#still wonder who would entrust their second son to a 'monster' though

[ireallylikejonouchi]

𝙽𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚑𝚢𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠

Written and drawn by Shiibashi Hiroshi, Nurarihyon no Mago is a manga series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump with 210 chapters, 25 volumes. It’s about a Japan that has a massive Yokai underbelly, consisting mostly of yokai yakuza clans that run certain parts of Japan. The protagonist, Rikuo Nura, is the third heir of the Nura clan, kingpin of Kanto. His grandfather is the legendary Lord of Pandemonium, the yokai Nurarihyon, but Rikuo is only a quarter yokai, having a half-human father and a full human mother. As a child, Rikuo thinks yokai are the coolest thing, but his classmates mock him for this, not believing that they exist, and finding it even weirder that someone could admire them. Rikuo is told that it is his destiny to take on this role, and that he cannot live a human life. Hearing stories about evil yokai who enjoy making humans despair, Rikuo decides that yokai are terrible and he wants nothing to do with them. When Rikuo’s classmates are attacked by some rebellious yokai from the Nura clan, who are unhappy about their new leader being a quarter-human child, Rikuo awakens to his yokai blood and transforms in order to defeat them. He decides here that he will become the third heir in order to subdue yokai that would bring terror to humans with his “Fear,” the power system of the series.

With the synopsis out of the way, from this point on there will be spoilers. Be wary. I’ll try my best to spoil only what’s necessary in order to get my point across.

The beginning of this manga takes its time setting up character dynamics with short story arcs, as well as establishing what the yokai of the world are truly like with various examples of opinionated yokai antagonists. Some consider it boring, and I can understand why, but I think it pays off very well. The characters are incredibly likeable and fun. Even the ones that don’t have very much development are still a joy to see on the page when they show up. Rikuo himself is simultaneously a complicated character and a very easy character to follow. The first chapter takes place a couple of years before the second one, and his childish judgement to go from worshiping yokai to hating them is intentionally so. The story is about his growth. Rikuo is told that he must take on this role, he denies, but eventually accepts under his own terms, and for his own reasons. This ultimately sets up what his character arc will end up becoming, as one of his final conflicts at the end of the story sees him battling against another half-yokai, Abe no Yoshihira, who believes it is his duty to follow his evil father’s plan because of his "cursed” mixed blood. Rikuo doesn’t simply reject this title, but he also doesn’t accept out of obligation. He accepts this as an opportunity to bring about change. The change he wants slowly evolves from protecting humans to bridging the social gap between human and yokai so that they may find peace together. Fate shouldn’t be fought against or ignored, but you must make whatever you can out of it. Rikuo feels that connecting human and yokai is something only he can do as a half-yokai, so he feels a responsibility to carry this out, yet it is also what he truly believes in and wants. He is a leader because he was graced with the opportunity to bring about a better world. Your fate is only what you perceive it as. The final villain Abe no Seimei believes that human and yokai are fated to be at odds forever, and that influences his evil plan to purify the world. Both are believers of fate to some extent, the message isn’t something as simple as “defy fate” or “there is no fate,” which I appreciate. This manga is very good about exploring all facets of the themes it presents, which I will give more examples of shortly.

The power system is an interesting one. To quote the wiki, “ Osore (畏, Fear) is the term that denotes the unique skills and traits of each yōkai. It refers to the "fear" of the unknown, an emotional reaction produced when the yōkai represent themselves as "monsters". As yōkai first existed as creatures who induce fear in humankind, the general concept of "fear" revolves around being feared and respected by humans and making them feel small and weak. It involves exerting a wall of pressure to make one's presence feel larger than the actuality. When done correctly, this also creates a change in the mood and surrounding air - as seen whenever a dense fog appears when a Hyakki Yakō gathers in the series. Itaku states that Osore only applies to scaring humans.“ Fear is an inherently negative word, especially when associated with demons. However, Rikuo is proud of his fear, despite scolding yokai who scare humans. Fear in this manga is not quite so black and white. Rikuo’s form of fear is reverence, admiration. He considers this to be a form of fear, and he is indeed proud of the awe he is able to inspire within his followers as well as his enemies. Rikuo is able to use a power that comes only thanks to his human side, letting a yokai haunt his humanity while keeping control with his yokai half, performing Equip and gaining that yokai’s powers, but only if they entrust themselves to him. It is the ultimate representation of the Fear that Rikuo believes in. For the core power system of the series to have such a double meaning about it speaks to the coming complexities, and it is incredibly fitting for this story, as I hope to convey.

Fate, lineage and connection to history are the main themes of this manga. Many of the characters in the story are tied to tradition before it starts, and have to be brought out of that by Rikuo and his progressive mindset. One’s blood is used to portray this theme in an interesting way. Rikuo’s father, Rihan, describes him as a symbol of hope for the future. Rihan longed for a world where human and yokai could get along, yet he came into constant conflict with both evil yokai and evil humans, as his son Rikuo would soon come to do as well. Rikuo loved his father, and carries on his dreams. However, similar to his “fate” of leading the clan, his respect for his ancestors is well-informed by his individual beliefs, and not from any kind of feeling that he MUST do what his ancestors wished. Abe no Yoshihira failed here, becoming a slave to his perceived fate. Hagoromo-gitsune, the main antagonist of the Kyoto arc as well as Abe no Seimei’s mother, was tied to her blood relations as well. She did everything for her son, who was soon to be reborn again into this age. She had her own image of an ideal world, erasing humans and making a world full of yokai, but she didn’t consider her child’s ideals, which she could have presumed from Seimei’s suffering he received when both human and yokai betrayed him. Seimei is born and casts Hagoromo-gitsune into hell, declaring that he will purify all life from the world, as neither human nor yokai can be trusted. Abe no Seimei is the agent of fate, declaring that all living things on Earth have doomed themselves to a fate of death thanks to their own horrible and greedy nature. Abe no Seimei is a half-yokai himself and he has found solace from neither of those sides. Rikuo, however, does not give up. He equips himself with the true fear of this reality that places him in-between two worlds, unable to fully enjoy life as a human or a yokai, refusing to resign himself as Seimei did, and instead fighting against the fate Seimei enforces by bringing together humans and yokai, including Hagoromo-gitsune, in order to seal the final blow against him.

You may be wondering what it means that Rikuo was able to finish off Seimei by fusing with his mother. Well, you see, Hagoromo-gitsune is sort of, in a way, Rikuo’s mother as well. You see, before Rihan had a child with Rikuo’s mother, he was married to another woman, Yamabuki-otome. For context, Abe no Seimei is a man who reincarnates throughout generations, as does his mother, Hagoromo-gitsune. Some time after Yamabuki-otome’s death, Seimei used her to take revenge on Rihan for disrupting his plans, by reviving her as a child and turning her into the host of the yokai Hagoromo-gitsune, sending her with false memories and subliminal orders to kill the man she loved when she was alive. Once she had killed Rihan, her human self hid itself away in despair and Hagoromo-gitsune was able to take control of her body for good. In modern times, after being cast into hell by Abe no Seimei, she is revived by Nurarihyon in anticipation for the final battle. After encountering Rikuo and his burning feelings in Kyoto, she had regained her human memories before being struck down by Seimei. Upon her most recent revival, she found she had feelings for both Rikuo and Seimei, and considers both to be her children. She regrets that her feelings for Seimei had ended up being met with treachery, and she goes to confront him. When she hears his full plan, she decides to do kill him herself, though she fails. She feels it her duty as a mother to make up for not understanding his suffering earlier, as it’s now too late to reason with him. Hagoromo-gitsune’s progression comes from her ability to find love for her yokai followers, considering them to be her children all the same as Rikuo and Seimei, and learns that she should have seen this love all along rather than being blinded by her obsessions with her blood son. Once again, she values her children and the blood she shares with them, but she is only able to find happiness when she realizes that the feelings she has for them don’t have to be restricted to only them simply because they are her kin, and similarly she does not need to follow Seimei’s plan just because she thinks it’s what a mother “should” do. Fusing with Rikuo is the culmination of this. While Rikuo is technically her kin, as Seimei is, we see through her arc that she has matured and learned to spread her love. So even though without context it would seem that she simply went from one child to the other, we can see the complexities of this and see how it relates to Rikuo’s arc, accepting something not out of obligation, but from your own will. 

By coming to a true understanding with the woman that Abe no Seimei had discarded, his mother, and her doing the same, an act that seemingly defies their fates (Rikuo’s fate to be a cold yokai ruler and Hagoromo’s fate to be a slave to her child’s whims), they’re able to defeat him and sever fate itself.

The Hundred Stories Clan Arc is one that I really appreciate for showing me how truly interesting Rikuo was as a character. I hadn’t realized it up to that point, and it’s clear why. His characterization and progression is subtle. The text doesn’t tell you how Rikuo grows, the art and his actions do. When humanity told of Rikuo’s half-yokai status is convinced that he must be killed for the safety of Japan, Rikuo is forced to face the fact that the humans he wants to protect are not perfect, and have as many imperfections as yokai do. Humans can be greedy, they can do horrible things when they’re afraid. In a backstory, the leader of the Hundred Stories Clan is shown to be a despicable human from Japanese history named Sanmoto Gorozaemon, who takes control of yokai to secure his political and social power, and turns himself into a yokai in order to secure that power. When a member of his clan is assaulted by humans who don’t care about the harm they’re causing, some of them even reveling in it, through facial expressions we can see him struggling with the thought of killing these humans to end the conflict, or out of revenge possibly. Shiibashi leaves this to the reader’s interpretation and it works wonders, he has no internal monologue relating to this feeling and nobody points out that he seems crazed or anything. It’s some panels that you could easily miss if you’re reading too fast.

In this panel, we are shown his reaction to a female yokai appearing and tormenting the humans that were tormenting him and his clanmate just moments ago. Even when he showed such rage at the humans, seemingly almost snapping, he decides he needs to stop the yokai from killing them. However, the expression on his face conveys perfectly how complex his emotions are over this. Despite how confidently he’s saying he needs to save them, his face almost looks like he doesn’t want to. Of course, he overcomes this and saves them for the sake of his dream.

It’s clear to see the moral dilemma he’s going through and it’s conveyed entirely through art and subtext. This is confident storytelling, and not to mention incredible artistry. Shiibashi has a certain maturity and respect for the reader that is hard to find in Shonen Jump manga sometimes.

Rikuo’s fight against the yokai artist Kyosai in this arc is notable for being similar to what I just described from the beginning of the arc.

Kyosai has an interest in turning human women into yokai using his painting techniques, including one of Rikuo’s classmates. Enraged, Rikuo engages him in combat with his newly acquired Attack Mode, which switches his Fear from a defensive technique to an offensive one, and changes his hair from white with black underneath it to having half of his hair being black on one side and the other being white. As the fight progresses, Rikuo is continuously injured and decomposed by Kyosai’s abilities, burning his flesh and scarring Rikuo black.

Rikuo’s deteriorating mental state during this arc is conveyed visually through his design, with both the way he is inked as well as his literally evolving design, his new transformation. He’s never had to confront these kinds of humans and yokai before. This leveling of suffering is new to our middle school-aged protagonist. After Kyosai is defeated, his momentary rage subsides but he is still scarred, physically and mentally. Encho, the acting leader of the Hundred Stories Clan, betrays Sanmoto’s reincarnated brain for personal gain, confusing Rikuo who is already in a fragile mental state. He struggles to comprehend the enemy, as he had been forced to face humans that he wanted to protect, yokai that despised those humans, and even his own best friends. Once again, exclusively visually conveyed and up to interpretation.

At the end of this arc, he accepts the help of his friends, his aide Yuki-Onna, and equips with her, washing himself of the stress he’s in and covering him in a beautiful veil of ice. His design goes back to normal in order to show this, and get across just how much his friends mean to him, in a truly impactful way that really strengthens the theme by giving real weight to his connection with both his yokai and human lives.

Every arc is strong in its own way, I simply wanted to discuss the few that best show what I’m trying to say. I hope you now understand why I love this manga so much and why I think you should read it. I promise the things I’ve spoiled here are only a fragment of the whole experience, and your appreciation will only grow as you experience the full context by reading the manga. If I got across what I wanted to, then you understand that this manga cannot be explained as much as it can be experienced. There are probably more things that I never noticed, maybe you’ll discover those before I do.

This manga is an ode to the future, to humanity. We can overcome our differences and coexist. Perhaps all it takes is for one person to take the fear that we as people feel in our daily lives onto themselves. The fear that there can never be change, the fear that our road only ends in sadness. The fear that our history defines us. The fear that we must conform to our duty. The fear that accepting a duty strips us of individuality. The fear that we can never bring these conflicting aspects of our mind together and find inner peace. The fear that we can never bring the conflicting aspects of people together and find true peace amongst ourselves. Not many people can overcome that fear, but he who is truly strong is he who equips that fear. He who takes that uncertainty of the future and uses it to empower himself and push for that change he wishes to see. This review is my ode to the man who was able to understand what makes people who they are and didn’t let that fear consume him. The man who equips true fear. Thank you for reading.

[somedayonbroadway]

aaa hii! i was wondering if you could do the hercules au, please? thank youuu 💕

Hello, friends! This is an AU based off of @racetrackhigg original Mood Boards that you can find right here!

Hercules AU

Characters

Spot Conlon — Hercules

Racetrack Higgins — Megara

Jack Kelly — Phil

William Snyder — Hades

Morris Delancey and Oscar Delancey — Pain and Panic

Also, DeMarius Copes is all of the Muses. He just is.

So…

We are basing this off of the Disney rendition of Hercules, for the most part, even though their telling of this tale is very much modified for younger viewers. I mean, who are they kidding? The Greek Gods aren’t the loving, family friendly types that Disney tried to trick us into thinking they were when we were children, but it’s fine. We’re gonna roll with this, maybe change a little bit of it. And it is going to take place in modern day (excluding quarantine, because in fantasy worlds, worldwide quarantines don’t exist) because, why the heck not?

Back when the world was new, the planet earth was down on its luck. Chaos reigned and earthquakes and volcanoes ran amok. But then along came Zeus.

Ya’ll know the song.

There’s a party on Olympus, one of great importance. A son has been born to Zeus and Hera. A son they’ve named Hercules. Every single God shows up to celebrate the child’s birth and congratulate the ruling couple of Olympus who is adored by all but one; Zeus’s brother Hades.

Despite typically never leaving his kingdom, Hades has made a special exception on this joyous occasion to meet his new nephew, a new golden boy who is showered in gold and glitter already, although only having been born the day before. Zeus had even fashioned the child his very own flying horse, which he calls a Pegasus. Everyone adores the child and Hades dismisses him, looking disgusted at his very existence.

See, Hades knew something that the other gods didn’t. Hades just so happens to be great friends with the fates. He had a meeting with them prior to this celebration he had never intended on going to. The sisters explained to him that the great plan he’d been wielding could be successful, that one day the planets would align, making way for his rule over Olympus and then Earth. There was only one problem.

Hercules.

That fateful day when those planets aligned would be eighteen years from that very night. Hercules’s eighteenth birthday. And on that day, should Hercules fight, Hercules would win.

Hades saw only one solution. If there was no Hercules, there was no fight.

On Olympus, Hades has all eyes on, giving his two right hand men the opportunity to hide on the great mountain and wait out until nightfall where they would steal the child and force him to drink a potion that would make him mortal.

That night, chaos erupts among the Gods and Zeus cries, sending a storm down onto Earth as Hades men carry out his plan, taking the baby down to the land below and forcing the potion down his throat, knowing that he must drink every last drop to become truly mortal so that they can kill him.

Unfortunately for them, a young couple comes running when they hear a baby cry. The two henchmen drop the potion before the child can finish it and shapeshift into snakes before going to bite the kid and kill him. Having not drunk the whole potion, however, Hercules held onto the strength he’d been born with and was able to protect himself from the two monsters, sending them slithering back to their master.

He then gets taken in by the couple who’d been praying for a baby that they were unable to have. They claim him as their own and name him Sean. Sean Conlon.

The occupants of Mt. Olympus are crushed at the news of their prince becoming mortal. Still, they carried on, watching as their Hercules was raised from afar in a city that never slept, one he grew up to adore. Brooklyn, New York.

Growing up for young Sean, however, was anything but easy. With a physical strength he couldn’t begin to understand or control, he seemed to make a mess anywhere he went. People were wary of him. Kids his own age didn’t like him and he so he didn’t like them. He closed himself off from the world and hid himself away, only entrusting his parents with the fear that he didn’t belong there, that he was too different. It was beginning to get to the point that people were truly frightened of him and his abilities.

Sean didn’t have any friends. He didn’t have a phone. He didn’t need one. He didn’t have anyone to talk to. Girls would sometimes get flustered when they saw him because of the muscles he seemed to get from nowhere, but the second they realized he was the freak he was, they ran the other way. Sean didn’t mind. He could never look at the girls the way the first looked at him.

Eventually, while accompanying his father downtown, he destroys an entire building. He doesn’t understand what’s wrong with him. So his parents finally came clean. They admit to him for the first time how they found him, how he was all alone and already had these abilities that they didn’t understand. He asks them why they never told him and they don’t have an answer. They can only offer him a small necklace that had been around his neck when they’d stumbled upon him, one written in Ancient Greek. One that Sean can read, having never read Greek in his life.

It says Hercules.

Running off, feeling scared and alone and so confused, Sean finds himself wandering into the woods where he is met by a man wearing a white suit with a golden tie. The man claims to be Zeus, his father.

Initially laughing at this, Sean tries to leave, but is pulled back by an invisible force as Zeus takes him in, studying his face for the first time in nearly eighteen years. He looks happy to see him and tells Sean what happened, how he had been stolen from his home and in order to return, needed to prove himself to the gods. Sean is still a bit skeptical until Zeus whistles for a horse to come out of the shadows.

It isn’t until Sean sees Pegasus that he thinks there might be some truth to this man’s story. All his life he’d been obsessed with what he’d thought was a mythical creature. He’d made drawings of it, studied their mythology, had even learned to ride horses when he was young.

Pegasus missed him.

While reuniting with his old friend, Zeus tells Sean of a man he needs to meet in order to ensure his return to Olympus, where he belongs. He described the man as the son of a demigod, one who trains heroes and teaches them how to hone their skills and use them for the greater good. So Sean takes Pegasus up into the air, going to seek out this man, Jack Kelly.

When he manages to find the man’s apartment with Zeus’s help, he lands Pegasus down on the roof and knocks on the man’s apartment door.

The man is less than willing to open it up for him.

Jack tells him to go away, obviously not much of a people person. But Sean persists, finally calling out that he needs help and that Jack was the only one who’d be able to do such a thing.

Recognizing this desperate plea, Jack reluctantly opens up the door, asking what Sean wanted. To Sean’s surprise, the man is very young, probably only five years older than himself. When Sean admits he needs someone to teach him how to be a hero, Jack tells him that he’s closed for business and would never reopen.

That’s when Sean begs him for help, claiming to be the son of Zeus. He explains that he never fit in on Earth and needs Jack’s help to make it to Olympus. Jack has the same reaction Sean had to the news. He laughs, not believing it. Not until he hears lightning crackle outside.

With no other choice than to believe him, Jack tells Sean that he’s not the first kid that had come knocking on his door. Jack explains, while painting a picture of a girl that lives in the apartment across from him that he’s fallen madly in love with despite never having spoken to her, that his father assigned him with the task of training new heroes and keeping them safe on their quests and adventures, something Jack loathed greatly as he wished to have his own life and go on adventures. However, after one hero in training had been reckless and stupid, a demigod, son of Ares, he’d died, making his father angry.

Jack had been cursed after that day. He can’t die. He can’t age. Most people would consider immortality a blessing, but Jack explains that it’s not a blessing when he’s been trapped in New York City, unable to leave as there were invisible barriers specially catered to keep him inside. He’d always dreamed of running away and seeing the world, and it was as though that dream was being dangled right in front of him, just out of his reach. He’d been stuck in an endless cycle of nothingness for years and he didn’t want it to get worse. But Sean makes Jack a deal. If he were to train him, he’d ask his father to lift Jack’s curse and allow him to continue aging and growing like normal while also being able to see the world.

So Jack agrees, still skeptical, but slightly hopeful. He tells Sean that they would begin the next night in the woods where Sean had met Zeus and he better not screw this up for either of them.

To Jack’s surprise, Sean is a much better hero than he’d originally thought. He admires the boy’s strength and endurance and constantly tries to push Sean to his limits to see how much he can take. He never found a breaking point. He teaches Sean how to use a sword as well as a gun, he trains him mentally and physically for every situation he can. He explains that his own strong suit is knife throwing and archery. Sean begins to look up to Jack and treat him more as a friend than anything else. He likes Jack. Jack is the first person who didn’t go running the second he’d walked into a room.

So after weeks of training and testing, Jack tells Sean it’s time for the real deal. They’re gonna go see what Sean can do in the real world to help real people. Sean asks how they’re gonna do that and Jack replies with “Have you eva’ walked around New York?”

They begin to explore, trying to find any kind of trouble they can until they stumble onto an alley where a young man, about Sean’s age, is struggling to get away from an older guy who’s literally pinning the kid to the wall. Jack tries to help Sean come up with some kind of plan before Sean just runs off, leading Jack to resign himself to the fact that he’s doomed and his curse will never be lifted.

Sean goes in and demands the man get off only to find that when the man turns around, he’s got three eyes and a snake's tongue. Sean pulls out a knife only for the kid to tell him that he can handle himself, calling Sean “Wonder Boy” before the monster in front of him throws him to the ground and punches Sean in the stomach, sending him flying back into a wall. Jack can only watch from afar, not allowed to help any hero in his battle.

The monster turns back to the boy who tries to scramble away. It is clear to Sean that the monster is trying to take advantage of the kid sexually. So he steps back up, plunging his knife into the monster’s back before picking him up and throwing him into the opposite wall. He then scoops the boy up into his arms and rushes him over to Jack.

Jack immediately tries to check the kid over to make sure he’s okay, but the boy just seems mildly annoyed, making sarcastic comments about how The Incredible Hulk over there just saved a damsel in distress while he watches Sean fight the monster with the hell of Pegasus who helps him kill the thing.

Realizing that this other boy was genuinely concerned for him, the blond kid softens just a little as Sean walks back over to him. He introduces himself as Antonio, or Race as his friends call him. At least they would, if he had any. He calls Sean a variety of flirtatious names as he thanks him, including “Spot” because of Sean’s freckles. Spot introduces himself as Sean Conlon, or Hercules as he’d been named by his godly father. He offers Race a ride to anywhere he wants to go on Pegasus, but Race refuses, admitting that he’s terrified of heights and is a big boy that can take care of himself, but still thanks Spot for coming to his rescue.

Sean falls a little bit for him much too quickly and much too easily before Race gives him a wink and a wave and walks off, seemingly fine.

Jack then tells Sean how stupid he is before leading him off further into the night and forcing Sean to listen to him even though the boy’s mind clearly kept drifting off to the mysterious stranger he’d just met.

Meanwhile, Race is off to the woods where he is met by two young men he refers to as Morris and Oscar and Hades himself, who is wearing a grey suit and a blood red tie. Morris and Oscar force Race to bow to the god after the boy initially doesn’t. Race fights all the way until Hades snaps his fingers and forces him to submit, having full control of the boy’s body anytime he wants it.

The king of the underworld asks Race why he doesn’t have the monster that he had requested an audience with by his side and Race explains that the monster made him an offer he had to refuse. Hades takes the boy by the chin. He loves to manhandle Race whenever he can, reveling in the fact that the kid would fight back against his hold only to have nowhere else to go. He tells Race that instead of removing two years from his sentence, he’ll be adding two on. In attempts to save himself, the kid blames the stranger who’d saved him, calling him Hercules.

Morris and Oscar, the shapeshifters originally responsible for the murder of Hercules, pale at this as their master burns with rage. Hades demands to know what happened after his servants lied to him only to turn to Race and tell him that he still had use for him. Race rolls his eyes, still defiant after nearly three years. Still, he has no choice but to do as he’s told.

A couple of days after rescuing Race from the ally, Spot and Jack are once again exploring the city, trying to find more trial runs for Sean, who Jack has taken to calling “Spot” to tease him. Spot’s doing rather well, especially considering he hadn’t died yet. So Jack is ready to start getting him attention before they hear a commotion in front of them.

Race rushes towards them, near in hysterics. He is relieved at the sight of Spot and begins begging him for help, stating that two little kids got trapped under a collapsed overpass. Without even waiting for Jack’s help, he whistles for Pegasus who reveals himself to the world in broad daylight and Race hesitates, still terrified of heights, but Spot grabs him and puts him on the back of the flying horse, asking him where to go. Race clings to him as he screams out street names.

Jack is understandably annoyed at being left behind and is forced to run in order to meet them at their destination.

Meanwhile, Spot lands Pegasus and Race crumbles to the ground, nearly vomiting as his entire body is trembling from being up so high.

Spot manages to get two small children to safety and does not stop them as they run off, unbeknownst to him, right to Hades.

Race crawls over to a nearby wall to support himself as he catches his breath and silently prays for Spot to get out of there while he still can.

A crowd gathers nearby, applauding Spot as they’ve just witnessed his heroism. Jack runs up to find Spot unsure of what to do. Before Jack can help him a hiss falls over the crowd. He pales before trying to scream at Spot to get out of the way, but the minute he reaches for Spot’s sword, his hand is burned. He’s not allowed to help.

So Spot grabs his own sword, turning around to find a monster rising from the fallen overpass. Jack recognizes it as a Hydra. Spot just starts swinging at it. After cutting off one head, he believes the fight to be over only for the thing to grow back with two other heads at its sides.

Race can do nothing but watch as Spot is nearly beaten and eaten alive by this monster he’d lured him to. He is horrified at himself, finding that he actually likes Spot. The guy is sweet and loyal, but Race knows he can’t fall for him. He knows he can’t.

Spot continues cutting the Hydra’s heads, even as Jack yells at him to stop.

Hades is watching from afar with a grin on his face. He is ready for the Hydra to kill the only thing standing between him and his eternal rule, but Spot manages to burn the monster alive, effectively killing it.

Race is relieved at that and barely manages to hide a smile as he saunters back up to Hades who is furious at the turn of events.

After this, Spot is made famous throughout the world, having been on camera whilst fighting the Hydra. He is asked for interviews, he’s given money, he’s made a hero in the eyes of the public.

This goes on for months.

Spot revels in the light of being the main attraction after being an outcast for so long. Jack is annoyed with him, but sticks by his side as his own life depends on it. Eventually, Jack just starts to roll along with it all as it becomes more and more stressful for Spot to keep up with his own fame as he continues his training and continues fighting monsters. It becomes abundantly clear to Jack how protective he’s becoming over the younger boy and he doesn’t like it, so he gets harder on Spot and pushes him further, only tiring Spot out faster.

Race watches every minute of it, finding himself enthralled by the man who’d saved him all those nights ago.

Hades, however, is not happy in the least. His two servants have given up and his slave is falling for the boy who would be his undoing. Race teases him smugly, telling him that he might as well accept defeat. This just makes the god even more angry. So Hades orders Race to find him a weakness. Race laughs at him.

So Hades reminds him why he’s there in the first place. He retells the boy the story of a child, a merely fourteen years old runaway who’d fallen in love with another, three years older than him. When the elder boy had tried to prove himself to the gods, he’d gotten fatally wounded and Hades had come to collect him. Unable to cope with the loss of his love, the child who knew nothing about the gods or love, for that matter, begged and pleaded for the god of death to take him instead. The god accepted, letting the not-so-heroic-hero live in exchange for the other boy’s soul for the next hundred years. Finding out what the young child had done, the resurrected hero ran off, finding another to worship the ground he walked on while the boy who’d given everything to save him rotten in possession of Hades, the cruelest god there was.

Race insists that he remembers and that he’d learned his lesson and would not be making the same mistake twice. So Hades hands Race a cellphone with a picture of Spot on it and explains to him as though he were a child that all he needed was to know what Spot’s weakness was. Race does not respond. So Hades leans in close to his ear and promises Race the one thing he craved above all else in exchange for this simple task.

His freedom.

Race drops the phone at the words, having never expected to hear them outloud. So he does as he’s told.

Back with Spot and Jack, Jack is trying to work out Spot’s schedule while Spot wallows alone in his mansion after speaking to his father in the forest again. His father tells him that he has not yet proved himself worthy and must still remain on earth.

Breaking into the giant house, Race finds Spot who is relieved to see him after so long. He asks Spot if he wants to get out of here. Spot is hesitant, because he’s supposed to meet with Jack for training, but Race convinces him to take a night off and run away with him.

And Spot can’t say no.

Exploring the city, Race flirts with Spot and Spot is the perfect gentleman, only making life so much harder for Race who wishes that this boy could’ve just been a jerk who deserved all of this. Spot buys him flowers and makes him laugh and makes him feel free for the first time in years.

While they’re walking, Race accidentally trips, falling right into Spot’s arms. Spot carries him to a bench to inspect Race’s ankle even though the other boy insists that he’s fine. He explains that he has weak ankles and flirtatiously inquires if Spot has any to which Spot replies he doesn’t think he does and he scoops Racer up again, putting him back on his feet to make sure Race is okay. They dance beneath the stars for a long moment before Jack flies overhead on Pegasus and jumps down in between them.

He screams at Spot and tells him he’ll be training like hell for the next week and he warns Race to stay away, feeling bad about it later as there’s something in Race’s eyes that tells him this was not the whole story.

Spot gives Race a kiss goodnight and leaves and Jack goes to follow him before feeling too guilty and turning back to apologize. And he accidentally hears a conversation he was not meant to hear.

When Race is alone, he has a sinking feeling in his chest and feels as though he’s floating on air all at once. He knows he has fallen for this new hero and he stares at the flowers Spot gave him before he is forced to stand by the air around him and he looks up to find his master waiting in front of him.

Race tells the god that he quits, that he won’t keep doing this. Hades only laughs and cruelly reminds the boy that he owns his mind, soul and body and Race has no choice in the matter. The boy tried to explain that Spot doesn’t have any weaknesses. He says it proudly, blushing as he twirls the flowers around in his hand.

That’s when it hits Hades. He smugly tells Race that he is sorely mistaken and snaps his finger, vanishing right along with the boy.

Having only heard a small piece of the conversation, Jack rushes to warn Spot who calls him a liar and a jealous, ungrateful loser who will never be able to talk to the girl that he’s in love with. Hurt by this, Jack leaves, knowing he’s not wanted or needed anymore. It shouldn’t matter to him what happened next.

Spot goes outside to train, trying to blow off some steam, knowing he needs to apologize to Jack but not fully knowing how to.

There’s a man waiting outside. One that Spot recognizes.

The man’s name is William Snyder, a business man who’d been around town for the past couple of months. Spot had no idea that Snyder was a god, just like him. Hades, to be clear.

Hades begins talking to Spot about his heroism and strength and says he wants to offer him a deal. Spot initially refuses, trying to walk away only for Hades to reveal that he has leverage. With a snap of his fingers, a stunned and scared looking Race appears right in front of him. Race tries to run to him, trying to tell him not to listen to this man, but Hades waves his hand and Race goes silent, chains wrapping around his body and mouth immediately, rendering him helpless.

Hades then snaps Race to him and manhandles him, trying to enrage Spot even more. He tells Spot that if he doesn’t want to hear the deal, he’ll just take Race and keep him like that forever, claiming he likes Race in chains better than anything else. So Spot agrees to hear Hades out, all the while asking him to let Race go.

Hades grins and tells Spot to consider giving up his strength for a day, the next day, in order to save Race. Spot asks if people are going to get hurt in which Snyder simply smiles. So Spot asks that Race be left out of it. Hades gives his word that no harm will come to Race should Spot accept.

So Spot accepts, shaking the gods hand to finalize it and falling to his knees as his strength is drained from him.

For a moment, Race is left in chains as Hades has his fun knocking around the mighty Hercules. But Spot croaks out that he has to let the boy go, to which the god laughs. He complies, saying to Race that a deal was a deal and that he was now free of his sentence before he draws Race to him and gloats to Spot about what a wonderful little actor the boy was.

Race struggles against him, trying to get away and explain, but Spot just walks away, heartbroken.

Though his strength is gone, Spot still feels obligated to fight against whatever attack was headed for them. He goes on his own to the center of the city where the titans have begun to roam free after Hades released them. Though the crowd cheers at his arrival it is quickly made apparent that he is no match for these monsters and he will not win this fight.

After trying and failing to stop Spot from fighting, Race rushes off to find Pegasus. His legs are already shaking in fear just looking at the thing that had been bound by Hades before. He releases it and Pegasus senses that something is wrong, so he allows Race to climb onto his back. Race screams when they take to the air.

Finding Jack wandering around, oblivious to the takeover happening behind him, Race begs him for help. Jack initially refuses, revealing to the boy that he knew who Race worked for. Race quickly explains the situation to Jack and Jack takes the reins, flying out to find a passed out Spot in the middle of the chaos. He ignores the burning of his arms and scoops Spot up, flying him to safety so Race can plead with him to wake up.

When Spot does eventually wake up, he scrambles away from Race only for Jack to tell him that this wasn’t Race's fault and he still needed to fight. They couldn’t let Hades win. So Spot goes out to fight again only to get knocked down in front of a car speeding to get away. Race panics and rushes to push him out of the way, taking the hit instead nearly getting stomped on by the titan Before Spot screams and rushes to his rescue, catching the Titan’s foot before it can kill Race.

Jack rushes in to get Race out of the danger and Race lets him, curling into him in pain.

Not understanding what happened, Spot rushes to the boy he quite possibly loves who explains to him that Hades promised he wouldn’t get hurt and he had. The deal had been broken.

Hesitant to leave Race, Spot looks to Jack for help. Jack promises to stay with Race while Spot rushes off and fights.

That’s when Race starts crying. It’s the first time he shows weakness in front of Jack and Jack can’t help but cry along with him, trying to promise him that everything’s gonna be okay even though they both know it won’t. As he starts coughing up blood, Race begs Jack not to let him die alone and Jack holds his hand and pets his hair back, promising him that he’d be right there the whole time.

Race is scared when he dies. His cries about not being able to breathe and can’t move without being in pain. It’s the most heartbreaking thing Jack had ever witnessed. When Race takes his last breath, Jack presses a kiss to his forehead and closes the boy's eyes for him, hugging him to his chest and telling him how sorry he was.

Flying up to Olympus with Pegasus, Spot frees the gods who are being held captive by the Titans and helps them trap the monsters once again before flying after Hades who tries to get away. It’s only when Spot remembers Race that he stops, rushing back down to earth where he finds Jack crying over Race’s body.

So Spot does what he has to do, even as Jack begs him to come back. He flies down to the underworld (how he knows where to go? I don’t know… but he does. Maybe he walked a long way, around the back. That ain’t easy walkin’, Jack. It ain’t for the sensitive of souls— oh wait…) and demands that Hades tell him where Race’s soul is.

Still smug and arrogant as ever, Hades reveals Race’s soul in the River Styx and tells Spot that he is more than willing to let Spot dive down for him. It’s only after Spot does so that Hades calls after him any mortal to enter the river will die.

Spot swims down for Race’s lifeless soul. It breaks his heart to see the boy so lifeless. As he reaches for him, a power surges through his body, making it easier to move and breathe. He pulls Race to him and holds him in his arms, stepping out of that river as a god with the love of his life in his arms. When Hades goes to stop him, Spot punches him down and walks out with Race’s souls, climbing onto Pegasus again and flying back to New York, where Jack still sat with an unmoving Race on the sidewalk. Everyone else was so busy with their own concerns, no one paid them a second glance.

Returning his soul to his body, Spot waits patiently and Jack watches with so much hope in his eyes it hurts. But then there’s a glorious sound of someone taking in a gulp of air.

Race opens his eyes.

He launches himself at Spot who holds him tightly in response and Jack laughs in relief at the sight, letting Race hug him too before Spot confesses he has to go. Race refuses to let him go so Spot takes him along, flying back up to Olympus where he is greeted as a god and Race is left standing awkwardly all alone at the gates, proud of the other boy, but sad that he may never see him again.

But Spot kneels before his father, asking to be blessed with mortality so that he can live his life with Race and Jack. He asks that his father lift Jack’s curse and allow them to live in peace because he finally found where he belonged.

Zeus, although a bit sad, agrees, and sends Spot and Race back to Earth where they meet Jack and take him to the border of New York to show him he is no longer cursed.

Race and Spot and Jack are friends for the rest of their lives. Spot reconnects with his adoptive parents. Race and Spot get married. Jack finally meets the girl he’d fallen for and marries her.

And they all live happily ever after.

Thanks for reading!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[dyaz-stories]

Inuvember 2019: Day 28 — Modern AU: Pregnant from a one night-stand AU

One — Two

Tagging list: @cammysansstuff​ @tsukinohimeusagi​ @umacaking​ @inuyashaeienni​ @coquinespike​ @freshlypickledpancakes @simply-zerah​ @shinidamachu​ @digital-art-monster​ @sailorbabydoll92​ @sweetchcolate @clearwillow​ @zelink-inukag​ @cstorm86​ @danycontreras90​ @redflamesofpassion​ @lost-amidst-the-stars​ @eternalnight8806-3​ @desiree239​ @keichanz​ @ashleys-canvas​ @mustardyellowsunshine​ @meggz0rz​

Kagome had everything ready to go when Inuyasha knocked on her door, Hoshiki in her arms and his bags on the floor. She had probably overdone it a little with her preparations. She knew, of course, that Inuyasha had a lot of things at his place, and she certainly didn’t want to upset him by implying he wouldn’t be able to take care of the kid properly. On the other hand, well, she was letting her son go for the night. She had only left him with her own mother before, and this felt… very much like a separation.

“Hi!” she greeted Inuyasha happily nonetheless. “You didn’t have any trouble finding the place?”

Inuyasha took a hesitant step in as Kagome walked back, glancing around carefully. The place was really small, probably smaller than his own, but unlike his, it was filled with stuff. Whether it was the food spilling out on the shelves in her minuscule kitchen, the plants near the window, or the bright carpet on the ground, the place felt… alive. Actually lived in.

“Do you want something to drink?” Kagome offered, and his eyes found her again.

She seemed to fit in here perfectly, and he couldn’t help but feel that he definitely didn’t. Not in here, not in her world, not in her life.

“Sure,” he said, awkwardly walking in after oscillating for a while on her door step. “Just some water’d be nice.”

His instincts were screaming at him to get out of here already but, well, he had to be civil, didn’t he? He couldn’t just run away from any interactions with her on what he perceived as her territory.

She complied quickly, handing him a glass of water, while Hoshiki, safely balanced on her hip, watched his father intensely. He wasn’t the most vocal kid, except perhaps when he was hungry, but you could see in his lovely, golden eyes just how much was going on inside his mind.

“Hey kiddo,” Inuyasha grinned, reaching out to rub his hair, careful not to bend his ears too much, “you ready?”

Kagome chuckled lightly as Hoshiki made an attempt to lift his head to meet his father’s hand. God they were cute. She didn’t know precisely what it was, though she could guess that Hoshiki recognized his smell one way or another, but the fact that he trusted the man made her feel safer. Sometimes, briefly, she wondered if it was a good thing, to let him into their life when she knew so little of him. And then she saw the look in her son’s eyes, she looked at them together, with their golden eyes, their white hair, their dog-ears, and she decided that yes, it was. Something that brought her child that much joy could only be good.

“Are ya moving or something?” Inuyasha asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her floor.

Ah. Shit.

“No, I— I might have over prepared a little bit.”

“Can see that.” He didn’t look too happy about it, and she felt a painful stab of guilt through her chest. She’d feared that exact reaction. “I have a lot of that stuff already, though. I prepared, too.”

He sounded dejected, and Kagome really wished she could have done something to stop her very stressed self from just a couple of hours ago. She noticed the same behavior she saw in her son, particularly the ears flattening against his head, and it was a completely instinctive reaction for her to rest her hand on his arm. He blinked at her, and though she felt weird about it, she guessed she should be happy she hadn’t purely and simply hugged him.

Were they in a situation where they could hug? Or even touch, for that matter? They did have a child together but… Ah, this was way too strange.

She removed her hand hesitantly.

“The only person I’ve ever let him with is my mom,” she explained honestly, “and even then, I was never away from him for more than a couple of hours. So I… worried.”

Inuyasha swallowed. He could understand that, technically, but he also couldn’t help the suspicion building up in him. Kagome was, well, frankly, more than he would ever even dare to hope could exist in a human, in terms of kindness and compassion. She was a dream come true.

She was way too good to be true.

He looked for a flaw, for a point where he would see the real her, who couldn’t possibly be that nice to everyone, because no one was, ever, shine through.

It wasn’t fair, though. He couldn’t hold her to those standards. It was tempting, because parts of him worried that living with a human parent, who couldn’t fully understand the struggle of being half, could really raise a child who’d suffer from it his entire life, but he shouldn’t do it.

“Ya really think I’d have a kid at my place if I didn’t have diapers there?” he asked, voice strained, but still trying to bring some humor to the situation. He didn’t really want her to notice his reaction, either. Well, clearly she already had, but she didn’t need to know how it made him feel exactly.

Civil. He just had to be civil with her. He shouldn’t be disappointed in her for something so dumb. All that should matter to him was that she took care of Hoshiki, and that she obviously did. Anything else was none of his business.

“Of course not! And I’ve been to your place, I know you have those, I just…” she looked at Hoshiki, pouting a little. “It’s gonna be weird without him around.”

“’s just for the night,” Inuyasha vaguely tried to comfort her. “It’ll be over before you know it.”

“I know you’re right, it’s just… It’s still going to be weird.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Kagome managed to swallow the sobs that were suddenly building up. She was saying goodbye to her son for the night, not leaving him forever, for God’s sake! She really needed to get a grip.

“Erm, so there are the diapers, and there’s a bag of clothes, and another one for food, and his portable crib, which, yeah, I know you have one, and a first-aid kit, just in case, and…”

“Kagome,” he interrupted her. “We’ll be fine. I swear.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry! I promise I won’t be like that next time.”

Inuyasha chose to ignore the way his heart fluttered when she said ‘next time’. He’d thought this was some sort of trial, but the fact that her mind seemed to be already made up was surprisingly nice.

“You’re doing great, you know?”

He looked at her, searching for any indication that she was joking, that she was making fun of him, that she was preparing to yell “Gotcha!” to his face.

There was none.

“Really—”

“No, Inuyasha, I mean it. I know you have books on parenting at your place, and I know you have a crib and diapers and I’m sure you have everything you need too. I’m freaking out a little but— You’re doing a great job.”

He let out a long breath. He hadn’t realized he wanted her approbation so badly. But here she was, letting him inside her kitchen, entrusting him with Hoshiki, smiling at him like he was actually a person, not worried about what he might do to her, just because half-demons were supposedly mindless beasts.

“Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “Guess I’ll just—”

“Yes, of course! Here, take him.”

She watched with fascination how careful and gentle he was, as always, when she handed him Hoshiki. It wasn’t something you would have expected from him, really. Whether it was his looks, the way he talked, the way he moved, everything about him was rough, rugged. Weathered and toughened by time, no doubt, and yet he was capable of such kindness, such softness, and Kagome felt something inside her melting.

“Ya won’t mind if I don’t take all of this, right?” he asked her, gesturing to the numerous bags on the ground, oblivious to what she was thinking about.

“God, yes,” she sighed, laughing awkwardly. “Just take the food and the first-aid kit, maybe? I’m sure you’ll be fine without the rest.”

“Yeah.”

He seemed to hesitate, and she noticed his eyes were on the bag of clothes. It only took her a second to know where his mind was going.

“Next time, for the rest, maybe,” she said gently.

He looked up at her and cleared his throat, glancing away almost immediately after meeting her eyes, embarrassed for getting caught. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. C’mon now, buddy,” he said, leaning forward so Hoshiki would be closer to her, “say goodbye to your mom.”

Hoshiki didn’t need to be told twice, and Kagome laughed when his little arms came in contact with her face. She lovingly dropped several kisses on the top of his head, making him giggle. Oh, she missed him terribly already. It would be so weird to actually be without him. She wasn’t sure she liked the thought all that much.

Scratch that, she was certain she hated the thought and she wanted to keep her kid by her side forever. Or, well, until he was three, at least.

“You’re gonna have to let go of him, y’know? Otherwise we’ll just stay here.”

She sighed. She knew that, dammit. She pressed one last kiss on Hoshiki’s forehead, and then, because he was there, because he was so close, because it just felt right, because it was natural, she kissed Inuyasha’s cheek, softly.

She watched the way his features transformed, going from mocking amusement to utter confusion. She watched as he started to frown, almost feared that he would lash out, and then as his face softened, in a way that almost took her breath away. She’d seen him look at Hoshiki, but seeing him looking at her like this made her simply freeze in place.

He opened his mouth. He wanted to say something. He needed to say something. The tenderness, the kindness of the gesture, and perhaps just a little the feeling of her lips on his skin and the sudden closeness of her smell had pierced right through him, and he felt like he had to comment on that.

But what would he say? Sorry I ran?

Keh. A little late for that. His own actions had cost him a year in the life of his son, and he could only imagine that it hadn’t been a walk in the park for her either. He had to deal with that.

The moment disappeared, and Kagome buried her hands in her pocket, looking at the floor awkwardly.

“Thanks for leaving him with me,” Inuyasha said, his throat still a little tight.

“Sure! Sure. You two have fun, okay?”

“’m sure we will. Bye, Kagome.”

“Bye.”

She waved at them energetically while they walked down the hallway, Hoshiki looking at her with curious eyes, and a long sigh escaped her the second they disappeared. For a second, in there… They’d felt like a family. And it was stupid of her to think of anything like that, since Inuyasha and her had been brought together only by circumstances, but… But she kind of wanted that.

Well, hope couldn’t hurt, right?

[movedkagen]

Born in western Almyra, Cyril was the second son of Darius and Sara. His older brother, Sami, was six years his elder. His family was rural, tending a small farm that bred wyverns and selling them to the army once they were bred and trained. This wasn’t uncommon, as even in a rural towns soldiers passed through often due to being near the border. Learning to read and write was a luxury in the village unless one was a merchant, so most young men became soldiers as soon as they were old enough. His brother, Sami, was a squire preparing for such a life. His life was simple, yes, but happy. There were little rules, then, save for the obvious: stay away from soldiers, both from Almyra and Fódlan, come home before sunset, and never get in the way of a fight.

There was no rule for drunken disputes. None for massacres. House Goneril would go on to sing a different tune, but soldiers began bothering a girl from the village, clearly intoxicated. It escalated -- his brother put his hand on his dagger, angered from years of dispute and itching for his blade to taste enemy blood, but the Goneril soldiers drew first. Too many stories of the bloodthirsty Almyrans for them to take a chance. It escalated into a full on bloodbath in the marketplace, but what use were the sickles and knives of villagers against the might of a unit? They killed his father for trying to intervene. They killed his mother as she screamed over her eldest son's body, begging the gods to return him to her. Cyril was nine years old … so he did precisely what a child who’d seen such horrors would do. What he’d been taught to do.

He ran. He ran as far as his feet would take him. He didn’t know where to go. He went home -- he did not eat for two days. He did not drink. Thinking the farm abandoned, the soldiers sent by the king to answer to that skirmish began raiding his home. Before he could escape, Cyril was found. They told him he was too small to be useful, and better off dead. They told him he wasn’t worth the extra mouth to feed unless he could serve. So, in an air of whatever compassion mercenaries could muster, they put him to work. Cyril was forced to learn to fight as a child. He’d seen many horrors before his age had even reached double digits -- but as a child, he learned it was kill or be killed. Still, a child is no expert and he was, much like his family, no match for a band of soldiers from House Goneril.

When he was eleven, they captured him -- though thankfully, they found it repugnant to kill a child. He was taken to House Goneril and made a slave to the family. All the while, he noticed a removed disdain leaking from their faces, their words. “Aren’t you glad to be away from those brutes, boy?” (he was, but they weren’t much better). “They had this boy kill. Did you know they make children fight in Almyra?” (He did, all too well). “Is it true that every child is taught to kill every person from Fódlan he sees?” (It wasn’t, but when he said that, they called him a liar). They would, as if he couldn’t hear, turn to Lord Goneril and whisper, “You don’t let him near your food unwatched, do you? How can you trust him around your men - your family - your daughter?”. He remembered he used to talk to his animals with more kindness. But to them, he wasn’t a child. He was a monster. He was a spectacle of House Goneril’s mercy. He was an outsider.

When he was thirteen, he was noticed by Archbishop Rhea, who took him in as her own servant at Garreg Mach Monastery. She was kind to him -- kinder than anyone had been in years. “What a wonderful boy, you are”, “I can depend on you more than I can depend on anyone”, “Cyril, you do this better than anyone. Can I entrust it to you?”. She was kinder than the soldiers. She fed him every day. She never hit him. When she asked him if he felt he was lucky to be here, he didn’t understand, at first -- nothing about his life had ever been lucky. “But surely,” she told him, “it was a blessing I found you, Cyril. I am happy you are here instead of House Goneril”. He supposed she was right -- maybe he was lucky, then. After all, it was like she said -- it was not House Goneril. She was most pleased when he did a good day’s work -- so he worked, and worked, and worked, just to earn that soft smile, never as sweet as his mother’s but the only sweetness he’d known since. Just for the chance for a touch to his hair, for the soft voice of a woman saying, “well done”. 

[fanficimagery]

Imagine being the one angel Lucifer has a soft spot for, but after being cast out he has no way to contact you. What he hadn't realized was that you were cast out too, but God hid you as punishment. Now the Winchesters have learned of your existence and plan to use you as leverage.

@jho-p-e said to fanficimagery: Hello! I just came across your tumblr a few days ago and I absolutely LOVE it! May I request an imagine where the reader is Lucifer's (supernatural) weakness or the only angel that he has a soft spot for because she rebelled with him against God. Instead of Michael putting her in the cage with Lucifer, God hides her in a coma-like state somewhere on Earth. The Winchesters find her and want to use her to their advantage but Lucifer finds out.

Gen Fic X Reader

Seeing Michael and Lucifer bicker had become something of the norm, but after being entrusted with the Mark to keep the Darkness imprisoned the bickering became rather more hostile. Then Father had to go and create new children, and then had the audacity to command all of Heaven to love his new children more than Himself. Lucifer had downright refused, but you'd given them a chance. And after watching over Father's new creations, you came to the conclusion that Lucifer was right- the humans were flawed and murderous, and there was no way you could love them more than Father.

Lucifer had always been one of your favorites, if not the favorite, so it was no surprise you immediately had his back when he challenged Father. The two of you refused to love Father's new children and even recruited other angels which kick started a small rebellion. But Father was not having any sort of power struggle in his home and commanded Michael to cast Lucifer out of Heaven.

"Father, stop this," you plead. "Don't cast him out. Don't take Lucifer from me."

Father smiles sadly, reaching out and cupping your cheek in hand. "I am sorry, my daughter, but it must be done. Lucifer is too proud to see reason. He seeks to corrupt-"

"He seeks to corrupt because of you! You gave him the Mark and you know it's the Mark which made him more bold in his actions," you cry. "Please, Father, I beg of you- don't send him away."

"It is done." The words are like a slap to the face, you flinching back at their utterance. "And had you not been Lucifer's shadow, I wouldn't have to send you away either."

Your grace seems to run cold at his words. "Father?"

"I must go away for a bit, daughter, and Michael seeks to eradicate any and all angels who were in league with Lucifer. I love you and I will not have Michael harm you. But to do so, you must be far from Heaven."

"Father, no." You take a cautious step back, putting a bit of space between you. "As much as I love Lucifer and would be glad to be with him, Heaven is my home."

"I see no other way. " Tears prick your eyes and Father chuckles quietly. "You emote just like my other children, yet you refuse to see it." He quickly closes the gap between you, wiping away your tears as he then cradles your face between the palms of his hands. "I wish you could live as my other children live, but Lucifer will only find you and I can't have that. Lucifer must be punished and if that means I must hide you, I will."

A sob rips free from your throat and Father calmly shushes you as he gathers you in his arms. "P-Please."

"Do not fret. You won't feel a thing."

And with a kiss to your forehead, everything goes dark.

Sitting around the bunker, Sam, Dean, and Jack are trying to come up with a way to finally get rid of Lucifer. The devil has been a thorn in their side for far too long and they've had enough of being accosted by his pet demons.

Castiel returns sporting a solemn expression and Dean sighs upon spotting it. "What'd you find out, Cas?"

"From the looks of it, Lucifer is no longer interested in kidnapping his son."

Sam perks up a bit in his seat. "That's good. Right?"

Castiel frowns. "Not necessarily. He intends to finally kill you and Dean, and myself, and leave Jack no other option but to go to him for guidance. Then take over the world by any means necessary." Dean scoffs as Jack sinks in his seat. "But-"

"But?" Sam perks up again. "But what?"

"I.. found out something that would be of great importance to Lucifer- something that could change everything. I.. I'm not even sure how to feel about this myself. Y/N was- is my sister and I thought-"

"Y/N?" Dean wonders. "Focus, Cas. What's so important about this Y/N chick?"

Cas' shoulders droop as he settles himself into a chair next to Jack who's watching him curiously. "Y/N was an angel in Lucifer's garrison. She quickly became his favorite and the two of them- they were inseparable," he says, remembering the angel fondly. "When Lucifer started his rebellion, it wasn't a shock to see Y/N at his side. What was a shock, however, was that she kept him in check as best as she could. He always listened to her, but the Mark he bore corrupted him too much and Y/N could only hang on for the ride."

"What happened to her?" Sam asks, his interest piqued.

"When Michael cast out Lucifer, Father went to Y/N. We were told she died fighting in Lucifer's name, but it's come to my attention that Y/N is alive and Earth-bound."

"What?" Dean's brow furrows. "How long has she been here?"

"Since the day Lucifer was cast out. According to my sources, Father cast out Y/N to keep Michael from killing her. He put her in a coma and cloaked her existence from Lucifer. It was part of his punishment to never be reunited with the one angel he loved above all else."

"Wait, but I thought angels didn't have.. relations," Sam says, suddenly uncomfortable. Dean coughs and pointedly stares at Jack, and Sam rolls his eyes. "I know Lucifer fathered Jack, but he procreated with a mission in mind. He didn't do it for love."

"Sam is correct," Castiel confesses. "The love between Lucifer and Y/N was not romantic, but rather on the platonic side of things. However, it's a love I've never seen before. You'd have to witness it to understand."

"What are you gettin' at, Cas?" Dean sighs. "Are you suggesting we find this comatose angel? Use her against Lucifer?"

Jack clears his throat. "But how would we find her? If she's cloaked from Lucifer, it's safe to say she's cloaked from everyone else as well."

"We could ask Rowena," Sam suggests. "If it's something to use against Lucifer, she'll help."

"Great. Just great," Dean scoffs. "We finally have something solid to use against Lucifer, but we need help from the Wicked Witch of the West. What's to say Rowena won't kill her the second she finds her? She hates Lucifer. She'll want to see him suffer."

"It won't come to that," Castiel says. "Though Y/N was on Team Lucifer, she is still my sister. We find her, wake her, and tell her what's going on. She might not be too fond of humans, but she doesn't want to see Earth completely razed to the ground. If Lucifer remains unchecked, then that's exactly what will happen."

"Awesome," Dean deadpans. "Not only do we have to work with a witch, but now we have to make a deal with the devil."

Sam shrugs. "If it means Earth is safe and Jack remains with us, then who cares? I'll go make that phone call and you.. you do something to keep yourself busy. We have an angel to find."

Sprawled across his throne, Lucifer watches as his demons mill about the room. Lately they've been tasked with luring the Winchesters out of their bunker and away from their little watch dogs that are Castiel and his son Jack, and so far not one demon has come up with a solid plan.

The doors open and a demon wearing a male meat suit in a crisp black suit enters. He walks up to Lucifer's throne before stopping short and bowing in greeting. "My liege, the Winchesters and their pet angel appear to be on the move."

"Oh? And pray tell what monster of the week has piqued their attention enough to get them to leave the safety of their dungeon?"

"It is not an monster, but an angel."

"Oh?" Lucifer sits up, interest now piqued. "Do tell."

"It's some angel that God has kept hidden for many years. The demons watching that witch of yours overheard a conversation in which they need her to uncloak the angel and wake her. They say her name is Y/N."

Instantly, Lucifer's smile vanishes. "What did you just say?"

The demon gulps. "That R-Rowena is needed-"

"No, I got that," Lucifer says. "I meant about the angel's name. What is her name?"

"Y/N."

Lucifer blinks, his expression going stony. "Get every demon available to tail the Winchesters. No one is lay a finger on that coma angel. Go. Now!"

The demon's eyes flicker black in his sudden fear. "Y-Yes, my liege." And with yet another quick bow, the demon flees as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels.

Pacing the dais, Lucifer inhales deeply and exhales slowly. Glancing skyward, he sneers. "Congrats, Dad, you really are a dick. She loved you as much as she loved me. What did Y/N ever do to be granted such a fate?" He's not expecting an answer, but it still frustrates him beyond measure and he screams his frustration at the ceiling. His demons startle, but he pays them no mind. "I will find her. And when I do, I will not stop her from wanting to hunt you down and giving you a piece of her mind.

Jolting awake, it takes a moment for your sight to focus and when it does you frown at the man leaning over you. Concentrating, you can feel the hum of grace surrounding the meat suit and subtly relax. "Castiel," you breathe, smiling.

"Hello, Y/N. How are you feeling?"

Slowly sitting up, you shrug before the last thing you remember pops up into the forefront of your mind. You tense and hop off the table you'd been on, you then twisting and turning and glancing at the startled appearances of the room's other occupants. "Where's Father? He said- He cast-"

"We know." Castiel interrupts, solemnly nodding. "Father hid you from everyone and told us you were killed in battle. His cloaking started to fail which is how some of our brothers and sisters found out about you. I'm here now. You're safe."

Your brow furrows. "His cloaking started to fail? Castiel, how long has it been?"

"Y/N, don't-"

"The year is now 2019," another voice supplies. "And your beloved Lucifer has gone off the rails. We need you to put him in check or-"

"Or what?" You sneer, glancing at male human who dared speak to you that way. The guy puffs up in indignation, but the taller male human with shaggy hair puts a hand on his shoulder. You let your gaze pass over them with a scoff, only then to settle on the youngest male of the group. He appears rather young, but the aura of grace radiating off of him is unsettling. "You," you say. "Who are you? You feel.. familiar, but I don't recall your name."

The kid gulps as he glances between everyone and you frown as Castiel steps in front of him as if shielding him from you. "This is Jack. He's.. Lucifer's son."

"W-What?" No one corrects Castiel and sensing the boy's power again, you flinch. "Nephilim."

"He's a good kid," the shaggy haired human says. "Lucifer's been trying to corrupt him, but Jack's mother left him in the care of Castiel. We- we're Hunters, but we've taken Jack under our wing as well. Lucifer won't stop until he has complete control of his son."

Your hands clench at your sides and you take a deep breath before releasing it slowly and relaxing as best as you can. "My grace is itching for a fight, but if Castiel says you're alright.. then okay." From behind Castiel, Jack flashes you a small grateful smile. Then glancing back towards the other two humans, you say, "I'm not too fond of your kind. If you want me to talk to Lucifer.. fine, but stay out of my way."

"Now listen here, you little-"

"Thank you," the shaggy haired individual cuts in, glaring at his friend. "My name is Sam and this," he says while gesturing to his obnoxious, outspoken friend, "is my brother Dean."

You nod. "Y/N. So what has Lucifer done now?"

Dean scoffs. "What hasn't he done? He's pretty much the creator of all things evil and-"

"That's not completely his fault," you defend him. "If you want someone to blame, blame your precious God." Dean huffs, muttering about how naive you are and you turn your attention to Sam. "Did Lucifer hate humans? Yes," you admit without an ounce of shame. "But his hatred for your kind was only amplified by that mark Father put on him. Had it not been for that, Lucifer and I would still be in Heaven snarking about you hairless apes."

Jack snorts and Dean turns his glare on him, Sam then nudging his brother to stop it. But before anything else can be said, the door to the room is being kicked open and people are crashing through the windows.

Sam, Dean, and Castiel shift into a fighting stance and you frown when the two humans are suddenly wielding angel blades. Angel blades were sacred objects and only angels were supposed to have them, so for these humans to have them means something must have happened to the angels assigned to them. And that- that doesn't sit well with you. Especially if the brothers had anything to do with whatever happened to your brothers and sisters for them to have blades.

Attention then brought back to the growing amount of strange individuals barging into the room, you shift towards the corner as you study them. Their auras are dark- twisted. Demons.

You sneer at the one who dares look at you and fight the urge to jump into the fray when both parties attack. Though you're capable of fighting, you've never fought without your blade and since you're not in possession of one your only option is to stand back. Sam, Dean, and Castiel slash and stab their way through the demons, but they just keep on coming. Even the nephilim helps out, he sending out his power in a wave to disintegrate the unlucky few closest to him.

One moment everyone's fighting and the next the demons are aborting the fight by fleeing their meat suits. Then just as everyone seems to let their guard down, Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack are sent flying back and being pinned to the walls by an unseen force. You stumble forward in surprise, eyeing the trapped individuals as a dark chuckle resonates around the room.

Whirling around, you come face to face with Lucifer. "Hello, Y/N. Long time no see."

"Lucifer," you reply on an exhale. The seconds tick by and you slowly smile, you then quickly closing the distance between the both of you. Arms wrapped tightly around his middle, you sigh in contentment as his wrap around your shoulders. "I'm so happy you're okay."

"Me too, little one." Lucifer murmurs. "When Michael cast me out, I was terrified of what might happen to you."

"So was Dad apparently. He's the one who cast me out of Heaven to keep Michael from getting his hands on me. But he still wanted to punish you, so he hid my presence on Earth."

"As touching as this chick flick moment is, we have to deal to make," Dean snarks.

One of Lucifer's arms leave you as he makes a motion with his hand and several objects clatter. When you pull free and turn around, all weapons from those pinned have fallen to the ground. "You're in no position to boss me around," Lucifer says. "If I were you, I'd keep quiet, Winchester."

Dean opens his mouth to retort, but quickly finds out he's been silence. Lucifer's taken his voice.

"Sister, please," Castiel pleads. "We can't continue on like this. You must-"

"I must?" You say, gritting your teeth. "I mustn't do anything, Castiel. I was just woken from a spelled coma your beloved Father put me in and I find myself with a rather large chip on my wing. You and your pet humans can rot for all I care."

"Y/N," Sam then says. "You said you'd talk to him. Please. Help us."

Rolling your eyes, you sigh and face Lucifer. "Your son- a son that you had with a human, which don't for one second think we won't be speaking about that later- seems like he's in capable hands." Lucifer frowns and you nudge him. "And the humans- they'll die out eventually and we can regrow Earth as it was meant to be. Until then, you and I have a lot to catch up on."

Lucifer makes a show of sighing loudly and pouting. "You take the fun out of everything, kid."

"Only when I have good reason to," you muse. "And you know I'm right. Whatever reason you have for tormenting this crew," you gesture to the ones stuck to the wall, "let it go. For now. Being separated from you felt like just yesterday, but I know it's been way longer for you. I want to know everything that's happened."

"Fine," he groans, drawling out the word. "Lets go home."

"Mhm. But wait!" Looking back around the room, you step forward until you can bend at the waist and scoop up the two angel blades beneath the Winchester's feet. Dean struggles against the force holding him and Sam grunts something unintelligible. Standing tall, you then meet both of their gazes- one furious and the other shining with reluctant acceptance for taking their weapons. "For a human to obtain an angel blade means you killed my brothers and sisters. You're very lucky I wasn't around when that happened."

"Y/N-"

"Don't, Castiel. Don't push your luck with me right now."

Lucifer chuckles and you make your way back towards him, he slinging one arm around your shoulders while mockingly waving at the everyone else with his free hand. "Adios, hermanos. Until next time."

And with a snap of his fingers, you suddenly find yourself in a room void of silly humans, the nephilim, and Castiel. Instead, you're now in a room with various demons milling about. When you grimace, Lucifer immediately sends them away and directs you to a couple of cozy looking sofa chairs. But instead of sitting in your own, you crawl into his lap and melt against him with a sigh.

"You always were really affectionate for an angel."

"You have no room to talk, Mr. I Had Intercourse with an Hairless Ape," you mumble back.

He chuckles softly and wraps his arms around you, setting his chin atop your head. "I missed you, kid. When I was told you were killed, I didn't handle it well. I did all sorts of things you would not have approved of."

"Well I'm here now. I don't know what's going on, but I don't like that Castiel was so comfortable with those two humans. What happened to him?"

Lucifer shrugs. "He's had his Grace ripped out one too many times, I assume." You shiver at that, your stomach turning at such an act. "And was forced to live as they do- to feel as they do. He went soft. And then all angels were cast out by something Metatron did-" You gasp, pulling back at staring at Lucifer with eyes full of horror, "-but they've managed to take Heaven back and get it all sorted out."

"But Metatron was only the Scribe of God. Where was Father throughout all of this?"

"Dear 'ol Dad left. Went missing. Took a vacation and never returned," Lucifer drawls. "Well, he did when the Winchesters released the Darkness," you groan, eyes rolling at their stupidity, "but then Dad grabbed his sister and left. Again."

"None of this would have happened had Father smited his beloved creations when we told him to."

"Preaching to the choir, sister." You frown at the phrase, but Lucifer merely shrugs it off. "But that's an issue for a later day. I just got you back and I have so much to tell you."

"Then you better get to talking, Luci. I have a feeling I'm going to have to get to work soon."

[alittletournesol]

Kingdom Of Jinju {MinKey} part 30/33

Chapter 30: For the future

The manor’s yard had gone quiet for a second as Jinju’s army had entered the place, surrounding Mongje’s soldiers in a way they couldn’t escape nor risk any ill attempt against the King and Prince. Archers were standing on top of ladders, their bows drawn and only waiting for a single signal to shoot and weaken the enemy. The battle was lost before it had even started, and even soldiers under the authority of a mad woman were not stupid ; they knew it would be a suicide mission to still attack.

Without waiting for their Commander to give them an order, they looked at each other and agreed on the most rational thing to do. As one man, they dropped their weapons. Swords, spears and shields met with the ground, a metallic racket resounding all around and startling more than one person. Despite her covered ears, the little Sooyun got surprised and started crying, immediately comforted by her nanny while her grandfather entrusted the latter with her.

He made his way through the crowd to join his son’s side, standing proudly and glancing at his last born, who looked so majestic and powerful. Taemin was making his horse walk forwards, his steps and voice guiding soldiers to their positions so they could meddle with their enemies and separate them. There was no resistance, Mongje’s fighters surrendering without any form of protestation ; some even seem relieved that they didn’t have to commit the uttermost crime in this society.

Once tension seemed to loosen, Kibum was the first one to move. He untightened his grip on his bow and place it back on his back, the unused arrow joining its twins in the quiver. This done, he stepped forwards and walked in his mother’s direction, every soldier, minister and servitor making space for him on his way. Behind, his husband stared at him for a moment before he followed the lead, by means of support and because whatever they would do, they would do it together as stated before.

King and Prince walked the few meters that separated them from the woman who had wanted them dead, their eyes throwing daggers at her. Lady Eungyu had a mad stare in her eyes, as if she was lost. Half a dozen of soldiers had surrounded her when her own had entered a truce she didn’t want, making it impossible for her to run away and only adding to her rage. Her features were distorted and if she had had the opportunity, she would certainly had tried everything to get rid of anyone who stood in her way.

When their sovereigns reached their level, two guards moved aside to give them access to the newly made prisoner that was being held still by a strong hand around her arm. Her eyes were now showing panic, though anger was still noticeable in the way her entire face was tensed, her teeth gritted and her forehead sweaty. She was trembling, and it seemed she didn’t realise she had lost — or refused to admit such shame.

“It is over.” Her son said with a firm, loud voice that got heard in all the yard. “Your crazy race for power ends here and now, and you will be castigated for all crimes against the crown you perpetrated.”

“Your army is defeated.” Minho added, standing by the Prince’s side. “They will no longer fight for you and this declaration of war will also be retained against you. Do you surrender ?”

Only silence answered him, the yard going even quieter except for Lady Eungyu’s erratic breathing, her survival instinct making her desperate for the least way of escaping this situation. But nothing came to her rescue, she was surrounded, with not a single flaw that she could turn to her advantage… she was looking at everything around her, her sight going blurry as she restlessly kept moving.

“Lady Eungyu.” The King called once again. “Answer the question, do you surrender ? There is nothing worth fighting anymore, you will do better to abandon.”

But the woman either was completely ignoring him or really sinking into madness. Guards around her looked up to their sovereign, quietly wondering if they should do something to at least make her stand still - but she looked quite like a potential agressive person, even for trained soldiers. They were brave, not mad, and they knew that any person filled with a too contained rage could become way much more dangerous than anyone with a weapon in hands.

Frowning, Minho made a move to approach her but a hand on his arm prevented him to do so. As he looked behind him, he realized Kibum’s face said it all : they better not come too close, for he feared for their safety even if there wasn’t any army threatening them anymore. He knew his mother, or at least he thought he did, but it happened that what he saw as the worst kind of human being… was only a foreword to what this woman who gave birth to him really was.

Because of the worrying silence their questions received, the husbands had been joined by the General, Jonghyun and Lord Taehyun. Just at that moment, Taemin appeared by his childhood friend’s side as well, not on his horse anymore but on his feet. When his eyes met with the King’s, the latter nodded to show his pride and gratefulness, what the young soldier answered with a respectful bow and a closed fist on his chest.

They all looked back at Lady Eungyu, who was now staring at them with dark eyes, her trembling upper lip drawn back on her teeth. She was leaning on, holding her stomach with one arm as if it hurt, and she had her head raised to look at her opponents, though she was giving them the most haughty stare ever. She wasn’t thinking of surrendering.

“Do not.” Her son said. “You are alone, choose cleverness and surrender.”

“I’m not afraid of you.” She replied, still bending down with her head high. “It’s far from being over, you think you’re worth something now that you married a King ?”

“My worth is not and was never about my status, but about the man I am. You made me feel worthless during my whole life, but now you cannot harm me anymore, for I have found my worth within myself.”

“Look at you, how vain and attached to your insignificant person you became… sad. You are and will always be a disgrace. A disgrace to your family, a disgrace to the entire world, and no title will ever change that. You should have never been born.”

“Enough !” Minho shouted, fuming with anger. “How dare you address your Prince that way, how dare you tell such things to a son you used, a son you sold to me in your daughter’s place for your own benefit !”

“Minho, please…” His husband asked, not willing to give his mother the attention she wanted. “It’s not worth it.”

“Do you want to know what I think, Kim Eungyu ?” The King harshly said, his voice low and his tone sharp as he stared at the woman, not able to hold himself anymore. “I am relieved that I did not have to marry your daughter, for she deserved the love she had for and from this young man you killed. And I am relieved she is not among us anymore to see what you did and how you dirtied her memory. She is safer where she is than in a place where you exist. She is better away from you, you were a poison to her and you are not worthy of her. You are the shame to your own family and I wish Haneul and Kibum never had to suffer a monster like you as their mother. You are a disgrace and were never more powerful than a street rat.”

More than the insults towards her, the mentions of her daughter and everything related to her hit Eungyu like multiples knives stabbing her at the same time. Her eyes reddened as raging tears started filling them, and she let a scream out of her throat while straightening up. Everything went fast, the way she stood up so abruptly after minutes of silence startling the guard who was holding her arm, making him let go. What one thought was some pain making her bend turned out to be her way to hide a blade.

None could have guessed where she had hidden it until the exact moment she yelled and jumped, her weapon raised, ready to stab Minho in one last crazy attempt. The latter didn’t have time to flinch as he felt his arm being grabbed and pulled, making him step backwards to have Kibum suddenly standing in front of him, in his place, using his own body as a shield.

Before the King could react, a dagger hit.

His husband stumbled and fell against him, being immediately caught between his arms before he could end on the bare ground. In a rush of panic, both Jonghyun and Jinki approached in an attempt to pull both of them away, but they hadn’t expected the Prince to stare at them with his eyes wide open. The latter held onto Minho’s arms around him and stood gaping for a second before he started checking his chest and stomach, looking for anything that could have hurt him.

But there was nothing. No wound damaging his body, no blood staining his clothes, no pain taking his breath away.

All four men heard a rattle and looked up. Less than a meter away from them, Lady Eungyu’s arm was still stretched, her trembling hand holding her dagger. But her wrist was held by Taemin, who had interfered fast enough and pulled it to the side, enough to avoid any contact between the blade and the King. However, he wasn’t alone. Offering his back to the sovereigns, Lord Taehyun was holding his struggling wife against him, while his other arm had stopped the young soldier’s armed hand from hurting her.

The woman’s face rested on his shoulder and she stared at her son and the latter’s husband. She didn’t look at ease, as if she couldn’t breathe properly, something preventing air from escaping her throat. Her eyes were bulging, and it seemed all raging expression had made space for shock… an expression that was slowly fading, replaced by a dark void in her pupils. When blood started flowing out of her mouth and she coughed, rejecting some of the dark red liquid, they all understood.

Slowly, Kibum’s father withdrew his blade from his wife’s stomach and stood up, stepping backwards to the side and bringing Taemin with him, shielding him himself. Before a multitude of eyes watching the scene in the yard, Eungyu remained on her knees and dropped her weapon to bring her hands to the bleeding, open wound on her body. When she touched it, she coughed more blood and started choking. With one last effort, she attempted to catch the dagger back but fell, her hand resting just a few centimeters away from the object.

Choking sounds were heard for a few seconds more, blood still flowing out from her stomach and mouth… until everything got silent. Not a single whisper came to interrupt the shock that had seized the entire assembly. It was like no one dared to move, to face the evidence that was lying before them, as a lifeless body. After a moment, Jonghyun was the first one to come to his senses and slowly walked towards the woman, ignoring the way he was called back by an apprehensive General.

With his foot, he pushed the dagger away from the unmoving hand and crouched near the body, carefully moving it to see Eungyu’s side. He placed his hand against the wound to verify the bleeding ; it had almost stopped, only a weak flow dropping on the floor. Looking up, he noticed the woman’s open, empty eyes which weren’t looking at him, at anything. To be sure, he brought his fingers to her neck, waiting for a pulse that never came. A few seconds passed before he eventually raised his head, slowly shaking it to deliver his conclusion.

That was when Kibum gasped by himself, hiding his mouth behind his hand and approaching, kneeling next to his mother’s body. Despite everything, he couldn’t believe she was gone. He wasn’t sad, not after everything he had heard from her mouth in the past hour, after all she had done, not only to him but to absolutely everyone she’d met. It felt more like a relief, a guilty relief. A hand was put on his shoulder and he didn’t have to look up to know it was his husband’s.

As he covered it with his, he gathered his thoughts and something hit him. He raised his head to look at his father, who had his eyes staring at his wife’s corpse with an expressionless face. In his left hand, his dagger’s blade was still coated with her blood ; his right hand held Taemin’s wrist, and he let go of it when he noticed his son looking at him. The Prince opened his mouth when he saw the man’s shining eyes, but no word could be told.

In spite of everything, it was like Taehyun had been stabbed too. In spite of the constant abuse, the manipulation and the forced distance with his own children, he couldn’t forget the love he had once had for the woman he had married. A love that perhaps had never been shared, that she might have faked for the first years of their wedding until showing her true face a couple of years after their son’s birth. But he never had. And seeing his own crime, though he didn’t regret it, was more than he had ever had to handle.

“Why did you stop me ?”

Father and son broke the eye contact when they heard a voice interrupting the disturbing silence. Now that he wasn’t held anymore, Taemin stepped forwards, standing between them and looking at the man who had willingly prevented him from killing that woman. He wasn’t angry, no, his features betrayed a real surprise.

“I was about to do it.” He said, controlling his trembling voice. “When she attacked, I moved to defend my King, I was going to stab her myself but you stopped me. You made sure I wouldn’t, why ?”

“Taemin, this is not a question to ask.” Jinki intervened, his tone firm but his voice gentle since he didn’t want to pressure his protégé.

“It is fine, General.” Lord Taehyun replied before he turned towards the younger soldier. “To kill someone for the first time is something you never erase from your memory, it is something you will always remember in your mind, but also in your body. Hands stained with blood… I did not want you to live this.”

“That is theory.” Taemin nodded, acknowledging the speech but his natural intuition telling him it wasn’t all. “You kept me behind you, you did not let go of me until just now and your grip… why did you protect me ?”

“Because I failed to do so for the past nineteen years, and I could not let you commit a crime that would have had bad consequences. And it had to be me. Because…”

“Dad, not here.”

Kibum had stood up and approached the two men talking in front of the whole court. The way he had called his father with a more intimate word than the usual “Father” he had always used, made the man go speechless. They looked at each other and Taehyun understood ; such a revelation must be made in private, just between the two of them. Not publicly in the middle of the yard, though the young boy was the only one around who didn’t know about this.

Taehyun quietly agreed and cleared his throat, looking at the whole mess the yard was. A quite oppressive mixture of soldiers wearing different colours, all looking at the scene he created… he should have felt free by doing this, or at least better than during the past two decades. But there still was something choking him, because he was no fool ; he wouldn’t make up for all these years of forced mistreatment with one discussion. Taemin himself was looking lost as his gaze kept going from his friend to the latter’s father, eyebrows furrowed.

To cut short with the whole situation that was needing supervision, Minho cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to look at him, waiting for his words. 

“This is not how I would have wanted this situation to end.” He said, though his tone didn’t betray any form of anger. “However, Kim Eungyu let madness drive her thoughts and gestures, and it became the death of her. She was murdered, that is a fact, but I will acknowledge that this act was made with the sole intention of preventing the Prince from getting killed. Lord Taehyun, you have my eternal gratitude for what you did, although I assume this was no easy task.”

“It was my duty to protect my sovereigns, your Highness.” The man answered, bowing to show his allegiance. “I am myself sorrowed that this is the end that had to happen and hope I will be allowed to give my wife a proper funeral, regardless of her crimes.”

“Naturally, I can grant you this request. Though, as you may know, the tradition does not recognize traitors as worthy of a burial.”

“Yes, your Highness. She will be cremated and her ashes shall be scattered far away from any habitable area. I will take care of this myself.”

“I entrust you with this task. Guards, please bring the corpse in a place where it will be cleaned.”

At the very end of the pronounced command, three soldiers approached and crouched to carry Eungyu’s lifeless body inside the manor. The procession was made in silence, for the assembly was still in shock after the sudden, brutal death of the heiress of the Kim dynasty. Once she couldn’t be seen anymore, everyone waited for the King’s words as it had not been decided who was now in charge of Mongje. However, Minho was looking at them without saying a thing, troubled by so many persons he didn’t know needing his lead.

He opened his mouth to announce something but reconsidered his words, clearing his throat a second time to earn time. His husband noticed his nascent anxiety and left his father’s side to come by his, gently placing his hand in the hollow of his elbow and looking at the people. His people.

“You feel lost, and it is understandable.” He said, catching all the attention around. “What happened today was beyond everything we planned, and I feel apologetic that you had to witness such violence. Please take the rest of the day to take care of yourselves, while the King and I discuss Mongje’s future with my father. The manor remains open for you to rest, I request from all of you that you do not leave to town until we took a decision, for the last thing we wish is for all souls of this province to give in to panic.”

“I will send my guard to patrol in town.” Minho eventually found his words, his husband’s calm influencing him. “For as long as we are here, you are all under our protection and we will not fail you. General ?”

“Yes, your Highness.”

With this signal, Jinki turned towards his dispersed army and shouted for them to assemble so he could give his orders, following his King’s decision. Within a minute, the yard started emptying itself as soldiers got divided in several troops to cover each an area, and before they left, the Prince made sure to give one special command : to reassure the people. They shouldn’t let them know about the murder that had just occurred, not now, and not from Jinju’s forces’ mouth. With this thought in mind, recruits left, except for one squad who got assigned to lead Mongje’s defeated army in a place they would be questioned later on.

Once it was only them left, the manor’s employees looked at their late superior’s son and a single smile from him seemed to comfort them. Like one man, they walked towards the manor to accept the day of rest they were granted ; though, a few handmaids and houseboys went to Kibum to politely ask if they shouldn’t at least make sure to have lunch, tea and dinner prepared. Their former young Lord appreciated the thought and told them that if they felt like doing them this favour, they were more than welcome.

Faces enlightened and the young employees bowed, trotting around to the manor with the firm intention to keep the house running no matter what. They couldn’t hide the relief they were feeling now that it was the son of Mongje who was giving them orders, because they didn’t sound like orders. And for all those past months, they had missed his cheerful presence, although the light he brought on this place was too often shadowed by his mother. 

Smiling at their excitement, Kibum watched the now empty yard except for the few persons still standing around him. His nanny had joined them, Sooyun calm in her arms but seeming a bit sleepy as she looked at the young man she had met the day before and already got a small bond with. She was safe now, no evil grandmother to be seen anymore with her monstrous plans… all thanks to her grandfather’s devotion.

As the Prince looked up to see Lord Taehyun, he felt a pinch in his heart ; the man seemed uneasy and was making sure not to look at Taemin. This secret had been a considerable weight on his shoulders for so many years, and he was now finding himself pressured about the way to announce their family relationship. But it was time, now that the young soldier’s life wasn’t threatened anymore and the truth could be told.

“I think we should all take this day to rest as well.” Kibum eventually spoke. “We arrived just yesterday and too many things happened.”

“Yes, we should rest properly before discussing this province’s matter…” Minho agreed, coming closer to place his hand on his husband’s back like had become his habit. “We will meet tomorrow instead of this afternoon, if you are fine with it, my Lord.”

“I wish we could discuss today, your Highness, to finally throw this burden away.” His father-in-law answered with a sad smile. “But it is fine with me, I will tend to my wife’s funeral so she can become a memory before our meeting.”

“If you need more time…”

“No, in spite of the affection I once had for her, her actions make her unworthy of our traditional three days of funeral. Everything will be done tomorrow.”

“I will be with you.” The Prince said, his voice gentle. “If you will have me.”

“I will, son.”

Smiling to each other, father and son both felt a bit lighter as the complex, broken puzzle of their relationship had found its first piece back. It was a matter of time until they could heal from the endured pain, and they knew they would be patient enough… especially now that they had a little person to take care of and that somehow linked them even more.

“I do think you have some stories to tell now.” Kibum resumed, glancing at his childhood friend. “He deserves the truth.”

“Yes.” Taehyun nodded, rubbing his hands together as a show of discomfort. “Yes, he does.”

“We will let you talk in private, I suggest you take a walk together. Taemin, you can trust me, alright ? What you will hear will not be easy to handle, and you are free to have the reaction you want. My door will be open if you need me.”

“A-Alright.”

“Fine. Now…” The Prince looked at his nanny. “May I… may I take her with me ? I would like to spend time with her, she can take her nap in my quarters today.”

“Of course, my boy.”

The old woman approached the young man she had once raised and carefully handed him the girl, who instinctively stretched her arms to place them around his neck. With a soft smile, he held her and stroked her back when she rested her head on his shoulder. Without waiting more, he bowed and excused himself before turning around and walking away… until he looked back, when he didn’t feel Minho following him.

The King had not thought he was needed, but when he saw the man he loved offer him a smile and gesture him to come, his heart exploded in his chest. He nodded as an answer, intimating him that he would join him in a moment. The few persons still standing in the yard watched the Prince leave with his niece, the scene heartwarming after such a rough and violent morning.

“I will wait for my General to return.” The sovereign said as he turned towards the others. “You are free to leave and attend to your business.”

“Your Highness, I will be in the kitchens if you ever need me for the little Lady.” The nanny said before she bowed and left, soon imitated by Lord Taehyun and Taemin who walked away together, quietly.

“Would you like to have my company, my King ?” Jonghyun eventually asked with his so gentle voice, as always. “My business can wait, if you do not want to be alone in an unknown place.”

“It is your hometown, Sir Jonghyun.” Minho smiled. “You should make the most of it before we travel back, perhaps you have family to visit ?”

“This was my plans for today, indeed. I suppose my mother owes me some explanations about my heritage, you see.”

“Naturally. Where did you used to live before coming here ?”

“My parents are nobles, their house is just further down the manor’s way. It is quite recognisable, for it is the only one whose door is blue.”

“You may go, then, I will be fine on my own. Should I send the General to the house with a blue door once he comes back ?”

The knowing but kind look the King gave the teacher made both of them laugh ; there was nothing left to hide, after all, so why not starting to talk about it more freely ? Jonghyun accepted the offer before he bowed to his sovereign and left. Minho found himself alone in the yard, contemplating the architecture and eventually realizing the steady sound of  grasshoppers all around him. He had obviously heard some before, but it was the first time the noise was so loud…

Though, it appeased him. It helped him gather all his thoughts in a more peaceful atmosphere, and for sure the current situation required a lot of thinking. Mongje’s heiress was dead and only remained his husband and the promising young soldier to succeed, now that the whole plot had been revealed. Lord Taehyun had no right on the province, but the King couldn’t think of having either Kibum or Taemin staying there to rule. 

He needed a solution.

* * * * *

When Minho eventually returned to his quarters, he was welcomed in the coziest atmosphere ever. On their bed, Kibum was lying on his side with his thumb stuck between his niece’s fingers. The little girl was fast asleep, her soft snoring being the only sound in the room, as her tiny body was covered with the sheet. She seemed comfortable in her uncle’s presence, enough to hold onto him while being in the world of dreams.

It was such a sweet scene that the King could only smile while he closed the door with the utmost care. His husband returned the smile and slowly straightened up, making sure he wouldn’t make Sooyun let go of him as he looked at the other man. The latter sat on the bed with delicateness, looking at the baby for a few seconds, then at him.

“Did she fall asleep quickly ?” He asked, whispering so he wouldn’t wake her up. “I’m sorry I took a bit long, I waited for Jinki to hear his report.”

“Don’t apologize, you’re on duty here as well.” The Prince smiled, placing his free hand on Minho’s before looking back at his niece. “She was tired, yes, she’s sleeping for a good fifteen minutes now. Isn’t she beautiful ?”

“She is. I wish she hadn’t had to be here earlier… She certainly won’t remember, she’s too young, but this was no place for a baby.”

“I regret it too, but how could have we known this was going to happen ? We all got surprised.”

“Kibum… you almost got stabbed for me.”

The older man lowered his eyes at this comment. He had waited for it, he knew Minho would have brought it up as soon as possible, for he hated it. 

“I did it out of instinct.” He said. “You know I could die for you.”

“Does that sound like something I would let you do ?” The King replied, cupping his husband’s cheek and caressing his cheekbone. “I don’t want you to die, even less to protect me.”

“You would have done the same if the target had been me.”

“You’re right. But that doesn’t mean you should do whatever stupid thing I do… I’m so glad you’re safe, I don’t know what I would have done if she had…”

“Let’s not talk about things that could have happened. We’re both safe, here in our quarters, and we defeated our enemy. For now, we don’t have any threat above us anymore… let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”

“You’re always so optimistic, will you teach me how you do ?”

“I have many ways to think like this… but right now, what makes me optimistic is that we have found a way to stay together, the most pleasurable way I could ever imagine.”

As Kibum smiled and looked at the asleep little girl between them, Minho imitated him and lost himself for a few seconds, contemplating the tiny body, the so young and pretty face, the delicate breathing… and he felt at ease. All the tension from the morning made space for a warm sensation of peace, as if he was finally in a place that allowed him to relax and smile, be happy. His husband didn’t need to say it out loud, they had both understood what he meant.

Sooyun was the key to their kingdom. The blood of Mongje’s dynasty was running in her veins, making her a relative of the Prince and more than that, she was of the generation following his. It was like an evidence.

“Your father will have to give his blessing for this.” The King commented, smiling at the way Kibum pouted. “In a way, he is the closest parental figure she has now that she lost her parents.”

“This province is like a cradle of cruelty… she can’t stay here.” The Prince replied, his voice calm but his eyes begging. “Even my father wouldn’t want his granddaughter to live in such a place where so many murders have been committed by our blood…”

“I agree, but still, we will have to ask him. And honestly, I don’t think he will refuse.”

“Do you really think so ?”

“I do. He is a clever man, he has faith in you. This little princess needs a parent to raise her, and I think he’s too tired to involve himself that much. He seems to enjoy his grandfather’s position.”

“I hope so. Minho, she can be our daughter…”

Kibum couldn’t finish his sentence because a few knocks hit their door. The King made a move to stand but the other man told him not to as he carefully removed his thumb from his niece’s hand. He made sure not to shake the bed too much when he left it, and went to open the door. He had expected his childhood friend — his younger brother — to come to him after hearing the family’s secret… and Taemin had come, certainly after a time on his own.

His eyes were a bit red, but his cheeks didn’t show any trace of tears that he could have shed ; he had held them in, certainly because he didn’t want to show his weakness in front of a man who happened to be his real father. He needed someone he trusted to let them out. He didn’t say anything, just looking at the Prince to convey his feelings. The latter nodded and turned towards his husband.

“I’ll be outside for a moment.” He said. “Can you look after her ?”

“Of course, go.” Minho smiled. “Take your time and… if he ever needs any kind of external support or advices, he can count on me. As a man, not as a King.”

Kibum couldn’t help but tenderly smile before he left, carefully closing the door behind him. Immediately, he placed his arm around the younger man’s shoulder and led him through the corridors. Although he hadn’t come home for so many months, he still knew exactly where to go so they wouldn’t be disturbed : the library. It was distant, and only his sister and him used to visit it, staying locked there reading for long hours. 

It was a quite large room with all four walls covered by shelves, some filled with books and other with decorative sculptures or flowers. A banquette and two armchairs were surrounding a tea table where the Prince noticed a small pile of books… including the one he had read last before leaving for Jinju. It hadn’t been touched since then, even if the library was completely clean. The old scent tickling his nostrils reminded him of the few old good days he spent there.

Ignoring his sudden nostalgia, he brought Taemin closer to the banquette and gently sat him, joining him right away. The soldier was staring straight in front of him, his only movement being the way he rubbed his hands together to show his discomfort. Kibum felt sorrowed, seeing him like this, but he couldn’t undone what had been done.

“We’re brothers.” The younger man eventually said, his words coming out more as a way to convince himself than to just state it.

“Yes, we are.” The Prince replied, making sure he remained gentle and not pressuring. “Does it change anything ?”

“We’ve been raised together, we saw each other as brothers way before we discovered that it wasn’t just a fantasy… it feels weird to think it’s been true all this time.”

“You are not forced to accept it, just like you’re not forced to accept my father as yours. I know he’s always been harsh with you, even violent, hitting you and all… but I think he knows he can’t fix this just with the truth.”

“He explained to me what I couldn’t hear during the trial, how he revealed everything… the way he was pressured by threats towards me. He told me everything he did to me and even to you, was because he didn’t want to lose me.”

“That’s what he said, and I can assure you it’s the truth. We all saw how my mother reacted to these words, and she didn’t even hide it. She was using you to blackmail him, that’s the only reason why she chose to keep you in the palace.”

“Do you… no, you can’t remember but did your parents once justify my presence, why I arrived in your life when you weren’t even two years old ?”

“I never questioned it. It was like you’ve always been there, I never wondered why. You were like my brother already.”

“My mother is dead.”

Saying it out loud was enough for Taemin to shed his first, long held in tears. His brother immediately took his hands in his, knowing that when it came to comfort, the young boy was always the one to initiate a hug.

“I don’t remember her.” He pursued, sniffing from time to time but not wiping the salty pearls rolling down his cheeks. “I don’t even remember if I once asked about her, because no one ever talked about me. I could have been one of your toys, no one would have made the difference.”

“Please don’t say that, this is not true. A lot of persons in this manor saw you as a child and treated you as such, even if they didn’t know where you came from.”

“But I was just the young Lord’s friend, the kid he brought with him everywhere he went, like a doll. I didn’t have my own identity here, you can’t deny that.”

“I can’t. But you learned about it today, and I’m sorry we had to know it before you…”

“It doesn’t matter. Your… our father told me about how I came to this world. There is something you don’t know : your nanny hasn’t always been the only one. She was taking care of Haneul, yes, but it was another nanny who took care of you when you were born. Way younger, and she gave you the love and attention your mother didn’t.”

“Another nanny ?”

“Yes. My mother. Because yours was pushing our father away right after she gave birth to you, he felt lonely and ill. He told me he was like a ghost in his own house, unable to show his real emotions and forced to be seen as someone heartless, even towards his children. He… He cried when he said that.”

“Did he… he never cried before.”

“Never, that’s why I… I believe what he said. My mother was always smiling, and your bedroom was like a place filled with sunshine in that dark house. You don’t remember it, but Father came to see you as often as he could, and she was always there with you. They had a really cordial relationship at first, but then… Father told me he felt less weight on his shoulders when he was with you and her. She was healing him even if they didn’t talk much.”

“They fell in love with each other…”

“Yes, and a few weeks after your first birthday, I was… I was conceived. It wasn’t the first time they… you know, so they eventually had me. I mean, my mother became pregnant with me and obviously, they got caught. F-Father tried to hide her, to send her away, to keep her safe in a house in town… but she refused, she wanted to face your mother… she did it and… and just after I was born…”

The young man couldn’t finish his sentence as sobs prevented him from talking, and he started leaning on, welcomed right away between Kibum’s arms. The latter held him against his body, embracing him tight as he gently hushed him, caressing his back and hair. He didn’t need more words to understand that his mother had personally answered such an opposition… and Taemin’s mother’s bravery hadn’t been enough to stay alive. 

He wasn’t even surprised, just feeling heartbroken for his younger brother who was born as a pawn on Lady Eungyu’s chessboard. But he was way much more than that, and although these sudden revelations were like a punch in his face, the soldier had one feeling that prevailed.

“I had all reasons to be the one killing her…” Taemin said, his teeth gritted as he straightened up, wiping his face. “I wish I could have stabbed her, watched her die the way she watched my mom die because of her.”

“She’s gone now.” The Prince say, softly caressing the other man’s cheek. “And if I can say it, there clearly is one thing you got from your mom.”

“What thing ?”

“You’re brave, and you don’t give up on what you want. Just like her. She wanted to have you and to let everyone know that she would be a loving, caring mother, unlike mine. She was brave enough to defy her and even if it costed her her life… she would be proud to see her son today. You’re brave, Taemin. You fulfilled your dream, you’re a skilled a soldier and look what you did today. You led an army, and you almost got hurt by wanting to protect your King. This is bravery, and it’s something your mom passed on you.”

Sniffing, the young soldier listened to his best, childhood friend and eventually let a tiny smile being drawn on his lips. 

“Do you think so…?” He asked, his eyes shining. “That she’s the one who made me brave.”

“It can only be her, silly.” Kibum laughed. “Father might have some qualities, but his worst flaw is his cowardice and he will be the first one to admit it. You’re brave like your mother, be proud of that.”

“Thank you…”

“Don’t thank me for telling you the truth. You know, you can do whatever you want with these informations. I will totally understand if you don’t want of this family thing, we can remain as we always were, and you definitely don’t have to forgive Father for everything he made you suffer.”

“I don’t know if I can forgive him. I got scars on my body and in my mind from the treatment he gave me… even if he was doing it to protect me, in a way. I need time to consider giving him a chance but… it might take years.”

“You’re mature, pumpkin, more than you think and more than I think. We will all give you the time you need and respect your decision, me, Jonghyun, the General as well, and even the King. He asked me to let you know that he was here if you needed someone else to talk to. I’ve been told you grew a bit closer since you got officially recruited.”

“Yeah, I taught him how to roll during a fight.”

“Oh, that explains the bruises he had at a certain time, earlier this year… please go easy on my husband, I kinda like him.”

“Sure… thank you for making me smile. I needed it.”

“It’s always my pleasure. Is there anything else you want to say ?”

“Yes… I want us to be brothers. For real this time, like… being your father’s son doesn't sound so good at the moment, but being your brother is the best thing that could have happened to me. Even before becoming a soldier.”

“Come here you little bastard.”

Laughing, Taemin rushed himself in Kibum’s open arms and hugged him tight. Despite the cruel circumstances of this discovery, they felt glad to finally have a reason to call each other brothers and that was all they needed, for their heart to get warmer. They stayed like this for long minutes, not willing to let each other go ; it was like this single hug made up for absolutely everything. They didn’t know what this everything gathered, but it was there. It was shared comfort.

When they separated, the Prince smiled and made sure to gently wipe any tear left on his brother’s face. The latter wrinkled his nose and shook his head to escape the other man’s hands, what only made them laugh.

“So many family secrets…” He commented. “Jonghyun hyung being a descendant of Maguk’s lineage, both of us having the same father…”

“And did father tell you ? My sister had a baby.” Kibum added, smiling. “Our sister… she would have been so happy to know this, she was fond of you.”

“He told me, yes, the whole story… I can’t even believe it, even if I saw the baby you took and heard you call her your niece. I was so troubled it didn’t really hit me. Does it make me her uncle as well…?”

“Of course, and to be honest… Minho and I will ask Father to let us take her to Jinju, to make her the Royal Heiress.”

“C-Can you do that ?”

“We can’t have children obviously, and my mother-in-law told us about a really ancient law that can allow someone from my blood, as the Prince Consort, to be the King’s heir. There are rituals and all, I didn’t really look into it, but what’s sure is that Sooyun can be Jinju’s future Queen, and it would allow them to stay together.”

“That’s so incredible…”

“You can, too. You have my blood.”

“No way ! I’d rather protect her to the risk of my life as her General uncle !”

Both men laughed out loud and just hugged again, this gesture telling way much more than any word. Their newly-found tie could be only a formalisation of a bond they had shared since birth, in a way, but it was the kind that pleased so much. It took them a moment to leave the library, as they walked back towards the Prince’s quarters while reminiscing a few childhood memories. It was giving these a whole new perspective, only warming their heart more.

When they reached the door, Taemin asked if he could see his niece — and he giggled when saying these words — but his brother advised him to come back once she would be awake, to embrace her presence fully. The younger man agreed and gave his elder one last hug, quicker, before he left to find his mates, eager to share the news with them. He laughed by himself to the memory of them being so overwhelmed by their friend being close to their Prince… he couldn’t wait to see their face when he would tell them they were relatives.

Smiling behind him, Kibum watched him leave and sighed, contented with this particular talk ; he now planned to meet his father, to reassure him as well, but it would wait. At that moment, he only wanted to go back to his niece and husband. When he opened his door, he was expecting everything but what was happening before his eyes.

Standing in the middle of the room, Minho had removed his formal coat and crown, and was holding Sooyun with his arms stretched, as the awake little girl had caught his hair and wasn’t thinking of letting it go. However, this situation didn’t seem like a burden to neither of them, the King making his voice more high-pitched to beg for the baby to release him, while the latter was laughing and shaking her tiny legs, her so young voice filling the quarters with joy.

The Prince closed the door, making sure it made noise so his husband noticed him.

“Are you in trouble, dear ?” He asked, hiding his laugh behind his hand.

“I was made prisoner !” Minho replied, laughing and still struggling with his stuck hair. “She woke up and cried so I tried to distract her… my hair succeeded in my place.”

“What a mess… Let me help you. Sooyun-ah, look who’s here !”

Approaching the duo, Kibum stretched his arms with open hands towards the little girl, who looked at him and offered him a bright smile. As she imitated him to accept a hug, some of the King’s hair remained stuck between her fingers and the man had to make his head follow her movement, punctuating the gesture with a few ouch. But thanks to his husband, he was soon free and straightened up, bringing a hand to his hair : it was a disaster.

The Prince couldn’t help but laugh while he held Sooyun against his chest, the girl following the lead and laughing as well. This was enough for Minho to smile despite this horrible attack quite hurt, and he came closer to tickle the baby’s cheek with his finger… which was quickly grabbed by a tiny hand and could have been bitten if he hadn’t had the reflex to pull a bit, making it a game that only amused her even more.

Without even realising, the husbands were soon sitting on their bed, back against the headboard with the child sitting between their legs and nibbling at what looked like a cuddly toy made from a folded and sewed handkerchief. They looked at her, letting her finding her own peaceful moment and listening to her quiet babbling… until their eyes met.

“What is it ?” Kibum asked when he saw in the King’s eyes that he had something to say.

“I think we can.” The latter answered, a smile on his lips. “We can be her parents, I want to.”

As they exchanged a smile and brought their faces close to each other, willing to kiss, they were interrupted by a louder cry. Sounded like the pretty little girl didn’t like it if attention wasn’t on her… 

“She could be your daughter, indeed.” The Prince commented, laughing when his husband rumbled. 

_________________

The warm light of dawn was immersing the manor’s yard in a pleasant atmosphere, far from the tension that had ruled the day before. The granted rest period was now over and the whole house was already quite lively, with employees attending their respective business. The mood had changed, as whistled melodies could be heard here and there, in the corner of a corridor or around the laundry area where washerwomen were giving a new start to bed linens.

Minho had woken up early, at the same time as his husband, but both of them had attended different matters. While Kibum was riding his horse away from the town with his father, tending to his mother’s unaccustomed kind of funeral, the King had gone himself to Mongje’s soldiers’ accommodations. There, he had questioned their representatives with his General, but had quickly realized that not a single soul in this defeated army was willing to hold hostilities.

They had confessed everything they had had to do, pleading their cause by testifying of the terror a single woman was imposing. Lady Eungyu hadn’t only been blackmailing her own husband, but also her army’s officers to make them obey all her wishes. One of them had even stepped forwards, the lump in his throat audible as he had pleaded guilty for the specific murder of Siyeon’s family, under the woman’s command. He had felt dishonored and expressed his wish to die to fix his mistake, but Minho had disallowed it.

There was no danger anymore in Mongje, and both men had even been surprised to have the spy girl come to them with a group of people, young and adults, all wearing black clothes : Eungyu’s assassins. They had all kneeled before the King and asked for forgiveness, though most of them got sent to the dungeon for they hadn’t been under any threat when acting the way they did. Their fate would now be in the hands of Jinju’s justice, as they would be brought there with a squad of guards to ensure security.

Everything had gone quite smoothly, Minho’s army earning hundreds more soldiers who pledged allegiance to him, as they were desperate and unsure about their own province’s future. Although he had accepted, this matter was still about to be discussed that day, and Mongje couldn’t remain without any form of safety once the King and Prince would go back to their realm. For the time being, soldiers had been asked to attend to their usual business and to keep in mind that they were under Kibum’s command until further notice.

When the latter came back, entrusting the ostler with his mare, he was surprised to find his husband in the gardens, Sooyun in his arms and accompanied by both the General and Jonghyun. Minho explained himself saying he thought the little girl had been forced to stay locked up for too long, and that a bit of fresh air before her meal would do her good. The Prince naturally agreed and joined the stroll, the baby immediately showing her delight when she saw him. 

“How did the funeral go ?” The teacher eventually asked when they all sat on a large piece of cloth placed under a weeping willow, only Jinki remaining on his feet. “We didn’t see your father come back with you.”

“It was difficult for him, as I expected it.” The raven haired man answered, his voice lower than usual. “Even if I hadn’t any kind of bond with my mother, he was in love with her at the beginning. It might not be the case anymore but he can’t forget about it, and he still feels incredibly bad for being the one who caused her death.”

“The act in itself is already very damaging for one’s heart.” The General commented. “I cannot imagine how it feels when you have to commit it to someone you have or had strong feelings for.”

“He was glad I joined him for this task, at least he could let some of his burden out. He talked a lot, cried too… and he said he wanted to drown his sorrows at the inn, in town. I first wanted to tell him it wasn't the right thing to do, but he went through so much. I couldn’t forbid him something when almost all his life was made of prohibitions. I let him go and sent the officer who took care of my safety to him, they know each other and he will need someone to bring him back here.”

“You took the right decision, he’s allowed to mourn the way he wants to.” Minho said, smiling at his husband and putting his hand on his. “We will wait for him to sober up before talking business, this wouldn’t be fair to him to pressure him in such a moment.”

“I think so, too. Did everything go well while I was away ?”

“Mongje’s army is yours, your Grace.” Jinki nodded. “We thought we might face some reluctance but not at all, not a single soldier refused to submit to you, their rightful Lord.”

“That’s good news… and the employees ?”

“Doing as good as one can.” Jonghyun replied. “Their relief is noticeable, and I can tell you myself that the manor has never looked so warm.”

“As it should've aways been. Where is Taemin ?”

“Dear, why so many questions ?” The King laughed, earning a smile from his husband and the two men around them. “Everything is fine, please relax. You too deserve some calm before we must wear our crowns again.”

Kibum nodded and took a deep breathe, loosening his body and smelling the gardens’ air ; he’d forgotten how much he loved this tree, with its long, falling branches that used to be like a shield when he was child, protecting him from his life’s reality. As if they felt that they might have some other places to be, both General and teacher stood up and excused themselves, leaving their sovereigns and the little girl alone.

Almost instantly, the Prince let his head rest on the King’s shoulder, the latter circling his waist to hold him close while his other hand was prisoner of Sooyun. They didn’t need to say anything, and just remained in this peaceful place in silence. For once, they didn’t have to act like royals and could enjoy a break, thus they made the most of it by playing along the baby’s babbling and hasty gestures. 

Duty could wait.

* * * * *

Lord Taehyun had come back to the manor around four hours before, led to his quarters by the chief Kibum had sent. The latter had made sure to have a tray of food brought to his father, with a decoction that would help with the potential illness after ingesting a certain quantity of alcohol. However, he had been told the man had limited himself in spite of his terrible need to drink until he wouldn’t be able to think anymore, for he knew he had a meeting to attend later that day.

Dinner was just finishing, both sovereigns sitting down at the table and drinking tea while discussing various ideas with their guests : Jinki, Jonghyun and Taemin. The young soldier had first been surprised by the invitation, but after all, he was part of the family and it could be his place… after years of not being allowed at the dinner table. His meals had always been served directly in the kitchen, and it was quite new to him. But he had enjoyed the idea, though he asked for it to not be too frequent so it wouldn’t disturb his brothers in arms.

They were all having a serious talk about the upcoming birthdays of the Prince and his niece, which were only eleven days apart. Though there was still a good month separating them from these celebrations, the topic had been brought up because of the importance of a child’s first anniversary, following the tradition. They got interrupted by a guard announcing Lord Taehyun’s arrival, the latter entering the dinner room and clearing his throat.

He wasn’t looking too ill, though he was a bit paler than usual. The five men around the table looked at him and stood up to welcome him, a gesture he quickly dismissed.

“It is not needed.” He said, his voice a bit hoarse. “I apologize for present myself in such a state, but I am willing to have our meeting as planned, your Highnesses.”

“Are you sure you are well enough to focus, my Lord ?” Minho asked, unsure. “This is an important talk that we should have, I would not want it to be badly led.”

“I am fine, I promise. Today had been a rough day, but I feel completely capable of discussing Mongje’s future tonight.”

“As you wish. Should we head to another room, perhaps ?”

“I think we can stay here, dear.” Kibum spoke, gesturing his father to sit at the table and calling a maid. “Could you please bring another cup ? And prepare one more teapot, I think it will be needed.”

Obeying, the girl left the room to head to the kitchen, while Taehyun was taking place on the sovereigns’ opposite side of the table. They all remained quiet until the moment they were served more tea, and the Prince was the one to engage in the discussion.

“Mongje lost its ruler, and although this puts an end to a tyrannic reign, it also brings several issues.” He stated. “Father, you are not legitimate to take Mother’s place, for she was the rightful heiress of this province’s throne. Only two persons can now pretend to that title : Taemin and myself.”

“But it is impossible for either of you to accept this position.” The King added. “You both have your own obligations waiting for you in Jinju, and it is inconceivable that you leave everything behind to stay here.”

“Mongje has been weakened, your Highness.” Kibum’s father said, his tone betraying the sadness of his words. “The people entered an even lower level of poverty months ago, and it is only a matter of time before it gets worse. By following her race for power, my late wife neglected her province’s population, and even our nobles are starting to lose their wealth.”

“If this keeps happening, it might lead to Mongje’s ruin.”

“Yes, and it can come really fast. I asked a few ministers about the last harvests and inventories, we can last two years before we used all our ressources. Even a financial help couldn’t help this time, because it is a matter of this land becoming more arid by years passing. The heat you are feeling right now is nothing compared to what the weather will be in a few weeks, and Jinju will never reach the heat that is suffocating Mongje to this day.”

“Our ressources rest upon our cultivations and livestock, if the land is dying…” Kibum thought out loud. “There is nothing we can do. We don’t have any power against the nature’s will. Two years, you said ?”

“Yes, son.” Taehyun nodded. “It is only an estimation, maybe it will spread faster. Our province was very well located during the ice age, but for drought, it is the complete opposite. It rarely rains here, as you know.”

“We spent seven years without a single drop of rain, once.” Taemin remembered. “At that time, it wasn’t a real drought and we survived well…”

“But this time, weather is changing on top of that.” Jonghyun added. “Mongje won’t be a liveable area anymore within a few years, if your estimations are correct.”

As their thought got confirmed, all men took a minute to think about consequences. They hadn’t expected this issue to be added to their already important matters… 

“All inhabitants will have to emigrate from now to two years ahead of us, if they want to survive.” The Prince said. “They will have to find another place to live and they will necessarily head to already existing kingdoms.”

“You mean they will ask for asylum ?” Jonghyun asked, though he already knew the answer. “That can be taken the wrong way, especially since Mongje took its independence and always claimed to do well on its own.”

“Our ancestors were stupid to do so.”

“No kingdom is large enough to welcome a whole province, this is insane.” Minho commented. “Despite everything, Mongje is quite significant in terms of size and demography. Even if they were accepted somewhere, it would need new houses to be built.”

“What if we extended Jinju ?” 

All heads turned towards Taemin, who had spoken his mind out loud and realized it too late. He suddenly felt uneasy, as if he had said the more stupid thing ever… but the way his brother was looking at him said it all. Kibum was thinking, and the way his eyebrows furrowed for a moment before raising showed how his brain had worked.

“This is a wonderful idea.” He said, surprising everyone around the table. “Think about it, the closest kingdom is Maguk but no one owns the land between us.”

“Claiming lands around this area would need Maguk’s permission.” Minho frowned. “Although it is not owned, it is somehow shared between our kingdoms and we cannot just take it.”

“Then, let’s ask Queen Hyoyeon and give her our exact reasons of claiming it. We wouldn’t need all of it, just a proper portion that would allow us to extend Jinju, to build new houses, barns, shops if needed… it would be like recreating Mongje but making it part of Jinju.”

“This would mean to lose our independence.” Taehyun commented, rubbing his chin. “An independence that is centuries old…”

“Wouldn’t it be a good concession if it means to remain alive ? How long would it take for Jinju to get Maguk’s consent and finish such construction works ?”

“It took a few weeks to recreate the south town after the storm.” Jonghyun remembered, focusing on some quick calculations. “But that was because we had enough workers to do so, we would definitely need more to initiate constructions for hundreds of people.”

“What is the last number of inhabitants in Mongje’s register ?” The King asked, his tone implying he believed in this solution. “And when was this census taken ?”

“I will tell you that as soon as possible, please excuse me.”

With these words, Taehyun left the table and trotted around to leave the room, heading to the office. While he was away, the teacher asked for a scroll and a stick of charcoal to be brought and spread on the table, allowing him to quickly sketch Jinju, Maguk and the large land between them. He did all of this from memory of the maps he had once reproduced, pleasantly surprising his sovereigns — and his boyfriend.

He was just done writing Jinju’s last census on top of the drawn area when Kibum’s father returned with the register in his hands. He let it fall on the table with a heavy noise and opened it, immediately going to the last page with scribbles on.

“It was taken right after Seollal.” He read. “It is approximative, certainly because there were a few pregnancies at that moment… but there were around eight hundreds and seventy people in Mongje a few months ago.”

“Let’s round it up and say nine hundreds.” Jonghyun said, making his charcoal move above his drawing as he seemed to calculate. “Is there a number of households to divide everyone ?”

“No but we can estimate it. Most of the people’s families are made of parents and two to three children. Nobles rarely have more than two children…”

“That would make around two hundreds and fifty of houses.” Kibum’s brain was quick to count. “We should start from the principle that three hundreds habitations must be built, it is better to have a few more than a few less.”

“So three hundreds houses…” The teacher thought, looking at Jinju’s sketch’s scale and starting to trace an area under it, going on the unclaimed area. “It is approximative but we would need that much of lands to build them. Knowing that this is what we built in a month.”

Saying this, he circled the south of the town where storm had destroyed the school and around twenty houses. The last calculation was simple.

“Fifteen months.” Jinki said. “If it took us one month to rebuild this area, we will need at the very least fifteen months to build enough habitations for Mongje’s people.”

“We still need to make sure Maguk agrees, and this will take one to two months of negotiations.” Minho added. “So it makes seventeen.”

“That is enough for us to survive until then.” Taehyun nodded. “Mongje will just need to be led until then.”

“Father, I can’t stay and Taemin either.” Kibum told him, worry in his voice.

“If you allow me to, I will assure this province’s regency for you. I let your mother destroy it and I do not want any of you to sacrifice the life you created for yourself by being stuck here. Everyone knows me here and believes I ruled for the past twenty years… they won’t mind seventeen months more.”

“Are you sure this is your wish, my Lord ?” The King asked. “I can ask some of my ministers to assure the regency if you want to stop everything related to this life you had to endure.”

“Your Highness, you know I decided to do good things. This is part of it, and if it can save those who I came to know and care about as my people… then I will do it. It is my duty.”

“Kibum ?”

“This is the best solution we have.” The latter stated. “And I trust my father with Mongje, even if he was not the one really ruling, he knows how it works and will effortlessly make a better ruler than my mother.”

“Then, it is settled.”

Minho straightened up and took a deep breath, before he asked Jonghyun to take a new scroll and write down the terms of the agreement with Mongje, pending for Maguk’s approval.

“As soon as we will return to our kingdom, I, King Minho of Jinju, commit myself to negotiate the claiming of this piece of land with Queen Hyoyeon of Maguk.” He announced and dictated. “With her agreement, we will initiate an expansion of Jinju’s territory to build three hundreds new habitations and welcome Mongje’s people within fifteen months.”

“Please add this.” Kibum told the teacher once he was done. “The regency of Lord Kibum of Mongje will be assured by his father, Lord Taehyun, for the whole duration of this process. Once the constructions are over, Mongje will pledge allegiance to Jinju and renounce to their independence.”

“As a gesture, I would like to commit myself to something as well.” Taehyun said, dictating in his turn. “An amount of five hundreds soldiers from Mongje will be sent to Jinju as volunteers for the construction works, to ensure the joint effort of our two nations.”

Listening carefully, Jonghyun wrote everything down exactly at it was being said, and made space to the three men. The King was the first one to append his sign, followed by his husband and the latter’s father. Melted wax was brought and poured on the paper, Minho using his signet ring and Taehyun his seal to create the official marks of their respective realms. Once it was dry, the scroll was rolled up and the convention, sealed.

They all looked at each other with a smile on their lips, unable to refrain from showing their delight after reaching such a meaningful agreement. The meeting closed with this, and all men started leaving the room to go back to their respective quarters.

“Father, please wait.” Kibum called.

The man turned around with one eyebrow furrowed, walking back to his son who was standing next to his husband. They both seemed slightly uneasy but the hope for a new future gave them enough strength to go on with their wish.

“We are requesting your blessing regarding a serious issue.” Minho started, using formal words to insist on the importance of what he was about to ask.

“I am all ears, your Highness.” His father-in-law answered. “Pray tell.”

“I am in love with your son, my Lord, and even if I know this can be taken in a bad way, I expressed my decision to not annul our marriage. It might have been a political arrangement at first, but it is not about this anymore.”

“This is not a bad joke, Dad.” The Prince spoke in his turn, his eyes pleading his cause. “We want to make our marriage last as we promised so to each other when exchanging our vows. But…”

“But you can’t have an heir.” Taehyun said, smiling when he noticed the shock on the sovereigns’ faces. “I think I know what kind of blessing you will ask me.”

“Do you ?”

“Son, you wouldn’t be asking if you weren’t sure it was the only way, am I right ?”

“Yes… it’s the only way, Dad, and she needs a family. As her grandfather, we wanted your consent and if we don’t have it…”

“I will give you my consent under one condition.”

“What is it…?”

“Do not let her forget about me until I bring our people to Jinju, in seventeen months.”

With tears in his eyes, Kibum let go of his husband’s arm which he had been holding on since the beginning of their plea. He approached his father and hugged him, surprising the man who had barely had the opportunity to embrace his children. As he closed his arms on his son’s body, relishing the wonderful sensation he had been deprived of for so many years, he closed his eyes and realised.

The only good decision his wife had taken in her lifetime had been to send their son to Jinju.

________________

next

[okimargarvez]

REFRESHER COURSE

Original title: Il corso di aggiornamento.

Prompt: Penelope and Grace met during the refresh course mentioned in episode 5x14 of The Mentalist.

Warning: Crossover with The Mentalist and NCIS.

Genre: comedy, humor, family, romantic, friendship.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, Grace Van Pelt, Wayne Rigsby, Matt Simmons, Kimball Cho, BAU team, Patrick Jane, Teresa Lisbon, Abby Sciuto, Kevin Lynch.

Pairing: Garvez, Rigspelt, (slightly Jisbon).

Note: oneshot 35 in Garvez collection. 

Legend: 💏😘🔦🎬.

Song mentioned: Il mestiere della vita, Tiziano Ferro.

This is my first crossover. I think it’s interesting to compare Garvez and Rigspelt dinamic and devolopment.

GARVEZ STORIES

REFRESHER COURSE

 Quantico

It had been a very bad case. Not that there had ever been beautiful or bearable case, but something had made it worst and the blonde IT had remained in suspense until Emily had called to warn that everything was fine: the victim was safe and the criminal in handcuffs, all alive. No further bloodshed. But yet.

She sighs, shaking her head and whispering in a low voice alone, appearing in the bullpen just as her entire team exits the elevator. She says a general greeting and then kidnaps the other blonde woman. -JJ, I need help, it's an emergency!- from the way she blinks her eyes her friend understands that it's not too serious, so she nods and lets herself be dragged to the refreshment area, while their colleagues look at them disappearing.

-What happens, Garcia?- she leans on the cabinet. It is only ten o'clock and, leaving now, she has at least an hour to spend with Will.

-This!- she answers, showing a sheet of paper from the official appearance. The woman scrutinizes it carefully, sliding her eyes up and down those lines. Then she looks up until she meets Penelope's.

-Well, it seems like a good thing.- she can’t quite grasp what the problem is. -You have been chosen among thousands of candidates, you must be proud of this. Not that you need a piece of paper like that, to realize that you're the best technician available... but it's still a nice recognition.- of course there is something that she can’t understand.

-No! I mean, if you put it in that way it's a good thing, but... can you see me, JJ? Me, teaching someone else? No, I have the urticaria just think about it. No way.- she's really scared, she's not pretending. But yet…

-But if you act in play! How do you can declaim in front of an entire audience and let yourself put in crisis from an interview with some journalist or a class of people like you, eating out of your hand?- a moment of pause and some exchange of looks. -Yes, I know. Reid told me about it. I'm sorry I lost it, I'm sure you were great on both occasions.- she says it lightly, but thinks it seriously. The other decides to let it go.

-As I told our colleagues seven years ago, it's different. When I act, it's no longer me, so I don’t feel embarrassed. But... teach... and I will also have to keep a kind of final exam, to release the certificate of success of the course. How can I interrogate someone if I will be more anxious than them?- while talking Penelope prepares a cup of tea. Indeed, chamomile.

-I'm sure you'll make it. When they see who you are, they will all fall in love with you, like everyone in the universe. Nobody can resist your charm, baby girl.- she says with Morgan's tone, getting a giggle and a flushed face in return. -And you can always ask Spencer, he held a seminar and lived a week as a professor... certainly has some advice to give you.- here is the perfect solution. Will, I'm coming.

-You're right!- she thanks her with a hug. When she opens her eyes, she sees the wonder boy in the doorway .

-Anyone of you said my name?-

Close the door when you go out, because there is too much of you inside, then don’t turn around, wait again, you'll be surprised... how much dreams you have to catch up on... you can’t divide them in two...

 Sacramento

-Damn it. I wanted to greet her, before she left. I had also bought some flowers...- the man doesn’t realize that he is not the only one in the room. A sigh is heard from the desk next to his.

-When will you admit it?- Wayne stops staring at the bunch in front of him and turns to his colleague, who hasn’t changed the slightest expression and continues quietly to write his own report on the case solved. He shakes his head. Having the ice man as your best friend sometimes (i.e. often), is exasperating.

-Admit what?- he plays innocent, though he knows it never worked. Yet, he doesn’t stop trying, from eternal positive what has always been. But neither does the other seem to want to give up.

-You're still in love with Grace.- though he was expecting it, he can’t help but be surprised. He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it, thinking about it, then opens it a second time, trying not to notice that hint of irony, almost invisible for those who don’t know him personally, on his friend's face.

-I'm not in love with Grace. I have a son with another woman, a lot of time has passed, we're just friends.- two truths out of four, it's a good average. For about half a minute, the Asian man simply stares at him, then decides that it is worth trying to voice out what he is thinking.

-Sure. Are you trying to convince yourself or me? In any case you are doing a bad job.- the most irritating and destabilizing thing at the same time, is given by his tone, practically flat, devoid of emotions and for this even more ironic and sharp.

-Thank you, Cho. You're a friend.- Wayne rolls his eyes, standing up and taking his things. He turns to the other man, still busy writing something on a piece of paper. Sometimes he has doubted that his friend was actually a robot; it would explain many things, like this.

-You’re welcome.- he answers him without taking his eyes off the desk.

 Los Angeles

She is agitated as she walks, dragging her suitcase along an avenue of the city of the angels. It is certainly not the first time that she participates in a seminar like that, but she had always found herself sitting quietly in the middle of a group of nerds like her, not on the other side, up, on that damn desk, perfectly visible to everyone. Why the hell had they proposed her? There really has no one more suitable?

She stops at the reception to get the card of her room, then she goes to the elevator. As soon as the doors open, she seems to be dreaming. On board there is a thin, tall woman, dressed in a white shirt and a red Scottish miniskirt, her hair gathered in two tails like Pippi Longstocking, next to a pink suitcase with a skull painted on it. -Abby?- she asks, uncertain whether to believe her eyes. The other woman also looks at her in the same way.

-Garcie!- as soon as she gets in and the doors close, two women and two pink suitcases to carry, the brunette drags her in a crushing hug. -I was hoping to see you. How are you? You have made progress with...- Penelope stops her instantly before she can say that name. At least for the time she will spend in this city she wants to pretend that he doesn’t exist and that she doesn’t have a crush (euphemism to say she is in love, with no hope of recovery) on one of her colleagues.

-And you with McGee? Are you two back together?- it takes little to silence her. Not even Abby seems willing to talk about her sentimental situation. They exchange a knowing smile, while the numbers scroll in the displays next to them.

If you want to come back ok, come back really, because if you come back I'll come back as I was... no, it's not life to take off our wings, entrusted to the care of the memories of who you love and you... let it be... the craft of life and you... let it go...

 Quantico

-Guys, we have a case. For this week Garcia will be no here, she is busy with the refresher course. Kevin Lynch will replace her. Kevin, you can start.- Emily sits down in her seat, while someone, to be exact, a man with Latin traits and dark hair, stares at the stranger as if he were an alien or a monster. A refresher course, Garcia? He struggles to concentrate on the case.

-Thank you, Prentiss. Yesterday evening, in Kingman, Arizona, they shot two different men at an hour's distance from each other. The same thing happened last week, at the same time, but in a nearby town, Yuma. Both are close to the Californian border. This is why the police asked for help from the FBI.- the bespectacled man explains with great detail and the correct images appear behind him. When the screen lights up with images of the autopsy, Lynch turns quietly to add some detail and the Latin can’t help but compare it to Garcia. She would never have done it. She usually had looked at those things only once, preparing the presentation of the case, and then she has simply told them in words, not concealing the disgust and contempt she had felt.

-Which are other common characteristics among the victims?- the oldest takes the floor, leafing through his dossier, strictly paper, as well as that of the youngest member of the team.

-They were all just got out of a bad divorce, finished in court. Jefferson had a son, Dewey two little girls and the others none.- instead of the computer technician the boss answers, just as she usually does.

-Thompson was a lawyer, Dewey a librarian, Welles a janitor and Jefferson was unemployed.- comments the only blonde that it's here, which has certainly noticed the loss gaze of his colleague, the way he looks at Lynch and his being taciturn. Perhaps this refresher course will not only reinforce Penelope's confidence in herself.

-What can you tell me about wives, Kevin?- again Prentiss asks. From the way she talks to him, it is clear that she has known him for some time.

-Welles wife died last month. The others all enjoy excellent health. Two housewives and a fashion consultant.- the man answers promptly, with his voice that the Latin agent finds, without knowing the reason, extremely annoying. Perhaps it is simply too different from that of Garcia to whom he is so used (and fond).

-Advise Kingman's police to call them, so we'll talk to them,after we'll land.- Emily sends her tablet to stand-by and pushes the chair away from the table.

-It will be done.- Kevin turns off the screen and starts to settle to be able to transfer into the bat-cave. The others imitate the chief.

-Perfect. Wheel’s up in twenty minutes. As soon as the sentence is pronounced, everyone gets up and heads to their desks, a bag ready that awaits everyone. The man with oriental features looks at his friend for a while and then shakes his head.

-Alvez, you're thoughtful. You have trouble with the mysterious girl?- he teases him. He even doubted the existence of this phantom lady. Not because Luke can’t have a girlfriend, in fact, he is quite objective to recognize that he is a handsome man, by female standards and not only... his wife even confirmed it. Fortunately, he is not a jealous type.

-Who? Uh, you mean Lisa.- for a moment he even forget that name. -No, that is... it didn’t really work, but I wasn’t thinking of her.- he is stuttering, scratching his head and he tries three times before successfully succeeding in closing the shoulder bag that always accompanies him in every mission.

-Oh, understood.- a pause before he reaches him. -Maybe are you thinking of a certain blonde with glasses?- he lowers his voice, because he loves him, but the other blushes instantly as soon as he feels the description of their computer technician whose absence today doesn’t it had certainly gone unnoticed.

-What?- despite his body has unmasked him, he still try to play innocent, he doesn’t even know why, to protect a residue of pride? -No!- the first phase is denial. But it doesn’t last long. -Ok, yes, I was thinking of Garcia.- then there is admission, but it is always a partial acceptance of the gravity of the situation. -Well, it's just...- he tries to get away the embarrassment. -... it is strange to think that when the screen will light up, we will not hear her voice and we will not see her and her colorful clothes...- maybe this last part he should have kept it for himself, if he really wanted to convince his friend and colleague that there wasn’t nothing weird in thinking of Penelope. -Don’t look at me in that way. It's all here.- he also raises his hands in surrender.

-Sure, Luke. If you can believe it...- Matt chuckles, shaking his head. The last sentence in a low voice.

-What do you mean?- they begin to walk to get to the jet.

- Nothing, friend, let's focus on the case.-

And I will flee from these looks because they don’t perceive, the pains that I have kept silent, and that bury me, you go and find smile again, I wait for you here anyway...

 Sacramento

-I was lucky I worn the bulletproof vest.- the two men walk side by side outside a building with a familiar façade. A hospital. Many ambulances, with their flashing lights, run behind them.

-Yes, Grace wouldn’t have forgiven me if you  had died while she was absent.- that of the eastern lines pushes a button that automatically opens all the doors of the car, including the trunk, then turns to help the friend to get on board. In fact, he has a bandage on the arm that prevents it from moving comfortably. Just a precaution, the nurse told him.

-Why do we always have to talk about Grace?- he still try to protest, but as soon as he raises his tone of voice, all the ribs, hit by the force of the bullet's impact, start to pain. -Whatever, you're right.- as always, at the end he yields. -In fact, if I decided to put the bulletproof vest is just because of her. Remember that time we went knocking on all those doors, in that bad place, and a guy fired at her? I hadn’t worn it, but she, thank God, yes. She only cracked a few ribs, but she would have died if she hadn’t worn it. She has always been the most responsible among us. Here is the usual interminable monologue on his fixed object. Meanwhile, the Asian put himself in the driver's seat, slammed the door and inserted the key to start the engine.

-Yeah. Did you text her?- he puts it in gear, crushing the clutch, accelerating.

-What? And why should I?- he sees the friend's gaze through the rearview mirror. It speaks a lot more than all those phrases that he uses to try to deny the obvious, what everyone knows, except (perhaps) the other person concerned.

-Because you're in love with her and today you got shot because you weren’t concentrated enough.- it is not from him saying a whole long sentence. For the friend, who has known him for a long time, it is a sign that he is really worried about him. He swallows. -I don’t want to tell her that you're dead because you're a coward and you'd rather face bullets than tell her you still love her.- even worse. The situation is very serious.

-I am not a coward.- he denies, in doubt, always deny.

-You are. You aren’t able to tell her that you're still in love with her.- and damn it, why he doesn’t have a normal best friend, able to express his reproaches by changing his expression, why does his face have to be like the stone face of Buster Keaton?

-I don’t...- this time he doesn’t even let him end.

-You never stopped.- seraphic, impassive. And terribly on the side of reason.

-I have to go to Ben. Say hello to your imaginary girlfriend and tell her that she's really lucky, to be with someone who understands human feelings like you.-

 Los Angeles

She expected something great, but not so much. She feels like a child in a candy store. There are too many things that attract her attention and not enough time to deepen. The first day of the course ended and her response is definitely positive. Above all, the two hours of profiling have passed in a flash. The woman who is teaching it is definitely out of the ordinary, but she already knew her. She's a myth, among computer science lovers like her. Grace raises her head and here... she finds that woman in front of her, in the queue in the dining room.

The blonde looks around, for who knows why, and immediately notices her. -Hey, you're Grace Van Pelt, the Agent from Sacramento! CBI, right?- the red-haired woman stays for a moment shocked. How does the BAU oracle know her name and where does she work? Well, it's a stupid question, in fact, but the meaning wasn't how the hell could she find out, but why she knew it. She didn’t believe she was so famous or important.

-Yes, right.- she blushes, like a little girl waiting for her favorite singer to sign her an anonymous and photocopied dedication. -I'm flattered that Penelope Garcia knows who I am.- she tries to behave like a mature, adult person. Everything is facilitated by the attitude of Penelope, who behaves like a human being and not like the star of her posters. First of all, she smiles at her, and that smile would dazzle anyone.

-Don’t belittle you, girl.- she takes another step towards the buffet. -You are very good, and I don’t tell it to everyone, even though I may seem very sweet, and I am, but...- she brushes her arm in a friendly and comforting gesture. Then a confused expression appears on her face. -...what was I saying? Oh yes. You're very good, I saw it from how you responded to the first test... or maybe I'm becoming a profiler, by dint of being surrounded of them...- she bursts out laughing and even her laugh is contagious. Yes, Garcia is definitely her favorite teacher of this course.

-Thank you, really.- more and closer to the goal. -You don’t know how this makes me happy.- then she realizes that she used a tone too informal and unsuitable for an exchange of opinions between a teacher and a student. -Sorry, I don’t want to seem…- now the damage is done.

Fortunately, Penelope seems to think otherwise. -Hey, even if I’m bigger than you, I like to feel young inside.- she winks at her. -And I'm not comfortable with all those formalisms. In fact, I think I was the first case in which the person really anxious was behind and not in front of the chair.- she confides, showing insecurities that make her even more nice. -I don’t think I'm very good at teaching. It was my first time.- she shrugs and watches the person before her fill a plate of potatoes with rosemary.

-No no, you did great!- Grace feels the need to reassure her. -All the class adores you. And then, let's face it, you're a legend in our field. I know people who have decided to devote themselves to computer science to follow in your footsteps.- and it is not a lie to make her feel better, but the pure truth. Penelope understands it both by the way in which she has talked, and by the fact that while she speaks, she looks straight into her eyes. Hell, maybe I'm really frequenting profilers for too long.

-Oh, you flatter me too much. But why are not you with others? I saw on the group's chat that they had organized an evening in a club below the hotel.- of course she didn’t even think of going there; it's okay to be informal, and wanting to feel as she would twenty years old, but actually, among so many young people, even younger than Van Pelt... no. And then, she never liked being in the crowd.

-I didn’t go, I prefer to stay here.- apparently she is not the only one. Finally, it's Penelope's turn. Grace watches her take only vegetables and nothing meat or fish. So, she's really vegetarian and animalist, it wasn’t an urban legend. She wonders if the voice of how she was assumed by the FBI is true. But then she comes back to earth. -I need some time to think...- she reveals, then sees the blonde get away while giving her the place. -No, don’t go away, Penelope.- without realizing she calls her by name, and seems to be the best choice.

The blonde automatically turns into a protective mother. It changes her whole attitude: the position of the shoulders, the half-closed eyes, wrinkles of worry on her forehead. -What's going on?- and that tone. But then she hurries to correct herself. -Sorry, I'm a nosey, I can’t help it. You don’t have to talk about it with me, but I seem to recognize the symptoms of sadness...- Garcia is talkative and tends to get lost, saying more than she intended to reveal. One more thing that makes them similar. -Men?- Grace nods as they walk away, looking for a table to sit down.

-You know, you really became a profiler.- she lets herself go to a sad smile. -Yes, it's for a man... he's a colleague. I fell in love with him as soon as I met him, during my first year at the CBI, but since I was educated in a certain way, I put the job first and I suffered a lot.- she starts talking, the words flow freely on her tongue. It is clear that this, talking about the whole thing, was something that she had needed for a long time. And Penelope seems to be the right person, willing to listen without judging her and perhaps even able to help her. -Here...- she struggles to pronounce his name -Wayne, is so sweet, and clumsy, but he knows how to say things that make your legs tremble. He is also naive, unable to do harm. He courted me lightly and then more and more explicitly and I tried to reject him at the beginning, because we are colleagues and you know that you can’t...- she looks dreamy as she describes these moments and certainly the profiler by association notices it.

-Yes, stupid rule not to fraternize. We removed it, fortunately.- but this is not the reason why the blonde is perfectly able to understand the problems of the youngest, unfortunately. If it was just for that!

-I rejected him for a while, but in the end, I gave up. We were together secretly, and it was... very nice. From all points of view, but I... I was too young, and I don’t think I was ready for a real story. So I brok up with him.- here is the epilogue that no one wanted to hear.

-For all the gigabyte of the world, that’s a story. I seemed to be immersed in one of the novels that I reading while I wait for the team to call me and inform me that they had taken the unsub.- they have practically not touched food, so much are taken from the only argument able to make female solidarity bloom one thousandth of a second. Speaking (bad) about men.

-Yes, sometimes even to me it seems to live in a book or in a movie, but it is much less epic.- bitter truth. -And anyway... I'm not a profiler, and I wouldn’t want to meddle, but...- but already she's doing it, because she's no less curious than the other -also you seem to have those symptoms. Affairs of the heart? You too with a colleague?- target centered in full. Penelope looks down, seems to try to find a reason why she shouldn’t discuss it, but it's obvious that she really can’t wait. She had promised herself that he wouldn’t have existed in this sort of vacation in Los Angeles.

-Yes, I haven't talked to any of my best friends, not even with Morgan- Grace's face lights up hearing her say that name, in a different way, pure malice. -yes, I'm talking about the legendary Derek Morgan, I imagine that rumors about our alleged history have come up to Sacramento...- both the mouth and the eyes of the redhead laugh - here, I knew - she strives to return to the main topic. -Anyway, it's his fault, if I'm in this situation, but he's not the man who plays the main role in this novel.- but how does she talk? Why she can't talk as mere mortals? -No, the man in question is called...- she must sigh, swallow, sighs again to be able to do it. -Luke, and I struggle even to say his name aloud.- to give an idea of ​​how messed she is. -He took at Derek's place and I was determined to hate anyone who would have occupied that role... but...- she takes the phone out of the bag, goes into the gallery and finds that picture they had made together, when she had lost a bet from O'Keef. Losing had never been so beautiful. She shows it to her. -Tell me, how can you hate someone like him?- Grace peers at him carefully, far and wide, not just his face. How to blame her? It is not even the case to be jealous.

-Wow.- sincere reaction. -Yes, it's a bit difficult.- she laughs, then goes back to serious, grabs the wallet and pulls out a crumpled photo. -This is Wayne instead. It's her entire team, but they are the only ones that are really close. She points it out to her friend.

-Cute!- Penelope says. He seems as Sam. -He has it, the puppy' face.- yes, he looks like a good boy, of those who give flowers, of open doors, of those who dedicate poems and serenades. Of those that there are rare. Those like...

-Yeah, it's those damn big eyes.- Grace struggles to stop staring at him. -Anyway, talk, I'm so curios.- and it's true. Curiosity is one of her vices, very important and useful even in her work, but sometimes puts her in danger... but she has always able to keep it at bay. For once that she doesn't have to do it, she wants to take advantage of it. She puts herself in the listening position.

-Well, it's nothing like your story.- Penelope says. -In any case...- but she gives up soon. -He is not only so damn fascinating physically... unfortunately he is also kind, of those old-fashioned, likeable, witty... and since the first meetings he has adored tormenting me as much as I did. He asked me a lot of questions, personal, and I know he probably did it to everyone, it was just to get know... but... a part of me is not convinced. It wants to believe that it was different. It's pathetic.- yes, when she tries to describe their situation verbally, she realizes how stupid she looks, a little girl who lives with her head in the clouds. Which wanted to see education as other interests.

-No!- her friend protests, because by now she can be defined as such. -It's sweet, and it's simply...- she opening her eyes wide, with that serious expression, and manages to silence her.

-Please, don’t saying it.- as long as she can pretend to believe that it’s just a crush, then she can also live in a civilized way and maybe get out. But if by mistake she would even think about that word that begins with... -I was saying... for a while, like you, I managed to keep him away, a bit too much hard. I began to call him Newbie.- Grace can’t help but imagine the scene. Because that Luke didn’t look like Newbie, from any point of view. -Other problem insurmountable: I’m a vegetarian and animalist and he...- with a few clicks she reopens the photo gallery until she finds the image she seeks -he has this love on his side.- she also had other pic, indeed, the full phone, of Roxy's photo, as many as Sergio's, but, coincidentally, she went to choose right this one.

-But how nice it's!- she refers to the dog. But then the expression of the red girl changes. -Wait...- here, she has noticed. -...his arm is around your shoulders.- she says it accusingly, as if to say "you lied to me when you said nothing had happened between you two". Because that is a very significant contact, from Grace's point of view. Not all the arms around the shoulders between a man and a woman have that sense there, it depends on some details, like the position, like if someone smiles, even with the eyes, even if the rest of the body is in contact. And here are all those signals.

-Yes, I know.- Penelope throws herself into her defense. -Roxy, this is the name of the dog, loves to go for long walks and I don’t know how Luke managed to convince me every now and then to go with them.- this time it is hard to say his name. -I did it only for Roxy, let me be clear...- she puts her hands forward, as if she were swearing to tell the truth, nothing but the truth in court. -That day I had exaggerated and I was about to have a heart attack, so I allowed him to help me. And he took this picture and sent it to me the next day, in the middle of the night, while they were out on a case, along with the text... wait, I'll show you.- it doesn’t take long. She has kept all of his significant text messages. -Don’t dream of me tonight.- she reads, trying to imitate the deep tone of the man.

-Oh. Oh oh oh.- Grace only exclaims conspiratorially.

-Exactly, I couldn’t have said it better.- Penelope looks at her own plate and then at her friend's. It seems that neither of them was very hungry. -They are all slight provocations like these. We haven’t passed that threshold, you are at least lucky, you already know how it feels to stay with him, kiss him... I can’t even imagine, let's say I don’t even allow myself.- except than at night. When the sun went down and she was immersed in her own blankets, her head was doing what was to want, and here she fell into a thousand dreams that would never have become reality and left her the morning after bitter taste and a sense of loss of something that she would never had. -In the end, it's nothing like that, some look, some little jokes or text like this... an anti-stress kitten...- how can she not mention it? It had been one of the most epic moments between them, the one she really believed he was going to ask her out. Idiot.

-Anti-stress kitten?- Grace can’t understand.

-Yes, after having caught me crying because one of our colleague was unjustly in prison...- it is difficult to follow her. -... too long to explain...- she shrugs. -...he came back from the case with an anti-stress kitten, you know, one of those puppets that you squeeze and it sounds... and he added "for your future stressful days".- she imitates his voice again. -And he also said...- the moment of truth.

-What?- the friend hangs from her lips.

-If I’d ever do become the someone you want to go to when you are crying... I'm here.- she learned it by heart. She had repeated it in her head at least a billion times. She analyzed it, studied it, even put it on google to see if it appeared in the database of some film, TV series, book, scripture... it seemed too perfect, to be true. Too epic. But she never had the courage to tell her friends and colleagues at BAU, or Derek, for fear they would demolish her house of cards.

-Oh, damnit, Penelope, is the most beautiful and romantic declaration of love I've ever heard in my life!- exactly what she always hoped to hear, then, why doesn’t she want to allow herself to believe it? The blonde shakes her head.

-But it's not a declaration of love! He just acted like a kind colleague...- she is immediately interrupted by Grace.

-No. I don’t know him and I know you only of fame, but... from the little that you told me and looking at that picture... if his eyes shine at least half of there, when he looks at you, well, I'm absolutely sure he's overcooked.- she doesn’t know how she should say to be able to convince her. -He's happy, you see, I can’t explain it, but you understand, he is trying to look at you without being noticed, doesn’t staring directly in the lenses, the corners of his mouth are bent up...- all things that she had already noticed, and she said to herself that it was just in her head.

-It's okay, enough, for I'm giving up tonight.- she gets up. -Also because in a few hours we will have to wake up and I still have to prepare the last slides for tomorrow's lesson.- She seems not so happy.

Grace gets up in turn, looking at the watch that Wayne gave her... -Yes, you are right. It is very late. So good night, prof.- she watches her disappear on her pink heels.

-Night, Grace.-

 On a jet, headed to Quantico

The screen turns on suddenly, interrupting quiet conversations and waking up someone. -Kevin, we're coming back.- Emily already knows exactly what that means. In fact, shortly after, the jet carries out a maneuver that clarifies any doubt. There is another case. Mark will be so happy.

-Chief, a request has just been sent from a small town near Birmingham, Alabama. Child Abduction.- all react badly to the announcement. Who has children, big or small they are, but also those who aren’t even busy. Those are the worst cases, even if there is always the hope of bringing back the baby alive to the parents. But it diminishes every minute that passes.

-Great.- ironically comments the brunette woman. -Hey, guys, I'm sorry, but we won’t go back home yet.- they had already guessed, but in this way even the youngest of the team, who has just woken up, has a way of assimilating the news. Many shake their heads as they wait for Kevin to explain the details of the case.

-Damn it.- the Latin exclaims, according to him in a voice low enough not to be heard. He still turn the phone screen on and off, which remains the same, except for the number of minutes that increases. He looks like he's waiting for something, like when they were stationed in New York and he was smitten by Lisa. It seems like a century has passed.

-Hey, I'm the one who had written to his wife that I will not be home tonight. Roxy will forgive you.- he puts an arm on his shoulder, but the friend stays with his eyes down and a sad expression and his lips are bend down. -Luke? I was joking.- but it is not for him that he reacted like that, and he knows it well.

-I know, Matt.- he replies, after a moment's pause.

-Are you still thinking of Garcia?- is the obvious conclusion, even if the right question would be: was there a moment since we left for Los Angeles that you didn’t think about her? The answer would be equally obvious.

-Stop it!- hearing him say that name he seems to recover and beckons him to keep quiet. - No, ok. I wondered... why she needs to do a refresher course?- Matt almost laughs in his face.

-But you know that she is the one who teach at the course, she doesn’t have to attend it! - he explains, trying to keep a low tone. JJ is already looking at them.

-Ah, now it makes more sense.- Luke shakes his head. Nothing surprising. He runs a hand through his hair, looks out the window, seems to be seized by another thought and blushes.

-No shame, Alvez. Love fogs even the best brains. And I will not tell the others.-

If you want to come back ok, come back really, because if you come back I'll come back as I was... no, it's not life to take off our wings, entrusted to the care of the memories of who you love and you...

 Sacramento

-Wayne, are not you hungry?- the woman with short hair, brunette, observes her colleague, known to eat even during stakeout (it should be said: especially during stakeout), with the same piece of pizza, now cold in his hand, and the same distant expression. Suddenly he perks up and looks at the dish, showing little interest. The situation is serious.

-I don’t know, boss, not much.- he confesses, slightly raising his shoulders.

-This is so weird, it is the first time you don't want to eat the pizza of the end of the case.- the brunette says, reflecting on the possible causes. It’s happened something to Ben? But in this case, he would talk to them. Rigsby is not one that keeps secrets.

-There's nothing weird, Lisbon. He misses Grace.- a blond man, his hair curly like those of the statue of Apollo, says, as an irrefutable truth, after having gently wiped his mouth with a tissue.

-Jane!- Teresa shouts, more than anything else annoyed for not having understood first. After all, though, she had been the last to realize that something had happened between Grace and Rigsby. That he had an interest in the newcomer, the beautiful redhead, was immediately clear to her "colleague", to the man who read in people's minds. In general, she had never been very skilled at understanding sentimental matters, despite her intelligence and intuition. This, according to Jane, made her cold and distant and was the fault of her Catholic upbringing.

-See, Jane also said.- Cho certainly doesn’t miss the opportunity. On his face, however, not even the shadow of a smile.

-Well, it's not true, this time you're wrong...- Wayne tries to protest, first look at the friend, then the blond, addressing him. He still mad at him for cheating him with the trick of the coin. How to always get head? Simple, using a trick, a coin with two heads, one per face.

-No, I'm not wrong. I never fail.- his usual self-assurance. Too bad he's right. In fact, after less than a minute, Wayne yields.

-Actually also pizza tastes different without her...-

Let it be... the craft of life and you... let it go... let it be the craft of peace... you let it go...

 Los Angeles

Two more days have passed, and Penelope has been very busy with the preparation of the topics to be addressed. She spent many hours in the company of the other "teachers", some very nice, others... better saying nothing. Last night she didn’t meet Grace, because she had dinner in the room, if what she ate can be considered a dinner. Tonight, as soon as she sets foot in the mess hall, she sees a red head sitting at a table alone and goes towards her. -How are you? Always full of thoughts?- the woman raises her head and nods, seems worried and sad.

-Yes, my boss wrote to tell me that everything is going well.- it is clear that it doesn’t end here. Penelope sits down, taking no tray.

-And is not it good news?- she asks, pressing her. Grace nods and then shakes her head.

-Yes, it's just that... today is the anniversary of...- she tries, for the third time, to compose a decent sentence. Even if there are no words able to express what she feels today. -I should have gotten married, today, a year ago.- bam, bomb fired without warning, hits the target in full. Penelope opens her mouth, naturally surprised, but doesn’t know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

-Damn it, had you two arrived until almost the wedding?- she can easily imagine her with a wedding dress, white, classic, very few frills, and even the man who she has never even seen before. What she can’t conceive is what could have gone wrong, because these two are destined to be together.

-No, not with Wayne.- Grace had never thought that someone could have believed that... -See, after leaving him, I met another, an FBI agent, for the case of Red John.- she tries to explain, but when she says that name, Garcia lights up.

-Oh, I know that case.- the light in her eyes only lasts a second, because it is certainly not a good story, one that is linked to that serial killer. His signature, then, a smiley face made with the blood of the victim, made he even more disturbing.

-Yeah. We got engaged and I loved him, I thought he loved me too, maybe that's the way it was, but... he was corrupt.- she feels the rage of feeling betrayed by a person in whom she had so much confidence. -He worked for Red John. He wanted to kill the former head of my boss and he almost succeeded... but before he killed me and Lisbon, who is my boss, I... I killed him.- a mess, she got messed up, not even when she did final examination at the academy was gone so bad. But Penelope still understood what she has tried to say. -He ripped off the necklace he gave me.- why did she add this unimportant detail? Perhaps because it's important for her.

-Oh.- the blonde doesn’t know what to say.

-Yeah.- Grace shrugs. Her friend is puzzled to find a way to divert her attention from that painful fact of her past, which she hasn’t yet clearly overcome. Already on the first evening, when they were confronted about their disastrous sentimental situation, it seemed that there was a race going on. Here, she found the solution!

-I can’t really compete.- she exclaims, trying to play down. -A man shot me during an appointment, and he almost killed me, but I had just met him and he believed that I was going to frame him...- she believed that she would make it seem ironic and detached, as if she couldn’t care more about less. Instead, she probably will never get over it.

-A man almost killed you during a date?!- on the other hand she seems to have achieved her purpose, because Grace is shocked by her revelation, fired like that, without any warning, and said as if she was describing her favorite taste of tea.

-Yes, he was called Jason Clark Battle and rests blissfully underground for ten years.- another random detail. Bitterness, a feeling that she had never even seen in the blonde. -But I didn’t kill him, my best friend did it.- she is keen to point this out.

-Well, better that way.- at least Penelope didn’t have the problem of living with that nightmare when the gun got stuck and she couldn’t hit him. -I would prefer not to win this competition.- Grace says, sighing.

-I know, my friend.- Penelope takes her hand. -Forget about it. Now go to your room and dream Wayne, which I think is definitely a better thought.- she winks, before standing up. Since she's in Los Angeles, she seems to have unconsciously begun a diet. It is the second evening that she doesn’t eat anything. -Tomorrow you will tell me why you two didn’t come back together after the treacherous fucker got out of the way.- the young woman seems to appreciate her choice of words and smiles at her.

-Good, Penelope.- she swallows. -Craig. It was called Craig, the treacherous fucker.-

Love, I oppose myself and to this pain I answer, I change again, I make war, I lay down lying on the ground, the distracted people don’t know that love has taken away time from you, your unmade heart knows that the only cure is time...

 Quantico

The friend stills to stare at him, so he finally gives up and asks him: -What's there?- but he already knows. They were able to find the child, alive, with his baggage of traumas, but psychologists, at times, can work miracles. Of course, it doesn’t concern the case.

-Nothing, you're weird.- Matt looks at the Latin playing with the straw inside the glass. It is not even a drink that he would ordinarily order. He is a beer type. It seems almost a tribute to a person who is not there, yet continues to be so present.

-Me?- he looks up to meet the eyes equally dark of the Asian. -It doesn’t seem to me.- sad tone, again the head down, pensive and melancholy. It seems almost an impressionist painting.

-Usually you always smile and participate in jokes, but tonight you're locked in your world and you do nothing but stare at that empty chair.- the voice gradually penetrates Luke's mind, forcing him to recover. He looks in the direction of the stool indicated by his friend, he imagines a pair of shapely legs on it, swinging at its own pace, feet with dizzying heels, which hypnotize him with their sway.

-Fuck.- he exclaims, caught by a sudden shiver. -It’s so evident?- hoping not to seem blasphemous, he prays all the saints that it is not so.

-A little.- Matt tells him, giggling when he sees a worried expression appear on the Latin face. -But the others are too busy with the poker match.- then he hurry to clarify. A sigh of relief.

-Good.- and then a long pause. Another circle in a glass containing a strange colored liquid, just touched.

-Are you missing her, Luke?- he expects him to deny, to try to change the subject or simply to ignore it. Instead it seems that man has reached the breaking point.

-Yes, fuck.- another dirty word. -Yup. I feel stupid, but I miss her, it's useless to pretend otherwise. Solving a case is not the same thing, without her and not even celebrating the success of one. Without her jokes it's all so... boring...- hard to blame him. As he talks his dark eyes flicker from one point to another, engaged in the vision of something that is not really there, as when watching a tennis match. -I’m so idiot.- he says. Matt understands that it's the right moment to push on the accelerator.

-No, I told you, it's the fault of love.- Luke's eyes widen when he hears that word, but he insists. -You're in love, Alvez, it's not a bad thing.- it depends on the point of view. It's easy to talk about it when you've been married for years with a wonderful woman and you've got four (four!) children. -When you think to tell her?- first surprise, dismay and then a nervous giggle.

-Uh? Actually... never.- and the bad thing is that he's not lying. -I didn’t even want to say it to myself.- Luke pushes the glass away from him, perhaps determined to give up.

-As you like, man, but remember that she will not wait for you forever.- it's the case that someone tells him. -Maybe she could also meet a male version of Lisa, right now. Have you thought about it?- of course, that he had thought about it, every holy day. A nerd not too ugly that would have courted her with poems full of alphanumeric terms and incomprehensible stripes. And after marriage, a common profile on Facebook.

-Simmons, I would have preferred if you also were a poker lover.-

 Sacramento

-Do you really think that Rigsby is still in love with Van Pelt?- two days have passed, and yet, between one case and another, between a piece of paper and another, they are still there talking about it. In part it is pure, damn, curiosity. But above all, is that she can’t stand that smug smile. She can’t stand it because it doesn’t belong to her.

-Oh, Lisbon, you offend me.- the usual arrogant. He is sipping his cup of tea, with a chipped edge. -I don’t think so.- theater break. -I know.- she doesn’t even know if she would like more to silence him by throwing her arms around his neck, strangling him or... ending up doing something else. Better not wonder it.

-Bet you five bucks that he will never admit it.- a banknote appears on the table.

-Cho!- Teresa pretends scandalized.

-Sorry, boss.- impassive, not even the shadow of repentance.

-Don’t apologize.- as always, overrides it. -Anyway, I double down. Ten  dollars he will confess everything directly to her, before she sets foot here in Sacramento.- another ticket. Both men love betting, but one of them always wins, so she just can’t figure out why Cho continues to insist.

-Jane!- she glares at him reproachfully. He answers her with a smile that would send anyone to the hell. She struggles to look angry.

-It doesn’t work with me, I'm sorry.- he approaches her slightly. -How much do you want to bet?- he asks her shamelessly.

-I don’t... and that's okay. Fifteen on Jane. I'm sorry, Kimball. But Jane is always right.-there is no time to protest, because the only one who is missing, makes his entrance. In a moment the banknotes are gone, all in Patrick's sleeve, and everyone pretends to be intent on doing anything but not talking about him.

-Hey, what kind of bet is it?- but Wayne must have heard at least the last part. Lisbon decides to intervene, taking advantage of her position, for once.

- Nothing, Rigsby. Nothing that could interest you.-

 Los Angeles

-Well, I'm ready.- this time they aren’t in the cafeteria. After having dinner outside, they locked themselves in the blonde's room, to have every comfort and not have to speak softly, thus avoiding letting the universe know their personal facts. Penelope settles herself better on the bed. -Why did not you and Wayne get back together?- the million-dollar question. Grace sighs, crossing her legs. She seems to have again ten years. At that time when she was supposed to be in a slumber party, like any girl.

-Because I wasn’t the only one who went ahead. He, too, had knew another girl...- here is the most obvious answer. Penelope can’t help but take both her hands. A strong bond has been created between them, and she hopes that it will continue later, when each will be back in her respective world. This looks like a sort of parentheses from real life, a break. She has always made the mistake of giving all of herself even to strangers, of loving without precautions, and often, what she has earned, it was discover with pain how for the other person was only one moment, and nothing more. She hopes that with Grace it will be different.

-Damn it, don’t tell me.- she shakes her head. -Luke is the opposite of a player and I've never seen him interact with women who didn’t concern work...- the youngest doesn’t understand where she wants to go. -Until a week ago. Her name is Lisa, she's a doctor, she seems nice and she's beautiful.- game over. -I saw them together, because the man turned off his cell phone during dinner and so I had to track him down because there was a damned case...- the redhead leaves her hands to bring them to her own face.

-Oh, did you see them together?- Penelope nods. -Bad.- the race, however, is still very open. -But also mine, which is called Sara, is not bad, unfortunately. She's so pretty, she's just one of those nice people you can’t hate- like you, she'd like to add, but she fears that she might be offended by the comparison -is she much shorter than me- what need she had to say it? -but she is not bad, is a lawyer and that's how we met her...- for work. Instead, Luke had met Lisa because of Phil. That traitor!

-Give me your hand, sister.- she does it theatrically. -We are sisters in pain.- they laugh like two teenagers, then Grace returns serious.

-Anyway, it didn’t seem like an important thing at first. I also asked him if he loved her and he told me he wanted to go slow.- Penelope comments widening her eyes. -Even when we weren’t together, Wayne has always been my best friend. But then, Sara got pregnant...- bang. A sudden shot. She seems to enjoys shocking her in this way.

-WHAT?- Garcia can’t stop herself from shouting. Perhaps also who is to the attic have heard them.

-Yes.- Grace pulls out her mobile from the bag and looks for a picture that he has sent her. -Look. Ben is a love. He took his father's eyes.- she can’t avoid using that sweet tone, she doesn’t even think about it, it's spontaneous.

-Yes, he's beautiful.- which child is not so? Penelope hurries to show her baby gallery. -These are my godchildren.- first the sons of JJ, then Hank, and finally Jack. A moment of nostalgia.

-Oh, how sweet!- the youngest feels a twinge in the stomach. She drives that question away again. Will she ever be mother? Will she be able to experience that joy?

-Yup! Anyway... I wouldn’t like to tell you, Grace, but you also won this challenge.-

And try the unfinished, the extraordinary love, live in excess, beginning now... enjoy the triumph, create your miracle, seek true love, behind every obstacle...

 Sacramento

It can happen to her, out of love, to do something that is completely out of the ordinary, of a person's usual behavior. How to take advantage of her role to win a bet. The brunette woman approaches the desk of one of her subordinates. She makes sure that there is no one in sight. -Rigsby.- she calls him, awakening him from his thoughts. Probably about a beautiful redhead. -Do you know what's going on today?- he raises his head, shakes it, confused.

-No, boss.- Lisbon smiles. He did nothing else to deny that he was thinking of her while he was constantly talking about her, and now he also forgot... Men!

-Today comes back Van Pelt.- Wayne lights up like a Christmas tree. -I would like you to go and get her at the airport.- the arm has completely healed. The nurse was right. And the ribs don’t hurt as bad. Only when he breathes too strong.

-But...- he tries to protest. Weakly. He just wants to convince his conscience that he has done everything to avoid this situation.

-Is there any problem?- she asks, in an authoritative tone.

-No. No problem.-

If you want to come back ok, come back really, because if you come back I'll come back as I was... no, it's not life to take off our wings, entrusted to the care of the memories of who you love and you... let it be... the craft of life and you...

 Phoenix

-You're so excited, are not you?- Matt watches his friend change the arrangement of the very few objects, that usually are on his desk and that he decided to take with him, for the hundredth time in ten minutes. He raises the statuette of a dog that looks like Roxy and another puppet that it's really weird, he puts them in the middle of the bag, near the tablet, then reverses them, then snorts and returns to position them as before.

-What are you talking about?- Luke doesn’t even raise his head.

-Well, Garcia comes back tonight.- these words are transformed into a neon sign in the mind of Latin. -Tomorrow, at most on Monday, you'll see her.- he feels the emotion rise in his throat and tries to keep calm. -Have you thought about what I told you?- he takes a series of deep breaths and then nods.

-Yes.- but the hope of Simmons is destined to have a short life. -And I don’t feel I can do it, I'm sorry.- a disappointed expression on the Asian's face. -I'm a coward, I know, a little without balls. But I just can’t imagine...- the pointless defense is interrupted by the exclamation of Prentiss, who enters the hotel room they shared and that they were about to clear, having solved this case too.

-Guys, there is a problem with Penelope's plane...- the dog-shaped figurine escapes from Luke's hands and ends up on the ground. It's hard to cover what you think, when you're caught off guard.

-What?- he doesn’t even try to mask his concern. He stands up, assuming an attack pose, without even realizing it. -Is she okay?- he's always the first to ask about her, to inquire about how it's going to LA, mostly through JJ, but he's not at all aware of it. Matt sighs.

-Yes, Luke, the plane has had a breakdown in one of the two engines, so she will have to wait until tomorrow, before the next plane.- the leader hastens to reassure him, she has also noticed all these details. She exchanges a strange look with the Asian, but the other doesn’t realize it.

-Since we are so close, would not it be better if some of us went to get her?- Matt throws it there, pretending that it was an idea that came to mind only now and not a plan developed right at moment when Garcia had sent a single text: I'm late. -It was certainly a busy and stressful week and this certainly will agitate her even more.- he argues, with tone of lawyer. Very persuasive. -I can’t think of her all alone, in the middle of the night, in one of those cubes that they dare to call rooms, until tomorrow morning..- he's a damned clever wretch. The door opens again and the other members of the BAU also enter, apparently to be updated on the situation.

-Matt is right. Unfortunately I have to finish compiling a mountain of papers...- Tara is the first to get out of it. Luke watches them get themself out one by one, but the thought that there is nothing spontaneous in this, comes to his brain at the end. He is too busy on imagining exactly what Simmons has described.

-I would gladly go there, but I have to go back home as soon as possible. Michael had some problems, colicky again and I need to see how he is...- being mothers it is very easy to escape with a convincing excuse.

-Don’t look at me- the older one says, spreading his arms as if to apologize -I would do anything for the kitten, but I'm taking pills that don’t allow me to drive...- Spencer doesn’t even need to speak. The last time he got behind the wheel was to cross the border into Mexico, drugged against his will.

Matt turns to the only one left. -It would be fate, Alvez.- he grins. The others come out and Luke closes the bag in one fell swoop, putting it on his shoulder.

-Mhm, if you want to call it destiny, for me you helped.- for the first time since Garcia is not there, he captures a little flicker and vitality in the friend. Will the thought of seeing her again soon? -I would even say that you have tampered with the plane, if we hadn’t spent every hour together looking for that unknown subject...- the Asian laughs with taste.

-You overestimate me, Luke.- he stops him before he can leave. -Hey, this is the route of Garcia plane. Kevin will call you if there are any changes.- he hands him some printed sheets. The other takes them, he walks, arrives at the door and turns again.

-Matt?- he calls him.

-Yes?- they look at each other for a moment and then Luke smiles.

-Thank you.-

Let it go... let it be the craft of peace... let it go...

 Palm Springs International Airport

He sighs, snorts, looks around. Anything. There is no trace of her. He sees another man behaving in exactly the same way. Their eyes meet and the stranger approaches. -Are you waiting for someone?- he is certainly not used to such scenes, but basically, as seen in the TV series, people have a great desire to talk, even with people who they don’t know. Everywhere: in the queue, at the dentist, especially if there is anything to complain about.

-Yes.- Luke just says, continuing to scrutinize the exit from the boarding, waiting for her to appear.

-Me too. My colleague.- the man approaches another step. -He had to land today, but due to a fault in the engines the plane couldn’t take off.- he explains, confidentially. It's obvious how he just needed to tell someone. He is anxious, and he can’t sit still for a second. Luke, by his side, clenches his fists inside the pockets of his trousers.

-Even mine, it's a colleague, I mean.- he clarifies, even if there is no need to, why he should have thought that he was referring to his girlfriend? -I believe she is on board the same plane.- the other man nods. -They should arrive soon, according to the calculations of this deal.- he points the tablet screen, complete with an airport map, on which a red dot moves in their direction.

-Oh, but what a weird thing. Is it legal?- professional deformation. He can’t stop being a policeman.

-Honestly I don’t know, I don’t understand anything about computer science.- he confesses quietly. -But don’t worry. I'm an FBI agent. Luke Alvez.- he shows him the badge with the recognizable logo. The other is surprised.

-Nice to meet you, Luke, even if I had some trouble with the Feds. -some traces of jealousy. -One in particular... no offense.- Luke lets himself go to a relaxed laugh. He is as agitated as the unknown, because they probably have a problem in common. Women and work together. Here are the results.

-No problem. Before, I was a ranger.- he is not used to talking about himself with people he doesn’t know, but it is something that happened to him before any examination. Total loss of every brake, logorrheic as Reid. But without his acumen.

-Oh, damn it. However, I’m Rigsby, Wayne Rigsby. CBI.- he shows him in turn the identification tag. This is a recently introduced agency and it is the first time that Luke sees one.

-Nice card!- he comments. No trace of her yet. -So, Wayne- he hesitates, but then decides to say it -is she just a colleague for you? Forgive me if I ask you in so direct way, but you're too agitated and I'm a profiler...- apparently they both aren’t able to leave work at home.

-Don’t worry, I'm used to having someone who always reads my behavior.- in his mind a blond man winks at him. -You're right, it's not just a colleague.- at first, he seems a little reluctant. -Her name is Grace, it's the love of my life and I'm here because I have to be able to tell her this.- then he talks fast, following a little Garcia style. Is it possible that every damned thing makes him think of her?

-Oh, hell, buddy. Good luck.- he gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

-Thank you. And yours?- from interrogator to interrogated. He must accept it.

-Garcia, Penelope.- the surname is a way to make her less real and less as a woman. -A friend has practically forced me to come here to take her home, hoping that with all those hours of car that we will have to spend together, I'll collapse from exhaustion, but I don’t know if it goes like that.- or rather, he will certainly collapse, but from weariness and from the tension, it will be difficult to find the strength to speak to her. -I love her, on this he's right, but I'm not used to talking about these things, I'm out of the loop for a while...- a big truth that is the first time he even admits to himself and a little lie. Lisa will forgive him.

-Wait, Penelope Garcia?- "Wayne lights up. -Grace told me about her. She is one of her myths. She was so excited at the idea of meeting her in person.- who would not be? She is so fantastic, and who knows how many other men will have thought it, seeing her explain those complex things of which he doesn’t understand anything. They will have even ask her to go out?

-If I'm not too indiscreet, why Grace went there?- Luke's profiler's mind begins to put the pieces together.

-A computer refresher course.- but of course, it was obvious.

-Well, now I understand everything. Penelope was there for the same reason, but as a teacher.-

The youngest, the one with the red hair, suddenly stops, clashing with the blonde with the pink suitcase. -Oh no, Wayne!- she stops, for fear he may have heard it. But the man is still far away, and he seems to be intent on a conversation with another man, with brown hair, who she seems to have already seen somewhere.

-Where is him?- Penelope tries to follow the direction of the friend's gaze and remains stone. -Hell, but that's Luke!- now they're both hidden behind their suitcases, but the BAU technician's is too flashy.

-Do you mean that Luke? But he's talking to Wayne.- a newspaper with eye holes and a beautiful raincoat only lack, to make the scene even more ridiculous, more than it already is.

-Do they know each other?- asks the older one.

-I don’t know, let's find out.- Grace grabs her hand and drags her in the direction of the two men, who are still unaware of their presence.

-Really, I...- the blonde does everything to slow her down, trembling. As long as they were just talking, there was no problem. But now, she has to face her own nightmare. Of course, if all the bad dreams were so fascinating...

Grace turns to her, while Wayne has noticed them and now, they both are walking in their direction. She has little time. -Yes, Penelope. You faced a horde of young people hanging from your lips, if he's here, it's definitely to see you, because he'll have to tell you something. I'm tired of just talking about it, we have to act!- she says.

-It easier for you, you know he is still in love with you!- she protests, but it is useless. She shuts up just in time, a second before the puppy-faced man reaches them. Penelope stays behind with their suitcases, and crosses the look of Luke, who like her is a step back, thus giving the lovebirds a little bit of privacy.

-Grace.- anyone, even Reid would notice that these two love each other. He can’t really contain the joy he feels when he finally finds her a few inches away.

-Hey, Wayne.- she tries to sound detached. -Why you're here?- she crosses her arms. The man falters.

-Lisbon sent me, but... I would have come anyway.- gradually the hardness disappears both from the face and from the whole body of Grace. -There's one thing I should tell you... I will not sound very romantic, but I'll tell you how it is.- her pupils dilate. -I'm still in love with you and this week without you was hell. I know, I was just a boy the first time I told you I loved you, but now I'm matured, it's true, I have a son with another woman, but this also helped me. I have become a better man, thanks to you, I don’t deny anything of our past, even bad times, we have always been there for each other and now I feel ready and worthy to love you as you deserve.- a scene that seems torn from a film of those for which Penelope would consume boxes and boxes of tissues.

-Oh, Wayne, I missed you too. I love you.- they hug each other, first, and then their lips blend and really, there's no one else.

Even Luke has witnessed the scene, and is proud of his partner in misfortune, but unfortunately they will not share the final. He sighs and reaches the blonde, whose has heart eyes, those she had when she saw Roxy for the first time or when he gave her the anti-stress kitten.

-Oh, but how cute they are.- there is a clear polemic note in this very short sentence, it's not just in his head. Penelope sighs again and stops watching the other couple exchange yet another passionate kiss. Luke hears the voice of Simmons who incites him in his head to make a move.

-Would you like that too?- he's terrified and inside he keeps shaking, but he finally manages to talk. She still ignores him for a few seconds, then deigns to look back at him. She looks up at the sky and shakes her head.

-No, I really think that I could be offended.- ironic, but for a while he doesn’t notice. However, she doesn’t give him time to replicate anything else. -What are you doing here, anyway?- she crosses her arms, leans slightly to one side, waiting for an answer. But she also pretends disinterested in it.

-Prentiss sent me to pick you up, since we were close and she didn’t want you to stay here until tomorrow, to spend the whole night alone...- a good part of the truth, except that Simmons had more fault. But she doesn’t need to know it. Meanwhile, giggles are heard in the background. The other two are still in paradise.

-Oh.- Penelope remains for a moment confused and the man enjoys the small victory. -But she didn’t send me any texting. Weird...- for security she also check in her phone and Luke notices that as a background she has... a unicorn. A sweet smile escapes him, then he realizes that she is watching him.

-I asked her not to do it.- another partial truth. They agreed that there was no need to warn her. JJ had also added how much Garcia loved the surprises and had winked at him. -I saw that your flight had been canceled and that you would be forced to stay here, then I suggested to send me here, to take you.- how easily he took the merit of something that at first he had rejected.

-But... why... wait, how did you know what was my flight?- from the confusion she passes to suspicion. -I didn’t tell anyone... you hacked my computer?- she almost screams while squinting, scanning every slight change in the expression of man, but doesn’t catch anything.

-No, not me... Kevin.- this time she doesn’t hold back.

-KEVIN?- she screams. -Since when do you know him?- she doesn’t give him time to reply. -I don’t know whether to hit him or you, but since you're already here...- she would never do it, but, in doubt, Luke decides to take advantage of the opportunity and puts his hands on the woman's arms, which doesn’t move away, but she looks at him even more strangely.

-Penelope...- he just says. On her face appears a grimace that looks so much like his.

-Now you call me by name?- she sounds ironic almost in a bad way.

-Please give me a chance.- it came out badly. A plea of a poor derelict, but it is already so much that he has no bright eyes. Penelope's pupils dilate and he should know what it means, but he can’t concentrate on anything other than those red lips.

-What? A chance to do what?- it is impossible that she really didn’t understand it, that she is seriously so naive. Grace and Wayne have stopped flirting in public and have become from show to spectators. They are holding their breath as the man leans over to Penelope, the hands flow up along the arms until they stop one on the neck and the other on a cheek, the fronts touch and his lips are about to meet the female ones.

-This.- he whispers a second before, but she moves away and breaks the whole atmosphere. Her fears are much bigger than Grace's.

-And Lisa?- she asks him, as if she were the one that would be betrayed if he tried to kiss her while being romantically busy with another woman.

-It never worked, it couldn’t work.- something broke inside him, and he can’t hold himself more. Matt would be so proud! -She wasn’t you.- bam, hit in full, stretched out. Surprise, dismay, then a smile, heart eyes and finally malice. She passes the tongue on her lips.

-Ok, good play, Luke.- she puts her hand on the muscles of his arm. -But, hey, where's my declaration? It's my right!- the man laughs, but then realizes that she is talking seriously. He sighs and throws himself without thinking.

-I am not good with these things. And I don’t want to look like a repetetive, but I missed you so much this week. It was strange not to hear your voice and not to see you appear on the screen, not being teased by O'Keef... I thought of you continuously, so much that Simmons noticed and tormented me, I don’t know how he managed to send me here. Not that I didn’t want to come, in short, it would be ridiculous to deny it, after all the things I told you... only I was afraid, I was terrified to tell you what I feel and read a refusal on your sweet face. Because in the end I just have to see a smile on that pretty face, to feel good, of course if I were the architect or could participate...- he didn’t even realize that he spoke so long. He only stops when he feels her fingernails scratching gently close to his ear.

-Luke.- she certainly doesn’t stop and he begins to have some problems.

-What?- he swallows, wondering if by any chance he said something wrong or exaggerated, or...

-I never realized that you spoke so much. Anyway, you did well for a newbie.- her approval was all he wanted. Almost. -But now kiss me.- she rises up on the tips, to facilitate the task, without stopping to do that little scratch on him.

-At your command, Miss.- he has just time to imitate a military salute, before their lips are melted and the rest of the world completely fade away. In fact, they don’t hear the enthusiastic applause of two people in particular.

Grace looks up to meet the one of her man's. -You look at me like that, you know?- she says, leaning better on his shoulder.

-In what way?- Wayne asks, always naive. Doesn’t she love him for this too?

-The way he looks at her. As if she was a miracle incarnate.-

Close the door when you go out, because there is too much of you inside

@thinitta @martinab26 @mercedes-maldonado @shyladystudentfan @cosmicmelaninflower

[btshogwartsauheadcanons]

Your headcanons are so cute I love it XD I actually wonder if you could do side-canon of werewolf-wizard!bts. Like they were born as wizards but at some moment they all got attacked by werewolf . . .

Ooooh I love this ask!! Sorry this took some time, I just really wanted to make this one good. Hope you like it!

Seokjin

He was attacked by a werewolf while his family was on vacation in the countryside

Seokjin was only 10 years old and he wanted to go explore the lake for fireflies when he was attacked by a rogue werewolf

His family found out the next day but wanted to keep it a secret because it would ruin their reputation

The only person he entruste his secret with was yoongi since his family didn’t help him out with the new werewolf life adjustments

His professors knew about his condition and McGonagall specifically told Snape to brew Wolfsbane Potion for him

Transformations were awful for seokjin and he worried about hurting yoongi but his friend insisted on helping him out even if it meant losing sleep

After knowing all the other guys for at least a year seokjin entrusted his secret with them too and they all helped him out with it

Namjoon and taehyung would try to find ways to make the transformation less painful and less frequent

Everyone else found it kind of cool though that he was able to transform but they also knew it was painful

Once he transformed back into human form Jimin and Hoseok would always have some warm blankets and food for him

Yoongi 

His attack was mostly based on a personal grudge against his family

It happened when he was quite young, the werewolf managed to sneak into the family household and scratch him while yoongi was asleep

The long scratch on his back caused some worries but those only increased when he started transforming

The transformations really increased his paranoia and it kind of deterred him from making friends so he tried to spend most of his time alone

But dang it, he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those meddling kids

And by meddling kids i mean the friends who somehow made their way into yoongi’s heart

It didn’t take long for genius namjoon and seokjin to find out about his secret “night visits” (they literally just looked at a calendar lmao)

Yoongi freaked out when his friends came to the shrieking shack just before his transformation

But they let him know that it was all cool and it didn’t affect their friendship whatsoever and that they weren’t afraid of him at all

And yoongi actually fucking cried, he didn’t think his friends would react in this way and be so damn supportive

Even hoseok, who was the jumpy one among them, didn’t run away from yoongi because he trusts his friend won’t hurt him

Hoseok 

He was attacked by a werewolf while on camping trip with his parents.

His mom tried to defend their family from the rogue werewolf when it attacked but it still managed to get a bite on hoseok

His family helped him a lot with dealing with transformations but then an accident happened wherein he almost injured his mom as well

Hoseok felt really guilty about this and from then on he tried doing his transformations by himself and making sure he had wolfsbane potion on hand

He’s more open about sharing this information with his friends because he believes it’s only right for them to know about this and to prevent hurting them in the future

Hoseok really wanted to master controlling himself while he’s in wolf form because why not make the most of it? It’s a part of who he is in a sense

He tries to teach himself alone in the forbidden forest and eventually he’s comfortable and confident enough for his friends to be around him

Namjoon

His werewolf attack was pretty unusual since it was done by a rogue werewolf in the muggle world

Namjoon was playing by himself in the park during wintertime when he was attacked

When his parents came to check on him they found their son almost passed out on the ground with all these scratches and bite marks on him

The doctors dismissed it as a wolf attack but namjoon was sure it was something else and when he started transforming some ministry members (from the magical creatures department) had to interfere

They informed namjoon’s parents about the werewolf attack (their first big surprise) and namjoon had a lot of adjustments to make

The family was given a lot of help, especially after namjoon’s hogwarts letter came (the second big surprise)

When he went to hogwarts, namjoon kind of felt ashamed of being a werewolf and tried really hard to hide it

But his housemates were ravenclaws so found out about it pretty soon (again, they just had to look at a calendar and all the bloody steaks namjoon was eating)

They were really supportive about it and were pretty curious about the whole werewolf thing so namjoon felt better about this

Eventually his friends came to know about it and they took it pretty well • Actually they would even lightly joke about it (like nicknaming namjoon “rap monster” because in this case he’s literally half-monster) but only to the point where he is comfortable with it 

Jimin

His mother was actually a werewolf so he does have a trace of werewolf blood in him but it doesn’t affect him as much

During one of her transformations however, she accidentally scratched her own son and therefore made him a werewolf as well

She feels so bad about what happened but at the same time jimin knew it couldn’t be helped and doesn’t blame her at all

This happened while he was studying in hogwarts already so when he came back to school there was this wicked scar on his arm

Jimin didn’t really feel ashamed about being a werewolf because that would mean being ashamed of his mom but he was still scared of accidentally hurting other people

Some of the people in his house were also kind of scared of him but they also saw that he’s still the regular ol’ mochi jimin

Seeing that his friends were still close to him made things better for the hufflepuff fam to accept jimin

They actually made a room for him to transform in and after his transformations they make sure to check on him and let him get some extra rest if he needed to

Taehyung

Taehyung was attacked while he was with his friends in the forbidden forest while he was with his friends

They headed back late (as usual) when the werewolf showed up and taehyung immediately tried to divert its attention away from his friends

He ran away deep into the forest with the werewolf still chasing him while jimin and jungkook immediately called hagrid for help

They searched the forest all night and by morning they found a wounded taehyung lying against a tree

After he was treated, some of the professors started debriefing him about werewolf stuff but taehyung pretty much knew all of that already

The only thing he minds about being a werewolf is hurting someone, he’s all pretty much shaken up by his attack too

Hagrid is a HUGE help for taehyung during the first few times he transforms, at the same time it breaks his heart to see his student in pain

Taehyung actually sees his werewolf-ness as an experience to learn more about werewolf behavior

He also really wants to show other people that werewolves aren’t all dangerous and that they’re simply misunderstood creatures in their wolf state

Jungkook 

He was also attacked on school grounds like taehyung when he was in the forbidden forest 

He was alone though and chasing after a snitch he was playing with when the rogue werewolf attacked

His friends were the first ones who noticed that jungkook was missing when he didn’t come for dinner

Later that night they confronted professor mcgonagall about it who called hagrid to sweep the forbidden forest

The next morning they found him limping our of the woods with his arms scratched and bloody

He managed to fend off the werewolf enough for him not to get injured further and escape but the damage was still there

Jungkook really hates the pain of having to transform but he tries to get as comfortable as possible in wolf form

He lets his friends be around him and all but he’s careful not to accidentally scratch or bite them

He also uses the opportunity to explore as much of the forbidden forest as possible because why the hell not

Omg he probs calls himself ‘Moon Moon’ because he’s such a meme

His parents are really nervous about his condition though so jungkook tries to make as little noise as possible when he transforms by himself in the basement 

[mukagen]

CYRIL BIO.

Born in western Almyra, Cyril was the second son of Darius and Sara. His older brother, Sami, was six years his elder. His family was rural, tending a small farm that bred wyverns and selling them to the army once they were bred and trained. This wasn’t uncommon, as even in a rural towns soldiers passed through often due to being near the border. Learning to read and write was a luxury in the village unless one was a merchant, so most young men became soldiers as soon as they were old enough. His brother, Sami, was a squire preparing for such a life. His life was simple, yes, but happy. There were little rules, then, save for the obvious: stay away from soldiers, both from Almyra and Fódlan, come home before sunset, and never get in the way of a fight.

There was no rule for drunken disputes. None for massacres. House Goneril would go on to sing a different tune, but soldiers began bothering a girl from the village, clearly intoxicated. It escalated – his brother put his hand on his dagger, angered from years of dispute and itching for his blade to taste enemy blood, but the Goneril soldiers drew first. Too many stories of the bloodthirsty Almyrans for them to take a chance. It escalated into a full on bloodbath in the marketplace, but what use were the sickles and knives of villagers against the might of a unit? They killed his father for trying to intervene. They killed his mother as she screamed over her eldest son’s body, begging the gods to return him to her. Cyril was nine years old … so he did precisely what a child who’d seen such horrors would do. What he’d been taught to do.

He ran. He ran as far as his feet would take him. He didn’t know where to go. He went home – he did not eat for two days. He did not drink. Thinking the farm abandoned, the soldiers sent by the king to answer to that skirmish began raiding his home. Before he could escape, Cyril was found. They told him he was too small to be useful, and better off dead. They told him he wasn’t worth the extra mouth to feed unless he could serve. So, in an air of whatever compassion mercenaries could muster, they put him to work. Cyril was forced to learn to fight as a child. He’d seen many horrors before his age had even reached double digits – but as a child, he learned it was kill or be killed. Still, a child is no expert and he was, much like his family, no match for a band of soldiers from House Goneril.

When he was eleven, they captured him – though thankfully, they found it repugnant to kill a child. He was taken to House Goneril and made a slave to the family. All the while, he noticed a removed disdain leaking from their faces, their words. “Aren’t you glad to be away from those brutes, boy?” (he was, but they weren’t much better). “They had this boy kill. Did you know they make children fight in Almyra?” (He did, all too well). “Is it true that every child is taught to kill every person from Fódlan he sees?” (It wasn’t, but when he said that, they called him a liar). They would, as if he couldn’t hear, turn to Lord Goneril and whisper, “You don’t let him near your food unwatched, do you? How can you trust him around your men - your family - your daughter?”. He remembered he used to talk to his animals with more kindness. But to them, he wasn’t a child. He was a monster. He was a spectacle of House Goneril’s mercy. He was an outsider.

When he was thirteen, he was noticed by Archbishop Rhea, who took him in as her own servant at Garreg Mach Monastery. She was kind to him – kinder than anyone had been in years. “What a wonderful boy, you are”, “I can depend on you more than I can depend on anyone”, “Cyril, you do this better than anyone. Can I entrust it to you?”. She was kinder than the soldiers. She fed him every day. She never hit him. When she asked him if he felt he was lucky to be here, he didn’t understand, at first – nothing about his life had ever been lucky. “But surely,” she told him, “it was a blessing I found you, Cyril. I am happy you are here instead of House Goneril”. He supposed she was right – maybe he was lucky, then. After all, it was like she said – it was not House Goneril. She was most pleased when he did a good day’s work – so he worked, and worked, and worked, just to earn that soft smile, never as sweet as his mother’s but the only sweetness he’d known since. Just for the chance for a touch to his hair, for the soft voice of a woman saying, “well done”.

[thecagedsong]

Zelda’s Research

A/N Okay, so originally this headcanon was going to be in headcanon style, but then it became a fic, so here it is. I could never put together what exactly Zelda was studying, and fics usually made it seem like she was just being silly, trying to get Link to eat a frog that everyone already knew how to use. Everything connects here though, and I cried while wiriting it, because Zelda needs to be reminded constantly and often that she isn’t useless.

               Link was trying to be helpful. Zelda said she needed time away before Hyrule’s leaders arrived for the summit meeting, so Link took Zelda out to the mountains. Zelda shivered, so he gave her his wam doublet. Zelda didn’t want to talk about her outburst at Impa that she didn’t have the golden power anymore, so he didn’t ask. Zelda didn’t want to talk about the Calamity, or the future, or the past, or the summit, so they rode in silence.

               There was only so much he could do however, when Zelda threw herself off her horse, stumbled but missed crashing into a boulder, and frog jumped to catch a lizard.  

               “Are you okay?” he yelled, desperately calming their horses from her abrupt exit before swinging himself down beside her. Her horse had already bolted from the unfamiliar rider though. He didn’t wait for her to answer and started checking her over for injuries.

               “Yes!” Zelda cheered, the streak of mud on her face seemed to disagree with her, as did Link’s heart rate. “Look what I caught! My studies, before I was forced to stop, indicated that this critter can be used to augment speed. I just absolutely had to catch it before it got away. You said you remembered the time I tried to get to you eat a frog right? Well I had a break through before our trip to the spring of power and realized it needed to be cooked with monster parts before being consumed! Oh, this is so exciting. Do you happen to have a cooking pot on you? Wait…it had to be a particular kind of pot made with Hylian flint…”

               Link breathed out slowly. Only this princess would risk breaking her neck in the name of science.

               “I know what a hightail lizard is,” Link said slowly, taking the lizard from her and pulling out the three others he was carrying to show her. He put them all away and pulled out a potion bottle, “This is an elixir made from a hightail lizard. Now, no more throwing yourself from horses okay? You have a physical body again, and it can get hurt, and you nearly gave me a heart attack right there. You aren’t allowed to die. Ever.” He said it all as firmly as he could.

               “How can you know that? About the elixir I mean,” she asked, completely ignoring his warning.

               Link groaned, “It’s in the compendium. Not only that, it’s common knowledge. Any traveler or child could tell you the same thing.”

               “Let me see!” Zelda demanded, “I’ve been trying to translate that infuriating compendium for three years! Half of the letters were missing, the rest were in a dialect of Sheikah that was lost to memory seven thousand years ago!”

               Well, that made sense. Considering she had the sheikah slate without runes on it, he had always wondered what she was studying and doing with it besides taking pictures.

               “The compendium is in modern Hylian now,” Link said, pulling it up for her and showing it. The look on her face was somewhere between anger and wonder, “but like I said, everyone just knows.”

               “How did they know though? None of that was known 100 years ago. It was the stuff of fairy tales. And of course the slate had translation abilities in it the entire time” Zelda said, grumbling the last bit. She stood up straight and shoved the slate at him. “Change of plans, I want to get to Robbie. I entrusted him with all my notes, translations, and ideas.”

               “Er, is it that important? We need to make sure we’re back in Kakiriko before the representatives arrive,” Link said, wondering where this demanding Zelda had come from. They would barely be able to make it back to Kakirko before nightfall now that they would have to share a horse on the return journey.

               “I need to know what he did with my notes, because it sounds like…” Zelda’s eyes unfocused, she took a breath, then refocused on him. She was smiling, and there were tears in her eyes. “Yes. Yes, it is that important,” she said, her voice cracking. She looked like she did when she was first freed from the Calamity, when she asked if he knew her. Link the same panic came back at the thought of her crying, happy tears or not.

               “Alright!” Link said, jumping closer to her, “Is it important enough to be incorporeal for a few seconds?”

               Zelda nodded. He slid the slate onto his belt and helped her onto his horse, with his arms around her, he pushed towards Akkala.

               They came across the shrine at the riverside stables, and Link explained that he didn’t know if the slate could take two people, but if it couldn’t, she could travel to Robbie’s lab alone to speak with him. He would wait at this shrine for her to come back. He highlighted the symbols very clearly for her, and made her repeat the plan and directions back to him.

               “Well, get close to me then,” she said, stepping so that her back was pressed against his chest, “if all your things travel with you, skin contact should be enough to transport the both of us. Hold on tight.” Link gulped as he found his arms full of princess. Apparently, though she had been awkward with her body since she sealed the Calamity, she was relearning the joys of skin contact.

               He eventually tightened his arms around her waist, and he must have imagined her smelling him, just before she pressed the symbol for Robbie’s research lab.

               They both dissolved and arrived together. Zelda stumbled out of his hold right away though, and threw up on the trash heap outside of the lab. He held her hair back and winced every time she retched.

               “Better?” he asked, a minute after she stopped, and he almost pulled out some hearty durain simmered fruit before he realized he should ask first. (He hadn’t the first time and Zelda was currently trying to condition him out of the habit of shoving food at her when he thought something was wrong.)

               “Goddesses,” she croaked, wiping her mouth on her hand, “That was terrible.”

               “What’s all the ruckus?” a voice called, “I told you kids not to use my back yard for your parties anymore, not if you don’t have any decent mus—”

               Zelda and Link turned at the same time, and Robbie’s mouth dropped open.

               “My apologies, old friend. Shrine travel doesn’t seem to agree with me,” she said, forcing herself to stand up. Link kept an arm around her, and she seemed to accept the aid.

               “Princess?” Robbie’s voice croaked. He bowed first to her, then rushed forward and threw his arms around her. “Princess! My dear friend. Come inside, I’m so happy to see you.”

               “I’ve missed you too, old friend,” she said softly, then let Robbie pull her inside, with Link awkwardly shuffling beside her, still supporting her.

               Robbie started telling her everything then. How he knew Link could do it, and he’s been helping Link all along. How far he’s gotten with Cherry and what he’s discovered about guardians. How he had a wife and son.

               “How could you have a son?” Zelda managed to tease, “You always swore that your Cherry would be the only woman in your life.”

               “Cherry still is, it seems like,” Jerrin responded, with a friendly glare at her husband, who just laughed and helped Jerrin pull up some chairs.

               “Oh, I’ve missed you Zelda,” Robbie said, as they all settled with some tea and in front of the fire. “I had hoped I would live to see you again when I saw the Calamity leave the castle, but I feared that your trial meant your death.”

               “The goddesses were kind enough to return me how I was,” Zelda said, smiling. “However, before we discuss anything further, I have an important matter to ask you about.” Link watched Zelda closely, and she got that heartbreakingly hopeful look again, even as her hands stared fidgeting with her teacup. “I’m sorry, but I just had to know,” she said, “Robbie, did you…I mean…Link said everyone knew about cooking insects with monster parts. Did my research…Did I do…” her voice grew thick as she tried to get the question out.

               Robbie smiled and took Zelda’s free hand between his own, stopping her fidgeting. “Yes, Princess Zelda of Hyrule. I took your work and put the final touches on it before sending it to every town and providence, a week before your birthday. I had hoped to have some positive news for you; should the Spring of Wisdom not unlock your power. Hylians, Zora, Rito, Gerudo, Goron, and Sheikah knew about making elixirs and preparing meals the way you described to bring out the special effects, and had begun experimenting when Calamity struck. Your years of research and translation were not wasted, as I can say with no doubt in my mind that the work Zelda the Scholar did saved her people.” Zelda let out a sob and Robbie continued, “I got letters back for years, people thanking me for publishing your work because they were able to outrun monsters because they had brewed a stamina potion, and were able to save their children from burning villages because of strength potions and fireproof elixirs. Those years were anything but wasted.”

               Zelda was crying, and Link shot Robbie a panicked look, but he just shook his head fondly, so Link let her cry.

               “Thank-thank you,” Zelda said, giving a watery smile. “I needed to hear that.”

               “No, thank you, Princess,” Robbie said, giving a sad smile, “It was all your work. It did a lot more good than mine, in the end. Ancient technology is all well and good, but reviving as many guardians as I did only brought death. You focused on Hyrule itself, and brought hope. Hyrule will be forever in your debt. Unfortunately, since the King had decreed you weren’t allowed to pursue your studies, I decided to publish your work under the penname Adlez, in hopes of sparing you his ire. I tried to spread word that it was their princess who had discovered the secrets to Hyrule’s flora and fauna, but the origins of the discovery of so much were so secondary to the uses themselves, then the uses became common knowledge and people forgot there was a time they didn’t know. Only some of the Sheikah know that it was your work, your Highness. I pray you will forgive me.”

               “My people survived,” Zelda laughed through her tears, “You more than earned your forgiveness.”

               “I only helped,” Robbie said.

               “It’s getting late, you two will be staying the night,” Jerrin said, standing up and leaving no room for argument. “We will put you in Grante’s old room. I’ll go make it up for you.”

               Cherry also decided to make herself known in that moment by blowing a circuit.

               “Familiar name known! Princess Zelda! Bzzt!” which had Robbie scrambling towards the forge.

               Link took this moment of privace to place a hand on Zelda’s shoulder. She jumped, then leaned into the touch, smiling at him, wiping her tears away.

               “Hey, are you okay?” he checked.

               “I’m so much more than okay,” Zelda said, smiling at him. “I berated myself for those first fifty years, as much as I could while still keeping the Calamity at bay, thinking that if I had only awakened my powers sooner, if I had been willing to trust in my feelings and let myself love people, maybe things could have been different. That those years of research had been wasted because the slate had always been for you, I had just been stubborn, and the King had made sure that any useful discoveries I made had died with him when he forbade my research. Then I let it go, because I needed to focus on faith and hope to keep the Calamity back. But my work saved people, Link. Just plain Zelda saved her people too.”

               Link smiled because he understood exactly what that meant to her, and she squeezed his hand on her shoulder. Princess Zelda, without her golden power from the goddess, was just as worthy of her throne. Just Princess Zelda, did so much, she could do the rest of it too.

                Then Link cocked his head, “You know, if the King hadn’t stopped your research on that very day, you wouldn’t have given it to Robbie, and he wouldn’t have published it before your birthday.”

“Everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to,” Zelda agreed, understanding shining in her eyes and smile, “Hyrule survived, and the Calamity destroyed.”

               “That was all you Zelda,” Link said, giving a small smile, “I just helped a little.”

               She laughed, and it was a good sound.

               Link sent a prayer of thanks to the goddesses that he could be helpful.

[seyaryminamoto]

You said Ozai is the worst but you still like him. Why? :)

Well, first off, the usual disclaimer is in order: I find him interesting but that does NOT mean I agree with him, his ideologies, his methods, his behavior or anything like that. So me saying I like Ozai =/= agreeing with him in any way. No.

Now, on with the real thing! 

There’s something sad but interesting about Ozai: people assume he’s flat because his character is scarcely developed by the show itself, and it’s a perfectly valid opinion because it’s true! There’s next to no development for Ozai. But when you start writing about him (as I have), you discover a lot of interesting things about the wicked Fire Lord that maybe weren’t apparent at first sight.

The first of these things is that Ozai is what I keep defining as “bad-ending Zuko”. He was in the same situation as his son, only difference is Ozai is the second son instead of the first. But basically, the characters are built the same way: neglected sons of a father who favors their more clever and talented sibling, then they take off on a goose chase for the Avatar that, in Ozai’s case, was a huge failure to add to his resume (Zuko, as we all should know, got lucky Aang broke out of the iceberg when he did, or else…).

In short, if Zuko hadn’t found Aang, the odds for him ending up EXACTLY like Ozai are very high. A failed Zuko, with no military achievements, conspiring to take the throne that Ozai will giftwrap for Azula? More likely than you think!

Ozai is this failed Zuko. He’s the mirror to his son. He’s what could have been, and precisely because we have Zuko as comparison, we can see that Ozai also could have been Zuko! So it’s interesting and intriguing that the show gives everyone the key to interpret Ozai as a deeper character than he’s portrayed (just, most people don’t like acknowledging Zuko really could have turned out exactly like his father…). And I like Ozai precisely because I find his parallels with Zuko absolutely fascinating.

There are more reasons why I like Ozai, such as his ambiguous relationship with his wife. You can literally build this relationship up in a million different ways: the way Yang went was the obvious, simplistic, flat one, where Ursa is only a sad victim and Ozai a cruel monster. But the show doesn’t really point their relationship in that direction: who’s to say he didn’t actually care for Ursa on some level? The small glimpse of him by the turtle-duck pond was rather unexpected, and it really puts a different spin to Yang’s tale. What if the relationship between the worst parents ever was a lot more complicated than what was portrayed in the comics?

Lastly, a reason that may certainly sound controversial… and it’s Ozai’s relationship with Azula. Of course he’s not a great father to her, he fashions himself more as her military boss rather than a real father, BUT…

… the way I see it? He projects on Azula. He sees himself in her, despite the fact that to anyone with keen eye, it’d be obvious that Azula resembles Iroh far more than she could ever resemble Ozai. What Ozai saw in Azula, though, was that she’d be trapped by the same limitations (and potentially more) that he faced in his childhood. He saw his daughter as the more talented child, and I have no doubts he thought himself the more talented of Azulon’s children, too. As a man who certainly must hold no love for his father, I imagine Ozai decided he would NOT be like Azulon.

Cue the irony when he treats Zuko in the exact same way Azulon treated him.

But anyways, point is: Ozai may not love Azula, but he saw in her an ally, someone he groomed from childhood into being on his side because he gave her the chances he wished his father had given him. He offered her his full support in her endeavors, entrusted difficult missions to her, and she delivered. If there’s someone in the entire Avatarverse who Ozai trusts? It’s certainly Azula. 

It’s true that Ozai gave Azula a hand-me-down title, and that being Fire Lord when there’s a Phoenix King feels pretty pointless… but confession time: since the first time I watched this, I thought it wasn’t an enitirely bad decision. While Ozai believes there’s no real opposition that could defy him, and that his great attack on the Earth Kingdom will destroy everyone who dares rebel, bringing Azula along would have given Zuko leeway to just grab the crown, put it on his head, sit on the throne and say “Oh yeah! Nobody’s home, I’m Fire Lord now” with no opposition.

So… as a basic rule, if you go out to war, you don’t take every last one of your soldiers with you. You can’t leave your city undefended. Now, leaving Azula out of the fray completely after everything she’d achieved was a low, unfair blow, but from a strategic point of view… I kind of see the point? Clearly, if you’re going to have someone protecting your main base, it has to be someone you trust. And alas, that’s what Ozai does. Ergo, I think he trusts her enough to genuinely want her to succeed him when he eventually dies. Even though he lost against Aang, he probably thought Azula wouldn’t lose. I kinda wonder how he reacted when he found out…

Anyways, that’s a long list of reasons why I find Ozai interesting as a character. There’s of course, more, such as how hilarious it is to make fun of him (let’s face it, he’s not as smart as he likes to think he is), and how ridiculous it is to imagine him being a fitness nut and an absolute diva. But the main reasons why I started taking a liking to him was because of what I said above. Ozai can be interpreted as less flat than the show portrays, which does not take away from the cruelty of his actions in the slightest. What it does is give different depth to who he is, and it even gives Zuko himself more depth when you see that he could have easily become Ozai 2.0 if anything had been different.