#where’s the monster in the mirror?? why do they look human?? i’m cruel and evil why don’t my eyes glow red with evil how can they be blue

[after-witch]

What do you think about Empty Smiles? I heard a lot of people say the ending was rushed.

Also, is this the final final of the smiling man?

I have a lot of thoughts about Empty Smiles! So I actually had a WIP post with my thoughts in my drafts that I forgot about, I'm going to rework that here for an answer.

Short, non-spoilery answer: Yes, the ending is very abrupt, to a frustrating degree. If you check on Goodreads, almost every review mentions this, it's definitely not just me.

As for "is this the final final," Arden did say she was toying with the idea of writing a middle grade historical fiction where the Smiling Man plays a role. So she may not be done with him! I would love it if she did that. I have endless WIPs where it's just "historical setting reader + Smiling Man."

under the read more: loooong thoughts (criticisms & otherwise) about Empty Smiles, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden.

First, the criticisms, because that's the juicy part right?

This book was too short. It really needed an extra 15-20 pages. The resolution is shockingly abrupt and doesn’t feel climatic at all. I literally had to go back and reread, because I thought I’d somehow skipped pages. I mean, I guess the resolutions in the previous 3 books were fairly abrupt as well... but since this was the last book, I expected something more drawn out and not as easy as "Okay we literally just walk and key #2 appears with no work or effort, then we're outside and we have key #3 and leave." There needed to be something more.

I don’t understand why the last two books were so short compared to the first two. Is it a publisher thing, maybe? Them wanting shorter books for middle grade consumption, instead of longer books which may be more YA? The library assistant in me says yes, but it is a theory only. I would hope it wasn't because Arden just gave up and didn't know how to end it.

Also the publisher does know how stupid it is for Empty Smiles to have excerpts of books 1-3 in the back, right? Who is reading book #4 but not book 1-3 first?? It's just to pad the book's physical copy out so that it doesn't look too slim on the shelves, and it's a cheap trick.

What else... so Phil is now part of the group but with how short this book is, you don’t get a solid sense of the new dynamic. They kind of wove Phil feeling left out in there (Phil is like, jealous that the evil clowns don’t ransack his house, lol, oh Phil) but it was a little flat.

Nmmm. Now for something a bit frustrating to admit. So I love all the Smiling Man, I’m over the moon about it, y'all know that for sure.

But I feel like the Smiling Man in this book is quite different from the Smiling Man in the first and second books in some respects. Why doesn’t he want to kill Ollie now? He was legit ready to doom her to die behind the mirror, to spend her eternity in a frozen hellscape either sleeping at best or chased by a creepy old hag monster ghost at worst, in book #2. He dug a knife into her heart, figuratively, when she told him about her mom dying.

It’s like he went from Book #2 “yeah I want you to die and suffer, watching you get dragged away to your damnation is so funny I'm actually crying, you thought you could best me, girl??” and #3 "literally trying to kill you guys, KILLED PHIL'S UNCLE" to being softer with her, no gloating, almost protective in some ways, for Book #4.

And mind you, he IS mean in this one. He really is. He shows Ollie a fantasy of her dad & Coco’s mom & Coco without her, trying to pressure her into agreeing to stay with him forever, and what he says to her is just so horribly awful and cruel. And he says terrible things to Coco (saying she’d look lovely as a transformed doll--lovely and quiet) and is delighted by the tortured ghosts of people who died, tormented, in a mental hospital.

He doesn’t care that the carnival has countless people trapped, and he tries to gift Ollie a doll that is a literal human being transformed into a toy. There’s a fucking... box... of broken “doll parts” (aka, literal human beings who are just?? broken?? pieces now jfc) and he doesn’t care that Ollie is horrified by it.

But there's this significant shift with his overall personal dynamic with Ollie. It’s like... he doesn’t care that she beat him anymore. That was the game the entire time. She beat him, and it really, really pissed him off, and he wants to get her (and by extension, Coco & Brian) back. So now he has her and it’s like... eh, whatever.

We get perspective from Ollie as to why her perception of him changes because they are constantly interacting and he is cordial and even funny sometimes, but we never see it from his side. We can’t, not without a chapter from his perspective. I honestly wish that Arden had been like, okay fuck it, and done a chapter from his perspective just before the final chapter. Maybe that would have helped. Because as it is, I am confused. 

I think this ties into why we needed to see Ollie make the deal in book #3, because I think that moment is what shifted the dynamic. He beat her. He finally beat her. We need to see that to get a resolution of their original dynamic, and to introduce the new one. But we don't, and so it's jarring.

And like... I find it fascinating, and I love it, and I lost my mind at him giving her soup and medicine and bandaging her hand and asking her to stay. But I have to personally fill in the gaps of why he's not acting so gleefully horrid over having beat her, and I shouldn't have to do that.

Also, loose ends, loose ends. What happened to the cat and the hound? Why is this carnival suddenly so important to the Smiling man? I'm sad that the cat & hound servants present in book 1, critical components of the Smiling Man when he’s in his element, don't appear at all. Especially the hound. He seemed quite kind to Ollie in the end, whispering gently that if she ever needed him, to call his name. Would have been a neat thing if she'd remembered, and called him. Maybe he could have given us some of the Smiling Man’s perspective that would have made his shift towards Ollie more understandable and sensible. 

For the positives.

Oh gosh, there's so much smiling man. There's SO MUCH. And we get a new facet of his personality, him 'at ease,' which is truly delightful. He randomly trips and horrifies a teenager. Why?? Just to fuck with them. He's surrounded by transformed humans who live terrifying existences as dolls that are literally given away to people who take them home as prizes, and he doesn’t care at best, finds it amusing at worst. Wonderful.

The way he interactions with everyone is just delightful. The way Tim describes him as "nice," but still refusing to let Tim see his sister; the way he's cooly cruel with Ollie and Coco sometimes, the way he gets frustrated with Coco ("Save me from stubborn girls" that line killed me and sent me straight up) and tells people to mind their manners and just... it's a smorgasbord of smiling man in his element. 

And the lore and backstory we get? I love it. It’s tantalizing, while leaving a lot open for interpretation. Especially when we get into the notion of the smiling man being “alone.” I can’t help but think of what someone else wrote about him on here, essentially saying that narratively, he is the :no one else to turn to,” he is Alone, personified, for people who think they have nothing else that they can do, nowhere they can go, no one they can turn to get what they want (whether they do or not). And for him to potentially in some ways, feel alone, and be alone, is very fascinating to me. 

And the little things, here and there. The train car being already decked out with furniture and such, and having old clothes in the drawer. Who was there before? How many were there before? Were there others, are there others? Tucked away here and there, perhaps agreeing to stay, perhaps not, and finding themselves trapped (into scarecrows, into dolls, into mirrors) when they aren’t able to escape like Ollie? 

I also love, on a non-smiling man related note, the closeness of the kid characters and the bond that they’ve developed. The end bit where Coco and Ollie agree that they’re sisters was heartwarming. I also love the involvement of the adults although apparently I’m in a minority on that one. I loved that it was realistic. I loved that, with Ollie’s dad, he wants to believe... feels compelled, deep down, and Arden keeps the detail going of him looking at the scar on his hand (from the snake in book #3) when the subject of Ollie comes up. Like some part of him knows, despite the smiling man’s magic.

Overall, I really did like it. The ending is not great/too abrupt, and I feel like we really did need that scene of the smiling man “winning” over Ollie from Dark Waters to truly bridge the characterization gap--but I love how much more Smiling Man we got, and I love that we got to see him basically be himself instead of in hiding for a good chunk of the story.

Oh, and... the Smiling Man wears Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead band t-shirts to his carnival. I mean, the man knows how to dress. 

[foilfreak]

Beauty and Her Beast: Summary and Ch.1

A Salvatore Moreau x Female!FishMutant!oc fic based on this idea I had the other day that a very specific subset of the fanfom went absolutely apeshit for, which I'm here for and decided to act on. I can't make any promises for consistent uploading or even a finishes product by the end of this, but so long as im still interested in working on it, I'll keep working on it, and if im not, then I wont, plain and simple. Anyways, here's the summary and chapter 1, please let me know what you think of the story so far, i hope you all enjoy (you'd better all enjoy), and I can't wait to see you all again for chapter 2. Bye! <333 (Link to ao3 posting will be in comments so check there if you want to read it there instead)

Warning: This fic is rated NSFW and contains graphic depictions of things some people may find disturbing or alarming, including, but not limited to: violence, gore, unhealthy family relationships, Oedipus complexes, gratuitous amount of pornographic literature, ableist language, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, etc. If you are someone who does not enjoy fiction with these elements in them, then I suggest you refrain from reading this, because this fic will have all that, and probably a lot more. So, this is your first and final warning to turn around and go somewhere else if stuff like this just isn't your vibe, because from this point forward, your emotional wellbeing is in your own hands, and I will not be accepting blame if you disregarded my warnings and ended up reading something you didn't like. Idk why I feel compelled to write one of these despite this being Resident Evil fanfic, but I figured I'd cover my ass just in case.

Summary:

Now, I’m sure everyone already knows the ancient tales that tell of a beautiful young woman slowly falling in love with a horrific monstrosity of a man. The pure and true love this innocent beauty comes to feel for him, despite his terrifying appearance, is the key that breaks the cruel and twisted curse under which he’d been kept prisoner. This allows the man behind the monster to not only return to his true human form, but then go on to live his Happily Ever After with the beauty who saved him. Everyone already knows of these tales, as well as the messages behind them, however that is not quite the way this particular tale plays out.

The tale I am about to tell bears many similarities to the one above, however there are also quite a few important differences. For while the original detailed a beauty falling for a monster because of the kind and loving man he was behind his hideous exterior, this is a tale of a beauty, with a few monstrous qualities of her own, falling in love with a kind and loving monster, not at all despite his grotesque appearance, but rather, in part, because of it.

This is a tale, where the Beast still falls for his Beauty first, but the Beauty is the one who will be pursuing her Beast.

Chapter 1: Mother's Gift

Few of those who lived isolated from the outer world, high up in the mountains of Romania, would expect anyone of reasonable sanity to be out traveling in this hellish sort of weather. The wind howling a demonic high pitched tune; snow, sleet, and hail pounding into the ground like an endless shower of bullets from the heavens; and hungry lycans still roaming the area, tirelessly looking for their next meal, would be enough to incentivize even the strongest of mortal men to seek shelter away from the deadly conditions of the outside.

A man by the name of Salvatore Moreau however, one of the 4 lords of this mountain region who lived in the reservoir just past the windmills, did not appear terribly concerned with what other people thought of the traveling conditions. Completely unbothered by the horrifying weather and threat of suddenly being ground into doggy food, the hooded man trudged his way through the dark and barely maintained snow paths. Starting at the reservoir and making his way toward the village, Salvatore moved as quickly as his deformed body would permit, an unusually chipper spring added to his lumbering hobble of a walk.

Mother had a gift for him.

Yes, a truly joyous day it was whenever Mother Miranda called upon him to join her and the other lords for a meeting. Miranda was usually so busy with her experiments that she rarely had time to visit her children outside of these ‘family meetings’ they’d been having recently. However, it would appear as though Mother has come up with a solution of some kind to this problem and wishes to share it with them in person. Whatever this solution is, the mutated man has no idea, as Mother Miranda had been quite vague in her message, however the fact that Salvatore was being given the chance to see his radiant mother AND receive a gift from her, all in one day, was more than enough to make up for how agonizingly lonely he’s been these last few months since winter set in, as well as how agonizing it was for him to walk in this weather.

Salvatore arrived at the usual meeting site just as the clock struck 8pm, precisely as Mother had instructed. However, much to the hooded man’s confusion, when he turned the handle on the large wooden door to enter the room, he quickly realized that he was currently the only one present. This was especially strange considering that, usually, at least one of his siblings was always present a little earlier than necessary, usually Alcina or Karl, but occasionally Donna with Angie in tow.

Mother had clearly said in her message that she wanted to start the meeting at 8pm sharply, so where on earth is everyone?

“Moreau” Mother Miranda’s voice called out, immediately pushing all thoughts from Salvatore’s brain as her powerful, yet lucious voice echoed against the halls of the room like a choir of angels.

“Y-yes! W-what… is it… M-mother Miranda? I-i-i came to you… j-just like you asked” Salvatore responds, bowing his head in reverence as he slowly crosses the room and approaches the otherworldly woman.

“So you did, though I suppose you coming exactly when I call makes the most sense. You always were the most obedient of my children” the woman remarks with casual disdain, her voice devoid of any sort of motherly affection or tenderness. Despite the clear disgust and disregard with which Miranda regards the hooded man standing before her, her words light Salvatore’s soul ablaze, filling his mangled body with intense feelings of heat and desire that melt his heart of the cold, icy frost that had frozen it over the course of the long winter.

“Y-y-yes, y-yes of c-course, Mother M-Miranda! I-i would… I would do any-anything... for y-you. A-anything you s-say... anything y-you n-need… I’d d-do it... f-for you. W-without question!” The deformed man says, practically getting on his hands and knees and crawling as he neared closer and closer to Miranda, stopping only when he’d arrived just in front of the steps the raven mother stood upon, his gaze trained at the ground as he knelt at her feet, awaiting his fate at his mother’s hands.

“I know you would, Moreau,” Miranda says cooly, gently brushing the palm of her hand against the black fabric that covers the top of Salvatore’s head, “which is why I’ve called you here today; to reward you for your loyalty and service to me thus far.”

Salvatore sinks sharp and jagged teeth into the flesh of his bottom lip, nearly drawing blood as he desperately tries to silence the needy whine that wanted to tear its way from the back of his throat. His body shivered and twitched in unimaginable delight from the sudden tender caress to his sensitive skin. How long had it been since someone had touched him so gently? How long since someone had spoken to him with such kind and soft words. Took the time to gather presents as a reward for years of faithful servitude? How long since someone had loved him like this?

‘Too long’ the disfigured man sighed to himself, reveling in the soft, gentle contact for as long as he is able.

“Moreau. Look at me” Miranda commanded firmly, and despite not wanting his beloved Mother to be forced to bear witness to his hideous face, he complied, lifting his head up and back to allow his gaze to lift from the floor and up at the glowing figure that was his Mother, his beautiful, incredible, intelligent, majestic mother.

The light shining down from above illuminates Miranda from behind. From Salvatore’s perspective on the floor, the light darkens her face and most of her torso and waist, giving a softened, almost ethereal glow around Miranda’s figure. This, along with the rest of her garb, makes Mother Miranda appear even more like the holy woman that Salvatore naively believes she still is. Despite her less than affectionate treatment of him thus far, Salvatore still stared up at the darkened face of Mother Miranda, his eyes shining with reverence, love, desire, and unending devotion.

“Y-yes... Mother?” Salvatore breathed, barely able to speak above a whisper as Miranda stepped away, gesturing for him to follow.

“Are you ready to collect your gift now?” The raven mother asks, speaking more softly than before and even holding her hand out to Salvatore, her pose and appearance mirroring that of a powerful god taking mercy upon her wretched follower, reaching out to reward the years of faithful servitude and worship.

Salvatore, barely able to keep himself calm as he stumbled to his feet, did not grace Mother Miranda’s question with a proper response, instead practically racing to take the woman’s outstretched hand in his own.

“I’m ready Mother… I-I’m ready for... my g-gift now… can I… c-can I have it n-now… p-please?” Salvatore begs, pulling at Miranda’s hand like an overly excited child, seemingly unaware of the disgusted twist of her face when the hooded man’s cold, slimy fingers firmly latched onto hers.

“Of course, my child” Mother Miranda says, pulling her hand back from Salvatore’s and instead placing it along the man’s hunched back, beginning to guide him to wherever it was the raven mother had hidden his gift.

As Salvatore limped next to Mother Miranda, the deformed man couldn’t help but wonder what exactly it was that Mother had gotten for him. Was it a new cloak, to replace the worn one he was currently wearing? Perhaps a new set of romance films so he didn’t have to rewatch the ones he already owned over and over again anymore? Or maybe it was something to help with his digestion?

It would be nice to get his chronic acid reflux under control again.

Regardless of what the gift actually turned out to be however, Salvatore was merely pleased that he was finally getting a chance to spend time with Mother Miranda all by himself for a change.

Maybe, if he was lucky, she’d even agree to hold him, just like she always did back when he was still undergoing cadou treatment.

Oh how wonderful that would be!

[edenmemes]

the witcher (show) starters

❝ victimhood is not your colour. ❞ ❝ you can’t outrun destiny just because you’re terrified of it. ❞ ❝ your job is to control chaos, not to succumb to it. ❞ ❝ you don’t deserve the air you breathe. ❞ ❝ not a single person alive looks in the mirror and doesn’t see some form of deformity. ❞ ❝ you lie, you keep secrets. you succumb to emotion and weakness. ❞ ❝ not answering questions is part of your brooding pillar of charm. ❞ ❝ you’re just mad because you lost your chance to be beautiful. ❞ ❝ you smell of death and destiny, heroics and heartbreak. ❞ ❝ there’s no power in puppeting fools. ❞ ❝ i’ll leave that for someone who gives a shit. ❞ ❝ i need to get back to my horse. ❞ ❝ your will to live is strong. ❞ ❝ i’m still not enough. even for you. ❞ ❝ need a hand? i’ve got two. ❞  ❝ my men will kill you. ❞ ❝ i’m here to drink alone. ❞ ❝ go. on your own or at the end of a rope, your choice. ❞ ❝ do you know how many people wouldn’t blink if you died? ❞ ❝ you weren’t taking control. you were losing it. ❞ ❝ people call you a monster too. ❞ ❝ i've waited all these years for you to admit we're made for each other. ❞ ❝ if only you could tell between friend or threat. do you even know the difference anymore? ❞ ❝ when you live as long as i do, all the names sound the same. ❞ ❝ were you in love? ❞ ❝ this place isn’t safe when you’re alone. ❞ ❝ the only thing you do quickly is flee. ❞ ❝ even if you were a beauty, still, no one would love you. ❞ ❝ not a happily ever after after all. ❞ ❝ hm, doesn’t rhyme. all good predictions rhyme. ❞ ❝ you are making me uncomfortable. ❞ ❝ unchecked kings and queens start massacres. ❞  ❝ i just want some damn peace. ❞ ❝ i dreamed of becoming important to someone someday. ❞ ❝ the only thing special about you is the crown on your head. ❞ ❝ what do you long for? fame? money? power? ❞ ❝ what? no one mentioned the impending doom part. ❞ ❝ true words are rare words. ❞ ❝ i want more. i have to be more. ❞ ❝ do other women find this coarseness charming? ❞ ❝ love casts long shadows. ❞ ❝ if she runs, kill her. ❞ ❝ don’t give me that look, shitling. ❞ ❝ today isn’t your day, is it? ❞ ❝ how come when my life comes to shit you’re the one shoveling it? ❞ ❝ i know who you are. what you are. ❞ ❝ i envy you. to live, and to have no love. ❞ ❝ you’d leave a man bound to die in such a dignity? ❞ ❝ i loved your mother. ❞ ❝ don’t you know who i am? ❞ ❝ so that’s all life is to you? monsters and money? ❞ ❝ there’s a vortex of fate around us. ❞ ❝ is history a wheel doomed to repeat? ❞ ❝ the sword of destiny has two edges. ❞ ❝ i’ve considered your company and conversation payment enough. ❞ ❝ this isn’t who you are. ❞ ❝ will you be joining me? ❞ ❝ no amount of power or beauty will make you feel worthy of either. ❞ ❝ i don’t believe anyone has that power. ❞  ❝ nobody smart plays fair. ❞ ❝ i won’t listen to a man who pimps the world as some romantic adventure. ❞ ❝ a true man would state his desires. ❞ ❝ don’t turn this on me. ❞ ❝ i want to be powerful. it’s what i’m owed. ❞ ❝ that makes sense just as much as it doesn’t. ❞  ❝ you’re smart, aren’t you? you know everything. ❞ ❝ i feel something out there waits for you. ❞  ❝ please don’t hurt me. i’m lost. ❞  ❝ i won’t kill you...but you cant stay here. ❞  ❝ there’s no ‘us’. there’s only me. ❞  ❝ i’m asking for a teeny-weeny little favor. ❞  ❝ yeah, you’re probably right. but what if you’re not? ❞ ❝ i’m not your friend. ❞  ❝ you and destiny can both fuck right off. ❞  ❝ i love the way you just sit in the corner and brood. ❞ ❝ i will not suffer tonight sober. ❞  ❝ pretty ballads hide bastard truths. ❞  ❝ i will not involve myself to petty men’s squabbles. ❞ ❝ happy childhood makes for dull company. ❞ ❝ it’s impossible to be prepared for every battle. keep your sword close, and keep moving. ❞  ❝ i see a lot of myself in you. ❞ ❝ you can’t change the world this way. ❞ ❝ i don’t need anyone. & the last thing i want is someone needing me. ❞ ❝ alright, stand close to me and pretend you’re mean. ❞ ❝ why are you dressed like a sad silk trader? ❞  ❝ only one of us will be alive to find out. ❞  ❝ i stole rather than starve. i killed rather than be killed. ❞  ❝ i have’t only done good in my life either. ❞  ❝ it’s like ordering a pie and finding out it has no filling. ❞  ❝ when i cut my finger i bleed. that’s human, right? ❞  ❝ they’re rough around the edges but they’re earthling like me. ❞  ❝ royalty is best endured in small doses. ❞  ❝ i thought the world needed me too. ❞  ❝ sometimes, the best thing a flower can do for us is die. ❞  ❝ handy with a blade. handy with women too. ❞ ❝ are you trying to hurt my feelings? ❞ ❝ you look like you’ve been through hell. ❞ ❝ i can’t do this without you. ❞ ❝ you know cautionary tales won’t work on me. ❞ ❝ you talk nonsense while making wise and meaningful faces. ❞ ❝ the apple never falls far from the tree. ❞ ❝ when i go it will be far more dramatic than this. ❞ ❝ try not to get any daggers in your back before dawn. ❞ ❝ you have your mother’s blood. you’ll be alright. ❞ ❝ a great ruler always chooses mercy. ❞ ❝ it took two strikes to kill him. they weren’t clean. but they were spectacular. ❞ ❝ if i have to choose between one evil and another, i’d rather not choose. ❞ ❝ i would do anything to forget who i was. ❞ ❝ i have no doubt blood will be spilled here tonight. ❞ ❝ there’s a grain of truth in every fairy tale. ❞ ❝ people look at you for who you are, not what you can give them. ❞ ❝ do you believe in destiny now? ❞ ❝ we can leave. we can find a way out. ❞ ❝ lovers? fun for a bit, i’ll admit, but all eventually disappoint. ❞ ❝ let’s face it, you’re a girl. we’re just vessels. and even when we’re told we’re special, we’re still just vessels…for them to take…and take…until we’re empty…and alone. ❞ ❝ people like to invent monsters and monstrosities. then they seem less monstrous themselves. ❞ ❝ every time i’m around you i say more in five minutes than i’ve said in weeks. ❞ ❝ maybe someone out there will want you. ❞ ❝ if you must kill me, i’m ready. ❞ ❝ people linked by destiny always find each other. ❞ ❝ thank the gods. i might live to see another day. ❞ ❝ i was having a rather lovely dream which then turned into a nightmare. ❞ ❝ you desperately need money for new clothes.  ❞ ❝ more and more, i find monsters where ever i go. ❞ ❝ life is too short. do what pleases you...while you can. ❞ ❝ gods you’re pretty. ❞ ❝ my lady, i would never degrade your honor in such a way. ❞ ❝ my world is cruel. you enter, you survive, you die. ❞ ❝ i feel i shall die a broken hearted man. ❞ ❝ who slits a man’s throat while he’s relieving his bowels? ❞ ❝ why help those who don’t listen? ❞ 

[dark-imagine-robots]

Reveritale AU Dump!!!

((Hehehe, another thanks to my good pal @ask-ufpapyrus​, one of my good pals, who helped out a sort some stuff with this au in decision making AND Offical art pieces retaining to both this au and TOTC Epilogue/Undertale Story!! *clears throat, cracks knuckles.* now let's begin!))

  His memories...

                                      Now, where do we start?... Ah...

  The full names of the Queens of the Underground are names Undyne and Alphys Fantasti. The Sans of this Undertale au, the Queens' prince, is names Uphys Fantasti. He may not be a biological son to the two queens, however he was a gift to them from their lead royal scientist, Gaster. In which the Gaster of this au is named Illuseem.

  Despite the queens being the ones having full custody over Uphys, the queens allowed Illuseem still be present in Uphys' life and have some privileges over his own son. That is why Illuseem was also Uphys' caretaker when the queens are not attending to him.

  Having these privileges would also be the reason for Uphys to fall ill in the Reveritale story, along leading to his demise by the hands of Imago.

  Thanks to Imago's sacrifice to keep Uphys' soul alive, it was retrieved by the new Lead royal scientists that use to be Illuseem's assistants, Napstablook and Napsatton. The queens would be unaware of this retrieval, leading it to be believed that Uphys dusted as Imago died with him in his arms.

  The two ghostly scientists would continue the project if which Illuseem left behind, finding a way to bring back/save dusted/dusting monsters. Uphys' soul would be a part of this project as they were also trying to find a way to bring back the prince's body. Which this inevitably lead to chaos, as they looked tirelessly to find out how to do this ((Tirelessly due to the fact that Uphys' soul was slowly dying once again with Imago's magic fading from the soul's use of it to stay alive)), they found the notes on Skeleton Demons that Illuseem left behind as well. This leading to the two scientists to try and inject the essences from both Underworld and Overworld Skeleton Demons, and some of the essences of determination from the human souls, into monster souls. All tests failed, creating the amalgamates of this au. All tests failed except Uphys' test. Due to Imago's magic, the essences managed to become well absorbed into Uphys' soul. Yet... Uphys didn't come out as the same person he once was.. as the essences made Uphys' new body be an echo flower.

  Due to the essences of Overworld and Underworld Skeleton Demons implemented into Uphys' soul, the traits of both Skeleton Demons would also show during the pacifist run battle against him. These traits being the multiple symbols and bones from Underworld Skeleton Demons, and the show of colors and extreme magic levels from Overworld Skeleton Demons.

  But, just like the original Undertale story, Uphys is simply a young soul still, tainted by the outside essences that made him a different person, yet still preserved the person he still was before his body dusted so long ago.

                      .... Are we... forgetting someone?

  Indeed we are...

  As many of you know already, Skeleton Demons are already dead... and they would reject passing on if they knew it wasn't their time to be gone. Their soul will mend and refuse whenever it is shattered/destroyed by outside sources and people that are not of Skeleton Demon descendents.

  Imago never passed on... but he never came back the same.

  When Imago's soul was shattered, it's factors of keeping bad things away from his soul were extremely weakened, not because it shattered, but because of how and why it shattered. The extreme emotional toll and cruelness of being harmed during his walk and the life of hatred, weakened his soul.. anything could enter and became a part of him.

  Hate became a part of his soul... Hate, rage, and fury... but Hate is the main factor of what corrupted him... his soul.

   Imago's soul mends and refuses, but the Hate changed and kept certain things to Imago's body, since he didn't exactly pass on, he long passed his child youth. As change and unfamiliarity to a Skeleton Demon's body will always be apparent one way or another when they are corrupted, yet... the real change... the real corruption occurred more to Imago's own personality, emotions, magic, psyche...

   Stronger.... yet... pure malice...

   A Genocide run has always stayed avoided, no one wanted to do a Genocide run in this particular au. Neutral routes and Pacifist were always the go to... the reason is unknown as to why no one ever wanted to do the Genocide run of this au... it could be that the Neutral routes are rich in outcomes... maybe the pacifist route is just that satisfying to go through with, even when done over and over... or it could be that no one wanted to see their loveable skeleton be the true evil behind this au, as no one would want nor accept such a thing such a concept... such a frightening thought...

   That is... until one player decided to finally choose the Genocide run after a neutral run. 

   It would play off as any other outcome the Genocide run would provide... but Imago... at the very end.. will be more of a threat and terror before the player/frisk's presence.

   Imago will start off as a friendly, welcoming skeleton, just like any other alternate Papyrus would be. Sure his appearance is a bit.. atrocious... but his lights eyes are wide and adorable! What's wrong with going with a Genocide route? This Papyrus is like any other!!

   .......

   It's a facade.... 

   Imago's behavior will degrade into something more passive aggressive, sociopathic... right after he mentions how proud he is that you managed to kill everyone for him... just to meet him... the player/frisk will be uneasy, unnerved, and regretful of their decisions the more they stayed under Imago's presence. 

   And then...

   He finally asks... "Would you like the best outcome for your last route? I'll be with you through and through! Now and always, here and... forever. What do you say? Let's reset this now hollow shell of a ending, human! You'll have a best friend to follow you, wherever you go! You'll never be... alone. Nyhehe!"

   Choosing yes would be easy on Frisk's soul, he would be so "caring" and "kind" to you. Saying how you made the right choice, he wouldn't fail to be your best friend to the very End.

   But... Frisk doesn't choose yes... they were finally broken into tears, regret, sorrow... but everything they done and the evil they have brought upon themselves. They chose no.

   He notices their tears, their suffering as they chose no.

   He laughs in glee, sadistic joy from their tears and suffering. It was pathetic to him, so entertaining... but the choice they made... it didn't matter.

   He was in control, he is already their Best Friend to the end... it was too late to reject something that will never let go. 

                                                            Reset...

   In hopes to forget that Genocide ever happened, frisk now goes with a pacifist route! Easy enough, and so calming.

   But little things can be noticed... things that weren't there in the past pacifist runs.

   Some additional dialogue can be read out after every boss battle... they don't start off as anything strange... but they get more text heavy the closer you are to the last fight of the run. 

And of course!

   Imago kept his word... he would be there with you... always... 

   Like the original Undertale story, he can be seen in mirrored areas! But... instead of him being you... he is simply behind you the entire time.

   "Despite everything, you're still you. But... you did make a friend along the way."

   This pacifist run will have the same ending like the rest, nothing bad or any MAJOR changes will take place for the end...right?

...

   I would be lying if I said everything would be well in the end, but it would be far more different, oh so far more horrible. 

   Once you have to face Uphys, something changes in this pacifist fight... Uphys is more tense, and he doesn't give you the option to save the others. He can be saved, but only him... once you do, it goes out as any normal Undertale Story goes. He turns back into his original body and speaks to you...

   But he knows something is wrong, but his gaurd is down, he can't right in this form. He offers you/frisk a hug. If anything, frisk would have accepted right away, but that didn't happen...

   Instead... the option to attack appears. Frisk refused to attack, but it wasn't their choice, someone else made that choice. They made frisk attack Uphys.

   The first strike doesn't kill Uphys, but made him fall to his knees, crying, in pain, bleeding, and scared. 

   Frisk is no longer in control, but they cry as well as they don't want to hurt Uphys, not again. Oh... but that wasn't a choice... Him... Imago was in control. Making you kill his own brother. He is enjoying this, enjoyingthe pain and suffering of it all. His own brother was nothing to him, his little show of power, meant nothing to him, their time together.... was nothing but a long faded memory with Hate attached to it.

   He makes frisk make that final blow.

   Uphys' body dusts before frisk, leaving only his soul, which Imago snatches it on the spot. 

   "Such a swell job you did human, nyheheh." He explored as he held the soul up near his own face. "It was quite the show too! This outcome was definitely the best one! Hmm... but it's a shame." He ponders. "I actually won't be needing you anymore!!!" He says enthusiastically before he actually consumes hos own brother's soul. "Ahh, finally complete. You know, all that time of other pacifist routes going over and over, gave me time to grow more and more powerful. Until the perfect time came when you came along to make the first, and last, Genocide route." He makes the Erase button appear before himself and frisk. "After so long of watching everyone make True Resets, I was curious... what if there was a Permanent Reset? Nyhehe, a button that would make sure nothing every comes back and could never be played with again! This.." He points at the Erase button. "This is what I always been wanting to conjure... now that I'm complete, I finally got to summon it!! Nyheheh! .......but of course... it's not yours to use or make go away. It's mine." Black ooze seeps from his jaws, nose, eye sockets, and scars. His eyes become a swirl of his magic colors, crazed and terrifying. "Goodbye, Frisk."

   Thus, Imago pressed the button. And his au has been Erased.

((This lovely piece was made by @ask-ufpapyrus​!!! Again, thank you so much, bud! And thank you guys for reading his dump!))

[jawritter]

Saving Grace

Summary:  Some things are worth fighting for, even when they think they’re not. You can either roll over and die, or you can pick yourself up off the ground and go get what you want. That’s the place Y/N now finds herself in.

Warnings: Angst, so much angst, heartbreak, breakup, language. 

Word Count: 1335

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Prompt: 15: The red tail lights was the last thing she saw.

A/N: This fic was written for @jay-and-dean 2k To Be Continued celebration! Congrats on your new milestone hun! Since this challenge is called the “to be continued” challenge. I thought it best to leave this one in a bit of an open ending **Inserts evil laugh here**. This fic is totally unbeta’d and all mistakes are my own! Please do not copy my work! Feedback is golden! Hope you guys enjoy this one!

Want more? Check out my Masterlist! If that’s not enough join me on Patreon, and get exclusive fics and series first!!

**MASTERLIST**        **BECOME A PATREON**

The red tail lights was the last thing she saw. Still, Dean saw a much worse view. The view of her tear-streaked face cast with an almost eerie red glow as he pulled out of the mud slick driveway, and onto the main road. He watched the rearview mirror until he couldn’t see her anymore. 

His dad had always taught him never to show emotions. “Real men don’t cry,” he’d said. It took everything in Dean to hold the burning wave of tears back as he refocused his eyes on the road, leaving yet another piece of his heart behind. 

Sam watched his brother closely. He could see the strain in his neck and shoulders and he kept a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and a death glare on the road. Dean could feel Sam’s eyes on him, even though Sam dared not say anything to his older brother. 

That was the longest drive to the bunker he’d ever made in his life, and fighting the inevitable breakdown was getting harder and harder with each passing mile. All he could see was her. That hurt look on her face. Her heart, breaking into pieces. He’d done that. He’d caused her more pain. He didn’t want to cause her any more pain. That’s why he fucking told her they couldn’t keep doing this. That’s why he told her that it was over. 

“It’s for the best, she’s safe now,” he told himself over and over again, but it was getting harder and harder to convince himself of that right now. 

With each step he took into the grave-like silence that filled the bunker his chest felt heavier. He got as far as the map table before the first tear slipped down his face. He refused to acknowledge the weakness, and when Sam’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, he jerked away hard, murmuring something about getting some sleep. 

Sam wanted to help him, that’s all, but there was no fixing this. There was no putting Dean back together this time. He didn’t really let himself cry in earnest until he was safely locked in his room, with an open bottle of Tennessee's finest. 

This was it, his curse. Some cruel joke Chuck had slapped on him his whole life. Loneliness. He tried to drown it in alcohol, and when he was younger he tried to drown it in young women. It never filled the void the way Y/N did, it never will. 

Dean pulled out his phone and started looking through the photos of the two of them over the last six months, and damn if that didn’t rip yet another fresh whole in his chest.

Her smile was his everything. It was his reason for getting up in the morning, and the only reason he’d kept going this long, and not given up and taken the easy way out. She loved him, really loved him. She’d woken a part of him up that he never knew could exist inside the fucked up, broken shell of the former man he once was. 

Now… Well, now that man was dying, and fuck if that didn’t hurt worse than anything he’d ever lost in his life. 

Over two hours south of where Dean was now, Y/N sat in the driveway with the rain beating down on her already soaked clothes as if it could wash away the crippling heartbreak she felt right now. 

The mud she was kneeling in from where she hit her knees the moment those horrible red taillights were no longer in sight. She’d been there for almost two hours. She couldn’t cry anymore. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t even think clearly for nearly two hours. She just knelt there in misery. 

If he would have been man enough to just pull his gun and shoot her in the head it would have been more merciful than what he’d just done to her. It would have been quick, painless even. But no, he decided to leave her a half-dead shell of a human, kneeling in the pouring rain, unable to even pick herself up from where he’d left her standing. 

“It’s better this way sweetheart,” he’d said. “You’re safer without me. I'm poison baby, you don’t deserve to follow me down this road that’s only going to end up in more hurt and heartache. You don’t deserve that.”

Well, fuck if he wasn’t wrong. She would have taken death for him, and taken it gladly. Torture couldn’t put a dent in what she was feeling right now. She feared no monster, no demon, she could and had faced all those things, and came back stronger. This was different. This was inescapable. This was going to kill her. 

“No,” she finally said, grabbing the tale gate of her old Nissan V6 that she’d been kneeling by and using it to force herself to stand.

She knew Dean was hell-bent on “keeping her safe,” but dammit she’d been keeping herself safe for the last 15 years she’d been a hunter. So what gave him the right to make the decision that he wasn’t worth whatever pain was to come? 

Once she was inside the house, she quickly changed her clothes into something dry and dialed Sam’s number. She knew Sam almost as well as she knew Dean, and she knew he thought his brother deserved to be happy. He was happy with her. Sam had told her so, and Sam wouldn’t lie about that.

She’d just slammed the door to the old truck, and pressed the clutch to the floor, starting the engine with a roar as she tried to force the old truck in reverse quicker than what it really liked when Sam answered the phone. 

“Y/N, are you okay?” he asked as you pulled onto the blacktop, shifting gears as you gained speed, heading for the bunker as fast as the old truck could go.

“I’m fine, how’s Dean?” she asked, her chest tight with panic. She knew him, her Dean, and if she was in this bad of shape, then she could only imagine what he was going through. 

“Not good,” Sam answered simply. That was it, all she needed to hear. 

“I’m on my way Sam, he’s not going to get rid of me that easily.” 

Sam let out a huff of breath that you could tell was the first real one he’d taken all night long. 

“Thank God,” he breathed as she hung up the phone, that old truck roaring in the background as she sped their way as fast as it could carry her. 

He knew his brother was hurting more than he’d ever seen him hurt. He’d been sitting in the hall or almost an hour listening to him cry himself to sleep, something he’d rarely ever heard him do maybe only once, and that was when Mary had been taken away from him the second time. He needed Y/N, and she needed him. 

Thankfully she seemed stubborn enough to keep him from destroying the only good thing he’d ever had. So he pulled himself up from the floor and cracked the door open to see Dean on his stomach with an empty whiskey bottle in his hand, and his mouth slack with sleep. He slipped inside, and removed his boats, and put them down beside the bed, pulling the covers over him knowing Y/N would take care of the rest when she got here.

This life wasn’t easy, and Dean didn’t need to make it harder on himself when there was finally someone that was willing to fight for him the way he deserves, and Y/N was just that person. 

“Hang in there Dean. She’s almost home,” he said as he tucked the covers around his brother’s sleeping form and went to wait in the library for what he was convinced would be his big brother’s saving grace.

Forever Tags: @deanmonandnegansbitch @hayleeharling @flamencodiva @coldmuffinbanditshoe @bxbyizzy @rain-dance-goblin @itmejado @supernatural3002 @teresa-67 @deanwanddamons @rvgrsbrns @bi-danvers0 @onethirstyunicorn @i-love-superhero @akshi8278 @lyss-dw79 @magssteenkamp @lemondropirwin @squirrelnotsam @hobby27 @spnbaby-67 @mrsjenniferwinchester @defenderrosetyler @screechingartisancashbailiff @thecreatiivecorner  @aflamboyanceofgays @vicmc624 @busy-bee-angel-misska @justanotherwinchester @brilovesdeanwinchester @idksupernatural​   @lyarr24 @amandamdiehl​ @love-jackles @miraclesoflove​  @Waywardsistershay @emoryhemsworth​ @dean-winchesters-gardian-angel​ @softsebastian​ @tatted-trina6​

[alice-angel12x]

💠Cruel end( Heartslabyul ver.♥)

There is this neat post on Tumblr from twstpasta. And was a fun au headcanon how Mc or the NRC's s/o was destined to become a great villain, and how the boys felt about it? And I wanted to do my own spin on it with a bit of a crossover. Have you ever watched or read Madoka Magica?

Let's say the Mc/Reader came from the Madoka Magica universe, and she is one of the longest-lasting magical girls, she knows the dark secret and destiny of the magical girl and the consequence of kyubey's contract. Know where she is in twisted wonderland, with no witch to slay and the frequent use of magic to face overblot. Her soul gem is nearly dark, her time is running out. And it didn't help when Crowley proudly announced that she would be destined to be a great villain, this added a great dread on her heart. Crowley none the wiser of what those words really meant for Y/n. Soon the rumor reached the boy's ears. How would they react and watched it all unfold?

♥Riddle Roseheart ♥

*When Riddle heard this he was uncertain how to feel. they were sweet and kind and could never hurt anyone. So he decided to keep a close eye on them.

*Till one day he finally asked her if she was planning to be a villain all along. With a sigh, Y/n explained what her fate really was. From the contract to the soul gem and the witches she slew. And how she will inevitably become a witch herself, to one day being destroyed by another magical girl.

"So why would you make a wish with that awful creature?" Riddle gasped.

"I didn't really have the luxury of being able to think about it. I was just so desperate at the time," Y/n frowned.

"What is your soul gem like know?" Riddle asked in a worried tone.

*Y/n's soul gem was nearly black, and Y/n's sadness wasn't doing her any favors. Riddle hugged her close as he buried his face in her neck as he promised he wouldn't let her turn into a witch.

"I won't let that happen!" Riddle stated as he stood from his chair, " I'll never let you become a witch."

"Riddle, thank you for looking out for me," Y/n thanked as she kissed riddles forehead.

"I don't want to lose you," Riddle said as his eyes grew watery.

*Riddle did all he could to Keep Y/n from using her magic and keeping her spirits up. Y/n greatly appreciated his efforts and was happier. Till another overblot happened and the others weren't strong enough to stop them, so she activated her soul gem.

__They Turn__

*Riddle hugged Y/n's lifeless body close to him as tears ran down his face. After the fight, Riddle watched in horror as Y/n writhed in pain as her soul gem shattered and a horrifying witch appeared.

*The other students watched in horror as the creature started to destroy the school and the dorms. Luckily Crowley found a way to Y/n's world and out stepped another magical girl.

*The battle was fierce and terrifying, but the magical girl was able to destroy the outer shell of the witch.

*Riddle gasped in horror as a small humanoid figure crawled slowly towards him. It reached out its hand as it cried out, but with a swing of the sword, Y/n was defeated.

"Look's like you finally kicked the bucket," The cocky magical girl chucked as she grabbed the grief seed.

"Hold It!" Riddle growled as tears ran down his cheeks, " That was her's. this is her soul gem!"

"This is no longer a soul gem. It's a grief seed, it's a reward for saving the others from her curse," kyubey's said simply as the magical girl walked off.

*Riddle cried over the body as kyubey simply walked away.

"This isn't fair. There has to be a law against this," Riddle sobbed.

🍀Trey clover🍀

*Trey was surprised to hear this, he always perceived you as a pretty harmless person. Whenever he did see them use their power, they did so sparingly and always for good.

* Were you hiding something from him? Was it something he should be concerned about?

*Trey would pull you aside to ask if they planned to become a villain at some point. But his answer he really got terrified him.

*She told him how she wished to save her life, how kyubey changed her, how she will become a witch and is fated to die at the hands of another magical girl.

"Y-you're joking, right? This can't true," Trey said as he tried to smile it off.

"I'm afraid not," Y/n frowned as she revealed her nearly black soul gem.

*All Trey could do at that moment was to hug Y/n close and promise her he would try to help her delay the inevitable. 

*Sadly when Crowley opened the mirror to her world a monstrous witch emerged and proceeded to wreak havoc on the school. The magic from the students wasn't enough, so she activated her soul gem.

__They Turned__

*Trey could only stare in horror at the knew witch monster that was once Y/n. 'why did this have to happen so soon,' he cried to himself.

*The old witch was defeated. But Y/n's witch was taken down by another magical girl from the mirror. As he looked down he spotted a weird white create with vacant eyes.

"w-who are- no what are you?" Trey asked sadly.

"I am kyubey, I'm just here to make sure that the witch being taken cared of. It's about time Y/n became a witch, she was taking a long time to become one," kyubey said simply.

"Y-your kyubey, Why would you... Why would you do something like this?!" Trey shouted in sadness and anger.

"I just want to turn girls into magical girls, then one day great witches for other magical girls to take down. Don't worry about Y/n's death, she was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good," kyubey said simply.

*Trey could just stare at Y/n's body in despair, know all he has of her are his memories.

"I will make you pay, Incubator," Trey growled lowly. 

💠Cater diamond💠

"You a great villain, no way. You don't have the heart for that," Cater laughed.

*Cater doesn't take the rumor seriously, and kind of just continued with their relationship. 

*And even though Y/n appreciated Cater's carefree attitude towards these rumors, she could not help but feel the worry and dispair creep up on her. not really sure if Cater would believe her about her destiny.

*Sadly when Crowley opened the mirror to her world a monstrous witch emerged and proceeded to wreak havoc on the school. The magic from the students wasn't enough, so she activated her soul gem.

__They Turn__

*Cater called out to Y/n looking for her after the battle with the witch. But when he found, he quickly ran over to her fallen form as she hugged close to him as she cried in pain.

*Cater tried to comfort her to the best of his abilities, only to watch dark smoke emerge from her as it started to take the form of something big. As it tried to take the form, he could hear Y/n's tormented screams echo from it.

*Suddenly another magical girl appears and takes down the witch.

"Y/n look everything is alright now," Cater smiled.

*But when he looked down, it finally registers how cold her body has become. Till it finally hit him, she was dead.

*Dispair quickly washed over him as he hugged Y/n close.

♠Deuce spades♠

*When Deuce heard the Rumer he was unsure how to feel about it. Y/n was such a kind person, why would they turn evil all of a sudden.

*So like Trey he would ask them if they had planned to become evil at some point, and why.

*Y/n explains how she will become this terrible being and how she would be defeated by a magical girl. All because of a dangerous contract she made when she was younger.

"no, NO. I won't let that happen! And if that kyubey thing shows up, I'll pummel them to the ground," Deuce vowed.

*Y/n didn't have the heart to tell him that there was nothing he could do to save you. So she just smiled and hugged her lover and best friend close.

__They Turn__

*Deuce was hunched over Y/n's fallen form as tears of sadness and frustration rolled down his cheeks. As he was forced to watch the other magical girl destroy Y/n forever.

*As he slowly watched the girl return to her world, he noticed a white creature staring at Y/n's body. He knew that was kyubey, the cause of all of this.

*Deuce growled as kyubey tried to reason with him for why her death was necessary. but that didn't help quell Deuces anger as he grabbed kyubey by the ear.

"You have no idea how much difficulty we go through trying to understand your human values. Presently there are six billion, eight hundred million of you, and you're increasing in number by a hundred every four minutes! What's the huge fuss over the death of each and every single creature?"

 Sorry, Ace Trappola stans, I couldn't think of anything but I could imagine that he would not be swad like Cater, but is angry and devastated like Deuce when His lover dies.

[thelordstears]

I think it’s time to show some lines and how much I’ve improved eh?

“ You see, we're all living our lives confined in this little, locked room, we store our thoughts here, our dreams, our doubts, our darkest confessions. But the right people come along with a key and find the real us quivering in a corner of ourselves we fear with all our fuckin' might. All of humanity fears. And so in the span of a blink life created death to separate what is bad, and what is good. “ - Shawn Werdelstein

“ I look deep into my eyes and I swear I can see her darkness flickering in my damn eyes, she took my heart in her murderous stride, flaying me of all my salvation, tellin' me I was nothin' more then livestock on her farm of delicacies and delights. “ - Lupin Rinderez

“In the end I was never really human in the eyes of those who hate me, was I? I was always a toy to those more wicked then I, and so I have rotted in a chest of forgotten dolls and stitched together souls lost to time." - Ingretta Shazowlla

“ Some men are born for prison. They're raised in a cell, and told this is all you can ever be, and when they finally scratch their way out of that prison, they start to get homesick, so they find themselves a new cell, a new Hell, a new home away from home. Chaos is peace ta the broken man. “ - Francis Killvawhile

“ Karma doesn't care about how small the sin was, she just reaps. “ - Scarla Scottaine

“ There's something foreign about an empty bed, something unfamiliar about holding my own hand, it's like love is a language we speak, and when it leaves us we can no longer speak the language of the loveless, because we're already native in the country of love. “ - Finn Desandra

“ The darkness of my past caught up to me and killed the kind pure hearted man I thought I'd forever be, I was always doomed to become a reflection of my father. But with these bloodied and cracked pieces of me I'll bleed him with broken pieces of his reflection. “ - Alviro Conritz

“Isn't it funny? How men and women alike will pull a trigger on another when faced with a gun at their own heart, held steady in the hand of a man who never misses?” - Remington Burlwitz

“ I am Eve luring Adam to his fate.” - Belle Nalroma

“ I am a grave of fireflies and ravens whom head out to war, a wolf of death and anguish that drove me to madness. Don't you call me a freak, I'm just a little bit different, my mind is an eternal state of flickering emotion and madness that has never left me be. In truth the firing of this rifle is the only thing that keeps me alive, it is the beating of my heart and the howl in my soul, so dare you fire back with pieces of your heart shattered in the bullets? “ - Luther Woolhaun

“ I feel like a blank slate that's always re-written. “ - Wendell Ace

"I look at who I am with judgmental eyes.” - Earl Mumford

“ Believe the tales of dead men, they have a perspective like no other. “ - Earl Mumford

“ Stepping up to me ain't a fucking war, it's an execution disguised as such. “ - Saul Northutt

“ Decaying and gentle I shall be lain to rest as the Devil the world mourned. “ - Jonkiv Kramteil

“ Look, the truth is a hard pill to swallow, but swallow it you will. “ - Simon Rossburg

“ I'm a killer and a cheat, if my dagger is unstained remember, there's etches of lives lost on the handle, do you really wanna become another scar on the wood of my blade? “ - Killgrove Butcher

“ Mercy is a surefire way to meet God, so I sling an old club wrapped in barbed wire over my shoulder and watch the river spill crimson. “ - Olivia Juarez

"They call kindness weakness, so I must be the strongest bitch in town.” - Olivia Juarez

“ My wrath comes down like a cold rain of daggers when faced with the wicked, if they ain't ready to die then they best fucking prepare for it, cause those who use the powerless as a simple stepping stone to Heaven don't deserve the breath in their damn lungs. “ - Lucille Ramaswami

“ That man, that wicked fuckin' man, 'e's an old vulture sittin' atop the Church waitin' for the holy ta fall down the steeple, 'e swoops down and picks their bones 'a love, 'a holiness, 'a morality. And den, the holy become the damned. “ - Maxwell Soderstrom

“ The Devils and snakes in the grass should fear the gardener with his shovel ready to bury the pests." - Guarva Plucker

“ Don't call me your hero, cause heroes don't kill good men." - Al Hunderson

  "Brother, there's somethin' sinister brewin' in the bones of humanity, has been since the Neanderthals huddled in caves, lighting fires underneath the murky walls of a place they could call home. I'm afraid you're gonna have to be a little more specific." - Roman Hemlock "Ya can always spot the little, tinges of darkness in the bad man's eye, the little seams of pain that follows 'em." - Sandro Colorfeid

"I slither and slide into the darkness, a basilisk hiding in shadow and sin, biting into the forbidden fruit of Eden with glee and cruelty flickering in my snake likes eyes." - Vexine Hatchet

"I stood with blood on my hands and a snarl on my lip. It was from that moment on, Nico no longer were." - Nico Litchenfels

“ I'm a cutthroat fucker with his heart bared open and cruel on his trench jacket's sleeve. “ - Nico Litchenfels

"I stood like a question never asked, and then before I had the chance to give myself an answer in the echoes of my insanity, she smiled and asked who I was." - Zachariah Rinderez

"I have died a thousand times, Minerva. But you make me want to live again." - Simon Drogace

"I'm not lucky enough to be me." - Simon Drogace

“Do you ever feel like, your mind is a hammer?” - Simon Drogace

"He stood there, like a wicked omen of what never should've been, a testament to all humanity tried to kill." - Neal Marrows

"Losing yourself is a game no one can win." - Neal Marrows

"You know me, just a grave of who I was, grasping the soil wondering why it always slips between my fingers." - Sam Dellwotfire

"Someone once asked me what life before war was like, and truthfully, I've never known." - Hunter Creasey

"You spend your whole life under the shadow of death it starts to become you, and as you let the light it in, as you let your heart burst in seams of color and little figments of love and joy, that's when the shadow casts itself over you the longest. As soon as you start to live, death comes on by to greet you as if she were an old friend, and as I live through the essence of love and peace, I can see a smile filled with the lost lives of all whom ever walked greeting me on a road all too familiar." - Hunter Creasey

"I'm the mad man's greatest friend, but in the eyes of the sane, in the eyes of all whom stand against cruelty, I'm a weapon, an atomic bomb that'll level the city of peace to dust." - Moores Thomas

"It is in madness and grief we find who we really are. So who's to say humanity was supposed to live in peace? After all, even our mind tells us things we could never dream of with intrusive thoughts, and in the end some of us succumb to the darkness every single mind brews." - Moores Thomas

"You see, madness starts with a small seed the human race calls trouble, it comes in many different variants, some get in very small dosages all their lives. But mad men get a taste of trouble long before they know what the word means." - Moores Thomas

"The way I see love, it's an interesting sort of medicine. One moment it stitches together the loose threads of your heart, and in the very next it unravels you like a spool of thread." - Cornelius Combs

"I walked into the Church only to be spat out, falling down the sinner's steeple coughing up bloodied pieces of my faith." - Takizen Fruivein

"Challenging what I've become is a fools game, and my friend, I am no fool." - Allinza Harzvi

"Humanity is not inherently kind, everything we've seen, and everything we are, is proof of that testament." - Allinza Harzvi

"We are never in the same boat, we are in the same storm, facing life's darkness with different privilege's." - Caldvain Lucelo

"You know, someone once told me you have control over your own mind, but as it drifts away from me as smoke in the dying embers of a midnight wildfire, does that statement still hold true?" - Harvin Scoviney

"God does not help. He observes." - Victor Da Ville

“ You can't explain what evil means without mentioning the feared name of Cassidy Vanderberg. “ - Cassidy Vanderberg

“ I'm a hero, and I know, it's a heroes curse to go down in history, shooting her glory through the chamber of a revolver, leaving the world with the gunfire smoke of her gun, but so be it man, so fucking be it. “ - Miella Fang

“ Tragedy runs through my veins like the blood I bleed.” - Harkman Burtrow

“ You can run your hands through these cracked and yellowed pages, wondering when I lost my mind, but you won't find any answers in my chapters. “ - Mortelo Vonenwoft

“ ”You ever feel there’s jus’ this empty box where your heart’s supposed ta be? I've shoved all my monsters in this box, my addictions, my anxiety, the thoughts that don't go away. But sometimes, the box starts ta open, and I can't even push the door back, cause I'm too busy with this ghost followin' me like a yappin' chihuahua. “ - Isadore Rast

“ Everyone is always sayin' you're strong, for fightin' past that hurt, but am I? I didn't fight, I fuckin' stumbled, I fell, it wasn't just a battle, it was a god damn war I still wage. The gunfire echoes and cocaine ghosts will never leave me be, cause I made the mistake of losin' myself ta the bad side of life, and I just can't forgive myself for that kinda shit. “ - Isadore Rast

“ I'm not a recoverin' addict, I'm just a fuckin' ghost. “ - Carrigan Hopva

“ I met myself on a dead end street, she looked distraught, with chunks of hair missing, cigarette on her lip, trying to light a match in the rain, eyes troubled with memories of what would be. She told me to keep my enemies close, cause god damn, they were everywhere, but she never told me I'd be standin' in a house of mirrors. “ - Rain Morvosina

“ I tell myself, I could've done better, I could've saved the circus, but truthfully, not a single man can stop fate in its tracks, he would become another splatter on her railroad within a series of seconds and terrible events. “ - Bortosley Velltwo

“ I'm guilty ‘a first degree, of lil ol' me." - Howard Wraith

“ Oh mum if ya could see me now, sinnin' on the other side 'a paradise lookin' for reasons ta stain me teeth the color of me jacket. “ - Davy Blight 

“ I ain't the poor lil' boy who shot at 'is brother with orange capped revolvers and plastic swords, mate, I'm the real fuckin' deal. This venom 'a trouble and sin flows like blood in me veins, corruptin' the essence 'a who I fuckin' was. “ - Davy Blight

“ I'm the darkness your mother says ta stray away from, the boogeyman ya're mum tells ya snatches away naughty boys and girls in the dead 'a night, and worst of all mate, I'm Lind fuckin' Blight, bastard son of the seas. “ - Lind Blight

“ I'm just old honey whiskey sitting on the shelf gathering dust and mildew, locked in this little cabin of darkness and decay, wondering why no one cares to pop open my cork and let this darkness and mold spill to the soil of a freshly dug grave. “ - Roxane Vanderberg

“ I met her in a garden 'a roses, and there she stood as the only thorn. “ - Kayella Wisp

“ I've gunned bad men down on the streets, cackling and sinful they died, cruel and wicked they lived. “ - Hoshino Akinori

“ I once went into an old confession booth, sins sat heavy at my shoulder, salvation far off as it always seemed to be, and as that preacher listened to my darkest secrets I was sure he would damn me. But he told me salvation is for all, and that God loves whosoever follows the path of the righteous. “ - Erika Vans

“ I used ta live with one foot in the grave, wondering when the hell I'd become my last name, but then I met a wise man in the woods and found myself once again. Sometimes, we're lost, and we don't even know it. So I think destiny sends us a Messiah to lead the way ta who we are, and as Pennington took my hand in the darkness, I knew I'd found who I am past all this trouble. “ - Alonzo Graves

“ I traverse this labyrinth of my heart and soul, trying to find myself in the midst of all this trouble, but these mirrors are starting to look like enemies, and this maze is starting to become a prison cell. “ - Andre Jollows

“ Deep in my soul is the sound of war calling me home, and death whispers in my bones that she wishes to hold me close as I fade gently into the stars, but I sigh strapping my boots on in the morning, putting this old gas mask on my face and facing another venomous day. For I am a curse, wondering where my blessings went." - Max Caldiph

“ If my heart were a painting, it would be a starless night sky, the trees wilted, stripped of their leaves standing as threadbare omens of the bones etched in darkness that hold me up and the roses would be black, decaying with some dead scent of mercy burning whosoever walks into this garden of death's nose. “ - Apollos Quinn

“ Who I am ain't even me, he's just someone I've been for too long.” - Drew Dreadful

“ I died halfway to Heaven and too close ta Hell. “ - Dylan Huffers

“ I was living a life of trouble and cigarette smoke, chasing lies as if I were just a harmless little kitten, batting my hands at another yarn ball, always wondering why it ran away from me, but as my mother held me in a gentle embrace and showed me the way to paradise, I found out that it's better to be you then somebody else. “ - Scottie Bloodvallo

“ My mama once told me sometimes you gotta fall and stumble to learn who you are, because it's as trouble and peace wage war that we discover who's side we're on, and as those old foes grabbed their rifles and loaded their cannons, I came to realize I never wanted trouble to become who I am. So I picked up my guns and fired a couple rounds of peace into my head. “ - Marty Thievekit

“ You wanna run with the wolves, but brother you're sparrin' with chihuahuas, ya wanna play with the big boys, but you're frolicking in a garden full of gnomes and fairies, you wanna go knuckle to knuckle with your demons, but brother you surround yourself in angels. Do you really expect to kill a man while you're swingin' plastic blades and firin' bullets from a cap gun? “ - Walton Burke

"The truth will always sound like a lie to he who doesn't want to admit he's wrong. “ - Stewart Astoria

“ I'm tied up and tangled in the webs of madness, cackling at the midnight sky as these bastards try to fire bullets of sanity my way. But god damn baby, I'm bullet proof. I take what I want when I want it, so as I slam these bullets of madness into the echoed chamber of my revolver and put a few holes in my mind do you think it'll be me seepin' through the corners of this old mental ward, or will the ground pool crimson with my sanity? Guess there's no way of knowin' til I pull this trigger, sanity and purity spilling like crimson ink in my mind. “ - Ares Malstone

“ Forevermore I shall stand as a threadbare omen of the unholiest parts of mankind, drifting away from myself like the wildfire smoke of a dying confession.” - Alastair Sambridge

“ My mother once stared me dead in the eye and said I was not so holy, one day I would sputter up all the pieces of me and succumb to the Devil inside, and I must say, the old wicked witch was right. My father told me I was just a sin, drifting forevermore into the midnight sky, and as I pulled the trigger upon a battlefield I came to realize fate vows for promises made by wicked people. So by God, I vow to die, I vow to choke on these holy pieces of me and sputter up my dying breath. “ - Alastair Sambridge

“ Who I am is such a far cry from who I was, if you looked at a photograph of me at ten years old you wouldn't recognize the eyes that smile, for as you look into the cracked lenses and into my eyes, it is not me you find. But rather, it is the insanity that swam in Calzell's eyes when I met him." - Ackilzo Thyme

“ My mother once told me that rage whispers into the ears of the broken that they deserve nothing more then this unsteady heart beat of broken bottles and cracked knuckles, but it's the ever smiling lip of peace that brings the sorrowed man back to himself. So I oughta wonder why peace keeps on scowlin' at me. “ - Varvaina Escobar

“ It seems it is the nature of humanity to point blame at those who are howling with regret, love beating empty in an open chest. “ - Sarkelus Johnson

“ Sometimes, life just fades before your eyes and ya don't have enough time to catch it, so you slowly drift away from it yearning for the gentle touch of death. But you know what? We all need a hero every once and awhile, and as Barbara lays her head against my chest, dancing her fingers across my shoulders and cheek, I think I damn well found my hero. “ -Rob Percstand

“ I don't wanna die with dreams, I wanna die with memories, man. “ - Revie Scollinew

"In the outback of Montana my tale began in crimson stained history. I look to my aunts and uncles and see murder deep inside of their hearts, but they should've thought twice before taking my heart in their rough hands, for there is something dark that's brewing inside of me, and if I were them, I would start looking underneath the bed for monsters." - Enoch Avoxin

"There's a certain truth, to madness." - Zachariah Rinderez

"Hold honor close to your heart and you'll end its beat." - McKormick McReavey

"You know, everybody says, this won't happen to me, I'm just your average everyday person, collecting my paycheck, paying my bills, living my day to day life just like everybody else. But what we seem to forget is that we're all normal people, we're all just a little bit average enough to stand out. And when these tragic things do happen to us, we stand in a stunned silence our whole world falling apart, and all we can utter is, "This can't be happening to me." - Ray Burzfoll

"If I could strip the emotion from my mind I fear I would do so in a heart beat." - Wyatt Demouchett

"Love comes and goes but power drifts on by and stays." - Dastallio Sanchez

"Darkness has intertwined itself within my heart sputtering the light from out my throat." - Cornelius Shmackelstein

“I am not myself, so what the fuck am I?" - Coraiza Scotchfuel

"Living in reality is the most cruel form of torture for a mad man." - Draven Scotchfuel

"It is as if she makes my black and white heart burst with some form of color it's never seen." - Armello Vanrick

"Perhaps it was always a mirror hiding inside of my closet." - Julie Forkroad

"The world went dark before it fell, we were just playing a waiting game." - Brooke Bergmeir

"I've got more fighting days left than you have years." - Maximo Guanch

"If everything exists, nothing does, really." - Arthur Wellburn

[voidstilesplease]

leverage

Notes: It's that scene from At World's End's fault.

---

A slight rustling noise snaps his eyes open. He lifts his head from where it's dipped between his folded arms, then promptly smiles at the silhouette of a man in the shadows. He stands to grip the thick iron bars of his jail that are separating him from his beloved. But as soon as his hands close around the bar, they begin smoldering, and he retreats with a hiss. Looking down, his palms have imprints the shape of the bars, so he sends a regretful look at the man in the shadows, for he can't come any closer without hurting.

"My love," he smiles again and calls to the darkness, softly - the longing from so many years. "You came for me."

"You were expecting me?" The man answers, voice gruffer than he remembers and much colder than the floor of his dingy cell.

His heart clenches. It has been so long that they are apart - far too long. "It has been torture," he admits, clutching his hands together and rubbing the charred skin absently. His expression sours when he gazes down at his fragility and spats with bitterness: "Trapped in this frail body." Then his eyes search his in the darkness, "Cut off from my world, from all that I love - from you."

Finally, the silhouette steps out of the shadows, the small light in the cell revealing a cruel face glaring down on him. When the visitor speaks again, it radiates anger amplified by low growls and grinding of elongated canines. "Ten years I devoted to the duty you charged to me," he begins without preamble, taking measured steps forward. The man's unchanging beta form is sneering viciously and twisting his hideous features some more. The olive of his skin darkening another shade until all the man is for ignorant eyes is inhuman. "Ten years I looked after all the bitten wolves that negotiated servitude to you in exchange for power." Another step closer: clashing fury and yearning. "And finally, when we could be together again-" the man halts, inches away from what divides them. Their gazes lock and the man's irises bleed into the most spiteful of blood reds. "you weren't there."

He looks down in shame, noticing the man's unmoving chest. Then, he closes his eyes in remorse.

"Why," The man growls accusingly, "weren't you there?"

He gazes up, pleading with his human eyes. "It's my nature," he whispers mournfully, for it is the truth. Humans promise him their lives, not the other way around. "Would you love me if I was anything but what I am?"

The man - or rather, the werewolf who cannot find the man in himself anymore - snarls, "I do not," he punctuates each word with spitting rage. "love you."

He shakes his head, reaching for the iron bars again to be a little closer. The skin immediately burns, but he endures it, pressing in desperately to eliminate the years of distance and betrayal between them. "Many things you were, Theodore," he whispers, reveling in the emotions flickering on the hardened facade at the sound of the man's name from his mouth. He reckons the man has not been anything but the "demon wolf", as many like to call him, in so long that he forgot he wasn't always it. "-but never evil. You have corrupted your duty, and instead of lending power, you stole it. And so you corrupted yourself. And you hid away what should-" Unmindful of the scalding pain, he inserts his arm in between the bars to finally touch his love, his Theo, right on the space in his chest where his beating heart should have been, "always have been mine."

Right as his fingertips touch the raised scar of the man's hollow chest - from where he cut himself open and took his heart out to bury it where nobody is supposed to find it in the name of invulnerability - Theo's skin shed its decaying color to show the rich bronze underneath. The werewolf's fangs and claws retract, and he is once again glimpsing the beautiful face of the man that Theo was.

Theo peered up to him, where his eyes are the man's mirror. He feels the man shudder at seeing his face and not the monster after all these agonizing years.

He smiles, his forearm blistering and smoking in their midst, as he brushes his fingers on Theo's unmarred face. Theo's eyelids drop close at the gentleness of the contact. After all these years. And his heart clenches once more when Theo whispers his name like a prayer - his name that no other human knows and no other human will ever pray to as much as they curse it.

"I'm Stiles in this body," he says. "But I will be free and I would've promised you my heart. We would have been together." He withdraws his burnt hand slowly, wistfully. "If only you had a heart to give."

Just as quickly, Theo's face shifts back to its beta form, and the irony would have been laughable if it's not brutal. The demon is bound to a human form, and the human is now a monster akin to a demon.

Theo snarls, banging the cage with woeful crying, chasing his lost humanity. When he faces Stiles, his eyes are back to red from bright blue. He easily extends a clawed finger to Stiles's face, leaving a scrape that bleeds. "Destroy the Hales who befouled you. Bargain your freedom for my defeat; it's the only way they can achieve it. Then destroy them."

Theo pulls away, backing into the darkness again.

"Is that the fate you wish for, Theodore?"

Before he disappears, his vow hangs in the air. "You can have my heart and do with it what you desire. It will always belong to you."

~•~

steo a-z: part 12

[voidandradiance]

hint of a spark | 2.8k

(a direct sequel to stars burn out)

their champion serves them well.

he doesn't want to turn against his dear friends; he tempts them toward the dark of his own free will. it is a careful, masterful work, a dream of clever comments and timely suggestions. "my patron treats me well," the captain says with a smile, his eyes darker and clearer than they have ever been before.

the other champions have noticed many of the changes, but not all of them. they have noticed that he seems stronger than before, but not that he avoids sunlight as when he can. they notice the way that his blows hit harder, but not the way that his shadow stretches longer than it should. he dances in the dark, and they scarcely notice. for heroes of the light, they aren't all that observant.

of course not. why would they think to scrutinize their friend, their leader, their dear captain? he would never betray them.

but he would sway them.

he would begin to resent the light for constantly placing them in mortal danger. he would begin to question the way that the hunt for the stones seems to pit them against each other. he would plant those seeds of doubt deep in their chests, and water them carefully.

the darkness constructs yet another gauntlet for the heroes to run, unyielding at the request of their own champion. they cannot raise suspicion, the captain had insisted. instead, when trapped between a horde of minions and a fatal drop, he takes his own way out. he makes his own way out, in a flash of brilliance and stubborn pride, as immune as he would be.

mianite's champion comments on his stubbornness. their clever champion grins. "i never like to accept the obvious options," he says casually, and spins his netherite blade in a flourish. "didn't we ever tell you about how i ended up with milady?"

"no," the caveman says, fascinated at the promise of yet another absurd story, another insight into his friend. "you'll have to tell me later."

the captain smiles. "we'll have to tell you about ruxomar as well," he replies. "with the shadows and all. i think we should all be on the same page, if we're fighting the parent of the gods."

his shadow stretches long and dark on the stone floor, curling with smug delight. none of them notice. the darkness is so very proud of their champion.

he and the zombie tell the caveman of a world where his god was cruel and cold, a world that burned at the hand of the dark, a world where gods died. it discomfits him, but both assure him that the gods change across the realms. they tell him of a world where chaos tore balance to shreds, and order hardly said a word against it, a world where a mortal killed his god, a world where mere children both defeated and restored the divine. the caveman, as is only fair, is alarmed and concerned.

the darkness already has a hold in him, and it grows more solid as the seeds of doubt begin to unfurl in his chest. he has resisted their attempts to ensnare him after he was caught once, but he easily agrees with all the captain says.

their champion has done so well; the darkness grants him a chance to not just rest peacefully, but to curl beneath the silken sheets of his own bed in the mirror realm, cradled in their power, relaxed and utterly safe. they themselves take the shape of his usual nightly guardian, and he looks at them with such gratitude that they, a primordial divinity, are almost dizzy with the rush of loyalty and worship and power.

it will likely take more work to begin to sway the zombie; chaos has begun to grow suspicious of them, despite balance repeatedly siding with all that the captain says.

oh, how strange that conversation had been. she has always held a bias; now, she has set herself on the side of the dark, with a surprisingly well-planned argument as to why. "the light wants total eradication of the dark," she had said, as if they hadn't already known that. "but you know that no shadow can be cast without some light. it isn't balance, but it at least keeps the scale intact. one of you will win, and i would like it to be you. i will not bow, but i will take your side when necessary."

"and i will accept the favor of the scales and tank," the darkness had told their wild, wayward daughter. at least one of the little godlings has seen sense, which is one more than they had expected. ideally, chaos would have been the one to join them, but this does grant the captain far more stable of a cover. she claims that any questioned action is done in the name of balance, which is not quite a lie.

still, the caveman figures it out after the captain summons his bow and saves both of their lives from a horde of monsters that would have otherwise overwhelmed them. a pity; the darkness had rather hoped for a little longer to silently make their case to him. mianite's champion, of course, reacts with fear. with a devastatingly powerful weapon appearing from writhing shadows, it's to be expected. "you. you're with the darkness. you're a fake."

"i'm not a fake," the captain retorts, far too offended for a man who spars against his best friends' shadows on a regular basis. "honestly. do i look like a bad copy to you?"

the caveman still steps back. "even if you aren't, that's not what you should be worried about denying first, cap."

their champion shrugs. "well, i won't try to deny the truth. my patron has been very good to me. i'll claim them gladly."

"and what about ianite?" the caveman demands, frightened and furious. "you've always been loyal to her! why would you betray her? why would you betray us?"

"i wouldn't," the captain says easily. "i am still loyal to my lady. she has seen that the only chance we have at balance is with the darkness. total defeat of the shadows, angrec says. does that sound like balance to you, then?"

silently, the caveman shakes his head.

the captain lets his bow melt away, and steps forward with an outstretched hand. "have i hurt you, karl? have i taken your gear, or stolen your supplies, or flooded your house, or burned your trees? have i left you behind, let you die when i could have helped? have i?"

"no," the caveman says, his voice small and afraid, though he tries to hide it. from the tiny pockets of dark, they watch him, and see the intimidation written in his tense shoulders and curled fists. he truly didn't expect this. "no. i don't- i don't know why, the darkness is evil, why-"

"they aren't evil," the captain snaps, and the other tenses further. he takes a breath in, out, and forces himself to calm. "i have served the gods for nearly a third of my life," he says softly, intently, furiously. "i have done everything they ever asked. and for what? the constant punishment, the constant threats, the wedge driven between my best friends and i? the pain of feeling my goddess die and shatter apart into countless universes? the privilege of dying a thousand times over and again in their quests and purges? the ceaseless nightmares and visions that i have seen every single night since i first swore myself to ianite? karl, do you have any idea how long it had been since i last slept through the night before my lord let me rest?"

"you never escaped," the caveman says slowly. "they let you go. they let you come back to the isles. they want you here."

the captain spreads his empty hands. "i didn't need to escape. the mirror realm is a lovely place, once you get used to it. no mobs that haven't been summoned for a reason. no petty infighting or squabbles. no forced fighting between friends. i know that the darkness cares for me. can you say the same about the gods?"

the caveman hesitates.

"the gods are still so young," the captain pushes, so gently. "they don't know how to handle their power yet. they haven't even settled into their roles. they don't know yet what's best for the world."

"and you do?" the caveman asks bitterly.

their champion just smiles sadly. "i have seen more worlds than you can count. i have lived and died and lived. i have killed the father of gods, and revived a goddess. i have spent so long as balance, so long setting things right. yes. yes, i do."

mianite's champion has nothing to say to that, only offering a stunned stare.

the captain sighs. "look. i know that this might seem like a betrayal, but you've only seen one side of things. just because angrec is the light doesn't mean that she's good. they're not the same thing. they can lie to us. they can manipulate us."

"so can you," the caveman insists. the darkness sits silently in their champion's shadow, and watches as the other man tilts his chin up defiantly. "you're probably lying about all of this! you're dark!"

"i'm still sworn to ianite," the captain says. "my ianite. if i lie, there will be pretty obvious consequences. ask tom about that part, if you don't believe me. you've seen it happen, when i lied to gandus about the fake stones."

they're both silent for a moment. the other hesitates. "that was before you were- were gone," the caveman says. "prove it."

the captain inclines his head. "i'm a little offended that you asked me to," he replies. nothing happens. "i am still sworn to the ianite of my home realm. i am still trying to do what i think is best for everyone. the darkness has done more to help me than any god ever has. the darkness has given me more protection, more power, than any god ever has. the darkness has been more concerned for me than any god, has been kinder, has been more patient- do you see my nose bleeding?"

"no," he says reluctantly, after a beat.

their champion spreads his hands, and steps forward. "i would willingly hurt you or tom when there was still another path left," he says, and dark red blood trickles down over his lips, a deeper shade than any of the other mortals, a strange shimmer to it. it isn't ichor, but it isn't quite human blood. it hasn't been for a long time.

silence hangs heavy in the air as the too-dark blood winds down his face, the crimson droplets slipping down his chin, to his jaw, down his throat. the champions stare at one another, quiet.

"it's still me, karl," the captain says. "i just have a different patron. tom played at being ianite's follower, lied about it, as his god commanded. i don't hold it against him anymore, and neither do you. how is this any different?"

"i," the caveman says. "i need to think."

the captain nods easily, despite the wary look he gets. "that's fair. this was not a good way to find out. i understand. oh, don't look so surprised, i'm not going to threaten you or anything. you're my friend. just… don't tell tom yet, alright? i want to tell him properly. we've surprised each other too many times."

slowly, so slowly, mianite's champion blinks. and nods.

seeds take root.

the darkness wraps their captain up in approval and shadows and pride, and he curls into them gladly.

mianite remains troublesome. his little champion does not. the caveman does not stand beside them, but like ianite, does not stand against them. he makes a handful of little concessions, helps in a handful of small ways, covers a handful of tiny flaws in their plans. dianite continues to have his own designs on the realm, not that they will ever come to anything.

and dianite's champion is far less trouble than expected.

"i want you on my team," the captain says bluntly, his purring shadow draped across his shoulders, the moonless night rich and dark outside the windows of his tower. the zombie sits across the room from him, in the midst of a supposedly irrelevant conversation, alone. there are no gods here to interfere.

"mate," the zombie says. "you know i'm on your team."

the captain crosses his legs casually, and reaches up to pet his shadow. seated as they are, its absence from its usual spot hasn't been noticed. "we both know that's not what i meant. i want you with us."

the champion of chaos pauses. "i'm not much good at balance. we both know that. i'm not even any good with pretending at it."

"i'm not talking about ianite," the captain replies calmly, not looking away from the cat. they are dancing around what they both know, testing the limits of one another with their gentle phrasing and purposeful ignorance. they each know the truth.

the zombie exhales slowly. "i didn't think you were," he says, and looks up at him with wary eyes. "why?"

"because you're my best friend," their champion says, unshakably loyal. "and i know that dianite has always been… less tolerant of leaving than the others. i didn't want to put you in a place to lie to him."

"why did you turn, i mean," the zombie corrects, though his expression has fallen into something gentler and calmer. "if you of all people found a good enough reason to betray your god, then it must be the best damn reason out there."

the captain looks back up at him. "you know about the dreams," he says, and the other nods. "they swore on their own damn quintessence not to hurt either of you, after i asked, and then they made the dreams finally stop. they stopped blinding ianite, and she sided with us anyway. they've done more for me than all the gods, all but my lady at home. and she's not here."

"it would be useless to fight you," the zombie guesses, folding his arms. "you've always been stronger, and now you have their power on your side."

the captain shrugs. "everything has a shadow, tom. even you. i spar against them. you're better than anyone else, i can promise you that."

there is a long, quiet pause, and the pair politely avoid eye contact as they both struggle with the situation. the zombie drums his fingers on the hilt of his sword, hesitating, then draws it-

and throws it away.

the sword of chaos clatters against the stone bricks, sharp and sudden as it pierces nothing but the silence. the captain looks at it, then to the zombie, a quiet question in his eyes.

"i trust you, jordan," the zombie says, no waver in his voice, no fear in his eyes. "i won't follow the darkness, but i would follow you. you know i would. i killed my first god for you."

"i know," the captain agrees. "thank you. there are a few ways we could keep you from having to fight him, if you like."

the zombie shakes his head. "you need someone to watch your back, if your lord is going to be busy fighting the gods," he says, then pauses. "...karl?"

"knows," the captain admits. "i asked him to keep quiet. he and ianite likely won't stand with us, but they won't interfere. this is the closest chance this world has for balance. limitation of light, or destruction of darkness. they know that."

the zombie nods, and sighs, and holds out a hand. "us against the world, then, with one god between us," he says. "just like old times. what do you need me to do, then, cap?"

the captain smiles, and takes his hand. his shadow stands, stretches, and slinks down to curl at the other man's feet. "just like old times," he agrees. "here's the plan for now."

the darkness watches from the night sky, from their shadows, from the insides of their coat pockets and the soles of their boots. they seem to have a lieutenant now, a right hand to their right hand. they had not expected it; they had predicted at least some resistance, some doubt, if not a full confrontation. and yet, they can feel that burning loyalty in his chest, tied to the captain as firmly as the captain is tied to them. they have followed each other into the void.

how is the darkness any different?

[lilytriestoexist]

Erawan With Bangs: A Sequel

I was stressing myself out over a physics assignment involving eyeballs so I decided the ideal stress relief was...writing fanfiction about EWB. Again. Really, it’s all physics’s fault. Also, I haven’t read all of K0A, so this is nowhere near what actually happened in canon, but it's probably way cooler. Featuring: @crescentcitysux @croissantcitysucks and @antisjmmemes. Obligatory tag: @erawanwithbangs . And it’s 12am here, so goodnight lol. (i think i 'peaked' with the first one. also, tw/ erawan kills people and there's talk about blood)

His new look, Erawan decided, was the most powerful weapon in his disposal. It had struck his Valg Princes and common underlings speechless with its sheer magnificence. Not one person had spoken out against his mighty bangs, for they were faultless and flawless, and most definitely not because he had snapped the neck of the sole demon commoner who had given his hair a displeased side-eye. No, the people had spoken, and his bangs were glorious. 

But while he and his bangs carried his side of the war to victory after victory, Maeve was not doing as well. The nasty brat who styled herself a queen - what was her name, Alien? Ayla? No, it was Eileen. Yes, Fire Queen Eileen had escaped from Maeve’s clutches and was reunited with her mate, Ronan, her cousin Adrian, her friend Lydia, and a few other Fae males whose names he couldn’t remember. They all started to blend together after a while, anyway. The last he’d heard from Maeve through their Valg bloodlink, Eileen’s court was a thorn in her side, and one she was determined to rip out and incinerate. Erawan had opened his mouth, intending to ask about her strange obsession with Eileen and Ronan’s romance, but he’d caught a glance of his bangs in the tableware and decided he had other priorities. A strand of hair was longer than the others in his otherwise immaculate bangs; Maeve, Eileen, and Ronan could wait. 

Anyway, the point was that Maeve was not doing great, but he was doing pretty great, and so the clear resolution to this was to go help her out. Which was why he was here, using his powers a few metres off the ground, skin bleeding wisps of shadow. His bangs flapped in the gentle breeze as he lead his army forward to meet Terrasen’s own, smirking as it registered on their puny faces that he himself was leading his forces. Shock, fear, horror, and resignation flitted across their tiny faces in quick succession, but still they raised their weapons and charged, foolish bravery etched into their bones. A slow grin spread across his face, revealing sharp, gleaming teeth, as black swallowed his eyes whole and he leapt forward. 

After a while, severing heads from bodies and tearing organs from beneath fragile skin got boring, and the spurt of blood from open wounds no longer gave him a similar rush of satisfaction. How easy it was to steal life from humans, to toss them aside like puppets with cut strings. He had lived thousands of their short lifetimes, and he would live thousands more.

“ERAWAN!”

A cry rang out through the battlefield, and he looked up,  brows raised, as he shoved aside the latest victim of his dark, blazing whips. And speaking of blazing, Eileen was making her way across the grass, stepping over the dead and dying bodies of her soldiers, twin flames surging from her upward-facing palms and casting warm light across her pale face. Sunlight gleamed off her gold armour, and a matching broadsword hung from her belt.

“Eileen.” He gave her a nod of acknowledgement, but she just stared, jaw dropping.

“Did you just call me Eileen?”

Erawan blinked, unimpressed. “That’s your name, so of course I did.”

She spluttered, flailing her hands around and sending tiny embers of glowing orange fluttering through the air. “I - my name is AeIin!” she snarled, baring her canines.

He gave her a long, hard stare. “I’m going to call you Eileen,” he announced. “Because you look like an Eileen.”

“AeIin!” A hawk came swooping down from the clouds and transformed into a man with short white hair and word-like tattoos sprawled across half his face, Eileen’s apparent name spilling from his lips. 

“Ah!” Erawan looked him up and down. “You must be Ronan.”

Ronan pressed two fingers into the inner corners of his eyes, just below his brow-bones, and ignored him. “AeIin - “

“I told you not to come, Rowan,” Eileen snapped. “This is between me and him.”

“Ronan can stay if he wants,” Erawan said. “The more the merrier. I’ve always enjoyed slaughtering Fae. Do you happen to have any friends you could bring along?”

“Rowan, I can do this,” Eileen said, staring deep into his eyes before surging up to meet him. Erawan averted his gaze as Ronan returned her action with equal fervour, coughing into his hand and whistling a tune, tapping his foot in time with the clashing of metal on metal and the haunting song of warfare that flooded from the still-raging battle.

When he turned back around, they were still going at it. With a growl of annoyance, he sent a snaking tendril of darkness and made it slap them away from each other. 

“Are you done?” he demanded. “Less making out, more taking out.”

Ronan looked torn, but finally turned back into a hawk and took off into the air, flapping his great wings and circling the battlefield before something caught his eye and he flew until he was only a small speck against a sea of blue. 

The glow of an approaching fireball made him look at Eileen’s face, twisted into a grimace of determination. He batted away the fireball, sending it careening into one of her own soldiers and grinning as the poor man was turned to ash, but she kept them coming - fireballs that shifted between red, orange, and yellow every time he blinked, massive walls of flame that engulfed the nearby area, since thankfully people had the sense to stay away, whips that mirrored his own favourite attack that tried to wind around his arms and lash out at his legs. 

When she jumped deftly over a rippling wave of night and curled her fingers, conjuring another fireball and flicking it at him, his hand rose to hit it away, like he had for all the others. But this one had been aimed higher than his chest, and his fingers skimmed through air. Instinct kicked in, sending him skidding to the side as the fireball just barely missed his head and continued through the air. Erawan breathed a sign of relief, hand reaching up to caress his bangs and summon good luck.

He knew something was wrong when he felt plain skin instead of the comfort of his bangs, lovely and golden and smooth as the finest silk. His gaze turned to the floor, where strands of hair floated to rest on the grass, burnt off by the fireball. He barely registered Eileen taking advantage of his momentous loss, but his powers kicked in, a shield springing up between them.

Erawan sank to his knees, touching his fingers to what was left of his poor, poor bangs. The colour had been swallowed by ashy black, and a thin line of smoke wafted from the debris, twisting and twirling in the air, mocking him. Eileen was still hammering away at his shield. His hand went back to his forehead, measuring the wideness, touching where the hair had been burnt off. He could feel the tight coils of agony scrape against his throat, against the writhing walls of his stomach, and all he could do was let it out.

Darkness erupted from him as he screamed, pouring out all his pain and grief and agony into the one sound, loud and high-pitched and thick with mourning. It did not go to attack Eileen, though she took cover beneath a cocoon of flames, nor any of her followers. Instead, it danced around the blood-stained field before coalescing into a ring of black, rotating in mid-air, a thin glowing sheen of white barely visible within. His magic, acting on its master’s inner thoughts, summoning the only people who might understand.

Aelia, Lyn, and Salty appeared, stepping out of the portal and descending to the ground, confusion apparent on their faces as they took in Eileen, blanketed in protective flames, to the battle that was in the process of resuming, to him, hunched on the ground and shaking.

“Erawan with bangs?” Lyn asked, prodding at his shoulder. Another tortured cry ripped itself from the crevices of his throat at the cruel reminder, and she jumped, exchanging concerned glances with her companions. “Uh, Erawan?”

“It’s gone,” he murmured, covering his massive forehead with his left palm. 

“What’s gone?” Salty asked with a frown, before realisation filled their eyes. “Oh no. It’s gone, isn’t it?”

“The bangs,” Aelia breathed, and winced as he howled yet again. “Okay, you can stop doing that now. How did it happen?”

“Her,” he whispered, limbs stiffening. “Her.” He pushed himself off the ground and extended a single trembling finger at Eileen, who extinguished her flames and blinked at the new arrivals and his fragile state.

“I didn’t do anything,” she said, embers flying from her fingertips in warning. “He’s trying to take over the world as we know it, I’m trying to stop him. I don’t know what lies he’s fed you, but it’s not true.”

Lyn waved a dismissive hand in her direction. “He hasn’t told us anything.” she said, “and he doesn’t need to. We already know what those in this world are doing with their lives, and I’m not a fan of either camp.”

“What?” Eileen’s brows shot up. “But I’m right! He’s literally an evil monster!”

Salty shrugged. “And you’re an annoying bitch who’s expressed take-over-the-world desires. I think both of you aren’t great. And I don’t really care.” Their expression hardened. “What I do, or did care about were those bangs. Those glorious, glorious bangs.”

“Always in our hearts,” Aelia said, resting her palm over her chest solemnly. “You will never be forgotten, bangs. We will remember you forever.”

Eileen sent a massive wall of flame at them, apparently losing her temper, but Lyn snapped her fingers and it disappeared. Eileen’s second attempt met the same fate, and then her third and fourth as well.

“You know, Erawan without bangs,” Aelia said.

“Yeah?” he replied, choking back a sob.

“I think we should give - wait, what’s this girl’s name? I thought it was AeIin.”

“No, it’s definitely Eileen.”

“Well, maybe we should give Eileen a little payback. You know, as a treat.”

A second later, he had strode over to where Eileen was desperately sending fireball after fireball at a cackling Lyn, his own night black flame cradled in his hand. She had no time to react before he’d coaxed it to leap through the air and onto the ends of her hair, crawling up the strands of gleaming blonde until her whole head was lit up, apart from the strands of hair that hung in front of her forehead. She screamed and writhed, but he had tendrils of shadow wrapped around her wrists and ankles, and more strips over her neck and chin, keeping her head immobilised. Within a minute, all her long hair had been eaten up, apart from the area he’d left untouched. She was almost completely bald, her hairless head shining like an egg.

“Here,” Salty said, handing him the pair of scissors he kept in his bedroom. “Don’t ask any questions.” He didn’t.

“Get away from me,” Eileen sobbed. “What are you doing, get away, get away!”

“You must face the consequences of your own actions,” Lyn declared, poking at Eileen’s pointed ears and looking very unimpressed. 

He balled up all his rage and grief at the loss of his bangs, steadied his hands, and began cutting. Eileen dissolved into a string of whimpers as he ruthlessly cut her the worst fringe he could imagine having, all ragged and crooked lines, with no layering to break up the monotonous fall of hair, almost covering her eyes. When the final chunk of blonde fell to the floor, he waved his hand, ensuring that no strand of hair outside of his ugly fringe would ever grow on Eileen’s head. Aelia, Lyn, and Salty then each placed a finger on the fringe and said what he assumed to be an ancient, esoteric spell from their own world, sealing it with flashes from their rectangles. I wonder what magical properties the word ‘fuck’ has, he thought. 

Once they had completed their spell, Erawan stepped back and waved away Eileen’s restraints. Aelia tossed her a mirror that he was almost sure came from his possessions as well, and they watched as Eileen ran quivering hands over her egg-like bald head, felt the fringe they’d left behind, and finally, looking like she’d rather be six feet beneath the earth, brought her face to the mirror.

Her ensuing scream of anguish was the most delightful thing he’d ever heard. He hummed the tune, the rising and falling in pitch and cracking of tone, as he grew himself a new pair of bangs the next morning.

[phantomphangphucker]

Dealing With The Devil - PhannieMay - Day 6 - Compromise

Summary: Danny is a little too willing to do anything to protect others

Warning: angst, gore, blood, death, character death, murder. 

“So let me get this straight”, Danny puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head at the other ghost, “you’ll agree to permanently wear repression cuffs, if I let you... kill my human half?”. 

Danny still can’t really believe this proposition and normally he would laugh at it, before promptly beating the hell out of whomever was requesting to fully kill him. But this, well this was Dan. The monster who could and would destroy the world and zone. Not only that but Danny didn’t have a leg up on him anymore, Dan didn’t need him to exist. And Danny’s no fool, he knows Dan will kill him now. He’s stronger sure, but still nothing compared to his much older full ghost self. It’s not a battle he’ll win, so he’s left having to genuinely consider this “compromise”. 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I’ll still try to destroy you child. That, and all the other pathetic humans and ghosts”, Dan chuckles as he crosses his arms. “But you’ll be a ghost, fully, no more playing the line. No more human school, or going home a Fenton; just Phantom”, Danny hates the way Dan sneers at him and he fully gets that Dan is probably trying to turn him against humans or something. Cut him off from those he cares about, “my family will still accept me, human or ghost. How are you gaining anything out of this?”. Danny knows this is true and that only makes him more suspicious of Dan’s “proposition”. 

Dan leans in close to his younger self, with a wide grin, “yes well, we’ll see how that goes when you can’t change into Fenton anymore. I’m sure that spectacle will be very amusing to watch”. Danny refuses to flinch back from him but he knows Dan has a point here. His parents really don’t recognise him as Phantom, at all. There’s no way that won’t be worse fully ghost, but there’s no way he could leave his family, even at the rather nerve-racking prospect of revealing himself to them, “I’m still me, Phantom or Fenton. I’ll convince them”.

“Oh I don’t doubt you will, they’re fools after all”“So what? You’ll just enjoy my struggle to convince them? That hardly seems like you’re getting much here”, Danny crosses his arms and glares while Dan shrugs. “I get the pleasure of killing my weak human half again, always nice to relive your first kill. It really is the most pleasurable”, Dan chuckles at Danny’s grimace. While Danny can’t help but be thoroughly disgusted.

Danny still finds there are too many negatives for Dan in this deal, “I’ll be stronger, you know, fully ghost. And the repression cuffs will weaken you”. “Yes, no longer weighed down by human restraints. A worthy fight would be amusing, now wouldn’t it?”, chuckling deeply, “and I’ll just keep coming back, I’m sure all you’re weak little humans will be quite traumatised to see me”. Danny hates that he’s right there, literally everyone had nightmares for weeks. Tucker often still does, and it certainly won’t help Danny’s mental state much either. But he’s got Jazz, so he’s sure to be fine, “humans aren’t as weak as you think”. 

Dan merely rolls his eyes with a smirk, before brandishing the clawed gauntlets with a, now cruel, grin. Danny can’t help but jerk back from the things, they really do look evil. Dan’s chuckling doesn’t help, “Oh I’m going to enjoy this”. Danny stares at Dan, as he mutters, “I didn’t even agree to this...yet”. Glaring now, “no way I’m letting you do that first. Suppression cuffs”. Dan feigns disappointment for only a few seconds before stabbing Danny out of nowhere, “who said you had a choice”. 

Danny jerks and screams while Dan dramatically rips him in half, laughing all the while. Tossing Phantom out against a wall as Fenton breaks his leg landing on the building's ceiling. Dan builds up his ectoenergy, destroying the gloves before slamming his hand around Fenton’s head. Shoving his claws into Fenton’s gut and slowly tearing them up through his chest. Grinning as Fenton’s organs splatter out and ribs shatter, “Ah my old first kill, how nice”. Knowing full well Fenton's only got a few seconds, Dan promptly crushes his head as the boy screams. 

Laughing loudly as Phantom flies at him, looking utterly horrified. Dan sensing him, turns around with a cocky grin, licking the blood off his claws dramatically, “well now, wasn’t that a mess”. Dan easily dodges Phantoms attack and punches him in the head, “I guess I could live up to my end of the bargain, but I don’t work like that”. Danny, however, isn’t as much of an unprepared mess as he was two years ago. Carrying repression cuffs, amongst other things, with him at all times. Usually, they were for Vlad but... Danny almost can’t believe that it’s still so easy to lock things onto Dan, “you underestimate me old man!”. Dan slides away from Danny and glares at his wrists, “this changes nothing. You’re still a ghost, what hope could you possibly have to maintain your human life”. Dan stands up and grins at Danny, who’s cautiously awaiting Dan's next move. 

Dan simply dusts his shoulder off as he speaks, not even bothering to look at Danny, “it’s not like you can actually stay here, not without your human half to sustain you”. Danny knows Dan’s right, his human half was all that kept his ghost half from needing to spend most of his time in the zone. Though ghosts could stay longer in Amity Park than elsewhere, gritting out through the lingering pain of being split, “I’ll manage”. 

“Ahahaha! You can try and when you fail, inevitably have to spend less and less time here. They’ll move on, you’ll be alone. With nothing but enemies in the zone and unable to stay here, well, we’ll see what you do then. Won’t we?”, Danny can practically feel Dan’s mocking tone. But he smirks anyways, “I have friends in the zone too you know. Unlike you, I’m actually liked and pleasant”. Dan’s smile falters a bit at that, though he snickers, “and I’m sure they’ll just love your new look”. Danny blinks at him confused but doesn’t get a chance to dwell as Dan whips him with ectoplasm into a glass window. Cackling as Danny looks down at his reflection, “now I’ll be enjoying the show so run along home little boy”, as Dan leaves through a portal. 

Danny can’t help but feel a bit freaked out at his reflection, he’s glad his skin is a soft light pale blue rather than Dan’s blueish green. The pointed ears and flaming hair isn’t appreciated though, shivering a bit, “well I’m never having a damn ponytail or facial hair”. Sitting down and running his hand through his hair, sighing, “well, at least my eyes are still green”. Seeing his blunt fingers instead of claws only made him feel better, as he gets up and groans at the dark sky, knowing full well he was expected home over an hour ago. “This is going to suck”.

Danny sits floating above a building across from his home, he’s already tried changing back and nothing. Shaking his head and really wishing Jazz was here. Sure it was great her getting to go to university but not so helpful right now, but knowing full well doing this without her in the know would be extremely foolish, he pulls out his phone. It only takes a few seconds for her to pick up, like always. “Danny? Considering the time, what’s going on?”

“Way too much for phone but mom and dad are going to know. As in know know”

“I’m guessing it can’t be put off till I get home can it?”

“No, it can’t be put off at all. And I can’t change either so”

“Wait...why? What way?”

“Frying Pan and it’s, um, permanent”

“Danny...are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah it is”

“I’m sorry Danny. Do you want me to stay up for Skype? You know, just in case?”

“Probably for the best”

“Alright, you’ll be ok little brother. Like always”

With that he hung up, smiling a little now, as he floats invisibly over into his room. The first thing he does is throw on some of his regular human clothing, which is extremely odd to be wearing over his jumpsuit. Danny’s honestly thankful for all his parents' odd little inventions, as he chuckles down at the little spray paint like can; all it can do is negate a ghosts natural glow. Snickering at the can as he sprays it on himself, “this is probably the only time you’ll ever be really useful”. 

That just left him with the whole flaming hair situation, which is definitely giving off it’s own light. Looking around, Danny shrugs and throws on a thick black beanie and smirks at the mirror, “nice, well just gotta cut the lights now”. Danny’s glad Tucker managed to make it so that none of the house's defences could sense him as he cuts the main power, back up power, and back up for the backup power. 

Walking in through the front door, he closes it quickly so no light from outside can come in. “Sweetie? That you? I’m pretty sure where out for power for a bit”, Danny can hear her tinkering in the kitchen. “Yeah, it’s me”, he tries to keep his voice quiet and steady, hoping the echo goes ignored. Predictably, it doesn’t, “sounds like you might have a bit of a ghost flu or something, Danny-boy”. Danny mutters into his hand, “well at least he doesn’t sound alarmed”. 

Danny easily navigates to the kitchen door but intentionally makes it sound like the trip was less easy, having night-vision was nice and all but it was so very suspicious. Sticking his head in the doorway, he can see both his parents are tinkering away at the table; neither looking too concerned. With a quiet nervous sigh, he sits at the table, making sure to stay out of reaching distance just in case. 

Dan, meanwhile, is watching from the shadows and looking through a viewing portal; amused. His younger self has become quite the sneaky bastard. Danny rubs the neck of his turtleneck before summoning up the courage to speak, “it’s a bit more than a flu, dad. A lot more”. 

Danny watches as both his parents stop and put down their inventions, looking in his direction worriedly. “Sweetie what’s wrong?”, Danny’s glad she just looks concerned, not like she’s ready to go on the attack. His dad, however, looks way more suspicious. Opting to talk before his dad gets any, probably right, ideas, “there was a ghost attack a bit ago, I got caught up in it and well...I didn’t exactly survive”.

Danny watches as both his parents slowly go wide-eyed as they take in what he said. Most normal parents would not immediately jump to the realisation that their kid was a ghost now, but these were the Fenton’s; ghost was always the first conclusion. Maddie shakes her head, “are...are you sure? You’re not...glowing and none of our security is going off”. Jack blinks a bit but nods, before tilting his head at Danny. “Er, well I didn’t want to be, like, shot at so...”, shaking his head a bit before continuing, “you remember that Fenton de-glow stuff? Yeah, not really any left”. 

Both his parents look rather horrified now, Danny is seriously hoping that is not at the whole I’m-a-ghost-now thing. “Sweetie, we’d never. You still know who you are so you’re not going to...going to hurt anyone”, she almost looks guilty at even implying that her good-natured son could harm anyone. “You cut the lights too, didn’t you? Fenton genius right there, but I’d think we’d recognise our own son”, Jack pauses and frowns a bit, “you don’t look that different, do you?”. 

Danny’s a bit surprised that his dad is being rather toned down, he’s not sure whether to be worried or glad about that, “well I mean you guys get a bit...excitable about ghost stuff. I do look a bit different yeah, still clearly me but...different”. Danny puts a little bit of strength behind his next words, “and no, I’m not going to go hurting or harassing people”. Danny watches as his mom nods strongly, clearly believing him. While his dad looks a bit guilty, “yeah we are a bit overzealous and I’m way eager to see what you can do, but helping you adjust is more important son”. 

Danny can’t help but mutter about good timing, as the red back up light finally comes on. Though he’s got no clue what his light blue skin looks like under red light, he’s dad promptly gives him an answer with lighthearted chuckling, “light purple is a bit of a girl’s colour, Danny-boy”. Danny instantly blushes at that which only seems to make his dad a bit excited, “Oh! Ghost blush is yellow under red light! Neat!”. This only makes Danny blush harder and move to cover up his cheeks, feeling extremely awkward now. Which Jack clearly picks up on, “Oh, right, adjusting. Um, sorry son”. 

Maddie smiles warmly at her son, “ignore your father, but I’m guessing you’re more blue than purple”, snickering a little, “like the Box ghost”. Danny feels a bit bad for Boxy at how that instantly offends him a bit, not to mention embarrasses him more. Enough so that his long pointy ears flick downwards, out from under the beanie. Groaning with his hand on his forehead “mom! I could have done without that comparison”. In his embarrassment, he doesn’t notice his dad move to touch his ears, until he feels it anyway. 

Stiffening a bit and flicking his, currently yellow looking, eyes over to his slightly crouched dad. Jack pulls his hand back gingerly noticing that, “it’s hard not be curious son, um... you can swivel them?”. Danny honestly doesn’t know but considering Dan can, it only makes sense. Rubbing his sweater covered neck again, he flicks his ears back up by simply relaxing them and gives his dad a cautious smile. Jack beams back at him and nods, while Maddie speaks up, “if it’s anything, sweetie. I don’t think you look much different, though I could see how the fangs could be a bit threatening”. 

Danny blinks a bit before running his tongue across his teeth, muttering more to himself, “how did I not notice that”. Jack chuckles next to him, “well, hopefully that means you’re not too bothered by this”. Jack gets up and sits down near Danny before patting his shoulder. 

All of them jump a little as the regular lights come back on, revealing that Danny is very much blue-skinned and green-eyed. “Er, um, hi?”, both his parents can’t help but laugh. Though Maddie shakes her head at him, “I’m pretty sure we could already see you, Danny. You being dead is honestly more upsetting than blue skin”. Jack nods at Maddie before turning back to Danny, “your mothers right and you really don’t look that different. We really would have recognised you”. 

Danny fiddles with the beanie, “uh, well I’m covering up some stuff”. Jack notices his white-gloved hand as Danny plays with his hat, clueing in, “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear a turtle neck in years”. Danny blinks at his dad, not really expecting to get called out on the clothing yet, “yeah, my face is pretty much all I’m not trying to cover up. Kind of a long explanation tied to the clothing. Hairs weirder but easier, if that makes sense”. 

At both his parents nods, Danny slowly pulls the beanie off; revealing the lazy blaze of white fire. Placing the hat on the table before looking to see their reactions. Both of them are wide-eyed and Maddie’s mouth is gaping a bit. Jack, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, “you’re hair, it’s fire! Can I touch it?”. Danny shrugs a bit, “I mean, I don’t know if you’ll get burned but sure I guess”. 

Dan, still watching through the viewing portal, is glaring at the spectacle of Jack practically patting and petting the flaming hair like it’s a freaking dog. Full-heartedly hoping the idiot gets burned. Cold icy fire is still fire and ice can burn too. 

“It’s cold!? Can’t say I expected that!”, Jack chuckles a bit as he tries to cup some of it and it promptly dissipates. Danny can’t help but snicker, “all of me is ice cold, so I’d say that’s pretty expected”. Maddie gets up then and puts her hand to his cheek nodding, “yeah, you are really cold. But that’s fine, so long as it’s not bothering you”. Danny shakes his head, smiling a little, at his mom. Making his hair wave around a bit as he talks, “no, I’m fine mom”. 

Maddie eyes him a bit suspiciously, which makes him a little nervous, “Sweetie, you seem...kind of like you’re already used to this. It’s like you were more bothered about what our reactions would be, than being a ghost”. Now Danny’s flat out nervous, knowing full well that he probably shouldn’t put this part off anymore, “Er, well, it’s new and I’m not quite sure yet how it’ll affect my life or well, death. But it’s not like I didn’t already know about ghosts, I’m more familiar with the zone than most ghosts, so spending a bunch more time there isn’t much of a worry. If I have a concern I could probably just ask ClockWork, though he might just give me a riddle instead of an answer”, glancing at his parents confused faces, Danny rubs his neck before continuing, “before you ask, he’s a friend and mentor. He knows pretty well everything, actually there’s probably nothing he doesn’t know...and I’m getting sidetracked”. 

Danny shuffles as Maddie shushes Jack, easily picking up that it’s best to just let him talk. Even if what he’s saying doesn’t make sense, “anyways, there really isn’t anything physically for me to adjust to. Outside of looking a bit different and not being human at all anymore, anyway”. Danny feels a bit like an ass, as he’s just confusing them more and more, “look, um, this ain’t really the first time I’ve died. Well, half died is more accurate. You see, I kind of lied...about the portal accident. I didn’t just get a little shock from brushing up against the frame,  when it activated”. Looking down at his hands in his lap and fiddling with them, “I was actually inside of it. So the zone literally opened up on me, completely engulfing me and electrocuting me to half death. See, somehow the zones ectoplasm bonded to me and protected the rest of my living cells. Thus half death, and now, full death”. 

Danny watches his parents nervously while they blink at him. Ranges of emotions flicker in their eyes, Maddie’s settle on worry while Jack’s are dejected. “Son, why? Why did you hide this? I’m sure we could have done something”. Maddie nods before going wide-eyed and looking sad, “you’re only telling us now. Because... because you don’t look human anymore”. 

Dan flat out cackles at this, waiting for them, in their pathetic human hurt, to reject him. Though he knows full well they won’t, but this evil bastard can dream can’t he? 

Danny rubs at his sweater neck and looks away, “you’re not wrong. And I’ll admit it was largely because I didn’t want you to kill me or send me to the zone or experiment or...try to fix it. But it was also to protect you, the less you knew the less likely you’d get involved in some mess or another”. Now both of them look completely dejected, with Jack flinching at his previous comment. Danny chuckles weakly, “stupid thing is, I knew you wouldn’t harm me if you knew. Figured that out for sure after about a year, but hiding it was routine by then and I guess I was a bit of a coward”.

Maddie’s speaks while Jack looks a bit less bummed out, “you’re right that we wouldn’t, I’m sorry that you ever feared we would. And all kids fear being open with their parents, sweetie. But what could you possibly be getting up to, to need to protect us?”. Danny grimaces and that only concerns Maddie more, “you've been abducted or trapped at least four times purely for being related to me. You were even murdered once for it”. Danny frowns and shakes his head as he keeps speaking, “my life is stupid dangerous, but I’m fine, I’m happy. I’m leading a good, um, existence; even if it isn’t exactly safe and I’m not about to say I don’t enjoy all the fighting, hurling witty insults, protecting people and so on”. 

“Son that is both strange and worrying, but I can’t say I don’t get it. What we do is dangerous too but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Except family”, Danny can tell his dad’s trying to give him a meaningful look. Clueing in, Danny waves his hand dismissively, “you guys don’t need to quit being hunter’s, I’m ok with it. Though I could do without the anti-ghost stuff just laying around everywhere. Some of it affected me before, now probably all of it will”. Both nod, feeling more comfortable with this topic over their sons apparently dangerous lifestyle. 

Maddie smiles though can’t help eyeballing his hair, “of course, and I guess we really should put your ecto-signature in everything so you don’t set it off”. Danny can’t help but chuckle, “too late, Tuck did that well over a year ago. That’s part of the reason the house isn’t trying to destroy me. Though, I’m guessing full death probably made my signature stronger”. Jack slaps his son on the back and grins widely at him, “again, sneaky Fenton genius”. While Maddie sighs, “so you’re friends know then?”. Danny nods at her, “they were there, for the accident. There’s no way they couldn’t know, they thought I flat out died. Well, until I changed back into a human anyways”. Now their both looking at him confused again and this time he has no clue why. Jack tilts his head, “what do you mean back human? You were a ghost?”. 

“Um yeah? Can’t exactly be half ghost without also having a ghost form. I could change pretty well on command once I figured out how”, Maddie mouths “duh” and chuckles. While Jack is even more excited now, “so you already know what it’s like being a ghost! No wonder you’re pretty ok with this!”. Danny nods, “yeah that’s pretty much why the clothing is harder to explain. And why I wasn’t sure you’d recognise me. You never have before and I looked far more human before. You’ve see my ghost self nearly every day for the past two years. Heck, I have literally transformed right next to you. You even called me on it and yet...”. Jack and Maddie would feel a bit saddened if Danny wasn’t clearly laughing. 

“Well you sure seemed to have gotten some amusement out of fooling us”, Maddie shakes her head, amused herself, as Danny nods almost sheepishly. “Is it bad that I can’t think of what ghostie you could be? All of them seem so unlikely”, Jack tilts his head at his son genuinely trying to figure it out but no personalities really match is mild tempered, kind and rather shy son. 

Danny smiles almost pitifully, “I’m not sure if it is dad. But considering not even Jazz or the other halfa figured it out without seeing me transform, I wouldn’t feel bad. But if you’re trying to figure it out yourself the gloves are unchanged, and my hair has always been white, just wasn’t flaming before”. Danny will actually be a bit concerned if that doesn’t give it away, because really? How many other white-haired glove wearing ghosts are there? Especially ones that are daily occurrences in Amity. “Wait there is another like you? And halfa? Is that the title?”. 

Danny nods at her, “yup, halfa’s the name and the other one is a prick though. A completely power hungry, manipulative, creepy madman. Kind of sad that the only two of a species completely hated each other. The newer third one also hates him, and he created her so...”. Maddie mouths “wow” while Jack slaps his hand excitedly on the table, before poking at Danny’s turtle neck collar; clearly asking for permission to peak under it. Danny nods while chuckling, pretty well knowing his dad’s figured it out. 

Jack slaps the table more after seeing the, now iconic, white and black jumpsuit. Not enough to see the DP but it was enough to tell who’s classic outfit this was, “you’re a hunter in your own sense! And protecting Amity too!”. Jack shakes his head as he settles down a little while Danny just smirks. Jack speaks up again, “but you seem so different? He’s loud, assertive, cocky even”. 

Danny smirks even more, “if I went around acting exactly the same I’m sure everyone would know. Fenton was shy cause he had a secret to keep. And no way could I get into a fight as Fenton, if I genuinely punched a regular human I’d probably kill them. Even in human form, I was ghostly strong. So I let people push me around instead of fighting back. That and if people thought Fenton was weak and unwilling to fight, they wouldn't connect the dots. Especially since pretty much all anyone ever saw of ghost me was the fighting”. 

This is enough to get Maddie too figure it out, everyone knew who the cocky ghostly teenager that always seemed to be in some fight was, whispering, “you’re Phantom? Wow sweetie”. Danny nods and runs his hair through his hair, making the flames wave around his hand. Before phasing his clothing off rather dramatically, as they fall to a heap on the floor. 

Jack slaps Danny’s DP symbol excitedly, while Maddie talks as she looks him over, “Sweetie you are absolutely right, we would have freaked if you walked in like this; with the lights on anyway. Can’t say how I feel about the new look, it’s definitely more intimidating and fearsome”. Danny rubs his neck, knowing full well that will actually get him compliments from quite a few ghosts. But personally, “I can’t say I care for it either. Sure the fangs, and even possibly ears, would have grown in eventually; halfa or not. But the hair is way too similar to someone else, even if it’s not really surprising”. 

Even noticing Danny’s grimace, Jack grins, “well I think it’s kind of cool looking. Though I do think your previous look was more friendly”. “Yeah, made it easier for people to trust me and see me as the good guy when I kind of just looked like a glowing kid. I know lots of folks are going to be put off, not to mention wonder why my look suddenly changed. No one batted an eye at the addition of my symbol but that was not a major change. This... is”, plus Danny would have to explain it to people without giving away that he was once a halfa. That or tell the whole freaking town that the two Danny’s were actually one and the same, and now totally dead. 

Dan takes this as his cue to fuck shit up, promptly setting off Danny’s ghost sense just as he blasts him with an ectobeam. “DANNY!”, both his parents yell at the same time while Danny phases straight through a wall to avoid damaging it. Quickly zipping back out, crouched and looking around. Thankfully, he’s gotten good enough with his sense to actually tell what ghost had set it off, practically growling, “should have figured. What? You get bored of watching from the shadows, old man?”. 

Jack and Maddie both have weapons out and are frantically scanning the room, though making sure to not point their guns at Danny. Dan decides to be the dramatic over the top shit he is and walks through a wall with fire blazing around his feet and in his footprints. Uncrossing his arms, he shrugs exaggeratedly and sneers at Danny’s glaring face. While the Fenton’s gape at this guy who looks nearly identical to their son, which just makes Dan laugh, “fearsome is quite right I’d say, and it’s too bad those two fools reacted so acceptingly. It really would have been much more fun to watch them kill you”. 

Dan laughs as Danny fires a shot at him, teeth bared. And Dan doesn’t exactly care that the Fenton’s copy their child’s actions, but he’ll mock it anyways, as he easily avoids the fire, “and here I thought mother and father dearest said they wouldn’t shot their boy”. Dan’s a little too distracted enjoying his parents shocked expression to dodge Danny’s ectobeam and stinger attack, Danny growling, “that doesn’t apply to you! You gave that up when you murdered them!”. Dan grabs his side and laughs, “can’t change genetics, and really they got off easy. Highly combustible hot sauce is much more pleasant than what I gave the rest of humanity”. 

Danny, being much more of an up-close-and-personal fighter, promptly punches Dan in the face; though worried at Dan’s smirking. Quickly finding out why, as Dan’s duplicate slams him over the head with his human corpse. Danny can’t help but jerk back, completely disgusted and disturbed. While Dan cackles, “nice isn’t it? I think it’s a wonderful present. Don’t you?”. 

“You’re one sick bastard, it wasn’t enough for you to just kill me was it?”, this comment is enough for Jack and Maddie to fire at Dan very aggressively. Dan rolls his eyes, blocking the shots with a shield and freezing them, “ah ah ah, you’re not doing anything here”. Smirking as he jumps at Danny, claws and teeth bared; tossing the Fenton corpse to slide next to the parents. 

The Fenton parents are stuck watching as their two flaming-hair, black and white sons pretty much try to kill each other. Both of them can tell this is nothing like the fights they’ve seen Phantom in so many times. This is closer to a horror movie monster brawl than a superhero comedy sparring. 

Watching Dan stomp Danny’s face into the ground while Danny fires blind at him, Dan cackles “this is almost sad, child. Even with the agreed upon repressor cuffs, I’m still the stronger Phantom”. But Danny smirks as the houses security system finally boots back up properly, going on full assault against Dan while Danny chuckles, “forgot about that didn’t you?”. Dan glares at him as he jumps across the room, getting hit quite a lot before changing to look like 16-year-old Danny; as the room promptly stops its assault. Smirking at the bewildered Danny, “and what makes you think some security system is going to stop me?”. 

“You have no place wearing my form, monster”, Danny growls out as he pulls out his thermos. Dan responds as he being sucked it, “it’s my form too, always will be”. Danny shakes the thermos aggressively while glaring at it, as his parents unfreeze and collapse to the floor. 

His mom snaps him out of his angry assault on the thermos, “Sweetie, were you just...fighting yourself?”. Jack throws in his two cents, “an evil Danny, clone?”. Danny at first snaps his blazing eyes to his parents but then to his own corpse, promptly phasing it through the ground. Shivering a bit before looking to them and responding, “I wish I could say that thing is a clone. But no, he’s me from the future of timeline that, through cheating, I managed to avoid becoming reality. But due to that cheating, he exists outside of time, and yes, he’s the one who killed my human half. He killed his human half at 14 and wanted the “pleasure” of repeating his first kill”. 

Jack sits down weakly at the table and stares at the bloodied spots on the floor. Maddie walks up to Danny, talking as she notices he’s clearly injured and weakened, “so you... were supposed to become that?”, shaking her head, “you’re hurt, and I think we should all sit down”. Danny nods though his ears flick down in mild shame, talking as they head to the table, “yes, but I’m not him and I never will be. ClockWork saw to that, though I’m not impressed he escaped from ClockWork”. Sighing as he cleans himself off, “though, I guess if ClockWork allowed it then it was better than any other option”. 

Jack seems flat out pissed at this, “how is letting my son get murdered the best option! And he did-that thing did that!”, Jack points aggressively with both arms at the largest bloodied spot on the floor; where the corpse used to be. Danny rubs his neck awkwardly as his mom patches him up, “ClockWork is not really someone you question about things. He can see every single possible future, and he has a major soft spot for me. The only way he’d let something really bad happen to me, is if something far worse would have happened otherwise. That or if either the timeline itself or the world, would be destroyed otherwise. In some ways, ClockWork is better viewed as an omnipotent nearly unbiased god, than some ghost”. 

“As always, you are indeed right in your judgement of me, Daniel”, everyone snaps their heads to the childlike cloaked ghost of time. Danny’s the only one to smile fondly though, “let me guess, there’s some big revelation you’re about to give me. That or hint at something I probably should have already figured out but totally didn’t?”. 

ClockWork sly smile confirms Danny’s guess as ClockWork speaks, “all worlds need rulers, my little apprentice. And who’s to say how to best pick the worthy heir. I’m certain that time on this earth isn’t it”. ClockWork tosses the ring of Wrath to him, making the point crystal clear to Danny. Danny catches it as he gapes at ClockWork, before blinking and glancing at the thermos, “that...would have been more than just catastrophic. Would the Observants have even allowed that?”. ClockWork nods with a frown, “they only watch and somethings simply can’t be undone. Consider this a rare occurrence of only two doors”. With that ClockWork leaves as the two parents sit utterly confused. 

“Danny-boy? What did any of that mean? What just happened?”

“Did he call you his apprentice? And what is that ring?”

Danny looks at both of them and laughs, “well for one, I was right. The other option would have basically been world endingly bad. Pretty easy choice between being full ghost or world destruction. And ClockWork knows I’d gladly make the compromise of my human side for protecting the entire zone and earth. Especially from Dan”. Glaring at where the thermos used to be, Danny’s glad ClockWork took it though surprised he didn’t even notice, “for two, I’m just going with honesty here, you remember my defeat of the ghost king? Well, that stripped him of his crown. And I guess the zone needs a king, so that role fell to the one who beat him. I was still on the path to becoming Dan at that time so thus, he had the same claim that I did. But since he’s technically older, it would be his by default unless I genuinely beat him”. Danny smirks to himself, “and since Dan unwittingly agreed to the cuffs those didn’t count as cheating”. 

“Wait, son, you mean what exactly?”

“Well, it would seem... I’m the new ghost king now”, Danny holds up the ring as if to prove a point. While his parents both gape at their flaming-haired green-eyed 16-year-old Ghost king for a son. 

End.

[vore-scientist]

Fool Me Once (In Which There Are Thieves)

[M/m safe, soft GT vo.re]

A Tale of the Mystic Woods

Yonah (the “evil” giant wizard) deals with thieves on a regular basis. They are rather a nuisance but they do taste good!

Almost every encounter with a thief follows a pattern: 1) Thief breaks in to the tower. 2) Yonah catches and eats the thief. 3) Yonah releases the thief and if they accept it, gives them some money for their trouble.

“In Which There are Thieves” is a collection of short stories that all follow that pattern, but each encounter is unique!

Content warnings: the vo.re is soft and safe but unwilling and it’s Yonah’s job to be the big bad giant so expect fearplay. And the thieves don’t know that he plans to let them live. (Especially when he tells them the opposite)

Note: this encounter takes place before Sophia comes to live with Yonah

---

Yonah’s eyes snapped open. He was in bed and hadn’t been able to enter a deep sleep. Something was in his tower, and he had heard it. Thief or Slayer. Thief or Slayer.  He lay still and listened. Tiny footsteps outside his door.

A thief.

Slayers wouldn’t make that much noise. And neither did he, as he cast a silence spell around himself so he could get up and get dressed. It wasn’t proper to deal with a thief in his pajamas. He was looking forward to it, a pre-breakfast treat was just what he needed. His stomach grumbled silently.

But how exactly should he deal with this thief… He could just burst into the living room and bellow his lines. Classic, tried and true.

Naw, he wanted to try something else today.

He rummaged through a drawer and found the box labeled SPELLED STONES #3 YH. With a pair of tweezers he took out the stone in 5F. Then he found a very ornate box and set it on his night stand. He got out his reduction spice and dabbed a bit on his tongue and gripping the nightstand with both hands shrunk himself down, and clambered onto the tabletop. The stone in his hands glimmered with possibility. His plan wouldn’t work if he was over 2 meters tall. He placed the stone in his mouth and bit down cracking the stone and releasing the spell.

Examining himself in the mirror he beamed. He was in a plain but beautiful dress with matching flats. He had long blonde hair that fell around his clean shaven face and piercing blue eyes. And he had breasts. He was, as far as anyone knew, a princess. This was going to be fun. The thief would enter the room soon, if they got to the living room their next stop was always the bedroom. He climbed into the box and shut the lid. With one last spell before tucking his staff away, he locked the box.

And waited.

Sure enough the thief entered the room. Even from inside the box, Yonah could hear him. This wasn’t a very good thief. He waited until the thief was clearly on the nightstand when he called out.

“Is someone out there?! Please! Help!”

Oh it was WEIRD to hear the magically generated female voice.

The thief took the bait; Yonah heard them working on the lock and then light hit his eyes.

Jack looked down into the box and sure enough there was a girl in there! A princess! How interesting.

“Oh thank you sir!” She said, sitting up and beaming at him, and he helped her out of the box. She was, taller, than Jack expected. Not as tall as himself but nearly.

“What on earth were you doing in that box?” Jack asked, keeping his voice low. The princess wasn’t as careful and had practically shouted. But he also didn’t want to order a princess to do anything.

The princess looked woeful and stained off into space. “It is that cruel giant! He locks me up whenever he leaves. He does not trust me not to run off.”

Maybe she wasn’t so stupid. If she knew the giant wasn’t around why should she be quiet. Why should he be quiet? This was great news! He had snuck in at the perfect time!

“Don’t worry, you’re free now, and after I loot the place we’ll get out of here right quick,” he said.

“I am not worried sir,” she said, “just lead the way!”

Huh, not a very timid gal. Better for him, he didn’t want to deal with someone who might faint on him.

There was nothing on the nightstand so Jack and his newfound princess explored more of the room. The princess chatted endlessly and Jack tried to tune it out.

“If I may ask” she said, not waiting for Jack’s response, “why are you looting the place?”

“Because I’m a thief,” said Jack, “It’s my job”

“But surely” said the princess, looking into one of the boxes on the dresser, “half of my father’s kingdom would be worth much more than anything here. There’s nothing in this box by the way.” But Jack was sure she slipped something into a pocket. It left his mind as he focused on something else she had said.

“Half the kingdom?”

“Of course! We are to be married! You are my rescuer!” She bounced on the balls of her feet. Her blond hair bounced too.

“I hate to break it to you,” said the thief, “but I’m not into princesses. If you were a prince, well, that would be a different story.”

This did not phase the princess one bit who replied with “Fine then, but you will still be rewarded for my rescue”

She fiddled with her dress “and truth be told, I have a true love already.”

“Oh?” said Jack, more interested in the reward than her sob story. But he let her speak as they moved onto the next room.

“Yes! A cobbler’s apprentice. They may be plain, but I love them so!” She waxed fondly, looking off into space and fluttering her eyes lids. 

Despite increasing annoyance he let her go on about her love as he searched the room.

“They’re not the adventuring type, my love, and my father disapproved of our affections so he sent me away! To be rescued by someone he deemed suitable for my hand!”

It was hard to tune out her voice but he treated it as white noise as he searched. But!!! There was!!! Nothing! Arg!!! Just more magic shit! He couldn’t tell what was valuable and he didn’t have a bag of holding, just a normal ass bag.

“Hey do you know where any of the good shit is?”

The princess considered this for a long time. Jack was about to just continue his own search when she finally said.

“There’s a workbench upstairs. I don’t know much about magic, but he uses crystals and stuff, and instruments made with precious metals!”

That’s the shit he was looking for. Gold and jewels! He grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs. Going up the stairs took a while, each step was nearly as tall as they were. By the time they reached the top they were exhausted.

“Any idea when the giant will be back?” Jack asked, breathing hard, willing his strength back.

“I wish I did. You’re *huff* lucky the wizard *huff* is away at all” she said “I’ve seen-“ she started to shake “I’ve seen him deal with thieves and…”

“And”

“He eats them!” She cried, “I’ve never seen a thief make it out of here alive! Not one.”

“Not-not even one!?”

The princess shook her head. “It’s horrible! And, and I’m so worried, every day.” she started to actually cry, “That he’ll get bored with my singing and eat me too!”

“He would eat a princess! What a monster!” said Jack, “now come on, it’s time to get those jewels and get out of here before he comes back.”

With each other’s help they climbed up the stool and onto the desk. And sure enough, there were gems! Some were ordinary or semi-precious, but they were huge! And imbued with magic, so they had to have value. But there was also a small jar with more precious gems, and one with gold dust. Jack filled his own, smaller jars, with the dust and gems.

“Ready to go?” he asked, taking her hands.

“Yes, but, just one more thing,” she said, and smiled.

The change was instantaneous. One moment Jack was holding onto the delicate hands of dainty royal, looking down into her doey eyes and the next his own hands were engulfed by new hands, the size of dinner plates, and staring at the brightly patterned shirt of wizard robes. He looked up into the face of the tallest man he had ever seen.

If he hadn’t instantly realized this was the wizard, he would have called the man handsome. He had voluminous black locks, and a powerful jaw with a nice amount of facial hair. But the dark brown eyes smiled hungrily down at his own. The wizard licked it’s full lips.

The wizard’s grip was strong and starting to hurt, but then his hands were released and the wizard stepped backwards, off the desk!

With a mighty *POOF* of grey smoke the giant, the giant wizard, towered above him, and laughed.

“Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of the human kind. It matters not the things you stole, I’ll capture you and swallow you whole!” and snatched him up in one of its hands.

Stringing Jack along been delightful, but it was time to end the charade and get his reward for a job well done. Yonah held the thief up above his open mouth.

“it is indeed, time for you to go,” he said.

Finally the thief realized what was happening and screamed as his feet entered the giant’s mouth.

“Fuck fuck FUCK!!” he couldn’t seem to say anything but obscenities as Yonah swallowed him down. He tried futilely to grab onto Yonah’s teeth but Yonah simply flicked the hands off with a finger.

Yonah wasn’t entirely sure if it was the fear, or if this human just naturally tasted really good. Soon enough the thief was in his stomach, and it gurlged happily. /Oh come now!/ he patted his gut /you know you can’t keep him!/. The thief kicked out in protest.

“You tricked me!” he shouted, almost crying, “why!? You could have just caught me right away!”

“This was more fun,” Yonah said, “and it makes for a much more satisfying meal to know you’ve earned it. You tasted amazing by the way, five stars!”

“You’re a sick bastard!” Jack shouted at him.

Even though Jack couldn’t see him, Yonah shrugged. Then he stretched, keeping on hand on his stomach so he could feel the human’s movements. “It’s my job.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about this?!” the thief was taking his perceived demise rather well, he wasn’t begging for his life or anything. Maybe Yonah had primed him too much with the “merciless man-eater” description, this Jack didn’t seem to think he could persuade him to spare his life.

Yonah scratched his stomach and sighed deeply, “No, but this is.”

“What the-” the thief was cut off as Yonah started the process of regurgitating his captive. This thief was fairly large, he had to practically punch himself in the gut to force the thief out, and even considered reaching into his own mouth to trigger a stronger more innate reaction.

But he didn’t need to. The nearly suffocating mass of the thief made its way up his esophagus, slowly but surely. The thief slid into his waiting hands and scramble to sit up and stare in confusion at Yonah who smiled and licked drool from his lips.

“Feel better now?”

Jack shivered but nodded.

“You- you’re letting me go!? What was all that ‘no thief has left alive’ shit!?”

Oh, a talkative one! Normally they didn’t want to talk anymore. Too scared and ready to leave.

Yonah chuckled, “Surprised you didn't catch on, Jack. If I was lying about being a princess, why wouldn’t everything else be a lie as well!”

“You’re still a sick bastard” said Jack.

He slid out of Yonah’s palms and tried to wipe the spit and mucus off but he was thoroughly soaked. So he stood defiantly and tapped his foot at the now not-man-eating giant Wizard.

“What now?” He asked.

“Oh yes!”

Yonah reached into his pocket and produced a small purse and offered it to Jack. Jack blinked and took it.

“Wait, you’re giving me money!?”

“Well I can’t let you take the gems and gold dust! I need those,” said Yonah. Producing a handkerchief out of nowhere And wiping his hands clean. “And I don’t want you to leave empty handed! All that work sneaking in here would be for nothing. And if I’m right, you don’t have any money. That’s why you’re here right?”

Jack pocketed the gold. “Yes. It is.”

“Now that is settled, Jack, it really time for you to be on your way. I have to have a real breakfast.”

Jack had another idea.

“Actually! If it is not to much trouble, um,” shit he didn’t know his name! For that matter how did the wizard know his!?

“Yonah.”

“Yonah,” said Jack, “could I maybe, wash up? And if you’re making breakfast, I’m… kinda hungry too. No money and all.”

Then he added, “as long as it’s not like, human... meat...”

That shocked Yonah. Thieves asking to wash up… that was rare but it happened. But he couldn’t remember a thief who asked to stay, for a meal no less! Especially since he had just eaten them. This man had chutzpah!

“No, it’s eggs, bread, butter. Oh And fruits and vegetables from my garden.”

Jack’s eyes were going glassy as he described breakfast. When was the last time he had eaten?

“Sure, why not,” said Yonah, and he offered his palm. 

The thief climbed on, not scared at all. And Yonah carried Jack back downstairs.

[Thanks for reading! please reblog! for more mystic woods go to vore-scientist.tumblr.com/tagged/+mystic+woods+story or search ‘mystic woods story’ on my blog! I’ll have a tag for thief stories soon. probably “MW Thieves”]

[darthstitch]

Castlevania Netflix Season 2 Review: All My Bloody Tears

Yeah. Uh. SPOILERS. MASSIVE GINORMOUS SPOILERS. Consider yourself warned.

I'm kind of a complete mess as I write this because PAIN! PAIN AND SUFFERING! TEARS! BLOODY TEARS!

While it's not without its flaws, the second season of Netflix's Castlevania is incredible and lives up to the promise of Season 1. This, gentlebeings, is how you set up a sequel and leave the audience wanting more, but still walking away satisfied with what we've currently got.

The Good Stuff

The thing about Castlevania - as the game series by Konami - is that it's pretty much a patchwork quilt of everything goes. Think your favorite fan fiction peeve on AO3, the ones with the ten million tags before you even get to the goddamn story. So on one hand, it's got its clear inspiration from the classic Hammer and Universal Horror renditions of Dracula. But the game series is Japanese, so you have your beautiful anime-esque artwork by Ayami Kojima and the obvious anime influences.

I've played a few of the games, but I'm not going to claim gamer-god status. I just play for the fun of it and I don't hesitate to use walk throughs as a map of sorts, basically figuring out where to go, because the general castle layout is set up like a labyrinth and it is INSANE and FUN at the same time. So far, I've played and finished Symphony of the Night and two of the GBA ones: Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. I'm still trying to master the ones on the NDS. But basically, the premise is the same: You're the hero/heroine, you need to enter the big spooky castle, gather weapons and/or spells to make you stronger and add to your abilities, take down monsters and Major Bads - including Death Himself - and hopefully prevent Dracula from resurrecting and covering the world in Eternal Night. The main timeline basically has Belmonts, assorted Not-Belmonts who also hunt vampires and of course, pretty, pretty Alucard.

Then, there was your AU timeline in which Gabriel Belmont goes to defeat a Big Bad and becomes DRACULA ... and Trevor Belmont is his son, a.k.a. Alucard. Yeah, wrap your head around THAT one.

In short, Castlevania canon is fucked. To quote our Trevor, "Snake-fuckingly insane."

So Warren Ellis does the smart thing and basically picks up what works from the "canon" and crafts a damn good story out of it.

The Disaster Trio that is Alucard, Trevor and Sypha, end up bonding even closer together and spend much of this series in the Belmont Basement...er.... I mean, "Hold," trying to do the game equivalent of gathering spells and weapons to storm the castle with. We learn a few more interesting things about the Disaster Trio. Trevor actually ended up losing his family at a way too young age. Sypha and her people have some pretty "interesting" views about God. Alucard has artistic talents and basically acts his real age, which is a traumatized snarky 20 something year old, who's barely holding on to his composure with his shiny fangs and claws. There are epic moments such as "Treffy" and I would absolutely LOVE to hear the Belmont family story that explains how the hell a book of "penis spells" ended up in the Belmont Family Library.

Seriously. Fan fiction writers, don't fail me now!

Also, Lisa gets a few more minutes to shine and break our hearts at the same time. This is the woman who managed to charm and get one Seriously Scary King of Vampires wrapped around her tiniest finger. She's snarky and sassy as before, but so real, so kind and just basically trying to be a decent person in a Crapsack World. She loves her husband but she knows he can be monstrous. She loves her son but as Alucard himself puts it, she wants him to be able to be himself, be happy and not be overshadowed by his father. Seriously, as long as each season gives us something more about Lisa, I'm gonna be content.

We also get introduced to a few more new characters, who basically make up Dracula's Court of Evil. Hector and Isaac are humans but sociopathic enough to despise their own kind and willing to take part in their death and destruction. They both have their requisite tragic and abused pasts. Hector, however, has an element of naivete that makes him an easy target for the machinations of Carmilla, the only general in Dracula's court who's figured out which way the blood's flowing and wants to make sure she comes out on top. Isaac, however, is somewhat the mirror of Alucard himself. This is the guy who gives his unconditional love and loyalty to Dracula and refuses to abandon him no matter the personal cost to himself or his remnants of a conscience or whatever he has that passes for a moral compass. I figure that it's there, it's just not one that I would recognize. Isaac is a scary, scary mofo and it looks like he and Hector are gonna be back for season 3.

In fact, if Isaac ends up becoming "Death" in this entire series, I'm gonna be evilly delighted.

And then, there's Godbrand, who is basically the vampire equivalent of YOLO. Basically, all he wants is to fight, fuck, drink blood and make boats out of things he shouldn't make boats out of. Generally, he just wants to have a good time, rule the world like a king and make sure the humans know their place.

So okay, let's give Carmilla her due. Evil? Check. Manipulative? Check. Sadistic, vicious and cruel? 10 across the board. In the absence of a Certain Fanged Someone taking a more active role in what should be "The War on Humankind," Carmilla wants to make sure she's keeping things moving, spinning her webs of intrigue and plans upon plans, thinking she's going to come out the winner and make herself the new Queen of the Damned.

Here's the problem. Dracula figures that out, easily enough.

Here's the OTHER problem. His Fanged Nibs is all out of fucks to give. He's done. Finito. Finished with everything.

Yeah, about that.

While the humor of this series is a gift that keeps on giving, the drama and the feels will DESTROY you.

You know that moment when you realize Dracula isn't just waging a war on humanity, he's waging a war to destroy all vampires too? Because in that moment when he lost his beloved Lisa, he hated not only humans, but he also hated HIMSELF. He hates the fact that his life of evil, wanton death and destruction, wrought this price on the person that he loved. And she damn well didn't deserve that treatment. He hates the humans who killed her but he also hates his own kind, who are just as monstrous as he is.

So when Godbrand basically asks him, "If we're killing all the humans, what are we going to EAT?" Dracula basically tries to fob him off with some excuse or the other. Yeah, His Fanged Nibs is a LYING LIAR WHO LIES. Also, this lying liar who lies is actually spending most of his time sitting, brooding and being HUNGRY. Because he's not drinking blood. At all. Any blood drinking we see from His Fanged Nibs is in flashbacks.

Let that sink in for a second.

Aluard accuses his father of basically doing history's longest suicide. Yeah. It is - Dracula wants to take EVERYBODY down with him.

The fight scenes are worth the wait. I was screaming when the classic "Bloody Tears" started playing in Episode 7, an episode that I'm gonna watch like ten thousand times more, because OH GOD THE EPICNESS OF IT. The sheer badassery. The fact that Alucard is actually the secret identity of Moon Moon.

And then, the final fight between Dracula and our Disaster Trio is just as epic as expected. Even when he hasn't drunk blood, the trio is outmatched and outclassed and this is where you remember that if Dracula had only roused himself long enough to give a flying fuck about something, Carmilla's head would have been rolling on the floor a long time ago.

But then: "My boy.... I'm killing my boy. This is your room. Your mother and I painted these walls, made these toys. Lisa.... it's our boy. Your greatest gift to me. And I'm killing him. I must already be dead."

GDI WARREN ELLIS HOW VERY FUCKING DARE YOU.

The only way they take down Dracula is because he basically wants to die. So he lets his son kill him and end his misery. And when his rotting, decaying, corpse seems to be reaching out to his son for some kind of last embrace, Trevor, thinking that Alucard's going to be hurt, takes Dracula's head off. Sypha burns off the remains.

And it's done.

Castlevania is a game with numerous endings, all depending on how you played the game and whether you got this artifact or what not. The series pays homage to it because Trevor bequeaths the Belmont Hold to Alucard and asks him to be the last defender of it and his father's Castle. It's not going to be Alucard's grave, but his home now. Trevor and Sypha wander off into the sunset, for more adventures and mischief and Alucard lovingly sends off his BFFs with a fond "Fuck you."

We check in with the villains who survive and of course, we know there's gonna be sequels, because, hey, that's kind of the point of each and every Castlevania game. There's always gonna be a new Big Bad coming around. And trust me, Dracula's gonna be back. He's not just going to lie quiet in his grave.

And just when you think you can end this series with a satisfied sigh, our very last moments are spent with Alucard. Who is haunted by the ghosts of the parents he loved so much. Who gets to relive one happy memory with his mom, who loves him with all her heart. And she's so proud.

And Alucard finally breaks down into heartbreaking sobs.

We grieve with him.

The Bad Stuff

Yeah, okay, so I need to get this explained. Why bother to have all these interesting character designs for Dracula's other generals AND NOT HAVE THEM TALK? I'm serious. Not one of these fascinating-looking vampire bastards HAVE ANY GODDAMN LINES. Netflix, FFS, DON'T WUSS OUT ON YOUR CHARACTER ACTORS. YOU CAN'T BE THAT POOR. GIVE THEM VOICES. PAY YOUR CHARACTER VOICE ACTORS. OMG.

They basically just get killed off in the end, but while we know they were pretty scary and formidable, we don't really know anything about them other than: Vampire, Scary, Dracula's General. They were just pretty much Red Shirts, because the heroes never did get to confront Carmilla, Hector and Isaac directly.

There was evidently so much story to be told here, like they seem to have come from all over the world, even as far off as China AND THEY'RE. NOT. TALKING. The only ones with any dialogue are Carmilla, Hector, Isaac and Godbrand and none of these guys even get to share screentime with the Disaster Trio. Godbrand doesn't even make it to the final battle.

I mean, if these guys were just going to be cannon fodder, then let's just use any of the voiceless Major Bads from the games. Put some requisite scary music and sound effects and let the Disaster Trio take care of them. Let them speak in mysterious archaic languages or whatever, since we're not going to care about them anyway.

The Conclusion

Apparently, this is gonna be a pattern for this series. It's going to be good, it's going to be GREAT but there's always going to be that ONE THING that would drive us batshit crazy. But not enough to wreck my enjoyment of it.

The best parts of this series is the faithfulness to character, the layers upon layers of motivations and feels you're going to uncover as you rewatch it, the fact that it's not afraid to put tongue in cheek and leave canon at the door, while still being true to the source material.

So. "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk! Have at you!"

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 8: EGGMAN NEGA

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don't like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That's where this comes in.

This is a series of mine in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I'll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don't bite. :>

Anyhow, for today's installment, we'll finally be tackling Sonic's beloved arch-nemesis, the rotund doctor himself, the scheming conquerer in the making, the forever determined mad scientist...

...'s clone.

Eggman Nega.

The Gist: It was just an ordinary handheld adventure for Sonic the Hedgehog, as he made his way through the opening act of Sonic Rush to foil the nefarious ambitions of Dr. Eggman yet again. The doctor hinted early on that there would be more than meets the eye this time around, to which Sonic initially disregarded as typical Eggman talk. However, he changed his tune when he met a purple cat who he had never seen before... and later, a mysterious fellow who looked rather derivative...

“Look, no disrespect, but I’d rather not stumble over my vowels and offend an entire section of the human race by accident.”

It's quickly established that this man, who went by the name of Dr. Eggman Nega, hailed from an alternate dimension. The same applied to the aforementioned feline, Blaze, who in turn was revealed to be the Sonic to this Eggman's... Eggman. So she was well-acquainted with Nega's dickery, and it didn't take long for her to conclude that he was responsible for the regular Eggman's presence regarding her side of affairs.

Eggman and Diet Eggman, in league with each other, planned to use the growing time-space rift between the two dimensions to, scientifically speaking, fuck shit up. But together - after having an unnecessary scuffle (because all new heroic characters in this franchise are obligated to fight Sonic for trivial reasons) - Sonic and Blaze went Super and Burning, kicked the Eggmen's Eggasses, and restored everything back to normal. And that was the end of that, right...?

Pfft, ANYONE who looks exactly like Eggman can say that.

Not necessarily. Nega made a surprise return in Sonic Rivals, where he was revealed to be the mastermind of attempting to turn the world into a card, a plan that even the actual Eggman would probably laugh at. This cemented him as the... by my estimation... sixth antagonist to screw the doctor over. And that's if we're not counting villains who were unaffiliated to begin with.

Somewhat more concerning however, his backstory was completely different. Rather than being Blaze's arch-enemy in an alternate dimension, he was now inexplicably Silver the Hedgehog's arch-enemy IN THE FUTURE!!!!!, having been revealed to be the descendant of Eggman. Nevermind that this would imply Eggman found someone worthy of his affection (himself notwithstanding). At least Blaze's backstory remained intact, right.........?

Not that it stopped Nega from reestablishing himself as Blaze's dimension foe in Sonic Rush Adventure.

That would explain the Eggman jamboree.

And then that didn't stop Nega from reestablishing himself as Silver's future fiend in Sonic Rivals 2.

YYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

It's been said that the future interpretation is the true and honest one for Nega, because with a character like this, you clearly have nothing to lose by picking the more confusing option. Not that it matters too much nowadays, since he's been spending his decade long retirement at the Olympics. Best place for him, really.

The Design: Nega's appearance is a masterstroke of telling a story purely through the visuals. The grey-haired moustache establishes how Nega is older, and thus wiser, than the real Eggman. The red tracksuit confirms that Nega is always quick to call for action, unlike the defeatist outlook implied by Eggman's black pants. The use of the Classic yellow tusks on Nega's jacket, as well as the bumblebee shoes, make it apparent to the viewer that he is more Eggman than Eggman will ever be, as he encompasses the heart and soul of the character, of which the original simply cannot live up to.

Now you see, anything can sound deep when you talk a lot of shite.

He should really get that hip checked.

All sarcasm aside, Nega's design gets a solid place in the "not particularly great" tier, and that's putting it nicely. Whether it took five days or five minutes to come up with him, we are given no point of interest outside of the very thing that makes him unoriginal. After all, why should we care about the thought put into his look when they didn't...?

Even his poses are the fucking same.

Sonic got himself a counterpart in the form of a serious-minded cat with pyrokinesis. Tails got himself a counterpart in the form of an excitable raccoon with (implied) hydrokinesis. But all Eggman gets is a guy who looks just like him, right down to the name. I would say there's some injustice here. If you're going to make an alternative equivalent of the doctor, go wild with it. Think up as many physical contrasts as you can. Make the character their own being, rather than a halfhearted copy and paste of another, better villain. Especially when the latter is the villain of the series.

The Personality: Nega is set up to be an eccentric yet brilliant mastermind, even though Eggman is also such.

Nega is set up to provide a polite contrast to the often childish Eggman, even though Eggman is also capable of maintaining a polite facade when he feels like it.

Nega is set up to be capable of some truly evil things that can shock and disgust others, even though Eggman is capable of that too.

Noticing a pattern?

That said, there is one notable difference: Nega's lapses in logic are ten times more unintentionally hilarious.

“And I’ll have, you know that, my grammar has, always been, perfect!”

“...By removing myself as well in the process! On another note, what's 2 plus 2?"

There's really not much to add about Nega's personality. Whatever you can say about Nega, you can say about Eggman too. And I'd prefer not to be redundant when it's the turn of the real deal.

The Execution: If it wasn't obvious at this point, Nega falls flat as his own character and as a counterpart for Eggman. Either he's a repetitive second wheel (the Rush duology), or he's a straight up poor man's replacement (the Rivals duology). He has very little going for him that the original Eggman doesn't already have, which makes his shortcomings all the easier to spot.

Now you might be willing to think "But Nega is a darker mirror of Eggman! He shows a more vicious and sadistic side of the doctor! This type of character provides a fascinating insight into Eggman's character!"

Well here's the thing.

We already have a character who fulfills the role very well as a darker mirror of Dr. Eggman.

His name is Dr. Eggman.

Contrary to popular belief (which I'm sure has been influenced by certain adaptations), the real Eggman is still a massive bastard when you look past his outwardly silly demeanour, and as such, he's fully willing to commit surprisingly cruel acts of villainy that you wouldn't initially expect from him. This includes the enslavement and corruption of an innocent alien race, breaking the entire planet apart for the sake of waking up an ancient beast, and going full suicide bomber on Station Square when Chaos is seemingly defeated.

Part of the genius with Eggman's character is that he has two contrasting sides: the playful manchild, and the monster within. Giving the latter half to an uninspired recolour simplifies Eggman himself in the process, because by doing that, he's only one half of himself, and he's less effective as a villain in his own right because of it.

Well at least even the official cast don't seem to take Nega seriously.

“Oh no! He’s going to turn the planet into a card!” *smiles joyfully*

This review was a hard one for me, because there's only so many times I can point out that Nega is a complete ripoff, and aside from that elephant in the room (eggaphant in the room?), I don't have much else to work with. So I'll just reiterate that Nega has fortunately been reduced to Olympic fodder and call it a day.

Meanwhile, the real Eggman literally conquered the world. Just a reminder.

Crusher Gives Eggman Nega a: Thumbs Down!

[longlostretribution]

LOST ASGORE, King of LONG LOST HOPE’S timeline.

A KING BORN OF TRAGEDY AND LOSS.

A king, not battle worn, but magic weary, dragged down into hell and faced with oblivion. A king who fought valiantly to save his timeline from THE BEAST WITH RED EYES, the fabled one prophesied to bring destruction to INNUMEROUS TIMELINES. The BEAST who marked him with a scar he still bears to this day, one he will never forget.

His powers were not meant for boiling blood nor inflicting wounds. He was a healer, one who knew how to use such good for the evils of war and feared not in doing so, but resented the choices ultimately made in his times of need. Healing mouths and noses shut, prompting heart attacks with specialized herbs, knowing the body of monster and man so wholly that he could use it to his whim - it made him the ruler he was.

And what a ruler!

He and Toriel ruled together, not with an iron fist, but an iron spine. A backbone forged with the strengths of monsterkind and their own HOPES, and DREAMS. They lived on the surface with humans for as long as they could remember, survived many wars waged against them, even pacified their way through treaties that kept their people alive - though that was mostly Toriel’s doing, since he still was not very good with words and dealt with a stutter from birth. He was known as the QUIET PROPHET KING, and she the GENTLE SAVIOR QUEEN. They were flexible and understanding to most, but would not bow, bend, nor break to the whims of those who sought their destruction and to use their people’s kindness for evil.

Asgore himself bore a gift unlike any of his kind. He bore the gift of SPIRITUALITY that manifested in LIGHT PURPLE magic that allowed him clairvoyance and insight into the realities behind people and dreams he encountered. The magic manifested in his right eye, along with the ORANGE magic of BRAVERY in his left eye (though it was never as strong as his purple magic). With this purple hue, he could see into worlds and dreams alike. He could see the future and the past, although it typically revolved around how to SAVE the world and all the goodness within it, never the bad. He even predicted his and Toriel’s old age, all at the hands of their beloved son Asriel, whom later became their beloved prince.

And so they lived, HAPPILY EVER AFTER, in a world where humans and monsterkind remained at peace.

                              Until the king had a dream.

It was unlike most of his dreams. Filled to the brim with HATE and MALICE, this dream plunged him deep within a scorched battlefield, left to wander the remains of what he knew must have been his entire world. Nothing but ruins, bloody corpses and dusty swords, and a single weeping willow with two gravestones beneath it. ONE FOR TORIEL, AND ONE FOR ASRIEL.

From behind the stones, a creature rose from the shadows. Not monster, but not quite human. A demon? A BEAST IN SHINING SILK with a bloody, dusty knife in hand. The grin he bore could’ve shattered Asgore’s very SOUL. 

“A prophet is only as good as his prophesies!” That is what THE BEAST told him that fateful day they first met. There stood before him a False Prophet, wrapped in glittering gold, stark purple, sterling silver, giving him a ghost of a warning of his arrival. The bastardized version of the DELTA RUNE they wore only spurned the king, anger and resentment boiling in his chest. When he drew his trident, the creature only LAUGHED, eyes flashing a demonic RED before speaking once more:

“TELL ME, O FALSE PROPHET,” the ghost said, “REASON WITH ME, AND BE STILL. 

                                          “DO YOU REALLY THINK                                                   YOU CAN STOP

                                     THE UNIVERSE’S WILL?”

He gestured around him. to the land burned to ash, blackened by flame and magic alike. Corpses of humans and dust of monsters lie scattered among the flame. Some sort of fate urged the king to turn to his left, only to see a mirror of himself staring back. The mirror looked unlike any horrifying vision he’d seen prior: ONE EYE GONE. HALF OF HIS FACE REMOVED. ONE EAR MISSING. BODY MELTED AND WITHERED.

                                  It was like staring into DEATH ITSELF.

“EVERYONE MUST DIE EVENTUALLY, O KING. “AND YOU? HAVE LIVED A GOOD LIFE. “BUT IT WILL END. IT MUST END. “SO WHY NOT LET ME DO THE ENDING INSTEAD OF THE CRUEL UNIVERSE?” 

The demon continued his tirade, circling the monster as if he was some sort of prey. Asgore could not peel his eyes from the vision of himself, even as the mirror reflection of the BEAST sauntered up behind his hulking form, knife in tow. It was there he saw it:, a twisted, demented SOUL devouring the timeline behind them as the creature continued to speak.

“DO NOT FEAR. “I WILL MAKE IT “AS PAINLESS “AS YOU WANT IT TO BE.”

The king awoke with LAUGHTER in his head and dread bowing down his aching body. This was the first vision he’d ever had that filled him with such emotion. The first foretelling of terror that even he couldn’t stomach. Surely not even Toriel, his companion in life, could help him stop this end? The creature was right: EVERYTHING MUST END. Even he, and even the universe. 

But why in such an ugly and devastating way?

Sorrow wracked his body for weeks as he kept the turmoil to himself, unable to even conceive how to tell another. Soon enough he found himself unable to function properly. DECAYED, WITHERED, WITHDRAWN. If Toriel hadn’t pulled him from his somber mood one night with a ferocious and fiery shout, he might have completely turned to dust from his thoughts alone. His confession afterwards came flooding over tears and apologies, begging for forgiveness for keeping her from his thoughts, for being unable to tell her Armageddon was finally upon them. Finally, the end was nigh, and he was forced to be the one to tell them all they were going TO DIE.

Toriel did not know how to respond. But she did know they had to ACT, and do so swiftly. Rumors of the BEAST had already begun their descent; a new Prophet who begun spreading his visions of death and destruction had begun whispering around the castle. Chaos struck humanity first, tearing them down wall by wall. Toriel knew their days were numbered the moment Asgore confirmed the Prophet’s coming.

But the two formulated a plan. 

RESETs were somewhat foreign to them, having no fallen child nor human puppet to teach them its cruelty, but together their INTENT was strong enough to overpower whatever force the universe used to keep it from them. Their strengths combined led to them ultimately RESETing the timeline again, and then again, and yet again, trying time after time after time to ether pacify the BEAST or keep him from coming to their city. When their attempts failed, Toriel urged the King to speak out to the people, to gain their HOPEs and their DREAMs in order to SAVE their home. He was hesitant, but once he began, his prophesies took wing and began bolstering the people’s courage. He began to make up visions of them winning and succeeding if they teamed together. He gave false HOPE to gain real hope attempting to gain the help of their people to offset the balance of the BEAST’s prophesy and speak their own false one into truth. They did what they could. Even their finest guardsmen joined in, and soon after the HOPE from their people filled them with enough DETERMINATION to SAVE over one of the BEAST’s files.

YET THEIR PLAN, THOUGH NOBLE...

HAD FAILED.

Years of RESETs after the first prophesy given by the BEAST, Asgore saw his vision realized for the final time. A bloody, dusty battlefield, a universe broken by fire and magic. His own body bruised and aching, begging to finish melting to join his beloved wife and son in their nearby graves. The BEAST had many SAVE files, many that overwrote his own. He could not fight him, not even with the HOPE of the world, of all man and monsterkind... if he could not defeat them... that meant, that truly...

                  IN THE END... THERE WAS NOTHING HE COULD DO                                          BUT ACCEPT THEIR FATE.

“It’s a SHAME, Prophet,” the demon before him twirled the strange dagger-like weapon in his hand, “I almost enjoyed that endearing voice of yours, bellowing out to your people, haughty with false words of shallow encouragement. Ah, well...

                 “FAREWELL, O KING OF THE DAMNED!”

A light shone beyond the horizon, blinding the King for a moment. He was unsure what to do, what to say. There was nothing TO say, really. He had lost, and the False Prophet had won. He had been caught in his lies, and despite the goodness that flowed within them, he was now paying heavy-handedly for them.

Everyone had paid for them.

Did that make him the false one?

Clawed hand reaching towards the light on the horizon, the BEAST with his knife poised and ready, the king made one last wish:

I did as you said. I told them all the truth.  Please, whoever may hear... Reunite me with the ones lost. Give me back my family and let me find peace.

A memory filled his vision as he clasped his paw over the light. He was standing on the once-green field with his son, listening to the breeze blow through the willow tree while they picked flowers and sought out herbs for the King’s newest recipe. 

Do you think the universe will ever end, Papa?

Mmm? What makes you ask?

Well... sometimes I get these feelings. Like things are gonna end soon, but I’m not afraid of them. Not anymore.

Why’s that, little one?

Well, they don’t scare me because there’s a Light there. I can see the Light, and it comforts me. Tells me Momma’s gonna be there on the other side to greet me. It says, all things must come to an end... but endings don’t have to be sad.

Oh my... quite a heavy topic for you to be dreamin’ about, don’t you think?

I dunno, is it? I always thought of things ending as sad or even scary, but this one doesn’t scare me too much. You’re there too! But you’re on the other side of the Light. I can still see you through the willow trees, but you’re hurt...

Hurt?

Yeah, like something really got you. It looks like you’re about to give up, but you can’t give up, okay? No matter what happens, we’re here cheering for you!

Asgore opened his good eye, a stream of tears leaking from both his good and bad eye. In the distance, beyond the BEAST, he can see the willow tree. It’s just in front of the Light, swaying in the breeze, completely unharmed by the desecration and fire surrounding it. He could hear his son’s voice almost as clearly as he could see the Light.

Find those who are Lost, and you’ll be set free! That’s what the universe is saying to me to say to you. And we’ll also be here! So you can never give up, okay, dad?

Okay, little one. I’ll stay strong.

“Just for you.”

The beast’s voice swelled in his one good ear, dragging him back to reality a split second before he struck:

                  “FAREWELL, O KING OF THE DAMNED!”

Without thinking, the lost king rolled out of the way and plunged his trident straight through the BEAST’s belly, causing him to stammer and stagger back. A SOUL flung out of his body, marred and mangled with what could only be other SOULs of the damned. It screamed in agony, but he didn’t seem to bother mimicking it. All the BEAST could do was stare at the vibrant red trident in his torso, aghast at the thought of being injured by such a weapon.

Disgusting, Asgore thought.  “Such a pitiful creature laid waste by an old washed up prophet king like me. For shame.”

The world beneath him began to hiss and rumble. The SOUL, now exposed, flared with power - a power that began to DEVOUR THE TIMELINE WHOLE. Greedily, as if it were some kind of starved creature. The floor beneath Asgore shattered, sending him falling through the floor of the universe. The creature that stood above him in the decaying world watched him fall with an expressionless face, prying the trident from his VESSEL like it was nothing. The SOUL near him him didn’t even thrum in pain as he did, eyes filled with violent RAGE at the sole escapee of the timeline he was now DEVOURING WHOLE with that cursed SOUL of his.

It is in this moment Asgore realized what he had done.

                            HE HAD SURVIVED AGAINST ALL ODDS.                HE HAD BROUGHT HIS OWN PROPHESY TO FRUITION.

                       THAT IS WHEN KING ASGORE DIED                                    AND THE LOST PROPHET                                                   WAS BORN.

                                                              ---

Lost Asgore now lives a life of solitude in the LONG LOST HOPE timeline, the oldest of the monsters there and the second one to have fallen into the timeline back before it was fully formed. Though rejuvenated from his suffering in some sense, he will never overcome the night terrors that still plague him, nor will he ever escape the claws of Fate that dig into his skull, prophesying visions of things untold and horrors yet to be wrought. The universe has taken him as a VOICE PIECE for its will, forcing him to command the rest of its ragtag bunch and keep them in line much like a king would do.

It is he who gives the rest of the LONG LOST RETRIBUTION cast their missions, whether it is for Undyne to act as HEROINE to one timeline, or Karma to go JUDGE and EXECUTE a Player’s SOUL. The universe speaks through him, and they through he. He is beloved by all, but his life as a Prophet is lonely and cold without the ones he loves by his side.

In his old age, he has resigned himself to a loveless life, instead finding himself content with the family he’s been gifted via the LLR cast, especially Damsel (Karmic Undyne), Karma (Karmic Sans), and Lost Toriel. He and Lost Toriel are not and never were lovers. They are simply friends, ones who understand the other’s plight and have worked at raising Toriel’s son Asriel as best as they can.

He still practices his healing magic, trains himself how to FIGHT if need be, and studies herbal medicine here and there, growing a fantastical and massive garden all across his home (and in other places in both main timelines). The king refuses to grow yellow flowers in honor of Asriel’s freedom and in hopes of preventing the Game from further tormenting the young prince whenever a Player’s game takes hold of the timeline.

[thelordstears]

Writing totally isn’t a passion of mine *Wink, wink*

"Fools, always think they're the smartest one in the room, as is the same with saints, it would seem." - Moores Thomas

"The crow must have a very watchful eye; for even his flock is called a murder." - Valkronin Sambridge

"Sometimes what others do to obtain peace leaves you in pieces." - Bentley Harlem

"He is the enemy screams my ragged bone mind; again and again the shouts of my father echo in the night of my darkness, and again and again I let the lie envelop like blood in my chest." - Alastair Sambridge

"This wicked heart doth not beat lovely." - Valkronin Sambridge

"We're pawns in a game that doesn't fucking care; the King and Queen have left the brooks and knights bleeding on the edge of the board. All that's left of us is the way we move across a checkered board, wondering why black, white and red is the only color we can see through these loyalty blinded eyes." - Flitz Haktoll

"We're all lookin' for glory at the end of a faded bullet; grins echoing in the decaying lights of justice and heroism." - Benjamin Scotsfire

"Glory is not found in the pursuit of death. It's often found in the pursuit of something greater." - Henry Onlark

”Lies fall slick from the tongue of the foolish.” - Cross Smykens

"I left the war; but it never left me." - Jay Foster

"Ya know; a man once told me to turn my rage inta power. Let it be the kick of my bloodied rifle, but as I turned that rage to power, as I let that bloodied rifle bruise my shoulder; I learned that power's name was corruption all along." - Maximus Bates

"When everything is ripped decadent from your veins you find a substitute for that abyss in your heart; and I've filled it with cracks of who I'm not." - Terminus Hydra

"People like us don't get third chances. We just get ta live the rest of our lives in this flat circle, we're doomed ta try and run on these hand me down shoes; but we'll just get right back where we started. Standin' stagnant in our cruelty." - Scottenmire Travol

"You haunt many a folk 'round here and you don't even know the names of the graves carved into the stone of your heart; everyone's nameless too ya. But everyone's got a name and a couple thousand stories to tell, what merry little tale do you think I plan on orchestrating tonight?" - Monte Pelamo

"I thought I was raising a rifle to fate; but then I bled as my finger curled around the trigger." - Alastair Sambridge

"Glory and death often go hand in hand; interlocking bloodstained fingers within one another's as to best watch humanity flitter and fade away into dust and ashes. Have you ever noticed how cruel people get when life fucks 'em over? How evil seeps through the good man's heart all because he had a bad fucking day? I'm the seed of evil planted into the good man's ribcage, blossoming like a black rose of thorns and shadow in the heart of kindness." - Diablo Bohnsello

"I already walked that path brother. I already have a coffin fitted for a man that ain't me; it's why I'm so fucking dangerous." - Hectorvallo Bloodwain

"If you can't fucking get something out of doing what's right, than what's the point of being the good guy?" - Trent Aval

"Oi'm just a stumblin' deer, wonderin' where these breadcrumbs will lead me." - McKady Cornwall

"Some men call me a mad man. But I imagine you'll call me a monster, or karma, in some wicked sense. Who I am is usually defined differently for every man I come across. They all have their own little tale. Some weep as they read the poetry scribed like scars in their heart, some rejoice in the wicked man's tale. But you, little one shall die, in some strange and peculiar way. Not in the sense that I'll bury you, but in the sense that I'll wipe your slate clean and scribe little pieces of my darkness onto your blackened pages." - Westell Gramstein

"Crazy and misunderstood is a very thin line many walk." - Westell Gramstein

"I was stuck in a shadow like trance, dancing with the light of my very own moon. It was under the decadent and decaying lights of that pale light cast from the sky that I was stricken by a very sudden madness. A very quiet, madness." - Shackelstan Puppeteer

"Any man can become a shadow wisped secret of himself. How do ya think the darkest of creatures are made, brother? They start off as good people doin' good things. But sumthin' comes along the line and rips them from their shadow, leavin' them defenseless against the dark." - Valterren

"In all madness, my friend, there is what created it. Dare you tread in the black waters of my mind?" - Westell Gramstein

"When it's your life or mine I tend to get a little selfish, a little cowardly. And these days, the bullet is my only saving grace." - Kyro Bellford

"I stand stagnant in a pool of others blood, wishing it was my own." - Alwine Hickory

"I looked for who I am in all the wrong places. Like the way a boys hurt tasted on my heart, or the way a cigarette burnt my tongue. It's as if I never really found me. As if I never will. Because in all honesty, I feel as though I was never someone that could truthfully be called Inazo Lizomann." - Inazo Liomann

"I'm licking fate off of the barrel of temptation's revolver, my heart splintered and weary. Once you get a taste of the things that damn you, like the way cruelty tastes on your tongue, you begin to fall away from yourself. I swore up and down I'd survive. But I didn't. I never had." - Huntsdale Klizollo

"Unity with control is like putting a cat in water. You think it won't resist, you'll think that peace can be found within the feral animal you've dropped into the waters of unified revolution. But eventually, claws start to fly and the once unified civilization becomes nothing but the ashes it once started as." - Hex Sweeney

"I'm cursing you with the thought of life in the midst of the death of those you called friend." - Sevelsworth Hickory

"They always say, oh go ahead, open up. Let those scars bleed so you can reach the light everyone's always preaching about. And then you let your emotions come running from your lip like a river, and they put a dam in your mind and tell ya no one gives a fuck about the kid of trouble and bone. So you pick up a few bad habits, you throw another fist against a kid in your same situation and make due with what ya've fucking got. As if the dam built in your mind keeps all but the rage in." - Flizo Thompson

"I'm old bones buried beneath the rubble of identity. Don't matter how much I struggle, how much I try to survive. Because I'm already dead, and at this point, bein' a walking grave don't sound so appealing. So I burn up my lungs and pray I drift away with the smoke." - Ramo Bonewitz

"No one cares about you Ramo, you're already a ghost. All I have to do is give that little extra push into the unknown." - Quentin Satchel

"You won't make it out of this alive. You'll try. You'll walk mile after mile. But you're just a tombstone with legs." - Quentin Satchel

"My thirst for blood started young. The first day I saw the driblets of crimson drop to the tile floor was when a kid brought a razor blade to school and drew blood against his bully. An act of defense. And gradually my thirst for this kind of behavior grew. It started with rooster fights, watching the little fuckers claw at each other with those sharp nailed talons of theirs. But that gets boring quick. So I moved onto dogs. And that evolved into watching wolves fight in my father's barnyard. But eventually you get sick and tired of fur and fangs, so you settle for something more dangerous. Something more rewarding. My father taught me the game of gladiatorial fighting. Civil. Just. Merciful. And as I watched that man cut his brother down in the blink of an eye, oh I knew I could never go back. And I never would. I became a master of the arena, sitting on my throne of gladiator and gladiatrix's corpses." - Sevelsworth Hickory

"The blood of my father's victims sits on my hands, as if it was me pullin' the trigger. As if all along, I were pullin' the strings. Sometimes, when all ya can do is watch tragedy unravel, you get this funny lil idea that it's all your fault." - Alwine Hickory

"I was raised on the Devil's backbone of sin, standin' like the snarl of a rifle. Don't you come ta wonder what makes monsters like me? Brother, life has always been what makes monsters outta human men." - Cavowit Hickory

"We're all just thieves and bastards lickin' up the pieces 'a fate we got left. So why you gon' go damnin' me for preventin' the crooked bitch from comin' for me sooner? Son, I'm just doin' what it takes ta survive this Devil's country." - Stalkman Hickory

"I got a tattoo runnin' below my eye that tells the truth, as if the grim reaper has put her eternal mark on me." - Henio Bonstook

"You'll become a reflection, of sorts. You won't exactly, look like me. You won't exactly, look like my gunmetal stained past. But it'll be there, lurking in the corners of the mirror. Waitin'. Watchin'. Readyin' itself to pounce on the little gunslinger who thought he could, and that my friend. Is the day you'll die." - Ulfrich Diggory

"It's not about, who you are in the now. It's about who you're gonna be after I start carving little pieces of you off with the edge of my gunslinger malice." - Ulfrich Diggory

"Truthfully, I killed someone for that woman. I carved little pieces from off my heart, begging her to love them, but she was a Devil wrapped in gossamer, silk and roses, telling me that our little secret was nothing more then a flickering streetlight, providing little protection to the darkness of the night. And I suppose, my streetlight flickered out, leaving me with nothing but the sparks of a cigarette and the warmth of a revolver." - Grant Filepen

"Where once faith swung like curtains behind my ribcage, now it feels more like a couple of nooses, whispering my fate into the winds of my feeble, decaying sense of self." - Amaziah Bokenmay

"To the circus you shall go, to lose your mind and find a darker soul." - Moores Thomas

"Truthfully we're all heroes in some capacity. But some cast that away, they tear it screaming from their heart, our heroism often begs when faced with greedy fingers, but the cruel don't care. And to all the heroes who invited the kindness in, I hope it didn't take too many pieces away from you, to let the fact that cruelty exists despite the bravery in you break you." - Kirsten Hezofrein

"The cruel call peace a revolution just so they have an excuse to kill the protestors." - Sebastian Dovens

"The blood ran black from my wrist, dripping down like candle wax damnation." - Joey Alderson

"Skinny and starvin' I died, sittin' on the edge of my frozen over revolver. I shivered, I shook. And mate, I didn't make it ta the end of the tunnel, I was caught by the traffic of beasts, but 'ow peculiar is it, that they stared at me with eyes I recognized? As if pe'raps, friends can become enemies within the span of a god damn blink." - Arv Harknizia

"Darkness has to blot out the sun for light to shine later on." - Gustave X. Van Velk

"Those in power are often the weakest man kind's got to offer." - Garth Yeager

"I saw life flash before my eyes in the banging of a rifle, sins sitting cruel on a masked man's sleeve. It was in that moment of death that I cut humanity from out my heart, becoming something unfamiliar. But these cackles of insanity start to feel beautiful." - Tahasha Moonlight

"Life keeps forcing me down, these shadows start to whisper into my mind that the light is just outta reach. And those damned shadows rip at the threads of the sun's golden rays, ripping into the warmth of Summer forevermore. I'm telling you man, you think Summer memories will always be goofing off under the hot sun, playing videogames with your best friend as your mom brings you cookies and lemonade. But all I can hear now is the gunfire melody of the hunt, sickening cackles ringing in my ears like poppers goin' off to damn early." - Scottie Bloodvallo

"Death is something we can not avoid. It catches all souls who live, it lingers in the cold mountains and in the hot springs, hiding in the shadows and the light. Wherever we go it is hiding, always hiding. But I find it so,  innately cruel that sometimes, death catches up to men and women who still have miles to walk. People who from then on out have to walk mile by begrudged mile in death's wicked boots." - Caesar Cagelstan

"Men like me, men of the mountains and cold harsh winds of Antarctica don't really fuckin' live. Sure, we breathe. But as an old friend said there's such an ugly difference in that, cause as I puff another hazed, stale old cigarette, smoke drifting towards the Heavens, I come ta realize these angels wear smoke wings and ember halos, praying that this warmth is enough ta melt the ice in their hearts." - Daryl Fate

"People think that because they've walked comfortable miles, they know what it means, to truly be alive. But breathing and living are a very thin line many cling too, as if it was the lit fuse of a pact of dynamite, praying that it doesn't cover them in shrapnel truths and war bound horrors. I no longer live. I breathe. And there is such an ugly difference in that." - Mankar Hagmallio

"You don't know this city like I do kid. There's sharks swimmin' in the waters of these secrets, boy, and you're starting to smell a helluva lot like blood." - Roman Ustolgio

"I'm a Diablo, friend, and you're here for a handshake." - Abundio Garciel

"They called me a fucking misfit, as if who I am wasn't enough for society. And so as I washed myself in the blood of my innocence, draped in the crimson shawl of my identity, I came to realize no one, and I mean no one at fucking all, can add up to the expectations of a civilization ruled under the boot of the Heavens. And so we call ourselves angels, as if that made us holy in any sense of the fucking word." - Nicolla Bravajin

“ These skyscrapers stand like dead goliaths of faith and virtue, reminding us that New York city is where identities go to die and justice comes to wither and writhe underneath the heat of another darkened day. “ - Bartley Exodus

“ There comes a time when every man must choose who he wishes to be. He can walk the road seldom traveled or walk amongst the villains, slipping a mask of fangs over his face as to hide the bravery flickering in them golden eyes of his.” - Bartley Exodus

“ I pick up my old, rusted revolver and carve a couple dead men's names into the bullets and shove 'em into this chamber. Did I say dead men? Sorry. I've got a tendency to talk future tense." - Bartley Exodus

“ There's a locked room in my head where all the thoughts used to go.” - Bardem Lazolla

“ You know, all my life I've had to be tough, had to be just a bit stronger than the last guy; but I'm tired of the act. This mask is beginning to slip and I fear who I'll be once it falls. I've been someone else for so long that I don't know who I'll be once I'm me. “ - Bardem Lazolla

“ Isn't it strange how some people choose to be stuck in a nightmare while everyone else is living the dream? They can say we're all crazy, nutcases who belong in the looney bin. But in the end I'd rather be crazy than normal. I'd rather be me than someone I never was.” - Axelo Hayware

“ We've gotta be accepting, because humanity is built on love; but some people think power and hate is what gets you a name remembered. Yeah sure, names like Adolf Hitler and Julius Caesar are prevalent in the history books; but who do you look up to? Martin Luther King Jr or the fool who let power get to his head?” - Axelo Hayware

“ Humanity isn't doomed, we're just a little stuck is all." - Axelo Hayware

“ You know how when you're just a kid you dream of one day changing the world? Well look at you! Look! You did it; I promise. We're all changing the world daily with our actions, wondering if we ever meant a damn thing in the end; and I'll admit, I stumbled a few times. This path had a couple of roots along the way that felt like a noose wrapping around my dreams, forcing me to sputter and choke on nightmares.” - Tom Hanson

“ I refuse to let the gunshot melody become my song. “ - Tom Hanson

“ Look, there's a time and place to be a hero. And that's everywhere and all across the clock.” - Spencer Vokeswagon

“ I'm just the civilian who watched in wonder as the sky burned with glory bound promises, smelling the way they broke in the air.” - Spencer Vokeswagon

“ I'm falling inch by inch; wondering why the fall is such a slow descent, it has taken years for me to reach the atmosphere, and I have been burning ever since I first touched a broken star with human fingers that never should've found those old secrets dusted in the corner of a shelf in her son's bedroom.” - Valentine Valks

“ I shall never discover for I fear taking a step forward.” - Valentine Valks

“ Was that taut leather in his eyes or love?” - Valentine Valks

“ He is cruel and unjust, claiming himself an angel as he rips the wings from other's backs if only to stitch them onto his own. Is it such a sin to give life to the devil whom would steal it? I didn't know, I plead to the Heavens. But in my skull I hear the booming voice of God fracturing my pieces, and he tells me, "It matters not. He is your blood; and so you shall bleed in his place." And like a fool I accept my punishment as Jesus once did. I am bleeding on a crucifix of my son's sins, crown of thorns wrapped around my head as all the color bleeds from me. Black and white blend to a warped sense of grey; and all I know becomes fogged and misty. “ - Valentine Valks

“ I was raised a warrior, fighting battles of mind and blade, because in a world where evil lurks in every corner; everyone needs to be a hero or have the capability to be one. “ - Kadlin Paulson

“ The true warrior fights for what she loves and what she knows to be true.” - Kadlin Paulson

“ I'm an old tree trunk covered in the scars of the hatchet; and I know they dare not remember my name. For if the hatchet were to remember the name of every tree it cut its handle would begin to rot. Because to cut and cut and cut; the hatchet must have slain a couple of once sturdy trees. But I will stand sturdy forevermore. “ - Kadlin Paulson

“ I was young when I learned to keep a watchful eye on all that one loves; for everything has a darkness waiting inside of them, prowling in the depths of all saint's bones, waiting to pounce on the weary hearted followers of God. Dare not let this darkness prevent you from stepping into the light; for this is how the shadows in your ribcage win, how the demons start cackling with a strength they didn't once possess. “ - Nial Moorannan

“ My hands are stained with the blood of every man I've ever been.” - Nial Moorannan

“ I have watched the sun set one too many times; aiming the scope of this fox hound's rifle a thousand and three times, always me in my sights. Always me I watch go down in a howling scream of blood lit confessions and regret cackling at the midnight sky ever burning.” - Nial Moorannan

“A serpent followed us into our perfect little garden of Eden and stood watchful at our forbidden trees; eyes beady and forever burning with an emptiness that was never quite human. And he stripped the roses from Heaven; he tore the angels from a once clear sky and cackled as fire erupted through the clouds. And so all the angels of Eden fell; forever fell. On that day I died a death like no other, dreaming of beauty as I fell from Heaven, grasping the burning clouds wondering why death tasted like a memory on its way." - Nial Moorannan

“ There's a black serpent slitherin' in me ribcage; darin' me ta take a step forward in this dance with me shadow, and I dance, and I dance, and I bloody dance. A pirouette in the soddin' dark of me own bloody moon. “ - Arnold Schull

“ First time I died was when I were covered in da blood of boys sent howlin' ta an early grave, dagger drippin' crimson wif' regret. Second time I died was when I shook da hand of a masked devil, anarchy and violence howlin' just behind me. And mate; I've died many more times. “ - Arnold Schull

“ I've neva' seen 'is face. But those eyes dance wif' somethin' sinister. “ - Arnold Schull

“ Sometimes we hit the clouds before we make it to Heaven.” - Armellos Crescendo

“ Feather by feather who you are will be restored. “ - Armellos Crescendo

“ Rejoice, my friend; the sun of humanity has yet to sink. “ - Armellos Crescendo

“ I got fight left in my old bones and people to protect with all I got, so I roll up my sleeves and stick a cigarette between my teeth, letting the smoke be a warning of the fire that roars inside of me. “ - Armellos Crescendo

“ My father once told me that we have a choice when faced with the edge of a bullet; we either run from it or let it dig into our hearts. We're either the shield or the one that's behind it. And my mother once said that the world is a sorrowed plain of darkness; we're just the stars living in the blanket of shadow. And these words echo in my mind as I try to push back against the life I've been living, the sorrow ached life I've been given. “ - Ariel

"There's a storm in me heart. It rumbles and cackles with lightning and thunder; red rain pouring down on me cracked and broken ribcage, and as I try ta rest I feel the storm brew like death in this weary little fool. “ - Annabelle Courtney

“ I didn't pull the trigger, but I din'it stop anyone from lettin' the bullet soar neither. “ - Annabelle Courtney

“ I was a good woman once. But ever since I met that woman underneath the streetlights, I knew that I was a goner; she wore her nails red as blood, leather jacket draped over her shoulders as she snarled at the sky and all who made her the way she is. And as I fell through the ever lit skies of her rage I became something much less than who I am. She once dug sharp nails into my cheeks and snarled at me to paint the walls the color of my namesake, and with mournful regret I watched the white walls become a ruby red. “ - Ruby Vollstale

“ She's just a wild dog that doesn't know how to calm herself down.” - Ruby Vollstale

“ I once told myself that the fall is a long way down; but as I started to trip, the fall felt like only a few begrudged seconds. “ - Ruby Vollstale

“ Before one can fall head first into death he must go through the echo of life.” - Zecheriah Holyton

“ We are dropping like flies swatted by the electric swatter; dying as flashes of light in the nebula abyss of earth.” - Zecheriah Holyton

“ I was born curious, my friend. So I dug into the truths of philosophy and secrets, tearing my measly little claws into the greatest poets man kind ever knew trying to find the purpose of a life so obsolete. And I discovered that in truth; life is what we make it. But it also happens to be heavily influenced by our surroundings. “ - Zecheriah Holyton

“ I look into the stars of Heaven and often wonder if it's angels or graves in the sky or if that perhaps the sun is a culmination of all the burning wings set ablaze to give humanity warmth on event the harshest of winters. “ - Zecheriah Holyton

“ We are dualities of what we've done; wondering if what we didn't do condemns us in the end. “ - Zecheriah Holyton

“ Humanity is a vessel; of what I can never tell. All I know is that we're Babushka dolls." - Zecheriah Holyton

“ It's funny, how people will look at the unwell man with such fucking disgust; they say, "Look at the battered whore of a man! Sipping on the delusion that he is something other then his madness!" But don't they understand I'm trying to stuff myself so full of placebos that this fucked up thing I've become finally passes me by? “ - Arthur Wellburn

“ These emotions whir around my mind like cannons and gunfire, always hitting me down to rock bottom. But then I soar! Oh how I fucking soar. But I'm always falling within a month; laughing at the thought of splatting bloodied against rock bottom once again. “ - Arthur Wellburn

“ They always say you're strong for fighting the mental illness, but if they could see my heart they'd recoil and ask me to be put in a mental ward for all the thoughts that swim like death in this black watered river of my fucked up mind. “ - Arthur Wellburn

“ I'm just a nobody looking at the world through the eyes of Arthur Wellburn, wondering why I can never see a reflection of my mania. I'm stuck in this little corner nowadays, as if I'm just this little monster in a cage of his mind; and I'm always thinking the cure to my disease is a revolver shoved in my mouth and a wildly loud BANG! BANG! BANG! It'd be so much easier to die than to live, you know? So much easier to let the weight of my burdens fall onto my families shoulder like a ghost that lingers on the other side of death. But I never do it, I never do! And I get to wondering, "Why?" Because as life guns me down; I cackle in the red rain." - Arthur Wellburn

“ Look, I was just a kid hiding his truths behind dorky smiles and girls I didn't even have a crush on. But my brother, my sister, they were always gonna accept me as I am; there were never strings attached to our bonds; never scissors waiting to slice. “ - Tony Ikelfur

“ I am nothing more then a messiah of the broken and condemned; come one come all, safety is found in the comforting embrace of the shadow mistress. “ - Antonio Sharp

“ I walk within the light if only to watch it fade; striding beneath the sun if only to watch it sink one last time. “ - Antonio Sharp

“ I was born under the shadows of pinewood trees and howling wolves.” - Antonio Sharp

“ As the world comes to a grueling close who do you think will walk into paradise? The holy; or the heretics of life? Who do you think will be praised by the oh so holy creator of darkness but they who embraced it? We are beasts and bastards in these shadows my brother; so become one with the edging blade of destiny. Let it cut pieces of your identity from off your skin, let it call to you with the silver shadow of a soon to be crimson soaked dagger. We are children of the shadows; messiahs of the night. Dare the hero walk into the night with his rifle and bravery he will be shown as an example as to why the darkness is superior. “ - Antonio Sharp

“ I'm cheap smoke rising from the New York sky.” - Ambrose Walsh

“ Ever since the day I dug a grave I ain't been who I am. The lantern shed a pale yellow light across my face, cigarette stuck between my gritted teeth as I huffed and puffed, shovel working hard as the soil dug up beneath me. The moon was cast sorrowful on this broken man's soul, the reflection of a wolf dancing in the stream right by the old cemetery that knows too many forgotten names. You really don't wanna meet who I became that cold, Sundeh night. Because not even I can face the bastard in the reflection. “ - Ambrose Walsh

“ You can't trust the dogs who kept on a diggin' despite the way the soil reeked of death.” - Ambrose Walsh

“ You know how you try and be who you are after tragedy? You cling to the memory of the smile in your mirror and convince yourself that you're still that person? Because I tried real damn hard to be that person after the fire. But I know that boy is gone; buried underneath the secrets he found in a town he thought knew peace. “ - Alex Devonwood

“ I hate to break it to ya, but angels don't fucking exist. We're all just people living our sorrowful little lives selling ourselves to the dream that it gets better one day. But it doesn't, it really doesn't. I've been trying to find that happily ever after for a long time, but the man that haunts my memory? He sits in the recesses of darkness like a leather draped beast always waiting to drag the hopeful into his devious maw. Truth is life wasn't made to be lived. Life's only purpose is to serve us to death on a silver platter and I don't wanna stand for that. I wanna live but know it's impossible. “ - Alex Devonwood

“ I tried to tell my story; but no one roots for the underdog who never bit back, the dog who never barked his truths to the sky. People prefer tales of perseverance over the tale of the boy who never won. It gives them false hope, that they can be like the boy who won. But the boy who lost eats their dust." - Alex Devonwood

“ I used to be full of this joy that you couldn't really kill; but that man, he tore it from me. Sorrow leeched at the edges of his eyes; a dogs bark snarling somewhere in his throat, and he told me that we all live our lives confined in a locked room. And that the wrong person had found my key. And into my locked room he walked, ripping my heart from out the walls, digging into the wallpaper to discover the secrets I hid like confessions in my chest. And it was on that day that I was left as barebones of who I was. “ - Alec Bonehoff

“ I was just a fucking kid, man, I shouldn't have had to bare the weight of my brother's unguilted conscience. “ - Desmondo Dreadful

“ Sometimes ve chase our dreams. Sometimes zey chase us. “ - Luka Schiefer

“ People are always gonna hate even though it don't get no one anywhere, so when faced with this rage, when faced with this hatred ever seething. Take a few deep breaths and remember emotions often lie; and given the chance they'll shoot ya down with pellets of doubt and fear.” - Gary Heartlock

“ I was just a kid enjoying the company of himself, always told he just weren't a good influence. “ - Gary Heartlock

“ When you let the armor of lies shed from off your skin you start to grow a tougher skin of truth; don't you know that's why Icarus laughed as he fell? “ - Gary Heartlock

“ Be so authentically you that the hateful use you as an example of what's wrong with humanity; be so yourself that you set the bricks for the next man's path. “ - Gary Heartlock

“ You know how it is, right? You try and do the right thing but get caught up in all the bad of this world, wishing you had just stayed the fuck put.” - Dominiqua Claytor

“ Somedays I look back at the bridges I burned; memory of my eyes watering stinging my mind, the idea that I once smelled the smoke killing me from the inside. But I learn my lesson and move on. “ - Dominiqua Claytor

“ My brother and I are just two cold cases no one cares to look into; because who the hell cares about the death of identity? Who cares about the cigarette that never sparked up? “ - Adella Furrow

“ With my tattered boots and old leather jacket I walked into the unknown, and from whence I never returned. “ - Abel Romiro

“ Everyone stared me down, blaming me for the way fate unraveled, and I started to wonder if that town was home or just another house of too many damn walls. “ - Abel Romiro

“ That town was just too filled with devils for a single angel to do a damn thing.” - Abel Romiro

“ I've been both Cain and Abel truthfully; both Judas and the apostles who followed faithfully. But in the end I betrayed my own namesake, blood of a brother staining my once pure hands; and on that day I killed the hero inside of me. On that day the vultures flocked around my heart; pecking at what was soon to be dead. “ - Abel Romiro

“ That man locked me in a cage of the mind and told me to flay these pieces of identity from off my skin layer by layer. I bled for hours on the meat hook. A starving and skinny crow I became; yearning for a day where death didn't seem like a dream. And I found it in the hearts of my shield sisters. “ - Aadab Zivell

“ They say good fortune comes to he who raises a pistol in the name of peace; but often the man who slings bullets and sins ain't the man who finds the stairway to Heaven. “ - Aristead Solace

“ I've spent my life huntin' the cruel, finding them in different states and dead end alleyways. But still that one case sends shivers like death up my spine. Think of a lion; blood covered maw snarling inside of a cage it called the world, now take this lion and put him in a field full of gazelle. What will you get but a slaughter? That's what that man was to the world. Just a lion in a field of waiting gazelle. “ - Aristead Solace

“ Sometimes the heroes, they think their villains because ya gotta break a few commandments to stop the sinnin' man, and we call ourselves regretful devils. But we're just human, huh? And that's what made all the difference." - Aristead Solace

"Humanity. Kind one moment. Cruel the next. “ - Varkens Willowbrook

“ I have come to learn that there is an evil plaguing this world, it's wrapped in barbed wire and gunfire violence, the rage within sitting heavy in the open chest. And it goes by the wicked name of humanity. But simply because humanity is wicked does not mean that all of humanity is wicked. You'll find the kind ones somewhere waiting for you; but you are sure to find the wicked man often in a world that operates on kill or be killed. “ - Varkens Willowbrook

“ I believe that this world is kind despite the bad apples in the barrel; though those few bad apples started to rot the rest of the seeds within; the water roaring with the infection that came with the sin. Unfortunately just one bad apple effects the whole barrel. So one bad man effects the whole population. “ - Varkens Willowbrook

“ Somedays, the wolf; he wins. He trots around my ribcage victorious as can be, but that's when he gets cocky, when he begins to get careless. So the half-winged angels in me swoop down like a reaper's scythe and banishes the wolf to the locked door in my mind; where all the horrors go to starve. “ - Salvatore Graham

“ Ever since my father first laid a fist against my mother's cheek justice breathed through me as if I were a vessel in which it could see. And I told justice that I would dare not go blind. “ - Salvatore Graham

“ I pick up this blade; knowing one day I must turn it on thyself. “ - Salvatore Graham

“ Oh you know me; just a child of the old night sky, singing the blues as sorrow passes me by with a mournful sort of smile, knowing I'll come back around to her place in a day or two. “ - Franco Jonwitz

“ I'm just cigarette smoke chasing trouble.” - Franco Jonwitz

“ I take this old hat from off my head and read the poems that've been scribed in my ribcage, sadness following the words and prose I speak to the empty night sky. I've been a boy of sorrow ever since ma and pa became graves, moving along to an old orphanage with the scent of sadness wafting from off my papa's old, white suit jacket, hands and tears hiding somewhere in the fabric of that coat. I hold pieces of him inside of my heart, pieces of my mother hidden inside of my smile; and I guess there's sumthin' beautiful about that, huh? “ - Franco Jonwitz

“ I must confess, I've named a few of the stars after the ghosts that follow me, praying that they can fly up to the sky and find Heaven. But here they remain in my mind; reminding me that with sorrow comes trouble, and with Franco Jonwitz comes the inevitable idea that death kills before ya die." - Franco Jonwitz

“ War rains heavy over the weary soldiers who didn't make it past the gunfire; the ones who survived selling themselves to this ideology that their sins were for some greater good. But trouble etches its way into the bones of all whom pulled a trigger in the name of glory, sin or their own self gain. “ - Terminus Hydra

“ I lost everything, my friend, so a sin I became. “ - Terminus Hydra

“ Random acts of violence are often the ones that drive a man halfway to insanity, and the acts of violence he chooses to commit are the ones that drive him the full mile. “ - Terminus Hydra

“ I am a bad man. Dare not let my past tell you otherwise. If the people I knew where to speak of who I was they'd say he was a loving man who didn't let his tragedy define him; but speak to my enemies and they'll spit my name like venom on their breath. Two men tell two very different stories. My father would say I am a man of honor, but an old friend would call me the serpent to his corrupted and decaying garden of Eden." - Terminus Hydra

“ These scars on my legs tell the tale of a girl who lost herself too early; and it seems I can't hide my history from peering and bloodshot eyes. “ - Mayell Da Ville

“ My son tells me that one day, when I realize that who I am is beautiful despite the scars I'll find the wings had always been in my mind rather then on my back. But these scars, these horrific scars; they prevent the wings from growing ever again. “ - Mayell Da Ville

“ Here lies Mayell Da Ville; the ghost who found life too late. “ - Mayell Da Ville

“ There's a wolf on my shoulder; snarlin' at the frontlines and tellin' me ta stain my rifle in the blood of the innocent, and with a grin dancin' with moonlight I head inta the shadows and play myself a little game of huntsman and the lion. “ - Dekiah Doorvenstail

“ My father raised me ta be a killer. You should expect nothing but the bang of my rifle. “ - Dekiah Doorvenstail

“ Once you get blood on your hands it begins ta grow like a garden in your chest. But there's sumthin' different about this haunted little flowerbed. You begin ta realize that your ribcage was once Eden, but slowly, as the blood trickled down your fingers, Adam and Eve started fleein', the angel of flamin' blade nothing more then your heart that slowly faded ta black and grey. And as the serpent slithers onta your shoulder, you begin ta realize temptation lives in the hearts of all man kind. And only a special few accept their primal urges ta become nuthin' but a slaughterhouse on a cold Sunday afternoon. “ - Dekiah Doorvenstail

“ We were never wolves, my friend. But fragile people with hearts that can break and minds that can scar easy, but dare not turn to the shadows for comfort. They hold a dagger in one hand; and they hide it in the crevices of their darkness.” - Sabu Thorn

“ I think that if one is to find peace within themselves, they must first find peace within their scars. “ - Sabu Thorn

“ Eons ago I lost my mind.” - God

“ They say that dead men tell no tales; so who will whisper the tale of humanity once I'm done with it? “ - God

“ Everyone's always saying God's not dead. He's with us he's with us! But as I come down from my heavenly throne; the blood of humanity staining my shawl of lies and secrets; you'll pray that I am. But all your prayers have fallen on listening ears friend; and yet they never come to fruition, do they? “ - God

“ In the face of evil; silence is compliance.” - Gustave X. Van Velk

“ They don't tell you that the fall is so easy. They don't tell ya that we're all one crooked grin away from violence; so I take a steady step forward and throw a fist or two towards the evil that sits violent in this town of unwelcome shadows. “ - Gustave X. Van Velk

“ I've always tried to understand the enemy; walk a mile or two in their shoes, but Milos' boots are just too damn heavy and stuck in the muck of his powerful identity. “ - Gustave X. Van Velk

“ My sanity peels away in whispers and shadows.” - Cartniza Harvester

“ The word safe is such a fucking lie; no one ever is. “ - Cartniza Harvester

“ I don't know why this heart beats like a slowly rotting flower.” - Mackton Stoneshire

“ They say this Queen of madness is a revolver's shadow standing above peace; and she is. Because as she walks down these halls my bones shiver with shadows and things you could never dream of. Because she's a nightmare in the head of the weary; grinning deviously before she sins another deadly sin. And as my eyes shift to the checkered floors of this old mental ward; I know she can sense my fear. “ - Mackton Stoneshire

“ I'm still stuck under these shadows that fog my mind; heart roaring empty in the ribcage of a coffin. “ - Rupen Schello

“ I can still remember the night flames erupted inside my home; they now flash like colored lights in my memory, my parents' smiles becoming nothing but a shadow I can no longer follow. “ - Rupen Schello

“ A man with a memory can never be free of his torment.” - Rupen Schello

“ Every choice I ever made led to the death of who I am.” - Mervin Gavinwood

“ I never meant to fall; but I was born with the belief that I had wings, and so I leapt from blinding heights expecting to soar. “ - Mervin Gavinwood

“ The day I killed a man is the day I died. As his skull cracked against the bar stool; groaning and dying in the most grotesque way who I am started bleeding from the corners of my eyes as those two devils beside me laughed and laughed and laughed. “ - Mervin Gavinwood

“ He sits in the edges of my memory like a crow just waiting for his murder to come on along.” - Mervin Gavinwood

“ I've just been trying to cope with this loss of who I am for a long time; clinging to memories of him like a blanket that keeps me warm. But there's holes in this wool blanket; letting the cold settle into my bones. “ - Carol Corin

“ I weep for a life never lived; a death already fated. “ - Hexi Moorenfowl

“ Every detective has got her case, right? The one that drives her halfway to insanity because things just aren't adding up. I tried so hard to find those girls, I tried so hard to find that man's wife. But in the end it was a cold case that never went warm. “ - Maryland Fainrick

“ Mysteries often end in tragedy.” - Maryland Fainrick

“ I woke up in a foreign bed wondering why a stranger looked at me in the mirror; that was when I died an unfamiliar death. Falling from the heights of a Heaven I never deserved. “ - Kiddy Wendellburn

“ I choked on who I am a long time ago. And I don't think I can ever swallow my truths; because they taste so fucking vile. “ - Kiddy Wendellburn

“ "When you realize who you are, it's your job to become that person. “ - Adrella Soderit

“ We're all dreamers trying to find our happily ever after despite the nightmares that find us in the light; but don't you think it's the way we react to this darkness that defines who we are? “ - Adrella Soderit

“ So do me a favor and accept yourself won'tcha? Even when everyone around you condemns who you are. Even if you gotta keep that acceptance a secret in a little jar until one day, you can let those torch bugs fly into the open air." - Adrella Soderit 

“ I don't know what one would call him. But he feasts on the sacrilege of identity and flesh, sinking his teeth into innocence as if it were a divine, juicy, blood dripping steak. I'm just the remnants of the girl I used to be, and as I remember his parched tongue against my skin a shive runs cold down my spine and my fighting instincts kick in. As if my mind is a clock forever running backwards. Minutes and hours mixed into a relived past. “ - Marlia Ferotosia

“ I remember his smile. Filled with teeth and unkempt flesh. “ - Marlia Ferotosia

“ I listened to her sorrows. Her troubles. Her secrets and confessions. But she was torn from this world much too early. And that is a sin a man like me can never forgive. “ - Zack Mordell

“ The old soul is supposed to fade before the young one. But fate is a very cruel mistress; dancing with those who don't know the rules to the deadly tango. “ - Zack Mordell

“ I'm a fading symphony wondering when my last notes will play out into the wind, but I keep singing. “ - Zack Mordell

“ Healing will come after the scars stop bleeding, so a little word of advice, don't stab those dagger like thoughts into your skin. “ - Cordemlia Munstwain

“ Some people say they aren't themselves, and I get that; sometimes it's difficult to admit that we're changing. Difficult to admit growth feels uncomfortable in the hurting mind. But eventually you'll grow into this new you. You'll find that it's often like a scab. It only forms to protect ya from the infection a wound leaves. “ - Cordemlia Munstwain

“ Some people say love at first sight don'it exist. And, I don't fink' it were love at first sight. But love at first spoken word. Love developed inside da poetry we spoke underneath da dyin' lights of the street. He's a broken man, but I built 'im new pieces and told 'im ta shimmer and shine like a star in the night sky; and it feels as though when I put a lovin' finger on 'is cheek dat he's started ta feel more human. As if 'e's no longer a whiskey stained ghost. “ - Daubellia O’Snair

“ Fate twists in some awfully strange ways, huh? You could be a normal, everyday girl, fighting hardly noticeable battles and then in the blink of an eye tragedy rips through the air like a bullet in your fucking teeth. “ - Alexia Hathorn

“ Sometimes you gotta make a choice. Live or die. And sometimes you'll do both.” - Alexia Hathorn

“ We're the scar ridden angels of Heaven, soaring on wings stitched with different pieces; like a quilt of many colors. We're not heroes, just people who got caught in the crossfire of a world roaring with evil. “ - Alexia Hathorn

“ Often people in pain's mind is fogged up from the hurt, and so they don't really know what they're doing, ya know? “ - Hispania Hopva

“ Death I've learned, stalks the living. “ - Hannisada Gravewit

“ You can't really cure addiction. It walks beside he or she who used. Like a ghost that doesn't know when or how to move on. Is it really that much to ask for a halfway decent mind? One that doesn't taunt me with the idea of one more fucking high? But I suppose it was my choice to accept that little baggie at a party, right? It was my idea to get addicted, right? That's what they always tell ya. They call the junkies and ghosts monsters of society, but damn it man, we've been victims all along. “ - Hannisada Gravewit

“ I tried to hide my scars under thick coats and heavy blankets, but I bled and soaked through those. So now here I stand. Naked and awfully vulnerable to my demons and ghosts." - Hannisada Gravewit

“ His insanity ripped me from my backbone when I was only a child. I can still remember the violence shattered between his knuckles, the anger on his cigarette snarl. I still remember the screams. The God awful screams. I've been trying to dream for a long time man, but these nightmares always plague the boy who never lived. The boy who never had the chance, to live. “ - Jonathan Enders

“ I just, I don't know how to escape these nightmares, man. Because that man's cruelty echoes in my mind; his smoke whispered anger booming through my thoughts. I was just a kid, man. But he stole that option from me when he put a bloodied finger to my lip and whispered that he was never here. Or when that old, boney skeleton beside him clasped two hands around my shoulder and whispered in a low, harsh voice that they were the boogeymen. And I believe that. Because the boogeyman is what goes bump in the night, right? And if there's anything that could be considered monster, I'd give the definition to them.” - Jonathan Enders

“ I take a fragile breath, hoping it doesn't rip through my throat like a bullet. “ - Jonathan Enders

“ I fought myself for such a long time only to realize the reflection had always been a friend. “ - Baila Von Cascia

“ Ya know how fate works, right? Ya meet one or two people and your whole world unravels. Sure. They're good people. You learn that they've become family somewhere along the road. But the villains you met alongside them just isn't worth it. “ - Joshua Houstella

“ I have fallen down this rabbit hole of oneself, gripping the roots of madness.” - Ingretta Shazowlla

“ I am nothing short of a sin. Nothing short of a monster masquerading as a woman. “ - Ingretta Shazowlla

“ This heart of mine has whispered in sin and death ever since my mother told me all of her secrets, the closet looking like a welcoming home where Narnia and all the lions would protect me. But fantasy has never been as cruel, and unpredictable as reality. For reality hides until the right moment. Waiting. Forever waiting. And one day it snatches you so unaware and drags you through the nightmares. Oh you may kick. You may scream. But you'll most certainly succumb. “ - Ingretta Shazowlla

“ Forever my friend, can last only a second as the white rabbit once said. And forever, has lasted too long for my angel." - Ingretta Shazowlla 

“ I speak my truths in barely audible whispers, screaming my lies at glass shattered levels. “ - Molly Chain

“ My lonely little mind is slathered in grey and blue paint, memories glossed over with thick layers of dark color. I've tried to peal away that wallpaper. But there's endless layers in this house, and I just don't know how much strength I've got left. “ - Molly Chain

“ There's blisters on my strength, and I fear I'm about to slip. “ - Molly Chain

“ All my life I've been afraid. Of myself. Of my father. Of the shadows that hid like monsters in my closet. And as I come to the realization that I will never escape my mind, I know that this is who I am. And she's such a broken girl. A wisped shadow of something great. “ - Clarice Sanchez

“ I honestly believe God started typing me up, but he left to work on something greater and left me an unfinished piece of poetry, as if my prose bleed into the way fate unravels and twists. “ - Clarice Sanchez

“ My peace of mind bleeds from the holes in my heart. “ - Clarice Sanchez

“ From what I know cruelty is the last guillotine, and we're just whittlin' down the rope, wonderin' when it'll snap and fall down on humanities head. “ - Leone Kassophic

“ God's voice is echoed through violence.” - Leone Kassophic

“ If my sins were tangible, would I bleed upon contact? “ - Darkin Vagabond

“ Truthfully I am not me. Just a graveyard symphony ringing like the funeral bell, revolver held in one hand, regrets held feebly in the other.” - Darkin Vagabond

“ I look to the star painted sky and wonder what prayers he's been answering, which whispers screamed the loudest. “ - Zelene Clifforde

“ I am a lover at heart, wishing poetry and words spoken could heal the damage of war. And truthfully, that is the only way to stop a war. You speak to the enemy with a certain understanding. You try to discover who they are past the violence shattered between their bruised and bloodstained knuckles." - Zelene Clifforde

“ I am a gentle soul at heart, but alas, I sharpen my claws and go to war like a sinner who doesn't know when to quit, like an old, tattered wolf who wishes to quit all the bloodshed. “ - Yngvir Alvisson

“ Often I wonder if this heart should just quit feeling. Quit letting the blood stain it like a memory that shalt not be forgotten. But I pick up my heart, and I shove it fragile and broken back inside my ribcage. For to become a beast, my friend, is the loneliest achievement of all. “ - Yngvir Alvisson

“ Way I see it. Hate is a revolver. These men and women fill their chamber with all the good pieces of themselves, firing off for a cause that never mattered, something that shouldn't even exist. “ - Jaspello Crosshair

“ In every sense of the word I'm the hero I needed when I was a kid. “ - Jaspello Crosshair

“ Take life one step at a time, second by second, minute by minute. Eventually the storm will pass you by. Sometimes it feels as though you're not gonna make it, but that's the kind of thing tragedy whispers, it tells you lies in an attempt to weaken your resolve. “ - Chris Shaw

“ Debby and I treat life like a workout. We breathe in. We breathe out. We face it head on and don't let the idea of pain stop us. “ - Chris Shaw

“ I was just a farm girl lookin' for a happily ever after, but that wicked and damned man stole the light from me layer by layer. It's as if he carved pieces 'a me off 'a my skin, whisper by whisper, sin by unnatural sin. “ - Ellen Duster

“ There's so many pieces 'a me missin' nowadays. “ - Ellen Duster

“ Redemption is a sunset, and it jus' don' ever rise." - Ellen Duster

“ I tried to build a paper boat and drift away from my prison cell, but the storm started howling in my mind and I fell off the side, clutching the paper rafts and oars, wondering why this is how life drowned me. Some men drown in whiskey. Others drown in sorrow. But all I ever drowned in was the tragedy of being someone I'm not. “ - Isaac Abernathy

“ If a lie fits the powerful man's agenda, he'll do anything he can to make that lie a truth, or at least make it appear as such. “ - Jacob Abernathy

“ I can still remember how that man told me that we'd save the world together, that as the bombs started going off, we'd be the men history looked at and said, "Well done, heroes, you did it." But as I watched the world fall asunder, my heroes heart fading into a broken one, I knew that all the man did was lie to my good nature, and it was on that day, unaware, I bit into the sacrilege of false revolution. “ - Jacob Abernathy

“ I was just a girl without shadows in her mind until I stumbled into a rabbit hole of Godhood and the way blood spills on the arena floor. And as I fell, little pieces of me being carved off by the blade of a malicious God, I knew that I must have more of this undying pleasure. “ - Sonata Vickowinter

“ I'm just a broken bottle angel who forgot his wings on the downward descent.” - Ash Caesar

“ Often I say I'm better off dead, because this man I am is hardly worth a damn, let alone two cents and a nickel, so I glug down another bottle of whiskey and let my little sister down one more fucking time. “ - Ash Caesar

“ I always say I'll change, but everyone else is running a marathon, and here I am, standing stagnant at the starting line. I dare not cross that line in the sand. Because I'm scared of the regret, the shadows, the way my mother's words echo in the ones I scream. “ - Ash Caesar

“ Truth is, I can still remember the way my mother's open palm felt against my cheek, or how her wine glass felt shattered against my noggin. But those glass pieces of her addiction bleed into me. “ - Ash Caesar

“ All I see in the mirror is a man who fell so cruelly away from himself, and as my sister reached for my hand, I let it slip. And all she could do was watch as this regretful Icarus laughed in the flames." - Ash Caesar

“ I have found, that I am the single black rose in the garden, sitting idle like a warning of what will come if you step towards this black petaled beast, this decaying flower of cruelty. “ - Madam Stephanie Rose

“ I am a tired beast. “ - Madam Stephanie Rose

“ I was once in an empty room. Love knocked, oh how she knocked gently, so softly. As if it were a song that whispered into my ear. But hate drove her away. He knocked, he knocked, oh how rage filled his fist boomed against the door. With tears rolling down my cheeks I let him in. He stole the blankets from off the bed and wrapped them around my throat, choking me with the violence inside of my heart. And ever so cruelly, I became a black, withered, and deadly rose." - Madam Stephanie Rose

“ I sink ever familiar into this garden of decay, praying that someone will save me from the blood on my hands I speak of like darkened poetry. But death, was never a story. Only a harsh sin ridden reality I've given to so many others. How strange is it, that death is the end of reality, but also one in of itself? “ - Mike Duster

“ I'm a man of many sins. “ - Mike Duster

“ I slowly flay myself from my own skin, screaming, forever screaming. I carve another layer of me from off my skin. I subject myself to the meat hook and try so desperately to bleed all the darkness from the crevices of me, but alas, to bleed myself from the darkness would be to bleed all of me away. For all that runs through me is dark, twisted and unfamiliar. “ - Mike Duster

“ The truth, does not whisper, my friend. It screams.” - Ava Callenwillow

“ Secrets stick to me, and more often than not they take over my identity, pulling me into the depths of another shadow, another mystery with my name written all over it. I've been running from fate for a long time, finding ways to avoid this noose around my neck for years, but one day the stable ground beneath me will collapse. And I'll be nothing but history. “ - Ava Callenwillow

“ Wherever I go, death tends to follow like a loyal wolf whom sits at my bedside, howling to the blood red moon that is my wicked and decaying heart. “ - Tezilda Vaxweed