#which means i need to make hl cry.

[sunriozz]

in case if yall havent noticed i fuckin love the parent trap

[shyamanuensis]

The Secret Life of Us - HL Fic.

Angst, death, desires, playing with fire? You've stumbled across the right place. Hogwarts Legacy Character fic - set slightly AU with characters aged up. MDNI. Hope you enjoy xoxo

“Garreth Weasley – you’re a selfish fucking prick!”

The church is dead silent. No pun intended. The last handful of mourners leaving hours ago and yet for some indescribable reason, I can’t bring myself to say goodbye to my best friend. The pesky redhead is finally gone. Our pesky redhead. A cold reminder that life is short – that death is forever. Even though he played with fire, I had always thought Garreth would be the one to outlive us all. As to whether its heaven or hell that his soul has transcended to – I’m sure it’s there causing mischief.

How did we get here though? The funeral of a friend we beloved so dearly? Well – to tell you that, I need to go back a few weeks ago. Back to when life as I knew it or was at least able to comprehend it – was simpler. Funny how back then I knew the safe word to use so that I wasn’t unreasonably fucked over by the universe. Off memory – I think it was a Tuesday…

Tuesday 24th July -

It’s not the shards from the bourbon glass thrown at the kitchen wall that nick my skin but the broken neck of the bottle that follows it from a swift swing. Everett’s drunk – again. He claims time after time that he’s got his vices under control and yet almost every second evening, I come home to the smell of a distillery lingering throughout the apartment. There’s no use in crying in these scenarios. In a melancholy kind of way – I know them all too well. After a sixteen-hour shift on my feet at the hospital doing overtime however, I’m stretched thin and to my mental limits. He’s carrying on, how he usually does, like a banshee about commitment. A commitment to work, a commitment to craft, a commitment to a fulfilling life, a commitment to me him. Funny that – this shit only ever suits him. I’m exhausted and craving caffeine – black, double shot – but the cigarette I can smell coming from the balcony next-door is overpowering and alluring. While Everett continues to pace around the kitchen, fixated on God knows what – carrying on in a rage that would make a sailor blush I slip out of the small, white window in the adjacent dining room that leads to the apartments fire escape.

The late summers afternoon breeze hits me with a sudden wave of relief which for a moment of absolutely bliss while in peace, I let etch down every inch of my skin. Late July was always my favourite time of year. That unique balancing point between the conceding of a blossoming spring and the absence of intensity that autumn storms bring. July has a funny way of reminding me at times, that it takes grace to remain kind when you find yourself the solo protagonist of life’s cruel situations and storylines.

“…she said use your hands and my spare time – we’ve got one thing in common, it’s this tongue of mine.”

The softly sung words pull a small smile to the corners of my lips as from the corner of my eye, I notice Sebastian sitting on his balcony; crossing out and scribbling lines into a tiny notebook he’s got rested on his knee. His voice sounds like a cracking fireplace in the middle of winter and butterscotch candy. It did even when we were back in high school. He hasn’t changed a bit. Well… I mean he has; but that’s a story for another time.

“New song?”, I ask picking at the skin between my fingers. “Mhmm”, he mumbles with a lobsided grin around the cigarette between his lips. “You’re out here rather early. I wasn’t expecting to see you until at least after 5.”

Reaching over from the fire-escape and across the balcony railing, I take the cigarette he’s got loosely slipped between his lips and inhale a drag like my life depends on this one nicotine hit. The stressed chords he strums on the guitar perched in his lap don’t sound quite much like anything, but there’s an undeniable comfort that vibrates off the strings. Back in the day, he’d always practice his silly little love songs that he’d write on me. Our seventh and senior year was definitely interesting.

“Disappointed, are we?” I ask at my earlier than expected presence. “I can go and come back later if you’d like?” “No, no – you could never disappoint me.”

An unconscious, fleeting glance we share is broken by the sound of crockery smashing against the tiled kitchen floor back inside my apartment. The shattering sound makes my body tense and seize. I find myself clutching onto the cigarette in hand as a lifetime to get away from the perpetual hell I’m still living in. Sebastian’s eyes narrow as he glances towards the window I earlier crawled through – a melted chocolate gaze with the promise of both a tender embrace and yet unfathomable despair as he places his guitar down beside him. Notebook knocked down to land on top, he holds his hand out for me to take it. There’s a clear hesitation which brews through the air between us. Like the fine line between precautions and storms we’re use to fogging.

“You know I only come over on Thursdays Seb.” “So…”, he suggested with a shrug, “Let’s start making Tuesdays our thing instead.”

As if I’ve held myself at gunpoint for all the wrong reason, I take Sebastian’s hand and climb over the fire escape onto his balcony. I’m caught by his hands on either side of my waist to assist with keeping my balance, but they do more than just steady me. Without having to ask, he leads me inside the apartment so that I get an escape from what’s going on back next door and within seconds of being within each other’s company, we’ve relapsed into a game of bad habits.

Shoes kicked off in a fumble and shirts thrown to the floor with ease, our lips find each other’s mindlessly. His voice may sound like butterscotch, but he tastes like freshly brewed coffee - grounding. And there’s that mixed hint of menthol nicotine making each kiss refreshingly addictive. It doesn’t take long for the back of my thighs to hit the edge of the couch and we’re falling back into familiar territory. Soft groans pluck themselves from the back of my throat as I feel his weight begin to sink in over me. Assisting me to forget what life was like, just mere minutes ago.

“Am I still seeing you on Thursday?” “Shhhh…”

The light touch of a finger to my lips keeps me from saying anything further as kisses are peppered across the soft dip of my stomach. My body reacts to the familiarity of his touch by arching my back softly; just enough that my waist lifts so that the jeans I’m wearing can be peeled off from my hips. Making themselves comfortable within his brown messy locks, it feels so fucking good to have his hair wrapped around my fingers. Sebastian’s breath searing warm across my skin. An sudden knock at the front door grinds our twenty seconds of bliss to a frustrating halt. I can’t help but think to myself yet say out aloud;

“….this is why we don’t do Tuesdays.”

Pushing Sebastian off me, I roll off the couch in a hurry and keep low to the floor as I grab his shirt off the ground and pull it on with a haste knowing that it’s length will cover everything. The materials soft. Black. Boyfriend material. I brush my hair coyly over one shoulder and comb my fingers through the ends as his sister appears in front of us, having just dropped shopping bags down in the kitchen. Anne’s eyes shift between the both of us – a sort of knowingly sly smirk painting across her lips.

“Have I interrupted something?”

I can feel my heart drumming heavily inside my chest. I’m sure if anyone looked hard enough, they’d see the palpitations through the shirt I’d just slipped into. Chewing roughly at the inside of my cheek, I elbow Sebastian, making it appear to be an accident so that he can interject or add to the current one-sided conversation Anne is having with herself.

“No.”

His answer comes out nonchalantly. Almost a little too casual for my liking.

“I um, just dropped by for some sugar”, I add. Depending on how you interpret what I’ve just said; innuendo or fact – it’s not a lie far from the truth. I consider for a split second to grab my shoes and jeans however quickly realise that the act would snitch us both in, so I leave them where they messily lay on the floor and force a mental sticky note to the side of my head to come back by and grab them later today.

“Thanks for the um sugar, Sebastian.”

Our time together ends as a modest grin is shared between us. As if it’s the only and usual way to leave someone’s apartment; I step back out on the balcony and climb over the railing back onto my apartments fire escape. From what I can see through the window, Everett has passed out on the dining room floor giving me an opportunity to clamber back in without concern. Sebastian’s aftershave that lingers on his shirt is a harsh reminder that I can’t continue on like this and that I have a few choices. One of them – packing my bags to leave. Leaving though means starting again. I’m really not fond of the idea. Maybe self-improvement isn’t the answer I’m seeking though. Perhaps self-destruction is.

Wetting my lips with my tongue and dropping my head back to stare at the ceiling and regain my thoughts; there’s the quiet vibration of my phone ringing on the coffee table that provides me another excuse to temporarily leave my reality. Picking it up to check the caller id, my fingers falter from answer for a few seconds. The ringtone momentarily drilling through me. Through my current insanity.

“Ominis…”, I answer the call, “…what a nice surprise. You never ring.”

Special thank yous to @eva-fitzgerald for putting up with my questions, @writingsoftarnishedsilver for the fic request and @berrysemifreddo for the pictures that assisted in inspiring all this xo

[pestorik]

can you please expand on deuce/riddle ??? im rlly curious abt them tgt in your AU,,,,

(if you have the time i would also love to read abt azurid & mallerid :D ! no pressure though! im mostly interested in deurid ^^)

the riddle ship trifecta...

i enjoy them bc i think riddle really needs a calm presence in his life that makes him feel like he can act in ways he never had the freedom to do before, without feeling judged or made fun of. whether that is acting childish and silly or just expressing emotion freely. he's obviously really sensitive to being teased so he needs someone who is ok with that and just finds joy in his joy.

i relate to this a lot bc i myself am a very sensitive person, and get emotional really easy but im also very cynical and dry, so i think ppl see that contrast and find it funny. which is fine, but i get hurt or annoyed really easily by teasing bc i think what i really want is for someone to see how easily i get emotional (like crying at almost every movie i watch) and rather than seeing it as smth weird and funny, they recognize my empathy as something good. i want someone to see the value and worth in my emotions, no matter how trivial they seem.

and i think riddle needs that too. deuce isnt super smart but i think he's really earnest and riddle would appreciate that about him. he shows a lot of self awareness in recognizing how his past actions hurt his mom, and realizing he needs to be proactive if he wants to be a better person. very few ppl are willing to admit when they are the problem. he's just a very soft guy, but like, passionately soft. he wants so bad to be good. and i think he would want so badly for riddle to be happy, it would become really important to him just like his mom's happiness.

malleus is super honest about his intentions, which i think riddle needs bc his lack of social skills leave him anxious. he probably would get too frustrated having to play games and guess feelings. malleus just has a super calming presence and riddle needs that so bad. i think they are both pretty awkward bc of their upbringing so maybe they could find comfort in each other, knowing there's no judgement.

azul is none of these things lol 😂 i do NOT think these 2 would be a perfect healthy couple but i enjoy their dynamic. riddle is sensitive ofc but hes also super smart which is why i like the thought of them together. the two top students, not really in a competitive way, more like they recognize each other's weaknesses but also highly respect each other. to the point that they wouldnt ever make a move against the other. i could see them having a more loving relationship but in my mind they are more like a power couple lmao. like two powerhouses joining forces. i do think seeing riddle trying to overcome his own trauma and be a nicer person could inspire azul to do smth similar, realizing that if he likes and respects riddle, there must be some value in kindness without reward.

none of these would be canon in the AT au unfortunately, at least not in my mind (you can do whatever you like with it tho, it also doesnt mean i wont still talk/draw about it). there would definitely still be interactions among them with plenty of room for interpretation. obviously the most between deuce and riddle bc they are both HL.

i could see an episode where riddle recruits deuce to help him repair one of the elephant guardians (since deuce is good at repairing stuff) and they become closer. bc deuce used to get up to a lot of trouble he also has a lot knowledge of some of the rougher parts of the kingdom (im referring to deuces former crew as the spoiled fruit gang) and probably accompanies riddle when he needs to go there. riddle might sometimes go to deuce for advice on his relationship w his mother, since deuce is close w his mom. it would be cute if deuces mom came to really adore riddle and gave him a lot of the experiences he didnt get w his own mother.

[stargirlie25]

I DON'T CARE which book is next in acotar!

Elucien or gwynriel whatever!

If you CARE then sit down and wait stop crying like a baby that one of the couples will come before.

I THINK it's elucien but if it's gwynriel I'm not going to throw a tantrum and vice versa (duh bc I want elucien too)

With that being said Eluciens book has to be next.

I mean I heard someone say that Gwynriels will be next bc elucien needs more development but I feel like I want to see that development in their book.

All the CURRENT acotar plots leads to Elucien.

1.Beron/Autumn court

2.Eris/HL role

3.Helion/day court/spell cleaver/father!

4.Vassa/human lands

5.koschei/queens

6.Tamlin/ally/Spring court

7.Lucien HL role

8.Elain (seer)

And I think their is also a lot of plots for Gwynriel but all of those above are current conflict in the series which has been talked about for quite some time. Sarah will tackle these first with Elucien.

Im sorry we can't just pause to these plots. They need to happen.

Plots to Gwynriel?....

1.Ramiel

2.Gwydion and narben

3.Autumn court heritage/river nymph ancestry

4.''other worlds''

5.Valkyries

6.illyrian conflict

7.Merril......

lmk if I'm forgetting smth

Anyways I don't care which comes first but Elucien makes way more sense!

Im actually hoping it is a tandem read like EOS and TOD. It makes sense low-key. That Gwynriels book takes place in the Night court and Eluciens book in the spring court.

I say spring court because I think it will be highly relevant. Because Lucien has to be ''permanently stationed at the spring court'' is pretty telling.

[endeavour12345]

Why I love Eleazar Fig

I know I don't talk much about Hogwarts Legacy, even exactly 7 months after finishing its main story. The story itself could have been more developed, but one character got a really strong grip on me.

I was attached to Eleazar Fig since the first few seconds of the opening sequence. He was kind and supportive of the MC; a father figure to them, if you want to see him that way.

I do see him that way, and the fact that I got the game when I needed someone to trust helped. Don't be weird, I can see you think, he's not even real, he's just a video game character. Yet, I don't think the devs could have given us a better father figure/mentor character if they had actually tried.

His story arc also makes sense if we go that way: Miriam and him never had children (more on that later), so I can see him embracing the MC as his own child, and I write him as such, even adopting them.

(A note, and why I said "more on that later" about the fact that he and Miriam were childless: in the HPverse, as most of you know, the meaning of names is important. Eleazar is a Hebrew, Biblical name which means "my God has helped". On the other hand, the meaning of Miriam (and its relation to the character) is more interesting. Miriam is also a Hebrew name mentioned in the Bible, meaning "wishing for child". However, we know that Miriam (mentioned in HL) never had children, which leaves us with a theory: did Eleazar find a child figure in the MC because Miriam and him had never had their own children? At the time we meet him, he was grieving Miriam's death, so having someone there, if only to keep him company, helped him process it.)

(Cut for spoilers)

I was so sad when he died, it was for nothing, and barely acknowledged (in the game). I will admit, I cried at that scene, and still cry sometimes while listening to "Miriam's Memory".

To conclude, you can go and read my fics, if you're interested to see how I write him. My AO3 is endeavour12345, my Tumblr blog for fics is @endeavour12345fics, and my Wattpad is PhilipBrown2000.

[josefavomjaaga]

Thanks for answering. Just doing some quick looking into it myself beyond what you mentioned in your answer. In the French Wikipedia article it mentions that Napoleon Bonaparte learned of her existence in 1802 when he overheard a conversion about her and then brought her to Paris and there was some jealously from the Empress and her daughter since the Emperor became very fond of her (although jealousy among the Emperor's relations both blood and in-laws seems pretty par for the course).

Also Eugène de Beauharnais's eldest daughter marries Crown Prince of Sweden (only son of former French Marshal Bernadotte and Napoleon Bonaparte's dejected fiancée Désirée Clary) while her own eldest daughter marries deposed Swedish Crown Prince in exile in Vienna.

Also Queen Sophie of the Netherlands mentioning her death in her correspondence google<dot>com/books/edition/A_Stranger_in_The_Hague/rp29cF15SpAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Duchess%20Hamilton%20inauthor%3AQueen%20Sophie%20(consort%20of%20William%20III%2C%20King%20of%20the%20Netherlands)&pg=PA206&printsec=frontcover

First of all: thank you so much! I feel like poor Stéphanie really is overlooked, because she did not stay at Napoleon's court for long. Basically, she gets noticed by the First Consul (or possibly rather by Josephine), sent to Madame Campan's bording school (because where else) and only truly shows up at court in 1805/6, in order to be married off to poor Karl von Baden, who had just lost his former fiancée Auguste von Bayern to a certain Eugène de Beauharnais (Stéphanie's cousin).

Which is a story in itself, of course.

I am not sure the cousins were particularly close. In a letter to Eugène Josephine refers to Stéphanie as "la petite Beauharnais", the little Beauharnais, which seems a bit odd given the close family relations. But it also could just be a nickname and need not mean much.

The marriage to Karl von Baden - as the story goes - started out exceptionally bad. By most accounts, Karl was not a friendly character in the first place, and he was still hurt about having been denied a good marriage (to a princess from an old regime princely family) and now being ... strongly invited to conduct a - in his eyes - bad one with some lower nobility girl who had merely been adopted by the French emperor. (According to Bavarian crown prince Ludwig, Karl shortly before his marriage accused Ludwig of not having done enough to strengthen his sister's resolve and to avoid Auguste's marriage to Eugène de Beauharnais.)

Stéphanie, as to her, was not yet 17 years old and obviously not enchanted to get married to this strange German. When Karl showed up in Paris for the wedding, he still wore his hair braided in the Prussian fashion, much to the horror of his Parisian teen bride, who declared this hairstyle, and with it the bridegroom as a whole, inacceptable. When Karl went to see a barber and returned fashionably coiffed à la Titus - Stéphanie started crying and declared he was even uglier now.

As I said, not a good start. And it did not get much better because - as the story goes - during her wedding night Stéphanie locked herself up in the bedroom with some friends from bording school, while Karl was left outside, passing the night on a chair in front of the bedroom door... allegedly.

While much of this may be exaggeration and court gossip, there's little doubt that the marriage was not a happy one. During the Prussian campaign in 1806 Napoleon even felt the need to write to the marshal in whose corps Karl von Baden was to serve, in order to make sure that Karl would not get mocked openly by the soldiers. And I remember one letter to Berthier in which Napoleon wrote something to the effect of "Okay, if he absolutely wants to come, let him join the army. But I really wish he'd go home and make a baby with his wife!"

Poor Stéphanie must have felt quite alone in that rather strange Baden family she had married into. The person actually calling the shots in Karlsruhe was Amalie von Baden, Karl's mother (and also the mother of Queen Friederike of Sweden, Queen Karoline of Bavaria and the Tsarina Elisabeth of Russia). Karl's grandfather, Grand Duke Karl sen., was old and increasingly senile, but he had a young second wife in what was called a "left-hand marriage", and this lady was in a permanent feud with Amalie. Lastly, the old grand duke also had another son, a known intriguer and womanizer.

Happy family times. Especially as all these illustrious personalities immediately united in their dislike of that second class French princess they had been forced to accept into their family.

And it seems Stéphanie, after trying to adapt to her new circumstances, rebelled quite a bit. Enough to earn her some stern rebukes from her imperial adoptive father.

It took until 1809 for the situation to truly change, until Josephine had to leave court and the Beauharnais and their foreign relations thus lost their closest link to the French court. Napoleon's marriage to an Austrian may have been felt as a threat by all of the smaller Rhinebund states, who had received French support mostly in order to serve as a buffer against Austria, and who now suddenly found themselves sandwiched between two - always hungry - super powers. Their princely families immediately closed ranks, and this included Stéphanie.

Or maybe Karl had really started to grow fond of his wife. Their first daughter was born in 1811. And after Napoleon's fall, Karl refused to try and get a divorce. (It did not keep him from heaving wild orgies during his stay at the Vienna Congress though.)

Stéphanie did end her life in Baden, where she was very well-liked by the population.

[nikethestatue]

I just saw this theory of lucien knows what elain needs because he told feyre to take to the sea the garden for an hour or two and since the archeron first house was manor by the sea well that means lucien know what home means to elain 😂😂😂😂���😂😂like wtf

First how do we know that was home to elain when the only place she called home was the cabin and velaris , and then this creator go to said that az doesn’t understand her because when feyre ask him what does mean when elain talked about the queen and he banished away without a word. Of course she forgot to put that lucien never understood any of her vision and the only who knows what was wrong with her was azriel not her mate.

Honestly I don’t hate lucien and if elain wanted him i would have die being an elucien but she doesn’t they have 0 chemistry he has respect her yes but when has he understood her? Or how is he her counterpart? Or do we have any foreshadowing of their relationship like a look between them ? A fox of fire looking at his lovely fawn?

Oh right we don’t have none of that. Honestly it doesn’t make me mad I just laugh at stupidity and lack of connection in that post.

Here is the thing with Elucien that I never, ever understood.

It all boils down to one simple word 'WHY?"

We've had Elucien hanging around for over THREE BOOKS now. THREE. They began back in ACOMAF! It's been so long ago. And we've not moved an iota in their relationship. We've regressed.

So the question is--WHY? Why would SJM do all of this?- If she wanted Elucien to happen, what is the point of building them down, not up? The only real thing she could do with them is friends-to-lovers, because we've had so many relationships in her books which were based on animosity. So we know she'd need to break the mould with the next couple--Elucien would've been perfect for that. Slowly building a relationship, a friendship in the background, making them work together, Elain being reluctant and struggling with her Faeness, and Lucien helping her out, teaching her about fae ways, patiently working with her and making her fall in love with him.

Instead, we have Azriel taking on this role. And Lucien's been shipped off to the Human Lands to live with another woman.

No matter what any Elucien tell me, there is no narrative point at all in having both of them not care about each other. No narrative need to build up this fake dislike. None. The whole point of their romance would've been--how do you grow to love each other when life threw you together. How do you overcome your prejudices and find common ground? How do you lean and build something together?

Instead, you have Lucien shucking up in HL in some throuple situation and Elain is making out with Azriel while Lucien is in the house. What is the logic behind this? That suddenly they'll 'wake up' and run through a dewy meadow arms outstretched crying 'I love youuuuu!!!'

None of it would ring true now, because we know that it would be the bond pushing them together, and not affection and love.

Unless someone can explain the logic, Elucien is dead in the water and no 'theories' work for them.

[deliciouskeys]

Guess I should stop being surprised that Homelander fandom would contain people with massive superiority complexes. Maybe me complaining about this is ironic. But I’d like to humbly point out that I’m not the one saying I’m the only one in fandom who understands X. And I’m also not saying you need to agree with my tastes (or morality) when it comes to things I’d like to see put on screen. I’d rather be condemned for being disgusting than for being ignorant or inconsistent dammit!

unless the satire has gone over your head,

You mean… you’re concerned I didn’t notice that the video is saying Ryan is unaware that his drawing is super disturbing and that he is inadvertently showing Vought’s hand about HL’s true nature? Which part is going over my head? That HL doesn’t make an adequate or safe parent? I don’t think you need a fifth grade education to notice that. I suppose what I’m saying is, I would expect this tone in a “sitcom style diabolical episode”. Am I being that opaque that this is hard to understand? Yes, I want it to be funny. Hence it is for Diabolical, not even a stupid “dream sequence” inserted into actual canon, which you seem to be advocating. It is a crack scenario, jfc, lord help me, why don’t people understand what I’m saying, am I not speaking English, why do people at work understand me and people on tumblr don’t, fuck me, I should start writing meandering walls of text without punctuation then maybe it will be crystal clear since that seems to be the preferred writing style around these parts.

i could definitely see something like this ending up as a parody sitcom style cartoon done in a dark way on diabolical. and while i might find it hilarious, i'm gonna be upfront and say most of fandom who say they want it would HATE it.

Wow I had no idea I was getting the chance to converse with the one person in fandom who could find hilarity in the darkness among people who watch The Boys. Are you like, a celebrity, @sharonisthebettercarter ? Everyone else is just a pretender who thinks they understand but they don’t, and yeah we would cry so badly if this episode ever came out, omg Kripke is making fun of us, omg I’m so sad that I got what I asked for, I regret all my life choices, I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS ASKING FOR HELP ME @sharonisthebettercarter I KNEW NOT WHAT I REQUESTED *RIVERS OF TEARS* (but actually Kripke, yes, please do make fun of us, please “punish us”)

But you do have me nailed on one thing, @sharonisthebettercarter , and that is there is probably a defined limit for the amount of art ugliness beyond which I will start losing interest. Guilty and just as shallow as charged! 😁💋

On a less trollish note, check out this post by @kosmochlor for a good discussion about all that’s fucked up about Ryan’s messed up circumstances . Because that reflects my actual feelings on how bad of a situation the show has set up in a realistic sense.

Co-parenting Butchlander is a bad idea for canon even if done in the tamest way possible and I feel like this needs to be said because this shit is getting out of hand to disturbing levels.

Homelander is the rapist.

He doesn't have custody of Ryan. He doesn't and shouldn't have rights to him. After getting Becca (Ryan's actual parent) killed, and against her wishes, he has stolen or in other words kidnapped Ryan.

Ryan is not his to take and shouldn't be viewed as such. Just think rationally for a split second on this.

Do you think a rapist should have rights to custody of a child they force on someone just because that person chose to keep it or god forbid, couldn't manage to get an abortion? Do you think it would be okay for that rapist to then kill the mother or get her killed and steal the child simply because he wants to be a dad?

That's not cute. It doesn't matter what the rapist's backstory is, that's horrifying and wrong and so gross on so many levels.

And look, it's fine if you want to romanticize this idea for fics but that is the one and only place it should be framed this irresponsibly. Because it is a bad idea with horrible implications that shouldn't be rose tinted into something adorable just because there are a few moments Homelander isn't pushing Ryan off a roof.

And you cannot complain about canon treating Becca badly when you advocate for this in canon.

This would be so much worse by make her nothing more than an incubator for the kid of the guy who raped her and then steals her husband. And that is disgusting.

Can we not forget that Ryan and Becca are both victims here, for once?

Romanticize it all you want in fics. It does not belong in canon.

Context link: My dumb crack idea for a Diabolical episode that Anon is referring to

“Co-parenting Butchlander is a bad idea for canon”

Maybe it doesn’t really matter for this discussion, but : I wouldn’t consider Diabolical “canon”. They had an episode about a woman talking to her poop, with a Deep cameo because it involved a sewer. It’s not canon.

“He doesn’t have custody of Ryan”

Well… okay, this is interesting, Ryan is in his custody as of end of season 3, whether HL has legal custody or not. In fact, NYS law is particularly lax and kind of messed up in the sense that you need a rape conviction to be deprived of your parental rights to a child that is genetically yours (and wasn’t made via a sperm bank). So not that it changes things ethically, but legally speaking HL may have legal claim here until someone convicts him of rape or CPS finds his parenting criminally negligent/inappropriate.

“Do you think it would be okay for that rapist to then kill the mother or get her killed and steal the child simply because he wants to be a dad?”

Do I think it’s “okay” ethically, morally, legally? Hmmmmmm, idk, what do you think I think, Anon? I’ll clear it up and say: no, I don’t . But am I watching and enjoying a show that already portrays this fucked up scenario? Yes, I am.

“You cannot complain about canon treating Becca badly when you advocate for this in canon”

Were you up in arms about this Amazon video?

Because it’s along the same ‘teehee this is so fucked up’ humor lines that you are clearly revolted by. If you were, then okay, at least you are consistent. And I’m going to chalk it up to different tolerance/interest levels about fucked up scenarios.

Come off anon if you still think I’m being glib and “romanticizing” dead incubators. I promise I’m not that scary to talk to off-anon. I even promise to hear you out if I’ve misunderstood the problem you have with my hypothetical dumb spin-off plot that wouldn’t be part of canon. You’re allowed to disagree.

[falsegoodnight]

these are the fics I read or reread and enjoyed this month! like last time, i’m separating it into different sections: main list, podfics, wips, and non-1d. rereads will be included in the main list and marked with *.

*note: this list encompasses the fics i’ve read from the 1st to the 25th and any fics read after will be included in next month’s fic rec list because otherwise this is going to be obnoxiously long. 

—

main list ~

✰ black cherries and chocolate by @harryanthus​ | NR | 666 (intense and jarring in the best way. this leaves you with that heart-racing feeling and panic crawling up your throat)

There is something or well, someone in the walls.

✰ keep secrets just to keep you by @hadestyles​ | T | 1k (loved this so much!! and need 1000000 more royalty abos from rori immediately)

“With the elements as my witness, I take you to be my husband. My heartbeat begins with you and ends with you, Louis Tomlinson.” Louis sinks to his knees as well, salty tears mixing with the pure rainwater. “And I take you as mine. My heart beats for you and with you.”

✰ bitter coffee and sweet love by @dontfuckwithmyotp​ | G | 1k (so cute and sweet!! proud of you ari for getting your first fic out and excited to see what you do next!)

“Hello! Welcome to The Busy Bean! Are you new?” Louis blinked in surprise at the voice and looked around to find the source. “Behind you,” The person tapped his shoulder once and he whirled around at the unexpected touch.

“Hey! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to interrupt a person—” His rant stopped when he finally faced them. It was a guy—Harry Styles, according to his small black name tag. His eyes widened in embarrassment.

✰ turn your mic off, baby by @vogueharrystan​ | E | 2k (i love when lilli writes harry’s pov. this was so hot!)

Louis walks around the house naked all day and ignores Harry to play video games instead. Harry gets tired of it.

✰ This Could Be Love by mulletharry | G | 2k (such a cute and perfect little valentine’s day fic! put the biggest smile on my face <3)

Harry and Louis have been together for four months. They spend their first Valentine’s Day together.

✰ you appear as my soul by @hadestyles​​ | T | 2k (so gorgeous and raw)

He aches — not as much as Louis, he could never imagine all that he bears quietly — and as cruel as it sounds, it keeps reminding him of how fragile they are.

✰ the energy from your body by sweetielouis | E | 3k (hilarious, hot, and cute!)

Harry and his friends have a popular podcast, for the Valentines Day special they get a bit drunk and talk a bit too comfortably about their friends arses.

It's a good thing Louis doesn't mind it all that much. 

✰ look how i remember by @harryanthus​ | M | 4k (this left me speechless and aching)

He hates it, he wants to scream and tell Harry as much. Kiss me like you mean it. Kiss me as if we are in love. Kiss me like you will never do it again. Kiss me with so much hatred that it turns back to love.

✰ Things Unsaid by @londonfoginacup​ | G | 5k (so so cute and funny!!)

"That chunky oversized sweater is like a clown outfit made for winter."

It feels like time slows down.

Those words echo in his mind, familiar. Why are they familiar? The— the sweater he saw last week. The one with all the knit squares.

The train slows to a stop and Louis just— he doesn’t move. He feels frozen in place as people surge around him. Suddenly everyone is moving too fast and then just as suddenly the car is near empty, taking off again.

The man is gone.

His soulmate is gone.

✰ reckless serenade by @thepolourryexpress​ | E | 4k (adorable and funny and amazing!)

Harry's Google search history may or may not look like 'my girlfriend doesn't know we're dating.'

✰ dancing in the moonlight by @outropeace​ | E | 5k (need 100k more of this immediately, thanks. so wonderful)

Louis’ fuck buddy gets a date for Valentine’s day and he discovers that denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.

✰ The truth is, the stars are falling by larrysbeanies | E | 5k (hot!!! walking-in trope that i love so much)

Harry knows Louis is gay. Hell, he came out to Harry exactly two months ago (when the dreadful dry spell started) because it was becoming increasingly hard to hide the fact that his one night stands were men. And, you know, they’re best friends so there aren’t supposed to be secrets and all that.

Thing is, Louis told Harry he’s gay ergo, Harry is aware that Louis likes men. Why the fuck did he act so normal while fingering him three days ago, then? Is this something straight guys do to their gay best friends in Harry’s world?

Louis would really like to know.

✰ to be used and to be in love by @thelesserneptune​ | E | 5k (blessed that this is a series. really hot and cute!)

Louis doesn't know why his filthy best friend turned into a vanilla boyfriend and thinks of the perfect birthday present to solve that problem.

✰ on the borderline by @princelouisau​ | E | 8k (the way danielle writes... poetry. this broke me down and then stitched me back up <3)

Louis makes his choice.

✰ One Step Closer by agrinwithouthiscat | G | 12k (reading asexual hl fics is instant comfort and this was lovely)

The one fake relationship AU where they don't end up together.

✰ i glow pink in the night by @raspberryoatss​ | E | 12k (hybrid louis perfection, beautiful writing, characters, and story as always!)

Harry reads a lot of articles about hybrids and Louis is determined to prove them wrong.

✰ The Thinker of Tender Thoughts by @speakingwithink | G | 13k (asexual hl again! this one made me cry) 

Louis sits on his hands to stop them from shaking as he adds, ‘and I’m ace.’ If only he had glitter, he thinks. Coming out deserves a bit of sparkle.

✰ Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice by @harriblou​ | M | 13k (enemies with benefits to lovers goodness! so hot and entertaining)

“You’re a fucking brat, you know that,” Harry muttered through clenched teeth, bones already burning with the pure desire and hatred mixing in his body. It was an intoxicating rush of adrenaline and something else that probably came with fucking Louis Tomlinson. He squeezed his neck just a little tighter. “I can’t stand it.”

Their lips were brushing against each other, just moving with the ragged movements of their mouths and harsh breathing.

“You’re a lying piece of shit dickhead,” Louis muttered right back. That was all he did, challenge and nag. He loved to have the last word and Harry let him because he used all his energy to fuck him mindless.

✰ hold onto your stars by vashtaneradas | NR | 16k (this writer’s atmosphere/prose draws me in every time. such a lovely story)

Harry's in the army, Louis' back home, and ninety days is a lifetime.

✰ The Future is Now by @jacaranda-bloom​ | E | 16k (love fics in this five times format and this one was so unique and cool!! and the friends to lovers aspect = chef’s kiss)

Five times Louis follows the fortunes to seek out his true love, and the one time he realises that what he's been searching for might've been right in front of him the whole time.

✰ Visceral Heat & Carnal Highs by @theisolatedlily​ | E | 18k (the prose in this... gorgeous. so fucking good and addicting. delighted that there’s going to be a sequel and excited for whatever lily does next!)

Louis is a demon at a house party prowling for a meal, indulging in horrendous sins to satisfy his hunger. Harry is the talk of the night, beckoning all eyes on him and the reason why Louis’s plan goes awry.

✰ deFENCEless by @solvetheminourdreams​ | T | 27k (this was so cute and so funny and i had the biggest smile on my face the entire time. not surprised since stef always evokes that in me with her writing)

When Louis butts heads with his new neighbor who loves to garden a little too much, all he can do to protect his yard (and heart), is keep on building up his fence(s).

✰ darling, you give love a bad name by snowcaplou | M | 29k (been waiting for this one since summer and i wasn’t disappointed! so wonderful and real!)

Louis’ has been best friends with Gemma all his life in this stupid little town he’s grown to hate. What happens when, after one night together with his best friend’s brother, he falls pregnant? Surrounded by small minds and conservative cultures, Louis has to deal with parents that demand they do the “right” thing. Get married before anybody finds out.

✰ The Haunting of Louis Tomlinson* by @helloamhere​ | T | 31k (will never not be an all-time favorite. louis’ character is my absolute favorite - gothic heroine indeed - and harry is the best dramatic gay ghost ever <3)

Louis is a plucky Gothic Heroine, Harry is a Mournful Spirit, and Big Country Houses are full of mystery and suspense, as Big Country Houses ever are!

✰ begged and borrowed time by @bottomlwt​ | M | 40k (this concept was so unique and so cool!! loved the medieval setting and the time travel and how everything fit together in the end!!)

“It wasn’t until 1568 that it became time for Prince Harry to find a queen and prepare to rule. However, the day he was set to choose his bride-to-be, he mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again despite the multiple search parties that went on through the years. To this day, historians still do not know what happened with the infamous Prince Styles case..."

✰ Lidocaine and Palm Trees.* by @daddyharrie​ | E | 45k (definition of ris comfort read - on nth reread and still love it wholly. makes me miss la which is an astonishing feat in itself) 

Heat, fake tans and lots of traffic.

Harry never expected to earn his living this way when he moved to LA.

Louis didn't think he could ever be the same after his divorce.

A lighthearted story about two guys trying to find themselves in the vibrant, sprawling city of Los Angeles, with a side of technical porn industry stuff.

✰ haunted by the ghost of you* by @missandrogyny​ | E | 49k (perhaps my favorite fic of all time? the humor, the characters, the angst?!?! all the britney spears!! and pink ouija boards and wikihow!!)

He’s tall—that’s the first thing that registers in Louis’ head when he spots him, standing with his hands behind his back. Tall, with curly hair, staring at them with the widest, greenest eyes Louis has ever seen. And wait, are those dimples? Louis didn’t know ghosts could have dimples.

Because he’s definitely a ghost, this boy. At first glance he looks normal, standing there pigeon-toed in a band shirt (The Ramones, Louis can’t help but note incredulously), dark jeans, and some boots, with rings on both hands, and tattoos littering his left arm—a sleeve made of anchors and names and roses and other completely unrelated things. But he’s also a little bit translucent; if Louis focuses, he can see the outline of the furniture, the design of the wallpaper through him.

“Hi,” the boy—the ghost—says to Louis. His face shifts; somehow his dimples dig deeper into his cheeks. His eyes flit from Louis, to Niall, to Liam, and finally to Zayn, and his face goes from shocked to elated. “I’m Harry.”

At in that exact moment, standing between three of his best friends and staring at a (quite handsome) ghost, Louis can only think one thing.

Nick Grimshaw was right.

✰ like real people do by @eeveelou​ | E | 64k (this was... so amazing. the characters were so wonderfully written and so was the journey of healing and growth that louis undertakes over the story :’) loved the contrast between l and h’s lives and how they fit into each other still so perfectly)

Jessica Jones AU in which the dead stay where they belong, featuring Zayn as the high-powered lawyer with a hopeless crush on his assistant Liam, Niall as the constantly stoned but strangely insightful neighbor, Harry as Manhattan’s media darling, and Louis as the never-was hero who’s just trying to pick up the pieces.

✰ Black With Autumn Rain by whimsicule | T | 93k (i actually can’t remember if i’ve read this before??? either way - it was wonderful! loved the setting and atmosphere and the supernatural elements! i was so intrigued from the first sentence onwards)

Harry is a journalist, Louis has lots of secrets and the moors aren’t exactly the ideal place to rekindle a lost romance.

podfics ~

✰ tall stories on the page by @soldouthaz​ & read by @softlouislove​ | T (hannah’s voice is so lovely and perfect for reading aloud - and ofc the fic itself is amazing)

Harry's tired of being interviewed by people that only care about the same pointless gossip. Louis is a nice change of pace. 

wips ~

✰ Truth Behind Golden Eyes by @lwtisloved​ | E | 60k | 6/16 (just caught up fully today but i’m really enjoying everything! this is everything i’ve ever wanted in a fantasy fic)

Louis is a royal servant born with magic in a kingdom where his sole existence is outlawed with a war he has no idea he has a part in upon him. Harry is the prince on whom the burden of mending a broken kingdom falls upon and he might be willing to risk it all for a simple servant if only he admitted it to himself.

✰ ‘cause all our tomorrows lead the way by @loubellies​ | E | 39k | 3/10 (having a blast reading this one!! i’ve never seen the bachelor in my life but in fic-format, it’s so fun!)

So maybe Louis’ in over his head.

He had signed up for the Bachelor on a whim after his second bottle of wine and well, here he is. He’s just been announced as the twenty-sixth Bachelor and his ass is sweating. Like, literally sweating. He’s positive that if he was to turn around, the entirety of Bachelor Nation would get a nice peek of his ass sweat.

✰ The Night Still Whispers Sins of Old by @toomanydreamers​ | E | 6k | 2/? (loving this so much, as expected. can’t wait to see how everything unfolds)

Two and a half years have passed since the fateful day when Louis and Harry were crowned Triwizard champions. Confronted with misunderstandings, wounded pride and heartache, Louis stumbled away from the possibility of a future relationship with Harry. Instead, he buried himself into relentless work as a junior Auror and refused to let himself be vulnerable with another person. Circumstances change that force Louis to confront his feelings - and Harry. Stolen glances, picnics at sunrise, thrilling adventures, original spellwork, midnight feasts, soft lips and cautious second chances culminate in an unforgettable mission - but will it be enough to mend their relationship?

non-1d ~

✰ like a bullet needs a gun by @millsxwriting​ | T | 21k | wilds au (despite me having no context, mills still got me to fall in love with toni and shelby. this was so cute and lovely!!)

Toni doesn’t expect to fall for anyone in her senior year. Least of all for Shelby Goodkind, the new girl that arrived in town just before the end of summer. In fact, Toni can’t even look at her for longer than two seconds, or listen to more than three sentences coming out of her mouth without wanting to accidentally push her off a cliff. 

Cue a group project and endless bickering, and suddenly Toni finds herself with an unbearable crush.

If you read any of these beautiful works of art, remember to leave kudos and comment to show your appreciation!

*if i made any errors, please let me know :)

enjoy!

[yellowocaballero]

Bonus story that I regret already

A friend requested a HLVRAI/Freeman’s Mind/HL crossover. Specifically, them getting drinks, in a pub. 

I really hate to spill that I’ve seen all of HLVRAI and Freeman’s Mind, but I figure the cat’s out of the bag. It’s three pages. It’s crack. There will be no continuation. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but tw for ableist language, suggested animal abuse, and suggested slavery. So...that’s how you know Freeman Freeman’s Mind shows up. 

God, does anybody remember FM? Am I the only person who remembers FM? Am I having a stroke? Imagine if Freeman’s Mind came out in 2020. There’d be call-out posts. 

Enjoy...I think? Rest under the cut. 

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

“When you think about it, dog breeding just doesn’t make any sense.”

Thank god. Gordon exhaled in relief. The guy sitting across from him in the dim, crowded pub had finally moved on from his extensive...very extensive...opinions on the IRS. Gordon had desperately tried redirecting the conversation to something more normal, like theoretical physics, or his opinion on multi-dimensional crossovers, but instead the guy just seemed very desperate that everybody know that taxation was theft.

“Right!” Gordon said enthusiastically, just trying to get word in edgewise. He knew he liked to talk, but this guy was ridiculous. “Pugs can’t give birth by themselves. It’s inhumane.”

“Oh, forget about that shit.” The guy waved a hand, burping slightly as he slammed back more of his beer. “What I’m saying is that it’s ridiculous not to train dogs to attack your enemies.”

“I don’t actually have that many -” 

But the guy was already ranting, completely talking over Gordon. Pleadingly, Gordon looked at the other guy they were sitting with for help, but he just sat there drinking his beer with eyes distantly fixed on the tacky retro diner signs hung on the wall. Traitor. 

“When you think about the entire thing’s stupid. The breed standards are just ridiculous, first off. Breeding dogs so they can’t bite, can’t bark, can’t hunt their own food? It’s stupid. What else is the point of a dog! Anybody around here remember why we breed dogs in the first place? It’s so they can help protect us, protect the pack. Dogs used to pull their own. And now they’re just shitty little lap dogs that rich old ladies use to wealth signal. It’s fucking stupid. Dogs are just freeloaders. And I don’t have any freeloaders in my house.”

“Wow,” Gordon muttered rebelliously, “did you read about that on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit?”

“So that’s why I’m proposing my new idea for dogs. A better dog. Dog 2, the sequel to dogs, if you will,” the guy continued, completely steamrolling him. “These dogs are huge, first of all. But not too huge, since you don’t want them to be a drain on your resources. I’d say definitely the size of a St. Bernard, maybe a little bit bigger. I don’t give a shit if it’s friendly to children or whatever. I don’t give a shit about children. If they can’t survive my dog attacking them, they were never going to make it to adulthood anyway. Survival of the fittest. Anyway, my dog’s going to be big. Short hair, because we live in a hot climate and I don’t want a dog that’s shedding everywhere. It’s not exactly going to be a polar rescue dog here, I need a dog that can survive the Arizona desert. But this dog has to be two things, and these two things are completely vital. Without these two things, it might as well be a Pomeranian.” The man held up two fingers. “One: the dog must be completely loyal to me. Intelligent, but not too intelligent that it doesn’t accept me as the alpha. I’m the alpha to the dog, as I’m also the alpha to the human race. Its loyalty must be complete. Like, I say jump, the dog says how high. That’s how intelligent it is too.” He pushed down the finger, keeping one up. “Second, the dog must be a cold blooded attack machine. I ain’t owning no pussy dog here. This dog is vicious. It can kill anything, and it will do it with pleasure. This dog feels no regret, pain, anguish, PTSD, hesitance, and it never fucking misses. Its teeth are huge and it’s an unrestrained attack machine. With this dog at my side, ain’t nobody’s fucking with me. Walking down the street with this dog next to me, nobody’s looking at me sideways. The chicks dig me. Everybody thinks I’m great. That’s why this is the ideal dog, above all other dogs.”

“Wow,” Gordon said desperately, really hoping that this was the end of the fucking dog conversation, “that’s great. My friend, uh, Tommy, he has a great Golden. Says it’s a perfect dog. That’s really possible actually, it survived like six turrets -”

“Idiot. That’s not what I fucking mean.” The guy scoffed at Gordon. “This perfect dog doesn’t exist. No dog is that immaculate. And if you try breeding for all those traits, you end up with some shitty inbred dog. No way. You gotta get more creative. Just wanting the perfect dog is for chumps who don’t understand genetics, evolution, dog breeding, dog training, warfare both physical and psychology, psychology itself, sociology, philosophy, or xenobiology. No. What I’m saying now is that in order to get the perfect dog, you have to breed aliens. I’m thinking headcrabs.”

Gordon distantly felt his jaw dropping. “Head - headcrabs?”

“Or those fucked up things with garbage disposal mouths,” the guy said thoughtfully. “Whatever they’re called. I don’t respect any of those shitty aliens enough to give them names. If you want me to remember your name, you have to earn it. My brain’s filled with much more important things, like theoretical physics and being better than you.”

“Garbage disposal - do you mean peeper puppies?!”

“Yeah, whatever. What I’m saying is that I’ve really cornered the market on xenobiology. I’m the world fuckin’ expert in dealing with aliens.” He looked thoughtful for a second as he chugged his beer again, which was a first. “Well. Dimensional expert. Point is, I can say with eighty seven percent confidence that, given enough time and unlimited access to a shock collar, I can train one of those shitty alien species crawling all over Black Mesa to obey my every command and slay my enemies. I could probably even turn it against its kinsmen. Get the aliens to wipe out the aliens, and humanity comes out on top. Then I turn my alien slaves against humanity, and Gordon Freeman is at top. So what do you think? Good idea or good idea?”

Gordon stared at him, slightly horrified, slightly incredulous, somehow amused. God, he had spent too much time around Benrey. This guy would love Benrey. He could never introduce them. “Terrible idea. I can’t believe we’re the same person.”

“You’re a loser. What about you, huh?” Freeman gestured with his cup at the third Gordon Freeman, who still seemed thoroughly checked out of the conversation. “What do you think? Want to invest some money into my plan? You’ll get a three hundred return on your investment, and dominion of the country of your choice.”

Gordon Freeman stared at Freeman blankly. He seemed really checked out. 

Freeman looked back at Gordon. “Is this guy retarded or something? That or he’s high off his ass, but I know how I get when I’m high and I’m never that out of it.”

“I’m not sure you aren’t on coke right now,” Gordon groused, sipping his own margarita. Which Freeman had called a ‘girl drink’. Asshole. “Why don’t you just -”

“Hey, Doc!”

Suddenly, with no more advanced warning than the overly friendly cry, Benrey - sorry, Barney - popped up at their table. Freeman groaned, ignoring him completely for favor of his drink, and Gordon waved weakly at him. He seemed - well, nice. Much nicer than Benrey. Not that it was hard. 

“You guys having fun or what?” Barney said, leaning against the table and winking at Freeman, who made a face. “We’re having a really good time at the Barney table, let me tell you. Maybe we can do Trivia Pursuit? That’ll be fun!”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually making friends with Benrey,” Gordon said, sighing. “Dude’s insufferable.”

“Blunt as ever, Doc,” Barney laughed. “Benrey’s not that bad! Just kind of a freak, you know?”

“Yeah,” Gordon said, impossibly depressed. “I know.”

“Anyway, I actually wanted to ask the Doc if he had my keys. Hold on a hot second.” Barney turned to the aforementioned zoned out Gordon Freeman, and abruptly started waving his hands around. Wait - was that sign language? When he glanced at Freeman, he seemed interested too. 

Even more amazingly, Gordon Freeman responded, rolling his eyes and tilting his fist before digging in his pocket and pulling out his keys, pressing them into Barney’s hands. Barney winked, signed out what Gordon recognized as a thank you, and fucked off back to the Barney table. If Gordon craned his head, he could see Freeman’s Barney (whose name Freeman didn’t even seem to know) trying to drink his beer as he was thoroughly terrorized by Benrey. Gordon couldn’t fight the crush of fondness that bloomed in his chest. Benrey was fun to watch when he was terrorizing someone else - but you could say that about all of his friends, really. 

Then the implications of that exchange hit Gordon over the head. He turned to Gordon Freeman, who seemed to have gone back to checking out of the conversation. “Wait, are you freaking deaf?”

Gordon blinked at him sleepily. Gordon cursed, rummaging around on the table until he found a napkin, and Freeman passed him a pen as he wrote down in large, blocky letters ‘ARE YOU DEAF???’ and slid it to Gordon Freeman. 

Gordon Freeman stared at it. He looked up at the two of them and - oh, god, he was definitely smirking. Like the cat that caught the fucking canary. He tilted his fist in what even Gordon recognized as a yes. 

“You fucking asshole!” Gordon exploded. “You left me to suffer with this guy alone? How could you? That’s not team behavior!”

“You got pranked, bro!” Benrey called, from across the room. “Bro, you got mad pranked! El oh el, bro!”

“Shut up, asshole!”

“Hey, what do you mean?” Freeman asked, offended. “My ideas are genius. This is a unique business opportunity, here. You’ll never get another chance to make three hundred percent back on your investment again -”

“Epic fail, bro!” Benry called. 

Gordon groaned and started chugging his margarita. He would need to be a lot drunker if he was going to get through this stupid extradimensional mistake. 

[aredletterday]

sydeon and i were talking in my hl discord about a freehoun AU i’m now calling the Two Saviors AU, in which gordon and barney end up traversing black mesa together instead of separately, and g-man hires them on as a team

the big plot points we have so far:

1. they’re bracing themselves, about to go headfirst into a battle they’re not sure they’re going to survive. barney stops gordon and confesses, just in case they don’t make it, that he loves him. gordon quickly yanks him in for a kiss before running in.

2. barney gets shot clean through the leg during a skirmish and is at death’s door. they’re lucky enough to find a full medical supply room, but the entire time he’s bleeding out gordon is begging him to stay awake. barney has resigned to the idea that he won’t live and starts telling gordon the perfect first date he always fantasized about taking him on.

3. barney and gordon get separated when the HECU capture gordon in the assassin warehouse; barney later sees the soldiers dragging what he believes to be gordon’s body and he empties a full clip into their backs. gordon’s first sight upon regaining consciousness is barney crying into his chest.

4. when they finally make it to the xen portal, barney takes one of the spare HEV suits (a blue one, just because we wanted it to be blue, don’t @ me). they have many close calls in xen where one nearly falls off a ledge. it never gets less scary.

5. g-man decides to hire them as one entity, saying they work best as a team--but he peppers in vague threats of separating them as a means of keeping them in line.

6. alyx takes the train out of city 17 in episode 1, leaving gordon and barney on foot to white forest in episode 2. gordon gets stabbed by the hunter. barney has to fight through the mines for him.

7. when they get to white forest they have a few spare hours til the launch. they take this time to take a much needed shower and nap, because everyone at the base agrees they look (and smell) like death

8. during the strider battle at the end of episode 2, barney gets trapped under the rubble of a building the last strider implodes; they manage to rescue him and he gets out with scrapes and a mild concussion, but as they’re carrying him away to the infirmary gordon collapses onto his knees and weeps from the constant fear of losing him, the stress that they’ve been under, the times they’ve almost died.

[luxlightly]

i miss when people could just not like things and didn't feel the need to twist themselves in knots to justify why it's somehow problematic

Such a time did not exist, my gray faced friend. People have been trying to claim that whatever they disliked was that time period’s version of “problematic” since the creation of media. Back in ancient Greece, people tried to claim that tragedies were ‘problematic’ because it made people sad and that people only wanted or should want to consume media that made them happy, otherwise it was just painful and therefore bad (I’m paraphrasing but you get my point).

The reason it feels like things ‘used to’ be able to be enjoyed without judgement is because 

1: that ‘used to’ time period for most people is memories of childhood. Children rarely have the knowledge or experience to recognize problematic aspects of media nor the means to spread these ideas very far. They also don’t care nearly as much as adults whether or not what they’re consuming is unethical in some way because they don’t have nearly the consequences put upon them if they should. 

2: With the expanding of communication technology, its very easy to spread ideas and have direct interaction with other people. And, as with all advances in technology, there are upsides and downsides. Sharing more information and ideas is overall a great thing, but before the invention of the computer or telephone, it certainly was less likely that one would face any kind of widespread criticism from hundreds of people over their choice of book genres. 

That being said, that criticism did exist and always will. As long as two people exist, people are going to disagree about things. It’s in our nature. The important thing is learning how to disagree respectfully when you’re able to and to recognize when things are important enough that they warrant any active debate/disagreement and when it’s better just to live and let live. And these are also ideas that have been prudent since the dawn of time.

And, to be frank, as someone who grew up before the rise of social media, I prefer the, for the most part harmless if annoying, over scrutiny of media than the ‘oh everyone is just overreacting. can’t anyone take a joke??’  alternative I grew up with.

However, as with in all other times in history, people often try to twist the idea of ‘inappropriate’ or ‘problematic’ for the sake of bigotry. People will create reasons why media that is progressive in any way is actually ‘problematic’ simply because they don’t like the progressive elements of it. Or, quite often, people will try to cry ‘problematic’ on things made/enjoyed by women and queer people. 

That’s the issue that comes up with people who are just ‘anti-all-shipping’, by and large. People enjoying the concept of characters in love is pretty much universal. Romance books/movies exist for a reason. It’s existed as long as there have even been fairy tales and other stories shared verbally. However, the idea of enjoying things specifically for romance is considered a ‘feminine’ trait. And things that are considered feminine are less valid interpretations or means of enjoying thing. Like how different professions and fields of study become seen as less serious and important when women begin to form the majority of people in them, regardless of any actual change to the field. And, by and large, the people who create content for ‘ships’ are largely female or lgbtqa+. 

In the case of HLVRAI, since none of the characters are female and all of the actors are so openly supportive of lgbtqa rights, all the ships are between male or nonbinary characters. Because it’s queer pairing and because it’s bringing a ‘feminine’ thing (shipping) into something precieved as inherently ‘male’ (video games. Especially HL, which is so fawned over by the male gaming community) it’s a double whammy. It makes people uncomfortable because of that, people, especially guys, will, consciously or not, see it as people encroaching on something that belongs to them specifically. But to justify those feelings of discomfort, along with trying to discourage/get rid of the thing that’s making them feel that way, they create a narrative in which that thing is somehow offensive or problematic, since people who are into shipping overlap with people who feel strongly about social justice issues.

Long story short, I think it’s much more of a case of ‘people who don’t like a thing try to use terminology related to social justice to try to get rid of it’ than it is of ‘people being overly critical of media/people who enjoy media’.

[nooraavaizjyp]

Yen - Jaebum Got7

meaning ; Longing or Yearning

Charlotte's face drenched with tears, entered the apartment which her husband and she lived in, her heart tore into pieces when she wasn't greeted with her husband's fluttering and heartwarming smile. He was away on tour with the rest of Got7 . It was really cruel for both of them to stay away from each other for so long, but they understood that it was his dream and it was his life. Just as she used to tell him : "Live the life you love and love the life you live."

Charlotte has had a long and hectic day. Firstly in the morning she slept in that's why she decided it was the best if she skipped breakfast. While on the way to her workplace she had a minor accident which made her get even more late and on top of that her car got a huge dent which ruined it's look. She reached an hour late and her manager scolded her, even though she tried to stay strong and face the reality but she felt ashamed and embarrassed because he was insulting her in front of the employees.. Her manager made her do double chores in her original time range and it resulted in Y/N being tired and exhausted.

Also it's been a week since she last talked with her hubby, and 3 months since she last saw him, felt his warmth, touched him, hugged him, held him. Being it that times of the month she was extremely upset and gloomy. When she sat in her now ruined car her tears flew like a waterfall. She couldn't keep herself together now. She wanted him, she needed him not in a sexual way, she wanted him to hold her, comfort her. She wanted him to take her fragile face in her hands, wipe her tears with the pads of his thumbs. She wanted him to hug her. To take her small frame in his built up one.

On the other hand, Im Jaebum had boarded in Seoul National Airport, just by thinking of surprising his wife makes his heart flutter causing his vermilion border to rise up cheekily. Passing by strangers might think that he's a psycho or something to smile like that but he knows that this is the power of love that has made him go insane inside out. Little did he know that the precious wife of his, missed him dreadingly and had been crying like a maniac.

His feet were light weight and rushed, he was dying to see her glowly face. He knew that his wife missed him as much he missed her but the ride home seemed to be so long, it felt like it had been years since he'd been trying to reach his apartment. The turns and signals seemed to be never-ending.

He rolled the windows down letting the soft wind gush through his hair making him feel Charlotte's fingers dancing through his hair just as they always did when he couldn't sleep and Charlotte babied him til he was out like a light. The wind kissed his face, closing his eyes he imagined Charlotte's soft and plump lips on his, kissing him ever so gently. She was a drug that he had been addicted to, his one and only drug. Just by thinking of her made his eyes feel heavy and he drifted off to dreamland having a false hope to hold her in his dreams.

Charlotte dragged herself to make it towards the sofa, her feet cramping up at every step she took. After what felt like an eternity she got to the sofa and dropped her limp body on the leathery softness. A sigh left her lips and tears seemed to unstoppably fall on her beautiful face. Her sobs were inconsistent as she buried her face in the cushions and thought of it as her husband's torso, his arms wrapped around her stiff and sore back, kneading them to lessen the knots. Imagining his lips placing a chaste kiss on her head and whispering soft nothings to make her feel better, but the sad reality was that it was nothing similar to his significant other's, it was just a lifeless sofa yet she tried not to believe that.

The lock clicked and the door dragged open, Jaebum stepped in to be met with complete darkness. He took off his earphones, his lips drooping in a frown when he heard soft sniffles and sobs flying through the house. He looked down, Charlotte's bag thrown beside the door, her shoes sprawled out and her coat laying on the floor instead of the hanging place. He set his belongings down and closed the door ever so lightly, the thought of surprising his sprouse long forgotten. The only thought that lingered in his mind was to make sure she was okay, that his love was fine.

He took off his shoes, placed them on the rack and changed in his home-shoes as he followed the sound of her wifey's soft cries. He entered the living room to find her lying on her stomach on top of the leather sofa, her back shaking as her face was buried deep in the cushions. Her brown wavy hair covering her whole face and her hands clutching the leathery material in small fists.

His heart shattered as he approached her, millions and trillions of thoughts crossing through his mind in an instant making him more confused and worried as to why was his wife, his love crying so heartbreakingly? What happened while he was away? Was she hurt somewhere? Did he do something wrong? Nevertheless he pushed those thoughts deep inside his heart.

He strolled towards the sofa and slowly picked her up, settled her in his lap so that her legs were on each side of his thighs and rested her head against his own chest. She looked up at him, not knowing whether her imagination was that strong or whether he actually was there holding her like she wanted him to. She pinched her cheek to see if it hurt, it did, it was the reality. He really was here. After all this time, he was here. He was alive, healthy and back.

That only made her tears fall as fast as a bunny. She grasped his navy blue hoodie in her hands and hid her face in the joint between his neck and shoulder, inhaling his scent which was mostly the mint and watermelon shampoo he uses.One of Jaebum's rougher and bigger hands stroked her back, easing the soreness a bit. The other one rested lightly on her waist keeping her close.His lips uttered the words "It's okay," and "I'm here now." as she kept on crying and crying, holding him tightly, making up for the past few months they stayed apart from each other's touch and warmth.

After a while when her sobs ceased and her breathing stabilized, Jaebum held her now loosened fists, and led them to his lips, pressing a sweet kiss on her knuckles. He then stroked her hair and asked her about the cause of her sorrow.

She told him, A-Z everything she went through and how she missed his presence, how much she wanted to just hide in a closet until he came. He paid special attention to every word she said, he admired her eyes that were glistening with tears making his own eyes fill up too, her nose, cute little button nose which was now red from crying. Her lips that quivered at every word she said, making his own heart shatter once again. She looked so vulnerable to him that he just wanted to protect her from every single thing that could ever make her cry. He wanted to hide her forever in his heart so that he could be the only one to see her like this.

Y/N looked him in the eyes after explaining her hectic day to her. His eyes were filled with love and the need of protectiveness from the harsh world. She cupped his face and stared longingly at him. Her gaze followed his which rested on her lips. They both leaned in at the same time only to stop when their lips touched slightly. Jaebum held her waist and pulled her closer, Y/N's legs wrapping around his waist as Jaebum got up and carried her to their shared bedroom and laid her softly and carefully on the bed as if she were a glass princess, his princess.

He climbed on top of her and held himself up with the help of his arms resting on each side of her head. He gazed inside her eyes, a deep gaze that engraved the three words on her soul 'I. Love. You'. He stared at her lovingly as she did too. Engraving the exact same words on his soul. He leaned downwards and placed an innocent kiss on her forehead, then her nose, her eyes, both of her cheeks, her chin and lastly her lips, only then they lingered a little longer than before.

The time seemed to stop right then and there. Locking both of them, entangled with each other's body. They didn't mind though, not at all. Jaebum's lips moved in sync with Y/N's and his hands roved over her waist down to her hips, gripping them tightly, keeping her from moving. Y/N's hands roamed over his torso and down his shoulders resting on his waist, pulling him even more closer than he already was. They both broke apart to catch their breaths. Jaebum got off of her, laid on his side and pulled her closer so that her head would rest on his chest and one of his arms were under her and over her shoulder and the other one resting on her waist from the top, keeping her close to his heart. She blushed.

Y/N hid her face in her hands beside his chest, her cheeks lighting up bright pink and Jaebum's eyes crinkled and his teeth were on full display as he smiled while looking at her. He pressed another kiss, on her head this time, he brushed her soft locks of hair. Taking them off of her face and her hair engulfing his digits in them.

           "I didn't take a bath.." Y/N said.

           "Neither did I." He replied.

           "I don't want to either." She said again.

          "Neither do I.."

Jaebum told her about the tour while they both stayed in each other's embraces. The way he felt proud when he saw thousands of fans chanting for them. How hard was the practice days and how they were worth it too. Soon when Jaebum didn't hear her humming or nodding her head as she always did to make him know that she was listening, he looked towards her to find her sleeping peacefully, he stroked her cheek with his thumb and shifted a little to settle a bit and drifted off to his peaceful slumber knowing that he was where he wanted to be at.

A post from my instagram account https://www.instagram.com/writingismyright/?hl=en

[enby-freeman]

Video games..... what are your favorites. Feel free to go off about them

Man I LOVE Dishonored and Bioshock. Those games mean the world to me, they themselves along with Portal and later HL are what really got me into properly appreciating video games!

I like games that force you to think and figure things out. "How am I going to do this without getting caught?" or "How do I go about this puzzle properly and not feraly?"

I also like games that give you power but are like "Be careful with this. You might make everyone hate you and be a villain." Idk. They're fun? Their stories are fun? Dishonored 1 left a little something to be desired but I appreciate it. Knife of Dunwall was a lot of fun to play because Daud wasn't a silent protagonist like Corvo so it was something totally different.

Dishonored 2 gave you a whole house that was basically a big puzzle and also a big pain in the ass to get through with its robots. I've played through Dishonored 2 so many times I could honestly remember every level like the back of my hand. I like that it gives you the option to play as Corvo or Emily, and that both of their stories are pretty different even if they follow the same story line. Along with the fact that they both have their own multiple endings.

And then theres Death of the Outsider. I loved Death of the Outsider. I know its not a particularly enjoyed DLC in the Dishonored line of games but its really nice to go back through now and again. Get to know both Billie and the Outsider a bit better.

And the Bioshock series

The first game is always fantastic, the second game slaps and made me cry thanks Sinclair fuck you, Bioshock Infinite is alright? Idk. Its what got me into the series and also where I got the name Booker (which is why Im Crow Booker) but its not nearly as good as the others? Burial at Sea is....eh....its okay?...Its okay.

Minerva's Den tho, that DLC? Love it. I love Porter's story. I love the way it slowly makes you realize who you are through it. Its a short game, but its a good game. I enjoyed it a lot.

The Book? The books alright. A good read to go back and read through now and again for info on other characters that you dont get much chance to know in game.

Portal and Portal 2 are always fantastic and never fail to give me a good time. Half Life, doesn't matter what game it is, makes me feral.

I also enjoy the Ace Attorney series and the Professor Layton series. Sometimes you need a change of pace and visual novels / fun puzzle games are good for that!

Yall already know how much I love Slime Rancher.

[lazzyoh]

Act; HL!Joker x Reader

Request; Heya! Could you maybe do a one- or two-shot about how the Heath Ledger Joker of TDK and the Reader meet? Like Maybe him blowing up a Party her parents held or smth and the Reader having a Special quirk… like Illusion or something? Thank you!

Warnings: Actually no important one, might contain a little swearing and strong language… cursing even… OH! and threatening yk ;)

Side note: no genderfriendly pronouns! Female!Reader; she/her; I decided to give her the skill/quirk of faking and copying others emotions (only their facial expressions and behavoir + sensing them (I forgot to Mention that earlier))… I think it’s a pretty cool thing and abolutely makeable without the Risk of being only fictional or overpowered

Everything clear? Fine. Then let’s go get it started!

                      ————-Part Two————-

,,No you ain't dollie, you surely ain't"

I stayed still, refused to show him more of my little speciality, he eyed me like a little boy who just found his favorite toy again, after missing it for years. ,,Tell me Pretty...", he circled me as if he'd be a lion waiting for the right moment to rip me, his prey, into pieces, his gloved fingers grabbed a strand of my (Your/Hair/Color) hair, wrapping it around his leather glove while looking me over causally, licking his scars for the sixth time now, ,,What makes you think... that I... wouldn't see through your pretty little... act?" The Joker started to snicker again, huskily this time, almost as if he screamed so much that his voice started to fade now. I ignored the fact how near he was, decided to instead, only watch him closely and try to make up what exactly he wanted from me.

❦

,,Because no one ever did." I answered sober and honest. He just started to laugh loudly and held himself up with his hands on his knees. ,,Oh, you're a funny little thing!" He brandished his pointer-finger wildly in front of my nose, ,,You know.. other women only cry and beg when confronted with me... but you.. you are NOTHING like that... ha! You're... you're self-confident... brave... and... and .. fearless... so much that you even try playing me a fool! oH... and you did all that WELL, I almost believed you!" And once again the green haired started circling me, his fingers lightly stroke over my naked shoulders as he passed them. ,,But..." He stopped right behind me, his heavy breathing hitting the back of my ear, ,,... do you wanna know...", I resisted the urge to shudder as his cold gloved hands grabbed my shoulders firmly from behind, ,,... how I noticed..?"

                            🃏

,,How...?" My answer wasn't more than a whiffing, too distracted by his hands holding onto my shoulder firmly and the way he pressed his chest against my back to whisper in my ear to pay Attention to the actual Situation I was in. ,,Your eyes, honey, your eyes." I slightly turned to him, meeting his intimidating gaze again ,,What do you mean by that?" My brows were forrowed while he just started to snicker again, before patting my head half-heartedly, ,,Oh love... do you know why I prefer using a knife instead of guns?" circling me again, but this time watching every single move I did and pulling a knife out of one of his many pockets, made me a little nervous but even more excited than scared. ,,Because guns are too fast?" I blindely guessed, making his once moitionless face light up within seconds, ,,Ahahahahah! YOU'RE GOOD!" He turned towards the growd pushed in the Corners of the ball room, which he only successfully ignored until now, laughing pleased and loudly, ,,Isn't she amazing?!"

                            ❦

His Henchmen nodded to answer him, he only rolled his eyes before turning to me again. ,,Right, Princess, you're right. - They are too fast. You can't see all the Little emotions hiding in peoples eyes when killing them with a gun... but if you use a knife..." He giggled darkly while, stalking through the room, past the guests and my family, innocently playing with his knife. ,,Let me tell you Pretty..." He turned around abruptly and looked at me, brandishing the knife before himself admonishingly, ,,In the last seconds before death... People show you who they really are." He let out a spitefully chortle before, for the fifth time in a row, running his fingers through his dyed hair , ,,Eyes tell you alot my love... and yours told me how and what you really thought and felt..." He came stalked back to me, giggling maliciously and sending glares at me, that almost screamed how screwed I was now - but instead of ramming the knife into my heart or throat he only stopped and started to giggle uncontrollably, the whole room held a deadly silence within while his attack.

                            🃏

,,They showed me how annoyed you were, how much you wanted to be somewhere else... but the only thing I can't quite put my finger on is...." His hand softly caressed my neck while he came nearer, bending close to my ear before wrapping his fingers around my throat and applying slight pressure. My heart fluttered. ,,Why would ya want to leave a Party like this?" I looked at him embarrassed by how his moves and his closeness affected me. His fingers grabbed my chin and cheeks in a firm but still gentle way, forcing me to stare back at him. I felt dizzy, my head somewhat clouded, he hypnotized me with his eyes and voice, lulled me in with his scent. I couldn't hold myself from talking, it felt as if he'd be able to ask me anything and I wouldn't even be able to lie. ,,B..ecause I'm not willed to play the toy for my parents sake again.. I don't want to give my body to someone I don't even know." My eyes were focused on his as I whispered my answer, insecurely waiting for his answer... wanting to hear his answer... I needed to hear it.

                            ❦

He narrowed his brows peeved, watched my face closely for a few minutes before finally lifting up his gaze and scanning the room. ,,Who?" He mumbled absent minded, and with that pulling me out of my trance, slapping me right back into reality. ,,What do you plan on doing with her, Joker?!" Both, the Joker and I, looked at the Boy that was angrily starring at the purple-wearing man, irritated and annoyed. Surely the stupid idiot wasn't only the 'Starring you naked'-Type but also the 'I'm dumb please kill me' too. Laughters bubbled out of the madman holding my face gently but tight between his gloved fingers. ,,Who are you to ask that?"  The Joker seemed pretty pissed now, turning his eyes on me, ,,Ouch sweets, you never told me that you've got yourself a boyfriendy." He grinned down at me, changing his Expression into faking a sad and disappointed one before finally giggling at my "are-you-Fucking-kidding-me?" expression. ,,He's not my boyfriend!" I spat out, ,,I'd rather die than talk to him in any way!" That seemed to change the whole situation alot, firstly he looked at me  flabbergasted before something in his lunatic mind seemed to switch and made him stare the idiot down with a deadly glare.

                            🃏

,,Pretty doesn't seem to like you much my friend..." His gloved hands gave my face free again, now he moved away, stalking towards the idiot who's most likely soon to be death. ,,Not a single bit... her eyes told me..." As he was the Clown prince of Crime and normally everything but calm, his voice alerted me immediately, I couldn't decide if I whether should let him go or try to hold him back. The anger that boiled in him would've stayed uncovered... and if I wouldn't posses that special little skill of mine, I wouldn't have noticed - but I did. I took a few steps towards him, but that's when he already had slammed the knife he played with before, into the, now scared, boys throat. ,,That's why you need to leave." The room was filled with short, shocked breaths, ,,J!"  I yelped indignantly and reproachful, making him turn to me with an almost innocent look in his eyes, ,,What's the matter dear? You said you'd rather die than talk to him ever again..." Within a two of his large steps he stood in front of me again, ,,... but I don't want you to die Sweets - So I had to kill him.~"

                            ❦

I shook my head at this, ,,Why would you, the Clown Prince of Crime, King of Gotham, want someone, meaningless and normal, like me to stay alive?" I asked, my voice dripping of pure sarcasm and disbelieve. He grunted amused while letting his fingers trace over my left arm as if in trance, ,,Because..." He came so close that his nose tip touched mine, ,,I kinda like you, huh... couldn't live with knowing you're dead." He murmured raspyly, making me blush due to his honest and solid stare and words. Destroying the tension within seconds - wether to save himself from emotions or simply because he's a love-numb dick, who knows that - he loudly clapped his Hands together, ,,Nevermind! Guys, we needa go, get me the... äehm.... corpse over there... and get'em in the car!" His henchmen did as they were told to, he only watched them enthusiasticly before turning to me again, ,,Oh... I nearly forgot...", he stopped and bowed slightly, offering his hand to me and grinning at me from underneath, ,,Will you do me the honor of accompanying me?"

                            🃏

For the first time since he and his henchmen showed up I lifted my head and allowed my eyes to scan the room, stopping at my parents that were watching me intensly. I perceived what they wanted me to do and say, they wanted me to stay so they could go on with using me - but I was done. Done with it all. And thinking about going and leaving together with the Joker seemed to be the only thing, in my whole life until now, that made sense to me. So I did it. Not bothering to give my parents a last look or goodbye I accepted Jokers hand and let myself get pulled out and into the pitch black Transporter with him. Immediantly after entering he let himself fall down on the seat, pulling me with him and with one swift move into his lap, holding me tightly by the waist in place. Barking a few commands to his henchmen he nearly forgot my existence but only until I leaned against him, feeling tired after all this chaos, drawing his attention on me with that. He gave me a smuggy smile, ,,Oh my, I see someone's tired, I ain't chu princess?~"  I laughed silently, cuddling myself into his side as he lifted my legs so I could comfortably sit. ,,Sleep my dear, when you wake up you'll wake up to a new day... a new life... a new start."

He was right... and goddamn... taking J's Hand was the best thing I could ever have done.

                            ❦ 🃏 ❦ 🃏 ❦ 🃏 ❦ 🃏 ❦ 🃏 ❦

Word Count: 1.735

[phagechildon]

Turdday - Chapter 3

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Summary: When Leo doesn’t show up to work (aka his surprise birthday party at Libra headquarters), Zapp goes to check on him only to find he’s been caught up in yet another shitstorm. With creatures that only he can see pursuing him, the Libra members find it hard to protect him when Leo can’t even remember who they are or how to use the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods.

----

His consciousness slowly started returning to him, only making him wish it hadn’t. His throat and the inside of his nose felt absolutely raw to the point where merely breathing made him want to sob in pure agony. It felt like he had been mummified and left in the Egyptian desert where it proceeded to dry out his entire body despite the fact that the rain beat a little heavier than earlier against him.

What the hell happened to him? The last thing he remembered he was talking to K.K. and Klaus, and then one of those things came out of nowhere and grabbed him. His memory was a little hazy after that. He had this vague sensation of nearly drowning, but how was that even possible?

Shifting a bit, he choked on a pained cry as pain shot through his right arm - the arm he was laying on.  

Crap, was it broken? He really didn’t need a broken arm on top of the other shit he was dealing with.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, he slowly pushed himself up, the pain still flaring. Nausea quickly overwhelmed his entire being as he threw up, tears gushing down his cheeks as it felt like his throat was bleeding from the acid tearing the dry skin apart.

He wanted nothing more than to have unconsciousness claim him again. Of course he wasn’t that lucky.

He didn’t move until he was absolutely sure his stomach was settled enough, not wanting to experience that horrific pain again.

Someone brought him here, and considering he had a rough landing, the other person could be hurt too. He had to see if they needed help.

Licking his lips that were surprisingly dry despite being in the rain, he tried talking. “Klaus?” His voice wheezed, making him violently cough a few times.

No response.

“Klaus?” He tried again, almost desperately.

Still nothing.

Well shit, did he break his only life line already? Bringing his other shaky hand up, he felt around his ear and nearly sobbed. The ear piece was broken in two. Once again he was all alone in this hellscape. His only hope was to find the lady that saved him.

Unlike the last time he stirred, getting up almost proved to be impossible. Every organ in his body literally screamed at him as he tried getting to his feet, making him fall face first back into what he was sure was grass. He groaned, clenching the blades with his good trembling hand.

It would be so easy to just give up right now, but… it didn’t feel like an option. There were people who were counting on him even if he didn’t remember them. He had no clue if Zed or K.K. were even still alive, but he owed it to them to keep moving forward.  

Somehow he managed to get back on his feet, his body swaying dangerously from side to side. But he was up, that’s all that mattered.

Surveying the area, he realized he was in some sort of park by a few sets of large bushes. The playground was quite a ways away, meaning no one probably even saw him land there. Honestly he was okay with that, the less people he had to deal with the better.

That being said, he looked around a little more, not even seeing a trace of another person near him. Maybe she landed a little further away?

Taking a deep breath, he started forward, his balance completely off but he merely shrugged that fact away. He could do this. He had to do this.

He searched around the park, staying as far away from other people as he possibly could. That being said, he also didn’t see the young woman who saved him either.

Did those things get her?

“Leo?” He heard a man call, making him instinctively turn. Across the street was a man with fluffy brown hair wearing a long tan trench coat. He sort of reminded him of a detective from one of those old film noir movies, just without the top hat. He looked drastically different compared to the other Libra members he’s met so far. This person almost seemed normal.

Seeing him confirm his identity, the man ran across the street, making Leo take a few cautious steps backward.

This man looked a little too normal.

“You look like shit, are you okay?” He asked, seeing the way Leo was clenching his right arm as if it were injured. He really hoped that wasn’t his blood on him.

“U-uhm.... code word?” He asked, taking another step back. Unlike the others, he wasn’t getting that same safety vibe from this man either.

The man raised an eyebrow, seeming confused as to what he asked. “Oh right, your memory, I’m Daniel Law, a Lieutenant of Hellsalem’s Lot Police force-” he stopped, seeing Leo take a few more steps back looking like a terrified puppy.

He didn't know the code word - he was avoiding the question-!

“I’m not part of Libra but I begrudgingly work with them sometimes-”

Sometimes- Leo’s eyes widened in fear as he ran, ignoring the way his body literally screamed in protest.

“Wait, Leonardo-!” Daniel hollered as he took off after him, cursing under his breath. Klaus said the kid lost his memory not his nerve, but in this city he had no clue what’s he’s run into or what he’s experienced. He could be running away with a good reason.

Leo glanced back, seeing the man nearly catching up, making him whimper. Why couldn’t he catch a break, was that too much to ask?! If this man was a police officer, or posed as one, he was probably in great shape. Despite not remembering a lot, Leo was pretty sure he still ate a bunch of junk food, meaning he definitely was not in shape.

He had to lose him, and fast.

Looking left and right, he realized his best bet was to lose him in the crowd right outside a bustling theater. Even then though, the only chance he had was to use his eyes.  

“Leo stop - I can take you to Klaus-” the kid kept running, his words only seeming to frighten him more. “Leonardo-!”

He watched the young Libra member enter the crowd, bumping into a few people which evidently slowed him down. There, this was his chance!

Daniel sped up and reached out for him-

But his hand went right through him.

He skid to a stop, looking around desperately. Where’d he go? He literally just had him - how’d he literally slip through his fingers?

Unless-

Shit. The kid used his eyes on him.

Taking out his phone he dialed Klaus, still searching through the crowd just in case. “I saw him right outside the HL theater on Green Street and 9th Avenue, but he didn’t recognize me and ran.”

Of course he wouldn’t trust him, he didn’t know the code word! Zed’s been right about everything else so far, so why wouldn’t he listen to him now? Granted he didn’t get a change of clothes like he instructed, but that would’ve required him to steal due to the time constraints and he wasn’t about that life.

For now, as annoying as it was, he just had to keep walking until another Libra member found him, even if the guilt was literally eating him alive.

‘Nothing’s changed since then,’ he mumbled to himself, clenching his fists tightly despite the pain. No matter what anyone else said, he was still a coward. While all the others were literally putting their lives on the line to protect him, he was simply running away, not even sticking around to see if they were okay.

His pace slowed, his head lowering in anger.

He was angry, he was furious with himself. How could he just keep running while the others were in danger like that? Even if he was normal, he could’ve thought of someway to help.

“I won’t run, not anymore,” he said, clenching his fists. He couldn’t let anyone else get involved. He’d face those creatures head on so no one else would get hurt.

‘You’re acting like a reckless fool right now-’ Leo quickly turned, expecting to see Zed but saw no one. ‘I don’t wanna see you get yourself killed.’

Wait… was this a memory? He sort of remembered standing in the middle of a street, his back turned to two people, Zed and… that woman who disappeared while saving him? Why was the name Chain coming to mind?

’You’ve always seen yourself as just a normal kid, and you’re right, that’s exactly what you are.’

His eyes widened as emotions from that moment came flooding through him, making him stagger backwards a bit. Fear, guilt, loss, determination and warmth-

‘You’re normally caring, normally cheerful, and you’re normally nosy. You have a strong moral compass, concern for you friends, and honor. I know you don’t see this, but what’s normal to you, well it’s far from it. Everyone else would call it courageous and noble, it’s because of the person you are that you don’t think twice about your own safety when it comes to your friends, ‘cause that’s just normal to you.’

He couldn’t move, his feet were planted in place as his head hung low.

Huh… he really did mean a lot to the people at Libra, they weren’t just saving him because he was their coworker - he was their friend. Despite how much he didn’t want to get more people involved, they were all counting on him to stay alive and out of those creature’s clutches.

And he was determined not to fail them.

Considering he didn’t know where another Libra member was, he needed to find a place to hide. Those things kept appearing everywhere, if he laid low for a while maybe they’d search somewhere else, giving him enough time to track someone else down. With some rest he hoped the persistent fever would go down too.

He couldn’t be reckless, he had to play it safe.

Starting forward again, his eyes caught sight of a very familiar scene, one that made him stop walking again and lightly hold his hazy head.

Faint laughter and chatter echoed through multiple memories as he stared at a place called Dianne’s Diner. His heart felt so warm, feeling nothing but happiness radiating from it.

This place was very important to him, which meant he needed to get as far away as possible from it. He didn’t dare put innocent people at risk even if there was a chance someone from Libra would search there.

Spinning on his heels, he headed in the other direction, feeling as if his body was on autopilot.

He needed to find a safe place, a place out of sight and out of mind… even without his memories, he seemed to know where that said place was.

After a few blocks he blinked, seeing a colorful butterfly fluttering past him, and he didn't even think twice as he followed.

Somewhere safe, somewhere away from innocent people...

----

Two hours had passed since the last time anyone saw Leo, putting everyone on edge. Not knowing if those things got to him or not was absolutely maddening as they weren't sure if searching the streets was a waste of time or not.

“The kid’s sick and scared, he’s not going to stay in one place for too long,” the young blonde heard Zapp point out on the secure phone line as he nervously tapped a finger against the desk he was leaning against.

“He’ll probably try hiding out in a place that feels familiar,” Zed added, his exhaustion evident. They found him unconscious inside a dumpster, thankfully still alive, just injured. “He tried clinging to me instead of waiting in the store since I was the only thing that comforted him.”

No one said anything for a moment, the anger far too overwhelming as they imagined their best friend clinging to anything that sparked even the faintest memory, no matter how little it was.

It made the blonde grit his teeth and clench his fists angrily, feeling useless. He should be out there helping the others search for him, but he was ordered to stay put.

“I already checked Dianne’s Diner; Vivian said she hasn't seen him all day but would call if he showed up.”

He’d never get a call though, the blonde was certain of that as locks of hair fell in his face, smudging his glasses and hiding his bright blue eyes. Leo would never put others in danger like that even if it saved his life. Black was more than sure he was hiding somewhere secluded and away from others. He was too kind hearted for his own good.

“He hasn’t shown up here either,” he mumbled bitterly, clenching his fists as he glanced back up at the live feed cameras that were facing each of Libra’s secret entrances, not seeing anything. Part of him wondered why he was even listening to their orders in the first place; they needed all the help they could get to track him down before those things found him after all. He wasn’t the same weak kid the King of Despair possessed. Yet the other part of him knew why he had to stay. He wasn’t the only one invited to the surprise birthday party, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to the other guests.

“William,” Klaus called, pulling the blonde back into their conversation. “Do you have any ideas as to where he might’ve gone?”

He was honestly surprised Klaus was asking him, after all Zapp spent more time with Leo than him considering he no longer lived in Hellsalem’s Lot. Then again, it was probably because Zapp spent the most time with him that he was asking. The idiot might care about Leo, but he was still a jackass. The brunette needed a sanctuary not even Zapp knew about to unwind.

“Not really,” Black hated to admit as he crossed his arms, feeling useless. “Aside from the hospital and theater in the park, we just went to Vivian’s. I doubt he’d be at any of those places though.”

“At this rate we’ll try anything,” Klaus said with a heavy sigh. “Thanks to Chain’s rescue attempt, we know he’s at least in familiar territory now.”

That wasn’t good enough though. “Let me help-” Black quickly blurted out, slamming his hands against the table. “We’re running out of time and we have no idea what state Leo’s in right now-”

“No,” Steven interrupted, making Black grit his teeth angrily. “You need to stay with Michella in case anyone’s found out she’s here. We may have our security system, but it’s useless when the enemy’s invisible.” Black clenched his shaking fists as he glanced over at Michella, who sat next to him looking just as pissed off as her starry night eyes shimmered with determination.

They awkwardly met for the first time this morning as they all prepared for Leo’s surprise birthday party - the mission Leo never showed up for. Klaus mentioned she was coming, but nothing could prepare him for meeting her. She reminded him so much of his own sister it was hard to believe they hadn’t been friends. It should’ve been painful for him, especially since this was only the second time he’s come back to visit Hellsalem’s Lot after the second Great Collapse where he lost his twin sister.

But it wasn’t. Just like Leo, she had this way of making him feel oddly safe and comfortable, not to mention laugh. Her dark sense of humor even reminded him of his sister’s, giving him a sense of peace he didn’t know he was missing until now.

“I’ll let you know if I think of anything else,” Black bitterly replied, realizing Steven was waiting for his response before putting their microphone on mute. After what happened a year ago, he didn’t dare do anything that even remotely put Michella in danger. It pissed him off that Steven kept pressing those sensitive buttons just to prevent him from leaving. He knew those creatures wouldn't even think twice before using Michella as a hostage against Leo if they found out she was in Hellsalem’s Lot, but that’s what the defensive system was for! Besides, while there was a very small possibility of that happening, there was a dangerously high probability that Leo was being dragged into the depths of the Alterworld never to be seen again. He had to help find him before it was too late!

A gentle hand cuffed his own, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Don’t worry, my brother doesn’t give up easily,” she reassured, making the psi user look down at her. She was smiling as a flicker of hope remained ignited in those starry night sky eyes. She was blind and paralyzed from the waist down, yet she still had that hopeful glint in her eyes.

He didn’t know how she did it.

“I know,” Will sighed as he looked back at the microphone, gently squeezing her hand back for comfort. She reminded him so much of Mary. “That’s exactly why I’m worried.”

“Me too,” she admitted as her smile fell a little, gripping Will’s hand back just as tightly. “I still have nightmares from the last time I was here, but no matter how bad it gets, my brother won’t give up, and neither will his friends.”

Black frowned as he looked away, his grip loosening. He knew the others could save Leo, but something wasn’t sitting right with him. What everyone was describing made him think this mess was caused by someone powerful, someone who couldn't be found in Hellsalem’s Lot.

“They always do,” he agreed, unable to deny that. “But something just doesn't… feel right.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, tilting her head to the side worriedly.

Black bit his bottom lip, not really sure how to answer that without getting too deep into his past. “It’s… complicated.”

“Black,” her tone made him stiffen as she literally did a one eighty. Before her voice was soft and warming, now it was insistent and stern. Just like Mary, she was stubborn. It was useless trying to hide anything from her.  

“This whole scenario feels familiar,” he said, trying desperately to form his jumbled thoughts into words. “Like it’s happened before, but back when I was possessed by the King of Despair so I don’t really know any details. I just know it happened.”

It was honestly very frustrating. The time spent being possessed by the King of Despair was complicated, and overall hazy. There were times where he had been somewhat lucid, seeing, hearing and feeling what was happening around him, and sometimes he’d just be asleep. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for it, it just happened. Of course, even when he was aware of what was going on, the King of Despair was one of the Thirteen Kings, being far too powerful to overwhelm and force aside; not without him being severely weakened.

“The only thing I know for certain is that the Alterworld is directly involved somehow.”

Michella’s eyes widened in fear yet again, making him regret saying anything at all. But instead of freaking out, she merely took a deep breath and remained calm. “He’ll be okay,” she said, her voice full of hope. “Do you know why I call him my tortoise knight?”

Black blinked a few times before shaking his head. “Leo’s mentioned it, but says he doesn't even know why you call him that.”

Michella couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at that. “Did you know tortoises can’t move backwards?”

“No, can’t say I did,” Black admitted, trying to piece it together before she could finish.

“My brother is just like them. Even if his knees lock up and he can’t move, even if he’s frozen in place with doubt, he never runs away. He just hunkers down and endures it until he can take a step forward.” She said, recalling what she told Klaus not too long ago.

His bright blue eyes slowly widen, the teasing term now holding meaning. She was right, he was exactly like a tortoise, sometimes in more ways than the ones she described.

It gave him an idea.

“I think I know where he went,” Black beamed excitedly as he looked around, making sure they were the only ones in the room.

“You do?!” Michella gasped in relief, looking at him with growing hope as he went to the table that held the equipment Gilbert was handing out earlier.

“Yeah, I think he was led there.” Picking up a bluetooth earpiece, he quickly synced his phone to it before placing it in his ear. Seeing her worried gaze, he walked back over to her and gently ruffled her hair. “He’s fine, don’t worry. It’s sort of a sacred place for us. If he’s there, there’s a slight chance he’ll even vaguely remember me.”

“And maybe it’ll slowly make him remember everything else,” Michella’s hope glistened as she looked up at him almost desperately. “I won’t tell the others, just be safe, and bring him back okay? I’ll have Toby watch the cameras and open the elevator for you.”

Determination flashed in Black’s eyes as he nodded. “Thank you, I will.”

----

Leo’s body trembled and shook even worse than before as he threw up for fifth time in a row, making him huddle against the corner of the half demolished church. Despite not having anything left in his stomach to let loose, there was a mass that would start to move as he heaved, only to settle back down towards his stomach. It made him choke and sputter, which in turn made him try to heave again with no success.

The hospital was right there, he could get help, but there were so many people there, so many helpless people that he didn’t dare so much as glance in its direction fearing those things would come tearing through it.

He wondered how the others were doing… he hoped they were still alive. He knew what the others saw in him, but it was getting harder to see why they’d still go through all this trouble just to save him when he was already giving up on himself.

‘Getting your ass handed to you, and giving up, they’re completely different things,’ he vaguely heard himself say in a memory, making him close his eyes. Since when did he get so wise? Giving up seemed like a pretty good option right now even if it was cowardly. Dying from dehydration and starvation seemed like the better alternative to being drowned by those creatures.

Yet… giving up didn’t feel right. It made him wrinkle his nose in distaste. Despite not remembering everything, he knew there were so many people that counted on him besides his sister. For example, he was literally the only one that could see those creatures that were hunting him down. If he died, how would the others from Libra deal with them? They couldn’t even keep him safe and it wasn’t due to the lack of trying. He wasn’t even sure if they were even still alive. The mere thought made him clench his teeth and fists in anger.  

He didn’t even remember them, but they still threw their lives away trying to help him. If he gave up now, all their efforts would be in vain.

And that was unacceptable. Even if he couldn’t do much against those things and would probably end up dying anyway, he still had to try. Trying was better than just giving up and letting death take him without a fight even if it was reckless.

‘Stay here until you die, or you go free until you die. Either way you’re gonna die sooner or later.’ Despite the way that voice sent waves of uneasiness into him, he couldn’t help but agree. Whoever said that was right. If he was going to die, he would go out fighting the bastards that did this to him. It was better than giving up.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, he moved to stand only to stop midway. Breathing literally became impossible as he felt something wrap around his lungs, making him let out a strangled cry that morphed into desperate coughs and sputters as he tried dislodging whatever had a tight grip around his lungs. Tears of pure fear fell down his cheeks as he watched his sight slowly go in and out.

What the hell was happening to him? Was something really inside him?!

The grip around his organ slowly started to loosen just as he nearly lost consciousness. He couldn’t help the whimper that left him as he curled up on the ground, unaware that he fell over during the attack. Ever since the creature tried drowning him with it’s goo, his symptoms felt like they got ten times worse to the point where he swore there was a living thing crawling inside him. The mere thought terrified him, but he tried not to focus on it. He had enough to worry about on the outside world as it was, like the colorful butterfly that landed on a rock next to him, seeming to try to comfort him.

Butterfly… was it strange that he felt like he knew it somehow?

“Leo?” A soft voice whispered, making his eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. Did that voice… come from the butterfly? “Leo-” No, that wasn’t the butterfly. Reality came rushing back at him as he glanced up, seeing a boy around his age with short blonde hair that slightly covered his face and bright blue eyes that were hidden behind perfectly round silver frames. His choice of clothing made him blink in shock realizing he literally picked out the same outfit at the store just in different colors.

Now that he thought about it, did he subconsciously pick those clothes out to match this guys? The flannel he picked out was also white as the base color, but while the blond’s stripes were black and gray, the one he picked out had been orange and brown. He even picked out jeans despite never really owning a pair, and the hoodie looked the same except while his was black the one he picked out was white.  

White… Black…

A sharp pain shot through his head, making him gasp and clench it. Yes, he knew this person, it was someone who meant a lot to him. If he understood his emotions correctly, they literally went through hell and back, losing someone dear to both of them.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the male kneeled down in front of him now, calling his name softly. “Leo, Leo can you hear me?”

“Y-yeah,” he hoarsely managed out, coughing a few times to clear the acid from his throat. “You… I know you?” He asked, his voice so rough it sounded like he was a long time smoker.

The other looked shocked before nodding despite the frown that made its way to his face. “Yeah, we’re really close friends, you even saved my life,” he smiled warmly. “I guess my soul is more accurate.”

Soul… why did this sound so familiar?

“I… what’s the code word?” He tried, watching as the other’s face contorted in confusion for a moment. Asking was instinctive at this point, like carrying around a security blanket. Somehow he knew he didn’t have to ask, but not asking made his anxiety worse.

“Oh, I’m not part of Libra, though I know the code because I’ve been working with them to find you.” Leo tensed slightly. He wasn’t part of Libra? They’ve been the only people he’s been able to trust so far, then again they’ve been the only people he’s trusted so far. Zed told him not to talk to anyone else, but.. what about this guy? He even felt the need to protect him, though he had no clue why. Surely he could trust him… right?

The colorful butterfly fluttered up, gracefully landing on the newcomer’s shoulder. He waited for the other to notice, but it seemed like he was the only one that could see it.

If it trusted this person enough to land on him despite being frail, surely he wasn’t bad, right?

“Considering you’re not surprised, they told you about my memory,” Leo said, watching the frown return to the other’s face.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, a glare hiding his eyes behind his glasses. “I’ve been really worried about you. This City, no, this entire state is too dangerous to be in without knowing how to live in it. It doesn’t help that your eyes make you an even bigger target. You can say I’ve been terrified for you. The both of us have been.”

Leo tilted his head as much as he could on the ground, confused. “Both?” Was he referring to the butterfly?

“Yeah,” he said, the glare leaving his glasses, the warmth in his eyes coming back. “Do you know what today is?”

Leo couldn’t help but glare at him. “Didn’t we just go over this-”

“No, because you have a tendency to forget this day even with your memory intact,” the other said, his voice rather harsh. “At any rate, we should get going, I’d rather not give those things anymore more time to find us. Do you need help getting up?”

Leo groaned, realizing he had to move and really didn’t want to. This was his best shot of getting out of here alive and to safety, he had to take it.

Taking a deep breath, he moved, trembling as he pushed himself to sit up. His hoodie was completely caked with throw up, making the other cringe.

“Wait-” he said, making Leo watch in confusion as the other clumsily took his black sweater off. “They might smell you if we don’t ditch yours.”

The brunette would’ve been insulted if he wasn’t right. Besides the other probably didn’t want to smell him all the way back to the hideout.

“So,” he said as he struggled taking his own off, trying his best in his sickly daze not to rub the throwup in his face and hair. “What’s your name?”

“William Macbeth,” the other responded as Leo tossed his sweater aside, watching as the other’s face heated up in a blush before turning away. That’s when Leo felt his own face flush, feeling the nice cool breeze against his hot skin. He wasn’t wearing a shirt under his hoodie like he normally did. Then again, he didn’t remember he wasn’t the one that dressed himself this morning.  

“B-but I uh, I go by Black.”

“Black huh? That’s definitely different than William,” he commented as he took the black hoodie and slid it on. It was surprisingly a nice fit. Unlike his own that literally hung off his body, this sweater clung to him and showed off how skinny he really was.

Black looked away, and if Leo didn’t know any better, it was to look at the butterfly that still rest against his shoulder despite the clothes change. “Yeah, there’s a story behind it, but hopefully I won’t have to remind you.”

“I hope so too,” Leo admitted as he slowly went to stand, only to gasp as his lungs were squeezed again.

Black instantly came forward and caught Leo just as his knees gave out, fear coursing through him as he wasn’t sure how to help as his friend wheezed, choked and sputtered. “What’s wrong!?” Black desperately asked, knowing the other couldn’t provide an answer. If he knew what was going on he might be able to help-! It sounded like he was choking, but there was nothing Leo could have choked on! With his chest pressed against Leo’s, he noticed the other wasn’t taking deep breaths, or maybe he couldn’t. In fact he basically wasn’t breathing at all.

Desperate Black started patting Leo’s back as they both slid back to the floor, Leo’s body completely slumped against his own as he beat even harder against him. He wasn’t even sure if it was helping but he had to try something! “I’m sorry-” his whispered into Leo’s soft hair, feeling tears of fear slip past his cheeks. He couldn't lose Leo too, he refused to lose him- he’d do whatever it took to keep him alive!

The brunette suddenly took a desperate gulp of air, Will finally feeling him take a decent deep breath. “Y-yes that’s it - that’s it-” He choked on his tears, holding Leo tightly against himself, afraid he’d disappear if he loosened his grip.

He let Leo take all the time he needed to catch his breath, listening and feeling his chest slowly find its natural rhythm again as his forehead burned through his shirt as his head nestled into the crook of Black’s neck. The heat only made him worry even more.  

“B… Bla...ck,” he heard Leo almost whimper after a few moments, making the blonde clench the hoodie he let him borrow.

“I’m here,” he said, trying to sound composed.

“Happened… again…” he whimpered, trying so hard to stay conscious.

Black bite his bottom lip, trying his best to remain the strong one right now. “What happened again?”

The terrifying silence made Will want to cry, assuming Leo passed out on him. He thought he could handle this, he thought he could save him, but he was wrong. He couldn't save anyone.

“In...side-” Leo’s frail voice pulled him back to reality, making his eyebrows knit in confusion. “Something inside… every time I try to get up-” he coughed a bit weakly, almost wheezing. “Squeezes, my lungs.”

Black’s eyes went wide, looking down at Leo’s hair urgently. His lungs - something was wrong with his lungs? Did he sustain an internal injury while on the run or was this damage the drugs caused? Or was there something else going on?

The reason didn’t matter right now, he needed to get Leo back to Libra’s headquarters and to Dr Estevez.

Taking out his phone, he quickly dialed Klaus’s number, the call connecting to the bluetooth earpiece. They exchanged information before he left the state just in case the King of Despair tried rearing his evil head.

No answer, which was out of character for the Leader of Libra. He was probably fighting those things or that Blood Breed from earlier.  

“We have a doctor back at headquarters waiting for you,” Black reassured as he tried to think of the best way to do this. Leo could easily pick him up, but he wasn’t as strong as him. At least physically.

Taking a deep breath, he focused. Leo started floating in midair, allowing Black to reposition himself, letting his powers gently rest his friend against his back. His hands quickly looped around his legs as Leo’s head nuzzled into the crook of his neck again, that abnormally hot forehead sending shivers down his spine.

“Before you freak out, I have psychic powers, and yes, you knew this before you lost your memory,” he said, not wanting the other to waste his energy asking questions. “Sit tight, and if you can, help me keep an eye out for those creatures okay?” His light blue eyes lit up a little with power as he willed the hood to cover Leo’s head. It wouldn’t do much, but at least it made it harder for those things to recognize him.

He took to the streets, but avoided the major ones. The one good thing about being possessed by the King of Despair was learning how to get around without being seen, something Leo was horrible at doing.

A few shady people glanced over at them, but knew better than to get in his way. They tried having their way with the King of Despair and quickly learned to appreciate the fact they could still breath. Most turned away as soon as they recognized him while others fled in the other direction. Their fear used to make Black feel guilty and disgusting. For once he was grateful for it.

Leo’s breathing started getting worse a few blocks away from the hideout, making Black push himself to walk even faster. He realized he didn’t even know how to get into the hideout. When they were coming in Gilbert somehow made a handprint scanner appear which then opened the door to the elevator. The only problem was Black didn’t know how to even get the scanner out in the first place.

‘I hope you’re watching out for us Michella,’ he tightened his hold around Leo’s legs, making the other groan softly into his neck. Black blushed deeply before a loud metal crashing sound made him freeze. He didn’t have to look, he threw up a barrier to his right, instantly hearing something splatter against it.

They finally found them.

Okay, he couldn't mess this up. He got tired really easily while using his powers, so he had to make each time count. “Leo, are you awake?” He asked as he ran, though it wasn’t much faster than his speed walk.

The other groaned against him, but nodded. “If you can, please be my eyes. We’re literally just three blocks away from safety and unlike your friends I’m not well versed in self defense.”

Three blocks away…? Were they really that close? He tried moving his head, finding his eyes could open slightly. All he could really see was Black’s shirt though. Maybe… he could try something else.

Black nearly skid to a stop as he felt something wrap around his eyes, his sight becoming blue and purple hues. He quickly recovered and kept running, looking left and right, seeing one of those creatures hopping from roof to roof, getting ready to dive down. He saw a flicker of movement further up, seeing another one of those creature’s skeletal faces as it crawled out of a large trash can, blocking their path out of the alley.

That face -

their bodies-

The one above them didn’t even get close to the edge of the next building before it literally splattered in midair, Black’s eyes flickering with powerful light in his pupils as his features resemble a face the King of Despair would make when he was thoroughly pissed off. The other one burst as well before it could even attempt to pounce, painting the walls black.  

These creatures - they looked sickeningly familiar to something he saw during one of the many trips the King of Despair’s took to the Alterworld. The only reason he remembered them was because even Despair thought they were disgusting tools and threatened to blow them all up. The pain and choking sensation Leo was describing made sense now even if he wished it didn’t.

This whole situation was far worse than they could've ever anticipated. He honestly wasn’t sure how they were going to help Leo, which only made him more determined not to give up.

First things first, he needed to get him back to the hideout, even if it used up all his energy.

Closing his eyes he stopped walking, concentrating on the hidden door in the alley way that took them to Libra’s headquarters. Normally it took awhile for him to concentrate, but with Leo’s borrowed vision, he saw it almost instantly. ‘Please be watching,’ he begged as he let his energy flow, stumbling and bumping into the new hidden cramped alley wall as they teleported. His arms felt like jello as the hold he had around Leo’s legs started to falter, much to his annoyance. Glancing around, he let out a sigh of relief seeing the red door.

“Michella-” Black called out, unable to help it as he dropped to one knee. Only pure determination stopped him from letting Leo go and falling on his face. “Please-”

She was way ahead of him. The door opened to the elevator, Dr Estevez and Anila running out to greet them. Black smiled up at them the best he could as Dr Estevez threw one of Leo’s arms over her shoulder and dragged him to the elevator.

“Can you stand?” Anila asked, her dark brown curly hair bouncing against her dark cheeks.

“I might need your help,” he admitted, feeling her drape one of his arms around her in a similar fashion as they limped to the elevator. Black watched with bated breath and Leo’s eyes until the elevator closed, letting out a sigh of relief.

He did it; he finally got Leo to safety.

“Press it now Toby,” Anila ordered, the alarm blaring right after.

“Security alert, Defcon Level 1 now activated. Please do not leave the building and stay away from the windows.” The security system confirmed as Anila pulled out her cellphone.

“This is Anila, Leonardo Watch has been recovered and Defcon Level 1 is now activated.”

“What?!” Black heard Steven on the other line. “Did he wander over there himself?!”

“Let me talk to him, it’s important,” Black said, the women looking down at him, unsure.  

“William found him, he wants to speak to you.” She handed the phone over as the elevator reached their floor. Dr Estevez immediately ran out and headed to the room she was given to work on him - the conference room - much to Black’s protests.

“She needs to hear this too,” he grumbled as Anila helped him down the hall.

“I’m listening!” The doctor called back, much to his surprise. He didn’t expect her to hear him. “Those creatures, I’ve seen them before when the King of Despair was possessing me,” he started, everyone becoming silent and grave. They already knew this wasn’t good news. “They’re creations from a Collector in the Alterworld who sells his pieces on the black market. If I’m remembering correctly, he’s the one in charge of the auction he sells his ‘pieces’ at.”

“Do you know his name?” Klaus asked, not wasting a moment. Everyone knew how dangerous collectors from the Alterworld could be, especially if they worked with the black market. “Unfortunately no, but he’s very popular with powerful people like the 13 Kings, hence why the King of Despair was involved with him,” Black informed, staring at Leo’s panting body as Dr Estevez started her work. “Those creatures are his hunters. They stalk the Collector’s prey until they find a chance to essentially mummify the victim by filling them up with that black goo, literally preserving their life and force them into becoming comatose dolls.” Anila and Dr Estevez’s faces went pale as they recalled the story from Chain and K.K. about the creature trying to ‘drown’ Leo. “The Collector then either keeps them or sells them, allowing the new owner decide if they want them to stay comatose or turn them back to normal.”

“That would explain the fevers-” Dr Estevez said as she felt Leo’s forehead again, clicking her tongue when he was still dangerously warm. “His body is trying to fight off the intruder, but it doesn’t know how to so it’s been trying to get him to eject it.” She stopped as she saw Leo open one of his eyes, the godly glow dim.

“Something’s in.. my chest,” Leo breathed out, trying his best to wrap his mind around the disturbing and disgusting revelation. “My lungs…”

“I think it was trying to stop you from running away by essentially petrifying your lungs,” Black said as he came up to his side, knowing the other wouldn’t remember Dr Estevez and didn’t want him to freak out. “But it can’t affect just one of your organs or you’ll die, so it did it just long enough to keep you incapacitated. Their deadline must be coming up if they’re getting this desperate.”

“But how does that explain his amnesia?” Dr Estevez asked, mostly to herself. “Unless we assume it first targeted the brain. Maybe it tried attacking Leo last night, but he was able to fight off.” She turned to Black, seeing if he could approve the theory or not with what he knew.

“That would make sense,” Black admitted. “Those creatures can’t even be seen by other Beyondians due to a massive cloaking spell the Collector created. So when they found out Leo could see them and fight back by controlling their vision-”

“They found a way to make it harder for him to fight back.”

“Anila,” Black heard Steven call, making him quickly put the phone on speaker so she could hear. “Call the forensics team, see if they can find any trace of that thing in the bile samples. If they can prove there’s traces in his system before Zapp got there, that’ll help us piece some of this together and maybe find a way to treat Leo.”

“On it,” she said as she took the phone back and made to leave. “Is there anything else you want to add?”

“Not right now,” Black said as he collapsed in one of the conference room chairs, no longer having anyone to support him. “I have Klaus’s number, I’ll call if I remember anything else.”

“Thank you,” Klaus’s voice came from the phone this time. “Sorry I missed your call, I was taking care of the Blood Breed.”

“It’s fine,” Black reassured as the Libra agent left, his eyes going back to Leo who went quiet and stiff. He was obviously uncomfortable. “Leo this is Dr Estevez. She can clone herself in order to be in more places than one, so don’t freak out if you see double of her.”

“Thanks,” Leo weakly responded, making Black frown. He sounded so frail and fragile like that.

“Go ahead and rest, you’ve earned it,” Dr Estevez reassured the brunette, both watching him fall asleep almost instantly. “You too William,” she said, side glancing over at him. “We’ll need you in case those things somehow find a way in here.”

He wanted to protest, but he couldn't disagree with that logic. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea.”

----

To the Alterworld they went. There were no records of someone like the man William described, but that meant this guy must’ve avoided Libra’s radar until now. There was only one person Klaus trusted to get reliable information about someone dangerous like this: Don Arlelelle Eruca Fulgrouche.

Zapp tapped a finger against the cast his arm was in impatiently, his eyebrows twitching in irritation. The chief had been in the room for only thirty minutes and he was already losing his goddamn mind. “Why can’t we just beat the information out of the shitbag?” He grumbled under his breath, not really caring if the guards heard him or not. K.K. elbowed him hard in the side, making the other whimper.

“Because he’s one of the most powerful and influential mob bosses in the Alterworld. You don’t want to get on his bad side.”

“Tch, he’s about to get on mine. Why didn’t I volunteer to go with Steven?! It would’ve been less boring than waiting for the stupid door to open!”

----

Steven and Chain walked around the Underworld markets, the fog so thick they had to stay really close to each other so they wouldn't get lost or separated. They got a small lead that a few punks were selling something that could lead anyone to the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods. Typically they ignored these kinds of rumors considering they were always scams, but they couldn’t take a chance right now.

“What do you think? This seems like the general area the flier described right?” Steven asked the Invisible Werewolf who nodded, her eyes staying peeled despite the small blush that stained her cheeks. She didn’t realize how close she’d have to be by Steven during this mission.

“Yes,” she confirmed, her eyes narrowing on an alleyway where no stalls seemed to linger.

Why was it always alleys with them? “Look over there, it’s the blue star from the flier,” she pointed at the graffiti on the wall, slowly advancing forward. The second in command nodded, hardly able to see it himself, but trusted her with his life.

“I honestly don’t know how these people can live down here,” the ice user admitted, seeing the fog not bothering them at all.

“They’ve learned to cope with it as their reality,” Chain said, signalling him to stop. “Let me go first.” Slowly her body phased into the building before the alley like a ghost. No one screamed, so it must’ve been vacant.

“There’s only two and they’re unarmed, but they have a sonic speed monkey. It could be Sonic,” her eyes sterned in anger, watching as Steven’s followed suit.

These guys were obviously involved somehow.

“Cover the back exit, I’ll do the talking.”

Both the suspects seemed to be part of the same species, though Steven honestly wasn’t sure what they were. They resembled medium sized goblins, though while one of them was red, the other was blue. Just like all the other creatures from the Beyond, they were wearing clothes which were really baggy on them. They didn’t look like much, but he knew better than to assume anything.  

“Hey you two, heard you had something interesting for sale,” Steven said as he walked up to their janky makeshift table that looked like it’d fall apart at any moment, his hands casually stuffed in his pockets. Immediately the sonic speed monkey they had in a cage jumped up against the bars and dramatically cried, a hand stretched out towards him as if begging Steven to get him the hell out of there.

Yep, that was definitely Sonic.

The two immediately straightened up. “Our first customer-” one of them whispered happily as the other elbowed him.

“Yes we do Sir. We have something that’ll help you obtain the powers of the gods themselves!” The other one pointed to the monkey in the cage, to which Sonic glowered back at them. They obviously haven’t been treating him well; he looked ready to bite of their noses.

“A monkey?” Steven asked with a raised eyebrow, making sure his voice was filled with doubt, watching the two punks eat it up.

“But this isn’t just any ordinary sonic speed monkey, it belongs to the owner of the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods! Not only can it lead you to him, but you can also use him as a hostage!”

So that was their game. They obviously couldn’t kidnap Leo so instead they were selling a way for others to get a hold of him. He wondered if this is how the Collector learned about him in the first place.

“That is a very tempting offer,” he admitted, his face turning sour as he dropped the charade. “But how do you think the sons of bitches that purchase the monkey should handle the other Libra members when they come knocking?” Both of the men froze, their eyes widening in terror. They weren’t stupid, they managed to kidnap Sonic after all.

“Th-they should beg Libra to show mercy a-and offer to do anything to let them live!” The blue one cried, doing nothing as Steven reached forward and pulled the rusty cage open with minimal effort. Sonic wailed as he crawled up Steven’s shoulder and hissed at his two kidnappers, probably cursing at them in his own language.

“So tell me, how did you two idiots manage to kidnap him anyway?” He asked, his voice softer again, but still held that icy malice that made them shiver. “And know if you try to scream or escape, you’ll feel my icy needles crawling through every inch of your body.”

Both of them gulped, the blue one peeing his pants. “W-we saw him w-walking home-”

“The monkey?”

“The kid!” The red one shouted out of nervousness.

“Y-yeah, the kid, we saw him walking home a-and followed him. We really need the money, so we… came up with a plan.”

“What money?” Steven interrupted, making them jump at his sternness.

“The bounty money!” They stammered. “Th-that’s why you’re here too, right?”

A bounty was pretty typical for all the members of Libra. Most of them were literally worth millions of dollars dead or alive. So what was so special about Leo’s bounty that got him into this mess? He’d grill into that later. “Go on, what did you idiots do next?”

“His white haired friend kept getting in our way and scared us, so we came up with a plan-”

“A really elaborate one,” the red one continued, seemingly proud.

“We noticed the air conditioning broke, so we kept turning the heater on-”

“Which forced the tenants to leave their doors and windows open to get any relief.”

“It was seriously hot in there, they were better off outside-”

“But the brat wouldn’t leave his fucking door open!” The two kept alternating, almost making it hard to follow along.

“So we followed him to the store, and bought Pepsi labels to put on our sodas.”

“And tricked him into thinking there was a package for him downstairs so he’d leave the door unlocked-”

“And switched his soda with ours.”

Steven’s eyes narrowed. “You switched his soda out with ones that were drugged.” Both of them looked up at him, the red one wetting himself this time as he could almost feel that icy glare piercing his nerves.

“Y-yes… b-but we didn’t want to hurt the brat, we just needed him unconscious long enough to transport him,” the blue one stammered.

“But he wouldn’t drink the fucking soda!” The red one angrily said despite the fear. “He kept opening them and putting them off to the side until he opened half the pack, then he finally drank half of one. But that’s not nearly enough in his system to do the job!”

“So we had to improvise. Luckily we still had some left over Hellfire from our last job.”

Hellfire- it was a drug for Beyondians that was nearly too strong even for their own kind. Not only did it make them higher than a kite after one inhalation, it also had a horrible side effect that paralyzed most of the drug abusers who used more than the recommended amount, the paralysis sometimes becoming permanent. Those who didn’t suffer permanent paralysis often became violently ill and died of severe dehydration because they couldn’t become coherent enough to take care of themselves.

“The tenant right above his room moved out because of the heat, allowing us to slip in and use a rope to drop down to the brat’s open window when he fell asleep-”

“Where we released the drug into the room. But that’s when this stupid shit head got in the way!” The red one angrily pointed to the monkey who hissed at him again.

“It saw us and alerted the brat, but the drug made it hard for him to even sit up without falling over, so that thing jumped us and attacked-!” Both their faces caved to fear after that, shaking.  

Steven rose an eyebrow, not understanding their sudden fear. “Sonic scared you that bad?”

“N-no-” the blue one whimpered as the red struggled to speak.

“That’s when… that’s when it showed up.”

“It?” Steven pressed, though had a sinking feeling he knew what it was.

“We couldn't see it… but the kid screamed and fought against something, even using those eyes of his. Then this weird black stuff came out of nowhere and dripped into his mouth. That’s when our rope broke.” The blue one shivered. “We don’t know how we survived the fall, but we did.”

“But we were empty handed.”

“We were tempted to go back in there and collect him, but we didn’t know if that thing was still in there, and if it was, we wanted nothing to do with it. So we settled with taking the drugged monkey instead.”

The pieces were coming together, proving their latest theories correct. Leo must’ve been able to fight the thing off and tried to text Klaus for help. The poor kid couldn’t even finish the text before the drugs and that black stuff took control. Part of him was glad Leo didn’t remember, that sounded like a nightmare.

“That bounty,” the ice user inquired, the floor beneath him now a slate of ice from his anger. “Do you have a copy of that poster?”

“Y-yes-!” The red one quickly fidgeted with his clothes, pulling out the half ripped and dirty rolled up piece of paper. Steven took it and unrolled it, clenching the paper angrily.

In big letters read ‘Leonardo Watch, Member of Libra, Holder of the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods. Reward: Crimson Elixir and $10,000,000.’ The fact someone was literally offering both money and Elixir meant they were trying to get as many people as possible to go after Leo so they didn’t have to. If the Creator was commissioned to retrieve him, it had to be by someone very powerful, dangerous, and influential. Someone who didn’t feel the need to leave the safety of their base of operations.

‘Crimson Elixir,’ he mumbled to himself, his eyes narrowing. Rumors say it can heal any wounds and illnesses, even allow you to regenerate lost body parts and grant someone eternal life. At least, those were the rumors that were going around Hellsalem’s Lot after the First Collapse. With that offer he was surprised Leo wasn’t attacked earlier and by more people. Then again, most people probably that it was a hoax.

“Thank you for cooperating. For that, you get to live.” The two creatures eyes widened before their eyes rolled up into the back of their heads, Chain easily knocking them both out. “Tell Gilbert to personally pick these bastards up. They’ll get what’s coming to them,” he growled. “I’ll fill everyone else in.”