#they discover the secret evil laboratory and just sort of stand in there and look at stuff

[echidnana]

just watched mewtwo strikes back and erm 😁 what the fuck

[emma-nation]

Within You - Bloodbound AU - Chapter 10

Summary: One year after defeating Gaius, the gang has finally found peace… Until a tragic incident awakens the ultimate and most dangerous threat they ever faced.

Genre: Angst/Adventure/Romance

Rating: T - Warning for violence and language

Notes:

- Sequel to the fics For You, In The Daylight and Without You. You can read all of them here.

- This chapter is my baby and I’m really proud of it. I hope you like it too!

- I probably won’t be around for the next few days (for BB finale included), so please forgive me if I take too long to post Chapter 11.

- My fellow writers: stay home writing your awesome fics.

- Dear readers: stay home reading and leaving your lovely reviews. We love you. Stay safe!

Tag List: @supersphynxsworld​, @lightning-fury​, @spacecarrousel​, @tigerbryn11, @gavryllo​, @annabellewerecorgi​, @whoinvitedalx​, @sheyah​, @imnotdonewiththeelementalists​, @scaryqueenbee, @bigmemesplz, @la-guerra-69, @kamilahsayeed-owns-me​, @morvengarde​, @tephy24​, @iam-the-fuckin-queen​, @voltos9, @scorpichoices​, @leavemeandmyshipsalone​, @jen825​, @andreear17​, @justejuste727​, @aureliaxj, @graceschoices​, @mrskamilxh​, @msuhailey, @zoe6111​, @noodledragon22​, @tigerbryn11, @shanuuh​​, @ilovetaylorswiftforever7​​, @ilovekamilahsayeed​​, @allaboutchoices​​  , @fal-carrington​​  , @scarlet-letter-a0114, @trouble-with-the-curve​​  

Kamilah

In her office, Kamilah tried one last time to dial her brother’s number. Voice mail again. She rolled her eyes.

“Until when are you going to ignore me?” She sighed.

She remembered their last conversation, a few days earlier. It was late night, he knocked her penthouse’s door repeatedly. When Kamilah opened it, Lysimachus was pale as a ghost. His heart was racing inside his chest and his breath shallow and quick, indicating he was in great distress.

“It’s her, Kamilah,” he told, when she forced him to sit down and calm himself. “Rheya’s the First.”

“Brother, she just left my place,” she argued. “I invited her for dinner. I tested her through the day. There’s no evidence…”

“She confessed, Kamilah! Right in my face. She’s not who you think she is, okay? She set up that whole situation with Priya. She threatened to kill Katherine… and me!”

Kamilah sat down and looked deeply into his brother eyes. They never lied to each other. And he was scared, truly scared. In truth, she had never seen Lysimachus so frightened before.

“Brother, I…” she grabbed his hand, unsure of what to say to comfort him. Unsure of what to think. “I’m so confused.”

“Why don’t you believe me?” He seemed hurt. Truly hurt. And especially obsessed to find a manner to defeat the First Vampire.

In the next morning, Adrian called her. An emergency. A vial containing a blood sample from the Tree Of Eternal Life had disappeared from the laboratory. They searched all over the city, in every place it could be. They conducted searches at Priya’s mansion and club, Lester’s businesses and even among their own Clan members. There was no sign of the blood.

Until Kamilah found it by accident, inside the secret weapon storage in her brother’s apartment. Lysimachus swore, once again, that it was Rheya’s doing. But all evidence lead to him. His old card was used to access the safest areas in the laboratory. The employees also remembered seeing him there during the night. The footage from the security cameras had been purposely erased. Everything pointed to one direction, he planned to ingest the blood to become more powerful.

An emergency voting decided it would be better if he was temporarily out of The Council.

“I know you’re going through a lot of stress,” Kamilah told him. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I’m also not saying I am. Just, stay in New Orleans for a few days. Clear your mind a bit.”

“Not even you… my fucking twin sister!” Lysimachus punched a hole in the wall. “You’ll all regret what you’re doing, and especially who you’re trusting. She’s manipulating each one of you!”

Coming back to reality, somebody was waiting for her at the door. Rheya. All those days, Kamilah was monitoring her closely. There wasn’t a single part of her that indicated danger.

“Kamilah?” She asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Absolutely,” Kamilah answered. “Personal issues. And you? Anything I can help with?”

“Actually, I’ve seen something that concerned me. I’ve been receiving threats and I believe they’re coming from the Order Of Dawn. I think they could be coming for me.”

She showed Kamilah some strange messages she received and pictures she took of strangers observing her out of the window.

“Don’t worry,” she assured. “We’ll investigate and grant you some protection.”

“Really?” Her eyes filled with tears and she started to cry. “Sometimes I think it’d be better if I returned to Europe. I never wanted to cause you trouble.”

“Rheya, no…”

Kamilah felt extremely bad for her. She quickly called Adrian and some of her Clan members to patrol the city and make sure no Order soldiers were walking around New York.

———-

Lysimachus

Angry, Lysimachus trained alone with a punching bag in his apartment in New Orleans. As soon as he arrived, Garrus checked his mind. Rheya’s presence was beginning to take over the place. With his Fae magic, he was able to remove it. But it was too late, everyone at The Council was convinced he was guilty.

He had to find a manner to stop Rheya by himself. She should have at least one weakness. She wasn’t invincible. Nothing could be. In nature, everything had a balance. An opposite.

“Wow,” a female voice said behind him, “someone’s mad.”

“Katherine,” he turned around, wiping off the sweat from his face with a towel. “Do you know how to kill a bitch?”

“Stake her. Or set her on fire. Assuming you’re talking about the Queen Bitch, Priya Lacroix.”

“Not actually. I’m talking about the First Vampire.”

“Is she truly real?” Her eyes went wide in surprise.

“Why do you think I’m back here?” Lysimachus told. “She caused that situation with Priya and found a manner to put everyone against me, when I discovered her identity.”

“Oh boy, you’re in serious trouble.”

“I know.”

After he showered, they walked around the streets of New Orleans while he informed her about the whole story. Since the Tree Of Eternal Life, the creation of Gaius and Xenocrates to the First Vampire’s return, using of Amy’s death.

“Why Amy?” Katherine wanted to know.

“According to this creepy British cult, she’s her descendant,” Lysimachus told. “And also a Bloodkeeper. What in my opinion, is the major sign of their connection. Their powers seem to be very similar.”

“Have you told all of that to your sister?”

He let out a chuckle.

“Who says she believes me? If Rheya asks her company, she’d probably give her everything in a second. She trusts her with her eyes closed.”

They stopped by the Graveyard Shift for a drink. Nik and Cal joined them and became part of the conversation. None of them had any ideas of what in this world could kill a legendary vampire.

“What do you think her plans are?” Nik asked. “She seems harmless so far.”

“She’s playing cautiously,” Lysimachus told. “Slowly involving and seducing everyone into her game. Soon they will bend to her will or meet a terrible fate. But her main interest… I think she wants Amy. For some purpose.”

“If she’s truly a queen,” Cal commented. “Amy would be her princess. Isn’t it obvious? She wants to share her legacy.”

“A legacy of blood and destruction,” Katherine added. “After that, she’ll probably eradicate the human kind.”

They all stared at each other in silence. None of them had a suggestion that could help.

“Let’s drink while we still can,” Nik suggested.

After he order at the bar, Ivy approached the table bringing their drinks and heard the conversation.

“Well well, a conversation about a legendary bloody creature. My favorite subject.”

“It wouldn’t be, if you met her,” Lysimachus showed them a picture of Rheya on his phone. “Ladies and gentlemen, the real face of evil. Rheya Apostolous.”

“Legendary. Bloody. And hot,” Ivy grinned.

“No wonder why your friends are getting into her so easily,” Cal joked.

“Come on, guys. Yes, she’s gorgeous. But she want all of us dead or kissing her feet. Would you mind helping me to come up with a plan? Something that could end her for good? There must be something. A balance nature created to stop her.”

Ivy was pensive for a moment before speaking:

“Meet me at the library tonight. I think I’ve got something we can do.”

“Does it involve the dead?” Lysimachus rolled his eyes, wondering how many ghosts he’d have to capture. “Or necromancy of any sorts?”

“Yes. I was thinking about… a Ouija board. But better.”

“Here we go again,” Katherine looked at him and sighed.

———-

Amy

As a form to protect Rheya, Kamilah requested Amy to follow her to all places. She was more than glad to help, after all she and the Greek vampire had an immense connection.

“So, Amy. How is it going with your psychic powers?” Rheya asked while they were working out together at the private gym in her building.

“I feel great,” she smiled. “Everyday I gain more and more control over them.”

“You not only can enter people’s minds, but you can make them actually experience the memories, is that correct?”

Rheya’s expression suddenly changed. She stopped with her exercises, looking sad, nostalgic.

“Yes. What’s wrong?” Confused, Amy stopped too. She lead Rheya to the nearest bench.

“Would you mind… showing me my family again? It’s been so long. Time is cruel. It has erased my husband’s voice from my memories or the scent of my little daughter’s hair. I miss them everyday and… I can’t barely remember their faces.”

“Of course.”

Amy grabbed her hands, focusing on the depths of her mind. Suddenly she could see both of them standing in an ancient throne room, where Rheya was in company of a man and a little girl.

“At least now I have the evening free to have dinner with you and Iola,” she smiled. “My two loves.”

“Mama, I want to see your fangs again!” Iola asked.

“They’re nothing special…“

“They are! I want fangs like you, Mama!”

“My darling… No, Iola. These are just for me, do you understand?”

Watching the scene, Amy couldn’t avoid feeling emotional. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. For some reason she felt attached to those people. Maybe because of the tragedy she knew that would later separate them. Or even because it made her think of her own family.

When they returned, Rheya’s eyes were teary but she had a smile on her face.

“Thank you so much, Amy,” she hugged her tightly. “It was so good to see my Iola again. Actually… you remind me a lot of her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, since young age she was exactly like you. Adventurous, fierce and she had a great sense of humor.”

At the same time Amy felt sadness hearing those words, it also caused her unexplainable joy.

“I’m sorry she was taken from you,” Amy lamented.

“Don’t be,” Rheya touched her cheek fondly. “Sometimes life takes something away from you… but it grants you something else in return. Sooner or later.”

Amy went home and showered, but the scene she experienced with Rheya wouldn’t leave her thoughts. Especially her daughter. They seemed to be so close, so affectionate to each other.

That vision triggered inside Amy an intense desire of having a family on her own too. She imagined having a daughter with Kamilah. She’d give her little girl everything her mother didn’t provide her while growing up. She not only would be her parent, but her best friend. They’d share good memories and start adventures together.

She texted Kamilah, asking her to go home as soon as possible. After lunch she was impatiently waiting for her wife. As Amy sat down on the couch, their kitten, Beruthiel, quickly jumped on her lap.

In the first days, Kamilah was reluctant about getting attached to their new pet, considering how short their life-span could be compared to theirs. Now, everyday she’d come home with a new gift for Beruthiel. She was literally treating her like a princess.

They could form a beautiful little family. She, Kamilah, their cat and a baby.

“Hey,” her wife entered the penthouse, “is everything okay? You said you needed to see me.”

“Yes,” Amy wrapped her arms around Kamilah’s neck. “I’ve scheduled a visit to Raines Corporation. You know, only to check how his research is progressing.”

“Oh, what research?”

“The one we can have a baby.”

“Only to check, huh?” Kamilah’s raised eyebrow suggested she already knew what Amy had in mind.

“And get informed on how it would work.”

“Amy…” Kamilah sighed. “I’m okay with adopting a cat but… we’re not in a good moment to consider having children.”

“Why?” Amy wanted to know. “We’re married, with a stable life, I’ve got perfect control of my powers. I see no reason to postpone it.”

“She’s out there. The First Vampire.”

“Kamilah, please… I even stopped having those creepy visions. She’s gone for good.”

“She’s not,” Kamilah’s expression was serious and certain. “I sensed her presence the other day. She could be the one who manipulated Priya’s mind and yours. And besides, there’s also the possibility the Order soldiers could be out there, getting ready to strike.”

“So…” Amy threw herself on the couch, biting her lower lip. “Didn’t you have to discuss this Order issues with Adrian? I could come with you.”

Kamilah stared at her in silence again. Her face suggested she wasn’t thrilled about the idea.

“It’s not the right moment, Amy. It’s not like we’re buying a new video game, it’s a life we’re talking about. I’m not bringing a child to this world, knowing they could be in danger.”

“It will never be good moment right? I mean, you said countless times you never wanted to be a mother and that you can’t stand children.”

Amy stood up from the couch, storming to the front door. She knew it was only another excuse. Kamilah would never give her what she wanted the most. She felt extremely upset and frustrated.

“Amy…” Kamilah interrupted her. “Can we talk about this?”

“No,” she responded, coldly and ironic. “It’s not the right moment.”

Alone, she took her car and drove directly to Raines Corporation. If Kamilah didn’t want to be part of this decision, she’d do it by herself. And in the end, if she still couldn’t accept it… maybe she didn’t love her as much as she thought.

———-

Lysimachus

After midnight, Lysimachus and Katherine followed to Ivy’s library. Trusting her was never the smartest or safest idea, but it was the only option he had at the moment.

The library was completely dark, until the very end of the building, where Ivy had prepared a magical seal on the floor, surrounded by candles.

“For heaven’s sake, what is that?” Katherine asked. “Please tell me you’re not planning to take him to the Realm of Death.”

“I considered it,” Ivy said. “But it was too risky, especially because he’s… biologically dead? So I decided to bring the dead to our world instead.”

“Wait,” Lysimachus interrupted. “Who are you planning to summon from the dead?

“The Two Sons. Xenocrates and Gaius.”

Only that name alone brought shivers to Lysimachus body. He hated that man with every fiber of his body being. If one thing he was sure, was that he never wanted to see Gaius again. Not even in spirit.

“Bring Xenocrates. Let Gaius trapped in hell, where it’s his place.”

“Okay, I’ll need to perform a ritual. Mind giving me some privacy?”

“Of course.”

Lysimachus walked to an armchair where he sat down. Katherine followed him. He buried his head in his hands, wondering what could even happen if that ritual went wrong and for some reason Gaius escaped the Realm Of Death and returned to life. By the side of his beloved Goddess, they’d rule the world, exterminating the human kind.

“Hey,” Katherine touched his shoulder, “what’s wrong? You’re shaking.”

“Gaius,” he confessed. “Only the mention of his name it… it drives me crazy. Have you ever hated someone so badly it consumes you, changes you?”

“Yeah, not someone. Something. A monster.”

“He Turned me, against my will. Besides keeping me separated from my sister from centuries. I can help thinking everything he caused in her life was a revenge against me. Even if he’s dead… the part of me he took away is never returning.”

“I can relate. That monster… it took the most precious thing I’ve ever had. And I will never be the same again. Even if I try. Part of me also died that day.”

“Katherine…” Lysimachus looked into her eyes. For the first time she looked open, vulnerable. “You never told me…”

“I usually don’t,” Katherine shrugged, fighting off her emotions. “I think I’m really starting to trust you.”

“Well, that’s a good thing.”

“Not for me.”

They both shared a laugh, when Ivy’s voice called them back. It was time to summon Xenocrates’ spirit. Ivy was voicing some words in an ancient language when the flames from the candles exploded and intensified, almost blinding them with the light.

As Lysimachus opened his eyes again, Xenocrates’ form was standing in the middle of the seal.

“What did you call me here for?” He snarled. "A man can’t even be dead, without being bothered by abominations like you?“

"We need answers,” Lysimachus approached. “About Rheya. You were her First Son, you must know how to end her for good.”

“And why do you think I’d help you? Especially, when you were all responsible for setting her free.”

“They didn’t,” Katherine intervened. “They didn’t set her free. They were only studying the blood, for good purposes.”

“It had nothing to do with the blood. It was… something else.”

“What was it?” Lysimachus asked, intrigued. “We didn’t know. And now, she has started to cause trouble. I need to stop her before the damage spreads.”

“I don’t know what brought Rheya back, otherwise I’d have prevented it,” Xenocrates told. “But if you want to stop her you’ll need to go after her husband, Demetrius. His blood is the only thing that can stop her.”

“Isn’t he dead?”

“Sort of. Rheya attempted to Turn him when he was murdered but it was too late. Her blood transformed him into something dark, without a conscience. A monster.”

“The First Feral,” Katherine concluded.

“His presence brought death to everything around him, including Rheya herself,” Xenocrates continued. “She was weakened by his darkness. So she sent him away.”

“And where is he now?” Lysimachus wanted to know.

“In the Island of Death, somewhere in South Pacific.”

“I’ll find him.”

“You will,” Xenocrates let out a sarcastic laugh. “But you won’t make it back home. The Island will drain all your life before you even get to him.”

“So what do I have to do?”

“My time here is over.”

“No! Wait!”

A strong wind filled the room, lighting off all the candles and the First Son disappeared.

“So what do we do now?” Katherine wondered. “How will we get to the Island?”

“I don’t know,” Lysimachus sighed, frustrated. “He said it drains the life of any living being that approaches it.”

“But he didn’t say anything about a undead being, did he?” Ivy suggested.

———-

Kamilah

In the beginning of the night, Kamilah went to Raines Corporation to meet Adrian and find out if he had any news about a possible invasion of the Order Of Dawn in New York. Amy wasn’t picking up her calls, but she found out she was at the Shadow Den with Lily. Apparently they invited Rheya for a girl’s night.

“Please, tell me she didn’t convince you to impregnate her,” Kamilah took a sip of the whiskey Adrian served her. “I know her, Adrian. She does that puppy dog eyes that make you unable to say no.”

“She didn’t,” Adrian let out a small laugh. “I showed her the research, but explained it’s still a work in progress. And I’d need your DNA too.”

“Good. How would it work anyways?”

“It’s a serum. First, you both must sign a contract. I’ll mix Amy’s DNA to yours and add the blood from the Tree. The three elements together will generate a new life. A new being.”

“Just like that?”

“Not really,” Adrian explained. “After I inject it on Amy’s body or yours, you will have to… conceive the baby, if you know what I mean. Like a regular pregnancy.”

“I see.”

Kamilah swallowed the entire glass of whiskey in one sip, trying to get rid of the stress the thought of being a mother caused her.

“What’s the deal, Kamilah?” Adrian asked, noticing her silence.

“I’m not ready, Adrian,” Kamilah sighed and confessed. “And I don’t think I’ll ever be! I’m 2065 years old. I’ve killed people and burned cities to the ground. How can I become a mother? How am I supposed to raise a child?”

“We’re never ready, but when the moment comes, it’s just magical. You’ll learn to be a mom, Kamilah. Together with Amy.”

She noticed how distant and nostalgic Adrian looked after that talk. It probably reminded him of his son, Charles.

“We’ve adopted a cat recently,” Kamilah changed the subject. “Her name is…”

She couldn’t get used to that name. Something Amy and Lily picked out from one of their geeky obsessions.

“Beruthiel. I heard about her,” a smile returned to Adrian’s face. “I was also told you’ve been using your penthouse security system to observe her when you’re absent. And that you’ve bought her like 10 different collars in a week.”

She only rolled her eyes in response and walked to the window. Kamilah started remembering Amy’s behavior that afternoon. ‘No. It’s not the right moment’. Those words were said with the same coldness and rage as when she was under the First Vampire’s influence, before her Turning. She was about to express her concerns about her dark presence inhabiting Amy’s body, when the emergency alarm of Raines Corporartion started echoing through the entire building.

“What is that?” Kamilah asked, confused.

“I don’t know,” Adrian ran to his computer. “But it doesn’t sound good.”

From the security cameras, they observed as a small group dressed in white marched into the building, inspecting every corner. Searching for something specific. Their clothes and weapons had a military look, like they were soldiers of some kind. Kamilah recognized immediately who they were.

“The Order Of Dawn,” she concluded. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Adrian was completely enraged. “But I won’t be standing here and watch them kill my employees.”

Kamilah followed him outside the office, with her daggers in hand. The Order Of Dawn was known for their skilled and ruthless hunters, who would kill everyone that stood in the way of their mission, humans or vampires.

“They’re at the labs,” Adrian whispered, watching the security cameras from his cell phone. “They’re… torturing them.”

Kamilah glanced at the screen, observing the soldiers holding a blade against one of the scientists’ neck. Adrian hands were shaking in anger. His eyes were dark and distant. She knew it was useless to try to calm him down at this stage.

“Look,” Kamilah pointed. “Two of them are guarding the main hall. We can ambush them and steal their outfits. It’ll make it easier for us to get the rest of them.”

“Good plan.”

They followed to the main hall through the emergency staircase, avoiding to make any noise. Arriving at the company’s entrance, they waited for the right moment to strike. Moving silent and stealth, Kamilah took down one guard while Adrian took the other.

After wearing their uniforms, Adrian checked the cameras one last time. They weren’t in a large group, only 7 soldiers, he counted. He and Kamilah proceeded with their plan, entering the laboratories disguised as members of the Order Of Dawn.

“What are you two doing here?” One of them asked, as he saw them. “You were supposed to guard the door. Raines could be arriving at any minute.”

“He won’t, Kamilah told, approaching the group, ready to draw her daggers.

"How can you be so sure?!”

“Because…” Adrian grabbed the soldier’s neck, breaking it instantly. “He’s right here.”

The remaining soldiers pulled their weapons and circled them.

“There’s six now,” Kamilah looked at Adrian. “Three for each?”

He nodded in agreement.

Kamilah’s soldiers attacked her with their UV flashlights. She looked at them for a second, before rolling her eyes.

“It seems like you haven’t received the latest updates,” she threw one of her daggers right into a soldier’s chest. “UV light doesn’t do a damn thing on me!”

Using her advanced speed, Kamilah dodged their crossbows and retrieved back her dagger. From behind, she stabbed both of them at the same time. She looked at Adrian, holding in his hands the hearts of two of his soldiers, while chasing the last of them. Kamilah streaked in his direction, daggers in hands, going straight for his neck.

“It’s over,” she said as he dropped dead on the floor.

After checking his employees, Adrian offered Kamilah drank some stored blood to recover strength and heal any minor injuries.

Kamilah’s cell phone started ringing. It was Priya.

“I know you hate me. But sending the Order Of Dawn to my club was a slut move, Kamilah!”

“What? Are they in there too?” She shared a concerned look with Adrian.

“Of course…” by the sound, Priya stopped to shoot the soldiers with a gun. “Otherwise, why would I even call you? ”

“I… I’ll send some reinforcement.”

“Those were one of my favorite shoes!” The fashion designer yelled. Panicked screams were heard in the background.

“Priya?!”

“There’s no need, I think I killed all of them. Wait…” she fired the gun again. “Yes, now I did.”

Adrian was also on his phone. The Order also attacked Lester’s business. With the help of his Clan, he managed to get rid of them.

“Leave one of them alive,” Adrian ordered. “Bring him for an interrogation tomorrow.”

He hung up. Both of their phones buzzed at the same time with texts from several vampires of Jax’s clan. The Shadow Den was under attack, by the largest group of soldiers seem in New York so far.

“Oh no.”

“We have to go,” Kamilah rushed, headed to her car. “Amy is in danger.”

———-

Amy

“Another fight?!” Lily questioned, while Amy finished putting on some make-up. Rheya would arrive soon and they’d introduce her to the life in the Shadow Den. “And because you want to have children?!”

“Yes,” Amy answered. “I just feel ready for the next step. I want to start a family with Kamilah.”

“Amy, I’m sorry but it doesn’t sound like you. I mean, you guys have been married for only a year. A lot can change.”

“What are you suggesting? Nothing is changing between us.”

“You’re a vampire now,” Lily told. “There’s so much you may want to experience. You’ll have the eternity to be a mother.”

“Being married to Kamilah, I’ve already experienced a lot,” Amy argued. “We’ve traveled to so many places, she introduced me to a lot of new things, we’ve grown up as couple… it seems like the right moment.”

“Well, that’s your decision to make. But make sure you’re not using it only to mask your past traumas.”

Amy did have a family-related trauma. She always felt abandoned, rejected by her mom. Ofter she’d seek for affection in her friend’s families. The conflicts between them only got worse when she became a teenager. In many occasions, she made her mom cry. Which was enough for her to decided the should follow different paths.

Now she had built her own life away from her hometown. She had a great job, a loving wife and she finally got answers about her mother’s behavior and her origins. In truth, she was starting to understand and even forgive her.

Having a baby with Kamilah had little to do with that. Part of her didn’t want children before because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to be a good mother, based on her own experiences. Now she wanted to break that cycle. She wanted to fix things with her mom, and at the same time, have the motherhood experience herself.

“Hello,” for some reason Rheya was already standing in the living room. “You didn’t hear me knocking, the door was opened so I entered. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“Not at all!” Amy smiled, dismissing her thoughts. “We were waiting for you. By the way, that’s Lily. My best friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lily extended her hand. “Very nice.”

“It’s my pleasure, darling. Amy talks about you all the time.”

Amy checked her watch. It was almost time for Liv’s new show to start. Both of her friends had engaged in a conversation. Lily seemed to be nervous around Rheya, panicking and stuttering. She shook her head in denial.

“Hey, you two,” she called. “Let’s go!”

First, they gave Rheya a tour of the Shadow Den. She was impressed by the place, checking all the stores and attractions the community had to offer.

“This place is amazing. A mass of vampires, rejected by The Council, build all of this? Without any support?”

“They did,” Lily told. “We made some improvements and redesigned after we were recognized as a Clan by The Council.”

“And there…” Amy pointed to the male vampire coming in their direction, “is the man behind most of it, Jax Matsuo.”

“Hey,” Jax joined them, briefly nodding at Rheya. “What are you girls up to?”

“We’re headed to Liv’s new show, but before we’re showing Rheya around.”

“Rheya, huh? I remember seeing you at the Tribunal. You saved Priya’s ass.”

“Jax,” Rheya looked deeply into his eyes and grabbed one of his hands. “Your bravery, your strength is like no other. Building this place, protecting your people, fighting for your rights… it’s inspiring. You have my admiration.”

“Whoa,” Jax’s cheeks turned a little pink. “Thank you, but I had help of my Clan members. We were all part of this.”

“I… I…” Lily made some effort to insert herself in the conversation. “I created the Fangbook. A social network for vampires.”

Rheya grinned and grabbed her hand too.

“This is also amazing, darling. An online gathering of all vampires in the world. Your knowledge can serve for greater purposes. You can achieve great things. Never doubt your potential.”

“T-Thank you.”

Amy laughed and patted her best friend’s shoulder.

Together they followed to Liv’s cabaret, finding their reserved seats in the front row. That was the debut of a show she long planned, back when she still a mortal. She looked unusually happy that night.

“This place is crowded,” Amy told Jax, before the lights went out.

“I know, right?” He said. “It’s good to finally see a smile on her face.”

A dancing number started on the stage, Amy was very focused. The music was hypnotizing. She and Lily started to move their bodies in sync to the rhythm.

“Come on, Jax,” Amy shouted. “Join us.”

“In a moment,” he looked serious at his cell phone screen. “There’s something wrong in the tunnels.”

Jax didn’t have any time to leave, as soon as he got up a group of soldiers dressed in white burst through the doors. Amy recognized them from Greece.

“The Order Of Dawn.”

“Everyone take cover!” Jax yelled, as they started to aim and shoot their crossbows at the vampires in the cabaret.

Amy stood frozen in the middle of the commotion, her eyes registering the scene all around her. Vampires attempted to run, or even to protect themselves, only to suffer cruel and painful deaths. There was a lot of screaming and crying, while the Order Of Dawn chanted:

”The Order does not yield. The Order does not sleep. The Order shows no mercy… and leaves no survivors.”

She tried to locate Rheya and Lily but they were nowhere to be seen. A tightness on her chest started to suffocate her.

“Amy!” Jax pulled her out of the way, to prevent an attack with UV light. Considering the desperation of the moment, he probably had forgotten it didn’t affect her.

“Jax,” she returned to her conscience. However, when she looked at the male vampire on the ground he wasn’t moving. His chest had a big burning wound. Tears stated to fill her eyes as she touched it. No vampire would survive an injury of that extent. “Jax, please…”

“Die,” an Order soldier appeared in front of her, with a crossbow aimed to her chest. She fired. Amy stopped the stake midway with her psychic powers.

Looking around, she could see piles of ash all around the club, along with severely hurt vampires, struggling to stay alive. Rage started to consume her. She felt her eyes burning in pure anger.

With a grin on her face, she sent the stake back in the soldier’s direction. Hitting her right in the middle of her eyes.

“What is that?” A group of soldiers came in her direction, as their member’s lifeless body fell on the ground.

Amy could feel their hearts beating. The blood flowing inside their veins. They had no idea what she could do. They had no idea of what she could become. She had the urge to kill them. All of them. She focused, gathering all her power.

“Kill her,” their leader ordered. She jerked her hand, sending all of them flying. The heavy impact against the wall crushed every bone inside their fragile human bodies.

More soldiers came in her direction. She leaped forward. With fangs drawn, she went directly to their throats. Her hands also fought, tearing into some soldiers’ chests and ripping off their hearts.

“Monster! Monster!” They started to retreat and runaway scared.

Amy couldn’t let them get away. Not after what they had done. They deserved no second chances. Only death. By the time they reached the door, she appeared in front of them.

“Leave… no… survivors!” She yelled, mocking their chant. Her hands were engulfed by fire and she send blasts in their direction. She stood and watched while it consumed their bodies.

As they silenced, she closed her eyes. She could sense a couple of human heartbeats coming from behind the bar. Taking Jax’s katana, she slowly walked to them. They barely had any time to scream. The blood spraying from their slit throats soaked her skin and her clothes. She fed herself some of it, before going back to Jax unconscious body.

She kneeled right beside him, placing her hands over the wound. And that’s the last thing she did, before collapsing in exhaustion.

[thecleverdame]

Sleepy Hollow - Chapter Two

Series Master List

Pairings: Sam x Reader, mentions of Dean x Jo

Summary: In 1799, specialized police constables Sam and Dean Winchester are sent from New York City to a small town called Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Approached by the town’s council, the Winchesters discover the local residents believe that the murders are the work of a deadly Hessian horseman whose head has been mysteriously chopped off. With help from the beautiful Y/N Van Tassel, Sam Winchester’s investigation takes him further through the dark wood where more murders have been occurring. What Sam does not realize is that the mysterious Horseman is being controlled by someone in a sinister plot to kill the most suitable men in the village.

Warnings: Canon-level violence, murder, smut, horror, gore and a little fluff for good measure.

Words: 40k

Beta:  ilikaicalie

This series is completed. You can read it on my Patreon for a monthly pledge of 2.50. This pledge includes early access to all my stories and Patreon exclusive content.  >> CLICK HERE <<

-

Flat of Sam Winchester Sam packs his bags, methodically wrapping jars of chemicals and gently folding anatomy charts. He’s going to bring as much of his laboratory as the carriage will allow.

“Do you truly need all this?” Dean is holding a heavy jar up to the light, it’s contents questionable as the specimen floats to the side of the glass. “Dad didn’t need fancy magnifying glasses, he did the job with a gun and a bible.”

“Dad was convinced there were monsters in every dark corner of the world. He was just another believer who fell in with the mass hysteria.” Sam doesn't like to talk about John, there’s too much unfinished business. “How many genuine poltergeists have we come across in our life, three?”

“Four.” Dean holds up four fingers triumphantly. “You always forget the woman in white.”

Sam looks up as if remembering for the first time. “That seems like a lifetime ago.”

“I suppose it does.” Getting up from his perch, Dean wanders around the room as Sam goes about his work. The walls are filled with charts and maps, Sam’s always had a secret pension for cartography.

Above the fireplace there two photos. One is of their parents, John sitting in a chair, Mary standing behind him with her hand placed on his shoulder. There is no joy, only long faces as they look into the camera. The second is of a beautiful blonde woman, her hair falling over her shoulder, her name written in elaborate calligraphy across the bottom of the frame: Jessica. Dean takes the pictures, making a close inspection of the woman who was once part of his brother's life.

“If you’re going to touch my things, you can wait downstairs.” Sam plucks the frame from Dean’s hand and tucks it into his case, along with his clothing.

“You can’t have that much more to pack. There’s nothing left.” Dean holds his hands out, showcasing the bare room.

“I’m almost done.” Sam walks to the window, opening a birdcage with a bright red cardinal inside.

“What will you do with him?” Dean watches the bird flutter out of the cage and then out the open window.

“Fly free. It is a good day for sad farewells.” Sam watches it go, looking down at the coach on the street below. “Our carriage awaits.”

-

It takes an hour to get out of New York City, the coach lumbering past the city limits, forgoing civilization. The wide road narrows, a single dirt path that leads onward through thickly forested wilderness.

“Jo had no interest in accompanying us?” Sam inquires, looking out the window at the never ending sea of trees. Dusk is falling but they plan to continue on throughout the night.

“She’s unhappy with me.” Dean shrugs, his lip curling.

“With good reason.” Sam lifts an eyebrow.

“I don’t need your judgment as well as hers. We’ll have a child the normal way, just as everyone else does.”

“Not if you’re with me on this investigation. I believe one has to be present to conceive a child.” Sam can’t help but tease.

“Don’t get smart.” Dean kicks his brother's boot. “We’ve plenty of time. She’s not that old, although to hear her tell it, she’s nearing her final years. Everything is dramatic beyond reason.”

“Maybe,” Sam shrugs. “She wants a child, it seems like a normal desire.”

“She wants someone else’s child, from an orphanage.” Dean shakes his head. “I’m not talking about this anymore. It’s part of the reason I’m here, I need a break from this constant pressure.”

“You’ll hear no more of it from me.” Sam smiles, taking their father’s journal from his bag.

“If you think he was a lunatic, why do you carry his journal with you?”

“There’s a lot to be learned.” Sam taps the cover. “He might have not realized what he saw, but from just the description I’m able to deduce what sort of natural phenomenon he was witnessing. Just last week I determined his obsession with the will-o'-the-wisp was likely nothing more than swamp gas. This is what gives us insight. When the villagers start talking of magical fairy lights in the forest, we’ll know where to start looking.”

“He’d hate it.” Dean chuckles, rolling up his jacket as a pillow, lying down on the bench.

“Yes, he would.”

He has few memories of his father. And what remains are faint recollections. What he can recall with a burning intensity are his father’s obsessions. His quest to find and kill monsters that never really existed. John Winchester saw demons lurking in every shadow. He found the devil in whispered secrets and meaningless symbols. And his father killed without discretion, he saw only black and white, good and evil.

John’s relentless belief in the spiritual world is what still fuels Sam’s desire to disprove anything otherworldly. He and Dean rely on facts and a sense of order and reason. Rarely do the creatures hiding in the night turn out to be anything other than flesh and blood men.

The sun quickly fades as the coach rocks along, tree branches scraping the side of the carriage. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howls and Sam looks out the small window into the black of night, before shutting the curtain and finding some sleep of his own.

The next morning, Sam wakes up before Dean, peeking out to reveal their journey has progressed through the sun-dappled forest. His brother is still in the depths of deep sleep, a hand resting limp in his lap. Across Dean’s open palm is a prominent scar, a long nasty cut he acquired in a scuffle many years ago.  Sam checks the contents of his leather satchel, pausing for a moment to study the palm of his own hand. There are strange scars on both palms, evenly dispersed tiny dots of white tissue. He’s had them his entire life, unsure of how they came to be.

Sleepy Hollow

Sam and Dean stand between two massive stone pillars, watching the coach as it leaves them behind.

“You’ll have to leave most of your luggage here. We can send for it later.” Dean grumbles, picking up his bags. “Tell me again why he couldn’t take us into town?”

“Superstition,” Sam confirms, glancing up at the tree limbs above them. “Dean, look.”

There are dead ravens hanging from the branches, strung up by twine.

“A few dead crows to keep the rest out of the fields.” Dean’s grimaces. “It’s a grisly sight. Welcome to Sleepy Hollow.”

They follow the winding road to town, passing a church and a graveyard. The road ahead is bordered by rows of businesses and two-story homes. As they enter the town square an elderly woman stands in her doorway, watching. Sam tips his hat and the woman scowls, looking away and shutting the door with a thud.

“I just love townspeople,” Dean chortles.

Looking up Sam spies another townie staring down from his window. The moment their eyes meet he closes the shutters.

“I’m seeing a pattern,” Sam comments, looking behind him. As they continue they see there are two or three riflemen placed at vantage points on the roofs of the town. Looking back Sam spies another in the church tower. The whole village is like the wild west, waiting for outlaws to attack.

Off in the distance, sitting in the middle of a field, there’s a strange wooden bunker, more like a small fortress with a huge bell mounted on the top. Several farmers are gathered around it all bearing rifles. The Winchesters pause, looking at each other and the sight before them. A young boy about ten, walks up to one of the rifleman, with food and drink tied up in a cloth. The older man looks down, offering the boy an affectionate pat on the head.

“Don’t worry, son.”

Another man leads the boy away as the father climbs back up onto the bunker, several rifles slung over his back. In front of the bunker, across the field, other farmers are lighting torches, enough to line the entirety of the forest's edge.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Sam murmurs, moving forward.

“I don’t think we should be outside during night hours, Sam.” Dean hikes his bag up on his shoulder. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“We’re headed there.” Sam points to a grand manor home sitting atop a hill, the windows are aglow, casting a warm picture against the gray backdrop of impending night.

Van Tassel House

Sam sets down his bags on the porch of the stately home. The length of the porch is lined with jack-o-lanterns, glowing orange.

Dean shoves an elbow into his brother’s ribs, drawing his attention to a couple, lustfully wrapped around each other in a dark corner of the porch. Sam clears his throat, mumbling an apology and opening the door. A shaft of light illuminates the kissing duo, both brothers memorizing their faces for future reference.

The front door opens to reveal the foyer and main hall. There’s a harvest party in progress, the town is gathered, music playing in the background. Men and women are enjoying food and drink, talking quietly in groups as Sam and Dean make their way through the celebration.

Dean stops a young woman, smiling with brazen charm. “Pardon our intrusion, we’re seeking Baltus Van Tassel.”

“In the parlor sir, farther on,” she nods, glancing back to him. Ahead they find a large group of men, women, and children in a circle, taunting a blindfolded woman, you, being spun around by a barrel-chested man.

-

You can feel your head roll as Brom spins you, again and again, his large hands lingering on your shoulders for longer than necessary. Suddenly he releases you, and everyone goes quiet, avoiding your searching outstretched hands.

You circle slowly, the blindfold tightly covering your eyes, chanting the refrain that makes the children and even some of the women shiver with pleasurable fright. They stifle their giggles as you reach out, grasping at the air. “The Pickety Witch, the Pickety Witch, who’s got a kiss for the Pickety Witch?”

Lunging forward, you grab empty air, narrowly missing Brom as the crowd snickers. Dean glances back, noting the couple from the porch making their way back into the party. Sam is leading the way, trying to pass through the crowd to reach the far door.

You reach out, only to meet the solid frame of a warm body beneath your hands as the room goes silent. You’ve no idea that the room is quiet because you’ve grabbed onto a stranger. After all, silence is the point of the game, to avoid your capture.

Your hand pats the chest in front of you, he’s a man and he’s large. Reaching up you touch Sam’s face.

Sam’s looks to Dean who just grins back. “A kiss, a kiss!” a child calls out.

“She has to guess first,” yells another woman. Dean watches the man who was just outside with another woman, slip his arm around the wifely matron standing beside him. He’s only been here ten minutes and he’s already confirmed an extramarital affair. Your fingers trail across the strong jaw of the unknown man before you. You’ve no idea who it is, so you take a guess. “Is it...Theodore?” The crowd laughs and Sam clears his throat. “Pardon ma’am. I am a stranger here.” A stranger? You smile, excited at the prospect. “Have a kiss on account then.”

Standing on the tips of your toes, you stretch up, placing a kiss at his jaw, then take off your blindfold to reveal a breathtakingly handsome man standing before you. There’s a gentle smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, his bright eyes shining. But his entire expression changes when he gets a clear look at your face.

For a fleeting moment, Sam flounders, stricken by the sight of you, his composure failing him as he stares at you, somewhat stunned.

You glance down at his hand, finding no ring on his finger.

“I...um, I am looking for Baltus Van Tassel,” he manages, never looking away.

“You’re in luck.” You smile, eyes locked on each other. “I am his daughter. Y/N Van Tassel.”   “And who are you, friend? We have not heard your name yet.” Brom steps forward.

Sam gives you one last look before turning his attention to the man, roughly matching his height and size, who’s clearly unhappy with his presence.

“I have not said it. Excuse me…” Sam tries to move forward.

Brom grabs at Sam’s collar as Sam stares at him, confused at this overreaction.

“Brom!” You shout, tugging on his arm. He’s always had a delusion that he has some claim to you, but in reality, there is no love connection between you, there never will be.

“You need some manners.” Brom hisses.

“You need to release my brother.” Dean steps forward and the crowd steps back, leaving the three men in the center of the room.

“Come, come.” There’s a chuckle from the back of the room. It’s your father, Baltus. “We want no raised voices on this happy occasion.”

“Father,” you gesture toward Brom.

“It is only to raise the spirits during this dark time that I and my good wife are giving this little party.” Your stepmother stands behind your father, looking on with silent judgment.  Brom releases Sam, stepping back and you relax.

Sam shakes off the confrontation, just happy to have a focal point, somewhere to concentrate other than your wonderful face and full bosom.

“Young sirs, you are welcome, even if you are selling something!” He chuckles, patting his belly.

“Thank you.” Sam smoothes a hand through his hair. “I am Constable Sam Winchester, this is my brother, Constable Dean Winchester. We are sent to you from New York with authority to investigate the murders in Sleepy Hollow.”

This news seems to have quite the effect as the entire room goes still. You give both men the appraisal they deserve, they are rather wonderful examples of the male gender. Smart and handsome is an elusive pairing in a village as small as this one.

“What good are Constables?” Reverend Steenwyck pipes up, unable to contain his outburst. “Reverend.” Lady Van Tassel, your stepmother, gives the Clergyman a reproachful look, moving forward towards the brothers. “Sleepy Hollow is grateful to you, Constables. I hope you will honor this house by remaining with us until-”

“Until you’ve made an arrest!” Brom snorts.

To both Sam and Dean’s surprise, this gets a nervous laugh. Your father frowns and Brom snorts but all you can do is look at Constable Sam Winchester with renewed interest. He’s to stay in your home, a fact that brings interesting possibility.

Sam can feel you watching him as if he has a sixth sense that’s activated only for you. His brother, Dean, is the one who catches you appraising Sam like a prize pig, trying to hide his amusement as you look away with a sly smile. Baltus turns to his wife, “Well spoken!” Then turns to Sam and Dean. “Come, gentlemen. We’ll get you settled. Play on! Let the party resume.” The fiddlers strike up the music as you watch the two men leave the room.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 27

Last time: Awful ‘finale’ moments happened, the EEC count finally updated, and iTunes decided to be a jerk and leave me with an incomplete show in my videos tab for eternity. Onwards!

And we’re back, with Season Two/the next cour/however this crazy show is split up! We left off with some very annoying threads dangling (Ed/Ling/Envy crossing realities, Al and Greed about to meet The Big Bad, ect.), so let’s get to it! ...this is not the unresolved issues being resolved, this is a happy-go-lucky peasant bonfire. What does this have to do wit- BEARD! The Beard has been sighted, lurking on the fringes of the festivities. Is this where Papa Elric’s been hanging out after walking out (again) on his son all those episodes ago? What does he even do to pay the bills? (Besides being the ‘secret’ bad guy, I mean). GOOD, be sad and lonely as you sit over there, instead of being an actual father and oh my Leto who is this lady? Are you actually hooking up with someone else instead of taking care of… your… Pinako? I know that name… NO. PLEASE NO. AAAARGH IT’S BAD ENOUGH THAT WE’RE STUCK IN A FLASHBACK EPISODE BUT NOW BEARD IS GETTING PROPOSITIONED FOR DRINKS BY GRANNY ROCKBELL WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG AND HE’S SMILING NO NO NO DO NOT DO THIS TO MY SHIP LETO SAVE ME

*ahem* I apologize for that. Let’s move on. New intro! A metallic arm reaching up from a field of white flowers, funky guitar music as the title comes up and we see it’s Ed lying on his back looking sad before Angry!Ed comes back and he beats up a poor flower and gets back up. Now he’s facing Titan!Envy, Gluttony, big dude who I guess is Sloth, Wrath… wait, what? Why is… *gets up, pulls off and throws down headphones, rushes to Tephi’s room* “Tephi?! Why is Ling wearing black? Why is Ling standing next to the goths?!” “*shrug* You should keep watching and find out.” AAAAAAAHHHHH. Ed looks about as pissed as I am right now, rushes forward before getting the crap beaten out of him. Roy in a white coat? Another flashback to the Ishvalan Civil War? Now FIRE EVERYWHERE as someone stands above the ashes oh hey Mister Smiley, I remember you from when you murdered the family of the guy who’s Determinedly Frowning onscreen now, I sure hope he comes across you someday! Roy looks into a fire then camera pans to stand next to Hughes (whyyyy), having a staring contest with Bradley. Back to Titan!Envy as he gets a visit from Dentist!Al, a TC making a Philosopher’s Stone that’s eaten by some smug dude in a white suit and fedora (It’s after Labor Day, dude. Get with the program.) More flashes of the now-defunct-Conspiracy in their white Civil War outfits looking sad INCLUDING MUSTACHELESS THE MIGHTY ARMSTRONG CRYING HOW DARE YOU SIR and a flash of yup I got a glimpse of Father not being in shadow at this point, that is clearly Beard without his glasses. Joy. And then they drive the point home with an eye zoom that turns to Glasses!Beard looking at a picture (hmmm, I wonder what picture it is? /[sarcasm]) at a campfire. Now dude with gun arm, sunglasses guy, giant tank and HELLO who is this lady? She just waved her sword and lo, there was an explosion thanks to her tank. New Badass Lady character? Ok, she’s standing at the head of the two guys who just showed up and a bunch of other dudes in fur-collared coats. Oh, hold up! Way back when Ed was talking about the neighbors of Amestris, how up north across the mountains there was a place with a shaky non-aggression treaty with them. Please tell me our boys get their own army.

Now lots of screaming people and a poor horse getting eaten by Gluttony, Ed staring down the Gate of Truth, that terrible scene of him getting pulled away from his brother in the in-between place, Al fighting and getting grabbed by white hands, Ed snapping out of his daydream back in the field and again going to smash the ground… but pausing at the last second to spare the little white flower. Alright, a good intro! Plenty of interesting moments, I’ve got high hopes for this next stretch of episodes. Episode 27 - “Interlude Party” We’ve got the happy-go-lucky plucky string music playing as peasant couples dance around the bonfire and Pinako drinks with Beard in the shadows, making me cry at the terrible terrible implications for my poor ship and saying it’s nice to let loose every now and then. Beard just drinks in silence like the socially-awkward absentee father he is, so Pinako rambles about finding happiness whenever you can, especially in a war-hungry country like Amestris. Just take Ishval, for example... [Lust(?)]: “And no matter how many times it happens they never learn. The human race is made up of violent, miserable fools.” RIOT TIME! Hold on, isn’t this the town that the Goth’s drove crazy after Father Cornello turned out to be a false priest? Ok, now it’s Ishval with the cannons going off and the Blue Eyes marching in. Some dude’s remarking Ishval and Liore have been crazy lately oh hi Hughes! Hmm, looks like flashbacks to all the mentions of Amestris’ conflicts, Ed talking about skirmishes with “Aerugo to the south and Creta to the west” and there it is, the northern country of Drachma! Come on, hurry up and get moving north you kids, I wanna see more of our new Intro characters! Back to the bonfire, a little girl has run up and asked Beard to dance with her. Aw! But he says he’ll just sit there, Pinako needles him about being old until the little girl gives up on the lost cause. [Pinako]: “That girl, so bossy. Weren’t your two boys around her age? When they started planning to bring back their mom?” Wait, what? But- Hold up, I remember this scene of the boys sitting at the grave, didn’t they follow Little!Winry back home for supper right after that? I definitely remember the argument between Ed and Granny Rockbell over supper, and she was just a little bit older then. What’s going on here? Wow. You’re just gonna go “Nah, no point in trying to talk to the boys about committing the Ultimate Taboo to try and bring back their dead mom and my dead wife. More booze, please!”. Father of the Year, everyone! Yup, we are definitely in a recap episode now, presumably this came after a good gap between this and the last cour to remind everyone of all the happy, cheerful times this show has given us! Like Dismembered!Ed crying out over the loss of his younger brother, witnessing the brief existence of the Thing in the TC, and sacrificing his arm to make Al into Soul Armor. Scenes of the Elric Brothers seeking the Stone, discovering the damning secret ingredient for the Stone… the bonfire collapses and the music gets melancholy as Beard looks on. Uh, something’s up with the shadows… “It’s remarkable how weak they are.” Aha, fabricated memory or somesuch! I knew the timing was off with Pinako’s age, this is all some sort of internal dialogue in Beard’s head! My ship is still safe! Huzzah! Ok, so there’s a split between Beard and Father, is what I’m getting here. Beard is still sitting in his rumpled brown coat nursing some booze, while Father is standing with face partially out of camera in nicer clothes, chiding humanity for their weakness and talking about their “one good use as a natural resource”. Aaaand Beard’s glasses are opaque again, he’s back to being Evil. Mid-show cards of Van Hohenheim (still gonna call him Beard) and Pinako Rockbell. Back to flashbacks! Ed’s found the secret Stone-making TC under the Fifth Laboratory, that great fight scene between Ed and the Brother Armor (one of the funniest scenes, too), Ed swearing that he sees Soul Armors as being human too and swearing he will never take the life of another person, #48 about to spoil the plot before Lust shuts him up, Ed encountering Goths for the first time, sudden jump at mention of “important sacrifice” to Gluttony cheerfully taking Al to see Father, Bradley mentioning that Teacher might be a worthy candidate as well (boo!), Lust “killing” potential sacrifice Roy, and Marcoh himself in his cell. Now it’s Hughes… with his last discovery before the Goths silenced him. Marcoh saying his (and my) theory of turning the entire country into a TC like Mr. Freeze did back in Episode 1. [Pinako]: “You’ve always known about their plans, haven’t you? Well, Hohenheim?” Beard finally admits to- wait, what? [Beard]: “Even if I’d spoken up, warned them, it wouldn’t have changed anything.” What do you mean, “warned them”? Of course you wouldn’t warn them about your own scheme, what is Figment!Pinako talking about?

Beard is saying he’s watched humanity for a long time now (How long? And just how is Beard so long-lived? I get he created the Goths, or at least I thought so before Pinako’s line just now…), and he just sees them make the same mistakes again and again- uh, some of the dancers just bumped into each other and exploded, scattering blood on some very confused girls. [Beard]: “They’re so fragile… how could they not break?” Flashes of the Homunculii healing/hulking out, Gluttony going Gate, Bradley revealing his status to Greed as Wrath and kicking his butt, Roy getting tricked by Raven (jerk) to Bradley’s “so let’s discuss potential human sacrifices, my military officials” meeting, the first flashes of Father as Beard talks about how humans lack the strengths of the Goths, they can’t defend themselves. [Pinako]: “But that won’t make us give up. We will never give up!” You go, Mental Pinako! Kick his arguments to the curb! Ha! It’s working, Beard is admitting that it’s a human characteristic (flashes of Badass Roy killing Lust, Ed defying Greed and working out his weakness, Al arguing with Scar in defense of Alchemy, Scar’s brother protecting him from Mister Smiley’s attack and giving his own arm to save his life, Lan Fan giving up her own arm just to distract Wrath after Ling saved her life…) [Pinako]: “They can put us through hell, but it doesn’t matter! Nothing they can do will make us give up! And some day we will win!” Damnit, now Father’s in on the debate, Beard’s vanished for this argument. Father’s saying Pinako can’t change anything, everyone will die and she’ll be left with nothing. He says the only smart thing to do is grab what’s important and run away, suddenly he’s seized her and [Father]: “You act like you have a conscience, but you’re just being sentimental. Isn’t that right, Hohenheim?” Pinako!Mask removed to show Beard, not very happy with this new development. [Father]: “You think you can change things? You honestly believe one act of caring will make you human?!” Beard is gasping for breath as Father rants about how humans are just a resource, left unchecked they will spread like weeds, their basic nature can’t be changed. Beard… Beard slowly leans forward, glasses going opaque. His hands still- Someone’s grabbed his hands, a young woman with short brown hair. [?]: “We will change. Because we can change! I know it. We may be weak, but we just have to be. If not, then we wouldn’t have any reason to go out, to get strong. I know that it may seem futile to you, but it’s not. Because we are getting stronger with every step we take.”

*credits music has started up* [Roy]: “And in turn they’ll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for eachother.” [Ling]: “I-I wasn’t ready for this. Lan Fan was, though. She made the decision that I was too weak to make.” [Al]: “I’m sick of watching people die! And I can’t just sit back and take it anymore! I won’t let anyone else get killed! Not when I can protect them!” [Ed]: “I won’t run away from this.” [Ed]: “We’ll knock that jerk Truth on his butt!” [Ed]: “Al! Al, come on! Please! Hurry, Al!...” [Ed]: “Alphonse! Look at me! I’ll come back! Just you wait!” [?]: “You see? I’m sure we can change! Because we’re weak. And because we die. We have to fight in order to live! And that’s what will make us strong. And if that’s not enough? If you’re still not convinced that we can change?” Yes, yes, I know this can’t last because we have so much show left but Leto damn it if it isn’t awesome to see Beard’s glasses clear again [!!!]: “Then think about us.” It’s Mama Elric! [Mama Elric!!!]: “All of the days we spent with our family in Resembool.” And now Beard is sitting on a moss-covered log in daylight, green grass around and petals slowly falling. He has a blank look on his face, seeing Pinako and Mama Elric and his boys and so many other people standing in front of him. Little Al’s shirt hardly fits him as he clutches Mama Elric’s skirt, Little Ed stands arms crossed trying to look tough- Then geese fly by, and Beard wakes up. He looks over the pristine lake and mountains he made a campfire at, gives a slight smile at the realization he was dreaming, and moves on- after he pauses, looks back at an empty bottle of booze, and says “Thanks for all the help.” ...so, good recap episode, but what the Leto is going on with Beard? Isn’t he supposed to be lurking under Central? Ooh, new credits! We’re at Rush Valley, zoom in to Atelier Garfiel where Winry’s hard at work, looks up and smiles to a lens flare for ok sure, totally necessary for her unzipped uniform while she moves boxes, moving on. Or I guess that’s just staying tied down as she tinkers with tech and banters with customers, now she’s happily talking on the phone with her friend Ed (NOT Al- edited for an earlier typo, thanks TonyC) based on how she’s suddenly screaming into the receiver before she grumpily subsides and then blushes(!). New girl! Lan Fan, rocking the empty sleeve look. May Chang happily walking along with Shao May. Back to the closed automail shop where Winry is still working (get some sleep for Leto’s sake!), now opening the shutter the next day and greeting the sun. Man, I wish I was that happy to work in retail.

[zetalial]

Maria Ross (FMA 2003)

Hey, there’s nothing I love more than being requested to talk about FMA. This post is for @thornstone8773, who believes that Maria Ross needs some more love from the fandom. I agree.

Maria Ross is lovely. She’s introduced in Episode 18, which is while Ed’s studying Marcoh’s notes and she immediately gets into conflict with him. She sees Ed’s complete lack of concern for his own safety to be an issue when she’s been tasked with protecting him. 

But it’s not just her job that compels her to care for the Elric brothers. She sees them as lost children getting in over their heads and needing someone to look after them. And she’s fully prepared to step into the role herself - whether Ed likes it or not.

Throughout this episode, she and Ed conflict with each other, Ross gets irritated at his impulsiveness and gets angry when he insists on working in the library where she isn’t able to provide him proper protection. Ed refuses to listen to her and he’s not obliged to (due to his rank as State Alchemist). He’s been dismissing her and Denny Broche repeatedly and very much sees bodyguards as another hindrance to his goals - another thing forced on him. (Ed sees the Military as a necessary evil.)

 So, Maria talks to Hughes about it instead. And nice as Hughes might be towards Ed, consistently helping him where others wouldn’t, Hughes takes Ross’s side in their argument. 

Hughes is often bending the rules for Ed and Al, he told them about how Scar killed Nina, offered him case files when Ed was investigating Barry, and helped him fight the terrorists on the train. Ed was fully expecting Hughes to be on his side. And Hughes knows it too - he doesn’t like denying them. But he cares about their safety too and recognises that Maria Ross cares.

Ross inquires about why Hughes would let them chase after the Philosopher’s stone at all and Hughes offers some nice insight. Ed and Al would chase after it regardless of whether he let them or not. By helping them, he is able to better protect them and, uniquely among the military, has Ed and Al’s trust. (Because Ed certainly doesn’t trust Mustang at this point in the series.) 

Additionally, Hughes says that the State’s future is in their hands. That he and Ross have a duty to enable them to research into the Philosopher’s stone. Clearly, Hughes recognises the importance of their quest and is already looking into the bigger picture. Looking into it further is dangerous, as Hughes will soon learn though. Ross doesn’t like this but accepts it. From here, she’s more actively supporting their endeavours.

In the next episode, the Truth behind Truths, Ed has found out the secret of the Philosopher’s stone and wants to just give up. It’s practically what Ross was aiming for an episode ago but now she actively encourages him to continue searching, citing the importance of it, how it goes beyond their own personal goals.  

Like, Ed wanted to make a stone to save his brother but after learning the cost, he realises he can’t go through with this any more. But he’s also finding out a lot about the military’s corruption and how the stone has been used in Ishval. There is more to look into, namely Lab 5 and what lies at the heart of this conspiracy. Ross encourages Ed to continue looking even if they themselves won’t gain anything from it because there is more to learn. He can’t let himself be turned away because he doesn’t like the answers he’s getting. Ross recognises he’s scared and still essentially a child, but encourages him anyway. It’s a great scene.

When Ed finds his determination once more, Ross gives this smile, like she’s proud of them.

‘Course Ed and Al still don’t trust her fully yet, though he did share his conclusions concerning Lab 5 with her. Ross promised to use the military to look into it but Ed and Al decide to sneak out. 

I try not to bring up BH too much in comparison so... sorry. But the two different responses from their respective Maria Ross’s highlight their differences. When BH Broche and Ross discover the boys have snuck out, they’re comically worried and don’t want anyone to find out they lost track of the boys as it might get them into trouble. They’re concerned about the Elrics too, yes, but also themselves. 

Maria Ross in 03, meanwhile, looks betrayed to find they’ve snuck out and informs Hughes. He agrees to authorise a military sweep of the abandoned Laboratory, getting a bunch of other soldiers, including Armstrong involved even though it’s the middle of the night. Fuhrer Bradley actually runs into them and goes along with it (likely realising it would be too suspicious to deny their operation.) 

Upon entering Lab 5, Ross finds Ed in the red room and bravely wades into the room to calm him down. He had absorbed incomplete stone material and was in great danger of some sort of alchemic backlash as he was unable to control all that energy. Even Armstrong seemed to think it was too dangerous to go near him. Maria Ross calms him with a motherly hug, likely the first Ed had received in a long time. 

In the aftermath of Lab 5, Ross confronts Ed, slapping him when he tries to brush the whole incident off. She asks him to try and start trusting adults more and he agrees, apologising for some of his reckless behaviour. It’s a good start to an episode about opening up emotionally. 

Ed and Al leave for Dublith so Ross doesn’t show up much more for a while. In Episode 38, she spots Winry and Sheska eavesdropping in Central and helps them out against Sloth, where they reveal some of what they’re learning to them. Ross is quite observant to have noticed Winry there and this nicely leads into Ross’s next significant appearance.

When she hears Ed and Al are on the run from the military, she and Broche decide to have an abrupt ‘vacation’ in Risembool. She tells Winry and Sheska how Ed and Al are wanted by the military and how she doesn’t believe it. Here we see Ross actively going against the military she’s a part of. 

And then again, when she hears news that Ed and Al have been arrested by the military, she goes to break them out. That’s direct action against the military. It’s really the Tringham brothers she ends up saving but they run into Ed and Izumi again anyway and Maria ends up actively fighting against Archer, who pretty much represents some of the worst of the Military while she’s basically become a rebel.

The epilogue shows her working in the new Government now that the Military state has been overthrown. She seems fairly busy so there’s a lot being done. She’s clearly doing the best for the State’s future.

So, all in all, Maria Ross is a character who has the Elric brother’s best interests at heart. She’s a part of the military but she’s nice and goes beyond her duty for them. She represents the best parts of it - the good people working within it who care and want to protect others. Unlike everyone else, she still sees the Elrics as children and tries to encourage Edward to trust her. 

She is very principled and when she disagrees with something she will not stand for it. She does not let Edward get away with whatever he wants, she’s ready to question Hughes and she’s ready to question the Military too. Ultimately, her intentions are good and it’s a greatly encouraging sign to see her and Broche and Sheska working in the reformed State.   

[mst3kproject]

423: Bride of the Monster

 My favourite part of this episode is the ‘Favourites from Hired!’ skit Joel and the bots do in between the short and the movie.  It’s so perfect in its parody of musicals, and the songs are better than almost any of the music featured in MST3K’s movies. When I got my current job, back in 2012, I actually extemporized a career-appropriate version of I Just Got Hired to sing on the way home.

I enjoy the movie, too, though.  The ‘Old Willows Place’ is a house by a lake in the middle of some very spooky woods, with a reputation for being a home to monsters – which include the hulking Lobo and the gargantuan octopus that lives in the lake.  The monsters, however, are just the appetizer: mad Dr. Vornoff has built an evil laboratory in the basement and is trying to create a race of giants by experimenting on random passers-by.  So far all his attempts have been failures, but enough rumor about this has leaked out to get the attention of zealous reporter Janet Lawton.  She heads out to the Old Willows Place to see for herself, only to be captured by Vornoff and Lobo.  Is Janet doomed to become Vornoff’s first successful giant?

This movie is famously cheap, to the point where it becomes kind of charming.  The walls of Vornoff’s laboratory are plywood painted with big dark squares to try to look like stone.  When the monster octopus isn’t footage shot through the side of an aquarium, it’s a few immobile rubber tentacles off a prop from the 1948 movie Wake of the Red Witch (it is not true that Wood stole the octopus, by the way – Tim Burton appears to have made that up).  Vornoff growing to gigantic size is represented by him raising his arms into the air, and later by the stuntman wearing platform heels.  A scene with ‘quicksand’ is just actor Tony McCoy standing in a hole in the ground.

Also rather entertaining is the fact that while nobody in the movie is very good, they all look like they’re having a great time.  Loretta King relishes every word of her dialogue and Harvey B. Dunn as the police chief seems to enjoy the banter scenes and the interactions with his little parrot – I wonder if it were Dunn’s real-life pet.  Bela Lugosi as Vornoff chews the scenery with evident enjoyment and a surprising amount of dignity for such a silly film.

The plot mostly resembles a coherent story, and the cast’s actual dedication is enough to move Bride of the Monster past ‘bad’ and into ‘so bad it’s good’.  What really interests me about it, though, is the question of whose movie it actually is. There’s only one character who can properly be said to have an arc, to start off as one thing and evolve into another. It’s not Janet or Dick, our apparent heroes, nor is it Dr. Vornoff – it’s actually Lobo!

Lobo begins the movie as Vornoff’s unquestioning servant, doing his master’s dirty work and being beaten into submission when he refuses – which isn’t often.  We’re meant to believe he’s mentally handicapped, but he’s smarter than he lets on, and something about Janet (or perhaps her furry hat) awakens some rebellion in him.  At the climax he takes charge of his own destiny, saving Janet from Vornoff’s clutches and strapping Vornoff into his own machine.  He has become somebody capable of standing up for himself against his abuser, only for the very instrument of his revenge – the giant-making machine – to turn against him!

Think about it: who else is gonna be the hero of this movie?  Not Janet – once she reaches the Old Willows Place, Vornoff places her in his hypnotic thrall and she’s incapable of doing anything useful until Lobo unties her.  Not Dick – he’s chained up while Vornoff prepares to experiment on Janet and can’t get out until she’s free to undo his shackles! Then he tries to fight Lobo, gets his ass kicked and his shirt mostly torn off, and just lies on the floor during the climax.  Certainly not the chief of police – his bird shows more initiative than he does!  It’s Lobo all the way!  He oughtta team up with Eulabelle from The Horror of Party Beach.  There’s a pair of unappreciated heroes who could totally save the world!

On the other hand, Lobo also gets a death suitable for the villain of this movie!  Like any halfway-respectable mad scientist, Lobo is killed by his own creation, the giant Dr. Vornoff!  It’s a bit of an open question what Lobo thought the embiggening machine would do to Vornoff… he clearly fears it’ll kill Janet, since he takes the trouble to rescue her from it, and it’s likely he puts Vornoff into it hoping to see him fried.  Why he didn’t just break the man’s neck or feed him to the octopus, as he did with Dr. Strowski, I don’t know.  Perhaps he’s merely falling back on his training, although there are clearly some higher thought processes at work, since he must have learned to operate Dr. Vornoff’s machine by watching, and since this is evidently something he hasn’t done before he must have made a conscious decision to do it.

Vornoff is in turn killed by his creation, the monster octopus.  Such is the fate of all who Tamper in God’s Domain.

Another argument that this is actually Lobo’s movie is that he might be the monster referenced in the title.  Janet is clearly the bride, since she’s wearing a wedding dress at the climax – though the movie never tells us why, and the last guy Vornoff experimented on appeared to just have a sheet over him.  It’s true that Vornoff tells the two hunters Lobo is not the legendary Lake Marsh Monster, and implies that it is actually the giant octopus – but nobody comes near marrying the octopus.  Instead, it’s Lobo who appears to consider Janet a potential bride, and rescues her in the hope of winning her heart.  Then again, perhaps Vornoff is the monster.  He carries Janet off, probably intending to rebuild his laboratory and make her his giant bride, and his acts throughout the movie certainly qualify as monstrous.

I know, I know.  It’s an Ed Wood movie.  I’m thinking too hard.

Unique in Ed Wood's filmography, Bride of the Monster is rather mysterious about its message.  I’ve observed before that Wood wanted to make important movies, movies that would teach people to be better human beings, and usually this ‘moral’ is pretty obvious.  The Sinister Urge is about the horrors of pornography, Jail Bait and The Violent Years are about being involved with your children’s lives, and Plan Nine from Outer Space is about the arms race, as the aliens are determined to destroy us before we can discover the ultimate weapon.  What the heck is Bride of the Monster about?

Perhaps it, too, is about humanity’s warlike tendencies: Dr. Vornoff’s home country wants to use his work to rule the world, while Vornoff, like Dr. Zorka of The Phantom Creeps, would rather rule the world himself.  The final line, the infamous he tampered in God’s domain, suggest that the theme is scientific over-reach, which is also echoed in Plan Nine – Vornoff discovered something man wasn’t mean to know and it destroyed him, just as the Solarmanite is likely to do to all humanity in the other movie. But there’s also yet a third theme from Wood’s other works that creeps in here, and that’s the uselessness of the police.

I’m not sure if this is something Wood actually thought about, like he did his other themes, but it is a motif that runs through multiple films: the police don’t try very hard and are, ultimately, irrelevant.  It was true in Plan Nine, as well as in Jail Bait and The Sinister Urge – policemen are fairly major characters without doing anything much to further the plot.  This seems to be at the forefront of Bride of the Monster even more than the other films, as we get to know at least three of the cops fairly well and one of them, Dick, has an intimate connection with the actual plot in that he’s engaged to Janet.

As well as Dick, who tries to be a hero and fails, spectacularly, over and over, we get to know two other policemen: Kelton is eager to please but incompetent and cowardly, and Captain Robbins is far more interested in playing with his pet bird than with solving crimes.  They’re all spectators for the climax, while Lobo does interesting things and giant Vornoff fights his octopus.  Did Wood have some kind of grudge against the constabulary?  Or was all this just a side effect of bad writing and attempts to add character?

Finally, Bride of the Monster is particular fun for MSTies because it’s so full of opportunities to play The Movies Are All Coming Together.  If you feel like it, for example, you can wonder if Tor Johnson is playing the same Lobo as in The Unearthly – perhaps he came to, escaped the fire, and went to go work for Dr. Conway!  Heck, maybe he’s also the same character as in The Beast of Yucca Flats… maybe he got his scars from that nuclear test, and is able to work Vornoff’s machinery because somewhere in there is some vestige of Joseph Javorski, Noted Scientist!

You can also ponder whether this might be a sequel to The Corpse Vanishes.  In both movies, Bela Lugosi plays an evil scientist who keeps deformed henchmen and works alone in an isolated house… in The Corpse Vanishes he was interested in young brides and hormone secretions.  Maybe in Bride of the Monster he dresses Janet up in a wedding gown because he’s used to working on young brides, and any attempt to turn people into giants would probably involve human growth hormone.

Wood did make a sequel of sorts to Bride of the Monster, called Night of the Ghouls – I’ll have to find that and watch it as an Episode that Never Was.  I will not, however, be reviewing Plan Nine.  So many other internet reviewers have done so that I doubt I have anything new to say about it, and besides, I honestly don’t think MST3K would ever have featured it. As supposedly ‘the worst movie ever made’ (though we MSTies have seen way worse), it was simply too obvious.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 77)

Note: Incoming Drama.

“I’ll tell you in a Honey Dream,” Qrow said. “It’s a lot better if we have visual references, so you see the full effect of it.”

So, after setting up a dreamcatcher, and some convincing Winter that dreamer’s honey was safe, they were off into the blank, white space that was the dreamscape’s “lobby.” After a few moments to help Winter get her bearings, Qrow started narrating.

The world changed all around them, flashes and scenes of the First Settlers’ societies, and Fae settlements 1,000 years ago, the wilderness of Avalon steadily disappearing as the former expanded rapidly and makeshift settlements and towns turned into the gigantic city states they were now, while the latter made their cities and settlements one and the same with the giant trees, the massive caves, and the underground caverns.

“In a big, convenient coincidence for me that all three of your questions can actually be answered with the one story, because they all connect to one thing:

“The Viridian Valley.

“Our two species aren’t strangers to working together for a common goal.

“However, it’s usually with the Fae manipulating things from the sidelines to keep you guys from wrecking Avalon with your industry or scientific endeavours you don’t know the consequences of just yet, but we know all too well; sneaking in and posing as humans to combat politicians, movements, and organizations that’d make life hard for all of us; and sometimes even spreading rumours and legends to keep people out of places we’d rather they not be poking their noses in, such as the Valley as it is now.

“In short, we Fae have been using you humans as pawns. But before you go complaining about us being evil puppet masters, know that all we’ve ever truly wanted is one thing:

“To be left the fuck alone.

“Your First Settlers arrived and threw the entire realm for a loop—widespread ecological damage, the permanent disruption of the flow of magic, and not to mention there were all those times you made in to where we Fae were hiding out, looking for more resources and land.

“And even though our weapons were no joke even then, your guns and giant-ass industrial equipment weren’t, either.

“This is why we’ve been so secretive about everything, primarily with making you humans believe that we Fae are just fairy tales, people’s personifications of all the wildlife that is waiting to fuck your shit up out in the Country:

“Because we were and are still terrified that if you knew of the things we have, what we could do, what we are capable of, we’d have an alien force spreading out throughout our territories like wildfire, using our own magitech against us as you improve it at a pace we can’t even begin match, take over Avalon as the new dominant race and build your cities over the ruins of ours and the corpses of our kind.

“Don’t get us wrong: we know that not all of you humans are greedy assholes who just want to take everything they could possibly get from the world, damned the costs to everyone else.

“But seeing examples of people like Valentino and his ilk, the damage they could do in such a short time with the full blessing of most of your people… it was enough to make the Council and most of the Fae—Celestian or Eldan—agree its best if we just keep to our side, we corral you humans in yours, and we both keep on living.

“Then all of that changed with the Viridian Valley, the first and so far the only openly joint Fae/Human settlement in Avalon’s existence.”

They were now in the familiar layout of the Tree of Life, except with humans walking around with the Fae, both species deploying a combination of their technology as they changed the muddy swamp they were standing in, planted and hyper-accelerated the growth of trees, and raised the skeletons of both their architectural styles all around.

“The conditions couldn’t have been better for it:

“There have always been Fae that have been against how things are being run, but never really had the chance to do much of anything, because they lacked the numbers, the magitech, or the support, wondering if there was any sort of game changer they could use to their benefit.

“The humans were just going into their Neo-Rennaissance all because of the tech we Fae had been seeding and slipping into your society to encourage you to stay in Heartland and minimize the damage you were causing to Avalon, and they were wondering what more they could do with all this fantastic new magitech popping up everywhere.

“All that was needed was someone to bridge the gap, to lead the breakaway, to hold these two rebels, anarchists, and radical visionaries long enough to start to build something new.”

They were underground in the Valley’s main wellspring, a mix of Fae weavers and human scientists trying to harness its power with a mix of their magitechnology and elemental weaving techniques.  At the head of it all was a leopard Fae, her hair and skin white as snow, hands glowing with purple magic.

“And that someone was Salem.

“This is the only time you’re going to hear her name from me, by the way, as the one time it’s not going to jinx you to hell and back if you say it is if you’re just learning that, or teaching it to some poor sap before they doom themselves.

“The Valley was supposed to be a Libertarian Paradise: ‘No Shepherds nor Council. Only Progress.’

“No regulations, no governments, no traditions, no laws, no limits to what they could do, no guides on what they should do, how they would use the Valley’s titanic wellspring—your Old World Ayn Rand’s Objectivist wet dream where it was every one for themselves as they strived to push the boundaries of magitechnology and what you could do.

“And they didn’t just push, they fucking annihilated it, and we’re still trying to figure out where exactly to draw the new line, if we even can anymore.”

The scenes flashed and changed, showing images of all the achievements of the original residents of the Valley:

The incredible speed and size that they could make the plants, animals, and minerals grow, the new and exotic combinations and creations that they could birth. Strange and alien fusions of their technology that they used to sculpt the landscape however they pleased. Both species with fantastic prostheses, their augmented bodies radiant with magic and vigour, even the dead rising up from the mortician's slabs to the joy of their loved ones, and the delight of the makers and scientists on the side.

“For less than a decade, it worked.

“Unfortunately, it turns out that a philosophy saying ‘the Strongest, Smartest, and Most Successful deserve everything, everyone else gets jack shit’ philosophy is great if you’re one or all of those, but not so much if you’re not.

“Pretty soon, the majority of the settlers were discovering that they really liked having protections against people robbing them blind or stealing their ideas and profiting from them without giving them a dime, taking care of them when they got sick or injured and couldn’t work let alone haul themselves to the hospital, and just generally keeping things safe and sane so they wouldn’t have to constantly watch their backs.

“And those at the top like Her found they really wanted to keep the power they had ‘rightfully earned.’”

Now, mass protests, chaos out in the streets and the wilds. Decrepit slums far off in the wilderness with shining, luxurious cities in the distance. Genetic experiments escaped from laboratories rampaging throughout the streets, marauders and looters taking advantage of the panic, humans and Fae forced to fend for themselves with whatever they had.

“So, among other measures to keep the masses from trying to leave, rising up, or calling the rest of the realm and telling your Holy Shepherd and/or the Council to ‘GET US THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HELLHOLE!’, She got her makers and scientists to make her the perfect attack dogs:

“Soul Eaters.”

This time, they found themselves standing in a laboratory, fluid-filled vats with the prototypes for the monsters all around.

“They worked perfectly. Aside from being really hard to kill, incredibly lethal, and way faster than anything that big should be able to move, they were also very smart, and were capable of completely absorbing the magic from everything they killed to grow stronger, smarter, and better.

���And unfortunately for all of us, they evolved to the point where they realized they really didn’t like working for Her and her flunkies.”

The scene changed. Death and destruction everywhere as humans and Fae ran or futilely tried to fight against the swarms of Soul Eaters pouring in everywhere, wherever or whoever you were in the Valley, the corpses of their victims dissolving into magic as they consumed and absorbed their entire being, each death only making them even stronger.

“We don’t know exactly how Gabija and her friends defeated her, overthrew Her kingdom and survived long enough for the Council to find a way to cross the Endless Sea and help clean up the mess. Hell, maybe She just got eaten by her own Soul Eaters, seeing as She was one of the most powerful weavers to have ever lived, and by now we all know just how much those motherfuckers love magic.

“But what we do know was Gabija was really good at killing them, and all the other horrors in the Valley, whatever they were.

Gabija rushed into the scene with her scythe, the weapon glowing its iconic, ethereal silver as she slaughtered the Soul Eaters, saved the survivors with the help of an elite team of humans and Fae armed with weapons, magics, and magitechnology, all alien, slapdash hybrids that seemed to have been cobbled up on the spot and held together by duct-tape, multi-paste, and prayers.

“The Keepers were never meant to be a permanent position. The Council figured, we’d have just Gabija, maybe a second after she retired or got killed, then phase it out entirely once we shut the Pandora’s Box that was the Valley.

“Then we discovered just what kind of shit the Fae and humans could achieve working together, how many of them were almost impossible to contain and/or kill, and that the Soul Eaters had gotten smart enough to know how to hide, gather their strength, and only ever attack when they were pretty sure they could stand a chance of killing us all.

“And most importantly, Gabija and her descendants seemed to be our best shot of keeping them inside the Valley, prevent them from escaping, or getting into the wrong hands—Human or Fae.”

“So what’s Weiss got to do with all this?!” Winter snapped. “Why, if you’re so scared of us humans yet fond of manipulating us for when it benefits you, are you suddenly so fine with your Keepers having relationships with our species?”

“Because,” Qrow said, “like Ruby said, you humans and half-human hybrids are the key to keeping the bloodline alive.”

Images flashed in front of them, images of all the Keepers and their mates, starting from Summer and Taiyang, stretching all the way back to Gabija next to a silhouette with a question mark.

The Keepers were all more-or-less the same, younger, slightly different clones of what was in essence the same Fae. Their mates varied greatly—male, female, gender ambiguous, tall, short, heavyset, thin, and of no shortage of combinations of Old World ancestry—all unified by one key detail:

“Human...” Winter whispered. “… They were all human.”

“Or like you and Weiss, they were hybrids that were more that than Fae, to the point where sometimes they never even had the slightest clue until we got them here.” Qrow added. “But whichever of the those they were, they also had one other consistent trait:

“Power.”

They returned to Maharlika Avenue, Taiyang blocking and reflecting Cinder’s laser beam with his ironbark arms, standing tall despite the rapidly disintegrating buildings around them, holding them off till Ruby could fire Weiss’ supercharged ice beam.

They came to the wilds of the Valley, where Samaria and Myala were fighting a giant snake larger than the trees they were fighting around, dashing and ducking through the branches and trunks as they slashed and shot at her opponent, siphoning its life essence and steadily poisoning it to death as it struggled to bite them even once.

They were in the middle of a raging storm at the peak of the Flood, watching as a giant named Reynault stood on the deck of a boat with the Keeper, other watchers, and weavers, aiming his massive cannon at an even larger sea dragon surging towards him with its gaping maw open wide, the both of them letting out earth-shaking roars.

More and more scenes flashed before their eyes, the Keeper’s mates, all human or mostly human hybrids, all utterly decimating the worst the Valley had to offer, by themselves or alongside the Keepers and their companions.

“We don’t understand why the hell it is that Keepers only ever seem to be able to produce more of them with humans or hybrids. Whatever we’ve tried, it just doesn’t work—parent Fae of equal or greater power, hybrids that were more Fae instead, and/or donating their cells to other parents.

“Don’t get me wrong: the kids from those unions and experiments generally grow up to be incredibly powerful watchers and weavers themselves. Just look at Yang and the shit she’s capable of, even if she only ever could rely on the Fae and hybrids hiding out in the human settlements.

“But they’re just no Keepers of the Grove.”

“We’ve studied the shit out of them and their mates, tried to find that Something, that gene or specific configuration of traits that let them kill Soul Eaters and other nightmares with ease, absorb the ridiculous amounts of power without going crazy or dying from the surge, and all with a complete and utter lack of any sort of selfish or evil intentions whatsoever.

“But 1,000 years later, we still have no idea what makes them best friends to all and slayers of giant monsters and threats to all of Avalon, which is why we need them so badly, why we take such great pains to take good care of them...”

The returned to the blank space of the dreamscape.

“… And why we are so damned eager to do everything in our power to make Weiss want to stay, to be with Ruby.”

Winter and Weiss were stunned silent.

“If it helps, we were making plans to get you back into the human territories,” Qrow added. “The Council was supposed to tell you about them and everything I just told you after you got back from the Eve of the Ether fair, because we could tell you two were getting serious...

“… Though with the all the heat and attention everything the Valley’s getting now, your fake death being exposed, and the Heralds running around, those plans have all shot to shit, if not utterly vaporized.”

Weiss turned to Ruby, her whole body shaking with anger, her eyes blurry with tears, her expression changing, from shock, to betrayal, anger, to confusion, to fear, and finally, sorrow.

Ruby frowned. “Weiss…?”

“That’s why you just took out my guards that night, didn’t you...?” Weiss asked, her voice trembling. “Why you spared me, saved me for last and offered me that fucking deal, kept breaking into my room to terrorize me until I got so sick of it I’d want to go with you just to get away from the hell you’ve made of my life...”

She was crying now, her words broken up by sobs. “Why you were so nice to me… why you did your damndest to make as much of my life here as comfortable as possible… why you gave me that stupid plushie of your mother...”

She tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, struggled to speak. “You didn’t really mean it when you said you loved me, di you…?! All those times you kissed me, my first night in the Valley when we slept together, that fucking massage when I was so sore-stiff I couldn’t move—you probably didn’t even need to strip me naked, did you?!”

Winter blinked. “Wait, what...?”

Weiss ignored her, unable to see anything through her tears but Ruby standing in front of her those big, doe eyes of hers confused and terrified.

“Ruby…” Weiss whispered, “do you really love me...? Or am I just a part of your fucked up legacy...?!”

“I do!” Ruby cried, her voice trembling. “I meant every single word I said! I’d never lie about that, because I hate lying, and more than I hate lying, I love you!”  

“Prove it, then!”

“Okay! I will! Just… could you tell me how…?”

Weiss groaned as she grabbed the sides of Ruby’s face. “How else, you dolt?!” she screamed, before she kissed her.

Her lips were hard and unmoving like a rock, like the first time. Weiss kept on pressing, waited to see what she’d do, until she felt hands grab her shoulders and pull them apart.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Weiss cried.

“PROVING IT!” Ruby shouted back. “Because if you really love someone, you don’t kiss them back when you can just tell they don’t want you to, you stop!”

Weiss wrenched her hands back, her expression changing, from anger, to self-disgust, to horror, until finally, regret.

Ruby sniffed, tears pouring down her cheeks, voice trembling as she whispered, “I love you, Weiss…! Please, believe me…!”

The dreamscape faded around them, and they returned to the real world.

Note: I spent a full 30-minutes refining the ending for this. I hope it ruined you as much as it ruined me.

[mafiabosstsuna]

Tsuna, Mukuro and Dino falling in love with someone they treated badly before

COMPLETED

~My buzzer beater submission because it almost did not make the deadline. Hope you like it somehow, anon. XD~

admin adelheid

Tsuna

He hated you.

He absolutely fucking hated you.

You were a clumsy little fool who utterly had no charm, no confidence and no fashion sense.

In short, you were just like him when he was younger. Before the Vongola. Before Reborn.

And the reminder of his past self that you brought by your very presence sent his blood boiling with unreasonable rage as the shadows of his past came to haunt him. How the innocence he had lost a long time ago baited him silently through your guileless eyes. The worst part was that you were the only personal secretary who has ever lasted by his side for this long with any sense of efficiency or competency.

God he hated you.

He allowed his dates to make fun of you. He had even ordered you to pick up his bread from the floor with your teeth and told you to eat it. And you fucking did. You did everything he told you to do with no questions asked.

He heard Mukuro ask you once why you allowed him to treat you like dirt and your response surprised Tsuna.

You said it was because you had faith in the Decimo. If it was his decision to treat you badly then surely you must have done something to hurt him. You only wish he’d tell you what it was so you could fix what you did wrong.

Instead of calming down it only made Tsuna want to tear you apart even more.

He wanted you to hate him. He wanted you to grow the fuck up and change your fate the way he changed his. He had been half tempted to send you off to Reborn but for some reason the very thought of his former tutor laying his eyes on you made him even angrier.

He made sure to act like a spoiled evil brat around you wanting you to snap. He wanted to see you act like a fucking human being, not a goddamned robot! He had to admit he was acting like a total jerk but damn it, you weren’t acting like you mattered! Like you’re life was dispensable compared to his own! And so he kept on treating you like a doormat.

Until the day you jumped in front of him and took a bullet in his stead.

All Tsuna could do was stare at your paling face as you whispered for him to run against his lips. Trying to keep his survival a secret by being as silent as possible for his sake.

And so here the proud Don was sitting by your side afterwards; clutching at your blankets with white knuckles and gritted teeth wanting nothing more than for you to wake up.

He wasn’t done torturing you yet. He wasn’t done making your life hell.

He wasn’t done trying to get under your goddamned skin and make you feel something other than a dog’s loyalty for him, goddammit. But most of all…

He wanted to feel your lips against his over and over again…

Mukuro

He had thought he had killed every single one of the Estraneo back when he finally acquired enough power to escape from that lab along with Ken and Chikusa. He had thought he would never have to hear the godforsaken name again. But he was proven wrong when the Skylark found out about you.

He may have been at odds with Hibari over a lot of things but he knew how much dealing with the Estraneo meant to him so Mukuro was grateful when the Skylark stepped aside and allowed him to do what he willed to the last remaining descendant of that godforsaken Family.

He found you living a moderate life, alone in the world. Of course you’d been orphaned, he had killed your family! He watched as you struggled to survive every day. Apparently you had a medical condition that made you unable to work and take on heavy physical labor.

He watched and refused to see the fact that you were a good person who lived alone and vulnerable and loved the stray cats you shared your food with. You made him remember what it was like living half-starved and hiding from the Vindice all those years ago.

He swallowed his pity and admiration and replaced it with hate.

He kidnapped you and took you to the abandoned Estraneo’s laboratory.

He fisted his hand over the back of your head and practically slammed your face against the broken glass that had once looked into the laboratories he had remembered all too well from his childhood. As he did so he described his and the other children’s experiences in each room. He told her about the slit necks of children barely even old enough to walk murdered just for the sake of research. About young limbs being severed to be replaced by a tentacle or a robotic contraption only for those same artificial limbs to rot off barely a week later and the child dying along with it from the infection and rotted organs.

You listened to his voice tremble, you felt his whole body vibrate, you heard his breathing choke on every word and said nothing. Blamed nothing. Did nothing.

When Mukuro took you to the room where he had killed the scientists he told you he would kill you there as well and when he turned you around to face him you saw his face drenched with tears and his eyes dilating with remembered fear and pain and your heart caved in.

You bowed your head and accepted your fate. Silently. Like a lamb to slaughter.

But when Mukuro delved into your mind to make you relive your worst nightmares he discovered that you had gone through the same torments he had. Only they weren’t done in a lab. Your parents experimented on you and your little brother at home. You held your brother as he died in your arms when he failed the experiments and his now half metal heart stopped beating. He had relived your heartbreak when the last question your brother left you was if you had any sugar drops left. It was the last time you had ever shed tears…

Mukuro drew back in shock. As though trying to see if he were awake and not dreaming he tore your shirt open and saw there- tattooed on your left breast- the same bar code Chikusa had on his left cheek.

He cried out and sat on the floor clutching at his head. Trying to deal with the anger, the pain, the madness. He was surprised when he felt you put your arms around him. He looked up and saw you crying for him and your shared sadness.

You understood. You knew. You forgive him.

And all Mukuro could do was hold on to you for all he was worth because at that moment you were the calm in the middle of his storm.

He had become your friend and he later on discovered the medical condition you were suffering from was caused by the experiments done on you. Unlike himself the twisted trials did not give you any powers. You were just another failed experiment. The only difference you had from the others was that you had survived.

He wanted to take care of you and became a guardian to you of sorts. He had expected his feelings for you to be similar to the feelings he had for his small collection of strays. But he was wrong.

Over time he had noticed you eyeing Sawada Tsunayoshi with admiration and interest. Of course the young Decimo had accepted you with open arms the moment Mukuro showed up with you on the mansion’s doorstep. However the thought of you developing any sort of feelings for the Vongola don was… unacceptable.

Mukuro then proceeded to make you realize what a playboy Sawada was. He practically shoved his flings in your face to make sure you saw the don’s faults. The illusionist wasn’t sure how it happened but he had learned that having you look at anybody else with the tenderness you have afforded him made the madness strain against the confines of his mind.

It just wasn’t fair. He was not letting anyone else have you.

You were his.

Dino

His intention when your father gave you to him as a bargaining chip was to use you like a whore and humiliate your Family.

Your father had the temerity to kill some of his precious subordinates in an attempt to seize some territory. In return Dino had run your father’s Famiglia to the ground until they were all left on their hands and knees begging for his mercy. He killed everyone else except your father who had sold you to Dino in exchange for his life. Dino agreed only because he was so enraged by the loss of his comrades that he had wanted your father to live through more horror and shame.

The first night he found you in his bedroom- bathed, perfumed and wearing a sheer silk nightgown- he had expected you to seduce him and gain some tenderness out of the act; but you didn’t. Even after he ripped your dress open and took you roughly on the bed with only the intention of pleasuring himself you merely bit your lip against the pain and shed a few tears but you said nothing.

When Dino woke up the next morning and found you gone from the bed he had thought you had tried to escape. However he immediately found you on the balcony with your face turned towards the sunlight, a linen blanket wrapped around your bruised nakedness and your eyes closed. Dino felt his breath catch at the sight. You looked like a battered goddess from a painting reaching for the sun in a silent bid for freedom.

When you heard his approach the softness on your face disappeared and Dino felt something stab him in the gut at the sight of the wariness and fear on your face. He couldn’t stand seeing you shy away from him so he harshly ordered you to clean yourself up and left you alone. He had not touched you since but he remained within reach at all times watching you… Always watching you. Privately it shamed him to have acted so atrociously towards a woman.

He could see even without you speaking to him that you had an obviously gentle nature. He never once saw you stare at anyone in his household with hate. There was only resignation and the hope lingering in your eyes that he would get tired of you soon and let you go. All of a sudden, that thought did not sit well with Dino.

He gritted his teeth against Romario telling him that you had nothing to do with this and that your father was a barbaric heathen for selling his own child out. That he should stop treating poor you like a slut when you were clearly no such thing.

Dino was inclined to follow his right hand man’s suggestion and treat you with more tenderness. Unfortunately the sight of you smiling at his young gardener when he handed you a small flower made all his feelings of guilt crumble in jealousy. Because never- never- have you directed such an expression on him before.

That night he surprised you by bedding you again. However this time he used all the knowledge he possessed to pleasure you beyond speech. This time you tried fighting him off and actually pleaded for him to stop. Dino then understood that you had prepared yourself to feel nothing. Getting aroused by him and receiving pleasure from him would have thrown your plans to leave with your soul intact into disorder. You were planning on feeling nothing for him. Just like a man preparing himself to get tortured and say nothing.

The possessive demon sleeping inside Dino’s soul leaped at the chance and relished in your moans and gasps as he sucked on your nipples teasingly while he thrust inside you in a way that made your hips writhe against him involuntarily.

He surely did not know where this madness was leading him but he did know one thing.

He was not going to let you leave and forget who you belonged to.