#the kids they're looking for and suddenly everything clicks into place. killing him feels like the easiest thing in the world. why were

[rustedleopard]

Still thinking about how Clover on the No Mercy Route likely would've given up their quest for vengeance and lived with Martlet had Axis not told them that he killed Integrity. The only real difference between Aborted No Mercy Run Clover and No Mercy Run Clover are a few more destroyed robots and the knowledge of what Axis did, which sent their LOVE skyrocketing to LV 19.

Look at them. They can't even look Ceroba in the eye after they inflict the final blow.

[in-jail-out-soon7]

Happy New Year!

After the New Years' festival, you and Mikey talk about the future.

Manjiro Sano x GN!Reader

Warnings: Cursing, tooth rotting fluff, a little bit of angst if you squint & Reader mentions having a kid

A/N: I wish you all the best 2024! January is definitely gonna be a hard month for me mentally, but now that I have my writing to look forward to I know it's gonna be alright. Enjoy Lovelies❤

You lay down in the grass while Mikey kills the engine of his bike behind you. Flipping open your phone you gaze lazily at the bright light, trying to adjust to the screen at least enough to see the time.

1:04 A.M. January 1st, 2006.

You close your phone with a click and shove it into the top of your kimono. The New Year's festival had ended an hour ago. Everyone had gone home, Draken offering to take Emma home, so Mikey could drive around with you. Emma happily agreed.

Rubbing your eyes, Mikey slumps down in the grass next to you with a thud. You roll onto your side to face him.

He lays on his back staring at the star dotted sky. He rubs his hands together. "Shit."

Raising an eyebrow you prop your chin in your hand, pushing yourself off the ground with your elbow. "What's up?"

"It's cold." He pulls his own kimono up slightly to cover his exposed collarbone.

"Oh." You chuckle. "I told you. We should've went home."

Mikey shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest. He doesn't say anything else. You sigh and drop your elbow, folding your arms on the grass to rest you face against.

It's quiet for a few moments. Just you staring at Mikey as he stares at the sky. Picking at a blade of grass you finally break the silence.

"What do you think this years going to be like?" You ask.

Mikey hums and thinks for a moment. He shrugs. "Probably the same as every other year." He turns onto his side to face you. "There's not really a lot we can do right now. As kids. Maybe the year after us and the gang graduate, there'll be more things to do."

"Wait," you sit up quickly. Mikey gazes up at you, confused. "You were planning on finishing school?" You tease in an overdramatic and sarcastic tone.

Mikey rolls his eyes and pushes you back down by your shoulder. "Shut up, (Y/N)."

You chuckle. Even though he wasn't wrong, it still felt weird to refer to yourself as kids. After everything that's happened in the past year, all the fights and deaths, you forgot that you, Mikey and the whole gang were still just kids.

A small sigh falls from Mikey's lips as you settle back into place. As you two sit there in comfortable silence, you begin to feel your eyelids growing heavy.

Lacing your fingers through his you begin playing with his finger tips, tracing along each detail of his calloused hand. "How about in twelve years or something then?" You blurt out suddenly.

Your voice was drowsy and soft as you fought the urge to fall asleep. Mikey chuckled. "Don't know. Like jobs?"

You shrug.

"Maybe like a mechanic or a motorcycle racer- I don't know?" He says. "I think it's easier to think about other people's futures."

You raise a brow and glance at him through your lashes. "What do you mean?"

"Like Takemitchy and Hinata," he starts. "They're gonna get married, Kenny and Emma too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Kenny and Emma are gonna have a kid too, they're gonna name it Manjiro Jr." He says jokingly.

You scoff. "They are not." Surprisingly, Mikey doesn't argue back, letting the silence take over again. The wind howls and you shudder against the cold. A yawn escapes you before speaking up again. "Is that something you want?"

Mikey raises an eyebrow. "Is what?"

Suddenly nervous you drop his hand and your gaze to the grass. Picking at the earth you swallow, your face growing hot. "A kid."

He doesn't respond and you can't tell what he's thinking, too distracted by your own heartbeat pounding in your ears.

"Obviously not now- y'know!"

Mikey chuckles nervously and sucks in a breath. "I would hope not." He wraps an arm around your waist to pull you closer to him, pushing your face into his chest. "How about we just worry about this year?"

You nod against him. "Okay."

And then once again it was silent. The wind brushed against you two but you found warmth in each other's bodies. You take a long blink, your eyelids drooping lazily.

"Oh.. hey," you start before yawning. "We didn't have our New Year's kiss yet."

Mikey hums. At first it didn't seem like he was going to do or say anything, but before you could follow up your observation he brings a cold hand to your face, cupping your cheek before leaning in and placing his lips against yours. His lips were chapped from the cold and you could still taste whatever candy he had been eating at the festival. Somewhere in the distance fireworks boomed and crackled.

When you pull away you roll away and flop onto your back with a satisfied sigh. Allowing your eyes to flutter shut. You hear the movement of Mikey as he scoots closer to you.

"You can go to sleep," a hand brushes against your face and you shiver.

"I'll be here when you wake up."

[beevean]

"You're not even a little bit impressed?" "It's like a museum dedicated to the extermination of my people, so no. Not thrilled."

This scene gets pretty much no follow up, except I suppose to justify why Alucard is such an asshole to Trevor, but you know what? I think it deserves to be unpacked.

That is the skull of a vampire child there. We never see one of them on screen, so why was this detail included? Well, it paints the Belmonts as morally grey heroes. Alucard really, really hates the Belmont hold, he mocks the whole clan non stop and even calls them "mentally ill hoarders", and we're supposed to agree with him, because look! They collected skulls! They killed children! Poor Alucard feels sorry for "his people"!

Step by step.

A vampire child is, in this context, likely a child that was turned into a vampire. This is horrifying if you think about it for more than two seconds. Either vampire children in this universe are Twilight-style, poor kids perpetually stuck at the age they were turned, never allowed to grow up, only knowing a world of pain and perpetual thirst and violence; or they're IWTV-style, people who do mentally grow up and become adults, but are stuck in the body of a child and so they will forever be treated as such, feeling forever the disconnection between appearance and mind.

In short, killing them is a mercy. It's almost disrespectful to just... drop this part of lore, that vampires apparently are not above turning children, and never elaborate on that. Fucking Breaking Dawn had them as a pivotal plot point! How can you do something worse than that book?!

But no, we are meant to be horrified. We are meant to think that maybe the Belmonts were not pure heroes after all, because that's #deep, because goodness is for sissies. Combine this with everything I said about how poorly the whole clan is treated in the show, and it just keeps getting worse.

Then there's the asshole himself, Alucard.

"My people"? Really. Alucard, sweetie, you're not a vampire. You're a dhampir. You're an unique creature, half-and-half, with both heritages. From an adaptation standpoint, making Alucard side with his vampire heritage is missing the point as hard as turning Hector into a perpetual victim with no agency. Alucard in the games slept most of his life away because he believed his bloodline to be cursed. This may be even more OOC than his constant cuntness.

But that's not even the main issue. Are we... are we treating vampires like a whole different race that the Belmonts exterminated? I. I can't even begin to explain the issues with this.

They drink children's blood and turn them into hellish creatures. They enjoy slaughtering people, enslaving them at best, and seen prone to world conquering/destroying plans. And you're treating them as a race hunted down by oppressors? A race that has children whose death is framed as particularly gruesome? A race that we're supposed to sympathize with, against the main hero clan?

Oh boy. And then you remember the "cabal of vampires in control of the slave trade" stuff in Nocturne. yeah. uhm. someone didn't think things through.

This scene would make slightly more sense if vampires could reproduce with each other. In this sense, they would all be innocent, and vampire children wouldn't be tragic monsters. But it has never been established, and of course it doesn't make sense for undead creatures to be able to breed - dhampirs are supposed to be exceptional. However, you'll notice that the show treats vampires as if they were almost elves, a supernatural, superior species separated from humans, not humans turned into monsters (although lip service is paid when Carmilla questions why Lisa was never turned). Convert "vampires" to "elves", and suddenly everything clicks into place.

And all of this. All of this for one picture of a child skull that is completely irrelevant to the plot and lore.

I keep being amazed just by how deep the rabbit hole of terrible writing goes with this show.

[the-bau-quinjet]

Secret's Out

Summary: Request! Reid and Y/N are secretly dating, but their business doesn't stay their business for long.

Warnings: Criminal Minds level violence

Word Count: 2974

a/n: Thank you for the request! I hope you like it :)

Sorry this took forever! It took me a while to think of case details that I liked and then I kept rewriting parts. I think I'm finally happy with it though!

Masterlist

"Spencer!" You pushed him away. "The doors could open at any moment! How are we supposed to keep this a secret if Morgan walks in on us kissing in the elevator?" You raised a brow at him.

"On average, elevators travel at a speed of 200 ft/min or about 4 seconds per floor. Being on the fifth floor means we have about 20 seconds to ourselves." He smiled triumphantly.

"Yeah, until someone surprises us on floor 3." You rolled your eyes, stepping out of the doors once they opened.

"I can't help it. I'm just... really happy with you." He whispered softly.

"I'm really happy too." You smiled at him. You were about to lean in when the elevator doors opened once again to reveal JJ and Emily.

"Hey guys, ready for another case?" Emily glanced between you suspiciously, but thankfully didn't ask any prying questions.

"Yep, let's go!" You turned quickly, walking into the round table room without so much as a glance back at the three agents by the elevator.

"What's with her?" JJ questioned.

"Said she didn't sleep well last night. Must be all the caffeine." He held his own cup off coffee up in solidarity before also walking to the round table room.

"Alright, we've got 3 dead in Billings, Montana. All three were law enforcement, and all three were found this morning around the city." You listened as Penelope introduced the details of the case.

"Could be someone who feels the police didn't do a good enough job protecting a loved one?" You threw out a theory.

"Or someone who feels wronged by the criminal justice system as a whole." Rossi added on.

"Either way, they likely won't stop until we catch them. Wheels up in 20." Hotch rose from his seat as he spoke, wasting no time in preparing for take off.

You all dispersed briefly to grab your go bags, meeting back at the SUVs to head to the jet.

Once boarded, it didn't take long for the conversation to start up again.

"When we land, L/N go to the morgue. Dave, Prentiss take the first and second crime scenes, they're only a mile apart. Morgan and Reid, check out the third scene. I'll head to the precinct with JJ."

With Hotch's instructions set, you took what little time you had left on the flight to go over the causes of death.

-

"Anything stand out to you on the bodies?" You asked the ME after going over the blunt force trauma and bullet wounds.

"There's tape residue and bruising on the wrists and ankles. Based on the state of bruising, they were likely held for about 3 days before they were killed."

"Thank you for your help." You shook hands, pulling out your phone to call Hotch.

"Hotchner."

"Hotch, they were held for days before they were killed. How did nobody notice they were missing?" There was nothing in the reports that indicated the victims were reported missing prior to being found.

"We just found the same pattern. They all used vacation days for various reasons in the days leading up to their deaths. Meet us back at the precinct and Reid can explain the whole pattern."

"Okay, I'm leaving now." You hung up just as you reached the SUV. Throughout the drive, you couldn't stop thinking that something wasn't adding up.

The victims were taken in the same day. It didn't make sense for the unsub not to escalate. So, why aren't any officers unaccounted for?

Suddenly, a truck crashed into your SUV, sending you flying off the road. A figure dressed in black opened the door and dragged you from the car.

"Agent L/N, it's so good to see you again." A male voice spoke, but you couldn't place it.

He hit you over the head with a handgun before dragging you to his own vehicle.

-

"Where's L/N?" Emily questioned when her and Rossi returned from the second dumpsite.

"On her way back from the ME." Hotch answered. "Did you find anything useful?"

"They truly are dumpsites. Both bodies were found by dumpsters, sending a pretty clear message." Dave replied.

"Same for the third site." Derek added on.

"All three victims were single and took time off leading up to their death. Nobody would've notice that they were missing until it was too late." Reid supplied the final bit of information gathered.

Hotch's phone rang before anyone else could comment. The frantic sound of Garcia's nails clicking against her keyboard echoed through the phone. She was talking before anyone could greet her.

"You need to see this, check your tablets."

Confused glances were exchanged as everyone, barring Reid, opened their tablets. Reid glanced over Morgan's shoulder to observe as well.

A seemingly live video that Garcia received a link to was streaming to the tablets.

A single woman sitting in a chair could be seen in the frame. Her wrists and ankles were bound to the chair with thick, gray tape and a bag was over her head.

"Garcia, what is this?" Hotch asked almost immediately.

"I was emailed the link just now. It's not streaming anywhere else online." Her reply came quickly, the sound of typing still filling in the silence.

"Can you trace it?" Rossi questioned.

"I'm trying, but it's being routed through multiple proxy servers."

"Did the email say anything?" Emily chimed in.

"No, it was just the link- Wait. I just got another email." She paused as the new email loaded. "It's addressed to Reid."

Every set of eyes in the room turned to Reid.

"What does it say?" He felt the nerves beginning to grow waiting for Garcia to read the words aloud.

"Dr. Reid,

I hope you remember me. What am I saying, of course you do. I've got something of yours that you might want back. You see Dr. Reid, you and your team ruined me. My family, my career, all of it, just gone. I thought I'd return the favor. A person's phone can be so informative. Tell me, does your team know about your girlfriend? I've so enjoyed getting reacquainted with her.

Happy hunting."

Spencer's face went white as he looked at Morgan's tablet again. His thoughts were racing. How did he not recognize you before? Even with the bag over your head, he should've known it was you.

"It's her." His words were barely a whisper.

"This is your girlfriend?" Morgan gestured to the screen again. Spencer could only nod in reply, his mind unable to focus on anything except you.

"Reid, listen to me. You've got to tell us everything you know about her. We'll have to split up. You can go back to Quantico with Emily and Morgan, the rest of us will stay here to work on our current case." Hotch was already devising a strategy to work both cases.

"There's no need." His words made sense to him, but sounded cryptic to the rest of the team.

"Kid, of course there is. We'll help you get her back." Morgan placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively shocking him back to the present situation.

"There's no need to split up because she's here. She's in Montana." Before he could continue, everyone was asking questions.

"Give me a phone number and I'll get you a location." Garcia was already typing away again.

"Are you sure she's here?" JJ's brows furrowed. She did her best to hide the hurt of her best friend hiding his girlfriend from her, again.

"Why would she be here?" Rossi added.

"How did she get here? Maybe we can track the transportation and figure out means of abduction." Emily was the only one thinking about the case.

Like ripping off a bandaid, Spencer blurted out the truth.

"It's Y/N."

He was met with silence in the room as everyone absorbed the information.

Garcia caught up first, a sudden gasp sounding through the phone.

"So, then that's Y/N... in the video..." Her voice wavered.

As if a switch was flipped, the team was back on the case.

"Garcia, get me a list of anyone who would have a grievance with the team." Hotch ordered.

"Go through anyone who was falsely accused. Start with cases in or around Montana. He would want to keep this close to home." Rossi specified.

"We've only had one case in Montana since Y/N joined the team." Reid supplied the knowledge as it came to him. "A name, I need a name." He muttered to himself, pulling his hair as he roughly ran his hands through it and over his face. "Garcia, look into Jameson Braddock."

"Got it." She immediately began a background check, searching through case files and news articles for additional information. "i'll get back to you with locations." With that, she hung up.

"Fill us in, kid. Who is Jameson Braddock." Morgan lead Reid to a chair, gently easing him into it.

"Our last case in Montana, Emily and I went to interview a witness." Emily nodded, the memories slowly coming back to her.

"He wasn't very forthcoming, and then he tried to run." She added on.

"Exactly, except he didn't make it very fair. We arrested him, but it turned out he was only guilty of selling alcohol to minors. When word of his arrest got out, the whole town thought it was for the serial rapes and murders we were investigating even though it was never confirmed."

"By the time we corrected the media, it was too late." JJ supplied, also remembering the man.

"So, he killed three officers just to draw us out back out here?" Morgan refocused the conversation on the current case.

"It looks that way now. The media knew we were coming, so he must have as well." Emily theororized. "If he followed us from the airport, he would've seen Y/N leave by herself."

"He likely didn't know about your relationship until he abducted her and went through her phone." Hotch paced the room.

"He's flaunting his power over us." Rossi chimed in just as Hotch's phone rang again.

"Garcia, what've you got?"

"Three addresses in Billings, Montana. Jameson Braddock has been on a downward spiral since your last trip there. His entire life fell apart, like he said. Divorced, his wife moved to Nebraska with their two kids. He lost his job at the high school, and was evicted from his house when he could no longer pay the bills." She listed the information quickly.

"He has ties to three addresses. Nobody has moved into his previous house, so it's vacant. He's got a small apartment in the northern part of the city which he pays for through working odd hours at Taco Bell. Finally, he briefly worked security at a now abandoned warehouse."

"An apartment wouldn't be enough space to hold her without the chance of someone hearing. She's not there." Rossi eliminated the location as an option.

"We'll split up to cover the warehouse and the house-" Hotch began, but Reid cut him off.

"No, we shouldn't split up. She's got to be at the house. The warehouse has no connection to his previous life. He wants revenge for our perceived wrongdoing, he wouldn't make his last stand at a new location." Reid was already putting on a bullet proof vest. Despite how his mind was racing, he refused to show how afraid he was.

"You're sure?" Morgan asked, on the fence about committing to one location.

"Absolutely." With that, Reid was out the door heading for the SUVs.

-

"Rossi, Emily head around back. I'll take the front with Reid. JJ and Morgan, the side door." Hotch instructed the team to split up upon arrival at the house.

Reid wasted no time in approaching the house. He was confident you were inside, but he didn't know what was happening to you.

The main floor was cleared quickly. Again, the team split up to cover the upper level and the basement.

Knowing you were likely downstairs, Reid immediately started that direction, JJ and Hotch following him.

It wasn't hard for him to find you. You were still tied to the chair in the middle of the room, bag over your head.

Before anyone could stop him, Reid lowered his gun and ran to you. He gently maneuvered the bag off your head, stopping his movements only when he felt something press into his back.

"Dr. Reid. So kind of you to join us." Braddock spoke maniacally, pressing the gun against Reid's head.

"Drop your weapon." Hotch commanded, but the man only cackled in response.

'Y/N... Y/N." Reid gently shook you in an attempt to wake you up.

"She can't hear you." Braddock singsonged.

"What did you do?" Reid tried to turn to him only to feel the gun press further into his head.

"Like I said in my email, you people ruined my life. They took everything from me, so I thought I'd try to return the favor." During his short speech, Braddock shifted just enough for JJ to get a clean shot.

He fell to the ground, gun clattering across the floor.

Reid moved quickly to remove the tape binding you to the chair while Hotch called for a medic in the basement.

The entire team watched as you were wheeled into the ambulance, still unconscious, none more scared than Spencer.

-

"She's going to be fine, Spence." JJ tried to reassure him, nonetheless his pacing continued.

"You don't know that. We don't even know what he did to her." He had one hand anxiously running through his hair, the other pinching the bridge of his nose in distress.

Just then, a doctor emerged from behind closed doors.

"F/N L/N." She called into the waiting room, slightly taken aback when the group of agents rushed to her.

"It was touch and go for a while, but she got here just in time." It was visible to even the least qualified profiler how relieved the team felt. Their previously tense shoulders relaxed, frowns turned to small smiles, wide eyes and raised brows pinched together with joy.

"What happened?" Emily posed the question everyone was thinking.

"In short, she was drugged. It's not clear what exactly was used, but it was likely a mix of drugs that attempted to stop her heart."

"Can we see her?" Morgan spoke next, cautiously eyeing Reid.

"You may, follow me." The doctor lead them through a series of hallways to your room. "She should be waking up soon."

With that the doctor left, allowing the team to file into the room. You looked strangely peaceful for someone who almost died.

"So..." JJ glanced between you and Spencer. "Girlfriend, huh?"

His eyes went wide. Instinctively, he turned to you for help, but you were still asleep. He opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out.

"Relax, kid." Morgan grinned. "We're happy as long as you two are happy."

Spencer smiled gratefully, looking at you with an adoring gaze. "We are happy."

"How long?' Emily gestured to your joined hands. Just before Spencer could answer, you groaned.

"I want to hear your guesses first." Your voice was raspy, but there was a clear smile on your face. "Also, what happened?"

The quickly explained the email Garcia received and the events that followed.

"Now that that's cleared up, do tell us how long you think we've been together. I know you've got a bet going." You narrowed your eyes, playfully glaring at each team member.

"4 months." Hotch begrudgingly admitted. JJ followed with 3 months, Derek and Rossi both betting 10 weeks, and Emily going with 6 weeks.

"Ha, you're all wrong." You smiled triumphantly, leaning closer to Spencer.

"Wait, we haven't heard from Garcia." Derek smirked as he rung her on speaker phone.

"Oh, my beautiful crime fighters. Y/N, are you okay?" Your smile widened at the concern in her voice.

"I am indeed, but I have a very important question for you." You glanced as Spencer briefly before continuing. "How long do you think Spence and I have been together?"

"Oh, I know this one!" Her excitement caught everyone but you off guard. "7 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days."

Spencer's jaw dropped as he stuttered out, "that's exactly right..."

"How'd you figure it out?" The group of profilers wore matching expressions of surprise as Penelope explained.

"Well, we had just finished testifying in the Bigelow trial. The whole team went out for drinks, and I could just see it in Y/N's eyes the next day that something wonderful happened. At first I just thought that she got some, but then I saw her and the good doctor in the kitchen getting coffee and I knew." Penelope's voice held a mixture of smugness and pure excitement.

"Babygirl, you didn't tell me?" Derek sounded genuinely offended.

"Y/N asked me not to." Even though you couldn't see her, you knew she punctuated the statement with a shrug.

"You knew, she knew?" Spencer turned to you in shock.

You nodded. "I could see it on her face the second I walked out of the kitchen. But she promised not to tell, so I didn't either."

"The two of you, thick as thieves." Rossi lamented.

"I love you so much." Spencer whispered into your ear as he pulled you in for a hug.

"I love you too." You whispered right back.

"Honestly, I'm glad the secret's out." You smiled at Spencer before looking at the rest of the team. "Although, I wish I didn't have to be kidnapped to tell you."

You spent a few more hours in the hospital before being cleared to go back to the hotel.

The next morning, you smiled to yourself as you were finally able to cuddle with Spencer during the flight home.

Permanent taglist:

@averyhotchner

@jesuswasnotawhiteman

@strawberryspence

@sebastnstn

Criminal Minds taglist:

@mac99martin

@goldeng1rl8

@measure-in-pain

[anystalker707]

Spicy horror

Pairing: Frank x [fem] Reader Word count: ~ 4 000 Genre: Smut / Fluff Summary: It's Halloween, and (y/n) and Frank finally confess their crushes to each other when binge watching horror movies on Frank's place. Kind of content: Praising / Protected / Oral

Requested by @thisisjustforrequestingfanfics (can't tag you, sorry hhh my T*mblr is acting weird)

a/n - I'm sorry that I coudn't proofread, I might do it soon; I was supposed to be asleep rn

"You're just annoying, old man," I tease with a grin. "But don't whine or else you'll ruin the makeup!" I continue spreading the white concealer over his face, careful to get it on the corners around his nose and around his eye, though not to irritate his eyes.

"No, fuck you," Frank groans, his face twitching to suppress any expression. "Why can't we watch it again tonight? They're the best movies! And stop calling me old man, it's just my birthday! I'm not decomposing or anything!" Despite his words, he smiles, opening his eyes once I pull away, leaning back against the chair of the desk – I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, I agree." I grab the eyeshadow palette from the desk and move closer to him again. "TCM is a great series and all, but can we not watch it for a single week? It's your birthday and we can watch literally any horror movie! And it can be special, like, not something we've watched a thousand times already to the point we already know most of the lines." I glare before motioning for him to close his eyes.

Frank sighs grumpily, leaning his head back. "What are you planning on, then? Alien? Jaws?" He lets out a weird cry when I slap the side of his head lightly, though he is soon chuckling.

"And then you complain when I say how annoying you are!" I spread the dark eyeshadow over his eyes, humming. "It's been a while since we've watched The Howling, Evil Dead, House of Wax. I mean, 'm not gonna complain if we decide on Alien and Jaws either." He hums, pouting. "Don't worry, you're still my favorite old man." I press a kiss to his head.

"I hate you," he laughs.

After a little bit of fake blood and retouching on my makeup, the two of us are leaving Frank's house to go to school, waving his mother goodbye. We don't look like what most of the kids will go dressed up as – not putting enough effort nor choosing the same themes as the jocks and popular people and not invisible enough just to throw on whatever in a black theme. Frank looks like a chill vampire with Bela Lugosi's Dracula references, though still looking like a punk, while I decided on one of my favorite characters. Nothing too extra, but still in the vibe.

"You look ridiculous with that hair slicked back." I kick one of the pebbles on the sidewalk. "I prefer the hedgehog or whatever it is in the normal state."

"I honestly feel like I could kill someone just from biting their jugular off." He grins, throwing his nose in the air – I can't help but to chuckle; he's adorable. "But not gonna be anyone from school, they're not worth it neither their blood would taste good." He twists his mouth. "I feel like most I'd get would be booze, botox and steroids."

"Damn," I snort, "awfully accurate. You're gonna starve, sorry."

Frank pouts, looking down, but a smirk soon tugs on his lips as he takes a step closer. "But you're not that bad, baby, you know?"

"Oh, fuck off!" I roll my eyes, clicking my tongue. "You just want to get in my jugular!"

Both of us burst out in chuckles and our conversation eventually dies down when we walk past the gates to inside the school, replaced by jokes at other people's costumes, sometimes needing to hold onto each other from laughter.

We walk into the first class, already a bit late, but all it does is to attract everyone's attention the moment we step in.

"Ridiculous, as always," some girl mutters under her breath. Funny.

Frank wraps a hand around the length of the coat to stupidly bring it to cover the lower part of his face, looking around with narrowed eyes then wide ones. "I smell not just a lot of blood here," he says in a low and raspy voice, "but also stupidity!" He points at the girl judgingly, making her twist her mouth disgusted.

"I hope Freddy Krueger visits you tonight," I say when walking past her, patting her shoulder. A scream comes from her when noticing the fake blood stain I leave behind on her white outfit, having Frank and I chuckling on our way to the back.

No one really pays attention to the classes – it's Halloween, we're even in stupid clothes and anxious for whatever is going to happen later in the day, so the teacher doesn't even bother scolding Frank and I for talking nonstop in the back of the classroom. To be honest, I think only the goody two shoes are actually doing something, sometimes turning around to glare at the others.

"Okay, okay, shut up for a minute!" I tell Frank, taking a look at the messy words over my notebook to check if I forgot to write something down. "We've got The Howling, Alien, Evil Dead, House of Wax, Dawn of the Dead, Funhouse, Pumpkinhead..."

"Fright Night," Frank continues, "Opera, Cannibal Holocaust, Texas Chainsaw–"

"I said no TCM! Fuck you," I curse, rushing to write everything down, crossing out TCM when I accidentaly write it down.

"Friday the 13th, Poltergeist, Near Dark and Elm Street," he finishes, glaring at me. He hits my shoulder, not enough to hurt. "I'll make you watch TCM with me until you have memorized every single frame of it!"

"Your TCM phase will have died down by then!" I twist my mouth bitterly. "Sorry to kill the hype, baby!" I throw my nose in the air with a chuckle at his sulky manners. He furrows his eyebrows, sucking in a breath for words he never really gets to say. "And we still got to watch all these goth movies and shows lying around! Do you think it was easy finding the 60s Addams family show on DVD? Or that one Frankenstein version on cassette." Okay, the last one was easy to find in a yard sale, but still, it was just luck.

"Okay, mommy, please just don't punish me," Frank says with a groan and a fake moan. I stare at him as he's not able to contain his laughter before starting to hit him with the notebook.

"Too bad you're not a good boy, hun."

For once, school ends up actually being nice and just because Frank and I were getting in the character sometimes and pissing people off. By lunch, he had pulled on some sunglasses and looked like the stupidest fucker while eating his sandwich and smudging more of the lipstick and fake blood around his lips. At some point, we had pretended to have a fight and pierce the other's chest with a pair of scissors just to squeeze a bag of fake blood at whoever walked by – mostly some of the jocks or plastics. So much fun.

The house is quiet when we arrive back at it, a couple hours after school ended, and we find out, later, a note from Frank's mom apologizing she can't be here during the rest of his birthday, though she's sure he'll have fun with me.

"Imma take a shower," I sigh, pointing upstairs.

"Sure," he hums, looking up from the note for a moment to smile at me.

Thankfully, I always leave some clothes at Frank's place because I'm here far too often and not always have the chance or disposition to go back home and grab some clothes. It doesn't prevent me from stealing his hoodie, however, and walking out of the bathroom without all of that sticky makeup or fake blood is the best thing ever. Later, Frank is the one to go take a shower while I take care of the food he had already started to prepare.

"Much better!" I raise my eyebrows at the sight of Frank with his hair back to normal and only a bit of black makeup smudges the underside of his eyes now.

"Y'know, I never said a single thing about how you looked," he mutters with his brow low, coming to lean against the counter, next to me, "still, you've been attacking me every chance you got!"

"Does it offend you?" I smile.

"No, but it still hurts!" He sniffles, a hand flat against his chest. "I know I'm too badass for you to handle, but you don't need to let it be that clear!"

I look at him from head to foot. "I hate you, y'know that?"

"Love you too, hun!" He grins and moves closer, cupping my face exaggeratedly to peck my cheek before we head upstairs with everything we need.

We turn the lights on to organize everything, soon sitting down against a pile of pillows and with food surrounding us, though most of it is on the bedside tables since Frank, mainly, gets extremely uncomfortable with it falling on the bed. It doesn't matter, though, since the food and half empty cans end up going forgotten halfway through the movie at the same time the chatter dies down and we watch The Evil Dead as if it was the first time.

Some funny part comes on – well, not exactly funny, but enough to make us chuckle quietly – and brings us back to reality, sighing and glancing at each other, adjusting our postures as we'd slid down the pillows.

Frank yawns.

"Already tired?" I tease, poking his shoulder.

"No." He pouts, crossing his arms over his chest. "Getting tired is for losers." He does glance at the clock on his bedside table, however, and the red glowing numbers say it's six something.

"You're my favorite loser, then." I smirk lightly, exhaling.

Frank's eyebrows knit together as he looks at me, but then rolls his eyes. "Well, duh, of course I am! Who else? I'm the best." He scoots closer until his head is leaning on my shoulder and I can't help but to smile.

"No, I am," I groan, arms wrapped around him.

"I am!" He glares and, at some point, we end up in a wrestling match, pushing each other around the mattress among laughter and curses, which comes to a stop when we start getting too tired and I just let Frank lie down on top of me, head on my chest, still watching the movie. "Do you like anyone, (y/n)?" he asks suddenly. "Like, got a crush?"

Random. Why does he want to know? I mean, I do have a crush, but telling him about it is difficult.

"Um, yeah, I guess, why?" I blink, startled when he suddenly brings himself up on his elbows to stare at me.

"I swear to God I'll hunt them down if you forget about me because of them, do you understand?" Frank presses his forehead to mine. "You're the only one I got, sometimes I'm so worried you'll even leave me for whatever reason."

"What?" I breathe a chuckle, though there's not exactly anything funny here. "Never in my right mind would I do that! And you can't hunt my crush down if my crush is actually you," I laugh in a sudden rush of confidence, which wears out awfully quickly, leaving me lying there and rethinking every life choice.

"Me?" Frank widens his eyes. At the lack of answer, he takes a hold of my collar, straddling my hips. "Did I hear it right? Please, (y/n), (n/n), soulmate? I'm your goddamn crush? For how long?"

I shake my head lightly, shrugging. "Months? A long time."

"And you just told me now?" He cries, forehead pressed to my shoulder. "Slow motherfucker."

"I didn't want you to leave me either, c'mon!" I sigh in defeat, running a hand through his hair. "I remember that time a girl confessed to you and you'd simply vanish whenever she showed up. What if that was with me? I'd not be able to live like this, y'know that."

"Y'know, yeah, seeing it from that point..." Frank shrugs, bringing himself up to face me again. "Still, I wouldn't avoid you like that! Dunno, but it doesn't matter now because you just relieved me of months of suffering. Looking at these pretty lips without being able to kiss it." He furrows his eyebrows, eyes on my lips. "Can I kiss you, tho? Now that we feel stupid for all these months. Damn. At least I feel."

I breathe a chuckle. "Of course! Do you think I wasn't dying to do it either?"

Next thing I know are Frank's lips pressed against mine softly, soon growing firm with confidence. His fingers run along my neck lightly, in a caring manner, dropping to trace my collarbones.

"Also," Frank breathes, pulling away; his face never moves farther than a couple of inches whilst he adjusts his position, lying down beside me on the mattress. "Maybe it's wrong to say and I've always tried to say it in a subtle manner, but–" his eyes meet mine, "–you've got the body of a goddess! Like, dunno, sometimes you comment about not having an 'ideal', skinny body, but you're just so perfect," he groans, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Frank!" I tap on his back lightly. It's not that I don't like what he said – no, damn, it sends my heart fluttering, this warmth taking over my chest –, but is it really the truth? I didn't think it was possible for anyone to tell me this.

"No, I'm telling the truth!" Frank grins. "Like, your thighs and all. I just want to squeeze and bite you! Not in a bad way, I mean." I must give him a funny look because of how flustered he grows, tongue playing with his lip ring as he looks away. "There's a lot to unpack, fuck, I thought it was obvious how I always sit there gazing at you and shit, but..."

"Likewise." I glare playfully, making him chuckle.

"Y'know–" Frank smiles lazily, "–this is the best birthday I've ever had, by far." He brushes his lips against mine softly, watching me through half lidded eyes. "Never knew you'd actually like me back. Never believed it was possible, to be honest."

"I never cogitated you like me," I breathe.

"Well, okay," he says, "we've already gotten through this. I think we should focus on now."

"I'm not the one who keeps bringing back past thoughts!" I chuckle at how he pouts, scowling funnily.

"Shut up, shut up, I get it!" Frank rolls his eyes and presses his lips to mine before I can say anything, having me smiling against the kiss until returning it, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him closer. Now that we've finally kissed, keeping our lips off each others' feels almost impossible – letting go of each other feels almost impossible. "God fucking damnit," he groans under his breathe, moving to press kisses down my jaw, soon reaching my neck.

A sigh escapes my lips at the kisses, though it turns into quiet pleased sounds at the feeling of his teeth pulling at my skin and sometimes closing around it, sucking on it whilst all I can bring myself to do is tugging onto his hair. Suddenly, however, feeling his hands traveling down to my hips and squeezing them makes me gasp, probably reacting a bit more than I intended.

"What?" Frank pulls away at the same moment, eyes wide. "Did I do something wrong? Please– Damn, I'm so sorry!"

"N-No, no," I finally bring myself into speaking up, feeling my cheeks burn bright red. "I, um, I actually... liked it. A lot. Sorry if I scared you, I just wasn't expecting it. I don't mind, really," I insist as he continues looking at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"You sure?"

"Yeah!" I smile, bringing him for a quick kiss before he's trailing down my neck again.

Frank's hands go down my body, experimentally at first and then squeezing my hips again, receiving another reaction this time, including just a soft gasp as I push my hips up – a shiver runs down my spine with it, a nice one. Fuck.

"Damn..." Frank breathes, hands running down to my thighs then up again to slide under my shirt. "It's a bit early, maybe–" he shrugs, looking at me, "–but... is it okay if..."

Holy hell. "Of course," I say without thinking much – he continues to stare, so I nod.

"Fuck yeah," he mutters, lips against mine for a few seconds before he's pulling my shirt over my head and the expression on his face carries such admiration that I can't help but to feel embarrassed for a moment. He never lets me cover myself, nonetheless, hands flying to my waist to hold firmly onto it as he's pressing kisses from my stomach to my hip. "No, seriously–" he sits up again, "–how can someone be so perfect?" He seems to be talking mostly to himself, getting rid of his shirt.

"Dunno." I grin. "How does it feel to be so perfect, baby?"

Frank exhales shakily. "You'll be the death of me and I ain't even joking." He presses a kiss to my collarbone, starting to nibble down at the skin again, trailing down to my chest, lips sometimes lingering over my breasts – sure as hell he leaves a few marks behind, considering how invested he gets.

Something tells me he doesn't know what to focus on. His hands never stay in the same place for too long, going down my thighs then trailing up to my waistband, up my torso, and then he repeats it.

"C'mon," I mutter, placing his hands on my waistband. He's a bit hesitant, but quickly undoes the buttons and starts pulling it down – I help him, kicking the pants away in the end.

A string of curses slip past Frank's lips as he quickly gets rid of his jeans too and, when coming back, he kneels down between my legs this time, spreading them apart. Our lips are yet again locked in a kiss, different from the others, more heated up and urgent this time as we hold onto each other. I play with the hair on the back of his neck and tug onto it instead at the feeling of his hands around my ass, groping.

"Frank, damn," I breathe quietly for a second we pull apart and, opposite to earlier, he gets the hint and does it again, humming against my lips. Once he stops groping, his hands just run along my skin, up and down my body, sometimes lingering. The most lovesick look decorates his face when he pulls away. My heart.

I place my hands on Frank's shoulders as I sit up, changing our positions. He observes me with wide eyes and I smile at him before pressing kisses to his neck, leaving behind a hickey before I can go lower and lower until my fingers are around the waistband of his boxers and I pause, looking up at him, and continue after he nods.

Frank's already half hard, a breath hitching in his throat as, after discarding his boxers, I assume my previous position.

Even if it's not the first time I've done that, this nervousness still lies under my skin as I wrap a hand around him, pumping him lightly before wrapping my lips around the head experimentally. He breathes sharply.

Only halfway through it that I allow myself to look up at Frank, pausing for a moment after finding out he's been watching, propped up on his elbows, eyes focused on me and jaw slack, but I don't look away, hollowing my cheeks instead and watching him break under my gaze, letting go of all the tension for a second.

I repeat the motions a few times and pull away, licking up along the underside, around the tip, and he's suddenly pulling me away – eyes wide and face flushed this time.

Frank mumbles something I can't quite understand, but it doesn't really matter. He moves closer, both of us soon assuming the position we were in minutes ago, pressed against each other. Now, he removes my underwear and his hand slips between us, however.

Pleasure is sent ringing up my spine at the feeling of Frank's fingers slipping past my lips, quickly finding my clit and wasting no time on working his thumb on it while a couple of fingers tease my entrance. Moans just escape my throat easily after he breaks the kiss, mouthing his way until the inside of one of my thighs – he bites and sucks on the skin there. His tongue is suddenly there, then, against my clit, working around it before being replaced by his lips and my vision goes fucking blank when I can feel him sucking on it.

"Fuck," Frank curses once pulling away, moving to frantically rummage through the nightstand's drawer; I groan at the loss of touch, pushing my hips up into nothing.

Hearing the sound of foil being torn makes me understand what's happening, and I watch him rush to slip the condom on, giving us a moment to catch our breath before he's positioning himself, a hand on my hip whilst another holds himself up.

"Tell me if there's something wrong, okay?" he asks slowly, "I'll stop right away. Don't be afraid."

"Same to you," I say softly, cupping his face to pull him for a soft, quick kiss.

Frank smiles with a nod and looks down before I can feel him against my entrance, pushing in slowly. I wrap my arms around his shoulders tightly, feeling his chest vibrate against mine with the low moan coming from him, replaced by a sigh once he sinks in completely. He starts moving right away, hips jerking experimentally before attaining a heavy and slow pace which doesn't last long due to how needy we are already.

I gasp at how he thrusts in harder, wrapping my arms around his shoulders to hold him close and having my legs around his hips, instinctively.

Curses and praises are breathed into my ear among moans, somehow making the pleasure pool down in my lower stomach even more intensely, summed up to feeling his hands groping on my ass again, fingers sinking into the skin.

"You're just so perfect, (y/n)," he babbles, "and even better that now you're all mine."

Suppressing a louder moan turns out to be impossible at the feeling of Frank's hips reaching a certain angle and, soon, the answer I had in my slips away from my grasp and all there's left is just how good he feels. I travel a hand up to his hair, remembering how he reacted to it earlier, and tug on it in a form of response, though also wanting to hear how pathetically he moans at it.

"'M gonna cum," I manage to say before being cut off by a moan, arching my back.

"Me too, babe," he groans, "almost there."

Frank pauses, adjusting himself so a hand is under my thigh and another on the mattress for major support and his thrusts are suddenly harsher. I throw my head back at the same time, holding onto him tightly, and it doesn't take long for all the pleasure that had been building up so far to unravel at once – it apparently triggers the same on him, considering how tight his grasp gets whilst a higher pitched moan comes from him.

Coming down from the high, I feel almost numb, in a good way. Frank pulls away and I'm only aware of him when he's lying down next to me, both of us breathing heavily and unable to do anything aside from staring at the ceiling for a long moment.

"Damn, I love you so much, so much," he mumbles again.

I breathe a chuckle, feeling him cuddling up to me, arms wrapped around me. "And I love you, dumbass." I press a kiss to his head.

"My girlfriend now, right?" he asks. "Nevermind, you don't get to choose." He chuckles, though it quickly dies down. "Just kidding, okay? Tell me to and I'll fuck off."

I laugh, still breathless. "Of course I am. I didn't confess for nothing."

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Break the chains' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Break the chains"

Chapter Summary : Yirina was unfortunately captured by Duvall's men and could finally met the man in person but she can count on something.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3600

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We maybe saved Alvarez but at what price ? That mission weren't supposed to happen as we didn't have enough intels about the place and the fact that it was very unexpected. We all thought that we were going to finally rest in our beds after making Derazio fly down off his penthouse but instead, we had to run off to save Alvarez as he wanted to flee the country and that what we did.....until the tide has turned in Duvall's men favor that came in great number by surprise and we needed to run away from this place....too late for me.

I was covering Wolf's escape before the burning pole fall just behind, avoiding me to join the others and then, I was knocked down by behind and dragged away from that place by those men as the others has maybe escaped with no choices. I can't blame them....I can only blame myself for it....I should have been faster to run away instead of staying like an idiot behind that cover. Now, those guys is going to either kill me away and bringing me to Duvall himself and to be frankly, these people.....they're acting pretty strange with their white hoods.....who are these people ?

The muffled sounds of cheerings start to slowly make me regain consciousness of the situation around me as I opened my eyes, my vision all troubled because of that hit I received in the back of my head. It was still hurting and feeling very dizzy as my vision was recovering and I could feel my hands tied up in metal chains, raised up, my back against a brick wall, sit on a sort of podium and then, I could start to see people....dressed in white robes & hoods in front of the podium, cheering, their fists in the air. It was looking in a lost place in the Bayou but I can't tell where exactly.

I couldn't believe it as I thought that I was trapped in a kind of stupid joke until I realized that those men weren't kidding at all. I looked up to see a man dressed this time in a fully red robes & a red hood too, must be their leader....and then, I realized that it was Duvall in person as I heard his muffled voice behind his stupid hood. There were an guard next to him and I could see him talk to Duvall as he just saw me, waking up.

"The sinner has awakened !" I could hear Duvall shout to the masked crowd who started to make some cheers for him and booing at me before Duvall faced me.

"Already dressed up for an costume party ?" I start to joke around at him, seeing all these persons in robes before the guard that was near him decided to throw me an punch in the jaw, not even breaking it or making any harm on it. "Is this everything you got ?" I added again and he wanted to continue until Duvall put his arm in front of him.

"Don't...." He said, looking at him. "She will soon understand our fight, white brother." The guard looked away in shame as seen throught his hood before he walk away to get back at its former position, leaving only me with Duvall. "So, you decide to interfere in my little plan." He decide to remove his hood to reveal to me his face that I already know before I spit on his face.

"Take it as a yes, Duvall !" I smirked, trying to keep cool and calm as I am chained and in real danger with those mens. He wasn't looking angry at all.

"So uncivilized." He cleaned up the mess I made on his face. "You, the Europeans....are very disturbing, I can say." He added as he start to slowly move to get closer to me. "Throwing my lieutenant from his hotel, helping this goddamn Cuban out of that burning place but now, you're here...at my mercy."

"At first, was it a compliment ?" I asked to him, he shook his head....of course....."And second, fuck you !" I breathed before he decided to pull out an knife from his robes. "What are you doing ?" I said mixed between been scared and angriness.

"Hold her off, I'm going to mark her." He ordered to his former guard and another one and they both complied. I tried to move quickly but they were more faster, blocking my legs to do anything as Duvall was removing a part of my small-bloodied shirt, getting the knife above where was my heart. "The mark of the sinner !" He exclaimed before he start to make a cross with the knife on my skin.

I wanted to scream very loudly because of the pain but one of his henchman was covering my mouth. The worst of it is that Duvall was making it very slowly while I was enduring the pain with all my strengh before Duvall finally gestured to his men to move away, letting me free in a way. I looked at my chest, seeing now a bloodied cross on it...above my heart, he didn't put the knife deep enough to hit my heart, he just wanted....to mark me....

"You're fucking crazy !" I yelled at his face, realizing that this man is in the same level of Perseus himself. "Looking like an second Perseus !" My words make him move to grab my chin hardly with his hands, looking very angry.

"Perseus ?" He whispered at me. "This damn russian can go fuck himself with his little friends that were around me." He added, apparently still angered by Perseus decision to stop giving weapons. "He want me to lay low and to not move but he can't understand how my world is working and what my ambitions once I'll get Reagan out."

"That was this all about, right ?" I asking, starting to guess his real ambitions. "The guns were going to be used in a little coup d'état against Washington and you will be the new president." I breathed, rolling my eyes & thinking about it. "If you can't win legally, let's do it by force." I raised an eyebrow to him, awaiting, fighting inside of me the pain from the wound.

"That's right, Reagan is convinced that we need to help the free world but does he think about the americans first ?" He asked and I couldn't respond it....I'm not american and not an expert on the US politics.

"Even if you do this, you will still stay the perfect Perseus american puppet." I affirmed and he seemed annoyed by me and my thoughts about it.

"Maybe even if I despited them because they're not americans but at least, I will have achieve my goal." He snorted as he decided to get up, still facing me. "'Stitch' is gonna soon have his plan set in motions and you can't stop us." 'Stitch'.....the 'DOUCHEBAG' that was on that file about Greenlight in my memories....the brother of that Sonya that has 'plans in motion'....shit...Duvall then put his hood on him, giving to me a last look. "If you please, my men will want to hear a speech from me." He then turned around to face the crowd.

I couldn't listen to his little speech as I was already annoyed by him before and I'm not intending to be like this again but then, from afar, I could see a Duvall's henchman that was protecting some sort of ruins, getting suddenly disappear in it, apparently neutralized.....the cavalry has arrived, Yiri !.....I could finally hope more as I was seeing a little white light coming far in front of me....the scope of a sniper rifle....Wolf.....they found me.....They are my guardians angels !

"Hey, Duvall !" I called him out, causing him to look at me, breaking him off his speech. "You believe in guardians angels ?" I asked but he didn't responded as he looked back to the crowd....to be immediately greeted by an bullet right in the head by Wolf and then, it was the beginning of the panick for Duvall's men.

"They have killed the 'messiah' !" A man shouted inside the crowd...damn, those peoples are fucking weird.

The guards that was near Duvall move near his dead body as multiples gunshots start to be heard all around the place and finally, another shot from Wolf hit right the chains I was tied up to, allowing me to break free and getting up to start strangle the guard who punched me with the chains that was still on my left hand. His buddy tried to react at me and to counter him, I decided to use the guard I was strangling as an human shield, taking all the mag this guy just shot.

As he was trying to reload, I quickly took the dead guard SMG and shot a simple bullet right in the head, disposing of him. All of that while I was fighting the pain on my chest because of Duvall. Everyone were fighting in the direction of the place entrance but some of Duvall's remaining men saw me getting freed and start to focus on me instead of the fight at the entrance. I moved to get out of the podium and to cover behind of it as the first bullets came into my direction.

I couldn't risk to waste bullets as I just had a simple SMG with only one mag and for that, I had to pick my targets precisely. I started to shoot just after I got to cover, killing an guy that tried to rush me with an knife, taking 6 bullets in him. Two others were gone as they were out of their cover, taking each one 8 bullets as they were afar and the last one I shot at before the mag ran out of bullet.....I missed him close enough and now, I didn't have any bullet left.

This same guy was running to rush me like the first one did and to neutralize him, I decided to use the SMG I had like an hand-to-hand tool, holding it by the cannon. I start to get myself ready to strike as he arrived but then, as I was launching myself to do that, he prevented that to happen by kicking my arm with his feet before he arrived next to me and threw me away from my cover. When I looked at him, I realized that.....

"Park ?" I whispered, finding out that it was her and not the last guy who came to get me.

"Yiri ?" She looked at me, confused & worried, she didn't know that it was me behind that cover and then, she quickly moved to hug me "Yiri !" She said, relieved, her arms around me before I could feel my chest in pain.

"Ouch..." I breathed, feeling herself against my wound.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." She removed herself to help me getting up "You're hurt ?" She asked, fully standing up on my feets, I nodded.

"That bastard make me a mark on my chest." I replied, showing her the part of the chest where the blood was still going out but less than before. "Apart of that, my right arm is also hurting me." I added as she didn't almost go easy on my arm when she striked me.

"Fuck...." She said, putting her hand next to the wound, worried about it.

"It's okay, not deep enough & no much blood off it." I exclaimed trying to reassure her as she was nearly going into panic. "Thanks....thanks for the save, how did you know I was there ?" I asked, wondering how they were fast enought to get me back.

"Before your radio goes off, the people that took you inadvertently gave away the location they were going to bring you." She replied, getting next to me as we decided to slowly walk back in front of podium. "Sims decided to bring Alvarez to another CIA safehouse while me & Wolf.....we called for reinforcements before coming in here." She added as I could see a little group of soldiers, checking the dead bodies on the ground as another one was guarding the few remaining Duvall's men.

"Who are these guys ?" I looked at those dead bodies, all wearing white hoods now bloodied.

"These douchebags...." It was Wolf arriving to get to us, his sniper rifle in hand, having heard my question. "They were an part of the fucking Ku Klux Klan." He then looked at Duvall's body on the podium "And that prick were the leader of them in the New Orleans."

"White supremacists dickheads that want to 'keep America white'" Park continued, looking at me, knowing more about the subject.

"Duvall was going to march on Washington with the guns Perseus gave him." I explained what Duvall told me about his plans while I was tied up. "Taunted me about his plans all along and his little politics view." I added before I was rethinking of something. "Does anyone of you know a 'Stitch' ?"

"'Stitch' ?" Park repeated, trying to find something in her head. "Heard the name from Adler sometimes, hard to know more with him."

"Why ?"

"Well, each time 'Stitch' is mentioned, Adler is kinda acting strange and not himself." She responded as I looked at her with wide eyes.

"Adler acting strange & not himself is normal for me." I scoffed, making her roll her eyes around.

"To say that we got Derazio, Alvarez & Duvall in one single day...." Wolf nodded as he couldn't believe it himself before I groaned silently from the pain. "You're wounded ?" I nodded to him. "It's better that Park got you back at the safehouse, gonna stay here for a little with the cleaning crew before coming back." He then approached me to give me a little tap on my right shoulder. "Good job, Yirina."

"You're coming, Yiri ?" Park asked in a low voice, rhetorically to me and then I followed, avoiding the bodies on the ground.

Thanksfully, I was still able to walk perfectly even now with that wound on my chest, Duvall did get the knife deep enough to make it more visible, I wasn't bleeding from it anymore but it would be better that we got it treated before it can get infected. Park led me to the same car we have used for days and I installed myself on the front seat with her before we drove off the place. Finally, I could breathed normally after getting out of this place that was very deep inside the Bayou.

This situation....having my ass get saved.....it wasn't my first time, I could remember East-Berlin well enough : seeing Park, Lazar & Adler rappel down to enter that warehouse and now Park, Wolf and some CIA guys arrived to save the day....my day. Park....was really my guardian angel and I think I was hers too. We saved each other a countless times and I was happy that she reacted quickly with the others, she can't blame herself for that.

After minutes of driving, we finally arrived at the safehouse but there were something very wrong about the place now : Sims was waiting for us on the porch and the house was looking damaged now, the front windows were broken.....something has happened here. We got out of the car, very curious as Sims started to join us.

"I think we have a big problem !" He started, looking at the house behind him.

"What kind of problem ?" Park asked but she didn't have any responses from him, just him gesturing to us to follow him inside. When we entered, we could see that someone came here when we were all gone, the place were all trashed and when we arrived in the operations room, we understand the 'big problem' "You got to be shitting me !" She exclaimed, seeing the dashboard that has been tagged red with the Perseus emblem.

"Fuck, Perseus was here." I whispered, looking around me to see the room turned over. "How long you arrived back here ?"

"10 minutes after I brought Alvarez to another hideout." Sims replied, moving to redress the table back to normal. "Fuckers trashed the place down but they didn't take anything." He added before he looked at the table where the radio was on, completely broken.  "They had time in 2 hours after we left the place to save Alvarez."

"And the first floor ?" Park questioned him and he shook his head.

"What was interesting them was more damaging everything in the ground level." He got next to the dashboard, looking at it with desesperation. "Even if we got Duvall, Perseus is still acting and he knows where we were hiding in the state."

"Perseus has something that will happen soon in the US." I said, sitting down on the only couch that was available. "We got news from Adler ?" I asked.

"Called me before I got here, they were soon arrived in West-Berlin after getting rid of the general." He replied, walking next to the room's door. "I'm going to clean up the place before Wolf come back here, I see that you're wounded and I guess Park will patch you." He did a silent laugh before he walk out of the room, soon followed by Park that were getting the meds for me.

Now, I was alone in the trashed operations that we used for days, seeing that Perseus insignia on the dashboard was making me sick inside of me.....How I could have stayed with Perseus for so long instead of fleeing away to save my friends ?.....Why ?....I could see that there were something missing on the dashboard : Sonya's picture....gone. If they didn't take anything important, why this particular picture was stolen ? Did they came here or someone else close to her did ?

It took less than a minute for Park to come back with everything necessary to heal that wound on my chest. To be honest, I didn't feel any pain while Park was patching me up with dressings and also disinfecting the wound, only making very silent groans from my mouth. Duvall could have killed me but he was more willing to follow his politics than Perseus's one.

"How you're feeling ?" Park asked after she has finished her business with me.

"Pretty good." I replied, getting my shirt back to normal before I looked back at her. "You really had fairy fingers." I added in a lovely tone to her, making her blush.

"You told me that after that night." She scoffed, making me blush in return....refering to our passionate night here. "Did I tell you that you got also them ?"

"No but thanks you." I smiled at her before we both joined hands together "Thanks you for everything, Park."

"You know that I will always have your back." She affirmed, making me smile further and frankly, we were soon forgetting what happened here before I realized the situation,

"Damn, I really liked this place." I looked around the room, sniffing at seeing it at this state. "Far better than West-Berlin."

"Yes..." She breathed, doing the same as me "Shame we have to go back there." She added before she got something behind her back. "Something from you." She was handing to me, my own M1911 that I thought to have lost at that abandoned lighthouse when the Ku Klux Klan got me.

"How ?" I asked, confused to see it again.

"One of Duvall's men took it with him and when I neutralized that guy, I took it back to give it to you." She responded as I took the gun back with me. By seeing it back, I was impressed by her. That gun.....I used it since a long time and it's like my favourite one.

"Wow, I can say...." I was speechless by Park's actions for me "Thanks you 3000." I finally finished my sentence, looking at Park with a great look that could told 'I love you 3000'.

"Well, I can see that Park make a great job." Sims came back in the room, looking at me with good eyes. "Guess the two make quite a couple."  He admitted and we looked each other, me & Park and we smiled.

"Thank you, Sims." We literally said at the same time before we start to hear the ringing of a satellite phone in the room located right to the broken radio.

"Must be Adler, told he would call back when he will arrived in the safehouse." Sims moved to get to the phone pretty quick and he pick it up. "Hey doc, you will never....." He was going to continue until he froze himself in place to look at us. "Wait, you too ?" At this moment, we could realize that the situation was somehow getting worse. "You got to be kidding me right ?" He asked, before he moved to get next to one of my notebooks, a free one. "Okay, tell me when we join you...." He start to write down something as me & Park was wondering what got into him. "Okay, I'll tell them." He then hang up the phone.

"There's a problem ?" I got up from my seat before he looked back at me.

"The safehouse in West-Berlin has also been raided by Perseus : Adler and his team just found it trashed down too with the surveillance crew dead all over the place." He responded, trying to keep his cool and us, we were shocked to hear that : here and now, West-Berlin. "Our trip in the US is gonna last more longer."

"Why that ?" Park demanded

"An Perseus agent left an intel pointing to an mall in New Jersey." He first replied, getting his hands on the table. "We will have to join Adler to an US Army base near the place." He breathed, looking down in desesperation.

"And do we have a name ?" I asked, extremely curious before Sims raised slowly his head towards me, not sure of saying it even if he got the answer to it.....

"Vikhor 'Stitch' Kuzmin !"

[fluidfox123]

An Idea

So, I animate a little but not well enough to do this idea that's been stuck in my head for WEEKS. So, instead, if anyone wants to actually animate this or use the idea I have just tag me so I can see! I would love to see it! But anyway, here is me going to try and explain it...

So, my personal headcanon for Gavin Reed is that yeah Elijah is his stepbrother and all, but connected by father. The reason for that is that when Gavin was at least 8 years old his mother had gone to the bank to deposit some money when it got robbed by some guys. Gavin had been in the living room playing with his games or toys when the TV had gone to the local news with live footage of the robbery happening. His mom got killed and a few others before they got arrested. After his mom's death, Gavin's dad had started drinking and was in a depressive state from her death forgetting he had a son to take care of. From the drinking, he started abusing Gavin physically and mentally hitting and blaming him.

But later in life when he was a little older Gavin's dad remarried and they had a child which was Elijah. Gavin than was even more mentally abused from both his father and stepmother for comparing Gavin to Elijah, who was super smart and excelled in school.

Now that I've explained the headcanon I'll tell you how it ties in to my idea of an animation. I had recently found this song:

Cradles by Sub Urban and after listening to it twice it reminded me of a song that could tell Gavin's story, my headcanon wise though. So here was the script/draft/way I wanted to play it out:

Music starts and it shows a blurred glitchy Gavin standing in the dark, eyes blocked out by black

Once those two beats hit before the lyrics appear the image moves up than down with the beat like a fast glitch

It than transitions to present Gavin sitting at his desk doing his work as the lyrics say "I live inside my own world of make believe"

Than it transitions to Gavin arresting a teenager who is yelling at him, cuffing him and placing him in the car, lyrics playing "Kids screaming in their cradles, profanities"

Than Gavin turns around after shutting the door and his eyes widen as it than transitions to a blurred figure standing a far, the figure is a blurred outline (a pink outline) of a woman smiling. The lyrics "I see the world through eyes covered in pink"

It turns to a side view of Gavin falling on his knees looking at the ground, the background a blank dark grey as tears well up in his eyes as black figures appear around him as the lyrics play, "Cross out the ones who held my cries and watched me weep"

It than zooms into Gavin's face or from his torso to his head as tears fall from his eyes, shaking as the lyrics play, "I love everything"

Than in the background fire actually starts surrounding him as he looks up eyes still wide from what he saw, lyrics "Fire spreading all around my room My world's so bright"

Than it zooms into Gavin's mouth as his frown turns into a smile, before zooming out to a front view of Gavin still on the ground but smiling this time, lyrics "It's hard to breathe but that's alright"

Than in the split second the lyrics say, "Hush!" one of the black figures is behind Gavin, up against his back, Gavin is still in the same position as before but this time the figure is behind him and has a hand over his eyes and holding his throat tight

Then as the music starts every one, two, or three chimes images change quickly to the beat, but if it's not changing than its a flashing white light. The images are blurred but still clear and they're bright and cheerful. These images are memories.

The first batch of images before the single click sound is all images if Gavin and the woman we saw before playing, laughing, and talking with young Gavin, like really young Gavin but on these images, he isn't over 7 years old. They're happy and warm, with just the two of them happy together

The second batch of images before a "shh" and after the single click is more images of the woman and Gavin with actual pictures of the father included in the activities they are doing, all images are different from one another.

The third batch of images after the "shh" and before the chime sound are pictures of 8-year-old Gavin saying bye to his mom as she leaves for the bank in the living room playing with his toys, smiling, and having fun after she has left (father not in sight) and one or two beats before the chime sounds is when 8-year-old Gavin looks up to the TV screen and when it chimes is when his eyes widen

After the chime, it shows Gavin standing in front of a casket, facing away from the camera at an angle where you only see the back of his head from the side, his father is standing next to him but his body is cut off since we're focused on the torso to the head of 8-year-old Gavin staring at the casket with his dead mother inside, the image doesn't change but the white light flashes at the beats and on some beats you can see tears fall (right as the chime sounds all memories from now on, including the funeral one I just said will be dark and gloomy looking instead of light and cheerful, but still flashes white)

We then fade to a present Gavin who is on his 4th cup of coffee at his desk a as the lyrics say, "Tape my eyes open to force reality"

When it says "no, no" we get two quick flashes of many empty coffee cups at his desk

Gavin than is reading over a file about a case, lyrics "Why can't you just let me eat my weight in glee?"

The background turns dark grey again as the screen flashes white to the first two beats to showing two glimpses of Gavin crying before showing Gavin laughing with Tina in the break room and a few other places of them happy together hanging out (appearing along with the beat like most things in this idea), lyrics "I live inside my own world of make believe"

Than one of the last images of Tina and Gavin hanging out is them walking together someplace and it shows Gavin smiling and looking to the side (towards the camera) because he heard something, but than that smile falls and he freezes, lyrics "Kids screaming in"

Than it shows what Gavin is looking at and it's too older teenagers fighting, pointing and gesturing, looking stupidly angry, lyrics "their cradles,"

Then with the two beats, the teenagers turn into Elijah and Gavin arguing as older teenagers, lyrics "profanities"

Than it shows Gavin alone in a blank dark grey background a mirror in front of him, he is staring into it (you can only see his face in the reflection, you can see his body from the back but to the side so you can see the mirror too that's in front of him) , lyrics "Somedays I feel skinnier than all the other kids And some days I can't tell" (its all glitchy with the beat)

Than as the lyrics "if my body belongs to me" play his reflection turns into a younger, happier Gavin, before his mother's death

It than shows Gavin covering his face and sobbing as his younger reflection glitches away and his normal reflection appears again, lyrics "I love everything"

Than fire starts forming around Gavin again as the black figures appear too, lyrics "Fire spreading all around my room My world's so bright"

Than the camera shifts to looking straight into the mirror seeing the reflection of Gavin looking up again, smiling at the mirror (which looks like he is smiling at us), lyrics "It's hard to breathe but that's alright"

Then in that second, it says "Hush!" again we get the split second of seeing the black figure close behind gavin covering his eyes and lifting his chin up this time

As the first batch of beats with images than appear again, these batches show how depressed Gavin is about his mothers death, failing in school, getting angry easily and beating up other kids from it, and even crying in the middle of the night

The next batch after the click shows Gavin's father abusing him physically and mentally from drinking too much, some blood may be included here

The third batch after the "shh" shows Gavin's father showing affection to a new woman and showing how depressed Gavin is and how much he l hates this woman who is trying to take his mothers place

The batch after the chime then shows half the images of a wedding and a baby boy which would be Elijah the other half (which is bright again) is Gavin getting closer to Elijah as they grow up hip to hip, the best of friends

Then it shows Elijah being really successful in school, lyrics "I wanna taste your content"

Gavin is happy about this and supports Elijah skipping a grade and hanging out with him still, lyrics "Hold your breath and feel the tension"

Then it transitions to a front view of Gavin and Elijah standing side by side till Elijah looks to the left (Gavin is on the right) and starts walking away to the left, the light following him as the grey background starts taking the place of the light till Elijah is fully gone and Gavin is alone once again, lyrics "Devils hide behind redemption Honesty is a one way gate to hell"

It than zooms in on Gavin's face as tears fall and he grits his teeth, full of anger as he walks away from where he was standing, it suddenly transitions to Gavin slamming a door open as he storms out of a house as his father, stepmother and Elijah scream after him, Gavin still looks angry and is crying, trying to wipe his tears away as he runs, lyrics "I wanna taste consumption Reflex to the waste absurd Hear the children sing aloud It's music to the wick burn side wash"

As the beats and the lyrics "Just wanna be care free lately" come all it is is what happened before Gavin stormed out which was a fight between everyone since Gavin was no longer wanted in the house by the parents and Elijah tried to help Gavin but being the obedient child stepped down after their father said to do so, this was the moment Gavin hated his family, his perfect brother who stole all their love and attention and his parents who couldn't care less about him

Than it's back to present Gavin sitting at his desk working, lyrics "Just kicking up dirt"

Than Gavin glances up at a sound and he instantly seems angry, lyrics "Just got one too many quarters in my pocket"

It than shows RK900 walking towards him with a coin being played with in his hand, "Count 'em like four leaf clovers in my locket"

It than glitches to an image of Elijah holding up Thiruim at 16 to his parents who looked proud of him before going back to RK900 starting down at Gavin, lyrics "Untied laces and just tripping on dirt Dreams got dirty little alibis playing up"

Than Gavin looks back down to his terminal and tries to ignore RK900, lyrics "Might as well just run around the nursery and count sheep"

Than right as the music stops it turns black and the animating is done

Anyway, that was my idea, during the end I kind of change what happens so that's why it's a bit more general and I never know now to end it so....yeah. I hope someone can try and create this since it's been stuck in my head for weeks and I need to see it played out. Thank you for taking your time to read this! I appreciate it!

[rustedleopard]

Making the tags from this post into a separate post because I want to save them (I also reformatted/reworded some of it for clarity's sake):

Personally I see Clover's journey on the No Mercy Route as them feeling immense guilt and disgust with themself for killing monsters. But they HAVE to: it's self defense, they're fighting monsters, any one of them could have killed one of the other children, anything they can tell themself to justify their own actions. But they can't lie to themself, not entirely. On some level they know what they're doing is wrong, and that's why they gradually lose their ability to recognize themself.

And when they get to Axis, that's when they're at their most stressed: they just slaughtered dozens of monsters. They watched the monsters around them (like Angie and Gilbert and Dina) act like people would under threat/treat them like they would a monster. They terrorized this robot throughout the Steamworks. Maybe if they kill this one, they'll feel a sense of fulfillment/finality (they won't. Deep down inside, they know that they won't).

And then Axis admits to having killed one of the kids Clover was looking for and suddenly everything clicks into place. Killing him feels like the easiest thing in the world. Why were they so caught up on remorse? Just because they got distracted by a society more complex/civil than they thought it'd be? Monsters are all still kid-killers at the end of the day, no matter how nice they acted.

Even then, when fighting against Martlet, Clover still has to deliberately dehumanize her by calling her "the enemy" in the first part of the battle and remind themself of what they're fighting for/their freedom and home on the Surface in the second half. Their SOUL blasts (which are a manifestation of them/their will) barely do anything to her, unlike Axis and Asgore, who are brutally killed by one blast.

I think Clover genuinely liked her (they call her a worthy opponent when she's Checked/they search her memories for a reason to hate her) and regretted killing her, but they felt like they had to: they had already decided that there'd be no loose ends.

Take away the whole LOVE jump and finding out that Axis killed Integrity and what you have left is a kid who thought they knew what the right thing to do was, yet killed dozens for nothing. They're deeply remorseful and want a chance to better themself; a chance that Martlet would offer because she would see some good in them.