#romantic raeda

[i-am-bella-donna]

They Took the Stars Chapter 2: Make It Stop

Whumptober 2023 Day 3: “Make It Stop.”

AO3 | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

No one could see the stars anymore. In the metropolis of the Boiling Isles, smoke and smog filled the skies. Acid rain fell to the ground. Towering buildings and neon lights went as far as the eye could see. But every light has a shadow, and the shadows of the Emperor and his Council were very dark indeed…. Luz Noceda used to love her homeland, but she had long-since realized that people were not always what they seemed, and Emperor Belos was no exception. Between herself, Eda, and Raine, surely they would be able to do some good for the city. Right?

Pairings: Romantic Raeda, Familial Luz x Eda

Word Count: 864

CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

A/N: Chapter Theme Song: Just Beneath the Flames by Digital Daggers

I live! Sorry for the late chapter.

~~~

The news broke three weeks later.

Three agonizing weeks of lying restlessly in wait. There was only so much Luz and Eda could do with such limited access to Cyberspace—they could make their best efforts, but for every person they saved, there was another who disappeared. Or worse.

And then everything changed with one simple news broadcast.

News reporter Perry Porter stared out of every screen in the city, warm brown eyes unusually dim as he made the announcement.

Raine Whispers, upcoming Head of Sector One, will be inaugurated within the week.

One week.

Seven days.

A part of Luz felt bad for Raine—a broadcasted inauguration must have been agony for someone with such severe stage fright—but an even greater part of her was ecstatic, practically brimming with anticipation.

Raine was about to become a Sector Head.

Everything was finally falling into place.

~~~

With the haste of ceremonial preparations consuming most of their time, Raine was unable to meet with Eda and Luz until the night after their inauguration. Word from the BATs was that Raine was more stressed with the ceremony itself than the weight of their new position, which Eda did not really find too surprising.

At the request of Raine, Eda and Luz did not watch the live broadcast of their inauguration ceremony. However, their Scrolls still received a barrage of messages from the BATs, who claimed that Cyberspace was practically exploding with activity. Everyone had something to say about Raine Whispers and their new title.

As far as Eda could tell, the ceremony had gone off without a hitch.

Luz had almost been too excited to sleep, eager for their little rebellion to finally take on a larger role. Eda could not blame her—as much as she wanted to assure Luz that they were doing the best they could, even she was growing restless with their lack of progress. But with Raine in power….

As if summoned, a familiar pattern of knocking drew her from her thoughts. Eda practically leapt up from her seat and ran to the door, sending a disgruntled King to the ground with a growl.

“Raine,” she laughed, immediately pulling them inside and locking the door behind them. “I—”

She stopped short.

Two stricken eyes met her own. Raine did not reply.

“Rainestorm?” Eda tried again, speaking a bit more carefully. Her heart pounded in her chest. Something was wrong. “What happened?”

They moved their mouth. No sound came out.

As gently as she could, Eda settled her hands on their shoulders and guided them to sit at the kitchen table, trying to ignore the twisting of her gut. “Raine?” she asked, voice more serious than she would have liked to admit. It was practically unnatural to her ears. “What happened?”

Finally, Raine blinked in recognition. Their teal eyes were glassy, and when they spoke, it was slow.

“I…looked through the files.”

Eda felt her heart skip a beat—and not in a good way. “Already?”

A large part of their plan hinged on Raine gaining access to the more classified files of the Emperor. As a Sector Head, Raine would be in charge of one of the nine sectors of the city, as well as the Bard Industry of Entertainment and Culture. They would have information about everything happening in their sector—and with enough time, possibly the other sectors as well.

“I wanted to see if…” Raine blinked, their voice sounding far away. “Wanted to see…what happened to…you know.” Their voice somehow grew quieter. “The kids who disappeared.”

Eda froze, immediately connecting the dots. Her heart cracked. “Oh, Raine…”

King whimpered in sympathy, his ears flat against his head as he padded over to Raine to rest his head in their lap.

From their expression, Raine might as well have been in physical pain. Their eyes were glazed over, and Eda was not sure she wanted to know what images plagued their mind. “They were—”

“It’s okay,” Eda said in a rush as they cut themself off, despite the fact that it was very much not okay. It was horrible. “I—we can fix this. We just need some time.”

When did she become the most optimistic person in their little group?

She did not know which was worse—watching Belos tear down the city, or watching the light gradually drain from Raine and Luz.

“We need to make it stop,” Raine bit out in a strangled whisper, eyes bright with cold fire. An improvement from the hollow fog, at least. “We need to do it now.”

Eda did not disagree. But it was the middle of the night. Raine was exhausted, Luz had school the next day, and Eda wanted nothing more than to shut her eyes and pretend, just once, that she could look up and see stars instead of the usual crust of acidic clouds.

“You can stay here for the night, okay?” she said instead. “Get some rest.”

As Raine accepted her hand, she knew they understood. And she made a silent promise of her own.

Things would get better. They had to.

None of them—Eda or Luz or Raine or the Boiling Isles itself—could keep going like this.

They had to make it stop.

~~~

A/N: It seems like most chapters will be posted closer to evening/night. Still, I do plan on updating daily.

Taglist: @whumptober-archive

[arium-db]

And they were happy, and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED TO THEM.

[turquoisespace35]

I wanted to paint a little

[onlysushicat]

"How the years have passed, the turns life took Our love kept on growing and it kept us wrapped together Years may have passed, but time was never capable to break us appart"

[agrebel18]

Seeing several people GENUINELY think that Raeda and Huntlow aren’t canon PURELY because neither of them kissed like Luz and Amity did is REALLY SHOWING that people’s media analysis skills are getting worse 😐

[everysongineverykey]

every time raine appears and a variant of raine's rhapsody starts playing and in for the future when it plays this grand sweeping rendition of it when raine's staring in awe at harpy eda and you realize it's not just raine's leitmotif it's raine and eda's song it's both raine's rhapsody and eda's requiem at the same time and it's like. okay dana do you want me to walk into the ocean.

[herearedragons]

If I had a nickel for every time a piece of media I enjoyed featured a woman’s ex tearing her arm off to save her from being consumed by a magical curse, I’d have two nickels

Which isn’t a lot, but

[phddyke]

So if Eda has canonically visited puppet!Raine, do you think she’s spoken to them? And if so—do you think they heard her, since Hooty could apparently understand Lilith? And if they could hear her, COULD THE OTHER SEVEN COVEN HEADS HEAR HER AS WELL?

[oldgaysbrainrot]

currently imagining just how CHAOTIC raine and eda’s wedding would’ve been

[crimeronan]

raine and eda and darius happily growing old together while working to rebuild and decolonize the world when their literal FIRST onscreen interaction involved two of them entering an insane suicide pact just to horrifically murder the other. WHO is doing it like them.

[angelscorpses]

when we're talking about shipping but they end up bringing in some romantic shit; what shipping mostly consists of

[i-am-bella-donna]

They Took the Stars Chapter 6: Storm

Whumptober 2023 Day 25: Storm

AO3 | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Story Summary:

No one could see the stars anymore. In the metropolis of the Boiling Isles, smoke and smog filled the skies. Acid rain fell to the ground. Towering buildings and neon lights went as far as the eye could see. But every light has a shadow, and the shadows of the Emperor and his Council were very dark indeed…. Luz Noceda used to love her homeland, but she had long-since realized that people were not always what they seemed, and Emperor Belos was no exception. Between herself, Eda, and Raine, surely they would be able to do some good for the city. Right?

Pairings: Romantic Raeda, Familial Luz x Eda

Word Count: 882

CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A

A/N: Don’t Lose Your Heart by Dream on Dreamer

Sorry this took so long! I have no excuse. Hope you enjoy!

~~~

The four of them had terrible luck.

Luz, Amity, Willow, and Gus were on their second mission together when it happened. The plan had been simple enough—copying files from a private history archive, accessible only to members of the Imperial Sector. With the archive located in the basement of a history museum, Eda had labeled the mission as relatively low-risk. The four of them were students—they could always blame their actions on curiosity and ignorance of the rules.

And to her credit, the mission went off without a hitch. Amity distracted the workers and Willow disabled security cameras while Luz and Gus snuck into the basement, copying data onto a flash drive before signaling the other two to get the fuck out.

It was supposed to be an easy mission. It was an easy mission.

But their escape was another story entirely.

Luz barely managed to pull her goggles over her eyes before the acid rain was pouring down in sheets. Her wings whirred audibly as they flapped desperately behind her. Through the heavy rain and wind, she could barely hear her own voice—she could only signal her friends to follow her into an abandoned shop in the Middle Level. An emergency haven Eda had established months ago. A place where they could safely wait out the storm.

With the strong wind, it took the combined efforts of Luz and Willow to close the door behind them as Amity and Gus began to slip out of their protective and flight gear. Luz unbuckled and shrugged off her mechanical wings and Amity switched off her hoverboots. Gus and Willow let their Palismen off their staffs—unlike the AI, the staffs themselves needed to be plugged in and charged.

For a minute, panting breaths and the pattering of rain were the only sounds to fill the air. Finally, Luz caught her breath enough to speak up. “Did any of you get splashed?”

Gus rubbed his arms. “I don’t think so.”

Still, Luz took a minute to survey her friends. As always, Amity was wearing full protective clothing—an ingrained habit from living in the Upper Level. Her white sleeves and leggings were slick with acid, but none appeared to have made contact with her skin. Willow and Gus had thankfully both worn protective black jackets and overpants, stating that it would make the mission more dramatic and fun.

In all fairness, the mission had been rather fun. Until the storm hit.

“Did I miss something?” Luz asked, looking at each of her friends. “Was it supposed to rain today?”

“Not according to the forecast,” Gus said. With the tap of his watch, a hologram of the weather report was projected before them. Gus winced. “Some people in Sector Seven are going to be in big trouble.”

That was an understatement. The Emperor prided the Oracle Industry of Energy on being truthful and efficient—with a forecast this inaccurate, he would be out for blood. Literally.

Sickness churned in her stomach.

Wordlessly, Luz stepped over to the window and watched the raindrops slide down the smudged glass. The wetness distorted the bright lights of the city—she could barely make out the worried face of Perry Porter filling the screens on every building.

Acid storm arriving. Seek immediate shelter.

Arriving? It was far past the point of arriving.

“We should try to contact Eda,” Amity pointed out. “Let her know what happened.”

Luz nodded without looking back, unable to tear her eyes away from the window. She absently ran one hand along the side of her jacket—the small bump that was the flash drive was barely noticeable, but still present. She let out a shuddering breath of relief. She trusted herself not to lose the flash drive, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially on a day like this one.

Acid storms always filled her with dread. They had never been so severe when she was a child—back then, she had actually enjoyed them. However—much like the cloud crust—they had grown steadily worse over the years.

Worse, and much more dangerous.

Because of deteriorating infrastructure, the Lower Level was at constant risk of flooding. The Middle and Upper Levels were only slightly better off—the architecture was capable of withstanding most storms, but the strong winds made any and all flight dangerous. When the acid rain started, the city all but shut down.

“Luz?”

Startling, Luz spun around and blinked at Gus. “Wha—where are Amity and Willow?”

Gus was watching her with a furrow between his brows. “They went to look for hidden food. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Luz said automatically. How did she not notice the other two leaving the room? “I just…have a really bad feeling about the storm.”

Her eyes wandered back to the window, and Gus all but vanished from her periphery as she sank back into her thoughts. It was amazing—and unsettling—how empty the city looked. No one dared to use hovertech during acid storms—it was unsafe at best and absolutely fatal at worst. Even the Sky Rail shut down.

Instead, the air was filled only with lonely lights, cold metal, and the sharp smell of acid.

Luz curled her fingers around the windowsill, iciness bleeding through her gloves.

Even as the thunder crashed, the city was quieter than she could remember.

~~~

A/N: Merry Christmas to all (and to all a good night).

Taglist: @whumptober-archive

[cherrymoonvol6]

.

[drbtinglecannon]

I was actually wondering the other day what the local Darius Connoisseur's opinion on Darimila was. I have no strong feelings on it myself other than "yeeeaah get it Camila!!!" but I'm curious if you have thoughts

Being called a local Darius Connoisseur is such a high honor, I think of that fancy purple bitch so often haha

My feelings on darimila are actually the same! I'm not super passionate about it, but I do think it's very cute. However I mostly think it's hilarious that after Zeno made his twt handle "Hunter Noceda" a bunch of people were like "ok so here's how Dadrius & Momma Camila can both win" and then started earnestly shipping them. Hunter's dad-mentor-guy dating his-&-his-sister's-mom is extremely funny to me, but from Luz's standpoint it's even funnier because the One scene she had with Darius was him (a grown ass adult that's a CH) climbing up on top of a transport vehicle to ensure he was far away while she (a teen that was already restrained) was threatening to rampage and asking her "please try not to bite anyone". He really took one look at her and was violently reminded of Eda haha!

That said for both Camila and Darius I don't really care for any ships for either of them aside from "polycule with Raeda", and even then I think of them as casual additions. Raeda has my whole heart, but like sometimes Darius and/or Camila can be there too, as a treat. Coparents that mayhaps kiss occasionally

But yeah, given the situations with all the kids involved I don't really get into ships for any single parent but Eda, I mostly focus on all their respective familiar or platonic dynamics instead. Most of my Darius thoughts involve Eberwolf also being there, like Lilith & Hooty "bonded pair do not separate" energy, the hot mess witch needs their weird beast bestie next to them at all times.

I doubt the last special will give any moments for my opinion to change, but we also haven't gotten to see Camila meet any of the BI adults yet. Which I'm so excited for! She deserves to make some genuine friends, and god knows each of the BI adults could use another friend too haha

[phoeeling]

I’ve become much more of a het shipper lately but I still can’t stand h*ntlow if I’m honest. it feels too pair-the-spares-ish and kind of unnecessary.

[sashannarcy]

sasharcy + uhhhh. spins a wheel. rosemary

already answered Rosemary here!

for Sasharcy - only good if it's a SUPER specific dynamic, otherwise I dislike it. they have the insane untapped potential of being the two of the trio that are the absolute worst for each other given their individual flaws, meaning you can explore how they'd fuck each other up and how they grow from that and actually form a healthy relationship. Sasharcy is like hey what if there were two kids with probable personality disorders and they see straight through each other and they have to learn to love themselves before they can love each other but once they figure it out they kiss on the mouth about it. and then the fandom turned them into mean girl x nerd which makes me want to punch the air

x