#then there are the ones that just have bullets randomly thrown around practically and call it 'hard' because of it

[gameringgungke]

i want to play modded terraria again but that would also mean having to play modded terraria again

[fire-fira]

Have some more of my dream-based AU

[Ao3 version]

Since my friend @coredesignixandnekonee requested more of [this AU] (and because I’m having fun with it) here’s some more.

Things That Have Absolutely Happened Because of Casey Getting To Know The Turtles And Splinter Early On

When Casey finally stayed outside and talked with them for the first time, Splinter tried to argue that Casey needed to stop, that what he was doing wasn’t necessary, and that it could be dangerous. Casey insisted otherwise, and now that he knew for a fact that Splinter was just trying to keep his kids fed and warm that he’d try to track them down if they stopped showing up. (Because of course he would worry.)

At least one instance of him being outside talking quietly with them only for them to hear the door opening, prompting Splinter and the boys to immediately hide. “Casey, what are you doing out here?” “Nothing. Just... thinking.” “You sure?” “Yeah. Just wanted some fresh air to clear my head.” “...Ooookay... Be sure to lock the door when you come in.” “I will. Promise.” (Raph of course had to make a comment when it was safe to along the lines of, “You? Clearing your head? Right.”)

Even in this reality Casey and Raph pick at each other. This has led to some interesting ‘fights’ over some incredibly random things. Highlights include: -- Soda can target practice and which of them was better at it -- Whether it hurts more to get hit by a hockey stick or a bo staff -- Whether it’s better to be taller or shorter (At the time Casey was taller than Raph and the other turtles, but he specifically picked on Raph about his height. Raph may have kicked him in the shins at least once.) -- Which of them is the biggest jerk (Which started an ‘argument’ of calling each other names, which Donnie very quickly co-opted because the two of them went alphabetical by complete accident on the first three. Donnie turned it into an actual game, which has gradually morphed into Casey and Donnie’s ‘thing’ because the two of them are able to keep it up the longest.) -- Whether it’s better to be a ninja or not -- ‘Popcorn tag’ (The two of them were forbidden from touching the microwave in the lair for a week after that incident. They may have gotten carried away.) -- Which of them could make a puck fly farther (Yet again Donnie swooped in and out-classed them because they hadn’t even expected him to get involved. They especially didn’t expect him to rig up a large slingshot.) -- Which of the two of them could carry Mikey around on their back longest (Mikey thought this was hilarious and was more than happy to get involved, especially since he got to dictate where they were going as the trade-off for not being let down for as long as possible) -- Which of them had better balance (Leo swooped in and won that one. Both Casey and Raph insist he ‘cheated’.) -- Routine ‘brawls’, both to play around and as a way to work out frustration (Usually, in terms of play, started off by Casey throwing “Your mom” at Raph.) -- Which of the two of them would be a better driver (Yes they started arguing about this as early as when the turtles were 9 and Casey was 12. Yes Splinter was concerned enough to forbid them from stealing a car. No, at the time Casey couldn’t even reach the pedals while also seeing over the dashboard at the same time.)

Casey staying the night.

Casey making excuses for where he was staying the night.

Swivel-chair jousting.

Casey having to make excuses both to his family and Splinter and the turtles when he started up being a vigilante.

Casey getting caught by the turtles when he was out being a vigilante.

The turtles turning around and telling Splinter what Casey was up to.

Casey getting told off by Splinter for being a vigilante, and then being “forced” to join the turtles from then on for training so he’d have less of a chance of getting killed. (By that point Splinter knew him well enough that he knew if he told him to just stop, Casey would probably stop for a while and then start up again.)

Splinter having moments where he wishes he could just call Casey’s parent(s) to tell them to pick up or keep an eye on their trouble-seeking son.

The ‘Trampoline Olympics’ in the living room of the lair. (Mikey wins.)

Donnie trying to invent a bullet-proof hockey mask for Casey.

Raph trying to talk Donnie into making Casey a metal hockey-stick. (Splinter and Leo both veto that idea.)

Casey occasionally waltzing into the lair loudly announcing, “ALL PRAISE CASEY JONES, FOR I HAVE BROUGHT FOOD AND SUSTENANCE!” -- The first time he did it and April was there, he startled her badly enough that she flipped over the back of the couch before popping up to stare at him like he was out of his mind. -- “Who the heck’s the redhead?” -- “Casey, meet April. April, this is Casey.” -- “‘Kay, nice to meet you an’ all, but Leo. Seriously. Why is she here?” --  “Why am I here-- why are YOU here?” -- “Uh... ‘Cause they’re my friends. Dude, Raph, why is she here?” -- “...Ask Donnie.” -- “What.” (Yes Casey’s crush on Donnie has started to form by this point. No he hasn’t said anything outright, and he’s doing the thing of avoiding the subject because he worries about making things awkward. Unacknowledged jealousy alert.)

Casey randomly surprising them with presents, especially when it’s things he knows they need or just really really really want.

Along with that, Casey occasionally doing supply runs and dragging a wagon piled high with stuff down there. (Yes there have been times where he had to have help carrying it down until he could set it down on its wheels.)

Casey getting Splinter a #1 Dad mug during the holidays and deliberately having the turtles all sign the tag before even letting him see it.

When Donnie made them phones, Casey personalizing his ringtones for each of them. -- After Mikey clued in to the unacknowledged two-way crush between Casey and Donnie, he kept changing their ringtones for each other. Yes they’re usually sappy love songs. No Mikey isn’t sorry. -- Mikey routinely getting pillows and cushions thrown at him for changing Donnie and Casey’s ringtones. -- Leo actually throwing a pillow at Mikey because of Casey calling Donnie and the ringtone being “I’m in/heaven when you kiss me~”.

Casey having play ‘slap fights’ with Mikey that more often than not consist of the two of them flailing at the air at each other without actually connecting.

Casey occasionally ending up in three-way staring contests with Raph and Leo.

Casey having introduced the four of them to the fine art of over-dramatic play-deaths. (He managed to stretch one ‘death’ into a few minutes-- flopping around from a chair, to the couch, to the floor, to a beanbag, back to the floor, and up and over the back of the couch included.)

After he started getting along with her (eventually), Casey co-opting April into helping him carry at least 15 pizzas down to the lair-- initially by telling her it was an ‘emergency’ because he ‘needed’ to get ‘something’ down there and he didn’t want to risk dropping it. She was less than impressed.

Mikey and the Halloween with feather boas.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

X-Men AU so far?

Anti (Code name: Antisepticeye)- Basically a green Nightcrawler with less control over his warping, the lack of control causes him to warp randomly sometimes and every now and again his body will appear to glitch. He got his code name due to his one green eye, that he can use to see in pitch black, while the other is a normal blue. He tends to be called the “wild card” of the team that causes a lot of destruction when they’re sent on missions, but he blames it on the random warping which can get worse depending on his mood. He doesn’t remember anything other than living in the X-Mansion, his life before that is a complete mystery, but he’s alright with that because judging by he scar on his throat he guesses it wasn’t exactly a good time in his life.  (He’s also got the tail and pointy ears of course)

 Chase (Code name: Trick Shot): Chase looks 100% like a normal human and because of this he went through most of his life as one. But one day his powers finally kicked in and while shooting one of his nerf guns the foam bullet became lethal, not that he shot anyone it’s just that it went through the tree it was supposed to bounce off of. Learning that he was a mutant his wife quickly packed up the kids and left him (she hopes the kids aren’t mutants too we’ll figure that out later). Then later when Chase tried to kill himself out of grief, he found he was also bullet proof, whether he wants to be or not. Jackie was the one that ultimately recruited him into the team (not sure how they met yet working on it) and he got his code name due to his amazing aim, they’re not sure if it’s another mutation or just from years of practice. He can pick up any toy gun that shoots and make it lethal.

 Jackie: (code name: Jackieboyman): His powers include, super human strength, endurance, and flight. He has whole heartedly accepted the life of a mutant super hero and is the most cheerful one in the group and tends to take the position as the leader. He also chose his own nickname even though some find it to be redundant, but he sticks by it stubbornly and refuses to change it.

 Robbie (code name: Zombie): Robbie was actually found by the X-men while wondering around after they’d heard of a zombie “terrorizing” a town. Instead they found young Robbie wandering around and wondering why everyone was so terrified of him. His power is the fact that he’s like the undead. Not really a zombie, he’s still alive after all, but not only does he look like a zombie he feels no pain so if he runs into battle and people shoot or something it won’t stop him, his strength is not equal to Jackie’s, but he’s still much stronger than your average human. (Also considering giving him the power that if he bites someone they’ll start to decay)

 Jameson (Code name: Mute): Jameson’s Powers also developed at a young age... In fact, he accidentally destroyed his home town while on a playground, calling for his mother, whom he never found. He didn’t realize it was because of his voice that the destruction was happening but once he learned he was devastated and vowed never to utter another word. He was found wondering the ruins of his home town by the X-men and was taken in. He learned sign language from Professor X who was really the only person he could talk to through telepathy. Jameson mostly refuses to use his powers, thus the code name.

 Angus: (Code name: Hunted): Not gonna like, I was kinda picturing him as wolverine-ish! (Just less of an asshole than Logan) but reading through some of the ideas that people have had I like them! So while I’m still on the fence about it, I’m thinking about basing him off of the DC hero Vixen. Meaning that his power would be that he can access any abilities of any animal, even ones that are extinct or ones that don’t even exist (so he could get dragon powers if he wished). He picked the name because he came from a family of hunters, but now he wants to protect the animals he borrows his powers from and he likes the jokes of the hunter becoming the hunted.

 Shawn (Ink Master): Shawn was sent to the X-men by his family as soon as he started showing signs of being a mutant, which started as him crying ink one day.  Having been abandoned by his family he tends to have a sour outlook on the world and trust issues (JJ and Robbie cling to the idea that they just got lost and never found). But the rest of the team just sort of worked their way into his life and he will protect them with it. Shawn is able to control ink as well as cover his entire body with it to make like armor. When like this he looks like a big ink monster, but he’s got a bad temper and I sorta imagine that like hulk he might just start beating the crap outta people if you make him mad and he’s got a short temper, so the others have had to calm him down many times. The code name Inkman, was thrown around many times but Shawn thought it sounded stupid till Marvin suggested Ink Master and he liked it.

 Marvin (Code name: The Magnificent): Now here’s the thing about Marv... It’s hard to decide what powers to give him. Because totally yes, he would have Jubilee’s power of shooting fireworks from his hands, but I also like the idea of some telekinesis. Then I remembered that some X-men has a list of powers that super long so why not both? Here’s the deal, Marvin can both shoot fireworks from his hands and he also has some telekinesis! But he mostly uses the fireworks, why you ask? Because it’s more flashy and cool looking duh! He’s all about the showmanship of it, after all before his powers started up, he’d wanted to be a magician! He picked his own name and honestly no one stopped him. His telekinetic powers aren’t as strong mostly just because he doesn’t use it very often, but it’s good for freaking out human guards to think there’s ghosts in the base!

 Henrik (Code name: Doctor): Henrik’s Powers didn’t appear until shortly after he got his medical license, and boy was he delighted to find out that he had healing capabilities! He would be able to save so many lives and would be highly respected in his field, right?! Wrong, the second he got caught using his ability to heal a patient that he was losing in a normal surgery he was fired, and his license ripped away from him. No one wanted a mutant working on them while they were under and there was suspicion about the green light produced while he was healing them. His wife left him for her tennis instructor and told him to never contact her again. He didn’t know what to do till he was contacted by the X-men, saying they could use a brilliant doctor like him. He helps everyone but is often put on missions with the other “septics” due to the chaos that can break out and because Robbie almost constantly needs healing. He chose his name to be his title because damn it he worked for that title and no one can take it from him!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so far this is what I got. If anyone has any other ideas or thinks something can be changed feel free to let me know since this is more of a tentative idea of were the story is going right now. I'm always open to ideas! I honestly just typed this up on my phone after I woke up this morning so I assure you I won't mind changes being wanted :3

~Seal~

......

Ohhhhh my gosh I love every single one of these!!!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

[scourgewins]

Mafia AU (Part 2.1)

(Chapter 2 has been a ride, folks! A ride that hasn’t yet ended! The second part of part two has yet to be completed, but I figured the first part was ready for public display, so here we are. I’m kind of nervous about the end result, but oh well; we’ll see how this goes.)

(Warnings: Guns, gunfire, hangover, mention of being drunk)

(Note: The song mentioned, “I’ll Be Seeing you,” was written by Sammy Fain (That name!) with lyrics by Irving Kahal. It’s been performed by many famous singers, such as Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. It’s a great song; I recommend it.)

It wasn’t that Sammy hated Henry’s side. Sure, Wally could be a pain sometimes, and Jack could be insufferable, but everyone else didn’t bother him. Henry was a good boss, if a little too lenient. The mob was efficiently run, and its men were highly capable. No, Sammy wasn’t a traitor because he didn’t like them, he just didn’t like them enough to stop spying on them for Joey.

Sammy sat up in bed, groaning slightly. His hangover was much better than it had been yesterday, but he still felt a dull ache just between his eyes. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Sammy glanced about the sparsely furnished room. He’d spent the past two nights in Henry’s headquarters, being too hungover to walk home or report to Joey. Hopefully he won’t be too mad. Joey was a much stricter boss than Henry.

Maybe I’ll just lie and say they tightened security. Sammy reasoned, Joey might believe that.

Even in his hungover state, Sammy sensed the tension in the air. Everyone was waiting to see if Joey would attack. Sammy knew he probably would give some sort of demonstration of his power, but wasn’t sure how large scale it would be. As long as the bullets don’t hit me, I don’t care.

Pulling on his shoes, Sammy ran his fingers a few times through his long hair, before stepping into the hallway.

After showering and eating breakfast (which consisted of one can of bacon soup), Sammy felt almost normal. He descended down the stairs to the parlor. As he neared the bottom, piano music reached his ears, and he quickened his step.

Matt was sitting at the bench for the grand piano that nobody used except him and Sammy. The morning sun streaming through the window cast a pale light over him and the instrument. Matt was playing a wild tune, in an obvious attempt to relieve his stress. Sammy glanced toward the door. He wouldn’t be able to slip out to report to Joey till nightfall, so he might as well relax now.

He slid in beside Matt, who jumped, missing a note. The anxious musician turned to Sammy, before relaxing when he saw it was just his friend.

“Everyone’s so jumpy around here.” Sammy remarked.

“Yeah, well, it’s for good reason.” Matt replied, turning back to the piano, his fingers dancing along the keys, “None of us know when or if Joey will retaliate.”

Sammy looked down at the keyboard. Without even thinking about it, he began to play something in perfect harmony with what Matt was playing. Matt glanced at him, his solemn face lightening to give him a wan smile. The two musicians played their duet in perfect sync, years of practicing together taking hold. Sammy’s mind traveled back to the days when the two of them had performed at clubs together. It seemed a lifetime ago.

Without warning, Matt changed the key he was playing in, forcing Sammy to compensate. It was an old game they played, that had never grown old. Matt continued to randomly switch the key. Sammy missed a few notes, but for the most part was able to keep in harmony. At last, slightly breathless, Matt stopped.

“You’ve still got it.” He sounded more cheerful than before.

Sammy grinned, “I’ll never lose it.”

Matt smirked, resting his hands in his lap, “How’s your hangover?”

Shrugging, Sammy answered, “It’s not so bad anymore.” He knew what was coming next.

“I saw you when you came back the other night.” Matt’s smirk widened into a grin, “You were singing like a drunken sailor.”

Sammy rolled his eyes, pretending to be not at all embarrassed by the event, “I wasn’t that drunk.”

“I’ve seen you drunk before,” Matt continued, ignoring his friend, “but boy, were you drunk this time!”

Sammy pursed his lips, “Can we change the subject?”

“Nope!” Sammy nodded, understanding his plea would go unheeded. Knowing Matt, he’d probably find every possible way to bring this up for as long as he lived.

Or until I betray him. The thought snuck into Sammy’s mind and refused to leave. He knew Matt would one day discover Sammy had been betraying them, probably sooner than later. That was one of the snags in the plan. Sammy had no wish to betray Matt, but he was fine with betraying everyone else. Well, everyone else except Susie. She was the other snag.

Sammy tried to shake the guilt away; they didn’t know yet, so he might as well enjoy his time with them as long as he could. He quirked an eyebrow at Matt, “You’ve been plenty drunk before, too.”

“Yeah, except I could still walk and talk sensibly. Lacie had to drag you back while you babbled like a baby.”

Sammy opened his mouth to counter, but realized he had nothing to say, so instead crossed his arms and glared disgruntledly down at the keyboard. His friend seemed to sense he’d won this round of teasing, and began to play the piano again, humming contentedly. It was difficult for Sammy to remain angry when there was music to be played, so he soon joined in, and the two resumed their game, though this time Sammy changed the keys and Matt had to keep up. “I thought I heard you two making a racket down here.”

The lilting, slightly flirtatious voice Sammy knew well came from right beside his ear, and the musician felt his muscles tense as his face grew hot, his fingers stilling on the piano. Looking up, he saw Susie standing beside him, a mischievous glint in her blue eyes.

Matt glanced up, “You call it racket, we call it music.”

The singer glanced at Matt a moment as he spoke before her attention returned to Sammy, “Oh? Well, I think it could use some vocals, right Sammy?”

Sammy felt his heart rate speed up as he met her gaze. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

Susie grinned, “Perfect. Play something I know.”

Sammy exchanged a glance with Matt, “How about ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’?”

Matt nodded, “I’ll lead.”

He shifted his seat on the piano to better reach the keys he needed. Sammy did the same, and Matt began to count. Susie cleared her throat.

“1,2,3,4-”

“Hey, Susie!”

The one note Sammy had managed to get in died out as the musician cast his gaze up to the ceiling, inhaling deeply. Jack sauntered up to them, a rifle slung over one shoulder.

Susie turned to look at the newcomer, something flashing in her eyes, “Hello, Jack.”

Jack surveyed the three of them, “What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like we’re doing, genius?” Sammy huffed. Jack glared at him and Sammy returned the glare with equal vehemence.

“Are you going on sentry duty?” Matt’s question did little to break the tension.

Jack glowered at Sammy a second more before turning to Matt, “Yes. Bertrum and I are to relieve Winona and Lacie. Security has had to be much more vigilant ever since that incident at the speakeasy.” Jack’s gaze switched back to Sammy.

Sammy ground his teeth at the accusatory tone, “Shawn and Wally started the fight. I didn’t do anything.”

“You didn’t help anything, either.”

“Jack,” Matt sighed, “Why don’t we just move on from the whole event, huh?”

Matt was being a real hypocrite right now, but Sammy knew he was just trying to diffuse the situation, which Sammy was not grateful for; he could fight his own battles.

“I would,” Jack said, “Except Joey is going to attack us if we ‘just move on’.”

“Well, shouldn’t you get outside, then?”

Jack crossed his arms at Sammy, “I’m waiting for Bertrum.”

“And I’m sure Joey will patiently wait for Bertrum, too.”

Susie cut Jack off before he could counter, “Why don’t you head out before Sammy starts something?”

Jack’s gaze softened as he turned to Susie, “I can handle myself, don’t worry.”

The singer’s lips pursed, and Sammy knew that was not the reason why she’d asked, “I know, but… I’d… feel better if you didn’t.”

Jack nodded, “Anything for you, Ms. Campbell.” Sammy could almost see Susie trying not to roll her eyes.

“I’ll be off, then.” Jack shot one last glare at Sammy before heading for the door-

Bullets crashed through the windows, the glass shattering in dazzling fragments. The wall sprouted tiny holes as the unseen pellets whizzed past. None of this had time to register in Sammy’s mind before Susie was tackling him and he was falling into Matt, the three crashing to the floor in a heap. Jack screamed, but Susie’s hair obstructed Sammy’s view so that he could not see if the poet had been shot or not. The roar of the gunfire blended with the sound of bullets whistling through the air to form a deadly, seemingly endless cacophony.

Then the firing ceased, as suddenly as it had started. All was quiet except for the sound of screeching tires rapidly receding. Sammy’s heart was hammering in his chest, pounding in his ears. He felt frozen where he lay.

The first to move was Susie, who pushed herself off the two musicians. Sammy’s muscles seemed to thaw, and he crawled off of Matt, rising warily to his feet. Matt inhaled deeply before following suit.

Jack lay curled up on the ground in front of the door, his arms thrown up around his head to protect himself. Matt was the first to move over to him, descending on one knee.

“Did they get you, Jack?”

Jack remained curled up, but said, “I don’t know. Did they?” His voice quavered.

Matt looked the poet up and down, “I think you’re good.”

A sigh sounded from somewhere within the curled up ball, “Good.”

Sammy and Susie moved over to them, and Sammy surveyed the bullet marks on the wall. They were in a messy bunch about four feet off the floor. As Sammy followed the trail, he saw them suddenly rise steeply, above the door, before dying off on the other side of it. Someone’s aim must have been thrown off, he reasoned, if it hadn’t been, Jack would be dead.

He glanced quickly over at the piano, to see that bullets had ripped through its delicate wood. The sight was truly awful, and he turned away, feeling the pain all musicians feel when they see an instrument damaged.

“Lacie! Winona!” Susie called. Sammy remembered they’d been on guard duty.

“We’re fine!” Lacie pushed open the front door, ushering Winona inside. The younger woman’s gaze was cast behind them on the road, as if searching for something. Lacie dragged her the remainder of the way and slammed the door shut behind them.

Footsteps sounded on the staircase and in the hallway, and soon everyone in Henry’s gang was sprinting into the room. Henry was the first down the stairs, Michael right behind him, with Boris loping after the two brothers. Bertrum and Thomas rushed in from the hallway, Bertrum with a rifle in hand. Thomas had shaving cream slathered across his face and wore only a T-shirt and hastily pulled on pants. He had a razor in his one hand, holding it out before him like a weapon. Murray was the last to arrive, practically leaping into the room with a firearm in hand. Everyone pressed into the small space.

“Winona!” Wally’s shrill voice echoed in the hallway, and Emily and Shawn pressed themselves against the wall to let him through. The young gangster sprinted to his sister, grabbed her by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length.

“Are you hurt?” Wally sounded positively frantic as he looked his sister over, checking for injuries.

“I’m fine, Wally.” Winona replied gently. Wally surveyed her one last time to make sure she was telling the truth, before enveloping her in a tight embrace.

“Great Scott!” Bertrum surveyed the broken glass before him, his wrinkled eyes narrowing, “So it would seem Drew has made his move.”

“Is everyone okay? What happened?” Sammy turned as Henry approached him and Susie. Michael went to check on Jack, and he and Matt hefted the poet to his feet. He looked dazed.

“Everyone’s fine,” Susie said.

“Miraculously.” Sammy added, nodding pointedly at the hole-ridden wall. Henry took in the sight, his brow furrowing.

“Somehow, their aim got thrown off.”

“I don’t know how it happened.” Lacie spoke up, “They must have hit a bump in the road or something.”

“Who did?”

“Norman and Bendy.”

At Bendy’s name, Henry stiffened, something clouding his eyes. Boris lowered his gaze. Everyone knew how much the gang leader and the cartoon wolf missed Bendy and Alice. Sammy figured it must feel like a huge blow to them to know Bendy had fired upon them. He didn’t feel any empathy, though; this wasn’t even his side.

Sammy glowered inwardly. His teammates had nearly shot him. True, they couldn’t have known he was in the room, but they could have figured he might be in the room. He was going to have words with Joey.

“We fired after them,” Winona spoke up, disengaging herself from her brother’s hug, “But I don’t think we hit either of them.”

Henry let out a small sigh and Sammy could see the relief in his eyes; he didn’t want anyone shooting Bendy.

“Alright,” the mob boss’ voice was authoritative, “Thomas, Wally, I want you two to get to work boarding up the windows. Bertrum, Murray, you’re on guard duty. I’ll try to protect you with my ink shields, but you know I can’t hold them for very long; I’ll have to take breaks. Michael, make sure everyone caught in this shooting is okay. Everyone else, assist where you can.” So saying, Henry made his way into the hallway, presumably making for the closet where they kept hardware supplies.

The gangsters all went about their separate tasks. Thomas placed a hand on Wally’s shoulder, gently steered him away from Winona and after Henry. Bertrum and Murray exchanged a glance before heading outside, their guns at the ready. Michael suddenly appeared in front of Sammy, his quick brown eyes assessing him.

“Am I going to live?” Sammy asked drily.

“It would appear so, Sammy.” Michael moved on to check on Lacie and Winona, having finished his examinations of Jack and Matt. Jack was sitting on the piano bench. He looked pale, but otherwise fine.

Sammy smirked, “I thought Susie told you to leave.”

Jack slowly looked up at Sammy, his glare returning, “Shut up!” He pushed past Sammy and stalked after Thomas and Wally. Not so poetic now, I see. Sammy mused.

“Well, that was sudden.” Sammy’s smirk dropped as Susie spoke, and he adopted what he hoped was a cordial expression.

“Yeah, it was.”

Susie’s blue eyes twinkled, “Maybe we can make time for that song later, huh? On a different piano, though.” she added with a nod to the now broken instrument.

Sammy nodded slowly, “Sure thing.” The singer smiled brightly and left the room. Sammy watched her leave. I wish Jack had seen that.

“You’re staring, buddy.” Matt gave his friend a weary smile.

“Yeah, well, I have a right to admire the woman who might have saved our lives.”

“You may be right.” The fact that Matt wasn’t teasing him told Sammy he was shook up over the morning’s events. He was, too, Sammy had to admit, but considering this wasn’t his team, he didn’t feel as rattled as he might have. Besides, they were a part of the mafia; getting shot at was a day-to-day routine.

“I suppose we should help clean this mess up.” Matt gestured over to the broken glass on the floor, which Wally was sweeping up.

“I guess so.” Sammy sighed, and the two friends got to work.

[write-havoc]

This Is How I Disappear Ch. 52

Summary: A girl named Chuck finds herself in the exact place she doesn't want to be, living with violent men in a desolate nursing home. After her former gym teacher finds her, will he be the savior she was looking for?

Fandom: The Walking Dead AU

Pairing: Negan/Original Female Character

Status: Ongoing

Contains: swearing, violence, sexual assault, blood, smut

Intended for readers 18+ of age only

Masterlist

——— Negan’s POV ———

I have no fuckin’ idea why Eldritch’s men hauled ass out of his compound yesterday. We stayed up all fuckin’ night ready for an attack from them, but nothing ever happened. I even warned Hilltop and Alexandria to be on the fuckin’ lookout, but they didn’t see shit. I also radioed my guys watching Eldritch’s compound to see if they started to move the fuckin’ biters, because I do not want a fuckin’ surprise herd on my goddamn doorstep again. But the dead never fuckin’ moved. So I’m fuckin’ stumped about it.

Something got them all riled up, but fuck if I know what. I can only hope that it doesn’t mean bad fuckin’ news for Chuck.

As it is right now, I’m on the fuckin’ road with my usual guys to pick up my picture. But I’m taking extra precautions. Namely, I’ve loaded the fuckin’ car with extra guns. Well, maybe it’s not just for precaution sake... I know it’s fuckin’ dumb, but part of me is itching for a fight. All this shit is fuckin’ getting to me and I’m like a goddamn powder keg ready to blow. I don’t know how much fuckin’ longer I can keep playing nice with Eldritch. I’m doing it to keep Chuck safe, I keep telling myself that, but my nerves are fuckin’ fried. Not to mention that I feel like a goddamn pussy for not busting that fucker’s head in every goddamn chance I get.

If I get another picture like the last one, I’m gonna fuckin’ kill every motherfucker at that fort. I know it. I can’t take seeing fucking Eldritch with his hand on my girl. And I can’t take seeing her look like she just got fucking hurt.

“Maybe there was some sort of emergency,” Arat breaks me out of my thoughts from her seat in the back. “Maybe Eldritch has guys posted away from his compound that were in trouble and that’s why all his guys left yesterday.”

I shake my head. I don’t think that’s what it was. If Eldritch wanted to have guys outside his compound, they would’ve occupied my fuckin’ empty outposts. But they’re still fuckin’ empty. He hasn’t done shit with them.

One of the other guys in the back throws his two cents in. “Nah. He’s gearing up for something.”

That sounds more goddamn likely. Just as I turn my body to address the guys in the back, I see a fuckin’ car headed straight fuckin’ for us coming from a side street. I don’t even get a chance to say a goddamn thing before the car t-bones us on the back driver’s side. Dwight overcorrects which causes us to fuckin’ veer to the left and flip. I’m not sure how many times we go ass over end, but we end up on our fuckin’ roof.

It takes a few seconds before I realize what’s going on after we stop moving. I groan in fuckin’ pain and look around. Me, Dwight, and Arat are all hanging upside down by our seatbelts. My other two guys weren’t so lucky. One isn’t even in the car anymore. I guess he got thrown out of one of the broken windows. And the other is so fuckin’ mangled that I know he’s fuckin’ dead.

In my periphery, I see movement outside of my window. Some guys are coming toward us, but I can’t really see who it is. Though I have a fuckin’ feeling. And my feeling proves fuckin’ correct when I hear a voice.

“You still alive in there, Negan?” Eldritch fuckin’ yells in a teasing voice.

Arat groans behind me and unlatches her seatbelt, sending her to the floor with a thud. Well, the roof , I guess.

“Can you fight?” I ask her quietly, still upside down myself. I can’t get my hand to the goddamn button on the seatbelt to let me out.

“Yeah,” she whispers back.

I can hear her moving around, no doubt looking for a fuckin’ gun.

Eldritch’s voice calls out again. “If you’re not dead already, I’m gonna fucking kill you, Negan. You know that?” He’s not messing around anymore. He’s not trying to do that calm, smug shit he always does. Now he just sounds fuckin’ unhinged. “And you better believe that I will make damn sure that it’ll be after I kill all the rest of your people and burn that ugly fucking factory to the ground.” He laughs like a fuckin’ crazy person. “And I will make you watch , Negan. Watch your people die . Watch your home crumble . And watch as I make that sweet girl of yours mine .”

Gunshots ring out and some of Eldritch’s fuckin’ men fall to the ground. Arat was always a good fuckin’ shot. And she keeps shooting, making Eldritch and his men still standing scramble behind their car. The car that’s not totaled on the side of the road, that is.

“They got weapons in the back!” someone calls out.

“Not a man of your word, Negan!” Eldritch screams in a fuckin’ rage.

Then, fuckin’ bullets start to hit our car.

“Fuck!” I’m a sitting fuckin’ duck like this. I somehow get my knife out of the sheath and cut my seatbelt off, making me fall like a sack of fuckin’ potatoes onto my shoulders. I land on something and realize that it’s a fuckin’ rifle that must’ve come loose out of one of the hiding places in the crash. I get into position on my belly, sorta, and join Arat to shoot out of my broken fuckin’ window at Eldritch and his men.

It doesn’t fuckin’ look like Eldritch has a lot of guys with him. And they’re shooting fuckin’ blind. Obviously they’re not as well trained as my saviors.

I send a bullet right into one of their foreheads about the same time that Arat drops one with a shot to the heart. Eldritch is losing men fuckin’ quick. I guess he fuckin’ recognizes his predicament, because he and the rest of his guys get into his Escalade and speed off.

“Mother fuck !” I growl out. My adrenaline is still pumping, so I’m not feeling much pain, yet. But I suspect I’m gonna have some fuckin’ injuries.

Arat shimmies out of her window and comes over to mine to help me get the fuck out. “You okay, sir?” she asks as she pulls me by the arm.

I crawl out then bend back down to get Lucille before I answer. “I’ll live.”

We both round the car to see about Dwight. He’s out fuckin’ cold, which isn’t a good sign, so Arat kneels down to check for a pulse.

She looks up at me. “He’s alive.” She turns back to him. “Dwight. Dwight, wake up.” She pats him on the face, but he doesn’t wake up.

“Let’s get him out.” I hold onto Dwight as Arat crawls in the passenger’s side to cut away his seatbelt. I feel his weight fall into my arms and awkwardly pull him out of the car. Before I get him back on the ground, he starts to groan. The movement must’ve finally fuckin’ woke him up.

“Come on, Dwight,” Arat says, coming back over to help me set him gently on the road. “Wake up.”

“Ung.” Dwight starts to open his eyes and looks around randomly. “Shit,” he croaks.

“You gonna live?” I ask when his eyes finally focus on me.

“Ugh. My fuckin’ ribs hurt,” he rasps. “And my shoulder.”

I pull his shirt up to inspect his fuckin’ torso. He has an angry bruise forming across his chest from the seatbelt. Probably has a broken collarbone and busted ribs. Hopefully no internal bleeding, but there’s no way for us to fuckin’ know that yet.

“You’ll live,” I say to him, sounding more confident than I am.

Arat looks relieved. “I’m gonna check that other car.” She walks away toward the car that hit us that’s now crashed into the guide rail.

“You gonna be able to walk?” I ask Dwight. “Cuz we gotta get the fuck outta here.”

He starts to get up, so I help him. “I can walk,” he answers.

Arat comes back over to us. “Car’s fucked. And two of Eldritch’s guys are dead in the front.”

“Dumbasses,” I mutter then scrub my hand down my beard. “Alexandria’s a few miles away. Guess we’re hoofing it there.”

We empty our car of weapons and start walking, but it’s fuckin’ slow. I end up having to practically carry Dwight most of the way, with Arat carrying the duffle with the guns behind us.

“Why’d he attack?” Dwight asks from beside me. “I thought he wanted tribute.”

“I have no fuckin’ idea.” I answer.

Arat suggests, “You think he found out we kept the weapons from him and was pissed?”

“It didn’t fuckin’ seem like he knew we’d be fighting back.” I let out a sigh. “We’re probably gonna find out pretty fuckin’ soon what all that was about. I’m fuckin’ guessing this was just the goddamn beginning.”

We finally walk up the road to Alexandria’s gate. It opens before we even get there with Rick and Daryl walking out at first, then rushing over to us when they see we’re fucked up.

“What happened?” Rick asks as Daryl takes Dwight from me. And I let him. I’m starting to feel that fuckin’ car crash now.

“Eldritch fuckin’ ambushed us on the way to the goddamn meet. T-boned us on the road.” I bring my arm not holding Lucille around my waist when I get a fuckin’ twinge of pain from my ribs.

Rick puts his arm around me and under my other arm to help lead me through the gate. “You okay?”

“I’ll fuckin’ live. I always do.”

“We have a doctor now,” Rick starts. “Well, he was a resident before the turn, but he’s more of a medical doctor than Denise. Me and Carl found him a few days ago. His name’s Siddiq. He can look you guys over.”

“Get Dwight to him,” I reply. “I need to get on the radio to call The Sanctuary.”

“Let Siddiq check you out,” Rick pleads a little. “You’re moving pretty slow.”

“I had to carry Dwight’s ass for two miles. I’m just a little fuckin’ tired.” I push away from Rick, but I immediately regret it. I don’t think my ribs are broken, but they sure as fuck are bruised. Maybe cracked. Not that I’m gonna tell Rick any of that.

“Look, Negan.” Rick clears his throat. “The Sanctuary radioed in a few hours ago. They said Eldritch’s people tried to come in, but they fought them off.”

“What?!” I yell.

Goddamn it! Eldritch must’ve had guys attack The Sanctuary after I got out of radio range! Then fuckin’ attacked me, too!

I turn my head to glare at Rick. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that in the first place?!” I trudge along as fast as I fuckin’ can to get to their radio, but I’m in fuckin’ pain so it’s slow. Rick follows me the whole time, like he thinks I’m gonna fuckin’ fall over and die any second.

“Negan,” he starts again, “they said they fought them off. You really should just sit down for a minute.”

I fuckin’ ignore him and get on the radio to call out to my fuckin’ home.

Laura answers. “ Negan? You’re at Alexandria? ”

“What the fuck is going on?” I need goddamn answers.

“Eldritch’s guys tried to come in, but Simon wouldn’t let them. They fired on us first, so he had to defend ourselves. Took a bunch of theirs out. Lost a few ourselves.”

“God-fucking-damnit,” I mutter to myself. “You still have your guys ready for an attack?” I direct at Rick.”

“Yeah,” he answers.

“Good. It’s probably gonna fuckin’ come to that. Soon, I’d fuckin’ guess. ”

“ Negan ,” Simon’s voice comes through the speaker. “ What’s going on? ”

“Eldritch attacked us on the road,” I answer. “Me, Dwight, and Arat got to Alexandria.”

“ Shit. I’m sorry, brother. They attacked us. We had to fight back. ” He sounds guilty. Like he thinks I got attacked because of what he did.

“It was coordinated, brother,” I respond. “Eldritch didn’t know I had weapons when he attacked us. It wasn’t because of you.”

“ What about Chuck? ”

“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “All Eldritch’s men retreat?” I change the subject. Because I can’t think about her right now. About what all this could mean for her.

“ Yeah. They lost some men then cut and run. ”

“Fuckin’ cowards,” I say to myself. “They didn’t know who they were fuckin’ with.” I hold down the button to speak to Simon again. “Did Eldritch start moving the fuckin’ dead?”

“ No. I thought about that, too, so I called the guys watching Eldritch’s compound. They said the dead haven’t moved. ”

“Good. I’m gonna head out in a few so we can start to fuckin’ discuss what the fuck it is that we’re gonna do.”

I really don’t want to attack Eldritch’s fuckin’ compound while Chuck’s still in there. Especially if I’m gonna use the fuckin’ dead. And that’s the only way I can see to get to the guys inside. Fuck.

“ Alright, brother. Stay safe. ”

I turn to Rick. “Is it okay if Dwight stays for a little bit.”

“Yeah,” Rick answers. “You should get checked out, too, before you leave.”

“Jesus, Rick, I’m a married man. Maybe get off my dick.”

Rick rolls his eyes and we walk back outside. As soon as we get on the street, though, we see people starting to scramble around. Including fuckin’ Daryl, who runs right for us.

“What is it?” Rick asks quickly.

Daryl answers. “Lookouts said trucks are headed this way. Fast.”

“God- fucking -damnit! Eldritch is coming after me.”

We all run to the gate and up to the guard towers to look down the road. Not long later, we start to see them.

“Here they come!” Rosita shouts.

———   ———

  The sound of vehicles flying down the road and past Chuck’s car wakes her up with a start. She keeps herself ducked down in the seat, though, not wanting anyone to see her. Because she assumes that procession of cars was Eldritch looking for her. Even if Conner hadn’t told anyone that Andy had escaped with her yesterday, she knows that Eldritch would have to know that they’re all missing by now.

All the things that happened yesterday flash before her eyes, no matter how hard she tries to stop them. Shooting Conner. The way his blood flowed over her hands. The same blood that’s still staining her coat. Andy’s coat.

Chuck feels her eyes sting with tears at the thought of him. “I’m sorry, Andy,” she says aloud as she remembers how he felt lying lifeless in her arms. “You didn’t deserve that. This is all my fault.” She sobs even harder.

Before she can fall too deeply into her guilt, though, she feels a fluttering in her stomach. The same fluttering she had first felt several days ago.

Chuck sniffles and wipes her cheeks. “Oh, baby,” she whispers to her belly as she rubs it, comforting herself in the process. “You’re right.” she wipes her eyes of the last of her tears and steels herself. “I gotta get you out of here.”

Chuck carefully sits up and opens her door, stepping out onto the road. That first step is painful, her bare feet being all raw and sore from the walk yesterday. But she has to proceed.

The cars that had gone by were heading in the direction that she was going, which gives Chuck pause. She doesn’t want to be caught on the road if those cars circle back, but she doesn’t have much of a choice. The woods that surround the road are too harsh for her to walk on anymore. So as she heads down the edge of the road, she makes sure to keep her ears open for any vehicles approaching. If she hears one, she wants to make it to the woods quickly to hide.

As she walks, the wind seems to turn even colder, chilling her to the bone. She wraps her arms around herself to try to keep warm, but it’s not helping much. Not only that, but her constant shivering seems to be slowing her down even more.

When a sign comes into view saying that Alexandria is two miles away, Chuck lets out a sigh of relief.

“Thank god,” she says to herself and speeds up a little in excitement. As much as she can, anyway. She’s tired, in pain, and definitely dehydrated. But every time she thinks about stopping or slowing down, every time sorrow threatens to overtake her, she feels that flutter in her belly as her baby moves and she pushes on.

The forest thins out into a residential area, which is potentially more dangerous. Any place that was more populated before tends to have more biters hanging around. Chuck had always avoided them when she was out here on her own after the turn. But she knows that she’s getting close to Alexandria, so she hopes that they cleared the area, much like Negan has done around The Sanctuary.

Chuck isn’t exactly sure where the settlement of Alexandria is. She’s technically in the city of Alexandria right now. Well, the Alexandria of before, anyway. But the settlement of Alexandria just comprises one neighborhood. That’s what Negan and Aaron had told her. They also told her that it has a wall around it made of metal sheeting, so that’s what she’s looking for.

While she’s searching, gunshots ring out not too close, but not exactly that far away from her. She cautiously walks toward the noise, figuring that it’s coming from Alexandria. Eldritch must be attacking them for some reason.

  Maybe Eldritch knew I would go there and he’s tearing the place up to get to me. Oh god. Maybe I should hang back.

But if Rick’s people are as good of fighters as Negan has said, they should be able to hold their own. Right?

  Chuck decides to continue on in the direction of the firefight, despite her fears. Even after there’s a large explosion, she pushes on, though she’s being very careful not to be out in the open by ducking around cars and buildings.

She finally gets to where she can see the wall surrounding Alexandria. But instead of hearing gunshots anymore, she starts to hear cars start up. As fast as she can, Chuck runs around a house down the street to hide in the backyard and waits for everything to go quiet.

When Chuck’s sure it’s safe, she slinks out from behind the house and heads for the gate, albeit, pretty slowly. Even though her destination is in sight, her feet are dragging. She’s willing her body forward, but it seems like it’s failing her. She’s simply running out of energy.

With her hands around her belly, she shuffles forward, staring down as one foot falls in front of the other. When she finally lifts her head, she sees the gate start to open about fifty yards away from her.

  ——— Negan’s POV ———

Eldritch and his fuckin’ men are driving down the street towards Alexandria. There’s a truck out front, followed by a bunch of cars. And I immediately recognize what’s gonna fuckin’ happen. It seems like it’s Eldritch’s fuckin’ MO.

“They’ll ram the fuckin’ fence!” I warn.

Sasha readies her rifle beside me. “Not if I can help it.” She starts to shoot and, boy, does she make those bullets fuckin’ count. I swear she gets the driver right between the eyes, his head practically fuckin’ exploding across the window. Her next shot takes out the left front tire causing the now driverless truck to veer off and slam into one of the burned out buildings just outside the gates.

“Atta fuckin’ girl!” I call out.

Rick’s people, plus me and Arat, ready our weapons for a fuckin’ fight as the rest of the cars pull up. But no one gets out, so we wait. Then Eldritch’s fuckin’ voice rings out through a goddamn bullhorn.

“I just want Negan, Rick,” he says, smug as fuckin’ ever. Like his plan is going off without a hitch, even though it definitely fuckin’ isn’t. I’m sure he’s fuckin’ pissed that I am wrecking shit for him. “There’s no need for your people to die for him, Rick.”

“You’ve taken this far enough,” Rick calls out without hesitating. “Leave now and we won’t be forced to fire on you.”

“Rick, Rick, Rick,” Eldritch tuts in a damn singsong way. “I was going to leave you alone. For the time being, anyways.”

Eldritch’s men start to fire, but the Alexandrians return it fuckin’ quickly. And they aren’t fucking around. Rick said he had some fighters in his group, and he wasn’t fuckin’ lying. Eldritch’s men start to drop like flies. Some of Rick’s guys fall, too, but not as many by a long shot. It seems like Eldritch and his guys are fuckin’ shitty in a fight. That’s why he takes pot shots by using the fuckin’ dead and ramming shit with fuckin’ vehicles. And kidnapping innocent girls.

Outta fuckin’ nowhere, one of Eldritch’s cars fuckin’ explodes. I turn my head to the other guard tower to see that huge ginger fuck, Abraham, with a goddamn rocket launcher on his shoulder.

“Fuck, yeah! You guys got a fuckin’ RPG?! That’s awesome!” I yell to him and he gives me a salute.

After that, Eldritch wisely tucks tail and fuckin’ runs. With a few less people than he rolled up with.

Me and Rick climb down the towers leaving Sasha and Rosita on one and Abraham and Tara on the other.

“Watch out for walkers,” Rick yells up to them. “All that noise’ll attract them.”

They all nod and turn their fuckin’ eyes back to the road. The rest of the Alexandrians start to get their wounded to the sickbay, with Rick overseeing.

I’m just standing in the middle of everything trying not to fuckin’ pass out. Now that the adrenaline of the attack is wearing the fuck off, I’m feeling like shit again. Goddamn, maybe I should go to the doctor.

Arat comes up to me. “You okay, sir?”

“Yeah. Fuckin’ peachy,” I growl out.

“Got a walker,” Rosita proclaims as she raises her rifle to take it the fuck out. She lines up the fuckin’ shot, but doesn’t get the chance to take it.

Sasha quickly puts her hand on the barrel of Rosita’s gun and pushes it down. “Wait!” She then raises her own gun up to look through her scope. “That’s not a walker. She’s alive.”

“Looks like a walker to me,” Rosita retorts.

Sasha seems to study whatever she’s fuckin’ seeing through her scope for a moment before she speaks again. “It’s a girl. She’s holding her stomach, but she’s alive.”

My whole body starts to buzz. I don’t fuckin’ know why.

There’s no way... How could it possibly be...?

“She a redhead?” I call out as I move closer to Sasha. I don’t know why I’m even fuckin’ thinking it. It’s just gonna break my damn heart when it ends up being someone else.

“Yeah.” Sasha answers and I start to move before I really even process it.

“Open the fucking gate!” I don’t even wait for anyone to do it. I rip the gate open and start running. “Chuck!” I can’t see her. I can’t see shit, I’m so fucking frantic. But then I hear her.

“Negan?!” It’s my girl. It’s my fucking girl!

I finally see her. She looks hurt. But she’s running to me. Not fuckin’ fast, but I make up the distance. I throw Lucille down and run flat out to get to her. When we meet, I throw my arms around her and pull her into me, lifting her off of her feet.

———   ———

  As soon as Chuck hears Negan yell her name, she starts running.

“Negan?!” she screams.

Chuck can barely see him running towards her through her tears of joy. But when she feels his strong arms lifting her up and holding her tight, she knows she’s safe.

“Negan!” she sobs into his shoulder.

“Fuck, baby girl.” He kisses anywhere his lips can touch. “I love you so much, baby girl,” he chokes out. He suddenly pulls away to look Chuck over, his eyes wildly scanning her body. “You’re bleeding!” he cries as he looks at the blood staining her clothes.

“It’s not mine!” she calls out. “I’m okay!”

He looks into her eyes. “You’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” she repeats.

“Fuck, I missed you so much.” Negan kisses her fervently then falls to his knees. He hugs her torso tightly, crying tears of joy into her stomach as she wraps her arms around his head.

Chuck bends down to kiss the top of his head, her tears falling from her cheeks to land in his hair.

She’s not sure how long they stood there holding each other, but when she finally looks up, there are two men, Rick and Daryl, along with Arat standing around them. And Rick is carrying Lucille.

Rick starts to speak. “We should get her inside. The dead are starting to come out.”

Negan wipes his face discretely and stands before turning back to him. Rick holds Lucille out to Negan, but he doesn’t take her.

“Carry her in for me. And be fuckin’ gentle about it.” Negan turns back to Chuck and wraps his arms around her, lifting her up to carry her inside. She wraps her legs around him and allows him to cradle her in his arms as she buries her face in his neck.

Once they get inside the gate, Aaron comes running over. “Oh my god! Chucky!” He runs his hand over her head that’s resting on Negan’s shoulder as he holds her to his chest. “The doctor is this way.” He turns to lead them, but Chuck’s voice stops him.

“I’m okay. I just want to rest.” The only thing Chuck wants is to be alone with Negan. She knows she’s not really hurt; she just needs food, water, and rest. And she can take care of the minor cuts on her legs and feet by herself.

“See the doctor, baby girl,” Negan pleads.

“Just give me a first aid kit. I’ll deal with everything myself.” She shifts to look into Negan’s eyes. “Please, Negan. I just want you.”

Negan lets out a huff. “You got a place for us, Rick?”

“Yeah. This way.” He starts to lead them to a house. “This one’s empty.”

“I’ll get the first aid kit.” Aaron runs off in a different direction.

As they walk, Negan talks with Rick. “Call Simon and tell him Chuck’s here. And get him to go over my plan with you to take that motherfucker down. I want that goddamn compound destroyed by sundown tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Rick agrees. “I’ll coordinate with him and get my people briefed. We’re gonna help out. I don’t want this guy living anywhere near us anymore.”

When they get inside the house, Rick gently sets Lucille down on the coffee table. “If you guys need anything, just ask.”

Aaron comes rushing in with the medical supplies and some clean clothes. “Here’s the first aid kit. And clothes.” He sets it all down and goes over to Chuck, still being held by Negan. “You sure you don’t want to see the doctor?” he whispers as he tucks some of her hair behind her ear.

“Mmhmm,” is how she answers.

“Okay, Chucky.” Aaron kisses her on the head. “I love you.” He turns and leaves with Rick trailing behind him.

Still holding Chuck, Negan picks up the first aid kit and heads upstairs to the master bath. He sets Chuck down on her feet and she watches as he wordlessly goes over to the shower and starts to run the water.

Chuck strips off her bloody jacket and nightgown, leaving her standing naked in front of Negan. He stares at her, his eyes moving all along her body, his expression stern. She allows her own gaze to fall to herself, seeing the bruises and scrapes that punctuate her skin. Her arms are littered with fingerprint bruises from Eldritch’s manhandling, while her legs show the injuries she incurred during her fall down the hill yesterday.

“I’m really okay, Negan,” Chuck tries to reassure. She takes a few short steps forward and unzips Negan’s jacket, pushing it off his shoulders after. Negan stiffly pulls his shirt over his head, which allows Chuck to see his own bruises.

“Negan,” she whispers with a gasp and places her fingers gently on the purple bruise across the right side of Negan’s ribs. She saw that he had some small cuts and scrapes on his face, but this is much worse. “What happened?”

“Let’s just get cleaned up, then we can talk.”

She nods then helps Negan undress further before they both step into the shower. The hot water feels amazing on her aching muscles as Negan lathers up a washcloth and gently rubs it over her, cleaning all the blood and dirt from her skin. She returns the favor, washing Negan, too, but making sure to be extra gentle on his bruised ribs.

When they get out, they dry off and wrap their towels around them, in lieu of getting dressed. Chuck picks up the first aid kit and takes it into the bedroom to set it on the bed.

“Sit down,” Chuck says to Negan. “I’m hoping they have some ice in the freezer downstairs so I can wrap those ribs.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Negan responds while he nudges Chuck to lay down on the bed. “I’m gonna get you something to eat, then I’ll clean those fuckin’ cuts out.”

“You’re more hurt than-“

“Just listen to me, Chuck. Please.”

Chuck nods, then Negan leaves. He reenters a few minutes later with a sandwich, a jug of water, and ice cubes in a large ziplock bag.

She leans back on the headboard and swings her legs up to lay them straight in front of her. “My feet...” she points down her legs.

Negan tilts his head to look. “Shit, baby girl.” He inspects her feet closely. “They’re chewed to shit.”

“Yeah,” she says with a sigh. “Make sure you clean them out good.”

Negan diligently disinfects Chuck’s feet as she scarfs down the sandwich and guzzles the water. After he wraps her feet in gauze, he runs his hand up her leg soothingly. “Feel a little better?”

Chuck gives him a weak smile and a nod. “Yeah. Now let me take care of you.” She swings her legs over the bed as Negan moves to stand in front of her, stripping off his towel to leave him completely naked. Chuck touches the ice bag to Negan’s ribs and he lets out a hiss. “I’m sorry, Negan. How did this happen? Was it in the firefight? I saw the tail end of it.” She wraps a bandage around him as he answers.

He shakes his head. “Eldritch fuckin’ slammed into my fuckin’ car on the road. The crash killed two of my guys. And fucked up Dwight. That’s why we’re here. The crash was a few miles away.”

Chuck looks down. “He attacked because I escaped.”

Negan nudges her head up to look at him. “It’s not your fault, baby girl.”

Chuck finishes wrapping up Negan’s ribs and cleaning out his cuts. “Lay with me,” she says to him as she gets rid of her towel. All she wants is to feel Negan’s skin on her own.

Negan obliges and cuddles her into his chest on his uninjured side after he pulls the blankets up over them. They lay there holding each other for several minutes before Chuck starts to speak.

“It was Andy,” she almost whispers.

“What did he do to you?” he replies quickly, apparently misunderstanding her.

“No. He saved me. He got me out.”

“He fuckin’ kidnapped you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. But he was just following his brother.” She takes in a deep breath and lets it out. “He realized that what Eldritch was doing was wrong, so he escaped with me. But...” she sighs again, “Conner found us. I shot him in the neck.”

“Jesus,” Negan whispers.

“Andy finished him off.” The memories of all of that brings tears to Chuck’s eyes. “Andy shot himself in the head because he was bit and I wouldn’t leave him,” she chokes out.

Negan squeezes her into him more. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby girl. None of that should’ve happened to you.” He gives her a hard kiss on the head then lets out a heavy breath. “Did Eldritch... hurt you?” he asks quietly.

“He didn’t-“ She clears her throat, knowing what Negan’s really asking. “Not like that. I was scared he would... he touched my belly. Made me wear dresses and have dinner with him. And that stupid nightgown...” She pauses. “He undressed me. Looked at me.”

Negan lets out a tense breath, obviously affected by what she said.

“He said he attacked The Sanctuary,” she says almost like a question, wanting to change the subject.

“He crashed our gate and sent the fuckin’ dead in. Rick led them all away, so... there wasn’t any real fuckin’ damage.”

“So everyone’s okay?” she asks, hopeful.

Negan lets out a sigh. “All the lookouts... All the fuckin’ guys I had out in the open are dead.”

She gasps. “Oh no...”

“He’s gonna fuckin’ pay for this, Chuck. I promise you. He will fuckin’ pay.”

Chuck shifts so that she’s straddling Negan, her face hovering over his nose to nose. “Good.” She places her lips on his softly, but the kiss quickly turns heated.

They’re slow with each other, like they’re relearning one another’s bodies all over again. Hands running over curves. Fingers skimming skin. Hips meeting each other slowly. But it still feels like home to Chuck.

“Oh, Negan...” Chuck moans as she grinds her hips into his. She runs her hands up his chest to brace her weight on his shoulders to get better leverage.

“Fuck,” he groans, letting her do all the work. “I missed you so goddamn much.” His hands move up her hips to grip her waist.

They move together, plunging over the cliff simultaneously. The intensity of it all makes Chuck emotional, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Hey, hey,” Negan whispers and turns them over so he’s hovering over her. He swipes her sweaty hair from her face and cradles her cheek in his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“I was so afraid I’d never see you again,” she chokes out then caresses his cheek. “But you’re here. And I’m so happy.” She smiles at him through her tears.

Negan kisses her lips sweetly. “I’m never gonna fuckin’ leave you,” he whispers. “Not ever again.”

Chuck hugs her husband’s head to her chest and listens as his breathing deepens as he falls asleep. It’s only then, knowing that she’s safe, her baby’s safe, and Negan is safe, that Chuck can finally fall into a restful sleep.

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

Part Five

“Please shut up and let me save your life...”

~

Daphne only ever avoided the gang when she couldn’t look them in the eyes.

Whether it was out of disappointment or fear or something much worse.

She wouldn’t take any phones calls, answer texts.

Hell, she won’t even answer the door for them.

These times were rare since Daph was almost never angry enough at them to leave them. But when they did happen they were long and didn’t let up easily.

The last time this had happened was when Fred had accidentally spilled all her personal family drama to the lacrosse team. And then it immediately spread throughout the whole student body because Fred had no idea how high school worked.

She hadn’t sat with them for lunch for almost a month.

Only returning after Shaggy and Velma came and expressed how much they missed and needed their peacekeeper.

Velma was too close to strangling Fred without Daph to defend him.

Of course Daphne returned since there was no way she could refuse Shag’s desperate eyes. Besides, it felt really nice to be needed.

That had been a year ago.

After that Daph had become more accustomed to Freddie’s major screw ups, and was more comfortable with confronting him on them.

The gang was hoping this meant that Daph wouldn’t randomly disappear from their lives again, that she would stay there next to them playing the ray of sunshine act she lived by.

They were wrong.

The night after the.....incident with Andrews involving guns and tears and lots of hugs, Daphne and just gone home without saying a word to any of them

For the first few days the gang didn’t bug her, since all of them didn’t really feel like showing up to school. Especially since people were keen to ask questions on what it was like. Some would walk up and admire the bullet holes in the Mystery Machine others would pose like a corpse in the same spot Andrews was shot.

Everyone was treating it like it was an amazing feat and that they were so lucky to have such an intense experience in real life.

Shaggy was glad at first that Daph wasn’t showing up to school because he knew that people would flood her with questions about the exact thing she was being haunted by.

The gang could grin and bear it when they were being attacked with curious teenagers. 

But if somebody congratulated Daphne on killing someone, they would probably snap.

Everything felt broken.

Like life had just kind of slowed down for them.

Sometimes things would just be totally silent even if they were surrounded with noise. Only able to hear their breathing and feel their hands form and into knuckles or their teeth sink into their lower lip.

It felt harder to walk in a straight line. Watching as things would be thrown into fast forward.

The only thing they had was each other.

Except Daph, who was just pressing pause on her life all together.

For the first couple of weeks they didn’t bother calling her to ask if she was okay.

Of course she wasn’t fucking okay.

One time, on the way home from school, Fred had driven up to Daph’s house and parked in the driveway.

But that was as far as they got since none of them felt brave enough to go in and see what kind of state she was in. This was the first time the avoiding had been both ways, and Shag didn’t like it.

Fred could barely focus on anything, since he only ever had sudden romantic feelings for her when she was gone.

Typical.

And even though Velma wasn’t ever going to say it out loud, Daph was definitely the one in the group that would be the first to call her out on her BS. Velma respected that.

Plus she was the only other girl in the group, and sometimes Daphne was the only one who could understand her problems.

Shag didn’t even know what he missed from Daph, it could be her patience with his cowardice. Or her strong optimism in areas where it did not make any sense. Or how she was the only one who looked out for his shaking hands.

Even if that was a recent thing, it was her thing. 

Scoob was depressed to lose the only other one in the gang that loved him as much as Shaggy did.

Without Daph the gang was just a bunch of pessimistic realists and a dog who sat at a lunch table outside and poked their food with plastic forks.  

That had continued for almost three weeks, and by that time they felt more in touch with reality again. People had stopped making a huge fuss about the situation and they were all left alone.

It had been a Tuesday when Velma finally put her foot and declared that whether Daphne came back to school or not they still needed to check on her and be there for her.

Everyone agreed.

But Shaggy was dreading seeing what she had been doing to herself these past weeks.

They were all standing on the front porch of Daph’s gigantic house, her mother blinking rapidly at the group of teenagers standing in front of her.

She seemed to be trying to remember who they were.

Were they high school faculty?

Or were they Daph’s friends?

Her eyes drifted over to Fred and then her youthful face set into a tight scowl.

“Oh the Jones boy and his peanut gang, here to terrorize my daughter with those silly mysteries.” She placed her hands on her hips in obvious disapproval. 

Fred shrank quickly beneath the woman’s stare, hiding behind Shaggy as if he was able to shield the woman’s clear hatred for him. Velma groaned and rolled her eyes, so much for taking charge of the Daphne recon mission.

Shaggy ignore how Fred was tugging down on his shoulder causing him to lean back and quickly stepped in.

He wasn’t sure if he stood a better chance with Daph’s mom than Freddie did. But he knew she was seconds away from slamming the door in their faces if he didn’t say something.

He gulped.

“Mrs. Blake, we’re not here to drag her back to school or go solve mysteries.” The woman raised an eyebrow at him skeptically, he took a deep breath, this was for Daphne.

“We haven’t seen her for what? Like three weeks right?” He looked back at Velma and she nodded, Fred was still cowering behind him.

“Like we’re her best friends ma’am, we just wanna check on her and make sure she’s not having some kind of mental crisis.” He shoved his hands in his pockets in an effort to distract himself from her judgement.

She tossed her head back and let out a loud laugh.

Shag noted that she had the same laugh as Daph, just more condescending.

He jumped when she slapped her hand on his shoulder, what did he say to make her so engaging?!

“You’re the Rogers boy correct?” Her tone was amused but it could have been a trap.

He nodded cautiously.

She gave him a perfectly symmetrical smile that shone from clearly bleached teeth. “Darling, mental crisis has run in our family since the 20′s. There’s not really much you can do about it.” 

He sighed, she wasn’t getting the point.

They were there with her, if anyone could help her it was them.

Right now Daphne felt like the lonely princess locked in the tower and they were the brave knights trying to make it past the fire breathing dragon.

Mrs. Blake must have seen the distress and hopelessness in Shag’s eyes because she removed her hand from his shoulder and had taken a step back, inviting them in.

Shaggy gave her a thankful smile and walked into the spacious entryway.

Fred let go of his shoulder as soon as they made it through the front door, taking the spot as far away from Daph’s mother as he could without being obviously terrified.

Velma rolled her eyes again as she stood next to him.

After she closed the door she pointed up the stairs, “Her’s is the third room on the left. Don’t touch anything, half the stuff costs more than anything you will ever make in your lifetime.” She sent another glare in Fred’s direction.

 “We know ma’am, Thank you. Really.”

Shag said this as he made his way up the grand staircase, hearing the footsteps of the others behind him.

“What the hell did you do to that woman to make her hate you so much?” Velma inquired, clear amusement in her voice. Fred cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, “Honestly, I think it may be a large culmination of things so I can’t pick anything specific.” 

Velma giggled as they reached the top of the stairs and made a left.

“But I’m pretty sure that it was some time around middle school, because that was when she stopped calling me Fred and just referred to me as ‘The Jones boy.’‘ 

Velma sighed, “Well you were a clueless jackass in middle school so I’m not even a little surprised.”

“Exactly when did I become the butt of all your jokes Velms? All you ever do is laugh at me now.”

Shaggy decided to stay out of their bickering and concentrated on finding Daph’s room. Normally he’d just pick the door with the most purple since that color was practically part of Daphne’s DNA at this point. But since the whole house was just different shades of purple he was going in blind.

He would have known where her damn room was if Daphne ever let them go to her house.

Fred knew where her room was since Daph was constantly trying to get some sort of spark to happen between them. But he was busy poking Velma in the stomach in retaliation to her sad but true teasing.

Eventually he stopped in front of the third door where Mrs. Blake had told him where she was in the first place.

Genius Shag.

He took a deep breath and looked over toward the rest of the gang.

Velma was pulling on Fred’s hair playfully and they both were in a fit of giggles.

Shaggy smiled and cleared his throat. They were pulled out of their world of acting like 7 year-olds and nodded. Shag took a step back and motioned for Freddie to go first. Give something for her to smile at once they opened the door.

He felt his heartbeat pick up as Fred turned the knob to the door slowly.

His heart might not be up for seeing a ray of sunshine lose it’s shine.

They all slowly filed into the room and looked around, Shag was holding his breath in worry.

Every light in the room was on making the open room seem even bigger, but not soothing. It felt like a big, empty, white room, devoid of feeling and comfort. Shag felt a shiver run up his spine, it felt freezing cold and burning hot at the same time.

The only sound to be heard was a soft, “Jinkies,” from Velma.

Her voice seemed to echo throughout the room, causing someone to stir within the pile of blankets and pillows sitting in the center of the king sized bed. The gang all exchanged concerned looks and slowly made their way over to the bed.

Almost like a bunny peeking out of it’s burrow, Daph’s head popped out of her makeshift blanket cave.

Shaggy’s breath hitched at the sight of her, although she had sent them a welcoming smile it was very tired and forced. Her hair looked like it had rats nesting in it since it was all matted and puffed out.

The things that captured his attention the most were the dark lines under her glazed over purple eyes and her cracked and chapped lips.

He chose to ignore the fact that his eyes went straight to her lips.

It was awkwardly quiet for a few seconds, eyes were avoiding contact and hands were fidgeting.

Eventually Daph leaned forward and pushed herself out of the hill of blankets and slowly crawling toward them, bringing herself to sit at the foot of the bed and clasping her hands in her lap.

She spoke slowly, her voice seemed to croak like a frogs, “Usually Mommy is the one who ends up bringing my homework.”

Shag could tell she was trying to appear okay, but she was trying a little too hard.

None of them responded to her, Fred just stood in front of her like a telephone pole that was out of service and was staying like that till further notice. Velma sighed and rolled her eyes before kicking Fred in the back of the leg.

“Ouch! Velms wha-” 

Velma cut him off and motioned for him to start talking to her.

Fred nodded and turned back to Daph, “Right, we....well we just came to umm..” Velma groaned and put her head in her hands while Shag sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Sending the occasional consoling look to Daphne and hoping she picked up on some of them.

Daphne’s face seemed to light up at Fred’s attempts to reassure her. Shaggy let out a sigh, at least Fred’s mere presence was therapeutic for her at the very least. 

Immediately that sturdy faith in Fred’s affect over Daphne disappeared when he said, “We just came here to see if you were down to go solve another mystery with us!” Daph’s face fell.

“Damn it Freddie that is not why we braved the horror of Mrs. Blake.” Velma kicked the back of his leg again and shoved him behind her.

She was about to present her own version of their speech but stopped when she saw Daph’s eyes begin to well up. Velma froze, her delivery wasn’t nearly gentle enough to console a crying Daphne.

“Shaggy talk to her.” 

He gulped and looked over at Velma, she was motioning for him to do something before Daph went full Disney princess. Or even worse, senior prom.

He nodded and took a few steps forward before squatting down so that he was at eye level with Daph. Her eyes instantly locked on his and the warm feeling returned to her chest.

Shag took a deep breath and spoke to her in a soft voice not tearing his eyes away from her’s, “Daph, this isn’t about us going in that van and once again stumbling upon a mystery that will no question scare the bejesus out of me.”

She smiled.

“This isn’t about us forcing you to go back to school where all the clueless jackasses are gonna shower you with questions.” He felt her fingers grasp onto his gently, his eyes still didn’t leave her’s.

“This is about your best friends coming to make sure that you’re actually okay. Not just okay because you say so. Because I’ll tell you right now Daphne, none of us are okay.” Velma and Fred nodded in agreement.

Daphne sighed shook her head.

“Shags I just- it was a lot easier to forgive Fred for doing something stupid. It wasn’t hard to force myself off of a chair in the cafeteria to go sit next to my best friends outside.”

Her grip on his hands tightened and she took a deep breath.

“Bu- I” Her lower lip quivered. Shag stayed quiet, giving her all the time she needed. “Leaving this bed, leaving this room, to go into a world of eyes following and mouths asking and just everything reminding me of what happened....”

“You don’t need to force yourself Daph, none of us needed to.”

She smiled again than bit her lip, “Shags I want to come back to you, to all of you guys, but then I see the front steps of the school and- just all the memories come flooding back.”

Shaggy raised an eyebrow, apparently she had tried to come back once before.

“Daph, no matter what you do you’re gonna remember it. For the rest of your life you’re gonna remember this. But just know that we’ll be remembering with you, and we’ll always be here for you. You know that right??”

He squeezed her hands.

“And if it gets to be too much...then we can take you to the gym where they keep the football dummies and we can let beat the freakin shit out of one.” He added, although his tone was joking his face seemed genuinely serious. 

She stared at him for a second, then looked down at their hands. Thinking over all he said, enjoying how warm his grip on her hand felt. It then occurred to her that she would face hardship, but she would always have Fred’s big bear hugs and Velma’s shoulder and Scooby’s kisses.

And Shaggy’s hand. 

Eventually she looked up and gave him a smile, a real smile.

She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. While surprised he understood the meaning of the hug and grinned, wrapping his arms around her torso.

Fred and Velma giggled and walked over to join the hug.

But the look of contentment on Daph’s face stopped them in their tracks. 

Fred simply sent Velma a confused look and she shrugged in response. But as she looked back at her two best friends, a smirk slowly formed on her face.

“Freddie the medicine is for my mom not me I promise.” Daphne leaned against the wall waiting for the nurse to return with her mother’s “prescription” painkillers.

Shaggy rubbed the back of his neck as he leaned next to her, it was way too early in the morning for this. They were finally going to have a crack at solving a mystery after nearly a month without getting involved.

While Shag was 100% okay with that, Freddie was starting to get jittery.

At this point he was going through mystery withdrawals and you either thought it was sad like Daph, or you thought it was hilarious like Velma.

Since Daphne had seemed to get through the worst of it she promised Fred she’d participate after they picked up her mom’s new best friend, codeine. Of course her mom’s source was one of the doofus doctors that decided he wasn’t making enough money so he started selling his own hospital’s inventory on the sly.

And somehow convinced a few nurses to get involved.

 Unfortunately those nurses liked to take their own sweet time and they had already been stuck in the back hallway for a good 30 minutes.

Fred was hopping from one foot to another and Velma groaned, “Would you stop that, you look more excited you get your fix than Daph’s mom, God! The Harbor Harbinger of Death ain’t goin anywhere Fred I guarantee it’s not going to leave it’s element as the name suggests.” She crossed her arms and smirked up at him.

He sighed and nodded before leaning against the wall opposite of Daph and Shag.

“Yeah like Fred relax, we’re a little out of practice for putting out lives in peril so maybe we shouldn’t rush it.” Daphne giggled and Fred gave her another confused look.

She used to always side with him.

Their whole dynamic seemed to be shifting and he wasn’t really sure why.

Velma had rolled her eyes and wondered how Daphne was the one cursed to be super obvious with the one she has a crush on. 

Shaggy seemed to pick up on Fred’s confusion and Velma’s teasing glances and he bit his lip, he really hated it when they acted like actual teenagers with confusing drama and weird things going on between just friends.

He glanced over at her and saw her looking down at her hands while she adjusted her rings, something she did when she was incredibly bored.

Suddenly a muffled scream resonated throughout the whole hospital.

Fred and Velma both began trying to place where the scream came from while Shaggy jumped and let out a yelp in surprise.

Daphne didn’t really know how to react or what to do, she just stood there and shifted her gaze around trying not to panic. Her eyes rested on Shaggy’s hand and for a second she was ready to grab onto her anchor.

But then she remembered the love of her life was right across from her, so why not just grab onto his hand?

She sighed and reluctantly walked over to Freddie, grabbing onto his arm.

“It was a woman’s voice I know that much but it seemed to come from everywhere...uhhhh...Velms?” He looked over at her, she had her brow furrowed and was looking up at the ceiling.

Then her eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers, “The PA system!!”

Shaggy groaned and let out that nervous chuckle that caused Daph’s heartbeat to pick up.

“There’s gotta be a control room for it we just need to locate it!” She began making her way toward the security office. The rest of the gang following behind her.

“Oh right that’s brilliant, like lets go toward the blood curdling scream which will most likely lead us to a terrifying creature that likes to eat dumbass seniors for brunch!! Genius move there Mensa!!”

While Velma simply yelled at him to shut up and stay close to them, Daph looked back at him and peeked down at his hands.

They were barely shaking, but she saw it.

“Velma they’d most likely have it hidden in the back of the hospital.” Fred said as he began to walk faster, Daph’s grip on him tightened so she wouldn’t fall.

“Oh ho ho, like this just keeps getting better doesn’t it?”

Daphne’s heart leaped, even his voice was shaking as they got closer to the security office.

Occasionally someone would dash past them heading for the exit, and they were sure the main areas of the hospital were in chaos, but otherwise everything seemed calm and quiet.

Which was easily worse than the hallway being filled with screaming.

As they reached a corner Velma motioned for them all to turn right.

Once they turned they were all instantly stopped in their tracks.

Hanging from a cord sticking out of the ceiling was a nurse, the same nurse that was bringing Mrs. Blake’s fix.

Her body was scarred and ripped up, her eyes were rolled back and all you could see was white. Painted all around her on the floor and the walls were stick figures and random scribbles. It looked like something done by a four year old, but the kind that was possessed by a disturbed demon.

“Zoinks!!! Like noooo...that’s it I’m done!! That is not fucking okay time to go!!!”

Shaggy ran his hands through his hair and began pacing back and forth, the panic was setting in, hard.

Daph’s breathing picked up and everything around her seemed to be drowned out by the sound of her hyperventilating. Quickly she turned to Fred and said, “Freddie you promised that if someone got killed then we--we w-wouldn’t get involved.”

Shaggy looked over and saw that familiar look that was on his face nearly every mystery, she looked like her knees were about to give out beneath her.

Fred hadn’t answered her yet and that only made her breathing intensify.

He quickly walked over to her and began to rub her back, ignoring Fred’s confused stare that he’d been shooting him a lot lately.

As he continued to rub her back he felt his breathing even out and his heartbeat slow.

Velma stared at both of them for a second and then sighed, “I’m calling the police and then we’re getting out of this hell hole.”

Both Shaggy and Daphne sent her a thankful look and she simply nodded.

Fred still stayed quiet, too busy focusing on the shifting dynamics of their tight circle. Not sure if he was prepared to adjust, change wasn’t something he did well at all.

Velma hung up after explaining their situation and shoving her phone in her skirt pocket.

“They’ve already received several calls and a couple squad cars are only a couple minutes away but they’re sending more.”

Everybody nodded.

They all stared at each other for a second, finally ready to make a run for the exit.

But then they heard a growl.

A long, loud, angry growl.

And it was coming from where they came from.

Right behind them.

Slowly, the all turned around, Shaggy had gripped onto the back of Daph’s shirt and Velma had taken a step behind Fred, peeking out from behind his arm.

Standing at the end of the hall, his head cocked unnaturally to the side, was a man with a scar running across both of his eyes that looked fused shut.

His clothes resembled a doctor’s but they seemed all wrong.

But that wasn’t the main issue with this.

The main issue was that in the creature’s hand was one of those hand saws that they used to cut off casts.

And it was fair to say that was probably lethal.

Within seconds, the gang let out a shriek and made a run for it, Fred and Velma going down the hallway with the hanging body, Shaggy running in the opposite direction.

Daph stood still for a second, here eyes following Shaggy dash down the hall, she could here the sound of the saw growing closer to her.

She could hear Shag saying, “Basic horror movie mistake.” in her head.

“Daphne what the hell are you doing???!!! Come on!!!!” Fred was shouting for her to follow him.

He continued to call her name but she didn’t respond.

Finally, she groaned and ran in the same direction Shag went.

“Damn horror movie heroine.” She said under her breath as she ran, trying to spot where he went.

She was about to panic and look back to see where the freaking Doctor Demon was, but a hand shot out of one of the rooms and grabbed onto her wrist, pulling her in and dragging her into the corner out of the door’s view.

“Why the hell did you follow me??” He said in a sharp whisper as he backed against the wall and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, her back resting against his chest.

“I-I um just...” She was unable to focus due to how terrified and flustered she was. 

Plus that fact that he smelled like fresh soil and hot sauce. It was intoxicating.

“Like I got it, you panicked.”

She just nodded as she brought her hands up to his arms and gripped onto them. The sound of the saw was slowly approaching the room they were in.

Shag’s breath was forcefully being relaxed and Daph found herself holding her own breath.

“This is just hide and go seek meets freeze tag.” She repeated this in her mind over and over.

The closer the sound got, the faster she thought it and the tighter Shag’s grip was on her. Eventually it felt like the sound was right outside their door and Daphne’s heart was beating so hard it felt like it was about to hop out of her chest and give them away.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder.

If the police hadn’t shouted for his to put his hands up, Daph believed that he 100% would have entered their room and sliced them up into teeny tiny pieces. 

But instead they were fine, letting out panicked/relieved breaths, still holding onto each other tightly.

[stacze-blog]

Loving The Enemy

Uniform: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4bHQ9UEa0BPVkhHZ29xMnE4Rms/view?usp=sharing

Chapter 1: Run

< Description...Chapter 2>

         With an uneasy sigh, you changed into your uniform as you listened to the sounds of the city; you looked outside to watch the innocent citizens, who were unaware that their lives were in danger. Night was growing near and the blood sucking predators were going to come out to attack. You slid your window down to close it and looked at the ground with fear; you weren’t scared of vampires, but the act of actually killing them did. There was nothing more you wanted than to get revenge for your parents; even with this said, you couldn’t help but feel like it was wrong. There was a sudden knock at your door--which made you jump--and you hesitantly called for whoever it was to come in. One of your partners, Minso, slowly opened the door and pouted when he saw what you were wearing.

"Why can't you wear the leather shorts like the others?" he whined as he walked towards you

"Have you seen them run in those things? After a few minutes, they start to waddle like penguins because they're so tight!"

"True..."

"Wearing spandex jeans seems more appropriate--not to mention more comfortable as well"

"Can't argue with that"

"Why do you want me to wear them so badly anywa-"

         "He wants to see how your booty looks in them" Cho--the leader of your organization and, also, your older brother--interrupted and laughed when he saw Minso's face turn bright red. You slapped his arm and told him to cut it out, but he shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't done anything wrong. You watched them goof around as you secured the holsters for your gun and knife around your thighs before sitting on your bed. Pulling out your boots from underneath the frame, you slipped them on and proceeded to tie them; as you held the laces in your hands your smile faded and your thoughts were taken over by worry. ‘You’ll be fine’, you reassured yourself, ‘Just remember your training and don’t forget the mission.’ Shaking the thoughts away from your mind, you grabbed your backpack, which was filled with ammo, a water bottle, extra clothes, your cellphone, and your earphones. “Ready?” your brother asked with a smirk on his face and you nodded your head in response. He quickly walked out of the room and your partner followed behind; you checked yourself in the mirror before chasing after them.

         Everyone was gathered in the main hall and the the three leaders stood at the front of their teams. Cho stepped forward and began his speech about how we have to stick together and watch our backs. All the members listened carefully, but you, on the other hand, carelessly looked around--you chose not to pay attention because you heard his spiel before when you two would workout together; he used to practice in front of you for hours due to the nervousness of becoming a leader. Each group had three to four members and weapons varied from person to person; for instance, one girl had two guns and another person had a bow and arrow. “We look like people from the hunger games” you whispered to Soyi, your best friend, and she laughed in response.

“Are both of you listening?” your leader ask

“Y-Yes sir” your other partner stuttered

“Like I was saying...be careful, make sure you have someone with you at all times, and don't let your guard down; do you all understand?”

“Yes sir!” you all responded in unison

“Then let’s go kick some ass”

          With that said, everyone went their separate ways to go fight the creatures of the night. You stepped outside and felt the cool breeze brush against your neck, causing a chill to run down your spin. “Move out” Cho sternly said as he walked towards the homes of the innocent; you were right on his tail and Minso and Soyi followed suit. It was quite calm as the four of you walked around; you'd hear an occasional bark from a dog or someone playing their music from inside of their room, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Your brother, on the other hand, felt like something was off. He stopped in front of a house and pulled out his gun.

“Get ready” he whispered

“For what?” Minso questioned

        Cho ignored him and walked up to the gate. He tapped one of the doors with his finger, causing it to slowly swing open. “Don't you think this should've been locked?” your leader asked; the three of you stood there and he shook his head before cautiously walking inside. Siyo pulled out her knives, you got your gun prepared, and Minso strapped on his brass knuckles with knives sticking out of them. We crept inside--hugging the walls as we moved from room to room. The sound of a woman whimpering came from the back of the house; so, we headed in her direction and saw one of the creatures sucking the life out of her. You slowly drew your gun and pointed the barrel to it’s head, but before you were able to shoot you were pulled forward and slammed against the wall. Your weapon dropped to the floor and you looked up to see fangs and glowing red eyes. You’re screams were drowned out by a shot and you watched as the body of the enemy fell next to you with a smoking hole in it’s neck. Quickly retrieving your weapon, you rushed to join your squad as they chased the second vampire.

         Your heart was racing and you were getting light headed due to the intensity of the situation; here were people screaming and the sounds of fighting were all around you. Vampires would pop up randomly and it was your job as well as your crew’s to take out the ones that got in your way or tried to attack you. '1, 2, 3, 4' you counted in your head only to lose track on how many you had killed. Siyo was backing you up while Minso was assisting Cho and the four of you became a power team. Yes, you all were destroying every enemy that dare tried to mess with you, but guilt was starting to form in the pit of your stomach. ‘What did they do to deserve to die?’ you questioned, ‘They’re more than just leches of the night, right?’ All of a sudden you were picked up and thrown over the shoulder of a stranger. “_____!!” your team yelled as they were surrounded by the enemy.

          You struggled to break free because the person’s grip was too strong. After sometime, you were dropped on the ground with a large thud and you were able to face your kidnapper. There were 4 males and 2 females standing over you. “Oooo you brought dinner!” the blonde girl to your right said as she jumped down from the top of the dumpster. “She’s cute too” the man with coffee brown hair complimented as he moved towards you. Putting on a stern look, you quickly stood and held your gun and knife; your heart was racing and your palms were sweaty, but you kept alert--in case they all started to attack. “Aw she thinks she can defend herself” he chuckled as he lifted your chin up.

          “I don’t think I can” you smiled, “I know I can.” With that said you sliced his throat and stabbed him in the heart. The trash girl rushed towards you and you shot her in the head without any hesitation. “Who else wants to mess with me?” you cockly said. The one who took you away from your squad lunged at you, but you took him down with a bullet to his heart. Your skills, caused the others to become frightened and ran off; when they were gone, you let your guard down and allowed your legs to drop to the ground. "Damn it’, you whispered to yourself, "They were going to kill you, ___, you had to kill them." You gripped your weapons and forced yourself to stand up; calming down, you began walking to who-knows-where. Sweat trickled down your face as you aimlessly roamed the deserted alleyways and what was worse was that night had fallen long ago--meaning anything could sneak up on you at anytime.

"(Y/N)! Where the hell are you?!" your leader screamed into your earpiece, causing you to scream with fright

“What the hell Cho?! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Where are you? Are you ok?” he worriedly questioned

“I’m fine. I was able to get away from a couple of vampires and I’m going to head back to the base right now”

“We’ll meet with you. Where’s your location?”

         Not sure what to say because you had no idea what street you were on, you told him to wait a second, causing an annoyed sigh to come echo in your ear. You kept walking and noticed that the view of the ocean was just up ahead.

“Hey, you remember where we used to ride our bikes with dad?”

“We’ll be right there” he answered--knowing exactly where you were

         You were going to start moving again when you were suddenly interrupted by a door swinging open--nearly hitting you. A teen with light brown hair and somewhat tannish skin stumbled out; the sides of his lips were curled up forming a captivating smile that was ruined with blood dripping out of his mouth.

“Looks like it’s time for dessert” he joked in a low husky voice

“Yeah right”

“Feisty; I like that”

“Stay away or else” you said as you made your weapons visible

“A vampire hunter? Interesting” he laughed, “Let’s dance shall we?”

“What?”

         He suddenly lunged at you and wrestled you for your gun and knife. You elbowed him in the stomach and slid out from underneath him as he curled up in pain. Standing to your feet, you prepared to slit his throat, but you hesitated; he took that opportunity to trip you. He kicked your stomach, but you brushed away the pain and cut his shin with your blade; the stinging feeling caused a grunt to come from his throat. As you were getting up, he began to run because he didn’t feel like fighting--plus he didn’t want to get hurt anymore than he already was. You weren’t going to allow him to though because he was giving in too easily. So, you tackled him to the sidewalk and pinned him down--you were holding his hands above his head and your hips were on top of his to make sure he wouldn’t get away. You grabbed your gun and pointed it to his head as he squirmed underneath you. The boy slowly turned to look at you, only to come face-to-face with your weapon. You two went silent for a moment; just staring into one another’s  eyes. You felt your heart beating against your chest as his golden eyes turned into a warm chocolate brown. "Go ahead...just shoot"; even though his voice was emotionless, his eyes were filled with fear. Your body froze; it was as if it were telling you not to shoot him.

“Just to let you know my name is Hoseok”

“Why would tell me your name?”

“Because I don’t want you to go back to your boss saying you killed another vampire. I have a name and I am more than what you think I am”

         The sound of your brother’s voice echoed through the alleyway and you looked behind you; they were getting close to finding you two. It was either now or never; you didn’t know whether to kill him or save his life. Deciding to do what you felt was right, you closed your eyes and said, “Run.”

"Wha-"

"I said run! Go before my team sees you!"

         You loosened your grip on his wrists, which allowed him to push you off. He stood and stared at you; he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. You motioned for him to quickly get away and he dashed into the darkness.

[lunarimagines]

Hey do you mind sharing your pending request ?

Sure! I basically just copied them from the original request and pasted them here, so some of them are longer than others. They’re in order from newest to oldest and will be put under the cut because there are a lot of them :)

bambam scenario where he asks his best friend out

Jeongmin in bed

Jhope has a crush on you and you are classmates and he tells you that he loves you after your boyfriend broke up with you

Sub!Woozi smut please

fluffy Yoongi scenario ? I kind of imagine the reader to be someone who only smokes when they’re really stressed. So one day when he comes home he sees them smoking after a bad day.

shower sex with shownu (bulleted list)

bts reacting to you having vitiligo and rocking the shit out of it

fluff + smut story with Luhan

fluff story with Taeil from NCT

smut scenarios with Irene (Red Velvet)

smut with CL from 2NE1 x Reader

being a 97 liner maknae of your girl group and being best friends with Jungkook n Yugyeom would include (bulleted list)

Monsta X reaction to finding out their girlfriend is on the kinkier side and likes to try a lot of new things

Annoying his members because he and his girlfriend are too lovey dovey with all their pet names and kissing *fluffy :)* for Monsta X

reaction of MX to seeing a pretty foreigner at a fansign/concert

yoongi angst w/ verbal fights and tears

jongin reacts when finding out his gf has financial probs

you are dating Mark but the GOT7 members are high key jealous

married life with Shownu

scenario with jimin where you’re in college, both dancers, but you’re on the university’s dance team but he’s not, and you get paired up with hoseok for “roll deep” by hyuna for the schools dance competition, and jimin gets jealous watching you two practice, so after practice when it’s just you two, he makes you dance it with him

jealous mamamoo reaction

jongin comes back from the army and his gf fainted out of shock because he casually appeared out of nowhere

cuddling with Sehun (bulleted list)

cuddling with Kris (bulleted list)

jungkook scenario where you tell him to act extra on a vlive they have because you love his extraness but he does the opposite by acting extra as in sexy extra 

jungkook scenario where he’s a baseball player and he takes you to the batting cages and teaches you how to play and stuff (may be added to watch me babygirl bc it’s so cute?????)

Monsta X reaction to walking in on you masturbating and he decided to help

Mamamoo reaction to someone randomly kissing you

thigh riding monsta x (bulleted lists probably)

jongin’s gf find a pack of condoms in his bag while they’re traveling overseas and she starts laughing out of embarrassment because, as they didn’t do it, she didn’t think he would take the trip as an opportunity to do it

jae smut( day6)

bts reacting to coming home to their s/o masturbating and instead of her getting shy she takes the sheets off and gives them a show

jongin reaction over his gf getting into bad company

secret admirer jongin (bulleted list)

what a jealous!jongin would be like (bulleted list)

What an angry jongin would be like (bulleted list)

How jongin would protect his girlfriend in serious situations like sexual harassment or against men

bts reacting to you “flexing your muscles around them” during sex

Bts reacting to you sitting on their lap smudging their faces calling them cute

Mamamoo’s reaction to their girlfriend being sweet and shy in public but dominant in bed

Would bts date someone older

BTS reaction to their best friend(crush on) being affectionate when they’re sick when they usually don’t

Bts’s reaction when they are working and their gf sits next to them with her drawing notebook and after a while when they check out what she’s drawing they realize that she was drawing them

bts reaction where a member’s younger sister and is gay but know one knows and another member sees the sister with her girlfriend and tells her brother and he asked her about it

Bts reaction to their gf have a personality similar to Yoongi’s

If monsta x became friends with a girl and asked her to call them oppa but she was actually older than him…

BTS reaction to their idol gf being in a girl group and the members of this group sing, dance and rap but also play instruments in some performances and MVs like AOA

jimin phone sex/ sexting smut, and it leads to like him coming over and then full smut

Fluffy birthday fic w/ Jimin

Yixing has a girl friend that he super cute who always dresses in pretty loose fitting clothes but one day she want him to see her in a different light so she wears a tight revealing clothes and visits him while he’s in the studio working on his solo songs to show him her feelings towards him

jongin scenario on his wedding day

yoongi thigh riding smut

sex with shinee would be like (oldest member to youngest)

what would dating shinee be like? Could you start with Jinki and then go down the list from oldest to youngest please and thank you

how shinee would react to performing a song with their idol crush

what shinee would be like if they were crushing on their best friend

scenario of bf Changkyun going in their bedroom to find his gf bent over their bed because her back was aching and she was in the middle of stretching

Angst scenario for Yifan: Still after having a beautiful family of his own, Yifan can’t seem to move on from his first love. Only to found out she was supposedly dead, not alive. He only married his wife to save his first love’s life. Unfortunately, his first love suffers from Alzheimer’s. Everyday Mondays and Sundays he meets her at their secret cafe..hoping that one day she’ll remember him

Jimin fluff

hoseok where you’re both idols and you have a stage with yoongi to roll deep and he gets jealous (smut-ish)

fluffy Yoongi scenario where he misses u after the long tour n when he is super busy with schedules

Boys Republic reaction to you calling everybody Queen or Girl even if they’re a guy

Madtown reaction to you loving and eating food a lot so whenever you’re hungry you say “watch out! big girl gotta eat!”

BTS’S reaction to their S/O getting or having lip piercings​

bts reaction to you (their bff) going to his place and suddenly hug him and start crying (like, hard) while apologizing bco stress

How GOT7 would react to finding out their s/o had ADD/ADHD and didn’t want to tell them about it

Smut scenario with Namjoon where the both of you decided to give it another attempt after an unexpected miscarriage

Honeymoon sex with Zitao

Make up sex with Yifan

cute bf taehyung scenario

jealous Yoongi

You’re yugyeom’s older friend and you spoil him

Nct Dream reaction their gf/crush being 165cm-170cm tall

scenario with jungkook based on “I made you a cookie but I ate it”

Bts reaction to their older friend crying bc she’s not satisfied with her body weight and they try to comfort her but she snaps at them

sex with SHINees Minho

PART 2 OF RETURN THE FAVOR

return the favor but with shownu and or hyungwon

Monsta x reaction when they go to a supermarket or whatever and let you and other member alone, but when they back you’re in the room and comes weirds noise’s from the room but when they open the door is just you and the other member jumping on the bed

cute Jimin Fluff where he’s out with his wife buying baby stuff please

shinee reaction to a break up with their girlfriend

shinee reaction to everyone finding out about his secret girlfriend

how would bts react if they were so strong lately to the point they could hold it back & started to cry. They were home alone, just then their gf get back home and see them crying, she’s shocked and wanted to hug them and make them feel better. But how the boys would react when they 1st see her?

scenario where you and jungkook go to a public place or something, and he gets hit on by prettier girls, but he’s polite to them bc he doesn’t get it and you get jealous and pouty and feel small, but try to play it off bc you don’t want him to know

shinee catches their s/o being short and climbing up their kitchen counter to grab something but she ends up almost falling

scenario request where you used to dance as a kid but you stopped and you’ve gone a really long time without it but you want to try learning again so you ask Jhope to teach you a little bit

shinee reaction to catching you singing a soft tune alone in your room (maybe playing an instrument)

day6 young k fluff, where he confesses to you in his own adorable, fluffy way like singing while looking at you or smth

day6 Young K smut, y/n and him are dating for a while but she hasn’t told him she’s a virgin, so when she tells him he takes good care of her in that way

how BTS would react to finding out their girlfriend had an abortion before meeting them

BTS in the present (super busy popular idols) reactions to finding out the girl they had started dating has a chronic illness (not terminal illness, mind). Who would be idealistic and insist on staying with her, who would break up so she can find a guy who has the time take care of her, who would just ghost her?

dating/sex with sungjin (bulleted list)

dating shinee(poly ot5) headcanons? If it makes you uncomfortable then headcanons for being best friends with them

Monsta x reaction to finding out they will sing a ballad with you (their crush)

Monsta x reaction to his g/f not being able to get pregnant due a heart condition

Sex with dongwoo from infinite

what a dating Jihyo from Twice would be like please? But one that involves a little bit of smut thrown in

bts reaction of taking them to a haunted house for a date

Monsta x react to their s/o having an asthma attack/crisis (a small one) she was never tell them she suffered/had that condition

Lee Taemin scenario where you do a collab dance and he falls for you during all the practice time

Phone sex with Rapmon

Got 7 reaction to their girlfriend knowing how to deepthroat

What living with Kibum(shinee) be like if you were best friends

bts reaction to their s/o having bunny teeth and she covers it everytime she laughs coz she hates it

Shinee reaction to loving the same person (if you could please make it gender fluid)

Shinee reaction to secretly dating but then they kiss you in front of cameras on accident (like the exo one)

SHINee singing a romantic ballad with their crush

how jongin would be as a husband

How Infinite would react if their girlfriend snores

you’re dating yoongi and are friend with BTS (bulleted list)

finding out their s/o has fibromyalgia, only when they catch during a flare-up (since it’s not constant)? For BigBang, BTS, f(X), & SHINee

smut scenario about your first night having sex with jungkook

Block B’s P.O as a boyfriend and what would sex be like with him

what being best friends with monsta x would be like (bulleted list)

reaction where they find out you’re virgin right before you two have sex? (But you’re ready to have sex, you just thought that they should know) for block b, bigbang, seventeen and shinee

reaction where they find out you’re virgin right before you two have sex? (But you’re ready to have sex, you just thought that they should know) for bts and exo

“sex with series" for f(x) and if it can only be one member, with Amber

Sex with park kyung

Bts smut! “Take me…”

BTS, “You’re on” smut

what dating kris would be like

sex with Sungjong

what dating Day6 would be like? if that’s too much, maybe just my baby Dowoon

Yoongi reaction to his s/o not being into usual dating stuff; doesn’t believe in dates lol, not into anniversaries, hardly ever affectionate and shows love subtly (friends but with a little but more)

dating Tiffany (snsd)

[hoshi-kawaii]

Shine On You Crazy Diamond CH 10. Perfect Blue Buildings

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to FF.net user Pingly187 who I would like to thank for the song recommendation: Perfect Blue Buildings by Counting Crows. You can find the whole story here.

Perfect Blue Buildings

Gray’s morning started out like any other. He awoke to the shrill beeping of his alarm in a mangled nest of fabrics: his comforter spilling off the bed and onto the floor and his sheets woven around his limbs, proof of the time he fought to get away from the coverage during the night. Why he still bothered to use blankets was a mystery. After untangling himself from his sheets, his bare legs instinctively found their way to the bathroom to do his business. Stop number two was the kitchen. One pale, callous hand found it’s grip on the preset, fresh-made coffee while the other landed on a clean mug drying by the sink. No time was wasted as he filled the ceramic vessel and downed the steaming contents, careful not to spill the dark liquid on his naked chest. Soon, his coffee was paired with a bowl of cereal to form the drummer’s breakfast.

Finally caffeinated, Gray returned to his bedroom to don a pair of shorts and sneakers, prepared to head out on a run. He enjoyed this activity daily as a way to reset his mind for things to come. His phone hung heavy in one pocket, keys in another, as his headphones trailed across his chest to his ears. Locking the door behind him, he set his soles to the pavement with abandon.

Just down the street from your hotel, baby,

I stay at home with my disease.

Today, this rejuvenation was especially needed. Sure, last night Gray had a nice time. He went out with his friends and won a contest. He enjoyed the ability to let go and focus on carrying a beat. Yet, in his chest grew blooming interest for a certain blonde-- well, interest and confusion. She was intriguing, and mysterious. She wasn’t like others who shared themselves freely, wearing their emotions and experiences like an open book. She kept to herself, but inside of her passion rage and fought to burst forth. He was able to witness a fraction of that passion last night and couldn’t deny, she reminded him of himself.

And ain't this position familiar, darling?

Well, all monkeys do what they see.

Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

However, that wasn’t the only thing on his mind this morning.

Down on Virginia and La Loma,

Where I got friends who'll care for me...

In just two short hours, Gray had a very important meeting. A meeting with Koriho Tsukamaki, an executive at one of the most well known publishing companies in Fiore. For years now he had been working on telling his own story, using manga as a vehicle to deliver just that. There are many out there who need to know life can get better. He would give them such a story. A story of determination, of a young boy thrown into the world after the death of his guardian and teacher. Of those he met along the way, and his path to Fairy Tail.

Ice Trail would tell that story-- with a magical twist.

You got an attitude of everything I ever wanted,

I got an attitude of need.

As Gray turned down another street he begged his mind not to play through the memories. Funny how our bodies only listen to us when they want to.

Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

Ur Milkovich was his aunt, his mother’s sister and his only living relative after his parents, Mika and Silver, succumbed to the fatal Deliora disease. Gray had only been six years old when he was forced to move up north to stay with Ur, her daughter Ultear, and her foster son Lyon. Although he had been unhappy with these circumstances at first, Gray’s feelings changed the longer he spent time with his aunt. Children were her passion. After almost losing her daughter in infancy, Ur decided she wanted to help other children in need. She began volunteering in her community and a few years later she came across Lyon, a poor young boy in need of a home. Her home and her heart were filled when Gray stepped in.

Asleep in perfect blue buildings,

Beside the green apple sea.

Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby.

Try to keep myself away from me.

Ur’s other passion had been music. In her youth she had played the drums, joining with friends and rocking in girlbands. To Ur, drumming represented freedom. The freedom of movement and sound, the creation of rhythm and the beat of life. This was a gift she shared with her boys, filling the house with discordant sound and driving Ultear mad. To Gray and Lyon, she taught all she knew.

Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby.

Try to keep myself away from me.

It was Ur who first encouraged Gray’s talent for drawing.  They started as childish doodles on construction paper with crayon, but Ur was always ready with a smile and a complement each day he returned after school with a new picture. Soon enough, his pictures found their way on every page he could find, filling the cracks of his homework assignments and distracting his mind from his surroundings. As the months went on, the children in his class turned on the kid who was always scribbling away. They made fun of his drawings, of his lack of parents, and of the strange stipping habit he seemed to pick up as a result of his drumming. He began to get in fights, and Lyon was no help. He had no pity for his unwanted, makeshift-brother.

It's 4:30 A.M. on a Tuesday.

It doesn't get much worse than this.

It was then that Gray’s drawings took on a dark side, turning violent and full of pain. He seemed obsessed with depicting the death of his parents. Their disease transformed with art into a monster, a demon too powerful to defeat.  This event represented the source of all his unhappiness. If they had not died, he would still be smiling and living with them, right? He wouldn’t have school bullies, he wouldn’t have a brother who hates him, and he wouldn’t randomly throw his clothes around.

In beds in little rooms in buildings in the middle of

these lives which are completely meaningless.

Ur’s smile twisted when a bloody-nosed Gray returned from school one day and handed her the image of himself standing victoriously over the frozen bodies of his schoolyard tormentors. Instead of getting angry, the kind woman knelt down to her nephew and prodded him gently, “Gray, you’re so talented. Why do you draw such dark things? I know you’ve had a rough life, and those bullies of yours aren’t helping, but you shouldn’t let the darkness gain control of you.” Her worried expression transformed into a soft smile, resting a hand on his shoulder, “I know you’re angry, but your art could be so beautiful if you just focused on the light.”

Help me stay awake, I'm falling...

She was right, but he didn’t have the sense to listen to her then. Another year went by, and school hours were still consumed by comments torturing the weirdo orphan who spent more time drawing than paying attention to his teacher. Recess only meant one thing: another fight. Of course, another fight meant another afternoon stuck in the principal’s office, a stuck up man who refused to believe the angry child was being victimized. It was times such as those that the boy wished he could join his parents as a resident of the afterlife.

Asleep in perfect blue buildings,

Beside the green apple sea.

Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby.

He gave up on his anger, he gave up on fighting back. His injuries got worse as the bullies used his apparent cowardice against him. They called him a chicken for not fighting back, but it didn’t stop them. Gray couldn’t find it in him to care. He gave up on drawing. It didn’t bring him joy or relief any longer. Ten years-old and he walked through each day as ghost, barely feeling. He simply laid down and took his beatings like a dog, with each one wishing they would just kill him instead.

Try to keep myself away from myself and me.

All of that changed one day when he, Lyon, and Ultear were helping Ur clear out the attic. He was pulling bric-a-brac out of a dusty corner when he found it, an old hand gun. Young, midnight-blue eyes widened as they traced the object in his hand. His mouth opened for a moment, about to announce his discovery when he suddenly realized this gun could solve all his problems. He simply hid it until he could discreetly stash the firearm under his bed.

I got bones beneath my skin, and mister...

There's a skeleton in every man's house.

The antique sat there for a month or so as he entertained his options of how to use it. He would turn it on himself and end all his suffering. No more bullies, no more stupid Lyon. He would be with his parents again. He just had to work up the nerve.

Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hangs on everybody,

There's a dead man trying to get out.

However, it was on a Friday, during one particularly brutal beating that his thoughts began to change. Almost like a reflex, as if that gun had given him power again, he sent a right hook smack into the face of the ginger-haired boy who had been hitting him like rapid fire. With his muscles flexed and a smirk on his face Gray came to realize that he was not the problem. It was these other kids, these bullies, who deserved to die. If they were gone, Gray could find happiness again, he could go back to drawing and make Ur smile.

Please help me stay awake, I'm falling...

His plan was hatched. After school he returned to the attic and tracked down some old bullets. He took them along with the gun far into the woods behind the house where he set up a few cans to practice his shot. Satisfied with himself after one day of practice, Gray stashed the weapon in his backpack.

Asleep in perfect blue buildings,

Beside the green apple sea.

The following Monday Gray overslept, leaving Ur to bring him into school an hour or so late. He sat in the passenger seat of her minivan in front of the school as she wrote up his tardy note. Ur instructed him him to put the note in his backpack so he would not lose it on his way into the school. He unzipped the large pouch and dropped the paper in as he swung his door open and made his way out.

Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby.

He didn’t notice the large rock his foot slipped on as he made to exit the vehicle, causing the contents of his backpack to spill out all over the front seat. Time moved in slow motion as he panicked, reaching to hide the gun back in the sack just as Ur laid her eyes on it. Two sets of hands landed on the firearm, Gray’s on the handle and Ur’s on the barrel.

Try to keep myself away from me.

It wasn’t meant to happen.

The gun was old and the safety was faulty.

Blood was pouring from her chest before the two could process what had occurred.

When the ambulance arrived Ur told them the gun had fallen from the glovebox when Gray tripped getting out of the car. That the gun was old, but it was all she had as a single mother to protect the ones she loved. Gray was too shocked for words and didn’t argue. It was in that ambulance that Ur shared her final words with him.

Perfect blue buildings...

“I just want all my children to be happy, to see the world and all it has to offer. I only regret that I couldn’t seal away your darkness. If you just focus on the light, Gray, I know you will shine.”

Gray would never forget the light touch of her cold hand as she spoke, or the way the pressure fell away with her last breath.

Beside the green apple sea.

That was when child services came. Ultear had been 18, legally an adult and able to take care of herself. Yet, for whatever reason, Lyon and Gray were separated. This suited young Fullbuster just fine. Lyon had never liked him, and even lashed out at Gray for causing Ur’s death. After all, if he hadn’t been late to school, the event never would have taken place. Gray cursed Lyon for not knowing just how right he was. The other boy would simply serve as a reminder of his sin. It’s better to be apart.

I wanna get me a little oblivion, baby.

So, Gray was sent to an orphanage in Mone run by Fiore State Council member Torch Endeavor. Most of the children there were kind, but their circumstances were not. Each friend he made soon left him. The was Nano, a kind girl a year or so younger than he was. She took to him right away, but not much time passed before she was adopted by a loving couple. Then, there was Mary and Amelie sisters rescued out of human trafficking who stayed at the orphanage briefly while their living relatives were tracked down. Each friend Gray made soon left, moved on to a new family, leaving Gray behind to be tormented by Unicol and that idiot Milk Boy.

Try to get myself away from myself and me.

When Gray entered middle school he was excited to learn that the school band offered drums. Finally, the universe had restored some solace to the boy, providing him with a distraction from his sorry lot. He stayed after school in the band room everyday and practiced. This, he would never regret.

At the end of the year, Mone Junior High hosted a benefit concert. The junior high’s band would be opening for one of the most popular musicians in all of Fiore: Guildarts Clive. Knowing this was his last chance to sit being the drums before summer came, Gray had played his heart out that night He fought his guilt to remember the words Ur had told him. Drumming represented freedom, so for that evening he let himself be free.

Oh, little perfect blue buildings.

When it was all over Gray sat outside the school, staring out across the river as he waited for Torch-sama to pick him up. It was then that he was unexpectedly approached by Gildarts himself. The older man lowered himself down on the curb beside the boy, lighting a cigarette as he did. Gray started in shock at the closeness of the famous musician, who simply kept his eyes on moonlight reflecting off the water. The boy was taken aback further when the man spoke.

“That was some drumming you did back there, kid.” Guildarts sent Gray a sideways glance, only to laugh when the kid continued to stare. Placing the cigarette in the crook of his lips, Guildarts offered his hand. “Name’s Guildarts. Nice to meet ya.”

Well I can’t keep myself away from me.

Gray simply stared at the rough grip thrust toward him. “You got a name, kid?”

“Gray.” The boy blurted.

Guildarts broke out in a large smile as he returned his hand to his cigarette. Blowing out a puff of smoke he asked, “Where’d you learn to drum like that, Gray? Surely they didn’t teach that in this dump.” He took another drag before looking back to inspect the school building.

Gray looked down at the worn sticks clutched in his hands before answering quietly, “My Aunt Ur taught me.”

“Ur?” Guildarts ran the syllable through his memory, coming across the image of the female drummer flanking another female guitarist and bassist in a club back in his twenties. “Ur Milkovich? You gotta be kidding me!”

The young drummer had thought he couldn’t be any more shocked, but he was wrong.

“Man, I begged her to be my drummer back in the day! What’s good ol’ Ur up to these days?” Guildarts’ grin reached his eyes as he expectantly waited for Ur’s pupil to answer.

Gray’s body shook at the question, his grip on the sticks tightened as a few tears flooded the night that lived in his eyes. “She... Uh...” But the words wouldn’t escape.

Oh, little perfect blue building.

Guildarts sobered at the boy’s response, stamping out his cigarette on the concrete before offering his condolences. “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, kid.” A large, warm hand laid itself on the boy’s back, offering comfort. Guildarts thought back to Ur’s response the night he had asked her to join him on tour.

“I appreciate your interest in my talent, but tonight was my last show.” Ur instinctively held her stomach, a smile capturing her lips as her eyes fell to meet her hand, “It’s time for me to focus on raising the next generation.”

Here he was, a piece of Ur’s next generation, and at such a young age he played with a passion that rivaled her own.

“You had a marvelous teacher, kid. I think she would be proud of you.”

Gray looked up, catching the soft yet serious expression displayed on the older man’s face. It only lasted a moment before Guildarts was pushing himself off the pavement and onto his feet. He stood there for a moment, eyes fixed on the horizon across the river.

“Anyway, I came over here to tell you something. I think you got talent, kid. From what I can tell you got it pretty rough here, but across that river in the west, there’s a town called Magnolia. If you go there, you’ll find a place for people like us. It’s a guild called Fairy Tail.”

How am I gonna keep myself away?

Gray fixed his eyes into the darkness across that river, as if he would be able to see the town if he stared hard enough. A place for people like us. He turned to ask Guildarts what he meant, but the older man was gone. Torch-sama’s beat-up car was coming around the bend.

It only took Gray a few months to save up enough money for a boat and train ticket. He was sick of Unicol and Milk Boy. He was sick of Black Vox Orphanage. He was sick of Mone. Most of all, he was sick of staring out across the river. With a note left behind for Torch-sama, Gray took all he had and left. Only one thought stood fixed in his mind: Fairy Tail.

It didn’t take long for the art to return to him, for his drawing to return and set his mind free of the burden he carried. He would never forgive himself for the incident that took Ur away, but he vowed never to let the darkness take him again.

How am I gonna keep myself

Away from me?

This was the story who made Gray Fullbuster who he is. This was how he found Fairy Tail. The place that filled his life with friends who last for a lifetime. The place that housed his true family. A place to call home. Fairy Tail was his light. With his focus on it, he would tell his story.

Gray returned to the front door of his apartment, panting. With any luck, Koriho Tsukamaki would see the passion in Gray’s drawings. The passion he held for the young ice-make mage who set out to train after the death of his master, only to find his way to his true home: the wizard guild Fairy Tail.

It wasn’t long before his meeting now. Gray opened his door, removing his headphones and removing his phone from his pocket. He prodded over to the fridge, reaching for a bottle of water as he checked the time. He still had an hour and a half. As he made his way to the bathroom for a shower.

Keep myself away,

How am I gonna keep myself away from me?

After rinsing himself of his stressful run, Gray emerged anew. He would sell his story to Tsuamaki. He had to. He dried his hair, dressing in a button down and slacks before heading out the door. In the front seat of his Outback he checked his device one last time, opening his messages to find one unread.

Conversation: Erza, Flame Brain

Erza: Greetings, boys. After ending my tour I ran into an old friend who is getting married this weekend on Halloween. He expressed to me that he was having trouble finding a replacement band for the reception, as his previously booked band had an emergency arise. While I think it is simply inexcusable for anyone for break a commitment like that, I kindly offered our services. I figured this was a good time for the three of us to play just like we did in the old days. I will contact you later with further instructions.

Keep myself away,

How am I gonna keep myself

Away from me?

A/N: If any of you are wondering where I pulled out names like Mone (pronounced mo-nay), Nano, Torch Endeavor, Black Vox, Milk Boy, ect. you should read the real Ice Trail by Yuusuke Shirato. It’s a Fairy Tail spin-off manga. The manga Gray is writing is supposed to be based on that.

I plan to develop more side characters as I did with Gray. There will probably one or two chapters devoted to each along with some gradual development through the story. Lucy and Natsu aren’t the only crazy diamonds in this story who need to shine.

It looks like we’re moving on to the Lullaby Arc! Time to meet Erza! I wonder what kind of musician she will be?

You can read all ten chapters of Shine On You Crazy Diamond by zerOphelia on fanfiction.net.

[thomasroach]

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Review – The Complete Package

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s looter shooter returns with the release of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2. Hoping to build on a legacy of rewarding combat, immersive environments and varied end-game, The Division 2 launches in a more hostile environment for the genre, but does it have the pedigree to pull it off anyway?

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 Review

The Division 2’s story follows the events from the original game as Agents, members of a special elite task force, head to Washington D.C to restore power to the SHD Network – a global network acting as the central source of intelligence and assignments for Agents of The Division. What follows is the discovery of a cure for the Green Poison, and subsequently all viral infections, which acts as the primary driving force behind the games challenging story campaign. The Division 2’s story is easy to follow, and while it maintains a level of quality throughout, it lacks any memorable punch and feels more a prelude to the games end-game content than a stellar standalone story. While somewhat disappointing initially, the “play it safe” story quickly fades to black as the games true intentions become clear.

Much like the original game, The Division 2 is, at its heart, a cover-based looter shooter that relies nearly entirely on its combat mechanics and grind loops to entertain and enthrall. Thankfully, it nails both. It nails them in such a way that The Division 2 is arguably one of the best cover shooters available, and one of Ubisoft’s greatest works ever.

The over-the-shoulder combat relies heavily on two major factors. Ducking, diving, sliding and jumping between different forms of cover as a huge variety of enemies ambush and approach your location from multiple sides, and combining a massively impressive arsenal of weapons with an equally impressive array of skills and abilities. While the bullet-sponge issues that often plague the genre are still very much present in The Division 2, the combat is satisfying, rewarding, and immersive from start to finish. And, it’s brutal. During my many runs as a solo Agent, I found myself outgunned, outmanned, and outplayed, feelings that heavily push the player towards grouping with other Agents. While enjoying many of the games activities solo is a definite possibility for the hardcore among us, it’s ill-advised in many situations.

Accompanying the impactful cover and shoot combat is a diverse list of skills and abilities that can be customized, enhanced and improved throughout the game. Agents unlock skill point as they progress through the main campaign, accessing advanced technological assistance for future battles. One group could be heavily focusing around their squad leader leading the charge behind a huge shield, while another sits at a distance and coordinates drone strikes and seeker mine attacks. While some of the skills and abilities would greatly benefit from a bit of balancing, there’s already plenty of opportunity to experiment and explore a robust skill and progression system.

One of the biggest problems facing Agents looking to restore order to the nations capitol is the frustratingly “intelligent” AI. Instead of facing enemies that adapt and react to the threats they face in a realistic and believable way, I too often found myself battling seemingly psychic soldiers that could read my every move from behind a container 50 meters away.

Approaching an enemy checkpoint, I hear calls for help from my nearby allies. Pinned down by heavy enemy sniper fire and a hulking mess of armor and firepower, my allies were unable to advance onto the machine gun nest that had been the primary cause for our failure to capture the checkpoint earlier in the day. I grip my controller tightly, I begin to hum the Mission Impossible theme tune, I take several side alleys and a small underground passage to approach our enemies from the opposite angle. I was straight up ready to Tom Clancy those fools.

I draw my heavily customized and camouflaged sniper rifle, line up the perfect shot on the enemy sniper then, just like that, he’s gone. This expertly trained and highly attuned sniper, that had been providing covering fire for nearly two minutes straight, randomly had the immediate instinct to duck behind cover as soon as a gun is aimed at his location – despite being out of his line of sight. I wait, and wait, and wait. There’s no sign of movement from his location. I decide to switch my attention to the heavily armored enemy rocking the minigun, but no sooner do I change weapon does that sniper rear its ugly head once more. A quick switch of my weapon back to my trusted sniper and, what? Once again, as if from divine intervention, the enemy sniper instantly returns to cover.

These types of events are not random, it’s not the result of some cascading AI scripts resulting in random psychic reactions from enemies, it happens in nearly every fight. I press the button to activate one of my abilities, the enemies react and move before humanly possible. Enemies will rush and advance on your position with absolutely zero care for their own survival. This makes sense for some of the units designed to rush, such as the lunatic that straps explosives to his chest and charges your location, but for other enemy types it becomes frustrating, predictable, and boring. A situation made worse when you face squads of enemies that take 200 bullets from an LMG to fell one soldier. On the surface The Division 2’s AI seems intelligent, responsive, and varied, but dig a little and you’ll find very limited AI behavior that is easily its biggest shortcoming.

The Division 2 truly stands head and shoulders above the competition with its myriad of activities and flurry of end-game content. It still bears the mark of Ubisoft as Agents head to new areas, repeating activities to free yet more civilians from tyranny – a formula used in practically every Ubisoft game of this generation – but it’s fine tuned to perfection. In previous Ubisoft games, I often found myself pushing to complete that first region 100%. Hunting down that last side quest, defeating that last high value target, only to feel exhausted to repeat the process a second, third, fourth and fifth time. In The Division 2, the team put just the right amount of content in each area to keep things fresh and engaging throughout the experience.

A single phrase often thrown around the industry today best describes The Division 2. Content is king, and The Division 2 is the king of content. From launch, there’s a massive variety of objectives and activities as you progress, objectives and activities that expand, evolve and improve continuously throughout the campaign and even moreso when you reach end-game. Never before have I been so excited to complete a games main campaign. As soon as you hit level 30 and complete the main story you are bombarded with prompts and unlocks, each exposing something more interesting and exciting than the last.

Real-time conflicts and territory changes between the games multiple factions, hidden boss enemies that hold special cosmetic loot drops, evolving checkpoints that increase in power the more your presence is known in the area, strongholds that act as challenging dungeons with multiple boss battles and fantastic rewards, bounty targets that require the gathering of intel to locate, collectibles, the content just keeps going, and going, and going. And that’s just from the perspective of the PvE fan, there are entire areas dedicated to PvP. The content itself is only trumped by a single other aspect, the loot.

The Division 2 boasts incredibly interesting loot and advancement systems that allows players to truly specialize, customize, and improve their characters in a variety of ways. Tons of weapon customization options, the ability to switch talents and perks from one weapon to another, random chances of hitting the “critical” success when crafting, there’s no end to the ways you can improve your character in the game.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 raises the bar for the looter shooter genre. Put simply, it is the complete package.

This The Division 2 Review was done on the PlayStation 4. A digital version was purchased from the PlayStation Store, though a code was provided by the publisher (and returned) after purchase.

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