#so far they promised I’m keeping my current schedule

[zetobii]

… I took my old position back at work. I’m a keyholder again 🫥

[wordsbyrian]

Royal Navy - Alessia Russo x Reader

Summary: Royal Navy!R was childhood friends with Less and things ended sort of poorly between them, they meet again. years later.

A/N: Alright so I don't know a lot about the Royal Navy but I do know a lot about the US Navy so everything in here is a combination of research and filling in the blanks with American military knowledge.

Sometimes, life doesn’t give you everything you want.

Correction, most of the time life doesn’t give you anything you want. This explains the conversation that you’re currently having while sitting in your girlfriend’s room.

“I just don’t know why you would want to volunteer to join the army,” she says, flopping back onto her bed.

“I’m joining the Navy, Less,” you tell her for what must be the one-thousandth time. “Besides, there's not anything for you to understand. I don’t understand why you're going to school in America but I’m not trying to stop you.”

“I’m going to play football and learn,” Alessia says, “Not signing up to get myself killed.”

“Yea, well, we all can’t be the next Kelly Smith, can we?”

“Don’t get smart with me Y/N, I don’t want to argue with you,” she says, finally sitting up to look at you.

“But you do, because if you didn’t we’d be making out not having this conversation the day before I leave for Dartmouth,” you respond, getting up from your seat at her desk, “I won’t be able to use my mobile so often I’ll  write you but don’t bother answering if you’re gonna keep at it like this.”

With that, you walk out of Alessia’s room and as a result her life.

You do hear her calling after you but you know she hasn’t changed her mind so you don’t bother turning around.

That was over 5 years ago and while you did keep your promise of writing and calling her; after your first three letters received no response, you gave up.

That doesn’t mean that you stopped cheering her on, you’ve seen all her major moments, no matter how far away you were.

Over the summer, you along with practically every other sailor on your ship watched as she along with the rest of the Lionesses conquered Europe.

And now, you’re standing on the touchline at Kingsmeadow in your dress uniform for some surprise your sister planned with Chelsea.

But if you had known they scheduled it for the weekend the Blues welcome United, you probably would’ve waited a little longer to take some leave time.

Anything would be better than having Alessia attempt to burn holes in you with only her eyes as you carry the ball out for the coin toss.

You can’t tell if she recognizes you with your hair cut so short and your body so stiff but when you hear the PA ask everyone to turn their attention to you, you know that she’ll figure it out soon if she hasn’t already.

“Everyone please join us in a round of applause,” the voice says over the speakers, “as we welcome back former Chelsea youth player, Lieutenant Commander in His Majesty’s Royal Navy, Y/N Y/L/N. Thank you for your service.”

You allow yourself to smile slightly as Emma Hayes hands you a Chelsea shirt with your name on it before a stadium hand comes to lead you to your seat.

The match is good and you enjoy it as much as you can with strangers coming up to you every two minutes.

When it ends, 2-1 Chelsea, you make your back pitchside having agreed to speak with the players in the small window of time Hayes and Skinner have managed to get them to give up.

When you're led to a back room you’re shocked to see both teams there intermingled but you quickly remember that women's football has always been much more cordial than the men’s game.

After another quick introduction from the assistant who led you there, you stand alone in front of the two teams.

“Hello,” you say, standing pretty stiffly with your hands clutching your cover behind your back. “I’m not going to introduce myself again but now seems like a good time to mention that since my dad is from Newburn, I’m a Newcastle fan.”

That gets a few scattered laughs that help to break some of the tension and ease your nerves.

“I’m supposed to be talking to you about leadership, team building, and morale but I watched the game and I can definitely say that neither team needs to hear from someone whose idea of team building is sticking people in the middle of the ocean for months at a time and seeing who can get passed their problems long enough to survive,” you say plainly, not bothering to hide your disinterest for the situation. “So I figured you can just ask me questions until they let us leave.”

Murmurs of agreement go through the group so you press on, alternating between teams to ensure you’re being fair.

Most of the questions are the normal ones you get when people find out you're in the Navy. So you explain what it means to be both a Lieutenant Commander and a Surface Warfare Officer.

There are a couple of shocked faces when you tell them that you’re trained to operate all the heavy artillery on the ships and a couple of faces that fill you with more than a bit of concern because of how glee-filled they are.

When you tell them that you joined the Navy because of family tradition you can see Alessia roll her eyes and whisper something to Toone but you divert your attention to Millie Bright, who you recognize from the time you spent training with the full team.

And based on her question it seems like she recognizes you too.

“You made some appearances with the full team, why’d you choose the Navy over football,” she asks.

Laughing a little you answer her, “I played 30 minutes in the Conti Cup and was in Hayes’ office the next day quitting. That was literally the worst half hour of my life and I almost drowned in the sinking ship exercise.”

It’s then that you notice Alessia put her hand up to ask a question and considering you want nothing more than to not have to interact with her, you ignore it getting through a few others before you notice Ella with her hand up as well.

So you make the mistake of calling on her.

“Are you ever going to let Less ask a question,” she says with an unbelievable amount of sass.

“I suppose I have to now,” you say, “Crack on, Russo.”

Alessia doesn’t take this well because she glares at you and asks in the coldest voice you’ve ever heard from her, “How’s your sister?”

Never one to be outdone when it comes to being petty you respond in kind.

“She’s fine. Your family?”

It's your words that seem to spark a realization in some of the players’ faces that the two of you know each other but before any of them have a chance to say anything the same assistant from earlier comes to tell you that you’ve completed your time agreement.

For your part, you can’t get out of the building fast enough, barely stopping by the manager's office to tell Emma bye.

Getting to your car, you rush home probably breaking a few minor traffic laws in your haste.

When you do get home, you rush past your sister, Sarah, and her husband straight to your room, where you make quick work of changing into comfy clothes so that you can hide away for the foreseeable future.

You manage to go a full two days before your sister gets sick of your bullshit and barges in opening the blinds to let light into your cave of despair.

“Alright, it’s time to get up,” she says, pulling the blankets from on top of your head.

“Fuck off,” you say, turning away from her.

“I won’t," she replies, "You’ve been locked away in here, not eating, for days. All because you had to see the girl who broke your heart at 17. Grow up.”

Rolling back over you glare at her harshly but she continues speaking before you get the chance to tell her to go away again.

“Don’t make that face at me, it won’t work,” Sarah says, plainly, “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take a shower and then when you’re done, you’ll come eat lunch before going to walk Magpie.”

Her tone leaves no room for argument and if we’re being honest, you’ve always been appropriately cautious of pissing her off. She did practically raise you after all.

So you did what she asked.

You showered, you ate with her and her goofball husband, and now you're sitting at the park with her idiot dog that is named after a bird.

“Oi, Magpie,” you call out, getting the dog’s attention, “Stop trying to eat that rock you berk, it’s bigger than you are.”

Somewhere to your left, you hear a familiar burst of laughter that has you panicking more than a little bit.

You do your best to ignore it, hoping that she would choose any of the other benches to go sit on. But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for you as Alessia takes a seat right next to you, her dad’s dog coming to rest at her feet.

“Hey,” you say to her, not wanting to be rude before you turn your attention to the dog, “Sup Rocco, getting up there in age, aren’t you old boy?”

Alessia laughs again and you feel your heart skip a beat and a fluttering feeling begins in your stomach.

The two of you sit in relative silence for a while, the only words spoken are from you, usually a shout at your sister’s idiot dog.

You get so used to the silence that you almost miss it when she starts speaking.

“I owe you an apology for the way I treated you at the game,” Alessia begins, “It wasn’t fair of me to treat you like that, especially in front of so many people. -So, I’m sorry I did that.”

You’re not sure what you were expecting her to say but it definitely wasn’t that, so it takes you a moment before you respond.

“I can’t accept your apology,” you tell her after you finish processing. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see her shocked reaction so you continue before she can spiral too far. “Mostly because I was definitely a bigger dick than you were that day. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have acted that way, not in front of your team.”

You can see a small smile tug at her lips and you grin at her in response.

“We were both pretty big idiots, huh,” she says.

“Proper bellends,” you respond, “You’d think we would’ve done some growing up I guess not.”

A comfortable silence falls over the two of you and you let it stay for a few moments before you speak again.

“I think if we had been better at communicating, we probably would’ve been back on speaking terms at least four years ago,” you tell her seriously albeit with a joking tone.

“Are we?”

“Are we what?”

“Back on speaking terms,” Alessia clarifies.

“Obviously,” you say, “I don’t watch Magpie try to eat all the inedible things in sight with just anybody.”

The smile that had been threatening to break out on Alessia’s face is out in full force now and you can feel the fluttery sensation in your gut get stronger.

With that seemingly settled, the two of you fall into a pattern of conversation that is both familiar yet different.

In the past, most of your conversations centered around school, football, and making weekend plans. Now, it’s more of a catch up session but the vibes are the same.

It's perfect.

You don’t know how long you sit there but you’re eventually interrupted by the sound of both of your phones going off.

Your’s a call from Sarah telling you to bring her dog back and her’s a reminder from her dad about family dinner.

You stand up ready to try and catch Magpie and go when Alessia stops you.

“Y/N,” she begins, “Do you know where you’ll be stationed once your vacation ends?”

“Headed back to Dartmouth for five months to train the next batch of SWOs,” you tell her, “Then probably gonna be on shore duty for a while so might end up in command of a URNU. Depends.”

“On what?”

“Lots of things but mostly where the open postings are,” you explain.

“Two more questions but one relies on your answer to the other.”

“Shoot.”

“Will you be able to make and receive phone calls while at Dartmouth this time around,” she asks with a slight blush.

“I’ll be in charge so I can do what I want.”

“So would you be opposed to giving me your number so I can call you?”

Unable to resist teasing her a little bit, you let a coy grin spread across your face.

“Alessia Russo, are you trying to get back in my pants,” you ask her.

You watch as the blush on her deepens and she begins to sputter trying to defend herself.

You laugh a little and continue, “I mean it’s fine if you are but I’d prefer to know so that I don’t fuck it up like I did last time.”

“Y/N/N,” she says, still blushing and stuttering.

“My number is the same,” you say, taking pity on her, “so you better call me.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I am but now I’m an asshole that you’ve got to call.”

“It’d take the entire Royal Navy to stop me.”

[dumbbitchenergy17]

Aslo I’m not sure if ur caught on the manga for my hero like the war arc mostly but I was wondering if request based of the manga base on chapters 286 -365 like you know how bakugou is currently severely injured in manga instead of bakugou almost dying it’s the reader who takes all the hits for him when fighting shigaraki aslo can reader quirk can be scarlet witch type where she using her full potential of her quirk which is slowy corrupting her via dark hold idk I wanted to incorporate mix between multiverse flim and the manga I hope this it ok aslo can add bit of angst and fluff in end I hope this is ok

My Dream

Love wasn't part of the agenda, win the Sports Festival, intern with the top heroes, then graduate and become Number One. Though those dreams don't always stay the same.

Words: 15.6K

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugo x Reader

Warnings: Angst, violence, blood, death, hospitals, some fluff in the middle, pretty op reader, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH MHA CHAPTERS 286-365

A/N: Omg this was so much fun to write! Originally it was going to be much shorter but it became so addicting to keep writing and building more I hope you enjoy 💙

Love wasn't a part of Bakugo’s schedule if he was going to become the Number 1 Hero. Not if…when. He was in U.A., he had a strong quirk, good grades, he was interning at the current Number 1’s Agency, and he even won the damn Sports Festival! His dream was forming with each step. Everything set perfectly in front of him ready for him the second he graduates and starts his agency…

But then you showed up.

The biggest wrench in his plans and that stupid Deku had gotten a quirk and got himself in the same damn school as him. But you were worse than him. Getting in through recommendation unlike him, your grades rivaled his sometimes beating him which made his blood boil, your quirk was stupid either you were a damn witch. Your quirk was witchcraft, Chaos Magic to be specific like in those dumb horror movies with the spell books and all. Apparently, your family was well known for their quirk and some heirloom that is passed through their family. You were a thorn in his side when he first met you. He was supposed to be the best in this class and U.A. as a whole but here was this girl just appearing and taking all the glory and it pissed him off.

He didn’t understand what made people like you, you were boring as hell and a pretentious dumbass. Just because you had some special family name that made you better than him? Give him a chance to really show you the full power of his quirk and you would be groveling at his feet. And he had tried…picked a fight with you during training ready to prove to every one of those extras and to you that he was the best.

Your class had never seen Bakugo lose at all. He bolted right at you ready to send the largest explosion to knock you flat on your ass but in seconds he had the wind knocked out of him and bounded by your magic and you had only moved your hands. He had never felt rage at that moment screaming insults at you explosions coming from his hands trying to break through the bidding but nothing happened. Your classmates watched in shock as you just look at him in almost confusion and Bakugo only saw disgust and cockiness in your eyes before you dropped your hands and walked away to the locker rooms.

At that moment Bakugo promised himself he would destroy you. He despised you, who did you think you were?! You were the obstacle blocking him from his goal his dream of being Number One. So any moment there was a ranking or a test or some sort of activity that had a winner he would put his all into beating you. Not that you noticed him going out of his way to prove he was better than you. You had your own problems to deal with. Your family was a well know one almost at the same level as Todoroki and Yaoyorozu may be higher but you didn’t know. Like that level important.

Your family from as far back as time could history could recount had an impact on the world. Your original ancestors were from a town in America called Salem and were witches. Well now it would have just seemed like quirk users but to a time when quirks didn’t exist they were seemed as demons or witches and were persecuted for it. The first true member of your family’s bloodline was a woman name Wanda Maximoff, created from great magic that could exceed many quirks today even top heroes like All Might. Surviving the persecution of her sisters in Salem she went into hiding, finding love in a man called Vision someone who had a quirk, and had children until her children began to show signs of having powers as well. In fear of her family being harmed like her old sisters, she heard rumors from other witches and quirk users of an item of immense power. This item could give the user infinite knowledge of the mind and strength beyond even the strongest of humans for the body. However, this all came with a price. A deadly obsession over the item that men would kill over to keep in their possession and corrupt even the purest of hearts. Wanda sought out this item to protect herself and her family from the cruel world that was persecuting those who were different. While good lay in her heart finding this item had only led to her hurting others until it was in her possession. The item that had infinite power.

The Darkhold.

Learning its secrets of spells and technology to help the world move forward it slowly began to taint her heart becoming a being of dangerous magic. She was gifted the name the Scarlet Witch, as a being that was not born but forged and destined to destroy the world that harmed them. Her family begged for her to give up the book, the same loving wife and mother to them had disappeared being replaced by a power-hungry woman ready for revenge on those who wrong her. The corruption had overtaken her heart and the woman she once had been was long gone the dark magic had won. The family with no choice but to take her down had failed as she had grown too powerful. But before she could cause a killing blow to her own husband and children she had seen the fear in their eyes and guilt had pulled back the curtain that was covering her eyes. Regret and sadness had overtaken her and she vowed to never touch the Darkhold and to never let it corrupt others. With this, it had become their family's duty to protect the book and others from it, and with each generation as Wanda’s blood flowed through the veins of her descendants this order was to follow. To protect the world and themselves from the corruption of the Darkhold. Your ancestors arrived in Japan as time passed with your family being its current holders. Your ancestor’s quirk passed through your bloodline of witchcraft never being a different quirk from an outside mother or father. Your family to determine how strong their quirk was tested on them and some had theirs be stronger others weaker some average. Until you were born and it was time to test your quirk.

Your parents and grandparents were there for your testing and you were nervous. Your mother and her parents were descendants of the Scarlet Witch while your father’s side was not thought they were informed of your family history. The test was the witch or warlock would amplify the child’s quirk with their own magic until theirs appears and then it was determined the strength of their quirk or if there was even a quirk. Your ancestors have had a few rare moments where a child would be quirkless and it would be a shock for the family. Your mother’s brother was actually quirkless when he failed his testing. While you loved your family deeply it still hurt hearing how they quickly ostracized the quirkless child even going to lengths of giving to people outside the family. Your mother had explained it when you had asked why you were never allowed to see your uncle.

“We need to protect the book Y/n…we are the only ones who are strong enough against others so those who aren’t…it’s complicated sweetie, you’ll understand when you’re older.”

So when you were about to be tested your parents watched with nerves and almost fear. Your mother had a complication following her birth with you and if she were to try to have another child the chances of her surviving the pregnancy and the child as well were too high of a risk. As the only child finding out whether you have a quirk or not and continuing your bloodline had rested on your shoulder in those moments.

Your grandfather on your mother’s side came forward to you kneeling down holding out your arm and the test began. Runes of shades of red appeared around the two of you as he drew them into the air before bringing them down and the runes imprinted in your arm sank into your skin glowing a faint red before disappearing. A burst of energy rips through the room as you’re blinded by a bright light almost pushed back from the wind that appeared in the room. Squinting your eyes open looking into the bright light seeing almost a figure emerge from it. Floating down from this bright light holding their arms out, the light behind them hiding their features but seeing what looked like a woman her long hair flowing in the wind as they grow closer. You catch one detail of an intricate tiara creating a silhouette on her head. You see a flash of red from where her eyes should be before the figure and bright light vanishes and you collapse. Your parents and grandparents surround you concerned. When you had come to they asked you what had happened. Usually, the child would show some sign of having their quirk but you just had the runes placed on you before you passed out. Confused you explained you had seen the bright light before this shadowy woman had appeared. They were shocked beyond belief and when they asked you to describe the woman you weren’t able to give many details except the tiara on their head.

The day of your testing was the same day you viewed the Darkhold. You had never seen it in your life only hearing stories, the history of your ancestors of the Scarlet Witch, and the reason your family guards the book. It was locked up behind glass covered in runes but even through it, you could feel its dark energy. You watched as your mother and grandfather placed runes around themselves before the glass was open and you were instantly hit with a wave of strong power and almost an urge to claim it but your father held you to him. Your grandfather stepped forward as a red glow surrounds the book and it opens the pages flipping on their own before it stops.

“The Scarlet Witch is not born but forged with powers beyond the human mind. The ability to control and change reality as they see it. The Scarlet Witch is said to either bring the world into peace or destroy it to rule the Cosmos. She has had the longest control of the Darkhold with its dark power growing on her even creating spells of her own in the Darkhold,” Your grandfather had said a project of the pages appear in a reddish glow in the air revealing a drawing of a woman covered in runes and writing but you see that same tiara on her head. He quickly shuts the book returning it to its case and placing runes on them.

“If what you saw was true dear child…she has chosen you and has returned..” He says as they all look at the child whose world was about to change,

“The Scarlet Witch’s power is yours. You are going to be the strongest witch in our entire bloodline since its creation of it.”

Your life had turned on its head with this news and quickly it had become training of your quirk with your mother and study of spells and history with your grandfather. The news had traveled quickly through your family and they made it seem like you were some chosen one. While normal people in your family had gained just the simple witchcraft some stronger than others you had what was defined as Chaos Magic. Infinite magic that you could control on a whim with spells or even without. It was this power that made it dangerous in the wrong hands. The one downside of this quirk was the influence of your past or past life. With you gaining the Scarlet Witch’s power, her memories came to you. You would have dreams believing them to be wildly vivid and crazy but it was merely the memories of her life that you would see. You would always see them from her point of view and you would never see her.

Because of this influence of her past, you were forbidden to be around the Darkhold, while she had rejected the book swearing to never use it again the darkness still deep in her craved it. You could feel its power calling out to you, when you would pass by the room it was like voices were calling out to you. It was easy to avoid it physically though sometimes it was harder to on some days as you grew older the urge was growing stronger and your dreams had shifted from memories of her life with her family to when she had the Darkhold. There had been a time when you were dreaming about it using its power seeing through Wanda’s eyes of her using it, her fingers stained black like ash before you were violently woken from your dream. Your power had subconsciously sought out the book and when you had woken up to your parents holding you back and your grandparents standing in front of the case. You had slowly been taking the runes off the glass to unlock it while you dreamed. Your family was lucky to find you in time they weren’t sure what would’ve happened if you had it in your grasp. The book was moved somewhere that you never had access to but you could still feel it calling out to you.

Time passed and while magic could only do much death still won over. Your grandparents had to pay their due and soon it was only you and your parents, your mother now guarding the book. This had been around the time you had started school at U.A. and it had been hectic entering a new school full of people with crazy powers and that’s when you met the famously explosive blonde. He seemed to have some vendetta against you. What just because you got in through recommendation and beat him once in a fight? You tried your best to steer clear of him but it seemed like fate just kept putting you together. You both went to the same agency, not that either of you knew when you signed up, you had gotta group in with Bakugo and Midoriya during Finals Exam. Even during summer camp, you both had been kidnapped by villains they saw something in both of your quirks. Though they didn’t know the full extent of your history. Fate had seemed to put you two together and it seemed almost inevitable for you to not develop some sort of feelings. You weren’t even sure how it had happened it was just one day you noticed everything the both of you went through and it just hit you.

You would say you did a pretty good job hiding it, hidden behind snarky responses to the blonde, purposely picking fights with him so he could explode in rage, to just flat-up ignoring him. You were certain he couldn’t feel any emotion other than rage but then that day happened. You were called in with your agency which was Endeavor’s which Bakugo was not happy as usual for a mission. It was just supposed to be a simple evacuation of the civilians in the city for the Pros to do their work. You had never expected to watch people die so quickly in front of you and people you knew getting brutally injured. You felt helpless even with your power you couldn’t save everyone as a simple evacuation had turned into a battle of life or death. Seeing your teacher having to cut his own leg off, your mentor getting skewered and having the horrible truth of his son be reveal to him, your classmate Midoriya fighting ruthlessly breaking himself to keep you all safe, but it was Bakugo in that fraction of a second you had looked away to help stop the bleeding for your teacher placing runes around his wound using your magic to keep his heart rate up if it would slow down, you could hear the sound of flesh being ripped apart the smell of blood in the air as you watch as he pushes Midoriya out of the way taking the hit. The rivets from Shigaraki’s hand entering his body quickly ripping out of him and he beings to fall.

You were useless trying to keep Mr. Aizawa stable as he bled out while fighting with every being to run back out there and check on Bakugo to rip Shigaraki into pieces and anger and hate had grown in your heart for him. Both Manual and Rock Lock had to pull you off the battlefield to get Mr. Aizawa to safety your magic only doing so much and he needed a hospital. The second your teacher was in stable hands you had sprinted back to battle only to be met with the aftermath, a large creature was tied up by Best Jeanist who was bleeding heavily from his eyes and mouth and you placed a small spell that would dull the pain. You were shocked to see him finding the news that he was missing and that had been the reason you had interned with Endeavor the same with Bakugo. Todoroki and Iida were injured but not life-threatening, Nejire-chan had burns covering her and was unconscious as you tried placing some runes feeling her temperature was very high to lower it. Endeavor was unconscious as well with stab wounds where his lungs were blood practically coated him and you tried giving your stronger healing spells you knew. Finding Midoriya and Bakugo was definitely the worse, Midoriya’s arms were completely shattered his body worked beyond belief you weren’t sure how he was even alive. You were able to give a spell that dulled his pain and you could feel yourself growing weak using all these spells and overworking your quirk. You stumble over falling beside Bakugo he was conscious but slowly slipping. He had thought he was dying with this angel above him when it was just you. Your hands were shaky covered in the blood of multiple people, your body was covered in scrapes and some blood. Pushing through the pain and fatigue that was drawing at you, you perform your strongest healing spells trying to stop the bleeding but trying to focus on the hundred of other spells and runes you had to focus you could feel the spell slipping every few seconds. You were weak and you could do anything to save them. Why weren’t you fast, you could have pulled Bakugo away from the attack as well. If you had stronger magic if your quirk was stronger you could have helped stop Shigaraki. Mr. Aizawa would have lost his leg if you knew stronger magic to heal it.

The last thing you remember was the paramedics arriving quickly and transporting the heroes. A group coming over to you hunched over the bloody blonde the runes covering him fading in and out before you fell unconscious.

You stood in a dark room, with tall columns of stone and large firepits surrounding a table engraving covering the table and walls. Looking around seeing the open view of what looks like winter snow and the cold blow through but the heat of the large lamps keeps you warm.

“Wanda you must stop this!” A voice calls out and you turn seeing a man who looked almost rotting corpse says being burned as he speaks.

“All of this will be over when I see my boys.” A woman’s voice calls out and you turn seeing a woman standing in front of the table where another girl is pinned there runes glowing red as power drains from her getting absorbed into the other woman. Was this her…you’ve never had this dream before and you’ve never seen her always witnessed through her eyes. She has light auburn hair and cold green eyes, she’s wearing red robes and regalia and a red chest plate with long sleeves where her heart should be there is a blackness coming out. Was this the darkness taking over? The red and black ankle-length skirt ruffles in the breeze the open front showing the black pants and black boots she has on. Resting delicately on her head shimmering a slight red the same tiara in your first vision. Magic pours out of the girl moving into Wanda as she glares at the rotting corpse. But this didn’t make sense she was supposed to be fighting her family before she gives up the Darkhold.

“Wanda they were never real you must stop this madness!” Another man says and you are even more confused. This isn’t real, how could they not be real, if she never had children how could your whole family be alive?

“My children are real! And once I take America’s power I will travel to a different universe and be happy with them.” She shouts her eyes flashing red and you watch in horror as she quickly defeats the corpse and the other man killing him before continuing her spell, the Darkhold appears beside her as the young girl screams out her power being sucked out of her. You try to scream and try affecting this memory but you’re frozen in place. You feel fear run through you seeing Wanda look right at you, this didn’t make sense this was a memory.

“You’re not strong enough to save them Y/n…” She says as she completely absorbs the young girl’s power, she could have been older than you probably 14-15 years old. The girl slumps over and you knew she was dead. Wanda sighs feeling this strong quirk settle in her and she moves over to you the Darkhold floating beside her and you could feel its power radiating and your hand twitches to grab it, “You want to save your friends do you not?” She tilts her head and you look away from the dead girl to the woman in front of you, was this the woman you were meant to become? You slowly nod and she grins.

“Then get the Darkhold. It will give you everything you need.” She explains, “You want to keep Bakugo safe right?”

“Yes! I want to make sure everyone is safe…but it’s our duty to protect everyone even ourselves from the Darkhold.” You look down and she frowns grabbing your chin with her black-stained fingers making you look at her.

“They’re keeping you away from it because they are selfish. You’re just trying to keep them all safe, your parents, your friends, the heroes. If they are stopping you from protecting them all…aren’t they the villains in this story?” She points out and you can’t help but agree with her. Wanda used the Darkhold to protect her family to protect your family and you had to do the same for yours. She pulls away and with a wave of her hands a portal opens revealing a new world, was this your universe?

“Go Y/n, you mustn’t let the book fall into the wrong hands, you are the only person I trust to protect the book.” She says over her shoulder walking through the portal.

“Wanda!” You call out and she stops looking back, “Why now am I only seeing you after everything?” She smiles looking at you.

“It took me years to find the Darkhold and even longer to travel the multiverse. I’ve known every single step you will take the second you were born, I needed to see if you were ready to learn the truth.” She says turning away and looking back once more, “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time Y/n…you are my chance of starting again…to complete what I’ve always dreamed of.”

“What dream? What do I have to do?!” You call out as she steps further into the portal and voices start to fill your head.

“Get the Darkhold and I will return again.”

You had woken disoriented and in a hospital no recollection of how you got there and what had happened. All the memories of the war had hit you flashes of your classmates and mentors bleeding out in front of you. The feeling of guilt for not being strong enough and feeling useless with your power. This was the first time heroes had lost and none of you what to do next. You were quickly discharged your injuries were not as severe mainly just over-exhaustion from your quirk. You were released into custody but were confused when you only saw your father why had it looked like he was crying and why did he have a bandage on his head and scratches on his body?

You felt like sinking into the ground and letting it crush you when the words left your father’s mouth. Your mother was dead. Apparently, the creature you had found when you returned to the battle was originally in Gunga Mountain Villa and to get all the way to Jaku it had viciously torn through towns and cities. Your hometown had ended up being in its path and with all the heroes fighting none of the civilians had been prepared. The creature tore right through your home and your mother had quickly without hesitation grabbed the Darkhold and placed an indestructible spell around your father before the rumble took over. Your father was found by rescue holding your mother who clutched the Darkhold in her hands, her fingers ashen just like all its past users had been. The corruption was visible but her death had been quick. You felt numb and also filled with emotions. You didn’t care that you were loudly crying in your father’s arms in the middle of the hall. You hadn’t even seen Bakugo getting pulled away by his classmates from seeing Midoriya but they had paused seeing you in distress. The blonde had tried moving towards you but they had to pull him back to his room so he didn’t go over to you.

This war having so many casualties and a massive prison break caused Japan to go to ruin. Your only family left had uprooted their home to join the shelter that was U.A. The two of you had a small funeral spreading the ashes by the cherry tree where your father proposed to your mother before you had to return to U.A. Your home was completely decimated just pillars of marble and old runes carved in an outline of your home but now just rubble. Your class had suffered as well, Midoriya had disappeared revealing that he had this important power and that Shigaraki and All For One were after him so he had to leave to protect you all.

Bakugo was certain following Jaku something in you had changed, news had traveled fast through the class that your mother had died during Gigantomachia's rampage through the cities. Obviously, they had given you time to grieve being a shoulder to cry on anything you needed they were there. Even Bakugo had lightened up, there had been a moment when he had actually come up to you to thank you. You pushed yourself to keep everyone alive and if you hadn’t been there none of them know what would’ve happened. But then the grieving turned into a different emotion, while you all trained to stay in shape you seemed filled with anger. You deserved to be angry after what happened but it was something beyond anger, like a rage that wouldn’t just take down villains but also everyone around them. You were willing to harm anything and anyone to get what you want kind of rage. The rage that blinds you and makes you do stupid shit. If he hadn’t been watching you attentively following Jaku he wouldn’t have noticed you going out late to the open field by the dorm for hours before looking tired but you would repeat this multiple times even if it looked like you didn’t want to. Even during training your punches were stronger, and sharper, and by using your quirk you were taking and giving blows like nothing. There had been a time you had punched Kirishima while he was hardened and shattered one of your fingers and needed a brace but the next day it was completely healed even without Recovery Girl. You waved it off saying you learned a new spell but even your healing spells weren’t that strong to heal bone. It was until he noticed this book you seemed to carry with you everywhere, it looked like an old book he wasn’t sure how it was staying together. There had been a time you walked past him the book held firmly in your grasp as if someone would come by and snatch it from you. He almost fell back from the feeling he got hit with. It was the same feeling when he met All For One in Kamino or saw Shigaraki during Jaku, that sense of evil and the fear that has your life flash before your eyes. He watched you walk towards a far corner of the gym his nerves on edge. What the hell was this book?

It seemed that others were noticing the changes in you that he had picked up weeks ago. The first noticeable thing was your hands, you had come down for breakfast and Kirishima pointed out your hands and when he looked over your fingers were stained black almost like they were rotten or frostbitten beyond belief. Everyone was concerned rightfully but you brushed it off saying it was a spell that had an effect but these ‘effects’ had just started and were only growing more bold as you seemed to be hesitant to speak to anyone. During training you had been taking a sip of your water a looked away for a second and Kaminari had come over with the rest of the group snatching up your book.

“Didn’t expect you to be a bookworm L/n? Or is this some sort of diary?” He smirks opening the book to see whatever dirty secrets are in there. In was instant a blast of magic hit Kaminari in the chest sending him flying across the gym and shocking everyone in the room. The book fell from his grasp opening on the floor and everyone near it could feel this dread fill them. The book slammed shut with a loud crack whipping into your grasp as you look frantic at them all ready to either fight or runoff. Your hand was still raised your stained fingers covered in magic still holding Kaminari down and he could feel the air leaving his chest from the pressure.

“L/N! Y/N!” Your classmates yelled out snapping you out of your head you quickly drop your hand and the electric boy sits up gasping for air a few of your classmates surrounding him. Your eyes dart around and you pause meeting the red eyes of the blonde watching this all. Bakugo stared at the fear and anger in your eyes, you looked ready to fight whoever try to grab the book grasped in your hand. The red glow from your eyes fades away and you swipe your hand in the air and trail of red smoke appears covering you and once it clears you're gone leaving your classmates all confused and almost fearful. Something had changed you and Bakugo had a feeling it had to do with the book you were so attached to.

After that incident, your classmates had been hesitant around you but Kaminari said it was his own fault, that he shouldn’t have touched your stuff. Your broken class incomplete knew you need Midoriya back and a plan was created to find him. You had gotten permission from Nezu and got a tracker device from Endeavor that showed where Midoriya was your class had come together to get him to return. It was a long and emotional battle getting the One For All user to return with each of you all pouring your fond memories with the boy. It wasn’t until Bakugo’s final words broke the shell around him to return back with your class.

Fighting the school to allow the boy back into the school had been a hassle but Midoriya had returned to U.A. Your class was once whole again and it was only a matter of time for you all to return to fight against Shigaraki and All For One. It was late one night when most of the class was asleep some awake in the common area surprisingly Bakugo was one of those awake despite this strict bed schedule. The blonde was sitting on the floor against one of the couches he had one of his gauntlets in front of him working on it while others were doing other things, he wanted peace and quiet but damn Dek-Izuku and Icy-hot were there as well with the rest of the extras that clung onto him. They were talking or doing their own thing when someone new entered the common area coming from the kitchen, a girl with power beyond comprehension. The room went silent for a bit seeing her enter some of the Bakusquad still felt hesitant since the incident with Kaminari. Midoriya was informed of everything that has happened to you when he noticed your quirk was much stronger and the physical changes in your appearance.

“Hey, L/n couldn’t get sleep?” Midoriya speaks up first and you glance at him almost as if you were looking through him. They all couldn’t help but feel awkward as you were silent taking too longer to come up with a response to a simple question. Bakugo wasn’t trying to be as obvious watching you, you were dressed casually in your sleep clothes and you didn’t look as tired as he has seen you some nights. He would have let this odd behavior aside if he hadn’t noticed a small detail different from you. You held a glass of water between your hands but your fingers were normal, not stained black but s/c skin. It was also the fact you also weren’t holding your book, he’s never seen you without it even though any normal person would just lock their room you were adamant about keeping it on your person. With this information, he knew something was off about you, and you had finally responded.

“Yeah…though a drink would help.” You say and it almost felt forced like your words were scripted. The green-haired boy nodded not sure what to say next but you had already gotten left leaving them all confused about that whole interaction.

“That…was weird..” Sero says they were still looking at where you stood, Bakugo especially looking hard at where you stood but a glimpse of something caught his eye. Where you stood was in front of the large glass windows facing the outside training area and the forest. It was a small second but he caught a flash of red light from the forest and it had the blonde standing up.

“Hey, Bakubro where you off to?” Kirishima says and when the blonde grabs his gauntlet pulling on the glove before the large weapon confusing everyone, “Woah Bakugo what are you doing?”

“Kacchan what’s wrong?” Midoriya calls out to him getting up as well, as the boy heads toward the door leading outside. Following him, Midoriya, Todoroki, Kirishima, Sero, Mina, and Kaminari.

The cool air chills their skin as they watch Bakugo stand ahead of them looking out into the dark forest in silence before they all see it a flash of red coming from the forest. They all follow the boy as he treks into the forest still confused about what he was going after until they heard a voice and it was not one they were familiar with. The seven of them reached a clearing standing right on the edge when what they saw shocked them all. There you stood even though they saw you inside just a few minutes ago surrounded by a circle of lit candles the ground dead beneath her. You bring your palms up towards you the red glow of your magic appearing from your hands as you draw one hand out and appearing from thin air the book you were so attached to. They all watch in wonder as it flips open a dark energy pouring out of it sending shivers down each of their spines. Your rotting fingers make gestures and runes appear around you and the candles flicker before growing brighter. Appearing on the crown of your head is a tiara glowing with magic, suddenly a pool of smoke emerges from the ground billowing up. This kind of magic you possessed what something they’d never seen before and they couldn’t help but fear. Shouldn’t U.A. be alerted that someone or something was entering the barrier they watched as the smoke starts to shape out a person and once it disappears they see a woman dressed in some sort of outfit and they all recognized the same tiara that had appeared on you was physically on the woman. Was this a hero or a villain none of them had heard of? Bakugo’s eyes widen seeing the woman’s hand reach out and the same magic he’s seen you use appears from her hands and her fingers were tainted black like her.

“You getting better with it. Slow but learning” The woman calls out and her hand reaches out the book coming to rest in her grasp they were surprised to see you not panic knowing it was in someone else's grasp. The similarities between the two of you were eerie it seemed both of you possessed the same quirk and you both knew what this book was.

“You had decades to learn all its secrets, I have days. None of us know when Shigaraki is going to attack and I need to be strong enough.” You say looking at the woman for guidance.

“Still in weeks you’ve perfected most spells that have taken me years to perfect, you’re astral projection while contacting the dead  it’s not an easy feat to learn in just a few weeks.” The woman says and you look down at your feet still feeling disappointed.

“You said you would return once I got the Darkhold and I’ve been studying everything I could. I’ve grown stronger but how will I know if I’m strong enough to keep everyone safe.” You say stepping towards the woman who glances away from the Darkhold. She could easily see the corruption the book had caused on you feeding off that fear you couldn’t protect everyone, you had already failed with the death of your mother.

“It is in your grasp the most powerful object in the multiverse, men have killed for this and they will continue to for the rest of eternity. You my dear child hold my blood, my power, and my dreams. Fight to save those you care and love for.” The woman says and with a wave of her hands, the books open up and appear in globes of red each of them connecting to one another like a web. The hidden students see versions of themselves each living different lives or at different points in time, “And if you fail in this world? Start anew until you find the world that is for you. The multiverse is in our grasp to control as we see fit, in your hands you hold the cosmos. My Y/n….my Scarlet Witch.”

The mysterious woman’s words strike hard in them, if they failed you would what? Just leave and start anew with a different universe of them and what leaves them in the messed up universe of theirs. And this book this Darkhold Bakugo knew it was dangerous but he had no idea it was the kind that would have people kill each other for it.

“Now your little friends should come out of hiding…it’s rude to snoop around.” The woman says and before anyone could react a red mist covers all of them and they are pulled into the clearing bound in front of the two women.

“Hey! Let us go!” Mina says struggling in her binding of magic, the others shout similar responses even trying to use their quirks to break free but it was useless even the One For All user was unable to break free.

“Just children…these are the ones you’re so keen on protecting?” The woman says looking almost disappointed looking at the U.A. students.

“Let us go you witch or I’ll fucking blow you to bits!” The blonde spits at her trying to use his gauntlet but with a wave of her hand, it disappears. The woman smirks raising her hand and he’s forced to stand as she steps towards him. Her stained fingers grasp his chin looking deep into his eyes her eyes flashing red and he can feel a probing sensation in his head.

“Ahh….so this is Bakugo? Y/n I thought you would find someone who would be on your level and not so….” She tilts her head looking down at the angry blonde, “weak.”

“Stop it, Wanda.” Your voice calls out and the older woman looks over at the girl.

“You’re a being of infinite power, I chose you to continue my legacy. You deserve only the best if not in this universe then maybe we must continue to a new one.” Wanda says and your classmates look at the woman and you are shocked. Wanda drops Bakugo to the ground still bound as he glares at the woman but then looks over at you who is silently looking away. You weren’t really considering abandoning them all for what a better reality? Wanda twists her hands and appears from the Darkhold a view of a universe.

“You can go to one where this war never happened, your teachers and mentors never would have been hurt or killed, All For One and Shigaraki wouldn’t exist if you will it, your mother would still be alive,” They can see your eyes widen hearing the mention of your mother and your classmates pleads fell on deaf ears. Had this corruption and influence of this past life won you over?

“The multiverse is in your grasp you just need to want it.” She says and you stare at the new world, a new life in wonder. A second chance.

“Y/n,” Bakugo’s voice makes you look away from the Darkhold, “You’re a coward if you abandon this world. If you’re going to leave us in this hell to keep changing your life until you’re happy…then you’re no better than those villains.” You freeze looking at the blonde.

“Please L/n…if this book is as dangerous as she says it is no one should have that kind of power. This isn’t like you!” Midoriya tries to reason with you.

“We’re the only ones who deserve this power… she needs it to protect my future!” Wanda says and you pause listening to her words.

“Your future…” You whisper looking at her and she quickly picks up on her mistake, “You swore to never use the Darkhold again…you did this for your children..but none of it was true.” You shake your head taking a step away from the woman, “You killed innocent people for your gain through many universes just to get what you wanted and made it seem like you were good all along. You only cared about yourself from the beginning the second this book was in your grasp.”

“You’re being ridiculous Y/n..I’m doing this all for you…I’m giving you a chance to start again,” She says trying to convince you but you step further away your foot touching the edge of the circle of candles and they flicker almost going out Wanda winces, and Bakugo notices that, had this spell only work with you still inside the circle?

“No, you’re only doing it for yourself! So you get a second chance to live again,” You shout your eyes flashing red and Wanda’s glow in return challenging you, “No I reject you...I reject this! I wanted to keep my family safe but not leave the world to burn for my benefit.” Swiping your hand out the Darkhold rips from her grasp into yours.

“No one deserves this power…not even us.” “Y/N DON’T!” You say and Wanda shouts out rushing to stop you but your swipe your hands out and the ritual around you get destroyed the circle of candles breaks going out and the Scarlet Witch stumbles her body beginning to break down.

“You need me! You need it and you’ll come crawling back to it..you can’t resist its pull. It’s in your blood.” She spits out and you say nothing as she fades to smoke. The binding around your classmates breaks and they stand up now free looking at you still holding the Darkhold.

“L/n…?” Midoriya calls out and you look up at the seven of them.

“I’m sorry…” You say looking away ashamed and you hear footsteps draw near and a hand rest on your shoulder looking up and seeing Kirishima in front of you.

“It wasn’t your fault…” He says and you look at your classmates who nod in agreement. You make eye contact with Bakugo unsure of what he was feeling but the idea of leaving this world…leaving him you didn’t know what to do. Looking down at the Darkhold still in your grasp you knew what you had to do. Holding your hand out your magic surrounds your hand as runes appear on the book using its power for the last time. The Darkhold floats in front of you and you cross your hands in two different directions and the book vanishes and you can feel your powers and your body weaken having it gone.

“Where did it go?” Kaminari says and Kirishima holds your elbow seeing you grow faint for a second.

“Somewhere far outside our galaxy and that could only be returned with a spell from the Darkhold..” You say the corruption and obsessed feeling the book had on you fading but had taken a toll on you, “I’m sorry for everything…I wanted to keep everyone safe but did the opposite.”

“Like you said it’s a power no one should have, you were only thinking of the best.” Mina says the rest of them joining you, “Come on we should head back it’s already late enough.” You nod exhausted not having the power to keep you steady and strong. The Bakusquad leads you back to the forest Todoroki and Midoriya follow leaving Bakugo staring at the destroyed ritual and where the Darkhold once was.

“Kacchan?” Midoriya calls out to the blonde seeing him stray behind rejoining him.

“That book, the Darkhold…if it came from a different universe..does that mean one exists here?” Bakugo thinks out loud his voice soft. He saw firsthand what power like that could do to someone. Luckily you overcame it but what if it fell into someone else’s hands, what if Shigaraki had that power…or All For One. They wouldn’t try to fight it and would probably destroy this world and thousands of others.

“That kind of power doesn’t seem like it could be recreated…but I don’t know. Maybe it’s already protected or has been destroyed already. We can only think of the best.” Midoriya says trying to think hopefully but he had thought the same thing. The two boys left with the same thought in their heads, they could only hope that book was long destroyed or hidden somewhere so no one would ever find it.

With your rejection and removal of the Darkhold, the war you would all have to face drew closer. You had found out about another casualty, the Number One Hero of America had sacrificed herself trying to help stop Shigaraki. Her sacrifice gave us all more time to prepare as she had damaged Shigaraki enough so he wasn’t perfected yet and time for the Pros to come up with a plan. It came so unexpectedly but hit hard for you all to find out one of your classmates was a traitor. The thought you all were working to become heroes had cracked with this news, Aoyama had been the reason your class got attacked, why Bakugo and yourself got kidnapped, everything was because of him. He and his parents were arrested but your class still needed to continue on going out of the barrier to do search missions. When you had returned All Might and the detective had met with you all and the final plan was prepared. While your classmates discussed with each other about this plan you were pulled aside by All Might and the detective.

“We must ask you something Young L/n and you must be honest for the sake of this war.” All Might says and you nod a bit nervous and concerned about what he could have to ask.

“With your quirk being so unique and your family well known for your family sharing variations to your quirk, we spoke to your father about anything about your family that could be a part of your quirk to help us.” The detective says and you nod slowly, “Your quirk is a very strong one that could even rival against a lot of Pros quirks so we must ask you…” He reveals their plan that involves you.

“You want me to fight All For One…?” You say shocked, you had thought you would be involved with your classmates to fight regular villains but not the deadliest villain.

“You would be fighting alongside Hawks and Endeavor but yes we believe your quirk would be an opponent against his multitude of quirks, and your father had informed us of an object that would give us all an upper hand.” The detective says, “Your father said it was a book called The Darkhold..”

You instantly step back and they can feel the panic come off you, “That is something of power that should not be in any man’s hand. Only death follows with the user and what if it falls into All For One’s hands? That sort of power is not what we need falling into his hands.” Just the thought of it sent chills down your spine, it had been a few weeks since you rejected the Darkhold and while its darkness had left small parts of it still remained in each user, the corruption of your mind from the book had permanently stained your fingers with your sins, you had only had them look normal due to an illusion runes you had to upkeep. Your mind was also plagued with nightmares of the Darkhold falling into the wrong hands or if you had let the darkness take over.

“Besides the Darkhold could never be retrieved it’s better no one ever thinks of trying to find it.” You say and you could see the disappointment in both of them, a way they could have had leverage had disappeared, “I’m sorry but even if I had it, I swore to never let the Darkhold influence others.”

The conversation was quickly dropped and the plan of you to still fight All For One stood. It was the night before you would leave U.A. for the war to begin again. You sat in the common room on one of the couches the lights out the moonlight being your only source and the magic floating around your fingers having dropped the illusion on your appearance. Your mind still ran with thoughts on what you would do if you still had the Darkhold but you shook them away. The remnants of the corruption still deep inside you, you couldn’t deny Wanda’s words. The urge to have the book and all that power was in your blood.

“What are you doing up?” A voice called out and you jump dropping your hands and hiding them as a person emerges from the shadows, quickly taking in the spikey blonde hair and those crimson eyes.

“Bakugo…” You whisper out as he stands a few feet away, “Couldn’t fall asleep just nerves keeping me awake.” You say pushing your hair back instinctively and your eyes widen seeing his gaze focus on your hands. You quickly tuck your hands under your armpits hiding them and looking away embarrassed. It’s silent and you’re hoping he left but you felt the couch shift with a new weight.

“It’s stupid to hide your hands, no one cares about it.” He says side-eyeing you and you softly nod bringing your hands out and resting them on your knees. Silence fills the room and you glance at him as he stares forward so you see his profile. Your eyes trace over his sharp feature but at the same time some of his features were soft, his normally angry eyes were relaxed and the scowl that seemed permanently etched onto his face was a soft line. Your gaze trails from his mouth back to his eyes and you quickly look away seeing him watching you. Heat flushes your face having been caught but he doesn’t say anything about it.

“So…why are you up?” You say and he leans his head back glancing at you before looking up at the ceiling.

“Couldn’t sleep..too many things on my mind.” He says and you nod picking at your nails to distract yourself before you speak up.

“Wanna talk about them..?” You spit out and he looks over at you and you regret speaking, “If you want to! You don’t have you probably don’t want to talk to someone you barely even know.” You wave your hands in front of you.

“The Darkhold or whatever..” He says and you pause looking at him though he is still looking away, “It came from a different universe or whatever world that witch bastard came from.” You smile slightly hearing him have no fear insult your ancestor who was one of the most powerful beings.

“Yeah, I guess…my parents told me she only search for it to protect her family,” You chuckle slightly, “Guess we were all wrong and she only used it for whatever power-hungry dream she had.”

“Well, she must have settled down or something, or else you wouldn’t exist.” Bakugo brings up and you nod, memories of her in that temple castle thing. The people trying to stop her before she killed them off and took that girl’s power.

“I guess so…why do you ask?” You ask.

“If it existed in her universe…does it exist here? She said you could live in a universe that you were happy in if that included us or not…does that mean in each universe there is that kind of power.” He says and you can’t help but feel nervous. You had gotten rid of it for this reason exactly. That sort of power was never meant for men and already hearing it from All Might you couldn’t help but be nervous…did Bakugo want this power…did he want you to find it?

“I don’t know…maybe besides that sort of power shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone. It better lost somewhere than ever found.” You say looking away. He nods looking forward before he glances back at you.

“Good…like you said no one should have that sort of power…even for good.” You look at him the two of you staring at each other the moonlight highlighting the both of you. Shut up you stupid heart, you could feel your heart pounding in your chest. You did well hiding your feelings before you can do it now. But why was he looking at you like that, why wasn’t he yelling at you or challenging you to fight him?

“If you had that kind of power..” You start, “Would you give yourself a second chance?” It’s quiet and you almost want to take back what you said as he presses his lips together.

“No,” He says and you look at him surprised, “If we were meant to be given second chances we would have been but if not then I’ll live my life. Sure I have regrets we all do but that’s what life is.” You were surprised, the hot-headed egotistical boy was no longer there but a mature still slightly explosive man was there instead. This war had changed everyone for the good or worse but you hadn’t expected this from him.

“Besides if I need to cheat my way for my dream of becoming the Number One Hero then it’s not a real win.” He smirks and you laugh out loud at his comment, still the same boy. He watches you laugh and he couldn’t describe the tightness in his chest all of a sudden. He better not be getting sick before this fight. Calming yourself down you look back at him,

“Bakugo…” He hums in response listening in, “I’m glad to have met you in this universe.” You say and he’s quiet for a second before looking over at you the fast beating of your chest and the tightness in his own taking over the both of you.

“Yeah…you’re not too bad yourself.”

The sounds of yelling and fighting flood your ears. Your conversation with Bakugo had been more than 24 hours ago and since then you two were busy packing, saying goodbye to his parents and your father before you were sent to a secure location with your class before the fight that was to begin. The most the two of you got were short words between each other or one-sided glances. You two weren’t going to be on the same mission, you joining Endeavor and Hawks at Gunga Mountain Villa fighting All For One while Bakugo was to be with Midoriya fighting Shigaraki. During the initial attack of the heroes and villains, the two of you had the briefest glance and you both went to your respective portals. The fight was quickly fast and you felt like you couldn’t keep up but as the fight continued on word had reached that Todoroki took down Dabi.

You dodge a barrage of razors from All For One some knicking your skin but you bring your hands up a barrier of magic blocking your vital organs twisting in the air and throwing a blast of magic that hits All For One in the chest sending him flying back for a second. He steadies himself sensing you through his mask. Your magic keeps you levitating as you prepare another spell.

“Now I definitely felt that kind of magic before. It’s different from quirks more natural like your family isn’t that right Y/n?” He calls out and you shiver hearing his name on his tongue. When the two of you met during Kamino you truly thought you were going to die then. It wasn’t until your classmates rescued the two of you but that feeling never shook off you. “Your family is special, especially the woman who started your bloodline, the Scarlet Witch was it..you gave yourself that hero name after all.”

Dread covers your face hearing her name…how did he know about her?! “Scarlet focus don’t let him get to you!” Hawks calls out seeing the fear cross your face, he didn’t know much about you but with your quirk and how you were handling yourself against All For One and your family name, you definitely were a fair opponent. All For One seeing the crack form puts all his attacks into breaking you down still defending himself against Endeavor and Hawks but this U.A. had revealed a fatal opening. You’re quickly put on the defense shielding yourself from attacks or teleporting away from them to give yourself distance though it’s quickly closed.

“I never knew there was a way to travel through the universe but she had done it and that made her dangerous! Chaos Magic is what you called it?! Spontaneous creation…though I see none coming from you. It’s like no other quirk I’ve seen. She had something I wanted…that you’re family kept protected and hidden but you now have it.” All For One says sending a shockwave that sends you flying back having to regain focus to keep flying.

“So where is it!? Using your magic to hide it? Hand over the Darkhold!” He yells out and you send out a blast of magic that gets him caught in the crosshairs of both Endeavor and Hawks who send a wall of flames and Hawks goes to chip away at the mask. An rivets explode from him and you sent out runes quickly to shield the two pros but weren’t fast enough feeling it pierce your skin. The rivets dig into your arms and leg keeping you up in the air you felt one of the rivets cut into your side hissing in pain.

“If you won’t reveal yourself I’ll just make you,” You feel fire enter your body as your quirk activates without your control or will. You scream in pain feeling him push your magic to strive for the Darkhold and for a brief moment you sense it the dark energy. A tiara of chaos magic starts appearing on your head that the villain grins seeing this and the two heroes look surprised. It was in this universe…it was somewhere out there and your quirk was going to find it. Arms wrap around your waist ripping the rivets out of your body and holding you as your body shakes from that large rush of magic. All For One sends another attack at you but Hawks dodges still holding you in his arms. Using your magic to levitate yourself feeling your blood stain your costume, Endeavor arrives next to you the three of you watching the villain for his next move.

“He knows of the Darkhold and if he forces me to retrieve it this war will quickly be in his favor,” You huff out drawing runes in the air a quick spell to stop the bleeding on your wounds but not to heal as that would require more focus. While you had Chaos Magic and even with your studies with the Darkhold you had never tapped into using that magic. To warp reality was something you never tried in fear of causing harm to others, but in that moment you felt a shift. That small taste of true chaos magic and it frightened you.

“Get out of here L/n,” Endeavor says glancing at his intern and you look at him shocked, “If what you say is true and All For One can force you then you need to stay away from him.”

“But I’m needed here! What if you need a spell-” You say looking at the two older heroes.

“That’s an order!” Endeavor says, “Join the others at U.A. and assist Jeanist until Midoriya arrives!” You look at your mentor seeing the fire burning in his eyes and you look over at Hawks as he flips his swords to have them facing down.

“Go kid, we got this.” He sends a small smirk before all of you dodge a large shockwave from All For One. You quickly create a shield in front of all of you and he keeps pushing forward making you push back. Your eyes glow a bright red and you send a large blast of magic aiming at the chip in his mask seeing it crack as he’s thrown back. Hawks and Endeavor rush forward.

“GO NOW!” Endeavor yells out as All For One tries to go after you but is held back by the top two heroes. Drawing your hands out in front of you creating runes to search for Bakugo in Japan before sensing it. You catch the one last look of the villain sending an attack right at you but you twist your hands disappearing in a cloud of smoke the quirk going right through.

At the floating school, it shakes with the large attacks of Shigaraki’s mutation the heroes and students there fighting against this new upgrade.

“Keep on your toes! We have to keep moving!! Lest he swallow us up!! Continue to evade, and target his core!!” Best Jeanist yells out to them all quickly using his quirk to pull Bakugo out of the way from a mass of hands. Bakugo could feel his explosions grow stronger with each attack the sweat building in his palms and the one gauntlet he had left. He was trying to focus on this battle in front of him but he still was thinking of where the hell Deku was. He was right behind him before he entered the portal and then he was pulled off into a different one. Then there was you, he didn’t want to worry about you but when he learned you were to be fighting against All For One with Endeavor and Hawks he couldn’t help the nerves. He knew you were capable of protecting yourself and you had the top two pros with you but the tightness in his chest hadn’t faded.

“Look, I dunno if that’s Shigaraki or All For One droning on right now…” He yells exploding more hunks of flesh as the added support gear appears from his collar resting on his back, “But either way, I’m about to hurl from hearing it. Ever since Kamino! Nothing but yap, yap, yap!!” He glares at the villain ready to give it his all to go plus ultra.

“HOPE YOU’RE READY….TO BE SWISS CHEESE!!” The equipment and his own hands send out a barrage of explosions all around him doing quite a deal of damage, “GOTTA DESTROY HIS REAL BODY!! ALL OF US TOGETHER!!” While Monoma and Sensei have still their quirk quirks locked down with Erasure…while Kaminari’s team…is still keeping this arena powered up! While Yaoyorozu and them…are still replacing the ground to stand on!

“YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT SOME BIG DISPARITY? LACK OF UNDERSTANDING? DREAD? GUESS WHAT-IV’E LONG SINCE TAKEN ALL THAT CRAP TO HEART.” Bakugo yells out his body pushing past that barrier as explosion and explosion goes off against Shigaraki.

“Bakugo!” Best Jeanist yells out seeing how close he was to Shigaraki and how much damage he had done.

“AND I’VE SEEN…A REAL STEP TOWARD PROGRESS, WITH ALL THAT. IT MIGHT TAKE TIME, BUT SOME PEOPLE I KNOW ARE TRYING TO PUSH FORWARD. THANKS ANYWAY, BUT YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR SERMON…YA NUTSACK-FACED HANDYMAN!” Bakugo yells out. Since going to U.A. he had his dream, win first place at the Sports Festival, intern with the top heroes, graduate and become Number One and beat that damn Deku. But it had changed, he still wanted to become Number One but he could live to be a hero if he still had people beside him…having you by his side. When this was over he was going to tell you that you were going to work at his agency. He was fine taking the snarky comments or you kicking his ass with ease if it would allow him to see you smile when you think no one is watching. Or see how gracefully you treat your quirk that it was almost pretty. That was his dream now and he was going to fight to make it come true. Starting with his strongest attack to end this damn extra.

“HOWITZER IMPACT: CLUSTER!” “GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GOD…DYNAMIGHT!!”

A bright flash of light and the heat from the explosion shakes the floating school shocking everyone. But what they hadn’t expected was the arrival of someone and how quickly they had taken the attack that was meant for the blonde. All Bakugo saw was a flash of red before blood filled the air, it wasn’t until he saw their features, the h/c hair, your hero costume that was ripped in places blood staining it. You had just appeared taking a blow that was meant for him seeing your face get battered in the process.

“Now I hadn’t expected this…but you are someone I’ve been warned of..” Shigaraki says and you quickly try to raise your arm to protect the two of you when you feel the crushing sensation and a pain unlike anything fill you. Your scream fills the air alerting the many there of the new arrival, Bakugo watches in horror seeing your arm in Shigaraki’s grasp crush beyond belief and the right side of your face bleeding out. You glare at him blood and tears fill your eyes and he quickly blocks the attacks from Best Jeanist and Mirko. Bakugo is paralyzed staring at you. No, this wasn’t supposed to happen, you were supposed to be fighting All For One, safe with Endeavor and Hawks not here. Why were you here?

“Hey….which fool suggested close combat as the way to go? Cuz getting up close and personal with me…means you’re in for an intimate taste..” Shigaraki says flinging you off to the side and hitting the ground struggling to push yourself to your knees your crushed arm limp in front of you, “Of power on par with All Might’s.” The wind pressure from Shigaraki’s swipe sends them all flying back, Bakugo flew back hitting the ground and pushing himself up sweat pooling down his face the true look of fear on his face his hands are limp at his side he could see a few feet away you struggling to hold yourself up. The smoke clears as Shigaraki stares at you trying to put runes on your arm not being able to fully with only one hand. Most spells require two hands and he completely took away half of your arsenal it was so sudden when you arrived to be attacked. Bakugo sees the villain move his gaze from the girl to himself and the look on his face showed that Shigaraki knew what had become Bakugo’s weakness. The tightness in his chest felt like he couldn’t breathe at all, the weakness in his bones the inability to keep fighting just wanting to grab you and take you far away.

“Katsuki Bakugo…too weak to protect someone you care for,” Shigaraki calls out to the blonde as his gaze flicks to you struggling to create any spells and to this abomination in front of him, “The only thing about you…that catches my interest…is how..you’re closer to Izuku Midoriya and the Scarlet Witch than anyone else.” Shigaraki’s gaze moves to you as you look at him through a blood-filled vision.

“You can stop this! Where’s the power I was warned of!” His voice echoes across the whole battlefield and even Aizawa and the others outside the barrier can hear him, “WHERE IS THE DARKHOLD! WHERE’S THE SCARLET WITCH I’M MEANT TO FEAR!” He says as you try not to pass out from the pain just glaring at him and Shigaraki smirks seeing the chaos magic creating the motif of the Scarlet Witch, the same tiara Bakugo had recognized appearing glowing on your head.

“MANDALAY! ANY UPDATE ON MIDORIYA!?” Aizawa shouts out feeling the fear run deep in his chest,

“I can’t reach him!” Mandalay shouts back and Aizawa shouts, “But you could earlier?!”

“Barrier or not, the wonky electromagnetic waves are affecting things. I’ve been getting nothing but static for a while now.” She responds and Aizawa grits his teeth.

“Bakugo! L/n!” He yells out, “JEANIST!! MIRKO!! EDGESHOT!! DAMMIT, YOU GOTTA PROTECT THOSE TWO!! ONCE THEY GRADUATE FROM U.A….THEY’RE AIMING TO BE NUMBER ONE.”

You cry out as Shigaraki kicks you down, the man finding great pleasure seeing just a few feet away the student that was so ready to bring him down reduced to a scared child watching someone they care for be beaten down.

“Izuku Midoriya was supposed to be here, right?” Shigaraki calls out his foot pressing down on your head, “So he’s bound to show up soon, hmmm? On that note, having my quirk erased right now is a blessing in disguise.”

Your non-injured hand swipes out to send a blast of magic when he throws you up into the air your magic missing him as he clutches your throat. “SHUT UP-” You could feel the air leaving your body and the pressure making you gasp for air.

“Cuz your corpse will be left intact…Yes, he’ll have a lovely present waiting when he arrives. Remember his sheer fury when I poked Bakugo full of holes last time? Then I kill Bakugo after so he can watch knowing he failed. I’ll only ask once more.” Shigaraki says as his hand mutates growths crushing your body blood spraying in the air as you fail to breathe, “Where is the Darkhold.”

Nejire and Suneater try fighting against him but Shigaraki uses you as a shield blocking off their attacks as you stay limp in his hand. His body sends a large attack continuing to mutate with growths.

“My body continues to adapt! Scurry away like insects! Nothing can bring me down!” Shigaraki cackles before you feel hands wrap around your waist and you catch Lemillions gaze before your tossed away.

“Jeanist!” A coil of cables wraps you pulling you away from the fight and he brings you down your body collapsing as he rushes over to you. Your old mentor covered in his own sweat and blood looks fearful at his old intern.

“I’m going to suture your right arm, Scarlet.” He says and you’re still trying to catch your breath trying to stay awake the pain and adrenaline keeping you awake. From the corner of your eye, Bakugo falls to his knees beside you looking down at you. Blonde coated parts of his face and his sweat was pouring off his face as were tears from his eyes.

“Wha…what are you doing here.” His voice is hoarse as Jeanist begins suturing your arm and you close your eyes in pain your hand reaching out grasping Bakugo’s and he doesn’t hesitant holding yours back.

“All…All For One..he tried to get the Darkhold..” You gasp out squeezing his hand trying to distract yourself from the pain as Jeanist apologized beside you.

“You said it wasn’t possible that you wouldn’t be able to find one if it existed.” He says shaking his head and wincing himself not used to seeing you in so much pain.

“I thought so too…but I felt it..” You say looking at the sky the barrier keeping you all in this place before you look back at Bakugo and he almost recognizes that look, “Bakugo..”

“No.” He shakes his head, “You said you wouldn’t, you barely got out of it before, and what if Shigaraki gets it.” But the look on your face shows you had already made up your mind.

“Do what!?” Jeanist says confused about what his two interns were talking about, as a hero he had heard rumors of something called a Darkhold but that was history for years before he was even born.

“She wants to get the Darkhold to stop Shigaraki.” Bakugo spits out glaring down at you but you’re already trying to push yourself up despite Jeanist and Bakugo pushing you back down.

“It’s the only way! Midoriya isn’t here and without One For All it’s the only thing that is more powerful than him.” You say getting yourself up on your knees your damaged arm partly sutured resting limply at your side while your other hand starts to glow with your magic though it's changed not the bright red from before but darker with hints of black. You look over at Bakugo who looks conflicted, “Please you have to trust me.” You say and just look at you before the three of you hear a loud explosion and you look forward to seeing Shigaraki stalking towards you. Jeanist stands up coils of cables ready to fight and protect you two.

“Bakugo protect L/n…find it! I’ll try to give you as much time as I can!” Best Jeanist looks back at the two of you before glaring at Shigaraki, “Do you worst, you foul abomination!!”

Your hand shakes slightly as you draw runes as fast you can with one hand in front of you, it glows this new shade as the crown of the Scarlet Witch appear on your head as you reach out into the world searching for it. You can feel your body crying out to stop but you push past. Flashes of memories of your life fill your head, your testing, your father and mother’s warm embrace, your old home, your life at U.A, your training, the festivals, the internships, the battles you fought to make you stronger. You stop seeing a memory of Bakugo the night before you left U.A. the moonlight highlighting his features as the two of you spent your last night together.

“Bakugo…I’m glad to have met you in this universe.” You call out to him and he’s quiet before looking over at you.

“Yeah…you’re not too bad yourself.”

Then you sense it...that energy and you reach out for it. Appearing in front of you the dark energy as the two of you watch the book you were familiar with materialize before you. It floats in front of the two of you flipping open the runes of its magic appearing before the two of you. You pause almost hesitant to take it, the dark energy had your hand twitch to grab it the past memories…the corruption reminding you why you had rejected it. You look over at Bakugo not expecting him to be looking at you the two of you are silent before you just act. You reach over grabbing his collar your lips connecting with his, you feel him freeze and you go to pull away but his hand grabs the back of your head keeping you against him. Electricity rushes through your veins your heart bursting while the tightness in his heart fades. You both pull away taking in every detail of his face while he memorizes yours confused why a tear had spilled from your eye. He quickly wipes it away holding your face feeling grounded for once. Feeling like he could win any fight as long as you were by his side.

“Katsuki…I’m glad to know you in this universe…” You whisper trying not to break down, he nods tightening his grip on you. His heart fluttered hearing his name on your tongue he wanted you to repeat it forever.

“You…you are my dream y/n..” He says holding your face and a single tear slides down his face before he looks past you towards the Darkhold and where everyone was fighting Shigaraki. You glance at the book knowing what you had to do and reached your hand out and take it.

Suneater, Nejire, and Lemillion’s attack had been futile each of them gaining their own injuries.

“Think about it! Remember All Might in his prime? Would something so pathetic…have killed him?” Shigaraki shouts out, “C’mon! Use your heads!” A large explosion came from behind him a bright light blinding them all. Shigaraki looks over confused and appears from the light a girl her costume changed from a simple hero costume to someone of power, an outfit the blonde had seen before. Her arms were held out beside her as she stepped forward the skirt swaying behind her slow steps the crown now physically resting on her head. The blood and injuries still covered her but she was still using her magic with her injured arm. Hovering beside her was a book of unimaginable power that his master had been searching for. This was he was told to fear a being that had the power of spontaneous creation without the need to think or incantation. A power not from this universe, unlike anything they have ever seen. Either to rule the cosmos or destroy them altogether.

“You…” Shigaraki breathes out feeling his eyes twitch in anger, you were up and still fighting and were now truly an opponent. You twist your hands your finger stained with the corruption further up your hand not just the tips of your fingers but the whole digit. The Darkhold disappears before you vanish before him and Shigaraki’s face is hit with the strongest blast of magic ripping his flesh open. You’re right beside the villain who swipes his hand out to strike you but the attack goes straight through your body before you disappear again appearing behind him surprising them all. None of them even Bakugo who had seen the power of the Darkhold saw you like this. This wasn’t just the Darkhold’s power but an awakening in you, this was chaos magic, reality-warping in front of him.

Shigaraki hadn’t felt fear during this fight but suddenly like a memory where you stood was another woman a being of even more substantial power that he’s never seen before. Why was he suddenly panicking?! And he had instantly sent out the largest attack straight at you. You felt fire running through your veins as you felt your body go through overdrive, the chaos magic and the dark magic fueling your body. You felt powerful like a constant high you couldn’t get rid of. It felt addicting and you wanted more and you had completely accepted the chaos of your power and the Darkhold the corruption fueling your body. You bring your hands together ready to give an attack to end this all, to be the most powerful, to be the one to end all wars with your power. If they wanted a fight you would crush them between your hands.

“You…you are my dream.”

Bakugo’s voice fills your head clearing your head for just a moment. The darkness that had taken over your heart cracking..the corruption you had accepted so easily for its power. You thought you were doing this to protect your family for the ones you loved but you felt like a sham. You wanted the power and you felt foolish. With that split second of doubt and the Darkhold’s hold leaving you Shigaraki had struck and you could feel it be too late to counter.

The heroes before you had thought they had a chance…that this battle could be won without One For All before Bakugo saw it. The slight change in your face as you were going to finish Shigaraki, the corruption he had feared had taken over when you had accepted the Darkhold but in that moment whatever it was had made you hesitate and he saw Shigaraki get the upper hand. A cluster of explosions sent him flying over to Shigaraki and you and the others quickly joined in to stop the villain. He felt everything shatter before him when Shigaraki made contact with your chest as he sent one of his strongest explosions right at Shigaraki’s face. You were sent flying across the field bouncing against the ground twice he felt nauseous seeing the large amounts of blood in the air. He saw his old mentor barely catch as Shigaraki pushed them all away he skid against the ground instantly standing up and looking over at where you were with Jeanist.

“We came prepared for today…with a perfect demon lord body, ideal for the final boss,” Shigaraki calls out through the clearing smoke as he stumbles his way over to Jeanist who is frozen standing above you. His heart continues to grow cold seeing the large trails of blood that he knew was yours, “Understand yet? What’s coming now…is our story. The villains’ tale.”

He felt like dying right then and there his legs crumbled under him as he fell before you to his knees as Jeanist was hovering over you tears pouring down his face before he spoke those words.

“Her heart…” He could hear the screams of anger and sadness but he couldn’t say anything but stare at you. You were staring at the sky the right side of your face scarred and bleeding but you still looked beautiful, but what killed him was the large hole in your chest and the blood quickly pooling around it.

“No…no…no you can’t do this.” The words spill from the boy's lips as his hands shake before he lightly cups your face flinching at how cold it was, “Please don’t do this to me.” He doesn’t care if the blood is staining his hands or his hero costume he brings you to his lap holding you in his arms begging you to wake up and his mentor feels weak watching this.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, we were gonna win…we still have to graduate, and you have to beat me in fights or give those snarky comments, I wanted an agency with you..” Tears pour from his face as he prays to any higher being to have this be a dream and give someone the power to bring you back, “I wanted a life with you..” His voice cracks as his tears clean the blood from your face. The sob that breaks through his throat as he brings close cradling you as he rocks back and forth unable to stop the sobs and screams of pain leave his throat. He keeps whispering under his breath hoping you would wake up to look at him again, to smile at him again, to hold him, to love him...

“You were supposed to be my dream.”

Six Years Later

Katsuki had woken up as he had for the past six years since the war, plagued with nightmares. There had been moments when he didn’t dream that he was grateful but it was rare. He slowly got ready following his routine, shower, brush his teeth, get dressed, and leave for work, he would get a coffee and something while going. It didn’t seem like six years had passed since that day, the war that caused many lives lost and the one he cared for and loved. He had lost you. He could still remember it clearly in his mind before he had no choice but to let you go and join Deku in fighting Shigaraki. His anger and sadness fueled him until they had defeated him having no choice but to kill him. The blood on both of their hands but for the safety of Japan it was something that didn’t weigh him down. All For One had rewind himself out of existence but had down his damage. None of the League had survived that battle all dying in different ways but he didn’t feel any guilt he was glad all of them were rotting six feet into the ground. They took everything from him so they deserved more than just death.

The class had changed when everything was over, they were only children during this war and to see so much death and pain was a lot for many. He wasn’t surprised that many of his classmates did not continue a career in heroism the weight of that war too much. Some did stay and they continued and graduated and like he had said he got his Agency…though he didn’t become the Number One going to the One For All user he hadn’t cared. The number had meant nothing to him knowing he was to go through this life alone.

Work was work, planning patrols with his sidekicks, scheduling meetings for press interviews for morale or public appearances, to working on some long-term missions. While the war had taken the high-ranking villains out rebellion was always going to be there. Following the battle an object had been mentioned having been mentioned by both villains at U.A. and Gunga Mountain. The Darkhold’s history had been revealed and the world had searches sent out to find the book and have it retrieved. Many heroes in Japan mainly from U.A. had rejected the idea of trying to find it. That power was never meant for man and where it had disappeared to was better off missing. He sat at his desk working through some reports when there was a fast pace knocking which quickly annoyed him.

“What?” He called out and the door opened revealing his assistant, “What is it?”

His assistant look like she was going to hurl with the information she had but she quickly spit it out.

“Central Hospital needs you to come immediately…she’s awake.”

Katsuki had never dropped his things so fast blasting his way over to the hospital many things running through his mind. It had been a long and tiring six years alone just waiting for any news whether it would be good or bad. Your organs had been completely pulverized by Shigaraki’s attack killing you instantly. Edgeshot had sacrificed his life using his quirk and body to stabilize your internal bleeding and replace organs and in that moment when they had finished off Shigaraki he heard his old mentor’s voice across the battlefield.

“SHE HAS A HEARTBEAT!”

You had been rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery to stop the other injuries and get rid of the rest of the internal bleeding. Your surgery had been for a total of 13 hours, and your body and genetics had been something many doctors have never seen given the fact that your quirk had come from someone not of their universe. Your genetic material was vastly different to the average human which made modern medicine difficult to use as it either had no effect or the body was rejecting it. Following the surgery when they had finally gotten you stable enough they had to put you in a medically induced coma to allow your body to heal. Your body had completely died to the point where it didn’t seem possible to have brain function but you show active vitals during your surgery and the medically induced coma. They had thought after a few weeks your body would show signs of improvement they had even brought in Recovery Girl and other strong healers but nothing had worked. Katsuki had felt his world died again hearing the news they weren’t sure when you were to wake up. The medically induced coma had become a full coma and when weeks turned to months and then years you had been completely unaware of time passing around you. Your body had seemed to regress where signs of brain activity had been minimal.

Your father had been distraught that his only child had been given a fate worse than death, the doctors had tried reassuring him there was always a chance you could wake up. With that small faith, he dedicated his life to keeping you in the best care, selling stocks, and properties outside of Japan, any retirement funds had been put into your care and when he had graduated and had started receiving money from the Hero Commission he had started paying for the medical bills. Your father tried refusing but the man had been adamant on paying for them.

The hospital staff didn’t even bother checking him in, for the past six years he had been here that he knew your doctors, knew the rotation of nurses that worked on you. His footsteps were heavy and fast and when he reached the door that had your name written on it he paused. His heart had been a heavy weight on his chest, his hand trembled as it reached for the doorknob his grip heavy he thought he was going to rip it off the door. Katsuki took a shaky inhale opening the door stepping into the room. He felt the coldness leave him in that instant, the tightness in his chest release letting him take in a deep breath of air for once, the constant frown on his face soften looking forward. It was just your presence had breathed life back into him. There you were sat up in your bed you were still covered in wires checking your brain activity, others pumping drugs into your body but you were awake your eyes open listening to the doctor your father was right beside you. Those six years of waiting had aged him, hair greying, his skin losing its youth. Katsuki couldn’t blame him he had lost his wife during Jaku and had almost lost his daughter in the final one, the stress and fear that he must have felt should have drowned any normal man. His hand clutches your own as you nod slowly listening to the doctor now even noticing he was in the room. Your father makes eye contact with Katsuki clearing his throat and stopping the doctor who notices the blonde and you were the last one. The air felt trapped in his throat but at the same time, all his nerves and fears had left him when you turned to look at him. The widening of your eyes and the quickly growing smile as you took in the boy who was now a man, the man you had cared for and fallen for.

“Katsuki..”

[satansapostle6]

Lovers and Liars | Draco Malfoy

Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott, both determined and resourceful from reputable houses, find themselves at odds in the name of love.

Warning: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six: Pride And Ignorance

“I don’t get it. It’s not working!”

Draco scowled as he stood in front of the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts. He and Lorelei had snuck into the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor first thing after dinner, hoping to begin mending the broken cabinet. But naturally, things did not initially go as the two had hoped. So far, they had already been working for at least several hours.

“Patience, darling,” Lorelei reminded him, “The repairs will take a while. Remember?”

“We don’t have ‘a while’,” Draco Malfoy spat as he tried to diagnose the problem.

“We have an entire school year. That should give us enough time to call it a night for now, don’t you think?” she attempted to reason with him.

Draco huffed dismissively. “I need to figure out which parts are defective.”

“Well, we’ve already found three,” Lorelei supplied patiently, “I think that puts us ahead of schedule, don’t you?”

She frowned as Draco refused to listen.

“No.”

“Draco,” Lorelei stopped him, turning him around.

He looked at her with genuine frustration in his eyes. She found that, if she hadn’t whipped him around where he stood, he wouldn’t have looked at her at all.

“We’ve been at this for hours. It’s late. We have school tomorrow; we’d best get some rest. We can come back here the minute classes are over; we still have plenty of time,” she said soothingly, his face in her hands. “Please. Let’s just go to bed.”

Lorelei kindly waited a while as her words began to sink in, and Draco’s expression finally softened.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” she assured him.

“I need this to work, Lorelei,” Draco looked at her with a scared, broken look in his eyes. “We need this to work.”

“I know,” she whispered, sympathetic as he dropped his head on her shoulder.

Lorelei frowned as she gently stroked his hair, allowing him a proper cry as he began to panic.

“If I can’t kill the old man, we’re done for,” he sobbed, “Don’t you understand? If I fail, our future, that we want, our family, is in jeopardy!”

“Nothing’s in jeopardy yet, my prince,” Lorelei Morrigan whispered faithfully. “So far, we’re doing great. You’re doing great. Soon enough, the Dark Lord will have faith in us, and we’ll be back in his good graces. Your father will come home, and everything will be just fine.”

“How can you be so sure?!” Draco asked as he stood up straight, unable to calm himself.

“Because, together, you and I can face anything,” she insisted. “We’ll destroy anything that stands in our way. With our two minds put together, nothing will stop us. You’re brilliant, Draco, and you know I am, too.”

He stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to make of his current predicament.

“I can’t thank you enough,” he sniffled, a sense of bitterness in his tone. “Everyone else around me’s failed me… Except for you.”

“You know I want nothing more than for the two of us to succeed.”

“This is no way for us to live… I want to live in the universe where we have a proper life,” Draco mused, “We could have a proper wedding, and a proper family. You’d be my wife, and we’d have the Manor, and children. We’d have it all.”

“Yes. We will,” Lorelei promised him, taking his hands in hers. “In this universe.”

Draco looked at her with uncertainty, hardly able to imagine that his deepest desires could someday be realized. “You really think so?”

She nodded. “Yes, Draco. I do.”

“I love you,” he said finally, tears in his eyes. “More than anything.”

“I love you,” she sighed, holding him in her arms.

“I have to keep you and Mother safe… You’re all I have,” he sniffled, face hidden in the crook of her neck.

“You’re all I have too,” Lorelei said, thinking of her parents hiding away most likely on some other continent.

As Lorelei and Draco snuck out of the Room of Requirement, the door becoming a normal wall once again, they noticed too late that they weren’t alone in the hall. Waiting there right outside the door was Professor Snape. Draco’s jaw clenched the moment he saw their Head of House.

“Mr. Malfoy,” Snape said coolly, “Miss Morrigan. What are we up to this evening?”

“None of your business,” Draco said stiffly, straightening his jacket.

“I think it’s entirely my business, Draco.”

“I think you’re a trifling old codger who can’t mind his own business,” Draco retaliated impulsively.

Lorelei’s eyes widened as she tried her best to save him from himself. Unfortunately, that never seemed to work with Malfoy men.

“Draco!” she hissed, mortified. “I’m sorry, Professor, he’s in a bad mood!” she glared at her boyfriend.

Lorelei half expected Professor Snape to light the both of them on fire where they stood, but he seemed uncomfortably even-tempered instead. Lorelei watched as Snape slowly stepped forward, his large black cloak flowing beneath him almost like a Dementor. There was no discernible emotion on the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor’s face as he towered over Draco.

“Given your current circumstances, Malfoy, I will allow you one instance of insubordination. You’ve just used it up,” he warned, cold beady eyes fixated on Draco.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Draco maintained.

Lorelei turned to look at him in disbelief. “You’re not?” she said through gritted teeth.

“No,” Draco said coolly, not taking his eyes off of Snape. “And I have no idea what ��circumstances’ you’re referring to.”

“Sure you don’t,” Severus Snape disregarded his lies, “Now, Mr. Malfoy… You and I both know that this year at Hogwarts, you’re in over your head as far as extracurriculars are concerned. But, if you allow me to, I might be able to help lighten the load, provided you pay me the respect that I deserve.”

Lorelei immediately understood what Snape was offering, fully aware that Draco was, in fact, in over his head, and needed all the help he could get. But unfortunately, Draco was the only one who seemed unaware of this.

“Professor, believe me when I say, I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about, and even if I did, I certainly wouldn’t want any help from the likes of you,” he insisted on angering the former Potions Master any way he could. “After all… who would want to be in cahoots with the Dark Lord’s double agent?” he challenged.

“As usual, Malfoy, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Snape provided, “But because I seem to have to, I will prove to you once again that I am a friend to you, relatively speaking. I will not only allow you the kindness of ignoring every single one of your insolent attempts at being domineering, but I will also advise you not to fall victim to the many arrogant pitfalls that seem to plague the Malfoy men. Need I remind you, Draco, that pride is a sin we all must overcome?”

Lorelei watched as Draco drew his wand, seething as he backed Snape into the wall.

“Don’t you dare talk about my father,” Draco hissed, war ready.

“The very fact that you assume that that was my intention speaks volumes,” Snape retorted, almost sounding bored. “Now, stop playing these childish games and tell me what it is you’re doing so that I might shed some light on your current predicament, Malfoy.”

“Why should I trust you?” he demanded again.

“Are you stupid?” Snape snarled.

“Why should I trust the Dark Lord’s least faithful servant?” Draco spat.

“Might I remind you that, in civilized society, alignment with the Dark Lord isn’t necessarily favorable?”

“Excuses. You’re all nothing but excuses,” Draco snapped. “When I succeed, when… It’ll be on my own, because I paved my own way. None of you will have had any part in my success, and it’ll be that much more enjoyable to watch you all watching me from the sidelines. The honor will belong to no one but me, and Lorelei. Goodnight, Professor,” Draco concluded, as Lorelei silently followed him as he stormed off.

She silently glanced back at Professor Snape, who only stared at her as she went off with Draco to bed. They retired together to his singular dorm room as Slytherin Prefect, trying to sleep but not necessarily succeeding. Eventually, it seemed that that night, she and Draco definitely hadn’t been great at ensuring they had gone unseen. The next morning, Lorelei had a headache trying to justify Draco’s execution of the plan.

Throughout breakfast at the Slytherin table, neither of them could enjoy any semblance of peace. They both sat silent next to one another, lost in their own world of worries and bitternesses as they gingerly sipped juice and irritably picked at plates. Blaise had of course picked up on this foul disposition the moment he sat down to eat his breakfast, beginning to question his choice in seating as well as friends. But it wasn’t Blaise that Lorelei had to worry about that morning. It seemed that once again, an old foe elected to rear his ugly head.

“Malfoy. Lorelei.”

Draco and Lorelei stopped in the middle of the corridor on their way to their first class of the day, already in a sour mood before Theodore Nott even made an appearance. Lorelei silently prayed this wouldn’t end in fisticuffs.

“What do you want, Nott?” Draco questioned, already confrontational. “I’m not in the mood.”

Theo smiled as he approached the couple, determined to show Draco up with his nice uniform and silver rings.

“This won’t take long, then,” Theodore nodded. “Just thought I’d inform you two that I know what the Dark Lord has entrusted you with, Draco,” he said brazenly.

Lorelei looked around, paranoid, as Draco stepped up toward him, refusing to back down from nothing.

“Congratulations,” the blond scowled, “You hear that from your mum over fucking tea?”

Theodore chuckled softly. “Your wit, Draco, is unmatched. Truly. It’s no wonder Lorelei’s so taken with you.”

It was Lorelei’s turn to scowl as she stood by Draco’s side. She hated how easily angered Draco could be, but she refused to allow Theo to undermine their dynasty that they had sought out to establish.

“I’m unmatched, Nott,” Draco promised him, “Make one more crack about my girlfriend, and the next thing to crack’ll be your skull.”

“Ooh, not very friendly,” Theo teased. “Seems unfair you immediately go to threaten me, when all I have for you is a friendly warning.”

“Oh yeah?” Lorelei spoke up. “What could you possibly have to warn us about?”

The question seemed to only encourage him. Theo smiled as he looked into her cold blue eyes, before landing back on Draco.

“I’ll tell you one last time, Malfoy. Lorelei will be my wife. That’s not a threat, or a challenge, or whatever your poor excuse for a mind will fathom it to be,” Theodore continued, “It’s simply a fact.”

Lorelei glared at him with a spite that she knew was older than herself, or anything else, for that matter. It was an age old anger instilled in her by forces she knew she would never understand. Never again would she stand by Theodore Nott’s side. Never again would she stand in the shadow of a man less brilliant than she was.

“Lorelei, you may refuse to see it now, but I am the one who can give you want you want,” Theo insisted. “At my side, you could be a queen.”

“At your side, I’m nothing,” she assured him.

“You know that’s not true,” Theo said softly. “You know I can give you so much more than he can. You know, deep in your heart, that you’d much rather marry me,” he argued.

“I will never marry you,” Lorelei vowed with hatred. “And I don’t say so out of spite. I say so because I’ve grown. I will never again be stupid enough to think you truly love me, Theo. You don’t know how.”

“You might be right. Perhaps love isn’t my strong suit,” he offered. “But revenge is.”

Draco huffed quietly as he stood in front of him in the empty corridor, begging for a reason to use his wand.

“Your destruction is coming whether you see it or not, Draco,” Theodore ensured passionately, “But where you happen to be when it comes is entirely up to you, Lorelei.”

She listened to his words, silently pondering whether or not he was worth an Unforgivable Curses.

“I hope that you would have the foresight to see Draco for the lost cause he is,” Theo confessed, “But, honestly…”

There was an ugly gleam in his eyes as he looked right at Lorelei, practically gazing into her soul with the ugliest parts of hair

“I also hope that I’ll get the pleasure of destroying you both,” Theodore Nott mused with a sadistic grin on his face. “I will find out what you two are planning, and I will rain on that parade. The Dark Lord will know my name; and yours will fade away into nothing but whispers.”

Theo’s face was now only inches from Draco’s, and Draco could see every bit of madness in his enemy’s eyes. Of course, Theodore Nott was an obsessive, conniving individual, but Draco knew that he would sooner die than allow him to have the last laugh.

“Trust me, Nott. Those whispers will haunt you forever,” Draco murmured, eyes dark with malice. “You can plot against me all you want, but I’m still the one Lorelei chose.”

Theo laughed in his face. “There are more important things to me than some girl.”

Draco could hardly contain himself.

“I’ll kill you, Theodore. Don’t think I won’t.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Theo said lightly.

“He won’t have to if you come after us,” Lorelei finally spoke up, stepping up beside Draco. “If you get in our way, I will end you myself. Goodbye, Theo.”

Lorelei walked off, and Draco followed angrily. He glanced back at Theo, glaring before he placed his hand on Lorelei’s back, silently praising her undying loyalty.

-

Chaoter Twenty-Seven

[3-stones-deity]

about

hi! my main blog is @doyouremem8erme (you may know me as marcylore or ghostadventurespirit0rb if you followed me back in the day) and i was into amphibia from after true colors until about a year after season 3 ended. however...i have now gotten back into this silly frog show and wanted to dig up old art from that time in the fandom.

i focus primarily on art but will reblog old fandom posts that i enjoy as well! fics, shitposts, gifs, etc.

most of my posts come from the depths of my main blog but i also will go through other blogs. lmk if you dont like me reblogging old posts directly from you and ill be sure to get them from the source instead! its just more efficient to queue directly from another blog. i also use the new tumblr search operators to find posts from specific fandom eras!

important note: this blog serves as an archive of art i enjoy and while ill avoid reblogging from artists who were found to be problematic, they may still appear on this blog on occasion to catalog that old art. reblogs from them do not mean i support the actions of the artist in question.

current queue schedule: hourly, 8am-midnight. i occasionally will post outside of that as well, usually for more presently circulating art.

my tags (and their sources if applicable):

#funny frog show - posts that are too sillay to get serious poetic tags but that i still like

#faves - personal fave posts. this blog is already curated so this tag is truly things i Think Abt A Lot

#your heart is an empty room with walls of the deepest blue - anne boonchuy (source: your heart is an empty room by death cab for cutie)

#burning cities and napalm skies，fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes - calamity anne (source: ocean eyes by billie eilish)

#and i was running far away，would i run off the world someday? - marcy wu (source: runaway by aurora)

#show me how to lay my sword down for long enough to let you through - sasha waybright (source: eight by sleeping at last)

#heaven knows，we're trouble prone，together until the end of time - sprig (source: trouble prone by oh geeez)

#sometimes the monsters turn out to be those who stood there by your side - andrias (source: nothing good from centaurworld)

#‘cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs - varies a bit, but intended for night!marcy and other marcy angst related to her possession (source: youth by daughter)

#lately my head's on fire and my voice is not my own - darcy/possessed marcy (source: awakening by oh geeez)

#when will we find a story that never ends - marcanne (source: @/calamity-unlocked's tags)

#our coming of age has come and gone - sashanne (source: peace by taylor swift)

#i can't make it go away by making you a villain - sashanne but angsty (source: happiness by taylor swift)

#i'm sending out smoke signals hoping i'll see yours too - sasharcy (source: smoke signals by cavetown)

#old partner in crime i’m going to try to fall in love with you again - sashannarcy (source: arms unfolding by dodie)

#we are the reckless，we are the wild youth - calamity trio/sashannarcy angst (source: youth by daughter)

#the story of the beast with those four dirty paws - anne & the plantars (source: dirty paws by of monsters and men)

#i promise you that soon the autumn comes to steal away each dream you keep - newt moms (source: rises the moon by liana flores)

#look for me on the sun-bright sparrow， i will come on the breath of the wind - yulivia (source: yankee bayonet by the decemberists)

#it's just a triptych in decay - barreleifdrias (source: death thrice drawn by the scary jokes)

#and you can aim for my heart，go for blood - true colors (source: my tears ricochet by taylor swift)

#quiet when i'm coming home，i'm on my own - season 3a (source: when the party's over by billie eilish)

#scattering sparks of thought energy，deliver me and carry me away - olivia & yunan (source: the mind electric by miracle musical)

#you're coming back and it's the end of the world - season 3b (source: i want you by mitski)

#dry your smoke-stung eyes so you can see the light，you're staring at the sky，watching stars collide - full calamity anne (source: shallows by daughter)

#your words they come to me in memories，they sing to me like songs - post-finale (source: ultimately by khai dreams)

[brightoakgame]

Welcome to Bright Oak!

I just looked up to find that-- despite my diligently playing cat-and-mouse with bots-- Bright Oak now has over 200 300 followers (!!), with the main post at over 100 200 notes! ✨ I’m frankly blown away by the level of kindness and support my little project has met with so far; thank you! 

Given the influx of new friends, this seems like a good time to put together an FAQ / more global update on the state of Bright Oak, overall:

What is Bright Oak? Bright Oak is a heavily character-driven visual novel game with elements of science fiction, and this is the post you’ll want to start with! I plan to keep the pinned post up-to-date throughout development, so if you need the broad strokes of what Bright Oak is about, that’s the place to look for individual character introductions and similar information. 

When will the game be finished? The (free) first act demo will release June 24th, and I aim to release the full finished game before the end of the year. While on the ambitious side, this schedule is by no means unrealistic, given the weight of assets already completed.

Where will the game be released? To begin, Bright Oak will be available on Itch.io as well as on Steam. Other options will be weighed later on, but the current focus is on those two locations.

Is there going to be a Kickstarter? Firstly, thank you so much for asking. Secondly-- no, there will not be a Kickstarter. The decision was made early on to fund this wholly out-of-pocket; as a first-time dev, I felt more comfortable working on a shoestring instead of taking on the risk and stress of a funding campaign (though if you have the means and inclination to support the development of Bright Oak, I do have a Ko-fi account set up)

Will the release be commercial? How much will the finished game cost? Yes, it will be a commercial release, with a free demo. While I have not settled yet on an exact range (I would like it to be something of a sliding scale), I intend to keep the high end under $20. The release will not be serialized, but will include all routes.

What is the overall status on the game? Assets that are currently finished in their entirety include the script (all paths and variations), character art, and the soundtrack. Sprites are colored. The first act is fully coded, with the second act blocked in with basic coding. Backgrounds are about 80% finished.

Who is working on Bright Oak? I am always thrilled by the opportunity to praise the talents I’ve been lucky enough to work with! 

Remnantation was hired as the commissioned artist, and has become beyond that a steadfast, treasured friend. They have been on board with Bright Oak since very nearly the beginning, and at this point I feel they’ve invested as much care and energy into it as I have. Rem’s facility with expressions both broad and subtle, as well as their grasp of naturalistic body language, have brought a life to the characters that simply cannot be overstated. For those interested, Remnantation’s character art can also be seen in @windchimesgames newly-released Emberfate: Tempest of Elements, as well as @foxdriftstudios freshly-funded work in progress, Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin.

John Åhlin is a masterful composer and multi-instrumentalist; I promise the stellar Morricone-influenced Western soundtrack alone will be worth the wait! 

Wudgeous of @herotome​ is an absolute superhero and coding wizard, aiding with everything from sprite layers and small animations, to unswerving support and helping answer all the silly questions I lack the bandwidth to sort out on my own. If you haven’t yet, may I recommend playing the Herotome demo? And if you’ve played it already-- well, nothing will stop you from playing it again, either. ✨

Finally, if there’s anything I missed here, my Ask box is open (past Asks can be found here). Thank you again for your interest and support; I look forward to sharing more of Bright Oak with you in the coming months!

B.

[why-animation]

Director Ishihara ✕ Chief Director Ogawa Discussion (re: Sound! Euphonium ~ Ensemble Contest)

My translation of the discussion featured here on the official Eupho site. Figured it might be worthwhile since I suspect Ogawa's gonna be a major figure at KyoAni in the coming decade. Caveat lector though.

A Prologue to the Kumiko 3rd Year Arc

─Special Edition: Sound! Euphonium ~ Ensemble Contest (Ensemble) is the first entry in four years for the Sound! Euphonium (Eupho) series, and production is currently underway. How’s it going?

Ishihara: Coming back to Eupho again…hoo boy, it’s a handful! (Laughs)

Ogawa: (Laughs) The animation for the instruments and stuff can give us trouble here and there, but in my opinion, this is the sort of anime where the real problem is figuring out how to portray the drama. First of all, Ensemble was originally planned to be an OVA, and also Ensemble is tied to the Kumiko 3rd year arc (scheduled to air in 2024), so I’ve been thinking about how that’s gonna work.

─So at first it was planned to be an OVA?

Ishihara: The Kumiko 3rd year arc in 2024 is still pretty far away, and we know we’re keeping the fans waiting, so we got to talking and felt that we should have something in the mean time. To that end, there was a story in the novels from the back half of 2nd year that we didn’t portray in Sound! Euphonium the Movie ~ The Promised Finale (Chikai no Finale) about Kumiko’s first efforts as club president with the ensemble contest. We decided it’d be a good idea to put it out as a standalone episode. In terms of composition, we made it like an extension of the TV series. However some time later, it had turned into something we could show as a film, so we made it with the big screen in mind. Truth be told, the drawing count really got away from us. (Laughs) It might not look quite as flashy as a movie, but I think you can look forward to it with tempered expectations: it's a depiction of unspectacular everyday life.

─You talked a bit about it being tied to Kumiko’s 3rd year arc. How exactly does Ensemble fit in with the series?

Ogawa: I think one of the biggest points is that it serves as a prologue to Kumiko being club president. The first season closely depicts the activities of the wind ensemble club, and the second season focused on the human relationships. When I think about what’s interesting in the Kumiko 3rd year arc, the biggest thing has gotta be how Kumiko’s future is shaping up now that she’s a club president. Ensemble is connected to the 3rd year arc, so this fits in as a prologue to her being president.

The balance of realism and entertainment

─What’s been at the front of your mind while making Ensemble?

Ogawa: This applies to the whole of Sound! Euphonium, not just Ensemble, but when it comes to the wind ensemble itself, to my mind, the keyword is “lifelike,” or “realistic.” “Like you're really there.” We’ve been very much focused on balancing this goal with making it entertaining as anime.

Ishihara: Absolutely, that’s exactly what we were thinking when we were making Eupho and pursuing that sense of verisimilitude in animation. Drawing the instruments as realistically as we could and all…

Ogawa: That said, sometimes you'll have a scene that just screams "hey, make me a highlight!" and you can end up over-directing it, so it’s pretty hard.

Ishihara: Yep, that’s it, that’s the experience. Just because you have flashy scenes doesn’t mean you’re telling your story, and in fact you can often tell a story by resolving the characters’ emotions without having any flashy scenes at all.

Ogawa: On the other hand, I do think it’s better to do something anyway and regret it than not to do it at all, even if it ends up over-directed and loses that sense of realism, because there really are a lot of cases where it turns out better as a result…I’m constantly struggling with that feeling.

Ishihara: Also, and this doesn’t have anything to do with directing, but there are some seniors who show up who’ve moved on from the band, which I think people will like.

─It’s been about four years since the last Eupho visual project. What does the staff look like?

Ogawa: There are a lot of people who watched Eupho as students and told me they joined Kyoto Animation because they liked it so much. Their desire to do something great really comes across.

Ishihara: Part of me wondered what’ll happen now that there’s so much new staff who hasn’t worked on Eupho before, but they draw Eupho the same as always, and with utmost care. It makes me so glad. It’s been a long time since we’ve drawn instruments, but the movement in the marimba cuts is so good to the point where it looks nearly like it was rotoscoped. Nope! It was all animated solely from the reference footage.

Ogawa: Man, the staff is working so hard. It used to be that even when we used 3DCG, we needed to retouch it to give it texture. That caused us all kinds of trouble. Since then, the 3D and compositing staff have improved even more and come up with all kinds of tools. As the series has incremented, we’ve all really come to appreciate the advantages of both 2D and 3D animation. We’d like to improve ourselves even more with the Kumiko 3rd year arc.

Eupho: Past and Present

─You mentioned instruments. Regarding the music, I hear the piece you planned on using, “Omens of Love,” is the subject of some discussion.

Ogawa: There’s a passage in Ensemble that features “Omens of Love.” I was in charge of the boards for half of Ensemble, and at first there weren’t plans to use any musical compositions. However, when it became a theatrical project, we decided to utilize a piece since there was a passage that we wanted to really make an impression. When we asked around our staff involved with the wind ensemble what sort of piece they thought would be good, there were a lot of people who answered “Omens of Love.” It was a song I’d heard of through a few places too, and I think it really fits. The more I listened to it, the more I liked it, the more I got jazzed about the idea. (Laughs)

─How did recording with the wind ensemble go?

Ishihara: The performers are mostly all different from the first season, but it’s still the same ol’ Eupho. Ogawa-kun, you hadn’t participated in the recording before. What did you think?

Ogawa: It really got to me. I’d been invited to regular concerts, so I’ve heard live performances before, and those were plenty moving too of course, but this time I was listening to them closer up, and it just felt more imminent somehow…the sense of presence was just amazing. So many people were gathered for the purpose of making just one cartoon, and yet a lot of people came to tell me how much they liked Eupho. We were recording a short version of Omens of Love, and yet I was very impressed with how Ouwada-sensei and everyone else from the orchestra came up with all these forward-looking proposals for the trimming process, taking on the role of creators in their own right.

─It sounds like real teamwork

Ogawa: I came to truly understand how broad the domain is about which I know nothing. I learned a lot at the recordings, but there’s no way that could possibly cover everything, so it really did have the sense that this was something everyone was making together. What about you, Ishihara? You’ve been to these recordings so often…

Ishihara: It’s really interesting to hear a performance up close. I love places where people are making stuff, like workshops, and, of course, my own workplace included. The audio recording studio has the feel of a “maker space” too, so it just feels really comfy.

Ogawa: There are some things that you can just feel how good they are in your bones. There are some takes where you know it’s good the moment you hear it, and everyone else feels the same way. That’s not specialist knowledge; that’s just what’s so interesting about music: it really is a common tongue.

─There are some new cast members, and some who haven’t dubbed Eupho in many years. Was there anything remarkable about the dubbing process?

Ishihara: We talked some about realism and entertainment at the start, and my own directorial sensibilities have changed since the first TV season as well. Around the time of the first season, Eupho had a lot of instances of anime-like comical modes of expression, but those have gradually faded. I think the cast’s delivery has transitioned from something more anime-like to something closer to realism.

Ogawa: I feel that there were a lot of times when the sound director, (Youta) Tsuruoka, was putting a ton of passion into his directing. During the dubbing process, Tsuruoka was like “do it like you just want to start it all over again. Do it with the feeling that you want to tear down everything you’ve done up to now.” I got the sense that Tsuruoka had a very clear idea of what he wanted. I interpreted it as him proceeding under the premise that even if you break from what came before it won’t truly be a break, and that he’d see what feelings each cast members would take with them as they took their fresh start. People were saying things like “if you’re not growing, you’re doing it wrong,” and just as the cast took that attitude and grew a bit, so too did their characters – at least that’s how it felt to me.

The vision behind Kumiko Oumae’s depiction

Ogawa: There was one other thing that really left an impression on me from the dubbing, and that’s regarding Kumiko. Up until now the structure has been that other characters would be having problems and Kumiko would be looking on, but looking towards the 3rd year arc, it’s more about Kumiko herself. Tsuruoka talked with (Tomoyo) Kurosawa – Kumiko’s voice actress – about the nuances of “how to finally express the story of Kumiko Oumae.” They also discussed how to “leverage everything they had up to now,” and I thought “ahh, I see now.” It’s not a “connecting” but rather a “leveraging” process that will drive our progress towards something new, or something like that. It’s something I thought about in productions meetings and stuff regarding how to tell Kumiko Oumae’s story. As production progresses, there are times when that theme becomes so obvious that it actually becomes invisible. I came to be painfully aware of that while listening to Tsuruoka’s direction, feeling quite thankful for it, and at the same time feeling the pressure knowing that nothing will escape Tsuruoka’s eye. (Laughs)

─Do you have a message for the fans?

Ogawa: There will be new compositions in this one, so those are the places to watch and listen carefully. The power of theatrical audio equipment for listening to music is unmistakable, so I hope you all like it. I’m looking forward to it too! If you’d all walk on down to the theaters, I’d be much obliged.

Ishihara: I think we're taking a new start headed towards the Kumiko third year arc. As with everything else in life, it’s a lot fun declare “it all starts here!” and take that first step straight forward. I think that feeling is what this work is all about. You’ll be getting a glimpse of the Kumiko of the future. I hope you all enjoy it.

[mleelunsford]

Commenced writing Nix of Nothing, Chapter 8

Between creating Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, I've been practicing techniques for comic making that have increased my speed dramatically.

With my tests so far, working on that mini comic I did Bael Out I was able to do 7 pages in a week, with lots of free time to spare, compared to my usual 2 or 3 at best.

The next chapter going public is Chapter 6. The longest chapter yet, it will take 4 months for everyone to see it.

So, Here's my plan for those 4 months:

Try to get Chapter 8 done as quickly as I can while keeping the quality what I expect from myself. If the speed I'm currently at remains true, this should take 3 weeks maximum.

Take at least a month break. This should give me time to not get burnt out, work on other things, and any other things that need to get done.

Here's where I try to get ambitious. After that month break, I want to start working on Chapter 9.

If, and right now that's a big big "if"... If chapter 8 is done speedily, and chapter 9 follows and gets done in 3 weeks as well, I will consider doubling my update schedule to 2 pages a week for readers to see!

Right now, that double update schedule sounds scary. Last time I tried it, it didn't last. However, last time I tried this, I was not this fast at making comics.

I'm really being careful about this though! We'll see how the next 4 months go, because as I see it:

Working on two chapters will give me a good idea of what my speed actually is, if anything feels bad about it, I will keep the current 1 update a week schedule.

I'm promising to not push myself to stress. If I'm stressed and burnt out about doing this speed, then that totally defeats the purpose of the experiment, and I will keep the 1 update a week schedule.

And finally, if everything fails, and I do not get as much work done as I want, this whole experiment will still put me WAY ahead of schedule. Even if I only get partway through Chapter 9 during the 4 months, that's still abnormally fast for me, and I will be relieved to be ahead of schedule.

In summery: If all goes to plan, you'll get more comics at a faster rate. If it doesn't, I'll at least be way ahead of schedule and have lots of time to make the comics even better.

Wish me luck!

[eddsworld-the-masquerade]

a comeback, perhaps?

Yes, really. I’m not joking and I have three points:  1. I’m one inconsistent bitch with a brainrot;  2. I need my delusions and escapism cuz man do four blood-sucking dudes sound more in-reality than whatever the fuck is going on in the actual real world around me rn;  3. I forgot what was the third point. It’s all the more absurd given just in the summer of this year I was certain I wouldn’t come back to it any time soon. What can I say...life do be like that. A fun little story of its own, but I’ll leave it out of this post. For now, let me share with you what I’ve been planning, what’s staying and what’s changing and how I’ll be approaching this AU/blog this time around. 

So, to start off...

The 🅱️ has to go: 

While still set in Vampire the Masquerade (World of Darkness) universe, the renewed version of this crossover AU won’t have anything to do with Bloodlines video game. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bloodlines still very much, it’s the game with most of my replays and what got me into VtM in the first place. But also, it is restricting, trying to align everything with its small setting/scope and, let’s be honest, doesn’t make much of a sense. Eddsworld’s British, the hell are they all doing in America? XP 

The tag is now eddsworld vtm au, without the letter b. 

What else gets thrown out? 

Plot: Pretty much all of it. I came up with the biggest plot points and am currently rewriting the entire script. At its core it’s still “four dudes tolerate each other’s shenanigans to survive and later learn they kinda don’t feel like chopping each other’s heads off (friendship goals)” but the rest...out the window it goes. 

Setting: As I said earlier, it’s weird. So with the help of Fall of London V5 book and some other sources of info on London in VtM, I moved the cast back to where they belong. 

Characters and character writing: This one might surprise you, but I really, REALLY don’t like the way I did them back then. I can’t revisit old comics/the demo without cringing so hard my face breaks XD Fishmalk Edd gives me most pain if I’m being honest...

While I’m keeping the basest, the basiesest core (Edd being chaotic bastard Malkavian, Tom being mean and cynical Nosf, Matt being old-fashioned but also a rebel at heart Torrie, and Tord being far less infected with rabies compared to other modern Brujah) I’m changing lots of their characterization, backstories and relationships with each other as well. So don’t expect something you expected from their older versions.

The same goes for every other character, and I’m getting rid of some that don’t serve much purpose anymore.  

What’s in store? 

New script is in the process. And while it is slowly processing, I will be updating most pages on this blog: specifically “About” and “Characters”, with new relevant information and art. I have archived everything these pages contained, and I’ll put the link to the Google Drive folder up in the “About” page for anyone who wishes to look at the old stuff. I won’t be deleting any of the older posts on the blog though.

Update schedule?

Can’t promise one. Life’s hectic now as hectic can possibly get. I will update once there is an update, but please try to be considerate and don’t ask me “when”. I will most likely go on hiatuses from time to time but I will try to warn in advance if it’s going to take long. Overall, this passion project is just that, a passion project. Not my job. Not something that gives me anything but mental satisfaction. Not even a tip jar. I’m working alone, with occasional help from friends who are kind enough to proof read and brainstorm with me (Nina, Jazz, Engi, Hawa, long live you beautiful human beings). So all I’m asking is some compassion and understanding from all of you u_u If you can do it for me I’m sure it’ll take me longer to lose interest this time XD  Ask box stays closed for now, I’ll reopen it once I’ll update all the pages. 

That’s it for the moment! Stay tuned, if you’d like! 

[auspex]

Mark session recap!

As usual, there’s some things I won’t provide a lot of context for so please feel free to ask clarifying questions… to explain context this summary would be way 2 long and this game has been going on for longer than a year! Things in ‘scare quotes’ are close to the actual quote but I can’t ever remember them exactly. 

This was an individual session where a few things Mark was planning to do were resolved. 

The first one was bringing a lock and chain to JP so they could keep the memory sphere they were using locked away. Mark thought that this lock wouldn’t be super helpful if anyone was actually trying to get it but promised JP he’d bring it and so did it anyways. The sphere is essential for them to communicate without the influence of the blood bond. 

JP currently resides at an abandoned lighthouse on Mark’s territory. It’s a shithold, but there’s not another good place for JP to go - it’s quite far out of the way as well. As Mark enters, the first floor is pitch black; he has to navigate by flashlight. As he climbs the stairs he starts hearing periodic moaning (of pain y’all) and a banging sound. It’s hard to describe but it had a real nice horror ambiance :) 

When Mark opened the door to the second floor he saw JP had captured and tied up some anarch and was feeding from him. (Anarchs had been making inroads in Mark’s territory; Mark gave JP free reign to kill them). The sounds of pain were actually coming from JP… he was trying to heal the many injuries he had but it seems Julius had cursed him to feel pain when healing. So that sucks. The banging sounds were the legs of the captured anarch trying (hopelessly) to get away. 

Mark went back downstairs to let JP … finish. When JP returned, he thanked Mark (‘I haven’t been able to feed like that in a long time’) and told him to send more his way if he could. Mark said that it would probably happen without him putting too much effort into it. Mark then gave JP the chain and lock and expressed his concerns with it not helping much; JP said it was just to buy a little bit of time should someone come to get it. 

JP asked how Mark was doing with finding a way to resist blood bonds (without saying so directly) and Mark said he was working on it and should have an update soon. 

I can’t really describe it but the awkwardness of their interactions KILLS me. They both actually know some of what the other is going through but not because they’ve actually talked about it… just due to shared feelings within the memory sphere. They both are risking their lives together for a shared goal and they’ve known each other for 3 nights. Mark is, at this point, JP’s main hope and Mark knows it. JP is not Mark’s only hope but he sure is his best chance and he also knows he’s what he could become if Julius finds out about his betrayal. It’s like they could have intense intimacy but instead of a faked forced distance from each other it's great. The normal pleasantries and social niceties for someone you’ve known for less than a week yet you know their deepest traumas. Hello? It’s great. 

That’s the end of the JP content and the end of that night. When Mark goes home he emails Cassidy as they had already discussed seeing a movie together, and as well as this, Mark needs to ask Cassidy about getting access to books regarding resisting blood bonds (as Cassidy is in charge of the Chantry’s library at the moment). 

Their email exchange is as follows, and each time Cassidy replies within 5 minutes:

—

Good evening Cassidy,

We’ve previously discussed meeting to see a movie together. I would still like to do so and I’m reaching out to ask what evening would be good for you. Please let me know, I could pick you up from the Elysium station. 

Best regards,

Mark

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

Mark,

This Thursday night the theater I spoke to you about will be hosting a favorite of mine. My schedule will be open for most of the night up until 4:30am. It would be prudent for us to meet to discuss our investigation and to continue our important work together. Additionally, I would be able to continue my independent research at the theater with you there as well. I’ll be at the Chantry station at 11pm. 

Enjoy your evening,

Cassidy

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

Cassidy,

This works well. I will be there at 11pm and we can go from there.

Regards,

Mark

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

Mark,

Agreed.

Cassidy

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

Anyway… goddamn nerds that they are, the time is set for later in the week night. Mark does have some time beforehand that night, which is intentional, as Sampson is going to drop off Mark’s cat and Mark has some business at Elysium.

Group session stuff happens in the next few nights, but the night they had planned to meet, Cassidy had emailed just confirming. Mark replied they were fine, and Cassidy replied once again, just writing “Mark,

Excellent.

Cassidy”

Which is so funny. He’s just glued to his computer I guess and has to ge the last word!

Sampson arrives soon after with Mark’s cat. He tosses it on the table and the cat gives a low deep ‘meow’. Sampson says he wants to talk to Mark about things and Mark kind of cuts him off - he doesn’t consider the apartment a safe place to discuss the blood bond to Julius and breaking it. So they leave together, after Mark opens the crate’s door so the cat can start getting acclimated to the house. Mark tries to think of a good place to discuss these things - he is uber paranoid of people listening in - he considers a shitty motel but dismisses that thought. They end up renting a study room at a library. 

Sampson takes out handwritten notes and a vial from a bag he had. He explains that he had been talking to friends about these sorts of things. He says he has heard of the ‘vaulderie’ that breaks blood bonds, essentially replacing the old ones. (The info he has isn’t 100 percent accurate but Mark doesn’t know that). Mark recognizes it as a Sabbat term and asks how many kindred are required for it; Sampson isn’t sure but they both guess at least 3. Mark files away that information for potential future use but cannot think of 2 others that he would be willing to go through with it with, as well as this, breaking the bond at this time would likely result in his final death anyway. 

Sampon has one other lead and says ‘but you’re gonna have to trust me’. Sampson won’t or can’t say anymore, but basically he needs a vial of Mark’s blood for a friend. Mark tries to get more info but Sampson says he really can’t give more. Mark tells Sampson he’ll do it but to make him forget after. Sampson tells Mark “fuck you” just before making him forget lol. Mark thus forgets the vaulderie thing and Sampson has to explain it again; Mark also questions if something happened due to missing time but Sampson obviously isn’t telling and Mark isn’t going to press him.

So we’ll see if that has disastrous consequences, but at least Julius won’t be able to find out that Mark willingly gave blood to try to break the bond. 

On the drive back Mark asks if Sampson wants a car; Sampson would like one. Mark jokes that he could get *insert car they both thought was cool before* and Sampson says he hasn’t thought about that car in years. Mark kind of scoffs at the drama of it and says “like two years” and Samspon just comments that it feels like awhile ago. Geez dude. Anyway he’s gonna get that. 

Now he goes to Elysium, because he wants to talk to the Hound who was investigating his break-in to another Tremere’s lab. Mark has already gotten off scott-free, but because he had G (the gargoyle) help he wants to make sure the gargoyles don’t have further consequences too. 

There is more security at Elysium today; seems some important people are having a meeting. Mark doesn’t worry about that though, and tries to go to the Hounds’ offices (there is more than 1 hound in Detroit). He’s stopped by a guard, who ask his name and sire; Mark does say his sire’s name as he doesn’t feel Julius wouldn’t want him to and is allowed past. Nepo baby perks <3

He arrives at the Hound’s offices and hears music coming from inside; he knocks on the door and after the music is stopped and some shuffling around he is greeted by one of the Hounds who asks who he needs to speak to; Mark gives the name of the Hound who was doing the investigation who I forget the name of. 

The guy is pretending to be professional but Mark comments that they can turn the music back on and he doesn’t mind; they all give each other a look (it’s very funny) and they do so. It’s salsa music. Now that things have become more relaxed, Mark feels more comfortable talking to him. It’s clear the hound doesn’t really care about this particular investigation and Mark has him agree to take no further action (meaning he won’t report to the Reagent about the gargoyle’s transgressions) for just a minor boon in the future. YAY! Mission Accomplished. 

Mark then tries to leave so he can be on time for him and Cassidy meeting up. Unfortunately it looks like the Big Wigs had finished meeting and are leisurely making their way to the exit and Mark is not about to try to cross the guard’s line. It looks like all of the primogen, save Gaius, the Regent/tremere primogen, were meeting. Mark is able to notice blood one of their swords and on one of their boots. He can’t overhear the discussion but is able to make out the words “Basement” “River” “House” “Detroit”. This reminds him of the anarch house party Cassidy and him went to to try to find the Salubri, especially as the basement there was suspicious as hell, but Mark cannot be sure.

He hauls ass and is only 5 minutes late meeting Cassidy. At first he can’t find Cassidy but Cassidy pops up and they start pleasantries. Mark does tell him what he overhears; both of them think its good to know but there isn’t anything to be done at the moment. 

Mark tells Cassidy about how he lost a coterie member (Bernard) but has gained a new one! (Rodriguez). He does not mention how Rose left the country as Cassidy had just mentioned how having the childe of a primogen in their coterie is a boon politically, haha. 

Mark asks about Cassidy’s research and stuff but Cassidy actually doesn’t really want to talk about that unless Mark really really wants to; it seems he was just saying that over email to look professional since his emails are likely monitored. Instead he starts talking about the movie they are going to see “Man of the West” and how it is one of his favorites. Mark asks why and Cassidy says how, since he lived during the time it is intending to portray, he likes how ‘absurd’ it is, as well as how over the top it is, and how “masculine” it is. Which is an odd thing to say, for sure, but Mark isn’t about to comment. Cassidy says it is lucky that the theatre is playing this tonight. 

They arrive at the theatre and the girl at the ticket booth is clearly Kyle OOC, but Mark isn’t sure. Cassidy does what it seems he usually does which is tell the ticketbooth person to ‘forget’ so he can just walk in (he has no money) but it doesn’t work since it is Kyle.. Mark realizes it probably is Kyle and so pays.

Cassidy keeps his face neutral/pondering but I bet he was embarrassed that it didn’t work, haha. 

The theatre is mostly empty. Cassidy doesn’t want to talk during the movie obviously. He occasionally chuckles at scenes that are over the top. 

Now, this is a real movie. Earlier in it, the villain holds a knife to the protagonists throat, and threatens to hurt him should a woman not undress in front of him. Later, in the climax, the protagonist is fist fighting the villain and starts to take HIS clothes off, telling him to see how it feels. He actually does remove his shoes, shirts, and first layer of pants (he still has underclothes, it is a 50s movie after all.) But still. It’s a charged scene and there is homoeroticism throughout the movie, as in most cowboy movies. 

Mark is kind of surprised by this being one of Cassidy’s favorites and does sneak a glance at Cassidy, who is apparently glued to the screen and periodically chuckling. 

The movie ends and they start discussing it on their way back. Cassidy asks Mark if he liked it; Mark replies that he also found it absurd and funny even without the context Cassidy has. Cassidy asks what Mark’s favorite scene was; Mark says it was that final climatic fight scene. Cassidy replies that that scene was also one of his favorites and he liked the “poetic justice of the protagonist taking off the other man’s clothes”. 

Now, he clearly isn’t taking this movie seriously, so this comment comes out of left field and is a bit eyebrow raising. Cassidy asks what Mark liked about that scene and Mark hesitates. He replies that he thought it was surprising that he actually went and did it (taking off the other guys clothes) and he liked how they used the environment in the fight. 

Cassidy comments that using the environment in fights also happens in a lot of kung-fu movies, and that on Thursday’s the theatre has kung-fu night - Cassidy goes on to say they do show more than kung-fu martial art movies; it’s more like Asian martial art night. 

I forget how the conversation gets here but theres all sorts of interesting comments made and it culminates with Cassidy saying that the movie had many ‘undertones and themes’ he found interesting; Mark comments that lots of cowboy movies shared these themes and comments on how those are Cassidy’s favorites. Cassidy just says “indeed”.

He is Gay and testing the waters…….. Im normal. I didn’t do this conversation justice I was freaking out the whole time. 

Cassidy says how this was fun and how he hadn;t done anything like this in a long time. Then straight up tells Mark he should pick the movie next time. Mark thinks about it and suggests Top Gun. Due to the homoeroticism. Continuing to test the waters you see. Mark does say he doesn’t think its likely the theater is going to play it though because its a late 80s movie and Cassidy says he knows the owner and can have them play it. 

Which both me and Mark are internally like omg… he picked this movie for them to see together on purpose he lied about it being lucky… anyways…. . . . .

Cassidy is preparing to head down but then Mark nervously tells Cassidy he has to ask him something important, in a secure area. Cassidy says ok they can talk in the chantry and Mark has to explain no, really secure, like, and I hate to ask this, but your haven? Cassidy takes it seriously and says that he is free until 4:30am afterall so of course, they can talk. 

On the way to his haven Mark asks what the first movie Cassidy saw was and he explains it was a silent film projected onto a barn wall on a sheet, about a princess stuck in a tower. A knight tries to save her but falls due to his armor being too heavy and she remains stuck. Not a good end. I hope this isn’t foreshadowing anything. Cries. 

Mark and Cassidy arrive at Cassidy’s haven. Cassidy’s best friend Liliana is there as usual, Cassidy asks her to leave and she does so without too much issue. Cassidy got his new computer and TV set up and does something on his computer and Mark waits on the couch. 

After that Mark tries to not act as desperate as he is, and says he understands this might be a lot to ask, and that Cassidy saying no wouldn’t mean he doesn’t want to see movies with him anymore than anything, the timing just happened to work out this way. Cassidy nods. Mark continues and says that he needs access to books in the library off the record. Cassidy says he is initially open to this as he can see how important it is to Mark (rip Mark trying not to be desperate) but he would need to know the details before he can commit. 

Mark hesitates a lot but he does really need this, and so says its about resisting blood bonds. Cassidy agrees, and SHOCKINGLY to both me and Mark, does not ask for a boon. He comments that Mark ‘has been helping [me] a lot, even if not by totally by your own choice [referencing that he probably knows someone wants him to help his circle [[Julius does]]] and that his help has been critical’. Mark is super relieved and thankful. 

Cassidy says the books can be here tomorrow and he’ll bring them to his haven. Mark asks if they will be out of view of Liliana and Cassidy says that there isn’t a reason to be concerned with her seeing Mark replies “Cassidy, I am concerned about even you knowing” and then Cassidy gets more serious. He says “if discretion is that necessary, I would be a fool not to ask for more” and now he says Mark would owe him a boon. Cassidy doesn’t seem happy to ask this but Mark expected this and says as such. 

As they finish up Mark says “genuinely, thank you.” Cassidy replies “don’t be thankful yet. You don’t know what the boon is.” Which is a little scary but ok!

Mark goes home. The last thing that happens before the session ends is a cute interaction with his new cat, Bartholomew. He is a fuckin idiot cat and I love him.

He got lost in Mark’s apartment and so Mark listens for the meows to find him… somehow he got stuck in the air vent. The cat appreciates the catnip Mark got him but squirms when Mark tries to touch him, until Mark uses blush of life. Then he accepts Love <3 and Mark can pet his cat. Turns out Bartholomew is too stupid to be scared of kindred and just likes food. YAY! Mark had a GOOD NIGHT!

Here is Bartholomew:

His head is SO mfin empty. here is new jp art!: https://www.tumblr.com/blood-bound/732539471942287360/look-at-this-poor-motherfucker-ough-look?source=share&ref=_tumblr

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

Hello! It’s Winter! Just keep reading.. trust me!

“I want a divorce” she slammed her hand on his desk. “I am finished! You and I are done!”

He couldn’t believe what she was saying. After one lousy fight, his wife of 15 years wanted out of their marriage. The pure shock & pain from her statement was unimaginable.

Emmanuel sunk into his leather chair. Was Brigitte really going to give up on him? On them?

He knew she had been under a lot of pressure lately - they both have - but dissolving their marriage wasn’t the solution. They had taken sacred vows. For better or for worse. They promised to love each other until death parted them.

Now, she was throwing it all away.

“Bri -

She cut him off. “You can’t talk your way out of this one! I sacrificed everything to marry you. I upset everyone. My own family members turned on me. I divorced my children’s father FOR you”

Emmanuel’s heart sank. Listening to everything was the equivalent of being stabbed in the chest repeatedly. He wasn’t even sure how their current argument started. One minute they were discussing their daily schedule, the next she was throwing accusations in his face.

“And another thing” Brigitte kicked the leg of his office chair. “You never loved me, and that’s a fact! You’re incapable of human emotions. The only time you’re in love is when you’re looking in a mirror!”

He had heard enough. “Brigitte! That’s not true and you know it! I’ve loved you for over 25 years! I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I’ve been a wonderful and devoted husband, as well as a great father and grandfather to our children”

“Correction! MY children. You’re nothing to them. They won’t even miss you” Brigitte spat. “We’re better off without you in our lives”

After buttoning up her coat and slipping into her high heels, she hurried to the door. She needed to be far away from him.

“I’m going to my lawyer’s office right now. Be ready to sign. There will be no going back and forth. Give me what I want or I’ll sell you out to the tabloids. I’ll tell them all your deepest, darkest secrets. You’re a horrible husband… And an even worse human being”

After delivering the final blow, she slammed the door behind her.

Emmanuel bolted up, his heart racing out of his chest. He looked around the room but it was too dark to see anything. The clock on his iPhone indicated it was 3:32 am. He needed to breathe. His lungs felt heavy. All the oxygen had escaped.

“Cherie, what’s wrong?” Brigitte whispered. She had felt him stir next to her. “Why are you awake?”

With shaky hands, Emmanuel fumbled with his bedside lamp, failing a few times before eventually turning it on.

“Brigitte! You’re here!” He placed one hand over his heart while the other reached out to touch his wife. He had to make sure she was real.

She grew concerned. “Of course, I’m here. What’s going on?”

He snuggled up close to her. “I had a horrible dream. You…. You left me… and you said hurtful things. It was awful. Brigitte, it felt so real”

She rested her head on his chest and reassured him. “I’m not going anywhere. Trust me. You’re stuck with me, honey”

It took a few more minutes for his heart rate to settle back to normal. “I don’t know what I would do if you ever left me”

Sitting up, she kissed his lips. “I’m not leaving you. We made a commitment to each other. I love you, Emmanuel. Now, please, go back to bed.”

“Ok”. He planted a goodnight kiss on her nose. Eventually, he fell asleep possessively holding onto his wife.

He wasn’t letting her go. Ever.

Hellooo Winter! ❤️

Me going like “what the actual hell is going on” to “pheeewww it was just a nightmare”! Bless Manu, he got the scare of his life 🤧

Thank you so much, Winter! ❤️❤️❤️

[t3kandson]

I’ve not been well recently. Instead of writing a month in advance I’ve found myself writing right up to the scheduled published date hardly sleeping and feeling even more unwell.

I had set a target to get every member of my ult groups and ults fanfictions written and posted on their birthday. But this has become very hard to keep up as well as keeping myself healthy.

So I’ve decided to pause my work for now and not set deadlines.

I will continue to do bit by bit instead and post when finished. Rather then stressing and getting hardly any sleep to keep to date the birthday one-shots. Not even being able to focus on the requested or finish the sequels and other parts one one shots I’ve previously written.

I had spent most of this week writing The Boyz Lee Juyeon Player fourth part but in the rush I’ve felt it’s lacked the same fire then others parts. Instead of posting Friday a half hearted rushed story it deserves more then that.

So I won’t be fulfilling the schedule I set myself for this or Kim Byeongkwan Sequel to baby mama.

Though those two will be my priority instead I will write a list of Fanfictions I plan to write.

Giving me time to focus on Request’s Especially Cix Kim Yonghee & BTOB Lee Minhyuk. As well as the Second part of Monsta X Lee Hoseok & Yoo Kihyun’s Youth of No regrets.

Those members I didn’t write birthday fan fictions for I will get around to writing them. Which include

Oneus (it’s fanfiction so OT5 🤫) Kim Youngjo,

The Boyz Hyunjae

Monsta x Lee Jooheon

The Boyz Lee Sangyeon

The Boyz Ji Changmin

Ab6ix Park Woojin

Monsta X Yoo Kihyun

The Boyz Son Youngjae

BTS Kim Taehyung

Monsta X Lee Minhyuk & A.C.E. Kang Yuchan are Sequels I’ve already Plan to do eventually.

Sequels that I planned to finish will still be worked on as promised. But instead of working on order it will be what ever one I feel at the time. So it becomes the form of therapy that I once felt instead of a chore.

Obviously I’m still open to request but as always can’t guarantee when they will published.

Update 5/11

I've spent the last three months in and out of hospital as my health has declined. Hopefully this is temporary and will return once I start to pick up.

Edit **** I know Tags are currently playing up and will try my best to get them working.

So far ALL AB6IX, A.C.E, ATEEZ, BTOB, Blackpink, BTS, DKB, Elast, EXO, (G)I-dle, Got7, KNK, Kinktober 2022, & THE BOYZ Player & Learning Love series links are all fixed.

[lgcmilan]

birthday submit from @lgcxnoeul

If he needed a sign that their lives were changing, being unable to spend her birthday together since she had begun preparing for her group’s debut would be the sign. He had been at every birthday celebration since she turned one. Although, he didn’t have any memories from their toddler years besides the pictures their mothers kept neatly in photo albums, he could vividly recall every birthday since he turned five. It felt wrong to not be able to wipe frosting on her face, pretend to blow the candle before her, or tease her by disrupting the birthday song by saying her entire government name.

The time difference was tricky to coordinate when he could call her so he decided to spam her phone when the clock ticked midnight in Seoul and leave a voice audio with a promise to spend time with her when she came back from her trip. He didn’t know if he could keep that promise since her schedule was set in stone and he had his own schedule, but at least he could see her when the two would be rehearsing for the mini-series. He couldn’t get into her dorm either to drop off her gift, which meant he would have to tease her with it for now. He sends her a proof shot of her gift box, wrapped in a forest motif wrapping paper chosen by his mother. Inside the box, there was a hand crafted traveling tea set in Milan’s perfect shade of peach.

“Happy birthday, Milan! I’m always a year ahead of you, but sadly, I don’t have any wisdom to offer you this time. I hope you can create more memories and form deeper friendships with this gift. Thank you for being born and being my bestfriend.”

to say that nova was being kept busy feels like the understatement of the year to milan. there are just so many hours of sun in the day to get the outside shots right, and once that was done, the inside shots could go on literally until the next daylight shots. that hadn’t happened yet, thankfully, but should their shots not satisfy the director, this option isn’t off the table.

all that to say that milan wasn’t checking her phone when noeul’s spam happened. she also didn’t expect anything so early (time zones struggles). however, a couple hours before midnight on her side of the planet, she finally gets a hold of her phone and play noeul’s messages. 

the familiar words makes her smile while also tugging at her heartstrings. she’s reminded that he’s far away, that they both follow their own path, and this might keep them away at important moments like these. however, it wouldn’t make them drift apart. she refuses it. in this life and the next, they will be friends. 

“congratulations! your streak of being the first to wish me happy birthday continues!” she announces happily in her own return voice note (noeul should currently be asleep after all). “aah! i can’t wait to open the gift! should i wait for you to do it? oh right, i’ll be home on sunday, if you have time. it would be nice. nothing fancy, ‘cause i plan on being jetlagged” she chuckles.”anyway, thank you for everything, best friend. as always, i’ll wait patiently for your word of wisdom until the next year.”

[garyfckingoak]

Update Time!

Heya everybody, sorry I’ve been MIA for like...6 months now. I took a bit of a break from writing because I wasn’t in the proper mood to write, and I refuse to put out anything I don’t enjoy myself. Admittedly writing fanfic started feeling less enjoyable and less like a fun hobby and instead more like something I was pushing myself to continue doing bc it was expected of me, or because I needed to hit a deadline. I was also always chasing the success of my first fic, trying to get those views and likes and comments again (the interaction really motivates me tbh) but I never managed to recreate it, so that was also a bit discouraging. I totally understand it though, different stories and fandoms and stuff appeal to different people, and I’m sure my writing differs from fic to fic too in ways I myself can’t notice.

But anyways, it’s not meant to be a job with a deadline and responsibilities, at least not for me. I started writing as a hobby, it was something fun to do and a way to create stories that I myself wanted to see. And I want it to return to that, just me writing for fun, which is why I took such an extensive break.

I do plan to start writing again soon, and I do plan to finish those old projects (mostly because I can’t let things go, I mean they’re just sitting on my computer mocking me for fucks sake) but yeah. Things will come, slowly but surely. For now I’m not going to put any sort of time limit on myself or anything like that, if I feel like writing I will and if I don’t I won’t. All I can promise is that I will continue to write, but sadly life’s too busy to commit to an upload schedule like before unless I made it like monthly probably.

So yeah, that’s where I’m at currently. If you’ve read this far, thank you for your support, and I hope I can keep making stuff y’all like.

[jaxyacksprojects]

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Newsletter below the cut (worse formatting and lacking the embeds, but fine if you don't want to click a link):

Live Laugh Stuck

Latest Episodes

Missed a couple updates, so here’s what’s been going on!

We have our penultimate Rating Ship Names episode! I keep joking that by the end of the final one, I’ll have this whole audio/video editing thing down pat. And though I’m far from eager to make more visual heavy episodes (as I am not the hugest fan when podcasts I listen to switch to that), it’s a nice card up my sleeve for future projects.

Next we had our Live Q&A! Which ended up mostly being us chatting. It was fun for everyone to meet up in person! Definitely something I’d like to do again. Eventually I’m going to edit this for the podcast feed, but for now you can watch it on youtube! Nothing visual heavy, but Moosie did make us these cute little gifs!

After that, I accidentally skipped a week! We’ll just say that the live show (combined with the trailer I’ll get to in a second) was the content for that fortnight. Even if I haven’t gotten the live show up on the podcast feed yet. Whoops! But we course corrected and released at our normal time this week, more of our blind readthrough: Moosestuck!

Last but not least, the podcast finally has a new trailer! This ended up being a hit on tiktok, so hopefully y’all enjoy it as well!

Next Up

Two weeks from now we’ll have the final Rating Ship Names episode! I really enjoyed doing the series, and didn’t mind the editing as much as I made it seem (complaining is fun!), but I’m still glad to close the chapter on this project. I have other things I want to be doing that I’ve only barely been able to start before finishing this up! Which should have encouraged me to get it done more quickly, but, well, that’s ADHD for you lol

After that, we might focus on getting through more of Moosestuck while I work on other things, both LLS and not, but I don’t want to say anything for sure as of now.

Jax Elsewhere

I’ve started streaming every Saturday at 11 am cst on Twitch! Currently playing through Dragon Age Inquisition in preparation for The Veilguard coming out this fall! Doing a Solas romance for Extra Feels. I haven’t decided if I’ll stream TV and just up the schedule or do a personal playthrough, but my aim is to keep streaming every Saturday morning, even when I’m done with Dragon Age. It’s something that I’ve been meaning to do for a while, partially as encouragement to get through my vast Steam backlog, so keep an eye on it! And let me know if there’s anything I can do to improve the stream!

Other Upkeep and News

My first Tumblr blog has remained terminated with no communication from Tumblr despite my many attempts to reach out, and in the meantime, my second blog got terminated as well. I had one that I made as a back up and hadn’t used yet, so go check out Jax Yacks Projects if you prefer to keep up to date on Tumblr! My hope is since I’m only using it for projects and other non-personal side blogs, I won’t get nuked again, but we’ll see! I haven’t updated all the links in the show notes, though — it’s on my list of projects.

Links! Click them!

This is where else you can find me on the web! At least some of the places lol If you check out nothing else, come join the Discord! It’s still small, but there’s been a bit more regular activity, and Domi, Justin, and Moosie are all in it as well! It’s also more consistently updated than these newsletters, though I have plans in motion to try to keep this more regular.

Projects Discord Main Website with all project links Live Laugh Stuck Website Ko-fi Live Laugh Stuck Twitter Live Laugh Stuck Tiktok

Poetry Corner

Prompt: “Perhaps it is genetic.” Generated here.

It's cliche The promise to never be like them Which parts we reject Which we ignore

It's ingrained We can never know their whole The parts we never saw The parts just like ours

It decays Does the promise remain unbroken? Can we stop the repetition? Is this a cycle or self-fulfillment?

[words-after-midnight]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! 

I’m taking this opportunity to catch up with my writeblr friends. What are you working on right now? What stage is your WIP in? How is it going? What are your plans for the future?

Basically, take this as an excuse to ramble about your writing.

Let me use this one to share some Life in Black and White updates, since that's the only WIP I'm actively working on right now.

So as most of you know I'm preparing to query libaw, which has come to involve some restructuring of the story to decrease the word count, address some critiques beta readers pointed out, make the book more "marketable" in ways that don't affect the core story (eg. trying to keep chapters under 5K each and converting to a full, alternating dual timeline structure), and - most importantly - resolving some loose plot threads and issues I've had but been unable to figure out how to address for years. This has definitely backed up my planned querying schedule, but it's going very well so far.

For Act I I'm completely through 17 chapters (of 27), barring a final consistency read once the whole manuscript is ready. The other 10 are mostly shorter chapters that in most cases involve partial rewrites/new scenes (most of which are in progress) and some supplementary research due to a change in a major plot point that resolves some issues I had and imo makes the story much stronger. My word count is currently 52,548 (including finished scenes from incomplete chapters) - so it will probably need to be trimmed a little bit once I'm done, but this is already worlds more promising than what I had before.

Act II is a bit trickier because I'm still in the process of figuring out how to make the dual timeline structure work properly with my progressive reveals in that act, but a lot of the individual scenes are pretty much done barring final line edits. I can give a more detailed progress report on Act II once I finish Act I.

Plans for the future: querying, getting my own printed copy of libaw's final manuscript as a present to myself for finally finishing my edits, finally writing something that isn't libaw without having to come back to it constantly.