#to the point where they just went alright moon dwellers will just be called moon dwellers to simplify things

[tastycitrus]

Akimi: You know, I've been wondering—why is 2nd OGs called 2nd OGs if it's considered Episode 3 of the OG series?

The Steel Dragons:

Ryusei: Well, you see, OG1 and OG2 were compiled into the same game as OGs, meaning they're the first Super Robot Wars Original Generations, so 2nd OGs is called 2nd OGs because it's the 2nd Super Robot Wars Original Generations.

Akimi: But that just raises more questions. Why are OG1 and OG2 counted as the first SRW OGs when they're two different games? And what about Gaiden—

The Steel Dragons: COUNTING IS HARD, OKAY?!

[fandom-collective-writers]

“Tarnished Glove” - Edgar x MC

Thank you @christmaswarlock for this request!

Author: @lokiiwood

Content Warnings: Physical abuse

A/N: I really like angst XD I hope this fits your needs~

Edgar would come for her. He would choose what was right over his uncle’s brainwashing, he was strong enough for it and she believed in him. It’s what she proclaimed internally and externally to any who dared question her relaxed posture or forced her down to the labs. The robbed members of the Magic Tower flinched every time she spoke, but it wasn’t her they feared – it was Amon’s reaction. He spared no one in his fits of rage, throwing around his associates with flicks of his magic eyes when they didn’t properly restrain her or her mouth in a manner that was fast enough for him.

Her defiant smile in the face of Amon only angered him further – enough for him to stop pounding at the cell bars each morning and night and then having her dragged to his laboratory. Enough for him to deal with her himself, his lips’ poison only said in private as he entered her cell alone. Enough for him to don white gloves that gripped her wrist as magic surged through her in his testing ‘trials.’ He had stopped explaining what he was doing, only a ruthless grin that grew as hers fell away. She tried to deflect the magic but there was nothing to deflect, there was nothing but the searing pain that started at her wrist and spilled out of her eyes and wide mouth.

It was as if lava was replacing her very veins each time that terrifying white glove touched her. She refused to beg, fighting against him with all of her failing strength. Amon tired of her efforts but that didn’t stop his.

“Get up.”

She had stopped getting up, but Amon didn’t seem to mind. It was obvious at this point that it wasn’t by choice, that it wasn’t her trying to defy him. Alice was incapable of moving. Her body ached, somehow trembling despite the fatigue that immobilized her. Sometimes her food grew cold in her drawn-out efforts to eat. For the first time, an attendant came to feed her.

As they began to leave, her hoarse voice attempted to ask the question. “How long have I been here?”

They didn’t hear her and she had no tears left to cry in her frustration.

In the never-ending loop of pain, as soon as she finally managed to close her eyes they were opened by the echoing of Amon’s footsteps.

“How long have I…b-been…?”

She coughed fire and her hands flung to her throat as if to contain the burn on their own.

“If you’re asking how long you’ve been here, I’d say this is the 6th day, my dear guest. The full moon is tonight, you know.”

She didn’t even realize it was morning and didn’t realize Amon had finished the morning’s trial until leftover, gnawing pain woke her back up from her spot on the floor.

She’d forgotten about Edgar – forgotten about the Red Army – forgotten everything except fear as the familiar sound of Amon’s heels clacked towards her cell.

The white hands reached for her and she couldn’t bring herself to scream, only flatten herself against the back of her cell in a hasty attempt to buy herself just a few more seconds of not being tortured by the mad man. Her eyes squeezed shut and she lowered her head. Just a few more seconds. Just a little longer was all she wanted. The panic in her chest was loud in her ears, could Amon hear it? Would he tease her about it? Would it anger him?

“MC?”

She forced her dry eyes open in time to see the glove retreat and the concerned expression on Edgar’s face.

Edgar?

Edgar.

“Hold on, I have a key.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came to mind. It was a blur, she could see nothing but the white, cold glove seeping into her hand as they left the Magic Tower – mutually trembling in the other’s embrace.

“MC?”

She looked up at Edgar’s gentle smile, his barely hidden pain in the soft call of her name. Despite there being no wind, it was as if a whistle from the surrounding trees scratched at her ears. She glanced around the area – a green thicket and the ominous white of the Tower not too far away – to see Zero quickly approaching on his horse as Edgar stood beside his white one.

“Please, please Alice, we’re almost there. Let’s get out of here. I promise I’ll protect you.”

“No.”

Her first words – a rejection that didn't take away Edgar's smile. She slowly removed her hand from the cold, white glove and pressed it into her chest to warm it. When had Edgar become so cold? It was so large in her field of vision. There were other things around her, but all she could see was Amon.

“We have to go,” Zero spoke, exasperation in his voice as his horse trotted to a halt beside them. “What’s wrong? Why are we waiting?”

She turned to regard him – eyes focusing on his bare hands that skillfully held the reigns of his steed. His tense expression relaxed to clear worry as he looked down at her. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“She’s not. They did something to her. I’m not asking you to trust me,” Edgar murmured, tentatively reaching out a hand again, “but if you’ll just let me get you back to your world then-“

“No!”

“Hey!”

The sound of Fenrir’s voice made all their heads turn as his horse neighed loudly. One-handed, the Black Army officer trotted around them with the same smile he always wore despite the situation.

“You idiot, are you trying to tell them where we are? They’ll be here any second,” Zero sighed.

“Alice?” Fenrir asked, ignoring Zero.

Her eyes fell to his hands, relaxed on the reign.

“MC?”

Edgar’s desperate call went ignored as her feet ran to Fenrir. Without hesitation, he swooped her up onto his horse and brushed a stray hair out of her face before she buried her shivering head into his chest. A little surprised, his smile faded.

Silence fell over the two Red Army officers as they tried to process the sight before them. She’d made her choice.

Fenrir glanced over the two ashen faces of the officers but said nothing but a quick “Ya!” to get his horse galloping away through the Forbidden Forest, one arm protectively holding his shaken friend in her seat.

“We should go too,” Zero mumbled.

Edgar said nothing, jumping onto his horse and taking off in the opposite direction Fenrir and Alice were going. Zero followed behind him as both horses quickly sped up into a gallop. The blue lights of Magic  Tower dwellers made them zigzag through the forest to avoid startling their rides. Zero's face scrunched as Edgar rode on majestically as ever. Would he dare ask? Would he dare suggest Edgar go faster when he could easily ride ahead of him? He sighed and gulped away his words. No, he wouldn't. Zero would stay behind and stop any assailants who caught up to them if need be. The only thing that mattered, for now, was Edgar continuing forward without interruption. After all, the reason he was behind him at all was that he'd noticed the tears falling down his old friend’s face and knew he – or anyone else – wasn’t meant to.

[galacticjellyfish-waterbender]

A Feather in The Sky

I can’t fly away as birds do. Not many can, but Laura Tipusnon could. Though she didn’t fly as most people would think. In the air she would glide, clouds letting her pass through without thought as they floated up there. There were times she would stretch out her arms, fly on her back as if she were drifting amongst the waves.  Her eyes closed; nose pointed upward as if the skies held a different scent. They did. The clouds themselves were filled with the smell of lilacs and a forgotten scent called freedom. Yes, Larua COULD fly. She flies no longer. Her virtual wings clipped. Freedom destroyed once a jealous cloud dweller named Tiberius Poltorm noticed her in the sky. He’d never seen a human so far up without the aid of some man-made machine. He brought it to the elder cloud King. This awful intrusion in the beloved sky, their beloved sky. But the cloud king looked at him, then gazed at Laura, swimming in the sky and shook his head. “Life is for everyone. The sky is beautiful and any who can learn to fly as she has, should be allowed to enjoy such pleasures.” Tiberius nodded in respect, but raged as a quiet hatred brewed for Laura.  

He kept an eye on her. A wonderous yet hateful eye as she flew, for she never went back to the ground. Throughout the late afternoon she stayed in the air and well into the evening until that curious blanket of night came. As the sky sprinkled itself with awakening stars, Larua flew to the closest one just underneath the atmosphere and begged it to come a little closer. The star did. It dimmed its twinkle and let Larua sit upon it within the clouds. Tiberius lurked behind a nearby cloud and when Laura flew to the ground for a sip of water from the ocean, Tiberius whispered in the ear of the star.

“She means to take you down with her.” He said to the star. “She means to dim your light the next time she goes for a sip of water. She wants to drown you in the ocean.”

It was the star’s first time conversing with a human. Laura seemed kind, but the star knew the cloud dwellers far better.  

“The cloud king.” The star said. “Does he know this human?”

“Oh. Yes. He does.” Tiberius said. “He distrusts her very much and tells all not to come near, but you’ve been in space this whole time. You don’t know. We never thought she would make it up this far.”

The star stirred in the sky, nervous light spraying out bits of fire as it saw Laura beginning to return from her drink. “What am I to do?” It said. “She’s done with her drink and coming back. We stars adhere to the wishes of humans. I cannot glow brighter and return to space until she asks.”

“Don’t worry.” Tiberius said. “Give me some of your light and I will set her ablaze if she doesn’t let you go back.”

The star breathed a small flame of its sparkling light into Tiberius’ hand, then Tiberius hid behind the cloud once more. When Laura returned, she sat upon the star, but noticed its curious energy.  

“Are you alright?” She got off the star and floated midair to see its face. “You seem strange. Are you tired? Thirsty?”

“Please no!” The star cried. “I’m not thirsty! I need no water! Let me go back into space!”

“But-” Laura began to plead as she reached to her chest. But Tiberius appeared from behind the clouds and threw the small spark of fire at Laura, catapulting her far from him, the star, and the rest of the cloud dwellers, past McInty Mountain and into the valley below. They watched as the trail of smoke from her burning body traced her journey through the sky.

“Oh. Thank you.” Said the star.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Tiberius smirked, then he kicked the star into the ocean below and watched it smolder and hiss in the waves until it was but a cool space rock. With that, Tiberius returned to his home in the clouds, for he knew what Laura would have done. He knew why she reached for her chest. Within the spirit of every human is that which feeds thirsty stars. Her hope would have been its water, a space liquid that would have fueled it, but I think Tiberius knew it would have told the other stars about him.

Laura landed where I live now. Inside the thicket of trees in the deepest valley in the shadow of McInty Mountain. She’s told me many tales of her wonderous travels in the sky and often contemplated about Tiberius and what he did that day. It took her some time to tell me her story, and she seemed shocked when she told me of the conversation between Tiberius and the star. At the time, I couldn’t figure how she knew that which she never saw. A few days ago, she made a revelation Tiberius, but told me she was tired and would tell me when she awoke the next morning. She never did. When I came to her hut at dawn, she had disintegrated into feathers. All that was left near them was a moon carved into the wood at the foot of her bed. I look to my own chest sometimes and wonder where my hope lies. If my hope could fuel that nervous star now dead in the ocean. Laura had told me she saw it fall on her own descent into the valley, for her years of flight had given her the eyes of an eagle. Thought, I believe she knew much more. She told me about the conversation Tiberius had with the star and I wondered how she could have known. What secrets has she been able to unlock? Her death was too soon, but after she died, I spent some time in her hut. The moon carved into the foot of her bed, the pile of feathers. I left it untouched. One night, days after her demise, I was sitting in her hut again when I noticed the moonlight shining through an uneven slab in the roof. The crack allowed the white light to peek inside the hut to a bowl of black liquid hidden underneath Larua’s bed.

I’d never seen such a liquid before and dared not touch it. It wasn’t a slime nor was it thick like tar. It seemed to be black water. But it was the most curious thing I’d ever seen and I found myself unable to stop staring into it. I sat in front of the bowl and, on instinct from idle fingers, picked up a fallen feather to twirl. As I fiddled with the feather, so did my mind. Back it drifted to Laura’s tales of flying in the sky and the cloud dweller Tiberius. I could almost see it as I heard her voice in my mind, recounting her adventures and suddenly the water swirled to reveal not that which she experienced, but the history she hadn’t seen. The secret conversation of Tiberius and the star she didn’t reveal to me until three days after she arrived here, charred and broken. I saw Tiberius watching her as she flew, his conversation with the cloud king. Everything she told me. That was how she’d seen it, but how did she know? How did she figure the secret to the veil behind the uknown, the unseen?

She never told tales of her people, her family or friends. It was always her and the sky. The stars and a hopeful drink that resided in the chest of all humans to feed wishing stars. Was it intentional to not mention her people? How could I not ask?

I walk between the trees at night and try to feel the air above, hoping to fly as she once did. She was the first visitor I'd had in years. But her tales, her ability to fly has stirred something long dead within me. There could be more for me in the sky. I should leave. I should at least try. The trees shake something awful and horrid during the night. It started weeks ago and Laura’s presence was a comfort during that time, but the tremors have only worsened in her absence. An absence. All absence. Sound is sucked away into the night and the wind has no place in the valley in the dark. I imagine her voice. Laura. The human who could fly.