#why did this kid feel like she had to save another kidnapped child

[inmydr3amz]

It's a trend on TikTok rn to showcase age accurate stranger things characters in every season because we know how old they are but since the actors are older you dont get an actual good sense of how old they are and I thought I'd do it with cass (and maybe some other characters idk) and I'm unwell because she was so small.

(Also I'm doing this w my own fc but still it shows u how a child at that age looks)

Book 1. WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE LOOKED LIKE THIS AND WAS KIDNAPPED TRYING TO SAVE ANOTHER KIDNAPPED CHILD

Book 2. You're telling me this is the little kid who's so paranoid about the world ending (how was she never diagnosed with anxiety at any point isw) and is set on saving the world and honestly anyone she can that she has a "wall of horrors" as her mom calls it. This is the kid that was kidnapped again by the midnight sun. This is the kid who found the homunculus, lost him, was kidnapped once again (twice in the same book omg) and then watched him die. What.

Books 3-4 bc book 3 is the summer before the school year in book 4. This is the same little girl who's mom was kidnapped and she had to save her basically on her own. This is the same kid who infiltrated a child slave camp. This is the kid who was in a coma for weeks, traveled back in time, fought lord pharaoh face to face (like straight up face to face w the monocle scene), watched her friend be almost impaled and murdered, and though she was going insane because for a while she couldn't tell the difference between reality and hallucinations and saw things no one else saw. No. Why. She was a baby.

And book 5 when she was accused of robbing a museum, her mom didn't believe her, she developed anxiety so bad she bit her nails down to the skin until they were raw and bleeding, accidentally got locked in a crate and shipped to Vegas, was practically kidnapped on stage, learnt the secret of the universe and had to deal with the pressure of keeping it to herself, and on top of that, since the secret was technically a joke, she thought that everything she had suffered in those 3(ish) years was all for nothing.

I always knew her age but actually seeing it is so different bc what do you MEAN that little baby was the secret keeper and suffered so much because of it. What do you MEAN the grown ass adults at the Midnight Sun who were literally into their HUNDREDS were beefing with that tiny ELEVEN YEAR OLD. Unwell goodbye

[metalotaku-da]

danny phantom x dc prompt ideas: weather wizard addition.

this comes to you thanks to my big story pieces comment section. i think if the phandom knew more of this characters background and i thought it was more commonly known. it would have more of a field day. same with gotham academy >.> but that is for another post.

alright weather wizard, is a flash villain and a member of the rogues.

mark mardon. is a thief and criminal who escapes from prison and fleas to his brothers house. where he believes he found his brother dead and his weather experiments. including the weather wand which he takes and starts his alias crime as weather wizard. it is hinted at in the comics he actually killed his brother and stole his work. it is believed he had a confrontation with his brother over his prison break, the argument and heightened emotions triggered mark's meta gene and he accidently killed his brother when his powers manifested. and he blocked out that memory. and it is also why he can't use his weather powers without the wand. as a mental block. because he does have powers without the wand.

later on he finds out he has a son with a cop he had relations with. it is known josh is his son because he has weather powers. mark in a fit of rage and jealousy over the his son's powers kidnaps him, with plans to DISSECT AND EXPERIMENT ON HIM TO FIND OUT HOW HIS POWERS WORK SO HE CAN GET THEM. he has a break down though over it before he can go through with it. and wishes his son had someone besides him as a father, because he deserves someone better.

other facts of note: josh was thought to be wally's kid till he got his powers. lady cop has batman's taste. her name is julie.

the rogues have strict rules against hurting kids.

weather wizard killed impulse breaking this rule. though he was tricked.

so yes phandom. here are some options i've brain stormed. please add more ideas for others to knaw on.

1: danny has escaped the fentons/and or giw. flees to central city and weather wizard finds this vivisected terrified kid. and man does it hit his guilt and crazy. this could have been his son. he was going to do this to his child. and it's his redemption/penance to protect this child to make up for his sins. could have a mental break and think he actually did this danny and danny is his son josh too. so many ways to go.

2: other rogues find him, after hearing about ww kidnapping his son and think danny is his son who escaped from his injuries and go on revenge spree for this kid in mistaken idenity. which has funny and dark ways it can go.

3: danny meets ww or his son. and hears how ww couldn't go through with it. maybe from young justice. impulse or members of the league, other rogues dealers choice. danny just dieing a little on the inside like, how come your parent could stop himself with love when he never met you, but my parents raised me and still didn't love me enough not to. the angst protentional here is so high.

4: jazz could work at the facility treating mark. her point of view from treating a person who is so much like her parents but who showed their love for their child in the end. when hers couldn't move past their goals and see their child they claimed to love. could add in she's got a de-aged danny/dannies because of it. to see what it could have been if her parents had been better. stronger. she could get feelings. (totally thinking on par with harley/joker kind of but not that dark.) where mark actually like her and cares for her. could be one-sided. and the giw find them mark breaks out cause she and or kids are in danger and saves them.

5:mix and match the above.

please add more

[traincat]

I can’t believe we live in a world where Johnny Storm doesn’t canonically have ONE child!! I know we have Torus from MC2 and he is a cute kid but I can’t stand that continuity for the whole Lyja and Johnny being in a love relationship 🤢 so I choose to ignore its existence.

I know you’ve had some spideytorch fics where there’s mention of them having babies and I absolutely ADORE them even if you don’t go too deep on them. If you were a marvel writer and got to write a story about Johnny becoming a father how would you go about it?

He does also have a kid with Jan van Dyne in a canon divergent AU that breaks off from the original Secret Wars. He has tiny little wings and flame powers and he's very cute. Credit to Jan for snagging herself a man who will let her dress him up like her own personal Barbie doll.

If I was going to write a "Johnny acquires a baby" storyline, there's two ways I would go about it. The first is the typical Future Foundation adoption storyline -- even before Ben and Alicia got their alien kids, the moloids were very much "Ben's kids," like the fish kids were Sue's kids, but Johnny didn't really have a designated baby in the group. We know Johnny really, really wants kids, so I think him adopting a kid who gets absorbed into the larger Future Foundation group would be cute, but I don't have any specific ideas here, really.

The second is going to take us on another trip down Johnny Storm Nonconsensual Incidents lane. But in a different way than the fake egg baby. It's uh. It's something that we have multiple options here.

So let's talk about Fantastic Four Annual 2010.

This one's a doozy. Psycho-Woman, the daughter of villain Psycho-Man, drugs Johnny and a young woman named Amy, who Johnny went on a date with once but "doesn't remember" even kissing. Psycho-Woman then inseminates Amy with Johnny's child. Great. Some may know Psycho-Man from Sue's very own sexual assault allegory story back in John Byrne's run, and are we seeing a Storm siblings pattern yet. Psycho-Man was a villain from Sub-Atomica who specialized in emotional manipulation, specifically the feelings of fear, hate, and doubt. Psycho-Woman also possesses the ability to manipulate emotions, but she specializes in envy, disgust, and indifference -- and I think envy and disgust are interesting emotions we could play with re: Johnny's Everything, but that's not really relevant to the comic at hand unfortunately.

So there's a thing with the Fantastic Four where the cosmic energy that gave them their powers also nearly killed Sue in childbirth. When Amy tries to get in contact with Johnny at the Baxter Building and this energy signature is picked up, it kicks off a race against Psycho-Woman's attempt to kidnap Amy for the fetus, where the end goal is to use Johnny's DNA for an army of cosmic warriors. Sure, why not. With Johnny infected, literally, by a microscopic Psycho-Woman who is hiding in his body Magic School Bus style, Reed shrinks the rest of the family down to go hunt her down inside of Johnny. Yadda yadda, there's some good angst when Johnny thinks he's burned his family alive after being forced to flame on to save a falling Amy, all's well that ends well. Right?

Well, Amy decides to use Reed's time machine to jump back in the timeline and prevent the pregnancy altogether. Cannot blame her. What's interesting here is Johnny's reaction to both Amy and the pregnancy. While he never displays any romantic interest in Amy -- and even goes out of his way to avoid her before he realizes she's pregnant, denying vehemently that anything happened between them, which turns out to be true -- absolutely incredible to write a pregnancy story while making it pretty clear that Johnny did not have sex with a woman -- he is immediately on board with the idea of the baby once he knows it's his. Because Johnny really wants kids. Even if the method to get them is getting drugged by a creepy supervillain in a shady VIP club room. We saw this with the fake egg baby, too, where despite his complicated feelings on Lyja, Johnny really wanted that baby.

Oh, buddy.

"And who's going to take care of it -- you?" "Yes." "Oh, Johnny. I almost believe you." Haha. Hey. :(

The issue ends on a somewhat open note, though, stating that there's no real way to be sure what choice Amy made once she jumped back in the timestream, or even how far back she went. So it's entirely possible Johnny has a canon kid in 616, just that this storyline hasn't been brought back yet. This is probably the story thread I would go with, just because it provides a sense of continuity, and it ties into a lot of Johnny Issues in a way where you could really dig into Johnny's characterization and history. And I did actually start a WIP with this Maybe Baby ages ago, but I didn't get that far into it as I remember. I might try to find it if anyone's interested in more relics from the Traincat WIP Folder.

[in1-nutshell]

Buddy the Half Saiyan

Thank you to Kai for letting me do this commission and giving me permission to share this work!

Prompt: Hello there can I request the continuity of Half-sayian buddy meeting young justice expect this time in season 2 where he comes back much stronger, better, older like 20 or 22 and ready to fight against those who threaten his home. Can there be some romance as well between him and nightwing with a budding romance with buddy not even realizing it just doing following his heart such as giving him flowers, training with him, and protecting him wether it's physical or emotional and just being a caring person whose willing to risk their life for their loved ones. Also you can share this to the public.

SFW, Platonic, Hinted Romance, Mention of injuries, Half Saiyan reader

YJ

“…”

“…”

“… I feel like your angry with me.”

“Oh, what gave that away?”

“Your ki’s flaring up a bit. Plus, you’re making your angry face.”

Dick narrowed his eyes at the bandaged half Saiyan laying on the medical bed. Both arms had minor wrapping that matched the ones on his legs. His face scored a few minor cuts and bruising on the cheek. What worried Dick was the entire chest wrapped in a thick layer of bandages. A testament to what happened last mission.

“Dick? You okay?” Buddy commented.

“Am I okay? Am I okay!? What made you think that what you did was a good idea!?” Dick hissed earning a bit of a surprised expression from Buddy.

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. “I saved your life?”

The vigilante at his side crossed his arms tighter. The slits in his domino mask narrowed. Radiating anger he continued to speak.

“And look where that got you! I was fine! I could have dodged the blast! The doctors said another inch to the left would have left you… This world doesn’t have your Sensu beans Buddy! The sooner you get it through your thick skull the better!”

Dick closed his eyes for a bit, took some deep breathes, and opened them back to him. Buddy was a bit annoyed about how he was being scolded like a child. He didn’t do anything wrong, so why was he getting reprimed?

“I get that there’s no Sensu around Dick, but if it were me in your situation, you would have done the same thing. Admit it.”

Dick was at a loss for words. “I—you—you are so! You know what, I’m going for a walk!”

Dick marched out of the room while muttering some curses under his breath and slammed the door. Buddy huffed as silence filled the room again. He always hated hospitals and the ‘clean’ smell. Logically, he knew why it smelled that way, but a part of him would always associate it with the days in the hospital after the fight with Nappa and Vegeta. Which was a bit ironic, Buddy had pulled a similar stunt then to save Gohan and Krillin’s life.

Buddy didn’t regret stopping Klarion’s energy blast. How could he regret it if it was heading straight for Dick. Sure, he didn’t know what the blast would do to him, but Buddy was much more durable than a human. It was a gamble, but worth it in the end. But was all the fuss really necessary?

Maybe it was, Gohan was much more of the worrier of the two. Buddy often joked that his twin held all the impulse control outside the battlefield.

…Gohan… Oh Gohan…

Buddy closed his eyes for a bit and sighed, recalling what happened days before he was transported.

Out of all the days he got kidnapped by some whinny magic kid, it had to be on his and Gohan’s birthday. Bulma was going to be hosting the party so everyone could come over. Knowing her, she was probably going to have some over-extravagant gift for them both. Or maybe the gift would have been Dragon balls, if Dende allowed it. Oh, who was he kidding, of course Dende would allow it if he found out it was for the birthday. Piccolo and Vegeta wouldn’t have been the biggest fan of that if that was what Bulma did end up doing.

Not that he would know now.

That morning, Buddy had decided to help out his dad with some of the days work on the farm. Picking up a few veggies for later, nothing too complicated. It would be something nice for his parents and brothers.

He remembered seeing Gohan and Goten by the doorway of the house from where he was standing in the field. While still far away, there was no mistaking the distinct spike hair style all the Son males had.

30 seconds.

Goten flying to him, smiling and waving excitedly.

20 seconds.

Gohan was carrying some of the crates of radishes in before dropping them suddenly.

10 seconds.

Goten’s eyes went wide, Gohan started flying towards him, fast.

5 seconds.

Buddy remembered hearing the incoming shouts of his brothers to move.

3 seconds.

The ground at Buddy’s feet began to crumble as some invisible force violently pulled him backwards. Not even flying would have helped him escape from this.

2 seconds.

Gohan’s hand was inches from his own outstretched hand. Goten was not too far behind. Fear was present in both their eyes. In that moment Buddy could have sworn he heard his dad calling for them, but that could have been wishful thinking.

Time’s up.

“BUDDY!”

“GOHAN!”

The portal had sucked him into darkness… a darkness that was followed by dimmed light and Klarion’s voice crack demanding to get off of him.

Buddy opened his eyes and sighed again, feeling a bit antsy and guilty.

He didn’t want Dick worrying so much about him like this. Maybe he could be more careful even if he could take much worse hits than that. He was fine! Buddy needed to make it up to Dick.

…Maybe if he gave him some flowers, he would feel better? It worked for Gohan whenever he got into a nasty spat with Videl. Those were rare, but it still worked! Maybe it would work for Dick too!

Carefully floating out of the bed, the half Saiyan slightly flew out of the medbay.

…

There were a few things Buddy found a bit inconvenient about this world. Like access to his favorite food, the lack of Capsule Corp technology, clothing style just to name a few. Ki sensing was something he was grateful that the others didn’t know how to do.

And for once, it was working to his advantage.

It was a bit tricky getting outside the door with his chest throbbing here and there. Not to mention getting past the cameras, but once outside it was a breeze. Finding good flowers around wasn’t too hard. Buddy even looked for other safe plants to complement the bouquet. Turns out all those miscellaneous books by his bedside had paid off.

Now all he needed to do was slip back inside, maybe make a sandwich, give the flowers to Dick and—

“Buddy?”

Buddy tried hiding the bouquet while flashing a smile at the group in front of him. Tim looked strangely at him while crossing his arms; Cassie and Bart looked curious at the half Saiyan’s sides; Jaime still couldn’t look at him without the nervous smile. Buddy remembered the poor boy having a similar ‘fan moment’ that many of the Leaguers had when he first showed up in the Watch Tower.

“What are you doing out of bed Buddy?” asked Tim looking down at the bandages.

“Didn’t Nightwing put you on bed arrest??” Cassie added.

Buddy chuckled a bit and scratched the back of his neck. “Hey guys, I thought you were out with Connor today.”

Jaime piped up. “We did, but he cancelled on us last minute. He wanted to do a solo mission and we’re just back up in case something goes wrong.”

Bart smiled up at him. “You here for a snack? Or are you going to eat those flowers behind your back?”

Rats!

Seeing no point in hiding them, Buddy brought out the flowers in front of him.

Tim raised his eyebrow. “Why do you have that?”

Buddy smiled while carefully fixing the flowers. “Well, I kinda made Nightwing a bit upset with… this.” He gestured his chest. The kids slightly winced, remembering Dick screaming for the half Saiyan when he took an energy blast to the chest.

“So, I thought maybe some flowers would help him cheer up!”

Tim raised an eyebrow at him.

“…Listen you might be his type, but Nightwing is going to freak out the second he finds out that you aren’t in the room.”

Buddy looked at him confused. “What do you mean type?”

Jaime spoke up. “He means—”

“BUDDY!”

The four teens felt a sudden burst of wind and noticed the absence of the injured half Saiyan.

…

Dick was only gone for 15 minutes.

15 minutes!

But he guessed that was enough time for Buddy to get bored and leave. And all injured!

“BUDDY!”

Less than a few seconds, a slightly disheveled Buddy was floating upside down in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“You okay Nightwing? I heard you yelling.”

Dick almost felt sorry for giving him a fright.

Almost.

“No, I’m not okay because you keep on getting out of bed. Are you trying to aggravate your wounds?! And for what!? Training?!”

Buddy tilted his head in confusion.

“I didn’t get out to train. I got these for you!”

Buddy offered the slightly bent bouquet to Dick. He blinked several times staring at the flowers in his hands.

“Why?” He asked.

Buddy shrugged while landing next to him. “I did get you upset and thought maybe some flowers would help cheer ya up.”

Dick stood in silent for a few moments. Agonizing moments in Buddy’s opinion.

Dick sighed and patted Buddy’s head. “Let’s just get you back to the room. You better pray to your gods that you didn’t pop any stitches.”

Buddy perked up. “So are we—”

“Don’t think that your out of the woods yet Buddy. You’re going to get it when we start weight training you again.”

“Looking forward to it!”

[dulcemaiden]

About what you said in your last BB post, I wonder if it's true that Snake will kill Doll. I have read many comments wishing for that, especially on Twitter, and readers commenting a lot of hate towards Doll, saying that Doll was always okay with kidnapping children, and even now she's hurting children, so she deserves to die again, but Doll wasn't really evil, she was a kind girl :( I just can't accept Yana brought her back only to gain the fandom's hate and to be killed by Snake. I think her condition as a bizarre doll is making her to act like that. That's why I would like to know your opinion, since you seem to be one of the few people who doesn't hate Doll, do you think Snake will really kill Doll?

Hello! Thanks for your ask ♡

I didn't know about this hate towards Doll in the fandom (as I don't spend much time in social media nowadays, especially Twitter), but I wouldn't be surprised, fandom is biased lol.

Regarding my opinion, I think I already answered it in another post, so maybe I'm just repeating more of the same, I don't know, but here we go

I agree Doll used to be a kind girl in the circus arc, she always took care of the new ones, and she protected OCiel thinking he was a kid needing her help. She also was the most conflicted about the whole child abduction thing, and was very hesitant to hurt people as we saw in BoC. Doll had an innate kindness.

HOWEVER, first we have to learn to separate that Doll from this new Doll. Doll is now an advanced bizarre doll, and those dolls seem to be desperate for blood (as we saw with Layla), they can't feel physical pain, and seem to lack empathy for the lives of other humans because they have no souls.

So you got an idea.

It is understandable if readers dislike BD!Doll, but I disagree with those comments about her being always evil, because she wasn't.

Also, is Doll really evil now? And this question goes for all the bizarre dolls. It's not like Doll gave her consent to be brought back as a monster, as she called herself. And it's not like she is the mastermind behind the horrors of the orphanage, there is an organization behind it and if Doll is important is as a test subject, she is a simple puppet, a doll. And yes, it was stated in this post before, that it's probably that bizarre dolls are programmed with their "yearning for the future" and cannot escape from that. This arc could give us more insight about how dolls function regarding that topic.

Now, let's talk about Snake.

Snake's position is a very difficult one. Snake clearly loves Doll, she was a part of his family and it was hinted in the last cover that she saved him in a similar way Ciel did with Finny, and now he has her corpse telling him that Ciel killed her, and that the people he is currently friends with killed his first family... it's heartbreaking. On the other hand, there are innocent children being used as a material for the "Stars", and that must be stopped.

About the "Snake will kill Doll theory", I don't think that would actually happen, I mean it's still a possibility, but even if Doll goes completely mad and start attacking them so Snake would have no option, he would still resent o!Ciel for being forced to do that. I think things will be resolved differently.

Sorry for the late response and again thanks for the ask!

[shycolorstudent]

Juuzou x Ghoul reader

I don’t like madly in love tropes where the couple will throw away their beliefs for each other. However, Juuzou is unhinged, and I think someone who is like matches. Let me know if I should go a different route or enjoy this. Also, sorry for the long Y/n back story; I got carried away :)

Ok, I never intended to fall in love with Juuzou Suzuya. I’m ghoul well half, and he’s a 

CCG agent. Let me give you a quick back story. My name is Y/n Arima… well, it was. I’m a sibling of Kishou Armia, a product of the Sunlight garden. My whole purpose is to be a weapon; however, my brother had one condition in the garden wanted to use his DNA, and that was to give me a normal life well as much as they could give me; my parents are a doctor from the garden, and a school teacher who couldn’t conceive a child and I was their next best option. Kishou couldn't live with me since mother didn’t want to be reminded of what I was.

I swear she loves me, but it pains her to know my fate when I turn 18. My life was great. I went to school, had friends, my parents loved me, and I could see my big brother every weekend. Yeah, I had everything, an almost perfect life, until big madam caught a whiff of me that I looked like a doll and behaved like one. I was kidnapped right before my 6th birthday Kishou from what I remember, planned a party. He was always happy with me. My life as a scrapper was hell. I was tortured to the point I couldn’t feel pain, and parts of my hair turned white. It’s the same as Juuzou. He can’t feel pain, but his hair is white as snow thats because he would protect me by jumping on top to take in the hits from Big madam. She couldn’t manipulate me like she did Juuzou, or should I say Rei, thats what he was called at the time. I also went by another name, but it’s dead to me.

To make a long story short, there was a CCG bust in the scrapper ring Juuzou, and I tried to escape. We held each other's hands tight, but with all the commotion, we got separated. A DOVE did recognize me and wanted to take me by force, but Juuzou took it as a threat, and he became restrained. His last words to me that night were, “Run! Escape for the bolth of us. Don’t you dare come back from me! I’ll find you, I swear!” So I ran to Big Madam, thinking she would help me save him; however, she scoffed and grabbed me, but I fought back with only pure and utter rage Juuzou worshipped her, and yet she was willing to leave him. I unleashed my kagune for the first time and sliced her arm.

I was horrified and ended up on the run having DOVES and Ghouls on the hunt for me until I bumped into Yomo; I was starving and scared. From then on, I’ve called Anreiku home on the run from my brother, in a relationship with a DOVE, and trying to find a place as a half-breed, as Touka calls it. Kaneki stood up excited with a ton of questions. Yoshimura told me to be open with Kaneki since we were the only two who could understand one another. “Wait, wait, your brother is the White reaper? Why are you on the run? You can be leading a safe life.” He said with much confusion. I took a deep breath and spoke, “He is, but years have passed, and I have one more year before I turn 18. I will be killing my friends and my family. I would rather be in danger than hurt my family. He will one day find me and take me back. Until then, I’m free.” He tilted his head, thinking of any other questions. “Free? Wait! You're with a DOVE? How is that allowed?” I dreaded this question coming up.

I get enough crap from Touka. “I gave him an address three wards away. He found me one day walking to school, and Yoshimura knew no matter what, it was a lose-lose situation. I love him, and I’ll do anything for him. Call it Stockholm syndrome, but I’ll leave Anteiku if he calls for it. But if I leave Anteiku right now, then they're screwed.” I sighed, and Kaneki spoke, “How so? Your just a kid like Touka and I.” I smiled, and before I could talk, Touka spoke up. “She went crazy from the age of 6, and she was taught how to kill. She's a grade or two higher than me. Scrappers know how to kill humans and Ghouls. Before shit hits the fan, she is set in,” Touka said with her arms crossed. Touka and I are close, but it wasn’t always like that. The main thing we still fight about is my leaving one day and being with Juuzou. “Oh, is that why she and Yomo leave a lot together?” Kaneki asked. “Yup, I’ve been helping with disrupting territories. It’s boring when there was no action last time and no one argued. They took one look at me and yielded.” His jaw was on the ground before today. He thought I was a more excellent version of Touka, but he’s slowly seeing my scrapper side. “So, who here for me?” I asked Touka, “No one; I just popped in to listen to God.” She walked off, and I had to explain. “Now, where we differ, Kaneki, is I can eat human food and ghoul food. That is depending on what I do. If I use my kagune, I need to eat flesh, but if I don’t, then I’m normal, but during the whole month, I use my kagune. Before, when I was in denial, all I had was human food. Not once did I dare use my kagune, which made Touka jealous. It wasn’t until last year was when we became close.” He understood, and I could tell he wished that was him being able to have my drawbacks *ding ding* it was my watch. “Well, times up. If you need anything, let me know. I have a date to go to.” 

I waited by the train station for Juuzou. Lucky for me, he respects my wishes of not wanting to see my brother. DOVES are supposed to report me if I’m seen, and Shinohara hasn’t made the connection yet, but it’s coming. I wonder how Juuzou would react if I told him I’m a ghoul. He might kill me. It’s his job, and he’s more violent than me. Even if I’m ordered to kill him, I won’t. I would expect my fate and let him kill me. I could smell him. He’s close. His scent is so good that many ghouls would want to eat him. I felt his hands cover my eyes, and he spoke sweetly, "Guess who?” He laughed and laughed back as I turned around to embrace him. Even though I’m stronger, I feel utterly safe with him. “How was school?” He asked me as he patted my head.

“It was good. I’m stressed about exams, but I’ll pull through. How's work?” This is often double-edged. I’m genuinely curious about his day at work; however, to get Touka and Yomo off my case, I provided information that I’m told. That has been a lot of help. “Same old same old. Sometimes you lived with me and not in the 17th ward. It’s going into the red.” He sighed. “Just say the word, and I’ll run away with you.” I smiled up at him he smiled back. “Soon, I promise. I just want to get rid of all these guys that watch over me. Now, to the Zoo!” 

-Some headcanons-

-He knows that she's a ghoul. He’s not dumb. She passes off as human, but he knows.

-He found comfort in the Zoo, so he took Y/n to the zoo so she could feel safe.

-He's very clingy and wants to run away already; however, he knows the consequences, and he doesn’t want to risk being separated again. 

-I didn't know what dating was until Shinohara explained it to him, and he thought you two had been dating the whole time you were scrappers.

-His love language is physical touch. You must be touching via a hug, hand-holding, or even holding pinkies when you are together. 

-Does PDA unless you tell him to stop.

-He’s very overprotective 

-Hopes that one day Ghouls and humans can be together 

-Like to kiss your hand. He thinks it’s more intimate that way.

-He acts like a child, and you love it. It reminds you to let loose a little.

-Your more cold and hes childish but it’s a perfect balance.

[mlchaelwheeler]

hot take but “it starts with will, it ends with will” is the dumbest theory ever and they’re not killing him off especially after making him suffer the ENTIRE show. i’m convinced people who keep going on about this theory don’t even like will and don’t care about him at all.

first of all, it didn’t even start with wil! it started with el. will was just a child in the wrong place at the wrong time and he got kidnapped because of the gate that was opened. what happened was tragic and out of his control, so why would the conclusion to this story be killing him when he didn’t even start this mess?? and how would people rewatch the show knowing the kid who EVERYONE faught so hard to save and protect for the entire first 2 seasons just gets killed in the end anyways? everything would’ve been for NOTHING!

i love el so much and want her to be happy too, but it makes no sense when people say it started with will. the SHOW started with will when we saw him get kidnapped, but everything with the upside down and vecna had nothing to do with him. if we apply the “it starts with [character], it ends with [character]” theory, it literally only makes sense if it’s el. she took the soteria out of henry’s neck, causing his powers to come back. then she faught him and opened a gate to the upside down, sending him there and turning him into vecna. THEN she touched the demogorgon and opened the gate in hawkins. obviously el was just a child too and didn’t mean for any of this to happen, but the fact is that she DID start everything. it was all because of el. i hope there’s a way they can solve everything without hurting her but when people constantly go on about how a character has to “sacrifice” themselves, it literally only makes sense if it’s el. we saw it in season 1 too and i think people forget that el’s story wasn’t going to continue after that. they weren’t even sure if they would do another season or continue that specific storyline with those characters.

and going back to will, he has barely had any genuinely happy moments in the entire series. maybe a couple of minutes in total at most? but he never got to have a love interest like all the other kids. he never got to experience romance. and keep in mind this a MAIN character who is GAY. he has suffered with bullying and abuse and trauma his entire life.

even IF will was supposed to be “the chosen one” that has to sacrifice himself in the end, why did they choose to write him as the most tragic character? why did they make him gay? why did they make him get abused and bullied as a child? why did they add homophobic slurs in season 1 to show us what will was called all his life? why would they make him kidnapped in season 1, possessed in season 2, ignored in season 3 and unloved in season 4? why would they not give him a romance storyline like ALL the other kids got to have? why is the gay kid the only one that gets absolutely nothing except trauma, loneliness, unrequited love, bullied, slurs thrown at him, excluded by his closest friends and many more things? why make his story so heartbreaking and make the audience feel so sorry for him (ESPECIALLY in season 4) if it’s just going to end with him being killed off?

if they kill will after all that, it would be the most disgusting and horrible thing they could possibly do. he is NOT a character that was designed to be “the ultimate hero that has to sacrifice himself”. don’t get me wrong, i DO want to see him be a badass and be a hero and play a massive role in defeating vecna. in fact, if he CAN do the final blow in a way that doesn’t hurt himself, i would absolutely love that. it would be incredible. but if there has to be some sort of “sacrifice”, that’s not okay at all. they can’t make a gay child suffer the entire show and then sacrifice himself.

that’s not a “bittersweet” or happy ending, that’s tragic and horrible and cruel and insulting. there is NOTHING that’ll make it okay. i don’t care if all the other characters get to be happy. that would actually make it MORE insulting to will. we’ve already seen everyone happy and in love and having fun while will suffers. why would they hurt him even more?

IT MAKES NO SENSE

real and true <3

[lolita-lollipop]

Hi could I get some headcanons for a yandere demon who was accidentally summoned by a child and the demon realizes that the small child just wanted someone to play with. The parents neglects the child and even when the kid comes into the room with the demon the parents are like “go play somewhere else sweetie” so the demon is basically just like “yup this child is mine” and just takes the child to the underworld with them, thank you 🥺

I started a one shot on this, and then realized that you wanted headcannons, so there is totally gojnng to be a part two of this that is the actual process. Kk, into it now.

I had to skip through th me “kidnapping” one, because there isn’t much to describe about it.

(I can’t tag you since your anonymous, but Just know I’ll post it in the next few days)

———————————————————————

-he, of course, meets you after you summon him with the ritual you saw in a picture book. He’s actually quite suprised that a child summoned him just to play trains in a sandbox. It isn’t like he can go anywhere till you dismiss one of the candle flames, so he just sits down and humors you.

-he is quite confused on the fact that you want him to play with you, and not some of your friends. You seem like a sweet little one, very polite indeed, and you haven’t even judged him on his demonic appearance, usually humans run screaming from the red tint in his skin, black eyes, and large horns. So he is very intrigued by you.

-usually, he’s not one for human sympathy, mainly because they treat him likes he’s some monster from hell (which he is), But it still hurts. You on the other hand, don’t even seem to care at all about the fact, you are treating him like some friend, not a demonic pet for you to order around. He immediately feels a bond between the two of you, it might be one sided, but still, you are just too sweet for this blasted world you’ve been shoved in.

-when he learns that this precious’s little thing that is you, has never felt any sort of love, even though you are just a ball of heaven, he is angry. Humans are nasty, vile creatures, the one time, the ONE TIME that one isn’t taking advantage of him, someone is openly hurting them? This is where the yandere-ness starts, he might not have known you for long, but he immediately feels protective, how could someone hurt such a little thing like you? That should be counted as a criminal act.

-when you let him out of the star (with his careful instruction to only blow away one of the lines) he’ll immediately grab your hand, and hoist you up to his chest, which by the way, is 8 feet off the ground. He’ll ask you where these “parents” of yours are, whilst rubbing circles back and forth on your shoulders with his warm hands. You point towards the little blue house where you lived, and he’ll go walking in there like he owns the place. When you say you made a new friend, your mommy jsut sheigged you off and told you to go play because she’s busy and can’t deal with you. This triggers him to a whole new level.

-he’ll take you back outside immediately, and set you in the center of the star, shooting a flew unstoppable flames into the blue house, then he’ll ask you to draw a new line for the star, and you and him both are transported into the world of the under, the last remains of earth in Your mind consisted of a few feminine screams.

“This child is mine now. Filthy human.”

Treatment:

-when arriving in literal hell, you would find that it’s surprisingly normal, actually pretty beautiful if you were to ask me. The sky was black, and the plants and ground were red. But it was such a pretty sight. You wowed at whatever this place was, while holding onto the side of his arm.

-this man, treats you like a little princess, his little princess of course. He dresses you in the finest of clothing, feeds you the best food, and plays the best games with you. He chooses to ill the role of your parent, mainly because the human scum who called themselves your biological parents, were cowards, and didn’t deserve the title. You’ll see him attempt to imitate a human parent, but soon just say “Aw fuck it” and go his own way.

-he doesn’t really get mad at you, in fact it’s very hard for him to even feel slightly annoyed at you, none of the things you do are intentional, so most of the things that could annoy him get blamed on someone else.

-is the most overprotective being you’ll ever meet, not letting you do even the simplest of tasks because “you could get hurt”, apparently you are too fragile to complete basic tasks. He’ll help you get dressed, he’ll fed you, he’ll literally carry you everywhere, all the while he’ll be scaring away any other demons from his manor in case they smelled the sweet child that you are, and wanted it for themselves.

-you’re his best friend, but even so, you have to go back home at some point right? Wrong, he’ll make you think as if whatever place you were before, where you were neglected, and ignored, was nothing but a dream, when you ask any questions about it, he’ll shush you and tell you that it’s nap time or something.

-he doesn’t care at all if you miss your mommy and daddy, he never did understand why humans could form attachments to people who mistreat them. He’ll grow angered, not at you of course, you aren’t trying to do it on purpose, but more so at everyone in your past life that’s keeping you from him. So he might pull a few strings with some humans int he surface that are in debt to him, and bam, your old school, your fathers house, your friends horns, everything in town, has now burst into flames.

-nicknames include: littles, little one, child

Punishment:

-as I said he doesn’t get mad very easily, busy he also won’t tolerate a certain level of disobedience. That being said, he will never even think about embolism any form of physical pain upon you. Resorting to more tactical options.

-hell just scare you, like letting you wander out when it’s parent of that darker times (they don’t have days down here), and letting any demons come close to you, you of course, beings tiny little human faces with a huge snake thing, scream and cry for your best friend to come save you. Which he does, and engulfs you in his arms, boucning you up and down while shushing Youa Dan striking your hair.

-hell lecture you and tell you this is why you can’t leave him, then changing you out of the dirty clothing, and tucking you into bed.

Cuddles:

The two of you have quite the size difference, so snuggling with him would be hard, but not impossible. He is actually quite gentle with you, noting how easy it would be to crush you under his weight, so he’ll gently set you on top of him, over his chest, where he’ll wrap his arms around your sister, and keep his hands over your shoulders.

-or he’ll set your form in his lap, protective encasing his arms over your chest while you rest your head in his.

*bonus

-where he comes from, it’s a sight of dominance to hiss at others, so you’ll literally be just perched in his lap while he’s hissing like a cat at another demon like 👁👄👁

———————————————————————

Thanks for requesting, have a great day anon, bye!

[myyoungroyalsblog]

Liveblog of Gåsmamman season 6 (so spoilers, obviously)

Episode 1

Everyone needs to hug a cow every once in a while😔

Wow is that prison??

Omfg the kid in the car afahsghsgshs

Uhhh how can you just "check" the dark web?? Is it easy or what? Lmao

Fuck, the kids and the kids kids FUCK

Omg not the kid (I don't think she would ever harm the kid but uhhh trauma?? Jfc)

FUCK NINAAAAAAA

Fuck and now Linus

Jfc shit

Holy fuck

Oh god he's gonna find out now😭

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Am I dead?" OMG😭😭😭😭😭

Awwww the hug!!!!!!!

Also is he wearing a wedding ring??

Episode 2

Poor baby😭 "I wanna see mama" ahhhhhhh

Are they gonna put her in prison so that she kills Sonja?

Lol I thought that was Fabian for a sec

HOLY FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

What the hell? A fire?

Woah wtf is that even legal??? Jesus christ

Oh fucking new that guard was iffy

Of course they take the wrong person🙄

Who is this bitch?

Oh god she ain't gonna get to the apartment is she?

What the fuck hahahaha she escaped??

Yeah no people don't remember what the fuck you wrote on your CV lmao

Oh shit Emil might lose his job

None of those kids better get hurt or die istg

FUCKING KNEW IT AFSHSGSHDGHSGSGS I HAD A GUT FEELING EMIL WAS IN ON IT

Episode 3

Sonja you can't complain about an ankle monitor are you kidding me???

Omg Linus leaning on his mum my heart😭

Omg the snow is so beautiful!!!!!

Holy shit he was married (did that happen in s5 and I forgot? Lol)

But what if HE is the leak??? Ahhhhh

Hockey? Lmao

Oh that fucker GET HIM GUSTAV

Shit shit shit are they gonna follow him??

Holy FUCK

God poor girl

Vera shut the fuck up

Ohh the piano music is very nice

Oh fuck yeah Gustav is smart😌

Sooooo many secret🙄

Linus heard..... Is he gonna run away again?

Ohh family drama

Fucking knew he was gonna leave

Ohh Lukas helped him (I think?)

But like where the fuck is he gonna go? Can he even drive??

Oop Richard dead

Episode 4

Jfc another chase🙄

Fucking hellllll they know where they are

Preeeetty sure that wasn't Linus who took the photos Zac

I am scared for Linus here ahhhhhh

Oh shit it was, for the passports?

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK RUNNNNN

Fuck

Fucking Dante

Ahhh fuck yeah that was awesome lmao

Okay that was like a tranquilizer or smt right?

Episode 5

Of course the vest lol I forgot about that

Dramaaaaaaaa

I mean I understand Zac, Fredrik is in danger and the bad guys won't hesitate to hurt a child, but I also understand Nina wanting to help her mum

I hate it when my gut is right, that kid seemed in on all this shit (maybe he framed Richard???)

They made themselves a snack wtf afsjsgsh

Did Zac take Linus??

Vera asked for Linus??

FUCK OH YOU ARE SHITTING ME ZAC

Zac you fucking idiot you think they aren't going to hurt him???? Seriously??? FUCK

What the fuck are they making?

Ohhhh Zac I hate you so much right now

Oh

Fuck

Well

Shit

HOLY FUCKING SHIT FUCK

Fuck

And Fredrik????? Without a dad??? And Nina won't know FUCK

Episode 6

Oh wow she old

So I guess she does go to jail in the end?

Oh fuck yeah Gustav you smart son of a bitch

Fuck you Vera for hurting a fucking kid FUCK

I mean if you're gonna raid a place and save a kid better be discreet and not blare your fucking sirens at top volume what the fuck

Why did Dante talk and not shoot Vera? Hello????

SONJA KILL HER

Vera told Linus about Zac right?

Yeah Linus knows Zac's dead

Fuck

Is Winston Barry's son? Idk

Oh shit they are listening

OH SHIT

Jesus fucking christ

But as well Linus needs to say that Zac fucking kidnapped him, like that's why Sonja did what she did

Oh shit Linus called Gustav

Holy shit a bomb????

But they got them ig after YEARS

Awww the graveyard😟

Holy shit hell of a tattoo wow

Ohh Nina found someone

Okay so this is in the future

Did Linus get married??

UM

UM

UM

UUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM

That is so fucking weird no adahsfshsgs

But awww cute bride!!!!

Now go shave that beard afshsgshdh

How many times has Nina changed her hair hahahahahha love the new look!!

Oh you are shitting me

The minute she is out...... WHAT THE FUCK

Oh

Wait

WHAT

OKAY I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT AFSHSGDJDHDHDGSHSG WHAT

That was some twilight shit right there

I mean I think she's right

Hahahaha FINALLY THEY KISS LMAO

Oh wow

Okay then

Yeah that might have been the best thing for her kids

But like what the hell

👑

Well....... What a ride adahsgdhdgdh glad it didn't end with Linus's beard cause that thing is gonna haunt me in my nightmares afshshdjdh but maybe now the family can live "normally" idk

So many emotions right now I can't even think afajsgsjshd

[narniangirl1994]

I, like many other fans, was disappointed with several aspects of Lucifer's final season. Although it could have been much worse, I feel like certain decisions ruined several aspects of the show. For example:

They didn't show nearly enough of Trixie this season and didn't give her a satisfying ending. Not only did it make no sense for Chloe to ignore her child so often after Trixie just lost her dad, but she never officially found out about the celestials in her life and never got to say goodbye to Lucifer.

It was tough to care much about a new daughter from the future who was introduced at the last minute, yet had such a huge impact on her parents' stories. Especially seeing how sidelined Trixie was this season for a biological daughter (with Rory even saying Lucifer wasn't Trixie's real dad 😡).

I disliked the reasoning behind Lucifer abandoning his family at the request of a daughter who shouldn't have been that invested in Lucifer's calling. Yes it was important, but why was she willing to put them all through so much suffering for a calling that had nothing to do with her?

It was especially tragic to see Lucifer's choice essentially taken away from him because of Rory's insistence/coercion that he keep everything the same, after how much the show emphasized personal choice and responsibility. Not to mention his separation from his family for most of their lives is just needlessly tragic after everything they've been through.

Here's how I think the final season could have been made 100x better while still keeping the overall plot and taking into account the scheduling/COVID safety issues with Trixie's actress:

Instead of introducing Rory, have Trixie be the one who time travels back from the future to see Lucifer (therefore keeping her character relevant while using a different actress). This could be explained by her having asked Charlie to send her back in time. Not only would it make sense for Charlie to be the one to develop time traveling powers (since Amenadiel's powers were also time-based), but his powers could even be teased briefly with baby Charlie earlier in the season.

Her anger would be due to two reasons - Lucifer abandoning her so shortly after her father died, and Chloe telling Trixie that Lucifer was the only one who could have freed Dan from Hell, but that he didn't do it before leaving. Perhaps Chloe waited until Trixie was in her 20s/30s before telling her this, and that was the breaking point that made Trixie ask Charlie to send her back in time.

In the past, she somehow conceals her identity and uses tricks Maze taught her over the years to (pretend to) threaten Chloe in order to force Lucifer to bring Dan to Heaven. Lucifer knows he can't do that and it would likely make Dan a ghost, but Dan agrees to it anyway to save Chloe.

Once he's back on Earth, Trixie demands to know why Dan isn't in Heaven and gives up when both Lucifer and Dan convince her it's impossible. Realizing she failed her father, Trixie frees Chloe and leaves (obviously never intending to harm her in the first place). She later comes back, revealing her identity and explaining why she did what she did, why she's so angry at Lucifer, and how things go down in the future.

All the same shenanigans ensue, with Lucifer asserting he would never leave Chloe and Trixie, and trying to prove that he does actually love Trixie as his own daughter. He could do the same goodbye tour just in case, but this time spend a day at the beach with Chloe and adult Trixie.

Meanwhile, child Trixie can be off at a camp designed for children who lost a parent(s) and want to spend time with counselors and other grieving kids to help them recover. This would be a much better explanation than Trixie being off at a science camp and never seeing her mother so shortly after the trauma of losing her father.

All the other plots could still happen with Dan trying not to be a ghost, possessing Le Merc, talking to Lucifer and realizing he needed to speak to (child) Trixie, etc. Lucifer would still realize he didn't want to be God while Amenadiel would realize he did want to be God, yet more emphasis would be placed on Lucifer wanting to find his true calling.

Le Merc could kidnap adult Trixie, and she could similarly need to be talked down by Lucifer so that she didn't kill Le Merc in revenge. They could still figure out that Lucifer ultimately helped Dan get into heaven, and that he has helped other people (like Lee and Trixie) move past their own mistakes/flaws.

Rather than pressuring Lucifer to keep the time loop the same like Rory did, Trixie could explain how important it is to her that Dan was able to get into heaven because of Lucifer (and the time loop). And how important it is to her that other people who made mistakes, like her father, can get into heaven with Lucifer's help too.

Chloe's acceptance would be due to several things: wanting Dan to get into Heaven, being happy Lucifer found his calling, and - tying into the background plot of police brutality/inequality- realizing that many 'criminals' are a product of our broken system and deserve the chance to better themselves in this life or the afterlife.

Perhaps if they changed the focus of the Hell episode (where Lucifer helped the guy he hated confront his deepest insecurity), to his brother Michael instead, Lucifer would have a deeper connection to his calling. If he could learn to care about and understand Michael, he could care about/understand anyone. Perhaps Michael's issues aren't fully resolved by the end of that episode, but some sort of progress was made. This would enhance Lucifer's motivation to follow his calling/keep the time loop and give the ongoing Lucifer and Michael plot a real conclusion.

To emphasize that this really is Lucifer (and his loved one's choice) - rather than Rory or fate itself - perhaps they could even include a conversation with Ella, theorizing the possibility of creating an alternate universe if he chooses to break the loop, rather than making it seem like the loop is inevitable.

As such, he willingly chooses to 'abandon' his family (with their consent) for the next decade or two so that Trixie time travels and all of this comes to pass.

But unlike the finale, he can become a part of their lives again after Trixie has completed the time loop. That way, he isn't apart from Chloe and Trixie for the rest of their lives, but they all had a chance to learn and grow on their own before coming back together and understanding one another.

All of this would have provided a much more satisfying conclusion to the show. It would respect the relationships already formed (and affirm the validity of non-biological family), respect Lucifer's newfound ability to make his own choices, keep character motivations realistic, and more.

What do you think? What would be your preferred finale of Lucifer?

[min-jpg]

Hi!! Can you do they boys getting kidnapped but its Diluc, Childe, and Kazuha? Thank you!!💗💗

Note: I just want to point out that there's no actual reason on how I choose for the reader to beat up the kidnappers since part 1,, it's totally random as long as I'm trying out different ideas whatever fits ehe. Enjoy! 💖

---

Kidnapped Genshin Boys x Fem Rich!reader pt.2

Part 1 (Kaeya, Zhongli, Xiao)

Characters: Childe, Diluc, Kazuha

Genre: fluff, established relationship, some woman kicking ass action, (TW: mentions of blood and violence)

---

CHILDE

Your boyfriend would definitely try to go head-to-head against the shady group of people who abducted him. The gang accountable must be living under the rock for even considering one of the most dangerous Harbingers as their prey to carry out their schemes.

However, Childe learned that there would be ramifications if he tries to be rash without gathering solid intel first. Having no knowledge of your current circumstances and whereabouts troubled him to the core. They could have already sent out a corresponding group towards you and endanger you if he failed to listen.

Being wealthy is not a foreign concept to Childe as he is also a wealthy man himself. That said, the premonition of being a target for a ransom would not be unrealistic to him. For now, he is glad that he is the victim here instead of having to witness you kidnapped.

"You know, you could've asked me nicely for some money. I might just give it to you, instead of doing all this for my girlfriend's money." Despite being in a position far from desirable, Childe leisurely sat on the chair that he was bound to, crossing his legs. He was making small talks to push away the worst scenarios happening to you. Are you safe? Are you crying? Did they hurt you?

"I don't know who you are to be running your mouth, but you should value your life a little more." Their leader emerged from the group.

Childe's ocean eyes squinted as menace casts upon his pupils, his voice lowered, "Is that so? Ironic, because you guys seem to value money more than your lives."

The head stepped back slightly, "Enough with your empty threats! You should be aware of the current situation you're in. We're not fooling around here."

"I'm not fooling around either."

As sparks were thrown back and forth, you made your way in through the main entrance. Tapping the shoulder that belongs to one of the men, "Excuse me, I need to get to my boyfriend." Your fist sunk into the side of his face when he turned towards you. He collapsed on the ground with a few broken teeth and blood spewing out of his mouth. Moving on to the next adversary in your path, you fought with full faith in your abilities no matter how intimidating they were.

Soon, the leader and people further ahead finally took notice of it. You pave your way towards your boyfriend and eventually, both your eyes meet each other. Childe puffed out a breath of relief when he finally saw you, but also registering the fact that you just took down most of the men with your bare hands.

Kicking away the men who tried to grab you, you then waved enthusiastically at Childe, "Hey girlie, hold still." Rushing right ahead to the leader, you brought your arm near your face, elbow pointing outwards. The sharp edge from your elbow jabbed his throat, causing him to choke and lose balance.

As his reaction dulled, it was your chance to strike again. Thus, you gallantly overthrew their leader and the entire gang by yourself.

After helping Childe, he stood up abruptly and placed his hands on your shoulder with eagerness written all over the face, "I never knew you could fight so well! How about a spar with me right now?" Expect your boyfriend to continuously bug you to indulge in his rampant itch to fight anyone that comes across as a worthy opponent. Though, the real takeaway from this experience was the way your hair clings to your face with sweat as the adhesive and the triumph look in your eyes. It was a rather attractive sight to relish in his taste.

DILUC

Your boyfriend would be infuriated that crooked people like these exist, much less target him to extort money from you. Just another validation to add up on how incompetent the Knights of Favonious is, he thought. Someone will have to clean up their mess, that someone being him. What better way to do that than to follow them to their hideout to seek out the whole organization?

Diluc is renowned for being one of the richest men in Teyvat. Naturally, the group thought they hit the jackpot on not only holding him for ransom, but potentially garnering some money from him as well.

The only concern he carries is your wellbeing. Diluc fears that this incident will affect you mentally. His head started filling up with formulations on ways to resolve this matter without causing any uproar to guarantee your safety.

When the head was introduced to him, he gritted his teeth to suppress every ounce of his might to not reach for his claymore. Diluc still has to prioritize gathering information first regarding the gang. His patrons at Angel's Share are usually the ones providing him with promising intel of any evildoers, but some things are just meant to be obtained by himself.

"Is this the only hideout you have? Quite in a shambles, don't you think?" Diluc's eyes shifted around the dilapidated building, observing the surroundings to know his enemies better.

The leader rolled his eyes, "It wouldn't be so bad once we get some funding from you and your girlfriend." Diluc hummed. Judging from his answer, it is safe to assume that the organization is rather a small scaling one. Defeating them right now will result in uprooting the source once and for all.

As Diluc was about to do so, a lackey of the gang ran frantically towards them, panting labored when he reached and trying to catch his breath. "What is it?" The leader question.

"T-there's... there's someone." He pointed towards a direction with fear layering his voice.

"What? Why are you so scared?" They all glanced towards the spot.

"I swear there was a woman! I don't know who it is, but she took out some of our guys on guard outside."

In disbelief that a woman could have done anything so reckless, the leader trudged to said location. As it is a spot lacking light, the darkness and shadow made it challenging for him to pinpoint if anyone is there. When he moved closer, you crept out behind from his blind spot and kicked the back of his head, causing his head to spin. Your arm lunged forward, gaining a tight hold onto his nape. You put everything into pushing him, his forehead hammered down to the floor. Creating a loud thud, it gave him a concussion.

"Looking for me?" Your foot stamped onto his back, just making sure he stays down.

Everyone, including your boyfriend, had their pupils dilated at the scene. You sighed at the silence, "All of you just messed with the wrong couple." Lifting your foot away, you stomped forward without giving them a second thought. Your arms and legs are all warmed up for many rounds against your foes.

Diluc watched you from afar as you drove your way towards victory. Although he could step in to help, he admits silently to himself that he would like to observe you a little longer. Putting his trust in your calibers to carry you far, his eyes never left your brave figure.

Once you cleared the group, the next thing to do is checking on Diluc. Already unfastening the restrains himself, he walked to you, "That was well executed. Your abilities shouldn't be underestimated. Don't join the Knights though." He stressed the last remark, scoffing. You chuckled and held his hand to guide him out of here, "Thanks. Glad to impress you, Master Diluc. Let's go home."

KAZUHA

Your boyfriend is a rather hard target to impose on for their plans of kidnapping him. His senses are just too refined for an ordinary person to challenge. Basic tactics, such as overthrowing him with the element of surprise have proven to be futile. Thus, Kazuha will always be able to evade falling prey into their hands.

The only way Kazuha could have been kidnapped is through falsifying evidence of you being in a life-threatening situation. Although he has successfully saved his own skin, not the same could be applied to you. Feeling his resolve shaken, what other choices could he have? Prioritizing your safety is the most important thing right now.

Kazuha may have faced similar situations in the past when out in the sea, encountering pirates of other crew aiming for the Crux Fleet's fortune. Being in the position as a captive for ransom is new. He actually found it amusing, rather than having thoughts of blaming you. It is not your fault that you are blessed with wealth. It is the fault of the criminals.

"Ain't you that the kid who's with Beidou? You're part of her crew." The leader questioned his target, to which he was greeted by Kazuha's silence. "Tell you what. You're just like the rest of us. We want to be rich. How about you ask your girlfriend to bring some more money and we'll give you a share as well?"

Kazuha's face darkened, "I don't know what you've heard, but it must be really valiant of you to assume to worst out of the Crux Fleet and myself. I'd appreciate it if you cease lumping me together with criminals like you."

The Crux Fleet does put up with an infamous reputation amongst the Qixing. Perhaps the abductors concluded that Kazuha has a negative conscience just like them, as in upholding a relationship with you to have a taste of your assets. Still, if he tried to talk his way out of it, barbarians like them will never reach a mutual understanding with him. Kazuha shut his eyes, ignoring any further confrontations to preserve his energy as he contemplates a plan.

He was interrupted when he thought he heard your voice nearby, carried by the wind. The others around him did not hear it since it was just something only Kazuha could pick up. Applying full concentration, he managed to form what he heard, "Get out of my way, please, while I'm asking nicely."

Opening his eyes, he turned to stare at the entrance. As if on cue, the door swung open when you kicked it down, announcing your presence. Some men fainted below your feet.

The others instantly reacted by storming towards your direction to stop your advancement. You stood still in your position, taking a mindful deep breath. One thing you learned from Kazuha is to always remain cold-headed before engaging in a fight.

Kazuha wanted to get out of the restraints to rescue you, but instead, you started dishing out few moves against the men.

When you thought you finished with the remaining numbers, their leader was about to declare his victory, "I got you!" Encircling his arm around your neck in an attempt to strangle you, you huffed and grinned towards Kazuha to signal him you have it under control.

You elbowed his stomach and felt him loosen his grip when he winced. Making enough gap between his arm and your neck, you slipped away and swiftly kicked in between his groins. The color drained from his face and tumbled to the ground, passing out in pain, "Hmph, this is what happens when you touch a lady without her permission." You brushed away the hair from your face after an arduous fight.

Jogging towards your boyfriend, "Kazuha!" He brisked towards you as well and held you in his embrace, softly rubbed your nape, "You're giving me plenty of inspirations for a haiku after such a wonderful performance." Kazuha would appreciate you refraining from such a heedless approach next time. He was comforted to see you safe and knowing the threats were nothing more than to use you, his weakness, against him. After witnessing that, Kazuha will be slightly ashamed he even doubted you in the first place, so he trusts that you can watch out for yourself next time.

[aetheternity]

I have a request

Levi's wife y/n and 4 or 5 year old son get kidnapped by kenny and the military police. They get taken to the crystal cave with eren and historia. So when levi comes to save them he is livid and is quickly taking down every mp in his way. Luckily both y/n and her son make it out safely with levi and his squad.

Levi, y/n, and their son have a soft moment and they all hug and give kisses 😚😚😚 and day squad teases them

(I added my own little spin to this where Y/N is playfully argumentative and sometimes wild with Levi. Hope that's ok! I also thought it would be cute if Levi and Y/N’s son was named after Levi’s late friend Farlen.)

"We have more than just Historia and Eren now." Levi grunted, facing Hange. "My son and Y/N were taken as well."

"We can't wait then. We'll leave as soon as possible."

Levi squeezed the paper Hange had given him earlier in his grasp as his squad whooped and hollered behind him. Kenny probably wouldn't kill them, they were insurance after all. Which was that much worse for Levi.

He already knew if he didn't manage to calm himself before they got to Kenny he would lash out recklessly. The one thing he'd told his wife and son to never allow themselves to do.

~~~~

"Oi." Levi stepped closer, concern etched onto his face. His eyebrows scrunched where he looked into his wife's eyes. "If you continue moping around our child's health will be at risk and yours. The doctor already told you that."

She turned, eyes narrowed and lips tight where they were pulled into a frown. "What else am I supposed to feel? The father of my baby is running around dodging death. Am I supposed to be happy Levi?"

Levi rolled his eyes, his hand already coming up to the bridge of his nose in expectation for the upcoming brawl of sorts. "I'll be alive for the birth of our son."

"Will you though?" She stepped closer, challenge rising in her tone and eyes.

"I'm not leaving you or the soon to be kid we've made. And you already know that." He fought back. "I'd sooner go back to the underground."

Her hands ran up to his collar tugging him closer. And he let her, let every bit of fury trapped beneath those stone cold eyes run over his spine like a flash of lightning all with the same neutral expression.

"I'm so serious you wouldn't even believe. If you don't come back one of these days and I have to raise this baby all on my own. I'm gonna bring you back to life just so I can kill you again. Do you hear me Levi Ackerman?"

Levi let out a little huff and a small smirk ran over his lips. She let him go and he straightened out his collar. "You get scarier everyday." He remarked "Way scarier than any damn titan."

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her down the mostly empty corridor. "You saw the doctor again today right? Tell me what happened."

"We've got a healthy Ackerman on our hands. He's grown bigger than he's supposed to be at this stage actually." She smiled softly as she placed a hand on her belly. "Probably cause he has your blood."

"Tch, moron. He's already his mother. Constantly kicking every time I touch your belly. He's gonna be a brat just like you."

"I hope he gets my height and not yours."

"For his sake your height instead of your mouth would be good."

"My mouth has gotten you through many long nights so I wouldn't complain if I were you."

Levi playfully rolled his eyes as Y/N's soft laugh filled the corridor. Her eyes shining brighter than they had her whole pregnancy. It was weird Levi had always heard about new parents being scared but he barely was.

When he'd found out he'd been more surprised than anything but he'd barely even had the time to over analyze the situation until that night. This unbelievably wild girl was the mother of his child. What more could he want.

Fear did dawn on him. Knowing he'd have something new in this world that needed his protection. Something so precious and small to protect. But another part of him knew that kid would be safer if he got his mother's fighting spirit.

"Hey, you better not be thinking about other girls." Y/N huffed as she poked at Levi's forehead.

Levi grabbed her finger. "Dumbass, no one else would be able to handle you if I left."

"Just sounds like you're making excuses so that you don't have to tell me, you adore me and could never find anyone else who brings you this much joy."

"No." That barely even scratched the surface..

~~~~

"Do you have a location on them?" Hange asked

"There're a whole bunch of military police and Kenny's squad is surrounding the entire area. But no sign of Kenny himself or any of the people who were taken." Sasha replied

Levi huffed, brain not wanting to retreat to the worst possible scenario. Besides the conversation currently developing in front of him there was a sort of quiet drifting in the atmosphere.

"We have a plan right?" Armin suddenly asked

And Hange nodded, "You're gonna need these." Her hands clasped around the cool metal of the signal flares.

"Signal flares??" Jean stared in disbelief

"Don't worry, we're getting out of here alive hostages and all." Hange stated before turning to Levi. "They're ok."

Levi blinked, slowly but surely uncurling his fists. He looked around to the others their faces a mix of concern and in certain cases glee. But they all had the same sentiment.

"Put the plan into motion." Levi stood

~~~~

It went surprisingly quickly. From the barrels they'd deployed to the signal flares being shot off. Sasha and Mikasa taking out the military police like no one's business but Levi could already feel his Ackerman rage growing.

Where the hell was Kenny? He thought.

His question was soon answered when a bullet flew past his cheek immediately drawing blood. The next bullet striking an ice pillar with a hard crack as he ducked for cover behind it.

Levi paused repositioning himself to jump and land behind one another of the thick pillars searching for the source of the bullets. "Where the hell are they?" He grunted voice raspy, thick and loud where he called to the only person that would be behind this.

Kenny's laugh was boisterous, heavy where it bounced between each pillar. The amount of sweat that had collected on Levi's palms had his weapon slippery in his grip and the vein in his forehead was close to popping.

"I think you have other things here you should be concerning yourself with."

In the blink of an eye Levi's head shot backwards, Jean's scream mixed with the heart shattering sound of Hange hitting one of the pillars caught his attention. A bullet releasing her blood as she slipped and rolled over against the ground like a discarded toy.

"Tch!"

"Levi! Oi you should be worried about me. After all. Your little family dies by my call!"

If Levi was boiling before his blood was erupting now. With incredible skill and speed he bounced his way around the pillars dodging each bullet as Kenny shot them out. His agility raised as he flipped over Kenny's form and behind him. In an instant Levi was tossing a bag full of flammable liquid in time to meet his next shot.

When the bag tore open Levi flew forward, through burning flames created by Kenny's gun tossing his blade. The motion caught Kenny off guard but he managed to dodge it, his hat flying off into a nearby pillar along with Levi's blade to hold it up there.

Levi's heart was hammering taking the advantage he'd managed to get he flew at Kenny with incredible speed slicing through his torso almost like it was butter. In the heat of adrenaline Levi watched as Kenny's body fell to the ground of the cool cavern.

He landed with a hard breath before retracting the odm gears hooks. He couldn't wait any longer. He couldn't stop himself from running forward no matter how stupid and dangerous it was.

He heard bits and pieces of speech behind him. "Follow Captain!" And "Wait, hold on!" But none of it stopped his feet.

He skidded in his pace as he heard soft calls of, "Dad! Dad!"

And he was immediately headed for it. A bit of relief flooding his chest as he heard the faint sounds of odm gear clanging behind him. His squad clearly keeping good pace.

When he arrived he instantly locked eyes with his five year old son and wife.

"Dad!" Farlen's voice echoed. He didn't look injured from what Levi could tell and neither did Y/N. Farlen's hair tosseled as if he'd merely been running outside.

"Where are Historia and Eren?!" Mikasa called as she ran up behind Levi.

"Guys!" Historia's voice boomed. She slunk forward barely supporting Eren's weight. His shirt gone and his face covered in blood.

Levi quickly ran to untie Y/N and Farlen immediately embracing Farlen when he jumped into his arms. If he were any other kid Levi would probably be questioning why he hadn't shit his pants and why his face was tearless. But he definitely wasn't any other five year old.

"Geez, you guys took forever." Y/N remarked, stretching her hands above her head. "I was about to wreck all these Military brats butts for you." She said with a smirk at Levi.

Levi huffed, rubbing his son's back. "Next time you can save yourself then." He remarked giving Farlen a soft head rub.

"Ugggh Mom.. Dad not now.." he sighed

"There won't be a next time!" Y/N fought back. "I'll never get caught up like that again."

"Tch, whatever."

"Are you challenging me Mr. Ackerman?"

"You're a brat, Ms. Ackerman."

"How about I show you how much of a brat I can really be?" She chuckled with a dark smile etching over her features. She pulled him closer, hugging his and Farlen's form with a firm hand on Levi's lower back.

"Don't start something you can't finish." Levi whispered back.

"Ewwwwww.." Farlen mock gagged between them.

Y/N just laughed loudly. "You'll understand when you have someone you love to hate, Farlen."

"Yeah.. I'm with Farlen. That's eww." Connie remarked with a shake of his head.

The others soon joined in with their own little laughs and teasing words. "I can't believe how soft Captain can be." And "They're such a cute family I hope I get that some day."

Levi repositioned Farlen on one arm ignoring all the chatter. Though his cheeks bloomed a rosy color that was extremely unmistakable "Historia, where's your father?"

"He escaped before you guys got here. He's headed toward the wall." She replied

"We've gotta hurry then."

(I'm so sick of people on the internet rn I swear🙄)

[pricescigar]

How the C.I.A Team reacts to the "death" of Elvira Wolff HC's

Russell Adler 🕶

As any parent would feel when they would lose their own child, utterly heartbroken. And riddled with guilt.

Adler never felt the same since then, even the remainder of the 30 years until he finally saw her again

He couldn't shake off the guilt, knowing it was his fault to let her go on all of these dangerous missions

Adler knew he shouldn't of grew attached to Elvira, yet he became the father figure that she needed in her life

"I'm so sorry kid, I should've done something..."

Adler wasn't the man to reveal his emotions to his own colleagues, yet when Elvira was taken away to be placed in a cryogenic chamber the man broke down

The first few years were hard on him, depsite everything that had happened to him:

Kidnapped, brainwashed, destroying Verdansk, all the remaining operations he had done

Finally seeing Elvira again in 2011 he was over the moon he finally felt happy again

Yet his dangerous, strategic ways of being the Fifth Knight got him killed by Ghost

And seeing Elvira one last time was all he ever cared for . . .

Jason Hudson 🥚

He lost a great agent that day, sure he had the many other Agents he had always praised taken notice; And always tell them "Good job."

It would be another lifetime to see another amazing like Wolff, amongst his Ranks like himself and Russell Adler

Hudson got on well with Wolff, more than he would like to admit to anyone else; Except his darling wife of course

She was the only one who would speak back to him. Show no hesitation to speak up, or use her tone of voice against him

Those were the many things why Hudson liked having had having Wolff in their Ranks

There was guilt deep down when he had to brainwash her, even if it was the last resort. . . Truthfully, he hated doing it

Hudson understood the consequences and did them anyways. But he didn't except losing a second agent of his

He knew the only way to save her was through the cryogenic chamber thst had been created

The years if her trying to recover was unknown, and still was untested at that part. Yet Hudson took responsibility to care for her

"I hope you find it in your heart one day, to forgive me for what I've done to you Wolff."

In 1989 Hudson got killed by Menedez, and never sought to hear the forgiveness of Elvira Wolff

Frank Woods 🧅

Is this what losing a loved one is like? Because it fucking hurts ... Even Frank wasn't familair with the feeling, it left him empty

Elvira was his true love, and no one could ever mount to her. He couldn't even bring himself to date anyone else

All the dates they could've gone on together, the things they could've seen everything

And now the only thought of those sacred things was in his mind, and the pendant Elvira had given to him before she went into the Lubyanka in Russia

"I'll never find anyone else like you Wolff, you know that right?"

It had always been difficult for Woods, even when the days, weeks, months and years went by ... He still loved her

He always found himself clenching onto the pendant, praying, hoping that she would wake up, tomorrow, the next day and the next...

Seeing her again in 2011 he was overjoyed but upset knowing she was still the same as she was all those years ago...

The same age that she died, Woods was heartbroken knowing he couldn't of married her than he originally planned in his mind

As much as he was happy, but he too let a fre tears fall ... His dream to see her again became a reality

But to see Elvira happy and smiling again with another man, was all he ever wanted

Alex Mason 🔫

There wss some form of emptiness inside of him, that couldn't be explained in any other kind of words; Losing a best friend...

He and Wolff got along well, even the short amount of time they had known each other, but he had a lot of respect for her

He knew it was harder for Woods, and being the best friend / brother that he is he took care of him and always looked out for him

Because he knew the wellbeing of his own best friend, was the most important thing at this time

Mason found it strange to not even hear Wolff's voice anymore, or her classic remakes thst was the massive toll on him

It took him a long while to get used to the fact that Wolff wouldn't be waking up any time soon sadly

They made a pretty good team whenever the two got the chance to ever work together, which made it all the better

Even then as the years went by, he still missed working with her from time to time

"I hope you wake up soon Wolff, don't give up on us."

In 1989 sadly he got killed in Combat, no other by his own best friend Frank Woods mistakenly (Being manipulated to do so)

But he taught his son how much of a great agent Wolff was, with the odd occasional stories he had told hom about her

Lawrence Sims ⚙️

The "death" Of Wolff was one of the many reasons Sims detests in operating in the field anymore sure he was there on the technological and sales sides when finding Perseus

But losing Wolff in Solovetsky reminded him of losing his friend in Vietnam, and then keeping his knife as a lucky charm

Even trying to save her life was no use, she was too far gone and Sims still felt guilty in trying to better than he oringally did so...

Still at that time nothing could be done, Wolff was already in a stare of unconsciousness when Mason had found her in the debri

All he could do was mend the minor wounds that were bleeding, no matter how hard he tried to wake her up nothing worked

"I'm sorry Doc, I tried, I really tried..."

From that day forth it took him a while to get out his guilt shock that had struck him. No matter how hard he tried to improve himself on medical experience

He always had something to look back too, and that was Wolff. The thought of the team not being able to see her made him angry

The pair got along well, they were needy in their own way; Books, technology, movies. The whole lot, he didn't have his buddy to talk about those things anymore

Sims regularly checked up on Adler, both of them had been through thick and thin. He was there for him, just as Adler was there for Sims before

In 2011, he had the chance to see Elvira Wolff again which made him happy and overwhelmed happy to see his best friend again

Helen Park 📽

(If she survived Cuba)

From the day she met Wolff, she always found her to be an interesting character indeed. A kind of character she hadn't come across in a long time...

All people with the most interesting characteristics always sparks an interest to Park, and she always fully admits it

Though Wolff's backstop may have tugged her heart strings, her brave character and confidence overshadowed the darkness

But the state of Solovetsky left her shocked, losing Lazar in Cuba and then Wolff as too soon... Both of them were true hero's

Park would never forget the day thst she had saved her in Cuba, and would always remember that the day she dies

Despite them trying their effects to save Lazar, both of them tried their best either way

"You are a true hero Wolff, rest easy for now ok?"

After Solovetsky she resumed her work back with MI6 in London, and she makes sure her peers get to know about Wolff and how she helped the CIA and them as a whole

Occasionally she would go back to the CIA to help for a few operations, but it always left a strange feeling knowing Adler's protégé was no longer there

Park abodlsutley adored Wolff for eho she was, sepaite her rough upbringing she wished she could've helped her sooner

In 2011 Park had the chance to see Wolff again, it left a smile on her face knowing she pulled through. Even through death, she escaped

Eleazar Azoulay 🥊

(If he survived Cuba)

Lazar's words as always when he sees women on the front lines just as he is: "A true professional." He had a lot of respect for Wolff, and he still does now.

He admired her confidence, her will to fight at her young age. He found it fascinating albeit the rough upbringing he had

Coming from a big family, it was like seeing his sisters all over again which was a bit nostalgic for him but made him smile fondly at the memories

To him Wolff was like a little sister, although he kept that to himself but Elvira already knew that one her part (Thanks to Sims telling her)

Despite that, Lazar knew Wolff would go far being a CIA Agent and he could see it clearly with his own two eyes

If it wasn't for her saving him in Cuba, he would've died in thst moment but sadly neither could save Park on the other hand it was far too late

In the aftermath of Solovetsky, processing everything thar had happened was too difficult losing two members in one go was all too much

"You did great Wolff I mean it, you're a hero to all of us..."

Lazar still operated with the CIA after Solovetsky, but it was clear it had took a massive toll as it did.

Upon 2011 when hearing the news upon the return of Elvira Wolff, the smile never left his face happy to see his little sister return

[candlestickbud]

Worthy of Betrayal Pt.1

Howzer x Jedi!GN:Reader [Ep.11 Spoilers]

Description: After the bad batch drop off the weapons to a client of Cid’s, she calls them in for a favor and asks them to help some royal Twi’leks on Ryloth.

Warnings/Notes: I'm predicting that this fic will have 5 parts. Possible smut in the future. Mentions of guns and child kidnapping, minor cussing. Sorry if the story is a little off, I was in a rush to finish. Hope you still like it though!

“What do you mean we have to go back!”

Hunter rose his voice at Cid from the comms on the ship. We were on our way back to Ord Mantel after dropping off weapons to some Twi’leks, a client of Cids. As they were already halfway to the destination, Cid called up the batch to inform us that we had to go back, but this time the location was on Ryloth.

“Hey, you still owe me, remember? Now tell goggles over there to get to Ryloth. I need you to rescue this kid named Hera Syndula, the twi’leks, her parents run Ryloth so we’ll be getting some big bucks, so I suggest you get moving, got that?”

Hunter sighed, “Mind telling us what we have to do to get out of dept?”

“Tell you what, let's say you don't mess this up, and you'll be out of debt. Just fell the big guy to ease up on the mantel mix, wouldya, ” Cid said before hanging up.

Hunter rubbed his face trying to shake off his tiredness.

“What's the word, Sargent, ” Wrecker asked.

“Tell Tech to relocate the route to Ryloth. We have another mission, but this is a mission we can't mess up. We need to save some senators kid.”

“Another senator? They aren't a separatist, are they? There's no way-”

“I didn't ask, and either way we have to take this job to get us out of that debt, ” Hunter cut off Echo, “and besides it's not a senator, just their kid.”

Echo glared at Hunter, “Well you should understand why I plan to not work with separatists, ” he said pointing his cybernetic socket arm at Hunter.

“Wait so who are we saving, ” Omega asked from her room.

Hunter pushed his way past Echo to talk to Omega, hearing Echo scoff as he walked away.

“That kid from earlier,” Hunter said softly.

“Hera? I knew she was in trouble! How can I help,” Onega exclaimed excitedly?

“I’ll let up know once we land. The empire will be there based on what that client said earlier. That's what they needed those weapons for.”

“That could mean that Crosshair would be there, ” Tech yelled from the piloting seat.

“Good! We need to talk some sense into him, get him home, ” Wrecker said.

“I don't think he wants to come home, ” Hunter said coldly.

“Doesn't matter, we need to get him back and remove his chip or whatever.”

Hunter opener his mouth to say something back, but instead walked away to the pilot's seat.

“We should at least try to save him, ” you said sternly.

“Cant save someone that doesn't want to be saved, ” Hunter barked back.

“In case to haven't noticed, we don't know what he wants. That chip is controlling him!”

“I agree with Y/N, ” Wrecker barged in.

“That's not the mission.”

•••

Howzer took off his helmet to ruffle his hair. It was a humid night on the planet of Ryloth, and he's been running around trying to capture a child named Hera with a squad of clone troopers.

“Hey boss, do we stun her or shoot.”

“Stun! She's a child, has some empathy. Besides, I'm sure they want her alive, otherwise, we have no leverage over Cham.”

“You got it, captain.”

There was silence as the squad walked through the place, flashlight in hands and visors on night vision mode as they searched for the child. This seemed very wrong to Howzer. What would the empire want with a child if they already have Cham? Leverage, but for what? They don't plan on hurting the kid, do they?

“What do you think they'll do with the kid, ” Howzer asked his squad.

“Who cared, she's a traitor to the empire. She's lucky she isn't dead yet. Speaking of traitors, don't we have orders to kill whoever betrays the empire?”

“What? That's ridiculous, we should just imprison them, and still, she's a child, soldier. We aren't killing her, ” Howzer scoffed.

The squad quietly whispered to each other. Suddenly a ship hovered over them, landing a few feet behind where they were.

“Stay cautious, that could be their backup.”

“Shoot to kill or stun, ” a trooper asked.

“Stun. I won't tell you again, ” Howser said through gritted teeth.

“Whatever you say, Captain, ” the trooper said with an annoyed tone.

Howzer placed his helmet back onto his head, getting his gun ready and placing it in stun mode.

“I have eyes on them!”

The troopers began shooting blindly at a group of troopers, a Jedi standing in front of then reflecting the shots with a child behind them.

“Hold your fire, ” Howzer exclaimed.

The troopers ignore him.

“I said, hold your fire!”

The troopers looked at each other in confusion and disgust.

“They're wanted by the empire! We need to kill them, they're traitors.”

The troopers began shooting live rounds at the squad.

“But they have a child with them! Stop!”

Howzer put his gun in the gun holder that held itself on his waist, pushing a trooper back. One by one, the trooper squad of 5 became the squad of 2.

“You're not fit enough to be Captain! You're a trait of to the empire! We have to kill them, now!”

“No! This is wrong and you know it! Snap out of it how can you not see that this is wrong, ” Howzer said before being pushed to the ground by Hunter.

“See what you did! You're a traitor, ” the trooper said trying to shake out of Wrecker's grasp.

“You, be quiet, ” you yelled at the trooper.

You walked up to Howzer, cocking your head to the side slightly.

“Hunter, there's something wrong with his chip.”

Hunter looked up at you, scrunching his eyebrows together, “How can you be so sure?”

“He seems...different I can feel it.”

Hunter looked at you and then back ah Howzer, grabbed him by the shoulders, and pushed him up to his feet. You walked towards Howzer and removed his helmet, eyes widening, surprised with how attractive the clone was. You looked at him, placing your hands on his face, inspecting him. Howzer attempted to back off, but Hunter held him in place. He flinched as you placed a hand near the left side of his head, closing your eyes as you felt his chip through the force. You opened your eyes, staring into his eyes, only for him to nervously look away.

“He has his chip, but it's damaged, ” you looked at Hunter as if you were asked for permission.

“Fine. You deal with him. We cat have him running back to the empire to inform them of our arrival. We can't have any attention, this is a stealth mission. We need to focus on saving the kid, ” Hunter said, shoving Howzer towards you.

You caught Howzer and placed your lightsaber close to his face, only for him to flinch against it, his head laying on your shoulder, “Try anything stupid and I'll kill you on sight, got that?”

“I thought that wasn't the Jedi way, ” he said with caution.

You retracted your saber and placed it back on your holders, “There is no Jedi way, ” you scoffed, putting his helmet back on. You knew it would possibly be a distraction to you.

“What do I do with him, ” Wrecker asked, picking up the trooper he held captive.

“Woah, ” the trooper yelped.

Hunter looked at Howzer and then the trooper.

“His chip is active,” you said.

Hunter paused for a second in thought, “Stun him. Look, we’ll look over here, you and Omega look over there, that way we’ll have a better chance of finding the kid.”

“You got it. Cmon, Omega, let's get ahead of them. I think Hera will be pleased to see that you're the one rescuing her, ” you said as you pushed Howzer forward, grabbing Omega’s hand as you led her away, Hunter stunning the clone from behind.

You and Omega stared at Howzer as you walked through the gravel trail.

“Uhm...Why do you two keep starring at me,” he asked.

“To make sure you don't try anything funny, ” you lied.

“Your chip isn't working. That's pretty rare for a clone, ” Omega explained.

“What is this chip that you guys keep talking about?”

You sighed, ” Well, the clones, you included, have these chips that were implanted in you when you were, I think a stage 1 embryo?”

“Stage 2,” Omega corrected.

You chuckled, “A stage 2 embryo, and these chips were implanted in you by the Emperor to have you murder the Jedi. Nearly all of them were killed during order 66. I survived it by chance.”

“Oh…so that’s what that was. I’m sorry.”

You looked at Howzer in confusion, “W-What?”

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been hard to go through I had no idea. When I was out on a mission, we were working with a Jedi and just out of no where, everyone aimed their blasters at the General. They had told us they were traitors to the republic, betrayed the Chancellor.”

“Yeah, that’s because we found out he betrayed us. He was working with Count Dooku.”

Howzer shook his head in disappointment, “You must hate us then, clones.”

You looked at Howzer, sighing as you let go of his shoulder, “No, I don’t. The clones, it’s not their fault, what they did. They’re all being controlled by these chips, being controlled by the empire. I made my peace with the clones once I got informed of this by the batch.”

Howzer walked by your side, “So those troops back there, their chips are also defected?”

“They were, but we got help with removing them. Having the chips mean that’s you’re still a threat. They could activate at any time.”

“Why not stun me? Like him back there.”

You thought for a moment, “Just because your chip isn’t activated doesn’t mean your not with the empire. For all we know you could still be loyal to them. We didn’t wanna risk the possibility of activating your chip, and we couldn't have you go off to the empire.”

“Oh. What do you uh plan on doing with me once you find the kid?”

“If I’m being completely honest with you, I’m not sure.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” he chuckled nervously.

He scratched the back of his neck, looking at you as if hesitant to ask a question.

“I can feel you looking at me. What is it?”

Howzer looked away, “U-Uhm I was just uh…” he stuttered, “Uhm, where were you? During order 66.”

You smiled at his struggle, a smile still placed on your face when he asked the question.

“I uh I was actually in my ship. It was on a mission I was in with my droid to Ord Mantel, I was supposed to get intel on this bounty Hunter I’ve been hunting down. My droid saved me from the clones.”

“Lucky you weren’t assigned with a squad.”

You chuckled, “Yeah really.”

You and Howzer heard rustling from a bush that was up ahead. Howzer got in front of you, trying to take a closer look.

“Come out! We know you're there,” Howzer yelled.

You grabbed Howzer’s shoulder, “Maybe you should keep it down. If it’s Hera, she could be scared since you are supposed to be hunting her down,” you rolled your eyes in his idiocy.

“Oh, uh, right, ” he backed up.

Howzer removed his helmet. He's very well aware that citizens are often scared of the armor rather than what's underneath it. You glanced and him in admiration until you heard the bush rustle again.

“Hera? It's me and Omega, remember? We were selling those weapons to your uncle, ” you said calmly.

Slowly peaking out from the bush, you saw Hera’s head, “Omega?”

Omega waved at her, “Hello,” she smiled.

Hera got out from the bush, “What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to rescue you.”

Hera looked at Howzer with wide eyes, “H-He’s”

“Not with the empire,” Howzer said confidently, “Not anymore that is.”

“They’ll kill you,” Hera said walking towards Howzer.

“Not unless they catch me,” He smiled, patting her head.

You smiled at his kind act, “Hunter, we found Hera. We’re on our way back,” you looked at Howzer, “What are we going to do with...,” you whispered into your commlink.

“Hey! I never got your name, ” you said nervously.

“Oh! Uh, the name’s Howzer, ” he smiled, “What about you?”

You chuckled, “In your dreams, pal.”

“What are we going to do with Howzer, the clone.”

You heard Hunter sigh into his commlink, “We’ll stun him when we leave. Take him back with you in case we get spotted.”

“Hunter, we can't just leave him here. Hera knows him, he could be useful to us.”

There was no reply.

“Hunter?”

“Yeah, ” he sighed, “I'm here. Look just get over here we’ll talk when you get back.”

You walked over to Howzer with a smirk on your face, “Lucky you, Hunter doesn't want to kill you, ” you swung your arm over his shoulders, “Now you're really fucked.”

Howzer looked at you like a confused dog, “What do you mean? What you think I can’t handle a couple of clones and a Jedi?”

You laughed, “We ain’t your typical squad,” you smirked.

He got in your face, “Try me. I’ve been with many squads. What’s so different about you guys?”

You inched closer to his face, “I guess you’ll have to find out.”

There was a pause until the both of you burst out laughing.

“Cmon, we gotta get back to them.”

“You got it, General.”

You stopped in your tracks, looking back at Howzer. You were going to say something but decided to let it go.

“Cmon girls. We have to get back to the ship.”

“Coming, ” they said laughing.

•••

“I never noticed how nice your hair is, ” you said ruffling Howzer’s hair.

He kindly swatted your hand away, “Thanks, ” he said while rolling his eyes.

You looked at his face, eyes scanning over his scars. You choose not to ask him about them. Not yet anyway. The girls whispered and giggles to each other throughout the walk to the marauder.

“What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing, ” they chuckled devilishly.

Both you and Howzer looked at them questionably, the at each other.

You shook your head, “Kids, huh?”

“Reminds me of my younger days, making fun of brothers for having a crush. Of course, that was before order 66. Good memories.”

The four of you continued to walk and began to see the ship, with Hunter sitting at the entrance of the ship.

“Took you long enough, ” he said as he got up, “We need to talk.”

You nodded, “Ladies, ” you smiled down at Omega and Hera, “into the ship. Omega show Hera our little secret since she’ll be with us for a bit.”

“Ooh! Good idea. Hera, follow me.”

The two children ran their way into the marauder, Howzer squatting down on the floor, patiently waiting for an invitation inside. Hunter grabbed you and pulled you off to the side, away from Howzer.

“Look I don't want to take him with us. He seems sketchy.”

You sighed and nodded in agreement, “Yes, I know but I'm sure he means well. I'll look after him but Hunter, something tells me that we can trust him. Howzer seems like a good guy. Hera seems to trust him and she knew him when he was working with her dad.”

Hunter looked at Howzer to see him awkwardly wave at him.

Hunter cursed, “Fine, but if anything and I mean anything, happens, he's off the ship.”

You nodded, giddily walking over to Howzer, then clapping your hand on his shoulder.

“What’re you doing just standing here like an idiot? C’mon,” you snickered.

“Well, excuse me for trying to be polite, ” he smiled, Hunter glaring him down as you all entered the ship.

[ihopesocomic]

I actually hate Dodger (unpopular opinion) I feel they make him out as this cool amazing guy when really he’s a two faced jackass. He uses a literal child to steal sausages, ditches him with nothing all so he can have them for himself and his gang. And we’re supposed to be like “awe he had a reason he wouldn’t give Ollie his rightful half he wanted to feed his family” No… no excuses, Oliver should’ve been given some too, he’s a growing child. Instead Dodger tricks him into helping him steal sausages endangering the poor kitten, then proceeds to take all of for his little gang. Another problem is later he guilt trips poor Oliver for wanting to go back to his safe home and not stay on the dangerous streets with Dodger’s sketchy family. I mean he was left unsupervised got tangled in cords and was saved by the little girl. I don’t blame him for wanting a safe life and Dodgers awful for treating him the way he did, he’s an adult and should know better. They are anthropomorphised animals so he should be held accountable the same way a person would be. Sorry I just don’t like Dodger.

As much as I like Dodger's character design and he's a fun character to doodle, I can't deny you've hit some good points here.

This is another issue I have with Oliver and Company: it seemed like Disney wanted to adapt Oliver Twist into a modern retelling with dogs but, at the same time, they didn't.

The Artful Dodger in the original book was - like Fagin - a far from sympathetic character. He partakes in kidnapping Oliver and keeping him a prisoner alongside Fagin because Fagin is being paid to do so by Monks, the true antagonist of the book and Oliver's long lost half-brother. Yes, spoilers, but the book is nearly 200 years old.

Most modern adaptations try and portray him as assuming a big brother role to Oliver. The 60's musical being an example of this - Jack Wild is just the best Dodger, he's such a total bro where Oliver is concerned. The way he fucking stares down Bill Sykes at one point when he's ready to lay into Oliver, with his hands sorta wrapped around him and comforting him. Just adorable.

Dodger in Oliver and Company clearly forms the same bond with Oliver but, at the same time, elements from the original book are there with his 'fares are for tourists' attitude and it can come across as very jarring at times.

Again, I really wish they'd taken notes from the book and the 60's musical and made him a puppy. At least then, his rotten behaviour could be put down to the fact that he's a kid trying to make ends meet in New York City and he has a immature way of dealing with that, including bullying. An adult character doing what he did to a kid, yeah, it's hard to really justify or defend.

When Dodger is being cute with Oliver and being a badass and defending him, he's a great character. Otherwise, yeah, we could've done without the parts you mentioned.

Even when he's mad that Oliver doesn't want to stay with them. OK, he's upset because he's formed an attachment to him but Billy Joel's delivery is so full of attitude and passive aggressive that it's hard to feel bad for him.

Again, why the hell couldn't he be a KID character?? This attitude would've been so much more understandable.

God, it's frustrating and it's very little wonder why The Land Before Time did better. Even when Cera is being a little bitch, you still feel bad for her because she's obviously a five year old in dinosaur terms and her voice is adorable.

You have more patience with kid characters being little assholes at times because... they're kids. There's room for growth and character development and you could argue that the flawed moments are all part of them learning to do better. - RJ

[heyyyharry]

Deep End - Chapter 9: Closer

...in which Ezi has her first kiss.

Word count: 5.4k

AU: famous!harry, siren!mc, adult modern retelling of the little mermaid? lol, fake dating, enemies to lovers.

WARNING: MATURE THEMES

All chapters / Synopsis / Moodboard / Playlist

Wattpad link

A/N: Please tell me what you think about the chapter! Reblog if you could :)

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“Do you know why there’s a true love’s kiss and not a true love’s hug?”

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I was asking you.”

Harry sighed, his hands gripping the steering wheel. He had to keep his eyes on the road, but Ezi would keep distracting him with her shifting in her seat every two seconds and rambling on about silly topics he had no interest in. However, he’d promised to not be a dick whenever she talked to him, so he wouldn’t.

“Can’t you see that I’m driving?”

“So?” Ezi snorted. “Just answer the question.”

Harry sighed again. “I guess that’s because a kiss is more special than a hug...romantically.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Why not not? You’re just exchanging saliva.”

“It’s special if you’re exchanging saliva with someone you care about.”

Ezi still wasn’t satisfied with that explanation. “Okay, but what if the person won’t let you kiss them? How will you know if it’s true love?”

“If they don’t want to kiss you, it means they’re not interested, and therefore, it’s not true love,” Harry said. He couldn’t believe he was actually giving this some thought, but oh well, it was a long drive to the manor anyway. “For me at least,” he added, “true love must come from both sides.” Then he stole a glance at her and did a double-take. “Are you taking notes on your phone?”

Ezi flinched and put her phone into her bag right when she made eye contact with him. “No.”

“Liar. You were.”

“I’m learning to be human.”

“Just say you wanna kiss me.” Harry smirked. “We’re the only people here. This is a safe space.”

“It’s never a safe space when you’re in it,” Ezi said.

Harry’s eyebrows went high. “Excuse me? Yesterday you almost attacked a child for cutting the line in the supermarket.”

Ezi gave a firm nod without showing any remorse. “And the child would have deserved it. You, on the other hand, are deadly with your words.”

“How?!” cried Harry. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you ever since we started fake dating.”

Ezi rolled her eyes and checked her watch. “Yeah, your new record of being nice to me is two hours. Congrats.”

Harry exhaled, his shoulders slumped. “Okay, I think we should go over what to do when we see my mum, because if we act like this in front of her--”

“Why are we seeing your mother again?”

“Didn’t Jeff tell you?”

Ezi shook her head. She seemed quite confused, so Harry guessed Jeff had forgotten. To be honest, Harry found it funny and a little concerning that she had no idea why she was in the car after having been in the car for two hours. Someone could just kidnap her one day, and she wouldn’t even realise until they told her it was a kidnap. Or, maybe she just trusted him not to drive her to a government lab and donate her organs to science.

“Well, Jeff wants some new PR content of you hanging out with my family,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked, face scrunched up.

He lifted his shoulders. “To humanise you.”

“Good luck with that,” Ezi scoffed, rested her elbow on the window on her side and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “It takes a lot to humanise me.”

“Well, not literally. Just in the public eye, because a lot of people suspect that this is a PR relationship. We’ve only been seen together as friends or co-workers.”

“That’s not true. We’re not even friends.”

“Exactly!” Harry exclaimed. “So if we can convince my mother that we’re dating, we can convince the whole world. Trust me.”

Harry didn’t even exaggerate it; his mother could detect a lie from miles away. He could count the number of times he’d got away with a lie to her on one hand. However, he had never lied to her about being in a relationship. So hopefully, she’d be too happy with the thought of him not being a player like his dad to tell the whole thing was fake.

And so for the rest of the drive, he and Ezi tried acting out scenarios for when they met his mother again. They broke out laughing most of the time because Harry would say something too cheesy or Ezi would use some lines she’d learned from those Netflix originals that Harry had rated one star. Now that they were standing on the steps of the manor, they had to keep it together. Because no one would shout ‘cut!’ if they messed up their lines. This was almost like going in for a blind audition, and Harry knew his mother would be the toughest judge to impress.

“Harold!”

“Niall?” Harry’s eyes went wide when his best friend shoved the butler aside and embraced Harry at the door. Mikasa, Niall’s girlfriend, was standing right behind him, wearing a dark green satin dress that fell loosely to her knees. She gave Harry a lopsided smile, her black curls bouncing on her shoulders as she approached.

Harry hadn’t talked to her for weeks, but he assumed she already knew about Ezi. Hopefully just as much as his mother did. Unless Niall had broken the bro code and told Mikasa everything.

“Mimi, long time no see!” Harry said as he went in for a hug.

Mikasa eyed him up and down with her big smokey eyes. He always imagined those eyes having a special power that enabled her to stare right into his soul and read him like an unsealed letter. She was a psychiatrist and always making her friends feel like they were having a regular session in her office.

“So this is your girlfriend?” Mikasa asked, smiling at Ezi.

Harry’s gaze jumped to Niall, who subtly locked his lips with an invisible key and tossed it over his shoulder. Niall knew about the PR relationship, but Harry could always trust Niall not to tell anyone, even Mikasa. Especially Mikasa.

“Darling, you made it!” exclaimed Harry’s mother as she descended the stairs. Harry was just going in for a hug when he saw who were following behind her. And he froze.

Dawson and evil Aunt Beatrice. Dawson was wearing a simple black suit, completely made invisible by his mother in the tackiest neon orange sundress Harry had ever seen. He could hear his stylish crying just from seeing this outfit.

“What are they doing here, Mum?” Harry quietly asked his mother as they hugged.

His mother kissed his cheek and whispered back, “Since you invited Niall and Mikasa, I thought I should invite Dawson and his mother.”

“How is that the same thing?”

“Harry!” Aunt Beatrice said in her glass-breaking voice as she pulled him in for a suffocating bear hug. “Ah, you grew up so fast! I hardly recognise you!”

“It’s only been a couple of weeks, Aunt Beatrice.”

“I know, right? Kids these days.”

“I’m twenty-four.”

“Harry,” Harry’s mother reminded him, so Harry took a deep breath and went to stand beside Ezi. She looked at him like a deer in front of headlights. This couldn’t be good. His family must be overwhelming for her.

“Hey, Ezili!” Dawson waved at her with a smile, and suddenly, her face brightened, and she enthusiastically waved back. Traitorous little fish, Harry thought as he watched the two greet one another.

“Congratulations, you two,” Dawson said.

Ezi opened her mouth to reply when Harry threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her back to his side. He gave Dawson the best grin he could fake. “Thanks,” was all he said.

“Picture, everyone!” Niall interrupted the awkward interaction and pulled out his phone.

Everyone gathered together, and Niall winked at Harry. “Now, Mother Styles, could you stand closer to Ezili? Closer! Thanks. There we go. Looks like Ezili’s a part of the family.”

Once the picture was taken, he nudged Harry with his shoulder. “You’re welcome, asshole.”

Harry patted him on the back. “Send it to Jeff for me.”

“Boys, are you coming?” asked Mikasa, who was walking ahead, holding Ezi’s hand.

“Coming, lovebug!” Niall shouted at her and told Harry. “See? She likes Ezili.”

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“So what do you do for a living?” was the first question Harry’s mother asked Ezili when they sat down at the lunch table. They were eating in a glass house in the flower garden by the lake. There were people dressed in uniforms serving them tea and appetizers, and Ezili felt like she was Alice having tea with the Queen of Hearts and her courtiers in Wonderland.

“I work at a bookstore,” she said when one of the maids filled her cup with Jasmine tea.

She didn’t understand Harry’s mother’s appalled reaction and why Harry had to add, “Ezi owns a bookstore.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Harry’s mother said, sounding strangely relieved.

Irritated, Ezili leaned in and whispered to Harry, “Why did you lie?”

But he didn’t answer and only shushed her before smiling at his mother again.

“Can’t believe I get to live to see Harry bring home a young lady!” said Aunt Beatrice. Dawson opened his mouth to interject, but she didn’t give him a chance, “I always thought you were gay!”

At that, Niall choked on his tea, and Mikasa had to rub his back as he coughed violently into his fist. Ezili knew what gay meant, but why was it a bad thing?

“What if I were?” Harry asked his aunt. “I don’t see the problem with me being gay, which I’m not.”

“These biscuits are so nice, Aunt Annalise,” Dawson told Harry’s mother, probably trying to save the conversation from turning into a fight. But it seemed like Dawson’s mother was out for blood this morning.

“Harry,” Aunt Beatrice started again, and Ezili saw Mikasa and Niall sink into their chairs. “You’re a celebrity and the heir to this manor and your father's business. It’s so...unexpected of you to be dating some girl who works in a bookstore.”

Ezili wasn’t dumb. She might not understand a lot of things humans said, but she knew sarcasm like her mother tongue. It was her time to say something.

“What’s wrong with working in a bookstore?” she asked, making direct eye contact with Aunt Beatrice, who was shocked by the question. Everyone at the table seemed to be holding their breath.

“How much could you possibly do and make by owning a bookstore these days?” Aunt Beatrice laughed.

Ezili smirked and shook her head. “You could do and make a lot if you knew how to read.”

Harry kicked Ezili’s foot under the table, but she didn’t pay him a single glance. She believed she’d said nothing wrong at all. It was only the truth. Because why look down on people who worked at a bookstore unless you hated books because you couldn’t read?

Seeing his mother’s face turning red, Dawson burst out laughing. “Oh my God, she’s so funny!” Mikasa and Niall started laughing, too, and Harry’s mother awkwardly joined in.

“That’s what they call dark humour, Aunt Beatrice,” Niall told the angry giant lady. “Ezi’s a true Gen Z. She’s all jokes.”

Aunt Beatrice said nothing else. She shot a glare at a smiling Ezili and lifted her cup to take a sip.

“Oh, there’s my new cook!” said Harry’s mother as she waved at the door. “This is Dolores' first day at work. Come say hello, Dolores dear.”

“Good morning. I hope everyone’s having a wonderful time.”

Ezili’s entire body went stiff. Her eyes almost popped out of her head and dropped onto the plate in front of her. She knew that voice. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage as she held her breath. She felt the person’s presence beside her heavy like a weight ready to crush her bones into dust. Out of the corner of her eyes, she looked up.

Her sister Koa was grinning down at her.

“Ezili, are you okay?” Dawson asked, snapping Ezili out of her numbness.

Koa’s devilish grin remained as she circled the table after wishing everyone a pleasant meal, then disappeared out of the entrance.

Why was she here? Why did she have legs? How had she found Ezili?

“Okay, let's get straight to the point,” Aunt Beatrice started again, and everyone groaned at once. “How much did he pay you?”

“Mum!” cried Dawson.

“Excuse me?” Harry arched an eyebrow.

“It’s PR, isn’t it?” Aunt Beatrice said to him. Ezili was having a hard time paying attention to the argument while her heart was still pounding in her head. Her sister was here, either for her, or after her.

“You can’t do that to your mother, Harry,” Dawson’s mother went on. “She might be easily fooled but I’m not.”

“We should’ve gone for mini-golf,” Mikasa muttered to Niall, who exhaled into his hand.

Harry turned to his mother. “You’re just gonna let her disrespect my girlfriend like that?”

His mother opened her mouth to speak, but his aunt was faster. “If she’s your girlfriend then kiss her.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Harry scoffed and threw his hands in the air.

Ezili immediately stood up. All eyes fell on her.

“Excuse me,” she said, her voice trembling. “I must go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll take you--”

“No, Harry, you stay.”

Harry slowly sat back down as Ezili pushed her chair out and headed straight for the door. Thankfully, he didn’t follow her.

She crossed the garden and asked one of the employees where the kitchen was. As it turned out, they had a separate kitchen for when they served food in the glasshouse. Ezili couldn’t see the point of having more than one kitchen, but this was no time to question it.

When she found Koa, no one else was there but them. It seemed as if Koa had known Ezili would follow her here, so she’d asked everyone else to leave.

Ezili stood at the door while her sister stood by the counter with her back turned to Ezili. The first thing Ezili noticed was the knives within Koa’s reach. Ezili must be wise when confronting her sister.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Koa in Séren.

Koa slowly turned and leaned against the counter, arms crossed. “I’m a cook. Can't you see?”

“How did you find me?”

The corner of Koa’s lips curled as she unbuttoned the collar of her white shirt and revealed a gold necklace. Ezili sucked in a breath when she saw the shiny trident-shaped medallion on her sister’s chest.

“Is that--”

“Mother’s trident,” Koa sneered. “Yes, it is.” Then she buttoned up her shirt to cover it. “Now we can see who mother trusts more.”

“Why--”

“Aunt Nerissa came for a visit last week,” Koa said. Ezili knew that name could never be associated with anything good. “Mother doesn’t trust her, so she asked me to go on land to find you, but also to keep the trident away from Nerissa’s clutches.”

Ezili swallowed hard, her fists tightly glued to her sides. “What happened to the cook?”

Koa clicked her tongue. “She’s swimming with fishes now. Like the ones swimming in her pot just then.”

“You drowned her?!”

“In the lake.”

Ezili gripped her head and advanced towards Koa. “How many humans have you killed?”

Koa chuckled and took a few steps forward until she was dangerously close enough to hurt Ezili. She stood with her back straight and arms folded, her silver eyes flickering in the sunlight. “The important question is…” She stared Ezili down. “How many have you killed?” Ezili bit her lip when Koa poked her chest with her long nail. “Or are you too busy dating now? People are talking about it everywhere.” Ezili said nothing, so Koa went on, “It’s a fake relationship, isn’t it?” She leaned in, taunting. “Come on, Sister. Admit that you’ve failed. That you can’t make the human fall in love with you. Why so quiet? Is it because if you admit it, you’re an embarrassment and you lose the trident to me, and if you deny it, then it means you’re becoming way too human to kill him.”

At that, Ezili shoved Koa away and stabbed a finger at her. “Leave me alone. Mother gave me a year for this mission.”

“We won’t have that much time, stupid,” Koa snorted. “Narissa is onto something. The queendom is already in danger as we’re speaking. And you’re here having...brunch?” She clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “Pathetic.”

“Ezi?”

Both of them whipped their heads around and saw Harry, who stiffened in the doorway.

“Ezi?” Koa cackled, hugging her stomach. “Is that your human name? Are you his pet now?”

Though confused, Harry stepped into the kitchen anyway. “Ezi, you’re alright?”

“Harry, watch out!” Ezili shouted, but Koa was already on top of Harry on the floor. She sank her fangs into Harry’s arm with the rolled-up sleeve. Harry yelped in pain as Ezili dragged her sister off of him and slammed Koa’s head against the table. Hissing, Koa grabbed a knife on the counter and aimed it at Ezili, but Ezili was fast enough to kick it out of her sister’s grip and sent one more kick into Koa’s stomach. Koa was stronger than Ezili had thought as she plunged at Ezili again.

“Harry, run!”

But Harry didn’t run. He was back on his feet, grabbed a vase and smashed it onto Koa’s back. “Do not hurt my fake girlfriend!”

Koa rolled off of Ezili. The last thing Ezili could see was her sister’s bloodied face as she stumbled towards the door and ran off into the light.

Ezili lay there until her vision cleared again, and Harry helped her back to her feet.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled. “Who the fuck was she?!”

“My sister,” Ezili said, still holding her aching head.

“The one who tried to drown me? Why is she here?”

“To kill me, I think.”

“Why?”

“Harry--”

But Harry wasn’t listening. He was pacing back and forth like a mad man. “This isn’t good, Ezi. This is bad! Your crazy sister is gonna expose us!”

“Expose us?” Ezili grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. “She almost killed you.”

It seemed as if Harry had forgotten that his arm was bleeding until Ezili had brought it up. He suddenly winced and fell into a chair.

Ezili scanned her eyes around the messy kitchen, panting as she tried to make sure that Koa had escaped. Then, she got down on her knees beside Harry and reached for his wounded arm.

He stared down at her in confusion, then his expression turned horrified when she leaned in.

“What the fuck?!” he hissed and yanked his arm away.

She glared up at him in annoyance. “Let me help!”

“Hell no! You’re not gonna lick my blood.”

“You need to clean the wound!”

“With water! Not by sucking it!”

Ezili huffed and aggressively got up while silently cursing Harry in Séren.

“There’s a--” His voice cut off when she tore off a piece of her dress “--towel over there,” he trailed off. She ignored him and went to the sink to soak the piece of fabric in water. He shook his head and blew up his cheeks. “Nevermind. You do you.”

Still glaring at him when she returned, Ezili got back down on her knees and started cleaning Harry’s arm. The place her sister had sunk her fangs into had turned dark red. It would definitely leave a huge bruise tomorrow.

“Lucky for you Koa was distracted and didn’t aim to bite your whole arm off,” Ezili whispered and glanced up, meeting Harry’s gaze. “You sure you don’t want me to lick your wound?”

“Well, now that you’re already in this position, you could just lick something else,” he chuckled.

Ezili’s eyes narrowed. “Like what?”

To her confusion, Harry covered his face and shook with laughter. “Sorry, that was a dumb joke. I just couldn’t help it.”

“I didn’t get it.”

“Yeah, that’s how a joke loses its funny,” he sighed then snapped his fingers. “Ooh, maybe I should just pretend that I don’t understand whenever someone tells me a joke, so that they gradually lose their funny.”

“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard,” Ezili remarked.

“What do you mean?” Harry pouted. “I don’t get it, babe.”

Ezili rolled her eyes at his childishness, still, she couldn’t help but smile a little.

Once she had wrapped the piece of her dress securely around his arm, Harry pulled down the sleeve to cover it as he got to his feet. “That should do. Let’s hope my mother won’t suspect that we just got attacked in her kitchen by her cook, who was your evil siren sister in disguise. Damn, that sounds crazy even for me.”

Ezili stood with her arms crossed. “Do you think your mother can tell we’re not really dating?”

“Nah, my mother totally believes it.” Harry shrugged. “Honestly, I think we’re doing a great job pretending we’re in love when we can’t even have a conversation without insulting each other.”

“I don’t get paid enough to call you babe so many times.”

“Neither do I. This PR relationship is harder than I tho--”

Harry’s sentence got cut off by a sound at the door. When they both turned to it, Dawson was standing there, his eyes wide with shock.

Ezili was hoping that was the reaction to the messy kitchen and not to what she and Harry had said. However, luck wasn’t smiling at her tonight. Dawson’s appalled gaze jumped from Harry to Ezili. “What do you mean by ‘PR relationship’?”

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“I can explain,” Ezi said, reaching for Dawson, but he backed away while staring at both her and Harry in disbelief. Harry believed Dawson wasn’t shocked that Harry could pull something like this, because Harry hadn’t been exactly the good kid growing up. What Dawson hadn’t expected was Ezi being part of this plan. Ezi must be an angel in Dawson’s eyes.

“So my mother was right,” Dawson said, flicking his finger between Harry and Ezi. “You were lying to everyone.”

“Dawson--” Ezi began, but Harry pulled her back by her wrist.

“Please don’t tell my mother,” he told Dawson and received stunned looks from both Dawson and Ezi. They probably hadn’t expected that coming from him. “This means a lot to her, and I don’t want her to be any more let down,” Harry continued. “Also, Ezi needs money, and I’m just trying to help. She’s also writing the next album with me, so it’s all good business.”

Dawson peered at both their faces for a long moment as if he was psychoanalysing each of them. Then, he breathed, “So you two don't have feelings for each other?”

“No.” Ezi shook her head fast and tugged at Harry’s sleeve. “Harry, tell him.”

Harry opened his mouth. Suddenly, he thought about how frightened he’d been when he’d thought Ezi’s sister was going to kill her. He could’ve run off and let her deal with it alone since he hadn’t asked to be part of her family drama, and he wasn’t brave, either. Nevertheless, he’d jumped in to help her.

“No,” he said, only to realise he shouldn’t have taken such a long pause to say only one word.

“See?” Ezi smiled at Dawson, who seemed less sceptical now.

“Okay,” Dawson said, his face relaxed as he put his hands on his hips. “Who else knows? Niall and Mikasa?”

“Mikasa doesn’t know,” Harry said. “Only Niall.”

“Alright.” Dawson nodded and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “But you guys are really bad at pretending to be in love,” he told them after another moment. “I’ll try to tell my mum to stop being rude to you. But just to be safe, you should make it more convincing.”

Ezi heaved a sigh of relief and placed her hand on Dawson’s arm. Harry swore he saw Dawson hold his breath as if Ezi had the Midas touch, and Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

“Thank you, Dawson,” Ezi said in the softest tone Harry had ever heard.

“Your dress,” Dawson pointed out while eyeing her and then the kitchen. “What...what happened here?”

“There was a rat,” Harry blurted.

Ezi joined in, “Harry tried to kill it then it knocked over the vase, and I fell and pulled him down with me and ripped my dress on the glass.”

Dawson furrowed his brows as he nodded at the piece of Ezi’s dress in her fist. “That’s your blood?”

Ezi shook her head. “It’s the rat’s.” Then, she looked over at Harry, suppressing a grin. He stayed quiet and glared at her.

“Oh, God. That’s disgusting,” Dawson made a face. “Need me to help you clean up?”

“No, I’ll take care of it,” Harry said. “I’ll take Ezi upstairs to clean up. Could you distract everyone for a while?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dawson nodded, gave Ezi a tight-lipped smile and turned to the door. “Now, where the hell is the cook?”

.

.

.

Harry could hear every single word of the Jonas Brothers song playing downstairs. It seemed like everyone had finished brunch without him and Ezi, and now Niall was turning the manor into a concert. Niall and Mikasa had met at a Jonas Brothers’ concert years ago, and they would not let people forget about it. What they had was cute, but Harry could not imagine being with someone for that long. A PR relationship was tiring enough; he didn’t think he could ever handle a real one.

Back against the wall, he stared at his watch and tapped his foot impatiently before he came to knock on the door to his mother’s walk-in closet. “Ezi, are you done?”

“I don’t know how to put this on!”

Harry tossed his head back and groaned. “Do you need help?”

“Yeah!”

“Goddamn it,” he muttered under his breath. “Cover yourself. I’m coming in.”

Just to be safe, he had his hand over his eyes when he opened the door.

You'll say my name like it's been on your lips

Familiar in ways I can't explain

You got a heart that I know I can miss

Hold me like that and pull me right back again

The music outside became muffled. Harry peeked through the gap between his fingers, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Ezi standing there topless with only jeans on. “I told you to cover yourself!”

“Oh, please, there’s nothing you haven’t seen.”

“It’s different every time.”

“How? I’ve only got one body.”

“No, seeing you feels different every time. It’s weird.”

Time stands still and it's only us

What we feel started way before we ever touched

Just imagine only us

Yeah, you found me right before I'd given up

Ezi said nothing, and Harry lowered his hand, feeling glad that she was facing away from him now. She looked over her shoulder, frowning. “Help me with this shirt!”

He ruffled his hair and padded over to take the shirt from her hand. “You got the button stuck?! This is my mother’s favourite Chanel shirt!”

“It was like that when I found it.”

“Liar.” Harry shook his head and started examining the stuck button. Ezi turned around, hugging her chest so her breasts weren’t exposed to him. He was trying his best not to look. Maybe he shouldn’t have put her in a dress that didn’t require a bra. He guessed he’d played himself.

“Harry.”

“Damn, maybe I should get you another shirt and buy a new one for my mum. I don't know how to fix this.”

“Harry,” Ezi repeated and tapped Harry on the arm. He looked up, face heating when he saw her.

I just saw the lightning strike

Knew it right then when I looked in your eyes

And I said to myself, "It's no surprise we ain't strangers"

Strangers tonight

Still, he acted indifferent. “What?”

“I think we should kiss,” she said, making him flinch.

“Why?” He was already sweating through his palms. His mother’s shirt could no longer be saved now.

“To make it more convincing,” Ezi said as if them kissing wasn’t a big deal to her. “Maybe if there’s a picture of us kissing--”

“Have you ever kissed anyone before?”

She froze at the question and blinked at him.

I came here looking for another excuse

To run away from something beautiful

It's like it's driving me closer to you

Every step back pulls me right back

At this question, Ezi’s whole life up until that point flashed before her eyes. She had lost count of all the times she’d kissed sailors before drowning them. But she wasn’t going to kiss Harry to kill him. Not yet at least. He would still be there, alive, when she opened her eyes. He would still be aware of her lips against his. And she would, too.

“No,” she lied.

And he believed it. He cleared his throat. Suddenly, her standing there topless wasn’t weird anymore. “Okay, it’s pretty easy.” He put the shirt aside. His fingers were shaking so he opened and closed his fists a few times before beckoning her over. “Come here.”

She took a step forward.

“Closer.”

Another step.

Harry’s face reddened with a small smile. “Ezi, closer.”

He’d never talked to her in that tone before. It was soft and firm at the same time, and she completely forgot having sworn to herself that she would never let him tell her what to do. She came so close she could not tell his breath from her own. His eyelids fluttered, and his pink lips parted, yet no word escaped. Then, he leaned in.

Must be from a different life

Been here before and it just feels right

No, this ain't the first time for you and I, we ain't strangers

Strangers tonight

But it was her who took his face between her hands and kissed him first. He froze for a second, then started kissing her back, his arms circled around her waist, pressing her against him.

Harry’s entire body grew hot. The voice inside his head told him to stop, but it only made him bolder. He liked that she’d taken charge. Her hands were under his shirt as his roamed across her naked back. His eyes went wide when she unconsciously let out a moan.

Strangers

Strangers

Strangers tonight

“Ezi,” he breathed against her lips. But before he could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.

“Harry, are you in there?”

Ezi pulled away as Harry threw his head back and exhaled harshly. “Yes, Niall?”

“Is Ezili there with you?”

“Yes,” Harry answered in a croaked voice and quickly cleared his throat. “Yes,” he repeated, sounding more stable. “Why?”

“You missed all the fun stuff. Your mother scolded your aunt for what she’d said to you and Ezi, and Dawson had to take his mother’s home.”

Harry looked over at Ezi, expecting her to be thrilled by the good news, but she only gave a small smile, her arms still tightly wrapped around herself to cover her breasts. Was she...shy?

Yes, yes she was. Ezi didn’t think she could ever be shy. But here she stood, blushing all over from a stupid kiss.

“Are they in there?” Harry’s mother’s voice outside the door made Harry and Ezi jump.

They looked at each other, scared when Niall told Harry’s mum that they were in the closet together.

“Not in my closet, Harry!”

“I’m just helping Ezi get changed, Mum!”

“You better!”

And then their footsteps faded down the hallway, along with his mother’s laughter.

Ezi and Harry made eye contact with each other and looked away at the same time as silence ensued. Suddenly, Harry started sniffing.

“What is it?” Ezi asked, worried.

Harry leaned in and started sniffing her neck, and she pushed him away. “What the hell?!”

“You smell.”

“Excuse me?!”

“No.” Harry shook his head fast. “You smell good. But..you didn’t have a smell before.”

Ezi quickly lifted her arm to smell herself. “I smell nothing.”

“That’s because it’s your own smell, so you don't recognise it. But--” Harry cut off midsentence and picked up a strand of her hair and brought his nose to it. Then, his lips curled. “Aww, my kiss turned you a little more human.”

“Shut up!” Ezi shoved at his chest. “I’m not turning more human! That’s not true!”

“It is true! Kiss me again. I’ll prove it.”

She said nothing, only glared at him as he burst out laughing and tossed her a t-shirt.