#with enough force and adrenaline you could feasibly stab someone

[uwudonoodle]

Sometimes I sing to myself while putting my hair up in a bun with one of my hair sticks.

(To the tune of Secret Tunnel from Avatar.)

Secret weapon!

In my hair now.

Secret, secret, secret, secret weapon!

[secretanimesideblogidk]

ok so because i am a little bitch who likes their Izuku has a quirk AUs, hypothetical:

technicallyyyyyyy it seems that the vestiges aren’t actually certain that it is specifically the factors of “(one for all) + (inborn quirk)” that equal “burning out the lifeforce of users.” we are of course meant to understand that that is the canon explanation but there’s a little bit of plausible deniability wiggle room and that’s where I live

(also from a purely scientific standpoint “life force” isn’t really... real? like there’s neuroelectricity and ATP molecules both of which are pretty high-energy i guess but anything ‘consuming’ them would basically kill you instantly, not over the course of 20 years. Then there’s telomeres, the shit at the ends of your chromosomes that you lose a tiny bit of every time your cells divide and when you run out of them your cells can’t divide anymore and you die. Something that degrades your telomeres would definitely shorten your lifespan. but “this quirk damages your telomeres” is a little less evocative than “this quirk eats at your life force.” Arguably, either the gene splicing that transmits OFA, or if OFA caused cells to replicate faster (OFA doesn’t seem to have regenerative qualities, but i guess it could be on the upper end of normal) could damage or degrade telomeres, but frankly, lots of things can damage telomeres. this is a tangent.

So a common trope of quirked!Izuku stories where he also gets OFA that OFA enhances his quirk, I think that’s vaguely canon for the vestiges quirks? or at least Banjo mentions black whip being stronger for Izuku, which implies but doesn’t explicitly state, but there’s that wiggle room, the place that I live these days. OFA makes quirks stronger, and as it develops they get even stronger.

Fourth’s (Shinomori, gonna have to get used to having a name for him) quirk is, of course, Danger Sense: a spidey-sense style precognitive.. uh... danger.. sense.... pretty self-explanatory name there. what isn’t self-explanatory is the biological mechanism by which it warns it’s user to incoming danger. Izuku describes it as “feeling like getting stabbed in the head” which, while evocative, does not indicate, say, which portion of the brain lights up when it activates. I’m assuming the quirk signals the parts of the brain responsible for stress-response. It makes sort of logical sense, a “you get a migraine when you’re in danger” quirk is more disabling than anything, but a “survival response gets a head start” quirk would actually help someone survive, say, being hunted by an extremely powerful supervillain.

The quirk is basically your amygdala specifically has the gift of prophesy, so it takes a jackhammer to the hypothalamus and you get your whole hormonal stress response (cortisol, adrenaline, the whole shebang).

So a man with a super-amygdala from 30 seconds in the future walks into a bar gets a super-everything-enhancer that makes him the prime target of the demon lord of the criminal underground. I’m guessing that that “danger sense” quirk got plenty of use. which means that his HPA axis was pretty active too. which means we’re looking at symptoms of chronic stress and making that super chronic stress because the whole thing’s a side effect of the quirk that OFA is enhancing.

Long term effects of long term stress can include fun things like depression, anxiety (which in turn cause more stress), general fatigue, a compromised immune system, heart disease, and wouldn’t you know it, premature aging

(also kind of a side-note bc I haven’t done literally 2% of the relevant research, but “sudden explosive [electrical] activity in a portion of the brain” is kind of in-line with a seizure, and so is the only symptom we were actually given: really bad headache. I genuinely do not know enough about seizures or how to respectfully handle this topic to be all like “this is the epilepsy quirk!” but with this hypothesis of how the quirk works (amygdala Goes Off sometimes), and we have research into what happens physiologically when parts of the brain flip their shit, have a tendency to flip their shit, and repeatedly and uncontrollably flip their shit over the course of a lifetime. idk if it would be rude or even accurate to say this quirk is like epilepsy, but I think it at least has some traits in common, so it seems reasonable to consider health effects of seizures, specifically, what effect frequent, uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain can have on the rest of the body. The essence of sci-fi is taking scientific understanding of the real world and projecting it into fictional situations. Apparently people with epilepsy are more likely to have other chronic conditions like dementia, heart disease, depression, and anxiety. this is a side note because if literally one single person with epilepsy tells me i’m off base here i’m deleting this entire paragraph)

Shinomori says he died of old age at 40, I’ve seen people joke about his quirk being ‘super anxiety’, but legitimately, the combo of “inherently stressful quirk + (extremely stressful lifestyle x frequent use of  inherently stressful quirk) + everything dialed up to an 11 because One For All” is absolutely plenty to shorten someone’s lifespan

TL:DR it’s completely feasible that Shinomori’s quirk, not OFA, is what ended up killing him

(now what this means for Izuku, who now has Shinomori’s quirk, in a world where being born quirkless will not save him from it, is a somewhat sadder thing to contemplate)

[rinusagitora]

The love, lead, and the undead

Fandom: Monster Prom

Characters: Vicky Schmidt, Damien LaVey, Brian Yu, Oz, Zoe, Lucien LaVey, Stan LaVey, Vera Oberlin, Amira Rashid, Joy Johson-Junpei, Hope, OC: Quilo,  OC: Hugo Aquino

Pairings: BriDamiVicky, Oz/Zoe, LaVey family, Aquino family, 

Words: 5.3k

Summary: Canon divergent. Chapter 9/?. WARNINGS— unreality, violence, & gore; Vicky is in the hands of the Aquino.

Vicky felt like violent static. Like glass and ash swirled like a storm in a skin sack. They congregated into white-hot bone and boiled viscera, and when she finally opened her hot eyes and gasped for air in new lungs, she gagged on rot and mucus lodged in her chest.

She flung herself off the side of her bed and coughed up bits and pieces of insides onto the pristine floor so forcefully it made her entire back hurt.

“Get it all out,” Vera cooed. She rubbed Vicky’s back.

“Water!” Vicky pleaded. Zoe, ice water in hand, cupped Vicky’s chin and poured it down her throat. Vicky spewed it onto the floor seconds later. She snatched the cup out of Zoe’s hold and downed the remainder in only a couple of swallows.

Finally, Vicky, breathless curled up on the mattress, pillows forgone, and let her eyes fall shut.

“Vicky?” Vera whispered.

“I’m tired,” she said. “Oz and I were in a fight and—” her eyes flew open. She whipped upright and screamed, “Oz! He’s in trouble!”

Before Vicky ripped IVs out of her arms, Vera forced her down onto her pillows. “Lay down. We’ll take care of Oz, alright?”

“I’ll watch her. Go make some calls,” Zoe said.

Vera left. Vicky tearfully clutched her chest. She had no idea what happened. One second, she was on a murder spree to escape the Aquino castle, and the next she was ash, and then she was in a pristine laboratory. Oz was abandoned and overwhelmed.

“I don’t… this is a lot,” Vicky said. She wiped her nose on her hand. Everything was congested and runny. It was weird being back in a body.

“I know, but we’re glad you’re back. Just focus on yourself for the time being.”

“I don’t want to. I want this to make sense. I want to see Brian and Damien.”

“You’ll see them soon. Vera’s calling backup for Oz, and she’s going to get Brian over here. Damien will be here as soon as we make sure Oz is okay.”

Vicky, although frustrated by her uselessness and worry, understood there wasn’t much she was able to do for the time being but wait until everyone was back home

—

Damien was brought to attention when someone or something slid into their dirt cave. He was relieved that Joy finally came for them. He kicked Hope’s foot and she was startled awake.

“Fuck,” Hope mumbled groggily.

As they crawled into the open, Damien eagerly asked, “Is Vicky back?” It was such an awful ordeal. He was emotionally drained. If he wasn’t able to attain his vengeance, all he wanted was Vicky back in his arms.

“Vera left me with that impression. But all I know is that Oz needs our help in the Aquino castle,” Joy answered.

He nodded. It was good enough that Damien was finally able to knock together some Aquino heads, at least until he was able to see Vicky. “I can get us to the castle,” Damien said, and then pulled a knife from his waistband. “I need you guys to clear a space for me.”

Damien sliced open his palm and sucked his blood into his cheeks as Hope and Joy helped clear away forest debris. It was cleaned soon enough. He motioned for them to step back, and then he cupped his hands around his mouth and sprayed blood through his lips. With his fingers covered in blood, he drew the name of the Aquino’s castle in the dirt, and then he rubbed his hands together and hissed out a spell from his grimy mouth.

His blood, spotted in the dirt, crept into a web and then began to fluoresce. The spell was completed.

“I’m sure you guys dive into portals all the time, but this will be different.” He held both their hands. Although it was awkward for Damien to touch anyone that wasn’t his closest confidant or fuck buddy, there were more pressing matters. Oz needed his and the Coven’s help, and if they were lost in the portal, Oz was sure to be fucked over. “Don’t let go of me no matter what.”

The dove into the portal like cannonballs. The walls were jagged and tight. They were rattled around like dice, slammed into each other and scraped by sharp obstacles. His back was sliced by something particularly sharp.

Despite the discomfort, Damien’s adrenaline was through the roof. He itched to rake his fingers through their entrails, to stomp their skulls into the stone floors, to cook them and tear them limb from limb like a rotisserie chicken. He itched to lather himself in their blood like a true heathen.

The trio landed on their feet. Damien stumbled and nearly collided with his father Lucien.

“Shit, sorry!”

“No worries,” Lucien said. He was feet away from Oz who was neck-deep in Aquino combatants. “We’re fine here! Stan ran off, find him!”

“Hope, stay with them,” Joy said, “I’m going with Damien.”

Hope nodded. She created a beam of light over their heads. Joy and Damien took off on the path over the chaos between Oz and the soldiers.

“How do we even find Stan?” Joy asked. Damien wasn’t sure either. It was impossible to scour the entire castle in a reasonable amount of time. Damien didn’t know any other magic tricks to help them, either.

“We’ll have to follow noise or something,” Damien replied. It was the best of a bad situation.

Thankfully, fate intervened. A LaVey soldier flew through a pair of heavy, ornate doors. Joy grabbed Damien by his sides and pulled him out of the way before he was decapitated by debris. He was too worried to be scared. They peered into the throne room, where Stan and Hugo alongside their armies.

Damien wasn’t the keenest, but he was sure a fool could have seen his father was in trouble. His face poured blood and his leg was lamed.

“Keep quiet, I’m going to make an opening for you,” Joy told him.

They hid behind the frame. Joy conjured an enormous rod tapered off to a serrated point.

“Hugo!” Joy screamed. Taken off guard, Hugo faltered, having been distracted by joy, and then she tossed it like a javelin and it whistled through the air. Damien chased it, fists alight. He sidestepped his father Hugo and slammed his hand into Hugo’s nose. It crunched and roasted with smoke and a metallic odor.

With a swift kick from Hugo, Damien was knocked off Hugo. Stan caught Damien by his wrist and pulled him out of the way of spearpoint from one of Hugo’s lackeys.

It was far too chaotic for them to feasibly defeat Hugo.

“I’ll take care of him! You take care of his army!” Stan barked.

“Damien, I have an idea, but I’ll need your help,” Joy said. She grabbed an Aquino guard, and although visibly disgusted by it, she stabbed them in their neck with a prismatic dagger, and a second later, she dragged them onto the floor where they crouched. She drew with charcoal on the bloodied knife and then shoved it into his hands.

“I need you to stab this into the ground and light it on fire. It’ll roast all the Aquino in this room,” Joy told him.

Damien didn’t need to be told twice. Dutifully and vindictively, he lit it on fire, and then they were showered by a geyser of hot and feathery fire. Joy flung her open hand out without flourish and cast a shield over Stan’s head to protect him from the flames.

Seconds later, the fire dissipated and was replaced by the smell of roasted flesh and burnt hair. Damien flew to his feet and charged Hugo.

But before Damien was able to dispatch Hugo, there was a cacophonous snap, and Damien watched blood spray from Stan’s chest.

—

Oz wasn’t upset often. Oz wasn’t mad often either. But things made a turn for the worse and were he to be completely frank, he was irate. Vicky had turned to ash, and he was up to his motherfucking chin in knives and spears. Oz had survived worse but it still pissed him off.

“Lucien!” he screamed, “Just fucking roast these sons of bitchs already!”

Lucien hissed, but from his staff came the smoke and flames. Oz slammed his eyes shut, but fear overpowered the atmosphere, even more potently than the heat of the fire. Fear burst into a new and gluttonous life from the sensation. In the fire, where the Aquino soldiers were roasted and defenseless, Fear scooped them into his bulbous jaw and swallowed them in pieces.

The fire dissipated and the bloodbath ended. Oz, although warm and still angry, was finally alleviated of the pressure of battle, and he pried knives and spears out of his body.

There were other battles to finish, however. But Oz promised himself as soon as the whole ordeal was over, he would spend the day in bed and binge anime to his heart’s content. Preferably with Zoe in tow, but he wasn’t picky.

Fear, enormous and swollen, pressed its snout against Oz’s cheek. “More,” it growled. Oz shoved it aside as Lucien and Hope rushed down to meet him.

“We need to find the rest of the party,” Hope said with her nose pinched between her fingers. In her other hand, she loosely held a swinging pendulum. “This is a kind of magic divinator. It’ll help us find Joy. Hopefully, Stan and Damien haven’t been separated from her.”

He and Lucien ran behind Hope through hallways and a maze of bodies and fire. In other circumstances, Oz was sure to have been disgusted by the carnage. But he only felt hate for the ruthless Aquino and the secretive LaVey, and exhaustion from the taxing past days. He went straight from sleepless nights and a feverish investigation, to captivity and torture, to find his friends in shambles, and finally a covert operation that ended in a bloodbath. Everything was minute and far away.

Hope guided them into the destroyed throne room. If Oz had a heart, it would have stopped.

Stan’s chest gaped. He was pale and limp. Joy was crouched over him, she wailed at the top of her lungs as she shrouded him in glittery reparation magic, and Damien was on the defensive against Hugo and the general woman Quilo.

Oz ran to Damien and Fear reared its ugly head. It snapped at Quilo and Hugo fruitlessly. Damien used it as a springboard to tackle Quilo and slam his fists into her face.

“You bitch! You killed my dad! You fucking bitch!”

Oz cursed and slammed his body into Hugo before the Aquino king reached Damien. Fear finally took an arm into its mouth and ripped it off. But before Oz was able to devour him entirely, he vanished.

His head whipped to Quilo. Her fist covered a magic circle, and Oz immediately concluded she used magic to transport him out of the castle and god knew where else.

Oz stormed over to her and bludgeoned her with Fear’s big head. “Where is he?” he boomed.

Quilo cackled. “You’re like sad kittens.” She mimicked a kitten with a high-pitched meow.

Damien kicked her head. “I’m going to kill you, you fucking cunt! I’m going to kill all of you!” He slammed his fiery fists into her head, and her skin boiled. Quilo shrieked something ungodly.

He ripped Damien off Quilo and Fear scooped her into its maw with the promise of safekeeping. It was hungry, but sometimes it saved snacks. They needed to interrogate Quilo late to obtain Hugo’s location, but neither he or Damien were in the mindset to deal with her. “Your father is dying,” Oz reminded Damien, “we’ll deal with her later.”

For a split second, Damien bristled but soon regained rationality.

Oz and Damien jogged over to Stan. He winced. Stan’s heart was cleanly ripped out. Oz was able to see straight to the floor. Strangely enough, Stan held on, with ragged, shallow breaths, as blood and drool coated his cheeks.

They had lost more than enough people.

Ordinarily, Oz didn’t meddle in mortal matters like death. But Brian, and all of Oz’s friends, had been through far too much in such a short amount of time.

Oz liquified. From the walls of darkness, he picked off foamy chunks and carefully sculpted it into a heart for Stan. When he returned, he pulled the Coven and Lucien off Stan and pressed his creation into Stan’s chest. It leeched onto his torn veins. It pumped blood. It expanded to fill the cavity. Color returned to Stan’s face.

His audience was stunned into silence. He stepped back and rolled his shoulders.

“This is only a temporary fix. He needs medical attention as soon as possible,” Oz explained. The witches nodded.

—

Vicky waited impatiently in her bed, she strained her ears to pick up on any sound of movement, her stiff legs itched to pace in wait. Zoe told her, again and again, Brian and Damien were on their way. It felt like an eternity. It made her anxious. It made her want to cry.

Her fingers curled into her blankets. Just then, she heard the clap of sneakers against cement, and then the whir of the automatic glass door. Her eyes widened to see Brian and Damien struggle to pull themselves inside before the door was even open. Vicky squealed when they threw themselves into her.

Vicky’s chest tightened upon the mere sight of them. She burst into tears and folded herself over them. Their visage was miraculous in every way.

Brian pushed her against the headboard and wrapped his arms around her like a tight metal coil. She was smothered but pressed kisses on his cheek. Damien’s legs were laid across her lap as he curled himself against her. Vicky had never seen him cry before, but he wept inconsolably against her long hair.

It was a storm of emotion. Heartache, love, relief, grief. Vicky’s fingers dug into their flesh from the energy.

“I missed,” Vicky had to pause to blubber and wipe her face, “I missed you guys. I felt so incomplete. I was- I was scared and miserable.” She held them tightly. “I don’t ever want to leave you again.” In many ways, they were her only family. Without them, she only had friends and classmates.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Brian told her, “It wasn’t your fault, Vicky.”

Although Vicky was overwhelmed by emotion, the cogs in her head turned and she pieced together odd bits and pieces. Her head spun with a maelstrom of questions.

“Wait, where is everyone? Your dads? And Oz? And Damien, you’re covered in blood. What happened?” Her chest was so tight. Vicky couldn’t breathe! “Everything is… this is all so much.”

Brian hushed her. “It’s okay. We’ll all be caught up soon, at least according to Amira,” he assured her, “let’s just enjoy this.”

Vicky tasted something foul. There was something dreadfully wrong. She wanted to relish in her reunion, but the ill feelings nagged her relentlessly.

Still, for Brian and Damien, she could keep those worries to herself. She held them close instead.

“Are you guys okay?” she asked.

“I wasn’t in any fight,” Brian said.

“I’m okay. I mean, I ran into people a couple of times, but I was mostly the one doling out damage,” Damien followed. “I’m just… I’m so glad you’re back, Vicky. It’s been a nightmare without you.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful enough.”

“No. It’s not your fault,” Damien and Brian insisted. “We’re okay now. That’s all that matters.”

They were right. It took a great deal off of Vicky’s shoulders, and she sincerely smiled.

—

Stan gawked at his chest. His injury was supposed to have completely decimated his chest cavity but all was well. Oz was not subjectable to mortal laws.

He nodded at Oz and Oz nodded back. He felt good about himself. “Thank you,” Stan said. “I would’ve died if you weren’t there.”

“I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“Oz, our family owes you our lives. You’ve helped us save our son’s lover, you’ve saved my husband.” Lucien laid his hand over Stan’s. It was a stark difference from the image of the stone-hearted, begrudged king Oz spoke with that morning. “You’ve saved us.”

Oz wished he was as celebratory as mortals. But with Hugo at large, and Stan’s brush with death, and everything else that happened, Oz couldn’t relax, no matter how badly he wanted to.

He knew Zoe felt the same way. She was just better at disguising it. Perhaps she lived in the moment better than he.

“Honestly, we’re just glad everyone made it out alive,” she said. Oz nodded.

“Rest up. I’ll gather everyone for the briefing. The sooner we get everyone on the same page, the safer we’ll be, and the sooner we can rest,” he said. The kings agreed with a nod of their heads.

—

Brian held Vicky’s hand as a doctor with three eyes checked her vitals. Damien had gone to freshen up and change. When the glass door slid open, Vicky saw Oz enter.

She smiled. “Hi,” she said. “It’s good to see you. I’m so glad you’re okay.” And she was. She felt horrible that he was left amid the enemy.

“We’re just about done here,” said the doctor.

The doctor finished Vicky’s checkup. She closed her robe and sat on the edge of her bed. “Thank you for everything,” she said earnestly. “I owe you my life, Oz.” Without him, Vicky was sure she wouldn’t have been able to escape. She would’ve been a mess over her bizarre emotions and mismatched memories.

“Nonsense. I was just taking care of my friends.” Oz and his tiny incarnations smiled. “You look well for someone who’s been bounced back and forth between worlds.”

“I’m just a little stiff. I was thirsty when I first woke up, but I’m a lot better now.”

“Are you well enough for a meeting to catch everyone up on what’s happened?”

Vicky, without hesitation, said, “Yes. I want answers. I want this all to make sense. I’m trying to put together all these pieces but I can’t even figure out half of what I don’t know.”

“I agree. I’d like to be filled in as well,” Brian said.

Brian helped Vicky onto her feet and they were taken to Stan’s room. Everyone was already gathered, even Damien, clean and dressed in scrubs. She and Brian sat with him. It was severe in that room, with everyone gathered. Vicky wanted to go and hug Stan and Lucien, but the tension was so thick, it was like stones were placed in her lap.

“I haven’t slept in ages, so I’m going to make this as quick as possible,” Vera said. “This began when I wanted to expand mine and Vicky’s robbery pool. I heard about this den where there were hundreds of thousands in cash stashed away. But somewhere along the planning stages, the Aquino family, specifically Dahlia, heard about our plan, and also heard we had killed someone during the robbery, so they leaked our information to the gang we robbed and Vicky was shot at school.”

Vicky picked it up. “King Hugo Aquino revealed he had a couple uses for me. Firstly, since that wasn’t the first time I had died, I was somehow able to conjure lightning like he and his family. Secondly, since I’m very precious to the LaVey family thanks to my romantic status with Damien, I could be used as a weapon against them to throw them off guard. The whole thing was a revenge scheme. But because of my head injury, I didn’t know any of that.”

“Fucking wait,” Amira hissed, “revenge scheme? For what?”

“I assume it’s because we’re neighboring kingdoms. The kingdoms are always land grabbing. And have you seen Dahlia? I think she gets her jolly from conquering,” Damien replied.

Vicky frowned. Had Stan and Lucien not told him? “No… that’s not it,” she replied.

“Vicky’s right,” Oz said. He turned his gaze to the LaVey kings. “Are you going to come forward or am I going to have to out you?”

Damien’s brow furrowed quizzically. “Out him? They’re already out of the closet. Oz, they’re married.”

“No… not that,” Stan tumbled shamefully. “I should have told you this sooner, Damien, I should have told everyone but… I wanted to protect you.”

“From what?” Damien said.

“Hugo and I are brothers. I used to lead the Aquino clan army before I deserted to marry Lucien,” Stan said. Vicky saw the color and confusion drain from Damien’s face. It was replaced with hurt.

“What the hell?” he squawked. “I… I can’t wrap my head around why you’d hide this from me. I can't… I can’t believe this! My girlfriend died and my best friend is a vegetable because you’re fighting with your family, and you didn’t bother to tell me any of this?” His fist crashed into the glass. “You didn’t even let me fucking know she was alive! I heard it from Oz! You two are the fucking worst!”

Vicky went cold. “What?” She pawed at Damien as he trembled with rage. “What happened to Scott?” She was in his arms when she was shot, did that mean he was hit too?

“You guys were hugging it out or some shit when you were killed, Vicky,” Vera coolly explained.

“Aye,” Stan said. “My family was terrible, even by demonic standards. They would spout nonsense about dominating this world with the sinners we were duty-bound to punish for their transgressions. They were power-hungry, and it was horrible. I couldn’t live with it anymore, so I deserted, and I joined Lucien’s mission to create a kingdom where the victims up above could have retribution in the next life.”

“But I didn’t want to involve you in any way with my family, Damien. They’re like toxic waste. Their extremism leeches into you. But it was all for not. I was a fool to think I could protect you with secrecy alone, not while my brother is in power. And I am sorry for that.”

Damien’s nostrils flared. He bared his teeth. His eyes swam like magma. “You killed Vicky and Scott, and all you can say is you’re sorry?”

Vicky launched to her feet and positioned herself between Damien and Stan. “I will be the judge of whose fault my death was,“ she said as she trembled. "But your fathers love you. They’ve done everything for you. We’ve lost so much. We’ve lost… we’ve lost our good friend, and they’ve only given you love. We need them, Damien. You need them.”

Damien snarled. She saw the hurt in his eyes, the confusion. As much as it hurt to see, they needed to stay calm.

“Vicky’s right. What’s important now is briefing everyone. We need to put our vendettas aside,” Amira said. “The fact of it is, we’re all involved in this now. Hugo will be after all of us because of it.”

Joy groaned. “Geez, this is a headache. My question is, why Vicky? Why not Brian? He’s a way more imposing than Vicky.”

“Because he lives a low-risk lifestyle compared to Vicky. Because of Vicky’s criminal activity, it’d be easier to have her murdered on the DL without it being connected to them, at least they surmised,” Lucien explained.

“That makes sense,” Hope mumbled.

“I guess it’s my turn,” Zoe said. “Oz had premonitions about Vicky’s death a couple of days before shit hit the fan. While we were trying to figure this shit out, Dahlia captured us and stuck us with some magic shit so we couldn’t interfere in Vicky’s execution and Dahlia explained everything. We managed to escape but… we were too late to save Vicky. But since we knew where she was, we got together with Lucien to get her back before shit hit the fan. But Lucien wanted to keep it on the DL because he was afraid Damien would get hurt, so we went to the funeral where we filled in Brian, Damien, Amira, and Vera. We told them where Vicky was and that bringing her back was virtually impossible since a vital part of her body was destroyed. But that’s where Vera saved the day. I’m sure many of you understand I’m not a normal monster. I’m kind of godly, and I can trade things out given a good deal. Vera traded out about a decade of her life and it was enough for me to fix up Vicky to what you see now.”

Vicky had mixed feelings about Vera’s sacrifice. In Vera’s position, Vicky would have done the same thing. She was sure Vera was plagued by guilt and felt like it was how she could repent. But a decade was a long time. Vicky wasn’t worth a decade.

“After the funeral, I went to Hell to gather intel and secure Vicky,” Oz said. “I uncovered their plot as well, and that Hugo and Stan are brothers during a meeting between Hugo and his generals. After I learned this, I met with Lucien briefly, was told there was a change of plans, and then massacred all but one of the generals and Hugo himself. We presently have the surviving general in custody but… there are complications. She seems to have transported Hugo elsewhere. I understand LaVey soldiers are in full force looking for him, but I’m going to interrogate her nonetheless. It seems more efficient.”

“Fucking hell,” Amira cursed, “so he’s at large? What about his fucking army? Are any of us safe?”

“No,” Stan immediately replied. “Every one of us in this room is in grave danger. It’s why we’re briefing everyone on what has recently transpired. We’ll all be a lot safer if we’re on the same page.”

Amira growled. “… anyways. While Oz and Vicky were in Hell, Damien flipped his shit when he saw Dahlia. He accused her, rightfully so, that she took Vicky from him. We couldn’t let her go back and tell him that we were onto them, so we had to detain her. She’s not dead, but I can tell you she’s not talking any time soon. I wanted to cut off her tongue and her fingers, but Faith and Joy managed to curse her into silence. We took Brian with us for safekeeping.”

Damien sighed. “Because I got into a fight, Hope dragged me out into the forest until Joy came to get us. The ritual worked, but Oz was trying to get Vicky out at the same time, and he ended up buried in guards, so we had to bail him out. But my dad Stan ran off to take on Hugo.”

“I was… I was severely wounded by the remaining general. I’m lucky to be here now,” Stan said. “And here we are now, I guess.”

“Well, what now? Do we look for Hugo?” Vera asked.

“No. Too obvious,” Lucien said.

Joy said, “I agree. This guy fights dirty. If we wanna find him, we gotta draw him out and make him feel like he’s the one in control. Like a hunter. We should go about our normal routines. We can dispatch him when he turns up.”

It was a grim and nerve-wracking plan, but Vicky craved even the semblance of normalcy. Their round table agreed with a collective nod and Vicky looked forward to being able to live normally.