#yeah flint saved the day. again. it gets old after a while

[the-call-of-the-ocean]

Being a member of Flint’s crew must be exhausting. Twice a week you’re put in an impossible, desperate situation then the captain does something unhinged and saves the day in a way no one understands but everyone has come to expect anyway. He tells you to do something, you do it; two hours later, he tells you to do the exact opposite and you do it too (he makes a compelling argument). The crew voted him off six times already and somehow he’s still captain; no one has anything to say about it. There’s no way he’ll wriggle out of this one, you tell yourself for the eighth time this month. No one wants to die for him. You’ll all do whatever he wants you to do. He can control the weather.

[krabmeat]

☊⏃⋏ ⟟ ⏚⟒ ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⋔⏃⋏ ⏃⋏⍜⋏? ⏃⋏⊬⍙⏃⊬⌇ ⋏⍜⍙ ⏁⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⏃⌰⌰ ⍜⎍⏁ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍙⏃⊬. ☌⍜⎅ ⍀⟒⏃⎅⟒⍀ ☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⍀⟒⎐⟟⎐⟒⎅ ⎍⋏⟒⌖⌿⟒☊⏁⟒⎅⌰⊬ ⏚⊬ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔? ⟟⏁'⌇ ⌰⟟☍⟒ - ⏃ ⍀⟒⏃⌰⌰⊬ ⏚⏃⎅⏃⌇⌇ ⏃⋏⏁⏃☌⍜⋏⟟⌇⏁ ☌⍜⎅ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ☌⟒⏁⌇ ⌿⎍⌰⌰⟒⎅ ⍜⎍⏁ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⎍⋏⎅⟒⍀⍙⍜⍀⌰⎅, ☊⏃⌰⌰⟟⋏☌ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔ ⏁⊑⟒⟟⍀ "⌇⏃⎐⟟⍜⎍⍀" (⏚⎍⏁ ⟟⋏ ⏃ ⋔⍜⍀⟒ ⌇⏃⏁⟟⍀⟟☊⏃⌰ ⍙⏃⊬ ⟟⋏⌇⏁⟒⏃⎅ ⍜⎎ ☌⟒⋏⎍⟟⋏⟒⌰⊬ ⌇⟒⟒⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⟒ ⋔⏃⌇☍⟒⎅ ⋔⏃⋏ ⏃⌇ ⏁⊑⟒⟟⍀ ⊑⟒⍀⍜ ☊⏃⎍⌇⟒ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌿⏃⌇⏁ ⏁⊑⟒⊬'⎐⟒ ⋔⍜⌇⏁ ⌰⟟☍⟒⌰⊬ ☊⏃⌰⌰⟒⎅ ⟒⎐⟒⍀⊬⍜⋏⟒ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⊑⟒⌰⌿⟒⎅ ⏁⊑⟒⋔ ⏁⊑⟒⟟⍀ ⋔⟟☌⊑⏁⊬ ⊑⟒⌰⌿⟒⍀ ⏁⍜ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌿⍜⟟⋏⏁ ⍙⊑⟒⍀⟒ ⏁⊑⟒ ⏁⟟⏁⌰⟒ ⎎⟒⟒⌰⌇ ⍜⎐⟒⍀⎍⌇⟒⎅ ⏃⋏⎅ ⎍⋏⎅⟒⌇⟟⍀⏃⏚⌰⟒). ⏁⊑⟒⊬ ⍀⍜⏃⋔⟒⎅ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌰⏃⋏⎅⌇ ⍜⎎ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌇⋔⌿, ⏚⍀⟟⋏☌⟟⋏☌ ⏁⟒⍀⍀⍜⍀ ⏃⋏⎅ ⊑⟒⌰⌰⎎⟟⍀⟒ ⏃☊⍀⍜⌇⌇ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍜⎐⟒⍀⍙⍜⍀⌰⎅, ⌰⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⏁⊑⟒⟟⍀ ☍⟒⌿⏁ ⟟⋏ ⍀⏃☌⟒ ⌇⏁⍀⍜⌰⌰ ⎎⍀⟒⟒. ⏁⊑⟒⊬ ⟒⋏⎅ ⎍⌿ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⏁⎍⋏⎅⍀⏃, ⏁⊑⟒ ⏚⎍⍀⋏⟟⋏☌ ⎎⌰⏃☍⟒⌇ ⍜⎎ ⏃⌇⊑⟒⌇ ☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⌰⍜⌇⏁ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⊑⏃⍀⌇⊑ ⌿⟟⌰⟒⌇ ⍜⎎ ⌇⋏⍜⍙. ⏁⊑⟒⊬ ⊑⏃⌿⌿⟒⋏⟒⎅ ⏁⍜ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⌇⏁⎍⋔⏚⌰⟒⎅ ⎍⌿⍜⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ☊⍜⏁⏁⏃☌⟒⌇ ⍜⎎ ⏁⍙⍜ ⟟⋔⋔⍜⍀⏁⏃⌰ ☌⍜⎅⌇ ⏁⊑⏃⏁ ⏁⊑⟒⊬ ⋔⏃⊬ ⍜⍀ ⋔⏃⊬ ⋏⍜⏁ ⊑⏃⎐⟒ ⎍⌇⟒⎅ ⏁⍜ ☍⋏⍜⍙. ⍙⍜⋏⎅⟒⍀ ⍙⊑⏃⏁'⌰⌰ ⊑⏃⌿⌿⟒⋏? ⟟ ⍙⍜⎍⌰⎅ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⏁⍜ ⌇⟒⟒ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⏁⏃☍⟒ ⟟⋏ ⏁⊑⟟⌇.

- ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⋔⏃⋏ ⏃⋏⍜⋏

𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚎𝚗𝚝

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: philza, techno, Wilbur,(next few only mentioned)Mexican dream, schlatt, dream

𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜: they/them

𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: fire, death, arson, betrayal mention, being used, reference to drugs, slight cursing

𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜: translation vvvvv

Can i be enderman anon? anyways now that's all out of the way. God reader getting revived unexpectedly by dream? it's like - a really badass antagonist god that gets pulled out of the underworld, calling dream their "saviour" (but in a more satirical way instead of genuinely seeing the masked man as their hero cause in the past they've most likely called everyone that helped them their mighty helper to the point where the title feels overused and undesirable). They roamed the lands of the smp, bringing terror and hellfire across the overworld, letting their kept in rage stroll free. They end up in the tundra, the burning flakes of ashes getting lost in the harsh piles of snow. They happened to have stumbled upon the cottages of two immortal gods that they may or may not have used to know. Wonder what'll happen? i would like to see your take in this.

 - enderman anon

AHHH IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I DONT KNOW IF YOULL EVEN READ THIS STILL BUT TY FOR THE REQUEST IT ISNT THE BEST QUALITY IM SORRY :[[[

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You almost don't recognize the sensation of grass against your calloused and rough hands. You were in the void playing solitaire with Schlatt and Mexican Dream, and the next thing you knew you were suddenly pulled harshly by the back of your collar, falling on your spine. The looming mask of Dream is what stood above you, but he looked different. Longer hair, smelly, wearing a stained lime green jumpsuit with ‘0001' sewn into it and covered in cuts, scars and bruises. But before you could even question why Dream was suddenly there, he stepped back into the void, the void slowly surrounding and consuming him the further he went backwards. His now bony hand is still tightly gripped onto the back of your shirt, so while struggling your body is also enveloped in darkness. All it took was one blink and there you were on a patch of grass, staring at the pale blue sky.

"Huh."

Was all that came out of your mouth. You were still shocked at the turn of events that just happened, but no longer grounded. A running river nearby stunned your senses. How long had you been dead? It felt like years, but when you look around at the familiar forest you died in, not much had changed except for a couple newly planted saplings here and there. The swirling ashes you remembered before you died had all settled and compressed into the soil.

The river showed a strange reflection of yourself- your features have clearly sunken into your skull and there's a streak of white hair coming from your scalp along with words in fancy gold letters on your arm reading,

"May thy woes and hurt of the past no longer eradicate the upwards of this lost souls future. Allow thine to be praised by Ender themselves and be granted another chance at mortality."

Scrubbing or picking at your arm did nothing, so onwards you went walking along the forest to what you remember being a bustling "community".

Each mound of dirt you saw only brought memories of your death, of the place and people who sought to treat you like you were disposable. And now that you’re alive, you hate that they technically ended up being right. Your death; alone in a forest. Running away from the unexpected attacker, ashamed and too prideful to die in the prying eyes of your enemies. It fills you with rage, all the lives taken by your hands and for what? You weren’t overreacting, you knew that for sure. And before you knew it, you stole some fresh flint and steel from a random chest and got to work. 

You had always wanted to touch the fires you set. The soothing feeling you got from watching wood burn to char and ashes satisfied you. And it made it all the more euphoric to know it was trees of your manipulator's land. Running across the land, with flames as far as you could see when you looked behind you. The heat swirled around your neck and went into your nose, but the feeling was muscle memory at that point. You were still riding your high when a voice reached out to you, luckily when you were finally calm.

"What- Y/n? Hold on, is that really you Y/n..?"

You spin on your heels to the familiar manipulative British voice of a person you haven't seen in a long time. 

"Wilbur?! Man, I haven't seen another person's face other than those two addicts in a while- you look different." 

His eyes much like yours are sunken deep into his skull, purple-pink bags under his eyes and dull skin. Wilburs shocked lips fade into an opened mouth smile when he walks up to you with his hands momentarily confused on what they should do. Eventually, his right hand settles on clasping your left shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze.

“Y/n it is so good to see you! You look quite different yourself, wouldn’t you think-? Oh, look! We’re matching!”

The grey streak in your hair seems to make another appearance when Wilbur briefly smacks it with his middle and pointer finger. 

“Ay, it’s nice to see you too Wil, but back up for a second alright? I've got something to ask you by the way…”

Wilburs head peaks in interest, urging you to go on.

“I’m guessing that little streak in your hair wasn’t a fashion choice- and if it was it’s a bit strange- but how’d you get it? You died when you blew up L’manburg! I mean c'mon, people don’t just, well…REVIVE!”

He starts to walk. You aren’t quite sure where, but stumbling along with Wilbur while his arm is draped lazily atop your shoulders seems to suffice. 

“Ahh Y/n, you’d be surprised. The most WONDERFUL thing happened, actually! Years and years in my hell of a train station; do you know who was at the subway door when it finally opened, Y/n? Dream!”

“Wh- Dream?!”

Appalled, you try to stop in your tracks but fail when wilburs arm is still pushing forward. His storytelling voice dies down to curiosity and excitement.

“Wait, did he save you too? He did, didn’t he? Oh, this is wonderful!”

Wilbur emits eagerism and you suddenly realize what you could do with his desperacy to be socially accepted. Putting on the most exaggerated and animated voice, you speak. 

“Oh my god yeah! Gosh, that Dream guy is my hero! Thanks to him, I get to have another chance at living again, and isn’t that just…swell.”

In all honesty you didn’t really try hard to sound sincere but by the look of Wilbur, it seemed to work just fine. 

“Right?! I’ve been meaning to visit him in the prison if you’d like to tag along with me the day I go? I’m sure he’d love to see you, since he revived you and all.”

Oh, you were sure Dream wanted to see you. He wants a boon- a trade. Why else would he revive two of the most historically significant people on the server if not to make some sort of deal with them? Sure, Wilbur is as gullible and carefree as ever but you at least still had scraps of mental stability and level-headedness that made you all the more a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention Wilbur doesn’t know that Dream killed you, but telling him that now would blow your act. You decide to keep your thoughts to yourself.

“Yeahh, sure! I’d love to go, just tell me when.”

And that’s the end of that conversation. The two of you walk to wherever Wilbur is going. It honestly surprised you how he couldn’t see through your apathy. From what you remembered, he was keen on being wise about people and their intentions but you guess years and years in hell do things to a person.

Somehow, you’re stuck in your mind for long enough that only now do you feel the sharp winter air making the hairs on your arms and legs stand straight up. 

“Wait, snow?”

The tundra was a drastic contrast to the void you were once in with schlatt and Mexican Dream. Instead of black as far as you could see, it was a blinding powdery white. 

‘Mexican Dream would’ve liked it here, probably would have tried to snort the snow like coke.’

You weren’t built for the snow, though. Hell- you didn’t even have a memory of anyone living in a tundra when you were alive! Why was Wilbur even in the tundra? You didn’t have the energy to ask, still feeling brittle and tired, back aching from laying on the dry dirt longer than expected earlier. 

“Yeah, just figured I’d show you around! Plus I already need to grab a couple things from an ender chest and this was the closest by. I’m a very busy man, after all.”

But why were there so many footprints in the snow? As far as you knew, Wilbur was the only one who lived out in the tundra- and he didn’t seem like the active type at all. There were strange shapes as well, large hooved footprints. However, all thinking comes to a halt at the same time Wilbur does.

“We’re here! You might see some familiar faces cause I live with people.”

Well, that answers the footsteps as well as the tall red-caped piglin hybrid giving leftover bones and raw meat to a polar bear.

“TECHNO! TECHNO, HEY!”

He tenses up for a second, you could tell he wanted to be left alone but that didn’t really bother Wilbur. But you recognize him. The name and the apparel- that guy is Technoblade. The same Technoblade who stood by your side while the two of you blew L’manburg up for the last time, and now the Technoblade who resides in a cottage shrouded in snow.

“Technoblade?!”

Hearing your voice being carried by the crisp winter air, he turns around immediately to see you and Wilbur a few feet away. Techno stood there dumbfounded, but he didn’t know why. He wasn’t particularly joyed or ecstatic to see you, but he was at the very least happy to see an old ally back. 

“Y/n? Oh my god, now we’ve got TWO of you? We don’t have room for another one, alright?”

For some it might be hard to see the meaning behind his words. Luckily you’ve talked to him enough to where you can tell he’s being playful.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just build directly on top of your house. Besides, who WOULDN'T want to be near me 24-7?”

“Me-“

“Oh f*ck off.”

You would’ve thought that that was Wilbur due to the similar accent, but there was something off. The slight gruffness and age, yet still succeeding in sounding mellow.

“Phil! How’s my favorite old bird doing?”

He gives you a face. Not a happy one like you expected, rather a face that says ‘really?’ Probably because of the old comment. The two of you briefly hug, Phil’s tattered wings stretching out slightly.

“I’m doing alright, are you okay? Here, would you like to come in? It’s pretty cold outside, you probably haven’t seen snow in a couple years.”

He wasn’t wrong after all. You were freezing your toes off and were itching for lemon tea. The kind Phil used to make when he, Technoblade and Dream discussed plans on destroying L’manburg. Ah, the good ol days…

“Of course! We’ve got a lot to talk about- you still have that old chess board?”

“Yes, but first you have some explaining to do about the fire over in that tree, Y/n. You just got back and you’re already burning down forests?!”

“Did someone say fire?”

Techno has an eager stride in his step once he also looks back to see the raging lights of orange and red in the nearby forest.

“Don’t worry Phil! It’s just- ahh, a controlled burn..?”

Your tone of voice is unsure when a black crow shoots down from the sky into the snow in front of you. It’s left wing is charred and has smoke dancing from the burn. Philza looks at you with a stern glare.

“Oh my f*cking god…that’s it! We’re all going inside now, you too Techno. I don’t want you and Y/n going on a rampage.”

[lee-scribbles-and-doodles]

S3 ep5

Current emotional status: FEAR

Cthulu Max has been on the rampage for a whole week!?

Ew, the narrator

Oh man, are they sending the airforce after him?

I really like Cthulu Max's design

Momma Bosco 💗

Oh hey, Norrington and Papierwaite are alive.

Superball are you saying you tried to send the Maimtrons up Max's--

Also he's acting president while Max is... deposed of.

Superball is only giving Sam until 6am :(

Featherly!

"Wandering around the moleman tunnels is no fun without Max."

"You got it all wrong, we're trying to help Max." "We will help him... to a generous serving of ass whooping."

"That is one rabbit who will be multiplied... into 2,000 smoldering pieces."

Carol ran off with Blustet

"I only want her to be happy, is all." Aw, Curt

Superball just admitted to having separation anxiety from Max

Ok Momma can't come but Papierwaite and Norringron can.

I like Norrington :)

GASP

Is it?

It is!

SYBIL!!!!

RETURN OF THE QUEEN

Oh, she is very pregnant

She was a wizard at one point?

She's gonna help!

Superball there's no such thing as acceptable losses

Abe has his body back

"Four score and seven tons of raw power"

HE CAN FLY NOW!?

Sybil, I love you, but why did you mod someone else's car???

Grandpa Stinky I love you

Oh, he just handed us the recipe for once.

Asdfff the spore maxes swarming Grandpa

They stole Grandpa's hotdogs

"We must feed the host! Piglets and sphinkters make us stronger!" "We regret nothing!"

Grandpa hasn't slept in three years

Sam just casually taking the last of Grandpa's corndogs

The spores are trying to get it

Lol Sam slapped them

Sal's alive!

He's hiding from Sam :(

Lol we can control Cthulu Max with Corndogs

Ew, the cornstarch got mixed in with the giant puddle 🤢 Looks gross

Love how Sybil completely ignores the Flaming Max head

Also the look of disappointment on the spore's face made me laugh

Fifth trimester???

The way the one Max spore by Grandpa's truck is bobbing in circles with his mouth open is making me laugh.

Sam showing concern for Sybil because she’s preggers 🥺

Her being pregnant with Abe's child implies that statues have working genital in this universe

She put a weiner scented airfreshener in the desoto

At least Sam and a Max spore seem to like that (of course they do)

"Sybil you're the best!" Hell yeah she is!

Sam's mind went to the color bar codes to prevent being traumatized by Sybil's oversharing

We drowned the desoto

Asdfgh Sam just botched slapped one of the spores for trying to say "that's none of your damn buisness."

Ew, Max's spine is pointing out

Oh hey, Satan and Jurgen

Why is Jurgen wearing his old fashioned clothes instead of his emo clothes?

Lol Sam snuck into frame to shout "Go Mets! New York rules!"

"--besides it's just a good and noble thing to do." "You're not familiar with my previous work, are you?"

"Sam, what happened to you to make you so cynical?" Gee, Jurgen, I wonder what could have possibly happened.

Oh so the water tower counts as vegetable oil because Momma did something to it

Pfft we can replace Satan's microphone with a corndog

Omg they jumped off the building to avoid Max

Oh, they're fine, and the oil is in the giant puddle.

I'm thankful to Featherly for giving us an egg but I'd have preferred not to watch him lay it. Granted it was just in a cartoon way but he still made weird noises

Also TRANS FEATHERLY 2021

"I desperately wanted to see that, sir. Ask him if he'll lay another one."

Oh hey, the Flaming Max heads helped heat up the giant desoto corndog

Since I'm playing this in 2021 the Maimtron's song references are super dated, which defeats Superball's efforts

Oooh! A unique opening sequence???

Oh this music is jazzy af

Sam really doesn't like the Max spores

Sam how do you already know what Max's insides look like???

"Even when he's not a collasal monster Max's food comas can last for weeks."

Ok we wake Max up with the coffee beans, right?

Yup!

The gi Max spore is so sad he doesn't get to come 😢

"But I'm a horrible monster!"

"I suppose Max's brain always looks like a living room?" "Well, Max is host to all kinds of weird parasites, and he likes to he a good host!" WHAT

No really, this brings up so many questions about lagomorphs. Are they some kind of Symbiote or something?

And a previous episode confirmed Max is amphibious

Max has tumors!!!

It shocked Sam!

"Eugh! Get away fake Max!" "Do you find my warmth... alarming, Sam?"

"What do nightmares taste like, anyway?" "Pepsi"

Max wants to be author 💗

He also writes fanfiction about Flint 🤣

I'd unironically read his books.

Tina Belcher voice: Friend fiction

Max has an experimental fusion jazz band???

"He just killed a great white shark--"

Max being completely unable to describe a woman is very gay of him. Good for him.

Max's brain teleported everyone to different parts of the body.

Found Sybil in the gym/legs

The brain is broadcasting Sam's thoughts???

Sam couldn't think of a joke for the medicine balls :(

"Wow Max is looking pretty buff. Would it be too weird if I asked him to turn around?"

Sam! Stop thinking bad things about Sybil's pregnancy she can hear you you putz!

She's upset with him now

"Can you believe this guy?" "I find the entire situation to be very contrived and misogynistic." Same spore Max, same.

Sam stop being so mean omg!

"I changed Sybil, I totally get the whole parenthood thing now." "Really now?" "Tax deductions."

In Max's inventory now

Y'know, I never really thought about it as a storage house

Hit The Road reference :3

Baby roach hatched in

"Pa..papa?" "Now I am little champion, now I am!"

Max has a Maximus shrine

Sam turned into a roomba!

Aw, he named it Sam Jr 🥺

We won Sybil back through his love of Sam Jr

Found the conjoined twins

Huh, Max lost as eye. Does that mean he has a glass one, or do lagomorphs have regenerative abilities?

Pfft we have to play twister to control his arma

The brain is messing with things again

Oh, we need a roach to operate the game because of radiation

Well, let's kidnap Sal

Oh, poor Girl Stinky. She's really going through it

Aw, Sal feels bad

Sal?

Honey, are alright?

He's dying???

He's not immune to irradiation!?

Oh no, he's gone

I'm so sad 😞

Gotta pick up Sam Jr. Before I control Max

They mad Max do a magical girl pose

Ugh the narrator is back

Wait, what?

He's Max's brain??? SUPEREGO???

WHAT

"I was always ignored" Yo if my super ego was as pretentious as you I 'd ignore it too 😤

He wants to kill himself and Max???

I know Max had a self loathing complex but holy shit

The super ego is perfectly fine with destroying half the east coast what a jerk

Just noticed Sam's tie is red. Had no idea about this while drawing PI!Sam lol

We have to help Max get his memories back to use the ASTRO projector

Skunkapes has three Sam clones imprisoned

Sam had canon ocd?

Gasp Gordon???

No, it's Sammun Mak

I love him, little child tyrant

Just make him a mobile brain in a jar and let Sam and Max adopt him

Why is Grandpa here?

He isn't talking like Stinky

Too polite

Sam sees it too

He's a space gorilla

They switched brains?

Found the cloning g chamber

Let's go to Momma's first

CONE OF SHAME CONE OF SHAME CONE OF SHAME

Superball is "wracked with guilt"

"Keep it together Superball. Sam will be able to save the day. He always does."

Ok, let's go to the cloning facility

I'm still thinking about poor Sal yo

FLIIIIIINT!

He's punching space apes!

Girl Stinky really playing up the evil Mistress role

The doggleganger has a bomb on him!!!

Wait so Girl really is a mermaid??? I thought that was just her aestetic

God I love Flint

Haha we tricked Skunkape with scooby doo villain tactics

Got the robot

Her water broke... and it was pennies

Max wants to save Sybil! 😭🥺💕

Super Ego is here

Oh now he wants to save Max

The only thing here are those records

Super Ego waved goodbye

Cthulu Max is cute when he cries

Wait What?

His head is on fire!

The maimtron hit him!

He waved goodbye... and teleported away.

He exploaded!!!!

He promised he'd take Sam with him and he didn't!!!!

AAAAAAH

I thought the dead Max thing was popular angst fanon fic thingy!

We're cloning Max?

It didn't work 😭😭😭😭😭

Superball ran off crying

Oh God the credits are just Sam walking sadly what the hell

He's not even stopping to fight any crime 😢

💔💔💔

God the way he's clinging to himself

What?

The elevator???

MAAAAX

he's back???

Past Max???

He blew his Sam up???

Wait hold on I'm glad they're together again but this doesn't fix anything

There's so much trauma from this season

All the horrible things that happened during 301-304 happened in like 3 days tops, then Sam had to deal with Max being a monster for a week before watching him die!

And the new (?) Max had BLOW HIS SAM UP!!!

And they left the franchise like that for a decade????

What the hell?

I want to be happy but this shit is going to consume my brain for the next week at least what the hell

Aaaaaaah!

Like maybe they really do just brush it off but it feels unlikely

I know Max has a connection with his other selves so it'll be easier for him to adjust but certainly Sam is going to notice the discrepancies since he doesn't get the same deal

Someone told me there were multiple endings hold on

Aw, they walked off into the sunrise together

But still

AAAAAAAAH

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

So, I know you made a post about Martyn's comment about Grian having Stockholm Syndrome, but I feel like there's a lot of angst potential. Maybe something about Martyn and Skizzle trying to convince Grian to join them, but Grian refusing to even leave Scar's side of they kill him.

i feel like this one kinda accidentally became Grian’s villain origin story but ngl i’m not complaining

…

Martyn and Skizz are walking together through the forest, on their way to the desert to do some surveillance. They’re just walking up the hill near the edge of the forest when a random thought occurs to the latter. “Hey, what’s that thing where you, like, get close to your captor?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… Stockholm Syndrome, isn’t it?” Martyn responds.

“Yeah, that’s it. Stockholm Syndrome.”

“What made you think of it?”

Skizz shrugs. “I dunno, I was just thinking about Grian and why he doesn’t seem to be eager to leave Scar anymore.”

Martyn shoots him a sideways look. “You think he’s got Stockholm Syndrome? Huh. Honestly, I think you might have something there. I’ve known Grian for a long time and I know for a fact that hates people telling him what to do.”

“I really wanna save him, dude,” Skizz says. “I hate the idea of him having to slave away under Scar for even another day.”

“I do too,” agrees Martyn. “But I don’t think we can-.”

“My ears are burning,” comes a familiar voice.

The two look sharply up to find Grian himself sitting on a high branch in the tree directly in front of them, right at the top of the hill.

“Eavesdropping again?” Martyn demands. “How much did you hear?”

“Just something about slaving away under Scar. That’s how I knew you were talking about me. Not nice to talk about someone behind their back.”

Skizz and Martyn both frown. There’s something different about Grian today; he’s not his usual self. It’s worrying particularly to Martyn, who’s known him for a very long time.

“Grian, we need to talk to you,” says Martyn. “About Scar.”

“Uh huh.” Grian hops down from the tree and dusts off his hands. “You’re not gonna kill me, are you? Oh, no, wait: neither of you can. Martyn cuz you’re green and Skizz because you’re spineless.”

Skizz blanches. “Wh-What the hell?! That came out of left field!”

Martyn steps towards Grian, carefully making eye contact with his old friend. “Grian, this isn’t you. Scar’s red life energy is corrupting you, turning into something you’re not. It’s not healthy.”

“Healthy?” Grian tips his head on one side. “Huh. That’s one way of looking at it.”

Martyn pushes on: “We can help you leave him. Either we can take your first life or we can help you escape him.”

“We can keep you safe,” Skizz adds, pushing aside his hurt feelings over Grian’s prior comment. “If you’re worried about what he might do to you.”

“You think I wanna LEAVE?” Grian scoffs.

Martyn and Skizz exchange a look. “What do you mean?” asks the former slowly.

“Scar is my excuse to kill people,” Grian responds. “That goes away if I leave him.”

“Yeah, you’ve already killed at least five people, including me,” Skizz responds. “Are you really sure you wanna keep going?”

A grin slowly appears on Grian’s face as he grabs a block of TNT and lights it. “Let’s find out.”

“Skizz, move!” Martyn yells in a panic.

The two simultaneously spin round and take off running but the TNT quickly explodes behind them, the force sending them both tumbling off the top of the hill.

Martyn groans as he pushes himself up, his whole body aching from the rough landing. His left ankle, which he felt himself land heavily on, throbs. He glances warily around him and finds Skizz lying on his side a few blocks to his left, unconscious.

As Martyn crawls over to him to check on him, he spots a figure emerging from the trees. His breath catches in his throat as he registers Grian slowly and dangerously coming towards them, a flint and steel clearly in his hand.

“Grian, get away,” Martyn snaps, unable to hide the fearful shake in his voice. He moves awkwardly in front of Skizz, protecting him from Grian. “Get away from us.”

“Killing Skizzle will be delicious,” says Grian, grinning maliciously. “His last life. I wonder what it’ll feel like to take a red life? To know that the person I’ve killed will not respawn?”

“Don’t you dare!” growls Martyn. “Kill me if you want but don’t hurt him.”

“Martyn, Martyn, Martyn…” Grian shakes his head in mock disappointment. “You keep doing this. Every time you swear you don’t care about people, every time you swear you won’t get attached to anyone else, you do. Would you really sacrifice one of your lives for him, Martyn? Someone you’ve only known a few weeks?”

“Skizz has proven himself a generous and loyal ally,” Martyn replies steadily. “He’s shown himself to be perfectly willing to sacrifice his last life for us so I’m willing to sacrifice my first for him.”

Grian shrugs. “Okay, that can be arranged.”

As he steps closer, Martyn pushes himself to his feet, holding his left foot gingerly off the ground. “Please, Grian, don’t. You don’t have to let yourself get corrupted by Scar any longer.”

“Corrupted?” snorts Grian. “That’s cute.”

“Seriously, you’re suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. You don’t-.”

Grian laughs loudly, interrupting Martyn. “Stockholm Syndrome?! You really don’t get it, do you, Martyn? Scar is useless on his own. You think he would’ve been able to do HALF the damage I’ve done? If it weren’t for me, he’d have lost his red life about half an hour after his second. I’m the one keeping him alive; not because I care about him but because he’s my excuse to kill people as a green lifer. I have the highest body count on the whole server and I’m still green. Martyn…”

He moves closer to Martyn and grips his shoulder almost painfully, a terrifying smile on his face. “I’m the mastermind. Scar thinks he’s in charge and that’s what ties this whole arrangement together so neatly. Everyone focuses on Scar because he’s the red lifer and oh poor innocent Grian is stuck doing everything he says. Nobody EVER suspects that I’m anything more than just Scar’s puppet.”

“He’s yours,” says Martyn quietly. “Isn’t he? He’s just your puppet.”

“He is. But I can tell you’re trying to stall. Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.” Grian takes hold of Martyn’s other shoulder, trapping him on the spot. “But I don’t want to kill my old friend, no matter how much you beg me. Not yet, anyway.”

Before Martyn can react, Grian shoves him roughly aside. His ankle rolls again as he hits the ground, causing more pain to explode up his leg. “No!” he yells, as he spots Grian advancing on a semi-conscious Skizz. “Grian, don’t!”

Skizz tries to get away from Grian but the green lifer draws his sword and presses the point against his chest, forcing him to stay still. He stares into Grian’s eyes and sees nothing but evil in them. “Grian, please…! Please, don’t!”

“It’s either you or Martyn,” responds Grian. “You pick.”

Skizz meets Martyn’s gaze, and Martyn knows immediately what he’s going to say.

“O-Okay,” Skizz whispers, tipping his head back in defeat. “Kill me and leave Martyn alone.”

“NO!”

But as Grian raises his sword, a battle cry echoes through the trees and seconds later, three figures burst out of the forest: Ren, BigB, and Etho.

Grian scrambles back in shock as they charge towards him, before turning and fleeing back into the trees. BigB and Etho pursue him but Ren stays behind to drop down at Martyn’s side. “Thank god we got here in time! Are you two okay?”

“Apart from my ankle, I’m fine,” says Martyn, letting out a sigh of relief. “Skizz?”

“I-I think I’m okay,” Skizz responds, pressing his hand against his forehead. “But my head hurts.”

Martyn frowns sympathetically. “You were out for several minutes so you probably have a concussion.”

“Let’s get you two back to Dogwarts to rest,” says Ren kindly.

But just as Ren moves to help Martyn up, a notification flashes up on their communicators.

Bigbst4tz2 was slain by Grian

Ren lets out a low growl. “That’s it. Those filthy desert hippies have gone too far.”

“No, Ren,” Martyn says. “It’s not them; it’s just Grian. He’s the one who orchestrated all this. If you hadn’t turned up, he’d have killed both of us. He’s the real threat, not Scar. Not even Scott and Jimmy. They all do what Grian says; he’s got them all in his pocket. He’s…” He pauses, recalling Grian’s words with a shiver. “He’s the mastermind.”

Ren gazes at him for a moment. “Okay, it seems we have some things to discuss when we get back to Dogwarts. But for now, I need you two to head home while I help Etho and BigB.”

“Yes, boss,” says Martyn. “But I-I may need some help; I’m not sure if I can walk at the moment.”

Skizz sluggishly stands up and makes his way over to Martyn, whom he helps to his feet. He then lifts Martyn’s arm over his shoulder, supporting him. “I got you, buddy,” he says gently. “I got you.”

Martyn lets out another quiet sigh. He still can’t believe he and his friend are both alive and relatively unharmed, but he’s unspeakably grateful for it nonetheless.

“Thank you.”

[deathvalleyusa]

day’s eye

Summary: In the eyes of a child named Daisy, Alfie Solomons is a thing of adventure books and mythical tales. As she grows he seems to morph to even more mythical proportions. That is, until Margate shows Daisy just how mortal and human Alfie is. ONE SHOT.

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Child OFC, OFC

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: Language, S5 spoilers

A/N: Wrote this a while ago but only recently picked it up again. I had plans to write a fic about Nora (Daisy’s mom) and Alfie but this ended up happening instead lol. x-posted from AO3.

When one grows up without a father, people assume a terrible fate befell him. The War. An accident. Perhaps he had found himself in trouble with one of the many gangs that ran the streets of every city on British soil. His absence could be explained away.

When one grows up without a mother, death is often called upon as the excuse as well. Childbirth. Influenza. Beatings no one saved her from.

But in certain cases, the father is simply gone and the mother still lives and breathes. Daisy was one such case.

Her mother, a lovely woman named Nora, had dreams. Visions of a house, a garden, and a job to keep her steady. Daisy was a part of the vision, but not a part of the journey thus far. So at her grandparents cottage she stayed. Six years old, knowing her mum was somewhere else, trying her hardest.

The day Nora came for Daisy was one of excitement. Tears. Good-byes from her Papa and Gran, hugs that melted into her skin. A buzzing ecstatic feeling as they boarded the train, heading to a place called London.

"It's all new there for us, Daisy," Nora had said. Pretty in her makeup and burgundy cloche hat. "A life for us, eh? Me and my girl?"

Daisy was not expecting to meet a man that week.

At six, she'd met her fair share of men from her grandparents' village. Her mum had never brought around anyone other than her uncle Harry. So this man was something new entirely.

Daisy had thought he maybe had been a bear before he was a man. Towering and scruffily bearded, he was an odd one.

"This is little Daisy, then?" He had asked. Voice low, accent unlike the Liverpool one she had lived with all her life. He spoke with a curiosity and a kindness, deep blue eyes twinkling.

"That's her," Nora answered, beaming. "Daisy, this is my lovely friend Alfie."

He offered a hand. Daisy stared, then gave a glance to her mum. A supportive nod, and her tiny hand met his.

It was not unlike her grandfather's, or Uncle Harry's. Worn and slightly rough on the pads, work showed it's time through calluses and small light scars. It was warm though, gentle as he shook hers before enveloping it in another large hand. Daisy couldn't help but admire his rings and the small crown tattooed into his skin.

Like a man from the pictures, she thought to herself, giving a pleased smile. Like a pirate. Or a king.

One thing Daisy learned, as she spent more time with her mother and Alfie, was how much he spoke and how rapt her mother's attention was to his words. He spun stories, rambled about the folk about town. Posed hypotheticals at Nora who would answer after a long pause. Alfie would always include Daisy, posing the same questions or asking about life in a quiet village.

Years passed. Daisy, in her infinite child wisdom, came to understand some of the nature of Alfie besides his sweetness. That he was just as she had suspected, a pirate and a king. He terrified others, kept the men in the bakery in reverence of him.

She came to understand her mother as well. A woman with muted glamor, someone with quiet dreams that slowly seemed to materialize. She was not the princesses or damsels in the films or books Daisy consumed. No, she was something of a beautiful warrior.

Daisy thought of herself as an adventurer. No one feared a child of her age, and she had no one who needed her protection quite yet. Instead, she was a wily spirit, content with exploration during the day and a cozy home with her mother, and quite often Alfie, at night.

It came as no surprise at the age of nine when Alfie sat her down and explained he had asked her mother to marry him. Truly, it felt like a long put off event, and Daisy had just wanted it over and done with.

Alfie's laugh filled the sitting room when she told him.

"It's not always that simple, Daisy Bell," he said. "But I'm pleased, your mum expected you to take the news hard. Not sure why, but you are full of surprises, yeah?"

And so, on one afternoon that had gifted pockets of sun, Daisy watched as Alfie made her mother his pirate queen. Daisy, in turn, became a pirate as well. And with her new place as the daughter of a pirate and a king came new lodgings.

Not a ship, but a house with many rooms. A place for her toys and baubles, and a new wardrobe to hang the pretty things her mother liked to dress her in. Daisy quite liked to sneak into Alfie's study, staring at the little collections that lined shelves. On the occasions she snuck in while he sat at his desk, he'd call her over with a wave of his big hand. A sweet would appear, followed by a kiss to the head.

"Don't tell your mum," he'd whisper in gruff tones, "or she'll 'ave both of our heads for spoiling your dinner."

It was those moments she liked best, when the two of them would hold a small secret. Daisy knew Alfie and her mother had their own secrets, whispered under their breaths as if Daisy would pay it no mind. Talk of bread, of a man named Shelby. Nothing that ever reached her in her fortress.

And in that fortress protected by men led by Alfie, who as Daisy neared eleven, seemed more pirate than king, she thrived. Played with the other children, took pockets of Yiddish they taught her home to practice with her mother. Spent hours feeding treats to Cyril behind her parents’ backs. Tormented Alfie's men with silly games and questions they usually had no answer to. Ollie was her favorite. He had taught her to play cribbage in the moments where his time wasn't completely occupied with Alfie's commands.

There were long stretches where Alfie did not return home, only giving a phone call to calm Nora's nerves. Her mother would get whispered conversations; Daisy was given sweet words and a gentle good night or morning. Daisy contented herself with this, until one day Alfie did not return.

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

"He's gone to Margate," Nora explained, rubbing at her tired eyes. They seemed to grow more tired with each passing year. "I haven't heard from him yet, Daisy. Perhaps tomorrow we'll get a ring."

The call did not come. Daisy thought of terrible fates that befell kings and pirates. How easily it could happen to a man whose business kept him in hushed conversations. How her pa, dear Alfie, could be struck down in crossfire with the polished guns he kept locked in his study.

When a letter came, and with it a terrible wail from the beautiful mouth of her mother, Daisy knew she was right. Wished it not to be so; that there had been a terrible mistake and the news written was wrong. But sneaking a look at the letter when her mother had finally let it out of her grasp, Daisy found her worst thoughts had not been bad enough.

Alfie's wonderful handwriting lay before her. Asking forgiveness of Nora, then of her. A betrayal to the Shelby man detailed Alfie's demise. A desire to end a painful, cancerous existence that he had never spoke of to Daisy.

Another letter detailed his condition. Alive, but for how long would be up to him. Where he could be found in the winding streets of Margate.

With no noise, she returned the letter to it's envelope. Daisy took care to walk quietly, letting herself hang at the entry of her mother's room. For the first time in many years, she crawled beside her in the vast bed, letting a desperate hug melt into her skin.

On the eve of her twelfth birthday, the house with many rooms lay barren. Everything had been packed and sent to Margate, which Nora explained would become their new home. Daisy had seen her mother hold back tears as they locked the doors for a final time. Her house and her garden that had materialized out of her dreams since Daisy was very small was no more.

Camden Town had too much risk lying to the north to bring Alfie back even in secret. He was no longer a king, but a ghost of one. They were to follow the ghost, live in a haunted home by the sea.

In that haunted home, Daisy helped place Alfie's collections and her baubles on shelves. She ignored the moans from the guest room, which had become a makeshift hospital ward. Instead she practiced her piano and read on the balcony to avoid the noise. Wished that Cyril, wherever he had gone off to, was by her side to help her ward off the ghost that lived here.

Alfie haunted her, night and day. He haunted her mother more, once he became more coherent and spoke his rambling nonsense to her. More than once she had heard Nora's voice raised behind the oak door, and no reply from Alfie. Her mother was not an angry woman, but Margate in those early months had sparked like a flint and filled Nora’s glamorous face with a rage-fueled fire.

As time passed, Daisy returned to her schooling. New friends were found, and so was a sense of normal. Her mother’s anger had become smoldering coals, and she started to leave the house. Sometimes for pleasure, other times for business still left from Camden Town. Daisy wondered often if Alfie, who remained behind the closed door, envied their comings and goings. She wondered more if he missed her, months separating the moment she had seen him in a gauze mask till now.

***********

On an unremarkable Sunday afternoon, her mother had gone out for some air. Daisy had been left to her own devices, plunking out a song on the piano in the sitting room. A voice, one she hadn't heard in more than a gruff whisper in weeks, sang out:

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do!”  

He was awake. Calling to her, it seemed, with a silly song he'd sing to tease since she was small.

"I'm 'alf crazy, all the love for you!”

Daisy rose from the piano bench, wood upon wood scraping quietly before feet plodded to the guest room she avoided. Now, though, the call from within was irresistible.

The door groaned silent as she peeked in, black curls slipping around her shoulders. There in bed lay the man she called father. A man in a pitiful state, but lucid.

"Daisy Bell, sweetie." he managed to crack a smile. "I'll cover up this nasty face of mine if you like, yeah, I just need to see that cherub one of yours."

She stepped in, trod closer.

"It's all right," Daisy remitted. "Will it always look like that?"

Alfie took consideration. "It won't always be as red, yeah, but it'll still look like a gnarled fucking tree. Maybe it'll smooth one day, but it's stuck, love."

"Then don't cover it," she said quietly. "If it's forever, I need to get used to it."

"Wise words from the mouth of babes."

"I'm nearly thirteen." A slight bristle shook through her voice, reminding herself of her mother. "I'm no baby."

"Is that right?" Alfie shut his eyes, heaving a grumbly sigh. A few beats passed, and he opened his good eye. Deep blue, like the ocean at night. Daisy sometimes sat on the balcony of their townhome and watched the waves roll in and out. Alfie's eye held no waves, just stillness.

"Well, if you're such a grown woman now, with wisdom and maturity beyond all our years, right, you'll fetch your dad a thimble of whatever Mum's got in that fancy bar cart she had to have, yeah? A secret between us grown ones, so I can partake of the earthly pleasures again."

Daisy's face hardened. "Mum says you can't."

"A biscuit then. With a strong cuppa." Noting her doubtful looks, he gestured to his face. "The tea to soften the biscuit so this old man can chew softly."

Daisy gave him a doubtful look, but obliged. Wondered how many times he'd asked for small tokens from the nurse or her mother and was promptly shut down. She returned, biscuits and tea in hand.

"You have my undying gratitude, Daisy Bell," he said.

He seemed quite happy, but Daisy couldn't tell if the biscuits or her presence was more the cause. As he dipped a corner of the biscuit into his tea, she thought how silly it was for a ghost to enjoy afternoon tea. She couldn't help an amused smile.

"What's that you're giggling about?" Alfie asked. His own mouth drew into a devilish grin. "You do something funny to these biscuits, ey?"

"No," Daisy replied, smiling wider. "It's a silly thought is all."

"I haven't heard silly thoughts in some time, just a nurse droning on and on about health and tablets. Indulge me."

For the first time in many months, Daisy felt heard again. Hands grabbed the wooden chair next to the wardrobe, scooting close to Alfie. She even let her forearms rest on the side of his bed, close enough to feel warmth not usually becoming of a ghost.

"Well you see," she started, "when we met when I was very little, I saw your rings and tattoo and thought of the men in the books my Gran would read to me. All while we lived in London, I thought of you as a pirate king."

"Is that so?" he chuckled, taking a sip. "Reckon you were a pirate princess then, weren't you?"

"Something like that." Daisy grinned before looking away at the wall. "After Mum got the letter and we couldn't bring you home… Well, I felt like you were a ghost. Like I've been living with a ghost this whole time in Margate."

Alfie didn't respond. Daisy had known he wouldn't; the wound on the soul was still as raw as the scar on his eye.

"But just now, seeing you eat,” she continued, “I found it quite funny to see a ghost eat a biscuit and enjoy a cuppa. All ghosts should be that funny, I think."

"Do you?" Alfie heaved a great sigh, then chuckled. "Better to be a ghost with a sense of humor and an appetite for sweets than a man who's lost both, yeah?”

Daisy nodded. The more she let what he had said rattle about in her mind, the more she came to understand the thankful truth of it. Though she mourned her pirate king, Cyril, and the house with many rooms, Margate and its ghost with his biscuit and tea had their own comfort.

She once again was a child who had a father with a terrible fate that had befallen him. A dozen excuses could be made for his absence but Daisy knew this time, at least, that in secret he still existed. The little secrets they shared had grown to one of great magnitude, like ones of novels and myths.

“I’ve missed you.”

Alfie, who had finished one of his biscuits, eyed her up with that twinkle she loved so dearly in the still dark blue iris. The cup clinked against the saucer as he set it on his lap covered by a blanket. Daisy felt the familiar roughness of his hand as it grasped hers.

“So have I, Daisy.” He gave her hand a squeeze, the feeling less ghostly than she had imagined. “Someday, I promise you, I’ll be out of this terrible fuckin’ bed and you and I can do whatever pleases your sweet heart.”

“That could be a very long time,” Daisy answered. “Is it okay for me to come back in? Will Mum be upset?”

Alfie took a pause.

“I don’t think so,” he decided. “And if she does get upset, it won’t last. The rotation of faces will do me good, yeah? That nurse sometimes makes me feel more ill by her presence alone, she’s got a particularly sour smell to match her face. The sooner I’m out of this room, the better I’ll be, I think. The sea air’ll do me some good, don’t you think?”

Daisy nodded again, vigorously. If Alfie thought the sea and the wisping salt against his face would help him be less a ghost and more a man, she would believe it too.

“We can go walking together,” Daisy suggested. “In the afternoons when I come home from school. And all day on weekends. Mum said she’d buy me a swimming costume for the summer, maybe we could swim—”

Alfie interrupted with his distinctive laugh, a near giggle unexpected from such a large man. The first time Daisy had heard it she had been taken aback, only to laugh along. Hearing it now was like a balm slathered on a skinned knee.

“We’ll start with a short walk, sweetie, then think about swimming in the next distant summer when these limbs can carry this old man easier. If I try to swim now, right, I might be swept away into the sea and some fantastical creature may happen upon me and drag me to its home in the depths. You believe in mermaids, love?”

“No.” Daisy sat back in the chair. “Not anymore.”

“Pity,” Alfie answered. “I saw one once at a carnival; pretty thing with a tail blowing bubbles under the water. If anything were to drag me out to sea, I’d choose her.”

“Stay on land, then!”

Alfie looked at her, quieted by her outburst. Daisy hadn’t meant for the words to leave her mouth so loudly. But all the talk of leaving once more sent her deep into a place of fear.

“I don’t want you to leave again,” Daisy tried once more in a softer voice. “I don’t want you to even try.”

“Then I won’t,” Alfie replied simply. “I’ll ignore all those siren calls I hear from the beach and stay right here, on your orders. You’re the boss, then.”

“Mum said she’s the boss now.” She shifted in her seat, wondered how cold the tea sitting on Alfie’s lap had gone. “Her and Ollie, she says.”

“Right then, you’ll just have to be my boss, won’t you?” Alfie shut his eyes. Daisy inspected his face, riddled with red scars and the patches of scaly rashes around his scalp he had explained as an affliction called psoriasis when she questioned it. He opened his good eye, giving her a quick smile. “Keep me in line and give me my orders to follow. First order is no following mermaids, got that love, what else should I heed from you?”

Daisy had never had that kind of power before, giving orders to an adult. The men at the bakery heeded her silly requests before, yes, but Alfie had always been the one to bark orders. As a child on the cusp of thirteen, it was an immense responsibility. She racked her brain, lips pursed as she ignored Alfie’s amused face, before settling on one.

“Get well fast,” Daisy finally said. “And don’t make Mum cross again, I’ll know if you do.”

“A tall order, that last one, but I’ll do my best,” Alfie grunted, tapping her hand before saluting her. “Yes ma’am.”

[riversofmars]

OR Thirteen wants to marry River - her previous self did the marrying but thirteen wants to do it herself thd proper way so travels to ask the ponds permission for their daughters hand in marriage ❤️

Thank you for a brilliant prompt! It got a little out of hand but what else is new lol. River is finally getting the wedding she deserves. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Ship: River/Thirteen

Rating: G

Word count: 4500

The Wedding of River Song

“So where are we going?“ River followed the Doctor around the TARDIS console as she was setting coordinates.

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.“ The Doctor grinned and pulled the lever to set them going.

“Well, will you at least tell me how to dress?“ River pouted crossing her arms in front of her chest. Her wife usually gave her some indication as to what sort of outfit would be suitable. Turning up to a safari in an evening gown was a mistake she intended to only make once. Today, for Valentine’s Day, however, the Doctor was being very secretive indeed.

“Don’t worry about that, got that covered as well…“ The Doctor winked and River sighed:

“Sweetie…“

“Just trust me, okay? It’s not quite time for our date yet. We need to make a quick couple of stops.“ The Doctor revealed as the TARDIS landed.

“It’s Valentine’s Day and you’re telling me you’ve got some other engagements before our date?“ River retorted trying her best not to show her annoyance too much.

“Yeah. Sort of.“ The Doctor scratched the back of her head, feeling a little nervous.

“Do you see how that doesn’t exactly thrill me?“ River raised her eyebrows with a sigh. The Doctor had never been particularly good at doing romance. She had gotten a little better since she had turned into a woman. She had, after all, made the effort to save River from the Library and reunite them in linear time but romance still wasn’t her strong suit.

“Well, yes but it’s not like you’ll be waiting in the TARDIS while I arrange things… plus, you’ll have company, don’t worry, you’ll have a good time!“ The Doctor grinned at her with excitement. She was bursting to tell her what she had planned but then, it wouldn’t be a surprise. After all this time, after everything they’d been through, she deserved something special and she was determined to give it to her. She was not about to ruined it when she had gone through so much effort to make today happen.

“Doctor…“ River groaned in annoyance, all she wanted to do was go for a candle light dinner. Was that really too much to ask?

“You trust me right.“ The Doctor stepped up to her wife and took her hands in hers.

“Unfortunately.“ River rolled her eyes.

“And you love me?“ The Doctor continued, her expression hopeful.

“I’m afraid so.“ River gave her a half-smile. She just couldn’t stay angry with her for long.

“Then do this for me, for Valantine’s, trust me that I’ve got something brilliant planned, just need to sort a few things out, okay?“ The Doctor smiled pressing a kiss to the top of her hands.

“You literally have a time machine, you could have sorted all of this out before now.“ River chuckled shaking her head at her. Why was she in love with such a chaotic idiot?

“Not really, it’s complicated, you’ll see. But there is something I need you to do as well, come on.“ The Doctor pulled her along to the door.

“You are making even less sense than usual, Sweetie.“ River huffed as she followed reluctantly. They stepped out of the TARDIS and found themselves in the front room of 13 Paternoster Row in 19th century London.

“Madame Vastra?“ River looked around confused as she spotted the mistress of the house head towards her with a smile. “Jenny?“ Vastra was accompanied by her wife and maid Jenny Flint who gave them a big smile as well. They had clearly been waiting for them.

“You’re a bit late, Doctor, we’ll have to rush to make the appointment.“ Vastra scolded but not unkindly.

“Sorry, it wasn’t easy to convince her.“ The Doctor smiled apologetically.

“Appointment. What…“ River looked from Vastra to the Doctor and back again. What was going on?

“Don’t worry, Professor, we will have a wonderful time, champagne?“ Vastra offered as Jenny went to the drinks cabinet and poured three glasses.

“Well, don’t mind if I do.“ River wasn’t one to refuse a glass of champagne but she was still confused as to what was going on. “Will someone tell me what’s going on here?“ She asked as she took the glass offered to her.

“Absolutely not.“ The Doctor grinned. “I’ll see you shortly.“ She kissed her wife’s cheek and before River could argue she skipped back into the TARDIS and threw the door shut.

“I feel like I’m missing something.“ River shook her head a little to herself as she watched the TARDIS disappear.  

“Thus is the nature of surprises, Professor, but you will figure it out soon enough, I’m sure.“ Vastra smiled and took a sip of her champagne as well. “Strax, bring the carriage round, we must get going.“

——

“Is that…“ Amy stuck her head out of the kitchen. Was she imagining the wheezing and groaning noise that seemed to be coming from outside or could it be that finally, the Doctor was returning after faking his death? Rory had already walked up to the window and pushed the curtains outside to look out into the garden.

“I think it is!“ Rory looked around to her and a wide grin spread across Amy’s face.

“What are you waiting for?“ She pulled her shoes on quickly. “Come on!“ They rushed outside to find the TARDIS in their backyard.

“A whole year, Doctor…“ Amy called out when the door opened. “What…“ She lost her train of thought when she laid eyes on the blonde woman that stepped out of the blue box. Who was she? Had they been replaced?

“Ah yes, sorry, new face!“ The Doctor grinned when she realised why she was looking at her all confused. “Come here Amelia.“ Without waiting for a response she pulled Amy into a hug. “And Rory the Roman!“ She grabbed Rory by the jumper and pulled him in as well. The Ponds were too perplexed to protest.

“I… don’t understand.“ Amy looked the Doctor up and down when she pulled away. They had seen River regenerate so they knew it was very much possible, but this was a lot to take in.

“Yeah, sorry, this bit is going to be a bit complicated…“ The Doctor gave an awkward grin.

“River said you were alive, she didn’t mention you had… changed…“ Rory said trying his best to work through his shock.

“I haven’t yet, not for you, well technically… it’s complicated. You’ll see me again, the old me, about a year from now and you can’t tell him you’ve met me. Sorry. It’s just… in my time, where you are now, I can’t get to you, so I had to come to a time where I knew I wouldn’t run into myself and… I’m rambling, aren’t I, sorry, I… I’ve missed you both so much.“ The Doctor pulled them into another hug. She couldn’t put into words how much she had missed the two of them. Losing them in Manhattan had been one of the most painful experiences of her life. She knew she shouldn’t be going back in her timeline like this but she knew the Ponds wouldn’t be seeing her previous self for a while yet, the risk was relatively low. Also, there was no way she could do today without them.

“You really are… the Doctor?“ Amy grinned as the truth sank in.

“Yeah… very distant future but that doesn’t matter right now…“ The Doctor nodded.

“Have you finally, in the very distant future, realised it wasn’t very nice to keep us in the dark and waiting for so long? You better be taking us on an adventure, Doctor!“ Amy exclaimed having got over her shock. She gave her arm a playful slap.

“Yes, I am, sort of…“ The Doctor chuckled.

“Great! I’ll just grab our coats.“ Rory grinned making his way back to the house.

“But only if they’re fancy coats, you’re going to a wedding.“ The Doctor called out, stopping him in his tracks halfway down the garden path.

“Sorry, what?“ Amy didn’t know if she had heard her right and Rory came back.

“A wedding.“ The Doctor repeated. “My wedding, actually. To your daughter. She doesn’t know about it yet but… anyway, Mr Pond, how would you feel about me marrying your daughter? Again. Properly. I mean, that’s what you’re meant to do, right? According to Earth tradition, ask the father of the bride first?“ She grinned at Rory who looked back at her dumbfounded.

“I uh…“

“Okay, I’ll take that as a maybe… Amy?“ The Doctor looked to Amy hopefully who was as perplexed as her husband.

“Hang on… did you just say you want to marry River again?“ She asked, needing to confirm she was getting this right.

“Yes. Wasn’t exactly a dream wedding, was it, on top of that pyramid, in an aborted timeline and all that. River has never complained but… I did ask her a while back if she’d want to do it again, properly and she said yes, so… I mean, I didn’t exactly look my best on the day and look at me now.“ The Doctor grinned tossing her blonde hair in amusement.

“But you’re not wearing that, are you?“ Amy looked her up and down.

“What?“ The Doctor looked down herself.

“You look like you got that charming combo from a charity shop.“ Amy couldn’t help but point out.

“Well, I did.“ The Doctor retorted, she didn’t really see what was wrong with her outfit but she had anticipated this problem. “Well, I do have a suit in the TARDIS.“ She revealed. “You still haven’t said yes yet, either of you.“ She put her hands on her hips expectantly, looking back and for between her in-laws.

“Well, of course you can, you moron, let us get our Sunday best and let’s get going!“ A wide grin spread across Amy’s face. She was going to see her daughter get married!

——

“Where are we going?“ River looked out of the carriage window.

“To get you a dress of course.“ Jenny grinned with excitement.

“Well, I do have plenty of dresses, she needn’t have gone through all this trouble.“ River chuckled. “But I must admit, this is fun.“ It had been a long time since she had seen the Silurian detective and her wife, they were wonderful company.

“You haven’t got a dress like this.“ Vastra smirked and the carriage came to a halt.

“You haven’t seen the size of my wardrobe.“ River grinned but obliged and followed them out of the carriage. She nearly tripped over when her eyes fell on the shop they had stopped in front of.

“Is the penny dropping, Professor?“ Vastra laughed at the look on River’s face as they found themselves in front of a bridal store.

“You can’t be serious. She can’t be serious.“ River shook her head to herself, she couldn’t believe it. Her hearts jumped into her throat and she had to force herself to take a deep breath to calm herself. She hoped she wasn’t jumping to the wrong conclusions but how could she be?

“From what the Doctor said you have waited an awfully long time for this. Some things should be done the proper way.“ Vastra revealed confirming her assumptions. She took the professor’s hand to reassure her.

“Let’s get you a wedding dress.“ Jenny grinned and took her other hand as they walked her up to the door.

“I think I’d better, hadn’t I…“ River breathed, trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

——

“Alright, let’s get the flower arrangements done, come on people, chop chop!“ Nardole clapped his hands together.

“Who put him in charge?“ Heather mumbled and Bill laughed.

“I think it’s cause he used to work here once…“ She replied fastening the last garland of white flowers to the balustrade of the balcony.

“Just can’t get the staff these days.“ Nardole huffed carrying on with his mission to make sure everything was just right.

“Maybe that’s cause we’re not staff but the Doctor’s friends and guests?“ Clara offered ushering the next load of guests in. The guest list the Doctor had provided was quite the challenge to accomplish but what good was having a time ship if not to get your best friend’s friends together from all over time and space.

“You just see to it that you get everyone here on time.“ Nardole jabbed his finger at her making her laugh. Despite the stress of organising it all, there was a buzz of excitement in the air. Clara’s heart lifted for seeing so many familiar faces. She had seen so much of the Doctor’s past when she had been inside their time stream and she knew how important each and everyone of these people where to them.

“I think we’ve got everyone now.“ Me pointed out looking around. “A few more TARDISes wouldn’t have gone amiss though. Did we miss anyone?“ She looked to Clara who checked the guest list.

“No, I think now there is just one trip to Victorian London to do.“ She grinned. “Time to get changed!“

“This place is beautiful.“ Kate Stewart observed stepping onto the balcony accompanied by Osgood. Everyone was having a good look around before the ceremony started and the view from the balcony really was quite something.

“What is that music?“ Martha asked as she leaned onto the balustrade, marvelling at the twin towers in the distance. A mild breeze carried a melody with it leaving them in awe. The sun was just settling in the distance.

“Nobody really understands where the music comes from. It's probably something to do with the precise positions, the distance between both towers. Even the locals aren't sure.“ Everybody looked around to see the Doctor stepping out of her TARDIS. She was wearing a black tuxedo and bow tie, her expression was one of unadulterated joy as she beamed at the sight of all her friends gathered.

“Doctor!“ Bill exclaimed in excitement.

“Wow, that’s not what I expected.“ Martha was dumbfounded. Clara had told them the Doctor had changed faces but that was quite the change indeed.

“Is the tux too much?“ The Doctor asked, feeling insecure for a moment at everyone’s gaping expressions.

“No, it’s just right.“ Amy reassured her as her and Rory urged her to keep going.

“Is everybody here?“ The Doctor asked slowly as she looked around. She felt a little overwhelmed seeing everyone. So many friends that she hadn’t seen in such a long time and yet they had all wanted to come. She couldn’t express how grateful she was to all of them.

“I think we’re just waiting for the bride now.“ Tasha Lem spoke up. “How about everybody has a seat?“ She gestured to the rows of chairs to either side of the aisle.

“I best be on my way then.“ Clara grinned. “You don’t mind if we take your TARDIS, do you? Less bulky than the diner.“

“Sure, yes of course.“ The Doctor nodded with a smile as the TARDIS hummed in agreement. She couldn’t very well deny the Old Girl when River was her child in a way, too. Slowly, the Doctor walked to the front as Clara disappeared with her TARDIS. Her nerves were catching up with her now as she found herself the centre of attention. Tasha gave her an encouraging smile as the Doctor came to a halt in front of her.

“Are you quite alright, Doctor.“ She asked tilting her head a little and the Doctor forced a smile. This was a whole lot more nerve wracking than she had imagined. It had all sounded like such a great idea at the time.

“You’re not nervous are you?“ Jack teased leaning forward in his chair.

“No. I’m not nervous. Why would I be nervous. Not the first time I’m getting married, is it. This is perfectly fine, no big deal…“ The Doctor huffed trying to gather herself as she grasped her hands together in front of her to keep them still.

“Would you look at that, the Oncoming Storm, trembling in the evening breeze.“ Jack smirked.

“I’d like to see you do this.“ The Doctor shot him a glare.

“Maybe you will, one day.“ Jack laughed putting his arm around Ianto who was sitting next to him. “Or maybe you won’t, seeing as you didn’t pick me for best man…“ He feigned hurt. “Who is your best man anyway?“ He asked looking around. The Doctor was looking rather lonely standing at the front with just Tasha to officiate.

“Best lady, thank you very much.“ Missy walked along the side of the chairs towards the front checking her hair in a pocket mirror. Kate and Osgood exchanged concerned looks, Bill huffed:

“Who invited you?“

“Why, the Doctor of course.“ Missy smirked as she made her way to the front.

“Who’s that?“ Yaz asked leaning forward in her chair, sitting just behind Bill and Heather.

“That’s the Master, the Doctor’s oldest… I don’t even know what anymore…“ Bill replied. She couldn’t believe she was here and that the Doctor would actually have invited her.

“That’s not the Master…“ Graham looked on in confusion.

“Probably a younger version of the Master that you know.“ Kate explained and Ryan asked:

“What would make her invite her, she’s like her worst enemy.“

“Or oldest friend… It’s… complicated.“ Bill thought back to the time she had spent with the Doctor while he had tried to help Missy change. She couldn’t presume to understand the relationship between the Doctor and the Master. She hadn’t then and she didn’t now. But she trusted the Doctor and if she had invited her, she had done so with good reason.

“You made it.“ The Doctor stated as Missy came to a halt in front of her. She tried her best to ignore the concerned whispers amongst her friends. She had had to invite her. Things were complicated to say the least but she couldn't do this without her oldest friend. Things had gone too far with the Master she had last seen, she couldn’t forgive him, but with Missy… it had been the closest she had felt to the Master in millennia.

“Evidently.“ Missy hummed. “Well, I could hardly refuse my oldest friend.“ She looked her up and down. “You are old. Where am I in your time?“ She tilted her head, she could tell this Doctor was a whole lot older than the one she had last encountered on Skaro.

“That’s not important. I’m glad you came.“ The Doctor smiled, she didn’t want to dwell on what was yet to come for her, she just wanted to be happy for her being here.

“I wouldn’t miss the wedding of my best enemy, now, would I.“ Missy smirked as she looked at all the guest gathered on the balcony. Quite a few of them she remembered and was disappointed to find alive still. “But where is the bride?“

As if on cue, the TARDIS materialised at the far end of the aisle and the Doctor’s hearts nearly skipped their beats. The door opened and the Doctor let go the breath she was holding. It was Clara.

“No peeking, Doctor, I just need your in-laws.“ Clara grinned as she waved for the Ponds to go in while she went looking for her seat along with Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

“Clara, dear, don’t you look ravishing.“ Missy winked at Clara who turned a little pink but squared her jaw as she dropped into her seat next to Me. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the Master being here but it was the Doctor’s decision after all. The Ponds meanwhile disappeared into the TARDIS.

——

“I was gonna be cool and now I’m gonna cry.“ Rory took a deep breath, he had not been prepared for seeing his daughter in a wedding dress. They might not have been a traditional family but no matter what, she would always be his little girl, and this hit home. River was wearing a beautiful long wedding dress and her hair was pinned back with white flowers in it.

“And I thought I was going to be a mess.“ River chuckled and pulled her parents into her arms.

“Are you okay?“ Amy asked softly as they let go. She took River’s face in her hands, searching her eyes for an honest answer.

“I think so.“ River took a deep breath trying to compose herself. She couldn’t put into words how happy she was to see her parents again and how grateful she was to have them here now. It seemed as though the Doctor had put a lot of thought into planning this. The reality of it had yet to sink in. She couldn’t allow herself to think about it too much, she was worried that if she did, she would cry and ruin her make up.

“You’re not nervous are you?“ Amy chuckled.

“Where you in on all this?“ River asked, trying to wrap her head around it all.

“No, the Doctor only just picked us up! We will have to go back to our life to travel with her younger self again after this but… We wouldn’t miss this for anything in the universe.“ Amy kissed the top of her daughter’s head and gave her an encouraging smile.

“I am so glad you’re here.“ River smiled, her voice faltering just enough to betray the depth of her emotions. “So what do you think?“ She tried to play it off and took a twirl in her elegant white gown.

“Absolutely beautiful.“ Amy smiled, every inch the proud mother of the bride.  

——

“Right okay, stay cool…“ The Doctor mumbled to herself taking a deep breath.

“You’ve never been cool.“ Missy teased and the Doctor groaned in annoyance:

“Fuck off, Missy…“

“Swearing now, too, Doctor? Things have changed, I’ll say.“ Missy chuckled, delighting in the Doctor’s obvious tension.

“I’m fully expecting you to have come with some evil ploy to ruin the day… but I’m still glad you came.“ The Doctor looked to Missy hoping she understood why she had asked her here.

“Well, if I hadn’t, who would have brought you these?“ Missy sighed as she pulled out a small box. She opened it to reveal two pale wedding bands.

“That’s…“ The Doctor’s eyes widened in shocked but Missy didn’t allow her to dwell on it and get overcome by emotion.

“Dark star alloy… beats whatever pathetic excuse for wedding rings you’d planned on.“ She waved dismissively. “I mean, I only met the Professor once that time in prison but I have an eye for these things… not sure yours will fit now though, you’re much smaller than I remember.“ She grabbed the Doctor’s hand to look at her fingers.

“I’m not small! Look who’s talking.“ The Doctor huffed, she was still taller than her. “Oi!“ She pulled her hand back.

“Be back in a minute.“ Missy winked and hit the button on her vortex manipulator, disappearing into thin air.

“I swear this place must be giving off the biggest concentration of space time anomalies this side of the known universe…“ Kate shook her head to herself.

“There we are.“ Missy reappeared only seconds later. “Don’t look at me like that, what’s time travel good for if you can’t even get your best friend’s wedding ring resized.“ She smirked as she checked the rings again.

“Thank you, Missy.“ The Doctor gave her a soft smile and reached out to give her hand a squeeze. She didn’t have the words to say how much this meant to her, she could only hope she knew. Missy didn’t respond at first, she didn’t seem to know what to say, perhaps, just for a moment, she was overcome with emotion herself, so she pulled something else from her pocket to move the conversation along.

“Got you this as well, you wanted to do this properly, didn’t you.“ She handed over a scarlet ceremonial scarf to Tasha. High Gallifreyan symbols were embroiled on it in golden cross-stitch.

“That’s from home.“ The Doctor realised it was the sort of scarf used to officiate weddings on Gallifrey. With the planet destroyed she hadn’t thought it possible to find one.

“Your keen observational skills amaze me.“ Missy tried her best with a sarcastic quip but she couldn’t quite deliver it under the circumstances. “Only borrowed though, who knows, maybe I’ll want to get married one day.“ She shrugged and went to check her appearance in her pocket mirror again, ensuring she wasn’t showing any undo emotions. The Doctor, in turn, swallowed her emotions as well, they both knew how much this meant to either of them, it didn’t need saying.

“Old and burrowed.“ The Doctor smiled nodding at the ceremonial scarf. “And something new.“ She pointed to the rings in her hand and then turned her attention to the TARDIS.

“And something blue.“ Missy smiled and gave the Doctor’s hand a squeeze, allowing herself one brief moment of letting her guard down.

——

“Right, I better go and sit down. Let the father of the bride do the walking.“ Amy took a deep breath. “Do not stumble and embarrass your daughter.“ She jabbed her finger at Rory who straightened his tie.

“You just had to say that, didn’t you, now I’ll be watching my feet the whole time.“ He huffed and River chuckled.

“How about you watch out for me instead, Dad, hm?“ She looped her arm around his.

“I think I can manage that.“ Rory smiled and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. The TARDIS wheezed and hummed behind them, drawing their attention to the console. There was a bouquet of exotic flowers sat on top of it.

“She’s really thought of everything, hasn’t she…“ River said softly as Amy fetched the flowers for her and handed them over. “I can’t believe she managed to do all this and keep it from me…“

“I think she’s had a lot more help than she would admit.“ Rory chuckled as Amy left the TARDIS. “Can’t pull off a Valentine’s surprise like this without accomplices.“ He smiled to his daughter who took another deep breath struggling for composure. “Ready?“ He asked.

“Ready.“ River smiled.

——

“Try not to cry, that would be so undignified.“ Missy mumbled to the Doctor but she never even took her words in. The moment River stepped out of the TARDIS, time itself seemed to grind to a halt, at least for the Doctor. The last rays of the slow Darllian sunset caught in River’s curls and the singing of the towers seemed to pick up with the light breeze. Their eyes met down the aisle and both the Doctor and River Song smiled, they didn’t need words, they both understood. An impossibly journey had brought them to this moment, surrounded by friends and family, a moment of pure joy and love that radiated through all of time and space. The Doctor thought of the towers as she listened to their enchanting melody. They’d been there for millions of years, through storms and floods and wars and... time… as she intended for her and her wife to be.

END.

[anonniemousefics]

Some jesper and kaz fics pleaseee

I’m so sorry this has taken me foreeeever to get to you! I hope this scratches the itch. :)

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

Between You And Me

Fandom: Six of Crows | Jesper + Kaz

Rating: Teen and Up

Words: 3236

Jesper’s feet pounded the cobblestones, his labored breathing filling his head. He was sweating bullets beneath the dead weight slung over his shoulder – his collar and his pits were already soaked through. It was embarrassing how a few months of pencil-pushing at university had hacked away at his endurance. He was going to have to make up for that if he was going to keep pulling off these jobs for Kaz Brekker.

If Kaz Brekker was going to survive the night.

Jesper shook the thought out of his head and adjusted the limp body over his shoulder. He was going to pretend it was a sack of potatoes or a too-full school bag and not a 16-year-old boy’s body maybe bleeding out all over him.

His lungs were burning. He just needed to get Kaz back to The Slat. Haskell would have men there who would know what to do. Probably.

He felt like his knees were going to give out. How had this gone so horribly wrong? It was supposed to have been a simple drop – a brief exchange of kruge for information. Kaz had even not pulled the Wraith off her current assignment – he’d only brought Jesper for back-up. It was not supposed to have turned into a brawl.

“No dice, kid.” In his mind’s eye, Jesper could still see the cruel, yellowing smile of the turncoat Blacktip, his teeth grinning around the stub of a cigarette. “My price is much steeper if it’s intel on Rollins you’re after.”

“We had a deal.” Kaz’s rasp had been like flint on tinder. Jesper’s fingers had lingered at the pistol on his hip.

The Blacktip had laughed. Jesper could have warned him how terribly thin the ice was on which he now stood.

“A deal?” The Blacktip barked. “What are you, twelve? Something tells me this isn’t exactly going down with Haskell’s knowledge. If you’re wanting to make deals like men, start putting up real money.”

Kaz had cocked his head to the side. Just considering the man from his beat up bowler hat down to his scuffed, patent-leather shoes. Jesper had seen feral barn cats do the same thing before they played with their kill. He’d waited, breathless, for Kaz’s orders.

They never came.

Before either of them had moved, they were suddenly surrounded on all sides by Blacktips. Rough hands seized at their arms, at the napes of their coats. And the cruel, yellowing smile in front of them spread.

“Haskell doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” the gangster had cackled. “How much do you think he’ll pay to have you back?”

Jesper wasn’t going to wait to find out. (He knew the truth – Haskell wouldn’t be interested in paying until the Blacktips started removing appendages.)

He’d acted without thinking. Rammed his heel into a set of shins. Slammed his elbow deep into someone’s gut. Grabbed for his pistols and swirled.

Kaz was wielding his cane, its crow’s head hefty like a hammer, smashing into skulls. Jesper fired off a warning shot. No one backed down. He took aim again.

Gunpowder. The glint of a knife. Echoes of shouts through the alley. There was a blur of fists and blood, and several minutes later, a circle of bodies lay around them. And then there was only Jesper and Kaz, back to back, weapons still drawn and breathing hard.

Jesper had had only a moment of relief before Kaz stumbled forward and dropped to a knee.

And he was pressing a hand hard against a stab wound to his torso. In the lamplight, Jesper could see the black wool of his coat growing wet around his leather glove.

“What do I do?” Jesper had caught him by the shoulders before he could fall. “What do I do?” For a moment, Kaz’s dark brown eyes went wide, his brows pulled up, and to Jesper, he looked -- scared? And that was more horrifying than anything that had happened yet.

“Get,” Kaz had breathed, “your hands – off – m--”

And then he’d fainted.

This is fine. This happens. This is fine. This happens. Jesper was trying not to panic.

He just needed to get him back to The Slat. Haskell could do something. Haskell would do something. This was Kaz, his lieutenant, his right hand. He wouldn’t stand for this.

His legs felt like jelly. He just had to make it back to The—

“Jes…” Over his right ear, Jesper heard Kaz’s raspy croak, and what his heart did at the sound almost took him down. It was like someone had reached into his chest and given the muscle a hard wrench.

“Almost there, Brekker,” he said. “Hang on.”

“Jes.” Kaz’s words were methodical even then, even while flopping around like the prize catch of the day over a fisherman’s shoulder. “Put. Me. Down.”

Jesper had learned enough about Kaz Brekker by then to know even his contradictory instructions should be considered. So, even though his gut was screaming at him to get this boy home now, he stopped. Drew in some deep breaths, trying to catch his own. Then lowered Kaz to the pavement.

Kaz dropped hard, then inched back so he could prop himself up against the brick wall of the alley. His hand was still pressed to the inside of his coat as his head lolled back, leveling a glare up at Jesper through his disheveled black hair. Jesper was relieved to see he wasn’t looking quite so pale as before.

No one should be that pretty when they’re bleeding out and furious.

“You touch me again,” Kaz sounded winded, “and I will kill you.”

There’d been a time not so long ago Jesper might have believed him. But tonight, he had his fists balled at his waist like it would help him gulp down much-needed air, and still he can’t help but laugh.

“Good luck with that,” he said. “Maybe you should work on being vertical first.”

“Fuck you,” Kaz groaned, closing his eyes with a wince.

“Or, how about – ‘Thank you, Jesper, for saving my ass and for carrying me a thousand miles, especially since I’m weirdly as heavy as a newborn heifer.’”

“A newborn?” Kaz slit his eyes up at him. “Why a newborn? That’s a little emasculating.”

“I don’t know – they’re your words, not mine.”

Kaz huffed a laugh and then promptly groaned again, pressing the hand tighter against himself.

“Inej is going to kill me,” he muttered to himself.

It wasn’t supposed to sting when Kaz talked about girls. (But Kaz never talked about girls. Never looked at girls. Didn’t seem to care at all about girls. Which meant, maybe… maybe…) Jesper sort of wished there was another Blacktip around to spare a knife and stab these stupid thoughts out of his brain.

But then he remembered something else. Something that Blacktip had said.

“Forget Inej,” he said, crossing his arms. “Let’s talk about Haskell. Did he not know you were doing this? Where does he think we are tonight?”

Kaz gave a pained, rueful laugh.

“What does Haskell know would be a shorter conversation,” he rasped. “Haskell doesn’t give a shit about how I conduct my business. So long as I’m bringing him more kruge.”

My business? Jesper frowned. He’d always seen The Dregs as soldiers of Per Haskell. They were fists doing the fighting for old men in the streets. What kind of business could a kid have with a man like Pekka Rollins?

Some days it was like he didn’t know Kaz Brekker at all.

“If Haskell doesn’t know what you’re up to, he can’t protect you,” and Kaz laughed again when Jesper said it, which was even more infuriating. He pushed harder, squatting in front of Kaz to get at eye level. “I thought the whole point of this gang shit was to have each other’s backs. That could have gone very differently just now, and there’d have been no one to come for us--”

“No one is ever coming for us.”

It was starting to rain. Of course it was starting to rain. Jesper blinked back the droplets from his lashes, for the moment stunned by the vehemence in Kaz’s harsh voice. When he glared at Jesper, Kaz almost looked like could start spitting venom.

“I don’t know what you were expecting when you took this job,” he said. “This isn’t some family business where we give each other birthday cakes and presents on holidays. If you fuck up a job, there is no one coming for you.”

For a moment, Jesper let the weight of this wash over him with the rain. If his father only knew how far he’d fallen…

This is just until your debts are paid.

But it was getting harder to tell himself that these days. Kaz Brekker wielded a king-like kind of enigma that was hard to look away from once you got a taste of its power. And these days, Jesper wanted more than just a look, just a taste. He wanted…he wanted…

He closed his eyes, releasing a sigh and whatever he was about to think along with it.

“Brekker,” he said, trying to find the punchline again, “it sounds like you’re admitting that you’ve fucked up this job.”

Kaz rolled his eyes at him.

“No, I definitely meant to get stabbed. That was all part of the grand scheme.” And then he looked away to mutter, “You stupid podge,” and began to shift his body around in what looked to be a sad attempt to stand again.

“You’ve got a real funny way of showing gratitude.” Jesper would offer him a hand in a minute. This was amusing.

“My dearest Jesper,” Kaz said with a sneer, “however will I repay you for getting me stabbed?”

“You are cranky when you’re bleeding!” Jesper observed, suppressing a grin. “Do you want help up or are you just going to roll around like a worm? I’m good with whatever you decide.”

Kaz sighed the heavy sigh of a much older man.

“A hand,” he said, finally.

Jesper clasped his palm to Kaz’s leather glove and, with one hand wedged up under his armpit, hoisted the Bastard of the Barrel to his feet with a groan. Made sure he could remain steady. Made sure he had a decent grip on his cane.

Then they turned their slow, careful steps back to The Slat as the rain fell harder.

“Stop fussing,” Kaz grumbled, batting Jesper back with a glare and an elbow.

Jesper rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. No touching.” He glanced at the boy sidelong, his face grim and determined against the pain. “So, is it like a religious thing or something?”

Kaz looked at him like he was growing tentacles out of his ears.

“What?”

“The only time you’re ever jumpy is if people are going to touch you. Best I can figure that means you’re either a secret nun or someone fucked you up pretty bad. But I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to talk about that, though, so is it a religious thing?”

Kaz gave a grim huff through his nostrils. Shot him a weighted glance out of the corner of his eyes.

“You caught me. I am actually a nun. Out here on the streets, converting all you sinners.”

“And doing a piss-poor job of it, I must tell you.”

“Ah.” Jesper couldn’t tell if Kaz was wincing or waxing poetic. “You’re just making assumptions about which god I worship.”

“A fair point. Hey,” and Jesper made sure to hold out a hand away from Kaz’s body to stop him, “what if I went on ahead and brought back a medik to you? Your wobbles are scaring me.”

“I am not wobbling.” Kaz said the word like it tasted bad.

“You’re wobbling a little. You’re wobbling a lot. Hey, don’t give me that look – it is not my fault you’re wobbling.”

“Stop saying ‘wobble.’ It makes less sense every time you do.”

Jesper had to bite his own lips to will himself to keep from saying wobble one more time. Really, Kaz’s gait seemed a little more firm every time he teased him. If his goading could fuel Kaz all the way back to The Slat, it would be worth every contempt-filled glance. Which, quite frankly, Jesper didn’t hate. Goading Kaz was its own kind of fuel.

You are getting dangerously close to flirting with gang boss, Fahey. Keep your head on straight.

(No part of Jesper had ever been on straight.)

The Slat was only two blocks away now. Kaz was grunting every time he set down his bad leg, and they were both soaked in rain to the skin. It would have been easy, Jesper realized, to just run on ahead. Maybe someone could bring a stretcher. Maybe someone had something for the pain.

It was killing him to see Kaz in pain.

“We should cut across through the next alley,” Kaz was saying, his voice strained. “Go in through the back. Shouldn’t attract attention.”

“Brekker,” said Jesper, wishing there was some way to make a joke out of this, “you need attention. All right? We should be taking the quickest way back.”

“No.” Kaz was shaking his head as he grit his teeth. “Haskell shouldn’t know. Shouldn’t see. No one should see.”

“Kaz--”

“Listen to me.” Kaz turned on him savagely then, feral in the midst of the pain. “I am still in charge here. I am still the one who hired you. And that’s working out well for you, isn’t it? You like the cuts you’re getting? You’re getting them because of me. But I can make no guarantees about your future if I turn up there tonight looking like some lowlife runner got the best of me. There isn’t a gang in Ketterdam that looks kindly on that kind of weakness. Are you following me? What happened tonight stays between you and me.”

The rain dribbled off the tile roofs, collecting in puddles around their shoes. Jesper wasn’t sure why he was shivering.

“I follow you,” he said.

So, they cut through the alley, darker and deeper into the veins of Ketterdam. Jesper couldn’t think of jokes anymore. Couldn’t think past the painful breathing next to him. That leather gloved hand pressing against blood-soaked wool. Something in him was screaming at him – This wasn’t even the beginning of how dark the Dregs could be.

If your father could see you now…

There was a stoop at the back door of The Slat, underneath a little awning. And that’s where Kaz dropped with a grunt when they’d finally made it. Like he wasn’t going to take one more step.

Jesper huddled beneath the awning, wrapping his arms around himself. The night was darker than any he could remember.

“Can I get Inej at least?” he asked. Kaz was doubled over his gut, one hand in his hair.

“She’s not here,” Kaz replied. “Surveillance at the docks.”

“Right.”

So Jesper slipped into The Slat alone. And returned with a few kitchen supplies he could scrounge up – some rags, some soap, some clean water in a wooden bowl.

Then he sat next to Kaz on the stoop. Brekker was breathing hard through his nose, his jaw clenched tightly. Steeling himself, Jesper realized.

They hadn’t talked at all about what to do once they got to this point. It had been all jokes and snark and light threatening, but now… Jesper was painfully aware of how little he knew Kaz Brekker, really. He’d hired him for jobs, had trusted him with a few gang secrets. But Jesper only knew of Kaz what the bastard wanted him to see – namely, his scary (attractive) face only. (Don’t think about his attractive face, Fahey, what the hell.)

Beside him, Kaz swallowed. Then slowly moved to unbutton his coat.

Jesper stared down at the wooden bowl in his lap, focusing on his own hands.

But Kaz drew in a sharp breath through his teeth, and Jesper couldn’t stop himself from looking over.

Kaz’s white button-down was open wide – blood-red all across the middle. The hard planes of his chest heaved while he peeled back the blood-soaked fabric stuck to his pale skin, his stomach muscles contracting. The stab wound was higher than his navel, off to the far left -- a blackish, thin line, seeping scarlet. It didn’t seem too deep at least – Jesper was trying to focus on that innocuous fact.

“Here.” Without thinking, Jesper had picked up the clean rag. Reached out for the fabric of Kaz’s shirt.

“Don’t--”

“I know, I know. Don’t touch. I got it.”

And, maybe he felt reassured or maybe he was just too tired, but Kaz seemed to relinquish then. He slouched to one side, holding his shirt open, looking away.

And Jesper, gently, softly, cleared away the blood.

There was only the sound of the rain then, and sometimes Kaz’s stifled wincing.

“Sorry,” Jesper would apologize at the sound.

“’S fine.”

And that was all they would say.

Jesper was trying so hard to not touch Kaz’s skin, his own dark fingers started to shake. And that just made him mad at himself – shaking over blood. Shaking over a boy. Jesper clenched his jaw, hard, and tried to think of boring things to distract himself.

But didn’t work. Because there was literally nothing boring when you were around Kaz Brekker. Ever.

You’ve got a serious problem, Fahey – you know that, right?

He had to move to stand in front of Kaz to wrap the bandage around his torso. Kaz lifted his arms a little while Jesper worked and focused his attention on the stones of the stoop, collecting rain. When Jesper did glance at him, his forehead was collecting sweat, the furrows across it deeper than any 16-year-old’s forehead had the right to be.

“Sorry,” again.

“’S fine.”

Nothing about it felt fine. It felt far too real. Far too visceral. It felt like the last time Kaz was ever going to look Jesper in the eyes. It felt like Jesper was never going to be hired again.

It felt like he had something to lose.

When Jesper had finished wrapping the bandage, he stepped back into the rain, unsure of what to do from here. Kaz closed up his coat again, pressing a hand back over the site of the wound.

This would be the telling moment, Jesper realized. Kaz could tell him to get lost. Or thank him. And Kaz Brekker wasn’t known for thanking.

This is going to be over before it even starts…

Kaz sighed one last time. Drew himself up to stand on the stoop, now a few inches taller than Jesper because of it. He looked wan and pained, and Jesper wasn’t sure how to look at him.

“Think you can help me burn this shirt tomorrow?” he asked Jesper.

Jesper breathed out, surprised. Relieved. Tomorrow, he’d said. With that, he’d made up his mind to forget Kaz’s personal business with Pekka Rollins, with whatever strange vendetta had led them to this moment.

Kaz Brekker still wanted to keep him around. That was enough.

“Yeah, sure,” Jesper agreed, with a casual shrug. “Whatever you need.”

Kaz nodded and turned to limp up the steps. But he turned at the door.

“Are you coming or what?” he barked back at Jesper.

Only then did Jesper relax. And smile to himself. And followed him inside.

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

Tagging: @loveyatopluto, @raging-bisexual-alert, @ireallyshouldsleeprn, @annejulianneh111, @whosanxiety, @addies-invisible-life

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars CXVIII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: You guys have no idea how attatched I am to this fanfic idk what I’ll do once it’s over omg -Danny

Words: 2,506

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Somebody Else’ by The 1975

Chapter Sixteen: The Agreement.

Mel felt the cloak fall off her and Harry tried to move, but Hermione held to his wrist.

"Not yet! She might not be gone yet."

"She's goin' back ter the castle," Hagrid replied, peering through the window. "Blimey... inspectin' people, is she?"

"Yeah, Trelawney's on probation already..."

"'Mountain's scenery'," Mel scoffed. "That old cow, I wish I could put her in her place..."

"Me too," Harry sulked.

"Um... what sort of thing are you planning to do with us in class, Hagrid?" Hermione inquired anxiously.

"Oh, don' you worry abou' that, I've got a great load o' lessons planned! I've bin keepin' a couple o' creatures saved fer yer O.W.L. year, you wait, they're somethin' really special."

"Erm... special in what way?"

"I'm not sayin'. I don' want ter spoil the surprise."

"Look, Hagrid," Hermione said tensely, "Professor Umbridge won't be at all happy if you bring anything to class that's too dangerous —"

"Dangerous? Don' be silly, I wouldn' give yeh anythin' dangerous! I mean, all righ', they can look after themselves —"

"Hagrid, you've got to pass Umbridge's inspection, and to do that it would really be better if she saw you teaching us how to look after porlocks, how to tell the difference between knarls and hedgehogs, stuff like that!"

"But tha's not very interestin', Hermione. The stuff I've got's much more impressive, I've bin bringin' 'em on fer years, I reckon I've got the on'y domestic herd in Britain —"

"What now?" Mel asked in fear.

"Hagrid... please... Umbridge is looking for any excuse to get rid of teachers she thinks are too close to Dumbledore. Please, Hagrid, teach us something dull that's bound to come up in our O.W.L..."

"Lis'en, it's bin a long day an' it's late," He said tiredly patting Hermione on the shoulder. "Oh — sorry —" He stopped when he noticed he was forcing her to almost kneel. "Look, don' you go worryin' abou' me, I promise yeh I've got really good stuff planned fer yer lessons now I'm back... Now you lot had better get back up to the castle, an' don' forget ter wipe yer footprints out behind yeh!"

As they made their way back, Ron spoke.

"I dunno if you got through to him, 'Mione..."

"Then I'll go back again tomorrow," said Hermione determinedly, then looked at Mel. "You with me. We'll plan his lessons for him if we have to. I don't care if she throws out Trelawney but she's not taking Hagrid!"

"I agree with you," Mel sighed. "I guess I could help you by keeping Umbridge busy with other stuff."

"Like what?" Ron raised a brow.

"Maybe it's time I take your brothers' offer..." She said quietly.

Fred caught up with her before breakfast that Sunday.

"Hi," She said awkwardly. It was her first time talking to him after the Quidditch match. "What's up?"

"I just..." Fred started, "we never set a time for our... you know?"

"Oh," She grimaced, looking around the Great Hall. "Right."

"Is it okay if we have it today?"

"Right now?"

"After breakfast?" He shrugged.

"Okay?"

Fred wasn't doing anything that could be taken as inappropriate but he was, however, sitting far from his twin and Lee Jordan, which was extremely rare. No one had tried to sit on the empty place next to her, which let her know people was definitely avoiding them.

"Fred?"

"Hmm?" He replied chewing.

"Does everyone know what we did?"

Fred snorted, swallowing his food and smirking.

"Was it supposed to be secret? Sorry lady, but if you kiss someone in the middle of the Quidditch field, people will see you."

"Not always though," She mumbled.

"What?"

"I don't understand why are they being so weird!" Mel frowned. "It was just a stupid kiss! We didn't turn into aliens or anything..."

"What's an alien?"

"Nevermind that," She pushed her plate away. "I've lost my appetite..."

"That's unlike you," Fred raised a brow. "You're sure you're okay hanging out after this? If you're not feeling well–"

"It's not that," She said. "I just... I don't like it when they stare at me like that."

"If it makes you feel better, they're all staring at me. They hate me."

"Pfft–" Mel snorted. "How could anyone hate you?"

"It's true!" He said. "They hate me because you kissed me, you didn't choose them."

"What a terrible loss that must be!" Mel said dramatically. "All those broken hearts!"

"Half the school hates you too," Fred added teasingly.

"I know that," Mel smirked. "But what's the reason now?"

"Because you snatched me away from them!" It was Fred's turn to be dramatic. "I had thousands of options but you've stolen my first kiss! Now I belong to you, I can't do anything about it."

"That wasn't your first kiss!" Mel exclaimed.

"It was, I swear!" Then he added cheekily. "It was my first as much as it was yours."

Mel's eyes widened in horror. "Who told you?!"

"Blimey, no one!" Fred's mouth fell open. "I was joking!"

That made her face turn redder.

"Fred!"

"Please, tell me you didn't kiss Flint–"

"I'd never kiss—!" Mel stopped, people were starting to stare more intently now. She continued in an angry whisper. "I didn't kiss Flint!"

"Ron?" Fred scrunched up his nose.

"Knock it off," She groaned.

"Harry?"

"..."

Fred frowned. "I have more questions..."

Mel stood up.

"Time's ticking, Weasley. You better use it wisely."

"You'll clear my doubts?"

"If they're all about Harry, then no," She glanced at him, trying to ignore the whispers as they walked past their classmates. "It would be weird to talk about him with..."

"With whom?" Fred smirked. "One kiss and you're planning our wedding? A bit forward if you ask me—"

"Oh, shut it," Mel rolled her eyes. "Don't you think it's weird?"

"I'm just trying to get to know you," He shrugged. "The romantic side of you– You know, if I'm going to take any part in it..."

"We'll see," She raised a brow. "You're allowed to step out of this if you want and so am I."

"Fine."

Fred continued to walk next to her with ease. He had a soft smile on his face, enjoying himself. Of course he would, he'd always liked the spotlight. Mel was having a more difficult time, this didn't feel like the attention she would get from her friends, this felt like cold analysis, they were measuring her and Fred, trying to form an opinion.

She felt a bitter nostalgia about the way things had unfolded with her and Harry a few months back, this was exactly what they'd managed to avoid, but she had messed up this time.

"So..." She started. "Tell me about your first kiss..."

Once he replied, Fred asked her about hers and she made him promised he wouldn't say a word to anyone, not even George. When Mel finished her story, Fred wasn't that surprised.

"Well, no one caught you kissing or anything," He tilted his head, "We could see there was something going on, but none of us felt the need to confirm it."

"As it should be. Some people are so nosy! Take Skeeter, she gets paid for making up rumours! This wouldn't happen if we could just mind our own business..."

"Life would be boring without a little bit of drama," He nudged her arm playfully.

They sat on a bench, right under one of the trees near the lake. It was cold but not freezing, and they were wearing their robes, so they would be fine for a while before the wind could become a problem.

"My turn again!" Fred said enthusiastically. "Why did you kiss me?"

For some reason, the question caught her off guard. She knew why she'd kissed him, but she didn't want to upset him. Ginny reacted badly when she'd thought Mel was using her brother, how was he going to react?

"I... uh..." Mel fumbled with the end of her scarf, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. "You know I'm fickle..."

"Not as much as before! The only times you lose your temper now is when you talk to Harry. Which is weird, because—"

"I know, I know," She huffed exasperatedly. "Because I was always soft around him! Ugh! I know I had him as this knight in shining armour–"

"Knight?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"I won't fall for it again, all right?" Mel crossed her arms, feeling cornered. "I won't let him get to me this time."

Fred's smile faltered.

"Listen, I know you're not one to play with people's feelings," He scratched the back of his head. "That being said, right now it feels like you only kissed me to prove a point..."

"I do like you," She said, gazing at her shoes. "Not that way though... but I think you're funny and nice— Don't let it get over your head, but your flirting was really good too, even if you were joking..."

"I was joking at first, just to get a reaction from Ron's," Fred gave her a small smile. "But then you kissed me... I mean, I'm confused, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to try..."

"It could," Mel sighed. "Whatever happened between Harry and me... Fred, I don't want to ruin our friendship."

"Me neither," He admitted.

"This is a bad idea..." She reflected. "I don't think I'd make a good girlfriend right now."

Fred stayed quiet for a moment.

"How about we keep it casual?"

"What?"

"We don't have to call ourselves anything if we don't want to."

"What do you mean?" Mel frowned.

"Kind of like... well, you know Eddie Carmichael?"

"Yeah?"

"He has this thing with Lisa Turpin," He moved on his place to face her. "They don't date but... well, they do plenty of things without being exclusive."

"Fred," Mel bit her lip to avoid laughing. "You're asking for a 'friends-with-benefits' thing?"

"No!" He said, then added. "Yes? Well, you don't want to date me!"

"I said I'm not sure!"

"You're in love with Harry," He stated. "Don't deny it. I get it, you were snogging seven months ago—"

"We weren't snogging—"

"You're not someone that takes this lightly. I'm giving you a choice, Mel, if we insist on making things formal when you clearly don't want to be with me like that, things will get messy, but I still want to make you feel better. Going out and having lots of fun is a good way to heal."

"So you're taking one for the team and decided to be the one who shows me what I've been missing?" Mel joked.

"We must make sacrifices once in a while," He sighed. "It hurts me, giving up my virtue, but you're my friend and your wish is my command."

Mel snorted, nudging his side playfully.

"I'm pretty sure I'd heal even if you don't snog the grief out of my body..."

"You're talking nonsense already!" He rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Mel. I'll take care of you..."

He cupped her cheeks and kissed all over her face -but stayed far from her mouth- which caused her to laugh in a way she hadn't laughed in months.

"Okay! Okay, I get it!" Mel pushed him away. "We must set ground rules, though."

"How about... since you're still a lovesick mess for Potter, I'll try to keep him off your mind as often as I can, that way you can focus on other things."

"Like you?" She teased.

"Maybe," He smirked. "But also like the D.A.— You're a great teacher, lady. Your students can't have you moping over a boy."

"Okay, but you won't try to kiss me unless I say it's okay."

"Sounds a bit tough," Fred pouted. "You're a good kisser—"

"Also," She continued, speaking a bit louder. "If anyone asks, just say we're dating— even if it's not entirely true, it'll keep a few people away from me and that's wonderful, I don't want their company..."

"You mean Goldstein, don't you?"

"Merlin, the boy is so annoying," Mel murmured.

"You have to help my brother and me with our pranks and products," Before she could argue, he added, "my girlfriend would want to help me succeed! Others might find it strange if you don't spend time with me, they'll think you don't care!"

"They'd be right."

"That's no way to treat your future husband, Lady Dumbledore."

"Finally," She said, standing up and offering her hand to him. "No one can know about this agreement. If we start to date for real at some point... it's our business and our business only. Understood?"

"Yup!" He stood up, holding her hand with a pleased expression. "One last thing?"

"Yes?"

"You can put an end to this anytime," He said. "This is meant to be fun, so if you change your mind or it makes you uncomfortable, you can tell me. I promise our friendship will remain intact."

"You can't promise that," Mel said quietly. "You can't know."

"Look at me— I swear it won't change."

She stared at him carefully.

"...We're just fooling around, right? It's nothing serious?"

"Just fooling around," He conceded. "And we can stop anytime you want, just say the word. I only do this for the same reason I asked you last year to the Yule ball. I think we could have a lot of fun."

"This is not the type of fun you were thinking of the first time, right?" She asked doubtfully. Fred laughed.

"Not at all!" He admitted. "But I don't mind this either..."

"Yeah," Mel looked down at their intertwined hands. "I don't mind it much either..."

Mel had to endure the whispering and glances towards her for the rest of the weekend and the entirety of Monday. Fred was having perhaps too much fun with it, and if he was present during the whispering, he would loudly flirt or mess with her.

She was torn between enjoying his attention and mortified at the fact that they were lying to their friends. Sure, they had an agreement, but ever since their talk, Mel had been very careful not to be seen alone with Fred, and she became really quiet about her private life even though all their friends were bombarding her with questions about her 'relationship'.

One thing that she wasn't expecting was Harry's reaction to the whole thing. Sure, she wasn't doing this to watch him throw a tantrum and yell at Fred about betrayal and all, and she couldn't be sure about him not being hurt, but overall, he was handling it with utter indifference.

He would talk to her and share notes while studying or preparing the classes for the D.A. but gone were the hours spent talking about nothing and everything from years prior. Harry was just another classmate.

The others thought that the sight of Mel without Harry was strange, but the pair were warming up to the idea. Truth be told, neither Harry nor her knew what it was to live in the other's shoes anymore.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @kylosleftbuttcheek @reverse-hxlland @bloodorangemoonlight @omiwashere @t-rexs-world​ @just-here-to-escape-from-reality​ @21bruhs

[imperiuswrecked]

Pietro + Luna interactions 🥰

(Full fic below the cut)

One Summer Day

Pietro had just gotten off a rather nasty mission, he was covered in ichor and the smell was horrendous. Stopping an evil former god from returning to the mortal plane wasn’t the most fun thing in the world but it could have been worse. He contemplates cleaning his suit, however there was no saving it from the mess of god’s blood so he sighed as he tossed it out. In the shower he slows down and takes his time, letting the hot water cleanse him. His phone signals that he got an emergency text and he grumbles under his breath.

“I swear to god if Clint needs a ride I will take him to Savage Land and leave him there.”

It dings again, and he curses as he sticks his head out of the shower and snatches up his phone to speed text a barrage of insults to Clint, but when he sees who sent the messages his heart drops. The first message simply said; S.O.S. and the second was a set of coordinates. Both messages were from Luna. Pietro jumps out of the shower and in less than 3 seconds he is fully dressed and running out of the door to his small New York apartment to save his daughter.

When he arrived at the place Luna had sent he thought that he would be running into a trap, or a battle, or some plot by a villain who had kidnapped his daughter. That happened a lot back when Luna was younger, after Pietro had gotten her a cell phone, they had come up with the “come get me” message. No matter when Luna sent it, Pietro would race to her location to help. He screeches to a halt and is surprised to find himself in a rather nice place. It was the entrance to a kids summer camp in the northern part of California. The sign proclaimed the name and the grounds were lovely. There was a lake not to far off and the cabins stood in neat rows, beyond the smaller cabins stood a larger one which was probably the meeting hall for the whole camp. Voices sounded all around as girls walked to and from cabins, or the main hall, some were racing down towards the lake, their towels banners behind them as they yelled with laughter. Unless this was some elaborate design nothing here seemed out of the ordinary. He was the one out of place here in his shimmery light blue suit with a lightening blot that crossed him from shoulder to hip and pale white hair.

He pulls out his phone to be sure he had the right directions, but an instant later he sees pale blonde hair and young teen running towards him while carrying a large overstuffed backpack in one hand and her phone in the other, “Dad!”

“Luna?” He was confused, she seemed to be in good health, and not in danger. Still he opened his arms when she ran into them and pulled her into a tight hug, she was taller now, her hair tickled his chin. It was a shocking thought that someday she would be taller than he was, she seemed to have inherited his frame even as a child she was always more like him than her mother.

“Is everything alright? Are you hurt? In danger?” He asked quickly, barely slowing down enough for her to understand, as he pulled out of the hug to hold her at am arms length and check her over for any wounds.

“I’m fine dad, I’m fine! But we need to-” 

There was a raised shout and a flurry of movements as counselors began to appear in the distance, a few were checking cabins and others moving towards the main entryway to the camp, following the asphalt road that lead straight towards them.

“Run!” She yells. 

He doesn’t even hesitate, in the blink of an eye it was as if they were never there.

Racing with Luna in his arms brings back memories of her younger self’s delighted shrieking, faster papa faster! It rings in his mind as his feet beat against the road. He takes them away from there and to the seaside before he stops. She hops out of his arms and and the backpack she had been clutching is tossed onto the sand.

He crosses his arms and waits for an explanation, she beams up sunnily at him, “Luna?”

She doesn’t lose her smile as she replies, “Yes, Father?”

“What happened to dad?”

“Depends on how upset you’ll be with me.”

“Any reason I should be upset with you using our emergency code when there wasn’t an emergency?” Not that it would have matter, he would have come for every false alarm, but he didn’t want her to think it was alright to do so. She could have just called him for a pick up.

“It was an emergency... sort of.”

Her smile slips, a somber look which makes no one doubt that she is her father’s daughter comes over her face, “Mom sent me to that camp, I was supposed to be there for the summer while everyone was moving Attilan again, and she has a new boyfriend, well old new, it’s Black Knight.”

He winces. It was an old hurt, that Crystal could flint from man to man, and something he had to deal with without making his daughter feel caught in the middle of their ex-marital issues.

One of the girls there found out about my powers and well... they were really nice at first, but then when I wouldn’t use my powers to help them they told the counselors and said I was a dangerous mutant. They locked me up in my cabin but they didn’t know I had my phone on me because it was all supposed to be turned in at the start of the camp and I had given them the communicator mom got me.”

“They locked you up?!” Pietro was already turning on his heel to race back and bash some heads in, but her hand on his arm stops him.

“No, dad, please... they are just scared. I could have made them not scared you know, but I didn’t want to...” she pulls her hand back and crosses her arms, blue eyes that were his mirror turn away and look at the waves.

“You didn’t want to use your powers to make them feel something they didn’t have control over.” He finishes.

“Yeah... its hard sometimes you know? Knowing that I have the power to do this, it’s so frustrating to see people struggling with their emotions and know that I can solve things faster, but it’s not right.” She looks back, her face is a awash with guilt which makes him think about those long ago days when she couldn’t control her powers fully. She’s come a long way since then. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair before smiling at her.

“Well, I guess since summer camp wasn’t working out we can spend the summer together... what do you say?”

She brightens, it didn’t take an empath to know she was excited to see her father for a longer period than her mother usually allowed.

“Can I bury you in the sand?”

“Fine.”

“You have to promise to not move a single muscle!”

“I promise but only if you call your mother and let her know to get a refund from that place,” He counters as he flops onto his back and prepares himself to stay very still, “after that you have to tell me how you broke out of the cabin.”

“Uncle Max taught me how to pick locks!”

“Of course he did.”

The rest of the afternoon is filled with laughter and stories as they catch up on what they have missed since last they saw each other. After Pietro was covered to his neck with sand, Luna snaps a picture of her father and sends it to her mother to let her know all was well. 

[lynn-does-stuff]

Hanahaki

An Afterdeath Oneshot

—————

Hanahaki

Hana- flowers

Hakimasu- To throw up

A Japanese myth disease that claimed if a person were to hide their feelings towards someone for too long, flowers would begin to grow in their lungs. They would then throw up/ cough up the flowers, starting with only a few petals until it got to large amounts of full flowers. By the time it reaches full flowers there would be little time left until they would die. There was no cure, other than the victim feeling loved in a romantic way by their crush. If the victim expressed their feelings and the other declined, the process would instantly speed up and would die in minutes. The victim can also choose to have the flowers removed through surgery, though many choose to suffer through it, due to the fact that the removal of the flowers often caused them to lose all feelings towards their crush. Sometimes it would completely erase any memories about their crush all together, or even erase any ability to love again.

————

Reaper floated carelessly into the Save Screen, home of the infamous "immortal" skeleton. The resident of this empty space was supposed to die a long time ago, but had somehow escaped DEATH itself. And when Reaper went to the Save Screen personally to dispose of him, he was shocked to find the character didn't dust after making physical contact with him. Reaper had never met a being that didn't die by his touch, so he was genuinely surprised, and almost hopeful. Maybe he could finally have someone close to him that he could do normal things with, instead of simply standing to the side and looking awkward.

Ah yes.. Geno..

Geno was the resident of this empty space. When Reaper found he couldn't kill Geno, he immediately decided to try and warm up the the glitched skeleton. He then proceeded to get a smack on the face and a stern lecture about how you shouldn't try to befriend the person you were just trying to kill.

That's what Reaper liked so much about Geno. His Tsundere attitude, his pouting, and of course, his overly bossy tone. And they did become friends. Good friends even. But.. Reaper wanted more. He really wanted more. But there was no way he could flat out tell Geno. That would just make their friendship incredibly awkward, and possibly even ruin it. Better to just stick with the simple flirting and frequent compliments.

This had been going on for about nine months..

Reaper's eyes widened as he saw Geno sitting in his usual spot, the area of grass and flowers, and then grinned at the evil idea forming in his head. He floated up silently behind Geno and took a breath, before exclaiming in a loud voice. "Heeeeeya Geno!"

Geno whipped his head around, eye flare burning, as he smacked Reaper across the face. He then realized who it was and diminished his eye flare and menacing look and instead equipped a more annoyed face.

"Reaper you idiot! Don't sneak up on me like that! My soul is weak enough as it is, I don't need jump scares like that to give me a soul attack!"

Reaper simply rubbed his face and chuckled, though he felt a small pain in his chest. It was short and quick, so he waved it aside as side effects of floating for too long. He slowly touched the ground in front of Geno and grinned.

"Good to see you too beautiful."

Geno frowned. "Again with the flirting? Come on, it gets old after a while. And it's not funny either!" Geno huffed and turned away, causing Reaper to laugh.

Reaper walked next to Geno and sat down. His friend reluctantly followed and sat next to him as well. Reaper looked over at Geno, taking in all of his features. His rounder cheeks, the glitches that covered his eye, the extremely faint red tint that was always on his face, there was so much to look at, Reaper soon found himself lost in his eyes. Geno soon glanced over and made eye contact with Reaper, causing him to frown again. "It's rude to stare you know!"

Reaper blushed slightly and turned his head away. There was that pang again. This one seemed slightly worse however. And it only softened, it didn't completely go away.

Reaper frowned at the sudden pain, losing his usual carefree grin. Geno looked over and noticed this. "What, can't take criticism? Jeez, your ego is immense."

Reaper felt the pain suddenly grow as he winced, but it soon toned down again. He replaced his frown with his usual grin and winked as he looked over at Geno. "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

Reaper was going to reply with a quick nothing, but he soon realized he could be flirty and possibly get his point across at the same time.

"You~"

Geno just got an angry look as he blushed slightly, before replying in a quite upset manner.

"Well stop thinking about me! It's weird! And dumb! Especially when there's so many other things to think about!"

Weird.

Dumb.

Geno thinks I'm weird and dumb..

Reaper suddenly burst out into a coughing fit. Geno scrambled away from him, yelling something along the lines of "Don't infect me with your stupid virus you weirdo". Reaper continued to cough until a singular golden petal fell from his mouth. His eyes widened as he quickly scrambled to grab it and shove it into his robe pocket. Geno hadn't seemed to notice.

"Are you very much done? I'd like to make sure I don't get the idiot virus."

Reaper's body suddenly went rigid as he slowly stood up. He coughed slightly before turning to Geno.

"Uh, sorry Geno, but I gotta go earlier today. My brother wanted help, and I've been putting off work for too long."

Geno looked surprised before going to his usual strict face. "Well, I don't remember inviting you, so you don't have to feel bad about leaving."

Reaper's chest felt like it was on fire.

He turned away and opened a portal to his AU, walking through, something he rarely does.

When he entered his room, he immediately sunk to the floor. He trembled slightly as his eye sockets widened.

"Oh god.. what am I gonna do?.."

————

It was about four days until Reaper visited Geno again, which was very out of character for his usual daily, sometimes even quick hourly visits. He casually floated into the Save Screen once more, though this time feeling slightly anxious. When he saw Geno sitting in the patch of flowers, he felt his soul flutter as he rushed to get closer. He was about to make the same entrance as the other day, but remembered how that went and decided to silently plop down next to Geno.

Geno was so lost in though that he didn't even realize Reaper arrived. But when he suddenly looked up and saw him sitting next to him, he yelped and jumped back a little. He then took on a confused yet strict face.

"Who are you and what have you done with Reaper?"

Reaper was a little confused by his statement. "I'm me?"

"No idiot! Reaper would've come here days ago, and proceeded to either scare me or flirt with me every time he arrived!"

Reaper was a bit taken aback by what he said, but simply grinned. "Well, what I did today scared ya, didn't it?"

Geno huffed and simply turned away, crossing his arms and muttering something along the lines of "stupid" and "no it didn't".

Reaper laughed but soon started choking and coughing once more. Again, Geno stepped away, but there was a slight flint of worry in his eyes.

"What's wrong asshole, something caught in you throat?"

Reaper continued his coughing fit for a while until three golden petals fell from his mouth. He quickly scooped them up and shoved them in his pocket, but too late. Geno noticed.

"Ew, flower petals? What were you doing, shoving those things up your throat?"

Reaper turned his head to Geno with a slightly panicked look in his eyes. "It's nothing."

"That wasn't the question dumbass."

"O-oh, right. Uhm.. yeah! I saw those flowers and thought it would be a good idea to eat some!"

Geno simply stared at Reaper with an unamused look before walking away. Reaper panicked, this is not going how he thought it would.

"Geno wait!" He called out, his voice sounding slightly weaker than before. He quickly stood up and followed behind Geno.

"I'm ignoring unintelligible beings who decide that shoving flowers up their throats is a perfect way to waste time at the moment, thank you."

Reaper continued to follow behind Geno, the pain in his chest increasing every second he was ignored.

Unloved..

Reaper suddenly stopped at his realization.

Geno doesn't love him. He never will. It's all simply a fantasy of hope and lies. Geno's made it quite obvious after all. How many times had he been called "dumbass", "idiot", "weirdo", "dickhead", and "asshole" in just the past month? It was obvious.

Reaper suddenly broke down into another fit of coughing, suddenly falling to his knees. He felt weak, incredibly weak. And the coughing wouldn't stop. Geno whipped his head around and rushed back to Reaper, now very worried for his friend.

"H-hey, are you good? Snap outta it Reaper!"

Geno started patting Reaper's back in an attempt to stop the coughing, but Reaper misunderstood it as more of Geno's slaps and coughed even more. It wasn't until a fistful of petals fell from his mouth that he stopped. Geno looked at Reaper with a cautious, yet judging look.

"Uh, that seems to be more than a few flowers shoved up your esophagus."

Reaper replied quickly in a dark tone, though his voice seemed somewhat strained. "N-no shit Sherlock."

Geno's eyes widened slightly. Reaper never talked like that to him. Now he knew something was up.

"What the hell is wrong with you Reaper?! You never act like this! What did you do?!"

Reaper just stared to the floor with empty eyes. He quickly spat out a few remaining flowers in his mouth and stood up. He kicked the petals aside and turned away. Geno watched as Reaper simply stood there for a few moments. Suddenly, Reaper seemed to look around frantically and stare at his hands. He kept bouncing up and down on his feet before eventually going on to full on jumping.

"Now what are you doing?" Geno gave him a questioning look. Reaper immediately stopped and whipped his head around, a panicked look plastered on his face.

"I can't float! I can't get off the ground!"

Geno was a little stricken before finding a way to get back at Reaper for all the teasing.

"Oh, well it looks like you'll have to walk like the rest of us mortals and deal with the inability to have god-like powers."

Reaper winced before bringing up his hand. Suddenly he seemed even more panicked. He waved his hand around, opened his eyes extremely wide like one does when their eye flares, and held out his hands like he was trying to grab something.

"I can't do anything!!"

Now Geno was worried. "What?.."

Reaper started yelling. "I can't summon my attacks, I can't summon my scythe, I can't activate my eye flare, I can't even teleport out of here!!"

Reaper suddenly broke down to the floor and stared at his hands. He spoke in a small, weak voice that seemed extremely strained. "I'm weak.. I'm powerless... I-I can't do anything..."

Geno suddenly rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Reaper. "H-hey, it's okay, it'll be fine!-"

"How could you still care..."

Geno suddenly sat up and stared at Reaper. "What do you mean?"

Reaper replied with a shaky, hesitant voice. "How could you still care for me... you've made it clear..."

"Stop the stupid mind games Reaper! Just tell me what's fucking wrong!"

"YOU HATE ME!"

Reaper began hacking up full flowers, chocking between breaths. The flowers continued to fall around them and in their laps as Reaper shook uncontrollably. "G-Gen-no-"

Geno backed away in horror at the scene. His eyes shrunk to small pinpricks as he took a shaky breath.

"W-what's happening to you R-Reaper?.."

Reaper chocked our words between coughs. "H-hana-ha-haki-!" Reaper coughed up another fistful of flowers.

Hanahaki... The name was familiar to Geno, but he couldn't seem to place it. "What the hell is Hanahaki?!"

Reaper's eyes went wide as the burning sensation returned in his chest, worse than ever. He knew.

He was out of time.

Reaper didn't want to do this, not like this, but he knew he had no choice. If he didn't, he would die.

"G-Geno!" Reaper choked out between flowers and coughs. "I-I l-love you!"

Geno's eyes went wide as blush dusted across his face. He loves me... Suddenly knowledge came flooding back to him. Hanahaki: The disease where people throw up flowers. The only cure is from the crush to show affection and show their love back.

His blush increased. Did he love Reaper?.. He enjoyed Reaper's company, and he hated it when he was feeling down and always wanted to make him feel better..

Geno was suddenly cut out of his thoughts when a shaky hand reached up towards his face. The words were small, shaky, and almost inaudible. "Please.."

Geno felt the pang in his chest. He gave in. He pushed away all doubts in his mind and pulled Reaper's face to his, closing the gap. He kissed him with all his might, allowing some magic to be forced in the kiss, truly expressing how much he cared. He wanted, no, he needed Reaper to know. He didn't care about the flowers, he just wanted to share this passionate moment.

When they finally pulled away after what seemed like eons, they stared into each other's eyes passionately, glimmering with love and happiness. Reaper stared in awe.

"Y-you.. you really.."

Geno smiled warmly at Reaper. "Yeah, I suppose you're not that much of a dork." Reaper shakily smiled with tears in his eyes before suddenly turning away and began coughing again. Geno panicked and gingerly wrapped his arms around Reaper.

"D-did it not work! I-I'm so sorry Reaper!!"

Reaper continued coughing, but they didn't seem so violent this time. He continued coughing until dead flowers fell from his mouth, and eventually the source of the disease itself- the dead plant. When the dead plant finally fell from his mouth, Reaper put a hand on his throat and looked up weakly with a smile.

"I'm cured.."

—————

Word Count: 2466

Eeeeeeeee I forgot about this thing so take my awful writing okay bye-

[gra-sonas]

Hiiii! What are you thoughts about RNM finale! How do you feel about it? I'm glad Alex was happy and I kind of understand why Micha walked out in the middle of the song even though I know some people didn't like it... Anyways! Hope you have a great day! 😁

Hi nonnie!

Am I having a great day, running on roughly 2 hours of sleep and sheer force of will? Debatable. :P

I’ve been listening to Tyler’s song all day tho, that has definitely improved my mood significantly. I’ll never be over the beauty that is this Malex song. WE GOT A MALEX SONG, Y’ALL!!!! And Tyler’s voice... yeah, the absolute best thing ever. I’m at peace just listening to him. 🥰

WOULD YOU COME HOME is without a doubt the best thing of this episode, the best thing of the season tbh. With that being said, I wrote down some more things.

Putting this incoherent mess behind a cut tho (I’m LJ years old, it’s a cut, not a Read More :P), fingers cross Tumblr doesn’t botch the damn thing.

Hmmmm, I’ll admit that last night (I watched live at 3am, which probably was NOT the best idea, but then I’m an adult, what else am I supposed to do other than make TERRIBLE LIFE CHOICES...), I really hated it.

Nothing made sense, too many questions were left unanswered, Malex were robbed of saying “I love you” to each other first, they were also robbed of an opportunity to talk (dear god, when will they finally TALK, it’s literally all I want), Michael was made to leave IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LOVE LETTER ALEX WAS SINGING TO HIM IN PUBLIC (omfg, I’m still so fucking PISSED about that, I’m FUMING) by the writers just to keep the ~drama going, Malex were robbed of a first public kiss, in one moment at the bar it looks like Michael took the handkerchief off, but there’s no way of telling whether they simply forgot to put it on him, or if it was deliberate and he actually took it off and we were robbed of that very significant moment.

Also ngl, Jesse’s death? Underwhelming. I mean, I’m glad he’s finally gone, but his whole storyline this season was underwhelming and so was his death. Oh well, underwhelming is my rating of S2 overall, guess it makes sense for this super villain to go out with a meh instead of a bang.

Blah, I'm still not super happy about the finale, and I especially wanted Michael to hear the WHOLE song, mainly the final two lines

You were the best of me You are the best of me

but since we can’t have nice things it’s not surprising that I’m not a huge fan. At least it wasn’t as devastating as 1x13, or as gross and triggering in 2x06, small mercies, I guess :P

Ngl, the Forlex kiss didn’t spark joy for me personally. I’m a mono shipper, and just like I hated seeing Michael kiss someone else, I hated seeing Alex do the same. But I understand why he did it. Michael left halfway through the song, and Alex was so relieved and proud of himself that he sang it, and Forrest was right there (wearing his Deep Sky ring 👀).

And hey, Alex asked and Forrest gave enthusiastic consent, I appreciate that very much!

I also really liked that Alex and Michael got to destroy the damn shed. I absolutely ADORE that Gregory was there when Alex sang,  alive and looking like the proudest big brother ever (like you don’t even know HOW MUCH I love him!!! ). Tanner’s such an amazing addition to the cast and I hope we’ll get to see him more often next season!

I’m glad that neither Alex or Michael were burdened with Jesse’s death, I hate that Gregory is carrying that burden now, but he seems to be better equipped for it, and I think he’ll be okay living with it.

Also a glimmer of hope for my baby Flint and a possible redemption arc? I like it (mainly bc I adore Kiowa, I just want him back).

The Echo breakup was long overdue, IDK, I haven’t cared that much about them as a couple for a long time, they’ve been lying to each other throughout most of the season, insofar it makes perfect sense that they go their separate ways now.

Rrrrosaaaaaa!!! My girl, I’m so damn PROUD of her!!!! She’s doing absolutely amazing, and I hope they’ll bring Iris back for her in S3 as a real friend. She deserves to spend time with people other than the “alien circle” at large.

M/M breakup... let’s just say I’m glad that particular nightmare is finally OVER. Time for Michael to work on himself. He didn’t get much opportunity to do that all season.

I’m a bit worried that due to the larger time jump between S2 and 3 we’ll either not get to see much of his development, or - even worse - he hasn’t worked on himself when we meet him again. That’s why I really rather hate S2 for him as a character. Oh well, that’s something to worry about in a year, I guess.

KYLE. I was happy about the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Kylex moment, but overall S2′s done him dirty. Constantly sidelined, stuck in a relationship I still don’t care about even a little bit. And now Liz even played “god” and saved Steph (which in itself is a good thing, but Liz has been doing this all season, and no one’s stopped her, and I find that worrisome.) I guess with Steph being saved she’s also going to be in S3? Meh, I couldn’t care less, but also something to worry about next year.

Isobel didn’t get to do all that much this episode, but I love her, she’s had an amazing journey this season, and I feel she’s in a really good place right now. GOOD FOR HER!

SANDERS! Not in this episode, but damn, I love him, and I’m SO glad that MICHAEL’S DAD HAS BEEN INTRODUCED TO US THIS SEASON!

Jenna & Charlie AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, I’m so happy for them! And I’m excited to hopefully see both of them again next season! They are amazing, and as a duo a force to be reckoned with! Excited for Riley’s show Hightown to be renewed, still hope she’ll find time to travel to Santa Fe to be in several episodes of RNM.

Max... Ngl, I’m not a fan of the character. Never have been. And while Max 2.0 was nicer than Max 1.0, I never really warmed up to him. Let’s see how things with “Mr. Jones” and Max will go next season.

Maria... Let’s see how things with her go next season. Maybe she’ll finally be allowed to have a storyline that doesn’t revolve around other people.

Circling back to Alex. I love him, I love him the most. He’s on par with my other favorite character of all time (Derek Hale, in case that wasn’t clear). He’s so important to me, and Tyler did the most exquisite job playing him. S2′s been a difficult season for him and I hated that for him.

The writers held him back at almost every turn, he wasn’t allowed to move on, instead Michael got to “dump” Alex every second episode. Man, it got old real fast. But Alex’s resilience finally hammered it home to Michael, that Alex is not leaving again. He’s right there, and he’ll even show up when Michael calls him. New experience for him, I’m sure.

IDK, this whole season was such a mess, so many things that weren’t resolved in the end, the lack of a main plot kept bothering me, and I hated that some of my favorite S1 friendships were completely sidelined.

I hate that an entire season was wasted on Malex being apart, especially wasted for Michael who had a lot of shit on his plate I hoped he’d get a chance at working through (at least in part) in S2, but that didn’t happen. He had some lightbulb moments, but overall he’s still pretty much in the same spot he was at the beginning of the season.

And while I agree that he’s not ready to be with Alex atm, I hate that he did not communicate that to Alex properly, and instead left halfway through Alex’s song.

IDK, I just feel like pretty much every fanfic writer in our fandom would’ve done a better job at writing them this season, they would’ve been allowed to move forward separately, but still towards a common goal.

I know, they are endgame, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m TIRED of them not talking. And especially after Alex’s performance.

Either way, I don’t think any of this makes much sense, coherent thoughts, I don’t have them atm. I’ll need more time to think things through, and maybe my overall negative opinion of this season won’t be quite so negative anymore. Who knows.

I’ve always wondered whether I’d feel like finally watching S2 once I know how it ends, and right now I can answer that question with a firm NO. Canon exhausts me. I’m looking forward to fandom getting time to take a deep breath and process this season. 

I’m excited that we get to take care of the characters for the next year. It’s time for some good development, for tons of fics where Malex actually talk to each other, where Gregory is an awesome brother, Sanders adopts Michael and a million other things.

If there’s one thing I’m grateful for is, that the finale didn’t ruin Malex entirely. I’d been really worried about that.

THEY ARE OURS AGAIN, FOLKS! \0/

[ijustwant2write]

Our First Night-Bucky Barnes x Reader

(GIF credit to @captain-flint)

Masterlist

Summary: Bucky and (Y/N) are spending their first night together, no big deal to most couples, especially after months of dating. However, both feel nervous for different reasons, but neither want to show it.

Characters: Bucky Barnes x Reader, Wanda Maximoff x Reader (Platonic), Steve Rogers x Reader (Platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: slight insecurity, but mostly pure, pure, pure fluff

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Don't be so nervous, you're only staying in the same bed." Wanda said to me as I set down my overnight bag on the floor. "I can't help it. We've been together for months now, but this feels....more intimate." "Well, it is. It's the first time you're spending twenty four hours with each other, and in the same bed." "I'm probably just over thinking it." I sighed. She pulled me in for a hug, sensing how nervous I was."No you're not. It's perfectly normal. I bet Bucky is nervous too. Actually I know so because he's been fussing over everything today, he wants to make sure everything is neat and tidy for you." "But I've been here so many times, it wouldn't matter to me." "Yes but it does to him." We heard the sound of boots clamping against the floor, stopping our conversation. Bucky appeared coming round the corner, both of us grinning like idiots when we saw each other. Wanda took that as her cue to leave, Bucky acknowledging her as they passed each other. I sighed in comfort as Bucky wrapped his arms around me, pulling away to kiss me slowly and gently. "I missed you doll." he whispered, kissing me again. "I missed you too. I hate when you go on long missions. Or even missions at all." He chuckled, reaching down to pick up my bag."Did you not want to pack the rest of your apartment?" He pretended it was ridiculously heavy, groaning as he shook his hand for effect. I laughed at him, playfully hitting him before he put his arm around my shoulder, guiding us further into the building. Butterflies filled my stomach as we carried on talking, I couldn't believe this was finally happening; I felt like a teenage girl again. Although Bucky and I had dated for a while, we had postponed the idea of staying overnight at each other's places. He hadn't been sure of himself, his night terrors may have been at bay for some time but he didn't want to risk it with me. Alongside this, he hadn't been with a girl since the forties, and (obviously) since then his memories of easily wooing women had all but disappeared. So when he asked me out, it was a huge surprise to everyone. We made it to his room, and I could sense the tension in his body. Like a gentlemen, he let me in first, setting my bags down as we entered. I had been here before, only briefly, and I wasn't surprised by the neatness of the room, everything was organised. The only thing that caught my eye was a new picture frame on his bedside table. I picked it up, my heart melting at the picture in it; it was of us at one of Tony's parties, him decked out in a fancy suit, as well as I in a floor length gown. It had been the first time he attended one of these parties, and he had said it was all down to me, that I have him the confidence. Well I had never cried so much in my life. "You look gorgeous in that photo." he said as he wrapped his arms from behind me. I still looked down at the picture."And you look so handsome. When did you get this printed?" "Weeks ago, I had to have it next to me. When I rarely wake up from a night terror, that picture calms me, makes me aware of who I am, makes me out you first." I turned my face to kiss his cheek, setting the picture back down. As I faced him, I noticed his hands shaking slightly. Softly smiling at him, I stroked his cheek, his beard tickling my fingertips. "You sure you're OK with this?" I asked. He nodded."Yes, I want you here with me. It's just...just different is all." "We'll only be sleeping together. I mean-what I meant was-" "I know what you meant. Come on, I'm taking you out for dinner." My cheeks were starting to hurt from how much I was smiling. Bucky had treated me so well, opened up to me and put his trust in this relationship. At first it had been a somewhat odd match, but over time I realised that this was right. He may have been from decades ago, but I believed that we were meant to meet. Fate, destiny, whatever you wanted to call it had an odd way of working, but I wouldn't change these momenta with Bucky for the world. As we got back to the HQ, I couldn't help but notice Bucky's tightening grip on the steering wheel. He was solely focused on the road, eyes like daggers and the smile I loved so much had gone, his lips in a tight line. My worries started to surface. Was he regretting his decision? Had he realised that he didn't want this intimacy with me? Of course it was alright if he had changed his mind, I wanted him to be comfortable, but I had been so excited to have this night with him. I decided not to say anything for now, perhaps he was over thinking it, or his mind was just somewhere else at the moment. However, his expression didn't change as he parked up, sitting in silence as he turned off the engine. Gingerly reaching over, I slipped my hand in his, relieved when he smiled at me. Nothing had to be said between us, we knew what the other person was thinking. We headed to the kitchen, intending to grab some plates and forks for the dessert we brought home in a doggy bag, though I was startled by the figure sitting at the breakfast table; Bucky of course didn't flinch. It was Steve, nursing a coffee over numerous files, twirling a pen in his hand. "Steve, what are you doing up so late? It's midnight." I softly said as we walked in. He looked up from the papers, a short, breathy laugh escaping him."Guess I didn't realise the time. Had to look over these mission reports." "What you need is to go to bed. You may be a super soldier, but super soldier's still need sleep." "Yes ma'am. How was your night?" "Lovely thank you. We brought some dessert back, you want some?" "No thank you. You two enjoy it." Bucky gathered everything he needed, asking if I was ready to go. I hesitated, wanting to talk to Steve in private but without him knowing. I shook my head, telling him to go ahead whilst I grabbed a drink. He did as I said, saying goodnight to is best friend. Grabbing a glass, I poured water into it, taking a long drink to ensure Bucky was gone before speaking again. "Has, um...has Bucky said anything about tonight?" I asked Steve, suddenly becoming nervous. He set down the pen and mug, knowing how I was feeling."Yes, wouldn't stop going on about it." "OK, uh, I only asked cause-" "(Y/N), it's a big step for both of you. You’ve been so patient with him, letting him take the lead with most of the relationship. Neither of you would force the other to do something they didn’t want to. Go on, he’ll be waiting for you.”

“Thanks Steve. Please go to bed soon!”

God, why was my heart beating so fast? I placed my hand on my chest, taking deep breaths. Nothing sexual was going to happen, not that I thought so anyway, that was another big step we would get to when the time came. What if he didn’t like how I looked sleeping? What if I snored tonight? Drooled? Tossed and turned, kicking him in the process? A blanket hogger? I was really thinking too much into this, though I assured myself that all couples probably thought about these things. My relationship was just a little different, seeing as I was dating a hundred year old super soldier who saved the world practically every other day. 

Slowly entering the room, I saw Bucky taking off his shoes at the end of the bed, looking up at me as I walked in.“You OK?”

“Yeah, just talked to Steve. He really needs to sort out his sleeping pattern.”

We got ready for bed, me working around his nighttime routine, fitting mine in next to his. Bucky climbed in bed before me, setting up the dessert on the plate for when I came out. He looked so innocent tucked in bed, and I almost ‘awed’ at the sight. We snuggled up together, digging into the cake, appreciating how delicious it was. It was gone way too quickly, and we found ourselves brushing our teeth side by side, laughing at how silly the other person looked. Simultaneously we got back into bed, relaxing into the warmth left behind, and instinctively shuffling towards each other. What had I been so worried about? This was...this was just lovely!

“I can’t believe you’re really here.” he whispered, stroking back my hair.

“Me neither. This is so nice.” I replied.

He pulled me closer, and I accidentally shivered at the touch of his metal arm. He quickly retracted it, a sign of fear crossing his face.

“No, it’s OK, just a bit cold.” I reassured him, pulling his arm back to me.

“Are you sure?”

“Course, it’ll get warm in here...oh god that sounded weird.”

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed since we got in bed. We talked for a while, our speech tired, quiet and slow. Eventually we decided to go to bed, turning off the lamps either side of bed before settling back in bed. We somehow started spooning, Bucky behind me, though I could feel him fidgeting, trying to get comfortable. I ignored it for a certain amount of time, hoping he was just that type of sleeper.

“Bucky,” I breathed out,“are you alright?”

He slid away from me, lying on his back as he sighed.“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. What’s wrong?”

“I’m just not used to sleeping like this.”

“Oh, well, we don’t have to cuddle throughout the night, I’m sure we would have untangled ourselves-”

“No, no, it’s not you. I...I don’t sleep with the arm on, it’s not really made for comfort.”

“Then why didn’t you take it off?”

“Wouldn’t it freak you out?”

“No, of course not. I’m not going to let you lose sleep over this.”

“Oh, OK...” he took it off, and I could sense that he was still unsure. 

“Bucky,” I scooted closer again, resting my head on his shoulder,“you need to tell me these things. I want you to be comfortable.”

“But I want you to be comfortable too!”

“Do you really think I would be dating you if I was freaked out by your arm?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Exactly. I just...I love you, just the way you are.”

He didn’t say anything, instead finding my face and kissing me; I could feel him smiling, making me do the same. Now I could feel him relax, content with his usual sleeping routine. I didn’t move, draping an arm over his torso, an amazing surge of love filling me. This was another step for us, another chapter filled, and I couldn’t wait for many more.

[shadow-assassin-blix]

It’s a Grey Area

CHAPTER 6

A/N: Getting further into last episode. Not gonna lie... I saw it like 2x... It wasn’t great either times. So. Trying to get through it. If some things are off between this and the next couple of chapters, it’s cause I’m going off my memory and basic summaries on the internet. It’s not going to end once we get through the plot of Ep 9 though. There’s still more to explore. So. I said, I was changing some things, but not everything. I am not a medical expert, when I talk about the brain scans, I’m going off what I remember of what certain brain disorders look like. Other than that: “talk” ‘thoughts’  “Force Talk” 

Gif is from @captain-flint of whom i wouldnt remember this entire scene without.

The next few weeks were hectic. There came word of a spy for the First Order, and they gave damn good information. However, no one knew who it was. They passed on their information through a network of rebel sympathizers.

That’s where Poe currently was, gathering the new intel. Blix was in the middle of training with Ben and Rey. Ben didn’t need too much training, but his skills were being refined. He was learning to use the Force for good. Rey was learning just how powerful she truly was. However, there were some… concentration issues, as Blix soon discovered.

Rey came forward after running the obstacle course, with BB-8 directly behind her looking… rough.

“Oh. No. Uhoh. Um. Maybe I can fix you before Poe comes back,” Blix fretted as she kneeled down and looked him over.

BB angrily beeped at her, saying a tree was dropped on him. “I know honey. I know. Uhh. Oh boy. Poe’s going to kill me.” He beeped. “True. He’ll kill Rey then me.”

There was commotion behind them near the flight deck, and as they turned their attention to it, they saw the Falcon… on fire.

Rey stared at it and Poe and Finn in disbelief as they made their way over to them.

“It’s on fire. The.. the whole thing is on fire,” She began looking at Poe with mild horror. “Han’s ship.”

“What did you do to the droid?” Poe asked staring down at BB with an expression mixed between concern and anger.

“What did you to the Falcon?” Rey threw back, glancing at the 2 annoyed.

“Falcon’s in a lot better shape than he is,” Poe argued gesturing toward BB.

“BB-8’s not on fire-“ Rey began before she was cut off.

“What’s left of him isn’t on fire!” Poe nearly shouted his own look of horror growing as he continued to examine the state of BB.

Finn and Blix glanced at each other; Finn shrugged not wanting to get involved, and Blix was trying to not laugh.

Their arguing continued, and when they thought it was over, BB-8 then felt the need to tell Poe what had happened. That stirred the arguing back up before Poe stormed off in a huff.

“BB. Was that really necessary honey?” Blix lightly admonished him. “C’mon. Let’s go get you fixed up and then go find your dad. Hopefully by then he’ll have settled.”

An hour later after a quick stop in the repair shop, BB-8 was bright and shiny again. “Alright. Let’s go find Poe yeah?”

They took off toward his room, and as they stepped in, they see Poe tiredly running a hand through his curls, exhaustion radiating from him.

BB rushed forward to show himself off. Poe quietly told him he looked great before turning his gaze toward Blix. He beckoned her over with a wave of his hand, and she strolled over to him, a look of concern on her face.

“What’s up honey? What happened?” She quietly asked as she stood between his knees.

“It.. we had to light speed skip.. to get outta there. Ya know… I’ve gone on many missions… but this is one of the rare few times… that I was scared that I wasn’t going to come back… It’s like… the closer we get to finally finishing this war… the more I worry. About… everything,” He quietly confessed as he leaned to rest his head against her stomach.

She gently brushed her fingers through his hair, trying to relax him. “That’s not all that strange honey. It just means, that you are finally seeing the end, and the closer you get to it, the scarier it is. Besides, you’re not allowed to die. Not until we’ve married, had many kids and grow old with each other,” She informed him, pressing a kiss to his unruly curls.

“Is that so? Well. I’ll make sure to not disappoint you,” Poe sadly promised.

“You could never disappoint me. I got to work the Medbay for a couple hours. I’ll come get you for dinner,” She whispered to him before urging him to lay down and rest.

He laid down with a nod and muttered something that sounded like he understood.

Blix made her way to Medbay and began working there. About 30 minutes before her shift was to end, she got a visit from someone she didn’t expect.

“General Leia. What brings you here?” Blix asked concerned.

“I have been having some headaches. Wondered if you could help me figure out what’s wrong?” Leia answered with a heavy sigh.

Blix nodded quickly and led her over to one of the beds, so she could sit or lay down.

“How long have you’ve been experiencing the headaches? Any confusion, lightheadedness, trouble remembering stuff?” She began as she grabbed a device to scan her head.

“Sometime after Crait and yes to all of the above,” She answered.

“You mean… sometime after you were tossed into space and nearly died? That long?” Blix asked alarmed.

Leia nodded once. Blix completed her scans and made her way over to computers to print them out. A few minutes later, she was examining them with a deep frown. She took a deep breath before mentally reaching out to Luke.

“Luke. Get Ben. The both of you need to come to Medbay. Now.”

A few minutes later they both walked in and began to ask her what was going on when they realized Leia was lying on the bed.

Blix led them over to her, and said, “I’m sorry, but… they need to know.”

She sets the scans onto the nearby board, grabbing a seat to begin explaining.

“This is your brain. See the large dark spot? That is inactivity. In most cases that’s not fairly abnormal, but when its almost the entire brain? There’s a problem. From… from the looks of it… your brain is dying. I don’t know if… its because of lack of oxygen from the attack, if you picked up something while exposed to space,” She began to explain.

“What… what do you mean? Can-can it be reversed?” Luke asked stuttering slightly.

“If we had known sooner? Maybe? At this point, it’s not a matter of if but when. I’m so sorry. I-… I don’t know of anything I can do except make you comfortable,” She hesitantly informed.

Ben turned and walked out at that. Luke began to follow after him, but Blix stopped him before he got out the door.

“Luke. Go after him. Do me a favor…. Talk to him like he’s your nephew, not your student. He doesn’t need Master Skywalker. He needs Uncle Luke,” Blix requested with a small frown.

Luke nodded and looked back over to his sister sadly, before exiting.

“I apologize for bringing them in without warning you, but they needed to hear that as well. What… What do you need me to do?” Blix appeased turning back to Leia.

“Honestly. They did need to know. You saved me the trouble of having to tell them later. Can you have Commander Dameron come in please?” Leia asked with a sad smile.

“Of course. Then I’ll give you something for the pain, something light, to at least take away the headache,” She promised before going over to her communicator.

She quickly got ahold of Poe and asked him to come see her. A minute later he walked in, looking slightly disheveled.

“What’s up baby?” He rasped rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

She nodded her head over to Leia, and he quickly made his way over to her. They talked quietly for a few minutes before Leia called Blix over.

“Dr. I wish for you to make a notice and note it my medical charts. I am currently unfit for duty, and as such has appointed Poe Dameron to acting General,” She commanded.

“Yes Ma’am. Lemme get you that medicine real quick too,” Blix noted, quickly giving her some medicine before doing as she requested.

Soon enough the entire base knew that the General Leia was unwell, and that Poe had taken her place. They both escorted Leia back to her room, before returning to Poe’s room. They both plopped down onto his bed with heavy hearts.

“You’re sure there’s… there’s nothing that can be done?” He sniffled.

“Jedi have the ability to heal, but… when the damage is that extreme… It would be giving up a life for a life,” Blix croaked.

She sees out of the corner of her eye, him nodding. His hand slowly reached out and held her own, fingers laced. They both slowly fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“I… I don’t know how to be a general. I’m barely good at being a commander. What… what the hell am I supposed to do?” Poe questioned softly, shaking his head.

“Leia trusts you. She believes in you. You know the Resistance inside and out. I can’t think of anyone better suited to take over. You can do this baby. I know it,” She encouraged turning on her side to look at him.

“I’m going to make us some sandwiches, and then we should head to bed. We got a busy day tomorrow,” Blix announced as she sat up, and made her way over to the kitchen.

Tomorrow they would be heading to Pasaana, to figure out what happened to the Sith Wayfinder and the man who had it last. They ate dinner silently, and when they went to bed, Poe laid down, resting his head on her chest. They soon feel asleep with sadness in their hearts.

The next day, Poe, Rey, Finn, Chewie, C-3PO, BB-8 and herself were on their way to Pasaana. Ben stayed behind to watch over Leia with Luke.

As they landed and began making their way, following Luke’s steps, they realized that a festival was occurring. 3PO excitedly informed them it was a celebration of their ancestors and that it only occurred every 42 years. As they moved through the crowd, Blix looked over at Poe with a smile.

“What? What’s that look for?” Poe asked trying to squash his annoyance.

“Anyone ever tell you that you look very sexy with a scarf?” She flirted as she moved forward, her grin growing at the dumbfounded look that appeared on his face.

She came up to Rey as they were conversing with a local. She heard them talking about last names, and before Rey could say anything, Blix bounded forward.

“She’s a Kenobi. Adopted. But a Kenobi. C’mon lil sis, we got work to do,” Blix answered before dragging her away with a laugh.

As they made their way back over to the guys, another native walked up to her, and began to speak to her.

3PO began to translate, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is that man over there your significant other.” And she motioned at Poe.

“Yes. He’s mine,” She answered with a smile.

She then draped a crown of flowers on her head, and then gave her a necklace to give to Poe.

“Do these items have some sort of significance? Are they important?” She asked curiously as she gently held the necklace with both hands.

3PO informed her, “That it was to signify your union. In some ways, it is considered a marriage in their culture, if General Poe accepts the necklace.”

She silently mouthed an “Oh.”

She looked over at Poe and then back at the native and said, “Wish me luck.”

Blix made her way over to him, and Poe stared at her curiously, his eyes glancing up at the flower crown.

“So. Apparently… if you accept me giving this necklace to you, we are considered hitched in this culture. May I?” She offered holding the necklace up.

He smiled, shaking his head slightly, but leaned down to allow her to put it on him. While he was leaned down, he asked, “Do you really think I look sexy with this scarf?”

She gave him a kiss in response and a wink. He tensed as he looked over her shoulder. “We got stormtroopers.”

A few minutes of panicked running and they were safely hidden with Lando Calrissian. Rey grabbed her attention really quick and asked hesitantly, “Did… did you mean what you… what you said earlier?”

“That you’re a Kenobi? Yeah. Damn straight you are. Listen. If or when, we find out your lineage, it won’t change how everyone in this caravan or within the Rebellion sees you. You’ll still be my kid sister. May as well make it official,” She assured holding her hand.

Rey smiled at her, her eyes watering up.

“Don’t you dare cry. If you cry, I’ll cry, and that’s not a good look for either of us,” Blix fretted jokingly.

Rey laughed at that and as they pulled to a stop, they followed Lando’s instruction over where they last tracked Ochi’s presence.

They explored the area, walking onto a strange patch of blackened sand. They looked every which way trying to figure out what had happened, when suddenly they began to sink. Poe grabbed onto her, as Finn tried shouting something at Rey.

When they finally dropped, they were in a small tunnel. Blix pulled out her lightsaber and turned it on, prompting Rey to do the same. As they moved forward, they looked around cautiously. They soon ran into a large serpentine creature, who allowed them to move past, when Rey reached down to heal it.

When he had moved, they discovered a corpse lying there. Ochi. Amongst his remains was a dagger that had a strange language inscribed on it.

Blix gently picked it up and stared at it concentrating. “It’s the Sith language. It’s… old… Difficult to translate.”

“But can you translate it?” Poe asked looking at the dagger over her shoulder.

“It would take time. Time we don’t have. 3PO? You got any ideas?” She admitted before turning her attention to the droid.

“Why, yes, I can translate it, Doctor. However, it is against my programming to translate it,” 3PO stated.

“So, the one time we need you to speak, you can’t?” Poe and Blix asked at the same time.

“Cool. Great. So… who knows how to override said programming?” Blix asked the group.

Poe winces, his face scrunching up as he thought. “I do. But. It’s risky.”

“Risky? How?” Finn asked exasperated.

“I’ll explain later, let’s get out of here for now,” Poe dismissed moving forward, following the path the serpent took.

Blix, Rey, and Finn all squinted at him in suspicion and looked at each other, then back at him.

“That was sus, right?” Blix asked in a whisper.

“Extremely,” Finn replied squinting his eyes at Poe’s back as they began to follow him. “Blix. Ask him why he bein’ weird?”

“What? Why me?” She blinked in slight confusion.

“He’s your boyfriend.” Came two voices in response.

Blix sighed with a laugh and ran up to walk alongside Poe.

“So…Why you bein so secretive, babe?” She asked, after a moment, not looking at him.

“We have to go to Kimiji,” He quietly muttered.

“….the planet… where you were a spice…runner? The one where your partner stabbed you? That Kimiji?” She clarified her voice slowly becoming more and more panicked.

He quickly grabbed her hand with his, and shushed her gently, “Hey. Don’t panic. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

“I wish I had your undying hope, but past encounters throw doubt,” She angrily whispered back, making her way forward, toward the end of the tunnel, shaking her head.

“Are you… are you seriously mad at me?” He asked incredulous, running up to catch her.

“Yes. You want us to go to the one place, where you could potentially be KILLED. Just for existing. And what? I’m supposed to be okay with that? No. We can… we can find another way, another… something. I don’t know,” She ranted panic beginning to consume her.

“Honey. Honey. We will be fine. You just said, we don’t have the time. You want to spend however long trying to find someone else to reprogram a droid, or do you want to try and translate it yourself?” Poe reasoned, trying to get her to focus on him.

Blix breathed heavily through her nose, looking away, not thrilled with this plan at all.

“Let’s just… get back to the Falcon. Regroup there,” She said finally walking in its direction.

As they were walking, Blix slowly came to a halt. She felt a presence coming toward them, a dark one.

As everyone began stepping up onto the rock formation, to get into the Falcon, Blix turned her attention toward the energy she was feeling. Rey quietly walked over to her and tensed as she realized what was going on. In the distance they could see a TIE-fighter rushing toward them.

“Rey. Run. Now!” Blix commanded shoving her toward the Falcon.

She turned her lightsaber back on and prepared herself. She took a deep breath and twirled the lightsaber.

As the fighter approached, she tensed her legs, preparing to jump. As soon as it was close enough, she leapt into the air, flipping over the fighter and running her lightsaber down its left wing. She landed in a crouch as the fighter crashed a few feet away.

From the wreckage, a figure dressed in black, wearing a hood and a face mask appeared. As the figure came to face her, she could see a pair of eyes that glowed like amber.

“Darth Sidious didn’t mention another Force wielder. Who are you?” came a raspy, feminine voice.

“I’m complicated,” Blix said sarcastically, throwing her hand out to use Force push the Sith away.

The push threw her back a couple of steps, but otherwise didn’t deter her. The Sith began to walk toward her, when Rey intervened, slashing at her with her own saber.

Blix tried to intervene, but the Sith was now focused on Rey, taunting her; trying to provoke her for some reason. They kept moving away, so she couldn’t hear what was being said, she just knew that all of sudden, Rey screamed in anger, lightning shooting from her hands.

Blix’s eyes widen in surprise, she could vaguely hear Poe screaming about more enemies coming in. Rey looked at her with such terror at what she just did. Especially when bolt was directed at another enemy ship that may have had Chewie on it.

Blix looked at the Sith who stood quite smugly, staring at Rey. While she was distracted in her gloating, Blix decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. She felt the Force surge around her, and she directed as much energy as she could to both of her hands, throwing them out at her.

The Force blasted her off her feet and tossing her several feet away.

“REY! C’MON!” Blix yelled out.

Rey rushed over toward her, grasping Blix’s outreached hand, the both of them rushing to the Falcon

As they raced onboard, Poe taking off as soon as they had jumped onto the ramp. It took mere seconds for them to reach space and make the jump to hyperspace. The both of them collapsed against the wall, breathing heavy.

Blix looked at Rey and pulled her into her arms. Rey shook, soft sobs coursing through her. She could hear her thoughts running amok, one thought that stood out clearly: ‘I killed Chewie.’

“Honey. We don’t know that. There were two transporters. It’s quite possible he was on the other one, okay? If so, we will save him, alright?” Blix whispered to her, as Rey held onto her tightly.

“As for the other thing… even if… you are his grandchild… that doesn’t change how everyone here sees you. That doesn’t change our love for you. You’re still my adopted kid sister, got it? In my eyes, you are a Kenobi,” Blix affirmed turning Rey’s head to look her in the eyes.

Rey tearfully nodded her head, before burying it back into Blix’s chest, her tears continuing, but not as harshly. They sat like that until Rey calmed down, and slowly fell asleep in her arms. Blix pressed some kisses to her hair affectionately. Blix slowly gathered her in her arms, picking her up, and carrying her over to one of the beds. She laid Rey down, making sure she was comfortable before grabbing blanket to cover her.

Blix made her way to the cockpit where Poe and Finn sat.

“Finn. Can you… can you go watch over Rey? I don’t want her to be alone right now,” Blix quietly requested.

Finn nodded his head, standing up. “How… how is she doing?” He asked as he got next to her, pausing.

“Not good. She just now fell asleep. I don’t know how long she’ll sleep, but I don’t want her to wake up alone.,” She began. “She’s feeling lost. Don’t..uh. Don’t. bring up what happened unless she does first. She’s still processing it, okay?”

Finn mumbled he understood before continuing out to her.

Blix all but collapsed into the co-driver’s seat.

“If you didn’t join the Navy, or the Rebellion… what would you be doing?” Blix wondered, staring at the ceiling.

“Ooh. Tough question. Mechanic. Or smuggler. Think I could’ve given Han a run for his money,” Poe answered thinking on it for a second. “You?”

“Pod Racer. Politics are too boring. Maybe even train kids on it,” She noted with a tired sigh.

“When this war is finally over… I’m taking you to my home in Naboo, and we are not leaving my bed for a week,” She announced as she straightened up.

“Deal. But you have to also come home with me to Yavin and meet my dad. Need for him to meet the woman who’s going to become his daughter in law,” He countered leaning over to press a kiss to her lips.

“Sounds good,” She replied leaning forward, resting her elbows on her thighs, looking at her hands.

“My mom would’ve liked you,” She whispered staring at the ring he got her on their first date.

“My mom would’ve loved you. Would’ve thought it was hilarious that you kept rejecting me for a year. She always said, I would wind up with someone who would keep me on my toes,” Poe admired, his hand gently stroking her cheek.

“How long until we reach Kimiji?” She wondered looking at the controls. “And uhh… can the controls go on auto pilot?”

Poe flicked a couple of switched with a small smile. “It’ll be a couple of hours. Wanna go lay down for a bit?”

She nodded her head, and they both stood up, walking toward the nearby bed. Poe laid down first on his back and waved her over once he was situated. She grabbed a blanket, holding it over her shoulders like a cape, before crawling on top of him. She gently maneuvered the blanket to cover the both of them, before sinking onto his chest.

The gentle lull of his heartbeat coaxed her to sleep, as Poe watched over her for a few minutes before going to sleep as well.

C-3PO and BB-8 were charging after the hectic morning. Rey had at some point woke up, and persuaded Finn to curl up next to her. The moment his arm wrapped around her; she was out again.

“I want to tell you, that I love you,” Finn whispered into her hair. “Maybe one day, I’ll be brave enough to tell you when your awake.”

He eventually fell asleep as well.

The occupants of the Falcon were momentarily at peace. It had been a rough couple of hours, and they all knew, that it was probably going to get worse. But for now, they were going to take refuge in the peace. Once they dropped out of hyperspace, things would be hectic again. But the end was near. They were on their way to finally defeating the Empire, they just needed to continue fighting.

ELSEWHERE

Darth Sidious was angry.

"What do you mean "there was another Jedi" Maeve?" He seethed.

"Exactly that, my lord. She was powerful. She was able to toss me like I weighed nothing. She's protective of your granddaughter though. Maybe we can use her to convince Rey to join us?" Darth Maeve suggested.

"Hm. We shall see. I need to know what drives her. If she can be turned easily," Darth Sidious contemplated cackling. "If so, we can turn the tides on this ridiculous Rebellion, and the Dark side shall rule all. Continue with our plans for now."

"Yes, my lord," Maeve responded disconnecting her projection.

[samandmaxanotherway]

ADDITIONAL INFO: SAM

this is a bit of a masterpost for additional information regarding sam! this will be updated from time to time & may contain info from other posts on this blog, but basically it’s a way to keep everything in one place without needing to dig through the tag to find everything. info under the cut!!

BACKGROUND INFO

Sam was named in dedication to Sameth, who passed away about a month before he was born.

Was a notably quiet baby. Even when he was two and beginning to learn how to speak, he didn’t say much or make much sound. This did cause a bit of concern for his parents.

He spent a lot of his time with Max, & pretty much refused to hang out with anyone else - mostly because many other kids picked on him growing up. Max was the only person who didn’t call him names.

Came up with the idea of Freelance Police in about the third grade or so.

Showed signs of being pretty intelligent for a kid his age & had some serious knowledge in regards to technology growing up. Given the time period, though, he was bullied relentlessly for it, & at some point when he was 13, he dropped it entirely, & adopted an attitude that was adverse to nerdy stuff.

He was 14 when his sister was born.

In his middle school years, Sam’s depression & anger issues became more apparent. There was a period of time where he had a much harder time getting out of bed & hated going to school, & he began lashing out at his parents, peers & teachers (though, thankfully, never Max). This all came to a peak when he got in a fight with a kid who’d been bullying him for a long time. After that, he was recommended by his guidance counselor to attend therapy.

(Due to the events that led to him first attending therapy, Sam has a very complicated relationship with it, & in his experience, has never found it particularly helpful for him)

(Oh also he found out he was gay during these years too, & it was during a health class while they were showing a diagram of the human muscles. yes this is the story im going with lmao)

At some point during high school, Sam grew fairly quickly & ended up pretty thin & lanky as a result. Around this time, his body dysmorphia began, & he would often wear hoodies & long-sleeved shirts to try & cover up as much of himself as he could. He often dreaded going to gym class specifically because he was forced to wear more exposing clothes.

He’d ended up developing an interest in literature & theatre during his time in high school.

In the summer prior to senior year, he’d been sent to a summer camp to try & help some of his self-confidence issues. As a result, he came back at the end of summer fat & buff, as well as with a newly discovered love for fishing.

(It is important to note that during this whole time, Sam hadn’t even considered the idea that he might have feelings for Max, & he was either oblivious to or brushed off any flirting Max may have done towards him.)

About prom time, Sam had been asked out by somebody for prom, & had accepted seeing as no one else had asked him. Well, he ended up being stood up by that person, having apparently been asked as a prank. He’d been upset about it, but then Max found him & cheered him up. Max had even tracked down that person & made a complete mess of their car. It was in that moment that Sam realized he was in love with Max.

Shortly after graduation, on Max’s ‘’first’’ birthday (July 10th), Sam took Max out into the woods for a stroll & confessed his feelings to him there. It was then that they decided to first become a couple.

Sam knew he was going to end up living on the campus of his college at the end of summer, & mid-August he ended up getting stressed about it simply because he didn’t wish to leave Max since he genuinely loved him. He ended up waiting until the very last minute before he had to leave to ask Max if he wanted to come with him. Thankfully, Max said yes. so yeah sam basically snuck his boyfriend off to college lmao

Met Flint in college - they were dorm-mates throughout the entirety of their college days.

Shortly after graduating college, Sam & Max became official Freelance Police.

OTHER CASES

The only pre-”Another Way” case that isn’t already a canon case is the Brainwashing Mailmen case, which takes place post-S2 but pre-S3/AW. Basically, Max had been hypnotized into becoming a mailman after signing something for his delivery. Sam had to sneak in, dressed as a mailman, & save him by burning the contract with his signature. He’d ended up unveiling a whole conspiracy involving other people being brainwashed into mailmen, & to make a long story short, their mailman, “Guy”, had actually been Satan, who was seeking a new way of gathering souls since Hell had been frozen over.

SAM/MAX (’FREELANCE HUSBANDS’)-RELATED

At some point post-”Another Way” but pre-Hit The Road, a proposal happens. Basically, Max - who has the ring - tricked Sam into getting on one knee & holding it, & Sam decided to go with it & proposed. (this later leads to a lot of them arguing who technically proposed to who)

Since their dating anniversary is on July 10th, their wedding anniversary ends up being on August 28th.

Max’s nickname for him is ‘Firefly’.

Sam likes to lay his head on Max because he likes to hear his heartbeat.

Sam can sleep through a lot of Max’s racket. However, if Max says his name, he immediately wakes up, as if he was never asleep.

POST-”ANOTHER WAY”

Shortly after getting married, they end up inheriting Maximus & Sameth’s old house. Since then, they now live separate from their office.

Struggles quite a bit with PTSD & Survivor’s Guilt from the events of “Another Way”.

During the Glitch in Time verse, Sam is a noir detective who did know Max when he was younger but forgot about him over time. However, Max was the original motivation for him becoming a detective.

POLTERGEIST

Sam, at first, when he’s essentially a ghost inhabiting a copy of his body often has a hard time actually staying in his body & sometimes ends up floating off if he’s not paying attention.

During the ending of Dysfunction of the Gods, Zeus ends up fusing Sam’s ghost with his body, making him immortal & unlocking many of his current abilities such as Electricity Manipulation & Invisibility, as well as the ability to see & speak to the dead.

When Sam uses too much energy, he ends up ‘fritzing out’. He gets stuck in ‘Ghost Mode’ & his form physically distorts & gives off static. It’s a little painful & it takes a little bit to come down from it. Thankfully, Max usually is there to assist him.

If injured while in ‘Ghost Mode’, Sam bleeds blue. As well, if he’s in enough pain, he ends up going invisible as a defense mechanism.

He also involuntarily turns invisible if he’s incredibly depressed.

He blushes blue.

Sam’s chest & stomach glow blue with white veins when he is experiencing deep feelings of love, whether it be romantic or platonic. If one touches it, little lights go through the veins.

His body has this weird habit of contorting whenever he phases through walls, so any time he does it, all you can hear is his bones cracking.

In the Glitch in Time verse, Sam’s powers weren’t unlocked until he reunited with Max - in which they then are unstable due to his lack of knowing how to control them. It isn’t until he remembers the original timeline that he gets ahold of them again.

He trained with Maximus somewhat to try & keep control of his abilities.

Although he can turn invisible, it’s more that he is as if he’s made of glass than see through. This means that if he were to stand in front of an object, you would not see the object through him since he would be obscuring it.

Despite being able to see & speak with the dead, because he generally is not fond of other spirits that aren’t friends or family (or benevolent, on the odd occasion) being near him, his family or his home, it is rare that spirits actually approach him for any length of time.

MISC. INFO

Personal voiceclaim for him is Travis from Bradbury 13: A Sound of Thunder

Sam is 33 during the events of “Another Way”, placing it in about 2012

Insulting Sam in a very personal way (e.g. calling him stupid or useless) is a surefire way of upsetting him & risking him not wishing to speak with the person again.

Good at improv humour & especially good at not cracking a smile while doing it.

Sam is actually allergic to grapes.

Absolutely despises mailmen & doesn’t trust them. The case involving them didn’t help.

Has several scars on him including: Two bitemarks from when Maxthulu had bitten Sammy, a bullet scar at the top of his left shoulder, a bitemark on his right arm, & lightning scars that spread from his tailbone all the way to his right shoulder thanks to his electric-based abilities.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 19

Last time, Ross lived and was snuck out to Xing, Ed got yet another reason to hate Scar, Barry met himself, and Gluttony paid Riza a visit. Onwards!

Oh dear, all Roy can hear is gunshots from “Elizabeth”’s end. Go, Flame Alchemist! Save your bestie! Never mind, let’s just ignore the fights and go back to Sword Guy utterly disregarding the notion of Confidentiality. He says that Barry says the Colonel’s got a plan to smoke out the Goths from the Fifth Laboratory. This causes Al to head out, searching for Hughes’ murderer. Stop whining Ling, Al will tooootaly tell you when he gets back. Later, Winry! Episode 19 - “Death of the Undying” Uh oh, Gluttony’s got Riza by the neck, and she’s out of ammo. The Goth just chuckles at his multiple headshots, he’s about to eat Riza someone quick dog? Where’d the dog come from. Oh hey, Fuery’s here! Thanks for tossing Riza a new pistol, you’ve almost made up for ruining my Fuhrer Fury joke with this! Two people shooting at once is a bit more effective, but only just. Gluttony’s knocked to the window but his big frame doesn’t fit, and he’s healed up from the bullet holes in a few seconds as Riza and Fuery click their now-empty weapons. Ok, time for the backup of the backup to arrive!

Oh my Leto it is so satisfying to see that Goth go flying out the tower to the caption of [Gluttony screams]. Nice timing, Roy, good hustle! Riza… is not exactly appreciative of the rescue, yells at Roy for leaving his post and blowing his plausible deniability. Fuery just chuckles at them going at it, looking down at the charred body and wondering who the fat guy was. Ok, now get down there and finish the job, Gluttony isn’t finished off just- Whoop, Bio!Barry’s making a break for it, with the homicidal Soul Armor in pursuit. Roy and Riza bark out orders to the minion and mutt respectively. Then slooowly walk down the stairs as Riza thanks Roy for saving their life, Roy’s too focused on the mission to see her smile. Daw. Huh, once again Roy makes better time than I thought, Havoc’s barely run a few paces before he pulls up in a car and tells to loser to get in, they’re going Goth hunting. And then Al shows up! Buckle up buddy, time for a chase through the city. Well at least Barry’s having fun, chasing down the meatbag to do an impromptu funeral. Riza’s reloading and wondering if Blubber Man’s going to stay down, less sure than Roy after her own bullets had next to no effect. Al asks if he had an Uroboros tattoo, when she confirms seeing on his tongue he identifies him as a Homunculus. Hey, watch where you’re driving Roy! Said Colonel isn’t exactly happy to learn that the Goth probably survived the barbecue. Much later, looks like they’ve cornered BioBarry in the Third Laboratory. A direct tie to the military, then? Well, with that connection they can pull back. Uh, Barry? That is the opposite of pulling back. And Roy’s happy about this? Oh I get it, the crazy Soul Armor goes running in, and Roy’s Crew get to follow “in hot pursuit of the crazed murderer”. You other cops, go and secure the perimeter or something. Down into the Basement of Dramatic String Music they go, but then they face the bane of adventuring parties: a split corridor. Oh yeah, split the party, this can only go well. Roy and Havoc are going around, remarking at how dilapidated everything looks- Uh oh. Lust. Havoc, beware the Angry Girlfriend! On a more serious note, oh crap the party is split up in a basement presumably with multiple Goths. Might be time to stage a retreat. Ok ok, another laugh at how Havoc is a fool for honkers, but for real, back to seriousness. Roy asks about Hughes, and when Lust taunts him he goes for a kneeshot. It shows she’s a Homunculus, but it’ll take more than that to- Roy interrupts her monologue with the rest of his clip, it’s about as effective as we can expect but at least it shut her up for a few moments. But the claws come out, and Lust… stabs herself? Oh. Oh dear. That’s a Philosopher’s Stone. So if all the Goths are built around this miraculous tool of Transmutation then they’ll just keep coming back. On the plus side, now we have a clear weakness: destroy the Stone and they lose their regeneration. Quick Roy, shoot the Glowing Weak Spot! Nope, too slow. Now that Lust is finished talking to the Soon-To-Be-Dead-Men, she disarms them… and slices a water pipe, rendering Roy’s Ignition Gloves useless. Well, crap. Both men run screaming for the exit, tumble outside while Havoc asks what they’re gonna do. But Roy’s happy? Oh! He may have lost his signature ability, but he’s still a State Alchemist who can transmute any materials on hand. Say, a bunch of water into hydrogen gas? Thanks for cutting that pipe, lady! Here, have a lighter!

Al and Riza pick up on the Big Boom, but Riza just steels herself and keeps searching for their target. Good trust in your boss, here’s hoping you two don’t end up in the same situation. After the Jean Havoc/Lust narrator cards, Roy and Havoc are searching the now-torched room. A bit of snarking about the busted ex-girlfriend gift how bad cigarettes are, Roy says aw man why did you say that without a body. She’ll be just in the next room and or no she’s in this one under the rubble! Havoc’s been spiked! Oh crap oh crap, Roy’s still weaponless in a room with Lust, this isn’t good. Oh right, Havoc’s gun which good Leto is rather strong, Lust is down an arm. She’s still boasting about how Roy can’t put her down for good… while her Stone is exposed. Yoink! It’s rather effective, and Lust actually crumbles away. A bit anticlimactic, honestly. But now Roy’s got the MacGuffin! Now to heal Havoc, give it to the Elric Brothers, and the show’s over! I wonder what complication is going to come up now. Roy gets ready to cast Heal and GUH OH MY LETO NO NO NO Lust just grew back around the Stone, her half-formed body chided Roy for being so forward, and Spiky Fingers to the chest. And now HE’S here! [Lab Guard Captain]: “Uh-- Uh… Your Excellency!” [Fuhrer Wrath]: “What’s the current status?” This is not backup! This is the opposite of backup! Lust dumps Roy on the ground, oh-so-sad that she’s been forced to kill such a promising sacrificial candidate as she shreds his glove and leaves him to watch Havoc die before he himself bleeds out. Um. Wow. I can hope that with Lust pulling the classic “Leave before you see them die for sure” mistake that they’ll be ok? Please? Havoc? Come on, answer me buddy. While this awfulness is going on, Al and Riza arrive in an incredibly bright white room with a large Alchemy Symbol (the same on we saw in Xerxes?) on the wall, and Barry looking down at the lifeless remains of his old body, commenting on how a soul shoved in another form is so harmful. This of course shocks Al, makes him wonder if he’ll survive as a Soul Armor until they can reform their original bodies. Al… *Sigh* Riza, just put the pistol down, we’re perfectly aware at how effective that is against the Goths. Lust demands to know why Barry is helping out our guys, he basically says it’s for the heck of it and he wants to kill her anyway. The Goth just complains about how she’ll have to kill a second candidate now since Al tagged along, at which point Barry gets tired of waiting and charges and he’s dead now. Whelp. So long, Barry the Butcher. So now that that’s out of the way, Lust prepares to send Riza after her superior. Riza… does not take the news well. [Furious!Riza]: “You biiittch!!” She empties one pistol to mournful music, same with the second, and finishes with a revolver. All to achieve Lust standing back up and patronizingly asking if she’s done. Aw hell no, don’t you fucking dare call Riza weak. Al, pound her face in. Damnit Riza, take this chance and get out of here! Al’s the only one who can at least slow her down with his Transmutation ability and the fact that he’s friggin metal while you’re flesh and blood, get moving! But no, they keep doing the “save yourself, no you save yourself” thing heroes do while Lust stands there annoyed.

How old is Al again? Whatever it is, it’s way too goddamn young for him to be standing his ground against this murderer, screaming about how [Al]: “I’m sick of watching people die! And I can’t just sit back and take it anymore!” -to a montage of all those touched by death in this show, including that time someone got stabbed while inside him. Friggen Leto, this show. [wait, WHAT?!]: “Well spoken… I couldn’t agree more.” Al IMMEDIATELY earthbends up a shield to protect him and Riza as the room gets filled with ALL OF THE FIRE, it clears to see charred Lust looking oh-so-satisfyingly shocked as The Badass Roy grits out that he got her on her knees, after all. Then the camera pans to oh my Leto I did not expect to see The Badass Roy’s chiseled abs today but I am happy that I did, as he stands there in all his determined glory clutching his stab wounds with one hand and holding the not-so-broken lighter in the other. Or still broken, but The Badass Roy didn’t let that stop him as he just uses the flint to get a spark and a TC carved into his own hand. Cue EVEN MORE FIRE as Lust whines about how he should have bled out by now, but of course The Flame Alchemist seared the wound closed, admits that he aaaaalmost passed out from the pain before MORE FIRE. Now, about that claim that he couldn’t kill you? Let’s see how many FIREs it takes to get to the center of a Gothie-pop, huh?! Again! And again! AND AGAIN! AND AGAIN! BURN, YOU BITCH! No no fuck no you don’t get to suddenly be patched up and charging towards The Badass Roy no no no [The Bitch]: “You killed me.” YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS Lust is crumbling to ashes now as The Badass Roy’s attacks have seemed to finally have damaged her Stone. But she wouldn’t be a Goth if she didn’t go out with a disparaging monologue, pleased that she at least was killed by a man with such cold and focused eyes, looking forward to the day those eyes are wide with agony. [Lust]: “It’s coming... It’s coming…” The Philosopher's Stone falls, and crumbles away. Finally, Roy falls, the effort of his attack and his injuries overcoming him. Riza and Al brush off his thanks and prepare to get a medic aw HELL no I’d forgotten about Bradley, he’s just outside the room- but he just sheathed his sword and walked away. Bwuh? You’re letting them live? What’s your game, Wrath? Ok whatever, the Fuhrer is being mysterious, what else is new, just get Roy and Havoc some help right now! Oh yeah, Winry’s been left at the hotel all day. She’s telling herself over and over that Al’s alright. And here he is! A bit worse for wear, but nothing a little bit of TLT (Tender Loving Transmutation) won’t fix! And he can even do it himself, so no worries Winry! [Winry]: “Moron! Welcome back!” [Al]: “Uh, okay… thanks!” Aw, laugh it out you two. And maybe get some glue for Al’s arm. Wait, Barry’s still alive?! Oh, Lust missed his sigil with her attack, so he’s down to just that little piece of sheet metal. But he’ll be back- wait, BioBarry’s still alive?! How in Leto’s name did he survive all of the FIRE? Well whatever, we get a part-funny, part-bittersweet moment as dumb old BioBarry paws at Barry’s sigil, wiping it away and sending The Butcher off for good. Sayanora, you homicidal maniac. Thanks for your help in the end. Oh hey, Al! How you doing, Protagonist? The Mighty Armstrong and Breda are seeing him off at the train station, is he finally going back to Central to rejoin the Blonde Kids? Well, at least Al will have one heck of a story for him. Never mind, looks like a detour to the graveyard… where there’s someone there? In a brown coat with blond hair… no, it can’t be… It’s him. The man we’ve only seen in flashbacks and the intro. The man who’s forever covered up in pictures. It’s Papa Elric. It’s Hohenheim. … And THAT’S WHERE WE END THE EPISODE?! WHAT THE-

[petri808]

A Witches Heart

Bakudeku fluffy Witch/Familiar gift fic for my demon hubby @diabl0o  UwU

~ I wish I had more time and inspiration, but I hope you like it <3 ;)

For several hours something has been following him and it was getting on his nerves.  It wasn’t human, nor animal, most likely a magical creature of some sort, but what kind, and why was it following him?  “Who’s there?!”  The young wizard Izuku Midoriya calls out into the dense forest.  “I can sense your presence, so there is no point in hiding from me.”  Nothing stirs.  “Fine,” he sets his belongings down and takes a seat on a fallen log.  “I’ll just wait here.”

Whatever it was moved around, circling Midoriya but never came all the way out into the clearing.  This ‘thing’ was quiet, probably small, the wizard guessed, in order not to ruffle the leaves or brush.  In fact, it was starting to remind him of a specific type of animal. Within an hour the presence had finally stopped in front of him, but just out of view.  Oh well, when it was ready to come out it will.

Midoriya decides the day was growing late and began preparing a small campsite.  He gathers wood, kindling, grabs his flint, and starts a fire. Then he takes a kill he’d made that morning out of his rucksack, just a decent sized hare, skinning and cleaning it. The presence shifts, maybe curious as to what the wizard was doing.  That makes him grin, it was only a matter of time now.  

With the rabbit roasting over the fire, Midoriya sits back down, sipping from his waterskin flask, glancing but never staring directly at where the presence had settled.  “Are you hungry?” he talks out loud.  “I have a little to share, if you are.”  Still nothing stirs.  The offer was made, and it was up to it to make the next move. “In the morning I’ll be moving on again, my home is a few more day’s journey from here.”  It would have looked strange to be talking to air, but it was also kind of nice not to be completely alone.  These expeditions to gather supplies were necessary but very lonely without a companion. Older wizards often had vassals to do the hard work, but he was young and had yet to make his way in this world.

He tests the rabbit after 30 minutes and the flesh was firm with no more juices running from the meat.  It smelled great, a little charred at the edges, but nothing too burnt.  “Mmmm,” he holds the stick up near his nose, “sure you don’t want any?”  A slight rustle in the brush brings an uptick at the corners of Midoriya’s mouth.  He breaks a couple of legs off, which sends even more juicier scents into the air.  “Come on out, I won’t hurt ya.”

After a brief pause, the young wizard sees the bushes shake and slowly, a small canine walk’s out. Its nose is up, smelling the air, eyes look wary but curious.  Midoriya tosses a leg close to it.  “There ya go little fella,” he smiles at the animal.  While he eats the rest of the rabbit, he watches it sniffs the meat cautiously, taking a tentative bite, before it goes about devouring the leg.  “Wow,” Midoriya chuckles, “you must’a been hungry guy.”  It only takes a couple minutes before only a leg bone is left.  He tosses the second leg to the animal, but this time midway between them.  “Eat up.” Again, the creature walks over, sniffs, then gobbles up the meat.  In the meantime, Midoriya offers up one more leg and the innards to the animal while he finishes up his portion.    

“Ahh, that was good,” he pat’s his stomach and leans back against the tree trunk.  “Hopefully I keep finding easy prey like that and I won’t go hungry.”  

The dog didn’t immediately bolt back into the forest after the meal, instead sitting down a few feet away on the other side of the fire just watching the wizard.  It was hard to see the canine with only the flickering flames to illuminate it.  But what he could see was a yellow, blondish colored dog, with a medium length coat, pointy ears, and blood red eyes.  It was definitely on the smaller side, not much for a guard animal, but beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to a possible companion.  

Still, why was it giving off a magical presence, and what was such a small dog doing in the middle of a big forest anyways?  It was odd. Maybe it became lost from its original master?  Midoriya pondered such thoughts as he readied his bedroll.  “I’m going to get some sleep,” he tells the animal who hadn’t moved from its position.  “If you’re still here in the morning, you’re welcome to keep following me.”  The dog cocks it’s head as if were pondering its options.  Interesting that it seemed to understand him.  Well since it didn’t seem like the animal was any threat, with a few more pieces of wood added to the fire, Midoriya lies down and goes to sleep.

When he wakes up the next morning, the first thing he notices as soon as he opens his eyes, is that the dog had moved closer through the night and was just over an arms-length away to his side.  So, he sits up slowly not wanting to startle the animal.  “Good morning,” he smiles and yawns, “are you going to keep following me?”  Of course, the animal doesn’t respond, but simply stares.  “I should give you a name or something.”  Midoriya taps his chin, “how about fluffy?”  The animal lowers its ears and growls low.  He chuckles, “ok not fluffy, hmm, maybe Kuma?”  The dog tips his head.  Is it thinking again, Midoriya wonders?  After a few moments without being growled at, he assumes the name is acceptable.  It didn’t quite fit right for a small dog, but it was just a name after all.  “I’ll just call you Kuma for now.”

He packs up and heads off again through the forest.  If memory served him right, there will be a river about a half days journey ahead where he can refresh his water supply and maybe catch some fish for dinner.  Kuma simply follows behind a few feet, never coming close enough to where Midoriya could touch it, but by midday it was clear the animal had no intention of wandering off again.  Well, at least he had a companion now.  Sometimes he would talk out loud as they travelled, just so there was anything but the silence of the forest surrounding him.  Kuma was quiet, never really barked or made any noises, though Midoriya knew it was somehow understanding everything he was saying to it.  

Things went on like this for the next couple of days until they needed to cross another river.  Unlike the previous one, this river was wide and faster moving, but luckily, an old wooden bridge spanned it.  Midoriya tests the first couple of boards and it seemed sturdy enough, though the spaces between the slats were a bit wide.  He turns and reaches out to Kuma, “maybe I should carry you over this.”  Kuma growls and turns his nose, then bypasses Midoriya and begins to trot across on his own. So much for that idea, Midoriya just chuckles and follows behind.

Suddenly, as they reach the midway point, the board under Kuma cracks and gives way.  Midoriya watches in horror as the dog falls, howling till it hits the water and goes under.  “Kuma!”  The drop had only been the length of two tall men, but for a small animal it must have been much more terrifying.  The witch doesn’t hesitate, placing his belongings down and diving in after his companion.  

He searches desperately, paying close attention to each time the dog’s head broke the surface of the water. Midoriya calls out to it to fight. “I’ll save you Kuma!”  Swimming with the current, the witch dodges rocks and other debris.  He was losing track of how far it was carrying him, but it didn’t matter.  With every second he was gaining.  “Gotcha!” he manages to grab the dog’s scruff and pulls it back above the surface before it went under again.  He cradles it to his chest as they are swept a little further down river.  One problem solved, the next was getting out of there.  Midoriya scans and sees a fallen tree that is laying half way into the water. Perfect!  Timing it, he grabs hold of a branch.  The force of the water funneling around the tree was strong, but he manages to haul them both onto the trunk portion.

As soon as he crawls onto solid ground.  “That… was close…” Midoriya flops onto his back, panting from both exhaustion and the adrenaline rush.  It was only at that point that something peculiar registered on the witch.  This dog was a lot heavier than it looked, a lot heavier, as in three times what he though it should be.  “Are you okay,” he asks Kuma.  The dog had crawled off, shaken out it’s fur and sat right beside him.  It tips its head and nods.  Midoriya blinks, it nodded?!  Do dogs nod?!

The witch sits up, “I’m confused on what you are Kuma.  You give off magic, you understand what I’m saying, and your weight makes no sense for a small dog.  Where did you come from?  Did you get lost or run away from a master?  Are you here to get something out of me?  I don’t mind you tagging along, but it would be really nice to know what I’m dealing with.” Kuma rolls its eyes.  “Did you just…”

“You’re nicer than my last witch master, but sometimes you talk too much.”

Midoriya’s jaw drops and he stumbles to his feet.  “Y-You can talk!”

“Yeah.”

Before the witch can do anything more, Kuma shapeshifts into a wolf, a bear, a leopard, then finally into a human, albeit a naked one, while he just gawks the whole time.  As Midoriya covers his eyes, Kuma gives a bellowing laugh, “Such a pansy of a witch!  But a brave one.  For saving my life I will tell you what you ask.  My name is Bakugou Katsuki and I am a shapeshifter.”

“H-Here,” A blushing Midoriya shrugs off his coat and holds it up.  “Please cover up.”

Again, Katsuki laughs but obliges.  “I’m just gonna shapeshift again, it’s easier to travel as an animal.”  

“That’s fine.  I-I just, i-it’s…”

“I get it.  You can open your eyes now.”

When Midoriya peaks out, Katsuki had settled in a cross-legged position.  He breathes out a sigh of relief and opens his eyes.  The shapeshifter was very handsome in his human form, but this wasn’t the time to be gushing about such things.  Wait a minute!  “If you’re a shapeshifter, why didn’t you just change into, I don’t know, a fish or something to save yourself?!”  

“Because you jumped in after me!”  Katsuki crosses his arms, “I hadn’t planned on revealing myself yet, so yeah, if you hadn’t come after me, I would have done just that.”

“Oh.”  That made some sense.  “Hey, um, we should find our way back to the bridge before someone steals my things.” He stands up, ready to trek back along the river, when Katsuki places a hand on his shoulder.  

“Look, I just wanted to say thanks for what you did.  When I saw you, I had a feeling you wouldn’t be like a lot of the witches I’ve met and I was right, you still have a heart.”

“Um, thanks…. I think.”

“What I’m trying to say is, I’d like to be your Familiar if you’ll have me.”  

The young witch has never had a Familiar of his own before.  A wide, beaming smile blooms on his face.  He hugs the man, “I’d really like that!”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Katsuki rolls his eyes, and after a second pushes Midoriya off, “I ain’t really the touchy-feely type.”

Midoriya swore the shapeshifter was blushing too but doesn’t say anything.  “S-Sure, I understand.  So, shall we get moving?  If we hurry, we can get my stuff and make camp before dark.”

Katsuki nods and shape shifts into small dragon.  “Get on, this’ll be faster.”

“Wow!”