#the Liz death bridge

[readychilledwine]

Could i request something where az and reader are mates. They have a huge fight and “break up” and reader leaves the court. She finds out that she is pregnant and writes him a letter. He never shows up so she thinks he doesn’t want the baby. Rhys visit the court she is in and sees her with a child maybe a couple months old. He is mad because she didn’t told him and when he ask her why she keeps his nephew away she tells him that she wrote az but he never answered. Rhys is mad and ask az what is up with him to just leave his pregnant mate. Unbeknownst to him that az was searching for her the whole time. Az tells him that he never got a letter and they find out that maybe elain burned it. It takes some time for them but they find their way back and just fluff azriel dad who teaches his son how to fly.

( you could write more angst between reader and az because of elain or you could use a maid or something who wants az)

Here Without You

Summary - Being a single mother was more painful than you'd ever thought it would be, especially when your son's father was just a court away.

Warnings - Angst, Elain showing those claws, single mom status, a child, PPD and the thoughts that come with it, **edited to add** cheating

A/N - I had one of my friends who is a single mom help me with this one while also imagining my life without baby daddy, and um, yeah. We cried a lot, so hopefully, you all do too.

*message from Liz regarding the ending at the end*

💙Peep my Azriel Masterlist Here💙

You had decided whatever you had done to offend the Mother must have been truly unforgettable and unforgivable as you sank against the wall of your family chambers in the Day Court Palace.

Being a new mother was the hardest thing you had ever and will ever do. You had finally gotten Nox down after 3 hours of fussing and tears, and now you waited. He'd sleep 2 hours if you were lucky, wake up crying, and you'd start the process over.

You had wished for your mate more times than you could count, but that bridge was long gone and burned. He had ensured of that by not coming when you wrote him, by not even bothering to write you a response.

The last fight between you and Azriel had been ugly. Glasses had been thrown, a bottle of wine knocked over in rage, cruel words you would both have to live with ringing in your ears like a scream. 350 years. Gone. Thrown away like garbage. All for Elain.

Selfish, plotting, destructive Elain.

You stood, body swaying with sleep deprivation setting in before sitting at the table where your now cold food set. You were too tired to eat, choosing to instead drink the water you had been desperately craving 4 hour ago.

You had wished you could turn it to wine, drink it with no consequences, and still feed Nox when he woke, but that was not the reality of the world. So, instead, you allowed the room temperature flavorless beverage to slide down your throat before moving like a ghost to the couch. There was no point in getting comfortable in your own bed. You would have to be up soon anyway. It wasn’t as if you had help.

You were alone.

And that wasn't even the most painful part of it.

The most painful part was setting in doubt. The growing disbelief that you weren't capable of this, that Nox deserved more, that you should have dropped him at the cabin you had no doubt Elain had moved into, leaving him with her and Azriel to allow you to-

You cut your brain off, refusing to put those words into a full thought. Refusing to believe that your disappearance or death was better for your son than this.

This had to be enough, you had to be enough, because Gods if it wasn't and you weren't, then what truly was the point in living any longer.

Helion entered your chambers the next morning, eyes falling to where you were sat on the floor, shoulders shaking as sobs tore through you. He placed a large warm hand on your shoulder before taking Nox from your arms. "I know I can not offer much of a break due to his feeding cycle, but when is the last time you ate a hot meal, y/n?"

You shook your head. He was 2 weeks old. You supposed it had been before labor. Since then, it had been moments begging for just a second of deep sleep. Moments begging for the Mother to help you, to guide you. Moments where those prayers went unanswered as if they were just thrown into a void. "I don't remember."

Helion could have killed Azriel for you, for Lucien, for Nox. He almost had when you had winnowed yourself here, collapsing in his arms from the exhaustion magic and a growing babe had caused your body.

You hadn't known when you came to the Day Court, begging your oldest friend for a week of safety and healing that you were pregnant, but the High Lord had scented it the second you appeared.

It left him wondering how the hell Azriel hadn't.

"Let me hire a wet nurse for you," he offered again, knowing you would turn it down since your depressive state had you hyper fixated in this belief that all you were good for now was your breasts, and if you gave that duty away, what purpose did you have? "At least for the next few hours. To give you time to rest?"

You still shook your head, messy, tangled hair trying to sway. "I can't. I can't burden someone else."

Helion turned his head away from you, willing himself not to cry at the emptiness of your voice, at the lifelessness you had become.

"The Night Court and Spring are coming today," he started slowly. "I am the magic selected neutral ground for Tamlin and Rhysand to begin setting a peace treaty and trade routes." He waited for your reaction, almost breaking further as you gave him none. "Do you want to see any of them?"

"Lucien and Tamlin."

Helion felt his heart shatter for Cassian, the male who had been asking about you for months now. "The general-"

"Is Azriel's brother. And probably has taken his side. Attempts to see me are probably to give him some sick sort of satisfaction."

He dropped the subject immediately. Nox was asleep, content in the High Lord's arms. "I have time before they arrive, go nap." Helion ordered it, eyes blazing a soft gold and forcing you into submission.

Your bed had never felt so soft.

Helion was walking with Nox around the Palace, smiling and cooing the little male. He was always content when he was being held, and you were so deeply asleep you hadn't even noticed Helion holding the boy to your chest as he nursed. He walked towards where Lucien and Tamlin were.

His son, his pride and joy, looked just radiant in his Day Court attire. The soft, off-white pleaded fabric draping him showed the new healthy build he had gained since Azriel and Elain's transgressions, a golden snake wrapped his bicep, new golden earrings adorned those many piercings.

Lucien paused, a look of concern etching his face when he saw Nox before shaking his head rapidly.

But it was too late, Helion was already in the room where Rhysand also stood with the Inner Circle. The Lord of Night's face fell as he looked at the Illyrian boy, looking so happy up at Helion as he dozed off.

Cassian had frozen, mid sentence with Nesta. He had tried to take a step, wanting to see the babe he immediately knew was his nephew. His eyes met Helion's pleading with permission to approach. Elain's face had paled. A mix of guilt and fear running across it before she schooled it into a faked look of hurt and sadness.

But it was Azriel's face the broke the High Lord. It was a look he knew all too well.

The look of a father who missed the birth of his child.

The look of a father who didn't know he had a child.

The look of a father mourning lost time.

Lucien moved to Helion, taking Nox before leaving the room quickly. The boy did as he always did when his head found Lucien's warm bare shoulder. He released a heavy breath, snuggling into that familiar scent and warmth. "Your mother did not call for me last night," they all heard his soft voice trailing off, speaking to their nephew softly.

"You will tell me everything I do not know," Rhysand demanded as if he was in his own court. "When the fuck was he born. Why were we not informed of her pregnancy?"

Tamlin looked to Helion, digging the shit further. "Is she in the same room as last time?" The Lord of Day nodded. "I will go see her while you all deal with this."

Helion didn't answer, walking to the centered round table and taking the head seat. "To begin, Rhysand, this is my court. You will not make demands of me in my home." They all sat, aside from Azriel. His gaze was locked on the hallway Lucien and Tamlin had gone down.

If he ran, he could catch them. He could see you. He could-

The slam of hands on a table ripped him from his thoughts, and his head snapped to Helion. The High Lord was blazing, glowing like the sun itself, heat radiating from him. "Sit. Down."

An hour later and Rhysand had the bridge of his nose pinched between his fingers. "You saw her send each letter?"

Helion rolled his eyes, nodding again. "Every month after every check up and once after the birth."

Rhys pointed to Azriel. "But you never got them?"

"My son wouldn't be in another court if I had," Azriel's voice mirrored yours. Broken, empty, mourning. Mourning what was, what he had missed and would never get back. "You're sure she sent them to me?"

Helion could have snapped his neck. "Who else would have fathered her babe? You are the one who stepped out of the bonds of marriage and mateship. Not her."

Azriel paused, a sudden look of anger gracing his face as he looked up at Elain, shadows curling his ears. Nuala appeared, setting envelopes down in front of Rhysand. "In her room. Under her bed in a locked chest. Along with every communication you had tried to send to y/n, my lord."

Feyre gasped, turning her back to Elain and leaning further into Rhysand, holding Nyx tightly between them. She remembered those first few weeks. The sleepless nights, the pain, the emotional down pour. She would not have survived without Rhysand. Without Nesta and Mor. Without Cassian and you and Azriel. Her sister, the one who had held her as darkness swallowed her mind after her son's birth, had allowed you to endure this alone.

Azriel's hands shook, reaching for that stack. He separated out the letters. 10 for him. 2 for Rhysand and Feyre. 2 for Mor. 2 for Amren. 4 for Cassian and Nesta.

Helion stood. "I will let you all process this. Call for me when you are ready to do negotiations. The sooner you all leave, the better for her."

Rhysand's eyes shot up. "You won't let us explain to her-"

"Does it change the fact that he took Elain to their marriage bed? Does it change that he signed the annulment papers." Silence filled the room. "I believe that's why she left. Correct?" Rhys grit his teeth nodding. "Then all this changes is me, someone she trusts and feels safe with right now, informing her of what happened and allowing her to decide if she wants to reach out again from that point." He made a pointed look at Elain. "Which would not matter since I cannot see you removing the parasite from your court."

Helion walked into your room to Lucien and Nox laying skin to skin, a blanket over them as Tamlin held you, long fingers running through your dark hair. "And?" His son said.

"Your mate hid the letters regarding her pregnancy." Lucien whistled. "She's a snake hiding behind beautiful scales."

Azriel had tracked down your room with his shadows easily. The inner circle had been excused for the negotiations and allowed to explore the city. Cassian had flown Elain home, Mor and Amren winnowing Nesta behind them. Cassian wanted Elain out of his house, and Azriel could not have been more grateful to his brother for having his back.

He entered the room slowly and quietly. You were placing the babe in a crib on the balcony. It was shaded from the sun, shielded to remain the perfect temperature, and yet gave him access to fresh air, to the breeze.

You turned, eyes wide the second you saw Azriel. He moved to you so quickly that you could hardly process it. One second, your feet were on the ground, and the next, arms held you tight against him. Azriel was breathing deeply, memorizing your scent all over again.

He set you down, keeping you close to his chest, and sent a prayer to the Mother. "Elain hid all the letters," he began slowly. "She kept them all in her room. I didn't know. Had I known about you, about him, I would have crawled the very depths of hell to bring you back home to me."

You didn't answer. Tears fell as your body relaxed into him. It wasn't fair. The hold he had on you. The need you still felt in your bones when he touched your skin. You ached for Azriel so deeply it echoed into your bones. You longed for his smell. His voice.

Azriel took your silence as permission to continue. "I made a mistake. I will never be able to make up for it. Elain knew the second you left, I wanted to correct this. I was so blinded by her, by the feeling of being needed like that again, that I forgot how precious your independence was. How beautiful it is."

He couldn't stop himself from kissing the top of your head. "You are all I think about. Morning, noon, and night, it is always and will always be you. I am so sorry for what I have done. I am sorry for hurting you, for ruining us, for hurting the family we should be raising together. There are no words for my remorse."

"Why?" Your voice broke as you asked. "Why wasn't I enough?"

Azriel pulled back to look at you, hand raising to hold your chin and force eye contact. "Y/n, you are not at fault for my actions. You did nothing wrong. There is no partial blame, no what ifs. I fucked up. I made a mistake and it cost both of us everything. You are the victim of my actions, not the catalyst."

He saw you process those words and saw as they sunk in. "You were and are more than I will ever deserve. I want to spend my lifetime making up for it. Becoming a male you are proud of. I want to be the father I never got to have. I want to be the husband and mate you deserve. I know it will take time, and I do not expect your forgiveness today, but if you give me a chance, I will go to my grave worshipping the ground you two walk."

"Do you want to meet our son?" He broke at the question, feeling the bond opening back on your end. "This doesn't mean we're back together. It means we need to coparent for him while we work on things." He nodded rapidly, following you to the bassinet.

It felt like the world was coming full circle. You knew it would take time, that you two had many things to discuss first. This was a needed good start, though. Your pain eased slightly as you pulled back the curtains to the crib and whispered, "Azriel, this is Nox, your son."

@hnyclover @glitterypirateduck @slytherinindisguise @mischiefmanager @bloodicka @starsinyourseyes @the-sweet-psycho

**I have received some pretty nasty anon asks, some unconstructive comments, and a good amount of general negativity regarding this fic. If you are unhappy with the ending and want to know why I made the choices I made as the author, click #discussingherewithoutyou. Unconstructive comments will be receiving the same copy and paste answer from here forward.

My time and content are free. If you do not like them, scroll.

General Taglist:

@mariahoedt @rinalouu @sarawritestories @starryhiraeth @starswholistenanddreamsanswered @cumuluscranium

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@elle4404

[hawksblooded]

❛   patch .   help  my  muse  patch  up  a  wound . ❛   chaste .   chastely  kiss  my  muse . ❛   go down .   go  down  on  my  muse .❛   mark .   leave  a  mark  on  my  muse’s  body  [ her inner thigh :3 ] .

↣ LOUD & DEAFENING SILENCE.

IT WAS LESS OF a house, and more of a shed, scarcely sturdy enough to shield one from the elements. Walls perspired with the remnants of rain, and the smell of wet soil rose through the moldy floorboards, filling the room with heady, choking petrichor.  There was no tavern here, as no travelers came this far up the Shrieking Coast, not since the storms had begun, and those who did were quickly dissuaged by the villagers’ flighty gazes, their judging stares. Strangers weren’t welcome here. Neither were they, that much was clear.

There had been little choice. It had been a brief scrap, quickly over. She couldn’t have called it a fight. Three drowned men by the river’s crossing, just before the shoddy hamlet. They had seen fire and steel, and met their final death. But Alizebeth had been careless. With one last surge of will, rotten teeth had clasped around her ankle, crushing through the leather with a strength that may have shattered bone if the blade of her sword had not split its dead-eyed skull in twain. Bloody revenants. You never knew when they were truly dead. She had cursed herself as she limped back to her horse, dutifully stood by the disrepaired bridge that would take them to the village yonder. Behind her, the smell of charred flesh as Soot set the bodies alight.

It was only bribery that had afforded the travelers a way in. Bribery, and the hastily chopped ears offered as decaying proof of the eliminated threats. Still, unease and distrust filled the gate-keeper’s black eyes as Soot introduced himself. They didn’t ask for no payment, he’d said - just somewhere to rest. His companion had been wounded in the short battle. Alizebeth had balked at his words. She’d walked off worse. No reason to make such a fuss over a bite. Regardless, despite the watchman’s reluctance, the gate to the hamlet had creaked open. It was bad luck, to deny refuge to those who called themselves fishermen. 

The hunter sat on the edge of what could barely be called a bed, in the village elder’s spare room. It had been his son’s, before the boy was taken by the waters. If fate was kind, they had just put him to rest. But thankfulness had not softened his tongue when he had taken them to their room. Three nights, he had said, and then they would make themselves scarce. If they needed food, they’d pay for it. “ Lovely place, ” Soot said as he took off his rain-soaked hat. A fat mouse scurried beneath the door that had been slammed shut behind them. “ Feels just like home, don’t it? ” he snickered derisively. Alizebeth twisted her boot off with a grimace. “ Let me have a look. ” She shook her head in vain. She knew by then that determined tone that he took - he wasn’t asking. She wasted her words anyway: “ It’s nothing. I’ll wrap it tight. Walk just fine tomorrow. ” “ Liz, ” Soot glanced at her over his shoulder as he removed his bloodied overcoat. It fell with a heavy thud on the rickety floor. She’d lost this battle, too, from the start. She knew this. With a mere mention of her name he had secured this victory. The hunter weaselled out of her leather trousers with a groan.

His prize was a nasty wound, already blackened at the edges. The dead man’s teeth had gouged through her flesh with that strength that only dead men have. Countless holes oozed dark, half-coagulated blood. He gave it a quick look, grabbed for her travel pack to pick out through her medical supplies. “ Needs a cleaning real bad, it does. You won’t be able to put yer full weight on this anytime soon. Better for us t’hunker down here a night or two, ” he assessed as he knelt before her, pouring from his waterskin onto a strip of cloth. The hunter’s brow furrowed. “ I can do it myself. ” He only sighed. “ ‘Course, you can. Doesn’t mean you should. Yer stitches are trash, anyways. This’ll hurt, most like, ” he warned her as he began to wash dried blood and mud off the skin around the mark. Her calf grew taut under his hand.

He was tender in his duty, stormy eyes focused. She imagined them focused, as she could not see them, his blonde hair falling over his face as he toiled. First to clean the wound, and then with the stitching. Her hawkish eyes were fixed on his delicate, soot-stained fingers as the coarse thread twisted  around them, around the needle he hastily burned sterile on their lone candle. She felt the heat of the flame beneath her leg, propped on his raised knee. Or maybe it was the heat of his breath, shallow and steady, against her dark and bloodied skin. It seeped into her from every gouged hole, into her pounding veins, up long legs and into her heart. The latter beat too fast in her chest. She inhaled sharply as the needle bit her skin.

Soot worked slowly, precisely. One loop after another the edges of skin met, cleanly, her flesh closing like the slow shutting of eyes. But the hunter did not close her eyes. She watched his fine hands work, those blackened miracle-makers, as they pricked and sewed and pricked again, pausing only for the occasional bout of coughing. Beneath the sharp bridge of his nose she saw the pink tip of a tongue lick his lips in concentration. It made her shudder.

Soon he had applied the herbal ointment to her wound, torn with his teeth a strip of linen as he prepared to wrap her ankle. “ Breathe in, ” he told her, glancing up with a sorry grin. By instinct, she grabbed at the blonde head between her knees, fingers digging into his scalp as he tightened the cloth around the fresh stitching, biting her lip to muffle the groan of pain that escaped her. The fisherman’s own grunt quickly turned into a hollow chuckle, hot on her skin. When he looked up at her his thin lips were parted as if to speak. There was a sparkle of amusement in his blue-grey eyes as he gently placed a kiss to her calf, right above the bandage, over a scar that had grown to pale lilac with time. She hoped, her grip on his hair loosening - oh, she prayed - that he would not see the flush that overtook her face, then, the skin of her cheeks burning ochre red. But he saw it, and in the dim light of their shared room his smile flashed white, and a hum rose in his throat. “ Ain’t sorry for that. ” His face softened slightly. “ ‘Sorry you got injured, though. Should’ve been faster. Should’ve warned ya, or-” “ It wasn’t your fault. I was careless, ” Alizebeth interrupted him, fingers still entwined in his hair. He closed his eyes, pressed his cheek to her leg with another tender kiss. “ ‘f you say so. ” And he stayed there, his expression almost mournful, his fine face against the soft skin of her calf, knelt steady before her like a penitent man before an idol.

Soot’s blackened fingertips ran across the scar he had just blessed. He felt the hunter shudder beneath his touch - not with pain, this time. She had suffered enough today, whether by her carelessness or by the work of his hands. She suffered always, he thought. It weighed on him, that she had been dragged into his world of rotten nightmares and watery graves, that she had been bitten and scratched and torn for the sake of his mission. For his sake. It was the least he could do, then, to relieve her of the horrors, to help her forget - just for moments, brief moments when they could afford to be close, to feel safe. Something was kindled, hot in his gut, when he looked up to her amber eyes and found them sharp as a blade, bright as the sun. It always cut into him so readily, her gaze, and now it was as if it tried to peel him open, bare him to the candle’s light.

He didn’t turn away from her as he rose to his knees, thin hands roaming in her lap. The fisherman hooked one of her legs around his shoulder, kissed the tender skin under her bruised knee with a small hum. “ Soot, ” she half-whispered, “ I don’t think-” “ Hush. Said I’d take care of ya, didn’t I? ” he spoke against the taut muscle of her thigh, nipping at the dark flesh. “ What’re you so worried about, hmm? The old man won’t hear ya, ” he hummed, two fingers slipping beneath the hem of her underwear. “ And besides, ” he punctuated with kisses on her thigh, “ it’s Sam, not Soot. Not anymore, ” his breath hitched as he looked up from between her rough-hewn legs, stormy eyes half-lidded. His teeth brushed her skin as he smiled. “ Call me Soot again and I might bite ya. Now lay down. ”

She didn’t think to disobey. It was that same tone he had used earlier, though his voice had grown husky, the same determination in those grey eyes now whirlpooled with lust. She admired it, his iron will, his drive to see things through, even as it brought him to his knees before her like in dutiful worship. And his mouth did just that, laying trails of kisses up her inner thighs, over the gnarled scar that was nestled at the dip of her waist, even as his thin hands pulled down her underwear. With a surprise that bordered on pride he noticed the wet spot left by her arousal. It fed into his own as naturally as day gave way to night, and with a satisfied hum his hand rode up her chiseled stomach to push her down on the flimsy bed. She caught herself on her elbows, her black hair like curtains about her face, and he watched her chest begin to heave with anticipation. It was all he could do not to lick his lips in delight. He did so love to see her, his stoic hunter, his quiet companion, unmade beneath those hands she loved so much. And though she was ever silent, the eager wetness of her told him she relished in her unmaking, too.

He didn’t bother with his fingers, stained with mud, soot and blood. Instead, Soot buried his nose readily in the dark nest of her mound, his tongue slowly stroking the length of her cunt. He felt her strong legs tighten in his grip already, toothy smile against her warm lips, and busied himself with teasing her clit. He would work his tongue into her very depths if that was what it took to relieve her, to leave her spent and shuddering, having forgotten all of her pain and her toils. He would do it over and over, if she asked it of him., if she but spoke his name. All the while, his stormy eyes bore into hers like arrowheads.

And she did speak his name, through panting breaths, as he toiled ever-dutiful between her legs. “ Soot, you- ” He bit her, then, hard and merciless, into the tender flesh of her inner thigh, enough to leave a mark, to teach a lesson. “Fuck!” she yelped, catching a handful of his hair to tear him away from her bruising skin, blooming deep red and purple. A disapproving hum rose between her clamped legs. “Samuel,” he corrected smugly, licking at his lower lip with a smirk. The salt of her skin and her arousal on his tongue had set him fully aflame, veins burning hot with the need of her. “I want to hear you say it.” He saw Alizebeth’s lips part as if to speak, but set himself to sucking on her clit with renewed zeal, and the noise that escaped her was a low moan that her hand couldn’t muffle quickly enough. Her black brows were furrowed, her jaw hard-set, grinding her teeth to hold back the sounds he teased out of her with every flick of his tongue. Soot laughed when he heard her mutter something about the Gods, sending a shiver like a cold wind up her spine. “Go on. Say my name,” he urged her, lapping at her soaked cunt. Her fingers curled in his thick hair as she pressed him further into her in a half-hearted attempt to silence him with that task his pretty mouth was so well suited for. She wasn’t going to let him have this one easily. So be it. 

Samuel stood up, pinning her long leg to the hunter’s chest as he took a deep, rattling breath. His attentions were paused only long enough for him to unbuckle his belt and free himself from the confines of tight trousers. She relaxed in his grip for just a moment, her cheeks flushing red when she watched him wipe his mouth and lick the sweet drippings off his bloodied digits. He could taste her, everything of her, on long fingers that he greedily lapped at. The fisherman crawled over her on the bed, kissed the spot between her collarbones before his teeth met her throat. She moaned under him, beneath his frail frame, the kisses of his tangy lips on hers and that of his length against her hungry cunt, all too brief as he returned to his lecherous work. Even if it took all night, he would hear her say his name, his real name. He would hear it on her lips, even if it took his every ragged breath, his every ounce of strength. Even if his jaw ached and he longed to bury himself in her with every groan his tongue exhumed from her broad chest.

And she would say it with such love as to set his heart to bursting.

Alizebeth’s body rolled wavelike beneath the thin arms that wrapped around her waist, hips swaying needily in his grasp. He watched with amazement her mouth gape as her breaths grew short, her breasts heave beneath her tunic, the muscles of her stomach tensing with every buck of her hips against his mouth. Her legs around his shoulders in turn parted further, then flexed and closed in on him again, redoubling his vigor with every butterfly-wing beat. Soot felt every muscle of her finely hewn body beneath his hands and found that he loved each and every one of them, all trained to the sole purpose of killing, filled with a power he knew she would never turn against him. Such a beautiful sight she was that he could not bear to tear his eyes from her, though her own threatened to bore a burning hole into his skull.

He tasted her elation before she could even realize she had come. It flooded sweet and acidic at once, and he drank it in in great laps of his tongue. “Ah- Ah! Sam- Samuel, I’m-” she grunted as his grip around her waist grew tighter, locking them in lewd embrace. Not for anything in the world would he have let go as she rode out her orgasm against his fine mouth, his lolling tongue. Her thighs squeezed shut on his neck like a snare around a rabbit’s, and his brow furrowed with the numb need for air. But he would be patient. He would have her spent, fully, and drink deep of every drop of her until she was left gasping and trembling. She curled into herself with the overwhelming pleasure. The edges of his vision blurred with the pressure, and he hummed with satisfaction against his hunter’s quivering pussy as her low groaning turned high-pitched whines, her hands buried in his blonde hair, her whole body tense and taut around him, for him. She screamed his name again as the last throes of pleasure wracked her shivering body.

The hunter fell fully on the mattress as she finally let go, and Soot found he too was gasping and begging for air. He took a moment to inhale before chuckling, breathless. “ See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Good girl.” “You’re mad,” she answered him through panting breaths, wide and shaking hands taking hold of his pretty face. Her thumb wiped at the dripping come on his chin, dragging him onto the shoddy bed with her. It creaked despite his light weight as Alizebeth pulled him into a harsh kiss. Her body shuddered against his, and he tasted so thoroughly of her cunt it was as though she kissed herself. Still, she bit at his lips, at his tired tongue, in that wolfish and loving way that was thoroughly hers and that he knew so well. “You’re a mad man, Samuel Whist.” “Maybe,” he grinned against her mouth, a hand caressing the soft hair at the nape of her neck. “Maybe I am. But you love me.” Her expression changed, then, and she pulled away to look at his gaunt face, his lips still glistening with saliva and come. Beneath dark eyelashes her eyes thinned in a subtle smile. 

“I do.”

[drowsystarlight]

I like the idea of Death the Kid having a walk-in closet full of pristine branded clothes (honestly a Special kind bc he values style and comfort). He’s rich and lives in a Mansion with multiple rooms. Suits are his casual attire and he’s just that type of person. He never needed a material thing that he couldn’t just get. He can buy that shit. If a dress shirt ceases being symmetrical? Ditch it. Buy a new one. His customized blazer got damaged? Replace it. Easy. No son of Death would wear anything less than perfect.

Meanwhile, Blackstar is the type to keep the same five pairs of clothes until they’re literally breaking down at each seam.

Tsubaki even has to beg him to buy new stuff, or gift it to him on birthdays (even those ones get worn down for years, too). He grew up under Sid’s care and i bet he never had the luxurious life Kid had. Maybe Sid bought him clothes out of his own salary as a teacher and Blackstar knew that, so he treasures the clothes he gets. Assassin clothes, hand wraps, tank tops, sleep attire, old hand-me-downs get cut up and recycled into bandages or wraps for training, etc. Maybe he knows how to sew because he wanted to keep wearing a specific star-filled tank top Sid got him for his 13th birthday, so he asked Nygus to teach him. He wasn’t good at it at first but hey, practice eventually makes perfect. When he goes to missions and fights, he repairs the damage in his clothes. He’ll keep wearing the same shit until it gives up on him and even then, he really doesn’t want to let it go. Shoes are his worst nightmare because all his running wears it down fast.

It’s easy to write him off as a slob. Blackstar wore nothing formal; he looked like shit when he tried, too, slobbering for food when he attended the Academy’s founding anniversary. The boy didn’t know class, or finesse, or elegance. Everything he did screamed fucking reckless and immature. Obnoxious. It showed in his clothes, tattered as they are—because why else would it be so worn down if he was a careful man?

Being friends doesn’t exactly erase the impression, but it opens a bridge to ask. When Kid finally asks Blackstar why he circles through the same two tank tops whenever the group hung out outside the school, he’d say he liked the star designs. It suits me, he’d brag, and Kid is just jealous of his great clothing sense. Typical. But Maka eventually, secretly, tells Kid it’s just a special top because he’s had it since the both of them were twelve (everyone knows Blackstar would rather eat dirt than admit to being attached to things). Sentimental and Blackstar didn’t feel like they belong in the same sentence, but that thought felt odd now that he knew. Especially after he sees him discreetly check the stitches after an intense basketball match.

Death the Kid would notice every new stitch on Blackstar’s uniform after a mission since then. From afar, you don’t see it because it’s hidden well, but up close (maybe when they’re sparring, or sitting next to each other, or that day when Blackstar carried him through Excalibur’s wretched cave—though he foolishly shrugged that off). He can see it if he paid attention long enough, if Blackstar doesn’t move around too much for a moment. Stitches on top of old fixes, or the odd bits of his tank top turning out to be patches he couldn’t really hide. When he points it out again, they’re alone together and Blackstar happily shows it off (“I’m the best at everything, including sewing! Marvel at my craft!”). Kid admits ti thinking he’s a slob, and then the man would proceed to poke and prod at him for his branded stuff. There’s a reason why everyone saw him as a spoiled brat, after all; on the walk home that day, he ponders if he really is. (Liz and Patty say yes.)

Maybe it only really hits Kid, how much he’s really changed, when he lends Blackstar some pajamas after a gnarly night fighting against kishin eggs. Blackstar refused until he shoved the soft, flawless cotton in the man’s hands—told him to shut up and What, so the great Blackstar can’t handle wearing neat pajamas? He’s only ever seen him in tank tops but the sleeves didn’t seem to be the source of Blackstar’s discomfort. Having a spontaneous sleepover with the others, having Patty cause chaos in the name of fun—their antics eventually result into a rip of threads that only Blackstar seemed to be startled by. He apologizes as he returns it the next day, early in the morning, as neatly folded and packed in a paperbag as he could. Maybe Tsubaki did the folding. Blackstar is shit at folding clothes or wearing stuff that weren’t creased to hell and back.

But by then, even if there’s a stitch on only one sleeve, Kid keeps it. Seeing it makes him smile. The damage was repaired with a star-shaped stitch—(how did he even do that?), but he doesn’t wear it yet. He tells himself it would drive him insane, knowing something is off, but he hangs it with his other clothes. He didn’t need to replace it this time; Blackstar fixed it, and it wasn’t ruined. It’s better.

[tparker48]

After the battle with belos, Liz and the others started to rebuild from the damages of their fierce battle. In the afterlife, Belos awoken to a void surrounding him, golden orbs of of light spiraling the sky.

"What is this place?" He stretch a hand to the one of the orbs, its sphere like form dispersing in to the air. His foot sinking into sludge below him. "What wretched place Am I in?"

"Welcome, to the world between worlds, or at least somewhere in between." A voice reverberated through the void.

The sludge boiled around Belos, his foot pulled by the current to a whirlpool that swirled in front of him. Its pull tempted to suck it inside, but he yanked it from its chunks, backpedaling as the spiraling sludge grew wider. A splash uprooted the center of the whirlpool, a skull.hovering to the sky above. Eyes opened within the eye sockets, air puffing from the nostrils.

"Hello, Belos" Papa Titan said.

Belos gazed at the towering titan. "As if my days couldn't get any worse, now I've got a titan to deal with."

"That's papa titan to you." He replied, approaching the skinny man. "It seems your time in the mortal plane wasn't a fond one. How was that blast of my magic Luz borrowed?"

"So it was your doing, I knew that brat couldn't get that strong in such a short amount of time. If I had known you were to lend your power to child, I would've flattened the entire realm when I had the chance."

Papa shoved his hands into his pocket. "Seems to me that someome underestimate his opponent. Its good to see that part of you hasn't changed."

It was mine! And I would've gotten it too if weren't for the owl and that cursed child of yours."

Papa titan squinted at the thought, a hand wrapped in a crimson glow slipping from his pocket. "Watch your tone about my son, I may not have been present for your misdeeds, but I'm more than capable of tending to you now."

Its glow illuminated around his body, hus form turning to sludge. "Like what? Kill me? Hah, I've already died once, what makes you think you can kill me again?"

"There are worse things than just death"

Papa flicked his wrist, spinning Belos beneath him. His face stopped as the thick skull was enveloped by the giant belly. He looked around to his limbs, struggling to unlock the golden chains that wrapped around his arms. They refused to budge, ooze from his flesh seeping into the cracks. This cursed magic has been a thorn in his side since the beginning. And he'd eat his omw arm before he succumbed to its might.

Thick footclaws stepped over his shoulders, sinking into the sludge. Belo's sunken eyes widened, the clothed backside hurtling to the ground. When the sturdy legs caved inward, a shroud of blackness blinded his sight, thin fabric laying over his eyes like a curtain. He pawed at its surface in efforts to drag it off, but muscle filled the folds as quick as he could cling to it, its weight crowning over the bridge of his nose.

"Get off me you big buffon! Your too fat to be on a face like mine!"

"Not just fat, im big boned" Papa replied, a sense of glee in his tone, his body growing heavier.

The muddy sludge soaked into his earholes, a claw poking at the corners of his face as it pulled a cheek away. Belos peeked from his left side, an eye socket staring back as it winked with anticipation. A blast erupted from Papa's backside, souring Belos' nose with a foul stench that climbed through his nose holes. He scowled in disgust, pawing at the blubbered backside.

"Disgusting!" Belos pawed at the thick legs.

Papa giggled a bit, overlapping his efforts with a simple rock of his rear. "Told ya there's things worse than deaths, take a century of built of flatulence for instance."

Belos could only face the forward, locked by the muscle beyond the fabric as gurgles lingered beyond. Slowly a bubble cushioned at his face, inflating the muscle as it climbed to the corners of his eyes. It's pop was as strong as a bomb, booming with intense force as muscle slapped onto his nose.

His palms retreated to the muddy sludge, paddling them around as if he were making a snow angel. "All right, what do you want?!"

"Apologize for your your misdeeds, and for mouthing about my son"

"There's no way I'm succombing to those demands, the land could've of been perfect if I had succeeded.

Papa Titan nonchalantly shrugged, easing his claws behind him. "Suit yourself."

He slouched into the watery pile, Belos head succumbimg to his weight as it connected to the sludge. Papa inhaled a heavy breath, the muscular glutes stiffening as if to lock him in. Slowly sulfuric gas spewed from his depths, its musky gust heating his very lungs. No amount of squirming he'd try freed his face from the vice grip of the titan's backside, a single clenched dragging him in as the wrinkled skin beyond the fabric pinched at his nose.

"Alright..Alright!"

Papa tilted his head. "Go on then."

"Im sorry for the damage I caused. And.." He choked on his words, fanning away at the aroma surrounding. Papa squeezed his glutes tighter, a swift blast sending his senses abalze.

"Annnd?" The titan beamed, placing a hand at his chin.

The air began to dissipate, the hole beneath starting to suckle at his nose. Inhaling the dirty air in disgust, he finally caved. "And for mentioning your son."

Papa Tapped at his skull, putting his weight to his knees. "See? That wasn't so hard."

He rose off of Belos, his form slowly starting form back to his human self. When he opened his mouth to speak, a quick blast connected with him, a sour sensation spreading across his tongue. "I thought you said that was it?!"

"That was for me, gotta get my papyback somehow." He chuckled.

[massivedonutface]

tvd 3x11 rewatch thoughts

okay Bonnie should've been way more pissed at Jeremy for cheating on her AFTER SHE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD + LOST HER CONNECTION TO THE WITCHES?? like.. what? absolutely no consequences for him?

the hybrids are way too easy to kill like why don't they have better instincts, how exactly are they superior? just bc a stake doesn't kill them?

At the risk of turning into a tyler lockwood stan account, everyone gave tyler soooo much shit for being sired to klaus as if he chose it or had any control over it and YET when klaus tells him to bite caroline he does what he can to not do that

speaking of - telling tyler to bite her is the first time klaus has acknowledged Caroline's existence and later this episode he's telling her to live life and what not? why? where did that come from? this man doesn't care ab his hybrids that he spent a millenia trying to make but he cares about this random girl he's never spoken to before?

also like why don't they have an alpha situation going on? if they're part werewolves and they're sired shouldn't he also have an alpha instinct? idk how the werewolves thing works

The wickery bridge scene is so good. Stefan's voice crack at the end when he tells her he doesn't care what elena thinks 🥺

liz and matt are way too chill about caroline getting bit like my girl is on her death bed lmao

okay WHY does klaus care about caroline wanting to die or not? why is he telling her that there's more to life? the fact that he personally came to deliver the cure itself barely makes sense but at least they gave a reason - winning sheriff forbes support (which means nothing lbr) but he's saying all this to Caroline for what? how does he even know she's having an existential crisis?

oh forwood/klaroline parallel where they both get her a bracelet for her birthday

[memoria-99]

Wizardess Heart: My fiction profiles

Heidi Alpheus

I wanted to make a younger sister figure of Serge, and someone teases Klaus. Needed who works as a bridge between the day class and night class too.

Name: Heidi Alpheus

Appearance: Magenta pink hair(wavy), blue eyes

See here

MBTI: ENTP

Specialty: Drawing, Telecommunication with nature, Reading minds

Class: Day Class Fortitudo & Night Class

Roommate: Erin Leiado

Alias: Mother Nature

Alive Relatives: Serge Durandal(maternal cousin)

In Class: Participates actively. Asks tons of questions, which usually have a point.

Her mother was sister of Serge's mother. Her father, a fallen noble, used to abuse his wife and as this abuse become more serious he started to lay hand on his daughter as well. Her mother couldn't bear this and and sent her daughter to her mother, then eventually poisoned her husband to death and killed herself as well. She met Serge in grandmother's house, and since both her lost their parents when they were young and were raised together, she always thought of him as her older brother. She isn't very fond of men because of all the memories related to her father but Serge is the only exception. She knows what happened to him before fleeing from the academy, and understands him. She hates Klaus because he speaks ill of Serge. Likes to make fun of him and doesn't understand why Liz is so scared of him. She skips class whenever he gives the lecture, but never gets failing grades overall because she does very well in other professors' class. Has an angelic smile and puts this smile on most of the time, even when teasing someone. She thinks of Liz like her younger sister, and puts her back to sense whenever she goes too reckless. Her ability is quite rare, because she's equally talented in light magic and dark magic. So the headmaster decided to put her in both classes and allowed her to take half and and half, only in the condition that she won't tell the day class students about the night class, and for this reason she's excluded from the curfew. She chose to stay in the day class dorm because she didn't want to sleep in the underground. She loves the nature very much, and has the ability to share feelings and information with the whole nature, including animals, plants, even the divine creatures like unicorns and malicious creatures like chimeras. To be precise, the whole nature is very fond of her, even loyal to her. She can read people's minds as well, but doesn't like this ability at all and tries to avoid using this as much as possible. When skipping class, she often visits the night class or the Labyrinth. She sometimes enjoys the scenery around the academy too.

[kilikrungpotmeister]

3 Years Too Late

Ao3: link

<prev Chapter 18 next>

Thunder stayed quiet as she followed her guardian through the streets of death city, and through the labyrinthian hallways of the DWMA campus to the Death room.

Worried about what the older lightning weapon would end up doing, she has started trying to slowly absorb the charge he’s been building up. Doing her best to make sure he didn’t notice.

As well intentioned as her attempt was, by the time they reached the Death Room Harver was chirping like a swarm of cicadas has just gathered in front of the door.

“Kidd open up!” Harver said banging on the door, his voice rougher and angrier than anything Thunder has heard him talk in. She was starting to worry he was about to bust the door down.

Thankfully it didn’t take long for the door to be opened and on the other side was a red haired death scythe with a tired expression on his face. “Hey What’s all the commotion out there? And what’s with that buzz-?” Death Scythe Albarn said before his eyes fell on the two lightning weapons causing him to raise a brow. “Sorry Harver but Kidd’s busy at the moment, would you mi-“

The Death scythe was cut off by a foot to the gut as Harver shoved him away.

“Where is he?” Harver asked, walking over the senior weapon and into the room.

The room fell silent. No one expected the quiet, mild mannered Harver to ever act like this. Not Kidd, not the Thompsons and certainly not Thunder.

As soon as he saw the shinigami in the middle of the room the male lighting weapon dashed over to him in a flash. Grabbing him by the scruff of his collar. “Where the hell are you hiding Kilik, you good for nothing shinigami!”

“U…uncle Harver I think you should tone it down a little…” Thunder said.

“You should listen to the kid Harver.” Liz said standing behind the lightning spear with a Patty in her gun form pointed right at the back of his head. “I don’t want to shoot a friend in the back of the head.”

With a growl Harver let go of the reaper and took a step back. The buzzing was so loud it was difficult to speak through it.

“W…we just want to know where Kilik’s staying at the moment.” Thunder said walking over to the Shinigami.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know what you’re talking about Miss Thunder,” Kid said dusting himself off, “Kilik is where he’s been for the past three years in the ce-“

“I told her.” Harver cut his arms crossed as he stood beside Thunder. “no point hiding it from the kids. Would’ve brought Fire too if he wasn’t still unconscious.”

“I told her so you can cut the act,” responded the enraged spear.

“You what?!” Kidd shouted before stopping himself and taking a breath, “and you didn’t consider the possibility they would turn the city to a pile of ash ?”

“And lookie here, the city is totally a pile of ash now,” Harver retorted, “Fire and Thunder deserves to know. And they aren’t just natural disasters you know? They’re kids who lost their father who happens to have come back from the dead. Now tell us where Kilik is staying, before I show you that it isn’t only the twins who can be a natural disaster”

“Uncle Harver, don't do this,” Thunder said standing between Kidd and the spear, “it’s not like you act like this.”

“Listen to the shaman Harver,” Liz said, her gun still pointed straight at the man, “don’t make us do something we’d all regret.”

The room seemed to stand still for a moment, the buzzing of electricity now sounding like swallows flocking. As the shinigami and the lightning spear started each other down.

The silence finally broke with the death god sighing. “Fine! This at least makes my hone easier,” Kidd said, pinching the bridge of his nose before holding out a piece of paper with an address, “this is Kilik’s current. Just make sure not to cause a commotion. And if anything happens it’s on you, you hear?”

“Loud and clear,” Harver said, turning around and leaving.

���Thank you uncle Kid,” Thunder gave a nod before following the older weapon out.

As they made their exit they were eyed cautiously by both Thompson sisters and Death scythe.

“Kidd you may not want to look outside for a while.” Liz said.

“They reoriented the pictures in the hall didn’t they?” Kidd signed, “I guess I deserved this.”

“Should we have warned them that Dr Stein is visiting Kilik at the moment?” Patty said as she transformed back into her human form.

The three would look over to the blond weapon with a worried expression.

“I think…Thunder should be fine..” Kidd said in a shaky voice.

[fantasies-fairytales-n-fics]

Code Blue Ch. 42- Duck Duck Goose

Summary: The trip to the train bridge commences. Jo is overly annoyed with Lee and makes sure he knows it. An intense rush is shared. Lee meets Jake's bio daddy. Jason and Jo make up for the most part. He and Lee send her reeling. A shocking moment is witnessed. Lee confesses something already suspected by Jo. Liz goes to Ethan.

*Warnings* DARK!! language, angst, alcohol use, murder plots, depictive mentions of child death

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist

Chapter characters: Lee, Josie, Jason, Liz, Ethan,

Salem, Massachusetts

March 16, 2023

10:30 p.m.

The car ride to the train bridge was silent as Lee drove and you stared out your window, unable to stop seeing his lips on Angel's and her disrobing before him half naked. Sure he beat feet out of there but it didn't make your anger any less that he chose to even go in the first place. Still, you were curious as to what she told him although in that moment, you didn't even want to speak to him or even look at him for that matter.

Lee parked the car at the place you took him on your bike, then turned it off. A few minutes went by as you both sat there in the dark before Lee broke the deafening silence.

"Are you going to talk to me about this?"

"You mean like you talk to me about things?" you snipped and got out. As much as you wanted to slam his door to make him cringe, you quietly shut it in caution of your dark surroundings.

Lee sighed heavily, reached in the back to grab the flashlights and then got out too, handing you one.

The night air was crisp and the moon half full as you began to walk towards the sound of the horn to the train that now ran on the newly rerouted track under another bridge close by. It was a good fifteen minute walk, so you picked up the pace.

"Jo...could you slow down? It's still early and the path is not level. You're going to trip."

"Just keeping my distance. I can smell the rank of her cheap ass dollar store perfume all over you."

You no more than finished your snarky comment and down you went, tripping over a large tree root.

"Owww, fuck. Damn it."

"Jo, babe...are you alright?" Lee asked as he tried to help you up.

"I got it! I'm fine." you snapped, pulling away from him and continuing on with a slight limp.

Lee shook his head and chuckled. "Of course you are. Tough as nails. One of the many things I love about you."

"Can you just shut up?"

"Yes ma'am." he said and smirked, loving how damn sexy he thought you were when you were mad.

When you both arrived at the bridge, there was no sign of Jason yet. He was always punctual so you had at least an hour to sit there with Lee.

Lee looked around at the unfamiliar territory as he stood atop the bridge constructed of stone that overlooked the train tracks beneath. It had an old dirt road that crossed it and there were actually street lights and an old functional payphone nearby.

"So, you mean to tell me I could have drove here?"

"Well sure, if you don't mind driving your precious classic over two foot pot holes the entire way here." you retorted as you climbed up on the ledge and sat down.

"Yeaaaah, that would be a big fat no. Sooo, now what? It's only 11."

"A train will be though soon. It's pretty surreal to sit up here when it goes under. The entire bridge shakes and the wind will make your eyes water. I like to dangle my feet over the edge and swing them. It's like I'm running over top of the train."

"Interesting. The girl who's afraid of heights likes to be so daring."

"I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling." you told him and finally looked into his eyes. Lee understood the look and your words that reminded him of previous conversations with you.

"I won't let you fall." he softly said and at down beside you and gazed down below. "That's still a hefty drop. If it didn't kill you, it would definitely break a lot of bones."

"Probably, but this ledge is nice and wide. I just hold onto the back when I let my legs hang over."

"You can always hold onto me."

You looked away and stared out into the darkness, feeling the softness towards him coming on...damn it.

"You want a drink?"

"A...drink?" you asked with a raised brow.

"Yep. Brought this little friend with me."

Lee pulled out a small pint of whiskey from inside of his coat pocket, then removed his coat and opened it up, handing it to you.

"100 proof. It'll warm you up and take the edge off." he said with a smile.

You half smiled and took it, then knocked back a swig, cringing instantly at the burn as the highly flammable liquid seared down your throat.

"It'll take more than the edge off. Like possibly the lining of my throat and stomach, holy hell." you stammered with a cough.

Lee chuckled. "You alright?"

"Yep." you grunted and handed it back to him. "Tough as nails, remember?"

Lee took a large gulp of the potent fire, completely tolerant of it's stinging burn, then hopped off the ledge and walked around the corner of the bridge.

"Cool, there's steps over here to go down to the tracks." he raved with a grin and headed down to look around. "You comin?"

"Nah...I'm good."

You then carefully turned and let your legs hang freely so you could view him.

"Yep, you're pretty far up there." Lee said and laughed as he peered up at you.

"This is nothing compared to the old unused trestle way up there just behind the trees that runs over the river wild. That's the one I'm afraid of. The fall and the water. Nope."

"You're not afraid of the water either. You're afraid of drowning...right?"

"You gonna save me from drowning too?"

"Always." Lee said. "But maybe you'll trust me enough someday to let me teach you how to swim first."

You became silent again so Lee put his hands in his pockets and began walking around, kicking rocks with his head lowered, and then he stopped and looked back up at you with a story telling smile.

"Do you know I was afraid of trains as a kid? They were so big and I was so small. They were so loud, much like the storms that I also feared as you do."

"Not Jacob though. He was fearless for his size. In his mind, he was six feet tall and bullet proof. I guess we know who and where he got that from."

In that moment you realized how frightened he was to meet Jason, the man who was biologically Jacob's father, yet Lee was the one who who fathered Jacob for his entire short years and he was the only one Jacob knew as his dad....and now that reveal was going to become reality for Lee. Also in that moment, you forgave him about Angel, for Jacob was the only reason he did it. You saw Lee shove her away instead of continuing on and even if you hadn't been watching, you knew he still would have done the same thing. Lee was just a desperate father wanting to know what happened to his son.

"I...I remember your stories about your dad easing all those fears and how you ended up loving trains...and how Gordon helped you deal with the storms too. Parents are great when you have the right kind and you...you Lee, were the right kind for Jacob...and Jason knew and believed that. That's why he stayed away, to protect Jake physically from his life of crime and also mentally from being ripped away from the only father he had ever known. Now Liz...well, she wasn't nor is the right kind of parent and if Jason had knew that earlier, well...he would have handled her....in fact, he was going to and she knew it, which is why she aided in taking him out first. Lee....it's going to be ok. You and Jason, you're both victims in Liz's lies and manipulations. He's on your side, although he may not be too happy that I brought you here. I know your worried to see him but...Lee, his presence, it changes nothing. You...are Jake's daddy...always and Jake knows that."

"You really are so beautiful, you know that? Your heart, they just don't make em like you anymore." he chuckled. "I guess that's why it took me so long to find you. After everything I have done and everything I have put you through, you're still in my corner and I couldn't love you more than I do right now...ok well yes I could but you know what I mean. Jo Jo....about Angel...I..."

"I know baby."

The train horn blared from the darkness behind Lee and then a dim light came into view.

"Lee, the train, it's coming. Come on! You gotta sit up here and experience this!!"

Lee came jogging up the stairs, sat beside you and whipped his legs over the ledge. You both stared at each other with adrenalized expressions as a light breeze began to creep up, being carried by the speeding bullet.

You gasped at the echoing horn blaring one last time as the beast came straight for you and Lee, inching closer by the second. Lee laid his palm out as he gazed at your glowing face. You slapped your hand down onto his, fingers weaving tightly together in unison as the repetitive clanking of the rails grew closer. Your chests were tightening, but in a good way as you both stared the oncoming monster in it's glowing eyes.

Lee's arm went over your lap like a seatbelt, his other hand still clasping yours as your bodies became engulfed in a blinding bubble of the whitest white. You gazed at Lee who was in a relaxed trance like state as he faced his past fears head on. His eyes then closed and he tilted his head back, taking in the rush as the light took over him.

The train then rushed and roared beneath your swinging feet as it's violent wind of fury burst through your hair.

"WoooooOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" you screeched into the night as Lee released the breath he was holding in a hard puff and he then turned with gaping eyes to watch the train disappear into the darkness followed by the fainting sound of the thumping tracks. All was dark and quiet once more except for the pounding of your hearts.

Lee's eyes quickly met back with yours, both of you panting with slowly forming smiles and then his hands came firmly to your face, his fingers gripping the back of your head. His gaze was intense and your eyes screamed with desire, both of you high on dopamine. Your trembling fingers grasped his wrists and then his lips swiftly made their way to yours, forcing a soft mewl to squeak out of you. The wind lightly lingered, swirling about as you both shared a deeply passionate kiss filled with urgency for one another. If it weren't for the fact you would be meeting Jason very soon, you would have knocked Lee to the ground and took him right then and there.

But then, the faint rumble of a motorcycle broke the heated moment and then it went silent. Gasping, you jumped to your feet.

"Jason's here!" you loudly whispered, grabbling Lee's wrist to look at his watch. Midnight on the dot.

As you gawked down the path with anticipation, Lee stood right at your side with his arm around your waist. Jason was quite stealthy, so you knew he would appear without a sound and then...there he was.

Jason halted briefly when he saw Lee and then he continued on his way to you, his face full of emotion that most would say he didn't possess but the truth was, only those he loved could keep stone cold at bay.

He then slowly approached you, one hand in his pocket as he reached for you with his other arm and hugged you, one thing he wasn't big on doing.

"I'm so sorry for everything." he whispered into your ear.

One thing though, when Jason was wrong, he admitted it.

"I know. I'm just so glad you're alive and that you're here."

Jason released you and smiled, then looked at Lee, making your heart sink as you expected stone cold to surface, but once again, your brother shocked you.

"Lee. It's good to finally meet you." Jason softly said and extended his hand out.

Lee reached back and shook his hand. "You too Jason."

Flabbergasted, you gazed at Lee, then at Jason. "You...you're not mad that I brought him?"

"I knew you would. I know you better than you know yourself Jo. I get it. I've already put you in an unfair predicament in keeping my secret. I never expected you to keep it from the one you love."

"Well umm so...let me cut right to the chase about my code red text. It's not so secret anymore Jay. Liz knows...accidentally by me, at the hospital. The witch was hiding and listening to a conversation I had with Lee. I'm SO sorry...I didn't mean to..."

"It's ok. Is she the only one?"

"As far as I know, she told Lee's neighbor, Angel, who's her friend and a nurse at the hospital....but...I don't know. Lee saw her with Ethan yesterday at the hospital and then there's Cyrus who...."

"I know all about Cyrus's new position. I also know you were admitted. Are you ok? You have to know I would have been there if I were able."

"Yeah, I..I know you would have and yeah, I'm ok now. Just stress basically. Lee...he...he got me there right away and..."

"I know that too. Thank you..Lee...for saving my sister."

"No thanks necessary. I would lay down my life for her if needed."

You smiled and rubbed Lee's arm.

"Ok, how do you know all of this?" you then asked Jason.

"I was eavesdropping on Mom's phone call to Livvie at the house before I took my bike."

"WHAT??? Jason! She's going to notice that it's gone, are you nuts?? How the hell did you get the keys, which she'll also know is missing??"

"Extra set I kept at Sonny's. Mom don't go in the garage often and as long as she sees my keys, she'll have no reason to look. If she does, I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

"Ummm, she was just in there and saw my car, asking me all about that."

"Yeah, why is your car there?"

"That's a story for another time. God Jason, this is all going to blow up in our faces. I mean, you're out riding your damn bike for fuck's sake. You couldn't have had Max or Milo take you??"

"Ok, so you know? I am wearing my helmet for once in my life. Many guys have similar bikes and dress like me when they ride...hell, Lee's dressed like me right now AND it's not like I'm joy riding through town Jo. And you know Sonny's guys are being watched by Cyrus's men and most likely the Zacchara's too, so no Jo. I didn't find it feasible to taxi around in Sonny's cars."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, if mom calls me about your missing bike, you know I'm going to have to tell her. I'm not going to lie to her like I've been doing now for all this time. When Jason, when is this going to end???"

"I'm working on that Jo."

"So you keep saying Jason and yet, here we still are. If I hadn't seen you, would I still be in the dark??"

"You were going to be the first person to know, I swear it. It just wasn't supposed to be so soon."

"Oh really? Sonny knew before me. Sonny and Carly always come first."

"Jo..don't do this. Not now. I didn't come here to fight. I missed you and needed to see you after knowing you were in the hospital."

You began to cry. "This is bullshit Jay. Having to meet in a desolate dark place because we can't just normally call each other or text without stupid fucking codes, or go to lunch together like we used to or...."

Jason pulled you into another hug, this time with both arms.

"I know. I'm so sorry. Soon Jo...soon. I promise you it will all be over and we can do those things again."

Lee watched in envy as you cried in the comfort of Jason's arms, for he wanted to be the one to hold you, but he knew you needed your brother in that moment, so he stayed silent and gave you both space.

"So, you're not going to tell me what you're planning?" you asked as you pulled back and wiped your tears as you sniffled.

"No Jo. It's better that way. You know that. The less you know, the less danger you're in which is why I couldn't tell you I was alive."

"I knew something was wrong Jay. That day you asked me over to Sonny's restaurant. You knew you you had a target on your back and told me you changed your will, but what you failed to tell me was that you left the boat to Mom and now look. She fucking sold it....and to Ethan's piece of shit dad of all people. Why Jason?? Why didn't you leave it to me???"

"Because I knew you'd keep it and Mom wouldn't. Jo...I wanted her to sell it. The Haunted Star has been a thorn in our family's side with all that I let go on there."

"Well a lot of good THAT did, because now it's just going to continue and get worse with dirty daddy Bloom running the show. I could have turned it into something good, like it once was!"

"Jo...just let it go."

"And why do I feel like you're not talking about the boat?? Oh, that's right, you can't or won't I should say, tell me. OK...so now what? What about Liz? What if she goes shooting her mouth off to make sure you really are dead?? How easy it would be for Cyrus or Johnny or even Ethan to do it since you're already legally dead."

"I told you I would handle her and I will."

"Yeah well...did you know she's dumped Craig's kid off with Angel?? Or should I say, Ethan's kid?"

"Craig will get Blaise back, mark my words. There's no way Ethan will ever get his hands on her. Craig will kill him before I do if that happens."

"Honestly? It should have already been done! God, I can't believe I'm saying things like that."

You turned to Lee and laid your head on his shoulder. "You...ok? You're so quiet."

"Yeah baby. I'm just letting the two of you talk."

"You can too...if...you want. About, you know."

"Phew...yeah. So uh...Jason. Jo...she told me about Jacob."

"I knew she would tell you that too. How could she not? I'm sorry for what Liz did to you. For the record, you're Jake's father. You always have been and always will be. I didn't know you but I knew who you were and knew Jake loved you. It's how I wanted it. He was better off with you." Jason told Lee with sincere eyes.

"Thank you, truly, for saying that but it turns out he wasn't though."

"That wasn't your fault Lee. I was going to remove her from the equation so you could raise Jake but then things got twisted around as you know."

"Jason...I was driving the car that night. It was dark and raining and I...I didn't check his buckle because she told me she did and I...I stupidly believed her....and I...crashed. How is that not my fault?"

"Because we all know it was hers." Jason immediately answered.

"And she will swear her innocence until she's blue in the face, which I wouldn't mind at this point. There's no proof. She'll never admit to it."

"She already did. That's why I was going to finish her. That's why she wanted me dead." Jason revealed, his blue eyes burning with tears.

You and Lee looked at each other, both stunned, then back at Jason.

"Wait...what?" you asked. "What do you mean she already did? You told me at Craig's you only suspected it. Jason, Lee deserved to know this! My god, he has blamed himself for so long!"

"I didn't know how to, I still don't but you're right, he deserves to know and it's time I tell you. So...here it goes. A few weeks before the accident, she let me see him one time in hopes it would make me change my mind and want to be with her. It was at the hospital when he went for a routine doctor's check up. He had just turned 5 and his hair was super blonde then...like mine was when I was that age and his eyes....I saw mine. She told him my name and he looked at me and said "Hi". While we waited, I sat and played with him. He had this toy train, the locomotive part. I guess I wasn't doing it right, moving the train about, so he showed me how to do it and when I did it to his satisfactory, he looked up at me with the biggest smile. And he said to me very proudly, "My daddy made this for me for my birthday"."

Lee's hand went to his mouth and he turned around to hide his welled up eyes. You immediately went to him and hugged him, unable to even imagine what he must be feeling.

"Lee, I'm sorry...I...I just thought you would like to know how much he adored you and that train, but I'm sure you already did. I..I should have left this part out, it was...really selfish of me. It's just that...it's the only moment I ever had with him after finding out he was mine...well, my blood anyways." Jason regretfully said.

"No...no...it's alright. I remember that day. I was upstairs working." Lee replied, his voice a bit choked up. "Please....just go on about Liz."

"Ok. Well.....about a week after Jake's funeral and I was out on some business one night. I came across a highly inebriated Liz and she was with Ethan, walking on the pier. It was the first time I had seen him in awhile and found out he had come back for the funeral after we talked for a bit. Then Liz asked Ethan to leave her and I alone for a minute and as soon as he walked away, she started in on me, blasting me about choosing Britt. She was belligerent and slapped me, more than once but I took it with a grain of salt, believing that she was just grieving and clearly three sheets to the wind, just like she was the night she told me I was Jacob's father."

The grain of salt comment had you and Lee briefly glancing at each other.

"She then began to belittle me with excessively added vulgarity and then she said...."

Jason had to stop for a moment, for it was very hard for him to relay what he was told.

"Whew man...umm...ok...she said....."You should have chosen me, then your son would still be alive." Her eyes were so sinister and I...I think for the first time in my life I was speechless. I just remember blankly staring at her as she rambled on how she purposely started a fight with Lee, striking him and grabbing the wheel and also how she.......how she intentionally left the buckle to Jake's car seat undone and lied to Lee, saying it was latched. She screamed at me, saying this is what you get for choosing that slut and in that moment, I...I thought, no, she's drunk and lying to hurt me but her cold eyes told me she was telling the truth. I wanted to strangle her but Ethan came out and then a few civilians came down the steps. He got her to leave with him and that's when I vowed revenge. She knew I would come, so that's when she took off to New Zealand. She conveniently came back two months later with Craig and knocked up, claiming the kid was his so I had no choice but to back off. She had used him and her pregnancy and he wouldn't listen to me that I believed her to be pregnant before she left. Of course he learned the hard way a year later when they split up and she took off with Ethan and Blaise. I stupidly let her go because I was having problems with Britt over my guilt and deemed Liz to be Craig's problem as I felt he deserved and then she resurfaced with Ethan, hanging around with Johnny and then a year after that, all that shit went down with Cyrus and he went to prison for two years, but shortly before he was released....I learned of the target on my back and then....I died."

Lee's lips were bound tightly together as he visibly shook. You took his hand and tried to calm him.

"Lee...hey...look at me. Breathe baby."

"I'll breathe when she breathes no more." he said in a cold dark tone. "She stood over my hospital bed after the accident, not a fucking mark on her as I laid there all cut up and told me Jacob was dead before I even knew what happened and then she told me it was all my fault and her eyes....they were the same as you just described them. Jesus...I...can't right now."

"I remember you telling me about that. God Lee, I'm so sorry and for you too Jason. She belongs locked away for life."

"She deserves much worse than that." Lee reeled. "You've said you're going to handle her Jason...so...when?? I'll gladly assist."

'What?? Lee, don't say things like that, please." you said in panic.

"Why not?? She killed my son! She planned the whole sick fucking thing and I now I know the truth, finally."

"Ok, Lee, this is another reason I didn't want to tell you. Trust me, I know what you're feeling and I myself had to literally be tied down so I didn't run out there half cocked and do something stupid. You don't need the back blow. Let me handle this. You have a lot to lose if you get involved. Your career and my sister. Is Liz worth all that???"

You anxiously stared at Lee, your eyes full of tears as he hesitated to look away from you and give his answer.

"I think I'm way past involved. You have a lot to lose as well. Britt for one. Don't you want to be with her eventually? You can't do that if you wind up in prison or really dead because you know you'll get back blow too."

"Lee, respectfully, I didn't do all this to just go lay down. They all tried to kill me and could have killed Jo in that explosion."

"I get it man. I've done things to get results, such as earlier tonight but it was flat out stupid. I wasn't thinking straight. Why not just kill two birds with one stone and then go from there?"

"I'm sorry?" Jason asked, confused.

"You need a fall guy and there's no one better than Ethan. He set you up for a fall now do the same for him. He was seen arguing with Liz today and it's all over her kid. I want him out of our lives as badly as you do."

"So you're saying to set him up for her death?" Jason asked, seemingly interested in the idea.

"Ok, whoa!! Lee, are you really standing here right now, plotting a hit with my brother???? Do I really have to ask you WHO you are again??? You've all lost your damn minds! You just said you did something stupid because you weren't thinking straight and then you do a 180 right into a pre-meditated murder scheme. This cannot be happening right now. I'm dreaming. I'm fucking dreaming. You're a doctor! You chose to save lives Lee. You took that oath. You're not a fucking assassin like Jason with a death warrant! I never should have brought you." you raged as you began to pace. "And you Jay, you're actually considering this??"

"Jo...you've known my plan all along so why is this so shocking to you?? You know how this ends Jo whether you like it or not."

"Oh I don't know, maybe because it involves my fucking boyfriend who I don't want to be like you! You do what you gotta do Jason, but you leave Lee out of this. This ENDS here. This conversation NEVER happened. I'm done and I'm going the fuck home."

You stormed off, climbing over the metal guard rail and marched down the path to get back to the car.

"Jo! Hold up." Lee shouted. "I gotta go man."

"Yeah, of course, go. I'm sorry about all this."

"No worries. Just do what Jo said. Do what you gotta do. There's no judgement on my end, so you know." Lee assured and then ran off after you. "Jo, wait up!"

It was another silent ride home, for it was always one step forward and two steps back when it came to happiness anymore. You and Lee had shared such a wonderful moment together at the bridge and then just like that, it all went to shit in a matter of minutes. Sure, you wished Liz would disappear, the same as Jason and Lee wished she would, but to plot her demise was utterly insane.

Your thoughts were soon distracted as Lee neared his house.

"Lee, stop!!"

"What??!"

"Stop the car, stop the car!"

He quickly pulled off to the side and parked behind another car.

"Turn your lights off!"

"Jo, what is going on???"

"LOOK!"

Lee turned to see Mr. Carpenter speeding out to his car from Angel's house, looking quite pissed off while tucking his shirt in and adjusting his jewels.

"You've got to be kidding me. Gross!" you reeled.

Lee felt even more humiliated now and disgusted that he allowed that woman's lips to touch him and your reaction made him feel ten times worse.

Angel then came running out behind him and they stood at his car loudly arguing but not enough to hear what they were saying and then....he grabbed her by the throat and began screaming at her. You gasped as your hands flew to cover your mouth and Lee sat frozen, not sure if he should intervene. Angel wasn't the greatest human being but she didn't even compare to what Liz was and also, she was Dash's mother. Then there was the fact she had been really good to Lee's father.

Just as he had made the decision to get out and had his hand on the door handle, Mr. Carpenter freed Angel, then got in his car and sped off.

Lee waited until Angel went inside and then he backed up, keeping his lights off and turned down the alley that led around the back to his garage. Once inside the house, he went straight to the kitchen, turned on the light, then the music and grabbed a beer.

"Jesus...well if THAT didn't prove he was violent with his family and probably caused Henrietta's tumor. He's clearly dangerous." you anxiously puffed out and sat down across the table from Lee.

"If I see him put his hands on another woman, or even Angel again, I'm going to finish what I started with him....unless it's Liz." Lee expressed quite seriously as he calmly drank his beer.

There was that side of him again, angry and vengeful words paired with a relaxed nature and that truly frightened you.

"Tell me you weren't serious about Liz earlier tonight. Just tell me that, please." you quietly said.

"How do you want me to feel Jo? Because I can't feel a certain way just because you want me to. I want her to suffer like she made Jacob suffer and if that makes me a bad person, then so fucking be it." he quickly and flatly stated.

"But you're not a bad person Lee. You're not."

Lee was silent for a moment as he stared at and fondled the label on his bottle, then he gulped down the entirety of his malt beverage.

"It was me Jo. I did it."

"Umm, w...what...was you?"

"I cut her seatbelt." he bluntly answered, then got up and slowly trekked up the stairs.

You closed your eyes and sighed. Deep down you already knew that but you weren't going to make a big deal out of it, for you knew at the time, he only did it to taunt her like she had done to him for so long. But now, he was talking of harming her and conspiring with your brother to do so and that, you would definitely make a big deal out of. This is the kind of thing Jason did. There was nothing you could ever say or do to make him stop and his influence had already rubbed off on Lee in a matter of only thirty minutes. That severely worried you because that's how Jason got sucked into Sonny's world and you were not going to let that happen to the man you loved more than life itself and the way Lee spoke tonight and the look in his eyes while doing so, scared the living hell out of you, for it seemed to come so natural to him.

You decided to let Lee have some space and whipped up some leftovers from the dinner he made, then took a plate full in the living room and ate on the couch as you listened to the music he had turned on. Behind blue eyes came on and all you could do was listen to another sign being thrown in your face, because the song was a lyrical elucidation of Lee.

"No one knows what it's like to be the bad man, to be the sad man behind blue eyes."

"Ahhh, to what do I owe this displeasure after 1 a.m. when I'm drunk and cranky? I've been looking for you all day Lizzy." Ethan snarked as he played a game of solitary in the party lounge aboard the Haunted Star.

"Well, here I am, unfortunately. I debated coming here, you know, to have to listen to more of your ludicrous accusations about Blaise?"

"Then why did you come? Because that's my story and I'm sticking to it. She's my kid."

"Because you owe me."

"Excuse me?? How do I owe YOU anything??"

"Remember when you called me over to Johnny's after you got your ass kicked by Luke and needed help?"

"Oh...that. Yeah so?"

"Well now you can repay the favor and give me a place to stay. There's plenty of cabins here."

"Why the hell do you want to stay here? and where's my daughter??"

"Stop it Ethan." Liz snapped as she sat down at the table with him. "Stop believing everything your twisted butt buddy Johnny feeds you."

"Ok, he is NOT my butt buddy. He prefers women so you know."

"So do you but that never stopped you from swaying in the opposite direction. Anyways, speaking of your brother Luke. What's his deal? I saw him tonight at the bar and the dude was creeping me out. He kept staring at me, but it was more like a leer. You haven't been telling him shit about me have you?"

"Nobody has to tell him anything. He just knows stuff. That's what's creepy. As far as his look, it just got stuck that way. He's pissed off at the world and takes it out on everybody else. But fair warning. Steer clear of him. Lee's his friend. I'll bet my right nut he don't like you and that look he served, it was personal. Like Jason, he has no feelings of remorse. I'm his own brother and look what he did to me."

"Oh, you mean like what you don't and like what did to your own brother too?"

"Are you of all people judging me Lizzy B?? Paint it black why don't ya. Of all the years I've known you....it seems I don't really know you at all. Even Johnny said that the night you came to his penthouse. And he's not twisted you know, he's smart. He sure has your number."

"Whatever and you always fall for his line of BS, because that's what it is. Speaking of Zacchara, I also ran into him tonight, literally as I walked out of the bar and as usual, he was full of his rude wit, joking about me being a dead woman walking and pointing his finger at me like a gun and firing it, which he made no secret of at his place that same night you speak of that he wanted to off me. Luckily you talked him out of it."

Liz recalled that night. How could she ever forget how Johnny revealed all of her darkest dirty deeds, secrets and motives, hitting the nail right on the head about every single bit of it when she never even told a soul. Well, except for Jason in her drunken stupor...who was now alive and would eventually come for her.

"Oh right, when he toyed with you by holding a gun on you and made you go wee wee." Ethan jested with a hearty smile and now wished he hadn't talked Johnny down, for Johnny told him the truth about Liz and he had refused to believe it then.

"Ugh...that's not funny! Enough about him. Can I stay here or not Ethan? He creeped me out but honestly, it's Cyrus that I'm the most worried about." she said, wondering if she should even tell Ethan Jason was alive, for she believed it would highly distract him when she needed him to be focused on her. But at the same time, she also felt Ethan should be aware and ready, because Jason would come for him too. When was the question. Jason was strategic and stealthy. A thief in the night.

Ethan laughed. "Let me get this straight. You want to stay here to be protected from a notorious mob boss who hates your guts about as much as he hates Corinthos? I already got his hulk of a son on my ass with blackmail which he will soon pay for so I don't need Cyrus after me as well. And once again...where is Blaise??"

"Not that it's any of your business, but she is tucked away from Craig and his whack job creator. That's all you need to know. And if you fuck with Craig, you can bet your ass that Cyrus will be after you like flies on shit, that's if Craig don't get to you first."

"And keeping Blaise from Craig is your answer? That's why Cyrus despises you if you haven't noticed. Come on Lizzy, you don't have connections and resources like I do to keep you both under the radar. Renault has plenty of those as well. If he wants to find her and end you, which I would bet my left nut that he does, then he will. I mean, he actually gave you a head start by firing you. He likes to hunt and you're now the hunted. If you want to stay here, you need to tell me where she is so I can keep her safe from him and Craig if something were to say....happen...to you.... or no deal. You see...I am your only hope it seems, not that I want to be. It's simple really. I'm capable of keeping you both safe. Isn't that what you want and why you're really here? You gotta throw me a bone. I don't do shit for free."

"You'll really do that? Take care of her?"

"You know I will Liz. We can go get her right now and bring her here and then we can get out of dodge....go to the other side of the pond back where you won't be a sitting duck waiting for the goose and we will live happily ever after. Just you, me and our daughter. No way in hell Craig is going to have her. I'll put both my nuts on that."

"You're going to take us to England? Umm, what about Lee??"

"What about him?"

"Oh come on Ethan. Like you're just going to walk away from him."

"Well, right now, I kind of have to, but I'll be back for him and no one, not even that little tramp of his will stop me. I don't want to talk about him. These damn blue balls are killing me as it is cuz I'm growing bored of fucking Josie's sister. Now, are we going to do this or what? I'm getting a bit antsy here and you know how I get when I'm antsy."

"Yeah, antsy rearranges into nasty. Fine. She's with Angel. I'll text her and tell her I'm coming and to have her ready."

Ethan gazed at Liz, his dark eyes holding a look that could kill, like a lion locked on it's prey and he formed an even darker grin that quickly faded into an emotionless expression as she texted away. He also had her number and he had orders to carry out.

They then both got up and walked out with Ethan briefly stopping to turn the lights out as he smiled once more, followed by a dastardly chuckle and whisper under his breath.

"Lights out Lizzy."

@redeemer46

[deer-in-headlights-stare]

wip introduction; ZOMBIE WIP

GENRE; dystopian, science fiction, a little bit of horror.

STATUS; first draft!

THEMES; grief, identity, what is too going too far for your work/what is the limit to playing god, revenge, unlearning cycles of abuse, friendship.

AESTHETIC; crumbling buildings, overgrown infrastructure, rotting from the inside out. abandoned train stations and dilapidated malls, flickering overhead lights illuminating bathroom wall grafifi - the only sign anyone were ever there at all.

**********

PLOT; a city separated from the rest of the world, protected from the things that lurk beyond its walls. Monstrous, deadly, blooming things. Four strangers looking to escape - or just on the wrong train, stumble on the secrets their city tried so hard to bury. All with different agendas and forced to travel together through an apocalyptic landscape, they weave through the web of lies that got them here, and the secrets they have yet to uncover.

MAIN CHARACTERS;

Elizabeth, goes by Liz. She/her. 19 years old. Grieving and looking for closure after her mother's death, she decides to leave the city that may have killed her mother - and might be coming after her next- for a while. Thrust into a role as the group's leader, she must decide how to protect the rest of the group. Biracial, aromantic, perpetually tired, book collector, has a QPP.

Rayneli, goes by Cricket. She/moth. 17 years old. The daughter of a very powerful (and power-hungry) man, she is expected to not only take his place when she is older, but gain more influence and fame. Moth accidently leaves the city and is biding time until moths father will surely save moth. Biracial, autistic, loves entomology and astronomy.

Rune. They/she. 17 years old. After spending most of their life learning from and living with the elite of their scientific city, they leave suddenly and (try to) disappear from those they had once admired. While looking for further escape from her guilt and grief,  she and the rest  of the group find something that shifts her grief into anger, to revenge. Nonbinary, can build anything from scraps, has never slept in their life, has SPD.

Asa. He/him. 15 years old. Searching for his missing sister and desperate to bring her home, he takes a risk and leaves the city to find her again. He is swept into a bigger plot and must decide where his loyalities truly lie. Disabled, cane/crutches user, aromantic, likes music and baking.

*********

Image ID: A college of nine small, square images against a dark green background. The center image is white with the text, "Not yet corpses. Still we rot". From the top left the image are: a flooded escalator, a train track surrounded by trees, a brightly-lit bridge surrounded by vines, a pale hand laying in muddy water, a dilapidated train track covered in moss, a rainy road lined in trees, an Ferris wheel overgrown with vines, and a phone booth in the dark, with bushes and trees nearby. End ID.

[female-malice]

According to Liz Hume, the executive director of Alliance for Peacebuilding last year, “When women are part of the peace process, [those peace outcomes] are 35 percent more likely to last beyond 15 years,"

Another study indicated that including women in peacebuilding efforts increases the probability of ending violence by 24% because they

"bring a more comprehensive peace plan to the negotiating table by addressing societal needs rather than solely focusing on what will make the warring parties happy.” 

One of the crucial movements in the peace space in Israel/Palestine now is the historic partnership between Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun; the latter organization was founded in the summer of 2021, and is comprised of Palestinian women working for peace in the West Bank and Gaza. Women Wage Peace was founded after the Gaza war of 2014, is comprised of Jewish and Arab women who live inside the State of Israel, and has the two primary objectives of 1) Getting Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations going (and to eventually achieve a "bilaterally acceptable political agreement") and 2) guaranteeing that women are part of the negotiation process

WWP and WotS write in their partnership pact:

After over 100 years of conflict which for the most part was managed by men, Israeli and Palestinian women say “enough”…Our shared goal is what unites us and motivates us to dedication, persistence and determination. The responsibility we feel for the future of our children enables us to move forward despite the difficulties.

In fact, heartbreakingly—only three days before Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7th of this year, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun held a joint march from Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance to a promenade with a view of the Old City.

Then, Reem Hajajr, a founder of Women of the Sun, said,

“more and more women join the movement, women who want to protect their children and prevent them from being the next victim....We started out as a movement with a few lone women and now we are thousands from the West Bank and Gaza. We no longer take the back seat and are determined to act persistently to end the cycle of bloodshed and to achieve freedom and a just, honorable life for Palestinian and Israeli children.”

She said those words exactly two weeks ago.

And so many wails, so many tears ago.

More tears than can be counted.

One of Women Wage Peace’s founders, Vivian Silver, is one of the 150 or more people that were kidnapped by Hamas, as well. I can’t not mention that. May she and all of the other captives be returned swiftly and safely.

May no other innocent lives be lost. Not one more.

May there be an end to the bloodshed soon.

May this be the last moment of horror before the creation of a new, whole tomorrow for everyone.

May everyone be safe.

Women Wage Peace’s statement on October 15th said, in part:

For 9 years since the end of “Operation Protective Edge”, we, Jewish and Arab mothers have been telling the leadership in Israel – enough! We must turn every stone in order to reach a political solution. This is our obligation for the future of our children. This is our obligation to both Israeli and Palestinian children. They deserve a future of security and freedom, not a future of death, war and destruction. More wars, bombings, assassinations, arrests and a never-ending cycle of bloodshed will not allow us and our children to live here as normal people. All conflicts in the world have been resolved by peace agreements…. Every mother, Jewish and Arab, gives birth to her children to see them grow and flourish and not to bury them. That’s why, even today, amidst the pain and the feeling that the belief in peace has collapsed, we extend a hand in peace to the mothers of Gaza and the West Bank. We mothers, together with women from all over the world, must unite to stop this.

(continue reading)

[frnwhcom]

The Life and Times of Queen Elizabeth II: An Era of Transition and the Future of the British Monarchy

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch in history, ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952, and her reign lasted until her death on September 8, 2022. Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor on April 21, 1926, her life and reign encapsulated a period of extraordinary change both within the United Kingdom and across the globe. Her tenure saw the transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth, the end of the Cold War, the dawn of the digital age, and significant shifts in social norms and values. As the figurehead of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms, her consistent presence provided a sense of continuity amidst these vast changes. Early Life and Ascension Elizabeth was not born as the direct heir apparent to the throne; her destiny changed with the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, in 1936, which made her father the king and her the next in line. Educated privately at home and serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, Elizabeth's early life was a blend of royal duty and service to her country. Her marriage to Philip Mountbatten in 1947 was a union that lasted 73 years, until his death in 2021, and played a central role in her life and reign. Together, they had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward, whose lives and activities have also been closely followed by the public. Reign and Legacy Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II navigated the monarchy through times of both turbulence and triumph. She worked with 15 UK Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss, and met with numerous world leaders, influencing diplomatic relations through her engagements. Her reign was marked by a dedication to public service, with countless engagements, state visits, and ceremonial duties performed with unwavering commitment. Elizabeth's ability to adapt the monarchy to the times without sacrificing its traditions was among her most notable achievements. She embraced television and the internet to connect with the public, including the annual Christmas broadcast, which became a significant aspect of her communication with the Commonwealth and the world. Death and Transition The death of Queen Elizabeth II marked the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter for the British monarchy. Her son, Charles, succeeded her as King Charles III, bringing to the throne a different perspective shaped by years of advocacy on environmental, social, and architectural issues. The Future Monarchy King Charles III faces the challenge of leading a monarchy in a modern, more questioning world. With debates surrounding the monarchy's funding, its role in society, and the relevance of the Commonwealth in the 21st century, his reign is poised to be one of adaptation and potential transformation. Charles has indicated a desire to streamline the monarchy and focus on sustainability and social issues, which could redefine the royal family's role in British society and beyond. The transition also raises questions about the monarchy's place in the UK and its relevance to younger generations. While the monarchy has historically enjoyed strong support, changing demographics and societal values suggest that its future role may need to evolve. The life and times of Queen Elizabeth II represented a bridge between centuries, embodying tradition while facing forward. As the British monarchy enters a new era under King Charles III, it stands at a crossroads between its historical legacy and the demands of a changing world. How this institution adapts will likely define its relevance and survival in the years to come, continuing a story that has fascinated and engaged people around the globe for more than a millennium. Read the full article

[zprites]

Do You Ever Really Know? - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is now up! <3

Summary: After deciding to find a way to reverse the effects of the collider explosion, Jonathan Ohnn (now going by 'The Spot') had set out to find a dimension where there was no Spider-Person. However his plans get foiled almost immediately by someone who shouldn't even exist in that universe. Who was this 'Spider Lily', and why did she want to help him? And why can't he get her out of his head?

Only warnings are eventual smut in the final chapter and brief mentions of death and a destruction of a universe. Also fair warning, these two flirt, A LOT.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 2 - Anamorphosis

There were some things about Earth-9210 that were different from his home dimension. As soon as Jonathan traveled through the portal almost two weeks ago, he was immediately aware that the sky here was a rich lavender rather than the blue he was accustomed to. 

There also seemed to be quite a few vigilantes roaming the streets, if the numerous conversations he happened to overhear were anything to go by. Like the group of teenage girls giggling as he passed by them inconspicuously, gushing about some guy in a red and black suit who saved a cat from a tree before proceeding to blow up a vehicle carrying a massive amount of drugs, killing everyone inside. 

And that didn't even scratch the surface. Apparently there was an alien symbiote who ate the heads off of murderers and rapists while whispers of mutant reptiles living in the sewers occasionally circulated the news.

Thankfully he hadn’t run into any of these so-called ‘vigilantes’ yet and he planned to keep it that way. 

Now heroes on the other hand, there was one that he was dying to see again. 

He didn’t quite know what it was about that Spider-Woman but with one conversation, she had managed to make a home for herself in his head. Maybe it was the way she was the only one who treated him like a normal person since the Super-Collider explosion. Maybe it was the fact that in such a short time, he felt deeply connected to her, drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Or maybe it was because she reminded him so much of the woman he had a crush on thirteen years ago.

Liz... 

Last he saw on Facebook, she was happily married with a second kid on the way. Fragmented memories were all he had left — caramel brown hair that shined like fire in the sunlight, green eyes with golden rings that reminded him of summer, a light smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and upper cheeks, her pinky linked in his as a promise was made.

A promise to keep in touch. 

A promise that turned out to be disingenuous, as the number she gave him was a random string of digits that belonged some middle-aged woman in Ohio. 

It wasn't that he was left heartbroken, it was just a bout of puppy love that ceased as soon as he disconnected the call. Then years later, by some twisted sense of fate, he saw her name pop up on his 'People You May Know' list and after a quick gander at her life, he promptly hit 'Remove'.

He scoffed out loud as he ambled along the barren sidewalks, the only source of light coming from the street lamps above. Just because both women partook in the most sacred of oaths didn’t mean that they were similar in any way.

“Well believe it or not, I do like you.”

Yeah, they were entirely different. 

He stopped in his tracks and stared up at the night sky. With all of the city lights it was almost impossible to make out the twinkling of stars yet he still searched for them, as if finding one would help him understand this feeling inside him. 

A small voice in the back of his mind told him that he knew exactly what this feeling was, he was just too scared to admit it.

With a sigh he focused his attention back to the concrete, intent on continuing on his path but stopped short when he caught a glimpse of something bright out of his periphery. He turned to look across the street at the mural decorating the brick of the building. 

Swirls of violets and pinks blended together seamlessly amidst a deep crimson. At the forefront was a near perfect illustration of this universe’s Spider-Woman, body frozen in a back flip as she shot out her webbing from fingerless gloves. 

Jonathan stood there for an unknown amount of time. A myriad of thoughts tormented him, all of them circulating back to one singular wish.

He wanted to see her again…

He wondered… Did she think about him too? If he went to that same rooftop, would she be there waiting for him? If she was, what would she do? 

There was still a small chance she meant none of what she said, that her proclamation of feeling drawn to him and flirting was all a lie. He didn't know anything about her after all. Hell, they only met a week ago. And yet...

Every fiber of his being told a different story.

“Like I said hun, I mean what I say.”

Before he could second guess himself, he opened up a portal in front of him and stepped through, destination clear in his mind. Jonathan allowed the portal to close behind him as he scanned the roof for any sign that she might be there. 

His heart did a somersault in his chest when his gaze landed on her. It felt as though the world around him stopped existing for a moment as something akin to hope sparked through him.

She was dressed in her spider suit, just like last time, sitting on the edge of the rooftop with her back to him. A halo of soft light originating from the adjacent windows where insomniacs thrived in the beauty of the night bathed her form, making her look like an angel. Her shoulders shook in time with the melody of her laughter that filled the stillness of the air, sending tingles along his unnatural skin. 

She was more like a siren than an angel, luring him in with an ease that would put even the most powerful of enchantresses to shame. 

“Aly, that man is more emotionally constipated than a sea sponge. He has no backbone either!"

At first he thought she was talking to him, but the confusion he felt turned into realization as he quickly understood she was on a phone call despite no device in sight. He surmised that she probably had some type of Bluetooth accessory set up inside her mask. 

"You're welcome.” She said with a hint of amusement. “But honestly, it's painfully obvious that you two like each other." 

 Jonathan shifted from one foot to the other, uncertain if he should make his presence known to her. It didn’t sound like an important conversation but he didn’t want to interrupt. He also didn’t want to leave so he stayed rooted in place.

"Want to make him proud? So you see him as a father figure? Damn, putting a whole new spin on ‘daddy’." She devolved into a fit of giggles. "I kid, I kid." 

She laid back onto the asphalt of the rooftop while her legs dangled off the edge. The black lenses of her mask widened when she noticed him standing there, giving him an enthusiastic wave that caused his cheeks to flush.

“There you are, handsome.” 

Her gentle voice echoed inside his head as he waved back dumbly.

“I’ll be done in a minute or two then you’ll have my undivided attention, okay?”

He nodded as she turned her focus back to the person on the other line.

"Sorry, thought I saw someone getting mugged. You were saying?"

He waited patiently, watching as she listened intently until she spoke up in a dismissive tone. 

"I'm not really the mission type, you know this… Plus I doubt Miguel needs, let alone wants my help for anything. Although it would give me a front row seat to the soap opera that is you and Miguel."

She didn’t give them a chance to respond before she hastily said her goodbyes. “I have to go, but just know that LYLA sends me a lot more than you realize. Buh-bye now!” 

He watched as she pressed a finger to her ear, confirming his theory that her mask had Bluetooth capabilities. She then patted the spot to her left without a word, an open invitation for him to sit beside her. With timid steps he made his way over while trying to calm his nerves before sitting down, his long legs hanging off the ledge next to hers. 

“I was wondering when you were going to show up.”

He looked down at her, doing his best to not gawk too much at the way her large breasts fell to the sides. "You’ve been waiting for me?”

“More like I found myself coming up here a lot this past week.” She clarified. “Although each time I was hoping to see you here too.”

“Why though? I mean, I'm just some guy that got caught in the middle of a failed robbery and you — you're Spider-Woman for crying out loud! I just... I don't get it...”

He fidgeted with his fingers, staring down at his lap as his anxiety grew by the second. Shame creeped into his bones the longer she stayed quiet. 

He shouldn’t have come here.

After what felt like hours, she broke the silence. “Do you remember what I said when you asked me what I saw when I looked at the spot on your face?”

He remembered. How could he not when her words occupied his waking thoughts, bleeding into his dreams to form a silhouette in her image, holding him close against the tides of doubt and dejection that wreaked havoc inside of him.

Gentle fingers came to rest atop his restless hands and he turned his gaze to her. She was sitting up once more, staring with an intensity that held nothing but a tenderness he felt undeserving of.

“You’re more than just ‘some guy’. You found a way to occupy every fraction of my mind without even trying. So of course I wanted to see you again. I meant it when I said I want to know everything about you. Hopefully you share that same sentiment.”

He cursed the feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing that continued to swirl in his stomach, battling against the surety of her words. Words that told him he was enough, he still had purpose in life, and he was deserving of love.

“I do.” He rasped breathily before he cleared his throat. “I— I mean, I want that too, to know you...”

Her smile reached the lenses of her mask which crinkled in response. "We can start small, like names. You called me 'Spider-Woman' earlier but I actually go by Spider Lily."

"Spider Lily." He repeated back with a touch of wonderment.

“Yep.” She pulled back the hand that rested atop his own. “But you can call me Lily.”

He was already missing her touch. “Is that your real name?”

“No, but there’s no harm in a little mystery, don't you think?”

What she said sounded surprisingly similar to…

“Wait, you play Baldur’s Gate 3?” He questioned excitedly, his feet doing a little dance in the suspended air. 

Lily chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Hell yes I do. I'm glad that some things stayed the same across our dimensions. Maybe we could play it together sometime once the full game is out in August.” 

“August? Man, where I’m from it wasn’t set to release until November. I'd love to play it with you!” He recalled countless hours he spent playing the early access of the game, trying out different classes with each new update and testing the limits of what each character could achieve.

However mundane it sounded, he missed playing video games.

“It’s a date then.” She declared lowly. “So does my co-op partner have a name?”

Her co-op partner… If that didn’t send a new round of warmth to blossom in his chest…

“Ah, yes. My name is Jonathan.”

He saw her body tense at his introduction and for a brief moment, a flash of dread pumped through his veins.

Did he say something wrong?

“Is everything okay...?”

His question pulled her out of her trance as she let out a deep breath. “Sorry. I just— I knew a Jonathan once, a long time ago but we drifted apart.”

She couldn't possibly mean... No. It was irrational to even think that she could have known another version of him. There were probably a few hundred thousand other people out there who shared his first name.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from wondering who this 'Jonathan' she used to know was, yet one glance at the way she hugged her arms to her chest and pointedly looked down at the street below had him holding back any further questions on the matter. 

“Well, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself.” He suggested, hoping to add a bit of levity to dispel the heavy topic that still filled the space between them. 

Thankfully she took the bait, turning her attention back to him. “What do you want to know?”

Everything...

Instead he found himself asking the one of the first things he wondered about when they first met. 

“Why do you live in this universe?”

“What do you mean?” The lenses of her mask narrowed slightly.

“I told you that I came to this dimension because I thought it would be easier to steal enough money for my machine here. That's because I knew that this universe’s Spider-Man died three years ago.” He was suddenly reminded of the numerous Super-Collider tests and Olivia’s orders to document all possible universes, especially those without a Spider-Person. Just thinking about what she planned to do with that information had she survived the collider explosion sent a shiver up his spine. “So either you're from another dimension or a series of events similar to my own dimension happened here that caused another Spider-Person to be created, and something is telling me it's the former.”

She let out a huff and shook her head. “Should’ve known you’d figure it out sooner rather than later.”

Jonathan took note of the way she ran a manicured nail across her fingertips, most likely a nervous habit of hers. “I suppose I owe you a story, huh?”

In lieu of responding he stayed silent, allowing her some time to gather her thoughts and hopefully feel more at ease.

“You’re right, I’m not from this universe.” Lily finally spoke up. “I'm originally from Earth-728 which no longer exists.”

The spot on his face widened before scrunching in on itself to imitate a frown. “What happened?”

“About two years ago there was a hostage situation. My best friend, Jay, was one of the civilians involved.” Her words held an aura of melancholy that had him almost regretting asking in the first place. “We grew up in the same foster home. Although he was a couple years older than me and called me ‘annoying�� at every opportunity, he took me under his wing. He taught me sign language since I was practically nonverbal when I was placed and even beat up some bullies from school who were picking on me one day. I was a senior in high school when I was bitten by a radioactive spider and… he was the first and only person I told I was Spider Lily.” She exhaled shakily as she peered up at the dark sky above them. “Jay was a lot smarter than me when it came to building tech so when I brought up the design for my suit, he helped bring it to life and also made my web-shooters. He… he was the closest thing to a brother I ever had.” 

Before he could stop himself, Jonathan reached out and took one of her hands in his own. “You don’t have to tell me-”

“No.” She gently squeezed his hand. “I want to, it’s just a hard story to tell…”

Neither one of them pulled away, holding onto each other’s hand as she continued. 

“I didn’t know anything about the multiverse back then, so I thought it was going to be another simple rescue — save Jay alongside the rest of the hostages and apprehend whoever was behind it all. There was a man, someone who claimed to be from another dimension, who was demanding that MetroLife hand over some sort of prototype. He called himself Doctor Octopus.”

A pit settled in his stomach, a wave of nausea clashing against the chill that spread throughout his body at the mention of Olivia's alternate self.

“This 'Doc Ock' guy got the help of my universe's Prowler and together they took over Metro Tower, holding the hostages ransom on the top floor. After a long winded speech he ordered Prowler to keep me busy, so we fought.” Her hand tightened around his as she closed her eyes. 

“He... His mask got knocked off and... He should have told me he was the Prowler, it would have made things simpler... Maybe...” She trailed off and he closed the distance between them, scooching over so that their shoulders touched. 

“Hey, it's okay. Take your time.” He soothed.

Lily let out a shuddering breath while gently nudging her knee against his in a show of gratitude. 

“Or maybe things wouldn’t have been simpler since we were both hiding our secret identities from each other for nearly two years.” She let out an unamused scoff.

“You knew him?”

A drawn-out sigh escaped her. “Yeah, his name was David and we were dating at the time…”

He was a bit taken aback by that revelation but did his best to not let that show on his features, telling himself that she needed comfort right now, not any superfluous reactions. 

“I was upset so I tore off my mask, but looking back on it I don’t blame him for keeping his secret. Hell, I did the same thing. Thankfully he helped me fight Doc Ock but… We were too late… He had already killed Jay…”

His heart yearned to envelop her into his arms, to console her, to shield her from the somber memories of the past that still tormented her. 

“The two of us followed after him as he tried escaping from the roof.” She recounted. “I should have known that he had bombs planted on the lower floors. The remaining hostages got out just in time before they detonated, but David slipped as the floor began to collapse and fell... I— I jumped after him, tried to save him before he hit the ground but I wasn't fast enough... I relied too much on my webs and he... My webs didn't reach him in time...”

“I'm so sorry...” Three words that didn't do justice to the magnitude of what she had gone through. Not only did she lose her brother but her partner too, within minutes of each other. He couldn't even imagine what that was like. 

She gave a half shrug. “It's fine. I’ve had plenty of time to process it all.”

He still wished there was something he could do, something more than providing a sympathetic ear while holding her hand. 

“After that, shit hit the fan. The universe began crumbling, falling apart at the seams.” 

The hand in his began to slide against his palm, fingers coming to play with his digits. “I was able to make it out with the help of some other Spider-People who brought me to their HQ after they were able to capture Doc Ock. That was where I had the misfortune of meeting Miguel who runs everything.”

He watched the way her fingers danced along his with great fondness. “You really don't like the guy, huh?”

“That's a bit of an understatement. He's a stubborn hypocrite who expects everyone to fall in line, no questions asked. He's the byproduct of a wet blanket fornicating with a literal stick in the mud. If I had to choose between going on one of his 'missions' or being buried alive with a coffin filled with fire ants, I'd choose the latter. Japanese land snails are smarter than him!”

Jonathan laughed at her rant coupled with the distinct phrasing she used. “Okay dear, I get it. Hate is a more appropriate term.”

He heard her breath hitch in her throat as she stared at him, her hand ceasing its movements that he was beginning to grow used to. Her lenses crinkled and he could swear that he could feel the way her mouth was twisted in a smirk. 

“What?” He asked. 

“You called me 'dear', sweetie.” 

“Oh my god!” He spluttered while his body temperature rose several degrees. “You— I— It just came out! I'm sorry, I—”

It was her turn to giggle at the way he fumbled over his words as she intertwined their fingers together. “It's okay Jonathan. I liked it.”

His heart felt like it was about to soar out of his chest with how fast it was beating. 

“Duly noted.” He cleared his throat. “So after all of that, you came here?”

“Yep. I found a somewhat chill dimension where there wasn't a Spider-Person, moved into a modestly-sized penthouse, and surprisingly didn't destroy another universe in the process.”

The slight undertone of self-loathing was almost too meager for him to notice. Almost. 

Everything inside of him wanted to reach out to her and squash those feelings, cleanse her of all negativity while offering up hushed affirmations, trace hymns of vows unsaid onto every inch of her skin. The urge to allow her to consume him completely resurfaced again, a craving that felt almost second nature to him, a longing that surpassed all logic.

She may not have known it but in that moment, he knew that he was unconditionally hers, irrevocably under her spell. 

“So I'm curious about something.” Lily began, breaking him out of his reverie. “If you're trying to get money, why not find a job instead of robbing banks?”

"I can't exactly get a job with this whole situation." He gestured to himself, all paper white skin and undulating spots. "Believe it or not, people haven't really been too perceptive of my appearance… Besides you, that is."

"What about online jobs, like freelance programming?"

The thought had crossed his mind, however there was one glaring issue. 

"I would love to do something like that, but I have no computer."

She let out a hum as he stared at her, a puzzled expression clear on his face despite having no features. The familiar anxious feeling settled in his gut yet again as neither of them spoke — Lily deep in thought while Jonathan's nerves increased with each passing second. Finally she broke the silence, her mind made up.

"I wouldn't mind giving you my computer."

The spot on his face widened. "You would do that?"

She shrugged. "Yeah. I've been meaning to replace the motherboard and processor in it since they're a touch outdated but it still runs well. I really don't mind having to rebuild a new PC either, especially since a graphics card I've had my eye on finally went on sale but it's not compatible with the current motherboard." 

She babbled on about computer components as he struggled to register her words, bewildered that she even offered, let alone thought about giving him her computer. Anyways, he couldn’t accept her offer even if he wanted to. What could he do with it? He didn't have a home, not since he was evicted from his apartment a couple of months after the accident, and it wasn’t like he could use it out on the streets where it was ripe for the taking. Maybe if it was a laptop but that wasn't the case.

"But enough about that." The hand still in his squeezed gently, coaxing him out of his thoughts. "How about I give you my number? That way we can work out the logistics tomorrow."

"I don't have a phone either." A subtle hint of shame found its way into his voice. “And thank you, but I... I wouldn’t be able to use it anywhere…”

She frowned at him before letting out a soft “Oh...”, seemingly understanding the  predicament that he was in. 

He shouldn't have said anything. Now she knew who he really was: a lowlife, a bum, a hopeless case that felt undeserving of any kindness. A mixture of worry and helplessness swirled in his chest, playing tag with despondent pleas that echoed endlessly in a sickening loop. 

He didn’t want her to see him differently.

"Alright, how good is your memory?" She tilted her head a bit in time with her inquiry, not at all deterred by the insecurities plaguing the man beside her.

He scratched the back of his neck, unsure as to why she was asking. "Uh, I'd say it's pretty good." 

"Great! I live in Greenwich Village off of Washington and…" She rattled off her address, apartment number and all. 

Jonathan was perplexed. Here was this beautiful woman giving him her address, as if she didn't care he was homeless. As if he wasn’t anything less than human. As if she saw him for who he truly was. 

"Why are you giving me your address?" He interrupted her as she talked about her neighborhood and the cafe she liked to frequent on Hudson Street.

"I want to help you out." Lily stated simply, providing no further reasoning.

He was baffled at the intense earnestness in her tone. "You hardly know anything about me though."

"True, but I'd love to know more."

"And what makes you think I won't go to the news with this info?" He probed rather boldly. 

Her gaze bore into him, the intensity of it almost palpable. "Will you?"

She managed to see right through his meager bluff, the weak foundation it was created on already a crumbled heap before them. 

He rubbed his feet together abashedly. "Well… No…"

“Look.” She began. "When was the last time you slept in an actual bed?”

There was a pause as Jonathan combed through his memory, remembering the dirty, grubby mattress he found in an alleyway before coming to this dimension. The meager comfort it provided was short-lived since the fourth night he slept on it, his slumber was interrupted by a homeless woman shouting at him to get off her property. Her screaming only got louder once she had noticed his white skin and lack of facial features. He tried his best to explain his situation and calm her down, but he ended up absconding through a portal once she started hitting him with one of her overstuffed grocery bags.

He squashed that memory down and answered her, albeit reluctantly. “Four, maybe five weeks?”

“I don’t have a spare bed but I’m sure my couch is a lot more comfortable than sleeping on the streets.” 

For some strange reason, he almost felt disappointed that she was offering her couch and not her bed. He knew it was an absurd presumption but he would give anything to lay beside her, to hold her close as they slept peacefully, their legs tangled up in the sheets. 

Maybe he was reading everything wrong. All the pet names and flirtatious remarks… 

“Although my bed is much more comfortable, warmer too.” She knocked her knee against his in time with the wink she sent his way. 

Nevermind.

“In all seriousness though, I’m not going to force you if you don’t want my help. However if you do decide to drop by, my door is always open to you Jonathan.” The sincerity in her voice made him want to break down. “Whatever you need: money, food, a computer, a place to stay. I’ll help you out the best I can for as long as you’ll let me.”

Neither one of them spoke as she turned to look up at the night sky. His stare stayed fixed on her for a few seconds until he too looked up. Amidst the darkened sea he could have sworn he could make out a glowing tail of space rock entering the atmosphere, burning up in the heat before it reached the ground.

He still made a wish.

They stayed that way for a while, simply enjoying each other’s presence. 

Sirens wailed in the distance, breaking through the serenity of the moment. With a sigh she squeezed his hand one last time before slowly sliding her fingers away. 

“I suppose I should do some more patrolling before calling it a night.” She stood up and brushed off any dirt that may have accumulated from her backside. He stopped himself from outright ogling and got to his feet as well, only allowing himself a peek which rewarded him with the sight of her asscheeks jiggling somewhat under her movements. 

Once she was satisfied with the lack of dirt, she reached out and took hold of his wrist, rubbing her thumb along the inside where his heartbeat could be felt, sending goosebumps up his arm. He tried his best to keep his erratic heart under control but he could tell his efforts were in vain since he heard it ring dully in his skull.

“No need to give me an answer right now, just think about it. Okay?” 

He nodded. “Okay.”

She let go of his wrist and shot out a web towards the adjacent building. “Until next time, sweetheart.”

Her feet dropped off the edge of the roof and she swung through the air, leaving him to wave after her retreating form. 

“Next time...” He echoed out loud to the now desolate rooftop. 

Lily… She really was something else.

When she first offered to help him, he was ready to decline, having already resigned himself to living on the streets for an undetermined amount of time. Of course he could easily just go to a different dimension and try robbing banks all over again, but he didn’t want to do that. He made a promise to her, one he had no intention of breaking. He wanted to stay here, where she was. And maybe, just maybe, she wanted him to stay in this universe just as much as he did.

Jonathan knew he would find himself at her doorstep soon, he just needed to build up the courage to do so. 

He opened up a portal and walked through, bringing himself back down to the ground below, in the alleyway; the same alleyway that Spider Lily caught him in a week ago. The sound of her laughter played in his mind, accompanied by the sincerity in her gaze and the softness in her voice as she spoke his name. 

It was almost as if he could hear her calling out his name now.

Wait…

“Jonathan!”

He whipped his head around and the spot on his face widened in shock as she came into view, twirling in the air with a grace that seemed effortless to her. Lily came to a halt before descending slowly, the web tethered to the bottom of the fire escape keeping her aloft. Finally she stopped once her face was level with his own, hanging upside down only a couple of inches away.

“Hi.” He said before he could stop himself, doing his best to not leer lasciviously at the way gravity pulled at her breasts. 

She tilted her head. “I want to try something.”

His breath caught in his throat as she reached for the edge of her mask, pulling it down slowly. He couldn’t do anything but take in the fairness of her skin, the plumpness of her lips, and the beginning of what appeared to be a decent amount of freckles on her nose and lower cheeks which disappeared under the rest of her mask. 

“Is it okay if I kiss you?” She spoke so quietly that he almost didn’t hear her. 

He could hardly believe that this was happening. She could have chosen anyone, yet here she was asking to kiss him of all people. It felt as though his nerves were on fire and she hadn’t even touched him. 

And he desperately wanted to feel her lips…

“Please.” He whispered breathlessly.

Without any hesitation she leaned in, kissing him where his lips would be. 

He was certain he had died and gone to heaven. 

The gentle press of her lips carried a sense of longing that made his knees weak. His skin buzzed as sparks danced through every cell of his body, igniting his very core. He felt like he was melting, like the spots that littered his calescent skin had become a liquid and were dripping onto the concrete where the puddle of dark matter threatened to swallow him whole.

All too soon she was pulling away, a small smile on her lips.

“Wow…” He murmured in astonishment.

“Yeah… I think you quite literally took my breath away.” 

Her words emboldened him. The fact that even though he was unable to properly reciprocate the kiss, he was still able to elicit that kind of reaction from her, and it caused his heart to swell with pride. 

"And that's without a mouth. Once I'm back to normal, you won't be able to breathe properly ever again.”

The sight of her smile squashed down any panic he may have felt over what he just said. Her singsong laughter held him hostage and he could do nothing but surrender into its sweet refrain.

“I’ll hold you to that.” She bit her lower lip in a sensual way that sent a shiver up his spine. 

Her hand came to pull her mask back up, securing it in place before reaching out to cup his cheek. “I hope to see you soon…”

“You will.” He found himself saying as he watched her fling out another web and weave through the air, disappearing into the night once more. 

Recalling the wish he made on the shooting star, Jonathan swore that nothing would prevent him from seeking her out soon.

[tyllt]

Quotes (pt. 3)

Poetry

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep - Mary Elizabeth Frye

The Second Coming - W.B. Yeats

All the world's a stage - Jaques, As You Like It

Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? - Hamlet, Hamlet

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Wallace Stevens

Set your heart at rest - Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt - Hamlet, Hamlet

Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas

I know you all, and will awhile uphold - Hal, Henry IV

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - Robert Frost

Reptile House - Christina Olson

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, pray - Ophelia, Hamlet

Bandersnatch Monologue - Colin Jones

Lord, we know what we are, but not what we may be. - Ophelia, Hamlet

The rest is silence. - Hamlet, Hamlet

Take pains; be perfect. Adieu. - Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Well, we were born to die. - Capulet, Romeo & Juliet

What do you read, my lord? Words, words, words. - Hamlet, Hamlet

We must not make a scarecrow of the law. - Angelo, Measure for Measure

I am now of all humors that have showed themselves humors - Hal, Henry IV

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. - Hal, Henry IV

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow - Macbeth, Macbeth

And this same progeny of evils comes - Titania, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Praise

We owe God a death. - Hal, Henry IV

God is closer to me than I am to myself. - St. Augustine

When a man turns his face to God, he finds sunshine everywhere. - Abd'ul Baha

You have to ask God to defeat you, everyday. - Anonymous

Our loss is great, but God is greater. - Brandon Burlsworth

Every time I think of God it brings tears to my eyes. The one that holds the stars also holds my hand. - Liz's Happy Place

Then the sun smiled, and Christ smiled, and my laundry grew soft in the warm wind. There. See there. The world is good is me. - Linda Gregg

God is feeding me and what I'm praying for is an appetite. - Flannery O'Connor

Sisters, let us go mad for the love of God. - St. Theresa

When you are angry, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Offer righteous sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord. - Psalm 4:4-5

Before God leaves, He clears the table, pats my head, and presses two messages into my palms. In my left, You are the bridge. In my right, you are the dust. - Paige Lewis

She would transform herself into sacred food. She would eat light, not matter; become food, not eat it. She would be consumed to become the host and consumed again as it. - Judith Van Herik

...God's incarnation in Christ is also going on in everyone, everywhere, at all times. - David Bentley Hart

Human nature is not a duality of body and soul; rather God's breath animates the dust and it becomes a single living being. - Anonymous

In early Christian hymns, hunger seems to mean human vulnerability; the implication is, therefore, that the hungry will be satisfied. In the spirituality of eleventh- and twelfth- century Europe, however, hunger began to mean a craving that can never be filled. - Caroline Walker Bynum

My fear is that much of what we call "spirituality" today is overly sanitized and sterile, far removed from the anguish of pain, the anchoredness of place. Without the tough-minded discipline of desert-mountain experience, spirituality loses its bite, its capacity to speak prophetically to its culture, its demand for justice. Avoiding pain and confrontation, it makes no demands, assumes no risk. - Belden C. Lane

Power

There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw. - Madeline Miller

I know these crowds have come from Paris to demand my head. I learned from my mother not to fear death, and I will wait for it with firmness. - Marie Antoinette

Everything had the boring residue of destiny on it. - Anonymous

There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation. - Taylor Swift

I am the gun, the bullet, and the wound. I will not leave without you knowing I was here. - Anonymous

There is comfort in knowing the bones will win. - Anonymous

I am but mad north-north-west. - Hamlet, Hamlet

I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you. - Anonymous

Higher, further, faster, baby! - Carol Danvers

This is the burden of the trailblazer and the solitude of the trendsetter. - Defunctland

So what a monumental achievement it is to be remembered for four. - Defunctland

If I die, I want to be born again and I want to be a footballer and I want to be Diego Armando Maradona again. I am a player who has given people joy and that is enough and I have enough. - Diego Maradona

I've got to stop getting obsessed with human beings and fall in love with a chair. Chairs have everything human beings have to offer, and less, which is obviously what I need. Less emotional feedback, less warmth, less approval, less patience, and less response. The less the merrier. Chairs it is. I must furnish my heart with feelings for furniture. - Carrie Fisher

Service

Do the good and throw it in the sea.

Life isn't about getting and having, it's about giving and being. - Kevin Kruse

What are you going to buy in your lifetime that is worth more than your humanity? - Anonymous

There are no lost causes.

Are you at peace? Can I pray for you?

Service to others it the rent you pay for your room here on earth. - Muhammad Ali

What do you want Me to do for you? - Mark 10:51

Forget not to show love unto strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. - Hebrews 13:2

Grief

A man takes his sadness down to the river and throws it in the river but then he's still left with the river. A man takes his sadness and throws it away but then he's still left with his hands. - Richard Siken

Life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. - Leonard Nimoy

I didn't howl at the moon. I yelled at a lamp. My suffering isn't beautiful. But your survival is.

Why am I only capable of writing when I'm sad? Because the vocabulary of joy is grunts and moans, and the vocabulary of loss is the dictionary. If you can point to it, you don't need a word for it. You only need a word when it's no longer there.

This day, the next, a hundred years, it's nothing! It's a heartbeat. You'll never be ready. - Tom Hiddleston

Don't chase the quaffle if you see the snitch. - The Life and Times

Don't let the muggles get you down. - Ron Weasley

I mean it this time: this is the last time I'm leaving without you. - firethesound

You wanted Death? This is it. Dirt and decay, nothing more. Death translates us all into earth. - Catherynne M. Valente

Dear Tree, I don't want to be sad: I just am. The explanation is just too far beyond anything. - Anonymous

Nothing is ever really over...just over there. - Carrie Fisher

Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal except GOD. - The Doctor

You will have days where you feel better, and you will have days where you want to die. Both are okay. There is no magical cure. You just need to close your eyes, and trust that the waves will pass, and soon you'll be able to breathe again. - Anonymous

Death is only the end if you assume the story is about you. - Jeffrey Cranor

I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye. - Yann Martel

To suffer together is to know love. - Anonymous

What is grief, if not love persevering? - Vision

There is no state of being healed...there is just healing. - Anonymous

To be alive at all is to have scars. - John Steinback

You have to allow the paint to break to make it beautiful. - Bob Ross

You see this cup? This is literally my favorite cup. Now it's gone forever. So it's not real and I don't care about it anymore. - Jake

The soul has to go on loving in the emptiness, or at least to go on wanting to love, though it may only be with an infinitesimal part of itself. - Anonymous

Because it's senior year, I have begun to see things as potential absences: the things I love will become the things I'll miss. - Anonymous

Love is so short, forgetting is so long. - Pablo Neruda

But then it passed, as all things do. - Anonymous

I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. - J.R.R. Tolkien

And tomorrow will be kinder. - Secret Sisters

Everything stays, right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly. In little ways, when everything stays. - Olivia Olson

[scarredhag]

The Whale (2022) dir. Darren Aronofsky

I just watched The Whale and I got so many thoughts about it. Though one thing I can surely say is that I sobbed way too fucking hard. Give me a movie that hits my religion/life issues and my love for poetic/literature shit and it'll be an instant river. This movie gave it all to me. I don't even know where to start. You know what, I'm just gonna blurt it all out.

"In the amazing book, Moby Dick, by the author Herman Melville, the author recounts his story of being at sea. In the first part of this book, the author, calling himself Ishmael, is in a small seaside town and he is sharing a bed with a man named Queequeg. The author and Queequeg go to church and later set out on a ship captained by a pirate named Ahab, who is missing a leg, and very much wants to kill the whale which is named Moby Dick, and which is white. In the course of the book, the pirate Ahab encounters many hardships. His entire life is set around trying to kill a certain whale. I think this is sad because this whale doesn't have any emotions, and doesn't know how bad Ahab wants to kill him. He's just a poor big animal. And I feel bad for Ahab as well because he thinks his life will be better if he can just kill this whale, but in reality, it won't help him at all. I was very saddened by this book, and I felt many emotions for the characters. And I felt saddest of all when I read the boring chapters that were only descriptions of whales, because I knew the author was just trying to save us from his own sad story, just for a little while. This book made me think about my own life, and then it made me feel glad for my..."

This is what Ellie (Sadie Sink) wrote in her English essay during eighth grade. As the movie starts, it wasn't stated who wrote it, but rather was being read by Thomas (Ty Simpkins), a missionary who shares the word of God door to door, for Charlie (Brendan Fraser), who was at the moment, feeling a tight pain in his chest. Charlie pleaded Thomas to read it for him because it somehow calms him, helps him to breathe again. It was like his life source, his life support machine. And the first time I heard the essay, I immediately thought the whale as Charlie. Not just because of his obesity, but also because when I saw him, I thought he didn't care about anything. He let himself be that large, I wondered why, but still thought that maybe he just didn't care. Just like in Ellie's essay, the whale doesn't have any emotions. He only does what he do and have no idea what life can do to him. In Ellie's perspective, this is very understandable. Ellie thought that his dad never cared for her, left her, his own daughter, for a man. Charlie was in love, he told her that at the end of the movie, and being in love caused Ellie to think that he was emotionless.

Charlie was in love with Alan, who was Liz's (Hong Chau) brother, which is Charlie's personal nurse and only friend. Alan was also part of New Life, a church, just like Thomas. When Alan died, Charlie went through more than a rough time, and I guess Liz never left his side. She helps him by buying groceries for him, checking his health, do chores, and advices him to take a health insurance which he refuses to do so because he thinks that there's more important things that his money should go to. Alan's death wasn't an accident. He killed himself by jumping off a bridge, as Liz had said. She said that Alan was having a hard time doing his missionary work, was tired, but didn't want to come home because he didn't want to get married, which their father was already planned it. During this time, Alan and Charlie were already together because Liz said that the first time she went to Charlie's house, Alan was there, looking sick and awful and she was trying to convince him to eat. In the end, Alan gave up, and it messed Charlie up. How much more for Liz?

The first night Thomas, the missionary, came across Charlie's house, Liz met him. You wouldn't believe it if I say they didn't get along. The second day, Liz told him everything about his brother, and how much of a bullshit being in New Life is. I loved how much she hates faith and religion and everything it offers because it's understandable. Their father kicked their family because of it, and her brother died because of it. You can't blame her for carrying this much rage over God when everything around her didn't go as planned, or maybe it was God's plan. Even though she already hated New Life when she was eight and was being force by her father to join, I bet she wouldn't have wanted to hate it more if it meant for her brother to be gone. As their conversation goes on, as Thomas was trying to convince her that Charlie needed saving, she responded before she got interrupted by Charlie, "No one can save him, only I can!" I paused. For a minute. And I teared up. She couldn't save Alan. She couldn't save his brother. And with Charlie, maybe, just maybe, she could do it this time.

But Alan gave up, and it messed Charlie up, to the point that he made himself larger than he used to be. He wasn't even that large before, he said. He let himself. Because he was devastated, and lonely, and the love of his life killed himself. And that's why Ellie thought he was emotionless. She thought he didn't care. Because Charlie left her, without understanding that there's another person that needs him.

And just like the pirate Ahab, she wanted to kill the whale, in hopes that things will be better for her. She'll get his money and she can do whatever she can with it. But then she read the essay she wrote when she was in eighth grade, which is being kept by Charlie, who she thought never cared for her, who she thought never payed attention to anything about her, and remembered what she was glad for. He did, he does. He kept her essay, and keeps reading and reading it as if it increases a minute to his life span. And every time he's on the verge of dying, he still reads it as if it's his god that keeps on saving him and keeping him going. Because at the end of the essay, Ellie said, "This book made me think about my own life, and then it made me feel glad for my..."

She was glad for him. She is glad for him. And no matter how much Ellie got bored from those boring descriptions of whales, she's glad to realize that, there are worst ones. Her dad isn't the best, isn't good either, but he isn't the worst for the very least. And for Charlie, that's what keeps him going. No matter how long he tries to kill himself, no matter how long he longs to die, there's this lifeline that will keep on giving him hope, her daughter is glad for him. And he is glad for her, because she's amazing.

I have so many more thoughts, but I think I already wrote what is necessary. If I unintentionally wrote some things that seem offensive and couldn't quite recognize which, I'm sorry. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the movie. Imagine ugly crying which I barely do. I guess this is my essay.

Edited: I saw a review on Letterboxd asking if Dan the delivery guy was God judging us... HOLD ON-

[planetdoodlesforchange]

“I’m doing this for my son. The government’s inaction on climate change is a death sentence to us all. The United Nations has said we should have no new oil. Liz Truss wants to open 130 new oil licenses. That’s a death sentence to this planet.” --Protester as she was carried away by four policemen after blocking London’s Waterloo Bridge, shockingly composed and unflapped, and inspirational.

[percontaion-points]

Lifeblood chapter 21

Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 21

“Why didn’t you tell me about my mother?” 

His lips compress, forming a thin line. “I planned to tell you after I’d found a Barrister for her case.” 

“Good news. You’ve found one. I’ll be her Barrister.” 

His eyelids narrow to slits. “That is the very reason I planned to find a Barrister before speaking with you. I knew you’d volunteer.”

 “I’ll fight harder than anyone else. I’ll—” 

“No, Miss Lockwood. You won’t.” He leans down, getting in my face. “This is part of your problem. You think you’ll fight harder than anyone else, because you love her. The truth is, we all fight our hardest for all Troikans and all possible Troikans, because we love them all. We need you fighting Penumbra, not court cases that could get you killed.”

90% failure rate, babe. 90% chance that you’d literally die. 

“Maybe I should visit Lina again.”

“I received word she asked to be released. We had to let her go. We couldn’t violate her free will.” 

My first instinct is blast him for failing to inform me the second he found out. But honestly? I should be grateful he told me anything at all. He doesn’t owe me information. As a General, he must deal with thousands of subordinates and all their loved ones and friends. 

More than that, he suggested I go see Lina days before I agreed to do so. Had I gotten my butt in gear sooner, I could have spent more time with her. 

I honestly feel like Lina only went into the Troika safehouse because she had a message for her niece. And doing that was the only way she knew how to reach Ten. Having said her piece, Lina left. 

He huffs and puffs like the big bad wolf, but he stays put.

[Image description: A screenshot of Kristen Wiig from Saturday Night Live. She is wearing a blonde wig and a light pink blouse with black trim. She has a look of pure and utter disgust and horror on her face. It is captioned with “I had to read this and so do you”. End description]

Does “Ten is in heaven” mean I’m going to experience Second-death and enter into the Rest?

The fact that there’s still 7 more chapters after this, plus the entire third book, kind of dampens the thought that Ten actually will die. 

Suddenly the hinges on my bedroom door splinter, the entrance swinging open to reveal a scowling Victor, a gun raised, aimed and ready.

I can’t even pretend to be surprised. Yes, I’m still kind of holding out hope that there’s another, more legitimate reason why he’s there. But at the same time… Come on. Our expectations were already on the floor, but holy fuck. 

Suddenly the hinges on my bedroom door splinter, the entrance swinging open to reveal a scowling Victor, a gun raised, aimed and ready.

Chapter 21 summary: When Ten gets back to Troika, she confronts Levi about the news of her mother’s trial moving forward. She says that she’ll be the barrister, but Levi says that her love for her mom is the problem here. Ten backs down quickly, and no more is said. 

They go to Levi’s house, where Ten starts to play with her brother as she debriefs Levi about her trip to Paris. After exhausting that conversation, they talk about Lina’s prophecy. Levi says that he’ll put all of her trusted friends in her apartment that night. He then gets a message that a fight broke out over Ten’s cousin after she’d left the cafe, and the wounded are coming back now. He wants Ten to go learn healer duties. 

Ten works, but her last patient is Elizabeth. Liz isn’t exactly thrilled to see Ten, and does most of the manna injections on herself. Eventually, Ten kind of apologises for how her actions got Liz’s boyfriend killed. Liz understands where Ten is coming from, and knows that she would have done anything to defend her own boyfriend too. So while the two of them aren’t going to be exchanging friendship bracelets anytime soon, at least they’ve started to bridge that gap. 

She then gets an urgent message from Clay, and goes running down to Russia. There, she pulls Javier off of Clay. Dior apparently had a seizure, and Javier was upset that Clay was *checks notes* helping her in a medical context and *checks notes* That’s it. Literally nothing but helping Dior as she had a medical episode. As Ten looks at Dior now, she’s upset to find that the girl is covered in the darkness. Apparently, putting Dior and Javier together is only feeding off of their darkness. Since there’s nothing more that Ten can personally do, she asks Levi for backup, and leaves. 

Later, Ten paces around her apartment while holding her swords. According to Lina’s prophecy, tonight’s the night. The power cuts off, and then Levi sends a frantic message saying that “everybody is unconscious; I’m coming!” When Ten looks to the clock, she sees that it’s 4:56, which was another part of the prophecy. Then Victor comes crashing in with a gun.