#ven when he just jumps RIGHT into the big questions

[guidedhearts]

terra's ears prick when he hears ven speak , turning to look at him with a smile that lasts only for a moment. truth be told , he'd been hoping this conversation would never have to happen , that he'd never have to prod at this particular wound. he supposes he should've known ven would be curious about what had really happened , about what terra had done.

heaving a slight sigh , terra's smile returns , albeit a bit bittersweet this time around. he sits up a bit taller , cocking his head to the side as a gesture for ven to come forward , patting the space next to him. he doesn't fault ven for asking , there was so much he & aqua had kept him in the dark about , it was time they stopped keeping secrets. terra , at least , thought they owed ven that as their equal.

❛ this ... isn't exactly a standing conversation , ven. but ask away , i'll tell you whatever you want to know. ❜ a brief pause , & terra fidgets with the edge of his glove nervously. if ven truly wanted to know this story , terra would tell him , wouldn't spare him any detail he could recall. but a part of him was just as scared as ven was about how this could go. ❛ this story ... doesn't paint me in a very good light. i'm okay with that , & ... i'm okay with however you decide you feel about me afterwards , too. i just ... want you to understand that ... that maybe i'm just as afraid of this conversation as you are. ❜

the look on terra's face is one he wishes he could avoid for the rest of his life if at all possible . he knows this is a necessary conversation , knows that the painful memories need to be brought up once more so that ven may finally be caught up with aqua and terra . it's not fair it's been this long and he still knows so little about their master and his demise .

it's not fair that all he's known is that ( @earthwilled ) had some sort of involvement in it . it's made the younger's mind run wild with all sorts of ideas , all of which he'd rather not be the truth . but how's he to know ? when the two still act like it's not important for him to know , still treat him like the child he once was who will break when he finds out the truth .

no , he is not the boy he used to be . it may be hard , but he'll sit through this conversation . he'll hear what terra has to say , because something in his heart has already confirmed some part of his suspicion is correct , and he won't run away from it . no more running away . not from those he loves , at least . ventus clears his throat awkwardly , finally taking a seat next to the brunet . he's facing him head on , hoping that the anxiety and fear that's been building inside of him all this time isn't showing too clearly .

well , can't avoid this for much longer . might as well jump right to what he needs to know .

' was ... was it your keyblade that took his life ? ' there's a lump in his throat and his heart is beating out of his chest , to the point where he's certain terra can hear it himself . ' and if it was ... why'd you do it ? did you -- want to ? '

[kafkaesquebird]

*Long post ahead*

Okay, I’m going to go out on a limb here and just say that Byler will happen--if not in volume 2, then most definitely in season 5. I’ve been lurking in this tag for some time, specifically ever since volume one dropped, and I have seen the endless essays of pessimism and doubt that’s been bogging people down. While I share your guys’ doubts to an extent, I can’t fully bring myself to accept that Byler won’t come to fruition this season or the next. I hope my little tangent will provide you with at least some reassurance, because to be honest I’m searching for as much as I can before our hopes are either fulfilled or brutally crushed in t-minus 23 days. I’d like to preface this with saying that character/ship analysis posts are not my area of expertise, but I’ll give it the good old college try. 

Alright-y. So. Season 4. There’s a lot to cover character-wise, but let’s just go right ahead and jump into the meat and potatoes of it, starting off with the dichotomy that is Mike Wheeler. According to Finn, Mike is trying to figure himself out this season, and, as we the audience know, he’s very kind of oblivious when it comes to his and other people’s feelings, and Finn also said Mike was a bit clueless. Up until this point, it seems that Mike’s character arc (vis-à-vis his relationship to El) has been flat and banal. They’re in a precarious place in their relationship right now; a fragile place. Having Mike and El repeat the same break-up-and-make-up storyline from last season is bland, and I don’t exactly see the Duffer brothers going in that direction again because it’s cheap and quite frankly a let down. This is where Byler comes into the mix. Despite the potential backlash it might face--having two main characters in a gay relationship in such a massive franchise--I do believe that it is in no way contrived, regardless of what some vociferous shippers might claim. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The foundation for Byler has been laid since the very beginning, and if you rewatch the previous seasons you can see the evidence if you make a conscious effort to. Especially on Will’s side. And if you take into consideration the sudden wave of Byler content being churned out by Netflix social media accounts and the actors themselves (looking at you, Noah Schnapp), it becomes increasingly apparent that they are trying to warm the general audience up to the idea of Byler. Hell, I’m convinced Noah and Finn have had barely any press together because they’d be giggling and twirling their hair if the ship was so much as mentioned. Either this is some elaborate queer-baiting scheme (during pride month, too), or we’re genuinely getting Byler. But I digress. What I find particularly interesting, and what really has me convinced of the ship happening, is the amount of heart-to-hearts Byler share this season. The bedroom talk, the talk on top of the car, (and the leaked talk in Hopper’s cabin). Those talks feel emotional. Special. It feels like the dynamic of their relationship is beginning to shift, and what that entails has yet to be clarified until volume two comes out (get it? ha). It feels like it’s all building up to something, like a big reveal. But we’ll see when we get there. For now, I’ll just let the open closets next to Mike Wheeler speak for themselves. 

Before going any further into my excessively long post, let’s touch more on Mil*ven. A wedge has been intentionally driven between Mike and El for the second time. It’s undeniable to shippers on both sides, although the explanations for why begin to differ from there. Mil*ven’s relationship has been somewhat tenuous this season, and arguably it was tenuous in season 3 as well. It’s a dying flame that both Mike and El are trying to rekindle, with El seemingly putting forth more effort into salvaging it than Mike. Calling into question the integrity of Mil*ven for a second time seems odd to me, unless it’s going somewhere we least expect it. Now I’ve seen speculations floating around about how Mike can’t say ‘I love you’ back because of his parents’ inability to properly show love to one another, and while I sort of buy into that I think that there’s a deeper, less-superficial spin to his reluctance to say those three words, let alone write them to his girlfriend. Throughout this season, Mike has felt suspiciously off-kilter. Odd. Sure, he’s lovey-dovey with El when they reunite at the airport, and a little bit during their time at the rollerskating rink--but then the fiasco with Angela goes down, and this is where it takes a sharp nose-dive south. Mike makes an insensitive comment during dinner about the ordeal, which hurts El who abruptly leaves the room. Later on they have their argument, and El brings up the elephant in the room: Mike’s refusal to say ‘I love you.’ Rather than say it back to her, he gives her empty answer after empty answer. Answers she doesn’t believe. He even calls her ridiculous for raising valid concerns she has, and he gets defensive. Comparing this scene and the scene with Will and Mike in the bedroom, you can see the difference in Mike’s body language and his delivery clear as day. But where did his refusal to say/write ‘I love you’ come from? This passive, aloof attitude toward their relationship? If I had to wager a guess, it’s Mike unknowingly facing identity issues. He’s conflicted, and he’s confused. His awkward exchange with Will at the airport--a far cry from their farewell hug just a few months prior. His insistence that Will and him are just friends. Friends. His curiosity and reaction to Will’s painting. Mike loves El, there is absolutely no doubt about it. Whether it is romantic or platonic is the million dollar question, and I’m leaning towards the latter. Let me say that platonic relationships are in no way beneath romantic relationships, and a lot of times they are even stronger and run viscerally deeper. For Mike and El, they started dating at a young age before they could really, truly discover themselves and what they want. They dove into it head-first; two kids head over heels for each other--the girl with superpowers and the boy who saved her. They were perfect for each other; they’ve been through hell and back together, and share a trauma bond. But as time goes on, Mike starts to slowly realize that his feelings for El have been misconstrued all along. Being Mike, he’s too damn dense to reflect on himself and continues acting as if everything is fine when in reality it’s far from it. This sounds an awful lot like someone who is struggling with newfound feelings and trying to push them down to maintain a semblance of normalcy in a life that’s been extremely hectic and traumatic.

Point of the matter is, there is a method to the Duffer brothers’ madness. Everything they do in this show is tastefully methodical and so well thought-out to the minutest detail. They planned this story since the very beginning. I seriously doubt they will pursue such a pivotal plot point only to later discard it, especially since it could benefit all three characters’ arcs in a unique way. I think they’re definitely building up to Will’s confessing to Mike, and I have a book of theories centered around that that I will keep to myself for brevity’s sake. In short: have a little more faith in this ship. You’re not delusional, and you’re not over-analyzing. You’re observing things that are supposed to be observed, and drawing conclusions that need to be drawn. I will gladly eat crow if I’m wrong, but something tells me I’m far from it.

[phoenix-downer]

Still Kairi

~1200 words. Sora/Kairi. Set during KH3. Sora POV. Romance, Fluff, Pining, Longing. For SoKai Week 2022, Day 6: KH3 or MOM.

Summary: Sora returns to the Mysterious Tower and sees Kairi for the first time in weeks.

The Gummi Ship sputtered and groaned as it powered down. Another safe landing. A glance out the windows revealed the Mysterious Tower poking out between the smoky clouds and reaching towards the starry skies. Sora leaned back in his chair, then grinned and put his hands behind his head. At long last, Aqua was home and Ven was awake. This was why he went on his journey. This was why he searched and searched for a way to save the people connected to him. Seeing their smiles was worth every drop of blood and bead of sweat and tear that he’d shed. 

Now if only he and Kairi could figure out a way to save Roxas and Naminé. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot as he went over the clues they’d uncovered in his head. Then there was that third person Ienzo had found in his heart—not Roxas or Ven, but someone else entirely. 

The question was, who? 

“Hey, not bad,” Ven said, entering the cockpit and breaking through his thoughts. It still felt kinda weird that Ven’s heart was no longer in his, but talking to Ven face-to-face like this more than made up for it. 

Sora ran his finger under his nose. “What, my driving skills or—”

“Yeah.” Ven sat next to him now that Donald had vacated his seat. “Thanks for bringing us here.” 

“Don’t mention it.” He grinned and crossed his arms. “But you should get some rest, sleepyhead. You’ll need your strength for what’s ahead of us.”

“Hey, the last thing I want to do is sleep more,” Ven said with a weak chuckle. “I’ve slept enough to last me a lifetime.” 

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Sora said sadly. He struggled to wrap his head around how weird it would be to be asleep for years and years like that, never aging as the worlds moved on without you. At least Aqua hadn’t really aged either—Sora couldn’t imagine how sad Ven would’ve been if she had, if they’d lost all that time together. Especially because Terra was still missing too. 

“Still,” Sora continued, “that confrontation with Vanitas was kinda intense. You should at least try to eat something and take a quick nap before everyone else gets back.” 

“Sora’s right, we’re having that big debriefin’ meeting here soon,” Goofy said. “Soon as the others arrive.” 

“I think they’re already here,” Donald said, peering out the window. Sora’s heart jumped around in his chest. Did that include Kairi too? The group piled out of the Gummi Ship, but Aqua lingered here with him as he gathered his things and stuffed them into his pockets.

“Aqua? What is it?” he asked. She had a very calming, soothing presence. Warm and motherly too, like the cool big sister he’d never had. 

“I just wanted to say… Thank you, for everything.” She crossed her hands in front of her and politely bowed her head. Everything she did was graceful, and Sora felt the urge to stand taller and behave himself when she was around.

“Don’t mention it,” he said, waving his hand. It still felt weird how she was bowing to him like this when it should be the other way around. “It’s the least I could do.” 

She shook her head. “No, really. It’s thanks to you I’m back in the Realm of Light. It’s thanks to you Ven’s awake.”

“You guys made me who I am,” he said softly, resting a hand over his heart. “I couldn’t just abandon you to your fates, you know?”

She smiled. “I know. It’s not who you are.”

“Not who I want to be, anyway,” he said. “With any luck, I’ll help you find Terra, too.”

A hint of sadness flickered through her eyes at his name, then she nodded. “Thank you, Sora.” 

With that, Aqua left him alone in the Gummi Ship, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out Kairi’s lucky charm. His fingers caressed the thalassa shells like he was greeting an old friend. She’d be here at this meeting, and he hadn’t seen her in a while. Would she notice he’d grown since she’d last seen him? Would she like his new clothes, his new hair? Or would she tell him he’d changed too much when she’d told him not to change—

“Pull it together, Sora,” he muttered to himself, tucking the lucky charm back in his pocket. “This is Kairi. She knows you’re not gonna be the same forever, and she’s changed too.” 

She’d been training after all and could wield her Keyblade better than ever. He wondered if she’d gotten a new outfit or haircut or anything. How much of the old Kairi would be in this new one? Would she still want anything to do with the lazy bum from home now that traveling the worlds was at her fingertips?

Well, guess there was only one way to find out. He left the Gummi Ship and strolled through the bright green grass to the Tower. Then it was up, up, up the winding staircase till he reached the top of the stairs. 

“I’m back!” he called as he opened the door. Everyone was already inside—Master Yen Sid was seated in his chair, Aqua and Ven were to the right of him, Mickey and Riku were next to them, then Donald and Goofy, and to the left of Donald and Goofy were Axel and—and Kairi. She turned to look at him, and he felt like she was the only one in the room. 

Her red hair was in a bob now, and she had gotten a new outfit. Pink dress-like thing with adorable animal ears on the hood and a cute skirt with black frills. Her arms had more muscle tone than the last time he’d seen her, and her legs looked really, really good in that skirt. He swallowed and tried not to stare, but she was just so pretty that— 

“Hey,” she said, a sweet smile on her face and a playful glint in her eye.

“Um, hey,” he mumbled. Donald snickered, and he shot the duck a glare. Kairi giggled into her hand, and that was such a Kairi thing to do that he knew things would be okay. Even though she’d changed and he had too, she was still Kairi and he was still Sora. The way she was looking at him, he figured she still had a crush on him too despite their time apart. 

And maybe, after this meeting, he could tell her that he still had a crush on her too. There was so much stuff on his mind that was kinda hard to put into words, but that seemed like a good starting point. Especially because the road ahead of them was difficult. Saving people always came at a cost. It was worth it, but it wasn’t easy. 

Donald and Goofy made room for him, and he stepped forward. His friends having his back with Kairi at his side, he couldn’t think of a better way to take on this next part of his journey.

Master Yen Sid closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “At last, we are all assembled.”

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

A/N: Another missing scene fic! I wanted to write something for Sora and Kairi’s initial reunion in KH3 since it was sort of glossed over in the game itself. The title is a callback to another fic I wrote set during KH2 called Still Sora. One of the themes I really love in the series is how despite how people change, they still care about each other. Just felt like a really SoKai thing because they do change a lot from KH1 to KH2 to KH3 and I’m sure the same will be true of KH4, but they still love each other and want to be together. 

Thank you for reading!

[blackjack-15]

Dead Weight — Thoughts on: Tomb of the Lost Queen (TMB)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC, TOT, SAW, CAP, ASH

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.  For this meta and the next (DED), there will be a section entitled The Theme between The Mystery and The Suspects.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with my list of previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: TMB, DED, massive spoilers for SPY; quick spoilers for the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Supermystery Secrets of the Nile.

The Intro:

Here we are already (finally?) at TMB! This one’s gonna be a bit different, lads.

The next two metas in this series — this one for TMB and the next for DED are gonna be a little bit of a two-part sort of endeavor, mostly because the two games are thematically juxtaposed against each other. They should be uploaded within a week of each other (fingers crossed!) to make the comparison a little easier between the two games (and two metas), so if you haven’t played one or the other, you might want to do that before jumping in.

Obligatory heads-up out of the way, let’s get our mummy on.

TMB is a game that, if you were a kid like me obsessed with ancient Egypt (and an adult like me obsessed with ancient Egypt), was one of the most hotly anticipated Nancy Drew titles to hit store shelves. Fortunately, unlike a lot of the “anticipated” games in the series, this one actually delivers – and delivers in spades.

Heh. Spades. Archaeology. You get it. Moving on!

TMB is an interesting game that plays double duty with its literary significance; in other words, it’s one of the few games to have both a definite theme and a definite mission statement, and to have the two be entirely separate from each other. We’ll discuss the theme below, so this introduction is mostly going to be talking about the game’s mission statement — in other words, the main topic of the game, versus the theme it revolves around.

If it sounds like I’m splitting analytic hairs there, it’s because I am. But hey, ‘splitting analytic hairs’ could be the mission statement of this meta series.

Both this game and the title of the meta are about the dead — and more specifically, the weight that the dead have on the events of the game and people in the game themselves. Abdullah (archaeologist and artifact smuggler), Nancy (death of her mother; interest in ancient civilizations), and Jamila (mother; her lineage) are the big, obvious ones who are living under the weight of the dead, but they’re not the only ones.

Lily’s future is “dead” in a number of ways: her academic dishonesty, her position as an archaeology student, and her interest in dinosaurs. Jon’s position as the head of the dig isn’t his only tie to the dead — he also spends most of the game in a hospital after a brush with death itself. Dylan even gets in on it with his false IDs; not only could those be referred to as “dead” identities — they were never alive to begin with — but someone with that many identities could easily have their original said to be dead, buried under the weight of compounding lies.

The weight of the dead extends beyond even our characters and their backstory and motivations, however. The game takes place in what can easily be called a “dead zone”. Nancy’s odd ability to have perfect cell service aside, the camp for the vast majority of the game is in a secret place where neither people nor supplies can get to them, and they even run out of water, which will kill you quicker than anything in the desert.

The most concrete representation of the weight of the dead in TMB is the curse. Thought to be lethal for a lifetime after entering an ancient tomb, curses are little more than superstitions backed up by ‘mysterious’ deaths (usually due to ingesting bacteria within the tomb), but the curse in the first chamber that Nancy opens does press down on the game, with accidents and unfortunate or suspicious things happening one after another after the seal is broken.

Of course, it’s not the unquiet spirit of a dead queen causing the mischief and mayhem, but she is the reason that our cast is gathered in Egypt, and Nefertari’s presence — or lack thereof, due to the erasure of her by history and by those who followed after her — is, in effect, the curse itself. If it wasn’t for her presence, the mystery surrounding her, and the disappeared team of archaeologists decades prior, no one would be at the tomb in the modern day.

But she is there, like a magnet for those with ulterior motives, and she’s there to pull our cast tighter and tighter into her own personal land of the dead. “She’ll never let you leave”, indeed.

The last thing I want to touch on is the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Supermystery that very, very loosely forms the basis of this game: Secrets of the Nile. A well-known Supermystery for the fake marriage plot (the Hardy Boys and Nancy and Bess) and for the Frank/Nancy kiss on the balcony before they are like “oh yeah we’re dating different people huh”. The game doesn’t take much from the book other than the location and a financial motive for crime, but it’s interesting that they chose this book when very little was kept at all.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the pieces that make up this game, shall we?

The Title:

Tomb of the Lost Queen is a classic-feeling title for a Nancy Drew mystery, and accomplishes a few obvious things right off the bat. It first establishes that this is a game about the dead — as said above — and the presence that the dead have in the world of the living. Second, it gives us our location — “Tomb of the Lost Queen” immediately brings Egypt and its many royal tombs to mind — and the focus of the mystery that we’ll be solving.

And if that were all the title could mean, I’d say it’s a solid title – better than Secrets of the Nile, by any metric — but the title’s work isn’t quite done with that.

The last question that the title asks is who is the Lost Queen? We learn about Nefertari fairly quickly in the game and her history definitely qualifies her as a lost queen, but, in my opinion, there’s another candidate that the game title references: Jamila’s mother.

She was a woman of a royal bloodline, disappearing under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a trace that her presence ever existed in a tomb buried in the sand — if ever there was a story that would qualify you as a lost queen, it would be hers.

The Mystery:

Job shadowing archaeologist Jon Boyle (and once again showing off her interest in archaeology and ancient civilizations), Nancy is just settling in to the Kingston University dig site when a massive sandstorm hits camp — and someone attacks Jon, sending him to the hospital, whipping up talk of a curse that ended this expedition 60 years earlier, and scaring off much of the excavation crew.

Left behind when the dust finally settles are archaeologist Abdullah Bakhoum, PhD student Lily Crewe, and Nancy herself — and none of our three characters are interested in leaving, despite the shadow of a curse hanging over their work, and the ever-present feeling that the desert does not want them there.

They aren’t alone for too long, however; after Nancy discovers a secret room and hidden sarcophagus, the friendly yet secretive tour guide Dylan Carter and the alien aficionado Jamila El-Dine both show up (despite the dig being a closed and secret location), and it becomes clear that, whatever their own personal agendas might be, no one is at this location for scientific discovery.

The hunt is on to find out why everyone has congregated at this site, who hurt Jon and is causing incidents all over camp, and — most importantly — what exactly the tomb of the lost queen is truly hiding…

As a mystery, TMB holds plenty of turns and side plots worthy of a much longer game than it is, and as a result feels quite packed with story. Not only do you have the story of Ramses II and his Queen, but you have the story of Jamila and the Daughters of Nefertari, the black market scheme, Dylan’s past, and the storyline revolving around who hurt Jon.

Add to all of that Hotchkiss and Bess’ asides that give new meaning and perspective to the events in the mystery, and you have a solid, character-driven mystery that drives its suspense not from being a whodunnit — that’s not really a question through the whole game, as we know from the beginning that Abdullah is up to some shady crap — but from putting characters in a stressful situation and seeing what they’ll do.

The Theme:

TMB is interesting for many, many reasons — most of which will be detailed in this meta — but I think the most interesting thing about it is its theme. At its core, TMB is a game about fear — fear of death, fear of failure, fear of obscurity, fear of abandonment, fear of ignorance — and how this fear preys on people, but also how fear is a pathway to knowledge. As is nearly always the case with Nancy Drew games, it’s our villain who gives us the theme:

“For thousands of years, the lion spoke and no one understood. But understand the fear and you understand the man.”

This sentiment is added to a little further on in the game:

“When people feel like they can get away with anything, they change.”

In other words, it’s fear that defines who people are and what they do. Understand that fear, and you’ll understand the person. Remove that fear, and a person necessarily changes, because they’re not defined by that fear anymore.

This theme plays out through our main characters. Dylan’s fear is a fear of discovery — of being discovered by Nancy that he’s there to try to join the black market. When that fear is removed — or rather, superseded — by the fear of death after being a human paddle in a boulder pinball game, he’s able to be understood for who he really is — a bit of a con man, but not there to hurt or kill anyone.

Lily’s fear at first seems to be of the curse, but the curse really is just a stand-in for her true fear: the fear of repercussions for her actions. Once the fear is understood, it’s easy to see that she’s helping Abdullah in his black-market scheme by trying to injure — sometimes fatally — those who would stand in their way.

Jamila is a character tightly wrapped up — in every way — which illustrates her fear of exposure. When that fear is understood, it’s obvious that she’s hiding things about herself, which leads us to the Daughters of Nefertari plotline, and the discovery of just how bloody the tomb’s — and the queen’s — history is.

Last of the suspects is Abdullah, who fears a lack of notoriety — obscurity, basically — which parallels him to Nefertari nicely, who became obscure due to the actions of others and the passage of time. Once that fear is understood, it’s easy to understand who Abdullah is and why he does what he does — fakes finding artifacts, sells things on the black market, and constantly puffs himself up in conversation.

Because this game is centered around fear, let’s look quickly at how that fear affects Nancy. Sure, the fear of others causes them to try to damage her in one way or another, but Nancy tends to be somewhat fearless in her mystery solving. Her talk with Bess — more on that below — does expose one fear: ignorance.

When you’re in a situation where knowledge keeps you alive, which Nancy often is, it’s easy to say that fear of ignorance is simply the fear of bad things happening to you. But Nancy’s is a bit deeper than that; she defines herself as a curious person, and gets frustrated when things are purposely hidden from her. Nancy fears not knowing things, pure and simple, and it’s due to that fear that she puts herself in danger again and again to ferret out the truth.

The Suspects:

Our first suspect is the venerable and totally guilty Abdullah Bakhoum himself, preeminent archaeologist, egotist, and black market crook. A sort of dark shadow of Alejandro in SSH, Abdullah doesn’t think much about the taking of Egypt’s treasures to different countries’ museums, and is determined that if anyone is going to make money off of history, it’s going to be him.

As our preeminent Bad Guy, Abdullah is the rather obvious choice — which would be a problem if this mystery was concerned with hiding his presence in it, rather than building off of it. As it is, however, his presence strengthens the mystery, allowing for not only a focus for Nancy’s suspicions, but also a source of tension in the tomb, making it feel dangerous even when Nancy is simply exploring.

Of note is Abdullah’s decision when arrested at the end of the game to take the blame for everything that happened, eschewing Lily’s involvement completely. I’m of the opinion that it had to be Lily that attacked Jon — she was already above ground, he wouldn’t have been on his guard being around her, there were plenty of heavy things in the tent to hit him with — but Abdullah doesn’t try to reduce his sentence by offering information or implicating her in anything.

It’s a wonderful character moment that shows us what these later games really are capable of — villains with complex and consistent characterization. Abdullah is an egotist, a narcissist, and a smuggler, yes, but he has his own personal code of conduct, and ends the game not on the note of having tried to kill everyone, but on a singular note of mercy to a fellow student of history.

Next on the docket is Lily Crewe. Originally a paleontology student, she switched majors and ended up on the site by Abdullah’s request — a strange happenstance, considering the strong allegations of cheating on her record. Of course, that record is exactly the reason that Abdullah asked for her to be on the dig, as he needed help smuggling artifacts off-site.

As one half (possibly one third, depending on how culpable you think she truly is) of our Bad Guy Team, Lily is at once more sympathetic and less laudable than Abdullah. Having cheated — and been caught — she obviously was Abdullah’s best bet for a partner that wouldn’t betray him, as he was her chance at shoring up her rocky academic record.

However, a person of stronger moral fiber — or who appreciated her second chance — would have exposed Abdullah as soon as she had evidence in order to show her commitment going forward to honesty, so one can’t be too sympathetic. It’s worth noting that after Abdullah’s arrest (and sacrifice on her behalf), Lily goes back into paleontology. One can only hope dinosaurs have fewer opportunities for graft, and that she’s learned something from the tomb.

The next to show up is Dylan Carter, a man of many names (though only one handsome face) who moonlights as a tour guide. He also would really, really like to be part of Abdullah’s smuggling operation, but other than that, he’s really here for a good time.

And to be crushed by rocks.

As a culprit, Dylan would have been a little bit of a cheat, seeing as he wasn’t there from the beginning — though a reveal of him being the culprit would have necessitated showing that Dylan had been there the whole time, hiding in plain sight as part of the dig crew or something. While that would have been a cool reveal, it ultimately wouldn’t have accomplished the thematic goals of the game, and so is better left undone.

Last on our list of suspects is Jamila El-Dine, visiting the tomb under the guise of being a bat-crap-crazy Follower of the Annunaki — the alien race that supposedly built the pyramids, among other things — but who is actually a member of a secret society called the Daughters of Nefertari, dedicated to finding Nefertari (as they are her direct descendants); each daughter must search for her until she is found.

I will point out, reservedly, that Jamila definitely should not have been searching until she had a daughter of her own, in case she died the way her mother did, but I digress. It does point to Jamila being more of a firebrand (and more doggedly determined to end the search) than those before her, so kudos for that.

Like Dylan, Jamila as the culprit would have been a cheat, given her entrance into the game a good portion of the way through the mystery, but it also would have defeated the purpose of having Jamila in the story, which is to be a foil to Nancy.

Jamila is bound by the fate of her mother (and her mother’s mother, and on and on), who died under mysterious circumstances thought to be a car accident, but later revealed to be due to her performing dangerous work. Jamila thus journeys out to the world to find out exactly what happened and is tasked with doing what her mother had been doing at the time of her death, feeling the responsibility to prevent further deaths by completing her mother’s work. In order to do this, she pretends to be someone she’s not, uses those around her, and ultimately has to trust in a shady man with facial hair and a girl who frequently goes undercover for her job, fighting against a skinny man involved in a larger scheme with a heightened sense of his own importance.

Oops, should I have warned for SPY spoilers there?

Yeah, Jamila is basically playing out a future of Nancy’s (and one that happens, albeit with important differences, in SPY), and foils her in her sense of responsibility and curiosity about what happened to her mother, and in finishing the job she set out to do. While Nancy doesn’t immediately understand this, Bess does, and calls her out on it:

“That’s sort of like you…after your mom…I mean, I always thought it was your mom — the way she died — that made you so interested in mysteries.”

Nancy responds with “I guess I never thought of it that way,” and it’s clear the idea has knocked her off balance, because, importantly, Jamila exposes a characteristic of that becomes important in this and the next game: she’s not what we’d call self-aware.

And that leads into us talking about Nancy Drew as a character in this game. Pursuing one of her interests by job shadowing a professional, Nancy is thrown into a world that she’s far more comfortable in — that of solving mysteries without direct supervision — when Jon is attacked and sent to the hospital. From there, she goes on a rapid pace to figure out who the other people at the dig really are, and in so doing discovers a bit about herself.

Like a Lifetime movie, except without the Big Misunderstanding and the secret lost will of a dead parent.

Like I stated above, what this game really does to show us who Nancy is (besides showing us her reaction to someone exactly like her) is to show us her lack of self-awareness. Nancy spends so much time trying to figure out the motives and secrets of others that she doesn’t really spend any time soul-searching or figuring out how she, in particular, reacts to the world around her

Well, prior to the beginning of the Nancy games, she doesn’t. But she’s in for a whole lot more of that in the next few games as we unwrap (heh) more of her foils. As it is, Nancy herself tells us who she thinks she is in this game:

“I’m a curious person. I find that tact often gets in the way of truly getting to know someone.”

Joining us on the “Nancy Side” of characters are one new character and two familiar faces.

Jon Boyle is the leader of Kingston University’s dig site, and definitely the person that you want to get out of the way if you’re up to shenanigans. He’s basically in the game to give some dirt on Lily and Abdullah, and to save the day at the very end by (as is his job) taking care of those he’s in charge of.

Just, you know, more physically than academically.

While she was a playable, seen character in the last game, it’s here in TMB that Bess Marvin gets a little more characterization and becomes more fully fleshed out. As Nancy’s lifeline to River Heights and normalcy, Bess is here to watch pulpy Egyptian horror movies and to drop some stone-cold truths onto Nancy.

Bess is wonderful in this game, full stop. Not only does she expose a few of Nancy’s character traits to the clueless girl detective – the whole mom thing, Nancy’s tendency to keep everyone in the dark but to get frustrated when she’s kept in the dark herself — but she also helps to show the difference between what the River Heights crew finds fulfilling — relaxing, internships, etc. — and what Nancy finds fulfilling — dangerous tombs hiding mysteries in the desert.

Last of all is Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss, academic extraordinaire and expert on lost and maligned queens — and heaven knows, Nefertari fits both qualifications. Hotchkiss is here for more reason than just to light up my life, however; she’s here to help Nancy understand the traps within the tomb and figure out exactly what — and who — she’s dealing with in the ancient past.

Hotchkiss is a proper choice here, and I probably would have been disappointed had she not shown up. She’s the perfect mix of spacey academic and, well, brilliant academic, and though Nancy isn’t too fond of her, she’s probably my favorite reoccurring phone friend outside of the Hardy Boys.

The Favorite:

There’s a lot to love with TMB, so let’s jump right in.

First off, my favorite puzzle(s) have got to be the word puzzles for unscrambling the special hieroglyphics. Longtime followers of this meta series (or those who read my ASH meta) know that my favorite thing in a Nancy Drew game is always the word puzzle, and these are so much fun that it’d be impossible for them not to be my favorite puzzle.

My favorite moment in the game is probably the finding of Jamila’s mom’s journal pages, culminating in the line “she’ll never let you leave”. Like I’ve said above, so much of this game is about the weight of the dead and the effect they have on the living, and Jamila’s mom weighs heaviest of all as our intensely personal, recent stake in finding Nefertari.

I’ve said before (in a previous meta about my favorite surprising moments in the ND games) that there’s shades of Kate’s last correspondences in Jamila’s mother’s journal, and those shades are never so present as they are here.

There’s not really another place to put it, so I’m gonna put a shout-out to the cover of the DVD case here. It’s really well-designed and captures the feeling of the game without being overly spoilery, so massive kudos to the developers and designers for it.

The last thing I note here (though I could go on and on about the small details in this game that make it great) is the feeling of continued exploration. In a lot — I’d say most, honestly — of Nancy Drew games, once you explore everywhere, there’s really nowhere left to go other than sometimes a new location at the end of the game while chasing down the villain. Here, the game is continually expanding through the new tunnels and passages in the tomb. It makes it really feel like this a real location you could explore, and not just a few screens limited for time, space, and design restrictions, and it’s wonderful.

On the less wonderful side, however…

The Un-Favorite:

The biggest problem I have with TMB is that the first fourth of it — pretty much until Nancy finds the first sarcophagus — is fairly unintuitive. Even replaying it multiple times doesn’t make it any easier to remember what I have to do and when I can do it, and playing it through the first time results in not a few times where you stare at the screen, wondering what it is you’re supposed to be doing. This is a rare problem in Nancy Drew games, but it’s fairly present through the first part of the game here, and that is a problem.

My least favorite puzzle is probably the lifting-the-rocks-off-Dylan puzzle, if only because it always takes me five or six tries to do it. It always feels like a sort of trial-and-error sort of thing, which (excepting its place in logic puzzles) isn’t really my personal favorite. It’s not that I think it’s a bad puzzle, it’s just my least favorite in the game.

My least favorite moment in the game is more of a meta moment, but it’s when Nancy asks for “a few tips” for translating hieroglyphics, and Abdullah mocks her a bit, saying that oh, yes, at first he was also confused, but then he learned a few tips. It would be a great moment in the game — and in the story itself, it is — if it wasn’t, well, immediately contradicted by the nature of the hieroglyphics puzzles. Like I said above, the unscrambling of the hieroglyphics puzzles are my favorite in the whole game, and I love them to death, but in a meta sense, this moment does stick out in a “you can’t say it’s stupid and then include it as if just saying it’s stupid makes it okay for you to do” sort of way.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Tomb of the Lost Queen?

The big thing that needs help in TMB is to make the beginning more intuitive. Whether this should be done by Jon giving Nancy a set of tasks to complete, having a checklist of what needs to be done that day (even if it’s vague), or some other method, there definitely needs to be a little more direction in the first part of the game.

I’m not saying that the game should hold the player’s hand — especially considering that the average age of the fanbase is well above the age 10+ marker — but a Nancy Drew game should always have something to do at the start, rather than wandering around to explore a place that Nancy has ostensibly already been for a bit.

With that change in mind, there’s really honestly nothing else that I would fix. TMB is a game devoted to the idea that the dead are ever present in life, especially for those who have lost people, and it really accomplishes delivering that idea through a myriad of characters, scenes, and clues that Nancy finds along the way. It also goes a long way in developing Nancy more as a character, and — perhaps most importantly — begins the task of setting the groundwork for a truly Nancy-centric story in SPY.

[lonely-teddy-bear]

The Alpha’s Weak Mate h.s au (ch.5)

A/n: Tbh im proud of this chapter ngl. Hope you enjoy and go support it in wattpad as well! it would mean a lot to me :)

word count: 3k

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Chapter Five

I woke up to the sound of the blinds being opened, feeling the bright light coming into the room. I turned around to hide my face from the sun and buried my face in my pillow, "oh my gosh Kyle close the blinds!" I whined out.

I didn't hear a complain come from Kyle which was weird considering how much he talks. I opened my eyes again and turned around to look why Kyle wasn't talking, I squinted from the bright light hitting my face and saw a shadow but it wasn't Kyle's because this one was short.

"Sorry but my name is Mia not Kyle." I sat up, startled. I had forgotten where I was and what happened last night. Wait didn't I lock the door?

"Sorry but how did you get in? I had the door locked." She walked to where she would stand in front of the bed.

"I have a key, every maid and butler has a key to this house," I just stared at her, did that mean Harry also had a key?

"Does Harry have a key as well?" She didn't say anything but nodded but that was all I needed to know, he could have walked in into his room without me knowing but I don't think he did.

"Do you need anything else?" I let her know I was fine and before she left she let me know that breakfast will be brought up soon.

After she left I stretched as much as I could before getting out of bed and heading towards the bathroom to freshen up before I came face to face with another person. Entering into the giant room I went to do my business before going over to wash my face and mouth. After brushing my mouth I looked at myself and saw how tired I was. It might have to do with the fact that I woke up sometimes at night from a nightmare and then proceeded to cry because I didn't have Kyle to hold me while he rocked me back and forth in order to calm me.

After my parents past away in the rogue attack I had started to have nightmares and Kyle had been the one to be there for me ever since, also along with having anxiety attack after the nightmares it was nice to have someone I cared about there for me. Except last night when I didn't have Kyle, not even Harry at least, I just wish I had someone there with me last night to tell me that I was going to be okay. I swear I had the longest anxiety last night, it felt like the on I first got when I got notified about my parents, about them being killed, Kyle was there to help but he didn't what to do back then, not like now.

After finishing up with my morning routine I went over to the closet that was in the bathroom, next to Harry's. Well it was in the same closet considering how big his closet was.

I might have taken the rest of the closet but where else would I put my clothes? Besides, he wouldn't mind I'm sure, I am after all his mate as much as I hate to admit it.

I didn't bother getting all dressed up, I had grabbed some pair of sweatpants and a red crop top that I use when I don't plan to go out. After changing I went over to the sink and grabbed the bag that held my makeup and pulled out the concealer. I made myself look less dead and less hideous with adding some eyeliner and mascara and then ven some contour so I didn't look too dead after the concealer. Sometimes I wished my skin was more clear but of course one can't have everything.

I headed out to the room, ignoring my hair as I didn't care as much for it and saw that there was a tray with breakfast on it. I heated over to the bed and sat down and saw that there was a paper next to the plate.

We're going out for lunch. Come to my office by 2. Don't be late. -H

Lovely.

Was this his way to make me feel better or was he going. to try and torture me?

Either way I can't ignore him for long since he is the alpha and my mate, he will eventually come for me and make me do something.

After finishing breakfast time somehow went by fast. With not doing anything and reading some random book Harry had laying around that had notes and a bookmark. Can't imagine him writing notes on some book, let alone reading one.

I didn't bother changing before going down to his office earlier than I was told. I just hope it doesn't bother him that I'm going earlier.

After a couple of minutes of walking I managed to get down to the main floor. I was out of breath from all the stairs and why the hell why his room so far away? I'll probably be using that as my work out because there is no way in hell that I will go work out with others if I get told to.

I looked around when I got to the main floor but I didn't see any other doors unless I have to walk into the other halls that are on the sides.

The maid that was walking past must have seen me looking confused asked if I needed help.

"Yes Har- I mean the alpha wanted me to meet him in his office but I don't know where it is..." she caught on to what my question was and directed me to follow her. "He is currently with his beta, if you would like to wait for a couple of minutes until he calls you in."

I nodded at her and thanked her before she left and went on to do what ever she was going to do.

I leaned myself on the wall that was across from the door of his office and waited. I didn't know what time it was but I had left with ten minutes to spare and I hope that with the long walk and me being lost for a minute didn't make me lose time. I really which I had my watch with me but I guess Kyle kept it because it was no where to be found in my belongings.

I was just staring at the door waiting for it to open up which it did but a girl came out looking flushed. I saw Harry looking a little pissed off but I couldn't help but to keep looking at the girl that came out of his office. Didn't the maid say that he was talking to the beta? Unless she was the beta but last time I heard no woman could be in power unless t was the luna or the wife of the beta...

"You're late Dominique," I jumped away from the wall and looked away from the girl which was now gone and looked to the opening in front of me to see Harry leaning on his desk, staring at me. He didn't look to happy.

I walked in towards his office and closed the door behind me. I was scared to look Harry in the eyes, something about him made me feel nervous and scared but I shouldn't because he is the one that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with.

"Sorry I didn't mean to be late. I got lost and your maid said you were with the beta..." I wanted to ask him if the girl was the beta but I just hope he would catch on and give me the answer without me asking.

"I was with my beta, you saw her walk out. Surprised?" I looked up at him and saw he had an amused look on his face. He looked cocky as if he knew that I wanted to know about who the mysterious girl was.

I couldn't help but to gulp and take a deep breath before answering him. Gosh he made me nervous, was it hot in here or was I just sweating from nervousness?

"I didn't think woman were able to have a title unless it was the luna or the wife of someone with a title." I looked away from him but then looked back at him again and saw him looking down at my hands, which I was messing with my nails with, might have to get a manicure after this.

"Do I make you nervous?"

Yes.

"No. Why would you think that?" Why was I acting all dumb? He obviously knows that I was nervous just by the way I was playing with my fingers and messing around with my nails.

"I could hear your heart raise the closer you got and you have been playing with your finger since arriving here. And to your respond to having woman in power? I don't discriminate or follow other people's rules, she is the daughter of the Beta and so she is the rightful owner of the position. That won't be a problem right?" I quickly shook my head.

"No I don't I was just wondering, I don't mind it for a woman to have a title, I think it's cool and encouraging." He stared at me, moving his head to the side to look at me better, he then smirked.

"We're you jealous?"

What? Wait did he really think I was jealous? What made him think I was jealous?

"No... why would you think that?"

He shrugged at me, his smirk being gone.

"I mean you were told I was with the beta and you expected a male to leave my office but instead a woman left my office... and you questioned it without having to ask me. That made me think you were jealous which I don't mind really, because if it was the other way around I would have probably killed him."

I was speechless. I wouldn't say I didn't believe him because I did, just by looking at him I could tell he was serious. I couldn't help but to look away and look down to where I was still messing with my nails, now having skin pulled off.

I saw him from the top of my eyes that he moved away from his desk and saw his black shoes right in front of mine. I felt his folded pointer finger under my chin, making me look up at him. I couldn't help but to notice how green his eyes were. I must have not paid much attention to them since I have been scared to even look his way.

"Next time don't walk away from me and lock the door on me, got it?" I didn't know how to respond and without me thinking I said the one thing that would get me killed anywhere.

"And if I do it again?" I raised my eyebrow at him but quickly slapped my hand over my mouth and looked at him with wide eyes, in shock.

I saw him raise his right eyebrow and I swear his green eyes got darker. That wasn't a good sign. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, maybe I should have thought first but I can't seem to do that around him.

"Oh princess you don't want to do it again, unless you want to be punished," he looked at me with his dark eyes and his smirk that was giving me bad vibes.

He raised his right hand and placed it on my cheek and slowly moved it over to my ear where he would rank his fingers through my messy hair. He held his hand in place and leaned forward towards my other ear where his hand wasn't in place.

"You should do your hair next time, unless you want me to mess it up more for you," I shivered at the air that hit my ear when he whispered. I felt his lips turn into a smirk but felt him move away to look back at my eyes again.

"So what do we say about going for lunch?"

************

We went out to the town, to the one where I used to go to for work. I didn't know if I was going to see anyone from my pack, let alone Kyle. I wouldn't have mind it if I saw Kyle but if Harry saw him and saw me looking at him, he would be dead. I just wished he could understand but I knew better than that.

We ended up going to this diner that gave off the fifty century, the silver, the red and the white around. We sat on a booth and ordered. I went with a chocolate with banana milkshake and a burger with fries since this place was well know for the burgers. Harry ordered the same but with a strawberry milkshake which surprised me and I think he saw it on my face.

"What?" I couldn't help but to let out a giggle. A giggle? Who am I now?

"Nothing I wasn't expecting you to get a strawberry milkshake," I shrugged and looked out the window. I felt his stare on my right side of my face. I wanted to turn and look at him but stopped myself from doing so.

"What did you think I was going to get? Vanilla milkshake?" I looked back at him and shrugged and nodded. He chuckled, shaking his head and slightly closing his eyes in disbelief.

"Honey, I'm no fan of vanilla," he smirked at me and leaned over the table, crossing his arms on the table. He was looking at me  strangely, there was this teasing look combined with lust in them.

My eyes suddenly widened at the realization of his double meaning. I couldn't help but to look at him in shock and look away from him.

I couldn't believe he said that in a way that it sounded normal. I may have been slow to understand it but I felt my face get hot the minute I figured it out. "Why are you blushing? I just said I didn't like vanilla." I looked at him and saw how he was still smirking at me. He had this cocky look him face, in that handsome face of his. I shook my head lightly trying to not think of him any way.

"I know there's a double meaning to it," I mumbled but didn't look away from him. Something about looking at him in the eyes while he was on that position made me want to look at him more. He was just addicting to look at.

"Mhm is that so?" He cocked his head to his right, his smile getting wider.

The waiter came by to leave us our milkshake and let us know that our food would be out in a couple of minutes. I looked away from looking at Harry to look at the waitress to thank her but looked back to Harry once she was gone. He was still looking at me but he was drinking from his milkshake. I looked down at my milkshake shyly looking away from him.

The cherry on top of the drink caught my attention. I grabbed it and put it in my mouth without thinking anything of it. I moaned lightly enjoying the flavor of the cherry in my mouth. It had been a while since I had a cherry, let alone a milkshake.

I felt a kick under the table causing me to look up at Harry. He has holding out a cherry, holding the stem with his thumb and pointer finger and wiggled it a bit.

"Want it pup?" I blushed at the nickname. I hated it so much but it seemed like he was t going to stop calling me that even if I kept telling him too.

I went to grab the cherry thinking how nice it was of him to offer his cherry but he pulled it back slightly, shaking. his head.

"Nope, you come here and take it from me. With your mouth." I looked at him wide eyed. He can't be serious right? He couldn't be.

I looked around the diner but looked back at Harry when he spoke.

"No one is going to look. Now come one get the cherry. I mean, you do want it, right?"

Did I really like cherry's that much that I would do something like this to get it?

I let out a sigh and looked at the cherry and then at him. He raised at eyebrow in a quick motion and then signaled me to get the cherry. I got up slightly and leaned over on the table and went to grab the cherry.

I saw Harry lean forward to were my ear was. "look at me when you get the cherry." My eyes couldn't get any wider but my body heat could. He had moved back to his place and looked at me with a smirk. That stupid smirk is getting annoying by now. I leaned up to the cherry and didn't look away from his eyes. I felt the cherry hit my lips, I grabbed the cherry with teeth making sure it was all in before i closed my lips around it. I then pulled on the cherry causing it to rip off from the stem.

I quickly sat back down and looked down at my milkshake chewing on the cherry ignoring the heat on my face.

"Aren't you an innocent pup? But you were right. I don't like vanilla either way." I didn't have to look up because I knew there was going to be a smirk on his stupid beautiful face.

[oloreaa]

Vencuyanir Ch.2 - The Sandcrawler

vencuyanir [ven-COO-yah-neer]: sustain, keep alive, preserve

Summary: Many things happen on their way to the Mandalorian's ship. Bean is unfazed and trying to be helpful, Elana… not so much

Words: 6.2k oof

Notes: Thank you for your lovely comments and reblogs, they mean so much to me🥺

Warnings: canon-typical violence (gore/blood, gun violence), hostages

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……………

The next morning, Elana was woken by the Mandalorian.

"Get up," he said, standing right in front of her, staring down. She startled awake, squinted up, brows furrowed and dark hair unruly. Then, she looked at the pram, seeing green ears peeking out of the pod. Not even a second later, dark eyes followed, peering at her. He cooed and stretched a hand out to her, smiling widely. The Mandalorian got close and uncuffed her without a word before retreating away again.

Elana got up, combing her hair with her fingers before putting it into a low braid while walking over to Bean, greeting him with a quiet "Good morning".

"We have to move," the Mandalorian said, strapping his rifle across his shoulder, walking a few paces before he stopped again, looking up at the canyon walls.

Taking notice of the filled water bottle, she put the moisture bead away and got the ration packs out. Offering one to Bean, she broke it in half in order for him to hold more easily. He started to gnaw on them, but his little face told her everything about what he thought of the taste.

"Yeah, honey, I know," she murmured, stroking his ears, "they're not tasty. We can get you something better later on." Bean pointed to the Mandalorian, and made a questioning sound. Elana could not control the face she made, and shook her head slightly.

"We're not asking him for food," she said so quietly that the bounty hunter would not be able to pick it up, "also he probably doesn't have anything better anyways."

Bean frowned, mouth turning downwards. She had to smile at his disgruntled face, and with a last boop on his nose, she straightened up and started to pack the things away into her backpack before walking towards the Mandalorian.

He had been waiting patiently, allowing them a short time to properly wake up and prepare for the day, for which she was grateful.

The Mandalorian held out the cuffs then, and with a clenched jaw she let him attach those to her wrists. He tilted his head towards her in a slight nod, then set off again, Bean's pram floating with him. Watching how his tattered cape swung across his broad back, Elana held back a sigh and started to trail after him.

It was much more difficult to walk in comparison to yesterday, since her legs ached with the effort, muscles unused to so much exercise and climbing across the rocky terrain. But taking step after step, setting one foot in front of the other, the ache slowly dwindled to an amount where it was annoying but not actually bothering her too much. They walked for at least an hour, the pace less gruelling than the day before, but it was still exhausting after a while.

The canyon walls decreased in height around them, and the path they walked on was getting lighter and lighter, both due to the fact that the edges of the cliff were lower and let more daylight in, and the sun rising higher in the sky. The rock formation curled above them, giving them some semblance of protection even if the canyon itself was becoming more shallow.

Where yesterday the surface was bare and devoid of life, down in the canyon there were lizards scuttling around. Across the bond she could feel Bean watching those with big eyes and rising interest, leaning over the edge of the pod to peek out. The Mandalorian kept walking, stride purposeful, unbothered by the reptiles.

More lizards appeared again, and Bean leaned out even more, squeaking quietly, eyes growing huge. Elana watched him, glad that he seemed to be entertained by them even though he could not get out and play. Crossing over a small trickling stream, they continued walking without a break. The packed earth beneath their feet was not bone dry anymore, but had occasional patches of wet mud here and there, making the walk more difficult.

Some of them were actually mud puddles and Elana was suddenly glad that Bean was sitting properly in his pram because he would have definitely tried to play in them and make a mess of himself. And she would probably have let him, giving him an hour to tire himself out so he would sleep better at night.

"Mrah," Bean said quietly, eyes wide as he tried to get a better look.

The lizards that tailed them were approaching fast, a group of them gathering around them. Elana looked at the ground, keeping an eye on them. Are they venomous?, she suddenly asked herself, anxiety spiking, and inched closer to the pram. But before she could open her mouth to ask the bounty hunter, they scattered in a matter of milliseconds.

The Mandalorian stopped walking.

Elana held her breath automatically as he stood still as a statue, the only sound she could hear for the moment the wind whistling.

A shadow passed over them, too quickly for Elana to see the source behind it as she whipped her head around. The Mandalorian turned his torso, slowly looking around.

"What is--" Elana started to ask quietly, but he held a hand up sharply, effectively shutting her up. His leather gloves creaked as his hand wrapped around a blaster.

Elana jumped when a figure, a Trandoshan dropped down from the top of the canyon with a roar, stumbling back as fast as she could, getting away from them.

They knocked against the Mandalorian's rifle, and with a fast movement, he pushed Bean's pram backwards. A sharp rapid beeping filled the air, and she stumbled backwards as fast as she could, placing herself in front of Bean. Her heart beat fast in her chest as the Trandoshan advanced on the Mandalorian, sparks flying as he hit his armour. Getting the upper hand, the Mandalorian knocked him down, only to whirl around when another one dropped down. While he deflected a hit, a third one appeared, getting involved in the fight as well.

The Mandalorian held himself against three opponents easily, blocking hits and kicking out, every slice that broke through his defence sliding harmlessly off his armour. Using the end of his rifle, he stabbed at one of them, blue electricity crackling, knocking the Trandoshan back a couple of paces.

Seizing the opportunity of the distracted bounty hunter, one of them ran towards Elana and Bean, the former shielding the pram protectively with her body. She squared her shoulders, preparing to defend Bean with her life even while cuffed, but before that could happen, the hunter vanished into thin air.

Eyes wide, she stared at the golden sparks floating around them, her gaze dropping to the pile of fabric at her feet that had not been there before.

The hunter had disintegrated.

Her heart dropped into her stomach, and she had to gulp. The Mandalorian still had his rifle raised, pointing directly at them. A moment passed, not one word was said. Breathing hard, the visor of the Mandalorian was trained right on Bean, and the child was staring back. Elana was wide eyed, looking rapidly between them, unable to decide whether she should check upon Bean first or rip into the bounty hunter for firing a weapon right when Bean was in range.

She turned and crossed the short distance to the pram, wishing she could take him out of the pram and press him to her, but it was impossible with the cuffs. "What is wrong with you," she got out, voice shaking and hands trembling, overwhelmed with the need to feel Bean. Him, alive, in her arms, "You could have hit him!" Chest heaving, she glared at the Mandalorian, heart beating fast in her chest, every possible scenario that could have played out making it seize up.

"Good thing I didn't," he replied, before taking the beeping fob and crushing it with his boot. His helmet turned around to her, "We're being followed."

The statement hung in the air.

They looked at each other, the impassive shield of the beskar mask making it impossible to gauge what was going on in his mind. "Why do they want him?" he asked, sounding tense.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I don't know," she said, shoulders hunching. It was not a complete lie. She had some ideas as to why anyone wanted Bean, starting with what the little one could do, but actually knowing? How could the people who wanted Bean know that he could make things float? How could they know about the bond?

"We need to move if we don't want to get ambushed again," the Mandalorian said, and turned around, taking off again.

Elana stared after him, worry lingering in her chest. She knew that there were many bounty hunters coming to Arvala-7, and she knew that they had tried and failed many times to get Bean. This was the first time that someone had come so far in actually getting them.

Now, the other hunters would have easy picking with them out in the open, especially considering how close it just was, how easily they should have overpowered the Mandalorian.

Elana did not even dare to think what would have happened to Bean if the Mandalorian had not quickly pushed the pram away from the scuffle, and silently thanked the Maker for his reflexes. Starting to walk again, trailing after the Mandalorian and the floating pram, she was left alone with her thoughts, running at hyperspace speed. She suddenly noticed the cut on the Mandalorian's arm, the sun reflecting the glistening of blood.

"You're hurt!" Elana exclaimed, not thinking as she went to inspect it, some kind of instinct taking over. She was stopped though, by an arm pushing her away when she got too close, and the bounty hunter stared her down.

"Don't touch me," he threatened quietly, and Elana instantly shrank back, heart pounding. Feeling a flush rise up in her face because of how foolish she felt, she just held up her palms a little awkwardly because of the cuffs, trying to placate him.

He simply turned around, and ignored her timid "I'm sorry".

The day was crawling by at a snail's pace, and they only stopped for water and food. If Elana had thought that she felt disgusting yesterday, she was not prepared for today. Her entire body was sticky with sweat and dust, and when she rubbed across her arms dirt clung to her, baked into her skin. Her hair was a tangled mess, the only saving grace was that it was in a braid and could not get much dirtier. She longed for a water shower where she could scrub her entire body raw, some soap to wash off the grease on her face and her scalp, and clean, dry clothes that she could put on afterwards. Elana might have actually cried if that opportunity arose. Thank the Maker that Bean was not a sweaty baby, and with his pram he was the cleanest of them all.

Despite all this, she pitied the Mandalorian, who must have been sweating buckets underneath that coarse weave and the durasteel armour, not to mention the cape he was trailing behind him. Was it only for the aesthetic, to look even more menacing, or did it serve some purpose? It looked like a good emergency blanket for cool nights, though.

When night finally fell again after a gruelling day underneath the sun, they made camp outside the canyon, on the edge, where they would continue towards the Mandalorian’s ship the next day.

The Mandalorian took out a small heater lamp while Elana gave Bean water, turned on the moisture bead after he was finished, and fed him his ration packet. Unhappy with the consistency, it took longer than usual for Elana to get Bean to eat, the baby whining and frowning at her every time he had to take another bite.

"I know it doesn't taste good," Elana said, holding the packet with a stern face, "But it's all we have right now."

The Mandalorian was inspecting the wound on his arm, hissing lowly in pain when he must have grabbed it too hard, and then took out a device from one of the pockets on his thighs. Watching the Mandalorian settle down, Elana pulled her knees to her chest, scooting closer to the rock behind her, once again scolding herself for her moment of weakness before. Why did she want to help him? Why did she constantly offer him help, water, food when he would not hesitate to let them die?

Why was she like this, giving away precious resources that could go to Bean to their captor?

He did not spare her a glance as he shuffled around on his seat, and pressed the device in his hand to the cut on his arm. Horrified, Elana gasped as it flared bright red, and the flesh sizzled. "What are you doing?" It escaped her before she thought about it, "Is that a cauterizer?"

"Yes," was the only thing he said, before pressing it to the cut again.

The sound was gruelling, and when the Mandalorian gave a low groan at the pain, goosebumps spread over her whole body. "Stop that," she demanded, chest seizing up at the smell of burnt flesh, "You're hurting yourself."

"It'll get infected," he explained, infuriatingly calm, as if she were a child.

She huffed. "Doesn't that increase the likelihood of infection? With the inflammation--"

"I don't have time for that," the Mandalorian interrupted her.

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. Get septicaemia for all I care.

He continued holding the cauterizer to his wound, sizzling filling the air, and Elana did her best to ignore the pained grunts and heavy breathing the Mandalorian let out, trying to stave off the nausea from the thought of someone doing something like that to themselves. Suddenly, Bean appeared right next to the Mandalorian, stretching his hand out, reaching up. Elana had not even noticed that he had left his pram. Grimacing at the strain, Bean stretched his hand out some more.

Before she could say or do anything, the Mandalorian softly pushed him away with his hand, and took Bean under his armpits, lifting him back into his pram in a matter of seconds, Bean making a disgruntled coo at the manhandling. She would have made a sound of protest if he had not been so... gentle with Bean. Staring at him, wide eyed, Elana felt something akin to hope fluttering in her chest.

Since she had started to care for Bean, she had noted that she could make many assumptions about a person, and be proven correct most of the time, simply by the way they treated the little one.

The Niktos had shown a full range of possibilities on how to gauge personalities. Those that did not spare him a glance veered towards the spectrum of untrustworthy, and those that cared enough to check up on him once in a while were the ones that Elana could go to if there was a problem. There were many impatient ones she did not care for in the slightest, since they had punished the baby for the smallest of things. But overall, the Niktos had been neutral to Bean, guarding him like they were hired to, but nothing more. And based on how the Mandalorian treated Bean, there was hope that he could be convinced to not hand them over to those that put a bounty on his head. It was basically impossible not to fall in love with Bean upon sight, anyways.

The Mandalorian started to repair his chest plate after sitting down, fixing something on it, the circuitry making violent sparks fly. Something clicked, and the chest plate gave a whirring sound, the Mandalorian exhaling in relief as it booted up.

Elana had a sharp eye on Bean now, quietly observing what he was trying to do. After jumping out of the pram, landing lightly, he waddled towards the Mandalorian, and stretched out his hand again, whining slightly. A choked off sound that came from the Mandalorian as he noticed Bean made the little child warble even more, his voice almost scolding. If it was not so bizarre, Elana would have laughed.

After a short glance towards her, the bounty hunter stood up, bent over, carefully picked Bean up again, and set him down in the pram. Bean looked up at him, big eyes questioning, ears perked up, cooing at him. The Mandalorian hesitated before he pushed a button on his vambrace and the lid closed with a hiss.

The man looked at her, visor menacingly tilted down. "What did he want?" he asked, still a bit breathless, chest probably heaving from the brutal way he had used the cauterizer on himself.

Elana looked up, and could not help but feel proud of Bean. "That, Mandalorian," she said quietly, "was him trying to help you."

His body language was incredulous. "Why would he do that?"

She glared up at him, straightening up. "Because you were in pain."

The Mandalorian scoffed slightly. "He should not care," he said stiffly, which made Elana scoff as well.

"Do you think he understands that?" she snapped, brows furrowed at the bounty hunter, "The only thing he could see was that you were cauterizing your cut with that kriffing atrocious thing."

He said nothing, just turned his head to the pram, watching it quietly. Then, with a sigh, he returned to fiddling with his chest plate, not sparing her another glance.

She made a face at him, before turning around and laying on the cold floor, pulling the threadbare blanket around her shoulders. Keeping her back firmly to the rock formation behind her, she fell asleep with the light of the lamp illuminating their makeshift campsite.

The next morning, she woke before the Mandalorian did, sunrise announcing itself through the pink and purple swirls in the sky. Watching as it turned gold, she tucked her hair neatly into braids, and finished as the Mandalorian gave a start and sat up.

Looking at the pram first, then at her, he started packing the lamp and other supplies away while she folded the blanket and put it into her backpack. Frowning at the leather straps, discoloured from sweat, she sighed. When they arrived at some place with water she would try to clean it up some. Button pressed, the pram opened, and Bean sat up sluggishly, blinking, still half asleep.

Whining slightly, he held his arms up, wanting to be taken, and Elana quickly put her backpack on, scrambled up and hoisted him into her arms. He snuggled into her, and gave a slight snore, evidently falling asleep again. Taking a look at the Mandalorian, already finished with packing and waiting for them, cuff in his hand. Elana held Bean closer, sending him a glare. The Mandalorian only sighed, and packed the cuff away for now.

They took off, Bean still in her arms until he was fully asleep again, and Elana put him back into the pram once the bond let her know that he was drifting into dreams, letting him snooze a bit. As if he had been waiting for Elana to have her arms free to use again, the Mandalorian was quick in securing her the moment Bean was in the pod.

The sun rose behind them, elongating their shadows in front of them, and they worked their way up a steep hill. She was glad when they went over the ledge, and the ground evened out to a flat, which went on for some kilometers all around.

"We're not far now," the Mandalorian said suddenly, and she could not help but to tense up.

"Where are you taking us?" Elana asked.

He exhaled with a crackle of the modulator in his helmet. "To my ship," he said. She scoffed.

"Ha, ha, very funny, I did not gather that," Elana muttered, "Where are we going?"

"To a client."

"And they are?"

"Confidential."

She looked at him, face deadpan, and opened her mouth for a retort before she thought better of it. If he did not want to talk, fine. It was unlikely that he would give any more information to her. And she did not even know what information could help her in some way.

They walked for at least half an hour before something blinked a kilometer away, reflecting the sunlight. Based on the relieved slump in the Mandalorian's shoulders, even though he did not make a sound, she gathered that it must be his ship.

The countdown started, she thought grimly to herself, and felt herself tensing up. No way back. She took back everything she had thought the last two days, every sullen complaint that she ached, that she wanted to be out of the sun, that she was tired and thirsty, because the complete fear she felt made her long for the moments where the end was not as apparent.

In a few hours Bean would be handed over to some client of the Mandalorian, and Maker knows what they wanted with her child.

They had to take a longer route around though, since a canyon was cutting straight through the more direct path, and soon the glinting disappeared. Making their way towards the ship from another angle, it steadily came closer with every step they took. A spark of hope grew in her heart as she heard some noises, carried over by the wind.

It sounded like Jawas, her mind supplied, and the Mandalorian must have come to the same conclusion, for he increased his pace. They walked over the rocky stone edge, shouting filling the air as the bounty hunter became more and more tense with every step. When they finally arrived at the overhang, there was a huge Sandcrawler next to a silver ship, the smaller one half disassembled.

The Jawas were whooping in joy and talking amongst themselves as they manhandled the pieces to their Sandcrawler.

The Mandalorian took off his rifle in a smooth motion, yanked the end piece off and held it to his visor, and Elana realized that it must have been some scope. He then lifted his rifle, it gave a click under a practised flip and started whirring in a foreboding manner. He fired.

A Jawa disintegrated.

She flinched at that, the knowledge of the Mandalorian having such a weapon still making her nauseous.

Bean leaned forward, interest suddenly spiking along their bond. The Jawas started to flee, running into their Sandcrawler, but the Mandalorian got another shot in, and reloaded his rifle. The little child watched the Mandalorian take out several Jawas, ears perked high, and Elana grimaced at the fact that Bean was exposed to this much violence in the span of only a few days. It would be a marvel if he did not have any sort of nightmares afterwards.

The huge structure started to move, and the Mandalorian was quick to give chase, the pram floating along.

"Hey!" Elana yelled, scrambling to get behind them, "hey!"

The Mandalorian was wickedly fast, gaining speed quickly while she struggled with jumping down the rocky terrain without breaking an ankle, especially with no free hands to catch herself if she fell. She caught up somewhat when the bounty hunter dropped to his knee, Bean’s pod right beside him, and fired at the machinery in the back of the Sandcrawler. He then ran behind it again, his frame becoming smaller and smaller in comparison to the looming structure, before he jumped up, pulling himself onto the fast moving thing.

He is crazy, Elana thought, running behind them, not knowing what else to do. Stay? Then she would be left alone while he was doing who knows what, and since Bean was attached to him, his pod swerving safely around any obstacles, she had to go after them. Even if she could not keep up with the running or the speed for long, she had to stay with them, so she could at least follow what was happening with her eyes.

The Mandalorian was trying to climb up the Sandcrawler using the ladder, and the Jawas veered to the side, trying to scrape him off on a rock, but he somehow managed to stay on top of the ledge he was positioned on.

She could see how the Jawas started to throw parts at him, doing their best to slow him down, but the bounty hunter was still unerringly trying to get to the Jawas, climbing with visible effort.

Elana could not follow everything while she was running behind them, for the parts that the Jawas had thrown to slow down the Mandalorian succeeded in slowing her down. Having to watch her step carefully so she would not skewer her foot by stepping on some rusty pipe or stumbling over a Jawa corpse, she missed the point where he launched a rope from his armour, using that to pull himself up.

He's crazy, she thought, breathing hard as she ran as fast as she could, switching her focus between small white pram floating behind the Mandalorian, and the Mandalorian himself, He’s lost it.

How did he think that he had the slightest chance against the whole Sandcrawler and the tribe inside? Completely nuts.

Elana could not believe her eyes when he actually reached the top after some struggle, his frame now tiny because of the distance, but the begrudging respect that budded was quickly replaced with dread as the Jawas electrocuted him.

She could see him swaying slightly before falling down, the moments seeming endless. Wincing at how hard he hit the ground, Elana tried to increase her speed, but it still took too long until she was near enough, the speed of the Sandcrawler putting a decent distance between them.

Arriving at the fallen Mandalorian, wheezing in exhaustion and heart beating fast from the run, it took everything in her to not just collapse on the spot. Placing her hands on her knees and taking a few moments to suffer, Elana gasped for air, feeling her sides burn.

The Mandalorian was sprawled out across the ground, completely still, but his stomach continued to move up and down.

"He's breathing," she told Bean, who was watching with worried eyes, soft coos coming from the small creature, and she straightened up, breathing deeply, "He is probably alive."

Elana really hoped that he was. Not necessarily because she liked him, quite the opposite, out of necessity. If he died, she and Bean would be kilometers away from any kind of civilization, in the middle of the desert, food and water, even with the moisture bead, scarce. And if the hunters from yesterday were any indication, they were probably wanted by even more people.

She would rather take her chances with the Mandalorian, who had not hit them when he fancied it in the last two days, who treated Bean gently, and had not made a pass at her, knowing that she could not properly defend herself.

It was not the highest of standards, Elana had to concede, but it was unlikely that other hunters would be as 'pleasant' as the Mandalorian was.

Getting closer to the sprawled out Mandalorian, she peered down at him, brows raised. Then, she looked back at Bean who was watching them. Then back to the Mandalorian again.

She nudged his leg slightly with her foot. "... Mandalorian?" she asked, tilting her head as she nudged him again, this time against his side.

He did not stir.

Feeling worried now, she dropped to her knees, and poked him, instantly withdrawing in case the Mandalorian woke up and took her finger off without a warning. Bean sent something that she could interpret as worry, and a picture of blue sparks and a fuzzy feeling flooded the bond. He was showing her what happened, Elana realized, and looked at the Mandalorian again.

She honestly did not know what to do. Should she take his armour off to check for injuries? The way he fell, he could have sustained some heavy damage. Broken bones? Concussions? Maker, spinal injuries?

Could he have split his head open and Elana would not notice? Was he bleeding out somewhere beneath the armour? Hesitant fingers hovered above his armour, before settling on his chest plate, giving him a tentative shake.

Nothing.

Elana bit her lip, feeling conflicted. She knew that there was something about a Mandalorian's helmet, that it should not be removed by others, or was it that only they could remove it? And he had only taken it off to drink or eat when she was tied up against the pram. For a short second she thought about manipulating the bounty hunter's arms in a way to take off his own helmet but discarded that thought just as quickly as it had appeared in her head.

"What do you think, Bean? What should I do?" Elana asked, looking to the baby as if he could give her an answer.

Bean cooed, tilting his head to the side.

"I don't want to disrespect the guy's culture, if you get me?"

Bean nodded gravely, as if to say 'yeah, I get you'.

Elana exhaled a breath, lips pursing, contemplating what to do. She really did not want to take off his armour and maybe do something culturally insensitive, but what if he had an injury that she could treat? She did not have many medical supplies, but if there was a small wound? What if he needed to sit up? What if there was something that needed instant medical attention?

Elana shifted on her knees, and leaned over the Mandalorian, taking notice of how he was breathing. Still breathing?

"Oh Maker," she huffed in despair, "Maker above."

She settled her fingers slightly around his helmet, and tried to gather enough courage to pull it up, heart beating fast in her chest.

"I'm sorry, Mandalorian, if this is something extremely taboo that I'm doing here, but honestly--" Elana gave a short nervous laugh, "Yeah, I'm sorry. Please don't kill me afterwards, that would be very much appreciated." She tried to lift it, not even raising it half a centimeter before his hand wrapped tight around her wrist, almost giving her a heart attack.

The world suddenly went flying and she found herself pinned under the Mandalorian, his hand curling around her throat, the other pressing her into the ground. She gasped, both in shock and at the force with which he had slammed her into the ground, and clawed at his hand, scrabbling underneath him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she got out, "Thought you were injured, tried to help--"

The words grew more panicked as she tried to speak around the pressure on her windpipe. Elana could faintly hear Bean squeaking in alarm.

"It is forbidden," he snarled at her, voice impossibly rough, before letting up, leaving her gasping and floundering on the floor.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, tears in her eyes, coughing from the steel grip that had only just been on her throat. Rubbing against it, she winced. Would that leave a bruise? She hoped not.

The Mandalorian's breath was ragged as he clumsily stood up, chest heaving as he stood above her. "I should kill you for that."

Elana swallowed thickly, staring up at him with watering eyes, trying to hold back the cough building in her throat. "I did not know it was forbidden, I swear," she tried to explain herself, "I know that Mandalorians don't take their helmets off but I assumed, with injuries--"

"Yeah, you assumed," he interrupted her, sounding angry, hand twitching towards his blaster. She flinched back, and apologised again, staring at the ground, blood rushing in her ears. Bean was squeaking indignantly in his pram, a frown on his face.

"I only wanted to check for injuries, I swear," she whispered, hoping the Mandalorian would believe her.

He turned around, and looked after the huge trail the Sandcrawler had left, before letting out a huge sigh. Elana stood up, discreetly patting down the dust on her clothes and checking up on Bean, who was making questioning sounds at her, his ears hanging low. I'm okay, she sent to him, along with a smile.

The Mandalorian looked back to them, his shoulders dropping again. "Just this once, caretaker," he said, towering above her as he stared her down. She nodded quickly, shrinking back in fear. With that threat, he stalked past her, whole body tense, and started to walk back the way they had come.

She stared after him, heart beating fast in her chest, mind reeling. Bean's pram floated past her, and he cooed at her, hand stretched out as if he was urging her to follow.

Elana might not have understood the scale of what had just happened, but she knew that the Mandalorian would not have hesitated to shoot her. Or snap her neck. There were several times when she wanted to open her mouth and ask whether or not he was all right, he did fall from an incredibly dangerous height onto his back, but she was too scared of him going off at her again. They walked back in silence, the Sandcrawler having left an unmistakable path they could easily follow. Looking up into the sky, she noticed that it would not be long until the sun set. The Mandalorian walked with a straight back, but his step was slower than before. She contemplated asking if he was injured again, but thought better of it.

It took a while until they arrived at the Mandalorian's ship, various pieces of it lying on the ground around it. The ship was stripped, pieces on the side missing, and from what she could spot the engine was basically gutted. There was no way that the ship could make it into space.

The Mandalorian let out a string of curses that crackled through the modulator, and pointed a finger at her. "You stay here," he commanded, body tense, and he pressed the button on his vambrace so Bean's pram did not follow him, inching it towards her with a motion of his arm before whipping around, starting to examine what was left of the ship.

It was large, unpainted and silver except for some faded designs on the sides, and a model that was older than herself. Scratch that, it could very well be from the time before the Empire. Elana wondered how well it was holding up before the Jawas got to it.

Seeing this as a good moment to rest her legs, she sat down on the ground, Bean's pram next to her, and she took out the water bottle. First giving Bean something, the little one drinking in big gulps, obviously thirsty, and then took sips herself.

She heard a loud bang from inside the ship, and exchanged a glance with Bean. "Someone's angry," she said to Bean, and he cooed in agreement.

A movement from the cockpit drew her eye, and she could see a glint through the viewport, which was probably the helmet of the Mandalorian. Shortly after, the ship started whirring, and the left repulsor gave a huff before shutting down. Then, the right one did the same.

"The ship can't fly, you see, Bean?" Elana could not help but smile, feeling exceedingly petty. Bean nodded in agreement, ears perking up as he babbled to her. She reached a hand into the pram, and he grasped at her fingers, holding them tightly. He held out his other hand, and beckoned for her to pick him up. Elana did, and put him in her lap.

Bean frowned at her, and wriggled. She frowned right back. "You don't want to be held?" Something creeped across their bond, and she could not help but raise an eyebrow at what he wanted.

"The Mandalorian? Are you sure?"

He pointed towards the ship, and started wriggling again. Setting him down, he started to waddle directly to it, and a tug across their bond made her follow him. Bean struggled across the packed ground, and then up the ramp into the ship. She was right behind him, watching the small one like a hawk so if he stumbled or fell she could instantly get to him.

Bean reached the top, and chirped loudly into the ship, ears high and reaching his arms inside.

"Where is your caretaker?" The Mandalorian asked Bean, voice rough. She poked her head into the ship, and gave a tiny, only slightly sarcastic wave. He sighed, before pushing himself up from the cub he had been leaning against.

"Shouldn't you know better than to let him wander?" He accused, tilting his head at her.

Elana shrugged instead of answering, eyes narrowed. How dare he try to tell her how to handle Bean?

The Mandalorian pushed past her, his steps ringing loudly on the durasteel floor of his ship. "Come," he said, and started off walking again.

Elana rolled her eyes, and scooped Bean up, who protested with a whine.

"Where are we going?" she asked, almost afraid of an answer.

"Somewhere safer than here."

……………

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it!

@mndalorians Cass YOURE the GOAT even though youre a little crabby lmao. Ilysm its unreal

Tags: @binggrae-banana-milk @b0n-chann @pisss-offf-ghostt @chibi-liz05 @din-damn-djarin @soldade @yourexcellentboiiii @chaotic-noceur @ezrasarm @hdlynn @mndalorians @over300books @agirllovespasta @crookedmoonsaultpunk @teaofpeach @shadylightbearherring @mitchi-c @concussed-to-pieces

[popculturebuffet]

Final Space: And Into The Fire Review or Now with 110% More Homoerotic Telepathy

Welcome  new and old to my first Final Space review! If you’ve never seen the blog before, and given this is the first “new” series i’ve covered as it come out in some time that’s probably quite a few of you, welcome. I’m Jake, I do recaps and reviews of various animated shows and comics, mostly just stuff I want to do, often on comission (5 dollars an episode if theres any episode of the first two seasons of this show or any episode of any other show you’d like tos ee me cover), or for my patreon patreon.com/popculturebuffet. And it is my utmost honor to add this show to my rotating roster of shows I cover as they come out. 

I friggin love Final Space. I was intrigued by it back when TBS released the animatics alongside Close Enough (Wth the two shows ironically finally together on HBO max as of earlier this month), for their doomed block. I heard a lot of good things about season 1.. and let it get away from me, not watching it till Season 2. But both seasons had more than enough to pull me in with intriguging characters, even greater jokes and a truly unique idea for a premise involving giant monsters, an edltrich god and lots of cookies. 

So while it took an extra year given Covid, I’m super friggin pumped to get into season 3 at long last after the hell of a cliffhanger, especially since ironically last night I saw Steven Yeun’s oscar nominated performance in “Minari”. Now i get to watch him play a cat teenager again too.. and in a few days Mark friggin Grayson. It’s a good week to be a fan of his is what i’m saying and a good week in general. 

Previously on Final Space Yo!: Since it’s been a year and while the series provides  a recap , I’m going to be doing these anyway so:

Our heroes finally got all 5 dimensional keys and freed Bolo, and in the process also freed Avacato from Invictus, the horrifying entity controlling final space. Meanwhile Tribore got Sheryl to stop being a selfish prick and she joined the team trying to be a better mother from now on. But freeing Bolo came at a high cost as Nightfall sacrified herself as the sixth key (KVN was natrually both Gary and Bolo’s first choice, but was inllegible. ) So we ended the season with our heroes entering Final Space and Gary reuniting with Quinn.... while Invictus loomed. So over a year later we finally get some answers so join me under the cut for spoilers, recaps, and homoerotic text ahoy. 

Something i’m doing since both the roster keeps changing.. and as I correctly guessed from the trailer, and the general tone of the promos for this season, that everyone won’t be all together all season.. or even in one piece.. i’ll be doing a silver age style roll call to let us know who all we have on the Team Squad for the episode Roll Call: Gary, Quinn, Avacato, Little Cato, Ash, Fox, KVN, HUE, AVA, Sheryl, Bolo, and Tribore

So we pick up right where we left off, Gary tearfully reuniting with Quinn, with Quinn wishing he hadn’t come for her, and Gary being Gary naturally having ignored that, and actually been more determined since that made it forbidden which made it extra tempting and him want to extra do it. God I missed this glorious idiot let me tell you. 

So things are quickly interrupted by invictus, who turns out to be a giant flaming head.. thing... and chases them and the crimson light, which has to start speeding with our heroes tethered to the outside, Quinn holding onto Gary. 

So we get one hell of a thrilling chase as the Crimson Light outspeeds the demon head and runs into two titans, but Bolo shows up to take out one, with Mooncake trying his dimension shattering blast thingy on Invictus.. and naturlaly g ven this is the big bad we need to show off how horrying they are, and it does NOTHING. But Gary catches his little buddy so we’re alright. 

Sheryl also shows off her badass bonafieds by LIGHTFOLDING THROUGH A TITAN... granted she still has some parenting skills to learn as “lightfolding while your son is hanging out the back through an edltrich god” really isn’t a motherly thing to do.. but neither is trying to murder your child several times or blaming him for how shitty your life turned out so ANYTHING is a step up for her. 

But.. it’s not enough. While she does manage to kill ONE the Crimson Light is too badly damaged to go on and we get two tragic deaths in one go... The Team Squad is forced to abandon the Crimson Light.. and AVA is too damaged to Upload into HUE. “I’m Sad” “For who?” “For you.. and for us. “ God damn Tom Kenny is amazing. You don’t need me telling you that, but sometimes you need a reminder. 

So our heroes end up on a desolate mystery world, stranded in final space with no ship, no suplies and no hope. The only thing to do now is survivie and hope they can continue the mission at some point. 

ONE MONTH LATER

Things have not gotten any better, as naturally , our heroes have only found weird cartoon eyed worms that regrow their heads when you bite them off. So while this means unlimited food, it’s also disgusting and Garry hates it. “This may be a head but it tastes like a butt”. Quinn and Tribore are with him and Quinn hasn’t been ready to talk about her experiences trapped in this hellscape and still isn’t but being a good dude, Gary dosen’t push her on it. Though the weird red veiny thing on her arm tells me maybe one of you should speed that up before she explodes or gets cronnenburgy. Just saying. I’ll also say i’m not huge on the one month time skip, as while I feel they probably have a reason for being that specific i’ts a bit TOO long and I question why have that long a period of a jump, not the longest but still long enough for things to happen with nothing changingin that time? Still it’s a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic episode so I can let it go, I just don’t get it. 

What we do get is some Gary Corpses dropping and Invictius puppeting them... i’m with gary that is bowel openingly scary. I also do like how despite the FAR more dire circumstances, they still get in the requisite shenanigans this series requires. I’ts not to the network mandated subplot levels where it distracts, but it’s enough to help ease the terror of the situation and isn’t around for situations like the opening where it really SHOULDN’T be. As the series always has when something big happens, the bollocks goes away. Once we’re in between we can get back to literal pissing contests, KVN leading a crowd to their deaths and HUE in a pimp hat like god intended. 

So yeah our heroes have to outrun the horrible horde of Gary’s, though Little Cato catches on something’s wrong as Tribore makes gary cary him as foreshadowing for later and Sends mooncake down to asssit. Our heroes escape.. but a cave in happens.

After the break, Gary wakes up confused with the party now split in two: Gary, Quinn, KVN, Tribore and HUE on one side and Avacato, Ash, Fox, Little Cato and Sheryl on the other. So Gary does the logical thing... and take his shirt off telling Avacato to feel him. 

I mean I didn’t even ship them before this scene but... Gary claims because of their bond he can telepahtically connect with Avacato. That’s normal Gary shenanigans.. except not only does he shrug off his girlfriend asking why they can’t do that.. but it WORKS. We have a scene of the two telepahtically talking in a wheatfield that is so homerotic I guarantee there only wasn’t the Careless Whisper sax because they couldn’t afford it.. or their saving it for later this season. Look sometimes you don’t ship a ship because you just.. dont’ care that strongly one way or another and sometimes you just need an incredibly gay scene to see the light. Same thing happened with Weblena same thing here. 

Fox also says “that was glorious to watch” same man. That was freaking art. So our heroes split up into three plots. As usual for me

Team Gary: So yeah... Triobore’s pregnant. No way to really softball into that. He’s been pregnant this whole time. So we get a stupid and mildly horrifying gross out sequence with Gary having to look Triobore in teh eyes and Quinn having to “uncork him”. Which is code for ... you know what i’m not going to say it. If you’ve seen the episode you know and if not your better off not visualizing it trust me. Point is this whole sequence is dumb and the worst part of the episode by far. And the series CAN do good gross out. While Olan Rodgers regrets it, the pissing contest was one of the funniest scenes of season 2, and managed to make a gross idea on paper actually pretty damn funny. This.. this is just “Haha males giving birth and tribore’s an asshole”. There’s no joke here just a .. plug. .. gah.. the vomit is rising let me tell you. 

We do get something good out of this nightmare, Tribore’s son who hatches as the army of gary’s dig their way in, Quanstranstro, who rapidly ages into a stylsih spanish speaking adult badass. He is fucking awesome and a great addition to the team and the sheer.. oddity of his birth is wonderful even if the actual birthing was not. Then the climax happens so before that. 

Team Avacato:

Avacato and Co come across a sleeping giant robot cyborg .. thingy. Naturally Fox wakes him up. Little Cato remains not suprised. It occelates between panicking over it’s legs being gone and amenisa and is pretty damn funny. It’s voiced by John Dimagio. But it gets serious as we find out nothing has ever made it out of final space, and things.. change the longer there there. And Quinn’s been there several months if not a year. Whuh oh. This part is much better both due to better jokes and plot advancment.. though again Quanstrano is still fucking amazing. 

Team Bolo: Bolo meanwhile returns and fights a titan, and has mooncake help him rather htan join the others, but looses, hitting the planet with his body.. I mean he might not get back up.. but the impact shatters the caverns and causes an explosion. Everyone but Gary, Quinn, KVN and HUE are MIA, as our remaining party find earth floating overhead. 

TO BE CONTINUED> 

Final Thoughts: A decent start to the season. Like I said the whole birthing sequence can die in a fire and reminds me of the terrible comedy subplots adult swim wanted grafted onto two episodes.. but otherwise it’s a tense stark opener that sets up the bleak tone while still keeping the series rediciulous shenanigans in tact. It’s the perfect welcome back after so long. I mean the gay telepathy alone would make it a winner. 

Next Time on This Blog: We dive into a little history with HIsteria. See you at the next rainbow. 

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

Saint Jude's Miracle: A Javier Peña x OFC (Isa) Fanfiction. Chapter IV

Summary: Javier left one small detail about his partnership with the DEA, a insignificant one but that changes how Isa perceives this job and the risks he’s about to take. They spent the last weekend before he leaves in Laredo where they made many memories at the beginning of their relationship.

WC: 4,3k

Warnings: angst and many hurt feelings, miscommunication, swearing. NSFW +18 SMUT at the end of the chapter (fingering, male masturbation, p in v and a bit of sex talk but not that explicit)

A/N: Hi! this is chapter four and I think that I can wrap up this story in a few chapters more (4 maximum, at least that’s the plan) I literally based the whole end of the chapter on my first participation on #Writer Wednesday that you can read here and my love for Juan Luis Guerra. The song mentioned is “Burbujas de amor” I grew up dancing and listening to that tape while my mami cooked and later in my life I really paid attention to the lyrics discovering that well, it’s about sex 😅, still it’s a beautiful bachata and the hopeless romantic in me wishes that somebody (Javi Peña please) would dance it with me someday while being madly in love 💃❤

Listen and Lyrics here (there's a few verses translated by yours truly in the chapter)

Masterlist | Chapter 3⬅

Chapter IV: Small details

Isabel tries to focus on her daily routines like doing the chores; it’s easier than to think about anything else, she tries to keep going as if nothing is going to happen. But every time she looks at the door where Javi has left his luggage, she feels her stomach twisting. She’s desperate; thinking how she could make him stay: maybe she could lie, pretend that something has come up, but she dismisses those thoughts straight away, she must be overthinking, it’s just a week, she repeats herself but she cannot help feeling that something is wrong and that she should do anything to make him stay.

Javier plays with Elvira on the garden, the little girl screams and laughs out loud while her father tries to catch her; Isabel looks at them amused from the sliding door when the phone rings.

“Hello?” she answers

“Hi! It’s Steve, is Javi home?” a deep male voice she doesn’t recognize replies

“Yes, who is this again?” she actually has an idea. He, this Steve, it's the one that has convinced his husband to go, the one that called a thousand times during the night.

“Steve, I was your husband’s partner back in Colombia. You’re Isa, right?”

“Yes”

“Nice to meet you, well, through the phone at least” he chuckles

“Nice to meet you too”

“Javi has told me about you and, let me tell you, me and my wife, we’re dying to meet you”

“I’d love to say the same but he doesn’t share much about that time” she blurts out, she actually feels hurt, why did Javi tell him about her and nothing of the man calling to her, his wife? “Are you going with him to Mexico? You are the one that asked him?”

“Ask him? We didn’t...” Steve says confused “Yes, y-y-es, we’re going together” he coughs “Can you pass him the phone, please?”

“Yes”

Isa strides angrily towards the garden and calls for Javi to come inside. He stops immediately the games with Elvira and returns to the house with a curious look.

“Sí, amor?”

“The phone, it’s your friend Steve” she hisses

“Steve?”

“Jav...I think I might have fucked up talking to your wife”

The rest of the day is a symphony of Isa stumping through the house, slamming doors and grunts and curses slurred.

“She’s angry again” Elvi confides leaning on her father’s ear while their watching a movie after dinner

“Yeah, I think so too” fuck Steve and his big mouth

His wife is doing the dishes and if he wasn’t able to hear the water running, he would think she is actually destroying the whole kitchen rather than cleaning; she lays things unnecessarily loudly and the clack clack sound of the plates smashing against each other announces that she’s losing her cool and that she’s about to break some of them soon enough.

Crash

“Fuck!”

Eli gasps and cringes hearing her mum say a bad word for the first time.

“You keep watching, I’m going to see if she’s ok” Javi gets up and walks to the kitchen

She’s cleaning the thousand tiny pieces muttering a list of bad words in Spanish and English.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes” she says abruptly

“Clearly not, but...”

“Of course I am not” she starts shouting but she lowers her voice immediately knowing her kid can hear her “I’m about to lose my mind”

“Isa...” he approaches her but she backs away and stops him

“You forgot to tell me some small details, Javier” she accuses

“What details?”

“Why did your friend imply that they didn’t ask you to go?”

He sighs placing his hands on his hips

“I didn’t want you to...”

“Worry?” she interrupts “We’re passed that”

“Alright, I did offered my help” he confesses

“What kind of help?”

“I’ve told you. See what they got and testify when necessary about the information I found” he looks tired, dark circles under his eyes and he lowers his arms defeated “Can we please talk about this later...”

“You’re telling me that you are an informant, Javi?” Isa waits for his answer with her fists close tightly; her lips are a fine line now

“Yes, more or less” he sighs

“Javier... why did you put yourself at risk like that?” her voice is low and she closes her eyes before speaking trying to control what she’s about to say “You know what those people do to whoever dares to speak up?”

“Of course, I fucking know, Isa!” he screams and slams his hand on the table, making her flinch

Helena

Maritza

Carrillo

Even fucking Mr Pickle

The list of people Javi had seen die or their lives distroyed because they dare to face the Narcos or say something they shouldn’t have was long and his mind repeats those names again and again when he tries to forget about what happened in Colombia.

“What did you want me to do? Look the other way? Ignore it as everybody in that fucking stupid job? Let those people go?” his eyes glow with the white light on the kitchen. He never loses his temper; he’s actually pretty calm even when they’ve fought before. But in that moment, Isa see how his hands shake how his body tenses

“What I want it’s that you don’t want to comprise yourself, your health to something that isn’t your job anymore” she mutters

“Yeah, but guess what? It’s the only thing I know how to do and I’m actually good at it, not that stupid office job that kills me every fucking day”

“If you don’t like it you can change, Javi, nobody is holding you there” she suggests

“Nobody is holding me there? Well, we have to keep paying this fucking house don’t we?” he snarls

“It’s our fault then that you have accepted to put yourself in this position? that you always want to run away?” Isabel gawks. She’s about to say something else but Elvira’s cries and screams are loud now after she has listen to her parents fight, so Isabel storms out of the kitchen to her. The little girl is sitting on the couch trying to muffle her whimpers holding her unicorn.

“Mi cielo, ven aquí” (My love come here) she jumps to her mother’s arms and she shakes and sniffs “We’re going to bed, come on” Isa lifts her tiny body up and walks towards the stairs, she glares at Javi when he tries to reach for them and shakes her head.

Isabel comes to bed late and when he’s already there, in the dark, she undresses and takes her place on the right side without saying a word.

“Isa” he murmurs

Javier stretches his arm to reach her but as soon as she feels him, she moves away.

“C’mon Isa” he raises putting his weight on his elbow “Talk to me”

“I don’t want to talk”

“Then listen to me. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have screamed and say those things”

“Doesn’t matter how you said it if you think them, though” she counters still not turning to face him

“I don’t think them”

“Which part?”

“I don’t think you are responsible of me wanting to do this or that I’m bored and disgusted of my job”

“You’re doing it again”

“What?”

“Lying to yourself. You’re bored of your life I can understand that, I didn’t choose to be in this life either, but I have to accept it. And you’ll have to accept that the life you had back in the day can’t come back at least Elvi and I we don’t fit in it”

“Amor it’s not like that”

“Then stay”

“I can’t” he sighs

Isa stays quite and tense hugging the pillow and when he tries again to touch her, she gets up and strides outside the room

“I’m going to sleep with Elvi tonight”Javier raises to stop her but again she refuses his touch. Defeated, he throws himself on bed. Then stay, I wish it was that easy

They leave to Laredo the next morning to spend the weekend with Chucho before Javi crosses the border.

Isa responds with just “yes” or “no” to anything her husband says during the ride and focuses on distracting Elvira with music or playing with her Barbie dolls.

Her last sentence, the one she said the night before, burns in his brain.

You want your life back and we don't fit in it it makes his stomach turn, because deep down he knows it's true.

That hunger he feels, the thrive that hooks him to this job is a lingering ghost that whispers in his ear, a siren singing until he's about to drown.

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

He remembers one night back in Colombia a few years ago. Gabriela under him, her soft skin glowing in sweat as he poured his frustration in her, she was sweet and always understood what he wanted, beautiful but with a sadness in her eyes, very common among the girls in the same job, and he had ask her why she didn't stop and she responded with the same question back to him.He didn't have an answer back then, and when he did stop, he was forced to because the system wouldn't allow him to do his job properly. His departure from the DEA was a bad break up; he didn't find closure no matter how many times he did say that he was through.

Chucho welcomes his family with tamales and cold beer. He lets Elvira roam around the chickens and the rest of the animals on the ranch before dinner. He's not naive and senses the tension between his son and daughter in law since they've gotten out of the car.

“¿Bueno qué te hizo este pendejo?” (what did this idiot do to you?) He asks to Isa while setting the table

“He's going to Mexico you know, with the DEA”

“What?”

“He's an informant now apparently”

“An informant”, Chucho thinks about that information and decides not to mention anything during dinner as he prefers to listen to his granddaughter stories. Once they're done and Elvi and Isa are cleaning the dishes he forces Javi out of the house.

“Isa told me you’re going to Mexico with the DEA”

“Just for a week, I'm helping them with something”

“You remember that day after you got back from Cali? In this same place”

“Yes”

“You told me you were through”

“And I'm, I'm just being useful. That information landed on my lap what was I supposed to do? Ignore it, pops?”

“You could just passed the tip and let them do it. When you got back from Cali I've found you here, every morning watching as the boats go up the river with los kilos, you were never through Javi, don't lie to me”

“You and Isa are just perfect for each other” Javi scoffs

“She worries about you, she loves you, mijo” he grabs his son’s arm

“I know”

“You're not the young man that left Laredo, Javi, nor the man that came back from Colombia, you're a dad now. And let me give you a piece of advice, out of experience, even if you think your father is annoying” Javi shakes his head “Parents always know, they know you and see you for what you are even when yourself is trying to deny it. You've been always like that, Javi, always trying to do the right thing even if it costs you your health and your heart and blaming yourself endlessly for the things you couldn't control”

Javi listens in silence, chewing hard on a nicorette.

“Now the right thing is not going after those Narcos, the right thing is to stay with your family”

Javi has his gaze fixed on the moon and stars that illuminates the river under them.

“But that's only this old man opinions, your family will wait for you here, we always do” he adds

­­­­­­

“So can we go? Please please” Elvira begs at the table

“Claro, mija” (Of course, love) His grandpa always spoiling her pinches her cheek before hers parents can answer “We’re going all of us together”

Javi and Isa look at him. Isa is still giving Javier the silent treatment and has being avoiding him even though Chucho forces everybody to share every meal on the leaving room and do the same activities together; even though Javi has tried to approach her many times a day, she finds ways to reject him.

“Papá...” Javi starts

“There’s no discussion, son. Mi nieta quiere ir a la feria y vamos a ir a la feria” (My granddaughter wants to go to the funfair and we’re going to the funfair”

“It could be fun” Isa agrees and gives a timid smile; it’s the most she’s spoken since they’ve arrived.

Laredo’s funfair takes place at the end of the summer and it’s practically the only activity for a lazy summer evening so the whole town is there. Isa watches as her daughter grins, her mouth already sticky thanks to the cotton candy she’s eating, and the sugar is starting to kick in, she’s jumping and screaming pulling her grandpa’s hand and the poor man follows trying not to fall down.

“Easy on abuelito, Elvi” Isa laughs

Isabel is beautiful tonight, like many years ago, she wears a sunflower summer dress and her dark curls clipped on both sides. Javi smiles, his mind wandering through the memories from the past when they were starting to know each other.

“You remember our first date?” he asks

“Yes” she nods “It was a pretty good date I think”

“Never thought we will be back to this funfair with our daughter years later”

“Me neither. And I think your father regrets now that he said yes to this” Isa motions to her right where Elvi is forcing his grandpa to get on one of the rides.

“I should go with her instead if I don’t want to collect my father’s corpse after this” he grins and they walk towards the people queuing.

“Elvi, leave abuelito, Dad is going with you” Isa tries to sound like an authority but she keeps laughing watching poor Chucho scared

“No, I want to go with you” she crosses her arms and pouts “With you both, mami y papi” she says

“I-I” Isa simpers

“Leave mami, she doesn’t like this kind of things”

“No!” she cries “Like abuelo said, we’re going together all of us”

“Honey...” Javi bends to her, but Isa posses her hand on his shoulder

“Okay, I’ll go too, but you leave abuelo stay”

She seems to hesitate for a bit, but then she nods and finally Chucho breathes deeply in relief.

“Be careful” he says walking way too fast away from the queue

The attraction simulates a ship going forward and backward, each time farther away and faster. Isa exhales trying to calm herself down while Elvi and her husband laugh at her.

“Remember I told you I puked in one ride the first time I came to the fair? So this is the one, you two won’t be laughing once I vomit all over you both” she screams and that makes them laugh even more

The first two rounds are not that bad. Isa holds one hand on her seat the other over Elvi’s body. Javier reaches timidly at first to brush his fingers over hers as to reassure her, he’s about to recoil but she holds on tightly to his fingers, her eyelids strongly closed. When thing finally stops, Isa can barely walk.

Elvira is already jumping towards Chucho trying to convince him to get on another round with her.

“Hold on to me come on” Javi says holding her by the waist it’s been two days since he last touch her. Two days where he has tried to hold her hand or subtly tried to bump into her while on the kitchen but she has refused his touch. So he closes his fingers on the dress trying to hold on what she has finally given him and not force the situation and make her go back to that state again. Although all he wants is to hold her in his arms and take the pain he sees on her eyes away. Pain you have caused, idiot.

“No way, señorita, you will kill you grandpa” he responds

Time passes and Isa is no longer shaking and can stand on her legs, but lets her husband’s arm around her, his hand rubs gentle circle on her side.

“We should get you something to eat”

There’s a big plain at the center of the fair where they’ve installed a stage and some tables facing it; around the terrain many foodtrucks offer anything you’d like to eat and fill the air with million different and delicious scents.

Javi kisses her temple “I’ll be back”

After ravishing a burger and fries Isa feels the cold sweat and the nausea fading away. The band is now playing slow songs and a many couples are dancing around the colorful little lights that cross over the flatland. Chucho clears his throat and looks at his son in a not very subtle way and motion his head to the people dancing and then to his wife.

“Do you want to dance?” Isa sips her soda and seems confused by his offering

“You don’t dance”

“I dance... sometimes, c’mon, it’s been a long time” he stand up and tends a hand to her gaining a smirk and a wink from his father.

The band starts playing a bachata. Javi lays her hand on her lower back feeling the way her hips go right and left, her soft breath on his chest while he brushes his lips on her forehead.

“I think this one was on that tape I gave you” she says on his ear, raising her voice over the music

“Suggestive enough” he smirks “We listened to that tape on a loop in my car that summer”

“I don’t know if I’d call listen to a tape what we used to do in your car” she laughs

“Yeah, the nights at the riverbank and that tape...I remember”

“I wish we could go back sometimes” she whispers so softly that Javi is not sure if she just says it to herself

The song ends and the people cheer and clap but they stay in a tight embrace knowing that when they let go and they’re back to square one. Javi is still parting on Monday and Isabel will stay always waiting for him to come back.

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

The trip back home is calm; Chucho drives while the radio plays some classics from the 60’s, Isabel holds her child’s head on her chest, her other hand lays lazily between the seats, slowly advancing towards Javi’s thigh until she brushes her knuckles over his jeans. He turns to face her but she keeps looking through the window at the night sky and the fading lights of the fair. After leaving Elvira on bed, Chucho feels that it’s time for him to leave the two of them alone.

“I’m going to sleep, you don’t have to wake up early but I’ll go to church tomorrow at nine” Chucho announces before going to his room

The humble space in the living room suddenly feels like a world away from one end to the other, from the corner where Javi stand to Isa on the other. She looks down trying to find the things she wants to say and to command her feet to walk, to run to him.

“I think I’m going to sleep” Javi says unbuttoning his shirt

“Do you want to walk with me? Just for a bit” she interrupts

“Yeah...okay” he raises his brow confused but agrees instantly, whatever makes her talk to him again.

They walk around the property, the crickets and breeze the only sound around them. The animals are asleep and the current of the nearby river is stronger in that part of the ranch.

“I used to love nights like this” she says eventually

“Yeah, I’d pick you up after your shifts at the bar and we spent the night right here” he points to an old red truck now dusty and abandoned.

“I should have known better than to end up with a guy that fucks you on a pick up because his father is sleeping inside the house” she scoffs

“Well, to be fair, I remember I fucked you in plenty other places” he jokes back “Do you want to see if that old tape is still there?”

They approach the shed where Chucho keeps the old car, the door squeaks when Javi opens it.

“Ladies first” he lays out a hand so Isa can get inside and impulse herself on the step. They sit, as many years ago, on the black leather seat that is well preserved even if it’s been years since the last time it was used. Isa throws a look behind her; the blankets they used to cushion their bodies are still there, and she sighs softly

“When was the last time that we did it here?” she asks while Javi struggles to open the radio that’s full of dirt and rust.

“Probably two weeks before you told me that you were pregnant” he guesses

“Poor Elvi, we made her on this old thing” she laughs

“Our lives and my back were never the same” he jokes

“It was me who was most of the time on back” Isa slaps him playfully “So dumbed by you I’d let you do anything over those old rugs”

“Under the stars, listening to Juan Luis Guerra...it was romantic, you told me yourself” he defended

“Again I was dumb”

“I still think this old thing brought us many joyful moments” he taps on the dashboard

“Nostalgic I see” Isa smirk

“A little, you?”

“You’re trying to fuck your way out of this one too” she sighs shaking her head

“Just trying to give my wife a good orgasm before leaving”

“Oh, you’re so sure of yourself”

“Empiric fact, don’t I always make you cum?”

His hand raises the hem of her dress and pulls her legs apart. Her panties already have a damp patch on its center and he grunts feeling her moan just with the faintest brush of his finger between her folds

“What did the song say? I want to spend the whole night wet in you”

Isa gasps when he pulls her to his lap in a swift motion.

“Something like that” she bends her head and kisses him hard biting his lower lip softly

“I want to make love shapes under the moonlight” Javi raises slowly her summer dress until he takes it off and wastes no time in kissing and licking her bare breasts once they’re liberated from the fabric. He tends to one first cupping it, licking and sucking on her nipple and then to the other until her soft skin gets gooseflesh. Isabel moans and rocks her hips back and forth trying to find relief.

“Face to face, kiss by kiss, I want to live always wet in you” he whispers before resuming his sweet attention on her tits

“You learnt it by heart” she laughs

“Cos it’s accurate, that’s how I feel about you, baby”

Isabel unzips his jeans and palms his length over his underwear before releasing him. She wets her hand with her own saliva before stroking him up and down. Helping her, Javi reaches for her core and slips the wet panties to the side not without caressing her clit first with his thumb

“Isa” he moans feeling her arousal, his head on the hollow of her neck nibbling over her pulse. The way he pronounces her name, how he caresses every letter sends her shivers and increases her hunger for him. She reaches between her bodies and lets his cock slide inside her. She starts rocking her hips, moving up and down and in a few thrust she finds the perfect angle where he hits that sensitive spot.

“Shit” she pants

Javi whispers praises in her ear how good she feels, how beautiful she looks naked in the moonlight with him buried so deep inside her. And with that she loses control and rides him faster and harder with her back arched against the dashboard; sensing her immediate release Javier locks his lips on her breasts sucking on her nipples and reaching for her clit between their bodies.

“Cum for me, my love” he says, his gaze fixed in her contort expression, eyes closed and mouth open and she shakes around him feeling tense for a second and then as if her bones had melted she collapses on his chest.

Javi thrusts lazily feeling how she quivers around his cock and lets her relax from her orgasm before increasing the pace again to find relief.

Regaining a bit of her conscience, Isa straightens her body and lets him push in her hard and fast until he crumbles.

They stay there under the moon and starts in the old car where all started; a thousand times they had lost themselves in each other like this, and a thousand times Isa wishes that everything would be as easy as this with him.

She strokes his arms drawing soft circles over his muscles “I know you can’t, but I really want you to stay with us, with me. But if leaving this time helps you understand that you belong to me and your place is here, with me, then so be it”

[mimiplaysgames]

A Powerful Enough Dream (Ch. 9)

Pairing: Terra/Aqua (eventually) Rating: T Word Count: 4,554

Summary: It is time to rescue Ven. Aqua steps into Castle Oblivion, not knowing what’s waiting inside.

Read on AO3

A/N: I wasn’t planning on publishing this one too soon - it just happened lolol. I do want to say that I’m sorry this chapter is so canon-divergent. I planned it before KH3 came out and I don’t have the time to rewrite everything. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

~*~*~*~*~

Oblivion, pt. 1

Stars shoot past Aqua in a melted blur. The faster she goes, the less she notices. Keyblade wielders should be humble. They should take their time to acknowledge and admire life, promised as students that their Light sturdies under such discipline. But screw it - she’s too excited to bother with the view.

All she has to do is listen. Once her heart connects to that place, her glider leads the rest of the way.

Sora and the others lag behind. Their gummi ship is impressive but it’s basically a tourist’s vessel, locked to the celestial highways that have to be traveled in full, unable to perform any of the warps her glider is capable of. At some point, she disappears from their radar, and she hovers in the middle of space to wait for them.

It shouldn’t take this long to get to Ven. They hold her back.

Aqua breathes heavily into her helmet, watching for signs of Sora’s bright red beast of a ship. The confines of her armor, absurdly enough, take some getting used to. She made it with her own hands, once a proud moment from her road to mastery. Yet it feels like she’s outgrown it. It’s heavy and tight, constricting the rise of her arms and the strides of her legs. It could be that she has gotten used to living without it. It could be that it doesn’t recognize her anymore.

That’s a terrifying thought. Aqua shakes it out of her head. It’s just because it’s been a long time since she’s worn it. That’s all.

Lightning snaps and cracks, and Sora’s gummi ship breaks through a barrier that tears a hole through space. Behind it is a mess of passageways marked by colored stars and dust. By normal standards, a passageway to the Land of Departure means he’d need to discover and unlock his way, but instead Sora has to blast through to catch up to her. There has to be some kind of transgression for it, but they’ve wasted enough time to think about collateral damage right now.

Her engine revs up and she soars, Sora trailing closely. She can’t feel the air through her armor as it darkens, but pressure mounts on her shoulders. Negative space squeezes her waist, her arms, her chest, threatening to collapse. It’s thickening. She’s getting close.

By the time she lands, there aren’t any more stars left to see.

Shedding her armor, Aqua breathes in humid air. Storm clouds smother the sky, but it doesn’t rain. Did it ever in the years she’s been gone? The dirt doesn’t thirst for anything, and the cliffs buckle with every step.

The castle (not home, something else) is ugly. Painted the color of stale excrement, it contorts in ways that can’t have been built by human hands. Towers stick out sideways and upside down, criss-crossed and layered where no staircases could practically fit inside. The castle suspends itself in the air by nothing except someone’s imagination.

There’s supposed to be grass underneath her shoes - or maybe stone tile leading to the terrace. Either of the two. Looking over the cliffside, she’s supposed to see rivers miles below, too far to hear their work. Now it’s just blackness. Morbid curiosity questions how long it would take for her to find new ground if she jumps off.

A couple of yards away was where Ven caught a grasshopper and claimed it as his own pet. He never expected he’d crush it by accident. He never expected he’d bury it in that same spot.

If Aqua remembers correctly, there’s supposed to be a tiny dirt path, right here, that would’ve led her to a clearing in the forest, down a lower altitude by several notches, where she and Terra kept a chest of old toys they couldn’t let go of, and letters they wanted to keep but forgot about. Where they kissed for the first time because she was curious, and Terra shrugged it off like it wasn’t a big deal, and she did the same.

Where there should be that forest is nothing but air now.

But home is home, always a fortress, always there to shelter, just like it does for Ven if only by a new expression.

The thunder of Sora’s engines roar before they quiet, exhaling one last time when he lands. He brings everyone with him - Lea is the first to come out, mouth wide open in a stupefied gasp, his glare demanding an explanation.

“Castle Oblivion?” He gesticulates, letting his hands slap his hips. “Sure, it’s not the easiest place to get to. But you could have done us all the humanly decent thing, and said so.”

“Castle Oblivion?” Aqua repeats. The words sound foul.

“You mean your lot didn’t name it?” He crosses his arms as he steps by her side. He’s too smug, like he finds that fact giddy.

“No, of course not, this…” This is the first time it’s ever happened in our history.

“If it wasn’t you, then it had to have come from our favorite, friendly Nobody.” Still smug. Stars, she’d punch him. “Xemnas.”

Despite the warning in her eyes at the mention of that name, Lea sneers. “It’s quite the comfortable home, if you’re interested in psychopathy.”

“You’ve been inside?” she hushes, tying up an apology behind her lips. What if he doesn’t know?

“Don’t worry.” He waves a hand at her. “I was a Nobody at the time. Not like I was that attached.”

So he knows. “You’re lucky you ever got out,” Aqua mutters.

“That attached to what?” Sora skips over, an innocent smile plastered so hard on his face that the horrible truth still wouldn’t peel it off of him.

“Memories,” Riku answers.

If Riku knows, then surely he’s lost some. Aqua nearly blurts out her concern for him, but he flashes her a gentle smirk and rolls a shoulder like it barely matters.

“Is that supposed to mean something?” Sora asks as Kairi tags along, who is unzipping and zipping Donald’s cap.

“The Organization used it to research memories,” Lea says. “We even went so far as to manipulate them - you know, plant a little bit of this, tweak a little bit of that.”

“And this is important, why?”

“The castle has a defense mechanism,” Aqua says, glancing at Riku, “to protect the delicate balance of this world so we could give all Keyblade trainees a safe refuge. The rooms aren’t truly real anymore. Threats who wander in are… forced to relive certain events in their life.”  

But Riku doesn’t have much of a reaction.

“Anyway,” she continues, “the memories replayed aren’t always exact. They reflect the heart of the person the castle is reading. So yes, it would be the perfect place to experiment with them.”

“I’ve been in this star-forsaken place more than I wished for,” Lea says, giving the castle a lookover. “My most important mission was to find one particular room. I never did.”

Hearing that was comforting. “Because the rooms inside move around,” Aqua says. “The point is to make the intruder confused. Make them obsessed with remembering correctly that they continue to wander. Until they forget why they’re there.”

Sora gapes, his eyes bulging. “You were the one who designed it like that? You’re savage.”

“Gawrsh,” Goofy says, holding a chin to his hand. His vowels ripple. “Ya think it’d be a nifty place to keep Xehanort locked up in.”

Donald frowns and fists his hips. “And you left Ventus in there?”

“Yes, and I’m the only one who can get him out,” she says sternly, choosing not to elaborate on the how. She sucks in a breath. “The castle won’t exactly recognize me, either. But I have the key.”

“How do we stop ourselves from losing memories?” Kairi asks. For a first mission, this one is entirely inappropriate.

“We don’t. I’m going in alone.” Aqua has long accepted the responsibility, thinking about this moment since the day she closed those doors. She chooses to ignore the disappointed look on Kairi’s face - once full of curiosity and hope at finally being allowed to show her worth.

“But you shouldn’t have to do this alone,” Sora says, stepping forward.

Aqua purses her lips. She’s done good not telling him everything.

“I do.”

“What is it with you and Terra and your obsessions with marching a one-man parade?” Sora grins, rubbing his nose. Riku snorts. “You’re going to have to learn to take ‘Nah’ for an answer. I think Ventus would agree with me.”

“Ditto,” Lea says.

“It was your bright idea to leave him and now we have to fix it,” Donald grumbles.

You were the ones who followed me. Aqua bites her lip.

It’s Aqua against six others who disagree with her, who came all the way here like she’s the one needing a chaperone. Ven would have wanted to come too, given the chance. He’s just better at submitting to her demands, even if he hated them, even if he didn’t want to understand they were for his safety.

“But your memories-”

“It really isn’t fair that Sora forgets what it’s like to be in there anyway,” Riku says, arms crossed and flexed.

Sora furrows his brows. “What would we forget?”

“Whatever you’re giving the castle,” Aqua says, starting quiet then raising her voice. “It will snatch something you’re passionate about… Your best defense is to simply look away. Believe in your own integrity, instead of what you see.”

“That…” Kairi picks at her cuticles. “Doesn’t sound too bad.”

That’s only because they’ve never spent years weighing the consequences.

“Consider this: how long would it take you to get to Ventus?” Lea asks.

“Not long at all. I can summon him to the first room,” Aqua says.

“Then we skidaddle in and run the stars out.” He mimics walking movement with his fingers. “You’re too paranoid. We didn’t travel all this way to admire the decorator’s taste. Award-winning, I tell you.”

Aqua takes a moment to study each of them, hoping her eyes spoke of horrors she can’t find the words for. But they smile back with encouragement. She considers tying them up with her chains to see if they enjoy feeling trapped under pressure.

She sighs. “The less amount of time we take, the better.”

The front door protests when she opens it, heavy and dragging across the pale floor. The inside is sterile, so white that the reflected light blinds. Every surface she can see is scrubbed clean of any and all personality. Like a hospital. Like a morgue.

At first glance, it’s just a simple room. A door innocently waits on the other side, the same monocolor as everything else. Their footsteps clank hard on the tile floor.

“Can’t believe I get to see the magic this time,” Lea says, the volume of his voice normal, but too strong for this room.

“You bums are pretty late for the show,” a gravelly voice replies. Aqua catches him leaning casually at the corner of the room, his black helmet a stark stain against the wall. She swears he wasn’t there before. She swears she got rid of him. She wonders if it’s still Ven’s face underneath.

“You again,” Sora barks.

“Took you long enough to get here,” Vanitas says, straightening up. “A really long time. Venty-Wenty needs his mommy to wake him up, but it’s like…” He snorts. “It’s like you forgot you had a kid waiting for you. Some mother you make.”

Donald slaps his webbed foot on the floor, his voice grating. “We’re too busy to deal with you. Now scram!”

“I have more right to be here than you,” he says, a sudden leap downhill trickling through his voice. His posture, however short he is, stays tall and proud. “I got here first. I outperformed the parent.” He jabs a finger in the air. “Don’t believe my sincerity, but I’ve got all the family business to pick with my own brother. It’s inhumane to keep us apart.” Vanitas summons his Keyblade, electrical sparks warping the air before its monstrosity takes form. “It’s been almost thirteen years, Aqua. What do you say? We can make this reunion worth the wait.”

Aqua scoffs through her nose. So he wants to think he’s still that much of a threat, after everything she’s seen. She keeps her nose high. “I don’t think about the gnat I’m stepping on.”

He pauses before he laughs. “You almost bruised me there, Master Aqua. What kind of selfish person would say something like that.” Darkness sputters from his body, ribbons crawling out of the leathery web of his skin. Monsters, Unversed. Red-eyed and twitchy, with more spunk and intelligent thought than the feral mind-numbing of a Heartless. “It suits you.”

This time, Aqua doesn’t hesitate. Her Master’s Defender takes form, and she charges. The sound of Keyblade summons bounce off the walls like bells as the mob of Unversed swarms. She takes out a swath of them in one icy hit, a sudden euphoria taking over her body - it’s good exercise to have. Beating him up should release some of the tension in her shoulders.

Still, she has to be careful about one thing: she can’t let Vanitas follow her.

“Get rid of them!” she yells.

By superficial glance, Vanitas is outnumbered, but the Unversed keep coming. Wave after wave of aggressive emotion. As though humans will never go numb.

Sora takes the enthusiastic lead. Lea stays behind and relies on his pot-shots. Riku hovers near Kairi, who does her best juggling creatures she’s never fought before. Donald sounds like he’s cursing when he really isn’t as he casts thunderous spells, and Goofy builds a strong defense on the front line, right by Sora’s side.

Aqua focuses on Vanitas, who has his arms wide open like a goal post.

But Sora juts in, and Aqua staggers to avoid hitting him.

“He’s nothing but a creep. Leave him,” he says, blocking one of Vanitas’ explosive attacks on her behalf.

“I have to end this,” she spits.

“Then stop talking and end it,” Vanitas growls, his Keyblade brimming with heat as he slams it against Sora’s.

“What about the time we’re spending in the castle? It’s ticking,” Sora asks her, his brows furrowed upside down.

“You’re boring me,” Vanitas says. He ghosts through the space between them, throwing an electrified force like he’s batting a swing. Aqua dodges, using the Defender as a lightning rod, and redirects the intensity until it crumbles into a wall away from everyone else.

“We’re not alone!” Lea calls out, the smoke of his fire spells clouding the room.

Something slithers, weaving through the air with a high-pitched wiggle. The thing is white, bending like it can compute Aqua’s strike before she has the chance to think of it. Its skin is thick yet fluid, reverberating her magic like it’s jelly. All of its movements are calculated - the way it walks is unnatural, as if someone is inputting commands into its mind.

“Nobodies!”

“Finally, some proper entertainment.” Vanitas catches Kairi off-guard, throwing her backward. “You got children in your team. Proud of yourself?”

If Aqua goes ahead and hurries to Ven, none of them would have to sacrifice their memories.

If she leaves them alone, would she betray their need for help?

“Just go,” Sora says. “It’s not a big deal. Look at him.” He waves to Vanitas, who is messing with Lea now. “He’s like an angry chicken.”

That’s the last word she’d use to describe Vanitas, but they’ve wasted so much time already.

“You promise?”

“Promise to trust my word?”

Aqua sighs and grips his shoulder, her fingers digging into his sleeve. His eyes go wide, getting the message. “Don’t underestimate him. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The door handle churns when she grabs it. Pops, whirs, and shouts rally behind her in a thunderous roar, and she stops herself from turning the knob.

“I didn’t say you could see him!” Vanitas yells, coming toward her like she’s the only one whose existence has any value. Riku blocks his way, scruffed up from vanquishing enemies in one intricate attack a moment before.

The lock turns. She wants to see Ven but she doesn’t, not with enemies so close.

Vanitas dodges strings of attacks from all sides, from her friends, from Goofy throwing his body across the room, from Donald screaming incoherent gibberish. “Not without me!”

It almost sounds… painful. If he’s this bothered, then she can only imagine how much hatred and disgust fuel his words.

Poor Ven for having to deal with him.

She shuts the door behind her, suffocating the noise, cutting off Vanitas’ verbal assault, like an eraser swallowing an exclamation mark.

Aqua stands at the entrance hall of what used to be the old castle, gold pillars holding up ivory walls, coated in stained glass light. Down the hall are staircases leading up to the throne room where she had her Mark of Mastery, right where they’re supposed to be.

She should’ve been more careful than let the castle into her mind. Damn it.

“Nothing is real,” she declares. Someone could be upstairs. The Master. With his bushy mustache and ridiculous hairstyle that she’s offered to cut for years. What would he say to her?

Maybe she could apologize. She really wants to.

No. The castle will conjure him only because she’s thinking of him. “I won’t look. I won’t.”

Some part of her jumped at the thought that it could be Terra… She could hear Terra’s voice. It’d be exact, his smile something she’s needed. It could be wonderful. It could be sad.

“I won’t look,” she whispers, taking a peek up at the balcony over the foyer to see if she could at least spot a head of hair. She sees the stained glass mural in the same beautiful shapes she’s mimicked with crayons, hovering right above the thrones. The colors do their best work in the late morning, just like how they glistened prims on Terra’s shoulders when she dueled him.

Aqua inhales sharply. She runs past the stairs and down another hallway to the left, to a door that normally would lead to the kitchen.  

Is she remembering that right? The kitchen?

“It doesn’t matter.” It does. But Ven. She grips a new door handle, so much like the ones back home (the same golden color).

She hisses. “Ven,” she calls, willing the word onto the door.

Aqua enters another empty white room with yet another door at the opposite side, like she smothered white paint all over a filled canvas. Who knows how far she’s moved away from the others by now, or how many rooms have sifted in between.

But the whiteness is exactly what she wants - to get to Ven, she’ll need some peace and quiet, and a bit of time to grieve.

Something is wrong, though. Aqua doesn’t take another step. The rooms should read her, not watch her.

“Who’s there?”

Footsteps lightly tread, weighty but feathery. A man in a black robe gracefully makes his appearance from behind a stone pillar, his face a secret under the hood. A giant of a man, barrel-chest with a thick waist, at least two heads taller than her.

“I had missed the chance to see you before,” he says, his voice deep and smooth, but forceful like the bottom of an ocean. Aqua’s heart hammers at the familiarity. “Now I’ve been granted a tabula rasa...”

Aqua scoffs, Defender at the ready.

“My friend,” Xemnas says.

“You’re not my friend.”

“Even I am not that cruel to be so cold. How can you say that to someone who has longed to see you?”

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?”

Xehanort’s Nobody hums, halfway between a chuckle and solemn breath. “I don’t need the pity.”

“Then I have nothing else for you.”

Aqua is the first to move, casting a barrier around herself for protection, expecting him to conjure up spells of his own. Instead, out of his palms burst two red sabers that throb when she gets close.

He strikes her with both, clutching Defender’s jab and throwing her off balance. He’s too fast for his size - he has to be utilizing the darkness to bend the laws of physics. Showing off his acrobatics and reappearing in places she doesn’t expect, he toys with the space between them, coming close to taunt her into hitting him. Then he goes away in a flash. Aqua scrambles to keep up.

“Enough of this,” she mutters.

Summoning her Master’s chains takes more from her than any other spell, but they’re her rock and wind - as though Eraqus is with her every step of the way, approving her decisions. They are Light incarnate into metal, threads that peel chunks away from her heart to take form. To justify conjuring them, she needs to land a certain blow.

This is Xehanort’s Nobody, after all. Watching him wince will be a welcome sight.

They wrap around his body, locking his sabers against his thighs. He shudders from the pain, his knees losing their strength. Yes, that’s exactly what she wants.

Like finding new resolve, Xemnas stands straight on trembling feet just as she was sure he’d collapse. She must be exhausted from conjuring them, she has to be. They shouldn’t be this weak. Dark energy crackles and whips against the links. His arms manage to flex outward, pushing against the hold.

Maybe that’s the point. To survive this, he can’t be anything close to human. He’s technically Nothing.

Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe she isn’t sure she wants this.

“An old trick,” Xemnas says, loosening one arm.

This is her only chance. Aqua pinches the gap between them in an instant, her Master’s Defender high in the air to knock him out.

Xemnas grabs her by the wrist, the Defender suspended in air. His hand is so large that his fingers lock together, twisting and squeezing her that she’s worried he’ll break it.

Aqua tries to jerk free but the pain cuts into her circulation.

He watches her squirm. “Like a trapped mouse with not the mind to know there’s nowhere to go. No need to skirmish so much.”

“Let go of me.”

“Why do you hate me so?” He squeezes harder and lifts her, her feet dangling off the floor. She yelps. “You fight me though you know me as faceless. Such harsh disregard for my existence.”

“Spare me,” she breathes, her wrist throbbing, “your stupid pleas.”

“But I do plea.” Xemnas gently lifts the hood off his head. It’s not the shoulder-length silver hair that surprises her, but his face. Yellow eyes, but the same face.

She gasps. “Terra.”

Wrong. Everything about him is wrong - the smile, the malicious glint in his eye, the tightened half-smirk. A callous Terra looking down on her like the gnat under a shoe, needing to be scraped off.

“You’re hurting me,” she whimpers to (Terra’s face), hoping to catch the tiniest reaction in his eyes that he’d feel bad for doing so - just like Terra would. But he doesn’t.

This is supposed to be Xehanort’s body without a heart. But she’s been misleading herself, hasn’t she?

(Terra’s body) wanting to be her friend, wanting to stay close, wanting to reconnect. And she wanted the same. Aqua swallows bile.

This bastard stole from her.

She throws a kick into his face with enough force that he lets her go. Xemnas stumbles backward, holding his chin where her shoe made contact. He winces. Good.

“You’re nothing like him!” Aqua says, flexing her sore, thick grip on the Defender. It twitches and singes.

Xemnas stays where he is, carefully massaging his chin like she isn’t in the room anymore. If he heard her, he doesn’t give notice, staring blankly at the floor. She wonders - for the slightest moment - if what she said actually stung him.

“You can try,” he says.

“Excuse me?”

“Try it.” He conjures his blades. “Obliterate me. Let’s see if you make peace with doing so after seeing my face.”

Shut up. Aqua lunges at him, ignoring the ache on her wrist. But instead of using his blades against her, a wall of light erects from the floor. She collides into it. It electrocutes her, throwing her back.

An offensive barrier? Terra’s used this. Protecting her in the Realm of Darkness right after finding her. This really is Terra’s body.

A cry echoes against the tile. It came out of her own mouth. She can’t lose it here.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re his body,” she whispers to herself, standing up. She stumbles as Xemnas casually approaches, his footsteps as soft as the adrenaline dissipating from her body. Numbness is quickly replaced by the stinging in her wrist. It’s harder to take calming breaths.

It matters. It matters too much.

Aqua huffs, telling herself to stop thinking about who’s in the room and start thinking about the people depending on her. “You’re wasting my time,” she declares.

She turns on her heel and heads for the door.

A blast explodes near the exit. Over her shoulder, Aqua sees Xemnas holding out his palm, smoke fizzing out of the leather of his glove.

“After all this time?” he asks.

Aqua gives herself a conscious reminder that Nobodies can’t truly feel. Lea is sure to disagree, but there’s little in Xemnas’ voice to tell her there’s anything left of Terra in that mind.

She yells. Such a primitive thing to do, but it tricks her body for a few precious moments into feeling she has the strength to pull off something big and reckless. Chains of light emanate from her body.

The chains pummel in different directions, and Xemnas erects several barriers to counter each one. Neither of them actually target him. It’s not that she’s getting worse at her aim. Or getting brittle. She knows this. It’s everything to do with (him), and she’s ashamed of it.

At least they’re distracting him.

Aqua yanks the door handle with her good hand, a pressure bursting from the other side and swallowing her as she closes it behind her.

Warmth beats on her shoulders. Tall stone towers conquer the space around her, blocking off the horizon. Aqua only sees gently setting sunlight. She’s somewhere on a terrace of a castle, tucked away from the main streets.

Her heart drops when she realizes it’s Radiant Garden.

“No, no, no, no,” she murmurs, palming the brick walls behind her for a door. For the feeling of a doorknob. She can’t have this now. She can’t stand to witness one of her worst memories.

A few feet ahead. There, a gray door that would take her out to an alley - out of this room. It’s just a room.

But the castle knows.

It only takes a second. A tall figure catches her peripheral attention.

Terra, with a scowl on his face. He’s impeccable: thick, effortlessly tousled hair just right, the pensive deepness of his eyes far away and hurt, unsure of her presence there. Something about him is tense, like he’s about to turn over his shoulder and walk away from her all over again.

Aqua has only one wish to ask what she used to call home. Smile. Please, smile.

[katecarteir]

it takes a village

pairing: stanley uris/patricia blum uris [stanpat] & eddie kaspbrak/richie tozier [reddie] rating: general word count: 2,097 summary: Stan and Patty go over to visit the Kaspbrak-Tozier family and they carry a very important question with them. ⤹ my fic for @theparadigmshifts for the @it-fandom-exchange​

perma taglist: @jwilliambyers, @stebbins, @isaacslaheys, @s-s-georgie, @transrich@eddiefuckinkaspbrak, @edstozler, @emgays, @anellope, @thorn-harvester-ven, @wheezyeds, @vipertooth, @tozierking, @billdenbrough, @starrystoziers, @trashmouthtozierr, @itfandomprompts, @loserslibrary (let me know if you want added!)

“Stop looking like I’m asking you to shove your finger into an electric pencil sharpener.”

Stan startled, looking up from his phone to glance at his wife with a deep, lingering frown. When he noticed her expecting glare, he forced the frown away and gave her a soft smile. “I’m sorry. It’s just a weird thought, doing this. I don’t know how to feel about it.”

Patty came forward and knelt in front of Stan’s spot on the couch. She tilted her head down to catch his gaze. “We’ve talked about this a lot, but Stan, if you’ve changed your mind, I understand. If you don’t want to do this anymore-”

“No.” Stan interrupted her, reaching out to take his wife’s hands in his. “I want to do this, I do. It’s just… the idea of asking Richie this favour sort of makes my skin crawl a little bit. You know what he’s like.”

Patty shook her head, confusion settling deep in her features. “Richie’s your best friend, you two are like brothers. Did you want to ask somebody else?”

Stan huffed out a harsh breath, running the hand that was holding Patty’s through his brown curls and messing up his usual perfect style. “There’s nobody I’d rather ask to do this than Richie. There’s nobody else I ever would ask. It’s just… You know Richie. I’m worried he’s going to be a shit about it.”

Patty smiled, then broke into giggles. “Awe, Stanny. Don’t dwell on it. If anything, Eddie is going to be a bigger concern.”

Stan groaned, but allowed Patty to stand and pull him to his feet. Stanley Uris had been best friends with Richie Tozier since they wore diapers, their parents bathing them together. Growing up, Stan had always joked that Richie’s friendship had been forced upon him, but everybody had always known the truth; that even if Stan had had the option to choose a different best friend he never would have.

The two of them had known Eddie Kaspbrak nearly as long- and Richie had been almost pathetically in love with him the entire time. Stan wouldn’t believe that six year olds could truly fall in love, if he hadn’t grown up with Richie Tozier and Eddie Kaspbrak. There had never truly been a turning point in their relationship- no moment where they went from being Richie and Eddie to being RichieAndEddie. It had always been a gradual thing, the relationship growing up as they did. Something rare, Stan knew, but something beautiful. No matter how annoying it had been growing up.

Richie had been the one who had introduced Stan and Patty in the first place, back in their freshman year of college. They’d had a psychology class together, one Patty took for her major and Richie took for an “easy pass”. Richie had talked Patty up to him for months, until Stan had finally relented and allowed Richie to arrange a double date between them. For all the grumbling and complaining Stan had made before hand, he would never be able to thank Richie enough for pushing him to this date. Stan had never believed in love at first sight growing up, probably wouldn’t have believed in love at all if it hadn’t been Richie and Eddie, but that all changed when he met Patricia Blum. Ten years later, and Stanley supposed he owned his life and his happiness as he knew it to Richie Tozier.

And now he was about to ask him for another favour he’d never be able to repay him.

“Hey,” Eddie Kaspbrak opened the door to them. His hair stuck up at awkwardly angles and there was a questionable stain on his shirt. His socks didn’t match, and there were deep dark circles under his eyes. For a moment Stan wondered the sight of his best put together friend looking like a utter mess should have been enough to deter him from what he was about to ask, but the deeply satisfied smile and sparkle in his eye just made Stan’s passion burn deeper.

“Sorry the place is an absolute mess,” Eddie continued as he ushered the husband and wife into his house. Eddie and Richie’s house was much bigger than that of Stan and Patty’s- or any of the other Losers for that matter. Richie’s radio job paid him very generously, and his occasionally guest spots on Saturday Night Live were likely enough to cover six months of their bills. Richie once referred to Eddie’s generous mechanic’s salary as their “play money” and Bill Denbrough didn’t speak to him for two weeks.

“Patty!” The little voice of little Alyssa broke through the living room. Her brown hair was put into two messy ponytails on either side of her head, and there were green paint streaks on her cheeks. The three year old launched herself at Patty and wrapped her arms around her knees. Stan’s heart hammered in his chest.

“Hey there, princess!” Patty said, scooping her up in her arms and pressing a big kiss right over the dried paint on Alyssa’s cheeks. “Did you and Richie get into a paint war?”

Eddie rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. A little over a year ago, Eddie and Richie had adopted a pair of sisters- Alyssa, two at the time, and Katherine, just a couple months old- from an unsafe house. They had been private about the whole ordeal, but had explained to Stan and Patty that the house had been involved in a drug situation, but Stan remembered the marks on Alyssa when she’d come to live with them and he was certain nothing had ever made him more angry.

You wouldn’t know what the girl had been through now, though, looking at her. Stan marvelled at how wonderful parents Richie and Eddie were, and he wondered if he was surprised or not. He remembered Eddie being worried, when he and Richie had first first started discussing starting a family, that he would end up like his mother. Richie’s parents had been ever loving, though a little distant and absent as Richie had grown older. The Losers had all been very supportive and encouraging, and they had been right. Eddie and Richie Kaspbrak were probably the best parents Stan had ever known, more so than even the best of their own parents growing up in Derry.

It was part of what made this decision a little bit easier.

Richie came into the living room now, baby Katie in his arms. She seemed to grow ten times between each visit and Stan held out for her expectantly, cooing at her as Richie placed the girl in his arms.

“Katie’s learned to do the butt scoot.” Richie said, sounding explicitly exhausted even as pride showed through his face. “I’m telling you, Stan the Man, it’s insane how fast they can go without even being able to use their legs. I might make it my main means of transportation from now on.”

“You’d break your back moving around like that, old man.” Eddie laughed. Richie made a wounded noise, and left a wet kiss on his husband’s face. The couple turned to Stan and Patty, with matching looks of expectation.

“You guys had something you need to ask us?” Richie said as they all took their seats around the living room. Stan watched as Eddie pulled some sort of hard, pink toy out from under him and tossed it onto the floor.

“Uh, yes,” Stan said with a clear of his throat. “You guys know that Patty and I have been talking about having kids.”

It was an understatement, of course. Stan and Patty had always known that they wanted to have kids, it was one of their biggest desires in their lives. That had never been a secret, but what they’d always kept much more privately to themselves is when they started to get pregnant. For the last two years, they’d been trying. When it didn’t happen after a serious effort, they’d started with the testing and the treatments- only to find some heartbreaking results.

“We’ve uh…” Stan coughed slightly. He’d known this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to have, but he hadn’t anticipated how hard it truly was going to be to get the words out. “We’ve been having trouble getting pregnant so we got some tests done at the doctors and it turns out I can’t have kids.”

Stanley said this all as one big run on sentence, and both Eddie and Richie just blinked at him for a moment before the words caught up to them.

“Oh.” Eddie said, his eyes going wide and sad. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Stan. That’s terrible.”

Stan waved the apology off, knowing that if he let himself dwell on it that he’d get too emotional to carry on with what they’d truly come to say.

“That’s not all.” Patty said, bouncing Alyssa on her knee. “We’ve been looking into options, and the one that speaks out to us the most is probably insemination. I want to carry our baby if it’s possible at all, but the idea of using an unknown sperm donor makes us feel a little uneasy.”

Stan watched a realization settled on Eddie’s face while Richie continued to patiently listen to what their friends were saying. “So, we talked about it,” Stan jumped on to continue Patty’s explanation. “And we thought that it was maybe possible to ask somebody we knew to donate to us, if they were willing. And there was only one person we felt even close enough to be comfortable with.”

It took him a moment. It wasn’t until he realized everybody in the room, including his own husband, were looking at him that the words seemed to settle onto Richie and his mouth dropped open in surprise. “Who- what? Me?”

Patty let out a small laugh. “You were the best man at our wedding, Richie. You’re the only reason we ever even met at all.”

“I doubt that.” Richie chuckled. “You guys are obviously soulmates, you would have met one way or another. I just sped up the process.”

Stan’s heart panged in his chest with an overwhelming affection for his best friend. “We understand that this is a very out of left field question to ask you, and that it’s a lot. Please don’t feel obligated to accept simply because we asked. We can always adopt, or find another option.”

“No…” Richie said slowly, shaking his head. He shifted on the couch and looked at Eddie. “Babe?”

Eddie blinked in surprise and let out a small chuckle. “Why are you asking me? It’s your sperm.”

Richie laughed. “Eds, man, this is a big decision. I’m going to just say fuck yes without seeing how you feel about it. That’s crap, we make every important decision.”

Eddie frowned but Patty spoke up quickly. “He’s right.” She said, “we might not be asking Richie to help raise our child, but it will be biologically his. Genetics may have this thing come out looking exactly like him.”

“God forbid,” Stan said with a teasing smile. Richie and Eddie flipped him off in unison.

“Eddie-” Patty hugged Alyssa closer to herself. “We aren’t just asking for Richie’s consent. If he says yes, there will be somebody out there literally carrying your husband’s DNA inside her. If you’re not one hundred percent comfortable with that, then we won’t do it. This involves you, too.”

“We’re a team.” Richie took Eddie’s hands in his. “I won’t do anything that you aren’t okay with.”

A troubled look came over Eddie’s face, and he looked around the living room. He smiled softly as his eyes fell on Stan and Patty holding their kids. “Surprisingly, I think this world might need a little more Tozier DNA. And if anybody deserves babies it’s you guys. If Richie is okay with doing it, I’m behind you guys completely.”

Stan’s heart soared up into his throat as all eyes turned to Richie. There was a small smirk on his face. “The biological child of Richie Kaspbrak and Patricia Uris, raised by the perfection of Stanley Uris? There’s no way that the world doesn’t deserve to see that. Count me in.”

Patty let out an over excited squeal and jumped up- Alyssa still in her arms- and launched herself onto Richie. Alyssa was letting out little giggles as Stan stood slowly, holding the baby, and tugged a crying Eddie into a tight embrace.

He loved his family, and he couldn’t wait to see it grow.

[xandertheundead]

Jealous Mike for Stanlon? I never see jealous Mike!

Sure thing, Anon! Here you go!

Mike had never really been the jealous type. 

Sure, when he was little and he’d seen other kids have something that he wished he could have he felt a small pang, but nothing as ugly as jealousy.

Nothing he truly cared about was ever in a situation where he felt those bitter ugly feelings well up in him. His dog, his parents, his grandfather even his favorite BB gun his dad had gotten him when he was little, he’d never had to worry about someone else having them because they were Mike’s and everyone knew that.

Stanley Uris however, wasn’t his and he wished more than ever that the boy was.

That’s why when he saw Stacy Briggs talking to Stan in the hall he felt something painful and awful rise up in his chest.

Bev had heard that Stacy Briggs wanted to ask Stan to the homecoming dance and Mike watched as she laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. She wasn’t being very subtle and Mike had to stop himself from rolling his eyes when she reached out to gently push at his arm.

When Stan laughed at something she said Mike couldn’t help it, he let the word slip out from his mouth before he could even think about it.

“Bitch.”

“Who’s a bitch?”

Mike jumped when Richie slung an arm around his shoulder, moving his head around to see who Mike could be talking about. Immediately Mike felt shame rise up, his cheeks going red as he quickly shook his head at Richie’s question. He was being rude and unfair, all Stacy did was like the same guy he did and that wasn’t a reason to call her that.

“No one, Richie.” Mike said with a sigh and he could tell Richie didn’t buy it, but luckily he didn’t ask anymore questions.

“So, you ready to ask Stan-the-Man to homecoming?”

Mike gulped, watching the way Stacy moved a little closer to Stan, suddenly the tickets to the bird exhibit were burning a hole in his pocket. He had invited Stan to the bird exhibit, saying no one else wanted to go with him and Stan had quickly agreed to go with him, never even questioned why Mike bought two tickets before knowing how many people were going. The losers had helped paint the sign, it was now folded up neatly and carefully in his backpack and Mike took took a deep breath as Stan glanced to the side from his conversation with Stacy.

Their eyes met and the smile that moved over Stan’s face made Mike’s legs feel weak.

They both watched as Stan turned to Stacy and said something, her smile dimming a little when he said something but she nodded and waved as he started jogging towards them.

“Hey guys.” He said a little breathless and Mike just wanted to hug him. “Mike I just have to get my chemistry textbook from my locker and we can head out.”

“Uh, yeah. Hello!” Richie called before Mike could respond. “What am I chopped liver?”

Stan rolled his eyes, but his mood didn’t seem to sour in the slightest. “Yeah. Hi, Richie.”

“That’s more like it.” Richie replied, removing his arm from Mike’s shoulder a tossing them a wave. “Alright. You nerds go and enjoy your bird date, I’m going to find my sexy Spaghetti.”

“It’s not a date!” Both Stan and Mike sputtered, and they both looked at each other with their cheeks red.

“So,” Mike started and jerked his head in the direction of the stairs. “Should we go get that text book?”

Soon they were in Mike’s truck, he had meticulously cleaned and vacuumed it out the night before, and headed for the zoo. Stan even commented on the little air freshener Mike had gone out to buy specifically for the trip. Fresh lemon in the shape of a small bluebird that could clip to his air conditioning and Stan loved it which made Mike beam with pride.

When they had parked, got in to the zoo and found the exhibit, Mike’s palms were starting to sweat. As they waiting in line for their ticket to be checked he started wondering if maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. It would put Stan on the spot in front of others and what if he really didn’t want to go with Mike like that, 

This was a bad idea. A huge mistake.

They made their way into the area where hundreds of parakeets flew around freely and the way Stan looked as the flew over him was just amazing. He pointed to every different color parakeet he saw, telling Mike why their colors differed and when Mike bought two long popsicle sticks covered in bird seed he thought Stan’s mind was about to explode when a small yellow parakeet landed on his arm to take a nibble.

“This is amazing.” Stan whispered, watching as the bird hopped to his hand so it could start to eat the birdseed on the stick. “Seriously, Mike. Thank you for asking me to come.”

“O-of course.” Mike choked out and they both watched as the bird finished it’s meal and flew back into the branches. “Um, so Stan I wanted to ask you something.”

“Wait.” Stan said suddenly, looking up at him suddenly so serious. “I have to ask you something first.”

“Okay?”

Stan licked his lips, glancing down at the floor before taking a big breath in and letting it out slowly. “So, you probably heard the rumors about Stacy and homecoming.”

Mike’s gut twisted and he started to feel chilled. “Uh, yeah I did.”

“Right.” Stan nodded and then grimaced. “So, I’m sorry if this makes me look like an absolute bastard but you kind of already knew I was one.”

Oh god. Did Stan know? Was Stan rejecting him before Mike could even ask? 

Mike hated that he felt like he was about to cry and when Stan took Mike’s hand in his Mike could feel his eyes start to sting.

“Mike, will you go to homecoming with me?”

Mike blinked. His world came to a screeching halt as his brain had to restart and rewind because he had missed something very important.

“Wait...what?” Mike replied quietly, then started to gain his voice back ashe let his thoughts tumble from his mouth.. “I’m confused. Why are you a bastard for asking me? Why are you asking me and talking about the rumor with Stacy? Did Stacy ask you already? I heard she wasn’t going to ask till Friday.”

Then Stan looked confused as well and he dropped Mike’s hand to gold his arms over his chest, a look that was seriously hot but Mike couldn’t enjoy it right now. He had things to figure out.

“Why would Stacy ask me when she is planning to ask you?”

Mike had no idea why but he suddenly burst out laughing. “What?! Why would she ask me? Bev told me she wanted to ask you.”

Stan shook his head quickly. “Why would she? We only have one class together, you're the varsity football Quarterback and she's the head cheerleader.”

“S-so?!”

Stan rolled his eyes. “Mike, anybody would be nuts not to want to be with you. You’re on the football team, you have amazing grades, you sweet as fuck and you look like some GQ model.”

“What’s GQ?”

Stan waved his hand in the air like he was trying to wave Mike’s question away. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is I’m being a fucking asshole and sniping you from her before she has a chance even though she just trusted me not to tell you when she asked what your favorite cookies were.”

Mike stared wide eyed at Stan quietly, Stan’s face becoming red as a tomato when he realized something and had to look away. “I mean...if you want because...I’d really like to go with you. I really like you.”

Mike couldn’t stop the large grin from spreading on his face and instead of answering, he moved to set his backpack on the ground and opened it up. Carefully he pulled out the hand painted poster, handing it over to Stan, smiling as he unfolded it and read it.

Stan’s face was priceless and he looked up at Mike in shock before it slowly started to turn into a smile.

“You were going to ask me?”

“Yep.”

“So I just betrayed a nice girl when you were going to ask me anyway.”

Mike gave a small shrug. “If it makes you feel any better, I called her a bitch when I saw she made you laugh.”

Stan then started to laugh and Mike couldn’t help it anymore, he pulled Stan to him and held him tightly, happy when Stan held him back.

“Yes,” Mike whispered into the dark brown curls. “I’ll go with you.”

“And I you, Mike.”

Send Me A Prompt!

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[mercurypilgrim]

If Ven and Yon go poly I feel bad for Theron. Only thing worse then being hit on by one Sith is being hit on by two Sith who may or may not be together, despite the questionable relationships one of them is trying to set the other up with him and still flirting.

(Poor, poor Theron. They would be terrible for his blood pressure!)

Theron swallowed painfully, feeling the unforgiving flat of the durasteel wall behind him.

One would think, he thought as his he tried unsuccessfully to phase through the wall to sweet, sweet freedom, that he should be used to this kind of shavit.

“Agent Shan, relax.”

How could he, when there was a voice practically making love to his kriffing ear with how smooth that purr was.

“I won’t hurt you, darling.”

That firaxan smile said otherwise, but for some reason Theron still felt a flush of heat at it. He clutched his holopad to his chest like a shy schoolgirl, and that comparison didn’t make him feel any better.

Besides, Darth Venator had a reputation and it wasn’t entirely a good one.

Not that any Sith had a particularly sparkling rep, but the Mirialan was the kind of Sith that cleared battlefields with a mention of his name, and that was so above Theron’s paygrade.

He was also a shameless flirt.

Amber eyes ringed in burnt orange regarded him from under dark lashes, and that smile didn’t leave his face. He was standing a little too close, one hand bracketing Theron in while leaving a space for him to duck under if he really wanted to, and he had to believe that was intentional because he refused to believe a Sith that made Darth before he hit thirty was that sloppy.

The Sith’s smile widened, and those teeth looked like they could do some damage.

Good for biting, his mind supplied, and leaving marks.

Mentally beating that part of him with a stick until it hissed at him and backed off, he put on a frown in the face of temptation.

Venator was an imposing thing, all sharp lines, tall and solid under that armour, and with a body count higher than Theron’s holo-number.

Yeah, murder isn’t sexy.

A big no on the war crimes too.

“You know,” Venator mused, and Theron swore he could feel the heat from him despite their clothes. The Sith glanced off to the side knowingly. “It’s okay.”

Theron blinked.

What was he- oh.

Oh.

He followed Venator’s gaze and it settled on him.

The Wrath.

There was just something so… so something about him.

He felt himself start to go red and attempted to will it away. Venator had somehow gotten even closer, and Theron was sure he felt his mouth brush the shell of his ear. He jumped and looked away.

This was so not going how he had thought.

He was this close to executing plan ‘Get The Kriff Out’ and high tailing it to somewhere safe in the Alliance base where he wouldn’t run into amorous Sith.

The meditation area that the Jedi liked to use was a good bet, since the Sith seemed to hate the sound of the tinkling water and calming birdsong.

Except… Well, Master V’lante might be there and Theron did not need reminders of what he looked like naked to run across his mind right now.

Oh stars.

Plan GTKO had failed before it had gotten off the ground.

Kriff.

“I said that it’s okay to look, Shan.” Venator murmured, murmuring into his ear as they both watched the figure of the Wrath as he spoke to someone. “Lovely, isn’t he?”

Okay, what the kriff was even happening right now.

“He looks at you, too, you know.”

His heart beat faster, and he heard a throaty chuckle from beside him.

“You two should talk.”

Theron frowned, squashing that part of his brain that was yelling inappropriate things.

“Are- are you trying to set me up with him?” he asked, incredulous.

Venator winked.

Well, Theron had never had a Sith wink at him before.

“You were being slow,” he said shamelessly, “Besides, as fun as it would be to watch you drool all over your reports whenever he walks in, it’s infinitely more fun to get him naked than it is to stare at him.”

Theron’s brain short circuited.

“I- you-“

“Mmm,” came the amused, cat-got-the-cream response. “Yeah. So, you can trust me when I say he’s an epic lay, darling.”

Theron’s brain was making the sound of a space-microwave rotating.

The Wrath, in a moment of cosmic happenstance, glanced over.

Venator grinned, pressed up against Theron’s side like they weren’t in the cantina at mid afternoon where there were other people.

Theron was no prude, he knew what he had and how to use it, but this wasn’t flirting.

This was- whatever this was.

To his horror, Venator raised a clawed, gauntleted hand and beckoned the Wrath over.

A tilt of the head and he was making his way over and Theron was about to scream.

An elbow in the gut for Venator and he might make it ten feet before the Sith caught him.

The Wrath came to a stop in front of where Theron was standing, an amused Sith draped over him like an affectionate nexu, and his face as red as his jacket.

After a moment of too long silence, he plastered a grin on his face that fooled no-one.

First rule of the SIS: Fake it until you make it.

“Hi?”

@darkshadeless All yours. ;)

[softest-cinnamon-roll]

#4 for the drabble challenge!

4. “I’m too sober for this.”

* * * * *

Richie glared at the ceiling as he was woken up by his alarm blaring ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in honour of New Year’s Eve. Out of all the holidays that America celebrated, this one had to be the worst in Richie’s eyes. He hated how people who he hadn’t spoken to all year would send him messages wishing him a ‘Happy New Year’ and all that other garbage.

It was just another year in his eyes, and there was really no need to be celebrating so…enthusiastically.

Which was why when Richie stepped out into the hallway of his apartment building on the way to get the mail only to be slapped in the face with New Year’s decorations, he quickly tore them down. He grabbed a bin liner from his kitchen and stuffed the sparkly tinsel and ‘Happy New Year’ banners into it, tying it tight with a grunt.

It was against policy to decorate the hallway. Everyone knew that so why were there fucking decorations in his way?

With a grumble, Richie grabbed all of the bags, including the ones from his own apartment and trudged towards the elevator. He pulled open the gate and stepped inside, ready to close the gate and press the button when a voice called out for him to hold the elevator.

Great, company. Just what Richie wanted to deal with on New Years Eve. Not. Instead of holding the elevator, he continued to push the gate in the hopes that whoever it was trying to join him would just catch the next one or take the stairs. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side as a young man, probably about his age, stopped him from closing the gate and slipped into the elevator.

“I said hold the elevator,” the man grumbled and Richie caught him eyeing up the decorations that he had bagged up.

“Yes. I did take down all the decorations. They were in my way and apartment policy says you're not allowed to decorate the hallways.”

The man blinked at him and gave him a slight eye roll. “Not my decorations.” The doors closed and the elevator began its descent to the lobby floor. Richie let out a few annoying whistles, earning him glares from his companion but it only encouraged him to whistle just that little bit louder.

About half way down, the elevator jolted, causing Richie to stumble into the guy as he fell against the doors. Richie wasn’t worried, this sometimes happened and in a few moments, it would continue its descent. However, this time, the whole thing came to a halt and the lights above them turned off, signalling that it had indeed, broken down with the two of them trapped inside. Great.

“What- what was that? Why aren’t we moving?” The guy gasped, his eyes wide with panic. “No, no this can’t be happening. I have somewhere to be!” He grabbed the phone, which Richie and everyone else who lived here knew was bust, and started screaming down the dead line. “5B, this is 5B can you hear me? We’re stuck!”

That was when it clicked for Richie. This guy was his new neighbour who had moved in just last week. He snorted and took a seat on the bench that was installed in the elevator. Probably for this exact reason. “Doesn’t work. Sorry.”

5B turns around, his eyes wide with horror, “Then call the super! We need to get out of here or I’m going to be late for work!” He returns to banging the palms of his hands on the gate as he called for help. Not that anyone was going to be able to hear him from there. “Why aren’t you more worried?”

Richie shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips, “I guess I don’t have anywhere to be.” He leaned back on the bench, staring down 5B with his eyebrows raised. “You’re the newbie, aren’t you? What a welcome this is, huh?”

“My name is Eddie, actually,” 5B, Eddie, muttered and crossed his arms over his chest, rapping his foot. “How long will it take to fix?”

Another shrug, damn Richie was enjoying this way too much than he should be. “Dunno, could be minutes or hours. You really never know with the super here. He hardly works.” He started up another whistle, staring at the ceiling as Eddie continued to scream for help.

Eventually they fell into a silence, sitting on either side of the elevator from one another. Richie’s attention was drawn when Eddie cleared his throat, looking up at him from his place on the floor. “Why do you hate New Year’s Eve so much?” Richie raised an eyebrow and Eddie pointed to the bags. “You can’t tell me that you tore them down because it’s ‘against policy’ can you?”

“New Year is a show.” Richie eventually settled for. “It’s all fake. People drink a years’ worth of alcohol in one night and call up people they haven’t spoken to since last New Year’s, being all overly cheerful about it. It’s just another year, what’s with all the fuss?”

Eddie scoffed, “Maybe they have something to be excited about? Maybe these people that they haven’t spoken too all year live far away and this is the only time they can reconnect? Did you ever think about that?”

“I’m too sober for this,” Richie muttered, running a hand through his unruly curls. “Why does it matter to you anyway? I’m not bothering anyone with my hatred for the holiday, and you are probably just some…wannabe star who thinks if you get in the right crowd on New Year’s Eve you’ll be noticed by the big stars on the show with Ryan Seacrest.”

“Oh my god, you are such an asshole,” Eddie breathed after a moment. “I can’t- what the hell is your problem?” He shook his head in a way to ask Richie not to answer that question and he stood up, looking at the overhead crate above him. “I need to get out of here. Like right now.”

Richie watched with a bemused look on his face as Eddie jumped up, trying to reach the handle to pull the crate open. However he was just not tall enough. Unable to sit and watch Eddie suffer, Richie stood up and wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist and lifted him up, only for the two of them to freeze.

Eddie looked down and their eyes met, Richie flashing him a grin. Eddie wasn’t grinning though, his eyes were narrow and he was glaring. “Put me down. Right now.” He spat out, and Richie obliged, letting Eddie fall back to the ground and they moved back to the other end of the elevator from each other.

It was going to be a long, long day.

* * * * * 

@richietoaster @tozier-boy @eds-trashmouth @bitchbrak @sloppybitchreddie @its-stranger-than-you-think @maximusfraker @jem-carstairs-is-perfection @thejadeazalea @halfway-happy353 @tinyarmedtrex @inthebreadbinwrites @kat-ships-everything @takeourpure @lo-v-ers @studpuffin @s-s-georgie @reddie-for-anything @trashmouthtozierr @richietoizer @girasol-eddie @bi-bi-richie @honeybeehanlon @mars-14 @reddiesetandgo @marsisaplanetyall @xandertheundead @sedanleystanley @hawkinsbabe @beepbeeprichiellc @stellarbisexual @oldguybones @stanleuyris @eduardoandale  @purplepoisonedgem @reddie-to-cryy @pink-psychic @violetreddie @toziesque @queen-sock @appojoos @moonlightrichie @rreddies @disneyfan567 @annxmatron @lifesucksheres20bucks @anellope @roobarrtrashmouth @are-you-reddie-for-it @callmechee @nancynwheeler @reddieforlove @twoidiotsinl0ve @madi-artist @tozierking @s-onora @atownofeggs  @wilding-throught-thehallways @no-she-wasnt-reddie @dadbodrichie @thorn-harvester-ven @eddiekasbpark @sparklingrainbowdragon @ransonelovebot @gloire-celeste @derrylosers @3tothe1 @virgo-luthie @sashadrowned @spirited-marvel @losers-gotta-stick-together @rebecca-the-queen @ultrapaninibred

[tomoewantsdolls]

Sin título 🤣

Tehehehe. Yeah, it was a really self indulgent thing that I started in a rush and then became plotty and then I had no time and sadly abandoned it in a corner until this reminded me of it. (thanks for the ask by the way!!)

The trope is “accidental fake boyfriends”. For reasons they just roll with the confusion until it’s a big mess they can’t handle. Draco looks like a grunge rock star and there’s a spanish muggle family in the mix XD

I’m not sure I can select a tiny excerpt that make sense so here’s a long one (it’s not betaed, so please forgive all the grammar mistakes):

“What do you mean I’m on my own?” Malfoy said, distress apparent in his voice.

“You don’t have to worry, Draco. It’s nothing you hadn’t done before,” the woman said.

Harry's body tensed, anticipation making his heart beat faster, like when they were close to crack a case. What could they be up to? 

He licked his lips and considered calling reinforcements, but he had nothing yet, just the nagging suspicion that something bad could happen. 

The woman gave Malfoy a pat on his arm, looked around and then disapparated with a loud pop. Malfoy stood alone for a whole handful of minutes, inhaled deeply and got into motion.

The stricken look on Malfoy's features while he crossed the street unsettled Harry and prompted him to act. He run towards him, dropping his dissilusement charm, and grabbed his wrist, not before Malfoy rang the bell of a small shop.

“What…? Potter! What the hell are you...” Draco said, startled by Harry's presence.

Before he could say anything else the door of the shop opened a sliver. Just enough to show the face of a -mostly bald- middle aged man with an unfriendly scowl.

“What do you want? We’re still closed.”

The man’s heavy accent made it difficult to understand him but Harry opened his mouth to answer, anyway. He only wheezed, the well directed nudge of Malfoy’s elbow on his ribs deflated him effectively; but Harry gripped Malfoy’s wrist stubbornly, not wanting him to flee. Not before he could find out what was going on.

“Ah, you must be Mr. Martinez,” Draco said with a forced smile, still struggling in Harry’s grip. “I talked with your daughter, Sarah, and she told me I would start today.”

The man looked between the two, suspicious. “Sara!” He bellowed, the name sounding different on his mouth. “Ven aquí!” A moment later, a young woman, probably their age, came from the back of the shop.

“Qué pasa papá. Oh!” She beamed at the sight of Malfoy at the door. “Welcome, Draco, you’re early!”

The old man, Mr Martinez, almost closed the door on their faces and started arguing with his daughter in rapid spanish. Malfoy took the opportunity then, and turned to Harry; his face was red and contorted in fury.

“What the hell, Potter? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“That’s my question,” Harry argued.

“Are you determined to ruin my life?” He waved his free hand and rolled his eyes. Hard. “Why, of course you are.”

“What are you up to?”

Malfoy throwed him a murderous glare. “Work, Potter. I was starting today, but by the sound of it, that’s ruined.”

“I haven’t ruined anything,” he said defensively. Truth was, by the sound of it, Sara and his father had a disagreement, probably over her hiring Malfoy, for some or other reason. He felt like a dunce, but in his defense, he hasn’t been mistaken about Malfoy’s intentions in the past.

Unconsciously he relaxed his grip on Malfoy’s wrist and turned his head away; not to hide his embarrassment, mind you, but to… 

"Hi."

Merlin! He almost jumped out of his skin, and in the movement he brought Malfoy nearer.

“Fuck,” Malfoy swore. Apparently he had been startled too by the sudden appearance of a little girl on the doorstep and grabbed Harry’s Auror robes in a death grip. The girl stood still, looking at them with unblinking big eyes and a finger up to her nostril.

“Hello there,” Draco uttered; to his credit, his voice barely wavered. “What’s your name, little one?”

“I want a cookie,” she said and left without another word.

They both stared as she disappeared between Sarah and his Father and into the house. Sarah threw her hands in the air and turned to face them. 

"Look, Draco, I'm sorry. My father is a bit old fashioned…” 

“I'm not,” Sarah’s father bristled.

“… And he thinks there shouldn't be any men around the four of us, like if we could be isolated from the rest of the world.”

“That's not it!”

“What's with the noise this early in the morning!” A teenage girl appeared at the top of the stairs, hair wild and eyelids still heavy with sleep.

“Yeah right! Then you'll complain about the fact that we won't find a husband!” Sarah complained.

“For the record, I don't want a husband,” the teenage girl said.

“You both shut up! It's not like that!” Mr Martinez was turning a dangerous shade of red. “ I'm just saying that I don't want any stranger working in our shop. And yes, as your father I worry for you and your sisters. Just… Look at him!” he said gesturing towards Malfoy, who was still lingering at Harry’s side and instinctively raised to his full height. “Look at his clothes!” Mr Martinez waved his hands wildly, first at the oversized cardigan, then at the ragged trousers.

“What’s wrong with them?” Malfoy muttered, looking down at his jeans.

“Papa!” Sarah looked embarrassed.

“They told me they are fashionable,” Malfoy mumbled and looked at Harry. He shrugged. He didn’t know a fig about fashion.

“Well, I can admit he may need the money for new clothes at least. But who’s this?” He said looking Harry up and down.

“I, uhm…”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Malfoy said.

“What?”

“What?”

“What!” Harry whispered, or he tried, he may as well have yelled.

“I know you don’t want me to tell people but he needs to know,” Malfoy said, looking pointedly at him; he suspected he said that more for the sake of Mr Martinez and his daughters, because, really, it made no sense to Harry. But there was a hint of panic in his eyes, a silent plea. And that should be for Harry’s sake because his hair fell free on the side of his head, obscuring his expression from the others.

Harry felt his indignation falter.

Mr Martinez stared at them for a beat, mouth agape, before speaking. “And does he come from a circus?”

It was Harry’s turn to look down. His Auror robes certainly looked out of place. “I, well,...”

“He’s just that weird,” Malfoy supplied, the knob. “I… can understand your reticences, Mr Martinez, but I can assure you that I mean no harm, and that I… I really need the job.” He finished with a deep sigh, as if defeated by the truth in it.

[daybreak-academy-fanfic]

Daybreak Academy: Chapter 89

Pas de Deux

Summary: In which Brain and Ephemer have a cat fight. Word Count: 2,044 First | Previous | Next �� ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆ ⚬ ☆

“The last Friday before winter break.” Brain fondly remarked, more to himself than Anora. “Which means one last Dandelion meeting before break. Ah man, I'm already so done with it.”

“Did you have one last week?” Anora curiously wondered. But Brain shook his head.

“Nah. We all kinda voted to have the day off some time ago. Might have been at the first meeting? Maybe the second? We also talked about not having one this week too awhile back, but Skuld and Lauriam can put up a pretty good case when they want to.”

Anora gave a little nod of understanding. A small gust of wind brushed against her face, kissing her with the promise of incoming winter weather. Winter was Anora's favorite season. It meant ice skating, and cozy fires, and very warm cups of hot chocolate after a good 30 minute snowball fight. Brain had shivered at the breeze but didn't directly oppose it. If anything, it made him talk even more as the duo headed toward the main building.

“Have you figured out what you're doing for break?” he asked her. “I didn't want to say it in front of Eraqus, but I really don't want to go home. You know how you get all skittish when there's more than five strangers in a room? Multiply that by at least 2 and a half, and you have my family.”

Just the thought made Anora shiver.

“My thoughts exactly.” Brain agreed with a nod.

When they got to the front door, Brain signaled for Anora to wait a moment she he could hold it for her. She gave him a rather sheepish nod in passing as thanks. Brain tipped his fedora at her slightly in acknowledgment before closing the door behind them.

“If you don't mind me doing it,” he went on as they continued their trek to the Dandelion clubroom, “I'd really like to use you as an excuse not to go. Not sure what your family situation is, but I'm not asking you to go off to them if it's too uncomfortable. Heck, you could go to your family and just leave me here. What my mother doesn't know wouldn't kill her.”

Anora let out a little snort of bemusement. “You're a big boy now.” she teased. Brain jolted for a moment before giving her a bewildered glance. She looked back at him with a wide, teasing grin.

“I guess you could say that,” he agreed as he looked away from her. He even placed a finger on the front brim of his fedora to slightly hide his face from her. It earned him a genuine laughter from Anora- her bubbly laughter almost echoing as they took the stairs.

The closer they got to the clubroom, however, the more something in Anora's chest started to clench in anxiety. She fought hard to not latch onto Brain's arm and hug it for dear life. When they stopped just short of the clubroom door, Anora thought she was going to be sick.

“I'm going to the school store after the meeting to pick up some instant coffee.” Brain casually told her. Either choosing not to notice her distress, or maybe trying to distract from it. “You want me to get you anything? Toothpaste? Quick meals? Lady things?”

Anora shook her head, showing that she didn't need anything, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and hurrying away from the Dandelion clubroom. A part of Brain was amused by the display- but  the other part of him was slightly bitter. She didn't need to be so worried about running into Ephemer. Sure, he was the club leader, but it's not like the silver-haired headmasters' pet was going to talk to her either. Brain knew that for a fact. It took them how long to go on that first date, with several interventions that included Brain himself? It was going to happen again unless one of them grew a spine.

Which, if Brain could almost guess, was going to be Anora.

The Unicornis student entered the Dandelion's clubroom to find that he was the fourth to arrive today. Ephemer was already sitting at the round table, looking over the itinerary book. Skuld and Ventus were over at one of the loveseats.

“Good afternoon.” Brain greeted them all with a trip of his fedora. “Everyone else have a good day?”

Skuld and Ven looked up and smiled at him, giving their greetings back warmly. But Ephemer had jumped a considerable amount in the air. He whipped around to look at Brain- his face growing pale while also contorting into what could have been a grimace. Brain let out a light chuckle at seeing it.

“What's that look for?” he snorted. For awhile, Ephemer refused to answer him.

“How's Anora?” the younger of the two finally asked through gritted teeth.

“She seems to be doing pretty well. But you could ask her yourself, you know.”

Ephemer looked away before grumbling, “She wouldn't listen to me.”

“If you really believe that, then it's no small wonder you broke up.”

The pen that Ephemer had been using cracked at his grip. Skuld and Ventus didn't seem to notice, since they had gone back to their conversation, but Brain certainly did. He moved a bit closer to Ephemer's seat- even placing a hand at the back of the chair.

“Why don't you just talk to her?” he asked the Dandelion leader.

“Little hard to do when she's too busy kissing you.”

Hearing this, something in Brain ignited with a slow burning fury. He cocked an eyebrow at Ephemer before politely questioning, “Pardon?”

Likewise, Ephemer looked up at Brain with a hard expression. It was more contempt than Brain was used to seeing from the Leopardus student.

“You've wanted her since the summer. Haven't you?” Ephemer then accused. “That was why you decided to dance with her. You were just jealous.”

Brain snorted at the idea. But when he saw how serious Ephemer still was, he looked back in near surprise. “Oh Ub Iwerks, you're serious.” he remarked. Then Brain started to laugh. “Ephemer, good grief, how dense are you?”

Ephemer didn't respond. His eyes narrowed as he looked Brain up and down.

“You just don't get it, do you?” Brain went on to muse. “If it wasn't for me, Strelitzia wouldn't have kissed Anora. That could have been you if you had just taken the hint.”

Every atom in Ephemer's body suddenly froze. “What did you just say?”

Brain looked down at Ephemer with a particularly malicious smirk. “Oh, you heard me.” he challenged. “I talked to both of you about Anora. Only one of you did something about it. Guess who took her first kiss, Ephemer? Wasn't you. Was it?”

There was no warning for what happened next. Ephemer had launched himself out of his chair to tackle Brain around the middle. Surprised, Brain couldn't do anything to protect himself but fall over from the impact. The two of them hit the ground hard. Brain was the first to react after- he kneed Ephemer in the crotch and easily got back to his feet.

“Strelitzia asked Anora on a walk in the afternoon.” Brain seethed as Ephemer was coiled in pain. “You had ALL day and the night before! You did nothing but sit and watch, as if you expected her to just wake up and realize she loved you! Anora had never fallen in love before- so how was she supposed to know, Ephemer?”

The only answer that came out of Ephemer's lips was a low hiss. He worked himself up a bit before making another lunge for Brain's legs. Again, caught off guard, Brain was back down on the ground. Ephemer made quick work of climbing on top of Brain, then making blind punches at his face. Brain was able to block most of them before they ever landed. Didn't mean that Ephemer didn't manage to scratch him at least once, though.

Both boys were too concentrated on trying to hit -and avoid being hit by- the other that they couldn't hear Ven's desperate pleas for them to stop. It wasn't until Skuld walked up to them and quite harshly kicked Ephemer off of Brain with the heel of her modestly high heeled boot. Ephemer let out a noise of pain as he fell over. Brain was almost about to get on top of Ephemer in retaliated before Skuld used that same heel to pin Brain's hand to the ground. He also let out a yelp in pain.

“That's enough!” Skuld demanded at a tone so high that it made both boys flinch. Since she had their attention now, she moved her heel from Brain's hand. “If you Toms are going to keep fighting, then move it out of the clubroom or I'll get security. This is ridiculous!”

For a moment, all they did was stare up at her. Eventually, Ephemer was the first to peel his body off the floor.

“Invi wouldn't touch me.” he bitterly growled. But he sat down in his chair with an aggressive plop.

Brain remained where he was a bit longer- mostly making sure that he could still use his hand. He started to sit up, looking around the room for where his fedora had gone, and found that Ven had nervously picked it up in the middle of the scuffle.

“Thanks Ven.” Brain mumbled before gently taking the fedora back. “Sorry you had to see that.”

The youngest student only nodded his head.

Everyone's attention was diverted when the door to the clubroom opened up. Lauriam came through the door, not quite looking at them yet.

“I'm sorry I'm late.” the oldest of them all apologized. “Elrena had an emergency and needed me to...” He trailed off in sensing the tense atmosphere. Warily, he turned to Skuld to ask, “What did I miss?”

She gave him a heavy sigh before gesturing to Brain and Ephemer. Lauriam looked over at them and was shocked to see how roughed up the two boys looked. Ephemer had the becomings of a bruise near his eye, and Brain had started to nurse a bleeding nose.

After putting two and two together, all Lauriam could give was a small, “Oh.”

. . .

Brain was late, and Anora was worried. They were supposed to meet outside the main building today, right? Sure, Brain said that he was going to the school store after, but shouldn't he had been done by now? Maybe she should go in and check...

“Anora.”

The young woman just barely had time to turn around before Brain took her by the shoulders and pulled them into an aggressive kiss. When he let them go, Anora was quick to cast him a worried side glance. Seeing it immediately diffused a lot of his anger toward Ephemer. It wasn't her fault that the silver haired coward was, well, a coward. And an idiot. And possibly the single most irresponsible piece of-

“It was a rough meeting.” he admitted, softly pressing his forehead against hers now. “How about we have an early dinner off campus? You pick the place, I'll pay for it.”

“I'm sorry.” she whispered with a small shake of her head. Brain frowned as he moved them so he could look her in the eye.

“What do you need to be sorry for?” he questioned. “You're not the one that needs to grow a pair.”

But Anora still shrunk a little and failed to meet his gaze. Brain looked her over, letting out a hard sigh in the process.

“Let's just get off campus for awhile.” he tried to tell her, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.”There's a general store in town, I'll pick up what I need, then we'll have dinner somewhere. Maybe go for a nice long walk just for good measure. What do you say?”

Anora still refused to look at him. But slowly, surely, there was a small nod of agreement. The idea of being off campus nowadays seemed more appealing by the minute. A small sigh escaped Anora's lips as she and Brain headed toward the front gates. She knew what she was going to do for winter break now.

[missingmywing]

Okay so I said I was gonna rant some more about KHDR and here we are, starting with a theory that struck me like a bolt of lightning while I was rewatching the opening scene.

Here we go, spoilers for DR and UX below the cut.

Ansem shows up out of nowhere and opens the conversation with what?

“My waypoint.” Xehanort is, of course, confused, and Ansem continues with: “The world from your dreams… it does indeed exist.”

First of all: who is the only other person in this series who has used that term thus far?

And Maleficent couldn’t have told him, because she jumped back after KH1, when Ansem was killed. So she couldn’t have told him that term or its context, even if she does remember the past after she jumps forward. (I can’t remember at the moment, but I don’t think she does anyway?)

Which means precisely one person uses that term. And that’s the basis for this theory.

(Second of all: how exactly does Ansem know that for absolute sure? But that could be explained away by his travels around the various worlds and finding Ven, Marluxia, and Larxene, so I’ll let it pass.)

Darkness is the only person to use that term, and thus it makes sense why we haven’t seen Darkness before. If he were just wearing a black or white coat, we could ooh and ahh and still not figure out who he was, so there wouldn’t be any reason to hide it. But Ansem? His distinctive brown cloak would give it away in a heartbeat, and how could he possibly hide it? Wear another cloak on top of it? (More to the point why would he hide it, but I can forgive character irrationalizations for the sake of plot.)

“But how?” You might ask. “You can only time travel back to a point you existed! He couldn’t go back to before Xehanort was born!”

True. Except.

Xehanort has some connection to our Player Character. He’s dreamt of our life his whole life. Some people are theorizing reincarnation, which would be a new world building mechanic (and one I’m not averse to, but that’s because I have multiple reincarnation AUs in pretty every fandom I’m in, not that that’s relevant) and isn’t out of the question. But even if it isn’t reincarnation, you can’t deny that they have some connection between their hearts, and it’s possible that Ansem could use that connection, whatever it is, to jump back to when Player was around/alive.

My other big piece of evidence regarding this is Maleficent herself. In the official translation KHUX, Darkness says something like: “Think of me as an old friend.” I know a lot of people have been speculating what that means (and were kind of blindsided by it, since it’s different from the fan translation), and who could have known Maleficent so closely. There’s also the fact that Darkness knew Maleficent was time traveling in the first place, since Ansem was the one who gave her the ability, what with his stabby bit while possessing Riku, but that could be explained away by the Book of Prophecies. Xehanort and Ansem are really the only two non-Disney allies we see her have throughout the series (and I can guarantee that Darkness is not a Disney villain. Or Pete. Or Yen Sid. Because Disney would absolutely say no).

Antithesis to my theory: Darkness’ line about “We removed two worlds from the projections to keep you out, because we couldn’t risk you interfering.” Meaning Darkness has some control and authority in how all this is playing out with the Foretellers and Book of Prophecies. Which doesn’t make sense if it’s Ansem, unless there’s shenanigans going on. Which is possible, knowing Nomura and taking MoM’s questionable motives into account.

Anyway, there’s my theory about Ansem being Darkness. Because why make Xehanort’s connection to Player clear now, after his Saga is technically done and KHUX is about to wrap up? Because it’s about to become story-relevant, I assume, and the fact that it was revealed right after we get the latest world-wide update that revealed the “old friend” drop.

Or it could be something else entirely, Nomura likes to blindside us.