#things are almost completely dead over here and I'd like to change that ^^

[irisintheafterglow]

bsf!shoto doesn't understand when being punctual went out of style.

when you swing open your front door the instant he was about to knock, you startle backward like you'd seen a ghost.

"oh, wow." your eyes are wide open and your mouth gapes before snapping shut. "you're, uh, here very early," you manage to say, turning back inside and kicking the door the rest of the way open with your foot. he follows behind you as you hurry back to your bathroom, your makeup halfway done and seven possible outfits laid on your bed. he follows you through the hallway, stopping only a moment to glance at a baby photo of you on the wall. he'd seen the photos hundreds of times, but he found it amusing that you made the same face of surprise when you were little.

"i am ten minutes before our agreed upon meeting time, is that distressing?"

"not distressing, just surprising. in my experience," you continue while patting glitter on the inside corner of your eyelid, "guys don't usually show up on time for dates."

"well, it's a good thing i'm not other guys, then," he smirks and you roll your eyes with a poorly hidden grin. "i also didn't need to waste time picking you flowers--"

"since most of the stuff makes me sneeze anyway," you finish for him, your cheeks warm under the dusting of powder blush. you had known shoto for nearly three quarters of your life, yet it still caught you off guard every time he said something that told you he'd been paying attention to you. "very thoughtful of you." your eyes meet his in the mirror, flicking to his broad shoulder leaning against the doorframe. "staring is rude."

"then you're a hypocrite," he immediately counters with no change in tone, the only indication of his smugness the slightest narrowing of his eyes. his expression turns thoughtful, fond almost. he smiles softly and the endearment makes your cheeks warm even more. "i like that color. the one on your eyes."

"mmm, i know it's your favorite," you reply coyly. shoto's eyes drag from your face down the rest of your body, something different flickering across his face. "something wrong?"

"no, you just...you look beautiful," he manages to say.

"i'm wearing pajamas and all might socks that have at least three holes. in each sock," you chuckle, turning to him over your shoulder. "i certainly don't feel beautiful."

"i can fix that."

"what?"

"what?" he blinks at you, dumbfounded, and you giggle at his slip-up. "who said that?"

"you're funny, sho." you try to ignore the way his eyes follow every movement of your hands as they swipe color over your lips and make last adjustments to your lashes. when you're done, he steps out of your way so you can take your numerous outfit choices to the bathroom, settling down next to your bed to help you decide like he'd done before. "this is a little different, you know," you say through the crack in bathroom door as you tug on your first arrangement. "before, you were helping me decide what to wear for school award ceremonies and stuff like that."

"i could still do that, if you want," he replies with complete sincerity. "i do still want to do that."

"it's a little weird to be dating your best friend, since i feel like you already know all the things that would make me a terrible person to date," you continue and he falls silent on the other side of the door, prompting you to peek out of the bathroom. "sho? is everything okay?"

"yes, everything is fine." there's the slightest dip in his perfect eyebrows that tell you otherwise.

"the 'no lying' rule carries over from friendship to dating, you know," you remind him casually and step out completely, turning in a circle for the full effect. "what do you think?"

"i think that's a bit...warm," he states bluntly. you blink at him and half expect him to laugh, but he doesn't. he's dead serious about you being too warm.

"i am a little warm, yes," you admit in your thick sweater and fleece stockings. "but, i'd also like to dress warmer than i need to because it's so much easier to cool off than it is to warm up."

"i can do both of those things for you," shoto declares. "why wouldn't i do both of those things for you?"

"i don't want you to hassle and need to use your quirk on date night." your voice trails off but he's having none of it.

"is this what you mean by 'things that make you a terrible person to date?' planning ahead so you're not a burden?" you shift your weight uncomfortably under his gaze and can't muster any other answer but shrugging.

"i just...i don't want you to need to change to accommodate me, now that we're together," you explain quietly. he stands and takes your hands in his, lacing your fingers together without a second thought. "if it's easier for me to be uncomfortable and you to be comfortable--"

"why is both of us being comfortable not a possibility?" he asks, tilting his head forward slightly. "why can you prioritize me but i cannot prioritize you?" you have no further argument but his point is hammered home. "do you love me as you wish to?"

"wholeheartedly."

"then let me love you as i wish to. wholeheartedly."

[demonic0angel]

Hi. Uhhh I thought this ask was funny so…

At some sort of event where both the bat fam and the phantom siblings are there. (How they’d know each other is up to you) one of the phantom siblings drops a bombshell about their lore and they continue on like it didn’t happen. But the one to do it isn’t one of the Dannys or Dan it’s Jazz. Cause Jazz is just as feral as the other three and I need to see it. Cause she is Danny “I like to drop lore bombs on people over dinner.” Feton’s sister.

I thought this was funny so uh here. *Shoves ask on a silver platter at you and runs away.*

(*eats the ask so fast that I choke on the platter like a seagull that doesn't know its limits*)

They all congregated around the food table, chatting and gossiping.

"Did you see that fucking haircut?" Jason said with a snicker. "His parents don't give a fuck about him."

"Not a single goddamn bit," Steph said.

Bruce hummed. "That's not very nice," he said, though he looked like he agreed wholeheartedly.

Dani leaned in and asked, "Which one is the one who tried starting a gang in Crime Alley but couldn't because she was a nepo baby and everyone was too embarrassed to join her even though she had a lot of money?"

Tim chuckled and pointed. "That one."

Danny laughed. "Hah! I can't even imagine that! No one joined, even though she had money?"

Jason joined him, almost cackling. "Right?! She has a reputation of being bad luck in business too, it's literally a thing. She sank three different companies before no one bothered hiring her, so when she made a gang, no one joined."

"And in Crime Alley? It's literally a meme now," Stephanie said with a grin.

"Can't imagine starting something and failing because no one wanted to follow me," Jazz said then, an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah," Dani snorted. "Because you successfully created a cult in Danny's name."

It was like a record scratch as everyone paused, but none of the Nightingales noticed, continuing on.

Danny groaned. "Don't remind me! I can't believe it became so popular that it's the most practiced religion amongst the dead! Do you know how embarrassed I feel when one of my worshippers come up to me and start kissing my hands?!"

Jazz beamed. "I'm a very good cult leader."

"Until I had to overthrow you for it," Danny snarked back.

Jazz continued, "Still, I had a good run being Queen Regent of the Infinite Realms until that happened, right?"

"The second only human in a seat of power within the Ghost Zone and also the only human to have completely changed the laws of the Infinite Realms? I'd say it's pretty good," Dani mused.

The rest of the Waynes & Co. stared at them in shock and confusion. None of the Nightingales seemed to think it was strange that Jazz Fenton, one of the Arkham psychiatrist and sister of Phantom, was a cult leader. And a successful one too.

Stephanie looked around and then asked, "So I'm not hallucinating this conversation, right?"

[david-talks-sw]

Crazy to me that this of all things is what makes me type out a post when I have so many in drafts just waiting to be completed but hey. Gotta vent. Here goes.

Everyone was commenting in bad faith, in the comments and X is where intelligent discourse goes to perish, so taking this seriously (or as seriously as a "who would win" debate can allow):

This could go either way!

On the one hand, yes, Maul is the more skilled fighter.

Sure, technique-wise, Qimir is very skilled... but he fights like "a mean Jedi who cheats in a fight."

Maul-- *Darth Maul fights like a Sith Lord. He's been trained the old fashioned Sith way from a very early age.

From a narrative POV too, this tracks.

Qimir's master is Plagueis, essentially a Sith whose interest and focus is in science and the occult. He taught Sidious just enough for the latter to master the seven forms, then went back to his research.

Sidious, on the other hand, was a political animal who NEEDED a more fighting-savvy apprentice to do the dirty work in the shadows, and thus molded Maul to be such a weapon.

And you see this too in how either fighter maintains control of a duel.

I'd rank Sol and Qui-Gon at a comparable level.

We see that when Sol gets either angry OR focused, Qimir finds himself at a disadvantage and begins to falter, either retreating or drastically changing tactics. Qimir loses both those fights.

Compare with how Maul handled Qui-Gon in either of those states. He lets Qui-Gon rush at him, then resorts to dirty tricks when Qui-Gon is in a more defensive state. That's how a Sith does it. That's why Maul wins.

HOWEVER! Maul has a flaw that he never, ever outgrows.

In a situation where he's superior, he gets arrogant. He gets cocky. He takes his sweet time to gloat and do the flips and whirl the saber and taunt his prey.

It's why Obi-Wan almost always beats him. It's why Ahsoka, an inferior fighter, beats him too. It's why he didn't see Sidious coming.

Like a true Sith, Maul's overconfidence is his weakness.

You know who doesn't have that weakness?

The guy who does have Jedi training. Who put in the work and already outgrew his own ego and arrogance.

Friggin' Qimir.

Who is seen pulling off no-bullshit kill after no-bullshit kill. Screw the pageantry, screw a clean win.

Padawan breaks his mask? Stabbed in the heart.

Jedi attacks him by surprise? Breaks his neck.

Multiple Jedi attack him? Trakata moves left and right until they're all dead.

So Qimir is a more calculating and focused fighter.

Which means that what a duel between the two comes down to is external circumstances. Their levels aren't so distant that Maul would blitz the Stranger, this would be a long duel.

That said, Qimir is more likely to die in the heat of battle.

But if Maul merely wounds him? Then 9 times out of 10 he'll hang around and gloat, which is something Qimir would capitalize on to deliver a killing blow.

Procrastination over, venting complete.

[mysteryanimator]

Breaking down "Even the Iron Still Fears the Rot" (almost) shot by shot!

The fan-animatic can be viewed here!

HEADS UP: This is a fan-made content. I am a fan. I just love Castlevania/animation a lot and I love storyboarding nuances and making people cry over character dynamics. Also apologises for any grammatical/spelling mistakes!

I wasn't planning to do another breakdown of my own work, simply due to imposter syndrome but I genuinely put so much love and care into this animatic! I want to talk about it! Also, people have been really open to hearing about my inspiration and notes, and why I take the directions I do for my work, even if it's fan-made, so here we go!

(Also the reciprocation of my animatics has been so kind and uplifting, and I'm really glad that there's a lot of love for them as much as I love doing them! I learn and grow with every single board I make, it's been really fun! I hope I get to shine this much passion in the future in actual work!)

Since this is also an adaptation of a fan one-shot by Aquila, (which you can read here!) I knew I wanted to evoke what they had written and interject some of my own nuances/personal readings to their story to elevate what they had! In turn, kind of created this monster (positive) of a fan creation haha. There are some changes/rearranging the placement of aspects of the one-shot to strengthen the existing tension going on!

With this out the way, let's begin!

(heads up, for any shots I completely skip over, it is because I'm reaching image limits here)

I wanted to evoke that strong halo light you see in a lot of media. Often than not, this visual is used to depict the character as a divine force of nature and/or when a character is bobbing in and out of death. It can also be a very very terrifying image, as, for example, s02e8, Mizrak is literally all dark with a brightly lit background. It is scary- BUT people will say hot because it's Mizrak but hey, look, all I can say is I fully understand haha. It all depends on your intentionality and what follows before and after to give context to your scene!

Mizrak is dead. Well, undead now. Olrox is the so-called angel giving him life and love and this halo of light gets repeated a few times!

By the end, not only do their literal positions switch, but their roles shift too so I hoped to convey that visually by also giving Mizrak that halo glow for the second last shot. At the start, Olrox consumes Mizrak’s love, and then it ends with Mizrak consuming Olrox’s love. Guh I love blood themes in vamprisim.

This shot honestly took me a bit to do, since I was going a lot cleaner than usual, the expression for Mizrak was super important for me to get right. I wanted him to look like he was about to die- yet still have an unwavering amount of life in him. (Also I hadn't warmed up drawing in this cleaned-up style so it definitely was me messing around). It was important for me for this to feel like a POV shot to contrast the first scene so we can get inside the mind of Olrox!

This too is where I only have sound effects since I can't have voice so I limit my SFX to the only most vital things to elevate things I personally find better elevate the scene with audio. It only happens TWICE. The heartbeat. His wrist is shown and from context clues from not only S01 of Nocturne with Tera's turning, but a whole bunch of other vampire media- the wrist is a place where the dead accept their new life of immortality!

Also, the pulse effect was definitely inspired by the transformation of Sekmet! I'm not sure personally if this went to a further stage I'd want to keep this since I'd personally want something more unique for vampire turning, more specifically for Olrox, HOWEVER, I think it still does a good job conveying the supernatural pull for the time being!

Wow who saw this coming HAHA

Immediately when I saw the line where Olrox said he went to straddle him immediately, my mind went to go and try to parallel this scene again! I don't have much to say about this shot rather than the feet are purposefully cut out for animation convenience's sake HAHA.

Jumpscare for sudden Olrox character layout (even though he's really off model and sketchy here HAHA)

I was again, wanting to depict Olrox BATHED in light and since this animatic is purely in greyscale (with accents of colour), I could really push for dramatic lighting when it called for it! This is also why some of the scenes just do not have backgrounds at all. I wanted to make some of the scenes as "heavenly" as possible and for Mizrak to be embraced by the light because Olrox is giving him a new a life.

If this were to ever be animated (I won't be since it would take too much of my time, but it's still a good thing to note when boarding anything... maybe I'll do cleaned screenshots since those are a breeze, or animate ONE scene from this animatic... we'll see what I have time for. I unfortunately don't have proper time to try and figure out the layout of s02e8 bgs and paint them. I did consider quickly doing a 3d mock-up but no haha), the light in the background can probably be lit with candles since it was already pre-established in s02e8! Also, the windows can reflect light into the room so there's that too since Mizrak was backlit in that episode too!

Fun fact, this entire scene was the first thing I ever thought up and why I started even making it. I thought about how cool of a visual it would be to have Mizrak's eye in the reflection.

I wanted to imbue the fact that Mizrak does not fear Olrox holding a blade, hell, he's not even looking at the blade. He's looking at Olrox. What is described as a relic from a terrifying past, Mizrak is not scared. Mizrak is not scared of Olrox.

This is where the heartbeat occurs AGAIN. This is mostly to signal to the audience what Olrox actually has planned. He's not feeding Mizrak from his wrist but from his actual chest, especially with how gently Olrox runs his hands over it.

I debated a lot on where the initial cut should go. The heart, for sentimentality, under the breast in the same way Christ had been pierced, etc etc- however I landed on just dead set in the middle so it could form a cross that would grow bigger and bigger as the animatic went on. (Fun fact, the blob of blood turns into a little heart as he squeezes his chest)

I wanted to put some weight to the repressed catholic guilt, so I thought a cool visual way to showcase that Mizrak has only known how to love is via worshipping God which has consumed his entire being and self. God has given him faith, a companion in the hardest of times when the world has abandoned him.

Now, once again, his world has abandoned him. The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God is gone. In the face of death and fearing the devil will be waiting. Olrox has given him love, and he will be a companion in the hardest of times. He will not abandon Mizrak.

This aspect of the cross in the animatic gets expanded upon as time goes on. Both literally as the cross literally turns into a pool of blood more closely to the symbol Mizrak bares, but also it slowly expands upon Mizrak feeding off Olrox's love! I'll add some more of my personal notes when we get there!

Also by far one of my favourite scenes I've drawn. It's still rough but it decidedly made me go a lot cleaner with the rest of the storyboard!

This is supposed to be suddenly jarring because it cuts midway through Olrox in a midshot to a close-up of a hand! We need to see him actively halt Olrox for just a moment, but also to show that even when it's sudden- its not hostile, it's gentle.

This shot does a couple of things!

It showcases how gently Mizrak is reaching out to Olrox

It helps to continually establish Mizrak submission to vampirism. He is constantly placed on the bottom from the composition, or we as an audience, are always looking down at Mizrak! Seeing parts of Olrox here really cements this fact as Olrox towers over him to the point we don't even see him fully!

It helps to lead into the Fallen Angel reference!

This shot makes me sob because it is so gentle. Despite being placed constantly much higher in the composition in the animatic, therefore making him the most powerful in this dynamic- in no way Olrox is intentionally made out to be an intimidating figure. He is comfort. He is a companion. He will not abandon Mizrak. The act of turning Mizrak might be read as selfish. It may be read as cheating the natural cycle of life, it may be everything wrong and doomed as your mind makes it to be, however, it is done out of love. Morals, whether good or bad, no longer matters because Olrox is in love. Love has such a strong chokehold on this series, so I'm shoving as much love into these characters as I can. Both literally make these characters so sickly desiring love that it will be their doom and saving grace, but also me as an artist deeply putting love and thought into this board because care a lot about how to convey these complex emotions! Sure it is quite easy to churn out boards without care, but without putting care into your boards, your characters and stories lack life (in my personal opinion).

Immediately, this animatic shook me and told me to put in a reference to The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabnel!

Also, how does one portray the soul? EYES. Eyes are the window to the soul. Mizrak’s eyes are also considerably the most important/crucial part of his design. His eyes in both seasons ‘glow in the dark’ due to the highlights in his eyes. Mizrak is considerably really emotive too and that was important to me to emphasize. I wanted to capture his essence, his soul if you will, into this shot.

This is also why this shot is done really prettily if you will.

The reflection of Olrox's eye in Mizrak's is important here! Olrox is here to act to comfort Mizrak. Even when Olrox is not on the screen with us, he is majorly present here. He will not abandon Mizrak. Also, since it is coupled with this line, people can choose to infer what they wish with Olrox! It can symbolize Olrox does have a soul, it can symbolize how Olrox and Mizrak are now intertwined together, it can symbolize Mizrak reciprocating Olrox's love. The list can go on! I give that room for open interpretation (same as the rest of the animatic, the only reason I'm going through, breaking down almost shot by shot is that I deeply care about this sort of thing, and I know other people do too!)

This shot, is deceptively simple but it's here to actually initiate a bunch of scenes I wanted to happen after this!

Firstly, I needed a very nonchalant but easy way for Olrox to let go of Mizrak's hand without needing to overcomplicate. I needed something that gave it just enough importance for the hand kiss BUT not too much where it is the sole focus on the shot.

Secondly, I needed a way for Olrox to lean down to Mizrak and initiate him being way closer to him.

Thirdly, it acts to parallel another shot that happens with Mizrak where instead of going diagonally down, he goes diagonally up!

This is one of the points where I visually slightly deviate from the one-shot! I really REALLY wanted to emphasize Olrox's dialogue here so I chopped up and elongated the scene to make it that much more intense and tender. Which is why we get the next two close up shots!

Look it was very VERY important to me to have Olrox cup Mizrak's face and intentionally cut off his eyes. The important part I wanted to focus on solely was his hand and Mizrak looking up because genuinely, Mizrak's eyes are 'distracting' and it would remove the focus on the gesture! Also I am saving Mizrak's eyes for the next shot haha

After this shot too, you may notice the blood from his neck disappears for the rest of the animatic. This is because, after this, it began to take too much of a visual focus away from the blood on Olrox's chest since it is bright red against greys in the shot. We can chalk it up to Olrox wiping the blood off when he goes to cup him.

"The most beautiful soul a vampire can posses."

It was so important to me that we get a BEAUTIFUL shot of Mizrak. I needed the audience to see his entireeee face close up, unobscured by anything. Olrox is holding a beautiful soul in his hands. He's holding Mizrak. Actually makes me sob.

This shot by the way has been repeated 3 times with slight variations by this point. Yes, this is a very pretty shot so how could I not help but repeat it? HOWEVER, I was trying to make a reference to how Mizrak has said Olrox's name only 3 times in the show with a variation of what was said around it. After that, Olrox calls him my love, basically unlocking a new stage in their relationship.

So here, three times when he looks at Olrox, he's mentally calling out his name. After this, Olrox brings him to a new stage in the relationship.

Also in Catholicism, a lot of things are in 3s. One of the major ones is that three times, Christ fell over carrying the cross. On the third hour of that day, he died and on the third day, he was resurrected from the dead. The three sacraments that welcome someone into the Kingdom of God are Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation as they all build off one another! I could go on both those are the main points AND I feel you might get the gist now!

It was very important to me that when Olrox makes this promise, we HAVE to see his full face. This is why it's a close-up.

It lets for no shadow of a doubt that Olrox means what he says here. He's looking AT Mizrak. He's telling the truth to him.

This is a parallel to a much earlier shot of Olrox! He moves closer to Mizrak by going from top right to bottom left, while Mizrak moves closer to Olrox by going from bottom left to top right! You also both see them exit the screen too!

In this shot, we bring back that halo vibe but also this is a reference to S01E04 and S02E08! The curtain! It is BOTH their first-ever shots to establish a new scene, so I wanted to go “Hey this is establishing a new scene- a new life for Mizrak and Olrox.”

The camera is super purposefully cut just below the eyes. You can see them open then closed, but we will never ever get to see the look he had in his eyes, the single decision in his brain that let him indulge. That’s only for Olrox, and only Olrox will know.

From here on out, A LOT of the shots of Mizrak get segmented/have his face hidden for that reason too (except for one shot, also done intentionally).

When Mizrak actually closes his lips around the blood- it’s on the growling sound in the song. Mizrak has turned into the animal that he’s been calling vampires. In this new life, he is now given the choice to be freed from the man-made shackles of shame and guilt. To be untamed and unrestricted. A wild animal so to speak!

Honestly, I spent a lot of my time here (besides the pretty Olrox frames) because I was super particular about how I wanted to portray Mizrak giving into sucking the blood. The way he accepts vampirism is vital because it sets the tone and mood for how the rest of the board feel since his face gets hidden and you now have to infer from when you saw his face last.

If you have seen my analyses or my work before, you will know how much I enjoy having a frame within a frame. I loveeee my boxes! They're in the box! TOGETHER! THE CENTER TOO! There are no real divisions with the exception of Olrox's head which is important because it's not Mizrak we're focused on at this point in time, it's Olrox~

This is because the one-shot, even in third person, is mostly through Olrox's perspective!

Also, the camera is moving around in this shot, and the following subsequent shots! It hopefully gives off the "hand-held" feel, which often is associated with feeling as if you're right there in the moment with them.

Why pillows?

This is me shaking you to say how the blood-drinking is an allusion for sex if that wasn't already obvious enough. So showing pillows coupled with Olrox groaning really goes "Yes they are technically doing it."

Originally this shot (and the previous shot) was supposed to be way more pulled out, but I was saving it for the very last shot of the animatic so I went to pillows with the tinest hint of their body in the frame to make it seem super scandalous. Like what on earth could they be doing for me to cut them mostly out of the frame? Also also, the pillow was supposed to have an embroidery of a painting from 1790s or earlier BUT, for the life of me, I could not decide what I wanted and I did not want to keep reusing the same references I have had in past work. I didn't want to fuss about it for too long since its more of an easter egg rather than adding to the story. The main point is pillow = fucking HAHA.

Side tangent, you can get away with SO MUCH by having blood drinking be an allusion to sex. Like obviously when you have an age rating you must abide by, you must be creative with how you go about mature topics (my age rating is YouTube hahaha)! Not only is blood drinking in vampirism just inherently queer-coded, but the intimacy of it can convey so much more if it was just a regular ol' sex scene! I actually deeply enjoy conveying nsfw topics into art because you can discuss character dynamics at a much more vulnerable, raw state that literally bares them to just their essence and their current desires/needs. However I am getting off-topic, let's get back to it!

This shot was actually heavily inspired by the statue Adoration by Stephen Sinding!

While there are a lot of differences now simply because Mizrak is at Olrox's chest, I still hope that the vibe of that statue is still imbued. It also gives the sense of not only Olrox adoring Mizrak in this very moment, but Mizrak is too despite not seeing his face. Again quite intentional because it's only for Olrox to see.

Also, a lot of people have been telling me how Olrox is breastfeeding him, and in technicality, they're not wrong, he's feeding blood, from his chest. It is the funniest thing ever LOL

This shot was important to really focus in on his throat and how, much like in the one-shot, Mizrak is literally not taking breaths and is just continually consuming Olrox.

Wet sounds fill the room as his throat bobs with each steady gulp...He doesn’t stop, doesn’t take a moment to gasp for breath.

I also just wanted to make this scene feel very slow in order to contrast with a much more passion-filled desire that consumes Mizrak in this animatic! Also hopefully the descent of blood and the descent of the camera helps to strengthen the idea of Mizrak descending into vampirism!

It felt really cheesy to have this close-up shot of his eye HOWEVER at the time, I thought this was by far the clearest way to convey the immediate switch from gentle devotion to devouring devotion and how suddenly rapid it is. In my brain, the stylization for his eyes open would be textured and pulse in the same way Olrox's wrist did, which is why it's just outlined. I'm once again not 100% set on the pulse look and it probably needs some iterations if I ever came back to it again.

Also, the green hearts in his eyes only come through when he's actively consuming blood from his chest! The heart motif comes back later when Mizrak ends up throwing up the blood!

Here's the cross again, except it is growing bigger. This was very important to me that you see how "gentle" the blood-sucking is at first. A gentle devotion despite the "terrifying" shadow of Mizrak. Also, super an excuse to have kiss marks in my animatic, I love painting them in my art because it can say a lot with placement and how aggressively smudged they are!

Also, I thought it would be SO FUN to have Mizrak's turned self literally have his eyes overlay where Olrox's eyes are. It conveys how Mizrak and Olrox are now switching roles in this animatic! For the first half of this animatic, Olrox has been placed pretty high up in the shot composition, or where the camera looks up to put him in a high place of power! It makes him appear way more etheral and otherworldly, while Mizrak was placed lower in the composition, always looking up at him! Which I'm hoping invokes religious imagery of a God and his worshipper/follower!

When Mizrak's transformation is set, the dynamic switches up. For the rest of the animatic, Mizrak is now placed at a more supernatural/otherwordly position, while Olrox is just there passively, letting Mizrak BE in this position. He does not fight it, he embraces it, embraces how Mizrak reciprocates his love, his desire, and all his messy complications, much like how earlier in the animatic, Mizrak embraces vampirism.

Also if you slow it down enough you can see how I accidentally left my perspective grids in it HAHA, but it goes by fast enough it doesn't really matter! (I guess it's also kind of indicative of my natural style when it comes to digital painting too, I genuinely like having my sketch still peek through into the final painting!)

Wow even more shots to cement the new role switch AND how much much of the passionate need to consume is controlling his urges! Free to consume at his leisure, he is no longer bound by human nature (for now)!

This shot and his leg shot help to really strip Mizrak of his humanity. Faces in a shot really help to connect people to the characters because we see the emote, we see them breathe, we see them live. Especially for a character like Mizrak? He's super expressive face-wise and I'm purposefully not showing you the defining features of Mizrak. Here I am basically going "Mizrak is no longer human."

This is why in horror/thrillers with antagonist characters, we don't see their faces much and are saved for only key moments (usually, again your intentionality matters). It doesn't allow us to connect with the character on a much more human level. Think of Count Orlok from Nosferatu (2024). Purposefully a lot of his character is shrouded in darkness, focusing on his hands and other aspects, never his face, and even then it is really hard to make out because so much of him is obscured. It makes him that much of an imposing intimidating character! Otherworldly and something that we cannot fully understand.

This is a flipped version of Mizrak's close-up eye shot much earlier when he asked if his soul would remain. Again to hark on how Mizrak and Olrox are switching roles in this animatic! Olrox is looking at Mizrak's soul as we speak.

Despite us not seeing Mizrak's face, we as an audience noticing how unhuman Mizrak has suddenly become, Olrox looks quite gently at him and that was important to convey!

Woo! Lot's of horizontal lines here! While the camera is moving towards the left, Mizrak is moving right!

Originally this shot was going to have Mizrak's teeth sinking into Olrox like a very cool Olrox throwing his head back and Mizrak's fang reveal HOWEVER, I want to leave the "carnage" and bloodshed of the feeding out of the frame and only have it show up in very specific moments so I can have those moments actually have their proper impacts. I did not want to show any part of the front of his face at all since it would dampen the effect later on, so I opted for this instead. The legs give a sense of "something is happening but we don't know what, but it's to a point where Mizrak's entire body is moving oh jeez." Won't lie, this looks very sexual and I'm purposefully toying with that line again because blood drinking is an allusion to sex.

Also, I'm continuing the concept of having aspects of Mizrak's face only for Olrox's eyes. What does he look like when he's actively consuming him with such passion? Idk, Olrox you tell me.

This is everything I was building up for when I introduced the small crosses! The physical manifestation of how Mizrak reciprocates.

My thought process here was that Mizrak only knows how to love by fully devoting himself because that's all he's done for God. So he applies it here. He is reciprocating love, but it is FULL ON. It is intense. It is all-consuming.

The face once again is obscured for all the reasons I have mentioned before, but also it REALLY helps to really hard cut to Mizrak choking on the blood after because before it seemed like he was doing just fine. He is literally looking DOWN at Olrox, he takes up A LOT of the screen with just his back and head. He literally gets pulled into full focus while Olrox is blurred in the background. He appears like he is in control of the situation, however it could not be further from the truth.

Also, I was mostly inspired by the insane amount of bible verses talking about blood, so I'll drop some of those here!

John 6:53-56 ESV

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

Ezekiel 16:6 ESV 

“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’

Matthew 26:28 ESV

"For this is my [Christ's] blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

Absolute contrast to most of the other shots, not only because I decided to add way more character acting here, but it's because we actually see his FULL face. It's intentional because Mizrak realizes himself now so we need to see him have this reaction. I wanted to show that he is still a person. He still has a soul. He may not be human, but he does have a mind that can think and a heart that can love. He still retains human qualities.

He's choking on all the blood (a physical manifestation of love) and his body is rejecting it. He's not used to consuming this amount of love and he's not used to being self-indulgent. It's deeply overwhelming.

I wanted to say I LOVED drawing blood it is SO FUN, planning the camera movement, and how Mizrak coughs at specific moments was sooo fun. I wanted this to be MESSY AND INTENSE. I wanted the audience to feel the weight of Mizrak's sudden distraught. I wanted to throw him around and to really hark on this line from the one-shot.

What has he done? What has been done to him? What has he become?

It helps to deeply contrast with how still and gentle the next scene is!

Yes, that is right, Olrox's pupils are DILATED :)

Coupled with the fact that the blood splatters are hearts! They're outlined in cyan! Olrox has a massive heart-shaped blood splatter on his cheek while Mizrak has a few heart-shaped splatters BUT there are gaps in his bloodied mouth that create heart shapes as if Mizrak spewed out those hearts!

Firstly this is because Mizrak literally eats at his chest where the heart is. Secondly, I'm again pushing for Mizrak to consume and throw up his love due to how overwhelming it is. Not only is Olrox's love for him literally beyond his imagination, but Mizrak is trying to love back in with that same amount of passion and utter devotion. A lot is happening for this new-born vampire that is pushing and pulling at him. His emotional state is so overwhelming that it is manifested in physical form.

The green reflections are shown to visually communicate Olrox anchoring Mizrak back, as, throughout the animatic, it is one of the things that ease or calm him down. I could not portray it through voice BUT I can portray it via visual (guys walk with me here, imagine the insane combo of audio and visual, it would be so tasty). The sole reason why I did not have hearts in his eyes here is simply because I reserved the heart motif for when he's actively drinking out of Olrox's chest (so he's literally consuming his love) or when he's spitting out the blood!

Also, the reason why I cut to his eyes rather than pan to them is purely because I wanted the violence of his mouth to be suddenly jarring to the gentleness in his eyes. I didn't want the slow reveal, I wanted the "OMG the blood- aw Mizrak...."

"Lulled into a sense of hazy compliance by Olrox’s voice, the former monk carefully lowers himself and continues though not for long."

This final shot was soooo important to me to include. The “musty inn room” was mentioned much earlier during Mizrak’s transformation but there was a poeticism by having what is considerably the blossoming moment of their complicated relationship be the final shot. With the lyrics also ending with "Take me back to Eden" how could I not? Clearly, both the rooms between s01e4 and s02e8 are parallel to each other. The only difference is that s02e8 has the room be both red AND GREEN, while s01e4 is just earthy/green. Olrox has taken them both back to their earthly paradise. This is their Garden of Eden.

Woo ok and we're done! Also yes I do thumbnails for these, it's half the reason why I'm fast (this entire animatic, cleaned and everything, was done in 3 days good lord. Is that fast? I can't tell) I make the barest of bones chicken scratch of sketches to get a feel of pace/vibe, then I do my roughs/cleans and add/take away shots necessary for the story that needs to be told. I normally would not let this see the light of day because these are AWFUL BUT, this post is also half a documentation of my personal process so I'm going to close my eyes and share this HAHA

If you got this far, thank you for reading me geek out about this! I find a lot of joy in the visual storytelling medium. As much as I do enjoy animating, (wow could you guys tell in the name?) I have a deep love and passion for storyboarding personally and I get sit back, and enjoy crafting the entire picture! I still have a long way to go but I'm having fun and I'm pursuing my passions of storytelling!

I desperately want to make more animatics, dealing with different tones, pace etc, but I genuinely have to go prioritize other things for now that will help me build these skills hahaha. I say this but who knows, seeing my current track record haha, look I can do both. I follow wherever my creativity takes me. I may have missed a few things but I have to wrap this up now!

Thank you again! The final takeaway, go watch Castlevania again and go be inspired by animation <33333

[burningcheese-merchant]

I know that it is highly unlikely that it is the case, but come and give it a thougjt with me (Yandere Spice with a twist).

What if: Burning Spice, despite being completely obsessive and being the sadomasochist he is, routinely cuts off the heads of animals and cookies and brings them to her the first time with a love letter (he used to be the Herald of Change, so I'd imagine he's got- and retained- some brains, enough to at least write a psychotic obsessive love letter).

Now, Golden Cheese is obviously gonna freak the f out and gape as he shoves the head into her arms (probably throw it into the air and back up in panic) while Burning Spice- though displeased at first, just grins manically at her reaction soon enough (maybe even laughing), before he grabs it and shoves the letter and head onto her hands again and leaving.

Golden Cheese, having noticed his reaction to her throwing it, becomes concerned with what he might do if she doesn't accept the 'gifts', decides to keep it (She flies hella fast and enters through her window and hides it in a secret compartment in her room, before creating a hidden room the other gifts in the future).

Now, here's the twist:

Despite the shock and horror she displayed to Burning Spice's gift, she knew that deep down... She fucking loved it. She silently revels in it, even. At having so much of the Beast- A cookiebeing you could practically almost consider primordial and all-powerful-'s attention and taking up so much of their headspace. To be obsessed over adored by someone like that, so much so that they would go out of their way to behead someone and something and write a love letter daily, just to give it to her as a gift-

In short, she absolutely loves the attention she will never say it and will keep that to her grave and Burning Spice and everyone else is none the wiser of it. Of how she'd kept every letter and laminated every single one with the care and cautiousness and love one would use when holding thin glass, of how she intentionally goes out alone every day for a few minutes just so Burning Spice would 'see an opening' and give his gift, where Golden Cheese would then act terribly disgusted and horrified, and then keep the gifts. Ignorant of how she has a room full of the 'gifts' he's given her- which she'd taken the time to personally taxiderm each and every one, before hanging it on the wall like a reward or trophy. Of how she'd come to the room every night to just adore it just the sight makes her want to coo and purr in delight for a few minutes to an hour, before going to bed and resting.

Sorry for the rambling and the long paragraphs 😅😅

This is such a horrifying (in a good way) concept that I MUST acknowledge it and give my take!!! Gonna put it under a cut because this is particularly dark

Yandere Spice basically acting like a cat is so fucking funny to me lol I love it

I'm so glad you think Spice is a smart guy due to having been the Herald of Change/History, because I think that too! He simply HAS to be intelligent, even wise to a degree. It would be ridiculous if he wasn't; being buff doesn't automatically mean you're dumb. And I LOVE the letter thing, I've always headcanoned Spice (the "normal" one, not the yandere one) as writing Golden romantic poetry (and her liking it lol. It helps win her over).

Now, with the murder gifts: of course Golden is horrified. Not only has Spice ended innocent lives, but he did it for her. In a way, it's her fault, and she feels horrible. Animal, person/cookie, doesn't matter, Spice has killed again and he gives the fruits of his sinful labor to her as a declaration of "love". It's sick. No matter how deranged she finds him, he finds a way to sink lower. (But... one thing: he never hurts birds. He has never once brought her a dead bird, because even he knows that's a step too far and she REALLY won't like it. It's the one little drop of care and tact that he possesses.)

But that twist: somewhere beneath all those layers of shock, disgust and righteous anger is... flattery. Sick, twisted flattery. There's nothing Golden loves more than being praised, than being worshiped, than being showered with attention and gifts... and Spice is doing that. He's feeding her ego, albeit in the worst way possible. And so great and terrible is her ego, no matter what she does to temper or suppress it, that somewhere deep down inside, she enjoys what he's doing. That he'll gladly kill for her. That he'll show off his hard work in search of her praise and admiration. She is a goddess and he knows it. He is giving her the adulation she rightfully deserves.

Now, of course, this contradicts her normally altruistic nature, and she has a massive crisis of conscience. She keeps everything Spice gives her, she keeps the heads and the letters and stores them all properly, because... Well, she tells herself that it's better this way. If she refused them, he would retaliate, if not against her then against another innocent. If she preserves the heads, she can later discover who they belonged to and hopefully return them to the person's family (and it was the least she could do; clean them up, give them back even a fraction of their grace and dignity...). If she reads the letters, she'll have better insight into his mind and how he thinks, and thus be able to formulate a better response to him and his behaviors. These excuses are what she mutters under her breath over and over as she sneaks the heads into her room, through the window so no one sees her. As she tidies and laminates the letters, and stores them in a secure folder that she tucks into a box under the bed (which eventually becomes boxes, the more and more letters she gets). As she expertly taxidermies the heads and places them on nice shelves in a hidden closet in her room. It's better this way. She has to do this.

...and these are all true, they really are. But at the same time... Existing alongside this pain and terror and crushing guilt, is the sick joy in knowing that she has someone wrapped around her finger this completely. And a Beast, too. The Beast of Destruction, no less. Burning Spice himself, heads over heels in love with her, willing to do anything to have her. It shouldn't please her to have a monster practically at her beck and call, but... it does. It really, truly does. And no matter how much she hates herself for it... It's never enough to make it stop.

Sometimes, she'll hint at a specific person she doesn't like - usually a known enemy of her kingdom - just to see if he'll do what she thinks he will. Sure enough, the next time they meet, he has that person's head ready for her, all but puffing his chest out in pride and grinning that hideous, face-splitting, cruel grin of his. She acts upset, but she's actually pleased to know that she was right: he WILL do what she tells him to, just to please her.

Sometimes she'll stand there admiring her ever-expanding taxidermy collection, congratulating herself on her hard work; she does a better and better job every time. (And when the guilt comes bubbling to the surface, asking her why they're still here and not with their loved ones so they can have a proper funeral, she tells it that Spice will lose it if he catches her giving them away. Or she'll be made out to be the one responsible, since she's the one who has them. Or they're dead, their souls have departed to the afterlife, what happens to their mortal vessels matters not anymore...)

Sometimes, when she's in bed at night, she'll pull out the letters and read them. Sometimes she'll read one, sometimes a few, sometimes all of them. Some are surprisingly sweet and romantic, full of oddly gentle and doting words; she can feel the warmth and affection soaked into the page. Others are downright vulgar; she feels her own face catch fire as she reads through what are obviously his fantasies, the list of ways in which he wants to pleasure her so long and graphic that she suspects he wrote them one-handed, if you know what I mean. The rest are just flat-out deranged: feverish rants about his ownership of her, how he hated and wanted to get rid of those around her, how she took everything from him (his power, his sanity, his heart, his soul) and he was willing to pardon it if she gave him everything of hers in turn. How he will never stop hunting her. How he will slaughter thousands to get to her. How he will bring the world to ruins just to have her to himself. Madness. All-consuming delusion that she fears is incurable.

But the worst part is... she doesn't know if she wants it to be anymore.

All she can do now is... hope he never finds out. Hope he never knows she feels this way. That she relishes his kills, his gifts. That she has a godforsaken trophy room now. That now she's as starved for his attention as he is for hers. (And he will. The idea is simply too tantalizing. He WILL find out eventually, someway, somehow - and when he does... Oh boy.)

TL;DR: Golden is so greedy that her greed has warped her into being as bad as Spice, at least in her own way. They probably deserve each other at this point. Pure, incorrigible arrogance and psychopathy all the way down. God/Witches have mercy on us all

[luxcuriousao3]

Dove (A Zombie!Ghost Story) Chapter Thirteen

Summary: All too soon, she finished up the stitches on his leg, and stood up to begin sewing up the gash over his unbeating heart. Lelia hummed as she worked, and he found his gaze drawn back to her, like a moth to a flame. The comparison was accurate, at least—he sought out her light and her warmth greedily, coveted it all for himself. And she gave it to him, let him touch and hold and taint her. He wondered if she would let him finger her, if he asked nicely… Word Count: 3002 Warnings: Ghost and Lelia have so many nsfw thoughts to the point that I'd call this chapter mildy nsfw, mentions of past abuse, pining (SO much pining, the pining reaches a fever pitch), fluffy fluff, past Ghoap (like. thats been hinted at since the beginning lol but I feel like this chapter in particular makes it abundantly clear they were a thing) Notes: So originally what kept me from posting was being incredibly busy with classes, work, and moving, but then I got smacked in the face with writers block. I wanted to speed things along now that Simon and Lelia have really established their dynamic, but I am famously bad at doing time skips in ways that are satisfactory to me. I rewrote some connecting in scenes in this chapter and the next soooo many times lol. I may or may not post some of them as noncanonical outtakes at some point, because I do like them, I just decided they didn't fit. Anyway, I have the next two chapters fully written and edited, and a third chapter almost complete. Hope you guys are excited! All dividers were made by @/sweetmelodygraphics (original post here). The zombie divider indicates the text below is Ghost's POV, the dove divider inidcates Lelia's POV. The combined dove and zombie divider represents a time skip but not a POV change. I still have no beta for this fic so all SPAG and consistency errors are my own, feel free to point them out. Comments and reblogs are highly appreciated!

AO3 | Masterlist

Ghost’s dove looked so peaceful in his arms, swaddled in her blankets like a little tyke. He watched her as she slept, petting her hair and playing with the drying curls. He had a vague memory of doing the same to someone else, before, though their hair was far shorter beneath his fingers. His brows furrowed as he tried to remember who else he’d touched like this—but before he could, the memory slipped away, and he was left feeling strangely empty.

He held Lelia tighter, burying his face in her hair and breathing in her scent. It soothed the ache in his chest, like she always did. His dove was his everything. She brought him back from the brink, she gave him purpose again and a will to go on. His past was gone to him, but Lelia was his present and his future. As long as he had her, he would be happy.

As for the Scottish accent and the blue eyes that haunted his mind… he couldn’t mourn what he didn’t remember.

And he didn't remember Johnny, not really. Just his eyes, his voice, his scent. Not his face or who he was to Simon. For all he knew, the man was dead and rotting, whether in the ground or wandering above it.

The thought made his heart twist unpleasantly. The image of those bright blue eyes as cloudy as his felt viscerally wrong. But then Lelia stirred in her sleep, murmuring unintelligibly, and Ghost focused back on her, grateful for the distraction.

She squirmed lazily in his lap, murmurs devolving into soft whimpers. At first, he thought she was having a nightmare, and he cooed at her to calm her down—but then he smelt it for the second time that day. Her arousal, subtle at first but growing more potent. He suddenly realized her noises were ones of pleasure, and he growled deep in his chest, staring down at her hungrily.

He wondered what—who—she was dreaming about. He wondered if it was him. Christ, he fucking hoped it was him.

Slowly, so as not to startle her awake, he slid the hand in her hair down to her nape, squeezing lightly. She shivered, whether at the slight pressure or the chill from his bare skin against hers, he didn’t know. Whatever it was, her squirming grew more desperate, and he had to fight the urge to reach between her legs and help her out.

Down, dog.

He exhaled sharply through his nose, reigning himself in. He moved his hand away from her nape, carefully rearranging his grip on her before standing up. She whined, eyes darting about beneath closed lids, a wave of her delicious scent rising up and crashing into him, taunting. He groaned, ducking his head and breathing in deeply. He was fucking dizzy with it, and so god damn hungry.

He shook himself out of his trance after a long moment, carrying his dove into the bedroom and tucking her in. He smoothed her hair back and out of her face, but when he caught his gaze lingering on the thrum of her pulse in her neck, he pulled away and left the room quickly. He needed to hunt, inhuman hunger gnawing at him, his twisted desire for her only making it worse. He wasn’t risking it by waiting for her to wake up or going back in to do it himself, either. Not when she smelled like a seven course meal, decadent and mouth-watering, laid out on the bed for him like a proper feast…

Bloody hell. He needed to leave.

Simon’s hands were all over her body, caressing her softly as he nuzzled his face against her neck. She could feel his drool pooling in her collarbones as he licked at her skin, teeth grazing her pulse point. She mewled, fingers tangled in his hair as the ache between her legs grew and the not-nerves squirmed low in her belly.

“Please,” she whimpered, tears in her eyes. But they weren’t from fear—they were from overwhelming desire. “Simon, please! I need you…”

Suddenly, Simon was inside her, and Lelia’s eyes rolled back as that terrible emptiness finally disappeared. She let out a sob of relief, clutching onto him tightly as he began to rock his hips up, forcing his cock deeper and deeper, filling her perfectly. His mouth found her nipples and she moaned, the drag of his tongue against the sensitive buds making her see stars.

“Simon…” she mumbled aloud, before her voice was lost to her dreams once again. “I love you.”

When Lelia awoke, it was light out. She yawned, opening bleary eyes and automatically reaching for her zombie—only to frown when she realized she was in bed, alone. She huffed, trying not to feel hurt that he’d left her, and dragged herself out of bed, wrapping a quilt around her shoulders to keep warm.

When she opened the door, Simon was standing outside her room, his back to her. As much as she’d rather have woken up in his arms, it did make her feel warm all over that he stood guard over her all night. It made her feel like she was a Princess, and he was her sworn shield. Her loyal Knight…

She blushed, pulling the blanket tighter around herself as Simon slowly turned around.

“Good morni— oh my days!”

Simon was covered in blood, and after her initial, instinctive panic, she realized he must have gone hunting. Her frown returned and she jabbed an accusatory finger into his chest, ignoring the tacky redness that got under her nail.

“What did I tell you about not waking me up when you get back from hunting?” She scolded him, even as she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the loo. He let her, despite his grumbling, and she nudged him to sit down as she rummaged through the medicine cabinet for his toothbrush. She let out a little aha! when she pulled it out, before diving back into locate their toothpaste. Instead, she found a small first aid kit hidden in the very back of the drawer. She was about to put it back when Simon grunted and snatched it out of her hands, rifling through it. He let out a pleased grumble when he found a tube of antibiotic ointment, but what caught Lelia’s attention was the needle and thread. She didn’t have time to grab it before Simon shut the first aid kit and put it on the shelf above the toilet, but her gaze lingered on the unassuming white box for a moment before she forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

A moment later, she cradled Simon’s broken jaw in her hand as she brushed his teeth, humming as she worked to free a stubborn tuft of bloody fur from his mouth.

“Do animals still taste different?” She asked him curiously. “Like how chicken and steak taste different.”

Simon huffed in amusement, lifting his hand from her hip to make a so-so gesture. She tilted her head to the side, thoughtful.

“Do you have a favorite?” She continued. He hesitated, but then shook his head. She narrowed her eyes, about to press him further, when she was distracted by the matted fur finally coming unstuck from between his teeth. She let out a small, triumphant noise, grinning. Though her smile didn’t last long. She wrinkled her nose as she dropped the fur in the rubbish bin and then quickly wiped her hand on a towel before turning back around. Simon’s eyes were crinkled at the corners, and she lightly smacked the back of his head. “Don’t you laugh at me, Mister. That was gross.”

Despite her complaints, she went back to cleaning him, giving his teeth another once over with the brush before setting it aside and grabbing a washcloth. Only then did she realize she didn’t have anything to wet it with, and she tsked, shuffling into the kitchen to grab a bowl of water and carry it back to the loo. Simon hadn’t moved, waiting patiently for her, and she set the bowl down on the edge of the sink before dipping the towel into it and beginning to clean his face.

“I need to wash your clothes, after,” Lelia said as she focused on wiping the dried blood from his skin and mask. She cast a furtive glance at the tub, and then swallowed thickly, unconsciously leaning closer to Simon. His hands tightened on her hips, steadying her. “I can do them in the kitchen sink.”

A smile slowly spread across her face, and she brightened up again.

“And you can finally wear that new outfit I found you!”

Simon groaned dramatically, and she giggled, wiping a way a bit of drool on his chin and taking a step back.

“There. Very handsome. But you’ll look even more handsome in that turtleneck,” she wheedled. Her cheeks grew pink when she realized what she’d said, but she didn’t take it back. It was true, after all.

“Very handsome.”

If Ghost could still flush, his whole face would be red as a damn tomato. He knew his touch turned his dove on, but that was worlds away from her thinking his ruined face was handsome. He was half convinced he’d misheard her, but then she repeated it, and Christ, he’d do anything for her to keep saying it. Keep believing it. Even if it meant letting her dress him up like a bloody doll.

So while Lelia went to fetch the clothes from the closet, he stripped out of his own, hesitating at his combat trousers. She’d never seen him without them before, unless she’d peeked at the river. But they were covered in blood as well, and he knew she’d throw a fit if any got on the clothes she’d picked out for him. So he shucked them off and shoved them into the corner of the room with the rest, leaving him in nothing but his skivvies.

Lelia’s blush immediately darkened when she came back, pretty pink lips parting and a soft gasp falling from them, eyes raking up and down his form. His nose picked up a hint of her tantalizing arousal, and he licked his teeth to keep from growling, letting her look her fill. He didn’t know how the hell she found him attractive, as destroyed and disgusting as he was, but he couldn’t deny that it made him feel a little less like a monster. A little more human.

Finally, she tore her eyes away, clearing her throat. They lit up when they landed on the shelf above the toilet, and she hung his new clothes on the towel rack before grabbing the first aid kit.

“I’m going to stitch those up,” she said, gesturing at him. He looked down at the numerous open gashes all over his body. But when she stepped up to him, he shook his head, placing a hand on the first aid kit and gently pushing it back towards her.

“Yyyoursss,” he reminded her, tapping the little white box. “Yyouu nneeed.”

“I’m not the one with open wounds,” his dove replied, already pulling out the supplies and threading the needle. When he reached for it again to stop her, she dodged his hands, notching her chin in the way he knew meant she wouldn’t back down. At the same time, she dropped to her knees in front of him, bracing her arm against his hips. His ruined brain faltered, trying to process the tantalizing sight before him, and he didn’t even notice when she began to stitch up a gash on his stomach, not until she was halfway done.

“Stay still,” Lelia scolded when he finally stopped swimming in his filthy thoughts enough to try and move away. He grumbled but obeyed, letting himself just enjoy her touch. “You’re lucky Ulyana taught me how to sew. She hated it—I had to beg her for weeks to give me lessons, you know. She always complained that she’d wanted to leave sewing behind with the USSR.”

Ghost snorted at that, and his dove looked up at him, a proud, sly smile on her face. She tied off the last stitch, and then immediately went to work on another wound, this time on the inside of his thigh, a few centimetres above his knee. He couldn’t help but wish it was higher—maybe then her small hand would brush against his cock. He wondered what her fingers would look like, wrapped around it. Would they even be long enough to touch? He doubted it, and the thrill that sent through him made him growl.

“Are you still pouting?” Lelia teased, and that only made the phantom ache in his prick all the worse. Christ, she had no idea the things she did to him. Giving him blue balls when his blood couldn’t even flow. “We’ll find another first aid kit, I’m sure. We haven’t even searched half the village. Besides, you protect me too well for me to need stitches, don’t you?”

Her words were accompanied by a chaste kiss to his knee, and the noise Ghost let out was utterly pathetic. He was a right pervert, getting off on her tender care for him, her innocence. But he couldn’t help himself. So he looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of anything other than how bloody wonderful it would be to feel those soft, warm lips on his cock.

All too soon, she finished up the stitches on his leg, and stood up to begin sewing up the gash over his unbeating heart. Lelia hummed as she worked, and he found his gaze drawn back to her, like a moth to a flame. The comparison was accurate, at least—he sought out her light and her warmth greedily, coveted it all for himself. And she gave it to him, let him touch and hold and taint her. He wondered if she would let him finger her, if he asked nicely…

He grunted, jerking his head sharply, ridding himself of the thought. He wouldn’t do that to her. He promised to protect her, not take advantage of her. He refused to be like her ex-husband. He would never give Lelia a reason to fear him.

“There,” his dove said, smoothing her palm over her handiwork, a proud smile on her face. “Front side is all done. I should have gone to medical school.”

Ghost snorted, wishing he could joke back and forth with her. There was something familiar about the idea, like banter was something he was used to. Maybe he had been, Before.

By the time she closed up the gashes on his back and one on his calf, the thread was completely gone. She stepped back to put the first aid kit away, and Ghost grabbed the clothes she’d picked out for him, staring dubiously at the turtle neck. He’d look like a bloody wanker wearing it, he just knew it, so he slipped the slacks on first. As he fumbled with the fly, Lelia batted his hands away and took over for him. Damn buttons still gave him trouble—but that was the last thing he was thinking about with his dove’s hands so close to his cock again. If he shifted just a little bit, she’d touch him…

Before he could do something stupid, she got the button sorted and grabbed the jumper, gesturing for him to put his arms up. He raised a brow beneath the mask and did as she asked—and then snorted when she climbed onto the closed toilet so she could slip it over his head.

“Shooorttt,” he teased, and she pouted dramatically, her expression barely hiding her smile.

“Rude,” she shot back, jabbing his bare chest with her pointer finger before trying to smother him to his second death with the jumper. At least that was what it felt like when she yanked it over his head. He howled dramatically, and was rewarded with the sound of her sweet giggles. “Stop squirming around! You’re only making it worse.”

Ghost grumbled but stilled, and soon enough, he was staring at himself in the mirror after helping his dove down from her perch. He was a sight to behold—a decrepit monster wearing such posh clothing. But Lelia’s eyes were bright and the scent of her arousal flared stronger, and that was all that mattered to him—not how ridiculous he looked.

“I was right,” she said, her small hand clutching his bicep as she gazed at his reflection. “You look even more dashing, now.”

A low rumble sounded in his chest, and he bit it back to keep from scaring her. But the way she said it, sweet voice sounding almost sultry… Christ, he’d be hard as steel if his prick worked.

“Come on,” she finally said, sliding her hand down his arm to lace their fingers together. She grabbed his dirty gear from the corner and pulled him over to the kitchen. He let her push him into a chair, glancing at her arse when she turned back around to carry the laundry to the sink. He wouldn’t hurt her just by looking, right? She’d looked at him, after all. “Keep me company while I clean this, hmm?”

Ghost grunted his agreement, watching her wash his clothes as she hummed. She looked like the perfect little housewife. All she was missing was a pair of oven gloves and an apron.

He didn’t remember much about his life Before, but he knew enough that he never would have had this, then. Never would have had her, in any form. She wouldn’t have looked twice at a military dog like him, probably would’ve run the other way the second she saw him. And she would’ve been right to. He didn’t deserve her in that life. Still didn’t deserve her in this one, but he had her, in a way, and he’d be damned if he didn’t make the most of it.

[moonydustx]

HEAR MY WISH! So, did you hear the new song from Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga? "Die with a smile" could you write something like that with Trafalgar Law x Reader (reader dies)

I'm not even going to talk about how late I am with this, I'm a shame. And yes, I've heard the song and I love it. Maybe I deviated a little from your request. I hope you still like it

Besides the music, completely based on the ending of Superman & Lois (I still cry about it)

Eternity

info: lots and I mean LOTS of angst, but with a fluff kinda happy ending. spoiler alert: everyone dies. Life after death (I don't really know how to define that).

Trigger warning: Implicit mentions of violence and suicide (We don’t have anything explicit or detailed.)

Law x F!Reader

Before his body met the icy water, the last thing he saw were your eyes.

Open, adorned by your hair. Two orbs that were full of love for him. Now they were outlined by blood and remained open without any shine.

The sounds of gunshots and exasperated screams became increasingly distant, increasingly muffled by the sea that embraced Law and took him away from all that. It no longer made sense to be there.

The idea of ​​staying gained many meanings for Law throughout his not-so-long life. Staying at war and dragging everyone he could to his pre-defined tombstone; staying alive and avenging and honoring those who had been killed as a shield for him; staying by the side of the family he chose, as a source of protection and support. That included staying by your side, as a source of love, something he had recently discovered he was capable of.

But now, considering that the human brain developed until the age of 25, dying at 26 means that perhaps Law didn't know all the meanings of staying alive. Or that at the very least the knowledge was still new and fresh to him, as fresh as the smell of blood he had smelled not long ago. Your blood. His crewmates blood. In the end, he, for example, chose not to stay alive. And if he chose not to stay alive, why was he standing there, on the edge of the same port where he had chosen to sink into the salt water?

A few blinks and a few mumbles were enough, and little by little the smoke-filled scenery was replaced by a breathtaking sunset. That fast, just as he used his own powers to change places. His brain was still trying to understand what was happening. Why is the sky so beautiful, just like the grass so green at his feet?

"It's really strange to get here." A female voice caught his attention enough that he barely paid attention to what she was saying. Word by word.

Hair flowing, an almost anxious smile adorned the teenager's almost angelic face. He didn't know who it was, but it was so familiar and comforting to look at.

"…I mean, lucky mommy and daddy got here first, I'd be dead if I got here alone. Well, technically…" she continued with the barrage of information.

She was dead? Mommy and daddy got here first? A familiar face.

Mommy and daddy got here first.

Oh

Tripping over his own feet, it took a few seconds for Law to compute that the person he had trapped in his embrace was different from the last time he saw her. No more dark circles and the frightened look. The white spots seemed to have been left behind.

"Lami!" His voice came out as a relieved whisper, pulling back enough to be able to observe her. "You've grown up!"

"You too, little brother." The girl laughed, an almost impossible happiness to contain. "I'm just sad that you're already here."

"Here?"

"Well, here we are, mommy, daddy…"

"Me!" Bepo's voice arrived before he could even gather Lami and Law in a hug. "You're finally here, captain."

"It's good to see you, man." Law returned the gesture and quickly got away from the bear.

Looking into the distance, from where he had seen his furry friend running towards him, Law could barely contain a smile on his face. In front of the stunning sunset was him, who had long been what he called home and who now he imagined was at the bottom of the ocean. The Polar Tang in all its glory and around them, some distracted friends were talking.

However, what caught his attention were two people sitting side by side who seemed to be looking sideways in his direction. Even though they were still far away, Law could feel his heart pounding at the sight of such silhouettes.

"Go on, they're waiting for you." Lami's voice said in the background.

The previously fast paced steps were now almost unsteady. If he closed his eyes, Law could see the last time he saw them, it was as if the heat of the flames met his skin. However, now it was different. Still hesitant, he only felt the muscles in his body relax as he was pulled by his mother's arms, who hugged him as if he were still her little boy.

"Oh my sweet child, how long it's been!" She exclaimed, pulling away just enough to look him in the eyes. With one hand, she touched his face and with the other, her husband's face. "Law, you're just like your father."

The three of them remained there for a few seconds - in fact, for almost an eternity and yet that was little compared to how much the pirate had missed (and felt guilty) for having lost those two.

"I'm proud of you." His father said, ruffling the dark strands on top of his hair.

"Me too." The woman added, but soon sulked. "I mean, you could have eased up on the tattoos and not gotten into so many fights…"

"Mom." Even with his scolding tone, the word sounded incredible on his lips.

"Besides, you weren't eating properly! Did you have to stay up late working? She was right."

She.

God, he didn't need to listen to her name to find out who the "she" was that his mother was referring to. Noticing the surprised face drawn on Law's face, the woman couldn't stop laughing, knowing that was exactly what he needed to hear.

"Go on, she's waiting for you." His father warned, nodding toward the submarine.

"You made a good choice, my son. My daughter-in-law seems like an incredible woman."

Still stunned by seeing those faces he loved so much and imagined how they would look in his head, Law headed toward the submarine. Familiar faces and smiles from his companions followed by shouts of "the captain is here" accompanied him with every step, with every wave he gave.

For a few seconds he wondered where you really were and, as I said, it was only seconds until he found out. Heading toward the submarine's infirmary - the place where he had gathered the courage he had gained over the years of partnership to finally kiss you - something interrupted him. A familiar smell of cigarette smoke, with something else burning.

Law took a few steps back and found him, hiding in one of the cracks, putting out the ashes of what had been a fire on his coat.

"Look who's here." Corazon's voice came out excited, accompanied by a laugh. "What a man you've become!"

"Cora, I… I" Law would be lying if he said it was easy to control the avalanche of emotions that were raging through him all at once. It was like being recognized as a man, like a mission completed. All of this behind the eyes of the scared and hopeless child he once was. "I -I became a pirate a-and I defeated Doflamingo, along with Luffy, but…"

"We can leave that for later." He stroked the younger man's dark hair. "You have an important meeting waiting for you."

Law just nodded and continued walking in the direction of the meeting point.

Did his hands make that much sweat when he had your first date? He couldn't say, but at that moment he was nervous. What if you were furious? What if you weren't there?

As if by magic, everything seemed to be ripped away from him. At least, all the fear and insecurity. There you were, standing there waiting for him. The same clothes you wore the first time you kissed, the same smile. God, how beautiful you were.

"You!" your voice came out excited, but soon your eyebrows lowered, in a melancholic tone. "Does that mean they got you too?"

Law just shook his head. It wasn't the time for him to remember what he had done, to pass on this burden that he knew would be an immense weight for him. When he got closer, the first thing he did was not hug or kiss you. He reached for your clothes, pulling them away enough to see the part of your body that covered one of your most important possessions, your heart. The smooth, immaculate skin drew a smile from him. The last time he had seen it, there had been a hole surrounded by blood there.

His tattooed fingers caressed your skin, an immense joy imprinted in each touch of seeing you whole, there. His fingers slid down your body until they found the freedom to pull you into a hug.

"It was a nightmare out there." he said, still buried against the skin of your neck, feeling your fingers tangle against his hair. "The world was ending, everyone was gone, you were there and then…" he sighed deeply, feeling your scent against him.

Law then pulled away just enough to put your forehead to his. The ring that you both wore on a necklace seemed to shine with the orange light that came in through the window.

"Do you remember that promise?" he picked up the ring that fell on your lap.

"We are one. If you fight, I fight; wherever you go, that's where I'll go."

"That implies that I couldn't leave you alone here, ever." he smiled broadly, a smile you hadn't seen in a long time.

"And how are you feeling?" At that moment, his hands held you like the most precious thing.

And maybe in the real world you two were still sinking in salty waters. Maybe the bastards who had hit you had taken your bodies. That no longer mattered to Law.

"I'm happy." He smiled once more, his lips almost touching the heavens. "I finally have everything I've ever wanted."

[dunmeshichilchuck]

For That One Guy On Tumblr part 8

Chilchuck x !fem !halffoot reader

:) I think some of you guys are gonna like this one.

You'd been afraid working with Chilchuck would be difficult, if not impossible, but you soon settled into an easy rhythm with him. With the both of you working together, you could cover more ground. Soon you worked out an almost code to signal to each other, quiet warnings and quick clicks of the tongue. 

The traps were sporadic and sometimes difficult to find and prepare for. Sometimes they were triggered by movement, sometimes by pressure. You weren't sure if you would have been able to get through them all alone. 

The labyrinth changed around you as you moved, doors clicking into place or disappearing. Soon you'd been unwillingly shunted off what you'd thought was the main corridor into who knows where. 

Eventually you came to a dead end. Chilchuck huffed in exasperation. "Damnit I'll have to either find some way through this or we'll need to backtrack, which would lose us a lot of time."

"Well if it's going to be a minute until we can move on we might as well stop for a meal now." Senshi said cheerfully. 

He stopped and made a move to unpack. You held up a hand. "hold on! Let me check this area for traps." 

You quickly combed the area. Surprisingly, it was completely clean for about ten feet away from the dead end. Definitely enough to set up a quick camp site. 

Once finished, Senshi began happily unpacking and then slicing up the walking mushroom. You joined Chilchuck in poking around the walls for hidden passageways. 

"There's no traps right around here. Not for another ten feet back" You said. 

"Yup, that's why I'm thinking it's not actually a dead end. Something's gotta move"

You nodded, and continued combing over the wall, poking and prodding at the bricks. 

"That was a really dumb thing you did back there."

You glanced up, affronted. Did you somehow miss a trap? "What? What did I do?"

"You know what I mean!" Chilchuck quietly hissed. "Tackling Izutzumi! There was a solid chance that wouldn't have worked and you haven't built up nearly enough body mass for resurrection to work again! We could have resurrected Izutzumi, I don't know if we could have resurrected you. It's not our job to put ourselves in danger unnecessarily! It's not brave, it's just stupid." 

You bristled and hissed back. "It wasn't like I planned that! I saw someone in danger and reacted. If I'd stopped to make a thought out plan Izutzumi would have died, and I don't know if you noticed but she's not exactly over abundant in body mass herself."

"Yes but she has more than you do! We *have* to keep expectations consistent across all halffoot workers, that's how this works and how the union continues to function. Yeah maybe you're okay with putting your life at risk for a stupid fucking reason but no halffoot should be forced into that!" 

"I'm not part of the union." You shot back. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Izutzumi watching you with a bored expression. Ah. Cat ears.

You switched seamlessly into your native tongue, your voice rising a bit from anger. "When I went into the dungeon there were no regulations and you had to do whatever it took to prove you deserved to be here! Yeah we're both halffoots, but you're a man and you're tall for a halffoot, do you have any idea what it's like to be a tiny halffoot *woman* trying to get people to take her seriously? I learned how to fight and how to do stuff like that out of *necessity* because otherwise I would have been dropped by the wayside! And I don't have a contract with this party, and it might be nice to have another trap guy but they don't actually *need* me, and I'm telling you right now I will NOT be left behind and I WILL do WHATEVER it takes to be a part of this party. I don't give a shit about your fucking union. Let me take my own risks and stop treating me like a goddamn child, I have enough of that from the other races." 

You were half yelling by the end of that and your face was flushed and hot.  How dare he try and sit there and talk you through how halffoots were exploited like you hadn't gone through it too? Preaching on his fucking high horse. 

Chilchuck scowled, but he looked just slightly taken aback. He'd glanced at Izutzumi when you did and probably had picked up what you had, because he answered in the same language. "You don't have... Fuck you're right. I can probably negotiate one for you, you really don't have to do stuff like that just to be in this party. Why does it even matter to you so much? You don't need to stay here, you don't need to be doing this, we can just send you back. Marcilles all shy about it but they can learn the home spell from their book I bet. She picks stuff up real fast." 

You grit your teeth and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Tell me. ONE. personal fact. About yourself." 

He blinked, mouth hanging open before he snapped it shut. "What?" 

"I've heard Marcille referencing her school, Laois talks about his sister and a bit about his village, Senshi won't shut up about the stuff he's into, and Izutzumi is Izutzumi, but YOU don't share SHIT. so if you want ME to start sharing you better fucking open up too buddy."

"I- that's not- what- I keep my personal and professional life very separate!"

You grinned. "Then don't expect me to be any different." 

Chilchuck opened his mouth to retort, before shutting it again. Then he shrugged. "Yeah that's fair, keep your reasons to yourself, I'll negotiate you a contract anyway, just forms sake." 

You put your hand down, the wind a bit let out of your sails. You hadn't expected him to back down so easy and you felt oddly...disappointed. it'd been a bit since you'd had a really good knock down drag out argument. 

"Food is ready!" Senshi said "Come and eat while it's hot!" 

Taglist, ask to tag:

@hopefully-not

@night-shadowblood-writes2

@thoughtfulbelieverstrawberry

@dunmeshimeshi

@leguink 

@gh0st-spider

@reh-llik

@sy1v30n

@qardasngan

@mshope16

@drowsydoggy

@anaxnee

[fizzyapplecandy]

The Friendly Ghost Girl

Genre: fluff, angst, strangers to lovers, happy ending (different from each person's perspective)

warnings: character death, heavy themes

4.9k words

Summary:

Is there life after death? After meeting a stranger on his deathbed, a friendly ghost decides to stick around to help him find his peace.

Sometimes, things don't turn out the way you want them to.

You imagine what your life will look like two, five, ten years from now.

A house in the suburbs, a cozy fireplace where you tell Christmas stories, a fluffy dog sitting in the corner...

You get the gist.

Unfortunately for me, this will never be the case.

As I stand over my lifeless body, limbs sprawled on the pavement, paramedics rushing around the scene, I can't help but wonder one thing.

Is death truly the end?

I was an honour student in high school. The best grades, the most accomplishments, medals in every competition there were. College came naturally to someone like me. With a major in business, I was on the way to becoming a success. I could feel it in my veins.

The only thing I feel now is the light breeze coursing through my body as I sit on the edge of a bridge.

In theory, if you fall from this height, you'll probably end up dead. In practise, I am already dead, so this doesn't apply to me.

I don't know what went wrong. One minute I was laughing with my friends, stumbling around after one too many tequila shots, and the next...

I shake my head as the image of running cars passes before my eyes. I feel bad about the people who were with me that night. The sight was not pretty.

I was about to leap from my spot and disappear into the night when I heard whimpering from my right. There are many people crossing over this bridge, but mostly with their cars. I turned my head around and there he was.

Standing a couple of feet beside me, a handsome man leaned down to look into the flowing water under the high bridge. He had a solemn expression on his face. His eyes were red, nose runny, fingers almost blue in colour.

What caught my attention the most were his blood stained lips, and his bare feet.

He looked like he was on the brink of death.

He gripped the railing, and sniffled. I almost felt bad for him, but then I remembered he was the one with a beating heart.

I scoffed.

"Pathetic."

His eyes widened and he turned towards me.

Our eyes met.

Wait?

He could see me?

"Hey there. Isn't it dangerous to be sitting on a ledge so high up?"

"Almost as dangerous as going barefoot in this cold weather. On a non-pedestrian bridge."

A tight lipped smile stretched across his face.

"Fair enough."

I jumped back down and came to a stop before him. He was even prettier up close. With his high nose, foxy eyes and the cutest little mole underneath one of them.

That didn't change the fact that he looked too ill to be standing.

"Is there a reason you chose to come here like this?"

He nodded.

"You see, you are a complete stranger. Which makes it good, because you aren't biased to me personally. Which further means you can give out your honest opinion."

Weird, but hey, he's the first person I've talked to in... Well, I don't know how long.

I crossed my arms in front of me and gestured for him to continue.

"You see... I'm dying. Like, for real. I have had this autoimmune disease and it's been a pain in my ass for ages now. The doctors don't know what to do anymore. They say I'm not going to be able to walk for much longer, or talk. And everything else that comes with being alive. So, to retaliate, I'm going to jump off of this bridge while I'm still myself. I don't want to die tied to bed."

He took a deep breath after finishing his rambling, and it's to say I'm surprised is an understatement.

I took it all in before looking into his eyes. I could tell he was struggling.

"Listen up good buddy, because you aren't going to believe me. I, for one, can say that death is boring, but bearable. If I was in your shoes, I'd do the same. However, seeing as I'm already dead, I can't really help you. I get the point, but it's a stupid one."

He let out a barking laugh. God, was it annoying.

"Okay, I'm probably already far gone. Or you are just a seriously crazy lady. There is no way you are dead."

Was he calling me a liar?

"I'll have you know I am as dead as it can be. Buried six feet under, white casket and all that jazz." I did like my white casket.

He started shaking his head. "Cut it out, I'm supposed to be the neurotic one."

Before he could move, I went right through his body.

He froze. Slowly, he turned around. His face became even paler than before.

I smirked.

"Told you I was dead."

He stood there, looking at me, mouth wide open.

"But... How? I see you! I know I see you!"

With his finger pointing at me, he couldn't stop fidgeting.

"I know that. I don't have a single clue either. However, you are the first person who's talked to me in months, so I don't want to question it."

"Fair point. Does this mean..."

"There you are!"

I turned around and saw a tall man running towards us. Well, my new friend to be exact.

"We've been worried sick Wooyoung! You can't just leave like that! The nurses are going around the hospital like lunatics. Your mom is in shambles. And you're barefoot, again! Are you insane?"

The boy, Wooyoung, put his hands up in defence.

"Okay, okay. Calm down Mingi. I know it all too well."

Tall man, Mingi, ran straight through me and grabbed Wooyoung by his shoulders. Rude much?

"I'm sorry about the yelling. I'm just glad I found you. Come on, we have to go back, it's freezing out here."

Wooyoung nodded and glanced at me.

"We're going to the Seoul Medical Center, the one across from the main shopping mall?"

Mingi furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why are you being so specific? You know where we're going."

By the look in Wooyoung's eyes I knew that information was for me.

I nodded and waved him off.

"I'll come find you later buddy, go now. You've made a mess out of your friends and family."

Mingi ushered him inside his car and I watched them drive away into the night. Wooyoung turned around and watched me as they disappeared along the road.

"Seems like this isn't going to be so boring after all."

.

.

It's been a few days since my encounter with Wooyoung. The only living person who knows of my existence. I've yet to go visit him in the hospital. I have to admit I'm afraid.

Afraid that all of it was just a moment, and if I appear again, I'll be invisible.

It's also fun to keep men on their toes.

It all came to an end when I found myself in front of his hospital room. It's easy to get the information you need when you are invisible.

I looked into the little window and saw him sitting on his bed, a tray of untouched food beside him. He was gazing at the sunset with a small smile on his face. I took one step inside and cleared my throat.

"Well, here I am. You probably can't hear me anymore. So bye now, it was nice meeting you."

I turned on my heel when he interrupted me.

"Wait."

Shoot. Here we go.

"I hear you. I see you. Don't worry, I'm just spaced out at the moment. This new medication is a pain in my ass."

I nodded and slowly moved towards him.

"Hey I get it. We're not in a normal situation anyway. How have you been? Still thinking about jumping from bridges?"

He snorted a laugh.

"You wish. They've been keeping an eye on me since that night. Security had been notified of my escape plans. Now I have guards surrounding my door at night." He turned to look at me.

"You know, I'm jealous of you."

What? Of me?

I pointed to myself. "You're jealous of a dead girl?"

He nodded. "Yep. You get to do what you want without any consequences. Like, really, you can go anywhere you want, see the world, scare people..."

I put my hands up to stop him.

"Okay. Hold on. You think this is fun? I'm literally a ghost. No one can see me, my family put me into the ground, and I'm constantly levitating. You know how lonely I get?"

He was silent so I continued my rant.

"I've been contemplating for days about visiting you. You are the only thing that made me feel human again. You see me. You hear me. You annoy me as well."

Wooyoung chuckled. "I get that a lot."

"You probably deserve it."

"Put yourself in my shoes for a second. I'm living every day thinking it's my last. My friends keep crying, my family's already planned out my funeral. They are asking me about floral arrangements! They want me to be a part of it, even when I'm dead and cold. I just want to go on my own terms, without this whole ordeal."

"My mom put red roses on my casket even when she knew I liked pink ones better."

He shut his mouth and looked at me in confusion.

"What?"

"What I'm trying to say is, those things don't matter. They want you included because they think it's the only way to make you feel more comfortable about the fact that you are dying."

"I get that. I do. But they are suffocating me."

"Too bad for you then. I'd kill to have conversations like these. Wanna know something funny? More like morbid. They couldn't let my parents see me until they put my head back onto my shoulders. A truck came out of nowhere carrying glass plates. And what do you know? One fell, started an avalanche, I was too drunk and carless and here I am!"

I gestured around me as I stood up.

"You have to get that through your head. Not everyone has a support system like you do."

He looked down at his bare feet.

"I'm sorry you died."

"Yeah, me too."

I sat next to him again. I knew he was at a crossroad. Not a single person in the world would like to be in his shoes now. Death is a tricky bastard. I tried putting my hand on his shoulder, but it went right through.

He shivered. "Woah, that felt weird."

"I guess. Sorry, I don't know why I did that." I gazed out the window while he searched my face with his curious eyes.

"You know, for a ghost, you're really pretty."

I scoffed.

"Yeah, thanks."

I couldn't help but wonder if my cheeks would have flared up at the compliment if I was alive. They probably would. He wasn't so bad to look at, but I can't make myself tell him that.

It felt comfortable, sitting next to him in the silence that followed. It was almost... Normal.

Like he was a guy, I was a girl, we were in the moment, that was it.

"You know you never told me your name?" I turned my head towards him and hummed.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm Y/N. Renowned ghost girl."

I put my hand out for him to shake, even though I knew it was impossible. Still, he reached over and our palms were inches away, doing a make believe handshake.

"Nice to meet you Y/N. You already know who I am. Tell me Y/N, how is ghost life treating you?"

"Well it was rough at first, because I didn't have a clue what happened. After a while it becomes... Boring I suppose. I do have fun going around different places, but I never seem to find any..." I trailed off and looked at my hands.

"I never seem to find peace. It's what I want the most."

Wooyoung sighed. "I guess peace is the one thing everybody's looking for."

"You know, I've met some other ghosts, but only briefly. They all moved on from this in between space faster than me. I don't know what I'm doing here. I've made my piece with the fact that I'm dead. I've said my goodbyes. So I don't know why I'm still here."

"Maybe there is something you haven't done? Think about it. There has to be a thing you didn't do, never had the chance, and now you can't settle."

I blinked at him. Then it came.

"I've never been in love." Wooyoung choked.

"What?"

"I've never loved someone. Sure, I liked the guys I've been with, but there was never a person I've fallen in love with. I didn't think that would set me back so much."

"That kind of makes sense."

"If this is what's holding me back I'm going to be here forever."

"And why is that?"

I looked at him and sighed.

"If you haven't noticed already, I'm dead. No one is going to fall in love with a ghost. But, hey, at least I will get to witness flying cars in the future."

Wooyoung chuckled. "I like your sense of humor. Don't worry about being alone though. Once I'm gone, I'll be at your side looking at the flying cars."

"You want to tell me you've never been in love as well?"

"Never, not once. It's difficult to date people when you are bound to your bed most of the time. They can't handle it."

"Well then, my friend, we are going to have a blast."

Our eyes met and I couldn't quite place the feeling in my chest. It kind of tingles? Wooyoung is a handsome boy, even with the obvious signs of his illness showing. He is also quirky, but in a good way.

He cleared his throat.

"My mom's going to be here soon. She always comes in the late afternoon, says it's the calmest time in the hospital. I want you to stay, but I might feel awkward."

I stood up and went to the door.

"No, no. I get it. I've got places to be anyways. Listen, Wooyoung. Try not to make this time miserable for your parents and friends. This is all they have left with you. Be more positive, okay? I'll be by your side in the meantime. It doesn't hurt to have a friend who knows the ropes, if you get what I mean." I smiled as I gestured around myself. He nodded and watched as I disappeared through the wall.

The cavity in my chest was getting a lot tighter lately, and now it seemed like it was going to suffocate me. Jokes on you, I'm already dead.

.

.

Two days later I went to see him again. I wish I didn't.

He was hooked up on various machines, his face even paler than before. And here I thought I was the ghost.

A nurse was checking his vitals before letting out a sigh and walking outside. I was careful to approach his bed, afraid of disturbing the peace in the room. Once I got closer, I could see just how much worse he looked than the last time I was here.

I carefully sat in the bed and cleared my throat.

"Hey there... You look rough buddy." I shook my head. "Sorry, that was rude. What happened in the last couple of days Wooyoung?"

It was difficult to look at him. I couldn't quite place the feeling in my hollow chest, but it wasn't good.

I knew it was a shot in the dark, but I had the sudden urge to hold his hand. I reached over and lightly placed my fingers in his cold hand.

Wait?

Cold?

I furrowed my eyebrows and squeezed his hand.

I could feel him? I could actually feel his skin?

"Oh my... Wooyoung! It's a miracle, look! I can touch you! Hey, buddy, you've got to wake up. I can't be the only one excited about this."

He was as still as a statue.

"Come on Woo. Wake up and look at me."

He still wasn't giving any signs of waking up, but the beeping of his heart monitor became louder. Soon enough the machine started going loud and crazy. Nurses rushed in and I quickly moved away. As soon as I let go, his heartbeat became normal.

We all looked at him in confusion. Was he actually able to feel me in his unconscious state? The nurses went around, double-checking everything. My eyes were focused on his face. I could see his eyelids fluttering.

Soon enough, he slowly opened his eyes and looked directly at me. The nurse shot a light at his pupils, but he tried moving her away without breaking our gaze.

They fussed around some more while I stood waiting patiently. He never moved his eyes from me.

As soon as the door closed, he let out a tired chuckle.

"So, touching me in my sleep? Very naughty of you Y/N."

I wasn't sure if ghosts could blush, but I sure felt a bit warm.

"Hey, it wasn't like that and you know it."

I came closer and sat on the edge of the bed again.

"Wooyoung. You felt it, didn't you?" He nodded.

"I don't know how this is possible Woo."

He smiled. "I like it when you call me that."

He let out a sigh. "I suppose this is a sign. I am about to die, you know? Maybe the spirit forces and gods want me to get used to it."

His ramblings were far fetched, but kind of made sense.

"Well, I mean... I don't know. But, it's nice to finally feel something real." Without hesitation, I placed my hand on his again. He interlaced our fingers and moved his thumb to caress my hand. I felt slight tingles running through my palm. It felt... Nice. Warm, comforting, everything I've missed since my untimely death.

"You're really cold Y/N. I should get used to that."

I laughed. "Yeah, that's one thing you won't be able to escape. But it's okay, you won't notice it. Or you'll get used to it."

He nodded.

"You know, I'm glad I met you Y/N. At least now I know I won't be so alone once I pass. I think about you when you're not here. It makes me happy I suppose. Now, I do have one request from you."

I could hear his voice getting weaker. I knew he was tired, so I nodded for him to continue.

"Will you wait for me? I know you have the whole world to explore, and maybe you want to move on quicker, but please... Wait for me to come. I don't want to be without you."

He squeezed my hand with the little strength he had, his pleasing gaze almost piercing me.

He wanted me? I've never had someone so desperate for me, since I knew I was nothing special. But Wooyoung thought I was, and that should count for something.

I placed my other hand on his cheek. His eyes widened, but he didn't move away. He almost leaned into my touch.

"I'll wait for you Woo. I can't leave my only friend hanging."

His mouth stretched into a wide smile and he grabbed the hand that was on his cheek, caressing it lightly.

"Thank you, Y/N."

I nodded and untangled myself from him before standing up. I went towards the door and turned around to look at him.

"I'll leave you now, but I'll come back. Rest for now buddy, you've had a rough day." He nodded and waved.

"Bye angel, see you soon."

.

.

Life doesn't care if you are happy. It always finds a way to mess with you. Once you get too comfortable, it slaps you so hard you get whiplash. I don't know if people can die from heartbreak, and I'll never find out as I'm already dead. I suppose it could be possible.

I wasn't happy about the fact that Wooyoung was dying. That's absurd. I was happy that we found each other in our darkest moments, finding comfort in one another. I was imagining what life on the other side would be like once he joined me.

I came to the realisation that I've fallen for him in a way. Being inexperienced in love, and then seeing how good it could feel gave me a wave of happiness.

About three days have passed since I've seen him. I promised I would come back once he got a bit more stable, but I was prepared for the worst.

What I wasn't prepared for is seeing him almost jumping around his room in glee. His cheeks were rosy, his feet no longer bare, and his laugh filled out the room. He looked healthy.

There was a pang of anxiety running through me.

The worst part, he didn't even notice me. The room was full of his friends. I remember the talk one from the night on the bridge. Mingi, was it? The others were called Seonghwa and San. I gathered as much sitting in the corner of the room, watching them interact.

He usually gave me a sign if he knew I was there, but now there was nothing.

It brought me joy to see him so happy, but I had an internal conflict. Didn't we agree to be with each other? Was it so impossible for me to be happy, after everything? I knew my happiness would cost Wooyoung his life, but I was desperate at this point. I couldn't help but accept the fact that he was better, and he no longer stood on death's door.

His friends left after a while and we were alone. He sat on his bed and gazed out the window. He sighed, his smile going down.

"Hey Y/N. I don't know if you're here right now. I don't know if I can see you anymore. Wanna hear something funny? The doctors said my test all came back really positive. After the other night when we held hands, I only got better. I think you helped me in a way. You know, I was actually excited to be with you. I... I think I fell in love with you. Maybe you were a fragment of my imagination? My body isn't exactly in its best condition. Who knows... Thank you Y/N. I want you to find peace." He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"No, wait... I know I might sound insane and selfish, but... I don't want you to go. I want you here. I want you to be here. Why is it so hard for us to be happy? We could've been happy! My God Y/N I can't... I miss you..."

Tears slowly made their way down his face. My eyes stung, but I knew I wasn't able to cry. It broke my non-beating heart to see him like this. He was in complete shambles over me, a ghost. Someone who isn't real anymore.

I slowly approached his side and sat next to him. I made sure we didn't accidentally touch.

"Hey Woo... It's okay buddy. We knew it was impossible from the start. Everything we had was impossible. But it's going to be okay baby. You're going to get even better in time. You'll find a nice, pretty girlfriend. She would have to get used to your sarcasm, but with the amount of charm you possess it won't be difficult. I'm going to miss you, though. You've made me happy these past few weeks. Thank you for that. I might be able to move on finally. I did the thing I've never done before. I fell in love."

I knew he couldn't hear me anymore, but it felt comforting to confess to him.

He was wiping away his tears and smiling. His wanted to place his hand on the bed, but he accidentally put it on my outstretched palm.

Wait.

I quickly moved away and stood up. He shot up as well.

"Y/N? You felt that, didn't you? I knew you were here! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Y/N! Please don't go away, stay with me. Just for a moment longer. Please..."

He crouched down and leaned his back against the wall, sobbing again. It was hard seeing him so distraught.

I sat next to him and slowly leaned my head against his shoulder.

He let out a cry.

"Thank you Y/N... Just for a moment. Be here for just a moment longer."

And so we sat there. The room was quiet, aside from his desperate sobbing. It was as bittersweet as it gets.

He calmed down after some time and I felt his breathing get even. He fell asleep with his head against mine.

I slowly stood up and made him comfortable on the floor. I didn't have the strength to move him to the bed, so this would have to do.

I moved his hair out of his eyes, caressing his cheek and that cute little mole he had. I slowly leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"I wish you all the best Woo. I'll see you, someday. Goodbye."

With that, I disappeared into the night.

.

.

The view from the bridge was the same as that fateful night. The flowing water from bellow was calming my mind though. It brought me a sense of tranquility. It's been a week since I've said my goodbyes to Wooyoung in the hospital. It's been difficult to say the least. I can't stop thinking about him, our late night conversations in his hospital bed, the promises we've made.

I knew it was selfish of me, but I was sad, so I allowed myself to be selfish for a moment.

I couldn't bring myself to visit him anymore. It would be too difficult. I knew he had enough of a support system beside him.

I couldn't help but wonder if he missed me as much as I missed him. I'm a smart girl. I know he will find someone to fill up the space in his heart again. He will have a big family house, Christmas morning in front of the fireplace, with a fluffy dog sitting in the corner.

I want my dream to become his because I know he can make it true. That's all I needed to make peace with the situation.

There was a light ahead of me. Somewhere down the river, shining so bright it could hurt your eyes. I knew what it was as well, but I couldn't bring myself to cross over.

The universe thought I was ready, but I wanted a couple more minutes to take everything in.

"Sitting on the bridge, again? You know if you jump you won't die, so what exactly is the point?"

I froze. Not only am I a ghost, I am an insane ghost.

"What? You won't look at me anymore? I know we had some bumps in the road Y/N, but I thought we had a connection, you know?"

I slowly turned to my left, and there he was.

Standing in all his glory, dressed to perfection, with his eyes no longer tired but mischievous.

"Wooyoung?"

He smiled. "Hey there. Long time no see."

I jumped down and took a couple of steps towards him.

"How in God's name is this happening? Woo? Are you... Dead?"

He nodded.

"Burried six feet under and all that jazz."

My eyes widened.

"But how? You were better! Wooyoung! You didn't do anything stupid, right?"

He put his hands on his hips in a sassy manner.

"Hey, that was one time. Do you have that little faith in me? I died completely naturally, I'll have you know. The doctors told my parents I had a jump before the big fall. That usually happens to patients who are on their deathbed. Had me fooled though, I thought I was going to be miserable for the rest of my life."

In a second his hands were around my waist, squeezing me in a hug.

"But I can't say that I mind now. I knew my time was done, and I've made my peace. What I couldn't make peace with was not seeing you for the rest of my life."

My arms went around his shoulders and you couldn't tell who's grip was tighter.

"Wooyoung, I'm so sorry..."

He took my face into his hands and put our foreheads together.

"Hey now, don't be sad. I told you, I've made my peace. I'm okay. I've said my goodbyes. I've made floral arrangements with my mom. All is well."

I chuckled and nodded.

"So now what?" He smirked.

"Now I kiss the shit out of you."

With that, he crashed his lips onto mine. We didn't know where to hold onto anymore, moving our hands around, feeling every inch of each other. The kiss was desperate, full of unspoken emotions that were begging to be let out.

It's a good thing we don't need to come up for air, because we couldn't stop ourselves.

After what felt like ages, our lips disconnected and our eyes met. He smiled.

"I love you Y/N. I hope you know how much you mean to me."

I smiled as well. "I love you to Woo."

A bright light appeared before us. He looked at me before grabbing my hand.

"I think this is our sign Y/N. Are you ready to spend eternity with me?"

I nodded. We turned towards the light and started walking.

"Thank you Wooyoung. I'm at peace now as well."

[cozzzynook]

Angsty anon here with the rest of the ending.

A couple weeks have passed since that day and with the help of both Skywarp and Thundercracker, Bumblebee and the seekerling have found a place to lay low for awhile. It wasn't anything grand just a small cave hidden deep in the mountains far from both Bot and Con optics, and while Bee missed the familiar warmth of his hab he knew heading back there would be a huge risk he wasn't willing to take. He can't lose his sparkling again not when he just got them back.

However there was a bigger worry on Bee's processor right now. Flicking his door wings the yellow mech slowly walked over the cave's entrance being as quiet as he could be. He then let out a sigh leaning against the wall as he turned his gaze towards the night sky, worry filled his spark as he crossed his arms in an attempt to calm his buzzing field. There still had been no word from Starscream and Bee was starting to think of the worst...had Megatron finally...?

"Oh Star, where are you?" A wave of regret and guilt began to tug at the yellow mech's spark. He wanted to say so many things to the seeker, he wanted to say sorry for everything that has happened in the past few years but now...best not to think about it.

Quickly shutting his optics tight Bumblebee had finally pulled himself away from the cave's entrance dragging his own pedes back to his side of the cave. Letting out one finale tired sigh he sat down on make shift berth, he then quickly turned his attention towards where his sparkling was currently recharging. The seekerling has their face buried into the crook of their own arm while their now healed wings flicked and twitched in their sleep likely dreaming of some sort, hopefully not a nightmare. Feeling the familiar tug of his own need to recharge Bee laid down onto his back as he slowly closed his optics allowing recharge to swiftly claim him. Hopefully in the morning things will be better.

An hour passed when sudden chill filled the air of the cave drawing a sudden shiver from Bee, weird his Hud didn't display any change in temperature. Slowly opening his optics and Bee sat up looking towards the entrance in case the weather had changed but nothing...it was still a calm cloudless night. Shaking his helm and letting out a soft grumble the yellow mech flicked his door wings as he reached over to grab one of the spare blankets only to pause when he felt a cold chill land on his shoulder.

"Little Bee?" A wispy voice spoke drawing another shiver from Bumblebee.

Whipping around Bee almost fell onto his back from shock when he came face to face with Starscream. However something was...off about the seeker, he seemed to faintly glow as well being transparent almost completely clear as if he wasn't there at all. "Starscream? When did you get here..." Bee whispered as he allowed his plating to flatten again. "And why do you look like that?"

The seeker's wings drooped slightly as he softly frowned. "Ah, I guess Skywarp and Thundercracker haven't told you the news" Starscream then slowly sat down joining the yellow mech's side.

"News...what news?" Dread filled Bee's spark.

"Well, it seems I'm dead..." Starscream gave a small sombre smile trying to lighten the mood a little. He then looked down at his own servos for a long moment. "But it seems my spark didn't return to the Allspark and now... I'm a ghost"

"Ah, I see" Bumblebee's door wings dropped to his sides as he struggled to look at his former conjunx. "I had a feeling you were gone but...I hoped to be wrong. I guess I was proven otherwise..." He finally returned his gaze back at the seeker feeling even more guilt rush to his spark.

Starscream then reached out trying to grab a hold of the yellow mech but his servo just fully phased right through drawing both a sharp gasp from both. Star then gave a low grumble cursing himself as he shook his helm. "Don't blame yourself little bee, I dragged you both into this mess. I suppose I'd deserved this in the end..."

Bumblebee then turned his helm to the side softly gazing at where their sparkling quietly slept before letting out a long sigh. "They just got to meet you after so long now you're gone again..." He then lowered his gaze as he wrapped one arm around his other arm. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder what happened to us...and if it was doomed from the start"

Starscream then flicked his wings as he turned his gaze back to the yellow mech feeling his own guilt tug at his ghostly spark. "Maybe we were doomed from the start...but I never stopped loving you, did you ever-?" He closed his intake there as he bowed his helm as a part of him already knew that answer.

"No...no I didn't stop" Bee had a soft smile as he met the seeker's gaze with his own. Tears began to prickle at the soft edges of those bright blue optics as Bumblebee leaned a little closer. "Sure I was angry as hell when you shot me and left me but a part of me refused to stop loving you. I couldn't stop no matter how much I wanted too"

In that moment Starscream cursed himself again as he wanted nothing more than to lean in and hug and kiss Bumblebee like what they used to do before, back when things were still so easy and simple. Instead he just softly smiled and leaned in as close as he could without phasing right through the little bug and just simply stared into those bright blue optics, the ones he loved so much. "I know that I haven't been the best conjunx or Sire in these past couple of years. So if its alright with you my little Bee I promise to watch over you and our sparkling for now on, that's if you'll allow me to stick around that is..."

Bumblebee optics when wide with shock while his door wings fluttered in amusement, he then softly chuckled still trying to be as quiet as possible. "You always knew what to say, huh?" Bee gave a little teasing smirk as he met those soft ruby optics. "But you also deserve to watch our sparkling grow and it will be nice to have you around again...even if things won't be back to what they used to be"

The seeker gave a small smirk of his own, Primus how he did miss that smile. "Thank you, I promise to do my best-eh the best I can do in this ghostly form" His wings fluttered in embarrassment as he bashfully looked away.

"The best is all I ask for my Star" Bee felt his own spark grow warm as he sheepishly looked away.

A soft rustle came from the other side of the cave followed by a soft grumble. The young seekerling sat up and rubbed one sleepy optic as they turned to face their Carrier. "Mmm Carrier, who are you talking too?"

Bumblebee jumped a little finding himself drawn to the voice of his sparkling. With a sheepish smile the yellow mech fluttered his wings in embarrassment as he softly spoke. "Ah, just myself little firefly. Sorry for waking you up, go back to sleep"

"Okay?" While not being a 100% convinced the young seekerling simply yawned as he flopped back onto their back with a small yawn. "Goodnight"

"Goodnight little firefly"

Once they were asleep Bumblebee then returned his attention back to Starscream who had a soft droopy smile on his face. The seeker then softly chuckled as he watched the yellow mech's face turn bright shade of pink. "You did always look so cute when flustered little bug" The seeker teased as he propped one servo under his chin. Bumblebee rolled his optics as he slowly lay back down onto his back onto his make shift berth.

"Yeah well, you always admire me in the morning" Bee softly whispered as he slowly shut his optics. "Night Screamer"

"Goodnight little bug"

(Ah, hope you enjoyed this ending Cozy :D I tried to do a mix between both bittersweet and wholesome, also I'm sorry if the first part of the ending was rushed, my internet was going crazy. Anyway Angsty Anon out :D)

No no no!!!

This whole entire thing is beautiful & I’m so happy to have read it! Imm sorry it took me so long to finish! But i really like this story and i think the ending is beautiful & perfectly fitting!

Thank you so much for sharing!

[eventinelysplayground]

One Thing

Kinktober Day 22: Mutual Masturbation | Hate/Angry Sex

Pairing: Jude x Female Reader

I'm going to start this off by saying I do not know that much about Jude other than the few event stories in English so far and the fanfics I've read on here so I could be completely off on his character. That said his personality is pretty up front so I think I'm at least in the ballpark for him but if not I apologize in advance. You and Jude get into an argument that has a more pleasing outcome then usual. CW ⚠️: some light choking and roughness, possibly some consent issues (sudden/surprise kisses and touching) but is made clear it becomes consentual. This fic is NSFW so minors do not interact. WC approx 1757.

Jude was in an even fouler mood than usual today. It had been three weeks of having to put up with you tagging along with him and Ellis and he was fed up with it.

What the hell was a bird like you doing waltzing into a house late at night anyways? Not a bit of common sense in that bird brain of yours and today was no exception.

“Get in there.”

“Ow, you're still hurting me!”

You had come to the docks with him while he was doing his day job and your day dreaming almost got you smacked in the head with a heavy wooden crate as it was being moved. If he had been even a second slower in reacting he would have had a hell of a time explaining to Victor about what the hell happened.

“Stop your complainin’!”

Jude opened the door to his office with a bang as he shoved you inside. He released his grip on your arm and slammed the door shut behind the two of you. He looked at you as you rubbed your arm where he had grabbed you.

Freaking fantastic, now I'm gonna have to explain those to Roger! What the hell’d I ever do to get stuck babysitting her?

“What the hell's wrong with you!?”

Jude stared at you waiting for an answer meanwhile you just stood there continuing to rub your arm while glaring daggers at him.

I don't got the patience for this.

“If you're too dumb to-”

“I'm sorry it won't happen-”

The two of you had spoken over each other. Jude let out a frustrated sigh and motioned to you.

“Go ahead and finish Princess.”

Jude couldn't help but smirk at the furious look on your face.

“I was going to say it won't happen again and thank you for saving me but now never-.”

“You should be saying more than a simple thank you to me for not only saving you but having to put up with you.”

“Put up with me!?”

“Ya, do you have any idea how much of a nuisance yo-”

“Hahaha!”

“The hell are you laughing at?”

“You're complaining about having to deal with me? That's rich, I'm the one that's had to put up with your horrible attitude and violent threats the last three weeks!”

“Why you-”

“You know I think I should have chosen to just have Crown kill me that night, at least then I would be in heaven instead of whatever type of hell this is!”

You little bitch.

Jude didn't even think, he was too pissed off as he walked towards you and wrapped a hand around your throat then backed you up against the wall.

“What did you say?”

“I said I'd rather be dead than living in the hell that is having to follow you around.”

The hell is with this bird? Why the hell is she always getting under my skin like this?

Jude tightened his grip around your throat and he felt you swallow.

“I can make that happen, the lectures and dirty looks would be a lot easier to put up with then you.”

“Then go ahead and do it.”

Jude tightened his hold around your throat even more. He was making sure to keep the pressure just below where it could seriously harm you but he heard the way your breathing changed anyway. It was more ragged and shallow now and he looked into your eyes expecting to see fear but instead they were full of a fiery defiance.

Damn it this ain't working.

“What are y-”

“Shut up already.”

Jude brought his face to yours and kissed you. Your lips were just as soft as he’d thought they'd be as he forcefully claimed them. The way you squirmed under him trying to fight against him made him smile and he felt weeks worth of anger and frustration start to melt away. He loosened his grip around your throat as he pulled away and smirked seeing the blush on your cheeks and ears.

“What…what the hell do you think you're doing!?”

“I figured I'd try this release first, if it doesn't work I can always still kill ya.”

Jude took advantage of your brain trying to process what he said and kissed you again. It was more forceful this time and he nipped at your lower lip wanting to taste you more. You just squirmed more under him while trying to tilt or twist your head away from him.

“Open your mouth.”

Jude growled when he went to kiss you again and felt that your lips were still closed followed by you shaking your head.

“I wasn't asking Princess, now open your mouth.”

When he kissed you this time he found your lips parted for him and he smirked. He slipped his tongue into your mouth claiming every inch of it as he took your breath from you. He swirled his tongue even deeper in your mouth trying to catch your tongue. You fought him on it but only at first, soon he felt your movements slowing and he was able to catch it twining it with his own.

Soon he was out of breath himself and when he'd pulled away from you he saw a mix of lust and furey in your eyes.

“That's a hell of a look, looks like you can't decide if you want to fuck me or kill me.”

“I definitely don't want to fuck you!”

“You sure about that?”

Jude reached his free hand under your skirt and up between your legs. Just as he thought as soon as he pressed on your underwear he felt the wetness start seeping through.

“With how wet you are you still gonna try and say you don't want me?”

“That's…that's not because of you!”

Jude couldn't help himself and he laughed at your stubbornness.

“Then it's from what I did to ya. I never thought you were such a nasty lil bird.”

“It's not from that either!”

“Gotta be one or the other Princess, and while you're thinking on which one it is...”

Jude moved his hand out from under your skirt and heard the whine you tried to hold back.

“I'm gonna take these off.”

I ain't able to hold back much longer, how the hell do you keep driving me so mad? I should of just let the damn crate hit her…

Jude kissed you as his skilled fingers undid your skirt. He let gravity do the work for him as he ran his hand along your hip and top of your thigh before slipping off your underwear then bringing his fingers back between your legs. He let them glide over your clit and your wet folds and he smirked when you moaned into the kiss.

“Which one is it Princess?”

Jude stopped his fingers waiting and you glared at him.

“You're such an ass.”

“That ain't an answer and I'm not moving till I get one.”

“You're serious?”

Jude didn't respond to you with words, instead he caressed your throat with his thumb.

Hahaha if looks could kill.

“Fine, it's from both okay! Now can you please finish what you started.”

“Anything for a Princess.”

Jude crashed his lips into yours again and this time you kissed him back as he felt your arms snake around his neck and pull him closer. He quickly undid his pants, taking out his cock before he finally released his hold on your neck. He pushed you harder into the wall then lifted your legs up and wrapped them around his waist before guiding his hard cock into you.

“Ahhh!”

Judes hands dug into your thighs and lower ass leaving behind shallow gashes as he held you up. He felt your hands slide over his shoulders and dig into them through his clothes as he kissed down your neck before biting it and you moaned.

“That's it, sing more for me.”

Jude thrusted deeper now hitting a spot he hadn't before. He wanted to go even faster but despite how wet you were you were still so tight and he was afraid of hurting you, not that he'd admit it out loud. He kept going deep and slow while biting at the soft skin on your neck and drawing out more moans.

“Jude...go faster.”

Jude raised an eyebrow before he looked at you.

You got any idea what you're saying, any idea how much I'm holding back so I don't hurt ya too badly?

As if you heard his thoughts one of your hands slipped from his shoulder and began undoing the top buttons of your shirt exposing the tops of your breasts.

“It's already embarrassing enough to be fucking you don't-”

“Hey!”

Jude shouted at you and you stopped talking then he kissed you roughly. No longer caring if he hurt you or not he began thrusting as fast and deep as he could and you cried out into the kiss. He moved his lips down the marred flesh of your neck to the newly exposed skin on your chest. He bit and sucked at the skin turning it shades of red and purple as your hand wrapped around the back of his head.

“Oh God Jude!”

Jude felt your walls tighten even more around him and he winced.

It's like a vice down there, who knew you were hiding something like that.

Jude barely had time to finish that thought before he felt your walls tighten even more and he felt you arch into him.

“Yes! Ahhh!”

Jude moved one of his hands from supporting you up your side to lightly wrap around your throat again and it made you moan even louder. He felt your grip on him loosening as he pulled out leaving just his tip in you and then he slammed back into you and you yelped. He kept pulling almost fully out and slamming back into you until he felt his cock twist and he pushed as far into you as he could, filling you up with his cum and kissing you as he did so.He took his hand off your throat again moving it back to support your bottom as you collapsed into him with a contented sigh.

You really are a strange bird.

“Hehe, looks like I found one thing about you that's likable.”

Jude couldn't see your face but he knew from the huff you let out that you were glaring at him again.

“Keep letting me fuck you like that Princess and I may eventually stop hating you.”

Tag List: @nightghoul381, @queengiuliettafirstlady, @nani-nani-nani, @floydsteeth

[bumblebeesfromvenus]

Aching Heart left there in The Cold ♡

Character of your choice x reader, (ex. Leon Kennedy, Jason Todd, Link, Ghost, etc)

A/N:...I don't know what came over me. This is probably the most heart-wrenching thing I've ever written. You can blame (or thank) Blackbriar for that. I recommend the songs 'You're Haunting me', 'Bloody Footprints in the Snow', or 'The Séance' by the aforementioned culprit, if you really want to get into the story! I'd love to know which character you imagined while reading this, let me know <3

~Fi ❄️

Warnings: GORE, graphic depictions of dead animals, ANGST, this hurt to write but also I love it, hurt no comfort, AU but idk what this is tbh, I'll buy you tissues <3

Word count: 2.2k

Please don't copy my work! I put a lot of effort and heart into the things I write.

@pinkalmondcake @vampkennedy you wanted snow, but I don't think this what you meant.......

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

The cold nipped at your fingertips as you slowly gained back your consciousness. You were absolutely freezing. Your eyes slowly fluttered open, having a hard time adjusting to the blinding white that enveloped you.

With a groan, you slowly managed to sit upright and take in your surroundings. You were sitting in the middle of a snowy forest. The thick blanket of flakes was covering the trees, making their branches sag. There was nothing but trees and snow, no matter where you looked. No end in sight, not a clearing or perhaps a wooden cabin. There was absolutely nothing except your cold, shivering self that still rested in the middle of these endless woods with rosy cheeks.

You held onto a nearby log to heave yourself off the freezing ground. Your legs were shaky and unreliable and your thick wool clothes that were once to keep you warm were now completely soaked and doing nothing to keep the cold and humidity out.

Gentle flakes were floating down upon you, catching on your hair and blanketing you in the same manner as they once had the plants. There was almost like a fog hanging close to the ground, dipping the scenery in an eerie atmosphere. It was dead silent. Not one little noise from the various animals that you knew lived here, not a creak of the tree branches who should be giving out under the weight of the snow. Not a breeze, let alone another human.

Your heart ached at the sight. What happened? You remember these woods, but not like this. They were always prosper, full of life. The flowers would bloom and the trees would carry bright leaves on their crowns. Birds and insects would harmonize to make a beautiful symphony that had your soul blossoming in your chest. The squirrels and hares that lingered around the plush forest floor were gone, no fawns and does were in sight. It was... dull. But at the same time so incredibly peaceful.

Not a single sound except your soft breaths. You could feel your muscles relax, yet there was a tightening feeling in your chest that you couldn't seem to shake.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Before you could even realize it, your feet were carrying you down what you remembered was a path, leaving the imprint of your body in the snow behind. The more you walked, the more the atmosphere changed. It was still quiet and white, but it became tense. Incredibly so. Like a string that was about to snap.

You could make out a faint pink glow across the snowy ground in the distance. Hope bubbled up in your chest. There had to be something there, right? Something that could explain all of this.

Without a second thought you bunched up snow in your palms and tried to wash the ruby on your hands away. With teary eyes you harshly scrubbed at your skin, hoping, praying that you would get the blood off. Thankfully, you did, and your fingertips were now red from the cold and not from blood.

Your breaths became shorter as you subconsciously sped up your pace to make it to that eerie glow. Before you could get far, though, you stepped on something with an echoing crunch. You stopped in your tracks and took a step back, wanting to see what was under the imprint of your boot. Kneeling down, you began digging, exposing deep crimson tainted snow.

Blood. It was now staining your hands. With panicked and labored breaths, you dug your fingers deeper, unveiling what looked like a bone. It was now in pieces from you stepping on it. You stumbled back as much as you could as you were still kneeling, your hands leaving red traces in the snow.

As soon was your hands were clean, you gathered up your many wool skirts and ran. As fast you could, dragging your boots through the snow. You were getting closer and closer to the pink glow. Now, it felt like you shouldn't be running towards it, but you couldn't go back to the horror you had found. You didn't want to go back.

Something caught your eye. Small, dark spots in the pure snow. You slowed your pace, intrigued by the tracks. Fear shot through you when you realized they were red. It was blood. Again. Your eyes were glued to what seemed drops of blood. They got bigger and bigger as you went on, turning into puddles. There were deep traces in the snow behind them, like something or someone was dragged across the snow.

You were too focused on the stained snow, tears cascading down your rosy cheeks at the absolute horrors before you that you tripped over something, falling forward into the cold. You were able to catch yourself with your hands, letting out a grunt at the impact. You recovered quickly, turning around to see what exactly it was that you stumbled over.

The scream that ripped through you echoed through the forest. Before you laid the carcass of a deer. Bloodied and ripped open. Deep gashes adorned the animals body. You could see some blood dripping from where it's ribcage had been cracked open, sinking into the snow. It was fresh. A recent kill. By what? Or who? Your heart broke for the poor animal.

You pulled your damp shawl tighter around your shoulders, continuing onwards. Nothing could've prepared you for what you saw next. A trail of slaughtered animals. All kinds, big and small, predator or prey. It seemed like whoever did this didn't discriminate. Their bodies were torn open, insides spilling onto the snow. Ribs were poking out, spines were exposed, and tufts of fur and feathers littered the ground. You felt sick to your stomach. A massacre, pools of blood tainting the snow.

The once curious and innocent eyes now drained of all life, staring back at you empty and dull.

"What happened to you..?" You whispered shakily, having the urge to reach out to it.

But there was nothing you could do anymore, not much at least. You muttered a quick prayer under your breath, gently stroking down the deer's face, hoping that at least its soul would be granted some peace.

Snow, something so beautiful and pure was now stained with the spilled blood of innocent creatures. You kept your gaze to the ground in front of you, silently weeping over all of these poor animals. You swallowed the bile that rose in your throat, its burn like acid.

When you eventually did raise your head, you saw someone. A man who had buried his sword into the chest of a wolf, twisting it and cracking its bones. He pulled the sword free and it dragged in the snow as he walked, leaving crimson streaks. His back was to you, thank the gods, but he just slowly went on.

You were frozen in place, your breath stopping in your throat as your heart beat faster. You couldn't move, you couldn't breath, you could only stand there, helplessly, wondering why he would do such a thing. Despite your brain screaming and yelling at you to turn back, your feet moved in his direction, following the bloody footprints he had left.

You tried your best to keep your eyes off the slaughtered creatures, focusing on his haunting silhouette instead. He came to a halt, letting go of his weapon which landed in the snow with a thud. He fell to his knees soon after, his shoulders sagging as his head fell forward. Sobs and cries racked through his body, making his form shake. You had the instinct to hold him, keep him close to your chest.

But he was a stranger, was he not? Cautiously, you stepped closer, hoping to not alert him of your presence. The hem of your skirt was now also stained with blood, leaving faint marks as it gently brushed against the surface of the snow. There was something so familiar about him, but the more you tried to think what it was, the hazier your mind got.

His cries were tugging at your heart uncomfortably, but you didn't know why. It was only when he cried out your name in pure agony that something in your mind clicked.

It was your lover.

The man you loved so deeply and fully that it hurt. The one you wanted to spend your entire life with. The one that you were devoted to so wholly. Without thinking, you breathlessly called out his name, making him freeze as a sob got caught in his throat.

His head whipped around, eyes wide and red, the tear streaks on his cheeks looking like they were beginning to crystallize from the bitter cold.

"My love.. is that really you?" He breathed out, fully turning towards you, still on his knees.

You could see the shock, the relief, and the excruciating pain in his eyes.

One arm was tightly wound around your waist while the other was gently stroking your damp hair. His face was buried in the crook of your neck as he continued his wailing cries. You could feel his hot tears running down your neck, despite it all, they felt freezing, sending shivers up your spine. Your hands found his cheeks and you softly pried his head from your neck.

"Yes... why wouldn't it be..?"

You brows were furrowed in concern.

Why wouldn't it be you? What, in the Gods' name, was going on? Another sob tore through his chest as he reached out for your hands and pulled you down against his chest.

"I-I.. I thought I'd lost you.." he sighed, leaning into your touch. He looked so incredibly tired. Exhausted, really.

"What's the matter, my darling?" Your voice soothed all of his aches and ailments.

The gentleness it held was something he'd never experienced before. Until you. The tears spilled from his beautiful eyes still, even as he forced a wobbly smile onto his lips.

A soft, understanding smile settled on your face, though the furrow of your brows didn't waver.

"You'll never lose me. I'll always find my way back to you. No matter what." The words pumped blood back into his cold heart. He sighed in relief, you could almost feel the heavy weight on his chest falling away for yourself. His eyes fell shut as he basked in the warming feeling of your touch, the pads of your thumbs stroking over his tear stained cheeks.

When no response came and the warmth left his cheeks, he opened his eyes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing in front of him but the forest and the gruesome scene he had left behind. His blood froze in his veins. No. He searched for any indication of your presence. Footprints, kicked up snow or maybe a lingering warmth on his face. Nothing.

"I love you. With my whole being and soul do I love you. I'd carve out my heart if you'd ask me too."

The confession made its way off his tongue with such ease, it had to be nothing but the truth.

Had he gone mad and it was all a delusion? Or were you really here and someone took you away again? He couldn't tell. He only felt his heart shatter into a million shards again. He would scream for you until his throat was sore and his voice would give out. He had managed to lose you, the love of his life, twice in one lifetime.

"No... No, no, no, no!" His heart-wrenching yell managed to shake the trees, dusting everything in a fresh layer of white.

"Not again..." he sobbed, steadying myself with hid hands as he grasped at the snow where he was sure you had been. Trying to hold onto you desperately. He wailed and wept, clutching at his heart.

His hands balled into fists as an overwhelming rage took over him. He would make them pay. He would hunt down the abominations that had cost him his love, and he would rain hellfire down upon them until they felt even a sliver of the pain that he had.

Picking himself up with a grunt and a scowl on his face, he reached for his sword. He tightly gripped the blood-soaked weapon and turned around to go down the path from wence he came. His gaze was stone cold as he walked past the field of death and destruction he had left.

He left his aching heart there in the cold, hoping you'd come back one day to keep it safe for him. But for now, he buried it deep in the snow where you were, vowing he would never feel that kind of agony again.

What he didn't know, however, was that you were always with him. Your ghastly pale and transparent hands were always reached out towards him or placed right above his heart.It pained you just as much when your touch would phase through him, the cruel reality twisting your heart.

So you went back to wander aimlessly around these endless woods, waiting for him to join you inevitably. You picked up his discarded heart and held it close to your chest, promising to give it back to him when the time came.

For now, you'd gently remind him of your presence with little breezes fanning over his cheeks, almost like a kiss and pleasant dreams, hoping to stitch up the gaping hole left in his chest.

You'd be together again. You'd wait eons for him because he would always return to you, just as you would to him.

Not even the thin veil of death could keep your souls apart.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

... *hands you a box of tissues and offers a hug* I'm sorry :(

[fallenfrommars6277]

SPOILERS FOR LINK CLICK BRIDON ARC EPISODE 6

Okay, I will try to put in order some thoughts about the last episode and I hope this makes at least a bit of sense. If I wrote something wrong, please let me know and also if anyone has other theories, I'd very much like to hear them!

I've been thinking about Vein's death and I honestly don't think that Lu Guang had in mind to cold blood killing Vein and I don't think that this is what actually happened.

Lu Guang says that he knows that he can't stop him but he can make him stay a bit longer, which doesn't relate to a dead person (who would be stopped) but maybe more to an injured or a stuck one.

Also, just before this he is wondering if this time the right decision isn't to prevent at all the event (he says "the unchangeable point", i.e. Cheng Xiaoshi's death) to happen but to "let it happen more completely" and then proceeds to say the rest and everything happens. So, if he knows that Vein will kill Cheng Xiaoshi, the logical action is to kill him to prevent that, but here he's saying the exact opposite, so it wouldn't make sense to kill Vein after this, this time he doesn't have to kill him (maybe he already tried in other timelines) but all he has to do is stalling him, make him stay a bit longer.

After this, when Vein fights with Wang Qing, it's important to look closely at the order of things: she knocks him out, then goes for the notebook, Vein thanks her for her cooperation, then it's all black and now she's knocked out and her dress is ripped while before it wasn't, so something happened there, then she looks at the window, we see a frame of Lu Guang and she says that someone complicated things further and finally who possessed her (Cheng Xiaoshi's mom) exits her body and presumably a photo.

I think the key moment is in the black frame, something we don't see happens in that moment and changes everything. Everything points to Lu Guang, but we don't actually know anything else, maybe I watched too much tv (Sherlock I'm looking at you) but maybe everything is not really what and how it seems.

But let's keep watching the order in which things happen. When Wang Qing wakes up, we see Lu Guang making the puppeteer moves (I don't know how to call them ahah) for the first time and she calls Vein by his chinese name (Xiao Weiying), so maybe she knows him? I don't know, but what's important is that the first Lu Guang move seems to affect her because he raises his arm and she raises from the ground (this makes me also wonder if maybe it's Lu Guang that knows Vein's name but I don't know), but then, when Vein turns towards her, Lu Guang moves his hand as to crush something and this time his move seem to affect him because he instantly falls while she is getting up completely.

What's odd tho is that only now her eyes become blue, then we see again Lu Guang in the garden.

At this point Vein isn't shocked (I mean, I would be if I realized I was attacked by thin air) but smiles (a very creepy smile) and says "so that's how it is", almost like he foreshadowed this or even was waiting for this, maybe without knowing before what "this" actually was (even if I suspect that it's got something to do with the answer to the test of the forest), but just like it's all part of a plan. And of course, we know who is the mastermind behind it all, because they tell us right after with the scene at the cinema and at the very end with the scene at the obituary: Liu Xiao.

Talking about the scene at the cinema, Liu Xiao isn't affected at all by the news that Vein is dead, like he knows already or knows that there is more, and even asks Xia Fei if he doesn't want to finish the movie and calls him "impatient" and maybe it relates to what they say in the movie: "Did we win? Don't celebrate too soon, I feel like the mastermind behind the scenes hasn't shown up yet" and it couldn't be more obvious that they are also speaking to us, telling us that it's far from over.

I also think that Xia Fei has something to do with Cheng Xiaoshi's death because he tells him the address to the photo studio, but whether this is right or not, I still can't figure out the motive behind his death in the 1st timeline, which couldn't be out of revenge for killing Vein or of punishment for changing the past, unless it's a bootstrap paradox, but honestly I would be a little disappointed because I feel it would be the easiest way to explain it all.

There are two things that don't sit well with me: one is the fact that Vein got an autopsy while still alive/faking death and I really don't know how they'll explain this, maybe if it's all a plan they simply bribed someone into a fake autopsy.

The second thing is very important and it's the fact that if all this happened in 2019, how is it possible that in 2021 they act like none of this happened? I can understand the first dive maybe went differently every time, but Cheng Xiaoshi acts like he never met his parents and I really don't know how to explain this. If we explain it with the different timelines, it would mean that they are very different from each other, but I don't think that's it, so I really wonder how they'll explain this.

TL; DR I can't explain the how and the why or anything else, but to sum it all up, I think that what was shown, not only in the last episode but in the whole Bridon arc, wasn't all that happened or how that happened or when that happened and I couldn't be more excited to see all the pieces of the puzzle (which is also the title of the episode, interesting) click together.

[tothosewholisten]

Forever Healed | TUA insert

Chapter 16: Just Another Version of Me

<<previous chapter | next chapter>>

Masterlist

Cw: severe body injuries, alcohol abuse, cursing

...

Five pulled me aside from the crowd after I told him I was leaving the academy, and with furrowed brows, he started complaining. “What do you mean you're leaving?” He whispered.

Matching his tone I continued. “I already told you Five, If I don't go, then I'll die with an unfulfilled life and my ghost will wonder why I didn't do it.” Maybe I was exaggerating, but he didn't need to know.

Five’s stare wavered when he heard my reasoning. “Fine, just come back quick. You're the only one who can truly handle all these.. morons.” I chuckled at his words and turned back to the group, who were still staring at the paper Five handed them minutes ago.

“I better go quick before they notice.” I gave Five a final smile and tried to sneakily leave the area. But sadly I'm not a ninja and my absence was immediately noticed by the one who was mainly asking questions in the group.

Klaus jogged over to my faint figure with a grin on his face. “Whatchu up to?”

“Uhh too much excitement for one day, Klaus. And also the fact that I'm in wet and bloody clothes has caught up to me. I'm gonna head to my room.” I answered while trying not to give away too much.

His eyes widen, “but you're about to miss Luther's big plan of action! Poor guy still thinks he’s in charge.”

“I think I'll manage.” I cringed inside at my sudden coldness, but I was not sure if I wanted to open up about this.

“Oh come on! It feels like I haven’t seen you for forever.” He whines.

I stopped my progression up the stairs and met him at the bottom step. “It’s because you haven’t. I've been gone for almost a year, excuse me if things have changed.” My tone was sharp, it lacked all the fun qualities I'd normally have when talking to Klaus. It’s not like I wanted to be mad at him, since I had no reason. I was just mad at my situation. “I'll see you later Klaus.”

I disappointed myself with my actions. It was just hard to talk to someone so happy, after everything I'd just been through. I had also lied to my best friend, I wasn't going to my room, just yet,

I headed in the opposite direction to the place where I knew the person I needed would be. He had no room, which I never understood growing up, and neither did Grace. But when I'd be running around with Klaus and Ben we'd sometimes run into him in a mini library, one that Reginald probably kept to himself.

Gently, I knocked at the door to not alert the reading man. “Pogo?” I said.

He put his heavy book down and stood up to greet me. “Ms, Y/n! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

We walked back over to the seating area to talk, I held my breath the whole time. There was no easy way of going about what I was going to say next. I'd never talked about this to him, nor did I to anyone else. After all, if Reginald ever caught me saying things like this there would be heavy repercussions. But, he’s dead and here I am ready to spill my guts.

“I want to go home, Pogo.”

He tilted his head at me with confusion before looking around the room. “I'm afraid I don't understand. This is the academy.”

“You know what I'm talking about, please just humor me. I want to go back to where I was born and see my parents.” I pleaded.

Finally, after I said that it finally clicked in his head. Pogo started to fidget and sweat slightly. “Ms. Y/n..

I let out a loud sigh. “Look, I-I know I sound crazy but hear me out. I don't know if the others have told you but we only have a few days left on this planet. That is if we fail to save it, and I can't take those odds.. I need to see them one last time, just to talk and ask why.”

“And if you don't get the answer you want?” His words surprised me, his laid-back persona and natural calmness were completely abandoned. “I don't know what I'd do if you came back here and told me that they didn’t receive you with open arms.”

“Well then, I can say that I finally did it.” Something I've always wanted to do for years. His response was correct though, what if they didn't even want to see me?

Pogo went on. “I remember the moment when you were brought to me, I don't know if you recall but I was the first person you saw in the academy. Except for Master Reginald of course. You were as tall as me back then.” He chuckled. “But oh so scared, you wouldn't speak to anyone but me. You even told me that you were happy to leave your parents.”

“What?” I choked on the words leaving my mouth. “What are you talking about? I remember hugging my mom tightly as he and his people dragged me off, kicking and screaming.”

“That’s not how I remember it?” He said truthfully.

“How can we have different experiences of the same event?” I asked. “That's.. that's not the only thing I can't remember. I don't even know what my house looks like anymore. If I knew I'm sure twelve-year-old me would’ve run right back and begged for forgiveness. But I'm not that old, how can I not remember a place I spent twelve years of my life?” Pogo stared at me, almost like there were no thoughts behind his eyes. “This is why I need to go. I have blank spots in my head. I just need the full story.”

Time passed and no matter how much we went back and forth during my time in the mini library it was obvious I wasn't taking no for an answer.

“Pogo. Don’t I deserve to be in control of my own life?” That shook him to his core, he almost looked guilty.

The monkey man stood up with a wobble. “Very well.” He then slowly pulled out a pen from his pocket and a piece of paper that was on the table next to him. He thought about his words before he started scribbling down what looked like chicken scratch. Once he was done, with a shaky hand and a heavy heart he handed it to me. But I couldn’t read anything? I was about to tell him to rewrite it when everything became clear. Like magic, the unreadable blurb became a cohesive sentence. It was an address, my address. I lower the paper and stare down at him.

“I don’t understand. Brownsville is only a town or two away. It’s not like I came from another state, why don't I remember this?”

“I'm afraid I don't have that answer..”

I carefully folded the parchment and placed it into my suit pocket. “You don’t understand how much this means to me, Pogo.”

“Anything for you, my girl.” He sadly smiled. Something was off with him, it was clear to see judging by his body language. Before leaving I hugged the man and whispered that I'll tell him all about it when I got back.

Then I was off. Actually, to my room this time, to bathe and change. Before leaving I stared at myself in the mirror. Would I even be able to spot my parents out in a crowd? Do they even still live there? Would they even recognize me?

I no longer was the spitting image of my mom, if that was ever the case. Maybe I was born in a lab test tube.

..

Exiting the academy was a weird feeling. I'd almost forgotten how pretty this city could be, after only seeing corporate desks and sleazy streets nothing compared to this. I entered the same metro bus I'd taken to get to my first therapy session. If only I could go back to Gloria now, I'm sure she'd have a heart attack with all of the ludicrous things that have happened since we last spoke. If I have more time and we save the world I promised myself I'd go back to her.

The bus ride was silent, I had no room for music with all my swirling thoughts. No matter how I arrived at the academy I couldn’t forget the reason why I was put there. My parents wanted the money more than me. Just as all the other parents sold off their children to Reginald's fucked up daycare.

Even if they were extremely nice to me I'd never forget the things this situation brought me or the abuse I was given in both houses, as well as the pain and grief of a boy I should've never met, terrifying and uncontrollable powers and a horrible mindset to go with it all.

I spent the bus ride looking out of the window for about an hour and a half until we had finally reached the last stop. Brownsville was a town I only heard of through word of mouth, I never imagined I would grow up here.

..

Taking a step off the bus and onto the Brownsville dirt was an anxious experience, but if things went wrong I knew I could just get back on this same bus and run away. The air felt different here as well as the people and the noises. It filled me with a sense of dread that my body ignored as it kept moving.

The area I walked into was crowded with all types of people and all kinds of food which looked way more authentic than the stuff I force-fed to myself recently. I let my nose follow the scent of chicken and the nearest person to ask for directions.

“Excuse me?” I spoke. The old man working at the stand didn’t hear me, he was too busy on the grill. I felt very out of place and proper, I even stood up straight in anticipation.

Suddenly another man came up to the booth and started ordering in a language I didn't think I knew the name of. But it was things I'd felt like I'd heard before. The worker picked up his head to the words and cheerfully greeted the man like I was just his shadow. With the same quickness that the random man had entered, he had also left after receiving his food.

I was left with the worker man with no way of communicating. I only knew one language, which was uncommon in the Umbrella Academy. Ben knew Korean and Diego knew Spanish and the others had picked up their second languages as they grew up. I was never quick to learn.

My mind went back to where I heard this language. It wasn't at the academy, and it wasn't at the commission headquarters. It hugged me like a blanket of nostalgia. I must be going crazy. All my memories are scrambled, I can't tell where my history starts and where my blanks end. But for certain I know my life started here.

Once again I was pushed aside by a herd of young adults who all spoke the same language that was causing me so much trouble. Slowly but surely I started picking up what they were saying. One girl wanted a chicken and rice meal and the others wanted to go somewhere else. It felt like someone had a live translator humming all the words in my ear.

How did I do that?

When they ran off laughing with each other I was left at a standstill. Was this like the paper from earlier? As soon as I piece things together it's like a new area of my mind is unlocked.

As soon as the third customer cut in front of me all that confusion melted away. This time the customer was an elderly lady with striking H/c hair. She looked like me, she looked like my mother. She spoke the same language I'd heard all afternoon. People were speaking it on the bus back when I was too lost to pay attention, people were walking over to the vendors speaking this language, and little children pushed past me cheering in a language that all made sense to me.

And with a bit of courage and a lot of nervousness, I spoke my mother’s native tongue, for the woman to hear. I sound nasally and maybe I said some words wrong. But when the woman abandoned her tasty food to bring me over to my parent's house I knew I said the right thing.

..

Maybe this woman was my mom? No. My mom would be a bit younger if what I know is correct. My mother had me around her twenties and it's been almost thirty years since she would only be in her fifties. Maybe she was just a neighbor, but that wouldn't explain her striking resemblance.

“What’s your name?” I asked her in my broken version of the language. My shoes were now covered in mud as we strayed off a path. I started to think I was getting willingly kidnapped which led to my death. But the woman is elderly and also barely walking correctly. It was still eerily creepy when she never responded to me, just kept her same slow pace.

At the end of the mud was a street of houses that stretched to the ends of the earth, probably. Everything looked out of a commercial. It was too saturated and vibrant for this state where everything has a sad blue hue, except for Brownsville. We were not the only ones on the street witnessing the splash of color though, small children in uniforms were everywhere and so was a sand-colored school building.

My old school, my old uniform.

I almost ran into the non-talkative lady when she stopped at a house. This was it, we were finally here. After years of thoughts, cries and yells about my past life. I'd finally returned when there was no true reason to. Except for the fact that I was hurting inside, and needed to distract it with another type of pain. Family pain.

“Thank you,” I said in disbelief. I thought surely the lady was going to leave now. She surprised me when she took out the keys from her pocket and unopened the door.

She disappeared inside in a flash. “Hey-” my mouth hung open as I followed the woman in, desperate for answers. But I soon got lost in awe because of my surroundings. I was having a sensory overload, I'm sure. Memories all came back to me at once as I looked around. Nothing in the tiny house had changed since I was living there. They even had the same wall colors of the nineties.

This place was preserved in time like a memory box, but untouched by a single speck of dust. Someone had just dusted, and no way in hell it was my dad. I lost sight of the strange woman but picked up on something new, the smell of stew on the stove. Just like my mom made me when I came home from school..

An aged voice spoke out, filled with content. “Mom? Is that you, are you back?” It was barely above normal speaking voice and definitely not in English. I blinked and saw the older woman dipping a spoon into the unfinished stew. A middle-aged woman with a gentle voice and flowy clothing walked down the carpet-covered stairs and into the kitchen.

“Mama! You know you're supposed to wait.” She laughed while moving her mother away from the pot. It was straight out of a movie, about a kind daughter and her loving mother while I was just an extra in it.

I felt a wave of nausea, this was a horrible stupid idea you fucking moron. Why would you come here, you knew what was going to happen. I made my way to the door in a panic, if I let her see me I knew I'd burst into tears on the spot and melt into a sentimental puddle.

I'm not ready to face her, I told myself.

I expected my dad at least to be here, not her. So I could just yell at him and maybe get a few punches in. My wishful thinking made me not even prepare for what I was going to tell them. At the sound of the door handle shaking the two turned around to see me struggling with my back turned towards them.

“Did you invite another neighbor over? I swear I won't be able to feed every stray you bring in, Mama.” The middle-aged woman said. But her mom didn't say anything.

My breathing was heavy, I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest and into her stew. I could hear the footsteps of her getting closer to me, I came all the way here I had to get this over with. Come on Y/n just turn around.

The woman spoke in her common tongue to greet her guest. “Hello! I’m-” The clatter of the wooden spoon she was holding in her hand made the room shake. She stared at me with an open wide mouth and tears in her eyes.

..

I was told to take a seat in the living room and was also served a plate of stew that had gone cold by now. With a cup of water in my hand, I waited for my mom to sit opposite of me so we could talk. But she was wrapping things up in the kitchen. My grandmother was elsewhere but even in her absence, she did strike a question in my brain. When did she get here? She wasn't here when I was. I didn't even know I had a grandmother or any family on my mom's side.

Taking a look at my mom I saw that she'd definitely changed also, she cut her hair and wore more modest clothing than she used to. She looked like she was still a mother who was tired from her days of raising a kid. But what kid did she raise?

Once she sat down I felt like I needed to get down to business, I was growing more restless by the moment. But she beat me to it.

“How have you been?” She asked me.

I took a double take at her question. “Excuse me? That’s something you say when you haven’t heard from someone in weeks. Not to your child who you haven’t seen for seventeen years.”

She was startled at my response. “You're right, I'm sorry.” She spoke softly.

What the hell was going on here? Had these years been a dream because she was treating me like I'd never left? We sat in silence just staring at each other, my stare was more in anger but she stared at me with whimsy.

“You look great.”

“Don’t be so surprised, I looked great seventeen years ago too.” She made me scoff at her words. We dropped the second language minutes ago, I knew she knew had to speak English and I couldn’t get my point across in anything but English.

She ran a hand through her hair. “I saw the news the other day. I'm so sorry for your loss.” She said,

“What loss?”

“Sir Reginald Hargreeves? It must've been hard.”

I laughed in disbelief before saying. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“Fuck Reginald Hargreeves.”

“B/n..”

I shook my head at the cowardly woman. “Don’t call me that. There’s no need to feel bad for him. He was a horrible man, Mom. You know, One of the first things he made me do was get a tattoo at twelve that branded me to him. And then he'd make me shoot bullet holes everywhere in my body every day. Father of the fucking year.”

“Please don't curse.” She pleaded.

“Are you even listening?” I asked back.

My mom looked down at her glass of water. “Of course I am! Something about a tattoo right B/n?”

I stood up in my chair slightly, repulsed and almost in shock by the way she said that name. After The Handler, I grew to hate a name I forgot I was even called. I wanted to flip the table and walk away but I grounded myself with a simple shout. “You're not listening. You don't get to call me that, that’s not my name. My name is Y/n. Do you know why? Because it was changed by the academy. Just like every other aspect of this bullshit fake life, I thought I had!” Maybe that wasn't a simple shout. It felt good though.

“Please calm down.” She tried to grab onto my hand. I slapped it away but it did make me sit. God, I'll never move on from my submission.

“I didn't come here for lunch. I came here for answers, so start answering,” she sat back down as well and I took a sip of the water given to me. “Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?” No way she was this dense.

“Oh my god. I mean all of this?” She had no response. “Why’d you give me away when the first man offered? Why’d you never get back in contact with me? You never sent any letters. Why didn't you visit? You didn't even tell me you loved me before I left..” I could feel salty tears drop to the corners of my mouth. “Don’t you understand what that did to me?”

She gulped down nerves as her heartbeat quickened. “It wasn't an easy decision, it was complicated.”

“I'm sure it was.” I rolled my eyes.

“Please just hear me out.” Her weakness was starting to show, her posture became smaller. Like she was trying to crawl back into her skin and away from this situation.

“Your father and I thought It wasn't easy to keep up with a daughter as unique as you..” She tried to justify.

“Speaking of the devil, where is he? Probably six feet under right?” I hoped so.

“He’s.. he's at work.” She turned to the clock on the kitchen wall. The same clock she'd always help me work with when I couldn’t figure out how to tell the time.

I couldn’t believe this. She’s still with him? The man who abused her, the man who hated her and married her out of convenience. “Why would you do that to yourself…? Why are you still with him, you're supposed to cut people out of your life when they hurt you. You had all this time to do it.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Not as complicated as when you gave me away right?”

“We had just gotten married, we didn't know what to do with a kid. You were special, you had superpowers! You weren't meant to stay here, you would’ve had a mundane life, and you would’ve wished to join those kids.” That was the first time I thought she was speaking her mind, but she had it all wrong.

“That’s what you actually believe? I would’ve been bored here?”

“You were made for something more. I always knew that. We thought Sir Reginald gave you a lovely home. I’ve watched you on TV all these years. You looked happy, you have siblings, you had everything I ever wanted growing up.”

“You’re basing my experience on what you saw on a TV? I can’t even think of them as my siblings. I met them when I was twelve!” I wanted to get my brains bashed again. Maybe I wouldn't have to remember this conversation.

“Well, I'm sure he had his reasons for what he did?”

“No! That’s not the truth, Reignald was an abusive asshole who only wanted us so he could use us. I joined late so I got all their childhood trauma at once. He was cruel and sadistic, Mom. Every day I wanted to go home, I wanted to come back here to you guys. Why would you give me up with the possibility of me having a happy life? Why couldn’t I have had a happy life here?”

“It was too much for us to handle at the time.”

“Oh yeah, I bet the cash he gave you made the time go by better.”

“Stop insinuating that we’re bad people!” She raised her voice. “We did the right thing.”

“I needed a mother! My mother! But you didn't even call.” I went higher than her; it was in my nature to be competitive.

“You want the truth?”

I cried out in agony. “That’s all I've ever wanted!”

“When you were shot in the stomach at the bank and came back like nothing was wrong. You scared me, I was scared of the possibilities that could happen. I had no idea you could do anything like that. I was scared of your powers at such a young age that I couldn’t help you control. I told your father, he was scared also and then we were approached by Reginald and we made the decision we thought would suit you best. We didn't want to confuse you so we never reached out.” She looked away.

“How did I scare you? I only tried to help you whenever he would hurt you. I’d be there to pick up the pieces. The reason why you have no scars on your face it’s because of me, why would I ever push someone to be scared of me? My powers are to heal people, not to hurt them. Why would anyone think that I’m dangerous?” I don't think I believed that at all. I know what I've done, it wasn’t something that reappeared in my head. If I told her I'd only prove her point.

My mind was racing back to memories like The Handler, who said I was a killer. My old boyfriend, who said I was crazy. The people I’ve killed even when I thought I was just protecting the world. Maybe I wasn’t so perfect. Maybe I was losing it, but that was only because of the situation I'd been put in.

“Because of this! Because of what you’re doing, you’re freaking out. You need to calm down B/n. You always hide your father's temper.” Now she was trying to blame me?

“I have my father’s temper? What about your selfishness? Even after I moved out you never thought of contacting me, Mom. It's almost been thirty years, I'm twenty-nine!”

Instead of responding, she checks the time again. “I'm so sorry Y/n. I don't know what else to say. I had no idea this would happen.”

As my anger rose, so did my blood pressure. “And now you're dropping the subject altogether. I don't even know you. I can't tell if you're being serious.”

“Then let's get to know each other. There’s so much I've always wanted to ask you.” She sounded so oblivious like we were just screaming at each other a couple minutes ago. But she wouldn’t stop staring at that damn clock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

As soon as I say that she never looks at the clock again. “Nothing! I'll warm up your stew.”

My mom called over my grandmother and whispered something to her so quietly it sounded like the steam of the stew pot. Whatever she said it sent my grandmother running towards the door and out of it. “What was that?” I asked while getting up to meet my mother in the kitchen.

“I just asked her to grab some more vegetables for dinner before the store near here closes, we’re gonna have some pasta.” She stares at me. “Should I set a plate for you.. Y/n?”

The mention of dinner had me looking out the window. It was getting dark, just how long were we talking? I've been on my journey to Brownsville for almost the full day. Who knows what I've missed at the academy?

“I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, I have to get back to the academy..”

“Oh! Do you still live there?” She asked.

I blinked at her with confusion before realizing what I said. Everything has been so hectic recently that I didn't even know where to start with my explanation. “No it’s just, everyone is still together. From.. the funeral? Yeah, and we’ve just been with each other for the last few days. Grieving.” I tried to make myself seem as sad as possible but it wasn't working. We were together because the world was about to end, not because Reginald made us all sappy.

But now it was my time to ask a question. “What’s with pasta? You never made that before.”

She looked delighted to tell this story. She almost looked like Grace who would be ecstatic anytime we said her cooking was good. “It’s become one of your father's favorites since we need quicker meals to deal with- his new job.”

I folded my arms. “Which is?”

“He’s the head of a company which has produced books since a couple of years ago. I think he was even in charge of that book, that girl made. What’s her name again?” She counted different names that start with a v on her fingers until she landed on the right one. “Vanya! That’s her name.”

To think my dad published the book that helped drive a wedge into my family even more than there already was.

“I never read it myself but I heard great things from him.” She said, “What's with the name Y/n? Did Sir Reginald choose it?”

She made me think back to the currently dead Grace. “Something like that..”

My mother nodded in my direction. “It suits you. Better than what I picked out to be honest. But uh my mother, I mean your grandmother will be back soon, would you want to help me with the dough?”

I didn’t want to, my mind was focused on what I could have missed at the academy. Like if they went after Harold Jenkins themselves and someone got hurt. I was desperate for a feeling other than sorrow, maybe I needed a distraction. “I guess it could hurt.”

Despite how angry I still was with her, I helped her make dinner for a man I also hated. And as she gave me a demonstration on how to roll and make spaghetti out of the dough we started to talk once again. Since I no longer felt the pressure of sitting down at the living room table, the words started to flow out. She even answered my questions with her thoughts. She also handed me some wine as we kept talking. I'm not a drinker anymore but who am I to say no?

We laughed, we got angry and we got a bit sad, there was a perfect balance. It felt like I was talking to Allison, like the time when we stole Grace's dresses. We were never the closest but we could have civil conversations that led to great memories that lasted in my mind. It felt nice to talk to someone who wasn't superhuman or crazy. She was just a regular human being existing, I think I forgot how to one by now.

Once the pasta was in the water we took a seat on the couch. It was just as hard and lumpy as I remembered but nonetheless comforting. She handed me some more wine as we kept talking.

..

After some time the doorbell rang unexpectedly, it was weird because G/n, as I discovered was my grandmother's name, had a key. And so did my father who I was very scared to see. My mother got up and swayed towards the door to open it, slightly drunk and still raving about the score she got on Thanksgiving food last year. I was drunk too, I think, but I'd felt this lucid all day so I wasn't sure.

The person at the door made my mother almost drop her glass as she tried to usher them outside. It wasn’t G/n and it wasn't my father, so against my better judgment I went to see what was going on.

“This isn't a good time” she whispered.

“I thought you wanted me to come over for dinner?” The voice said it was a man.

As I walked to the door I smirked, did my mom have a secret lover? That’s something I would’ve never expected but made sense since she told me my father was never here. Once I opened the door back up I was excited to see what mysterious my mom’s life really held.

When I saw him I almost dropped my glass too. This wasn't some fifty year old man that I expected to see, it was a man who looked exactly like my mom. Like me. This man could’ve been my exact copy, the same look in his eyes and the same scowl id paint my face with if someone was pissing me off.

“What the fuck?” I yelled to no one in particular.

My mother looks at me in fright, completely sobered up. “Y/n.. Honey.”

As I downed my last drop of red wine I thought my body was going to give out, I felt betrayed and unwanted, clearly I was. “I was always the problem, wasn't I? I knew it.” I then addressed him directly. “How old are you?”

“What?” The stranger asked me. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, this kid didn't know how old he was. “Okay, easy math twelve minus twenty-nine is seventeen. You're around seventeen right? You're in high school or something?” I found myself not caring for the answer I could see his uniform on. He went to the same school I did.

He gulped while staring at my mother for approval. “Yeah..” he said quietly

“You got busy didn't you?” I laughed at M/n. It wasn't funny actually but that's all I could find myself doing at that moment, that or throwing something. “Probably didn't even wait a couple of months.”

“It’s not like that..” I found my supposed mother glancing back and forth between the both of us like she had to choose. “We just got so lonely.”

“So you didn't contact your daughter you already gave birth to. You just decided to start again? Have another kid and forget about me?”

The boy looked up at me surprised. “You're my sister?” He turned to our mother. I looked at the two of them. She didn't even bother to tell him? “You just love a mystery mom. Not even bothering to tell either of us is a new low.”

We left her at a loss for words. I'm sure she was thinking that the two carbon copies, twelve years apart, would never meet as long as I stayed out of her new perfect life with her perfect son.

By now the sky had turned a very vibrant shade of dark purple. There was nothing left to do here, it was time to leave. I entered their home once again to grab the huge bottle of wine they were probably going to enjoy with their meal. Turns out that I needed it more.

“Where are you going?” My mother called out.

I took a swig. “Oh, I'm leaving,” I said cheerfully. “I'm also taking this bottle here, it's very good. Thanks for the stew.” The thank you was more of a fuck you honestly. She was able to tell right away when she blocked my exit.

“Please, we can talk about this in the morning. Just stay with us.” She made everyone tense. Even my little brother looked anywhere but at us, he was trying to stay out of this.

I stepped up to the woman who had a similar height to me and she immediately backed up. She was scared of me, what bullshit. “There’s no need. I've never known this place as my home and you made that very clear today. This was a waste of time.”

Without another word, I walked out of the house. Secretly hoped it would catch on fire in an instant but that never came. And I limped all the way back to the muddy grass to get to the bus stop.

In the span of a whole day, I solved years of questions. With a simple answer, I wasn’t wanted. And my whole day was made worse because of it. I laughed as my hands went to tug at my hair. The outcome of this situation was hilarious to me, Pogo knew what would happen all along..

The bus didn't arrive until almost forty minutes after I arrived at the stop. Luckily I had my now empty wine bottle to keep me company. I knew I was going to make a pitstop before returning to the academy and getting more.

..

Once I'd gotten my fill, the bus ride home was filled with silent whimpers and bursts of excitement, my head was killing me. It could’ve been from all the alcohol mixed or because of stress, but I was practically up in the clouds. To the point where I almost missed the right stop.

I stepped off the bus after handing the driver an extra case of beer. I felt like I wanted to go dance, just like I used to with Klaus when we'd get this drunk. I planned to ask him to take me. I know he wouldn’t mind, right?

But when I got inside the academy I couldn’t find a single person where I left them. Of course, it’s been hours but weirdly I expected everyone to stay there. I was too wasted to go running around the huge mansion, I'm sure they’d turn up in the morning.

Without taking off my shoes or shredding myself of my clothes I went right to bed. I hoped when I woke up that this was all a dream..

…

.

“Y/N?”

.

“Wake up”

.

“Please.”

.

“Allison is..”

.

“Just get up, please”

An odd voice rang in my ears that sounded almost like Ben. But when I woke up I only saw Klaus, who stood over my body with tears in his eyes. It took a moment for me to adjust to my surroundings as well as my horrible headache.

He put his hands on my shoulders and shook me hard, it wasn't like him to be so tense. “Are you? Are you drunk?” He asked me while letting go.

I rose from my soft bed and rubbed my eyes. “I guess so,” I replied.

Soon another body entered my room, it was Five. He was equally as tense, he looked like he was about to explode. “She’s awake, good. We need to go before it's too late.” In the blink of an eye, I was no longer in my room but in the medical center of the academy. Had I forgotten a check-up? An important date? When I woke up earlier I had no idea what Klaus was saying. Just what happened in my absence, I was gone for a day..

When we reached the room everyone who wasn't in my room was surrounding the operating table. As I took a look around the room my vision was playing tricks on me, because when I noticed Pogo I saw someone else with him.... Grace? With blood on her white coat. Whatever was going on here felt like a terrible nightmare of my creation.

I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off when everyone noticed I was in the room.

“Where the hell have you been?” Someone yelled at me. I couldn’t tell whose figure was closing in on me since everything around me was so blurry. Suddenly everyone was near me when he lunged, they held him back.

“You need to calm down Luther.” Diego’s wavering voice said.

He huffed. “How can I calm down? Allison can die any moment and the only one who could save her was too busy getting her beauty rest.” He continued to yell in my face.

“Stop this behavior at once!” Pogo shouted. But that didn't stop the man, no matter how much everyone in the room protested.

I took a step back as I continued to hear his sorrows. “What the fuck is going on?”

Klaus spoke up from behind Luther. “Harold Jenkins got to Allison when she went looking for Vanya.”

It clicked in my messed up head who was on the operating table, my breathing started to shorten as I looked at her wounds after pushing Luther out of my way. Allison’s eyes were wide open as she was trying to cling to life. Her whole throat looked like someone took a chainsaw to her body, it was cut open and mangled with blood spurting out.

The image shook me to my core, it did with everyone else in the room too. “Oh god,” I whispered. Despite being heavily intoxicated my brain switched into a state of sobriety just for her. There had to be something I could do so I couldn't lose another person. “How long has she been here?” I asked the crowd.

“You came in a minute after us.” Five spoke.

Okay, at least maybe ten minutes. Not unsaveable. When my hands touched her delicate sliced skin I was brought back to my days of healing people on missions. But with the added alcohol, I asked for a bucket and then got to work.

“She suffered a severe laceration to the lungs..” I talked to myself as I worked, but the solution was nowhere in sight. “Blood! We need someone’s blood.”

All of the men said they’d do it at once but Luther was the loudest. “I'll do it.” He said while lifting his sleeve.

Pogo gave him a sad frown. “I'm afraid that's not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible with mine.”

“Pogos right. I need someone else.” I snapped at the crowd to start speaking.

“Hey, don't sweat it. I—I got this, big guy. I love needles!” Klaus moved next to me with his arm out ready to give out his blood.

“You got too much shit in your blood,” I told him. “You're too polluted.”

Diego took that as his sign. “Move.” He said to Luther, still slightly pissed off at his outburst earlier.

Once I brought out the syringe the poor guy took one look at it and with a loud squeak fainted. Everyone looked around at each other desperate for something to do. But I had a new idea.

“Y/n stick him,” Pogo told me.

I looked around the room. “No need, I have a new plan. Pogo go grab the box of serum now.” There was no time for manners in times like these.

“What box? What serum.” Luther asked.

Once Pogo handed me the box I used days before to heal myself I answered his questions. “Don’t worry, it's not the monkey stuff. It’s me, it's my blood along with other properties mixed into a healing serum. I just thought I'd be best equipped to get my blood but since I just downed like thirty beers. This is the next solution, it should heal her, I tested it on myself a few days ago.

“Where the hell has this been?” Five looked at the monkey man.

I prepared one of the vials into a syringe. The golden liquid seemed to just glow in the darkly lit room, this just had to work.

“Master Reginald had worked on it up to the day that he died,” Pogo answered.

“Full of surprises,” I said sarcastically, I brought the string up to her cut flesh and held her hand with my other free hand. Please let this work. “I'm so sorry,” I whispered before sticking it into her skin. I knew that this was going to hurt immensely like it did for me, but it would be worth it in the end. As the liquid dispensed into her veins and there was no sign of her in pain I took a sigh of relief. That was until her whole body started to shake, she was spazzing out.

“What’s happening?” Klaus cried out.

“It’s okay! It’s how it works.” I reassured the crowd. It was one time though, I wasn't so sure what was happening. But no matter how twisted Reginald was, if he was here he’d come to the same solution.

Her body stopped shaking after a few moments, and the blood flowing from her open wound stopped. The cut started to reverse slowly but the serum did work. I then placed a cloth and bandage over her throat to suck up any blood left. “Give her time, she’s a fighter. In the morning I’ll tie her throat up” I concluded.

A hush fell over the whole room, they looked at me with the same awe I found myself feeling. I did something useful with my powers for the first time in a while that did not cause anyone to die. It felt amazing, even more than my buzz. It gave me a moment of purpose that I didn't want to lose.

Suddenly I had more questions. “You guys went after him? What was your plan?”

Five looked down. “Well, a few of us stalked his house for clues but we'd left before this happened. Allison found where Harold Jenkins had Vanya but she headed there by herself. We found her like this.”

I looked back at the woman on the table, Allison didn't deserve this. “Wait, where’s Vanya now?”

“We have no clue,” Diego said.

This couldn’t be any worse, one sister was on the brink of death and the other was nowhere to be found. Just what has this Harold Jenkins done to the Umbrella Academy?

Pogo tried to get us to relax a bit. “You all should try and get some sleep, converse in the morning.” I wanted to take him up on the offer but I know that the others wouldn’t. He should’ve known, no one here ever rests. We had one last mission as a group and it was how to stop the apocalypse and clearly time was ticking.

…

Taglist

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I am back with the next chapter! Were you able to guess what the chapter was about?

We're ramping up to the end. And when we get there I will give you some more backstory of.. well you. Powers and maybe if you have any like other questions I will do a short qna and start season 2!

[legobiwan]

Another story idea:

One of the - and I hesitate to call them "issues" as I think the series is pretty complete on its own - but one of the loose threads from the end of Gravity Falls Season 2 I'd like to tug at is the ease with which Ford finds redemption after his return to his dimension.

On the surface, it seems like the only person he needs to work to reconcile with is his brother, with whom he can barely share a civilized conversation with until after the zodiac is broken and the elder Pines twins are left seemingly helpless in Bill's improvised prison.

And yes, Ford gets the kick in the ass he needs after his brother's memory is erased (at his own hand), as he realizes at that juncture just how much his hubris has cost him (even if he hadn't consciously valued the relationship with his brother before, there have been steady hints throughout the series and books that Ford values Stan in some way, even if he's shit at showing it).

But it's all...rather easy.

McGucket asserts that he's done forgetting and ready to forgive, even though he was probably the biggest victim to Ford's actions and ego throughout the entire series. (There was another post I saw around here about "hurt people hurt people." Bill may have been awful to Ford, but Ford was almost equally as awful to Fiddleford).

Give me a story where McGucket starts to gain back those memories - of his anxiety and panic and near-slavish devotion to a man who barely gave him the time of day. Give me a Fiddleford who won't take Ford back after this all comes back to light, who finally grows a spine and cuts ties with someone who mistreated him for years.

Give me a story where Mabel is outwardly enthusiastic towards Ford, but also afraid. Afraid that she's not enough for him, that she can't be her brother, that Ford will look down on her. Give me Mabel acting out in her most-Mabelest ways to try to both win over Ford and smooth out the relationship between him and Stan (and knowing she's a child coming from an unsettled home life, this hits all the worse).

Give me a story where Dipper realizes the truth of the old quote, "never meet your heroes." Where he finally come to terms with the fact that Ford is just a person - and a very flawed person, at that. A person who nearly sold the world for his ego and worse yet, held his grunkle and sister with little regard, held Dipper's own future with little regard except how it would benefit Ford.

And yes, finally, give me a story where Stan and Ford have the seriously hash things out. Where they ned to come to terms with their trauma from their youth (and the one thing I can't blame Ford for is what happened with the science fair project. Stan shouldn't have been there and he knew better. Stan also knew he was less than second banana to his brother his entire life, and his father made no bones about showing it. Say what you will, but an almost-18-year-old Ford was never going to react well to that situation, nor would he totally understand the consequences of Filbrick kicking Stan out at that age. Stan was also horrifically co-dependent on his brother, something his parents should have helped to sort out way earlier). Stan needs to sort his issues with both his (now-assumedly-dead) parents, as does Ford. Ford needs to come clean as to the who, what, where and why of Oregon. And Stan needs a reason to live for himself, and not for others - especially not his brother, from whom he has an almost desperate need for affection. (And you have to wonder, after 30 years...now that he's gotten Ford back, is there some kind of pit that's opened up in Stan, some raison d'être that's vanished leaving him uncertain as to everything in life, even with Ford vowing change and ships and adventures from his end. That's got to be one hell of a whiplash).

Anyway, what I'm saying is I love Ford but there's a ton he has to reckon with, and worst off, he has to reckon with other people if he truly wants to change. (And oh no, can I think of another two-dimensional being who may be going through the same thing in a time-warped psychiatric institution, hmmm, I wonder...)

[rita-repulsa-ke]

the mistake

Still post-finale, still Agatha. Rio makes a mistake. Agatha is very sexy. Some flirting, some angst and a few jokes. Going with a headcanon here that Agatha has made a contract to kill people for Death in exchange for her life, which is why she does so much murder.

It was 1942 when Rio made the mistake.

Agatha was setting up, drawing a circle, readying herself for her new ‘coven’ to arrive, humming the ballad to herself. Rio, sitting in a tree, was humming along.

Do not mistake this for a ceasefire. Do not imagine this scene as peaceful. But they had both acted out the same drama for centuries, Agatha running and fighting, Death always one step behind, the single unwanted constant in her chaotic life. Sometimes, Agatha simply had other things to do than fight.

Things like preserving her own life.

”Cutting it real close this time, darling,” Rio called down from the tree. “I want my bodies. Or I get to take my favorite girl home with me.”

Agatha made a gagging sound without looking up and Rio laughed, dangling from a tree branch by her legs. “I like the song.” She was trying to provoke, Agatha knew, for her own sick amusement, or to get Agatha’s attention on her or maybe to run down the clock. “Your Nicky is such a good singer.”

That one word, spoken too freely, changed everything.

“Is,” Agatha repeated.

“Uhh,” Rio scrambled to sitting on the tree branch. "That wasn't what I mea—"

Agatha spun and her power slammed Rio to the ground hard enough to make a small crater, chains of purple wrapping around the other woman, holding her in place, though they both knew she couldn't hold Death for long.

At least, not with magic.

“You told me once that you escort them beyond the veil and never see them again. You told me you can’t speak to the dead.” She stalked over, put a booted foot on Rio’s chest, which made Rio's eyes widen an appreciable amount and her lips part very slightly.

Agatha leaned her weight onto that foot, met the eyes of the monster who pretended to be able to love her. “Rio, baby, did you lie to me?” she asked, head tilted, mad smile playing across her lips.

“I don’t actually owe you any answers, you know,” Rio said, but she couldn't meet Agatha's eyes, her expression almost guilty.

As if Rio could feel guilt.

Agatha dismissed the magic and dropped to kneeling, leaned down and pressed her forehead against Rio’s, saw the other woman swallow compulsively. “But you want to tell me. Don’t you? You've wanted to tell me for a while now, I'd bet.” Her voice had gone soft, sweet, her fingers were on Rio’s cheek and this was also a dance they both knew all the steps for, but one that never failed her. She was so very good at seducing Death.

Rio turned her head, tried to get Agatha’s fingers in her mouth. “Plenty of time for that later,” Agatha coaxed and Rio, the final sunrise, the terrible end of all things, whimpered very quietly.

It was so nice that she'd never lost this particular power, though it took all her willpower not to use it to hurt Rio.

There was plenty of time for that later.

“Tell me the truth,” Agatha purred. “Tell me how Nicky is a good singer.”

“I can’t," Rio whispered "It’s forbidden.”

Agatha fingercombed the other woman's hair, pressed her lips to the corner of Rio's mouth and enjoyed listening to her whine. “You have done so many forbidden things for me. You saved me. You gave me time. One more time, my love, for me. Tell me a secret.

“…Will you forgive me?”

Agatha pulled back and gave the other woman a wicked smile, taunting, teasing, promising things she would never, ever give. “You know? I might yet.”

Rio breathed out with relief akin to a dying person’s final breath, a moment of complete surrender—but where other people surrendered to Death, Death surrendered to Agatha. “I can speak to him. He asks after you.” Here her smile sharpened, took on a vicious edge. “I lie, of course, when I tell him how you are.”

Agatha's turn to shake, her hands clenching and unclenching. It had been such a long time. Sometimes she woke and she'd forgotten Nicky all together.

Until, inevitably, she remembered.

“How is he?“ she whispered.

Rio opened her mouth to speak, but then her jaw snapped shut with too much force, as though an invisible hand had slammed into it. She sat up and her voice, when she spoke again, contained a hint of grave dirt and the cries of endless mourners. “Dead, Agatha, he is dead! And this is why these are sacred mysteries, I cannot tell you about the state of the dead and even if I could, you would not be able to understand them.”

“But he still sings?”

Rio’s expression softened at once and her voice was altogether too human, a lie Agatha had once allowed herself to believe. “Yes, love, he still sings.”

The fight ran out of Agatha then and she sank back, buried her head in her hands. “Why didn’t you tell me?“

”There are rules! I should not have told you this much!” Death snarled and when Agatha looked up, she could see Rio's mask had fallen off, face skeletal, nose melted away.

Once, Agatha had found her true face beautiful.

Now she couldn’t remember what beauty was.

"You, especially," Rio continued, a small laugh in her voice. "Who knows what madness you'd wreck with such knowledge?"

“I want to know,” Agatha said. “I want to know all of it.”

Death gave her a surprisingly sweet smile, entirely out of place for any version of her. “Wait. Let the clock run down. Forget your planned slaughter and sit with me until the end. Then you can finally discover what lies beyond the veil.”

Agatha burst into hysterical guffaws, and Rio’s expression twisted into something more familiar, imminent violence and a hint of more mundane hurt.

“And give,” Agatha hissed, jabbing a finger at Rio, who stared blankly at the offending digit. “You the satisfaction? You think I seduced Death into letting me live, only to give up and die now?”

“Agatha.” Two centuries of violence, physical and emotional, between them and still, Agatha had never quite heard this tone in Rio’s voice. Something dreadful crept into it, ancient and terrible.

Agatha Harkness did not yield to such parlor tricks. “What, baby? Am I hurting your feelings? You thought we fell into bed together because I like bad boys and not because I wasn’t done living yet? Anyway, I don’t need you. I’ll wring every ‘sacred mystery’ out of this world all by myself.”

Rio groaned, a much more human groan. “How many times, Agatha. How many times will I break the rules for you, over and over and over again, only for you to throw it back in my face?”

“Generally depends on how likely you think it is that I’ll kiss you.”

Rio laughed, but it was a terrible laugh, one that made even Agatha flinch back ever-so-slightly. "You were never going to forgive me," she said.

Agatha shook her head. "Honestly, if I were you, I'd have at least held out for a kiss. Probably the last chance you're going to get this century."

Rio stared at her, then started to giggle. She scrambled over, always too fast, and pecked Agatha on the cheek. "Ags, it's getting dark."

"Is that a metaphor? Because I'm fully capable of seeing the sun going down."

"And where are your new best friends?" Rio singsonged.

Agatha's forehead creased. She glanced at the position of the sun in the sky, then back toward the small town she was using as her staging ground. "They're coming."

"They aren't," Rio said. "Someone warned them. Agatha Harkness, witch-killer. Follow her to the Road at your peril. Maybe I should have put it into song, but they seemed to take the warning well enough in prose.”

Agatha froze. "That's—that's cheating, interfering, you can't do that!"

Rio burst into strident, almost physically painful laughter. "Says who?"

Agatha felt caught out, small and mortal and aware of the sun going down in more ways than one. "…You never have."

"I wanted it to be fair. I wanted, eventually, for you to come to me of your own. Free. Will," Rio said, nodding along with each word. "Buuuut I'm getting tired of waiting, Ags. I miss you! And now we'll get to have an eternity together."

The sun wasn't all the way down, the temperature hadn't changed at all, but suddenly Agatha Harkness was very cold indeed. "…Rio, please," she whispered.

Rio's laugh was a banshee scream, a forewarning of imminent death, the petty, small-d version, the kind that only affected one person, but unfortunately, this time that person was someone she knew very, very well. "Agatha, Agatha, Agatha," Rio tsked, shaking her head. "You only get one seduction a day, max. So how do you want to do it? Personally, I like knives."

Agatha opened her mouth, then stopped and listened. There were voices, coming toward them. Voices singing a very familiar song.

"Maybe your warning wasn't heeded after all," she said as she scrambled to her feet, the other witches burst into the clearing. "Well-met, sisters! Come and join me—"

"Agatha Harkness," the leader of the group declared. "Your crimes are known to us! Do not try to defend yourself, we have heard how many witches you've slaughtered."

"Moi?" Agatha said, her eyes gone wide with false shock, hand pressed to her chest.

"Oh for…" Rio murmured, toying with her knife, watching with narrowed eyes. Agatha would have bet, from the way the other witches didn't glance at her, that they couldn't see Death, sitting so close, observing the action.

They would see her soon enough.

"Witch-killer!" Their melodramatic leader yelled, striking a pose. "We will destroy you."

"Give it your best shot," Agatha purred.

It ended as it always did, her feeling like she'd had a spa day and Rio gathering souls to take back with her. Feeling all-powerful, unkillable and therefore slightly more magnanimous, she leaned over and gave Death a kiss on the cheek. "You'll get me next time, champ."

Rio glanced over at her and Agatha flinched back, because the look in the other woman's eyes was worse than violence or frustration or even lust—it was unmitigated affection, mixed with mild contempt, like Agatha were a particularly adorable pet of some kind. "Sometimes," Death said, with a small shake of her head. "You are so cute." And suddenly she was too close, her lips inches from Agatha's own. "All the time in the world, baby. Sooner or later," she slid her fingers through Agatha's hair, nuzzled against it before releasing. "You will be mine."

She spun on her heel and waved a hand over her shoulder as she led souls to the final mysteries. "Bye, Agatha. I'll be sure to tell Nicky you said hi."

Like/comment/reblog, you know the deal. Want to read something from a much cutesier era, written pre-finale? Try out rain check

Or for darker post-finale stuff, check out the present