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hertzwritings · 3 years ago

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And they were roommates, chapter 1

A/N: This is a commissioned request from the amazing @thelastpyle, who had the most amazing idea ever and I have fallen truly in love with it – I’m a sucker for the roommate to lovers trope, and any AU with Henry Cavill makes me want to die (in the good way). I hope you guys will like it as much as I do, and I cannot thank @thelastpyle enough for both the commission but also her wonderful brain and amazing conversations.

If you want a personalized multichapter story, one-shot or drabble, you can buy me a coffee here!

I love y’all.

Remember, feedback feeds the soul and my requests and askbox are always open – there’s no limits, because I am me, and I have none!

MASTERLIST

SERIES MASTERLIST

ASK ME ANYTHING/REQUESTS

Pairing: Roommate!AU!Henry Cavill x Plus sized!female reader

Warnings: Language

Wordcount: 2.974

Chapter 1: Breakeven

You sighed and dropped the second paper of the day, still at a loss for what the hell you were going to do. It should be pretty easy to find a living-situation, but you were shit out of luck.

You weren’t too keen on the idea at any rate, but you couldn’t pay rent in the city by yourself; not without either putting yourself in debt for the rest of eternity, selling your soul to the devil and/or selling yourself. Or taking so many shifts at the hospital, you wouldn’t be able to study. You sighed and grabbed your phone, quickly calling your best friend, who answered at the third ring.

“What’s up, bitch?” “Do you think there’s a market for plus sized sugar babies?” You asked earnestly. She laughed. “With you, anything is possible. What’s going on?” “I literally am dying. Currently. Fast. I can’t find a fucking roommate and my lease is up in a week.” She sucked in a breath. “Oof, bad luck. Can you move back to your parents?” “Over my dead body.” You growled, running a hand over your forehead. “Well… You can move in here for a while?” You grunted. “And deal with your horny ass, banging up and down the walls with Sam? I don’t think so.” You could almost hear her roll her eyes. “Then it’s back to the paper. Or Craigslist.” You moaned at that idea – you had tried and had only been contacted by men, who wanted either feet-picture as rent or favors as rent. “Yeah, not going down that rabbit-hole again.” You said. “I think I’ll try to just kill myself first, that’s probably the best option.” “Let me know what to delete on your computer and which dress you want to be buried in.” Anna giggled and you heard Sam’s voice in the background. “I’ll leave you to it, you seem to have your hands full.” You grinned into the phone and she gave you an airy goodbye, and hung up.

You glared at the paper in front of you, almost as if it had hurt you – which, in fact, it had, the papercut on your middle finger a clear piece of evidence – and sighed, folding it up and was about to throw it into the bin with as much force as you could, when you spotted a small, little ad, that had been easily overlooked.

Looking for a roommate for a 6 months lease. Will be living with a orderly, clean man, non-smoker and without weird animals. Only temporary arrangement. Contact…

You quickly typed the number and called it – it was the last chance you had of finding a somewhat permanent arrangement that didn’t involve a grave-digger.

The phone was answered after the first ring.

“Henry speaking.” The voice was soft, deep baritone and reverberated through your entire body. “Uh, hi, I saw your ad for a roommate?” You sounded a little shaken. “Oh! Yes, hello.” You hesitated for a minute. “Is it still open? I mean, the room… Position. Roommate-job application?” He laughed a little at that, making you exhale a shaky breath. “It is. Although I would prefer a roommate with a name.” You could punch yourself. How did you forget to introduce yourself? “Oh lord, I’m a mess. Sorry, I’m Y/N, mess extraordinaire.” “Well, hello, Mss. Extraordinaire. Would you be willing to stop by tomorrow to see the place? You’re the first caller.” “Not many people use the paper anymore, it would seem.” You said, smiling a little. “Sure, I’d love to. You’ve got an address?” He told you the address and the time and you hung up after a quick goodbye.

It was hopefully your luck to find him. And hopefully he would want actual rent.

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You smoothed down your shirt, trying to compose yourself, despite the lack of sleep; it had been a long shift with an unusual amount of blood and puke, so you had barely gotten three hours of sleep – hopefully it would be enough to seem somewhat composed around him. You rang the doorbell and crossed your fingers for a normal man to open the door. It opened and revealed a very handsome man, who’s face you knew very well. “You’re Henry Cavill.” You stuttered instead of a greeting. “I am. And you’re Y/N Extraordinaire?” You grinned at him and shook his outstretched hand. “Y/L/N will work just fine.” He smiled brightly and gestured for you to step inside. “Welcome!” You looked around at the apartment – it was definitely bigger than you’d been used to, soft grey and white tones in everything. He led you through the apartment, showing you the kitchen (which was ginormous), the living room (which had a giant tv, plush and inviting couches and every single console you could dream of having), his home office (which was largely dominated by a computer and Warhammer figures) before leading you to an empty room, nothing but free space for whatever you wanted. A huge window overlooked the city and you knew that the morning light would be amazing in here. He showed you the bathroom that belonged to it, before going back to the living room. “Want anything to drink?” He asked with a smile. He was handsome, even more than pictures led on, his fangs – that had you squirming in pictures – catching on his bottom lip ever so often, his eyes gleaming; you nodded and pulled your thoughts away from how handsome your maybe-roomie was. “Sure, thanks.” “Water, tea, coffee, beer…? I think I might have a mountain Dew stuck somewhere in the back of the fridge.” “Maybe a little early for beer, but I’m dying for a coffee.” He nodded and quickly made a cup. “Take anything in it?” YOU flushed, your mind going straight to something extremelt inappropriate and you cleared your throat, willing yourself to seem just sort of put together. “Uh, if you have milk, that would be great.”

He handed you the cup of coffee and you quickly took a large gulp, hoping it would pep you up. “So… I have a question.” You said, clutching the cup in your hands. “Sure.” “Where’s Kal?” you asked, hoping you weren’t coming across as weird or stalker-y by knowing the name. He smiled widely. “Doggy day-care. I thought it would be best, so we wweren’t interrupted by him ‘.” You hummed. “Alright. Another question.” “You’re eager.” He grinned. “Kidding, shoot away.” You set your coffee on the table and looked at him, sitting across from you in the other couch – he looked so relaxed and down to earth, you had a hard time understanding why you had been nervous in the first place. “Why do you need a roommate? I mean, you’re a moviestar, I have a hard time thinking it’s a money-problem.” He set his own cup down and smiled, running a hand through his hair. It looked soft. “Well, I theoretically don’t really need a roommate. It’s more a want, at this point.” He glanced at you and his tongue darted out, wetting his bottom lip. “Uhm, as you know, it’s a limited time. I’m shooting a movie here, and it just made more sense to get an apartment instead of staying at a hotel.” You nodded. “But I hate leaving Kal at a daycare, and I must admit, I like having noise around me, so.. A roommate seemed like a smart option.” “Only if said roommate likes dogs.” You replied with a sly smile. “You don’t?” He asked. “Oh, me? Love them. But I’m betting there’s a line of people ready for this place. It’s right in the city, your place is going to be a big commodity in the roommate-community.” You said with a shrug. “I haven’t had anyone else over. I haven’t really thought about it.” “Oh?” He smiled widely. “I enjoyed the banter on the phone, so I wanted to see what kind of a person, you were.” You bit your lip, feeling heat on your cheeks. Goddamnit. “Can I ask you something?” He said after a moment, leaning back in the couch. “Sure. Open book.” You answered happily, your heart pounding away – it seemed like there was a chance you might actually have a place to live that wasn’t three feet under. “Why do you need a roommate?” he asked slowly. Here goes nothing. “Well… Uhm, my lease for my current place, which is way overpriced, I might add, is going up by the end of the week and I honestly can’t afford a place on my own as long as I’m studying.” He nodded once. “What are you studying?” You smiled. “I’m trying to get my medical degree. I work part time on rotation at the hospital, trying to get a feel of the different departments to figure out where I want to do my residency.” He whistled at that. “Holy hell, you’re amazing. Any place in particular, you’re fond of yet?” “Yeah, so far the E.R has been a favorite. I like the rush there, if that makes sense.” “Sure.” You grinned at him. “I have a few shifts a month to keep up with the rent, but I can’t really take more without losing out on study-time, so…” You trailed off. “Anyway, that’s why I’m looking for a roommate.” “Even if it’s just for 6 months?” You shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, six months get me into my residency and I start making enough for me to find my own place, I hope.” You shot him a quick smile. “Besides, if I get a chance to hang out with a cute dog and be somewhat familiar with those…” You pointed to the consoles. “I’m more than happy with six months.” He grinned. “Gamer?” “Ha, I wish. No, haven’t really had the time. Played a little when I was younger, but… I’d love to get reacquainted with it.” “Deal.” He smiled and pulled a stack of papers out from the table. “Well, Y/N… I think I might have made my choice, if you’re still interested.” You gawked at him. This man, this famous, handsome man, wanted you for a roommate. It hadn’t really occurred to you that it might actually be a thing, simply because you were you; luck hadn’t really been on your side lately. “Oh, really?” You asked timidly. He nodded. “Want to go over the lease?” You smiled. “Bring it on.”

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Four days later, you closed the final box and taped it shut, looking around at your small apartment, now stacked with boxes and bags. You wiped sweat off your brow and felt extraordinarily hot; the eternal struggle of being a bigger girl. Sweat would pour like rain from your face if you felt just a little hot – and piling boxes, filling them and emptying cupboards were a workout. You didn’t understand how you had managed to cram so many things into so little space, much less how you had managed to get it all packed up. You grunted and began lifting the boxes into the rented trailer, before doing your best with your furniture – you might be a stubborn woman, but you could quickly see, that there was no way you’d get the couch and/or the bed out of your apartment without help. You rang Anna and told her of your predicament, but she wasn’t even in the area, having gone up to visit family. “Call your roomie, I’m sure those bulging pectorals could carry a couch.” “Anna!” “What, am I wrong? Are you going to look at me and tell me that i´m wrong?” She challenged. “I’m not even looking at you, you dipshit.” “The I guess you can’t tell me I’m wrong. Just call him, I’m sure he’s happy to be the prince for a damsel in distress.” “I’m not a damsel.” “But you’re in distress.” “Fuck you.” You heard her laugh. “Love you too, babe.”

You sighed and rubbed your forehead; you didn’t have money for movers to help and you didn’t have anyone else to call, so either you could try again and most likely dislocate your knee and shoulder, maybe even break a few toes when you inevitably dropped the couch on your foot, or you’d suck it up and call him. He was your roommate after all. If that counted as an excuse. You picked the phone up and a little part of you prayed that he wouldn’t answer; you hated being depending on other people, and the thought of him seeing you sweat and flushed because of a few pesky boxes, made you squirm. “Hi, Y/N?” His voice rang out through the phone and you swallowed thickly. “HI, Henry. Uh…” You trailed off, looking at your stuff. Maybe it would be worth the dislocated shoulder. “You okay?” He asked, concern clear in his voice. You had barely known the man for four days, much less talked that much to him after agreeing to move in, but he apparently already worried about you. “Uh, I’m in a pickle.” You said, sighing. “Oh?” “Well, I thought I had the whole moving-thing totally under control, but despite how many obvious muscles I have, I cannot for the life of me move my heavier furniture.” You said, mentally punching yourself with a sledgehammer for even trying this. He probably had better things to do. “Send me your address, I’ll be there in twenty.”

Twenty minutes later on the dot, a car pulled up and Henry got out – he was wearing a pair of loose shorts and a t-shirt, that seemed a number too small, if you were judging on the way his arms bulged through the sleeves. He jogged to you and grinned. “Muscle-man here and ready.” You smiled back. Despite your previous ideas of who and how he was, you were really happy he had shown up. “Thank you so much. I probably could do it myself, but not without dislocating a part of me.” You said, rubbing your neck. “No problem. That’s what roommates are for, right?” He said with a smile. “Now, show me the bastard of heavy furniture.”

Now even thirty minutes later, all of your stuff was neatly stacked in the trailer, and you had been surprised at how easy conversation flowed between the two fo you; he seemed gentle and down to earth, and from the way the chatter went on, it felt as though you had been friends for a long time. It had surprised you; not the fact that he was a person and nice, but the fact that he willingly held a conversation and seemed genuinely interested in what you had to say. You worried that he would sneer at you and your sweaty face – it wouldn’t be the first time someone had – but he had not said a thing, just wiped sweat of his own brow and told you that the apartment was way too hot. “I think that’s the last of it.” You said, looking at the boxes and furniture. Why you had decided to bring your couch, you didn’t know, but there was something sentimental about the first piece of furniture you had bought for yourself. “Thank you so much for your help, Henry.” You said earnestly. “No issue. I have to use these some way, or they’ll wilt.” He said, pointing to his arm. You laughed. “I’m pretty sure your muscles will stay muscle-y until the next century.” You shot back. Banter. Banter was good. “You know how to drive a trailer?” he asked, brows furrowed. “Uh… No? First time for everything, right?” “In the city? You have a death-wish, darling.” He said, pulling his phone out. The nickname a

wasn’t lost on you. “Hang on for just a minute.” He stepped away, talking fast into the phone, while you looked at his back with brows furrowed. “Alright, you can ride with me. I have a company coming to move your car and the things.” “Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” You blushed. “I can’t really afford…” “Y/N, I’m not letting you drive with that trailer, alone, for the first time, in the city.” He said sternly. “I’d like to avoid getting a new roommate before getting to know the first one.” You sighed. “I… I’ll pay you back.” You said lamely. He shook his head. “There’s really no need. Get in, let’s go home.” You nodded, still flush with embarrassment; it felt a little – no, a lot – wrong to have him pay for something, that was entirely your problem. “Just leave your car-keys on the front tire.” He said and you followed his orders, sighing a little. Damn it, you were already indebted to him, and you hadn’t even known him for a week. “Don’t overthink it. Friends help friends, right? Consider it early payment for watching Kal when I’m on set.” He said, smiling as he opened the car door for you. “I just… Uh…” You didn’t know what to say. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.” The car roared to life.

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circular-time · 2 years ago

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hello! i'd like some help. i've been getting into the fifth, sixth and eighth doctor audios lately but i don't know where to start to get introduced to the audios without being too overwhelmed not knowing what the characters gone through in previous adventures. so any suggestions for a first listener?

and also is there a like a list available online highlighting the audios in order of the doctor's timeline?

Just to double-check: I think you've seen some classic Who but not a lot? The audios try their best to introduce you in case you don't know the characters or haven't seen them in years.

The easiest way to tell where the audios fall in the timeline is to check which companions are involved. Most are self-contained, although the Main Range tended to release them in batches of three, which occasional lead from one to the next in the trilogy. Also, there's occasionally a single release that's an anthology of four half-hour short stories.

Here's the order of the Fifth Doctor's adventures, with which I'm most familiar.

If Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) is listed, then it's set during the Fifth Doctor's early days, aka S19 between Castrovalva and Earthshock. Five starts out with: Nyssa (Sarah Sutton, playing an alien girl with a head for science), Tegan (a human air stewardess trying to get back to her job at Heathrow, after accidentally blundering into the TARDIS and being abducted), and math genius/brash teenager Adric. (Recommendations: Iterations of I/Psychodrome, Kingdom of Lies, Ghost Walk, Cold Fusion)

Adric departs near the end of the Fifth Doctor's first season, S19. The final cliffhanger of that season sees Tegan stranded in Heathrow as the TARDIS dematerializes. By this time she'd decided she enjoyed traveling with the Doctor after all... whoops!

So then there's a bunch of audio adventures with just Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison, Nyssa and Five off being space tourists and alien good samaritans, inserted between S19 and S20. (Recommendations: Primeval, 1001 Nights, Spare Parts, Castle of Fear/Eternal Summer/Plague of the Daleks, Creatures of Beauty, Circular Time, Alien Heart/Dalek Soul. Obviously I love this team)

Returning to TV continuity at the beginning of S20, the Fifth Doctor's second season, there are some audios with Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton, set after the TV story Arc of Infinity, when the Doctor and Nyssa bump into Tegan again in Amsterdam and she rejoins the TARDIS. Recommended: Hexagora, Aquitaine, The Peterloo Massacre (oh gods, that's a gut punch of a story, but SO good. A rare straight historical with no aliens that didn't come in the TARDIS.)

If Mark Strickson and Janet Fielding are together with Peter but NOT Sarah, then it's set after Nyssa leaves the show at the end of Terminus during TV season 20. I just deleted a long paean to the hot mess that is Turlough, but in short: he's an alien exiled to Earth and forced to attend an English boys' school, a fate so horrible he strikes a deal with the devil to kill some bloke named the Doctor in exchange for his freedom. Turlough's knack for self-preservation wars with his inner stirrings of conscience, making him a tortured little meow meow who hides behind a mask of sarcasm and cynicism. Tegan, who is usually right, thinks he's a little shit. The Doctor Believes In Turlough, which is pretty unkind of him, because Turlough keeps having to live up to his expectations.

ANNYWAY. On TV, Sarah, Janet and Mark Strickson didn't have much overlap, but Big Finish has kindly corrected that at Mark's request by jamming an ENTIRE STORY ARC into the few TV episodes where Turlough and Tegan are traveling with Five after Nyssa's departure on Terminus. They catch up to her again much later in her timeline starting in the audio Cobwebs. I think the Mark/Sarah/Janet/Peter combo is fantastic, and there's barely any audios in that batch of 16 I wouldn't recommend, except Rat Trap. Listen to Cradle of the Snake. Listen to Cradle of the Snake. Preferably after watching Kinda and/or Snakedance, since it brings back the same monster. Cobwebs, Kiss of Death, Emerald Tiger, Butcher of Brisbane, Lady of Mercia, are also good for one reason or another, and Prisoners of Fate/Entropy Plague will just rip your heart out as much as any new Who.

There's a scattering of stories with the Fifth Doctor on his own, nominally set after the tv story The Awakening, when Tegan winds up visiting her... uncle, I think? and, wonder of wonder, lets Turlough stay.

There's a few recent stories with just Turlough, Tegan, and Kamelion, a castoff robot with a knack for mimicry (it can copy both the voice and appearance of a person) the Doctor took from the Master at the end of Season 20. Tegan doesn't trust it. The Doctor thinks it deserves a "life" away from the Master. I'm still trying to finish these because I love Kamelion as much as Tegan does, but the first one is good.

So far there's been one story with just Tegan and the Fifth Doctor called Time in Office which is brilliant, set after The Five Doctors when he is dragged back to Gallifrey to serve as president. A wild Leela appears. (Tegan and the Doc left Turlough to chill for a brief time at the end of the TV episode Frontios.)

There's a very few audios with just Mark Strickson and Peter Davison set after Tegan leaves again on TV. Mark is always fun. The very first one, Phantasmagoria, was the first Big Finish after the pilot and is surprisingly good for being so early, thanks in part to Peter and Mark having fun. I can't decide whether I love or dislike Loup-Garoux— it's definitely from the wild and crazy EU era before there was any hope the TV show would be renewed — but it's unforgettable.

The Fifth Doctor's final companion Peri, played by Nicola Bryant, is an American grad student in botany on gap year. She overlapped with Turlough for one story on tv (Planet of Fire) but he was gone by the end of it. Some of the Fifth Doctor and Peri's early audio adventures have a delightful audio-only companion, the ancient Egyptian Erimem, introduced in the excellent Eye of the Scorpion. Also rec: The Church and the Crown, The Kingmaker, Son of the Dragon.

Well, sorry, that wasn't organized, and it's ONLY the Fifth Doctor. Can someone else do Eight? I haven't caught up with his timeline and there's NO WAY i can be brief.

Sixie's first TV companion is Peri (Widow's Assassin springs instantly to mind, taking place years after Peri's departure from TV, Ish, as well as the infamous Piscon Paradox: basically if Nev Fountain writes something for Nicola, it's good) and his last is Mel, but TV never showed Mel arriving, so Big Finish has given Sixie several good companions:

the AMAZING Evelyn Smythe played by Maggie Stiles (Just go listen to The Marian Conspiracy and the Creature of Lanyon Moor, there you go, also Jubilee is what the pilot episode Dalek was based on but the original is so much more terrifying and very different with Sixie and Evelyn.)

Then Flip Jackson played by Lisa Greenwood; I haven't listened to all of hers, but she's adorable, full of pluck and curiosity and a lively brain but not much burdened by fear or common sense; as far as I can tell Sixie adopted a kitten only she's human.

Then somehow Six winds up with Eight's signature companion Charley aka Charlotte Pollard played by India Fisher, Edwardian Adventuress, a stowaway from the historical airship R-101 (which actually postdates the reign of king Edward by a few years, whoops) — I haven't heard these yet but need to, as both India and Colin are excellent.

Next is Mrs Clarke, Constance Clarke played by Miranda Raison, or "Connie" once Six and Mrs Clarke find Flip again... Mrs Clarke is a WReN (Women's Royal Navy) from Bletchley Park, WWII, one of the Enigma codebreakers with a very "keep calm and carry on" no-nonsense attitude. Recommendations: Cross Cross, Order of the Daleks (that stained glass Dalek you see everywhere was originally deaigned for the cover art of this story), Juggernaut.

Somewhere in all that, Big Finish recorded exactly one — ONE — story with Frobisher, Sixie's shapeshifting gumshoe sleuth sidekick from the old Doctor Who comics who insists on sticking to the shape of a penguin. The Holy Terror is weird and wonderful and creepy.

Pick up The Wormery just for fun. Dear old Katy Manning, who once played the Third Doctor's companion Jo Grant on TV, has had a second life in audio as Iris Wildthyme, retired opera singer, drunk, and all-around zooty old lady wandering the universe looking for a good time in a TARDIS disguised as a red double decker bus. She also flirts shamelessly with the Doctor in every incarnation, includin Sixie.

And finally— thanks I suspect to Flip's actress Lisa Greenwood coming down with long covid in December 2020, poor kid; it's heartbreaking to see how she's lost alla that exuberant energy... Sixie and Mel (Bonnie Langford) were just joined by a new audio companion, Hebe, played by Ruth Madeley. You should definitely hear The One Doctor.

#fifth doctor #doctor who #big finish #recommendations #well THAT got long #sorry about that but i guess you know what my blog's like

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softinkshadows · 4 years ago

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Shingeki no Kyojin Astrology: sun-moon-rising combinations

I was looking around tumblr for detailed astrology speculations of my fave anime characters, but there aren't that many! Being q well-versed in astro myself, i thought why not do my own version (very spoiler-free, don’t worry)! I followed the birth dates given by isayama:

Eren Jaeger - Aries sun, Scorpio moon, Cancer rising Aside from the fact that he can be hotheaded and impulsive, Eren's feelings of vengeance run deep and explosive. Remember that time he was chained to the bed after the attack on trost, and his eyes were wild with the need to violently eradicate all titans? He's so tenacious and emotionally stubborn too (a Scorp moon trait) to the point of being closed off from everyone else, especially towards the end where he seems to take the weight of the world's burden on his own shoulders. And all for the sake of protecting his community and ensuring the safety of his friends for the rest of their lives. His comrades and family are his motivation. This is his Cancer rising steering his life.

Mikasa Ackerman - Aries sun, Aquarius moon, Aries rising "Look that moody brat is running off on her own again." Mikasa is similar to Eren in her impulsiveness and determination, but different in two ways- what they aim to protect and their extent of fearlessness. Eren is aware of his own weaknesses and helplessness, but Mikasa's amazing physical prowess makes her act without any hesitation at all. She's hella fierce and driven to keep herself in shape too, doing all those sit-ups and chopping firewood post-injury. I think she deserves a double Aries! An Aries rising means a Libra descendant too, which is reflected her whole-hearted devotion in her close partnerships (Eren and Armin). Her aquarius moon really shines thru with her stoic independence, focus and perseverance.

Armin Arlet - Scorpio sun, Virgo moon, Pisces rising He's the brain of the 104th cadet corps, and is second to Erwin in terms of strategy! An intelligent planner with low self-esteem often found second guessing his own analytical abilities, Armin is a true blue Virgo moon. His emotional self stands out the most from the main three protagonists - Eren & Mikasa mostly express anger and desperation, whereas Armin is usually shrouded in fear and worry. He's a very soft bb, hence the Pisces rising, not to mention he gets so dreamy imagining the sea, the vast plains, and the magical world beyond the walled universe he knows. A spiritually-attuned and curious explorer :")

Levi Ackerman - Capricorn sun, Scorpio moon, Virgo rising Levi is such a complex person, thanks to Isayama's brilliance. Like many Cap suns, Levi is authoritative, cold and incredibly savage. That's not to say he doesn't feel anything either. Levi is an evolved Scorp moon (maybe even moon in 11th house) because his feelings are never for himself, but he hurts so much for others - you can tell every death hits him so hard, but he doesn't show this to anyone else. He also exudes this quietly intimidating aura of natural competence, a common characteristic of this sun-moon combo. He can take things personally as well (re: height issues) but it never snowballs into more than passing irritation. The turbulence of his emotions and habit for violence is balanced out by his earthy Virgo rising, which is emotionally subdued, quite thin and delicate in physique, and super neurotic and nitpicky when it comes to cleanliness and health. Cap, Virgo and Scorp are some of the most guarded signs, and a combi of all 3 are hellish. You can tell this poor beautiful man is always caught between feeling and thinking, between maintaining his humanity and forsaking it.

Erwin Smith - Libra sun, Capricorn moon, Leo rising In another life, Erwin Smith would be the damn CEO of a global conglomerate because he oozes so much charisma. Hell if charisma were energy Erwin Smith would be its prime, eternally renewable source. His stature alone is so commanding, and I find some strong Leonine traits in his thickset physique, strong eyebrows, beautiful hair, and that way he shouted in full glory atop wall Rose in that one episode to the cheering masses below. He might be a Libra sun, diplomatic in political affairs, but his Capricorn moon is what drives his decisions. Cap moon has a rep for being cold and unemotional, but i believe they are way more than that! Cap moons rarely boast about their long list of achievements, instead looking forward to the next goal. They struggle with emotional expression, and are super driven and disciplined. Erwin is capable of making the hardest decisions, putting aside emotions to strive for an abstract ideal, and this is to be expected of the commander who takes on the role of the devil.

Hange Zoe - Virgo sun, Sagittarius moon, Gemini rising All hail our favourite mad scientist!! Hange is such a breath of fresh air in the Survey Corps, balancing out the heaviness of missions with their wacky tales of titan research and experimentation. Their penchant for study and higher knowledge is typical of a Sagittarius moon, who is drawn to advanced academic study and spiritual truths. It's also a lighthearted and optimistic sign, true to Hange's upbeat personality. The Virgo in them contributes to their sheer intelligence and obsessiveness with research subjects. We also know they LOVE to talk, and once Eren asks Hange about experiments, they cannot stop (Gemini governs communication). Virgo, Sag and Gemini are the most intellectual signs, and because they are mutuable Hange tends to follow orders rather than give them, making it difficult to adapt to their new role towards the end of the series. Mutable signs also means rapidly-changing emotional states, and a whole lot of chaos, which suits our beloved squad leader.

Jean Kirstein - Aries sun, Virgo moon, Taurus rising Our third Aries on the list ohmygod. The snk universe is full of feisty hotheads. Jean is always seen clashing with Eren, fuelled by Eren's closeness with Mikasa and his own adorable jealousy. I mean, they had a full on fist fight right after dinner in the mess hall, although everything went downhill after the first few punches. Our first impression of Jean during his cadet days is coloured by his desire to work in the interior, and this favour for material safety and wealth is perhaps common to a Taurus rising. Also, Taurus is ruled by Venus, planet of beauty and harmony, and thus often figures in the charts of artists. If you've seen Jean's drawing skills in that special episode, you'll know that his artistic abilities are the finest we have seen, exceeding even that of isayama himself. Jean's strong principles such as being averse to killing people and oftentimes cynical nature, is also characteristic of the moral and cautious Virgo moon.

Sasha Braus - Leo sun, Gemini moon, Taurus rising Not all Leos are showmans. Sasha is the type of Leo who displays more of the quirky, unabrashed personality suited to her opposite sister sign Aquarius. Authority doesn't exist when food comes into play, as we see when she breaks potato with Shadis and later steals a slab of meat from the officer's warehouse. Unlike the visual artistry that Jean possesses with his Taurus rising, Sasha's Taurus centers around her love for food, and hell she can have fiery determination for it (rmb the wild night she mistook Jean's hand for meat?). I love that both of them were pitted with each other in that cooking special episode. I considered placing her as a Taurus moon, but Taurus moons are usually steadier and classier in emotion, whereas Sasha is often breezy, gets nervous and chaotic, with stellar intuition, making her likely a Gemini moon.

Connie Springer - Taurus sun, Cancer moon, Gemini rising Although not much attention is paid to Connie's growth, his character development reminds me a lot of Aang from ATLA. Cheery and happy-go-lucky at first, before the incident with his mother made him more prone to feelings of anger and vengeance, especially near the later chapters. His strong protective bond with his mother is what compels me to say he is a Cancer moon, which is a moon sign that is very homebody and drawn to family and traditions. His goofy self and him referring to Sasha as "his twin" puts him as the spunky Gemini rising, another sign he shares with her.

Reiner Braun - Leo sun, Pisces moon, Capricorn rising Aside from his natural leader personality (Leonine), Reiner likes to take on the persona of the big brother of the group. His outward stoicism, decisiveness and task-oriented nature is typical of a Cap rising, who is often serious and solemn in appearance. He reminds me of that Cap rising workaholic who does his best in a corporate organization, working 9 to 5 plus overtime as it fulfills his sense of purpose. Beyond his stoic facade reveals a more troubled personality. Like a Pisces moon, Reiner is impressionable, and it's difficult to tell if his emotions and personalities are his own, wavering and absorbing traits from those around him. His internal war with his identity and the ensuing fatigue characterises him during the second half of the series.

Annie Leonhart - Aries sun, Aquarius moon, Virgo rising Annie is the kind of Aries that is so motivated to achieve her goals that everything else is sidelined, including her own emotions. She's quite ruthless in chasing her objectives, and her composure, focus and endurance is highlighted with an Aquarius moon. I'm guessing she has a 4th house influence somewhere because of her motivations to go home to her father and lead a normal life. I find the daintiness and delicateness of her features similar to Levi, who is also a Virgo rising. The Virgo effect also registers as a brutal, unfiltered honesty (also seen in Levi), and Annie doesn't hesitate to speak the truth about her own or her opponent's capabilities.

Other characters which I won't go into much detail about:

Bertholdt Hoover - Capricorn sun, Virgo moon, Pisces rising Bertholdt is quiet with an unobtrusive personality. His lack of supposed iniative and aggression can perhaps be attributed to the mutuability of Virgo and Pisces, which goes with the flow instead of charging forward. He keeps his feelings to himself, but reacts when the people he wants to protect are threatened.

Historia Reiss - Capricorn sun, Libra moon, Cancer rising Historia initially lives for the sake of others (esp Ymir), and is more co-dependent than many of her other squadmates. She also tends to put up a front of pleasantness, afraid of disappointing or offending people. She has a strong tie to family, and a profound sense of duty.

Ymir - Aquarius sun, Pisces moon, Aries rising Ymir is extremely astute when it comes to evaluating human behaviour. The religiosity of her background is also usually found in this sun-moon combination, which tends to attract paths of strong spirituality. She also has a bold and noble sacrificial streak for the sake of her companions.

Zeke Jaeger - Leo sun, Capricorn moon, Scorpio rising A headstrong, intelligent and radical character. In a way similar to Erwin in his ruthlessness, but emotionally darker and much more sinisterly private.

Kenny Ackerman - Aquarius sun, Sagittarius moon

Rod Reiss - Virgo sun, Libra moon

Dot Pixis - Virgo sun, Sagittarius moon

Hannes - Capricorn sun, Taurus moon

#snk astrology #snk #aot astrology #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #anime astrology #eren jaeger #mikasa ackerman #armin arlet #levi ackerman #erwin smith #hange zoe #jean kirstein #sasha braus #connie springer #reiner braun #annie leonhart #bertholdt hoover #historia reiss

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littlesniggy · 3 years ago

Note

Hi! Idk if you’re already at Wano Kuni and if not please just ignore it but would you consider doing either nsfw headcanons or scenario for Kaido? Maybe some female pirate tries to take him down and he keeps her as a pet? You can make it dark if you want to!

Love your writing so so much!

There is always a first time for writing for a character and yes, I've almost caught up with the latest episode so I know enough about Kaido. It was a challenge to write for him though since I haven't really thought about his sex life, what he likes and what he doesn't, so I'm not sure if this might be a little ooc? But I hope you still enjoy it!

Warning: 18+, nsfw, dub-con!!, Master/pet, mention of humiliation, mention of violence

Pairing: Kaido x pet female! reader

Word count: 2.2k

“Worororo.” His deep voice rumbled through the huge cave, echoing from the cold walls and making you feel like you were standing in front of a monster. Well, technically he was a monster; especially in his dragon form and even like this was he simply a mountain of a man. What were you thinking when you decided to take him on? Did you really think you had a chance against the strongest creature? How foolish could you be?

The emperor was sitting on his huge throne, a bottle of sake in his hand, drinking it like it was water. You were amazed as to how he could drink this much and still be able to fight. When you tried to take him on you thought you had a chance once he was flat out drunk – but you were gravely mistaken.

“C’mon. Try again.” He laughed, his eyes watching you in amusement. You were panting heavily, stray strands of hair clinging to your face. You were sweating like a pig. If it was because of the heat or your futile attempts at hurting the man in front of you, you weren’t sure and you didn’t care. You got even angrier at his mocking tone; to the point he made you feel helpless.

Gathering the last bit of strength you had left in your body you punched him right in his face; there wasn’t even a slight crunch indicating a broken bone. But your hand hurt instead. “Fuck!” you cursed, holding your fist; tears of humiliation and pain gathered in your eyes and you averted your gaze, not wanting him to see your tears.

“So weak….it’s almost pathetic.” He chuckled, taking another huge sip of booze. “Is this all you’ve got?” when you didn’t answer, he let out a disgusted sound of disapproval, his expression changing from amused to displeased.

“No will to fight, no devil fruit power – I should just kill you to save you from this miserable life.” His hand searched for his huge mace, finding it and swinging it as a warning. You looked up, your eyes following the weapon warily but you suppressed the urge to flinch. You felt his eyes on your form, a contemplating look on his face.

Suddenly, he stroke out, the mace swinging towards you at an incredible fast speed, ready to strike you with full force. You shut your eye tightly, held your breath and waited for the impact that was sure to hit you – but it never happened. After what felt like an eternity you opened your eyes slowly, seeing the weapon only inches away from your face. Your whole body was trembling uncontrollably and your knees gave in, making you fall to the ground.

Fear clung to your body like a second skin and the tears you tried to hold back so bravely were now running down your cheeks, uncontrollable sobs leaving your body. I thought he’d kill me! You always thought you didn’t fear death; that you would welcome it like an old friend once your time came but GOD! – how much you had been mistaking! You didn’t want to die!

“Worororo.” The mace was slowly retreated and Kaido watched your sobbing form in front of him. “Are you scared of dying?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “I like the look of fear on your face. I want to see it more often.” His words made you shudder in fear. What does he mean? Didn’t he want to kill you?

He got up, weaving two steps to the side, the alcohol slightly clouding his senses. You didn’t date look up at the man in front of you, wishing he’d just somehow forget about you and let you leave but this was futile, you knew. Out of the corner of your eye you saw him reach for something out of your sight and shortly after something black was dropped in front of you.

“Put it on.” He demanded. Your eyes skimmed the black leather piece, decorated with small metal thorns. It was a collar! Incredulously, you took the collar in your hands, your fingers feeling the cold, stiff leather. Why did he have something like this?

“Put it on!” he got louder and you flinched at his demand. With shaky hands you put the degrading piece of ‘jewelry’ around your neck, the leather tightening around your throat and you felt like it was already choking you.

“Wororororo. Get naked. Pets don’t wear clothes.” Your body acted on its own and piece after piece dropped to the ground, exposing your over the years as a pirate trained body, some battle scars and slightly dried skin from the salty sea water. The emperor’s eyes wandered over your body while he took another huge chug of his sake before realizing it was already empty. Angrily, he smashed the empty bottle on the ground; you had to dodge some broken pieces that flew in all directions to not get hit.

“Bring me new booze!” he yelled at you, his furious eyes piercing you. Your body was frozen in place and you couldn’t move, even if you wanted to.

All of a sudden, you were choking in his grip, legs in the air, struggling for support, your hands clawing at his huge hand.

“Useless pet.” He growled, his grip tightening around your neck, the thorns of your new collar poking into his hand but he barely felt anything. Since his hand was so huge he was not only choking you but also crushing your upper body with his iron grip. You felt that your bones were about to break, pain rushing through your body. You couldn’t decide what you should focus on first; your lack of air filling your lungs or the quiet crunching of your body.

Kaido’s eyes narrowed at you, then they looked past you to an entering subordinate. “Kaido-sama, I-“ but he was cut off. “Bring me more booze!” the emperor ordered the man, walking back to his throne, your body like a doll in his huge hand. At least his grip eased a little, giving you room to breathe properly again.

He sat down and placed you on his thigh, his hand moving down from your neck and upper body to your hips, his grip holding you in place. You weren’t sure how to behave but you knew for a fact that any wrong movement would trigger this unpredictable man and you weren’t keen on finding out what else he would do to you.

The first time he took you it was hell. He took you to his bed and you knew what he wanted to do even without telling you. He ordered you to get on your knees on his bed. When you tried to fight him he simply pressed you down with ease. You heard a rustling noise behind you and out of the corner of your eye you saw how he took out his huge member and your breath caught in your throat. This is never going to fit! Your mind screamed and you just wanted to get away from him. But it was futile.

He wasn’t a big talker during sex and he didn’t appreciate it when you pleaded with him to let you go, to go slower and give you some time to adjust. It hurt like hell and after he was done your body was a giant ball of pain. Your body was covered in his cum and he just pushed you out of his bed, telling you to get lost.

The times after that were no better. Each time, he thrusted into your body like it was some kind of sex doll, pressing your face into the mattress to shut you up. His deep grunts were the only sounds that filled the room and to your dismay he wasn’t someone who came fast. It was an ordeal.

The first time you had to suck him off your jaw just locked and you couldn’t close it afterwards. It took a while and a lot or effort and pain to be able to close it again. Kaido just watched you in amusement, his cum dripping out of your mouth and dripping onto your exposed chest.

Kaido had also no shame in getting walked in on, just continuing with either fucking your mouth or pussy while his subordinates just awkwardly telling him the latest news. It was humiliating but there was nothing you could do about it.

Over time, you got used to his treatment and had learned to ‘always be prepared’, as bad as it sounded. You had realized that it was bearable when you stretched yourself beforehand. Was it humiliating? For sure. Was it necessary? Absolutely. Kaido once caught you stretching yourself and since then he had you do it in front of him. He liked the show.

You were on all four again, your rear exposed to the emperor behind you, your core already dripping. Kaido took his place behind you, his hand stroking his erect dick lazily. His other hand was holding the bottle of booze, taking a huge gulp. You felt his dick press against your entrance, pushing further and further until the tip disappeared inside of your pussy. You grabbed the bed sheet with your hands, trying to relax around his member.

With a fast snap he buried himself inside of your body completely, taking another gulp of his booze. Some of it dropped onto your back, the cold liquid giving you goosebumps. His hand found its way into your hair, grabbing it uncomfortably tight. His hips started to move against your body, hard and merciless. He was only chasing his own orgasm and he didn’t care if you enjoyed it or not.

A clatter echoed through the room and you saw the bottle burst into a thousand pieces. His now free hand found its way on your hip, pressing you against his body. His dick was filling you out and the sheer force of his thrusts made your body jerk back and forth on the bed.

Kaido let his nails rake down your body, leaving red and bloody streams on your skin. You arched your back, clenching around his dick in response. Kaido raised his eyebrow at your response and chuckled. His pace got faster and his hand on your head pressed your upper body down on the bed, his body leaning over yours, his other hand supporting his weight on the bed next to your head.

“Ah!” you panted, a seemingly long forgotten feeling spreading through your body – lust. The emperor’s fierce thrusts actually made you feel good! – and you didn’t know what to do. Never would’ve you imagined that this brutal man could actually manage to please you, even though it probably wasn’t his intention at all.

The small pants became more frequent and turned into moans, the sound of raw skin on skin slapping against each other made your stomach tingle in excitement and for the first time you started to actively move against him.

Kaido was moving inside of you like a wild animal, his animalistic instincts taking over and he took you like a wild beast in heat. Apparently, he was quite fond of your moans since he didn’t press your face into the mattress as usually when he wanted you to shut up.

“K-Kaido-sama!” you moaned, trying to look at him over your shoulder but he wouldn’t let you. He huffed, a low growl rumbling through his chest and his grip in your hair tightened. The good feeling inside of you grew stronger and stronger, a tight knot forming inside of you, threatening to burst with each thrust.

Even in his drunken and animalistic state he noticed how your pussy started to tighten around his dick and he knew you were close. “If you wanna cum, cum. But don’t expect me to stop.” He warned you. It was the first time he actually talked to you while he was buried inside of you. A desperate moan left your body and you tried your hardest to prolong your own orgasm but each thrust made it harder and harder.

With a specifically hard thrust he finally pushed you over the edge. Colorful spots spread across your vision, blurring your surroundings as you cam hard around his dick, your walls clenching and unclenching. A loud moan filled the room when you came, your body trembling due to the sheer force.

But Kaido wasn’t done yet. His stamina was impressive, really, but right now you hated him for it. The high you were just on slowly faded away and his hard thrusts brought you back to reality. You wanted to complain, to tell him to stop but you knew better. As uncomfortable as the feeling right now was, he was in a good mood. And you would be the most stupid person to try and change that.

When he finally came with a low grunt on your back he didn’t push you out of his bed immediately. He was lying next to you on the bed, his breath already even again. There was a silence between the two of you for a moment, before his deep voice broke it.

“Bring me more sake. I’m getting sober again.”

#one piece #op #op imagine #ns.fw #dub.con #kaido #op kaido #kaido x reader #straw hats #op x reader #master/pet #x reader #female reader #mention of violence

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lavenderboneswrites · 3 years ago

Note

Can i request some Shizuo and Izaya getting out of the closet during highschool for pride month?

Love your blog btw

Here you go, I hope this okay and you enjoy, thank you for the request! I wanted to get this out before pride ended but you know what? Pride never ends. PRIDE IS ETERNAL. Happy pride everyone!!

Rocketman

Words: 3049

Tags: shizaya, pre-relationship, the boys have a chat about sexuality, asexual izaya, demi-sexual shizuo, pride babey, high school days

AO3

Shizuo rolls the tiny badge between his fingers.

He’d taken it from Izaya. Ripped it from his clothes during their most recent fight.

Shizuo had been so close to catching him too. His fingers had brushed at the rough strap of his bag, but before he could get a proper grip the flea was darting away. He had grabbed out desperately and the little pin had come away from Izaya.

It was a small rectangle, probably the size of a fingernail. Made of metal, the front was shiny with horizontal stripes, in colours black, grey, white, and purple. Shizuo didn’t understand the significance of it, Izaya was always wearing ugly ass accessories. Still, as he fiddled with the badge something itched at the back of Shizuo’s mind.

Something important.

He was sitting up on the school roof during a free period. It was empty up here, most aware that the fearsome Heiwajima Shizuo had claimed the rooftop as his territory. The only ones who ever came up the same time as Shizuo were Shinra, Kadota, and that annoying little insect that Shinra always insisted join them.

That’s only when he wasn’t skipping school to do who only knows what.

Shizuo stares down at the little pin in his hand, the wind blowing lightly through his hair as his thoughts pass by lazily.

It’s almost like a flag.

A harsh grating noise pulls Shizuo from his musing. It’s the sound of the rooftop door being dragged open, and as if his very thoughts had summoned the devil himself, out stepped Orihara Izaya.

“Oh,” copper eyes widen slightly, before narrowing in the familiar sneer Shizuo knew all too well. “You’re here.”

Red blinds his vision. Rage erupts in his blood like a volcano. Shizuo’s pupils are expanding, are going predator wide as eyes narrow in on their prey.

Izaya is talking quicker than Shizuo can think, “I think anyone would be here.”

The flea sighs, hands slipping into his pockets as he pouts.

Shizuo’s breathing hard through his nose, mind a haze of kill, kill, kill. He’s about to leap to his feet, about to let out his usual roar and lunge at the flea but his brain suddenly hits a wall.

The rooftop was his safe space. A place where he could come to find peace. It was also a neutral zone, a place where Izaya and Shizuo were forced to tolerate each other for the sake of their mutual friend.

Shinra wasn’t here though.

Shizuo blinked up from where he sat slumped against the fence. This was unknown territory for them. Never had they been up here together … unsupervised.

The strange situation makes his rage flounder slightly, dulls his usual instincts and he just glares up at the flea.

“Fuck off.”

Izaya scoffs at his less than welcoming words.

“Shizu-chan doesn’t own the roof,” he’s arguing back in a derisive tone. It does nothing to quell Shizuo’s rage.

He clenches his fists at his side, metal badge in his hand forgotten as he growls up at Izaya. “Fuck off, I was here first.”

Izaya only raises a brow at that, as if he can’t quite believe Shizuo’s immaturity.

He’s expecting a sarcastic remark, something about his lack of intelligence; Izaya did always love to call him stupid in the most roundabout way. Instead Izaya just lets out a sigh, as if he can’t be bothered arguing today.

Shizuo stiffens as he makes his way over to his own side of the roof. The pest doesn’t sit down next to Shizuo, no, he makes sure to put a distance of at least three meters between them.

Shizuo glares at him the entire time. He’s tensed for an attack, ready to catch one of those annoying as fuck knives flying his way, but none come.

“Relax … there’s enough space for the both of us beast.”

Shizuo feels his eye twitch at that familiar nickname, but Izaya’s tone for once is lacking the usual edge.

He knows if he attacks, the other will defend himself. Yet today Shizuo just can’t bring himself to be bothered. Least when Izaya is acting so docile for once. Well docile for him anyway.

They sit in silence, waiting for the lunch period when Shinra and Kadota will no doubt join them. Izaya’s tapping away on his phone, the noise is only half annoying as Shizuo stares up at the clouds passing by.

It would be nice to take a nap … but he’s not stupid enough to let his guard down completely. Knowing the flea he’d end up getting stabbed.

“Oi.”

Shizuo’s doesn’t bother to look at the flea as his voice comes out gruff.

Izaya doesn’t answer, just keeps tap-tap-tapping and Shizuo has to do that stupid counting thing he was taught to keep his temper at bay. It rarely ever works though.

“Oi bastard,” Shizuo growls a bit louder, eventually turning his head to send a glare Izaya’s way.

Izaya doesn’t look at him. Instead he leans his head back against the fence, as if searching the sky for patience.

“What?”

Izaya really had no right sounding so annoyed. He was the one who was annoying. Always jumping around like a pest, getting Shizuo into fights, plotting and manipulating and just being a general, all-around nuisance.

“You in a bad mood or something?” Shizuo needles and Izaya can’t stop the chuckle that escapes his lips.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Izaya’s eyes are coming down to meet Shizuo’s, red gaze alight with a hint of amusement. “Shizu-chan is in a bad mood 24/7.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Shizuo snaps.

“… I’m guessing mine, right?”

There’s no remorse in his voice, only sarcastic mocking that grates on Shizuo’s ears.

He grinds his teeth together at the annoying noise. Shizuo clenches fists harder, ready to throw a punch when he’s suddenly reminded of the item in his palm as it presses into his skin.

“You piss me off”, Izaya lowers his voice, doing his best Shizuo impression before his voice returns to the usual lilt. “Really Shizu-chan, who did you blame your temper on before you met me?”

Izaya flashes a crooked smile his way, like Shizuo should be grateful he has the flea around to take his anger out on.

Bullshit.

Without another word Shizuo slides the badge in his hand less than gently across the concrete to Izaya’s side of the roof.

There. Now that odd knotting feeling in his stomach can go away.

“What’s this?” Izaya asks curiously.

He leans over and reaches out, fingertips only just grazing the badge. He’s forced to shuffle over on his knees, the action bringing him a little closer to Shizuo as he picks up the shiny metal object.

“It’s yours, right?”

Izaya doesn’t respond. He’s looking down at the pin his hand, brow furrowed in a look Shizuo has never seen on him.

Can’t believe I got him to finally shut up.

“Why …,” Izaya finally breaks his silence. Really, thinking he’d shut the flea up forever would be too good to be true.

Izaya doesn’t meet his eyes, still staring at his hand as if the little badge could give him answers.

Why would you give this back? Why would you do this? Those were the questions that seemed to be crossing Izaya’s features.

“Why do you have this?”

Shizuo can’t help but blink at that, it wasn’t a question he had been expecting.

“I got it yesterday. During …,” he trails off lamely, resolutely looking out at the open rooftop and not at Izaya’s inquisitive eyes.

Izaya doesn’t respond, instead he picks up the badge by the back end, rolling the pin between his index finger and thumb to make the little flag swirl around.

“What is it?”

Shizuo can’t help but be curious. He knows he’s seen those flags around before, maybe not the exact same colours but there’s definitely been a lot of flags randomly around lately.

Izaya makes a derisive noise in the back of his throat. Shizuo can’t decide if he’s annoyed at the question or insulting Shizuo.

“It’s a pride flag, duh.”

Shizuo couldn’t help roll his eyes at the immature response.

“Obviously,” he deadpans back.

There’s an awkward silence, which Izaya doesn’t bother to fill for once. Instead he plants his feet on the ground, bringing his knees up to his chest to lean his crossed arms on them.

Shizuo shifts, unknowingly decreasing the distance between them.

“Which flag?”

Izaya’s only a meter from him now, close enough that when he sends a glare Shizuo’s way he can almost see the individual speckles of red in his eyes.

“Why do you care?”

His tone is defensive and Shizuo wants to roll his eyes again.

“I don’t,” Shizuo wants no confusion here on where he and the flea stand. He continues on, his words going rough and mumbled as he almost doesn’t want to say them. “I was just curious is all.”

Izaya’s brow has turned to a frown, and he’s got this look on his face like he’s actually suspicious of Shizuo; like he can’t quite figure out his intentions. Shizuo had stated them clearly enough, it wasn’t his fault Izaya thought all words had to have meaning upon riddles upon bullshit.

What a fucking headache.

“It’s the ace flag.”

Izaya is purposely not meeting Shizuo’s gaze when the words slip out of him. He’s staring off to the side once again, as if he doesn’t want to give Shizuo a chance to see some unknown thing in his face.

“Ace, huh?”

“Mm.”

Silence falls again, this time a little less awkward from Shizuo’s side. He can practically feel the invisible walls Izaya’s got up around himself though.

“Which one is that again?”

A little chuckle comes to Izaya’s lips and he shoots a coy look to the blonde.

“The asexual pride flag, if you must know.”

Izaya’s got the smallest of grins on his face. It’s not like the usual smarmy smirks he often throws Shizuo’s way. No, this look is softer somehow, as if he’s almost unsure.

Shizuo just raises an eyebrow at his words, as if saying ‘you expect me to know what that means?’

Izaya sniggers at the look before continuing. “Asexual meaning I don’t feel sexual attraction for anyone.”

Shizuo nods along, as if he knew what it had meant the entire time.

Honestly he’d never really thought about. Thinking about your mortal enemies sexual preferences would be just … weird. No matter what Izaya liked, Shizuo really didn’t give a flying crap, as long as he got to beat the shit out of the louse nothing else mattered.

Shizuo tries to remember all of the different flags he had seen lately, he really could only recognise the gay pride flag … all the others he was a little lost at. And really, there seemed to be so many that he couldn’t be bothered learning what they all meant anyway. He really didn’t care what other people wanted to do as long as it didn’t inconvenience him.

“So you’ve never…,” Shizuo opens his mouth without thinking. “You’ve never felt that way … ever?”

Izaya doesn’t seem offended by the extremely personal question. Rather his eyes crinkle at the corners, almost sparkling with amusement.

“Why, does Shizu-chan feel that way about me?”

“Pfft,” Shizuo can’t help but scoff at the sarcastic jab. “As if flea … you’re trash, who would ever be attracted to trash?”

“Glad to know the thought disgusts us both,” he says it more to himself than anything.

“Does that mean you don’t want to … that you don’t ever…,” Shizuo’s face scrunches up, why the fuck is he asking all this?

“What? Have sex? Jack off?”

Shizuo puts his head into his hand and groans at Izaya’s complete lack of shame.

“What the fuck is wrong with you flea?” Shizuo asks into his palm. His only answer is high pitched laughter.

He rubs at his face, finally removing his hand to throw a glare Izaya’s way. “Don’t you have any shame?”

“Hmm, shame and guilt are such interesting concepts don’t you think though? Humans creating standards for themselves depending on whether something they do makes them feel bad, or whether something they do makes others feel bad, which just in turn makes them feel bad too I guess.”

“…huh?”

Shizuo has no idea what the fuck the flea is saying anymore. Twisted little weirdo.

Izaya’s laugh is way too mocking, Shizuo’s going to punch him if he doesn’t stop.

“Well, what happens when that person doesn’t feel bad, no matter what they do?”

Shizuo can’t help but narrow his eyes in a suspicious frown, “…are you fucking with me right now?”

Izaya just giggles again, sounding way too fucking self-satisfied and Shizuo can feel the vein in his temple throbbing in time with that annoying high pitched laugh.

The flea’s chuckling finally settles down a bit, his breath coming out soft before he continues.

“I think Shizu-chan is confusing sexual attraction with libido,” Izaya starts, his parkour between topics making Shizuo’s head hurt slightly.

Can’t you just fucking speak plainly for once?

“There’s a difference?” Shizuo mumbles, hand going to the back of his neck. This should be awkward as hell, embarrassing, mortifying … but Shizuo is surprisingly feeling kind of okay with the conversation … somehow?

“Mm,” Izaya gives a nod and Shizuo notices how he shuffles a little closer. “Think of it like skiing Shizu-chan, you’ve been skiing right?”

“Snowboarding,” Shizuo grumbles. It’s not like his parents had the money to go to a mountain resort every winter, like Izaya’s rich family probably did. However, their last school trip had been a ski trip and despite a snowball fight turning incredibly violent and Shizuo almost causing an avalanche, it had been pretty fun.

“Well, some people like skiing, some like snowboarding, other’s like tobogganing and then there’s those who’d rather stay inside cozied up next to a warm fire. And who’s to say you can’t try more than one thing, or like a variety of either?”

Shizuo frowns, he can kind of follow along with this metaphor.

“So, say you’re a fan of skiing. That can mean you like certain type of skis, or maybe you avoid specific types, or maybe you just prefer to watching skiing from afar or even just on your tv.”

Izaya’s speech flows easy, as if talking was like breathing to him. There’s something almost comforting about it.

“In regards to asexuality, and you can probably apply this to all types of sexuality, but think of it more as a spectrum, an umbrella with varying types all fitting in under it. Some asexuals are don’t have sex, they may even be repulsed by it. Other’s might enjoy it, might experience sexual urges and activity seek it out. Then there might be some that don’t really care either way, they’ll enjoy sexual pleasure but they don't crave it or necessarily seek it out. Some might even just prefer to be by themselves, or focus their energies on other types of releases; like erotic fiction or watching porn.”

Shizuo lets it all sink in. It’s a lot to take, but it makes a surprisingly good amount of sense.

“So you can … it can feel good,” Shizuo purposely ignores the way his ears go red, “you can enjoy stuff like that … but still be asexual?”

There’s a pause, where Izaya tilts his head and observes Shizuo with an uncomfortable amount of scrutiny.

“Hmm, why so curious Shizu-chan?”

Shizuo just shrugs, he’s not entirely sure how to answer that question. Not entirely sure where this desire to discuss this all came from.

Shizuo almost startles as Izaya suddenly closes the distance between them. He crawls to Shizuo’s side, thigh almost touching his own as the flea mirrors his crossed leg position and it’s way too close.

“Here,” Izaya reaches out for Shizuo’s arm and can’t help but flinch slightly, as if expecting an attack.

Izaya just chuckles at the reaction, he holds his hands up for Shizuo to see, the only thing held in them is the little pin between his fingers.

“No tricks, I promise,” the little grin he speaks with and the mischief in his eyes tell a different story.

Frowning, wondering if he’s making a huge mistake, Shizuo’s hands over his arm to Izaya palm up.

“You know, just because someone doesn’t feel sexual attraction doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy sexual or romantic activities. One also doesn’t need to be sexually attracted to someone to find them aesthetically pleasing either.”

Izaya’s fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve, hands blocking Shizuo’s view of exactly what he’s doing.

“Does Shizu-chan like watching horror movies?” Izaya changes subject way too easily and Shizuo is struggling to catch up.

“I don’t know, I guess?” Shizuo wouldn't say he’s the biggest fan of them but he’ll watch them occasionally.

“But you wouldn’t want to be in a horror movie, would you? Or maybe it depends on the kind of horror movie? Maybe if it’s a movie you feel a deep connection with perhaps?”

Shizuo stares at the side of Izaya’s face as he speaks, the flea’s smile going wry as his fingers click something into place.

“There,” Shizuo stares down at the cuff of his shirt, little coloured pin now attached.

Izaya’s voice is firm as he admires his handywork, “until Shizu-chan figures it out, why don’t you hold onto this?”

Shizuo feels his ears burn. His heart skips a beat and he suddenly feels parched. Is he dying? Is he having a heart attack? Why does he feel so warm all of a sudden?

It can’t have anything to do with the heat radiating next to him. The feel of Izaya’s thigh against him and a warm hand cradling his wrist.

As quick as the strange feeling comes it immediately vanishes as Izaya stands up. The door is scraping again, Izaya walking towards the two new arrivals with a casual wave.

Shizuo is left behind in his wake.

#i listened to a lot of elton john while writing this #this is honestly so sweet #they are so cute #finally managed to have an actual conversation #babies #Shizuo: izaya i hate you and hope you die BUT YOU ARE VALID #shizaya #writing prompts #writing request #orihara izaya #heiwajima shizuo #durarara #drrr

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myremains · 3 years ago

Text

Ice Nine Kills - The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood

Tracklist:

Opening Night…

Welcome To Horrorwood

A Rash Decision

Assault & Batteries

The Shower

Funeral Derangements

Rainy Day

Hip to Be Scared (Ft. Jacoby Shaddix)

Take Your Pick (ft. Corpsegrinder of Cannibal Corpse)

The Box (Ft. Brandon Saller & Ryan Kirby)

F.L.Y. (Ft. Buddy Nielsen)

Wurst Vacation

Ex-Mørtis

Farewell II Flesh

Oh good God have I been waiting for what feels like an eternity for this. I fell in love with Ice Nine Kills back with Every Trick In The Book, they wrote songs about some of the greatest novels and they really made something special with it. What do they do then? (Bare in mind they already released 3 albums before that the last 2 of which were amazing in their own right) they do it all over again with Horror movies in The Silver Scream, which was one of the greatest albums to have ever been created, and by God they have milked that titty for everything it's worth and it is still providing! I myself have spent about £200 on their merch because they’ve produced an absolute goldmine of phenomenal designs and have really targeted me with it for my love of horror films and serial killers. So when they announce that every good horror film has a sequel and this is theirs, I did a little dance and squeal when they announced The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood.

“Hip To Be Scared” guest stars Papa Roach’s charismatic frontman Jacoby Shaddix and by God what an absolute belter it is, I have not stopped singing the chorus line to myself for over a week, “The Devil makes exceptions, for all American Psychos'' (not hard to see which story they’re utilising here is it) but it's got a flash 80’s section which talks about themselves as a band before dropping the beatdown in a traditional brutal INK style. Oh then they came out swinging with “Assault & Batteries”, not holding any punches it’s one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever heard them drop, clearly based on Chucky, opens up with a news report, followed by a chat show, then a creepy kids toy sounding interlude that explodes into a truly sinister and aggressive mix which I feel like brings in some style from their old sound, amazingly addictive same as its predecessor. Then dropped “Rainy Days” which has brandished on its single cover the Resident Evil umbrella which already tipped the peak of interest, starts off very industrial sounding, reminiscent slightly of the likes of Motionless In White if you could picture it, for me the best parts are the robotic synthesised human vocals particularly towards the end “GAME OVER… You Died”, that has sat with me so deeply since I first heard it, it encaptures the sinister nature of the narrative and it gives me goosebumps at certain points. “Funeral Derangements” came next and I have to say there was never a doubt in me that I’d love this one, it’s a cross between The Silver Screams heavier side but also a homage to The Predator Becomes The Prey which I also have a huge soft spot for, it’s very aggressive, has those little licks dotted along to add to the chaos, the chorus is lovely and melodic but very sinister, the best part for me is those extraordinary harsh vocals which ques the music up perfectly to just absolute drop and smash your ear drums, great homage to Stephen King and Pet Semetary. “Welcome to Horrorwood'' the album's title track is like the anthem for this sequel, it embodies a fictional place fabricated from the lifestyles of Hollywood but for those of us with a cult following invested in all things horror, “welcome to horrorwood, where anyone would kill for a call back”. “Take Your Pick” is written from My Bloody Valentine, and what better way to make a track sound sinister as all hell than to guest star legendary Cannibal Corpse vocalist Corpsegrinder, it’s the most evil sounding song on the whole album and I am beyond addicted to it. “The Box'' is about the legendary film Hellraiser which features both Brandon Saller from Atreyu and Ryan Kirby from Fit For A King lending guest vocals, Saller in particular being the face of the chorus which is just glorious and definitely unmistakably his voice. “Wurst Vacation” just hits with Rammstein vibes straight away, not just from the “Eins, Zwei, Drei, DIE” but just the industrial sound, having it's content derived from Hostel, an amazing song.

They’ve not just gone all out musically, they’ve really given the full package in terms of PR, famous guest musicians, an interactive interesting story which is basically like a small movie, the themes linking to famous horror films, and phenomenal merchandise (which I own far too much of). It's the first time in quite a long time I’ve been able to just get in the car and stick the album on and just listen to it over and over and over again, but with this one it continues to be just seamless and easy to do so.

[10/10]

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dmcfsstory · 4 years ago

Text

Also available on Ao3: [link]

Proofreaded a bit by @wikimb

Partner Artist: @wikimb

Word count: 13143

Trigger Warning: Graphic depictions of heavy violence/gore, depression cases, PTSD breakdowns(abandoment/bullying/death), severe illness, physical torture(due illness) and emotinal breakdown.

Note: I’m not a native english speaker, fell free to point out via DM any mistakes.

Void Realm(aka Human World) - Same Day 11:30 PM

Victor decided to tell his three visitors everything he knew about the Sparda's twins; Sparda's story, the day Eva was killed, the mess of Temen-ni-gru, and at the end what happened in Mallet Island.

During dinner, Nero, among Kyrie and Nico, told Victor all what they knew and remembered about the Fortuna Incident and the Qliphoth Event.

"And now they're probably stuck in Hell", Nero finished.

"I see…" Victor said, quite thoughtful. "The problem is… the Qliphoth fruit helped Vergil to recover his heavily wounded magic and not make him overpowered like he thought it would happen. But I can't be sure if it also helped with his synchronization. Either way, you two doing Sync will be of great benefit for both."

Nero didn't say a thing. Just the slight idea of having to interact with Vergil, his so called blood father, again was making his nerves itch.

"But…" Victor kept saying. "How could you live this long? Without one of your parents to sync with, you should have died at a very young age, like… two years old."

Nero continued quiet, trying to understand why Victor was insisting so much about that.

Initially, he thought about the day he met Shooting Star Man; he was two years old, the "death age" Victor mentioned. But he’d rather not talk about that with a new person just like that, not even Nico knew about it yet.

"Don't you remember Sync with some woman?" Victor tried to help Nero recall some memory.

"I don't even know how's the sensation of being in Sync, dude." Nero contested, a bit annoyed.

Before continuing to speak, Victor had to adjust his glasses. "Well… as what my mother could briefly study about the twins, Sync in hybrids have some sort of 'bonuses'. Both parts can somehow connect mentally; they can feel what the other is feeling and as well share memories and theoretical knowledge. As for the magic, the twins described it as something very relaxing and peaceful - they didn't know it was a demon magic thing back then, but you got it."

"The peace thing makes sense since the magic energy is calming down," Nico added to Victor's explanation.

After the brief explanation, Nero couldn't hold but make a surprised face.

"Oh. Have you just remembered something?" Victor asked when he noticed Nero's reaction.

Nero was able to recall something, but just the fact of having to tell them that was making him sweat cold. He had a feeling it wasn't a good idea.

Hell - “Same moment”

Vergil and Dante were able to find a shelter to protect themselves from the fire rain: in the middle of the decaying remains of the Qliphoth tree they both sat inside a small cavern inside a massive root.

Dante was quite relaxed, he was laying his back in a small root, calmly waiting for the end of the rain.

Vergil sat a bit in front of his brother, he seemed to be tense for no apparent reason; he was tapping his feet nervously and rubbing his hands as if they were itching or something.

Once Dante couldn't stand his brother's silence anymore he got out of his place walking on his knees, when he got closer he said, "Bro, relax a little. You're too tense" and he gave a small tap on Vergil's right shoulder, unexpectedly making him do a little hop like a cat.

"Geez! Chill it." Dante said, quite surprised. "I'm not gonna attack you." and he moved a few steps backwards when his brother stared at him with eyes wide open scared.

Vergil couldn't think of something to reply to his brother, he was too surprised by how calm he was at that hostile place, such behavior didn't make sense to him; they could be attacked at any moment by some wild demon, but even so Dante was very chill.

Vergil then returned his gaze to outside, leaving his brother in an awkward silence.

The atmosphere was starting to make Dante feel uncomfortable; he recently had made up with his brother, thus regaining their brotherly rivalry, but that was the first time since their childhood they weren't fighting or discussing, instead, they were just in silence sitting close to each other.

Vergil could feel Dante's restless energy coming from behind him, but he had no idea what to say either.

Deep down their hearts, both had a lot of questions to ask each other, but none of them had a single clue in how to start a conversation that wasn't about who's with the highest score.

After long minutes of watching a literal fire rain, Dante was the one who finally took courage to break the ice: "Soooooo… Brother… Who was that 'Baby' you whispered about earlier? I swore you were talking about Nero's mom… Also! How was sh-?"

Vergil quickly interrupted him, rolling his eyes in annoyance, "I told you already, you will learn more about her when I tell Nero about it, he deserves to know that first."

Dante got annoyed by his brother's supposed etiquette, but regardless, he continued in his attempt to create a conversation: "Okay… but, what about the 'Baby'... person…? I guess? You got me curious, man! Especially about the part: 'this wouldn't be happening' thing," he said as he was getting a bit closer to Vergil again.

Vergil's normally stoic expression drastically changed to an uncomfortable one, he looked at the sky, took a deep breath, and let out a very sad sigh,"'Baby' was… a child… That wasn't his name, just how I used to call him. I never knew his name or how he truly looked like…"

Dante highly doubted Vergil's words. "What?! How? That doesn't make any sense yet. You gotta work on those explanations, bro"

"You remember what happened on Mallet Island? After you… -sigh- beat me?" Vergil replied with a bit of annoyance in the end.

"Uhh… yeah, you disappeared in a light…" Dante said a bit confused.

Vergil took a few seconds of silence, mentally gathering all the information he felt necessary to tell his brother before starting his explanation: "I honestly don't know how I did that… probably had something to do with Mundus' magic… I got teleported to somewhere else."

Surprisingly, Dante got quiet and Vergil had his full attention. Vergil didn't look behind him, but he could tell that Dante was staring at him like a curious child waiting for a new bedtime story.

Vergil cleaned his throat before continuing - "Thanks to you, I started to be able to have myself under my control again. I then began to try to fight Mundus' corruption over me, although the more I tried, the more it tormented me. Until I had an idea that would cost much more than I expected…"

Dante's eyes wide opened with curiosity but also of worry about the incoming words.

"Under all that pain...I truly panicked… and tried to Devil Trigger in an attempt to fight the corruption… " Vergil said low, recalling the pain of the said moment.

Dante gasped silently, even not knowing what happened, he was sure that terrible things had happened.

Vergil's voice started to get low and crumbling as those memories were like a living nightmare. "I could feel all my muscles and bones being crushed and twisted by the fight of the magic energies inside me. I couldn't scream, I could barely breathe and move either… I have no idea how much time has passed too."

Dante noticed that his brother started to feel apprehensive about that subject; Vergil was slightly sweating cold and pressing his hands against each other strongly.

But before Dante thought of something to say, Vergi continued to tell the story: "I can remember some very random and quick things that happened… I fought other demons… even humans and perhaps Devil Hunters too? I don't know, but I swore I was destined to feel that pain for eternity, until…"

Void Realm - “at the same moment”

“So, Nero” Victor called his attention. “Have you just remembered something?”

But Nero didn't respond, he was being reluctant to speak, they couldn't tell if it was because of his health state or something else. Kyrie tried to call him back to the conversation, “It’s about Monster, dear?” she said in a soft voice.

He raised his head a bit to look at her, with a visible sad face he replied low and insecure: “Yeah... “

He stayed quiet once again, staring at the void for a few seconds and avoiding eye-contact; Nico was getting anxious to know what was passing through Nero's mind, but Victor kept patiently waiting.

Finally, he looked at Victor and said, "I think… there was someone I connected with this way… but… he was a human that turned into a demon."

Victor raised his eyebrows in surprise, that didn't make much sense but he decided to not question, Nero was already emotionally unstable, it was better not provoke.

"Let's see then. If you don't mind telling the story," he asked politely.

Nero took a deep breath before starting, that subject wasn't that comfortable for him to talk about freely: "I was around six to seven years old, the de-sync started to happen with a higher frequency day by day… The other kids from the orphanage, especially the older ones, never liked me, and one day they were chasing me down in the woods on the outskirts of the city. Even not wanting to fight they still kept hunting me, they weren't satisfied until I passed out." Nero explained.

"Why?" Nico asked confused.

A bit uncomfortable with the subject, he tried to avoid, "I'd rather not talk about…"

He then continued, without making eye contact with Victor, he just continued to look at his own hands and sometimes to the void or away. "I couldn't run anymore, that's when they got me. The oldest was ready to punch me, but suddenly, a horrendous deformed… giant demon appeared from behind the trees. He was like what? four meters(13ft) high? He didn't need much to scare the shit out of them and send them back to the city, just a roar was enough."

Kyrie was the only one that already knew the story and how Nero would feel about it. She honestly wanted to speak in his place, but she felt better letting him put his feelings out by himself.

"I was the only one that didn't run. I was too tired already… and I didn’t want to return to the orphanage either." Nero said in a depressing tone.

(Hell)

"Have you attacked?" Dante asked curiously, yet worried.

"No" Vergil responded. "The others fled away very quickly and the one that left didn't do anything either. I wasn't going to waste my energy and feel more pain for no danger at all."

(Void)

"But the motherfucker didn't do shit", Nero added. "He left me hanging and just turned away!"

"When I saw him turning away, I yelled: "What are you doing?" But he completely ignored me"

"I yelled again, 'What's wrong with you?'."

(Hell)

"The kid came after me, but I didn't want to waste my energy. When I felt him touching my arm and yelling something - that I can't remember - I instinctively just waved my arm and threw him away."

(Void)

"I flew into a tree and all the stuff I was carrying in my small backpack got scattered around," Nero continued, his voice slowing down.

"You will need more than that to get rid of me!' I shouted to provoke him… but…"

He made a pause.

"But when I looked at him…"

"He was staring at one of the books I borrowed from the public library. He simply stayed there, kinda hypnotized by the thing, you know?"

"With the only hand he had entirely -the right one- he tried to pick up the book. His hand was huge and he knew that… but I think… he had terrible eyesight. The first few times he tried to hold the book, he let it fall because he didn't want to… 'hurt' it."

"He tried, over and over again. That scene was pitiful, to be honest. At a certain point, he started to wimp… kinda like a dog's painful crying: 'wimp wimp wimp'."

"and he tried... again and again, and again... the more he tried the louder the wimps we're getting."

"He was clearly in a panic… until then… he let out a very long and painful scream. It was when I noticed… he wasn't supposed to be like that...."

Victor interrupts, "why? What made you think that?"

Nero responded with sadness in his voice as he looked at Victor, "He was crying… Only through the right eye, but he was truly crying."

"'Do Devils cry?' I asked myself."

"During the screeching, he suddenly lost support on his left arm - the most severe and disproportionate one - and fell to the ground. The arm started to bleed around.. where I think it was the pulse… I couldn't tell, but the broken bone pierced through his skin. I noticed that the rest of his body he had various open wounds, that shit surely was hurting him badly. He then started to wimp uncontrollably while he was spitting blood out of the month, he was insanely trying to get up again but he barely could move his body."

"I don't know what the hell happened with me at that moment, but seeing and hearing all that suffering from him was starting to hurt me. I could feel my heart being pressed. My body moved by itself, I took off my jacket and went to try to... somehow help with the wound on his left pulse."

(Hell)

"I don't clearly remember how I got into that situation," Vergil continued. "I only remember very blurry images and immeasurable pain all over my body, especially at my left arm."

"In the middle of all that pain, I somehow could notice the kid getting closer to me. I tried to move away from him but that only was making the pain worse… I was unable to move."

"I couldn't see him clearly, but I heard: 'you weren't supposed to be like that, right?' from him."

"I remember… my heart and breath stopped when I heard he saying: 'Let me help you, stay quiet.'"

Vergil started to get visibly shaken from that point in front.

"Why? He could just have run away… but instead… he came to help me?! Why?! WHY?!"

"I guess... he did some bandages on my left hand… I couldn't move or see it anyway…"

Dante, a bit shocked by his brother's confusion, asked "Why are you so incredulous?"

Vergil turned at him quickly, his face of both anger and sadness. "WHY?! Because never in my entire life someone had lent a hand to me like that! Not even if I asked!"

Vergil recalled for a moment the difficult time he had after his mother's death; food shop owners didn't want to spare not even the smallest thing for him, some even shout him out, with the excuse he was acting. He couldn't find a good place to sleep and winter was a pain. He had to fight demons all alone. He had to manage to steal sustenance and clothes or get from the trash as the last resort.

"I didn't have the same luck as you, brother…" Vergil said harshly.

(Void)

All those memories were starting to make Nero more emotional, recall the monster's pain was very hurtful even to himself.

"I never discovered what turned him into that… but he was destroyed…" he added.

Victor then questioned, "And you just decided to help him? Just like that?"

"Yes… something told me he needed help… a feeling of he didn't deserve that…" Nero said quite sad.

But even being visibly shaken, he continued the story either way, "through the next days I decided to start stealing everything I thought could be the use of help with his open wounds."

Nico interrupted, "steal, man? why?"

"Who would believe in a six years old saying it needs help with a dying demon?!" Nero replied annoyed. "I had to do that myself. Blankets, towels, curtains, all those kinds of stuff I could get around the city, not just in the orphanage…"

-a pause-

"Also food… and the medicine I knew helped with such changes wounds, the one I remember the caretakers using on me."

Nero's tone slowly began to sound grievous, "He didn't leave the place I first saw him… he just waited for me there every day…"

“He couldn’t move, every time he tried he had to do so much strength. He was also… so cold... I tried to cover him the most I could… but even so… he couldn’t stop shivering. I could see that even those smallest moves hurt a lot… even breathing...”

“His wounds weren’t fresh. It was very difficult for me to make some bandages and mostly use the medicine… because whenever I tried he would start panicking and wimping all over again.”

“I used to say things like: ‘Stop, please! I can’t help you like this!’ or ‘collaborate, please!’ to try to keep him calm, but his pain also made me nervous as well.”

“The food was most difficult, the merchants got sharp eyes. The ones that knew me even got so mad that they started to throw stones at me."

Nico quickly stopped Nero's talk, "What the hell?! Fucking stones?!"

He stared at her, his eyes were blank, and then he said, with a low and grievous voice, everyone could sense the pain in the words, "When you are the... 'bastard, son of a whore, demon magnetic child' people just don't care about you…"

Nico didn't expect that, her face was of utter shock, which made her dead silent.

“I didn’t care about my wounds, tho… I just wanted to bring him food and water too. He needed help to eat and drink nonetheless. He used to eat and drink desperately, getting himself dirtier than he already was… he was definitely on his limit…”

Nero let out a desolate sigh while his eyes were getting teary.

(Hell)

Vergil's voice started to sound more painful the more he talked about the child: "The kid kept bringing new things everyday… cover sheets, bandages, food… even water and… medicine...I think? I barely could move anymore either way… I could only stay in the same place and watch…"

Dante started to feel his brother slowly getting more emotional with the subject; Vergil’s voice got low and he was also starting to discreetly sniff, his body was tense and his expression was of sadness: "He… he wasn't bringing all that stuff for himself… he brought blankets for covering me, to help me not suffer that much from the cold nights in the woods…“

“His voice… I’m sure I was hearing every pitch wrongly… but he sounded so… soft anyway: ‘here’s some food’, ‘come on, try to drink this’, ‘I hope you don’t feel so cold now’... and some many others.”

“My vision was a total mess, the colors were switched, the forms were distorted, I never got to know how he truly was or how he sounded… or even if the scent I remember was his true smell…” Vergil vented, as he remembered every single sensation of the kid taking care of him; the way the child had to hold his huge head up for him to drink water, how he had to pick every single food into tiny pieces because Vergil couldn’t chew. The child trying to cover his gigantic deformed body with small cover sheets or even towels.

Breaking Vergil's recall to the past, Dante asked him, “So… you never actually got to ‘know him for real’?”

“I think…” - a pause - “yeah… you’re right…” Vergil told him but looking away to the dark sky and the raining fire in Hell.

"I don't know how he did that… but there were times he used to hug me, or even just touch, and the pain almost got away completely… it was when I was able to breathe without pain for a few minutes..."

He closed his eyes, deep recalling those moments of calm and inner peace. Those were some of the memories he holded dearest, the sensation of being hugged by the child, or at least he thought it was. The kid stroking his head and singing lullabies to calm him down. Such gentle touch from his tiny hands on his wounded head and skin was something he could never forget, even if that used to hurt as well.

Before opening his eyes, Vergil let out a deep sigh, that made Dante get an idea of how much that unknown kid meant to his brother and he was starting to connect the dots with what Vergil said earlier.

"Why?" Vergil said in an indignant tone. "Why did he do all that to me?!"

He turned to Dante, he was very confused and incredulous, "What I did to that kid?! Why did he help me not wanting anything in return?! He never requested something back!"

Dante's eyes wide-opened surprised about his brother's confusion and he asked himself: 'He didn't understand what happened?'

Vergil's voice became louder as he was letting out old thoughts of painful memories, "Why, brother?! WHY!? There were even some days he appeared with wounds; he said it was the people that didn't like him, they hurt him to push him away because they didn't want to give the stuff to him. I could smell the blood, his wounds...he…-inhales- Why was he sacrificing himself?! He was doing all that to me… TO MEEEE! A PITIFUL WEAK USELESS THING I WAS!"

Dante even leaned back scared after Vergil's last scream, that behavior was quite unexpected coming from such a person that is always composed.

"I was weak! I was dying! No one cares for a weakened demon, they just let them die! He could have called hunters to finish me… BUT NO! He did the total opposite!" Vergil kept yelling extremely confused.

"I remember the stories he told me… and sometimes, during moments of physical contact, I saw some of his...memories? -I guess they were - he was an orphan! No one wanted him, everyone else hated him for no reason and the older kids used to hurt him for fun! HE WAS JUST A LITTLE KID! Why didn't he request me to pay back those people in return for the favors he was doing to me?! That's not how it was supposed to work?!” Vergil yelled while huffing out of breath.

Dante gently touched Vergil's shoulder and just gave a calm look at him, like telling him to take easy on his nerves; Understanding his brother's signals, Vergil took an incredibly deep breath in an attempt to calm down, but his disturbed face and stiff body remained.

"That's called empathy, bro…" Dante said softly.

Vergil took a moment to process what Dante said, but he kept looking at him confused. "What?!" he yelled.

Dante hardly believed that his brother never experienced an act of empathy before and stared at him confused as well.

"Empathy. You know… that thing of being able to understand what the other is feeling? To put yourself in the place of the other?" Dante tried to explain, but that only made Vergil more confused. His silence and as well doubtful face made the situation more awkward for Dante - making him visibly worried.

"Well… it's a human heart thing… Empathy generates compassion and that's what moved the kid to help you. He understood your suffering and decided to help you out. He didn't see you like what you described, he saw you as a living being." Dante tried again.

Vergil was slowly starting to understand; it didn't need much for him to recall Nero helping him when he was V and also the people himself helped when he was V during the Qliphoth roots' rampage.

"That's what moves humans to help others? That's how it's called?" Vergil asked confused.

"Yes!" Dante replied happily and a bit relieved. "Such strong empathy like that kid is incredibly rare to be witnessed, especially nowadays. People like that must be protected at all costs, not just because of their kind heart, but also because they can kill themselves because of it. Humans like that are worth fighting for."

Dante's words made Vergil a bit uneasy as if he did something wrong with the kid during a part of the story he hasn't told yet.

And Dante kept talking: "That's what is amazing about humans. But... demons think that's a weakness… well, that's, in fact, a weakness, it's incredibly dangerous but it's also their strongest point! For demons, self-preservation is more important than anything, meanwhile, some humans don't give a shit about that if it's necessary to protect what is important. They rather die sacrificing themselves, and for demons that's a shame, especially coming from a species that's magically and physically inferior…"

*Unfortunately…" Dante's enthusiasm vanished away very quickly. "The own mankind created such a society through the past decades where that kind of stuff is being suppressed...by themselves! And apathy is going apeshit everywhere… This is another reason why that kind of person should be safeguarded… otherwise, mankind will only keep hurting itself."

"I think… 'Apathy' should be considered a Deadly Sin… since the current seven are all based on it…" he said scratching his head.

They stayed in silence for a few seconds, hence Vergil had no idea about what Dante said at the end. They both returned to gaze at the fire raining (supposedly)night sky for a few minutes until Vergil broke the silence: "These kind people you said… It's pretty much like Baby and… Nero…"

"Yeah, you're right…" Dante said calmly without looking at Vergil.

"This thing of sacrifice itself…" Vergil then continued the story, but talking at a more slow pace, "There was one day… Baby didn't come… I was like 'I was abandoned again?'

"Aah…About that..." Dante interrupted a bit unnerved.

But Vergil responded quickly "I know! But back then I didn't! -ahem- I was finally able to get up a bit and worried something may have happened, I decided to pursue his scent…"

(Void)

Nero continued his side of the story, even with the feeling of his throat closing because of the incoming subject: "It was very difficult to take care of him… He didn't have the strength to lift his head or to chew some food… gosh… he smelled so bad, such a strong scent of dry blood and… other disgusting stuff -if you know what I mean- but eventually, I learned how to ignore that awful scent. He used to shiver so much… his extremity members were cold like ice…"

-a pause for a deep breath-

He then continued: "every little movement he tried to do he whimpered in pain… he barely could leave the place we first met. I was getting used to calming him down with some gentle physical contact like strokes on his head… but even so…"

-sigh-

"There were some moments I hugged or when I just touched him and I could feel what he was feeling… it was an immeasurable pain… Other moments… -It's very confusing, to be honest- But I think I was able to see his memories? I guess...?"

"How did they look?" Victor asked, interrupting Nero.

"Aah… well… a huge old man, long-ass beard and with feathery wings… hmmm.. aaaaand... aaaa... red third eye…? He was all white as if he was a statue and had a huge hole in his chest. He always appeared to be torturing him…" Nero said a bit uneasy, he remembered that as if it was his memories.

Victor closed his eyes and let out a concerned sigh, he knew Nero was talking about Mundus, but that wasn't the moment to tell him.

Nero looked at him worried, not understanding what was going on, although he suspected it wasn't something good.

"Just… keep going," Victor said apprehensively.

"The ones that most scared me was when the old man was taking off his members, like, literally. He used them to create monsters…" Nero shivered just with the slightly recalling his eyes even got teary from thinking about that.

He quickly passed his hand on his eyes to clean up the tears, before someone could notice them, "that always made me jump off the place, those images and some others were always storming his thoughts… I guess it was his thoughts… He cried every time I saw them…"

"Considering his reactions about those images and the state he was… I think he didn't deserve to be like that… he wasn't like that because he wanted… I think that old man did that to him… -sigh- ...he was so needy… he hanged his head in my lap every time I used to sit closer..."

Nero's eyes got more watery than before, he tried once again to hold his emotions and clean his eyes.

Before continuing, he took a deep breath to focus back and keep posture. "Well… there was one day I was trying to stealthily leave the orphanage… but the older kids got me. They were so pissed at me because they discovered it was me that had stolen some of their things… Pfft! They used to destroy and also steal my stuff… so fuck them. But I couldn't escape that time… and I was missing the hour to go meet with Monster…"

(Hell)

"I followed his trail with a bit of difficulty, mostly because of the pain all over my body, but I could find him," Vergil continued.

"Somehow I could hear more people around… so, I stayed behind some trees… or was it a wall? well..." but he hesitated to continue.

"What was happening?" Dante asked curiously.

"Some other kids… I guess… they were not so taller than him and were apparently fighting him. They had the advantage in numbers, he couldn't handle them all." Vergil said low.

"How did you know who he was?" Dante questioned.

"I learned how to recognize him… somehow… his shape and colors we're different from the others and as well his scent…" Vergil answered.

"I remember the other ones saying 'you freak! you're not just the son of a whore but also a thief?', 'what are you doing with our stuff?' I could feel his tiredness of the fight, he then replied: 'I needed them for a…" Vergil suddenly paused as if something got stuck on his throat.

"I needed them for a…?" Dante repeated, anxious for the end of the phrase.

Vergil kept quiet for almost a minute, holding back his next word. He was visibly tense, but Dante attempted to incentive him to continue with the story: "Brother? What happened then?"

No answers, although Vergil had closed his eyes and was biting his lips in tension, he was holding his emotions the maximum he could.

"Bro… listen…" Dante said softly while he put his hand on Vergil's shoulder. "Don't hold back your feelings like this… Put it out, let then go…"

But his brother continued immobile.

"I'm not gonna judge or mock you… I promise." Dante continued to try to convince Vergil. "Look, you can even stab me as much as your heart desires if I do something I shouldn't."

Vergil let out air since he was also holding his breath a little and something Dante never expected happened, not even when they were kids: Vergil's eyes started to become teary.

Yes, tears. Dante couldn't believe what he was witnessing.

"Friend," Vergil said low and with grief.

"He said… 'I needed them for a friend' -sniff- 'I have a friend that needs help, but you wouldn't help me anyway," Vergil said with agony in his voice.

"Friend… friend… friend...FRIEND!" He then looked at Dante with a quick turn and shouted in pain, "HE CALLED ME HIS FRIEND!" and a few tears rolled out in his face.

"WHAT DID I DO?! BROTHER, PLEASE! TELL ME!" Vergil screamed in panic and confusion. "WHAT HAVE I DONE?! WHY HE WAS DOING ALL THAT TO ME?! I CAN'T UNDERSTAND!"

"Why do you think you didn't deserve that?" Dante nearly broke Vergil's sanity with that question.

Vergil suddenly got an empty look, as he never thought about that, he could only stutter trying to come up with an answer.

"T-T-That's not how it works… That never happened before… Y-Yo-you got to do something to receive such a thing… right?! RIGHT?!" Vergil was on the edge of freaking out.

Dante took a long breath, to not absorb his brother's messed up aura. He kept his voice calm and low for don't provoke him more: "No, bro… Kindness is not an award, it is a gift. The kid saw something in you and thought you deserved that… What was it? I don't know."

Vergil's face turned blank, he'd never thought like that before… the way he lived didn't let it anyway, he had no idea about why and how that happened with him.

"So… what did you do to help the child?" Dante asked rather calmly.

(Void)

"The kids were beating the shit out of me… but I didn't give up on trying to flee from them. I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to return to my… friend." Nero continued, his voice getting low while sadness was taking over him.

"I even tried to explain to them that I was doing that for someone that needed more than them, but that only made them madder…"

-a pause-

"I don't know where he came from, but Monster just suddenly jumped off in the middle of the orphanage's backyard. He roared so loud that he even let a huge blue fire column go out of his mouth. He came straight to the bullies and swinging only his right hand he tossed all of them away in a single move! POF! ...He then stayed over me as if he was trying to shield me or something."

"His wounds were bleeding all over again, he must have made a shit ton of strength to reach the orphanage."

"The other kids recognized him from that day… the oldest even shouted: 'I knew it you were a freak, but this is too much!' That only made Monster angrier, he wanted to go for the kill."

"He started to prepare another fire breath, but I couldn't let him do that. I jumped in front of him and shouted 'NO! Don't kill them! It will only make it worse for you!' hoping that he would understand me…"

"And that worked?" Nico asked nervously with the story.

"Yes," Nero responded. "He stopped at the same moment and looked at me very confused. I also could hear the adults screaming to call the Order's knights at the same moment."

"'You have to get out of here' I yelled. 'They will kill you!'"

"I don't think he understood what I meant at first because he suddenly grabbed me by my shirt's collar using his mouth and threw me on his back. He got away from the place very quickly into the woods, I don't know how he was able to stand the pain… he was going relatively fast… and when already far from the orphanage, he tripped on his own legs and arms."

"I was launched out of his back and surprisingly I didn't blacken out when I crashed over a tree. I got up in a rush and the moment I spotted him I saw he was all bleeding… all again, he was back to zero. He was whimpering in pain again, but even so, he was trying to get up."

"I ran to help him out, I didn't know how I would help him, but I went to try anyway."

(Hell)

"I don't remember exactly what happened… The next thing that's more clear in my memory is both of us in the woods. I was trying to get up, but my weakened body and the extreme pain weren't letting me." Vergil explained with a bit of confusion on his face.

"'You have to go! The Order's Knights will kill you!' he yelled at me"

"Hold up!" Dante interrupted. "’Order’? The Order of the Sword?!”

"Yes…" Vergil replied low and slow.

"You were in Fortuna?!” Dante yelled at him quite stunned.

"Yes… Don't ask me how…" Vergil said with a bit of embarrassment.

(Void)

"I was trying to make him get up… but like… he was countless times bigger than me," Nero said with a sarcastic smile.

"I was starting to hear the Knights' yelling and running around the woods looking for him. That only made me more nervous… The only thing I had in mind was: 'they will kill him'."

"Out of nowhere, blue light strips appeared around us and I could make one hell of strength to make him get up. And when I looked at my arms and hands… there were my spectral arms, helping him to stand and move away, they were rather proportional to his size."

"I thought out loud: 'What is this? Your magic?! Thanks! That's gonna help a lot!'"

"Wait!" Victor stopped the story. "Through years you thought your demon magic was a gift from him?"

Nero kept staring at Victor with a surprised, yet embarrassed face. "Oh, well… -scratches his head- I could only use my spectral arms while in contact with him…so..."

"Hmm… makes sense...I would also expect such thoughts from a six years old that grew up thinking it was a human… well, part human in this case." Victor said calmly.

"Sorry for interrupting, continue, please." He asked politely.

Already thinking about what was coming along the story, Nero was already getting nervous and more shaken once more.

The sadness in his voice we're getting apparently the more he spoke: "We ran… and ran… and ran… and like everything can get worse, it started to rain, at least it helped clean his wounds a little. It was so dark, but my 'magical arms' could illuminate the way. At some point, we were able to find a small cave. Monster's absurd size and disproportion nearly didn't let him get in, but he could lay down to rest."

"I could make my spectral arms disappear, but there were the blue strings there yet...They weren't making any illumination tho." Nero said it was a bit uncertain.

"That's because isn't something 'material', it's like...infrared and ultraviolet rays, and only demons and half-demons can see it," Victor explained. "although, it can be seen with special cameras," he added.

Immediately, Kyrie made a worrisome face and Nico looked at her scared as well. The lights that only she could see and apparently, Trish as well, was an actual demon thing and not demon-magic related. That would also explain why Nico couldn't see them. What could that mean? Haven't Kyrie only obtained demon magic but it also turned into one… or she was still turning? After Nero's case, she was the next one to talk with Victor but the feeling of uncertainty we're only making her anxious.

"Ah… that would explain how they didn't find us…" Nero continued, without noticing the girls' reaction. Unfortunately, Victor did and he was already preparing questions for them.

"When the rain stopped I went back to the first place I was taking care of him and got our stuff back. Monster had fainted from tiredness and only woke up the next day."

"I haven't returned to the orphanage either."

(Hell)

"I don't remember too much of how we got in that cave, but the kid didn't return to the city, it was the first time he passed the night with me," Vergil said.

"That night was also the first time I had dreams in a long time… but I don't think they were mine, they were memories from the kid…" Vergil then made a pause, he remembered the child's memories as if they were his.

Dante was getting nervous since he discovered that little kid was from Fortuna; he had a feeling that 'Baby' could actually be 'Nero' since he was aware about the Sync's traits and many of what his brother described matched with.

Vergil had let out a depressing sigh before continuing to speak: "I could see more clearly than before how his life was… It also reminded me of mine… loneliness, pain, and sorrow… But that child didn't have a special sword or demonic powers to take care of himself alone… he was dependent on people that didn't care about him."

(Void)

"When Monster woke up I was outside the cave, wondering what I would do about my little life… the people from the orphanage definitely wouldn't want me back and I was one hundred percent sure I wouldn't be adopted after what happened. I had nowhere to go." Nero said quite sad, his eyes were getting teary again.

(Hell)

"He was just sitting right in front of the cave entrance." Vergil continued. "The pain on my body had returned, I could barely move again."

"'What I will do?' he asked me. 'No one will ever adopt me now… not after they discovered I have a demon friend…' and he started to cry… it was a quiet cry."

"…and ...I still can't understand what happened to me... His painful crying made my heart hurt… psychologically hurt… not literally. I didn't want to see him like that… I knew how much that was painful…"

Dante made an embarrassed smile without his brother noticing; Vergil just had described a moment of empathy, a thing that a few minutes ago he had no idea even how it was called.

Dante then thought: "You have so much to learn about your humanity, bro…"

"He then turned to me and said, 'I don't want to come back…' his voice was more trembling than before." Vergil continued with sadness in his voice. "His face was a big distorted blur to me, but somehow I could identify his tears dripping down his face."

"I honestly didn't think rationally at that moment, I just wanted his welfare. That child… he's been doing so much for me without me saying a thing and for nothing in exchange… I couldn't leave him hanging in the wind like that."

Dante, even having an idea about what was coming, became so hyped to know what would happen next that he got very close to his brother, nearly starting to invade his personal space. Vergil didn't like all that proximity, but he hasn't complained… yet.

"I extended my right hand to him, inviting him to get closer to me, hoping that he would understand what I meant with that."

"He did?" Dante asked curiously.

"He hasn't understood the first few times I made the signal, he kept staring at me for a brief moment, until he said 'Do you want to adopt me?'" Vergil explained.

(Void)

Nero was already in tears without even finishing to tell that part of the story. He was sobbing and crying as if he was living that moment all again. He began to desperately try to stop crying and to clean his tears, Kyrie even got closer and handed a soft tissue to him.

"It's okay to cry, Nero. No need to be ashamed of your tears." Victor said in an attempt to tranquilize Nero.

"Yeah, man," Nico said worriedly. "No one will judge you, I promise."

Nero tried to take his breath back between many hiccups and sobbings in an attempt to regain his posture, but that was impossible, that moment was too shocking for him.

"H-He.. he.. -sob- He wanted me -sniff- he was the only o-one… tha-that… -sniff- aaa-accepted me… that didn't see me as a… -sob sob- freak… a-a-a problem…-sniff sob sob-"

(Hell)

"I just waved my head confirming what he asked and he suddenly broke. He began to cry out loud like a newborn baby."

"sniff"

That "sniff" totally surprised Dante; Vergil was unexpectedly once again shaken and teary with the story. That kid surely meant a lot to him after everything they passed together.

"He came at me running for a hug… and kept crying like that for so long that he nearly lost his voice. He hugged me tight around my neck -sniff- as if I just had saved him from. death..."

Vergil stopped to take a breath and, surprisingly, he tried to clean a few tears. "And then... -sniff-...after that we began to live together… but I have no idea for how long… I just remember that he grew up a lot."

(Void)

"We then lived together for… six years…" Nero said between sobbings.

"He was my best friend… almost like a father… still… -sniff-... we had to take care of each other. But through the years his condition was getting better -sob- his body was getting more proportional and looking 'human-ish', he didn't have more pain like before… almost none to be more exact -sob- the pieces of the some short of armor he had started to fall off his body too."

"What do you mean?" Nico asked. "He was like… 'healing' or something?"

"I think?" Nero replied a bit confused as he scratched his head.

"Most of the time his actions weren't like a demon's, he mostly looked like a human in a demon body." Nero tried to explain.

"One day I asked him if he was a human once, he took a long time to answer, like five minutes almost, but he said 'yes'. Although… It took him hours to explain to me that he was half-human. He tried to explain other things but he couldn't because of his condition; he couldn't write or draw and much less speak. He gave up on the explanation and we never talked about it again."

"So, you never asked him how he was when human?" Victor asked with a bit of suspicion.

"No…I was waiting for him to speak and move better..." Nero answered quickly. "But I would be lying if I say I never tried to imagine…"

-a brief pause-

Nero giggled when he remembered about a silly thing.

"We.. we made up a 'special handshake' if he returned to be human when I wasn't looking…" he said with an embarrassed smile. "I never forgot how it was -sigh"

(Hell)

"It was very difficult to live around a demon-infested forest with a dependent child, a debilitated body and the Order of the Sword hunting us down," Vergil said sadly.

His face became sadder and more tears started to form as he continued to speak

"But he was someone I swore to myself I would protect", he said fiercely but still with a sad tone in the voice.

Vergil quickly cleaned his tears, expecting that his brother hadn't noticed them. But even sitting a bit behind him, Dante could tell by his movements what was happening.

"I tried to teach him what I knew of sword and fist fighting, fortunately whenever we touched each other and some kind of...lights...? I guess, appeared around us, I only had to think about the theory and he would learn right away, he just had to practice."

"While the time was passing I could feel Mundus' magic fading away veeeeeery slowly... as if I was being purified somehow. My body was getting back to normal, I wasn't feeling that much pain anymore, sometimes I even felt nothing wrong… but I was still a mess."

Dante dry swallowed a bit audible; that was more proof of Sync, a Parent and Child or Siblings of same parents exclusive stuff. A little brother of them the kid couldn't be, so the only possible conclusion was a child from Vergil.

Confused, Vergil turned back after hearing his brother's nervous noises. Dante couldn't hide his anxious face, that gave to Vergil a very suspicious feeling.

Dante then giggled nervously, "sorry, keep going…"

Vergil stared at him with skepticism, but he continued the story either way. "There were some moments I… I just wanted to hold him closer… comfort him with gentle strokes and give him kisses in the head."

He then wrapped his arms around his chest, like demonstrating a hug, while he made a face of joy and he said with a tender voice: "I wanted to tickle him to make him laugh… Play silly children activities like hide-and-seek…I wanted to read bed-time stories for him, cooking him food… and so many other things…sigh..."

His face was of pure happiness, that kid was very precious to him; thinking about the good times they passed together was one of the few ways for Vergil to be able to smile, a discreet but honest and pure smile of happiness.

Dante finally came to a concrete realization and interrupted Vergil: "You mean… The things mom used to do for us?" he asked, expecting a certain reaction.

Vergil stopped to think for a brief moment; his brother was right. Everything he wished to be able to do was everything he remembered what their mother did for them.

He turned to look at Dante, his face was of surprise, he never related the things like that before. It was when Dante knew that his brother had some parenting instincts and love hidden somewhere inside him. He just needed a chance to put them into practice.

But the problem was: what if Baby is Nero? Vergil had hurt the most precious person in his life for his "more-power-quest"? And how both parts would react when they discover they already knew each other?

Should he tell Vergil his thoughts? Tell him the deep details about Sync, since he seemed to not know them? Dante saw himself in a very complicated and delicate crossroads.

"I think...I understood why you called him 'baby'" Dante said calmly, trying to keep his anxiety away.

"Ahn?" Vergil blurted. "That was a misunderstanding, to be honest: a few days after I invited him to stay with me, he asked if I would give him a name. My debilitated mouth and tongue didn't let me speak a single comprehensive word. I tried to say 'maybe', but he understood 'baby', and no matter what I tried there was no way I could either speak or he understood me. So, we stuck with 'Baby'".

Dante surely wasn't expecting that; the disappointment had hit him like a truck, he was expecting something cute, something special… but no, it was just a misunderstanding.

"But… Why… "wanted"? You weren't able to do a single thing of that?" Dante asked, even already knowing the answer.

Vergil's joy quickly vanished, as if Dante just had stabbed him on his back. "How could I? In that state?! Even after all that time, we passed together, in the end, I could not even speak or see him clearly. The maximum I could do was hold him closer and nothing else."

They passed a few seconds in silence until Dante came with the worst question he could have done about that subject: "Well… what happened with the kid then?”

Vergil's soul left his body at that moment. Only to think about it made him visibly depressed. He started to stare at the void, his eyes had no shine anymore as if he just died that moment.

(Void)

"He used to teach me how to sword fight and also how to fight bare hands. I learned all the basics with him… although… I don't know how, but when that lights appeared, I used to instantly know about whatever he wanted to teach me." Nero explained, with a bit of confusion on his tone.

“Sometimes I had those… ‘de-sync breakdowns’… but being with him helped me endure the pain… I don’t know how that happened…but somehow it hurt him a bit as well. With time that stopped to happen and only came back a few weeks ago nowadays."

Now even Nico and Kyrie were with the feeling that Monster was in fact, Vergil. Everything Nero was describing matched with the description of Sync Victor gave to then early.

Nero giggled remembering every good moment he passed with his best friend. "When he was feeling good, we used to go to the city late at night and steal stuff. Clothes for me, food, cover sheets, and so on. Hehe. When he was in a good mood, rare times, we used to steal food from delivery guys, especially the ones from pizzerias. Or even watch TV from the windows of some houses… I could watch something, I don't know about him. I remember he loved to hear me reading books to him too… He always wanted to try to read them too, but he definitely couldn't because of his wounded eyes… - sigh."

"Why did you call him Monster?" Nico questioned, quite curious about.

"I don't know exactly, I just started to call him like that… Nowadays I think it's quite an ironic name… he only looked like a monster… but he was more human with me than every actual human I ever met…"

"He was so affectionate…" he said with a smile. "Not at the very beginning, he turned with time. He liked to hold me closer, especially during bedtime. He tried to do some gentle moves like… stroke or pat my head, but his size and lack of better control of his moments didn't let him do that so well…"

"... he even made up a clicking noise to pretend it was a kiss… sigh…"

"But… what happened to him?" Victor asked, taking off Nero's happiness from his face. That was the worst question someone could make about the monster.

Then, both Nero(at Void) and Vergil(at Hell) started to recall and talk about that fateful day:

Fortuna - back to 13 years ago - 04:00 AM

Baby and Monster were sneaking their way through the city, going in the direction of the port area.

Monster was wearing a dirty cloak, he was almost the size of a tall human by that time, although his large horns made a weird shape on the cloak’s hood. Since his body was almost proportional now, he was able to walk on his legs, only needing an improvised cane Baby made using hardwood to support himself standing.

Baby was at the end of his childhood, around twelve years old. He was wearing some humble clothing that he stole from a shop and on his backpack, also stolen, he was carrying the few material things they had. On his waist, it had a badly forged iron sword, a failed attempt to recreate a katana that he made among Monster.

When the Port got on sight, Baby whispered, "Finally! We need to get into one of those big commercial ships and we will finally get out of this hell.

They both went slow and silent through the darker areas of the place, contouring every lamp post and the one or two workers they spotted. Until they reached a medium-sized cargo ship; an uncommon kind of commerce ship that docks on Fortuna's Port bringing special products from the continent.

"Now we just need to get in thought the anchor" Baby whispered excitedly.

But before he gave the next step, Monster gently touched his shoulder calling his attention to him. Baby turned at him visibly confused but when he saw the gesture Monster was doing he understood what it was: he was calling him for a hug.

Baby could tell that his friend was trying to smile, Monster had to kneel to look at him eye to eye and his arms were stretched toward him, calling him closer.

Nero didn't get why that right now, but he didn't question, he went straight to the hug. They hugged tightly and tenderly and the time seemed to have stopped, they were enjoying every second of that comforting hug. Monster felt his heart warming, that feeling of seeing Baby happy was indescribable. While Baby was immeasurable happy about how much his friend got better.

They didn't want that moment to end, it was the first time they were able to do a decent hug, even if Monster's arms weren't totally recovered. Monster was even purring like a big cat for much of Baby's fun.

"Thank you...I love you Monster, you're my hero." Baby said from the bottom of his heart.

Those words were going to get stuck on Monster's mind forever, but it was him that wanted to say that most.

'No… you that saved me, my baby… I love you too' Monster thought. But he was so desperate to say such words that he tried to talk, unfortunately his vocal cords and tongue haven't healed enough and he could only mumble mostly random demonic noises and a syllable or two.

"it's okay…" Baby said when he noticed his friend's despair. "I can't wait for your mouth and neck to get better so we can have actual talks" he giggled.

"Let's go" he called him, gesturing for them to keep walking.

Once they were side by side with the anchor's huge chains, Baby said quite confidently: "Are you rea-?" he suddenly was interrupted by a loud painful screaming from Monster.

When he turned, he couldn't believe his eyes, Monster got stabbed on his back by a silver sword that pierced through his chest. It wasn't the same sword type the Order's Knights used.

The sword slightly opened its blade in the middle like a jaw and quickly drained Monster's energy, making him scream in pain again.

"MONSTER!" Baby shouted with all his strength.

He sprinted to help his friend, but twenty or more Order's Knights jumped out from inside the crates that were closer to the ship.

"The Order?! How?!" Baby yelled in panic. All those years living hidden from them, how they finally found the double?

The silver sword got out of Monster's body quickly; the fatigue caused by the energy drain made his -already unstable- body fall to the ground. Behind him, it had a woman in the Order's Knight uniform, the hood and low light were hiding her face and she was holding another sword, of the same look, on her other hand.

"Finally found you, you brainless beast," she muttered. "What's your problem in dying?"

Baby ran towards his friend's body on the cold metal floor of the dock, he was bleeding tremendously. He didn't have time to think about what that sword did to him. The moment he got closer Monster was still conscious, but he was weak once again.

Baby was on the edge of freak out: "No. No. No. No. No! You just got so much better! Why?!"

He tried to help him get up, but two Knights rapidly dragged him away from Monster. They quickly turned his hands to his back and wrapped his pulses together with a silver rope that had some strange runes written on it - immediately he felt his strength being drained and he kneeled tired as if he had just trained for the entire day.

"NO! Monster!" He shouted, feeling even his breath getting heavier.

Monster was feeling weak because of the energy drain, he felt the same tiredness he had years ago. But this time there wasn't pain aside from the stabbing on his chest, he could do that, he MUST and he WILL protect his child.

He started to concentrate strength on his arms to get up, his almost fully regenerated wings opened wide to intimidate the Knights, revealing his demonic body under the cloak, they also now had a blue glow inside that helped to illuminate just a little the place.

The woman with the pair of odd swords rolled her eyes before going straight to stab Monster's left hand against the floor. He didn’t scream but his face was of real pain.

She stabbed his hand so strong that the sword got stuck on the metal floor, with the strength he had left he couldn’t take his hand out of the place so quick and easy, dragging him into the beginning of insanity.

He roared scared, kinda telling Baby to run away.

Baby tried to untangle from the Knights' tight grips: He jumps and shakes his body, fighting to get free… But the ropes had cut off all of his strength and the Knights were being able to hold him like a normal kid. All that effort only made him more breathlessly.

Under all that stress he could only think: "What's going on with me?! If I don't do something they will kill him! He's not one hundred percent yet!”

Monster realized that Baby wouldn't get out on his own, he tried to get his hand out of the sword trapping, with no results. The only way would let the sword cut its way through his hand for he can get out, leaving his left hand useless for the moment.

"Spare me of this shit…" the woman said, annoyed by the attempts of the double to get out of that situation through the last minute.

"Listen, you piece of shit!" She called Monster's attention. "If you come with us in peace, we won't do anything with the kid."

She gets very close to him and whispers, for only him to hear it: "I know you can understand me… Nelo Angelo."

Her last two words made his blood boil.

Hear that name again triggered nightmares and traumas that he already had suppressed years ago thanks to his life with Baby.

Monster roared loudly and in despair, just for the fact that the woman had that information, she was surely dangerous and probably somehow knew Mundus.

He goes fully charged with his right arm at her, his claws ready to slaughter, but she could easily dodge by kneeling.

Monster barely could move his chest to turn around because of his stuck hand.

He threw his body forward, his mouth was wide open to get her.

Unfortunately, the woman was countless times faster than him.

He got close enough to take a piece out of her, but he had bitten the air. She did a high jump over his head and landed on his back, going down with everything she got and smacking his chest against the metal floor.

For some reason, she hated Monster and that could easily be seen in her vicious eyes.

With the other sword she had in her hands, she began a quick yet cruel multiple stabbing on his back.

The sword had not just pierced him, but it also drained his energy and magic at every stab.

Baby screamed in pain so loud that he almost lost his voice. Monster could do nothing either except shout in pain.

"STOP! STOOOOOOOP!" Baby screamed in panic and started to cry uncontrollably, that was the only thing he could do in that situation.

The woman jumped off from Monster's back, her sword dripping his blood as well her leggings and cape dirty with it as well. She took off the sword from his left hand and stabbed in his right hand, but he couldn't move anymore, he returned to zero all over again.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! YOU ARE THE MONSTER HERE, YOU SCUM!" Baby shouted with his most honest anger and panic towards the unknown woman.

Baby couldn't see her face but could feel her stare at him. The pressure was immeasurable, but it hasn't shaken him anyway.

She made a hand signal to one of the Knights to let the kid go. At the moment they had taken off the rope from his pulses, he ran away towards his friend - his face was completely wet with his desperate tears.

"Monster! Monster please… no… you have to get out of here!" Baby cried in panic, trying to help him get up.

But he was so weak… again. He tried to give his arms some strength the maximum he could, but the energy-draining made that an impossible task.

The woman pulled Baby, holding on the neck collar of his jacket, with ease away from Monster.

Very close to losing his conscience, Monster kept trying to get up and even charge some magic to help Baby. Unfortunately, all of his efforts were useless, he was already out of battle.

Baby couldn't speak, he only could stare at the image of his best friend dying in front of him and he couldn't do a thing about it.

Mentally, Monster was in a total panic, his body and magic weren't responding to his commands anymore, but he kept trying to get up anyway.

"AAAAAH!"

Monster had a bad vision, but he could see and understand what happened right in front of him: Baby was stabbed in the chest by the woman and a few blood drops had fallen on Monster's face.

The sword then electrocuted him with a deadly high voltage: "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Monster's heart and soul slowly started to die together with Baby.

"You two can't stay together, that's not how it's supposed to work," she told him drily and dreadfully while she threw Baby's dead body in the ocean.

Monster died inside together with the sound of the “splash” of Baby’s body in the water.

The Knights could easily chain him up and take him to a big vehicle, transporting him to the Order's Headquarters after that.

Through a few years, the Order used him and the pieces they found of his armor to create their Angelos. They thought they were draining his magic, although, somehow he managed to hold the most he could his own magic and he made them drain all of Mundus' corruption out of him.

That nearly had the cost of his life, but he was able to regain his full consciousness and "original form" at a high cost.

One day we faked his death and was able to flee from the facility in a killing spree. That happened a few weeks before the Fortuna incident.

Through the next years, he lived that moment of Baby's death over and over, corrupting him from inside out; making him realize once again how weak he was, that he didn't deserve a human life or either love. His human side was only responsible for his and his loved ones suffering and that he had to return for his search of power because of his weakness and this time… no matter what, even if that meant discarding a part of himself.

Meanwhile, Baby survived the stab of that day and found himself on a shore later, still at Fortuna.

He went to live around the outskirts of Fortuna for a long time, attacking and sometimes even killing by accident every Knight he spotted on the path between the city and the Order's headquarters. He questioned every single one of them about Monster, but none of them knew what he was talking about.

Until he attacked Credo, that had an idea about what he was looking for.

Credo and Kyrie's parents accepted Baby to live among them since he had white hair and some connection with demons, very similar to the description of the figure they worshipped: Sparda.

Unfortunately, a few weeks later they got killed by a demon, thus, bringing the "demon magnet curse" back to haunt Baby.

He then joined the Order with the only intention of getting good equipment and to get inside the HQ to look for Monster.

A few weeks before the incident with the Savior, Credo was able to bring for Baby, in secret, a copy of documents talking about Monster… only for him to discover that his best friend had died.

Void Realm - Pitch Black City: Back to the present

Kyrie had to finish the story from Nero's "death" in front since she knew it as well, all because Nero was sobbing and sniffing uncontrollably, his tears were too much for he could clean it and he was too shaken to be able to speak.

Nico never expected to feel so sorry for Nero, she was aware he had a tough life, but not that much… Victor was also feeling bad for him, but he had to tell him the truth, the only possible truth. What he didn’t expect was the reaction that was about to come.

They waited in silence nearly an hour for Nero to calm down, it was already very late in the night.

“Nero...” Victor started slowly, breaking the silence. “I don’t think Monster really died…”

Nero raised his head to look at him, he couldn’t understand how Victor got to that conclusion.

“Have you payed attention… on the things you described?” Victor continued calmly. “Be able to feel what the other is feeling… see memories… receive the knowledge from the other…”

Victor’s words weren’t clicking Nero’s memory, he was still a bit shaken with the story.

Noticing that, he decided to be more direct: “You described every characteristic of Sync”

Nero’s brain gears began to work again, Sync was a recent subject Victor explained to him: an exclusive ability of Siblings of the same parents and… Parent and Children exclusive thing.

“No! Wait!” Nero blurted confused. “Ar-Are you… Are you trying to tell me that Monster… - a pause- was Vergil?!”

“I’m sure about that,” Victor said quite seriously, staring at Nero’s eyes.

Nero immediately got up from the seat, scaring Kyrie that was closer to him. His face had changed so quickly as if someone had pressed a switch. He began to yell angrily at Victor for no apparent reason: “VERGIL ISN’T MONSTER! No way that cold-blooded motherfucker is Monster!” he screamed between tears, but this time tears of anger.

“Dude! Chill! What’s up?!” Nico yelled scared with his reaction.

“Why are you in denial?!” Victor questioned, keeping his calm and serious posture. “Can’t you see that everything you said described Sync perfectly?”

“NO!” Nero shouted angrily.

Kyrie could see some sparks starting to blink around Nero, but before she was able to say anything Victor went first: “Why then?!” he yelled confused.

Nero took a deep breath and concentrated all his anger and depression on his next words and tears: “I’M NOT THE BASTARD CHILD OF A DEMON!”

And immediately after those words of sorrow, he started to bleed through his eyes, nose and mount at an alarming quantity. He lost control of his body and fell off the ground, shaking so much as if he was having a convulsion.

Only Kyrie could see the mess of blue and red bolts circling around Nero: “Oh my God! He’s desyncing again!” she shouted scared and instinctively rushed to help him out.

“Kyrie! Wait!” Nico shouted, but it was too late.

The moment she touched him, purple and white energy strings came out of her and touched his energy streams. At exactly the same moment, his energies repealed hers away, sending Kyrie a few steps backward.

“Are you a demon?!” Victor shouted quite surprised. “Or a half demon?! - he quickly turned to Nico - “You said she was human!”

Hell - at same moment

The situation got quite awkward between Dante and Vergil.

Vergil was holding his feelings the maximum he could, he was even holding his breath to do so, his body was shaking of so much tension and a tear or other was going down his cheeks, his face was red of stress.

“Ah… That’s why you did that then…” Date said low, finally understanding what initially motivated his brother to go after the Qliporth and throw away his human half.

There was no way Vergil’s uneasy and tension could pass unnoticed. Dante started to feel sorry for his brother like he never thought he would; Vergil lost the most precious person in his entire life. Baby was his savior and he barely could do something to help him in return.

The way Vergil was holding himself made Dante recall how he felt that day; Yeah, that fateful day he couldn't hold Vergil to destroy his own life. That killing sensation of feeling useless and powerless. The thought of 'everything could be different IF...'

“Bro…” Dante said soft and low, trying to call Vergil’s attention. “Listen… even a Devil may cry when they lose a loved one.”

When Dante thought he couldn’t see his brother more shaken, the inevitable happened: Vergil couldn’t hold anymore, not after his brother’s last words; he started to sobbing and crying in grief. Baby's death was too painful for him: he hugged himself trying to endure the pain and he stuttered uncontrollably many incomprehensive words, he brought his legs closer and assumed a fetal position.

Dante got closer and in an attempt to comfort the desolated man he laid his left hand on his left shoulder. Vergil couldn’t resist and laid his head on his brother’s shoulder; he was crying and sobbing as if Baby just had died that moment and even being a silent crying, he was in pure pain. His chest and shoulders were giving small jumps because of his strong sobbing and hiccups, his lips and jaw were trembling as if he was shivering and his nose was very runny.

“I-I-It-t-t w-as just like… just like that day… - sob- just like… -sob sob- just like that day…! -hic hic!” Vergil cried. “I-I-I I couldn’t protect him! I WAS WEAK! t-t-THE SA-ME SHIiiiT-T! ALL OVER AGAIN! -sob sob... hic- aaaaahh...!”

Dante tried to stroke Vergil’s shoulder to comfort him more, it wasn’t helping that much, but he was trying. He had no idea what to do, he’d never been in a situation like that before. Now… should he tell his thoughts to him? He was more than certain now that Baby is Nero. But how would his brother react? That would help? Would it make it worse? There was only one way to know.

Dante waited for a long time in silence, for his brother to catch his breath back before he could say something again.

For several minutes, if not an hour, Vergil's crying was the only sound around, echoing in their hideout.

“Vergil… Do you remember… that thing… we used to be able to do it when we were kids?” Dante tried to start slow, touching the wound with a bit of care.

“Sob - W-What… - hic - thi-thing…?” Vergil asked, very lost.

Dante got a bit nervous, he didn’t want to go to the point so quick. “You know… that when we touched… we could see each other’s memories, learn what the other learned… and so on…”

“Sob- Th-That thi-ing... -hic- Rose was studying about us - sob - ?” Vergil tried to remember but it was a bit blurry at that moment. “Sob sob - that later I dis-dis-covered -hic- with Vi-Victor that it was… -sob- a demon thing?”

“Yeeeeaaaah…” Dante said a bit awkwardly.

There’s a moment of silence before Dante gets the courage to continue: “Sooo… Have Victor told you everything about that?”

“No -sob- why?” Vergil replied as he raised his head to look at his brother.

Dante let go of him and gave a small distance, afraid of his reaction. “Well then… Victor explained to me… that’s a demon thing like you said… BUT it’s a thing… exclusive to siblings of the same parents… and...”

“And?!” Vergil started to notice Dante’s reluctancy on the subject.

“And a parent and children thing too… and a lot of you described about what used to happen between you and Baby matches with what Victor explained to me....” we said very slowly. “So… I’m afraid that… maybe... Baby…”

“NO!” Vergil understood very fast. “No no no no no no no no no no no! NO!”

“I’m afraid that maybe… Baby was your child all this time… He’s...Nero.” Dante finally said.

Vergil’s soul left his body and returned for a brief moment. Had he hurt Baby for real? Someone that only deserved love and care met his worst? His face became full of total despair and panic, he brought his hands to his head, pressing his fingers against his scalp. The more and more he recalled what he did wrong with Nero the thoughts started to storm his mind like a hurricane. Until he let all the panic concentrated on his gut explode away in a loud despair scream, that even called the attention of nearby demons.

Vergil began to freak out in tears, he was insanely crying in pain that he started to hurt his head with his nails, digging them on his scalp. Dante quickly grabbed him by his arms to hold him still, for he didn't get himself hurt in the middle of his panic.

“Bro! BROTHER!” Dante tried to call. “Easy Vergil!”

Between the heavy sobbing, he could split out a few words. “No no no! -sob sob- I would ne-never -sob- hu-hu-hurt him! - Sob sob”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, man!” Dante attempted to help him get in control. “You thought he was dead, you saw him being killed in front of you and you didn’t know he was a hybrid like us!”

Vergil looked at him, a desperate face and eyes red of so much crying, but he was listening to his brother.

“If you explain to him what really happened I think he will understand.” Dante said, very worried with Vergil.

It was very hard for Vergil to believe that he would be forgiven for such doing, especially the arm literal take off. He couldn’t think clearly about that now, he was too worried that it was very likely he had hurt the most important person of his life.

By now, he laid his head on Dante’s shoulder once more and let go all the tears as possible.

Inside Vergil (figuratively)

The place was close to being dead for real, the sun was hidden behind very heavy dark clouds, the ground was totally dry and crackly and there was a small pool of water at the center of the place. A loud painful crying was echoing very high around that infinite desolated place.

It was V, crying uncontrollably as he stared at a very small dying flower, smaller than his fingers, with another one starting to blooming at the side. He got his arms, legs and neck chained to a dead tree stump in front of the pool that had scorched marks at the roots. Although the chains were heavy, he could move his members. He was wearing the same clothes as Vergil and his hair and facial hair was purely white now.

Urizen was sitting behind the stump, he was quiet, only listening to V’s painful crying.

V kneeled to the little flowers that were at his side, with the point of his fingers he gently touched the dying flower, and raised it a little.

“My little one.. -sob- my little little one…. - sob - I’m so sorry… -sob sob- I’m so sorry for having hurt you… - sob - my baby…!”

To be continued...

#forgotten sins story #devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #Vergil #Dante #dmc5 nero #nerokiri #dmc5 nico #original character #fanfic

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ckneal · 3 years ago

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I know that Chuck’s counterpart in the Winchester family is supposed to be John, but there’s a part of me that can’t help noting how both John and Lucifer were given a burden to carry around with them--by Chuck--and then put into an environment that was deliberately designed to encourage them to make these terrible decisions. Like, corrupting humanity. Or, locking your young children up in a hotel room for two weeks with only enough food for one.

With John it was this deep-seeded rage and desire for a family that would have presumably started with Henry seemingly abandoning him at a young age, been helped along by Samuel’s rejection and the loss of whoever the father figure referenced in the season 4 episode The Song Remains the Same, and finally culminated in something ugly when Mary, who would have symbolized finally obtaining that stable family life he craved growing up, was snatched away from; meanwhile, for Lucifer this burden was the Mark, his aunt, who he made to pummel into submission and then literally carry around on his arm for the rest of eternity.

And this isn’t to absolve either of them of responsibility for their choices. After all, Sam and Dean are literally an example of the fact that it is still possible to circumvent Chuck’s narrative--Chuck kept trying to get them to kill each other again and again, and Sam and Dean kept veering off from the narrative each time. Cain, additionally, is an example of the fact that it is possible to resist the Mark’s siren song to gratuitous violence, and Lucifer, theoretically, could have resisted too. But the fact is that Lucifer wasn’t lying in season 5, when he stated that God wanted the devil, just like Chuck wanted Sam and Dean to have a father who loved them, but who was also terrible to them. Chuck set both of these characters up to fail, and they played their roles accordingly.

And I would have loved to have seen the two of them interact on screen. I personally would have enjoyed seeing Lucifer try to commiserate with John on this subject, only for John to then punch him in the face, because John would hate everything about the idea that he and the devil have something in common.

#my thoughts

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sons-of-the-morning-star · 4 years ago

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I've put this off long enough

This is Chapter/Episode 2 of Sons of The Morning Star: Habilitation

It is a very nice morning in the Wagner-Thorn-Langdon-Kline-Young house, FROM THE OUTSIDE, AT LEAST.

Inside, emotional tensions are high, with Michael and Lucius having another glare down, Jack struggling to get Dog to let go of a plate, and Damien struggling to get Adam out of his room. It has been less than a week, and the news don't know about the future Senator's new home life.

Yet.

Damien gives another knock on Adam's door, trying his damndest to not lose his mind.

"Adam, come on. We're about to eat breakfast, the food's gonna get cold, and you need to eat. GET. UP."

"I'll eat later," Adam calls from on his bed, though if this was an actual TV show, we'd only see Damien at the door. "Leave me alone."

Damien groans, "Fine." With a twitchy eye, he joins the others for breakfast.

Michael and Lucius avoid each other as best as they can while Jack smiles at Damien, successful at getting his plate back.

"Still no luck with him. He won't come out."

"Let him starve, then," Michael scoffs. "Maybe Crowley and Azriel can come pick him up and adopt him."

"Aziraphale," Jack corrects.

"Whatever."

Jack deflates, but finishes his breakfast and turns to Lucius.

"So anything interesting planned today?"

Lucius writes a message and slides it to Jack. 'Just a couple meetings. Nothing special.'

"Well, you'll always have us to call, if you get bored. And Damien."

Lucius groans as Damien grabs his things.

"Okay, I'm heading out. Michael, Jack, please don't kill each other and make sure Adam eats, got it?"

Both nod, though Jack is more enthusiastic, and Damien turns to Lucius and gives him a one armed hug.

"Have a nice day at work, honey!"

Jack and Michael burst into a fit of laughter as Damien dodges a punch from Lucius and leaves the house.

Lucius leaves soon after, telling the two to keep an eye on Adam and Dog, and to keep the radio on incase they hear anything new.

Michael nods and Jack full on agrees, waving his phone to Lucius and offering again that if he gets bored, he can call.

Lucius leaves and Michael gets up and grabs his coat.

"Where are you going? We're supposed to stay here and keep an ear out for any news."

"Lucius is not our father."

"He is now. And Damien," Jack states matter-of-factly.

"Neither of them are here. And what will you do to stop me from leaving? Flood the continent? Cause a plague? Start a world wide famine?"

When Jack doesn't have answer, Michael smirks and leaves.

If this was a TV episode, the camera would follow and face Michael as he leaves the house and revels in his small victory, and would show that the window to Adam's room is opened, something for astute viewers to notice.

CUT TO LUCIUS!

Lucius is having a time of it as he can barely concentrate, but still tries to listen.

It TOTALLY has to do with the fact he is now a father.

One of his campaigning partners is talking about people's sightings of people with wings and graffiti of pentecosts(THAT'S the evil, devil, Satan symbol, not a pentagram. A pentagram, the avatar/profile pic for this Tumblr, is a wiccan, pagan symbol for protection) on court houses and churches, when his phone rings.

He puts it on silent, and shows himself doing it, but he still gets phone calls.

His 'staff' tell him it's okay, and he opens a FaceTime-esque call from- guess. Just guess.

"Lucius? Is that you? Can you hear me?"

Lucius nods as he fights the growing urge to smash his cellphone on the ground.

"Michael left. He told me not to bother telling you, but I am anyway because he's not listening at all."

"Mr. Wagner, who is that?" One of his campaign advisers asks.

Before Lucius can hang up, Jack shouts out, "Who are you talking to? Are you working? CAN I SEE!?"

More advisers speak up and Lucius cringes as he turns his phone and reveals Jack, who's covered in flour and chocolate and some peanut butter; a surprise for Lucius when he gets home.

"Who are you?"

"Jack Kline," Jack replies. "Lucius adopted me and the rest of our broth-"

Lucius hangs up, turns off his phone, and tosses it on to a near by table with coffee and refreshments on it.

'What were you saying about all the vandalism recently?'

His staff, however, isn't listening, now more eager on the fact that Lucius has adopted someone, or multiple people, and taken them into his care.

"Mr. Wagner, what if we show the public you're caring these orphans? Your brothers? We have heard complaints lately that you're coming off as an 'iron fist' sort of guy."

Lucius is literally speechless, groaning into his hands as they pitch more ideas, even noting that if he stops the vandalisms and shows his 'soft' side to the public, he'll get more supporters.

CUT TO DAMIEN!

On the topic of these vandalisms, Damien has to take pictures of the symbols for the newspapers and online articles, noting that he could draw some better than what the 'artists' have done.

One in particular makes him freeze, and makes the hair on the back of his neck stand on end:

A message written in white paint and surrounded by crosses and with what looks like blood underlining the letters. Beneath it is a bowl, a really large bowl, of water:

God help the sons of the devil. Save them from damnation, or let them battle for eternity.

It unsettles him, to say the least, and he goes to wash it off with the water.

ONLY TO BURN HIMSELF AS HIS FINGERS DIP INTO THE BOWL.

Yes. Someone put HOLY WATER under this message.

Damien resolves to simply take a picture, with his phone not his camera, and leave, running into Michael.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be home watching Adam and Jack!"

"Sorry, Brother dearest, I don't really HAVE to listen to you."

"If I get home and the house is in ashes-"

"Relax," Michael shrugs as he begins to walk away. "Knowing Jack, he probably doesn't even know how to blink."

He chuckles, but stops as he passes by the creepy, holy water message, not looking at it, but feeling the holy water and the crosses.

And the blood, which he inspects, and finds is from a lamb.

It goes from bad to worse when they notice a pair of men striding toward them.

Damien leads Michael away, warning him, "Ignore them. Hopefully they just walk away."

Neither do, even when the two begin walking faster.

When the two males start gaining, and when one unsheathes a flaming dagger, the brothers make a run for it, but the men give chase.

"What the hell is they're problem!?" Michael snarks, "Why are they following us!?"

"Just keep running!" Damien barks back.

They round a corner, and Michael throws a ball of fire, hitting the unarmed male in the arm, the fire making him howl more than the average person.

The armed male, however, manages a slash across Michael's chest, just enough to leave him heavily wounded.

With Michael now useless, Damien slings him over his shoulders and races for a store full of people, using some telekinesis to throw a stream of water in a foutain to throw off the armed man pursuing them.

He stops when everyone is staring, the man, who I'm aure you've realized by now is an angel, stands in place, unaware of what to do.

"Go 'head," Damien eggs on. "Do it. You can kill us, but wanna try doing it infront of everyone here!?"

The angel eyes all the people, who are whispering and have their phones out, before glaring at Damien and a now standing Michael, sheathing his dagger, and storming away, miracling around a corner to avoid detection.

Both breathe a sigh of relief as they take a seat.

"Any idea on what just happened?"

Michael huffs and rubs some hair out of his face. "Take a guess. Why do Crowley and Aziraphale want was to stay together?"

TV perspective time as the camera zooms in on Damien, who looks over at the wall the angel vanished behind and then down at his feet.

With growing dread music, CUT TO JACK!!!!

Jack is humming as he takes out a tray of chocolate chip cookies, where we that he's also baked 'Welcome Home' cakes, pies, cupcakes, and just about anything else he can think of; don't worry, he made sure to keep the kitchen spotless.

He sets the cookies on the stovetop to cool and admires all the pastries, which makes Aziraphale applaud; he decided to pay Jack a visit because he's the most pleasant, and is closest with Adam.

Speaking of whom, Jack notices the time and calls out to him.

"Hey, Adam! You getting hungry?" He knocks on Adam's bedroom door, ever the good big brother. "I can make you a sandwich, if you want. Grilled cheese, PB and J, bacon-lettuce-tomatoe, even a breakfast sand..."

Jack opens Adam's door to find there's no Adam or Dog in sight and the window is wide open.

CUT TO LUCIUS, who's screaming into a bathroom sink full of water because his campaign officers won't shut up about painting him in a good light to appeal to people's emotions.

He pulls his face out of the water and dries off, growling on frustration when he gets a call from Jack(possibly the hundredth call that day).

This time, when Lucius answers, he sees Jack running with Aziraphale beside him.

"Lucius, hi! How's your day? Great! We're fine! I don't know where Adam is, so Aziraphale and I are looking for him!"

It hits Lucius like a ton of bricks as he writes, 'I thought he was in his room!?'

"So did we, dear boy," Aziraphale replies. "However, he must have left while no one was looking!"

Lucius starts to wonder why no one's kept an eye on him, until he realizes who ALSO left the house and hangs up on Jack, who objects to the action, to call Michael.

CUT TO MICHAEL AND DAMIEN! The two are having lunch in the food court of the mall to shake off the adrenaline of being chased by killer angels, when Lucius calls.

Michael, reluctantly, answers and waves at him, not talking because his mouth is full.

'YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH ADAM AND JACK! WHY DID YOU LEAVE!?'

"Calm down, Lucius," Damien groans. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been having a bad day, too."

'Where are you!?'

"Having lunch at a crowded mall because we got attacked by angels."

Lucius furrows his brow in confusion and Damien sends the picture of the creepy graffiti he found.

"Saw it while I was working on an article. Guess we're not as evasive as we thought."

As Lucius inspects it, Michael explains, "The red is lamb's blood, and there's holy water in the bowl. I think someone or something doesn't want us around."

Lucius shakes his head and writes/sends/signs, 'Do either of you know where Adam is? Jack said he ran away.'

"And where's Jack?"

'Looking for him with Aziraphale.'

"So now Jack AND Adam are gone?" Michael gapes.

All three jump out of their skin when Crowley shouts, "WHAT!?" and throws open the bathroom door.

Michael hisses out of emotional-esque pain and Damien groans into his hands as Crowley takes the phone from Lucius and gets really close to it.

"Where are those two right now!?"

"Like we just said, we don't know," Damien replies. "Adam ran away with Dog, so Jack and Aziraphale are going-"

"AZIRAPHALE'S OUT THERE, TOO!?"

Crowley drops the phone on the floor, something we see from Michael's and Damien's perspective, as he shouts, "Hold on, angel, I'm coming!"

With Lucius, the Wagner senator picks up his phone and gulps as he puts all the pieces together:

The message sent by Damien was written by angels, who know that all five brothers are on Earth, and are now planning to wipe them off the face of the planet, whether because of the grand plan or because each can cause the apocalypse, or because Jack and Adam fucked up bringing the apocalypse.

Eother way, he writes to Damien and Michael to, 'FIND THEM NOW.' and hangs up before he sprints out of the bathroom and out of the building, telling his lead secretary to cancel every single one of his plans because of a family emergency.

Now, I lnow what you're wondering, "Where's Adam right now? Did Gabriel get to him first?"

No, silly goose, he's fine.

Adam is walking through the streets with dog at his side, growling at anyone that gets too close. He's been crying for a while, but has stopped now because he just wants to walk and not think about London, which is hard because it's everyone's favorite subject at the moment.

He also wants to get away from his new brothers for a little while. In his mind:

Lucius is not around at all, and when he is, he's kimd of creepy with the whole "not talking" thing.

Damien's too pushy and doesn't give him space to be emotional or get used to his new environment.

Michael's just an asshole- not his words, but true all the same.

And... well, there's no real complaint with Jack. He's okay.

But not even Jack's good nature can change Adam's opinions on the rest of his new brothers.

It doesn't help that Aziraphale and Crowley can't just adopt him, either, because they don't know how his powers fully work, hence why they gave him to the other four.

Too lost in his head, Adam does not notice a trying-not-to-be-angry Gabriel walk up to him from behind, hiding a bottle of holy water as he says, "Hello, Adam."

Adam turns and pales. "Gabriel!? What are you doing here!?"

"I just wanted to check on you. See if you were ready try again with armageddon, all things considered."

Adam backs away, now very disturbed. "Stay away from me," he stammers.

Thank goodness Dog is more observant and bites the bastard, which gets Adam to focus and makes him realize NOW is a good time to run like hell.

He smacks Gabriel with his backpack and flees with Dog following. Gabriel is behind as he clutches his hand before giving chase, cursing that he can't miracle to Adam, that power being taken away from him since his 'falling out,' so he's left to run to chase after Adam, which draws a lot of negative attention, I must say.

Doesn't matter, though, because Adam is simultaneously loosing Gabriel and seeing that he's gaining on him.

That's when a hand grabs his arm and pulls him into a nearby store, throwing him behind a shelf of souvenirs, i.e. knickknacks and plushies, and a rack of keychains.

Gabriel looks through the window and bamgs his forehead against it before leaving, scowling as he trudges away.

Adam watches him as the male that pulled him whistles at the pouting angel.

"I knew Gabriel was always too eager to wear his big boy pants. Glad to see he hasn't changed. Evn though I knew he wouldn't."

Adam looks up at him, a sort of short, kind of stumpy man that looks kind of like if Aziraphale had actually taken being an archangel seriously; culry hair that's a dirty blond-ish, brown, alert eyes that see nothing and everything all at once, dark, sharp clothes, and a know-it-all smirk as he holds a hand out for Adam.

If you watched the show Lucifer on Netflix, you know EXACTLY who this guy is.

Dog doesn't growl at this guy, sensing that he's not going to hurt them.

"Sorry to scare you like that, Adam. I'm your uncle, but please just call me Uriel."

Adam lets Uriel help him up, now really confused.

"How do you know my name?"

"Father's talked a lot about you and your brothers, and I just wanted to see you myself. See just how busy my brother got while he visited this planet." Uriel looks out the window and fights a smirk. "Speaking of brother..."

Cue Jack and Aziraphale racing down the sidewalk as fast as they can before Jack spots Adam and sprints into the store with Aziraphale on his tail. Both are tired, both are a litttle sweaty, but they're so happy to see Adam is okay.

"Adam, there we are!" Jack cries as he and Adam hug and Jack spins him as they do. "We were so worried! I didn't hear you in your room, I'm so sorry!"

Aziraphale lants and simply gives a wave before pushing both boys behind him.

"Uriel."

"Aziraphale. Nice to see you."

The two have a stare down before Aziraphale asks, "Are you going to lead us to a trap or some kind? You know as well as I do there isn't any sort of plan to-"

"Don't talk to me about plans, Aziraphale. I'm the guy who actually MAKES them."

It silences Aziraphale and the brotjers a little on edge.

"Anyway, your brothers will be walking aroumd the corner a block away in about five minutes in the same direction you and Aziraphale were running down. Better get going."

Jack nods and thanks Uriel, leading Adam down the street.

Aziraphale eyes Uriel for a little bit before following the boys, to keep them safe.

Uriel's power holds true as the three meet Damien and Michael.

They all catch each other up as they walk to try and catch a bus.

There are angels in the city and a lot of them don't want the brothers around.

"But Uriel helped me hide from Gabriel. I don't think he wants to hurt us," Adam wonders.

Cue some major confusion from Jack and Michael not wanting to deal with all this because, "We've already got London and the Southwest to worry about. We don't need a bounty on our heads."

The brothers don't have time to think on it because every parent's worst nightmare happens when an angel strides up behind them and throws something down, maybe a holy water bottle and powdered salt to make the brothers back away before flying off with Adam.

The only one to see it happen is Aziraphale and Dog barks at the sky where his master was taken.

The brothers compose themselves and are silent as they realize what's happened.

Not all is lost as Michael gets a text from Crowley on his phone: an address to an old church that was closed down because of poor funding and evrn worse staff that didn't practice what they preached.

Transition from a taxi cab to A few minutes ago and a jet black car SPEEDING down the street fast enough to make Crowley proud, which he is, as Lucius gets filled in on the situation by Damien.

He's actually heading to what could be a very solid guess to where the angel has taken Adam, and Crowley shouts at him to, "Step on it!" when Aziraphale brings up Gabriel and Uriel.

Funny he brings up Uriel, because Lucius has been following him wherever he appears, the archangel having told him about finding Adam and that Lucius needs to trust him to keep Adam safe.

They wind up at an abandoned church, which Crowley hisses at and makes Lucius gag from the sudden nausea, and the senator steps out, gesturing for Crowley to wait in the car.

"Be careful in there."

Lucius gives a thumbs up and leaves, though, TV perspective, the camera would linger on Crowley as he notices a car approach through the rear view mirror.

CUT to Lucius carefully walking up to the church doors as he forces back coughs and gags as he tries opening the door. Key word is tries because it's locked, though he does here someone complaining about how, "The brat has sharp teeth," and, "He won't stop kicking."

To which Gabriel replies, "Just hold him down and keep him quiet."

Stealth time as Lucius ditches the door and walks to the side of the church and climbs up a pipe to reach a window, damn near falling to his death as the pipe gives and falls and leaving him to grab onto and dangle from the leadge of the window as two angels come to inspect.

Lucius scrambles inside and just barley avoids getting caught as he hides against the wall, having a clear view of the inside of the church.

Two angels are working on a salt and lamb's blood symbol much like the one Aziraphale made, the one that sent him to Heavan on accident, as a third angel holds onto a struggling Adam and Gabriel supervises.

The two 'scouts' report that they didn't find anything, just a pipe that broke, which Gabriel comments may have been because of a fat raccoon, and even smells the air a little, before turning to Adam.

Lucius sneaks closer as he watches Gabriel take a small amount of blood from Adam and drip it onto the angel symbol, activating it so it can rid Adam of the devil inside him, aka remove his soul, aka kill him.

LUCIUS IS HAVING NONE OF THAT.

He shakes his head and leaps off the upper level he's been hiding on, landing directly ontop of Gabriel, who throws him off and onto the ground

Lucius wheezes as he sees the abundance of crosses around them and a large bowl if holy water, one that used to be used for baptizing children. He also sees Gabriel dip his fingers into it before kneeling down to get a better look at this new demon that arrived univited.

"Lucius Wagner. I thought I smelled smoke." He flicks his fingers at Lucius, who hisses at the holy water as it touches his skin. "You're oddly more... pleasant to look at than I thought you would be. Then again, evil has a way of looking good, doesn't it?"

Lucuis smirks and signs to him, 'No wonder Heaven doesn't want you either, then.'

Gabriel smacks him for this and checks to see if the symbol is done, which it is, so he orders the three free angels to scout around the church, so no one else interrupts the brothers being exorcised.

Too bad the three can't seem to get the door open, even though they're the ones who locked it.

When the door doesn't budge, Gabriel and the other angels join, leaving Lucius and Adam unguarded, the former crawling towards the bowl of holy water as Adam scooches away from the angel symbol as much as he can, even toward the bowl as well, despite the blistering he feels all over.

Cut to Gabriel trying to open the door and suddenly feeling a little weak as he tries breaking the door, wondering what's going on.

CUT TO OUTSIDE AS AZIRAPHALE AND A SNICKERING URIEL HOLD THE DOOR, HAVING MIRACLED AHEAD OF DAMIEN AND JACK, AS MICHAEL REJOINS THEM, SAYING HE WILL NOT BE PLAYING SANTA CLAUS AGAIN ANYTIME SOON!!!😁

Cut back to inside the church, where Lucius pulls a cross down on the alter and starts getting a little more strength back before he picks up Adam.

Two fallen crosses will have to be enough to allow him some strength as he holds Adam and kicks the bowl of holy water, which washes away the angel symbol and seeps away through the floor boards.

Gabriel sees and hear this and shouts, "No!"

Lucius switches his grip on his brother as he holds up a flaming hand, glaring at the angels.

They retaliate by snagging crosses and charging forward.

Too bad Lucius is good at thinking on his toes and fans some fire out to the back wall behind the alter, which is lined with tapestry and wood.

The flames catch at rise, scaring away the angels and a scowling Gabriel, who has a glare down with Lucius as he carries an unbound Adam in both arms.

Cut to outside as the fire grows. News reporters, police officers, and our squad are outside as firefighters rush in.

Jack is racing between people to get a better look at the tragedy and then holds his hands out before Damien stops him.

"Relax, they're going to be okay."

"But how do you-"

The firefighters race out with an unconscious Gabriel and a coughing, hunched over Lucius, who's still holding Adam. All three are covered in soot and everyone notices that Adam and Lucius are a little injured, but Gabriel is unharmed.

When news reporters crowd Lucius, who is seated in an ambulance and given a shock blanket as he refuses to have Adam taken out of his arms, they start asking the basic and REAL questions:

"Mr. Wagner, were you attacked just now?"

"Did you jump into a burning building to save this boy?"

"Do you know the man that attacked you?"

"Who is the boy you saved?"

"Is it true you adopted three boys into your care?"

"Are you in any ki d of relationship at the moment?"

Before Lucius can answer, Jack plows through with Michael and Damien in toe, Jack hugging a now conscious Adam and Lucius and apologizing for not being a good brother.

Also cue Dog jumping up and kissing Adam and even Lucius.

The press gets a lot of pictures of this, and Damien hugging Lucius, calling him, "snuggle-bug" as he hugs him.

The police see Lucius giving the, 'I'm done, make them stop' signal, and start pushing everyone away, telling them he'd like time alone with his family.

But not after one more question:

"Mr. Wagner, is this your family?"

Lucius nods with a smile, nodding at Jack, Damien, Michael, and Adam.

He also types on his phone to them all, 'No more running away, okay?'

They all agree.

The "episode" ends with Gabriel being locked up in a jail cell for araon and assaulting a politician and a minor and the brothers returning home from the hospital after Lucius and Adam are checked out at the hospital.

There they see all the desserts in a spotless kitchen, surprising Michael and making Lucius start warming up to having a family.

#crossover #sons of the morning star #adam young #damien thorn #jack kline #lucius wagner #michael langdon #ahs #good omens #supernatural #Lucius #american horror story #child endanderment tw #evil angels #lucifer show #the omen

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