#probably scrapping so i had to save the teddies from the fire

[proxythe]

teddie …!!!!!!!!!!

[hotchs-second-wife]

DON'T BLAME ME || 6 || Jay Halstead x Teddy Rhodes

Chapter Synopsis: When a fire scene causes the power to go out in the area, Jay worries about Thea's safety while Thea worries about everyone else's.

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of attempted murder; mention of a beating; brief description of a vehicular accident; spousal worries/concern for partner's life; split-second allusion to suicidal ideation; Elli's speech STILL fluctuates. Read ahead at your own risk.

Author's Note: I forgot to change up the chapter warnings for chapter five upon posting, so you can see what was planned for that chapter and later scrapped.

Jay

Usually when we finished with a case, we'd all go home. I'd give Brooke a lift home while she called her roommate to let her know she was on her way, and to see if she wanted something to eat. Usually I'd be planning to get comfortable in sweats and a tank, or just sweats sometimes, and call Thea when I got home. Elizabeth would stay at Brooke's until Kelly finished his shift and picked her up.

Usually, I wouldn't be in the bullpen by now and wanting to be throwing my computer over Hawkins' and Lindsay's heads and out the window.

"Someone's missing his wife," Ruzek teased, a knowing smirk on his face.

Brooke laughed beside me. "She's probably thinking he's dead." I looked at her, and she shoved her phone into my hand. She knew my phone died half an hour ago, but I didn't think to bring my charger to work this morning and I had to let it die. "Call her, Halstead. She might not be losing her mind, but she'd still be expecting a phone call. Even if you're not shirtless."

"You've been calling your wife shirtless while she's in shift?" Ruzek teased, as I slipped into the break room to call my wife. Zero-three-two-one. Elizabeth's birthday was easy to remember when it was her aunt and your best friend's pin for her phone.

"Theodosia Rhodes; I can't come to the phone, so just leave a message. If it's CFD related, call Firehouse 51. If it's Dolan Rhodes related, call my store manager." Given she likely wouldn't check her voicemail for a week anyway, I sent her a text to call me on Brooke's number when she got the chance.

As soon as I hit send, the lights started to flicker and everything turned off.

"Ruzek, what did you touch?"

"Nothing!"

"Uh huh."

I gave Brooke back her phone as I sat back at my desk. I felt everyone but Brooke and Dawson were staring at me weirdly and I knew what it was about. My lack of reaction to the power outage. "First off, I've been in worse conditions. Second, my wife has to have all the lights off at our apartment or she can't sleep straight."

"Is that why she looks half asleep when she comes in during her shifts?" Lindsay asked with a frown.

Brooke reasoned, "they can't exactly turn off all the lights in the bullpen at 51 while there's people filling out paperwork."

Thea mentioned she was getting different blinds for her office windows to block out a good portion of the light from bullpen, but it was on her own dollar and the CFD wouldn't cover it, so it was taking a while to get to the firehouse even on express delivery.

"I might be rich, but that doesn't improve delivery times and traffic."

The backup generators kicked in and the lights flickered to a start, as the computers rebooted themselves and I noticed the file I hadn't saved was blank again. I internally groaned as Brooke answered her phone.

"Yeah, we're good...no, I'm still at work...of course, Jay's here. He's my way home...yeah, I can tell him...are you okay?...alright, I'll come see you guys soon...tell her I said hi!" She held her phone to her neck as she leaned to me. "51 was on a call; Teddy's okay, her phone was in the truck; she said she'll call back soon; and she's picking up my grandparents and Elli to have them at 51 with her and Kelly. Oh, and when we're done here, you can meet my sister."

"Thought you only had a brother," Olinsky, frightening us a little, piped in front him secluded desk.

Brooke hummed. "As it turns out, my dad got a woman he cheated on my mom with pregnant and I have a 21-year-old chef as a half-sister."

"Do you like her?" Lindsay asked, and suddenly we were all about Brooke's family issues. She didn't blame Katie, as her sister's name was, since it was Katie's mom that slept with a married man and their dad that slept with another woman while married.

While they talked about the Severides, I got to texting Thea. The first message was just a 'be careful' one, knowing the dark can make people lose their minds. When she sent a 'you too', I stopped myself from liking the message since I was still on Brooke's phone. I passed it back, and I turned to Ruzek for a charger. I wanted to talk to her on my phone.

#

Thea

Once Elli was settled with Katie, watching her cook in the kitchen, I checked on Kelly's grandparents and made sure they were comfortable in my office.

"Thank you, Thea." Kent shook my hand in both of his. "My grandson's got a good woman looking out for him."

I smiled, knowing that Kelly cherished their support with Elli. "Always, Kent. You're family."

"You too, kiddo." His attention was back on Agatha, and I left them to each other's company. Kent knew he just had to call out to Connie if they needed me, or Kelly for that matter.

As I walked around the firehouse, keeping an eye on the civilians, I noticed Boden talking to one of the women from a building fire some days ago. I sent him a simple nod with a knowing smile before checking in on Elli and Katie. Surely Katie was getting a little overwhelmed with how many people she and Cruz were cooking for.

"How's Auntie Katie doing, Principessa?" I hugged Elli's little body as I stopped behind her to watch the cooking over her head.

"Her cooking is better than Daddy's," Elli waved her sticky hands in my face to prove her point.

Katie smiled guiltily beside the stove. "She stuck her fingers into the sauce before I even noticed."

I shook my head, making sure Elli knew she couldn't do that, before I turned my attention back to Katie. "She gets it from Kelly, he can't help sticking his grimy hands into food either, and Brooke's the same. Might be the Severide genes."

"I can guarantee I will use a spoon," Katie laughed. I went to add something about her family's genetics, chalking up to the fingers-in-food thing to being Kelly's mother as we walked around to the bigger dining table, when a crashed and bang interrupted me.

A man was slamming a younger guy into the table, and Kelly and Boden rushed to separate them. I passed Elli to Katie, who held her niece closer to her shoulder. The man, after being shoved into the metal counter by Kelly, stole a knife from Cruz and waved it at everyone.

Kelly raised his hands in front of him. "Put the knife down, and get out."

"That guy's drunk brother put my niece in a coma!" The man shouted, pointing the knife at the kid he was beating up, before moving it on Kelly.

"We're not going to say it again," I pointed a finger at him I doubted it would do anything, but it was worth a shot. "Put the damn knife down and get out."

The man didn't move for a moment, staring at me, before he moved to rush Kelly and jump the kid again. Before he reached Kelly, I threw my head into his torso and pushed him into the round table as civilians previously sitting there fled. As I got my arms around him, the man slashed at me and I backed off instinctively.

My self-defence trainer had stopped training me since I started in the CFD when I was 18, so I knew I was a little rusty but the ache in my shoulder really shouldn't have felt as bad as it did.

The man swiped the knife at my face, the tip grazing my cheek and causing me to back up even more. Kelly rushed him, shoving the man into the counter again and making him drop the knife. Once the weapon was gone, Kelly grabbed the guy by the back of his neck and dragged him outside. Boden followed, silently telling me to stay put with the civilians.

I checked on Elli, who was crying from watching her parents get in a fight, and made sure Katie wasn't too panicked. When the guys came back inside, Kelly did the same and wiped the blood from my face.

Boden talked to the on-looking civilians, reassuring their safety, before he turned to us. A couple of my guys had appeared during the fight, and stood nearby. "Keep a look out for anyone wanting a fight; you do what Kelly just did and throw them out in the snow."

The guys and I nodded, knowing Boden was meaning us mostly, given our training. I patched up the cut on my face in the bathroom, as Gabby poked her head inside. "Jay's looking for you."

He was waiting in my office by the time I found him, and as soon as he saw the bandage on my face, Jay lifted his hand for his finger to lightly graze the plastic cover. "Shay called Brooke and said you'd been scratched. She didn't say anything about a knife until we got here though."

"I'm okay." I didn't even believe myself so much that my voice was shaky.

The frown he gave me was a dead giveaway he didn't believe me either. "Thea..."

Thank god Kent and Agatha weren't in my office, because as soon as my nose felt tight and my shoulders started shaking, I started crying and holding onto Jay's shirt.

I was terrified. Mortified that I could've been stabbed, and Elli would've seen her mom get stabbed. She saw her mom fighting. The only thing worse than that was seeing her mom get stabbed. I was doing everything I could to make sure Elli didn't have the same childhood as me, and I let my teenage self take over.

As soon as I met Herrmann and I knew I wanted to be a firefighter, I was going to put my fighting instincts behind me and I'd be a better person than teenage me was. When Elli was born, and I knew she needed a mother, I promised little newborn her that I would do everything I could to make sure she didn't see that version of me.

The version of me that punched first and asked questions later. The version of me that ignored how much her grief affected her that she hurt everyone around her.

But as scared as I was that my toddler saw me any differently, I was scared I was going to die. I didn't want to die. Sometimes I did, but in that moment? No way. I had people to live for now.

I had a husband, who I might not have married because I was in love with him, but I was in love with the time I spent in his company. I had a little girl who needed a mother. I had a best friend who needed my help raising his baby girl, because he was scared he'd end up being another version of his father.

I had a husband. We would have kids eventually. He would need their mother around as they grew up. Those kids needed their mother around. They needed their mother around. They needed their mother around.

"Theodosia, look at me." Jay's voice came through all the voices in my head, and I realised he had been holding my face for at least a few minutes. One thumb grazed over the bandage, and the other wiped the tears from the left side of my face. "You're okay, now. The bastard comes back to get you, I'll kick his ass before he comes in the door. I'm not letting him hurt you."

I bit my lip to stop the tears, just staring at Jay's face. Counting his freckles to calm myself down; his eyes were a really pretty shade of blue. They were so much prettier with the freckles all over his face too. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You didn't need to do anything to deserve someone caring about you, Thea. It's about time someone makes sure you know that. You're amazing, Thea, and I know Elizabeth looks up to you more than anyone."

"Teddy." I murmured, receiving a confused frown. "You can call me Teddy. We've been together long enough now."

Jay smiled. "Great. I was starting to get jealous of Brooke being able to call you that."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny."

"I am very funny, aren't I?" He grinned, looking a little too prideful.

We didn't get any more alone time, as Brooklyn threw open my office door. I was sure she was more worried about me than her brother, and she was ready to shoved Jay out of her way so she could take care of me.

"I'm okay, B. You two can head back to the district, I'm sure you're needed more there." I squeezed her hands with a little smile. As much as I liked Brooklyn, I felt bad taking any sympathy from her. She was younger than me, and she really didn't need to worry about me; her brother did that enough. "As long as Katie and Elli are okay, you need to get back."

Brooklyn gave Jay a look, before she nodded and she bid goodbye. Jay squeezed my hand before following after her. The sweetheart that Gabby told me about was starting to show, or maybe he always was one and I just didn't notice.

[trashyslashers]

Could you do some slashers (up to you which ones) that kill the abusive husband/boyfriend of the future s/o because they saw how that trash bag abused the s/o and their child? From then on the killer visits the small family regularly, at first just to check up, without them knowing and then more often because he really adores s/o and their child? Killer finally becomes part of the small family?

So… I was originally going to do Bubba and Jason, but because of how long Jason’s came out to be I decided to just do his because otherwise this would be incredibly lengthy.

Under a read more for obvious reasons. this is like unnecessarily long im sorry 

Urban legend or not, anyone who had any sort of brain knew that setting foot on the grounds of the camp was a surefire way to piss Jason off. Whether it was because he sought revenge on every living being ever and he could only get it if they were close enough or because he felt the camp was his own personal stomping ground that no one else had the right to touch, Jason was never merciful in his killings and the rumors and stories about what goes on up there kept people away for the most part. So why you took yourself and your child up there made no sense and you realized was borderline suicidal, if the gossip proved to be true.

Truth be told, you had no idea where else to go. Your partner was absolutely adamant on making sure you didn’t spend time with anyone else, not even family, so your next line of action: “Camping.” They, for whatever reason, didn’t protest as you threw some clothes in a bag, a tent in the car, your child in the backseat, and sped off down the street. Things at home had been quiet, the calm before the inevitable storm, and you figured your partner probably wanted a break from you as well. Whatever their reasoning for not pitching a fit about your request, you were relieved, albeit a bit tense. It wasn’t unusual for them to change their mind not too long after letting you do something, but you hoped that not telling them which specific campsite you were going to would deter them from looking for you.

It was mid autumn and to your pleasure no one else seemed to be at the camp. Your child, your son, was making friends with some fish in one of the small creeks that ran throughout the camp - you told him not to go near the lake, as he wasn’t a good swimmer - and you sat alone, in one of the shabby cabins that was hidden further back on the grounds. Your arms ached, your partner always seeming to grab ahold of them harshly whenever they were giving you an earful, and it resulted in your current yellow-brownish bruises that littered your upper arms.

Things were alright, for the day and a half you were there for. It gave you and your son some bonding time, something that was rare to come by as you worked and he had school, but dread was festering in the back of your mind as you knew eventually you had to go back. You’d only brought a few food items, camping foods picked up from a small market which you were running low on, and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t slightly unnerved by the strange noises you’d been hearing at night. You brushed it off as a deer, or maybe even a bear, wandering by and looking for scraps of food, but the footsteps you heard circling your cabin as night were making you increasingly paranoid.

You were cleaning up after dinner, which was just sausages you roasted and some miscellaneous canned foods you heat up for you and your son, when you heard it. The slam of a car door echoing through the trees, making your heart fall into the pit of your stomach. It was dark out, no other soul around for miles, and you could only pray that it was either another camper, or your partner whom you hoped was calm.

You were wrong as it wasn’t either - in a way. It was your partner, but they were the furthest thing from calm. Far from calm was an understatement, they were absolutely livid. Foul words and harsh exclamations were thrown your way - asking why you had been gone for so long, what the hell you were doing with the kid in the middle of the woods, why you didn’t tell them where you were going, names and words you’d never repeat and the like.

You, and more importantly your child, were terrified to say the least. All three of you were shut up in your cabin, your partner’s rage growing in intensity as you too argued. The arguing was mostly from their side as you were trying to diffuse the situation for the sake of your son, and it showed no sign of calming down any time soon. You tried to defend yourself, explaining you were only planning on staying away for a few days, you wanted to spend time with your son, and so on but they weren’t having it and things were escalating. The calm had ended long ago, the eye of the hurricane passed, and this was the storm.

You’d ushered your child into the small bathroom in the back of the cabin so he didn’t have to be around the fight, and you thanked your lucky stars for that. You rose your hands in attempt to get them to back up which proved to be a huge mistake as they lunged forward, taking hold of your left write in a vice like grip before yanking you forward, their palm making contact with your cheek, a sharp sting spreading throughout your face as you found your voice in time to just shout “Stop!”

The shove to the floor shook you, but not as much as the sudden kicking in of the cabin’s rotting door. You nearly wet yourself when getting a look at who did it - a hulking man donning a discolored hockey mask, but your eyes were fixated on the rusting machete held in his right hand. Your partner, who was just as confused and flabbergasted as you were, approached the man, their voice raising in volume as they asked who the hell they were, what they were doing, and demanded that they leave because it was family time, the hiss in their voice and their choice of words making you sick to your stomach.

Your voice croaked, a plea for help directed towards the strange man, but your partner was having none of it as he reached down to yank you up by your wrist, telling you to shut it and stop talking, a threat beginning to fall from his mouth but a sound - a wet splitting sound - interrupting him. You were about to ask what happened, but before you could even open your mouth, the body of your partner lurched forward, crumpling on the ground with a sick groan. Wedged in the back of their head was a machete, lodged right in the middle, splitting it down the middle.

Of course, you screamed. You screamed and cried until your voice was hoarse and your face was hot. Not even out of sadness for your partner, but of fear, confusion, loss. You just saw someone - the person you had a child with - killed right in front of your eyes, the same person who had spent the last 7 or so years tormenting, neglecting, and abusing you. Not only that, but the person who killed them was, to put it lightly, petrifying. 6’6 at least, covered in blood, clutching a machete half the length of your body. You didn’t even watch where he went as you got up and sprinted to the bathroom your son was in, slamming the door shut and locking it, shoving any shelf or box you could up against it.

You had no idea how long you sat huddled in the tub with your son. You were trapped, there were no windows in the bathroom, and your only hope was the man had left. It felt like hours, agonizing hours of fear and anxiety, had passed before you had the courage to even stand up. You told your son to stay put as you crept from the tub towards the door, pushing aside anything you blocked it with. The door creaked as you opened it, the sound almost making you jump out of your skin. You braced yourself for the worst.

The man was gone. The body was gone. The only sign anything had even happened was the shattered door and a light trail of blood streaked right across the splintery floor, but besides that, nothing. You wiped up the blood, dumping the towel in the fire, swept the door bits away, and called it a night with your son.

The next few days were a wreck. Your son was either in shock or incredibly apathetic to the death of a parent, but he seemed like he was doing alright. You had no idea where to go from there. You both felt safe and unsafe staying there - the man never came back. You drove you and your son home and back, getting more belongings from home before settling back in a cabin - a different cabin.

A few days progressed and you caught glimpses here and there of the man who killed your partner. Lingering in the bushes, just out of sight, a shadow passing by the window at night… you no longer felt afraid. The closest he got to you or your son was when your son had wandered close by to the lake, the man was standing in the bushes as if he were just keeping a watchful eye on him. Over time, you felt safe with him.

He approached you one day, more specifically you and your son. You arm found its way around your son, a bit unsure of what the man’s intentions were, your eyes fixated on his hand - the hand that was holding the machete before was now holding… was that a teddy bear? It was dwarfed by the size of his hand, but it was undoubtedly a teddy bear. He tentatively extended his arm towards your son, offering the toy to him. He absolutely towered over you. Your son found the bear in his hands, the man still looming over the two of you. Then it clicked. This was Jason Voorhees - the boy stuck in a man’s body, the boy who drowned in the lake as a child, the man who slaughtered anyone who came into his land - the man who killed your partner to save you and your son.

You three grew closer over time. You did have to go home on occasion - you were questioned by the police briefly about the disappearance of your partner - but your past abuse wasn’t completely a secret so they took your word when you said they just ran off one day. You borderline lived at the camp now, Jason seemed fine with it. He’d linger around the cabin, on occasion you’d wake up to him just… watching you and your son sleep. Your son seemed fond of him, often trying to talk to him about children’s stuff to which Jason seemed to enjoy as he’d sit next to him and nod his head along as your son rambled on about whatever.

You felt safe with Jason. You knew he wouldn’t hurt you. You couldn’t help but wonder why he helped you in the way he did - maybe it was solely because of your son, maybe he was more empathetic than the rumors said, maybe it was just random. Regardless of his reason, you were incredibly grateful.

[dreamingsushi]

Before we get married - Episode 1

Before I start my recap of this episode, let me mention that it is not the first time I watch it!  I first had a look at it a few weeks ago with a friend and I must say it was quite a weird experience.  Anyways.  Whan I saw the previews of the drama, I was quite intrigued by it because the theme and the plot seemed a little bit different from what we are used to and I thought it would be interesting to watch.  We’ll see from now on.

The first episode starts slowly by outlining for us the characters.  On one side, we have Chu Kehuan, apparently a very successful business man, while on the other side we have Zhou Weiwei, your average white collar it seems.  Both main characters have their first encounter in and out of a cab.  Zhou Weiwei is hurrying out of the car while Chu Kehuan is trying to get in.  On her way to meet some director, Zhou Weiwei bumps into a kid on a skateboard and spills the whole content of her purse including the taxi bill.  Since she needs to keep it to get reimbursed by her company, she runs after it.  That little piece of paper does have a will of its own as it flies from left to right back and forth.  Naturally, it’s Chu Kehuan that picks it up for her and as a quite arrogant little rich guy, he makes fun of her.

There, I’m already a little bit disappointed : the male lead is a rich little jerk and the female lead is scrapping every penny to live. I wish we wouldn’t have the rich-poor pattern, even though I don’t think Zhou Weiwei is poor, from her apartment and job I guess she would be from the middle class.

Destiny could have stopped her magic right there, but after they part and Chu Kehuan get in the cab, he finds Zhou Weiwei’s red planner.  Instead of asking the driver to wait and to get off the car a few seconds to hand it back, he keeps it.  That scene is really weird.  It’s like “Oh! A planner!�� Nice, I’m going to keep it!” Maybe Chu Kehuan is just a really indifferent person?

Well not when it comes to his work and his opponent.  Apparently Chu Kehuan is the run for a CEO position against Shu Mingge, another investment expert I believe.  To build up the tension, we have then getting set up in their office, as if going on the finals on a box-ring.  I think the whole preparation could have been edited out, it’s a waste of time.

We switch right away, before knowing who is going today’s big bet, to another office filled with overexcited workers trying to buy some camera that’s at a really good price.  Nice product placement there!  This scene is to introduce another character though and probably the most boring character ever : doesn’t own a credit card, believes cellphone is enough to take pictures, paper money is better than virtual money.  I think we have here a guy very much in love with money.

Better news! That office is also Zhou Weiwei’s office and boring guy... Well it’s obviously her boyfriend.  While on the bus, previously which I didn’t mention, she texted him, saying she wanted to meet with him after work.  He answered : “Even though today is a week day that we are not appointed to meet, I also want to see you.” I can’t stand the guy already.  He is a bore.

Up till now, it seems I really hate that show...  Well it only has been 12 minutes, maybe it’s going to get better!

Another little scene of the competition between Chu Kehuan and Shu Mingge.  Chu Kehuan is obviously losing with the value of the stocks he invested in going down, but he looks quite confidente still.  Pass.

Good.  Zhou Weiwei finally realizes that she lost her planner.  She goes to her roommate asking about it.  Han Kefei really is portrayed as a sex-addict.  Earlier in the morning, she’s showering with a guy that slept over, now she’s in a conference room trying to seduce (it looks a lot more like she’s forcing him to be there though) an employee.  Shouldn’t a manager like that be fired?  Why is she doing this in the conference room?  Why is she so violent about it?  I mean, what is happening there... Abusive boss in every way and Zhou Weiwei just tells her “you even eat what’s raw.”  I know they are roommate, but shouldn’t she report her to high ups?  I really don’t understand a thing about this.  Why is everybody so abnormal?

Again to the competition, Shu Ming gets cocky and naturally, that is when his stocks start dropping as Chu Kehuan’s are climbing higher.  No big surprise.  Lots of shocked faces, lots of slow motions to show the face expressions.  And finally, Chu Kehuan looks human and he waves his fist for victory.  So unlike him, but thanks for the effort for not being too sure of yourself.

And what better to celebrate this big win than playing tennis with a friend!  I must agree with you, being a CEO is the best.  Money making wise.  Workload wise, I can’t say.  And is anywhere better than the locker room to look through Zhou Weiwei’s planner?  He says he’s looking so he can find her, but by the way he’s flipping through, he’s going way too much in detail.  Her name and phone number are probably on the first page...  Ah, no, her business card is a the bottom of the planner.  Good job.  I must remark here that it looks like a bullet journal and I really love that because I love bullet journaling myself.  Bonus point for the bujo.

Well it seems Zhou Weiwei has a really bad memory and that’s why the planner is so important to her.  During her meeting, she can’t open the ppt for her project because she doesn’t remember the password for it.  The meeting is about to be cancelled when she is called by... no one else but Chu Kehuan!  So nice of him to bring the planner to her at her office building.  Not nice of him to try to hit on her.  Is it true that in western country, inviting somebody for coffee means you want to hook up?  To me it has always been a way to thank somebody for something they did for me.  I don’t know, maybe I should change my thanking methods...  Well, let me tell you that we are going for another love-hate relationship.  No clichés.  But at least, the meeting is saved.

So on her date with her boyfriend, she is clearly embarrassed by how cheap he is.  Then a collegue pass by the street and the try to hide : turns out it’s forbidden to date somebody from the company.  What a crappy rule : where do you expect your workers to find their partner if not at work?  Anyways.  It’s their three year anniversary, they are happy and the best way to celebrate is... by scanning old receipts to see if they can win some money.  Haha, Weiwei’s face is so funny, how romantic.  She definitely hates that her boyfriend is so cheap.  I can’t believe she still puts up with him.  Well at least it’s to buy a house together, I guess he is serious about her at some point.

Oh... I totally forgot.  The guy started dating her because on their first date, she paid her part of the meal they had together.  Darling, dump him.  This is so cringy, it’s not romantic.

Her three year anniversary gift?  A cup he bought with points he saved...  CHEAP.  CHEAP. CHEAP.  And when she wants to stay the night, he says no because it’s not Saturday and they agreed they would spend the night together only on Saturday.  DUMP HIM.  I know she most likely will somewhere in the future, but it’s already taking too much time...

At least she is unhappy with it so after she leaves she goes to a solo KTV.  I so want to try these, it’s like my dream.  Naturally, outside the cabin, BAM!  Chu Kehuan is there.  Fate is really strong between those two already, they bump into each other pretty much everywhere. Kehuan obviously also thinks so.  Three meetings in one day, that’s an amazing fate.  But he needs to ruin it by reciting by heart everything he saw about Weiwei’s finance.  He is so annoying.  Weiwei’s reaction in that particular moment the most realistic part of the whole episode so far.  I have to congratulate Puff Guo for her acting, I enjoyed it very much.  Well actually, even though Weiwei’s reactions are most of the time weird, I have to say the acting is on point.  At that point, I think the script is just strange.

Anyways, she gets mad and when she tries to go, she rips her shirt open.  I watch the scene a few times, I don’t get how it happened, she didn’t touch anything.  Maybe it was too tight on her, I don’t know.  Anyways, her underwear is showing, she’s shook.  For the first, Kehuan acts like a gentleman and cover her breast with his jacket.  If they were a couple, it would be such a sweet moment.  Please redo it 15 episodes later.  Thank you goodbye.

So she goes back home, tells the story to her sex addict roommate, gives herself a pep talk in front of the mirror : girl, it’s about time you realize you’re not happy.  Kehuan is annoying, the character is so unrealistic to me up till now, but at least, he knows how to turn somebody’s mind upside down.

The next, dear Kehuan keeps on calling Weiwei on the phone.  It’s really childish honestly.  Doesn’t he have anything more important to do?  Like, maybe... I don’t know... working?  Well at least we know he has a party that night and he makes his subordinate make sure that Weiwei attends.  Naturally, because it’s fate, the guy knows Weiwei’s roommate, seems like they had a thing sometime.  Well anyways, he convinces her to make Weiwei attend the party so they can find her a boyfriend.  This is so twisted.

So they go to the party, Weiwei tries to leave when she sees Kehuan, her friend threatens her to end their friendship if she leaves, twisted, twisted, twisted.  Lots of wine drinking.  Somebody teach them how to drink wine.  Please.  I don’t even drink wine and it bothers me.  And then they... THIS IS TWISTED OKAY?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS DRAMA??  They bring a crane game.  It Kehuan grabs a teddy bear successfully, he gets to sleep with any girl he wants at the party.  IT’S DISGUSTING!  I JUST CAN’T. NOPE.  THIS IS WRONG!!

As expected, he grabs one.  I don’t need to see the reste of the episode to know who he will ask out.  Yuck.  Dude, your morals are wrong.  Yup.  Of course, she doesn’t want to.  So instead he gives her three chances to grad a teddy bear to refuse him?  Okay.  NO.  And the crowd is cheering so she wouldn’t catch it?  What is this?  This is so inappropriate.  I don’t think something like that should be allowed in a drama.  And it wouldn’t be a drama if she didn’t loose.  They end up in a BDSM room and I am just thinking... what the hell am I watching...  At least, he just handcuffs her to the bed.  AS IF THIS WAS NOT BAD ENOUGH ALREADY...  He leaves the key hanging too far away for her to reach it.  In the process, we learn that he has a girlfriend.  Poor girl, I wouldn’t want to date somebody like that.  Dirtbag.

After he leaves her like that, he sees on his phone thousands of phone call, from whom I assume is his girlfriend.  I feel another twisted relationship coming.  Maybe it makes him regret or whatever, but he goes back to free Weiwei.

She runs to her boyfriend, but she can’t bring herself to tell him what happened even though she insists on staying over even though it’s not a Saturday night.

Kehuan gets home to his girlfriend, locked outside because she forgot the door’s key.  I can already tell the relationship is so unhealthy.  She basically worships Kehuan and if she could, she would be his slave.  That’s really not a good start.  I can already see he’s bored with her.  Two unhappy couples.

The episode ends on Weiwei deleting Kehuan’s invitation on a social media to be friends or to follow her, I couldn’t recognize the app.

Overall...  This is twisted.  I will try the next episode, the preview are still intriguing me, but so far I am not enjoying it so much.  I hope it gets better soon.  If ever you decide on watching, just be prepared : this drama is kinda more adult like.  It is definitely not for a younger public.

Thanks for reading, see you on another episode!

[thestalkerbunny]

"I think what I miss most of all.....is..Sugar" Marnie had said finally after what felt like hours of contemplation of the question.

The rest of the group nodded solemly. For the past 5 weeks-or what their wrist pads assumed was 5 weeks-they had been surviving solely on M.R.E Packets. The food was bland, tasteless-but assured to give them the recommended nutrients to survive. And sadly, there had been more and more of the M.R.E.s to go around. What started as a group of 20 strong had been cut down to 5. The trechrous terrain, the frequent intense quakes that took place practically on clockwork-some times just spontanious. The lack of shelter, the heat in the mornings, the freezing cold at night, it had picked them off one by one.

"I think you need to be more specific." Adra mused, placing her chin on a hand. "Like, there's so many kinds of sugars. Chocolates, fruit candies, carmels, licorices-"

"Nobody likes Licorices, Adra." Tia snapped, still in a foul mood. She had slipped early that morning and twisted her leg. She still sat there, letting her food go cold as she tried to use the scraps of medical supplies they had left to make sure her leg didn't get anyworse. Adra scowled at Tia in distain

"The cherry ones are good. The kind you pull apart in strands? The Black stuff can go off and die." Adra tried to defend herself. Tia muttered something and went back to her leg. Marnie stirred the greyish brown glop around for a minute in it's vacum sealed package.

"I just miss sugar in general. I remember Vannie-do you remember Vannie? She'd work in the cafeterias at the academy. And every now and then, when we got Sugar in, she'd give me a little bit extra. I dont know why. Maybe it was because I didn't complain or bitch about her cooking. "Marnie dared once again to put more of the M.R.E into her mouth, gagging as it slid down. "Anything honestly tastes better than these things."

"Didn't Vannie die before we left?" Adra asked quietly. Marnie bit her lip, regretting sharing her fondness. It had become a habit of Adra to recall bitter awful events. There had been contaimination out breaks more and more frequently before the mission had been launched. Those who had ventured outside became contaminated with a white pollen that smelt so sweet like the Sugar they all longed for. And it dragged whoever touched down a dark cold path into death. "They found her in the kitchen. She cut off her hands."

"Y...yeah." Tia muttered. "Vannie....Vannie was one of the good ones. She didn't deserve to die like that."

The silence took the group again, the 5 of them quietly watching the fire crackle and flick agaisnt the obsidion landscape. No dirt to press hands into, no grass, not even a soft breeze to blow against the carapace of their suits. Even the sky was empty and starless. It was like being in a giant black hole. Mix's head laid on Adra's lap, quietly and fitfully sleeping. It had been a long hard day for them all, more so on Mix. Mix's own sister, slipped and fell off the cliff side-hours before they set up camp for the night. The minute they set the fire up, she laid down and went to sleep-hoping to escape the sorrow she was feeling in the waking hours that was her new reality.

"Nobody deserves to die like that." Yi finally stated. The 4 looked at the commander, the leader of this mission. She had a face that took great effort to look at-let alone love. She was covered in scars from foolish errors and mistakes that were not repeated to scars of bravery. One eye didn't work, the eyelid sealed up with stitching, claw marks decorating it. "And that's what this mission is for. To make sure none of us have to venture out while that contaimination is still surrounding our colony." The group nodded in affermation.

The Mission. With the contamination surrounding their colony of only a few generations old-everything was at risk. The inhabitants were starving, babies where weeping and crying to be fed, tensions were rising among the ranks from soilders to commanders. Everyone was turning against each other out of pure starvation. It was the portal that was their saving grace. It appeared in short sparatic periods during the day, appearing for long swaths of time at night. On the rarest occasion it spat out nutrients that kept everyone calm. Not big chunks, but small tidbits, like a stingy ungrateful god. It was something to keep them satisfied, but it was never enough.

Tia, Adra, Marnie, and Mix had been hand picked into the group of 20 to go on this mission by Yi herself. Tia, a member of the enhanced solidjer training program, Adra who had been one of the surviving scientists that came, Mix the scout, Yi their commander and Marnie the Linguistics and historical artifaces expert. All that was left after 16 deaths of friends and comrades since they entered this damned portal in the hopes of finding the source.

"Look. It's a long day tomarrow. We make the home stretch." Yi rolled out the map that their cartographer, Stevie, prior to her being taken by the heat, had made. Yi had taken up the mantel and was filling it in as they went. "Stevie and Yonie said that according to the mineral trail and the carbon they found on the nutrients that came thru the portal it's less than a few more hours away. We make it to the source, we take what we can and we get out. We've lost too many good women on this venture. I dont want anyone else lost." Yi's one good eye cast over her few remaining crew members. "I want everyone of you to be careful. And I'm not saying this to be a nag. " Tia rolled her eyes as Adra nodded solemly. "Marnie are you listening to me?" Marnie had been sitting there silently as Yi spoke, tearing a part the reminants of her M.R.E. Package into small shreds.

"hmn." She looked up. Yi's one good eye stared intently at her. "I'll be careful, Yi. I was listening." Yi turned away from the artifacer.

"Good. I want you all to get some good sleep tonight. We need all the strength we can muster to make it tomarrow." Yi watched quietly as her girls laid down one by one. Tia made her place a bit farther off from the others-her training demanding isolation to assure her strength. Adra gently laid down Mix on the group, Mix fitfully turning over. Adra sighed and submitted and curled up against Mix, acting as a teddy bear in place of a twin sister who dutifully was always by Mix's side. Marnie shuffled and prepared to settle in for the night.

Marnie had only been asleep for maybe less than an hour before she felt something shake her awake.

"Hmnn? wazut-"A hand shoved against Marnie's mouth. Yi placed a finger, shushing her to silence. "Yi??" Marnie wheezed quietly. "Yi what's wrong?"

"Nothiing, I just wanna show you something" Yi whispered. She pulled Marnie up off the ground. "This way, Marnie." Marnie stumbled as her commander tugged her hand along. Yi led Marnie down thru the blackness for the longest time. Marnie was still blinking, trying figure out if this was just another stress induced dream brougth on by the mission and the M.R.E's mixing in her stomach poorly. Yi finallly stopped pullnig her along, stopping before a slate against the black void wall. Marnie took a tenative step forward, her hands covering her half agape mouth.

"My god, Yi-it's.....it's so beautiful." Marnie whimpered. "I....I think im going to cry." She rushed to the slab running her hands over the sleek surface and the indented ruins, the massive holes along the horizontal side. "Look at this thing, it's HUGE! How long do you think it too them to carve this? And look at these massive holes-the edges are so clean and sharp it's like they were PUNCTURED! And the paint-oh god the paints!" She flinched as she ran her fingers along the marks and runes that ached to be dechipered and decoded. "Yi, this is the best thing I've seen this entire TRIP! I gotta take pictures I can spend the whole trip decoding it, this is thing could tell us what the beings of this world had been like-are like?! I DON'T even KNOW! I thought this entire plane of reality was empty and abandoned, but this is proof that some sort of life has been here and left it's mark! I-" Marnie stopped her excited chatter as she felt Yi take her hands again. Marnie looked up at her commander. So rarely did Yi smile, back home and on this mission. But she smiled at Marnie.

"I'm glad your happy." Yi said quietly, running her thumbs over the palms of Marnie's unscarred hands. "It's....so nice to see you smile again."

"Ptthph-what are you talking about, Yi, I smile."

"Not since we left. You were so excited to come on this trip and you seemed to dissapointed the closer and closer we got to our destination. You never found anything along the way." Yi let go Marnie's hand and placed her palm against Marnie's cheek. Marnie pressed the hand against her cheek wit her hand, feeling the scarred skin of her commander. She closed her eyes briefly, in bliss. "So every chance I got, I went out looking for something, anything really-any sign that there was life at one point. And I found this thing. An-and I dont know what it is or what it means, but you probably would." Marnie looked up at Yi who immediately turned a bright red color.

"Yi, this means the literal world to me. You can be.....really sweet. When you're not stressing over the well being of others to the point of exhaustion." Marnie leaned up on her toe tips and lightly pressed her lips against Yi's tattered scarred ones. "And you know what." Marnie whispered after breaking the chaste kiss. "You mean the world to me too. So I want you to be careful tomarrow, too. You said you dont wanna lose the rest of us....well.....I dont wanna lose you. I'd rather come home with nothing and you alive than to come home with everything but lose you."

Yi made a sharp tittery noise a cross between an akward giggle and her weak attempt at clearing her throat. "oh uh-well then. If-if you say so." Marnie pulled away and pulled up her camera off her wrist pad and began to immediately clicking picutres of the slab as her commander waited for her to finish, still giggling and tittering quietly to herself.

-

The minute day broke, they left the encampment. It didn't take long for their remaining memebers of the mission to catch on how insufferably hot it got during the day. Sometimes the pitch black scaled ground burned to the touch. They were making double time, the few perks of suddenly going from a group of 20 to a simple set of 5 in only the span of a few days. Yi and Tia led up in front as Mix and Adra tailed in the middle. Marnie kept lingereing back behind, still trying to study the pictures on her wrist pad, running to catch up and make sure she wasn't left behind.

"Come on, Marnie, KEEP UP! Or we're leaving you on this black shit stain of a plane of reality." Tia snapped angrily. Marnie snapped to attention again, scowling at Tia's scolding. The super soilder program had it's perks, but Tia just seemed angry all the time.

The blackened plains gave way to a vast silver smooth surface eventually that shone and blinded them in the sunlight. In the far distance, there seemed to be giant pillars that reached twords the heavens and a swirling black storm that surrounded them, crackling with electricty and life.

"It's like it's made of solid mercury." Mix whispered softly, sheilding her eyes from the reflection. Adra tapped away at the Wrist Pad.

"The Chemical count in the air says it's at least 70% plastics. It seems solid and safe to walk on."

"Is it though?" Tia growled, tapping the edge of the silver with her boot tip. "70% isn't a lot. Look, follow in direct line after me, step where I step. MARNIE, PAY THE ATTENTION"

Marnie jerked back up out of her daze. She had been staring at the storm high above in the distance, looming and encircling their destination. Something about the way the clouds moved mesmeriszed her so much that she was almost stuck in a trance.

"YEa-YEAh." She studdered. "Follow you, step where you step." Tia's glare lingered for a long while before turning to the horizon ahead. Tia immediately slipped and stumbled after the first 3 steps, her boots unused to the slick smooth texture of the silver ground below making her look like a new born baby deer learning how to walk. Mix laughed, the noise startling the party at first. It had been weeks since they heard anyone make a remotely positive happy sound since this started. Tia snarled and found her footing.

"Alright, alright, laugh it up. Come on we're burning daylight."

The procession began their cautious treck twords the pillars, only slipping once in a while against the ground. It felt like ages, time passing so slowly. The air grew cold and stale after awhile, the heat giving away to a coldness that the group had never truely felt before.

It was then when Adra's body began to shut down.

It started with a slip here and there, Marnie running back to help her up. And then it turned to a stumble. Then into Adra barely making a few feet ahead at a time. The Mission had been running her ragged, every waking hour she had spent trying to analyze the plane, she was running on fumes and what remained of her hopes and dreams. She eventually submitted to riding on Tia's back. It was when they were only a few hundred feet away that Tia suddenly stopped in her tracks, frozen in place for several minutes.

"Captain Tia, what's wrong?" Yi demanded. "Why have you stopped?" Marnie watched as Tia slowly swallowed and took a very slow breath.

".......Dr. Adra........Has......left us."Tia whispered slowly.

"What?" Mix quivered softly. Tia shrugged Adra off her shoulders and laid her on the ground. She looked like she was asleep, something she truely deserved. There were still dark rings around her eyes and her face was so hollow. Tia got down on her knees and placed an ear against Adra's chest.

"She's gone." Tia murmered quietly. "I felt her stop breathing. No....no gasping. No sudden movement. She just slipped away while she was sleeping." Mix crumbled to her knees and began to obsessively shake Adra's unmoving form.

"No- NO. ADRA. ADRA WAKE UP! PLEASE ADRA. ADRA-ADRA-" She began to hysterically scream. Yi and Marnie watched as Tia pulled back her hand and struck Mix clean across the face.

"GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, SCOUT." She practically had to scream over Adra's wails of pain and misery. Tia grabbed Mix by the shoulders and began to violently shake her "She's GONE. SHE'S DEAD. SHE ISN'T COMING BACK."

"Captain." Yi snapped. Tia pulled back immediately away from Mix who immediately threw herself back over Adra's now cooling body, sobbing into her friend's shoulders. Yi turned her attention to Mix. "Private Mix, we have to keep going. We will have time to mourn for Dr. Adra later. Right now, we are so close to completeing our Mission."

Mix made a few more heaving noises before finally pulling her face up-eyes ringed red and snot dribbling from her nose as fat tears covered her face. She looked like a child. Sometimes Marnie forgot that Mix had been one of the youngest of them.

"It's....what Adra would have wanted." Marnie said gently, getting down on Mix's level. "Complete the mission. Make sure she didn't die in vain. That.....none of them died in vain. Comon." She wrapped her arms around Mix and pulled her up. "Let's keep going." Mix choked and sniffled as Marnie led her on twords the Pillars. Yi and Tia hung back for a moment.

"Commander, what should we do? Shall we burn the bodies like the others?" Tia inquired flatly. Yi had knelt down by Adra's cold body and was pulling things out of her pack. Notes, pictures, flash drives to her Wrist Pad. Commander Yi stopped as she pulled a locket off Adra's neck. It had the royal crest on it in beautiful white engraving ink. She felt a lump fill her throat at the single sight that brought her such comfort and memories of home.

"Yes. Burn her." Yi finally managed to say. "Catch up with when we're done. We're heading on ahead." Tia pulled out her lighter as Yi turned on her heels and jogged ahead to catch up with Marnie and Adra. Tia bit her lip. This would make around the 12th person she had to burn on this damned mission.

The smell still was so sour no matter how many times she smelled it.

-

The towers were sleek and white with bright marking along the entire circumfrance. Numerous towers stuck out of the base, tall and proud. Almost organic looking. Had she not have her arms wrapped around Mix, still comforting the now deadly silent Scout, Marnie would have gotten just as excited as she had the night before when Yi showed her the slab. Yi and Marnie stared mesmerized by the tower and the organic pillars.

"What are they?" Marnie whispered softly. Yi consulted Adra's wrist pad and her eyes grew wide and white.

"Food." She said, jogging a bit ahead. "They're FOOD." She practically screamed.

"Wait-COMMANDER, oh shit, comon Mix" Marnie unwrapped from around Mix and grabbed her hand, pulling her along as she ran after Commander Yi. Yi had reached the tower and practically flung her arms against the base and hugged it's sleek surface.

"It's NUTRIENTS. It's what we've been hunting for." She practically shrieked, giddy. Marnie looked confusedly at the slender organic trees, vaugely yellow with large malformed crystals growing out of them.

"It's food?" she echoed dumbly. Yi excitedly pointed at Adra's wrist pad, numbers and figures that didn't make sense to Marnie.

"It matches the coding sequence perfectly to the crumbs that came thru the portals. This is the SOURCE of all the food we've been recieving." Yi giggled practically giddy with thrill and excitement. "If we can just get some seeds to take back or even some fragments of the trees, we can regrow them back at the colony."

"Then that's what we'll do." Tia said, finally making her apperance, smelling of campfire, her face still grim. "Everyone load up on seeds and fragments." She pulled the grappling gun out of her pack and shot it up twords the tall edge of the slick pillars. It made a satisfying 'Kch-CHNK!' noise as it looped around something far in the sky. Tina gave expermintal tug. "We're gonna have to climb up."

"Mix are you okay to climb?" Marnie asked quietly. The Scout turned away for a minute before slowly nodding. "Okay. Good. It's almost over."

The Climb took what felt like hours, the sky above changing to a soft pale orange as they got higher and higher. Marnie felt like something was coiling around her throat and worming it's way into her lung the air was so thing. By the time she managed to pull herself up to the edge where Yi and Tia were already waiting, she was completely out of breath.

"God......Dammit......." She gasped. "I'll......never..........get used to.....climbing like this....." Marnie struggled as she pulled herself up to her knees. "What's......wrong?"

"It's Mix." Captain Tia said flaty. Marnie looked around and saw Mix standing at the edge of the pillar, gazing out at the empty blackness that they had traveresed. The wind whipped around her for a minute and she looked up at the sky. She made a soft gasping noise as she gazed up into the heavens.

"Oh god........Oh God.........Oh God.........."She whispered over and over again. Marnie watched as tears welled up her already swollen red eyes, trickling down her cheeks. "There's no way back."

"Mix, come over here away from the edge." Commander Yi ordered. Mix didn't move. She stood frozen, staring at the sky. "Mix?" The scout raised a foot forward. "TIA!" Yi screamed as Mix took a step forward into the abyss. Tia had already darted before Yi had even gave the order and flung herself across the ground, scraping her stomach as her hands wrapped around Mix's dangling over the edge. Marnie screamed and ran and half stumbled over to help Tia pull Mix up

"DAMMIT MIX, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?" Tia snarled trying to heft Mix back up. Mix's body was limp and quiet and when Marnie had reached the edge and held out her own hand for Mix to grab, the Scout had finally looked up. Marnie stared at those red ringed eyes that had cried so much. Truely mourning for every loss this mission gave to them. The loss of all her friends, of her own twin sister, of Adra.

"Don't look at the sky." She whispered. Mix then grabbed something from her boot and Tia began to scream as a hunting knife was embedded into her wrist.

She let go.

And just like that, Mix was gone.

Marnie felt the tears burst out of her eyes as she had watched Mix's saddened face dissapear into the blackness and minutes later, the tell tale thump of her comrade's death. She couldn't make a sound, not even a squeaky sob no matter how much she wanted to. She felt like she had just run out of sadness, run dry of tears.

Tia was still howling as she ripped the knife out of her wrist and immediately began to try and lick it clean like she was an animal. Yi stood there, frozen by what just happened. In a single day, she had lost 2 more subordinates, one to the sheer exhaustion and the other one who simply tossed herself over the edge. She felt that knot well up in her throat again as she watched Marnie pull herself off the ground and turned to Yi.

"What did she mean, 'Dont look at the sky' ?" Marnie whimpered. Yi shook her head slowly and for the longest of times, the two stared at each other, afraid to go first.

"One." Yi started.

"Two" Marnie whispered

"Three." They both said and turned their eyes up to the skies above.

It was then when Yi threw up everything she had in her stomach. The rations burned as they came up in a greyish bile and the commander ungracefully gagged it all up a the feet of her subordinate. Marnie didn't even seem to notice. She stared up the way Mix did, transfixed and hypnotized.

"Those......Those are........."She finally wheezed. The tightness in her lungs constricted even more and she almost felt faint. Tia who had finally stopped screaming and licking her wrist also had looked up.

"Teeth." She murmered quietly.

Numerous flat plates hovered into the muted orange sky that began to turn black and clouded again. The Darker the skies grew, the sharper and brighter those teeth grew in neat rows that spread into the most mencing of cresents. The mouth seemed to stretch for miles, high above. It eventually pulled a part and wheezed and suddenly a blast of hot air nearly knocked Marnie off her feet. It smelt putrid, it smelt like death and it smelt like the bodies that Tia had burned 13 times in the past 5 weeks. The way the black clouds moved and squirmed reminded Marnie of worms in a garbage bag, pushing and pulling-trying to release themselves from their imprisonment to no avail. It was nausating to watch, but like a train accident, she couldn't find it in her soul to tear her eyes away.

Marnie watched as one, two-no FOUR-eyes blinked slowly into existance. Pupils rolled around the whites of the eyes trying to focus in on something before finally zeroing in on the organic pillars. There was a loud noise that almost sounded like whistling as numerous tentacles-about five of them shot from the skies. The tendrils wrapped around the pillars and the ground shook violently as the organic pillars were ripped up. The tendrils retreated into the massive maw, already salivating and dripping massive droplets that splashed into the ground, turning it almost grey and weak. Tia struggled to her feet as she also watched this giant beast, this abomination dine upon the nutrients they had sought for so long like it was nothing. The pupils began to roll about against in all directions, trying to take in everything all at once.

Then it zeroed in on them.

"Run." Tit hoarsely coughed.

"uhuhh." Marnie moaned, still entranced. Yi spat into the ground and struggled back up to her feet, legs shaking.

"GODDAMIT, RUN-RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE, MARNIE!" Tia screamed at the top of her lungs as the tendrils shot down again, striking meters away from where they stood. The ground shook so violently as the tentacles hit the tower's surface. Everything began to crumble at once at the impact, the tentacles squirming around, seeking out anything it could to destroy. Yi grabbed Marnie by the hand and began to run. Marnie barely snapped out of her trance as Yi pulled her along before she could find the brain connects to make her legs move. She looked back in absolute horror as the tentacles reached Tia and Tia, god oh Tia.

Tia had whipped out the hunting knife that Mix stabbed her with and lept upon the tentacles. She shived the squirming creature repeatedly only for it to throw her immediately. Tia had barely bounced back from the impact when a single tentacle reared up and slowly pressed down on Tia's body and all that followed was a whimper and sickening popping noise.

Marnie could feel the rations crawling up her own throat, now ready to throw up. Yi was frantically pulling Marnie along, trying out run the shaking of the ground and the tentacles that suddenly caught on to the fact that there were 2 missing. The slithering tentacles moved after them in an alarming pace, it's vibrating pulsating flesh catching them in minutes. Marnie and Yi began to hysterically scream as the tentacles wrapped around them and pulled them up in the heavens, the air practically crushing them against the pulsating flesh.

"Yi-oh god YI!" Marnie screamed, looking over at her Commander. The impact as the tentacles had grabbed them left Yi in a limp rag doll like safe, ragged breath pulsating in and out of her body. The Tentacles finally stopped moving and the air pressure released her from her imprisonment. Marnie laid on her back and stared in the 4 eyed abyss that stared back with judgemental slit like eyes, as if it was struggling to see the insignifagant speck that was Marnie and Yi's body. At the far distance, the abomination simply looked like something trapped in a garbage of sorts trying to get free. Up this close to it now, her tune had changed. It wasn't trapped. It was the opposite.

And Marnie couldn't stop screaming.

-

Commander Yi stirred awake 8 days later. The sound of hospital noises filled her ears, nurses heels clacking about as they scurried, the intercom system asking for a Dr. Nadia to come to the ER, the sounds of saline drips, resperaitors and the common wheezing and drone of a hospital. It was all so familiar to her, she had been in hospitals numerous times before.

She just never expected to be in one again after the Mission.

"Marnie." She croaked. Her throat felt try and tattered, every fragment of her body burned when she tried to twitch her muscles.

"Oh god, you're awake." Whispered the nurse that had been checking on the saline that had been hooked up into Yi's body. Yi's one good arm shot out and grabbed the Nurse violently by the wrist. She squeaked out in surprise.

"WHERE'S MARNIE." She tried to scream, but only came out again in a hoarse broken whisper. "Is Marnie okay? Did she make it-"

"Commander, please. Dont move so quickly." A familiar voice chided. Yi turned her head. Dedria sat in a plastic grey chair in the small hospital room. Dedria had been head of the department that worked to open the portals and study them. It was with their smooth talking that they even got the money for the mission. Dedria nodded slightly at the Nurse who quickly finished hanging up the saline and scurried out, shutting the door behind her.

"What happened?" Yi croaked again.

"Well. We manged to get a pin point on your location. I mean, after we lost it week 4. It took a bit of work, but we finally managed to get a bead on you and force open a portal underneath you. You could imagine our shock when you fell in. We could have sworn you were dead Yi." Dedria stood up and walked over to the wall which had instructions for the nurses to follow. "A broken arm, shattered ankle, rib cage completely caved in, a concussion so severe that it could put the best of our military to shame. Your internal bleeding was so rampent that you were basically just a sack of broken bones and blood. We manged to pull a 3 nighter and put you back together, Humpty Dumpty." Dedria chuckled softly. Yi's one good eye blinked slowly.

"How long have I been-"

"8 days. Solid week. Doctors said you were already showing signs of extreme fatigue that they essentially had to put your body into a drug induced coma so it'd get the proper repair time that it needed." Dedria slowly rubbed the back of her neck. "I didn't think you'd wake up so early. I thought you'd be out for another month."

"Where's Marnie?"

"Hmn?" Dedria blinked confusedly for a few minutes.

"Dr. Marina of the Artifacers and Linguistics Department." Yi said slowly and deliberately. "Where is she?" Dedria sighed slowly.

"Yi, you were in pretty bad shape when you fell in. You were borderline dead. We dont know what happened while you were in the Black Plane....but.......Marina......" Dedria pinched the bridge of her nose as if this was extremely difficult to think about, let alone explain. "Marina is broken."

"Broken." Yi flatly ecohed.

"She was awake and concious when you two fell in. And she's been awake for 8 days straight. She's stopped sleeping, Yi." Dedria looked away from Yi to avoid the Commander's single intense gaze. "I dont think she could if she wanted to. She's been admitted to the hospital's psychological ward."

"I want to see her."

"Yi, you still need time to heal up, your ribs are still basically mush-"

"DEDRIA." Yi snapped. "Please. Please Dedria."Yi began to sob quietly. "I need to see her." Dedria bit her lip, her brow furrowing. She hating seeing people cry, especially people like Yi.

"Alright........I'll.....I'll see what strings I could pull."

"Thank you, Didi." Yi whispered.

"Dont call me that. Yi-Yi." Dedria snorted as she left the room.

-

Dedria made good on her word. It took 3 days of smooth talking, bribery and Yi behaving for once in her long track record of numerous hospital visits, but she was finally confirmed wheelchair ready. Yi winced as Dedria and a nurse helped her into the chair. Everything still felt sore and they were already trying to ween her off the painkillers that had been helping make this entire ordeal bareable. Yi was on a cocktail of drugs, sleeping pills, tranquilizers, painkillers, antibiotics. Yi had begged Dedria to get a drink repeatedly during her visits, only to have her superior wave her away and say 'Maybe when your pee can get thru a drug test clean, Yi.'

Needless to say, Yi was starting to develop a worse temperment than usual when confined to one place. But for Marnie she behaved. That was the only thing that kept her from going absolutely apeshit on the nurses, doctors, on Dedria. And it was the promise to visit Marnie.

Dedria wheeled Yi down the long white corridor, patients waiting out in halls being tended to by doctors-some obvious victims of the white poison that still was spread around the colony.

"Things have tapered off a bit."Dedria explained as they turned. "They've been working on some strong counter agents against what they're calling 'White Death'. People that have been exposed to it have at least a 70% chance of survival now."

"That's good." Yi muttered, trying keep calm. Dedria wheeled her into the elevator and pressed the button for the psychological ward.

"Yi.....we need to talk about Marina-I mean....Marnie."

"What's there to say?"

"She......she's worse than I intially let on. You think you're on a lot of stuff right now? Dr. Marina-Marnie, I mean, she's on everything this hospital's got. Painkillers, anti-psychotics, anxiety medication, stomach pills, she can barely keep food down and she can't sleep without borderline overdoses of sleep medication."

"She's been thru a lot." Yi mumbled. "That.....place.....that Black Plane. It was Hell, Dedria. I'm pretty sure you sent us to Hell."

"Look. I'm just saying." Dedria chuffed a sigh as the door slid open and Yi was wheeled down to Marine's room. "Just....get ready for the person you're about to meet."

The room was dark. The windows drawn and the only noise was the sound of saline drip and the snow of the tv. static. Yi could barely see the outline of Marine sitting up hunched over in the bed. She slowly rocked back and forth.

"Marnie?" Yi whispered softly. The figure jerked around and stared at Yi with wide awake eyes, ringed red and sleepless. Marnie gave a ragged inhale and exhale.

"It was on the outside." She croaked. Yi tilted her head, confusedly. "It's insides. Where on the outside. It had no skin. It was like a living mass of meat tissue. There was no carapace, no exoskeleton, everything just exposed to the elements and it was that size. It was that size. And we were eating it's scraps. It's Insides were on the Outside."

"Marnie-" Yi wheeled a bit forward as Dr. Marina of the Artifacer and Linguistics department began to cry, burying her face into her hands and screamed again and again thru the tears.

"ITS INSIDES WERE ON THE OUTSIDE, ITS INSIDES WERE ON THE OUTSIDE. ITS INSIDES WERE ON THE OUTSIDE."

-

"So yeah, we had ants in the car." Reeda said taking a sip of her sprite. Her mother raised a slight eyebrow as her daughter regaled her with the tale of her school day.

"It's all that junk you and your brother leave in the car. I keep telling you if two vacumed it once in a while"

"It's fine." She waved off her mother's scolding. I mean, I think like some of them got near my french fries. I smooshed like one and I let the other two get away. I threw 'em outside"

"You should have just killed them both."Her mother sighed, pulling the ant poison out from under the skin. The Ant problem was just getting worse around the part of the yard where they parked the cars.

"Yeah. But I like to leave at least two alive." Reeda took another sip of her sprite. " 'Go tell your people what you saw here' Kinda thing you know?"

"They're ants, sweetie. It's not like they're that complex"

"Eh. I guess you're right." She shrugged. "I just want them to think twice about trying to steal my french fries like that."

[itstheendofthegoddamnworld]

My Night Guard (Ahkmenrah x Reader Inserted.)

A one-shot of Ahkmenrah because I love him and Rami Malek too much. I love the Night at the Museum movies and I was so sad that they didn’t make anymore, they will always be part of my childhood! Sorry if it sucks!

You had always loved history. From a young age, you always found yourself trying to go visit any museum close by, learning about historical figures and events that shaped and mapped our world today.

You were just 16 years old when your parents divorced, your dad deciding to go back to live in New York, to stay with his close relatives, and your mum staying back home in London. You were just an only child, and unfortunately, that meant you had the decision of choosing where to live with, all thanks to the divorce agreements.

In the end, you decided to live with your dad and go across the pond to live with him in New York, and occasionally go back to visit your mum once a year back home in London.

It was alright, to be honest; you did miss your mum from time to time, your friends you had to leave back in London, but you managed to make new friends at your new high school that you went to for two years. Managing to pass all your exams and get that offer from your universities that you wanted, and to study a degree in Law and History.

But, you didn’t.

You scrapped the whole idea and decided to just... take a year out. You did know that your dad was disappointed with your final and last-minute decision. Mainly because he wanted you to be happy and to succeed and get the best job out there. But you knew there was much more to the world that you wanted to explore.

So, you began saving up, going from a part-time job to another, and unfortunately not finding the job that was ideal enough for you. That was for 3 years now, and you still hadn’t found a job that stuck.

Luckily for you, your uncle, Larry, was a former Night Guard at the Natural History Museum in New York, and you immediately fell in love with the idea of being stuck around history for the night. It kinda sucked at first; missing out on 8 hours of sleep a night, but that was a risk you were willing to take. On the other hand, it meant that you could just lounge around at home during the day.

What Uncle Larry didn’t tell you was that the Museum’s artefacts... came to life each night, so it was both thrilling and nerve-racking to be chased the first night by a t-rex. It got eventually better, you got to speak and meet famous figures; like having a chat with President Theodore Roosevelt, talking to Sacagawea about her amazing tracking skills, and even get a ride on the back of Rexy (the t-Rex I was talking about).

All the figures were welcoming to you, making you feel very welcomed and immediately feeling like you were part of the museum family, but one person always caught your eye each night.

The Pharaoh. Not just any Pharaoh; King Ahkmenrah, fourth King of the fourth King, etc. His name and many titles were something that surprised you at first since it was really the first time you had actually interacted with him. Nevertheless, your introductions signified how awkward you were when it came to meeting new people- and in the worse occasions- speaking to someone who was incredibly good looking.

You still cringe about it to this day/night, “I’m... Y/N... erm... daughter of {F/N} and... I‘m from... London.” It couldn't go anymore embarrassingly short for your greeting and probably one of the weirdest ways of introducing yourself to someone.

At first, you thought he was kind and spoke confidently - since he was a Pharaoh - it was only after a couple more nights you realised some so crucial that you had been missing all this time about him.

He would just... go anywhere you went. Always seeming to be there in the distance, watching you ran around each exhibit, watching from the sideline if you spoke to someone, or was there when you were struggling to keep control of one of the artefacts (mainly the Neanderthals or Dexter).

You did sometimes catch his gaze, his warm smile flashing to you, making you dart your eyes elsewhere. Sometimes if you were feeling brave, you would small talk him. It didn't help that you were sometimes a stuttering mess and would leave in a hurry if trouble was underway, leaving you to make a dash before you said anything more to make yourself weird in front of him.

For a King of Egypt, he was definitely cute and very sweet to talk to, a proper gentleman that you would never get in this day and age (but he’s not really from this day and age, he’s like 4000 years old.)

You eventually gained a crush on Ahkmenrah, and it wasn’t long before the other exhibits noticed. Jed and Oct would tease you about it all night long, and occasionally Attila too- if you understood his language and what he was saying.

To not get any more embarrassed at the situation, you tried your best to avoid him, but everywhere you went, he seemed to trail behind, almost making sure that you were okay. Every time you turned around, his cute handsome face would be there to greet you, a small blush on his tanned sharp cheeks and that large bright smile that would make you immediately melt under his brown-eyed gaze.

This night was very different from the others. You got in the museum a bit later to lock up than as usual, meaning when you got there, everything and everyone had come to life already and were moving around. Tired and groggy, you avoided Rexy’s loud footsteps, making your way to the desk in the middle of the ground floor.

Sitting down on the swivel chair, you put your bag down, adjusted the tie around your neck, quickly checking any messages on your phone before getting ready for another night. It wasn't until just out of your peripheral vision, you saw something sitting neatly on the side of your desk.

Curious, you picked the item up; a small note and a present on the back. You opened the letter and was greeted by small and beautiful cursive writing;

Your radiant beauty compares to the jewels of the River Nile. Your presence is unlike any of the goddesses I worship; a lotus like yourself should be adored for all eyes. Including mine.

Your face was suddenly heating up by the sweet words written on the note, your heartbeat rising and getting faster as you opened the present with shaky hands; a beautiful small flower hair clip - a lotus to be correct.

“What you go there Y/N?” you didn't mean to scream so loud; a high pitch squeal that came out of your mouth that sounded just like a pterodactyl, you jumped back in your seat, staring up at the culprit who had scared you.

Theodore Roosevelt stood just at the front of your best, his horse not too far from him.

The former president looked to you curiously, then looking to the present in your hand. You quickly hid it in your lap. "A-A present, that’s all! Y-You scared me, Ted.” You placed your hand over your chest, steadying your heart. The 26th president laughed at your antics.

“Nonsense! It looks like you’ve got an admirer, my dear.” Teddy smiled, his moustache wrinkling thanks to his smile.

You hesitated, and soon the stuttering began. “I-I mean... ha-ha I doubt it! N-No one would like me in that w-way! Right?” By his face, he was being serious, and it made you more nervous.

“Perhaps you should go and try and find who really gave it to you.” He suggested, slapping your right side arm a bit too forcefully, and letting a laugh out. “I’ll be off, tracking is getting more difficult in this museum, and I need to see my own love. I’ll catch up with later my dear.” He got back on his horse and rode off through the museum, leaving you dazed and confused.

“R-Right...” You murmured more to yourself than to him, placing the beautiful clip in the side of your H/C hair, before standing to your height to get on with what you needed to do - the hopes of finding your so-called 'admirer'.

After an hour and a half of being teased more by the miniatures, getting almost caught on fire by the cavemen, you still had no idea who had given you the note and the gift. Your hopes were wearing thin, but as you came closer to the last exhibit that you hadn’t seen yet. You knew one thing.

You hadn’t seen Ahkmenrah all night, which was quite the surprise: since he mostly followed you around everywhere. Taking a deep breath, you stepped into his exhibit, taking out your torch for more guidance. One of the main reasons you didn’t like going into Ahkmenrah's tomb was because 1), it was too dark, and 2), his two 20-feet Jackals were always on guard, staring down at you as you walked through.

As usual, the two Jackals stared down at you as you walked slowly through, trying to keep little to no eye contact with them. As you walked closer to the open tomb, you heard instant mutterings and curses in a different language.

“Gods, what will she say -this? H-How do I tell her??” Then more mutterings and feet pacing as you grew closer inside.

“A-Ahk?” You called to him, spotting him pacing up and down near the pillars close to his open sarcophagus, his golden tablet sitting high and shimmering on the wall behind him. His eyes met yours instantly, brown eyes pooling like melted chocolate, seeing you stand there, his cheeks begun heating up. He smiled softly to you, a smile that made you smile back. Your torchlight caught the fabric of his robes, the gold glowing just like his tanned skin and beautiful and visible muscles.

“Y-Y/N. My dear.” For a 4,000-year-old mummy, he was standing in front of you in less than 2 strides., standing in his much taller height, he looked like a God.

He greeted you by taking your free hand that wasn't holding the torch, pressing a small kiss to the back of your hand, his lips grazing your knuckles.

Your own blush reddened, noticing that it took a moment for him to release your hand from his. “How are you? I-I haven’t seen you all night.” You tried to stay calm, watching his face as he smiled, shaking it softly.

“N-No, forgive me. I’ve been rather busy tonight.” He wasn’t meeting your eyes that much, which made you curious.

His eyes suddenly met yours, those brown eyes making your knees wobble more as you involuntarily gulped, your throat feeling slightly dry. His eyes trailed from your E/C eyes to your hair, suddenly his face changed, from happy, to nervous. “T-That’s a nice clip. Who gave that to you?”

Your hope faltered abruptly than expected; He didn’t know, of course, none of them knew. “O-Oh, well, that’s what I'm trying to find out a-actually.” He nodded his head in understanding, his smile wrinkling suddenly.

“You know, “He was suddenly being braver than usual, his hand grazing the side of your face, trailing locks of your H/C hair in his fingers, “the Lotus is a symbol from Egypt. It s-signifies beauty, a-adoration and grace.” He met your eyes again, and she saw him gulp.

Suddenly something inside of you clicked, like everything made sense all of a sudden.

“I must say, w-whoever gave that to you, must really a-adore you-.”

“W-Was it you Ahk?" You asked suddenly, catching him off guard as his hand left the side of your face, instantly missing the warmth he held. "Huh? W-What? I mean... it was meant as a gift, yes, I know... I mean, it was for you- yes- for you since you give it to someone you adore-"

"S-So... you adore me?" she asked again, making him a stuttering mess, "I mean... you're a very... beautiful young woman... yes, your beauty is something that would make Hathor jealous... what, no! I mean-"

He gulped once again, fumbling a lot with his hands. “I didn’t think I would’ve been confessing so soon-”

His ramblings were cut short as he heard soft and shy giggling, giggling that made Ahkmenrah's now beating heart jolt like it was connected to a thousand volts. He stopped, staring shyly back at you, your soft cheeks were red from embarrassment and adoration, E/C eyes darting from his face then to looking to the ground.

"I didn't mean to laugh. I-I just... never thought you would feel the same way I feel for you..." The young King was surprised by your words, a soft smile gracing his face as he took your chin into his fingers, lifting your head until your eyes met his.

With a soft look in his eyes and a warm smile and those shining white teeth, he chuckled quietly, making the night guard’s blush redden, your knees swaying under his touch. “Your beauty is what makes me feel more alive each night, my lotus.” And with those kind words, he leant forward, and shyly capturing your lips with his own, holding you in his strong and tanned arms.

You were shocked at first: the King of Egypt was kissing you! Something you never thought would ever come true in a million years - it was happening in this moment. Now that your love for him was the same for him, you sighed blissfully, wrapping your arms around his neck to bring him closer to you, whilst his arms wrapped securely around your waist.

Their first kiss was timid and bashful, but all love and adoration for each other were shown from the way they held each other. They slowly broke apart, catching their breaths, staring into each other’s eyes: happiness, passion and fondness were shown in the King’s eyes and the same for yours.

“You best be going back in soon, it’s nearly sunrise.” You began, your eyes wary and sad as you both came to realise how quickly the time had gone.

Ahkmenrah’s emotions copied yours; he didn’t want to go so soon, their love for each other had just begun and already he was having to be taken away from you- to be trapped in that confined sarcophagus.

He already felt lost, isolated and alone at the feeling of not having you around to brighten his days, but until the next night, he would be frozen in time, going back to a time when he was passed.

Gingerly, you took the King’s hands into your own, making him look back at you. You tried your best in trying to cheer him up, your smile did so. “I’ll make sure to go to your first thing tonight.” That made Ahkmenrah smile back at you, kissing you softly on the lips again and then your forehead.

“That would be lovely my Queen.” He said, taking the female over to the opened sarcophagus, you helped wrap him in his linens as he sat down into the case, “I’ll always be here Ahk.” You murmured, as he turned to you, grinning through his linens around his face.

“I know,” he begun, kissing your knuckles softly, “separation will not keep our love unbowed.” and with that, the two pulled up the heavy lid of the sarcophagus as Ahkmenrah laid down onto his back, and Y/N helped to push the lid to close.

“Goodnight my King.”

“Good morning my Queen.”