like she was less of a person? It made her sick to her stomach and she wanted to chew on the guy’s words, but decided to stay quiet for a little longer. The two guys were handling the situation just fine. 

The authority over the briefcase quickly turned into an argument right before their eyes. As they fought over it, Y/N turned around to look at Loki. He was taking in his surroundings, studying every little thing he could see. Was he planning something? 

For a moment, their eyes met and she could’ve sworn that his expression softened. It looked like he wanted to say something, but it was impossible. If she read his eyes correctly, she could tell that he was sorry. The man looked defeated and he had been quite sassy with everyone else. But now he looked at her with compassion, even if it was only for a second. She noticed it. 

Everything came to a halt when the briefcase fell on the floor and the man who had been carrying it began to visibly struggle. Everyone reacted to the man’s sudden change of demeanor and somehow, the briefcase slid away from them and no one seemed to care. What on earth was happening to him? 

A guard grabbed the briefcase and tried to walk away with it - just like that. It seemed wrong, but Y/N wasn’t going to stop him. Someone else did.

The green beast finally reached their level and he was upset. The door he had opened had pushed the guard on the floor and now the briefcase slid right back to their direction. The green one started roaring out in anger about how much he hated stairs, the people began to run away from him in panic. Y/N froze on the spot, staring at him wide eyed. She had no idea what he was capable of and she didn’t truly want to figure that out either. 

Instead, she fixated her eyes on the bright blue cube that fell out of the briefcase. It was beautiful. She couldn’t look away and she just watched as it reached Loki’s feet. Loki looked at it in astonishment, like he couldn’t believe his luck. Then before anyone could stop him, he bent down and grabbed it. 

He made the decision in a second and he didn’t hesitate at all when he ran toward Y/N and held onto her as well as he could with his cuffed hands. 

“What are you-” She didn’t even get to finish her sentence as a portal appeared right behind Loki. The sight of it took her breath away as she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It had bright blue edges just like the cube, but it led into seemingly eternal darkness. Before anyone could stop them, Loki stepped back into it, and pulled her with him.

The moment they entered the mysterious portal, it disappeared and Loki held onto her tighter. She was scared that something bad would happen if she let go, so instinctively she held onto Loki for dear life.

[Chapter 5 - coming soon] 

A/N: we’re out of canon timelines now so I can do whatever I want >:) Also I would love to hear your feedback! That always makes writing worth it. <3 

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