#rapi tw

[proship-moodboards]

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

hc for adrian having a girlfriend or s/o prior to his mother's death. they're human and maybe her apprentince or something. and the church takes her too, but before they can burn her at the stake, dracula shows up and rescues her because he knows lisa was fond of her. during adrians and draculas fight maybe she interbenes at a critical moments so drac doesnt kill him and alucard gets away but she's now a prisoner of dracula w/n his castle. and maybe she befriends the generals?

A/N: Aw, man. Sometimes I wonder if Lisa did have an apprentice, that maybe Dracula wouldn’t be as anti-human as he ended up being, or if she could start to turn him to see the error of his ways sometime before Alucard and Dracula end up in Adrian’s childhood bedroom. 

Apologies for the delays in updates. But my brain went WILD with this request so it’s a long one, I hope that makes up for the less frequent posting. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these somewhat bittersweet (then depressing then bittersweet again) headcanons! (Also this is unbeta-ed and prob grammatically messy as hell, so read at your own expense lol.) 

Word Count: 6.2k 

TW: Canon Typical Descriptions of Graphic Violence; Brief Mentions of Sexual Violence; Canon Death; Descriptions of Torture (the church is high-key fucked up here)  

Adrian W/ A Human S/O Reader (Who’s Also Lisa’s Apprentice, Prior to Her Death):   

━━━━━ ❂ ━━━━━   

The Beginning:   

Okay, so let’s get one thing straight… FIRST OF ALL, Lisa would adore you!!! Like, you make her baby boy happy and you’re smart??? What else is there to it? And then to top it all off, you’re super sweet and kind and interested in learning about medicine and the world around you!   

Lisa meets you once over dinner and she’s already planning the wedding in her head.   

Adrian is smitten, because of course he is, but in an adorable, somewhat restrained way. He doesn't have a lot (ahem, ANY) experience in this department, so he’s hesitant to take things forward with you, mainly because he doesn’t want to scare you off or make you suspicious about what he is. (It’s hard to make out with someone when you have two big vampire fangs in the front.)   

Adrian is young, like you. So, on top of all the complications, he feels no need to rush things. Sure, he’s heard a few whispers here and there about Dracula having a son, a son who according to rumors and gossiping villagers is to rise as the antithesis of Dracula. It’s all silly superstition, but it does stay fixed in the back of his mind. What would this future legacy mean for his relationship with you? And, should it ever come to pass, would you even be a part of it?   

That’s neither here nor there though, and in the meantime, the two of you simply enjoy the talking phase. You get to learn more about each other's interests, and beliefs, but mostly, you spend time in proximity to one another— you remain busy attending to his mother, learning all you can about healing while he, just a table over, spends his time rereading one of his many favorite tomes.   

I honestly don’t see you meeting Dracula until you and Adrian are like a fully committed couple. I’m pretty sure you would have to have been Lisa’s apprentice for a while and/or lived with the Tepes in their Lupu cottage for months before Lisa finally breaks through Dracula’s protests and makes him officially meet you.   

I don’t think that meeting would happen in Lupu either. No, I imagine it would have to take place at Dracula’s castle, just in case you were to freak out, you’d have no way of escaping and telling any others.   

I can almost see your reaction being similar to Lisa’s upon first entering the castle, especially if Adrian is already at your side. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Dracula is terrifying, but there’s also a giant telescope in the next room calling your name so….   

Much to Adrian’s relief, this newfound information doesn’t make you frightened of him at all, if anything, it simply reignites your fascination with him. You throw rapid-fire questions at him: If he's part vampire, how come you’ve seen him eating human food? Does he need both food and blood to satisfy each of his halves? If he needs blood, he could take some of yours you know…   

Your penchant for learning softens Dracula a little. For a brief time, he wonders if, perhaps, it was as Lisa said, that the humans could change, that humanity was changing for the better.   

He sits across from you at their grand dinner table, watching you intensely as you and Adrian talk about the recent literature you’ve read. You’d no doubt feel Dracula’s all-powerful gaze on you, making you turn to him and… Wait, did you just smile?!   

You’ve got guts, Dracula will give you that.   

Knowing the family secret, you can’t exactly break up with Adrian, nor do you have any desire to. I wonder if Dracula would have rings made for the two of you, maybe commission a new family portrait or two.   

You stay with Lisa in Lupu during Dracula's travels. Adrian is around, although he's always off between the castle and their cottage, so you never feel entirely alone or vulnerable. Your life is perfect! It’s better than you could have ever imagined!   

That is, until…   

━━━━━ ● ━━━━━   

The During:   

When the Church comes to take Lisa, you beg them to see reason. You cry and scream, hell, you even try to fight your way out at one point, only for both you and Dr. Tepes to be overpowered by the Church’s henchman.   

The two of you are taken, violently, to Targoviste, where you’re thrown into dark, damp cells with little to no light. Freezing, you huddle together for warmth, each trying your best to reassure the other, that all will turn out well. Adrian was still around, right? He’ll have to come home to find you missing, he’ll come and rescue you. And Dracula was due to return soon, correct? Surely, they’ll come. Surely, they’ll stop this madness.   

It’s a few days later, after hours of interrogation and brutal torture that you realize with a heavy heart, that no one is coming to rescue you. And what’s worse, that these so-called men of the cloth cannot and will not listen to reason. You’re starved and beaten, your hair is sliced off so close to your skin, that they take bits of your scalp with it in some places. And despite initially being imprisoned with Lisa, you find yourself being separated from her for longer periods.   

The men try everything to get you to turn on her. They tell you if you recant her wicked ways now, say she used her evil magic to trick you, your sentencing will be easier. You could still live— they dangle betrayal in front of you as a last lifeline. You don’t take it of course. You love Mrs. Tepes, and you know she’s no witch. You muster what little might you have left, spitting at the men as you tell them to go to hell. You swear she’s innocent, that she knows nothing. Hell, at one point, you find yourself confessing to having manipulated her! You don’t think they buy it though, if the poor doctor’s screams from down the hall are anything to go by.   

The night they light the pyre, the night of Lisa’s murder, you’re sick on more than one occasion. You scream your throat raw, begging them to burn you first! That she was innocent! That you corrupted her! That it was all your doing! But to no avail.   

In a scene that could only rival the Crucifixion of Christ himself, you look up through tear-soaked eyes to see Lisa, enshrouded in flames, begging Dracula to show mercy on her killers, to forgive them, that they know not what they do. “I know it's not your fault,” she cries out, “But, if you can hear me, they don't know what they're doing! Be better than them. Please!”   

You sob and wail, watching as your would-be mother-in-law is burned alive. You scream out for someone, anyone! To please help you, save you! With Lisa’s last words echoing in your mind, you can’t help but fear Adrian’s and his Father’s reactions, should they find you both killed.

Oh, gods…   

You don’t know what makes you feel sicker… The barbaric display you’re witnessing now or the hypothetical one that threatens to wipe out all living people in Wallachia once Dracula learns of what’s happened. You need not wait long for an answer.   

In a fury of fire and grandeur, Dracula’s head appears, molded in flame, demanding to know what has happened to his wife. You cry out to him, apologizing profusely, saying you begged them to burn you first! You scream out how they refused to see reason, they killed her for helping! Injudiciously, in your indignant anger, you plead with Dracula to release his fury on the priests who did this, to send them to hell to be tortured for eternity for this unforgivable transgression!   

With the silent fury of a gathering storm, Dracula’s fiery visage speaks calmly as his anger grows concertedly less. "I give you one year Wallachians,” he finally decides. “You have one year to make your peace and remove any marks you have made upon the land. One year, and I'll wipe all human life from the land of Wallachia. You took that which I love, so I will take from you everything you have and everything you have ever been. One year."   

No sooner than he spits out the words, a coil of fire bursts from his image, winding itself around your body. The guards surrounding you gasp and flee, avoiding the coil’s tail as it whips back and forth, hoisting you into the air.   

The fiery coil burns your skin, and the smell of even more burnt flesh makes you gag. If you had any bile left over at all, you’re certain it’d come up yet again. The pain is like a thousand stinging nettles and boiling water constricting your arms and midriff all at once. Your vision grows blurry as you feel your body move through the air, your nostrils taking in one last wretched breath of sulfur and smoke.   

━━━━━ ◉ ━━━━━   

The After — Part One:   

When you awake you find yourself laid, practically bare, a heap on the floor within Dracula’s castle— the evil Lord himself only feet away, raging over his magic well— as shards of his magic mirror whip around him at incredible speeds. Your head is pounding, it feels as if it might explode, and your arms… Fuck.   

Where the supernatural coil grabbed you, your skin was red and raw, small pockets of blisters already beginning to form. Your arms tremble uncontrollably as you try to move them, the pain that’s consuming your nerves is far too intense to hold them steady as you sit up into an upright position.   

It doesn’t feel real; nothing feels real. It feels like a nightmare. It had all been perfect, everything was perfect— you all were happy! How did it turn into such horror so fast?   

Shakily, you rise to your feet and clutch the remains of your clothes to your chest in an attempt to preserve your modesty, although it’s more of a subconscious act on your part. Everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion, yourself included. It’s like the air is heavier here somehow, its weight filling your lungs and weighing you down.   

A loud noise shocks you back to the present, nearly making you stumble over in fright. At least you would have, had Adrian not used his superspeed to catch you before you fell. One of his gloved hands grasps your left arm directly over the burn, causing you to let out a hiss. His rectangular eyes look wider than you’ve ever seen as he releases his grip, looking over your battered form.   

“(Y/N) ...” Adrian says, his voice serious and quiet, barely a whisper.   

You shake your head furiously, unable to trust your ability to speak without breaking. Upon Adrian’s gentle insistence, you feel your mouth opening, and the words slipping out, scraping against the back of your reddened throat as they exit your frail body.   

“They killed her, Adrian…” you whisper, your voice quivering. “I, we tried to stop them, they just wouldn’t listen!” Somehow, your eyes begin to water again, despite your earlier certainty that your body had no water nor tears left in it at all.   

“Once she realized they wouldn't listen to reason, she lied and told them I was innocent. She told them she had manipulated me, that I was just a child, that I didn’t know what I was doing, that she never got the chance to teach me!” A feeling of guilt consumes you as you speak the words aloud, and soon enough, your body is once again plagued by uncontrollable sobs.   

Adrian listens intently to your words, his brows furrowed. You watch through teary eyes as a range of emotions flash across his face: anger, hurt, pain, sorrow, and finally… acceptance. Your beloved hardens his gaze, choking down whatever grief he may be feeling. At the present, Adrian knows, there are more pressing matters at hand.   

You follow Adrian’s steely gaze back, seeing his Father where he is bent over his summoning circle, cursing in a language that is foreign to you before he switches back to Romanian.   

“One year! It will take me one year to summon an army from the guts of Hell itself!” Dracula proclaims, promising to enact vengeance for the death of his love.   

“No.” Adrian counters, slipping out of your grasp.   

“Adrian,” you whisper, warningly. “Don’t—”   

“What do you mean, ‘no’? That woman was the only reason on Earth for me to tolerate human life!”  Dracula retaliates, enraged his son could even conceive of such lenience.   

“Then find the one who did the deed,” Alucard proposes. “If you set loose an army of the night on Wallachia, you cannot undo it, and many thousands of people just as innocent as her will suffer and die.”   

“There are no innocents! Not anymore! Any one of them could have stood up and said, ‘No, we won't behave like animals anymore.’"   

“(Y/N) did.” Adrian points out. “She tried to take all the blame, in an attempt to save Mother’s life.”   

Dracula looks over at you with blood-red eyes, contempt clear on his face. “And yet,” he snarls, “Here she stands, and my Wife, your Mother does not!” He hisses the last word, livid that out of the two of you, you were the one who survived.   

With large, fearful eyes, you watch as Adrian closes the gap between him and his Father.   

“I won't let you do it. I grieve with you, but I won't let you commit genocide.”   

“Adrian,” you warn again.   

The next bit happened all so quickly.   

Faster than you could blink, you watch, helpless, frozen in horror as Adrian charges his father, his longsword drawn. Despite their vampiric speed being unrecognizable to the untrained human eye, you swear you watch the scene unfold in slow motion. Adrian charges first, but Dracula, roaring in a fit of rage, counters faster— his Father’s elongated claws slash diagonally across Adrian’s chest, before his fist pauses, still embedded deep within your lover’s gut.   

You don’t have time to think before you act. To you, Adrian has the abilities of a god, but to his Father… It was clear there’d be no match. You have no clue how you got your hands on it, no idea as to how you even managed a successful hit, but the next thing you know, a triangular shard of magic mirror is impaled in Great Lord Dracula’s back, put there by your very hand.   

Too terrified to even breathe, the only sound you can hear beyond your racing pulse is a wet, gory squelch as Dracula retracts his claws from Adrian’s body. You hear the spray of blood before you see it, a rush of bright red blood gushes onto the marble floor between Dracula and his son.   

Standing at his impressive full height, Dracula turns ever so slowly, ever so menacingly, to face you. His pupils are that of a blood moon, his sclera so bloodshot they practically look as black as night. In that second, you know you’ve fucked up.   

You cower as Dracula raises one hand to you, instinctively shielding your neck from his nasty bloodied talons. With surprisingly repressed strength, Dracula backhands you, the force sending you flying backward, smashing into the base of one of the curved bookshelves lining the walls of his summoning room.   

With his focus still on you, Dracula stalks toward you. Knowing it’s now or never, you scream at Adrian to flee. “Run!” The words rip out of your raw throat, sounding like an eleventh commandment.   

You see Adrian, previously stunned by his Father’s disregard for his life, holding together the gaping wound across his chest. He has no time to even spare you, his beloved, a last look before evaporating into clouds, his cloud of bloodied mist bolting for the door, fleeing as fast as his injured state would allow him.   

Dracula only turns to watch as his son, his very possibly fatally wounded son, flees the confines of his castle. For a moment it is silent— only the sound of both yours and Dracula’s heaving breaths echo across the chamber.   

Clenching his clawed fingers into a fist, Dracula says nothing as he too makes his way to the castle doors, leaving your bruised and broken body alone in the dark.   

━━━━━ ❍ ━━━━━   

The After — Part Two:   

Somehow, Christ only knows, you find your way to one of Lisa’s old labs and do a half-assed job of patching yourself up. You find your burns and dislocated shoulder to be the most painful of injuries.    

Thankfully, Lisa had taught you enough about setting a patient’s shoulder that you managed to smash it into an adjacent wall, popping your joint back in yourself. The burns you wrap in honey and milk-soaked linen gauze, wincing every time the bandages brush against your skin. It’s awful work, slow work too, but you must have managed it alright because you find yourself patched up and passed out in one of the castle’s kitchens a few hours (or days? had it been days?) after that.   

You eat raw vegetables and berries— nothing that requires cooking. Lord knows you couldn't prepare anything successfully now even if you were to try. Eating your foraged meal in silence you debate your next steps. Do you go back home? Would your family even welcome you home after your long and unexplained absence? And if they, along with all the humans in Wallachia were ultimately to be driven from the land, did it matter anyway?   

‘Oh god,’ you think. You have to warn them, have to make them flee before a year is up. But where would you go? Where could you go? Greater Styria was a possibility, although it was not by any means an easy journey, and the climate there was much colder than your folks were used to here. You shakily rise to your feet and set out to find a map within one of the Castle’s many libraries.   

After a good night’s rest, you find your mindset with a newfound determination: you will go home. You were going to get your family on the move and then… Then, you’d come back here.   

You knew, in all likelihood, that returning to Dracula’s castle after the fact entailed certain death. But you also knew, things would get worse if he were to be left alone.   

Dracula may not have ever loved you for a daughter-in-law. Hell, he may not have ever loved anyone aside from Mrs. Tepes, but you promised her while huddling together that first night in those dingy cells that no matter what happened, should either of you get out alive, you would not leave Adrian and Vlad. “They need humans, (Y/N),” Lisa coughed into your ear. “And most importantly, humanity needs them.”   

Dracula would resent your company, he would want to be rid of you. But you could not be rid of him, not after what Lisa had asked of you.   

‘Besides,’ you thought, ‘Nobody should have to grieve alone.’   

The journey back home to your parents is majorly uneventful. Sure, it was touch and go for a while, your body was exhausted after the ordeal you endured, and your wounds had gotten infected once or twice. Thankfully, you had the mind to pack with you any potential treatments you might need.   

It felt good to be home, to be amongst family again. You couldn’t stop crying and hugging everyone when you first arrived. You kept the details to a minimum but made it clear they needed to be the hell out of Wallachia before a year. You told them you had found an apprenticeship, that the woman was kind to you, but while in Targoviste, you saw the burning of a witch, and soon after the face of Satan himself appeared in flames, threatening the crowd. It caused a panic, you see, and you had gotten trampled in the process.   

You didn’t bother to explain that the woman you were learning under was this so-called witch and that this Satanic figure was her husband. Nor did you tell them of your half-inhuman partner. You knew had you told the family the whole truth, they might have cast you out as a devil worshiper and a liar and choose not to heed your words.   

Your warnings spread through your extended family like how ivy creeps up a stone wall. A fair part of your relatives in the country believed you enough to agree to uproot their lives and settle outside of Wallachia: some settled on Syria, others had decided on Greece, Egypt, or Rome. The more skeptical ones who hemmed and hawed over the validity of your claims agreed to move into the countryside, a decent distance from any major Wallachian city or village.   

When you were certain they’d heed your words, you told them you could not stay with them, your Mother wept for three straight days and your Father could do little to console her. As much as it broke your family’s heart, you knew that your need to return to Castlevania was larger than yours. You weren't just doing it for your family, you were doing it for every family across the land. You couldn't be selfish. Mrs. Tepes was the most selfless woman you had met, and she taught you well. If you meant what you said to her when you first met, that you wanted to help people, you would need to buck up and accept the consequences of that.   

Your journey back to the castle was much more melancholy than your journey home. You could almost feel the whispers of the tortured souls Dracula had slain before blowing cold air into your ears, begging you to turn back. Nevertheless, you continued. You entered Castlevania to find you were alone, however, that would not be the case for long.   

Months later you had fallen into somewhat of a predictable routine within the castle and its new occupants. Dracula had recruited two humans to serve as his war planners— men by the names of Hector and Isaac, respectively. You appreciate the levity Hector, and his undead pets bring, and you admire the intelligence and loyalty Isaac has. You just wish they weren’t going along with Dracula’s plan.   

You tread carefully as you find the time to express to each of his Generals that you wish they wouldn’t go through with this plan. You explain humans are not the kind of species to give in to subjugation, they will revolt eventually. You suggest the vampires come up with some sort of tit-for-tat system with the humans instead like, for example, promised blood servants would equal vampiric protection for that territory.  

It’s safe to say no one is impressed with your centrist ideals, so eventually stop taking part in the conversation. You silently hang around Hector, and just listen with a sorrowful expression, satisfied with knowing that if you can’t change the Generals' minds, you can, at the very least, make them somewhat uncomfortable.  

When Carmilla arrives, you’re immediately put off by her little display of insolence. Unlike yours, her dissent doesn’t seem to come from a place of concern. You make a mental note to keep an eye on her.  

It’s during the General's next argument that you receive a ray of hope: “We are quite certain that Alucard sleeps at Gresit.”  

You feel your body grow lighter.  

“So, that means,” you speak aloud to yourself more so to anyone else, “Adrian is alive?”  

You’re met with a handful of annoyed glares from the other vampires as Isaac continues: “And that there was recently a Belmont there.”  

Upon hearing Carmilla berate the others for not sending night creatures to the ancestral Belmont home, your smile falls and your improved mood falters. These Belmonts were famous monster hunters, famous enough to frighten your current vampire company. That means, if there was a Belmont in Gresit, at the same time as Adrian, as Alucard, whatever the hell he’s going by these days, it could prove disastrous for your love. For all you know, he’s still recovering from the wounds dealt to him by his Father. And if this Belmont, this monster hunter strikes first and asks questions later, he may accidentally kill the only living vampire in existence who stands against the very nature of this war.  

‘How ironic,’ you think solemnly. Just as fast as the universe gives you hope, it rips it away once more.  

You excuse yourself, and make your way towards Hector’s forge, aiming to distract your distraught mind with some cute reanimated pets.  

Shortly thereafter, Hector joins you. He asks if you truly did not know Dracula’s son was still alive. You shake your head ‘no’, telling him how you had prayed every past night to any God who would listen, that they would send their holy armies and angels to guard him, but no, you had mostly just feared he was dead.  

You spend the rest of the night talking to Hector about Alucard, Adrian as you knew him. How smart he was, how much the two of you used to laugh, and how much he looked just like his Mother.  

“Perhaps that’s why,” Hector supposes, “Dracula could no longer bear to see him.”  

You say perchance he’s right, conveniently leaving out the part where the Father and Son duo almost fought to the death right in front of you.  

The conversation with Hector reignites something within you. You feel as if you had been praying all this time for an answer, and this was it. Alucard was alive, and so was Belmont. You understand now what needs to be done.  

Your lover must once again fight his Father, and this time, he must win.  

Your silent observations allow you to learn of Carmilla’s scheme fairly early on, as well as Godbrand’s demise at the hands of Isaac, yet all that time, you say nothing. You keep your mouth shut and your eyes down. If Carmilla divides Dracula’s army and court, she will inevitably make it easier for Alucard and Belmont to destroy him.  

The Generals, and even Dracula himself, believe you are mourning the loss of your love for the second time, as his demise will be inevitable the moment he meets his Father and his armies— or at least, that’s what they assume.  

When Carmilla has Hector send special night creatures to the remains of the Belmont home, you attach a letter around one of the creature's necks, hoping your love will notice it, and if he doesn’t, you pray he instinctively outwits the traps that await for him within his Father’s castle.  

━━━━━ ❂ ━━━━━   

Beginning Again:   

The night Dracula chooses to move the Castle to Braila, you manage to speak with him one last time.  

You bring him some tea, even though you know he won’t drink it, and you tell him, for what must be the hundredth time, how sorry you are about all that’s happened. You apologize for not being able to do more to save his wife. You tell him that if you could do it all over again if you were given a choice between who they should burn first, you’d demand it be you.  

Dracula turns away from the fire to look at you upon hearing those words.  

“She was fond of you, you know.” He says, sounding far away as if lost in a distant memory. “She was overjoyed at the thought of gaining a daughter”  

You nodded along a hurt smile on your face. “It was my honor.” Gathering your courage you continued: “Even though it didn’t work out, I want you to know I loved your wife very much… And,” you kept going. “I love your son very much.”  

Dracula said nothing. He simply turned his attention back to the flames within his study’s fireplace.  

“It’s not too late, you know,” you prod gently. “If Adrian is alive, he could still come back, we could still be a family-”  

“No!” Dracula’s low growl sent shivers down your spine.  

For a moment you feared he would rise to attack you or perhaps berate you further, but no such action came. Instead, the former Great Lord Dracula’s shoulders deflated back to their hunched position, as he fell silent once again.  

Quietly, you made your way back to your room, shutting and locking the door behind you. If you had any tears left at all, you would have shed them throughout the night. Instead, you merely lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering if there would even be a tomorrow to awaken to.  

Pleased to still be alive at this point, but feeling increasingly suffocated by this overwhelming sense of doom, you spend the next day cooped up in your room, on your knees, the rosary in your hand, whispering prayers of safety for your loved one. You couldn't explain it, but at the time, you felt compelled to recite prayer after prayer and reveal all the fears and worries in your heart.  

You speak out to Death, to God, to all the angels and saints, and beg them to grant Adrian safe passage as he completes his task of saving humanity— it’s something his Mother would have wanted after all.  

Amidst your fervent prayers, you feel the Castle shake and creak, but you soon realize something is off: it keeps jerking from side to side, several times, way too many to be a case of a single relocation. Your heart races, and in the pit of your gut, you know this is it:

The Alucard has come.  

Your love has come back for you.  

You scramble behind the door, poised with a wooden stake in hand (just in case, you never know), and wait.  

And wait.  

And wait.  

Following a crescendo of metallic crashes and screaming, you hear more crashes, this time lesser in intensity and they’re accompanied by the distinct scent of fire, sulfur, and burnt flesh.  

It terrifies you, bringing such horrible memories of your almost demise to the surface. You look down at the burn scars on your arms and feel physically ill. Every time you shut your eyes to blink, you see the corpse of Ms. Tepes, burning alive right before you as if no time has passed at all, as if you’re trapped in the permanent hell of that memory.  

The overwhelming ornery atmosphere in the castle only grows, seeming to suddenly flood your nostrils and every pore.  

You watch in shock and horror as thousands of soot-colored transparent ghouls burst through your doorway, the shock of the impact sending you reeling into the bed. Tortured faces of all shapes and sizes circle you menacingly, before bursting through your room’s glass window, vanishing just as fast as they came.  

Within an instant you feel… lighter, freer almost. It’s as if something major has changed, but you don’t know what.  

Timidly, stake still in hand, you make your way down the castle corridors. Unfortunately, you have to take several detours, your regular route being cut off by giant holes in the architecture. A good portion of the castle looks like it had been hit with cannon fire.  

You sincerely hope that whatever caused that damage is no longer rampaging around these halls, lest you stumble upon them yourself.  

By the time you reach the throne room, the sun is just peeking out from behind the horizon. The sight of it flowing freely into the castle interior lifts your spirits with hope. Sunlight means no vampires. No vampires means…

You follow the originating path of the sun’s beams, finding three figures illustrated against the sunrise. One of them is a burly-looking man, with a large frame and broad shoulders. Another is a woman, at least, you’re fairly certain they’re a woman, with curly hair, dressed in flowing blue robes. And the third is….  

You don’t even need a second glance to know who the third person is.  

Crying out his name, you run towards your long-lost lover, almost losing your footing over all the debris covering the floor. But just as he would before, and just as he always would, your lover, Adrian, catches you before you can fall.  

The two of you cling to each other for dear life, just silently sobbing, feeling grateful to be in one another’s embrace. You’re not sure how long the two of you stay intertwined like that, you just know however long it was, it could never be enough to make up for how much you missed him this past year.  

“Adrian,” you clutch his coat, “I thought you were dead! I thought he had killed you! I was so worried.”  

“He almost did,” the strange broad-shoulder man reveals in a teasing fashion. You watch as the robed woman elbows him in the gut.  

“Alucard,” Adrian says, regaining your attention as he grasps your hands in his. “I am Alucard now.”  

You look into his golden eyes, sensing while this is still very much the body of the man you loved, this Alucard before you, is not the same person that your Adrian was. After all this time, it feels like quite the loss, and yet, you cannot fault him for it. You are unaware of the journey he’s been on, of the sacrifices he’s had to make. God knows your character must have changed as well, living amongst a vampire court and necromancers for just under a year.  

You back away from your love, temporarily ignoring his concerned expression.  

“Hello Alucard,” you say, extending a hand, “My name is (Y/N). And I’d very much like to share a drink with you if you’d let me.”  

“Don’ know about Alucard,” the broad man mumbles, gripping his side in pain, “But I’d very much like a drink. Or five.”  

“Trevor!” The robed woman scolds.  

“What?”  

You smile at the three of them, feeling beyond blessed that your love has found such wonderful new friends.  

When you had first fallen for Adrian, you assumed your family would consist solely of him, his mother, and his father, that you’d spend the rest of your days learning medicine in a little cottage nestled in Lupu. That simple life was to be yours. But now, it’s all changed. And Alucard is all that remains of that family you once loved.  

You gaze out into the forest beyond the castle grounds, closing your eyes and sighing as you feel the morning’s sun on your face.  

Yes, it was true Mrs. and Mr. Tepes were gone.

It was true that the old Adrian could never come back.

But if you had to choose a new life, a life here amongst a gorgeous castle, with your former lover and his two new friends, well… you doubted you could pick a better one than that.  

A/N 2.0: WHY DID THIS TAKE ME SO LOOOONG? Who knows? Anyway, it’s here now. And hey— did you pay close attention to the symbols in the dividers? Go ahead and look back if you didn’t, just a silly little fun symbolism storytelling. Oh, also, I will finally be updating The Queue List to reflect all the asks I’ve since answered and posted to not confuse people checking on the status of their ask/new readers.

If you liked reading this, please REBLOG! Likes are great but reblogs spread my work much further. 

If you really, really liked reading this, Consider Buying Me a Coffee <3. 

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: none

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

the one chapter in this whole fic where bentley makes a rational decision

part thirty-nine

❝ UNLOVABLE ❞

TUESDAY — SEPTEMBER 8 — 11:07 AM

BENTLEY WOKE UP SO DISORIENTED AND FUZZY AND CONFUSED THAT HE JUST STARTED CRYING.

There were bright white lights in his face, and he wasn’t in his bed anymore, he was somewhere else. There were people moving around him, but he didn’t pay attention long enough to decide who, only long enough to decide he was terrified and wanted Bruce. What time was it? No idea. What day was it? No idea. Was he at the hospital? Was something really wrong with him?

“Whoa, hey… hey there, chum. You’re okay,” 

Bentley relished in the familiar voice, peeling his heavy, kind of sticky, newly-wet eyes open to glance around the room. It took a solid minute for his brain to catch up to his vision, but when it did, he realized he was in the cave, and Bruce was sitting right next to the bed he was laying in.

He tried to bring his hands up to hide his crying eyes, but paused mid-movement when he realized he was attached to a drip.The movement also seemed to trigger a wave of soreness that washed through his whole body.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay. Just relax. You’re here, with me, in the cave. Everything’s okay,” Bruce spoke in his typical level, gentle tone, one of his hands landing on Bentley’s forehead like it always seemed to. Though, for some reason, he looked… really tired. Worn down. 

Bentley breathed in and out shakily, gathering his bearings, trying to stop crying for no reason for the five millionth time in his short life. (Seriously, he had to be setting a record at this point.) Instead, he relaxed back down onto the bed and let Bruce card his fingers through his hair.

“Where’s… Nico?” Was the first thing he managed to whisper.

Bruce got a strange look on his face, before he replied: “Bentley… you’ve been down here for five days. Nico and Asten went home. It’s Tuesday.”

Bentley blinked a few times. It was Tuesday? He had been… he had been completely out of it for five whole days?

He looked around the empty room warily. “What? What happened?” 

Bruce sighed softly, brushing his opposite hand through his own hair. “Someones been fiddling with your DNA, and it made you pretty sick.”

Oh. Right. Superpowers. Bentley looked down at his own feet under the cottony blanket, exhaling subtly. 

“Bentley,”

He looked back up at Bruce, who had a little smile on his face. 

“I will never, ever, ever get rid of you,” He reassured, sighing lightly. “I promise.”

Bentley looked down at his hands, exhaling shakily before he muttered: “My… my father told me… he never loved me. And, uh, that he never would.”

Bruce stayed silent for a moment.

Bentley breathed in and out. It was now or never, wasn’t it? The hard questions had to be asked so things could be fixed, right? “Will you tell me the truth?”

“Of course, bud. Anything,”

Bentley twiddled his fingers, purposefully keeping his eyes away from Bruce when he whispered: “Why is it so hard for people to love me?”

Bruce’s blue eyes grew grim, and he scooted his chair closer to the bed with a squeak. “Bentley Whittaker, you are not hard to love. In fact, you’re almost impossible not to love.”

Bentley looked away, breathing in to force away the urge to cry. “Then why doesn’t he love me?”

Bruce sighed lightly. “That’s his own choice, his own problem. It has nothing to do with you. You are an incredible, brave, amazing kid, Bentley, and I loved you the very first day Dick brought you to me.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Hey,” Bruce continued, his hand moving through Bentley’s hair again, and the child finally looked over at him with slightly glassy eyes. “You could set the whole world on fire and I’d still tell everybody you’re mine.”

Bentley looked down at his feet, blinking rapidly as his eyes began to burn. Did that mean that maybe Bruce wouldn’t hate him for all the things he did? And he wouldn’t get rid of him? And he could stay and keep living with them even though he was an emotional, irrational trainwreck of a child?

Bentley sniffled. “I’m…” Cold? Lonely? Tired of lying? “Can you hold me?”

In one smooth movement, minding the IV tubes, Bentley was with Bruce in the chair.

A few moments of silence passed.

“I wish you were my father,”

A few beats came and went, and Bruce kissed Bentley’s hair.

“I am,”

Oh, God — there it was. The one statement that utterly broke Bentley. That changed something inside of him just like his real father’s statement had. Something cracked. Something moved. 

And so Bentley did what Bentley had been so determined not to do for literal weeks.

“You promise you won’t hate me?” He muttered into Bruce’s shirt, making himself small there, tucking his knees up. 

“I could never hate you, Bentley,”

Bentley breathed in and out. Once. Twice. Three times. Maybe it really was the right time. Maybe he really should do it — just get it over with. Nico would’ve done it. It was good. It would make everything better, right? Right?

“I wasn’t kidnapped,” Is what he started out with, but then backtracked, because that was not a great place to start. “I mean, no, I was. I was. But, the… uh… the night you guys thought I went missing I actually… uh… I ran away.”

Bruce said nothing, but didn’t make a disapproving sound or expression, either. So Bentley continued.

“I guess… uh… I guess it really started back when… right before school. Or right after, I can’t remember. Something was wrong with Damian. And I tried to talk to him but he got mad…” Bentley cleared his throat. “He told me I wasn’t worthy enough to be a Wayne. That I didn’t belong here and you only had me because you felt bad for me.”

At that, Bruce let out a little sigh.

“I think he was kind of sad, I dunno… I know he didn’t really want to hurt me. I think. But he did anyways,” Bentley shook his head. “And I started looking at everybody, at Dick and Jason and Tim and Damian and Cass and Steph and Duke and… Y’know. They’re all superheroes. Really cool superheroes. And a bunch of them were Robin, and I obviously can’t be Robin, but… I… I had to do something, you know? I wanted to be good enough. So… uh… Asten and Nico and I decided that… uh… we were going to go after the Secret Keeper. Because I could prove that I belonged here if I caught a villain like you guys do.”

“So you left, in pursuit of her?” Bruce inquired gently.

Bentley nodded. “Yeah. Asten found some connections between the missing people and the Areopagus and Dr. Keene, my teacher, and found this cabin in the woods that he owned that a bunch of the victims had stayed in, so we went to check it out. Which… sounds pretty random and dumb, now, I guess…” 

Silence passed.

“Uh… he found all that out by finding all the locations of where the people went missing and… uh… well. We kinda… stole Dr. Keene’s phone to get to the cabin schedules and stuff…” Bentley fiddled with his fingers awkwardly. “I know it was bad… but we wanted to help. So, uh, we met up at Nico’s house and started going to the cabin.”

Bentley exhaled heavily. Telling the truth felt strangely… good.

“We walked for a long time, and stopped by Asten’s house in Crime Alley for him to get something, and that was when Nico told me he was adopted and when I realized he had superpowers. Real ones — he has superspeed. And, well, that didn’t go over so well. He was… is really struggling with it. But, uh, anyways, Asten came back and then the Secret Keeper knocked me out and showed me all kinds of futures. Ones where I die, where I work with my father, where I was Robin… and she told me my choice to go to the cabin would lock me in and out of some. So I chose to keep going.”

Bruce still didn’t respond, keeping the door open for Bentley to continue.

“We broke into the cabin. And, uh, it looked pretty normal… at first. And then we found a trapdoor that led to the basement. Asten told me it was called a morgue,” Bentley shivered at the thought. “We opened up one of the fridges and… it was scary. I had an anxiety attack. Nico threw up in the floor. But Asten was fine, I think, and there was this computer down there that had tons of videos on it. Of our teacher, Dr. Keene, working in these labs, turning normal people into metahumans. The first one he did was his own daughter, Charlie Reins… who became The Secret Keeper. And he mind controls them all.”

Bruce exhaled.

“A bunch of the missing kids were in those videos, like Titus Lancaster and Davis Henderson. And we learned that… that… Dr. Keene was… is working for… my father. Trying to destroy you. That’s why the Secret Keeper has been attacking us. Because of me…” Bentley inhaled sharply. “Anyways, we were down there and we heard someone coming, so… we… hid in some of the fridges. Which wasn’t fun. I don’t remember much from then because I was freaking out. We ran out of the cabin and everyone was scared and Asten got his foot stuck in a bear trap and we were trying to help him and then there was a grenade and we all got knocked out.”

Bentley exhaled, sort of shaky, cringing at himself. Word vomiting wasn’t usually something people liked, but Bruce didn’t seem to mind.

“And I woke up in a warehouse, but I wasn’t actually there because it was just the Secret Keeper. I saw Jason die, and it… was really scary. I… I saw you. And I begged you to bring me home but it wasn’t really you…” Bentley fought back another round of stinging in his eyes and forced himself to get it together. “Then I woke up. Davis Henderson, the waiter that got knocked out at that bar because of me, he was there and he got me out of the machine before they could do mind control, he said.”

Bruce nodded slightly. “I remember hearing about Davis.”

“Yeah. He has to wear these super huge metal gloves now, because he kills anything he touches. His mind control was broken. So he got me out, and then we went to get Nico and Asten. And I got shot. Which was scary. And… he told us about Titus Lancaster, who can teleport, and he was going to have surgery to get new mind control so he didn’t have it then. And Davis told us to find him and that he could teleport us out,” He explained. “So we ran for a while. Lots of people were killed. Davis killed a lot of bad guys that were shooting at us, and… Nico did, too, but he didn’t mean to. He has air powers now that can make you choke.”

Bruce hummed.

“But when we were running out the Secret Keeper showed up. So Davis told us to run and he fought her. I’m not sure what happened but I hope he’s okay. He saved me…” Bentley cleared his throat. “But we found Titus, who was really scared, and he teleported us to the manor. And Asten told us not to tell anyone so I… didn’t. And you know everything that’s happened since I got home. Oh — except… I went to see my father to try and convince him to stop, but he said no. And that if I told anybody anything I knew he’d use a plan b that would destroy all of Gotham. But I don’t know what it is. Oh, and Asten has fire powers. And… I guess that’s everything you didn’t know.”

Bentley sighed and looked up at Bruce, who looked near-emotionless, processing all of the information he’d just had dumped in his lap.

“I… I know those things were bad, and that I should’ve told you, and that I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have done, but please, please, please don’t get rid of me. I’ll be better — I won’t do anything bad again. Please don’t-“

“Bentley,”

The Bentley in question was starting to cry again. “Please don’t get rid of me, Bruce. I promise I’ll be better. I promise. You can get me in trouble and yell at me and lock me up or hit me like my dad used to, but please just don’t get rid of me.” 

“Bentley. Look at me please,”

Begrudgingly, Bentley looked up, his brown, watery eyes meeting Bruce’s icy blue ones. 

“Please don’t get rid of me. I love you,”

Bruce breathed in and out. “Here’s what I have to say, okay? You’re right. Some of those things you did were risky, reckless, dangerous, and wrong, and you were impressively, almost stupidly brave to do them. All because you want to be loved and accepted and validated.”

Bentley looked down, wiping at his furiously leaking eyes with his non-dripped hand. 

“Do you want to know what one of the most defining traits of a Wayne is?” Bruce questioned, glancing down at Bentley with a smile that threw the child for a loop. “Being impressively and stupidly brave, and doing things that are risky, reckless, dangerous, and wrong, all because you want to be loved and accepted and validated.”

Bentley said nothing.

“Every single person in this family, Bentley, has done something like this. Even me. Some of us more than once. And while I can’t say I’m thrilled about what you did or what you went through… You survived, you told me the truth, and you were trying to do the right thing. And, I’d have to say, all things considered, I’m pretty proud of that,” Bruce stated with a smile. “I am proud of you, Bentley. And I love you. So. Much. You’re pretty much stuck with me whether you like it or not.”

Bentley had never felt more relieved in his entire short life. Bruce loved him, and he wasn’t going to get rid of him, and he wasn’t mad at him… what kind of fever dream was this? How was it going just like Bentley hoped it would?

“Hey, bud, I want to ask you something. And I want you to be totally, completely honest, okay? Your answer needs to be yours and only yours,”

Bentley nodded slightly, still wiping at his eyes. 

Bruce breathed in deep, running a hand over the child’s head with this fond gleam in his eyes that before now, Bentley could have only dreamed of. 

“You’ve been living here for almost a year. Fostering for over half of it,” Bruce exhaled. “I think this is as good of a time as any to ask… how do you feel about being adopted, like Dick, Jason, and Tim?”

Bentley freaking lost his mind. 

(In the arms of his dad?)

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @flyrobinflyy @skylathescholar @gayboss-too-close-to-the-sun @xiaonothere @beatyoutothatusernameloser

[rat-rosemary]

I am on my absolutely insane arc rn don't mind me

TW DEATH AND CANNIBALISM

You know how everyone took Schlatt's body apart and Quackity ate his heart? What if that was a funeral rite?

Not everyone knew it tho, they were taking bones because they wanted to disrespect Schlatt's grave

But for some people it was the bare minimum they could have done, to not let someone rot, to keep parts of them with you.

But what if, later during el rapis, Quackity asked Sapnap and Karl to eat his heart when he died? They were horrified of course, not only by the idea of eating their fiance, but also by the idea of Quackity dying at all. But Quackity had just lost an eye and a life and he insisted.

They talk about it, ask why Quackity would want that, and he explains that it means they get to keep him, that he will forever be part of them. That for him the act of being left to rot, even with a burial, it's the biggest act of abandonment that could happen. It's a long tiring night before they agree, but they promise that they never have to, because they will protect him with their lives and as long as they're still standing, Quackity will be safe.

-°-

Today Tommy shows up in Kinoko Kindom. He's stained with blood and ash. He asks if Quackity asked them to eat him.

Karl had forgotten the worse talk of their lives. George doesn't understand it. Sapnap is alone.

He goes with Tommy, let's him explain with a uncharacteristic somber and calm tone how to do it. Sapnap follows behind, completely numb. Karl follows Sapnap, not understanding what he must do.

Tubbo is there when they get to Las Nevadas, he takes them to where the body is being kept.

Quackity's face is covered in a piece black linen. His shirt has been methodically cut off. His body is covered in cuts and burns.

A dagger sits next to him.

Tubbo explains that Sapnap needs to take the first bite, he needs to be the one to eat the heart.

He does.

He eats and let's the two boys guide him away when he's done. They tell him that he can come later to get the bones. He nods, even if he's not truly here anymore.

They give him a chain with a pair of rings and hand him back to Karl.

He throws up on the way back.

-°-

Anyway, not really good but I wanted to write about Sapnap having to go through this alone because Karl forgot, and he promised (and also something or other about how even after everything, the fight and the abandonment and the anger, Quackity still wanted his heart to be theirs)

[felix-arsyanendra]

Menilik kedalam dunia imajinasi seorang anak perempuan

Tempat ini hanya milik Clara seorang, tempat ternyaman dimana hanya ada dia dan orang-orang tersayangnya. Namun seiring berjalannya waktu, akan terungkap kebenaran yang menyakitkan dari dunia ini.

TW: pembantaian, pembunuhan, darah, kesehatan mental.

Malam ini adalah malam natal, jika kau melihat keluar maka kau akan melihat banyak dekorasi natal beserta pernak-perniknya yang khas itu mulai dari pohon cemara hingga santa klaus sendiri yang berdiri di jalanan dan memberi anak-anak hadiah ditengah salju.

Dekorasi natal juga menghiasi rumah-rumah termasuk salah satunya rumah seorang gadis bernama Clara.

Sama halnya seperti anak-anak yang lain, ia juga menantikan malam natal ini.

Baginya, natal adalah hal yang tidak boleh dilewatkan karena pada hari itu ia bisa bertemu dengan sanak saudara dan berbagi kado.

Ya berbagi kado adalah hal favoritnya.

Dirumahnya sendiri, dibawah pohon cemara yang berhiaskan lampu itu sudah tertata kado yang bisa dibuka oleh mereka semua saat waktunya tiba.

"Paman!" Sapa Clara dengan senang saat melihat pamannya masuk ke ruang keluarga.

"Clara, apa kabar?" Paman yang memakai jubah panjang dan baju serba gelap itu membungkuk untuk menyapa Clara.

"Kabarku baik, Paman! Oh iya, selamat datang dirumah kami, Paman Drosselmeyer!"

Si pemilik nama Drosselmeyer itu tersenyum mendengar ucapan selamat datang dari Clara, "Terima kasih banyak! Melihat antusiasme mu itu sepertinya kamu sudah tidak sabar untuk acara pembukaan kado nanti."

"Tentu! Karena aku sendiri sudah penasaran dengan apa yang paman berikan untukku." Senyumnya tidak pernah lepas dari wajah Clara, terlihat jelas sekali bahwa si gadis ini menantikan kado dari sang paman.

"Kamu harus menunggu ya! Lalu bagaimana kabar adikmu, Fritz?" Yang ditanya kini mengalihkan pandangan melihat kesana-kemari mencari adiknya itu.

"Sepertinya masih di lantai atas, mungkin akan turun kesini sebentar lagi."

Clara dan Paman Drosselmeyer pun melanjutkan obrolan mereka sampai satu persatu sanak keluarga mereka berdatangan memenuhi ruangan dan tak terasa sudah waktunya untuk membuka kado.

Mereka langsung menyerbu kado yang sudah bertengger dibawah pohon cemara itu yang sedari tadi meminta untuk dibukakan.

Suara kertas disobek terdengar dimana-mana dan kado yang telah dinanti itu akhirnya bertemu dengan pemiliknya.

"Wah!" Fritz yang merupakan adik dari Clara kegirangan melihat kado yang dipersiapkan untuknya.

Dikeluarkannya satu persatu isi kado itu berjejer rapi, membuat mainan tentara itu terlihat seperti sedang baris-berbaris.

"Clara." Paman Drosselmeyer memanggil Clara dan otomatis sang pemilik nama itu menengok ke sumber suara. Pamannya mengeluarkan sebuah mainan kepadanya, mainan nutcracker dengan baju prajuritnya yang khas.

Clara langsung mengambilnya dengan senang dan mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Paman Drosselmeyer, "Terima kasih banyak, Paman!" Pamannya hanya tersenyum, senang bahwa Clara puas dengan hadiah yang telah ia persiapkan.

Acara malam natal tak berhenti sampai disitu, mulai dari menari hingga makan-makan serta bercanda ria selagi mengobrol seolah melepas rasa rindu terhadap satu sama lain karena sudah lama tidak bertemu.

Saat itu, suasananya sangat hangat. Terlampaui hangatnya sampai-sampai Clara tidak ingin melupakan kehangatan itu.

Malam harinya, Clara tertidur sambil memeluk nutcracker pemberian Paman Drosselmeyer.

Ia bermimpi masuk ke dunia fantasi dimana salju yang turun justru tidak terasa dingin baginya.

Di dunia itu, ia bertemu dengan beberapa peri nan indah yang menunjukkan kepadanya tentang apa saja yang ada di dunia fantasi itu.

Clara bertemu dengan seorang gingerbread man dan temannya yang sedang membangun rumah kue untuk mereka tinggali.

Clara juga melihat berbagai macam bunga yang bermekaran yang dirawat oleh para peri itu. Bunga-bunga yang tergoyangkan oleh angin itu seolah mengajaknya untuk turut berdansa bersamanya merayakan sukacita ini.

Bersama dengan gingerbread man dan para peri, mereka turut berdansa melangkah dan menari kesana-kemari dengan senangnya hingga ia bertemu dengan nutcracker yang bisa berbicara.

Clara senang bukan main melihat mainan pemberian pamannya itu ada disini. Jadinya nutcracker itu ikut berdansa bersama Clara dan yang lain.

Senyum tak bisa lepas dari bibir mereka bahkan senyum juga terukir di bibir Clara yang sedang tertidur.

Keesokan harinya, rumah tidak seramai sebelumnya karena beberapa sanak keluarga pergi keluar rumah. Mungkin salah satunya untuk berjalan-jalan dan membeli souvenir untuk dibawa pulang kerumah masing-masing.

Pohon cemara yang kemarin menjadi pusat perhatian kini terasa sepi karena teman-temannya yang bertengger dibawahnya sudah diambil. Clara mendongak melihat hiasan bintang yang masih berdiri disana.

Cahayanya sudah padam namun warna kekuningan itu terasa masih menyinari rumah ini.

Malam hari pun tiba, waktunya Clara tidur dan kembali ke dunia fantasi miliknya.

Di dalam mimpi itu, ia bertemu kembali dengan para peri, gingerbread man dan nutcracker. Mereka sedang minum teh bersama dan menikmati senja matahari.

Matahari kini perlahan tergantikan oleh sang rembulan namun suasana malam itu berbeda dari kemarin.

Tiba-tiba saja ada segerombolan tikus yang menyerang dunia fantasi milik Clara. Mereka merusak bahkan tak segan membunuh para penduduk disana.

"Kita harus lari!" Ucap salah satu peri sembari mengepakkan sayapnya dan beranjak pergi.

Namun sayang secepat apapun mereka berlari, kecepatan mereka tidak secepat para tikus itu. Perlahan teman-teman Clara dibunuh satu persatu mulai dari gingerbread man hingga para peri sampai akhirnya menyisakan nutcracker dan Clara.

"Clara, lari!" Ucap Nutcracker kepada Clara. Clara melirik ke belakang dan melihat Nutcracker berjuang melawan para tikus itu dengan pedangnya.

𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩! 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩!

Suara pedang yang beradu diantara Nutcracker dan para tikus terdengar.

Nutcracker berhasil memperlambat pergerakan para tikus itu namun tiba-tiba seekor tikus besar yang memakai mahkota dikepalanya muncul dan menebas Nutcracker.

𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩!

Tebasan itu mengenai dada bagian depan Nutcracker sebelum akhirnya menusuk jantungnya.

"TIDAK!" Clara berteriak melihat bagaimana Nutcracker dibunuh didepannya. Air mata berjatuhan membasahi wajah sang gadis dan para tikus kini mulai mengejarnya kembali.

Mau tak mau ia harus tetap berlari sampai akhirnya jatuh ke sebuah jurang.

Clara terbangun dengan keringat yang bercucuran, dadanya berdegup kencang dan nafasnya kini tidak teratur.

"Hah...hah..." Clara mengatur nafasnya dengan tatapan mata yang masih terbuka lebar seolah telah melihat sesuatu yang mengerikan.

Clara menenangkan dirinya sebelum ia pergi beranjak dari kasurnya dan dibukanya pintu kamarnya itu.

Aneh, suasananya hening.

Ia berjalan melewati lorong yang tak kalah sepinya itu. Suasananya yang hening itu cukup membuatnya takut.

Ia tidak menuruni tangga namun pergi ke kamar kedua orang tuanya.

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬!

Suara pintu terbuka terdengar mengisi keheningan yang ada, derit kayu terdengar makin keras seiring pintu yang semakin terbuka lebar dengan sebuah kengerian yang menanti disana.

Dinding kamar milik orang tuanya itu penuh darah, terlihat selimut yang menyelimuti ibunya juga penuh darah.

Warna putih di selimut itu sudah tergantikan dengan warna merah.

Ayahnya terduduk di samping kasur, kepalanya menunduk dengan dada yang banyak bekas tikaman. Clara sendiri tak berani melihat kondisi ibunya karena ketakutan.

Ia berjalan keluar dari kamar dengan kaki yang bergetar tidak hentinya. Ia tetap memaksakan diri untuk berjalan dengan harapan bahwa mungkin adiknya atau pamannya masih hidup.

Ia pergi ke kamar adiknya. Kamarnya tidak seberantakan kamar orang tuanya dan ia melihat adiknya terbaring di kasur dengan mata terbelalak.

Terdapat sebuah bekas memerah dileher Fritz.

Menuruni tangga, ia melihat Paman Drosselmeyer terbaring di dekat tangga dengan tusukan di dadanya. Matanya yang biasanya melihat Clara dengan senang itu kini sudah tidak hidup layaknya lampu yang sudah tidak bisa menerangi jalanan.

Clara mengalihkan pandangan kearah pohon cemara. Pohon itu sudah bercampur dengan darah pamannya. Hiasan yang menggantung disana juga sudah ternodai oleh darah.

Sekali lagi ia mendongak melihat hiasan bintang yang menghiasi pohon cemara itu. Kini sinarnya sudah betu-betul redup, tergantikan dengan kegelapan seperti keadaan di rumahnya sekarang.

Clara kini terbangun dan mengedarkan matanya seolah menginspeksi ruangan yang tampak asing baginya dengan sebuah infus yang menancap di tangan kirinya.

"Sudah bangun?" Ucap seorang dokter pria berkacamata yang sedang sibuk menulis seolah sedari tadi ia mengamati Clara sebagai subyek penelitiannya.

"Dimana ini?"

"Di rumah sakit." Sang dokter menjawab dengan tangan yang masih saja sibuk mencatat.

Clara melihat keluar jendela, ternyata salju sudah turun, "Hari ini adalah malam natal." Sang dokter kini ikut melihat keluar jendela dan mereka bersama melihat salju yang turun.

"Malam natal ya.." Clara terdiam sembari melihat salju yang berjatuhan.

Diluar jendela, ia bisa melihat anak-anak yang sibuk bermain kesana-kemari dengan salju. Entah melempar salju kearah temannya atau menbuat boneka salju.

Tak lama radio pun berbunyi dan membahas mengenai berita yang sempat mengegerkan tempat tersebut.

...𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘪 𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘨𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘺𝘢𝘸𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘶 𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘨�� 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘪 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘩, 𝘪𝘣𝘶, 𝘱𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘬 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘪-𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘪.

𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘬𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊.

𝘗𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘪 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘬 𝘬𝘰𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨...

...𝘥𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘶 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘬 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘢𝘱 𝘥𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘨𝘶 𝘷𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯.

Radio terus berbunyi membicarakan tentang berita yang lain sedangkan Clara memeluk nutcracker miliknya yang merupakan hadiah natal dari mendiang pamannya.

"Selamat natal...." Ucapnya sedang nada sedih.

Dirinya mengeratkan pelukannya dengan nutcracker itu karena kini dirinya hanya memiliki nutcracker, hadiah terakhir dari sang paman.

Kisah ini sudah selesai ditulis.

Tertanda,

𝓔𝓭𝓮𝓷.

[bleghbleghladydeath]

My Imperium AU

Little bit of stuff with Lust and Imperium, mainly Lust. I'm really fucking bored. !!!!TW!!!!: Rapy, obviously, blood, hitting, pedophilia, Imperium and Lust, just...overall really fucked up shit going on.

================================================Lust purred as he laid, stretched out over Imperium's lap on the couch. Imperium was smoking a cigar silently, a wine glass on the coffee table and a book in his hand. Lust started to silently lick Imperium's thigh, panting softly. Imperium growled and shoved him off, kicking him away. Lust growled and went back over, going directly back to what he was doing. Imperium shoved him away again, but Lust stood up, knocking Imperium's cigarette to the floor and pinning his arms above his head. He started to lick his neck, purring loudly. Imperium growled and Lust yelped, backing away. A white-hot collar was on his neck, it wasn't there before.

"Do you wish to get your cock cut off? You know that I initiate things and only I, it's been like that since I met you when you were fucking fourteen, dumb ass." Imperium snapped.

Lust whimpered and nodded. Imperium sighed. "Now, please don't be sad, you know I love you." Imperium purred.

Lust nodded excitedly as Imperium bent down by his hip. Imperium kissed him softly and Lust whined softly. He remembers Imperium finding him. He loves that day. Imperium threw him out his office. Lust sighed and went to his room, he opened his door, walked in and plopped onto his bed, thinking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fourteen-year-old Lust wandered around silently, at this time he had no name though, humming softly. His flares on his back are out and he was currently eating a popsicle some dude nervously gave him for free. He saw dress shoes come into his vision, and he looked up. Imperium stared down at him curiously. Lust smiled up at him, his flares shaking. Imperium swayed lightly, going limp. He jerked his head away, growling. "Put those away damn it!" Imperium snapped.

Lust whimpered, his frills lowering. Imperium looked back and stared. "...Weird kid.." Imperium hummed.

He then growled, smiling widely, perversely. Lust understood this expression, being an incubus, he's seen it from his elders, towards the girls they have asked for sex, sometimes they fail, sometimes they don't, all depends on the woman's or man's response. Lust put his popsicle back in his mouth, staring up at Imperium. "...Please don't look at me like that." Lust said. "Aw, but your so fucking cute!" Imperium purred.

Lust tensed, this seems wrong, but then again, these words, that tone, he's never heard it and he's curious.

"You're a bit young little incubus, have you achieved your name yet?" Imperium asked, kneeling down.

Lust shook his head and Imperium hummed. "How about I name you?" Imperium asked.

Lust stared. "But my elders will be angry." Lust groaned.

Imperium chuckled. "Well, if they kick you out, you can stay with me!" Imperium said.

Lust hummed, turning away as he silently continued on his popsicle. Imperium reached out to touch Lust, but he backed away. "My church will not allow physical interaction with anyone but them until I'm eighteen." Lust said.

Imperium hummed. "Well...that's dumb." Imperium chuckled.

Lust gasped. "Right!?!? I want to hug my best friend Nory but I'm not aloud, it's so dumb!" Lust whined.

Imperium purred. "Well, you can hug me." Imperium chuckled.

Lust stared. He scooted over and Imperium watched silently as Lust stared at him warily. Imperium outstretched his arms and pulled Lust into a hug. Lust sat there, smiling. "Your cold.." Lust said. "And your quite warm." Imperium hummed.

Imperium smiled widely, a growl bubbling into his throat, drool ran down his chin. He pulled away and pulled out a headkerchief to wipe his face. Lust went back to his popsicle silently. "..Hm...Lust, Lust fits you well, you lust for things, touch, affection, a family, your so...interesting." Imperium said

Lust stared and smiled.

"I like it!" Lust said excitedly.

Imperium chuckled. "Well, you should go to the library or something, maybe you'll develop a lust for knowledge and not sugar." Imperium joked.

Lust looked down at his popsicle and blushed. Imperium hummed and left, just as quickly as he came. Lust stood up, smiling. He walked for the library silently. He opened back up his frills, shaking them happily. He walked in and looked around curiously. He started to walk down aisles till he stopped on one. He stared, sex ed. Maybe he should learn about human sex ed, if he's going to be an incubus he needs to be an actually good one, it's not just about feeding himself. Then again, the idea of tying a woman down and forcing it on her like he's seen the exiled sex demons do is...unusually satisfying, but he can't do that, so he won't. Deer are one thing, humans are another. He smiled at this thought, a sick smile. He then saw something else, adult novels. He hummed and smiled widely. AKA, smut that is hidden behind the words 'adult novels'. He went down the aisle staring at the book titles. He grabbed one and started to read through it, he smiled at the good part, sat down at a chair and read silently.

The next time he went back home he was getting odd looks from his elder. He growled and walked over. "Young, may I speak with you?" he asked. "Uh, I'm sorry Brother, but why?" Lust asked, messing with the frill on one of his tendrils. "Just come with me." he said.

Lust waved to his friend and stood up, following his elder. Soon he was taken into a room and slammed into the door. His elder grabbed her arm and started to sniff. Lust stood there awkwardly, looking around. "Uh...what the fuck." Lust said.

His elder growled and slung him across the room. "You little whore!" he yelled.

Lust whimpered and backed away, under a desk.

"I knew there was something off, who did you touch!?" he yelled.

Lust backed farther into the desk, against the wall. His elder dragged him out and Lust kicked him off, jumping up. He shook his frills and his elder froze, swaying softly. Lust stared silently, panting. He then smiled. He walked over, tapped his face and threw him to the floor.

Lust walked out the room, sweating. He panted, smiling widely. Blood followed after him, dark red blood. He swallowed and walked away, blood dripping from his long black hair. Everyone looked over and froze. Elders jumped up but Lust shook his frills, making everyone freeze, staring. He ran out, cackling. He feels like it's the first time he's eaten in forever. Makes sense, sex demons develop sexually young, but sex demons believe they need to wait till eighteen when their mature enough. Lust ran for the prisons. He proceeded to open every single gate, cackling. He was tackled by some dude. He went to kiss him, but Lust shoved him off and ran. He slammed into a hard stomach and looked up. Imperium smiled down at him. "I heard something was going on, looks like you're that something." Imperium purred.

Lust growled, drool running down his chin, he's shaking and clawing at him arms. "I need to feed more, please!" Lust whined.

Imperium smiled widely. "I can help, you can let it all out on me." Imperium purred.

Thet was the first time Lust questioned everything that happened, was this bad, was Imperium bad? But when Imperium touched his face, it was like his brain melted and he nodded, he loves him, he loves him, he loves him. Imperium purred, and the two looked back. Some kid around Lust's age ran out, his face clawed up and a bone sticking out his arm. "DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK!!" he screeched.

Lust stared and Imperium put a hand on his shoulder. He bent down and purred. Lust smiled widely. "Is that Nory? He'll be in the way." Imperium whispered.

Lust popped his neck and Nory stumbled around, his red hair swaying. Lust was suddenly in front of him, he shook his frills, but Nory just stared with his bright red eyes. "Nice try bro, but...all I wanna ask before you inevitably kill me..is..why?" Nory asked.

Lust froze and stared. He then heard that purr rumble in his head and he smiled. "Because!" Lust laughed. "..But...didn't you say you loved me..and that you'd wait till I was eighteen when you turned eighteen, even though it was a month? So, we could be each other's first?" Nory whimpered, tears rolling down his gray face.

Lust growled, he's confused, why can't he remember that, but Nory, Nory? Who the fuck is Nory? Lust smiled widely. "I just wanted that cute fucking mouth." Lust purred.

Nory looked back at Imperium who stood there, proud. "..Okay.." Nory sighed.

He bowed his head, closing his eyes. Lust grabbed him, picked him up, and tore him in two, dropping each half. Imperium purred and walked over, grabbing Lust's shoulders before vanishing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nory, why is he remembering Nory now? Why does his head hurt? Why is he forgetting again, doesn't matter, he's horny and bored. He sat up, leaving the memory of Nory behind. He's always wanted to force himself on people, that's all he knows and that's what he'll fucking do. He purred, smiling widely. He loves being a sick fuck.

[adibaputri]

Hari ini belajar apa?

Nolong orang sampe tuntas!

Flashback waktu sore hari habis ashar pergi ke Tawangmangu buat ikut acara camping se Solo raya (Acaranya islami gitu wohoho). Tentu udah izin ke ortu dan dibolehin jadi gas boncengan berdua sama temen. Tapiii sebelum ke acara camping itu kita mampir dulu buat kajian di UNS, Ini searah sama acara campingnya itu jadi ga izin deh ke ortu, pergi kajian juga bukan maksiat kok, ini hal baikk aman lahh insyaallah kalo ga izin. Pikirku saat itu awokkaok.

Kajiannya belum selesai tp kalo nunggu kajian ini selesai nnti kemalaman sampe tw nya, akhirnya mutusin buat lanjut perjalanan ke tw. Semua berjalan dengan lancarrrr sampe tiba² motornya bunyi dan di gas gabisa, menepi lah kita. Udah masuk Maghrib lagi, karna bingung ni motor kenapa tnya deh ke mas² yg mau nyebrang jalan, kenapa ni motornya di gas gbisa jalan pdhl di stater bisa. Terus kata masnya itu streng nya putus (?) dan kata masnya semua bengkel udah tutup udah Maghrib soalnya, hari Sabtu pulak.

Bingung lah aku sama temenku ini trus kita duduk di kursi depan bengkel yg udah tutup tepat ditempat kita menepi tadi, udah dicoba chat mas yg punya bengkel itu siapa tau bisa bantu (dapet nomer dari spanduknya) tp kata masnya itu bengkel gabisa ganti streng yg putus itu. Yasudah deh kita duduk sambil mikir, nggak lama setelah itu disamping bengkel itu keluar mas² pake outfit mau sholat ke masjid wkwk pake sarung, baju rapi, sama peci ngeluarin motor dari ruko yang agak gede, itu tempat usaha percetakan gitu deh kyknya. Aku yakin pasti masnya mau sholat Maghrib ke masjid. Waktu masnya udah pergi, aku bilang ke temenku "Lihat ngga masnya tadi, kayaknya masnya bisa deh nolongin kita" temanku jawab "IYAA jenggotan masnya" awokkaok 😀 salfok malah. Trus kita nungguin masnya balik dari masjid dehh, dan Alhamdulillah setelah balik dari masjid masnya langsung nyamperin kita tnya kenapa motornya trus aku jelasin blablabla tp masnya bilang juga kalo semua bengkel udah tutup. Sama² bingung deh, masnya sempet tanya "Mau gimana ini mba?" Trus aku jawab "Mentok² cari masjid trus tidur di masjid aja mas, besok pagi baru cari bengkel yg buka" sngt kasian kamu Adiba wwkkw.

*OIYA, kenapa ga kabarin ortu aja minta dijemput gitu?? Karenaaa Adiba sudah besar gamau repotin ortu 😋 kalo bisa selesaiin masalah ini sendiri, ya selesaiin sendiri, gausah libatin ortu takutnya malah ngrepotin ehe

Truss karna bingung harus gmn, aku tnya sama mas nya masjid paling deket dmn soalnya udah Maghrib juga dan belum sholat jadi mau sholat dulu ajadeh. Terus kata masnya masjidnya dekett tinggal lurus nnti belok kiri. Rencananya sih mau jalan ke masjid tp tiba² masnya kasih kunci motornya, katanya pakai aja motornya 😀 kueren masnya pdhl baru kenal, masnya juga gatau aku orang baik/jahad, bisa aja aku orang jahad trus motor mas nya tak bawa kaboor. Tp engga kok, Adiba anak baik 🙇🏻‍♀️.

Trus sebelum ke masjid aku sama temenku ini juga sempet chat ke panitia yg ngadain acara camping ini, tapi ga dibales² jadi yaudah deh sholat Maghrib aja dulu. Trus waktu kita sholat ternyata panitia ini telfon aku sama temenku tp hp kita di silent jadi gatau deh ada yg telpon toh lg sholat juga. Setelah selesai sholat dan buka hp ternyata beberapa panitia chat ke kita dan Alhamdulillah pihak panitia nawarin buat jemput kita pdhl jarak tempat camping ke motor rusak tadi 25 menit, mayan lah. Hbis sholat aku sama temenku balik deh ke ruko mas yg awal tadi.

Setelah 2 panitia Ikhwan ini sampe, mas nya bilang, motor yg rusak dititipin dikenalan masnya aja biar aman, trus Adiba dengan PD dan 100% yaqin bilang "Dititipin disini aja gapapa mas aman insyaallah, mas nya ini insyaallah Sholeh kok, amanah jugaa insyaallah" ehehe trus yaudah deh motornya dititipin ke mas² ruko ini. Trus aku boncengan sama temenku pake salah satu motor mas panitia ini dan dua masnya tadi boncengan juga deh.

Aku sama temenku ngikutin masnya dibelakang karena kita ga hafal jalan. Trus ditengah perjalanan ke buper, mas nya tanya "udah sholat belum? Sholat Maghrib udah belum?" Amann mas kataku dan temenku. Trus juga diperjalanan udah masuk isya, akusih mikirnya "Yaudahsih sholat isya di Buper aja nnti" tp ternyata masnya mampir ke masjid dulu buat sholat isya wuohoo keren (emang harusnya gini sih) trus masnya jamaah deh sholatnya. Setelah selesai sholat mau lanjutin perjalanan ke Buper sendal masnya ilang di masjid 😀 jadi masnya gapake sendal deh, trus ternyata rumah masnya ada dideket situ jadi mampir dulu ke rumah masnya buat ambil sendal.

Lanjutt perjalanan ke Buper, dan alhamdulillah sampe Buperr panitianya baik sekalii kita sampe langsung ditawarin makan dan tenda yg kita bawa diminta panitia buat didiriin, jadi aku sama temenku terima jadi ehee. Alhamdulillah

Trus gmn balik ke rukonya tadii? Bingung ga 😀 lanjut part 2 yaw awokkaok sudah panjang sekali ini ceritanya

Part 2 lebih ajibbb!!! Keren maksimal skenario Allah

23 Des 2023-24 Des 2023

[pratleskitties]

TW: death

Pernahkah kalian berpikir, kalau kalian berpulang, nasib kucing2 kalian gimana?

Di awal2 pandemi, ada banyak posting2an - baik di grup2 FB maupun medsos2 lain - soal orang2 yang terkena Covid dan either masuk rumah sakit atau tidak bertahan; dan teman2nya sibuk mencarikan foster/adopter untuk kucing2 peliharaan pasien/almarhum(ah) yang ditinggalkan.

Kalau kucing2 tersebut beruntung, mereka bisa cepat dapat foster/adopter - biasanya kucing2 yang sudah steril dan/atau mix/ras.

Kalau sial dan tidak ada yang mau mengadopsi, mereka dilempar ke shelter.

Terbayang, gak, kucing2 yang biasanya sehari2 bebas di dalam rumah 'sendiri', bersama2 kucing2 yang 'sekeluarga' atau sudah dianggap koloni sendiri, disayang2 1-2 orang dengan jadwal makan yang rapi di tempat2 yang tersedia -- lalu tiba2 dilempar ke shelter yang isinya puluhan, bahkan ratusan kucing2 asing yang menakutkan untuk mereka. Dapat makanan yang beda dari yang biasa dimakan, yang pasti akan bikin sakit perut (karena ga akan ada shelter di Indonesia yang sedia pakan hypoallergenic atau super premium yang tidak bikin mencri). Tidur di tempat2 ga jelas, mostly tidak beralas.

Atau yang lebih sial lagi, dibuang ke jalanan.

Atau masih ada yang mimpi bahwa kalau kalian meninggal, anak/adik/teman/sodara kalian akan dengan besar hati mengangkut semua kucing2 kalian dan mengurus mereka EXACTLY seperti cara kalian urus mereka?

Ha.

Saya tidak memiliki keturunan langsung, ataupun saudara kandung; walaupun sepupu/keponakan sy banyak. Ada diantara teman2 dan keponakan2 sy yang mengurus kucing dengan 'pakem' yang tidak jauh beda dengan sy (steril, vaksin, dikit2 ke dokter, pakan super premium, perabotan/mainan, vitamin, dll).

Tapi saya tidak mau MEMBERATKAN mereka untuk mengurus 8 kucing2 indoor saya. Walaupun insyaallah mereka mampu secara ekonomi dan sanggup secara hati dan fisik.

Keberatan sy bukan karena sy 'terlalu baik' atau 'berhati lembut' seperti kata salah satu onty yang sok2an menyindir saya. Ga guna, btw, menyindir saya, apalagi kalau kamu/kalian tidak hidup di rumah sy dan tidak tahu kehidupan dan penghidupan saya seperti apa.

Keberatan sy justru karena SAYA KENAL KUCING2 SY, dengan baik. Sy tahu apa yang mereka suka/tidak suka, dan apa yang menyamankan mereka sampai mereka tenang dan betah di rumah sy.

Kidcat: Jangan coba2 mengkandangkan Kidcat, apapun alasannya, karena dia bisa lolos. Sy pun ga bisa mikir gimana kalau *mitamit* dia sampai sakit dan harus ranap, gimana caranya mengkandangkan dia. Apalagi dia sudah 6 tahun, semakin tua dia akan semakin manja. Pun dia tidak bisa model dikasih makan langsung 1 mangkok sehari - yang ada judulnya semua dihabiskan saat itu juga dan akan dimuntahkan lagi. Also dia anxiety tinggi, kalau anxious terus muntah2.

Smartees: Every stranger is Stranger Danger! Bahkan pembantu yang tiap hari datang, pun. Jangan harap bisa menemukan/melihat Smartees sekalipun kalau dia tidak percaya sama kamu. Tetangga sebelah rumah pun jarang melihat Smartees.

Tokyo: PTSD takut dibuang. Kisah Tokyo sudah banyak sy posting. Tokyo butuh 1 tahun untuk akhirnya percaya sama sy dan mau dipegang2. Sy yakin dia tidak akan bisa langsung akrab dengan orang baru.

Espresso: Ya... berhubung dia sudah 14 tahun dan penyakitan, sy cuma basa-basi menyebutkan dia, karena insyaallah by the time saya berpulang, Espresso sudah duluan.

Tinney & Winnie: Kucing 'milik' nyokap. Dua2nya EGC dan tidak boleh makan ikan sama sekali.

Beedy: Mungkin yang paling bisa di adopsi orang lain adalah Beedy, yang friendly, easygoing, dan oyen. Tapi Beedy banyak tidbits yang harus diperhatikan, mis: suka makan karet gelang, tali2 mainan, bola kain, dll.

Jadi saya memasukkan kucing2 sy di SURAT WASIAT saya.

Dalam surat wasiat, saya meminta agar kucing2 saya yang tersebut di atas - jika mereka masih hidup saat saya meninggalkan dunia ini - untuk ditidurkan saja, alias di euthanasia.

Kenapa?

Karena mereka tidak akan bisa dirawat oleh orang lain tanpa berujung mereka - kucing2nya - yang menderita. Dan sy definitely TIDAK MAU mereka dibuang ke shelter. Sumpe kalau anak2 sy sampai dibuang ke shelter, gw bangun lagi dari kubur & obrak-abrik yang ngirim ke shelter.

Jadi dalam surat wasiat sy, selain sy minta mereka di euthanasia, sy meminta salah satu sahabat dan keponakan untuk bertanggung jawab atas permohonan sy tersebut.

Sy secara pribadi juga mengeraskan hati untuk tidak mengadopsi kucing2 baru (dan muda), karena sy tidak mau jumawa mengharap hidup dan income sy akan panjang. Pengalaman dan kehilangan2 (utamanya) selama pandemi kemarin mengingatkan sy bahwa nyawa sy (dan rejeki) tidak bisa 100% dijamin.

Plis ga usah komen kalau cuma bawa2 filosofi, apalagi bawa2 agama. Agama tidak ada yang menyebut2 soal covid, TAPI semua agama SELALU mengingatkan kita akan kematian. KITA yang harus berpemikiran untuk mengingat APA (dan siapa) YANG KITA TINGGALKAN setelah kita meninggalkan dunia. Kita yang harus MEMIKIRKAN mereka yang akan kita tinggal, utamanya yang tidak bisa menolong diri sendiri di tengah2 manusia yang sibuk dengan egonya masing2.

foto: Taglia, anak gadis buntut irit yang masih mencari pawrent(s) baru. Taglia bulan Desember ini berusia 1 tahun, vaksin F4, sudah steril. Kalau ada onty/ongkel yang kepingin jadi pawrent(s)-nya Taglia dan merasa memenuhi syarat (Pro steril, pro vaksin, pro dokter hewan, berpenghasilan tetap, rumah sendiri, bersedia tanda tangan surat adopsi bermaterai), dan berdomisili seputaran TangSel, silahkan inbox meowmmy, yaks! Taglia akan bahagia di rumah yang kucingnya sedikit, hoomannya banyak, dan mau kasih dia makan ikan kukus/rebus dan wf, df hanya buat cemilan. ;p

[vivien-dot-exe]

enjibowl day 2: soulmates / fantasy au

nothing quite like a tyrant king and his dear unruly prince, am I right??

@enjibowl-week

[milesproblemships]

I need to update my caard and add Octavia <3

[proship-moodboards]

[wellboyhowdy-fr]

They Are In Love Okay!!!!! What About It!!!!!!!!!!1

[twinkiemaximoff]

It Hurts Until It Doesn’t ❣︎

post-death!kyle spencer x gn!reader

- TW: talk/mentions of abuse, hurt/comfort, mentions of Kyle’s mom

Taglist(Message me if you want to be added/removed!): @mossybank @undeadcortez @americxn @mrgallantt @tatestripedsweater @tatesimper @evanmybeloved @fictional-men-that-i-stan

You're no stranger to waking up in the dead of night. Kyle, no matter how deep he's sleeping, is constantly tossing and turning, usually kicking you at some point in the process and he has a habit of curling up as close as he can to you no matter what position. You didn't mind it though. The fact that he's comfortable enough to sleep with you is good enough for you- for as long as you've known Kyle, he's had trouble with it.

You can tell he has nightmares, which you've learned not to ask too much about since simply bringing it up when he looks tired enough to fall asleep right then and there can ruin the rest of his day- and the last thing you want is to upset him even more.

But- tonight was different. Kyle had gone to bed before you, curling up in bed while you took care of a few things and hopped in the shower, insisting he gets it all warm and cozy for when you came to join him. You tried to be as quick as possible but he was out like a light once you made your way into the bedroom and slipped under the covers with him, falling asleep once he finds his way tucked into your side per usual.

You don't know how long you were in bed before you woke up again, not from any movement or kicks but from a shiver coursing through your body. You groan and try to reach out for Kyle, figuring he had just rolled too far away but your hand hits the frigid cold sheets and you furrow your brows, finally letting your eyes flutter open. Kyle's nowhere to be found, which is odd in itself- you sit up slowly, surveying the room where you find the door, once slightly ajar, flung open.

You sigh as you pull yourself out of bed, grabbing a throw blanket from the end, his favorite, and wrapping it around yourself, shivering once more. Kyle must be freezing- you bite your lip as you round the corner. There aren't many places he could be,, and you're sure he's fine but the sinking feeling in your gut pulls you into the living room.

Kyle isn't set up on the couch or in the kitchen attempting to make a drink- the two places you can usually find him so that doesn't really help the way you're feeling.

You pace around the house until you finally catch sight of the strip of light at the bathroom door, your heart finally settling in your chest, at least somewhat and you shuffle over to the door, rapping your knuckles on the wood as gentle as you can.

"Ky?" You sigh when you get no answer and you try again, only to hear a whimper, muffled, from in the room. You wait a moment before trying to open the door, finding that, thankfully, it's unlocked and you slowly open it to peek your head in.

Kyle's pushed himself as far into the corner of the bathroom as he possibly can and is curled up into himself, having brought his knees up to his chest to wrap his arms around and rest against. You enter the room and approach him, noting the way he tenses up and shakes when you do.

Kneeling down in front of him, you hesitate before reaching out, fingers meeting Kyle's soft curls as his body wracks with sobs, attempting to soothe him before he can work himself up any worse than he is.

"Kyle, baby- can I move closer to you,,?" When you get no answer you let your hand slip away from his hair but Kyles's head snaps up before you can move too far, his hands finding your wrist to bring it back. He leans into your hand and your heart drops at the sight of him.

Your eyes meet Kyles, his usual sweet doe eyes now panic-stricken and filled with tears, threatening to spill out onto his cheeks once more. They finally do when he opens his mouth, his eyes squeezing shut as he tries to force out words, voice wobbling.

“N-no! Please don’t,, don’t leave!” A litany of pleas escape his lips and he shakes his head rapidly, scrambling up on his knees as his tears come back at full force. You frown and bring up your other hand to cup Kyles's face, wiping away his tears. The hand on your wrist gently squeezes as he continues, trying to push back his tears, “Please, (Y/N)- I-I’m gonna stop I p-promise n’ we c-can go to bed just- just please don’t leave me,, what if she-“

Kyle cuts himself off, harshly biting down on his lip and you shush him softly, bringing him closer to you until he's practically in your lap. He's shaking worse than you've ever seen, probably due to panicking and the fact that he's freezing. You slip the blanket you have around his trembling form and pull him flush against your body. Kyle practically melts against you, burrowing his face into your shoulder and you hear him take a shuddery breath as he tries to calm down.

"I'm not going anywhere sunshine,, as long as you want me here, okay?" You hum, smoothing Kyle's hair out of his face so you can peer down at him, and he nods, furrowing his eyebrows. Once he somewhat settles down, you continue on, "Kyle,, I- what brought this on? We need to talk about this."

You watch as his eyes open, looking up at you as a whine of protest emits from his throat, and you have to reassure him quickly when he begins tearing up again. He sniffs and brings his hand up to rub at his eyes.

"No,, p-please- just,, just a nightmare." You sigh as you listen to Kyle, and while you know how exhausting it must be, you both need to talk about it at some point- you can't just let it go on like this.

"Maybe- but this has been going on for a while Ky,, and it's obviously getting worse,," You say, shifting on the cold tiles of the floor to sit back against the tub, allowing you to hold Kyle easier and he takes his place in your arms once more, shoving his face into your shoulder with an impatient huff, "Talk to me."

"J-Just,, t-they just feel so real,, I- I know they aren't n' that I don't have to worry anymore b-but,, it's just a-always at the back of my mind. Her h-hands, h-her touch just- it's all I can f-feel sometimes." Kyle takes in a sharp breath, continuing, "I haven't seen my mom i-in years and,, she still controls me."

You falter at Kyle's words, staring up at the ceiling as you process them, and try not to let your emotions get the best of you as you before you start talking, wracking your brain for an answer.

You've always wondered why he never talked about his family or about the discomfort surrounding the topic but you never asked- never prodded- much like with these nightmares. You figured that everyone has their own family issues, but you never thought that it would be something like this. The thought of the sweet boy tucked against you ever going through something like that- it made you see red.

Finally snapping out of your thoughts, you glance back down at Kyle, who's finally turned his attention to the hem of the blanket around his shoulders, knawing at his bottom lip as he tries to suppress his tears. You bring the blanket tighter around his shoulders, running your free hand across the curve of his back.

"A-and,, I dunno, I just- You already d-deal with so much and y-you're so patient with m-me already,, I don't w-want to burden you anymore w-with this,,"

You furrow your brows, shaking your head and bringing his chin up to look you in the eyes.

"Kyle- if you think you're burdening me with this, that's far from the truth,, it isn't good to bottle stuff up like that. I'm so sorry baby- " You hum, taking a deep breath before continuing, "But hey,, you are safe, okay? I'm not going to let a single thing happen to you again,,"

Kyle nods, and your heartaches at how exhausted he looks, bringing him close to press a chaste kiss to his red nose, prompting a small smile to pull at his lips. He leans in and rests his forehead against your own, eyes drifting closed as he sniffles, rubbing his nose gently.

"Can we- can we talk about t-this later,,? T-tomorrow, I promise, just- I'm tired (Y/N),,"

You hum in agreement, planting one last kiss on his forehead before pulling yourself up, offering your hands to Kyle to help him, which he instantly accepts. You both make your way out and into the bedroom and your eyes flicker over to the clock- 4 am. You were definitely taking off of work tomorrow.

Kyle makes his way over to the bed, dramatically throwing himself onto it, splaying his arms out. You grin and clamber onto the bed next to him, pulling the covers over your legs and once you're settled in, he curls up next to you. You end up turning on a movie (Back to the Future, Kyle insisted on it and you didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise) and he eventually falls asleep safe and tucked into your arms. This time, thankfully, throughout the whole night, no nightmares to be had.

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

tw // conversion therapy

can you share this with your followers if you haven't heard of it already, the new zealand government put out a public submission form for input on whether or not they should ban c/nversion th/rapy, so it's super important they get flooded with submissions telling them to ban it, it's time sensitive too, and you don't have to live in NZ to make a submission

https://www.parliament.nz/en/ECommitteeSubmission/53SCJU_SCF_BILL_113397/CreateSubmission

Damn. New Zealand, I had such high hopes for you. I'm severely disappointed in you. 😥

-fae

[daenerysrey]

since it’s seems confusing for a lot of people let me do this for yall! so a morally grey character means bad but not completely bad an anti hero

Anti Hero:

Loki!

Irredeemable purely evil villain who deserved only one ending always which is painful death!

VILLAIN

tw: jumpscare ugly old white men groomers, abusers, tyrants, pedophili*, manipulators spacenatz* rapis* enslavers mindrapist* murderers sex traffickers and torturers!

Homelander

[arthur-of-camelot]

Into the West

In which Arthur Pendragon takes his final bow and says his goodbyes.

tw: death, blood, emotions ok I got real emo @fallcntrees @geehosaphat  @eilonwy-notjustgirl @labellerose-acheron @truitt-story @marzelsoto @aurora-rosewood @alzcomicbarn @simba-bonfamille-lyons

Goodbye to Belle!

Lay down your sweet and weary head The night is falling, you have come to journey’s end

Arthur Pendragon tw: blood, dying

He knew in his bones that this was it. The feeling was not an unfamiliar one. Once long ago there had been a great battle too. The people were dressed differently, the enemy with swords and not magic, but the outcome felt the same. Innocent people strewn across the room...but Zira was dead. Zira had been defeated, and that at least would do some good for this town.

Arthur let go of his chest for a moment and put his hand over Simba's. "Simba..." he shook his head. He was certain that it would be no use. The wound was too deep and even if they could get someone to come help...there was not nearly enough time. But he did have time for some things. He could speak to his knights, he could thank them for all that they had done....and he could say his goodbyes.

"I...I need you to do something for me," Arthur said after a moment, a small smile spread across his face. "Can you gather up the knights? I..." he sucked in a sharp breath and let it out again. "I don't have much time, but I would like to see them all before...." he squeezed Simba's hand. "Will you do this for me?" 

Belle Acheron

Belle had known that everything was going to go to hell. She had felt it in her bones and it was a comforting feeling, for usually, attacks came without warning. However, what she hadn't expected was Hades collapsing within moments. He was supposed to do this by her side. He wasn't dead, but it was clear that whatever had happened to him was not good, that if they didn't fix it--But they would fix it, because the knights outnumbered the vampires. The Blackwells.This would be their victory.In the meantime, Belle had spent her time trying to help Hades and the others that had been poisoned, jumping from body to body to turn them on their sides and make sure that they were at least breathing before she took a deep breath and tried to start brainstorming. She watched as Zira fell, as her compatriots handled Vitani and Nuka, waiting to jump in if necessary but knowing her mind was better spent trying to find a solution and how could she do anything else when Hades was one of the people she needed to save?

The sound of her name being called had her getting reluctantly to her feet and moving from Hades' side. Most of the danger had passed but now--Belle realized why much of the fighting had stopped as she came upon Arthur--ashen and covered in blood. Her own breath caught in her throat and she hovered a few steps away, unable to force herself closer."Oh, Arthur," she murmured, her hands going to cover her mouth, as if she could press that feeling of dread back inside herself.

Arthur Pendragon Arthur turned his head at the sound of Belle's voice. Good. Belle was one of the more level headed of the bunch. The knights would need that. And he believed he could trust her to do what needed to be done.

"You will no longer need to worry about Zira," Arthur informed her softly, a weak smile stretched across his face. "I feel better knowing my actions today could make up for my uselessness the last time we faced her together." He still felt bad for his failure then, even if there hadn't been much option then.

Arthur gestured for her to come a little closer. "Can you come closer? I...I have two things I want to say to you."

Belle Acheron

tw description of stabbing/anxiety/ptsd Belle didn't want to get closer. She couldn't even look at Arthur's face. Her eyes were fixed on the dagger in Arthur's chest. The mirror wound on her own chest burned and she knew, without knowing how she knew, that--

Arthur would not be getting up and walking out of here.

When Arthur spoke, Belle blinked rapidly to clear her vision and tore her eyes from his wound so that she could look at his face. She clenched her hand into a fist to stop its trembling and moved closer, kneeling down across from Simba.

"You weren't useless, Arthur," Belle told him softly. She reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. The world felt like it was tilting around her, like she might faint, but she just smiled at him. "We made a good team and you succeeded. You beat them."

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur hummed, squeezing Belle's hand back softly, a small smile spread across his face. "It relieves me a little to hear you say so." He sucked in a shaky breath and let it out again. He had to push past those feelings of guilt now. There were more important things to say...about the knights, Excalibur, and Belle. He wanted to thank her. He wanted to thank them all.

"I would like to start by asking you for a favor." Arthur glanced toward Excalibur that rested at his side. "I know you to be.... a... a level headed woman. In fact, of the whole group.... I am certain you would be the most capable of steering everyone right." He sucked in another breath. "Will you hide Excalibur? This weapon in the wrong hands...it could do untold damage."

Arthur knew that something as legendary as the sword was difficult to send away. The temptation to keep something so useful would be there. But he firmly believed Belle would do the right thing.

Belle Acheron

Belle was still trying to push away at her instincts that wanted to run from Arthur and his wounds. The very same ones she had had, once upon a time. Those fatal wounds. She could remember, looking at him, how cold it had been. How terrible it had been to die alone on the floor of the bookshoppe--

Except, Arthur wasn't alone. He was surrounded by people who loved him. Who looked up to him. Belle knew that it was gentler to go that way. And as much as she wanted to use whatever nonexistent power as the Queen of the Underworld, there was nothing she could do except let a dying man tell her what he wished.

Her eyes strayed to the sword at his side as he mentioned it and it was Bedivere who appeared for just a moment. This scene having played out once before, thousands of years ago. Then, Bedivere had hesitated, had wondered at Excalibur's great power and if it was not better used...and Belle wondered...would she make the same mistake? Would she be strong enough to let got of a weapon that might protect her family in the future?

"Of course, Your Highness," she told him, keeping her voice from wavering, though she did not know how. "I won't let it fall into the wrong hands again, I swear to you."

Arthur Pendragon

A small smile spread across Arthur's face. He could rest easier knowing that he had asked this of Belle. While the temptation would always be there...he was sure that she would do the right thing.

"I know you won't. I have faith in you. You'll do what needs to be done." Arthur had always known that Belle would do so. She did everything that she could. She had done so while pregnant, she would certainly do it now. Sometimes it felt like there was nothing the woman couldn't do if she set her mind to it.

Arthur took a breath and let it out again. "I want to say how... how proud I am to have been able to...to work with you and get to know you." Arthur knew that they could contribute a good deal of success to her wisdom. "I figure...someone with your wisdom should...should be given a gift worthy of you..." @Sir Kay/Bedivere

Belle Acheron

Doing what needed to be done felt almost as if it was becoming a burden, rather than an honor. The more that she did, the harder it felt like it became. She wondered if there would ever be a time that someone would ask something of her and she would not be able to do it. Or would refuse.

But that was the thing about Belle, she didn't think she could ever refuse. To do so felt like...denying who she was. Which was someone who always wanted to help.

Even now, amongst the chaos, she managed a small blush when Arthur told her he was proud. Not many people said that to her, and she would cherish the fact that King bloody Arthur had said it to her. Had meant it too.

"You don't have to give me anything," Belle told him. "Being your friend, learning from you. That's all I could ever want." 

Arthur Pendragon

It was funny really, that Belle had mentioned learning. He had the kind of knowledge that no historian would have. And he would do what he could to impart some on her. He was certain that this would be more valuable than a trinket.

"Well... I can make no promises as to... to what you'll find, but... I thought my gift to you would be the... the location of Camelot." Arthur managed a small smile. "Or at least...what might be left of it. There were... many hidden tunnels and...and underground dungeons and things...they could still be there..." Arthur sucked in a shaky breath and let it out again.

"As I said, I cannot guarantee it to be a very...fruitful gift...but it may at least be something engaging." 

Belle Acheron

Belle's eyes widened and her grip on Arthur's hand tightened. She couldn't even feel her excitement, because she knew that she would rather had Arthur live than Camelot. A hundred times over she would choose him over Camelot. As queen of the Underworld she knew a thing or two about chasing ghosts and how painful it could be.

"I--" Belle breathed, her lip trembling, but she let go of his hand with one of hers and reached it into her pocket, drawing out her phone. It took her several times to unlock it as blood--hers? Hades'? Arthur's?--smeared across the screen and her hands trembled. She had to keep blinking tears out of her eyes as well, but she managed and set it on her lap between them after having turned on the voice memos.

"If...if you're sure. I will make sure that the knowledge I find is only used for the benefit of others. I promise." She lifted Arthur's hand and kissed the back of it. "Is there anything I can do for you? To--to make you more comfortable?"

I know what it's like, Belle wanted to say. Tell me what you need.

Arthur Pendragon

"I know. You're one of the only people I think.... that I think would actually use such knowledge for good." Arthur knew plenty of people who couldn't help but want to use what they found for their own benefit. Belle had never seemed like that type,

It was why he felt like she could handle what he offered. "I know...but it's what I have to give...and I wish to give it to you." 

Belle Acheron

Belle’s eyes filled with tears, but she did her best to hold them in, pressing her lips together as she nodded. “Alright, tell me then.”

She let Arthur murmur the coordinates. Could hear his breath coming harder and shorter as he spoke and she rubbed her thumb gently over the back of his hand.

“Thank you,” Belle told him once he’d finished. “For this. For your friendship. Know that you are going somewhere gentle. A place for heroes and the best of people.” Belle had always felt that as the Underworld’s queen, she didn’t have any power, but at the very least, she could be sure about death.

“You have no unfinished business, rest easy, Your Highness.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead lightly.

Goodbye to Tiana!

Sleep now And dream of the ones who came before

Tiana Truitt

tw blood

Tiana rushed in. Her ankle still felt a little off, but she didn't care. She had heard shouting coming from this room, and when she saw the scene, a strangled kind of scream came from somewhere Tiana didn't recognize. She didn't even notice Zira. Just Arthur, bleeding on the ground, Simba knelt beside him. "Arthur!" Tiana gasped, dropping to the floor next to him and not even noticing all the blood she was getting on her suit.

He looked like he was in bad shape. Very bad shape. But he wasn't-- he couldn't-- the Knights were going to win! They had outsmarted the Blackwells, they had saved the day-- Arthur was going to live. He had to. It was just a little wound, wasn't it? Surely people had suffered worse.

"Arthur, we need to get you out of here!" She looked around, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "Somebody! Do something!" 

Arthur Pendragon

tw blood

Arthur was grateful that Simba had done what he asked. He had looked reluctant, like maybe he did still think there was something that could be done. He understood that. He'd seen it on the faces of many of his friends, his knights before with each loss they'd dealt with.

"Tiana..." Arthur said softly, a blood covered hand reaching out for her own. "Tiana it's okay. There's nothing that can be done here." He knew that his time here was unnatural anyway. He had been tasked here for the purpose of protecting the town from evil, from Zira...and he had done his best and taken out the monster. He could die peacefully knowing that he had accomplished something.

"Well...there is one thing..." He glanced up at Tiana and smiled slightly. "This may be very old fashioned, but will you allow me to give you a blessing of sorts?"

Tiana Truitt

Terror seized Tiana and she shook her head, a sob escaping from somewhere deep inside her. She didn’t like to cry in front of people. Never had. But she couldn’t help it. This wasn’t how the story was supposed to go. Gareth was supposed to die while working with Arthur, not the other way around. Even the rational part of her that told her there was nothing that could be done for him, that a dagger to the chest meant a certain fate, was drowned out by the alarm bells in Tiana’s head.

And then she saw the smile on Arthur’s face. He had always been so wise, so strong. It was why Tiana had always wanted to do right by him. It was more than just the inner Knight telling her that Arthur was her commander, it was his reassuring eyes, his steady wisdom. The scenes flashed before Tiana— training together with the swords he had gifted the team, Arthur’s calm advice. His encouraging words when Tiana ventured out onto the roof of the church, and how she never feared falling with the line of rope in his hands. Laughing together, playing Dungeons and Dragons while the rest of the team ventured into the unknown. And now, Arthur asking to do one final thing for Tiana.

And suddenly, Tiana understood. She didn’t want to, but she did.

“Go ahead. Please,” Tiana said, nodding and not even bothering to try and stop her tears anymore. She had never been very religious, but she found comfort in ritual. If it was what Arthur wanted, then Tiana wanted it. To the end, she was his Knight.

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur let out a relieved breath, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Tiana...you are one of the...bravest people I know. It's been such an honor to...to get to know you...and to know your incredible cooking skills," he said with a small laugh, wincing a little as he did.

"I know that your future will be a good one. You will walk on the highway of greatness. Instead of curses, you shall be greatly blessed. Your little efforts will yield great results and your mouth shall always be filled with songs of victory. I hope that you live the life of joy that you deserve. Don't let anyone make you feel as if you can't do something...you've proven a thousand times over that you can."

Arthur was immensely proud of her, as he was of all of his knights. "And...it's a small thing really, but...there's an old globe in my..my apartment that I'd like you to have. To...to always remember that you have a whole world of opportunity out there."

Tiana Truitt

Tiana tried not to let her fear and grief take over. She tried to focus on Arthur’s words, burn them into her memory. She knew what was happening, even if she didn’t want to accept it. And Tiana never wanted to forget this, ever.

She nodded as Arthur spoke, committing each word to memory. Arthur believed in her. And she wasn’t going to let him down. It seemed to be how Tiana grieved: she committed herself to a legacy.

“Thank you,” Tiana said, her tears slowing now. “I’m going to make you proud, Arthur. I promise. I’m never going to let anything happen to this town. To these people. You did your part and now it’s time for me to do mine.” She mustered a small smile. “Swynlake will be safe. We’ll never forget you.”

Arthur Pendragon

"You have already made me prouder than words can express," Arthur replied warmly. "You already do make me so proud." There was no need for her to work harder than she already had. Arthur knew that she had done amazing and would continue to do so.

"I will never forget you either. I'm certain...certain that I'll look down on you all and will be in awe of all that you guys accomplish without me." He squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you for helping me with everything. Truly...it's been an honor."

Tiana Truitt

There was always more to do. Tiana was sure of that. But the words still hit Tiana, somewhere deep she didn’t go often.

She didn’t know what to say. There weren’t really any words for what she was feeling. So she just nodded. “It’s been an honor for me as well,” she said in a low, choked voice. She glanced over her shoulder. The rest of the knights had arrived. “Goodbye, Arthur. Thank you.” Tiana squeezed his hand and nodded at the person behind her, then took one last long look at the king. She would never forget.

Goodbye to Eilonwy!

They are calling From across the distant shore

Eilonwy Llyr

TW: Blood

Turning away from the fallen Vitani, Eilonwy cradled her injured arm against her body and ignored the blood dripping down her sword. It was done. Not good enough, not fast enough, there were far too many injured that she needed to find a way to help, but the pain fogged her mind slightly as the initial rush of adrenaline began to fade.

That was, until she walked closer and saw the expression in Simba's eyes where he stood next to Arthur. On the ground. Covered in more blood than any person had the right to be.

She ran over and knelt next to him sword clattering to the ground as she felt the way her heart pounded in her chest. The words tumbled out across from each other, speeding up as if she could feel the way she was running out of time before she could consciously think it, "I'm sorry. I should have been with you, I should have been faster, I'm sorry. Please don't go."

Arthur Pendragon

"Eilonwy...." He reached out for one of her hands, squeezing it lightly to try and ground her a little. Even as his chest ached and he struggled for breath, he wanted to be of comfort to her. It had only been a dream, but he still felt as if, in some small way, she was a daughter to him.

"You have done nothing wrong. You don't need to apologize for anything. You've been brilliant." Arthur smiled at her, rubbing his thumb over her hand. "You are such a talented young woman. It is...I'm only sorry I won't be able to see how much more you'll grow and accomplish."

Eilonwy Llyr

As he took her good hand, she squeezed his in return, clinging desperately. He'd been her father in her first ever Swynlake dream, and in nearly every way that made him the first father she'd ever known.

She'd lived her whole life with the knowledge of her own parents death. That loss had always defined her, and she thought she'd come to terms with it. She hadn't known that there was more she could lose after all.

"Tod and I, we stopped Vitani. We'll make sure everyone's ok. You don't have to worry about anything." She wasn't sure if it was Brunor inside her or her own feelings that had her brushing her lips against his hand, pledging fealty as they had in another life. She didn't even notice the first tear begin to roll down her cheek as she did so. 

Arthur Pendragon

"You did?" Arthur asked, his smile only widening. Despite his pain, he knew that he had found a great group of people. They fought hard, and they had done so much to try to protect this place. Just as Arthur had done everything in his power to do so.

"How could I worry with such brilliant knights?" Arthur added, still gripping gently onto Eilonwy's hand. "I only really wish to... to offer you something for the future. Not much...but at least... something. Will you accept a blessing?" 

Eilonwy Llyr

"Of course." She didn't even have to think as she agreed. During the nightmare fog, she had given a blessing of her own to a friend she hadn't realized would become as important as he did. It felt like the closing of a circle to receive one now. She wasn't a healer. She wasn't someone powerful enough to keep him here. And for all she was a knight, there was a part of her that was still the little girl who didn't know what home was and who had never gotten to say goodbye to anyone. She wouldn't waste it now.

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur smiled, reaching for her hand to squeeze it gently. "I hope... that you continue to grow and prosper and... and shine the way that I know you can. You are... an incredibly capable young woman and I hope that you.... you get everything you desire." He sucked in a breath and let it out again. "I wish I could see you continue to succeed."

Eilonwy Llyr

Eilonwy let out a short sob before pressing her lips together again and nodding, trying to take in the words he was saying. Although she knew she would never forget them. How could she? For all the times people had vanished, this was her first ever goodbye. "I'll try. I will. Is there anything you want? Something I can do? Anything you ask, I'll do."

Arthur Pendragon

"I want you to continue to...to do what you can to protect the people of this town." He took a breath and let it out again. "And...I'd like you to accept a small gift...if you will." He debated over what would be the most useful to her. What she would value the most. "In...in my apartment I should have a...a journal somewhere of...of different fighting tactics and...and I wrote down some possible scenarios that...that you could try with incorporating your magic and...and the sword. I know I'm not a magick myself...but I hope it will be helpful to you."

Eilonwy Llyr

Eilonwy had spent the last few years with the knowledge that she was supposed to be Queen one day. But she had never seen what that had looked like for herself, so she didn't know what it was supposed to be. Instead, she knew that when she thought of what it meant to be a royal, she would think of this and think of him.

Even now, she didn't feel comfortable sharing that secret where so many could hear, as it wasn't hers to share. She hoped he would understand. But she could take his promise and inscribe it on her heart. "I will. I promise." For as long as she lived.

The gift had several more tears spilling down her cheeks as she nodded. "I'll treasure it forever. Thank you. Hyd nes y byddwn yn cwrdd eto bydd y duwiau yn eich dal yng nghledr eu llaw."

Goodbye to Aurora!

Why do you weep? What are those tears upon your face? Soon you will see all of your fears will pass away

Aurora Rosewood

Aurora still felt sick to her stomach, both from her magic use and participating in the death of Nuka. But everyone was okay so it was worth it. She had seen Nuka look toward Zira and Arthur and lose control when Zira had died but Aurora's focus had shifted to control Nuka and protect Tiana and Marzel. She hadn't even noticed Arthur on the ground until she was checking that everyone was okay, until it was Simba's voice that signaled anything was wrong.

Then the sickness in her stomach got worse.

He wasn't supposed to die, perhaps she could still help? She had a number of herbs and she could do something. Stumbling over to Arthur sitting at his side trying to assess the wound. They could still fix this couldn't they? But Aurora did know. it was useless it hung in the air.

"I'm sorry," Aurora whispered, tears already starting to slip down her cheeks. She should have helped but if she had- then would Tiana and Marzel be okay? "I'm so sorry."

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur smiled at Aurora. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You are beyond anything I could have imagined." For it was true, he had had some doubts at the beginning. His memories of Lancelot felt a lot more fresh than they actually ought to be. He couldn't help the concern that he had felt.

But Aurora was a breath of fresh air. She did her best, and she was a pacifist at heart. "I am the one who should apologize to you." He took a breath and let it out again. "You...who are so... you who wanted nothing to do with fighting and...and were a peaceful person... I threw you into this. For that I beg your forgiveness." 

Aurora Rosewood

Aurora shook her head, for how sick to her stomach she was that she had helped in the battle she would do it again if it meant the others were safe. No one ever deserved death but these Blackwell's were meant to be dead long ago. Life had meant to move on without them.

"There is nothing to forgive, you fight for those that you can not lose." Looking around briefly Aurora smiled at their group of people. "Please rest your heart of any guilt you have of me. And please know, my legacy with Lancelot might not be one of pride but it will be from now on."

Arthur Pendragon

He let out a relieved breath. He did feel at least somewhat like he could forgive himself if Aurora could forgive him. Arthur felt like there was still so much he hadn't done and wished he could do...but he had done what he had set out to do. He had stopped Zira. He could die in peace knowing he had managed that much.

"Thank you Aurora. You are beyond who Lancelot was. You... you are your own person and... and it is an honor to know you." He forced another quick breath. "I have... I have a blessing and a gift for you. I hope that you will know peace from here on out. I will look down from the stars and know that there goes one of the kindest souls out there."

Arthur managed a small smile. "You are your own person...and with that in mind... I have an old mirror somewhere in my apartment...the frame looks to be of gold....it's useful but it also... whenever you feel doubt or...or worry... look there and see the powerful, beautiful, good knight that I know you to be."

Aurora Rosewood

Tears dripped down Aurora's cheeks faster than she could even attempt to stop them but there was a point she didn't want to. Grief wasn't something to be hidden, this life had been cut too short and Aurora had been unable to do her duty as a knight and protect him. In both Lancelot's life she had failed and could only make the promised to move forward with strength she didn't have before. A resolve for her kindness, a nod to her king that believed in her.

Leaning down Aurora placed a kiss to Arthur's forehead.

"May you know rest among the stars and know we are safe here because of you." Aurora whispered. "It was my honor to know you, To follow your lead once more."

Goodbye to Tod!

What can you see on the horizon? Why do the white gulls call?

Tod Sionnach

TW: blood, ptsd

Tod was in a daze. He could hear the screams, the cries, the panic, but it was as if he were underwater. He was staring down at the body of Vitani and it would flicker from his foe’s body to his grandmother’s body, back and forth, over and over again. He had taken everything from her and everything she would have. Even if she was the enemy, he felt broken by this.

At the calls of Arthur’s name from the others, he folded the woman’s arms over her chest and stumbled away, finding himself in a much more difficult and violent situation.

The knights were all around a dying Arthur and he had blood splattered all over him. What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say to someone he looked up to so much? He fell to his knees, leaving his sword beside him.

“Arthur I—“ he was breathing heavily, the tears heavy in his eyes. “Arthur, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I’ve done. Vitani’s gone I just— What did she do to you? I wasn’t strong enough to help you. I— I’m sorry.” In his eyes, somehow, this was all his fault. He trapped his leader in his unlucky mess. “Don’t go.”

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur glanced over at the boy, shaking his head a little. His head spun a little bit, but he would ignore it. He only had so much time left to care about these minor discomforts. It was alright. He just needed to say his piece.

"You have nothing to apologize for Tod." He managed a small smile. "You defeated Vitani? That's incredible. I always knew you would be able to do whatever you set your mind to. You're...you're a very capable young man." 

Tod Sionnach

Tod shook his head. He was just so clouded with guilt and worry over someone that had meant so much to all of them. What would they ever do without him?

“I laid the final blow, Eilonwy did so much more,” he said, still staring down at his bloodied hands. He didn’t feel capable. He wished he could be so much better. “How— How do I get over taking someone’s life? I know she did awful things but I… I took everything from her.”

Arthur Pendragon

"Hey, you did a great deal." Arthur would not let one of his knights think they were anything other than great for doing what they could.

He reached for one of Tod's hands and squeezed it gently. "You remember what that person would have done if you hadn't. Remind yourself of all the people that will be safe because of your actions. How more people in this town will be able to be free and to live in peace... you allowed for that."

Tod Sionnach

When Tod had felt the warmth of Arthur’s hands, he felt the first tears of many fall down his cheeks. He considered his words, his advice, much more carefully than anyone.

He never had a father or a father figure, he had just assumed that  this was what it felt like to lose one. Someone you looked up to as a role model. Someone great.

“I’ll remember that. Always. I promise.” There was Melody and her cousins that he hoped were safe. Perhaps because of him. “Thank you, Arthur… Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all? Please.”

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur hummed, debating over what he could say. "Stay safe. I wish... for you to live a happy life." He smiled at Tod softly. "I also... well I have a gift for you. I thought maybe... well I had a feeling something..." he just felt that his days had to be numbered. He was living in a reality that wasn't his own. This was the closest he would get to peace. "There's...a pendant in my study I think... it is something I find quite charming and...I believe it gives a bit of calm...it helps you ease your nerves some."

Tod Sionnach

Tod managed a small smile through his tears and nodded. “I will. I’ll try.” It meant a lot to him. To have someone that cared enough to want that for him. He furrowed his brows, thinking of the gift and where it was. He would never forget it, especially if Arthur wanted him to have it. “I’m honored that you want to give something like that to me. Thank you.” He gave the other man’s hand a squeeze. It felt like he was growing colder or perhaps that was just his mind. Either way, Tod hated it.

“I wanted to tell you thank you. For the life you’ve lived and the good you’ve done. If there was ever a man I’d want people to remember me like… I believe that man would be you, sir.” He sniffled then, shaking his head. “It’s hard to let go. You’ve changed so many of our lives and I will never squander that. I’ll keep getting stronger, I— I promise.”

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur smiled softly at Tod, squeezing his hand again in return. He was sure that Tod was ready. He would grow into even more of an incredible person without Arthur there guiding him.

"Take care of yourself Tod. You are an incredible...truly incredible person. You will do wonderful things."

Goodbye to Al!

Across the sea A pale moon rises The ships have come to carry you home

Al McWiggin

His King was down --

Everything was a blur. Everyone surrounded Arthur, reaching out to him, as he said his last blessings. Al had never actually seen someone die. And he'd never had someone who was actually, well, important to him die.

Arthur had given him a purpose. Arthur had reignited his love for Swynlake and made him feel like a hero for the first time in his life. Like a real, true bonafide hero in all the books he read and all the movies he watched and all the games he played.

"My King," said Al, getting down on one knee and grasping Arthur's hand. "Don't go where I can't follow." He felt tears sting his eyes and he knew those words were meaningless; Arthur would pass on. Arthur would be at peace, at last. 

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur squeezed Al's hand gently. He could recall where those words were from. He was fairly certain. Al had shared a great deal of movie trivia and games and things, but Arthur did recall the epics that he had taken a lot of meaning from.

"Do not weep for me Al. I know that I will move on to a more peaceful place....perhaps it will be like it is in that story of yours. White shores...and a far green country as far as the...the eye can see." He smiled at Al. "I did recall your movies a little you know. I have to say, you've shown me so much... I wish to thank you for...for all that you've given me."

Al McWiggin

Okay -- he was definitely ugly crying now. Arthur remembered the movies. He remembered the movies!

"You've inspired me to be a better man," said Al, sniffling through his tears. "I won't stop you from going... but I want you to know that before you do."

Arthur Pendragon

"That...I'm honored Al." Arthur replied softly, a small smile still spread across his face. "You've made me want to know more about this time. It was a joy...it really was a joy to learn from you." Arthur forced a breath in and let it out again. "I...I have something for you...if you'll accept it."

Al McWiggin

Al certainly didn't have King Arthur telling him that learning from him was a joy on his Swynlake bingo card, but it was enough to make him blink away tears.

"Of course," said Al, bowing his head. "It would be an honor."

Arthur Pendragon

"I tried my hardest to learn about your...movies. I thought I might give everyone...for Christmas..." he took a moment to breathe and try to refocus on what he was saying to Al. He only had so much time. "Anyway...I...I hid a sword in my closet...it's not. It's one of the...the one that glows..."

Goodbye to Martin and Archimedes!

Don't say We have come now to the end White shores are calling You and I will meet again

Martin Ambrosius

Martin felt as though his heart had been struck by an icicle as he stared at Arthur. Medes abandoned his usual perch on the mundus' shoulder to fly to Arthur's side which prompted him to also approach slowly.

Martin could hear his father's voice in the back of his mind hiss that they had failed, that he had failed, and he almost couldn't find the words to say.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, some distance still kept between himself and the king.

"You deserved better, old friend," Archimedes added.

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur reached out to place a gentle hand on Archimedes' head. "It's alright. I did what I set out to do." And he would be able to rejoin his love...Guinevere would be waiting for him.

"Thank you for all your help my friends."

Martin Ambrosius

Medes leaned into Arthur's touch, tears springing to the familiar's eyes. "I only wish that there was more we could have done, more time. I'm not ready to mourn you again, not yet."

Martin ducked his head, feeling the weight of a legacy so old and also the grief of his own washing over him. "You were a great leader, you taught everyone here so much. You won't be forgotten. I'm... I'm sorry. I understand why my family has remembered your name with so much reverence."

Arthur Pendragon

"Don't be sorry. I know that this was what I was meant to do. This....I will return to those I lost long ago." He smiled weakly at Archimedes and Martin. "I would hope that...that the two of you would be able to prosper for years to come."

Goodbye to Simba!

And all will turn to silver glass A light on the water Grey ships pass Into the West

Arthur Pendragon

He had said nearly all that he could say, and he knew it was coming toward the end. There was just one more person he wanted to speak to before he passed on. And that was Simba. Simba who had become a good friend, and who shared memories of his brother.

Arthur turned his head toward Simba. "I'm sorry for the burden I'm placing on you...but would you stay with me in this last moment?

Simba Bonfamille-Lyons

Simba had sat with Arthur, not really paying attention to what he was saying to the others. He oscillated between praying to Allah (though, he had a feeling Allah had turned away from this place) and blinking into Kay's memories, the edges of the ballroom blurred. Sometimes they were on the battlefield, sometimes they were sitting on cool marble. He kept his hand over Arthur's wound the whole time, uselessly applying what pressure he could with his injured arm.

When Arthur finally turned towards him, Simba sniffled, blinking the tears out of his eyes. Some of them fell on Arthur's golden suit.

"Of course," Simba said, adjusting Arthur a bit, so that he was better enclosed in his arms. "I-I don't know what to do." His bottom lip trembled.

Arthur Pendragon

It was getting harder to stay conscious, and his breathing was becoming sharper and more painful. He knew soon he would lose the fight with this. But he wanted to...he needed to be able to speak with Simba just a bit longer. Sometimes he still saw himself and Kay growing up, his half brother helping him learn to fight...then he saw them now as they had figured out Zira's plans...worked together.

"Stay with me," he said softly. "I do not have any other family in this world. They're all long gone. You...you still carry my brother's memories. And I like to think...well I think of you as someone very dear to me." He sucked in a shaky breath. "There's not enough gifts in the world to give to one I'm so grateful for."

Simba Bonfamille-Lyons

tw death/mention of car accident Simba had never been with someone when they died.

Well, there had been his grandmother, but he'd been very little and his mama hadn't let him in the room.

There was his dad but--well, Simba didn't remember any of that, his brain addled by drugs. Plus, he'd been knocked unconscious at the moment of impact.

He hadn't realized how helpless he felt. His fingers pressed harder into Arthur's wound, but his blood was already growing cold around his fingers, the flow of it coming slower now. Simba wanted for there to be something he could do. He glanced up at the semi-circle of people around them, looking for anyone who could help. He wanted to shout at them, but they were just as helpless as he was.

Simba looked back down at Arthur, sniffled, and managed to smile at him. "You don't have to give me anything. I'd always wanted a brother, you know. Nothing could be better than that." Simba swallowed roughly. "It's alright. You're alright. A great man once told me that the great kings of the past go to the stars, so that they can watch over the rest of us. So, you're not going too far. We'll all be okay. Don't--don't worry about us." 

Arthur Pendragon

"I know...but I...I wish you could have something...a token. I often..." He gasped and reached for Simba's hand, his whole body trembling for a moment. He didn't have much longer, and though he knew it ought to scare him...he thought that this time it felt vastly more comforting than the last.

"I often wished I had something of those I lost..." Arthur mumbled softly, leaning his weight into Simba. He couldn't even try to lift himself up to look at him like he might want to. "I...I will always worry about you all...but...thank you. It's thanks to you that I...I could make it to this moment."

He gripped his hand a little tighter. "Protect them in my stead. Please. The town...no sheriff either...someone needs to.....you can find the right person for it." 

Simba Bonfamille-Lyons

Simba moved his hand, finally, from Arthur's wound, so that he could grasp his hand. He bit down on his tongue, so that he wouldn't sob. Arthur didn't deserve to be worried in his last moments. He should be peaceful. He had saved them all. Saved Swynlake. It didn't matter, in that moment, what Zira had revealed. What Arthur had done made up for all of that, a hundred fold.

His head bowed as he tried to pull Arthur a little closer, but with his injured hand, there wasn't much he could do.

All he could do was nod. "Of course," Simba said. "I promise. I will--I will do my best."

Arthur Pendragon

He let out a relieved breath, a smile spreading across his face. He was almost ready to go. He had to pass on some of his cares, but this way he could soon be at peace. He could feel himself starting to slip a little.

"I know you will. Whatever....whatever I have that I have yet to give anyone else...it's yours. Thank you for...for being my brother...for letting me have family again..." 

Simba Bonfamille-Lyons

Simba smiled when Arthur did. If Arthur could smile in these moments, when he was no doubt scared and in pain, then Simba could smile too.

"Thank you," Simba repeated. "For being my family too. For--for teaching me that following is just as important as leading. I would've--I would've followed you anywhere."

Arthur Pendragon

tw DEATH

"I know," he replied softly, his breaths coming out more and more shallow. He had prolonged it as long as he could. He'd been granted a new life and experienced a future he never thought he'd see. But this time he felt more sure of what would come next.

He had helped plant the seeds of the garden. The rest of the knights would make sure that everything grew and the town could continue to prosper. Arthur was ready. "Thank you..." Arthur said once more, his eyes drifting shut after a while, head lulling as his grip on Simba's hand relaxed.

One more harsh breath, and then it evened out, and Arthur Pendragon, the Once and Future King was dead, in the arms of one that had known him best.