#tyrant lunar au

[brightsstar]

Finished it. God this thing took me 4 hours to do. Yea, i didn't need to go all out for a little weekly thing, but i was feeling motivated so i went with it.

Sotw prompt: Eclipse and Puppet Show, put Eclipse and Puppet into an alternate dimension as they try to get home

This is what i mean by Black Moon having his image everywhere in some form (from Living UNder A tyRant)

Nova had to deal with this for way too long.

God this looks a lot more menacing than the original sketch... and i am proud of it.

And here is the unlit/unshaded version

[bittyfromquotev]

I have the sudden motivation to write so I’m gonna work on my LUAT x PWL crossover fic

[brightsstar]

And a few extras. (I plan to update Black Moon/Evil Lunar at some point)

Making SaMS Pony Town avatars is VERY fun! HIGHLY recommend! (I made almost all of these months ago, but the Ruin one is just from a couple days ago, when I remembered how much fun these are to make. ^^)

[bristledthistled]

[Servant Eclipse has joined you party]

Added Servant Eclipse to this little Au. Evil Lunar's dimension is hoarding all the Solar Servants.

Servant Eclipse thought he had finally freed himself from under the thumb of that pint-sized tyrant to only find himself stuck in another dimension with an even more unhinged and powerful Lunar.

(Thank you @dk-vtf-count for the inspiration. Servant Eclipse has been rolling around in my brain like a hamster in a ball.)

[xiyouyanyi]

JTTW Era: Pilgrimage and After

-JTTW novel-wise, the fillet was a symbol of external control on a mind that lacks self-control, and when SWK became enlightened at the end, the fillet also magically disappeared.

-However, one very similar fillet appeared in FSYY's Ten Thousand Immortal Formation arc, and was used on one of the Chan 12, Sage Huanglong (literally "Yellow Dragon").

-That fillet would not actually be the one given to SWK. But it would come into play in the far, far future...

-LBD, known as the Ivory Lady, made her last attempt at steering a mortal king onto the right track before going "fuck it" and pulling off a successful coup with the help of the Mayor.

-In this AU, he is also a pseudo-ghostly immortal: a middle-ranking general who died on the battlefield after being denied reinforcement by corrupt ministers, but had his souls grabbed and returned to his body by LBD, before the Underworld officials could show up and take him away.

-Post-coup, she had also established an alliance with the rogue Lunar Mansion, Kui Mulang, who agreed to conceal her project from celestial eyes in exchange for her aid in finding the reincarnation of his immortal lover.

-What was this project, you asked? Well, let's just say it's the prototype of what she'd go on to pull off at the end of S2, and involves mass human sacrifices, where each and every soul was consumed and broken down into their smallest components.

-She wasn't seeking out Tripitaka to eat his flesh, unlike the other demons. Rather, her goal was to possess him and make the holy monk, one who already had the merits and some of the six powers of an Arhat, into her perfect vessel.

-And when she was playing her con game on the pilgrims, she didn't just shift into a regular human girl and then, an old couple, but was possessing actual long-dead bodies.

-After Kui Mulang was dealt with, dragged back to the Celestial Realm to serve as furnace-fanning boy, his illusion on LBD's old kingdom also came down, allowing the rest of the gang to track her down, after she sneaked the imprisoned Tripitaka out of the dungeon of Baoxiang Kingdom in the chaos.

-I'd like to think they had an actual philosophical debate in the short time before Tripitaka's disciples kicked down the doors.

"Don't make me laugh. You are just prolonging the suffering needlessly, cutting away the shaft of an arrow while leaving the metal head inside the wound. Making it worse, in fact. Just like your master." "And your solution to suffering is inflicting more suffering, Shizhu? Putting out a fire with another fire? You blame this poor monk for prolonging the suffering, yet he only desires to sever suffering at its roots, release the restless dead from the cycle once and for all." "A cycle that will never end, for those who are not fortunate enough to receive your salvation! If the inherent order of this world is rotten to the core, you do not end suffering by showing people the exits. No, you raze it all to the ground, and build a perfect one upon its ashes."

-To seal her away securely, her souls were bound to one of the skeletons she was puppeting around, then locked up inside the coffin + tomb we saw in the show.

-Azure showed up during the Wuji Kingdom arc, on Manjushri's orders——who, while evaluating its king for Arhat-hood, saw an incoming drought, criticized the king for spoiling the Buddhist clergy and not using his wealth on more productive things, and got dunked into a canal for his troubles.

-Here, he summoned a storm to end the drought and became sworn brother with the king while in Daoist disguise, but the "murder the king and push him into a well" part was both out of his own volition (vegeneance on his master's behalf) and a decision that created a lot of doubt in him.

-Because he had gotten to know the king too well, to a point where he couldn't fit the man into his black-and-white worldview of sage kings and tyrants as easily, even though he justified the murder-replace with karmic laws.

-Much like in the novel, he was a good ruler during these three years, despite the guilt that resulted from the queen's distress at her husband's sudden change in personality and refusal of intimacy.

-He also knew that Wuji Kingdom was on the road of this...pilgrimage SWK was now a part of, and was hoping to learn the real reasons his brother and king joined their side——it had to be under force, or part of a cunning plan, right?

-When it broke into a fight, and all he saw in said fight was Tripitaka using the fillet in an attempt to reveal the transformed Azure, despite the pain it caused SWK, he'd have every reason to believe that SWK was essentially whipped into submission.

-Yet, if so——why wouldn't he answer, when Azure cried out that he could free him by silencing the monk once and for all? Has he truly turned his back on his brothers, accepted the offer and become another hound of the tyrant?

A giant tangent: On Zhao-an and its implications

Now, I've seen people asking "Why jump straight to rebellion instead of reforming it from within?" when it comes to Azure and his grievances against the Celestial Host.

Well, the sheer inertia of the dynastic system aside, do you know what "reform" and "working within the system" means for a brotherhood of rebels?

It means you submit to the throne, get enlisted to crush another group of rebels, watch most of your brothers die horribly in the campaign and then get poisoned by two corrupt officials. (Yeah, I just summed up the second half of Water Margins.)

This is called Zhao-an(招安), one of the classic approaches to a popular rebellion, where the imperial court went "Look, we are kinda at an impasse here. I don't feel like spending more resources on crushing you rebels when I have more urgent problems to deal with, you know you are at a disadvantage and can't possibly win once we get serious, so how 'bout we grant you a position in the bureaucracy and you guys fight for us instead?"

As great as the offer might sound on paper, what often happened was, the moment the throne no longer needed these ex-rebel fighters, they were fucked.

Depending on the circumstances, it could quickly turn from an amnesty into an euphemism for "crush you later", and the dynastic rulers would always be wary of these folks rebelling again, as well as the possibility of their leniency encouraging future uprisings.

(book!SWK getting appointed as Bimawen, and, after the First Havoc, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven? These are pretty textbook cases of Zhao-an, done by an emperor's minister.)

Now, if you are one of the major leaders of a rebellion, your brother and fellow leader is captured by the enemies, and when he came back, he didn't want to topple the tyrant anymore and is working for one of their allies?

Zhao-an would be the first thing that came to your mind. Not only had he betrayed you, it was very likely that he would have been sent against his ex-brothers at some point, and he accepted the deal anyways, just so he could live on with a sword hanging above his head.

To people who have that context, this is far from an unreasonable assumption. And such is the tragedy and dark side of your traditional brotherhood: loyalty is everything for the miscontent, and thus, betrayal is the gravest sin you can ever commit.

How can you say you are doing this for us? How can a wolf ever be trusted as a hound, without having to hunt its old packs down as a proof of loyalty? How dare you?

To reduce all that complexity and inherent tragedy to "Well, they must all secretly be power-hungry/delusional manipulators!" is, to me, the least interesting choice you can make for these characters.

Giant tangent over, back to the pilgrimage:

-Red Boy's Samadhi Fire awakened, seriously influenced his personality in a bad way, fought the Pilgrims, and was subdued by Guanyin and taken back to the South Sea. 

-This enraged DBK and PIF enough that, when the pilgrims passed the Flaming Mountains——created by one of the two fallen embers from Lao Tzu's furnance when SWK broke out of it, they had the same fight they had in the novels.

-SEM, even though he held no loyalty towards the Camel Ridge Trio nor their kingdom-building ambitions, was working under very similar assumptions and logic.

-But for him, it was less "How can you do this to us? How can you willingly serve a tyrant?" and more "How can you do this to ME? No, how can you do this to yourself? Become a mockery of everything that once made the Great Sage in Heaven?"

-As much as I'm an ardent novel liker, I have to admit: if SEM did the novel-accurate cannibalism thing, there was no way SWK would ever be okay with him being alive again, or letting him anywhere near his disciple.

-So in this AU, after Sha Wujing killed the imposter-monkeys in a rage, he just reanimated their dead bodies and used them as literal shadow puppets when SWK rushed back to FFM to fight this "shadowy impersonator".

"My, my! Out of everything, this is what finally sends you into a rage?" With a flick of his fingers, another reanimated thrall dropped out of a shadow portal. "Like you haven't been using your monkeys in the exact same manner! Puppeting them to their doom, then tossing them aside——tossing me aside!"

-An act that was sufficiently ruthless, spiteful, and would absolutely piss SWK off enough to deal a lethal blow once SEM's true nature was exposed and his glamour broken.

-His soul was dragged into the Underworld by the combined efforts of the newly formed Black & White Guards regiment, but not before gravely injuring one of their two commanders.

-Come the Lion Camel Ridge Arc, the pilgrim didn't actually pass by the kingdom on their journey; they went there because of the pleading of the old Lion Camel Kingdom's only surviving prince, whose entire family had been slaughtered by Peng in the aftermath of the kingdom's fall, and only survived thanks to the sacrifice of an old family servant.

-Which would both answer the question of "If LCR was just a haven for yaoguais, a kingdom for and ruled by their kind, why would the pilgrim destroy it?" and add some moral ambiguity to the whole situation, without making the trio into the man-eating demonic warlords they are in the original novel.

-Upon their defeat, not even their masters could save them from the consequences. They were dragged straight to the Demon-Vanquishing Mansion of the North Pole for judgment, then trapped inside the Memory Scroll, just like in the show.

-And it wasn't a mercy, but, from the POV of the celestials, more cruel than the literal tortures of the Eighteen Hells. Like, these punishments went on and on, but still had an end. You are able to reincarnate and start over, once the karmic debts are cleansed.

-Inside the Scroll, there is no such end.

Post-Journey:

-Basically, Tripitaka became a Bodhisattva by forsaking his Body of Benefit, Bajie reincarnated like any regular being since, like in JTTW canon, he never attained Enlightenment, Wujing did not become an Arhat but a guardian deity of Western Heaven, who could still be born into a mortal body when needed.

-Ao Lie died because of the Samadhi Fire, but not before using the last bit of his power to fly into the void of space and minimize the damage. Unknown to him, a tiny spark of it was passed onto his descendant.

-Why does it have such a negative effect on him? Naturally, dragons are Water-aligned and able to suppress Fire. However, the West Sea's element is Metal, which is weak to Fire if the concentration of the element is not high enough to start birthing Water. 

-This wouldn't have been a problem if his sub-power comes from a Water/Yin-aligned star, but the star that gives him the astral fire is none other than Yinghuo (Mars), and he was born while said star was intruding into the Heart Moon Fox's quarter of the sky——perhaps the greatest of ill omens in traditional Chinese astrology.

-True to JTTW, DBK had been arrested (and put into the Demon-locking Mirror) after Red Son was taken away by Guanyin. However, she soon discovered a problem: even though the pure elemental Water of her vase could suppress the Samadhi Fire and not let it unleash its full destructive potential, it is still slowly eating at the child's soul.

-Thus she summoned Tripitaka and the rest of the Pilgrims to actually remove it from Red Son's body and split it apart, to be stored securely inside three rings. What happened next was pretty much the same as canon, except it wasn't DBK holding Red Son at the end, but PIF.

-Because of the Samadhi Fire's damage, however, Red Son had no memory of his Red Boy years, nor did he remember Guanyin and the South Sea.

-Longnv was rather saddened when she sneaked out to visit her ex-junior brother during one of her homecoming trips, only to be met with confused stares and stern warnings from PIF.

-DBK was released because of the Demon-locking Mirror Incident, a.k.a. "Erlang and Nezha's drunken archery accident". These two would have been charged with recapturing him, if not for SWK stepping in and sealing DBK under a mountain.

-Because they didn't get to make up for their mistakes, however, they had to face JE's punishment: Nezha was ordered to guard the Samadhi Ring Map while reflecting on his mistakes, and Erlang no longer allowed to prolong his sworn brothers' lives with immortality pills, essentially sentencing them to death via old age.

-Lotus Lantern happened. At this point, Erlang knew very well that even if his uncle could not punish him directly, he could still do it through proxy, by subjecting his family and friends to a cruel fate.

-And that? That is why he fought his sister and put her under a mountain, despite her protest that the marriage had gotten a pass from the Celestial Host.

-fsyyDivinely ordained, you mean. Well, he'd seen what "Divinely ordained marriages" looked like during the War of the Investiture, and he'd die before he let his sister become another Deng Chanyu or Princess Longji.

[cosmossnake]

SOMEONE! PLEASE, ANYONE! LET'S MAKE FANART OF AN LORD!ECLIPSE AND LORD!LUNAR AU! PLEASE!

I want these two in that AU being actual brothers and two crazy tyrants, that go around causing mischief around the world.

And then like there's a servant Sun, but less traumatized, and Lunar see's him as another brother or a caretaker. And he doesn't really remember anything about his old life, he just knows that he's here to serve Eclipse and Lunar and to make sure they are okay.

And in this AU Dazzle and Earth still exist, because in the episode Lunar said he heard whispers from the walls, so that means Dazzle is, probaly, still there, so they could have found her and took her as a friend for Lunar to play with.

Meanwhile Earth was found when they were going to kill The Creator, and they took her in too, because Lunar was like "The more friends the better!" . So they killed The Creator and took her as a babysitter for Dazzle at first, but then she quickly started to bond with Eclipse and she became his advisor and best friend.

She was traumatized with this experience, but quickly learned about how terrible of a man her "father" was.

And they all are just living this crazy life together, with a little of angst and trauma.

The astrals are still there, but i like to think everytime they come to destroy the brothers, Lunar starts fooling around, annoying them, especially Gemini and Taurus. And Eclipse just watches from afar, with amusement of the chaos they are creating.

[ye-olde-rd]

A discord I’m in has a space au thing and here’s my space kinsona, Ahuhuhu and their complete/fused form, Eclipse, who was a space tyrant and took over several planets before being separated into lunar and solar

[lumiidragon]

Self-indulgent self-inset~

Dragon Shifter AU

Meet Lunar! Lunar is from an island called ‘Shifter Island’ ruled by a horrible tyrant whom more or less damns Shifters there and forbids them to leave. They generally live miserable lives, but some are able to escape the confines of the island.

Lunar was one of these Shifters who managed to get past the night fury army and escape from Shifter Island. Eventually, she ended up on New Berk, where she was discovered by Hiccup and Astrid.

This AU takes place long after the dragons have left and now Hiccup gets a light fury fkgjdfkgjdg.

But yeah, this is so I can ship her with Hiccup and Astrid, so enjoy the newest Haddock member. I might get more detailed with this since my Dragon Shifter  AU has really been fleshed out from a private RP I have, but I dunno. We’ll see~

[reilliane]

Moonlit Event ✤ 500 ✤ CLOSED

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍...

Scries/Requests: 18

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠?

✤ — Lunar - Angst

✤ — Solar - Fluff

✤ — Ecliptic - Angst & Fluff

✤ — Umbra - Romantic

✤ — Scintilla - Platonic

➸ EX: Solar Umbra (Fluff and Romance)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟...

➸ Aether, Albedo, Bennett, Childe, Chongyun, Dainslief, Diluc, Gorou, Itto, Kaeya, Kazuha, Razor, Scaramouche, Thoma, Venti, Xiao, Xingqiu, Zhongli

➸Alatus (Beta!Xiao), Zeta (Subject Two/Primordial Albedo), Zephyrus (Nameless Bard)

➸ EX: "Lunar Umbra with Aether" ✤ Romantic Angst with Aether, but you leave the plot/idea to me :'))

Optional Moonlit Prompts ✤ 𝙳𝙸𝙰𝙻𝙾𝙶𝚄𝙴𝚂

✤ — Aquila - "Why did you lie to me?"

✤ — Auriga - "You regret what?"

✤ — Cygnus - "You're supposed to be dead."

✤ — Lyra - "Don't you dare leave."

✤ — Ursa - "I'll be there."

➸ EX: "Ecliptic Umbra + Auriga with Albedo" ✤ Romantic Angst/Fluff with Albedo, with a plot that centralizes with the prompt "You regret what?" :'))

Optional Moonlit Prompts ✤ 𝚂𝙲𝙴𝙽𝙴𝚂

✤ — Andromeda - A saving grace appears in the middle of a battle

✤ — Australis - The righteous pities the wronged

✤ — Borealis - Waiting for the inevitable time when paths will diverge

✤ — Corvus - The kind becomes prey

✤ — Horologium - The secret must be known before time runs out

➸ EX: "Solar Scintilla + Corvus with Thoma" ✤ Platonic Fluff with Thoma, with a plot that centralizes with the prompt "The kind becomes prey" :'))

𝙾𝙿𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝙰𝙻 𝚄𝙽𝙸𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚂𝙴𝚂

➸ By default, the universe will be set at Genshin itself. If you want the scenario/ficlet to be set in a different one, choose below from the list I'm comfortable writing with:

✤ — Modern AU

✤ — Astrolabe AU

✤ — Soulmate AU

✤ — Alter Egos AU

✤ — SAGAU (Cult AU)

✤ — SAGAU (Self Aware AU)

✤ — Violet AU (Geisha!MC)

✤ — Tyranny AU (Tyrant!MC)

✤ — Mischief AU (Xiao/Alatus Exclusive)

✤ — Absconder AU (Khaenri'ahn Royal!MC)

✤ — 4NEMO AU + Zephyrus (Linked to the Blooming Series)

➸ EX (Without Prompts): "Lunar Scintilla with Kazuha + Modern AU" ➸ EX (With Dialogue Prompt): "Solar Umbra + Cygnus with Zephyrus + 4NEMO AU" ➸ EX (With Scene Prompt): "Ecliptic Umbra + Horologium with Zhongli + Tyranny AU" ➸ EX (With Scene & Dialogue Prompt): "Ecliptic Umbra + Cygnus + Horologium with Zhongli + Tyranny AU" ➸ EX (Reader's Plot): "Lunar Umbra + (Reader's/Requester's Plot)

RULES:

- Direct 'em all in me lil' ask box, dearies!

- Maximum of 2 characters for a prompt.

- It is not required to have a prompt in your request. If you want a plot of your own, simply refer to the example above (^). Of course, you can add which AU it will be too.

- Requests will be noted for a week, starting on 1/21 and ending on 1/28 before the event will be closed. I will do my best to get them all done within the given time period, but requests after 1/28 will no longer be entertained.

𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐘?

[mkh-draws]

Zagreus ages for my Lore Olympus AU that came from this post.

For future works and comic pages check out the Lunar Love tag on my page or the link.

Lore info underneath. CW: child abuse, mentions of child soldiers, war, and abusive relationships.

Born to the tyrant Zelena Theraopoulos and Izanagi-no-Mikoto as her firstborn. Zagreus and his father faced different kinds of abuse from his mother. Despite the traumatic upbringing Izanagi tried his best to give his son the happy childhood he could. It ended when Zagreus of ten and his father were sent to live in the Lifeless Mountains after Zelena fell pregnant with her twins. She would let her older sister Gaea bring her son to visit his father under her supervision. However, during his time Izanagi, Gaea, and Eris with their brother Solis, were plotting to rebel against Zelena but couldn't figure out how to weaken her due to her strong military presence. Desprest Izanagi began to plant ideas in Zagreus' head about finding out the weak spots of his mother's army for their advantage. Using seeing him and them seeing each other freely to "motivate" his son.

At 13 Zagreus was discovered as a spy by his mother which sparked the rebellion when he was caught with the military plans. After fleeing with his aunt Eris to a hideout. The battle raged for half a year until Zelena and Zagreus faced each out in a one-on-one. The fight turned in Zelena's favor when she cut her son's legs off. She was about to cut off his arm that had Zagreus' stone on but was stopped by Gaea stepping into the fight. Rhea, Zagreus' giantess best friend, ran towards him. Before she had reached him in time as Zelena was able to break away from fighting her sister and charge after her son. The battle ended with her cutting off his head. As everyone stood in shock, Zelena left his her son's head. From ages 13 to 16 Zagreus was in a comatose state with his family fighting for his parts. During the years Zelena had gotten her hands on his torso and scared it. By 16 The rebellion was able to get his head back with the help of his twin sisters. Who betrayed their mother. Now back together the war continued until Zagreus and Zelena met once again. But this time Zagreus won the fight by cutting his mother in half. Unlike him, Zagreus watched as his mother crystallized in front of him. With Zelena's death, the rebellion was over and it was up to the remaining siblings to figure out the new order. With the twins being too young for the throne and the people denying any possible men on the throne. Zagreus was placed due to his hermaphrodism.

From 17-19, Zagreus was in an arranged marriage with the Rouge Lilites Prince Rayne Lilithsson, to keep up the tradition. However, behind the side, Zagreus had started an affair with Rhea. When his 20th birthday was approaching, Zagreus announced his divorce from Rayne and that he would take Rhea as his wife. During all of this Zagreus and his father's relationship become strained, the affair pushes them over the edge and the two only speak with his father visit the surface.

At 20-25, Zagreus is called many titles, Queen-killer, the he-Queen, unfaithful, and more. But he tries not to let his get to him. To achieve this Zagreus pushes to hide his emotions to the point he doesn't move his face to anything. The only ones who see him emote are Rhea and his family.

[shellyseashell]

MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT

A rough draft of the first chapter of my Cinder Wasn’t Killed as a Child AU because I was hoping this would give me ideas but my brain is still empty. Help?

SELENE WASN’T FOND of the trials — if you could call them that. The punishment was always death, even when the issue could be resolved through jail time or community service. It was something — among a lot of other things — that she intended to change when she became queen in a few short months.

The throne room wasn’t her favorite room either, with one wall practically gone and opening onto a balcony with no railing, so victims could be dropped into Artemisia Lake below. Selene sometimes wondered how many bodies she would find if she drained the lake. The aristocracy sat in rows behind her, Levana, and Winter. They looked like a ridiculous rainbow with their crazy fashions, from feathered hats to huge gowns. Selene wondered how many were glamour.

The only ones she knew for sure were not using their glamour, aside from the guards and the man on trial, were her and Winter. Princess Winter, Selene’s adopted cousin, had stopped using her gift after she unknowingly aided a servant's suffering — at least, that’s how she saw it. Levana, Selene’s aunt and Winter’s step mother, had carved three lines into her face so she’d have something to hide, but that had not stopped her. She wore the scars proudly, even as she suffered from Lunar Sickness.

Selene has learned over the years that her gift did more harm than good, and so did her family. Knowing the importance of being queen and how much change she could make, she used her gift often enough to not have Lunar Sickness. It certainly wasn’t enough to earn Levana’s approval, but Selene didn’t much care.

“Sneaking into a classified building . . . finding the Lunar shells,” Head Thaumaturge Sybil Mira listed off the crimes of the trembling man cowering in the middle of the room. “Your Highnesses, what do you think twice proper punishment shall be?”

Sybil was, of course, addressing Levana and Selene only. Winter was allowed to these meetings for the pure aesthetic and image of having a royal family, but she was not allowed to be included in anything.

Selene glanced at Levana, already knowing what she was going to say. She had that look she always did. Her glamoured auburn hair and pale skin seemed her sparkle, her eyes gleamed, and her lips were curled into a cruel smile.

“I suggest,” she said slowly, as anything she said would be a surprise, “that we kill him by his own hand.”

The man whimpered.

While the choice was ultimately up to Levana, Selene would have a heavy contribution, so she said, “We don’t need to kill him. I would just fine him, but if you would prefer a stronger punishment . . . send him to jail.”

“He would be living with the knowledge of classified secrets.”

“But he can’t escape jail, so the secret wouldn’t get out. We don’t need to kill everyone for something so small.”

Levana held her gaze, and Selene could practically feel the disapproval roll off her in waves. Levana had intended to raise her to be the perfect queen, the queen she thought Luna needed. It was not going to happen. Selene was not going to be a cruel tyrant.

Levana turned back to Sybil. “Kill him.”

Selene looked away as the man was forced to kill himself, only looking up the body had been tossed into the lake. Two servants were already scrubbing away at the blood.

From the other side of Selene, Winter whimpered and ducked her head behind her dark hair.

“Is something wrong, Your Highness?” asked Sybil.

“The walls are bleeding,” Winter whispered. “We are drowning in blood.”

The court burst into laughter, and Selene jumped up in a rage. “Don’t laugh at her! Lunar Sickness is serious, and being laughed at doesn’t help! Just because she doesn’t use her gift doesn’t mean she’s less than you! She is still your princess, she still deserves respect. And you know what? She braver than all of you for refusing to manipulate others, because she sees the problems of this court, and she refuses ro be a part of them. So all of you, shut up!”

“Selene! Do not speak to people like that,” Levana scolded.

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want, I’m going to be queen, so I have more authority than you.” Selene grabbed Winter’s arm and dragged her into the hall.

Jacin and Iko, Winter and Selene’s respective guards, followed after them. Selene guided Winter, who was taking abnormally large steps and dragging her feet, down the hall, away from the throne room. Once out of hearing range of the doors, Selene spun on her cousin and held her shoulders.

“Winter. Hey look at me. It’s in your head. You understand that? None of that is real. You’re not drowning, I’m not drowning, and neither are Jacin or Iko. Understand? Just breath.”

Winter inhaled shakily and wrapped Selene in a hug. Selene hugged back, rubbing her hand up and down Winter’s back. When it came to her hallucinations, the best thing to do was comfort her, let her know it wasn’t real. Winter knew they weren’t real, of course, but she said they were so convincing that she forgot sometimes.

“Princess Selene!” a voice called out. Selene turned. Outside the door stood Sybil Mira. Her dark hair shone in the hall light, and her heart brown skin contrasted with her embroidered white uniform, showing that she was the head Thaumaturge.

Selene released her hold on Winter, who seemed to have calmed down. “Yes?”

“Princess Regent Levana would like to speak with you in the solarium.”

Selene was pretty sure she knew what this meeting was about. Her outburst in the throne room was not how a queen should act, despite the fact that Levana did the same — for other reasons, of course. Selene squared her shoulders. “I’ll be right there.”

Sybil nodded, bowed, and turned, walking away.

Selene turned to Jacin, a young guard and childhood friend of her and Winter. His blond hair was tied back in a low ponytail, and he stood taller than both her and Winter. ��Take her to her rooms. Make sure she’s okay.” She hated talking to her friends like they were less than her, but when they were on duty, it was the way it had to go.

Jacin nodded and saluted her, holding one fist up to his chest, over his heart.

Selene headed in the same direction of the solarium, a large, round room with windows for walls. It overlooked the lake, and it acted as a second throne room, only for smaller meetings — or private talks.

Iko, a girl with light brown skin and braided blue hair, followed behind her.

The ride up the elevator was silent, and Selene knew Iko was itching to ask her questions. Before Selene could encourage her to speak, the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Selene stepped into the solarium. As usual, light shined through the windows, bathing the room in different shadows from the various guards and Thaumaturges lining the walls. Levana sat on the small throne raised on a dias on the wall opposite the elevator.

Levana nodded, acknowledging Selene, then waved her hand in the air. “Everyone else, out. Yes, the guards too.”

It was almost comical, watching the guards and Thaumaturges pile into the elevator. Selene almost laughed, but nerves were quickly overpowering. It was never good when Levana requested your presence alone — completely alone.

Selene brushed nonexistent dirt off her gray dress and approached Levana, stopping halfway through the room. “You requested my presence?”

Levana stood and paced to one of the many windows. “Yes. We need to speak about your behavior in the throne room.”

“What about it?” Selene asked. “I was standing up for Winter, as I should.”

Levana turned. “No, you should let her suffer. It was her choice to not use her gift.”

“Just because Winter sees the corruption of the court doesn’t mean she should be laughed at!”

“The court is not corrupt!” Levana snapped. “I am doing what is best for our people.”

“Right. Because locking innocent people in cages to use their blood for a biological war Earth has no idea we’re waging isn’t corrupt.”

“They killed my parents — your grandparents.”

Selene snorted. “One person. You can’t judge a majority because of a minority.”

Levana sniffed. “Clearly, I haven’t taught you enough.”

“Oh, no, you’ve taught me everything. I’ve learned enough to know what needs to be fixed — to have a whole list. Do you want to hear it? I’ll be queen in three months — might as well hear how much of your hard work will be scrapped.”

Levana snarled and stepped off the dias. Selene didn’t falter, even as Levana got so close she had to crane her neck to see her. She would not give her the satisfaction of breaking. “Everything,” Levana snarled, “I have done has been for the good of my people.”

“You mean our people — and soon, my people. Because believe me — once I’m queen, you will have no power at all.”

Levana smiled as if Selene had just told a funny joke and returned to the dias. “You’ll see soon enough, that you might not have all the power you want. Now, for the real reason I called you here.”

Selene growled. Of course, Levana had riled her up only to tell her that wasn’t what she wanted.

“We’re going to Earth.”

Selene blinked. She knew Levana had been reaching for alliances with the EU — none of which had been successful so far — but they had never been to Earth. They’d always sent Thaumaturges or held meetings online.

“Why?”

“Prince Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth,” Levana said as if that answered all her questions. “He has just turned eighteen, and is the perfect age for a marriage alliance.”

Selene groaned. She had nothing against Eartherns, but marrying one — royalty or no — would be useless. Kaito would be crowned as king consort and would have virtually no power. She’d rather marry Thaumaturge Park just for the sake of someone having power.

“We’re going to the Eastern Commonwealth to negotiate a marriage alliance between me and Prince Kai?” Selene asked, not bothering to bring up the fact that he’d be a useless king. She could always annul the marriage if needed.

“That is exactly what we’re doing.”

But from her smile, Selene got the feeling Levana had other plans.

[brightsstar]

Decided to draw a few more of my AU characters as animanettes for the mer au.

I don't think any of them are gonna make appearances in the story exactly, but they are side characters, and some interactions may happen. Uncertain right now though.

First up: Eclipse, and Starstrike

Eclipse had ended up in a bad incident a while back, and he did nearly die. Starstrike saved his life and helped him heal. Starstrike is a special type of animanette as well. They have a very good grasp on magic compared to most other animanettes. So much so that they can't contain all of their magic, and what they can't contain dances around their chest in rings.

Eclipse is half blind and badly scarred. It doesn't bother him too much though. He has adapted pretty well, though he still suffers from phantom pain, and has nightmares occasionally about the incident. Starstrike is never far from him. (Fun fact: his scars are based on the injuries he sustained from Rising Eclipse!)

Next: Lunar and Nova

Warning: Severe Abuse (skip red text if you don't want to read the more detailed stuff)

Nova was still badly abused by Black Moon, but guess what, this world has consequences for that! Black Moon's gonna be locked up for a long time, and even when he finishes his sentence, he is never allowed near Nova again!

Nova was still forced to do pretty much everything for Black Moon, and if he didn't meet his expectations, he was beaten, starved, and tied up. The ropes often tight enough that they left scars. Sometimes Black Moon even dragged him around by the ropes. Anyways, Black Moon is in prison and will not be getting out for a long, long time. And there is a restraining order against him so he can't go near Nova again anyways even after he's out.

Lunar is the one who helped Nova after he found out about what was going on. He gathered the evidence to convict Black Moon of his crimes, and he's helping Nova recover. Nova is still a little bit nervous around him since he looks a lot like his brother, but he is gradually getting better about it and is starting to trust him.

I may draw a few more of them later in this universe's style.

[brightsstar]

Aaaahhh, thank you!!!!

B e a n

My brain buffered and I drew Nova! He’s so precious <3

Nova and Living UNder A tyRant by @brightsstar

[princeescaluswords]

Anons all but admitting they prefer these non canonical "Hale Pack" AUs where Derek or Peter is the unquestionable leader nobody dares argue with cuz they'll flash their red eyes, growl and make them submit but it's okay because "hale pack feels uwu" as long as there's a powerful white man running things. They loved when Derek howled to control Isaac and went "cuz I'm the Alpha" smugly but it's a problem when Scott does it 🤔🤔🤔🤔 blatant racism lol but it always has been 🤷🏽‍♂️

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t clear evidence of a deep underlying pathology in the fandom.  

If you’re a good-looking white man with power and a sad backstory, you can do anything you want for any reason you want.   But if you’re not a white person but have power, you have to be very careful not to overstep your bounds.

Think about this – these people will argue that Peter has the right to murder his own niece, murder his nurse because she was inconvenient, murder a janitor because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and murder Adrian Harris for talking to a woman in a bar, because he has power and a grievance, but if Scott, as alpha, exercises the right to tell Stiles to go talk to his dad because he killed someone and hid it, it marks him as a tyrant on the level of Il Duce.  

Think about this – these people will argue that if Derek breaks into Scott’s room, throws him up against the wall and threatens to kill him, if Derek withholds the knowledge of the existence of the alpha, if Derek betrays Scott on two separate occasions, if Derek steps on Scott’s neck as a show of force it’s only because Derek was doing it for ‘Scott’s own good,’ but if Scott saves Allison’s (and Isaac’s and Chris’s and Derek’s) life by holding Derek by the neck and forcing him to bite Gerard, it’s not for anyone’s good but the height of depravity.  

We can list these double standards forever and ever, but the cause behind these double standards is an animus against anyone whose skin isn’t white from holding power.  Scott has been portrayed as a colonizer (????), a white savior (????), a missionary (????) and Anakin Skywalker, because he saves people by doing what he thinks is right, because he makes decisions for himself and for the people who willingly follow him.  (How many times did Scott tell Stiles or Malia ‘we’re not killing anyone?’ More than once.)

I stirred up a firestorm last week by implying that Scott has some authority, as alpha, over members of his pack.  This was not well received.  The Army of Angry Anons filled my inbox with invective.  They even went so far as to quote an interview with Tyler Posey (though they neglected to give a link).  My friends, if they want to start quoting Tyler Posey as a definitive source for proper interpretation of Teen Wolf, they’re in trouble. 

(They’ll say anything except the truth.)

You see, I don’t know all the interviews with Jeff Davis or Tyler Posey or Dylan O’Brien or any actor or writer from the show.  I don’t.  What I rely on is what was actually shown to me on the screen.   And on the screen, Stiles is in Scott’s pack, Lydia is in Scott’s pack,  Derek is in Scott’s pack, etc.   

I mean, there’s scene after scene that clearly indicates that these people are in Scott’s pack, of which Scott is the alpha who bears the responsibility of the pack.   There’s Derek’s line in Venomous (2x05), Scott’s statement in Lunar Ellipse (3x12), Stiles’ submission in Damnatio Memoriae (5x12), and last but not least the final scene of the damn show, quoted here for your enlightenment:

ALEC: Are they all… Uh, different? 

SCOTT: Some of them are. Some can do things you’d never believe. And the others might only be human, but they make up for it by being really smart or really good in a fight. 

ALEC: Who are they? 

SCOTT: My friends. My pack. And you can be with us if you want.

And the people there are Derek, Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Scott, and Liam.   That’s Scott’s pack.  It’s the last thing we see, the last thing we’re supposed to take from the show.   It’s right there in front of your eyes.

[sleepyfan-blog]

Understanding

A/N This is the third part of Outcome: Lunar Eclipse. I hope that you enjoy the fic~ first. second. silliness.

fandom: dreamswap by onebizarrekai

characters: DS Dream, DS Ink, DS Cross, DS Error, DS Nightmare

warnings: cursing, death mention

word count: 2,082

tagslist: @anxiety-is-married-to-depression @angelofthehalfmoon @trainwreck-of-skeletons @hisame-amadashi​ @therandomskelekey @capisnotonfire

Waning Crescent had frozen up for a couple of moments when one of his long term agents had reported in, having appeared from the Outerswap that they had infiltrated - there was suspected inter-AU criminal dealings that took place within that timeline - with either the tacit compliance via bribery or the royal guard there, or because some of the higher level criminals had gained political influence somehow. "Report, Timan." He also knew that they like to frequent Outer based AUs due to the beauty of the AUs and the fact that there was a lot of space to hide in.

"Full, Half, and New Moon are currently in Outerswap 209786, sir. They have been at Grillbys' for over an hour, and Half Moon has just left to get them a room for the night. All three of them seem to be in various stages of inebriation, sir. At least Full and Half Moon are, sir." Timan reported, their whiskers twitching a little as they spoke.

Waning Crescent nodded and responded "Return to your post, I will investigate further. Do not attempt to capture them, I will be… Observing them. They are highly dangerous when provoked." And he wasn't going to put Comet at risk - especially with that new power of New Moon's… As far as he knew, it could heal… But could it also harm? He had no idea.

"Yes, sir." The rabbit monster responded with a respectful nod, teleporting off after a moment. 

~

Waning Crescent struggled a little bit as he tried to figure out whether or not he should say a quick goodbye to Comet before he left to observe Full, Half and New Moon... But more than one person on a spying mission was dangerous - and while his beloved might want to go with him and the idea of the other being in such danger made his soul freeze in his chest. Instead, he left a note on his desk - as he knew that Comet would go through his desk if the other came to his office and he wasn't in it. Hopefully, he'd be back before Comet went looking for him - as the other would be... Less than happy if he found out that he was doing this without solid back up in place. But there were agents in the timeline, in case things did start to go wrong who he knew would step in to aid him if necessary.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he visualized the outerswap that he wished to go to - creating portals, rather than taking one of JR's cars, as they were highly recognizable. He had changed his clothes - having donned on clothing that matched those who lived in the timeline, along with a cape that was one of the newer fashions - as the cape hid his wings. He was also wearing a hat, to help disguise his face. The dark greys and blues of his outfit weren't to his taste, but as Waning Crescent was going undercover briefly, that was the point.

He sat down at the table next to where F-Angel, H-Raven and New Moon were sitting - at an outside table in one of the busiest taquerias in the timeline, having gone in and ordered a drink and carried it out so that he wouldn't be spoken with by the staff and potentially attract attention from the three who he was observing.

"-and I also made sure to order those chocolate-filled cookies that you love so much, Angel. I know that you've been really wound up ever since we had an encounter with the feathered bastard... And for good reason. You know that you can talk to us about anything, right?" New Moon murmured soothingly, gently holding one of Angel's (since when had his name changed? But Waning Crescent couldn't seem to remember Angel's name being anything else - though it was on the edge of his mind... It was something to think about later. He had some reconnaissance to do) hands in both of his own, kissing the knuckles on the hand New Moon was holding.

"I... I know - and I want to tell you guys! It's just..." Angel sounded close to tears, and his aura was miserable, frightened and uncertain.

Raven (who also used to have a different name, though what it was, Waning Crescent couldn't remember for the life of him) leaned into Angel a little, almost but not quite touching the other, as he murmured quietly "We both love you very much. If you're not ready to tell us, that's fine. We'll wait until you are." Raven's aura was worried and full of care.

"No. I'm going to tell you right here, right now. I’ve been trying to psych myself up for this since… Since you resurrected me, and if I don’t tell you soon, I… I fear that I never will and it could really catch you off guard and I don’t want that to happen.” Angel muttered, a bit of a growl in his voice, as determination filled his aura, displacing some of the distress and fear. “This place is busy and the timeline is neutral… So we should be alright. I mean, we would have been harassed by the flying chicken or his minions by now, right?”

Raven and New Moon both nodded, small smiles appearing on their faces. Both of their auras were filled with curiosity - but only Raven’s was also filled with concern. Raven spoke up quietly “You’re right, of course. It’s not like him to be cautious. Not when he’s full of righteous fury and a legion of brainwashed minions at his command.” 

New Moon nodded and hummed a little in agreement, adding after a moment “Which is fucking always by the way. It’s stars-damned annoying. But let’s ignore him for the moment and focus on you and what it is that you’d like to tell us, Angel.”

The monochromatic skeleton - who still had a scar on his face, but both of his eye lights were white, and the scar on his face was dark, rather than red - fidgeted with his hands for a moment “You… You said that after Swan gave you their soul, you used… You were able to use Overwrite in order to bring me back, right?”

“Yes, that’s what happened.” New Moon acknowledged with a nod, and for the briefest moment, Waning Crescent thought that he could see and feel irritated impatience in the other’s aura, but it passed so swiftly that he couldn’t say for sure if that was true.

“So… The Gaster of my timeline originally had Overwrite - and he used it to fuck with all of us. He modified us, the story that our timeline supposedly had - over and over again. I don’t know how long he did it. Eventually Swan and… And the other determined human tried to rebel against him and he punished them for it. He twisted the royal family of that timeline into forgetting them entirely - and more than that, he made sure that they would be unfriendly, and wouldn’t allow the two of them to become family with them. That bastard twisted all of them and I… Chara was able to get me to remember the shattered previous timelines and the two of us together tried to kill the bastard and take Overwrite from him - to change the timeline back to what it once was…” Angel explained, a haunted expression appearing on his face. He stopped talking for a couple of moments, taking several deep gulps from his cup.

Raven’s aura filled with horror and concern - and the normally touch-shy skeleton actually wrapped his arms around Angel and hugged him in tight “I… That’s awful… I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been through something so shitty.”

New Moon’s aura was filled with curiosity - and a deep confusion - but… New Moon wasn’t horrified, nor was he upset by what the other was saying. He gently patted one of Angel’s shoulders “That… That’s seriously fucked up. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that… So… Overwrite changes people?”

“Not just people. He warped our entire timeline over and over again. We lost all of our colors we originally had … Hell, the only color that remained in our timeline were the pale gold and purple flowers… And the tears or blood that someone spilled… I just… I tried to take Overwrite from him and… And the timeline collapsed entirely. We hadn’t known that the timeline would collapse like that. We thought that if we took it from him, that we - we meaning Swan and me - we could restore our timeline… Something or someone who has been Overwritten? That change stays. Even if the determined human or humans of that timeline resets. It’s permanent, unless the person wielding Overwrite decides to change it of their own free will.” Angel explained quietly “I know that because Swan and the other human tried to Reset after they realized what he was doing - and it didn’t do a damn thing to restore the timeline back to what it once was… He just realized that they had Reset, which allowed him to do more sadistic fucking experiments.”

“I… Holy fuck that… That’s…” New Moon seemed to be struggling with what to say. The other guardian’s aura was filled with fascination and intense curiosity - but not a single iota of worry or distress for his clearly distraught companion. He was making a carefully sympathetic and uneasy face, though. “Hey… I’m not going to go fucking around with timelines no some sadistic whim, alright? The only reason why I used it was ‘cause I couldn’t stand you not being with me.”

Angel let out a strangled sob as he clung tightly to New Moon, sobbing quietly “Th-Thank you! Than-Thank you so much! I… I didn’t think that you w-would become a power-mad tyrant… It’s just that… A-All of this ha-has brought up a l-lot of really b-bad memories…”

Raven leans into both of his companions, surprisingly enough hugging the both of them, despite the other’s touch-aversion. “We’re both here for you, Angel. Both of us love you dearly.” With that Raven pressed a gentle kiss to one of Angel’s cheeks, a hand coming up to gently brush away the tears that were streaming down Angel’s face.

Waning Crescent glanced away from that little display of affection - especially as New Moon gave Angel another cheek kiss as well. The difference in New Moon’s aura to the other two’s was concerning… And the fact that the other guardian had such a potentially devastating power was… Truly terrifying. He had only begun to contemplate what it might mean before he stopped himself. He didn’t want to work himself into a state and potentially reveal himself as an eavesdropper on the trio to… At the very least to New Moon himself.  He had hoped to gain some information - but he hadn’t expected to gain quite that much. 

Waning Crescent stood up on slightly shaky legs, intending to get out of their potential line of sight - but given how wrapped up in one another the three of them were, the positive guardian doubted that they would notice if he opened a portal. Nevertheless, given the information that he’d been given… He’d need to call in the department heads - as well as ensure that the heads of the regional officers outside of this timeline were warned of just how incredibly fucking dangerous New Moon and his little group had become. He’d need to label them as do not interact at the very least… But how to deal with those who were overzealous and perhaps would wish to impress him by going after such a dangerous set of criminals? Because they could be… Waning Crescent didn’t even want to think about what New Moon could do to them… More than a simple death but far, far worse.

He managed to stumble away from the taqueria and the three of them, ducking behind a house so he was out of their line of sight. It took him a couple of tries to muster up the concentration to open a portal home and stumbled into - not his office, but his bedroom, staggering directly into bed, falling face down onto it and muffled his horrified screams with a pillow, making sure to first activate the sound-proofing spells so that no one would come running to find out why someone was screaming. Waning Crescent only stopped screaming when he passed out, hours and hours later.

[eerna]

Could you summarize everything you have planned for the Cyborg Duchess AU so far?

Oboi. For more details go into the #cyborg duchess au tag on my blog, but here’s the basic chronological stuff.

First off: everyone sings. 

It’s set some time earlier in the TLC universe, during the period when traffic between Luna and Earth was allowed. Lunars display an unfair advantage over Earth people, Channary is queen and spreading uncomfortable conqueror vibes, even though her people suffer under her totalitarian regime. 

Earthen Union (EU) decides to put a stop to it and sends a regime of shells and androids to kill Channary and her eight-year-old daughter, putting an end to the Blackburn bloodline legend. Levana is compliant, not respected among Lunars, and can’t have children, so they leave her alive and she helps them turn Luna into a colony again in exchange for letting her live there.

Ten years pass. Luna is under an Earthen governor, prompting a mass exodus of Lunars to Earth, which makes no one happy. Not a lot got fixed after the fall of Artemisia. In New Beijing, the emperor dies from letumosis, leaving the tortured, messy country in the hands of his young son. At the same time a girl named Linh Peony dies for the same reason.

There are rumors circulating on the streets that Selene survived and her aunt is offering a generous reward to one who finds her and delivers her to Artemisia. Thorne, an American conman, and Iko, an android who used to serve at the Earthen embassy on Luna, decide to get in on it. They would find a Lunar girl similar to the princess and teach her based on Iko’s data collected during her time at the Lunar court. 

Right when they begin to lose hope, Linh Cinder bursts through their doors, learning of the rumors that Thorne can get her a new ID chip that will allow her to escape the city. She got into a fight with her stepmother, broke something in her spine and triggered powers she’d never dreamed of. Also, she looks quite similar to the late queen. Iko and Thorne offer her a deal we all know and love. 

You see, Cinder has no recollection of the time before 10 years ago. They told her she was in an accident that killed her family and left her a cyborg, but what of the strange memories brought on by the waking of power in her veins? Her little sister was the only one she’d ever loved, and she is desperate to be accepted again. Maybe her mother was a tyrant, but her aunt obviously was different, which means she must be the one she remembers so warmly. She takes the deal.

What she doesn’t know, though, is that the rumours are incomplete. During the recent years, a network of old Lunar nobles led by Levana organized themselves into a rebellion group seeking to reestablish the Blackburn royal line. For that, they need Selene back to be put on the throne. With the help of her right hand woman Sybil, Levana pretends to go along with their plans, but only so that she can kill Selene once she finds her, since she finds herself to be a much more fitting ruler than a child who spent more than half her life outside Artemisia.

And she isn’t the only one on Cinder’s trail- news of a Lunar cyborg reached Emperor Kaito’s ears, connected to the rumors of a Lunar monarchy sympathizers. In them he recognizes the sweet mechanic he has a soft spot for, and he is quite shocked at the revelation. Nevertheless, pressured by the EU, he needs to chase her down for a hopefully fair hearing. Hopefully.

Meanwhile the trio sets for LA avoiding numerous attempts at arrest, where Thorne has a stashed spaceship he’d once stolen. They bond and Iko and Thorne’s combined whirlwind of friendship and adoration totally wins Cinder over. By the time they reach Luna and get their new looks from Winter, a seamstress and Iko’s old friend, she is pretty sad to be leaving them behind once she finds her aunt.

That is, until she meets her aunt, has a “beautiful” (read: basic politeness mistaken for love by a girl who’d never had a mother) bonding moment..... and finds out about the money. Oh oops. She is pretty mad to have been lied to, and excommunicates them both, convincing herself having her loving family back is all that matters.

Iko and Thorne are bummed and pissed off at themselves. Until Cress, Sybil’s sidekick, tells them what really awaits Cinder. 

Friendship saves the day!!!! Cinder realizes maybe loving someone and being a bad person aren’t mutually exclusive, and decides to give up on her identity as Selene to pursue a new life with the good people who love her. The end.