#y'all we legit have only four chapter left!!

[ladynestaarcheron]

Like Pristine Glass - Chapter Nineteen

ao3 - ff.net - masterpost

(tagging these cuties: @humanexile @skychild29 @rhysandsdarlingfeyre @candid-confetti  @rhysandsrightknee @missing-merlin @azriels-forgotten-shadow @books-and-cocos @sezkins79 @city-of-fae @someonemagical @dusty-lightbulb @messyhairday-me @rinad307 @superspiritfestival)

back after my exam hiatus!! so without further ado, here we go!

---

February 12 - 4 years after

The sun is barely shining before Nesta has rushed out to—who else?—Zeyn's house.

She can hear him taking his time as he makes his way to the door and she bounces on the balls of her feet. It's not an emergency...yet. But she doesn't like the minutes ticking by, with Cassian home alone with the three of them.

His warm brown eyes are bleary only for a second before he realizes it is her standing before him, and then they fly open.

"Nesta? What are you—is everyone all right?"

"We need to take Ollie to see his healer," she says.

"All right, I'll get my shoes. But—you didn't bring him?"

Nesta winces. Poor wording on her part, indeed. "No," she says. "I meant...Cassian and I are taking him. I...need you to come be with Avery and Nicky."

Zeyn, to his credit, does not flinch. His concern slips into something else, something she cannot name, for only a fraction of a second before it is back. "Of course. Just a minute, yeah?"

And he reappears less than a minute later, boots laced, shutting the door behind him. They set off together.

He doesn't even ignore her. "Are you worried?"

"I'm always worried," she says. "It's not the worst it's ever been, but...it's been a while." It had been six months since Nicky had coughed badly enough to need to see a healer. She remembers holding him in the first minutes after his birth—she hadn't been given him right away, like his siblings, because even then there had been something wrong with his lungs.

Zeyn must sense where her mind has run off to, because he reaches out and squeezes her hand. "If you think it's not that bad, you're probably right. You're going to see a healer. Everything will be fine."

She shoots him a shaky, grateful smile.

"Are Ava and Nicky awake?"

"I don't think so. Not when I left."

"All right...just get them ready and take them to nursery?"

"Yes, I already packed their things...if Avery won't put on a jacket, don't argue with her, but bring it along and give it to her teacher."

"Is that still going on?"

"Don't get me started," she grumbles. They round the corner and walk up the path to the house. Nesta holds out her hand to stop him. "Zeyn," she starts. Pauses. "Thank you."

It's not enough...there's more to say, she knows. But it does it, for now. And she has more pressing matters at hand, anyway.

---

April 12 - Year of

With the dawn of spring came dramatic change in the shop. Whatever winter wear had not been sold was tucked away in storage, and the switching out of the clothier's merchandise had inspired Nesta to do the same in Cassian's home.

Cassian did not have much to begin with, of course. But she felt she could rearrange the furniture in her bedroom.

Not that she had done much to make the place "hers"—in fact, she was not quite sure how. The little apartment she had rented in Velaris was the closest thing she had ever had to her own home, and she hadn't done much in the way of decor there. Briefly, she wondered if it was still in her name, or if Feyre had stopped paying the rent.

She decided she didn't care much. She was never going to go back to Velaris. Even if Cassian did still take his trips there.

While it was true that she had never purchased any bedding or curtains or a vanity, the subscription Cassian had gotten her for Solstice—NightWrite—had provided her with little knick-knacks. She had thrown out anything with Night Court insignia, but kept most of it. So pushing her bed to one side of the room and moving her bookshelf to the other was also accompanied by shuffling around of these objects.

It was during this...rather useless endeavor, she could admit to herself, of switching the order of the tiny figurines on her shelf, that she found it—the old flyer she had taken from the bar in the town center. The one advertising ships to that land across the sea. Gilameyva.

Nesta sat down on the bed. This is the paper that had inspired her, all those months ago, to get a job. To save up and go.

Since she never bought much of anything, she definitely had enough to book comfortable passage. She could go. Just set sail and...never come back.

Or maybe she could go...somewhere else. On a vacation. And then she would...come back. Didn't people plan for summer holidays months in advance? She could bring it up to Cassian now. Couldn't she?

But no, that would be insane. She had to save up. Because she was not going to live in his house forever. And where would she live? Would she build herself a house here, in the Illyrian mountains?

The flyer in her hand seemed to mock her. An idyllic land far away where no one knew the name Nesta Archeron. A fresh start.

For what she could not admit to herself, but what she had just started to understand was: she did not want a fresh start somewhere else. She wanted to stay with Cassian.

When had the switch happened in her mind? When did this pull between them not become so irritating? When had she decided to make her bedroom more comfortable, make her mark more permanent?

She didn't know. The only thing she was certain of was that this current state of limbo, of living in her room in his house while waiting for him to come back from meetings with her sister...this would not do.

Romance was fun in books, but in the real world, practically always won out for Nesta, and so it was abundantly clear to her that two options lay before her: either she would leave or she would stay. And those were her terms.

So all she had to do was work up the nerve to act on her decision.

After she figured out what it was, of course.

February 12 - 4 years after

When they get to the clinic, they are not immediately rushed into a room, which calms Nesta down. Cassian, on the other hand, only gets more anxious.

"Why aren't they letting us see the healer?" he demands in a whisper, low enough so Ollie, his head on Nesta's shoulder, cannot hear him.

"Trust me, if they think we can wait in line, we're all right."

"But he's coughing!"

"The others might have some graver issue. If they pull you ahead, your situation is dire." Indeed, there had been times when Nesta had brought Ollie in; the healer had taken one look at him and announced that she would need all her appointments cancelled.

"Sit down," she tells him, lowering herself and Ollie into a chair. She presses her lips to the top of his head as she strokes his lower back.

Cassian does, but it must be wildly uncomfortable; these tiny things with no wing-accommodation. She frowns. What will that be like for her children? To live here, where even in a community of different types of faeries, they are clearly other.

"You're really not worried?" he asks her.

"I'm concerned," she says. "But I'm not nervous. I know more or less what she's going to say. His lungs haven't gotten drastically weaker. You see him play and run around. It comes and goes for him. As long as we keep up with what the healer prescribes—which we do—we should be fine."

Cassian is quiet, clearly struggling for words.

"What is it?"

"Sometimes...things don't happen according to plan," he says finally.

She actually laughs a little. "Well, I know that."

His lips quirk at her slight laugh. "How did...how did you find out? That you were...pregnant?"

She leans back in her chair, giving Ollie more room to recline on her. Lying on his stomach sometimes helps with his cough. "I fainted, actually. And they—Miri, Zeyn—they brought me to the clinic and Amorette told me."

"She was your healer the whole time?"

"Yes. That's how we met."

"And you..." he hesitated. "She delivered them?"

"She did," she says.

Nesta often recalls that day with wonder. Her whole life she had felt—everything. Just so much, all the time. And how insignificantly nothing it all appeared, compared to that cacophony of emotion in those few hours.

"He was sick, then, too," Cassian says softly.

They have never truly discussed this before, but..."Yes. He was born...he was too small. And his lungs were...weak. Not quite underdeveloped, but weak. He wasn't...ready to breathe...yet."

Recollecting that time—collapsing in exhaustion and relief against the bed, and realizing only a few seconds later that something was horribly, horribly wrong—why weren't they giving her the baby? Why could she only hear two cries?—it always tightens Nesta's throat and blurs her vision. She can barely feel Cassian put his arm around her.

"We didn't know what was going to happen, at first," she whispers, half because of where they are, half because of what she's saying. "But he's...he's strong now. This is just...we're at the healer's. He'll be fi—" Nesta's voice catches on the last word and she can't finish it. She forces her mind to go blank. She can't imagine—can't let herself think—

"Hey," Cassian's voice cuts in. He squeezes her shoulder. "Stay with me."

You stay with me, she wants to say.

But she stays silent, choosing to focus on the feel of his arm. She doesn't trust her voice now, for anything.

---

April 15 - 1 year after

Midway through her second trimester, Nesta was more than ready to give birth. The extra weight she was carrying was officially past flattering, she couldn't see her feet unless she was lying down, and everywhere she went, people stopped her and asked her if she was excited.

The latter was the absolute worst, because she still had not decided whether or not she was going to keep the children.

But she had never been good at being put on the spot—her preferred method of dealing with unwanted advances had always been silently staring them down, and since she was trying to get along as an average Sugar Valley resident, when Zeyn asked her if she had gotten around to painting the nursery yet, and if she would like some help...

What else could she say?

So he was there that afternoon, holding two buckets of light blue paint.

"Are you sure there's any difference between these two?" he asked, squinting.

"Sky and powder? Yes." To be fair, she probably wouldn't have registered the difference so clearly had she not grown up with Feyre, ever-obsessed with chronicling the different colors around them.

"Are we doing...stripes?"

"No." Stripes? For babies? "Just those two will be powder," and she punctuates her words by pointing to the wall front and back walls, "and those two will be sky."

"Oh. Why?"

"It's supposed to be lightly stimulating." She had read that in a book Amorette had given her. She was skeptical, but the store she had gone to had given her a good deal on the paints.

"Right. Well. Let's start, then."

Zeyn could be irritating, but his endless, mindless chatter could be comforting, as well. That was how she felt today. And she did appreciate how he kept going to fetch her things—berry juice and an extra cushion to put on her chair. Nesta felt she had not done her part at all, but Zeyn didn't seem to mind.

"Any progress on names?"

"Nothing concrete."

"Ah, well," he said. "My mother says you have to meet a baby before you know for sure if the name is right."

Nesta didn't think she'd be able to "meet a baby"—surely they would just be...the same as the rest of the small children she saw at the clinic or around town. Babies, she felt, all looked the same, and even if they were older and had developed their own features, they weren't very diverse personality-wise.

Not that she didn't like children. She remembered a vague feeling of excitement being told that she was going to have a new baby sister—Feyre, she couldn't remember Elain's birth—and she had liked to play with her, when she was a young girl. But there had not been very many babies for her to interact with during her teenage and adult years.

This was ridiculous. She didn't need to dwell on this so much. She probably wasn't going to keep them, right? That was why it didn't matter that Cassian still had not written back. It wasn't...he didn't need to know, if neither of them wanted anything to do with this. Because he did not want children either, obviously. He was...busy.

"Maybe it'll look different when it dries," Zeyn said, interrupting her thoughts.

"What? Oh, yes...sky's a bit darker."

"Hmm," he said, frowning. "You know...I really don't see it."

Nesta shrugged.

Zeyn clapped his hands together. "Well, as fun as staring at paint dry is..." he grinned at her. "Want to go for dinner? Jamal's?"

And she was certain that Sugar Valley etiquette demanded humoring the person who spent the afternoon doing handiwork at your house, so she said, "Sure."

---

February 12 - 4 years after

It is just past noon when Nesta sees Zeyn again, at the shop, coffee and pastry in hand.

"Hey!" he says. "You're all right? Ollie's...?"

"Fine," she says, unable to stop her grin. "The healer gave us a tonic for him to take over the next few weeks. She said that he might need it now and again, but as long as he takes it when he does, she sees no reason to expect significant deterioration. He'll probably be on par with his siblings by the time he turns twelve." Nesta's heart sings as she repeats the healer's words.

Zeyn pulls her in a hug. "Let's tell Miri and Adil. They're in the back."

"Oh, I'm actually not staying long. I just came to let you know we're all right...and give you this," she adds, holding out the food. "Thank you so much. How were Avery and Nicky?"

"Fine," he says. "We had fun."

Nesta rolls her eyes. "Don't tell me."

"I wasn't going to," he teases. "It's a secret."

"You four and your secrets," she says, rolling her eyes again.

He shakes his head, eyes still laughing at her. "Are you taking him back to nursery?"

"No, we're going to let him rest. We think it also might be nice to spend some time with just him, the both of us. We're thinking—" Nesta stops herself. Zeyn does not need to know how she and Cassian plan to spend time with each child individually, he does not need to hear this. "He's just so tired," she finishes.

But the damage is done and the warmth slips out of Zeyn's face. He looks down at the order from Samir's. "Nesta," he says, soft, slow. "Are you really doing this with him?"

She freezes. "Zeyn. He's their father. He has a right to be included in this."

"I'm not talking about that...and I don't agree with you on that matter, either."

Nesta raises an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"He wasn't there, Nesta," Zeyn says, more desperate than anything else. "He just—you had to do it all without him."

"I can't believe you're starting this right now," she says, more to herself than to him. Louder, she says, "I will not discuss this. He's here now. He's a part of their lives now. He was with me today."

"He's here when it fits his schedule."

"There's nothing wrong with having a job," she defends—defends! As if she doesn't hate that he commands the Night Court armies!

"Yours and his are not comparable," he says. "Do you remember...what it was like? What it felt like?" Zeyn stops, takes a shaky breath, before continuing. "Because I remember seeing you. In pain. Burdened. All alone."

"That's enough," Nesta snaps, crossing her arms. "It's been months, Zeyn. He's a permanent fixture of their lives. You ought to get used to it."

"Oh, I'm used to that," he says, about as close to testy as Zeyn can get. "It's his being a permanent fixture of your life I can't get behind."

Nesta tenses. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nesta. Please."

She shifts her weight backwards. If he were anyone else...but he's not. He's Zeyn. Zeyn, who has always been there for her, to the very best of his ability, who left his house at dawn this morning to feed and dress her children.

So she takes a deep breath. "I need to be getting back, Zeyn," she says.

He slumps slightly, but she knows this isn't over. "Give my love to Ollie," he says.

"I will."

"Thanks for the food."

"Don't be silly...thank you. Really."

"Don't thank me."

"Well, I will if I see fit. Thank you."

It works—he gives a short laugh. But it doesn't meet his eyes.

She doesn't have space, though, in her head or heart for that right now. Not Zeyn; not that she doesn't have any room for him. But right now...right now she needs to go to Ollie.

---

thank you all for your patience with this chapter, and @thestarwhowishes for betaing<3 would love to hear what y’all think<3

---

Chapter Twenty

[ibitchytimemachine]

I haven't been reading fanfic as much lately due to some real life BS and I have been working extra hard on a piece for the @vegebulocracy mini bang! If you don't know what it is, you can check out my review of the Big Bang fics by clicking here, or you can check out the FAQ for the VBO Mini Bang by Clicking here. (once the fics drop, I will voraciously consume them and write up an overview for y'all!)

Now, with that out of the way, ON TO THE REVIEW. There will, as always, be Spoilers below the cut! 

The first thing that stands out to me is the world building of this story. The palace feels like a real place. It is huge and even though (through POV) we are only privy to a small slice of the space, it feels vast. The exploration of the races is really interesting to me. I really am nerdy when it comes to this type of thing, and the variety of humanoid races in the piece is fantastic. There isn't just one or two races that are explored, and the writer is really smart how they introduce and develop the important characters. Also interesting are the dynamics between Vegeta and his Father, and the Saiyan race and the Colds/other races (Im not gonna get into this in the review, but its an interesting dynamic set up that I want to see explored more). 

So diving in a little deeper. Humans are practically extinct, but Saiyan males are like uber attracted to the women AND the Human-Saiyan hybrids are good match. The Saiyans like humans so much, that most of the human men are killed and one of the only ones left, Yamcha is being forced to impregnate as many of the female left as many time as possible. The way that the writer treats Yamcha is fantastic. I am granted not a huge Yamcha fan, but through the story events, you just can not hate him. He is being molded by his circumstances, and boy howdy Yamcha’s circumstances are pretty fucking terrible. Can I say how much I love the fact that in this society a hybrid is not looked down upon? Like whoa racial acceptance and diversity FTW! Now there have definitely been hints at the fate of acceptance of our Prince Trunks, but that is a problem for pretty far off.. maybe.  

God I hate how much of a hoe Vegeta is. He fucks so many different women, and there is legit a plot bunny that literally explores the palace brothel and its treatment of the whores the Prince is down with/what he likes and doesn't (random tangent - like whoa, this flashback with his father and the princess who kisses him, damn - I thin I would be fucked up too Veggie, but I still have issue with who you have turned out to be). I think that you are supposed to have a love hate relationship with him, because one second he is acting incredibly out of character (for him) and lovey dovey and the next he is verbally/physically or emotionally abusing poor Bulma. While I understand WHY Vegeta is written this way, I low-key hate him. Two instances where I LOATHE him stick out to me, the first being when he fucks a chick while he forces Bulma to lay in bed with them and watch him (the subtext of him not being able to enjoy himself without watching/being near Bulma is interesting though) and then the next morning when he sexually assaults her for a little hand-gooing is just yuck. I will say that I think that if/when Bulma gets her head out of her ass SHE will be the link Veggie needs to finally stand up to and defeat his asshole father. 

He does end up having to save and protect her a whole hell of a lot. Bulma is take from her home really kind of young, so she doesn't have the technological genius going for her in this story (and can I say I think this is an interesting exploration of how she would have developed away from her planet and in this hostile environment) and in fact she is dumb as shit. Like teasing the princess of a warrior race, who is supposed to be getting pregnant by Vegeta due to a treaty the two planets have set up, hello Bulma, WAR is in the races name - leave the crazy royal alone. Also wandering around LOOKING FOR THE DUNGEONS?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot woman! You legit brought that shit upon yourself. Also what kind of terrible servant mother fucking FALLS ASLEEP in their masters beds? Like before he starts making her do it (a trope that I gotta say I hate to love) this stupid woman is CONSTANTLY FALLING ASLEEP IN VEGETAS BED. and then she is all like “no, I know I am being super disrespectful to you, and I know that you really want to do stuff with me, but I am gonna give you the worst bluebells of your life” like thank you @lightphyre for not having his outright rape her, which I unfortunately think would be very much in character for him in this story. anyway can we talk about the moment that made me think “imma write a review for this story?” So Bulma had just saved ChiChi from Yamcha (OMG Goku is a teacher to little kids? like this is him as the good dad to Gohan I know he can be - its far enough off but I just see all the fluffy moments in my head- love the treatment of Goku here) and Vegeta sees the danger IMMEDIATELY and has to drag Bulma away (come on Queen B, you are WAY smarter than you are being in this story, even without living with your parents and getting all the expensive education) then Vegeta, without prompting or even explaining what he is doing JUST MOTHER FUCKING TEACHES HER HOW TO GET OUT OF BASIC HOLDS. This was the moment that I was like... ok so maybe I only 90 percent hate him. He is mean as hell to her here, but like, she's a fucking idiot and needs him to be straight to the point, this also is the turning point for their relationship dynamic (he's still an ass, but what are you gonna do?) and leads to a mother fucking confusing, but kind of (in its own way) sweet moment between the two. This happens in Chapter 9, so if you don't read anything else, go read that shit... here Imma link the chapter for you... RIGHT HERE.

This shit is a low burn... Like Damn. I thought that Drought was killing me getting to the point (another great read I have linked the title for you), but like... even with all the kissing and the sexual assault and the consensual jacking off, its still leaving you just utterly frustrated. Like remember when I said Bulma was a fucking moron? She won't fuck Vegeta (even though she REALLY FUCKING WANTS TO) because she is a virgin (I get that part) but she wants to “be with” the father of her kids. But she mother fucking knows that she is about to be raped in front of like the whole Planet’s Elite forces to make more Human ladies for them to pound. She knows that literally no one she could be with will be faithful to her (although, I gotta be honest, I legit think if she would put out to Veggie, he would put the breaks on the Whores quite a bit - if not all together) She knows that she is in the best position she can be in, she knows her fate completely, and she is still not taking what she wants by the reins and saying, hey I am in this shitty situation, Why not do something that I want to for once and take a little control of my life? Like she's scared and weak here and I am not a fan of this particular characterization of her. I think she is too flawed. Do I still love her? Well yeah. I mean I hate Vegeta here too, but I think that it is nice that these characters have been made so flawed (and lets be real, the reasons behind their flaws are explained nicely) and they don't get together and instantly all their flaws are gone. It makes to story so much more real feeling. Its authentic how fucked up these two people are, and it keeps the reader reading. Shit I started this story last night around 10pm, and couldn't sleep until I ran out of story to read. Then I let for two hours and HAD to vomit all my feeling out on this blog. So that should say something about the quality of this story. 

Two quick criticisms. The first is I am not sure if there is a beta, and if there is, he or she is not doing their job very well. There are a lot of spelling errors, and it is obvious where the writer had issues figuring out exactly what they wanted to say, because a string of thought will begin, and then the writer will double back and try again. so you will have one sentence with two beginnings. Its just really raw, almost like reading one of my reviews - where I type the way I would talk or how I am thinking. There is quite a bit of refined writing, and the world is amazing, but there are plenty of spots that need a polish that comes with a careful beta. It’s really easy to miss these types of issues without one, which makes me think that the writer is indeed without one. The second is that the story starts with this exposition dump that is entirely necessary for the story, but is just freaking painful to read. Like I almost didn't read the story at all because I began reading the first chapter three or four times and it is just boring. You don't care at the beginning of the story, and it is hard to read this kind of thing without giving a fuck about what is happening. I will say that it is all plot relevant and important, HOWEVER I do think that the writer has peppered this information throughout the story really well, and the information would have been more easily digested AND interesting to the reader if we had gotten into the story instantly. I might go as far to say that all of the information in the exposition MIGHT be unneeded as we get so much of the information from the exposition throughout the characters thoughts, reactions and actions. 

Anyway - this story is fantastic. If you are looking for a really richly planned UNIVERSE and a dark AU that explores characters in a really interesting way, then you should give this story a shot. There are some pretty big triggers in it, if you couldn't guess from the discussion above, so if some of these things bother you, maybe stay clear of the story. I do indeed recommend this story though. Its well written (problems aside), well planned, full of plot bunnies that hopefully get resolved (Im looking at you War princess) and authentic. It has all the elements you need for a long running and successful story, and if my caffeine IV is anything to go by - it is completely binge-worthy! 

If you liked this review, after you check out this fic, head over to my A03 and check my stuff out too!

[petepepsi]

My First Fanfiction (AKA: Why Did I Think of This When I was Nine Years Old What the Heck)

A bit of background first:

When I was in like 3rd/4th/5th grade, Phineas and Ferb was the greatest thing in the entire world (followed by Smash Bros and pumpkin pie, respectively). I loved that show more than anything ever.

During this point in my life, I also discovered ~*~the internet~*~. Once on ~*~the internet~*~, it was rather inevitable that I would look up Phineas and Ferb on Google Image Search.

One glorious day, I found a picture I really liked. So, wanting to get a better look, I clicked on it. It was at that point that I discovered something that would change my life forever.

KictserAsh on Deviantart. AKA imaginashon on tumblr, but little wee baby Skyler didn’t know what Tumblr was (thank god). AKA: Literally the Biggest Inspiration in my Whole Damn Life. (and now they work on mml ain’t that neat)

I went through their ENTIRE Phineas and Ferb gallery, loving every single piece. I also found some of their written work, and oh boy you bet little Skyler LOVED that.

So I read like everything on their account. And those stories inspired me. They still do, actually (and so does their art everything they make is really good you should go look at their blog/gallery please).

So here’s where we get into the fanfiction (adding a readmore b/c this is about the get REALLY LONG)

TW: talk of death, and swearing.

To put this story into EXTREMELY simple terms, the plot goes as follows: (sidenote: characters are like 16 in this) Ferb dies, and Phineas’s friends help him get back on his feet afterwards (along with a more supernatural friend).

Now, you’re probably thinking: “Skyler, that’s not too weird of a fanfiction.”

That’s where you’re wrong, but I’ll get to that later.

You see, the story begins at Ferb’s funeral (loosely inspired by the fact that I had recently gone to a funeral, so this was pretty legit). Very well-described, from what I remember. The family gave little speeches, it was nice.

Then, the next chapter was Phineas at home (alone) in his room at like four in the morning. This was when we found out how Ferb died. It was some kind of industrial accident (a giant machine fell on him yikes). It was the “project of the day” that P and F were working on that caused Ferb to fuckin die. This part I remember the least about when it comes to the specifics, but I do remember reading it over again in 7th grade (before the computer I wrote this on became deader than Ferb) and thinking that the scene sounded “vaguely like someone contemplating suicide, but in a more child-friendly way.”

The next chapter took place about a week later, from the perspective of Phineas’s friends (Baljeet, Buford, Isabella, and Django i don’t know why Django was there instead of any other character shut up) They were all going to visit Phineas, because “he hadn’t left his house in over a week” and, apparently, that was very unlike him. So they go up to the house, and there’s a tiny little description of the backyard, where, I shit you not, I wrote: “There was still blood on the grass.”

So cut to later that chapter, and Phin’s pals are trying to help him out, but he’s having none of it. He locked himself in his room, and won’t talk to anyone (except in depressed sighs).

Here comes the best scene of the whole story.

So during this part, Baljeet is very quiet, and I certainly made sure everyone was aware of that (I was never subtle, but then again I was eight). Eventually, Isabella and them give up, and Baljeet gets fucking piiiiissed. In a shocking display of strength, Baljeet BREAKS DOWN THE DOOR IN A FIT OF RAGE. And that’s where the chapter ends.

I can’t remember what happened in the next chapter (I believe it was some silly ghostly shenanigans with Ferb  even back then, i was a “master of comedy”), but the one after that was where the plot happened.

So, being a fourth grader, I had at this point in my life discovered “Ouija Boards.” And little Skyler thought that was so cool, until her mom told her a really spooky story about Ouija Boards, which deeply traumatized little Skyler. Little Skyler, having no way to express her emotions other than writing, decided to use this terrifying experience and turn it into something “nice.”

So the gang uses a Ouija Board to chat with ghost Ferb (never thought I’d write that sentence), and things go all right for a bit.

Key words: a bit.

So Django and Co. leave, and Phineas is home alone once again. Well… he’s not really alone.

Phin grabs the Ouija Board, and (breaking the ONLY RULE GOD DAMMIT PHIN) uses it alone.

Here is where we meet the coolest motherfucker ever. His name?

I have no idea.

I wrote this a long time ago, and his name must’ve been pretty dumb for me to push it out of my mind like that.

For the sake of convenience, his name is Todd (b/c why not).

Now Todd was my first ever OC. He's a ghost who wishes to return to the human realm. I remember him looking like "a strange eight-foot tall vaguely humanoid figure with four ribbon-like appendages protruding from his back. His body was completely black, aside from his eyes which took on the appearance of glittering rubies. Aside from the eyes, his entire body looked to be made of pen scribbles, like someone had scribbled over a picture of someone they disliked and then transformed it into a 3-D image.“

Now, you’re probably thinking, “How the heck was Todd going to return to the human realm?” Well, according to my made-up ghost rules, all he needed was a willing host. The “host" offers you their soul, and you take it, giving you not only a physical form, but a slave for all of eternity! It’s a pretty swell deal, tbh.

So Todd, posing as Ferb (reminder that poor lil Phin can’t see the Eldritch monstrosity that he’s communicating with), tries to convince Phineas to give him his soul (using very different terms).

It’s sorta like “Oh hey yeah, you’re sad, but you can fix everything. You can save me. Then everything will be normal again.” And Phineas, being the “uwu innocent naïve cinnamon roll” totally believes him.

Phineas is about to accept “Ferb”’s deal, when suddenly - WHOOSH! The lil Ouija disk thing flies out of his hand (and out the window), and the board flies up and slams down against the floor (as if someone threw it down there hint hint), shattering on impact.

Now, Phineas is fucking distraught over this, but instead of exploring that shit, I zoomed on over to the next chapter.

Chapter six seven who gives a fuck, begins before the previous chapter, and takes place from Ferb’s perspective (because I remembered that he was a character who existed).

So Ghost Ferb (Gerb? Fost?) is chillin and thinkin about ghost shit, when he “senses the Ouija Board being activated” (b/c that’s a thing ghosts can do). Ferb, thinking “Phineas what the shit you broke the only fucking rule goddammit,” goes to make sure no other spirits are fucking shit up, when lo and behold…

IT’S TODD

So Ferb doesn’t immediately rush in, he stands outside the door thinking, “Who’s this bloke and what does he think he’s doing? I’m gonna go all medieval on his metaphysical ass.”

Ferb listens to his plan (which he is saying out loud because he’s the bad guy), and thinks “Phineas isn’t gonna fall for this.” Then, he hears Phineas agree and he’s like “WHAT THE FUCK, PHINEAS” and then runs in and using his extremely inconsistent influence on the material world, throws the Ouija disk out the window and smashes the board on the floor.

As one could assume, this makes Todd fuckin pissed. However, instead of beating the shit out of Ghost Ferb (b/c really, what would that accomplish?), he leaves, warning Ferb that “he’d be back.”

then i never continued the story the end

Just kidding. Well, not really.

I never actually continued the story (it was at this point I got kinda out of the PnF fandom and more into video game and stuff), but I did have more stuff planned out. But I literally can’t remember any of that shit. And since the computer I wrote this work of art on died, I can’t exactly look it up. But I don’t wanna leave you like this.

So here we have…

the extra shit that i didn’t put into that long-ass description

Django’s speech on the importance of art. This was just kind of a thing that randomly occurred while the gang was on their way to Phineas’s house.

Ferb’s very inconsistent power over the material realm. I’m not exactly sure where I was trying to go wih this, but basically Ferb had some magic powers that let him interact with the physical world (i.e. knocking over stuff, levitation sometimes, etc.). This is sort of a regular ghost thing, but my story had a neat little twist. Ferb could only use this power at the Flynn-Fletcher household, because it only works at the place the ghost considers “home.”

the stuff i never actually wrote in the story itself

So, before I get started on the story parts of this, I should tell you Todd’s Backstory.

Todd was alive back in modern day. He was like one or two years older than Ferb. When he was younger, he was in some sort of academic competition against Ferb and Ferb won. This caused Todd to hate Ferb with a burning passion, and basically create a grudge so strong that only an extremely stubborn crazy determined teenager could hold it.

About a year or so before the story takes place, Todd died in a car accident after a distracting “beam from the sky” caused him to drive into oncoming traffic (It was highly implied that the beam was from one of Phineas and Ferb’s machines can’t believe phineas has a fuckin body count). It is revealed that (using the powers of “evil ghostly revenge”) HE caused the machine to fall on Ferb, and now he plans on getting revenge for Ferb beating him in all those academic competitions.

And yeah, that’s it. My first fanfiction. Hope y'all enjoyed this trip through my eight/ten year old psyche.

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 30

Kahn Memorial Hospital, Blüdhaven. April 3rd, 2018. 10:43 PM.

Bruce knew that a few of the people had expressed interest in being there for Dick and Barbara when Tommy was born, but he hadn’t expected so many. As he looked around the maternity ward, he was able to pick out every current member of the Teen Titans, most of the original members, and the full Justice League, and several members of the Justice Society. That was just to name a few. He sipped at his coffee, and turned back to the elevator to see Clark, Lois and Diana walking toward him. He nodded with a smile; he was glad Clark was here for such a big moment in Dick’s life. Clark and Dick always had a close relationship.

��Man, what a turnout!” the Kryptonian said with a grin. “Looks like someone’s gonna be spoiled growing up, huh?”

Bruce chuckled, running a hand through his hair. “I was hoping it wouldn’t be so crowded, but it looks like somehow everyone managed to drop in. I don’t even know how this place is big enough to hold everyone.”

“Guess Blüdhaven must have a lot of expectant mothers,” Lois said nonchalantly as she glanced a bit down the hall and let out a laugh. “Looks like there’s even enough room for ballroom practice!” The four of them turned to look, and smiled as they saw Damian and Raven giggling and fumbling about in the hallway as he tried to teach her to dance, with Jon grinning boyishly as he strummed on his guitar in the seat next to them.

“When did Jon start playing the guitar…?” Clark turned to his wife, who shrugged.

“Must have happened in Cali,” Lois replied. “I didn’t even know he had one!”

“Damian probably got it for him. They’ve been getting close.” Bruce took another sip at his coffee, and Diana smiled.

“That’s good,” the Amazon added, watching as the half-demon tripped up again, falling into Damian’s arms. “The better their personal relationships get, the better they’ll work together on the field of battle.”

“I agree.” The four turned as Talia came up from behind Bruce. “They have much to learn from one another, and from what I’ve gathered, they’ve already learned so much in the past two years together.”

“Oh, hey! You’re, umm…” Clark snapped his fingers trying to remember the woman’s name. “… Talia, right? Damian’s mother?”

Talia nodded with a subtle smile. “I take it you’re the one they call ‘Superman’, yes? The one from Metropolis?”

Superman’s eyes went wide as he looked around the room. “I-I, uhh, what? I dunno what you’re talking about…”

Bruce put a hand on Clark’s shoulder. “Relax, Clark. Everyone here is in the loop. Including the doctor in there with Dick and Barbara now. Her name is Leslie Thompkins, she’s an old friend of mine.”

Clark rubbed the back nervously. “Okay, well… yeah, that’s me.”

Diana peered skeptically at Talia. “Talia… as in Talia al Ghul? Aren’t you a member of…”

“I was,” the young woman replied. “After the death of my father Ra’s, I assumed his role as Grandmaster of the League of Assassins. But as time went on, and after one particular ordeal in Gotham a few years after Damian became Robin, I realized that my grandfather was wrong about mankind… so now the League is no more.”

“Oh? Well…” Wonder Woman threw up her eyebrows in surprise. “I believe you’ve made the right decision. You can do more good for the world as one of us.” Talia smiled back, and the five of them continued on for awhile.

Damian snickered as he took Raven’s weight in his arms again, catching the poor girl as she slipped once more. He planted a peck on her cheek as she slapped playfully at his chest. Everything is the way it needs to be, he thought to himself. His cities were both enjoying a rare period of peace, his mother had come back into his life, and he had Raven in his arms, his ring on her finger. Right now, in this moment, he almost felt… normal.

“Dang it Damian, I can’t figure this out!” Raven laughed, resting her head on Damian’s shoulder as they wrapped each other up in an embrace. “How is it that I can ice-skate just fine, but I can’t dance like a normal person?”

“Normal person? Raven, normal people don’t know how to dance like this,” Damian laughed as he pressed his cheek against hers with a grin. “Have you been to a wedding before? Most people’s first dances are just rocking back and forth in a circle, no fancy twirls or lifts or anything!”

“Maybe we should try something a little slower,” Raven sighed, leaning back to look into Damian’s eyes with a smile. “Think that might help?” Damian nodded and turned to Jon, who grinned back.

“You’re prob'ly right, Rae. Sixpence is a little fast for someone who’s new to this whole dancin’ thing, so maybe after a little practice.” The hybrid boy slid his capo down a few frets on the neck of his guitar. “But I just figured out this Lauper bit that’d be perfect for you two! Nice 'n' slow so ya don’t trip over your own feet, and I think the words fit y'all's relationship pretty well.”

Damian stifled a laugh, smirking over Raven’s shoulder at the younger boy. “Y'know Jon, it’s easy to forget how much of a bumpkin you are… but then you go and talk like THAT, and it just hits you like 'oh yeah, he grew up on a farm.'” Jonathan stuck his tongue out with a wink and started to pick out a slower melody.

“Actually, I been meanin’ to ask you somethin’, too,” Jon started, talking over his guitar. “How come you two got engaged already? I mean yeah, it’s been a whole year since you got together and all, and that’s awesome, but you’re not that much older than me. And I mean, I’m just startin’ high school…”

“Yeah, we’re really young,” Raven sighed as she and Damian slowly turned in time with the music. “But it’s all about circumstance. Damian and I have both been through a lot more than most people our age, so we think we’ve grown a little more than must people do by the time they turn 16… here, spin me.” The girl twirled out along her and Damian’s arms, her long dark hair swirling all around as she spun, and again as she whirled back into his arms.

“Yeah… Plus, I was about to bleed to death,” Damian wrapped an arm around Raven’s waist from behind as he pulled her back in, swaying back and forth as they continued turning to the sounds of the guitar. “Whether I lived long enough to marry her or not, I wanted Raven to have my grandmother’s ring. But since I ended up coming back, we decided to stick with our decision and get married… albeit pretty far in the future.”

“Five years… I wish we didn’t have to, but why not? They’re not wrong, we really are still pretty young.” Raven went on, turning in Damian’s arms to face him, resting one hand on his chest as the other stayed rested in his free hand. “Still, gives us plenty of time to get things ready. Planning things out so long in advance is a good way to make sure everything is perfect.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t object if you wanted to run off in the morning and elope…” Damian joked with a wink. “But it’d have to be in the morning. Can’t go anywhere tonight, tonight is all about the baby.”

“Right,” Raven said smirking. “Baby first, then we’ll run off into the sunrise together.”

“Hey, hey! Hold the phone, you two!” Jon snipped playfully, still picking along. “You can’t just elope like that, you’ve gotta have a big legit wedding. Y'know, so I can actually be there for it!”

“That actually reminds me…” Damian glanced over to the alien in the chair. “Jon, you wanna be my Best Man?”

“Whaaaat?” Superboy beamed back at Red X excitedly. “Heck yeah, man! You bet!” The three laughed for a moment, and Raven looked contently into Damian’s icy blues before stealing a kiss.

“Y'all stop it,” Jon said with a grin. “Nobody should be that cute.”

A few seconds later, a quiet ding came from the nearby elevator, whose doors then slid open. Out stepped Jason Todd, Roy Harper, and (to everyone’s surprise) Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who held a little girl with blonde pigtails on her hip. All three of them had their hands full of gift bags (except, of course, for Harley, who only had gifts in one hand, as the other was occupied by the child), several of which were accompanied by all different kinds of balloons.

“Hey!” Jason called out to Damian as he walked briskly towards them. “We’re not late, are we? Did she already have the baby?”

“Believe it or not, no!” Damian replied as he and Raven came to a halt. “She’s been trying all morning, but apparently she’s just not dilated enough. They took her back awhile ago to go over some things before she has her C-section.”

“That kinda sucks…” Roy muttered as he walked up behind Jason. “But at least we didn’t miss it. The four of us were makin’ a last-minute gift-run after we picked up Harley and the kid. Y'know, clothes and diapers and stuff… plus we stopped for McDonald’s.”

“Gross,” Damian said with a smirk. “That stuff’ll clog your arteries, y'know.”

“Hey, I useta live on the street. I can eat anything.” Jason grinned back at his little brother.

Raven beamed sweetly as Harley passed the little one into her hands. “Oh my goodness! Hi there, sweetie!” She cooed, looking into the girl’s emerald eyes. “Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Lucy…” the child mumbled, her little fingers gripping at Raven’s blue cardigan. “Lucy Kinn… Kinnuh… umm…”

“Say 'Luuucy Quinn-zell', baby!” Harley leaned in and dotted the girl’s face in kisses. Lucy giggled, putting a hand on her mother’s cheek.

“Luuucy Kinn-Zell!” The little one echoed as best she could.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Miss Lucy! My name’s Raven!” the mage-girl replied, gently bouncing the little one up and down on her hip. “Can you tell me how old you are?”

Lucy held up three fingers on her left hand for Raven to see. “This many!”

As Raven continued talking to the little girl in her arms, Kori leaned up against the wall in the waiting room, her eyes on the floor. Despite how excited she was that the baby was about to arrive, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit down lately. She wasn’t sure why it was coming to her now, but she just couldn’t seem to shake the pit in her stomach…

“Hey, Star…” Kori lifted her head to see Jason walk into the room, setting his numerous bags down by the door. “You, uhh… you feelin’ alright?”

“Oh… hey, Jason. I’m alright, just…” Kori looked back down for a moment before raising her eyes to him again. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”

“… Is it about Dick?” Jason kept looking back at the Tamaranean, a look of concern on his face which Kori noted was… surprising, coming from him.

“I…” Kori looked to the floor again. “… yes… I know, it’s awful, but… that’s just how my kind are. The love of a Tamaranean is eternal.”

“Yeah…” Jason took a step forward shrugging. “Honestly, I kinda get where you’re coming from. It hurts seeing somebody you trust so much with someone else… I mean, that’s how I felt when I found out about Tim.”

Kori paused for a moment, glancing back at Todd from the corner of her eyes. “What do you mean…?”

Jason sighed. “Well, you know how it went… I used to be Robin. I got killed by Joker. Bruce took Tim in, made him Robin… I came back to find someone had taken my place.” He leaned up against the wall beside Star, his hands in his pockets. “It hurt, y'know? Seeing Bruce move on like that… I thought…”

“You thought it meant he didn’t love you anymore…” Kori murmured. “You felt expendable.” Jason nodded.

“But that’s just it…” he continued. “Even though Bruce found another Robin, that didn’t mean Tim was replacing me. That connection between him and me… I didn’t see it before, but it was still there. Even if I wasn’t Robin anymore, he still wanted me to be part of the family… I just didn’t realize it then. But in time, I started to understand.”

“… I know, Dick and I will always… I just…”

“Hey, I get it. Believe me, I do… But give it a little more time. It gets better.” Jason gave Kori a soft smile. “It might not ever go away completely. But it gets better.”

A moment of silence passed between them before Kori turned to the Red Hood with a smile, wrapping her arms around him. “Thank you, Jason. I needed to hear that.”

“You’ll be alright, Kori. Promise.” Jason’s smile grew just a bit as he hugged her back. “You can talk to me if you need anything.”

As the two of them walked back out into the main hall, everyone gathered in front of the doorway. Evidently, Dr. Thompkins had just informed Bruce that the C-section was underway, and that the baby would be arriving shortly. Jason came up to Bruce’s side, and placed a firm hand on the older man’s shoulder.

“So how’s this s'poseta go, exactly?” Jason asked. “What should we expect when those doors open back up?”

“I wouldn’t get too excited…” Bruce replied under his breath. “If anyone comes through those doors, it’ll probably just be Leslie letting us know how it went.”

“Still,” Damian called back at his father from closer to the door, “at least we’ll know what happened. I’d rather have that than not knowing until we all pile up against the Nursery window…”

Raven looked over at the boy and squeezed his hand. He looked back, seeing the faintest hints of a smile on her lips, and he couldn’t help but blush… just a tad.

“You feel nervous,” the girl’s voice spoke softly in Damian’s mind as she took she let go of his hand, running her fingertips up his arm and along his back.

“Oh, do I?” Damian raised eyebrow as he let his thoughts flow into her mind. “I’m surprised you don’t. He’s just as much your nephew as he is mine.”

“Oh! So is this about first impressions, then?” she thought with a wink. “Relax, he’s gonna love you. We all do.”

Damian’s eyes softened as he looked back into her eyes, and the two shared a brief kiss just as the doors began to open. They pulled back, and looked everyone waited with baited breath for Dr. Thompkins to come out and tell them how the surgery went.

Instead, they were treated to the sight of Dick Grayson, still in his scrubs and hair net, holding a little blue blanket squirming in his arms as he walked shakily down the hall.

After a collective gasp, everyone rushed forward to surround him. Damian peeked into the blanket to see the tiniest fingers resting on the face of the newborn baby, who looked up at him with electric blue eyes, still brimming with water. His father’s eyes, Damian thought.

“Guys…” Dick’s voice trembled as his eyes filled with joyous tears. “He’s perfect.”

As Dick carried his son slowly through the crowd into the Nursery, Damian turned to find his father standing beside him, one hand over his face. The young man gazed up with some strange sense of awe as he watched the tears roll down Bruce’s cheeks.

Damian smiled. In this moment, he thought, everything is the way it needs to be.

March 4th, 2018. 2:43 AM.

It was late… far later than Damian had planned to stay. His father, along with everyone else, had long since left the hospital; Bruce and Carrie to go on patrol (“Crime won’t care that I have a grandson,” the man said), the Titans went with them to help, Talia and Alfred went back to the Manor, and everyone else went back to their own cities. Now, all that remained were himself, Dick and Barbara (both of whom were fast asleep), Raven, and Tommy. He looked down at the newborn in his arms, reaching up at him with the littlest of hands. He smiled, placing his finger into the baby’s palm, and his smile grew as the tiny Grayson’s fingers closed around his fingertip. He looked down into Tommy’s blue, blue eyes…

“Hmm… funny. Baby blues on a baby.”

Damian smiled as a pale hand come down over his shoulder, her fingertips gently pulling the little white blanket with the yellow stripes over Tommy’s chest. The Titan looked back to see Raven smiling down at the child.

“Yeah… how about that?” Damian thought back. The two of them looked down at Tommy, who looked back up between them with his eyes full of wonder.

“We should give him a nickname…” the mage thought. “Just for him and us. What do you think?”

“I already know exactly what we’ll call him. What everyone will call him…” Damian carefully lifted the infant up, and pressed his lips to his little face. “Robin.”

“Don’t you think he’s a little young?” Raven teased, blushing as the newborn put his hands on Damian’s face.

“Maybe… but someday.” Damian lowered the baby back into the cradle his arms. “… And then one day, he’ll grow up. And there’ll be another Robin… our Robin.”

Raven’s cheeks grew warmer as the words entered her head. Damian looked back, and their lips came together more. Smoke and rain mingled together again, and the room filled with a violet haze. Tommy let out the quietest hum, watching curiously as little lights twinkled all around the amethyst-covered hospital room.

In the span of 28 days, Damian had been kidnapped, lost the love of his life, been stabbed through the heart, and died. But he also rediscovered who he was at his heart, reunited with his mother, given his grandmother’s ring to his Raven, and now held a pure, perfect new life in his arms.

Everything was the way it needed to be.