#this was lowkey based on a short fic i read about people either thinking scar was dangerous or ridiculous

[astronomical-bagel]

ok so i just went and listened to "you can't talk about bruno" bc I wanted to know what you were talking about and oh pls elaborate

SAJDHFSJF AAAAAAA TY TY FOR ASKING OKAY OKAY SO:

The reason why i originally thought of this was how scar like made all those contracts and still ended up alone and friendless, for one reason or the other. Everyone just kinda... avoided him, and either they didn't trust him or they were just too busy with their other alliances. Hence: We dont talk abt Scar. Kay? Kay. this might get a liiiittle lengthy and a tad incomprehensible so the rest is gonna be under the cut ahaha

So the castings are:

Pepa: Etho

Felix: Bdubs

(also if you havent watched the movie you NEED to watch this clip bc i LOVE their energy and etho and bdubs 100% do the tango while singing their part)

Dolores 1 (the "grew to live in fear of Bruno stuttering or stumbling" girl): Joel

Camilo ("seven-foot frame, rats along his back"): Ren

Isabella ("He told me that the life of my dreams"): Scott

Dolores 2 ("He told me that the man of my dreams would be just out of reach"): Grian

And Mirabel ("Um, Bruno/yeah, about that Bruno"): Scar himself

OKAY now we got the main casting lemme tell you WHY i cast them. (IMPORTANT: these guys are dissing on Scar to an unknown inquisitor, it doesnt matter who their talking to lollolol):

ethubs: I wanted to see them dance. WELL thats not the ONLY reason-- y'know the whole thing when etho got scar to give bdubs a life, PLUS all the fighting and burning of trees that happened w them? Etho's portion his him bashing on scar bc of that, calling him a swindler and stuff bc of the contracts (the "looks like rain" part is abt the tree arson haha) (ALSO this ties into the marriage counseler joke scar made lmao)

Okay and delores' first part is joel gossiping about scar basically. Since scar is his upstairs neighbor, he can "always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling". Scar's all alone despite doing his best not to be, as well as doing his crystal wizard stuff, he probably talks to himself a lot. OH and the "sound of falling sand" part is SO GOOD bc you can translate that into the clinking of crystals, the shuffling of papers, or YKNOW ACTUAL SAND BC DESERT DUO <3333. it works vv well and i love that line.

OH AND RENS BIT SLAPS SO HARD (A seven-foot frame, rats along his back/When he calls your name it all fades to black/Yeah, he sees your dreams and feasts on your screams) THAT FUCKS!! anyways i chose that for him bc 1.) Scar took ren's final life in third life and 2.) ren took scars final life in last life and 3.) that mean ren kinda has a grudge and you KNOW he likes to make any adversary of his seem as intimidating as possible (cough cough "his name is Mumbo Jumbo" cough cough). Hes such a theater kid too, it's perfect

OKAY and i didn't cast these up above bc theyre not named characters lol BUT its a bunch of people blaming more or less random things on Scar. "He told me my fish would die" could go to lizzie (i mean. im PRETTY sure shes the one w the axolotl), and the other ones could be jimmy blaming the fact that he died first again on him, and hmmm idk about the third guy BUT THAT DOESNT MATTER you could pick any grievance bc the point is that its not actually scar's fault lol

AND ISABELLAS PART is scott and listen this is one of my weaker castings okay. i almost made it grian but i REALLY wanted grian to be dolores's second part so this is just scot being all sparkly like "I won tee hee :3" ig??

(also the "Óye, Mariano's on his way" is pearl lol. Mariano is joel and grian sneaking into their base once again lololol)

OKAY AND DOLORES'S SECOND PART this one is grian because GOD i love sand duo and it features grian staring longingly at monopoly mountain bc theyre not allowed to team up bc of the new season ("just out of reach" and all that)

AND SCAR also doubles as mirabel bc idk it fts. Hes like "ahaha about all that...." AND AND AND i have this scene during the whole bangin medley part where everyone's singing at once where he has a whole bunch of contracts and crystals around him and theyre all doing their thing around him in like a circle (like ethubs doin their little dancy dance, ren doin his spooky story telling, ect ect ect) and the camera angle is like circling around him and the contracts whip up like a tornado AND ITS RLLY COOL AND ANGSTY AND DRAMATIC OKAY and it kinda reminds me of some Good for You animatics if that helps u imagine the visuals

OKAY THATS ALL OF MY RAMBLINGS THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT IT

[onf-headcanons]

INSUFFERABLE PAIN

(Jaeyoung x reader - one shot )

Quick one shot for Jaeyoung x reader with scars

• I did not even a proper draft planned for this at all so deepest apologies beforehand if this one shot fic and the nuance are quite messy. So this idea derived from the Minkyun ones I was like hmm since Minkyun's story was relationship already established, how about something prior relationship being legit  though?

• And then my instinct told me Jaeyoung is the best choice for this scenario  because of his personality . So without further ado lets go

• The character setting here would be you and Jaeyoung were once classmate but you got into an accident and while you are bedridden/in progress of rehab and healing , Jaeyoung got transferred. Later only met Jaeyoung back. (University or in company if you like)

• So I will leave it up to reader where the scars should be but it needs to be visible and covers quite large area. Either stitches or faded scars or even burnt scars will do. It is flexible exclusively for you.

• You do have a few past relationships or even being teased during your school days (once you recovered) but they all did not end well because of your scars. So it kind off became a complex of yours.

• Maybe you tend to wear long sleeves or longer jeans to cover it up even when it's summer. (Due to budget issue you family could not really afford a skin graft or even due to the affected areas are to large as the reason)

• Now you and Jaeyoung have been in really good terms with each other. (On what background I will leave it to your imagination as well. I personally might incorporate this into the office au)

• He did know a bit of the accident but seeing you doing well, he thought you recovered perfectly and did not gave any thoughts about scars or side effects. It just did not come to him because he was never disclosed with the details.

• It will a lie if you say you do not have a crush and good impression of him. By working together about 2 or 3 projects, you two found out that both of you also have a good chemistry unexpectedly.

• Good looks ,check . Caring personality, check . Someone who understands and respects your pov, check.

• But now you are always in the defensive alert mode to not go one step further to all of your relationships or potential suitors

• The gang of yours all are trying to hook you and Jaeyoung up and even plays game like truth or dare just to give you two excuse to confess with each other but Jaeyoung would always stand by your side so that no one makes you uncomfortable. That is one of the good impression  and plus point part he has made

• Until the extent some of your mutual friends begin to ask you and Jaeyoung directly if you truly have feelings with each other privately.

• So there is once that you and Jaeyoung were out on a company gathering or friend gathering and there is no more bus/train back home. So Jaeyoung offered to drive you back

• It will be the first time after knowing each other for a while, that you two being alone, without any potential disturbance

• In the car its was tense because Jaeyoung is silent. Very unusually silent. Maybe Jaeyoung is the type to prefer full concentration, no distraction while driving, you thought. You know you should break the ice but again your defensive personality kicks in because you don't want to send false intentions

• Reached your apartment and Jaeyoung pull over across the road. But before you reach out to the door handle, Jaeyoung calls out your name, which made you paused.

• Your intuition tingles because you have experienced similar scenario before. Jaeyoung adjusts his posture to face you properly. He even had his seat belt unfastened, looks like he is expecting a long covnersation.

• You bite your underlips unconsciously while resting your back to the car seat but your eyes are set to your knees.

• "I just want you to know,  that everytime when we played truth or dare, I never lied about having someone in mind." Jaeyoung starts.

• "I see. " you replies while trying to stay calm

• "Y/N, I am bringing this up because I felt we have mutual feelings. If I was wrong, do correct me." Jaeyoung continues because your reply was somewhat cold/neutral.

• Finally it has come to this, you thought. And you let out a sigh. "No, you are not wrong at all."

• "Wonderful." His tone becomes brighter. You had a quick glance of him out of nervousness,he has a smile on his face.

• "But," you continue on. " I am afraid that it is best for us to remain as friends."

• The aura changes into a solemn one.

• " Can I know the reason?" Jaeyoung carefully initiates after a slight moment of silence.

• You look at him and try to sound carefree, "Well let's just say I am not good at disappointment because I tend to expect too much."

• "Anyone will have expectations towards their partner, Y/N." Jaeyoung retorts. "It will happen in the course of relationship,it just the matter of communicating between 2 people"

• Oh ya, he is not the kind to back off with vague responds. He is the type to communicate fully without sugar-coated information.  He values a frank and straightforward approach. Its his good trait but sometimes it falls to his bad trait when he is persistent.

• Knowing his personality well enough , you decided to give it all. With a little selfish hope that he will backs off and terminates his feelings towards you.

• "How much do you know about the accident I been through?" You ask him. (Not in a interrogating tone)

• Jaeyoung scratches the side of his forehead and shrugs, trying to recall, " Not much of the details, I only know you are bedridden and needed alot of time to recover."

• You then roll up your sleeves / roll up your shirt/ roll up the hem your jeans, and show him a fraction of your scars. Jaeyoung was slightly taken aback by your sudden movements but then immediately understood once he sees your scars.

• "So you did not know about these then." You show him. " What you see now, it is just a small portion of all of it."

• By observing,  you can tell Jaeyoung is trying to organise his words, but the only thing that comes out from his mouth, none other than a soft murmur of "I am sorry. "

• "Don't be, I was the one who never mentioned it." You let out a short chuckle while arranging your clothes. "Its ok, you can give it a thought."

• But Jaeyoung response catches you off guard. "A thought on what?" He asks.

• You look at him and reply bluntly, " If you still want to take a step further with me after knowing about my ugly scars. Mind you, they covers quite large area of my body."

• "Wait, what? That?" Jaeyoung's voice rises as he heard you.

• "Of course, what else could it be?" You are now puzzled

• "I don't care about the scars, Y/N. I think you misunderstood me. " he tries to explain

• "I did?" The only reply you can make out of the confusion. Normally the other party would be gross out or freak out by your scars but Jaeyoung does not seem to mind?

• "I think its my suddenly apology made you feel like I am rejecting you mentally. " Jaeyoung analyses. "Its not actually, I was feeling sorry that you had to gone to the suffering from the scars."

• "Oh."

• "You don't sound convinced." Jaeyoung is accurate about that.

• "Well, I was expecting different kind of reactions and response from you." Your hand reaches to touch one of the place of your scars. "People normally freaks out when they sees it."

• "So you were trying to scare me away." Jaeyoung finally grasps the situation. "That's not really nice but I don't blame you."

• "My bad, my previous relationships did not work out because of them and I had enough of getting hurt." You avert your eyes from his. Your hand caressing the scar part through the fabric of your clothes. "Those heartbreaks hurts far worse than the physical wounds I had. They are not just heartbreaks, they are rejections. "

• Jaeyoung reaches out his hand and gently pats your head. "You had it rough." You did not move away or brush his hand off. You covers your face while lowkey wailing

• "Are you even normal Jaeyoung? I was expecting you to freak out. But why are you so calm? They are, quote my ex, unpleasantly horrendous." You turn your head to look at him.

• "Then how would your prefer me to react? Pass out? Or screech like a maiden?" His answer made you laugh. "And no they are not horrendous, that's just your ex having a faint heart."

• "Thank you for not being grossed out." You appreciated him after letting a satisfied laugh.

• "To be frank, I was startled at first but it all make sense to me now. Bedridden, long time to recover, and never once I see you wear something short during the summer. " says the young man beside you.

• "Now you know why." You mutters.

• "But I guess when you love someone, you love everything of theirs. " Jaeyoung continues .

• You could not believe your ears of what had come out from his mouth. Blushing hard, you repeat yourself. "Jaeyoung , are you even normal?"

• The young man smiles at you and responds, "I fell in love with you like how normal people fell in love , so rest assured, I am completely normal."

• You lower your head to hide your flushed cheeks, it is still too good to be true.

• Jaeyoung reads your body language  and decides to pry further. "So I assume that you accepted my feelings and my confession?"

• "Well... you are the only one who did not freak out... for now..." You reply him with a low voice.

• Jaeyoung ruffles you hair and thank you for accepting his feelings. "Don't worry Y/N,  I won't let you go through that insufferable pain again, I promise. "

• "You better." You smiles at him, finally.

A/N : Happy ending🤭 again so sorry if the story looks messy and rushed.

Also i not sure if I will do a first time theme smut fic based on this established relationship as well. It will interesting for sure.

[robininthelabyrinth]

oh my god you're nirejseki and you're taking prompts? ohmigod. ok what to ask for. wait wait. i just finished daredevil s02 and i, unsurprisingly, liked the punisher. because gruff buff grumps who are constantly lowkey in great agony and highkey ready to blow everything to hell? awesome. so i was wondering if you could write something with frank and mick/chronos? coldwave and frankmatt would be welcome but pairings are unnecessary. i just want those two to interact and others to deal with it.

Awww, thank you! :D I’m glad you enjoy my fics.

There’s no others to deal with it, but here’s Mick/Kronos meeting Frank :)

Also for @pvnisher who convinced me to watched daredevil season 2 in the first place.

ao3 link

————————————————————————————

“That’s a lot of dead people.”

“You’re real observant, ain’t ya?” the guy sneers.

Well, he tries. He’s bleeding out pretty bad, but he’s trying to crawl towards his pack.

Sarcastic city boy with the pain tolerance of a mule, snarking even as he bleeds out into the pavement.

Kronos sighs and walks over, kneeling beside the man and running his hand-held time manipulator over his injuries. It’s an inferior version of the Pilgrim’s manipulator, works too slow and too narrow to really be of any use to anyone, and that’s why they binned it. Kronos had rescued it because slow or not, he can think of a few uses for something that reverses time in a localized spot.

Like healing a bullet wound, for instance.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” the guy howls.

It’s not a pleasant sort of healing, but it’ll do.

After the first burst of pain passes, the guy struggles to sit up, cursing up a storm of profanity and threats, until -

“Hey, I ain’t bleeding.”

“You’re very observant, aren’t you,” Kronos says dryly.

“That doo-hickey of yours is a cure-all,” the guy says, marveling at his closed up flesh. He’s got plenty of scars underlying it.

“No, the other one is,” Kronos says absently. “This one is portable, though.”

He stands.

“Hold up, will you?” the guy says, climbing to his feet. “Who are you, anyway? And, heh, what Renfair are you heading to? Or from?”

Kronos blinks at him. Renfair? Renaissance fair, his brain informs him. A Renfair is -

- cooking the turkey legs until they’re done right because he doesn’t want to poison anyone, prodding at them with a stick, a leather doublet unlaced halfway down and hanging free - ahistorical for sure, but the lady in charge of costuming had taken one look at his chest and okayed it -

Kronos shakes his head to clear it. “I’m not going to a Renfair.”

“Then what’s with the armor?”

“It’s to protect me when people try to resist,” Kronos says.

The guy, who’d been smiling a little, vaguely friendly, stiffens. “Resist what, exactly?”

“Whatever my masters order,” Kronos says. He shrugs at the guy’s incredulous look. “It’s that or the chair, and I ain’t doing that again. Ever.”

“The chair,” the guy echoes. “Electric?”

“More like electroshock,” Kronos tells him. He’s not sure why. “Except you can feel your memories disappearing as they rip them out of your head.”

“Torture,” the guy says, nodding. “And you can’t just go?”

“They’d go after me,” Kronos says, rather than saying he wouldn’t. Why is he even having this stupid conversation? “And then after everyone I cared about. Ever.”

“Fuck that,” the guy says, looking offended.

Oh.

That’s why.

Sarcastic killer with the pain tolerance of a mule and an accent with no class -

Reminds him of Len.

Brings the Mick Rory of him too close to the surface.

Kronos shakes his head. He needs to go before anyone sees this moment of weakness.

“Want me to take ‘em out for you?” the guy offers just as Kronos starts turning away.

Kronos turns back and stares. “You’re nuts,” he says.

“Yeah,” guy says. He sniffs a bit, smirks. “Guess I am.”

“You don’t know what you’re up against here,” Kronos tells him. “You’re outclassed.”

“Been outclassed before.”

“Not like this.”

The guy shrugs. “I’ll take my chances. These people sound like they need to be punished.”

That has the sound of a mantra. Or a catchphrase. Still in progress, though.

“No,” Kronos says slowly, bemused. “But thanks for offering.”

The guy nods.

Kronos feels moved by that little piece of Mick Rory that lives inside of him.

“…you want a lift to where you’re going next?”

“What the hell,” the guy says. “Why not? But I’m bringing my guns. And my dog.”

“Sure,” Kronos says. “Why not?”

———————————————

“You know, when you said lift, I was thinking of a car,” the guy, still nameless, says. “Maybe a van. Or a truck. I could see you with a truck.”

“I’ve never owned a truck.”

“Still, gotta say,” the guy says. “Wasn’t really seeing spaceship.”

Kronos looks at his ship. “It should be visible now that it’s uncloaked,” he says, bemused.

The guy barks a laugh. The dog barks happily in agreement.

“What the hell,” he says again. “Man, Red’ll never believe this.”

“You know the speedster?” Kronos asks, concerned.

“Speedster? I don’t know no speedster, unless you mean a Land Rover or a motorbike -”

“Then - you said - Red?”

“Y'know. The Daredevil?”

“Oh,” Kronos says. “In New York.”

“You’re not from New York,” the guy says, very definitively.

“Central City. Well, Keystone originally. Gem Cities.”

“Don’t they have a speedster there?”

“They do. He wears all red, too.”

The guy nods, understanding.

“So where am I dropping you off?” Kronos asks.

“I was gonna say I’d ride with you in any direction you’ve got,” the guy says. “But clearly I’m going to have to be more specific.”

Kronos nods.

“How far can this go?”

“Anywhere I need it to, within reason.”

“Huh. Afghanistan within reason for you?”

“Sure.”

“What about an army base?”

“No problem. I can drop you off on the roof.”

The guy looks wistful. “Nah,” he says. “No exit route.”

Kronos check his messages. “I have a job I need to do,” he says. “But if you don’t mind waiting until that’s done, I can drop you off and pick you up, then put you somewhere else.”

“I can wait,” the guy assures him, crookedly smiling. “Don’t you worry.”

Kronos revs up the ship. “Okay,” he says. “Funny, you mentioning Afghanistan. Do you know anything about the First Gulf War?”

“Sure, plenty. Why?”

“We’re going there.”

“We’re -”

“Strap in,” Kronos warns him, and makes the jump.

—————————————————————————

“Tihs,” the guy says. “Siht si tihs. Tahw eht kcuf?”

“Time travel side effects,” Kronos tells him. “Close your eyes, count to ten, then open 'em.”

Guy does.

And then -

“You can travel in time?!”

“Yeah,” Kronos says. “So?”

The guy’s throat works. “Time travel,” he says. His eyes are distant. “You - can you go see people? Specific people?”

Kronos shrugs. “Not everyone,” he says, think of - Len - people he’s not allowed to see.

“Oh. Okay. Uh. Maybe - could we -”

“After the job,” Kronos tells him.

The guy nods jerkily and goes quiet.

Kronos knows that kind of quiet.

“My family burned in a fire,” he says abruptly.

“Bullets,” the guy says hollowly. “All of 'em. My little girl.”

- Len smiling at the ice rink, pointing out Lisa - my little sister, he says proudly -

Kronos shakes his head. It pains his head to think of Len - he’s not supposed to feel good things about Len, only anger and hate -

“Hey,” the guy’s standing in front of him all of a sudden. “Hey, hey. It’s okay.”

Kronos blinks and shakes his head. “What’s okay?” he says harshly.

“Your nose started bleeding. You think something your bosses don’t want you thinking?” the guy’s voice is very calm, very even.

Kronos nods slowly. “My -” Best friend. Lover. Husband. “He -” Betrayer. “I -”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

“I’m supposed to hurt him,” Kronos says. His lips are numb and buzzing. “He hurt me, so I’m supposed to hurt him. I’m not enough yet, though. They put me back in the chair because I don’t hate him enough -”

“I don’t think I like your bosses,” the guy says.

“Yeah,” Kronos says, swallowing a few times. “Sometimes I don’t like 'em either. Not supposed to say that, but it’s true.”

The guy nods solemnly. “Something to think about,” he says vaguely. “What’s your job, anyway?”

“Ginny?” Kronos asks.

Ginny makes a whole show of unfurling her hologram every time he calls upon her. Kronos appreciates it: he hates surprises, how the Gideons of other ships just speak out of nowhere.

The guy looks pretty impressed, too.

“A straightforward retrieval mission,” she announces. “A time pirate removed an important shipment from the timeline, but perished in the process. The shipment needs to be returned to its track. There is no need for you to eliminate the individual this time.”

“They make you kill people for them,” the guy observes.

“Sometimes,” Kronos grunts and gets up.

“You need help?”

Kronos considers it for a moment. “You don’t need to get caught in the Time Masters’ shit,” he says eventually. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay,” the guy says.

“You can ask Ginny if you have any questions,” Kronos adds. The guy reminds him of Len. If he remembers Len correctly - “Ginny, answer anything he wants, then erase the questions.”

The guy smiles. It’s surprisingly sweet.

And just a little wicked.

“I like you,” the guy says.

Kronos grunts and goes to work.

————————————————————————-

He comes back dirty and tired and hating sand, but history is back on track.

The guy looks disturbed.

“What?” Kronos asks.

“Asked about the Time Masters,” the guy says shortly.

Kronos nods. “Out of your league,” he reiterates.

“Yeah,” the guy says, but he sounds disgruntled. “I guess. For now.”

Kronos has to try not to smile.

This guy would get along great with Len. Never met a challenge he didn’t want to throw himself at.

“Yeah,” he says. “Who’d you want to see?”

The guy goes pale.

“It’s okay,” Kronos says.

“It’s not okay,” the guy whispers. “It’ll never be okay.”

“Tell me,” Kronos says.

The guy tells his story, short bursts and stuttering and choked up. It’s an awful story, too. Painful and pointless. Dead wife, dead daughter, dead son, and for no reason.

“I said no,” the guy says dully, his eyes glinting until he only seems half-present. “I said I’d read it to her tomorrow. Her favorite story. A couple of pages, and I couldn’t be bothered -”

“Did you go to sleep?” Kronos asks.

The guy blinks out of his daze, frowning. “What?”

“That night. You go to sleep?”

“Yeah,” the guy says, puzzled. “Why?”

Kronos nods. “We can’t change the timeline,” he says.

“Yeah,” the guy says, swallowing. “Ginny explained. It’s important not to mess it up or the Time Masters come for you.” There’s a spark in his eyes that Kronos doesn’t trust. It’s too much like Len.

“They’d put me in the chair for even thinking of helping you,” Kronos says.

The guy deflates a bit. He really is just like Lenny - he’d fight anybody, sure, but he wouldn’t actually cause someone else’s torture just for the chance. If he thought he could kill them, maybe, but not for the chance. “Yeah. There is that.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t fix the little things,” Kronos says.

The guy frowns at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Ginny can make a gas to help you sleep,” Kronos says. “Past you, I mean. And your wife. Then you - current you - can go wake up your kid, later that night. Read her the story. Kid that age won’t question Daddy coming back around. But you can’t interact with your past self at all, not without a timequake, so it’d be a quick in and out. You want that?”

The guy swallows like he can’t breathe, gulping air like he’s drowning, fist clenched on his chest and rocking back and forth in agony entirely internal. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah. Shit. Yeah, I - shit. If that’s an option - shit. Yeah. I want it.”

“You’ve got to keep yourself together, though,” Kronos says. “You can say you love her and all that, but no hints about not going to no carousel, or I’ll know.” Kronos taps his message screen. “You’ll be my next target.”

The guy nods tightly.

“And you’re good,” Kronos says, thinking of the giant pile of dead bodies. “You’re good, but even if you beat me, even if you beat the next guy that comes, you can’t beat the Time Masters. They’ll attack you in the worst ways - they’ll drown you as a nine year old that time you went swimming, where you can’t stop them; they’ll shoot your wife in the head three days before you met her; they’ll take everything that means something away from your life before you ever have it.”

The guy nods. His eyes are still bright. “They’re gonna get what’s coming their way one day,” he says.

Kronos shrugs. It’s always possible. “Not today. You wanna do it?”

“Hell yeah. Won’t this get you in trouble?”

“This course of action fits the technical definition of time pirate,” Ginny says cheerfully. “Might I advise: don’t get caught?”

Kronos snorts and takes off.

They land in a park not far from the guy’s house. The guy’s shaking like a leaf in a way he hadn’t been at anything at all, up until now; this one act terrifying him a lot more than anything else.

Kronos straps a zapper around his wrist. “If you forget to come back,” he tells him, and goes around himself to the master bedroom with the sleepytime gas. He takes extra precautions to keep it dead quiet - guy like that isn’t someone to be messed with, clearly, and Kronos isn’t going to underestimate him even before he started his vendetta.

It works, though, and Kronos returns to the rendezvous point and waits.

And waits.

And waits.

A second before he starts reaching for the remote for the zapper, the guy staggers out of the house. He looks blind, or drunk, or possibly on the edge of some emotional breakdown.

Kronos goes over and gently takes his arm, leading him back to Ginny.

“Gin,” he says, since the guy’s still dissociating. “Think you can get a read on the past self from here?”

“Of course I can,” Ginny says haughtily. She’s a bitch, but that’s what Kronos likes about her. “And it’s Ginny. I’m not an alcoholic liqueur best served with tonic.”

“Think we can..?”

“Certainly. There’s only one injury that is potentially problematic to repair - a shot to the head. Very well publicized - indeed, the skull on his armor is a visualization of an x-ray of that injury. It has gained notoriety and thus relevance to the timeline, and if anyone discovered the absence -”

“Fair enough,” Kronos says. “If he consents, fix all the underlying but the head. He might want to keep some of the scars.”

“Boys and their scars,” Ginny sniffs. “In your absence, I have taken the liberty of repairing the guns, grenades, and other assorted weaponry.”

“You’re the best, Gin.”

“If you rename the ship 'Tonic’, sir, I will dump you out of an airlock.”

Kronos smirks.

It takes another ten or twenty minutes or so, but the guy eventually moves out of sheer shock and goes into the crying part of shock recovery. Kronos leaves him be; some things are private.

It’s at least an hour later that he feels the touch on his arm.

“Thank you,” the guy rasps, low and deep and voice wet as his eyes. “Thank you for giving this to me.”

Kronos shrugs. He doesn’t know how to explain that it wasn’t for him, not really, but for that precious, loved-yet-hated figure that lives in his memories. Another sarcastic shit with an absurd tolerance for pain and an itchy trigger finger, and a little girl who ruled his heart.

“She was so happy,” the guy says. “She was - shit. It’s been years for me, and so many deaths in between, but every day I’d think about her. Started to think maybe the shrinks were right and I was idealizing a bit. But no. She’s just as goddamn perfect as I remembered her. She’s - she’s everything.” His hands, shaking, abruptly steady. “And they took her from me.”

“I’ll take you to the base you wanted,” Kronos says. “But I’d recommend you let Ginny take a peek at you.”

“Oh?”

“She scanned your younger self. She can repair underlying issues - muscle tears, friction, aging. Won’t impact your instincts anyway, and you can keep the scars that are important, but a bit of extra flexibility and stamina can’t hurt.”

The guy raises his hand to his head.

“Can’t fix that,” Kronos says apologetically. “Gin says it’s too big a change. Might be noticed. The rest is all under the skin and you didn’t get that many scans of your body, so we can probably sneak away at least one bone break as having healed up perfect.”

The guy nods. “You trust her?”

“Yeah.”

He goes.

Kronos drops him off by the base and waits, playing with the guy’s dog as he does. It’s a good dog.

“It’s done,” the guy says from behind him. Alarms are blaring, the guy has a bag in his hands, and he’s painted like one of the Queen of Hearts’ roses, except it’s starting to brown already. “We shouldn’t stick around.”

“Anti-aircraft missiles would be a problem, even for us,” Ginny says.

Kronos nods and goes to the pilot seat. They take off right before a missile hits.

“They really don’t like you,” Kronos observes.

“No shit,” the guy says. “Good dog, isn’t she?”

“Very good. My partner always preferred cats, y'know. Probably because he was one, big old asshole cat -”

Kronos stops as a wave of pain overcomes him, his skull firing off a thousand waves of hatred and pain to remind him why he never talks about Lenny.

“Hey, hey,” the guy says, holding onto Kronos’ arms. “I got you. This the guy you’re supposed to hurt?”

Kronos nods mutely.

“What’s his name?” the guy asks.

Lenny.

Len.

Leonard.

Beloved. Husband. Partner.

Kronos’ mouth moves futilely, unable to squeeze out a word.

“Leonard Snart,” Ginny says for him. “Of Central City. A historical contemporary of yours.”

“Okay,” the guy says. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He pats Kronos on the back as Kronos straightens up. “You’re a good guy, you know? You haven’t even asked for anything from me.”

“You remind me,” Kronos croaks. “Of -” He trails off.

“Even the killing bit?”

Kronos shook his head. “Never liked killing,” he says. “Do it if he felt he had to, if people were hurting or threatening to hurt us, but the second anyone gave him an excuse to stop, he did. Dad made him do it. Was a cop, y'know. Dirty.”

“I hate dirty cops,” the guy says contemplatively. “I get you.”

Kronos shakes his head free of cobwebs. “I should get you back before the Time Masters notice I’ve made a detour.”

“You do that,” the guy says, going to the other seat and strapping himself and his dog in. “And hey - best of luck getting out from under them.”

Kronos doesn’t think that’s a possibility, but he appreciates the thought.

They land halfway across the country from where Kronos picked the guy up. “Been about four hours, local time,” Kronos tells him. “Bit too fast for you to get here, so if you want to be safe, I’d wait another few hours before heading out again.”

“Get some sleep and shit,” the guy says. “Gotcha. Thanks.”

Kronos opens the door for him and hands him his ridiculous bag of guns. Ginny pipes up to inform him of some additions she’s made to them.

Guy’s shoulders look like a burden’s been taken off of them. Kronos isn’t sure if it’s the removal of the chronic pain or having seen his daughter again that did it.

(He wishes he could make Len sit in the chair and take a round of Ginny’s healing, but he’ll never make anyone, no matter how hated-beloved-hated he is, sit bound in a chair every again.)

The guy stops just at the threshold. “Hey,” he says. “Just occurs to me. We never really got around to introducing ourselves.”

Kronos shrugs. “Names are the first thing they take.”

“Not mine,” the guy says. “I’m Frank. Frank Castle. And you?”

Kronos opens his mouth to give his designation.

“I used to be called Mick Rory,” he finds himself saying.

The guy nods. “I hope,” he says seriously, “that the next time we meet, you’re calling yourself that again.”

And then he goes.

“You’re wanted back at the Vanishing Point, Kronos,” Ginny says apologetically.

“Yeah,” Kronos says, shaking his head and closing the door. Enough nonsense - time to go back to work. “Yeah, let’s blow this joint.”

For one idle moment, he wonders if there’s any chance of him seeing Frank again.

Nah.

What’s the likelihood of that?