#tthey are consuming my every thought

[iffasart]

YALL SEE THIS TOO RIGHT?? LIKE THEY WERE TOO CLOSE TO NOT CUDDLE

They were cuddling 100%

Green- marcille | orange- falin

[sometimesrosy]

Rosy that's fantastic news for your book!! I'm really happy for you. And just seeing "bellarke consum their love and even have grandkids" makes my heart full. Bob and Eliza said tthey were disappointed that 1/the charaters couldn't have kids in the end and that 2/ there was no hope. I totally agree with their interpretation of the end. Some people said the ending was super cool, and inkeeping with the whole show, and somehow hopeful. HOW WAS IT HOPEFUL?? the human race gets wiped out...

People said the ending was “super cool?” How?

Wait. I need to wrap my head around that. What are they looking at that seems super cool?

I actually don’t have a problem of the concept of transcendence that they worked on all season, nor Cadogan, the fake-spiritual, love-your-fellow-man-but-also-sacrifice-them-because-they-mean-nothing cult leader who favored his daughter, used his son, tossed his exwife into the apocalypse and killed Becca because she had power and knowledge beyond him.

Like, that could have been super cool if they’d kept him the villain, the antagonist, but instead they made him the protagonist who was, somehow, right about transcendence as if it wasn’t just another fucking doomsday cult that wanted humanity to end. I mean, it WAS just another fucking doomsday cult that wanted humanity to end, and the aliens vacuumed up humanity and allowed for no dissent. Here, have your perfect happy transcendence...but your body dies, the world ends, and humanity is gone. That is EXACTLY what ALIE did, and she was a villain. Perhaps a well meaning villain, but a terrifying villain.

How did the SAME story, get switched around to being some sort of victory for the state of humanity? How did the end of humanity, no chance to continue on, because they removed their ability to have children and carry on?

Why couldn’t they just fucking stay on The Ring if that was going to happen. At least they could have a small community up there.  But no. Without the info that our heroes brought, they wouldn’t have reached transcendence. 

That wasn’t transcendence. It was judgement day. Transcendence means you have worked your way to a higher state, and yes, it might be condescending and elitist, but you at least worked for it. And it wasn’t really a judgement day because they just took everybody, despite the fact that those idiots were fighting for no fucking reason. It was a PUNISHMENT day for Clarke, one of the only people who was actually TRYING to be better and do better. 

What was cool? The way the aliens brought back the people they cared for? Yes, that was cool. It wasn’t them of course, but some people would be impressed by the alien dressed up in the costume of their fav. I could see that being considered super cool. But honestly... that’s a story line that would have worked better in season 3 and in fact DID work remarkably well in season 3 when Lxa showed up in the COL. And it was ACTUALLY her, not some facsimile.

Was it cool to take away the agency of the hero of the story who we’ve been following for 7 years? Was it cool to erase the personality and motivation of our dual protagonist? Ok. So lets say you didn’t love Clarke or Bellamy. Octavia’s character was erased and she didn’t have a thing to do until the final battle, and then she got a romance that frankly made me uncomfortable but that’s taste. Echo was erased and she didn’t have a thing to do until the final battle. Raven was also erase although she got to be the one to convince the aliens that they weren’t totally awful beings. That was cool, but it seemed like a patch put on top of a story that had failed. The story being about how Clarke saves humanity, and Bellamy saves Clarke, which has been THE STORY FOR SIX YEARS. We spent six years building up a team with these two heroes who have been through so much shit and made the CHOICE to be the good guys, and in the end, Bellamy gives his power over to a charismatic obsessive leader (also happened in season 3 with Pike who was a great character and FAR better than Cadogan and actual sympathetic awful villain who thought he was saving his people while doing evil.) And Clarke actually becomes THE BAD GUY, who loses her sense of reason and commits violence due to loving too much-- a really tired, misogynistic storyline. Give women power and they go crazy. The hysterical woman. THIS DOES NOT FIT WITH CLARKE GRIFFIN. Also, we saw her go through that trauma of fear for her daughter, and she DID NOT GO CRAZY. Ruthless, yes. And then she worked through what she had done and recognized she was wrong and promised not to do that again. I honestly don’t know why she did it again.  Even if Bellamy betrayed her again, it didn’t make sense that she couldn’t work through it.

They had to keep the two characters apart in order have that ending happen. Why? Because Clarke acts as the center to Bellamy and Bellamy acts as the Center to Clarke. This season is the story of the FAILURE of the duo protagonists of the show. They separated them and broke them individually, and this meant they were unable to save the universe. 

Is it cool to make a show about heroes and then destroy them in the last season? But frame that destruction and the end of humanity as a VICTORY and positive ending? Maybe if you hate those characters and humanity and think there’s no hope for us anyway, so lets just burn it down.

Oh wait. I’m trying to figure out what’s SUPER COOL about that ending.

The purple sparkly aliens. Ok. How is that cool? That there’s actually an omnipotent alien out there that has the ability to just snap a whole race of people out of existence or into their big ole stew pot of consciousness.

1. Why? 2. How? 3. Where did that power come from? 4. Who are they? 5. What do they get out of erasing races and basically eating them?

Okay, putting aside the questions about how these omnipotent gods aliens came to be... is it possible they can be see as “super cool?” Let me go through.

1. Omnipotent aliens going through the universe, deciding when life forms were “ready” to be judged and then either wiping them out totally, or wiping them out totally but accepting their consciousnesses into their massive consciousness where they don’t want any “bad” lifeforms, which makes them now a higher lifeform but not at all what they once were. 

Cool/Not Cool. I dunno. Kind of seems like some sort of puritanical god who willy nilly decides if people are worthy of heaven. Will He, Nil He. That’s what that means. If we’re gonna get aliens at the last minute, I want aliens. I want to know who they are and what’s up with them. THAT’S the story. Those alien guys. Instead, the story was about the flotsam and jetsam at the end of humanity, either getting swept up into the god-form in the sky or being pounded to bits on the rocks. The heroes of our story have no say in what happens. They’re toast either way. Oh you mean we can be erased into nothing or erased into your hive mind? The only way this is cool is if you like nihilism. Which, yeah, some people do. NONE of their struggle over the past six years meant a damn thing. None of it. Their beliefs, their sacrifices, their mistakes, their heroism. It al reduces down to whether those sparkly purple aliens like them or not. That’s some bullshit. 

Not cool. 

2. Cadogan. Cult leader from the first apocalypse who conned the bulk of his followers and left them shady shelters that let them die. Kept the good stuff for his “best” followers. Paternalistic, obsessive, ruthless, megalomaniac framing his leadership and personality as “Love for Humanity,” while discarding every human who he deemed unworthy. Including his own family. Actually. Pretty cool.  AS A VILLAIN. Ending up at his cult colony in space hundreds of years later with thousands of years of development in time dilation. Cool. They’re creepy but make some bit of sense. Ok. Waking him up and then making him this fucking GURU who preaches love for humanity but sacrifices 99.9% of humanity all so that he can reach his mythical transcendence which is really the eradication of all humanity.... well, that’s actually cool. AS A VILLAIN. But somehow in the last season, Cadogan turned out to be the one who was right all along, and the story seemed to accept HIS concept that transcendence was the best thing that could happen to them, because humanity sucks and they always fight so they should be erase by paternalistic omnipotent gods. CADOGAN’S choices were the ones that were enacted. Bellamy gave his will to Cadogan and made CADOGAN’S choices, not his own. Never before in all the seasons did Bellamy “need it all to make sense.” He fucking KNEW it made no sense and he didn’t want to make those choices any more. And he did it to be a better person and make better choices and keep his family safe. The excuse they used for our hero to side with Cadogan did not fit. CADOGAN became the protagonist in the second half of the season. CADOGAN made all the choices that furthered the story. Our heroes were reduced to either brainwashed followers or ineffective, hysterical messes, our really not wanting anything to do with anyone’s salvation and just interested in their love life. It left Raven, Echo and Octavia to scramble around in the end and try to convince the purple sparkly gods not to erase them out of existence, just erase them and swallow them. :/ Cadogan as protagonist bringing humanity to “transcendence.”, Our supposed heroes as useless flotsam and jetsam floating around on the wreck of humanity whose choices and actions make no goddamn difference.

NOT COOL.

3. Character Storylines

Clarke’s storyline. NOT COOL. Bellamy’s storyline. NOT COOL. Octavia’s storyline. S.A COOL. S.B NOT COOL. Raven’s storyline. COOL. Echo’s storyline. S.A COOL. S.B NOT COOL. Murphy’s storyline. SUPER COOL. Emori’s storyline. SUPER COOL. Indra’s storyline.  COOL. Hope’s storyline. S.A COOL S.B NOT COOL. Jordan’s storyline. NOT COOL.  Diyoza’s storyline. COOL Gabriel’s storyline. COOL. Madi’s storyline. NOT COOL The grounders. Fucking morons. You really shouldn’t make a whole culture’s choices based around being absolutely too stupid to be allowed to live. EVEN when you get past xenophobia and learn about who they are and why they do things. NOT COOL. The culty people. Cool set up and world building. The society was dumb and had too many plot holes. MIDDLING SHEIDHEDA. NOT COOL. pointless plot device just used to make everyone forget everything they learned from 6 seasons. CADOGAN. COOL AS A VILLAIN. But he was the protagonist. So the ruination of the entire show and universe they created. NOT COOL.

SEASON A COOL OVERALL.  SEASON B NOT COOL. TOTAL SEASON NOT COOL

I think if people think the ending was supercool, they’ve never heard of a deus ex machina, and how that’s a BAD ending that is really just a cheat because you can’t figure out a way to get out of the story mess you made. 

I really hate post apocalyptic fiction that ends with no hope for humanity. JR kept telling us there was hope. I mean narratively, not in interviews, although he did that too, and in the last half season, he switched it around so they wouldn’t have hope, not even just our heroes, but all humanity. It was a bait and switch I did not appreciate. And I’m not talking about ships, I’m talking about the essential genre of the show. 

PS. thanks. I love my book and I hope someone picks it up so you all can read it. It also has elements of Han/Leia and another couple, Brashen/Althea from the Live Ship Traders book by Robin Hobb. They are, however, less traumatized than the characters in The 100. 

[dancinginmydressinthesun]

Sooo I just watched Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and I am gonna rant 

THERE CAN AND PROBABLY WILL BE SPOILER SO PLEASE BE AWARE OF THAT

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soo the movie just ended half an hour ago or so and so these are my very first impressions. I need to say that I am gonna watch the movie again tomorrow and I am pretty sure I will see it with different eyes then but I wanted to share my initial thoughts as well. 

So tbh first, I was not too surprised with everything but this is only due to the fact that I kinda assumed some things before because I already talked to a friend about it. (Anyway, this is totally fine bc I am pretty sure I couldnt have kept track otherwise because there are a lot of things happening very fast and being prepared is not too bad). I do believe that you are going to be VERY surprised by everything if you have managed to keep all sorts of spoilers away from you tho. 

I don’t really know if I like the movie yet (we will see in the next days) but I do feel like something is missing. I mean, this is obv bc you should feel like “wtf what is happening” at the end still (and I do) but it kinda feels unsatisfying to me. I am, however, aware of the fact that this is because I dont like that you are only left with questions and no answers and everything just seems like there is a second half missing that needs to follow. This is going to be the third movie then apparently but having to wait for 2 years man? Thats tough. 

Even tho there is a lot of darkness and you feel like you wanna jump right into the movie and change stuff (*cough cough* saving the poor beasts & child & BASICALLY EVERYONE *cough cough*) I kinda liked the whole atmosphere a LOT tbh. bc I expected it to be darker actually, it was the perfect mixture of cute and funny scenes and intriguing moments. I like the characters a lot too (most of them) and I felt like even tho its more about the storylines (and there is a lot of plot and twists and everything) you do get a good glimpse of the beloved characters from the first movie and Dumbledore as well ofc. (keep in mind: I might change my mind watching it again).

I liked the beasts OF COURSE so much (they are the best tbh) and I am very happy that they decided to include so many of them and still let them play a role despite them not being a real focus anymore. I also adore Leta’s character so much now (and not only because Zoë is so unbelievably gorgeous I wanna look at her face forever *gay sigh*) and this is probably why I cannot really accept her fate yet.

What I also enjoyed a lot was Dumbledore. Although I had no clear vision of how he was when he was younger (I just assumed him to be like he was when he was old just with less beard) I think he was probably the character they made the most believable (ok but this is also because the others are mostly new characters so there is no real comparison) but he did remind me so much of a former teacher of mine, his expressions especially, and I do admit that sometimes I have daddy issues in a non-sexual way (where is the adult role model in my life who gives me advice and makes me feel appreciated ?? looking @ u dad) but well enough about me lol, Jude Law was great and he gave me a cozy feeling lets admit that. 

I loved seeing Hogwarts despite it being so short and I loved loved loved the flashbacks (i love flashbacks in general everywhere all the time so idk what this says about the quality but ...,,,) and newts case !!!!!!! sorry but those are my two favourite places tthey are really amazing ughhh dont remind me they are not real. 

Gellert Grindelwald was ... well idek. I feel like I am not equipped to judge any of it, not depps performance and not the depiction of the character so I will leave it to that now. 

Now there comes a huge spoilers dont blow this for yourself really if you havent watched it 

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I kinda assumed credence could be a dumbledore before (dont worry, this was bc of information i got, i am no genius lol) so that was not too surprising (IF this is true) BUT that I was actually right did surprise me lmao. This is why I have already thought about the possibitly of credence being a brother of albus but tbh I twisted and turned it around (bc i also knew that “dumbledore” was the most likely option) and even after having heard it now I .......... still dont get how this can be (but nobody does apparently) and idkkk it feels kinda weird ?? bc well even tho you maybe havent occupied yourself with the dumbledore family 2 much (even tho you have probably dont get me wrong but if you are not a hardcore stan maybe you have only to an extent) but I kinda spend my time thinking about the dumbledores PASSIVELY SO MUCH. I probably would not do it that often on my own but I do consume it passively bc of my friend a lot and tbh i already have a clear picture of the family now and there being another one seems so fake I have to get used to that first. Also that its not something completely new but a character you knew as credence for 2 years who i did like but never really paid 2 much attention to and not finding particulary interesting makes it worse. Now I feel like I should get to know him at leats now (like he is my long lost forgotten brother who returns home) but i cannot get to know him AT ALL bc i have no way to start. so i either have to ignore everything (i wont) or I will paint a clear picture of him ( I will) that is going to be destroyed whatsoever lets not try to cheer me up ahdjsdhs what a weird feeling I am having I was told I would have but it feels SooOOO ... yes weird ( i kinda wanna cry but I also wanna watch again and I wanna dance but I am also v tired (have been the whole day almost) and i just really wish I could talk to jkr now? like i would love to talk to her all the time but rn would be kinda good to just ask her if the next movie will end this confusing too bc i dont know if i can make it then) 

anyways, i could come up with more things i liked now actually than I disliked (its the little things)and my negative mood is probably rooted in this whole flood of information that gives me so many questions that are left unanswered and also that i missed a few lines sadly. I am happy to have the chance to watch it again and making up my mind soon.  

the best part of it all was flamel running tho bc tbh this has been me every year in the bundesjugendspiele (@german people we all know the pain)

[01littleunicorn]

Can’t remember what two things I asked for but Takumi/Corrine 😅

OMG thank you so much for sending it back!Do not worry, I had noted it down so I remember ^^So sorry for all the mix up, let’s just say I learned a hard lesson today ^^’’

So here you go and I hope you’ll love it!! Thank you again for sending a request ^^

7. Don’t worry about it.

O. Fever

Pairings: Takumi/F. Corrin

No warnings

If you liked it and want me to write you something, requests are still open for a while so send one my way!

It’s been raining allday.

They knew it wascoming ever since their troops stepped into Nohrian territory. And it was notjust the usual trickling droplets that would fall during the Hoshidan springseason. No, we’re talking about a gigantic downpour, with the clouds turningdark as night and the wind howling against the windows. The kind of weather thatdefinitely doesn’t make you want to step outside.

Takumi sighed loudly,clearly disappointed. That storm was really ruining his plans, since he had meantto go to the archery range and get some training done. Every battle was gettingmore and more challenging so he needed to be in top shape for he would bedoomed before he’d let himself fall to a Nohrian soldier. Not after what thatdamned country had done to his family.

Another gush of windbrought his thoughts back to his current preoccupations. It looked like hewould have to forgo training for today. He could always use one of the interiortraining grounds but, nothing could beat feeling the wind on your face and the earthunder your feet whilst carefully aiming and shooting at your target.

While he was gettingready to settle for a cup of tea and a game of shogi with Hinata and Oboro, thearcher heard someone approaching. He quickly turned around to see his oldersister running in his direction, coming to an abrupt stop as she reached him.Before Takumi could ask her about what was going on, Hinoka grabbed hisshoulders, almost shaking him.

- Have you seenCorrin anywhere?!

Her voice was harshand her eyes filled with worry, pressing him for an answer. Takumi did notunderstand what the fuss was all about and simply answered with a disinterestedtone.

- No, I actuallyhaven’t seen her at all today…

As Hinoka let go ofhis shoulders, seeming even more worried, he added questioningly.

- Why does it matteranyway? She’s probably just in her quarters, away from the rain…

Before he couldfinish, his sister interrupted him, almost screaming.

- No, she’s not! Wesearched the whole castle and she’s nowhere to be seen! What if somethinghappened? What if some Nohrian scum managed to get here and harm her?!

Hinoka was borderlinepanicking and Takumi knew why it scared her so much. Ever since Corrin’sreturn, they all had been worried of her disappearing again. If they lost heronce what prevented them from losing her again?

The archer hardlybelieved that enemy forces could have followed them back in the astral plane, thoughit didn’t stop the worry from creeping on his mind. What if something didhappen?

- We thought you hada chance to know since you two were together all the time these past few days…So, if you have no idea, then I can’t help imagine the worst…

Takumi slightlyblushed at his sister’s comment, averting his gaze. It’s true that Corrin andhe had been training together a lot recently, yet it’s not like they weresuddenly attached at the hips. He was about to retort something when Hinoka abruptlygrabbed his arm and dragged him along with her.

- Ryoma is alreadyout there looking for her. We warned Sakura to be prepared in case somethinghappened…

- Wait, Ryoma wentoutside? In this weather?

What was his brotherthinking? With the rain falling like it was, he would most surely get sick ifhe stayed out too long.

- Obviously! IfCorrin is nowhere inside then she has to be somewhere outside… Now you and Iare going to go and find her before she gets hurt…or worse!

Takumi grumbled, as hewas not fond of getting soaked in the rain, but his concern for his sibling wayexceeded his annoyance.

Tthey stepped out ofthe castle and Hinoka quickly gestured to the west side of the astral plane.

- You go this way.I’ll take the other side and we meet up here when we’re done. Be sure to checkeverywhere!

Takumi rolled hiseyes but nodded, watching her storm off in the other direction. The rain waspouring even more than he initially thought and was freezing him to the bone. God!where could that foolish woman have ventured to? Takumi just wanted to find heras fast as possible and return inside, to the comfort of the fireplace.

He thought back towhat Hinoka had said before. How the both of them had been spending a lot oftime together lately. What if she…

No, she couldn’t havebeen stupid enough to go practice her archery in the rain… right? But themore Takumi thought about it, the more it sounded exactly like something Corrinwould do. With a grunt and a scoff, he rapidly made his way to the archeryrange.

Upon arriving, heinstantly realised that his speculations were true. Sure enough, the Hoshidanprincess was standing there, bow in hands and shooting at the target in frontof her.

While tempted to justrush and grab her, before bringing her back to the castle, Takumi stopped amoment to observe the woman in front of him.

Her form was far fromperfect and she was pulling too hard on the string, yet he was impressed at howevery shot managed to hit the target. The multiple arrows on the ground made itclear that she had not achieved this feat from the beginning, still Takumi was veryproud of how quickly she managed to improve herself. She was far from hitting bull’s-eyeor a moving target, but there was a start to everything and he knew his sistercould make it.

Sister…

The word now felt likea bitter poison coursing through his heart and mind.

Although he knew thatwas how he was supposed to see her, that couldn’t have been farther from histrue feelings.

He remembered caringfor her like that back when they were children. He used to look up to her andadmire how confident and bright she was. Then their father was killed, Corrin waskidnapped and everything changed…

The first years wereawful. They had to mourn their father, cowardly murdered by King Garon, whiledesperately trying to get their lost sibling back. Ryoma inherited Raijinto andthe burden of the hopes and expectations of all their people, while Hinokastarted training day and night, pushing herself to the brink of danger.Everyone came together to protect Sakura, but no one could shelter her from herown feelings, as she cried herself to sleep every night.

Takumi also took totraining intensely, attempting to forget about his pain. And, while he missedhis sister dearly, life kept moving forward and so would he. Being chosen bythe Fujin Yumi gave him a lot of power, as well as a lot of pressure and, thoughhe was trying so hard to keep up with Ryoma and Hinoka, he never seemed to beable to compare to his two remarkable siblings.

And, over the years,his feelings started to change. Time passed, and yet all the attention of hisfamily was still only centered on Corrin. No matter how much he worked andtrain and fought, he would always go unnoticed. While he understood the desireto find her again, he wished his family would focus more on what they still had,instead of what they lost. And with that, slowly came the resentment for thesister who wasn’t even there.

The day Corrinfinally returned to them, Takumi couldn’t help but feel ashamed since he wasthe only one in the family who had given up on ever finding her again. Thatshame didn’t stop him however, from greeting her with suspicion. After havingbeen raised in Nohr, who could swear that her allegiance had not switched overthe years…

When Mother fell, killedby the cursed sword Corrin had brought with her in their Kingdom, he was quickto brand her as a traitor. But, when faced with the Nohrian scum she calledfamily, she unexpectedly chose to confront them, deciding to stand and fightwith Hoshido instead. And when, by some dark and mysterious magic, he ended upturning against his own allies, she stood by him and believed in him, makingTakumi realize just how much he had misjudged her. This was the day he decidedhe would follow her until the end.

Not that he wouldever have told her so! Years of feeling neglected and left out had made him distrustfuland hardened to almost everyone. Besides, he had no interest of letting her closeto him again.

Corrin would havenone of that though. Every day, she strived to talk to him and, no matter howmuch he tried to push her away, she would not stop coming back, again andagain. Takumi finally gave up and the more time they spent together, the morehis feeling started to change. Her smile, her laugh, her perseverance anddetermination were all traits he came to love about her and, soon enough, shehad warmed her way into the depth of his heart. Day and night, she was all hecould think about and the love he felt for her was starting to consume him.

He should have feltshameful. He should’ve tried to kill these feelings before they even started. Then,one thing changed it all. A letter, left by the late Queen Mikoto, informinghim of the reality behind her daughter’s lineage. It turned out that Corrin wasnever Sumeragi’s daughter, meaning that she shared no blood tie with any of theHoshidan royals.

It was shocking atfirst, then it relieved Takumi of a great pressure. His feelings were neitherforbidden nor repulsive and he was now free to embrace them. The only shadow onthe horizon was the woman he so desperately loved.

Corrin didn’t knowabout the content of the letter. She was still certain to be a part of theirfamily and had chosen to stand by them because she thought they were her birthfamily. How would she react if she were to learn the truth? Should Takumi even tellher?

Such dilemmas had beenconstantly pounding in his head for the last few days and the archer wascertain he would go crazy thinking about it.

He was abruptlybrought back to the present when he heard a long whimper, before seeing Corrinstumble and collapse to the ground.

In a second, he foundhimself sprinting to her side. She was lying on the damp ground, drenched andshivering violently. Her skin was pale and her lips were turning a worryingshade of blue. She needed help and she needed it fast.

Quickly, Takumi pickedher up to carry her to the castle. It was a good thing that Sakura had beeninstructed to be prepared for anything, as Corrin would need immediate care. Whilehe walked towards the castle, he kept her body close to him, trying to warm herup even slightly. He was tempted to run to save time, however, with the groundso slippery, this was a plan to make both of them fall on their faces.

While she felt coldat first because of her soaked clothes, her whole body now radiated a burningheat since she was clearly overcome with fever. He could feel her crazedheartbeat as she was trembling against him and he couldn’t help but mumble witha contained anger.

- Gods! what were youthinking?! Sometimes, I wonder if you even take the time to think before doinganything…

She often seemed tojust be rushing into things, as if her instinct and some kind of divine luckwere a good enough failsafe. Though, maybe, that naive confidence anddetermination was a part of what Takumi found so attractive about her. While heoften reacted impulsively, he was more of a pessimist and her blind optimismwas a nice change.

She shivered a bitmore, her body now pressing harder on his chest. His anger automatically meltedand he looked at her with fondness and worry.

- I swear… you’regoing to be the death of me.

- I’m… sorry…

It was only a whisperbut he still heard it over the pouring rain, while looking at her tremblinglips. He was honestly surprised, since he didn’t think she was conscious, yet alsoconcerned believing she should not be speaking right now.

- Corrin, you shouldn’t…

Her hand shakily grabbedhis shirt as she interrupted him.

- I’m sorry Takumi…I just wanted to train hard…like you… you… you said I had to bedi-diligent…

He blinked for asecond, trying to process what she just said.

- Wait… that’s whyyou spent the day outside while it’s pouring like hell?

She slightly nodded andwrinkled her brow, probably from the pain of the fever.

- I just… wanted tomake you proud…

Takumi felt himselfspeechless, as Corrin added with a raspy sigh.

- But I messed up…like always… And then… then you always have to take care of me…

He was about toprotest when she continued.

- I’m really wastingyour time… aren’t I?

She faintly scoffedbefore erupting in a coughing fit.

For a few seconds, hesimply held her. She wasn’t a bother. If he had felt that way at first, thatundeniably wasn’t the case anymore. He would follow her to the end of the earthand right through hell if she asked it of him. He was ready to stand at herside, to support and help her, until the end. But he didn’t know how to tellher without revealing his true feelings. Yet, he didn’t want her to feel likeshe was a burden, because she definitely wasn’t. After a long moment ofsilence, he finally settled on something.

- Just… Don’t worryabout it…

Short and simple.Maybe too simple though…

- Why… why do youalways come for me?

Because I love you. It really was that simple. And hecouldn’t tell her. Not right here, not like that.

He reflected on itfor a moment while he continued walking in silence, approaching the castle.Fumbling with his words, he finally answered something.

- I just… youknow… care about you…

He hoped she couldn’tsee the blush that was slowly starting on his cheeks. While his emotions wereclear as day, he was never able to express them quite like he would have liked.Hiding behind a rude and closed off mask prevented him from getting hurt, butalso kept people at bay. And even with people he actually wanted to keep close,it was hard to let go of his long-time perfected facade.

He was brought out ofhis thoughts by a soft, though wet hand that shakily stroked his cheek. Corrinwas smiling softly, her eyes half-lidded, while she whispered to him.

- I know… You actall tough yet you’re actually really sweet.

Well, now the blushhad definitely settled on his face. When he tried to object, she continued, leaningon him with her head on his shoulder.

- You really are amazingTakumi…

Her voice wasslightly slurring and her gip on his shirt loosened. Takumi first worried herstate was worsening and was ready to run, before realizing that she wasprobably just falling asleep.

- And I hope youknow…how much I… I love…

Thewords were really indistinct and the last part was truly inaudible. A fewseconds later, her breathing became heavier, showing that she was deep inslumber.

Takumiwas currently battling his own heart. Since the end of her sentence got lost,he couldn’t know what she truly meant. But now, where a hopeless dilemma oncestood, was a bloom of hope. Maybe, there was a chance his feelings could bereturned…

Almostat the castle’s gates, Takumi looked at the sleeping woman in his arms, finallyletting go of his mask, his gaze filled with fondness and love.

-If you only knew how much I love you…

Ashe whispered the words he knew she couldn’t hear, he slowly kissed her foreheadwith a rather unusual tenderness.

Soonafter, he was intercepted by Hinoka and the two of them quickly brought Corrinto the infirmary, where Sakura was waiting. He explained the situation to hissiblings while his little sister made sure to care for Corrin’s condition.

Inthe next few hours, she was all healed, warmed up and tucked in bed. And, throughit all, Takumi stayed by her side, waiting for her to wake up. He didn’t knowwhat their future would hold but he knew that, next time they would talk, hewould have the courage to tell her the truth.

Afterall, you never know if you never try…