#yes the title is chapter one. it's chapter one because this was such a huge break for me and it's the beginning of a whole new arc in SR

[brown-little-robin]

44: Chapter One

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Safe.

Safe.

The room where Thad found Joseph is bright, with a skylight like the one in the pool room downstairs, and the light reflects from a white floor, white walls, white ceiling. And paintings. They’re Joseph’s work. Thad knows it instinctively, even before he notices the faces of Joseph’s mother and his former vigilante associates in some of them. It’s the colors that gave it away, Thad thinks, vibrant even in the paintings of dull subject matter. Prosaic pears become golden-green delicacies; skies become blue-green heavens; normal human faces glow with warm red and yellow and shades of purple and blue. Joseph’s work is an effusion of color and light that Thad couldn’t pull from his imagination if his life depended on it.

Thad doesn’t know how he found Joseph. Homing instinct, he supposes. This is what it is to have a lightning rod, he supposes.

He can’t breathe right, his nose is so squashed against Joseph’s chest. He’s just… he’s so relieved.

He clenches his fists in the back of Joseph’s shirt. Never, he thinks, never, never will he betray Joseph.

Joseph squeezes Thad so tight Thad’s ribs hurt. Thad takes a shallow breath, straining his ribcage against Joseph’s hands, and Joseph releases him, steps back and signs, “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Thad lets out a big sigh. The tension of the hug goes with it. He’s still a little numb, still what Max would call “shell-shocked”, and he’s trembling a little despite the warmth of this room, but he’s okay. He’s safe here.

“What happened?”

“I ran away.”

Thaddeus pauses for a shocked reaction, an old habit hardwired into him. As he expected, Joseph’s eyes grow wide. It pleases him, in a sick kind of way.

He explains, “I yelled at Max.”

Joseph asks, “It went so badly that you ran away?”

“It wasn’t that bad. The argument. It was about my brothers.”

“Bart?” Joseph spells.

“No, the other… clones,” Thad says with something like distaste. Abruptly, he doesn’t feel like standing anymore. He sits down on the white-tiled floor and clasps his arms around his knee.

Joseph follows him down and leans against one of the cupboards that line the walls of this room. Thad sighs.

Joseph doesn’t seem like he’s going to say anything, so Thad says, “They killed the others. Did you know that?”

Joseph nods.

“It was self-defense,” Thad admits quietly.

He’s sure it was self-defense. That’s… the whole point of Inertia. To force the Flash into lose-lose situations. If the Flash dies, fine, a win for the Thawnes. If Inertia dies, the Flash killed another Thawne, and it’s another grievance against the Flash. Another meaningless reason to be angry.

Thad is angry, but not at Max. Not really. He’s not even angry at the Flash anymore. He’s angry that there’s been so much death for nothing.

Thad digs his fingers into his leg, feeling the denseness of his living muscle. His body is a miracle and he doesn’t know the point of it. The spirit in the speed force sent him back, alive—why?

Beloved.

If he is beloved of the speed force, why didn’t the speed force keep him?

He shuts his eyes. He never met the other clones in the speed force, and he doesn’t know why. He didn’t even get a sense of any presence other than Barry Allen and certain other adult spirits. Maybe the other clones just got absorbed. In which case, why didn’t he? Was he too stubborn? If he’d let the lightning and wind kill him immediately, would there have been peace afterwards? Did the speed force spit him out because he was annoying it, a little knot of anger and selfishness in its vast expanse? But the spirit said beloved, and he got the feeling that it wasn’t speaking on its own behalf.

A snap of fingers brings him out of his miserable reverie. Joseph asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” Thad says automatically. Then, “Yes.”

He stops. Joseph waits.

There’s too much to talk about. He can’t get any of it out.

“I’m just… I don’t…” He struggles to find something he could say that would explain this knot of bitterness in him. It’s too complicated. He falls back on an old phrase he used with CRAYDL: “I don’t have enough information to draw conclusions.”

“OK. Do you want a hug?”

Thad laughs. Ridiculous. As if the injustice and confusion of it all could be put off with a hug.

He does kind of want a hug, though.

He nods. Joseph slides over next to him and wraps him up. Thad lets his bodyweight rest limp against Joseph’s shoulder.

It does make him feel better, weirdly enough. The clones are dead at the hands of the Flash, but Thad isn’t in the hands of the Flash anymore.

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

stand and fight

── jacaerys velaryon x fem!targaryen reader

surprise i can’t contain myself so this is a series shdbxndjfvnsj

little a/n before we begin ── CHANGING AGES!! jace is only 13 when aegon is crowned king but in this, you and he are both 18. as with my aegon piece, i know everyone’s long names and titles but for the sake of not typing it out each time i use first names (i.e. criston instead of ser criston cole). reader is alicent and viserys’ child, but is living with rhaenyra and her family because she was always of the opinion that her father wanted rhaenyra to be queen. even once aegon was crowned, she refused to refer to him as king. as a result this caused a huge feud with reader against alicent, aegon, and aemond and she was all but banished from her home. about 2 weeks after aegon is crowned, reader and dragon (stormfyre) ran away and have been with rhaenyra and fam ever since. of everyone on team black, you’re closest with jace. everyone suspects something romantic between you both, but nothing has happened as of the start of this. takes place before, and during season 2 episode 4. you’ve been warned

wc: 1.6k (future chapters will be much longer and feature a lot more of jace, promise!)

PART ONE

Your relationship with Jacaerys (not that you could really call it a relationship), wasn’t always how it is now. He wasn’t the one you sought out when you wanted quiet but not alone time, and you weren’t the first person he searched for when he entered the room. Certainly not when you first arrived and Rhaenyra announced that you’d be staying with them.

In fact, in the beginning, you were sure he hated you.

Being on opposing sides of this ‘war’, part of the reason why he took such a strong disliking to you was because he thought he had to. You, on the other hand, were the complete opposite. You’d long since grown tired of hating people simply because you were told to.

On the evening you and Stormfyre ran away, the entire time you were flying was spent worrying and just praying to the Gods that you wouldn’t be turned away, or killed.

Rhaenyra was there to greet you when Stormfyre finally landed, and once you told her how bad things had gotten at home and that you didn’t know where else to go, she immediately offered you a room. Though you were Alicent’s daughter, you were still her half sister and had always been kind to her and her children. She knew you wanted no part in this feud, that you and Helaena were innocent in all of it.

After you wrote a note and Rhaenyra sent a raven to deliver it to Alicent, she informed you that they were just about to sit down and have dinner and she’d love for you to join them.

The first thing you noticed as you took your seat across from Lucerys, was how Jacaerys was glaring at you.

No one had taken more than a few bites before he put his fork down and loudly stood up.

“Why is she here?” He pointed at you, not even bothering to hide his anger.

“Jacaerys sit down,” Rhaenyra shook her head. “You know as well as I do that she is innocent in all of this. I have invited her—”

“To stay with us? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, she’s one of them! How do you know—”

Hearing that last part, Rhaenyra pushed her chair back and stood up. “Do not speak to me in that way, I will not tolerate it. I have invited her to stay for as long as she’d like and that is final. Now sit down.”

“Yes Your Grace.” The sarcasm was loud and clear, but Rhaenyra opted to ignore it since he did in fact sit down again.

You had your worries, but this confirmed it. You couldn’t stay. On the way over you told yourself that if anyone showed hesitation or anger at you being there, you’d leave as soon as you felt safe to do so. To live in a place where you were in fear of saying the wrong thing or suddenly being asked to leave, was no different than if you’d remained at home.

“Your Grace, I am a bit tired. Thank you for the lovely meal but if it’s alright I’d like to retire for the evening.”

Jacaerys once again didn’t even attempt to hide his anger. He rolled his eyes as he continued to eat.

“Of course, please don’t hesitate to ask if there’s anything you need.” She gave you a small smile, and as soon as you turned the corner you could hear her beginning to bicker with her eldest son.

After you’d been in your room about an hour, there was a series of soft knocks at your door. If you’d been doing anything other than laying in bed, you probably wouldn’t have heard.

When you opened the door and were greeted by Lucerys, to say you were surprised was an understatement.

“My Prince, I —”

He gave you that look, the I’m a kid please don’t use my title it’s weird look, and when you tried again and called him by his first name, he smiled. His hands had previously been behind his back and when he brought them forward, in each was a small plate with what appeared to be some sort of cake.

“Jace was rude and I know that’s why you didn’t finish dinner,” he said simply.

You opened your mouth to say that wasn’t true, but when he gave you that look again you couldn’t help but laugh.

“For being so young, you’re quite perceptive.”

He nodded as he sat down and handed you a plate. “Mom says I’m good at reading people. I forgot forks so we’ll have to use our hands.”

“You wish to stay and eat with me?”

Again, the young boy nodded. “It’s not fun to eat alone.”

The first few minutes, the 2 of you simply enjoyed the desserts in silence. You were relieved to find that it was a comfortable silence. When you were both finished, Lucerys, who insisted you call him Luke, took the plates and said he’d be right back. When he returned only a moment later, his first question surprised you.

“Why did you run away?”

“I — it’s complicated. Since Aegon was crowned king, there have been a lot of… fights.”

“You don’t think he should be king?”

You wondered how much to tell him, seeing as he was only 11. “No,” you decided to just tell the truth. “I think your mom should be.”

“She’s your… half sister, right?”

You nodded. “Yes, she’s my half sister. The same way that Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond are her other half siblings.”

“Do you not like them?”

“My other siblings?”

He nodded.

“I’m using this word too much, but it’s complicated. My relationship with each of them is different. Or was, before things went bad. Aegon and I used to be inseparable when we were really little. Everyone used to joke that we were twins. Though I’m a year older than Aemond, I always looked up to him. He’s the one who taught me how to use a sword, and I will always be grateful for that. Helaena and I are still close, she understands why I left. In fact that reminds me I need to ask your mom if I may send a raven to her tomorrow.”

“Even if you don’t think he should be king, why did you leave? Did they hurt you?”

“No, not yet anyway,” you gave a sad smile. “But it wasn’t just them that made me fearful. Other people haven’t been so kind. It’s why I’m so grateful that I’m allowed to be here, even if it’s only temporary.”

Luke looked surprised, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that you’d leave. “But you’ll stay with us for a while right? I’ll talk to Jace, I swear it.”

You quickly wiped a tear and smiled at the young boy in front of you. “That means a lot to me, truly. But please don’t talk to your brother on my behalf. He has made it clear I’m unwelcome and I fear that anything you say will make him angry with you as well.”

“If you don’t stay, will you have to return home?”

That was something you hadn’t even thought about. Initially while flying you feared being rejected. But even if that did happen, what would your plan have been?

“Possibly. I do not know where else I would go.”

“Jacer— there you are, you’ve had us searching everywhere,” Rhaenyra smiling as she saw how comfortable her son was around you. “Why don’t you let her get some sleep, hmm? You can see her in the morning.”

He groaned, but Luke did give you a hug and a “goodnight” before heading out of your room.

Rhaenyra turned to follow her son, then turned back around to face you again as she thought of something she wanted to say.

“I’d just like to apologize for my older son. I do not know what has gotten into him as of late but he had no right to speak to or about you that way. I will see to it that he—”

“Please, Your Grace—” she gives you that same look that Luke did, and you smile at how similar they look. “Rhaenyra, you and he have nothing to apologize for. I am technically one of them, and I’m intruding on your home.”

She is quick to shake her head. “You’re not intruding. I know what it can be like over there, and for your wellbeing I am glad that you felt safe enough to come here. We will think of next steps for tomorrow, although I really do hope you’ll stay a while. It seems Luke does too. I’ll let you get some rest now.”

“Thank you, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you,” you get off of the bed and embrace your sister for the first time in who knows how long. She rubs circles on your back and it brings tears to your eyes, your own mom wouldn’t ever embrace you like this.

Rhaenyra leaves a few minutes later, and you finally crawl into bed.

As you lay there and wait for sleep to come, you think about the events of today. And you can’t help it, eventually your mind drifts to the boy who sat across from you.

With the dirty looks he gave you, how he spoke about you as if you weren’t there, there’s no doubt in your mind that he hates you.

It’s hard to believe that if Aegon weren’t crowned King, and Rhaenyra held her place on the iron throne, that Jacaerys would’ve been the next heir.

Even harder to believe is that to ensure both families remained united, you and he would’ve already gotten married.

You finally start to feel sleepy, and just before you drift off, your final thoughts are of Jacerys. If you do end up staying, you wonder if things will always be like this.

TAGLIST ──

@simpingbigtime | @chillingyuh | @themoon-mine | @greenvita | @frostooo | @darylspersonalwhore | @athxnss | @thatbird-fromrio | @yohanseyebrowmole | @koobratzy | @ganertys | @kodzuvk | @lovelyteenagebeard | @m1lilachp | @lotus-888

[twice-inamillion]

Family Trip

Fluff and Smut (adventure, family time)(teasing, sex, dom Jihyo, cowgirl riding, creampie, talking about breeding)

Chapter 214

2124 Words 

(The first trip as a married couple with Jisoo. Some fluff moment and with a happy ending. 😏)

After your honeymoon, the two of you decide on a family trip with Jisoo. “Are you excited to go on a trip with mommy and daddy?” asks Jihyo. Jisoo nods and smiles. “Okay, then you will need your sweater and your toy.” Jisoo makes her way down the bed, runs to get her sweater and stuffed toy, and puts it inside her backpack. 

You leave just before sunrise for a morning hike to Diamond Head State Park. Jisoo tries her best to make the hike but can only walk on flat surfaces. “Daddy, up,” says Jisoo, who puts her hands up. You put her inside her baby carrier and climb up the stairs to the top of the mountain. When you arrive at the top, the sun rises, “We made it just in time." Jihyo takes a photo of you and Jisoo with the sunrise in the background. 

“Say cheese!”

Jisoo smiles and holds a heart sign, which makes Jihyo laugh. You then take a picture of Jihyo and Jisoo and a family photo of the beautiful background. 

After the hike, the three of you enjoy a light breakfast before going to the second stop of your trip. Jisoo can’t help but be excited to go whale watching. Before arriving in Hawaii, the two of you would read Jisoo, a book on whales, before going to sleep. When she was asked what she wanted to do while she was in Hawaii, she immediately replied, “Big whale, big whale!” 

The three of you arrive at the port and are the first trip of the day. You board the large boat and take your seats inside. The ship departs from the port, as Jisoo is glued to the window trying to look for the whales. 

“Jisoo, there are no whales here.”

“No?” Titling her head in confusion.

“We need to be in the middle of the ocean because the whales are so big,” says Jihyo.

“Whale, big?” 

“Yes, some whales are bigger than this boat.”

“Whale eat?” as she points at the two of you.

“Ohh no, the whale doesn’t eat people. Remember how the book said it eats small creatures called krill.” Jisoo nods her head and stares back at the window. 

About an hour into the boat ride, there is an announcement that there has been a site of a pod of whales nearby. Jisoo’s ear perks up and asks you to go outside.

The three of you head out and walk to where the captain points. Jihyo takes out a pair of binoculars for the two of you to use. It doesn’t take long before you get a glimpse of the whale’s fin, “Look, Jisoo, it's right in front of you.” Jisoo lifts her binoculars and sees the whale showing its head, “ama, whale!”

Jisoo turns to Jihyo and points out, “Look, whale!” You hand over the binoculars to Jihyo, “You’re right; good job, Jisoo, you found the whale.” Jisoo can’t help but feel proud of her finding.

The captain steers the boat closer to where the whale was sighted. “Right before us is a humpback whale in its feeding ground. One of our deckhands communicated with us that they have also caught sight of a calf, so we need to be extra careful.”

“Did you hear that Jisoo? The captain said that they saw a calf, a baby whale.”

“Baby whale? Jisoo?” pointing at herself. 

Jihyo responds, “Yes, a baby just like Jisoo.”

“I see, baby.”

“Ohh, we need to be extra careful. We don’t want to scare the calf away.” 

The three of you wait for a few minutes until the water bubbles up. The whale jumps out of the water and crashes down, causing a huge splash. Jisoo points and laughs out loud, “Whale jump, whale jump!” 

Before the whale came out, Jihyo took out her phone to record Jisoo’s reaction. She knew Jisoo would go crazy if the whale came out jumping from the water. Jisoo moves her hands excitedly as the whale leaps from the water. Jihyo can’t believe she caught this beautiful moment. 

The whale stays afloat for a few minutes, eating the large amount of krill that swarms on the surface. Out of nowhere, Jisoo sees the calf pop its head, “Baby, baby!”

“You’re right; the baby saw you and wanted to say hi.”

“Baby, hi?”

“Yes, baby, wanted to say hi to Jisoo.”

Jisoo laughs, “Hug, baby!”

“Ohh, you can’t hug the baby; it's too big. Maybe when you’re older, you can swim with it.” 

After going back and forth, Jisoo is convinced and understands that she can not hug the calf.

The boat arrives at the port, and the three of you give your thanks to the captain. “Bye-bye!” Jisoo turns around to Jihyo, says, “Jisoo hungry,” and rubs her belly.

You stop at a local Hawaiian shop and get some food before heading to the beach. When you arrive at the beach, Jihyo walks to a good spot with some shade as you carry your belongings. Jisoo watches and eats her pineapple ice cream and shouts, “Apa, tent!” rushing you to hurry with setting up the tent. “Okay, okay, I got it.”

After setting up the tent, you all enjoy some ice cream and food as you watch the waves crash to the shore. Jisoo extends her arms, “Ama, boobs, boobs!” Jisoo crawls to her mother and lifts up her shirt, exposing her bra. “Okay, okay, you want to drink mommy’s milk,” as she releases her breasts from her bra. 

Jisoo immediately positions her head and attaches her mouth to Jihyo’s nipple. She starts to suck on Jihyo’s breast aggressively, causing her to moan slightly. You can’t help but laugh at Jihyo for her sudden reaction. She throws her bra, which hits your face. Jihyo laughs at you, but instead, you take her bra and give it a sniff, to which she says, “Babe, you’re gross.” 

“Haha, you know we’ve done worse,” giving her a smirk.

“Haha, that’s true.” 

After a few minutes of breastfeeding, Jisoo falls asleep, attached to her mother’s breast. Jihyo places her on the floor of the tent and covers Jisoo with her blanket. “Aww, she looks cute, doesn’t she.” 

Suddenly, she feels your head on her lap, and you say, “Mommy, I’m hungry too,” giving her a pair of puppy dog eyes. She gives you an annoyed face before you attach your mouth to her breast. You slowly begin to suckle on her nipple, causing her to release a slow moan, “Ahh… babe. That feels nice.” You increase the pace of your sucking, which increases her cry. She can feel herself getting wet but then hears Jisoo whine in her sleep, making her release her nipple from your mouth.

 “Why did you stop?”

“She’s going to wake up.” 

“Dang, okay,” you pout.

The two of you instead lay next to Jisoo and talk about the past few days. The ups and downs and what is on the schedule for the next few weeks. She also asks you for an update on the house, which there is some process but is still a few months away from completion. Eventually, she falls asleep like Jisoo, and you decide to enjoy your time at this very moment.

You return to the house and have a light dinner before showering. Jihyo decides to bathe with Jisoo as you clean up the kitchen and get your items ready for tomorrow. After you are finished, you hop into the shower as Jihyo gets Jisoo ready for bed. With the water muffling any outside noise, you clear your head and enjoy your time alone. 

Done with your shower, you see Jihyo covering Jisoo with her blanket. “She fell asleep so fast; she must have been so tired.”

“We did wake up earlier than usual. She didn’t even complain one bit  throughout the day.”

“Our baby is growing up,” says Jihyo with a warm smile.”

“You’re right; our baby is growing up so fast.”

Jihyo then turns around and touches your chest, “Let’s continue where we left off.” She stares at you with lustful eyes and pushes you onto the couch.

“Wait… what are you doing?”

“I said I want to continue where we left off.”

“But Jisoo is here.”

“So, she’s asleep, and I don’t think she’ll wake up until tomorrow.” She undoes your towel and pulls out your limp cock, and gives it a few strokes. Jihyo lifts her oversized shirt and aligns your cock to her entrance, slowly lowering herself into your cock, causing her to moan.

With your cock between her walls, she slowly rides you. You can feel your core burning up and your cock throbbing due to her tightness. 

She whispers in your ear, “I can feel your cock getting bigger inside of me,” which makes you immediately go to full size. Now, at full length, she increases the pace as she rides you like one of her toys. 

You try not to make any noise and not wake up Jisoo, and you bite your lip and try your hardest not to make a sound. The only sound in the room is of flesh slapping against each other as Jihyo rides you like a mating bull. 

You don’t want to be the only one nude, so you lift up Jihyo’s oversized shirt and toss it on the floor. With your hands on her ass, she begins to thrust harder, causing your thighs to turn red. To what seems like thirty minutes of pure riding, Jihyo knows you are at your limit. She comes closer to your ear and whispers, “I know you’re about to cum just like I am. So where do you want to shoot it? Inside or outside?”

It’s a no-brainer, and respond, “You know the only choice is inside.” 

“Why did I even ask? You’re always one to get a girl dirty right after they get cleaned.”

“What can I say? I like marking my girls with my seed.”

Teasing you, she says, “And what do you like doing to your girls with your seed?”

“I like breeding them.”

“Ohh, you like breeding us?”

“Yes, just like right now. I want to breed you all night and give our daughter another sibling.”

“If you want to, do it.”

“Really?”

“No. You know how busy we are with the tour.”

“Fuck, you’re right.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can't just fuck me here and there. I’m on the pill, so you can cum inside of me as much as you want.”

“You really know how to make a guy happy, huh.”

“I know you like the back of my hand. I know you’re about to burst at any moment, so let me give you a push,” and lifts herself once more before slamming herself with full force. 

Both of your floodgates burst wide open, releasing your orgasms at once. Her love juice and your thick cum collide with one another, mixing into something new. Jihyo spasms as she rides her orgasm, tightening her walls around your cock and milking you of all you’re worth. 

After a few minutes, she regains her composure and asks you to bring her to bed. “You don’t want to clean yourself first?”

“No, why would I? I love the feeling of hot baby batter in my tummy.” You can't help but get turned on again. “I see our little friend here is still full of energy. How about you go clean up the mess, and if you’re still hard, I’ll let you sleep with your cock inside of me.” 

You try your best to clean yourself and the mess before going to bed. Luckily, your friend didn’t disappoint and stood tall and proud the whole time. 

You climb onto the bed slowly, not to wake Jisoo from her sleep. Jihyo turns around and whispers, "I guess you’re still hard. A promise is a promise," and turns around with her back facing you. She sticks her but out, teasing you as you get closer to her. She grabs your hard cock and aligns it to her entrance before taking in the first two inches of your meat. “It’s in, you can put in the rest.” 

You grab her waist and shove your whole length inside her womb, causing her to moan slowly. Jihyo, in a spooning position with you, grinds herself onto you and makes sure that every inch of “you” is warm. She slowly falls asleep with your embrace and her baby next to her. 

[shadesofecclescakes]

Are you a big fanfic reader? What have you read lately and what's been your favourite fic so far?

Oh mannnnnnnnn. Why don't you ask me to pick a favourite child while you're at it???

Just kidding. I don't have kids. But I assume having to pick a favourite would be hard if I did.

So, am I a big fanfic reader? YES. And what haven't I read lately? We are lucky enough to have so many talented writers in this fandom that it's possible to subscribe to numerous multi-chapter fics to the point where you're just constantly getting update emails. Which I do. It's great. It gives me something to do at work aside from, y'know, work.

*Me at work being smug about being paid to read porn* (Also I just wanted to look at this gif)

So what is currently on my endless update list? Coming up after the cut!

I am an absolute whore for human AU, so if you like that then you will probably like:

The Cure for a Broken Heart by @rofell

a medical student AU based in the Canadian medical system (I'm a Canadian so I was pretty excited about that). It manages to tackle the continued systemic discrimination of Indigenous people in our medical system (and in general), homophobia and the ensuing trauma from those things all while also being informative, funny, sweet, romantic and hot af. Like. It's so good.

Free by @maaikeatthefullmoon

This is another one with with a heavy topic that also does a great job of making sure to break it up with some excellent fluff, hurt/comfort and humorous moments. And it's handled with the sensitivity and thoughtfulness necessary to write something that takes place in a mental health ward and deals with some intense situations. Definitely make sure to read those author notes before diving in. They lay it out very thoroughly.

The Sincere Way by @tsyvia48

A martial arts AU. Crowley is a karate sensei and Aziraphale is his student. Slow burn that keeps you on the edge. The screams I have scrumt at my screen over this one. Plus you learn a lot about karate (but it never gets boring or over-explainey. Excellently balanced) which is pretty cool. Mostly light (there is some angst. This is the Good Omens fandom. I think we are all sad, wet chihuahuas at heart). Funny and sweet.

Terminus by @emotional-support-demon-crowley

Plus One by @caedmonfaith

Astronaut AU. Aziraphale is an astronaut who meets his mission controller, Crowley, over the comms system when he finds himself in need of assistance.

Super cool concept and really well-done in my opinion. Like, I don't do any space or physics-related work (ok I straight-up failed math 9) but I find it entirely believable. And it's well-written which is the entire point. Cute, funny slow burn with an intriguing mystery happening in the background.

Aziraphale has family money but a shitty family (except for Muriel! Never Muriel!) and his shitty brother Gabriel is getting married to shitty Michael, an Earl's daughter.

Aziraphale's family disproves of his entire life pretty much and he has been lying to them about having a boyfriend. Now they are expecting him to bring said boyfriend to the wedding. His famous footballer friend sets him up with their mechanic, Crowley.

It starts as a slow-burn but becomes a hilarious, smutty romp that just gets more and more insane. The chapter titles alone have made me cackle out loud.

Some older human AUs I'm a huge fan of include Old Vines by @sevdrag. Crowley owns a vineyard and Aziraphale is a wine critic. It is so amazingly written. It makes me think of the author Joanna Harris (Chocolat, The Five Quarters of the Orange) because it's SO beautifully, vividly descriptive that I end up craaaaaving wine. So have a bottle on hand if you're giving this a read.

Also the love story in this. My god. I devoured it. The story and the (many bottles of) wine.

There is also Loosely Ballroom by marginalia_device and mortifyingideal. It's a Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing with the Stars in North America) AU and it is so. Fucking. Good.

But it comes with a disclaimer. It's unfinished and looks likely to stay that way. But honestly? Still worth it. It's nearly finished (I think) so you have most of the story. And it's just SO good. It's been a while since I read it but it was one of the first human AUs I read and what got me hooked on them.

If you're still with me...nice! Just know that was me holding back and that isn't my entire list by a long shot. If you want more recs, feel free to message me and also share your own!

I just finished Slow Show the actor AU by @mia-ugly and yes please.

Some serious angst, pining and hot hot smut.

There is another long-form multi-chapter actor au I loooved but I can't remember the name for the life of me. Just that the show they were on was basically good omens and that they swapped roles with great success (inspired by the whole Michael thinking Neil wanted him to play Crowley when he wanted Aziraphale thing).

Thanks for the ask! That was really fun!

[annymation]

The Kingdom of Wishes- A “Wish” Rewrite

Chapter 15- At All Cost?

Chapter 14

Asha is now in the middle of the wishes room, staring at the queen standing on the king's study.

She feels her heart racing for a moment, she's scared... But then she remembers what she's holding right now, her sketchbook and her magic pencil.

She has nothing to fear, if anything, it's the queen who should be scared.

After glancing at the objects in her hands, Asha takes a deep breath and calms down, and faces the queen boldly.

The queen smiles at that, as she begins to speak with her usual honeyed voice "Hello dear, such a pleasant surprise to have you back so soon." She looks down to Valentino, the goat in cowering between Asha's legs and shaking in fear at the sight of the lynx next to the queen, her smile widens "Awww and you even brought a little snack for my pet, how thoughtful." she lets out a quiet chuckle.

Bravo is salivating, staring at the baby goat with predatory eyes.

Asha starts to think on what she can draw, the queen hasn't moved yet, so maybe she can ramble with her for a bit and then catch her off guard...

Asha realizes how the queen looks older than the last time they've met, not too old, but the white hair streak and the subtle wrinkles on her previously perfect skin are noticeable... Just like Aster, she sees this change as an opportunity to make fun of the royal.

"Yeah, glad to be back. Though I thought my last visit here in the castle was 2 days ago, but judging by your face it must have been AGES, huh?" Asha says with a smirk, knowing that would infuriate the queen.

And she was correct, for the queen's smile immediately fell into a cold glare.

(This is the closest I could find in the movie of Amaya looking evil)

"It is churlish to comment on a woman's age, have you no manners?" Her tone is condescending.

Asha simply smiles, seeing that struck a nerve "These are just the manners you deserve, "your highness"" She says the formal title with sarcasm.

The queen looks at her with a serious expression as she raises one eyebrow, almost impressed with how much that sweet and insecure girl they met changed so much in so little time... But her smiles returns slightly, because she has already planed on how to take all that courage out of her.

"You really think so? This way you might hurt my feelings, child..." She places a hand in her chest making a fake sad expression, that instantly returns to a wicked smile as she takes a potion flask from inside the front of her dress "Perhaps I should give you just what you deserve as well."

Asha notices the flask and instantly turns to her sketchbook to try drawing something "What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thi-"

But before she starts to draw, she notices... The floor she's standing on is covered with something... Something shiny, that look's like blue sand.

She glances around the room and sees that the whole floor around her is covered with a thin layer of this weird sand, Asha has a puzzled expression.

The queen notes her confusion "Ah, I see you finally noticed the fire salamander ashes, quite pleasing to look at how they sparkle, don't you think?"

Asha feels a chill run down her spine as she hears the word "fire" coming out of the woman's mouth "W-What?" She turns to the queen, and sees she's now opening a flask with an orange shinny liquid inside.

"Oh yes, it is known as one of the most inflammable components in the magic world, and it also so happens to have such a beautiful reaction when mixed with dragon's blood..." She explains like she's just sharing an interesting fun fact about her hobby as a potion maker, her tone becomes sinister as she opens the flask and asks "Would you like to see?"

"No- NO NO WAIT!" Asha screams in desperation, completely forgetting about her magic pencil as she takes Valentino in her arms to protect him from what she already knows is coming.

The queen drops one single drop of the shiny liquid on the floor, and a HUGE blue flame forms in front of her, spreading slowly to the whole room covered in fire salamander ashes.

(If you're wondering where the heck Amaya get's all these ingredients, let's just say that line she had in the movie about "Why a sorcerer needs what a sorcerer needs is not your concern" is a line Magnifico probably said to a lot of soldiers he sent off on dangerous quests over the years.)

The queen laughs maniacally as she snaps her fingers, making the huge door made of mirrors close in front of her, trapping Asha in the fiery room.

The flames are spreading and approaching Asha slowly, she thinks fast and pulls from her sketchbook the drawing of the flying carpet.

As the carpet flies out of the page, she jumps on it with Valentino. Now they're both safely flying above the flames, surrounded by the wish bubbles.

The queen has no idea they're safe from harm, and Asha smiles with that notion. She'll open the door sooner or later to see if Asha is dead, so all the girl has to do is play along and pretend she's in mortal danger.

"THERE'S SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH YOU LADY!" Asha yells from the carpet, trying her best not to laugh while faking she's scared for her life. Valentino also catches on to the plan and lets out some fake scared bleating, Asha pets him to show she's proud.

The queen falls for it, as she says in sarcasm "Who meee? Why, all I want is to give my beloved pet some freshly cooked meat" She's sitting down with her back against the wall of mirrors, as she too pets her lynx's head gently... Her eyes light up as a devious idea pops in her head, so she says with her words dripping with venom "...Besides, wouldn't you agree this is the most fitting end for you? To burn into ashes just like your dear mama and papa?"

Asha is stunned at the mention of her parents, but her surprise quickly turns into anger "Don't you DARE talk about my parents!" She almost forgets she's supposed to sound scared right now

"Awww sensitive topic, my flower? If it serves as any consolation, they would've suffered way more had I picked how to kill them." Her voice has a twisted sense of humor hanging on every word.

Asha's eyes widen "... Wait... What did you just say?"

"You see, Magnus has always been more of a "Get things done quick" kind of man, and although I love that about him, I oh so wish we had gone with my plan of poisoning their garden..." Amaya continues casually like she's just sharing small talk with the poor girl that is having this terrifying revelation unfold before her "But oh well, I suppose starting a fire with magic was simpler. Such a shame you weren't inside with them, would've spared us a lot of grey hairs." She says as she holds a strand of her newly white hair streak.

Asha feels her world crumble as she process what Amaya just told her...

All this time she thought it was just bad luck, that they had an accident with the fireplace or dropped a candle... But it was them...

Everything was because of them. The reason she never got to learn how to draw with her mother, the reason she never got to hear her father stories, the reason she never got to grow up with them, the reason she and her Saba were alone... It was all THEM.

Asha sees the fire consuming half of the room bellow her, the flames are reflecting on her eyes as she asks with her voice more furious than ever "WHY?! WHAT DID THEY EVER DO TO YOU?!"

The queen laughs at the question "You are just like them, darling. They were worthless little weeds festering in our garden, inspiring our roses to grant wishes by themselves. We simply had no choice but to root them out." Amaya explains with her voice turning more and more maniacal as she finishes "And now, it's your turn to join them!"

... That was the reason? Because her parents encouraged people to chase after their wishes? Her parents lost their lives... Because these two sickos wanted to control EVERY SINGLE PERSON in Rosas?!

Asha sees that the room is almost fully consumed by the flames, and so is her heart consumed by anger. So she lets out a scream, from the pain she feels in her chest and also to trick the queen into opening the door.

"AAAAAaaAaaaAAAAAaAAAH!!!"

The queen is content hearing the girl painful screaming, thinking that's the last sound she'll ever hear from her.

"It seems your meal is ready, Bravo" She says with a twisted glee while getting up, Bravo looks just as exited as his owner.

The queen snaps her fingers, opening the huge door made of mirrors. The whole room is covered in bluish flames. With one drop of another flask she had with her, this time with a blue liquid, the fire is quickly extinguished like the flame of a candle being blown out.

Once the fire was gone the queen expected to see the girl and her little goat lifeless bodies laying on the floor... But they're nowhere to be seen.

"... What in the-"

"Looking for me?" Asha's voice comes from above.

The queen quickly looks up, gasping in shock when she sees the girl flying on a magic carpet.

The queen barely has time to react before Asha jumps from the carpet, and with one swift move of her hand, points to the surprised lynx, wordlessly commanding the carpet to deal with him.

The carpet flies towards the queen, and she cowers in fear and closes her eyes trying to protect herself. But her eyes quickly open again when she hears her pet meowing desperately, the carpet took him and flew with him to outside the window.

(Ya know, originally I was gonna write a chase scene between Valentino and Bravo, but I realized we kinda don't have the time and I'm not feeling like writing that, soooooo I just throw the cat out the window instead. He'll be fine.)

"MY BABY!" The queen shrieks, worried sick for his safety

"Relax, I sent him somewhere safe. Unlike YOU, I'm not a monster." Asha sounds fierce but also with a hint of pain in her voice, like every word that comes out of her mouth gives a sting in her heart, as she's fighting to not cry in front of the queen. "Valentino, go hide while I deal with her." Her voice is serious, while she's flipping through the pages of her book, and once she finds the one she was looking for she pulls out a sword just like the one she used to practice sword fighting with Aster earlier.

The queen sees Asha doing magic in disbelief, as she's now walking backwards slowly shaking her head "no" with a terrified expression.

Asha doesn't hear Amaya whisper under her breath "That boy didn't say anything abo-"

The queen stops mumbling when Asha begins to run, charging towards her with sword in hands, ready to attack.

Amaya tries to run out of the way, but she trips on her own dress and falls on the floor.

Now, Asha is the one in control, pointing her sword to the woman laying down beneath her. Her enraged face shows clearly that she's after revenge.

Amaya for the first time loses her composure, and stutters in a desperate attempt to reason with her "A-Asha, now now ca-calm down, listen to me-" her voice is helpless.

"NO! YOU LISTEN!" Asha's voice echoes through the large room "All the pain and suffering I've went through ALL MY LIFE ties back to the two of you! All because you wanted to keep this SICK AND TWISTED sense of control over everyone in Rosas." She points the sword closer to Amaya's neck, the older woman is shaking "But guess what, no matter what you did, you could NEVER control me! I overcame everything you threw at me, and now, I'll make sure you two can NEVER hurt anyone else ever again!" Asha raises the sword above her head to strike down the witch-

...

But Asha stops.

She can't do it.

She's not like them.

Asha looks down on the queen breathing heavily and lowers her sword. She doesn't know if she's doing the right decision... But that's her decision.

The queen sees Asha's hesitation... And a smile slowly creeps in on the corner of her red lips "You can't do it, can you dear?... Because unlike me, you're not a monster." She repeats what Asha said moments ago with a faux soothing voice.

Asha quickly points the sword back to Amaya's neck, as a warning that if she moves Asha won't hesitate anymore, she speaks with the queen with a cold expression "I never intended to kill neither of you anyway, the plan was just to-"

"Apprehend us and have Rosas decide our punishment?" The queen finishes her sentence, now with a full smile. Asha's eyes widen in surprise "I must say, I found that part of your little plan quite adorable, so nice of you and your friends to show us mercy." Her voice mimics a sweet tone, dripping with sarcasm.

Asha feels a chill run down her spine when the queen mentioned her friends... This, and the trap that was set up for them in the kitchen... How did they know?

"How? HOW did you know we were coming?!" Asha tries to hide her fear, speaking angrily while getting the blade closer to the queen's neck.

Amable doesn't even flinch, she simply warns her "I'd be careful with that blade, my sweet. You lay one scratch on me and my darling king will be quite upset." That doesn't really phase Asha at all as she just squints her eyes at her, wanting some answers, so the queen gives her an answer "Let's just say a... Sleepy little pawn of ours made himself quite useful."

Asha's eyebrows scrunch in confusion, she thinks for a moment and... Realization hits her.

"... Simon?" Asha's mind is rushing, she's stares at the queen nodding positively in front of her, and she feels like she's the one who was cut by a blade... He betrayed them?... No, he wouldn't, the king must have forced him "What did you two do with him?!" She asks furious.

"Nothing at all, he ratted you out. For you see my dear, our "sick and twisted sense of control" you speak of runs oh so much deeper than you think" Asha is staring at Amaya straight in the eyes, so she doesn't see that the queen's hand is reaching for something inside the a hidden pocket inside her long skirt "You can't trust anyone in this kingdom, in the end, they're aaaaall just little pawns in our game of chess."

"You're wrong... Simon didn't tell you our whole plan. If he did then you'd have known about my magic." Asha says with certainty, not fully understanding what happened yet, but still believing that her friend at least fought against telling them everything.

"Indeed, he failed to mention it, which gave you an advantage... However, it hardly matters how many advantages you get, for when playing chess-" Her smile widens into a maniacal expression, and she raises her hand holding a potion flask that was hidden inside her dress "The QUEEN is the strongest piece on the board!" She throws it on the floor, it shatters, creating a cloud of thick blue smoke.

Asha coughs, that caught her completely off guard. She looks around and can see nothing but the thick blue smoke, she tries not to breathe too much of it in by covering her face. Still holding on to her sword tightly.

The queen is no longer on the ground, Asha can't see where she went... But she hears the sound of something made of metal hitting the floor.

She turns to the direction of the sound-

Queen Amable took a sword that was previously decorating the wall, and is now running to Asha ready to attack.

Asha gasps in surprise, raising her hand drawn sword to defend herself, and she succeeds. The two are now pressing their swords against one another, with the queen trying her hardest to get Asha out of balance to stab her.

The queen fights the girl with finesse and precision, like this is something she has experience with, while Asha's movements are more clumsy and rigid, but she's still more agile and relatively stronger than the older woman, since she was cursed and is now 10 years older than she was previously.

(Cute fun fact I guess: for the longest time Magnifico was a bit paranoid that if people found out they were evil and a "hero" could try to defeat them, so, just like how Asha practiced with Aster, he taught Amaya how to defend herself just in case anything happened to him... I hate them, but I also love them as a couple)

As their swords clash against one another, the metallic sounds echo through the room. Asha tries to show confidence, smiling while they fight "Y-you two won't win! Magnus doesn't stand a chance against Aster in the forest, he's gonna be here soon and-"

The queen can only laugh darkly as she speaks "Oh darling, it is your little star who doesn't stand a chance! For you see, dark magic is not be his only weakness! Hahaha"

Asha is still fighting, but her face looks concerned...

Aster's weakness?

Now... We cut to the woods.

We see a dash of light quickly flying through the trees, until they reach a specific one and flies to the top of it.

The dash of light is obviously Aster. He sits on a tree branch and knocks on the tree "He'll be here any minute now, you guys ready?"

From a role in the tree, two round shinny eyes open, and a voice comes out sounding mysterious: "Of course, a pleasure to be of service."

"Great, thanks again for the help fellas" Aster smiles excitedly, he looks down, just waiting for Magnifico to show up on the trail bellow.

... But then he hears something...

Instruments... Again.

The instruments sound slow, like they're warning Aster of something, and judging by Aster's annoyed face it's something they've already been alerted about before

"Yeah, I knooooow I can't let him get my magic. Don't know if you guys realize but that's the whole reason I'm trying to break that staff in the first place." Aster speaks looking up with narrowed eyes.

The instruments sound... Worried? I don't know how one would describe a worried orchestra, but it's like they're playing cautiously.

Aster this time responds calmer, trying to reassure them "I am being careful, I swear. I won't let him-" Aster stops for a moment and thinks... He doesn't actually knows what would happen if the king got his power, well, except for the part that without his magic he can't exist so the king would pretty much kill him. But Aster doesn't know what would happen to the king and queen... He might as well ask "By the way... Has that ever happened before? A human absorbing a star's power?"

The stars go quiet for a moment, before a single flute plays a small sad melody

"I see..." Aster has a worried face "And what happened then?"

Aster listens to the orchestra sounds, it's an ominous percussion mixed with some erratic violins.

Aster listens to it all attentively, his face slowly becomes more and more shocked, as if he's listening to something out of a horror story.

He slowly nods, humming a little with the concern now growing inside him too.

But then he hears one thing that gets his attention.

"Wait wait wait back up" The instruments all stop "What was that about "The human fell into madness"?"

A single cello plays a small melody... Aster's eyes widen.

"Huh, really?... I wonder if the king knows about that..." Aster ponders quietly. Then Aster hears a sound that is not instruments this time, but a twig breaking on the ground bellow, Magnifico's coming "And speak of the devil, that's your cue friends." Aster says knocking on the tree.

Down bellow, Magnifico is walking on the trail, with trees all around him. He's holding his staff over his shoulders casually as he singsongs to himself:

"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are..." the king looks around the woods... It's quiet... Too quiet. The star is plotting something, but that's alright, because so is he "Come out come out lad, we both know you can't hide from me the whole night long... I just wish to have a little chat with you." The king says in a faux friendly voice.

"Yeah you can keep wishing that but I ain't granting it!" Aster's voice comes from the tree tops

The king looks up with a wide smile, ready to cast a spell to capture the star. But his smile instantly vanishes as the green light from his staff reflects on many tiny eyes staring down at him, revealing that on the trees above there's a whole army of Genets ready to pounce:

(Genets: Slender cat-like nocturnal animals that can be found in Spain... Imagine a bunch of these fellas staring down on you at night, terrifying me thinks)

They all jump on the king, climbing all over him and scratching his clothes. Magnifico screams while holding tightly to his staff and trying to protect his already scarred face

"AAAAH GET OFF ME YOU WRETCHED- NOT THE FACE NOT THE FACE!!" Magnus is wobbling around covered in wild cats.

Aster lets out a childish laugh as he cheers while flying above the desperate king "Yes! Get the face everyone! And also those fingers if you can! Hahahaa"

The king turns red with fury "ENOUGH!" he uses his magic to throw all of them away from him, some genets scatter while others stay, ready to attack him again, but the king is having none of that "GET NEAR ME AGAIN AND I'LL MAKE FUR COATS OUT OF YOU"

The all get scared, and run away to the depths of the forest.

Aster looks sad for a moment but he has no time to think too much about it, for the king immediately turns to him and tries to capture him once more.

Aster swiftly dodges the king's magic and hides behind a tree.

He then shrinks down to the size of a hand. He's the size of tinker bell.

The king is catching his breath after all the commotion, but he has enough energy to scream some facts to the star "Just accept it, boy! You can't best me! throw me your plants and I'll burn them, throw me your animals and I'll scatter them!"

Aster face is deep in thought, he hates to agree, but they have indeed been in this game of cat and mouse for a while, and Aster is not even close to getting that staff, not to mention how they hate to put even more animals in danger...

The king upon receiving no snarky comment in return, calms down slightly, knowing that the star deep down is just as tired of this game as he is...

He reaches for something inside his vest.

"So how about we stop playing, and just talk things out, hum?" Magnus voice is once again "friendly" but with a clear ominous undertone.

Aster thinks... He might be able to catch the staff while the king is distracted blabbering whatever he has to say... So he plays along.

"You really must love the sound of your own voice, don't ya? All you do is talk all the time." Aster's snarks while hiding behind the tree "Fine, what do you wanna talk about so bad?"

We don't see what Magnifico pulled out his vest, but he's holding a small object on his hand. Looking at whatever it is with a mischievous smile.

"That girl... You love her, don't you?" The king asks nonchalantly.

Aster's eyes widen in shock... EVEN HE NOTICED?!

Aster knew he couldn't let this man know how he and Asha felt about each other, as he'd totally take advantage of that, so the star tries to lie "W-what?! What you talking about?! We-we like- We just met 2 days ago! That's crazy talk!" Aster is a terrible liar by the way.

Magnifico has a pleased smile, as he walks forward to where Aster's voice is coming from, he's holding his staff with one hand while hiding the other behind his back. "And I fell in love with my wife in two minutes or less, what's your point? Heheh" he chuckles like he's reminiscing of something, but then continues, sounding as if he's talking to a stubborn kid that refuses do admit something obvious "Come now, starlight. Wishing stars are supposed to only give humans some guidance, but here you are going waaay above and beyond your purpose, breaking all the rules for her... Because you love her~" He singsongs that last part as if to make fun of the star.

Aster is about to say something when he notices that Magnifico is getting closer to his hiding place, so he flies to the ground, still on his miniature size, trying to hide in the low vegetation and move to somewhere else.

Magnifico notes the silence, and just chuckles "Well, either I'm right, or you're just too incompetent to even guide her at all, aren't you?" The king says jokingly.

That strikes a nerve with Aster, as he's quite done with the stars calling him incompetent and naive for so long. The star is still hiding in his small size but his voice is just as loud as it would be if he was normally sized:

"You know what?! YEAH we are in love! And it's thanks to our love that we'll defeat you! Because we'll fight to protect each other, at all cost!"

The king's grin grows even more devious.

"At all cost? Hmm, how charming." The king coos, and we see him holding the mysterious object tightly and focusing to perform a spell... He whispers some words in latin:

"Ligneus. Pupa. Crescere. Et dolus."

Aster doesn't hear what the king just said. but suddenly, he starts to hear the stars all speaking with him at the same time, the instruments play alarmingly all at once. They're speaking over each other, so Aster doesn't understand, the star looks up in frustration and whispers "Guys o-one at a time please- UGH I don't understand nor have time to talk ri-"

"Did you hear that, Asha? I told you he cared." The king speaks sweetly with someone else.

Aster feels the world stop when he hears that name come out of the king's mouth.

Aster flies out of the bushes and sees it... Magnifico is holding Asha by her shoulder, she's tied up by a rope made of green magic, her mouth is covered and she's struggling to free herself.

The star doesn't even think before he returns to his normal size, their animation looking rough and sketchy as he yells "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF-"

Aster sees a giant green hand made of light coming in his direction.

The star remembers he can't let himself get caught. In the blink of an eye he stretches his body down, like he's made of rubber... Get it? He's animated like a rubber hose cartoon for a second.

Aster dodges the king's magic once again and flies to hide behind a large tree.

"Ha! Almost caught you this time!" The king exclaims victorious while laughing.

Aster's mind is rushing with questions as he starts to panic... How did he get her? Is she hurt? Their plan went wrong? How can he save her?!

In the confusion that is their mind, they can't focus to listen what the stars are trying to tell him, the stars are just muddled voices to him now.

"I bet you're wondering how I found her, aren't you?" The king asks with a sadistic sweetness in his voice, holding the girl close to him "See, while you were flying away and hiding, like a coward, a guard came into the forest to tell me they found the poor thing lost in our garden" His voice is filled with a mocking fake sadness like he's describing a tragedy "And she just wouldn't stop calling your name... So here he is Asha, your daring "hero" hahaahaha!" His evil laugh echoes through the woods.

Aster didn't even know he could feel so much fear and anger at the same time. He places a hand on the ground and uses his magic to try attacking Magnifico with vines.

The king notices the plants beginning to grow next to him from the corner of his eyes, and his smile just grows as he says "Ah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were youuu~" He points his staff to her face, with the green gem shinning brightly and menacingly.

Aster can hear Asha muffled screams in fear, and he get's the message. He stops the vines from growing. The star looks down defeated.

Magnifico sees the vines retreating, and takes the staff away from her face "That's better. Now! How do you feel about a little bargain?" His voice is full of excitement like he's a con man ready to make a big deal.

Aster may be naive but even he knows where the king is going with this, and his not falling for it "Do you think I'm an idiot!?" The star asks angrily

"Why, yes! Very much so!" The king answers gleefully.

"You want me to surrender in exchange for Asha's life... But we both know your word isn't worth anything!" Aster is trying to speak boldly to mask how scared he actually is.

"*Gaaaaasp* You think I would lie?? Meeee??? I'd never!" The king says dramatically with sarcasm clear as day "Hehe jokes aside, I can assure you I NEVER break my end of a deal... If you don't break yours." He puts emphasis on that last part, he then begins to speak very quickly the terms of their deal "So here's the trade off, you surrender in, let's say, the count of 5, and in return I'll have your little doll here sent to some other kingdom where she'll be safe from harm and can live on to thrive and chase after her dreams yada yada yada happy ending! What do ya say? Come on."

Aster is too overwhelmed to think- He obviously can't trust Magnifico's word, but if they don't do as he says then Asha is done for- But who's to say she'll be safe later when the king has his mag-

"Let me make this easier for you... One"

The king starts counting.

Aster mind is spinning, he tries to think clearly, but his emotions are clouding his judgment. The stars voices are just white noise.

"Twooo"

The king prepares to use his magic on the girl.

Aster feels some tears form in the corner of his eyes... He promised Asha he would't let himself get caught but-

"Threee"

Aster hears Asha's muffled voice screaming for help, but not the stars above him...

He breaks his promise.

"ALRIGHT!" The star yells, flying out of their hiding place, with his hands up.

And before he knows it, there are glowing green chains on his writs that quickly pull him closer to where the king and "Asha" are. Once the chains are on him the sound of messy orchestra instruments stops all together, since Aster's powers are diminished by the dark magic, he can no longer hear the stars.

The star doesn't struggle, accepting his loss. The king pulls him in closer and closer until Aster is standing right in front of him, Magnifico looks down on him with a cruel smile.

Aster is not looking at him, his eyes are full of sadness and fixated on the ground, unable to face "the girl" the king's holding.

"Awww why the long face, little one? Here, she's free just as promised." The king snaps his fingers and "Asha" is free from her restraints, now just standing still next to him. "... Any last goodbyes before I send her off?" Aster doesn't notice but Magnifico is trying his best to hold in his laughter.

Aster can only look down, not wanting to face her yet, but he apologizes for not granting her wish "... Asha... I'm sorry... I tried everything I could but- I failed." a single tear runs down the star's face as he begs her "When you're away from here... DON'T come back, and DON'T look back... I just want you to be safe and-" Aster stops as he finally looks at her face.

It's devoid of emotion... And her eyes are soulless... Like a dolls eyes.

Aster is worried that Magnifico did something to her, he reaches out to hold her hand "Asha? What's wro-" but when he holds her hand... There's nothing... No star inside of her... That's not Asha.

As realization dawns on the star, Magnifico can't hold it in anymore "Pffft HAHA HAHAAHAHAAH HAHAHAAH"

With every "ha" Aster's face becomes more furious, both angry at the king and himself for falling for his trick.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" Aster shouts as he tries to get away from Magnifico, who simply pulls him closer by the chains so they're face to face.

"Did I? I thought I was quite clear." He smiles sadistically "I said I'd "have your little doll sent somewhere safe", remember? Aaaand" He snaps his fingers, and the magic that made up the fake Asha disappears like it was blown away by the wind, and all that is left of her is a small wooden doll. The same wooden doll Magnifico made for Asha all the way back in chapter 4.

(... Get it? He turned a wooden doll into a real girl... Like Pinocchio... Heheheheh *Jumps out the window... Gets back to write the rest of the chapter* ahem, anyway, congrats @gracebeth3604 you guessed it, I made Magnifico pull a Hades move on our wonder boy)

"Here she is!" Magnifico exclaims excitedly while placing the doll inside Aster's chained hands "She's all yours, lad! You can even choose where you want me to send her while we go back to the palace." Magnifico says like he's doing Aster a favor. He starts walking and pulling the star to come along.

Aster looks at the doll with rage and throws her away into the bushes.

Aster tries to pull away from the chains and keeps himself still with his feet fixated on the ground "I AM NOT LETTING YOU USE ME TO HURT THEM! IF YOU THINK I GONNA JU- GHHAaaAAaAAAaaaA!!!" Aster feels a shock wave of pain course his body as the king uses a spell to electrocute him, his animation becomes fully disjointed like he's struggling to keep his physical form. Once it's over, Aster can only kneel down in pain.

"Not so funny when it happens to you, is it?" Magnifico's eyes are now full of spite, highlighting the scar over his left eye "I've enjoyed this little game of ours but we really must hurry, I'd hate to keep my queen waiting... Not to mention, your girl is just DYING to see you too."

Aster is weak from the pain but he manages to look up to the king.

"W-what...?"

Did they get her?

We now cut back to the palace, Asha is still fighting with the queen.

The girl looks exhausted, swinging her sword around and defending herself from the unhinged woman. She doesn't have time to stop and take her sketchbook to draw something else to attack.

But Asha slips up, and Amaya manages to disarm her, throwing her sword away to the other side of the room.

Asha gasps in shock.

"NO!- UGH!"

The queen KICKS the girl's legs, making her fall on the ground, now their positions are reversed from how they were before.

Asha looks up horrified to the queen pointing the blade to her face, she's looking down on the girl with a smirk "So... Ha ha- how's that for an "old lady" huh?" The woman is panting like she could collapse from exhaustion at any moment, but she still keeps her composure as she threatens the girl bellow her.

Asha tries to reach for her sketchbook tied to her belt, but the queen quickly takes it off her hands. Asha doesn't have time to react before Amable throws it away to the other side of the room.

Asha is petrified, she has nowhere to go.

She can see Valentino hiding behind the curtains of a window, he's scared.

"You put up a good fight child, but I'm afraid this is where your story ends, with you... All alone." Amaya raises the sword to end the girl's life.

Asha can only close her eyes and prepare for the impact... Until she hears a familiar voice

"Think again WITCH!"

Both Amaya and Asha are startled by the sudden scream, however, a smile quickly appears on Asha's face when she sees who it is.

Amaya turns around and is quickly knocked out of balance by something pushing her to the side, away from Asha. The queen drops the sword on the floor.

What pushed the queen was Dahlia's crutch, as the girl is now standing in front of Asha offering her a hand with a relieved smile "Sorry we took us so long, you okay?"

"Better now you're here!" Asha hold her best friend's hand and goes in for a hug, feeling relieved to see her safe. While they hug, Asha opens her eyes and sees that behind Dahlia there's also Gabo, Hal, Bazeema, Safi and Dario. All of them glaring at the queen laying on the floor.

"Ho- HOW DID YOU BRATS GET IN HERE?!" The queen demands to know, her hair is partially covering her face, she looks like an absolute mess.

Hal points to the small elevator on the wall, used to get food from the kitchen straight to the king's study "Did you forget how you get your meals everyday?"

(How did all 6 of them fit in the elevator?... Same way they did in the movie, cartoon logic)

Amaya just groans in frustration as the teens walk closer to her.

Asha gets her sketchbook on the floor, she sighs in relief before saying with a smile "*sigh* Alright, just like we planned, everyone" She begins to draw some squiggly lines on her book, and as she touches the page the lines come out as long pieces of rope.

Her friends all get a piece of rope. And they walk to tie up the evil queen.

(Hahah get it? The 7 dwarfs references are the ones who save her from the evil queen! Heheheeh I love when references fit the narrative)

The queen's screaming for them to stay away from her in the background. But we focus on Asha, who's calling Valentino to come out of his hiding place.

The baby goat does so, rushing to her arms happily. Asha hugs him with a big smile "It's alright, I'm fine" She reassures him, and also reassure herself.

Asha looks around to her friends and notices... There's one missing.

"... So it was true" She begins to speak with Dahlia, the only one that didn't go help tie up Amaya, preferring to stay by Asha's side "Simon really did betray us..." She sounds hurt.

Dahlia places a hand on her friend's shoulder and explains "At first, yeah, he did. But who do you think pulled us up here?" She smiles at Asha, and gives her a wink.

Asha's eyebrows raise "Wait... So he changed his mind? How?" She asks confused

"Let's just say the king's mind control was no match for the power of friendship... Also Gabo kept screaming and swearing at him like a sailor." Hal said joyously.

"I told him bad words he didn't even know existed! And I'm literally younger than him!" Gabo says proudly while pulling a rope to tight up the Amaya's arms on her back.

"He can pull himself up the elevator, so he'll be here to help us pretty soon!" Safi comments.

Asha is happy that her friend came to his senses... But she still has a bad feeling.

"Did he say how much he told about the plan to Magnifico?" Asha asks Dahlia, with concern clear in her voice.

Dahlia's smile fades, she also seems worried "He doesn't know actually, he can't remember much about how the conversation went."

Asha looks down and thinks for a moment "... Okay, he didn't tell them about my pencil, so maybe he didn't tell them everything, we can still win." She smiles confidently.

Asha and the teens are suddenly startled once they hear a familiar voice shouting aaaaaall the way down the stairs of the palace:

"NO NO IT'S FINE, I CAN GET HIM UP THERE ON MY OWN! YOU ALL JUST SOUND THE TRUMPETS AND GATHER THE CITIZENS!" The king's voice echoes through the castle, he's talking to the guards in the entrance.

"Aster!" Asha exclaims worried.

The queen is all tied up, smiling in the background.

"I- I gotta go help him! You all stay here." Asha rushes to the door.

"Oh no we won't, we're not leaving your side again!" Dahlia exclaims holding her wrist.

"No, you don't understand, Magnifico CAN'T get even close to you all, not while he still has that staff, I won't let him hurt you." Asha explains to her friend with a serious expression "I'll find a way to save Aster and break it... Somehow." She doesn't sound so sure of herself, but she knows she has to try.

"And how can you do that?" Bazeema asks concerned

Asha holds her sketchbook and her pencil and starts drawing a key "I'll use my imagination" She smiles.

Asha pulls out the key from the page, she turns to tell her friends one last thing before leaving. But when she turns something catches her attention, on the king's desk there's a a small cloth bag full of blue sparkly sand, the bag is labeled "Fire Salamander Ashes". Asha takes the bag from the table and says quickly "Also this might come in handy."

She opens the door with her hand drawn key and tells her friends one last thing "No matter what you guys hear, don't leave the room." She runs down the long flight of stairs.

Meanwhile Magnifico is dragging Aster up the stairs, the king looks exhausted as he tries to perform a teleportation spell to get them to the top, but he can only teleport a few steps up.

"ARGH I'm gonna give myself a splitting headache because of you!" Magnifico says, with a hand over his forehead, he speaks to himself under his breath "Never had to teleport so many times in one day, thought such a simple spell wouldn't exhaust me that much..."

Aster hears that, he's still struggling to not get dragged away by the king as he exclaims "If just teleporting a bunch of times to get us here gives you a headache then you REALLY not gonna like what'll happen if you get my magic!" This isn't a bluff, but an actual warning, as Aster remembers what the stars told him... Maybe he can convince Magnus to stop "LISTEN! My powers may seem weak now, but even the most powerful of sorcerers couldn't handle the power of a star inside them, it's TOO MUCH for a normal human to handle!"

"Yeah well, good thing I'm no normal human." The king says with a frustrated expression while dragging the star up the stairs.

"YES YOU ARE, MAGNUS!" Aster screams, trying to reach out for some sense of humanity inside him.

"Don't call me that." The king warns sternly, he's not looking at Aster as he speaks.

"You only have power at all because of that green gem on your staff. And even with it, you're not strong enough!" Aster continues while still getting dragged by the king

"I'd really not test my patience right now if I were you, boy." He sounds more and more angry.

"I'm trying to save you! If just performing a spell way too many times gives you a headache then MY POWER will make you LOSE YOUR MIND-" Aster tries to spell it out to Magn-

"AND I WOULD RATHER LOSE THAT THAN LOSING THE WOMAN I LOVE!" Magnifico shouts, now looking straight to the star behind him, enraged in a way the star has never seen before.

Aster goes silent, staring at the king in shock and... For the first time feeling like the man was 100% honest with him.

Magnus takes a few seconds to realize what he just said out of anger and exhaustion... He puts himself back together, straightening up his posture and taking a deep breath, before looking down to the star with his usual smile full of sarcasm "Thank you for the concern, Aster. Really appreciated, but you have nothing to worry you shinny little head about" He taps on the star's forehead with one finger "I've already planned on how to get myself a-... Let's say a "Power boost" before performing the spell to get your magic humhum" He chuckles lowly, excited to show the star what he means by that "Besiiiiiides, all the sorcerers that tried to yield the power of a star only went mad because they tried to do it on their own, while I have someone to share it with."

Aster is dumbfounded... The king KNEW that the power of a star can drive someone mad... And he choses to go after it anyway because he THINKS that by sharing it with his wife they'll be fine?... Aster realizes he is too far gone.

"Nothing I say is gonna change your mind, is it?" Aster asks with frustration in his voice, the king simply shakes his head "no" with a smug "... Then you don't love her at all, you just wanna use her to get more power." The star says with a scowl.

The king is stunned for a second by the gall the star has to say that, before his rage comes back at full force, he doesn't take his eyes off the star as he makes shock waves of pain go through Aster's body again, the star kneels down in agony.

"ASTER?!"

Asha's voice comes from the top of the stairs, surprising both the star and the king, but they're surprised for completely different reasons.

Aster looks up to the top of the stairs with a huge smile despite the pain he's in right now "ASHA!"

The king however turns to her in bewilderment "YOU?! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALI-" He stops as he has a realization... His face turns into a cold glare, hiding a hint of worry in his voice "Where's Amaya?"

Asha ignores the king's question, as she's already drawing the first thing that came into her head to stop him.

She throws out of her sketchbook what she just drew and...

A hand drawn piano manifests right above the king

"WHAT THE-"

BLAAAAAAM

The piano fell on the king. And keep in mind Simon didn't mention the magic pencil, so from Magnifico's perspective Asha just randomly manifested a piano out of nowhere.

Aster is free from the king's restraints, and he quickly flies up to Asha and gives her a hug, Asha hugs him back and the two have a second to breathe and be relieved that they're both okay.

"I was so worried about you! Are you okay?" Asha asks holding his face with both her hands.

"I'm the one who should be asking that!" Aster sounds worried sick.

"I'm fine, the others saved me from the queen, she's all tied up. Now we gotta focus on breaking that staff" She looks down the stairs to the destroyed hand drawn piano that the king is under "Do you think that was enough to knock him out?"

Asha's question is immediately answered by the remains of the piano being engulfed by green magic. It begins to float as the king violently throws it out of the stairs.

(Yeah sorry, he's unfortunately fine, because cartoon logic and this ending would be underwhelming.)

They can hear the loud sound of the piano falling on the ground bellow, as well as the sound of the king practically roaring in anger. He gives the two teens a death glare while trying to stand up.

"NOPE!" Aster answers, holding her in his arms, Aster flies as fast as he can up the stairs, fast enough that the king doesn't have time to catch them with his magic.

He does however have enough energy to do one simple spell. He snaps his finger, which locks all the doors that lead to the wishes room.

Asha and Aster are in the treasure room, the dimly lit room where Magnifico and Amable sang "Wish Away" to her.

The two of them are startled when the entrance they just went through shuts behind them and one second later the exit does too, they're trapped in the dark and large room full of treasure exposed like a museum.

But Aster quickly comes up with a solution.

"I-I'ts okay, I can unlock the door!" The star reaches out to use their magic, but Asha holds his arm.

"No! We can't keep running away from him, otherwise we'll lead him straight to the study, to where my friends are." She explains to Aster with concern, but also determined to fight back instead of running.

"Then what do we do?" Aster asks her quickly.

"I- I... I have a plan." Her face lights up with an idea, as she holds the star's hands "I don't have much time to explain so pay attention-"

"Oooooh Asha~" The king's voice comes from the other side of the door, he's getting closer.

Asha holds the star by the wrist and guides him to hide behind one of the many artifacts in the room "Aster- Turn into your human disguise NOW." They're now crouched down, hiding behind a small pillar with an old vase on it.

Aster is confused "What?? But I can't use my powers when I'm in that form." Aster explain nervously as they hear the king's footsteps approaching

"You can't glow either, you need to stop glowing so we can hide in the dark." She whispers quietly, her glance is practically rushing the star to just do as she says.

Aster doesn't know what she's planning but he trusts her wholeheartedly. He quickly goes from a 2D drawing with shiny hair to a 3D animated character like Asha, with normal blonde hair.

"Okay, so what do we do no-"

They hear the door opening.

The two teens keep their mouths shut.

"... Playing hide-and-seek again, little star?" Magnifico's voice echoes through the room, he lets out a low chuckle and says "Alright, let's play one last game."

Aster and Asha are staring at each other, it's dark but they can see one another thanks to the dim blue lighting above the treasure they're hiding behind. They hear the king's foot steps as he slowly walks around the room looking for them.

Asha can feel her heart pounding, how can she tell the plan to Aster if they can't speak?

...

She remembers they both know how to communicate without speaking.

She begins to speak in sign language, Aster can see her hands under the dim light:

"I'll make a distraction, while you take this and spread it all over the floor when he's not looking" She signs and takes from her belt the bag of blue dust she took from the king's desk.

Aster doesn't understand what that is or how she can distract him at all, he signs to her back "How are you gonna distract him?"

She's about to sign to answer his question, but then the king begins to speak casually

"Ya know, Asha. I'm actually so glad you evaded Amaya's trap, truly I am." We see the king looking at his own reflection in one of the artifacts in the room, not really in a hurry to find them "For you see, I have a little secret I wanted to share with you... Wanna know what it is?"

Asha obviously doesn't respond, she's holding her sketchbook and pencil like she's preparing to draw something, she tries her best to focus and ignore whatever the king is talking about.

"Your grandfather's wish." Asha's eyes widen, she stops drawing "The very thing that started all this... Yeah, me and my wife miiiiiight have told you a little fib, shocker I know heheh" he jokes, as they both know all they've done is lie to her from the start "But I decided to come clean, since I happen to actually remember now what his wish was: "To inspire the people of Rosas with my songs"" The king quotes what the wish was, with a clear tone of disdain.

Asha feels like everything fell into place... Saba really was just like her... Or maybe she was a lot like him. This is probably the first time anything the king says brought her a sense of actual comfort.

Aster is surprised as he himself didn't know what Sabino's wish to the king was, but by pure coincidence it's the same thing he guided Asha to do.

But the king obviously is not sharing that to give her a wholesome moment or anything, he continues with a smirk "I'm sure now you see that I did him a favor by never granting that wish."

Asha's face becomes an angry glare. And she begins to draw something in her sketchbook quickly.

The king can hear the sound of the pencil sliding on the paper, and he follows it while speaking calmly "I mean, if I did grant it, he could've ended up crossing the line... Like you did."

Aster notices he's getting closer and looks at Asha anxiously as if to rush her to finish what she's drawing already. Asha looks like she's almost done.

"And when you cross the line..." Magnifico grin widens, he get's closer to the sound and...

He sees Aster dragging Asha to a different hiding place as fast as he can, but not fast enough.

Magnifico uses his magic to grab Asha with a giant hand.

"AAAAGH!" Asha screams as the king raises her up.

"NO!" Aster yells in desperation

"THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES!" Magnifico says with a twisted glee, and he throws the girl all the way to the other side of the room.

Aster runs to where she is, but to no avail as Magnifico holds him with his magic. The man is laughing maniacally as he walks to the girl.

"Ha ha aaah and it looks like I win our little game, now who would've thought?" Aster is struggling to free himself from the king's magic while Asha is laying on the floor, looking up in fear "But I'm afraid you won't get to see what happens next, my dear." He grins as he points his staff to her, but just when he's about to charge up an attack-

"W-wait!" Asha exclaims, looking up terrified "... Can I just a-ask one thing?"

The king raises one eyebrow "Your last words? Hmm it's cliche, but oh alright I'll allow it, what is it?" He asks with a relaxed smile.

Asha looks down defeated "I- I just wanted to say..."

She looks back up to him with a smug.

"I got way better at drawing self portraits, didn't I?" "Asha" asks full of confidence.

Magnifico's evil smile disappears, replaced by a face of pure confusion, completely taken aback by the girl's random comment.

"Wha-"

"Oh yeah! You look amazing, and I look pretty good too." "Aster" comments cheerfully, still tied by Magnifico's magic, but he doesn't seem to care at all anymore.

The king turns to the star in confusion, not understanding what these kids are talking about... But he notices something he didn't see before because of how dark the room is... "Aster" is black and white.

Before he has time to fully process that, the two living drawings smile at him while going from 3D animated, to 2D, to looking like rough sketches, until they both disappear completely.

... He got tricked.

"Hey Mag!"

Asha's voice comes from behind him. He turns around in shock, and sees the REAL Asha and Aster as standing in front of the now open exit. Aster is back to his 2D glowing self, and he's holding a now empty cloth bag.

The floor is shining with blue dust all over it.

"Here's a little trick your wife taught me!" Asha exclaims with a defiant smile, and she throws a hand drawn fireball from her sketchbook.

The fire hits right in front of Magnifico. A large black and white flame grows, it looks like scribbles one would draw on paper, but it shines and burns just as much as normal fire, and it's spreading all around him.

Magnifico get's so startled by the fire that he finally lets go of his staff for a second.

And that second is all that Aster needed. The star stretches his arm all the way to the other side of the room, grabbing the staff and bringing it to them.

(I mentioned on Aster's "How I'd Reimagine the Characters in Wish" blog that he could stretch his body, but he kinda never used this ability, so what better moment to have him use it than now)

"No-NO WAIT!" Magnifico is trying to avoid the flames as he begs.

Aster spins the staff in the air before HITTING IT ON THE FLOOR with all the strength he can manage.

"AAAGH!" Magnifico quivers and yells in pain.

The gem is broken.

Asha and Aster run out of the room, and Aster locks the door behind them with his magic.

They can hear the king's painful screams coming from the other side of the door...

The two run up the stairs that leads to the wishes room, Asha is breathless as they stop in front of the door of the king's study.

"... We did it? We won?" Asha asks almost in disbelief, but with a smile already beginning to form in the corners of her lips

Aster looks to the staff now with no green gem on his hands, and let's go of it, letting it fall on the floor, he looks to her with a bright smile "... Yeah, it's over!"

Asha hugs him and laughs in relief. Aster holds her tightly while spinning her in the air.

"That was GENIUS!" Aster exclaims once he stops spinning "You finally figured out how to draw yourself!" he sounds proud of her, as he knows that was a skill Asha always struggled with.

"All I needed was to understand what I was drawing... And now I do." Asha says with a warm smile, placing a hand on her chest, reflecting on how this whole experience helped her understand who she really is.

She pulls Aster by the hand for them to go through the door of the wishes room. "Come on! Let's go tell the others."

Once she opens it, they see her friends all around the door waiting for them, Gabo is holding the sword Amaya was fighting with earlier, like he's ready to attack if who came in was Magnifico.

"ASHA!" They all scream in excitement and relief. Everyone rushes for a group hug

Including someone who wasn't with them earlier, but managed to pull himself up the rope elevator.

"YOU GUYS ARE OKAY!" Simon exclaims, embracing the whole group with his big arms.

Asha is smiling despite almost suffocating in the group hug "Heheh yup, we're fine, but we still got some wishes to free!"

Her friends let go of the hug, fully focused on the task at hand.

"Right! Aster, give us a lift to the ceiling will ya? There are some pulleys up there, that must be how we can open it!" Gabo exclaims, pointing to the top of the wishes room.

"Oh-ho! A few lift ups coming right up!" Aster says cheerfully, and uses his star dust on a few of the king's books, making them float to the wishes room, just waiting for the teens to get on them so they're lifted up there.

The teens run to the wishes room, Asha stays behind in the study for a moment to see... The queen is all tied up, looking at her in horror.

"Where is Magnus?"

If it was anyone else Asha would probably feel sorry for her, but this woman deserves no sympathy. So Asha just says with frankness "Burning down stairs. You're a widow, again. Consider that my wedding anniversary gift."

(Yeah I couldn't fit anywhere else so here's a reminder that back in chapter 2 Dahlia's mom said they had to go to the market to get her some ingredients, because she had to make a cake for the king and queen's wedding anniversary, and guess what? That is TODAY! So uuuuh yay tying up with the 100 anniversary disney movie theme... Also they kinda canceled the celebration for obvious reasons.)

The queen holds in a gasp, as if her cold heart just shattered.

Dahlia was next to her friend and is surprised by her tone "Woah Asha, I know she's evil but y-"

"They killed my parents, Dahlia." Asha puts it simply to her best friend while walking to the wishes room to join the others.

"THEY WHA- OOOH That's what you GET you WITCH!" Dahlia shouts in Amaya's face, now fully on board with Asha.

(I love that witch is the closest I can get to have them calling her the B word)

We see Gabo, Dario, Safi, Hal and Bazeema all being lifted up by the books, as there are 5 pulleys for each one of them to pull.

Aster is flying around the wishes, looking in amazement to the blue ones, and holding the green ones, which makes them turn back to their original blue color, un-cursing them. He is flying around repeating the process on as many as he can.

Asha looks up to her friends and the wishes, she smiles in relief that everything is finally falling into place... But then she notices Simon is standing in the corner of the room, his eyes are downcast.

Asha walks to him "Simon, you okay?" She asks him worriedly.

Simon doesn't even know where to begin his apology, for everything. He looks at her full of regret "Asha... I'm sorry, I am so so sorry." He begins, Asha looks to him and listens attentively "I don't expect you to forgive me. I was so scared that we could get hurt- I just- I couldn't believe that everything we knew was a lie" he begins to tear up "... And I wanted so badly to believe in him-"

Asha gives him a hug.

"... You were hurting in silence for so long because of the things he did... And I was too, we all were." Asha says calmly, trying to reassure her friend "What matters is that he's gone now, he can't hurt us anymore."

Simon has tears running down his face but he hugs her with a smile.

Aster flies closer to them, holding a wish bubble "And I think THIS belongs to you!" The star says warmly

Simon and Asha still can't see what's inside the bubble, but just by getting close to it Simon can feel it "My wish?" Simon asks in surprise "... No, I don't deserve it, I put all of us in danger and-."

"Everyone deserves to know their wish" Aster tells him with a bright smile "He tricked you, so what? Happens to the best of us, literally happened with me today"

"The important thing is that you see the truth now." Asha says, she looks at Simon and then at the wish with a smile, as if to encourage him to get it.

And he does so, reaching out for the bubble, and once he holds it reveals the image of Simon wearing knights clothes... Simon's smile is replaced by disappointment.

"Well... This is awkward." He says letting go of his floating wish "That's not what I wish for anymore... Guess I can't have it back."

"Hey now, that's not how it works." Asha smiles as she holds his wish "It's not about what the wish IS, it's about what it MEANS." She repeats what Aster told her back in the cave when they were talking about her wish, the star smile widens at that. Asha continues to explain "Sure, on the surface it may look like all you wish for is serve the king... But there's so much more to it than that." She places the wish in his hands "You wish to protect those you care about, like you've been trying to protect us this whole time, because even without your wish, THAT'S who you are. This wish is what makes you... YOU." Simon's smile returns "And NO ONE should live a life without being themselves fully." She finishes, her eyes sparkling with joy for her friend finally getting his wish back.

"... Thank you." Simon takes his wish and brings it to his chest, it is quickly absorbed.

Immediately there's a change in him, the bags under his eyes are gone, he gets a better posture as his back becomes straight, his smile widens once he realizes for the first time in 3 years he's not feeling exhausted.

"Woah... I forgot how this felt like heh" Even his voice is more full of life now.

"Uuuuh hate to interrupt the wholesome moment, but we're having some trouble up here!" Gabo's voice comes from above them.

Asha, Aster and Simon look up, seeing that the teens are struggling to pull the ropes to open the ceiling

"Do you think you can use your magic to open it, Aster?" Asha asks him

"Those panels are waaay too heavy for my dust to make them float..." They explain disappointedly

"We need more weight..." Hal says, she looks down and thinks for a moment, and an idea pops in her head "Alright! Who here ever wished to be an acrobat?" She asks them excitedly while preparing to jump with the rope tied to her hand

"What are you doing???" Safi asks her worried

"Follow my lead! YOOHUUUL!" She jumps with the rope, pulling the triangular plate from the ceiling right open.

All the teens understand the plan, as Dario doesn't hesitate and jumps right after her, followed by Bazeema, Safi and lastly Gabo.

The ceiling is open.

Asha is jumping with joy as the wishes begin to fly out of the castle.

"Well done guys! You're ready Aster?" She asks the star thrilled

Aster is just as thrilled as her when they answer "I fell down here ready!"

He flies up to the middle of all the wishes. The star focus his magic and opens his arms wide, magically turning all the green bubbles into blue ones.

The teens and Asha clap and cheer from bellow. While Bazeema is holding Valentino in her arms.

Aster looks beyond relieved he was able to actually do this... After this, Asha's wish will be granted.... And even if that means he'll have to leave, he couldn't be happier that he could give that to her.

Aster prepares to send all the wishes back to Rosas "And now! Time to return you all to who you belon-"

(*siiiiiiiiigh* ... I hate myself for what I'm about to do with these kids)

...A giant green orb holds all the wishes...

Aster sees he's surrounded by dark magic. He is mortified by fear.

And so is Asha as we see her and the teens looking up in horror... The magic that created the orb came from behind them.

Asha can't move, she doesn't want to turn around, but she hears that condescending voice she thought she'd never hear again... And he sounds very excited about his big entrance:

"Surprise~ Did you miss me?." Magnifico's voice echos, and all the 7 teens turn around to see who they already know who it is.

King Magnifico is completely unharmed, holding the staff with no green gem on it with one hand, while hugging a now untied Amaya with the other, they're both smiling deviously at the frightened teens.

Asha hasn't turned around yet.

"I certainly did, darling. Although, I didn't doubt you'd come back for a second." The queen says honestly, as that heartbroken expression she made earlier was just an act, she knew Magnifico had a precaution in case they got his staff.

Asha finally turns around, she's trying to hide her fear as she speaks "How? W-We broke the gem from your staff, how did yo-"

"Oh you mean this gem?" Magnifico says casually while pulling a glowing emerald from inside his vest... The actual gem from his staff.

Asha is stunned, and so is Aster, watching them from the bubble, trying to get out.

"Fun fact about magic power sources, kiddos." He explains like he's teaching a class, while placing the gem back into the staff "Although it is easier to use them in an amulet or staff, if you have it with you anywhere then its magic can still be used however you please." He fits the gem back into its original place, finishing his little explanation "And that includes making it LOOK like the magic is coming from a fake power source, such as that one you broke down stairs." He smiles at Asha triumphantly.

"... You knew we were planning to break it." Asha already suspected it from the moment Amaya told her Simon betrayed them... But she was hoping maybe he didn't say that part of the plan, or the king was too full of himself to come up with a precaution.

The two royals are walking towards them as the queen says "Of course. Thank you so much for the tip, Simon, we really couldn't have done it without you." Her voice once again has a mocking motherly tone to it as she speaks to the oldest of the group, who looks like he wants to burry himself on the ground right now with all the regret he feels.

"I- I DON'T REMEMBER TELLING THEM THAT!" Simon exclaims to his friends, who are all looking at him with sadness in their eyes, except for Gabo who looks ready to kick his kneecaps

"Well you were rather sleepy, perhaps it slipped your mind heheh" The king's eyes glow green, just to indicate what he did.

The two of them are approaching, but Asha is not about to just stand by and let them win like that, she's in front of her friends as she prepares to draw-

"Ooooh no you don't." Magnifico uses his staff to snatch the sketchbook off her hands

"NO!" Asha tries holding it with all her strength, but it's no use, as the sketchbook flies straight to the king's hand.

And just like that, Magnifico summons a green flame with his hand and burns the sketchbook.

Asha feels tears form on the corner of her eyes as she watches all her drawings burn in front of her.

She still has her pencil though, which she discreetly hides inside her sleeve.

"Welp, this was fun and all, but I think it's high time we get to the main event of the night." Magnifico says as he and his wife walk, looking up to the trapped star above them, who has been throwing himself on the walls of the large bubble all this time trying to get out.

Asha wipes away the tears forming in her eyes, she's NOT letting them win, she's not letting them get Aster.

"ASTER! Can you hear me!?" The star stops trying to get out and looks down to her, nodding "yes". So she continues to shout "If you get ANY chance to escape, do it! GO BACK TO THE SKY!" She begs him, knowing that's the only way to protect him and Rosas "Don't look back! It doesn't matter if my wish isn't granted! I just need you to be safe!"

Aster is looking down to her already with tears in his eyes. She's saying pretty much the same thing he asked to that illusion the king created in the woods...

And said king is standing right behind her "Giving up at last? Good. But I'm afraid our star is not going anywhere." He grabs her by the shoulder and pulls her closer to him, threatening to use his magic on her while looking up to Aster with a threatening smile "If he does, I might take my anger out on someone else, and we wouldn't want that, would we Aster?"

Aster looks down shaking in fear, his animation is more sketchy... He can't do it, he can't leave her.

Asha get's out of the king grasp and turns to him in defiance, refusing to show weakness "I'm not giving up! And neither will anyone else in Rosas, even if you get Aster's power, they will NEVER knell to you!"

Magnifico and Amable just look really amused and even intrigued by her boldness, after everything she still has spirit... And they can't wait to break it.

Magnifico leans down to look at her angry eyes "You really think so?" His eyes move away from hers, and he changes his focus to the 7 teens "Hmm let's test that theory..." He begins to walk towards them, ignoring the girl "Ooh Simon~ I believe you just stole something of mine-"

Asha doesn't think twice before holding him by the cape and pulling it.

"Leave them alone! I'm not letting you hurt them-"

Magnifico holds her with his magic and THROWS Asha to the bookshelves on the wall, the girl screams in pain upon impact and falls on the floor.

Aster can't be heard from the bubble but he's clearly screaming. While the teens gasp in fear.

"Frankly Asha, you REALLY should start worrying about yourself once in a while." He says sarcastically while turning back to the other teens, specifically to Simon.

Asha is laying on the floor in pain, but she sees the books that fell down from the bookshelf... Paper.

That's all she needed.

"Now where was I? Ah yes, you stole a wish from me." He chuckles darkly and speaks in mocking reprehending tone "Tsk tsk tsk first you break your end of our deal and now this? Asha really is such a bad influence."

Simon is no longer scared, but rather furious with every word the king just said "This wish is MY wish! And YOU are the one who broke the deal! You said Asha wouldn't get hurt!"

"Ah ah ah wrong in both instances. First of all: I said IF you kept all your friends locked up, then I, as in ME, Magnifico, wouldn't hurt her... But my dear wife promised you nothing, sooo really it's your fault for forgetting she existed, young man." He explains smugly.

"Indeed, how dare you?" Amaya complements, like she's offended he forgot about her.

Asha is quietly ripping off a page from a book on the floor. She tries to think on something to draw... But nothing comes up, her head is pounding in pain after being thrown to the bookshelf. And all the ideas that do come in her head just sound too risky, if she messes up the king will break her pencil.

"And second of all: ... I believe you misunderstand what I actually DO, Simon. So allow me to explain." His voice is more menacing this time as he approaches them, Simon has his arms open to shield his friends behind him "When you give me your wish, you're not just lending it to me, no no no, you GAVE it to me... So I can do whatever I want with it."

That get's Asha's attention as she tries to get up, using the desk to balance herself.

"No one agreed to tha-"

"SO" The king interrupts Simon and places a hand on the young man's chest, surprising him and all the others "If I say I want to change your wish, I will. If I say I don't want your wish to be granted, then it won't be" A blue light starts glowing on Simon's chest, the boy looks scared at the king smiling deviously to him "... And if I say I want your wish BACK"

He pulls out Simon's wish. Simon immediately feels himself grow weaker.

"Then I'll take it back." Magnifico says simply while looking at the blue orb.

Simon feels hopeless, the fire he had in his eyes a moment earlier is all gone.

Asha sees this happening all the way back in the king's study, she hides the piece of paper she got inside her sleeve. She's still trying to stand up as she asks.

"Y-you ugh- You can STEAL people's wishes?!"

"Oh I "wish" heheh" He laughs at his own joke "But nah, I can only take back from those who have given it to me once willingly." He holds Simon's wish in his hand with a smirk "Now the question is... What should I do with this one?" It's a sarcastic question, as he knows exactly what he'll be doing with it.

Simon is horrified, thinking the king will change his wish into something else, maybe even control him.

"Ah I know, how about a little demonstration of what happens with wishes in this real world? heheh" His grip begins to tighten on Simon's wish.

Simon gasps in pain as his legs go weak, his friends all worriedly ask what's going on with him and try to help him stand up.

"They get CRUSHED." The king destroys Simon's wish. Absorbing it's energy like it's the most wonderful sensation going through his veins.

Simon collapses, his knees on the floor as his face is now lifeless.

His eyes are unfocused. He's catatonic.

"Si-simon?" Dahlia tries to shake him to wake him up, but he's not responding, he's just breathing.

Asha is still in the king's study, shaking her head "no" in disbelief.

Magnifico pulls her back to the wishes room with his magic.

"What was that you said about Rosas "never kneeling to me", Asha?" He says smugly, pointing to Simon kneeling in front of them.

"What did you do with him?!" Asha is struggling to get out of his magic's grip

Magnifico just ignores the question and lets go of her, as he walks to the center of the circular room.

But Amaya gladly explains with a wicked smile "Have you forgotten what kind of wishes he takes? Your deepest desire that shows who you ARE, one might even call it... Your soul." Asha and the other teens look at her shocked. "Or at least HALF of it, people still need the other half to keep living or whatever." She finishes dismissively

Magnifico hits the floor with his staff, sending magic waves all around the room. And before they know it the whole room is being lifted up.

He then turns to Asha with a menacing grin "And ya know, your sweet little star did mention I'd have to be very powerful in order to sustain his magic... So take a wild guess where I'm getting that extra power from." He gives her a clue by looking up, as if he's pointing to the wishes trapped above them with his eyes.

Asha looks up at all the wishes and then to him in disbelief "No... You can't- They didn't do anything- They don't deserve-"

"I decide what everyone deserves." He puts it simply with a grin, as they reach the top of the tower.

Chapter 16

Final Thoughts

... So... How many of you fell for it? I mean, maybe it just felt like an obvious fake out death to me because I'm the twisted and sleep deprived mind that came up with it, but come oooon ya'll didn't think I'd only end ONE of them, right?

But if you're DONE with Magnifico and Amable, don't worry I am too, can't wait for them to be defeated next chapter, for real this time, no cap, we'll get a happy ending for our traumatized heroes I swear.

But let me lighten the mood with an imagery that cracks me up every time I think about it... Magnifico sneaking in the room while Asha is having her little speech with Simon.

Like dude just got in like:

Then he unties Amaya and listens as Asha is like "He's gone now, he can't hurt us anymore" and they're both thinking like "OOOH WE GONNA HURT THEM SO BAD LMAO" like the abusive parental figures they are, because that's what they represent by the way, they're like Mother Gothel and the whole population of Rosas is Rapunzel.

Asha is better than me by the way, like, if I saw this man alive again after ALL that I'd just do like Bravo and jump off the window. But she just keeps going, keeps finding new ways to fight back, I love my girl so much, like, you guys may think I hate her for putting her through this, but I can't wait for us to get to her happy ending! BUT I CAN'T RUSH IT OTHERWISE IT'LL RUIN THE WHOLE THING.

Anyway, this is already way too long, pray for Aster, I think ya'll can guess what'll happen to him next chapter, and pray for Rosas, because Magnifico will not be making them knell down by being chaining them to the ground like in the movie... Sooo yeah.

Thank You For Reading!

[peachdues]

I understand that this might sound really silly but I am SO invested in the world building in Compass. It is SO well done and had left me with so many questions, not because it's incomplete or vague in any way but because it's genuinely peaked my curiosity. Is there a hierarchy amongst the Hashira? Is Sanemi somehow less respected then, say, Tengan, since he seems to have more privileges and a nicer hideout? Is it because Sanemi does more "dirty" or less profitable work? What jobs do the other Hashira control? Will we see more of Genya in the story? Feel free to ignore this, but I love your writing and this fic even though I'm not even a huge Sanemi fan.

NO NO NO NOT SILLY AT ALL?? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS KIND KF ASK IS EVERY AUTHOR’S DREAAAAM AHHH

Ok ok, I’m calm. I’m so calm. THANK YOU SO MUCH??!?😭😭😭 I’m do questions first.

1. Is there a hierarchy among the hashira?

Not in any significant way except for when they’re all called together for a meeting, Uzui tends to lead — but I also think that has more to do with personality. Orders for jobs tend to come from the “higher ups” (*cough* Ubayashiki family). Other than that, they each help out on jobs for the others if the opportunity arises. Sanemi might be a little unique in that his job tends to be enforcement of the other Hashira’s jobs, which is why you see him doing a lot on behalf of the others. Future chapters will show him working jobs with other Hashira, though — namely, Iguro.

2. Is Sanemi less respected than the others because of his title?

Nah, Sanemi plays an important role for them, in that he’s able to hunt down/collect what the others can’t. Him living in a shit hole has less to do with his title and more to do with his personality. Uzui might have more properties, but they *all* live in the Silo, except for Rengoku. Part of that is convenience, since most of their activities run out of that end of the City/that’s where base is. For Sanemi, too, he doesn’t really need anything nicer — it’s just him, after all, and he puts most of his money into Genya’s (and now Reader’s) savings.

I could add in that Sanemi also doesn’t think he’s allowed to have better than what he’s got. That’s an ongoing theme with him, and it bleeds into his living arrangements, too.

3. What other jobs do the Hashira control?

So far, we’ve seen that Kanae ran a very profitable drug operation (RIP the Kochos) that’s now up in the air since her murder. Uzui runs nightclubs that are largely for sex work purposes. Iguro deals with stolen goods (like, high priced items), and Rengoku does white collar stuff. More details will come next chapter, as the Hashira will come together for a meeting. Note that one canonical Hashira is not a Hashira in the Corps in this story — in fact, they’re not a Corps member at all, but a civilian.

4. More genya??

lol, yes, Genya will come back!! He has a much bigger role to play later on/near the end of the story.

Okay, now I can say alsmsosmskskasm thank you so, so much. Not only did your ask make me feel all giggly and happy, but it truly made my day. Being asked about these kind of details is seriously every author’s dream — there’s so much I have that went into making the world/setting for Compass that might not ever make it onto the page, so to have someone ask about the dynamics and the background of the story just makes my heart sing. Thank you so fucking much.

[ramblingautisticman]

A Gift In The Making

Chapter 1 - Decorating In November

Summary : Logan has a problem. What the fuck does he get Wade for Christmas?

(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3.)

(Okay, so I'm pretty excited about this little fic! Hopefully everyone enjoys it! Not sure when the next chapter will be out, but I know the last one will be out on Christmas Day! Anyway, enjoy, and link to the A03 version in is in the title!)

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Logan had left Wade in bed at roughly 9am, getting up to let Mary Puppins out to pee and by the time he got back, Logan was met with Wade decorating the apartment for Christmas. In November.

They had moved in a week ago- had all their belongings still in boxes- but apparently he had found the Christmas stuff.

Music was playing softly in the background as Wade stood in the corner of the living room, hanging ornaments on a tall pine tree (that he really hoped was plastic), humming along to the whatever festive song was playing.

"You uh...you know it's not even December yet, right princess?" He asked as he stepped inside and closed the door, placing Mary down on the floor, watching as she ran over to Wade's feet.

"Peanut! Your back! And yes, I know it isn’t December yet, but who doesn't love the festive spirit? Plus, this is your first Christmas here, and our first Christmas together, so I wanted to get a head start on it! Also, I may have seen a tiktok where someone put their decorations up and I instantly needed to put our tree up." Wade rambled, kneeling down to pet Mary's head, then standing back up and walking over to Logan with a huge smile on his face.

And okay, initially he was thinking of telling Wade to take it down for atleast a few more weeks, but he looks so happy that he couldn't bring himself to do so. "Well- it looks good. I like the tinsel." He comment, kissing Wade briefly on the lips before heading into the kitchen and grabbing a soda from the fridge.

He had been sober for a good 4 months now, and Logan wasn't planning on breaking that anytime soon. Wade made it easier, helped when he had a rough day, and they kept alot of soda in the fridge so he could have something in a can. It helped, having something familiar.

"You know, you've never mentioned anything about celebrating holidays. You better celebrate Christmas- if you don't because of religious reasons or whatever, fine- but I'm keeping my decorations up. It took me years to collect all of them!" Wade's voice brought him away from his thoughts, opening the can with a small chuckle, looking up at the other.

"I'm not religious. I don't think I could be living with you- I'd be going to hell if I was." He joked, sipping on his soda before leaning against the counter behind him. "Anyway, I do like Christmas. Just- haven't celebrated in awhile. That's all. Never really had anyone to celebrate with after....everything." Logan added on quietly, looking away.

It was still hard to talk about- his X-Men and what happened to them- but he was getting better. He didn't have a panic attack when people mentioned them now, and he could bring them up himself without feeling sick, which he thought was progress.

Christmas had always been a big deal in the mansion. Mostly for the kids- the ones who didn't have anywhere else to go. The team always made sure that they got to have a christmas like any other kid- getting them each a few presents that they wanted- and showed them that they always had a family here. No matter what.

Logan had never thought about celebrating Christmas after they died, or any other event for that matter. Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas- they had all been such happy funfilled events with the whole school that they left a bitter taste in his mouth whenever he thought of them.

But here he was, a new family and a new home, people to celebrate with. It had been strange, having people to do that with.

They celebrated everything together. Birthdays, Halloween, and anything else that gave them a reason to all gather at Wade's place and eat pizza. Why wouldn't Christmas be the same?

"Well....we don't have to celebrate. If you don't want too- I don't mind. I can deal with it like the big boy I am- but I do expect you to watch some 90 Day Fiance with me as thanks to my understanding." Wade teased, hoping to lighten the mood as he moved to stand infront of Logan, gently wrapping his arms around the others neck.

Logan smiled alittle, looking back towards Wade's eyes, and placing his free hand on his waist. "No- we can celebrate. Just haven't in awhile, that's all. Makes me remeber celebrating with the team...but, I will be very happy to spend Christmas with you and your friends." He said softly, kissing Wade with a smile, slowly pulling away after a second. "Plus, you seem very excited.....and I really don't want to watch that crap again." Logan added, a smirk on his face.

"They are OUR friends Peanut. And yeah- it's always been my favourite holiday. Ever since I was a kid. It was the one day I got a break from my asshole dad, because my family would come over and he couldn't yell at me with guests there. Anyway- away from the angsty headcannons the author clearly wants to insert- do you wanna help me put the rest of the lights on the tree?" Wade asked with a kiss to Logan's cheek, moving away and towards the living room again. "Also, that show is hilarious and you should love it!"

For the rest of November, they would cuddle on the couch under the Christmas tree lights, watching reruns of Golden Girls on the TV that was surrounded by small decorations.

And as Christmas got closer and closer (and by closer and closer, Logan means 3 weeks away), Wade got to planning the big day itself, running everything past Logan as he did.

"So, Laura said she wants to come over Christmas Eve and stay the night- which I'm all for! I'm thinking we can watch movies and eat cookies and it'll be awesome!" "Do you think Al would like a new TV for Christmas?" "We need to get Mary Puppins an ugly Christmas sweater Peanut!"

It seemed never ending, but Logan could see how much this all meant to Wade, so Logan agreed with whatever his partner wanted. He didn't mind what they did, as long as their family were over. Plus, he was alittle distracted with something himself.

He didn't know what to get Wade. At all.

Logan had already gotten everyone else presents (Wade had dragged him to the mall the second week of November), with most of them being from Wade and Logan as joint gifts, but Wade was different. Wade needed something special.

This was their first Christmas together and Wade had done so much for him over this past 10 months, letting him move in with him and teaching him to love again- so Logan wanted (needed) to find a gift that showed how much he cared for him. How much he appreciated everything Wade had done.

And you'd think, well Wade likes so many things, shouldn't that be easy? And the answer would be no. No it wasn't.

Half of the things Wade liked were either kids shows, or weapons, and Logan really wasn't sure how he could get a meaningful gift that involved both bluey and a pistol.

Thankfully, after another week if thinking, he got an idea.

[ichigopanhpff]

Translation: Toman Tengoku Showdown from the “Tokyo Revengers Exhibition The Final World Line SILVER” Book

In Roppongi’s TR exhibition, they had a section where they had an installation of the final timeline story drawn by Wakui-sensei. This installation had a mix of the printed manga panels and voiceover drama to cover more backstory and content because the man can only draw and cover so much.

Luckily, they included the transcript to the voice overs and are divided up into chapters with titles, which I'll mark with --.

I was lucky enough to my my hands on the book directly from their limited time merch site (https://mikey-mart.online/); unfortunately, they ended all online orders by 2/4.

Out of respect for the exhibition and the hard work put into this entire thing by Wakui-sensei and the staff, I will not be posting any images of the panels from the booklet and will post whatever the official exhibition's Twitter account have posted. I’ll do my best to put scene descriptions where I see fit. I have seen there are some JP vloggers who've done content on the exhibition itself, but don't know how much they were able to film.

They also have an interview with the artist who made the statue installation of the Tenjiku arc scene where Takemichi raised his fist up when Mikey appeared, an interview with the Japanese VAs and Wakui-sensei himself. If there’s enough interest in any of those sections, I’ll do my best to translate them.

Note: Translation isn’t 100% and I may take some liberties in translating certain things for a more colloquial approach. Anything in brackets are my personal notes.

Intro: This is the story about our final time leap and battle.

Kisaki: The Toman Tengoku Battle will take place one week from today. It will take place at the Roppongi 3rd multi-story Parking Lot.

Panel Card: Tokyo Roppongi Manji Tengoku Summit Meeting

[This is the panel they teased in the YT video where Toman, Tenjiku and Black Dragons were sitting in a private room in a Chinese restaurant].

Kisaki: There are three rules: No weapons! No retaliations! The gang that wins will absorb the other gangs! No objections?

Takemichi: None.

Taiju: There’s nothing left to say at this point!

Izana: This’ll be a festival to decide whose fist will rule over the biggest gang in all of Japan; a huge feud between the three of us.

Kisaki: This concludes the meeting!!

(Each respective gang make their exits)

Takemichi: The next time we’ll see each other will be at the battlefield.

Mikey: Get ready to be beaten to a pulp.

Taiju: Ha! Back at you!

Izana: Hmph.

Kakucho: Are you okay with this, Izana?

Izana: With what?

Kakucho: Isn’t Mikey Shinichiro-san’s younger brother? Are you gonna go all out?

Izana: … Haha. Idiot Kakucho. This will be the second time Mikey and I go at it.

Flashback quote: “Even if we’re not related by blood, Shin-nii is my brother!!!”

--Get blood out of a stone--

Young Hanagaki Takemichi CV: Watanabe Akeno Young Sano Manjiro CV: Fairouzi Ai Young Kurokawa Izana CV: Tanezaki Atsumi

Takemichi: This is your hardest mission, Mikey-kun.

Mikey: Got it.

(Takemichi and Mikey are standing in front of the orphanage talking to each other secretly)

Takemichi: I don’t know what kind of scary thing will happen if we tell Izana-kun suddenly. That’s why I thought of this strategy.

(Takemichi starts shaking as he opens his hand with a piece of chocolate)

Mikey: Chocolate?

Takemichi: Yes, chocolate. [Oh you sweet summer child…]

(He begins to explain his strategy with confidence.)

Takemichi: This is how you’ll lure Izana-kun in and with time, you two will slowly start getting along and gradually tell him the truth.

(Takemichi clenches his fist, immersed in a monologue)

Takemichi: This is a perfect plan, if I do say so myself… With this, Izana-kun will also…

Mikey: Yeah.

(Mikey runs in before Takemichi realized)

Takemichi: Mikey-kun…?

(Mikey punches Izana and sends him flying, landing firmly on the ground.) [Good job following the plan.]

Mikey: You’re Kurokawa Izana!

(Takemichi is so surprised, he’s rendered speechless)

Takemichi: Mikey-kun?!

(Izana stands up)

Izana: What the hell’s up with you?!

Mikey: I’m Sano Manjiro!

(Takemichi noticed Izana is surprised by Mikey’s words)

Izana: You said you’re Shin-nii’s… younger brother?

Takemichi: Mikey-kun…

(Mikey throws another punch)

Mikey: You and Shinichiro aren’t connected by blood!

Takemichi: Mikey-kun!

(Izana returns the punch)

Izana: What the hell are you goin’ on ‘bout, y’bastard?!

(The fist fight between the two turn into an argument)

Mikey: There’s no way you two are siblings! Why would you trust my idiot older brother like that!

Izana: What?! The hell’s wrong with you? Are you an idiot for comin’ here?!

Mikey: You accepted Shinichiro’s words without even questioning it ‘cus you’re lonely, right?! That guy did some digging, but now he can’t take back what he’s said and didn’t even mention he had a younger brother!

(The two face each other)

Mikey: I bet you must’ve noticed it too.

Izana: … Shut uuuppppp! What do you know?! My parents threw me away… I’m here while you have a warm family to raise you. You understand nothing! What if we are blood related?!

Mikey: Is it really that important to you?!

(The two start their fist fight again and eventually lay on their backs on the ground)

Mikey and Izana: Haa haa…

Izana: … Shin-nii is my brother! Even if we’re not blood related, he’s still my brother!

Mikey: … Shinichiro said the same thing.

--End--

Taiju: Mitsuya. Is Hakkai gonna go at us seriously?

Mitsuya: … Stop calling on the enemy to check up on your baby brother. You and Yuzuha are a pair of spoiled siblings. Hakkai’ll end up that way too.

Flashback quote: “No matter how violent you get on us, mom will never come back!!”

Taiju: Hmph.

--Let’s drop it--

Young Shiba Taiju CV: Tomozaku Sugita Young Shiba Yuzuha CV: Komatsu Mikako Young Shiba Hakkai CV: Hatanaka Yu Young Sano Manjiro: Fairouzi Ai

(A door forcefully bursts open into a room, where an angry Taiju enters in)

Taiju: Who forgot to turn off the bathroom light?

(Yuzuha and Taiju become frightened)

Hakkai: A… A--

Yuzuha: It’s me!

(Yuzuha protects Hakkai)

Taiju: … Why are you lying?

Yuzuha: Eh?! I’m not lying! It was me!

Taiju: The toilet seat was up. Only men do that.

(Hakkai’s hand clenches tightly at Taiju)

Taiju: Hakkai! Come here!

(Yuzuha interferes to stop Taiju)

Yuzuha: Wait! Don’t beat Hakkai anymore! Let me take his punishments instead! Please!

Hakkai: Sis…

(Hakkai hangs his head down, unable to say anything)

Taiju: You said it. From now on, you’ll take the beating for two people. Is that fine with you, Yuzuha?!

Hakkai: …

(A mysterious voice flashes in Hakkai’s memory!)

Mysterious voice (Mikey): Hakkai!

Hakkai: …!

(Hakkai stands up and faces Taiju)

Hakkai: Stop this already, Taiju!

Yuzuha: Eh…

Taiju: !

(Taiju gets violent with Hakkai)

Taiju: What’re you tryin’ to do here, Hakkai.

Hakkai: Don’t beat up sis anymore! This is ridiculous at how crazy you keep going at us.

Taiju: As I thought, you’re the one who forgot to turn the lights off. How many times have I told you to fix that?

(Hakkai gets hit and falls down. Yuzuha stands and goes beside him)

Hakkai: … I’m sorry for everything up to now, sis.

(Yuzuha is surprised)

Yuzuha: Hakkai.

Hakkai: … My friend told me.

(He recalls Mikey’s voice)

Mikey: It’s okay if you lose. Fight him.

(Taiju turns toward Hakkai)

Hakkai: Cut it out already, Taiju! No matter how violent you get with us, mom’ll never come back to us!

(Taiju is surprised)

Taiju: !… Hakkai.

(Hakkai starts crying)

Hakkai: ‘Cus I’m… I’m lonely…!

Taiju: You…

--End--

Kokonoi: Inupi. How’s Akane-san doing?

Inupi: Yeah. I’m gonna go for it.

Kokonoi: … I see.

Flashback quote: “Leave Inupi-kun to me! Hurry up and go back to save Akane-san!”

Inupi: Well, didn’t you say first loves usually don’t go as planned?

Kokonoi: Shut up.

--Every cloud has a silver lining--

Young Inui Seishu: Koichi Makoto Young Kokonoi Hajime: Igarashi Hiromi Young Inui Akane: Ueda Rena Young Hanagaki Takemichi CV: Watanabe Akeno

(The house is burning with a roaring sound as Kokonoi runs toward it)

Kokonoi: Haa haa… Akane-san!

(Kokonoi desperately addresses someone)

Kokonoi: Fire trucks… Have you seen anyone leave the house?!

Old Lady: I… I’m not sure. I haven’t been able to see anything. I’ll call for the ambulance and fire truck right now!

(Kokonoi turns and suddenly decides to run into the house)

Kokonoi: Akane-san! Akane-san! Haa haa… Akane-san! Akane-san!!

(A mysterious boy suddenly shows up inside the house)

Mysterious boy (Takemichi): Leave Inupi-kun to me! Koko-kun should hurry up and find Akane-san!

Kokonoi: O… Okay.

(Kokonoi continues his search)

Kokonoi: Akane-san! Where are you?! Akane-san! … Akane-san!

(He finally sees her and rushes over. Akane looks like she’s about to pass out)

Akane: … Hajime… kun…?

Kokonoi: I told you I’d protect you, right?

Akane: … Thank you…

(He carries Akane on his back and staggers out)

Old man: Hey! There’s another person who came out!

Old lady: Two people were able to be rescued out of that house. Thank goodness!

Kokonoi: Haa haa…

Seishu: Koko! You were able to save Akane?

Kokonoi: Yeah… But someone else saved you, Inupi.

Seishu: Huh… I was sure it was Koko who saved me. Then… Where are they…?

Kokonoi: … ?

--End--

(Scene is the night of the fight and Toman members are gathering.)

Chifuyu: Baji-san!

Baji: Yo, Chifuyu. It’s finally time, huh.

Chifuyu: Our third big battle! I got Baji-san’s back so you can go all out!

Baji: Oh! I’ll leave it up to you.

Chifuyu: Please leave it up to me.

Kazutora [He a jealous boi]: … Hey, anythin’ goes with you huh? Eh? Eh? When did you join Toman?

Chifuyu: Um… 2004.

Kazutora: Is that right now. And when did I join?

Chifuyu: Um… you’re a founding member, right?

Kazutora: Exactly! This is a photo that only a founding member has!

Chifuyu: Whoa, awesome!

Kazutora: You don’t have this right? Which means I’ve been with Baji much longer, right?

Chifuyu [Poor thing is confused at Tora’s ire]: Ye...ah…?

Kazutora: Baji definitely likes me more, right? You get what I’m gettin’ at, right?

Chifuyu: Yeah.

Takemichi: They’re trying to justify something dumb again.

Kisaki: What are they, kids? I’m surrounded by idiots in Toman.

Takemichi: Idiot. It’s fine as long as you’re the one who’s got it together.

(Takemichi puts his arm around Kisaki’s shoulder and pulls him close)

Kisaki: Stop that. You’re suffocating me.

Takemichi: Rely on me a bit more, partner!

Flashback quote: Do you like Hina? I like her too.

--It takes two to tango--

Young Kisaki Tetta CV: Ozora Naomi Young Tachibana Hinata CV: Waki Azumi Young Hanagaki Takemichi CV: Watanabe Akeno

(Some middle school kids are bullying a cat)

Cat: Nya-!

Hina: Hey, Kisaki-kun. That group is bullying the cat! Hina’s gonna complain about this!

(Hina steadily walks toward them)

Kisaki: Ta-Tachibana?!

(Hina faces the middle school boys [MSB])

Hina: Stop that! What’s so fun about doing something like that?!

MSB A: Huh?

MSB B: I hate kids with a strong sense of justice.

MSB A: Hey! The cat ran away.

MSB B: Then you take the place of the cat.

(Hina resists crying)

MSB: Aww, you’re gonna start cryin’? Did you think we’ll let you go if you started cryin’ like this?

(Kisaki watches from afar)

Kisaki: This is why I said stopping them’s useless.

(Takemichi suddenly appears and takes Kisaki’s arm)

Kisaki: Eh?!

(Takemichi brings Kisaki in front of the middle school kids, stepping onto the gravel)

Takemichi: Stop that!

(Kisaki panics)

Kisaki: Wh-what?

Takemichi: We’re the super hero partners! How dare you middle school kids pick on a young girl. That’s unforgivable!

MSB: Huh? What’s up with you guys?

(Kisaki continues to panic as Takemichi neither cries nor trembles)

Kisaki: W-Why are you including me?!

Takemichi: Shaddap! Let’s go Kisaki! You’re a man too, right?!

Kisaki: Wh-What…

(Takemichi dashes)

Takemichi: Ooooohhhh!

(Hina cries)

Takemichi: I didn’t think too much on my actions before and after.

Hina: (crying noises) Hic… I’m sorry…

(Takemichi’s wounds throb from pain)

Takemichi: Ow ow ow…

Hina: Ah, Hina will go buy some bandages!

(Hina’s running footsteps fade out, leaving Takemichi and Kisaki alone together)

Takemichi: … Do you like Hina?

Kisaki: Eh-Um, uh, I--

Takemichi: (smiling wide) I like her too.

--End--

The night before the Toman Tengoku Showdown at Musashi Shrine…

Toman’s finally gathered, with Mikey facing everyone

Mikey: Tomorrow will finally decide who will be Japan’s top gang! Everyone, are you ready?!

Toman: Yeah!!!

Mikey: Is there anyone scared of tomorrow’s battle?! No one right?! Let’s take the top spot!

(Toman chants)

With the call of Mikey’s voice, Toman’s morale is at its peak. The climax of an alternative future where they continued their revenge.

Mikey: This’ll finally put an end to our revenge.

Takemichi: The final battle.

It’s time to head to the battlefield. Roppongi 3rd multi-story parking lot!

Mikey: Let’s go!

Takemichi: Okay!

Tensions rising! Tokyo Manji Gang, Tenjiku and Black Dragons Gather!!

Tokyo Manji Gang, Tenjiku, Black Dragons A Fight that Lasted One Night to Decide Japan’s Strongest Gang

[nightcourtreader]

I am seeing a lot of gwynriels getting hate lately because we’re excited about new character information about Az and a lot of people believing that Azriel’s book is next.

I feel like it’s fair, as readers to point out how the author is deliberately bringing a lot of attention to Azriel at the moment. It’s absolutely fair to believe that Azriel’s book is going to be next. We all know that Elain and Azriel’s stories are going to be told and it’s just a matter of when. A lot of people just think that it’s Azriel next and that’s fine if you disagree, but gwynriels shouldn’t be attacked or called delusional if they think that.

But being called delusional when we think that when SJM has build on Azriel’s character arc purposely since we’ve seen him on page since acomaf, gave him a bonus for acosf, then had him feature in cc3, then have him apart of a bonus again for cc3 is crazy. Especially since we learned more about Azriel in cc3.

Then people are dissing the hell out of Gwyn. Oh she’s just a side character, she isn’t important. Isn’t everyone a side character at the moment besides feysand & Nessian? Since they already had their stories told. And wasn’t Gwyn the one to introduce the valkryie storyline in acosf & became the first valkryie when the valkryie plotline is a huge plotline of acosf to the point where SJM named the different sections of acosf valkryie titles? And SJM could have easily had nesta become the first valkryie.

Gwyn can absolutely have a pov with Azriel in the next book. SJM herself stated she has two more acotar books (I’m not sure if she’s contracted for more). She said for each book, a couple is going to come together. That leaves 2 pov besides Azriel and Elain because we know she’s going to give them one. For Azriel’s counter part, it could easily be Gywn.

Gwyn is still in the library. The valkryies are still training. Gwyn has a autumn court ancestry, no matter how many people claim she doesn’t have a firm claim for it. Gwyn’s powers are a very popular controversial topic in the fandom on the daily. Gywn’s story is left opened and SJM didn’t add all that to Gwyn’s backstory for no reason. She retcon the sangravah story so Azriel was the one to save Gwyn. SJM dropped mate language in her BC with Azriel and Gwyn and yes, SJM references her bonus chapters in text. She did so in acosf when it came to cassian’s & nesta’s bonus chapter for acomaf, titled wings and ember.

Yrene in tog, was really fledged out in tower of Dawn and became a really important factor in the next book in the series, kingdom of ash. Why couldn’t the same thing be said for Gwyn? Just because she was introduced in acosf, doesn’t mean that Gwyn can’t have a pov in the next book.

There are different plotlines for Azriel to go through in his story. It’s not like he has 0 plotlines to filter through. SJM would be the one to decide what plotlines have the sense of urgency for the next acotar book.

CC3 can be used for evidence, because the author herself stated that cc3 will set up future acotar books. You know what acotar 5 is? A future acotar book since it isn’t out yet. From what I’ve seen, since I haven’t read cc3 yet, Azriel is a prominent figure besides nesta in cc3 when it comes to the acotar characters. If SJM herself is stating that cc3 sets up future acotar books, why wouldn’t we use cc3 of evidence for Azriel, especially since nesta’s story has already been told? So yes we can use that as evidence. We shouldn’t be talked down about and called delusional for it.

Yes CC is a separate series. But SJM recently stated that we should read acotar before reading CC now, at one point of time she said we didn’t have to. See how things have changed?

If she’s telling people to read acotar before cc, does it matter if she’s not telling people to read cc before acotar 5, when she’s already stated to read acotar before CC so no matter what readers are understanding what’s going on in both series no matter the order since acotar 5 isn’t out yet? She’s telling us to read both series regardless.

I get it, some people might not want to read the CC and they don’t have to, but I have seen people who said they aren’t going to read CC but are still asking for information about the acotar characters in it, and with people talking about it, they are going to find out about the information of acotar characters in CC anyway, whether they read the full book or not.

And I’m sick of e/riels claiming that since Azriel is being brought up a lot, it’s going to be Azriel and Elain’s next. To the point, when new fans are asking about who’s the next book, they’re “confirming” it’s Elain and Azriel’s. Which is ridiculous. Because when it comes to the two, Elain would be the one to strong hold the book, not Azriel. SJM hasn’t brought Elain to the forefront as she’s doing Azriel lately, if anything, it just shows to me how SJM isn’t going to have a book with BOTH Azriel and Elain together. Just not happening.

But I need people to stop being mad/upset at gwynriels because we’re pointing out things from textual evidence that the author has set up. We could be wrong, I agree, but stop making it like we have no standing, that were dumb & delusional.

[thecapybara526]

A Drop in the Ocean pt. 7

Avatar: the way of water

Neteyam x reader, Lo’ak x reader

Note: Part 7?! Can’t believe that. After so much support on the last chapter I had to write again for you all. Thank you <3 WE HAVE A TITLE

Tags: @whos3rn @marastarz starz @bangtanxberm @fanboyluvr @seriesstuff @kevincostners1mommy @sw3atbaby @pheonixisswag @grace-928 @raven887209 @kucingberkokok k @pearlrosegardener r @briefwinnerpersonaturtle le @itzyourgurlnihya @minajshi @elegantzippercashshoe @buttercake2234 @saturn-is-falling-blog @owaowoawawa @arraxthatsonjah @fantasy-addict354 @iheartsleeping @daddyslittlevillian @maxsvstrtls448 @saltedcoffeescotch @petrasdesire @usernumder67

Part 7

Neteyam held your hand as you walked onto the sandbar. After the fight with Lo’ak, you both took off on your ilu’s to the sandbar. You didn't talk the entire time, but that moment of physical touch was enough for you.

He stood in front of you, holding your hands.

“Y/n, I feel like something is going on between us.”

“I agree, why have you been ignoring me?”

Neteyam was embarrassed to respond. What if you said you had chosen Lo’ak? How could he deal with the heartbreak? He didn't want to confess yet; he felt it was too early.

“Because, I thought you felt uncomfortable with me ” he lied.

“Neteyam, why would you think that you skxwang.” you let go of his hands; seriously, this is what the the talk was going to be about. You thought maybe you two were finally going to confront your feelings.

Neteyam did not take you letting go of his hands well. The conversation was taking a turn. Should he just be honest?

“I- I do not know. It was a very intimate moment; everything happened so fast. I don't want to rush or ruin anything between us.”

Between us. Your ears flicked at that.

“Oh yeah?” you took a step closer to him, and looked from his eyes to his mouth, “what is going on between us?”

Neteyam’s entire body turned hot; you were the most gorgeous girl he'd ever seen. You being this close to him did something to him.

“Ah nothing, nothing. You know, I just do not want to ruin our friendship.” he smiled; he was so flustered he couldn't think.

Your demeanor dropped, friendship?, a terrible thought formed. What if you were just misinterpreting all of this? What if you and Neteyam we're just getting closer but just not romantically.

“Oh no, yes of course. Our friendship.” you couldn't hide the hurt and disappointment, you took a big step back.

Neteyam couldn't believe what he had just said. What was he doing? Instead of trying to slow things down, he was hitting the brakes. Did this mean you still wanted him?

“Wait, no, Y/n. That's not-” before he could finish, a big horn sounded.

Suddenly waves of noise began and the waves began huge and choppy. You would have thought you were under attack.

“Neteyam.” you pointed at the massive figures in the water.

The Tulkun had returned.

“Come on!” you yelled at him. You desperately needed this distraction and wanted to evade the conversation that was about to take place. You didn't have to continue hearing how you misinterpreted you and Neteyam’s time together.

“Y/n, wait we aren't done” you had already dove in the water.

He loved that you were stubborn but right now not so much. He knew you heard him. How could he let himself mess that conversation up, being so close to you made him panic. I’m so whipped, he thought. He couldn't think straight. This conversation was not over. He was confessing to you tonight. No more waiting.

...

Watching everyone so excited and happy for the tulkun helped fix your aching heart. You were following Tuk and Kiri around watching everyone interact with their spirit brother and sisters in the water. You noticed Jake and Neytiri. He held her by the thigh on the same ilu. Goals. You thought.

From the way your conversation with Neteyamn was going and how Lo’ak was looking at Tsireya twirl. You weren't going to be doing that with either of his sons. Honestly, you still loved Lo’ak, but Neteyam was the one you needed. Now you are stuck pinning for another Sully boy. Again. Just when you thought you made progress in your goal for you and Kiri to be sister in laws. You chuckled to yourself.

You all came up for air and your heart softened when you saw Neteyam with the happiest smile on his face. He’s so cute.

Kiri wasn't sure what had happened since she had her episode, but it was flipped now. You and Lo’ak were on good terms, and you, Neteyam, were not good.

...

Neteyam was suffering yet again. It was his fault yet again. He had confused you during your conversation, and now you couldn't stand being close to him. On the swim back to the ilu stable, you chatted briefly. Just things like how cool that was and that one day you want a tulkun sister or brother.

He was going to steal you for a conversation when Kiri grabbed you and Tsireya.

“We desperately need girl time. Let's go”

“What about me!” Tuk squealed.

“I’m sorry, Tuk, but I think Kiri means big girls only” you fluffed her hair.

“Fine.” she walked away sad. You looked at Kiri, hoping she would let Tuk come, but she shook her head.

...

The three of you were sitting on the breathing training rock.

“Kiri, I'm happy to spend time together but what is about?” Tsireya asked her blue eyes shinning

“The only thing that ever seems to cause trouble lately. My brothers” she rolled her eyes

“Y/n! Did you and Neteyam talk? Why was he ignoring you.” Tsireya smiled

You laid flat on the rock, “yes, and it turns out it was because he was scared of ruining our friendship.”

Kiri almost flew back into the water. Friendship? Neteyam did not have any friendly intentions when it came to you. Only romantic. He has been in love with you forever. That skxwang. How was he messing this up?

“And Lo’ak?” you tighten up, eyes shifting to Tsireya.

“What of Lo’ak?” Tsireya eyed you

“Oh.” Kiri’s eyes widened.

“Listen Tsireya..” you began to say

“What- what is going on with you and Lo’ak” Tsireya thought just maybe there was something between the two of you.

“Tsireya. I had been in love with Lo’ak all my life. I still love him. It's not in the way I love Neteyam, though. I know that now. That's all.”

“Has he expressed feelings for you?” she was the most serious she had looked since you met her. She suspected he did when he told her the fight was about you.

“That is something you and Lo’ak need to discuss” you waited for her response

“Thank you for being honest with me” she hugged you. She really was the sweetest ever. “Do you know what their fight was about?”

“No,” you were taken aback by that question. You were so caught up in the friendship convo you forgot to ask what the fight was about.

“You should ask him”

Neteyam was standing at the shore and you all turned to look at him.

“Dinner!”

...

Neteyam had sat right next to you at dinner tonight. Lo’ak was chewing slowly, watching the two of you interact. He wanted to talk to you after dinner.

“Are we going to finish our conversation.” he whispered next to you. Okay we are doing this now.

“I don't know, are you going to tell me what you and your brother were fighting about?” you bit off a piece of fish.

“No, no, yet.” he replied

“Okay, so no, we will not finish our conversation.” you smiled sarcastically at him.

His jaw almost dropped he couldn't decide between whether what you did was cute and squeeze you or strangle you for being so stubborn.

“Y/n not yet.” he pleaded to you

“No conversation then” you stared back at him, this time you would not melt, you stood your ground.

Lo’ak wanted to know what the two of you were whispering about. Tsireya touched his arm.

“I will not be a second choice Lo’ak. I ask you for the sake of my heart. Figure it out” she stood up and walked away. He was stunned.

“Fine!” Neteyam folded “after dinner”

You nodded, scared for what was going to happen next between the two of you.

...

“Y/n. Lo’ak approached you. He knew who he wanted and needed to talk to you immediately.

“She is busy Lo’ak” Neteyam came up behind you the brothers haven't spoken since the fight.

“calm down; it will only be a second.” you turned to look at Neteyam. He looked away. You knew if you went with Lo’ak, he would respect your decision. But Lo’ak wasn't the boy who held your heart anymore. It was Neteyam. You needed answers once and for all.

“I'm sorry Lo’ak but it must wait.”

Neteyam’s heart soared. That was a good sign. For Lo’ak, he knew what it meant. He had lost you.

...

You and Neteyam returned to your spot. The sandbar. He grabbed your hand, tracing your palm as you sat.

“Neteyam I am so confused” you sighed

“I know. But I can't tell you what the fight was about not yet.” you stood up so fed up.

“No. I agreed to this under that one condition”

“Y/n you need to understand everything first.”

“How! I don't get it, we have these fantastic three weeks together. The other night at the sandbar, something shifted. I know it did. I know you feel it too. Just tell me what is going on! ” you yelled

“It's not that simple” he groaned and grabbed his head.

“It is! Do you want me or not? Stop playing with my heart because I can't take this anymore. What was the fight about!” you teared up throat scratching. You just wanted your Neteyam back.

“It was about you!” he raised his voice. He was breathing hard. “I'm sorry” he grabbed your face.

“Y/n, I’ve loved you since you were 14. I've loved your stubbornness, determination, kindness, strength, all the things that make you. You. For so long I've tried to suppress it. But I can't anymore you've torn your way into my heart, and everyday I spend with you it bleeds more knowing I haven't told you that it belongs to you. I knew it was only Lo’ak you saw, but Y/n, I have always seen you. I see you.” he was tearing up too. He had finally said it, and he was bracing for impact.

“I’ve wanted you to see me since before we left. It was like wishing for rain as I stood in the desert. Wishing for you to love me. I prayed to Ewya for just a drop, and maybe you would see me.”

You started to cry, he was worried but kept his hands craddling your face. You kneeled down and grabbed his wrists. He followed you to the ground.

“Neteyam. My drop has turned into an ocean of love for you. I see you, Neteyam. I do.” he let a out a shaky breath. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“You’re right, back home it was always Lo’ak, but when we came here, everything changed. You snuck up on my heart, and claimed it as yours. I never saw you coming. You are loyal, dependable, strong, honest, caring, and most importantly, kind. You make me feel calm and safe, you understand me better than anyone.“

He smiled. “I’ve been yours since you were 14; nothing would make me happier than you being mine.” He pressed his forehead against yours.

You couldn’t believe it. Neteyam was yours and you were his. You always thought it would be Lo’ak, but Neteyam made you feel things Lo’ak never did. Neteyam made your heart relax. He calmed you and steadied you in ways you couldn’t and needed. He sat and listened to you and provided insight. You were the fire; he sometimes needed, and he was the water to put you out when needed.

“I'm yours Neteyam.”

...

About time! I decided their confession would be based around the song “a drop in the ocean” I felt like it fit Neteyam so well pinning you wishing a chance and drop or a change in the weather. So that is also our title! Yay! I hope you enjoyed and don’t think its rushed. I might revise it tomorrow when I am not on 3 hours of sleep. I just wanted to get a chapter out for you all.

UPDATE. Keep rereading this and I think it's trash. After I rewrite tmr i’ll delete this. I'm just exhausted from traveling. Sorry to disappoint you guys. Neteyam and Y/n deserve better. PART 8 is up

[l-in-the-light]

Advice for One Piece theoretists about the upcoming Strawhat crew members

I watched this vid so you all don't have to. The only thing Ohara got right is Law tbh (but the arguments he listed for him are so-so, he could have fished out so much more). I saw lately a post with big advice for One Piece theoretists to go back to their roots (early sagas), so now here's my piece of advice for all of you who want to crack the mystery of who the last Strawhats are gonna be:

crewmate (nakama) =/= friend (tomodachi). The word nakama appears in manga only when Luffy means "crewmate", it's been always consistent, because that word is clearly a big deal for Luffy. Someone who travels with Strawhats isn't automatically a crewmate. Not every friend will end up becoming a new crewmate either. Remember Water 7? Being a crewmate is a serious business, it's not just regular friends we snatched on our way. Once you're a crewmate, you're part of the family, basically. Family yakuza-style, might I add. Once you join you can't just quit because you feel like it, it's a commitment. So friends like Rebecca, Viola, Stussy, Lilith, Carrot, Bon Clay, Koby are not gonna become actual crewmates. They will always remain friends with Strawhats though!

not every crewmate will choose to take the journey with Strawhats. Take Vivi, Kin'emon or Momonosuke for example. They have their own responsibilities. That being said, if their duties ever get fullfilled, they're hopping on the crew 100%. I can see that happen with Vivi, not so much with Kin and Momo though, Wano is not gonna go anywhere, right? (or is it? :D)

Luffy made promise to Yamato. It's a promise he wants to keep in Ace's stead. This is important for him. People should start taking this seriously and I'm not sure why they don't.

plot convenience isn't enough of an argument for someone joining or not. That would be kinda bad storytelling ngl. Just because someone has "no other place to go" or "would be so useful on the crew" doesn't mean they will become a Strawhat. Being a crewmate ain't so cheap.

potential crewmate doesn't even have to be a friend at first to become a crewmate. Remember Franky's or Robin's case? Luffy was hostile towards Franky for the whole arc, not counting the very final chapters when Franky build them a new ship for free, which is The Moment when Luffy finally started liking him. At the literal end of the arc.

Luffy's final word is the most important one. Try to think of his own criteria, instead of trying to guess what's in Oda's head. Luffy is a simple boy, his criteria are also pretty simple and every Strawhat fits those. It's not about long, tragic and satisfying flashbacks (Zoro's flashback is short, for example), bonding over food, or stuff like that. You want to find Luffy's criteria, go all the way back to the beginning when Luffy meets Koby and then Zoro.

the last Strawhats do not have to be people from early sagas! Early sagas are important, but ignoring the later ones is a huge mistake. There are a few really nice theories that help you narrow it down: for example the theory of 13 Strawhats. Since as early as first OP chapters Luffy's crew is called Mugiwara Ichimi (which means Strawhat crew, but ichimi can be read as a pun: ichi means one, san means 3, Oda loves puns and number plays like that and uses them all the time, also in chapter titles). People also noticed this helpful pattern: there are always four Strawhats joining from each sea Luffy adventures in (Nami, Sanji, Zoro, Usopp from East Blue; Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook from Paradise; that leaves us with Jimbei and three others from the New World).

Yes, I'm a believer in 13 Strawhats theory, just like most Japanese fans. Oda likes giving obscure hints for that theory scattered around. But the actual answer lies in this image:

You have all 13 Strawhats here, disguised as cats. All you need to do is crack the code and figure it out. Have fun!

My hint is: start from who Luffy considers and called a nakama. You need to search through the whole story for it :D

[larissaschristies]

Symphonies by LarissasChristies

(AO3 Link in Title)

Summary: You are Lillian Crowe, a young cellist hired by Larissa Weems as the new Music Director at Nevermore. You quickly develop feelings for Larissa, but the other woman is guarded, walls built high from years of having to protect herself. Will you be able to show Larissa that she deserves to love, and to be loved in return?

Chapters: 1/?

Word Count: 1,506

HUGE thank you to @weemssapphic for being my beta!

—————————————————————————————

You looked around the grandiose office, taking in the decor the principal had chosen while waiting for her to arrive. Compared to the rest of the school, it was rather plain, but you could tell that each piece had been selected with purpose and care; the two leather armchairs, one of which you were now sitting in, matched the leather chair sitting empty behind the principal’s desk, the oxblood curtains covering the floor to ceiling windows, the two chandeliers casting a warm glow across the room, all meticulously selected and placed by the principal herself. You lost yourself in thinking about the woman behind the decor, zoning out to a point that you didn’t hear the door to her private quarters open and click shut as the principal appeared.

“Good morning,” she said, her words lilting with a British accent. “I am Principal Weems, and you must be Lillian!”

You stood and whirled toward the sound of her deep voice, having been jolted from your thoughts by her sudden arrival. A small gasp escaped your lips as you took in the woman before you; she was the most beautiful person you’d ever seen, and her crystalline blue eyes pierced your own as she strode toward you with her hand out in greeting. You took the opportunity of the space between you to really look at the woman as she made her way to you. She was wearing a form-fitting tan dress that stretched deliciously across her hips, the heels she wore making her even taller than she already is, and her white-blonde hair was perfectly pinned in a gorgeous updo. As your eyes made their way back to her face you realized she had already closed the distance between you. She raised her eyebrow at you and glanced down at her extended hand expectantly.

“Oh, sorry,” you muttered as you rushed to take her hand in your own, and your mind reeled at how small yours felt in hers. “Yes, uh, my name is Lillian and I am here to interview for the position of Music Director.” You fumbled over your words, still trying to recover from being caught off guard.

“Yes, of course.”,” Hher smile as she gestured for you to sit made your stomach clench and you did as she requested. You quietly dug your nails into your palms in a feeble attempt to pull yourself together as the principal launched into her introduction.

——

You walked out of Nevermore with a huge smile on your face. The interview had lasted a little over an hour, Principal Weems asking questions and watching you with a shine in her beautiful eyes as she listened intently to your answers. You found yourself getting carried away a couple of times, but it seemed like the principal had enjoyed the passion with which you responded because by the end of the interview she had offered you the position. Once at your car, you did a little victory dance and took out your phone, and sent a quick text to your best friend before sliding into the driver’s seat.

“Hey Soph, guess what?! I GOT THE JOB!!! Drinks at my place this evening to celebrate?”

You hit send, locking your phone and dropping it in the cup holder before putting your key in the ignition and turning your car on, the radio coming to life playing the lively 4th Movement of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, one of your favorites. The drive home was short, your apartment only ten minutes away from Nevermore,which was just enough time to finish the symphony. You turned the car off and grabbed your phone from the cup holder before getting out, gently closing the door behind you and walking toward your apartment. Just as you put the key in the front door your phone chimed, a text message popping up on the screen.

“Hell yes, babes!!!!! I knew you would get it, you’re the best cellist I know!!!”

You rolled your eyes and chuckled, pushing your door open and tossing your keys into the bowl on your entry table before unlocking your phone to reply.

“I’m the ONLY cellist you know, doofus. Be here around 8.”

You gently slipped your feet out of the heels you had worn for the interview, sighing in relief as your feet relaxed. You hit send on the message as you slid your feet into your slippers, padding over to the couch. After getting comfortable and turning on your television, you found your mind wandering back to the principal, thoughts of finding something to watch gone. She was absolutely gorgeous, and the more you thought about her the hotter your cheeks got. Her deep voice, her crimson lips, those beautiful blue eyes…. what you wouldn’t give to get lost in those eyes and feel how soft those lips are. To hear her moaning your name.

Nope, you thought to yourself, this is your new boss! You can NOT be having these thoughts!

You shook your head and slapped your hands on your knees, standing up and heading toward the kitchen. Your stomach growled as you opened the fridge only to find a moldy apple and some week-old takeout from your favorite Japanese restaurant. For half a moment you contemplated eating the leftovers before your self preservation kicked in and you closed the refrigerator. Your phone dings from the couch and you lean over to grab it, a text from an unknown number on the screen.

“Hello, I apologize for getting your number from your file. This is Principal Weems. Larissa. I was wondering if you might be free this evening? I’d like to get to know you a bit better before the start of the term. Dinner at Koto, say 7pm?”

Your heart skipped a beat at seeing who the text was from. You quickly unlocked your phone and read the message again, your brain taking a minute to catch up with what was happening. Your thumbs hovered over the keyboard, the blinking cursor taunting you as you try to come up with a reply.

Come on, Lillian, she’s your new boss and simply wants to learn more about her new employee. It’s not that deep! You thought to yourself as you began to type.

“I’d love that, Koto is actually my favorite restaurant! I’ll meet you there at 7!”

You hit send before you could overthink and retype the message six times. As you took a deep breath to steady your heartbeat, a text from Soph came in. Shit.

“8 sounds great! Do you want me to grab anything on my way? I know your fridge is probably barren.”

You rolled your eyes, oddly comforted by how well she knows you, and clicked the message to reply.

“I actually can’t do it tonight, I'm sorry. Larissa— Principal Weems wants to hear more about my career prior to applying at Nevermore over dinner at Koto. Rain check?”

Three bubbles popped up almost immediately as Soph began to reply.

“Dinner at Koto?! Sounds like she wants to do more than just ‘hear about your career’ Lil ;)”

“Oh shut up, there’s literally no way. I am her e m p l o y e e.”

Your phone started to ring then, Soph’s face filling your screen as her contact photo popped up.

“I am her em-ploy-ee,” Soph mocked, her voice echoing around your apartment as you hit the speaker button.

“It is completely normal to want to learn more about the person you have hired to teach your students, it’s not a big deal.” You blushed, your cheeks getting hotter by the second.

“Wait. Am I sensing a hint of…. a crush?” Soph’s voice went up on octave at the end of her question, excitement clearly getting the best of her.

“NO!” You nearly shouted, your cheeks practically catching fire before calmly repeating, “No. I do not have a crush on my new boss. This is just a professional meeting between two coworkers.”

“Oh, my ass, Lil. You totally have a crush on your new boss. Is she taller than you? I bet she’s taller than you. You’re SO predictable.”

“And what if she is?” You said incredulously. You glanced down at your watch, “I’m hanging up now, I need to get ready. Goodbye!” You practically slammed your finger on the red button, briefly missing the days when you could dramatically snap your phone shut. You looked at your watch again: 5:15pm. You had about an hour to get ready before you had to leave and you had no idea what to wear.

Why does it matter, Lillian? Just wear what you’re wearing now, it’s not a date! You told yourself.

With a heavy sigh, you walked toward the bathroom to wash your face and reapply your makeup. Before you knew it, it was time to leave for Koto. You slipped your feet back into the black heels and grabbed your keys. You forced a deep breath to fill your lungs to calm your nerves before you headed out the door

[hawkinasock]

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER AUS (IF ABLE AND WILLING AND YOU WANT TO) ‼️‼️‼️

Tread carefully, Anon... Once I start yapping, I can't stop (jokes on you tho, I love yapping. Let's go)

I assume you mean aus for HSR specifically? I've got a lot more for genshin, but to stop myself from going on massive tangents, I'll just stick to HSR. I'll keep them all as summaries and go into more depth if there's any interest. Ok here we go:

Chimera Yanqing has kinda become my whole thing now, but I've never actually mentioned the other characters that I've also made chimera forms for. Namely Jing Yuan.

He doesn't really have any lore...? Unlike Yanqing, I was too focused on making him look pretty, which is easy because it's Jing Yuan. I'll make an update if I add anything more to his lore, cause I'd hate to just leave him unfinished forever. I do have a chimera Yunli au too, which I'll also save for another time. (Also keep in mind that he has wayyyy more fur than what I've shown. It just would've made his actual form unclear. He is very, very fluffy, canonically)

Mara-struck Yanqing (aka How the general ate the cabbage). Made a whole fic for this one, the plot is in the pudding, and by pudding I mean my ao3 lol. Instead of deflecting Jingliu's ult, Yanqing is instead killed and mara-stricken, and everything falls apart from there. Keeping it vague since it's still in progress. As of writing this, I'm three chapters in, so check it out if you're interested <3

Band au. I actually forgot about this one until I went through my list. Basically, It's a modern au where the high cloud quintet were a huge band back in ye olden days of the mid 1980s until their downfall, where the lead singer (Baiheng) is killed in an accident, triggering a series of unfortunate fates for 3 of the 4 remaining members. Jing Yuan is the only member still working in the industry and adopted Yanqing roughly 20 years after the the HCQ's fallout. One day, though, after years of no contact, Blade comes back into Jing Yuan's life, seeking refuge from law enforcement, and it all tumbles out of control from there after Jing Yuan accepts. The rest of the story would follow a very suspicious Yanqing wondering what the deal is with his dad's weird new boyfriend, and eventually reuniting the 4 remaining members (getting the band back together, as Phineas would say). There is SO much lore for this one, but it would take up this entire post to explain, so I'll probably just make it into its own post (with designs ofc). Tbh I haven't done as much work on this one as the others simply because I just don't know that much about music? Zel does though, so if I ever come back to it, I can go to him as a consultant.

Kind of an odd one, but I'm including it since it sorta counts, and I've become pretty fond of it over time. Mom Lumine au(s) Xiaother being Yanqing's dads is one of my favorite little crack aus. This au is the brainchild of imagining Yanqing as Lumine's child instead, but me as the author not enjoying xiaolumi as much. Thus, this was born. There's not really a story? Just a bunch of loosely put together concepts with multiple potential narratives that I find fun. Most of the time I default Childe as Yanqing's bio dad. In a weird way, it makes sense in my head? Yanqing resembles Lumine and uses a sword, and has that same go-getting, battle-hungry attitude as Childe, with all the knock-outs to boot. I mainly imagine chilumi as this interstellar crime duo; the Bonnie and Clyde of space, if you will. Because, honestly, if Yanqing's parents are ever to be revealed, would it not be the funniest thing for them to turn out to be criminals? I think it's hilarious, because Yanqing himself would be mortified.

Guardian Blade/Stellaron Hunter Yanqing au. These names are kinda lazy cause I usually don't make official titles for them unless their a fic, which this one happens to be. Here, Yanqing is an abomination of abundance, and as my interpretation usually goes, the only person who knows about this is Jing Yuan. Him and one other - blade, who was confided in the secret shortly after Jing Yuan had taken baby Yanqing in. Jing Yuan made Blade promise that, should the truth ever be uncovered and Jing Yuan punished, Blade is to take Yanqing and protect him. And years down the line, when the truth does finally reveal itself, Blade fulfills his promise. Theoretically, Yanqing would then join the stellaron hunters, albeit unenthusiastically. I haven't actually made any plans for that concept outside of a single one-shot. I still need to finish the actual fic first lmao.

Mara-struck Jing Yuan au. Probably the least original one I have to offer, because there's nothing particularly unique about it aside from one little twist I added that I think differentiates it, and that's that Yanqing doesn't actually kill Jing Yuan, or vice versa. Instead, Jing Yuan, in his current state, attacks everyone and everything except for Yanqing, and actually goes out of his way to keep Yanqing away from danger. The way I rationalize this (and this is me stretching the mara lore a LOT) is that Yanqing is so important to Jing Yuan that he creates a sort of blind spot to the mara when present; he is both innately precious and harbors only positive memories in Jing Yuan's mind, so in a way, he retroactively contradicts the way mara-struck!Jing Yuan would normally perceive him, seeing Yanqing as something to protect rather than attack (i hope that made any sense </3). This would probably never actually happen in canon. I just really like the idea of Jing Yuan's love for his son being so strong that it stays with him even after he's gone mad and can no longer remember what Yanqing means to him.

Progenitor au. Saved this one for last because it's been occupying my entire brain for the past few days. It's based on Dillongoo's Progenitor Albedo series, and by based, I mean it's just the same au, same universe and everything, but HSR. I won't go into the details because I'm planning to make it its own dedicated post as well, but I think its safe to say its becoming my favorite au out of all of these. I already have some designs and original lore cooked up, so hopefully I can post about it soon.

I think that's all of them? Debatable if some of these even count as aus, but who cares. I hope you enjoyed my rambles and found my ideas interesting enough to read through. I'm hoping to eventually give them some more life and make actual content with them.

Till next time <3

[whocaresstillthelouvre]

See The Road You're On (Joel's Version)

A moodboard, 300 word drabble, and playlist celebrating Chapter 1 of Elks.

A/N: Posting these to help clean up the masterlist, don't mind me. Thanks to @jennaispunk for looking this over and @saradika-graphics for the headers.

His heart beats with an unfamiliar feeling as he watches you hobble down the road, too proud to glance back, obviously too embarrassed for your own good. If only you knew how often he thinks about you, how closely he listens to Ellie when she talks about you, how many times he’s replayed that old mixed CD of yours with your name and the pretty faded flowers drawn on it… maybe then you’d look back at him. 

You fell in front of his home like an angel falling from the sky. He picked you up and bandaged your wounds. Today, you gave him a purpose, he loves having a purpose. Some days he feels that purpose dwindling behind the protective gates of Jackson. Ellie’s growing up, she doesn’t need him as much, what with all of her friends and teenage responsibilities. She’s thriving here, and he’s left feeling adrift. He’d never admit it, not even to Tommy. At least there’s always patrol and the freedom that provides him. Maybe he just needs more of a purpose, more of a reason here, maybe then he’d be satisfied. 

He steps back into his home, glancing at the couch you were just sitting on, before retreating to his studio. He unwraps his tools and picks up the perfect block of wood. Running his fingers over the smooth surface, he envisions the intricate lines he’ll carve for the fur, he feels a whisper of intimidation at the thought of shaping the delicate antlers.

Woodworking has been a new discovery for him, he’s always been better at settling his thoughts when his hands are occupied. He thinks of the first time he saw you all those months ago when he makes his first deliberate cut. 

Chapter 1 playlist and song reasonings behind cut. (AKA I just talk about music.)

“Caring Is Creepy” by The Shins opens up the whole story… I love the lyrics I chose for reader to hear before everything goes to shit. 

“Myth” by Beach House has been the song that has constantly stayed in my mind while writing these two characters, so it’s fitting that the chapter title comes from this song. Every Elks chapter title is taken from a song, because as any good fic author would tell you… song lyrics make great titles.

“Pitter Patter Goes My Heart” by Broken Social Scene is an instrumental but I got the thought of Joel walking out of the schoolhouse at the end of the chapter, his heart pitter patters against his chest when he realizes that reader is someone he might just want around. 

“Holding On” by War On Drugs might be one of the most Joel Miller songs ever. The lyrics deal with holding onto the memory of someone. Is an old memory just another way of saying goodbye?

“Slow Burn” by Kacey Musgraves reminds me of something my reader would write, plus I think the title says it all. 

“Second Nature” by Clairo plays to me like a “I have a huge crush on this person” song and LORD KNOWS that reader has been harnessing a crush on Joel for months. My train of thought destroyed.

“Sinking” by Clairo, yes, another Clairo song. If “Holding On” is Joel’s song, “Sinking” is reader’s song. Every night think of things I can’t do or haven’t done. And does it make me weak?

Next Chapter

[ivyyisbored22]

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭— 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐅

Note: Check Description and other chapters first to understand the story ^^♡

(This chapter contains both POVs)

Chapter 11

Warning: This chapter contains a heated argument. (I'm not sure if I should add a warning for it but I'll do it just in case). Use of strong language. Chan is a bit rough (almost violent but he doesn't harm her). It's part of the story.

Aria & Bang Chan

.

Aria

Growing hope for an ice glacier to thaw overnight was like expecting a desert to bloom with flowers after a sudden rainstorm.

Every time Chris was closer to being open, to try to communicate, he steps back refusing to have a hard conversation. His elusive behavior was becoming a pattern, each glimmer of openness quickly fading into silence or distraction.

It felt like he was stimulating emotions during sex. When we're outside of the bedroom, he almost treats me like a goddamn stranger living under his roof. It makes me want to pull my hair out.

I longed for him to open up, try to share his thoughts with me, but every attempt seemed to hit a wall. He kept shutting himself behind the door to his study or his room or other times asking for space because he spent his nights with his friends than with his wife.

It irritated me to the core.

As I was stacking a new pile of books and other ornaments on the huge shelf, I couldn't shake the feeling of frustration that had been building inside me.

I paused, tracing my hand on the spine, the title blurring and letters floating into a jumble before my eyes. Winter made it's way to the mansion and even though the heating was on, the house felt like walking in the Arctic whether or not Chris was home.

With a sigh, I decided to talk to him once more. And if this last bit of hope I have in me is meant to be broken, well, then at least I know I tried.

Walking through the quiet halls of the mansion, I found Chris in his study, a stack of papers spread out before him. His brow was furrowed in concentration, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk.

"Chris," I began softly, knocking the door leaning against the doorway. He looked up, his expression guarded yet curious. "Yes? Come in."

"Can we talk?" I swallowed hard, knowing he didn't like being disturbed when he worked from home but one conversation won't do any harm.

"If, if you're free—" I said quickly.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist and got up from his chair, approaching towards me standing near the doorway, his presence engulfing me like an impending storm.

"What's wrong?" I hated every time I went to him to talk, he always replied with a what's wrong as if he only wanted to save me out of trouble.

"I just wanted to talk to you about...about where we are going with this..." I vaguely gestured between us.

Chris rolled his eyes, scoffing and running a hand through his hair. That small thing clenched something in my chest, I kept hating him more, than trying to find a way or a reason to continue.

"We've had not one but two conversations about that Aria. Why do you want to talk about the same thing over and over again hmm?" His Australian accent was rough and thick as he spoke, we did converse about the agreement but this was killing me.

Three months into this marriage, and I was getting sick of the constant tension every day. One day he'll be lovable, we have three meals together and have a small talk and the next he'll be an arrogant bastard.

"You know why, Chris," I replied, my voice tinged with exasperation. "Because it matters to me. Because I want to understand where we stand."

He scoffed again, pacing a few steps away before turning back to face me. "What's there to understand? It's a contract, Aria. Clear and simple. We agreed, it ends in a year."

"But things change, Chris," I insisted, frustration boiling over. "I thought maybe we could discuss what happens while we're here. Right now."

Chris shook his head, his expression hardening. "There's nothing to discuss. This was a temporary arrangement."

I quietly but carefully walked towards him, his back was now facing me, I myself couldn't believe what I was about to say next.

"If it's temporary for you, why do you come seek pleasure from me?"

Chris turned back to me, his chest rose and fell with the force of his anger, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. His eyes burned with an intensity that could have ignited a wildfire.

His piercing gaze held me in place, but I refused to back down. I had to say it. I had to know.

"Answer me, Chris," I demanded, my voice trembling despite my attempt to stay strong. "If this marriage means so little to you, why do you keep coming back to me, seeking comfort, seeking...me?"

"Seek pleasure?" He retorted, his voice low and edged with fury, goosebumps pebbled up my skin as he spoke. "Is that all you think this is?"

I stood my ground, my own rage flaring. "What else is it? You come home late, you barely talk to me during the day, and when you do, it's like you're checking off a list. But in bed—"

"In bed, what?" Chris interrupted sharply, stepping closer until we were almost chest to chest. "You think that's all there is between us?"

"You tell me!" I shot back, frustration and hurt driving my words. "Because from where I'm standing, you only care about the contract, to have sex and nothing else. You'll be nice one day and the next you become cold and distant."

His jaw tightened. "You don't know what I'm dealing with, Aria. I have a company and my responsibilities—"

"And what about me?" I challenged, my voice rising, stopping him from finishing what he wanted to say.

"I agree that you have a company to lead but don't I matter at all? I'm human and I have feelings Chris! Unlike you who has buried them under a mountain of paperwork, deadlines and alcohol."

Chris grunted, shaking his head and touching his forehead, his eyes narrowing with irritation spread all over his face. "I'm not heartless Aria. And of course you matter. But you knew what you signed up for."

I couldn't speak a word or argue back at him. I did sign up for this. I sealed my fate away to this man 3 months ago, as temporary partner.

And fuck my life for even thinking I could change his heart.

His gaze turned icy, meeting mine with a fierce, unyielding glare. "We both know why we're here. Don't start twisting it into something it's not. Maybe you should have thought about that before agreeing."

"So until this ends are you going to treat me like I'm some—"

Before I could finish, Chris moved faster than I could react. His hand clasped around my neck, not hard enough to choke me but enough to shut my mouth from the words that was about to come out. His glare sent a shiver down my spine as he pinned me against the wall, with his hand still wrapped around my neck, my heart pounded in my ears.

"Don't you dare fucking say that." He growled, his voice low and dangerously controlled. His eyes bore into mine, sending a shiver down my spine. I’d never seen him this angry, this intense, and it terrified me.

He held me for second and released me, oxygen rushed into my lungs even though his grip wasn't that tight.

"You're confronting me as if I touched you without your consent!" he snarled, anger coating his voice like thick gravel.

"I never kept a hand on you without making sure you feel comfortable around me and now you go and speak of me as if I was only using you? How little do you think of me?"

I shivered at the tone of his voice. I’d never seen this side of him before, this raw, unfiltered anger. It was as if the mask he usually wore had slipped, revealing the storm that raged beneath the surface.

But before I could respond, before I could find the words to defend myself, Chris leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "But don't lie Aria, you liked it too"

The accusation hung in the air between us, heavy and suffocating. Guilt, fear, sadness, frustration, a tsunami of emotions rushed through me, I momenterily lost my voice. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind, each more overwhelming than the last.

Chris scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "What did you expect, Aria? This was never supposed to be a Disney movie. Princess finds her prince."

Tears welled up in my eyes, my hands trembling at my sides, curling into fists. Every word he said, every syllable that came out of his mouth pierced my chest like a knife twisting in my heart, each twist deepening the wound.

"I thought..." My voice cracked, I could feel the taste of pennies in my mouth as I spoke. "Maybe you could see beyond the contract," I managed to say, my voice wavering.

I wanted to scream, to cry, to lash out at him, to make him see what he was doing to me, to us. But the words were lodged in my throat, choked off by the whirlwind of emotions that I couldn’t seem to control.

"See that there's more to us than just an agreement." Every word I spoke, the crack just dug deeper and deeper.

He took a step closer, his eyes blazing with intensity. "And what if I can't?" he demanded, his voice low and harsh. "What if this is all I can give you?"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have married me!" I cried, the words escaping before I could stop them. Chris's expression darkened, his jaw clenched.

"Yeah. I really shouldn't have," he muttered, almost to himself.

"But I didn't have a damn choice! Fuck it! I should have shown you the contract the day my father introduced you to me. Or maybe I should have just walked away,"

He continued, his voice dripping with bitterness. "But I didn't, and now we're both stuck in this mess."

That was it. The final blow. Something inside me shattered like a bullet to a glass window. The venom in his tone was more painful than I could have imagined.

Cold, glistening streaks ran down my cheeks.

"Why..." Swallowing the lump in my throat felt like a jagged stone scraping its way down.

"Why are you so cold...?" I whispered, searching his face for any sign of the man who had held me so tenderly just last night.

The way he made me feel so good, wrapping me with his arms and protected me with his warmth. But it wasn't that man in front of me anymore. He was replaced by someone mean, arrogant and stubborn.

"Am I?" he replied harshly. "You wanted the truth, Aria. There it is."

He turned away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Anger and sorrow twisted inside me, tightening my chest until each heartbeat felt like a bruise against my ribcage.

I stared at him, my vision blurring with tears. "You're right," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"I wanted the truth. But I also wanted to believe that there was something more to us. That maybe, you felt might have something for me."

Chris kept running his hand through his hair, then his face frustration etched on as he spoke looking at me over his shoulder. "This isn't about feelings, Aria. This was never about feelings. This is about responsibility, about fulfilling a contract."

I sobbed uncontrollably, my eyes stung as the tears kept gushing out like a never ending waterfall, blurring my vision. I couldn't breath anymore. I needed air. The emotions were too heavy as they overwhelmed me, drowning in the vast ocean would have felt better than this.

"Do you even care?" I whispered again, not even understanding the point of my own question. He has said everything he had to say, what was the use anymore?

He slowly spun back around, his eyes locking onto mine. "I do care," he said fiercely. "But I can't give you what you want."

"And what is it that I want?" I challenged, the tears still streaming down my cheeks. I wanted to shake him and make him see how much he was hurting me, but I felt utterly powerless.

"Love? Affection? Something real?"

His eyes almost softened but a flicker of anger was still spread across his face. "I...I can't promise you..." he said quietly but before he finished his sentence, I wiped away my tears, feeling defeated and heartbroken and left his office, running upstairs to my room.

I fell on the bed and buried my face in the pillows, I cried till I was numb, till I felt like I had no more tears to cry out. Letting everything overwhelm and consume me till my vision slowly blacked out...

~

Bang Chan

CRASH!

The glass flew through the air, crashing against the wall with a violent force like a gunshot, reverberating through the room and shattering on impact, sending sharp shards exploding in every direction.

My chest rose and fell heavily as I sank onto my chair, sliding both my hands up my hair trying to put out the strands. Irritation, anger, rage crawled up my skin, a toxic mixture that felt like it was going to consume me. I pushed away the documents lying on my desk, watching as they scattered across the room, fluttering like defeated soldiers.

Defeated and lifeless.

"Why did it have to come to this?" I muttered under my breath, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. I had always prided myself on my control, on my ability to keep my emotions in check.

But with Aria, everything was different. She had a way of breaking through the walls I had built, had found a crack, slipped through the defenses I had carefully constructed.

I had told her what this was. I had made it clear from the beginning, hadn’t I? But the memory of her eyes—red-rimmed, filled with hurt—stabbed at me. The way she looked at me, her expression twisted with pain and accusation, as if I had taken something vital from her, something I didn’t even know how to give back.

A strong pang of guilt gnawed in my chest, her sunshine personality overtaken by hatred, neglect and despair. Everytime I wanted to speak to her, I backed off, refusing to let her overtake my mind, heart and soul.

I hated that I hated her for making me lose control. Some part buried in the depths of my chest hated that I had treated her in a way that made her question me for only using her. And I hated that I had hurt her.

Every part of my body burned in an inextinguishable fire, eating me alive.

Her words echoed in my mind, haunting me. The pain in her eyes cut deeper than any physical wound I had ever felt. I didn't go upstairs to find her nor to my room. Staying in my study with a chaotic mess surrounding me, I sighed in frustration, the weight of what happened settling heavily on my shoulders.

***

I had fallen asleep on the couch of my study. The morning sunglight shone directly at my face as I woke up, remembering the events from last night like a relentless waves crashing against the shore.

The floor was scattered with documents and shards of glass, I slowly got up and grabbed my phone from the desk, it was in the morning. I opened the camera app on the phone and saw my reflection, I looked HORRENDOUS.

Dark circles under my eyes, disheveled hair, and a faint stubble on my face hinting at a night of unrest. Last night replayed in my mind like a broken record, each moment etched with regret and frustration. I rubbed my temples, trying to ward off the pounding headache that accompanied my thoughts.

Carefully making my to the door, trying not to step on any glass pieces, I exited my study and went to the living room. It was hollow and empty, like walking into a graveyard. No sign of Aria or Deliah, before I turned around and spotted Daniel entering the mansion from the entrance to the pool in the back.

"Oh Mr. Bang, good morning" He said as he spotted me, nodding gently. "Morning, Daniel," I greeted, my voice rough from the night's turmoil.

I glanced around the somber room, noting the absence of life that had usually filled these halls for the past three months.

"Where is everyone?"

Daniel hesitated, his usually calm demeanor faltering slightly. "I believe Mrs. Bang is still in her room sir. She is usually down here during the morning" My heart sank for some reason, but I maintained my composure.

"And Deliah?"

"She's in the kitchen, sir. Would you like me to prepare breakfast?" Daniel offered, his expression sympathetic.

I nodded, ruffling my hair "Yes, please. Just coffee for now."

I pulled a chair from the dining table, waiting for Daniel to bring my coffee, when I heard the sound of soft footsteps descending the stairs.

A few seconds later, Aria entered the room, her eyes widening as she saw me. Her eyes fell on me, then the floor, she turned around to go back upstairs, probably wanting me to leave.

I got up my seat, pushing the chair against the wooden floor and strode towards her. "Aria, wait," I called her but she ignored like she didn't hear me.

I was too tired and sleep deprived to recieve her silent treatment, taking two steps at a time, I caught upto her as she made it upstairs.

"Aria." The tone of my voice made her stop, her hand hesitating on the glass railing.

She looked at me over her shoulder, I could feel her expression guarded yet vulnerable. The distance between us felt like an unspoken chasm, filled with unsaid words and emotions tangled in a web of misunderstanding.

I went up and stood in front of her, her eyes avoiding direct contact with mine. "What do you want, Chris?" Aria's voice was soft but edged with a hint of defiance.

I took a deep breath, the weight of last night's argument still heavy on my chest. "I want to talk," I said, my voice steady despite the turmoil inside.

Aria bit her lip, her eyes finally meeting mine, I finally saw her face up close. Swollen and puffy eyes with a hint of dark circles and flushed cheeks, her usually vibrant expression was replaced with a look of exhaustion and sadness.

Her fingers tightened on the railing. "There's nothing left to talk about," she replied, her voice wavering slightly. "You made yourself pretty clear last night."

"I didn't—"

She cut me off, raising a hand up infront of my face, her voice rising in frustration.

"You meant every word, so don't try to take it back. What do you want from me?"

A painful shot of guilt pierced through my chest again, leaving me with no room for defense. If only she knew how much I hated that I made her feel this way but I couldn't say it out loud. I leaned closer to her, reaching out instinctively to hold her hand, but she backed a step, another sharp sting of rejection slicing in my chest.

"I want..." My voice wavered, grappling with the chaos inside. Nothing I say would fix but I still said it. "I want to fix this."

"You can't fix empty words Chris. You made your stance clear." She shook her head slowly, her eyes filled with a mix of hurt and determination.

"Now please, if you can let me go". She turned and walked away from me, closing the door to her room, shutting behind her, leaving me regretting and grappling with the conflict in me.

I went back downstairs and grabbed my coffee, heading to my room to get ready for work. An hour later I drove to the headquarters, and as I arrived, Lee Know was outside my office room, looking up his phone as he saw me approaching.

"Hey," he greeted, his face remained neutral and emotionless like always.

"Morning. What brings you here?" I asked as I unlocked the door with the passcode, he followed me from closely behind, but my mind was racing with weight of the argument with Aria.

"Just checking in to see if your ass is doing anything useful instead of fuming all day" A knowing smug grin played across his face as I glared at him, tossing my keys on the desk.

"Fuck off." I shot him a glare, but there was no real heat behind it. I was too tired, too drained to muster any real anger.

He let out a deep chuckle, rolling his eyes. I could feel a tension between us but it was familiar. "Really. I'm just checking since I'm off today. You looked like shit yesterday, which you always are, and looks like today isn't better either"

I exhaled audibly, sinking into my chair and so did Lee Know taking a seat in front of me. "Aria and I had an argument last night." I said as he cocked an eyebrow.

"About what?" He replied unimpressed.

I let out a bitter laugh at his response, shaking my head as I recounted what had happened, the whole damn mess spilling out. Lee Know listened, his expression unreadable at first, but as I spoke, I could see the irritation growing in his eyes. When I finished, he rubbed his forehead, clearly exasperated.

"You're a real genius you know that?" he groaned, his tone laced with frustration.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped.

"It means," He said, leaning forward, "that you have the emotional intelligence of a brick. You really thought telling her she knew what she signed up for was a good idea?"

"What else was I supposed to say?" I shot back.

He snorted, giving me a look of disbelief. "Oh, I don't know? Maybe not remind her constantly that your marriage is just a one-year contract with no feelings involved? You could've thrown in a romantic 'I never loved you anyway' for good measure."

I glared at him. "Very helpful. Thanks." Annoyance coating in my voice.

He shrugged, unfazed. "I'm just saying, you managed to turn an already shitty situation into a full-blown disaster. Congratulations."

"I was trying to be honest," I muttered, frustration boiling over.

"Your honesty is stupidity." Lee Know retorted. "You're supposed to at least pretend to care about her feelings."

"I do care about her feelings," I insisted.

"Sure doesn't sound like it," He said dryly.

A few minutes of stretching silence passed, the air in my office felt thick and suffocating. It was so silent, I could hear my watch ticking.

"Start by apologising,"Lee Know broke the silence after God know's how many minutes passed, I looked at him cocking an eyebrow. "I don't know what the fuck you're gonna do or to tell you, so figure it out. Maybe get some flowers or something." He kept talking while he doodled something on my memo pad.

"Great advice Dr.Phil."

"You can't just treat people like chess pieces. She's not a pawn in your grand plan, Chris. She's your wife."

I rubbed a hand over my face as he looked up from his doodles, leaning back on the chair.

"And I don't need explain more."

"I'll figure something out," I grabbed the water bottle on my desk and glupped down the whole thing.

He looked up with a sly but irritated smirk. "Good. Fix it and try not to fuck up this time."

"Thanks," I huffed.

"Anytime," he replied, standing up. "You're lucky I can play a therapist. Or else you'll have to pay a good amount for someone to listen to your bullshit"

I let out a lazy laugh as Lee Know turned towards the exit, waving his hand over the shoulder, leaving me alone in my office. And as he left, I felt a strange mix of irritation and clarity. But for the first time, I kind of felt like I had a plan.

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

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[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

hi!!! I’m losing my mind and can’t find this in the books anywhere and need to check with someone else… in any of the grishaverse books does it mention the merchers wives going to the house of barter to scrub the floors?!? I might be making this up out of my little mind but it’s so specific idk how I could be!!!

Hi my darling, so sorry for the late reply, and yes I think I know which bit you're talking about - I think you might just be struggling to find it because you've got two (strongly linked) references crisscrossed over each other, but I'm pretty sure that the part you're thinking of is about Hellgate

In chapter 6 of Six of Crows, Nina's first POV chapter, she describes the smells in Hellgate upon their arrival and the quote is as follows:

They entered a dark, surprisingly clean kitchen, its walls lined with huge vats that looked more suited to laundry than cooking. The room smelled strange, like vinegar and sage. Like a mercher's kitchen, Nina thought. The Kerch believed that work was akin to prayer. Maybe the merchant wives came here to scrub the floors and walls and windows, to honour Ghezen, the god of industry and commerce, with soap and water and the chafing of their hands. Nina resisted the urge to gag. They could scrub all they liked. Beneath that wholesome scent was the inedible stench of mildew, urine, and unwashed bodies. It might take an actual miracle to dislodge it

(In the Collector's Edition this is on page 90)

This is such an important quote for me in terms of worldbuilding and I won't go on about it now but I super quickly want to add that it is very well set up to parallel Inej's flashback in Crooked Kingdom when she says "he smelled of vanilla, but beneath it she could smell garlic"

The other section that I'm wondering if you might be thinking of is in Crooked Kingdom when they're talking about Radmakker's sister, this one was harder to find but I think this is the quote on your mind:

It was Jellen Radmakker, one of the investors tget had invited to Jesper's absurb presentation on oil futures. From the investiagtion she'd done for Kaz, Inej knew that he was scrupulously honest, a devout man with no family except an equally pious sister who spent her days scrubbing the floors of public buildings in service to Ghezen.

This is from Chapter 32 of Crooked Kingdom (page 435 in the Collector's Edition) and the scene takes place in the Church of Barter so I wonder if that's what you were thinking of?

I hope that this was helpful!! I honestly love this world building detail, I think it's so fascinating, and I think that not only can we take the second quote as a point of evidence to support the first but there are also others, such as when Alys is hemming curtains before Wylan leaves the house, that add to the validity of Nina's theory as well. Thanks so much for the ask! <33

(This has been episode 5 of 'DK Finally Gets It Together And Answers Her Asks Because It's About Damn Time (working title)' thank you very much for joining me, on the off chance anyone might be interested then the rest of the series can be found here)