#who was just living her life before a rift in the universe happened to catch her & shenanigans happened

[vellichorom]

"When they get out of there." When? Such determined language. So hopeful. Does such a dream ever come true? Can it? Or is it really just a fleeting hope, a fun idea, something they'd want but cannot have?

millions of years in the future, when " the epilogue " takes place, & the office is little more than synthesized chunks of mortar buried in the sand & the only sanctuary from the burning glare of a game gone on far too long is a single few rooms, the memories of the happy couple will be relayed to you from the groundskeeper; a long since abandoned AI, encouraging you to return. play again, if you'd be so kind. the echoing laughter from the wire-entangled decay, blissful though it may be, is starting to sadden it.

[stupidshounenshowcase]

Call this denial or whatever but I honestly don’t think the Ingo concept art is canon. Not because of balding blorbo from my trains but because of the text and stuff that surrounds it. Above the picture with Ingo on the ground is text that reads something like “XX years ago” implying that he’s been in Hisui for at least a decade. But nothing in the game or anywhere else lines up with that.

Firstly, nobody in the game acts like he’s been there for very long. If someone has been living with you for 10+ years you don’t introduce him as “A guy with amnesia”. If he was actually there for that long Irida would had a lot more to say about him then that. And throughout the game it can be seen that despite being a warden some people still see him as an outsider. If you live somewhere for 10+ years you would have made a life and community for yourself, so I doubt he spent that much time with the pearl clan if some still think of him as an “other”. Yes, he is a warden, and some say it would take incredibly long to become one, especially for someone with amnesia. But he’s also an incredibly skilled Pokémon trainer from the time he spent on the battle subway, and Lady Sneasler was the one to save his life, so it isn’t hard to see how he might have bounded with her faster than others. Also there are literal children who are wardens so it can’t take that long to become one, amnesia or not. Then there’s the question of the rift. It’s unknown whether or not Ingo also came out of the rift or got to Hisui by other means but it’s important to note that people think in universe that Ingo might have come out of the rift. I’m pretty sure it’s Volo that asks if he thinks coming out of the rift messed with his memory, and while he says that he doesn’t know if he came out of the rift at all, the fact that that is even a question is telling. The rift had only appeared recently before the plot of PLA happens, as seen by how the rift is seen as a recent concern by the characters in game and how they say that space-time distortions, which are presumably caused by the rift, have only recently started occurring again in Hisui. So the fact that people in game think that Ingo might have come from a rift that hasn’t been there for very long, also means that Ingo couldn’t have been there for very long, let alone 10+ years long.

Secondly, Ingo himself does not act like he’s been there very long. He doesn’t think it’s strange that people treat him like an outsider and basically moves to jubilife village the first chance he gets, two things he probably wouldn’t do if he made a life for himself there over 10 years. He also would have remembered a lot more then he does in the game. We have like one battle with him and he’s already remembering a mysterious man who looked like him and a Pokémon that wielded flames with mastery. if he was there for 10+ years he would have remembered a ton of stuff judging by how fast he remembered just that, but we can see in game that he doesn’t. That battle itself shines doubt on the 10 years theory too. In the first battle he has just a Machoke, tangela, and gliscor, but in his training grounds battle he has a fully evolved team with Machamp, tangrowth, gliscor, probopass, magnezone, and alakazam. The fact that he presumably caught, trained, and evolved all these Pokémon between the first battle and the second is insanely impressive. Even if you assume he had the other 3 not from the first battle at home or something the fact he trained and evolved 2 other Pokémon so quickly is still impressive when everyone around him are terrified of the things. What I’m trying to say with this is that if he can do all of that so quickly then no way did it take him 10+ years just to catch and train only 3 Pokémon. With the skills he has he should have an entire army of fully evolved Pokémon after 10+ years, but he obviously doesn’t. And don’t say “it’s because he didn’t have pokeballs” because in one of the training grounds battles he fights you with 3 Alpha Noble Pokémon that he “convinced to fight with him”. He does not own these Pokémon, he did not need pokeballs, he just went into the woods, went up to these Alpha Pokemon, and basically said “hey wanna hang out and battle some people?” And apparently he passed the vibe check because they said “Sure” and went with him. If he did not need pokeballs to do that then he doesn’t need pokeballs to bond with a gligar or train a whole army of Pokémon for that matter.

If Ingo was actually in Hisui for 10+ years then Irida would have had a lot more to say about him than that he has amnesia. People wouldn’t treat him like an outsider or think he came from the rift that appeared recently. He would probably want to stay in the pearl clan village or the highlands rather than moving to jubilife. He would have a good chunk of his memories back and a ton of well trained Pokémon at his side. He would have made an entire new life for himself in Hisui if he was there for 10+ years, but he hasn’t. Basically everything in game suggests that he only came to Hisui recently, and whether that be by the rift or ultra beasts or by getting isekaied by god himself it just means that he has not been there for a decade let alone longer.

Also somewhere in the art book it suggests that he’s like in his 50’s? No one’s posted images of that page so they could have literally just made that up but that would also make no sense. There’s only like a 5 year time skip from gen 4 to gen 5, so assuming that Araki/Rei is Dawn/Lucas (which they probably are judging by how they look exactly the same and the whole plot of gen 4 is teenager fights several of God’s children) then there’s no way that Ingo is 50 without the PLA protagonist being like a fully fledged adult. If Dawn/Lucas is 15 by gen 4 and Ingo and Emmet are 25 at the same time, then it doesn’t matter how much time has past since then because there’s still only gonna be a 10 year age difference. Also Lusamine from gen 7 is literally 41+ years old while looking like she just graduated from college so I don’t think age has any real meaning in Pokemon. Everyone thinks he’s like 50 because of his everything but he’s just some poor 30 year old amnesiac

[dothwrites]

15.20 coda--at the end of the world

author’s note: while i am still reeling from the finale, this was my way of making some kind of personal peace with it. don’t mistake this for me agreeing with the choices made <3 

---

“I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”--Madeline Miller

---

Castiel opens his eyes. 

All around him is green. A moment later, he hears the soft sound of birds chirping in the background; from further away, the faint sounds of children laughing. The air is ripe with the smell of growth, damp in the air and life underneath his fingers. 

He sits up. The sky is a perfect shade of blue, the kind found only in poet’s and painters imaginations. A few feet away, the shrubs grow, flowers spilling over themselves in their enthusiasm to be born. Everything is a riot of life and color. 

“Cas.” 

Castiel’s heart thumps against his ribs. He knows that voice. 

He whirls around, already knowing who he’ll find. Several feet away, Jack waits, one hand raised in a short wave. 

Castiel finds himself up on his feet, and within two short steps, he’s enfolded Jack in his arms. For a moment, he forgets about everything which came before, and allows himself this sheer comfort. If nothing else remains, then Jack is here. 

Jack hugs him back, twice as fiercely, before they separate. Castiel holds him at arm’s length, trying to find injuries or hurt on him, but there’s nothing. In fact, it’s almost as if...

“Jack,” he says slowly, his arm falling away from Jack’s shoulder, “what happened?” 

Jack smiles, a little lopsided, but still his boy. 

“Well,” he says, gesturing towards a bench, “It’s kind of a long story. 

---

For all that Jack said it was a long story, it ends up being remarkably quick in the telling. Castiel listens, sometimes grieving and sometimes proud, as he hears of how Sam, Dean, and Jack ultimately defeated Chuck. His heart grows in his chest as Jack recounts Dean’s words. 

That’s not who I am. 

A small part of him wishes that he could be there to see it, but he tucks that part of himself away. He said his piece. He relieved the burden which has been pressing down on his shoulders now for years. In his lifetime, it was nothing more than a blip on the map, but those years have made all the difference in the world to him. Finally, he can look back on them now without regrets. 

“And so, I came here,” Jack finally says, shifting a little on the bench. He looks oddly guilty, like the times Castiel would find him sneaking snacks back into his room. “I thought...” 

“What?’ Castiel prompts, after a few moments when it becomes clear that Jack has no interest in speaking. 

“Sam and Dean don’t really need me anymore. I mean, I know that they want me, but the world is bigger now. And the people up here need me too.” 

It’s then that Castiel looks around, scrutinizing his environment more closely. The nagging sense of familiarity hits and then he wonders how he didn’t see it before. His favorite Heaven, caught in an eternal Tuesday afternoon. 

“It’s not right,” Jack says, his forehead wrinkled into an earnest expression of worry. “The people here are stuck. While I was on earth, we all talked about free will, but the people here don’t have it. They’re stuck forever in an endless loop of memories, and it’s all just...empty.” 

Jack looks at Castiel, and Castiel doesn’t see God. He doesn’t see a divine being, or Lucifer’s son, or even an angelic being. He just sees his boy, lost and confused, but still so pure, still wanting to do the right thing, no matter what. 

“Cas?” Jack asks. “Will you help me?” 

---

Rebuilding Heaven is slow work, but time doesn’t really mean anything here. It’s delicate to rebuild the walls separating billions of souls so that nothing collapses. Castiel works alongside Jack, making suggestions as his mind trips along to potential problems. 

Though it’s never said aloud, Castiel knows why Jack is working tirelessly. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the knowledge sits that Sam and Dean are going to die. One day, they will pass from the earth, and come to Heaven, and on that day, Castiel wants everything to be perfect for them. He wants to show them a true paradise, a place without walls or barriers, a place where emotion is genuine and not just a manufactured memory. Rebuilding Heaven is his last chore, the last of his penance to be performed. 

He does make one stop, however. 

When he walks in the door, Kelly’s head lifts up from the book she’s flipping through. Her smile is a balm to the hurt places inside him, the ones that he likes to pretend don’t exist, because he was happy, yes? That was the whole point of everything, was to be happy. “Hey, Cas,” she greets him, shifting over and patting the couch next to her. “I was wondering when you’d be by.” 

“I’ve been busy,” Cas says, settling down on the cushions. In Heaven, his body is easier than it was on earth, more flexible, and he wonders if that’s because after all these years, he’s finally returned to where he was supposed to belong, or if it’s because he no longer has the shadow of his love pressing down on his shoulders. 

“Jack told me. Rebuilding Heaven? Sounds ambitious.” 

“The old Heaven was...not ideal,” Castiel says. “I thought it was at the beginning: each soul gets a paradise tailor made to them. But then, I realized that human life is meaningless without the connections we form along the way. Each soul, stuck forever in its own loop is...” 

“It’s lonely,” Kelly says, reaching out and squeezing his hand. Castiel returns the gesture, grateful for the connection. Her eyes are kind as she moves closer to him, her shoulder pressing into his. 

“So what happened?” 

---

In their time together, Castiel never told Kelly about Dean, at least not explicitly. But she had a brilliant mind and was able to see the threads of his longing woven into everything he did. Relating the story to her comes easily, and he tells her things which he would never tell Jack. 

“And I was happy,” Castiel says at the end. “I was.” 

“You trying to convince me or yourself?”

“Neither,” Castiel replies, bristling slightly. It was true that he might have been happier--he had performed a willful obfuscation of the original terms--but that doesn’t negate what he felt in that moment. The sheer love, the overwhelming gratitude, the incandescent happiness of being able, one last time, to proclaim to the world Dean Winchester is Saved. 

Everything else is unimportant when viewed through those lenses. 

“Why haven’t you gone to see him?” Kelly was always good at cutting to the heart of the problem. 

“Dean has his life on earth. I have my work here in Heaven. I don’t...” Because, of course, he’s asked himself the same question many times. Why doesn’t he go find Dean and tell him of one last, improbable miracle? 

“Cas, let me tell you: I didn’t know Dean all that well, but I didn’t need to if I wanted to know how he felt about you. It was all over his face.” Kelly turns to face him, suddenly serious. “Cas, you should go to him. At least allow him to speak his side. If he doesn’t feel the same way, then you’ll know. And if he does...” 

Castiel shakes his head. Happiness in the being is what he’s told himself ever since he awoke to find himself in Heaven. Happiness doesn’t come from the having. He will live with himself and find contentment in the works which he does. 

Kelly looks sympathetic, but doesn’t say anything as he walks out. 

There’s work to be done. 

---

Castiel sighs with satisfaction as he walks through Heaven. Slowly, the walls are coming down. Souls are mingling and interacting. There’s joy in the once quiet halls, the giddiness which comes from freedom after too long without. He moves through the different realms, silent as a thought, and goes unnoticed, at least until a gruff voice catches his attention. 

“What the hell are you doing here, boy?” 

A wide grin splits Castiel’s face. Only Bobby Singer would think to call an angel ‘boy’. He walks towards the old hunter, who looks the same now as he did in life, and is surprised when Bobby sweeps him up in a hug which would threaten to crack his ribs, were he human. 

“You did good,” Bobby whispers, his voice thick in Castiel’s ear. “I heard what you and that boy Jack did, and you did real good.” 

It means more than he would have thought, to have Bobby’s approval. After a moment’s pause, he hugs Bobby back. 

When Bobby pulls away, he quickly knuckles his eyes, before clearing his throat. “So, you fixed Heaven on top of everything else? What do you have planned next?” 

Castiel’s shoulders lift in a shrug. “There’s always work to be done maintaining Heaven. We don’t know what, if any, effects the restructuring will bring, so I suppose I will be traveling and making sure that everything is stable.” 

“If that ain’t a load of shit,” Bobby scoffs. “From what I’ve seen, your boy has enough power in his pinky finger to do just about whatever he wants. Stop making excuses and get your feathery ass back down there.” 

Castiel swallows. “It’s not quite as simple as that. Sam and Dean have a chance to live their lives, the way that they would wish for them to be lived. It’s not fair of me to intrude.” 

“Now, if that isn’t the biggest pile of horseshit I’ve ever heard.” Bobby’s mouth twists underneath his beard. “Only one thing keeping you from going back down to see those boys, and it sure as hell ain’t concern for Heaven or some BS notion that they’re better off without you.” Castiel opens his mouth, but Bobby speaks over him. “And don’t tell me that you’re just waiting either. Something I learned a long time ago--you never have as much time as you think you do.” 

Castiel closes his mouth and says nothing. 

---

Bobby is wrong. 

There’s still time. He doesn’t have to go yet. There’s still work to be done in Heaven, souls to be guided, walls to be broken. Jack still needs him. 

There’s still time. 

There’s still time, until there isn’t.

---

Castiel feels it before he knows what’s happening. It’s a rift, a tear, something which ripples throughout the universe and comes to hit him in the chest. He staggers backward, hand clutching at his shirt. 

His first thought is that Heaven is under attack, but a second’s observation tells him that’s not the case. Everything is fine. The fabric of Heaven remains secure, the souls are unbothered. It’s only him that feels the blow. 

With a flutter of wings, Jack appears beside him. His face is a mask of distress, tears welling in his eyes. “Cas,” he cries, clenching his hands into fists at his side. “Cas, it’s--” 

“Dean,” Castiel says, finally understanding the bolt of pain which ripped through him. 

It was too soon. He doesn’t know how much time has passed on earth, but he knows it was too soon. 

It’s always too soon. 

“Cas, what do I... I can heal him. I can go and heal him now. I can save him. I can...” Jack trails off, his feet still pacing in desperate circles. “What do I do?” 

It’s a child’s question, and Castiel has no answer. 

“Free will,” is all he says. “Whatever you do...It’s your decision.” 

---

Castiel feels when Dean Winchester’s soul enters Heaven. He held that soul within his grace, he snatched it away from the filth and flames of Hell. He cradled that soul while he was reassembling Dean’s body, pulling atoms out of air to create skin, flesh, and bone. He would know that soul at the end of everything, and he knows it here, when it settles into the place which was created for him. 

It was as perfect as Castiel could make it; down to the Impala sitting in the Roadhouse’s parking lot. He created every inch of Dean’s Heaven in homage, in apology. 

It wasn’t fair. Dean deserved to live to a ripe old age. He deserved to enjoy the world for which he fought so hard. He should have grown old, should have found peace, should have discovered the foibles and pitfalls of normal, human existence. Dean worked too hard, for too long, and he deserved a kinder, softer fate. Instead, he’s here, and all Castiel can do for him is to craft his Heaven with painstaking care. 

He pauses on the boundaries of Dean’s Heaven. Every fiber of him yearns to go forward, to rejoice in Dean’s presence, to see that beloved face again. He wants it so badly he can almost taste it, leather and gasoline and whiskey mingling together until he’s back in the bunker, listening to the sounds of his family--

Castiel takes a step away from the border. First one, then another. After three steps, it becomes easier. 

Dean has his paradise, and Castiel won’t interfere. 

---

Heaven moves as it always does, timeless and changeless. There is no turn of the earth to mark the passage of time. Instead, it moves like the ocean, rolling waves which are always moving and yet the surface remains the same. Castiel travels through various Heavens, observing the newly liberated souls, and taking his peace from their newfound enjoyment. It eases something within him to see his former home restored, better than it ever was before. 

He’s inspecting a field of sunflowers when the sound of a car door closing surprises him. Immediately, his heart lurches in his chest, dipping down to somewhere around his knees before hurtling upwards to lodge in his throat. He swallows before he turns around. 

Dean Winchester is there. 

Castiel’s heart, always out of his control, performs a quick dance against the confines of his ribs. Dean looks...He looks whole and wonderful, vibrant and alive. The lines around his eyes look as though they’ve been carved through laughter instead of despair. His shoulders sit easier, no longer pressed down with the burden of the entire world. 

Castiel licks his lips. “Hello, Dean,” he finally says, when it becomes obvious that Dean has no intention of making the first move. 

Dean’s lips quirk up in a grin. “Cas,” he says, not moving from where he’s leaning up against the frame of the Impala. “You’re a hard guy to track down.” 

Layers upon layers of subtext are placed within the seemingly simple sentence. Castiel remembers Purgatory as well as anything else, the desperate year of keeping one step ahead of Leviathans while close enough to Dean to protect him if need be. 

“I’m sorry,” Castiel says faintly. “I wasn’t aware anyone was looking.” 

Dean’s face performs a series of interesting maneuvers, dropping and rising and twisting. It finally settles into an expression like stone as he pushes off the car and storms towards him. Castiel waits, caught up in breathless anticipation of the oncoming storm. 

“Look,” Dean growls, reaching out and snagging the lapel of his coat, almost like he wants to ensure that Castiel doesn’t escape. Castiel doesn’t even dream of it; there’s no other place he’d rather be than caught in Dean’s grip. “There was a lot of shit going on at the time, so I didn’t get to say it then, but there’s nothing happening now, so you are going to sit here and listen, all right?”

Castiel nods, but Dean doesn’t seem to notice. “I can’t believe you didn’t...” He runs the hand which isn’t still wrapped up in Castiel’s coat over his face. “You idiot,” he finally breathes. “A couple of dumbasses. You’ve had me, Cas. All along, you’ve had me.” 

Castiel looks up at Dean in sharp surprise. When he meets Dean’s eyes, there’s nothing but the infinite compassion which he fell in love with. “You... You’re this force of nature that came bursting into my life. All this time, you’ve always been there, always helping, and I took that for granted, I know I did. But, god, Cas, I should have told you every day how thankful I was to have you there with us. I should have let you know what a miracle you are. You never gave up on me, not once, not even when I deserved it.” 

Castiel’s breath hitches in his chest as Dean lets go of his coat. Slowly, with a shaking hand, he reaches up to cup Castiel’s cheek. “You never stopped believing. You never stopped trying. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.” 

“Dean.” The name bursts out of Castiel’s chest in a harsh breath. Dean’s words are working their way underneath his skin, to the point where his body can’t contain them. 

“Cas.” Dean gently angles his face up so that there’s no escape when he says, “I love you.” 

“I’m sorry,” explodes from Castiel’s chest, the helplessness and grief he felt when he felt Dean’s soul leaving earth erupting in a single quick sob. “Dean, I’m so sorry, I should have been there, I should have done something, I never should have left you alone--” 

“Cas.” Dean’s fingers press into his cheek, not hard, but firmly enough to get his attention. “It sucks, all right? There was so much I wanted...” The corner of his mouth drops. “I was going to get you out, and you, me, and Sam were going to head to the beach. I was going to get you drinking out of a coconut, maybe a Hawaiian shirt. We were going to do Christmas, I was going to take you to a theme park and see if you puked on roller coasters. I wanted...” For a moment, grief so overwhelming that it can’t be touched crosses Dean’s face, but then, with effort, he pushes it away. “There’s so much that I wanted, but it’s done now. And besides, you’ve been busy.” Dean raises his eyebrows. The grin on his face invites Cas to smile as well. “Reforming Heaven?” 

“I wanted...There was so much I did wrong here. I thought if I could make it right, that maybe...” Castiel leans his cheek into Dean’s hand. “I wanted it to be perfect for you. You weren’t supposed to be here yet.” 

“I know. I know. And it’s not okay, but you’re here, all right? Mom’s here, Bobby’s here, Charlie, and Jess, and Kevin, and Ellen and Jo...They’re all here, and thanks to you, I’m going to see them. You did that, Cas.” 

“Jack did most of the work--” Castiel begins, but he’s cut off by the soft press of Dean’s lips against his. 

Sparks burst in his chest as Dean’s hand slides around to the back of his neck to cradle his head. His other arm slides around his waist, and suddenly, Castiel is held by Dean Winchester, by this miracle of a man. Dean’s kisses consume him, until he’s no longer Castiel. Instead, he’s heat, and friction, and more. 

“You and me,” Dean pants against his lips, pulling away just far enough to run his nose along Castiel’s. “We’ve got time now, Cas, we’ve got so much time. I’m going to take you apart, going to show you how much I love you, every single day. I’m going to show you everything.” 

Castiel is drowning in the outpouring of Dean’s devotion. He’s helpless in the riptides. All he can do to save himself is kiss Dean again, tasting salt on their lips from where their tears trace down to their lips. Castiel cries partly for Dean’s missed opportunities and the fact that life is so cruel. But he also cries from happiness. Dean is right. Here, they have all the time they could ever want. There’s time to explore every feeling and desire, time for them to become themselves, without the pressure of the world around them. 

They part. Somehow, Castiel’s hands have found their way onto Dean’s waist. One of his thumbs is braver than the rest of his whole body, as it sneaks underneath Dean’s shirt to touch bare skin. Dean grins at him. 

“Hey, Cas,” he asks, pressing his forehead to Castiel’s. “Do you want to take a drive?” 

Their fingers entwine as they walk towards the Impala. Castiel’s chest feels light, like Dean’s hand is the only thing keeping him tethered to the ground. “I’m still trying to figure out the roads here. It felt like I was driving around for forty years to try and find you.” 

They settle into the Impala, where they’ve been so many times before, but now Castiel can enjoy every squeak of the leather seats. He can revel in the imperfections of the car because of the perfection that’s next to him. Dean Winchester reaches across the seat and takes his hand, as easy as breathing. 

“I can’t wait to show Sam everything,” Dean says, as he guides the Impala back onto a road which Castiel is almost certain wasn’t there when he arrived. “I, uh...Hope it takes him a while to get here. But. Yeah, when he gets here, I can’t wait to show him everything.”

“We’ll see it all together,” Castiel finally says. It’s all he can say, his heart too busy dancing in his chest. 

They have all the time they want.

---

Time slips and passes and stops. In between his time with Dean, Jack, and the rest of the residents of Heaven, and performing maintenance throughout Heaven, Castiel watches the earth. He sees those left behind grow older. Claire and Kaia start a family, Claire finally having set aside the kernel of anger in her heart. Castiel watches Sam and Eileen’s family grow, smiling when Sam finally goes back to law school and gets his degree. He spends the rest of his career fighting for justice for children lost in the system, those who can’t fight for themselves. Saving people, hunting things, indeed. 

Several times, Castiel thinks about going to visit Sam, if only to assuage the grief he can still see the man carrying, but each time he stops. It hurts, but grief is a facet of life. This grief is natural. It comes honestly. It’s not manipulated by a sadistic higher being for a voyeristic pleasure. 

Eileen comes out to the Impala and brings Sam back into the house with gentle touches. Throughout the years, she’s learned how to navigate Sam’s moods, and knows how to bring him back. They lay in bed, foreheads pressed together, Eileen’s body curved into Sam’s. 

“I just,” Sam begins, twisting slightly so Eileen can read his lips, “I just miss him so much sometimes.” 

“I know,” Eileen answers. It’s all she needs to say. 

After a while, Sam gently wraps his fingers around Eileen’s wrist, partly for comfort, partly to grab her attention. “Dean’s baseball game is next weekend. Do we know yet if it’s going to conflict with Beth’s dance rehearsal?” 

“It shouldn’t,” Eileen answers, and with that, the normal routine of their life is reestablished. The grief is always present, but it’s part of the human condition. 

Castiel turns his eyes back to Heaven, where Dean waits for him. Despite it being Heaven, he insists on making repairs to Bobby’s house as well as the Roadhouse, even when Castiel reminds him, for the hundredth time, that if he truly wanted to, he could fix these imperfections with a thought. 

“Sometimes, you just have to do things the hard way,” he answers, through a mouthful of nails. 

Castiel rolls his eyes and goes to help him. 

---

The morning dawns, quiet and gentle. The dawn is silvery-gold as it stretches across the grass leading up to the cabin. In the distance, the birds start singing. Castiel can smell the fresh scents of spring, dew clinging to the grass, the clean, bright potential in the air. His toes stick out from underneath the comforter, but a quick flip of his foot flicks the corner of the blanket back into place. 

A warm, heavy arm winds over his waist. “Babe, it’s too early,” Dean mumbles into the nape of his neck. “Go back to sleep.” 

Castiel strokes over the back of Dean’s hand. The words are tempting, but something has woken him up, and now that it has, he wants to know what it is. He props himself up on his elbows, ignoring the chill of the air as it bites at his bare skin, and concentrates. After a second, he startles. 

“Dean,” he says. 

Though he doesn’t put urgency or fear into his voice, something about his tone makes Dean open his eyes, suddenly alert. Castiel looks at him, and Dean rolls over onto his side. After their time together, they’ve mastered the art of the wordless conversation, much to the chagrin of Charlie, Kevin, and anyone within ten miles of them, at least according to Jo. 

“It’s time?” Dean asks. He rolls closer to Castiel, stealing his warmth, as he trails his fingers over Castiel’s ribs. 

“Yes,” Castiel answers, taking Dean’s hand in his and pressing kisses to each of Dean’s fingertips. “Won’t be long now.” 

Dean’s fingers slide across his cheek before he curls his fingers around the bolt of Castiel’s jaw, pulling him down. Their lips meet in a chaste kiss which still manages to make fireworks explode in the pit of Castiel’s belly. He doesn’t think the thrill of kissing Dean will ever fade. Castiel doesn’t want it to. 

“I should get going,” Dean murmurs, rubbing against the bristles on Castiel’s cheek. “You want to come along?” 

Castiel relaxes back into the mattress, only reluctantly parting from Dean. “No, you go. I’ll be here when you get back.” 

“I know.” Dean slides out of bed, and Castiel takes a moment to appreciate the play of his muscles underneath fair skin. He lets out a small, disappointed noise when Dean slides into a pair of jeans and a jacket, causing Dean to roll his eyes at him over his shoulders. “Yeah, keep it in your pants. Definitely wearing clothes to this particular meeting.” 

“Shame,” Castiel murmurs, waggling his eyebrows. 

“Shameless,” Dean corrects, leaning over the mattress to kiss Castiel once more, short and sweet. “We’ll be back before too long.” Another kiss to Castiel’s forehead, and then Dean murmurs, “I love you,” into his hair. 

Castiel smiles. Much like kissing Dean, hearing those words will never grow old to him. He’ll revel in them, roll in the simple syllables, allow them to sink into him, with the simple truth that Jack tells him, that Charlie tells him, that Kelly tells him, that even Bobby and Ellen and Jo tell him. 

You are valued. You are loved. 

He smiles at Dean Winchester, this impossible, miracle of a man. “I love you too,” he replies. 

Dean out of the bedroom. The door to the cabin opens and closes. Castiel rolls over onto his back and stretches, staring up at the ceiling. 

There’s work to be done today. He’ll need to travel through Heaven, informing the various interested parties that Sam Winchester has arrived. There will be a party tonight at the Roadhouse, a celebration instead of mourning. Then he and Dean will get to show Sam their Heaven, will listen to Sam relate through his years. 

There is so much work to do. 

But they have time. They have all the time they need. 

---

“Life never ends when you are in it.”--Lemony Snicket, The Beatrice Letters

[100hearteyes]

Clexaweek 2021: Day 3 - Reunited (a summary)

Several months after Praimfaya, Clarke is roaming the now deserted Earth without a destination. All her friends on the spaceship actually died (ship exploded after take-off); there’s no Madi either. So she’s roaming the desert when a portal opens and out comes.... her doppelganger.

After a less than warm introduction, because it’s Clarke (and there’s two of them now), Clarke 2 tells Clarke that they don’t just look alike — she’s her but from another world and her name is Ruby. And she makes her an offer (mind you, Clarke is desperate and 100% she is going to die sooner or later): trade places with her. Ruby will stay in the desert, where she actually has the tools to survive, and Clarke can take her place in her own world.

Clarke’s like 🤔 a chance to actually live a life 🤔 know what could’ve been in a different world 🤔 well what the hell, I’ll take it. So Ruby hands Clarke an object that allows her to travel ONCE to another world and they part ways — Ruby stays in our Earth, whereas our Clarke goes to that other world.

Clarke lands in a 16th century style palace bedroom. She barely has time to collect her bearings when the door opens and---

---in full 16th century noble garb, looking heartbroken, when she suddenly sees Clarke and... she nearly faints.

Sixteenth century Lexa goes totally neurotic because her Clarke just died so who is this imposter??? And she knocks Clarke down and is about to kill her (as if she could bring herself to do it) when the door slams open and---

Yes. Another one 👀 two Lexas. Clarke’s lil bi heart can’t take this.

This one is dressed completely different, a lot more sci-fi, almost like a modern deity. And she just comes in and MIB’s the first Lexa and Clarke is like WTF IS GOING ON HERE??? But also-- LEXA????

This Lexa, we’ll just call her Lexa for the sake of both our collective sanity and the story because Lexa is you-know-what, helps Clarke up and asks her to come with her, to which Clarke is like lol no, explain first. But Lexa’s all like annoyed eye roll and look we don’t have time, I promise I’ll explain everything if you come with me. She also assures Clarke that 16th century Lexa will be fine, she just won’t remember what happened.

Anyway, Clarke goes with her and they enter a sort of palace/tower in the middle of space or like in a rift between worlds. There’s a big room there with an oval/round table, which is basically a database for every single Clarke and Lexa in existence. The building is called The Observatory.

Lexa explains that there is a multitude of universes and timelines where the two of them exist. A lot of their iterations have different names, but sometimes they’re called Clarke and Lexa. Those are like their “purest” versions.

So, yes. They’re soulmates. Obviously.

And there is always a Clarke-Clarke or a Lexa-Lexa watching over all of them, making sure everything runs smoothly. Which is what Lexa does. When an Observer dies (time passes normally for them) another takes her place.

Basically, in this AU, every Clexa fic that’s ever been or ever will be written is canon.

Anyway, Lexa tells her tat the Lexa-Lexa or Clarke-Clarke that becomes the Observer is one who has passed away too soon. And Clarke is like 👀👀👀 so are you MY- but Lexa shuts that idea down very quickly.

So what happened to this rogue Clarke? A Clarke aka Ruby has been killing other Clarkes for a while but Lexa has no idea why and she also doesn’t know WHICH version of Clarke she is. There’s millions, billions of their iterations.

She killed 16th century Clarke (whose name wasn’t Clarke), too.

And why can’t Lexa just go after her in Clarke’s world? Because while you can detect anomalies (like a live Clarke in a dead Clarke’s world) you can only locate Clarkes or Lexas if you know WHO they are. Also, the Observer can’t stay in any world for longer than two weeks.

Clarke asks Lexa why she didn’t just go back to her world after being sort of brought back to life. Lexa explains she’s only allowed a short total amount of time in her original world and she already used some of it a long time ago when she went back to help her soulmate when no one else would. Clarke, remembering how her Lexa showed up in the City of Light to help her, says it must have killed Lexa’s Clarke to lose her a second time. Lexa says it was just as painful for her.

And she can’t stay on HER original world for longer than a day — otherwise she dies/disintegrates (and another Observer will take her place.

Clarkes and Lexas are supposed to live out their lives without outside interference. In some worlds they know about soulmates, in others they don’t, bu they need to live in their own worlds and timelines. The Observer observes — everything else is considered tampering with how things are supposed to be. So the time limit rule is meant to keep her from influencing other Clarkes and Lexas and from going back to her own world.

So Lexa can’t just jump into Clarke’s world going after Ruby because it might take too long to find her.

Still, they have a name now, thanks to Clarke — Ruby. So they look it up... Only to find out there’s like a thousand Rubys. Obviously they can’t find a ruby needle in a haystack so they try to understand why Ruby would go on a soulmate killing spree. Clarke and Lexa start visiting every world and BONDING and shit.

There’s also some soul searching on Clarke’s behalf because she’s struggling between being sad about Lexa but also mad because once again she was left behind. And Observer Lexa helps her sort through all those feelings, and our Clarke starts maybe developing some feely feels for this Lexa but also feels GUILTY.

And this one time there’s something Lexa says that makes the lightbulb go off in Clarke’s head.

What if Ruby never had a soulmate?

What if there was never someone meant for her in the first place?

Lexa counters with the fact that several iterations of them never even get together, that being someone’s soulmate isn’t binding — there’s still a choice. But, Clarke says — how heartbreaking would it be to never have a choice at all?

You can never make the wrong choice or the right choice. You can never change your mind. And it’s heartbreaking to have that choice ripped away from you.

That’s Ruby. She never had a choice. And, as they find out eventually, she comes from a world where soulmates are a pretty big deal. Upon finding out by accident that there are billions of Clarkes in millions of other worlds who have a Lexa, while she — sue to some crazy glitch of the universes — had that choice taken away from her, her excruciating pain turned into something ugly. And she decided to start killing Clarkes, so Lexas all around other worlds would feel HER pain.

And that’s how Clarke and Lexa realize what was missing: the numbers didn’t add up. The sum of Rubys with living and dead soulmates didn’t match the total number of Rubys — because there was one whose soulmate was neither dead or alive. She never existed in the first place.

So they manage to filter out all the other Rubys and find the right one. Lexa’s intention is to stun and arrest her, but Clarke is a little more practical and just takes a gun.

Before they go, though, Clarke and Lexa have a heart to heart.

At this point, their feelings for each other are too strong to ignore. So before they go, Lexa asks larke to stay with her in the Observatory even after they catch Ruby. Clarke wants to, but she also feels guilty because she’s falling in love with THIS Lexa and it feels like a betrayal of HER Lexa. And she feels like she owes it to HER Lexa to make an effort to survive and build something in their world. So she tells Observer Lexa she can’t, because she can’t run away again like she did when Ruby came to her. She HAS to build humanity back up in her world. She HAS to survive.

And that’s when Lexa — nervous, tentative Lexa — asks:

“Maybe life should be about more than just surviving. Don’t we deserve better than that?”

So, yes. It’s Lexa 😌

(If you think about it - I didn’t mention it but - she knew which Clarke Clarke is right away. She didn’t ask, the Obervatory didn’t tell her. She just knew who Clarke was. Because Clarke has that scar on her forehead from when Emerson attacked her. And the moment she saw it — she KNEW.)

Lexa didn’t say it before because she knew Clarke would want to stay with her but she didn’t know if there would be any consequences. And if there were and it turned out to be impossible for Clarke to stay, then the heartbreak would have been all the greater, because they’d be losing each other a fourth time.

Anyway, Clexa reconnect and everything is beautiful but they still have a murderous soulmate to catch.

They teleport themselves to a spot close to Ruby. Some fighting ensues, Clarke loses her gun, which ends up in Lexa’s hands, and Ruby ends up pointing her own at Clarke’s pretty head. And Lexa has a double reason not to dire that gun: one, she’s still a grounder and grounders don’t touch Mountain Men weapons; two, she’d be shooting a Clarke for all intents and purposes.

Ruby taunts Lexa about not being able to shoot her, pokes the bear a few times about how she’ll have so much fun killing Clarke — You wouldn’t mind, would you? After all, it’s just another one in a billion —, yada yada.

And then Lexa actually shoots.

And Ruby dies and Clarke runs to Lexa’s arms and Lexa is like, I thought I was over the violence, and Clarke pulls her to meet her eyes: We are now.

Clarke and Lexa go back to the Observatory and Clarke asks if it’s actually safe being there, if she or Lexa won’t be harmed for it. And Lexa tells her she’d been thinking about how everything happens for a reason and maybe, just maybe — maybe this WAS always meant to be their second chance.

(Or third. Or fourth.)

So they stay there and live out their days together traveling between worlds and making a home for themselves in the Observatory. Their maybe someday has arrived at last; they owe nothing more to their people.

[silence-burns]

Please Hate Me //part 45

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Based on: “Imagine having a love/hate relationship with Loki.” by @thefandomimagine​ Who would have thought that babysitting a god could be so much fun?

Genre: slow-burn, enemies to lovers, banter, smut in this chapter

Loki, despite being raised in a royal family, was at heart a man of simple pleasures. What more could he want from life than what he already had? 

The Edge was a place of wonders, that much was indisputable. And even if not all of them were easy to enjoy, there were still moments worth living for. 

The stars above felt closer than the last time Loki paid attention to them. Galaxies swirled in their eternal dance, the stars bright and colorful. Here, at the edge of the known universe, one had to wonder what laid beyond it. Here, it didn't feel far at all.

But even though some part of him couldn't stop the curiosity, Loki was tired of adventures. Or at least the ones where he had to risk his life and others'. Years ago, he'd have been surprised any 'others' would choose to stick with him and stay by his side despite it all. It was still a strange, new concept that baffled him whenever he realised how comfortable he’d grown in his new life. How vastly different it was from what he had predicted his future to look like.

But it was okay, Loki concluded. If life wanted to surprise him in that way, he'd allow it. 

Loki closed his eyes. The wind gathered the sweet scent of flowers, blowing it through the lush gardens, overflowing with life. It was one of the many wonders of the Edge - how capable it was of change. How easy it was for the muddy creeks to turn into crystal-clear ponds. How the dry patches of grass could turn into fields of greenery and flowers. How the gnarled trees could turn into a forest thrumming with noise and movement. 

All of it for a price paid in blood and ash. 

Loki's hand brushed his throat, where he had still felt the ghosts of pain. 

It was over, Loki had to remind himself again. The mission was over and they were all leaving the Edge soon. There were other, better, things to focus on. He should think about how soft the grass was as he laid on the field. How warm you felt, pushed into his side and wrapped in his cape. How peaceful it was among the trees, with birds singing somewhere in the distance-

"Don't ya fucking LICK that frog, Peter, or I swear on your aunt, I'll-" 

"It smells like carrots!" 

"It doesn't mean you have to- oh my god… This is the last time I abduct you." 

Loki smiled. The birds were no longer singing, or at least not through the deafening ringing in his ear, but he didn't mind. He didn't mind that life at all. 

He heard rushed steps to his left moments before the boy reached him. Loki cracked one eye open. 

The fattest, most annoyed, orange frog he had ever seen flopped from the boy's hands, all six legs dangling loose. 

Peter's smile was brighter than the countless stars overhead. "Look what I found, Mr. Mischief! There were more of them, and in different colors too!" 

The frog burped. It indeed smelled of carrots. 

Loki closed his eye. "What does it taste like?" 

"Like a frog, unfortunately…"

"You should check out the other ones." 

"Okay!" 

And before he knew it, the boy was gone. The thicket shook. A few faeries rushed away, desperately flapping their translucent wings. 

"He's gonna lick all the frogs now," you grumbled from your cocoon. "He's gonna be sick." 

"I can heal him." 

"How nice of you. I'm sure he'll appreciate it." 

"What can I say, darling? I'm a generous god." 

"So in all your godly wisdom you told the boy to go lick some frogs?" 

"Let him have some fun." 

You turned your head to face him. Loki was looking at the stars overhead. Dark bruises peeked from under his collar. Magical aftershock, he had called them when he had explained why they didn't disappear despite his healing. They'd stay for a while, he said. A small price to pay. 

"I'm glad it's over," you said quietly. 

"So am I." 

"Do you think…," you licked your lips. "Is it okay for us to just lay here and enjoy this change?" 

The Edge took a shape that was so vastly different that it still seemed like a miracle. The balance was indeed a precarious thing there, no flicker of energy ever wasted. The land replenished, bringing to life things that made you admit that magic could be beautiful. 

Still, you couldn't forget where all this energy came from. How the Queen had delayed her own fading by killing so many others.

"We did what we could," Loki understood your worry too well. "It is beyond us to change the laws of these lands and their dwellers. Harsh as this might feel to us, this is what life looks like here. All this," he gestured to the shimmering forest around, "is what the Edge was always supposed to be like, if the order of things had been kept."

"Wise words coming from an outsider."

You unfurled from Loki's cape so fast you almost ripped it from beneath him. The Prince was standing at the edge of the clearing the three of you chose to spend your final hours at. He was wearing a robe in distinct shades of silver, the pattern covering the fine fabric meandering within the eye-catching lines. It was the most vivid thing you'd ever seen him wear, the shine of the metal pieces razor-sharp.

The Prince wasn't looking at you. "I have lived for so long I couldn’t remember how my own world was supposed to be. How strange it was to see it wither throughout the centuries despite the Queen's fading supposedly filling out the essence lacking. How strange it was for so many Rifts to form and plague our lands. How peaceful it had become now…"

Loki and you exchanged glances, but kept quiet. The Prince kept his hands clasped behind his back, but you couldn't forget them drenched in blood.

During the silence after the Prince's words, Peter came back from whatever he had occupied himself with and likely annoyed whatever creature he managed to find. He took one look at the visitor and disappeared between the trees again. He was a smart boy, after all. 

"We are glad this issue is resolved at last," Loki said carefully. 

"So am I." 

The Prince nodded to himself. His eyes were cold and distant. You wondered how long one had to live to forget their own past. 

And how long it'd take the Prince to vanish, now that the weight of fading had fallen to him. 

"The body of your ambassador is being prepared for the transport," he said at last before leaving the clearing. He did not take the path towards the palace, though. Loki and you watched him disappear between the trees, walking slowly among the flowers in full bloom. You couldn't help but wonder if he was reminiscing, or creating fresh memories. 

The air tasted like ash in your mouth. 

"I think I prefer spiders." 

Loki shushed you. "Don't bring bad luck. I want to leave this place in one piece." 

"Oh? And where would you rather be?" you asked as you laid back down on the soft grass. 

"Somewhere nice and quiet, but I'm open to suggestions," Loki purred into your ear, bringing you close to his chest. 

"Then I'm sure my little surprise will be to your liking."

Loki stilled. "A what?" 

"You'll have to be patient. We're here, so I'm not sure what's going on on Earth, but I think it should be ready when we're back."

Loki's mind was overflowing with all the possibilities and ideas. He went over your past conversations, trying to piece together whatever hints you might have given him. "Should I guess?"

"I'm not telling you anything. You have to wait." 

Loki did not want to wait, but his options were limited. 

By the time you were to leave the Edge, he was no closer to finding out what you had planned. The three of you waited patiently on the same balcony you had arrived on all those weeks ago. It hadn't felt that long, probably because of how much had happened since then. 

Roses climbed high over the stone walls of the palace, their flowers heavy and blooming. Petals rained down, picked off by the wind and taken away. 

The ambassador's body was wrapped in silk and bound tight, ready to be taken to his birthplace at last. 

"Do you think he found out what the Queen had been doing?" you asked quietly. 

"He might've been suspicious enough to look for all those ancient scrolls in the library and pieced together the facts," Loki said. 

"And the Queen didn't let him spill her secret." 

Peter frowned. "So… she was the bad guy, right?" 

If only things were so easy. 

"Often, there's no good or bad," Loki said, looking at the roses. "There are just things that'll hurt you more than the others, and the things that'll hurt others but save you the pain. Everything is a matter of choice. And values." 

The three of you watched the Bifrost open and swallow the remains of the ambassador. Only he would be allowed on the grounds of Asgard that day, at least officially. No hint of emotion could be noticed on Loki's face as he watched the flash of light disappear. You took his hand. 

Out of the shadows of one of the towers came the Prince, entering the balcony from the side of the river, shimmering far below. He was alone, no guards following his steps. You wondered how many of them were left. 

"Looks like this is farewell," he said in a deep voice. 

"We are glad we could help," Loki lied smoothly. 

There were no words left to exchange. It was clear that whatever would happen now to this place was way beyond either of your control. 

No amount of evidence could ever make you trust the Prince, though. 

The light surrounded you in a flash of colors, pulling on each and every fiber of your being. Loki tugged you into his side, Peter sticking himself to his other. 

The feeling of being ripped to atoms and then roughly put back into shape half a galaxy away was almost familiar by now. Still, it was no more bearable than the previous times and left you with a mild dizziness once your form materialized back on Earth. 

You'd never laugh at people clapping after plane landings again. 

The sudden change of the surroundings hit you with a cold blast of winter chill and sun, although its light was diluted through the clouds. It was strange not to see the galaxies in the reach of your hand. 

What was even stranger was seeing Thor calmly standing at the top of the Stark Tower, where the three of you had been transported to. 

"I think I prefer the bag," Peter mumbled, dangerously green on his face. 

Thor approached you with a frown that, Loki knew, had never led to anything good. At least not for him. Brotherly love could be rough at times. 

"So, you're back," he said, openly eyeing the kid. "How did it go? Are we at war?" 

"We're all good, thanks for your concern," you cooed sweetly. 

"The Edge was never more beautiful than when we left it," Loki smiled. 

Thor took a steadying breath. "...is it in ruin?" 

You thought back to the slightly devastated great hall of the palace. And the gardens still dealing with the aftermath of a spider infestation. 

"I just told you it's not! Why do you always accuse me of lying, brother? I'm deeply hurt by your lack of trust." 

"It's the safer option," Thor said. "As glad as I am to learn that the crisis is apparently solved, I dare ask what is the boy doing with you?" 

Peter blanched. 

Loki pushed him off the roof. "What boy?" 

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw not-a-boy swinging off into the city as fast as his webs allowed him. 

The second steadying breath helped Thor even less than the first one. There was a tiny little vein pulsing at his temple, threatening to burst along with his temper. 

Loki patted Thor's arm on his way to the stairs. "Don't worry, brother. We took care of everything."

"That's precisely why I worry." 

You sent him a kiss as you followed Loki. It didn't seem to be appreciated enough. 

You couldn't believe you were back on Earth. The change that felt huge before, only grew with each step you took down the Tower's familiar corridors. The kitchens, the day rooms, training grounds - it all felt so strangely unreal after the weeks living among the shifting, feral magic of the Edge. 

"It's good to be back," you said at precisely the moment Bruce Banner appeared on the other end of the corridor leading through the labs. 

Bruce froze, his eyes growing wide. He, apparently, had a dramatically different opinion about your coming back. 

He shifted nervously on his feet, but there was no escape. "So, uh… How did it go?" 

Loki pretended to think. "Well, don't expect to see the real moon anytime soon." 

The look on Bruce's face was worth a pic, but your phone had been left in your room before the mission. 

"It really is good to be back," Loki repeated your earlier words sometime later, once the door to your room closed behind your back. 

Not much seemed to have changed, which was strangely reassuring. Loki wasn't sure what his feelings were towards the small figurine of his unnerving similarity were, but even its sight was not unwelcome. It still stood on the narrow and slightly dusty windowsill, covered in the snow on the other side of glass. 

But there was one thing out of order that immediately caught Loki's attention. As far as he was concerned, the neat stack of business cards on the bedside table was not there last time, as well as the not-so-neat single one, with hand painted spider and a set of what could be horns, if one squinted hard enough. 

'thought it would be cool' said the little note scribbled with a gel pen. 

"And what is that?" Loki asked, picking it up. 

"Part of the surprise." 

"'Professional mischief for an affordable price'," Loki read out loud. "Sounds like a catchphrase of some detective agency, like the ones from the shows you showed me."

Loki thought about what he just said. He looked at you with a frown. 

"Only if you want it to," you shrugged with a little smile ghosting over your lips. 

Loki blinked. "You're actually serious." 

"I thought it would be nice if we had something of our own. You know, outside of this mess," you pointed towards the door, currently being banged with a fist from the other side. Two voices demanded to know 'everything about that damn moon'. 

Loki looked back at the neat stack of cards. The thick paper was pleasant to the touch. 

"You said it was only part of the surprise?" 

"How glad I am you asked, love." 

Loki watched you pick up your coat and gloves. You opened the large window to the left, letting the alarmingly chill air inside. "Shall we?" 

One more voice joined the ones behind the door. Loki could not see into the future, but he had a feeling that door would be the most occupied place in the Tower soon. 

"That's a lovely idea," he said and picked you up. 

The burst of magic solidified under his feet as the two of you left the Tower and all the people looking for you. 

The sun was slowly setting. It was not late, but as always during the winter time, day hours were sparse. You were high enough in the air for the pedestrians not to notice you, but even then, what would they do? Tony had been flying around in his suit on a daily basis, and wouldn't hear anyone having a problem with that. 

The wind pushed rogue snowflakes into your faces. It felt refreshing to be back in the city you were so familiar with. Everything seemed new and wondrous, especially from such a perspective. Even plane flights couldn't do it justice, not when you couldn't feel the breeze in your face, and clouds passing by so closely you could almost reach out to them with a hand. 

Loki changed course when you directed him to the older part of the city. It was still relatively close to the centre, but no skyscrapers, and certainly no towers could be found in the neighborhood of old brick apartments; only buildings a few floors high, and narrow lawns separating their fronts and the road, both currently covered in snow. No one bothered to take care of it, at least since it last fell. 

Loki put you down in front of the one you pointed him to. 

"I must admit I'm surprised," Loki said. "I'd never expect to come to a place like this, for whatever reason." 

"You don't even know why we're here yet." You led him up the ice-covered stairs to the scarcely lit interior stairwell. 

You ignored the apartments on the lowest floor, and instead took him upstairs. With a set of keys you fished out of your jacket, and which Loki dimly remembered you grabbing before leaving the Tower, you opened the door with a number 13 on it. 

"You're not superstitious, right?" you laughed quietly. 

Feeling you observe him carefully, Loki stepped inside. The short hall led to a room that once upon a time could've been someone's office. But that was a long time and a few crises ago, when the furniture was free of the scratches, and the walls didn't shed old paint every time seasons changed. Still, it had its charm, Loki had to admit as he stepped further in. If cleaned, the large window could allow a lot of light onto the heavy desk in front of it, and to the sitting area with two couches and a coffee table. To the right, Loki noticed another set of stairs, leading upwards. 

"The upper part is connected. The previous owner used it as an apartment, with this here being his working area," you explained. 

Loki nodded. 

"What do you think?" you elbowed him in the side, too nervous to wait patiently. 

Loki sat on one of the couches. Oh, he could definitely feel the atmosphere of this place, so similar to the crime shows you had made him binge (and he didn't even whine about too much). He had never thought of himself as a detective, not like the ones on TV, but on the other hand - who on Earth could be better at solving any and all supernatural secrets this planet might still have? There certainly didn't seem to be a lot of competition in that area. 

He was still contemplating his future and, of course, possible fame, when you slipped onto his lap and cupped his face. 

"What. Do you. Think?," you asked clearly, looking him straight in the eye. "Don't make me wait, asshole."

A lazy, satisfied smile creeped on Loki's face - precisely the one he knew always drove you crazy. 

"I'm still unsure, darling," he drawled, leaning further back onto the couch and reveling in the feeling of having you pressed against him. "For some very strange reason, I can't make up my mind just yet…" 

The setting sun painted golden patterns on your face. Your hand wandered over Loki's chest, and stopped over his racing heart. However much he tried to stop it, his heart had always been the one to betray his every emotion. 

"That's such a shame," you leaned into his neck, pushing his head to the side. "I would do anything to make it easier for you…" 

Loki's hands slipped to your thighs, holding you steady against him. His fingers shook when he felt your lips follow the curve of his neck, right over his rapid pulse. He closed his eyes as you slowly worked on undoing his shirt. 

"Anything you do will be enough," his words were breathy and quiet.

"Are you sure?" 

"I can't think of a single thing I wouldn't let you do to me right now." 

You certainly were enjoying yourself just as much, given the smile ghosting over Loki's collarbone, and the trail of kisses going slowly down. Loki's grip tightened over your legs, his breath becoming shorter the further you went. He felt the heat rising deep inside his chest, just as his thoughts turned murkier with each small movement of your hips, brushing unnervingly close to where he had wanted them to, but still not-

A strangled sound escaped his throat. Loki pushed the coat off your shoulders and threw it to the side, not caring where it landed. He had other things on his mind, and one of them included his hands diving under your shirt, and roaming over your back, so wonderfully warm. 

Loki shivered when you brushed over his bulge, earning you a breathless moan as you worked on his belt. 

"I think I'm starting to warm up to this place," he muttered into your lips. His fingers tugged on your trousers, as impatient as yours. 

You drank in the sounds that came from him. You stroked his shaft gently, brushing your thumb over its underside. He shuddered in your grip, tense to the point of near pain. Loki's nails dug into the skin of your back as you rose and then sank onto him, taking him in an unnervingly slow pace. 

His heart thundered in his chest as you rode him gently, the sight engraving itself into Loki's memories - those deepest, most secretive ones, which he often came back to to relive and thoroughly enjoy. 

The couch kept creaking under the two of you, growing louder as your moves became sloppier and more desperate. Loki couldn't help his hips from grinding into yours every time you rose above him, chasing the pleasure and getting close to it. Loki's thrusts became erratic. His hands gripped your ass when you leaned closer, hitting just the right spot-

He came, shivering under your touch, waves of pleasure shooting through his body. 

"Sorry," he muttered, his voice hoarse. He could already feel the redness blooming over his cheeks. He didn't think he'd be done so soon, hadn't planned it…

You shut him up with a kiss, brushing the hair plastered to his forehead to the side. Your hips rolled over his a few more times, riding him into the couch and melting his bones as you extended the feeling. 

"It's okay," you said. "We have all the time in the world now." 

Loki nodded, words failing him. He brought you closer to his chest, his arms closing around you in a tight embrace as he burrowed his face into the crook of your neck. For a few moments, the only thing he could think about was that home wasn't always a planet, or a building. Sometimes, on those few rare, and incredibly lucky occasions, it could be a person. 

And it was more than enough. 

"I love this place," Loki admitted quietly. 

[mantra4ia]

Debris: speculation and what we know so far about...

Bryan

The character is from Texas, has no siblings, and his parents are both alive.

He served in MARSOC (Marine Special Forces) in Afghanistan, where he was in a military prison in some capacity (officer or detainee unclear, but an alternate reality he's called a war criminal, so he's likely detained).

FWIW, I'm a little surprised that in an alternative reality Bryan wasn't a part of Influx. He shares a similar kind of backstory with Anson Ash.

He carries a baseball on the plane like a momento stress ball (1x03).

He eats...a lot, literally thinks with his stomach, seemingly indiscriminately (#you could just pull up a chair to the buffet). Stale Peeps, weeks old sandwiches, rewarmed burritos, anything from the minibar, etc. Maybe he was a smoker in the time before and it killed his sense of taste. Or he just has an iron stomach from his time on active duty. In any case, food seems to be his unconditional OTP. I request a GIF supercut.

He seems to know a bunch of field operatives (Lester, Sharon, John the ME, Muntz, Beck from containment) from various Orbital teams, perhaps even worked cases with a few, along with everyone in Maddox's office. He's very cordial so presumably he likes them, but in stark contrast at least half seem to decidedly dislike him with baiting antagonism, some openly hostile. Sharon: "why are you smirking at me Bryan?" Muntz, the Laghari lab tech: "I've come across plenty like you...men who play by their own rules." Beck: "They only send in the A-team when they want the agents to survive...easy for you to say, I'm the one who had to tell his wife". No wonder he feels a bit ostracized. Perhaps his reputation (impulsive?) proceeds him or perhaps he's been labeled an "unlucky" partner that misfortune follows so he gets kept at a distance?

The exception to the above seems to be Gary Garcia, the former scientist that helps hide George. May be former partners if the audio during credit rolls is any indication, and knows about Bryan's health / injections. They appear close. Perhaps because they share a mentality: both presumably injured in their line of work at Orbital, and they know what it means to have to rely on yourself.

When we meet Finola and Bryan, it seems like they've been working together for a few weeks, stateside at least (Finola's quote 1x02: Been here 3 weeks, feels like 3 years) and that he's had at least two Orbital partners prior, one (Julian / Jules) that died on duty, and the other creepy Dutch guy still living, Niels. How many more partners has he been through? Is it protocol that they get reassigned/shuffled so often to follow the debris, or so as not to form attachments "This job is about being alone, it's supposed to be...we're a blip in other people's lives", or does his personality not play well with others, like from the pilot when he tells Finola "it's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being."

Also in 1x01 when Bryan says, "So are we now saying the debris pulled [Kieran] from the ground and added meat to his bones" and Finola says no, he was cremated, Bryan looks almost disappointed like he was momentarily more hopeful than pragmatic. At first I thought this was just a lead up to introducing the fact that George Jones was alive, but maybe another plot point is that Bryan has lost someone in duty he wants back.

He carries a picture in his front pocket of a woman with some Persian/ Farsi(?) or Urdu(?) written on the back. It's hard to tell by the script, it could be neither. When confronted by that, his clone says "I can't let it go." Old flame that was lost? Or a partner of a fallen service member killed in action —I've lost brothers— that he couldn't save (is that part of Bryan's dark guilt / grief)? Civilian casualty of a Marine mission? In the pilot when he tells Isla "you have to tell her how much you need her, I know from experience...You will not be able to forgive yourself if you don't" is Bryan thinking of this woman?

EDIT: considering the next episode is called "Asalah," which could be a woman's name, maybe that's part of the text on the back of the photo. Pure speculation.

He counts on himself to be level and composed when it comes to his emotions and apologizes when he isn't. He loses that composure in the pilot when Isla talks about family therapy and fighting with her mother after Kieran's death: "I knew someone like her once." Was Bryan referring to himself, has he been through post-service therapy? Perhaps he developed a rift with his family or left home at an early age like she did?

Bryan would be great at pub trivia night. He always seems to have an odd fact ready about NASA tech, native legends, an article about a historical building that he read, Fleetwood PA, etc. He doesn't seem the type to keep facts on standby to impress, so perhaps he's a secret bibliophile even though Finola hassles him for not reading case files.

"Fin: Maybe we should run some more tests before we continue/ Bryan: I will cut bait if you want to / Fin; let's just look out for each other" 1x02 Bryan seems more cautious than impulsive, he does a good job of listening to Finola's concerns. Is that from experience? Did he get overconfident, mishandle debris, and get permanently injured, hence the frequent blood work and injections?

"This man saved my life." Why does Bryan trust Maddox implicitly? And when Maddox says in 1x07 "Investigate quietly. I want to keep the lights off. I don't want to lose anymore lives, Bryan, okay?" is that a word of warning specially for him? Does he have a body count? (see afforementioned question of frequent work partners turnover and having an unlucky reputation)

Bryan in protective of Finola when the CIA taps her apartment. It's the straw that turns his allegiance from his agency to his partner.

I still can't place why Bryan carries a baseball — it seems like it could be a red herring, but I can't get over the visual of Maddox playing catch with Dario and reading into it as some sort of surrogate bond — or why he has a chain around his neck (1x05). It's not service tags and probably not a ring, it's some kind of pendant: a large loop encircling a dull, perhaps tarnished, gray metallic disc. A patron saint? A piece of shrapnel? A piece of debris? Unclear, but it definitely has texture or an etching.

Top Bryan Quotes

"That's the job. Impossible." 1x01 Pilot

"We are supposed to be blips in these people's lives, not memories." 1x04 In Universe

"It's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being." 1x01

"Zippo lighters, Pyrex glassware, Crayola crayons, and of course Peeps. Insane for peeps, cracklike...we owe the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a great deal of gratitude and I am not afraid to say it." 1x02 You Are Not Alone

"I've been thinking, [about] Finola.. if MI6 knew her father was still alive they would take her out of here. We need to get home before this becomes an issue...this is going to affect her." 1x03 Solar Winds, when he's not sure how her father will affect her empathetic-based decision-making

Craig: "You hated the creepy Dutch guy." / Bryan: "He was adorable."

"Well, one of my tips for survival, Muntz, is always let the other guy touch the debris first." 1x03 So is that what happened to Garcia?

To Finola "I realize I tend to forget that there's still magic to discover in the world. But not you." 1x03

"There are things that you understand about life that I don't, and I respect that. But there are things that I know that you will not find very palatable...I am going to focus on the people that we're saving and not the ones that we can't." 1x04

"If we don't act, we might not be able to stop the terraforming. There's no way we're going to be able to win all these, and I know that every cell in your body right now is screaming for you to do what you think is right. I need you to go against that. I need you to trust me." 1x04

"Finola's capable. I trust her instincts." 1x08 Spaceman

"I'm running on sugar and coffee for the rest of the day" 1x07 You Can Call Her Caroline, but really isn't that Bryan everyday?

"When I tell you that I understand, it's not empty...I lost brothers. It destroys families. There are people who can help you with what you're going through right now...There is a way to get back from this pain. I was where you were, and the darkness almost ended me. And somebody put out his hand... I want to be there for you." 1x07

"I'm trying to get back to someone. It's very important to me." 1x09 Do You Know Icarus?

[jay-and-dean]

Same 1/4  Same eyes

By Roonyxx and Jay-and-dean

Pairings : AU Dean x reader, Dean x reader

Summary : Two Deans… What could go wrong ?

Warnings : Smut, Angst, hurt (and jealous) Dean, hurt AU Dean, hurt reader… hurt everyone. Swearing, Alcohol.

Wordcount : 6k

Note : This is a collaboration beetween both of us. We can’t both edit the same post, so we decided we would post 1 chapter/2 each. So if you want to read chapter 2, it will be edited on @roonyxx​ ‘s blog… TOMORROW.

We both worked as much on this story and it’s the result of both our brains but also both our hearts.

Please, if you want to show love for this story, don’t forget we were together in this.

Roonyxx Masterlist

Jay’s Masterlist

_________________________________

Same eyes

The bunker was mostly silent apart from Dean’s occasional sighs and Y/n’s strongly beating heart, but only she could hear that… 

While the brothers had their noses buried in the old dusty books, she looked up to him, not realizing she was staring again. She couldn’t see the green of his eyes from here, this green she always got lost into, this green that had the power to light up the darkest days…

Dean didn’t notice she was studying his face again, he never really did. And, when he finally caught her doing it from time to time, he always failed to recognize the expression in her eyes. He just smiled, loving her kindness bathing him.

This time, she was going to allow herself to catch his attention, like she dared to do sometimes, just saying something nice to see him smile… It was a move she saved for the moment she just needed him to look back, like right now. 

But she didn’t had the chance to talk, as the entire bunker started to shake. 

“What the… Dean ? You feel that ?” she said, when the two hunters frowned and looked around.  

A bright light made them avert their eyes, books started falling from the cupboard and the lights started flickering. As soon as the disruption started, it ended. 

The room was empty before, apart from the three hunters, but now two more persons occupied the place. Two more Winchesters to be precise. 

“We did it.”

“Dean?”

“Sam?”

“Sam?”

“Dean?”

“Okay what the fuck?” Y/n piped up. Her eyes couldn’t decide where to look first. 

“Who are you? I mean… obvious but from where are you?” 

“They must be from another world, now that God is tearing them down one by one.” Sam moved closer to his doppelganger.

“Our world exploded, we just made it out in time.” Other Dean said.

Y/n was looking at Sam, well not the Sam she knew. This one was more sophisticated, had a completely different style, from his man bun tied on the back of his head to his bare ankles which made her nose scrunch in discomfort. 

She didn’t notice the pair of green eyes on her while she was judging Sam’s silk scarf. When she turned to look at the other well dressed Winchester her eyes crossed the familiar green she loved so much, but these were different. They seemed lighter, they didn’t carry so much remorse and pain in them. But the way he was looking at her, it made her look down at her shirt self consciously. 

“What are you looking at fancy boy ?” she grunted.

He seemed to snap out of it and came closer, grasping her hand in his, bringing it too his face to sweetly kiss her knuckles, “And you are ?” 

She frowned slightly at the gesture.

 “Uhm I’m Y/n” she answered. 

His voice, it wasn’t like the familiar deep rumble she loved so much, it was higher, he sounded somehow more excited and curious. 

Dean stepped between them, looking at this other version of him, he huffed, “Okay, I need a drink, who else ?”

They all moved to take a place at the wooden library table, the two sets of Winchesters sitting opposite of each other while Y/n sat at the head of the table, her head moving between her Dean and the other Dean. 

“This is crazy…”  

Man bun Sam looked at his regular version, “So this is where you live ?”

Sam nodded his head, “Uhm yeah.”

“So this is where your hunting operation is based ?” 

“Well I mean it’s not much of an operation” Sam scoffed.

Dean chuckled at his brother, “We do just fine, we hunt monsters all over the country.” He looked proud at his mirror self.

“And you ? You work with them ?” The light rumble asked her, ignoring Dean’s bragging for a second, focusing on her, like she was actually the only person in the room. 

“Uhm well I wouldn’t say work, we don’t get paid or anything but yeah, I’m part of the team.” She chuckled at the thought of getting paid for hunting.

“Wait, you don’t get paid ?” Other Sam held the beer in his hand with his pinky outstretched, looking at the three of them.

“You d-do ?” Dean questioned. 

The alternate universe men both nodded their heads.

“Wow that’s just…” Dean scoffed and shook his head.

Y/n noticed in the corner of her eye that the new Sam and Dean kept looking at her like she has something between her teeth. 

“What ? Do I have something on my face or something ?” she asked, now slightly annoyed.

“No ! Uhm no, we were wondering, are you family ?” Other universe Dean questioned.

“No, I’m just a friend.” Although she would gladly take on Winchester as her last name, she knew it was highly unlikely to happen. 

“And you live here too?” said that weird version of the man she loved, bending a little more on the table to dive his piercing eyes deeper in hers, his bracelet hitting it on a delicate tinkle.

 “I do” she nodded her head.

“And those two ? They don’t bother you too much?” His plump lips curled up into a smirk.

“They can be a pain in the ass but it’s manageable” she said jokingly. 

“I bet you can handle them just fine.” His smile was like it was just for her. She thrived in his attention, putting her hand on his arm. 

“Oh my you have no idea.” 

She was intently looking at his face, counting his freckles, would they connect in the same way as Dean’s ?… She suddenly realized his eyes were looking at her lips intensely. It made her blush as she looked down at the table, confused.

Dean was looking at Y/n and other Dean. If he keeps staring at her like that I will punch him. Why is she blushing like that? He sipped from his beer as he kept an eye on the two of them.

He cleared his throat breaking their little moment, “So… Dean, no wife or girl or anything back in your world ?”

Other world Dean’s eyes switched to Y/n briefly 

“Uhm no, I mean we have dad, but we got seperated in the rift, so…” the stranger said.

Normal Sam’s head snapped towards the fancy version of his brother.

“Your dad is still around?”

“Yeah he pretty much build up an entire empire  from scratch” white shirt and piercing glares Dean stated. 

“He likes to spoil us, always having his private label scotch at hand.” Man bun Sam said with a gentle smile.

“Sp-spoil you ?” Dean was baffled. Dean was more hoping to hear about a girlfriend or something so this other version of him would back off from Y/n.

Real Sam and Dean looked questioning at each other. But let the matter go, for now.

“What are we going to do with them ? Can we keep them ?” Y/n said jokingly to her boys.

“I would be glad to stay with you, Love.” The white of his shirt matched his teeth when he gave her a dazzling smile.

He was looking at her like her Dean never did, like he probably never will… And, if, at first, that made her slightly uncomfortable, she decided maybe she deserved to enjoy the attention just a little for now, and a radiant smile appeared on her lips.

“Oh would you, now ?” Y/n played along with this gentleman Dean’s game. 

He nodded his head as he licked his lips, pupils dilating a little. 

Dean stood up from the table, a scowl on his face. Seeing himself at the table was enough, but seeing himself flirt with Y/n was making him nauseous. Was she really going to fall in the trap of those stupid smiles and this immaculate shirt ? He needed to get out of here, to think, to breathe, and to rest his tired eyes… 

“They can stay for now, but now way they are gonna live with us.” He grunted. “I’m gonna start make dinner for us all.”

Y/n frowned at her Dean’s behavior. “D. ? You okay ?” 

He gave her a sarcastic smile, not realizing how aggressive it can look for her. 

“Peachy Sweetheart” with that, he left the war room.

Sam rose up from his chair too. 

“Uhm Y/n, I’m gonna get Sam here settled in a room, will you show this Dean his ?”

“I will Sammy.” She gave him a kind smile despite the thorn in her heart, as the set of Sams left.

“So you will give me a room ?” Other Dean smiled at her, his warm grin failing to erase the frown on her face this time.

“Yes, but we can finish our beers first” she mumbled.

“Can I ask a question?” New Dean asked.

“Uhm yes ?”

“Dean is he always so… grumpy ?”

She started to pull at the label of her beer. It wasn’t the first word that came in her mind when she thought of him. Dean was many things, many incredible things. But yes, he could be. Mostly when he was hurt, confused, tired ; and she often understood easily what shadow was darkening his soul… But not always. And when she didn’t, just like now, it made her feel so far away from him. And the snug friendship she lived in suddenly felt unfounded. 

“Not always he is just… he has a lot on his mind and went through a lot of things.” She looked up at him and wondered… “Did you go to Hell ?”

 “Hell ? No.”His eyes widened.

“Purgatory ?”

He shook his head once again. 

“You mean he… he did ?” he asked with a concerned frown.

She looked behind her to the kitchen, like she could see through the walls.

“Forget it.” 

“Wow he must have one tough soul” he scoffed. 

A small smile formed on her lips, thinking of how brave and strong her Dean was, how special. 

“Yeah… the strongest, like diamond” she stated a little dreamingly.

“You care a lot for him, huh ?”

She downed the last bit of her beer, nodding at his assumption.

“I do, he is my best friend. He’s like… family.”

“Yeah, those kind of people are important in this life…” He said as he finished his beer too.

“I…  I’m just going to check on him before I show you your room, okay ?” Y/n asked as she stood up from the table. 

He gave her another charming smile as he nodded politely, but she was already heading to the kitchen, absorbed by her worry.

“Of course, Love, I’ll wait here…”

Y/n entered the kitchen putting her empty beer bottle away. Dean was stirring in a pot on the stove, his back on her.

“D. ? You okay ?”

He didn’t look up from his pot as he answered her.

“Peachy.”

She hated that word, because Dean only used it in an ironic way. She moved closer, touching his arm so he would look at her.

“What’s wrong ?” she insisted.

“I just don’t trust them.” Dean let out in a big breath. 

 “But they are literally you and Sam ?” Y/n frowned.

He dropped the wooden spoon and turned to her, his back straightening. 

“No they are not ! With their fancy clothes and planes and good manners. We are not the same and you know it !” 

Y/n stepped back a little at his outburst, he was always so defensive. She looked up to search his green eyes but found only black there. She took a step back and her hand away from his arm, he didn’t wanted her there, so she would give him space. 

She couldn’t know space from her was the last thing he needed, after all… 

“Okay, I’m sorry…” she stated. “Do you need some help with the cooking?”

“No I’ve got it” he said, turning back to his pot. “I think I can handle some mac and cheese. Don’t you need to show Romeo out there to his room ? Dinner will be ready in an hour.”

Y/n huffed, he would never let her in…

“Fine.”

Leaving the kitchen, she took a deep breath, she needed to stop being that affected by Dean’s words, his silences, everything. She walked shaking her head, she would deal with the heartbreak later.

When she entered the library, a radiant grin welcomed her, Dean’s grin… almost. He had taken off his beige jacket and was moving his spotless white sleeves up, patiently waiting for her. 

 “So, a room ?” she forced a kind smile but after a second, nothing was forced about it anymore.

His face was so genuinely warm that she just forgot her urge to cry.

She guided him toward the room she had chosen for him : not too close to the the brothers rooms, solicitous about their comfort. 

This room looked a lot like Dean’s one, with no red bricks like in Sam’s and her room. She opened the door for him, and tuned on the light.

“There’s no fancy things” she stated, aware that a man that owned planes must find this room a little uncouth.

But, as he looked around, not a hint of disdain appeared on his face. He just bended a little to touch the bed, like her Dean would have done.

“The mattress is really comfy” she said, her eyes studying his back and the way his muscles stretched underneath his crisp white shirt.  

He looked so much like the man she loved, only… 

“Well definitely not as… spacious as my old room but, knowing you’re here, somewhere in this maze, makes it a warmer place. If you need anything, or company, it would be a pleasure, Y/n”

…Only this man actually made her feel special, and… wanted ?

Something dragged her to him, strongly ; and he made her feel confident enough to dare things that took a long time with her best friend. So she got a little closer, searching his face without even hiding it, and, shyly, touched his hair from the tip of her fingers. 

His dimples appeared and the deep green of his eyes made her drown for a second. He let her touch him, easily. Her Dean did too, it was not like she couldn’t get close to him… But not like that. Her tender gestures were always hidden behind friendly moves, or fake indifferences. 

Now she was standing straight in front of that version of the man she loved, silent, lost in the depth of his glare, her hand reaching for his head.

“Is your mattress as comfy as this one ?” he asked softly. 

“It is…” she whispered, not used to react to advances.

“Good” he smiled again. “If it wasn’t, I would have shared mine with pleasure. In fact, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t mind sharing it every night.”

She took her hand away, hearing him mutter a polite apology. What was she doing ? What did she want ? 

“Dean…” she murmured, a little disturbed at the use of this name she cherished. 

She had to say something. Her gestures, her insistent glares, she could have given him ideas, it wasn’t right.

“Yes” he smiled again, getting a little closer. 

“I… My heart belongs to someone. I don’t want you to imagine…” she shrugged shyly, looking down.

But his hand brushed against her chin to make her look up. 

“It’s okay” he stated sincerely with a reassuring nod, but his hand stayed on her face, cupping it almost lovingly.

“You don’t even know me” her murmur died in her throat.

“I know you’re beautiful” he said a little lower, closer to her Dean’s voice. 

Her heart missed a beat at hearing this voice say that, this hand touching her face, this face so close to hers…

“You remind me of someone I knew” he admitted. 

“It’s so weird…” she gently shook her head, closing her eyes for a second. 

“This is weird for me too” he nodded, letting go of her face, to put his hand in the pocket of his fancy pants. 

She looked at his wrist, at the bracelet around it, and her eyes lingered on the dazzling white shirt he was wearing. By the time her glare found his face again, she had lost every coherent thought.

She blushed at what she was about to say. The room suddenly really hotter than she remembered, and the lights softer…

“Can you…” she cleared her throat but his face encouraged her. “Kiss me ?”

A large grin appeared on his face.

“I can do that” he stated, already bending a little. 

Her breath got stuck in her lungs when his plumb lips crushed on hers. She had spent her days and nights dreaming about that for so long. Still, this wasn’t the man she loved…

She forgot that for a second when his pillow lips captured hers ; and, when the tip of his tongue gently caressed her lower lip, she forgot everything.

His strong hand grabbed her neck to keep her close, fingers tangling in the little free strands of her hair, as she opened her mouth.

He didn’t hesitate for a split second, he didn’t tremble. He kissed her like he had spend his life kissing her lips, like she had been made for him to kiss her.

She let out a discreet moan as her hands allowed themselves to wrap around him, enjoying every delicate move of his lips, every caress of his tongue. Finally tasting him, finally feeling this love she craved…

“DINER !” Dean’s powerful voice woke her from her dream, her Dean’s voice.  

She gasped a little, realizing what she was doing, and the other universe Dean broke the kiss, licking his lips.

“Well…” he said softly. “I hope you’re hungry, Love.”

Y/n’s heart started beating again, and the nickname made her frown. All she could do was smile in gratitude, silently begging him to keep what happened for himself. 

The table was set in the library. Five plates on the wooden table, last time it happened was when John and Mary were reunited here. The Winchesters together… and her, as usual. 

The fancy version Sam was already sitting, looking at the big saucepan with a slightly disgusted look. As Y/n walked to her usual place, next to her Dean’s, she felt a hand on her back, the hand of that stranger she just kissed, and a shiver ran down her spine.

Dean didn’t miss that gesture when he entered the room with fresh beers. Just like he didn’t miss the look on her face. Something was on her mind, she was a little flushed, like when he complimented her. Maybe that annoyingly rich version of him complimented her on something, his stupid smile catching her eyes. Dean hated it of course. She was his best friend, his Y/n… right ?

The dinner seemed too long to everyone. 

To Sam, because watching this fancy version of him was making him uncomfortable. It wasn’t enough that the man took off his “pure silk” scarf to eat, but on top of that, he was clearly eating mac and cheese for the first time in his life, thanking Dean for cooking, a disgusted pout poorly hidden on his face.

To Dean, because he was torturing himself, like Dean Winchester always did, with the idea that he could have done better, been better… Made money ? Saved more people… Be nicer to Y/n, too. He spent the dinner watching her avoid to look at him, while she was smiling back to the other him.

To Y/n, of course. She wasn’t hungry anyway, she never was when she was upset. She knew that her best friends knew that and would notice, so she forced herself to eat a little, asking herself how she could be so reckless to ask the man that only got there a few hours a go to kiss her… It wasn’t really a habit of her. 

But he made her reckless, and heedless and, somehow… selfish. 

Why should she care about what other people thought ? Life had finally given her a band-aid for her broken heart.  

Her eyes drifted on the man she loved. He was frowning, his face totally closed, eating in silence with an annoyed expression she knew all too well. Then, feeling a brush on her hand, she turned her head to the same face, smiling kindly at her, showing those wrinkles around light and attentive eyes.

She couldn’t know that it was precisely the tender gesture that caused the frown, and the warm smile that annoyed Dean. 

So she just wrapped her broken heart in that version of Dean’s attention, and the second she decided to indulge in the new Dean’s somehow loving eyes, she stopped suffering. 

She wanted to kiss him again, she needed it, so she will do. Easy as that…

When she got up to clean, Dean didn’t let her, as usual, taking her plate from her hands to wash it himself. She rarely had time to wash anything other than her own clothes or room. The brothers were so used to manage everything that they never let her take care of anything.

But when Dean took her plate from her hands, it was always with a little smile, a kind word. Not this time.

“Let me” he just stated without even looking at her. 

She looked at him while he walked to the kitchen, hearing in the back the slightly snober version of Sam ask his double self about the bunker books and artifacts, offering to share their knowledge. 

“I need a drink” her Dean grunted, coming back in the room.

Of course he did. Dean closing up meant Dean taking a glass of whiskey and stare at the bottom of it, like it was a better friend than her. 

“I’m going to bed” she stated without another word. 

“I think the whole universe trip tired me too” said the white shirt Dean, getting up.

Her heart raced in her chest at just the idea of his lips on hers again. He gave her a discreet knowing corner smile and she felt her hands becoming moist. 

As she always did, she walked to Sam first, kissing the top of his head gently, then to his brother. This was one of her favorite moment of the day because she could do that precise gesture : She walked to Dean, who was standing in the front of the little table on the corner of the room. She put her gentle hand on his shoulder and got to her tiptoes to put a kiss on his temple. 

“Goodnight guys” she said as usual, filling her lungs with Dean’s smell.

“Goodnight Sweetheart” Dean answered, holding back his usual wide smile. 

The second Y/n turned in the corridor, out of their sight, she stopped, her heart pounding in her head. Her ears on alert, she waited a few seconds, and, as she anticipated, Dean appeared behind her. 

Not her Dean, but this version of him she could have, this version she could bring to her by the collar of his white shirt and kiss… 

And so she did.

He gasped a little but his surprise didn’t last long, and before she can fully acknowledge the taste of beer on his lips, he pushed her against the wall. Invading her craving mouth with his hungry tongue right away.

Her hands flew to his neck, devouring every inch of his skin with her fingers, slipping them in his collar to feel the soft skin of the part of his back she could reach and his collarbones. The open buttons of his white shirt allowing her to push it open a little more. The muscles of his shoulders were moving deliciously and she held back a moan. His pillow lips were the most delicious thing she ever taste, light scruff scratching her chin.

He crushed his strong body on hers, from his thighs keeping her legs still on the grey tiles, to his chest, making her feel his crotch on her. 

“Oh f…” she breathed out in his mouth, the feeling of his growing erection against her sending electricity right between her legs.

His lips left her mouth for a moment, going down her neck, his breath burning her skin.

“Y/n” he murmured, and shivers hit every nerves of her body. 

She felt him grow harder against her, twitches after twitches, reacting to her touch like no men ever did ; and a new kind of dizziness hit her.

He looked like that man she craved, he smelled something like him too, even if details were different. Her love was making her drunk, but not enough to forget her Dean could actually walk here.

“Come here” she whispered, grabbing his wrist harshly. 

She pushed him in her room, closing the door cautiously behind her. Voices were screaming in her head. The voices of doubt and fear, and her own voice asking her what she was doing…

But Dean, this Dean, took two determined steps toward her, wrapping his strong arms around her to kiss her more, this time letting his throat grumble in a growl. 

“Y/n… Y/n…” he kept saying.

She was lost in the deepest dream, like the ones she had sometimes about Dean, except this one was real… 

He grabbed her waist, pressing her against him like the lack of friction could kill him and she thought about all this times he had done that with other girls… About all those time he had grown hard in the room next to hers while she cried… 

It is not this Dean… She tried to remember, but his teeth grazed a precise point at the base of her neck, a point she didn’t even know, that no man ever touched. It was clearly directly linked to her core so she let out a surprised moan. 

“Dean !” 

“Mh… Yes, that’s it, Love” he smiled in her neck, sucking more on that little erogenous part of her.

She started to pant, letting her head go back to give him an easier access to her.

“Your mouth…” she breathed out, melting in his strong arms.

“Yes ?” he almost chuckled, walking slowly to the bed, careful not make her fall, as she was so lost in his arms

“I love it.”

“I know” he murmured, tenderly claiming her mouth again.

She felt his perfectly manicured nails graze her back. His hands flattened between her shoulder blades, they felt even more giant here, like they could hold all of her. She couldn’t focus on anything : the kisses of his mouth, of his hands, the pleading of his manhood crushed against her. 

His hands went up, until she had to let go of his lips for a second to let him take off her shirt. 

“I love your body” he said even before his eyes went down on her, and grazed that bad scar on her side from her very first hunt with his thumb.

She shyly started undoing the buttons of his shirt. 

“I really love yours too” she admitted, the line between her Dean and this one becoming a little more blur as she pushed his bleach white shirt down his broad shoulders. 

She bent to kiss his chest, palms gently landing on his velvety soft muscular sides and a smooth slow moan passed her worshiping lips. 

When his hand lifted her chin, she lost herself in his eyes, and let him push her on the bed.

“Dean…” she whispered, chanting the name of the man she loved for years, tricking the man with her as much as her own heart.

“What do you want, Love ?” he smiled again, crawling over her, leaving a trail of hot kisses on her stomach. “Tell me.”

“J-just… take me” she moaned, eager, her hands going in his hair, messing with it a little.

As she was running her hand through the soft strands of his hair, she noticed the man between her hands now looked exactly like her Dean… 

“Yes…” he groaned, letting her change his look, like he didn’t even notice, to open her belt with one hand, landing on his other elbrow.

While he was slowly going down to take her pants off, she got lost in her thoughts, enjoying the light touches of the man above her. She often imagined sex with Dean, in the steamy warmth of the shower, passionate and quick, in the lonely comfort of her bed, slow and loving, sometimes during long rides, in the back of the Impala, hard and fast… 

But nothing really prepared her for the real thing.

And right now everything was overwhelming. His kisses on her lower stomach, his finger crooking in her pants and panties to take them down, the nibbling in her inner thighs…

“Dean…” she repeated, her heart begging without knowing for what.

The gentle bites in the inside of her spread thighs was making her crazy, panting and touching her own breasts. And she wondered how he could just be right with everyone of his moves.  

His burning mouth went a little higher, kissing the junction between leg and her core, and a gasp escaped her mouth, followed by a strangled moan when he kissed her folds.

She looked down, and seeing Dean between her legs made her suddenly a bit nervous, she squirmed, pushing him slightly. 

“ I need you up here” she whined.

And he obliged, crawling on her leaving a trail of open mouth kisses and little bites.

He sat up quickly, getting rid of his fancy pants and white underwear. This was Dean Winchester’s body, kneeling on the bed between her thighs. So when he was about to move down on her again, she sat up a little, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Wait” she said, her eyes drawing a precise map of his body in her head. 

She will never see this again. Dean…

Her hand shyly traced his chest and stomach, going down to wrap around his shaft gently, the other leaning on his big thigh, memorising them, grazing her nails on it with the care of love.

“You’re so beautiful” she murmured shakily. 

“Mh…” he breathed out hoarsely, letting her enjoy him as much as she wanted, while his cock twitched a little in her hand. 

She moaned, licking her lips. She wanted to taste him, she wanted to make him come in her hand, with her mouth, slowly, and quick, in every ways possible. But, in the back of her head, the idea that this could be a dream, a sin… If she wanted that, it has to be now, it has to be once, and it had to be now. 

He bent to catch her lips before she could remember why this was a bad idea, and she let herself fall back on the mattress again. 

In the daze of desire and love, she somehow remembered she needed to protect herself. She didn’t know this Dean, his habits or anything, and there was no way she was doing this mistake.

“Condom…” she stated against his mouth.

“Where ?” he just said. 

She stretched her arm to point at her nightstand. Keeping some here wasn’t totally useless after all. He crawled on her to reach it, letting her enjoy the rolling muscles of his stomach and shoulders. 

She barely had time to register his move on himself, too engrossed by his beauty, by the shinning sweat in his neck, by his smell everywhere around.

“Y/n” he murmured, spreading her legs a little wider to take place between them.

Dean’s voice, Dean’s face and body… Y/n moaned a little louder.

“Love” he whispered in her ear when the tip of his cock pushed slowly inside her.

She bit his shoulder to avoid crying out. Dean was thick and strong… everywhere, and her body reacted way more intensely to him than to any one.

Nothing had ever felt like this.

A deep groan escaped his lips as he sank slowly but very deep between her throbbing walls, making her feel him inside every cell of her body.

“Fuck” she breathed out.

Y/n hadn’t had sex for a long time, the one night stand occasions being rare, and her love for Dean letting her mostly indifferent to other men… So she had to cling to his shoulders tight, hiding her face against his sweaty neck, to hold back the loud wails threatening to alert the whole bunker. 

“Are you alright, Love ?” he asked in a kiss.

He started thrusting steadily as soon as she nodded, not that fast but impossibly strong, his arms catching her shoulders from behind to prevent her to hit the headboard with each merciless strike of his hungry hips.

“F-fuck… Oh… Fuck” was all she could say now, her lungs crushed by his weight, his thrusts and the involuntary contractions of her body, struggling not to come just yet.

He was precise, expert somehow, and every time he hit perfectly right, she didn’t have to say anything, he dug his finger harder in her collarbones and hit again, and again.

Her brain went blank after a few more thrusts, everything went flying, every coherent thought, and every memory of this man not being the man she loved… She also forgot to stay silent as he groaned and gasped in her ear, begging her to come around him…

Dean put his empty glass in the sink, shaking his head. He knew her by heart, and there was no way she was already sleeping. 

He rubbed his face, he was already missing her, and the image of her getting on her tiptoes to kiss him goodnight made him smile.

He needed her for himself for a second, just a little moment hanging lazily in the night. So, as usual, he would just knock at her door, open it, find her reading some nerd book, she would push her round glasses up, smiling at him. And he would go to bed, his mind pacified by that cute smile she saved for him. 

He walked down the corridor, wondering if tonight she would invite him in a few seconds, to show him an hilarious meme on her phone, or to talk about her book…

“DEAN FUCK YES” she cried out, making him stop in his track a few feet from her door. 

At first, he didn’t realize. He couldn’t know this was the sound she made while her walls clenched around the other him, hard. He couldn’t guess so fast that she was convulsing under him, shaken by an orgasm so powerful, that her body was crushing him inside, milking him for all he had to give.

“Y/N” his own voice groaned loud.

And that precise moment, he knew. 

Dean Winchester’s heart was hit with the speed and violence of a bullet. Everything stopped for a second as the impact cut his breath. 

She had invited that other him in her bed, that man that was him without even being close to being him. She had taken her clothes and given her precious body to that stranger, all her secrets. She had let him sink inside her core, her legs spread for him, her mouth on his lips, breathing the air he breathed. She had let him mark her with his sweat and smell and cum.

Doing that, without even knowing it, she had loaded her gun, pointed slowly at his heart, and pulled the trigger.

And so Dean’s heart broke on that corridor, that invisible heartbreak blood spattered everywhere. He put a hand on his mortal wound, and he had to lean on the wall not to fall on his knees… 

Part 2 will be edited (tomorrow) in @roonyxx​‘s blog

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[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Mary Ruth Keller

Mary Ruth Keller has 42 stories at Gossamer, plus her stories are at AO3. She's written a number of short standalone stories, but she's thought through the X-Files mythology and written about it probably as much as anybody ever has. So if you want to dive into the mythology and all its drama, you need to go read her mythology fics ASAP. (But read this long, interesting interview first!) Big thanks to Mary Ruth for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Quite frankly, yes. The Kuxan Sum Cycle branches off the actual series following the Third Season episode Syzygy. I took the myth-arc as it stood at that time, post Nisei-731, and the agents in mid-Rift. Although I didn’t quite realize it when I started out, I was most interested in moving the myth-arc forward in a continuously unfurling narrative, one where Scully and Mulder became an effective investigative team who support each other as partners and friends again. After I started writing in my little corner of the X-F universe in 1996, there was a lot of stuff on the show that just happened, with no real storytelling logic to it I could fathom, but that seemed to be popular. I stopped writing in 2000 because I was frantically busy at my new job (which consumed far too many twelve-plus-hour workdays and weekends) and because my sister and I were trying to take care of my elderly, increasingly frail, Mother. So, I never expected, when I started writing in 2018 and posting again in 2019 (I reposted all my stories, in order, to AO3 and fanfiction.net, because Chermera would never have made sense without them) for readers to take an interest in myth-arc and character issues that the series writers had simply abandoned to go chase, well, anything else, especially if it made no coherent sense whatsoever. What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

The fandom was a lot of fun. There were many interesting, engaging discussions I took part in with other fans of the show, some of whom I am still in touch with.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

All of the above. I spent a lot of time discussing writing and characters with other writers on ATXC, except when I was actively working on my novels. Since I was doing basic research into microwave remote sensing of the Earth while working at the Naval Research Laboratory at the time – yes, I was one of those dreaded Department of Defense scientists the show had a love/hate relationship with – my writing happened at night and on weekends. Novels, especially the longer ones, take me about a year from first words on disk until release, which meant I didn’t have all the time to participate on-line as I would have otherwise. But, I enjoyed chatting with the fellow denizens of the Endies Board, and on the EMXC, Scullyfic, and Je Souhaite mailing lists. I’ve saved some of those posts and conversation threads on my older computers, where it’s fun re-reading them from time to time. What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

There were a lot of generous, funny, very intelligent fans involved with X-F back then (not that there aren’t now; there are, of course). I started writing because I wanted to get the myth-arc and the characters back on-track, the long-term story moving forward and the agents again being the smart investigators I loved hanging out with on Friday nights. But, outside of having read a lot of myth, literature, fiction, and non-fiction, I didn’t know enough about the mechanics of writing fiction. Several authors were willing to help out, some explicitly through E-mail conversations, and some from general comments about crafting stories that were posted to ATXC. I had a real problem with how I initially handled dialog, which I had some E-mail guidance on, that was very much appreciated. I also had two quite diligent beta readers, one an on-line fan, and one a real-life friend, both male, who helped me with the direction of the Scully-Mulder half of Anath. I was, at the time, utterly exasperated with how the pair of them had become such complete morons on the series, both totally incapable of investigating anything successfully, which was affecting my writing the characters in that story.   What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show? Ooh, boy. I’d like to say I started watching with the show with the Pilot, but I didn’t, quite. Tom Shales was the Washington Post TV critic at the time the Pilot aired – yes, not only was I a government scientist, I was living in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1992. He was intrigued by the characters and premise and found Duchovny and Anderson engaging while playing their roles. At the time, I was wrapped up trying to work on a PhD while still employed at NRL, so I tucked the review away, waiting until I had Friday nights free to check it out. I’m a great lover of science fiction, so I thought to give the show a try, eventually. [Lilydale note: I found a couple things Tom Shales wrote about The X-Files premiere in 1993: Fall 1993 TV preview article and a “Pilot” episode review.]

The first episode I sat down to watch was the First Season Darkness Falls, where Mulder and Scully get trapped at the logging camp with the Earth Firster, Doug Spinney, the logging executive, Steve Humphries, the Forest Ranger, Larry Moore, and the gooey green bugs. I was amazed by that story. It was as perfect a little piece of science fiction as I have seen on TV (except for one bit toward the end), with an environmental moral to it as well, where all the characters make good and bad choices, and they all suffer or succeed because of them.

What hooked me, really hooked me, were the first/second acts, specifically, Dana Scully’s actions, once they find the desiccated logger in the tree. The investigation is handled logically, in that it’s not the big male agent who goes shinnying up the trunk to look at the evidence while everyone else stands around watching and wailing, “Whatever shall we do!” No, it’s little Dana Scully who takes the ride to the upper branches. This made oodles of sense, in that she was this tiny woman whom two men could lever up that far with a rope, a hand winch, and pulleys. When she gets there, after grimacing (who wouldn’t, considering what she saw), she starts investigating. She does an on-the-spot post-mortem exam, while Mulder makes an ooky male-body-parts joke, but everyone takes her results seriously. I was thrilled. Here was a female character I could really relate to, someone who could hold her own in a difficult situation, unlike most of those on the tube, then or now.

I made a point, over the following summer, of watching as many re-runs as I could, catching up on the episodes and characters. The stories ran to science fiction and horror, which are my preference. Further, although there was an emphasis on the paranormal, several of the first season episodes were written so both Mulder’s wanting-to-believe-but-needing-proof intuitive, emotional approach and Scully’s logical, scientific, justice-oriented viewpoint each got the narrative coherently from initial crime to identifying and apprehending a suspect. It was some spectacular, complex writing, and I was hooked, hopelessly hooked. I discuss this some on my old author web-page, which still exists, courtesy of the Wayback machine), so I won’t belabor it. What got you involved with X-Files fan-fic? The shenanigans within the Third Season, quite honestly. The myth-arc wasn’t moving forward, as it had during the Second Season, which I really couldn’t understand. Carter had given us this bang-up start in the ABC Trilogy with all these new fictional possibilities to explore, but instead, bupkis. The MOTW’s were retreads with no depth or moral/ethical weight to them, except for Darin’s stories. The intelligent agents I had enjoyed spending time with while they pursued their oddball investigations were evaporating before my eyes. Mulder had always been this deeply intuitive character who cared about others and knew he could get it wrong, so needed Scully’s logic in their investigations, even if he didn’t always want to hear her observations and questions. But that character was being replaced by a cookie-cutter misunderstood anti-hero, who wasn’t thinking, just running off to chase butterflies, who was always right because he was The Guy. Scully, as an investigator, the little agent who could, was simply being sidelined. Sure, she’d argue with Mulder, but the writers had stopped giving her and her logical viewpoint a real role in their cases, Darin excepted, again. As the series went on, the Agent and Doctor Dana Scully I respected was replaced with this snappish little female whose only notable skill was running in high heels, who spent her time standing around with her arms crossed, and made pruney faces at Mulder if she were required to do any actual investigating. I hated that character, but, apparently, the all-male writing staff just loved her.

I knew about the on-line fandom, so I thought to check out if anybody else had noticed these “improvements.” First, I spent time at ATXF, discussing the changes with the series, that disturbed a lot of folks, not just me. Eventually, I tripped onto ATXC. There were writers there who understood the two characters, quite well, but weren’t that interested in the other problems with the show that bothered me deeply.

Like many fan-fiction writers, I decided to try to bring in, or in my case, bring back, what I was missing in what was being aired. Sins of the Fathers was the result. As I mentioned above, it was a far from perfect story, but I learned much putting it together, and it got a lot of positive feedback. So I kept writing and trying to improve what I wrote. Folks appreciated it, then and now, surprisingly, which was endless encouragement to keep going. What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom? With work and my Mom, as I mentioned above, I dropped out for a few years. My new job is still microwave remote sensing of the Earth, at a University-affiliated laboratory, not working directly for the government, but the NASA/NSF-type funding for the research I like to do is much harder to come by, so it takes up a lot more of my time to keep funded and working. Adding to that, I haven’t found places like ATXC in the 90’s or the Endies Board, but I suppose lightning only strikes once. Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Not really, no. I’ve enjoyed other TV series, but, I never felt those shows were just throwing away essential parts of themselves as X-F did, or, if they went bad, I simply stopped watching them. A fandom is, or can be, a huge time commitment, which, as I’ve noted, I don’t have that much of. I discuss this quite extensively in my author’s notes at the end of Chermera, so I won’t repeat myself. [Lilydale note: the long author notes are at the end of the story’s last chapter, not in the AO3 notes section.] Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

As a child, I loved reading myths and legends from many different cultures. So many amazing stories, so much that touches on truth. Greek myth, Norse legends, Islamic tales, Celtic fables, all of them. It goes without saying that discovering Tolkien’s fully-realized Middle Earth in my early teens was like falling into an river of endless delights.

In literature, perhaps the character I enjoy most is Sherlock Holmes. On television/in movies, I’d have to say: Beverly Crusher, (early) Dana Scully, Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5, Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan and (early) Aeryn Sun on Farscape, Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1, Hermione Granger, and most recently, Lagertha on Vikings. Dunno, there might be a pattern there. Possibly. Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

Yes, absolutely. I started rewatching the series when it ran on BBC America, enjoying the first two seasons again. I’d actually never stopped thinking about Mulder and Scully; I just lost the time to write about them, until two years ago, when I managed to land some long-term funding so I wasn’t staying up nights writing proposals every few months. I’d have a thought about how to advance the story that became Chermera, so I’d make a mental note and play with it in my head. I also have two more novels and a satyr play left to go in the sequence of stories I want to write, so I’m turning over plot-lines and potential arcs in my head all the time. Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom? I do read X-F fan-fic. Since the series has wandered so far away from what engaged me, and most fan-fic keeps up with that, I don’t read very much. As far as other fandoms, one was enough. Do you have any favorite X-Files fan-fic stories or authors?

Reaching back into the dark ages, I’d say Pellinor and Nascent. They may both be available on Gossamer. [Lilydale note: Fortunately, they are!] What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise? Zurvan is the favorite of my older stories. It, like Twelfth Night (Denha on AO3 to avoid confusion with another X-F story named Twelfth Night), builds on the past stories in their trilogies and brings the overall arc to new places. It’s fun to uncover surprises when writing and develop challenges to address in the future, which both of those stories did. Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I’d certainly like to. I had planned to write three trilogies with their satyr plays, each of them focusing on an aspect of the mythical Triple Goddess: Maiden, Matron, and Crone, in the X-F universe. Only, being me, I turned it around. Sandra Ann Miller (Samantha) is the Maiden, but I’ve just started telling that part of the arc with the transitional Anath and the first trilogy story Chermera. I’m approaching this trilogy as a coherent tale spread across the three novels, which is different from the other two. The Caroline Lowenberg Trilogy didn’t really get organized until Twelfth Night. It was only the third story I’d ever written, so perhaps I can be excused. The Dana Scully Trilogy was all interconnected, but that was more of an organic, rather than a pre-planned and deliberate, effort. I didn’t really grasp the full arc of what I was creating there until I was writing Chermera and looked back over the threads running from Rustic Suite through Anath. The next story in the Sandra Ann Miller Trilogy involves the exposure of the Japanese arm of the Consortium, but, I need to read up on Japanese history, myths and legends, and world view before I write it. After finishing and posting Chermera, that’s what I’ve been doing. The conflict between Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, and her ne’er-do-well brother Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the god of, among other things, storms, marriage, and love, as told in the Kojiki and the Nihongi (both written down in their near-final forms at the same time as we in the West were just recording the first skeletal versions of the Arthurian Legends), will definitely get worked into the Sandra Ann Miller Trilogy. I’m starting to put the arcs and plot-lines together, but, I’m not ready to begin writing yet. Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work? As I’ve discussed, I do. Part of why I take my time is because Mulder and Scully are owed real, challenging cases to solve - the two intelligent agents with their own approaches, strengths, and weaknesses, remember. Partly, because I have original fiction ideas I’d like to pursue. Trying to do the best I possibly can in the sheltered world of X-F where I attempt to create stories with universal themes, well-realized settings, coherent plot-lines, and original characters who resonate with my readers is practice for the original fiction. I’ll never write the Great American Novel (whatever that is), but I’d like to write stories that are as good as I can make them and fun for my readers, so I keep plugging. Where do you get ideas for stories? Reading and thinking, mostly. I try to look for ideas that haven’t been done to death, or different approaches to old themes. I have four original novels I scribble mental notes on. After I bring this myth-arc I’ve been working on to its (to me) logical resolution, I hope I’ll be able enough of a writer to get started on them. What's the story behind your pen name? Actually, it’s my real name. At the time I started writing, I didn’t think to do anything else. On ATXC and Gossamer, I wrote several of the shorts that are separate from the Kuxan Sum Cycle under the pen name Lise Meitner. She was a Twentieth Century theoretical physicist who explained nuclear fission, then was cut out of a Nobel prize because the judges of her day thought Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie were “enough” women physicists working in radioactivity to be so honored. [Lilydale note: here’s her Wikipedia page. Among many other fascinating things talked about there, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize 48 times in two different categories and had the 109th chemical element, meitnerium, named after her. She also escaped Nazi Germany in a plot involving trains, boats, planes, and an emergency diamond ring. You really ought to read about her.] Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

I’d shared the first five of my novels with my family back in 1996. They liked them, my sister especially. I’m not sure they knew what to make of them. I haven’t shown them to my in-laws, but, I think my sister-in-law found them on her own. We haven’t discussed them, as they aren’t her usual preference, which is Romance. One distant blood relation was thrilled to discover them on-line and wrote me about them. My sister, though, is my (self-admitted) biggest fan. When we were kids, she and I shared a bedroom, where I’d make up stories to tell her at night so she could fall asleep. She and I correspond regularly by E-mail (she’s in Florida and I’m in Maryland). Back while I was working my way through Chermera, she asked out of the blue if I was ever going to write any more. She was thrilled to hear I had been but she doesn’t have regular Internet access other than at her job. I made printed, bound copies of all my stories to mail to her last Christmas. She loves them, bless her. Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

I’ve sent Chermera to Gossamer, but, it hasn’t been updated since July 2018. All the rest of the stories are there.

At AO3, my stories are under: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrkeller. The Kuxan Sum Cycle is linked together at: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555492.

I’ve published the Lise Meitner stories under my own name there: Faustus Mulder; Late Night Thoughts on Evolution, Hard Times, and Lost Pets; You Just Don’t Understand; and Lux Perpetua. Since I could separate out the trilogies into their own cycle, it just made sense.

At fan-fiction.net, they’re under: https://www.fanfiction.net/~maryruthkeller

Again, the Lise Meitner stories are under my own name. Since fanfiction.net doesn’t have a linked series option like AO3, I’ve added a header to all eleven of the stories in the Kuxan Sum Cycle so far explaining the order. The novels all are tagged with thumbnail versions of the covers I made for them. Also, the literary quotes I started each chapter and begin and end each story with, are kept in the AO3 versions, but are removed at fanfiction.net to avoid potential copyright issues. Shakespeare, Christine de Pisan, the Popol Vuh, the Ugaritic myths around Anath, and others are all long out of, or never were in, copyright, of course, but, just to be on the safe side, I’m following fanfiction.net’s rules.

If folks care to write, I’m still at my old eclipse address: mrkeller@eclipse.net. Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Enjoy it, use it as an opportunity to make connections and expand your horizons as a storyteller. Fan-fiction was much more of a home-grown effort back in the 90’s than it is now, when there are how-to books, of all things. But, don’t get so wrapped up one forgets about real life. That’s where all the best stories are.

(Posted by Lilydale on October 27, 2020)

[bidnezz]

Revenant [1/5]

Pairings: Magnus/Alec, background Clary/Izzy, mentions of past Magnus/Camille

Rating: Mature

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Blood and Violence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Clave Politics (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Downworlder Politics, Betrayal, Revenge, Background Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood, Angry Magnus Bane, Light Romance, Mystery, Prophecy, Minor Character Death, lots of death

Summary: 

Alec has heard the legends of Magnus Bane. He knows all the tales and he’s read all the records of his downfall. The High Warlock of Brooklyn who became so hungry for power that he began to mistreat the very warlocks who sought his help. It’s been a hundred years since then, and when a sudden rift opening between realms brings an onslaught of lesser demons, so too does it bring Magnus Bane, insatiable and vengeful for the power and people that locked him away in Edom. As newly appointed Head of the New York Institute, it’s Alec’s job to protect the residents of New York from one of the greatest Demons he’s ever faced. Only, he has no idea how, and maybe things aren't what they seem.

Art by the talented: @abby0007

Beta’d by the wonderful: @squiggly-lines-on-a-page

Read on ao3

Something to note: This fic is extremely AU. I've fitted a lot of events that we know to be canon (such as dates of events happening) to fit my story, and the past events happened around the early 1900's, until present canon time. There are also many mentions of blood and wounds and lots of death in the fic, so please be wary if that's a no for you!

Chapter One

Rushing residents and evening traffic fills the bustling streets of New York as the surrounding sky begins to darken with the dusk of the setting sun. Nightlife begins as shadows emerge from the alleyways, and doors that lead to no good open with the creak of bad decisions. The Downworld rises to the occasion, drinks in-hand and smiles plastered. So, too, do the Nephilim of the New York Institute who patrol the streets to keep tabs on those unknowing of the dangers that lurk in the dark.

Alexander Lightwood stands alone, weighted with shoulders heavy and nervous energy surrounding him in his new office. 

Head of the Institute.

The words roll around his tongue, foreign in his mouth but synonymous with him now. It feels… odd. But welcome.

A knock brings him back, a light rapping of knuckles on the thick wooden door, followed by ebony hair and dark red lips encasing a grin that could only belong to his sister. “Alec,” she calls, her grin turning wry. “Or should I say Head of the Institute?”

“I’ve seen the position lost to better people than I, let’s not jinx this.” 

“People? Yes. Leaders?” Isabelle pauses for effect as she strides towards Alec, a dramatic flair he knows to always expect. “I haven’t seen a leader yet, more deserving than you, dear brother. You can be happy for yourself, Alec. Smile, gloat, live a little. Even in the confines of this tiny room.”

Hard as he tries, Alec can’t reign in the small smile that curves his lips. He won’t gloat, he won’t yell and cheer and celebrate. That’s not him. But he will allow himself to feel pride and happiness in this small moment in time with his sister, and he’ll lock it away as a cherished memory to strengthen their bond. This is a turning point for him, a chance to uphold the Lightwood name and make his parents proud. Finally, a chance for them to see exactly the type of leader they raised, a chance to prove that it was all worth it - will be worth it. A chance for him to look upon his mother’s face and for once see something other than barely concealed disappointment and contempt.

“Hey buddy,” A low rasp calls from the opened door to the office. Jace rests against the curved door frame, arms crossed and wide smile dimpling his cheeks. “Oh,” he starts, adjusting his posture to stand perfectly upright as he offers a small salute to Alec. “I guess I should be more proper in front of our new leader, eh?”

The twinkle in his eyes and the way his smile devolves into a shit-eating grin only pulls a small chuckle from Alec, and he reaches his arm out to grip Jace’s as he’s pulled into a rough, brotherly hug. It’s warm, comforting, and when Isabelle joins in - complete.

Right here, right now… this is the turning point for Alec. No more failing, no more letting anyone down. This is where his new life as a leader begins, where everything he’s worked towards shifts into what it was always meant to be. This is what he was born for.

So then why does it feel so empty?

There's a gnawing inside of his chest, a cavern of muddled introspection and half understanding. The goal was always this, the finish line has been crossed and his direction never clearer. But under the anxiety of being freshly anointed, if Alec were to peel away the layers of doubt and worry until he’s viewing his own satisfied ego, what else would he see? Happiness, of course, to some extent. Nothing more, and nothing less. Unfulfilled pockets inside of him that yearn in wonder, and desire for something more.

A mother’s love, perhaps. To be accepted and finally seen as enough. 

Yes. An affirmation from Maryse Lightwood herself, and Alec’s sure he’ll feel that last puzzle piece locked into place. ‘But for now,’ Alec thinks to himself as he watches Isabelle and Jace enraptured in a hilarious conversation no doubt at his expense, ‘I’ve got all I need right in front of me.’

With his day just beginning in the blossoming night, Alec prepares himself for the duties and responsibilities that lie ahead of him. 

On the other side of New York as the darkness creeps heavier, something more sinister begins to tear at the fabric that separates their realm from the rest.

---

A chime echoes through the halls of the Institute odd hours later, only a precursor to the dull bang as the wooden doors slam open to reveal a crowd of people in disarray. Alec, bent over a table in the main hall with the city’s layout and a small group of Shadowhunters, turns at the commotion brow raised and senses on alert.

“There’s a demon!” someone in the jumbled mess of bodies hurtling towards Alec proclaims. 

“He’s strong - too strong,” another one says with a gasp.

Jace steps forward, hand on the hilt of his seraph blade, the other on his stele. Prepared for battle, ready for a fight. “Where?”

Three voices begin to clamor all at once in a disastrous explanation that prompts Alec to step forward and raise a calming hand in the air. The voices stop, and Jace turns to him with a question at the ready. “One at a time or we won’t get anywhere. You,” Alec points towards the least frantic Shadowhunter of the trio, “what happened?”

The man winces as he takes a step forward, favoring the right side of his body. Red stains his clothes; it paints his pale face and each of his limbs. It’s blood, Alec notes easily, dried and congealing in some spots no doubt from the cold autumn wind on the way back to the Institute, but some of the wounds still bleed fresh. His blond hair is matted to his face with sweat and ichor and his lips are caked with a mixture of all three, none of it enough to hide the burgeoning purple bruises that are blooming on his face. If the man’s body trembles, Alec says nothing of it. 

“We were patrolling near Williamsburg,” the man begins, a slow nervous lilt to his voice. “There was an unusual spike in demon activity at dusk. We overheard residents saying it was a minor earthquake, but we didn’t believe that. We suspected it was related to the demons. And it was,” he mutters under his breath, more to himself than to Alec and the room now filled with curious Shadowhunters. “There was a horde of them, Ravener demons. We thought it was just a basic attack, we didn’t know why they were there, but we prepared to get rid of them anyway. It was in the middle of our fight with the demons that someone else showed up-“

“Magnus Bane!” sputters the man in the middle, specks of red flying from his mouth and smattering the floor. “He’s back. He’s back and he’s here for revenge! That's what he told us!”

A gasp echoes in the silent halls of The Institute, followed by the low thrum of chatter as Shadowhunters begin to talk. To the side, Alec catches Isabelle’s gaze, stony and reserved in thought, but sparking with worry for the day’s sudden turn of events. 

“Let’s get you guys cleaned up and healed,” Alec steps forward, stele in hand and iratze on his tongue.

“I-It doesn’t work,” the blond man whispers, shaking his head and peering up at Alec with furrowed brows. “We hid in the alleyways and tried to heal. Perhaps it’s the poison from the ichor, but I suspect it’s tied to the magic that Magnus Bane hit us with that makes our healing runes null.”

More chatter from the crowd of people, louder this time, and Alec nods once before turning to the person on his left. “Clary, see to it that they’re taken care of and bandaged properly. Triple check healing runes and make sure we get a full analysis report on all your findings.” It’s an order given with a tone Alec hopes conveys exactly what he’s thinking. He needs to know what’s causing the iratze’s to not work, he needs to know if it’s just a reaction to the ichor or something altogether more threatening. More than that, however, he needs discretion. Kept under wraps, with only Alec and trusted company to know the answers. With the way Clary keeps his firm gaze and offers a single, silent nod, Alec’s sure she understands. 

“Everyone else,” Alec speaks, loud and commanding. “Back to your duties.”

The room pauses, wary and hesitant with the new information discovered and seeping into every conspiracy forming in the back of their minds. They want answers, they want clarity, they want knowledge that Alec doesn’t yet have. Resigned to knowing they won’t get any more than this, they file out slowly with soft whispers and bowed heads towards one another. 

It’s only several seconds later when he notices the hesitation spread across the injured Shadowhunter’s faces, a look shared between the three of them. They’re brimming with the words they want to speak, information they’ve withheld, just barely. Only, they’re scared and Alec’s not sure if it’s a result of the situation they’ve just encountered, or the consequences they think they’ll have to face. Quietly, Alec steps towards them and grants a reassuring nod.

“Sir, Magnus Bane-” the Shadowhunter’s words catch in his throat. Alec hasn’t heard this name in years, not since training, and it already feels exhausted. “He didn’t let us leave with our lives for nothing. He gave us a warning.” There’s another pause, ominous in nature and the patience Alec composes himself with is waning thinner and thinner by the second. 

“Go on,” Alec presses, voice carefully neutral.

“He wanted us to relay to you that this is a Downworlder affair, and for the Shadowhunters not to meddle unless they’re prepared to begin a war with Edom.”

The words come out in a single breath, rushed and trembling. He suspects it was infinitely more intimidating and terrifying than it sounds coming from three battered and bloodied Shadowhunters, but the message is clear: Don’t get involved.

“Thank you,” Alec finds himself saying, thoughts already trailing into a plan of action, mind already gearing for only two options. The first, to take an observer's role in this newfound issue of Downworld battles. The second, to raise alert to the Clave and begin to fortify the Institute for the foreseeable attack once involvement is inevitable. Or perhaps a third option is available, Alec speculates to himself. 

Diplomacy. 

There’s very little he knows of Magnus Bane, what scraps of information left of him are withheld in Clave documents. He’ll gather up what he can find, form a case to present to an angry, vengeful Greater Demon, and see if some sort of reasoning can be made.

With a sigh, Alec thumbs away the blooming headache from his temples and heads towards his office, doubt already sprouting up in the corners of his tenuous plans. Nothing is for certain, of course. Who’s to say Magnus Bane will be a reasonable man with the quivering display he left for Alec at the doors of the Institute. The only thing he knows for sure is that he’s going to get to the bottom of what’s going on and take care of it personally, Greater Demon or not, New York is Alec’s city now. 

---

Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn for decades until his banishment to Edom at the beginning of the 1900’s, was frequently described as a hedonist. Reports on him vary from year to year. Some decades he remained under the radar, shielded from the eyes of the Clave. Others, he became notorious for begetting impish troubles between the classes. The only consistency found in any and all reports of the former High Warlock is the tendency towards extravagance and self-indulgence, with a craving for social gatherings.

Leaning back in his seat, Alec traces a finger along the case of his device and focuses on two words. 

High Warlock. 

He was obviously well-liked at some point in time, formidable enough to be deemed a worthy leader, and charismatic enough to be seen as an ambassador for other Warlocks. There must have been great strength at his hands, and greater support backing him to attain the level of priority that he gained.

So… what happened?

Power, clearly, and too much of it. The same Warlocks who hoisted him up petitioned to get him banished, cried his name in the streets of Brooklyn and swore his downfall.

And they made it happen.

Warlocks from all parts of New York flocked and rallied towards Brooklyn in hopes of seeing the demise of one Magnus Bane. Clave reports account for groups gathering outside of his apartment, banding together to peel away any protection shields cast up in defense. Among them, a leader: Lorenzo Rey.

The Clave watched from the shadows, vowed to not get involved in affairs they deemed less than worthy, but insisted on documenting it all. And Downworlders are the definition of unworthy in the Clave’s eyes. 

There’s a nagging in the back of Alec’s mind, a wonder if anyone tried to help, tried to stop it. If there was another way. 

But no, Downworlder affairs need not be meddled in, especially when Shadowhunters were never involved in the first place.

With a sigh, he sets down the reports and rubs at the bridge of his nose. What makes this situation any different? Magnus Bane threatened for Shadowhunters not to get involved. He sent a message back in the form of barely living soldiers who were just doing their duty, a message sent loud, but not so clear.

“Are you going to report this to the Clave?” Isabelle’s voice pierces through his thoughts, and Alec prides himself on only showing a fraction of surprise when he turns to face her.  

“Of course I am, Izzy. It’s my duty.”

His sister peers down at him from her spot on the corner of his desk, eyes scrutinizing every emotion that flickers across his face. She doesn’t seem appeased with whatever she finds. “You can wait if you want, Alec. You can see what happens next. Try your plans first and go to the Clave later with your findings.”

Alec scoffs. “And have my position rescinded for failure to uphold the most basic understanding of status? The Clave will know everything I know, because that is what is right. They’ll know the best course of action, because they know Magnus Bane and what he’s capable of.”

Isabelle watches him for several long moments, trying to read for any hint of something to give away any of the thoughts running through Alec’s head. When she receives nothing, she nods and reaches for the handheld with the last report Alec was reading, and holds it in front of herself. She skims the words on the page, traces a slow finger from picture to picture, before settling on one that she sets down in front of Alec with a smile.

“You know, for a Greater Demon who’s here to enact his revenge on the Downworlders, he’s actually quite handsome.” Her lips pull into a smirk, and her eyes await a reaction, but Alec gives her none. He simply shrugs and locks the screen of the handheld. “He was, at least. Who knows what he looks like now after a hundred years in Edom.”

And honestly, the last thing Alec wants to focus on is the physical features of a Demon here to cause chaos. He doesn’t want to think about the picture of Magnus Bane in Clave documents, drink in hand and that perfectly tailored suit fitting his body, smiling at the photographer with his dark-rimmed eyes. It doesn’t matter what Magnus Bane looked like then, or even now. The only thing that matters now is the information he’s managed to scrounge up from every instance of this Demon’s name in Clave history, and how he can use that knowledge to his advantage. 

Magnus Bane was cunning, sneaky, and smart in the early 1900’s. He was dangerous then, and Alec’s not going to believe that Edom did anything but magnify that danger after a century of letting his anger fester.

---

Moonlight spills through the windows, casts soft light along the path Alex takes as he makes his way, resigned, towards the infirmary. 

The halls of the Institute are sparse with Shadowhunters now gathered in the training hall and library in hopes of strengthening themselves for whatever battle they foresee coming. It’s all for naught, Alec thinks to himself as he recounts the lackluster conversation that transpired between him and his parents just an hour ago, accompanied by Inquisitor Herondale. 

“You’re to remain on the outside and cease any and all involvement in these Downworlder... squabbles.” Herondale’s voice had cut sharp and left no room for questions. Squabbles. That’s the extent that the Clave had watered this threat down to. A Greater Demon, capable of stripping away their ability to heal without the use of mundane technology. A Downworld squabble. 

“Alec,” his mother’s stern voice had cut in, low and severe, “you need to make it absolutely clear to everyone that they are not to expose themselves to any fight that Magnus Bane chooses to partake in. Any patrolling Shadowhunters are there for one reason, and one reason only. To observe and record.”

Yes, to observe and record. To keep an account of what happened for Clave history. More ammunition for Shadowhunters to keep themselves separated from Downworlders, and information to add to the files of warlocks the Clave already suspects are dangerous. Fuel to the fire, all wrapped up in the innocent guise of history.

It doesn’t sit well with Alec, being a bystander to the havoc a furious Greater Demon might cause. The Clave won’t step in, they won’t be a helping hand in all of this, and Alec hates to sit on the sidelines of what could possibly be the worst decision in the history of the Accords. 

But the Clave has the final say on any Shadowhunter involvement in Downworld affairs. The Clave is every bit as responsible as Alec for whatever presides in Brooklyn in the coming days. The Clave doesn’t want to stop Magnus Bane, so why should Alec?

Alec’s fingers wrap around the cool metal of the door handle when he remembers his mother’s face, the expression she wore so unabashedly in front of him. Disappointment so thinly veiled underneath all of that carefully crafted apathy. Disappointment for the way Alec offered his solutions to Inquisitor Herondale? Disappointment in the way Alec questioned the motives of the Clave for hiding in the background when they could find an alternative to be part of the solution? Disappointment in Alec, for becoming Head of the Institute, clearly unprepared and unwelcome by even his own mother?

The smile that graced his mother’s features when he first saw her had been enough for the newly awakened pride inside of him, seeking the tiniest shred of affirmation from his harshest critic. How short-lived it was. How quickly had that pride deflated into embarrassment when he began to speak of the attack from Magnus Bane and his mother’s eye shrouded themselves in disapproval.

Perhaps he could have done something differently today. He could have proceeded with a different plan of action that would have appeased Herondale’s thirst for non-consequential knowledge, if he had only known. But now he does, and though redemption is not far off, it’s going to be an uphill battle. 

He’ll do better.

With a steadying breath, Alec pushes open the wooden doors to the infirmary and steps in.

There’s the distinct sterile scent of Iodine, and far more lines of IV that are hooked up than Alec is used to seeing. They’re a back up, mostly, for when an iratze isn’t enough, or the wounds are too infected with ichor to properly heal, but even then…

The click-clack of heels on tile brings his focus to the lithe redhead who steps towards him with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. 

“It’s not the ichor,” Clary begins, wasting no time. She’s worked with Alec long enough to know he doesn’t think highly of beating around the bush or dawdling. “I was able to analyze the blood samples enough that I could detect a magical signature on all of them. Bane, of course, but it seems that the magic is keeping the wounds from healing. They’re not re-opening, so to speak, but they aren’t clotting and the stitches I’ve made don’t seem to be helping the process either. They just,” Clary inhales a deep sigh, and expels a shaky breath. “They just bleed. Not enough to drain them completely, but enough to cause substantial blood loss. With how much they’ve already lost and how much more they’re going to lose, they’re going to need several transfusions just to stay alive.”

Alec turns to face one of the Shadowhunters laying on the cold, white bed. There are bandages around his arms, patches of gauze scattered across his body and face and butterfly bandages to keep small wounds closed. But for every bandage, for every strip of white, there’s red that blots it. Small beads of blood that pool at each line of cuts until they brim over and cascade in a slow and steady spill of red that stains the sheets beneath. 

Three Shadowhunters in critical care, while not a huge blow, only paves the way for bigger hits in the future if Alec chooses to stand in the way of Magnus Bane. It’s not a risk he’s willing to take, to bet it all on the unknown, to subject the very same people who put him in this position to the torturous death sentence of blood loss. 

“What are we going to do, Alec?”

Clary’s voice is soft when she speaks, uncertainty replacing the confidence and assertion he’s so used to hearing. Yes, three Shadowhunters isn’t a big loss, but it’s an omen chilling enough that he doesn’t want to cause panic and worry within the Institute.

“We stay quiet about this. If anyone asks, the ichor and magic is causing a unique reaction that you’re working on a remedy for. They’ll be fine.”

They’ll be fine.

Even to himself, Alec sounds scared.

“Maybe we need to find Magnus Bane, we could talk to him and ask - “

“Ask what?” Alec snaps his attention towards Clary, who frowns up at him.

With a calculated pause, she surveys the room’s occupants. “We can ask him what he’s here for, what he’s trying to gain from this.” 

“He wants whoever sealed him away in Edom to pay.”

Clary’s brows crinkle together, and her eyes focus as she undoubtedly tries to recollect any information on Magnus Bane she’s heard of over the years. There’s not much to remember, not much spoken through word of mouth besides cautionary tales and warnings on why Downworlders must always be watched. The real meat of the situation is hidden in the files of cases over the years. Cases that litter Alec’s desk, pages of text that have been ingrained into his mind.

“Maybe we could help him,” She offers, timidly.

“Help him?”

“I know it sounds crazy, us helping a Greater Demon,” Clary begins. “We work on keeping the Downworld in order so to speak, right? We make sure that danger doesn't seep through into mundane territory, and so far it is. We can seek out Magnus Bane, see why he’s after these people, who they are, and what he’s trying to achieve. Maybe… Maybe helping him will bring more peace than leaving him to his own devices.”

Clary’s not wrong, at least to Alec she isn’t. It’s the better option, to help Magnus Bane with whatever mission he’s steering towards so he can be done with it. Get him out of the way before it becomes a bigger issue with the Clave. 

But the Clave. 

“The Inquisitor doesn’t want that,” Alec explains tersely.

Clary rolls her eyes and wears a common expression of distaste so many around him always do when the Clave is involved. “They aren’t here, Alec. The Clave only cares about the Law, with no regard to how it actually applies to all of our lives in the Institute. You’re our leader now. I understand you report back to the Clave, but they don’t have to know. At least not yet.”

It’s a temptation Alec won’t entertain for longer than a brief second. Going against the Clave is not an option. They’ve been given orders, and he’ll make sure they follow them. 

“We will not go-“

Alec’s words are interrupted by the high-pitched ringing of his phone that he answers immediately.

“Isabelle?”

“Alec,” There’s a loud crash that crackles through the receiver of the phone that instantly sets him on high alert. “Alec, he’s here. Magnus Bane, he’s come to Hotel DuMort with an army of demons. You need to come!”

“Hotel DuMort? What are you even doing there, Isabelle? You were told to stay out of this, you shouldn’t be anywhere near other Downworlders with Magnus Bane around!”

“Jace and I came to -“

There’s silence as the phone loses connection, and Alec can’t help the involuntary reaction of slamming his empty fist into one of the unoccupied beds of the infirmary. “Fuck,” he spits out, before shoving the phone into his pocket and making his way towards the door.

“I’m coming with you,” Clary shouts as she rushes to his side.

“You will stay here and stick to the plan, Morgenstern,” Alec grits through his teeth. 

“There is no plan, Alec! I’m not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs, giving people false hope when I can go with you and help.”

A moment of silence. A moment where Alec feels the heavy thud of his heartbeat in the palms of his hand where his fists are balled so tightly, before he exits the infirmary in quiet anger with Clary trailing behind him. 

---

There are screeches and screams that surround the Hotel DuMort as Alec and Clary gather closer. To mundanes, only quiet calm and the sounds of cars honking with idle engines fill the late night streets, but behind the screen of blissful oblivion lies something much darker, something far more inauspicious. 

Sparks of red shoot from one of the top floor windows, and Alec and Clary dodge the shards of glass that sprinkle down on them as they search for an entrance. Magic enchants the walls and tingles against Alec’s hand as he pushes through one of the side entrances not blocked off with deadbolts and hanging locks. It would be almost too easy for any mundane to just waltz in, and he’s sure under different circumstances this would be a red-flag for Hotel DuMort’s compliance with the Accords to be taken into question.

The room inside is dark and empty at first glance, but a gasp from Clary and the tip of his boots hitting something raised against the floor shows him that they’re not alone. 

A handful of lifeless bodies litter the floor in front of them, surrounded by darkness and sparks of electricity from the light sources that have been shot out and electrical wires exposed. Vampires. Demons. Nothing left alive.

It makes the fear of Jace and his sister being one of these figures all the more real, and he finds the weight of his feet carrying him faster towards the staircase door. Logically, he knows that’s not the case. He’d feel it through their bond if something happened to his parabatai, and he knows that Jace would throw himself into the line of fire first before he let anything happen to Isabelle. With Clary hot on his trail they race up the stairs, stamina and speed rune lighting up and fading quickly with the wave of their steles. It’s only a few quick minutes before they’re paused at the door to the 7th floor, only stopped by the body of a dead vampire blocking the entrance from the other side. With a grunt and a shove, Alec pushes the door open and they step through into a fight that’s already begun.

The sight of vampires greet them; teeth bared, claws sharp and blades in hand fighting off the demons that surround them, ash covering the floor they fight ont. Clary whispers his name, but he doesn’t turn to her, focused critically on the threats in front of them. Alec takes one step forward, close enough to the nearest vampire that he can almost get a word in, before he’s swiped at suddenly by a Ravener demon. 

He dodges the first attack with several hurried paces back and reaches for an arrow from his quiver, before the demon fizzles out before his eyes. The final blow in question is dealt by Clary, who heaves a breath and grins at Alec as she pulls her seraph blade back from the fading particles of the dying demon. It’s one miniscule victory short-lived, however, because in its place pour in three more from the broken windows that line the walls. Alec nocks an arrow into his bow quickly and chances a glance towards Clary out of the corner of his eye, who curls her lips back in a grimace and readies for a fight. 

Together, they take them out. One after another, an onslaught of demons rush and growl and shriek in attack. None of them get close enough to injure, though all of them try, and it’s not until the remaining few pull back and crawl through the windows that Alec realizes they’re not retreating for the sake of defeat.

“Upstairs,” Alec breathes, ragged. “Isabelle and Jace must be upstairs.”

“The demons are no-doubt being called back by Magnus Bane. We need to get up there.”

A hiss from the side catches their attention, a wounded vampire covered in blood and ichor. “Going up there is a death sentence. Your other Shadowhunters were already doomed before they’d even reach the top floor..”

There’s only a brief look of worry shared between them, before Clary and Alec are racing up the next staircase in search of Isabelle and Jace. Jace isn’t dead, he knows for a fact, but the possibility of Isabelle being injured fuels him up the next flights of stairs that tug at his parabatai bond. They’re close, he can feel Jace and the feelings being pushed through the bond right now. Confusion, anger, worry… Fear.

Fear of Magnus Bane?

They’re close, so close now, and Alec knows he’ll finally get answers to all of the questions and worries pouring through their minds as he and Clary push through that final door that leads them to the top floor of Hotel DuMort. 

Relief overcomes him, spreads warmth through his body as he sees the golden blond of Jace’s hair, and his sister right beside him across the room. But it’s replaced, almost immediately, when he spots the scene that surrounds them.

In the middle of the room are two figures, Camille Belcourt who Alec knows to be the leader of the Brooklyn Vampire Clan, and someone he can only presume to be Magnus Bane.The pair of them ensconced in a circle of high red flames that prevent anyone from leaving or entering. There’s a conversation happening inside of it, screaming and yelling from Camille that Alec can’t hear through the roar and heat of fire, and wild gestures from Magnus Bane, whose back is turned to he and Clary. 

Scattered around the room are clusters of vampires fighting off the unending horde of demons, unsuccessful in their endeavors. Jace and Isabelle are with them, the crack of his sister’s whip snapping louder than the crackling of fire that licks at Alec as he steps nearer. There’s no way around the fire, no way for them to get any closer even as he and Clary fight their way through the demons rushing towards them. 

So they fight, continuously with only precious seconds in between each attack for them to catch their breath and gather their strength, but Alec doesn’t tire as the ichor mingles with the sweat soaking his clothes and coating his skin. He won’t give up until he finds a way to Isabelle and Jace, and he’ll die trying if he has to.

Another demon jumps at him, and this one catches Alec at an angle that his arrow can’t quite reach in time. The knowledge of being cut hits first, followed shortly after by the pain in his shoulder. It stings and burns, not from the fire, but from the magic laced and infused deeply within the demons themselves. 

It’s a minor inconvenience, he tells himself as he reaches for the seraph blade holstered to his thigh and jabs it into the back of the demon as he dodges a second attack. It hurts, but it’s nothing he can’t stand, nothing an iratze won’t heal.

It’s a lie he knows to be true. He can feel the magic tingling against his skin where the blood begins to seep from the shallow wound. He’ll be fine for now, at least long enough to get them out of the building and back into the safety of the Institute. 

A grunt beside him brings him back into the fight and he turns to see Clary swing her weapon into the skull of the demon closest to her, while kicking another into the fire beside her that consumes the demon with a sizzling crack. It’s almost more effective to use the fire to their advantage, Alec realizes as he and Clary share a knowing look. They change tactics quickly, rushing towards the demons from the outskirts of the room, boots thudding heavily against the hardened exoskeleton of the demons as they rush towards them. The vampires nearby take note, exhausted and battered far more than the two of them, and begin to follow suit.

It’s not long before the flocks of demons that pour into the room fade into a more sparse area of coverage and everyone involved in the small battle can take longer than a moment's breath. 

Whispers and speculation fill the silence when only a few demons are left remaining, being fought off by courageous vampires with a sudden need to direct their adrenaline. In the middle of the room the fire howls fiercer, brighter and hotter as Camille and Magnus continue to occupy the center, closer than ever to each other. 

There’s discourse, still an argument being had if the curl of the Magnus’ fist and Camille’s bared teeth are anything to go off of. It’s still too loud to hear the topic at hand, something unsettling and stormy brewing between the two, but then suddenly something shifts in Camille’s incensed demeanor. 

It’s as if a switch has flipped, as if the anger has evaporated with the heat of the flames, and left in its place a barrage of tears that trickle down her face. She’s frustrated, Alec can see it in the square of her shoulders, but she’s given up the fight to Magnus. Part of him knows it’s not his place to care about the outcome of the events that are unfolding before them, that he has other more pressing matters at hand, such as getting to Jace and Isabelle. But the flames don’t give an inch of slack, and the path to them is blocked almost entirely by dead bodies and debris. 

A pale hand reaches up, contrasting shockingly to the deep tan of Magnus’ cheek where it rests, color that Alec can see isn’t just the result of the shadows from the fire. From Alec’s spot behind Magnus, he can’t see the expression he wears or the effect this gesture has on him. What he can see, though, is the tense of his back through the black blazer that fits his body, and the way he straightens out the length of himself when presented with the vulnerability of Camille. 

And Camille, for all her false innocence and shrewd manner over the years, seems genuine for once. 

With rapt attention, Alec watches every step closer she takes.He can feel rather than hear the staccato click of her heels along the marble floor for every inch of distance she closes. He should look away, he thinks in a moment of polite weakness. 

But, no.

This is a deliberate display, a show the two of them are putting on for any Downworlder, Shadowhunter, or Mundane who will watch. And so he does. 

He watches, enraptured, as Camille raises herself onto the balls of her feet, black stilettos lifting and pale arms encircling the strong shoulders of the Greater Demon before her. He watches still, as the bright red lipstick that stains her lips also colors Magnus’ cheek and smears against their skin when she ducks her head into the junction of his neck. It’s almost too intimate for him to continue watching, the moment surely too much for them to all be allowed to partake in. It feels sinful, in a way. Alec almost averts his eyes, guiltily casting his gaze downward, when he catches Magnus’ hand reflecting back to him the brightest flames through the rings that adorn the fingers curling into the dark long locks of Camille’s hair.

Most importantly, in his bashfully thorough scrutiny of the scene before him, he watches Magnus’ other hand, unnoticed and dim in the shadows of their two bodies. A hand that ignites a soft blue nearly unseen through the fire, magic that produces a wooden stake to spear straight into the unsuspecting heart laid out before him.

A gasp, a lungful of staggered breathing fills Camille as she cries out in the same silent shock Alec feels vibrating through him. Her body, lithe and slender and her deep burgundy dress darken with color as she twitches and fades before them into slow settling ash on the floor, graceful and beautiful in ways that only the leader of the New York vampire clan could manage. But Alec pays her no mind as her memory slips lower beneath the line of his vision, all the while his eyes remain steadfast on the Demon before him. On Magnus Bane.

The fire lets up minutes later, and the surviving vampires rush towards Camille with their inhuman speed, crying and bemoaning the loss of their leader with wails that echo in the silence now befalling the room. There’s a tug in the pit of his stomach, a pull that he recognizes clearly as his parabatai bond. He should follow it to Jace, to Isabelle and undoubtedly Clary who is likely already with them. He knows, logically, what he should do now. He knows what’s expected of him, and he knows what’s right. And yet… 

Now that he knows for certain his siblings are safe, there are more important matters at hand. Like the fact that Magnus Bane now stands in front of him, piercing Alec with golden eyes and the hardened exterior of a Greater Demon who shows no remorse for having just killed someone. 

Time seems to move slowly as Magnus lifts a hand and summons a portal, an endless swirl of darkness that will release him from the destruction he’s leaving behind, that will take him further from the answers Alec seeks. Magnus turns then, takes one step into the void and the flow of time accelerates so quickly that in that instant Alec doesn’t realize he’s stepping through the portal with him until the roar of magic deafens him to the sounds of his sister’s call.

[jaydalalrn]

I just bumped into [ JAY DALAL ] the other day while walking down [ EAST ] Kingsboro, where [ HE ] lives. I hear they can be [ AMBITIOUS ] and [ STUBBORN ], but when I think of them I immediately think about [ LONG RAINY CAR RIDES, RIDICULOUSLY FULL SWEAR JARS, AND MULTIPLE CUPS OF TEA. ]

full name: Jay Bhai Dalal

age: Twenty-Eight

dob: December 30

gender/pronouns: Transgender Man, He/Him

orientation: Bisexual

occupation: Registered Nurse

height: 5′11″ (6′ on Tinder) 

traits - 

+Determined +Truthful +Selfless +Motivated +Assertive

-Abrasive -Headstrong -Defensive -Inhibited -Blunt

family -

mother: Aria Dalal

father: Ivan Dalal

sibling(s): Sean and  Laila Dalal

children: Winona “Winnie” Dalal

background -

Jay was born and raised in a suburb off of New York City called Elmont. He was the first born, one year older than Sean and three years older than Laila. 

While he had the typical squabbling relationship with his younger siblings, annoyed yet loving, Jay and his parents never saw eye-to-eye. His father, in particular, never really got along with him. Their relationship was at least co-existing at most yelling matches. He always opposed Jay’s bullheaded nature. In his eyes, Jay was supposed to be their docile child. The caretaker for their other children. He never realized that this lead to an insufferable amount of independence. 

During his teenage years, Jay was academically successful and looking towards the future. His then boyfriend was the president of their graduating class, and the two of them planned to go out as valedictorian and salutatorian before eloping the following summer. 

{pregnancy tw} These plans were interrupted in January of their senior year. Winnie was a total rift in Jay’s life. While they didn’t immediately split, Jay was the one to finally break things off. His boyfriend was far more concerned with how underprepared he was. How he was supposed to travel out of state for college any day now. How he was supposed to be at the top of their class. Though it was tough, Jay stands by his decision. His parents weren’t thrilled when they found out either. In fact, they ultimately told Jay that if he wanted to “act like an adult,” he needed to leave. Winnie was born in September with only Jay and a few nurses in the room. While it was responsible for gifting him with one of the most precious parts of his life, he was at an all time low. {end tw}

With nothing really holding him back, Jay decided to slowly start transitioning while Winnie was still a baby. He had known well before that point, but he was no longer conforming for a roof over his head. He didn’t want Winnie to grow up knowing him as anything but her dad. 

Jay was able to rent a cramped apartment for them to live, barely affording the rent by taking orders through a drive-thru window. He knew he wanted to further his education, so while Winnie was still little he recieved his GED. Through a university program designed to get single parents through college, he was able to receive an associates degree in nursing and his license. Ever since he’s been handing out cough syrup and reminding people heart burn exists. 

Of course, all of this happened nearly a decade ago. He now resides in East Kingsboro with his daughter. At the moment Winnie’s in the fifth grade, attending a private school on the south side of the neighborhood that Jay can barely afford the tuition for. He works as an ER nurse at a nearby hospital, taking care of New York’s finest. He’s up to his ears in debt, but oddly enough this is the most stable his life has ever felt. Life is becoming less of a tight rope and more of a balance beam.

Now Jay is left with his child going into the double digits, and as she’s becoming more independent he’s once again regaining his. More nights are spent in an empty apartment while Winnie is staying the night at her friends’, and Jay is becoming far to aware of his lack of social life. All of his life has been like a marathon. Non-stop learning how to adjust to the next big thing, but now he’s finally able to live a little. He’s still in his prime, but the real question is can he catch up to everyone who has been living like they’re in their prime?

[stariousfalls]

A/N: Had a conversation with a friend (@fallen-gravity) over different canon divergence situations in Gravity Falls, and felt determined to write something angsty. I miss Gravity Falls a lot, haha.

Characters: Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines, Ford Pines, Bill Cipher

Word Count: ~2500

Summary: Canon Divergence of DAMVTF where Mabel decides to not give the rift to Bill and runs off. And Bill angrily goes after her, not wanting to miss the chance of taking over the dimension.

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A choked sob escaped through her trembling hands as she tried to keep herself quiet.

Would he find her? What would happen when he found her?

She didn’t want to find out the answer to either question. Mabel wished she were back at the shack, talking it out with Dipper and making up with him. She didn’t care if her twin would continue to explain to her why he’d decided to take on an apprenticeship with Ford – she just desperately wanted out of this stressful game of cat and mouse.

She wondered why Bill had gone delirious over some strange ‘makeshift snow globe’ in her brother’s backpack, but whatever the reason was she ran like a bat out of hell. Ran as far as her legs could take her, until they trembled out of control from both fear and fatigue.

Whatever sick intention it was all for, Mabel knew it wasn’t good. The fact that Bill had literally possessed her brother’s body to try and get what he wanted made her question all the more. Something linked to Ford, she assumed. It was difficult for her to come up with an exact reason, as her brother and grunkle never shared any information with her and kept to themselves. So, she was left to fend for herself over an item she didn’t even know the purpose of – other than it being important to Bill.  

Mabel continued sitting in place to recollect herself. She wished she could’ve been a part of the loop with Dipper, then maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way; being hunted down by a literal demon.

She had no idea how much time had passed before she heard soft static coming from the backpack.

“Mabel?”

Mabel’s heart fluttered sporadically in her chest.

“D-Dipper?” She choked out softly.

“Mabel, where are you? Mabel!”

She immediately rummaged through the bag and pulled out a walkie talkie – the source of the noise.

“Dipper…” Mabel repeated hoarsely into the device, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“Mabel! Where – “

She heard something snap nearby and panicked, quickly pressing the speak button to silence his rambling. In any other situation Mabel would be floored to hear Dipper’s voice, but under these circumstances she didn’t want to be found. Her body shook uncontrollably at the thought of Bill finding her.

She took a deep, shaky breath before responding. “D-Dipper…I can’t talk right now, I-I – “

“Mabel, I’m so sorry about what I said earlier! Please come back to the shack! We can work things out, I – “

The young girl released a quivering sob at the sound of his frantic pleas over the intercom. She inwardly pleaded with her brother that he’d get the hint and stop his attempts of trying to reach her.

“Dipper, please!” Mabel softly cried, heartrate spiking at the thought of Bill picking up on her location. “I-I can’t come back to the shack right now.”

“Mabel, where are you? If you refuse to come back, I’m coming to get you!”

The sound of footsteps trekked close. Mabel’s breath hitched in her throat as she fumbled with the talking device, trying to desperately turn it off. She continued to tremble in fear.

Was Bill nearby? Had she given away her whereabouts? Or was she just imagining things?

“Mabel!”

She whimpered.

“W-What do I do?” She asked herself, tears streaming down her face.

The only thing her instincts manage to scream at her was; keep running.

Mabel tightened her grip on the walkie talkie and bolted out of her hiding spot, unintentionally leaving the backpack behind. She didn’t dare to look back when she heard something picking up speed behind her like some wild animal chasing its prey.

She hoped she still had enough energy left to outrun him.

“Mabel, you need to tell us where you are, please.”

Her eyes widened. “Grunkle Ford?” She whispered in reply, briefly glancing down to the device.

“I-I don’t…I don’t know where I am!” She wailed out between breaths, finally glancing back to see a pair of wild, glowing yellow eyes staring her down. “Help me!! Dipper! Grunkle Stan!! Grunkle Ford – “

Mabel yelped like a kicked puppy when she tripped over a root, plummeting to the cold ground.

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

Ford picked up on Mabel’s erratic behavior when Dipper tried to communicate with her. She sounded quiet, shaky, and in a way…desperate? She refused to come back to shack, which he at first understood with her being upset. However, a part of him told him – something was wrong. Normally a child would be more vocal when being stubborn and distressed. This didn’t appear to be the case with Mabel. A bad feeling pooled in the pit of his stomach.

He eventually pried the walkie talkie out of his grand-nephew’s hands to try and speak with her.

“Mabel, you need to tell us where you are, please.” He pleaded into the intercom.

“Grunkle Ford?”

Her hoarse voice pulled at Ford’s heartstrings. Something was definitely wrong.

“I-I don’t…I don’t know where I am! Help me!! Dipper! Grunkle Stan!! Grunkle Ford – ”

Frantic thoughts flooded Ford’s mind at the sound of his grand-niece’s screaming and sobbing. She sounded like she was in immense pain. His grip tightened on the walkie talkie. What happened to her?

A familiar maniacal laugh rung out of the device’s speaker.

“You’re too late, Sixer!”

Ford instantly felt his blood run cold. It’s like he knew he was there on the other line.

“Leave her alone, Cipher!” He spat out, anger boiling over the fear at the thought of Bill tormenting his grand-niece.

Ford hears a mix between sobs of agony and irritable growls spewing out of the walkie talkie. What was going on? He waited for Bill to bite back, gloating over the fact that the fate of the universe was now within his grasp. However, what he wasn’t expecting was a threat.

“The clocks ticking, Ford. Be here in an hour or Shooting Star won’t live to see another day. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Ford hightailed it into the woods without a second thought, with Dipper not far behind him. He sure as hell didn’t know where Mabel was being held at Bill’s mercy, but that wasn’t going to stop him from finding her in time. He was a man of science, but that didn’t deter him from desperately pleading to any godly entity out there to spare his grand-niece’s life while he rushed through the underbrush of the forest.

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

Mabel screamed when Bill roughly yanked her body off the ground by her hair.

“No! Let me go!!” Mabel shrieked in horror, trying to wriggle herself out of his grasp.

Maniacal laughter bubbled out of the mouth of the body he possessed, eyes gleaming with glee. He picked up the walkie talkie off the ground with a snicker.

“You’re too late, Sixer!” He mocked into device, grin widening at the thought of Ford’s horror-struck face.

“Leave her alone, Cipher!”

Before he had the chance to rub his victory further into Ford’s face, he realized (upon further inspection) that the rift was nowhere to be found. His grip tightened around the child’s hair, knuckles turning white.

Mabel cried out in pain when she felt a violent tug at her hair.

“Where’s the rift, Shooting Star?!” He snarled angrily at her.

She could only begin to tremble and sob in response to the yelling and the rough treatment.

Bill let out an irritable growl into the walkie talkie. “The clocks ticking, Ford. Be here in an hour or Shooting Star won’t live to see another day. Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Dipper...” she choked out before succumbing to the pain, body going limp.

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

How long had they been running for? Ford had no idea, but the burning in his legs told him he’d probably been doing so for a while now. His mind screamed at him to keep going, but his body told him otherwise – giving out on him, causing him to stagger down to the ground briefly to catch his breath. All the injuries and strain he endured from earlier were catching up to him.

Damn this accursed old body, he thought to himself.

Dipper in the meantime paced back and forth in front of Ford, distressing over the thought of never finding his sister and assuming the worst. A wave of overwhelming guilt washed over him and his breaths came out short and frantic.

“This is all my fault! I should’ve talked to Mabel about everything before making any decisions. I didn’t even consider Mabel’s feelings, I – “

“No, Dipper,” Ford’s voice is soft, almost childlike. “The blame should all be on me. I’m the one who was the initial cause of all this mess. If it wasn’t for me making the mistake of trusting Bill decades ago, none of this would be happening.”

He noticed the forest around them getting darker. The sun was going down. They were running out of time.

“We need to keep going in order to find Mabel.”

They continue on in a jog, the fastest speed that Ford was capable of at the moment. The paranoia and adrenaline fueled him, pushing him forward.

That was until he heard a piercing cry echo through the woods.

“Time’s almost up, Ford!” Bill’s cutthroat voice rang.

Thank God they were nearby. Before Ford had the chance to say anything else Dipper bolted in the direction of his sister’s scream.

“Dipper!”

Ford followed his grand-nephew.

When they finally catch up to Mabel, they find her trying to wriggle free from her captor – eyes flashing menacingly down at her. Ford felt a cold shiver run down his spine when he made eye contact with the man that Bill currently possessed.

Bill let go of Mabel with a poised shrug. “Took you long enough, Sixer. You’re lucky I’m in such a good mood today – with me being on the brink of taking over your dimension!” He sneered, taking immense satisfaction in the looks of shock on Ford’s and Pine Tree’s faces. “I can’t thank you enough for holding onto your resentment towards your brother and tearing your family apart!”

Before Mabel had the chance to get away, Bill took hold of her hair once more and forcefully yanked her like a rag doll down onto the ground. She squeaked in agony when he rammed his foot onto her back, anchoring her body against the earth.

“Now that we’re all comfortable – where’s the rift?”

“What?” Dipper asked.

The boy twin flinched at the sound of a metal click. Dipper watched Bill aim a loaded gun right at his sister’s head in horror. That surely got his full attention.

“Let me ask again. Now that I have your attention,” Bill growled, slightly pulling back on the trigger. “Where’s the rift?”

Dipper must’ve hesitated too long for Bill’s sanity. His patience grew thinner and thinner by every second and began to count down. He’d gotten this far, and he wasn’t going to throw away the golden opportunity at taking over this dimension.

“Five!”

“We can’t!”

“Four!”

“We don’t have it!”

“LIARS! THREE!”

“Bill! Leave her out of this!!” Ford bellowed.

“TWO!”

“We’re not lying!” Dipper cried out desperately, tears streaming down his face. “I swear we don’t have it! Don’t hurt my sister! Please, I’m begging you!”

“ONE – “

“I-I left it behind! I didn’t do it on purpose, but I-I must’ve left it where I was hiding nearby – “

Mabel went silent when she heard the abrupt gunshot and watched her life flash before her eyes. Without breaking eye contact with Ford, Bill gestured out in the direction he chased Mabel in earlier before pointing the gun back to her head.

“Find it.”

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

Moments later the two come rushing back, rift in tow and willing to hand over. They weren’t going to take any chances trying to reason with a maniacal demon that held Mabel at gunpoint. As much as Ford didn’t want Bill taking over their dimension, the lives of the kids were more important.

“Hand over the rift, Ford – or say goodbye to your niece.”

Ford didn’t hesitate. Even if the world came to an end, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he were the one to cause his grand-niece’s early demise. Despite becoming the bringer of the apocalypse, he’d do anything to keep the kids safe. Whether he had the kids go into hiding with Stan for the rest of their lives or figure out a way to fix the problems he inadvertently caused. He’d do whatever it takes.

The guilt will reside in him for the rest of his life over every mistake he made that led up to this moment.

“Under one condition.” Ford narrowed his eyes. “You let Mabel go and leave the kids alone.”

Bill’s grin returned. “Fine.”

Ford shamefully handed over the rift without a second thought. The demon’s grin widened in glee, reveling in the feel of victory as his fingers drummed over the cracked glass of the containment unit.

“Now let her go, Cipher.” He growled.

Mabel immediately bolted towards her family the moment Bill lifted his weight off of her, desperate to get away from danger. Ford watched her run in his direction and kneeled down to catch her in his arms.

His hold on her tightened when he heard Mabel start to sob into his chest. Out of all the mistakes he made, he deeply regretted keeping his secrets away from Mabel. He only wanted to keep her and Stan safe (even though he wouldn’t admit it to him personally), assuming they didn’t have any interest in his past or what he was caught up in. He was a fool. Stan may not have been aware of Bill Cipher but looking back he remembered; Mabel already had history with him just like Dipper.

Man, he was such an utter fool.

The sentimental moment was interrupted at the sound of something shattering and distorted laughter. Ford’s breath hitched in fear. This was it. The end of the world, and his family had a front row seat to witness it.

Ford flinched when he felt something tug at his coat, and saw Dipper gravitating over to him. All they could do was hopelessly watch Bill bring forth the apocalypse.

“At last! At long, long last! The gateway between worlds has opened! The event one billion years prophesized has finally come to pass! The day has come! The world is finally mine!” Bill laughed maniacally as the unconfined rift teared reality into the Nightmare Realm.

With a gesture of his hand Bill used his powers to forcefully rip Mabel out of her grunkle’s grasp. Ford watched her body glow pink and float away from him in horror.

“No!”

“Dipper! Grunkle Ford!”

With a snap of a finger Mabel went unconscious, continuing to be whisked away. In an instant her body was surrounded by some strange pink bubble etched with a shooting star symbol and chains, and with another snap of the demon’s fingers she was gone.

Trying to process what just happened and witnessing his sister’s disappearance right before his eyes, he could only cry out in despair and frustration.

“Mabel!”

[lirusstories]

Stories: Please Read

Edit because I’m a fuckin moron that forgot the Soul-Mate Aus for Little Fortune. Sorry about that.

Alright so sorry about this, I swear I’m halfway through the first Chapter for both Run Boy Run and New Beginnings. But anyway here we are, these are the 14 stories I’m working on, and yes I am well aware that it’s not a good Idea but fuck it, I’m havin’ fun so Anyway. These are the title’s and they will have Descriptions of who is in it and what the Au is and also, yes all of them have soul-mate Au's (y'all couldn’t even rip this from my cold dead hands) many of them are different ones from each other. (Also each of them are embodiment's of something for each other which will be explain at the bottom) Also some of these are inspired by or have parts that are inspired by @oh-itskitkat and I’ll put Links to the ones that Inspired what and if they inspired the story are something that will happen in the story. Also please go check out her shit, it’s amazing. Everything will be under a read more because This post is long as fuck.

1. The Kings and Their Queen which you can find here @thekingsandtheirqueen

2. No Place Like Home 

I legit Cannot explain this you just gotta read it. But I can tell you that it’s a non-traditional A/B/O au and a Hero X Villain Au

Characters: Liru, Anti, JJ, Illinois, Yancy, Emile, Remy, Virgil, Jack, Jackie, Marvin, Henrik, Chase, Dark, Wilford, Jamie, Sammi, Oliva, Roman, Remus, Patton, Thomas, Logan, Janus, Robbie, Yan, Ethan, Tyler, Mark, Kira, and the rest will be added later on.

Soul-Mate Aus: 

1. Soul-Mark Au 

2. Every so often you will get flashes of what your soulmate is seeing at the time, but your soulmate doesn’t know when it happens.

Inspired by: https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/613250836029734912/so-youre-just-gonna-up-and-leave-without-a

3. Once Upon A Dream

This one can’t be explained without spoilers so your just gonna have to read it.

Characters: Liru, Henrik, Jackie, Marvin, Chase, Jack, Yan, Robbie, Anti

Soul-Mate Au: Soul-Marks

Inspiration for scenes:

1. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/617661429060911104/those-arent-birds-please-do-not-stealrepost

2. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/616741587195658240/ill-wait-here-then-please-do-not

3. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/614495447412834304/just-a-little-while-longer-please-do-not

4. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/613412510108909568/a-much-needed-break-please-do-not-stealrepost

5. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190358452918/purring-is-simply-soothing-or-self-soothing

6. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/617016760676335616/catching-up-please-do-not-stealrepost

7. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190596652918/tending-the-garden-please-do-not

4. Run Boy Run

This one can’t be explained without spoilers so your just gonna have to read it.

Characters: Liru, Anti, Jackie, JJ, Marvin, Chase, Jack, Henrik, Robbie, Yan, Remy, Virgil, Remus, Wilford, Roman, Remy, Emile, Jacques, Angus, Sam, Shawn, Patton, Logan, Magnum, Janus, Wilford, Dark, Mark, Thomas. (Maybe some more Iplier ego’s not sure yet but we’ll get there when we get there)

Soul-Mate Au’s: 

1. Soul-Mark appearing through Touch

2. Remembering Past Life through touch.

5. New Beginnings

Multiverse type thing. JJ, Dark and Wilford are from the same universe, Jack and Marvin are from the same one, Logan, Patton, Janus and Virgil are from the same one, Roman and Remus are the same one. Something bad happens in each of their universes resulting in them winding up in the main.

Universe’s

Main: Liru, Anti, Yancy, Jack, Chase, Thomas, Mark, Henrik, Emile, Remy, Robbie

1920 ish(don’t hate me because I doubt anything will be accurate): JJ, Dark, Wilford

Hero Vs. “Villain”: Jackie and Marvin

Medieval Fantasy: Roman and Remus

Pathos, Ethos, Logos and their dark strange son: Patton, Janus, Logan, Virgil

Characters: Liru, Anti, Jackie, Henrik, Chase, Jack, Marvin, JJ, Yancy, Emile, Remy, Yan, Robbie, Roman, Remus, Janus, Patton, Logan, Virgil

Soul-Mate Au’s:

1. Telepathic Soul-Mates

2. Soul-Mark appearing through Touch

Inspirations:

Story: https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/612154125154664448/how-did-i-get-here-please-do-not-stealrepost

Universe’s

Hero vs “Villain”

A. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190615542808/head-in-the-clouds-please-do-not-stealrepost

B. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/183388705923/its-magic-bro-please-do-not-stealrepost

Medieval Fantasy :

 https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/614616863892209664/speak-softly-for-words-carry-please-do-not

Pathos, Ethos, Logos and their dark strange son: 

  https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190331869898/in-the-athenaeum-please-do-not-stealrepost

6. Family Against All

Scp au type thing (I’m using what information my brain can retain but I know alot of it is inaccurate, please don’t hate me).

Liru is a lot shyer and quieter in this one. She is avoiding the SCP Foundation heavily because they are looking for her after an incident where she lost temporary control of her abilities which had caused a temporary rift in the fabric of reality. Mark and Jack are still YouTubers in this and Chase is too.

Liru will find the more innocent or even objects of SCP's and take them home. She also has some that the SCP foundation hasn't discovered.

Henrik doesn't tell his brothers where he works. He tells them he's a doctor though and leaves it at that.

His first chapter will him discovering Anti and just straight up Freezing in his tracks because that's his little brother. And he doesn't know why he knows or knows how he knows he just does. and repeat for Jameson, and Marvin and Jackie(but they're older siblings except JJ of course) And when he discovers Robbie he nearly loses his shit but manages to keep it together because Holy Shit Thats A Child.

He's never met them before. And now he has to figure out why he knows them before anyone else can figure out that they aren't doppelgangers or something and has to figure out why there is a 6 year old child that never talks but when he does he's screaming for his mom.

Characters:  Liru, Anti, Jackie, Henrik, Chase, Jack, Marvin, JJ, Robbie, Yan, Dark, The Googles, Bing, The Host, Bim, Wilford, Mark(Maybe the kids)

Soul-Mate Au: Telepathic Connection through knowing soul-mates Preferred Full Name, has to go both ways before connecting.

7. A Burning Soul

It's a Hero x Villains Au, Jackie is the "Hero"(unknowingly works for the bad guy) and Liru, Celine and Yancy are the "Villains" who are in a polyamorous relationship and are trying to get Jackie to switch to there side so he can be protected. A bit more insight is that Jackie was threatened with the safety of someone close to him to be a "Hero" and the other "Hero's" He works with are there to keep him on a leash. While Celine, Liru and Yancy(mostly Liru because she's the one he interacts with the most) Try their best to convince him to join them so they can help him. 

Characters: Liru, Celine, Jackie, Yancy, Robbie, Yan, Virgil, Remy, Emile

Soul-Mate Au: Where you have a splotch of color of your soul-mates soul where your soul-mate touches you skin to skin for the first time. It burns when touched for the first time so there's no missing it. It will only stop burning when you accept your Soul-Mate.

8. A Chase Down the Rabbit Hole

This started because of the one-shot I made for Chases birthday and now it’s gonna be a story. I can’t really tell much without spoiling a lot of it so here are the characters in it and the soul-mate au.

Characters: Liru, Chase, Henrik, Jackie, Jack, Anti, JJ, Marvin, Angus, Jacques, Shawn, Sam, Jaym, Katie, Gabriel, Roman, Remus, Kiara, Uma (Possibly the other sides but eh we’ll see)

Soul-Mate Au: Gains Mark Through First Touch

9. Death and Her Soulmates

Alright so the first one is Gonna be Called Death and then whatever soulmate is in it. It's all connected to one story though but they come in one-shots. For instance Liru and Remus would be "Death and Green Sword" or if it's Liru and Roman It's "Death and the Red Shield". Anti and her would be "Death and the Angel" or her and JJ would be "Death and the Master of Time". Robbie and her would be "Death and the Lavender Boy" (every time I see the words Lavender boy my mind sings it to the tune of "Calendar girl") Thomas and her would be "Death and the Rainbow Heart" and the ones that don’t Involve her Would be “The Lightning bug and The Angel”(Jack and Anti) The entire character List is in the story.

Soul-Mate Au’s:

1. Markings gained through touch.

2. The ability to send gifts to your soul-mate/s once a year (You choose something and it appears to them but nothing “living”)

10. Sacred Motives

Inspired by  https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/616607308121849856/you-got-your-ass-handed-to-you-by-a-man-in-a

Alright so for what led up to “You got your ass handed to you by” “a man in a cat mask, yes!”. Marvin was getting an Artifact back that belongs to JJ that humans have taken. It's not the only artifact as well. Humans had raided a sacred place, where a bunch of important artifacts were and they stole, which now they are trying to get back. And they’re gonna get more than they expected.

Characters that are in it: 

The "What do you have?" “Humans: Your artifacts!” “NO!” is:

Liru, Marvin, Chase, Anti, JJ ,Robbie, Sammi, Jamie, Yan, Yancy, Emile, Remy, Virgil

The "don't know that the sacred artifacts belong to the other side" is: 

Jackie, Henrik, Jack, Oliva, Wilford, Dark (unwillingly dealing with the other bullshit because Wilford and Jack are somehow friends)

and the “why did you encourage her to get entangled in mortal affairs, Remus”: 

Roman, Remus, Labadon, Logan, Patton, Thomas

Soul-Mate Aus: 

1. You can see numbers over your soul-mate’s/soulmates’ heads indicating how dangerous they are 1-100 anything higher than 100 is “Most-likely” Inhuman. The number is in their favorite color and their hand writing.

2. The first thing you soul-mate says to you becomes written on your body.

Inspiration for scene:

https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/181356373658/h-he-got-me-good-huh-doc-mein-gott

11. Little Fortune

So the best way I can explain it is that It started with Anti meeting Liru at a Park and because he had nothing better to do he just kinda sat and talked with her and after that they just kept meeting up Until Anti actually takes her on a Date one night. She gets into a fight with her Acquaintance on the phone(she's visiting Brighton for work) So Anti invites her over so she doesn't have to go back to the hotel room(I should mention that they are ego's in this) So the go back to the Septic house and she stays the night(nothing dirty happens don’t worry) And the others wake up before Anti and Liru and notice that there are heels by the front door so of course they rush up to Anti's room only to see them both Dead asleep on his bed just cuddling(Anti's the little spoon). They freeze at the sight and due to both the door slamming open and the light bleeding in they both wake up. After an explanation and a near attempted murder on Anti's part they let her stay for the time being and despite the fact that they were supposed to erase the memories of anyone who finds out about them they don't because they see the way she reins in Anti before he can even start. And over the months she keeps visiting and they all begin to notice something is a bit strange about her. And on top of that they have to juggle trying not to let Jack find out about her and trying to ignore the feelings that they gain for her(can't wait to write those parts:) ). And the thing is Liru doesn't even notice something is off about her but Anti does and just assumes she knows and thinks that she'll tell him when she's ready. And more often than not she is seen at their house even when she goes back to Oregon, Anti just keeps bringing her over via teleportation.

Characters: Liru, Anti, Jackie, Henrik, Chase, Jack, Marvin, JJ, and some will be added later on.

Soul-Mate Au’s:

1. Songs sung by your Soulmate are stuck in your head.

2. Music that’s stuck in your Soulmate’s/Soumates’ head/s is stuck in yours as well.

3. You have accessories/an accessory that represent your Soulmates/Soulmate

Inspirations for scenes:

1. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190358452918/purring-is-simply-soothing-or-self-soothing

2. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/616293064973189120/not-all-angels-have-wings-please-do-not

3. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190866033653/never-too-old-please-do-not-stealrepost

4. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/615127312520871936/on-the-11th-of-april-a-drop-of-sunshine-fell-to

12. Songs of the Lost Souls

It's kinda a Hero and Villain x "Civilian" type things and it's Jackie and Anti but the others are also into her(Liru) The Characters in this are Jackie, Angus( the survival Hunter) Marvin, Jacques(the french "ego" from passepartout), Henrik, Chase, Jack, Anti, Shawn Flynn, JJ and S34N(he's an android "underdevelopment"(he was considered to be to human) who Anti accidentally saved). 

This takes place in some random metropolis that Liru Moved to to get away from a rather bad past. She's friends with Jacques, Shawn and Sam(S34N) and they Helped her get a rather expensive apartment that she doesn’t need to pay because Jacques already has(“To help a fellow painter out.” “Jacques I Will throw you off this balcony. WHY?!”) Jacques, Shawn and Sam are all types of Artists, Jacques is a rather Famous Painter, Shawn is a hand drawn animation artist. Sam is a sculptor. 

Liru’s Older brothers are Roman and Remus and they live in Florida with Roman’s husbands and their three adopted children but they came from Oregon. The reason why Jacques paid for her apartment is because he wanted to help her out of her bad situation despite the fact he knew virtually nothing about it. So the story starts a few days after she moves into the apartment. Also I should mention that Marvin helps out Jackie in his fights against Anti when Anti is particularly aggressive.

Characters: Liru, Jackie, Angus, Marvin, Jacques, Henrik, Chase, Jack, Anti, Shawn, JJ and S34N(Sam), Roman, Remus, Patton, Janus, Thomas, Emile, Remy, Virgil, Sammi, Jamie

Soul-Mate Au’s: 

1. When you and your soul-mate touch for the first time, what your song together is will be written on your body with your’s and your soul-mates handwriting and favorite color. And it doesn’t matter how small it is or if it’s in a different language you can always understand it. 

2. When your soul-mate is singing you can’t get the song they’re singing out of your head. 

3. When the two soul-mates finally sing their song together that their souls essentially connect to each-other finally and it allows them to gain certain abilities they have. Like in a human sense if one could speak Spanish and the other couldn't and when they sing their song together for the first time the person who couldn't speak Spanish now can but not as well as the original. And say the one that couldn’t speak Spanish was really flexible but the Spanish speaker wasn't so when they sing together for the first time the Spanish speaking one becomes somewhat flexible.

Inspirations for Scenes:

1. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/611367312035119104/under-my-umbrella-please-do-not-stealrepost

2. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/610901204242972672/somewhere-in-time-inspired-by

3. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/616210494266671104/10-million-fireflies-please-do-not-stealrepost

13. Soul Pack 

(Harry Potter au sorta it doesn’t take place in his time) I do not have a description for this so when It comes out I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Characters: Everyone, every single one of them will wind up in it.

Soul-Mate Au’s:

1. Telepathic Connection since birth but gets stronger the more you know your Soul-Mate.

2. Whatever you write on your skin appears on your Soulmate’s/Soulmates’.

14. For The Divine

It's Kinda different from the others. This one is where Liru, Roman and Remus start out as humans and the others are Gods or Divine beings whatever you wanna call them. And the others are looking for the last pieces of themselves(aka soulmates). And eventually they one by one begin to stumble upon Either, Roman, Remus or Liru.

With Roman, Remus and Liru. Roman and Remus are Liru's Legal Guardians (although she is 21 in this, they're 34 though they don't look it, just like Thomas doesn't look like he's thirty in real life.) Roman, Remus and Liru inherited everything that they're family owned after they all mysteriously died off,(Remus killed them but Roman doesn't know but he suspects but he never said anything because that is A. his brother and B. He thought they deserved it as well(they did) Liru knows because she remembers him telling her that they ever laid a hand on her he's kill them all(He did) and she never said anything because she knew that they deserved it as well. and this was when Roman and Remus were 19. 

They both quickly adopted Liru before they could put her in the system and when Liru was in school one day and a teacher made a horrible remark about her brothers taking her in, she mentioned it "Offhandedly" to Roman where Remus would hear. And the next day when Roman and Remus(for the sake of appearances) went to go talk to the teacher about it, the teacher had already been murdered the night before by some of Remus' "Friends". Roman is both a Fashion Designer and Model, Remus is a Painter, Liru is a Fashion Designer(Both Roman and Remus model for her when she needs help figuring out what to do with it) and Painter, she also makes jewelry and Masks to go with her and Romans designs. They all base their outfits/paintings/statues around the animals that represent there Soulmates.

Characters: All of them Minus Jaym and Katie.

Soul-Mate Au’s:

1. You have an animal(or in their cases, animals) that represent your soulmate/s

2. Gained Telepathic Link through getting to know your Soulmate. The more you know and trust them, the stronger the Link and the more control you have over it.

Inspiration for Scenes

1. https://oh-itskitkat.tumblr.com/post/190596652918/tending-the-garden-please-do-not

Alright now for the embodiment thing.

So I was Originally Only gonna do it for the Sanders but It just bleed over into the others. But anyway so it's essentially that they are an embodiment of certain things for there soul-mates For example, Logan Is Logic (so when any of them actually stop and think instead of diving right in Logan can tell) or Anti is Curiosity (for instance if on of the were to notice something they are unfamiliar with and they can't help but investigate Anti can tell) Or Robbie is Child-Like Wonder like the feeling you get when your a kid and you see presents under the tree on Christmas morning or Like that one Here Be Dragons from that SCP Unity episode Mark did. Robbie can feel when they feel that but at the same time it doesn't necessarily mean that they have to be a feeling or something you use. For instance Damien is the Embodiment of the Day and he can get a sense of where is soulmates are and whether or not they are in danger.

Tags:

@kittican

@antis-gauge

@flowers-zombie-rob

@trixie8264

@animallover4000

@i-maybe-exist

@nightanjel

@thegamerbook

@smolbean-pma

@the-chemist

@therealtiger77

@immabethehero

[anythingstevenuniverse]

*SU Spoiler* More Episodes and Descriptions!

We got bombarded with a surprise from Cartoon Network! Not only are we graced with 10 episodes instead of 4 throughout the month of December, but episode titles with descriptions have been added. Of course, they are small descriptions and with a history of titles and descriptions being misleading, anything and nothing can happen! So without delay, let’s get started on some predictions!

1) “Little Homeschool” (Dec 7th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Welcome to Little Homeworld, a place on earth where Gems from all over the universe can come learn how to live together peacefully! But there’s one Gem who refuses to attend.”

This episode is likely an introduction episode. It will show how Little Homeworld functions and how the uncorrupted Gems and Homeworld Gems live on Earth. Although most are saying Jasper may appear in this episode, I believe the Gem refusing to attend is the new uncorrupted pink Gem we saw in the promo. It would be too soon for Jasper to enter and again this episode is to introduce the new series. Something may happen to the pink Gem on Little Homeworld or Steven but nothing serious to be a major plot point. We are going to start of with a light hearted introduction of the changes after the movie and how Gems are integrating on Earth as well as a new Gem society.

2) “Guidance” (Dec 7th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Amethyst has been helping Little Homeschool Gems find jobs on the boardwalk, but Steven isn’t sure about her approach.”

Amethyst and Steven have a great sibling like relationship. However, this episode is going to test the limits and fragility of said bond. Amethyst was made on Earth making her a great advisor to Gems who are just integrating. However, she tends to be more lax then the other Gems and will either have the Homeschool Gems pick their jobs or choose a job for them and just let them do it at their own pace. Steven will be worried because the Gems have only just learned about human culture and screw ups may ensue much like in Season 1. He may try to help the Gems in their current job or move them to another job. This course of action will offend Amethyst and cause an argument that will put a rift in their relationship. Depending on how the episode goes, either the conflict will be resolved or will continue. Even if the conflict is resolved, their relationship will not be the same as Amethyst will think Steven does not trust her in helping out and causes her self worth to dwindle a bit and Steven will feel a bit of guilt that will slowly cause self-doubt within himself. This episode will have some serious confrontation and is just the beginning of what’s to come.

“Rose Buds” (Dec 7th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven gets a surprise visit from some old friends, and even more surprising introductions from new ones.”

This episode is going to bring major conflict for Steven. The wording of the description is interesting in this episode. He gets a surprise visit from old friends, most likely the Famethyst as they were seen in the promo. The Famethyst will either visit Earth or Steven will visit the Zoo to check on how things have been. Since the Gem Empire has been dismantled, the Famethyst are free to be more relaxed. We will see how this care-free lifestyle will integrate with helping the zoomans since they cannot return to Earth from fear of culture shock. However, the description also stated an “even more surprising introduction from new ones” which we all highly anticipate is the unbubbled Rose Quartz Gems. We did see a Rose Quartz in the promo, so it highly likely the new Gems are Rose Quartz. We have no idea what their personality is or even their role on Homeworld. We will get to see what actual Rose Quartz Gems are. However, this is going to cause Steven some serious conflict as they look like his mother. Steven does not hate his mother but is starting to resent her more because of the mistakes she made that he must clean up. In trying to help the Rose Quartzes, he will feel awkward and may lash out at one of them. He is going to lash out his anger at an innocent Rose Quartz and Steven is going to feel extremely bad for letting his negative emotions about his mother hurt someone who did not know or deserve it. More negative emotions are going to build up. Knowing Steven, he will apologize to the Quartz gem because he knows they are not his mother much like how Steven is not Pink Diamond. Things are going to get serious from here on out, especially in the next episode.

“Volleyball” (Dec 7th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven is determined to help Pink Diamond’s original Pearl heal the scar on her face.”

I have already made a couple theories on Pink Pearl before the new episode information arrived (see below) and this episode is a favorite of mine! First of the title is misleading already. Volleyball is a game where people form 2 teams and use their hands to hit a ball up in the air to the opposing teams until it hits the ground. A lot of Steven Universe titles have been misleading in the past. After talking to a friend either 2 things will happen related to the title: could be a metaphor for Pink Pearl being emotionally beaten back and forth causing her scar to become worse or there will be an actual volleyball game somewhere in the episode. If this takes place on Homeworld, the metaphor scenario is likely but if this takes place in the Zoo, the volleyball game may happen. Besides the misleading title, notice how the description says Steven is “determined” to help Pink Pearl. This has me worried because sometimes being determined to do something can backfire. We can tell Pink Pearl is still obsessed with Pink Diamond. She may stay on Homeworld because of her obsession but she can also be in the Zoo as the whole base was made for Pink Diamond. Her crack is getting worse from her instability and she still smiles despite being out of White Diamond’s control. Steven won’t be able to heal her crack with his healing powers because it is related to mental not physical damage. Nothing seems to be working and Steven will become frustrated. Pink Pearl may also add to that frustration by being stubborn or naïve of Steven’s help and project her obsession of Pink Diamond onto him. This will cause new powers to form and from the promo it seems the new one may be the overpowered scream Pink Steven emits from CYM. This will be harmful to everyone around him and Pearl will most likely defend Pink Pearl from Steven. When Steven calms down, Pearl is likely to help Pink Pearl as both have been through the same ordeal just in different scenarios. The conflict and maybe Pink Pearl’s scar will resolve itself, but this will add more to Steven’s negative emotions and we will see the first onset of Steven’s new powers emerging.

“Bluebird” (Dec 14th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven questions the motive of a mysterious fusion that suddenly shows up at this house.”

In this episode, we get to see the new Eyeball Ruby and Aquamarine fusion. From the title, we can guess the name of the new Gem is Bluebird Azurite and after looking up the Gem, the color and design are the same. At first it may seem weird Steven is suspicious of this new Gem, but we must remember they are the fusion of Eyeball Ruby and Aquamarine. These 2 Gems do not like Steven at all and Steven has had bad experiences with both Gems. Eyeball Ruby tried to kill Steven in space and Aquamarine kidnapped his friends and took him prisoner to Homeworld. However, Bluebird Azurite may appeal to Steven’s caring nature and Steven will have to help them out. This could either be a ploy to infiltrate Little Homeworld for the Era 3 rebellion or the fusion may be lost and wants to find a new purpose in life. This episode can go either way and will still affect Steven. If Bluebird Azurite is a spy and attacks Steven, this will frustrate Steven because he let his guard down and cause conflict to his own principles. If Bluebird Azurite is lost and finds what they are looking for, Steven will be relieved but may have guilt into thinking the Gem had bad intentions. The first scenario seems likely because fusions do have the mindsets of both Gems and having hatred for Steven will fuel Bluebird Azurite’s motives.

“A Very Special Episode” (Dec 14th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Rainbow Quartz 2.0 promised to hang out with Onion the same day Sunstone scheduled a home safety Geminar! How can Steven be in two places, and two fusions, at once?”

This episode is already self explanatory on the conflict. This also reminds me of a lot of sitcoms in the early 2000s that have a funny dilemma of being in two places at once. We must wonder how Steven is going to deal with this scenario. A few Youtubers have speculated Steven will have the power to duplicate or make hologram versions of himself. There were questions about how Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz were present in multiple areas and the result was duplication. If Steven does have this power, he will either use the duplicate Stevens or Holo-Stevens to fuse with Pearl and Garnet or reshape his duplicates to look like the fusion. If the duplicates can fuse with other Gems, they may be unstable and cause chaos. If the duplicates are reshaped to look like Rainbow Quartz 2.0 and Sunstone, there may be some conflict because they lack any personality and if they resemble the Holo-Pearls, they may attack if feeling threatened. Either way, it will get chaotic quick and Steven will have to take control of the situation. The situation will calm down and Steven will explain what happens. Depending on how the Crewniverse wants to go this could either end in a funny yet wholesome manner or it can end with serious undertones leading to future plot.

“Snow Day” (Dec 21st, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven and the Crystal Gems get a chance to catch up when they’re all snowed in together.”

This episode is pretty self-explanatory. Much like “We Need to Talk” and ‘Three Gems and a Baby” this episode will be campy, and we get to see what the Gems did after CYM and the movie. At first it will be wholesome because everyone gets to find out what life for the Gems has been after dismantling the empire and uncorrupting the Gems on Earth. However, Steven may realize the distant he and the Crystal Gems are because everyone is doing their own thing and have not had a chance to hang out or catch up. But episodes like these usually end in a good note but the Crewniverse may add this as fuel to the fire or in this case to Steven’s emotional state.

“Why So Blue?” (Dec 21st, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven has heard rumors of a pair of Gems that are still destroying worlds. If he can’t stop them, maybe Lapis can.”

This is another highly anticipated episode. The pair of Gems is the 2 Lapis Lazulis we saw in the introduction. Because they are destroying other worlds, they are likely going to space. It would be very interesting if the Off Colors could come but I am guessing either it will be just Steven and Lapis or Peridot and Bismuth will join as well. This will be a Lapis centered episode and would give more information on Lapis’s status and life before arriving on Earth. It would be strange as to why the Lazulis would be destroying Earth on their own. This is highly hinted they are part of the Era 3 rebellion or they could also just be extremely mad their titles are taken away and want to blow off steam or piss people off. What I really want to see is a Lapis development in this episode. She has developed a lot in the Steven Universe series but now we get to see how much she has truly developed in this episode.

“Little Graduation” (Dec 28th, 8 p.m. EST)

“Steven and the Gems celebrate Little Homeschool’s first gradation class.”

This will be wholesome at first. From the press release, we saw a picture of the Off Colors in stage with graduation caps and Steven on a mic. We get to see Steven being so proud of the Off Colors and Homeworld Gems graduating from Little Homeschool and integrating into their new lives in Little Homeworld. However, Jasper will appear and crash the party. We can tell Jasper is not fond of Steven and the new era. She even yells, “you are not my diamond!” telling Steven he is not Pink Diamond. According to Sugar in a podcast Jasper is a complex character. She may act tough and rough, but she hates herself because of where she is from: Earth. Gems from Earth have lots of negative stereotypes and Jasper is no exception. Although she had a high ranking in the Gem Empire, she still gets remarks about her beginnings and that can mess with Jasper’s self-worth. Now that the Diamonds have decided to listen to Steven’s new rules of peace, Jasper is stripped of her status and has nothing. Jasper will try to take out Steven and hope she can restore the Gem Empire to its former glory or may just want to fight Steven. Once the fight ensues, Jasper will overpower Steven and Steven’s anger will manifest Pink Steven. With Pink Steven form he will overpower Jasper and even poof her. He may even come close to try shattering her until the Crystal Gems arrive and stop him (hopefully it does not go that far). Once Steven realizes what has happened, he will feel horrible, but the Gems will help him calm down. He will wait for Jasper to reform and maybe they can have a conversation where Jasper does not want to punch him first. There is also a possibility Jasper does not get poofed by Pink Steven and retreats. The main point is Jasper will be focused on this episode if she does not appear in “Little Homeschool” and will become a good antagonist to Steven.

“Prickly Pair” (Dec 28th, 8 p.m. EST)

“After leaving Little Homeschool, Steven has found a new hobby, plants.”

With everything Steven has gone through is such a short time, he needs something to relax. Gardening is a great way to blow off steam and not think about past events plaguing Steven. It also shows Steven does not fully resent his mother. Rose Quartz and Steven both love plants and their powers do have an affect on plant life. However, because Steven has been dealing with a lot and his negative emotions are consuming him, this will have consequences. Because his powers are related to his emotions, his plant powers will go haywire. Steven will plant a cactus and his spit (however it will happen) will come into contact. Cactus Steven is born! Unlike the Watermelon Stevens, Cactus Steven will have no sentient intelligence and just be a crazy monster embodying Steven’s negativity. Steven will try to calm it down and reason with it but Cactus Steven will not listen and continue to rampage. This will be one of the times Steven cannot help and will have to take Cactus Steven down. Unfortunately, this means Steven cannot do any gardening until his powers are in check or he will have to be extremely careful. Either way, he has no hobby to ease his stress and will just add more onto his stress. Steven cannot catch a break and his issues will keep piling up.

This series is going to focus on Steven dealing with his issues. When the episode titles and descriptions were released, there was an extended synopsis of the series. “Steven Universe Future, after saving the universe, Steven is still at it, tying up loose ends. But as he runs out of other people’s problems to solve, he’ll finally have to face his own. Haunted by the past and lost in the present, Steven begins manifesting new, uncontrollable powers that the Crystal Gems have never seen from him before. What does it all mean, and what does Steven want for his future?” These first 10 episodes of the series are going to show us more of mess Steven has to fix from his mother’s past. All those problems are going to affect his mental and emotional state to the point where his powers are going out of control. There are two characters we have not seen in the promo: White Diamond going pink and Wormy Boi (who could be corrupted/unstable Steven). He is likely going to affect those characters as well causing him more stress. Once those antagonists and problems are solved, Steven still has unresolved issues he needs to deal with. Those issues will tie to his new uncontrollable powers which can cause him to lash out and cause havoc. Haunted by his past is related to Pink Diamond’s mistakes being fixed and lost in the present is after he solves all those problems. Once everything is handled, Steven will have to figure out what he wants for his own future. Sometimes to move on into the future we must accept our past and follow the present. Once Steven can accept that will he know the answer. I am very excited to see what this series will bring to the Steven Universe universe!

[dierdra-jones]

is that YAEL GROBGLAS? oh, no it’s just VICTOIRE APOLLINE WEASLEY. SHE is a TWENTY SIX year old EIGHTH-VEELA, whose occupation is an ADVICE COLUMNIST FOR THE DAILY PROPHET. i guess that’s why HER former house is SLYTHERIN. SHE is prepared for the uprising, HER alliance is NEUTRAL.

Basic Information

HOUSE Slytherin AGE / DATE OF BIRTH 28, May 2nd OCCUPATION Advice Columnist and Resident Numerologist for the Daily Prophet RESIDENCE London WAND Cherry, Veela Hair, 12 inches BLOOD STATUS Eighth Veela (+) strategic, level-headed, adaptable (-) selfish, self-absorbed,distant SEXUALITY bisexual, leans towards women STRENGTHS Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Divination WEAKNESSES Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Astronomy – mostly anything that involved being outdoors FACECLAIM Yael Grobglas

Childhood Years

The Weasleys were not known for their wealth; even when Arthur and Molly’s seven children made their own means into the world, none of the children were spoiled compared to Victoire Weasley. Not only was she so fortunate enough to be born in such an infamous family, she was also fantastically taken care of by her grandparents. Shell Cottage, for how quaint it was, was full of dolls and dresses for Bill and Fleur’s first child. While Fleur was certainly capable enough to support Victoire financially, her parents insisted that Victoire was well cared for and provided for their grandchild much in the same way as those old money pureblood families.

In addition to a growing collection of toys and clothes, Victoire was also given tutors in the magical arts. While wizarding children only show signs of magic at the age of seven, that didn’t mean Victoire couldn’t grow up familiar with the possibilities she had when she could properly direct her Veela charms. Her grandparents often took her to France to keep her out of the public eye, and through her father’s work she was able to accompany him in some of his travels.

Nevertheless, she learned dance and art from the comfort of the mansion in France—and this tutelage reflects how she carries herself with grace as an adult. Although her French grandparents were a strong influence on her, that didn’t mean she didn’t pick up other skills while she was at home with her parents or with Arthur and Molly. She became a strong swimmer due to her family’s proximity to the ocean.

While she spent most of her time surrounded by adults who adored her, there was only one other person her age frequently present was Teddy Lupin. She didn’t have much of a choice but to spend time with him, especially during larger family gatherings—and somehow she was both fascinated and irritated by him at the same time. Fascinated, if only because her first signs of magic manifested itself in the development of her inborn veela charm, of which Teddy was the first Victim of; irritated, because of her family’s insistence on their becoming playmates, that they should get along for the sake of getting along. Victoire never empathized with Teddy properly about being orphaned, considering him lucky to have been taken under Harry Potter’s wing. Later in life, Victoire would come to realize that problems with no solution were not worth lamenting, though her experiences with Teddy may be one of the first times she truly asserted that mantra that people often overlook the ways they were lucky, and that very few deserve to be pitied.

Once Teddy had left for Hogwarts, Victoire was eager not to attend the school. She spent her playdates with Roxanne describing what she imagined Beauxbatons to be like based on the stories her grandparents had told her, while disparaging Hogwarts in the same breath from the stories of adventure she heard from her extended family.

Hogwarts Experience

To her disappointment, she was forced to attend Hogwarts; it was much more convenient for all of the family to attend the same school despite Fleur’s protests on her behalf. However, that didn’t make her trip to shop for school supplies any less exciting; her wand was bought from a wandmaker in Paris with a particular veela hair core. But the special treatment was different coming onto the train and ferried across the lake. She was stared at, but certainly not adored in the same way she had been for ten years prior, and perhaps much more as she wasn’t sorted into Gryffindor like every other Weasley in the past before her.

It wasn’t a request she had made to the Sorting Hat, but rather a demand: while she was a Weasley, she knew she wasn’t a Gryffindor. She didn’t know what it was like to actually be a Weasley and she was eager not to be one; it was clear that the Weasleys attracted attention in the worst ways. While she was taught to be kind to her family, there were some she was ashamed to be related to, and it quickly became apparent. But the Sorting Hat could tell that it was attention she sought anyway, for her own ends—and so Slytherin was her new home, despite the collective gasp in the Great Hall as she finally lifted the hat off her head.

Slytherin was, in a way, a means of starting over—and not just in the unsuccessful attempt to go by the surname Delacour instead. While she hoped to be popular at Hogwarts, an ironic expectation considering her disdain at having to attend in the first place, she instead had a reputation because she was the first to defect from Gryffindor. She struggled to make her friends, half of those wanting to befriend the most famous person in the castle and the other half claiming she was fake for being sorted into Slytherin. It was much easier to stay guarded and distant when trying to determine what people’s intentions were. Instead of scrutinizing whatever each individual could want from her, she had begun to focus herself into trying to turn her reputation around—even if it meant playing the victim when she had to.

And perhaps Slytherin was the best fit for her anyway: her ambition forced her to make friends with the right people and her cunning (though manipulative) ways she learned from childhood proved to be a useful enough skill to be generally known for something beyond being a Weasley. She didn’t get through attending Hogwarts by being nice because being nice meant being taken advantage of, especially when she was in a position that was more precarious than what others typically deal with. Victoire was never going to get away from the limelight, so she basked in it in the best way that she could and turned its luminosity into something that she could work for a better angle.

What people tend to forget about Slytherin House is that its members are particularly loyal to their own. While the Weasleys were not known for trendsetting, Victoire certainly was; her grandparents still sent her lavish clothes for whatever gift giving occasion there happened to be. The friends she made, though few, were the purebloods who also saw her attire as a sort of symbol of status that overrides her family name.

At the same time when she had come to figure out how to properly make friends—in spite of her ruthless point of view when it came to her peers—Victoire’s sister, Dominique, had later been sorted into Hufflepuff. Dominique stole the limelight that had been hers for five years, and only her private classes were there for Victoire to put her energies into as a child. Victoire made no effort to bridge the rift between them as Victoire soon focused on her exams and eventually left Hogwarts for good.

Present Day

Victoire spent the summer returning to her grandparents’ mansion in France and she would spend the next two years floating around Europe with an excuse to expand her cultural tastes. Eventually she would make it to London again, though under the pretense of caring about whatever trouble her sister Dominique had gotten herself into. It was not difficult for Victoire to find work, her Hogwarts days had trained her well into charming the right people, transfiguring bad attention to her benefit, stirring the potions in the pot. Her first means of employment was writing travelogues for the Prophet—and it wasn’t long until she flitted onto Rita Skeeter’s radar.

Her new position, now that she had finally taken residence in Diagon Alley, was a cross between an advice columnist and a fortune teller, but Victoire made more of a living appearing in advertisements and making endorsements for products who paid the most. (It was so easy to say that solid gold cauldrons were all the rage nowadays.)  She knew how to turn heads and catch people’s eyes with her Veela charm and her worldly style, and she carried herself differently than the other Weasleys did. While her success wasn’t instantaneous by any means, she was projected to succeed beyond what a normal wixen would manage by their late 20s.

It was difficult for Victoire to overshadow the current tumult in their wizarding community, despite being so focused on using her shallow personality for her own gain. Sure, she had some benefit of the doubt while being a Weasley (though not much, for having worked so hard to dissociate herself from the family anyway) that she was in support of muggleborns—despite keeping her head down and staying as neutral as possible. She was fully aware that she may have rub elbows with more of those aligned with the Death Eaters, even though she didn’t swear allegiance to a house. It was all a matter of being friends with the right people—even for the wrong reasons.

However, she had her doubts that assimilation to the muggle world was possible. Of course, Victoire pitied those who had lost their lives; it wasn’t that she couldn’t feel sadness for others, so much as she was aware that each person was only a tiny, momentary speck in an indifferent universe. She manipulated her name and whatever fortune she had to excess in fear of having her so-called success snatched away and she didn’t fear being a victim; after all, she wasn’t the target of their crimes… but just because Dominique was stupid enough to get herself in trouble, doesn’t mean Victoire wasn’t going to be smart about her next move.

[insfiringyou]

BTS - Explaining our headcanon masterlist / headcanon universe!!!

Our full masterlist can be found here

To read each member & their girlfriend’s headcanon universe fics in order, follow the links here: 

RM   /   Jin   /   Suga   /   J-Hope   /   Jimin   /   V   /   Jungkook

Find out more about the headcanon girlfriend, their visuals, hobbies, interests etc. here

As our more dedicated readers will have realised, although all of our fics and scenarios can be enjoyed by themselves, the majority of them are part of our headcanon universe. This basically means that instead of writing BTS’s girlfriends in a vague way, we imagine them as fully fleshed out characters of their own with their own timeline in terms of their relationship. 

We do not tend to write our scenarios in order which means that some of the fics which happen later on in a certain members relationship may be written earlier. We understand how super confusing this can be as a reader (hence this post). Even more confusing is when we write all member scenarios based on certain prompts, yet the timeline for each member is different. (For just one example, in the scenario ‘You ask them to make love to you’, Suga’s part takes place around 4 months into his relationship with Jeong-sun, but J-Hope’s part takes place 3 years after this as he has not yet met his girlfriend, Nana, when Suga’s scenario is written.) 

I will therefore attempt to list both our original characters below and list key scenarios within their relationship. This means some “all member” scenarios will be repeated, as each member’s timeline will be different (to find the relevant part, just go to the member you are looking for and read their part)

As we update our headcanon universe, I will also update this!!!

(We really hope this makes sense!!! If not, please message us and we will be super happy to clarify for you!)

Contains spoilers

Original Characters

Ji-eun - RM’s girlfriend.

Not to be confused with the singer IU who shares the same name. She is a solicitor who has been married and divorced prior to meeting Namjoon. She is older than him by several years. He meets her during a business party and have sex for the first time after several months of dating (here). They temporarily break up five months later during a boat party (here) and, following, Namjoon questions the number of men she has dated to the other members, inadvertently revealing the number of people the other members of BTS have slept with (here). He personally, reveals he has slept with 5. They do get back together two weeks later (here) and (as mentioned here during ‘The Play’) and he eventually begins spending more time at her apartment than his own. (the events of “making a sex/intimate tape” and “you ask them to make love to you” and “A late night conversation in bed with RM” take place around this time.) Ji-eun does become good friends with both Cassandra (RM’s girlfriend) and Min-seo (Jin’s girlfriend) and plans Min-seo’s bachelorette/hen party (here) during which time she gets a bit tipsy and reveals some information about her sex life. Ji-eun likewise warms to the other girlfriends, as shown at Jin and Min-seo’s wedding (here). Prior to RM entering the military, they go on a double date holiday with Jin and Min-seo to Cyprus (here) where Ji-eun and Namjoon make a sex tape to give something for her to remember him by when he enters the military. Although she finds it hard with Namjoon being away, he visits as often as he can (here), though the strain ultimately takes its toll on the pair. During his final vacation from service, Namjoon upsets Ji-eun during a sex act (here), though later apologises over a voicemail, explaining how down he has been without her and with the added pressure of his uncertain future with the group (here).

READ ALL OF RM AND JI-EUN’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Min-seo - Jin’s girlfriend.

She is a Sales Assistant in a department store who studies Sociology at university. It is revealed in a later fic (here) that she met Jin when he came into her store to buy a suit for an award ceremony. She is several years younger than him and has never been intimate with anyone else. She loses her virginity to Jin after several months of dating (here) and often accompanies him to events and parties. She is familiar with Suga and RM’s girlfriend, having met them both at Supreme Boi’s boat party (here). Although she was upset to learn that Jin has dated more people in the past than she thought (5) (here), she realises that it doesn’t mean he loves her any less. She typically stays out of drama and plans on settling down and starting a family with Jin (as revealed here). Prior to dating Min-seo, Jin did have a one night stand with a woman he met at a wedding (here), but he wouldn’t feel the need to share this with Min-seo. After a year and a half of dating and a week after Min-seo graduates from university, Jin proposes to her (here.) Six months later, Jin and Min-seo celebrate their upcoming wedding with separate stag/hen (bachelor/bachelorette) parties that don’t go to according to plan (here). A week later, she marries Jin (here). Their honeymoon period is cut short, however, when 3 months later Jin is due to start his military duty. In an attempt to keep his new wife company during his time away, he buys her a puppy called Bomi (here). When Jin comes out of the military, he is upset to find that Min-seo’s sister has sold details of their marriage to a newspaper, causing a rift between their families and tensions with his wife. Min-seo is likewise upset and, on a double date holiday to Cyprus with Namjoon and Ji-eun, she falls ill (here). She finds she is pregnant shortly after and reveals to the other members during a group dinner (here). Shortly before giving birth, she makes up with her sister (here) and later is induced into labour since being overdue (here).

READ ALL OF JIN AND MIN-SEO’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Jeong-sun - Suga’s girlfriend

She is a Pharmacy Assistant and is around the same age as Yoongi. Several years prior to dating Jeong-sun, Yoongi had a six month relationship with a white Korean girl who cheated on him (can be read here) & (Jeong-sun finds out about her here) and two weeks before meeting Jeong-sun, he has a one night stand with the singer Shin Suran (here). He meets Jeong-sun when they are paired together during a game of 7 Minutes in Heaven (here). Although they initially do not get on, they quickly realise there is sexual tension between them and Yoongi asks her on a date where they share a kiss (read here.) Things quickly escalate when he performs oral sex on her during the second date (found here). Things become more intimate a few weeks later when Jeong-sun invites Yoongi back to her apartment for the first time and he fingers her despite her being on her period (here). Later that night, Suga discovers her tattoos and she realises she really likes him (here). Despite being close from an early stage, they wait a month and a half before having sex (here). Their time together is brief, however, as he goes on a two month world tour after several months of dating. It is during this time that Jeong-sun realises that, despite herself, she has fallen in love with him (as hinted here). When he returns, they spend a week together in solitude before he is due away again. It is during this time he confesses that he loves her and she reveals she feels the same (here). Despite their intense feelings for one another, spending so much time apart begins to take its toll. Furthermore, their relationship is mostly a secret from their friends (as revealed in the boat party fic here) as they are very private about their personal lives. Jungkook does catch them kissing passionately in public (here) but does not reveal it to the rest of the group. 8 months into their relationship, Jeong-sun has a pregnancy scare and takes a test which turns out negative (read here). The strain of their relationship eventually becomes too much for them. In an attempt to save their increasingly fragile relationship, Yoongi proposes to Jeong-sun (here). She declines his offer and they do not see each other in person for over a month and half (as mentioned here when they have phone sex.) The strain of the relationship causes Jeong-sun to break up with Yoongi, despite the fact she loves him (can be read here - bring the tissues!). During their time apart, before Yoongi’s military enlistment Jeong-sun begins to date someone else (Yoongi discovers it here). Although Yoongi cannot bring himself to start a relationship with anyone else, during the band’s tour in England, he and Hoseok have a threesome with a stranger they meet at a bed and breakfast (this can be read here) & the following month he has a one night stand with an African-American woman he meets in a bar (here). A few weeks later, Yoongi receives his military enlistment letter and, later that day, sees Jeong-sun for the first time in 6 months at the supermarket. Although they exchange some small talk, Yoongi does not reveal his letter to her (can be read here.)  Three months following his military enlistment, Yoongi sees Jeong-sun at work (can be read here) and they agree to keep in contact. The following day, she calls him and they agree to go on a coffee date (can be read here.) However, their date has to be canceled when her boiler starts to leak. Yoongi manages to fix it and they almost kiss but the moment is lost. (here). The following week they finally go on their planned date and end up briefly holding hands. (here). A few days later, Yoongi visits her apartment late at night when he realises it is her thirtieth birthday. She reveals she has been feeling down recently due to her career and he ends up staying the night with her. Although nothing happens beyond cuddling, they do speak quite candidly about their past relationship and things becomes quite heated. In the morning, they finally kiss and after he leaves, Jeong-sun, in a moment of elation and emotion, sends him an explicit picture (can be read here). The following day, they meet for lunch and establish that they are willing to give their relationship another try. Although they do not feel ready to have sex again, they share an intimate bath together.  (read here). Two weeks later, they have sex again for the first time since their break up (here), though they both feel pressure for it to be perfect. The following morning, while having breakfast in bed, Yoongi admits that he would marry her ‘in an instant’ and they discuss meeting each other’s parents (here). After Hoseok is discharged from the military, Yoongi organises a group dinner and introduces Jeong-sun as his girlfriend. During the event, they both reveal they are still in love with each other (here). A few months later, Yoongi finally meets Jeong-sun’s dad and finds out more about her family during a trip to Gwangju where they go fishing together (here).

READ ALL OF SUGA AND JEONG-SUN’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Nana - J-Hope’s girlfriend

Hoseok is one of the last members within the group to meet his OTP. He reveals prior to meeting her, to the other members, that he has slept with four other women (revealed here). During the 7 Minutes in Heaven party game at Supreme Boi’s house, the same occation when Yoongi meets his girlfriend Jeong-sun, Hoseok becomes friendly with the girl he has been paired with, Yu-jin, a friend of Jeong-sun (Suga’s girlfriend) (7 mins can be found here). Yu-jin is on the autistic spectrum and finds it difficult to meet new people, but she immediately takes a shine to Hoseok when he asks her on a date to the zoo. They continue to stay in touch but she eventually moves to China to become a Marine Biologist at Beijing zoo before any real feelings can develop between them (as revealed here.) (and also mentioned by Jeong-sun here.) Although Hoseok does have some sexual encounters, including him and Yoongi having a threesome with a woman they met while on tour in England (here), he is not serious about anyone during this time until he meets Nana after she has an accident and falls over in the park. He invites her back to his house to clean. They realise they like each other immediately and they have sex on the sofa (can be read here). Nana is a primary school teacher and around a year older than Hoseok. Although she likes him immediately, she does suspect he is cheating on her after around a month and half into the relationship when she reads a gossip article that confirms him to be dating his stylist. J-Hope, upset to see her reaction, reassures her this is not the case (can be read here). Nana warms to the other member’s girlfriends at Jin’s wedding (here), though their time together is cut short when Hoseok enters the military. During this time, she becomes closer to the other girlfriends. Hoseok books a short vacation from his service to visit Nana, though their time is interrupted by V’s girlfriend, Cassandra, who needs a place to stay following a big argument with her boyfriend (here). Later, Hoseok is discarged from the military and a reunion dinner is organised by Yoongi for him (here). A few months later, Hoseok and Nana make the decision to move in together and possibly adopt her elderly neighbours dog (here).

READ ALL OF J-HOPE AND NANA’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Angel - Jimin’s first girlfriend 

Despite being a bit of a womaniser, Jimin reveals to the other members that he has only slept with three women (here). He does have an ongoing sexual fling with Angel, a university friend of Jeong-sun (Suga’s girlfriend) and the hostess of the 7 Minutes in Heaven party (here). Following the party, Angel gives Jimin a blowjob and, a few months later, they finally have sex during Supreme Boi’s boat party (as mentioned here from the POV of other people) and here from Angel and Jimin’s perspective. Although Angel studied Philosophy at university with Jeong-sun, they are not especially close friends, with Jeong-sun often going to events with her out of habit more than real friendship. Jimin has another sexual encounter with Angel when they bump into each other as the theatre (here), and he later asks her to be his girlfriend (during phone sex here). They go on several dates including shopping for sex toys (here) and one which the other members tease him about (here) but it does not last long. They break up at a party when Angel goes off with Supreme Boi and Jimin meets another girl, Ara, (here). 

Ara - Jimin’s second girlfriend

After confirming that he and Angel are truly over, he asks Ara on a date to the beach (here). After several months of dating, Ara loses her virginity to him (here). Although they have a good relationship, Ara does occasionally become quite jealous when other women flirt with Jimin (as can be seen here). She also maintains a good friendship with the other member’s girlfriends (as can be seen when she attends Jin’s wedding here), particularly Cassandra who she knows from singing lessons. After dating for a year, Jimin and Ara decide to move in together, but the experience is bittersweet as it reminds Ara that her mother, who she lost when she was a teenager, is not around to see her happy (here). Jimin encourages Ara to pursue a career as an Idol, believing it is what she wants, and he uses his influence to get her an audition for a girl group (here). Despite not being a natural dancer, Ara’s connection with Jimin ensures she debuts early, starting in Japan (here), however her first album with the group also does well in Korea (here).

READ ALL OF JIMIN AND ANGEL & ARA’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Cassandra - V’s girlfriend

Unlike the other member’s girlfriends, Cassandra is only half-Korean. Her mother is from Belgium. She is one year older than Taehyung, a Fine Art student and a stage actress. Taehyung first sees her during a performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ where she plays Titania, Queen of the Fairies (as is mentioned in later fics). They have sex after three months of ‘dating’, although Cassandra was initially unsure of whether they were indeed officially an item as Taehyung never confirmed this (this can be read here). Including Cassandra, Taehyung reveals to the other members he has only slept with three women (here). Cassandra feels insecure when she meets one of the women he previously had a ‘fling’ with during college (here). The other members’ opinion on her is mixed. While they support her as an actress, they feel slightly intimated by her due to how controversial her roles are. She is the centre of our fic ‘The Play’ here. She does become quite friendly with the other member’s girlfriends, particularly Ji-eun and Min-seo and helps to plan the latter’s hen/bachelorette party (here). Despite being a fairly turbulent couple, they always tend to resolve any arguments. Their relationship begins to take a bad turn, however, when Taehyung sells his apartment to move in with her, something which she believes he should not have done. They end up pushing each other to their sexual limits, such as when Taehyung asks her to have sex with one of her colleagues, while he watches (here). Three months before Taehyung’s military enlistment, a sexual roleplay where they play Cleopatra and Ceasar ends in disaster when Taehyung gets too in character and ignores Cassandra’s uncomfortable body language. She is forced to use her safeword when he starts to choke her and she leaves the apartment in tears, heading to see Nana. (read here). At Nana’s apartment, Cassandra confirms she is planning on breaking up with Taehyung and has a heated argument with him on the phone where she threatens to phone the police and take out a restraining order against him. Despite himself, Taehying shows up at Nana’s apartment that night and, finding Cassandra to be asleep, gives Nana her house keys, promising he will move out. (here). A few months later, Taehyung sends Cassandra flowers to her dressing room, as he did on the day they first met with a note telling her that he will be enlisting shortly. Cassandra goes to Jimin’s apartment, where Taehyung has been staying since she asked him to leave, in order to gain some closure on their relationship before he enlists. She confirms that she is ending their relationship, though they end up having unprotected sex (here). Despite agreeing to keep in touch once he starts his service, she does not return his calls or letters (here), prompting him to beg her friends to tell him news of how she is (here). 7 months into his service, Ji-eun tells him that Cassandra is back in Seoul and pregnant. He rushes to her apartment, using holiday time from service, and discovers this is true and that the baby is his (here). Despite the shock of the situation, a few days later they both agree to raise the child together, despite being romantically seperated (here).

READ ALL OF V AND CASSANDRA’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Jia - Jungkook’s FIRST girlfriend

Jia, who is a year younger than Jungkook, is his first ever girlfriend. He believes himself to be in love with her and they lose their virginity to each other. Despite getting off to a good start, their relationship is soon revealed to be very unstable. Jia is quite emotionally manipulative towards Jungkook and often behaves in coercive manners when things do not go her way (here she makes him feel guilty for not being able to get an erection) and (here she deliberately pretends that he hurt her during sex to make him feel bad). After they are photographed together by the paparazzi, Jungkook realises his relationship is naturally drawing to a close (here). Following a big argument where he learns she has blocked his band mate's numbers, he breaks up with her (found here.) Some months later, he has a brief sexual encounter with his ultimate crush, the singer IU when they become trapped in an elevator together (here). The encounter cures him of his fascination with her and allows him to move on. He has a one night stand with an older woman who he later realises was a single mother (can be read here) and has a brief sexual encounter with Seo-yon during the 7 Minutes in Heaven party (here). She is a friend of Angel (Jimin’s fling) and a casual acquaintance of Jeong-sun (Suga’s girlfriend).

Young-soon - Jungkook’s SECOND girlfriend

Some months after the encounter at the 7 Minutes in Heaven party, Jungkook meets Young-soon, an administration assistant from a PR company who is six years older than him. He asks her on a date to a funfair and, although she initially believes him to be too young for her, she finds herself ridiculously attracted to him after he saves her from being mugged. They end up having sex that evening (here) and, a week later, she implies she would like him to be her boyfriend (here). Although the other members sometimes make fun of him becoming too domesticated due to her being older than him (as mentioned in the boat party fic here) and (’The Play’ fic here) he falls in love with her quickly. She does occasionally feel insecure about some of his crazier fans such as Seo-yon (here), but he always reassures her. She also finds that she has a suspicion of how unhealthy his last relationship was with Jia. Although he never speaks a bad word about his ex-girlfriend, it becomes increasingly apparent that things were not all well (here). After four months, he meets her parents (here) who greet him warmly. It is during this time, he realises he is in love with her, which he confesses to her a few weeks later, with her revealing she also feels the same. (here). Despite this, he does find himself in certain sticky situations, such as when he accidentally sees RM’s girlfriend naked on webcam (here). Around 7 months into his relationship, Jungkook drunkenly cheats on Young-soon with a stranger he meets at a party (read here.) A few days later, Young-soon finds out when she realises Jungkook had caught an infection from the stranger (read here) and, despite being heartbroken by his betrayal, helps him by buying a chlamydia test. A few weeks later, she calls him and reveals she needs time to think through the relationship (here). Over the following months, they slowly become close again when her car ends up needing repairing and he offers to drive her to work each morning (here). They end up having sex again, and, at Jin’s wedding, she confesses that she wants to one day marry him (here). A year later, her father suffers a stroke which leaves him hospitalised. Jungkook and Young-soon decide to move to Incheon together in order to be closer to her family (here).

READ ALL OF JUNGKOOK AND JIA & YOUNG-SOON’S SCENARIOS IN ORDER HERE

Other characters

Donghyuk - aka Supreme Boi. Almost a member of BTS and music producer. Mentioned in several fics as a casual friend of the members of BTS and Angel.

Ji-young - A friend of Angel and Seo-yon known for her orange hair (as included in the Boat Party fic)

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[adoxographyy-gurl]

I Promise

I didn’t know how to post on AO3 (whoops). So I decided to post on here. So @thefruitloop-chan here is my entry to your DFO contest. No matter what, if I win or not, I will try to figure out AO3 and make this a multi-chapter fic. 

Izuku opened up his blinds in his room. He was full of energy, even though the city of Shizuoka was still asleep. The sky was ombre of colors, from a dark midnight sky to a slight peach color. Young Midoriya throws off his All-Might covers and runs out of his room to his parents.

“Dad,” Izuku exclaimed as he climbed up on his parents’ bed. They lay together, big arms wrapped around a small waist. His mom was tucked into his dad’s chest, the only indication of her being there was the plume of green hair sticking out. Izuku’s dad’s face twitched, hearing his son’s voice disturbing his peaceful slumber.  “Dad,” Izuku whined this time. His tiny four-year-old hands poke at his father’s cheek. “Dad, you promised.”

“Five more minutes,” Hisashi groans and squeezes himself into Inko. He hears a sniffle and a quiet “Okay”. Goddamn, the kid can pull on some heartstrings.

“Hisashi. I really don’t want to wake up with you still in bed and our son sitting on the floor with tears on his cheeks,” Inko mumbled in Hisashi’s chest, “Or that will make me real furious.” Even in her sleep, her mommy radar is on. Hisashi feared her. He really does. But he also loved her with all his heart, and he agreed, hearing (and worst of all, seeing) his son sad was horrible and made Hisashi want to hunt down whoever harmed his son. Hisashi leaned down and kissed her head, hearing her give a purr of approval. He rolled over and was instantly hit with guilt. There, sitting on the ground, was his son pouting. His big green eyes that he inherited from his mother was filled with tears, some already spilling out of his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed with deep sadness and his lip jutting out a bit as he counts up to 300 (with a stumble here and there due to only learning how to count to 100 recently).

Hisashi was pathetic.  “You ready to go,” he asked. As if he flicked on a light switch, Izuku’s expression changed. His eyes were shinning as if there were diamonds in his eyes and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. Izuku nodded his head with rapid speed. “Well let’s change out of our pajamas and we can go, okay?” Izuku got up and ran towards his room.

~~~

The promise.

It was a good promise, something Hisashi really enjoys doing with his son.

The promise he gave to his son was that every Monday morning (around 6), they will go out in the city and watch a hero fight (or what Izuku adorably says “Bad Guy Smash”). For Izuku, it’s a way for him to see up and coming heroes come into the scene. Most of the heroes are helping to stop petty crimes like theft and simple assault. For him, he gets to see, who could be the new big hero.

However, for Hisashi, he goes to see what is on the market. The villain. Does he have a motive? A real motive. Not some stupid thing about wanting to get rich but to show how unfair society was to people who have lesser quirks than those with amazing ones. Does he have a flashy quirk that would actually benefit him in the long run or something that is weak with no potential. You see, Hisashi Midoriya was, and still is, a big villain in Japan. However, he isn’t known by Japan. Just to a select few people.

           “I wonder if we get to see All Might today,” Izuku asked with a big grin. He sat on the hardwood floor, taking off his All Might bunny house slippers for his tennis shoes. They were a vibrant red that also lit up. Hisashi makes a face. It’s no secret in the Midoriya household that Hisashi doesn’t like All Might. The reasoning behind it varied, depending on who you talked to.

           Inko knows a portion of the truth. She knew that Hisashi is older than he looked (some longevity quirk he mentioned offhandedly). That All Might’s predecessor was a real prick to her husband and his family. She knows enough. As a paralegal, Inko insisted she wanted to know somethings but not everything. She does know that her husband is a villain, but she made him promise never to mix work and family ever. (He wasn’t going to but sometimes he likes it when Inko berates him).  

           Izuku idea changes every time you ask him. One day he says it’s because his dad’s favorite color is black, and All Might has three. Another day could be that his dad hates how loud All Might is compared to his quiet tone. Or once he said it was because his father’s hair was unruly, and All Might’s was manageable.

           Hisashi could tell his son the truth about himself and why he hates All Might. Izuku (even for his age) could keep a secret. But…he didn’t want to crush his son’s hopes and dreams. Hisashi was gone for two weeks and when he returned, he learned the truth. That his son was quirkless.

           Now in some other timeline or universe, this could make Hisashi hate his son and his wife and for him to leave the family. But in this universe, Hisashi just remembers that he lived in a generation that people were just getting quirks. That people with quirks were the minority. It made sense on why his son didn’t have one. He also remembered his younger brother. His brother and his son were identical on their attitudes on life and how much energy they both showed. Though his brother was sick, which caused him to be weak. His son was the opposite. He was always health (barely ever getting sick) and even without a quirk, he was strong. Strong willed and strong minded. They had the same idea of justice and believed in a better future. And Hisashi couldn’t bear seeing his son and him having a rift between them. So, he keeps his son naïve. For now. He’ll tell his son when he’s older.

“Son, why do you favor All-Might?”

Izuku gets up from his spot and clinks his heel on the floor. “I don’t know. I think I like him because no matter how bad the problem is or gets, he always has a smile on his face. He appears happy which makes me happy.” Izuku looks up from his shoes and takes his two index fingers and put them on his cheek, pushing them up to emphasize his smile.

Hisashi stares at his son for a minute than repeats the action back but with a frown. Izuku frowns back and tries to fix his face, telling him he has to smile and to “turn that frown upside down”. Though the action was something that started from Nana Shimura and has been passed down to All Might, it made Izuku look 30x cuter. But to think that he only likes All Might just because he…smiled, was weird. Must be a 4-year-old thing.

“But All Might isn’t my all-time favorite hero.”

“He’s not,” Hisashi questioned. This was surprising.

“Nope,” Izuku smiles and looks at his dad, “It’s you.”

Hisashi’s heart swelled. And that’s why he didn’t want to tell his son. He is his son’s hero. If he were to tell Izuku the truth, he wouldn’t smile so carefree anymore. Hisashi smiled down at his son, “And you’re mine.”

Izuku beamed and lifted his arms up to picked up. Hisashi chuckled and picked up his son. He opened the door only to come face to face with one of his helpers (who looks more like a butler), Kurogiri.

           “Good morning A-Hisashi,” Kurogiri says with a slight bow.

           “Oh, good morning Kurogiri. What brings you out here?”

Before Kurogiri could speak, Izuku inserts himself into the conversation. “Hi Mr. Kurogiri,” Izuku said with a grin, “Are you coming with us to see heroes?”

           Kurogiri’s yellow eyes widen as they dart between Izuku and Hisashi, “Um…no. I have an important matter that I need to discuss with your father.” Izuku looked down at Hisashi, with a pout, “But you promised.”

           “You’re right Izuku, I did promise,” Hisashi tapped Izuku’s shin, “So Mr. Kurogiri is coming with us.” He places Izuku back on the ground. “Now aren’t you forgetting some more things?”

           Izuku looked confused, “No?”

           “Son, I’m taking you to school after this and you don’t have your backpack or your lunch. And you’re going to leave without telling your mother bye?” Izuku’s eyes widen at the scandal he was about to commit, and he ran from the front door to prepare for the day. Hisashi smiled as he watched his son run but quickly let his eyes dart over to Kurogiri. Kurogiri stiffened, knowing what was about to happen. All for One has explicitly told him to never bring anything work related to his household, especially if Izuku is around.

           “Kurogiri, this better be important,” All for One glared.

           “Oh yes, sir. It is very important and time sensitive.” Hisashi crossed his arms.

           “And what is it?”

           “I found Nana.”

           Hisashi stiffen but relaxed, “So you ARE wasting my time. Because here’s the thing. Nana has been dead for the last, I don’t know, 20 years. So what yo-”

           “No sir. Not Nana herself, but her next in line, or really, her grandson.”

            “How did you know that Nana had kids?”

           “She had put her son up for adoption due to how risky being a hero is,” Kurogiri says, “He’s grown now and has a son of his own. Her grandson has a quirk that lets him decay things if he lays his a hand on it.”

           “How did you find him?”

           “The son kept his surname, even after getting adopted. I was listening to the dispatchers, like you told me, and I heard that the apartment building over on the rough side of town had caught on fire. Apparently, Nana’s son was the landlord there. They said the Shimura Apartment Complex. But when you look up the name on the internet, it comes up as All Apartments.”

           Hisashi smiled a devious smile. His mind raced, all the possibilities. To have Nana’s grandson under his wing. The son would be preferable but considering the fact that he is an adult, he would be hard to manipulate.

           “Well done, Kurogiri,” Hisashi chuckles and put his arm around Kurogiri’s shoulders, “But next time, call me.”

           “I will. I’m sorry.”

           Hisashi gave a thunderous laugh and smacked his hand on Kurogiri back, “It’s fine.” He heard tiny pitter-patter of feet coming towards him. He sees his tiny ball of sunshine trying to hurry to catch up before all the bad guy fights are over. “Kurogiri, if you don’t mind, can you make a portal for us?”

~~~

            “Aw that sucks,” Izuku whines from his father’s side. They visited an apartment complex, similar to theirs, that was burning. Instead of a hero with a water quirk or one with a wind quirk, they brought Endeavor. “I hate Endeavor.” The fire hero was always rude to his fans and never let anyone help him whenever a situation could be solved by multiple people. Yeah, the hero was immune to fire and could go into the fire and save people but did they not think about the smoke and how that could burn his lungs? Apparently not. And again, this could be a two-person team up.

           “Dad, who do you think should have been the one saving the people,” Izuku looked up at his dad only to see that he wasn’t beside him. It was some unfamiliar man. Izuku turned to his left and saw old woman holding her fat cat. Izuku felt fear. His breathing quickened and he felt his eyes getting wet. He was about to scream for his dad when he saw something shift in an alleyway. Now Izuku can think logically but in his muddled, scared brain, he headed towards the alleyway.

           In the alleyway was a small kid, lanky, and slim. The kid was pale and had white hair. The kid had made himself into a ball, his shoulders shaking. Izuku could hear the kid sniffle. Izuku walked closer and was going to ask if the kid was okay until he stepped on an empty bag of potato chips. The kid stopped crying and looked up from his ball. His eyes were crimson like his friends, Kacchan, however, they were bloodshot due to the crying. He had a mole on the right side of his chapped, uneven lips. Blood was seeping out from the left side of is mouth and from his right eye.

           “W-w-who are you,” the kid asked. He was older, maybe by 5 years or so but from how small he looked, he could be confused as younger, “What do you want?”            “I was wondering if you were okay,” Izuku asked. He leaned forward, reaching out to try and wipe the hair from the kid’s face but his hand was swatted away.

           “Don’t touch me or you’ll die,” the kid warned. Izuku gulped. He didn’t want to die. He was only 4. But the kid looked like he needed a friend or, at least, a shoulder to cry on. Izuku tried again, the kid leaned back until his head tapped the wall behind him. He was trapped. He closed his eyes, waiting for the newcomer to turn into dust when he touched his face. Light fingers touched his cheek and moved his hair to his ear.

           “You have a big booboo on your face,” the Izuku said. He wiped back and brought out a small packet of tissues. “My mom does this all the time. I don’t think it really works but I don’t want to hurt her feelings.” He wets the tip of tissue and places it on his wounds. The blood seeps onto the tissue and instantly soaks it. Izuku tries again and again to no avail until he runs out of tissues. “I’m sorry. That’s all I have.”

           “It’s fine.”

           “My name is Izuku. Izuku Midoriya,” Izuku stuck out his hand, waiting for a handshake. The kid looked down at Izuku’s hand and brought his hands closer to his chest. Izuku blinked but changed his hand from a handshake to a fist bump. The kid raised his right hand and bumped Izuku’s with hesitation. “Um, my name is Tenko Shimura. It’s nice to meet you.”

           “It’s nice to meet you too,” Izuku beamed, “Is it okay if I sit with you?” Tenko looked at his side and pursed his lips. Tenko really doesn’t know the limit to his quirk. Was it only just his hands or was other body parts? Does he have to touch said thing or can said thing touch him and turn to dust? Before Tenko could answer, Izuku sat next to Tenko, crisscrossed, with his yellow backpack on his lap. He opened up his bag and ruffled through his things, trying to find what else he needed to take care of Tenko.

           “Where are your parents,” Tenko asked, frowning.

           Izuku froze. In a way, he kind of forgotten that he lost his dad and he didn’t know how to retrace his step to go home. “I lost my dad in the crowd from the fire and my mom is at home. Where are yours?”

           Tenko stiffened a little but lets out a quiet sigh, “I think still at the apartment building. They said run and I did. They’re probably freaking out right now.” He gives a small chuckle. To be honest, they probably died in the fire that he accidently caused. He doesn’t mind though, they were trash anyway. The two kids sat in silence for a while, the firetrucks and the constant yelling from Endeavor filled the silence between them. Suddenly, in unison, their stomachs growled.

           “I guess you didn’t eat breakfast either,” Izuku asked. Tenko chuckled, his face turning slightly red. Still pale but it has a little color. He nodded his head. Izuku digs into his backpack until he finds the bento box his mom packed for him. He opens it and sees that she made him 3 rice balls shaped like All Might. “Here. You can have some of my lunch.” Izuku tries to pass the dish over to Tenko, just for him to stare at the container. His fingers fidgeted but they stay where they were. Izuku takes a rice ball and places one in Tenko’s hand. Tenko pulls his hand close to his body and used his other hand to pick up the rice ball. He had his pinky raised when he eat the food. Maybe he’s British.

           “You can eat the rest if you want. I can eat breakfast when I get to school,” Izuku pushes the box closer to Tenko.

           “Izuku!”

           Izuku perked up like a dog and try to pinpoint the voice. He looked at the mouth of the alleyway but saw no one. He looked back at Tenko but he was too distracted by the food, his face giving a sour look.

           “Izuku! Izuku where are you?” His dad’s voice sounds closer but suddenly sounded like it was far away, like he was turning around.

           “Dad,” Izuku jumped from his spot by his new friend. “Dad!” He felt tears well up in his eyes. He sniffled then felt a drop of something wet hit his hand. He was crying. “Daddy!!!”

           Hisashi pivots and runs back to the voice of his son. When he saw his son, he ran and kneels. He grabs his son and give him a bear hug. “Izuku, are you okay? Are you hurt?” He patted his son everywhere. He saw a small splatter of blood on his hands. “Are you bleeding? Where are you bleeding?”

           “No Dad, I’m fine,” Izuku said in his father’s shoulder, heaving in breathes of air. That’s when Izuku remembered his new friend, “Dad this isn’t my blood. It’s Tenko’s blood. He’s hurt real bad.”

           Hisashi unwraps himself from his son and looks and the kid his son is talking about. He stiffens. It’s the boy he was looking for. How did his son find him? Nevermind that. Izuku said the kid was hurt. There were two cuts on the boy’s face, caked with trash from being in the alley. If not treated soon, this kid might get an infection. Hisashi tries to step towards him but the boy makes himself into a ball.

           “Wait Tenko, you can trust him. He’s a good guy.”

           Tenko started to hyperventilate. There were too many people now. The man was big and burly. Tenko’s father was big too and he always hurt Tenko. Izuku’s father was going to hurt him and he couldn’t even defend himself because he was breathing too fast and the world was going a little dark and-

           “Breath.”

           Tenko stopped. He looked to his side and saw Izuku beside him. He had started mimicking some breathing exerises. Tenko stared at Izuku for a bit but resumed breathing. “You’re going to be okay. This is going to pass,” Izuku kept reassuring Tenko.

           Hisashi was…impressed. Unfornately, maybe all those times Izuku came home beat up, paid off. The kid looked like he was calming down, his breathing following Izuku’s and his eyes trained on him.

           “This is my dad, Hisashi. He just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Izuku said. Tenko glanced over at Hisashi. “Is it okay if he looks at your face?” Tenko waited a beat than nodded his head. Hisashi scooted forward and lightly touched Tenko’s face. Tenko stiffened. Hisashi didn’t move, waiting for Tenko to get use to his hand on face for a bit. Tenko relaxed. Hisashi gently moved his face left and right, up and down.

           “You have two cuts on your face. They are pretty deep,” Hisashi mumbled, “You might need to go to the hospital and get stitches. Where are your parents?”

           “They’re back at the apartment building,” Tenko mutter. Something was off about that statement, Hisashi noticed, but wouldn’t worry about it until later.

           “That’s fine. Izuku and I will just take you to the doctors ourselves.”

           “We can’t do that,” Izuku explained.

           “Why not?”

           “What if his parents are looking for him? We can’t just take him.” Tenko flinched. Yeah something to do with his parents. Maybe he doesn’t want his parents to find him? Hisashi used one of his many quirks and looked into Tenko’s mind. He sees a man looming over Tenko with his hands balled into fist. His mother was standing by the counter and was sipping glass of water, talking on the phone with a friend. Her face was scrunched up like she smelled something foul. Hisashi felt sick. He popped out of Tenko’s mind and gave a tight smiled to his son.

           “I don’t think they’ll mind that we are taking him to get help.”

           Izuku looked at his dad with disbelief. “I’m serious. How about this, to ease your worried mind, we can leave them a note. Does that sound good to you?” Izuku thought the idea through. If they left Tenko behind, his parents could find him but his wounds could get worse. If they take Tenko with them, they could get him help but also risk his parents missing them and thinking he was lost or kidnapped. But if they take him and leave a note-

           As son was muttering the pros and cons of the situation, Hisashi looked back at Tenko. He was sitting on the ground waiting for something to happen.

           “You killed your parents?”    

           Tenko tensed, “Yeah. They were bad people.”

           Hisashi sighed, “If I was in your situation, I would’ve done the same thing. Did you ever report them to the police?”

           “I did. Multiple times. But my parents were good at lying. They never got caught.” Tenko let out a hiccup, “I thought a hero would save me.” He started to cry, the tears mixing with the blood. “But no one came to help me.”

           “Except Izuku.”

           Tenko stopped talking and look at Hisashi. Hisashi smiled, “Did you know my son is quirkless?” Tenko’s eyes widen. Someone being quirklesss? That is a very uncommon attribute someone to have. “My son has always wanted to be a hero. But when the doctor told him he can never be one, his heart shattered. I told him all the time he doesn’t have to have a quirk to be a good person and help out. But I don’t think my words helped. Once his classmates found out he was quirkless, they started to bully him. Which is funny considering they are all kindergarteners. But nonetheless, he still wanted to be a hero. Society has weird double standards. You wanted a hero to save you and no one came, not even the regular people. And yet, my quirkless son found you and saved you. Isn’t that something?”

           Tenko looked back at Izuku in a different light. He was a true definition of a hero. He helped someone random stranger without anything in return. He didn’t care about the other things going around, he made sure that Tenko was always safe and comfortable. Izuku never wanted fame or fortune, just a…friend?

           “We can take you home with us,” Hisashi started, “Taking you to the hospital is too dangerous and I don’t want to risk a pro trying to wrangle you to foster care. That could make your living situation worse. My wife can help clean the wound a bit and see if you really need stitches. If you do, I have a doctor friend who can do things on the slide. What do you say, Tenko?”

           Tenko stared at Hisashi then looked back at Izuku, stilling muttering up a storm, “Will Izuku becoming with us?”

           “Of course. He’ll be with us the whole day. And besides, Izuku’s clothes are a mess. My son gets teased as it is, I don’t want to give the kids another reason to beat him up.”

           Tenko sighed but nodded, “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

           “Excellent,” Hisashi smiled and clapped his big hands, making thunder like noise in the alleyway, “Than it’s settled. We’ll take you to the house and get that nasty gash fixed for you. Izuku, stop muttering we have to take Tenko with us to the house.”

           Izuku stopped muttering but confusion was evident on his face, “I thought we were taking Tenko to the hospital?”            “We were but Tenko just told me he’s afraid of doctors and would prefer to stay with us and have your mom fix him up.”

           “Oh okay,” Izuku smiled and rushed over to his dad’s side. He tucks on his dad’s sleeve and raises his arms up. Hisashi sighs but with a small smile and picks up his son. “Wait, Dad. What about the note?” Hisashi looks around and picks up Izuku’s backpack. He opens the bag and see one of Izuku’s many hero notebooks.

           “Is it okay if I write a note from your notebook?”

           “Um…I guess,” Izuku muttered, pressing his heel into his father’s shoulder, “But don’t mess up my notebook. It’s very important to me.”

           “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Hisashi writes a quick note for All Might (or to whomever it may concern) saying that they have lost a valuable player. He’s thankful at the moment that Izuku can’t read that well. He’s smart, yes, but can’t read everything properly or accurately. He showed the letter to his son, “Does that look good to you?”

           Izuku scrunched up his nose, trying to decipher the handwriting. He’s concentrating so hard, his tongue is poking out. When he was satisfied, he nodded his head and gave a thumbs up to his dad, “Looks great to me.”

           Hisashi chuckled and tore the page out from the book. He placed the note on a heap of garbage. If no one picks it up, oh well. He straightens up and starts walking to the mouth of the alleyway and heard small footsteps right behind him. He stops and waits for Tenko to catch up with them.

           “Come on Tenko, don’t be a slowpoke,” Izuku shouts from the top of shoulders.

           Hisashi gives out his hand for Tenko to grab. Tenko looked at the hand and scooted back a little. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Tenko muttered.

           “Don’t worry. Dad doesn’t bite,” Izuku gave a wary smile, “but I can hold your hand.”

           “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Hisashi answered in a hurried, “and like Izuku said, I don’t bite. You can hold my hand.”

           Tenko looked between Izuku and Hisashi, pain all over his face. Tenko let’s out a tiny exhale and let’s his hand fall into Hisashi’s. He held his breath, waiting for the screaming and the dust to fall in between his fingers. All he felt was his hand getting tight. He looked up toe see Izuku and Hisashi looking at him with smiles on their faces. For different reasons, of course, but smiles nonetheless.

           “Okay boys,” Hisashi looks towards the exit, “Let’s go home.”