#so as he worked hard on developing his powers he became more ghost like

[porcelainseashore]

Teenage Headache Dreams (5)

Series Masterlist

Pairing: High School! College! Leon Kennedy x Dancer! Fem! Reader

Summary: You’re a bored, but ambitious high school student who can’t wait to escape small town life and make it in the big city. You thought you had it all figured out, until you unwittingly befriend the resident golden boy, Leon. A series of events beginning from junior year to college until Resident Evil 2 Remake.

Warnings: 18+ Swearing, Recreational Drug Use, Eventual Smut, No (Y/N), Ambiguous/Open Ending

Content: High School AU, College AU, Pre-Resident Evil 2, Fluff, Romance, Cliche, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Lack of Communication

Author's Note: Final chapter, wow! Well, not quite. I am working on a Part 2 Ghosts from the Past that will fix the Hurt No Comfort ending to this fic. Before I forget, the Smut warning also applies here. It’s my first time writing smut, please be gentle 🙂 Thanks again for all your wonderful support!

AO3 Link

Chapter 5: Is This Goodbye?

Your time in college was exactly how you imagined it - exciting, eye-opening and challenging. Not only did you develop a lot artistically in those years, you became a bolder, more street smart version of yourself. What was initially raw ambition turned into a cosmopolitan New York drive that rubbed off on you. Whenever you came back to visit your hometown, you were seen as that sophisticated, big city woman you’d always wanted to be.

Leon on the other hand had grown more quiet and serious. He still joked around with you, but it seemed like his focus on doing well at the police academy matured him. He became analytical and observant, following the “look before you leap” approach more often than not. The training had also done his physique good - he was at his fittest and strongest yet.

You were proud of him. He had turned into the man you wanted to be with, not that you had ever doubted his abilities. However, it was a lot tougher to keep up the long-distance relationship than both of you had expected. It wasn’t so simple to see each other, which needed a couple of adjustments, and college life was in itself filled with hard work and distractions. Despite that, you powered through, hoping it would get easier someday, or that your paths would align better again. For now, you had to content yourself with meeting at home during the holidays, or making the trip out to either college for the odd weekend.

There were people who said it wouldn’t last. That you were wasting away your college years being with your high school sweetheart, when you should be living it up and partying like you were single. You knew where they were coming from, and you were pretty sure Leon was probably going through the same dilemma as you, but for some reason both of you didn’t want to give up. That said, you knew you had to end the distance at some point. It was clearly taking a toll on your relationship.

When you graduated from your respective colleges and returned home for a break before moving on with the next chapter of your lives, you were thankful to get some much-needed time together for once. However, the few months you had to yourselves flew by so quickly, you felt like it wasn’t enough. It never was.

“So… you could have picked literally anywhere to be stationed, but you chose Raccoon City?” You sighed audibly, as a way of letting your displeasure at the news be known. Here you were, in Leon’s house, shifting around a couple of moving boxes to help him pack up his stuff. He would be joining his new police family in a week’s time. 

Dumping one of the boxes on the ground in frustration, you continued on your rant. “I mean, you were practically a Valedictorian!”

Instantly, you felt Leon’s arms wrap around you from behind, holding you close to him as he murmured into your hair. “Baby, we’ve gone through this. You know I’ve wanted to be put on the Arklay murder cases.” He squeezed you tighter. “I’ll prove myself, I know I can.”

“It’s not about that.” You turned to face him with a pensive frown, tracing the outline of his jaw with your fingers. “I believe you’ll be the finest goddamn cop in the world, but I thought we wanted to stop being apart?”

His brows etched together as he regarded you with a hint of dejection. “Well, what do you want me to say? We knew this wouldn’t be easy.”

“I want to be with you, Leon.” You kissed his neck and buried your face into it, inhaling his musky scent deeply. “Close to you.” 

He shivered, closing his eyes as your hot breath hit his skin. “Then why don’t you come stay with me?”

You looked up, startled by his sudden proposal. “What? Are you sure?”

“More than sure.” He opened his eyes, staring at you resolutely.

You didn’t expect him to ask you to move in with him so soon, but in some way you were comforted by the fact that he still felt so strongly about you, despite these difficult years. You were tempted to give in and just say “Yes”, but at the back of your mind, you knew you had a decision to make. You had received offers from various dance companies, most of which were located in New York or abroad, where you would be thriving. Not out in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest.

The sharp trill of a telephone ringing cut through the air, interrupting your thoughts. Leon broke away apologetically. “Uh- sorry, I need to take this.”

You waited in the hallway, hearing only snippets of the conversation, but it sounded like Leon was confused. You regarded him curiously, as he walked back to where you stood with a puzzled look on his face.

“They told me not to come in,” he muttered to himself.

“Huh? Who?” you questioned.

“I don’t know, someone at the RPD.” He paused, his forehead creasing as he scowled. “They said there were some issues and to stay away for now.”

“Nothing else?” 

“Nuh uh.” He shook his head.

“That’s weird.” You folded your arms, trying to rack your brain for plausible explanations. 

“Maybe they’ll call you again when they’re ready?” You suggested, stroking his arm reassuringly. “It’s probably some admin mess up.”

He shrugged, looking rather crestfallen. You knew how eager he was to start his new job and seeing him in such a state made you feel bad for him.

“Come here.” You reached out, taking him in your arms again. “I know you’re frustrated it’s not working out as planned,” you began. “But honestly, I’m just happy to have you to myself for a little longer.”

He peered down at you, the corners of his mouth breaking out into a smile. “You’re impossible,” he breathed, sealing your lips with an intimate kiss.

━━━━━━━━━━━

A week went by, and then another. Leon heard nothing.

However, you relished the lazy mornings waking up next to him in bed, snuggling together which often led to something more. You didn’t want this to end, but in the coming days, you noticed him pace around the room anxiously, glancing every so often at the telephone, in the hopes he would get another call to report in.

It finally came to a breaking point, where he decided that he should just go in anyway to check on things. His parents cooked up a farewell meal the night before to send him off. You sat next to him at the dining table, looking down at your plate and poking gingerly at the food. You had hardly eaten.

When his parents went into the kitchen to bring out more drinks and the dessert, he whispered into your ear, “You know, it’s rude to play with your food.”

You turned towards him with a wistful smile, admitting, “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too,” he replied. Below the table, his hand crept underneath your skirt, tracing the side of your thigh, before making its way between your legs. You closed your eyes and sighed at his touch. “But it’s only temporary, right?”

His words caused you to look away in shame, biting your cheek. You still hadn’t made up your mind about the offers and in turn, whether you would live with him. But deep down, you knew you were just stalling for time. It was one thing moving to the city, but moving countries? That would most likely spell the end of your relationship. 

“I don’t know where I’m going… yet.”

He tilted your chin in his direction and you could see the weariness in his eyes, like he was tired of rehashing this topic over and over again. “Look, let’s just enjoy this last night together, ok?”

“Yeah.” You didn’t know why, but something about the way he said it felt so final and it bothered you. But you didn’t want to argue anymore. You wanted to pretend that everything was fine as it was.

Then, his parents came back to the table and his mom gestured to the wine bottle in her hand. “Some more?”

You nodded and thanked her, as she filled your glass and his dad served out the dessert. All the while, Leon’s hand never left your inner thigh, drawing absentminded circles on your skin, apparently impatient to have some alone time with you.

Soon, they excused themselves to retire to bed, leaving you and Leon to clear away the dishes. Once that was done, you settled on the living room couch, where you had shared many memories of watching movies and chatting til the early hours of the morning. Curling up against Leon, you rested your head against his chest, feeling its rise and fall, and listening to his heartbeat.

“Shall we pick up from where we left off?” His fingers grazed your bare legs again. One last time? A voice echoed in your head, but you shrugged it off.

“Are they asleep?” You wondered out loud.

“Pretty certain,” he replied nonchalantly. “You’re getting rusty at this, aren’t you?” He smirked, sinking his weight onto you so that you fell back on the cushioned seat of the couch, while he groped your hips and breasts through your lace camisole, planting kisses all over your body.

You felt like teenagers again, making out and fondling each other over your clothes on the couch, while his parents slept soundly upstairs. Back then, it never led to anything too serious. You were just fooling around and exploring each other’s bodies without getting caught. This time though, your clothes didn’t stay on for very long.

He chuckled at your restlessness as you tugged off his shirt, running your hands along his toned chest towards his abs. “Enjoying the view?”

“It’s not bad,” you half-lied, throwing him an alluring smile as you palmed his growing erection through his jeans. He hissed in response, grinding it against your hand. “But this is just getting in the way.”

“Well, if the lady insists-” He pushed himself up to a seated position and you groaned at the loss of contact, as well as in anticipation of his cheesy comeback. “-then who am I to deny her?” You heard the sound of his belt unbuckle as he slid out of his jeans, chucking it carelessly to the floor.

The bulge in his plain black boxers caused you to subconsciously lick your lips as he hovered over you, slipping the straps of your camisole to the sides suggestively. “I don’t think it’s fair that I’m the only one getting naked here.”

Nuzzling your nose against his playfully, you stole a quick kiss from his lips before shifting yourself up, allowing him to take your top off with ease. He hummed in appreciation as your breasts spilled out, nipples hardening from the cool air in the room. You knew he liked it when you went without a bra. Cupping your right breast in his hand, he gave it a small squeeze, thumbing its peak before taking it into his mouth, licking and sucking it eagerly. A low moan escaped from your throat, as you grasped tufts of his blonde hair, while his other hand slid under the waistband of your skirt, pulling it down unceremoniously. 

His tongue flicked against your nipple at the same time as he stroked your folds through the soaked fabric of your white thong that accentuated your curves perfectly. Your body jolted from the sensitivity as you held back a whimper.

“Mm… so wet already,” he murmured, somewhat proud of himself. It wasn’t always this way. You remembered the first time you and Leon had sex - the awkwardness, fumbling around blindly in the dark, trying to find your way into the positions, but at least there was a lot of laughter. Eventually you adjusted and learnt how your bodies responded to each other, and now he knew how to make this night memorable.

Pushing your thong to the side, you felt his index finger enter your pussy as his thumb played with your clit, causing you to gasp in response. “You like that, baby?” he asked, checking in with you.

“Mm hm,” you nodded, your voice sounding high-pitched and strained. “More,” you begged.

He obliged, slipping in another finger and quickening the pace slightly. You moved your hips against them, allowing him to penetrate you deeper, and coating his fingers with your arousal. As he continued thrusting into you, he trailed the tip of his tongue from your breasts, down along your stomach, reaching your mound and finally swirling it around your throbbing clit. Your breathing grew shallow and rapid with each stroke.

His fingers curled forward, pressing against that sweet, spongy spot, causing you to jerk in response, clamping his face between your thighs. Your core tightened and burned, as waves of euphoria built up in your body. Biting into your knuckles to let out a strangled moan, the walls of your pussy clenched around his fingers as you reached your climax.

It felt as if the world had stopped spinning for a moment as you came down from your orgasm, chest heaving and sweat dripping between your breasts. “Wow,” you exhaled. Gradually, your vision came into focus as you saw Leon facing you, grinning through his plump lips, moistened by a mixture of saliva and your fluids.

“Was it good?” He had the audacity to ask, even though he already knew the answer. However, the praise he received from you couldn’t hurt. Rolling your eyes, you shifted your weight onto his body, pushing him against the backrest of the couch as you sat on his lap. 

“It was amazing,” you acknowledged, kissing him sloppily as you tasted yourself on his mouth, before slinking down to the ground on your knees, coming to rest between his legs. His eyes widened in recognition, taking the hint as he pulled down his boxers, kicking them to the side. Instinctively, you reached for his cock, already painfully hard and erect. The tip of it was weeping with precum which you smeared with your thumb, causing it to twitch in your hand as he gritted his teeth and groaned into your touch.

Leon’s gaze was transfixed on you as you pumped his shaft a few times sensually, before running your tongue along the length of his cock, filling it entirely in your mouth when you reached the top. 

He sucked in a sharp breath. “God, that’s hot.”

You pulled your mouth off his cock, still keeping your hand tightly wrapped around its base. How could you pass up on such an opportunity to tease him? Batting your eyelashes, you pouted up at him. “You want me to continue?”

You swore you could have heard a whimper, before he pleaded, a little too enthusiastically, “Fuck yes,” so much so you had to remind him to keep his voice down.

Satisfied with his mini outburst, you smiled cheekily and went back at it. He held your hair up firmly with one hand and balled the other into a fist, gripping the edge of the seat as he watched you suck on his cock through half-lidded eyes. Your lips stretched over it as you took it all the way in and came back up, circling your tongue around the tip and ridge. He threw his head back, turning to the side to muffle his whines and you sped up, increasingly turned on by the sounds you drew out of him.

At some point, Leon tapped on your shoulder lightly, indicating for you to stop. “I’m sorry, baby. I won’t last if you keep doing this,” he made out through labored breaths.

You nodded understandingly as he pulled you up again into his arms, so that you were straddling his lap, and he littered you with tender kisses in appreciation. You cherished these moments of affection in between. It was like a calm respite in the eye of the storm. 

Afterwards, you discarded the thong that was looking a little worse for wear and lifted yourself slightly, guiding his cock towards your entrance as he rested his hands on both sides of your ass. He took in the view fully, his dilated pupils burning with desire, as he memorized every detail of your body and the intoxicated expression so clearly marked across your face when you sank down onto him.

Once you had eased in, you moved up and down his hard length, breasts bouncing in a similar motion as you rocked your hips in sync with his thrusts upwards into you. Clinging on to his broad shoulders, you gasped each time he bottomed out inside. He whispered in hushed tones, telling you how beautiful you were, how good you felt, and how much he was yours, as you swallowed your guilt, pushing away whatever dreams you had of a future living together with him.

Seemingly oblivious to your thoughts, Leon kneaded your ass, spreading its cheeks apart as you rode his cock faster and harder to distract yourself. Feeling another orgasm build up in your aching cunt, you dug your nails into his skin, the sensation causing him to growl and buck his hips up, plunging into you. When you let out a loud yelp, he stopped abruptly, eyeing you with concern as you raised a hand to your mouth in embarrassment.

“Was that too much?” “You think they heard me?” You both asked in unison, before exchanging looks and giggling quietly, as you reassured him that he hadn’t hurt you. The room was silent except for your breathing and nothing stirred in the night. It seemed like his parents must be heavy sleepers.

“Leon…” you called out, gently caressing his cheek as he stared at you with those icy blue eyes. “I want you, but-”

“Shhh, it’s ok,” he interrupted, bringing his finger to your lips, as if he already knew what you were about to say. Maybe he just wanted tonight to be perfect as it was too. Tomorrow could wait.

The next minute, he pulled you flush against his hips, before pinning you flat onto the couch seat with your wrists restrained above your head. Your legs were wrapped around his waist and his cock was still buried deep in your pussy. With renewed vigor he set a relentless pace as he pounded into you, coaxing moan after moan from your mouth. He leaned in to kiss your throat, muttering against your skin, “Show me how much you want me.”

You knew what he meant. He wanted to hear his name on your lips as he fucked you with such desperation, as if to remind you that you were his. As if he was afraid to lose you. Maybe it was because he didn’t know when would be the next time he’d see you. Or perhaps he had a gut feeling that you’d leave him for some fancy dance company far away.

His blazing cerulean eyes bore into you, savoring every reaction that he could elicit from your body, as he covered your mouth and slammed his hips against your pussy mercilessly.

“Ah- fuck! Leon!” With each thrust, you screamed into his cupped hand in pleasure until your voice was hoarse, and you were positive that if anyone was in the hallway, they would hear the unmistakable sound of skin slapping against skin and muted cries.

It didn’t take long for your climax to hit again and you arched your back, crying out his name for a final time as your mind went blank and your body spasmed uncontrollably. His rhythm started to falter as he felt your cunt squeeze and milk him for all its worth. Beads of sweat trickled down his brow as he locked eyes with you, and you caught a glimpse of sadness in them, resulting in a similar pang to seep into your heart. He knew it would soon be over. 

Finishing off with a few more thrusts, he filled you deep with his hot cum, groaning your name and capturing your lips in another feverish kiss. With that, he collapsed on top of you in a heap, both of you panting heavily as you felt a pool of wetness on your face. Were those tears? Were they yours or his? You weren’t sure anymore.

After a moment of silence, you heard a faint whisper, “Please, don’t leave me.” You didn’t respond, but instead stroked his damp hair soothingly, placing a lingering kiss on his forehead as you closed your eyes and sighed.

━━━━━━━━━━━

The morning after, all that remained was a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as Leon made his final preparations to head off. You avoided each other’s gaze as you shuffled around the house, placing the remaining items in his jeep. You used to laugh at the size of that monstrous car, but you had to eat your words when he drove you to both of your favorite secluded spots, where you would sit back together on its spacious hood with blankets and drinks, watching the starry night and city skyline in each other’s arms. So many memories, so little time.

Finally, it was time and you couldn’t ignore what was coming anymore.

“It’s getting late...” He could barely look at you and his eyes were brimming with melancholy. “I should go.”

He was still standing away from you at arm's length apart, afraid to touch you, in case he might change his mind. You couldn’t stand how permanent this goodbye felt, as if you knew innately that this would be the last you would see of him. There was no explanation to it, just pure, raw energy.

In a last ditch attempt, you blurted out, “I’ll call you.” You reached out to grab his hand. “There’s a dance company near Arklay, I could-”

He took his hand away as if he had been burnt. “Don’t,” he warned, his voice trembling as he choked on his words. “Just don’t play games with me.”

He could see through your empty promises and even though you had repeated the same lie over and over again to yourself that you would stay, it was obvious that your heart was captivated by the glittering city lights of a foreign country, and he couldn’t win you over. Not this time. He knew you would break up with him even before you saw it coming yourself.

“Leon, I-” you paused, hot tears streaming down your face as you met his blue eyes. You longed to profess how much you loved him and what he meant to you, but your emotions were caught in your throat. In the end, you could only manage a feeble, “I’m sorry.”

You saw the flicker of light in his eyes dim out as he glanced away. “Don’t be.” He turned towards his jeep and opened the door. “It’s just how life works out sometimes.” He shrugged dejectedly, as if resigned to his fate.

He climbed into the vehicle and turned on the engine, before facing you one last time. “Goodbye,” he called out softly.

With that, he closed the car door and drove off into the distance.

━━━━━━━━━━━

The next day, you heard it on the news. Raccoon City would be destroyed due to a deadly viral outbreak. Within a day, the entire city of 100,000 civilians was gone, wiped off the face of the Earth. For the greater good. Your mouth twisted in distaste at the government’s decision as the glass of water you were holding slipped through your hand, shattering onto the floor.

There was an incessant ringing sound in your ear and you tasted metal on your tongue. Your whole body went numb as you kept your eyes peeled on the TV, your breath coming in short until you started hyperventilating. 

Leon? Dear god, Leon! Please let him be alive, you prayed to some unknown, higher entity.

Your parents had to hold you up and drag you away from the living room, shutting off the TV as they ushered you into your old bedroom to calm you down. There could be survivors, they said. And for some time, you had hope. 

As weeks passed and you heard nothing except stone cold silence, that hope began to diminish. You didn’t know how painful heartbreak was until you experienced it - the wrenching of skin, tearing of tissue, a crushing force against your organs. 

You were so foolish. You should have told him how you felt. Now you had nothing left except regret. Wishing that you could have turned back the clock and gone to a prestigious arts college near Springfield instead, just so you could have spent more time together. Wishing again, that you would have accepted his offer to live with him. And finally, wishing that you had convinced him to stay one more day, so he would be here, in front of you, still living.

You would have given everything up and more to have him back. But he was gone. And this time, it really was too late.

Grief has no bounds, and you couldn’t spend a second longer in the place where you grew up. Not if you wanted that very same grief to rip into you and consume you. So you did the one thing you knew how to do best. Run. Run away as far as you could to somewhere that wouldn’t remind you of the boy you shared all the good and bad times with. The boy you loved and lost.

As you packed your things with no plan of where you were headed to next, a strong gust of wind blew through the open window, causing a bunch of papers on your desk to scatter across the floor. And there you saw it. The long-forgotten card, with white text embossed on white background, serendipitously landing right in the middle of where you were standing.

TANZTHEATER SILJE VÖLKER

Staring at the card for a moment, you quickly picked it up, placing it securely into your handbag, next to the college graduation photo you and Leon had posed in together. Both of you were happy back then, with so much hope and dreams ahead of you. 

You shook your head, muttering to yourself, “Hey, loser.” 

If Leon was up there somewhere, please just let him hear this. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t say I love you.”

Wiping away the tears that never ceased to fall these days, you took one final glance around the room, before turning on your heel and never looking back.

[asadfangirlbitxh]

You know why I don't love the ending of Bnha?

It's not that 1A aren't in touch. I'm 25 so I understand people growing up and growing apart.

It's not even that all the villains died without a chance at redemption

It's not even the Redemption Endeavor arc

It's the fact that Deku worked so hard to be the best. He went through so much to be pushed aside. The whole promise of the show was that he became a pro hero and no #1. I'm glad they have gotten rid of the hero ranking. I always hated that. But I think I see myself in Deku a lot.

The bullying, the constant reminder you are never good enough because of something out of your control. And the hard work to be the best.

And in the end, you aren't acknowledged. Yes he's a great hero but people think he's a legend. Something that isn't real and he doesn't get to fulfil his dreams. I know the whole point is quirks don't mean anything or he's still amazing (he is and he will be best hero).

But he's just hard to know that all the harassment and trauma he went through and he ends up losing everything he worked so hard for.

I will always love Deku. Quirk or no Quirk.

I just wished he did become a hero. He had his moment or Horikoshi wrote the time skip about him being a hero. Because my boi deserves it more than anyone. He is a hero through and through. He deserves the world and it makes me cry to think that he lost so much. And he doesn't even get time to properly use all his powers. People give Deku so much heat for having no plan for Shigaraki and not properly developing all his quirks. But he never got the chance. I just am so mad and emotional. I just feel like he was robbed.

I know the ending had a deeper meaning but I just wanted my boy to be a superhero with his ghost voices and a wonder trio agency

[worldsokayestdragon]

GreedxLing Week Day 4: Haunted

Read here on AO3

The Imperial Palace of Xing was haunted. 

Of course it was haunted. In a building so old, one that had housed centuries of royal plotting and backstabbing for power, hauntings went without saying. Ghosts were an unremarkable feature of the place that the living residents mostly coexisted with. 

Occasionally, when a room remained cold no matter the steps taken to warm it, or wailing echoed down a hall with no apparent source, or shadowy figures danced in the corners of one's vision only to disappear when looked at directly, a royal sage would be called in to cleanse the space and set up a shrine to appease the restless dead. And then life would carry on as usual.

Before his visit to Amestris, Ling had been skeptical of these reported hauntings. He'd never visited the palace himself to verify–not ranking highly enough among his siblings to be invited by the former emperor–but it seemed to him that there was probably another explanation. 

Certainly his Amestran friends would argue that there were no ghosts in the palace. Ed in particular would probably call him an idiot for even thinking there could be and then launch into an explanation about small cracks letting in a draft and animals trapped in the walls and mold spores that could cause hallucinations.

But Ling had seen far stranger things. A few restless spirits no longer seemed impossible.

So after becoming emperor he kept up with the little routines developed over generations to keep the palace ghosts peaceful. He even had the sages preemptively make a shrine for his father, just to head off any revenge the man might want for being tricked into thinking he had the secret to immortality just long enough for Ling to make his play for the throne.

Ling just wished there was such an easy solution for the fact that he was every bit as haunted as the palace.

Greed had lived inside of him–had occupied his brain and body like a house–and now Greed was dead. 

His absence was like a missing limb, like those horrible few seconds between Gluttony biting through the muscle and bone of their shoulder and Greed’s healing growing their arm back. 

Ling's head had felt like it was going to explode back when Greed had first merged with him under Central Command, too small to hold both of their consciousnesses. Now it felt much too big for him alone, full of an eerie echoing silence that should be filled by another person. Even the screaming souls of the philosopher's stone, once so terribly overwhelming, has become a familiar (if never pleasant) background noise over the months, and he found it hard to focus or even fall asleep without them now.

For a time there was only that emptiness–that crushing grief no other person could understand. Ling couldn't even pause to process it himself, too caught up in the mad rush back to Xing to give Fu a proper funeral, the careful plotting and maneuvering needed to seize the throne from under his father, the steady and fair decision making necessary to calm the court and hang onto his new position in the chaos of his rise to power.

There was so much that Ling had to do–so many people relying on him–and if he stopped moving for even a moment the grief was waiting, threatening to swallow him up.

As time marched on, it became clear that the crippling emotion wasn't the only thing lurking in Ling's mind.

There was also a ghost.

It started with the voices, a little over a year after Greed was first joined with Ling.

Not voices. A voice. 

Greed's voice.

Ling recognized it as easily as he'd recognize his own. It was too distant and muffled to make out any words where it had always been loud and clear before, but it was unmistakable.

At first it happened rarely, and usually late at night when Ling was struggling to stay awake to finish just a bit more of his seemingly endless work. Ling could explain it away as his overtired mind playing tricks on him.

But it happened more and more frequently, Greed’s voice getting louder and more distinct as time went on.

It wasn’t the cocky tone Ling used to expect from Greed. There were never any demands or complaints or stupid jokes. It was usually just Ling’s name, and the odd word–normally please. Greed sounded desperate. He sounded like he was begging for Ling to listen to him, to help him.

But when Ling tried to listen, when he called back to Greed, there was nothing but silence once again. 

It wasn’t just Greed’s voice either. There were other strange things happening to Ling. 

Sometimes he caught a glimpse of his reflection and was certain his eyes were purple. When he looked closer they were always the deep brown they’d been his whole life, other than those months he’d shared his body with Greed.

He would find himself reaching for something without the conscious thought of picking it up. It didn’t feel like absentmindedness. It felt like his hand wasn’t under his control. He of all people would know the difference. But then it would always drop back to his side before reaching its goal. When he tried to move aside, to slip out of the controlling position in his own mind and let someone else take over in the way that had become easy and familiar, nothing would happen.

The one time an assassin managed to slip past Lan Fan long enough to take a swipe at Ling with a knife, he tried to block it with his bare hand. The resulting cut was deep and painful, and he was lucky it wasn’t severe enough to threaten his use of that hand. 

Lan Fan had yelled at him for such a stupid move (later, in the privacy of his chambers where no courtiers could see a mere bodyguard acting so familiar with the emperor himself) and he couldn’t blame her. 

He couldn’t even say it had been habit. It had been months, and he’d practiced fighting with his sword for hours a day in those early weeks, until he’d rewritten the instincts he’d picked up from relying on Greed’s power in battle.

But in the moment, he’d been so certain it would work. He had felt the cool tingle across his skin of Greed pulling up the Ultimate Shield for him, still nearly as familiar as the hilt of his sword in his hand after all this time. He thought he’d heard Greed shout a warning as well, still more distant than it should have been but so, so real. There hadn’t been a doubt in his mind that the blade would glance harmlessly off his hand.

So Ling was haunted. 

It wasn’t the sort of thing he could go to the royal sages about, of course. A possessed emperor was a liability Xing could never afford, and a crazy one was even worse.

He didn’t even tell Lan Fan. He knew that she knew that he was hiding something from her, and he hated how that must be hurting her. But he couldn’t stand to see pity in her eyes if she found out how much he was falling apart without Greed. Or worse, the betrayal that he was so caught up in mourning the homunculus when she’d lost her grandfather, a man who had been like family to Ling too.

And on his own he didn’t know how to appease Greed’s spirit, or stop himself from going even further into madness. Whichever one was needed.

He’d made a shrine to Greed in his bedroom. Not an official one, just a collection of things he thought Greed might like on his bedside table. An especially gaudy trinket that had been gifted to him by one of the clan heads here, a black bracelet with spikes that he’d seen at a festival stall during his royal appearance and sent a servant with money to buy for him there. And, in the center, an ordinary rock that he’d found tucked in his pocket after the Promised Day. 

Greed had seen it while they were making their way into Central City from the forest where Al had captured Pride. He’d nearly sent them sprawling to the ground when he’d skidded to a halt to go back and pick it up. It hadn’t looked like anything worth the trouble to Ling, but Greed insisted it was an interesting color. He’d put it in their pocket, and Ling had forgotten about it until he’d pulled it back out himself after Greed was gone.

Ling began treating this collection of things more like a proper shrine, burning incense and leaving little cakes nearby. It didn’t help.

And why would it? Greed wasn’t haunting the palace, wasn’t a ghost in halls he’d never gotten to see. He was haunting Ling, and there was nothing to be done about it. 

Ling would rip his ribcage open and build Greed a shrine there, if only he could still heal from that sort of thing.

That’s a little dramatic, don’tcha think? Greed’s voice asked. Not that I’d expect anything less. I’m totally worth it.

It was the first time Ling had heard a full sentence from the ghost, and it was so clear and loud that he jumped in surprise from where he’d been staring morosely at Greed’s rock.

“The day I start taking criticism about being dramatic from you, I’ll know I’ve lost it,” Ling snarked back before his brain fully caught up with himself, though luckily he had the presence of mind to speak quietly enough not to disturb Lan Fan where she’d fallen asleep on the settee in the corner. (She’d been worried since the failed assassination attempt. Ling thought this might be the first time she’d slept in days.)

Just then, Greed hadn’t sounded like a ghost, wailing–distant and mostly unintelligible–for help that the living couldn’t provide. He’d sounded like himself. Maybe a little tired, but as real and present as he’d ever been.

“Greed?” Ling whispered.

You can hear me? Greed asked. He sounded almost as disbelieving as Ling felt. Oh, thank god! I’ve been trying to talk to you for forever, but I couldn’t work up the energy. Turns out getting mostly ripped out of your body and having all your extra souls siphoned away really takes it out of you. Who woulda guessed?

Disbelief and joy bubbled up in Ling’s chest, and he laughed. It turned into a sob halfway through, and suddenly Ling couldn’t stop crying, all the tears he hadn’t allowed himself since losing Greed rushing out now that–against all odds–he had him back.

Wait, I didn’t mean to make you cry! Greed sounded panicked now. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t pull that shit again, if it makes you feel better? Dying twice was enough for me.

“You’d better not,” Ling sobbed. “How could you lie to me?”

I’m sorry, Greed repeated.

Ling could tell he meant it. “I forgive you, just don’t do it again.”

“Ling?”

The commotion had woken Lan Fan. She sat up and looked at him with bleary eyes, before shaking off all apparent sleepiness and rushing to his side when she got a good look at him.

“My lord, what’s wrong? Are you hurt”

She stood over him, patting along his arms in the beginning of a familiar check for injuries. Ling caught her hands to stop her.

“I’m okay Lan Fan. It’s wonderful news. Greed is back!”

The alarm left Lan Fan’s eyes, replaced with a softer worry. She looked sad.

“Ling, I think you should try to get some sleep now,” She said gently. “I know it’s been hard for you, but–”

Greed pushed for control of their body, and Ling could tell that he was too weak to take over by force. Ling stepped aside for him easily.

“So little faith in me still,” Greed complained. Lan Fan reeled back at the sound of the homunculus’ voice coming from Ling’s mouth. “I’ll win you over eventually, girlie. Just you wait.”

“Greed?” Lan Fan asked. It sounded less like a question and more like verifying something she already knew.

“The one and only,” Greed answered. “Try to contain your excitement.

Lan Fan did not look excited. She didn’t even look particularly happy. But she also didn’t immediately demand Greed give Ling his body back, so Ling would take that as a good sign.

“Very well,” Lan Fan said. “I know my lord is pleased by your return, so I won’t object to your presence, homunculus. But Greed?”

Lan Fan grabbed the front of Ling’s sleeping shirt and pulled Greed up off of the bed to glare into his eyes, an action she would never dream of taking with Ling himself.

“I am no alkahestrist, but if you ever hurt Ling again I will find a way to put you in your own body, and then I will make you pay.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Greed gasped. He sounded mostly scared, but Ling could sense that he was also a little admiring.

“Good.” Lan Fan let go of them and turned toward the door. “I’m going to bed now. Try to keep that idiot out of trouble.” 

It was unclear who was the idiot and who was supposed to be doing the keeping out of trouble, but Ling didn’t mind. He appreciated Lan Fan giving them some privacy for now. Starting tomorrow he would be launching mission “make Lan Fan and Greed get along,” but for the moment he was glad to have a Greed all to himself.

Greed slipped back into Ling’s mind before the door could close behind Lan Fan. It was less a smooth transfer of power, and more like Greed had simply run out of steam and lost his hold.

Damn, can’t believe I’m still this wiped out, Greed complained.

“You’ll get your strength back,” Ling reassured. “We have plenty of time, and I don’t mind waiting.”

Ling would gladly wait forever. He couldn’t imagine being impatient with Greed’s recovery. 

He was too full of joy to feel much of anything else, in fact. Greed was back! They could finally rule Xing together, just like Ling had promised they would. The work would still be hard, the job of a ruler never over, especially when said ruler was trying to carry out major reforms in the way his country operated.

But now that he had Greed back–had the second half of his soul once again where it belonged–Ling was excited to face that challenge in a way he hadn’t been in far too long.

Ling and Greed would be the best emperor Xing had ever had, and they would change the country for the better whether it liked it or not.

The Imperial Palace of Xing was still haunted, but Ling swore that, by the time he and Greed were done, it would no longer be a place filled with the type of dirty tricks and backstabbing that led to thousands of angry ghosts. 

[enden-k]

(it's the anon who got inspired by your oc story to make their own)

you said i could ramble about my idea if i want so that is EXACTLY what i am gonna do (mostly because i don't want to show my friends just yet)

SO, i was thinking, a world split into two distinct realms, the human world and the ghost world. the ghosts in this world aren't as simple as the ones we believe in. there are good spirits and bad/evil spirits. if you're a have been mostly good your entire life, you'll be granted to be reborn, or live in the ghost realm. you can also wander the human world if you'd like, but it's usually forbidden (but not that hard to . but if you have been bad (like hurt several, murdered someone, been a bully, all that), you'll be banished to burn in the fires of the underworld. the REAL bad spirits are able to wander the human world, as it is easy to escape the ghost realm if there is enough negative energy (but enough about the setting, let's get into the main characters)

the main characters, adan and val (full name valentin, it's not his real name but one of his past lives, no one knows his actual name) work at an organisation (which i am just gonna call the organisation because i haven't thought of a name yet) which banishes and punishes the bad spirits wandering the human world

adan is a human who, after a near death experience, developed the ability to see and talk to ghosts wandering around. while val is a spirit, who, after he died committing suicide, joined the organisation to take revenge on bad spirits (as placeholders for the ones who wronged him in his past life). the line of bad and good is very blurry for him, as he isn't really particular about rules and honestly a little bit crazy (due to his obsession with blood, which is due to the way he died, and adan)

they are partners for the most part. they're more than friends, less than lovers, but they do have an odd attraction towards one another. again, they're partners, as a team of two (a normal ghost and a medium) is required in the organisation. they had some kind of affiliation in their past lives, which gives them a unique connection. only val knows about this affiliation though, as he stole his past memories from the database. usually, past memories are removed from spirits who want to be reborn, so they can lead normal lives. this information makes val so obsessed with the other and it also makes them a really good team (they have the highest banishing rate in the whole organisation)

AND, that's it, i haven't mapped out the rest yet :). it became so long, i'm sorry 😭 but u really wanted to tell someone what i thought about

(oh, and ghosts who died an unnatural death can recreate the cause of the death. if they died from a fire, they can create fire. and more times than not, they become obsessed with their cause of death, like val with blood)

ohhh this goes a bit into the direction of amygdala so i think i can picture it very well 0:

it sounds very interesting and especially them being obsessed/recreating their cause of death (using it as their power? am i correct to assume?) is such a cool thing honestly. thanks for telling me about it!! it sounds very cool already :]

[ebitenpura]

It's time for more Bride of Jadus headcanons! (i.e. a role I never elaborated on as much as I could've since it was a nickname that didn't carry as much authority as the Hand pre-Intelligence, and Eight hadn't tapped into its esotericism yet).

What is the Bride? Who are they?

Jadus' mysterious consort, alleged wife, and mother to Zhorrid, whom we never see and who is never mentioned once through the game despite the existence of Jadus' daughter. One would find it interesting that such a prominent figure in Darth Jadus' life would have little to no explanation to her conception, and given the Sith Empire's obsession with bloodlines, a daughter with no ties to her birth is hard to fathom-- so it became my headcanon that the public created a myth surrounding Jadus' nonexistent wife from the rumor mill that he had murdered Zhorrid's mother and disposed of her. Given Jadus' frightening reputation, the rumors got out of hand after a manic diplomat fled out of Jadus' compound claiming that he'd seen the bride of Jadus haunting the halls-- a veritable lady in black, weeping inconsolably at the loss of her life at the hand of her beloved, yet married eternally to the dark side which her husband sacrificed her to.

Whether this was a side-effect of exposure to Jadus' potent aura of fear still hasn't been debunked, but the urban myth has taken root in many a Dromund Kaasi citizen. Even those who staunchly disbelieve in ghosts...

Jadus himself has failed to comment, perhaps finding benefit in having little questions about his personal life and creating an extra layer of intimidation without much work.

Association with the new Hand

The conflation of the Bride with Eight began when he committed himself more to Jadus, especially when wearing a veil over his uniform as a sign of trust and a symbol of his loyalty to the Darth, leading some to mockingly call him so because of his similar appearance to a grieving widow covered head-to-toe in black mourning garb.

The mocking turned to respect, and then to fear as the new Hand's achievements grew deadlier by the cycle, as did his reputation, and soon enough began the continuation of the myth of Jadus' Bride-- reincarnated as a spirit of vengeance through a new vessel, returned from the dead to exact her revenge on Jadus' enemies. *It is noted this clashes with the original story that paints Jadus as her murderer, which lead some groups to argue over whether Jadus had her killed or Jadus' enemies did. What many agree on is that the new Hand appeared to play along with her role, down to the very part of being affectionate with the dark lord to the shock of his advisors.

Post-Zakuul Rise to Power

While the Bride remained an urban myth in the days of the Sith Empire, it was only after Jadus' reclusion and the fall of the Eternal Empire when the Bride became a more prominent role than the role of Hand for a Lord who seemed like he would never return.

To the surprise of the Dark Council, the Hand of Jadus had secretly been inside the Alliance the whole time, and it was its steady decline that saw them finally return to the Empire hale and whole. As if not a day had passed, they voiced Jadus' authority to reclaim his holdings and remnant power and promptly set about to maintaining it, though they expressed no desire to politick at the time. Moved by the return of the highest servant to their master, Jadus' remaining cultists resurged and gathered around the Hand, with the cult adopting him as their de facto leader and herald. Outside parties theorize that the cult believes him to actually be the Bride which they've semi-deified, and that his return was a miracle sent by their dark lord to lead them out of these dark times.

The Hand himself made no comment on recent cult activities, though his refusal to confirm or deny involvement furthered suspicions.

Cementation as Cult Figure (aka the part where admin tries to explain more character design development bc they can't draw)

As seen above, Eight wears a short veil that covers his eyes with his operative suit when he relies on the Force bond between him and Jadus to guide him where his physical eyes can't. While this was an effective and simple way to mimic the facelessness of his lord and represent him, more recent times would see his appearance slightly changed.

With the cult now following him and the role as Bride overtaking his role as Hand, an extra cathedral-length train was added to the veil which could be unpinned if needed. The extreme extension of the veil was meant to reflect being eternally wedded to Jadus/the darkside as a bridal veil, while retaining its double-meaning as widower's mourning garb. Though the former Hand expressed its ceremonial ornamentation and editing was a fashionable yet unnecessary gift from the cult, the aesthetic symbolism seemed to drive his cultists into an even greater religious fervour, with even the public calling him more Bride than Hand in present day.

[Admin notes: I tried to find the exact type of veil I was trying to convey but got lost in a myriad of google images. I imagine it's a hybrid between the veil pictured and a really REALLY long mantilla that is embroidered with even more gold and iconography of Jadus himself on the back, but I am not an art person.

Also got more into spooky month with extending the original ghost tale and mixing it with an agent's alias/urban myth, which I think shows how false cover stories and ghost stories can be the same. I've also noticed that most agents have an incredibly weak link to the Sith/darkside/the Force, so Eight's HoJ self is me testing out how much an agent can be involved in those things without being force-sensitive.]

[echoghost1]

InvisoBang 2023 - Dawn Of Influence - Chapter 10

Title: Dawn Of Influence Chapter 10 Title: I Love Loopholes Summary: Danny is in his senior year of high school. His life, even with his still secret half-ghost nonsense, has settled down to a new, but manageable normal. That is until one day he starts to notice something is off. He doesn’t feel right, so he tries to find out what’s going on. His ghost form is changing but he has no idea what it’s changing into or why. Characters: Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Jazz Fenton, Clockwork, Pandora, Frostbite Total Word Count: 17,010 Trigger Warnings & relevant tags: Mystery, Horror, Body Horror, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Ghost King Danny Fenton

You can find my fic on ao3 and read chapter 10 down below the cut!

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | [you’re here] | Ch 11 | Ch 12

*ahem* And finally the answers you've all been waiting for! 🎉

“Wait, that’ll work?”

“Yes!” Clockwork nodded eagerly.

“Really!?”

“Yes, really!”

“Gimmie a hint! Gimmie a hint!” Danny was bouncing in his seat. His upper hands clapped while his lower ones drummed on his thighs.

Clockwork was just as excited by this development. He didn’t show it in the same way but Danny could tell by his smile and the way his aura glowed a little bit brighter.

“Consequences!”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you because of something I did, and this is happening because of something you did. Consequences.”

“I did something, but it’s not a curse?” Danny clarified.

“No. Not a curse. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“So I did a good thing?”

“Yes.”

“What did I do?”

Clockwork shook his head.

“Okay, that’s too direct. Can I ask when?”

Clockwork gave a little so-so wave of his hand but still didn’t say anything.

“Okay? Um, was it recently?”

Clockwork stared at him, but it was different. It was almost like he didn’t understand the question.

“You know time is relative right?” Clockwork asked.

“I’ve heard that before.”

“I see all of time simultaneously. Everything has both happened and is yet to happen for me.”

“So there’s no such thing as recently then?”

“Not really.”

“Maybe I should just avoid time-related hints then,” Danny said as he tried to think of something else to ask.

“That might be best.”

“Oh I know! Was it when I became a half-ghost?”

“No. Although being a ghost is a part of it.”

“So I could have done the thing without being a ghost?”

“Technically.”

That just made it even more confusing.

“Sorry, ignore that hint,” Clockwork said realizing how unhelpful that was.

“You said it was something I did, and it sounds like it was after I got my powers,” Danny said as he thought aloud, “was it a big thing that I did?”

“Big as in important?”

“Yeah.”

Clockwork nodded eagerly.

“Was it,” Danny hesitated, “was it because of the whole bad future thing?”

The thing that made him promise to be good. The thing that made him worried about the future.

“No, it wasn’t that.”

Danny sighed in relief but then realized he still wasn’t any closer to the answer.

“You have done other big things, Danny.”

“I know. It’s just hard to figure out what it could be.”

“I don’t know if this will help, but it was a fight.”

“The thing I did was a fight?”

Clockwork nodded.

“How can that be a hint you can give me? Isn’t that too direct?”

“No, because it wasn’t just a fight. If it was just a fight it wouldn’t have led to this.”

This had to be the hardest game of 20 questions he had ever played in his life.

Danny tapped his chin in thought. It was a fight. A big fight. A big ghost fight. 

That did narrow it down. Sure he fought a lot but he didn’t have big fights that often. And he hadn’t had a big fight in a while.

“Was it my last big fight?” Danny asked.

“Depends?”

“Did I have my ice powers yet?”

“You’ve always had those.”

“No I,” Danny started to disagree but then remembered that Frostbite had said his ghost sense was a part of ice powers. So he did, in fact, have it the whole time.

“Okay, but I didn’t know that. So did I know I had ice powers, like did I use them in the fight?”

Clockwork thought for a moment before answering, “No.”

A big fight that he didn’t have his ice powers for? He didn’t have that many big fights before his ice powers. And Clockwork already said it wasn’t one of them.

That really only left one.

But that was so long ago.

But there wasn’t any other fight it could be.

Unless Clockwork and him and different definitions for big fights, but he had a feeling this was it.

But if it was that, why was it affecting him now?

He didn’t want to say it and be wrong.

He had to be sure.

“Did this big fight, that I didn’t use my ice powers for, the reason the Far Frozen think I’m such a big deal?”

Clockwork gave him a warm smile and a simple, “yes.”

“But that was so long ago.”

“Maybe for you.”

Danny looked at his hands, all four, “So this is what happens when you fight the ghost king?”

Clockwork made a noise, sort of like a wince. “You are so close.”

“It wasn’t just fighting him?”

Clockwork shook his head no.

“Was it putting him back in the sarcophagus?”

Clockwork gestured for him to keep going.

What else was there? 

“I won?”

Clockwork continued to gesture for him to keep going.

“And?” 

And he was feeling stupider by the second that was for sure.

He wasn’t sure he could do this on his own.

“Oh.” and that’s when it hit him.

“I fought him one on one. I knocked the crown off. I caught it.” Danny looked up to Clockwork’s expectant eyes, “He’s not the king anymore, is he?”

“No. No, he isn’t.”

“So who’s the king now?”

“You already know the answer to that,” he paused just for a moment before saying, “Your Highness.”

“I don’t want it!”

“It’s a little late for that.”

“That’s not fair! I didn’t know!”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t have gone to fight him if you knew winning would make you king?”

Danny hesitated before answering. He thought back to that fight, to the chaos Dark had brought with him. 

How Danny had fully expected to not survive the fight.

And how he went anyway.

He had to.

He knew he could help and he couldn’t just sit by and do nothing.

He had no idea winning was even possible at the time. He never expected to get anything out of it.

He didn’t know there was a prize to win.

But it made sense.

There also wasn’t anyone else that he would have wanted to go instead. No one else that he would be happier if they had won.

There wasn’t anyone he could think of to pass this off to either.

Danny flopped over to lean on Clockwork’s shoulder.

“This means we can talk about it now right?”

“I believe so, yes,” Clockwork said as he gently stroked Danny’s hair. He was careful not to touch his horns.

“So why does being King make me look different?”

“The Ghost King is a powerful role. It isn’t just a title. It means something. Ghosts are beings of energy and emotion. The more power you have the more you can affect the world around you, but the more the world affects you too.”

“How?”

“The Ghost King is a title. It is an Idea. Ideas are powerful things. They are also changeable.”

“I’m an idea?”

“Yes.”

Danny sat up slowly and turned to face Clockwork better, “Who’s idea am I?”

“The Infinite Realms, or the Ghost Zone, whatever you want to call it.”

“I’m the Idea of a Place?”

“You are an Idea of the people of the place.”

Danny knew he was making the most confused expression right now. He had no idea what to even ask to make it less confusing.

“You are also one of the people of this place.”

“Why is it the more you say the less I understand?”

“What you believe affects you just as much as everyone else who is feeding into the Idea.”

“Clockwork can you please say something that makes sense?”

He sighed softly and smoothed out a wrinkle in his cloak. “I suppose I could try simplifying it a little more.”

“Please dumb it down. Pretend you are talking to the world’s stupidest baby. Because that’s how I feel right now.”

“I’ll try my best,” Clockwork chuckled.

Danny sighed and hoped he’d start to understand soon.

“I’m an Idea of Time. Time is something that is most often represented as a clock.”

“So you have a clock in your body because you are Time?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What does that mean for me then?”

“The Ghost King is not only strong but must look the part. So for you that translated into your claws and fangs.”

“What about my horns?”

“That too, but that’s not all they are representing.”

“It’s not?”

“No. Their form and the shape they took have meaning as well.”

Danny reached up and touched one of his horns, the coolness of the ice reaching him before he even touched it.

“If they were only because you were to be perceived as aggressive, they would be pointed forward, but yours point away.” Clockwork took Danny’s hand in his own, “You are strong and powerful. You have won many battles, but you aren’t just a fighter. You fight to protect, to help those you care about. You are a friend.”

Clockwork looked over Danny’s horns but did not touch them, “Such a good friend that the Yetis see you as one of their own.”

As weird as all of this was to hear, it really did make sense. 

Frostbite had been so excited when he saw Danny was getting horns.

“Why do I have extra arms?”

“That, I believe, is a question better suited for someone other than myself.”

“What? Why?”

“For one, I’m not a Hexapod.”

Danny wasn’t quite sure what that meant but then Clockwork looked Danny over. 

“I’m one?” Danny asked making sure he understood what that look was for.

“Yes.”

That word sounded vaguely familiar, or at least a part of it did.

Oh, that was right, Hex was a number word. It meant six.

Danny wasn’t a six-something. Was he?

He looked himself over. Four arms. Two legs.

Then he sighed. Right, six-limbs. 

Legs were limbs.

Then he remembered he did know another four-armed person.

How did he forget about Pandora?

He should have gone to see her sooner.

“You know where you’re headed?” Clockwork asked.

“Yeah, thanks Clockwork!” Danny said giving him a quick hug in thanks.

Clockwork returned the hug, “Purple is a good color on you.”

Danny looked up at him confused for a moment before checking his hands.

“It would be nice to know what this was all about,” Danny said as he watched the purple slowly shift to green.

Clockwork just patted Danny on the head and floated with him to the door.

It wasn’t until Pandora’s island was in view, that Danny realized that Clockwork knew why Danny was changing colors. He just didn’t tell him.

“Rude.”

[ventisettestars]

DannyMay Day 8

Day 8: Electric Core AU [ao3]

Summary: How Vlad learns about Danny having an electric core.

———————————————————————————————————–

After the portal incident, and half death, Danny always seemed to have some form of static electricity. He’d taken to trying to ground himself as often as possible, even trying to conceal an anti-static band around his ankle for day to day interactions.

It worked on his human form, for the most part. Save for his could never get his hair to not fluff up when he was getting emotional, he stopped shocking people like he were an electric eel. 

It wasn’t a problem in his Ghost form. His suit was rubber. 

The trio figured since he died in the portal, it made his cells act like conductors or something? And other than the occasional zap, it didn’t seem to interfere with his day to day life anymore than just suddenly being a half ghost had. It even gave him an advantage against Technus from time to time. 

The other thing which Danny had started calling his ghost sense, was when a ghost was around, he would feel them through air currents. Like how the hairs on the back of your neck raised before a lightning strike. That’s how he felt when a ghost entered his haunt. That too became normal enough to joke about how if Danny were in a Lightning storm, he’d be like his parents and blame a ghost before actual lightning. That got Tucker zapped. 

Not thinking much of it, Danny made a mistake with it. He was frustrated, and while charging his ectoblast, a spark joined in, and when Vlad was hit with the blast, he fell from the sky. 

“Fuck-” Danny didn’t like the fruitloop, but that didn’t mean he wanted him to be a pancake. Catching Vlad and making them go intangible so they didn’t hit the ground with the full force of the fall. Danny got Vlad to the ground safely and set him down, not gently, but close enough. 

The man had shifted to being human, and groaned. 

“Good, didn’t kill ya all the way.” 

“What did you do? When did you gain such a skill?” Vlad sat up, limbs shaking slightly. 

“Oh, um, just sort of, you ever do that thing with your socks on the carpet, then touch someone?”

“I was young once. Of course I did.” 

“Well, it’s like that. But more inside me rather then socks on carpet? And bigger?” 

“Oh. That’s- Why Daniel, you’ve probably got an electric core. Were you aware?”

“Th’ fuck’s a core?”

“That would be a no then. We’ll need to check some things to make sure, but-”

“There is no ‘We’ I’m not going to-”

“So you wish to share what being electrocuted felt like with your loved ones? You enjoyed it so much?” 

Danny growled, Vlad was skirting very close to something he shouldn’t have been. “Keep talking. But watch it.”

“As I was, we’ll need to run some tests to see the extent of it. Most aren’t very dangerous, but you’re powerful, so it’s a cause for concern. Especially if you haven’t been expelling it. For example with myself.” Vlad created a fireball. “I have a fire core. If I don’t let loose from time to time, things will randomly start to combust around me. I can last a few weeks before that happens now, but at the start of my developing powers, it was daily. You might have a shorter or longer period of time.”

“So you want to take me to your lab and what-?”

“Not my lab. I’m certain you are aware of doctors in the zone? Many specialize in this sort of thing and would be far more informed than myself.”

“Oh. I guess that doesn’t sound too bad. I guess lead the way?” 

Vlad summoned his rings, and they flickered just slightly before transforming him. “Shall we take your portal?”

So Danny led the way.

             Notes:        

I struggled so hard with this one, but think I figured it out. Hope it was enjoyable cause ended up with a Part 2 coming tomorrow.

[bozawarriorsposting]

I had an absolute blast reading the introductory chapter! It's great to see how this whole mess started and I can't wait to see more!^^

It's probably obvious, but are some of Clear Sky's many titles self-imposed? And what does he mean by Overseer of the Great Above? Is where the ghosts are brought in the chapter the Great Above or is it just the sky in general? Or is it something else?

Also going back to the Rootpaw situation a little (I'm sorry I just get very excited at any crumb of content with him). I imagine Needletail is not happy with one of Violetshine's kits going missing because of her ghostly companion, is she?

And lastly, I'm just very curious about what you have planned for the ghosts' future missions. I recall you saying Shadowsight will be involved in one? Do you have any other mission ideas? Or is it too soon to ask that?

1. To his credit, Clear Sky's titles are all genuine... In the way that at some point someone called him that and he added it to the mental list of titles he has. The 'Overseer of The Great Above' specifically is from when the founders really got abstract in the mythos of Starclan, and became less ancestors than embodiments of natural phenomena and the spiritual symbol of a Clan. Cats nowadays refer to Starclan as a whole more than any individual of the 5 but Clear Sky is a sort of Minor God more than anything in the religion.

2. "Silver Pelt" or the Starclan that most cats walk around is something very malleable, it can twist and change depending on who is around and what are the emotions running high. Clear Sky is able to mold a small section of it according to what cats believe and attribute to him. Essentially, he is powerful enough to etch out a small domain to suck in the cats so he can screw with them in private.

3. Oh, she would be pissed upon finding out, she would probably check on Violetshine to make sure the person she actually cares about isn't hurt, and finds her desperately looking for Rootpaw. From there she might ask the group and then find out what happened after a back and fourth. Massive argument happens, the conflict resolution of the Four kicks in, ie. everyone does what they want as long as it doesn't get Clear Sky involved. And she maybe goes to find Rootpaw. I might actually make a story out of that, so thanks for contributing another piece of writing.

4. For the future.... I am gonna be real. This au was always more about the setup and the characters with the resulting possibilities more than any good ideas of where the story goes.

In terms of missions, all sorts of things are possible. I am mostly fishing for ideas as is. For Shadowpaw, I am honestly thinking that a mission focusing on him is essentially the Four using their powers to try and gaslight him into interpreting a prophecy a certain way. But like in a dark comedy way, where it's essentially all of them playing director and influencing shit to get him to think a certain thing, and failing. Because for all their powers, getting a cat to think a certain way of their own volition without raising the suspicion of the Clan or Starclan is still very hard.

But yeah, honestly I am just developing the base concept, from here I am currently working on some refs for the Four, and otherwise either think of a fun concept or have more of the four interacting with each other in that pocket dimension directly following the events of the introduction. Probably something from Needletail's point of view.

I always take suggestions of any kind, this entire AU is essentially just going "Hey wouldn't it be funny if." And thinking about the results of that.

[league-of-sam]

As Grim as the Reaper | Simon 'GHOST' Riley PREQUEL

Ghost x Reader, Graves x Reader

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Phillip Graves x AFAB!Reader!OC 18+ MINORS DNI! t.w // angst, mental health, language, violence, death, sexual themes/SMUT, military inaccuracies, language inaccuracies (google translate).

As Grim as the Reaper: Masterlist

The Echo 6 squadron became a force to be reckoned with almost overnight.

Your fearless leading, the sheer volume of skill your comrades held, you were unstoppable, and bloody good.

Some may even say better than Echo 3.

Mission after mission, covert op after covert op, you proved yourselves over and over again. Laswell had been right to bring you all together, because now, when enemies knew Echo 6 were coming, they ran.

They ran with the power of fear.

And fuck, did you have so much fun with them.

Orlando and Bradshaw's daily flirting kept the team morale sky high, as the rest of you revelled in his constantly being shot down.

Trace was possibly one of the sweetest men you'd met; he looked up to you, like a little brother looking up to his sister. You'd never had that, so the kind of love you developed for him was foreign to you, but you embraced it wholeheartedly.

And Stevens, well, you and he bonded almost immediately. You reminded him of his own younger sister, and so every mission, he had you back as if you were her.

You met his family, became great friends with his wife, he even made you aunt and god-mother to his son, Charlie, who was only three at the time.

Echo 6 team had become your family, and you loved them dearly.

Even Graves had become close with them, him wanting to know he could fully trust the people who's hands held your life every time you were deployed.

It was hard at first, any time he had to go on a mission without you, or you without him. But you were able to figure it out, because the two of you wanted nothing more than your relationship to work.

And it was.

You'd never been happier, and your relationship with the commander had been growing incredibly. You'd never experienced being in love before, but you were starting to think that maybe this was what it was like.

Because being with him was so fucking easy.

But even with that, even with your team, none of it was quite enough to fill the hole that Alex had left behind.

It was approaching almost a year since he was declared MIA, and missing him never got any easier.

Once again, any intel pertaining to him was being kept from you, General Shepherd wanting your attention on your new team, and your new team only. 

You were all gathered in the break room, Orlando playing foosball with Trace, Stevens video calling his wife, and you and Emily gossiping in the corner. 

"So, are you ever gonna actually give Orlando a chance?" You asked.

She looked over to him, sighing dreamily as she watched him celebrate another point, "I really don't know."

"It's so obvious you fancy him, I hope you know that."

"You're one to talk? We all had bets on how long it'd take you to give in to the Commander." She argued back.

Your jaw dropped open, a laugh coming out as you swiped at her playfully, the two of you giggling.

"Okay, fine, I can't say anything. But I did take the leap, you should too. That boy is head over heels in love with you, Em."

"Yeah, maybe he is."

Before you could say anything else, your phone rang, Laswell's picture flashing on the screen.

Picking it up, you greeted her, and she returned it kindly before telling you that you and the rest of the team needed to come to the conference room as soon as possible. 

So, wrangling up your soldiers, you made your way there.

You followed your team into the room, the five of you taking seats around the table, as Laswell stood at the head of it.

There was a horrible aching in your chest, your fingers shaking as you fiddled with the dog tags hanging around your neck. Because the last time you were here, your heart was broken.

The last time you were in this room, Alex was declared dead.

Five minutes of silence passed by, all of you looking confused between one another, none of you knowing what the hell was going on.

"Jesus Christ, Kate, please, you're killing me." You spoke, head rolling on your shoulders.

She shot you a sympathetic look, "Sorry, honey, we need to wait for General Shepherd to be here for this."

You groaned, but nodded, and the rest of the team engaged in small talk with Laswell while you waited.

Eventually, Shepherd burst into the room, Graves following him in. He spotted you straight away, opting to come over, placing a quick kiss to your lips and taking the empty seat next to you.

Instead of telling you of the purpose of this meeting, Shepherd began addressing your team one by one, almost as if he was giving out appraisals.

But you weren't stupid, you knew that's not why you were here.

You sat there for almost another hour, listening to Shepherd drone on and on about the success of the team, the success of missions, and frankly, with everything going on in your head, you'd had enough.

Standing up, your chair screeched, and you started collecting your things.

"Lieutenant, where do you think you're going? We're in a meeting." Shepherd addressed you.

"I am aware, sir, but this meeting is going nowhere. You didn't bring us here to sing our praises, and I don't have time to listen to it, not today."

Laswell stood up, then, coming over to you, "(Y/N), if you'd just wait a second-"

"No, Kate! I'm not being funny, but the last time I was dragged into this room by the two of you, you told me my best friend was dead."

Involuntary tears sprung to your eyes as you relived the memory.

They knew how much it had hurt you.

"I know, but this is important. You need to be here."

"Why? Why do I? What could possibly be more important than me taking the time to mourn my best friend?"

The door opened behind you, but you were too in your feelings to take any notice. Not even when your team let out numerous gasps, not even when Kate whispered your name.

No, the only thing you could hear was the squeaking of metal, and a voice.

"Sorry, angel. I gotta be dead for you to mourn me."

The breath was knocked from you.

You could barely see from the tears swimming on your waterline, but you didn't miss Laswell's smile, and her nod for you to turn arouns.

Slowly, you turned in your spot, looking to the floor at the feet - well, foot - of the person behind you. 

Your gaze followed his body, seeing a prosthetic leg from his left knee to the floor. Then your eyes landed on those tattoos. 

You knew those tattoos.

And finally, when your eyes landed on his face, you let out a sob, and your tears began to fall.

"A-Alex?" You spoke, barely above a whisper.

"Hey, angel." He smiled back softly.

"N-no...you died- you..." You turned back to Laswell, refusing to believe he was really in front of you, but she nodded once again, and you felt your heartstrings snap in your chest, "You're alive?"

"I'm alive."

You couldn't say any more.

Relieved sobs broke out from your chest, and Alex opened his arms, inviting you in.

No second was wasted, and you leapt forward, jumping into his arms and holding onto him as if your life depended on it.

"You're alive." You repeated, hands locked around his neck.

His arms wrapped around your back, holding you flush against him, his grip tightening with every cry you released. His own tears sprung to his eyes, the overwhelming feeling of guilty, knowing how much you must have missed him, as he'd missed you.

"I'm alive, angel. I'm here."

You pinched yourself, one more try to see if you were dreaming.

But you weren't, he was here.

Alex was alive; you had your best friend back, and that void within you was filled once again.

You felt complete.

[redrobin-detective]

📂

I have been waiting weeks to talk about this and I'm finally taking the chance. There's lots of debates on Danny and Vlad's conflicting abilities and status as hybrids so here I am throwing my two cents into the ring: Danny is a human inhuman being whilst Vlad is a inhuman human being. I will thus elaborate.

Let's start with Vlad. I see people claim that he didn't 'die' as Danny did and thus isn't a true hybrid which is valid but I think he had to have had some form of death for a core to form. I like to think near the end of his stay in the hospital, the contamination finally killed him but also brought him back to life as a hybrid. That said, his exposure was weaker and it took him decades to access then control his powers. He had to really work at improving them so he IS a halfa just a weak one on an imaginary spectrum. As a flipside of this, he is a lot more stable than Danny and at decreased risk of destabilization.

So physically, he's not as powerful as Danny but let's talk about his nature. We can't say how Vlad was in his earlier years but by the time we meet him, Vlad is more ghost than human in his demeaner. He is not alive in anyway that matters. It's my theory on why ghosts leave Plasmius alone compared to Phantom, to them, Plasmius is one of them, nothing special. We see other ghosts who impersonate humans (Spectra, Johnny 13, Ember). He lives for his obsession for control, has little meaningful interactions in the living world, spends most of his time doing ghostly things. Whether they know about his human half or not is irrelevant, to them, Vlad is a ghost.

Now onto Danny, kid has an accident and gets massively shocked with ecto energy becoming another hybrid. Only he unlocks his powers super fast compared to Vlad. While more inexperienced at first, at his baseline, Danny is a much stronger hybrid on the scale. His rate of power growth is frigging terrifying to normal ghosts bc its completely out of line for what is normal to them. But that's not what stands out to them. Phantom in absolutely, undeniably alive. He has these incredible ghostly abilities but he acts like a human, does human things, has human connections. He is someone who crossed over the other side of the veil and returned, not unchanged, but with his humanity intact. And that is why he is so fascinating/scary/infuriating to most of his enemies. He was able to escape death in a way no one, not even Vlad, could.

TLDR: Danny and Vlad are both hybrids, both experienced a death of sorts but what really separates them (aside from baseline power levels from their respective accidents) is their retention of their humanity. Vlad's is all but gone acting like a ghost in human skin while Danny is undeniably human while also being a ghost.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Music power; Bucky barnes x teen reader

*Author’s note*

Well this request has been building up dust in my inbox for what feels like years but FINALLY I was able to get an idea for this fic so to the anon who asked for this request hopefully you’ll see it in the search box and know that I did not forget about you. So I hope you all enjoy this Bucky fic and until the next one :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@queensdivas​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queen-paladin​

@gay-and-ready-to-cry​

@austynparksandpizza​

___________________________________________________________

*Bucky’s POV*

It was the same thing.  She’d wake up, eat a mediocre breakfast (like a pop-tart or a simple banana), then she’d go back to her room and no one would see her except for when she’d come down for a meal or a snack.  Most would say it’s typical teenage attitude but (Y/n) isn’t any ordinary teenager.  Why? Because I practically raised her, well more like trained her.

We were in the same Hydra research lab for decades, in fact she was taken right from her home when she was barely a toddler at the tender age of 3 and Hydra experimented on her giving her ghost-like powers.  She can phase through wall, go transparent, and even possess people by entering their bodies.

I was forced to train her in combat just before her powers fully developed (they didn’t fully come out till she was 11 so from age three to eleven the scientists continued to prode, experiment and torture her until her powers came forth).

She was known to Hydra as the Phantasma, but to me she was just (Y/n).  After Hydra fell, she had vanished from the face of the earth until fairly recently Sam and Natasha caught wind of phantom-like happenings occurring in the Philippines, things that I knew that made me think of (Y/n).

It took a lot and I do mean a lot of convincing on our part but we finally managed to convince (Y/n) to come back with us to the Avengers facility where she could stay and train her powers for the better.  But just like me, she came across to anyone she met with a cold glare and a blunt attitude.  Sam says she’s like a perfect mini-me but for that he got a hard punch to the shoulder (might have used my Wakandan vibranium arm I can’t remember).

I tried my best to at least strike up conversations with her according to my therapist, but she always responded with an ‘I’m busy’ or ‘I’m tired’.  Now I better than anyone know exactly what she’s going through but there’s just something deep down inside of me that wishes to get through to her.  She’s not the only one whose been through what she’s been through, hell she got lucky that she only had a little over a decade of Hydra’s torture while I got over 70 years before making my escape.

I was in the kitchen fiddling with an apple in my hand when Wilson came in from his morning run.

“This the reason why you skipped out on the run? Playing with your poison apple?”

“Better than running circles around you Bird-brain.” I retaliated.

“Okay old man I see you. But for real what’s going on? I can see the gears cranking in your head and their on fire. Everything’s smoking.”

“It’s (Y/n).” at her name, Sam’s teasing demeanor changed to empathetic.

“The kid’s really got you wrapped around her finger huh?”

“Believe it or not, she was under my supervision when we were under Hydra’s thumb. In the split second when the Winter soldier was gone and I became the old Bucky Barnes, the one who had a younger sister, she—she was my responsibility. But any sight of my old self, they just erased my mind and put me in ice until further notice while she went back into the lab with the doctors to work on her powers.”

“Kid’s been through some serious shit, can’t deny that. No one can really understand what she’s been through, other than you.”

“But each time I even try to strike a simple conversation I’m met with a blunt statement.”

“Maybe the answer isn’t through verbal communications.” I looked at Sam confused.  “Back when I was still working at the VA’s office back in DC, there were some vets who were so shaken up by all that they had seen, they became selectively mute if not mute all together. And the way I had found to get them to at least open up was through things they were interested in. This one man who served in the Marines, I was told by his squad members that on their downtime, he’d be drawing pictures in his journals. So I worked one on one with him and got him some pens and paper and he soon began drawing out his nightmares and service time.”

“And what did you do after that?”

“First I told him that he should’ve been accepted into the D.C school of arts cause his work was better than most I’ve seen in the museums. Second, I told him that even though he chose not to speak, his voice should still be made clear. So I asked his permission to display some of his work before our meetings, now some pictures he did allow while others he refused, which was fine.”

“Get to the point Sam.”

“Don’t rush me man. The point is, everyone has a different voice for their trauma. Whether it’s through the normal way of talking, drawing, writing or even singing. Find out what (Y/n)’s voice is and start from there.” I pondered on his thought and nodded softly.

“Alright. Thanks Sam.”

“Anything for the kid.”

I was walking towards the gym to get in some training when I heard what sounded like singing.  I followed the sound and as the singing got closer and closer, I began to think on why this voice sounded familiar.

It was definitely professional or something because the way I was hearing her voice almost sound like she was shouting but yet it was controlled (I think that Bishop girl said it was called belting or something like that). I finally came to the room and peeked inside to see (Y/n) was in there in her Phantasma form.

Whenever she goes ghost, her normal (h/c) turns snow white and her eyes go from their normal color to glowing green.  Even her normal clothes shift into her Phantasma uniform of black and silver and on the center of her chest is the initial of her HYDRA name.

(Y/n) was flying through the air as she was singing along to the track, her pitch almost matching the woman’s vocals on the song.  And to be honest, she wasn’t that bad with matching this professional’s pitch as she sang along to the song.

Come to me now

Open your door

Don’t make me wait, one moment more

Come to me now

Open your door

Don’t make me wait, one moment more

As she vocalized and continued to fly with such grace like the autumn leaves blowing in the wind, I began to see what Sam was talking about earlier.  She seemed relaxed with this song, she could let her guard down and her face looked so much more relaxed and even peaceful as she flew and continued to sing the song until the end.

“Friday, play Love Power from Disenchanted album.” She said.

‘Shall I play the full song or the film version?’ Friday’s voice spoke up.

“Film version today.”

‘Yes (y/n).’ soon another song came up and it was the same woman’s voice from the previous song.  Suddenly my phone goes off and I scramble to get it out of my pocket and just when I finally get it out of my pocket, I turned back to the room to see (Y/n) was gone.

“Shit.” I softly muttered.

“How long were you standing there?” her voice suddenly snapped behind me which scared the shit out of me.  I jumped back placing my hand over my heart as I watched her go from transparent to solid once again.  Her glowing eyes narrowed angrily at me.

“Oh Jesus kid, don’t do that.”

“I thought men back in the 40’s were taught not to spy on a girl’s privacy?”

“I-I wasn’t spying…..”

“Then why were you watching me from behind the cracked door of the studio room?!” yeah I literally got nothing to say that’ll help my case. “That’s what I thought. Stop hovering over me like a ghost! All of you just—stop please!” just before she flew toward the ceiling I said.

“Who was she?” That got her to stop and look down at me. “The two songs you were playing was the same singer. Who was it? One of those uhh—what do you kids call them uhh—popstars?”

“No. She’s way better than that.” (Y/n) landed on the ground and she turned back into her normal self again.  “Her name is Idina Menzel, she was a Broadway star now a film actress.”

“Wait. That name sounds familiar, wasn’t she that Princess in that one Disney movie? Frozen.”

“She was a Queen but yeah. She voiced Elsa.” I snapped my fingers in recognition.

“I thought that was it. Yeah Sam’s nephews actually really love that movie and made me watch it last time I went there to help babysit. Haven’t seen the second one though, is that where that first song was from?” she nodded.

“I personally like Show yourself better than Let it go. It really showed Idina’s range that she had during her Wicked years on Broadway. But nothing compared to Love Power, the song you interrupted me on.” I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

“Sorry. Is that song from Frozen 2 as well?”

“Disenchanted.”

“What?”

“Disenchanted, the sequel to 2007’s Enchanted.” I just looked at her.  “You haven’t heard of Enchanted?”

“I’m barely through on what people called the Disney Renaissance.”

“If you get the time, you should watch it. Both movies back to back.”

“Maybe, if you’ll watch it with me. Maybe help me understand what’s going on? Cause movies today kinda confuse me with all the CGI and intense action with no plot.” Her expression was stoic as she looked at me.

I know she’s a tough nut to crack and she has every right to be pissed especially after what just happened but I’d like to think she’ll at least consider this proposal.  Sam did say to find something that she loves to connect with her so I hope he’s right about this.

“My room, 20 minutes. Bring some snacks and drinks.” She then went transparent and flew up and went through the ceiling.  Son of a bitch, it really worked.

Well to say Enhanced surprised me was an understatement, never did I think about a story like this ever existing.  It had me invested at every second of it and the turn of having Giselle and Robert end up together, that surprised me.  As we watched the sequel (Y/n) asked me.

“What was the first thing you remembered after you broke free from Hydra?” my eyes widened as I turned to look at her.  She paused the movie and turned to me, her eyes holding such solemness to them but also sorrow.

“It’s not a good memory.”

“I still wanna know.” She said.  I took a deep breath before answering her.

“Throughout my decades with Hydra, I’d always get flashes of snow and the sense of falling. It wasn’t until I saw Steve that those images became clear. It was—the day I fell off the train. When the world thought I had died. After breaking free from Hydra at D.C. I went to the Captain America exhibit, and it began to slowly piece together. I wasn’t the Bucky Barnes Steve knew, but I—I wasn’t the Winter soldier anymore. It wasn’t until I got to Wakanda that I was finally able to break free of Hydra’s coding they had put me on, but that didn’t stop the horrors of what I did as their soldier. I see the people I killed, a lot. Even now.” There was silence until she spoke up.

“My first memory was Idina’s voice.” I tilted my head at her curiously.  “When I was hiding out in Kilkenny, Ireland. I overheard some kid playing it on their iPad and I was hit with this flash of a woman who looked like me and had this woman’s voice playing over the speakers at our house. It wasn’t until I did some digging and found out about Idina’s performance in Wicked that I remembered that the woman in that vision was my mother. She always had that soundtrack playing because it was her all-time favorite Broadway show. I even remember a Wicked playbill signed by some of the cast members being framed at our house.”

“She loved Idina Menzel, didn’t she?” I asked her.  She nodded.

“She did. I remember how she always had the song For Good playing in my room and she’d sing Idina’s part when she’d put me down for a nap. Or how she’d have a song she sung in Rent when she needed to get something off her chest. I even remember how she could almost match her range except for when she’d let out her famous belt and hold those incredibly long notes. At that point she’d give up.” We both softly laughed.

“Seems to me like she was a great mother to you.”

“Maybe. I—I was so young when they took me away from her and killed her right in front of me. I—feel like there are times she’s slipping away from me. At least until I heard Love Power, the song Idina sings for this movie. Which is this next scene actually.” She took the remote and resumed the film and we once again went from live action to 2D animation.

The scene played out as Morgan was told of what was happening to Andalasia disappearing because of Giselle’s wish, then they went to her memory tree so that Morgan could take some of Giselle’s memories and bring them back to her world to help free Giselle from her evil step-mother curse. Then the song came on.

Just as I had heard it earlier, Idina’s soft vocals began the song and seeing it with the animation made the song truly pop out even more.  But as the song progressed and I got to hear that famous belt that she did in ‘Show yourself’ and ‘Let it go’.  But it wasn’t until she sung the word air that I felt goosebumps come on my arm.

I turned to (y/n) to see her lip syncing the song as her hand was softly conducting with not only the music but Idina’s range as well. When Nancy and Morgan were getting ready to travel back to the real world and Edward said he’d stay behind to protect their world, Idina’s vocalization made my ears prick up.

As I said before, when it comes to belting out a note like that I would normally expect someone to just end up screaming at the top of her lungs but this actress, this Broadway legend Idina Menzel, could control her voice and just hit those note.

When the beautiful 2D animation transitioned back to real life 3D, Idina’s voice had now become a powerhouse as she sung.  And the first note she had belted out for the phrase Love power in this part of the song, god it sent shivers down my entire body.  I could even see (y/n) getting teary eyed even as she kept lip syncing the song.

And when she held that last note for what felt like forever—how was this woman able to breathe after holding a note like that? Or better yet not pass out while trying to sing that.  I heard (Y/n) sniffle as she paused the movie a second time and tried to compose herself.

“Sorry I—this song always makes me feel overwhelmed.”

“It’s okay. I…..god I’ve never heard anyone sing like that before. I mean yeah I was forced to hear Let it go about a hundred million times but this song……god I could listen to it an infinite amount and still get chills.”

“Right!? In this song, she was definitely channeling her inner Elphaba to hit those notes. They did not waste her vocals for this song.”

“I’ll agree with you on that.” After composing herself and wiping away her tears, she resumed the film and we just sat there and finished the rest of the movie.

In the past she was nothing more than just someone I needed to train in combat but here and now, this was starting to blossom into a decent friendship.  There was a long way to go no question about it, but this was a start.

Music, especially if it’s sung by Idina Menzel, seems to be the way to get through to her.  So if I get her talking about that, then there’s a strong chance of her recovery being an easier road for her to take.

[koopa-arts]

MCYT Yōkai AU

Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo are lost, travelling humans, who unexpectedly find themselves in the spirit world. With the help and guidance from supernatural creatures known as yōkai, they’ve got to find their way back before it’s too late.

[I’ve been working on this au for a few days now, inspired by Spirited Away, Yokai Watch and things like that. It isn’t very detailed right now, and I’ll likely change things along the way, but I like where this story so far :-)

More character info under the ‘Read More’]

[REBLOGS >>> LIKES]

Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo: Three humans on a journey of self-fulfilment. Wilbur had been traveling for the longest but along the way was trusted with the responsibility to take care of Tubbo and Tommy as he took them on his travels.

Philza: A tengu- humanoid creature with avian features. He took it upon himself to protect Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo from harm when they entered the spirit world and help them find a way back to the living world.

Technoblade: A bakemono- can transform from a giant boar to a human. A feared and respected swordsman, Dream’s rival. Mostly hangs out with Philza.

Dream: A tsukumogami- a mask who, after 100 years, had obtained a spirit and a humanoid form. Technoblade’s rival and only match when it comes to sword fighting. Isn’t as feared as technoblade is, and is mostly seen as a bit of a celebrity.

Georgenotfound: A noppera-bō- a human-like spirit with no face. Spends most of his time with Sapnap and Dream. Practically inseparable from Dream as he was the owner of the mask before it gained a spirit.

Sapnap: An Onibi- a ghost light. Used to be human a long time ago, but has since died and became a vengeful spirit. Has incredible fire powers but doesn’t use them unless seriously angered.

Badboyhalo: A yurei- a ghost. A headless, shadowy demon who despite the hard life he had endured, is far kinder than he looks. Quite protective of children and enjoys their company.

Fundy: An obake- can transform from a kitsune to a human. Very creative and intelligent. An inventor who enjoys building interesting, random and even useless creations. Despite his talent, he isn’t respected nearly as much as he wishes he was. He is also quite mischievous, and enjoys pulling pranks on humans and yokai alike.

Nihachu: A futakuchi-onna- a woman with a second mouth in the back of her head. Very sweet and caring. She owns a bakery and loves giving people her treats, though much of the food is always eaten by her second mouth.

Eret: A rokurokubi- a human-like creature with a super stretchy neck. A very laidback, friendly individual that gives great advice. Often found in Niki’s bakery, smoking a strange concoction from his pipe.

Quackity: A Kappa- a turtle-like demon. Chaotic and slightly conniving. He offers to help row people across rivers for a negotiable price. Despite being small and relatively weak, is one of the few people who can stand up to Schlatt and isn’t scared of him.

Jschlatt: A dragon spirit. Feared by most and disliked by others. He was an old, powerful emperor who had drowned in a sacred river, causing him to become the spirit of that river. Can transform into a massive dragon to a human. He’s infamous for a terrible natural disaster he had caused on earth as a spirit. Due to his power, he is seen an almost ruler of the spirit world. He is somewhat friendly with Quackity and is fond of Wilbur, having secretly known him before Wilbur even entered the spirit world.

[EDIT: These characters pictured in this post]:

Purpled: A regular human who ended up in the spirit world, just like Wilbur, Tommy and Tubbo. However, he stayed in the spirit world for too long, causing him to forget his past and his identity, and also become a spirit himself, meaning he could no longer return to his life in the living world. He usually sticks around Ponk.

Ponk: A kodama- tree spirit. The spirit of a giant, sacred, lemon-bearing tree that grows in the living world. A number of people living world worship his tree, as whenever they were cut down, he would curse the perpetrator before growing a new one in it’s place. He is an alchemist and a healer, but is also unpredictable and a bit scary.

Awesamdude: An Oni- an ogre. Lives in far off mountains and is known for tinkering and making interesting contraptions. Despite his scary appearance he is very friendly and incredibly resourceful.

Karl: A nukekubi- a human-like creature with the ability to make his head float around. He tends to stay out of conflict and enjoys relaxing in other people’s places or making tiny model buildings. Tends to hang around Eret.

[I also want to include Antfrost andd Skeppy. But I don’t know enough about them to know what else to do with them. 

Anyway, I hope you like what I’ve got so far. I’ll keep developing this AU and maybe do something with it once I’ve created a decent (coherent) story.]

[subwaysurf45]

Winter Makes Ice (Ep.5)

Summary:  you’re captured after a brawl at the Avengers building, Bucky and others must save you before Hydra makes a new Winter Soldier out of you, Bucky has given up that title.

Words: 4344

Episode: five

Warning: violence, nudity, needles, descriptions of injury

Masterlist! Winter Makes Ice Episode: Four

Time: unknown

Date: unknown

You knew they had full control over you. There was nothing you could do even though you were conscious all the time, your body did what they wanted but your brain screamed against it. There were times where they’d ask you to do the impossible, they’d make you climb the tallest tree in the forest that surrounded the building and then make you jump down without anything to catch you, you’d land and your ankle would break; the worst was when they told you to break it back in place. 

It was like you were sat in a large chair as you watched your life unfold in the cell, your wrists were strapped to this imaginary chair so you couldn’t reach out to block the punch, ankles were clasped so you couldn’t run away. You never became lucid, it was always you watching through the shell of your body. Crying yourself to sleep wasn’t an option, you weren’t allowed to cry, or laugh, or scream, or smile; you were dead on the outside. The feeling of control was so close but yet so far away. 

There was a moment, just a moment. More I.C.E. had just been injected as you hung from the cuff restraints, you swung lightly as you dangled there. The cell door closed and the silence you were left with was getting louder by the second, your brain starting to pound like it always did and right at the back of your head near the bottom began to pulse, like you were being stabbed. The pain, hunger, exhaustion built up until that one moment, your eyes were slowly closing but as they closed you could see something right in front of you, something was moving. You couldn’t reach out to touch it because you were chained but as you crossed your eyes all you saw was a little black thing slightly swinging with you. 

It was the tip of your nose. 

Your fingers had also begun to blacken, it was about to hit your first knuckle. 

That was when you let the control fully go to the I.C.E. flowing in your veins, the power to keep yourself above water was only getting more and more tiring. No one had tried to save you so they probably were never going to come. Part of you thought Bucky would be there in less than a day, he’d break walls and towers for you, but it might have just been words to make you think he loved you, just sounds put together as a fake. 

Time: 6:10am

Date: October 3rd 2024

“Darling, It’s me, It’s Bucky, you’re safe now.” Bucky spoke softly, he flickered between your eyes and nose. You didn’t say anything, just looked right through him. “I will not fight you, but we need to get out of here, we have to go.” He urged, right when he finished talking you stepped forward, he was shocked to see you move, it was rigid and robotic. “Baby, explain what’s going on, please baby?” Bucky stepped forward and reached out, his hand lightly touched your shoulder but he studied your face as he did so. Your nose would have scrunched up but with the lack of that it was just your eyebrows that pulled together. Bucky looked around the room to try and find any sign of how to get you out of your trance; the papers he flicked through were now getting thoroughly read through. All you did was stare at him, waiting for a command. 

“Bucky, it’s all clear down here, some got away though,” Steve breathed heavily as he spoke through the coms. “There's this guy who looked to be the head and he got away, didn’t get a good look at him.” 

Bucky turned to you, “who’s the leader here?”

“No one gave their name.” You answer quickly. 

“What did he look like?” Bucky left the papers and walked to you, he grabbed a lab coat on the way to cover your scared and naked body. 

“Slick black hair. Black eyes. Heart shaped face. No facial hair. Slit through his left eyebrow. Hydra ring on his finger.” Your eyes closed as you computed the man who poured the ice water on you multiple times. “Height: six foot. Weight: around one eighty. Scars, markings, tattoos: none.” Bucky watched you in shock, “any other specifics, James?” 

“N-no, well done.” He nodded and threw the coat around you, “we’re going to leave now, okay?” Bucky took your hand and led you toward the door. 

Your feet tread silently while Bucky’s combat boots echoed three times down the grey hallway, it scared you every time he’d step. With every loud sound came a hard punch, it was a way for you to brace yourself when they’d catch you talking about your past life. As you walked closer to the doors your fingers found their way to the walls, still grey like the floor but clean, the floor was covered in dead bodies and blood from the invasion. 

The doctors and agents you knew were slumped over against the wall or splayed out in the middle of the hallways, some people’s blood had congealed while others still created a larger pool around the Hydra operatives. The smell of death didn’t read on your face but it did on Bucky’s, the smell of the inside of your cell just carried out here it seemed like. You were unaware of your smell, part of you thought it was the lack of nose but the other knew it was the lack of fresh air and being surrounded by copious amounts of blood. 

“Where to, Sergeant Barnes?” the feeling of someone holding your hand was foreign, his thumb kept swiping back and forth.

“Call me Bucky,” he looked back with sorrow in his eyes. You stopped walking and lowered your head, “what are you doing?” he asked. 

“Waiting for punishment,” you spoke softly, knowing they went easier on you if you knew you messed up. There’d be times where you’d push your luck and stare them down but once you grew tired of being tough you head would bow and you waited for the strike, it was now a reaction to any type of dissatisfactory.

“No, no punishment anymore,” his eyes filled with tears and he brought you under his arms, his lips kissed the crown of your head as he opened the doors. He kept you under his arm as he opened them, metal arm gripping right on your forearm. 

The sun was barely meeting the surface and yet you had to squint to adjust, everything had a hue of red. The grass felt foreign under your bare feet as you stepped off the tiles and into nature, your toes gripped the leaves and grass as they walked. Your lungs felt like they were about to explode with the intake of fresh air, your nose could still work but it was slightly harder to breathe, the cool wind blew into your mouth and gripped the back of your throat which made you double over to the cough. Your knee popped out of the front slit on the closed lab coat, you were used to feeling naked and vulnerable; Bucky was the one to close it again. 

Steve, Wanda, and Nat all stood by the jet.

Wanda screamed your name and ran up to you, her arms pulled you into a tight hug but you curled in and waited for the strike. She pulled away and the feeling of rigidness, “y/n?” She questioned, her hand coming to cup your cheek but you stepped back and held your hand up for protection. Wanda brought her hands into her chest, she looked between Bucky and you but Bucky just shook his head with a few tear tracks present on his face; Wanda was beginning to develop her own after she looked back at you before turning away. 

You didn’t really know why everyone was crying, “Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximof.” your head slightly bowed, you looked over her to see the others behind her shoulder, “Captain Steve Rogers and Natasha Rominoff, a pleasure.” Their faces seemed worried and Nat looked disgusted, she brought her hand to cover her mouth as she walked up the steps to the jet. 

Wanda got your attention again, “hello, we’re going to take you home, alright?” Wanda took your hand, “do you remember me?” 

“From?” was all you said as you made it into the jet. Wanda covered sob with her hand as she turned away from you to sit beside Nat, she was also crying.

Steve didn’t even look at you, he walked straight to Bucky. Steve caught him right as Bucky’s knees were buckling, Bucky caught onto Steve and they both slowly made it to the ground. It seemed like they guided each other, both holding onto one another for dear life. It was a common understanding, grief was written on both of them. 

“She’s fucking gone, Steve!” Bucky cried into Steve’s uniform, the blue turning navy with the tears. “She called me James! She doesn’t know who I am, I can't- I don know- what did they-”

“Bucky, it’s alright,” Steve calmed him as Bucky began to hyperventilate, “we’re going to get her back, I promise.” Steve gripped onto Bucky’s shoulders and they both stood, a little wobbly but both were extremely tired and light headed. “I’ll handle everything,” they walked to the jet, “just be there for her and I figure everything else out, alright?” Steve made Bucky look at him. 

“Sure…” was all Bucky could muster. 

They all made it to the jet, you were placed in a room off to the right. Bucky went right in there to see you curled on the ground when there was an examination table in the middle of the room, he kneeled beside you and ghosted a hand down your shin to try and get your attention. 

“It’s Bucky, let’s sit up on the table, okay?” Bucky eased but you didn’t move, his eyes closed as he fought with himself. He didn’t want to abuse your injected substance, but he really needed you on the exam table to check your wounds. “On the exam table.” he didn’t speak harshly or yell, it was just Bucky’s normal tone. 

You shot up instantly and sat on the edge of the table, your legs hung off it and the lab coat was forgotten, it was still around you but it seemed you were told to be naked so often it became second nature. Bucky turned toward you and stood between your legs so he could get a good look at you, he could tell you were staring deep into his eyes, he didn’t want to look in yours yet, he wanted to look you deep in the eyes and have you pull him in for a kiss, maybe it was selfish but he needed it. 

“I’m going to do something called a head-to-toe check,” he informed but he knew you knew what this was. He slipped on the disposable gloves, “I know you have cuts and scars but I need to find active bleeding first, alright?” Bucky held up his hands to show nothing was on the gloves. “Tell me if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“Nothing is-”

“That’s an order.” Bucky added, “I’m commanding you to tell me if you don’t want me touching somewhere,” he knew he had checked you, there might be a way you could find a loophole in his command and get him further from a checkmate but he was making progress. 

His hands gently tapped all around you, he was asking questions as he did so but you didn’t answer any of them. You were now looking straight forward, when Bucky looked to your face for any sign of his girl you’d give no hints or answer. His hands worked down to your chest, he hesitated over your breasts but you gave no indication that you were uncomfortable, when he looked for bumps, bruises, or blood he didn’t find much, just scratch marks that looked old. He did the same when he hit your waist, not a lot of touching but looking, it wasn’t thorough but he knew you wouldn’t say anything and he might trigger you again. 

His gloves weren’t picking up much, most cuts were partly healed and the bruises were very noticeable. Part of a head-to-toe check is seeing how the victim reacts to the pressure, if you tap their stomach and they flinch it could be internal bleeding or a broken rib, but you weren’t giving any sign of hurt. He knew you could feel the broken bones and the bruises but you would never tell him in the mindset you’re in. he watched for little twitches in the eye or some type of pull away from him wherever he touched, Bucky wanted to reach in and find your brain so that you could tell him what hurts; he wanted to help you so bad. 

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Bucky asked as he picked up your left leg, turning and examining it. He found a deep red mark on the edge of a purple bruise on your ankle, there was the exact same one on the other and on your wrists. He pushed away your hair and moved the lab coat back to find a massive bruise with cuts all around your neck, it was impeccable your vocal chords weren’t fried after being put in that cuff contraption. 

“Gone from where?” you asked robotically, you didn’t even look at him. 

Bucky was taken back by your answer, he stumbled with his hands as he switched legs. “F-from home, y/n. Shield, home?” 

“Hydra is my home, it was where I was created.” your head turned to allow your eyes to lock with Bucky’s. 

Part of him wanted to scream and shake your head so hard it might knock a memory back in place, he wanted to tell you of your story and how you both grew. Bucky wanted to tell you about the drawings you do with Steve or the boxing in the early mornings, he wanted to overflow you with emotions but he knew they’d hit a brick wall. 

Bucky finished his exam but he needed to keep you for himself for a little longer, he pretended to check your pupils and pulse three more times but all he wanted was to feel the warmth of your skin. His eyes would catch the tip of your nose swinging as he moved you slightly, he had an entire set of questions just for that. But he just kept looking at you for no reason. He’d ask if you’re cold and you’d say no, he’d ask if you were hungry and you’d say no. he’d ask if you were thirsty, you’d say no. 

So he stopped asking, “drink this water.” He pulled the little water bottle from the back of his belt loop, the little tear drop shaped bottle fit perfectly in her hands. 

You grasped the frosted bottle, it seemed familiar to you. You never got water in your cell, you’d have to suck on the floor after the doctor left; they’d always wake you up by dumping ice water on your head. Calloused fingers gripped and felt the bottle, something was happening in your brain that you couldn't quite understand, you were feeling something deep within you. 

“Drink.” Bucky said again. 

“Wait,” you whispered, all you saw was black form shutting your eyes so tight. You didn’t see Bucky’s face as he waited to see if this water bottle would trigger something from right before you were taken, this was the water bottle you had introduced to the group. 

A picture was unfolding in your head, it was a big room with people all around. There was a couch that some were sitting on while one stood in front of them, the one standing was smiling. The people on the couch were leaned in to listen, some held their chin in their hand as they too, were also smiling. The little bottle of water you were holding was also in this picture, the one standing seemed to be presenting it like a game show host, showing it off as if it was new. The picture began to move and the people standing took a seat next to another person, they cuddled close and began whispering to each other with iggles in between. A pen made its way across the couch and ended up at the two who looked like a couple, one wrote a heart next to their name while the other did it normally. 

Your eyes shot open at the sound of the pop, you were squeezing the bottle so hard it exploded. Your eyes frantically searched around and when they landed on the other set of eyes in the room you lunged for a hug. 

“Bucky!” you screamed, “thank you!” You wrapped your arms around him so tight. Bucky hesitated before clinging to you like a life source, “I thought it would’ve taken you longer,” you sighed into his touch. 

“We left you there for too long,” Bucky whispered, his face his deep in your neck.

You pulled away with tears in your eyes, you looked to him but he kept looking down, “is there something on my nose?” you asked, Bucky was looking between your eyes and nose. Your finger went to touch but pulled away at the feeling of something dangling, “what is that?” you screamed and felt it again. 

“It’s the injection side effect, I think.” Bucky added he felt around your face to try and see if you were actually real or if this was some sick joke Wanda was playing on him. 

“What injection? They just took my blood once so far,” you shrugged and felt the back on your head, “there was a scab there before, it hurts like crazy, like a pulsing thing.'' You brought your other hand back to try and find that scab you felt what seemed like hours ago. Your hair felt dirtier than the last time you remembered, it was one big clump when you moved it.

“Sit down.” Bucky said, you moved back on the seat without a second thought.

With wide eyes you looked up to Bucky, “I didn’t want to sit...Bucky what did you do?” you asked, it looked like you were glued there as you tried to get off. 

“What day is it?” Bucky asked cautiously, his hands coming back to cup your face. 

“September twenty third, I didn’t hit my head it’s not a con-”

“It's October third.” Bucky breathed out, “oh my god…” he whispered and pulled you into another hug, he gently rubbed your back as you stayed rigid in his hold. 

The plane began to drop and Bucky knew it was just landing but with everything rushing against you like a title wave it felt like the plane was crashing. Bucky held you tight as you slashed around in his grip, pleads to any higher power you could think of to keep you alive didn’t seem to work. The plane froze and you stayed gripped to Bucky, he brought you out of the medical room. The three others just looked at you, not wanting to get their hopes up. But when you ran over to them and asked what day it was they seemed to be more disappointed, they just pulled you in for a hug and tried to calm you down like Bucky did. 

All at once medical staff open the jet doors, people rushing to you and you. Bucky was trying to cut through the crowd to get to you but medical staff were getting in the way and holding him back, he could see your frantic search for him. 

“You’re gonna trigger her, s-stop, this isn’t-”

A medical staff member flew back and knocked a few others over, everyone began to calm down and slow their moments. You were right over the person you pushed trying to help them up, apologizing profusely, they kept moving back and away from you. 

“Y-you were holding a needle, I’m sorry.” you eased. 

“Sedate her!” another yelled. 

You ran down and out of the jet to try and get away from the many needles that, what seemed like, every medical member was holding. There was just noise surrounding you, vision began to tunnel right when the pounding in your ears began, at the back of your head there seemed to be a knife stabbing you. 

“Get a gurney!” the voice cut through the shouts and chasing. 

Everything stopped and you froze from your worried state to complete your mission, someone ordered you to find a gurney, you must complete it. There was one waiting outside, you walked over with your back straight and your chin up. There was no need to look behind you shoulder but you did so anyway to make sure no threats were also in need of the gurney, everyone behind you was just still and watched you. This must be a test, after that realization you did everything quickly and efficiently to avoid punishment. 

When you brought the gurney to the voice who shouted it they told you to get on as well, Bucky was by your side and offering an arm to help get on but you didn’t take it. People were shouting orders to one another and you kept trying to get up to fulfill the command but Bucky kept holding you down. Some medical staff were trying to shove him away but he stood his ground and kept a hand holding you.

“Why do I keep wanting to do all these things?” you frantically aske as you tried to stand again.

“I’ll explain later, don’t worry,” he squeezed your hand as you made it into your exam room. Hands felt all around you, the lab coat was long forgotten so you sat on the table naked. Bucky was right against the wall and kept an eye on you, though your brain was next to scrambled eggs he could still read you like a book.

“We need to take some blood, might also need to give something to sedate her.” it was, what looked like, the head of this team that spoke.

Another picture flashed before your eyes. The needles and this blue liquid that went into you. Bucky had told you something called ‘ice’ but you didn’t know what that meant. Blood would be taken from you then without you looking, they would stick whatever serum Bucky was talking about in your arm. Voices and sounds rushed into your head as these pictures moved and changed to show that you weren’t there for as long as you thought you were, in your mind a different doctor repeated the same motions over and over and over again. You were covered in water and somebody was talking over you from inside of the cell, their voice seemed as though they too were underwater so you couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but one part stood out. They were saying how they did this all without you noticing, how you were too confident, how you were strong and yet you’d look away from the needles when they were stuck into your arm. 

All of these people who you failed to remember that were surrounding you now, all had needles and some had already taken your blood, but you were going to be cautious now, you were going to be aware because you didn’t want to forget everything again. Before anyone could stick anything else in you, your arms flew out to the side and gripped as many syringes as you could, they were smashed to the ground and the clear liquid spilled and dripped on the floor. People were beginning to hold you down but you broke free from their dead grass pushing away the velcro straps that were about to go around your ankles and wrists.

Someone managed to get a strap on your left ankle without you noticing, that sensation of being cuffed made another picture float in your mind. It was a large metal contraption with silver Cuban links and five cuffs, two around your wrists, two around your ankles, and the final one went around your neck. Once they were all attached to you, you were suspended in the air as your entire body weight was being held up by your limbs and neck, even though only one bound was attached to you now, you could still feel the weight of all of it crashing back onto you. 

With one large tug the Velcro cuff snapped, you tried to get up and off the table to run to Bucky, he was the only one left in the room that you knew and trusted. He was also trying to make his way to you simultaneously, reading the fear etched deep into your eyes. No medical staff was trying to hold him back so he ripped through all of them and got to you quickly, you couldn’t really hear what he was saying because the pounding in your head that was pinpointed right at the back of your neck was starting to pound into your ears. But you could make out his lips that were moving, you can remember faintly kissing them, the feeling was on the tip of your tongue but you couldn’t quite make out what it really felt like. He was telling you it was going to be okay, at one point he said that you could sleep now and that he’d be there when you wake up, you really didn’t want to trust him but you were so tired and your head hurt so bad.

You didn’t even see or feel the syringe plunge deep into the crook of your neck as he held your face and made your eyes look right into his.

Winter Makes Ice tag list: @small-death-and-codeine​ @commonintrest​ @buckyys-doll​  @lil-baby-nor 

let me know if you want a tag!!!

[chocogoths]

SCREAMS HERE'S SOME DI ANGELO FAMILY HEADCANONS💀🖤

bc I haven't read the books in a long ass time but they live in my head rent. free. please feel free to scream w/ me PLEASE

it's. actually "D'Angelo" lol. I like to imagine when they arrived to the US some worker misunderstood their family name as.. "D. Angelo" like it was an initial or smth (saw that in a movie once ksksk) and it just stuck until it eventually became "di Angelo"

Nico's full name is Niccolò Salvatore D'Angelo uwu I'm not too sure about Bia, but I like Bianca Isabella D'Angelo

they both look so much like their mom!! I hc that Maria had a couple beauty marks that Bia and Nico inherited✨ bottom corner of the eye maybe? and freckles too

Goth Maria supremacy!!! She always had a fascination with death and ghosts and such, that's one of the reasons she fell in love with Hades<3 Plus she canonically dresses in all back and wears dark makeup

Maria was an opera singer! I have no proof but also no doubts. In the present Nico managed to find some records of her singing and now Mama sings him to sleep every night💕

also Hades canonically enjoys music and singers (Orpheus) so that's one of the reasons he fell for Maria

I think Maria was generally an artsy person, she had Bianca and Nico take lessons in dance, music and painting, Bianca probably learned embroidery and Nico BEGGED her to teach him so he learned too, they had lil music sessions where Maria would sing, Bianca played the violin and Nico the piano (Bia and Nico weren't perfect but they tried so hard and Maria always encouraged them!!)

Nico inherited Maria's love for all things spooky, his favorite thing to watch was Disney's Silly Symphonies: The Skeleton Dance (he tried to imitate it in front of the tv hghghfhfhg)

also he loves chocolate. this one's kinda out of pocket i know but i just had to say it. Nico says dark chocolate supremacy

I also hc that one time, they found a baby bird that had fallen from its nest, Maria let Bianca hold it while she fetched a first aid kit to nurse it back to health, while Nico peeked and jumped around Bianca bc he wanted to hold it too🥺 When Maria came back though, Bianca had tears in her widened eyes and she told her that the lil bird had suddenly died on her hands :(( she didn't squeeze or anything!! one second it was just sitting on her palm and the next it was just. dead (i saw this in a movie too lol)

Nico didn't really understand what was happening, but that's how Bianca learns about mortality (and unknowingly, a lil bit of her powers) and y'know how some little kids learn about death and are either fascinated or scared by it? poor Bia was TERRIFIED

Bianca developed a fear of dying, and anything to do with death in general (which I hc as one of the reasons she joined the Hunters of Artemis.. besides wanting to actually live for herself and not be a mom to her little brother :c) the bird incident was something she was never able to get over😔

also!!! both Bianca and Nico sometimes saw ghosts. Baby Nico would babble all day long to his ghost buddies, Maria found it SO cute. Younger Bianca chatted with them and had tea parties and such, but after the bird incident she would flinch and look away whenever she saw one :(((

Bia's fear of her (unknown) powers sometimes manifested and her Mama's roses would wilt and dry up :c But Maria would kiss her forehead and tell her she liked them better that way, and Bia would feel a lil bit better, and a lil less scared<3<3

Nico's first crush was a boy he went to school with, he also once had a teeny tiny crush on his teacher, and another time a crush on one of Bianca's classmates... he falls in love easily ok lol

he never acted on his feelings bc he wasn't even sure what they were?? he just knew he really liked those guys and he'd feel lil skeletal butterflies in his tummy when he looked at them!! when he told Mama about this she laughed and hugged him, and told him he'd understand those feelings when he grew up a bit💗

this one is more set in the present-future but. I really desperately need Hades (& Persephone!!) and Nico to have a good relationship🥺 I like to think they slowly but surely work through their issues, and Nico does end up regularly visiting (or even living in!!!) the Underworld with his family, since Hades has a room for him in his palace💕💕 One for Hazel, too! and they get along marvelously with their step-siblings as well<3

Macaria, Melinoe and Zagreus loooove them. big siblings taking care of and mentoring their lil siblings. good. One big, happy goth family that's all i ask!!

y'know this one. no one beats Nico at any videogame or card game ever. thank u Lotus Hotel

ok that's it!!!!! for now.

[mrpenguinpants]

Xiao: String of Fate [Soulmate AU] HCs

Hey anon! Okay, I’m just gonna level with you. This request? This request right here? Probably one of my favourites. I went feral over this at 3am and my monkey brain fabricated an entire life story for Xiao when he’s not even out yet.

I sorta combined this request with my feral plot idea (which is honestly a 20k word fic at this point), but ahem, I hope you like and np^^ gotta make so many offerings so Xiao hopefully blesses me. Have a lovely day anon!!

--- Xiao Semi Series

[ Friendship ] [ Falling in Love ] [ Cuddles ] [ Protective ] [ Affection ] [ Jealously ] [ Opposites Attract ] [ Fainting ]

[Masterlist]

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[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@mikeysbike @unionwitch @musekala @stanzastic @akaasea @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz @dai-tsukki-desu @thicmitten @sunnshiii @hanniejji​  @snowy224 @mayumintsu @tigerpriestess @yuu-yuukurotsuki @legionqueensav​ @youaskedfurret​

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Xiao: String of Fate [Soulmate AU] HCs

The red string of fate is a concept that those who are connected by a red string are destined to meet and fall in love. Regardless of place, time, or circumstances. The red string can never be broken unless one connected passes away.

Alatus

For the past few days, Alatus would wake up early and scale the mountains of his small village to pick Qingxin flowers. The morning dew would still be on the petals before the sun came by and evaporated everything. It became a bit of a small joke that the elders used to make, that a earth spirit would appear at the break of dawn to place the flowers for harvest. Not that Alatus minded, he was grateful that whatever celestial spirt was out there made sure to replace the ones he took. Remembering to always offer a prayer of thanks and a small offering, you would scold him if he didn’t.

He quickly scaled and vaulted over the wooden beam and slipped into your room. He winced at the sound of his shoes landing on the wooden floor but you didn’t seem to stir. You were still sleeping peacefully as Alatus took the fresh flowers to add to the ones already in your small vase beside you. They were your favourite flower after all. He reminisces about when you were both children and how you would drag him to mountains and tell him all about how at the very top there was his beautiful white flower. But you were both too young with small limbs to even attempt to climb it, plus if you somehow managed to do it, it would take too long and both your parents would be worried. It never seemed to deter you as you reasoned that a wind spirit would help your journey. Come to think of it, you always put a lot of faith into celestial beings. But he goes along with your plan, never one to contain your desire to explore.

He’s suddenly snapped out of his memories when he hears a soft knock on the door. It quietly opens to reveal your mother. She gives him a small smile as he looked a bit guilty for getting caught breaking in before waving him over to hand him something. You left him with a small bamboo package that you had wanted to give on his birthday. On top of the bamboo, you had wrote a short but warming message that you were worried about him always running off outside and that he might catch a cold. He smiled softly at your words, ingraining the way your ink brush flowed down the bamboo sticks into his mind. He offer’s a small thanks as she gives him a comforting hug. Whether for him or her he doesn’t know and she leaves.

He carefully untied the brown string keeping the package together to unravel a blue, white, and gold sleeve. He silently marveled at how beautiful it was and held it up to the light, it almost seemed to shine with subtle highlights. He has no idea how you managed to create this, he had never even seen the dye of red or gold used in clothing before. Perhaps the celestial beings decided to bless you for your prayers and devotion. He gives one small squeeze of your hand as he ties the sleeve to his arm and he slips out through the same window he came from. He looks up at the mountain’s he’s scaled before setting on the tallest one. One so tall the elders say that it could reach celestia.

As he scales the mountain he can feel a taint tug on his thumb, before it slowly disappears. He closes his eyes for a brief moment, breathes in deeply, and continues upwards.

The Golden-Winged King

One of his first adepti duties was to investigate the place he once knew as his home. There had been a dream eating demon that had been spreading curses onto unsuspecting youths. Putting them into eternal sleep before they bodies finally succumbed and they passed away. It was horrible and Alatus swore he would do everything in his power to make the dream demon suffer. Unfortunely, seeing as this was his first time venturing out back into the moral world and still recovering from his trials, he was assigned to work with a senior anemo adepti. One who was well-versed in using polearms that could “show him the ropes” as mortals would say.

This other adepti was too loud and erratic for his tastes compared to the calm and peaceful friend he once knew. Always getting side-tracked and flying around Alatus like some overgrown pixie. Never taking anything serious even though the both of you were tasked to destroy evil. But he held his tongue since this was his senior, gripping his sleeve when he was especially annoyed. This only seemed to spur the other anemo adepti further and inquire about the sleeve. Naturally, Alatus was hostile and guarded. That was first time he ever raised his voice which instead of becoming offended or angry, the other adepti was impressed.

From then on the other adepti seemed to want to interact with Alatus at any given moment. From checking in with him on his latest mission or if he heard about how the delicious flowers tasted. Who even ate flowers? Either way, every instance of communication was brushed aside, he would always make some weak excuse that he needed to train. Which lead to the other challenging him. The both of you were the same element so it would be a good time to see who was the best at wielding it. Overtime he began to look forward to your weekly spars. Even finding a bit of joy out of them. Ever since he had climbed up the mountain it had been constant training and hardships but when it came to these spars. It was fun. Alatus began to open his heart a tiny bit, let’s himself relax and fall into amusement when he see’s his partner’s face pop over him as they hovered over him.

He even began to feel his locked up heart start to beat a bit faster whenever he saw his partner perk up and wave at him. Whenever you threw your arm around him he never brushed you off like he used to, just basked in your presence as you rambled about how this stuck up bird was running everyone through the ground with her demands. It was amusing for fresh adepti’s to see you both interact. The ever stoic and aloof Alatus that taught them through strict rules loosen up immediately and smile whenever your head popped up to scold him for his training methods.

It was fun. Until the day he became possessed and killed you with your own weapon.

Guardian Yaksha

Guizhong was concerned. Ever since Rex Lapis had saved the poor adepti man from his possession, he had locked himself in. He still fulfilled his duties with alarming accuracy but it seemed that he completely on auto-pilot. He could stand in the pouring rain without realizing it or he always seemed to be in such a rush. Asking to do anything that needed to be done rather than relax. He was going to end up running through his long years at this rate. She brought it up to Rex Lapis and his fellow Yaksha but none of them had the time or want to check in on him. It was a time of war after all. Except one.

You watch him stand in the rain. Any attempts from you or Guizhong to ask if he was better always failed and you didn’t want to push. But this was already past the point of simple concern. So the next time you saw him relapse you walked over and embraced him. He usually carried himself as stiff as possible but you swore you were holding one of Rex Lapis’s pillars. You braced yourself to get thrown off or at the very least be questioned but none of those things happened. He just stood there and to be honest, you weren’t sure if that was even more concerning. You both didn’t say anything even when the rain stopped until Rex Lapis had summoned you both over.

You and him never developed a close friendship but he never seemed to brush you away whenever you sat beside him ever since you hugged him in the rain. A bare acknowledgement on good days but that was alright. Just sitting in each other’s presence when the war wanted to be quiet somedays was nice. On harder days when fighting took too much of a toll on your body you would lean your head on his shoulder. He never shrugged you off or seemed bothered by it, in fact, it almost seemed as if he leaned back against you. You both never spoke during these moments, just a silent understanding looming over you both.

Then when Morax announced that Guizhong had passed away, you felt as if you somewhat understood how Xiao felt. You didn’t even register that you had walked back to the same place Xiao was standing back when he was in the rain. The war was finally over but after everything that had happened to get to this point, it was hard. You knew that a few of your other Yaksha’s were ready to return to Jueyun Karst or return to earth. You blink quickly as you feel two arms wrap around you and you realize how funny fate seems to be. You choke out some unintelligible noise that’s a mix between a laugh and a sob as you cling onto him and let your bottled up emotions pour out.

He’s the last person you see in the newly established Liyue, wishing him luck in the rest of his journey, as you return to the earth. You aren’t sure what you’ll turn into but you hope that the peaceful atmosphere you both created will remain.

Xiao

It was completely out of the blue when you asked if he wanted to come on an adventure with you. You were both sitting under the tree that held the Wangshu inn up when you suddenly sat up and pointed in some far off direction across Liyue. Asked if he wanted to come with you after the lantern festival was over. He was a bit taken aback, you were a traveler first and foremost but you never asked if he wanted to come with you. You had always assumed that he wanted to stay as a protector of Liyue but after what Morax, now Zhongli, had said and how it was time to him to step down. You decided to ask him. It didn’t have to be far, you both could go to the stone gate if he wanted, just if he wanted to come with you anywhere.

His first instinct is to decline but you end up cutting him off before he can say anything.

“I know you have your reasons and loyalties to stay as Liyue’s protector. That’s why I’m not asking for you to accompany me across Teyvat. But I don’t know when I’m going to be back and after what happened in Liyue, I thought it would be nice to just, take a break, and go anywhere. You don’t have to accompany me if you don’t want to but I think it’d be nice to wander together,” you say as you continue to look across the land from the balcony. He can’t see where you’re looking at exactly but he ponders your words.

To wander and go anywhere. Just the two of you. He’s never even considered leaving Liyue even after all the demons were replaced with weak hilichurls and slimes. He gazes up at the tree’s leaves, looks further to see celestia, and even further back to his home. Guizhong always said he needed to relax and live in the moment of now rather than running past everything but was he really ready for that? 

“Ah, sorry was that a bit too forward? I really didn’t mean anything ba-”

“Yes. Let’s go,” Xiao cuts you off as his eyes shine in a new light of determination, “Wherever you want to go, I will come with you.”

You blink once, twice, before a bright grin stretch's across your face as you quickly ask if he’s joking. He’s not, and you cheer excitedly as you list off different places you’ve wanted to explore. Perhaps the shoal? Maybe even further into the chasm? Actually wait, the electro archon has closed that area off so maybe not there. Xiao patiently listens to you ramble as he smiles softly. Your excitement is addicting and he can feel his heart flutter just a bit. How long has it been since he felt this way? He can feel a small tug on his thumb, he looks down but he can’t see anything, but there’s a comfortable weight that he’s felt has been missing for a very long time.

---

If this seems interesting and people seem to enjoy it, I can post the actual fic when Xiao banner drops as a bit of a catalyst. It’s basically the same idea.  Though it’s kinda long so I have no idea when that’s going to be finished. It might turn into a thank you gift instead. (or ahem, you know, if you wanna commission me and see it earlier there’s that haha just kidding;;).

Honestly, I took a lot of liberties. I read the lore on adepti and Xiao but most of this is my monkey brain and previous semi xiao fics (which you don’t have to read but it would be helpful to see extended parts). Phew, this took a lot of time. It’s not as cute as my other fics but hopefully you all enjoyed it^^

Actually, nevermind. I hate this. I’ll keep it up since I haven’t posted this week yet but I hate this. 

[kaijurakunsobs]

Can you do a headcannon where Karl comforts a reader with ptsd and nightmares. I have these myself and the thought of him comforting me calms me down lol.

ok, let's start by saying that, PTSD is a serious thing and that can happen when we get exposed to strong stimuli or situations of high stress that can leave a GREAT mark on us, it can be something like associating dogs barking with a moment of great shame or something a lot more...heavy...like any form of abuse.

I need and want everyone here to remember, what can affect YOU won't affect other's the same way, this means that you can't undermine the reasons for another person to develop PTSD, call them fakers, make fun or try and trigger them to "help" or make them "stronger", it's the therapist's work to help and guide people thru this, ok?

⚠TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF PTSD, PAST ABUSE, PANIC ATTACKS⚠

I'll be using the OG term that was SHELL SHOCK, which might be name he knows it by since the term PTSD wasn't used until the '80s

it happens so fast, one moment you are ok and the next you are backing away from him, ragged breathing, shaking as if you had seen a ghost

after that, you start to avoid leaving the room, your eating habits begin to get worse, there are nights when you wake up screaming and sweating

he knows what's happening, it's shell shock

Heisenberg himself almost became a victim of his own mind, but vengeance and anger is what kept him going, but whatever happened to you was enough to break your mind

you are plagued by reminders of what happened, occasionally lost in thought in memories, anger flourishing to defend you from unseen danger

Karl didn't had someone to talk about his trauma but you have him now and he's willing to listen

first, he leaves it clear that you can talk to him at any given point, that will do anything to protect you and make sure you are safe

talking is hard, but you eventually tell him about what happened, what triggered your response, he asks more about your symptoms, any sign he might be aware of

the next day he presents you with the idea of a schedule, something YOU can decide and built in your own, something you can have complete power over

whenever you wake up from a nightmare, he moves slowly as to not startle you even further, asking if it ok to touch you or hold your hand, letting you cry and talk about what you are feeling

he doesn't treat you like a fragile little thing, because you aren't, you are here and you survived what happened, you keep on going and living even when the pain gets too much to bear, you are strong and he's proud of you

Karl leaves it clear that you can lead the way all the time, choose the day's activities

he doesn't get offended when you lash out, understanding that sometimes your emotions get too hard to handle

listening and getting you talk when you retell the events or when you talk about hard to hear stuff, never asking you to keep quiet, you need this, to be heard, to feel safe and cared for