#this outfit struck me like a bolt of lightning

[spookyagentfmulder]

the invitation comes in a red envelope, with a wax seal holding the card inside. the back of the stationary contains more detail - masks are required, and dinner starts promptly 7:00 pm. i look forward to seeing you there. is written at the very end in clean script. ( feel free to respond ic or ooc, and feel free to share what your muse would wear! )

A masquerade.

The last time Mulder went to something this fancy he got smoke inhalation. He had a tentative relationship with the doctor, but knew that this was a sign of respect. He knew that Dr. Lecter was expecting him there and it would be rude to decline. This was so out of his element, out of his field that he had to sit down on his old, well worn and well loved couch in order to process the information.

First of all, how had he gotten his address? Was it through Scully? Possibly, but why again would she do something like this without telling him? No. No there had to be something else to it. Fox stared out his window, tapping the invitation against the palm of his hand as he thought about what the hell was he going to wear to such an event.

He could play it straight. He could wear black suit, black tie, and keep himself as cleaned up and professional as possible. Or he could make a fool of himself. Dress in a bright green suit with little antennas and make Hannibal Lecter regret inviting him somewhere out of his comfort zone.

No. No that would be too expected. That would be easy. He needed to surprise Dr. Lecter. He needed to keep him guessing. Maybe... maybe he could compromise. Maybe he could play a little tongue and cheek with Hannibal.

A dark and warm grey suit, paired with a almost autumnal orange vest and matching tie. Off-white almost cream colored shirt, and tucked into the breast pocket was a black, white and orange pocket square. His mask? A fox, of course, made of well researched black Venetian lace. Sure, most of his wardrobe would be budget, and the lace wouldn't be authentic, but it would make him pass just enough to make him look like he knew what he was doing. To impress, but to keep himself the holder of the punchline.

He would be one Fantastic Mr. Fox.

He would do the honor of telling Dr. Lecter he was planning to arrive the next time he saw him. It was such a shame that he'd have to wait for the reveal.

@consumare

[welcometojackass2022]

The CKY/Viva La Bam Boys Try Out New Kinks For You [Smut Drabble] (Dico, Raab, Rake, Frantz, Novak, Bottaro, Jess)

@lieutenant-cinnamon-roll thank you for the great request and for the awesome Dico idea!

@chasingwinehouse thanks for giving me literally too many ideas to mention. Ily <3

In this one, the boys agree to try out a new kink for you (it’ll be a different kink for each boy), to varying degrees of success, meaning some of the scenarios will be successful and some will not. Just depends on the guy. The kink in question will be put next to each boy’s name in parentheses as a warning. Dico and Novak’s parts are pretty much purely comedic in nature, but the rest are very smutty. Also I am VERY MUCH AWARE that Raab’s photo is blurry as hell but it’s such a cute photo that I just had to use it. Gimme a pass here.

Warnings: Female reader, Cursing, you can guess the rest (check the parentheses), PERIOD STUFF in the last one with explicit blood references

@asskickedbygirl @butttxray

Brandon DiCamillo (Roleplay):

“Keep going, my dear, I’m so close to inventing electricity again! I’ve almost found it, I’ve got to go through the circular district and then it’ll come right out of the clouds and—” You listened to your boyfriend ramble theatrically about his need to rediscover electricity as he thrust his cock inside you, his pointy 1700s-style hat poking against your forehead every time he looked down at you and his scratchy ruffled collar tickling your neck. You wrapped your arms and legs around his back to pull him closer to your body so his cock would go deeper inside you, trying your best not to burst out into laughter at the sight of your boyfriend fucking you while dressed like a founding father. Earlier that day, you had made the mistake of casually mentioning to Dico that you were mildly interested in trying out roleplay as a way of spicing things up. Dico had told you to wait on the bed while he went into the bathroom to change into an outfit; you’d expected him to surprise you by dressing up as a professor or maybe even a doctor, but instead he walked into the bedroom wearing his Benjamin Franklin outfit, already in character with the same accent and mannerisms he’d used for the CKY bit. You really weren’t that bothered by it, all things considered; sure it was weird as hell, but you had asked him to spice the sex up a little bit, and this was certainly one way to do it. Dico quickened his pace, throwing his head back so hard it knocked his wire-framed 1700s glasses askew, which made it even harder for you not to laugh. “Dear Lord, madam, your bits are crackling with pure energy, this may be the source of electricity I’ve been seeking all along! Keep going, my dear, lightning is about to strike!” You stared up at him in confusion. “Does that mean you’re about to cum, Dico?” Dico didn’t break character for even a moment. “Dico? My lord, you harlot, how many men have you lured into your bedchambers before me? Tis I, Benjamin Franklin! Inventor of electricity!” He thrust inside you one more time, throwing his head back and loudly mumbling gibberish about lightning striking as he came inside you, his pointy hat falling off as he dramatically jerked his whole body around like he was being struck by lightning; he pulled out of you and fell off the bed, tumbling onto the ground and continuing to jerk around on the carpet like he’d just been shocked by a lightning bolt. You moved to the edge of the bed and stared down at him in confusion. “What the hell are you doing, Dico—fuck, sorry, I mean Benjamin Franklin.” Dico promptly stopped writhing around on the floor and glanced up at you with a grin. “Dear Lord, madam, I was right! That pussy of yours is positively electrifying!”

Verdict: Successful, for Dico at least. Maybe next time he’ll branch out and try Rut Ru.

Brandon Novak (Food Use):

“You think I should try to put the whipped cream everywhere or just focus on the cock?” You shook the can of whipped cream in your hand as you pushed on Novak’s bare chest to make him lay back against the pillows, admiring the sight of his naked body as you deliberated over where to put the cream first. Novak grinned, jerking his hips up a little bit to draw your attention to his cock from where it sat firm against his thigh. “Come on, babe, you know you wanna go straight for the cock.” You laughed. “True. Alright, hold still then.” You wrapped your hand around the base of his cock to hold it steady as you shook the whipped cream can one more time and then squirted a bit of it on the tip of Novak’s cock, grinning when the tiniest of gasps slipped from his lips. You leaned down and lapped up some of the soft white cream from the head of his cock, causing Novak to moan softly and curse under his breath. “Does it feel better with the whipped cream or no?” Novak nodded. “It’s like lube, it really slicks everything up. Can you put it on the whole thing? Like get it all over the balls, too.” You nodded and squirted the cream all over his shaft and his balls, completely covering it and then leaning down to lick a stripe of it off from the underside of his cock. Novak’s hips jerked again, and he groaned. “Damn, that’s good. Lemme see that for a sec.” He reached out for the can, and you handed it to him, licking up another stripe of cream from his shaft, and he promptly squirted at least half the contents of the can directly into his own mouth, whipped cream smearing all over his mouth and dripping down his face as he tried to swallow the entire mouthful. You burst out laughing, trying to take the can back from him before he could waste anymore of it. “Jesus, Brandon, way to use up all our supply! That’s my only fucking can, gimme it.” Novak shook his head and pulled it away from you with a grin, going for another mouthful, but you managed to smack it out of his hands, resulting in whipped cream squirting everywhere; all over the floor, all over the walls, all over Novak, and all over you. “Nice going, dickhead, we’re gonna have to clean all that shit up now. I guess that little sex experiment is over.” Novak shrugged. “According to you. We’ve still got plenty of whipped cream to use, babe, we just have to get a little creative with it.” He grabbed your whipped cream-covered arm and licked it clean, and you playfully rolled your eyes. “You’re so nasty, Brandon….I’ll give you $5 if you lick all the whipped cream off the wall.” He grinned. “$10 and I’ll lick it off the floor, too.”

Verdict: Successful in that you and Novak had a very good time! Very tasty way to spend the day. Maybe not the sexiest, though, especially when you’ve got an attention span as short as Novak’s.

Chris Raab (Handcuffs + Sex Toy):

“It feels weird not being able to touch you when we do stuff like this. I feel like a criminal that just got taken in by the police.” You giggled at Raab’s comment as you finished putting the handcuffs on him, keeping his hands restrained behind his back so he couldn’t move them at all for what the two of you were about to do. “That’s kinda the point, baby, they’re handcuffs. Listen, if they get too uncomfortable or you just don’t like them then let me know and I’ll take them off. I have a feeling you’re barely gonna notice them after I start, though.” You picked up the main event of this little sex scenario you and Raab were about to engage in: a purple silicone vibrator. Just the sight of it seemed to make Raab antsy, and he leaned back against the chair he was sitting in, anxiously tapping his foot as he waited for you to use the toy on him. He was already completely naked, his little cock hard against his thigh and his nipples dark and hard against his pale skin. You kneeled down on the floor between his legs in front of the chair, gently parting his thighs to give yourself better access as you wrapped your hand around the base of his cock. Raab’s sensitive thighs twitched, his hips bucking up against your touch as he waited for you to turn the toy on; you leaned down to kiss the tip of his cock, wanting to stretch this out for as long as possible just to get Raab even more worked up, and the soft whine that left his mouth made it clear you succeeded. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop dragging it out, baby. Here, hold still.” You turned the toy on, cooing over Raab when he flinched at the vibrating noise, and then you gently pressed it to the tip of Raab’s cock, grinning when he immediately threw his head back with a loud whine, his arms struggling against the handcuffs like he was desperate to be able to grab at something. You pressed it more firmly to his cock head and he bucked his hips up, his mouth falling open as a series of pathetic little moans left his lips. “How’s that feel, baby, you like that?” He nodded desperately, trying to push his hips up more so he could feel more friction on his cock. “So good, (Y/n), thank you so much.” You smiled, moving the vibrator around in a circular motion over his slit, and Raab’s eyes fluttered shut, panting softly as a line of drool started to drip from his lips. “Aw, poor baby. I knew you’d like this. Here, let me see what happens when I move it down a little bit….right here.” You moved it up and down the length of his shaft, and right on cue, Raab moaned again, his cock twitching each time the vibrator reached the tip or the base as he railed against the handcuffs once again. “Fuck, please take the handcuffs off, (Y/n), I need to grab something so bad, it’s too much, please take them off—” You reached around and clicked them off one-handed without skipping a beat, and Raab immediately reached out for you to hold his hand with your free hand as you continued to moved the vibrator over his cock, his legs shaking as he got closer to cumming. You ran it over his tip one more time, and his cum immediately spurted from the slit, shooting out more intensely than you’d ever seen before. When he finished, he slumped back in his chair, red-faced and panting. You grinned. “No handcuffs, aye? I guess my idea for a police officer roleplay is out of the question.”

Verdict: Half successful! Throw out the handcuffs but keep that vibrator in a drawer for later.

Jess Margera (Lingerie + Garters):

“Alright, Jess, this whole getup took me at least fifteen minutes to put on, so I better hear some fucking applause when I come out.” You stepped out of the closet to reveal the sexy lace lingerie and garters you’d put on, twirling around to show it off from all angles, and Jess good-naturedly clapped his hands like you’d asked, a massive grin on his face as he took in the sight of you in such sexy clothing. “God, babe, I don’t even know what to say, you look amazing.” You smiled, strutting over to him in your heels and pulling him down to kiss you. “I better! This stuff was not easy to put on, let me tell you, the lace got caught on like two different clothing hangers while I was changing and I almost broke my ankle when I first put the heels on.” Jess laughed, giving you a sweet kiss on the forehead and then pulling away to look you over again. “Well all your hard work definitely paid off. You look like a fucking goddess, I can’t wait to get my hands all over you in that sexy ass lingerie. Maybe I should sit in a chair and you can just sit in my lap?” You nodded, pointing towards the chair that was across the room, and Jess eagerly sat down, watching you with a look of awe as you strutted seductively across the room towards him, wrapping your arms around his neck as you sat down in his lap with your ass pressed against his crotch. He cursed under his breath, running his hands over the lace underwear and the sexy garters appreciatively. “You’re not planning on taking this off, are you? I know sometimes the girl just straight up takes it all off when it’s time to fuck but I’d really love it if you kept it on.” You playfully rolled your eyes. “Of course I’m keeping it on! You think I’d go through all the hard work of putting it on just for it to end up on the floor while we fuck? No way!” He grinned. “Good. Come here.” He pulled you down to kiss him again, his hands wandering over your breasts and rubbing at your inner thighs through the lace, and then he pulled the panties aside to rub at your pussy with his index finger, gently pushing his fingertip inside you to stretch you out as he felt your tight wet pussy. “Those heels look sexy as hell too, babe. You can kick them off, though, I don’t want your feet to hurt.” You grinned. “You’re a saint, Jess.” You kicked them off, stretching out your legs and then getting up and turning around so you could face Jess while you sat in his lap, his finger instantly pushing inside you again as he kissed a line down your neck. You could feel his cock hardening underneath you, and you lifted yourself up off of him long enough to unbutton and unzip his pants and fish his cock out, jerking it slowly in your hand and smirking when Jess’s finger started to push inside you with even more intensity than before. “Fuck, baby, you’re killing me.” You smiled. “Is it too early to ask you to go ahead and put your cock inside me?” Jess shook his head. “In that outfit, you could ask me to fuck you in a Walmart shopping cart and I’d say yes.”

Verdict: 100% success! If you ever want Jess to do something, just ask him while you’re wearing the lingerie and garters and he’ll never say no.

Joe Frantz (Slapping/Pain Kink):

“Slap me.” Frantz’s rough thrusts immediately came to a halt as he stared down at you in shock. “What was that, sweetheart?” You went slightly red, feeling a little embarrassed about your request, but you repeated it. “Slap me across the face. Just once. I wanna see how it feels, I feel like maybe it could be kinda hot.” You’d never seen Frantz look so nervous before; as rough as he was during sex, he was not violent, and slapping you might have been a little outside of his comfort zone. Nevertheless, he hesitantly nodded his head in agreement, resuming his rough thrusts so that his cock was stretching out your tight pussy as he moved his hand up to rub over your cheek, seemingly psyching himself up to do as you had asked. He gently pulled the hand back and then delivered an extremely weak slap, barely even hitting your cheek, and you shot him a look of understanding. “It’s okay, baby, you can be a little harder than that. Just slap me one good time, really bring your hand back and slap me. I won’t get upset, I promise.” Frantz still looked nervous, but he brought his hand back even further than before and then brought it down again, this time at least hitting your cheek hard enough to make a noise but not enough for you to feel it. “Maybe just a little harder, Frantz, like really slap me. Act like I’m someone you absolutely hate. Slap me as hard as you’re fucking me right now.” Frantz thrust his cock inside you once more, pounding your g-spot with his cock head, and then, one last time, he pulled his hand back and slapped you across the face—hard. Your cheek was burning, your mouth was slightly open in shock, and your pussy was throbbing from how turned on it made you, but Frantz immediately stopped his thrusts and shook his head with a guilty look on his face. “Fuck, baby, I’m sorry, I can’t do this. Hot sauce.” As soon as he said the safe word, you unwrapped your legs from around his waist and let him get off of you, sitting up to rub his back soothingly as he rubbed his hands over his face. Frantz rarely ever used the safe word, given that he was pretty much always in charge of everything, but when he did say it, it was pretty serious. “I’m so sorry, baby, I know you probably liked that but I just can’t hit you like that. It feels abusive.” You shook your head, pulling him closer to hug him with your arms wrapped around his neck. “Oh, don’t be sorry, Frantz, I shouldn’t have just asked you like that so impulsively. Next time I’ll ask about stuff like that before we start, I just randomly thought of that and figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. You don’t have to do it again, don’t worry.” Frantz hugged you back for a moment and then pulled away to rub the cheek he’d slapped, which was bright red. “Man, I wish I hadn’t done it so hard, baby, it looks like it hurts.” You shook your head. “Nah, it doesn’t hurt. It’s kinda like when you spank me.” Frantz grinned as he remembered you were still naked, his hands moving down to grab at your ass. “No more slapping you, but I’ll gladly smack these cheeks any day of the week.”

Verdict: Not successful. Frantz likes it rough, but slapping is just a little too far for him. He’d rather bring his hand down on your ass, not your face.

Lord Bottaro (Choking):

“It’s not a big deal, baby, just wrap your hands around the bottom of my throat and squeeze a little bit. Here, let me….yeah, right there.” You helpfully guided your boyfriend’s hand down to the base of your neck, helping him wrap his thick fingers around it as he stared down at you with sheer confusion. “I hope you know I’m only doing this because I love you and you asked nicely.” You laughed, patting his hand reassuringly and pulling him down to give him a kiss. “It’ll be fine, baby. The second you feel uncomfortable, just say so and we’ll stop doing this and go right into having sex, how does that sound?” He seemed slightly more reassured by this; if the choking had been during sex, he probably wouldn’t have agreed to it, but you had offered to let him do it before the sex, like a fucked up little appetizer. “Alright, now just slowly press down a little bit. Not too much yet. Give it a few seconds, and then press down a little more. I’ll tap your hand if it’s too much.” Bottaro nodded and hesitantly pressed down on your neck with the smallest amount of force possible, gauging the look on your face like he was scared you were gonna start gasping for air. You smiled reassuringly at him, nodding for him to continue, and he applied a little more force, just enough for you to actually start feeling it. It felt good, and you were already starting to get wet; the look of enjoyment on your face seemed to relax him a little bit, and he stroked your face and pushed your hair out of your eyes with his free hand as he tightened his grip just a little bit more, enough to where it was actually starting to affect your breathing a little bit; you had to open your mouth just slightly to take in more air, and this immediately brought back his nervousness, so he loosened his grip a little once again. You just smiled up at him patiently, offering one of your hands for him to hold with his free hand, and he gratefully accepted it, gently squeezing your fingers with his big, warm hand as he tried to let himself tighten his grip once again. Your pussy was starting to throb, and you squeezed your legs together to take off some of the pressure as he pressed down more firmly on your neck, eyes still locked on yours to make sure you didn’t look at all scared or intimidated. Just as you could feel your face starting to get a little red, Bottaro took his hand away and sighed. “Sweetie, I know you really wanted me to do this, but I feel like a serial killer right now. Can we stop here?” You sat up and nodded, kissing him on the cheek. “Of course, baby, thanks for at least trying. It felt really good.” He smiled. “I’m glad you at least got something out of it.” He pulled you in to kiss him again, his boner forming against your thigh as you rubbed your hands over his back, and when you pulled away, you shot him a suggestive look. “Tell you what. How about I give you a blowjob for being so brave and trying that out for me?” He grinned. “I have been pretty brave, haven’t I?”

Verdict: Not successful. Please don’t ever ask him to do that again. He felt like a serial killer.

Rake Yohn (Period Sex)

When it came to what Rake liked and disliked, Rake was a fairly simple man. There were two things that he disliked above all other things: one was mustard, and the other was period blood. So when you offhandedly mentioned period sex to him during a conversation about interesting kinks you’d been thinking about, you had expected him to quickly turn it down. Rake was very caring and loving and respectful when you were on your period, and he’d gladly help you wash anything you got blood on, but the idea of having his dick inside you while you were bleeding seemed like something that would be too much for him. But, to your surprise, he had agreed, which was why you were now laying on the bed with a towel under you as Rake lined his hard cock up with your pussy. “You know there’s still time to back out of this, baby. I don’t want you to pass out in the middle of this.” Rake sent you a look, leaning down to give you a quick kiss as he pressed his tip against your entrance. “I’m not gonna pass out, princess, I’m not afraid of period blood. I just don’t really like touching it.” You smirked. “And yet you’re about to have your entire dick covered in it, all because I brought it up once.” Rake just shrugged. “Listen, all the other guys have sex with their girls when she’s on her period, and I don’t want you to feel left out, so I’m at least going to try. Don’t think for a second that you gross me out, okay, your body is beautiful and you’re strong as hell for dealing with this shit every month. I’ve just always had a weird thing about period blood, that’s all.” You smiled. “I know, baby, and that’s sweet of you to be willing to try it, but again, there’s still time to back out. I just feel like you’re gonna pretend to like it just to please me but then you’re actually gonna hate it.” Rake kissed you on the forehead and shrugged. “I guess we’ll see, honey. I mean, I’m still getting to have sex with you, so it sounds like a win to me. Alright, here goes…” Rake pushed his tip in, clearly a little more hesitant than he was letting on, and as soon as he felt the sensation of the period blood around his dick, he stopped right in his tracks. “Wow. That feels…I did not expect that at all. Okay. Um…guess I’ll do a little more.” He pushed it in more, his thick shaft stretching you out as he slid into your slick wet pussy. One of his hands was balanced protectively on the bed so he could hold himself up, the other on your waist so he could rub his hand over your hips, and you felt his grip immediately tighten on your hip the more he pushed his cock in. So far, he was doing very well, much more so than you had expected him to. Now all he had to do was just pull it out and push it back in a few times. “Maybe this isn’t so bad. It’s as slick as a slip-n-slide, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here, now I just need to–” Rake pulled his cock out of you and immediately stopped talking as he stared down at his shaft, which was now coated with your period blood. You could see the look of absolute horror starting to appear on his face, and you tried to force yourself not to laugh. “Rake? Baby? Earth to Rake? You can stop now, you look like you’re gonna have a stroke. Here, come on, I’ll clean you off with the towel.” You used part of the towel under you to wipe Rake’s shaft off, and he tucked it back into his pants with a look of guilt. “God, baby, I’m sorry, I just…it didn’t bother me at all until I saw it on my dick.” You laughed. “Rake, I told you I understood. It was nice of you to at least give it a shot, but I knew it wasn’t gonna work out at all. And you say you’re not afraid of period blood…you looked like you were about to pass out.” Rake nodded. “Yeah, I know. Listen, baby, I really am sorry. As soon as your period’s over, I owe you some lip service. I’ll make you a coupon for five free sessions of me eating you out.” You smirked. “Rake, you’d eat me out for free without the coupon.” He grinned. “Touché.”

Verdict: Literally the farthest thing from success. Rake loves and adores you and your body but as he’s said before, period blood is up there with mustard as one of his least favorite substances.

[celestiall0tus]

Miraculous AU - Chapter 11 - After the Storm

Beginning || Previous || Next

            Chat ran to his house before he transformed back. He jumped in through the window as his outfit began to fall apart.

            “Plagg, claws in.”

            Plagg reappeared and transformed Chat back. Plagg landed in Adrien’s hand as he let out a sigh.

            “Well, that’s over. I’m hungry.”

            “That’s all? That was terrifying. I was almost struck by lightning.”

            “But you didn’t. Besides, a lightning bolt isn’t the worst thing to be hit by.”

            “He has a point, Adrien.”

            Adrien froze. He looked up to see Nathalie standing in the open doorway. Her arms crossed as she glared at him.

            “Nathalie, I can explain.”

            “You’re going to, both of you.” Nathalie turned her glare on Plagg, who smiled and waved.

            “Hello.”

            “Don’t play cute with me.”

            “Who’s playing?”

            Nathalie narrowed her eyes at Plagg.

            “Well, it’s been a pleasure meeting the nanny, but I’m going to go eat. C’mon, Adrien.”

            Nathalie pulled out the container filled with Plagg’s camembert. “I don’t think you will, unless you explain yourselves.”

            “Fine. The short story is me and the ladybug kwami needed help, so we sought out holders. She picked hers, and I picked Adrien.”

            “Why exactly?”

            Plagg smirked. “I think you know already.”

            Nathalie sighed. She opened the container and tossed Plagg a slice. He grabbed it and chowed down.

            “Adrien, this is a bad idea.”

            “I know, but I just don’t want to be trapped my whole life.”

            “It’s dangerous.”

            “Oh please. The only thing that could actually hurt him is another holder and there’s only four in all of Paris. I mean, there are others, but I don’t know where they are,” Plagg said.

            “But two of them are on my side as we fight the butterfly’s holder. I’m not alone in this, Nathalie.”

            “Adrien-.”

            “Please. I know the risks, I know it’s dangerous, but I finally feel like I’m living my life when I’m Chat Noir. Please, I don’t want to lose this.”

            Nathalie let out a long sigh. She rubbed her forehead as she tossed the container onto the bed. Plagg flew over and helped himself.

            “Nathalie?”

            “I will need time to consider this, but I suppose someone needs to consider what you want instead of disregarding it.”

            Adrien smiled and hugged Nathalie. “Thank you!”

            Nathalie’s eyes widened as she took a step back. “Don’t thank me just yet. I still need to consider this situation.”

            “I know but thank you for being the only to care about me.”

            Nathalie sighed and patted Adrien’s back. “Alright, brush your hair. Your father is waiting for you.”

            Adrien gulped. “What did you tell him?”

            “That the storm made you anxious, so you took a shower the moment the power returned. He accepted that and said to have you meet him once you were finished.” Nathalie tossed him a brush, then left the room.

            Adrien sighed and fell onto his bed.

            “You ok?” Plagg asked.

            “I don’t know. Today has been crazy. The weather, nearly getting fried, Louve taking the hit instead, now Nathalie knows. It doesn’t seem like she’ll tell Father, but I don’t know what she’ll do.”

            “If she won’t tell, then what’s the worst she could even do?”

            “Fair point, but I’m still worried. I mean, if she caught me, how long before Father would?”

            “Nathalie is the nanny. It’s her job to keep an eye on you and, y’know, care for you, right? It’s not like your father who only sees you during meals and whatever else. Personally, I don’t think we need to worry about him.”

            “I hope we don’t.”

            “Don’t worry about it too much. Worrying just makes things worse.”

            Adrien hummed. He brushed his hair, then stopped as he recalled the recent events. Out of the chaos, Ladybug had called Louve, Alya. He remembered that was the name of Marinette’s friend when he met them. His memory of Alya from that day was a little fuzzy, but she looked to be the same as Louve. On top of that was Ladybug’s reaction. She was devastated when Louve took that hit, like a friend would be. Could it be that Marinette was Ladybug.

            “Hey, Plagg. I know when you revealed yourself to Chloe you had commented that you didn���t say I couldn’t tell people about me being Chat. Does that include Ladybug?”

            Plagg paused mid bite. “I mean, you can. Just know that Ladybug’s kwami holds her holders to an actual standard.”

            “So, should I just wait for her to tell me when she’s ready?”

            Plagg raised a brow. “Do you already have an idea?”

            “Marinette.”

            “Is that the shy girl in the photo you have as your phone background?”

            “I wouldn’t call her shy, but yes.”

            Plagg flew over to Adrien’s phone and unlocked it. “I can see it. Just move the hair over her shoulder and she’s basically Ladybug. So, this means you have a crush on your partner.”

            Adrien blushed. “I don’t have a crush on her. Do I?”

            Plagg sighed as he flopped onto Adrien’s shoulder. “I may not completely pay attention, but for the moments I have, it’s a little obvious. Not as bad as Ladybug though. She definitely wears her heart on her sleeve.”

            “Wait, what?”

            “I’m going to nap. I’ll see you after dinner.”

            Adrien was about to protest when there was a knock at the door.

            “Adrien, your father is waiting,” Nathalie said.

            Adrien sighed. He covered the container and placed it on the nightstand with the brush. He got up and headed to meet with Gabriel.

~~

            “Hey, can you wait a moment, before you take me in?” Alya asked as Ladybug landed outside the hospital.

            “What is it?”

            Alya shifted and pulled out the silver pendant necklace from her pocket. She held it out in front of Ladybug. “Take this back to Juleka. I believe it’s a kwami’s necklace. Have Tikki look at it just to be sure.”

            Ladybug nodded and took the necklace. “So, what do we tell the doctors?”

            “Uh, the truth?”

            “We can’t.”

            “Then why bother bringing me here? Why not just take me home?”

            Ladybug sighed. She headed inside with Alya on her back. The doctors eyed her and Alya as they approached.

            “You’re Ladybug, right? What are you doing here?”

            Ladybug smiled nervously. “Um, I need you to check my friend. She’s one of my teammates and she kinda got hit by lightning.”

            The doctors stared at her in disbelief.

            “I know, hard to believe, right? But the room is currently spinning, I have a massive headache, and I’m starting to lose feeling in parts of my body,” Alya said.

            The doctors exchanged glances, then moved to help Alya. They got her into a wheelchair and took her away. One of the doctors at the front desk turned to Ladybug.

            “Would you be able to provide information on the patient?”

            Ladybug nodded. She provided the staff the basic knowledge they needed. Once she finished, she left and headed for Juleka and Luka’s home. She was relieved to see that the Miraculous was able to fix most of the city, including the houseboats along the Seine. She landed on the deck of their home and stepped below.

            “Tikki, spots off.”

            Tikki appeared as Ladybug transformed back. Tikki sat on Marinette’s shoulder as she stepped into the living area. Alix and Rose were still here, wrapped in towels while Juleka had changed. They all looked at her as she approached.

            “Where’s Alya?” Rose asked.

            “At the hospital.”

            Hospital?” they yelled in unison.

            “She was struck by the villain. A lightning bolt.”

            “Well, Fang took most of it. However, Alya may have sustained some injuries from it,” Tikki corrected.

            “What’ll happen to her?” Rose asked.

            “Hopefully not much. I can’t speak for Alya, but Fang will just need time to recover before she can transform Alya into Louve. It’s not too big of a deal. If it was injuries from another holder, that’d be a different story, but they will be fine,” Tikki explained.

            “That’s a relief,” Rose said.

            “Yeah. Maybe now we can get some answers. Right, Marinette?” Alix asked.

            Marinette sighed and nodded. She shared the information of what Tikki is, being Ladybug, and why she was Ladybug. She also warned them of the butterfly holder’s powers and of other kwamis showing up.

            “Speaking of other kwamis, the necklace, Marinette,” Tikki reminded her.

            Marinette nodded and handed the silver pendant necklace back to Juleka. “Alya told me to give it back to you.”

            “What’s that?” Rose asked.

            “It’s the mouse necklace,” Tikki answered.

            Juleka’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

            Tikki nodded. “This is quite fortunate for us. With the wolf and mouse active, we’ll hopefully have the snake before too long. Good thing too.”

            “But where’s the kwami?” Alix asked.

            “Inside the necklace. The mouse tends to test her potential holders. This usually means locking herself into her pendant until her chosen holder finds it. It’s how she judges their perception,” Tikki explained.

            “How does she do that?” Marinette asked.

            Tikki grimaced. “Well, short version of a very long story. We didn’t always come with the jewels we offer to you guys. An alien civilization bound us to them to harness our powers and kept us trapped in boxes, like the jewelry boxes you guys have. We were only freed when they put the jewels on. We escaped thanks to the black cat.”

            “What’d he do?” Marinette asked.

            “Well, they learned to keep the black cat contained and never let him out due to his powers. Except one child who got its hands on the cat ring. Its guardians tried to stop it, but it got the ring on. The black cat was freed and went nuclear. But, again, long story short, Juleka will just need to put the necklace on to release the mouse.”

            “C’mon, Jule! Let’s see it,” Alix said.

            “Now, hold on, Alix. Don’t push. Let Jule decide for herself,” Rose said.

            “Aren’t you the least bit curious, Rose?”

            “Of course, but this is for Jule to decide. She may not want to just yet with you-know-who here.” Rose pointed towards Luka’s room.

            “How is Luka?” Marinette asked.

            “I’m not sure. He wouldn’t talk much. Once the storm cleared and everything was fixed, he’s been hiding in his room,” Rose said.

            “You left out the part where he suggested we dry off but didn’t expect us to undress and use their dryer and has been hiding ever since,” Alix snickered.

            “Be nice, Alix. Luka is a gentleman and is looking out for us,” Rose admonished.

            Alix rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Fine. But, back on topic, you’ll show us later when you do become a hero, right?”

            Juleka nodded.

            “Awesome. Oh, and who knows, Alix, we may get to join them.”

            “Wait, you think so? Is that possible, Tikki?”

            Tikki shrugged. “That’s for the other kwamis to decide. There’s a decent chance since you girls are friends with my holder, so maybe.”

            Alix grinned. “It’s not a no yet.”

            “Oh, what if we had a whole team going? We could have a group of heroes to defend the citizens of Paris. Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Rose said.

            “Maybe for the other three, but we’re a little left out of the picture, Rose,” Alix pointed out.

            “Not completely. We can still help them, even if we don’t get chosen. Though I hope we do.”

            “Help how?”

            “We could provide snacks for the kwamis, safe places for them to rest, and maybe even help cover for them while they are out doing hero work. What do you think, Marinette?”

            “We’d make sure to include everyone, right? Including Chat?”

            “Well, we’d need to know who he is and have a way to contact him,” Rose said.

            “You’ve been hanging out with him, right? I’m sure you know, right?” Alix asked Marinette.

            Marinette shook her head.

            “Why not?” Alix asked.

            “Because I’ve advised that Marinette wait until they are stronger,” Tikki said.

            “Then you should have also advised her to take on a different appearance or something cause it’s little obvious,” Alix remarked.

            “She has a point, Tikki. If Chat knows me as Marinette, it won’t take long for him to put two and two together.”

            “Well, let’s just hope he doesn’t until you guys are stronger.”

            “Do you maybe have an idea who he could be?” Rose asked.

            Alix snorted and rolled her eyes. “That’s asking for a bit much.”

            “Alix!”

            “She’s not entirely wrong, Rose. I mean, I honestly have no idea who he could be. I think you’d be better off asking Alya or Juleka to figure that out.”

            “Maybe,” Juleka said.

            Rose hummed. “I guess we’ll worry about that detail later. But I’ll talk with Alya once she’s well enough. I know she’ll love this idea. With her help, we can get the groundwork laid out. Now, how about we do something fun. It’s still technically our last day before school, so let’s have fun!”

            “I might have to pass,” Marinette said as she stood.

            “Are you sure?” Rose asked.

            Marinette nodded. “I want to check on my parents and just relax. Today was… exciting. Plus, I’ll be meeting with Chat tonight.”

            “We understand. Take it easy, ok?” Juleka said.

            “Of course. Stay safe, girls. If anything happens, text me.”

            “We will!” they said together.

            Marinette waved good-bye, then headed out towards home.

[mycoolwritingcorner]

Sailor Moon: Reignstorm - Chapter 5: Enter Reign

The Makai Tree shot out one of its branches at Sailor Moon, which she caught effortlessly between her two hands, stopping it dead. She then rolled out of the way, deciding to attempt to reason with the tree.

“Listen! I can feel you’re in pain! I know you don’t want to do this! Just stop!” She said, placing her hands up in front of herself.

To her surprise, however, a flame shot out of one of her hands and onto the Makai Tree’s surface, causing it to recoil.

“What?” Usagi said, before being forced to dodge another of the tree’s attacks. She then looked down at her hand, confused, “That’s… new.”

…

“I don’t understand, why did Usagi change again?” Artemis asked as he and Luna watched the battle from a nearby rooftop.

“I can’t say for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say Eternal may have been an incomplete transformation.” 

“Incomplete?”

“Yes. When the eight Sailor Guardians entrusted Sailor Moon with their power, she needed time for herself and the Silver Crystal to properly adjust to it.” Luna explained.

“Oh, I get it! And since she hasn’t transformed for the last few months…”

“Exactly, she has been able to evolve and unlock her ultimate transformation, one that allows her to utilize the powers entrusted to her by her friends.”

… 

Sailor Moon wasn’t the only one whose power had increased, however. The other Inner Guardians felt their strength increase several fold with their new transformations. 

“Changing your outfits won’t save you!” An said as she launched an energy attack at Mars, which the red-suited guardian effortlessly dodged.

“You sure about that?” She said with a smirk, before utilizing her new power, “Mars Raging Inferno!”

A wall of flame exploded from the Guardian of Fire and towards An, shattering her psychic shield and forcing her to the ground.

“My turn!” Venus shouted, rushing towards An, “Venus Love-Struck Dynamo!” 

A large heart made of yellow energy shot out and struck An, rendering her unconscious.

“An!” Ail shouted at his partner, taking his attention away from his two assailants. A mistake that would be his undoing.

“Mercury Hydro Burst!” The Guardian of Water shouted, engulfing her adversary in water.

“Just like old times. Jupiter Lightning Barrage!” The Guardian of Thunder said, launching thousands of bolts out of her body and electrocuting the water which Ail resided in, knocking him out.

The four Guardians then turned their attention back to Sailor Moon, who was currently dodging between the Makai Tree’s branches.

“Sailor Moon! There’s a strange energy permeating from all of them! I think that’s what’s causing them to act this way! Can you help them?” Mercury called up to her.

“I don’t know! These powers are all new to me! Apparently I shoot fire now?! I still need to figure out how to goodify people in this form!”

Suddenly, as if to answer her question, Usagi saw a familiar object materialize into her hand.

“The Moon Stick?” She asked. While it looked close to the Moon Stick she had lost years ago, there were some differences. The biggest being that the crescent atop the stick was now silver instead of gold, “Wait, I know what to do!”

Sailor Moon raised the Moon Stick high above her head, and channeled the power from the Silver Crystal in her compact into it.

“MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” She shouted, causing the street to fill with light. When the light died down, they saw Ail and An had returned to normal, while the Makai tree was once again reduced to a sapling. 

“What… What were we doing?” An asked, sitting up and rubbing her head.

“We were hoping you could explain that to us.” Venus replied.

Sailor Moon descended down to her friends, her wings dissipating as she landed, she opened her mouth to speak before being cut off by a voice from above.

“Excellent! I expected nothing less! Glad to see you all haven’t lost your touch.”

The Guardians immediately directed their attention upward, where they saw an armor-clad, cloaked figure floating above them. The figure held a staff in their hand, atop of which was a crystal that the five guardians immediately recognized.

“The Malefic Black Crystal! I knew that the energy surrounding them was too similar to be a coincidence!” Mercury shouted.

“But I thought we destroyed it!” Jupiter said, confused.

“Oh, you did.” The figure said, descending to ground level, “Well, most of it, anyway.” 

“You! You… did something to us. Twisted our thoughts…” Ail said, clenching his head in pain.

“Yes, yes, you played your parts like good little pawns. However, I no longer have any need for you.” They said dismissively. Then, with a wave of their hand Ail, An, and the Makai Tree sapling simply vanished.

“What did you do to them?!” Mars asked angrily.

“Oh, fret not, I’ve simply sent them back to the primitive little world I got them from. After all, I may need to make use of them someday in the future.”

“Who are you? What do you want?” Sailor Moon asked, shakily.

“You may call me… Reign. As for what I want… don’t worry…” They said, opening a dark portal behind them, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Quick, don’t let them escape!” Venus ordered, but it was too late. A mere moment later Reign was gone.

--

So... two things I need to address.

1. This chapter is late. 2. This chapter is short. And hopefully both can be addressed with me saying... I graduated from college last week. So you can imagine I was a little busy.

But we're (I hope) back to our regular schedule of bi-weekly updates!

NEXT TIME: I won't say what the next chapter is about but I will reveal the title... Midnight Secret Talk (if you know you know ;) )

Until then, let me know what you all think! Comments, likes, reblogs, etc. are very much appreciated!

And come back next time for Chapter 6!

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[celeatiallenses]

---"S U N S E T, P A R T 3: D E S P E R A D O"---

Two weeks later...

*Drip drip drip...*

That incessant noise would repeat non stop in the hallway of the ruined castle that hide me, Thirteen, a monster since conception. I started at the human body I attempted to give myself. How futile of an attempt it was to hide my true self. I had been trying to blend in and be normal ever since escaping the factory I was made in. I had no open paths, only deep pits of misfortune. I only just recently found a job in the pizzeria, which was hiring the destitute. Then fate rears its ugly head once more, and takes away my future.

"Would I ever see a brighter a day?" I ranted aloud.

"Oh they are bright days alright, orange and red sunsets across the sky from dawn till dusk." A somber voiced drones from behind.

I slowly turned around a came face to face with a familiar face. It was Pandora, my favorite hero from a bygone era who I may have uhh had a minor fancy for. But Pandora didn't seem to be the same care free hero I always remembered. Instead of wearing the latest fashion, she wore an old fashion western outfit. The pinks that came from the patterns on her face were instead a deep red, surrounding by an infinite darkness. She stared at me, her gaze colder the dead of night. "Uhhh heeeey..." I started. Suddenly, she raised her hand I fired a bolt of lightning that struck me in the chest, knocking me down. My instincts took over, quickly subduing the shocks and recovering. I felt all conscious fade as the dark side inside of me took over and began attacking Pandora. I tried to stop myself, but I bday control in the panic of the moment.

When I came to my senses, I found Pandora lying on the ground, moaning in pain, for all of her limbs were turned at unnatural angles. Had she not been super, she would have surely been dead. I quickly used my powers to mend her bones, but took some precautions to prevent her from attacking me again.

Thirteen:"Your lucky that I admire a pretty face like yours or else I would have reduced you to atoms."

Pandora:"Oh scratch your record bone brain. What are trying to do? 'win my heart?'

Thirteen:"No. I just being honest with you."

Pandora:"Well, I find your honesty foolish. The only pretty face I will ever make is when you are turned in, and I receive my reward."

Thirteen:"Reward?"

Pandora:"Are you daft? Lord Helios wants you for crimes against heavenly justice."

Thirteen:"Helios? What is this? Are Greek gods a thing now?"

Pandora:"Lord Helios, the final judge king may he live, was who you once formerly new as 'Sohn'. But he no longer wishes to be called that name."

Thirteen:"Sure. How much is offering you?"

Pandora:"..."

Thirteen:"Spill the beans."

Pandora:"I don't need to tell the likes if you, noob."

Thirteen:"Fair enough, asta la vista."

Pandora:"Whu..."

The floor below changed into a portal leading to some random alley street. I watched as Pandora fell through and landed with a soft thud on a car. Before she could react. I closed the portal, and turned away, dreading the knowing that this 'Helios' was out to get me.

[sophiegoose]

Had a fun dream last night.

It started with me clothes shopping at a grocery store, and needing to find a fitting room to try a shirt on. This resulted in me walking for a good long time until I ended up in a bougie store deep inside a mall. The concierge there was helpful and showed me to a gorgeous wood-panelled part of the store where I could use the fitting room to try the shirt on.

When I was done, I stepped out of the fitting room and saw a security guard  walking by and immediately recognized him. He was part of a team of villains that had hunted down and killed my father years ago, knowledge that suddenly popped into my head and recontextualized the entire situation. Everything suddenly shifted from a nice, chill shopping trip into full-on Final Fantasy territory, with me going back to concierge and telling her that I recognized her and the rest of the staff as the murderers of my father. In particular, I recognized her as the ringleader of the villains that killed him. I summoned a giant sword from out of nowhere and challenged her to fight me. She sent the security guy to fight me instead.

The scene immediately cut into a videogame style boss battle, a cross of something between Final Fantasy VII and Shadow of the Colossus, as the security guard guy was actually a giant with sizeshifting powers, which he'd been using to disguise himself as a human. I had to Attack on Titan him across the neck with my sword to beat him.

Anyway, after I beat him he immediately switched sides to join me on my quest for revenge. After that we tried to hunt down the concierge lady and some of the other staff from the store, but they'd all fled. Having no luck, we met up with a group of my friends who lived in a house not far from the mall. These friends were (not very good) paranormal investigators, and we stayed up late into the night talking about ghosts and hauntings and such.

We were all hanging out in the living room when a coyote weirdly approached one of the windows. It slid up to the window in a weird way, hovering around in an almost t-pose looking pose, then bolted away just as quickly. I went outside to get a better look at it, but as I was walking around the backyard a sudden bolt of red lightning struck and ignited the dead leaves along the back fence of the yard.

I panicked, and as I circled the house looking for a hose or water spigot to try and put out the rapidly spreading flames, I saw more bolts of red lightning hit nearby buildings, also starting fires.

I ran back inside to tell the others, who all didn't believe me. There wasn't some evil red lightning storm trying to burn people alive, it was just due to a drought and dead leaves catching fire and spreading, I needed to chill.

The next day we were all out on the town, shopping at a smaller mall farther away from the city center. I saw yet another bolt of red lightning hit a building, freaked out and pointed it out to my friends who, of course, didn't see it and started laughing at me, at which point I basically said fuck it, I'll prove it myself, and stormed off to handle it on my own.

I was walking on my own in this smaller mall, passing a bunch of electronics shops when an employee suddenly climbed up on top of the sign in front of a store and started shouting some sort of monologue. I turned with the rest of the crowd to watch, only for this employee to suddenly slam her hand down into the sign, causing a massive block of stone to come down from it like a hydraulic press, crushing a passerby underneath it. People immediately started panicking, and as the crowd started scrambling to escape this employee suddenly sent a wave of red lightning out, smashing through the walls of the mall, hitting and burning people, and doing some sort of magical girl transformation in a Scarlet Witch lookin' outfit. I started fleeing up a nearby escalator, trying to get to an upper concourse above the level the employee was on, grabbed my sword and-

Woke up.

That was the end of it. Welp.

Will say that, aside from the sudden gore and death at the end, it was a fun dream. I loved the concierge and security guy. The concierge suddenly going from a kind and helpful employee to a loud, sassy, and commanding villainous boss was great, and the security guy was fun too. Like he talked a lot of shit but it was clear that he wasn't much more than a standard henchman, switching sides and working for whoever could kick his butt worse. He was a funny guy, ngl, just kind of a buffoon and pretty endearing, all things considered. I think I'm gonna keep both of them as OCs, not sure in what capacity yet.

[sserpente]

A/N: “People are quite willing in the face of certain doom.” I take your word for it, Sylvie! ;-)

Words: 1613 Warnings: smut, bi!Reader, mild exhibitionism, a little bit of angst

The rain was banging against the large windows like an angry monster with its claws digging right into the glass. The thunder and lightning urging it on to inspire fear, to inspire pure terror.

Hugging your knees to your chest, you shut your eyes tightly, imagining yourself in your warm and comfy bed reading a book and sipping a cup of peppermint tea. It only helped a little. What if you died today? What if the safe house they had brought you to didn’t withstand the storm? What if you drowned, what if a bolt of lightning struck you, what if the flood tore away the walls of the safe house and buried you beneath it?

You were cowering in a corner, away from the rest of the innocent people who had had to leave their flats and houses to seek shelter. You didn’t want to hear from anyone that you would get through this. If anything, you were angry. You were so young—you still had a whole life ahead of you, things to achieve, places to explore, activities to pursue. Now you were probably going to die before you could experience any of it.

Some volunteers were making their way through the crowd every now and then, handing out food and water but if you saw just one more strip of beef jerky you would probably cause a natural catastrophe yourself.

“Seat’s taken,” you spat when a cloaked woman moved towards you to make herself comfortable right next to you. You plunged your rucksack right where she had meant to sit, huffing in annoyance. No company, thank you very much.

The woman crouched down and tilted her head, allowing you to catch a glimpse of her face. She was beautiful. Blonde hair highlighting her dark roots and blue eyes sparkling with determination and mischief.

“You sound pissed.” She stated matter-of-factly.

“Hell, yes I’m pissed. I’m too young to die. This can’t be my life story.”

The woman suppressed a smile and sat down, ignoring how your rucksack was pressing against her lower back. “What’s your name?” You told her, just barely managing to keep yourself from rolling your eyes.

“I’m Sylvie.”

“You don’t look like you’re from around here.” You eyed her up and down, noticing her strange leather garments that resembled an armour more than a proper outfit.

“Well, I’m not.”

In her right hand, she was holding a device. “What’s that?” It looked like a tablet, only smaller and more… orange.

“Nothing, really.” You raised your eyebrows but when you realised she didn’t care to explain it to you, you shrugged. What did it matter? Unless it could magically take you away from here, it wasn’t particularly important anyway.

“Well… are you gonna leave me alone and let me sulk?”

Sylvie chuckled. “Probably not. I like you. Everyone else is just terrified. You sound like you would stop the flood single-handedly if only you could.”

You shrugged once more, glancing at her from the corner of your eye. She really was beautiful. Your heart skipped a beat when your eyes met.

“Maybe that’s why you should be celebrating instead. Make the most of your last moments on Midgard.”

“Midgard?” You frowned and scoffed. “There’s not exactly much left to do.”

“That depends. What do young women normally do to have fun around here?”

“Get drunk. Dance. Have sex.” Right. You were gonna die a virgin too. Oh, this was just great. Perhaps you should take Sylvie’s advice after all. “There’s no alcohol here. The only music I could dance to is the scared radio journalist’s voice warning people not to go outside and quite frankly…”

Sylvie raised her eyebrows and smirked at you.

“Oh my Goodness, what do you expect me to do, grab the nearest guy and have him fuck me? That’s ridiculous. None of these men even remotely qualify… nor do the women.” You added.

“I give you that. They won’t be in the mood for some fun.” Her smirk grew even wider, making you realise at once what she was implying.

“Seriously?”

It was Sylvie’s turn to shrug this time. She tucked away the weird device, turning towards you. Your heart was in your mouth by the time she put her palm on your knee and raised an eyebrow to ask for permission mutely.

You know what? Fuck it. She’s beautiful and cocky. A sigh escaped your lips as you leaned forward and pressed your lips against hers, testing the waters. Sylvie kissed you in a way you had never been kissed, wrapping her free hand around the back of your neck to pull you even closer, playing with your hair in the process.

“Come sit on my lap,” she requested softly, her warm breath brushing against your lips. You nodded, straddling her so you could deepen the kiss. Sylvie slipped her tongue into your mouth. Gently at first, she teased yours and then became more demanding, fighting for the upper hand.

You could already feel your arousal pooling between your legs and heating your core, the urge to ride her thighs almost too overwhelming to resist and yet, when she sneakily reached down and opened the buttons of your trousers to slip her hand down your middle, you froze. Reluctantly, you broke the kiss.

“W-wait, woah. Don’t you think we should go… somewhere else?”

“No one’s gonna look. They’re all busy being scared.”

“I’m not exactly into voyeurism… let alone exhibitionism. What if someone does look?” But Sylvie had already buried her fingers between your folds, coating them with your juices. You whimpered when the tips of her digits ghosted over your slit, gathering even more of your arousal to focus on your clit. Small circles first, slowly, she pampered your sensitive bundle of nerves until the first moan escaped your lips. You fell forward, holding on to her shoulders and allowing her to kiss you again as she caressed your most intimate parts, unable to help yourself when you started grinding against her hand, urging her on to give you more.

Heavens… women just knew what to do down there. She played you like an instrument and when she added two fingers to the mix and curled them deep inside of you all the while her thumb kept massaging your clit, you were done for. Screw the others. You needed her to make you cum. And she was about to do just that.

Teasing your g-spot with every skilled movement of her digits, her thumb applied even more pressure. She knew exactly she had found the right pace to toss you straight over the edge when your moans turned into desperate pants and finally broke her kiss to breathe in sharply, suppressing a groan just barely in the process. Your legs started shaking when your orgasm hit you, your slick walls fluttering around her fingers as your toes curled in your shoes, endless waves of pleasure rippling through you. Sylvie helped you ride out your climax and as soon as you had come down from your high, she cocked her eyebrows, making you chuckle.

“Are you gonna return the favour?”

“Take off those weird trousers and I will.”

“I think they’re quite fashionable.” She argued.

You winked. “Not on Midgard.”

Sylvie rolled her eyes but obeyed you nonetheless, sliding them down her knees. She then almost gave you a heart attack by opening her legs when you sat back down on her, making you drop to the floor in front of her.

“Ow!”

She scrunched her nose up. “Sorry.”

“You could have just asked…” You grumbled, licking your lips when your eyes fell on her slick cunt that was now aligned with your face. You scurried into a kneeling position to get more comfortable, giving her a questioning glance. When she nodded, you dived in as if she was your last meal—and technically, she probably was.

Sylvie was just as wet as you were. Pleasuring her must have aroused her immensely, the very circumstance flattering you enough to ignore the fact you were currently on your knees for a woman you barely knew. She spread her legs apart even further, giving you more access as you licked her folds to taste her, giving her lower lips and her slit all the attention before you finally moved on to her clit. Teasing it with the tip of your tongue first, you soon wrapped your lips around it to suck on it gently. Sylvie dug her fingers into your hair, pressing your face even closer to her heated core.

You ate her out vigorously, eager to bring her the same bliss she had brought you and when she tensed up when you penetrated her with two fingers and fucked her enthusiastically, you knew she was close. Sylvie pressed her legs together when she came, trapping your head between them, daring you to stop now. Her wet cunt pulsed around your fingers and against your tongue as you helped her ride out her orgasm—and unlike you, she remained as quiet as a mouse.

“You alright?” You choked out when she finally released you. Sylvie nodded curtly, moving to get dressed again. Come to think of it, that was what you should probably do as well before someone noticed your bare behind.

“Now that was lot more fun than sulking away and waiting for your doom, wasn’t it?”

You chuckled. “Yeah… yeah, it was. Talk about releasing tension…” You paused. Not gonna die a virgin anymore now. “If we make it out of this alive, will I see you again? You know… to have a coffee, maybe?”

Sylvie smiled sadly and almost… bitterly. “You just might.”

-

A/N: If you enjoyed this story, I would appreciate it so much if you supported me on Kofi! ♥ ko-fi.com/sserpente Big hug!

[alienelvisobsession]

Here's the link to the ask game I did a while back: https://www.tumblr.com/aconflagrationofmyown/696194814426939392/elvis-and-austinelvis-ask-game

• When and what was your first exposure to Elvis Presley?

I don’t remember. I always knew he existed, he’s Elvis Presley, duh! I’ve known how he looked and sounded like for as long as I can remember, but for some mysterious reason I wasn’t paying much attention to him and his music until recently.

• And what was your first impression?

I knew many of his hit songs and I was aware of his importance in rock ‘n’ roll music, but I wasn’t actively listening to his music. I only knew basic facts about his life and I hadn’t seen his movies at all, nor the ‘68 Comeback Special (apart from a couple of still shots of him in the leather suit). In terms of live performances, it pains me to say that I had seen more imitations and cultural references than the real thing. Whenever I saw footage of the real Elvis it was on the way to something else. It really clicked for me when I started watching some clips of him back in June right before the movie came out. It was like being struck by lightning bolt.

• Lace shirts or jumpsuits? Lace shirts.

• You can steal one of Elvis/Austin’s outfits, what’s it going to be?

There are so many. The man had great sense of style, until it mostly went down the drain with everything else in his last few years of his life. Don’t get me wrong, I love him always, but some of the outfits he wore in the ‘70s even he couldn’t pull off. As a woman, I could wear this:

• C’mon, we know you’ve been watching/reading old interviews and random footage of the man, so what’s your favorite random Elvis quote?

It has to be something showcasing his self-deprecating sense of humor, like: “I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line”. 

• Did you find Austin Butler’s lips distracting despite them being in a movie about the King of plush upper lips? (Be honest now)

Austin is sexy, but no, not really.

• What’s an aspect of Elvis’ character you wish more people appreciated?

Again, his sense of humor. You only know about it if you’re a a fan. I had no idea. By the way, I’m Italian and generally people here only know his music and the iconography, but very little about his life.

• You meet Col. Tom Parker for the first time, forewarned with the knowledge of what a scumbag he is, what do you do?: A. nothing, you’re a coward who doesn’t care about abused golden-hearted men B. you give the Colonel a stern telling off C. you encourage Elvis to leave him and break the contract E. you slap a legal document against that fat suit and declare “Mrs. Claus is bringing you a lawsuit” F. you waste no time with formalities, it’s a letter opener to the juggler for that piece of trash

F. I’d dissolve him in acid, mafia style.

• What was your favorite aspect/scene from the Elvis 2022 movie?

The Las Vegas rehearsal scene. Perfect pacing and it made me feel as if I were there.

• You can choose only one song or piece of media to convince someone to become an Elvis fan, what is it going to be?

Anything from the sit-down segment of the Comeback Special if they’re a rock fan, “If I Can Dream” if they’re not a rock fan.

• How many children would you give Elvis Presley from your own -or theoretical- womb? (listen to the beast in ya, your feminism won’t serve you here)

As many as he wishes, but in my fantasy he’s healthy, both physically and mentally.

• Where are you hanging out with EP, his bedroom with the teddy bears, Club Handy, his private jet or Graceland?

Bedroom with teddy bears. 1968-70 Elvis is the hottest man who ever lived, but I’d like to hang out with Elvis in the 1950s, because he was just so nice, beautiful and wholesome back then.

• What is the peak Elvis era? warning, this says an awful lot about you…

From a historical point of view I know it’s 1956, but vocally and physically it’s 1968-1970.

• How long have you been an Austin Butler fan (be honest now, God is watching)

I didn’t know him before the movie. He was great, I hope he’ll get an Oscar nomination. I can’t wait to watch him fight Timmy in “Dune”.

• What kind of Elvis chick are you? -a 1950’s prospective wife material that he’s already sampled, a 1960’s filmset fling or a Vegas torrid backstage affair?

I’m Ann-Margret, but he chooses to marry me. 😂

• Is Austin Butler an honorary southerner now? Answer options: A. hell no, California can keep his sweet cheeks. B. hell yes, he’s practically been possessed by the soul of the King of the South

Honorary southerner, but I’m Italian, what do I know? By the way, I’d make Elvis an honorary Italian. He has so many traits that are similar to Italian men (he was a mommy’s boy, wore stylish elegant clothes, he cared a lot about his looks, he loved food etc).

• Pick your poison in the fan-fiction realm: angst, fluff, smut, fluffy smut, angsty fluff, angsty smut?…or is reading about Elvis Presley an acknowledged health hazard?

I read smut, I write fluff, but I haven’t tried all the flavors yet.

• Spit or swallow for this man? (And if you don’t understand this question move right along)

A lady doesn’t say. 😅

• Would Gladys approve of you? Take your above answer into consideration

I bet she would. I don’t drink, smoke or take drugs. We’d be friends and I want to taste her coconut cake.

• Which of Elvis’ cars is your favorite?

I’m not an expert but I love those ‘50s Cadillacs. My grandpa had the European version of that. 😂

• What are your odds for besting this man at karate?

Nonexistent. Pin me down to the ground, my king! 😂 It’d be cool if he taught me a few moves though.

• If you could meet Elvis and have enough composure to tell him something, what would it be?

I would tell him that he will never be forgotten. That he will be cherished and beloved by generations of people all over the world. That his talent is so pure that if he hadn’t existed and he came in 2022 singing “Hound Dog” on television dressed like he did in 1956, looking like he did in 1956 and moving like he did in 1956, he’d still be Elvis Presley and everybody would go nuts all over again.

• What’s a hobby or pastime of yours you wish you could share with Elvis/Austin!Elvis

I’d like to discuss old movies with him, which were not super old for him, so it’s fine.

• What’s the Elvis 2022 quote you’ve been mumbling to yourself ever since you heard it?

I like how Baz used the lyrics from “Suspicious Minds” when the logo appears: “Oh, let our love survive / I'll dry the tears from your eyes”. I feel that it encapsulates how as fans we should feel about Elvis’ ultimately tragic story. Let’s celebrate him as an artist, instead of being constantly driven to despair by the the dark turn his life and career took at the end.

• What are your top 3 go-to Elvis songs?

Ask me tomorrow and I’ll give a different answer. Today I say “Reconsider Baby”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “If I Can Dream”.

• If you could spare him one tragedy what would it be?

The death of his mother, without a doubt. He wouldn’t feel so lonely later in life if he had her, she would give him advice, hopefully keep him off those stupid pills and kick the Colonel’s ass back to Holland sometime in the mid 60s.

• Is there a modern artist that sorta scratches for you the itch that Elvis’ absence leaves?

No, but I mostly listen to old music from ‘60s and ‘70s anyway. The reason is simply that he was so many things one on top of the other. He was the greatest entertainer of the 20th century, with one of the most beautiful, versatile voices ever recorded, who also happened to, if not invent, then “explode” rock ‘n’ roll. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he was immensely beautiful in a unique way. Nobody compares.

• How did you react at the end of the movie when In the Ghetto started to play A. I got up and fixed a snack because I have no soul, B. I left feeling alarmingly horny, C. I was impressed but didn’t realize how affected I was until days later when it was still with me D. I cried buckets they had to bring in a mop E. I may have appeared emotionless but in fact my soul was leaving my body and I don’t think it’s returned quite yet

D, kind of. I started crying when Elvis collapsed backstage, but when the footage changed from Austin to Elvis during “Unchained Melody” I lost it. When the credits started rolling I was still crying, but I had enough composure to tell my mother that this was the real Elvis singing “In the Ghetto”.

• If you’ve got a favorite gif or photo insert it here and bless us all

Uff, I don’t know, they change every day, but the pictures Alfred Wertheimer and Phil Harrington took in 1956 are the best.

Ok, now go and tag a couple mutuals

Since this has been running around for a long time, feel free to answer if you haven’t already. I’ll only tag @ceb111481

[low-activity-side-characters]

REBIRTH OF HOPE

(December XX, 2021).

Darkness, nothing but unceasing darkness surrounds her vision. Suddenly a whir of machinery can be heard. A sharp pain, spreads throughout the nervous system. A pair of brown eyes snap open. She looks around her, she seems to be suspended in a blue fluid, almost like water. She goes to speak, yet feels her mouth muffled by a foreign object. She tries to move her arms, but feels they are like lead. She…can’t remember her name…memories are foggy… Her eyes drift to someone manning the device she was in, begging with them to release her, and tell her what was going on. Thankfully, there seemed to be a god. The fluid slowly drained and she steps out.

Kisaragi Scientist : You must still be out of it, Akane Taira. The others have already awakened and are poised to either work with us, or peacefully reintegrate back into society,

Akane feels as if she is struck by a lightning bolt, so that’s who she was. Mikako Kurokawa, Kizuna Tomori, Ayame Hatano, Kiyoka Maki, Satsuki Iranami, Kanata Inori and Setsuka Chiebukuro have all been brought back to life. Of course, with the massive ruins and decay of most of their bodies, the seven who were revived were given brand new bodies, with the exception of Setsuka, whose body remained intact, and not underwater.

Akane: Where Am I?

Kisaragi Scientist: The Kisaragi foundation. You can choose to have your old memories, live as a completely new person, or, to live as you once were. I cannot guarantee you will be happy.

The woman takes a deep breath, closing her eyes.

Akane: Give me my memories, I’m ready.

Akane is given her memories, yet parts of them feel incomplete. She was the only one where they had detailed memories. She is also given a change of clothes from the odd medical suit to a black and gold maid outfit. It was better than her original. She touches her side to feel for those claw marks, yet sees nothing at all.

Kisaragi Scientist: We worked with the best of the best to reanimate you along with the others. Only time will tell if you survive.

Akane: What do you mean?

Kisaragi Scientist: There is a 30% chance you could have total organ failure in the next year. Such an experiment has never been successful on a large scale. Director Mekaru has ordered you to work for us during the brief interim, if you show positive signs, you will be allowed into the general populace, do you agree?

Akane: I do.

[sunjaesol]

the smile you gave me (it’s magic)

juke | meet-cute au | tw: alcohol + annoying men in bars | written for @alexjulies as we have the same headcanons about luke

What Julie Molina was about to do was horribly unfeminist and Flynn would hate her forever, but really, it was all the man’s fault - as usual.

She rejected his advances three times now in the last hour. The bartender gave her a drink on the man’s tab and she sent it back, the man brought it himself (introduced himself as Levi) and she politely declined once more. The third time he asked her to dance and then she fled to the bathroom. Julie wasn’t the biggest partygoer, occasionally joining Flynn for happy hour - like today. Her friend was late however, due to an emergency meeting at a magazine she worked at and Julie had to endure the bar alone. Grave mistake. She should’ve just waited at a McDonalds or something; even if she’d look out of place in her cocktail dress.

im there in 15!! hang in there <3 <3

Julie groaned. Great. Fifteen more minutes in a smelly bathroom stall as women outside were drunkenly crying in front of the mirrors and babbled about their own grievances regarding men. For such a universal problem, she had hoped all men would’ve taken the hint by now.

No, she didn’t want to dance. No, she didn’t want a drink. No, she wouldn’t give her number to someone that kept pushing and coming into her personal space. Levi could fuck off. It was bad enough how he had given her a suggestive once-over like he was deciding whether he wanted brunette or blonde tonight.  

The reminder angered her, pushed her out of the stall with a scowl. Was she really going to let a dumb man (nay: boy) ruin her night before it even started? Her songwriting session with Hayley Williams had gone really well and she deserved to celebrate that! She deserved to end her day on a high note! A quick look in the mirror to assure her make-up hadn’t smudged, she marched out the bathroom back into the dimly lit bar.

Her eyes scanned the room, relieved to not catch Levi close-by. Did he give up and leave? Was he cornering another girl? Whatever. As long as he wasn’t bothering her, she’d be able to breathe and maybe forget about the altercation.

If he did bother her again, she’d use her privilege as a girl and yell at the top of her lungs that he was harassing her. Surely then security would kick him out, right?

Over by the bartop was clamour, two men pulling each other into a laughing embrace as one hauled their backpack over their shoulder as the other dropped it. Changing shifts, Julie noted, halting on the man that had arrived. Well then. The theory that bars only hired attractive people seemed to be correct, the guy straight from a CW show. Mussed up brown hair, sharp features, big eyes, cute smile. A ten out of ten.  

He shrugged his red shacket off, fully black outfit beneath and began washing off discarded glasses. His muscular arms made her throat dry up; he wasn’t attractive, he was hot.

(Oh God. Was she just as bad as Levi, gawking over a stranger? But wasn’t part of his job that girls were supposed to gawk over him? More tips and all that? Julie decided she shouldn’t feel too guilty.)

Her feet moved on their own accord towards the bar, sliding into a leather high stool and wondering what she’d order as she waited for any of the bartenders (him?) to approach her.

Luck was on her side, the new bartender pressing his hands into the counter, brows raised expectantly. “What can I get you?”

Her lips tutted, debating between a margarita and a strawberry mojito. Both were appealing and at a marginally low price. “What’s better?”, she asked. “Margarita or mojito? Honestly.”

He grinned. “Honestly?”

“Yeah.” She crossed her arms atop the counter, a brush away from his hands. “I’ve bartended before. I know you have to lie a little.”

His muscle tee shifted around as he chuckled, slivers of tattoos peeking through on his chest. Her eyes averted, hoping she was a bit more subtle than she felt, and kept them trained on the stacks of whiskey in the glass rack.

His fingers drummed on the wood. “The mojito, then.” Leaning in as if imparting a secret, he added: “We’ve been buying the cheaper tequila. Gotta pay those bills.”

Satisfied at his reply, she gave him a pleased nod. “Okay. A mojito, please.”

He pushed himself off with a click of the tongue, as if he auctioned her something, and turned to grab the ingredients. As he poured the rum into a tall glass, he fell into casual conversation she was all too familiar with.

“You here alone?”

“Waiting on a friend.” Eager to distract herself from the reason why she waiting, and what caused her to wait in a fucking bathroom, she asked: “What’s the tattoo?”

The bartender paused for a beat, as if momentarily forgetting he was inked up, and then tugged his shirt out the way to showcase more skin. Had she not been so curious, she’d focus on the fact that he was defined as hell. The tattoo was a detailed sun with an ocean wave drawn inside. More uncovered: a play and pause button, ‘now or never’, a stick and poke tattoo of a lightning bolt. It was as if she herself doodled onto her skin and then left it there, but it somehow worked. It was personal. Maybe she was also a bit intrigued since he seemed especially interested by music. Granted, it was LA. Everyone was some type of artist with varying degrees of success. Still - she was curious.

“They’re cool,” she complimented, him going back to making her drink with an appreciative grin.

“Thanks.”

“Was the lightning bolt a drunk decision?”, she teased. The only instance someone got a stick and poke tattoo was when they felt chaotic or impulsive.

His grin widened, throwing crushed ice in the glass. “That obvious? Yeah, me and my boys all got one. This whole idea of-” He waved his hands around, trying to find the right words. “-bonding us together for life, I guess.”

Warmth thudded in her chest at his story, endeared by the way his voice became lighter when he talked about his friends. They must be like brothers to him.

As he placed the completed drink in front of her, she contemplated her answer. She’d rather keep talking to him than wait for Flynn in silence. “That’s nice. Having friends like that, it’s special.” Twisting her wrist, she showed her own tattoo. “I got this one when I turned eighteen.”      

They were two, small butterflies dancing on the inside of her forearm. When her mother passed away, she always knew she’d get something to commemorate her. Doodles of butterflies marked her skin in high school, finally becoming permanent when she was allowed to. Knowing everyone inevitably asked about the why, she continued talking.  

“It’s, you know, it’s about metamorphosis and beauty and transcendence and I just-” She caught herself before blabbing her sob story to a stranger. With a chuckle, she muttered: “It’s a reminder that change is good.”

When Julie looked up at him, she was struck by the wonder on his face. He didn’t look as confident as he did before, probably taken aback by her sudden spiritual spiel about butterflies - or by her, in general. The thought let a quiet thrill course through her.  

He snapped out of it, a smirk falling on his lips as his nail chimed against the glass. “It’s on me.”

“Is that a move?” Her head tilted, amused.

“You want me to lie or be honest?” The man leaned across the counter again, much closer this time. “Cool tattoo, by the way.”

She laughed, biting back a silly grin from blooming. This was his job, she reminded herself. Act all cute and get her to buy more drinks so that eventually, her tab would be enormous. It was like winning once at a game of poker and then becoming cocky.

Coy, she ripped her gaze from his and sipped on her drink. She’d let him simmer for a bit.

That was when it happened. Her unfeminist deed that would make Gloria Steinem shudder. Levi, the devil reincarnated, shot her a smug look from the other side of the bar. Swerving past people to the beat of the music, he tried approaching her again.

Julie groaned behind her glass, her good mood instantly shattered once more. Why couldn’t this idiot take a fucking hint?!

“Damn,” bartender mused, “I thought my mojito skills were good.”

The brash words tumbled out at a rapid pace, her need for a solution trumping her pride. “There’s a guy coming onto me right now and you need to help me ward him off. Please.”

He grimaced. “Yeesh. Ex-boyfriend?”

“Worse,” she bit. “A fool.”

A stressed smile pinned itself on her cheeks as Levi sidled beside her, one arm bracketing her left. Her back tensed as she shot a quick, pleading look at the bartender. He zeroed in on Levi, mouth curled downwards.    

“There you are,” Levi grinned. “Thought you left.”

Julie didn’t entertain him anymore. “I’ve told you. I’m not interested.”

He dismissed her. “I see you got yourself a drink? What is it?”

“I’m not interested,” she snapped, eyes flickering once more to the bartender. Was he really not going to help her?

It spurred him into action, his arm reaching over to create a barrier between Levi and her. “Dude, you heard her. Back off.”

Levi snarled. “Can you not? This is between me and her.”

“No, actually,” he exclaimed, blunt. “I’m her boyfriend.”

Her vigilance got her acting swiftly, shifting her expression into a believable nod and placing a hand on his outstretched arm.  

“He is?” Levi was gobsmacked, a hint of anger lacing his voice.

“Yeah,” Julie bit, silently thanking him when he played along and enveloped her hand with his. Her final strike spit his venom right back in his face. “So can you just leave us alone?”

The man rolled his eyes with a scoff, kicking one of the stools and mumbling a string of curses. “Bullshit…”

When he was out of sight again, having stormed off like a petulant child to a shadowy corner, Julie let out breath of relief. “Finally!” Shooting the bartender a bright smile, she kept babbling. “You have no idea how annoying that is. And smart idea - the boyfriend card always works!”

He squeezed her hand, worried. “You sure you’re okay? That was fucked up.”

“Yeah…” She trailed off, the soft touch reminding her of his words from before. Squeezing back, she watched as the pinch between his brows vanished. “I’m okay.”

They kept their stare for a beat, the revolving pop music and excited chatter merely background noise. Neither have let go of their hold on each other. She didn’t want to either; his hand was warm and gentle and a calloused thumb absentmindedly caressed her skin. Levi should learn from this.

Sometimes, a connection just happened.

He let go first, collecting himself into a casual stance that was far more amusing than it should be. Ducking beneath the bar and grabbing a beer, he tapped it against her glass with a cocky nod. “My name’s Luke.”

Julie matched his expression. Luke. Luke, the bartender. It fit him perfectly. “I’m Julie. Are you supposed to be drinking on the clock?”

“I work in a bar,” Luke deadpanned. “It’s expected. And I’m sure Jack can handle it.”

“Why would he have to serve alone?” she inquired teasingly, eyes glimmering with challenge. If there was one thing she loved, it was getting the upper hand in a fun game of flirting.  

He lifted his bottle with a wink. “I’m drinking with you.” A pause, his gaze matching her intensity. Damn. He was a good opponent. “Unless you want me to go?”

She shook her head, took a sip from the mojito and wiggled her brows. “Cheers to warding off annoying men, fake boyfriend.”

“I better get some good karma from this,” he joked. “Cheers!”

(Later that night, she’d realise Flynn never came by. When she asked what happened, Flynn told her she had walked in and saw Julie completely wrapped up in a conversation ‘with that cute bartender’ and left. The joyous announcement that Julie got his number made her friend screech over the phone.

Julie went back to the bar many times. Drinking and talking bled until deep in the night, once till closing time and then he walked her to her apartment. He didn’t resist when she kissed him, his lips kissing back with hunger.

It didn’t take long for the ‘fake’ to be scrapped from that label.)  

🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸

@blush-and-books @willexx @bluefirewrites @ourstarscollided

[kittiesluvyou]

Tower of Terror

Summary: Based on the attraction as Hollywood Studios in Disney World, Optimus Prime, the bellhop and one of the ghosts of The Hollywood Tower Hotel, recalls a frightful tale of three people who had plummeted to their dooms on the 13th floor.

Word Count: Unknown

Inspiration: Again, this is inspired by Tower of Terror at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. Happy Halloween, everyone! I also feel like I should also tag @seehowsupplethespineis because Drawing Entity’s art of the Screams (and Rattrap) in Disney costumes gave me the inspiration and motivation to write this.

Tw: No warnings that I can think of off the top of my head. However, Please let me know if I need to tag any. I tried to keep the tone of death PG as much as possible.

On the edge of Sunset Boulevard, you see it. The infamous Hollywood Tower Hotel. As you gaze up at the ten sharp edges and work your way down, you notice a massive, dark, imposing scar in the dead center of the tan-looking structure. What happened here? You wonder, a cold sensation goes up your back as you step closer and closer to the entrance of the hotel.

As you drop your suitcase down on the floor, you ring a golden bell, which was covered in a cobweb. You wipe it off and tapped it, waiting patiently for a bellhop to kindly show you to your room. You waited for at least five minutes when a middle-aged man in a bellhop’s uniform comes in from a side door, smiling softly “my name is Optimus Prime, please sign your name here and I’ll go ahead and carry your luggage to your room.”

“Wait! Before you go, can you please tell me about the giant scar in the center of the building? And why does everything look so...decrepit?” You turn around and noticed that even bigger cobwebs lined the walls, covered the furniture, and even the gold chandelier that dangled from the ceiling. “Do you like ghost stories, y/n?” Optimus asked. 

“Yes; however, I don’t believe in them a whole lot.” You answer confidently. He shook his head and sighed “You might want to rethink that statement, y/n.” He softly put your bag next to him and stood as comfortably as he could over the desk.

“In 1939, three guests by the names of Starscream, Knock Out, and Breakdown booked a room at this hotel. They were booked to stay on the thirteenth floor, so I led them to elevator to take them up. What I didn’t expect, however, was to feel the ground shake as a bolt of lightning struck the side of the building. All four of us went tumbling down the elevator until we crash landed at the lobby floor, crushed by the impact of the fall. Now we haunt the Hollywood Tower Hotel to keep all curious mortals away from the curse of the thirteenth floor.”

“Yes because nobody who is curious enough would want to go to visit this hotel after hearing that story.” You rolled your eyes sarcastically; however, that story made your curiosity grow. “You want to go up to the thirteenth floor, don’t you y/n?” A ghost with a pointed nose, a long chin, grey hair with a streak of red in the center, and wearing a 1920s outfit, and fabulous stiletto heels was standing right in front of you. He looked no older than thirty-five.

“I’m afraid that I haven’t properly introduced myself,” he gave a low bow “I’m Starscream, one of four ghosts with a permanent residence at this hotel. Knock Out and Breakdown should be here soon, they love greeting new guests.” He phased through the front desk to take a look at the room that was booked for you and gasped. “You can forget about meeting Knock Out and Breakdown, I’ll personally escort you to your room. Follow me, y/n.” A deceitful smile crept from his lips.

As you two step into the elevator, Starscream has already pushed the number thirteen, the cursed thirteenth floor. “I didn’t know that I had a room booked on this floor,” you wished that the floor was made out of glass so you could see how high up you were. “It’s the only floor that’s reserved for living residences, the dead can have any floor that they want.”

You finally realize what was happening, you were going to suffer the exact same fate as the ghosts of this hotel, The Hollywood Tower Hotel aka. The Tower of Terror. You heard the ding of the elevator go off, signalizing that you have made it to the thirteenth floor; however, before the doors in front of you opened, another strike of lightning hit the building and the elevator floor started shaking.

The wires somehow released their grips on the elevator, sending you tumbling down to the lobby floor. You wake up dazed and confused, surrounding you were Optimus, Starscream, and two more men in more underdressed attire, which you automatically guessed were Knock Out and Breakdown. “Welcome to the Hollywood Tower Hotel,” they said in perfect unison “we hope that you will enjoy your permanent stay here.”

[acephysicskarkat]

Duet

I was just packing up from practicing in my garage when Rosetta shot bolt upright.

Rosetta’s my dragon.  She’s mostly a blue, but there aren’t any blue breeds that are crestbacks, so there’s definitely some other stuff in there.  Her crest is also malformed, so it flops over to the right all the time instead of standing straight up like crests are supposed to.  When I got my undercut, I made sure it flopped over to the right as well, so we matched.  She seems to appreciate the ‘do when she’s riding on my shoulder.

Anyway, Rosetta’s awesome. Smarter than some people I’ve met, although to be fair I’ve met some really dumb people.  Also, I’ve managed to teach her to play the drums.  Some dragons have an amazing sense of music.

In this case, though, she’d apparently heard something in the bushes – yes, even though we’d both just been rocking out for the last twenty minutes.  I don’t know how her ears work.  I put down my electric guitar and went to have a look…

…and found a white dragon.

I looked up a lot of dragon breeds when I was a kid and obsessed with them, so I recognised him as a purebred at once.  Specifically, he was a seraph – a rare and very expensive featherwing breed, with a long, wavy feather sticking out the back of his head like a ponytail.

“Hey there, little guy,” I said, keeping my voice gentle and sing-song – at least, as far as I could. “Someone’s gotta be missing you. Come on, I’m not gonna hurt you…”

Cold fangs nipped at my fingers, but after a few moments, the newcomer seemed to decide I could be trusted.  A heart-shaped tag on a simple but expensive-looking collar told me that this was Ludwig, and gave an address.  Needless to say, it was on the rich side of town; if you lived anywhere else, getting a seraph would probably leave you in a cardboard box.

“You up for a trip, little buddy?” I said, and  Ludwig hopped up onto my wrist.  “Great. Let’s go find your owner.”

***

The house Ludwig’s collar pointed me at wasn’t the biggest in the district, but since my house is basically six rooms including the garage, which doesn’t even have a car in it, it still made my place look like a shoebox.  And here I was carrying a dragon probably worth as much as a car.

Some low, shitty part of me whispered that I should just run away and sell the thing, but I felt the comforting weight of Rosetta on my shoulder and shut that thought down.  I knew how I’d feel if Rosetta went missing. I wasn’t going to inflict that on anyone, not even for a big sack of money.

I was just about to knock on the door when it swung open and all my brain’s resources were assigned to Being Gay simultaneously.

She was gorgeous. Blue eyes, a tight ponytail of night-dark hair, wearing a tailored shirt and elegant pants, carrying a handbag that probably cost more than anything I’d ever owned and holding a bundle of Missing Dragon posters with Ludwig’s picture on them and the legend “IF FOUND, CALL GWYNEIRA” and a number I couldn’t quite make out.  Standing there in my leather jacket, pride pins on full display, an old skirt, hand-repaired glasses and big, tough boots, I felt like a nail driven into a classical painting.  I had no business being here and I knew it.

After a frozen second, her face broke into a smile.  “You found him!  Thank you so much!”

“Uh.”  My brain whirred for a few agonisingly slow seconds, and then some parts of it kicked into gear.  “He was hanging around my garage.  Must have heard my music and thought it sounded interesting.”

“Oh, a fellow musician!” she said.  “What instrument, pray tell?”

“Well, I dabbled when I was a kid, but these days I mostly stick with the axe.”

“Axe?  You mean a weapon?”

“No, I mean an electric-” A stray neuron sparked back to life. “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

She gave a too-innocent wide-eyed look and then started laughing.  After a few moments, I did too.

She reached out, and Ludwig hopped across from my wrist to hers.  She waggled a finger under the dragon’s snub little nose and said, “I hope you won’t be pulling any more disappearing acts, Ludwig.”  Ludwig gave a smug, catlike smile and hopped up to her shoulder, and she turned back to me, reaching into her bag.  “I didn’t have time to put the posters up, but I was planning to give a reward for finding him-”

Take the money, Vetra, you dumbass, the parts of my brain that were functioning said.  Your amp is so old it was designed for the mandolin. Take the money, stick it in a jar, and when you have enough money, buy an amp that isn’t held together with baling twine.

Then my mouth, operating entirely independently from those parts, said, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”  When my treacherous head nodded, she said, “Then at least allow me to buy you dinner.”

***

I was crammed into the only halfway decent dress I owned and had eaten something about half the size of an actual proper meal, but somehow I was still having a great time.

“So then we found the drummer hanging from the tree, in his underwear, rope around his ankle, and all he had to say when we let him down was, ‘I hate chipmunks.’”  Gwyneira choked back a laugh, and I shook my head.  “The band didn’t last long after that, although the bass player still crashes on my couch when he’s in town.”

“Such an…adventurous lifestyle,” she said, and sipped her wine.  

“But I’ve probably rambled long enough.”  I stabbed what I had been assured was the correct fork into a too-small morsel of chicken and said, “You said you were a musician, but you haven’t even told me what instrument.”

“Oh, how rude of me.” She cut a slice off…well, I don’t speak French, so whatever it was she was eating, and said, “I’m a violinist.”

“Huh.  Just as a hobby, or-”

“Professionally.”  She adjusted the cuffs on her suit, an outfit choice that was just deeply unfair.  “Have you ever studied much classical music?”

Show her how smart you are.  “Tell the truth, uh…I never really got into it.  I like my music with a bit more impact to it, you know?”  I mimed shredding on the air guitar.  Nailed it.

“I think I can show you plenty of impact,” she said, her delicate features arranged into a cocky smirk. “Come to my place tomorrow afternoon, and bring your…‘axe’.”

***

Rosetta took a deep breath and spat lightning into the amplifier.  For some reason, dragon thunder-breath doesn’t just charge a battery; it keeps it charging.  I scratched her behind the ear, and she grinned up at me, then spread her wings and soared over to the drums.

Ludwig raised his head from the piano, and Gwyneira started to play.

Notes didn’t fall from the violin; they rose, soaring into the air like birdsong.  Her voice, just as high and pure, mingled with it, underscored but never challenged by the slow, measured notes of Ludwig on the piano.

It was beautiful, but I wasn’t just here to listen.

I was here to play.

As the notes from the violin started to die away, I flicked my plectrum between my fingers like an old-time riverboat hustler playing with a coin.  Rosetta chose the tempo, her bunched-up claws striking the drums, a drumstick wrapped in her tail striking a cymbal, and my axe sang as I began: not the high, pure note of birdsong, but the howl of an iron wolf.

After a few bars, the piano started up again, but without its previous dignity and reserve.  Ludwig, apparently, relished the chance to cut loose a bit.  His claws struck the keys with speed rather than precision, keeping up with the beat of the drum and the snarl of the electric guitar, mixing in the occasional, perfectly timed glissando.

Then the violin’s song started up again.

Gwyneira’s eyes were closed, but she was keeping up with the much faster tempo like she was born to it, her bow dancing over the strings.  Her violin and my guitar weaved notes around each other, twining together like the tails of dragons in love.  It was like we were instinctively opening spaces for the other to slip into, letting the instruments work together rather than battle for dominance.

It was the kind of jam session you usually only get once in a lifetime.

***

Anyway, that’s how I met my girlfriend.

I own some nicer clothes, now.  I speak a little French.  And, you know, I’m starting to get along with classical music.  I mean, give me the faster ones any day – you should hear my cover of Rondo Alla Turca on the electric guitar, it’ll knock your socks off – but, you know, we meet halfway.

And I mean halfway.  Gwyneira looks like a goddess in anything, but when she’s let her hair out of its ponytail?  When she’s at a rock concert, just letting it all out, headbanging along? It’s amazing.  She’s amazing.

There have been challenges – you try finding good homes for an entire clutch of half-seraph, half-mongrel dragon hatchlings sometime – but we’re going pretty damn well.  She’s even talked about starting a proper band – weaving classical and rock together.

And if that never comes to pass?  If we can’t get a gig or find a good rhythm guitar?  At least we can still jam together.

[pulaasul]

Lightning and Nexus

Billy, as Captain Marvel, was patrolling Fawcett city when he came upon a glowing red hexagon near the train station where he first met the Wizard Shazam.

Naturally, he investigates.

FFN I Ao3

Preface: Not at all related to my Justice League Unlimited in the DC Animated Universe and Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover, but I'll be using the Billy Batson of that crossover but minus getting sucked in during Endgame.

If you want to read the fic, it's called "Undo".

--------

Billy was just minding his own business, he was patrolling Fawcett City when he noticed an eerie red thing glowing at the alleyway near the train station where he first travelled to the Rock of Eternity. He cautiously approached the glowing hexagonal thing.

Upon closer inspection, the red hexagon had tints of blue around it.

He cautiously tried to reach out it when the Wisdom of Solomon warned him of it.

That was when he learned that the glowing red hexagon was a combination of spells that were cast by the homo magi from before the Salem Witch Trials.

"Mom! H-he-help me!"

Billy could hear two voices coming from the hexagon, two voices that the Wisdom of Solomon supplied to be coming from children.

"SHAZAM!" Billy shouted

Thunder cracked as lightning lit up the night sky before lightning struck Billy's champion form.

Billy soon found himself, as a fifteen-year-old, inside the Rock of Eternity.

"I'm sure the Wisdom of Solomon has informed you that those were cries of help young Billy Batson." The Wizard Shazam's ghostly form appeared sitting on the lone throne.

"Is it safe?"

"You are the world's mightiest mortal young Billy Batson." The Wizard offered, "The gods, your benefactors, through the nexus of the multiverse has provided you with the power."

"Nexus?"

"A being, place, or thing that is outside the confines of time and space," Shazam explained. "The constant in every universe," Shazam's ghostly form approached the teen. "Only you and your family can pass through the nexus of all realities, even a lord of order like Doctor Fate will have trouble passing through there."

Billy looked a bit reluctant as he processed what the wizard told him.

"Young Billy, what does your heart say?" The wizard asked his young champion.

"I want to help."

"Then you go help."

"What about this universe? What about Fawcett City?"

"I'm sure young Mary and young Freddy are up to the task."

Lightning struck the ground a few paces beside Billy before he saw his twin sister and best friend stood the ground where lightning just struck.

"Billy? What's the emergency?"

"Young Billy is about to travel to a different universe." Shazam informed the new arrivals.

"Travel?"

"Different universe?"

"A hexagonal portal just appeared in Fawcett," Billy supplied. "It's a call for help."

"You want to help them, don't you Billy?" Mary sighed.

"And we're called here so we can pick up the slack." Freddy raised an eyebrow. "We'll be this world's champion of magic while you go dimension-hopping to help someone in need."

"This show of humility and selflessness proves that I chose well in you young Billy." Shazam's ghostly form smiled.

"What about me?" Freddy pointed out. "I get why Mary was called here but without Billy, no one would give me Shazam's powers."

"Freddy's right, Billy shares his powers with Freddy," Mary nodded.

"Do not worry young Freddy, you'll still be able to transform into your champion form even if young Billy is not in this universe." The Wizard assured.

--------

Not before long Freddy, Mary and Billy were in front of the glowing red hexagon in their mortal forms.

"I trust that you'll take care of things here." Billy smiled at his best friend and sister.

"Don't worry Billy, I've got the league handled." Mary assured his brother.

"And I'm taking care of everything else." Freddy proudly announced.

"Oh please Freddy, we're taking care of everything in Billy's absence." Mary rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, what about Pedro, Eugene, and Darla?" Freddy voiced out. "They'd want to know where you've gone to, especially Darla."

"Not to mention Batman would go to great lengths to find where you've gone," Mary muttered to herself. "He might commission Superman's services to check the areas where technology is still sparse or outright non-existent."

"Just tell everyone that the wizard sent me somewhere to restore order," Billy instructed. "As the Wizard was once a Lord of Order."

"Wouldn't they ask Doctor Fate about that?" Freddy questioned.

"Doctor Fate is the least of our worries," Billy shook his head. "We have to worry about how Constantine is going to react."

"Why Constantine?"

"Because he's as unpredictable as sorcerers and homo magi go, one of the rare homo magi that have been to hell and back," Billy answered. "Just tell Constantine everything from my encounter with this thing." He gestured to the hexagon.

"Tell the family and Constantine the truth then tell everyone else that the Wizard sent you somewhere to restore order." Mary summarized the instructions.

"Got it one Bill." Freddy grinned.

"So this is goodbye?" Mary asked.

"For now." Billy smiled at his sister. "I promise that I'll come back."

"SHAZAM"

Lightning struck Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel was standing where the young boy stood.

"I'll leave everything in your hands." Captain Marvel smiled.

Captain Marvel reached out to the glowing red hexagon and braced himself for what was about to happen.

All Freddy and Mary could was watch as Captain Marvel was yanked into the red hexagon even when he was already approaching it.

----------

Captain Marvel found himself in an empty street wearing some sort of cosplay of his hero costume; form-fitting red shirt and red form-fitting trousers, bright yellow belt, and boots with a big black lightning bolt with yellow outlines printed across his shirt.

Thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon, he was able to identify that he was supposed to be in some sort of sitcom-like reality, and apparently it's just starting their Halloween episode.

"SHAZAM!"

Lightning struck the heroic captain and was replaced by his mortal form, Billy Batson.

Billy was wearing a smaller version of the outfit he was wearing as Captain Marvel from the form-fitting shirt to the bright yellow boots.

Billy shook his head and decided to forego thinking up of theories and possibilities like he used to when he was fighting with the Marvel family and ran straight ahead.

As Billy was running he noticed few people were out and about, standing stationary in their places. He narrowed his eyes and approached one of them. He waved his hands in front of one kid, trying to get a reaction but to no avail.

He tried to do the same from an adult but to no avail. He even tried poking them in areas he knew most people were ticklish but he barely got an 'eep' from them.

Not a moment later, everyone around him started moving, children running around going house-to-house trick-or-treating some adults were putting up Halloween decorations in their lawns.

"Sorry boy, I didn't see you there," The adult he was just poking earlier stated. "Let's get you to my front door."

The adult escorted Billy to the house.

"Trick or treat!" Billy exclaimed, trying to blend in.

"Here you go boy, you're costume looks great, a circus performer right?"

"Yeah! I just love them! Especially that one family that does all their acts together." Billy grinned.

It didn't escape Billy's notice that everyone started being responsive and moving when a woman in red walked with what seems to be her family.

-----------

Billy continued trick-or-treating but he kept passing by the odd family. Apparently, the man the lady was with was her twin brother and the two boys were her children. The four of them were dressed in costumes that one would find in the pages of a comic book.

From passing by them constantly, he was able to put faces on the voices he had heard back in Fawcett city. The other boy's voice back then was just overpowered by his brother's voice. They were clearly trying to get some help, they were trying to call their mom to help them.

Acting against his better judgment, he decided not to approach the family.

It can never be said that Billy can't learn from his mistakes or the mistakes of others. He knew that he did the right thing when he and Superman fought because of Luthor's machinations. He just hoped that Superman can learn from his own.

That was during this moment that Billy noticed that all his candy were gone and he was covered in silly strings. He looked at the family only to find the red woman talking to a man in a zombie costume. He looked around his surroundings and he can see the blue and red streaks breezing around his immediate surroundings.

-----------

Night came, and the family was at the town square and they pointed at Billy as if they finally found him.

"Mom, that's him." Billy heard the boy with the red cape exclaim.

The family approached Billy and handed him a handful of candies.

"Now boys, what do you say?"

"We're sorry," The Maximoff twins apologized. "We won't do it again."

"It's fine," Billy smiled at the twins. "I understand the feeling of having all the candy to yourself especially on Halloween night," He stated. "What do you say that you two split the candy you got from me earlier?"

"Really?" Tommy looked at Billy expectantly.

"Are you sure?" Wanda asked.

"I'm sure," Billy nodded. "It's my fault that I wasn't attentive that you were able to steal my candy," He grinned. "I've been an orphan for years and that was basically what I first learned after running away from my uncle. It's my fault for letting my guard down after being sent to a foster home here."

It wasn't a complete lie, after Billy ran away from his uncle Ebenezer, one of the very first things he learned was how to guard all of his things and make sure that none of them end up getting stolen. Ever since Uncle Dudley took him in and then by the Vasquezes, his guard had been lax.

However, Billy knew that super speed was applied during the Maximoff twins' candy heist, but they didn't need to know that he knew that.

Wanda glanced at her twin brother and frowned.

The Maximoff twins looked at each other then looked at their uncle.

"If you're sure." Wanda nodded, unsure how to process the information. "What is your name?"

"I'm Billy Batson." Billy introduced himself.

"No way!" The other kid exclaimed. "My name's Billy Maximoff!"

"No way!"

"What should we call you little dude, I don't think we can call our Billy any other name." Pietro offered.

"You can't even tell the difference between us." Billy Maximoff fired.

"Hey! I've been here for a day only," Pietro defended himself. "You can't blame me if I can't tell the difference between you two demon spawns."

"You can address me as Batson, my family name." Billy Batson suggested.

"Now boys, what do you say to Batson after he graciously told you to keep the candy that you stole?" Wanda asked her twin boys.

"Thank you, Billy." The Maximoff twins expressed their gratitude.

"It's no problem," Billy grinned. "Gotta run, I have a few more houses to get to, assuming you returned the candy you stole to the others." He gave off a smirk. "See you around."

"See you around Billy!"

-----------

As soon as Billy was a distance away from the Maximoffs, he can sense something different from the twins and their supposed uncle. It may just be the Wisdom of Solomon leaking out to his mortal form, but he just had this feeling.

Billy nodded to himself as a plan formed in his mind.

"SHAZAM!"

Billy transformed back into his champion form of Captain Marvel. He flew upwards and gained a fair distance from the ground.

He looked around and finally found the family he was looking for.

It seemed like the feeling he had as Billy was right. The Wisdom of Solomon has informed him that the boys were mere constructs, living constructs, of the mother.

The uncle on the other hand has a different feel from everyone he had encountered so far, minus the Maximoff twins. It felt like he didn't belong in this universe, just like he was. Then there was the fact that he the man was showing signs of magical possession, and Wanda, the mother of the twins, was none the wiser.

But before he could even take action, he saw that the boys approached their mother frantically which was followed by Wanda blasting her supposed brother with red energy.

It looked like Wanda has just realized who the man was.

The next thing Captain Marvel knew was that everyone around Wanda, minus the twins and the man who was just blasted away stopped moving in the middle of what they were doing as if time had stopped for them. Someone was even jumping when they froze in the air.

A pulse of red energy was released from where Wanda stood and engulfed everyone it came in contact with.

When Captain Marvel came into contact with the pulse of energy, which was when things clicked into place.

Magic.

Wanda was casting magic through sheer willpower. She simply has to think of what she wants and the magic, as if it was subservient to her will, would follow her desires to a T.

It was a good thing he was in his champion form or the red magic would have placed him completely under Wanda's control and cast him to a role in this reality-warping magic. The rock's magic protected him from the supposed effects Wanda's magic would have had on his mortal form.

As soon as the effects of the pulse subsided, everyone was suddenly walking to their respective houses all robot-like with no conversations, no laughter. They were just like machines ordered to go back to their storage centers.

----------

Captain Marvel soon found himself in the morning when everything has changed shape as if trying to depict a certain era: buildings, advertisements, even the cars were changed.

He ignored the fact that it was suddenly morning and decided to fly around the area and see what the effects of the red magic pulse earlier was. Much to his surprise, the area seemed to have expanded as there were areas that weren't present before.

Captain Marvel decided to descend near where the circus was situated. He saw, an unconscious man?

A machine?

A synthezoid?

A synthezoid that emanated the same magical signature as the twins, which would mean this man was also a product of Wanda's magic.

He was about to approach him when the circus became lively. People were coming out of circus tents and started practicing their supposed routines and acts.

-----------

Only a few short moments have passed and the machine woke up from slumber and approached the woman in chains, her supposed role was that of an escape artist considering the ease she showed in escaping from the chains she was previously bound in.

A few more moments of observation, the synthezoid pressed two fingers on the woman's temple. It unscrambled the magical energy that was lingering unto her heart and brain, suppressing it.

Captain Marvel was about to approach the duo when he noticed what he was wearing. It was certainly something. He was now wearing what Clark Kent would wear when covering stories. He supposed that Wanda's magic rewrote his clothes into that of a journalist considering that he was a radio reporter himself, despite the rock's magic protecting him from further alterations.

He shook his head and decided to approach the duo who were now about to board an ice cream truck.

"Excuse me." Captain Marvel called out. "William Batson from the Daily Planet, I would like to ask the escape artist some questions."

"Sorry," The machine apologized. "We really have to go, we were double booked."

"It's fine, this is an ambush interview, and I could ride with you to your destination." Captain Marvel bargained.

"Fine, he can come with," The former escape artist acquiesced.

The ice cream truck moved and both persons talked to each other as if they didn't have any other passenger with them. This does work to his advantage, he didn't have to ask any potentially triggering questions that would be detrimental to anyone involved.

"This was fueled by grief." Captain Marvel shared his conclusion.

"Wha-?"

"I'm sorry I had to lie earlier," Marvel apologized. "I didn't lie that I was supposed to be a journalist set to cover the circus in town but I knew that I didn't have the same mentality as the rest of them," He admitted. "That gist of what I knew was that I was suddenly in a place where people acted differently."

"You noticed that we acted differently from the others, that's why you approached us." The man in red surmised.

"That's the gist of it."

"What do you mean this is fueled by grief?" The woman asked. "I'm Dr. Darcy Lewis by the way."

"I'm The Vision."

"As far as I know, based on your explanation, this Wanda person seems to have more powers than what was recorded: telekinesis and telepathy. Why not say that her power evolved through grief or even say that her powers are magical in origin?" Captain Marvel offered.

"Magic would make a lot of sense," Darcy nodded. "Especially considering what's happening."

"A sitcom-like reality where nothing dangerous or traumatic ever happens." Captain Marvel nodded along.

"I'm still stumped on that fueled by grief part." Darcy frowned.

"It makes the most sense, according to you, five years ago this universe experienced an extinction-like event that erased half of the universe's population out of existence and it wasn't until a few months ago that those who got their existences erased returned."

"For Wanda, when she returned, my death was only a few minutes earlier."

"And in turn make your death only a few months old from her perspective," Darcy concluded.

"Grief has five stages and Wanda's on the first stage of grief – Denial." Captain Marvel somberly stated. "Add that with magic, and she can essentially deny the reality of her losses."

-----------

As the conversation inside the ice cream truck evolved to a myriad of topics, they waited for the group of school children to pass through the intersection. Captain Marvel must admit, if he wasn't being subjected through these circumstances, he would get a good laugh about this situation.

Not a moment later, Vision the synthezoid, flew upwards and phased through the truck's roof and left Dr. Darcy and Captain Marvel inside the truck.

"O-okay, meet you there." Darcy remarked belatedly.

"Dr. Lewis, I suggest you hold on tight." Captain Marvel suggested as he exited the truck from the back door and lifted it up in the air.

"Gaah! What are you doing?!" Darcy exclaimed in surprise.

"Getting us to our destination faster."

Captain Marvel lifted the truck off of the ground and flew towards the direction where the Vision flew.

------------

Captain Marvel placed the ice cream truck at the town square where a lot of Westview's citizens were living their days as they cast of Wanda's sitcom reality.

"Take a minute to compose yourself then do what you need to do." He instructed before he flew off.

Captain Marvel flew towards a strong magical presence, not of Wanda's, that's filled with mal intent. The feeling he got from this magical presence was the same feeling he got from facing one of the seven deadly sins way back when.

Captain Marvel utilized the speed of mercury and increased his flying speed that he was able to overtake the Vision and see what was happening near Wanda's residence.

"Let my brother go!" Captain Marvel heard Tommy demand as both he and his twin struggled from the purple strings tied around their necks. "

Captain Marvel summoned a lightning bolt to his hands and threw it towards the strings that connected the noose to the floating woman's fingers, cutting the captive boys free.

As soon her twins were free, Wanda immediately launched two red energy balls at the woman, knocking her back a few meters away from where she floated.

"Go to your room boys." Wanda ordered.

"Mom, we can help." The twins protested.

"Listen to your mother boys." The woman remarked as she got up from the pavement just by planting her feet on the ground.

"But-"

"I'll take them home." Captain Marvel volunteered.

The lightning hero flew towards the twin boys and carried them under his arms towards their residence.

"Who are you? How do you know where our house is?" Tommy frowned.

"Never mind that boys, you need to get inside while I go help your mother."

Captain Marvel left the boys and tackled the woman in purple robes and actively utilized the Wisdom of Solomon once more.

The woman before him was Agatha Harkness, an ancient witch from the Salem witch trials. She dabbled in magic that was above her station that cost the life of her entire coven when they punished her for going above her station.

"Another magician in the midst." Agatha smirked.

The purple witch sent out a pulse of purple energy that sent Captain Marvel flying towards the sky however she failed to notice the flying car that Wanda had summoned and slammed her into a nearby house.

By the time Captain Marvel was able to regain his bearings from being unceremoniously blown away from where he was, he immediately flew back to where he knew Wanda was at only to be greeted by the Vision flying towards a white version of himself and Wanda chasing after Agatha.

Captain Marvel was about to chase after both witches when he saw clear signs of magical tampering on a certain house. He flew towards the top of the house and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"SHAZAM!"

As thunder cracked on an otherwise clear sky, he immediately flew away from the structure as the lightning he summoned dispelled whatever magical spells the house was under by way of a purple-tinted glass dome shattering to pieces.

As soon as the purple dome shattered, the lightning hero could feel insidious magic emanating from the house, magic that would even make the Lords of Chaos back in his home universe giddy with excitement.

Marvel shook his head as he immediately headed for the window at the top of the house in question only to be greeted by a woman straddling a man.

"Nice to meet you, Ralph."

"Hello, Peter." Marvel greeted.

"H-how…"

"None of that right now, Peter your speed is needed now," Marvel ordered. "I fear the residents of Westview are going to be caught in a crossfire between a fight amongst witches, and robots, once the dome we're in opens, I need you to transport all of the civilians outside."

"Gotcha!" Peter nodded.

"As for Captain Marvel…"

"You mean me? I'm not her." Monica raised an eyebrow.

"Right, Danvers is the Captain Marvel of this universe." Captain Marvel muttered to himself, "You're on guard duty, your powers can be used to protect the civilians unlucky enough to get in between Wanda and the other witch."

"How will I get there?"

"You're going flying with me."

"See you on the flip side." Peter saluted before speeding off towards the town square.

----------

Monica and Captain Marvel flew towards the town square only to be greeted by a screaming Wanda Maximoff, whose magic seemed to strangle the crowd that formed around her.

"Wanda, control your magic," Captain Marvel called out. "I know grief can be drowning and this magic is the only thing keeping you afloat but you need to control your powers so you won't hurt others in the process.'

Wanda looked around and saw for herself what was happening, everyone around her on the ground struggling to breath.

"No! Stop!" Wanda forcibly dispelled the spell that she unconsciously cast on the townspeople. "Stop! I'm sorry."

Captain Marvel nodded to Monica as he set her down on the nearest sidewalk, intending to assist Wanda.

"I will, I will let you go, I will." Wanda remorsefully nodded.

"What's stopping you?" Agatha inquired. "Use your power and do it now." She urged the grief-stricken hero. "Heroes don't torture people."

"You've done enough damage, Harkness." Captain Marvel growled.

The lightning hero summoned a lightning bolt to his hand and threw it right at the purple witch, missing her by an inch. He summoned another one and threw it in the same direction.

"Were those supposed to hit me?"

"No, they weren't."

As if on cue, the billboard behind Agatha started to crumble and fell towards the witch. He knew that the witch was able to save herself from the oncoming fall, but it was enough distraction so that he can tend to Wanda.

Before he could even approach her, Wanda screamed and summoned a pillar of red magic that pierced the skies, opening the hexagonal dome that trapped all of Westview.

"Go!" Wanda ordered. "All of you! Now!"

"Peter now!"

Two by two, Peter Maximoff carted off the residents of Westview just outside the premises of the dome as military-grade trucks entered its premises. The speedster ignored the people going inside in favor of getting the residents out of the dome Wanda has created.

As the surroundings flickered back and forth to different eras, Captain Marvel was vigilant and observed everything. Even with the powers of the gods at his beck and call, he still doesn't know where Harkness would soon reappear next.

He was a bit surprised when the Vision plummeted towards the ground, slowly but surely disintegrating. He soon witnessed Wanda's twin boys arriving, also sporting the affliction that plagued their synthezoid of a father.

The recent turn of events has made Captain Marvel come to a conclusion: All of Wanda's living constructs are tied to the dome that she created. Dispelling the dome would technically kill her family as well.

The family that kept her afloat from the sea of grief within her.

"Now do you see?" Agatha appeared in front of the downed billboard. "You tied your family into this twisted world, now one can't exist without the other."

"Mom!"

"Boys!"

"Save Westview or save your family?"

Peter managed to return to the dome and nodded to Captain Marvel.

"Wanda, close the dome!" Captain Marvel ordered. "Every man, woman, and child of Westview has been evacuated."

Wanda looked at her husband and sons, and that was all the motivation she needed to close the dome that was slowly and but surely killing her family as painful as possible.

With the dome closed, the Vision, Billy, and Tommy Maximoff reformed to their original states.

"M-mom!"

"Mom! Are you okay?" Billy Maximoff asked his mother.

Wanda simply hugged her boys as a response while the Vision hugged his family.

"Really?!" Agatha growled, sending a beam of purple magic towards the family.

"Oh no you don't"

Captain Marvel threw a car to intercept the purple beam and exploded as Wanda erected a red shield to protect herself and her family.

Agatha didn't give up and sent another purple beam towards the Maximoffs, this time Peter reacted and was able to whisk away the younger twins with the lightning hero grabbing both Vision and Wanda.

"It makes me wonder," Agatha spoke. "How come I haven't absorbed your magic sorcerer?"

"I know how your absorption magic works Harkness," Captain Marvel responded. "You're not getting a whiff of mine or any more of Wanda's magic."

"Let's see about that." Agatha smirked as she fired off purple balls of magic towards Captain Marvel, all of which were dodged.

As Captain Marvel dodged every attack that came from Agatha, military-grade trucks came running before military personnel exited their vehicles and pointed their guns at the Synthezoid-Human family in the center.

"Listen, boys, your mother and I never really prepared you for this." The Vision started, eyeing the military personnel pointing the guns at him and his family.

"But you were born for it." Wanda finished.

Vision flew towards his differently-colored counterpart as Wanda and the twins stared at the military before them.

As Captain Marvel continued to dodge the purple balls of magic coming towards him, some of the military people pointed their guns at the flying beings in the sky, namely himself and Agatha.

With one final purple ball, Agatha shifted her attention to the gun-bearing men and lifted them off of the ground.

"Same story, different century." Agatha scoffed. "There will always be torches and pitchforks for people like us Wanda." She smirked as she faced the lightning hero.

Agatha dispelled the floating spell she cast on the military men, with gravity doing the rest of the work for her.

Captain Marvel was quick to save a few of them, as did Peter who was watching from afar not knowing what really to do next, but there were some of them left who would surely plummet to their own deaths.

Wanda was quick to act and saved the remaining few with her magic and stopped the momentum of their fall before unceremoniously dropping them on the pavement.

"Boys," Wanda faced her sons. "Handle the military, mommy will be right back."

Wanda flew towards Agatha.

The military turned their guns on the Maximoff twins but Billy Maximoff already had a plan in mind. He immobilized everyone from the military, who were pointing their guns at him and his twin, through his magic, while Tommy used his super-speed to steal their guns, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses.

"Right on, my dude!" Peter praised.

"Uncle P?" Tommy questioned, unsure.

"Not exactly kid," Peter shrugged. "But close enough." He grinned.

Another person exited his vehicle and pointed his pistol right at the celebrating kids.

From a distance, Monica was riding the ice cream truck with Darcy as they helped Peter in evacuating the residents of Westview, saw what the man was about to do.

"No, no! That Hayward!"

"What about Hayward?" Darcy questioned when she noticed what her passenger was doing. "Monica! What are you doing?!"

Monica ignored Darcy's questions, and the fact that the vehicle she was in was still moving, and exited it before rushing towards the boys, leaving behind a golden streak, and placed herself between the twins and the man firing his pistol.

The bullets passed through Monica before falling just behind her, losing their momentum, but one lone bullet whizzed past her, helpless to stop as she did the bullets before.

Billy Maximoff used his magic to stop the bullet in its tracks before he dropped it to the ground.

"Nice tricks." Monica praised.

"I like yours too!" Billy Maximoff returned the compliment.

"I'll take this."

Captain Marvel landed before the man, Hayward, and grabbed the emptied gun from his hands and crushed it all the while glaring at the man who dared to shoot at children.

Hayward scrambled to get to his vehicle to make his hasty escape. He was able to successfully drive the car backward only to be slammed by an oncoming ice cream truck, stopping him dead on his tracks.

"Have fun in prison." Darcy quipped.

Monica was quick to rush to Darcy's aid, even if she still didn't know how to open the door that was most likely slammed shut from the driver's stunt earlier.

Billy Maximoff knew what to do, he immediately used his magic to open the door as Monica helped the relatively unharmed driver out of the truck.

With the de-facto leader pinned inside his vehicle and the other military personnel deprived of their guns, and he just saw the white version of the Vision fly upwards, Captain Marvel instantly knew that the remaining threat was the witch, Agatha Harkness.

Captain Marvel looked around and there he saw Agatha looking down on the Vision, his kids, her supposed husband, Monica, and Darcy. He was about to charge when he saw Wanda approach the unsuspecting witch, albeit creepily, and whispered something to her ear.

The next thing that happened was Wanda and Agatha jumping off of the roof before flying towards the sky.

Wanda began attacking Agatha, firing off red energy balls, some of them hit the other witch right on the chest while some outright missed.

Vision and Captain Marvel flew towards Wanda only for her to cast a dome right at the both of them, which the lightning hero was able to evade leaving Vision trapped inside the dome which left him with no choice but to land back towards his sons, hugging them.

"What are you doing Wanda?" Captain Marvel shouted.

That was when Captain Marvel realized, he looked at the places where the energy balls hit every time Wanda missed Agatha.

Wanda was casting runes, magic dampening runes.

Runes that would make any other sorcerer, witch, or wizard incapable of using their magic once inside them.

Before Captain Marvel could react, Agatha started the process of absorbing Wanda's magic.

A few moments passed and it seemed like Agatha has absorbed every ounce of magical energy inside Wanda as she floated lifelessly in her place.

"About our deal, once cast, the spell can never be changed. This world you made will always be broken." Agatha blinked. "Just." She raised a lone finger. "Like." She pointed at Wanda. "You."

Agatha raised both of her arms, intending to deal a finishing blow towards her opponent, but once she placed her arms forward, her spell failed to materialize.

She repeated her actions but nothing still happened.

Wanda slowly straightened her body as the effects of having her magic drained on her body faded and reflected her age, with a slow turn of her wrist, the runes Wanda has cast beforehand revealed themselves.

"Runes?"

"In a given space, only the witch who cast them can use her magic." Wanda quoted Agatha. "Thanks for the lesson.

Agatha glared at Wanda.

"But I don't need you to tell me, who I am."

"No, no, no." Agatha panicked.

An ethereal red crown appeared on Wanda's head as magic around her, including the magic that Agatha has absorbed from Wanda and various other witches, were going towards her.

It took everything in Captain Marvel's power not to get swept up in the magic absorption that was happening but he successfully landed on the pavement, albeit on his knees.

"SHAZAM!"

Thunder cracked as lightning flashed the sky, not a moment after, lightning hit Captain Marvel's chest, much to everyone's shock, to which he turned back into his mortal form, Billy Batson.

"No way!" Billy Maximoff exclaimed. "You're that lightning dude!"

"Yeah, I'm the lightning dude." Billy Batson nodded.

"How?" Darcy questioned.

"How did you do it? Did you just de-age yourself? Why would you go back to being a kid?"

"Slow down." Billy Batson chuckled. "To start with, I'm Billy Batson, I turn into lightning dude, I call myself Captain Marvel while in that form."

"Captain Marvel? I thought I heard you say 'Captain Marvel of this universe'."

"He also mentioned how this universe experienced an extinction-like event." Darcy chimed in.

"Who are you Billy Batson?" the Vision questioned.

"I'll explain once Wanda's done with Agatha." Billy smiled at the group.

As Billy, Darcy, Monica, and the Maximoffs, including Peter watched how Wanda close this threat.

"So what now? Just gonna lock me up somewhere?"

"No."

Billy tensed at Wanda's response.

"Not somewhere."

"Wanda no," Billy immediately spoke up. "I know it can be tempting to exact vengeance but that will never satisfy you, it may bring temporary relief and closure, but it's just that, temporary. You just have to believe that if you're good, good will follow."

"Here." Wanda paid no heed to Batson's outburst.

"Here?" Agatha questioned.

"I'll give you the role you chose, the nosy neighbor." Wanda approached Agatha.

"No, please!" Agatha begged.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," Agatha scoffed. "You're cruel."

Wanda ignored Agatha's last verbal stance and approached her some more.

"No you, you have no idea what you've unleashed, you're gonna need me." Agatha bargained.

"If I do, I know where to find you."

"Wait, wait, wai-"

Wanda touched Agatha's left temple and a red swirl of magical energy morphed Agatha's whole appearance to that of an unassuming person.

"Hiya hun, say, that's some kinda get up you're wearing," The woman who was known as Agatha grinned. "Did I leave the oven on, is that just you, hot stuff?" Agatha chuckled.

"You live here now, no one will ever bother you."

"Okay dokey, artichoke."

"I'll be seeing you, Agnes."

"Not if I see you first, hun." Agatha-turned-Agnes fired back.

"Mom!"

The Maximoff twins ran towards their mother and hugged both in joy and relief. Wanda returned the hugs with kisses on both the boys' foreheads.

"So it would appear that our dream home has been reduced to a fixer-upper," Vision commented. "I know you'll set everything right." He looked around. "Just not for us."

"No," Wanda shook her head but in affirmation. "Not for us."

"It's time, should we head home?"

"Yeah."

Darcy, Monica, Billy Batson, and Peter looked at the family of four with sympathy, especially for Wanda. They knew that this will be the last time they'll see this family.

Wanda looked at the four of them but only nodded in acknowledgment.

Monica and Darcy simply nodded back at them.

"I promise you'll get your answers, but there is something that I need to do first."

"I'll take you there."

Peter placed his hand on Billy's shoulders before they disappeared from view.

-----------

"Boys… Thank you for choosing me to be your mom."

Wanda turned off the lights and closed the door.

"SHAZAM!"

Billy transformed back into his champion form and entered the boys' room. He looked at their sleeping forms as they were slowly but surely disintegrating one piece at a time as the barrier of Wanda's dome inched closer.

Captain Marvel raised his arms sideward, each hand hovering over one of the boys. Harmless bolts of electricity seeped out of his hands and made contact with the Maximoff twins.

Captain Marvel was going off of what he did to Freddy years ago, after his fight with a villain resulted in broken bones and losing a grandfather. While he may not have fully healed the broken leg, it did protect his best friend from further injuries even as Freddy Freeman.

Despite the minimal amount of contact Captain Marvel had with the boys, both as Billy Batson and Captain Marvel, he knew that the Maximoff twins were sentient and possess a soul of their own, and they just lack a body.

As they were beings constructed with magic, there is a high chance of them being used against Wanda, and he was hoping that what he was doing to them, that by sharing a small amount of divine magic to them, would protect them from malicious beings that would use them against their mother.

As soon as he was done, it took everything for Captain Marvel not to keel over from the experience. He might have done something more, something unexpected, to the boys and the experience was draining, to say the least.

Captain Marvel looked at the boys for one more moment and that was when things clicked, thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon. He left a small imprint of himself, of Billy Batson, on the magic that he shared with the Maximoff twins.

All things considered, it was probably for the best, now he knew that the boys would have someone else with them, regardless if that someone was just a small projection of his mortal self, at the very least the boys won't be lonely by themselves.

Billy knew loneliness and no one deserves that fate, especially not children who chose the Scarlet Witch as their mother.

With everything done, Captain Marvel exited the boys' room and shouted his magic word before transforming back into his fifteen-year-old self.

Almost as soon as Captain Marvel returned to his mortal form, he and Peter made contact with the contracting dome of magical energy as everything transformed back into what it should be: including the disappearance of the house in front of them, leaving one Wanda Maximoff standing at the center of the lot.

Peter immediately approached the grief-stricken mother.

"Can I hug you?" Peter asked.

Wanda simply nodded, still unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Why did I have to lose everyone dear to me?" Wanda muttered to herself.

"I can't give you an answer to that myself." Peter rubbed Wanda's back.

"You're not Pietro." Wanda removed herself from Peter's hug."

"I'm not."

"Why do you have his power?"

"It's because he's your brother in another universe." Billy answered.

"Batson."

"What do you mean another universe?" Peter frowned.

"Ask Wanda of something you're sure to exist." Billy urged the speedster.

Peter decided to humor Billy and looked at Wanda.

"Do you know of a Professor X?" Peter asked Wanda. "The X-men?"

"Professor X? X-men?"

"You mean to say that there are actually multiple universes out there?" Peter exclaimed at Billy. "There's no way mutants don't exist!"

"Mutant?"

"You're standing in one Peter." Billy smiled.

"I'm a long way from home." Peter realized.

"Who are you Batson?"

"I'm just someone from another universe who's here to answer a call for help," Billy answered. "And no, it's not someone from Westview or the people from the military." He sighed. "Frankly speaking, I don't think I'm done with this."

"Not done?" Peter raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure myself, it's just this feeling I've got."

In truth, the Wisdom of Solomon who alerted Captain Marvel had informed him that he wasn't done just yet. Billy does have a sneaking suspicion that he may have travelled to a point in this universe before the boys, Wanda's twins, were asking for their mother's help.

"How did you come to this universe, Peter?" Billy asked. "I came here through a hexagon portal in red of my own free will."

"I'm not sure…" Peter trailed off. "I was on an en errand by Professor X when I felt like one of my sisters needed me," He admitted. "The next thing I know was that some woman approaching me and forced on me a necklace then I found myself at your doorsteps claiming to be your 'long lost brother'."

"Sisters."

"It's possible that you responded to Wanda's grief and pulled you out of your home universe." Billy hummed.

"Did I… No." Wanda gasped. "I promise that I will send you both back to your home as soon as I understand my powers."

"No need to rush sis," Peter grinned. "I can wait."

"As I said, I came here of my own free will," Billy repeated. "I can wait, maybe even assist you."

"No, I need to do this on my own."

"I understand," Billy nodded. "But if you need me, you can simply cast one of your spells and I'll immediately come to you."

"Count me in on that too."

"I have to go." Wanda excused herself.

"We'll go together." Billy smiled.

---------

As Wanda walked towards the town square of Westview, she has her hood up as if hiding from the glares the citizens were giving her.

Billy and Peter tried their best to shied Wanda from those stares. No matter what they did, it won't erase the fact that they were held hostage by someone who should have been their hero. The feeling of betrayal was there, and Billy was familiar with that kind of feeling.

Especially after his bout with Superman years ago.

Wanda approached Monica.

"They'll never know what you sacrificed for them."

"It wouldn't change how they see me." Wanda sighed.

Monica simply nodded, agreeing with Wanda's sentiment.

"And you, you don't hate me?"

"Given the chance, given your power, I'd bring my mom back." Monica nodded. "You know, I would."

"I'm sorry, for all the pain I caused."

"I know,"

"I don't understand this power, but I will."

Wanda looks around her before looking at Monica's eye.

"Goodbye, Monica."

"Bye Wanda."

Wanda turns her back on Monica before transforming her clothes into something else and flew off to who knows where.

"As for the both of you." Monica looks at Billy and Peter. "Care to tell me who are you both?"

----------

"Let me get this straight, you two are from a different universe, different from this one." Jimmy questioned.

"Seems to be the most plausible explanation," Peter shrugged. "Seriously, no one here knows about mutants or even the X-men or even the brotherhood of mutants."

"Where are you from then Billy? If that even is your name."

"I came from a universe where one of our heroes dresses as a bat." Billy shrugged.

"A bat? Seriously?" Peter snickered.

"Hey I was an orphan who was given these powers by a wizard, I'm not one to judge on why he dresses as a bat."

"No more joking this time." Jimmy groaned.

"I'm not joking." Billy told the trio seriously.

"And so am I." Peter nodded.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still lost at 'the different universe' part."

"Yet you're not at all surprised that the Norse god of thunder is part of your hero lineup." Billy raised an eyebrow.

"He has a point." Darcy conceded.

"Why are you here Billy?" Monica took over the questioning. "What about your home universe?"

"I've got my family to pick up the slack." Billy smiled.

----------

"M-mom!"

"H-help us!"

"I don't know if Billy can last much longer."

--------

Somewhere, Wanda in her Scarlet Witch costume, opened her eyes as it glowed red.

[writingpaperghost]

There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 1)

Emu liked working at Seito University Hospital, intern or not. Sure, his coworkers at the CR were a bit… interesting, but not in the bad way. Saki was, overall, pretty nice, even if she could sometimes get really stern. The director was a bit silly, but still took his job seriously. Technically, Nico didn’t work with the CR, and she was often a bit much. Same with Taiga, who was really set on getting the Gashats, for some reason. Kiriya had a bit of a skill for getting into Emu’s personal space, but it wasn’t too bad.

Everything seemed to have been going well, but with the sudden increase of Game Disease cases, it becomes clear something is happening. Unfortunately for Emu, the past doesn’t stay in the past.

My newest project, that struck me like a lightning bolt and made me go, "Huh, that's actually a great idea". Now, you may be asking, "Are you really going to rewrite all of Ex-Aid"? The answer is: Yeah, probably.

It gets angsty, unsurprisingly.

Chapter 1: I'm a Kamen Rider!

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/81535450

Emu liked working at Seito University Hospital. He liked the people – the nurses were kind and liked him – he liked seeing the children smile when he’d send them back to their parents (unbidden, he’s often reminded of the words that changed Emu’s life). During his breaks, he’d help entertain the children, by playing games for them. He was really good at video games (in the past, Emu Hojo was Genius Gamer M. It’s been a while since he’d been, but now he was something just as important, Doctor Emu, even if he was still just an intern). The pediatrics ward had become like a second home to him.

---

Two figures stand on a rooftop, looking out at the city.

One had messy light brown hair, which held the appearance that there had, at some point, been an attempt to comb it. His attire was probably the most interesting part about him. He wore a reddish brown jacket, the shirt underneath having one sleeve of a similar color, the right sleeve a green color, and the rest being greyish green in color. He had a necklace of fangs around his neck.

Beside him, stands the other man, wearing a hoodie, clearly inspired by Mighty, the mascot of the up and coming game from Gemn Corporation, Mighty Action X. It was pink, like Mighty, and as he had the hood up, one could see the spikes of hair, just like Mighty’s. Beneath, he wore a Mighty Action X shirt, which had Mighty and his hammer printed on it. Notably, he wore bright pants, cyan with orange stripes, his whole outfit being leagues brighter than his companion’s. His face is obscured by his long bangs and the hood of the coat, but one can make out the faint glow of red from where his left eye, the one unhidden by his bangs, is.

“I can’t believe they finally let you out,” The first of the two said, sounding terribly unamused regardless.

The one in the Mighty hoodie responded in a slightly joyful tone, though subdued, “He said that they thought I had enough control that I could stay calm.”

The first scoffs, “Sure,” He said, “Well, it sounds like today will be big, anyway.”

“Big?” The second asks, “I wonder what they have planned?”

“I guess we’ll find out,”

---

Unfortunately, Emu was a bit clumsy – he tried his best but it was just so easy to catch your foot on even the smallest of things! This clumsiness usually only affected him but sometimes… Well sometimes, he ended up with a towel thrown in his face thanks to his patient. He’s not sure why, but Sota had thrown it and used it as a distraction to run away. Emu, to his credit, got the towel off his face and gave it to the nurse, rushing off after him.

He follows Sota out of the hospital and through the nearby parts of the city. Unfortunately, either his luck or his coordination ran out, and his foot finds a cart, for moving big boxes. Then he goes on an un-asked for rollercoaster ride down the hill, where he can see but a single person at the end. He found himself instead wondering who’s Rollercoaster Tycoon ride he’d wandered into – no, no, focus! The woman!

He crashes into the suited woman, sending her briefcase flying into the street. Scrambling up, Emu frantically apologizes, “Sorry! I tripped! Sort of!”

The woman sighed, “Pay better attention,” She scolded, then stood, going to pick up the contents of the briefcase, which had been opened by its fall. Emu stands and looks around, ignoring the strange device in the briefcase in favor of looking for Sota. He had to be somewhere…

He sees Sota, standing with something in his hands. It’s pink, shaped a bit like some kind of cartridge. He thinks, in the back of his mind, that it looks familiar, but he doesn’t focus on it much. He runs over, “Sota!”

Sota turns to look at him, and Emu realizes he’s caught the attention of the woman too. “I want to play it,” Sota said, looking between the two of them and the cartridge. Emu squints, able to make out the logo on the cartridge. Mighty Action X, Gemn Corporation’s new game, which was to be released today. Emu had been looking forward to it, planning to pick up a copy after he was done at the hospital today. But why did this woman have this strange cartridge with her.

The woman’s lips settle into a stern expression, “I’m sorry, but you can’t play that.” Reluctantly, Sota allows her to take the cartridge away, but there’s something in his eyes that hurts Emu. He knows it’s not really the woman’s fault, but for some reason, Sota must really want to play Mighty Action X.

Yet, only a few moments after the woman took the cartridge, Sota collapses, some kind of orange bubbles briefly appearing in his neck. Something about it bugs Emu greatly, like a nagging sensation in some part of him. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just that Sota had collapsed.

The woman’s reaction was telling enough, whatever this was, she knew. Together, he helps her take Sota back to Seito, down into some underground rooms, which Emu didn’t even think existed. He wants to follow the woman with Sota through the room, but he’s stopped by a man he quickly recognized as the hospital director. “Please just leave and forget about this,” the director had said. He hadn’t seen the man much, but even Emu knew what he looked like. It made sense that the director knew about whatever this place was, but somehow actually seeing him was startling. Then, the director entered the room, leaving Emu standing outside of it.

Something in him wasn’t letting him leave, though. He can’t help but recall the expression on Sota’s face when he held the cartridge, excitement, and then how it fell when the woman, he knew her now as Nurse Asuna, took the cartridge. Recalling the words he’d chosen to live by, Emu had made up his mind. He’d go and he’d help Sota, even if it was just something small. He may not be able to cure whatever disease he had, but he could make him smile. (A part of him was still trying to knock the nagging feeling.)

Luckily, neither the director nor Asuna must have been used to having other people in this area, as they hadn’t locked the door. That meant Emu could easily slip into the rooms that belonged to the part of the hospital known as the Cyber Rescue Center.

---

The director is sitting at the table in the upper room of the CR when he informs Asuna, “Saki will be here tomorrow,” He says, “She’s a perfect fit, I know Director Hinata agreed it would be good to find this Genius Gamer M, but would bringing someone who might not even be familiar with Game Disease truly a good idea?”

Asuna huffs, “Of course, Game Disease is connected to games,” She looks at him, “Who else would be suited to fight it than a genius gamer?”

“But how are you going to find him?”

“I bet I’ll find him at the Mighty Action X launch party, it’s no secret that he’s a fan of Gemn’s games.” Asuna informs him, picking up the briefcase with the Gamer Driver and Mighty Action X Gashat. “I’m going to go find him.”

With that, Asuna leaves the CR, determined to find someone who had barely appeared in the gaming world for six years.

---

It wasn’t hard for Emu to find the patient room, it was right across from the entrance. “Sota?” He called, seeing the small form in the patient’s bed. “It’s me, Emu, you doctor from earlier.”

“What do you want?” The boy asked in a sour tone.

Emu walks over and pulls a chair up to the bed, sitting down at Sota’s side. “Why did you run away earlier?”

“It’s none of your business,” Despite his protest, Emu can’t help but wonder…

“Do you like video games?” Emu asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Yeah,” Sota responded weakly, pulling out a Mighty keychain. “I was really excited for Mighty Action X…”

“The launch party is today,” Emu notes, “Did you want to go? Is that why you ran off.” Sota doesn’t verbally answer but nods regardless. It’s then that Emu had his idea, as crazy and questionable as it was.

Emu wastes no time in telling Sota his plan, “How about we go? You can play Mighty Action X,” He said, “After all, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been cured or not if you don’t smile.”

Sota lit up at the idea and Emu put his plan into motion. No one seemed to notice that he and Sota left, something that bugged him, but he was thankful for. They make their way to the launch party. There were a lot of people, which perhaps a few years ago would have made him greatly uncomfortable, but now didn’t bother him at all. Sota seemed so excited as they waited in line so he could play Mighty Action X (there was a pang of jealousy, but he could wait until later today, like he initially planned. In the past, maybe Emu would have cleared his schedule to go to a launch party for a Gemn Corp. game. He’d done it before, but now he just couldn’t. He was busy now, he had more than just game).

All was going well until…

“You!” It was Nurse Asuna. Emu feared her wrath for bringing Sota here ever so slightly, but he was certain that this was the solution. “And Sota! Why did you bring him here? How?”

“It was the stress from missing the game’s release,” Emu quickly explained, “I think that’s why he suddenly got sick. When you’re stressed, it’s harder for your immune system to fight off sickness. Bringing him here should cure his sickness and make him smile.”

Asuna did not look pleased with that explanation, “His sickness isn’t so simple,” She reaches and grabs Sota’s hand, “Come on Sota, we’re heading back to the hospital.”

That strange feeling returned as Sota yelled, “No! It’s almost my turn!”

“Please,” Emu begged, “Just a little longer than he can go back,” He didn’t want a scene to be made, nor did he want Sota to get so stressed. The strange feeling was growing.

“We need to go now,” Asuna continued to tug at Sota. At least, until Sota started glitching and those strange orange bubbles from before to appear again and began to grow. Soon they took the form of some kind of monster. Now, the strange feeling was stronger than ever.

Emu’s not sure what to say, at first, before he finds himself saying, “What’s that?”

Asuna answers, “A Bugster,” she says, “A manifestation of his Game Disease, which is a computer virus that can effect humans.” There’s a lot there in that simple statement, but Emu chooses to just file it away for further scrutiny later.

“What can we do to help him?” He was still Sota’s doctor, he still needed to see Sota smile.

Hesitantly, Asuna opens the briefcase, revealing the device and cartridge once more, responding, “These could fight the Bugster and save him,” She says, watching as Emu raises his hand and comes close to the device, “But only if you can use them.”

Looking at the strange device and cartridge, Emu supposed there was only one way to find out. He takes them, placing the device - a belt of some kind - around his waist and clicked the button on the cartridge. He places it in the slot on the belt and -

Error

He pulls it out, clicks again and puts it back in.

Error

Damn.

His mind flashed to Sota. Device or no, he’d that boy one way or another. He’d see Sota smile.

He takes the belt off, pulling the cartridge out and hands them to Asuna, though the cartridge doesn’t end up leaving his hand.

With his free hand, he lunges forward, reaching towards the monster and grasps. “I’ll change Sota’s fate with my own hands!” He means every word. If no one can help Sota, then Emu will. As he grabs at the monster, his hand and the part of the monster he’d grabbed were glitching. Then, the monster changed. Now it looked like… Salty? From Mighty Action X?

His hand tightens around the cartridge and he accidentally pressed the button once more.

Mighty Action X!

Let’s game! Metcha game! Mucha game! What’s your name? I’m a Kamen Rider!

Around him, a wheel of portraits appears, like a player select screen. He can’t make out the features on most of them, but picked the one that lit up, in front of him.

Level up! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty-Mighty Action X!

Around Emu, red and blue armor forms, and in his hand appears some weird combination of a gun and an axe. He still held the cartridge in his other hand.

Behind him, Asuna gasps.

Placing the cartridge into the holding slot at his side, he runs towards Salty, slashing with his axe. Salty, seemingly startled still by his existence, further startled by Emu’s transformation, doesn’t have much time to try to dodge. He follows his slash up with a kick, knocking Salty back slightly. Once he’s knocked Salty back, a bunch of strange grunts dressed in chef uniforms appeared.

“Some low level grunts?” Emu wonders, “Well, that’s not too bad.”

He breaks one of the blocks that had spawned when he used the cartridge. A token appears, with the image of a person running quickly. Emu grabs it and feels the power rush through his body, able to run quicky and cut down the grunts. “And powerups too!”

Now it was just Emu and Salty, staring each other down. He quickly switches his weapon to gun mode, shooting at Salty, “The one who’ll cure Sota will be me, Genius Gamer M!” While Salty was stunned, he switched his weapon back to axe mode, breaking a block for a power up, grabbing it and realizing it was a strength enhancement.

He hits Salty a few more times, before jumping back and taking ahold of the cartridge, blowing on it, then placing it into the slot on his weapon.

Mighty Critical Strike!

Running at Salty, he slashes his axe and the power with it. Salty took the hit and was defeated.

Game Clear!

Pulling the cartridge out of his weapon, the armor around Emu remains for a moment, before it disappeared. He sees where Salty had been, now Sota laid on the ground. He runs over, not thinking much at the moment about what happened.

“Sota, are you alright?”

Sota looks up at him and seems happier than ever, “Yes,” He said, then he smiled at Emu, “Thank you, doctor.”

“You’re welcome,” Emu smiled back, “I’m glad you’re happy now,”

---

A teenaged girl is holding up her phone, looking at the screen, the camera zoomed in on the screen. She has long black hair, with a galaxy baseball cap on her head. Her jacket is red and her backpack pink, beneath she wears a shirt for a different Gemn Corp game, Bang Bang Shooting.

It seems she saw the fight between Emu and Salty and had saw what had happened at the launch party. She brings her camera down and frowns.

“That’s him, alright,”

---

A man with a red jacket, ripped capri jeans, and an ugly floral patterned shirt with sunglasses hooked on it wandered the area where the Mighty Action X launch party had been held. He looked around, interested.

“So,” He said, “The game’s begun.”

---

A woman with brown hair held back in a bun, wearing light blue blouse and black slacks sits in the back of a car. Beside her, sits a Gamer Driver. She frowns at her phone as it rings and rings.

Finally, she sighed, “He’s probably busy,” She nods to herself a quietly says, “I’ll just have to surprise him tomorrow.”

---

“This,” Asuna says, gesturing to the CR, “Is the CR. It’s a department dedicated to fighting Bugsters and Game Disease.”

She spins and in a flash of colors and music notes changes her clothes, her hair now a pink bob, and her clothing all yellow and green. “I’m Poppy Pipopapo,” She says, “But outside the CR you call me Asuna.”

“How?” Emu wondered, unable to help but think aloud.

“Oh, well I’m also a Bugster,” She said, “We Bugsters can change parts of our appearance, like hair and clothing.”

He nods in response, “I see…”

“Anyway,” Poppy says, “There are ten strains of Game Disease, corresponding to ten games. The one you fought today was of the Mighty Action X strain. To stop Game Disease, we need to clear all ten of them.”

Emu looks at the games displayed on the screen. He recognized all of them, but at least one hadn’t even been released. He hummed to himself, “Well, I think I’m pretty well suited for the job.”

Poppy nods in agreement, “You’re not just Genius Gamer M,” She cheered, “But also an intern here at the hospital!” Emu can’t help but laugh a little at her enthusiasm.

If there were two things that Emu thought he was good at, it was video games and making his patients smile. He’d clear those games with no continues, that was his new goal now. (Something in the back of his head wanted to analyze all the information he got today with a fine-tooth comb. There were definitely some answers in all of it. He just wished they pointed to something a little different.)

[harrysgloves]

Let Your Hair Down (chapter x)

Get caught up with the Let Your Hair Down Masterlist!

word count: 1,629

story summary: Harry gets more than he bargains for when he falls not only for you but your little girl as well.

chapter summary: Sarah helps you get ready for your date!

warnings: Language.. >.> sorry

a/n: I love Sarah so much so... I had to of course put her in your getting ready chapter. She’s the cutest in this story. I love her so much! Hope you guys are looking forward to all the upcoming fluff... followed closely by drama! hehehehee :D xx

>>><<<

It was Saturday night and you were finally getting ready for your date with Harry. Sarah was sitting on your bathroom counter with the world's biggest shit-eating grin on her face as you fussed over your hair. You really would have slapped the look off her face if it wasn't for the fact you were freaking the fuck out. You hadn't been on a first date in almost 6 years. You weren't even sure what people did on dates anymore.

Your hands shook from nerves, causing you to burn yourself on the curling iron. You shrieked dropping it into the sink, your finger going to your mouth to stop the throbbing pain. Sarah jumped off the sink to take your hand, looking at it, before saying you'd be fine.

"God, I'm so nervous." You mumbled, picking back up the wand of Satan and trying to not burn yourself this time as you curled the piece of hair that you had previously tried to do.

"Well, stop it." Sarah perched herself back up on the sink, grabbing her glass of wine, and taking a long drink from it. "You're gonna do fine. Obviously, he likes you, been going after you for a year now."

Your eyes widened as you looked towards Sarah who simply shrugged. What the hell was she talking about? You had only known about his little crush on you for a few months before you started hanging out and you didn't even think it was a serious crush until he started randomly showing up all the time even after getting you in bed.

"He wasn't chasing me that long." Your eyebrows pulled together as you tried to think back. You were so sad last year it mostly all seemed like a blur to you.

"Uh yeah, he did." She sighed, sitting her cup on the counter. She turned her body more towards you as she helped fix some of your curls falling around your face.

"You were just too depressed over the divorce to notice it and too stuck up Ryan's cheating ass to realize Harry was a jealous little jellybean every time you two hung out with all of us." Her words hit you like a tidal wave, had you really missed all those signs from him? It was definitely possible given how utterly crushed you were for the year following the divorce. It was only the last few months that you really started to feel like yourself again.

"I'm an idiot." You huffed out, hands going to your face as you had the realization of everything hitting you all at once. Harry was into you and not just for sex, like actually into you.

"Yeah you are but you're a sexy idiot tonight." Sarah smiled as you gave out a pathetic laugh.

"God," You stomped your foot, feeling so absolutely dumb. "I thought he was going to bolt after we had sex and come to find out that's why he was so weird about it beforehand."

Sarah gasped at your confession, jumping off the counter, her hand clasped over her mouth as she pushed your shoulder.

"You dirty slut!" She yelled through her hand, her voice so loud you were sure Thea would hear her and wake up. You desperately shh-ed her, telling her to keep her voice down.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She questioned, quickly turning from shocked to annoyed at the fact you hadn't shared the details with her.

"Cause," You sighed as you leaned your back against the counter, head tilted towards the ceiling to avoid her stare. "I didn't want to admit it happened. What if he never talked to me again after that? It would have made shit weird so I just didn't want to bring it up. Just in case."

"Wow," She said as she mimicked your position. Her arms crossing over her chest. "Bet he almost shit himself from nerves. He told Mitch he'd probably get struck by lightning before you ever agreed to get in bed with him."

You laughed shaking your head. Of course, they had all discussed this, they wouldn't be your overbearing friend group if they didn't. You rolled your eyes before turning back towards the mirror and adjusting the loose deep neck black camisole you had on back into your high waisted jeans. You had no idea where you were going but Harry told you to not dress up too much so you assumed somewhere where there wouldn't be a lot of attention on you two.

"Stop it." Sarah slapped your hands away from your constant fiddling of your outfit and readjusted your tank top back into place. "You look gorgeous so stop worrying."

"Thanks." You smiled but the hint of nerves you had still showed through. You had no idea if he'd still like you after tonight. This seemed so different from the other times you hung out together, way more official.

The knock at your door stopped your breath as you turned to Sarah, panic filling your wide eyes. She gripped both shoulders and shook you lightly.

"Get a hold of yourself girl. You're a bad bitch. Go get him." She said, turning you and slapping your ass. Making you jump and turn around to glare at her.

"Oh so if Harry does it it's fine but I do it and I get the look." Her eyebrows raised accusingly, making your face heat, and her snicker.

"Wait!" She said, stopping you in your bedroom. "You got on nice lingerie right?"

"Oh my God, Sarah!" You pushed her shoulder, causing her to laugh again.

"Who am I kidding? A hoe like you? You're probably decked to the nines." She walked out of your room and you followed closely behind her, too nervous to tell her off.

You stood beside her, right in front of your door as another knock came from outside. Your heart slammed across your chest. Nope, no way, you couldn't do this. You started to turn around but Sarah caught your wrist and basically dragged you to the door. Pushing you slightly from behind to open it.

When you did your heart could have exploded. There stood Harry, gorgeous as ever. He wore the yellow vest with blue polka dots on it that you absolutely adored him in. It laid overtop a white-collar shirt with light grey stripes. But what really finished the look for you was his wide smile as he stood there staring at you. A single sunflower in his hand.

"Look gorgeous, love." A bright smile across your face as he handed you your flower.

"Thanks, H." The smile on your face not fading as you stood taking him all in. Both of you in some sort of trance, honestly you could just spend all night looking at him but the sound of Sarah loud Aweeeee from behind you made you roll your eyes.

You turned around widening your eyes, trying to telepathically tell your friend you would murder her if she didn't shut up. She of course just smiled wider as she walked out of the kitchen with another glass of wine and plopped down on your couch.

"Thanks for babysitting Sarah." Harry said from behind you, trying to be nice but Sarah was in the mood to tease you both.

"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world." She quipped back, smug smile, basking in all her rightness of you two hooking up. You wanted to deck her.

You turn back to the front door and grabbed your cardigan off your coat rack. Ushering Harry out the door.

"Be back later tonight." Rushing out all the words to try and avoid any embarrassment.

"You better not set foot in this apartment until tomorrow morning!" She yelled after you. "I expect a walk of shame Y/N!"

You quickly shut the front door, resting your back against it as you looked up to Harry who finally broke and started laughing. You sighed pushing him out of the way and starting down the stairs.

"I take it you told her." He chuckled, hand filled with rings reaching down to intertwine with yours.

"Regret telling her. Now she gets to do the stupid told you so dance. She really enjoys that too much." You huffed as you both made your way out towards the street. You still had no idea where you were going but when you saw the very expensive-looking car sitting in front of your building you stopped.

"Wat?" He asked, turning back around to you.

"Is that yours?" You stepped forward to get a good look at the car that probably cost more than you'd make in your entire lifetime.

"Uh, yeh." He said but it sounded more like a question than a statement. You turned to him eyes filled with shock.

"They let you drive in America?" He immediately rolled his eyes at your teasing, opening the door for you and motioning for you to get in.

"I'm serious Harry. You know we drive on the right side of the road here, right?" You asked before stepping into the car and him shutting the door.

He quickly walked around to his side and got it. Looking over to you, waiting to see if you were done picking on him yet.

"You better not wreck us cause you forget which side of the road to drive on." You smiled at him. He shook his head, hiding his smile and leaned over the center console to kiss you.

"Not my fault bloody American's do everything backwards. First, you refuse to use the metric system and now you drive on the right side of the road." He started his car, glancing back over at you with a smile.

"But don't worry. I'll keep you safe."

[no-worshiped-roads]

Mayday RtU fight

so this is for @the-nsr-family Roads to Unity au

my crack at the mayday fight

go check out their blog they got lots of fun stuff, also this is long i lost control and it’s like 11 pages

Phase 1

Zuke dodged a flash of lighting that struck the spot he used to be standing in. He skidded a little across the smooth floor since it was already completely wet from the storm Mayday summoned. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Neon J and Eve also dodging both lightning and attacks from May’s guitar.

“Mayday please just listen to us!” Zuke pleaded.

“NO! WHY SHOULD I?!”

“Because there’s something you really need to know! We know who is behind all of this!”

“Oh I’m sure you do.” May spat out sarcastically.

The guitarist jumped back onto a higher part of the platform and began to sing. “Show me how to lie, you’re getting better all the time.”

Zuke dodged a blast from her guitar and slipped in the water on the floor. He slid till he crashed into some equipment in the room. Zuke hissed from the pain and rubbed his head where he had hit it. He could hear May still singing but was more focused on the stars in his eyes. Zuke looked up just in time to see lightning heading for him and braced for impact. When he felt nothing but the rain, he opened his eyes to see that Neon J had thrown one of his weapons in front of him, making a sheild.

Zuke shakily got to his feet, trying to get a better foothold on the slick floor “Thanks.”

Neon J gave him a nod before returning his attention to the fight. “We may have no choice but to fight back like we did before.”

Zuke winced at that, as fighting these people hasn’t been easy for him. He loved these people, and hell, Mayday was practically his sister by all means but blood. But he knew Neon J was right. If they just kept dodging there was no way they were going to survive, Mayday was too angry to be holding back. Beside Zuke wanted to get through to her before she got REALLY angry. He knew what would happen if she did but his companions didn’t. And while he knew what would happen, he wasn’t sure if that would help him stand up to it.

“Alright. I’m really sorry May but we’ve really got to talk.” Zuke pulled out his drumsticks and charged forward.

“So you talk with your drumsticks now?” She sneered, before returning to singing.

“Now dance sucker dance! Man, we never had a chance. And no one even knew, it was really only you.”

Zuke flinched at the lyrics, knowing exactly what May meant by them. He could only hope he could convince her otherwise. As he continued to try and make his way to Mayday, Zuke found himself mainly dodging and just trying to keep up with her, but like Kliff said before, this girl was an acrobat. She was dancing around them and avoiding most of their attacks. So while she had gotten a good number off on them, they could count the number of hits on her on one hand.

“Well I’ll admit, this is definitely challenging~” Neon J’s auto tune singing carried over the pounding rains.

“This rain certainly isn’t helping.” Eve added, as she nearly slipped off the platform she was on.

“With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit them right between the eyes”

“I feel like she might be saying something to you with this song choice.” Neon J muttered unhelpfully.

“When you walk away, nothing more to say.”

“Yeah I noticed.” Zuke droned out. He liked Neon J, but he had a bad habit of stating the obvious and not understanding rhetorical questions.

“Mayday please listen, none of the EDM artists had anything to do with those attacks, those were staged!”

“You call those attacks fake?! Do you even know how much damage they did?”

“He’s not saying their fake! Just that they were set up by someone who isn’t us!” Eve argued back.

Eve was using her reality warping abilities to redirect Mayday’s attacks away from her. At one point of redirecting lightning, she managed to make it strike Mayday in the back.

“Gah!” Mayday stumbled forward a bit, but quickly got her footing back and strummed an attack towards Eve. “And yet here you are, attacking all of us. Wasn’t you indeed.”

Eve jumped out of the way and landed next to Zuke. “I believe I may have just found a way for us to actually fight back.”

Zuke frowned, as he really didn;t like the idea of shocking Mayday with her own lighting but knew they had no choice. They weren’t getting anywhere going about this like a normal fight. Zuke nodded and dodged another attack by rolling out of the way. Banging his drumsticks together he sent a wave at Mayday who moved away, but left her open for Neon J to get a hit in on her.

“Nice work you did, you’re gonna go far kid, trust deceived!”

“Mayday, we don’t want to fight, But we’re also not gonna sit here and be wailed on. We really did talk to the others. I don’t know why you can’t contact them but we didn’t do anything to them, I swear!” Zuke called out again.

“Oh you swear? Yeah, like I’m supposed to trust anything you promise.”

Zuke winced. “Yeah alright I deserve that.” A dodge. “But please can we just talk, there’s a lot I have to tell you, a lot you need to know.”

“SHUT UP!”

Zuke jumped out of the way of a large bolt of lightning and counterattacked with his drumsticks. The fight continued like this for a while till Eve got one more of her lighting attacks to hit her, this one causing Mayday to slide down to her knees. Mayday huffed, whether from exhaustion or frustration was hard to say. She growled and forced herself back to her feet.

Phase 2

Mayday played a different tune on her guitar as the weather around them changed. The rains stopped, but the room turned white. A thick fog now permeated the area, reducing their field of vision to  where they could barely make out their hand in front of their own face.

“SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOU’RE TO BLAME! You give love a bad name.”

Guitar riffs could be heard through the fog as musical blasts were shot at the group. Everyone dodged but when Zuke looked back up, he saw that they had lost each other in the fog.

“Eve, Neon J?!”

“An angel’s smile is what you sell, promise me heaven then put me through hell.”

Zuke felt the ground beneath him being blasted away and he was flung back. He grunted as he hit the ground behind him.

“We’re alright!” Neon J’s voice called through the fog. “But we aren’t going to be able to find each other much less Mayday in this fog. GAH!” Another guitar riff sounded off, clearly hitting Neon J.

“That’s kind of the point.” May’s voice drifted through the fog somewhere ahead of him.

Zuke acted quickly and smashed his drumsticks together in the direction he heard the voice. A small grunt greeted his ears, knowing he had hit her. Zuke then had to dodge again as a blast was the returned favor in his direction.

“Mayday those attacks really weren’t caused by the EDM artists. None of them even knew about the attacks till they were on the news!”

Another guitar riff was his only answer as he rolled to the side.

“Oh, you're a loaded gun, yeah. Oh, there's nowhere to run”

“Listen to where she is to find her! Use that to try and get to her!” Zuke called out and dodged another blast.

“No one can save me, the damage is done!”

Zuke continued to use his drumsticks to attack in the general direction that he could hear Mayday, and could hear his companions doing the same as well. Wherever they were in this fog. Of course this strategy went both ways. As they attacked they also made noise, which was how Mayday was finding them. Though to be fair, she had figured out that strategy long before Zuke did.

“I played my part and you played your game! You give love a bad name! You give looovvvveee---a bad name.”

Mayday was definitely picking songs that expressed what she was feeling towards Zuke. What she thought was going on, even though it wasn’t true. They had to keep pressing through and prove to her that Grunge was the only problem here. Not the EDM artists, and not him. A louder cry interrupted Zuke’s thoughts as he looked up to see the fog slowly clearing away. As it cleared out Zuke could make out Neon J near to where Mayday was, the latter on the ground again, panting. He watched her fist clench around the neck of her guitar and she swung at Neon J, making the man fall back and off the platform when he tried to move out of its way.

Phase 3

Mayday hopped back to her feet, with a bit more struggle this time, and started playing once again. Neon J grunted as he hoisted himself up from his rather big fall, given that this platform was well off the ground. As Mayday played her guitar she backflipped up to one of her trapeze platforms. The rock girl hopped from platform to platform, doing tricks as she did, all while playing her guitar. Zuke was so focused on watching her, and trying to keep her in his sights that he didn’t notice the drop in temperature.

“Wh-why is it s-s-so c-cold?”

Eve’s stuttering brought Zuke out of his trance as he huffed and realized he could see his own breath. The air was bitingly cold, and he found himself shivering much like his companions. Though Eve had it worst of all. Her outfit was beautiful, but not exactly warm. Zuke shuddered again in a vain attempt to warm his body as snow began to fall.

“Oh p-p-perfect, as if it w-wasn’t c-cold enough-AAHH” Neon J’s biting remark was cut short as the cyborg took a step back, only to slip on the ice that had formed on the floor.

The snow picked up to be more like a flurry now. Great. So now that had to deal with snow, the cold, the ice, and that Mayday was jumping and leaping around above them. She was already a hard target before, and all of this just made it harder. Mayday glared down at them, though more specifically him. Zuke did his best to hold her gaze and not wither under that glare. It was hard to say if she learned that from her mother or Kul Fyra. A familiar tune reached his ears as the rocker began to sing again.

“I wouldn't hold my breath if I was you, 'Cause I'll forget but I'll never forgive you. Don't you know, don't you know? True friends stab you in the front!”

Zuke grimaced, it really did seem that May felt that all ties between them were cut. That he was a traitor of the worst kind. He tightened his grip on his drumsticks and got into his fighting stance. He had to convince her that she was wrong.

“Listen Mayday, We know who was really behind the attacks. She started out just sabotaging the other EDM artists.”

A rather solid blast of wind and snow pushed him back, with him sliding further due to the ice. He immediately had to dodge a guitar riff, which was harder given that the ice messed with his movements. After scrabbling in place for a bit, Zuke finally managed to skid out of the way, feeling the blast move his hair as it just missed him by inches. Zuke could see Eve and Neon J continuing to attack her, and struggling just as much as he was with all the ice and snow messing with their movement.

He watched as nearly no attacks were hitting her with her using her aerial equipment to swing around and avoid them. Zuke could feel his frustration beginning to build up and took some breaths to try and calm down.

“Mayday you have to listen to us!”

“Like hell I do!”

“Mayday! There’s an inside person at NSR! She staged those attacks, she set the EDM artists up to take the fall!”

“You got a lot of nerve, But not a lot of spine. You made your bed, When you worried about mine.”

“Gah will you just listen to me?! What is your problem?!” Zuke was losing his patience.

“MY problem?! Have you seriously not figured anything out yet?! How do you not understand?!”

The snow was beginning to pick up into something more like a blizzard, not that Zuke paid it any mind. Eve and Neon J however did notice,

“Um, Zuke?”

Zuke ignored Neon J. “Come on why are you being so stubborn? The Mayday I know would actually listen!”

The blizzard got stronger, and the air got a heavier feeling to it. “What the hell do you even know about me?! You abandoned me five years ago! You left me to deal with all of that crap on my own!”

“Zuke, this isn’t helping.” Eve hissed.

Zuke again ignored the words of his companions and continued to argue with his former friend. If she would just listen to him so things could be fixed. “For crying out loud it’s Grunge! It’s her fault all of this happened! She ruined EDM’s name, she arranged the attack on you, on everyone! She is the one to blame!”

“Seriously?! Now you’re blaming someone else! At least she stuck by our side through this, unlike you!”

Mayday blasted her guitar at him and Zuke leapt out of the way. Zuke didn’t know what came over him, but he just felt so angry, so frustrated. It was like it was with West when he just didn’t listen to his side of the story. So he brought his drumsticks together and hard. The blast was too big for May to dodge and knocked her straight off her aerial swing to the platform below. Her scream of pain definitely snapped him out of it though. The snow died down and the temperature returned to normal, with the ice starting to melt away.

Phase 4

Zuke didn’t pay any of it any mind as he could stare in horror at Mayday just lying on the platform unmoving. He could vaguely see his companions getting to their feet, having no idea how they got knocked down, but guessed it was the blizzard. The two looked up to see May’s crumpled form on the platform, her guitar laying away from her, having fallen off of her when Zuke had hit her.

“Um, what happened? The blizzard made it hard to see.” Neon J asked, unhelpfully.

Zuke could only swallow hard as his ears rang. Mayday’s body twitched, and Zuke breathed a small sigh of relief knowing she was okay. The girl slowly dragged herself into a sitting position, and hugged her sides. She was breathing hard, head down, obscuring her face. Zuke couldn’t read her expression.

“...did we win?”

“Not the time Neon J!” Eve bit back.

Mayday’s breathing got harder, harsher, till she was huffing in what Zuke had to guess was anger.

“Get away.”

Mayday’s voice was low, shaky. If Zuke had been smarter he would have picked up on what that meant. But instead he just assumed it was because of her fall. He took a step forward and Mayday stiffened.

“Go away.”

It was a lot harsher this time, though still shaky. Zuke ignored her demand again and stepped forward once more. “May please, I-”

“Don’t. Leave.”

The wind began to pick back up, a strange sound filling the room. Rains started again, but much harsher than before. Zuke paused looking around at the weather, he had to get her to stop before the weather became a problem again. He stepped forward again, ignoring the  winds and rain worsening around him, even as his feet splashed in the water pooling on the floor.

Mayday’s body twitched, and her hands clenched into fists, slamming down on the platform. “I said”

“GO AWAY!” Mayday suddenly screamed, throwing her head back.

The winds were so strong now that they picked up the three companions and threw them to the back of the room. Everyone slammed into the walls and fell to the floor with a splash. Zuke pushed himself up to his knees and hands, and glanced towards Myday. Winds circled around her as the rain absolutely downpoured, reducing anything in the distance invisible. Mayday was hunched in the middle, shaking. Glancing up he saw exactly what he thought he would be forming above her.

“IS THAT A HURRICANE?!” Neon J screeched.

“Yeah maybe I should have warned you she could do that?” Zuke yelled back weakly.

“That would have been nice, yes!”

“Well we were supposed to have this taken care of before this happened.”

“We could have if it weren’t for you Zuke.”

Eve’s harsh voice made him flinch. “Hey what the hell does-”

“I may not have been able to see what happened when that blizzard picked up but I could hear it. You two arguing.”

The winds and rain continued to rage around them as Zuke stared at Eve. “She’s being stubborn! Nothing I say is getting through to her!”

“So are you Zuke.”

Zuke jolted back like he had been slapped. “I’M actually listening though!”

“Are you?”

“I’ve been helping you this entire time yes!”

“I’m not saying you’re not listening to us.”

“You just-”

“I’m saying you’re not listening to her.”

“...yes I am.”

“Are you? You seem to hear her when she argues back against us, total strangers to her. But you fail to hear the reason why she’s upset.”

“But it’s a misunderstanding!”

“Mostly yes. But she doesn’t know that, and you’re acting like she should. And like I said, mostly.”

“What does that even mean?!”

“She’s not wrong about you abandoning her.”

“Bu- hey!”

“She’s. Not. Wrong. And you have to accept that Zuke, she was attacked so badly that she apparently landed in the hospital for a week. And then, when she was recovering back at home, she finds out you’ve left NSR and are helping the people she believes attacked her. How do you think she felt in that moment?”

“...”

“And now you’re also throwing the blame all at Grunge’s feet, while not accepting your own fault in this. You could have handled how you left better. Not to mention you’ve come here and blamed her for being ‘too stubborn’ like it’s her fault she feels angry and hurt and betrayed.”

“...”

“I’m not saying you are a traitor, but you did leave her. And you need to own up to that. You can’t let your anger control you, or you’ll do things you’ll regret forever.”

“...” 

Zuke thought back to the second encounter with West when he disowned him, and how they had somewhat made up in the third encounter. He wonders what would have happened had he not run into him again. Would that have been it? Would he have never seen West again? Would his brother leave the city for good? Zuke thought on it further and frowned, remembering it was Kliff who got across what Zuke couldn’t say. Wouldn’t. Too stubborn to.

Zuke sighed. “...you’re right. I’ve only made things worse. I kept thinking about how this affected you guys, and how I felt. And completely ignored what Mayday was feeling.”

“So what do we do now then?” Neon J had walked over to the two as they had argued. It was slow going given that the winds threatened to throw him again.

“I’m gonna try talking to her again, but I need to get close. Can you two cover me? I don’t think I can get to her through the hurricane and if she starts attacking again.”

“What are you going to do?”

Zuke turned to Neon J. “What I told Kliff I was going to do. What I should have done from the beginning.”

The two nodded at him and Zuke began to walk forward. He had to take precise and heavy steps, the hurricane's gale force winds threatening to throw into the wall again. As he trudged onwards, May’s head snapped up slightly. He could just make out her eye’s glaring at him in not just anger, but pure anguish.

“GET AWAY FROM ME!”

Lightning began to rain down from the hurricane above him, and as Zuke braced for impact, Neon J and Eve came to his rescue. Neon J fired off his weapons to stop the lightning before it reached him, while Eve redirected it harmlessly behind them. Zuke continued to Mayday while his friends kept him from getting hit.

“NO! GET BACK!”

May’s attacks became more erratic and frequent. Though with how wild they were, more and more of her attacks were missing. Zuke finally reached the platform Mayday was on and gripped the beams holding it up. He hoisted himself up on the first beam and began climbing up, he didn’t have time to try and find the stairs. Heck, with what Mayday could do, there probably weren’t any. At this point Zuke wasn’t being attacked at all, and he couldn’t hear lighting cracking against the ground anymore. The hurricane was still going strong, but she had stopped directly attacking them. At this point she really was just trying to make them leave her alone.

Zuke finally reached the top of the stage and forced himself up on to it. He could see Mayday’s body trembling in the middle of it. Zuke had to drag himself across the stage, knowing that if he stood up he would be blown off. He could feel himself getting even more soaked from all the water pooling on the floor but he didn’t care. He had to get to May. Finally an outreached hand touched May’s leg.

She slapped his hand off. “Go away.”

Zuke pushed himself up so he was sitting in front of Mayday on his knees. “May, I’ve not done anything right by you since that day five years ago.”

“....”

“I left without saying anything, or explaining myself. I come back after all this time and I just hurt you more, and that’s not right. I’ve been so focused on what I want I didn’t consider how you felt.”

“...”

“I know my words are probably empty coming from someone who abandoned you, but I promise you the EDM artists won’t hurt you. They were sabotaged and set up by Grunge. She wants rock to rule as the top music genre, no matter the cost  And was going to ensure it by any means possible.”

“..is that all you came here for?” Mayday’s voice is quiet, quivering.

“No.” Zuke reached forward and pulled Mayday into a hug. The girl flinched, and though she didn't pull back, she didn’t reciprocate either.

“I’m sorry. For everything. For what happened to you, for what you went through afterwards. For just leaving you like that and not explaining anything. For not really trying to get a hold of you for five years. For being a coward. I’m so, so sorry May. You have every right to be mad at me, and I understand if you won’t forgive me. But I’m not going to hurt you. Not again. I promise.”

He could feel May’s body tremble against his and suddenly felt a tight grip around his back as she hugged him back. The winds began to die down and the rain stopped pouring. Mayday just sobbed into his shirt, letting out all that built up hurt she had been shoving down for five years. Zuke just held her for a long time, apologizing over and over again till she finally stopped crying. He had thought all he had to do was stop Grunge, but now realized that even when they beat her, and she was gone, there was still going to be a long road of recovery ahead of them. 

Everything that had happened had left lasting marks on the artists that weren’t just going to go away like that. And for once, Zuke was really going to stay by Mayday’s side, and help her through all of it. This was a promise he wasn’t going to break.